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Packaging Python Inside Your Organization with Gitlab and Conda - sscherfke
https://stefan.sofa-rockers.org/2019/04/18/python-packaging-gitlab-conda/
======
Brometheus
This could actually very useful for the company I'm working for.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Eliminating the Human - denom
http://davidbyrne.com/journal/eliminating-the-human
======
trjordan
There's another force at work here: in the name of efficiency and
standardization, companies worked to make human interactions less useful.
There's a reason McDonald's is seen as a bottom-of-the-barrel job. There's
nothing about it that fundamentally requires judgement, empathy, or decision-
making. Sure, the pleasantries are nice, but think about the last time you had
something go wrong with a fast food transaction. Did the worker just fix it?
Half the time, they have to drag a manager over, or reboot a machine, or some
other fix that's above their pay grade.
I love interacting with people who own their car repair shops, because they
can help me work things out beyond a simple transaction. But larger companies?
There's nothing to the interaction besides just talking with another human
who's worried that if anything goes wrong, I'll take it out on them and
there's nothing they can do to fix it.
~~~
tcbawo
I can't remember the last time I talked with a fast food employee that I
thought was incompetent. Most of the time, I'm shocked at how capable they are
given how little they are probably making.
~~~
bamboozled
Honest question, do you ever think about not eating there if you know the
staff are getting screwed over financially?
My logic is if they have such little regard for their staff, they probably
don't have much regard for my health. That and I just think it's cruel to work
people like robots.
~~~
Trundle
This seems to me to be the same argument people use for boycotting companies
that use foreign sweatshop labor paid cents on the hour to make clothing and
it doesn't make sense to me. If working like a robot is cruel, why are people
doing it? Because it's better than their alternatives? Ok then, how exactly
does taking that option away from them help?
I'm all for a strong welfare state, universal income, state funded
scholarships, and other "lift people up" sort of activities but I just don't
see how punishing companies for utilising low value labour does that.
~~~
Qwertious
" If working like a robot is cruel, why are people doing it? Because it's
better than their alternatives? Ok then, how exactly does taking that option
away from them help?"
The idea behind boycotting sweatshop labor is that it creates a market for
non-sweatshop clothing, which creates a better-paid alternative for the people
working like a robot.
~~~
Joeboy
Additionally consumer boycotts tend to be directed at specific companies and
serve a specific purpose, eg. trying to institute cross-industry agreements or
get compensation paid to workers or their families after factory fires or
collapses or whatever.
------
aeosnthqj
This bugs me. He laments that using Amazon removes a human interaction. Then
he says:
"Note: I don’t consider chat rooms and product reviews as “human interaction”;
they’re mediated and filtered by a screen."
Well, I don't consider a sales person swooping in to sell me something I
didn't come looking for human interaction. I don't consider someone ringing up
my order to be meaningful human interaction. I guess it's in the eye of the
beholder, but as soon as online shopping became feasible I switched to it for
as many transactions as possible because of the low quality of human
interactions I was getting at physical stores. The amount of wasted time and
energy spent dealing with people who were instructed to up-sell me on the
stupidest things was just such a turn-off. No interest in going back to that.
~~~
dragonsky
I do not disagree with your decision to move to online shopping, however I do
think that worthwhile human interaction is a two way street. If you want your
interaction with the chasheer to be higher value you could try to inject some
value yourself. It will improve their day as well as yours. Maybe then they
will transfer some of that value to the next person they serve.
Interact with people in the way you would like to be interacted with and you
will be surprised by how they respond.
~~~
Bakary
That's a good idea. Sadly in a lot of cases the employees are bound by a
script of some form.
------
scandox
I feel he makes a mistake in introducing the issue of engineering introversion
and (dread the word) the spectrum.
This desire to reduce human interaction is driven by the desires of the
average consumer. In many of the projects I've worked on this is explicit.
People want control, transparency and automation. There are services whose
entire selling point is reducing the unpredictability of human interactions
for consumers. For example, many people would not use taxis historically
because they felt the pricing was not transparent and at the whim of a person
they would have to negotiate with. People find this stressful.
Sometimes the automation makes the rules of interaction much more explicit
too. A lot of people are nervous of picking up the phone to, say, something as
simple as a restaurant and being told, NO you can't have a table for Saturday.
If they book online they can see the availability and not have what they find
the social embarrassment of even such a mild rejection.
Personally, I am all for human interaction. I positively seek it out. But I do
not think this is the trend. A lot of people are almost afraid to pick up the
phone, or ask for something that isn't on a menu, or ask for a discount, or
negotiate a price. And the number of those people is, in my personal
experience, growing.
~~~
itchyouch
I have definitely observed a similar phenomena of people looking to minimize
social interactions, especially amongst kids growing up today. I can't tell
whether this social anxiety is merely a phase in growing up or becoming wider
spread, but I feel like the convenience of growing up in an environment where
social interaction can be actively avoided (goto a restaurant with online
ordering) may actually be a cycle that reinforces the preference not to
interact with others.
I've noticed that some folks are abhorrent to the idea that rules and policy
can be bended or broken for various circumstances and it isn't until they get
older that that they realize that bending the rules is an actual option that
can be invoked by asking in-person outside of the standard system (usually an
automated site). For example, an individual was having a small melt down as
they needed an accommodation to show up to a minimum-wage job 30 minutes later
than usual for medical appointments. What was actually a simple explanation of
what is going on and shifting the hours appropriately took quite a bit of
encouragement and anxiety to get over prior to making the request.
I have another friend who will wait months to find the absolute best deal on a
gadget, yet will pay more for day-to-day goods on Amazon, than the grocery
store to simply minimizes interacting with folks at the grocery store and
cites interacting with people the primary reason to avoid the store.
Just 30-40+ years ago, by design, everyone had to interact with each other and
became practiced at it, but now a days, it's possible to say nothing but "hi"
"thanks" "bye" and get just about everything necessary done for you.
While I think that productivity and expectations have come so far, I feel like
we have lost a little bit of that human-to-human connection while engaging in
the day-to-day mundane activities through an interface.
~~~
jpetso
I don't like the idea that rules can be bent because it causes unfair
advantages. And it's not sustainable or beneficial for the greater good if
everyone does it.
Dozens of cars stop at a red light, yet someone thinks they can cross because
everybody else is stopping. Hundreds of companies take great pains to follow
mandated regulation, but one CEO thinks those rules are nonsense and fucks up
the marketplace for everyone in the industry, including themselves, only for a
shot at personal wealth. Six roommates each agree to split chores, but one
lazy bastard evades any sense of responsibility. Software project contributors
all follow the same coding style and review process, except the one who really
needs to get a patch in RIGHT NOW because it's so important for whatever
reason.
The thing is that if there are rules, they were made for a reason. In many
cases, the underlying pattern has something to do with us being able to get
along with each other instead of ending up at each others' throats, or having
our economy implode, or losing innocent people to accidents or poverty. Common
standards allow us to work together efficiently. When we can rely on each
other, we can do more with less effort. That's just as important in traffic
management as it is in hiring or relationships.
When groups are small, it's easier to agree on rules and values. With larger
groups, communities, states and whatnot, you'll have someone who doesn't mind
wrecking it for everyone else just so they can get ahead. The solution is not
to nod and say yeah, that's okay. It's not okay to cross red lights. It's not
okay to kill people and take their money. It's not okay to steal someone
else's confidential property and use it to destroy your competitor in the
marketplace. We shouldn't accept any of these just because they're "the human
condition". We should police our standards and improve on those failings so we
can maintain a workable system.
Some rules are not great. That's a fact, and that need to be improved. But the
sustainable solution is not to bend the rule. It's to change the rules so they
work well in more cases, for more people, with better overall outcomes. And
then everyone follows the new rules. Fuck everyone who thinks they're above
the rest of us and use others' "weakness" of caring about the common benefit
to reap rewards just for themselves, without making the system sustainably
better for all parties involved.
I'd rather have a highway like the ones in Germany than the chaos that you see
on a wide street in India. Both systems work, but one works better than the
other because people agree that by not bending the rules to your own personal
advantage, I can get a better outcome for everyone _including_ myself.
And to get back to your actual, much tamer example of bending the rules - in
many cases the outcome is alright, but the principle still stands. I shouldn't
have to call my bank to get a better interest rate. I shouldn't have to be
personable and accommodating just so I can ask for something obvious like
getting half an hour off for a doctor's appointment. Things like that should
be available to everyone, regardless of their social aptitude. So let's make
sure we have rules in place to make that the "rule", not the exception.
~~~
parasubvert
I think a large percentage of the world's population have the opposite stance:
rules are fictions that exist as guides but social interaction is the
fundamental way in which we coexist. Traffic patterns in India are a great
example of this in action, driving itself is almost a social act of continuous
signalling.
I personally cannot stand obsolete rules and use social interactions whenever
I can to bend or break them. Amusingly they call this being a "change agent"
in busines schools...
------
thenomad
I don't feel like this argument holds up as soon as he goes into examples.
AirBnB: this might be a Euro vs US thing, but my Airbnb experiences have
involved a lot _more_ human interaction than I'd expect at a hotel, as my
hosts show me around.
Fiverr, Upwork, et al: if you're expecting to use these with no human
interaction you're going to have a very bad time. Detailed and frequent
communication is a must if you want to get good work out.
Self-driving cars: for me and a lot of other people, the primary interaction
they replace is between my hands and the steering wheel. Yes, they will, if
they work, also eliminate the taxi, but that's very much a side-product.
Video games: OK, this one just feels like him being a Luddite. As a frequent
DOTA2 player, I can assure him that the interactions I have, whilst not always
pleasant, are most definitely human in nature - and often even involve human
voices! Single-player video games obviously don't involve interaction, but
they compete for time with other non-interactive leisure activities like TV or
reading.
It's an interesting thesis - and his points on recommender systems and music
are probably the most interesting part of the article - but I don't think he
proves his case very well.
~~~
sametmax
Although to be fair human interactions in DOTA2 in the 2K tier is definitely
something I would aim to eliminate. Impossible to have a game without at least
one player being rude. It's not as bad as LOL, but still the community is in a
sad state. It's shame given that the game requires you to communicate by
design.
~~~
ryzawy
I think this is a common misbelief. It has been proven again and again that
this is not related to MMR - you will have pricks in every "tier". I can only
vouch for the 3.5k range, but friends of mine in 4k-5k say the same thing.
There are also a lot of threads on reddit which show that it's not exclusive
to "the trenches".
My girlfriend is around 1k and her games are mostly friendly, which is
interesting to say the least.
I think there is a point (after a certain amount of matches/playtime) where
people start to believe they know everything about the game and start telling
people how to behave and how to play, because they just "know it better". This
is where it gets ugly.
~~~
sametmax
I don't know. When I watch games of 4k on youtube, people seems more civil
honestly. But maybe there is just a filter effect.
What's annoying is that I don't think you can pinpoint a factor that triggers
rudeness. Yes, you have the typical insult following a failure to play up to
the standard of some of the players. But you also have people just being
uneducated: playing music with auto mic on, gaming like they are alone,
feeding because they didn't get mid, trashing the enemy team... It's like
being in high school all over again.
It's are
------
ng12
> Is music as a kind of social glue and lubricant also being eliminated?
I definitely grew up in a different decade than David Byrne but for me music
has always been a digital experience. I know very, very few people in real
life who have the same tastes as I do and where tastes do overlap it's often
very surface-level (who doesn't like Radiohead?). However I've consistently
found little communities online which have had a huge influence on the music I
listen to -- from BBSs to Soulseek to 4chan -- which has allowed me to craft
my tastes in a way that wouldn't scale to a local social network. It's not
bad, just different.
~~~
lacampbell
_who doesn 't like Radiohead?_
We exist, and in greater numbers than you might realise.
~~~
ng12
Haha, fair. But the point is digitally you can explore the long tail in a way
that's very hard in real life. Most of my immediate peers would have some
opinion on Radiohead but it's relatively unlikely we could deliver meaningful
recommendations based on eachother's specific tastes.
~~~
anigbrowl
Before there was digital there were specialist record stores. a taste for the
obscure isn't a new thing, although it's easier than ever to indulge.
~~~
lmm
I think there is less need to tolerate the mainstream than ever (which equally
you could frame the other way around). These days if a given internet radio
station is playing too much black metal and not enough death metal it's
trivial to switch to one that only plays blackened death metal.
------
11thEarlOfMar
The purpose of reducing human interaction when providing services is to reduce
the cost of those services. Looks like nearly all of the examples cited
involve one human providing paid services to another. In the name of
productivity, the human providing the service is put in play because they are
expensive.
It would be more telling to look at social behaviors that don't involve
transactions. Family reunions, nights out with the gals, little league games,
religious ceremonies, ... Is there a technological force reducing human
interactions there? Distracted by the smartphone, perhaps?
And one could argue that technology enables in-person human interraction as
well: Flashmobs, Meetups, etc.
~~~
mc32
It also eliminates variability. Most services strive to offer predictable
services, and, as consumers, most of us also want predictable services.
Starbucks is notorious for their mediocrity, but it's predictable. There's
little worse in commercial experiences than going to my favorite coffee shop
and one day getting a great drink and the next day having a flat drink.
Getting fleeced of course is worse.
~~~
losteric
I have found that good local shops start with higher variance but quickly hone
in on excellence. It just takes time for the baristas to learn their regulars.
However, that presumes the customer has developed their own tastes... when
someone's definition of "good coffee" is "sugar, fat, caffeine", the barista
doesn't have a lot of information to hone in the taste.
------
rixrax
I admit. I am an introvert and I have by and large welcomed with open arms
every advance in technology that has allowed me to deal less with other
people.
Maybe subconsciously I have reflected this to some of the work and innovation
I've been involved with over the years. With so many other introverts in the
field, I am sure others have as well. But I want to thank the author for I've
never consciously thought this aspect of technology with such a clarity.
~~~
marchenko
>I admit. I am an introvert and I have by and large welcomed with open arms
every advance in technology that has allowed me to deal less with other
people.<
I used to feel the same way, until I realized that as an introvert, I am
especially reliant upon the regular stream of casual, serendipitous encounters
that punctuate everyday life for social and emotional well-being. Because I do
not seek out contact, these small bursts of socialization are important to
balance my mood and keep me grounded. I first noticed this during long periods
in a non-native-language environment, where I realized that landing a good
joke with a cashier was better for my equilibrium than any social media
success metric.
~~~
andyjohnson0
That's my experience too. Introversion doesn't mean I don't need interactions
with people. I've met unhappy introverts who didn't seem to have ever realised
this.
------
paulsutter
Oddly, I found this graphic more informative than the a16z "AI Playbook"
currently ranked first on HN:
[http://davidbyrne.com/images/made/images/uploads/todomundo/m...](http://davidbyrne.com/images/made/images/uploads/todomundo/mgi-
industry-digitization-index_650_927_60.jpeg)
------
astrofinch
>The counterargument to the dangers of social media has been “look at Arab
Spring”.
My impression of the Arab Spring is that most countries emerged in worse shape
than they started in.
~~~
XorNot
Yeah those Twitter powered civil wars are definitely much worse then regular
civil wars...
~~~
Neliquat
One could argue success is a better metric in a revolotion than the body count
to those who care about their freedom to decide their nations fate.
------
pdonis
The article conflates eliminating human interaction that is a side effect of
something else, with eliminating _all_ human interaction. But there's no
reason why that must be the case. Eliminating human interactions as side
effects ought to leave _more_ room for human interactions that aren't
constrained by being side effects and so can go wherever the humans in
question want them to. It's a lot easier to have an interesting conversation
with someone if you don't have to finish your transaction quickly to make way
for the next person in line.
~~~
chandler
Yeah, but where are you going to get the skills of interacting with strangers?
Eliminating baseball practice doesn't seem like a way to encourage more games
:/
~~~
jpetso
You're going to get practice where you search out for it, when you're open to
and ready for interacting with other people.
I can go to baseball practice, work on my game, and go home when it's over. Or
I can ask if someone wants to stay and go for drinks after. Everyone's got the
choice of what they want to do. If I love the game but not the people then
I'll maybe hang out with a different group instead, or with my partner.
The point behind eliminating these side-effect interactions is that now you
can decide when and with whom to interact, rather than being forced into it
when you just wanted to get something else done.
------
CriticalSection
There is an idea that the dominant form of production in our age is done in a
manner that causes alienation on a number of fronts for those who do the
producing.
Part of this is commodity fetishism, where people can see commodities, but not
the social relations surrounding the production of commodities.
This sounds like the taking of this to the next level - where the social
aspect of exchanging currencies for commodities becomes more and more hidden.
You press some buttons on a website, and two days later a box shows up in an
Amazon locker or on your front porch. Not only is the social aspect of the
production of the commodity hidden, the social aspect of the exchange of
currency for that commodity is now hidden as well.
------
boardwaalk
There are lots of reasons one might want to avoid human interaction:
1. Human interaction is perceived as complicated, inefficient, noisy and slow.
I can't recall the source of where I heard it, an article or podcast perhaps,
but there's the idea the current situation of increasing populism (anti-
globalism, anti-immigration, xenophobia) is partly a result of ever mounting
complexity in our societies. I wouldn't be surprised if the anti-human
interaction thing (as well as hikikomori in Japan f.e.) was another effect. Of
course, I'm sure this being HN, people will think it's the obviously just
technology marching on -- but I'm not so sure. Businesses go where the money
is.
Personally, I tried to get away from it as much as possible and it still feels
like too much and I have every plan of simplifying down the road.
edit: I found the podcast I think was referenced, but disclaimer I haven't
listened to it specifically: [http://omegataupodcast.net/184-societal-
complexity-and-colla...](http://omegataupodcast.net/184-societal-complexity-
and-collapse/)
~~~
losteric
That vaguely reminds me of Calhoun's "mouse utopia":
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Calhoun#Mouse_experime...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Calhoun#Mouse_experiments)
I feel like lessons from software often have parallels in society. There are a
lot of parallels between a project developed from scratch by a team that
deeply understands their business domain, and a product+team combination
that's missing any of those aspects.
When the system is worked on by people that don't comprehend the problem or
how the system solves it, the project slowly accrues hacks that eventually
become an operational death march towards deprecation.
It's worth considering the longevity of religions. Those systems were born to
explain the supernatural, but the ideas that created social stability were the
ones that survived. Religions outlive nations because they have built-in
error-correction that prevents process degradation, even when spread by
adherents that do not comprehend the context of the rules they preach.
------
murbard2
> Gig Jobs- TaskRabbit and other services—there are people who perform these
> tasks in the gig economy, but as a client one does not necessarily have to
> interact with them in a meaningful way.
The alternative for these gig jobs is often to them yourself. House cleaning,
furniture assembly, truck loading, tidying, repainting... Hiring help for
these services clearly increases human interaction.
~~~
aerodeck
ordering someone around != meaningful interaction.
~~~
Qwertious
Getting a person at a till to scan stuff you buy != meaningful interaction.
We _could_ redefine "meaningful interaction" in a way that reinforces the
"technology is destroying meaningful interpersonal interaction" narrative, if
you'd like?
------
wordupmaking
> Is music as a kind of social glue and lubricant also being eliminated?
That's also up to those who compose who compose the music and write the
lyrics, isn't it? For me, listening to some music has always been a deeply
social experience, and I'd rank the depth of it as such:
1\. with good friends 2\. alone with headphones on 3\. with random strangers
or people I know but don't click with or can't open up to
On the other hand, there's (a whole lot of) what to me is soulless, brainless
trash, and listening to that alone just feels like staring in the abyss of
humanity, while in a social situation (or when doing chores) and small doses
it might be some jolly good fun.
------
bitL
Yes, everything points to automation of higher cognitive functions, rendering
everyone but a very few geniuses and owners unemployable. The question is if
the underlying economic model changes for everyone to benefit from it, or we
go through a complete slumization of the whole world with a vast majority
fighting for the scraps. It's also questionable if amending economic model
would be beneficial to humanity, removing all challenges, as it might lead to
complete hedonism and destruction of civilization in a few generations.
~~~
Scea91
No everything does not point to that. What I see is an endless sea of
opportunities that we can't even dream of today. There will always be work for
humans. Just on a higher level of abstraction than we are today.
~~~
pdimitar
Don't look forward to the business owners wanting to spend money on humans
"brainstorming in a coffee", though.
I fear that my favourite genre -- cyberpunk -- is getting closer to reality
with each passing month.
------
iamcurious
Was my experience reading that article a human interaction? Is my comment one?
Byrne shared something personal and I respond in turn. I mean, it is certainly
less of a human interaction than being at a party with Byrne. But isn't this
more of a human interaction than going to a bank and asking a cashier to give
me money?
~~~
Neliquat
A filtered one, perhaps. But you sure as hell did not achieve a dialouge, just
a statement, and a statement to other people about his statement. At no point
did you actually interact.
~~~
iamcurious
And now we have dialogue. This is fun!
------
acjohnson55
To be honest, most of the human interaction I see being eliminated aren't what
I'd call "quality time" to begin with. For the most part, the brick-and-mortar
commercial world is full of rote interactions with people who are under the
gun meet metrics for middle managers and capitalists, in hopes that some of
the excess will trickle down. Slightly better are maybe the brokers, who are
now obviated by search and decision engines.
And if we rewind a bit further to a time when human capital was literally
disposable, well, maybe the trend isn't so bad.
There's much less haggling and forced pleasantry in the world of online
commerce. It's up to us to replace that with more meaningful interactions.
Make art, play sports, learn to dance, volunteer.
------
stillsut
"...we were not the popular kids that drank, had sex, and partied." \- From
the current discussion on UploadVR scandal [0]
These are literally the most enjoyable things people do together, which has
held for all history, for all people from all cultures. It has been
criminalized in modern life in an attempt to sterilize all human interaction.
I have no problem with an app saving me from the frustration of trying to
place a food order over a noisy telephone. But what are we going to do to
replace the joy and the messiness and heartache of love? Is VR the only place
left where a human can be a human?
[0]:[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14345715](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14345715)
------
maerF0x0
IMO reducing administrative human friction is fantastic. I want to spend the
10 minutes I save with my friends, family and their respective circles.
I reduce low value (pleasantries etc) human interaction so i can go deeper
with my people.
~~~
fineline
You are reinforcing David's point about the creation of echo chambers and its
magnifying effect on social divisions. You want to cut out seemingly
superficial (but sometimes serendipitous) communication with people that you
don't know or who are not like you in order to go deeper with "your" people.
------
paulryanrogers
Reducing otherwise involuntary interactions can be a good thing.
~~~
Chaebixi
> Reducing otherwise involuntary interactions can be a good thing.
You feel the need to breathe not because your body senses it lacks oxygen, but
because it senses an excess of CO2, so it'll happily let you suffocate with no
warning in an atmosphere with too much nitrogen gas. I think humanity has many
more systems like that, which break down in unhealthy ways when removed from
some natural constraint or conflict. I think, for many people, one of those is
the conflict between the need for social interaction and the desire fulfill
basic wants as easily as possible. An easy way to get the latter is by
"cutting out the human," (e.g. working and shopping online) but that can leave
the former need neglected if someone lacks the urge to seek out social
connection on their own.
I admit there are people who can be happy with a completely solitary life, but
I believe they're very rare. Also, modern industrial society has succeeded in
depersonalizing many human business interactions so they're already pretty
barren of value (e.g. you can't form a friendship with a store clerk* if it's
it's too often a different one), but I think my point still stands.
* I have done this several times.
~~~
paulryanrogers
Giving people more choice in how they satisfy their social needs is good. If
they're unaware of how to fulfill them then I wouldn't argue for forcing them
to do so through chores.
------
FrozenVoid
David can still use old-fashioned services, dial the landline phone and even
order a horse carriage for that organic and natural feel. Perhaps he should
even hire a driver. Maybe a cook, a personal assistant and some live musicians
to perform in his house. Maybe even a personal library with real books and
librarian to help sort them out. Such sustainable, organic human-centric
lifestyle should be available to everyone at minimal cost and save on resource
wasted on that newfangled "digital technology" or whatever its called.
------
fourthark
This is an explicit theme of advertising for Seamless, among others.
------
lacampbell
Tiresome article. This has been happening since the industrial revolution.
It's nothing new.
------
codazoda
Correlation is not causation. That's what comes to mind. I doubt that it's
intentional, it's probably just cost effective.
~~~
aerodeck
> not intentional > cost effective
optimizing for cost is an intention.
~~~
zardo
Optimization can happen without intentionality.
Less cost effective businesses are more likely to stop being businesses.
------
look_lookatme
> Engineers and coders as people are often less than comfortable with human
> interaction, so naturally they are making a world that is more accommodating
> to themselves.
Man, you know things are bad for the fedoralords when even David Byrne turns
on you.
------
draw_down
In my opinion this kind of thought is what happens when you refuse to consider
things structurally. The reason for the elimination of humans in these models
is to drive down labor costs. Humans are expensive to pay, they get sick, they
steal things sometimes, they don't always come to work, they need silly things
like buildings to work in, close to where they live. Perhaps a mundane point
to Mr. Byrne, but with all due respect it's much more salient than "coders are
nerds who hate social interaction".
~~~
aerodeck
If humans are just inefficient then we should just get rid of all of them no?
Or perhaps just keep the smart, efficient ones with good credit scores.
~~~
narag
For jobs in which we are very inefficient (compared to machines) we _are_
being replaced, it's not a question of should or shouldn't.
Maybe we _should_ reconsider some regulations so we can keep the jobs for
which we are still competitive. I mean that, while some requirements are
unavoidable, others are a product of regulation, specifically of regulation
that was created in an age with very different circumstances.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Secret Uber Data That Could Fix Your Commute - em3rgent0rdr
https://www.wired.com/2017/02/ubers-coughing-data-nyc-fix-commute/
======
tomohawk
If they want the data, they should pay for it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How My Co-founder's Dog Boosted My Productivity - WadeF
http://wadefoster.net/post/47425174788/how-my-co-founders-dog-boosted-my-productivity
======
aashaykumar92
You make some great points, but don't forget that Tuna was already
trained...if you are to get a dog, or shall I say puppy, the training process
will take a lot of dedication--this means time AND effort. Remember, the puppy
won't come with a routine...you have to get him/her into a routine--yes, it
sounds nice but it's not easy. Having a startup and raising a puppy together
seem like a pretty tough combination, especially if this will be your first
puppy. Once the pup is trained, though, you'll reap all the benefits as you
did with Tuna--you just have to be very very dedicated during that first
month.
I don't mean to discourage you at all. I've had 2 dogs, pretty much raised the
one by myself, and don't regret it at all but I did want to give that insight
so it doesn't go over your head! If you have any specific questions about what
goes into raising a puppy, feel free to reply here or email me at
[email protected].
~~~
mmariani
Unless his co-founder helps him a bit by letting Tuna stay with him and his
puppy for a while. Puppies learn much faster when they have an older dog
around so that they can copy their behavior.
I have an English Cocker Spaniel that once gave birth to three beautiful
puppies. What had taken me 1.5 years to teach to their mother took me
virtually no time to teach them.
It was incredible. And also, a lot of fun! :)
~~~
btrautsc
I am in the midst of this right now. I have a 4 y.o chocolate lab and my wife
surprised me with a chocolate puppy for Christmas. The 4 year old is amazing,
one of the most calm dogs I've ever had - and the puppy is picking it up fast.
Sure, she definitely wants to be up early, rough house more often, and is
still learning - but she is unbelievably more calm than other 5 month old
puppies I've experienced.
------
JDGM
I love this, but I was a little disappointed it wasn't a joke article. Read
the right (wrong) way that title has the vibe of a sarcastic HN-bait parody.
Maybe the immense laughter I got from this a few months ago seeded the thought
of HN spoofing rather deep in me! [http://us2.campaign-
archive1.com/?u=193b767bbb3b0eb0d949d592...](http://us2.campaign-
archive1.com/?u=193b767bbb3b0eb0d949d5924&id=0c3a567f95&e=5603c292b3)
~~~
psionski
"Things I Learned Writing an HN Parody"... A bit recursive, aren't we?
~~~
JDGM
Pretty much the whole thing was gold IMO :)
Discussion at the time, here: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4621731>.
------
bryanh
I will attest to the fact that Tuna is an excellent pomodoro style timer.
Every couple hours it's time to go outside, regardless of your mood or state
of mind.
I used to worry that I was getting sidetracked at inopportune times, but I've
learned busy moments are great times to step away because you know right where
to pick up when you return.
YMMV of course.
~~~
lostlogin
In regards to getting outside, don't do it regardless of your mood, do it
because of it. Getting depression under control seems to be helped with a
regular stint of outside. I don't know why, but give me a tool, preferably
power driven, and I'm sorted. I might be mentally tired but Im rested and
relaxed and will sleep.
------
simonbarker87
My West Highland Terrier is nearly 2 years old. We got him at 8 weeks and the
first 6 months he took over our lives. When a pup he needed to go outside
every hour, on the hour, 24 hours a day. Once he got past that stage it was
time for puppy classes and training and constantly making sure he was behaving
etc. We were exhausted for 6 months and this was the first 6 months of
founding <http://www.radfan.com>. Now he is older he still needs lot of
walking, playing with and generally looking after BUT I wouldn't have it any
other way.
He is awesome, every day is the best day in the world for him. He's great to
have around during the day and taking him for a walk and playing with him are
the highlights of our day. He makes us laugh, he gives us something else to
focus on apart from work and best of all he is free entertainment (if you
exclude pet insurance, food and toys).
When you buy a puppy you are buying the potential of what that dog could be,
it is down to you to train and instil the correct behaviours in him. I think
dog training (done correctly, clicker training with treats and positive
renforcement) aligns very well with a technical/science mindset as I have
found it really fun trying to debug why my dog does X when he should do Y and
how to modify that in some way.
If you can, adopt a dog though. It's rubbish that old dogs can't learn new
tricks and so many dogs need new homes and more often than not, even with the
most disobedient dog you can still skip the house training bit as that tends
to be sorted unless they have had a horrific start in life.
------
adrianhoward
Just a generic #meto on this. We've got a couple of dogs (in fact - three ATM
since we're caring for my partner's parents dog too currently).
Nothing unsticks the brain better than a three or four mile walk. And pooches
force you to have 'em. So you don't even have to figure out that your brain is
stuck.
I've lost count of the number of occasions that I've been going "yeah, yeah
okay - I'll take you out" frustrated that it's taking me away from work - only
to realise 10m later while outside that what I was doing was dumb and there
was a vastly better approach.
------
jmspring
I work at home a fair amount and don't have a dog, but I do have a needy cat.
He's indoor/outdoor (I have an office in my detached garage) and has the inate
ability to realize I need to step away and take a break.
When a hard problem comes up or I am super annoyed about a problem, he's there
to encourage me to play with him. Timely breaks that reset your sense of well
being can help a lot.
The one thing about dogs vs cats in the work place, many people seem more
allergic to cats than dogs (and cats generally don't travel as well).
------
ChuckMcM
My experience has been similar, having a dog gets me up on a saturday when I
might have blown it off and slept in, and forces me to take periodic breaks
which keeps the blood flowing.
~~~
arethuza
Our cats are pretty effective at waking me up - almost exactly as in this
video:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q>
[They leave other people alone as they know I am the Keeper of the Catfood].
------
dualogy
> How My Co-founder's Dog Boosted My Productivity
Well, _this_ is some straight up @shit_hn_says material right there.
------
pekk
That's because you got a 10x dog, however. You should only bring on Alpha dogs
with lots of Xs, or you might kill your company.
------
namank
I'm guessing you don't have kids!
Taking care of another living thing can be wondrous for the self in so many
ways!
~~~
mansigandhi
Kids take up a lot more time than dogs. They prob don't increase productivity
either :)
------
btrautsc
This is a great article & I'm a firm believer. But as some have commented,
understand that this puppy will not come with a routine - you'll have to
program it. He/she will be predisposed to certain times & activities, and
you'll have to compromise on some & break others. I mentioned elsewhere in the
comments that I have a new 5 month old chocolate lab... for the first 60 days,
I rarely had quality sleep more than 3 hours, was constantly cleaning up
messes, and was generally highly stressed/ borderline depressed due to my
startup stress + the new puppy stress.
Be aware - I believe in all of the benefits & more, but they do come with some
hefty initial costs.
------
elliottcarlson
I love the energy that dogs bring to the office - we have anywhere from 2 to 5
in the office at a time, and sometimes it can be a bit hectic - but the
positive vibe that a little dog coming by you for a quick pet keeps me going
through the day.
------
mladenkovacevic
I miss having a dog.. I've been considering volunteering to take my elderly
neighbour's dog for walks every evening.
------
waterlion
Another data point. A dog in the office destroyed my productivity and shot my
stress up through the roof for the best part of a year. Loud animal, barking
all the time.
Dogs in the office aren't always a good thing and are about as far from a
professional working environment as you can get.
------
stevenp
We've got two dogs at turntable.fm: my chihuahua, Miss Cleo, and a corgi puppy
named Newton. Having them around is probably one of the best things about
working in our office. They're both well-behaved (although Miss Cleo does bark
at the food delivery people to let them know she's in charge), and they add a
lot to the fun atmosphere of the office. I also am extremely grateful that I
can bring her to work with me each day, because I always felt bad about
leaving her at home at past jobs, especially since startup employees tend to
work long hours. The relief of not having to worry about leaving her at home
actually adds substantially to my own productivity.
------
smit
Pretty cool. If a pet can help become more productive, every startup should
get one ;)
------
swalsh
I have a blind dog that we rescued. Some days he decides he's going to be
great. On those days it's wonderful walking. Frank Lyod Right once said that
he doesn't design in the studio, he just draws there. I feel something similar
when I'm on a walk with my dog on a good day. Of course good days are rare.
You can take the dog out of the street but you can't take the street out of
the dog. He's extremely stubborn, which leads to frustrating walks. It can be
hard to think about code when you're fighting with your dog.
~~~
ulisesrmzroche
Have you tried clicker training him? I highly recommend it. It's been super
useful to me so far in just the past few days I've been using it.
------
srbloom
I like to think of dog training as programming an emotional computer. There
are lots of similarities (breaking up problems into smal steps for one) and
the payoff feels just as great.
------
awjr
I was extremely sceptical about dogs, having owned cats most of my life. 6
years ago we got a dog (Working line Cocker). Initial 6 months were hard, well
she did eat the kitchen floor, but have to say she really is a positive
influence for the family as a whole.
If you work from home then I would strongly recommend you get one.
------
kayoone
If you work from home that is. Most people work in an office in the city,
where dogs arent allowed, or if they are allowed, going for a walk with the
dog in the middle of the city isnt exactly fun unless you count collecting
poop as fun and relaxing.
------
jimfuller
as one who is owned by a dog ... I will categorize this post under the
'bleeding obvious' epiphany ... cue 3 mths from now a new startup whose main
product is 'puppies for productivity'.
really folks, I mean this in the best possible way ... get a life (and a dog).
------
webbruce
Yeah I actually had the same exact experience.
~~~
webbruce
I guess you'd have to weigh the costs of a dog vs your productivity gains in
dollars.
~~~
billybob255
Dogs certainly bring a lot more intangible benefits other than productivity
gains. If you're getting a dog purely for productivity it'd probably be best
if you didn't.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Most Infamous Computer Hacks & Hackers in History - dsr12
http://myhosting.com/blog/2012/01/infamous-computer-hacks-hackers
======
dsr12
These are real hackers not the script kiddies that most of the media portrays
as "Hackers". One of my favourite hack is "The Black Sunday Hack":
[http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/05/revisiting-the-
blac...](http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/05/revisiting-the-black-sunday-
hack.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google Search engine - mercury888
is it still the best search engine?
======
zachlatta
Yup, without a doubt. The amount of engineering that Google has put into it is
hard to compete with.
------
wehadfun
I sometimes feel like yahoo get better results. For tech problems it is good.
~~~
vitobotta
Isn't Yahoo powered by Bing?
~~~
nautical
And bing powered by google ? :)
------
sidcool
I think yes. It continues to deliver, month after month.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Good UI Begets Great UI - allenc
http://allenc.com/2011/12/good-ui-begets-great-ui/
======
lucian1900
The website breaks the back button, flashes a few times before rendering and
doesn't always actually render (blank screen every few refreshes).
It's yet to be shown that Flipboard and Path are actually a good idea. Android
users seem to much more commonly prefer native UIs, perhaps for good reason.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Apple’s boring hardware updates - remi
http://www.marco.org/4222285032
======
jrockway
_... LTE chipset (which currently has coverage almost nowhere)_
Whoa! Marco is beginning to sound more annoying than Gruber.
The Apple fanbois make statements like this all the time -- Apple doesn't
support something, so therefore it's irrelevant? LTE is available in NYC, LA,
and Chicago (and 20 other cities), which are the three biggest markets in the
US. That's not "nowhere", that's "a good chunk of the population".
Let me know when you can buy a Thunderbolt peripheral :)
~~~
chrisbolt
How good is that LTE coverage though, even within those cities? Granted, I'm
on AT&T, but today I was on the sunset strip in Hollywood and my iPhone
dropped to EDGE. The sunset strip doesn't even have 3G and I'm supposed to get
excited about 4G?
~~~
joebadmo
I don't understand your logic or why you are getting upvotes. You're comparing
Verizon's LTE (for which the reviews are generally amazing) to ATT's
notoriously bad 3G, especially on the iPhone.
------
jad
It's important to keep in mind that for Apple, hardware and software are not
independent products. The software, as great as it often is on its own, exists
to sell the hardware. Most of the iPhone's most compelling features, judging
from what Apple chooses to promote, come in the form of software that takes
advantage of new hardware. Think FaceTime with the iPhone 4, or video
recording with the iPhone 3GS. These aren't the kind of big splash features
that can typically come with just a software update.
Also consider the significant fact that new iPhones come with huge public
exposure. Usually glowing stories on The Today Show and Good Morning America,
articles in The New York Times, etc. This is publicity you can't buy. Free iOS
updates, even if they have major version numbers attached to them, just don't
have the same sex appeal with the public.
New hardware just seems to focus the customer's mind in a way that I'm not
sure software can.
------
zdw
My wager for this summer/fall is an "iPhone 4S" with the A5 processor, with
almost no other hardware changes.
Plus a launch of iOS 5, with a revamped notification system, more developer
API's, and possibly some UI reworks (iOS is looking pretty long in the tooth
compared to things like Windows Phone 7)
~~~
twodayslate
I was hoping for dual cores and iOS5 (notification feature mainly).
My brother is saying they will be integrating a credit card system. That could
be possible.
~~~
zdw
Integrated CC system sounds much too niche, especially with Square and similar
solutions.
~~~
runinit
In the future, all your cards will be on your "mobile" device.
~~~
zdw
In the future, all your cards will be public keys that can be revoked.
------
laujen
Apple's events are almost always an hour. With that in mind, it is hard to see
how any of these hardware announcements, event LTE, would take up an hour long
presentation.
------
jsz0
I'm not sure we're at that point yet but it will happen eventually. Once the
iPhone gets a multi-core processor, much faster GPU, and 4G what else is
really left for a yearly update? I doubt we'll see an octo-core iPhone 6 with
4 cameras, 2K display and 5G radios in 2013. The possible delay for the iPhone
5 seems more about re-aligning the product release schedule. It doesn't really
matter when the iPhone is released. Most people only buy a new phone with they
are eligible for a subsidized upgrade. The iPad, and iPod Touch, are the items
that need a big back-to-school/x-mas production push. It must be difficult (or
at least expensive) for Apple to release the iPhone mid-year and 2 months
later gear up for the iPad/iPod rush. I think we'll probably see the iPad 2
get an extended shelf life too. The rumors of an iPad release in September
were probably correct they just got the year wrong -- it'll be 2012. The last
piece of this is they may move to more frequent, but minor, OS updates. This
has already started to happen with 4.x where each release brought some
significant features. Perhaps all the bundled apps will be updated through the
App Store instead of OS updates as part of this.
~~~
bigfudge
256k should be enough for anybody.
------
daimyoyo
I was really surprised that Apple chose to unveil thunderbolt in a press
release rather than at an event. They'd been working with Intel for years and
at the end all it garnered was "oh by the way the new MB pros will have
lightpeak I/O ports built in and we're calling it thunderbolt." Couldn't they
have waited the few weeks until the iPad announcement and unveiled it then?
Apple missed a huge opportunity for free press(they were already there for the
iPad, why not tell them about your revolutionary new I/O technology?) but oh
well. Guess even Apple drops the ball from time to time.
~~~
dot
the ipad 2 was on the front page of thousands of free daily commuter papers
across the globe.
nobody cares about a new port. event or not.
~~~
djhworld
While I really like the idea of 10GB/s transfer speeds, I can't help but think
Thunderbolt will go down the path of Firewire.
It's called _Unviersal_ Serial Bus for many reasons, but I still think USB
will remain king, regardless of transfer speeds
------
jonknee
Moving to a longer cycle also has the benefit of being friendly to people who
purchase the iPhone with a service contract. It's tough to be in a two-year
deal for a one-year device.
~~~
ugh
So the iPhone self-destructs now after twelve months? Devilish what Apple is
coming up with these days.
Normal people don't buy a new iPhone every year. And even nerds should know
that the market is moving at such a speed that it will be nearly impossible
for them to own the latest and greatest at any point in time. All iPhones were
at least 24 month devices.
~~~
jonknee
I think the point was more of a focus on software. Where we are today I think
the iPhone 4 stands up in hardware, but is lagging in software (notification
UI, reliance on iTunes, etc). An extra four months for some more RAM and maybe
faster data access isn't going to bother most people.
------
mcav
The iPhone doesn't need to get any smaller, and the display won't need any
more increases in resolution. That's practically it's only noticeable physical
feature. Anything they add to it at this point will be hard to notice unless
it adds substantial new functionality.
They can always improve on speed, camera resolution, and storage; they could
add LTE and NFC, but I can't think of much else that would even _need_
hardware support that they couldn't add in software.
~~~
kenjackson
A 4" display would be a pretty big deal. As would 3D support.
~~~
barefoot
How about a display on the back? That way there would be (nearly) no wrong way
to hold your phone.
~~~
meemo
You can only see one side at a time.
~~~
idlewords
unless they go the Möbius route
------
vl
My bet is on a larger screen: resolution is high enough to support larger
screen and competition has nice large screens already.
~~~
eelco
iOS and all the apps are build for a specific _physical_ size. A larger screen
would mean apps would need to scale (or run in an awkward smaller size) which
would look terrible and be awkward to use (very large buttons). The
alternative would be to ask developers to make another, slightly larger
version of their apps. Not going to happen ;)
~~~
allwein
The apps are built for a specific resolution. As long as the screen resolution
is 320x480 or 640x960, the actual physical dimensions of the screen are
irrelevant.
~~~
bzbarsky
.. or 960x1440!
------
aufreak3
There is still a _lot_ of scope for significant hardware changes in the device
space. A couple of my favourites - a) Pen input on iPad category devices
(great for schools!) and b) camera embedded within the display (so you can
look at the other in the eye).
------
tomkarlo
Apple isn't a hardware vendor: it isn't building its strategy off continually
trying to get people to switch to the "latest and greatest." Instead, it's
focusing on making it's money off the app store / itunes platform, and doing
that makes it more important to keep their existing customers happy and on the
phones they've already bought. That's why you see them being so consistent
about upgrades, etc and support for the older units than other manufacturers.
Continual planned obsolescence is great for hardware sales but tends to make
your customers feel a little sour about the product they bought from you last
year. If you really want them to be loyal, buying apps and staying with the
brand, it seems like a better plan to keep them happy through as much of the
product cycle as possible by reducing hardware churn and focusing on software
upgrades you can use for marketing but also distribute to your existing base.
------
dvdhsu
> Or an LTE chipset
> Would any of those justify an event?
_Yes_.
LTE would be deserving of an event, especially if the launch of the iPhone
coincides with the launch of LTE from ATT.
~~~
zdw
Agreed, but the timing might not be this summer.
Apple has been known to wait until the chipset hits their power envelope
requirements - witness the original Edge-only 2G iPhone when cheap phones of
the same vintage were already 3G.
------
Flow
What a silly person. The hardware is magic! :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Review our startup, PubliciTweet - jmathai
http://publicitweet.com
======
dc2k08
First off, great design and layout, very clean and pretty too. It compliments
twitter well. However, it's not clear to me what the service does. The first
feature listed on the 'what you get page' says: PubliciTweet is a social media
marketing tool that helps you leverage those followers with unique campaigns
and tools to track your success.
This works more as an opening tagline and might be better suited to the
homepage. From the homepage, I get the idea that PubliciTweet is a service
where I can queue a series of tweets at various intervals . PubliciTweet then
tracks and graphs which tweets by measuring clickthroughs perhaps. When I
click 'learn more' - I don't learn actually learn any more. Maybe an in depth
description could go here explaining the guts of it or a video demo.
~~~
jmathai
Thanks! I've been wanting to do a video demo. That's probably one of the
upcoming changes to the site. I agree that the 'learn more' page is probably
too wordy as well. Hoped that the bullet points would help clearly define what
the service does..but will add more clarity on the home page.
~~~
dc2k08
Just to be clear, I think the 'learn more' page is not wordy enough. I think
you should elaborate more on what the service does. There is more info on the
home page than the 'learn more' page.
~~~
jmathai
Ok, thanks for clarifying. I often shy away from providing too much verbosity
in terms of text. Sometimes I think people's eyes glaze over quickly. Good to
know you would like to find out more about the service and are willing to read
about it. Can definitely expand the learn more section.
