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Quake II RTX: Re-Engineering a Classic with Ray Tracing Effects on Vulkan - nullifidian
https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/quake-ii-rtx-ray-tracing-vulkan-vkray-geforce-rtx/
======
tqkxzugoaupvwqr
The new lighting makes such a dramatic difference. Despite the same low
polygon count, the levels seem much more lifelike. If all the game classics
are re-released with raytracing engines, I will be all over it. The next years
are going to be good.
~~~
pizza234
I'm very skeptical.
This is not just RTT; there's a big amount of rework. Likely, any old game
would look significantly better with such development effort (in other words,
with any good remastering).
This could be considered a great market stunt - the graphical improvement is
touted to be due to RTX (ray tracing), while it's actually due to many
factors.
On top of that, it misleads people into thinking that this type of improvement
is typical of ray tracing, and that it comes at virtually no cost, while
currently, ray tracing takes a big performance hit, and it's generally hard to
notice.
Q2VKPT is close to the concept "improved with ray tracing", and while
certainly impressive, it doesn't yield the same "AMAZING!" effect.
~~~
lanevorockz
Not sure what can you be skeptical about. The difference from RT Quake to
Quake it’s only that the lights are not precompiled at the beginning of the
level. Any other game just need to rework the light baking step to use RTX and
job done.
The only downside that can be pointed out is that you are hardware dependent.
Would be amazing to see thing in a console, all games with dynamic lighting
would help developer and gamers.
~~~
mbel
> The difference from RT Quake to Quake it’s only that the lights are not
> precompiled
In the linked demo video they also use new high resolution textures. Which
include not only color data as in the original Quake, but also normal maps and
maps with PBR parameters (metalness, roughness).
------
quadcore
The original textures were done by Adrian Carmack. I think he's a genius as
much as John. He was capable of making a difficult theme really work: a mix
between dark future and fantasy. Specially fantasy with guns is terribly
difficult and I don't recall having seen a game that succeeded in making that
mix as well as the Quake series.
~~~
gagege
Maybe this isn't what you're talking about, but Bungie's game Destiny is a
pretty great example of medieval fantasy transposed several thousand years
into the future.
~~~
jsgo
Is it? I only played Destiny 2 and from the parts I really got into (pre-
expansions), I didn't get a very medieval fantasy vibe at any points. Most of
the architecture was fairly modern or alien. Was nice though.
Anthem has some buildings that have an older feel out in the freeplay areas,
but even that would be a stretch.
~~~
nessus42
It's much more apparent in Destiny 1, with the Hive architecture, which is
like something out of Mordor. And in the Forsaken expansion to Destiny 2,
where The Dreaming City seems like a high-fantasy kingdom, but under attack by
evil forces.
~~~
jsgo
ah, nice. Can't remember if it was Hive or a different faction, but while
playing the core game of D2, I thought it was nice because the environment you
dealt with them reminded me a lot of Alien (without the xenomorph, obviously).
I think that was one thing D2 did well: in the core game, there are multiple
factions that are pretty distinct so it almost feels like different games at
times.
~~~
nessus42
Yes, you are right: the Hive architecture is also rather _Alien_ -ish!
------
pornel
I love RTX, but it's so hard to demonstrate it. It doesn't give _presence_ of
any "wow!" effect (apart from demos that overdo reflections), it only gives
_absence_ of incorrect shadows, and humans are bad at noticing absence of
things.
Instead of "wow" you get "well, duh, that's how things should look".
~~~
kuzehanka
Path tracing has huge wow factor. The problem with RTX is that on current gen
hardware it runs at laughably low sample rates and the result is very noisy
even after DLDN.
Games are handling this by dialling the amplitude of RTX effects way down and
having a smoothing pass. After all that is done, the wow effect is gone and
you're just left with a more dynamic version of the same or worse aesthetics
that we're already used to.
I expect it'll truly take off on next gen hardware, whenever that rolls out.
Here's what RTX+DLDN actually looks like if not dialled down and smoothed:
[https://youtu.be/CuoER1DwYLY?t=553](https://youtu.be/CuoER1DwYLY?t=553)
My takeaway is yes that quake 2 demo looks really cool, but you just know that
they used every black magic hack in the book to get there, and most of it
can't be replicated in a modern high fidelity game. It's definitely not a case
of flicking an 'RTX on' switch.
~~~
echeese
What's DLDN? I tried Googling it with some relevant keywords but it just
brings me back to this comment.
~~~
kuzehanka
Deep learning denoiser. I don't know if NVIDIA came up with some marketing
term for it. It's what allows RTX to produce meaningful images at all despite
the renderer running at 0.5-2 samples per pixel which looks little better than
random noise. I kind of assumed they'd call it DLDN because they called their
deep learning supersampling DLSS. I guess not, go figure.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjjTPV2pXY0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjjTPV2pXY0)
------
apk-d
Rtx really shines when applied to a low-fidelity game like Q2. The difference
isn't as profound in modern titles where a plethora of lighting techniques and
tricks approximates physical lighting closely, though.
I wonder if in the end (should we eventually see universal adoption)
raytracing will prove more of a boon towards developers rather than end users,
as it has been with many other hardware advancements.
~~~
jplayer01
But... That's the biggest benefit of raytracing/path tracing. It's why the
movie industry is already all-in on it and has been for years. It's just in
games where for some reason gamers don't understand the benefits and are so
eager to dismiss it if they don't immediately see everything look 10x more
amazing or realistic, entirely missing the point.
~~~
billfruit
Perhaps many games do not require realistic light, rather some type of
simplistic model serves gameplay well enough, I do not know what kind of light
modeling was used in Sunset Overdrive, but that type of oversaturated lighting
works for some games.
------
nickjj
Wow that's a big difference.
It reminds me of what it was like to first see 3dfx OpenGL mode in Quake II
when I got a Voodoo graphics card.
~~~
jacobush
Not Glide mode? ;)
~~~
nickjj
Now that you mention it, I don't remember if it was opengl or glide, it was
over 20 years ago. Same effect tho.
I just remember seeing all of the ambient lights and glows and thinking how
amazing it looked. Specifically some early campaign map where you're going
through dark sewers that had a bunch of little lights that emit a glow.
But after the coolness factor wore off, it was back to using the most minimal
settings possible to maximize visibility and frame rates to play it online.
~~~
SketchySeaBeast
If it was Voodoo you'd be using Glide. That was their proprietary API.
But yeah, the biggest improvement was putting it into Glide/OpenGL and
watching all the new lights appear.
------
Roritharr
Digital Foundry has an amazing analysis video and have talked to the original
creator, highly enjoyable:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRCAfdBMe2Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRCAfdBMe2Y)
------
mstade
I hope raytracing will enable some remasters of amazing old games. No need for
new content, changing the stories or gameplay, just vastly improved graphics.
I always preferred the Quake series for multiplayer, but Half-Life was great
single player. Max Payne would be a great replay with better graphics. Some
old flight sims like Jane's WWII Fighters, X-Wing v Tie Fighter, Wing
Commander... I'd pay cash monies for this.
------
narrator
This is great to see. Quake and Doom were all about elaborate fake 3d and
elaborate fake raytracing to run fast and look amazing on slow hardware. As
technology improved, first we got a real 3d engine and now we finally have a
real raytracing engine.
~~~
mbel
What do you mean "fake 3d"? They are as 3D as any other computer generated
images with linear perspective. Quake is even using a rasterizer like nearly
all games today.
~~~
kkapelon
Doom used 2D sprites, so "fake 3d" if you ask me.
~~~
morganvachon
The terms "fake 3D" and "2.5D" in reference to Doom and similar games has
nothing to do with sprite based mobs, it's about not having a truly 3D map.
Doom's maps were drawn in 2D top-down with a height variable for any wall or
platform. You couldn't have one room above another, which is why elevators in
the game were solid (you couldn't stand under the floor). The various level
editors for Doom based games looked like primitive 2D CAD programs.
Quake was a whole new paradigm, it was based on a true 3D engine and its maps
were generated in three dimensions. You could stand under stairs, under the
room above, and underneath lifts.
~~~
leoc
It's surely both the sprite-based monsters and the "2.5D" world that justify
DOOM's "2.5D/fake 3D" label, though indeed more the latter. (System Shock was
a transitional example of sprite monsters in an otherwise full-3D world:
[https://youtu.be/CGKidgwcalM?list=PLqqLcEJ9bUtNedMdW64WioyV9...](https://youtu.be/CGKidgwcalM?list=PLqqLcEJ9bUtNedMdW64WioyV9Pgdsxkj9&t=108)
)
------
biosed
"Glass, which reflects everything around it" except the character standing in
front of it! It seems like it is over done but not done properly. I know it is
a demo but still, its trying so hard!
~~~
sbarre
Quake 2 did not have a rendered character model because it's a first-person
shooter, so you never see yourself.
If you look at the water reflections, you will however see your gun model and
a disembodied/floating hand holding it.
~~~
biosed
ahhh, didn't realise. Gun thing is mad
~~~
jerf
TIL Quake 2 is a sequel to The Addams Family.
Somehow... it almost works....
------
qwerty456127
> id Software’s Quake II launched in 1997, bringing gamers a new single-player
> campaign, a long-awaited, addictive multiplayer mode that we played for
> years on pitifully-slow 56K modems, and a jaw-dropping engine
As for me Quake 2 was kind of a disappointment after Duke Nukem 3D. Only Half-
Life brought back the depth Duke Nukem 3D had. E.g. seeing something like a
ventilation cover and not being able to break it and climb through felt
infuriating.
~~~
scruffyherder
Honestly Quake 2's biggest feature was going open source.
When I was porting Quake 2 to MS-DOS, I have to admit that it's the most I
ever played of it. It really fell into Carmak's view that stories have no
place in gaming.
It's a shame Valve found a much bigger market than games, but it leaves the
mantle for others to pick up.
~~~
qwerty456127
> stories have no place in gaming
What does this mean? Being told and participating in a story has always been
by far the primary thing I play a game for. Interactive visual fiction
experience inducing compassion and involvement bundled with moderate
challenge, a degree of freedom and realism (that's why I don't like rail-
nailed heavily scripted games) is what I want of a game. The visual part
should be reasonable (mostly needed for the atmosphere) and controls should be
convenient. In my opinion Half-Life and Fallout (all the parts) were the best
games I ever played. The story unveiling and the sense of helping people in
the imaginary world heroically (something that is a way too hard and dangerous
for an average Joe to do in the real life where you can't save&load) and
exploration are the things that make a game addictive for me.
~~~
scruffyherder
It's an old Carmack quote:
> Story in a game is like a story in a porn movie. It's expected to be there,
> but it's not that important.
It's why DooM was such an incredible novelty of fast paced 3d shooter, and
Quake... Well.. Its devoid of character.
It's why HL & Fallout are so beloved.
I'm 100% with you
------
andybak
No mention of how to download it - either in the negative "You can't..." or
positive.
Seems a strange omission.
~~~
geoah
The creator's website ie mentioned on the article, and code is available on
his github[2].
> As Christoph states on his site [1] ...
[1] [http://brechpunkt.de/q2vkpt](http://brechpunkt.de/q2vkpt) [2]
[https://github.com/cschied/q2vkpt](https://github.com/cschied/q2vkpt)
~~~
andybak
That's q2vkpt. It sounds like Quake II RTX is built on top of that but with
more features.
~~~
arianvanp
No I think they are one and the same. q2vpkt is built on top of
VK_NV_ray_tracing which is the Vulkan interface to RTX. It won't run on non-
nvidia hardware afaik
~~~
Strom
They're not the same.
_“But what’s new with Quake II RTX compared to Q2VKPT?”, you ask. A lot.
We’ve introduced real-time, controllable time of day lighting, with accurate
sunlight and indirect illumination; refraction on water and glass; emissive,
reflective and transparent surfaces; normal and roughness maps for added
surface detail; particle and laser effects for weapons; procedural environment
maps featuring mountains, sky and clouds, which are updated when the time of
day is changed; a flare gun for illuminating dark corners where enemies lurk;
an improved denoiser; SLI support (hands-up if you rolled with Voodoo 2 SLI
back in the day); Quake 2 XP high-detail weapons, models and textures;
optional NVIDIA Flow fire, smoke and particle effects, and much more!_
------
iofiiiiiiiii
This looks like RTX versus Quake2 software renderer, so the pictures are
somewhat deceptive as they do not use the more powerful original Quake2
renderers.
I would be interested how RTX compares to the other Quake2 renderers that it
originally came with.
------
hellofunk
Is this ray tracing or path tracing? I'd think that real-time path tracing
would still be hard/impossible in real-time considering the number of samples,
but I'm not sure. People throw around these terms interchangeably which
complicates the discussion, though the algorithms have notable departures from
each other.
~~~
seanalltogether
I thought path tracing was just ray tracing with additional random scatters
traced, is it not?
~~~
dahart
Depends on who you ask, the term is overloaded now.
These days, it does tend to mean doing global illumination using ray tracing.
Originally, the term “path tracing” was used to refer to taking a single
random scatter at every step along a path of connected segments, as opposed to
the idea of taking multiple random scatters at a point and averaging them,
recursively. It’s a way of thinking of Monte Carlo rendering as taking one
sample in a very high dimensional space - where a chain of ray segments, or
“path” is a single sample - rather than thinking of each ray segment
separately as a sample.
Ray tracing, FWIW, can sometimes refer to situations where you’re not even
rendering. It has a more general meaning of doing line based visibility
queries, which you can use for lots of things.
~~~
hellofunk
If I’m not mistaken, for your last paragraph, general visibility tests for
lines that does not otherwise involve actual rendering is typically just
called ray casting.
~~~
dahart
You’re not mistaken, ray casting would be more common, but ray tracing is also
used. This is especially true among people that design path tracing renderers
where we consider “ray tracing” to be a visibility primitive. “Trace a ray”
and “cast a ray” are synonymous. I also think using “ray tracing” for
visibility might start become more popular now with RTX hardware since the
“ray tracing” hardware only provides the visibility test, not a renderer.
------
woodrowbarlow
can someone help me understand what "ray tracing" means in this case?
i've read a few technical articles about ray-tracing, but they mostly describe
it as a rudimentary (largely outdated) way of achieving 3d effects with
relatively little code, and with severe limitations (walls must be
orthonormal, changes in elevation require extra work, etc.). i understand ray-
tracing at this level (break the view into columns, set the fill height of the
column according to the distance of the ray).
then i see marketing-style articles like this one that use the same term to
describe advanced lighting effects, material reflections, etc. and i don't
understand the technological jump. what am i missing?
edit: i was thinking of "ray casting", not "ray tracing". thank you for the
corrections below.
~~~
kllrnohj
What you are describing sounds more like ray _casting_ than ray tracing.
Ray casting is the old Wolfenstein 3D look:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_casting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_casting)
Ray tracing is what Pixar uses for Toy Story, Monsters Inc, etc...
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_tracing_(graphics)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_tracing_\(graphics\))
And then the new hotness for offline rendering is Path Tracing, which is a
form really good but really hard to accelerate form of ray tracing:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path_tracing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Path_tracing)
And yes fundamentally all of these are "shoot rays out from the camera", hence
the very specific terminology used for each to disambiguate which approach to
shooting out rays from the camera is being used and what happens when rays hit
a thing.
~~~
tntn
I'm pretty sure toy story 1 didn't use ray tracing. Iirc cars was the first
that did.
------
yedpodtrzitko
That looks really impressive from both technical and also marketing point of
view. Especially the latter one keeps nVidia ahead of AMD. As much as I like
AMD, they need to step up their game somehow.
------
cdnsteve
How do I get to play this again? Was my favorite FPS game of all time.
~~~
Freak_NL
Buy the game on Steam or gog.com, and use the assets with any client you like
(on practically any operating system) such as:
[https://yamagi.org/quake2/](https://yamagi.org/quake2/)
Of course that doesn't get you this ray tracing thingy, although you might be
able to run that when they release it and if your hardware supports it.
------
sabujp
[https://github.com/cschied/q2vkpt/](https://github.com/cschied/q2vkpt/)
~~~
Strom
That's the source for Q2VKPT. I wonder if the source for Quake II RTX will
also be released, which is the main target of discussion in this nVidia
article and builds upon Q2VKPT.
~~~
mattnewport
They said at GTC it will but they haven't given a date for when yet.
------
PorterDuff
This kind of demo always makes me think of how long it used to take to render
a single frame of anything non-trivial.
------
pier25
So will this be available to purchase?
~~~
3o4xkp
It's open source: [http://brechpunkt.de/q2vkpt/](http://brechpunkt.de/q2vkpt/)
------
leowoo91
"We are not faking it" \- how about the hardware? Is it exact same that
consumer could buy?
~~~
lanevorockz
RTX is based on the Turing architecture that is a pretty amazing beast. The
technology of raytracing has been around or a long time through iray what
nvidia did is to bake in the necessary formats, neat interface and slight
hardware adjustments.
~~~
leowoo91
I only worry about the number of cores being used in these demos. Tech might
be same but it's quite possible Nvidia could use their high-energy prototypes
to enhance the results. There is no restrictions on that. Clear statements
like, "we are using the exact same RTX card we are shipping to consumer in
September" would really be a selling point for me.
~~~
tntn
I think Titan RTX is a "perfect die," so to speak, so even if they used the
maximum number of cores they possibly could for this demo, that same silicon
is for sale.
~~~
leowoo91
Looking at the Titan's price range, that's something I would effort "max" for
luxury gaming, only if it can give those exact results.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Clinical Trials Watch – Automated Clinical Trial and Sponsor Monitoring - batub
https://clinicaltrialswatch.com/
======
batub
Hello,
This service was created for anyone who wants to keep track of specific
clinical trials or sponsors without having to manually look them up everyday
or every couple days.
Individuals can use this service to get email notifications when a clinical
trial, they are interested in, is updated. For example, if I'm interested in
the progress of NCT04328961 (Hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 PEP), I can add
it to my watch list so whenever any update is posted for the trial on
ClinicalTrials.gov, I will receive an email within fifteen minutes with a link
to the changes.
Investors can use Clinical Trials Watch to monitor progress in companies they
have financial stakes in. Numerous examples exist, but perhaps the most recent
was when Ionis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: IONS) dropped 5% in intraday trading
after an update on ClinicalTrials.gov said recruitment was suspended in one of
their studies
([https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=3045791](https://thefly.com/landingPageNews.php?id=3045791))
Finally, businesses and pharmaceutical companies can use this service to
monitor or keep track of a competitor's public progress.
Hopefully Clinical Trials Watch will be useful for some of you!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How to approach the annual perf review in a political environment? - thefastlane
i work in a highly political organization.<p>it's a typical performance review process: first i submit my comments about my work and my "goals" for the next year, then my boss adds their comments, then it gets filed away in an HR computer system. the de facto purpose of review is to justify (a) compensation matters and (b) personnel decisions -- this means the performance review can be a powerful weapon.<p>ideally, i would like to highlight my achievements in such a way that i avoid giving my boss any "rope" with which to "hang me" in their responses.<p>i have also considered opting out altogether (so that any comments made by my boss would not be based on anything i have written) though i'm not sure what the fallout would be.<p>how do you all go about walking these sorts of tightropes in your organizations?
======
dozzie
You don't trust neither your organization, your HR department, nor, most
importantly, your boss. Are you sure you want to work in this setting?
~~~
thefastlane
no, i don't want to work in this setting. but i want to manage my situation
effectively for the time being.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
GoToMeeting uses competitor’s name in search ads to trick people - ifficiency
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/06/09/gotomeeting-uses-competitors-name-in-search-ads-to-trick-people-into-clicking-through/?utm_source=HackerNews&utm_medium=share%2Bbutton&utm_content=GoToMeeting%20uses%20competitor%E2%80%99s%20name%20in%20search%20ads%20to%20trick%20people%20into%20clicking%20through&utm_campaign=social%2Bmedia
======
courtewing
There is a response from a marketing guy from GoToMeeting in the comments of
this article. I couldn't readily find a way to link to the comment, so I'll
post it here for anyone that doesn't want to go hunting:
"Hi, this is Andrew from the GoToMeeting search marketing team. I just posted
over on the MeetingBurner blog as well. We do not use competitive names in
search ads, but we do follow the common industry practice of bidding on
competitive terms. In the instance of this ad, we were using a Google method
called dynamic keyword insertion which delivers the searcher's query in the ad
title. For example, if you were searching on the term "web conferencing," that
query would appear in the ad title. In this case, the user entered "meeting
burner" in the search field and it appeared in the ad title. This is why the
Meeting Burner name showed up in the ad. Our search marketing efforts are
never intended to deceive the searcher."
Edit: I couldn't find anything in the FAQ about this, but if a post like this
is not really accurately representing a situation, is that something I should
flag? I feel that is beyond simply "disagreeing with the post", but I don't
want to start abusing the feature.
~~~
AJ007
Whether or not they are using dynamic keyword insertion is irrelevant.
Here is a comparison for consideration. I bid on "free credit report." The FTC
isn't going to give a shit if I put "Free Credit Report" in my ad, or I bid on
"free credit report" and used dynamic insertion. Its all the same thing, I now
qualify for their draconian rule set for companies advertising to provide free
credit reports. (By the way, do a search for "free credit report" on Google,
notice anything special?)
Citrix placed the name of a federally trademarked business in their ad copy.
Additionally, that trademark is for a direct competitors of theirs (not a
fruit seller with an ad for an "Apple.") Thirdly, the promised product,
Meetingburner, is not actually there. Thus, they are guilty of both trademark
infringement and deceptive advertising.
At bare minimum, Meetingburner would send a C&D. At best they could demand a
six figure settlement and a guarantee they will never bid on "Meetingburner"
or run ads with "Meetingburner" in them again (killed two birds with one
stone, since Citrix legally could bid on the term.) In the extreme they could
refuse a settlement and take it to trial, and probably win. After legal
expenses, likely a loss for both sides.
I've been on the receiving end of this before. I learned not to use dynamic
insertion.
As for Adwords -- "Unfortunately, reaching out to the AdWords team at Google
isn’t an easy task. This does appear to be against the Terms of Service for
AdWords, but since its so close to the weekend, the ads might stay up for the
next few days." -- Yeah, good luck with that. They let big advertisers do
basically whatever the hell they want. I've watched very explicit rule
violations slide for well in excess of a year.
~~~
zheng
Slight tangent, but I searched "free credit report" and didn't notice anything
out of the ordinary. What should I be taking note of?
------
glimcat
My first thought on these matters is usually "unscrupulous affiliate."
This is particularly so when the writer hasn't bothered to contact GoToMeeting
first. The fast reward loop behind posting sensational and confrontational
headlines unfortunately tends to outweigh the backlash from not doing basic
research before publishing.
For that matter, it's possible that MeetingBurner took out the ads in attempt
to generate press. There's no way to rationally conclude who the bad actor is,
if there is one, because the writer didn't bother to _do_ _their_ _research_
before holding their hand out for traffic.
~~~
ifficiency
I can promise you we did NOT take out the ads to generate press. You are
entitled to your opinion but I can assure you this was not done by our team.
~~~
glimcat
Not saying you did, just that the journalist has failed to meet minimum
standards.
On the other hand, the problem could have been resolved with a phone call -
from your lawyer, if necessary. Immediately making a blog post out of it on
your end wasn't the most scrupulous thing to do either.
It also sounds like the problem arose from an innocent mistake on their end.
Google doesn't warn against this when pushing their keyword insertion feature.
It's on the user to be responsible, but Google could do a far better job on
documentation.
------
nhebb
I guessed it was dynamic keywords, and the comment by Andrew Taylor of
GoToMeeting confirmed it:
_"We do not use competitive names in search ads, but we do follow the common
industry practice of bidding on competitive terms. In the instance of this ad,
we were using a Google method called dynamic keyword insertion which delivers
the searcher's query in the ad title."_
------
zengr
IMO that's a very common practice: <http://i.imgur.com/m1eDE.png> (ebay store
example) See the sponsored results by volusion, kabbge and ask.com
~~~
ifficiency
The difference is they are not positioning themselves as Ebay. In the
MeetingBurner example they do not say "Considering MeetingBurner?" positioning
us as a separate platform. Theres is MeetingBurner - Feature rich web meeting
software with the underlying link to GTM.
------
latchkey
Evil and illegal
~~~
maxgaudin
Definitely evil and unethical but probably not illegal. This post shows some
insight into the issue but not an answer
[http://www.sportsandentertainmentlawplaybook.com/intellectua...](http://www.sportsandentertainmentlawplaybook.com/intellectual-
property/trademark/ninth-circuit-gives-green-light-to-google-adwords-use-of-
competitors-marks/)
~~~
latchkey
Using another companies trademarked name in advertisements for your company
without their permission is legal?
~~~
ifficiency
We are in the process of contacting Google now and protecting our trademark.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
U.S. Is Secretly Collecting Records of Verizon Calls - zt
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/us/us-secretly-collecting-logs-of-business-calls.html?smid=fb-nytimes&WT.z_sma=US_UIS_20130606
======
joelrunyon
What happened to this being the most transparent administration "committed to
creating an unprecedented level of openness"[1]?
[http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/TransparencyandOp...](http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/TransparencyandOpenGovernment)
~~~
derefr
I would presume that "openness" refers to actions initiated by the
administration itself. Already-established, long-running initiatives of
autonomous sub-departments, even if they do fall under the purview of the
executive, probably aren't included, since the administration isn't actually
making any choices in how these programs are run, just letting them continue
to run as they always have.
~~~
mtowle
You would presume that now, yes. Nobody who was presuming that when he said
it, however, made much of an effort to speak up.
Sort of like how "everybody knows" it was Congress's fault campaign promises
X, Y, and Z didn't pass, yet at the time, nobody stopped to ask how much these
promises can mean if the position he's campaigning for isn't capable of
fulfilling them in the first place. "I presume by 'guarantee' he meant he'd
try his best, since obviously the POTUS can't even introduce laws anyway. And
as a former Constitutional law prof., I'm sure Obama knows that." Oh, super.
Thanks.
~~~
comrade_ogilvy
"Nobody who was presuming that when he said it"
That problem lies with the voters, and the candidates are not going to change
their behavior until the voters own up to their responsibilities.
Voters prefer to be told these little white lies about great intentions,
rather than be bothered to apply basic knowledge of our federal gov't that
should have been gained in junior high school. Voters whine and complain that
it is the politicians fault, but voters' own behavior reward that which they
claim to dislike.
~~~
mtowle
I don't disagree, but at the same time, by the nature of the system, people
aren't capable of behaving in a way that rewards what they like. "Vote-
signals," if you will, are as noisy as human communication is capable of
being.
~~~
comrade_ogilvy
In public policy circles, it is understood that the reason that controversies
even exist is always because the issue involves trade offs between competing
important values. (Those issues that do not involve difficult tradeoffs are
sooner or later resolved, and then forgotten because the solution is
acceptable as the status quo.)
IMHO people are trying to hard too get what they "like", too often looking for
a simple magic bullet, when they should be in a conversation with their
elected officials about what tradeoffs are reasonable in light of our values.
We should elect people who ask us to be uncomfortable at times, but for well-
thought out reasons.
Our politicians are acting highly rationally, in the context of the incentives
the voters offer. "Voting the bums out" is not going to change anything, until
the voters opt to build a better kind of electorate. The first step is
diagnosing the actual problem, rather simply believing that the problem is
always Team Them.
~~~
mtowle
Public policy circles can (and will) think whatever they find soothing. The
rest of us continue to roll our eyes inwardly, just as one does when listening
to Tolkein fans debate whether the Eagles should've merely flown the
Fellowship to Mt. Doom. (I say this not as a beltway outsider but as a man who
grew up 7 miles from Langley, went to the Pentagon for TYKTW Day, and who
lives and works in the area to this day.)
I get what you're saying. Politics is a choice between the unpalatable and the
disastrous. Duh. Of course the Eagles should just fly them there.
What Tolkein geeks and policy wonks alike force themselves to ignore _in order
to_ have these mine vs. yours logicality debates to begin with is that the
premise of their debate is a fantasy world. "If we want blank, we should vote
blank" tacitly assumes that voting blank and persuading others to vote blank
can sway the outcome of an election. Any thinking individual can see
immediately that this is untrue.
------
stfu
I, for one, am already looking forward in what ways the Obama administration
is going to hunt down the leaker of this document. Because - how should a
government function without having a basic level of secrecy? Oh irony...
On the other hand the leak probably came even from the administration itself.
After they pretty much got away with intimidating political opponents and
spying on unfavorable reporters, why not unload a few other skeletons from the
closet.
Worst case scenario Jon Stewart is making a 5 minute skit out of it and with
twinkle in his eye moving back to bashing some more convenient subjects.
------
samstave
The U.S. is openly storing any packet that traverses any wire it can field
signal from.
Quantum Tapping:
The loophole is that they are not 'tapping' any communication until the moment
when they actually observe/listen to it.
~~~
rdtsc
Yes presumably even with voice they can still store it. Only when a human
examines (sees the data on their screen, listens to the audio) then only it is
considered that a "search" has occurred.
So let's assume that there are these scumbags and all they want to do is spy
on everyone and there is this pesky Constitution still getting in their way,
what is the strategy to eliminate the "annoyance"?
The strategy is two-pronged:
1) Don't have statutes of limitation on data gathered in a search warrant. So
say you commit what someone thinks is a crime at 99 years of age, they get a
search warrant for your data and now legally they have access to all your data
since the day you were born.
2) Store _everything_. Presumably this is what the new NSA complex is Utah is
for.
Sure enough you'd become inconvenient at some point. Let's say you spend a
night too many with the Occupy crowd or your kid installs LOIC and now a
search warrant is executed. The emails you sent 10 years ago now appear and
well, who knows you might have written back then, but pretty sure it can be
made to stick.
Now of course you would be offered a deal. Maybe collaborate or just get
scared enough of them to never step outside and never touch a computer again,
well they win in that case as well.
Good luck to everyone.
~~~
einhverfr
You can't "store everything" for the simple reason that feeding all the
traffic back to Utah would be prohibitive. The thing is, though, this is not
any real comfort because _it doesn't matter._
The reason we have the 4th Amendment is to keep general warrants like this
from being issued, and to help retard the "show me the man and I will find you
the crime" (to quote a member of the Stalin regime) from taking root here, or
at least to make it more difficult.
The problem is, for the worst abuses to occur they don't _have_ to store
everything. They just get general warrants like this, inspect packets, filter
"interesting subsets" out and send those back to Utah. So I think the actual
strategy is two pronged, in a different direction, and both worse and more
economical:
1\. Vague laws that people can be easily prosecuted for[1] particularly when
it comes to terrorism. Bonus points for allowing military enforcement of
domestic law.[2]
2\. Get general warrants that let them target whoever they want without
recourse, which is what is going on here. Better yet, let's get retroactive
immunity for any accomplices and make sure it is all really above the law.
The end result is the same, of course. The difference is that the above
strategy takes a lot less time, resources, money, people, and hardware to pull
off.
[1] See Harvey Silverglate (civil liberties atty, veteran of the EFF, ACLU,
and FIRE), "Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent"
[2] This is a trend, particularly when it comes to defining terrorism but has
been going on since at least Clinton. Note that Clinton asked Congress
unsuccessfully for a terrorism exception to Posse Comitatus. See Kopel, David
(former Colorado Assistant Attorney General). "No More Wacos"
~~~
RyanMcGreal
> "show me the man and I will find you the crime" (to quote a member of the
> Stalin regime)
The sentiment precedes Stalin. In the 1600s, Cardinal Richelieu is said to
have warned, "Show me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men
and I will find something to have him hanged."
------
jpdoctor
> _highly classified court order_
Boy does that sound like a concept which needs to die. Justice does not tend
to occur behind closed doors.
~~~
mindcrime
Indeed. There is, as far as I can tell, no reason for this order to be secret
at all, since it's so indiscriminate. I can understand (grudgingly) the
argument for sealing the court order during an active investigation, since you
don't necessarily want to tip off the suspect that you're "onto them". But if
you're saying "give me everybody's data" then it won't be tipping anybody off.
And weighed against the idea that our government, which _we_ created, to
_serve us_ needs to be almost 100% transparent in order to be accountable _to
us_ , I just can't see any reason for this being kept secret.