------
Tichy
"Direct message all Twitter followers"
I already hate you for that. Don't advise your clients to do that.
~~~
jmathai
What's the deal with so many people hating DMs on Twitter? We provide the
option to send DMs to groups of followers. Our hope is that Twitter will end
up being a place where companies that provide valuable content (via DM or
otherwise) have lots of followers and ones which don't...do not. No harm done
if a spammer with few followers sends mass DMs. It really comes back to
inflating follower #s which needs to go away if Twitter is to become a true
tool for communication.
The bottom line is that you have the option of not following people you feel
send you unwanted messages.
Let me know if I'm way off base or missing something here.
Thanks for the feedback though.
~~~
Tichy
I think in most cases I would consider it an abuse of my trust if a company I
followed would send me marketing related DMs. Following on Twitter is _NOT_ an
invitation to send me DMs. It means - "ok, I am reasonably interested to let
your blurts flickr across my screen, and perhaps by chance I'll catch
something interesting now or then". If I want more, I can subscribe to a
newlsetter or something.
DMs are extremely intrusive, as they also trigger a notification email. They
should be reserved for stuff that needs to be private, or is urgent. Both
doesn't apply to marketing blurps.
Why the hate - because DMs multiply the cost of following somebody by a lot.
Whereas initially it is just one click "oh heck, why not", it ends up being a
hassle of a LOT more clicks and wasted brain cycles.
Edit: why I said "don't advise your clients to do that" - my most likely
reaction would be to unfollow that user, and I think many feel the same. Of
course perhaps marketing will find that it is still worth it (just as
newsletters work, even though everybody hates them).
~~~
jmathai
Valid points. One of our main goals is to curb spam usage. Just to let you
know some of the ways we plan on doing that.
1) We'll be introducing a pay model which should weed out the majority of
spammers (CTR won't be high enough).
2) A free version will be limiting enough that it won't be worthwhile for
spammers.
3) We have an artificial limit placed on "groups" so you can only DM N (500
atm) followers at a time.
If you have other ideas we'd love to hear them. We wouldn't post a site
intended for spam on HN :).
In addition to that, I think Twitter should employ more robust emails (or just
buy out Topify) that let's you easily block or unfollow users directly from
the DM email.
Thanks for clarifying your original post.
------
workhorse
Setup OAuth, ClickPass, Google Friendconnect, OpenID, or some other
registration method.
<http://apiwiki.twitter.com/OAuth-FAQ>
I run a Twitter tool that started out using Direct Messages, but found that
CTR in DM's are horrible. I had to switch to public status updates with
@username.
~~~
jmathai
We use OAuth to link Twitter accounts. Our OAuth implementation was done
before Twitter added "login with Twitter".
OpenID isn't yet widely adopted (not enough for us to really support it ---
chicken and egg anyone?).
I do like the simplicity of 'login with Twitter' but haven't seen any evidence
yet that our sign up page has many bounces.
We have 96% of users that link at least one Twitter account to their
PubliciTweet account. Which was quite a surprise to us.
------
aw3c2
You can save traffic if you compress your images better. You could probably
optimize them for better results, but even a plain "optipng -o7 *.png" for the
frontpage stripped away about 180 Kilobytes.
Also comsider using JPEG for some images, it might be much smaller. Using a
small palette and no transparency is the key for small PNG.
~~~
jmathai
Site optimization took a back seat so we could launch it early. I'm generally
a stickler about sprites and whatnot - none of which are used on the site. JS
and css is combo'ed and minified but that's all.
optipng would be an easy fix though and will try to do that for the next
release.
Thanks for the feedback.
------
chrischen
Maybe you could add support for other social networks? I mean when a company
thinks about going social, they'd probably want to establish a presence on
multiple networks. Maybe they want to target the facebook demographic instead
of the twitter demographic?
~~~
jmathai
Adding in Facebook is probably next. Though, I think it will take a little
while for us to really iron out the kinks with campaigns on Twitter. Thanks
for the feedback!
------
jmathai
I had asked once before but we've added a handful of features and didn't get a
lot of response last time.
------
adrianwaj
I'd prefer a tweet message than a DM from a corporate that wants my money.
~~~
jmathai
One issue with the public timeline is that you can't really get metrics for
which follower did what. When sending a DM campaign you can see which follower
referred the most clicks.
That being said, you can send it to your public timeline or to a group of
followers. It's up to the company to decide which one works better and that's
part of what the analytics are for.
The target company is one who has special promotions and giveaways and has
followers who value their offers.
~~~
adrianwaj
Can't you just provide a unique shortened URL within each tweet sent (or a
hashtag) and track if it was RT'ed (when and by who) or the individual link
clicked? You can have an opt-in/opt-out on the linked page too.
~~~
jmathai
We do provide a unique shortened url per tweet/dm. For the public timeline
it's more difficult to track the "referal".
We have thought about putting in a beacon of some sort. An issue with that is
that a beacon (like #zs8) is one of the first things to be removed from a RT
if it's not a valid hashtag. A url, however, is rarely removed from a RT since
it's pertinent to the message.
We're still thinking about how to track RTs from the timeline. The new retweet
API will most likely help and make timeline campaigns more valuable.
An "opt out" page on our site is a good idea. One issue is we don't do an
interstitial on which to display that link. Have to figure out a good way to
make that visible. Thanks.
~~~
Tichy
Perhaps interesting in that context is that Twitter seems to have started to
track clicks for users of the web site. (Clicks go through a referral page so
Twitter can count them).
I don't recall them announcing anything about what they want to do with it,
but it seems like it could become part of a commercial offering.
Unfortunately it only works for users on the web site.
~~~
jmathai
Yea, if the majority of traffic was from the website then we could possibly
track clicks based on the referer.
------
joshsharp
<http://www.howtousetwitterformarketingandpr.com/>
~~~
jmathai
Long domain, short content. Any reasons why not to use Twitter for marketing?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Freemium - MRonney
http://tech.li/2012/02/ceo-sunday-i-scream-you-scream-we-all-scream-for-freemium/
======
zepcatsal
First article by CodeSquare.me founder on Tech.li
------
lucidcircus
Well said.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: For those who overcame long-term procrastination, how did you do it? - hkyeti
Any behaviours, tools or other that helped you? Trying to make some positive changes in the new year
======
znpy
Just realizing that stuff won't get done automagically.
Some problems will actually solve themselves if you ignore them long enough,
but some other will come back and bite your ass really really hard. Since you
can't usually predict what case will it be, it's better to handle stuff
yourself.
Long story short: there's no easy magical solution, life is hard and work
expands to fill al the available time. You have to sit down and get shit done.
Corollary: I've also learnt not to take commitments that I'm not 100% sure I
want to (or can) go through till the very end. You don't have to delay stuff
you don't have to do.
Corollary (2): it's fine to drop stuff, especially stuff like side project or
personal stuff. In a work setting things are a bit more difficult, but saying
"I am having trouble meeting this deadlines, please let's re-discuss it" or "I
am overloaded, you'll have to assign this task to somebody else" is generally
better than delivering two months late. Good managers appreciate this.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Shopify Files for Proposed Initial Public Offering - shakes
https://www.shopify.com/blog/18032644-shopify-files-for-proposed-initial-public-offering
======
bonzoT
It amazes me how many IPOs are happening. This seems like the 1990s again....
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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What point on mainland of the Netherlands is furthest away from any buildings? - Mz
http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/87917/what-point-on-the-main-land-of-the-netherlands-is-furthest-away-from-any-buildin
======
Neliquat
That density is impressive, and a little frightening, for reasons I cannot
fully articulate.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Business Method Patents Limited by U.S. Supreme Court - rglovejoy
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06-28/business-method-patents-limited-by-u-s-high-court-update1-.html
======
jbooth
Thank you, Microsoft and Google.
~~~
tzs
IBM's amicus brief was interesting. The said "This judicial direction has
resulted in substantial economic, technological, and societal benefit because
software patents promote innovation both within and beyond the field of
software" and had a footnote to elaborate on that point.
The footnote said:
"Without the benefit of patent protection, software companies would be forced
to rely on secrecy which limits the public’s ability to learn from software
innovations, since patent documents are a significant source of technological
disclosure. See, e.g., In re Alappat, 33 F.3d 1526, 1571 (Fed. Cir. 1994)
(Newman, J., concurring). Given the reality that software source code is human
readable, and object code can be reverse engineered, it is difficult for
software developers to resort to secrecy. Thus, without patent protection, the
incentives to innovate in the field of software are significantly reduced.
Patent protection has promoted the free sharing of source code on a patentee’s
terms—which has fueled the explosive growth of open source software
development."
Another interesting brief was the one from the FSF. They spent _13_ _pages_ on
their "Interest of Amicus Curiae" section (where the submitter explains why
they have an interest in the case). That's something like 40% of their brief.
In this 13 pages, they talk about how Linux should be called GNU/Linux, the
1992 US Air Force contract with NYU to produce a GPLed ADA compiler, how RMS
is a genius, and much more. It reads like a press release.
For comparison, most of the rest manage to state their interest in a page or
two, and then get on to their argument.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Vote: How to Detect the Social Sites Your Visitors Use - pchristensen
http://azarask.in/blog/post/socialhistoryjs/
======
jgrahamc
A very neat hack. Now it could be used for other purposes, for example, I
could ignore social sites and look at other major sites (e.g. I could see who
goes to CNN.com vs. FoxNews.com). Or a company could see which of its
competitors a visitor has visited.
Also, it would probably be possible to recurse on a site and figure out what
pages they are visiting. For example, suppose a top-level detect shows that I
visit reddit.com, the system could then load up a reddit specific page and
discover that I also visit reddit.com/r/funny. I would imagine that for some
sites that could be very revealing.
------
smanek
wow, that's pretty clever. It uses CSS link-coloring to figure out if you've
visited various sites.
I didn't realize that works.
------
josefresco
As a very active social bookmark user I don't need 'help' bookmarking your
site, I already have browser plugins, toolbar links and plenty if incentive to
bookmark if I find your article/site/page useful.
~~~
jrockway
Most people are lazy though, and if you can get a few votes from the
lazy/indifferent, then you are more likely to end up on the front page (and
get all that ad revenue or whatever).
That said, I've gotten to the front page of delicious and reddit _without_
stupid tricks like this. I just wrote an article that people liked. (What a
concept.) I don't have ads either.
------
Jasber
Very cool. I was thinking this would be some type of cookie hack. This is
pretty clever tho.
I'm not positive on the overhead for this. Loading a couple of links in an
iframe shouldn't be too expensive.
But if it were a problem you could easily create a solution to store these
settings in a cookie, so the iframe would only be loaded once.
------
waldrews
It's a great find, but a huge security hole. The browsers have got to patch
it, even if it breaks some CSS functionality.
~~~
dhotson
Very true. There is a a lot of potential for abuse of this kind of thing.
I heard about this technique a while back in a presentation about javascript
malware:
[http://www.spydynamics.com/spilabs/education/presentations/J...](http://www.spydynamics.com/spilabs/education/presentations/Javascript_malware.pdf)
.. there's a whole section on stealing browser history and how to figure out a
user's search history.
------
swombat
That is pretty awesome. I was just about to write the social bookmarking code
for my new blog engine... this is excellent.
------
caveman82
I was at a web 2.0 presentation couple weeks ago and there was a company
presenting their product, which turned out to be essentially a social-
bookmarking-aggregator. What's next? An aggregator for that as well?
------
falsestprophet
Or: How to freak your visitors out
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Working While Female - prance
https://medium.com/@nickyknacks/working-while-female-59a5de3ad266#.lplkdlvui
======
prance
The previous post[1] to this has been baselessly flagged, so I'm reposting it.
[1][https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13836588](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13836588)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Carl Icahn just started a blog - lots of rants - dangoldin
http://www.icahnreport.com/
======
dcurtis
Wow, I thought he was just some obnoxious prick, but he's actually an
extremely intelligent guy.
He gets American business.
~~~
henning
A lot of blogs run by high-profile business figures are wishy-washy buzzword-
riddled bullshit.
It looks like this guy, though, could turn out to be the Zed Shaw of corporate
America.
------
jimbokun
Preach it Carl!
"They reward the CEO with pay packages and bonuses when the stock is
floundering or the CEO is leaving the company. Corporate performance and the
shareholders welfare seldom enter the picture. What kind of democracy is this?
There is no accountability."
I don't mind CEOs who make a lot of money for shareholders also making a lot
of money for themselves. But CEOs doing a bad job and still making extravagant
sums because of quid pro quo relationships among the executive class is
nothing short of fraud.
------
jonknee
> © 2008 Copyright of Icahn Blog LLC
All business. Always.
~~~
ljlolel
By starting a separate corporation, he guards his personal fortune from
potential liability payments. He's got billions of dollars, so he wants to
avoid losing any of it to greedy lawyers who push people to sue for marginal
slights.
------
notauser
Obviously a lot of these posts are the result of recent Yahoo fights -
especially the poison pill one.
I have some sympathy for what he suggests (company board members should always
fear for their lives... errr... jobs) but it is necessary to have _some_
stability.
Short term thinking already drives a lot of US companies, making radical
strategic action hard. Speeding up the process to remove boards to a single
EGM (as he suggests) could cripple the ability to do any kind of long term
planning.
------
sspencer
He's a pretty fair writer. I wonder if any of it is ghostwritten?
Interesting posts nonetheless. I hope he starts posting rants about Yahoo!
soon...
~~~
byrneseyeview
[http://blogs.reuters.com/reuters-
dealzone/2008/03/06/icahn-l...](http://blogs.reuters.com/reuters-
dealzone/2008/03/06/icahn-loses-battle-to-his-own-lawyers/)
"So far, however, readers wanting a fix of the latest Icahn blast on The Icahn
Report, have been disappointed, with the site simply sporting a dour picture
of Icahn with the notation, "blog coming soon."
At a meeting last night, Icahn explained that he’s not suffering from writers’
block, but said his lawyers are stopping him. "Every night, I write for an
hour and they tear it up," said Icahn with a sardonic laugh. "
------
axod
Forgive me, but who is he?
~~~
palish
Um, don't downvote axod for this innocent question. What's the point of that?
axod: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Icahn>
~~~
axod
thanks. And -4 downmod for my follow up. I guess I should have done my
research :/ just never heard of him before that's all.
~~~
palish
Yeah, those types of questions are easier to ask Google than to ask forums.
_However_ , it is really silly to penalize people for asking questions.
My father once said something to me that turned out to be valuable, and I
still try to follow his advice: "Only ask a question when you're truly stuck."
------
imp
Who quotes themself on the header of their blog? Shouldn't that be some kind
of inspriational quote from someone else?
~~~
dangoldin
I think when you are Carl Icahn you can do whatever you want.
~~~
cglee
I get the sentiment, but this type of title worship is precisely what he's
preaching against (when you're the CEO, you can do whatever).
~~~
dangoldin
I agree with you. My comment was meant to be sarcastic. It's a good idea to
try reading articles or posts before you know who the author is and judge them
based on the merit of that. Knowing the author affects your judgement.
------
edw519
Sometimes the best commercial is to put the boss right out front.
When Chrysler had trouble selling cars, personable Lee Iacocca did the TV ads
himself. Wendy's is still looking for a spokesman half as good as Dave Thomas.
And who could forget Remington's Victor Kiam, "I liked the shaver so much, I
bought the company."
Technology has changed but the basic idea endures. What better way to promote
your cause in a battle among high tech goliaths? The boss's blog, what else.
~~~
byrneseyeview
I'm pretty sure I've been subscribed to the feed since before the Yahoo deal.
------
dpapathanasiou
It'll be interesting to see what kinds of comments he allows.
------
JimEngland
My hero!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Programming is terrible; so learn to enjoy it - barake
https://walledcity.com/supermighty/programming-is-terrible-so-learn-to-enjoy-it
======
was_hellbanned
I think programming is great, it's people that are terrible.
People write horrible APIs and document them poorly (ugh, Microsoft's SetupAPI
put me into burnout mode last year).
People make demands of the programmer but kick and scream about clearly
documenting those demands (specifications).
People don't appreciate and thank the programmer for his hard work. Managers
and owners are suspicious and resent the programmer for not being grateful
simply to receive a paycheck.
Other programmers think the programmer is an idiot for asking a question,
thinking that every other programmer must know everything _I_ know.
Yeah, it's been my experience that people make programming awful. If you can
surround yourself with good people and the products of good people, you'll
probably be a lot happier. I can't advise on how to find that nirvana,
unfortunately.
------
kphild
However deep in shit they are, people can find "beauty" in it. It is a defence
mechanism. But why not see things as they really are?
~~~
maxander
Neither "beauty" nor "shittiness" are part of how things objectively are, but
rather things we project onto the world by how we relate to it. Why not, when
given the choice, project the former?
~~~
justinpombrio
"...there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
------
aperture
Love the article. I'm a university student, bored with the lab and into coding
SSRS reports as a job. Luckily, I enjoy my work, constantly fighting the SQL
queries and arranging the datasets in ever complex fashions the client needs,
or decide they want to change drastically.
I found though that my enjoyment in code is I like the challenges I face, not
how I got there. I have tools in front of me, that may be good or may be bad,
but it doesn't matter. Using these tools, learning some tricks, or asking
(even helping) others is what I find enjoyable. I enjoy the code because I
challenge myself. A client will give me a new task, but ultimately it's me who
has accepted it. Make the best of it.
------
rheide
Programming can be art, but only extremely rarely is work programming also art
programming. Even when you have the best of tools at your disposal, even when
you're working with the best people and the most reasonable clients, you're
still solving business requirements, not freeflowing into a design that just
jumped into your mind a few seconds ago in a flash of inspiration. Solving
business requirements should not, cannot be art. It should be robust and
maintainable and boring. If you keep art programming and business programming
separate then you'll inevitably find that one or the other does not agree with
you.
------
hcarvalhoalves
Just a small remark about the analogy with Wabi-Sabi:
"I came to know that programming (websites in particular) was not about
creating an end product, a final perfect form. It is a journey of discovery
and solution finding. I embraced Wabi-sabi; the idea of the imperfection and
incompleteness."
It's actually very hard to achieve Wabi-Sabi in craft - it takes skill and
observation to make it look genuine.
So it's not imperfect in the sense of "let's wing it"; but more about
imperfection being the ultimate aesthetic because that's the nature of things.
------
vojant
Programming is only a tool to create something. If the thing that we are
working on is shitty - then yes, programming is terrible. These texts are
related to the web programing which usually is horrible.
~~~
CmonDev
> _" I have even come to see the beauty in the ugly that is PHP."_
I recommend stopping immediately and going through a 6 month of therapeutic
Scala/F#-only development.
------
seanconaty
Just because it's related and it's one of my favorites, Another rant about
"real world" software developement: [http://stilldrinking.org/programming-
sucks](http://stilldrinking.org/programming-sucks)
------
nevster
Leave the world better than you found it. Amongst the madness of silly
business requirements and broken APIs, there are always opportunities for your
code to stand out as a small piece of beauty to your fellow developers.
------
CmonDev
After reading and based on my experience: " _Web_ programming is terrible; so
learn to avoid it. Focus on a nice server-side language (not PHP)."
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How to get into microservices real quick - MartinGoodwell
https://blog.ruxit.com/microservices/
======
prohor
You can also get a nice set of microservices resources, just searching HN,
ranked by points generated, so with good social proof they are good:
[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=microservices&sort=byPopularit...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=microservices&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story)
~~~
MartinGoodwell
This is awesome, thanks.
------
MartinGoodwell
I did some extensive research and blogging on the topic myself. As the
internet has been a great source of information for me, I'd like to give back
to the community and offer a list of my resources here.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Google Would Love to Bring RCS to Your Phone, but US Carriers Are Bad - Corrado
https://www.droid-life.com/2019/07/28/google-would-love-to-bring-rcs-to-your-phone-but-us-carriers-are-bad/
======
theamk
What is the appeal of the carrier-based messaging like RCS?
My experience with various carriers was that the features they provide is
always very late and generally inferior to existing independent alternatives
(the voicemail situation is a very good example).
So let's be happy that RCS is not catching up, because then people will switch
to different messengers which will have chance to provide real innovation.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Show HN: Unbabel API – Human Corrected Machine Translation - vasco_
http://blog.unbabel.com/post/75063388957/translation-api
======
etrain
This type of crowdsourcing meets ML is a really nice example of where we can
leverage humans and machines to the best of their current abilities.
It would be great if the feedback from the human workers could get
reintegrated into the translation models in an online fashion so that they get
better over time. I realize they're probably outsourcing their machine
translation, but that would be a terrific fully integrated pipeline.
~~~
gracaninja
I am Unbabel's CTO. Thanks for your comment. Our goal is exactly to use that
feedback to improve our MT systems. We are currently outsourcing our MT, while
training our own models (using Moses). Besides generating parallel text, the
types of data we will be collecting (e.g. chain of editions performed by each
editor on a task), will allow new and interesting algorithms to update the
translation models.
~~~
sushirain
I remember reading your NLP papers back in my academic days. Great work. One
typo: in the
[https://www.unbabel.com/pricing/](https://www.unbabel.com/pricing/) page
"from Portuguese to Portuguese can take some time".
~~~
Noxchi
And Italian to Portuguese should be not available.
~~~
vasco_
Why should it not be available?
~~~
byoung2
There is currently a gray dot, which for the other languages is used to
indicate that the source and destination language is the same. For Italian to
Portuguese this is not the case. It should have one of the other colored
icons.
~~~
vasco_
Ah, thanks, sorry, bug on our part, being corrected right now, thank you for
pointing it out.
------
vmarsy
I didn't know the product by itself, I'm not commenting about the API.
Seems a really good idea, however I looked at:
[http://news.unbabel.co/fr/fobo-est-presente-a-san-
francisco-...](http://news.unbabel.co/fr/fobo-est-presente-a-san-francisco-
pour-devenir-la-maniere-la-plus-rapide-et-la-plus-facile-pour-vendre-votre-
consumer-electronics/)
Vs.
[http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/10/fobo/](http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/10/fobo/)
and the translation, by _5_ people, is really poor: Just look at the first
line :
>Maintenant, vous sauriez déjà que Craigslist n'est pas bon comme un lieu pour
vendre votre produits.
This translation is unpleasant to read and has some mistakes. Google translate
gave me a better translation.
I guess the problem comes from the fact that translators are not native in the
target language. When you use the product, can you request native language
translators ?
~~~
vasco_
Also, you are correct, one of the things we are noticing is that requiring
that the translator be native in the target language provides significant
quality. As we increase the community, we will optimize for that. Thanks for
commenting.
~~~
vmarsy
As mmastrac said, if there's a way to add hints to the translator on how to
translate small sentences (for a mobile app for instance) I'll definitely use
your product!
For me, having a native translator seems a must have, I hope your community
will grow enough for it to be possible!
~~~
vasco_
There is already a way to send comments to the translator, Thank you for your
comment. When you send the message you can define the tone and give specific
instructions. We also have an beta version of the android app and are almost
ready to launch iphone. Also, we already have a lot of natives in the
platform. For paid tasks, the quality is vastly superior to the news. I would
invite you to try. Top up and experiment with giving instructions to the
translators. And please get in touch with us, I would love to chat.
------
zmmmmm
There is a kernel of genius in this: I can't translate a word of Chinese, but
I can usually do a _good_ job of _correcting_ a good machine translation. If
the machine does the first part, I can finish the last part, and I never knew
Chinese at all! So this would appear to dramatically reduce the requirement
for the extremely rare skill - being highly expert in two languages - down to
the very common skill of being expert in one language, and just passable in
the other. I love it.
~~~
vasco_
Thank you for your comment, that is exactly where are trying to get to.
------
kvnlw
I use unbabel a lot, and the really fast translation has a lot of implications
that aren't immediately obvious. You can communicate with international
customers efficiently in their own language. You don't have to build
translation time into the end of your release cycle. It's really sad when you
have to punt a last minute feature because you don't have time for translation
before the deadline.
~~~
vasco_
Thanks for the comment, we love our customers and we hope we continue to bring
value for you and your customers.
------
lignuist
> Human Corrected Translations for 1 cent per word
"Per word" of the source language, or the target language? Sum of both? What
about languages which have a different concept of "words" in written text
(e.g. Chinese, Turkish, ...).
And by the way... "cent" of which currency? :)
Edit: I just saw that the list of supported languages does not contain
languages with "exotic" types of word boundaries (yet).
~~~
vasco_
We are still trying to figure that out, there is no clear answer regarding how
to base the pricing. Perhaps it should be based on words that were actually
corrected? So for the time being we basing it only on source language words.
For chinese, for example, we probably will do it based on characters, but
ideas are welcome.
~~~
logn
I think only pricing the source language makes sense. That way the consumer
knows the cost going in and there's no incentive for you to provide more
verbose translations.
------
mmastrac
How do you guys deal with "context" around translations? Lots of shorter
strings in web application require some hand-holding for translators to let
them know where the phrase will be used, as the original English text might
translate to vastly different things depending on surrounding
functionality/text.
~~~
vasco_
That is a great point. We have some ideas on how to tackle that problem (like
integrating with pontoon, from Mozilla, for example), but right now there
would be some strings where that would be a problem. Surprisingly that has
proven less of an issue than we had feared originally. In any case, it is a
real problem for localization.
------
camillomiller
I have read some of your news translated in Italian by your service. That's a
very good translation, though in some parts the automatic nature of the
original translation is still detectable. E.g. The piece I read is the one
about Adolf Hitler Platz, translated from TechCrunch. Commas are the dead
giveaway: they're still used like in English. There's also a coordinate clause
introduced by an em dash – we don't usually do that in Italian.
That's to say that the service is super interesting, but I guess the final
user still has some manual editing to do if he/she wants to use this kind of
translations in a professional environment. Given the price, it's still a
great deal.
One last thing: the table in your home page shows that the translation from
English to Italian is not available (Italy's listed only under the "from"
column and not in the "to" row, if I'm reading that correctly).
Good luck with the product :)
~~~
vasco_
Thank you, we are working hard to keep improving. Keep in mind that the news
is done by the whole community, while paid tasks are only done by the best
editors.
------
TapocoL
Just curious, how is dynamic text handled in the Unbabel API? Can you pass
something like "Your score is %1" where %1 would be replaced by the first
parameter? Or would you have to request "Your score is 1", "Your score is 2",
"Your score is 3", etc separately?
~~~
gracaninja
Right now you can pass variables. We tell editors to ignore those variables.
For instance if you text is "Your score is %1" and you wanted to translate to
Portuguese, the translation would be "A sua pontuação é %1".
------
nowarninglabel
Pretty neat, will have to try it out for Kiva. We translate a giant volume of
words every year (we've translated nearly 100 million words total).
As it stands, we have an awesome community of volunteer translators who take
care of most our needs, but sometimes in times of high demand we could use
help getting through a large batch of loans to translate. That said, when we
tested out some external services for leveraging machine translation and
translation memories, what we found were a few problems that keep us from
being able to leverage external solutions
1) Our volunteers don't like "post-editing", meaning what you are doing here
of a human manually fixing up a machine translation. Since you are paying your
translators, I imagine they don't mind though.
2) It seems the majority of companies are focused on English -> Foreign
Language, whereas the vast majority of our translation needs are Foreign
Language -> English, and this proved decisive with most of the software being
geared in such a way.
3) Our partners are often in remote areas with not always the highest level of
education, and often are writing in a language that is their second language
(say perhaps French in a Senegal where the person's native language is Wolof),
so the grammar of the French is not going to be great to begin with. This
throws off the machine translation and makes it nearly impossible to develop a
translation memory that is segmented in the right way to actually produce
usable translation suggestions.
4) We need to review the text for policy guidelines (say for instance a
partner puts in directions to a business by accident in a region where our
borrowers are anonymized for safety reasons). But if we send a translation out
to a service like yours and then just have the English back, and then need to
report an issue in it back to the partner, the reviewer who would just know
English would not be able to communicate back to the partner the issue and
identify it in the original language version.
Anyways, just some food for thought in what we've had trouble with in the
space of trying to help us get our lenders connected to our borrowers by
providing them accurate translations of the borrowers' stories.
~~~
vasco_
Thank you for your comment, very insightful concerns and advice. We would love
to chat with you about your experience with crowd translation, it would be
really helpful. Would it be possible to get in touch?
One thing that we could be useful for is to actually help your reviewers to
communicate with the partner, that is to help in translating the communication
itself.
In any case, Kiva is an amazing organization, so obviously we would love to
find out how we can help in any way.
------
codegeek
Interesting idea. I am wondering though about "send message in your native
language". How will that work exactly ? I tried the demo but do you actually
support the native language script ? I got "* Unfortunately we currently do
not support this language. Please try a diferent message." How can I type in
Chinese for example ?
On a side note, just something that I find all the time. The unbabel blog does
not link anywhere to the main site and I had to type unbabel.com manually to
go there. Isn't this something that you guys care about in terms of traffic
source ?
~~~
sofia_
The demo is currently restricted to 4 languages: english, portuguese, spanish
and french. We do have chinese editors and can support chinese characters in
the live product, but are not offering it right now, as we don't have critical
mass.
Thanks for the heads up about the blog. Corrected at the end of the post.
------
hardwaresofton
Was going to make a product similar to this exclusively for Japanese language
-- interested to see how you guys do - I think the premise might be largely
flawed though, you do not want more than one person translating a large
document. Context is important in a lot of languages, and incoherent writing
style (as translation is almost never an idempotent function, there is always
more than one way to say something) often seems unprofessional.
(nvm, I think my idea is differentiated enough that I still might make it some
day)
~~~
vasco_
Hi, that is good point. It is something we are working hard on. I think that
starting with machine translation helps with maintaining coherence in style.
In way it is as if the first translator (the machine) translated the whole
document. The rest can be tackled with a lot of preprocessing and post-
processing. That being said, our method is not suited for really long forms,
such as 25 page documents or novels. Anything that requires creative
translation would probably need a professional translation dedicated on the
project. I would be interested in talking to you about your idea for Japanese.
Anything I can do to help let me know.
~~~
hardwaresofton
So, I'm not likely to pursue my own idea (though I registered a domain name a
long time ago and have a MVP that's rough around the edges) -- but I don't
want to be an idea-hoarder, I'd like to see where you guys go with this, so I
want to make suggestions (if you don't mind, I'm really not trying to sound
uppity at all)
\- I don't think that starting with machine translation to maintain coherence
in style is a good idea, while AI is still in it's infancy. Things like
sentiment detection, NLP, etc are still too infant in my opinion -- this is
baked into the premise of the idea as a whole... We still NEED humans to write
good translations - it seems unreasonable to start at the assumption that you
will get high-quality output from the imperfect machine process that you are
trying to improve (if that makes sense).
I think at best, you will START with bad style, at worst, people will
essentially re-translate the chunks to make more sense anyway, and you're left
with the hodge-podge.
\- If your method WAS suited for medium/long-form, I would suggest adding
another tier of worker-bee: the proof-reader. Allow worker bees to
apply/become proof readers, and create multiple proofs for large documents.
These workers would have qualified for longer-form proofing and possibly
editing. A possible increase to the relative pay of the proof-readers (as they
are even more closely linked to your revenue and customer satisfaction, and
are doing more work to boot), and providing multiple or a combined proof to
the customer (up-charge for this) would be a great addition to what you
already offer. This will probably do wonders for quality control, and will
remove the problem above (I think, to the extent humanly possible). This also
gives the people who work with you chance for improvement, chance to build a
personal brand, and a chance to take pride in their work (and maybe even build
personal/business relationships/trust that benefit the company).
\- Why not play in all the vertical space that you guys are in? Part of my
version of this service dictates a flat rate for a certain length, and a CLEAR
indication that that kind of service is for people with small blurbs to
translate. Some companies only need to translate small blurbs (disconnected
paragraphs, tag lines, etc), and could benefit immensely and constantly (if
you make a brochure for your company, or even an earnings report, etc, you
would need this service EVERY month/year, for example). I don't think you
would have to make too many structural changes to accommodate such a group of
potential customers.
\- I have not operated a system like this at scale, so all my suggestions are
largely baseless (keep that in mind please)
Oh and my idea was to rid the world of "Engrish", especially at the corporate
level.
~~~
vasco_
Thank for your comments, really insightful ideas. A lot of what you say we are
already seeing. For example in Turkish, where the quality of the MT output is
not as good as let's say Spanish, we are already seeing our translators
replacing entire chunks of text. Interestingly, in other language pairs, the
output is close enough that there is usually minimal changes in the output.
We have been thinking about having the editor position, we are experimenting
with the concept and how it fits with out current workflow.
Anyway, thank you for your ideas, really cool.
~~~
hardwaresofton
glad that some of it made sense, I really liked the site and obviously believe
in the idea, interested to see where you guys will go with it!
------
TezzellEnt
This is an awesome approach to human crowdsourced translation. The project I
was working on back in early 2012
([http://crowdlation.com](http://crowdlation.com)) was going to use machine
translation coupled with human editing and reviews in a very similar fashion.
I'm glad that this idea has such positive feedback, and I wish you guys the
best of luck! Feel free to reach out to me via the email in my profile if you
guys would like to chat.
~~~
vasco_
Thanks, I reached out through linked. I am looking forward to talking to you
about your experience in crowdlation.
------
exolab
I just saw a machine-translated text that was given to a translator I know for
"post-editing". Basically you have to delete everything that the machine
translated and do it all over again.
If you want to offer that for 1 cent per word you are going to get exactly
what you are paying for. 90% of qualified translators are bad enough that I
would never let them translate anything for me. I cannot imagine the remaining
10% will work for 1 ct/word.
~~~
vasco_
Thank you for your comment. There is a lot of variation depending on the
language. In Turkish, that tends to happen, a lot of times the translation
needs to be redone, but in EN-SP it is surprisingly good. The crowd aspect of
it tends to help with the quality problem. Still a lot of work to do though,
but we are off to a promising start.
------
edwintorok
Since the title is 'Human Corrected .. Translation' I assumed the API includes
a way for the end-user to provide feedback on the translation. According to
the docs there is a way to provide some instructions, define topics, but all
prior to the translation.
Also what if you want to translate multiple snippets of text, and keep them
somehow consistent? (for example some .po files from a project, translated one
entry at a time).
~~~
gracaninja
There is an endpoint to report a translation which we will release soon (it's
at the end of the documentation), meanwhile you can report a translation
directly to us.
We have an endpoint for bulk translations. We are working on a way to submit
XLIFF and PO files directly. Part of the consistency is achieved by the first
step of MT. We are working on keeping consistency between editors by
propagating their changes.
------
colinbartlett
Just a heads up for OP, looks like there's a mistake in your matrix of support
languages:
[https://s3.amazonaws.com/unbabel-assets-
production/img/chart...](https://s3.amazonaws.com/unbabel-assets-
production/img/chart_1.png)
Italian - Portuguese has a "n/a" style dot, but Portuguese - Portuguese
translation says "Can take some time".
~~~
vasco_
Thanks! :) I guess that one we could do pretty much instantaneously. Thank you
for pointing out.
------
lolexplode
Very interesting concept! I registered, and will keep an eye out for when/if
you guys add languages that I speak. I wonder if it's an error on my end, but
my profile says I'm in Arrifana, Portugal. I can only seem to change my
country of birth, which for the record isn't Portugal, so I wonder where that
is pulled from.
------
trey_swann
Very cool!
Let's say I wanted to Unbabel something from German to English. How long is
'Can take some time?'
Also, how long does it take to Unbabel something given 'Regular service'
conditions?
Last question, how long before 'Unbabel' catches on as a verb?
~~~
vasco_
Thanks Trey. Our goal is to get to 15 minutes of translation time. That would
make it usable for email and customer service messages. Right now it depends
on when our users are awake and which language pair. Faster time has been a
few minutes, average is around an hour.
~~~
trey_swann
That's fantastic! Great turnaround.
------
sunkarapk
Have you guys looked at
[https://github.com/pksunkara/alpaca](https://github.com/pksunkara/alpaca) to
generate API client libraries (SDK) instead of spending time on developing
them?
~~~
vasco_
I will look at it. Thanks for the info.
------
aluhut
Great platform. I hope you add more languages soon. My english is not good
enough but I could provide you with 2 east european languages and translate
them into german.
Also payment in BC or similar would be great.
~~~
vasco_
Thank you. We are planning to add Bitcoin at some, paying our translators
across the world is sometimes hard.
------
sinzone
this is an interesting API to have onto Mashape:
[http://mashape.com](http://mashape.com)
~~~
vasco_
Certainly, we started posting it there, haven't had a chance to finish it, but
will certainly do so. Mashape is a great website.
------
jbverschoor
Congrats vasco! Your pitches were very good
------
lsimoes
Good luck with your project.
------
davidslv
I wish you guys the best :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
China's Restructuring Scheme Is Screwed - 11thEarlOfMar
http://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-plan-is-screwed-2015-7
======
BurgersAndFries
This is going to be a painful lesson for the Chinese to learn, but it will
hopefully be for the better and a more stable future.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: how do mobile developers find clients? - nicholjs
I started a small dev shop with a group of friends in NYC. We are 3 developers - we do APIs in Ruby or Scala and native iOS development. Our backgrounds are strong, and we have worked on some cool projects together and individually.<p>Since the summer we have had two bigger projects. Those clients are happy, but the work is winding down as we come to completion. They were both from previous connections that we had.<p>We are finding it hard to meet new clients for bigger projects. Is there a typical way to find clients? I go to meetups around NYC, but that doesn't seem to lead to anything.<p>Any advice would help.
======
Curll
Shoot me a PM, I'd like to see your portfolio. I'm actually looking at mobile
app shops right now.
It seems like every other nutter in NYC is looking for a tech co-founder;
perhaps market yourself as a CTO-in-a-box?
~~~
nicholjs
Hey Curll, send me an email and I'll pass you along our work.
[email protected]
------
timjahn
We're always looking for quality mobile developers on matchist
(<http://matchist.com/talent>). We'll do our best to find you quality work
with quality clients.
~~~
nicholjs
I signed up a few days ago. Waiting on a reply.
------
orangethirty
You can advertise for free on codejobs. Check it out here:
<http://orangethirty.github.com/codejobs>
------
applebug60
Cold call. Advertise. Network. Linkedin. Golf clubs. Recommendations.
Just pound the pavement every single day. There's no easier way.
~~~
nicholjs
Golf clubs... that's an interesting idea.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What if someone invented a better mousetrap and the world yawned? - edw519
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/technology/08stream.html?=&ei=5124&en=3cbf9c1a8a06c507&ex=1370577600&pagewanted=all
======
thwarted
"Consider that Douglas Engelbart invented the mouse in 1964. It was obvious to
many people that it was a better way to control a computer, yet it took two
decades even to begin reaching a mass audience. Or consider the hyperlink,
invented independently by Mr. Engelbart and the computing evangelist Ted
Nelson in the mid-1960s. It took roughly three decades to reach the public in
the form of the World Wide Web."
These examples are starting to wear thin. It took three decades for computers
to become accessible enough, financially, for these things to even make sense
to offer to the masses, and it required a critical mass of users to make sense
to start doing business over the Internet. A wikipedia that no one could edit
or an Amazon that no one bought anything on because they didn't have a
computer in their home would be quite lame indeed.
The invention of the printing press didn't make everyone literate overnight;
the 30 years it took for the mouse to enter widespread adoption is nothing.
~~~
BrandonM
That's not to mention that it's not "obvious" to me that a mouse is a better
way to control a computer. If I had to construct a "find" query using a point-
and-click interface, I would be highly annoyed. I use keyboard macros on GMail
so that I can do everything without touching the mouse, and I get really
annoyed when the page loses focus and I have to click inside it to restore it.
So not only does acceptance take time and require good timing, but it may also
be that something that is "obviously" better may just seem obviously better to
you.
~~~
parenthesis
A good (standardised, consistent) mouse-driven interface means one can use an
unfamiliar program without reading any documentation first. This, I think,
explains the popularity of the mouse (along with its low cost relative to
touch-screens and other similar input devices). But giving a program input in
this way can be very slow. The experienced user can't get much faster than the
novice.
A mouse, of course, is a good input method when it makes sense for gestures in
2 dimensions to control something. (Hmm, that is rather tautologous.) E.g.
drawing (but then a graphics tablet is probably better for this, but more
expensive).
With a text-based interface, one must read and learn before one can use an
unfamiliar program. But giving the program input can then typically be much
faster, and the program can be easily scriptable.
------
noonespecial
FTA:
_“When I started I thought that this would take 6 to 12 months,” Mr. Harman
said. What he found instead were companies that had little interest in
redesigning their products, even in the face of the promise of double-digit
increases in efficiency._
I've found that you need for something to be at least 10 times better before
people will consider making the effort to think about using it.
~~~
xirium
A factor of nine improvement has been noted elsewhere on this forum:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=196994>
------
mhb
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=211712>
------
jakewolf
It's all about timing. Imagine if the first hybrid car came out when gas cost
$10 a gallon.
~~~
jrockway
Gas does cost $10 a gallon (in Europe).
------
rglovejoy
As far as the power supply fan is concerned, their manufacturers don't care
about improving its efficiency. This is because you are not the real customer.
Dell, HP, et al are. When they place an order with the metal-bending shop in
China, all they care about is price. If putting a more efficient fan in the
power supply is going to raise the price by a few pennies, they won't be
interested.
The only way anything that the high-efficiency power supply is going to fly is
if it is going into a high-end product.
~~~
olefoo
Or if it's going to a customer who is using a large enough quantity that
efficency gains of a few percentage points are big savings.
If Google can shave .5 percent off their electric bill by using a more
efficient cooling fan on PSU's going in to their server farms, it's worth it
to spend a fair amount to realize that savings, especially since they know
their usage is going to grow.
------
jwesley
Of course no one would care. New ideas are always repelled by inertia. Why do
you think we still use the terribly inefficient QWERTY keyboard?
------
eru
Does anyone have an idea how he could have managed to cast the vortex in his
bathtube?
------
LPTS
Dvorak felt like that trying to topple qwerty.
~~~
dfranke
Dvorak came first.
~~~
Hexstream
No, Dvorak came up with the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard after studying the
behavior of typists using previously available typewriters and presented it as
an alternative to Qwerty...
~~~
dfranke
Just double-checked. Yup, looks like I have it wrong. For some reason I had it
in my mind that alphabetical keyboards came first, then Dvorak and Sholes were
introduced within a year or so of each other and Sholes won out.
~~~
dangoldin
The reason the QWERTY layout was created was due to typewriters. They tried to
move the most commonly used letters away from each other to avoid the
"typewriter levers/hands" from locking up against each other when someone was
quick typing. Thus, QWERTY is quite inefficient since it's trying to make
commonly used letters as far away as possible.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How I Would Design a Programming Degree - alphaoide
http://www.kodefuguru.com/post/2012/05/24/How-I-Would-Design-a-Programming-Degree.aspx
======
Peteris
Completely disagree about excluding algorithms and data structures among other
things. In fact, I would say current curriculums feature much too less of
design skills in these departments.
Algorithms and Data Structures needn't be about existing ones, although they
are great examples. Algorithm design skills are a prerequisite for getting
anything done efficiently, quickly and readably. Design patterns and software
development models are secondary.
The case of data structures being available in libraries will lead to
confusion as students will lack the ability to select the one with most
appropriate performance characteristics. To them the only difference will be
syntax. You could argue that one can look up complexity characteristics, but
then how can you teach someone what is complexity without doing algorithms and
data structures?
Algorithms and data structures are so prevalent, that they drive design issues
that on the surface seem unrelated. Why map reduce is the query format we are
using; how Clojure can have immutable, persistent yet still fast data
structures; why public key cryptography is safe? And more importantly,
algorithms and data structures teach us about tradeoffs.
It's not by accident that top companies test algorithm skills in interviews.
------
tedmiston
This is not radically different from most (ABET accredited) undergrad CS
degrees.
Intro programming sequence: \- Critical Thinking \- Logic \- Imperative
Programming \- Object-oriented Programming
Databases: \- Relational Data \- Object-relational Mapping
Technical communication & ethics: \- Professional Communication \-
Professional Conduct
Software engineering sequence: \- Human-readable Data (also in databases) \-
Refactoring \- Object-oriented Design Patterns \- Requirements and
Specifications \- Organizing
Software testing (elective): \- Unit Testing
Senior design projects: \- Develop Software
Misc:
\- Declarative Programming --> We learn regex in an intro to Linux course, XML
in software engineering, etc.
\- Tools of the Trade --> Picked up on your own, from profs, TAs, teammates,
etc.
Which leaves only the following courses unaccounted for:
\- Optimizing --> General optimization strategies aren't really taught at my
university without looking for specific elective courses.
\- User Interface Design --> Sadly, CS does not seem to concern itself much
with the front-end of software; I wish this were not the case.
------
GuiA
That's pretty much what my CS undergrad was about (european university).
In addition to everything mentioned by the author, we also had algorithm
design, a lot of math (analysis, linear algebra, probabilities, statistics,
topology, graph theory from the top of my head), economics, law fundamentals +
intellectual property law, project management, communication + marketing,
economics, english as a second language, and electives in our final years
(computer graphics, etc.).
------
techtalsky
This seems sensible. Of course many people could quibble about things they
wish were included or dropped, but almost all of this stuff I've had to learn
the hard way. Having most of this information presented to someone in an
organized way would go a long way towards making them a formidable hire.