If We The People are to police our government, we need to know what it's
doing. And when it does something wrong, we need to smite it mightily.
~~~
DanBC
In theory the secret stuff is given oversight by politicians. You elect the
politicians, so that's the weak link to oversight by the people.
I'm not sure how it works in the US, but I'm aware that GCHQ / CESG / etc have
pretty rigorous scrutiny.
I'm not disagreeing with you, btw. Far too much stuff is classified as top
secret or secret when it just doesn't need to be.
~~~
mindcrime
_In theory the secret stuff is given oversight by politicians. You elect the
politicians, so that's the weak link to oversight by the people._
In theory, yes. I, for one, don't consider that an acceptable form of
oversight / accountability. We need to be able to see inside the box, and know
damn near everything that's going on, end to end. There is, IMO, _very_ little
which truly needs to be classified: Launch codes for the nuclear missiles,
things of that nature. Most of the rest, not so much.
------
JonSkeptic
>The order was marked “TOP SECRET//SI//NOFORN,” referring to communications-
related intelligence information that may not be released to noncitizens. That
would make it among the most closely held secrets in the federal government,
and its disclosure comes amid a furor over the Obama administration’s
aggressive tactics in its investigations of leaks.
The author not only wrote the article about this, but also put in the
classification of the document source. Salt in the wound. I can't help but
feel that such a detail may have been included as a response to recent events
regarding members of the news media and their treatment at the hands of the
government. It very much seems that the honey moon is over.
~~~
Nelson69
The clear and obvious question here is if it's "just metadata" and isn't
really spying, then why is it secret at all? In fact, why don't we broadcast
to the terrorists that we do this and wish them luck attacking us without the
aid of electronic communication.
The secrecy only makes it look like something illegal. (And there is no doubt
in my mind that it is against the spirit of American law, if not the letter)
------
AYBABTME
What do people expect? It's either that or open war mongering. This
administration doesn't want to be seen as a militaristic one, but the world
doesn't stop being what it is because voters get tired of wars. So something
has to give. More drones, expanded secret ops, more information gathering.
I don't like the idea of being spied on, not at all. But from a security
perspective, I understand the need for better information. I'm kind of playing
Devil-advocates, but it's naive to expect your government to provide you
safety, lifestyle, freedom, without having to play behind the scene - or
openly fight oversea - when the rest of the World lives a completely different
story.
~~~
mindcrime
_But from a security perspective, I understand the need for better
information. I'm kind of playing Devil-advocates, but it's naive to expect
your government to provide you safety, lifestyle, freedom, without having to
play behind the scene - or openly fight oversea - when the rest of the World
lives a completely different story._
OK, for starters, let's assume that "national defense" is a proper and just
role for government, and even be charitable and allow that "some" secrecy is
necessary. Now, how does any of that argue for allowing the government to
record call record for _everybody in the US_? What is wrong with having them
identify an individual, or small group of individuals, that are suspected of
$WHATEVER, and then go get a warrant, and then ask for the data? I mean, by
casting a net so wide, it's obvious they're collecting a TON of data on people
that aren't involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever... why should we be OK with
that?
And that aside, to the extent that this is about the "War on Terror", ask
yourself this: How many people in the US have ever been killed as a result of
a terrorist attack? Over _all time_ the number is on the order of a few
thousand. Now every single one of those was tragic, yes, and I certainly don't
want to diminish the importance of every single life... but when you look at
the big picture, cancer, AIDS, car crashes, accidental slips and falls in the
bathroom, accidental drownings in ones own swimming pool and even "being
beaten to death by a cop" outrank "death by terrorism" in terms of scale. And
is anybody seriously suggesting we should allow the State nearly unlimited
power in the name of fighting accidental slips and falls, or drownings, or any
of those things? No? Then why should we do it for terrorism?
And finally, shouldn't we consider that people like Ron Paul have a point,
that a lot of the hatred for the US is probably "blowback" as a result of our
aggressive, meddlesome foreign policy? Maybe one of the best ways to ensure
security for our nation is to have a strong military - _at home_ \- and trade
freely with everyone. After all, it seems to be far less common for strong
trading partners to attack each other. Free trade, and less meddling in the
affairs of other sovereign nations, would - IMO - be more effective at
protecting us, than allowing the fracking NSA to grab call logs
indiscriminately.
~~~
irishcoffee
> How many people in the US have ever been killed as a result of a terrorist
> attack? Over all time the number is on the order of a few thousand.
Maybe because they're doing a much more effective job than we realize. Also I
don't think you accounted for Pearl Harbor.
> And finally, shouldn't we consider that people like Ron Paul have a point,
> that a lot of the hatred for the US...
I think this is common misconception. I do not think the vast majority of the
world hates the US. I'd be curious to see facts about this.
~~~
mindcrime
_Maybe because they're doing a much more effective job than we realize._
Maybe. Unfortunately there's no real way to say. I mean, if I offer you a
"tiger proof rock" and say that it protects against tiger attacks, will you
accept as evidence, the fact that I've never been attacked by a tiger?
_Also I don't think you accounted for Pearl Harbor._
No, I didn't. I don't think most people put that under "terrorist attack", as
it was an overt action by an organized nation-state as part of an active
military strategy. The Japanese weren't just trying to "sow terror", it was a
tactical objective to weaken the US Navy so they wouldn't be able to impede
Japanese objectives in the Pacific during WWII.
_I do not think the vast majority of the world hates the US. I'd be curious
to see facts about this._
I don't think the argument is that the majority of the world hates us
(although it might be fair to say that a majority aren't terribly _fond_ of
us), but rather that - of the groups which are actively engaging in terrorist
attacks directed out way - those groups are motivated by our foreign policy. I
admit this view is not without controversy.
~~~
chimeracoder
> No, I didn't. I don't think most people put that under "terrorist attack",
> as it was an overt action by an organized nation-state as part of an active
> military strategy.
Also, Hawaii at the time was not even a state.
The US actually hasn't fought a war on it's own soil since 1812.
(It HAS had numerous terrorist attacks on _foreign_ soil, however - the Beirut
barracks bombings in 1983 would be but one example. In fact, 9/11 was not
really an isolated incident, but the next progression in a number of terrorist
attacks against the US. It just happened to be the biggest one and the first
one on US soil (not counting the failed 1993 WTC bombing)).
------
qwertzlcoatl
The War on Terror is taking more and more victims. Chasing this phantom is
getting dangerously close to an Orwellian Paradise.
As Terry Jones said, "How do you wage war on an abstract noun, it's like
deciding to bomb murder".
~~~
josefresco
I would argue that terrorism is less abstract than murder. Also, the US "war
on terror" is about terror that specifically relates or effects the US making
it an even more specific classification.
~~~
betterunix
It is not specific enough to _end_. Typically, wars end in either victory or
defeat, but in the "war on terror" there is not even a clear definition of
either.
------
uvdiv
Previous discussion (5 hours old, still active):
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5829442>
------
butner
No checks and balances here... at least any that aren't classified and are
transparent to the public. A Tyranny, as Thomas Jefferson might refer to it.
~~~
uvdiv
Checks and balances are functioning perfectly. Congress voted for Patriot Act
§215, President Bush signed it into law, President Obama and his congress
reauthorized it, and the courts did not overturn it. The law has sat on the
books, _very_ publicly, for more than a decade, and has offered myriad
opportunities for citizens to debate and challenge (an example: [1]). The
broader issue of NSA dragnets is probably one of the top 20 political issues
in the US, making regular headlines since 2005 (if you include foreign
dragnets, 1995 [2] or earlier).
Checks and balances aren't broken. This is democracy in action.
[1] [http://www.aclu.org/free-speech-national-security-
technology...](http://www.aclu.org/free-speech-national-security-technology-
and-liberty/reform-patriot-act-section-215)
[2] <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON#Controversy>
~~~
mtgx
There's no real oversight, and they are using "secret Courts" and "secret
interpretations" even of these obscure and very vague laws.
~~~
_delirium
It isn't really particularly obscure or vague. The Patriot Act authorizes
exactly this (and many other things), explicitly and openly.
------
salimmadjd
AFAIK, Amdocs processes most of the carriers billing, aka metadata. Many of
Amdocs systems are based in Israel. So, does NSA need court ruling to get
metadata from an Israeli company? Seems like it might be another convenient
way to go around the constitution.
------
Vivtek
Oh, who could possibly have predicted this?
Why is everybody so surprised? I literally do not understand this.
~~~
flyinRyan
What I don't understand is sentiment like yours. We shouldn't bring this up
because "everyone knows already"? No, we should be shouting this from the roof
tops and do everything we can to make people mad enough about it to act. What
is your solution? Sit back and look smug while the world falls apart around
us?
~~~
Vivtek
Some of us have been shouting for the rooftops until hoarse for the last
decade and more. Suddenly everybody's reacting (and I don't mean everybody
here - I mean the New York Bloody Times) like this is the very first time this
has ever come up.
~~~
flyinRyan
Good. Our only hope is that one of this "just discovered today!" waves is big
enough to affect actual change. Your initial statement only serves as a "shut
up and move along". How do you imagine that helps anything?
It may be cool to say "I knew this already" but I'd rather be less cool and
have something done about this.
~~~
Vivtek
I'd say rather that _you took it_ as a "shut up and move along". Others
didn't. So it may have been a less than perfectly effective expression of my
intent, but that's as far as I'll go.
------
shmerl
Well, it's not a surprise, but at least now there is a solid evidence. What
can the public do about it though?
~~~
alan_cx
Loads. But the real question is, what _will_ the public do about it?
I suspect nothing what so ever. They are scared witless by terrorists and if
you guys are like the UK, paedophiles. Oh, and of course, it wont happen to
them, although, as we see, it already is.
------
Cieplak
If you don't like this, call your representatives in congress, and tell two
friends about it.
------
bas
Is this actually "news" (i.e. new information)? Ever since the secret room
business in 2006 (about events in 2003 or earlier), the handwriting was on the
wall.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A>
[http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/04/att_assisting_...](http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/04/att_assisting_n.html)
~~~
taproot
No but be careful. People round here dont seek to be informed of such.
------
forgotAgain
You're not being paranoid if they're really out to get you.
------
Aloha
I've never considered call detail records to be particularly private. That's
all this is.
~~~
Thrymr
This is a _big_ difference from established law enforcement practice in that
regard. Normally a prosecutor needs to issue a subpoena to the phone company
to get your individual records, regarding a specific investigation. In this
case, the government gets every record from all Verizon customers for the
period in question. No, you would not expect that privacy would protect your
records if you are specifically under investigation. But you might (certainly
before the PATRIOT Act, if not before this revelation, unless you were a
conspiracy nut) expect that government agencies don't have free reign to
browse your records for no predefined purpose whatsoever. The potential for
abuse is too huge and obvious.
We seem to be well past all that now.
~~~
Aloha
Maybe its because I work in the telecom industry, I'm used to CDR's being all
over the place, easy to get, export as text even, and not particularly
private. It's always seemed to me that what you say on the call is far more
important than who you are calling.
------
kunai
Since everything is out anyway, and since everyone else has iterated on this
point several times now, all I have to say, is:
_FUCK YOU, BIPARTISAN, CORRUPT, DICKISH, TYRANNICAL, WORTHLESS PIECE OF
SHIT._
_FUCK YOU, GOVERNMENT._
------
josh2600
*Edit: nevermind.
------
volume
do they use Netezza or Greenplum for this sort of thing?
------
jordan_clark
Even taking it a step further - If monitoring my phone calls about my kid
being sick and puking in the back seat of my car keeps me safe from assholes,
be my guest. Listen away.
~~~
pekk
If you read any news story about this from any newspaper, you will see that
the issue is records of who called whom for how long, not full transcripts of
all your calls.
However terrible and indefensible that is, let's start by addressing reality
instead of imagination
------
kfcm
What a bunch of whiners.
It's not as if you don't hand much--if not all--of the same information over
to marketing departments, app makers and ad companies when using a smart
phone.
~~~
phdp
Marketing departments won't come crashing through my door dressed in a police
uniform.
~~~
kfcm
You've never heard of RIAA, MPAA, et al?
What happens when marketing departments realize they can use the data freely
given to them to target people to blackmail and extort, rather than just flash
ads at and try to sell to?
"For a monthly recurring fee of just $XX, conveniently and discreetly billed
to your credit card, you can prevent this information from being sent to
[spouse||significant other||law enforcement||employer]."
Or company will be founded--if not already--to buy bulk data and develop
reports and profiles on individuals and groups, with law enforcement and the
intelligence community as the primary customers? Sign up and buy a
report/profile for $25-50.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
LLVM backend for DCPU-16 - codezero
https://github.com/krasin/llvm-dcpu16/
======
sp332
Just a suggestion: there's a lot of cool stuff going on with this project, and
it would be a shame if interested people missed out on it. At the same time,
posting every cool thing to HN could flood the front page for months :) So
let's move discussion of new implementations, assemblers, and disassemlers (at
least) to the DCPU subreddit? <http://www.reddit.com/r/dcpu16>
~~~
vyrotek
Thanks. I didn't know there was a subreddit for this.
Oh dear. DCPU emulation on DCPU?
[http://www.reddit.com/r/dcpu16/comments/rz6fd/dcpu_emulation...](http://www.reddit.com/r/dcpu16/comments/rz6fd/dcpu_emulation_on_dcpu/)
------
Zr40
I'm also working on a compiler targeting the DCPU-16. It doesn't compile C
code, instead there's a simple C-like language supporting modules and
pointers.
It's not really finished and can surely produce better code, but I wanted to
share it anyway.
Here's the fib example from the LLVM backend's README:
<https://gist.github.com/2336867>. My compiler currently manages to compile
fib to 30 instructions (0x2E words) compared to 38 instructions (0x41 words)
for the LLVM backend.
Here's the source: <https://github.com/zr40/dcc>
------
judofyr
Too bad it doesn't follow the calling conventions proposed on #0x12-dev:
[https://github.com/0x10cStandardsCommittee/0x10c-Standards/b...](https://github.com/0x10cStandardsCommittee/0x10c-Standards/blob/master/ABI/Draft_ABI_1.txt)
~~~
krasin
(dcpu16 llvm backend developer here)
That ABI is hard to implement in LLVM, mostly because of SP can't be addressed
as [4+SP] in DCPU-16. So, DCPU16 LLVM backend uses C register as a frame
pointer (to store local variables and other data) and SP as a stack pointer to
store ret addresses.
There're other "flaws" in that ABI which increase the cost of developing an
LLVM backend.
I am going to make the supported ABI closer to #0x12-dev ABI in v0.0.5 and
report them the most annoying features of their ABI.
~~~
viraptor
Great work :) I just spotted something in the compiled example and wonder if
this:
SET J, [4+C] ; The Notch order
ADD J, 1 ; The Notch order
SET [4+C], J ; The Notch order
Is not transformed to
ADD [4+C], 1
due to some assumptions in llvm, or do you not handle the literal values as
arguments yet?
~~~
krasin
It's just because the focus is now on generating valid assembly (there're tons
of bugs so far) and I have not paid any attention to optimization yet.
Thanks for reporting, tracked by issue <https://github.com/krasin/llvm-
dcpu16/issues/67>
------
RDeckard
Excuse the ignorance, but what is the big deal about DCPU-16?
~~~
Natsu
It's a toy CPU that's perfect for learning. It's about to be part of Notch's
new game (he created Minecraft). So it's a great combination of fun +
educational. Honestly, I'm surprised no one has made one of these CPUs in
Minecraft yet. I can guarantee that it's possible.
In other words, this has a lot of people excited about a game that doesn't
even exist yet. Oh, and given the popularity of Notch's games and the buzz for
this one, I'm sure that a few people will manage to turn a tidy profit based
on their fun. There are more than a few highly popular Minecraft websites,
YouTube channels, etc. So there are a lot of things that appeal to hackers.
It's a great toy system to play with, it's going to be an important part of an
interesting game, etc.
Note that some people have already learned about electronics by building
redstone circuits in Minecraft. It abstracts away everything but the logic, so
it's a fun way to play with logic gates and whatnot to build something
interesting. For example, I have a giant circuit hooked to a redstone clock to
periodically flood the spawning pads of the gigantic mob grinder that covers
my base camp and increase the number of items I get. It's enormous, but not
particularly exceptional by Minecraft standards. It does help me produce a lot
of TNT, though. I put a record player in the item collection room to pass the
time.
~~~
i386
Post a video please :-)
~~~
Natsu
I'll do you one better and give you the whole world:
<http://www.mediafire.com/?6ywsyy18qhening>
Note that it's in the new format. I deleted the parts in the old format to
make it smaller. The mob grinder is the huge thing in the sky. The items fall
into a room in the upper level of the house.
~~~
i386
Awesome! Can't wait to give it a go :)
~~~
Natsu
Let me know what you think :) There's a lot of stuff in there and you may see
that I'm a bit OCD about labeling things. I doubt most people have a sign
marking the bedroom. But everything else in the house has a sign, so...
If you're wondering, that railway leads to the dungeon with the end portal.
The dragon is dead and his egg warped into the end portal back before I could
collect it. Sorry about that. I'm not quite clear on whether I could just
delete the region files for the end and make it all respawn, but I might want
to try that some time.
There's also a fairly complete map of the area centered on the house in a
chest upstairs at the end of the hall. And there are a few random outposts in
dungeons. If you ever get lost, there should be lots of markers pointing the
way home.
~~~
i386
FYI There is a bukkit plugin that allows you to duel the dragon as many times
as you want.
~~~
Natsu
Interesting. Might have to look that up sometime. Hope you've enjoyed my
world, even though I know it doesn't hold a candle to some of the fancy
creations out there.
But hey, I do have a collection of every single color of sheep, neatly sorted
into pens :)
------
colinmarc
Next up: compile a JVM and run the game within the game???
Joking aside, what are some scripting languages with tiny interpreters that
could feasibly compile eventually?
~~~
bitbckt
Forth, Lisp and BASIC immediately come to mind, and are period appropriate.
~~~
pjmlp
Turbo Pascal and C would also be quite cool, as they were heavily used in the
16bit days.
------
swdunlop
"Binary distribution for Linux x64 is available. (v0.0.2, 170MB)"
170MB to emulate and compile targeting a 128kb virtual machine. Funny how
things have bloated.
~~~
zoul
It’s a reasonable price for the convenient abstraction. What’s interesting is
the size of the binaries and the compression ratio of the whole thing (0.2):
zoul@naima:llvm-dcpu16 $ du -sh *
286M bin
13M include
522M lib
76K share
What’s in the binaries so that they are so huge and compress so well?
~~~
viraptor
I'm tempted to point at various graph fragments and other cpu descriptions
which are partly auto-generated. It's a guess though, I'd like to know a real
answer too. Is is a high price to pay for a framework which allows people to
port compilers to a whole new architecture in a matter of days?
Also this binary may actually include all targets, not just dcpu16.
------
10098
This is so incredibly cool! But how did you implement I/O?
~~~
dalore
Certain memory areas correspond to the console. If you have a look at Notch's
Hello World example you see him putting letters in memory areas.
Now if this is how it will communicate with the rest of the ship, I don't
know.
~~~
richdougherty
A few days ago he was thinking of a message queue... not sure how it would
work though.
<http://twitter.com/#!/notch/status/187448370107912192>
~~~
viraptor
Since he wants to simulate the cpus all the time and there's no sleep / wait
which actually stops execution, tight wait loops shouldn't be an issue. Just
wait for some mmaped [msg_no_ptr] to be >0.
------
tkahn6
This is so cool! Just finished my implementation and it runs the fib example
flawlessly†!
<https://github.com/tkahn6/dcpu16-haskell/>
† Because mine is a pure state machine and Haskell is lazy, I had to introduce
a HLT instruction instead of using `:crash SET PC, crash`. Nothing ever gets
printed using the latter convention.
~~~
carterschonwald
You can use a monad to thread the computation for strictness while retaining
purity.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Match-making thread - itmag
Let's hook founders up with each other!<p>Please list:<p>* Location<p>* Desired location<p>* Technical or business?<p>* What kind of stuff do you want to work on (ie e-learning, dating sites, social networks, whatever)<p>* Optional: some of your ideas
======
itmag
I'll begin:
* I am in Sweden
* Sweden, but would be willing to relocate if it can be arranged
* Technical (coder+databases) but am willing to learn anything I need to
* Mainly the cluster of personal development/e-learning/skill acquisition/coaching. Also interested in 3d printing and gamification of real-world production.
* My ideas (there are lots of more if you go to <http://ideashower.posterous.com>, these are just the ones to do with e-learning):
[http://ideashower.posterous.com/urgent-an-idea-i-have-
for-a-...](http://ideashower.posterous.com/urgent-an-idea-i-have-for-a-
startup)
[http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-awesome-idea-
codecademy...](http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-awesome-idea-codecademy-
for-learning-chi)
[http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-platform-that-
universit...](http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-platform-that-universities-
can-use-to-re)
<http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-pair-e-learning>
[http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-online-community-for-
se...](http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-online-community-for-self-
learners)
[http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-crowdsourced-
educationa...](http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-crowdsourced-educational-
podcasts)
[http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-
everythingfordummiescom...](http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-
everythingfordummiescom-different-info-g)
[http://ideashower.posterous.com/site-idea-informal-
science-e...](http://ideashower.posterous.com/site-idea-informal-science-
experiments-commun)
[http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-multi-modal-coaching-
si...](http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-multi-modal-coaching-site)
[http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-learnablecom-for-
busine...](http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-learnablecom-for-businesses)
[http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-real-time-webinar-
drawi...](http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-real-time-webinar-drawing-tool)
[http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-e-learning-for-the-
thir...](http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-e-learning-for-the-third-world)
[http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-flash-based-spotify-
mar...](http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-flash-based-spotify-
marketplacelistening)
[http://ideashower.posterous.com/livejasmincoachingon-
demand-...](http://ideashower.posterous.com/livejasmincoachingon-demand-
teleconferences)
[http://ideashower.posterous.com/crazy-idea-become-the-ttc-
of...](http://ideashower.posterous.com/crazy-idea-become-the-ttc-of-
lifereality-hack)
[http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-accelerated-learning-
po...](http://ideashower.posterous.com/idea-accelerated-learning-portal-site)
------
facundov
Hi there,
* I'm in Dublin and my partner in London both in Technology Hub areas.
* We want to build a border less product/s but ideally limit main traveling to Europe.
* Business oriented with main experience in online marketing and also web project management.
* Interested in building products commercially "viable" from the get-go (e.g. communities/ content ideas as a complement are acceptable but not as core). Products must solve problems that people want to pay for.
* We are looking for a technical partner/ founder that can develop initial MVPs and then lead a technical team upon validation.
* Initial ideas are around Kindle Fire apps, marketplaces for humanities graduates but we are really open to more utilitarian/ niche products that can solve problems B2B or B2C
------
mapster
* Davis, CA * right here-ish * some technical, some business * geographic * data tools, map related, B2B * let's talk about it!
~~~
itmag
What are you seeking in a co-founder?
~~~
mapster
yes, I am. Its a getting-to-know-you process, so chatting with a lot of
different people is my path.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What Are the Best Technology Advancements of 2015? Here's Our List - Oxydepth
http://stemmatch.net/blog/2015/december/28/best-technology-of-2015/
======
theseok
Definitely number 15. DJI Phantom baby!!
------
imamachine
Samsung Gear - Virtual Reality is my personal favorite. I love mine. I want
more VR in the future.
~~~
Oxydepth
My personal favorite actually isn't on the list. It encompasses quite a bit,
but to me it's everything we've accomplished in Machine Learning and Big Data
over the past year.
Now, I know this list is supposed to be for specific objects. So, if I had to
pick one from the list, it would be #13. Phero BB-8. Gotta love tiny Star Wars
Droids.
~~~
Oxydepth
That's not a bad goal. I want my own personal Codsworth.
------
Oxydepth
What are your favorite's that didn't make it to the list?
~~~
imamachine
mine that is not on the list would be all of the IoT advances and streaming
advances. I enjoy gaming and movie watching.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A Conversation With Julian Assange, Slavoj Zizek & Amy Goodman (Live) - genesiss
http://www.livestream.com/democracynow
Ok, it's over - here is whole conversation: http://www.livestream.com/democracynow/video?clipId=pla_b539748a-c5e0-4525-b3ca-570594482d97&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-thumb
======
genesiss
It's over now, here is recording of the conversation:
[http://www.livestream.com/democracynow/video?clipId=pla_b539...](http://www.livestream.com/democracynow/video?clipId=pla_b539748a-c5e0-4525-b3ca-570594482d97&utm_source=lslibrary&utm_medium=ui-
thumb)
~~~
genesiss
Skip to 21:30 for the beginning.
------
Perceval
I'm in a poli-sci department with a bunch of continental political theorists.
I cannot stand Slavok Žižek. Probably the biggest living bullshit artist in
political theory.
~~~
127
I'm interested. Can you offer any source for this claim? I was considering of
reading some of his writings but if he has to offer no value, I'd rather know
in advance.
~~~
pwpwp
Zizek is highly interesting and entertaining.
Many of his articles are collected here: <http://www.lacan.com/frameziz.htm>
~~~
unicornporn
Speaking of entertaining, yes he is. If you want an accessible and funny
introduction to this man, check out this clip from "Examined Life":
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGCfiv1xtoU>
------
blendergasket
Assange claims to be being blackmailed over the bank docs he has. I wonder if
the lawsuit he just filed is related to that in any way.
~~~
borism
do you mean the complaint about illegal blocking of their funding by Visa and
MasterCard?
How would that be related in any way?
~~~
blendergasket
So what you're saying is there's absolutely no way these organizations are
motivated to block the money going to the organization which threatens to
publish their own secrets because of any threat to themselves?
~~~
borism
Blackmail != blocking money
in many cases it's the exact opposite.
------
cheez
How is this live? I thought Assange is under house arrest of some kind...
~~~
evangineer
Nope, he's on bail. As long as he doesn't break the conditions of the bail, he
can pretty much do what he wants.
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12988646>
~~~
Joakal
He made a video blog of his house arrest:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCNzU3u7G3o>
~~~
cheez
Incredible.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Mark the Spot: Tell AT&T where the iPhone sucks - novicecoder
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/12/07/mark-the-spot-tell-att-where-the-iphone-sucks/
======
Entlin
This is completely unnecessary. AT&T already has a very good idea where calls
are dropped by looking through their logfiles. Plus, these logfiles encompass
every phone, not just the iPhone. Plus, these logfiles reach back to 10+
years.
And, 1 incident amounts to nothing. As a cell network, you want lots and lots
of data before you add a new tower. The iPhone app is unlikely to give you
that data. But your logfile give it to you, and have for many years already.
This is like a city adding push buttons at signaled pedestrian crossings
without connecting them: a band-aid, created to make them look active witout
fixing anything.
~~~
ShabbyDoo
Perhaps the value is that AT&T can be shamed into fixing its network by
publishing info on chronically bad areas. Of course they know where they have
issues, but there's no way to show the public how inattentive they're being
without independent data.
------
wglb
This is a cool idea--crowdsourcing weak spots. So if you are disconnected, how
does the iphone send this info off? Presumably stores it for later?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Researchers Say WSJ’s WikiLeaks Copycat Is Full Of Holes - pessimizer
http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2011/05/05/researchers-say-wsjs-wikileaks-copycat-is-full-of-holes/
======
lhnz
“We reserve the right to disclose any information about you to law enforcement
authorities or to a requesting third party, without notice, in order to comply
with any applicable laws and/or requests under legal process”
Would anybody here trust the WSJ to leak the documents they send and not the
identity of the leaker? I have no faith.
------
ares2012
I find the idea of a single newspaper hosting a site like WikiLeaks themselves
very strange. If the WSJ receives confidential information that is of value
but not on a topic they typically write about will the information still see
the light of day? The great thing about 3rd party sites like WikiLeaks is that
they provide the information and you decide if it's valuable or not.
I have to say that I'm not sure why I would submit info to SafeHouse instead
of just posting it online myself with an anonymous blog.
~~~
alanh
Only a fraction of what WikiLeaks receives is ever published, if my
understanding is correct. Even look at cablegate: Only a fraction of all
cables have been released.
------
hristov
Giving credit where credit is due, HN readers figured out the problems with
WSJ's submission policies as soon as news of the site hit HN.
See this:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2518060>
------
rdl
I'd love to work with them to make a purely automated provably-anonymous file
dropoff system, which could then be used by others. The type III remailer
network sort of facilitates this, but there are better ways.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
ENCOM Boardroom - privong
http://www.robscanlon.com/encom-boardroom/
======
arscan
Thanks for posting a link to a project of mine :) Too bad it didn't gain any
traction here.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Codecademy and the Future of (Not) Learning to Code - 2arrs2ells
http://www.hackeducation.com/2011/10/28/codecademy-and-the-future-of-not-learning-to-code
======
2arrs2ells
This blog post makes me wonder if Codecademy will end up dealing with the
setup type issues that plague beginning coders - i.e. setting up a web server,
getting the right Ruby package installed, how to debug and find the missing
semicolon, etc.
In my estimation, those barriers are all a lot higher than the actual logic or
syntax of programming.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Mojolicious + Bootstrap = Awesome - fuzzix
http://blogs.perl.org/users/joel_berger/2012/03/mojolicious-bootstrap-awesome.html
======
kokey
I've been doing stuff with Mojolicious with the YUI App Theme, but it sounds
like using Bootstrap instead is the way I really need to go.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Best Code Is No Code - mooreds
https://letterstoanewdeveloper.com/2019/04/01/the-best-code-is-no-code/
======
mig4ng
I love to code and create new things yet the more I learn and grow the more I
agree with this article.
For personal projects and hobbies it might make sense to code more and do
random stuff, that is how we learn and sometimes how new libraries emerge. Yet
for enterprise applications just use other tools that are ready and whatever
gets the job done, even if it is a paid SaaS, because most of the times it
will be cheaper than developing in house anyways.
~~~
mooreds
It's the old "what is core to the business" question. Which is a strategic
question, but one that everyone benefits from thinking about.
------
ncmncm
Somehow everybody agrees with this, yet it is extremely rare to find anybody
deleting much code. If not writing code is good, deleting code should be much
better. At least, delete the code that shouldn't have been written!
Me, I never feel quite so productive as when I have deleted 1000 lines of
code. Sometimes I need to replace it with 20 or 100 lines, which is sad, but
still a net improvement. Yet, most days I find I write more code than I
delete.
There is a current fashion in C++ to eliminate loops from your code, replacing
them with calls to generic algorithms -- written on the spot, if necessary. It
is hard to see how this will be an improvement when you start, but after a
series of minor transformations, the improvement accelerates and code just
starts to seem to evaporate.
------
droptablemain
Ehhh, I have an issue with black boxes. Yes, custom code creates a technical
debt; so does code written by someone else.
~~~
mooreds
Ha, we're having a discussion on that internally. It's a question of which
unpleasant choice do you want?
* maintain my own code and pay interest on my technical debt
* pay someone else, hope that their interface and business remain stable
~~~
droptablemain
Pretty much!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Elon Musk Wins 2012 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Leadership Award - MikeCapone
http://www.popularmechanics.com/how-to/blog/elon-musk-wins-2012-pm-breakthrough-leadership-award-11976048
======
Nevaeh
Just 3 weeks ago, Elon received the Mars Pioneer Award from the Mars Society.
Here is his acceptance speech:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK0kTcJFnVk#t=10m56s>
I look forward to listening to his next speech, hopefully geared towards
motivating others to innovate new world changing technology. Something like
his Caltech speech: <http://commencement.caltech.edu/archive/2012_address>
~~~
MikeCapone
A couple more Musk videos for those who might have missed them when they first
came out:
Bloomberg profile that gives a good overview of his companies:
[http://www.bloomberg.com/video/73460184-elon-musk-
profiled-b...](http://www.bloomberg.com/video/73460184-elon-musk-profiled-
bloomberg-risk-takers.html)
Reddit AMA:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6K8NkJpUei4)
~~~
john626
The Bloomberg video is one of the most interesting tech interviews I've ever
seen.
------
pvnick
Anybody have any information on Elon Musk's leadership style? What makes him
so successful at inspiring people and making efficient organizations?