------
Tyr42
What about functional programming? I quite liked my class on it. Also, at my
school, we have a course on realtime programming on embedded systems. It's a
cool class, I would like to still see it around. Also, a class on bash and
unix would be good.
~~~
Peteris
Functional programming falls within the realm of declarative programming, so
he's got that covered actually.
------
serge2k
Courses in organizing and tools of the trade but no data structures?
------
vph
no formal study of the analysis and design of algorithms?
~~~
sp332
See the section titled "On the Glaring Omission."
~~~
RodgerTheGreat
From my perspective, the point of a Data Structures class is not so that
students can implement a red-black tree or skip-list off the top of their
head- it's so that the performance characteristics of those structures and
their associated algorithms will be deeply engrained. I've never needed to
implement a hashmap from scratch in industrial code, but I've sure as hell
needed to understand how they work beyond simply memorizing "insertions and
lookups approach constant time". Algorithms is a similar story. I think
leaving those courses out of a programming curriculum will result in mediocre
programmers at best.
------
NeilCJames
I would add the course: "Reading Code."
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Chrome extension to screen record solving project euler/codewars probs - dasqueel
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/brainswole-recorder/jelhidhkljiionbmmdbengnnbghaifip
======
dasqueel
OP here
When solving a project euler or codewars problem, record your screen and audio
while voicing your thought process and solution to the problem. When finished,
a title and description should be automated, and upload to your youtube
channel, or save it to disk.
I look to add a function to: _automate creating a thumbnail_ sitting on top of
other educational sites _polish the audio input_ group similar problems in a
playlist
FYI - this is my first attempt of releasing a product by myself, so I
apologize for any n00bs mistakes :)
| {
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Imo.im supporting Skype and Introducing Voice, Video Capability On All Networks - honeytech
http://www.honeytechblog.com/imoim-supporting-skype-and-introducing-voice-video-capability-on-all-networks/
======
senko
Interesting that it supports Skype, which is the only protocol in the list
that doesn't have third party clients (afaik; if I'm mistaken, please correct
me).
That'd mean they either partnered with Skype (which would be a first, so I
don't think it's likely), or are using Skype client API and rerouting audio
from/to it. That's quite a feat, especially if they can manage that in a
scalable (wrt the number of users) manner.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Root Cause of Procrastination - cborenstein
https://www.indiehackers.com/post/the-root-cause-of-procrastination-0c37b8d650
======
pmdulaney
Thank you. This is insightful.
~~~
cborenstein
Glad it was helpful!
I also recommend this related article by a psychologist that explains:
"When a person fails to begin a project that they care about, it’s typically
due to either a) anxiety about their attempts not being “good enough” or b)
confusion about what the first steps of the task are. Not laziness."[1]
[1] Laziness doesn't exist: [https://humanparts.medium.com/laziness-does-not-
exist-3af27e...](https://humanparts.medium.com/laziness-does-not-
exist-3af27e312d01)
~~~
pmdulaney
Both apply to me, but especially b -- except, not the first steps so much as
after the "low fruit" has been picked...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How to learn front-end development as a back-end web developer? - lichtenberger
Hi, maybe it's best starting with a book/course about plain Javascript, as I always feel overwhelmed by all those Javascript frontend frameworks (or typescript)!?<p>That said it would probably be best to write code in Kotlin and simply transpile it to Javascript ;-)<p>Any recommendations?<p>Happy easter :-)
======
shishy
I built a website using plain HTML/CSS/JS; it could be anything as simple as a
Tic Tac Toe game to something more feature rich.
Most valuable lesson there was in understanding what it's like to work with
the native DOM, since that usually gets abstracted away when you throw in
something like React/Angular/Vue.
Then I rebuilt the same thing using Angular2+ and React, but paid attention to
what set of things were made easier (and in some cases, more difficult).
Once I got the basics down I picked one I liked (React) and began using it and
diving more in-depth (best practices, reading blogs, codebases, etc.).
~~~
lichtenberger
Great advice, thanks :)
------
LarryMade2
Don't do all that crap.
For me I try out sites, discover things I like and then search for it along
with the term -jquery or "vanilla javascript" and work out just the code I
need.
For reading:
For HTML find a good book on the basics (I had used Visual Quickstart Guide to
HTML, but I bet there might be better ones now), for CSS I recommend "Stylin'
with CSS" which will keep things simple. Maybe "Handcrafted CSS" to learn how
to refine styles even more.
Another great common sense design book is "Don't Make Me Think" will go a long
way into determining what would be best in design and UX.
You will find when you drill down to that - you don't need all that much much
JavaScript at all. A lot of those templates and frameworks are only great when
you don't know what you want but will quickly/easily get the pretty pictures
and slick animations, later there's a price to pay to maintain or refactor.
------
adnanazadsg
Depends on what you mean by front-end development.
If its HTML/CSS and some javascript to make it work - the best way to learn is
probably to just find designs for websites/apps on a site like dribbble and
try to hack it together. Try codepend.io as well - looking at how others
accomplished something styling you might be struggling with also works well.
If you're talking about the more modern description of front-end - which might
mean ReactJS, VueJS, or any of the other hundreds of modern frameworks - I'd
say follow some tutorials on YouTube to get the basics and then just practice
building simple apps.
For someone who is a backend developer and already knows how to code, it
shouldn't be too difficult. You'll probably have a harder time learning CSS
and understanding good design and UX.
------
declank
Happy easter :) If you already know some HTML/CSS I recommend
[https://adamschwartz.co/magic-of-css/](https://adamschwartz.co/magic-of-css/)
I often use it as a refresher
------
lichtenberger
Ah yes, nowadays we also have Node.js and stuff like that, but I'm working
with Java and lately a bit Kotlin.
So more like learning Javascript/Typescript and Frameworks as for instance
React or Vue.js
| {
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} |
Dispelling the New SSL Myth - wglb
http://devcentral.f5.com/weblogs/macvittie/archive/2011/01/31/dispelling-the-new-ssl-myth.aspx
======
burgerbrain
The issue here seems to be that the author doesn't seem to really understand
the concept of "expensive".
"Expensive" is relative, and while yes, SSL does require more number crunching
than _not_ using SSL, the difference, as evidenced and backed up by google, is
peanuts. In the age of widely distributed tools like Firesheep, there is no
excuse to not use SSL if there is any reason at all that it should be used.
Price should be no concern.
EDIT: In my (admittedly, probably overly harsh) opinion, this whole article
just reads like someone whining about not wanting to do their job. The kind of
thing I'd send to my boss if I wanted to tell him something wasn't technically
feasible because I just wanted to sit around and sip cola.
~~~
yuhong
Well, I read the article and it seems like it has a lot to do with the
different crypto algorithms and key sizes. While that is true, note that even
1024-bit RSA with RC4 is better than nothing.
------
nurblieh
Hidden amongst the frothing rant are some good considerations. Unfortunately
most of the article is FUD. A couple points I'll mention,
"DISECONOMY of SCALE #1: CERTIFICATE MANAGEMENT"
The author states that distributing keys to a "farm" of servers (10
apparently) is hard. Presumably if you have 10 servers running your website
you've figured out how to distribute code to them all without injuring
yourself. Distributing certs is not much different.
DISECONOMY of SCALE #2: CERTIFICATE/KEY SECURITY
The author states that SSL keys are sensitive. Indeed, and so is your source
code. The paragraph contains some excellent FUD in the form of, a key on your
"commodity hardware" server is immediately at risk of theft and will lead to
"further breaches."
DISECONOMY of SCALE #3: LOSS of VISIBILITY / SECURITY / AGILITY
The author argues that SSL to the server introduces "unacceptable amounts of
latency." This is just patently false. Many of the top 100 websites on the
internet operate under this model.
The same paragraph says that _not_ decrypting traffic at every hop will open
up your service to "compromise." Even if parsing all the traffic is part of
your threat mitigation strategy, out-of-band or port-mirroring can give you
this ability without adding latency to the request or response.
Ah and I think the author should remove the bolded article that says Virtual
Hosts can _not_ be used with SSL certs. This is what the SNI extension is for.
Remember, security is hard and always a compromise.
~~~
pnathan
There is a cost to installing security, particularly at the higher levels of
FIPS certification. Let no one dispute that.
But I consider the idea of allowing your passwords to flow over the wire in
plaintext and allowing other information to flow in plaintext to be quite
ridiculous.
The author suggests a false dichotomy: 2048bit encryption (which algorithm? he
doesn't say) or none.
There are a lot of complexities here that can be tuned for your business and
its requirements. At least, if you can hire a competent security guy.
~~~
nurblieh
"There is a cost to installing security, particularly at the higher levels of
FIPS certification. Let no one dispute that."
Completely agree. Which is why I say at the end of my original comment that
security is "always a compromise." Put another way, you weigh the day-to-day
cost of more hardware and man hours against the potential future cost of a
serious security exposure.
Unfortunately most people are bad at calculating potential future costs. Which
leads us to your second point about needing a good security guy. =]
------
zdw
Hmm... I wonder if a vendor makes products that could offload the SSL burden
from the server onto another device, and provide an introspection point
between that device and the server, getting around all the objections that are
raised here...
Oh wait... look at that domain name...
~~~
wmf
I love the part where not buying an SSL load balancer implies "perhaps less
than ethical business practices". Say what?
------
laz
The lack of mention of SNI is odd ... like the author doesn't know what
they're talking about.
Most of the latter part is FUD.
One real problem that is encountered when moving to terminating SSL on many
machines, instead of a single LB, is the problem of SSL session resumes. When
the LB terminates all SSL on a single VIP, it has an SSL session cache and can
resume with clients. If you make that LB DSR to servers behind it for SSL,
they are going to have local session caches only. Odds are subsequent
connections that try to resume the SSL session are going to map to a different
machine, and without a distributed SSL session cache, the resume will fail.
We saw the ballpark of ~40-50% of SSL sessions were resumes at
$BIG_INTERNET_COMPANY
~~~
runningdogx
Source-IP based persistence on the layer 3/4 load balancer solves that very
easily. The src-ip cache merely needs the same timeout as the webservers' ssl
cache.
~~~
laz
Source IP persistence causes hot spots. Big web proxies etc end up clobbering
a single machine.
------
patrickgzill
There is a lot wrong with this article, including, no definition of what
"commodity hardware" means.
Would it have been that difficult to show how to run "openssl speed aes -multi
4" or whatnot so people could test on their own hardware?
Perhaps the recognition that even older hardware such as the quad core Opteron
2358 I tested on, delivers 350Mbytes/sec of AES256, would tend to undermine
their argument.
350Mbytes/second of network throughput is roughly 3.5 Gbits/second (I usually
multiple bytes * 10 to account for overhead); far beyond what most people
would ever ask of a single server.
(this same hw does 900+ RSA 2048 bit signs/s, just for reference)
~~~
Waywocket
>I usually multiple bytes * 10 to account for overhead
I don't disagree with your point, but this bit is faulty. If you want to
account for some overhead you should multiply by a number _lower_ than 8, not
higher.
~~~
__david__
No, he's right here--just looking at it from a different perspective. He's
saying "it takes roughly 3.5Gbit/s of bandwidth to support 350MB/s of real
data transfer."
------
makmanalp
> And as usual, it’s not just about speed – it’s also about the costs
> associated with achieving that performance. It’s about efficiency, and
> leveraging resources in a way that enables scalability.
Do you even know what scalability means? It roughly means that when the demand
on your software increases linearly, you can throw more hardware at it (also
at a linear rate) and everything should be fine. It does not mean or imply
using a small amount of resources. In this sense, using SSL is pretty scalable
since it's always a fixed cost per connection and as your number of
connections increases linearly, you don't need to add computers exponentially
fast.
> Encrypted traffic cannot be evaluated or scanned or routed based on content
> by any upstream device. IDS and IPS and even so-called “deep packet
> inspection” devices upstream of the server cannot perform their tasks upon
> the traffic because it is encrypted.
Good, that means it's doing its job right.
------
yuhong
Note however that even 1024-bit RSA with RC4 is better than no encryption at
all.
~~~
tptacek
There are no currently known viable attacks on that cipher suite.
------
pickettd
I think it is interesting that this article doesn't mention the SNI (server
name indication) extension to TLS in the section on certificate management. It
seems like a great way to bring down the cost of SSL installations.
<http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4366#section-3.1>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_Name_Indication>
~~~
stoked
Does anyone actually use SNI? Looked into it but browser support would exclude
ANY IE version on Windows XP which is pretty significant. Android and BB
browsers also don't support it.
~~~
pickettd
I don't know of mainstream hosts using it today, but I have to imagine that
hosting companies want to offer it as an option to their customers.
Interesting point about Android and BB, I hadn't noticed that before. Kind of
seems like a chicken and egg problem. Obviously server admins don't want to
turn on the feature until the clients support it, but the client support will
go slowly until there are servers requiring it.
~~~
stoked
IE/XP browser support is what held me back when I was looking at SNI. SNI
would have definitely made a migration to Amazon AWS more compelling. Without
SNI, every unique SSL certificate = unique external ip = unique EC2 instance.
------
dekz
_Also of note is that NIST recommends ephemeral Diffie-Hellman - not RSA - for
key exchange_
For the exact same reason this post is written, because RSA keys do not scale
linearly and become "expensive".
I honestly couldn't get through the rest of the article, if you don't think
securing information is a high priority, then you probably work for gawker.
~~~
slavak
Could you explain what causes RSA keys to "not scale linearly"? I don't seem
to recall any part of the protocol being non-linear in the key length.
~~~
dekz
It was more in terms of comparison with security strength vs key length. For
example, 3072 bit RSA keys are equivalent in security strength to 128-bit
symmetric keys. To reach 256-bit security strength equivalence, you need
15360-bit RSA keys. [1](Page 63)
1\.
[http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-57/sp800-57-P...](http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-57/sp800-57-Part1-revised2_Mar08-2007.pdf)
~~~
slavak
I hadn't thought of it that way. Thanks for the clarification.
~~~
dekz
Also I think my numbers are correct, for every double of key length size in
RSA, it is 8x more expensive to compute.
------
chmike
I have small computers with VIA processors that have the padlock hardware
witch provide an incredible boost to most common cryptographic operations. I'm
serioulsy considering sticking with these computers, at least as front end to
ssl.
~~~
zdw
I've been interested in VIA's hardware too - could you elaborate on what kind
of performance gain you're seeing, and what hardware your considering
deploying?
------
rdl
The biggest fundamental issue with performance and SSL is that it us end to
end, and defeats stuff like network cache, transcode proxies, etc. Everything
else can be solved by more CPU at both ends, which is cheap and only involves
parties with a direct interest.
Networks are more expensive to upgrade and limited by physics...especially
wireless systems e.g. Cell and satellite. Smart caches can help a lot here,
but not if everything is ssl.
~~~
mike-cardwell
What proportion of web requests are served from a shared network cache?
Whenever network cache is brought up in relation to SSL, I always wonder.
Surely it's only a few percent max?
I think the security gained from adding SSL far outweighs the efficiencies
lost by losing a shared network cache.
~~~
zdw
Caching can be very useful - I've deployed proxy web caches in school
situations, and it does wonders for speed when loading the same site on a lab
full of computers all at once (and also preventing age-inappropriate content
at school).
That's not a security sensitive situation - in cases where security is at
issue, the best practice is to make secure pages as lightweight as possible so
they'll transfer quickly on slow lines.
------
wglb
Disclaimer: I submitted this link after seeing it tweeted by tqbf, and wanting
to see HNs reaction to it.
HN did not disappoint.
------
laz
here's the response by Adam Langley, the guy who kicked off the "ssl is cheap"
thing with another blog post:
[http://www.imperialviolet.org/2011/02/06/stillinexpensive.ht...](http://www.imperialviolet.org/2011/02/06/stillinexpensive.html)
------
Shish
Requests per second for a static file on my server via HTTP: 400, limited by
bandwidth
Requests per second for a static file on my server via HTTPS: 10, limited by
CPU
:(
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
NodeMCU based Totoro figure that indicates the weather forecast through its eyes - jgrahamc
https://github.com/jgrahamc/totoro
======
jgrahamc
See also: [http://blog.jgc.org/2017/04/a-totoro-to-forecast-
weather.htm...](http://blog.jgc.org/2017/04/a-totoro-to-forecast-weather.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Oracle Whitepaper: The Department of Defense and Open Source Software - queeerkopf
https://blogs.oracle.com/WebLogicServer/entry/whitepaper_the_department_of_defense
======
queeerkopf
direct link to the whitepaper:
[http://www.oracle.com/us/products/middleware/cloud-app-
found...](http://www.oracle.com/us/products/middleware/cloud-app-
foundation/weblogic/dod-and-open-source-software-2012277.pdf)
Oracle argues that open source for military applications would be 1) more
expensive and 2) less reliable than commercial software. The whole paper is a
rehash of an old oracle whitepaper from 2009 [1]. Ironically both points are
refuted by the DoDs own FAQ on Open Source Software [2]. It's noteworthy too,
that the DoD has long years of experience using open source software and has
published its take away lessons [3].
So what's the reason for Oracle to rehash its old FUD right now and picking a
target that obviously knows better?
[1]
[http://www.oracle.com/us/industries/046045.pdf](http://www.oracle.com/us/industries/046045.pdf)
[2]
[http://dodcio.defense.gov/OpenSourceSoftwareFAQ.aspx](http://dodcio.defense.gov/OpenSourceSoftwareFAQ.aspx)
[3] [http://dodcio.defense.gov/Portals/0/Documents/FOSS/OTD-
lesso...](http://dodcio.defense.gov/Portals/0/Documents/FOSS/OTD-lessons-
learned-military-signed.pdf)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What are possible drawbacks of using a company in Singapore? - ianderf
What are possible drawbacks of using a company in Singapore for selling software online, targeting the clients in USA, EU and UK mainly - wrt the ease of doing business, possible double taxation, etc? (I'm not a citizen of any of those countries)
======
bbcbasic
Sounds like a big question you'll probably need a lawyer and tax advisor that
specialises in Singapore. What attracts you to there are you based there?
~~~
ianderf
Well, I think that it's not some arcane knowledge that nobody but enlightened
can understand. Anyway, it's better to collect some information before talking
to them.
Singapore looks like a good location wrt taxes and ease of doing business, but
I may be missing something.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Write and Submit your first Linux kernel Patch - ahmicro
http://ontwik.com/linux/write-and-submit-your-first-linux-kernel-patch/
======
augustl
In case you don't watch the whole video: <http://kernelnewbies.org/>
A great starting point for kernel hacking.
------
steevdave
Greg is an all around stand up guy. I personally like his presentation style
and even though I've been hacking on the kernel for a while now at my current
job, I never realized some of the things he presented. The checkpatch script
is great, except that a lot of companies still ignore it. Freescale's BSP
patches are extremely poor by checkpatch's standards, and that's what I spend
most of my days fixing
------
runjake
Greg Kroah-Hartman is a great speaker & teacher. If you'd like to jump into
Linux USB programming, his presentation on that is golden:
<http://www.kroah.com/linux/>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Why did OS X win out over Linux for so many developers? - coned88
======
im_down_w_otp
It's the best possible bridge platform for *nix development.
POSIX enough that tools and environments work pretty well without a mountain
of hacks and workarounds (e.g. Cygwin).
Mac enough that the user experience is coherent and consistent across the
overwhelming majority of applications. (e.g. drag n drop, key bindings, media
interop, etc.)
Popular enough to have native MS Office in orgs where that's still a hard
requirement.
I tried to force myself to go full Linux by swapping out my Macbook Air for an
X1 Carbon Gen 3 running KDE Plasma 5. The environment was nice and
customizable and I was able to get pretty comfortable with it, but the instant
I wasn't using a qt5 & KDE 5 frameworks application, the user experience fell
apart. Couldn't set my key bindings the way I like in GTK apps because the
GTK/GNOME teams apparently gave up entirely on accels files and key-themes.
Media interop was pretty much non-existent, and there were lots of annoying
little bugs (e.g. resizing a window would drop its focus leaving in a context
where there was no active window and I'd have to click back in it.)
I still use Kubuntu 15.10 on a 12-core Dell T5500 w/ 48GB RAM for running
larger distributed systems simulations/tests, and it seems about a hundred
times more usable than the Windows 7 machine my job originally provided, but
when I want to move fluidly between development, making arch diagrams, writing
docs, or creating conference decks I can't escape how much better the complete
experience is on my Macbook.
Also, LibreOffice Impress somehow managed to make a UX more bewildering,
broken, and obtuse than PowerPoint, which I'd previously thought to be
impossible. Viva la Keynote!
~~~
rebootthesystem
I used to react negatively to all the Windows + Linux bashing because I've
never had issues. I also use Macs. No issues there either. They are tools and
they have different personalities. I thought I was just, well, somewhat
unique.
Maybe something was wrong with me that I just didn't get it. I just didn't
understand just how bad it was to use Windows as an engineer (and like it) and
not have one iota of interest in becoming a vim guru (while still using it as
needed) while rejecting graphical code editors and IDE's. So, yeah, even with
over 30 years in computing and engineering I sometimes thought I was a little
nuts for note getting it.
That's until this year, when a contract we won gave me the opportunity to
spend a non-trivial amount of time (12 to 16 hour days) inside one of the most
highly regarded technology companies in the world. What I see is thousands of
engineers doing amazing work and, interestingly enough, every desk has a
Windows machine on it. I see IDE's everywhere and not a hint of vim. I see
Linux everywhere running on virtual machines and no problems at all. I also
see all kinds of other applications and the amazing way the Windows ecosystem
just absolutely hums when setup and managed professionally. Not a Mac in
sight. Well, actually, just a handful, out of thousands of PC's (I'm guessing
>30,000). What's also interesting is I have never heard a single engineer
complain or worry about anything Windows or Linux. Ever. Far more important
stuff to focus on.
I don't know what I can conclude from this experience other than, yeah, it
works like a dream when setup correctly. In fact, some of what I've seen has
caused me to rethink some of our internal setup. The other realization is that
the OS largely becomes irrelevant in the context of an organization. What is
important is how the web of computers, users and applications are setup and
configured in order to create a larger tool-set with which to run a business.
I've seen how a very large Windows deployment becomes largely transparent to
an organization to the point where everyone can focus on the job at hand. It's
awesome.
~~~
plinkplonk
"inside one of the most highly regarded technology companies in the world."
any reason not to name the company? I'm trying to think of a technology
company where Windows (and not Mac/Linux) dominate engineering workstations
and failing.
~~~
rebootthesystem
Sorry, I just can't name it.
You have to remember that "engineering" isn't just "software engineering" or
"web development". The vast majority of the engineering world does not use
Mac/Linux. There are countless major engineering tools that only exist on the
Windows platform and this has been the case for decades.
None of what I said is to imply these platforms are inferior in any way. We
use both Mac and Linux. I prefer to do web development work on Linux because,
well, you are working in exactly the environment you are going to deploy on
and tools like PyCharm work great under Ubuntu. Outside of that, yes, doing
web dev on a Mac is the next best thing. On Windows I always have to run an
Ubuntu VM, no point in jumping through hoops to make believe you have a Linux
environment, a VM works great.
Once you shift your focus to circuit design, layout, mechanical engineering,
CAM and other high-power commercial tools, Windows is pretty much king. And,
once you look at how smoothly Windows, Office, Exchange and other tools
integrate at an enterprise level, well, it's hard to ignore how awesome of an
environment it turns into.
~~~
im_down_w_otp
Yeah, I hadn't used Windows in many, many years, but when I did it was to run
Mastercam and SolidWorks.
I used it briefly to do Visual C++ and .Net CF development after that, but
relatively quickly moved onto projects with a lot of open source
underpinnings.
That was the problem with being originally compelled to use Windows at my
current job. Trying to build infrastructure automation pipelines and Erlang
software on Windows that will eventually be deployed on Linux is a colossal
pain in the neck.
------
officialchicken
It seems the migration to laptops as primary dev box was the biggest driver.
The linux driver issues were much more severe when running linux on a laptop
(power management, CPU C-states, etc). I need dependable wifi, sound, video
and other driver updates... I got absolutely tired of wondering wondering if
X, network, and/or sound was going to work after each and every minor update.
Apple was/is the only vendor shipping a "working" system in laptop form for a
reasonable price.
~~~
acdha
Seconded – you could see the trend start rolling in the early 2000s at
conferences, meet-ups, etc. I knew a number of Linux / BSD users who switched
and every single one of them cited driver issues as the primary motivation –
having a coherent UI is _nice_ but not having to choose between an hour of
battery life or daily kernel panics, playing audio/video easily & stably, etc.
was compelling.
------
kawera
\- OS/hardware integration "just works" out of the box, with occasional
hiccups on major OS updates. Overall, very little wasted time.
\- Trackpad and MagicMouse are generally well above the mainstream.
\- Good iOS interoperability.
\- Excellent screen, battery life, weight and finish.
\- Most unix dev tools/apps run well. Homebrew.
\- Aesthetics. Yes, it counts.
------
ramtatatam
Through 15 years I was working on OS X, Windows up to Windows 7 and Linux
(KUbuntu, Mint, Arch). In the end Arch Linux won.
There is no argument about the fact that OS X / Windows are much easier to use
by people who start their jurney. However at some point cons are simply
overtaking all the pros.
Although I disagree with some other commenters that Linux is hard to use on
laptops (linux went through long way - "normal" people can enjoy it just like
pros). I also do not agree comments about sharp look or battery life - I
personally use Samsung Ativ 9 and find it way way more aesthetic than mac
book. No problem setting up Arch on it. No waste of time to make things
working.
And none of my devs is using OS X. They went through long way themselves and
probably know better than me. My observation is that Macs are much more
popular in US so since I'm based in London my view may be biased.
~~~
oxplot
For me, Arch won on every machine, desktop, laptop and RPi and I think it
mostly had to do with how Arch stays the closest to unix philosophy. I used
Fedora for a few years and before that Ubuntu and I think I only ever rolled
my own package or modified an existing one once or twice because of the sheer
complexity of it. With Arch, from day one I was fiddling around and every time
I need something that's not packaged already (and that's rare), it takes me
minutes to do it myself. I'd much rather know how to build my way through (and
not suffer) than cross my fingers that someone else already has.
Adding to that, I find Arch to be so clean and minimalist and more importantly
unsurprising. Because of its rolling release cycle, I never have to plan an
upgrade which always stressed me out with Fedora and Ubuntu.
Regarding hardware support, I'm running Arch on a mid 2015 manufactured Lenovo
X250 and everything works out of the box and I get a solid 8 hours battery
life out of it.
~~~
acehack
Well I'm one Arch + Gentoo user. Though I've optimized both to be as energy
efficient as possible, I've never been able to get something comparable to
Windows in terms of battery life. So once it's fully optimized (and I'm on
XMonad, not GNOME, so power consumption should be fairly less), I can draw
about 3 hours or so, as long as my browser (Chrome) isn't running Javascript.
The moment I start some decent browsing, I cannot get more than say 2 hours
from my laptop. Video watching? Again, not more than 2 hours. On Windows I
could go on to watch movies for more than 4 hours (this might be less because
of the smaller battery on my device). Do you do some special magic to get that
much juice out of your battery? I'd love to know some cool tips. I myself
wrote some on my blog.
P.S. Not to mention, running Emerge on Gentoo with -j9 lands me at a battery
life of less than half an hour :P
~~~
oxplot
As boring as it may sound, I didn't do anything special, just the run of the
mill practices: lowering brightness, running `powertop` and setting all
tunables to "Good". At idle, this gives me ~3 Watts usage. With the 46 Wh
battery, that's 15 hours. Of course when I start using the laptop that's
halved more or less. With the screen off (when I'm using the external screen),
it goes down to ~2 Watts, for a whopping 23 hours battery life at idle. I
remember an Acer Travelmate I purchased back in 2009. The lowest I could get
the power consumption was 7 Watts at idle. I'd say Intel for the most part,
has come a long way in power efficiency.
EDIT: I use Mate Desktop BTW.
------
racerror
Corporate procurement practices and policies definitely come into play, as
well.
With Linux, there isn't a consensus laptop model that everyone will request.
One ends up with a lot of one off business cases, vendors, service contracts,
etc.
With Mac, you have a consistent upgrade cycle, one service contact, and no
fragmentation of OS distribution usage, etc.
TLDR; It's easier to say "I want a macbook pro w/ cinema display..." and "we
hired another developer, please re-order a mac dev setup", than any similar
Linux setup.
------
edoceo
Hmm, I've been using Gentoo on desktop, laptop and servers for over 10 years.
My Mac devs make work around in our code (geared towards Debian servers) so it
runs in MAMP. Linux all the way through is a win.
As far as having to edit config files to make things work: I think it's good
to know what's under the hood.
We get recent CS grads who know very little about how computers work. Linux
might force you to learn the fundamentals but, I argue that is a good thing.
And, my Gentoo desktop (primary dev box) has been happy for a decade - through
upgrades to hardware and software. Cheap & stable. What's not to love?
------
mschuster91
The hardware is pretty solid, you can literally beat up someone with a MBP,
and 8+h battery life when coding (on the shell, not phpstorm/idea)... nothing
even comes close to it.
And it's reasonably enough unix-y (and modern if you use macports to install
current versions of core tools) to allow daily work on OS X instead of Linux.
------
maxharris
It gave users unix with a visually consistent desktop environment right out of
the box. Also, the hardware integration makes it easy to just get started
right away without fiddling for days.
------
Ologn
One obvious thing is OSX runs on top of a BSDish architecture. So while using
Macos 9 or Windows could be painful in some respects, OSX has a shell etc.
similar to Linux already.
Prior to Ubuntu, this was a no-brainer, setting up things like a wireless
adapter could be a trial. I run Ubuntu on a System76 laptop and have been
happy with it. I like being able to get the source for everything I use and be
able to patch it.
------
gamedna
There are lots of great techical reasons already discussed, but I would like
to add one factor to consider: the "mercedes effect". Apple devices do have a
certain status associated with them. Combine that with many startups like to
showcase their developers in videos working on dual monitor 27" imacs and
macbook pros.
Food for thought.
~~~
paulddraper
People have Macs for similar reasons as iPhone for similar reasons as Apple
Watch
------
colept
OSX is a lot more refined and the GUI programs available for developers are
more rich. If you're switching from Windows, you're likely to find more of the
programs you're familiar with or alternatives. Also Mac hardware is often
found in Universities which gets students familiar with the environment.
------
fian
My understanding is that the OS X EULA does not permit OS X to be run on non-
Apple hardware or in a virtual machine that is not also running on Apple
hardware.
So if you want to test on OS X (including Safari) then you need at least one
Mac.
Sharing a single Mac for testing could be enough, but given a team of more
than a few devs and it may become a bottleneck.
You can run Windows and Linux VMs on a Mac - without breaching any EULAs.
For web devs who care about Safari, Macs become almost mandatory.
Note, I do not own or develop on a Mac. I primarily work on a desktop
simulation software written in Java. I found the Mac love professed by other
devs I know somewhat bewildering for a long time. I was only when I dabbled in
some web development with a Rails app that I realised how much pain came from
browser differences across platforms. Now the strong preference for Macs made
more sense.
------
dmritard96
Not sure what it is exactly but the retina display doesn't play nice with
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.
Webcam drivers also broke when apple switched from a USB Webcam implementation
to pci or something.
Power consumption on osx is probably a half or third of 14.04 LTS.
I founded a company and need MS Office (unfortuantely), Fusion 360 for CAD
work (FreeCAD didn't quite cut it) and once things got rolling the number of
Skype calls picked up.
I still dual boot and prefer Ubuntu, but now I am 90+% in osx.
Before this computer and startup, I had been using Ubuntu for 6 years and
loved it. Looking forward to going back one day, but for a while, I'm going to
be on osx.
------
ranedk
I have done .NET programming on windows for 3-4 years and felt the programming
environment was pretty neat. The frustrating part was windows upgrades and the
OS eating up all resources and the frequent need to upgrade the machine.
I switched to Linux(redhat and then ubuntu) for the next 8 years and loved vim
and programming tools that linux had to offer. The resource utilization was
never a blocker. The frustrating part was wireless drivers and machine hanging
up because of them.
I recently shifted to OSX and installed iTerm/vim and all that. There have
been no issues with wireless hardware and resource utilization. However,
setting up production-like environment, which runs on Linux is a huge pain.
Running a dual-boot ubuntu is also not as seamless and there are quite a few
display driver issues. My take:
\- If you have just started programming, start with Linux (if you haven't
fought enough to compile drivers for your machine, you are one bit less of a
real programmer)
\- If you are doing a lot on the server side which largely is Linux driven,
then you better use Linux to understand systems and deployment.
\- If you are using eclipse, then you better shift to OSX because no other
hardware-os combo at that price can let you code in peace.
------
LarryMade2
I could guess that the bar for entry to develop via OSX is a bit lower than on
Linux.
While Linux Distros like Ubuntu make it really easy to set up a developer
system (with localhost web, languages and database) it is even easier on OSX
via MAMP: install MAMP, configure with a GUI, ready to roll.. Linux you might
be tweaking some config files to get the optimal setup.
On Linux you are partially a dev-op not only working on your code but also
learning and tweaking your OS, services, etc. for one reason or another.
Another factor is there are some shinier tools on Macs, (i.e. the Adobe
lineup, and a easily installed Sublime Editor) And many that went to learning
institutions will be comfortable more with Dreamweaver/Photoshop/Illustrator
than Eclipse/GIMP/Inkscape.
I took the Linux route, even though I already owned a Mac, I felt on Linux I
was closer to the metal where Mac OSX had too many safety rails (both for the
user and many publisher's safety)
~~~
pdex
I'm not sure why the adobe suite of products is misconstrued as an "apple
only" set of tools, it's a myth I've run into many times before. They run
rather nicely on other platforms, not to mention sublime isn't mac only
either. I'm forced to use Mac at work (employer wants the same platform to be
used company-wide), but I have always used a wide number of graphics and
development tools (the adobe suite, sublime, maya, zbrush, etc) on windows
over the years and will continue to do so. I haven't played with Linux yet,
but I detest Mac OS as I don't need training wheels.
~~~
snowwrestler
Saying that OS X has "training wheels" just basically discounts you from a
comparative discussion of OS's in my opinion. It's substance-free denigration
that adds nothing to the conversation.
If there are parts of OS X that you don't like, fine, post about those,
specifically.
Adobe products run fine on Windows, in fact Premiere runs better on Windows
than Mac. But the parent was comparing Macs to Linux, and Adobe does not run
on Linux at all.
~~~
pdex
There is nothing denigrating about using "training wheels" as an analogy,
Apple's bread and butter are media consumers and not developers, in my
experience it shows in the OS."Training wheels" are for kids to learn how to
ride a bike without hurting themselves, similarly Mac OS is primarily geared
towards providing a "safe" home computer experience to the computer illiterate
media consumers where user is protected from destroying their system by being
passively prohibitive. These "training wheels" are particularly irritating
although they can be worked around, but they also make simple tasks far more
complicated than they need to be this is rather frustrating/irritating for
some developers. All platforms have their share of problems.
~~~
snowwrestler
> Apple's bread and butter are media consumers and not developers, in my
> experience it shows in the OS.
I mean, have you been to a developer conference lately? That wasn't a
Microsoft conference? Did you happen to see any Macs there?
> Mac OS is primarily geared towards providing a "safe" home computer
> experience to the computer illiterate media consumers where user is
> protected from destroying their system by being passively prohibitive.
OS X has shipped with a complete Unix shell since 2001. Pretty much every
dangerous command you can think of on Linux will execute the same way in
Terminal.
~~~
pdex
>I mean, have you been to a developer conference lately? That wasn't a
Microsoft conference? Did you happen to see any Macs there?
I haven't been to a MS developer conference and saw a mix of platforms at all
other conferences I've been to. Have you actually watched apple's product
launches? Ever notice the media consumer is whom they are marketing to?
>OS X has shipped with a complete Unix shell since 2001. Pretty much every
dangerous command you can think of on Linux will execute the same way in
Terminal.
There is so much more to an OS than terminal, so it's not all that matters. I
suppose if one only worked 100% out of terminal and nothing else it would be a
non-issue.
~~~
snowwrestler
This Apple product launch was for consumers?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w87fOAG8fjk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w87fOAG8fjk)
Again: if there are aspects of OS X you don't like, that's fine. There are
certainly some things that I don't like. But the idea that it's somehow got
"training wheels" and is therefore not suitable for developers, is just not
supported by any evidence.
~~~
pdex
You're offended by the term, but I assure you I'm being quite objective- the
"safety measures/training wheels" clearly exist. Why is it that you feel it's
not suitable for developers? I'm curious because I never said that, but you
did.
------
pdkl95
Why? Because far too many developers are distracted by technical baubles
instead of prioritizing the long term freedom. We are losing the War On
General Purpose Computing, and apple - having convinced a generation of
programmers to develop for their closed platforms - has done a lot of damage
to computing freedom.
~~~
__44x0
Absolutely. I would continue to use Linux even if I thought my development
environment / user experience were worse than on Windows or OS X. Fortunately
I don't though!
------
mxvanzant
Seems to be the case in US. I work for a small dev shop and everyone else is
using OS X, except me. I'm running Linux Mint 17.1 (Mate Desktop) on a Toshiba
Satellite w/4K screen, SSD, and 16GB ram. Love it. And I like PC style
keyboards better than Mac keyboards :)
------
sgtpepper43
I know the only reason I use OSX for work is because we have an iOS app. If we
didn't have that I, and probably half the other developers, would be rocking
some flavor of Linux. You can write software for 99% of users on OSX (with a
windows VM, anyways).
------
oxguy3
For me at least, I made the switch to OS X simply because of software support.
There wasn't a good Linux equivalent for Sequel Pro; there's no git gui tool
on Linux that matches SourceTree (which my team was standardizing on for its
gitflow integration); etc.
And damn, the hardware is just nice. If I could run Fedora on a MacBook Pro,
that'd be my ideal setup. Or if OS X wasn't so terrible at customization --
the number of sketchy hacks I've had to install to get my setup how I like it
is just depressing.
------
eecks
There's still no good linux laptops* that come with Linux as the main OS.
MacBook Pro blows away all the compeition.
*I've seen poor reviews of System76s stuff.
~~~
jononor
Pretty darn happy with my Dell XPS 13. Use Arch Linux instead of the included
Ubuntu LTS, though.
------
bewe42
I have worked on Windows, Linux, Mac. Nowadays Mac-only:
\- least amount of hassle, 95% it works \- very good piece of hardware \-
great number of OS-X only tools
expensive, but it's the tool of my craft so I'm willing to pay for it
------
proyb2
On the hardware side, Repairability, same hardwares and less waiting time to
repair than competitors which are too fragmented and far less hardware
defective.
------
AznHisoka
Because Apple products are very popular. What laptop/pc comes with Linux
preinstalled?
~~~
Ologn
System76. I use a System76 laptop right now.
~~~
monster2control
Well I'll give them that the options are awesome, 64 GB of Ram and PCIe solid
state drives with top of the line graphics and CPU for about the same as a top
of the line MacBook Pro $3+k. But it is heavy, kind of ugly, and low battery
life. Which to me means I might as well just buy a desktop for less.
------
jordsmi
Works out of the box.
Most dev things work exactly the same as on linux.
You can use photoshop
------
stefantalpalaru
For the same reason so many developers use javascript in the back-end -
misapplied laziness.
~~~
codemonkeys
I agree with ya. It takes a lil work to get Linux tuned to your needs, but
once set up it rocks hard. I use Ubuntu server with the i3 wm and a bunch of
shell scripts. I control my world with just my keyb and I love it.
------
j_s
Ain't nobody got time for that [Linux]!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Should I learn Ruby on Rails or Python? - anantzoid
I'm familiar to C and C++ syntax and plan to learn a new and more powerful programming language this winter. Should I go for Python 2.x(since I'll be working on linux)or shall I learn Ruby on Rails? I want a more versatile language since I'll may change platforms.
======
sathishmanohar
Its amazing how many people start with Ruby on Rails first.
To be clear,
Language: Ruby, Framework: Rails
Language: Python, Framework: Django etc.
So, Language is what you actually write as code, Framework is set of
frequently used patterns, that is provided as a package to make app
development easier.
If you are totally new to frameworks, I recommend going with Ruby on Rails,
Coz, It makes many commonly used programming patterns, lot easier (no
configurations, as they say). When I say easier, its as easy as one line of
code sometimes. Many people say, you don't have to know ruby to start with
Rails (which is partly true), but, I recommend learning ruby first before you
try rails, because, ruby has many fundamental syntactic differences, that
might trip off a lot of people.
Another big difference is, if you learn Rails, you can make CRUD Web
applications easily. But, not other kind of applications. Ruby can be used to
make native applications though, same with python.
Both Python and Ruby are cross-platform and available for all major Platforms.
Hope this helps.
------
pheelicks
As already pointed out, one is a framework (RoR), while the other is a
language. As you talk of learning a programming language, I'm guessing you
meant, should I choose Ruby or Python?
To pick between I would suggest you try and write a couple of simple scripts
in both and see which suits you better.
You should also think what you would like to use this knowledge for in the
future. Do you want to build web apps, manipulate text, write desktop apps?
Once you know this, it'll be easier to make the right choice about which tech
to use.
------
phektus
Uhmmm, ruby on rails is a framework. You should be asking whether to learn
Python or Ruby. Why not learn both so you can expand your vocabulary and
narrow down once the situation demands it?
------
Zepplock
Apples or Oranges? Python is a language, RoR is a framework. Would make more
sense to ask your question about Python and Ruby, or Django and RoR.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How to use metrics in a startup - charlieirish
http://swombat.com/2011/2/10/how-to-use-metrics-in-a-startup
======
visakanv
I was just reading something that's related and yet totally different- about
the US Army grappling with whether or not to use kill counts as a public
metric. The answer tends to be "it depends". Interesting read that makes it
very clear how metrics can have messy implications:
[http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124380078921270039](http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124380078921270039)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Tor at the Heart: OnionShare - BuuQu9hu
https://blog.torproject.org/blog/tor-heart-onionshare
======
noonespecial
Downside: Slow as molasses in January. (1)
Upside: Dodges nearly all forms of NAT and most content filters so long as the
server's Tor Browser is set to use only port 443. You can just pop it open in
any random coffee shop and get busy.
I would love to see an upload feature for the client so that the remote users
can return files to the server.
(1) You can help fix this. If you plan to make use of a service like this,
please consider running a relay node at the same time. This is not risky like
running an exit and directly helps services like this run better.
~~~
Franciscouzo
Please don't, or if you do, host the relay node from a completely different
connection.
Onion sites are not completely hidden, and uptime times can be correlated to
know which ip is running which hidden service [1], completely missing the
point of hidden services.
[1] [https://research.kudelskisecurity.com/2013/09/04/dont-
run-a-...](https://research.kudelskisecurity.com/2013/09/04/dont-run-a-tor-
router-and-a-hidden-service-from-the-same-connection/)
~~~
noonespecial
True. "At the same time" was a poor choice of words. I was thinking more along
the lines of if you are going to use something like this regularly, especially
to move files of considerable size, consider giving back.
It's actually not even smart to run tor support services on the same subnet as
tor users.
------
hansen
If you want to anonymously share large files there’s also bittorrent over i2p.
Work pretty well.
[https://geti2p.net](https://geti2p.net)
------
chakalakasp
This is elegant! A small utility that does one thing very well.
~~~
yarou
It does, but it is woefully inadequate for the purpose it supposedly serves.
Uncensoring journalists across the globe? Give me a break.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Easily render D3 examples in Node.js - bradoyler
https://github.com/bradoyler/d3-node
======
bradoyler
See examples in repo, that output svg or png
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
HoloLens 2 Remote Collaboration is fake? - GlebBraverman
Facebook, Twitter and other media are still rumbling on the news from MWC-19 and Microsoft release of its HoloLens 2 with “Spatial” remote collaboration demo.
The project was presented by Spatial team and CTO of Mattel (iconic toy producer). The crowd is super-excited about the demo, however we’d love to give some thought on what Microsoft’s recent release really stands for:<p>1) Turning 2D images into full 3D avatars in few seconds sounds quite challenging. I mean, there’re awesome guys like Wolf3D, but it still doesn’t work just like that even for them. Have a look at Jinha Lee (00:21 on the video) standing with his back turned to the crowd, this is simply impossible to create out of 2D photos – not online or within seconds - ever!<p>2) Moving on to magical search engine (from 02:10) with predefined 3D objects: there is a 3D model with animation for every search. Looks more like a fantasy to me.<p>3) There is plenty of black color in the video, while HoloLens holograms are created by adding light to real life light. This means that white appears bright and black renders transparent. To put it simple you cannot see black color in Hololens.<p>Bottom line, we believe the whole thing was a replay with pre-recorded user actions(best case scenario) or a video. What really confuses is why the presented case was this basic. At some point the Mattel CTO states that the remote collaboration gives a faster way to the market + reduces time for travel. This is so true, BUT: in the remote collaboration demo we’ve spotted just the collaboration part.
======
lacion
1, there are demos of avatars created in real time for VR and AR, even back in
the days where all we had was Kinect. all in real time. the avatars show in
that presentation were pretty crappy compared to the ones demoed in more
recent VR devices that track eyes and lips.
2\. its a demo, that was most likely staged so that 3d models would appear,
they may be searching inside their own DAM/MAN system that already has the
assets.
3\. black colors can be reproduced in transparent screens. magic leap does it
why not the hololense?
~~~
GlebBraverman
1\. Not a good example. Kinect has a depth sensor - this guys claim to do it
from a 2D photo.
2\. OK, then what the point of showing it if it is prerecorded? that does not
show any real value to users. Basically nothing different from a video.
3\. Its impossible to disguise real light the way you say it. This is
fundamental technical limit. I am not sure how magic leap is doing it if doing
at all.
------
GlebBraverman
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3UTYxaXtc0s&t=35s](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3UTYxaXtc0s&t=35s)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
JQuery 2.0 ends WinXP support - Good. - th3byrdm4n
http://skyhighcode.blogspot.com/2012/07/jquery-future-kills-winxp-good.html
======
greenyoda
The title is not an accurate statement. JQuery 2.0 will not support Internet
Explorer 8 or below. While IE 9 does not run on XP, other modern browsers such
as Chrome or Firefox do.
------
rograndom
And JQuery 1.9 will still support all the browsers the current core does, with
the same API and features of 2.0. 1.9 will just be "heavier"
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Solving the Expression Problem with Clojure 1.2 - Kototama
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/j-clojure-protocols/
======
RiderOfGiraffes
Duplicates, but with no discussion:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2014181>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2007700>
Related:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1916943>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1607832>
------
nod
This is NOT the similarly-named talk by Chris Houser from Strange Loop 2010,
in case anyone else was thinking the same thing. This (from Stuart Sierra) is
worth a separate read, and has nice visuals with a row/column metaphor.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: splashbe.at, a force graph of Wikipedia's list of music styles - haon99
http://splashbe.at
======
mistercow
Not the most graphically efficient demo I've ever seen, but neat.
------
davedx
Seems totally random or broken. Whatever is on screen is completely unrelated
(IMHO) and clicking on one thing takes you to something random. What's it
supposed to do?
~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
Click "add a new Genre" repeatedly.
------
icehero
1\. no cache?! what year is this?! 2010?! 2\. keeps automatically
refreshing/restarting the graph every time I switch the tabs in Chrome 19. 3\.
at my first refresh I think it loaded all the music styles at once.
Nice. Get working on your next one.
------
jc4p
Paste this into your web inspector / firebug / whereever you do Javascript to
automate it, it's quite interesting!
window.setInterval(function() { $("#random").click(); }, 800);
------
donum
How is this useful?
It shows how genres are related but if I click on two genres, it's a large
grey ball of relations which shows exactly nothing except there are huge
relationships between these genres.
------
davidbrent
Cool idea. Would like to read more about some of these genres, but can't get
to the link quick enough before it fades away!
------
tshadwell
I keep getting 'Wood' and 'Poland', as well as occasional articles on
wrestlers. When it works, it works well, though.
------
joeblau
Takes to long to add rap music and country music. Could you add a feature to
specify the Genre you want to add?
------
zalew
nice. how to force it to show electronica? I keep refreshing and all it comes
is indie-something and rock. I got techno once, but when clicked it it showed
some christian rock, gagaku, etc. UI is nice, but something is wrong with
jumping around content
------
aeurielesn
Can anyone tell if the duplicated nodes has any meaning at all? Or, is only a
bug?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Top 35 Startup TechCrunch Missed out on this month - chehoebunj
http://www.startupplays.com/blog/top-35-startups-in-tech-that-techcrunch-missed-out-on-%E2%80%93-september-2012/
======
betterlabs
Awesome - glad to see PicBackMan on the list. We are excited about our mission
to end photo backup anxiety for everyone around the world!
------
NatEckdahl
Excited for ScheduleMAX.com to be featured among these other amazing startups!
Check us out if your biz could use online scheduling.
------
fsdp00
I think startupplays.com is very useful tho get acknowledged in what is really
hot in the startup world.
------
zionsrogue
Thanks for the awesome opportunity to spread the word about Chic Engine!
------
hlian
Thanks for featuring Contur!
------
sujit1779
promising startups.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: My current App Store Featured Game was written entirely in Scheme - rrradical
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cloud-breaker/id721767500?mt=8
======
Shivetya
After reading the story I just have to recall stories from the guys who flew
and serviced F4s, they joked they could fly without either wing simply because
it was just a rocket sled.
We had one guy knicknamed Major Cablecutter as he "clipped" the guidelines of
a radio tower one time. He also had come back more than once with branches
stuck to his F4. Being that they were only "Recon" they tended to be
aggressive during war games and this game guy over stressed his airframe
turning into some F18s trying to tag him.
So many military planes have such high thrust to weight ratios I do not doubt
that wings merely become the means to stable flight
~~~
curiousphil
This comment made me think this game must have some incredible unseen angle
not shown in the screenshots on the App Store. Brilliant!
~~~
motxilo
I wondered what Scheme dialect was F4. Epic!
------
rrradical
I'm the author. I wrote the game and engine using the wonderful, and fast,
Gambit Scheme ([http://gambitscheme.org/](http://gambitscheme.org/)).
I needed a lisp to manipulate the puzzles, because they aren't based in a
strict grid. It ended up being way more natural to program the block
structures as lists rather than traditional matrices.
Gambit compiles the Scheme code down to C, which I can then link to
Objective-C for iOS, or port to Android or any other platform that Gambit
supports.
~~~
npsimons
Thanks for posting this, but the link is rather anemic for this audience; any
possibility of a writeup (even a quick and short one) of _how_ you did it?
I've been looking at cross-platform solutions for apps, and the best I've come
up with so far is Kivy ([http://kivy.org](http://kivy.org)) and haXe
([http://haxe.org](http://haxe.org)), which both still require a machine
running OSX to package for iOS.
~~~
rrradical
Thanks, that's a good point. I am definitely planning on writing up everything
I learned in the process. It just launched a few days ago so I'm still focused
on handling that at the moment.
If you like I can e-mail you in the future when the article is out. There's
contact info on my website:
[http://asivitz.com/cloudbreaker/](http://asivitz.com/cloudbreaker/)
~~~
npsimons
Eh, no pressure; I'll keep an eye on your website and HN, but I'd be curious
if anyone here has found ways to do cross-platform (Android, iOS, Linux, OSX,
Win, etc) apps from the environment of their choosing. I'm not looking to
monetize, so arguments of "investing" into platforms I don't already have are
moot; this is mostly a hobby/side "what could I do if . . . " sort of thing
right now, and just having scheme as another option is awesome :)
~~~
terhechte
I've recently spend quite some time trying to figure out what's the best way
to use a Lisp in order to write multi platform games. I'm still in the
researching phase, but if you need to support more than iOS & Android, then
ClojureScript on top of a Javascript Game Engine (possibly with native
extensions) is the best bet.
------
jlongster
Awesome work! I'm continually blown away that people still reference my old
work on porting Gambit Scheme for iOS.
Almost makes me want to play around with it again. :)
~~~
rrradical
Yes! So glad you saw this!
I had trouble getting the server based repl working, so here's the in-game
repl I ended up implementing as a Quake-type dev console:
[http://imgur.com/J6ozzT6](http://imgur.com/J6ozzT6)
(Obviously disabled in the App Store version.)
I may be getting ahead of myself, but I think it's a GREAT language for
writing games, and is going to take off at some point.
~~~
jlongster
Very cool! Hooking up the internal gambit REPL was finicky because it never
got much love. I think Marc polished it up somewhere though. Still, a quick
in-game REPL like that goes a long way.
The cool thing about having a real Gambit REPL was that you could use the
Gambit debugger in real-time. So if an error ever occurred, the debugger REPL
would pop up and you could step around. You also get all the builtin stuff for
inspecting cooperative threads and such.
Anyway, it would be a great minimalistic environment if it was fleshed out
more. Part of my mission in the JavaScript world is to bring these concepts to
more people, and hopefully lead them to Clojure/Scheme/etc.
Did you use a module system? Last I remember Black Hole was getting really
advanced. Did that ever take off within Gambit?
~~~
malandrew
I would love to hear more about what you're working on to bring these concepts
to the Javascript world, since we at famo.us are interested in the same.
~~~
jlongster
You can see a few things on my blog:
[http://jlongster.com/](http://jlongster.com/). Recently I've been helping out
with the sweet.js project ([http://sweetjs.org/](http://sweetjs.org/)) to
implement macros in JS. People really need to understand how macros transform
a language. It's going really well so far.
I'm also working on the idea of live evaluation. Most devs are used to writing
code and refreshing the page. There are tools that help with live evaluation,
but they all suck. I am working on something that will give you a better
connection with your code, and fully support the idea of incrementally coding
up an app.
I'm not focusing on specific Lisp/Scheme features, but more about the
philosophy behind them. Any project I do I try to expose the good stuff that I
learned from Scheme.
~~~
bsder
Interesting. How much of the JS infrastructure do you need for this stuff to
work?
I'm in the middle of creating a JS port for embedded systems (yes, I know
about Espruino. It made some fundamental decisions about object implementation
that I find unacceptable) and it would be nice to be able to lean into
something like this to avoid implementing huge chunks of the more advanced
language bits.
Side note: I'm the person who did the first Nintendo DS port of Gambit so its
interesting to see how all this comes full circle.
~~~
jlongster
I remember hearing about the Nintendo DS work. Great stuff!
What I'm working on relies on a full JS implementation. Performance is a
critical feature so I need to implement as _little_ as possible. I basically
implemented a very small VM that controls JS code using exceptions. What I've
done lets you run JS code with a 3-4x perf hit, but you get full stepping and
debugging abilities in user-land. I'm going to release it in a few weeks!
It sounds like it's not quite what you're looking for though. You're project
sounds cool!
~~~
malandrew
Is this project already public on github?
Outlet and Outlet-Machine look like what you're describing but the docs on
those say they are deprecated/frozen and the last commits are 1-2 years ago.
~~~
jlongster
No, not yet. I was exploring this indeed with outlet but discovered that
wasn't the right way to do it. My technique came together very recently and I
plan on releasing it soon.
------
keithflower
The Gambit interpreter (REPL) itself also runs on the iPhone
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gambit-
repl/id434534076?mt=8](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gambit-
repl/id434534076?mt=8)
and on the Android platform (updating it with the latest version of Gambit is
on my todo list):
[http://apps.keithflower.org/?page_id=152](http://apps.keithflower.org/?page_id=152)
[http://apps.keithflower.org/?p=223](http://apps.keithflower.org/?p=223)
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.keithflowe...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.keithflower.gambit)
Note that this is just the interpreter itself - not a very good way of writing
games for Android.
~~~
weavie
If you could update it so you could make the scripts edit fields full screen
that would be awesome! it is really hard editing then in the tiny boxes they
are at the minute.
~~~
keithflower
Thanks for the feedback. The intent in that version was to mimic Marc's
(Gambit author Marc Feeley) past iOS version as closely as possible (via
webview) - I'll see what he's doing with his latest iOS version and also try
to include a full screen option.
------
matheusbn
Well done! Gameplay video link:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T11wl70wjc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1T11wl70wjc)
------
codegeek
Good stuff. Interestingly, the very first programming language offered in
introductory CS class at my college was Scheme at the time (2000). The power
of 'car' and 'cdr' still resonates in my head. At times, the parenthesis used
to give me dyslexia but good old days of doing stuff like:
(car(cdr(car(cdr(cdr a)))))
~~~
latj
Get a copy of this for the kids!
[http://www.amazon.com/The-Little-Schemer-4th-
Edition/dp/0262...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Little-Schemer-4th-
Edition/dp/0262560992/)
~~~
mentos
One of the best CS classes I took in college was an introduction to scheme
that used 'The Little Schemer' as its text book. Having only worked in
imperative languages it really opened my head up!
~~~
dmix
The MIT course on youtube from the 80s using SCIP and Scheme was the single
best time investment I've made since learning programming. It still blows my
mind how much it changed my perspective on programming.
~~~
latj
From the 80's? You have a link to which one you mean?
~~~
dmix
1986
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Op3QLzMgSY&list=PLF4E3E1B72...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Op3QLzMgSY&list=PLF4E3E1B72A58B492)
A year before I was born :)
------
alvatar
Great work! :) Congratulations! For those who want to try developing in
Scheme, I'm working on a project that could help you get started. Currently
only Android is available, but as soon as possible iOS will be as well.
[http://schemespheres.org](http://schemespheres.org)
------
tokipin
I thought "non-Objective C" languages weren't allowed in the App store, or
something like that.
~~~
loumf
That was in the rules and quickly abandoned. What they care about is that you
don't load new code from the Internet. Ostensibly, the reason is security, but
the real reason is they don't want you to make an app store.
JavaScript in webviews is excepted because you couldn't show a website without
that.
If you don't get new code from the Internet (for example, someone types it in)
that's ok. It's even ok to copy and paste it from the Internet.
------
lumens
I love the originality on display with this game mechanic. Too many "samesies"
games out there for my tastes.
This developer has another puzzler in the App Store as well: Button Brigade,
also quite original, but more of an adventure style puzzle game.
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/button-
brigade/id542991688?m...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/button-
brigade/id542991688?mt=8)
[http://asivitz.com/button_brigade/index](http://asivitz.com/button_brigade/index)
------
Flow
Dear rrradical,
Tried your game, was not disappointed. :-) It's almost spooky that your post
came at this time, for I have read a lot about Scheme->C systems this week.
This PDF made a great impression on me of the gambit scheme system.
[http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~gambit/Gambit-inside-
out.pdf](http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~gambit/Gambit-inside-out.pdf)
I have a few questions for you:
1\. I installed Gambit-Scheme via Brew and compiling any scheme file results
in a clang segfault. How did you get around this? For now I use gcc instead.
:-/
2\. Why Gambit-Scheme and not Chicken-Scheme? I can't really decide which is
the better choice for writing a game.
3\. Do you use continuations to make coroutines in your game?
~~~
rrradical
1\. I think the segfault is explored in this thread:
[http://article.gmane.org/gmane.lisp.scheme.gambit/7068/match...](http://article.gmane.org/gmane.lisp.scheme.gambit/7068/match=xcode+5)
Basically, the problem is with the version of llvm/clang that Apple uses in
Xcode 5.
Some of the newer Xcode betas might fix it. I personally use the Xcode 4
compiler. You could probably also build your own clang from their SVN.
For more info you could probably ask the mailing list.
2\. I definitely looked at chicken, and I can't remember my exact reason for
going with gambit, but it was a practical one. I don't think I could get
chicken up and running on the iphone for some reason. Chicken did seem to be
better documented with better libraries. Gambit may be faster though.
(I started working on this about a year ago. The situation may be completely
different now.)
My game isn't too complex, compared to, say, a first person shooter. I'm not
sure if the GC implementation would start to matter in that circumstance. I
recommend trying one and then if you're happy with it, great. If not, most of
the code will be portable.
3\. No. I don't have much experience with them (besides learning the basics in
school). I did use a lot of closures, anonymous lambdas, and lambda builder
functions.
Glad you're enjoying the game!
------
eddieroger
Somewhere, deep in Lindley Hall at Indiana University, is an old professor
exclaiming, "I told them people used it!"
I wonder if I'd have taken more to Scheme if I were learning it now. At the
time, I was double majoring CS and Telecom, but the world of open source
hadn't been as friendly to Mac as it is now, and Macs were a prereq for TCom.
Getting Scheme running on my old iBook was a pain in the ass, let alone the
assignments (which still didn't match the untouchable stability of our
automated grading system). I conceptually understood why I needed to learn it,
and even grasped many of the concepts of what I was learning, but it wasn't
the language for me.
------
dogprez
I play around with this a bit, a few things I learned is that XCode 5.0's llvm
crashes when compiling Gambit-C 4.7.0's generated C code. The beta for 5.1 has
a fix. Here are a few demos that might help a few people:
scheme REPL over TCP using chibi scheme:
[https://github.com/clarkeaa/Scheme_iOS_REPL](https://github.com/clarkeaa/Scheme_iOS_REPL)
calling in and out of Gambit-C:
[https://github.com/clarkeaa/HelloGambit](https://github.com/clarkeaa/HelloGambit)
You can grab a precompiled Gambit-C library from the later project if you
want.
------
feeley
I just downloaded the game. Very cool! I wish I has written it... oh wait...
given that I wrote Gambit, in a sense I wrote most of the game! It gives me a
warm fuzzy feeling!
Your in game REPL is neat. For developing games, where there's a need to
explore variations quickly, it is a powerful tool. I'm currently working on a
remote REPL for Gambit-JS, so that you can remotely debug Scheme code
(possibly games) running in the browser.
------
hoprocker
It's truly inspiring to see a project like this completed. I've been wanting
to combine mobile (specifically Android) and some sort of Lisp dialect for a
while.
Am I interpreting correctly from some of the other components that doing the
programming in a language-once-removed (ie Scheme instead of Obj-C) opens an
easier path to compiling for both iOS and Android?
~~~
rrradical
That was part of my motivation for using Scheme, yes. Many indie developers
are using the Unity engine which can compile to many different targets. (But
that uses C# as far as I know.)
------
seivan
I am so jealous and incredibly happy that you shipped - nice work. I wish I
could do that as well.
~~~
rrradical
Thank you! No time like the present to start. Just do your best and then keep
redefining what your best is.
------
arms
Very cool! I always like seeing when something is built using a typically non-
traditional language for the environment. I downloaded the game to see how
well it performed, and I gotta say, it's a lot of fun. Great job!
------
xkarga00
Just downloaded and tried the app. Simple and elegant, very good work!
------
minikomi
Wow, I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I would pay for a good series
of tutorials or an ebook on this topic maybe implementing something well known
like Tetris etc.
------
elwell
It shows how spoiled I am that I expected a github link.
------
mjt0229
Nice work! I think I played ultimate with you this past summer, and we talked
about this on the way to a game.
~~~
Kiro
OT but what is ultimate?
~~~
mark212
a frisbee based game:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_(sport)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_\(sport\))
my college football team played it as a spring sport during "optional"
workouts and it was brutal. Like rugby, only with a forward pass.
~~~
lumens
FWIW, OP has also made an Ultimate Frisbee game for iOS, sponsored by Major
League Ultimate, the biggest professional Ultimate Frisbee league going:
[http://asivitz.com/champ_ultimate/index](http://asivitz.com/champ_ultimate/index)
------
oliverlord
great work :) congrats
~~~
rrradical
thank you!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
GFI apologizes for false alarm on Samsung keyloggers - woan
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9215396/GFI_apologizes_for_false_alarm_on_Samsung_keyloggers?source=rss_news&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+computerworld%2Fnews%2Ffeed+%28Latest+from+Computerworld%29
======
billybob
TL;DR - The software that "detected" the keyloggger was wrong, and the company
that makes it acknowledged that.
The guy's apology was an actual apology, not spin. That was refreshing.
------
tobylane
I'm not clicking all these links about this bit of news, but I'm not seeing
any headlines about all the other crap OEMs really do put on computers. I was
hoping an event like this might get more attention to all that rubbish we
don't ever want, and we know what it really does unlike most users.
------
Getahobby
This is actually probably going to be great publicity for Samsung - who even
knew they sold workstations and laptops?
------
pjdavis
My favorite part of the old article was
The findings are false-positive proof since I have used the tool that discovered it for six years now and I am yet to see it misidentify an item throughout the years.
-M. E. Kabay
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Pinecone – Build your own genetically-encoded tools - jfarlow
https://serotiny.bio/notes/pinecone/
======
jfarlow
Justin here, cofounder of Serotiny. We've built a web-app to make the design
and organization of synthetic genetic constructs efficient, cheap and
effective. We've built an abstraction layer to enable scientists to build
novel genetic designs from functional units without worrying about the actual
underlying DNA sequence or how the sequence gets manufactured. Once designed,
we help you place an order for DNA from a synthesizer of your choice. The app
is free to use - go ahead and register. We charge 15% of the manufacturing
cost once an order is placed. Design single protein constructs, or high-
throughput combinatorial sets of proteins or mutation sets. [1] Our genetic
management infrastructure makes it straightforward to see where particular
designs came from and how they've been used. It straightforwardly keeps track
of the functions and restrictions of each design. For groups/labs we have an
API that can respond to queries relating various protein constructs by things
like function, sequence, or usage. [2]
Check it out, I'd be curious your thoughts. I'm happy to answer any questions.
We built it all with Go and Ember - a huge thanks to those in the community
working on those tools.
[1]
[https://serotiny.bio/notes/support/tutorials/](https://serotiny.bio/notes/support/tutorials/)
[2]
[https://serotiny.bio/notes/applications/](https://serotiny.bio/notes/applications/)
And a few write-ups/dissections of proteins of interest to HN:
[https://serotiny.bio/notes/proteins/](https://serotiny.bio/notes/proteins/)
~~~
atemerev
Whoa, cool!
Do you have any biosecurity-related protection mechanisms in place?
~~~
jfarlow
Yes. We have a curated database of protein functions - so we have some idea of
the function of new designs. Any designs submitted for manufacture are further
screened - both the customer and the design - by both us and the DNA
synthesizer.
------
ChicagoBoy11
What's the ELI5 for this in terms of who customers are and what kinds of
problems it is solving? Sounds terribly interesting but I have absolutely no
knowledge of this space :-/
~~~
jfarlow
Customers: Researchers and those they communicate with. Specifically those
doing early development of novel proteins - antibodies, biologics, CARs,
CRISPR, enzymes, bio-materials, bio-sensors, optogenetics, or basic research.
We help them organize and intelligently manage their libraries of constructs
based on the constructs' capabilities.
Problem: Communicating genetic designs to yourself, to others in your field,
to others in your company - your boss or your technicians, to manufacturers
and suppliers. And communicate without error, with higher-level abstraction,
and with functional rather than technical detail. High-throughput design and
analysis of designs naturally falls out of those capabilities.
DNA is the 'blueprint' for the "protein" machines. If you want to build a new
or novel biological machine, you must construct a DNA blueprint for it, that
blueprint is ingested, and the machine is built to spec. Our software is
essentially a 1-dimensional CAD program that lets you focus on, manipulate and
organize the material properties of the biological nanomachines you are
building, rather than focus on the manufacturing process. Think the difference
between producing a high-level CAD file vs G-code for the design of a sub-10nm
3d object.
Historically, you have to build the blueprint by hand. The challenges of
building the DNA blueprint itself were immense, and have slowly become more
and more routine. Simply obtaining a close-enough blueprint to what you wanted
was sufficient to develop synthetic insulin, synthetic HGH and a host of other
billion-dollar biologic therapies you see on TV commercials every night. This
tool is a break-point - it allows you to build biological machines based on
what you want the machine to do, and leave the construction of the blue-print
itself entirely behind the scenes. It compiles down the high-level design into
a synthesizable blueprint without the user needing to intervene. Construction
of DNA is fraught with all sorts of syntax rules that this helps to entirely
obviate. With this software a researcher can focus on the properties of their
desired product 'fluoresces green', 'binds to Gold', 'more soluble' rather
than nuanced genetic construction rules.
Many useful protein machines can be deconstructed into component parts (each
part itself encoded by DNA). Pinecone lets you drag and drop those component
parts together, press buy, and get shipped the DNA that encodes those parts.
Historically you'd have to parse a string of thousands of A, T, G and Cs
(literally in Excel or Word) - where a single error would result in failure of
the machine.
These proteins are useful therapeutically, economically, and socially - they
are biology's nanotechnology. They are a few orders of magnitude more precise
than Intel's new i9 processor's features, are 3D in nature, and work in wet,
room-temperature environments.
~~~
mikeash
Great comment. Once one has the DNA, what does one do with it? I know how to
spell "DNA" but that's about the extent of my knowledge in this area.
~~~
jfarlow
DNA needs to be compiled into a protein in order to 'do' anything. DNA is the
source code, proteins are the molecular machines built by the code. And every
organism uses a similar compiler. So the DNA has to be put inside an organism
before the DNA source code can be 'compiled' into a biological machine (a
protein). Interestingly at the level of the compiler, almost every organism on
Earth is capable of compiling most others' particular DNA into a protein (with
a lot of exceptions).
Most purchased DNA that encodes a protein comes in the form of a bacterial
'virus' called a plasmid that can very easily be given to e coli - and it
makes billions of copies of that DNA with very high fidelity in a few hours
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasmid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasmid)).
This DNA can then be purified from that e coli in physically appreciable
amounts and then be put into other organisms for ultimate usage. If you're
purifying a chemical or a therapeutic the DNA is often put into yeast or e
coli. If you're doing research, there are a number of 'model organisms' the
DNA can be put into to supplement the genes already in the organism you're
studying - including human cancer cells.
There are certain kinds of 'gene therapies' where the DNA is actually put into
living human cells, often that have been harvested, and then put back into the
person. This enables the genetic code for the new tools/proteins to be
incorporated as a therapy.
The physical insertion of DNA into an organism is called "Transfection"
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfection](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfection)
(or transduction, or transformation for various particulars).
The general concept when applied to human health is called "Gene Therapy".
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_therapy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_therapy)
The manipulation of DNA as a tool to understand the mechanisms of biology can
be termed "Molecular Biology".
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_biology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_biology)
~~~
mikeash
Wonderful, thanks so much for the explanation. I think I knew that you had to
get the DNA into an organism, but I had no idea how that could be done. The
fact that the purchased DNA comes in the form of a virus that's ready to make
lots more of that DNA is amazing.
------
rrggrr
This sounds ripe for DEA and FDA regulation. If you cannot account for
possibly dangerous synthesys or mutations, and im not reading that you fully
can, then you have to ensure the end users can. Are you screening customers?
Can anyone order? Is it possible for the synthesis to alter the plasmid, or am
I not understanding the DNA packaging mechanism?
------
folli
Looks cool! Can you link to any experimental data/publications that show the
functionality of enzymes that were designed this way? It would be very
interesting to get a feel for the success rate of such an approach. You
mention several research groups that use your tool, so I assume there is some
in vitro/vivo data available.
~~~
jfarlow
As it's a 'ShowHN' \- we've only had the software public for a short time.
Biology takes a while, so many of our clients who have used the software have
chosen to not yet make their designs public - they're still working with them.
What we can do is reverse engineer already published data into our system to
see how it would work. If you're logged in you can see a synthetic Knoevenagel
Catalyst like KN.1:
[https://serotiny.bio/pinecone/part/11291](https://serotiny.bio/pinecone/part/11291)
or the Retroaldolase RA95.5-8:
[https://serotiny.bio/pinecone/part/11290](https://serotiny.bio/pinecone/part/11290)
And from that page you can see the mutations that were made to create that new
enzyme, as well as trace the history of the synthetic design from its current
sequence all the way back to its wild-type ancestor through years of research.
Our background is not in computational design of proteins from their atomic
structure (like Rosetta). We enable someone who does have that expertise - who
has such a design in mind, to actually go about producing their libraries,
getting the material delivered, evaluating the effectiveness of what they've
produced, and sharing that information with their colleagues in a
straightforward and actionable way. And if they're picking variants by a
screen or directed evolution, Pinecone would be useful in describing the
results of the screen in order to either move forward, or put the results to
work.
Similarly, some of the fluorophores have great 'histories' to them - and with
our software you can see how various fluorophores were designed, where they
came from, and how they've been used. See Dronpa:
[https://serotiny.bio/pinecone/part/9036](https://serotiny.bio/pinecone/part/9036)
or some of the pH-sensitive fluorophores like ArcLight:
[https://serotiny.bio/pinecone/part/10533](https://serotiny.bio/pinecone/part/10533)
We'd like to think this enables a more straightforward 'porting' of existing
designs into new scaffolds - if the mutations to GFP made it pH-sensitive,
similar mutations to YFP will likely make it pH-sensitive. Swap the
fluorophore entirely, or pull in a natural variant of Cas9 and likely the same
sites that produced a nickase from spCas9 will work on other cas9 constructs.
------
jszymborski
Hiring programmers with extensive wet lab experience? Asking for a friend who
might be me :P
~~~
jfarlow
I'd be happy to chat. Email me at my first name at serotiny.bio.
-Justin
------
saulrh
So, did script kiddies just achieve a whole new level of scary?
~~~
jfarlow
I don't think so. But we are certainly trying to lower the barrier to entry
for building useful biological tools. We hope to help 'smaller than billion-
dollar-blockbuster drugs' be built by companies and researchers who are
inventing all sorts of socially useful biological technologies. We are working
with scientists to enable novel uses of biotechnologies for things like
genetically targeted immunotherapies, synthetic biosensors, spider silk
clothing, vegan gelatins meats and milks, oil-free biofuel production, and of
course just much more rapid biological research.
Some of the uses for these proteins we've talked about already here on HN:
[https://serotiny.bio/notes/proteins/](https://serotiny.bio/notes/proteins/)
------
theprop
This looks really cool!! Are there similar tools or equipment available today?
How does Serotiny compare to them in pricing, speed and effectiveness?
~~~
jfarlow
We have a lot of friends building genetic design software. Each have slightly
different focuses. Ours is primarily, and I think uniquely, focused on an
abstraction above the DNA itself (protein construct design). We focus on
biological function of the output of the DNA rather than the 'assembly code'
of DNA itself. For better or worse, we're a 'C IDE' rather than an assembly
editor. If you are skilled enough to read the genetic matrix, some of the
other software permits more direct manipulation of DNA. Pinecone is useful if
you need to work or communicate your designs at a higher level of abstraction.
If you want cheap and dirty way to manipulate DNA, APE is great:
[http://biologylabs.utah.edu/jorgensen/wayned/ape/](http://biologylabs.utah.edu/jorgensen/wayned/ape/)
And YC's own Benchling has fantastic web-based software for designing, sharing
and keeping track of plasmids:
[https://benchling.com/](https://benchling.com/)
Genome Compiler is impressive as well:
[http://www.genomecompiler.com/](http://www.genomecompiler.com/)
SnapGene is another widely-liked native app for working with plasmid DNA:
[http://www.snapgene.com/](http://www.snapgene.com/)
Pinecone chooses to focus on guiding designs in order to produce genetic tools
that have particular functions rather than focusing on how to construct DNA.
We leave the construction details to the DNA synthesizers.
Pricing: design and individual use is free, we charge a percentage of the
manufacturing cost for designs submitted through us. We also make money
building custom infrastructure (of which Pinecone is an example) for companies
needing to keep track and analyze their genetic designs at a functional level.
Speed: The idea is because we use an abstraction above the DNA, certain kinds
of high-throughput designs becomes VERY fast with Pinecone. "I want all
proteins made with these 5 things up front, these 7 linkers, these 4
fluorescent probes - and all 140 combinations" \- would take about 2 minutes
to design with Pinecone, but would be days of error-prone work if done
manually.
Reliability: We can't guarantee novel designs will work - biology is hard. But
we can help give novel designs the best chance of working. Pinecone showcases
what has worked - and makes it easy to riff off of well-worn designs. And
because you're buying de-novo synthesized DNA (not copy/pasting other's code),
your sequences are exactly what you asked for, not just 'good enough'.
~~~
theprop
I want to genetically engineer extremely intelligent mice...what tools should
I use? Is this possible?
~~~
jfarlow
You still have to figure out what "intelligence" is, and how to transfer,
manipulate, or otherwise encode for it. I don't think we have the tools to
actually transplant intelligence yet. We are in the early stages of
understanding it at all. The field of "optogenetics"
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optogenetics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optogenetics)
has been a powerful genetic way to help start along that path to understanding
how brains work, to what extent a mouse is intelligent, and how to affect
neural processes.
------
an27
What does "zero-knowledge design"[0] mean? I don't understand the link between
"zero-knowledge proofs" and the storage of genetic data.
[0]:
[https://serotiny.bio/notes/applications/car/](https://serotiny.bio/notes/applications/car/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Computer algorithms create and 3D-print a terrifying, 'Alien'-style altar - jonbaer
http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/16/4737456/digital-grotesque-3d-printed-sandstone-room-resembles-hr-giger
======
atrilumen
I wonder why it has to be printed in sections.
How long before it becomes possible to print an entire building in-situ?
------
NAFV_P
Where on earth are you supposed to sit?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Introducing Circl: An Advanced Cryptographic Library from Cloudflare - yarapavan
https://new.blog.cloudflare.com/introducing-circl/
======
yarapavan
Github repo:
[http://github.com/cloudflare/circl](http://github.com/cloudflare/circl)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Giving up on Julia - ingve
http://zverovich.net/2016/05/13/giving-up-on-julia.html
======
KenoFischer
Happy to address these points:
- Startup performance/memory usage
Yes, we are definitely very acutely aware of these. Julia is not currently
optimized for frequently run short scripts. That's the price on pays for
having to bring up the entire runtime system (initializing the compiler, RNG,
external libraries etc). The good news is that there will be a solution to
this soon, which is to statically compile your julia program. The area where
this really comes up for most people using is package load times. We're very
actively working on making that faster.
- Syntax
A little subjective, so not sure how much I can say here. I can say that I'm
not a huge fan of our multi-line comment syntax. It's not entirely clear what
a better syntax would be though (the original issue on this had some
suggestions, but some of them were worse).
- One-based indexing
I think there has been plenty said on this topic, though interestingly this is
one of the only times I've seen the argument made in a way that I actually
agree with. That said, I do think there is an easy way to deal with this
though. For packages that needs arrays of indices, it would be quite easy to
define an `IndexArray` type that does the translation automatically.
- String Formatting
Yep, you're right, it's a mess. It'll have to be cleaned up.
- Unsafe C Interface
There's two projects (Clang.jl and Cxx.jl) which can help with this. The
former automatically generates ccall definitions for you, the latter just
parses the header and generates the call directly.
- Slowing down in development
I'm really not sure where that impression comes from. Perhaps it is that we're
adding fewer features, but rather working on cleaning up existing features.
Also, I personally at least have been doing a lot of work outside of base
(particularly on the debugger). Not sure. Would love to know.
~~~
bluecalm
The thing about 1 based indexing is that it's a kind of in your face "this is
different" decision from the point of view of a programmers of most popular
languages. To be honest I wouldn't want to start investing my time into a
language where people who proposed 1 based indexing are making design
decisions. It's not that I think they are incompetent but it's clear they care
way more about some different world than about my programming world and are
ready to make my life miserable stating the point.
Now, I don't know if people from that different world (Fortran, Matlab, some
other languages used in academia maybe) would feel the same way about 0 based
indexing but it certainly sends the message to programmers outside those
domains.
~~~
chappi42
R and Mathematica are also 1 based. And R really is popular
([http://www.tiobe.com/tiobe_index?page=index](http://www.tiobe.com/tiobe_index?page=index)
\- ok, popularity is droping right now, likely b/c of Julia ;-))
~~~
c3534l
Julia seems like it's meant to be friendly to people who know MATLAB, Python,
and R (even Fortran). R and Python are really comfortable with working with
data science and that's what Julia is geared toward. I have no experience with
MATLAB, though. Julia's programming "world" may indeed be a different
programming world than C programmers.
I'm not defending Julia per se. I've been patiently observing from the
sidelines to see how the language shapes up.
------
xixi77
Libraries? Sure. Ease of development, I cannot comment on.
But measuring performance with timing a "hello world" program? Seriously? What
scenario does the author have in mind that makes this particular benchmark
even remotely relevant?
The rest of the rant pretty much comes down to "it doesn't look like Python"
(which is IMO a good thing, and I would certainly not call Python a "de facto
standard of numerical computing" \-- sure, it's there, but I still see a lot
more of R and Matlab -- and note how both have 1-based indexes.)
To be fair, last time I checked, Julia definitely had some catching up to do
in a few areas to become a real competitor to those two, but "hello world"
benchmarks would not be among these.
It's been a little while though, and I am tempted to check again -- leaving
libraries alone for the moment, does vectorization still result in a lot of
performance loss compared to loops?
~~~
whyever
> But measuring performance with timing a "hello world" program? Seriously?
> What scenario does the author have in mind that makes this particular
> benchmark even remotely relevant?
If Julia is to replace Python in scientific computing, people will want to use
it for short plotting scripts. Startup time matters there. That hello world is
so slow is already telling. A plotting script needs tens of seconds just to
load the Julia libraries.
~~~
patrickthebold
They use the REPL like R.
~~~
argonaut
Not all of them. Many of them? Sure. Many people also use scripts and so on.
------
papaf
I know R and have used Octave. I started learning Julia this morning after a
physicist recommended it to me after he switched from python. I used
Jupyter/Julia to simulate a neuron as a practice exercise. This is my
experience as a beginner:
1\. The static typing makes a big and positive difference. Its nice having a
statically typed repl.
2\. The documentation is good.
3\. Using unicode symbols and \mu style tab completion is nice, especially in
Jupyter where you can use the same symbols in latex style equations.
4\. The base install is a bit bare. It would be nice if batteries were
included - distributions and dataframes in particular.
5\. R uses 1 based indexing and it was no shock to see this in Julia.
6\. I had no problems with the mix of lisp and C++ in the source code. The
lisp implementation is beautiful and worth a read.
Generally, I was shocked to see a blog post like this given that my first day
with Julia was so positive.
~~~
SolarNet
> The base install is a bit bare.
I think the problem here is the library approach. They should break stuff out
of Julia's core library and move them into default included libraries (like
python does).
~~~
argonaut
What is the difference?
~~~
ta2507823
* initial memory footprint is lower
* faster start up time
* cleaner global scope
------
acidflask
I'm genuinely surprised that one would say that Julia is "slowing down in
development". Perhaps it's because less press is being generated about Julia?
Or that the commit rate has gone down slightly, now that the easier issues
have been picked off and the remaining work will take longer for the next
round of incremental developments? I'm not sure what the OP meant, but from
the inside, we are busier than ever.
\- Both Julia Computing and the Julia Lab have grown sizably over the past two
years. The Lab now houses ten full-time researchers (up from four last year),
with five new students coming online over the summer and fall. We also
maintain more active research collaborations with more research groups at MIT
and off-campus.
\- Julia is a grateful recipient of 12 Google Summer of Code slots this year,
compared to 8 for 2015's Julia Summer of Code program (sponsored by the Moore
Foundation) and 4 for GSoC 2014.
\- JuliaCon grew from 72 attendees in 2014 to 225 in 2015 and we are on track
to meet or exceed last year's ticket sales for 2016.
\- New packages continue to be registered on the central METADATA repository
at roughly the same rate since June 2014.
[http://pkg.julialang.org/pulse.html](http://pkg.julialang.org/pulse.html)
By some measures we are still a relatively small project, but I don't see any
serious evidence for the imminent heat death of the Julia universe.
------
zintinio5
For many users of Julia, long-running performance matters more than
microbenchmarks. Having converted a naively written Python program to Julia
(there was a huge amount of computation being done over a large search space),
I experienced a massive speedup even against PyPy. My Python scripts ran for
about 10 hours before I called it quits (.6% of the work had been completed).
Converting to Julia allowed me to finish within 3-4 hours, AND it was easy to
parallelize.
~~~
arcticfox
Just how naively was the Python written? ~1600 hours vs. 4 hours of execution
time sounds like some extremely naive starting code. Is it fair to even
compare them?
~~~
GFK_of_xmaspast
I've gotten 400x speedups going from python to c++.
~~~
dagw
I've gotten 200x speedup going (badly written) Javascript to (better written)
pure python, despite python being a nominally slower language according micro-
benchmarks. Comparing run time without knowing anything about the code doesn't
say much.
~~~
MikeHolman
Were you using a js runtime without a JIT? Were your python algorithms better?
Otherwise a 200x speedup sounds completely unbelievable. That would basically
indicate a bug in the js runtime causing degenerate performance under your
scenario.
~~~
lqdc13
That's very believable.
Example: popping from the beginning of a list in Python is O(N). Popping from
the end is O(1). Initial poorly written code can have a lot of such obvious
optimizations.
~~~
sgt101
It's a common programming thing - you write your code, it compiles, it runs,
it runs properly on your test case, you try it on your full data, it's too
slow. You run your profiler and you spot some problems, you solve them, it's
still too slow, repeat until fast enough, declare victory.
------
tmalsburg2
Not sure why this is on the front page because the criticism in this article
is fairly superficial. Julia was designed for scientific computing and
interpreter start-up time doesn't matter at all in this context, especifically
the start-up time of hello-world. Baseline memory consumption isn't an issue
either and one-based indexing is simply something to get used to. If this
stops you from being productive, it's not the language's fault. The comments
about the syntax remind me of all those people saying Lisp is a bad language
because it has too many parentheses.
------
armamut
I love python and I don't like Julia at all.
But, I think judging a language (which claims math and scientific computing is
it's strongest point) by print screen performance is not fair.
And, the authors last example is a little bit misleading I think. The C code
sets up registers and jumps to the main sprintf routine. I don't know why
didn't he tell that routine's instructions count...
Has any one counted?
~~~
armamut
Oh. I think metrognome had shown the point. Didn't read it. sorry.
------
sgt101
I'm not bothered by "hello world" performance myself, and I my recent issues
with Julia have been caused by rapid development meaning that when I had to
put it down for a few months lots of things I had done (because I'm mortal)
stopped working. I wrote this off to "it's 0.x, getoverit". I've never tried
complex text formatting in Julia either! My concerns are more focused on the
type system (this I love) and performance for massive computation (I've still
not managed to persuade my Hadoop admin to put julia images across our
cluster, but I suppose I might win the argument one day!)
~~~
dnautics
Yeah the poor performance in this blog post is a total misunderstanding of why
and how julia is performant. Is printing "hello world" fast really that
important? OK. Then don't use Julia.
You pay for it by having the compiler JIT the code in a highly optimized
fashion. If you have actual numerical calculations that are compile-once, run-
many-many-many-times, then you will see a huge performance benefit, amortizing
the cost of expensive compilation and optimization that happens once at the
beginning of the program cycle.
The very title of what he links to "How To Make Python run as fast as Julia"
betrays the problem. The goal of Julia is to not have to do that sort of
boilerplate/arcane tweaking to get really good performance - the system will
do it out of the box.
I'll have to disagree with the notion that Julia is hard to read. I'm
currently deploying Julia to run automated hardware verification on a computer
chip. Effectively, I've written a DSL using Julia macros that generates
assembly code files, compiles, and executes it, and my coworkers (who do not
use julia) have found it easy to read my code and understand what's going on.
Far easier, in any case, than the equivalent C code using asm blocks.
I do agree about the one-based indexing. I get it, it's what matlab does. But
it would be nice to say, be able to throw an option at the top of a program
that forces the appropriate indexing.
~~~
acomjean
>The goal of Julia is to not have to do that sort of boilerplate/arcane
tweaking to get really good performance
As someone who is new to python (for bioinformatics), and find python is a
fine language... but..
The do it "this way not that way" method of implementation of the same
algorithms to get it to run fast makes writing performant python a tedious
exercise in research and profiling. The article cited suggests Cpython, numby
and numpy [1] as ways to make it faster.
Why not C using GPU acceleration as the time spent coding would probably be
the same? Thats what I love about plain python, its fast to write and has some
good data structures.
I haven't tried Julia, but someday its on my list of languages to learn more
about.
[1][https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/jfp/entry...](https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/jfp/entry/Python_Meets_Julia_Micro_Performance?lang=en)
~~~
dagw
_Why not C using GPU acceleration as the time spent coding would probably be
the same?_
As someone who does that sort of thing I can assure you it isn't. And when I
do use C and GPU acceleration, doing so via cython and pyCUDA (and the myriad
of libraries that build on cython and pyCUDA) saves massive amounts of time
and effort.
That being said I do agree that writing fast python is quite different from
writing python, probably more so than in most other languages.
------
metrognome
When the author compares the number of CPU instructions that sprintf compiles
to in both C and Julia, he fails to take into account dynamic linking in C:
jmp __sprintf_chk
I would guess that another few hundred instructions run as a result of this
jmp. Thus, the difference in the number of instructions that C's sprintf and
Julia's @sprintf compile to are not as drastic as the author makes it seem.
~~~
3JPLW
Also note that the author asks for the native code for arguments of type
`(AbstractString, Float64)`. The first is an abstract type — which means that
this code will never get called in the first place. Julia will resolve the
type of the string, and then dispatch to the concrete implementation. Which,
for an ASCIIString, is 3x shorter.
~~~
vitaut
This is actually a good point, but what about Unicode? Will `(UTF8String,
Float64)` emit another function?
~~~
3JPLW
It's the same on 0.4, and Strings are getting a big overhaul on 0.5. Here are
the results for 0.4:
$ julia -e 'f(a, b) = @sprintf("this is a %s %15.1f", a, b); code_native(f, (AbstractString, Float64))' | wc -l
WARNING: Returned code may not match what actually runs.
628
$ julia -e 'f(a, b) = @sprintf("this is a %s %15.1f", a, b); code_native(f, (ASCIIString, Float64))' | wc -l
194
$ julia -e 'f(a, b) = @sprintf("this is a %s %15.1f", a, b); code_native(f, (UTF8String, Float64))' | wc -l
194
~~~
vitaut
Thanks, this looks better. I'll need to update the post.
------
gravypod
To me the biggest thing that Julia brings to the table is the amazing
concurrency support.
You can not only easily create parallel tasks on your machine, but on any
machine that you have ssh access to that also has Julia installed.
That is simply amazing. Until something else can do that, Julia is going no
where but up in my mind.
------
Tarrosion
At this point there are many well phrased comments saying most of what I
wanted to say - unreliable airport wifi ate a long response a few hours ago -
so let me just note that
A) the author is entitled to all their opinions and experiences and
B) raises some good points (see Keno's comment) but
C) raises some subjective (syntax, etc) and odd (measuring performance by
timing a one line hello world) points.