~~~
Nevaeh
A similar question was asked on Quora, and there were some pretty good
answers. <http://www.quora.com/What-is-it-like-to-work-with-Elon-Musk>
------
confluence
Well deserved but I do have a bone to pick with awards retrospectively given
after the outcome and then attributing success to individuals ex post facto.
What exactly is the point of calling a success after the success? Seems like
redundant ass kissing to me.
A fawning mix between humanity's hindsight bias mixed with a large dollop of
the sharp shooter fallacy.
Indeed, if I recall correctly, two of the most awarded companies of the late
90s were Enron and MCI WorldCom by the likes of Fortune, Forbes and other
"respectable" business journals.
Not stating that Musk is like those guys at all - but it does make me wonder
about the true purpose of awards.
~~~
Nevaeh
Elon probably shares your sentiments, since he was an avid reader of Feynman.
Source:
[http://www.iop.org/careers/workinglife/profiles/page_37749.h...](http://www.iop.org/careers/workinglife/profiles/page_37749.html)
Feynman himself once said that he didn't like honors:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f61KMw5zVhg>
So when Elon won the Lady Vivamus sword after accepting the heinlein award for
advances in space commercialization, he fools around with it instead of just
being another trophy, sometimes to impress the ladies:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRpqZjfFzGg>
~~~
jilli2
Yeah Elon is perfect. Except for being peer pressured by shady super wealthy
people.
~~~
Nevaeh
I apologize for the hero worship, but I was merely trying to share some
information that might be interesting to others. Elon is by no means perfect,
his public speaking needs a lot of work, for example. Curiously though, he
doesn't stutter at all when he was interviewed by Hannah. =)
------
MikeCapone
I hope many kids read about this man's exploits and are inspired to follow
suit in tackling hard problems with the potential to change the world. Wish we
had more smart people doing that...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
LocustDB: Massively parallel, high performance analytics database - jinqueeny
https://github.com/cswinter/LocustDB
======
samstave
Apologies if the following is completely naive to what youre doing with
LocustDB; How resource intensive is this?
Tried running InfluxDB on Rasberry PI with poor results as it pegged at 100%
CPU...
How well would LocustDB do on a PI for Sensor Data?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
SpaceX Will Try to Land Rocket on Floating Platform Next Week - cryptoz
http://www.space.com/27955-spacex-rocket-ocean-landing-platform.html
======
SEJeff
This will be truly groundbreaking if they manage to pull this off. Reusable
first stage rocket boosters completely flip the economics of a space launch on
its head. I'm sure that ULA is none too pleased about this announcement.
Not only if SpaceX doing what others have done for decades, they are using the
funded missions as an excuse to try and do things never done before. Even if
the mission ends in failure, the data gleaned to make it a success the next
time still result in a success. Good luck!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Researchers believe combining samples could speed up coronavirus testing - wslh
https://globalnews.ca/news/6989906/hamilton-researchers-combine-coronavirus-samples/
======
wslh
If I remember well we see this concept in undergraduate classes in statistics.
~~~
db48x
Journalists don't take statistics classes.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Page flip effects on the web - navs
Hi HN, I have recently been asked to build an online/e-magazine in the same vein as those done by issuu.com with a non-flash based page flip effect. From articles and comments on the web, I've noted many have a dislike of such superfluous animations. At least I consider them superfluous.<p>What are your reactions to page flip animations and do they interfere with the content?
======
RiderOfGiraffes
Any animation like that simply slows me down. It's cute for the first 15
seconds, then it's just annoying.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
We can now edit the human genome – how far should we go? [video] - colinhb
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/human-nature/
======
ImaCake
Unless I am unaware of something, CRISPR is not yet ready for medical usage.
Sure, it is an amazing research tool. But every gene editing trick built on
the back of this incredibly useful protein (Cas9, that is) has "off-target"
effects. These mean that not only do you mutate your target, you cause a whole
bunch of other mutations. The future of human genome engineering is almost
certainly going to feature CRISPR genes in some capacity, but we just don't
have the precision, reliability, and ability to avoid other deleterious
mutations yet to do so.
Also, as someone working with CRISPR, it isn't quite as easy as it is made to
sound. It is relatively easy, but still a lot of work! I guess that is a
footnote when it makes the impossible, possible though. We need to keep having
these ethics conversations though, so we can use this tool wisely.
For further reading I would recommend Jennifer Doudna's "A crack in creation".
She is one of the founders of CRISPR as a gene editing tool, and her book is
good reading on the topic.
~~~
Animats
CRISPR isn't quite enough. That's just patching. Direct synthesis of a human
sized genome will probably be available at some point. The human genome is
about 3 billion base pairs. Largest synthesis so far is 580,000 base pairs.
Then we'll need CAD tools. Really good CAD tools.
~~~
vikramkr
Just synthesizing a genome isn't going to get us to designer humans - frankly
its already well within the reach of modern technology to synthesize 3 billion
bases. You cant just bootstrap from the nucleotide sequence - even in really
simple bacteria we have to pop the genome into a pre-prepared genome free cell
with the machinery to start working on doing life stuff, and adding the
complexity of human epigenetics and a multicellular organism makes that a
nonstarter currently. Especially when just editing the genome is so much
easier.
~~~
adrianN
I would be interested in reading some literature about the current problems of
plopping a synthesized genome into a vertebrate ovum. Or a simpler multi-
cellular species, say C. elegans.
~~~
vikramkr
This has more to do with the synthesis process itself, but here's a good read
[0]. Youll notice most of the problems are around cost and logistics, but if
we had the funding of the human genome project, that would be a non issue. I
dont know if any articles discussing the epigenetics really exist since the
organisms so far are ones where that's not really so much of a problem yet - I
don't now of any de novo synthesized efforts in multicellular organisms but
perhaps someone has a link (not counting cloning - the epigenetic information
is carried along in the transfer).
[0]
[https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00511-9](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00511-9)
------
WalterBright
I suspect the only way humans will successfully colonize the solar system is
with gene editing. Genetic modification can be used to reduce the life support
requirements in various environments. For example, different gravities,
different gas pressure, gas composition, tolerance of various chemicals,
radiation, etc.
~~~
akira2501
May of these don't seem like binary adjustments, though. Perhaps you can
increase the tolerance to radiation, but how? Perhaps by causing the body to
produce a protein that shields cells from these effects, much like melanin
does for UV. Assuming you do this, you immediately have to ask, what other
effects does that have on the body? When these cells are destroyed by
radiation, what are their breakdown products? How quickly can the body
replenish them? What new nutritional requirements will be necessary to support
them? The same questions can be raised for any of these "DNA feature flags."
It seems to me, viewed a certain way, the human body is almost entirely driven
by emergent phenomenon. I have serious doubts about our ability to edit the
source code to achieve very straight-forward single side-effect modifications.
We may very well be limited to merely adjusting "errant" DNA sequences that
cause or are implicated in disease or undesired attributes. Who would choose a
short child? Or one with myopia? Or one with weak muscles? Or even one with
the misshapen chest and facial orifices necessary to survive lower partial
pressures of oxygen?
The long term effect of custom genetic modification actually seems like it
would just be used to reduce the overall genetic diversity of humans on the
whole, not to improve it in drastic ways.
~~~
imtringued
>The long term effect of custom genetic modification actually seems like it
would just be used to reduce the overall genetic diversity of humans on the
whole, not to improve it in drastic ways.
In fact, there are economic incentives to create broken clones that require
daily medical attention so you can turn them into slaves that work for
medicine.
------
LostTrackHowM
A more interesting question is how far will we go.
Based on human history, I am fairly sure the end of humanity is approaching.
100 to 150 years I'd guess. I don't mean we'll be gone, just that what we'll
become will not be recognized as human by our ancestors.
~~~
ImprobableTruth
If the modifications go far enough (e.g. something like completely suppressing
all human emotions) I'm pretty sure it's fair to say that we'll be gone. At
least I don't see any reason why we should view these potential future
'humans' as any thing more related to us than say a potential 'species' of
robots.
------
s5300
Huh? I thought there's always been an obvious answer to this...
Cat girls
edit: ahh... I love the part of HN that can't enjoy even the lightest of
humor. FWIW: I have a severe chronic/borderline terminal health condition that
is near certain to leave me dead quite early, not to mention the hell it's
brought upon my physical body. In 10 years or so (maybe even sooner) - it will
probably be something that's editable out in vitro. Also... I'm young as it
is.
Let me have fun with my dreams of cat girls. Maybe you'd end up enjoying them
too. :)
~~~
xeromal
There's one comment replying to you and it's not complaining
~~~
s5300
I got like 10 downvotes in three minutes ;)
Sometimes it's not about what's visible to your eye...
Though, I do agree, in general, it's best practice not to have too many laughs
on HN.
Also... yeah, current state of things is a bit hype. I have a lot of hope
though having spoken with people doing research at places like University of
Tokyo. I'm sure whether ethically or not, China has probably made some great
strides we're not 100% aware of.
~~~
tuesdayrain
The thought of China creating an army of genetically modified 200 IQ super
soldiers/scientists is both fascinating and horrifying. It's comparable to the
technological singularity that would occur if we had chains of AI creating
superior AI.
~~~
Nasrudith
I think I saw that implied unexpected twist in NEO-Scavenger, actually. There
are newspaper headlines from before the collapse (which was related to a
supernatural force of belief being real causing fears to manifest). They
mentioned a Chinese Supersoldier Rebellion that had overthrown their
government creators, I guess paired hyperintelligence and courage are the last
things you want in a populace as an oligarchy or dictatorship as they will see
things going wrong and won't be afraid to risk their lives righting it
effectively.
~~~
imtringued
Yeah, this is actually ignoring how most dictatorships explicitly have an
underclass. If you want total control you don't want your country to be strong
and prosperous. You want a few blessed elite sectors and let the rest wallow
in suffering and poverty so they neither have the ability nor will to fight
back.
------
drivingmenuts
Well, I, personally, would much enjoy having my T-2 Diabetes fixed. Also, my
hearing and eyesight.
~~~
nathanyz
These are the types of things that will be fixed as we tip toe into altering
our genes. But in the end, like most technology, someone will end up doing
whatever is possible if the outcome gives them an advantage.
Some country will allow it as it gives them a leg up on others. And once you
can do it in X country, the pressure will be strong for others to follow suit
and allow it or fall behind.
This is excepting the case where it generates some near term negative effect
that outweighs the gains to be had by it.
------
miki123211
> How far should we go?
If we don't go far enough, someone else will. Whether Iran or China or North
Korea, someone else will eventually start producing superintelligent children
that will outshine all western scientists and engineers[1]. If we don't start
doing it too, we will become irrelevant, prehistoric tribes that have no place
in the modern world.
If we decide to allow genetic enchancements, though, we need to ensure the
society won't split into classes. Some parents will probably want the freedom
to choose if their child is enchanced or not, but the unenchanced children
will have no chance at anything in life. The only way forward is to require
genetic enchancement, no matter the opposition from religious or other groups.
I am still shaken by that conclusion, but it seems inevitable. Irrelevance,
inequality or force. Choose one, or they will choose for you.
[1] assuming science allows us to do this eventually
~~~
jart
Your way of thinking is kind of how the world economy is already saving people
from poverty. Plenty of folks have managed to evade plugging into the rat
wheel so far, such as the amish and hasidic jewish communities. Do you take
modernity seriously enough to patch their genes like Windows 10?
------
msie
I really enjoyed the video. I guess I could have read about CRISPR and CAS9
but the video was more engaging.
------
wespiser_2018
Let's say we can edit the human genome (CRISPR is not approved for human use),
even then, there should extremely tight limits to our genomic editing, since
for the majority of the genome by sequence, expressed regions, and possibly
still coding regions, has largely unknown function.
We just don't understand so much of genomic function through evolutionary time
from the simple fact that we cannot easily observe it, that making anything
more than a SNP change is asking for major, unfixable problems at a population
level down the line. If risk is (threat x vulnerability x consequence), we
need to practice the utmost caution when that vulnerability period is the rest
of our species existence!
------
alhasaniq
Is the video hosting down? "We're sorry, but this video is not available."
~~~
stephenroller
Perhaps you are outside the United States? PBS is the public television
channel, so perhaps they geolock :(
~~~
dekhn
Huh, I was surprised to learn PBS is geolocked.
[https://help.pbs.org/support/solutions/articles/5000673797-i...](https://help.pbs.org/support/solutions/articles/5000673797-i-live-
outside-the-united-states-why-can-t-i-stream-pbs-video-content-from-pbs-org-)
------
radium3d
Do we have a way to measure the "resolution" accuracy of techniques like
CRISPR? I feel like we don't even know the actual "resolution" of the genome
to begin with...
~~~
lioeters
From @ImaCake's comment¹ above, I learned that:
> Cas9 cannot edit the DNA by itself, but you can add a second enzyme to it
> that is able to change a _single base of DNA from one letter to another_. In
> theory this means you could target a single nucleotide somewhere in the ~3
> billion letters of the genome. ..A single letter flipped from A to G or C to
> T.
That seems like an answer to your question. The "resolution", or a single
"unit", in a genome sequence is a nucleotide.
> But it will still have unintended edits!
As for the accuracy of CRISPR, two kinds of errors are mentioned. "Off-target"
mutations that occur elsewhere in the sequence:
> It is pretty trivial to test for these in whole genome sequencing, and it
> turns out you will get plenty of them.
And mutations that occur in the same targeted location:
> ..[The] base editor will actually target a region of about 5-6 bases around
> the intended target and will happily flip those bases too.
¹
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24459427](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24459427)
\---
On further reading, a single "unit" for double-stranded D/RNA is the _base
pair_ :
> bp = base pair(s) — one bp corresponds to approximately 3.4 Å (340 pm) of
> length along the strand, and to roughly 618 or 643 daltons for DNA and RNA
> respectively.
(A picometer, "pm", is 1×10^−12 m, or one trillionth of a meter.)
@ImaCake does mention that CRIPSR is able to "target a single nucleotide", a
single base of DNA.
For single-stranded D/RNA, the nucleotide is the unit, abbreviated nt (or knt,
Mnt, Gnt).
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_pair#Length_measurements](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base_pair#Length_measurements)
------
stephc_int13
How far should we go? The science might not be ready yet, but it seems likely
that progress in field will enable us to change our own species.
We can't predict the outcome, even in out wildest dreams or worst nightmare,
we'll always be wrong.
Are we afraid of uncertainties? Of course we are, evolution taught us to be.
Not doing everything we can would be in total contradiction with the behavior
of humankind since the dawn of ages.
I am both an optimist and an atheist, there is no God and nothing is sacred.
~~~
majkinetor
Strange thing you say you are an atheist but here you are optimistic about
intelligent design.
~~~
stephc_int13
I am not talking about intelligent design.
The beauty of evolution is that this is a process without designers. There is
simply no need for them.
------
imtringued
Go far enough that the new humans are so different and superior that they
think of themselves as a different species.
Go far enough that parents sue companies because their child doesn't match the
designer baby form they have filled out.
Go far enough that there will be racial violence between the "natural" and
genetically engineered humans.
Too much ambition will bring severe consequences... Please don't go beyond
what is absolutely necessary.
------
dusted
How far?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe8jJBoEmuY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe8jJBoEmuY)
------
valgor
We should go as far as possible assuming proper safety guidelines. To do
otherwise is an injustice to the future.
------
Jemm
As someone with genetic illness, please do what you can to eliminate genetic
diseases.
------
vmception
revert the original sin commit and make us perfect
godtoshi's vision
------
cwhiz
Gene editing is the surest path to dystopia that I can currently imagine. And
I don’t see any way to avoid the inevitable arms race. If North Korea is
engineering super intelligent kids it is almost certain that South Korea
and/or China will do the same. Then it will just cascade from there.
Engineered vs not engineered could easily become the new class system where
the rich-ish are able to produce “better” children and exponentially widen the
gap.
Could also lose all semblance of uniqueness. Want your child to be a redhead
with a 170 IQ? Okay, pay enough and it’s yours.