Julia is not the right hammer for all nails, but I use it every day and enjoy
doing so. If you're on the fence, I encourage you to give it a try. And for
what it's worth, end as a keyword aside, I really like the syntax,
particularly :: type decorators. Your mileage may vary.
------
DannyBee
Complaining about microbenchmark performance, then perf benchmarking in a
completely unscientific way, is pretty bad (These are non-quiesced machines,
etc)
The error bars show it's probably slower, but i'm pretty sure he's not going
to get valid measurements to 0.002s by running it once with time without doing
things like disabling CPU throttling, etc :)
Of course, looking at julia's microbenchmark for C, they had to do a bunch of
things to get the compilers to stop optimizing away their benchmarks, so that
should tell you something right there :)
The example they give of sprintf calls is completely misleading, since
sprintf_chk is going to be several hundred instructions itself.
Follow
[https://github.com/lattera/glibc/blob/master/debug/sprintf_c...](https://github.com/lattera/glibc/blob/master/debug/sprintf_chk.c)
all the way down the rabbit hole :)
------
Fede_V
Julia aside, Keno, kudos for being an absolute class act and replying to
everything so politely.
For what it's worth, my impression of Julia has been overwhelmingly positive,
and all the developers I've interacted with have been polite and friendly. I
haven't made the switch from Python because:
\- I prefer the Python syntax
\- I like Python libraries (I know about PyCall, and it rocks)
\- The increased speed of Julia doesn't really add much given numba/theano and
so forth
However, I really like:
\- Optional static typing for sanity checking
\- Can write fast functions directly in julia - which is handy when passing
callbacks or doing numerical routines like integration (although this requires
timholy's fast lambda package)
~~~
tavert
> this requires timholy's fast lambda package
Not on nightly. That's fixed now. The technical concerns here about startup
time etc are fixable, we'll get to them.
------
Frompo
If you want to replace Matlab you should use Octave, julia is for making your
next climate model, not for "hello world" ricing
~~~
sndean
I've found the Armadillo C++ library
([http://arma.sourceforge.net/](http://arma.sourceforge.net/)) to be a better
replacement, when concerned about speed.
~~~
cozzyd
IME eigen3 is even better (although the template-induced hellish compilation
times are a huge pain).
~~~
sndean
I was going to say "but there's RcppArmadillo!" But now I see there's
RcppEigen, too. I'll have to check it out.
------
yoodenvranx
As someone who does quite a lot of image and signal processing the fact that
their arrays are 1-based is a complete deal breaker. The first few years of my
career I worked with Matlab and I hated 1-based arrays with a passion. I think
I never encountered a situation where the Matlab way makes stuff easier,
almost always the 0-based index is the more natural choice.
After I switched to Python/C I can say that I never want to work with 1-index
languages again.
~~~
mathgenius
I just cannot comprehend how anyone can use 1-based indexing. I have never
used it myself though so there's always the possibility that I may just be
missing out on something. Glad that you cleared this up.
~~~
Sean1708
I just can't comprehend how something as trivial as indexing can be a deal-
breaker for someone. I write 0-based most of the time, but I can think of as
many advantages for 1-based indexing as I can for 0-based. The only time I can
understand prefering 0-based is in C or something of a similar level, where
indexing is just syntactic sugar for pointer arithmetic.
------
daxfohl
Seems like for the last five years every language has been gaining popularity.
Now they're all losing popularity. Except rust, perhaps, and elm. What gives?
~~~
hondaz54
Obviously static/strong typing is winning. Last man standing are JavaScript
and Python, the former transforms into a compilation target (like Elm), the
latter doing some kind of gradual typing (like mypy).
I think dynamic typing has its place, but more in experimental design and
prototyping than in bigger application development (big IMHO).
~~~
unlinker
Why is strong/dynamic typing considered such a big deal?
~~~
IshKebab
Two main reasons:
1\. You can detect very common errors (e.g. typos) at compile-time instead of
_maybe_ detecting them at run-time. This makes the code much much more
reliable (or equivalently you don't need to do nearly as much testing).
2\. Dynamic typing prevents IDEs from doing extremely useful things like
_real_ code completion and symbol renaming.
If you're thinking "but I edit Javascript with code completion" or "code
completion isn't such a big deal" then it's probably because you've never used
_accurate_ code completion, e.g. Microsoft's Intellisense for C++, or pretty
much an Java IDE.
~~~
lispm
There are ways to deal with that in dynamically typed languages.
1) Common Lisp implementation use a compiler to detect typos, etc.
CL-USER 21 > (defun bar () (fo0))
BAR
CL-USER 22 > (compile *)
The following function is undefined:
FO0 which is referenced by BAR
2) In Common Lisp one can ask the running Lisp system for information about
classes, symbols, functions, etc.
The use cases for renaming are also completely different. If you take for
example a Java class and you want to rename an attribute and update the
getter/setters you might want to use a 'tool'. In a dynamically typed language
like Common Lisp, this is often not necessary because code generation is
widely used and changes can be propagate that way.
------
jerf
You know, you take a potshot at Go in there, but I observe that none of the
negative bullet points apply to Go. My real point here not being "Go rocks",
but that languages are more than just the collection of bullet-point features
they claim on their home page. I think this is another one of those things
that says obvious when I say it directly, but a lot of people are not letting
it inform their actions.
Also I _love_ that first alphabet image on that page.
~~~
Etzos
Was it really a potshot at Go? Maybe I read it incorrectly but what I thought
was being said was that all the "modern" features that Julia/Python/other
newer languages have are not available in Go (think stuff like list
comprehensions). I don't think that's a potshot as it's not really a negative,
just a difference in design. Go doesn't have those features and many times
does not want those features, and there is nothing bad about that and nothing
bad about stating such.
------
doug1001
\- One-based indexing
setting aside whether zero- or one-based indexing is 'better'; R and MATLAB
have one-based indexing, so the convention is likely familiar to many in the
Julia target audience.
still, as the OP says, (relatively) painless interoperability with C and C++
is an advertised Julia feature, both of which use zero-based index (although
Fortran is one-based), and that mis-match is a definite obstacle to
interoperability.
~~~
tavert
I find I don't pass individual array indices back and forth between C and
Julia as often as I would in Python or Matlab, since I don't need as much
compiled interface glue. You can do iteration and the like entirely on the
Julia side or entirely on the C side and mostly pass the array buffers back
and forth. ccall handles that for you if you declare a Ptr{Float64} argument
type that the C library expects and send it a Julia Array{Float64} input. It's
when you have arrays of indices, like the linear programming library his
example snippet is referring to, that you notice. Or serializing text-based
representations.
------
rmah
Regarding performance, I can only say that julia's primary use case doesn't
really seem to be for small scripts that take a few msec to run.
The last set of programs I wrote in julia had run times of hours to days. A
few extra seconds of startup time is well worth the 10x or better improvement
over using python for the same tasks. The code was also tighter and easier to
understand. A win all around.
------
Gratsby
I think it's a little naive to "give up" on a language early on, but on the
same note, I've walked away from several for periods of time because they
lacked the maturity I needed.
I did enjoy the article and the linked article that spelled out ways to
increase performance with Python. With any environment there are dramatic
performance improvements to be had with a little bit of engineering and
knowledge.
I've seen a bit of an odd shift towards Julia - People seem to be adopting it
in droves from my perspective. That means that the development team is doing
something very right. Given some of the people I've heard talking about Julia,
I don't think it's going away any time soon.
This kind of feedback is good for the team. If you are going in another
direction for the time being, stating why is always helpful. Glad to see a
developer here in this thread.
------
marmaduke
Numba package for Python gives you the LLVM JIT for numerical work. I really
don't see how Julia is relevant anymore.
~~~
ska
Python really doesn't (and cannot) address many of the design goals of Julia.
At least as I understand them (and I'm not a Julia user). Whether or not Julia
has/will achieve them either is a separate issue.
Python can be a very useful mess for this sort of work (numerical analysis
etc.), and is succeeding at that quite well. In fact, that's it's main
challenge to something like Julia. Not design, that ship sailed a long time
ago. But practicality and availability of packages and bindings. Once you get
too far ahead in that, it's hard to justify using any other platform for "real
work", rather than because it's fun to hack on.
~~~
marmaduke
Python is a mess if you make it that way.
What are these design principles in Julia that Python can't possibly uphold?
------
partycoder
Diversity is good. Ruby and Python, C# and Java... good ideas can emerge.
Having another Python-like language is good.
------
max_
The author has addressed very valid issues, but I strongly disagree with his
objective theme of "Giving up"
I don't think the Julia team should be blamed for anything. I have not heard
of the project receiving any support from large companies as Python, Golang
and Rust do.
For this reason, I find it very unfair to compare Julia to these languages.
FYI Julia has not even reached version 1.0 yet!
The language just needs support, and the author is not helping out.
------
pathsjs
You may be interested in Nim. If you can tolerate working without a REPL, Nim
hits essentially all the bullet points you mentioned, from macros to
coroutines, multiple dispatch, ability to call c trivially and python easily
and so on.
It has static types and is fast. The libraries for scientific computing are
not there yet, but it lends very nicely to mathematical abstraction.
~~~
jjnoakes
How does Nim's "trivial" C interop work if Nim is garbage collected and C is
not?
(Not trolling, genuinely curious).
~~~
pathsjs
Nim compiles to c, hence you can just call c functions. All you need is a
signature, which can even be generated automatically from a c header.
You can manually allocate memory if you want, and you can also pass pointers,
either to manually allocated or gc memory. The gc will not run when c is
working, since it is triggered by allocation
~~~
jjnoakes
So if I call from Nim to C (passing a gc'd Nim-owned pointer), then that C
routine calls back into Nim (via a function pointer, or some other way through
the FFI), the nested Nim routine may trigger gc and wipe out the pointer my C
code is working with?
~~~
pathsjs
The situation that you describe could happen, but it is quite rare in
practice. Usually, I call c functions that do their work and be done, such as
BLAS.
For such cases, you can either manually allocate the pointers you pass to c,
or temporarily disable the gc. Each thread has its own heap, so gc for one
thread does not break anything in other threads
~~~
jjnoakes
It's just those "quite rare in practice" bugs that I'm concerned about. Those
tend to cost the most.
------
bjkfjgnbkfg
You also might be interested in:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/Julia/comments/3rxg1x/is_julia_movi...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Julia/comments/3rxg1x/is_julia_moving_too_fast_in_too_many_directions/cwsdc6v)
------
pkm
Lots of guesses as to what Julia can or can't do in here, primarily by peopl
who obviously don't follow the progress of the language. Slowdown? I'm
following Julia closely, and I have quite a hard time doing my job and keeping
up with commits and the issue/pr tracker at the same time. That Julia doesn't
get as much PR now that it's a bit more mature cannot be too surprising. How
many articles have you read lately about the thousands and thousands of people
who will be learning C(++) over the coming years? Not many I guess, but does
that mean C is dead?
------
Xeronate
I swear every day I see a new post about why X programming language is awful.
It is pretty demotivating.
------
leni536
About the startup time: a Julia server and client could mitigate this,
couldn't it?
------
_Codemonkeyism
Key phrase
"I became very enthusiastic about it."
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Delivering Wow Customer Service: An Interview with Valerie Liberty from Balsamiq - prateekdayal
http://blog.supportbee.com/2010/12/02/delivering-wow-customer-service-an-interview-with-valerie-liberty-from-balsamiq/
======
wallflower
Excellent interview.
> Peldi started Balsamiq on nights and weekends, and now it’s supporting half
> a dozen families.
If that is not a real, tangible definition of a successful startup, I do not
know what one would be.
~~~
prateekdayal
Yes .. also I love how Balsamiq used the word 'lifestyle business' in such a
positive way. I have only heard it as a way to write off bootstrapped startups
otherwise.
~~~
mayanks
Same here.when I started 2 years I did want to do lifestyle business, but 6
months later realised that phrase Has different meaning for different folks.
------
endlessvoid94
Achieving the milestone where your users help each other means you have built
a community and that it is thriving. It's sometimes very difficult to figure
out the best way to do that, though. Some products are better suited for a
traditional forum, some to a StackOverflow-type supplement. This seems like it
might be a ripe place for innovation -- how can we better get our customers to
talk to each other?
This was a great interview.
------
a8ash
Excellent interview.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Computer-driven cars will convulse the automotive industry - evo_9
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131130/AUTO01/311300015/1148/AUTO01/Computer-driven-cars-will-convulse-automotive-industry
======
nakedrobot2
There is a hint of what a full society of self-driven cars will be like in
_Rainbows End_ by Vernor Vinge: there are no traffic lights. The cars all
weave through an intersection much like pedestrians do while walking.
The future, at least in terms of the dangers of driving, is bright.
I look forward to the day when every car is a taxi, and the only cars parked
on the side of the road are the ones owned by the very few people who can
still be bothered at all to own a car full-time, which will hopefully be very
few people.
~~~
saraid216
Is the implication here that pedestrians will simply walk into the street at
random and the AIs will handle that? I find myself a little uncomfortable at
the thought, and I'm fairly enthusiastic about driverless cars for most of the
reasons you stated.
~~~
jaggederest
Yes, that's precisely what happens. You'll be given a safe berth, with cars
stopping or avoiding you by at least the distance you could conceivably fall
over.
Personally that's already how I cross the street, and my confidence in human
drivers isn't anywhere near so great.
~~~
dredmorbius
With human drivers you're given a notion of whether or not they've seen you
(they're looking in your direction, the vehicle is slowing, they're motioning
at you to cross or get out of the way, or honking at you). The situation is
somewhat deterministic.
Not perfect by a long shot, but unless automatic vehicles offer some similar
pedestrian signaling capability, there will be issues.
There's also the question of what happens, say, when a vehicle is surrounded
by a crowd of people with ill intent. This happens:
[http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Motorcycle-Gang-
Attack-...](http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Motorcycle-Gang-Attack-Dad-
Toddler-Range-Rover-Manhattan-225817761.html)
~~~
omegaworks
>unless automatic vehicles offer some similar pedestrian signaling capability,
there will be issues.
Working on it. [http://www.technologyreview.com/view/427743/how-do-you-
know-...](http://www.technologyreview.com/view/427743/how-do-you-know-an-
autonomous-vehicle-has-seen-you/)
------
001sky
I think the market for trucks will be far more disrupted. The idea of having
"drone" containers seems far more easily realized and higher value added than
civilian passenger autos. The average A->B distances are longer (miles/trip),
the routes simpler (turns/mile) and the roads are less complex (fewer on-grade
intersections). It seems an automated "carpool lane" would be a huge benefit.
As would the avoidance of speeding and drowsy driving by semi/lorry drivers.
Furthermore, removing this rolling stock from passenger car rights of way
would itself be an improvement in safety (if for no other reason than >
visibility).
~~~
VLM
An interesting side issue you didn't consider is at least in the initial roll
out phase you simply make an automated "train" with ten trucks, and the lead
truck driven by human (or at least has a human on board).
~~~
huherto
This will save a lot of energy since the drag of the truck in front will suck
the truck behind. Sorry, I lack the technical terms to describe it.
~~~
dredmorbius
The term is "drafting" or "slipstreaming". The concept has been part of the
allure of autonomous vehicle engineering for decades, and is already praticed
by human truck drivers (though they cannot follow as closely as automated
systems would be able to).
I've done it myself in a passenger car on long trips -- once covered most of a
state at high speeds behind a truck who seemed bent on making his schedule.
75+ MPH and my fuel consumption was _well_ below typical for that leg of the
trip.
------
conductor
Computer-driven cars will introduce tons of new hacking possibilites from the
malicious actors, some possible news headlines:
The car unexpectedly accelerated and killed 5 people, an accident or a murder?
A new ransomware demands 1 BTC to start your car
Google keeps all the history of your car's movements
LAPD is testing a special device to remotely stop cars instead of chasing them
~~~
ihsw
Can't forget insurance fraud. I foresee a future where insurance companies
will impose additional fees to cars that are "assisted" rather than fully
autonomous.
What is assisted? A car fitted with the self-driving computer, but rather than
driving the car it instead compares your actions with one the computer would
normally do. What is this comparison for? To determine whether you are a safe
driver -- a Safe Driver Rating (SDR).
Self-driving cars will become the new gold standard for determining who is a
safe driver -- and failing to meet that standard will result in higher
insurance rates.
What does this have to do with malicious hackers? They can fudge the self-
driving computer to silently and gradually increase your insurance rates by
misreporting your SDR.
What about cars that are neither fully autonomous nor "assisted"? Simple: they
don't get built/sold anymore due to being unsafe.
~~~
VLM
One interesting side effect of a safe driver rating is you need to balance the
cost of having to pay higher insurance with having to find a new job.
Or another interesting problem is how do you push a self driving car beyond
its performance boundaries to save your life? "I'm sorry dave, but I can't let
you drive during a hurricane/tsunami warning" "hey car, shut up and drive, the
storm surge is rising and unless you get moving you're about to transform into
a submarine"
If you get fired from your job because your self driving car decided its not
going out in 1 inch of snow, how much do you sue the manufacturer? Or the
other way around, your self driving car permitted you to go out in a 24 inch
blizzard and it got stuck and you died, how much does your estate and
survivors get to sue the manufacturer?" Obviously the proud american tradition
of screw the little guy means the mfgrs can do anything they want, but the PR
implications mean all self driving cars will shut off whenever the chance of
precip is above 0%, or the temp is below 32F, etc. And THATs why I don't want
a self driving car, it'll be useless in order to be legally intrinsically safe
(only valid operating conditions will be 70 degrees, sunny, daytime, etc,
which is about 2 weeks per year where I live.)
~~~
noonespecial
What if your car, networked with all of the other cars in the immediate area,
came to the conclusion that a fatal collision was unavoidable unless one car
(your car) purposely veered over the side of a bridge... The good of the many
outwieghs the good of the few, and you're the few?
~~~
dandrews
Unless you paid extra for the level-2 protection package. Then the network has
to select a level-1 vehicle to go over the edge.
~~~
noonespecial
That really is a terrifying thought if you follow it. It won't be so blatant.
Probably more like "everyone knows that Volvo AI's get in way less fatal
crashes than "cheaper" Chevy AI's".
Considering human nature, I don't think I can imagine a way where this _won
't_ happen on some level or another.
------
tobiasu
Something completely lost on tons of nerds seems to be that people genuinely
enjoy operating their cars (and motorcycles).
~~~
saraid216
Remember when people genuinely enjoyed riding horses?
~~~
gaius
This is different. This is a horse you ask nicely to take you there but once
you're locked inside it can take you anywhere. The issue is not safety, it's
_control_.
~~~
leoc
Horses have control issues as well. And a properly designed autonomous car is
likely to have a manual override or emergency stop, things for which there are
no good equivalents on a horse.
~~~
pretense
The manual override for a horse is a bullet in the brain. Why do you think
cowboys carried six shooters?
------
salient
Right now the scariest part about self-driving cars is the corporations making
them or governments having access to remotely-controlled "kill-switches" for
these cars. In such a future you wouldn't need to "cut the breaks" to "make it
look like an accident" anymore, and doing it like this would be far easier, if
strong security measures aren't considered from the start.
~~~
MichaelApproved
Yours is a paranoid theory. This future you're worried about is just as
possible with elevators and yet we don't see it happening. It'll be just as
difficult to get away with because of how unusual accidents will be with self
driving cars.
~~~
dredmorbius
Elevator accidents are rare (hence: suspicious), people transit them for brief
periods of time, usually in the company of others, and it's difficult to known
when your intended target is in the elevator to attack them. If you're going
to target someone via an elevator attack, you've likely got far more effective
and specific vectors which would work.
Cars tend to be assigned to specific individuals (permanently, on an ongoing
occasional basis for car-share programs, or for a trip duration in the case of
dispatched livery) and, well, accidents happen, even with automation (other
vehicles, mechanical failures, road or environmental conditions). Moreover, if
your intent is to convey someone somewhere, it's a lot easier to do this via
an automobile (which can travel anywhere on a paved road and non
inconsiderable options on unpaved roads) than in an elevator, which, with the
exception of Mr. Wonka's design, tend to follow a rather predictable and
limited course.
If I were in charge of threat assessment for a VIP/HNWI, I'd very much take
this threat into consideration.
------
sfbsfbsfb
It seems like these cars will have to be operable in both the manual and self
driving modes. Otherwise the car will become much less flexible.
Examples: 1) immediate unplanned stop at a yard sale 2) drive "off road" to
get around an obstruction 3) dealing with unstructured parking situations 4)
avoiding emergency stops in unsafe locations 5) driving through puddles (is it
2 inches or 2 feet deep?) 6) etc.
And for some significant transition period the road will be populated by both
manual and computer driven cars.
How does the hybrid system work? Won't many people take advantage of "dumb"
cars. How would you drive if you knew many cars were computer controlled.
Would people figure out how to "game" the known computer driving rules? I
don't pull out in front of cars that are too close because the human might not
stop and hit me. Maybe I don't worry about it if I know the computer is in
control of the other car.
Long haul freeway driving does not seem too complicated. But what about high
density suburban and city driving?
~~~
icebraining
1 is just a matter of allowing the user to issue real-time commands ("Car,
stop here", "Car, go park"). 3 is less of an issue when you can get off and
let the car park itself wherever it wants.
2, 4 and 5 are a matter of smarter algorithms, but I doubt they won't be able
to do all that way before they become commonplace. Particularly 4, since you
can't reasonably expect people to have to take control to avoid an accident.
Even professional pilots can struggle with that, let alone regular drivers.
~~~
ams6110
There is currently a lot of talk in the professional pilot community that
automation has reached the point where pilots are increasingly unable to fly
manually. So when the automation fails, they can't handle it.
------
swayvil
fta : "The avoidance of accidents will cut insurance costs".
Ha ha. No. Any freed-up cash will result in an increase in gas-prices, taxes
or whatever. The cost living will continue to be just a bit more than you can
afford no matter what. Any "avoidance of accidents" will just translate into
profits for somebody, not you. The cost-environment is entirely artificial and
is designed to exploit you right down to the bones and gristle. You don't get
to enjoy the fruits of progress except in ways that make you a more efficient
worker. Sorry.
~~~
cortesoft
My cost of living is quite a bit less than I can afford. I am not sure what
you mean.
~~~
alan_cx
Let them eat cake, right?
~~~
cortesoft
No, but the comment above made it sound like the situation he described
applies to everyone. I am not crazy wealthy, but by being smart with my money
and forgoing some things I can live within my means comfortably. I am sure
there are many people in my situation, contrary to the statement I was
responding to.
------
richforrester
>and they will be ubiquitous by 2025.
aaaand you've lost me. Apologies for the snide remark, but there's no way
we'll be there by that time. The industry won't let us.
Apologies for not having much reason in this post, and only stating a personal
opinion without much detail to back it up, but I'm just curious to see if
there's anyone that feels the same.
~~~
richforrester
Elaborating;
The optimal (most efficient, safest) way to get computer-controlled cars to
work;
\- All drivable areas mapped (Not just the roads - EVERYTHING, since you might
want to go off-road. What if; landslide, earthquake, someone digs a hole
somewhere, leaves a brick on the street, etc.)
\- Knows where everyone is (going) at all times (privacy issue)
\- Has everyone on the same system (not happening within 12 years)
Since I don't see these three happen, they have to be dealt with somehow. The
bracketed issues are fully remedied only by the solutions written before them.
Anything less will be fighting the symptoms, not the disease, and be a never-
ending battle.
There are so many obstacles to be overcome, so much politics to be done, so
many technical challenges, so much bureaucracy ... 12 years really isn't that
long.
~~~
maxerickson
The actual bar for deploying self driving cars is that they are safer than
some (large?) portion of humans that we already allow to drive. We don't have
to do it the safest way or the most efficient way.
I agree that ubiquity is unlikely, but because of cost.
(A high end Mercedes can already keep itself in a lane, slow down the cruise
for a slower vehicle and will override the driver trying to crash into things.
These systems are environmental, they don't depend on detailed maps.
[http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/benz/safety](http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/benz/safety)
And they are one of several, not way out in front.)
------
ricardobeat
> Railroads, bus companies and short-haul airlines will suffer. If you can
> move from your home to your destination, door-to-door in the comfort of your
> car, who’s going to take the train, bus or plane?
Would that be significant? Costs, travel times, risk of accidents/theft,
failures, would still be much higher. Not to mention it is absurdly less
efficient to travel alone in a car.
I imagine hopping onto a car to the train station, and having another one
waiting for you right at the arrivals gate will be the preferred mode of
travel.
~~~
ams6110
Have you ever taken a long-distance rail trip in the USA? Outside of a few
corridors in the northeast, it's a slow, breakdown-ridden nightmare.
~~~
justincormack
Maybe the OP was talking about the rest of the world, where trains work pretty
well in general and this service might work.
------
manmal
I imagine that this would make the modularization of cars more feasible, or
even necessary. E.g. a long-distance travel power train module could provide
enough juice for driving cross-country (e.g. on holidays), while the commuter
power train module would be lighter and less costly to rent. The car could
drive itself to a hotspot where such modules are interchanged on demand. This
would of course only make sense if there still is something like car ownership
- if cars are only rented from central entities, then this entity would just
send out specialized vehicles instead.
However, I'm not quite sold that people will give up on car ownership. Yes,
there's public utilities and public transport, which is not up for individual
ownership. But a car in the sense that we have it now is something more
personal than a train cabin - a car's body is very close to us and we touch it
all the time; we leave personal belongings there; and there is something to
the fact that this car is always in front of my house/appartment, especially
in emergency situations. This last point could be amended with emergency cars
which are available to each apartment block, with which driving is just more
expensive. Imagine crying "Help! I need a car!" and an emergency unit comes
right around the corner and takes you wherever you want.
~~~
trafficlight
I don't think we'll willingly give up on owning cars. Rather, it'll become way
too expensive for the average person to own one.
Once self-driving cars show a marked decrease in road accidents, insurance
prices will rise.
Car-as-a-Service companies will be created, making the cost of riding in a
private car much cheaper than outright owning one. I'm already intending to
start a car service as soon as the first cars are available.
~~~
alexeisadeski3
>Once self-driving cars show a marked decrease in road accidents, insurance
prices will rise.
Huh?
Edit: Just to be clear: The world you describe should see incuranse rates for
self-driving cars markedly lower, with rates for driver-driven cars probably a
bit lower (than current).
~~~
toomuchtodo
Insurance costs for human-driven vehicles will rise.
~~~
cortesoft
I don't think that is necessarily true.. The cost of insurance is based on the
average expected payout per customer... I don't think the average payout will
increase, as being a human driver won't suddenly become MORE dangerous, at
worst it will stay the same.
~~~
toomuchtodo
But what happens when the average expected payout is expected to go down?
Insurance companies will expect lower loss ratios from self-driven cars, so
doing something as dangerous as driving your own vehicle will carry a premium.
Its very similar to how your health insurance premiums are much higher if
you're a smoker. You _can_ smoke, but you're going to be charged for this
unnecessary, harmful action.
~~~
cortesoft
Oh, I have no doubt that driving your own car will be more expensive than
taking a self-driving car. My point was that it wouldn't be more expensive
than it currently is to have insurance (when everyone is driving their own
car)
------
dsugarman
I wonder how the economics of owning cars will change when everything is
computerized. In logistics (specifically trucks), it would incredibly reduce
the total cost of shipping if you eliminate Less-than Truck Loads (LTLs) and
empty back hauls. I imagine it is similar with transporting people, if there
was a "taxi" like company that could maximize the use of an automated car, the
total amount of cars necessary in the world would go dramatically down. Right
now most cars spend most of their lives idle. Great side effects include no
auto insurance and much less emitted greenhouse gasses.
The number of millennials buying cars is already extremely low, computerized
cars would most likely continue to reduce the number of new car owners.
------
jleyank
Unless these car systems are programmed at the level of rigor of the Space
Shuttle or other "screw up and they all die" environments, the only group
that's going to "convulse" from computer-driven cars will be lawyers. And
they'll convulse laughing. Is this how it should be, no. But it's how it is in
the US at the moment, possibly in other countries as well.
As people mention, if they don't behave as the rider wants or if they can't
deal with unexpected situations (or mechanical failures) or if they're
required to be always-connected and the net goes down… And I'm sure all sorts
of privacy types would love being carted about with no control on their
environment. Unless the net connection's also amazingly robust, the computer-
driven kidnapping possibilities are endless.
Oh, I didn't think computer vision's a solved problem… It's easy to lose the
GPS signal in cities, and you can probably jam or spoof it without too much
difficulty. Doubt cities are going to spend lots of $$ installing all sorts of
"helpers" to deal with all that rebar.
------
quertaciousness
Imagine having your car drive off and park itself somewhere. You don't even
need to know where.
And there are wider and more fundamental social benefits. City centres will
become pleasant places to walk in. Cleaner air, less noise and less chance of
being run over. Another example, _children_ will play outside more, rather
than being confined indoors as they increasingly have been.
~~~
krapp
>Imagine having your car drive off and park itself somewhere. You don't even
need to know where.
Sounds like a car thief's dream.
~~~
VLM
Or just the average meth head doing smash and grabs.
------
jdhendrickson
An aspect of this that I have yet to see examined is the rapid decrease in
paint and body repair, as well as replacement parts needed on both a
mechanical and cosmetic front. Many mechanical failures are due to driver
error. Once again shrinking the pool of skilled manual labor with no new
industry for the workers to transition into.
------
michaelfeathers
The thing that the article didn't touch on was the fact that many
municipalities derive significant income from fines related to parking and
traffic violations. It will be a big transition for them also.
------
infinotize
I don't want a computer driven car.
------
huevosabio
There seems to be a lot of excitement about self-driven cars, but somehow,
except for a handful of local lines, there has been no real automation on the
operation of trains, even if they are much easier to make completely
autonomous. How are self-driven cars not going to face the same fate as self-
driven trains?
~~~
hrkristian
Except trains are largely autonomous, it's about wanting a human element in
the operation, not requiring them. I see the same applying to a self-driven
car, the human element is always present there in the form of passengers, who
undoubtedly will be able to assume control if need be, that is how the Google
cars are designed.
~~~
loup-vaillant
I have discussed with guys doing train software for a living:
[http://prover.com/](http://prover.com/) From their experience, automating
trains in an otherwise human environment is very hard. Probably as hard as
automating cars.
I expect the ubiquitous automation of trains at around the same time at the
ubiquitous automation of cars.
~~~
picea
The control of the train itself is easy. Simulations abound for this purpose.
The GE's and Siemons of this world wouldn't hesitate to implement them if
there weren't other significant rail context specific issues, such as the
human environment comment above. The difference is that it's not a human vs
human driver problem but a schedule design and human making bad scheduling
decisions now that the trains are running late, implementation problem.
Furthermore, train drivers are cheap (compared with other infrastructure
investments) and relatively efficient as they can be skilfully taught to drive
according to a plan (compared with your fellow road commuters). Without other
investments to tell the driver or the computer that they can drive
faster/closer to the train in front at most railways are only likely to see
efficiency gains (lower power/diesel usage) but struggle to drive those trains
to denser schedules. It will happen for non-capacity reasons such as inter
network usage, and safety to prevent trains from speeding around curves and
falling off.
I expect the challenge will ease partly due to implementing automation of the
management to provide safety at increased traffic densities and provide online
decision support analysis. Later versions of ETCS could an example of part of
that:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Train_Control_System](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Train_Control_System)
Example of some of the budgets involved:
[http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/infrastructure/news/ten...](http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/infrastructure/news/ten-
t-corridors_en.htm))
Once a future version of that is done (ATMS in Australia for example),
driverless tech will be much closer to being the low hanging fruit.
------
vl
>Congestion avoidance will speed traffic and save fuel too.
Perhaps we live in different worlds, in my world self-driving cars will create
more traffic jam, lead to higher road-use taxes and to harsher economic times
due to people in trucking/delivery/cab driving losing jobs.
~~~
loup-vaillant
Traffic jam: the infrastructure may eventually change. Have a first car drive
to to a nearby train or subway station, and a second car to your destination
from the train. In the meantime, you may have more traffic jam.
Energy: when you don't need to own your car, you can use the best car for the
job. A commuting car doesn't need to be able to carry 5 people around. It can
be much smaller. Again, the transition period likely won't look good.
Harsher economic times: this is good old technological employment, where
productivity rises faster than demand. My 2 cents: self-driving cars _will_
significantly contribute to technological unemployment, and that's _good_ ,
provided we manage it well. An obvious measure would be to generalize a 32
hours work-week, over 4 days. It would mean less unemployment and less
overwork. Workload will reduce anyway. We might as well share this reduction,
instead of giving it all to the unemployed.
------
vincie
Yeah, but they are still just cars. They will still need valuable real-estate
for roads and parking and storage. What these are starting to sound like are
trains and buses, which have existed for hundreds of years.
~~~
discodave
No. A self driving car can move itself somewhere where real estate and parking
are freely available and cheap. Also, if people can utilize them like taxis
then the total number of cars registered at any one time can drop
dramatically.
The difference between a self-driving car and a bus/train is that the car goes
wherever you want, just like a manual car.
~~~
krapp
What leads you to believe the owners of those properties or law enforcement
will allow self-driving cars to park themselves just anywhere?
~~~
pbhjpbhj
The cost for parking will of course be limited as otherwise you could simply
send the car out to drive around the block until you're ready to leave. That
may not provide a restrictive limitation but it will be a limit in some way.
I'm now imagining huge traffic jams caused on purpose to enable electric
vehicles to crawl around the city for several hours to avoid paying massive
parking costs.
~~~
krapp
I can easily imagine cities mandating autonomous vehicles having to pay
(automatically I guess) some kind of 'congestion' fee after driving a certain
number of miles without a passenger or without covering any real distance.
------
tspike
As pointed out elsewhere in the thread, if computer driven cars become
ubiquitous, insurance rates on person driven cars will become prohibitively
high or the act of driving a car on public roads will be banned outright.
As someone who enjoys nothing more than riding my motorcycle on mountain road
trips, I can't help but dread that. The privacy and liberty implications make
me uneasy as well, in much the same way as the NSA's overreach.
~~~
shalmanese
Why would insurance become prohibitively high? Insurance is priced at the mean
probability of getting into an accident * mean cost of restitution from an
accident + insurance risk premium. I can't see self driving cars measurably
affecting any of these numbers upwards significantly. Especially not by the
factor of 10 it would require to make insurance prohibitively expensive.
~~~
dredmorbius
Low-n probabilities become harder to assess, so if human-controlled vehicles
are really rare, risks might be hard to assess.
How human drivers interact with otherwise automated traffic flows might
similarly increase risks. Much as largely horse-drawn or bicycle traffic is
generally pretty safe, but mixed-mode traffic with cars, trucks, busses, etc.,
tends to produce (often fatal) accidents.
------
frogpelt
Convulse = disrupt, right?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why is enterprise software so bad? - techdog
http://asserttrue.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-is-enterprise-software-so-bad.html
======
vladimir
1\. Development process is led by managers, not developers. 2\. Developers
frequently work under time / budget pressure. 3\. Money is the only stimulus,
so the developers try to make software good enough to get paid. 4\. Big
companies try to make something big.
~~~
CWuestefeld
I can't buy any of these explanations.
1\. In my experience, most managers in the software development world started
out as developers themselves. In our organizations, most of us managers still
do a fair amount of development as well.
2\. This is true. But how can it be otherwise? Anywhere in this world we must
make decisions based on how to allocate limited resources. This is true even
for open source development. A project must finish at some point, else it's a
failure to begin with. Thus, we cannot invest infinite resource, and must
decide how much we can invest in each part of a system.
3\. I have not found this to be true. Virtually everyone I have ever worked
with takes pride in doing a good job. Can you cite evidence to the contrary?
4\. I'm not sure what this means.
I think that much of the problem has to do with #2 and maybe #4 (depending
what you meant). That is, many important enterprise projects are just as big
as large "shrinkwrap" software. But the number of customers is smaller, so the
cost of development must be amortized over a smaller set of buyers. This means
that there must be some balance of higher prices and cost-cutting. I suspect
that the economics works out so that cost-cutting pressures are stronger in
the enterprise arena than for shrinkwrap products.
~~~
kaveri
Enterprise applications also have a smaller number of users, so the feedback
pool is smaller: you don't get the same number of bug reports feeding back
into your development cycle as you would with a widely-used web or shrink-wrap
application.
End-users who happen to be employees don't get to choose the software - just
like developers who are forced to use Java at work but code at home in Haskell
or Python, they are forced to use a system decreed by management and therefore
will often have a negative bias to start with - "the new system" being both a
focus of complaints in the coffee room and a catch all excuse to tell
customers.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Benchmark your AngularJS application easily - robinbressan
https://github.com/RobinBressan/ng-benchmark
======
Bahamut
The benchmarks could be misleading, given that it stores a reference to the
element and attrs - I'd expect it to possibly mess with the garbage
collecting, thus not giving you a true benchmark.
------
aj0strow
fyi you can do Date.now() instead of new Date().getTime()
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Technology That Could Free America from Quarantine - mmhsieh
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/contact-tracing-could-free-america-from-its-quarantine-nightmare/609577/
======
jjgreen
Does anyone seriously believe that the various 3-letter agencies will keep
their nasty little fingers off this? And that once the vaccine arrives, we may
as well keep it in place "for the sake of the children"?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Revealed: the first ever picture of the sun's north pole - sahin-boydas
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2187161-revealed-the-first-ever-picture-of-the-suns-north-pole/
======
Alex_Fragd
Praise the Sun!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Is it feasible to create a Twitter Client in 2020? - MH15
I have been toying with a plan for a custom Twitter client, but have heard that Twitter has made it more difficult to build custom clients. If anyone has information on this I'd be glad.
======
cocktailpeanuts
no.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Amazon Fire TV Stick - ramanujam
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GDQ0RMG/
======
chaostheory
It's currently $19.99 (if you're a Prime Member) for two days. Discount is
applied at checkout.
I'm pretty happy with Amazon Fire; it's Google TV done right. Hopefully this
USB stick is just as good. If you already have a Roku though, I'm not sure you
need this unless you want it for another TV or as a gift.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Y Combinator Challenge #17 - New Payment Methods - toffer
http://astartupaday.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/y-combinator-challenge-17-new-payment-methods/
======
ROFISH
The biggest problem in this space isn't a transaction system, the coding, or
even the idea. I highly doubt that companies are willing to 'share' their
virtual currency since they work closer to gift cards. It's getting big
companies like Microsoft and Amazon and Zappos to convert from their virtual
fun bucks back into real money. The barrier to entry to work with those guys
are HUGE.
The closest thing you can have is an automated system that keeps enough gift
certificates from different places to allow exchanges for a fee. (ie. exchange
$50 Amazon gift card into $50 Zappos gift card for a buck or so.) Even then,
some places like the Xbox 360 points don't have any way of giving to people
once it's on your account.
This doesn't even count the fact that some systems, like WoW gold, makes it
illegal via usage contract to convert virtual money into real cash.
~~~
arockwell
Not to mention isn't a lot of the advantage of selling gift cards that they go
unclaimed?
I'm not really sure what is the real advantage of a virtual currency system. I
don't want to put any substantial amount of money in virtual currency. Also in
order to buy something with a virtual currency there has to be a market for
the currency, and the virtual currency is always going to be worth
(substantially) less than regular cash. Maybe I'm missing something big here,
but I don't see how this could ever be workable.
------
immad
"Well, as my grandpappy used to say: “When life gives you lemons, make a
consolidated online virtual currency gateway and payment system”. I never
quite understood what he was talking about. Until today."
\-------
Amusing
------
emmett
This is my favorite of these ideas so far. It's one of those inevitabilities -
eventually, someone will build a virtual currency exchange.
------
jkent
This is really clever. Even if you could get just two large virtual currencies
(where points win prizes) and exchange those, it would be beneficial. Perhaps
even from the same publisher.
You could encourage the companies by offering to take a rake on the
transaction and sharing it with them. It'd probably be against their T&Cs if
you didn't ask permission.
Other posts about loyalty are true. But if the points are transferrable,
people will trade them. Far better the publishers get control over it - but
you'd have to pursuade them.
~~~
sachinag
Flooz. Beenz.
~~~
jkent
Both flooz and beenz are famous failures which tried to introduce a new global
reward scheme.
The OP and myself are talking about is a trading market between various
existing (and assumedly succesful) point reward systems.
~~~
sachinag
Points.com?
I guess maybe I'm just not following.
------
dangoldin
Ithaca, NY has a concept called "Ithaca Bucks" which are accepted by local
merchants. I believe the purpose was to keep the money supporting local
businesses instead of letting it leave the area.
It's been a while since I've heard of it but I recall the fact that this makes
taxes difficult to keep track of since it becomes similar to bartering.
Anyone else have heard of this? I'm trying to find an article about this but
am having some trouble.
~~~
agru
[http://www.mail-
archive.com/[email protected]...](http://www.mail-
archive.com/[email protected]/msg00593.html)
------
albahk
The issues with virtual currencies are not technical, rather it is a social
issue of trust. You trust that a $100 note will be accepted and exchanged for
goods or services according to the note's face value in the general economy.
This is backed up by laws and businesses must accept this as payment, hence
"legal tender". So, our economies can function by exchanging these notes
instead of each of us carrying around three pigs, a sack of wheat and some
chickens to pay for goods and services.
I would never take my universally accepted "legal tender" and convert it into
a less liquid form of currency that is not universally accepted in the
economy, that is backed only by a company and not by law.
Even if it could get universal acceptance and was backed/supported by law, it
would then be the same as our current system of currency, so why bother?
I have had hundreds of thousands of frequent flyer points disappear due to an
airline collapse. This would be my biggest fear of adopting any virtual
currency.
------
dkasper
I was confused when I saw the title of the idea: "MyVC"
For some reason I think of MyVentureCapitalist rather than
MyVirtualCurrency...
~~~
kleneway
Yeah - the name is bad. Although it was better than my original name:
MyCOVCG&PS
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Narcissistic CEO bully threatens lawsuit - andrewbadera
http://blog.badera.us/2010/04/oldie-but-goodie-narcissistic-ceo-bully.html
======
sjsivak
I have been sent a handful of these spammy emails. I would not be so concerned
if they did not start out with a straight up lie. The emails I see always have
something like, "Did you get the email I sent you last? Please confirm your
speaking arrangement below."
The first time I got one I searched high and low for the "previous email" and
it did not exist. I knew then to google it and that is where it was confirmed
as spam in like 2006. And did I mention I am not a CIO...
~~~
andrewbadera
That was 100% my experience as well -- that opening is a pretty common spam
tactic. Plus, like you, I'm the wrong audience: I wasn't even a CTO at the
time, and I'm still not a CIO.
------
VBprogrammer
I'm really impressed with these guys. Neat professional looking website and
good social engineering on the flattery front and personal follow up emails. I
wonder what their conversion rate is? I wonder how much it costs to run one of
these summits, at $1000 a go it surely wouldn't take long to make back the
costs!
Just to be clear, I doubt they are doing anything too illegal (how many laws
do you break on a daily basis?!) but it does sound very unethical!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Distributed Mass Customization: Is Etsy the Next eBay? - naish
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/etsy_ebay_distributed_mass_customization.php
======
Olgaar
I'v been amazed by the way that Etsy and other sites like Hyenacart have
queitly been growing in the background, with not much significant media
coverage, but well known and adored within their own circles.
From personal, anecdotal evidence (meaning not good evidence) I'd not expect
many people to walk away from corporate jobs for new small businesses
facilitated by these websites. However I know of many people turning hobbies
into small businesses as a supplemental income. I've seen this trend led by
stay-at-home moms.
------
xirium
Well, Etsy ( <http://www.etsy.com/> ) is a drop-in replacement and you can
search by colour. Factor in media coverage and EBay's lack of goodwill and
Etsy could have a winner.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Apple crushes one-man repair shop in Norway’s Supreme Court - Krasnol
https://repair.eu/news/apple-crushes-one-man-repair-shop/
======
Improvotter
From what I hear, this isn't only about repairing iPhones. In a previous court
proceedings the man was ordered to remove the logos from Apple because he
imported the parts from China to refurbish iPhones. These were not genuine
parts and they were being sold as refurbished iPhones.
This court case bas brought on by Apple because he did not properly remove the
Apple logos. He used a permanent marker to "remove" them from the parts. Apple
did not agree that this was a proper way to do it.
As much as I am for the rights to repair. I would say that Apple has some
grounds here.
~~~
mywacaday
The issue here is that you cannot buy spare parts from apple, imagine if it
was the same for cars and you could only go to s main dealer to replace a
windscreen and if you got a guy in a van to replace it with one from a car no
longer in use that guy gets sued. Ludicrous situation, the availability of
spare parts should be mandatory, especially for high value and high
environmental impact items like the iphone.
~~~
tcbawo
I believe that car manufacturers in the US are required by law to produce
spare parts for 10 years after a model rolls off the assembly line. A similar
law for electronics would be useful, but where do you draw the line? Maybe the
FCC could be setting those guidelines for mobile phones.
~~~
ginko
> A similar law for electronics would be useful, but where do you draw the
> line?
Does there need to be a line? Arguably small custom electronics manufacturers
may not be able to do that, but surely something similar would apply to custom
car makers.
Arguably small electronics manufacturers would have an easier job fulfilling
this since they usually use off-the-shelf parts anyways.