So I think the real question is not how far SHOULD we go, but instead how far
WILL we go. And how quickly will we go there.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Mumbai call centre scam: ‘Nothing's wrong in duping rich Americans’ - giis
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/nothings-wrong-in-duping-rich-americans/articleshow/54729514.cms
======
leecarraher
Heh, That's what i told the scammer, the scammer told me they had a refund
from the IRS for me and they just needed a credit card number to "wire" it to.
_But I am just so rich right now that I have no need for the extra money,
maybe you could just "wire" it to some worthwhile charity. And of course take
whatever you feel adequate for your efforts too. But yea really right now, I
just got way too much money._
<scammer click>
------
strict9
Unfortunately it's not so much the 'rich' that fall for this, but the elderly.
Recently heard this story from my bartender, who had a family member lose some
dough in this scam. The "rich American" part is just a weaselly justification
for committing a crime, and doesn't deserve the prominence in the article it
received.
~~~
bdcravens
As I read it, it's not that they are targeting rich Americans, but rather,
they view America as a land of riches. Even our poor elderly, especially if
they own a vehicle or property, would be considered rich by many standards.
~~~
strict9
From the article:
> Nasreen Bano Iqbal Balesahib, 59; and her sons Nadeem Iqbal Balasaheb, 30,
> and Shain Iqbal Balasaheb, 25, were arrested on Wednesday evening as they
> were listed as the owners of MAC Outsourcing Services Private Limited - the
> company that ran Universal Outsourcing Solutions, which is one of the raided
> companies. Incidentally, the raided M Bale House belongs to the family.
Owned a company and the building which housed the company. That argument rings
even more hollow.
------
JumpCrisscross
On one hand, it'a easy to see this as an educational and cultural failure. On
the other hand, many of our policies treat screwing over foreigners more
lightly than screwing over fellow Americans.
~~~
jerf
That is a fundamental part of being human. Anyone who thinks they or their
culture is immune to it is deluding themselves. Anyone who thinks they or
their culture is _better_ at it than others needs to tread carefully, because
the part of the very meme we're talking about here is about how your culture
is better at things than others, so isn't it kinda convenient that one thinks
so?
~~~
kbenson
> That is a fundamental part of being human.
So true. it's turtles all the way down, too. Those liberals/conservatives
aren't real Americans and don't have good values, like us
conservatives/liberals. Those people in the city next door are all either
snobs or criminals, lets try to keep them from coming to our town too much.
That high school across town sucks and their students are assholes, we're
better, let's go vandalize their school to show them. Our neighbors are
horrible people, so it's okay that we're mean to them.
------
plandis
This seems like a case where none of the alleged criminals have probably ever
interacted with Americans.
It's easy to vilify a group you truly know nothing about.
~~~
slumberlust
Are you possibly doing the same with this group? Would you be willing to prey
on Russians if it meant your family could eat this week?
~~~
kbenson
> Are you possibly doing the same with this group?
Do you mind expanding your reasoning on that? I'm not sure how you came to
that conclusion. The modifier "alleged" was even used, so I don't see much
vilification going on.
------
verroq
A classic case of the monkey sphere [1].
[1]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20130112050503/http://www.cracke...](https://web.archive.org/web/20130112050503/http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-
monkeysphere.html)
~~~
steanne
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number)
------
imagist
This could be fixed by fixing the broken telephone protocol so that phone
numbers can't be spoofed so easily, and then implementing adblockers.
But that won't happen because:
1\. It would cost money.
2\. A proper implementation would be encrypted, breaking ubiquitous
surveillance.
~~~
bdcravens
Twilio has built up their business around the current phone system.
~~~
imagist
I'm not sure what you're trying to say here.
~~~
bdcravens
The very things identified as problems when it comes to scam calls have
enabled tons of startups and software.
~~~
imagist
Okay, true, but why should I care?
This is like one of those ad games: If you press the button, you fix spam
calls, but Twilio goes out of business. I couldn't press the button fast
enough.
For the record, I like Twilio and I literally have their API open in another
tab right now because I'm writing code against it. But if they can't do
business in an environment that doesn't allow spam calls, they don't deserve
to be in business.
------
ungzd
Nothing wrong in duping rich Americans, but using adblocker is real crime,
says this website.
------
bdcravens
I like to have fun with them. On more than one occasion, I strung them out for
15 or 20 minutes, and eventually ended the call on a nice satisfying note.
I've even had them call me back angry for wasting their time :-)
~~~
nashashmi
I talked in a heavy voice with calm sort of arrogance, and they go <click>. My
attempts at gaming them into wasting time didn't work for too long. :(
~~~
bdcravens
I just play dumb.
------
samfisher83
The article doesn't mention what was the scam they did? Anyone know?
~~~
eganist
In a nutshell: people trained with American accents made calls to American
taxpayers suggesting that they owed backtaxes and would be sued if they didn't
pay up.
~~~
maxxxxx
I got one of those calls and it sounded very credible. I called the number
back and then I got a little nervous when the guy on the other end of the line
seemed very uninterested and unprofessional. I don't how how far I would have
gone if he had acted better.
~~~
x1798DE
> I called the number back and then I got a little nervous when the guy on the
> other end of the line seemed very uninterested and unprofessional.
Didn't you think you were calling a government office? They aren't exactly
known for their customer service, whereas scammers are known for having a
slick feel to their operation. Interesting that that was your tip off.
~~~
maxxxxx
I have talked to the IRS before and they were always very courteous and well-
informed. I wouldn't call them slick but very efficient and clear.
------
codeisawesome
I don't think the website is trying to justify the criminals, only quoting
what they said.
~~~
giis
Yes, that's correct. Its criminals statement not view of the news editor.
------
slake
Isn't there an angle here to how scared people are of the IRS though? Isn't
their image a bit related to why this scam was possible.
------
cmdrfred
I'll get downvoted, but if I'm a father with no opportunity in rural India.
This is exactly what I'd be doing. You might be a better man to allow your
children starve in a pile of there own filth, but I'm not him.
~~~
kylehotchkiss
If you work hard in India, it's still pretty likely you can feed your kids. It
might not be good work, good food, or a good house, but being a scammer is not
the only way to take care of your family.
I just saw an photo this week on the People of Nepal Facebook page, and it was
of a man who wanted a better life for his kids so he slaved over a little tea
shop in a small city/town, and was able to send his kids to school and he
talks about how he can wear their expensive watches and mingle with people at
parties.
([https://www.facebook.com/StoriesNepal/photos/a.4783809322603...](https://www.facebook.com/StoriesNepal/photos/a.478380932260397.1073741826.478371942261296/1033831160048702/?type=3&theater))
~~~
cmdrfred
1 out of 10 workers in India are unemployed. They simply do no have the
options we have in the first world. If you are offered a call center job, you
take it. A single success story does not invalidate the data, India has a
massive poverty problem.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Secret Online Weapons Store That'll Sell Anyone Anything - rkudeshi
http://gizmodo.com/5927379
My jaw kept dropping lower and lower as I read this.<p>I know Tor encryption is good and all, but surely there must be SOME way of taking this site down?
======
ricardobeat
Being able to buy much the same weapons legally in the US kind of negates the
whole drama, doesn't it?
------
rkudeshi
This WSJ article says James Holmes, the Aurora murderer, bought a number of
weapons and ammunition online:
[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000087239639044446430457754...](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444464304577541032679325726.html)
I wonder if he used this site?
(Also interesting to note that Gizmodo published the piece on Thursday 7/19,
or the day _before_ the shooting. Weird coincidence.)
~~~
a_macgregor
No, Apparently he bought all legally in several gun shops.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Recent reports in the Washington Post are incorrect and based on a misreading - moultano
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57588337-38/no-evidence-of-nsas-direct-access-to-tech-companies/?s
======
waterphone
So CNET has a source who says it isn't true and the NYT has sources who say it
is true. Who's telling the truth?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Will the world ever see Fair Trade iPads? - jrnkntl
http://techland.time.com/2012/01/27/will-the-world-ever-see-fair-trade-ipads/
======
jakejake
I like this idea, but I have to agree it would be unlikely for most people to
pay $600 for a free-trade iPad when they can get the same thing for $500.
I think it would only work if the free trade version is the only one
available.
~~~
batista
"I like this idea, but I have to agree it would be unlikely for most people to
pay $600 for a free-trade iPad when they can get the same thing for $500."
Then it should be made mandatory, so that no gadget could be sold in the
market that is not made in fair trade conditions --even if it was made
elsewhere. You should be competing on price by slashing your profit margins or
finding some more efficient engineering/materials etc, not by turning wages
and working conditions into a race to the bottom.
------
caesar
"If you’ve read the New York Times story from yesterday (...) you know that
gadgets are often made in pretty harsh working conditions."
I have heard of this story and I am surprised it has not been post on HN.
------
batista
How about the other million goods that are not fair trade? When are we gonna
see "fair trade" those?
How about "fair trade" itself being a bullshit term, when the underlying
conditions of "fair trade" producers are mostly as shit as non fair trade?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
2014 API year in review: last year’s API predictions - lleims
http://www.3scale.net/2015/01/2014-api-year-in-review-last-years-api-predictions/
======
picsoung
Good bet on what happened in 2014!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
African Scrabble players pose a dilemma in the IQ debate - vixen99
http://www.unz.com/article/will-scrabble-have-the-last-word-on-the-iq-debate/
======
vixen99
"A look at Gabon’s demographics makes the Scrabble achievement of Gabon
impossible to explain under the present racial hypothesis. Gabon has a
population of 1.7 million and a reported national IQ of 64." and "There should
still (statistically) be no single person from African countries like Gabon.
And yet they exist, constantly outperforming math professors and computer
scientists from the developed world. That’s a statistical problem for the
racial hypothesis but it is not a problem at all for the alternative
hypothesis: the African nominal national IQs are artificially depressed by
more than 30 IQ points due to an extremely deficient cognitive environment."
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Does anyone actually like autoplaying of videos on websites? - jastingo
Genuinely curious about this. Just to be clear -
I'm referring to the autoplaying of videos on services like Netflix, Amazon Video, Udemy, and YouTube, as well as news sites and sports sites.<p>As a user, there are very few situations I can conceive of where autoplaying of videos would be useful/desired. Even if I was in such a situation, I would much prefer the option to toggle autoplay on and off myself as needed.<p>Anyone out there genuinely like these default autoplaying settings? If so, why?
======
cocktailpeanuts
I think it makes sense for Youtube at least because most of the times when
people click to visit, they're there to watch the video. (I guess you could
technically be there to only read the comments and not watch the video but
that's very rare)
On the other hand, on sites like Udemy it makes less sense since there are
other contents people want to interact with on the page. I think they're just
employing a bad ux.
And once we get into spam territory like some shitty sites where most people
visit expecting textual content and they just throw an autoplay video at you
(which in many cases follow you around even if you scroll away), that's
completely different from above two. These guys do this to make ad money.
------
Safety1stClyde
If you're in the kitchen cooking and your hands are covered with flour and
chicken, then it's handy to leave youtube on autoplay so that it can play back
all your favourite Billy Idol songs without having to clean off your hands to
adjust what it's playing. The problem is that if you leave Billy Idol on
autoplay for too long, it then takes you to things like A-Ha and before too
long you have Morten Harket screaming about "Take on me" when all you wanted
was more sneering.
------
owebmaster
Yep, the ones making money with views.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
App that prepare anyone for any trip in 8 min: uPackingList - Tolstokoraya
Everyone has gone through this: you need to quickly get ready for that unexpected business trip, that last-minute weekend getaway or that long-awaited grand vacation. There are so many things you need to bring and chores you need to do that you try to juggle these lists in your head. You get mad, irritated and tired.<p>Fortunately, the uPackingList application from NIX Solutions can help you through it all.<p>The application takes into account the purpose of trip and the destination location, and selects the most suitable items accordingly.
======
Tolstokoraya
You can learn more about the application there:
[http://upackinglist.nixsolutions.mobi/](http://upackinglist.nixsolutions.mobi/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Navigating the coming A.I. hypestorm - kawera
https://theoutline.com/post/2248/how-to-navigate-the-coming-a-i-hypestorm
======
kwipkwip
No academic endeavor has been more disappointing for me than Machine Learning.
At some point I realized it was just statistics, it was prediction, it was
regression... So why not just call it that? Where's the artificial
"intelligence", where's the "learning"? The only intelligence to it is from
the scientist who does the data mining, does the feature selection, and
chooses the problem category.
~~~
tree_of_item
Nah, that's the mentality that rebrands anything we actually figure out how to
do as "not AI". It's an endlessly moving goalpost.
In 1956 a large Prolog program from today would have been considered clearly
AI, but now it's "just logic programming". I don't think using the term AI for
either logic programming or regression is inappropriate.
------
fellellor
There is nothing magical about cake once you spend some time in the kitchen..
or something.
------
tomcam
Coming?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why isn't there a software union or guild? - face_mcgace
We (software developers) wield an extraordinary amount of power inside organizations - but why haven't we banded together to harness this? With sexism, ageism, etc. we have a real chance to influence the workplace. I know that we find ourselves in a comfortable position doing work we enjoy but shouldn't we be worried about the wider society (poverty in the US, monopolistic practices, etc)? Mars colonization and asteroid mining is fine and all - but what's the point if society is devolving into a neo-Gilded age and a large portion of society isn't even able to have access to basic necessities (food, shelter, healthcare)? We have an important opportunity in front of us to enact real change - why don't we form a union or guild to achieve this?
======
rpiguy
The answer to your question is multi-dimensional and very long. I am assuming
your question applies to the US, as other countries do have unionized
technology workers.
\- Historically Engineers were considered white collar, and draftsman, machine
operators, and assemblers were considered blue collar
\- Software engineers used to be a distinct culture, different from both
management (Jocks/Frat Boys), and blue collar workers - this has changed
dramatically in the last 30 years and the divisions have blurred
\- Early hackers were egalitarian but distrusting of central authority, they
were rebels, loner rebels do not form unions.
\- Ayn Rand, objectivism, etc. had a strong influence on computer scientists,
engineers, etc. That influence has waned. It was once very common for
engineering schools to have objectivist clubs, now they are rare.
\- Tech workers, despite being pushed to ridiculous hours, rarely looked at
themselves as victims in the past. Sure you didn't shower for a week, but you
were making bank getting to build new and exciting things. Today the job is
less exciting and you are more likely to be maintaining someone else's mess
than inventing something new.
\- Even if you were laid off in the 70s and 80s you felt very secure because
tech was booming, you could go somewhere else. That changed in the 90s,
despite the dot com boom, the balance finally shifted to where there were
enough tech workers to not guarantee you would be be immediately hired
elsewhere.
\- Unions are widely distrusted among the US population. Yes they gave us the
40 hour work week and weekends, but they are often seen as obstruction to
change not agents of change.
\- A lot of people in the US simply don't like unions.
There are a lot of reasons to not like unions, but that was not your question.
I am personally in favor of unions in the private sector, but not in the
public sector. I am against compulsory membership and believe unions should be
more transparent.
Edit: also I was thinking about it and collective bargaining power for tech is
probably even worse now than it once was because many companies could just
move software engineering overseas.
------
Msq3
Software devs are just like the rest of the population. There is a wide
spectrum of views. It's a mistake to think developing software binds us all
together in values.
A better approach is to be specific issue based and attract devs that may have
the same interests.
------
sharemywin
I personally feel like there needs to be better consumer groups. Imagine if a
million people grouped together to get a better deal at a bank or cable
company. or better terms in a TOS agreement with an online company.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Google Comparison Ads: Mortgages - condor
https://www.google.com/comparisonads/
======
kakooljay
Google hints that it may introduce the format for some other categories,
saying it will “increase ... the number of advertisers able to participate.”
[http://news.ebrandz.com/google/2009/2939-google-debuts-
compa...](http://news.ebrandz.com/google/2009/2939-google-debuts-comparison-
ads-aimed-at-mortgage-market.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Show HN: Couple, a shared diary for you and the one you love - kunle
http://www.getcouple.com
======
petenixey
If I were running one of these apps I have to say I would be terrified of
being hacked. There will be a lot of explicit pictures exchanged between
couples, including teens and a lot of people who will spend a lot of effort to
get those photos behind their paywall.
~~~
fomojola
Femi from Hipmob here: security is indeed a concern. There was a recent chain
of stories around issues with the authentication of a couple of mobile
messenger apps.