~~~
greedo
I'm pretty sure that Apple doesn't just use off the shelf parts in the iPhone
etc.
~~~
Brian_K_White
"but then where do you draw the line?" wasn't asked out of concern for Apple
or anyone like Apple. They obviously _can_ afford to make their parts
available. You can't draw a line anywhere that would be unsustainable for
them.
The question was asked out of worry that some agressive rule targeted at a big
guy, might have unintended consequences that hurt the little guys.
To which question I agree with "doesn't matter, draw it anywhere and adjust as
needed" because there are easily identifiable reasonable ranges, and not
knowing the final perfect answer is not a good enough excuse for not doing
anything at all, and what we have now is already worse than a line that was
drawn a bit off the mark. Waht we have now is a defacto line drawn 100% off
the MAP.
------
rlpb
> As Huseby puts it, Apple uses copyright law as a “weapon” by putting
> multiple logos and QR-codes on each component part of its screens, knowing
> that the Chinese grey market will not specifically cater to repairers in
> other countries that zealously enforce copyright.
It seems to me that something like the exhaustion doctrine[1] should be made
to apply here (but presumably doesn't in Norway). Once a part is legally sold,
even if as part of a bigger product, IP law should not be able to be used to
prevent the buyer from doing what they want with the part, including using it
in a different product that is then sold as a refurbishment part. The only
exception should be to prevent others from being misled about the origin of
the product; that doesn't appear to have been happening here.
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhaustion_of_intellectual_pro...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhaustion_of_intellectual_property_rights)
~~~
kevin_thibedeau
This is a trademark issue and not copyright. Replacement parts passing
themselves off as genuine OEM shouldn't be tolerated. Markings aren't required
for the electronics to work. They're just there to deceive the consumer.
~~~
rlpb
This isn't passing off. The logo was placed on the part by Apple. The consumer
isn't being deceived; the consumer never even sees the logo! This is discussed
elsewhere here already.
~~~
nojito
How do you know that?
The part was imported into the country.
The customer is 100% being deceived.
~~~
rlpb
Because the article says "...the Oslo District Court ruled in 2018 that Huseby
did not violate Apple’s trademark, because Huseby never claimed to be using
unused original spare parts".
A court found that the customer wasn't being deceived, and this specific
finding has not been overturned on appeal. The issue is about IP rights
unrelated to customer deception.
------
elicash
These were counterfeit parts.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ar2Gxw8mIQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ar2Gxw8mIQ)
You may remember Louis Rossmann testifying in this case. To his credit, he
published this video about the different ways he was wrong. Unfortunately, you
probably didn't see the retraction bc the original testimony got 13x the
views. Not through any fault of Louis, simply due to how things spread online.
~~~
ginko
How is this different of someone fixing a brand name stereo amplifier by
replacing the capacitors or op-amp with some other similarly specced parts?
~~~
cheeze
These parts have Apple logos printed on them
~~~
caf
..and if you fix a Bose amplifier then sell it, it's still going to have a
Bose logo printed on it too.
------
sinak
If you're in the US and agree with Right to Repair, consider joining
Repair.org with an individual membership, or asking your company to join:
[http://repair.org/join](http://repair.org/join)
~~~
kwiens
Absolutely! iFixit is a member and it's amazing how much progress we've made
over the last few years.
------
wearhere
It's crazy to me that the EU is wasting their time making Apple use the same
ports as other smartphones ([https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/02/02/what-
the-eu-manda...](https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/02/02/what-the-eu-
mandate-for-a-common-smartphone-charger-means)) when they could make it easier
to replace _any_ Apple component with an equivalent. I see the other comments
saying that this guy deserved to lose this specific case since he was calling
the parts "refurbished" but it's not clear that there's any way for him to use
aftermarket parts legally.
~~~
jiofih
The parts _are_ refurbished. There are very few iPhone components you can
replace with something not made by Apple.
------
chinhodado
Can someone explain to me what's in this for Apple? Surely the money that they
get from forcing people to go the authorized way isn't that significant to
their bottom line? And it's not like they risk impacting their quality
reputation either since the repair shops don't advertise that they provide
genuine Apple part. So why risk people's goodwill on things like this?
~~~
helldritch
Because they don't want devices to be repaired, they want devices to become
obsolete or irreparable within 5 years so that consumers can buy a new device.
~~~
Delk
I'm not an Apple apologist by any measure, but I don't think that's really
true. At least last time I looked into it, Apple supported their devices with
software updates for longer than the majority of other vendors in the market
(for the majority of their devices at least).
Of course Apple is a company that likes to keep a tight control of their
market and their image, and you could maybe say they go to the point of
control freakiness in that regard. Any potential loss in image regarding the
quality of their products is a significant cost to them; being able to charge
a premium for replacement parts probably doesn't hurt either. If independent
repair shops and consumers lose something in repair costs and freedom, that
probably doesn't tip Apple's scale in any way. For the rest of the society it
could, and if needed, Apple (or any company) needs to be able to be criticized
for that, and legislation needs to cater to that and not to the needs of any
single corporation.
Edit: It might be worth pointing out that while yes, Apple would probably like
you to buy a new phone within five years, e.g. many Android devices aren't
supported for more than a couple of years. I agree you shouldn't necessarily
be forced to buy a new device even every _five_ years, but most other vendors
aren't any better in that regard.
~~~
ClumsyPilot
>Apple supported their devices with software updates for longer than the
majority of other vendors
The situation is exactly the opposite when it comes to computers/laptops. I
can still have latest version of Windows on my father's 2011 laptop.
Secondly, this whole 'loss is image' is a giant smoke screen. Consider that
you can repair a BMW in a random garage with unauthorised parts and
incompetent repairmen - and you might even die as a result. Does BMW's image
suffer? Is their brand worth nothing?
The consumer can comprehend the consequences of repairing his device where he
chooses, this is not medical equipment. Using copyright to restrict repairs is
a bastardisation of copyright law - it's intended purpose is wholly different.
~~~
Delk
I didn't say I agree with preventing unauthorized repairs. I don't, and my
comment wasn't meant as apologetics.
I was merely speculating on why it might make sense for Apple to want that
kind of control _even if it isn 't in the best interests of anybody else_. The
costs to everybody else just have no weight to them, as long as their
customers keep paying, and thus even a small potential matter of image could
weigh more to them. That doesn't mean you, me or anybody else should support
that line of though.
BMW might not mind having that kind of control either if their customers and
the legislation were to put up with it.
Your point about computers is valid.
~~~
ClumsyPilot
Apolliges, i see what you are saying now
------
rpm91
> Apple claimed that Huseby was allegedly importing “counterfeit” iPhone
> screens. Huseby denied this, saying that he simply used refurbished iPhone
> screens that he never advertised to the public as “genuine” parts from
> Apple.
I'm no fan of Apple's crackdown on repairers in general, but this sure sounds
like he had third-party screens that he called "refurbished iPhone screens,"
which sounds pretty misleading to me. If someone told me something was a
"refurbished iPhone screen," my assumption would be that it was originally a
genuine Apple part, and it doesn't sound like that's what he was using.
Just leaving out the word "genuine" doesn't make it not-misleading.
~~~
rlpb
> ...this sure sounds like he had third-party screens that he called
> "refurbished iPhone screens,"
It doesn't sound like that to me at all. From the article I get the impression
he was selling "refurbished iPhones" or offering to "repair your iPhone". In
both of those cases I don't think using non-Apple parts is misleading -
because as the article says "he simply used refurbished iPhone screens that he
never advertised to the public as “genuine” parts from Apple".
------
onetimemanytime
>> _After having paid fees for his appeals, he now faces severe financial
consequences, which include paying his own legal team and €23,000 to Apple._
I guess €23,000 passes for severe in Norway. He's lucky he's not in USA.
The court might have just done its job, as the laws stands Apple wins. The
politicians should pass laws forcing Apple to allow repairs, if they want to
sell iPhones.
------
Ayesh
For the past 5 years, I've been relying on cheap Android mid tier phones. I
currently use a Redmi Note 8 Pro (I bought the first one shipped to my
country) for a little over $250, and I wouldn't feel bad about buying a new
phone if this one breaks. These phones are often made to not be repaired in
the first place. The spare parts are quite difficult to come by because nobody
bothers to even make them. The manufacturer in fact sends a plastic case for
the phone because customers are u likely to find one elsewhere.
Most of the repair shops here (I'm in East Asia now), get broken iPhones, or
higher and lower end Samsung phones. I can understand Apple being constantly
hostile towards the repair shops can easily put customers out of option to
repair their own devices from cheaper places, and the repair shop lot of
business because they simply can't source spare parts.
I think Louis Rossman was very vocal about the issue (a New York based
YouTuber and a repair shop owner), that is probably worth a look.
------
LockAndLol
The article mentions
> We are now holding the European Commission to its commitment to “a Right to
> Repair” in the Circular Economy Action Plan, to ensure universal access to
> affordable genuine spare parts for all electronics for both repair
> professionals and consumers.
Does that mean there's a European Citizens Initiative? A petition? Or what is
this referencing ?
~~~
Delk
[https://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-
economy/index_en.h...](https://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-
economy/index_en.htm)
I don't really know how EU policymaking works (although I guess I should, as
I'm a EU citizen), but it seems to be more of a broad but approved plan than
just an initiative or a petition.
------
pieterk
seems like he didn't get the support he needed.
[https://repair.eu/de/news/support-henrik-huseby-in-his-
battl...](https://repair.eu/de/news/support-henrik-huseby-in-his-battle-with-
apple/)
------
karmakaze
Apple, like Disney, are evil (geniuses?)
------
Dahoon
Been at the broken Apple-Glass(tm) enough to know how insane their prices are.
This alone is enough for me to stay away from Apple devices. I used to own
some but now have switched to different bands for every piece of hardware
(Android, Linux and Windows PC's etc). I can't for the life of me understand
how people can support this but I guess it is me living in my hacker/geek
bubble.
~~~
Google234
I imagine you are also confused about why people buy BMWs and Mercedes or shop
at Whole Foods when Walmart has cheaper food.
~~~
encom
But Apple is not a luxury, high performance manufacturer like BMW or Mercedes.
~~~
effie
But people think they are. Why is that? Maybe their devices do have some
genuine selling points?
------
harwoodleon
Counterfeit is 1984 speak for unprofitable.
------
stormdennis
Thank G--gle for Android.
~~~
m0xte
Aye so you can suffer through shitty half arsed third party repairers who
either write your phone off as water damaged even though it wasn’t (thanks
Motorola) or glue it back together because they broke all the clips opening it
(thanks dude down the local repair shop).
~~~
stormdennis
Well I suppose I was thinking more of the fact that my phone cost me about a
third the price of an iphone. A year ago I cracked the screen, I'd driven
several miles when I realised I'd forgotten it, it was when I swung the car
round to go back that I heard it come off the roof. Works fine still. (Little
adhesive card wallet had kept it on the roof) To paraphrase Apple I typed this
message on my Moto g6
~~~
jansan
I you have some time, try replacing the screen yourself. There are tons of
instruction videos (probably also for your model) and a new screen is
surprisingly cheap (for an Android phone).
~~~
stormdennis
I might do, I'm a bit of a bodger though. :) I wrecked our kid's iPhone 5
trying to fix it.
------
adamsea
This is the #1 story on Hacker News? At this moment in time?
Unsure if I should be glad people have a place to escape to and talk about the
banal, or be concerned.
~~~
Delk
Do you mean that everything in the news should be dominated by a single topic?
Not only is it somewhat nearsighted (if perhaps sometimes tempting) to suggest
that _everything_ and everyone should put their focus on a single matter and
stop focusing on anything else, it also leads to people getting weary really
fast.
~~~
adamsea
Depends on the topic and the circumstances of the time, doesn't it?
~~~
Delk
I was assuming you might have referred to the covid-19 epidemic. And if that
were the case then yes, I definitely do think there should also be other
topics at the top. It's not like we're starving for news, or like feeding
ourselves more is going to do much good after a certain point. Too much of it
just becomes noise.
Of course you might be referring to the issues of racism and police brutality.
While those -- especially racism -- are significant matters on the global
scale, the current events are mostly a U.S. thing, and not everyone is
American.
I agree those topics should be getting high visibility regardless, but I don't
necessarily agree with the idea that we should just drop everything else we
were doing and are interested in, or that it would be automatically sad if the
top posts on a tech-oriented international forum don't happen to revolve
around the current hot topic in the U.S.
~~~
adamsea
We could talk about systemic racism in the tech industry ...
And, that's, just like, your opinion, man. Clearly a lot of people all around
the world agree with me that systemic racism is worth discussing, based on the
various protests in Paris, etc.
I certainly am not arguing anyone has to agree with me.
But to deny the validity of the discussion?
~~~
Delk
I'd like you to point out where I denied the validity of "the" discussion, or
any discussion.
I disagreed with the idea that a single topic needs to be always at the top,
or that it's somehow a bad thing if it isn't, or that it should be to the
exclusion of other things. That's not at all the same as denying the validity
of discussion about anything else unless you live in a black and white world.
I literally said "I agree those topics should be getting high visibility
regardless", and now I'm apparently "denying the validity of the discussion".
------
codecamper
Loved my Apple IIc.
Not so much liking the scissors MB Pro keyboard. Enjoying Android. Appreciate
being able to add an sdcard. I think Lenovo will be my next laptop.
~~~
jessaustin
Yeah, this is the rational reaction to Apple's customer hostility. Just stop
being a customer. Problem solved!
~~~
saagarjha
If it brings you any delight, I screenshotted that comment along with the
article title and sent it to a friend as "hacker news dot png" since picking a
keyword from the article title and posting a prepared comment about it is such
a quintessential Hacker News quirk.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Yahoo Grabs 10% Stake in Alibaba.com IPO - luccastera
http://www.redherring.com/Home/22948
======
rms
I would get in on this IPO if I had a large amount of spare cash burning a
whole in my pocket.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Kibana forked to support SQL and cross index joins in Elasticsearch - szydan
http://siren.solutions/kibi-a-kibana-fork-for-data-intelligence/
======
joflaherty
Kibi – Data Intelligence Browser is a really excellent fork of Kibana for Data
Intelligence use cases. Check it out at [http://siren.solutions/kibi-a-kibana-
fork-for-data-intellige...](http://siren.solutions/kibi-a-kibana-fork-for-
data-intelligence/)
------
jccq
Wish to stress this is a friendly fork, forced by the fact that the plugins
APIs are not our yet. Looking forward to your feedback
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
There May Be Money in Internet Art After All (1999) - mattbierner
http://spiller.si/new-york-times/
======
pjc50
It's interesting to see how the predictions have diverged. Internet
penetration into "gallery art" basically hasn't happened at all. Cynical
people would say this is because it's unrelated to artistic value and mostly a
complex sort of money transfer that absolutely requires unique physical
objects.
Small-scale sponsored art through Patreon is huge though, with a large NSFW
component. Kickstarter enables people to do print runs.
There isn't really a big "internet famous" artist though, is there? Would
Banksy count?
~~~
projectramo
I think you have to wait for people who encountered meaningful art right
around the time they hit puberty (say 12-14) to grow into rich adults for whom
it held special value (say 40s). So I would say 30 years.
~~~
mistrial9
ordinary time and attention scales are now broken -- we live in a tornado of
information that is literally unprecedented.. in other words, dont hold your
breath for this 30 years thing.. its not happening
------
bellerose
I'm aware of ridiculous money payed towards artists online creating furry art.
This specific subculture is the highest paying to artists that I'm aware of
and for artists to trade their time for creating an image the client desires.
The amount payed is apparently enough for artists to live while satisfying
their clients. The clients will typically post the finished work online for
everyone.
~~~
dpacmittal
You mean furry porn?
~~~
Qwertystop
Not all of it is. I don't have the experience to know whether most of it is
(neither sort is something I go looking for, I just see what incidentally pops
up in various timelines), but there's definitely a significant amount of
entirely chaste work out there.
Though also, frankly, so what if it is? They want something drawn and they're
willing to pay what it's worth. Too many people aren't, these days.
------
Adamantcheese
This and the following three webcomic pages are probably the closest thing
I've seen as "internet art" in it's most literal sense.
[http://www.avasdemon.com/2112.php](http://www.avasdemon.com/2112.php)
Although I guess now it's really commonplace, Patreon and all.
~~~
whywhywhywhy
[https://www.newrafael.com/websites/](https://www.newrafael.com/websites/)
Rafael Rozendaal's work is probably my fave example of Internet Art.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Experimenting with mob programming to rebuild the gov.uk Verify front end - robin_reala
https://identityassurance.blog.gov.uk/2016/02/26/experimenting-with-mob-programming-to-rebuild-the-gov-uk-verify-frontend/
======
CraigJPerry
The fact that this worked for me, I later came to learn, was a symptom of an
underlying lack of commitment in the team.
Suddenly no one wandered off into the weeds to deliberate on some
inconsequential aspect of the code (this is a charitable euphemism for went
off reading news sites!) The group drive to progress was greater than the
individuals. As one individual's attention would wane, another would pick up
the slack, keen to show they were engaged in front of their peers and that
would have a self righting effect on the interest of the person who started to
drift.
So for a while we plundered on, amazed by the power of our new tool.
Productivity was up to where it should be, quality was excellent again, the
junior dev was getting a real education too.
I started reflecting on why this was successful - I wondered if there was some
insight I could reuse elsewhere. I slowly came to realise it was just a neat
partial solution to an underlying much bigger problem.
Fixing the underlying engagement problem turned out to be a journey but it was
good fun.
Mob programming has earned a place in my toolbox of life experience, but
there's an inscription on the handle to remind me that its effectiveness could
be a sign of deeper project issues.
To be clear I'm not saying this is the case for the OP's team! It was just one
life experience point I thought was worth sharing.
~~~
robin_reala
Interesting! Can you explain more what you did to fix the underlying problems
you found?
------
patricjansson
Mob programming is the go to solutions at work. We have been using mob
programming for a couple of month for specific parts of existing and new
projects and it still surprises me how good it is. I never liked pair
programming and when I heard of thought this was the same thing, just more
wast of time. But I was wrong. You should try it out, its free you know, no $
to pay.
But as always we are people and people like different things, but with mob
programming I think you have a really good chance of succeeding. Just remember
to take 5 min to explain how to do it before you start.
~~~
Kiro
How is it free? Seems like the most expensive thing ever. 10 programmers using
one computer.
~~~
adwf
How much of programming is actually typing code though? I think that less than
5% of my time is actually typing, the rest is thinking.
So if you go with mob programming and have one guy doing 50% typing whilst the
other guys are thinking. In theory it could be just as efficient, with the
added benefit that everyone understands the system and is onboard with the
design. Plus the usual benefits of pair programming: you can train juniors,
many eyes to catch the bugs, etc...
------
bshimmin
I can imagine this being useful at particular junctures in a project - perhaps
it's real crunch time on a critical feature, where everyone needs to put their
minds together to solve one difficult problem, everyone is months in and on an
even footing, and you just need one guy to type it all out; or perhaps a
brainstorming session where you're trying to throw together a workable basic
prototype very quickly; or even debugging and fixing a complex issue might be
well-served by this approach - but I can only imagine doing this day-in, day-
out would drive many people absolutely insane. I'm sure there are genuine
reasons why many developers like to sit at their desks with their headphones
on and the volume turned up (even if it does annoy the hell out of managers).
In my own team, we periodically pair up to do peer review and testing, and
sometimes prototyping of new features. I try and avoid doing this more than
about once a week, though.
------
EliRivers
_We decided to adopt mob programming as we believed it would help establish a
shared and consistent understanding of how the new frontend would be built._
Okay, now I understand. It's a way to solve the problem of very few people
understanding the design. Seems an expensive solution, but the expense of your
programmers not understanding the design of what they're working on can be
pretty high as well, and good documentation is hard to write and sometimes
hard to make people read. I don't know if it's _that_ hard, but this would
work as an alternative.
I suspect this only works when the problem being solved is pretty simple, or
isn't actually a "problem" but only a question of layout and design.
~~~
ebiester
At the beginning levels, yes.
I've been in a workshop with Woody Zuill, talks by Arlo Belshee, and my team
has some mob programming under our belt. We don't use it exclusively, but it's
a great tool to have in your toolbelt.
We have a skill-diverse team -- a tech lead, 4 web and backend developers, 2
iOS, 2 Android, and 2 QE (one of whom is moving toward a backend developer.)
At any time. we may have 1-2 support tasks and a project. We have a range of
junior to senior developers.
Sometimes, we have sufficiently broken-out work that we can keep everyone
engaged at a single-stream, but even that's a polite fiction. The junior
developers get stuck, which has them spinning their wheels for periods of time
until they realize they're stuck, then bring in a more senior engineer whose
work is then interrupted. Sometimes, the senior engineers get stuck in
analysis paralysis where a discussion would be more productive. That jumps
into an impromptu meeting which solves the problem but interrupts half the
team as anyone interested hashes the problem out.
Then, there's the tech lead (me) who gets interrupted constantly to the point
that it's not worth taking tasks sometimes. There's production support, cross-
team support, and intra-team support. That isn't to mention the meetings. :)
And sometimes, the tasks on a project aren't parallelizable, especially at the
beginning. It used to be that everyone would get into a giant room and discuss
design, then break it out into tasks and go. Mob programming can replace that
phase by having everyone in that room do the work to flesh out the idea.
Then there is the work to peer review a decision and test it. When a ticket is
in peer review or test, that developer is in full interrupt mode. They may get
work done on the next ticket, but it is historically a period of low
productivity for a developer.
The fundamental hypothesis of mob programming is that the interruptions of a
team combined with the overhead of process are high enough that condensing to
a single workstream+ actually doesn't reduce productivity.
If a team is working on a mob, and a production support request comes in, I
(or one member of the team) can peel off of the mob and figure it out. If a
support ticket comes in, a member of the team can peel off and work on it,
have it reviewed by another in the mob, then tested by another, and the single
stream workflow is still going. It becomes easier to catch up on what has
happened than return to it.
When working on hairier problems, it turns out that a distributed memory works
better than holding it in one individual's head. It turns out that it can feel
slower but the work happens quicker. Sticking points are resolved quicker
rather than devolving into analysis paralysis.
It seems counter-intuitive that the work doesn't slow down, but the decrease
in peer review and testing time (because QE has been involved from the
beginning thinking about testing scenarios and how to test) that the reduction
in overhead compensates for more people working on the same problem.
There are other paths to streamlining a team's efficiency, but this is an
interesting one worth trying in some cases.
------
mundanevoice
I think it's important to take regular breaks because pair programming or mob
programming requires a very level of high energy. The code quality definitely
improves because of many eyeballs into the problem and provides an instant
feedback for the code written.
------
aikah
First time I hear about mob programming.
> [http://mobprogramming.org/](http://mobprogramming.org/)
so it's pair programming, but with 10 people in front of the same computer ?
------
CM30
Have to admit, when I read 'mob programming', I expected something closer to
how open source works. Or random people on social media committing code for
the site in a big free for all.
I still don't get why this 'multiple people on one computer' thing would be
helpful though. I mean, couldn't a team working on the same site on multiple
computers do pretty much the same thing with the bonus of a quicker turn
around? Seems like micromanagement gone insane...
~~~
IneffablePigeon
Have you ever tried it? Most people seem to have a similar first reaction
(myself included), but it's a surprisingly useful tool for certain problems.
~~~
CM30
Haven't ever really worked with a big enough team for it. I mean, current
workplace has exactly two people doing web development, and the previous one
had maybe between one and three people per project. If we tried to work like
this, nothing would ever get done.
------
exdevbath
This explains a lot. The gov.uk site is such an unusable mess it can only have
been designed by a mob.
In my view mob/pair programming is a very inefficient way to work. I guess it
depends on the people, but personally I think much more clearly alone than in
a group setting. Have many eyes on code is great and I'm all for peer review,
but a mob making decisions is a recipe for group think and the less dominant
personalities (and probably best coders) being ignored.
~~~
Ace17
"the less dominant personalities (and probably best coders) being ignored" WAT
How are you going to get your skills recognized by your teammates, if you
avoid working with them? Of course you're being ignored by them: you're
ignoring them the rest of the time!
In my experience, in a context of technical arguments, great speakers with
doubtful technical skills don't last very long against shy highly-skilled
techies pointing out relevant weaknesses in the proposed solution, and asking
tough questions.
~~~
douche
The bullshitters win, never forget that. Reality doesn't have any bearing,
when they are parroting the words of what those with real power want to hear.
------
fallingbadgers
Needs more pitchforks :)
I like this as a disrupter of rote and a way of getting many eyes rapidly in
the same place.
Now we just need a Twitch channel...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Proposed solution to Microsoft's game licensing policies - tpetrina
http://www.tonicodes.net/blog/proposed-solution-to-microsofts-game-licensing-policies/
======
cbhl
"In worst case your game will be played on two consoles"
While you and I might think this is acceptable, I don't expect video game
publishers would be happy if Microsoft used this compromise.
~~~
tpetrina
I agree, but giving people something and later taking their money when they
are hooked is a proven strategy.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
YCNYC discussion thread - RockyMcNuts
Didn't see one, so maybe an area for comments, suggestions for the next one, meetups, desperate pleas for co-founders!
======
dgunn
Was anyone else expecting that many people? I was very surprised. I overheard
one of the ushers say something like 800. Does anyone know the actual number
in attendance?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Equifax CEO to Congress: Not Sure We Are Encrypting Data - boyd
https://www.wsj.com/articles/equifax-ceo-to-congress-not-sure-we-are-encrypting-data-1510180486?mod=yahoo_hs&yptr=yahoo
======
tptacek
Encryption wouldn't have mattered here. To a pretty good first approximation,
none of the "encryption" done at scale at any Fortune 500 company in the US is
more than a speed bump for attackers. Unless you're using moon math --- nobody
is --- enterprise backend encryption is hamstrung by the fact that you're
keeping the data because _automated business processes need to use it_ , which
means automated systems need to decrypt it.
~~~
girvo
We’re using spooky moon math (semi-homomorphic encryption in a rather
restricted case, mind you) for exactly this reason for the 4 biggest companies
in a huge industry here in Australia. These companies are starting to
understand why it might be needed, which is super exciting. And hell, even if
the prototype gets killed, it’s been fun as hell to work on.
~~~
tinco
What kind of operations are you able to do on the data?
~~~
girvo
Solely addition on integers, currently. I’m having a lot of fun exploring
pattern matching with semi-homomorphic encryption for the larger project,
though I have my reservations, but it’s hopefully possible.
One of the more interesting bits of the project is that soft-real-time is not
a requirement, so some simpler, slower and older algorithms become feasible
(interactive ZKPs, even fully-HE systems perhaps). A very specific use case
has allowed for the possibility. But it’s amazing to work on :)
------
mrguyorama
I don't know which is worse: That Equifax is straight up lying about their
infrastructure to hide malpractice, or that they don't even know
~~~
sova
Encrypt your secrets in plaintext, the hackers will never see it coming
~~~
nobodyorother
I just use double-ROT-13 as my TPM, that way I can invoke the DMCA too!
~~~
ajr0
Double-Rot-13 is a cost effective alternative to Rot-52 but of course only
half as secure.
------
markarichards
If encryption is enriched with appropriate identity, authorisation and
authentication systems then...
Encryption at network level is a must. Corporate routers/firewalls have been
very vulnerable before and the risk of grabbing everything is a lot easier if
you've comprised the network.
Encryption at rest is a must, as at some point you need to replace those disks
and it's a lot easier if you can be cavalier with the handling afterwards
because you know it is unreadable.
Encryption at application level (object encryption and between services) is a
must. Which means if a service is hacked or you dump the dB you may not be
able to read any of it or only those records accessed whilst the hack happens.
You replicate access control patterns, like in a secure building... These may
come down to one or more common denominators (can you trust the security
receptionist), but better that than the whole chain is vulnerable... You then
only have one set of alarms, logs, metrics, etc to keep an eye on and to test
very thoroughly.
In the physical world: for security scenarios we have very strict procedures
with locks, boxes, safes, multiple security door/gate entry systems, multiple
participants and signatures involved in every action, etc to mitigate internal
and external error, failure or attack - all of these can have an electronic
information system equivalent and we should start designing security in web
systems with these ideas in mind when it as significant as Equifax.
------
jdavis703
Well I heard from the FBI that only criminals encrypt data using these fancy
counting machine things. So it seems like Equifax may have actually done the
right thing here. /sarcasm>
On a serious note, we really need to make encryption a part of high school
mathematics. What teenager doesn't want to write secret messages?
When I took an intro to security course in college we spent a couple of
classes building a very elementary understanding of how encryption works with
plenty of hands on examples (using laughably insecure algorithms, but still
enough to get the points across). I think most students found it the most
interesting part of the course since most everything else was more about
security policy (a MBA could've probably easily taken the course
successfully).
~~~
Balgair
Taking a chance of derailing the thread here, sorry:
SO taught HS freshmen in _physics_ (close, but still). I'd say we need to make
math a part of HS mathematics. ~60% of the kids can't do algebra in any way.
Really. Trying to make encryption a part of it is essentially useless. I hear
from time to time that a 'basic-adulting' course would be great to have had.
HA! You think mortgage interest rates and basic car maintenance would be
learned? Most HS students in the US can barely keep from snaping their
genitals at each other _during_ class. Find me a cell-phone jammer that the
FCC will approve of for under $200 and EVERY teacher in the US will buy five
that very same day. You'd make billions.
~~~
tlrobinson
Business idea: Faraday cage classroom kits.
~~~
icebraining
Then some kid has a medical emergency, people take 5m extra to call an
ambulance due to having to go outside or find a landline, and the school gets
sued.
~~~
Balgair
Get in line? The schools (in CO at least) are getting sued all the time. Most
of them are frivolous (I want my kid to play on varsity, the school lunch
smells bad so I need to bring my dog to class, I have ADHD but am allergic to
plastic(?) so give me an A) . Some are legitimate and mostly about classroom
sizes and racism/sexism. Some kids bring guns and knives to school,
attempt/commit murder and then snapchat themselves doing it. Most of the
district's caseload is made of 'slam-dunk' cases, but they do add up and
funding for the legal department here is not going up. Classes are now about
37 students/room. They aren't teachers, they are wardens.
Faraday Cages may not be a bad idea though. Copper is fairly cheap. It's
making new windows and certifying that the door to the classroom is closed and
that no signals can get in. Heck, with the way battery life is going, maybe
just take away electrical outlets and power-strips. Only 1st period would be
effected with a bit of kids after lunch.
------
ineedasername
At this point I think there is literally nothing about Equifax incompetence
that would surprise me. I mean nothing.
They could reveal tomorrow that their data center fire protection protocols
mandate the use of printed backups, feeding them to the flames with hopes the
god of data destruction would be appeased and leave their servers alone. I
would not be surprised. Nor would I be surprised if the paper backups were
only available as printouts on toilet paper, 1000 miles away, in the CEO's
office.
No, my reaction would be, "sounds about right for them, though I guess it's +1
point for effort on keeping any backups at all"
------
jve
I would like to quote PostgreSQL Experts (this applies to all DBs): FULL DISK
ENCRYPTION IS USELESS. [1]
FDE protects against… • … theft of the media. • That’s it. • That is about
0.00000002% of the actual intrusions that you have to worry about. • Easy
rule: If psql can read it in cleartext, it’s not secure. • (It’s a great idea
for laptops, of course.)
And then it recommends: "Always encrypt specific columns, not entire database
or disk"
However encrypt your backups.
I think it is fairly sensible.
[1] Securing PostgreSQL [PDF], Page 31 :
[http://thebuild.com/presentations/pgconfeu-2016-securing-
pos...](http://thebuild.com/presentations/pgconfeu-2016-securing-
postgresql.pdf)
------
swalsh
Not a lawyer, curious if this would be a violation of
[https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/6801](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/6801)
Equifax themselves are not a financial institution, but as a vendor of one,
would it not apply to them too?
~~~
leggomylibro
Doesn't matter; realistically, laws don't apply to them.
(Also not a lawyer)
------
TylerE
Just give them the corporate death penalty all ready.
~~~
JumpCrisscross
What does that mean? The government just takes investors’ property when it
doesn’t like what they do? That’s called expropriation. It redistributes the
assets to the shareholders? They could just reconstitute the parts. This
concept does not happen because it is silly.
~~~
benchaney
In this context the "Corporate death penalty" could just be allowing them to
get sued for the full amount of the damage they caused without baling them
out. In practice, there is no way that they could survive that.
------
janesvilleseo
Is there any way for me to get my information removed from Equifax?
Do I need to contact all of my line item creditors and ask them to remove
references to Equifax?
~~~
toomuchtodo
> Is there any way for me to get my information removed from Equifax?
No. (EDIT: If someone has a better idea, please reply!) I filed a complaint
with the CFPB with citations from their breach as well as congressional
testimony requesting my credit file be removed. The response was boilerplate:
"Thank you for contacting Equifax. We remain focused on consumer protection
and committed to providing outstanding service and support. Protecting the
security of the information in our possession is a responsibility we take very
seriously and we apologize for the concern and frustration this cybersecurity
incident causes. We have developed a comprehensive portfolio of services to
support all U.S. consumers. Please refer to our dedicated website,
[https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com](https://www.equifaxsecurity2017.com),
for the latest information and updates or contact our dedicated call center at
866-447-7559. The call center was set up to assist consumers and is open every
day (including weekends) from 7:00 a.m. – 1:00 a.m. Eastern Time."
> Do I need to contact all of my line item creditors and ask them to remove
> references to Equifax?
Even if you contact your creditors, Equifax is under no obligation to remove
the data. Most credit lines have the possibility of falling off after 10 years
(7 years for negative trade lines), but there is no obligation for them to be
removed.
~~~
existencebox
I'm honestly curious if Equifax would fall under GDPR regulations? I'm sure
there's some overlap of EU citizens who have lines of credit in the US.
We're having to prep for that at my corp currently, and it's VERY explicit
about being able to pull up and remove all personal data, with some very hefty
fines if you don't.
EDIT: thought about this further and peeked at our guidelines, they may be
able to get around this by the "data is integral to the function of the
business" exemption, but I'd still wonder if someone could speak with
authority on this.
~~~
zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC
> they may be able to get around this by the "data is integral to the function
> of the business" exemption
That's probably more of an "integral to fulfilling its contractual obligations
to those the data is about". It's more complicated than that, but the point is
that you cannot simply declare it the purpose of your business to collect
personal information and thus be exempt from data protrection regulation.
------
plandis
This guy needs to be held personally responsible. But he won’t be and that
makes me extremely mad.
It sucks that the rich and wealthy can be as morally bankrupt as they want
without any/many consequences.
~~~
firloop
To be fair, the headline quote is from the interim chief. Richard Smith, the
CEO at the time of the breach, has already resigned.
~~~
FRex
The interim CEO is not a complete newcomer though, he was in Equifax since
April 2010[0] and is former head of the company’s Asia-Pacific business[0].
And considering the huge controversy around the data, it being their main/sole
business and the fact it made his predecessor step down he should take a bit
more interest than random journalists and randoms online to understand crystal
clear what's going on in there, especially when preparing to go to a hearing
in Congress to get drilled about it.
Then there's this gem [0]: "Barros also led the company’s U.S. Information
Solutions (USIS) business, which includes U.S.-based services that provide
businesses with consumer and commercial information and insights related to
areas of risk management, identity and fraud, marketing and a variety of
industry-specific solutions."
[0] - [https://www.equifax.com/about-equifax/corporate-
leadership/](https://www.equifax.com/about-equifax/corporate-leadership/)
------
neurotech1
Non-Paywall version [http://archive.is/ikG4d](http://archive.is/ikG4d)
~~~
pogue
Thanks for this. Also, for future reference, can you just paste wsj article
URLs into archive.is and it will go out and pull the non paywalled article? Or
does archive.is get the cached page from your browser or something?
------
orangepenguin
Can anyone give a summary or point me to another article (not paywalled) with
similar information? I'm very interested, but don't have a WSJ subscription.
~~~
bonestamp2
Non-Paywall version [http://archive.is/ikG4d](http://archive.is/ikG4d)
Source: u/neurotech1
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15672691](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15672691)
------
crankylinuxuser
So, has the data been actually leaked, or do you still have to pony up a load
of BTC to see this?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What do you do when you get bored? - zbruhnke
Ok so I realize how random this topic seems, but this is a real problem for me.<p>As a long time programmer and self proclaimed workaholic I dont do this terribly often, but every so often I hit what I would like to think is the programmer's equivalent of "Writer's block".<p>This is basically just a period (usually only a week or so) where I just do not feel like working on my main project or any of my side projects. I seem to combat this by going to play poker, luckily I happen to be pretty good at poker or that could turn into an expensive habit.<p>Anyhow, this got me to thinking, what does everyone else do when they hit a spot like this? what is your past time of choice when you aren't programming or you just feel burned out for a few days?
======
ashitvora
check this out <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1753825>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Official list of phoned-home info revealed by Microsoft - frik
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/04/06/microsoft_windows_10_creators_update/
======
uranian
Most striking for me is not only access to your documents, but also:
>events generated by the operating system, and your "inking and typing data."
Sounds like a key logger virus, but then built-in the OS? Is this for real?
~~~
inkling
Ostensibly it's for debugging crash dumps.
In reality you can bet there will be NSL's and other legal tools used to co-
opt this stuff for more noble aims, like defending against terrorism and
protecting our children via fishing expeditions and secret gag orders.
~~~
r3bl
> via fishing expeditions...
If you already have access to the things I type and my metadata includes the
websites I visit, you don't really need to phish me to get my credentials.
If a service also happens to not support 2FA and doesn't have some sort of
account activity section, you can effectively have control of me over that
service, without me ever doing anything wrong and me not even suspecting a
thing.
~~~
ethbro
Inkling meant fish, as in the legal enforcement sense of using an unrelated
charge to obtain a warrant which is then used to fish for evidence of a more
serious crime.
------
darrmit
For those thinking Enterprise and/or Education may be better, it's only better
if you're using it in an environment where privacy settings are enforced via
Group Policy or some other method. Standalone (like I'm running it) is really
not much better than Pro unless you go through and manually intervene.
For example, the default telemetry level is "Enhanced":
"The Enhanced level gathers data about how Windows and apps are used and how
they perform. This level also includes data from both the Basic and Security
levels. This level helps to improve the user experience with the operating
system and apps. Data from this level can be abstracted into patterns and
trends that can help Microsoft determine future improvements.
This is the default level for Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education
editions, and the minimum level needed to quickly identify and address
Windows, Windows Server, and System Center quality issues." [1]
On a fresh install of Windows 10 Enterprise I still have to manually disable
updates by disabling/setting permissions on scheduled tasks for updates and
I'm still prompted for things like "Use OneDrive!". Cortana is also enabled by
default.
[1] [https://technet.microsoft.com/en-
us/itpro/windows/configure/...](https://technet.microsoft.com/en-
us/itpro/windows/configure/configure-windows-telemetry-in-your-organization)
------
rubatuga
One Windows 10 version that many people are ignorant of is Windows 10 for
education, which is based on the enterprise edition. It has the ability to
disable almost all data collecting / advertising features . Cortana doesn't
even exist on this version. If you can grab this, and most university or
college students should be able to for free, it'll be a big improvement in
privacy.
Edit: from what I recall, Microsoft stated that advertising didn't have a
place in education, or something to that effect
~~~
whyoh
>Cortana doesn't even exist on this version.
This used to be the case, but it's no longer so. The latest version of
Education (1703) includes Cortana.
------
rl3
> _Engineers, with permission from Microsoft’s privacy governance team, can
> obtain users ' documents that trigger crashes in applications, so they can
> work out what's going wrong. The techies can also run diagnostic tools
> remotely on the computers, again with permission from their overseers._
So in other words: engineering access to your personal documents (and
computer) is mediated by a group of people who also shouldn't have access in
the first place. Got it.
When I close my eyes, it's almost like I can vividly picture the crappy NSA
PowerPoint slides that must exist, detailing "Windows telemetry exploitation"
or some such. At the very least, the information has to be incredibly useful
for targeting purposes.
~~~
pjc50
Someone should file a mass copyright infringement suit. Did they really have
permission to copy those documents? Charge them on the RIAA scale of thousands
of dollars per infringing copy.
There's implications for legal discovery here too. Remember the other day when
one of the documents in the Uber/Otto case was found on a user's machine? What
happens when people start sending in discovery fishing expeditions to get
documents from Microsoft?
~~~
driverdan
There is no copyright infringement. Anyone running Win10 has agreed to give
them access via the EULA.
~~~
TheSpiceIsLife
Except where I haven't.
EULA's aren't law in my opinion, and that's what laws are: _opinions_ ,
collectively. I can't be forced to agree to something that strongly violates
other contracts I'm required to be a party to, in my opinion.
All we need are rulings, and the enactment of laws, to support my opinion
along with the cessation of wholesale data collection by the OS vendor.
While we're waiting for that all we have is technical solutions.
------
yAnonymous
Wouldn't half of that make it illegal to use for government agencies in many
countries?
They're one config error away from sending classified data to Microsoft.
~~~
vonmoltke
> They're one config error away from sending classified data to Microsoft.
No they aren't, because classified data is only handled on isolated networks.
~~~
wheelerwj
lol, obviously that's not even remotely (get it?) accurate.
classified data _should_ only be handled on isolated networks.
~~~
vonmoltke
Handling classified data on an unapproved network is both illegal and a
serious security violation in every environment I have worked in. If you have
that going on, Windows phoning home is the least of your worries.
------
us0r
Microsoft is absolutely out of control with this shit. I was recently flipping
through BI articles and came across this [0]. “Using data from millions of its
subscribers … The findings come from people who use Microsoft Word and/or
Outlook”. WTF? Sure enough, I opted out of telemetry but that apparently
doesn’t include the content of business documents and email. 7 clicks to find
that option. I guarantee you 99% of Office 365 users have no idea this is
happening.
Microsoft customers aren’t getting scroogled, they are getting straight
fucked. Not only are they slurping everything imaginable up, but actual people
are going through the data and doing stories on business insider.
My problem is I actually like their products. I’m cheering for the day the EU
(the US won’t do anything so sadly I have to cheer for a foreign government)
wakes up and slaps them around. Hopefully it’s hard enough to get them to
change their ways.
[http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-data-the-most-
confu...](http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-data-the-most-confusing-
words-in-english-2017-3)
~~~
douche
I'm sure Microsoft is mining Office 365 as hard as Google is mining GMail. To
believe otherwise seems incredibly naive.
~~~
veli_joza
I don't think one is better than the other, but it comes down to average
user's expectations from cloud software and from desktop software.
My last company was very paranoid about security. Things like never leaving
your desktop unattended, changing password every 4 weeks, encrypted disks,
encrypted emails, forbidding most of cloud services... All the while happily
using Windows and Outlook.
Also, although Google knows everything about me, they have so far managed to
prevent security incidents, leaks and embarrassing deals (apart being forced
to provide backdoor to NSA). They seem to know what they are doing security-
wise.
------
vadansky
If you absolutely have to use Windows (like me) is it possible to block all
the telemetry at the router level, maybe somekind of hardware firewall? Do we
have a list of IPs to blacklist?
~~~
AlexeyBrin
You can try, but to be frank you can never be sure. The only 100% way to stop
telemetry is to work disconnected from the Internet.
A slightly safer version of Windows is Enterprise LTSB but I don't think you
can legally buy it as an individual.
~~~
thoughtpalette
I just added the above linked endpoints to my hosts file. Not sure how well
that'll work.
~~~
MikusR
You have to block using firewall. As hosts file is being bypassed. Plenty of
malware modify hosts file.
~~~
thoughtpalette
Ahhh, it seems I should've read the entire comment thread. Thanks to both of
you for the notification!
------
zwarag
Isn't it a bit of a pathetic approach to tackle this topic with: How can we
turn off this telemetry craziness. Shouldn't we USE something that just does
not scan you're stuff at all. Like Linux or something? Sure it might not be
that well round up like Win. But at least it will not penetrate your bum hole
by design and will become round up eventually.
~~~
gbrown
Well, I try to for most applications, but I'm actually moving my wife's laptop
back to windows. Linux was fine for most things, but when something breaks or
doesn't work, I have to fix it - and I don't have the time. Getting hardware
like Bluetooth or external touchscreens to work is an absolute nightmare with
the state of driver support.
~~~
usernam
It sounds like linux breaks, but you know what happens when "stuff on windows
breaks"? Well, it's the same: you'll have to fix it.
Ubuntu LTS is really hard to break unless you're constantly screwing around.
The same happens on windows.
Don't complain about community-supported distros. Buy a commercially supported
distribution with long term releases, and you're set.
~~~
driverdan
Linux still doesn't work well on a lot of laptop hardware.
~~~
r3bl
What do you mean by "doesn't work well on a lot of laptop hardware"?
I'm using Lenovo Yoga 510, not Ubuntu-certified, two-in-one device with a
touchscreen and a dedicated graphics card. Sure, there's no such thing as a
tablet mode in any of the Linux distributions at the moment, but it works.
WiFi works. Touchscreen works. Open source graphics driver works. Battery
usage has no noticeable difference compared to Windows.
In my three or four years of running Ubuntu-based distributions, I'm yet to
find a single laptop where WiFi / sound card / touch screen or any other piece
of laptop hardware that doesn't work.
~~~
driverdan
There are still sleep / hibernation issues and excessive power use. Plus as
you said, tablet mode doesn't work.
------
cogs
How does this compare with Apple? I haven't seen so many articles about what
MacOS slurps, is that because it is better behaved?
~~~
andy_ppp
By default everything is backed up to iCloud right?
~~~
tinus_hn
You can barely backup an iPhone to the free iCloud option. There is no free
Mac backup to iCloud.
Also imagine the bandwidth requirements, for many people such a backup would
run forever without completing.
------
laurencei
Is there a place where people have put together a conclusive list/script to
remove/turn off as much telemetry as possible?
I've seen various lists on reddit, HN etc - but they all seem to have
different bits.
Perhaps a GitHub Gist that can be crowdsourced to help people ensure they get
every single hidden option turned off?
~~~
HappyTypist
Honestly, your best bet is to use a mac.
~~~
izacus
Did you try running Little Snitch lately? There's at least 5-6 daemons that
keep contacting Apple and reporting on you on mac as well. And pretty much
every 3rd party app uploads behaviour analytics without the ability to turn it
off as well.
~~~
rubatuga
I installed Little Snitch for cracked Adobe suite, but holy fuck the constant
barrage of daemons trying to connect made me disable it completely. Albeit
most of them seemed to be related to iCloud or app updates
~~~
fivesigma
This is my experience as well with Adobe CC. At least 10 different daemons,
some of them instances of node.js constantly connecting to adobe-owned IPs.
Some of them even using very high amounts of CPU. Turning everything off from
the CC settings didn't even make a difference.
I don't want fucking software I paid for to make my PC a part of a botnet, so
I deleted all their stuff and tried to cancel my subscription to CC. I
couldn't do that because their terms allow them to charge your credit card for
the remainder of the year, even if you receive no service. After a few angry
emails with a supervisor they finally agreed to cancel my subscription.
What a shady POS company.
------
pleasecalllater
Cool, so I will have backup data in NSA, and Microsoft. Do you think it's
possible to recover my data from their servers easily?
Looks like 'my data' will soon be something strange, and suspicious.
~~~
akerro
Some people tried it already and court rejected their cases.
~~~
pleasecalllater
Heh, usually when I get a stupid enough idea, it turns out that someone had
that before :)
------
pawadu
I cant comment on the article since I don't have any actual data on the
subject (it doesn't seem they do either). But I do have a slightly on-topic
question for HN readers using Windows in enterprise:
You can run popular Linux distributions off grid and still receive security
updates via a local package repository. Can you still do something like this
with Windows? Does it require an special Windows 10 version?
~~~
Santosh83
I think you need an Enterprise license to customise the update process. Not
even Pro will do, although with that you can turn off the forced updates,
which Home users can't.
~~~
H4CK3RM4N
Last I heard, Pro can only delay updates for 14 days.
------
Steeeve
The article doesn't have a full list, it has a set of examples. The technet
pages linked in the article don't have a full set of information either.
I have the distinct impression that regardless of settings, some data gets
sent.
I also have the distinct impression that the data will be for sale - the
usefulness of a good portion of the data is questionable and some would only
be useful for application developers.
What the list does have enough of ... is enough information for adversarial
parties to want to target it.
It's not that hard to stop using windows. More people should.
------
itaysk
I wonder how this compares to Android while using Google's services and
accepting their terms (admittedly I allow everything by default). Is anyone
aware of such analysis?
------
chj
The reason I installed ubuntu on my laptop.
~~~
liareye
For the convenient Amazon button in the dock?
~~~
sangnoir
Wow, what a dilemma! Which one should I go for: full-bore telemetry including
memory contents and keyboard events with RCE capabilities _or_ an Amazon
button that just sits there until I click it? Truly, this is like _Sophie 's
Choice_ /s
~~~
nebabyte
False dichotomy. Other distros/envs not supporting scummy practices exist too.
~~~
sangnoir
I was using (explicitly marked) sarcasm to highlight the false equivalence in
parent's post. Obviously the choices of OS is not limited to Windows vs. Unity
on Ubuntu
~~~
nebabyte
Right, but your response to scummy practices was "which is why I use [other
thing with scummy practices]."
I'm sure you can justify why a button isn't as bad as spyware to yourself, but
to anyone who puts up with neither, the parent comment makes sense without
needing to 'equate' the two. They're both not things you'd put up with; and
the 'sophie's choice' (yes, I saw the tag) joke would instead just be a
response for a different platform.
~~~
sangnoir
> Right, but your response to scummy practices was "which is why I use [other
> thing with scummy practices]."
This is comparing apples to oranges though: on one side we have a Unity lens
_that can be turned off_ and is restricted to searches, and on the other you
have what I can only describe as a turnkey APT (RAT,RCE, process spy, device
spy, keylogger, memory scraper) that _cannot be switched off_ \- how hard do
you think it would be for a nation-state to 'enrich' and intercept/redirect
this telemetry?
You lose a great deal of detail by intentionally avoiding the nuance of the
situation: murder by starvation or Nitrogen asphyxiation is still death, but
there is value in discussing the cruelty of persons who would choose one
method over the other to kill, especially if one of them lets you opt-out.
Additionally, Ubuntu and Unity (host of the Amazon button) are not equivalent
in any case. I use Ubuntu with KDE, others with XFCE or Gnome. So using Ubuntu
in no way equates with putting up with scummy practices.
edit: expanded and split 2nd paragraph
------
elorant
I'd like to know if there are any C# devs who moved to Linux and how is the
whole experience.
~~~
androtheos
It's better now with asp.net core and visual studio code both of which run
rather well on Debian Linux.
------
retox
Some troubling sounding ones; \- All the physical memory used by Windows at
the point of the crash \- URL for a specific two second chunk of content if
there is an error
\- Image & video resolution, video length, file sizes types and encoding
\- URLs (which may include search terms)
\- Ink strokes written, text before and after the ink insertion point,
recognized text entered
\- Time and result of each connection attempt (WiFi)
\- Mobile Equipment ID (IMEI) and Mobile Country Code (MCCO)
\- Whether the user clicked or hovered on UI controls or hotspots
------
AdmiralAsshat
Useful utility I remember from a few years ago: [https://www.safer-
networking.org/spybot-anti-beacon/](https://www.safer-networking.org/spybot-
anti-beacon/)
I mostly used it to block the Windows 7 telemetry that they backported.
I don't know how up-to-date they're keeping it, though. I fear Microsoft is
adding more hooks faster than Spybot can block them.
~~~
Clownshoesms
It's infuriating that I'm still paranoid about what my paid for Win 7 OS sends
out, despite hiding updates and trying to keep on top of it.
Then again, with IME etc, who siphons more? We've gone wildly wrong somewhere
that this is the norm. Wildly wrong.
------
itchyjunk
Ahh, the "Relevant Ads" button. No matter which way it turns, you still get
adds. I am tempted to ask "Is this button broken /s?" but I know it's a
feature and not a bug.
------
Clownshoesms
Privacy journey. It'll take a while to purge that tripe. Makes me feel sick
thinking of the corporate weasel on the end of the post.
------
frik
The original title of this post was "The sheer amount of data Windows 10 sends
from your PC".
Which was shorted from the article title "Put down your coffee and admire the
sheer amount of data Windows 10 Creators Update will slurp from your PC"
But now he HN title got changed to "Official list of phoned-home info revealed
by Microsoft" whih is misleading or let's say down-playing the whole story.
The story is more than yesterdays HN story, it shades a not so nice picture
about what really happen.
~~~
developer2
The "Official list of phoned-home info revealed by Microsoft" is the
subheading from the article, and offers a neutral tone compared to the biased
headline of "The sheer amount of data Windows 10 Creators Update will slurp
from your PC".
While general consensus will likely be that that it _is_ too much data
collection, it's more ethical - from a journalism standpoint - to allow each
reader to decide that for themselves based on the facts. I find it odd that
The Register used a biased headline, while delegating the unbiased phrase to
the role of a subheading. I suspect the neutral subheading was provided by the
author of the article, while the headline was manufactured by someone whose
job it is to drive traffic/views.
~~~
AimHere
> I find it odd that The Register used a biased headline, while delegating the
> unbiased phrase to the role of a subheading.
The only thing odd about that is that The Register has a more neutral tone in
it's subheading than normal. The main headline is using the default Register
style (and if you go to the Reg's front page, you'll see plenty of tabloid-
esque subheadings).
I suspect that since this has been the Reg's modus operandi for years, that
there's no need for an editor to write headlines by now - the staff writers
know what's expected and probably use the house style already. If anything,
it's the po-faced subheading that's likely to have been tampered with on an
ad-hoc basis.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
San Francisco bans facial recognition technology by municipal agencies - dcschelt
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/us/facial-recognition-ban-san-francisco.html
======
jasaloo
seeing plenty of comments along the lines of "don't they have better things to
do?"
please remember that there are coalitions of activists advocating multiple
issues for civil rights simultaneously, and that a victory in one area (e.g.
fighting the surveillance state) is neither mutually exclusive nor to the
detriment of another equal or greater social ill (e.g. homelessness).
In the meantime, enjoy these videos of what they're doing with facial
recognition in China:
(Social credit system)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkw15LkZ_Kw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkw15LkZ_Kw)
(broad piece on facial recognition):
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH2gMNrUuEY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH2gMNrUuEY)
------
tuxxy
I'm happy to see this, but it's not really going to stop the inevitable rise
of the police state. They _will_ find other methods that aren't using facial
recognition technology. I hear that gait recognition is quite accurate.
~~~
toephu2
There is no police state in SF. It is quite the opposite. Crime is rampant and
criminals know the police don't bother going after non-life threatening crimes
(e.g., car break-ins are rampant all over the Bay Area now).
I for one prefer the rise of the police state. Have you been to China lately?
Amazingly safe. Never once seen a broken car window anywhere there. There is
no such thing as smash-and-grab there anymore and carjackings are unheard of.
Used to be a lot of petty crime, not anymore. Cameras are everywhere in big
cities. It is safe for any attractive young female to walk out on the streets
at midnight there.
They use face-recognition technology heavily and catch criminals with the help
of it.
I dream of the day law enforcement in the U.S. can link up to Facebook and
find the real identities of criminals caught on video. Sadly I don't think
that day will ever come. Or maybe in other states but definitely not in
California. Crime fighting in California is still stuck in the 80s.
CHP actively scanning the highways for stolen plates using OCR readers?
Technically possible but not happening (not sure why).
Police departments linking up to facebook to find thieves caught on 1080p
video? Possible but not happening (not legally allowed?).
~~~
jrochkind1
San Francisco crime rate per 100,000 people: 715.00
Phoenix: 760.93
Houston: 1095.23
New Orleans: 1121.41
Stockton CA: 1414.56
Milwaukee: 1597.36
Baltimore: 2027.01
Detroit: 2056.67
St Louis: 2082.29
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_crime_rate)
~~~
topmonk
That's only _violent_ crime. From your very link, for property crime, it's the
4th highest of all the US.
This goes along with what the parent was saying. Cops don't go after non-life
threatening crimes.
~~~
jrochkind1
I would expect property crime to correlate with wealth generally, ie, where
there's... more property.
It's also not generally the kind of crime people are thinking about when they
say they are worried about their safety.
And guess what, property crime has less impact on the rich too. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
~~~
topmonk
> I would expect property crime to correlate with wealth generally, ie, where
> there's... more property.
This is obviously not true. Wealthy neighborhoods have far less crime.
The point is that because of the policies of SF to go easy on theft, but go
hard on violence, causes a lot of theft.
This doesn't just hurt wealthy people, but anyone who owns anything worth
stealing, which in turn hurts any poor people trying to make their way out of
the gutter.
If they had their police enforce against both types of crime, SF wouldn't look
as third worldish as it now does, with lawless shanty towns surrounding ultra
rich, well protected areas. You've probably never lived in a very poor
neighborhood, but I have. In my experience those that aren't involved in
criminal activity, and are trying to get into a better situation _want_ police
presence. They want crackdown on crime, because people just trying to live
their lives in these neighborhoods these are the ones that these crimes hurt
the most.
This blindeye'd activism which prevents the rule of law in poor areas causes
the very same hopeless conditions they are rallying against.
------
megous
Meanwhile other countries are already fining people for avoiding camera's gaze
and forcing them to be photographed. And it's just a pilot project.
[https://twitter.com/JamieJBartlett/status/112865736509036134...](https://twitter.com/JamieJBartlett/status/1128657365090361344)
------
MagicPropmaker
Gait recognition is pretty effective, too!
[https://nypost.com/2018/11/06/chinas-latest-recognition-
tech...](https://nypost.com/2018/11/06/chinas-latest-recognition-technology-
can-id-people-by-how-they-walk/)
And that's perfectly OK according to the SF City Council.
~~~
ultrarunner
These people are politicans. You can’t possibly expect them to keep up with
every new technological advancement.
------
arjo129
I know that my opinion is going to be unpopular but I strongly disagree with
this move. I can understand not allowing facial recognition to be run in real
time, or for instance to ban corporates from tracking me and using my face for
advertisement data, but to ban the police seems extremely dumb. Facial
recognition can be used to significantly cut down investigation times and
costs and thus reduce the stress on police.
~~~
jasaloo
I can understand that viewpoint. But if we look at the track record of how
authorities actually use surveillance technology, it is aggressively used to
squash dissent, rather than prevent/investigate crimes.
Yes, facial recognition could help cops identify a robber more quickly and yes
surveillance has been used to expedite investigations, but what we've seen is
that cops across the board will disproportionately abuse this sort of
technology to track and monitor (and sometimes later harass) protesters,
activists, ethnic/religious minorities and the undocumented.
Here's one instance at the federal level, but abuse happens at the state and
local level constantly.
[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/10/standing-
roc...](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/10/standing-rock-fbi-
investigation-dakota-access)
~~~
philwelch
I wouldn’t be surprised if accurate facial recognition technology actually cut
down on things like overt racial profiling.
~~~
jasaloo
yeah, maybe... but the question is always 'at what cost?'
There are ways of cutting down on racial profiling that don't require turning
our city into a panopticon.
------
GarrisonPrime
Don't worry. They'll just hire private contractors to do it.
~~~
BlackRing
That loophole of govt getting things from third parties without due process
needs to be plugged.
------
narrator
I think the idea behind opposition to facial recognition is it makes law
enforcement too efficient.
Facial recognition is a threat to administrative bloat because it improves the
efficiency of the police and would actually reduce all those crises that are
leading to higher salaries for administrators tasked with solving those oh so
lucrative problems that are created by gaps in law enforcement.
------
arcticbull
This really feels like attacking the symptoms not the problem. Shouldn't the
city, state and federal government develop guidelines on what can and can't be
done with this information and ensure lack of abuse? You're in public, you
have no expectation of privacy -- whether the video is assessed by computers
or an army of humans, does it matter? Don't human viewers have 'facial
recognition technology'?
Progress can't be stuffed back into the bottle, but it does need to be guided
and controlled. It feels very SF these days, sad to say, to long for the good
old days by placing the collective head into the collective sand (as with
allowing new/taller buildings to be built).
Technology is neutral, what matters is what we do with it.
~~~
jasaloo
the point is to prevent the capture of such data to begin with. As a privacy
activist, we've seen that simply developing a 'use-policy,' while effective,
can only go so far. Once local/state/fed authorities possess this data, it's a
matter of when, not if, it will be abused (or sold off to private interests).
Your second question: there's a massive difference between being observed by
an individual officer and being perpetually tracked by an apparatus of
ubiquitous cameras that cross-reference your face with your background
information, possible criminal record, citizenship status, etc. It also opens
the flood gates for horrific scenarios like the 'social credit system' that
they've implemented in China. Go look that one up and tell me you're still ok
with facial recognition.
~~~
arcticbull
I spent a lot of time researching the social credit system and yeah, not a fan
-- it's basically gameified totalitarianism.
However, again, I think that's about what you do with the ability and not the
ability itself. You don't need facial recognition to implement the social
credit system: a simple plastic card would do. Your first name, middle initial
and last name as a triple are enough to uniquely identify you on the Texas
voting registry 80% of the time [1]. This ship has long sailed. That's again
why I'm in favor of regulating the problematic uses of information and
technology and not addressing the specific technology or method of
implementation.
[1]
[https://www.eitanhersh.com/uploads/7/9/7/5/7975685/agdn_v1_4...](https://www.eitanhersh.com/uploads/7/9/7/5/7975685/agdn_v1_4.pdf)
~~~
jasaloo
"That's again why I'm in favor of regulating the problematic uses of
information and technology..."
We agree on this in principle. But again, once authorities have _any_ of this
data in their possession, abuse always happens. Literally always.
IMO the root problem is not "oh, the cops are just using all my PII and
biometric data inappropriately" the root problem is that "the cops have
possession of all my PII and biometric data to begin with."
You have the symptom and disease reversed here, IMO.
~~~
vatueil
I am wary of facial recognition, and I avoid the use of it. But I'm not
convinced by this line of reasoning either, so let me play devil's advocate.
> _But again, once authorities have any of this data in their possession,
> abuse always happens. Literally always._
Well, before something can be abused it must first be available to use.
Conversely, once a tool is available to use some may abuse it.
For example, if collecting fingerprints or DNA were completely forbidden then
that might prevent abuse of such data (such as false matches). But it would
also prevent any beneficial uses as well.
Banning facial recognition prevents not only abuse but also any potential good
uses, such as locating victims of abduction or trafficking, and perhaps other
uses we cannot foresee.
Killing it in its infancy may be easier than doing so after it takes root, but
it also gives society less opportunity to learn what the consequences of the
technology may be, intended and unintended, good or ill.
We know it can be abused, especially in the hands of an authoritarian
government, but does that mean it cannot be used responsibly? Anything that
gives the state power could be turned against the people, as libertarians
might warn, but social progress also requires that we learn to work together
rather than reject anything which might do us harm.
Perhaps a better argument for an early and complete local ban might be that it
allows other regions to be the test subjects. Or that by taking a less
compromising stance the anti-facial recognition side gains a stronger
bargaining position at the table. But those arguments are not as attractive,
maybe.
~~~
jasaloo
"Perhaps a better argument for an early and complete local ban might be that
it allows other regions to be the test subjects."
It's a valid thought, honestly. Though seeing how tightly the police hold onto
this tech once they have it makes it extremely difficult to just test the
waters (and also requires vigilant public oversight, which the sheriffs'
associations will fight tooth and nail).
Also having cops test this tech out, knowing they're going to be deliberately
monitored to how often they use it for good reasons (e.g. child abductions) vs
abuse it, would probably produce incredibly biased results. Think about it--
the experiment would be entirely self-serving: cops get to trumpet that it
helped them for the legit crime here and there (and sitting through public
safety committees, believe me, they will TRUMPET it), while showing that zero
cases of misuse happened.
Ultimately, we have to think in systems: sure, ubiquitous surveillance would
undoubtedly solve the horrific crime here and there, but at what cost to who
we are as people? At what cost to how we protect minorities and the
undocumented? At what cost to our already eroding public trust?
~~~
vatueil
> _Also having cops test this tech out, knowing they 're going to be
> deliberately monitored to how often they use it for good reasons (e.g. child
> abductions) vs abuse it, would probably produce incredibly biased results.
> Think about it-- the experiment would be entirely self-serving: cops get to
> trumpet that it helped them for the legit crime here and there (and sitting
> through public safety committees, believe me, they will TRUMPET it), while
> showing that zero cases of misuse happened._
To be fair, wouldn't that suggest strong oversight might work then? True, any
test might differ from real-world conditions, but theories need to be tested
one way or another and it would provide some evidence.
While caution during early testing might lead to less misuse, one could also
imagine countervailing factors. For example, lack of familiarity with a new
technology might lead to might lead to mistakes. Regulations are written in
blood, as they say, and the development of new ethical guidelines may take
time.
Which, as we've noted, could be a pragmatic reason to let others be the test
subjects. I'm not eager to open the can of worms myself, though it might feel
a bit selfish to put it that way.
~~~
jasaloo
"To be fair, wouldn't that suggest strong oversight might work then?"
Fair point, that might work if: 1. a public safety/citizens oversight
committee does its job consistently, 2. _isn 't_ loaded with police-friendly
stooges 3. and _isn 't_ gradually de-fanged over time in terms of its power.
All three things, with time, can be manipulated by any given city hall, which
is often lock-step with the police force.
"...but theories need to be tested one way or another and it would provide
some evidence"
Agreed. And I say let's look at how they've deployed facial recognition in
China to put those theories to bed.
------
toephu2
"San Francisco bans facial recognition technology by municipal agencies"
They weren't even using it in the first place. I wish they were. More
criminals could be caught.
------
MagicPropmaker
...by the Police and municipalities. Amazon, etc, can still use it in their
"grab and go" stores.
~~~
paxy
IN their stores, not outside on the streets.
~~~
gojomo
I don't think this legislation bans use of face-recognition by individuals &
private entities in public. Only by the city agencies themselves.
------
dqpb
I think it' useful to divide this into two separate issues:
\- information
\- information asymmetry
------
Klonoar
Removed comment, because child comment has a good point that I somehow 100%
missed~
~~~
caprese
> ban on the use of facial recognition technology by police and all other
> municipal agencies
I'm not even sure if the article is what you responded to
Private sector and their partners can all still use it
~~~
thwythwy
Really sad the Times is just an outlet for what amounts to a symbolic
nothingburger.
------
ztratar
Were citizens having trouble with this in SF? I live in SF and have never seen
police use facial recognition, nor have I seen anyone have a problem with it's
use at a Governmental level.
Could that happen? Sure.
But SF Board of Supervisors have SO MANY REALLY BAD PROBLEMS they need to be
solving.
Instead they are choosing to be pro-active legislating against tech (because
they hate tech, let's admit it). Pro-active legislation is something that
should be higher level -- state senate, federal, etc. Local politicians should
be listening to their constituents to determine their priorities.
They need to get off their butts and solve our homelessness problem with the
$50k per homeless individual they now have in their yearly budget. Why do I
still see crap all over the streets? Why do I feel like I'm going to be
attacked when I'm in the streets?
Some guy stabbed himself with a knife right buy the Caltrain station last
year. If that was an isolated event, I wouldn't have a problem.
Their priorities are so out of whack.
~~~
almost_usual
I grew up in a pretty dangerous city and have been robbed at gunpoint. San
Francisco is _not_ a dangerous city and the problems it has pales in
comparison to many cities in the United States, especially in the rust belt.
Are there homeless people? Yeah. Is the city trying to address it? I honestly
think so, it's not a simple problem to solve.
I don't understand how this post caused so many knee jerk reactions to
homelessness and housing etc. I swear you bring up _anything_ related to San
Francisco and it triggers people. If you hate the city so much how can you
stand living there?
~~~
ztratar
My roommate was stabbed on 6th and Folsom at 8PM.
He was in the hospital for quite some time.
Another guy I know was shot 3 times when someone tried to rob him & he ran. He
almost lost his ability to walk.
It's a dangerous city.
~~~
almost_usual
Compare homicides with San Francisco and any major metro of similar size and
San Francisco will show it's not that dangerous. It might appear dangerous
because the middle class and upper-middle class are not sheltered from
everything here but it isn't that dangerous compared to most other cities.
There were 42 homicides in San Francisco (2018).
[https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/01/09/bay-area-
homicides-20...](https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/01/09/bay-area-
homicides-2018/)
There were 184 homicides in Memphis last year (2018), Memphis has roughly
200,000 less people than San Francisco
[https://dailymemphian.com/article/2253/Memphis-homicides-
up-...](https://dailymemphian.com/article/2253/Memphis-homicides-up-5-percent-
in-2018)
There were 156 homicides in Indianapolis last year (2018), Indianapolis has
roughly the same population as San Francisco
[https://www.theindychannel.com/news/local-
news/indianapolis/...](https://www.theindychannel.com/news/local-
news/indianapolis/indianapolis-sets-all-time-homicide-record-for-fourth-year-
in-a-row)
There were 200 homicides in Kansas City (2018), Kansas City is roughly 1/2 the
population of San Francisco
[https://www.kcur.org/post/kansas-city-
homicides-2018#stream/...](https://www.kcur.org/post/kansas-city-
homicides-2018#stream/0)
If you look at St. Louis and Baltimore you'll realize there are places of
similar or smaller population with much more crime
There were 186 homicides in St. Louis (2018), St. Louis is roughly 1/3 the
population of San Francisco
[https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/crime/homicides-in-the-
cit...](https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/crime/homicides-in-the-city-of-st-
louis-strikes-186-in-2018/63-41609c96-2fe9-4632-a6eb-b48cc3166e8d)
San Francisco compared to the rest of the United States is relatively safe and
the entire Bay Area is actually getting safer including San Francisco (58
homicides in 2016).
[https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/Homicides-fall-
acr...](https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/Homicides-fall-across-Bay-
Area-in-2018-posting-a-13510327.php)
~~~
psychomugs
Because there are no other crimes than homicides...
------
prepend
Perhaps this will help with the piles of human excrement.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Button Basics - heycarsten
http://jacojoubert.ca/post/7210637533/button-basics
======
orionlogic
No body is mentioning but the tutorial is really descriptive in content where
much of the design tutorials on the web lacks. It explains each design step,
not 'how to do it' but 'why to do it', which i think developer minds looking
for in design.
I will have an eye on this, keep up the good work.
------
pedrokost
The problem with image buttons like the ones shown are that they visually
break when zoomed in (tested in Chrome). When I zoom in, the right side of the
buttons does no longer fit perfectly with the rest of the button: it get moved
by some 2 pixels up, while the rest of the button remains in place.
I've experienced this problem on many websites, that's why I try to avoid
composite image buttons whenever possible. Either I create a button of only
one image(which often can't be reused) or I create if with CSS3 (some
compatibility issues).
~~~
patio11
_The problem with image buttons like the ones shown are that they visually
break when zoomed in_
Breaking features that paying users overwhelmingly do not use is not a
showstopper for most businesses. I don't actively hate power-users, but if
you're savvy enough to do anything other than open up the browser in the
default settings and make with the clicky-clicky, you're savvy enough to undo
it when you run into problems.
See also: "I disabled Javascript and your website broke", "I disable first-
party cookies by default and your website broke", "I couldn't get your website
to work on my wife's computer which I set up to run Lynx on Ubuntu Dapper"
(no, really), etc.
I feel a lot worse over the related answer for disabled users, since they
typically don't have an option to turn off being disabled, but the economics
are the same: 100% higher development costs to improve the experience of under
1% of users is not feasible.
~~~
sedev
I'm one of the people perennially angry over 'I disabled JavaScript and your
website broke,' but that's limited to sites that _should_ work fine with JS
off. Like this guy's - it's a blog post. A blog post should not completely
break with JS off.
What I think isn't that 'the site breaks with JS off' is inherently terrible.
Some sites actually do require JS - but that's far fewer than the number that
_think_ that they require JS, and _completely breaking_ with JS off is a very
distinct code smell. It says 'this person does not sweat the details.'
------
nxn
So to get this straight, the author created a button image in photoshop, then
created the same style using css3, took a picture of both, zoomed in, and
compared the pixelated blockyness? ... While completely disregarding the fact
that actually zooming in on the css3 version in the browser would avoid any
pixelation and blockyness in the first place?
~~~
ryanf
He's zooming in so you can see the pixels. He obviously isn't talking about
putting giant, stretched-out buttons on an actual site.
~~~
nxn
Which is not what I'm talking about either. I'm just saying it's a bit ironic
to need to zoom in on a button to even distinguish any quality differences and
then giving the quality award to the method that isn't suitable for scaling.
~~~
skalpelis
The zoomed image was meant to illustrate why the photoshop button was rendered
better at default size - it has nothing to do with browser zooming.
~~~
nxn
I understand that, in fact I mentioned that the aspect of zooming was
completely ignored in my first post, and I found it ironic that it was.
But anyway, lets forget about that fact for now. If you need to zoom in
400-800x on some pixels to even be able to spot the differences, then in
practical terms there are no differences. You can't expect your typical
visitor to sit in front of the monitor with a magnifying glass sweating at
your pixel perfect buttons. Honestly, no one is going to give it much more
than a glance, so attention to detail you can hardly spot with the naked eye
is almost completely pointless.
Now to come back to my main point: what isn't pointless is maintaining quality
when zooming in with the browser. This is something I often do myself when I'm
too lazy to put my contacts in to just casually browse the web. Just about
every website looks like a mess of blurry/pixelated crap when you do that. Had
he just went with the css3 approach, the quality at non standard zoom levels
would far outweigh the minuscule pixel details at normal zoom levels between
the css3 and photoshop versions.
Anyway, that's all I really wanted to say. Had the point been that CSS3
styling was still iffy with older browsers being around and the photoshop
button was superior for that reason, I wouldn't have said anything. But to
dismiss it based on some differences in pixelation you wouldn't even spot
normally, while ignoring that if you had actually zoomed in the browser there
would be no pixelation at all with the "inferior" css3 version, was just too
much.
------
Pewpewarrows
Fyi, using Dropbox as a replacement for real image hosting (either on your own
server or through a service such as S3) means that anyone at work who can't
get to a Dropbox URL can't see basically anything worthwhile on your site.
~~~
oneplusone
Author here: I will move the images over to a real host as soon as I can. The
blog post was incomplete and only published so some friends could read it
over. Wasn't meant to go live at all.
~~~
heycarsten
Sorry about that :-(
------
thomasfl
Great tutorial if you want to create buttons form scratch in photoshop with
and use css sprites.
What I would like to see, is a simple javascript api on top to generate all
the nitty gritty css in the browser. That's excatly what sproutcore and sencha
touch does.
------
MikeMacMan
One downside with image buttons: they are really, really, annoying to
localize. A compromise would be to have the button itself as an image and
overlay the label in HTML.
~~~
oneplusone
That is how this is done. The label is html, only the background is an image.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Intel i7-4770k overclocked to 8.0 GHz - ttoti
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Intel-Haswell-Overclock-i7-4770K,22454.html
======
jwfergus
I'm skeptical. I don't know the exact breakpoint, but pushing enough power
through the small (and very dense) circuits of a processor can't go beyond a
certain level based on our current CPU cooling technology. The heat at that
density just becomes too high and too localized.
~~~
t0
Liquid nitrogen or helium. But if someone went to the trouble to use these
substances, they'd likely show it in action instead of some computer screen.
~~~
jwfergus
Late reply, I know :( - Actually, it's not even the cooling outside the CPU
that's the real problem, it's moving heat away at a microscopic level near
each transistor. With enough power going through enough circuits nearby, the
material the CPU is made out of becomes the issue.
Consider a block of metal submerged in a (hypothetical) liquid at near 0
degrees K. Despite how much heat this liquid can draw out of the block, if
heat is being generated too quickly at the very center of the block, it's
possible that the heat conductivity of the metal block itself limits the
efficacy of outside cooling, resulting in an "overheating" center.
------
kunai
I'm a bit saddened that nearly ten years after we reached 3GHz, desktop clock
speed increase has come to a halt.
I know that FSB speeds are irrelevant now more than ever with multithreading
and multi-core architectures, but the performance afforded by high-clock chips
in high-demand areas, along with multi-core technology, it seems could be far
greater than it is now.
Especially with several 8GHz nodes, it seems like cheaper supercomputing could
be more viable.
Am I wrong, right, misguided, inaccurate, incorrect?
~~~
simonster
Clock speed hasn't increased, but instructions per second per core has more
than doubled over the last decade, and instructions per clock cycle per core
continues to increase
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_per_second>). Slower than Moore's
law, but it's something.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Family Asked To Leave Southwest Flight After Tweet - Deinos
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/07/22/family-asked-to-leave-sw-plane-after-tweet/
======
01Michael10
Let me get this straight... Southwest monitors for negative tweets that
hashtag them and if one is found they match the account to their passenger
list?
I guess one should not be using their real name and actual picture on their
Twitter account.
------
paulhauggis
This is one of the many negative effects of social media and everyone being so
connected.
With all of the mob Internet justice I've seen lately, I don't blame her for
being afraid.
~~~
codeddesign
you dont blame her? i do and obviously so does that family. the woman was
rude, he tweet anout it, and the airline then decided to refuse service to his
family due to their complaint. whether it is tweeted, on a public forum, or
within a reviews site - it shouldnt matter and to have a company threaten
refusal of service due to a complaint is completely innapropriate
~~~
paulhauggis
The guy that posted it on twitter acted like a child. He acted on pure emotion
and then had to suffer the consequences of getting booted off his flight. It
was in poor taste to mention the women by full name (and the exact terminal in
which she worked). It won't take long before her personal information is
found. He put absolutely no thought into this..only about his inconvenience.
You don't seem to care about the consequences. You are only acting on pure
emotion, like him.
"Company threaten refusal of service due to a complaint"
I'm sure he complained at the airport..and they never refused his services. It
was only when he put the safety and well-being of the airport employee in
question that caused a problem.
------
paraserv
The Southwest gate agent only knew about the tweet because the passenger told
her while boarding. She probably then searched for it and then had him deplane
to remove it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Quintus - An Easy, Fun HTML5 Game Engine For Mobile, Desktop and Beyond - Hirvesh
http://html5quintus.com/
======
cykod
Author here, just saw this pop up.
The engine isn't really in a released state yet and doesn't have a numbered
released yet (darn lack of docs), but it's been used internally for a number
of projects, most recently:
[http://www.html5gamedevelopment.org/StateofHTML5GameDevelopm...](http://www.html5gamedevelopment.org/StateofHTML5GameDevelopment/)
A rewrite of a couple of the parts (particularly scenes and some UI
components) is a work-in-progress.
The primary goal of the engine is to be a small, modular, very JavaScript-like
and to have a full test suite for the core parts of the system -
<http://html5quintus.com/quintus/specs/SpecRunner.html> (this will help verify
cross-browser behavior)
Forgot to add, this Engine came out of a book I wrote, and the examples for
that book all run on Mobile: <http://mh5gd.com/>
~~~
Hirvesh
OP here - sorry for posting about it prematurely! Just found it quite
interesting and blogged about it and posted a link here :)
~~~
cykod
No problem - I'm been sitting on the site and the Engine since October
(building stuff with it instead of finishing it) - so this is a good kick in
the butt to polish that sucker up.
------
wslh
I think the most promising game engine for HTML5 is Cocos2D:
1\. Demo: <http://www.cocos2d-iphone.org/t/js-tests/tests/>
2\. Docs: <https://github.com/zynga/jsbindings#readme>
3\. A game example: <http://cocos2d-javascript.org/demos/dizzy-3-5>
The most interesting thing about Cocos2D with Javascript is that it takes
advantage of the native application where it runs. For example, in iPhone it
runs a native game with all the GPU acceleration but on a browser it uses the
canvas object.
~~~
hayksaakian
Unlike what you posted, the OP's engine runs fast and touch input actually
works on my nexus 7.
I know that chrome for android is quite behind, but still.
------
hayksaakian
Was saddened that the demo couldn't be controlled on my tablet. Is touch
support planned? What about networked multiplayer?
~~~
TomasSedovic
According to the docs, Quintus does support mouse and touch input.
On my PC, the demo is controlled by keyboard only. Presumably, they wanted to
make the code as small as possible so they didn't put touch controls in.
<http://html5quintus.com/quintus/docs/quintus_input.html>
------
jandy
Could somebody explain the "HTML5 game engine for mobile, desktop and beyond"
part? Is it because it's HTML5, and will therefore work wherever a HTML5
supporting browser will work, or is there something more to make it "desktop"
friendly?
------
Hirvesh
via: [http://www.functionn.in/2012/12/quintus-easy-to-learn-fun-
to...](http://www.functionn.in/2012/12/quintus-easy-to-learn-fun-to-use-
html5.html)
The front-page of Quintus contains a simple demo written in approx. 60 lines
of JavaScript code which implements a simple Super Mario-like game which you
can test for yourself. You can play around with the code and check out the
changes you make by yourself.
Documentation is not yet up to scratch, but it looks like a promising game
engine.
Check out www.functionn.in for more web resources to keep you _functionn.in'_.
------
gotschi
At this point I'd like to suggest all the gamers try out our free Game
Creation website... <http://playtin.com>
kthxbye
------
chrisrickard
this looks pretty great... I have been wanted to dabble in html5 games - might
take Quintus it for a spin!
~~~
Hirvesh
the demo looks pretty awesome - esp. the no. of line of code vs the result
produced. Tinkering with it myself. Promising.
~~~
genezeta
Except when you reach the "tower", it starts spitting alerts and the only way
out is to close Firefox (actually kill it). Meh :(
Also, I see the handler for collisions for the enemies, but where does it say
that you can jump on them with no problem? Is that behaviour set somewhere
explicitly?
~~~
cykod
That was sort of an accident but I left it that way as I'm working on a
"enchancement" tutorial that makes it more like a standard platformer and adds
in particle effects, etc.
------
chayesfss
wait, so basically I can create personalized games for parents to point their
kids to on my server?
------
89a
The demo game has some questionable issues.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
GitHub is down - ekianjo
http://www.github.com/.
======
cyptus
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13380608](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13380608)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Options to display weather info for world-wide locations? - sagacity
http:getLocalNe.ws - our new site has individual pages for about 9,000 locations across some 240 countries world-wide. We wish to display current weather info (buttons) for as many of these locations as we can.<p>We've already implemented AccuWether's code for all US locations (which appears to be working fine) and they do have a coverage of around 150 countries. We're already exploring this as well as a couple of other options.<p>Can HNers with some experience on this suggest some alternatives that we could look at?<p>Thanks in advance.<p>ps. If you're up to it, please review and provide feedback on the site too:<p>http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2305689
======
sagacity
Clickables:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2305689>
<http://getLocalNe.ws>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Booking.com donates $60000 to Perl development - oneandoneis2
http://news.perlfoundation.org/2014/10/bookingcom-donates-60000-to-pe.html
======
wsc981
Doesn't surprise me. Booking.com has been searching for Perl developers (or
people willing to learn Perl) for ages[0], which makes it clear that Perl is
important for the company.
At the same time, I suspect not many developers have an interest in learning
Perl or working with Perl on a day to day basis. Booking.com seems to have a
hard time finding said Perl devs.
[0]:
[http://careers.stackoverflow.com/jobs?searchTerm=booking.com...](http://careers.stackoverflow.com/jobs?searchTerm=booking.com&location=)
~~~
chadscira
I thought you were exaggerating, but their listings are titled
"Software Developer - willing to learn Perl"
They really are having trouble finding perl developers.
~~~
justincormack
Best thing to do - you do not need people who already know a language, just
good people who want to learn.
~~~
pan69
> just good people who want to learn
"just", right? Booking.com must be doing a massive palm right now. Why didn't
they think of that...
------
reacweb
It seems they donate for perl 5 development. Nothing for perl 6 ?
------
zerr
C'mon booking, add one more 0 at the end :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Which Is Better for You and Why, Amazon Echo Dot or Google Home Mini? - chirau
I am trying to get some last minute discount gifts for friennds. One is a couple and the other a single lady. I am wondering which one would be better for either.<p>What has been your experience with either of these products and what sort of personalities do either suit best?
======
melling
I don’t have either but I wouldn’t be discouraged by the typical HN
complaints. These devices are extremely popular and will finally get us to
Voice as a User Interface:
[https://h4labs.wordpress.com/2017/12/13/voice-as-a-user-
inte...](https://h4labs.wordpress.com/2017/12/13/voice-as-a-user-interface-is-
almost-here/)
For those who truly hate these corporate solutions, donating to Mozilla will
help facilitate an open source solution:
[https://voice.mozilla.org](https://voice.mozilla.org)
------
eecks
I've only used the Amazon Echo and the dot. I have the normal echo and the
dot. The dot is not amazing. It can't hear me over the external speaker and
doesn't catch what I am saying as much as the normal echo. I'm still happy I
got it though because I have that in one room and the normal echo in my main
room. The normal echo is great.
My main use cases are: "Alexa, ..."
Calculations: "What is 64.5 * 350?"
Factual questions: "What is the population of Ethiopia?", "What is 1 bitcoin
in euro?"
Weather: "What's the weather tomorrow?", "Will it rain tomorrow?"
Reminders: "Remind me in 15 minutes about pizza"
Alarms: "Set alarm for 7.30am"
Current time: "What time is it?", "What time is it in New York?"
Music: "Play spotify"
News: "What's the news?" (Sky News skill set as the default)
I only have one smart plug so far and no smart lights but I plan on getting a
good setup. "Turn on the living room lights", "Turn off all the lights"
------
sparkie
This is like asking: "Which is better for you, crack or smack?" Both are
terrible devices whose primary purpose is to invade upon privacy so that they
can sell your preferences to advertisers.
------
Finnucane
Yeah, i’d guess the personality they serve best is the type who desires
submission to our corporate overlords.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
"Rockstar" RoR Developers Needed in Northern VA - lwarren
Currently hiring four Ruby on Rails Developers to work with our team to build the core of our application. While we can't discuss the application publicly, we can tell you that it's an exciting, challenging and growing product in an open source environment. Email me: [email protected] for more information.
======
mindcrime
Wait, what? You want developers with egos the size of Texas, who will drag
into work 8 hours late, hung-over and with a gaggle of groupies (or
prostitutes, whatever) hanging off their arms; and then get caught in the
bathroom an hour later snorting coke off groupies' tits; then go out, get
drunk, wreck a car, get into a fight with the cops, land up in jail, and then
call you at 3:00am to come bail their asses out of jail?!??
Maybe you should go for some Ninja developers instead? Just be careful when
they start turning invisible and pranking you...
~~~
lwarren
Love your sense of humor. Maybe I'll change that to ninja developers instead.
Thanks!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What do you think of implementing Gravatars in a social site? - akos
Or maybe should I allow the user to upload their own avatar or maybe link it from elsewhere on the web?
======
whichdan
Why not all three? Pull the Gravatar by default, and let them choose between:
[] No avatar [] Use your Gravatar [] Upload an image from your computer [] Use
an image from the web
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ruby fad going out? - eVizitei
http://www.codecommit.com/blog/ruby/the-end-of-the-ruby-fad
======
davidw
Yeah, it's terrible. I started an app in Ruby last year, had to switch to
Erlang, and now Scala...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Kops 101- the Kubernetes Deployment Game-Changer - dpolstra
https://www.reactiveops.com/blog/kops-101-the-kubernetes-deployment-game-changer/
======
alpb
This turned out to be a more marketing/consulting post than I expected. It
says 101 on the tin box, I expected to see a small demo or links to
documentation.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
PrimeNG - myxlptlk
http://www.primefaces.org/primeng/
======
emsy
As someone who spent a long time with JSF, I can say that using angular on top
of JSF is one of the worst ideas I can think of. Not that using JSF itself is
any better. My hatred for this technology is sincere.
~~~
LoneWolf
From what I see this is not using Angular on top of JSF, it is something
isolated.
~~~
emsy
Oh you're right! I've overlooked the 'sibling' when I was reading the
introduction.
May I still voice my pure repugnance towards JSF :P?
~~~
LoneWolf
You can, it's your opinion, I have worked with it and don't find it so bad as
you say. Can you tell me what makes you hate it so much?
------
evrim
Prime Number Generator? Please pick a proper name, geez.
------
wiradikusuma
So it's like Ionic?
[http://ionicframework.com/docs/components/#header](http://ionicframework.com/docs/components/#header)
~~~
LoneWolf
From what I know Ionic is more than components, it is more of a framework for
mobile apps. PrimeNG is more like a port of the JSF components library they
had to Angular2.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: How to Make an AWS S3 Static Website with SSL - greatamerican
https://www.josephecombs.com/2018/03/05/how-to-make-an-AWS-S3-static-website-with-ssl
======
subway
This works, but it leaves all traffic between the CloudFront edge node and S3
unencrypted. In theory, that shouldn't be an issue, by why risk it?
A better way is to completely leave the "website" bits of S3 off, and leave
that all up to CloudFront. You can create an Origin Access Identity, then
grant that OAI access to read your S3 bucket (all automated in the wizard when
you create a CF dist and specify an S3 origin). You then specify a default
object in your CF dist, and bam, CF is using the S3 REST API over SSL to
secure that CF-S3 hop.
~~~
fishdaemon
Another important aspect of using AOI is that you don't need to make the s3
bucket public. This matters even if the website is fully public. It has to do
with a simple governance rule. No public s3 buckets should be allowed.
That if monitored and enforced would stop many data breaches. With some public
bucketd enforcement will be difficult
------
3stripe
Another way to host a Jekyll website for pennies (and with HTTPS) is
[https://www.netlify.com/](https://www.netlify.com/)
~~~
javajosh
Go to [https://www.netlify.com/features/#dev-
tools](https://www.netlify.com/features/#dev-tools) and check out the
dependencies in the image there. I bet an exec said "hey we need a cool
looking screenshot of code" and the dev whipped up the most useless
package.json they could think of and screen-shotted it. Well, I _hope_ that's
the case.
~~~
paulgb
I think that's a jokey reference to the left-pad debacle.
------
greatamerican
This is my bill estimate for March - kinda high!
[https://imgur.com/a/kDmdE](https://imgur.com/a/kDmdE)
~~~
grepthisab
Looks like the majority of your bill -- $4.00/$4.39 -- is in hosted zones.
It's $0.50/hosted zone, and you only need one for a single static site. So
looks like with reasonable traffic, this jekyll setup is about $0.89/mo for
hosting, that's not bad!