We've approached it from a couple of directions: we use TLS everywhere and we
don't use any phone-specific identifying information (no IMEIs, phone numbers
or anything of that nature). For advanced usage we also allow every single
connection to the platform to be authenticated by the host application: if the
user authenticates themselves to your servers you can generate a security
token that you pass to the app and your app passes to our libraries. This
verifies that you authorized the connection. We make that an option the
developer can choose to use (or not): let us know if you think of any other
scenarios that you think need additional care.
------
rgbrgb
I'm a bit lost on why you would want to use this rather than regular
sms/iMessage. There's clearly a market for this kind of thing (WhatsApp), but
could somebody explain why?
~~~
kunle
Ayo from Hipmob here. Apps like Pair serve a specific niche in that their
private/undistracted, and in addition using an app format as well as data
(rather than pure sms) allows you to do more interesting things (Pair for
example has shared sketches, video chat and the "thumbkiss"). Our specific
goal at Hipmob was to release something lots of developers can play with,
that's pretty simple, so they could get comfortable writing chat/messaging
apps with our libraries.
------
kunle
Hey everyone - Ayo from Hipmob here. We released Couple as our first open-
source chat project. The focus is to show any developer how to build a user-
to-user messaging app using Hipmob's libraries - we'd love any comments,
suggestions or feedback! (ayo at hipmob.com) - sorry this isn't reflected in
the title.
~~~
mst
Cute, apart from the part where ... sigh. The more software stops being stupid
about what gender mixes you should have in relationships, the more it annoys
me that nobody ever considers that not everybody is (or wants to be) part of a
simple pair bond.
Facebook hasn't figured this one out either; you'll find most poly/etc. people
on there either have their status set to "single" or "it's complicated" (there
was a fantastically funny day some years ago where all such people I know
deleted our relationship statuses simultaneously, causing mass confusion to
the people only casually following our existences).
I feel like this isn't really useful feedback on a toy app but ... it would be
nice if people wouldn't cast monogamous pairbonding as the only relationship
type that "really" exists. I don't feel discriminated against, as such, but I
do sometimes feel a little omitted :)
~~~
kunle
Ayo from Hipmob here. You make fair points (I've actually had a number of
conversations specifically about this in the last couple of weeks)
particularly in light of some recent political scandals. I have you thought
through what an alternate (non poly) app/language set would look like? How
would you describe it to the people who it's for? (Asking for my edification -
such apps would be trivial to build on Hipmob, so if we're going to do it, I'd
welcome some feedback on how - can discuss here or ping me at ayo at hipmob
dot com.
------
fluidcruft
Is there a reasonable expectation of privacy when using these sorts of things?
I think something like this could be fun, but it seems like a party line.
~~~
fomojola
It is explicitly not a party line: conversations are between 2 people (unless
it is a group chat, and even then the participants of the group chat are the
only ones who see the messages) or between a single person and an operator. We
provide a friend list construct that limits who a person can send messages to
(so preventing spam) and user-to-user chats are not saved or visible anywhere
(live support chats are saved to a per-chat transcript). All data is
transmitted over TLS: let me know if there is another privacy angle you think
we haven't covered.
~~~
fluidcruft
Mostly employees snooping and the types of warrentless government
backdoors/fishing/cooperation that seems to be en vogue.
------
miriamrach
I wish this worked with one partner on a smartphone and the other on a
dumbphone.
~~~
fomojola
Hmm: sounds like you're basically looking for SMS integration? Send me an
email (my email is in my profile): we might be able to wrap something around
Twilio's interface that could help you. The caveat there is that SMS has
explicit per-message costs attached: we'd basically let you put in your Twilio
account details but you'd have to pay them yourselves.
~~~
miriamrach
Thanks, that sounds like it could work really well. We both have unlimited
text messaging, so the per-message costs wouldn't be a problem in our specific
case.
I am having trouble finding your email... could you be a little more specific
about how I can find it? Thanks!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Ask HN: Is it safe to post pictures of my kids on social media? - nvr219
======
blastbeat
Depends on your definition of "safe" and "social media". I would certainly not
post pictures of myself to Facebook/Instagram, let alone flaunting my kids.
------
moviuro
Discussed not 2 days ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19442514](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19442514)
------
oregontechninja
Easy: no
~~~
HNLurker2
Yes don't. Reminds me of this SATIRE article. But please don't :
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R0nnU71ggro](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R0nnU71ggro)
Edit; Hahaha it's true
------
DoreenMichele
Nope.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What Browser am I Using? (from Google) - cleverjake
http://whatbrowser.org/
======
mcpoulet
This was launched in 2009.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Uber launches on-demand grocery delivery in Latin America and Canada - champagnepapi
https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/7/21315159/uber-grocery-delivery-launch-cornershop-latin-america-canada
======
anonms-coward
Why does uber think they can do a better job that focused companies whose main
business is grocery retail. Uber doesn't even have another profitable business
to subsidize their grocery business while starting.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Silicon Valley Hustle: Former Motionloft CEO Accused Of Defrauding Investors - minimaxir
http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/30/motionloft-jon-mills/
======
saumil07
Founders of early stage startups (as in, not AirBnB or Square or other
companies clearly in torrid scaling mode) heading to Vegas frequently on
chartered planes?
Yeah that doesn't scream RED FLAG at all.
I am honestly shocked at how poorly understood early stage startups really are
if this is true. Any half-decent founder knows to be frugal, treat every
dollar like it's their last and loses sleep over money in the bank (God knows
I do and have been for 3+ years after raising $5M+).
~~~
mathattack
I've seen exact scam before. Young people flying on private jets with so-
called hot shot young entrepreneurs, only to find all the expenses on their
credit cards. There is no such thing as a free lunch.
------
brandnewlow
Right after we did YC, a bunch of friends of mine who had decent amounts of
money asked if they could invest. I turned them all down. They were upset, but
we didn't NEED the money and there was no real way they could help us. Reading
this elicited a rush of "boy I'm glad I did that".
~~~
andrewljohnson
This is a case of fraud and theft. I don't get why your takeaway is that it's
somehow unsafe, as a founder, to take legitimate investments from friends.
Were you planning on ignoring your company bylaws, pumping money into a secret
account, not papering the investments, and hiring an R&B star to serenade you?
Because otherwise I think you'd be OK.
A good reason not to take money is you'll probably fail, lose your friends'
money, weaken friendships, and feel like a douche. I don't think there is much
legal risk if you aren't totally nutso, and the board approved the
investments.
~~~
brandnewlow
Right, your second paragraph describes the reasons why I turned my friends
down. This story's depictions of this guy's conversations with his 'friends'
about investing and their willingness to believe him due to external signals
they didn't understand ("Mark Cuban invested!") reminded me of my own
experience having those conversations.
------
minimaxir
"I’m already getting anonymous emails saying this is just the tip of the
iceberg, with more accusations."
[https://twitter.com/ryanlawler/status/417875291873095680](https://twitter.com/ryanlawler/status/417875291873095680)
------
jakemcgraw
Post-social network it's no surprise that people fall into these traps. Don't
invest in what you don't understand.
------
morgante
Definitely an unfortunate situation, but also not surprising. Sounds like the
investors didn't do any real due diligence.
Just another reminder that it's rarely a good idea to exchange money with
"friends."
------
knodi
Something doesn't sit right. Why would he tell them the company had been
acquired and $37.7mill had deposited in the escrow account. its not like he
can pull real cash out of his ass so he boxed him self in.
It makes zero sense. Something is not right here on both sides.
~~~
PakG1
Why? Perhaps because he's a sociopath, perhaps because it was a case of
irrational escalation of commitment, perhaps because he was a childish idiot.
Lots of possible reasons. Why is it so difficult to consider the
possibilities? :-)
------
krsunny
Sidebar: why do we say defrauding instead of just frauding? Isnt defrauding
the opposite of frauding?
~~~
jessedhillon
In this case the Latin verb is _defraudare_ , and the French verb is
_defrauder_ so this may be a different usage. In general _de-_ can mean both
to take something away and to be of or about something. So this could be seen
as _about, of_ the taking of money through deception, i. E., through _fraud_.
------
JAFTEM
Looks like Mills himself and investors involved are in the comments section
via FB (so they're using their real identities). One of the investors even
still believes in Mills and states he invested 48k.
------
paulmcg
Lol at Cuban telling them not to go to the cops
~~~
daeken
Honestly, it's the right move if they want even a chance at getting their
money back. Best case if they go to the police: a long court battle with Mills
in which they get a tiny fraction of their investment. At least this way has a
chance, and they can always go to the police down the road.
~~~
badclient
Not necessarily. If this guy wrote bad checks, he may well be given an option
to make good on it to have his sentence reduced or removed.
A similar thing happened to a guy who scammed me and others. One of the guys
who was scammed went to the local cops who took out a warrant. The guy who
scammed us was arrested and released almost immediately. He paid the guy
through the court and his attorney. I still remain unpaid...and I didn't go to
the cops(mostly because nyc cops didn't care much about the case speaking to
them on the phone). You can read more here if you're curious:
[http://cliffkaplanfraud.com/](http://cliffkaplanfraud.com/)
------
pge
Just another reminder of the old investing rule: if it sounds too good to be
true, it probably isnt true.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Evernote Architecture - 9 Million Users and 150 Million Requests a Day - alisson
http://highscalability.com/blog/2011/5/23/evernote-architecture-9-million-users-and-150-million-reques.html
======
mosburger
Cool to see that they use Stripes as their Java web framework. Stripes doesn't
get anywhere near the attention/respect it deserves. It's definitely the
simplest, most easy-to-use framework in the Java space IMO.
~~~
beck5
I think its just nice to see java mentioned in a positive light on HN
------
rbranson
I love how successful architectures like this really cut down a business to
it's core offering -- which in Evernote's case, is object storage.
------
dctoedt
I may have missed this, but I didn't see anything indicating Evernote has any
off-site redundancy, in case of earthquake disruption. The Evernote
"Architectural Digest" blog entry linked in the OP says "All of these servers
are racked in a pair of dedicated cages at our data center in Santa Clara,
California." (I've been a paid Evernote subscriber for a couple of years or
so.)
~~~
thezilch
_Nightly backups copies data over a dedicated 1Gbps link to a secondary data
center._
------
peterwwillis
_User data is stored on four different enterprise drives across two different
physical servers. Nightly backups copies data over a dedicated 1Gbps link to a
secondary data center._ This kinda scares me. Is this a real backup going to
removable storage stored in a secure backup facility? If it's being synced via
a dedicated line, why is it nightly instead of continuous? And if those four
drives are the only source for production user data, isn't it likely a storm
of writes could cause a severe bottleneck? (assuming SCSI drives, ~200 ops * 4
= 800 ops total, or with SSDs, 2400 ops... will they ever write more than 2400
times a second?)
Also, an extra layer (memcached) in front of mysql for caching requests could
save them lots of nodes if reads are dragging down performance/requiring more
nodes to spread read load.
~~~
thezilch
From the article...
Evernote _shard their 9.5 million total users across 90 shards_ , where each
shard is represented by two of the four or four drives in a mirrored RAID.
Also, they are using _Ehcache_ as their object-caching layer, which we can
assume is their alternative to memcached. The choice between the two probably
coming down to sticking to their Java stack.
I'm sure we'll here more in the _promise of future articles focusing more on
individual subsystems_ , as the article is pretty shallow in connecting the
dots.
------
dsl
150 million requests per day is just under 2 requests a second... 100k
users/shard is also hardly impressive even if you account for 2x or 3x
replication.
I hate to sound like a dick, but anyone who has dealt with large scale web
apps would consider this a starting point, not worthy of a architecture
presentation.
EDIT: Ah ha. Having never used Evernote before, they didn't make it very clear
that they are essentially trying to build a SAN. I assumed they were storing
plain text notes like stickies.
~~~
ddemchuk
Ummmmm...there are 86400 seconds in a day, so that's just under TWO THOUSAND
requests a second...significantly more than what you mentioned.
~~~
dsl
You are right. 2k requests per second is still not much.
~~~
defen
> 2k requests per second is still not much.
That's a completely meaningless statement if you don't specify what the
requests do, and the resources available to make it happen.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Davos Interviews: Etsy Founder Robert Kalin - mqt
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/01/davos-interviews-etsy-founder-robert-kalin/
======
vaksel
did this guy piss off Arrington somehow? Why is he being an asshole to the
guy?
------
ahoyhere
Wow.
Kalin is actually a really interesting guy, and has lots of stuff to say, and
yet this interview is practically worthless because of the interviewer's
antics.
Look at me, mommy!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Why do BA and PM get higher salaries than programmers? - dsego
https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/45776/why-do-business-analysts-and-project-managers-get-higher-salaries-than-programme
======
bediger4000
I hypothesize that the reason is that BA and PM are more like upper
management, in terms of what they do, how they do it, what their backgrounds
are.
Programmers might be not-very-diverse, but they also perform tasks that
business people don't understand, and they aren't business people. They went
to different colleges. They value different things.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Internet addiction' linked to depression, says study - mixmax
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8493149.stm
======
RiderOfGiraffes
Earlier link here: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1097476>
That links to an article at the institution that did the study rather than a
media report, and contains a link to the actual paper.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Browser MMORPG 7 years in the making - marxdeveloper
https://data.mo.ee/index2.html?hackernews=2
======
paraxisi
Congrats on shipping! Although I don't have time to play right now, a perusal
of your rules has me scratching my head... why allow people to have alt
accounts if they can't do anything with them besides level another character?
Some of these rules seem really awkward for an mmo eg. having a moderator
remove your ability to trade if they don't like the price? Come again?
~~~
marxdeveloper
Alts are useful for trying out many different builds. Trading bans happen very
rarely, mostly people posting buy offers for ridiculously low amounts - since
we are available on most devices and have players with all kinds of vision
problems we tend to remove such offers so people don't accidentally click and
accept them.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
ES7 brings two new features - kiyanwang
https://medium.freecodecamp.org/why-could-es7-be-called-es2-4c5f094ccef7
======
nkg
I will welcome ".include(a)" into my code in place of the awkward
".indexOf(a)!== -1". Better late than never, I guess.
~~~
tomatsu
Too bad it was renamed. "Contains" was a much better name.
"Contains" is used everywhere else - the DOM API included
(Element.classList.contains).
~~~
runarberg
If I remember correctly, the array methods `.includes`, `.every`, and `.some`
were renamed because of collision with prototype.js's `.contains`, `.all`, and
`.any` respectively.
~~~
eximius
That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Why would that matter? That would
encourage me the naming choice was in the right direction!
~~~
thaiphanvevo
Lots of websites still use Prototype.js. Magento still has it as a dependency.
Don't want to break the web!
~~~
eximius
Would it break the web though? Wouldn't they just override the native
implementation with a JS one?
~~~
curtisblaine
Then the two implementations would probably be incompatible (different
signatures, different implementation / return values) and would cause
unexpected errors down the chain. So, essentially, breaking the web and making
it difficult to fix it.
------
lyschoening
We're at ECMAScript 2017 now. The author is one version behind.
~~~
masklinn
ES2017 is also a much more consequential revision:
* async functions
* shared buffers (between workers) and atomic operations for these buffers
* additional native object methods (Object.values, Object.entries, Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor, string padding)
* trailing commas in function argument lists (definition & callsite)
* unicode case folding in /ui
~~~
amptorn
When's the `|>` pipe operator expected?
~~~
masklinn
That… doesn't even make sense as a question.
All one can say about it is that it was promoted to Stage 1 18 days ago, that
the spec is not currently written, and that it has two dozen issues opened
against it.
------
Slackwise
Still waiting on TCO.
~~~
CapacitorSet
That is already in ES6, no?
~~~
masklinn
Yes, but only Webkit/Safari implements it.
~~~
curtisblaine
== 75% of the Web.
------
Myrmornis
Is there any chance of comprehensions appearing in JS soon? That’s the main
thing I miss from the coffeescript years.
------
kbody
Is this a joke? It's presented a bit as a joke, but not sure.
~~~
jakub_g
The ES committee has decided to do yearly releases instead of feature-based
releases. No more waiting for things to get finished; if it's not ready, it
gets postponed to the next version of the standard.