------
mike503
Highly recommend using CloudFlare instead of Cloudfront.
a) it's totally free, which means once it's cached at CF, no charges from AWS
for bandwidth, also no charges for Route 53 since CF handles the DNS too.
b) it can be used to terminate SSL in front of the S3 bucket (with or without
the S3 bucket properly using SSL, depending on if you're using path-based or
host-based bucket access)
c) cache invalidations are stupid fast
d) any CDN changes are done nearly instant, vs. "however long" Cloudfront
takes
$.02
------
Mononokay
What's the benefit of hosting a static website on AWS instead of Github or
Gitlab Pages?
~~~
charlieegan3
No HTTPS for custom domains
[https://github.com/isaacs/github/issues/156#issuecomment-366...](https://github.com/isaacs/github/issues/156#issuecomment-366542067)
is the main one.
~~~
tambre
According to the latest comments and issues linked in that very issue, GitHub
Pages has started slowly enabling HTTPS support for sites that have custom
domains.
------
trevyn
[https://zeit.co/now](https://zeit.co/now) is pretty fantastic for this.
------
navaati
My question with this kind of setup is: what if a malicious person (or just an
unexpected success on HN) gets me a gazillion request, do I end up with a $10k
liability ?
I'd rather have the site go down than me go broke, so is it really a good idea
?
~~~
StreamBright
This is ehy you can create budget limits in AWS. DDOS to your site is not
legitimate traffic and AWS will provide you protection against it. Cloudfront
is limited by default too. I cant remember the actual req/s but there is a
limit. You can also limit access to certain countries where your legitimate
users are.
------
logronoide
My favorite combination for a static website is AWS S3 for content and
Cloudflare for caching and SSL termination. I think Cloudflare offers more
capabilities as CDN.
------
praveenweb
How do you compare hosting static websites on Hasura (free SSL out of the box)
or Heroku vs AWS S3?
I think cloudflare gives more options as a CDN than cloudfront.
------
edem
Where can I read about the costs / month?
~~~
pfortuny
I’ve got the same setup at pfortuny.net/reflexiones plus amazon workmail and
it costs me around 6$/month. Very low traffic, though. Anyway, the cost is 5$
for the mail, so the blog is negligible.
Amazon’s pricing is easy for this simple setup.
------
forty
Probably nitpicking, but why not having www as an alias record as well?
------
IloveHN84
Does It work with the free tier?
------
greatamerican
OP here - thanks for all the votes! If you liked this post, check out my
latest post here: [https://www.josephecombs.com./2018/03/09/how-I-use-a-
compute...](https://www.josephecombs.com./2018/03/09/how-I-use-a-computer-
part-1)
~~~
dang
Some of the votes were fraudulent. That's not ok on HN and not a good way to
promote good work.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html)
~~~
greatamerican
can you tell me what votes were fraudulent? And what can I do to prevent it in
the future? God bless @dang
~~~
irl_zebra
Ugh, just admit it if you did it, or say nothing. This post I'm responding to
comes across badly. I'm sure no unaffiliated-with-you vote fraud bots were
swarming to upvote your particular random article, so common sense says
there's about a 99.9% chance if there was HN vote fraud, it was the person who
stands to gain from the fraud doing it.
I doubt dang is going to walk you through how they detected it either. No need
to make people's fraud easier in the future.
Just take your licks and move on.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
First Licks of "Two Scoops of Django" - JMill
http://www.jmillville.com/first-licks-of-two-scoops-of-django/
======
JMill
This was written as a 'memory crutch' while learning Django and synthesizing
the content in Greenfeld's and Roy's new book, "Two Scoops of Django" [1]. I
hope it helps other novices for learning how to get started based on best
practices. This is a living document, so I will make effort to incorporate
feedback.
[1] <https://django.2scoops.org/>
~~~
JMill
A follow-up has been written, titled "Onboarding a Django app within a 'Two
Scoops'-style project" [1]. It explains the steps I took to migrate the Polls
app from the 4-part Django tutorial [2] into our 'icratings' project. Please
let me know if you have suggestions for next directions, or revisions.
[1] <http://www.jmillville.com/onboarding/>
[2] <https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.4/intro/tutorial01/>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Twitter Facts & Figures - aditya
http://www.socialbrandingblog.com/199/twitter-facts-figures-infographic/#more-199
======
alexro
The Pareto principle in action: 20% tweeted more than 10 times, 80% less 10
and 41% (of total) not at all. So 20% of users are the true twitter user base,
which is about 20 million.
~~~
aditya
Yeah - wonder how that translates for Facebook users... 300*0.20 = 60million?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Taboola ($157mm VC funding) partners with malware; Akamai and Amazon complicit - momscomputer
I'm at my moms house for Mother's Day weekend and cleaned her computer after she told me she was getting a lot of popups. One of the frequent popups was for a site called suchhappy.com which looks like a BuzzFeed/viral content site. You can check out suchhappy.com and see that Taboola partners with them and has big ads showing at the top on the homepage and all over the place when you click into an article.<p>To see posts about suchhappy.com being malware, look at the below links. After following the instructions I was finally able to get rid of it.<p>* http://www.fix-exeerror.com/how-do-i-remove-suchhappy-com-step-by-step-removal-guide/<p>* http://www.malwareremovalvideo.com/fixed-how-can-i-stop-the-suchhappy-com-pop-up-removal-tips/<p>* http://computervirusremovalfixer.blogspot.com/2015/04/stop-suchhappycom-pop-up-guide-to.html<p>* http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/574578/suchhappy-redirect-virus-and-getprivate-shopper-7-pro-x64-firefox/<p>* http://helpremovepopups.com/get-rid-of-suchhappy-com-virus-permanently/<p>When will VC funded companies stop using malware to grow? How can we, as investors, entrepreneurs, and techies, place pressure on these advertising companies to stop supporting malware? Akamai and Amazon are complicit because they are the CDN on a bunch of the links on the page. Additionally, there are companies called "UDM Serve" and "RevContent" with ads on the page.<p>What can we do?
======
Eridrus
The ad ecosystem is a lot more complicated than you know.
It is not often trivial for suchhappy.com to know who is driving traffic to
them (they do source traffic, but how would you tell if it's malware or user
initiated? there are piles of legitimate looking fronts out there), let alone
people whose ads end up on suchhappy.com (who, for similar reasons may not
even know where there ads actually ran).
------
pikzen
>Akamai and Amazon are complicit because they are the CDN on a bunch of the
links on the page.
Yeah, and google is an accomplice to thepiratebay for having links to them on
their search results.
CDNs do not review what content is served from their servers. Send them a
complaint and they will, maybe.
------
nickphx
don't let your mom install toolbars? teach end users how to read and
understand dialog boxes instead of blindly clicking "OK!" ?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Bootes: AI-powered writer that writes referral email based on info from the net - davidyapdy
Bootes: An AI-powered email writer that writes referral email based on info from the net.
======
bradknowles
Got a link? The normal link just takes me to this HN page.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: CoderNews - hodgesmr
https://github.com/hodgesmr/CoderNews
======
arvidjanson
Oh, please don't do this:
"Historically, these features [vote ups and comments] are hard to use on small
devices and I want to make an app that is easy to use."
I understand that you want to make a minimal app (personal preference or
laziness – doesn't really matter), but claiming that vote ups ("like buttons")
are hard to use on a mobile device just makes it sound like you weren't able
to build it.
It's your app, and you can do what ever you feel fit with it. There's no need
to excuse your decisions with made up facts.
~~~
hodgesmr
Thanks for the feedback, but I meant what I wrote. I'm a big fan of the
HackerNode app, but I find it extremely hard to traverse the comment threads
when reading with it. I've been contemplating for a while on better ways, but
haven't come up with anything yet.
I also found that personally, I just want the stories. A lot of the time that
I'm on Proggit or HN, I'm not even logged in. So I made an app that did what I
want.
Same with voting. I made a reader, not a client.
However, forks and contributions are always welcome, so if you have ideas and
are jonesing to contribute, feel free!
------
fowlerje
I really like the UI you made. And the ability to change the number of days to
keep posts is really cool too. Are you doing any checking for duplicate posts
between sites?
~~~
hodgesmr
Thanks! And yes! If you check out the CoreDataManager --
[https://github.com/hodgesmr/CoderNews/blob/master/CoderNews/...](https://github.com/hodgesmr/CoderNews/blob/master/CoderNews/Managers/CoreDataManager.m)
\-- you can see that I'm checking by url and title. There could be
improvements though, like parsing trailing slashes that sometimes allow for
dupes.
------
codequickly
Won't run on my iphone, since it requires ios 6.1.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ban Killer Robots Before They’re a Problem, Say Human Rights Activists - swohns
http://betabeat.com/2012/11/killer-robots-human-rights-watch-drones-weapons/
======
swohns
2 fold problem: we see that replacing troops with drones could save US
military lives, but it would make going to war an easier. This would increase
the horrors of war for civilians on the ground (we've seen this from the
disproportionate number of reported drone errors).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Animated bubble charts (bubblecharts.js) - hirak99
http://randomexperiment.com/experiments/javascript/bubblecharts/timeplot.html
======
faycalz
I like the animation, it's an interesting way to show time series. If I were
you, I would explore opportunities to build animated charts of all types
(there's a challenge in the axis animation, to keep it smooth so viewers can
make comparison between past and present without effort).
~~~
hirak99
Thanks - that's actually a pretty good idea. With the base structure already
needed for the bubble charts - animations, drawing axes, etc., it is not gonna
be too difficult to extend this to other chart types.
May be when I get some spare time - I will put it into this.
------
hirak99
The idea came from here -
[http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_y...](http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen?language=en)
This was my first major project on javascript... I am not a developer by
profession. What do you guys think?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Smoove Text. An inspiration discovery platform - fspacef
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/smoove-text/id1362792811?ign-mpt=uo%3D4
======
fspacef
Product page with video if you have a droid.
[https://farhanf.github.io/smoovelanding/](https://farhanf.github.io/smoovelanding/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Little Book of Semaphores [pdf] - rspivak
http://www.greenteapress.com/semaphores/downey08semaphores.pdf
======
rubiquity
Just coming here to give my usual thank you/plug to Allen B. Downey for all of
his wonderfully written (and free!) books. Aside from The Little Book of
Semaphores, here are a few of my favorites:
How To Think Like A (Functional) Programmer ("Think OCaml") -
[http://greenteapress.com/thinkocaml/index.html](http://greenteapress.com/thinkocaml/index.html)
Think Operating Sytems -
[http://greenteapress.com/thinkos/index.html](http://greenteapress.com/thinkos/index.html)
Think Bayes - [http://greenteapress.com/wp/think-
bayes/](http://greenteapress.com/wp/think-bayes/)
Think Stats -
[http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats2/index.html](http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats2/index.html)
Also important is his section about how to help free books:
[http://greenteapress.com/easy.html](http://greenteapress.com/easy.html)
~~~
pthreads
Thank you for these links. I have read semaphores book and I recommend it to
others. Didn't know that there were other good titles from Downey. Planning on
reading them all.
------
Upvoter33
Great source. Another good one: [http://www.ostep.org](http://www.ostep.org)
~~~
rfrey
mlvljr, you may be shadowbanned. I bring it to your attention becaue your
comment history seems inoffensive so it may be in error if it is true.
------
Secretmapper
We're currently discussing Synchronization in our Operating Systems class and
it just feels inadequate. This looks like a solid material to dive deeper into
the topic :)
------
GFK_of_xmaspast
Great book, but I wish there was a print edition.
~~~
AllenDowney
Working on it :) Maybe next year.
~~~
GFK_of_xmaspast
Yeah! Yeah!
------
b3h3moth
A very good guide on UNIX IPC is by Beej Jorgensen[0], it's totally free and
updated last 1st December 2015.
[0] [http://bit.ly/1pF0rAZ](http://bit.ly/1pF0rAZ) (Beej's Guide to Unix IPC)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: A data science fellowship to solve the world’s toughest problems - pyduan
http://www.bayesimpact.org/fellowship
======
micro_cam
I appreciate what you guys are trying to do but I can't seen many
mathematicians or statisticians applying for this unless you provide a little
more information about what these "hard" problems are.
Honestly it reads like your offering basic in training in a a random selection
of tools and then hoping some non profits present a problem with nice clean
data that can be solved through application of a few methods from
scikit.learn.
If you wan't to attract math people my suggestion would be to identify a few
intriguing and hard problems a head of time and taking applications
specifically for them...you can always suggest a change if you think an
applicant would be better suited to a different one. Providing intriguing
problems that might match up with peoples pre existing research interests is
key...there is lots of room for cross pollination and growth but a bayesian
statistician is going to be much more intrigued by something that might
benefit from a hierarchical model then something that needs ODE's or online
convex optimization.
Worse 4-6 months might not even be enough time to formulate a problem that
needs a solution and get the required data in place. Non profits are generally
extremely overworked and take a long time to do things. They will not have
their data in anything resembling a database or standardized format...think
short hand notes in word files if you're lucky. Identifying people and data
you can work with on this end a head of time is key.
For the record I work for a non profit analyzing complex diseases and my
background is in math. I've also sat on the board of and been involved in a
few other non profits.
~~~
pyduan
Paul from Bayes Impact here. I appreciate the sentiment, though in all respect
it does seem like most of your concerns are addressed on the website, either
on the fellowship page or in the others.
> unless you provide a little more information about what these "hard"
> problems are
The second paragraph does go briefly over the problems we are currently
working on (granted, not in much detail for the sake of brevity, but enough to
give an idea of what type of challenges they are). There is a little bit more
information on the front page, but granted since we started Bayes Impact two
months ago we haven't been able to put as much work into the website content
as we'd like to.
> Honestly it reads like your offering basic in training in a a random
> selection of tools
This is simply not the case -- while their level of experience varies, our
current fellows actually comprise some well-established data scientists in
their own right. It is precisely because the problems worth solving are
_tough_ to solve that we need to round up talented individuals who are able to
commit to working on social impact projects full-time and pair them up with
industry and domain experts who have the domain knowledge but may not have the
time.
They each bring their own set of skills -- for example, someone who built
Lyft's grid optimization system might be uniquely suited to help save lives by
improving ambulance and fire truck dispatch and reducing average emergency
response times.
> and then hoping some non profits present a problem with nice clean data that
> can be solved through application of a few methods from scikit.learn
This is precisely the point of Bayes Impact and why a longer engagement model
such as fellowships is needed in the space (most current data science for
social good organizations work on a volunteer basis model), so we have the
time to build these longer relationships with nonprofits to leverage data
science even in cases where data is messy or sensitive. We go a little bit
more in-depth about it on our article here:
[http://blog.bayesimpact.org/blog/the-bayes-impact-
mission/](http://blog.bayesimpact.org/blog/the-bayes-impact-mission/)
> Worse 4-6 months might not even be enough time to formulate a problem that
> needs a solution
This is why they're not 4-6 months, but typically 6-12. We do have a pilot 3
month program in the summer for problems that are comparatively easier to work
on.
> and then hoping some non profits present a problem with nice clean data that
> can be solved through application of a few methods from scikit.learn
This is why we have a fellowship application page and not a project
application page -- we actually tend to identify and scope projects ourselves.
On that note though, I want to point out there is no need to be so overly
dismissive of the work nonprofit and civic organizations have been doing in
collecting and storing clean data. For example, most fire departments we
talked to had surprisingly good data, and some such as the Fire Department of
New York had even started initiatives of their own to use data science to
improve their processes. For example, by integrating building permit data with
their own systems, they've been able to direct inspectors where fire were
predicted to be more likely to occur.
One direction we've been headed towards is seeking these data-educated
organizations to create pilot projects, then use the results of these as a
basis to export these solutions in similar institutions whose data practices
may not be as good. In that end, we are helped by some data engineers from
companies like Splunk or Cloudera so we do believe in working with these
organizations in the long run to bring them up to speed. This is precisely the
problem we're trying to solve with our model!
> For the record I work for a non profit analyzing complex diseases
Then you might be interested in the project we are doing on Parkinson's with
the Michael J. Fox Foundation! Feel free to email me for more details.
~~~
micro_cam
I'm trying to offer constructive, if harsh, criticism based on my own
experience which includes recruiting for similar positions and working with
large and small 501(c)(3)'s.
I don't mean to come off as dismissive but to suggest that your write up is
vague to the point of being easily dismissed and provide feedback on how
someone from outside your local peer group might read this.
And there are organizations out there with great IT and clean data but I and
most people in this field have lost months writing hideous combinations of NLP
and regular expression to pull data out of old medical records and things and
hand validate it or correct for batch effect in supposedly clean data.
I think that fleshing out the projects and areas of investigation you guys
already have lined up would go a long ways towards addressing my concerns and
making the program more appealing to the typical analytical folks i've worked
with. I'd also suggest focusing the intensive course on analytical methods not
the tools, this is what will intrigue people with expertise. At the moment it
reads like it is focused at people new the the field with no programing
experience.
What data sets/types are you using for the Parkinson's thing? My main focus is
on analysis methods that resist the noise, imbalance, heterogeneity and other
issues typical in extremely wide/multivariate genetic+clinical+proteomic
studies...a few sentences about the study in the write up would have told me a
lot about if my skills could be useful. (I'm not looking to relocate but I am
always open to collaborations and correspondence with people working on
similar things.)
~~~
pyduan
As I said earlier -- I definitely appreciate the sentiment, and constructive
criticism is always welcome when actually substantiated. I also took your post
as an opportunity to elaborate a bit more on our model so my post got longer
as a result.
> And there are organizations out there with great IT and clean data but (...)
This argument also works the other way round -- there are organizations out
there with terrible data (and this is especially common with medical data),
but there are also many high impact projects for which the data _does_ exist
in a workable form that are begging to be solved (and that we are actually
working on solving). We are focusing on these in the short term, while laying
the groundwork for the others in the medium-long term (both through the
research arm we are building, and our data engineers). There is no reason not
to get the low-hanging fruit first.
> I think that fleshing out the projects and areas of investigation you guys
> already have lined up (...)
Agreed. Since we created Bayes Impact two months ago our main focus has been
on building the program from scratch and working on the projects as well, so
the website has unfortunately taken a backseat. Another problem is that
government organizations are very sensitive about communication and we can
only communicate about our projects on their timeline. This results in us not
having a website as fleshed out as we'd like, but this is par for the course
for a new organization.
> I'd also suggest focusing the intensive course on analytical methods not the
> tools
Ah, I just saw the paragraph you're referring to. I get how the language may
be a bit confusing and will make the appropriate changes -- our goal is
actually to do the opposite: we bring on individuals who already have the
analytical methods but some may not have had exposure to best industry
practices. Because we focus on building _production_ systems and not just
write case studies, it's important to bring them up to speed in that minor
respect. This is why we can spend only a week teaching tools -- teaching
analytical methods to people without the required background would likely take
much longer, which is not our target audience.
At a broad level we simply provide an avenue for data scientists to work on
social impact problems in collaboration with domain experts, with us taking
care of the overhead of scoping projects and doing the dirty work of acquiring
and preparing the data as well as defining the implementation strategy. We
also smooth out the edges in our Fellows' backgrounds if any but this is
really not the core of the program.
Fortunately the pool of applicants as well as our current fellows does not
seem to echo your fears but I'll review and see which changes to the
fellowship page could help remove ambiguities in the future.
Hope it helps clarify. Regarding the Parkinson's project, feel free to reach
out to me by email -- unfortunately we need to wait for the press release from
the MJFF and the other partner before I can actually communicate about the
details publicly.
~~~
danelectro
Seems like you've got big data problems to solve and data scientists up the
wazoo.
I would think the missing element would include avant problem-solvers,
regardless of (advanced) degrees or not who are as outstanding in that
specialty as the data scientists are in theirs.
------
murtza
To get more exposure, consider posting the fellowship to these subreddits:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/datascience](http://www.reddit.com/r/datascience)
[http://www.reddit.com/r/datasets/](http://www.reddit.com/r/datasets/)
[http://www.reddit.com/r/statistics](http://www.reddit.com/r/statistics)
[http://www.reddit.com/r/machinelearning/](http://www.reddit.com/r/machinelearning/)
If you have not already, I would recommend reaching out to these companies to
sponsor: Cloudera, Palantir, New Relic, Tableau, Domo.
~~~
ajiang
Awesome - thanks for the feedback. We're indeed going to post to those
subreddits and reach out to those companies to potentially sponsor us. If you
know a good contact, we'd love to be introduced!
~~~
denzil
You will also probably find people interested in this on:
[http://lesswrong.com/](http://lesswrong.com/)
~~~
ajiang
We just tried to, but couldn't b/c of the karma requirement :(
------
corydominguez
I love the last item in the FAQ,
> I am a frequentist. Can I still join Bayes Impact?
------
rlazer
This is an awesome initiative. It's good to see an organization using and
promoting data science for something other than "optimizing click ads." Kick
some ass guys!
------
kfor
Always glad to see these skills put to uses besides selling products and
eyeballs!
Here's another fellowship using data science towards non-commercial goals
(global health research): [http://www.healthdata.org/get-
involved/fellowships](http://www.healthdata.org/get-involved/fellowships)
Full disclosure: I participated in the fellowship in 2008.
~~~
ajiang
Hi kfor, the fellowship program sounds really interesting. Do you mind
chatting with our team and telling us about your experience?
------
ntoshev
I have a vehicle routing solution (minimal routes via multiple destinations,
with time windows, capacity constraints, weekly scheduling; it's a website
service on top of Google Maps) that I would be happy to provide for free to
social impact projects. Email is in my profile if you're interested.
------
gulbrandr
This site does not work properly on Firefox, because of cross-origin requests
of fonts.
downloadable font: download failed (font-family: "sinkin_sans600_semibold" style:normal weight:normal stretch:normal src index:1):
bad URI or cross-site access not allowed
source: http://d1arcc3qu8ndpn.cloudfront.net/fonts/SinkinSans-600SemiBold-webfont.woff
~~~
ajiang
Thanks gulbrandr! We're fixing right now
------
lightcatcher
For those who think this is an awesome idea, but that don't want to relocate
and/or work full-time, I recommend you check out the similarly minded
[http://www.datakind.org/](http://www.datakind.org/)
~~~
shankysingh
Thanks for the link man, this really look wonderfull.
------
shoyer
Can you elaborate on what a "Fully funded fellowship" means? I'm guess it's
vague because you haven't figured out how much support you'll be able to
provide yet?
~~~
ajiang
Hi Shoyer, one of the founders here! For our fall fellowship, support will
likely be in the range of $4,000-6,000 per month based on experience. We also
provide a fellowship house in San Francisco for our fellows to live in.
~~~
hsshah
Hi ajiang, This is a great initiative. Glad to see Data Science knowledge put
to use for noble causes. I am a mentor in a Data science/analytics program
based in Bay Area where we help professionals looking for a career change to
data science. We are always hunting for interesting projects for them to work
on. Would love to have them work on real projects with noble goals. Love to
connect to discuss this possibility. If interested, please ping me. You can
find my email in my profile. Thanks.
~~~
ajiang
Hi hsshah, that sounds interesting. Shoot us a note at [email protected] -
we'd love to talk!
------
roscoebeezie
This sounds amazing.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Traction Book available for pre-order – G. Weinberg (DuckDuckGo) and J. Mares - kearney927
http://www.tractionbook.com/
======
yegg
Co-author here. I actually started exploring this book topic in late 2009
through an initial series of open-ended interviews that were discussed on HN
(when it was much more startup focused). Here is that set:
[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6r4nAnkQO3VpddRSVwUVDg](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6r4nAnkQO3VpddRSVwUVDg)
(e.g. patio11 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuzNs-
LhC_8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuzNs-LhC_8), Alexis
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enEqAq1x9UQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enEqAq1x9UQ),
Garry Tan
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Win0moC4cA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Win0moC4cA)).
I started angel investing around the same time and I quickly came to the
conclusion that the pursuit of getting traction needed much more structure
more akin to product development. I also got increasingly busy with
DuckDuckGo, and so it took finding a co-author and many years to actually get
this book across the finish line.
Here's my post from a few days ago summarizing the book:
[http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2014/07/pre-order-
tracti...](http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2014/07/pre-order-traction-
book.html)
Happy to take any questions.
~~~
basiliothecat
Hey Gabriel! Wodner if you plan selling a DRM-free book? That'd i believe be
expected and really appreciated.
~~~
yegg
Yes, the Kindle version will be non-DRM.
~~~
edgecrafter
ETA for kindle version ?
~~~
yegg
They don't let you set them up for pre-orders if you aren't a major publisher,
so 8/12.
~~~
edgecrafter
that is August 12'th I assume, same day as print version is out .... "what,
December" were my first thought :-)
------
kearney927
I got a sneak peak at "Traction" and I can tell you its an absolute must. The
Bullseye Framework Gabriel and Justin layout has been the greatest tool in my
catalog over the past year. Whether you are a seasoned entrepreneur or just
getting started, Gabriel and Justin offer a framework that creates efficiency,
clarity, and focus. With startups as crazy as they are, I strongly encourage
you to take the time to make your life a little easier :).
------
sogen
Hi, filled the form. How long does it take to receive the first 3 chapters in
my inbox?
------
satya33
Very much looking forward to this book. I needed it a year back.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Anyone know of any opportunities in the Bay Area for a good teacher? - aerovistae
I've been working as a software developer for 2 years now after finishing my CS degree, and frankly it's not my thing. I love programming! But I hate working in an office on a computer all day, 8+ hours a day.<p>I've been teaching a free class in Boston for about 9 months for fun, focused on teaching Python to beginners and experienced programmers, but I'm also fluent in HTML/CSS/JS/Ruby, and I've spent plenty of time with a variety of other languages/frameworks which I would not say I am proficient in.<p>I'm very good at teaching what I know to others. And I love it.<p>I've been wanting to move to SF, but it's so expensive and I would have to take a new engineering job, which I would do almost anything to avoid.<p>I'm sure that somewhere within the varied landscape of the tech community out there, there must be reasonably well-paying opportunities for decent engineers who like communicating and teaching better than sitting at a desk doing development all day.<p>I'm open to any and all suggestions! Thanks.
======
mugec
You can teach via Udemy and earn a lot of money ;)
~~~
aerovistae
I've considered it, but that comes back to being on a computer all day on my
own. I want to be interacting with people directly. :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
John Carmack on Developing the Netflix App for Oculus - vquemener
http://techblog.netflix.com/2015/09/john-carmack-on-developing-netflix-app.html
======
omouse
John Carmack is a good role model for any techies that move up to management.
If you want to keep in touch with the base tech that your devs are using, you
have to dive into a project like this where all your tech knowledge is brought
to bear on a problem and you learn lots of new things.
None of this "well I guess I knew a bit of C++, let me find another engineer
to work on this Netflix app and offer micromanaging style tips and tricks"
which is what I've seen from a lot of managers who used to be technical.
He's also an amazing role model for regular programmers; figure out the
requirements, take a crack at it with a prototype and then iterate. The
iteration doesn't have to be an overtime week affair.
~~~
Pyxl101
Why do you say that Carmack is in management? I don't get the impression that
he's a people manager. A CTO does not necessarily have people reporting to
them in a people management sense. From what I've read, I would assume he does
not. (I could be wrong - I don't really know.)
High judgment individual contributors often take on responsibilities that can
be considered management, like deciding business and technical strategy,
designing products, prioritizing roadmaps, etc., but while these are
management functions, taking on these responsibilities does not mean that one
is in management.
From the blog post, it sounds like Carmack is a highly productive, high
judgment individual contributor with the responsibilities you'd expect of a
CTO (technical strategy). I would say that someone is "in management" when
their chief function is managing other people. From this post, Carmack seems
to be delivering work as an individual contributor and (very senior) technical
lead.
Along the same lines, I recommend we discourage phrasing like "move up to
management". Management is a different job, not a better or superior one. In
well-run technical companies there are managers and individual contributors at
all seniority levels, such that one does not need to become a manager to "move
up", even to CTO level.
~~~
ramidarigaz
In some of his recent keynotes (especially the later quakecon ones) he focuses
a lot on how he's changed his mind and that he now believes that software
development has a lot of "social science" aspects to it. I think he's given a
lot of consideration to how one manages a software team, and even though he
sometimes disappears into his office to write something like this Netflix app,
he still does manage people.
~~~
blazespin
In theory a CTO should only have employees that self manage.
------
zach
Oculus: "Hey Netflix, how about we work together on getting your service on
our platform?"
Netflix: "Gee, we're pretty busy, maybe next year..."
Oculus: "We would have John Carmack work on it..."
Netflix: "YES! Yes, yes, yes. Okay, now is good. Can we have him write a guest
post on our tech blog when it launches?"
~~~
Namrog84
That first gee from Netflix made me read the rest as mortys voice.
Gee rick!, were pretty busy here ya know? I mean like uhm maybe next year?
------
Strom
It's a real shame that DRM once again stifles progress and limits the video
resolution to 480p in this VR app.
~~~
MichaelGG
Yeah the moment I read about casting lighting based on screen contents, I was
thinking "things you can't do with 'secure' output". Sad.
This partially remains why other players are better than Netflix. If I ever
need to really modify playback, I'm all set, no problem.
------
Kapura
The depth of thought that Carmack is able to apply to every detail of a
problem is astounding. Granted, he's been working on VR for years now and
pioneering realtime graphics before that, but his perception about what the
end user wants out of a product is second-to-none.
------
jerf
It's your living room, _but on a computer!_
[http://www.jerf.org/iri/post/2916](http://www.jerf.org/iri/post/2916)
(Expect to see the Virtual World idea that prompted that post pop up again for
VR, too. Expect it not to work any better this time.)
It's cute but it's just demoware. Once the novelty wears off, the usual thing
to do will be the "void theater". That's our subjective perception of a good
movie anyhow, that the entire rest of the room is gone.
~~~
sigmar
Re:the novelty
Is there any practical use for this? My understanding is that movie theaters
are preferred to home theaters because the distance from your eyes to the
screen is far enough that you can focus to infinity, which is easier on the
eyes. Could a vr environment make viewing Netflix 'easier' on the eyes? Anyone
have an opinion or link?
~~~
metasean
This is along the lines of why I'm interested in it. I actually want a mock
environment (e.g. a living room) in the virtual environment that I can watch
tv on OR code on.
I'm extremely nearsighted – age and my already excessive use of computers are
exacerbating this. Because of the design of the VR Gear, I can _almost_ see
clearly at the highest correction level (similar to what I would see if I wore
my 2-4 year old glasses).
Since the preponderance of evidence supports the hypothesis that looking at
'near' things (e.g. computer screen, books, tv across a small room)
exacerbates myopia, I'm hoping that doing my normal activities on (a) a screen
with infinite distance and (b) a device which allows me to change the
correction of the lenses, means I _might_ be able to reverse _some_ of my
myopia. I _don 't_ think it will _cure_ my myopia, but if I could stagnate or
reverse the loss I've had over the last few years (or dare I hope, decades),
it would be a blinkin', technological miracle! ;-)
~~~
colordrops
You are still focused on a nearby screen. It just looks like a large screen at
a distance due to the stereoscopic effect. The Oculus' lenses simulate a focal
distance of 1.3 meters, which is not much better than a tablet in your lap.
Another problem is that Oculus' focal distance is fixed, so you are not
exercising your eye's ability to change focus. This isn't directly a problem
that you wish to address in your comment above, but you may want to consider
it. A technology that will better address these issues is the light field
display. See: [https://research.nvidia.com/publication/near-eye-light-
field...](https://research.nvidia.com/publication/near-eye-light-field-
displays)
~~~
metasean
My understanding is that the optics are designed to actually be at an infinite
focus.
\---
Short question:
> Now I read about this HMD Oculus Rift, which claims that you are always
> focused on the "distance" which I assume is the same as infinity focus in
> photography.
The short answer:
> In the same way as a telescope eyepiece, they create a virtual image at
> infinity.
> In the HUD the objective lens focus the image from a display (on the left in
> the diagram) and the lens at the front of the HUD reimages it at infinity.
The full answer: [http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/47390/how-do-
head...](http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/47390/how-do-head-mounted-
displays-simulate-infinite-focus)
\---
Which may cause other eye muscle problems...
[https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/2hxfku/eye_muscle_f...](https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/2hxfku/eye_muscle_for_focus_is_not_being_stimulated/)
(which does mention that the LFD is a better option)
\---
But the key for me is someone who isn't myopic noticing that ...
> I've been able to see far away objects much sharper than I was able before,
> as if my sight was getting trained at infinity focus (which makes sense, I
> guess).
\-
[https://forums.oculus.com/viewtopic.php?t=2833](https://forums.oculus.com/viewtopic.php?t=2833)
~~~
colordrops
Check this thread, which has a video of a guy actually using a camera to
measure the focal distance, and finds it around 1m:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/2wpccf/measuring_th...](https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/2wpccf/measuring_the_focal_distance_of_the_rift_with_a/)
~~~
metasean
Thank you, colordrops! I looked for official, or at least more definitive,
information on the focal distance to no avail. This definitely qualifies!
That said, it is of the DK2, which is clearly different than the DK1. Which
leads me to wonder what the focal distance is for the Gear VR (Note4) and the
new Gear VR.
Sadly, I'm so nearsighted at this point, that I have a hard time reading
anything more than ≈4 inches away (things are out of focus at ≈2 inches away,
but it's good enough and there are typically enough clues in the 2~4 inch
range that I can still read normal text). In other words, if I'm only training
my eyes at a distance of 30.5 inches for the next half decade, I suspect it
will still be enough to lead to an improvement, and there will be even more
improvements in tech (both in the VR & optometry) during that time frame.
------
hyperion2010
> This gives the somewhat surprising result that subtitles cause a noticeable
> increase in power consumption.
These are the Carmack gems I was looking for.
~~~
ferongr
It's not actually all that surprising for people that use styled subtitles
with antialiased edges. In extreme cases (lots of glyphs on the screen) you
can end up with a noticeable framerate reduction.
~~~
BHSPitMonkey
It shouldn't need to hurt your framerate too much, considering that the font
rendering only needs to happen once every few seconds. A new subtitle can be
rendered, kept in memory as a texture, and then just blended by the GPU as
pixels. The titles are also known ahead of time, so it's possible to set up a
pipeline with no sudden increases in processing load.
------
jameshart
Why on earth simulate a living room with a TV on the wall? Why not simulate
being in the best seat in a concert-hall sized movie theater with a massive
screen? How about a little old fashioned movie theater, or a 50s drive-in?
I'm sure all these kinds of things can come later, it just seems odd to me
that simulating being on a couch is the first take...
~~~
jlas
The skeuomorphic living room design immediately reminded me of the Packard
Bell Navigator:
[http://toastytech.com/guis/pbnav35.html](http://toastytech.com/guis/pbnav35.html)
~~~
joshkpeterson
Came here to say this! First thought was "Why god why return to this
interface??"
------
6stringmerc
Reading John Carmack's thought processes to approaching, addressing, and
moving on from individual challenges is so fun and refreshing to me. Granted,
the matter-of-fact tone is inherently humble, but it does seem like a tone of
making the complex sound simple, intrinsically for the audience's benefit.
Just a line like "unfortunate waste of memory...but it gives me the timing
control I need" is a succinct demonstration of trade-offs and explanation
without, well, seeming to have many outside constraints - well, I mean there's
the pursuit of the functioning program, sure, but I get the sense freedom in
this environment is used studiously.
------
pazimzadeh
This is an interesting proof of concept, and it's cool to know that you can
carry a "pocket living room" around with you.
That said, shouldn't virtual reality free us to do more than replicate real
life environments? It looks like VR will have its own period of skeuomorphism
until better UI is invented. I'd love to be a designer at Facebook right now.
~~~
davnicwil
I agree with what you're saying, but I don't think there's necessarily a
concept of skeuomorphism in VR.
Skeuomorphism is a mapping of real world 3D physical objects to a more
constrained space, like a 2D phone screen, ostensibly to aid usability in an
otherwise unfamiliar space by invoking recognition and instinct.
In theory at least no mapping like this is necessary at all for VR, things
just look and act however they do, in a recreated 3D space. Of course there
will be 'skeuomorphism' insofar as objects from the real world will be copied
1:1 into the VR environment, but it's kind of a redundant term at that point.
It's indeed an interesting question if we'll discover better 'UX' for virtual
3D environments than the physical ones we've built for ourselves in the real
world. I'd venture yes, including but not limited to discovering tweaks that
break the laws of Physics to allow greater convenience. Like wormholes that
act as hyperlinks for 3D space, or something.
It'll be fascinating to see if things like this are experimented with and
accepted from the get-go, or if there will be a 'skeuomorphism-like' era of VR
where we play it safe and just copy our existing world for a while, until we
collectively 'find our feet' in VR and learn to make tweaks that expand the
possibilities. I'd hope and actually somewhat expect the former.
~~~
ctdonath
Of course there's a concept of skeuomorphism. Everyone expects their POV about
2m off the "ground". Objects are of a common range of sizes, 3D space is even
& regular in each direction, etc. "Floating" is kinda nifty but likewise just
an extension of our real-world 3D experience.
People in general aren't ready for scaleable space (sizes changing orders of
magnitude instantly), varying measurements (say: X is normal, Y is
logarithmic, Z is sinusoidal), warping space (various _Einstein 's Dreams_
scenarios here like consequences of "speed of light is 15 MPH", or
_Interstellar_ scenarios), varying or nonexistent notions of "up" (see _Ender
's Game_ arena), absence of normal gravitational phenomena, etc.
Early on in the 3D game realm, game writers explored lots of variations on
non-skeuomorphic scenarios ( _Descent II_ comes to mind, a 3D flying maze game
devoid of any sense of "down"). Many years later, with endless technology &
imagination available, 3D games are dominated by soldiers running around
battlefields little different from reality.
People will have enough trouble with entering/exiting VR. Having seen other
technologies bloom, I assure you it will be years before advancing beyond
paradigms based in the real world.
~~~
pazimzadeh
I couldn't have said it better myself.
I do wonder what the point is of spending lots of energy making alternate
universes if we end up replicating thing we’re doing now. In a world where we
can only walk, we'd like to be able to fly. In a world where we can only fly,
we'd like to teleport. But then we’d probably make the environment bigger to
‘keep it fun’ so what’s the point? Do we all just want to be floating points
of light?
Maybe the only real benefit of VR is having the undo button.
All in all, maybe it's not so bad that we haven't had much choice in the
design of our species and world so far. Super tangentially related:
[http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34151049](http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34151049)
------
concernedctzn
John Carmack overcame all of these technical issues and wrote up this blogpost
in the past month with all of his other responsibilities at the same time.
Humbling.
------
nthitz
> Despite all the talk of hardcore gamers and abstract metaverses, a lot of
> people want to watch movies and shows in virtual reality.
Source for that claim?? strapping on a headset doesn't seem like a great way
to share a movie with friends, but that's just me.
~~~
MBCook
You could share it with a friend who wasn't physically there if they had a
similar setup, but I"m guessing they're talking about the fact people who are
by themselves like watching TV and movies in VR compared to on a standard TV
screen in a real room.
~~~
iwillreply
I did this on a flight. It was much more pleasant than inflight entertainment.
* 360 film doesn't work well, with not being able to move around.
------
corysama
Here's a great conference hallway conversation with Carmack from yesterday. He
covers a lot of fun topics with the random folks in the hall.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKUyg6cUfcw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKUyg6cUfcw)
for those who prefer text summaries:
[http://uploadvr.com/john-carmack-talks-difficulty-mobile-
pos...](http://uploadvr.com/john-carmack-talks-difficulty-mobile-position-
tracking-relationship-google/)
------
Arjuna
In case you're interested, John's scheduled to speak at Oculus Connect 2 at
13:00 PDT / 16:00 EDT / 20:00 UTC today.
[http://www.twitch.tv/oculus](http://www.twitch.tv/oculus)
------
stusmall
Am I missing something? This lets you watch a movie in a virtual living room
on a virtual TV? Why would I want that?
~~~
aianus
I would use it lying on my back in bed or in the fetal position. Sometimes
sitting up straight to watch a screen is just too much work ;)
~~~
metasean
For a while after a bad leg injury, I had to lay in bed, on my back, with my
leg elevated. Either I watched tv and got a crick in my neck (from the odd
angle) before a 30 minute show was done, or I tried holding a book up and in
the air and reading it, but I never made it more than a few pages before my
arms started to feel like very, heavy, looming weights. I ended up listening
to a lot of podcasts and phoning a lot of friends. I would have _loved_ to be
able to watch tv from my back during that recovery period!
------
tonydiv
What I was hoping for from the Carmack speech:
[http://i.imgur.com/ofChTKt.png](http://i.imgur.com/ofChTKt.png)
I wanted more from Carmack.
------
chaostheory
When I think about it, I feel that this would mainly appeal to people like
factory workers who live in horrible dorms (windowless closets), prisoners,
parapalegics, the homeless; in other words people who are trapped in a
specific environment. The problem is that most of them can't afford this
setup... yet.
When I think about it, even low income individuals in the US have access to
cheap enough flat screen TVs to have a nicer real life living room than a
virtual one afforded by Oculus
~~~
Raphmedia
I'm thinking about the guys in the NAVY stuck in small metal rooms with no
windows in the middle of huge ships. VR theaters would be a boon for them!
~~~
chaostheory
Good point. I forgot about the submarines and the lily pad bases through out
the world.
------
azinman2
As others have mentioned a bit, while being a cute demo this really isn't
advantageous. The constant brightness gets irritating with lights 3" in front
of your face beaming directly into your eyes, and good luck trying to eat
pizza and drink something while doing this. On the pro side, well, um.... not
very clear what that would be over having an actual TV.
If you don't have a TV and all you have is the oculus, then why try to re-
create such an environment at all? You loose the immersive qualities of the
oculus to begin with.
To me the point of oculus is having content made directly for it... where it
is 180-360 degrees, and you can't see it all without looking around.
Repurposing standard Netflix movies doesn't give much an advantage.
~~~
bluthru
Have you tried it?
~~~
azinman2
I own the occulus and have tried various bits of movie playing already. While
I haven't tried this netflix implementation, it is not difficult to imagine.
VR has some limited cool potential uses, but it's utility is being overblown
by the community similar to the 90s.
------
Animats
720x480 on a virtual TV set, and a "virtual couch". Is that worth wearing a
headset for two hours?
Coming next, in-app popcorn and pizza ordering?
------
acquihired
I would really love to be able to watch a movie and look around the scene.
Even if the camera was at a stationary point.
Imagine watching Batman while perched up on a ledge in Gotham... when the
Joker comes flying down the street to the right and you look right to watch,
while someone else viewing the movie looks left to see Batman flying down.
Awesome.
------
kbenson
Does this make anyone else really crave a VR "man cave" (for lack of a better,
less polarizing term)?
~~~
serkanyersen
it reminds me of Aech's basement chatroom from Ready player one
------
justifier
i wonder if john watched daredevil one episode at a time or if he binged on it
i was intrigued by the virtual theatre concept, but i found watching a film
was too much for comfort's sake
ignoring resolution issues, or strain, the goggles pressing against my face
was the source of the most discomfort
when i took off the goggles my face was hot and sweaty and my eyes had white
circles around them where the blood had been kept out
these current vr headsets are goggles with elastic and as long as that is the
case i think they will fail to attract a consistent, returning, user base
your eyes are unable to breathe or receive blood
imagine watching a movie while wearing ski goggles, then have those goggles
shine bright lights into your eyes
it is an uncomfortable experience
MSFT's holo lens are glasses that sit off your face, allowing circulation
below the lens,this sort of design is certainly the way forward
------
libraryatnight
Next up, World of World of Warcraft
[http://www.theonion.com/video/warcraft-sequel-lets-gamers-
pl...](http://www.theonion.com/video/warcraft-sequel-lets-gamers-play-a-
character-playi-14240)
------
qzervaas
Half-baked semi-serious idea: An iOS content blocker that prevents scroll-
jacking.
------
deevus
I tried this out and watched some Supernatural. My only gripe would be that I
wish I could move further back from the virtual screen. At least I think
that's what the problem is.
------
fezz
Bringing back skeuomorphism in full force like it's 2005...
------
joshkpeterson
There's a lot of focus in this thread on 'Why would you want a fake living
room environment?' but he makes this statement:
"You could even go all the way to a face-locked screen with no distortion
correction, which would be essentially the same power draw as the normal
Netflix application, but it would be ugly and uncomfortable."
This is what his post is about - the work to accomplish a screen surface that
exists in 3d space independent from your head. What goes around the screen is
a secondary issue.
~~~
guelo
I don't get it. Why would you want your head forced to point in one direction
when you could, for example, lie down and point your head in the most
comfortable position.
~~~
reilly3000
You can. Just start the app in a comfortable position and the image will me
from and center.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: New device, webapp and API to track your stuff, input appreciated - stowaware_jeff
I've been working the last few months to create a easy to use low cost device for personal tracking called StowAware (https://stowaware.com) and just started shipping orders. The basic idea is a black box that you put in your car, scooter, shipment, backpack, or anywhere else you can make it fit and track its location for a year without recharging. I tried to build something that I would want to use and added features that seemed obvious like API/webhook access (with actual documentation at http://code.stowaware.com), controllable public sharing, on-demand lookups, https only access, turbo mode and an easy to use interface.
======
stowaware_jeff
Also if you're interested in seeing more pictures of the device and some
active public shares currently live visit
[https://plus.google.com/+Stowaware_public](https://plus.google.com/+Stowaware_public)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
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