Hence the official terminology is ES2015, ES2016 etc. "ES6" stayed there in
dev parlance because it was the initial name while the work was in progress.
~~~
masklinn
> The ES committee has decided to do yearly releases instead of feature-based
> releases. No more waiting for things to get finished
Indeed, and so that people understand the concept of "finished", "TC39"
(ECMAScript) proposals have 5 stages:
* Stage 0 (strawman), having an idea
* Stage 1 (proposal), making a formal proposal explaining the problem, the general shape of a solution, an example high-level API, and identifying cross-cutting concerns and issues
* Stage 2 (draft) is the writing of the formal specification
* Stage 3 (candidate) is the completion of the formal specification and its sign-off by reviewers and the ECMAScript editor, no further work is possible without implementation feedback
* Stage 4 (finished) is a test262 acceptance test suite and two independent compatible implementations, the feature will be included in the next ECMAScript standard revision
------
janci
Two more points for the javascript fatigue.
------
Hurtak
> ['my','mom','hates','me'].indexOf('mom') // 1
> life.includes('girlfriend') // false
That are some depressing code examples, is the author ok?
~~~
coldtea
Or, you know, they are joking...
~~~
moomin
Serious point: you should pay attention to the content of jokes. People often
use them to say things they can't say. This holds true of depressed people,
racist people and, I imagine, Harvey Weinstein.
~~~
coldtea
They do -- but self deprecating humor is also a thing in geek circles, without
necessarily pointing to some deep seated anxiety. And I'm not sure the author
would appreciate people discussing his personal life because of that.
Being able to still joke about things is a good sign anyway -- even if you
feel those things.
------
amgin3
cool, can't wait to use these in 10 years when browser compatabilty catches
up.
~~~
masklinn
All modern browsers (no that does not include IE11) have full ES2016 support
in their stable version.
In fact, aside from Edge which lags a bit behind (and FF 52 ESR) all of them
seem to have full ES2017 support already in their latest stable.
~~~
amgin3
up to 12% of internet users still use IE11, and even more if you count lower
versions. It will take them about a decade to upgrade to a "modern browser".
There are still large companies who want browser compatibility down to IE 8.
~~~
masklinn
That's not a matter of "browser compatibility" which is what GP complained
about. The browsers are compatible, if you decide not to use them, you can
hardly fault the browsers.
------
gushie
It would be more useful if in the version they could use the year that most
people will likely have a browser that supports these, rather than the year
they were introduced
~~~
michaelmior
That seems like it would make it very challenging to assign a version upon
release. And there's also the possibility of overlapping versions.
~~~
vitus
Right. While this is an open process, and browser vendors are well aware of
these when the spec is announced, the only way to enforce this in a meaningful
way would be for all the vendors to coordinate... which I don't exactly see
happening. There's no reason for vendors to delay a feature just because their
competitors aren't ready yet.
As for availability of these two features: stable Chrome supported
Array.prototype.includes in Dec 2015 and __in Jul 2016; stable Firefox
supported these in Dec 2015 and Mar 2017, respectively. I guess you could say
that these features were widely available in 2016, _just if you use Chrome_,
but that 's not a satisfying answer.
MDN pages:
[0] [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Refe...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Array/includes#Browser_compatibility)
[1] [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Refe...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Operators/Arithmetic_Operators#Browser_compatibility)
Dates for corresponding browser versions drawn from the wikipedia pages:
[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_version_history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_version_history)
[3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome_version_history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome_version_history)
| {
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Features of Samsung Galaxy Note 2 - technogist
http://www.technogist.com/2013/01/5-exciting-features-of-samsung-galaxy-note2.html
======
lostlogin
A "Best of XXX" on a single page. I was just commenting recently how these are
always over several pages. I stand corrected Technologist.
| {
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SEC approves 200+ million Americans as Angel Investors - RedditKon
http://www.lawgives.net/blog/equity-crowdfunding-what-does-regulation-a-mean-
======
osirisr
This is huge! Imagine if this existed during the time when Facebook was
becoming a big deal and individuals could invest in it. Imagine, for example,
if instead of that $2.5B pre IPO cashout going to one single investor it got
distributed amongst 50,000 investors. That would $50K for each at a 1000 fold
ROI. $50K is most people's yearly income =)
~~~
api
I'm imagining the hordes of frothing con artist sociopaths that are about to
create flashy demo videos and cutout companies with lots of fakey "social
proof" and cutout demos sold as real products.
Equity crowdfunding for the general public _should_ be a good idea, but
unfortunately I'm afraid it's not. The asshole to elbow ratio is just too low.
I'm deeply concerned that the entire seed stage market is about to get shat
upon rather copiously. The frauds will actually drown out the good deals,
since they'll almost by definition be better at flash and promotion.
A lot of people are really naive about this stuff. Organized crime will likely
get involved. It will not be pretty. But hey, those companies that make flashy
startup intro videos are about to do a lot of business.
~~~
arfliw
It'll be just like Kickstarter. Yes there is fraud and yes there are well
meaning failures but you also get huge successes like Oculus (and many
others).
Just as there are sure to be well publicized stories about people getting
fleeced -- there will be stories about other people getting rich.
~~~
api
The quantities of money are larger, which will attract a different class of
scammer.
~~~
arfliw
That does not change what I said.
Yes, there will be scams. And there will be successes.
------
gbelote
It's great that the SEC is moving forward with implementing the JOBS Act, but
sadly what the SEC voted on isn't a good fit for startups and small
businesses. It's more of an "IPO-lite" and for the most part only makes sense
for companies that are a year or two away from going IPO.
On the upside, the "good stuff" from the JOBS Act (Title III) should be
implemented by the end of the year.
------
PabloOsinaga
I'd like to launch a campaign for my startup users to have the possibility to
participate in our seed round. Is there a website/service that can help with
that ( something that could work like kickstarter )? AngeList and others are
not really designed for this use case (at least there is nothing publicly
available NOW)
~~~
gbelote
Reg A+ (what was just voted on) is probably not going to be a good fit for
you, since you're required to get approval from the SEC and need to
periodically file audited financial statements. But the other part of the JOBS
Act (commonly referred to as Title III) should be here by the end of the year.
You should check out Wefunder (disclaimer: my startup), we'll be supporting
the JOBS Act.
~~~
PabloOsinaga
Don't mind getting approval (I am assuming it's a somewhat simple procedure)
and submitting periodic audited financial reports. We (Bandhub) think it is
very important for our users' community to have ownership in the company. And
feel this is a great first step towards equity grants in online communities (
ala Reddit Notes ). So we are happy to go through hassles to get it done ( it
it's useful for you guys we can be beta testers of your platform )
~~~
gbelote
It's going to be closer to filing a Form S-1 (like with an IPO) than
submitting a url and such, unfortunately. And it's probably going to cost tens
of thousands of dollars in lawyer/accountant time before you can even start
with Reg A+.
Users having ownership in a company can be a powerful thing, and I think we're
going to see it more and more. Hopefully with the new SEC regulations
companies like Reddit will be able to legally do what should be easy (gift
people equity).
The upside is that the SEC reported to congress that they're going to get
Title III (the part of the JOBS Act meant for startups and small businesses)
implemented by October this year. I think that's going to be a much better fit
for what you're looking for.
------
delecti
So, honest question, isn't public investment in shaky tech companies exactly
what led to the early dotcom bubble?
Except now that it's before they even IPO, isn't it even more risky?
Genuinely curious, I was only 13 in 2000, so I didn't exactly know what was
going on.
~~~
gbelote
That certainly was part of the dotcom bubble, but not the cause of it. In
addition to a very frothy public market there was an obscene amount of private
money getting invested in companies with poor fundamentals. sama wrote a great
article recently about bubbles.
There are a few things from the JOBS Act that protects against terrible
things. People can't invest more than a certain amount in startups overall -
your quota is based on your income or net worth and is either 5% or 10%,
depending.
Additionally, these are long term investments - you can't easily flip
investments and I think that'll play a big part in people's psychology. You
can't buy a share of some hip photo startup (for example) and sell it to
someone else in 6 months at a higher price. In many cases you're going to be
holding your investments until the company exists. There are exceptions to
this, but I think practically we won't see secondary markets for a long time.
Another thing (this is more specific to Title III - the crowdfunding part of
the JOBS Act that we're still waiting on) is that companies have to publicly
set a goal and meet it through a registered platform. So a shaky startup can't
find 10 suckers to give them $1000, they have to set a real goal (e.g. $50k)
and convince a crowd of people to give them money. It still will happen, but I
think fraud will be much less common than well intentioned startup failure.
The best part (IMO) is that the economics of investing will be dramatically
different, so people can invest $100. Startups are super risky, but with
$5,000 you can invest in 50 businesses and spread the risk. Because they're
startups many will fail, but it's less likely to get conned by 50 founders.
------
MCRed
I'm completely in favor of individuals being able to invest in startups,
especially since you can go to vegas and blow $30k in a weekend, to not be
able to put $30k into a startup is a crime.
But this is going to make a bubble. IT will take a couple years to shake out,
but I sure hope that as a result of this the change isn't reverted.
Yes, people will invest their money poorly, but nobody could do as bad as
Social Security which in my grandfathers case, returned less than %3 fair
value of his money (Eg: effectively a %97 loss[1]. Slot machines only produce
a %98 loss!) And nobody has the option to avoid "investing" in social
security.
[1] compared to putting the money in an index fund. At the time of
calculation, the indexes had just crashed with the market, so the actual
results %90 of the time would have been much more in favor of individuals.
~~~
adventured
Both of my parents died before drawing social security, they suffered a
complete loss on all the money paid into it.
------
sctb
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9274602](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9274602)
------
crowdfundimpact
Question: What about Title III?
I've seen mentions in this thread of it coming out by the end of the year.
What are other peoples thoughts?
------
iamtrask
pure democracy via capitalism... interesting. Are the masses smarter than the
1% is generous?
------
anigbrowl
I'm more interested in the Title III changes supposedly coming down the pipe,
where you can file regulation D and then raise up to $1m from non-accredited
investors, but _engaging in general solicitation._
This would be absolutely killer for independent films, which are badly in need
of a financial boost at the bottom end of the market, and which in many ways
resemble a specialized startup. On the negative side, they don't have a
recurring revenue model of the same sort as a traditional product or service.
On the positive side, the business process/manufacturing path of a film is
very well understood.
Right now, some films are successfully crowdfunded. It works very well for
documentariesthat address a topic which already has a dedicated interest
community, and some kinds of fictional projects eg _Super Troupers 2_ met its
$2m funding target in something ridiculous like 48 hours. But crowdfunding is
_very_ heavily geared towards projects that have a pre-existing audience,
sometimes through participation of a Famous Person. If you're trying to launch
a film from scratch it's way harder, and it's harder again if you're not
targeting a very specific demographic (which is why you see a disproportionate
number of LGBT films on crowdfunding sites - it's a demographic that is
underserved by Hollywood and one that's easy to connect with from a marketing
standpoint). Paradoxically, the less money you are looking for, the more
difficult it can be.
Small indie films already go down the regulation D route - pre-filing with the
SEC, and then raising production/marketing costs through a combination of
presales to distributors and by offering a limited number of equity blocks to
accredited investors. But this is very very time-consuming. There are things
like tax incentives to help, but they require a lot of administrative overhead
and are more targeted at mid-sized projects from established producers, eg
California tax incentives require a minimum budget of $1 million, presumably
so to make the state's administrative overhead worthwhile.
It would be a huge change for indie films to be able to do general
solicitation for sub-$1m budgets, and offset the lack of brand identity by
offering investment participation instead, notwithstanding the high risks
involved. Unfortunately, it looks like there won't be any movement on this
before October of this year, meaining the earliest that Title III crowdfunding
will take off is in 2016, nearly 3 years after the final implementation
deadline set out in the 2012 legislation. I don't know if this is the fault of
the SEC itself or if the agency is too underfunded to go any faster, but it's
quite frustrating for those of us who'd like to raise capital int he micro-
equity space.
[https://fundwisdom.com/article/brian-thopsey/title-iii-
equit...](https://fundwisdom.com/article/brian-thopsey/title-iii-equity-
crowdfunding-update-nonaccredited-investors)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google finally puts the Google into Google App Engine - sudhirj
https://developers.google.com/appengine/docs/python/search/overview
======
sudhirj
Here's the official announcement:
[http://googleappengine.blogspot.in/2012/05/looking-for-
searc...](http://googleappengine.blogspot.in/2012/05/looking-for-search-find-
it-on-google.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Apex lets you build, deploy, and manage AWS Lambda functions with ease - davedx
http://apex.run/
======
cdnsteve
Isn't this an anti-pattern? I mean, Lambda is suppose to eliminate the need
for servers and server admin work. However, working with their services, like
Lambda, are so tedious that solutions like Apex and Serverless have to be put
on top of them. So now you have to learn to use a "Serverless Framework" to
abstract the complexity of a serverless service?
In my view, they got it wrong. If the service is too cumbersome to use and
requires these extra frameworks to actually use them effectively, then there's
a fundamental problem with the service it relies on.
~~~
felixgallo
you need to consider the alternative. I've been running unix boxes for 30
years, and even though it's node.js-based, even though it's amazon's usual
byzantine nonsense, even I think Lambda is a total game changer in the making.
~~~
beat
Not just from a deployment standpoint, but from a development standpoint!
Lambda enforces boundaries and clarity, and strongly encourages simplicity.
So, so much better than monolithic app servers.
------
franciscop
A bit of background: it's the first company from TJ [1], one of the creators
of Express JS [2] and a collaborator to Node.js [3]. I've been following TJ's
work for a while :)
[1] [https://medium.com/apex-software/announcing-apex-software-
in...](https://medium.com/apex-software/announcing-apex-software-
inc-5008c454002#.edoatcp56)
[2] [https://strongloop.com/strongblog/tj-holowaychuk-
sponsorship...](https://strongloop.com/strongblog/tj-holowaychuk-sponsorship-
of-express/)
[3] [https://medium.com/@tjholowaychuk/farewell-node-
js-4ba9e7f3e...](https://medium.com/@tjholowaychuk/farewell-node-
js-4ba9e7f3e52b#.k4lo44tdt)
~~~
sotojuan
A bit more than just Express: Mocha, Jade, ejs, superagent, Koa, etc.
------
pmontra
I didn't try it yet but it seems very useful.
I don't see a way to bind a function to a URL on the Amazon API gateway. Is it
a missing feature or did I miss it in the documentation? I ask because setting
up the URLs that map to functions is the most annoying task with Lambda and
must be automated.
~~~
inopinatus
It doesn't surprise me that people want to do that, but the design intention
of Lambda is to invoke it asynchronously via writes to dynamodb, s3, sqs, IoT
etc. I wouldn't make any assumption that someone building tools for Lambda is
going to prioritise integration with the API Gateway and its somewhat alien
synchronous behaviour.
The best fitted Lambda apps are going to have an event-sourced CQRS style, I
think. AWS IoT is kinda the last piece of that puzzle to fall into place.
~~~
southpolesteve
There is nothing wrong with using lambda to synchronously respond to user
facing API requests. It actually works really well and I would highly
recommend it. Were doing it in production at ~15 million calls/day.
~~~
Touche
Isn't it expensive though?
~~~
southpolesteve
That is the best part! It is cheaper! We had a node service that went from
$2500/mo to $400/mo just by switching form Ec2 to Lambda. That is the most
apples to apples comparison I can give you. Other services were split up or
rewritten, but honestly my gut feeling tells me they are costing 10x-50x less.
IMO Autoscaling ec2 instances to daily traffic is not a trivial problem and
you'll never get the granularity you can with Lambda
~~~
leoalves
You are also saving in not having someone maintaining and making sure the
server is always online. Even if it was the same price, not having to worry
about the server is a big plus
------
rambos
I just started using AWS Lambda, can someone explain why this would be better
than using AWS console/sdk?
~~~
leoalves
I don't use apex. I use serverless. but it's probably the same idea. All the
work of transpiling, minifing, creating lambdas, api gateway, aws resources,
stages etc... are done automatically from the command line. You don't need to
compile/transpile your code, create a zip, upload to s3, create a lambda
import the zip from s3, create the endpoint, connect to the lambda, create the
api gateway template, etc... And do this every time you change something in
your code. It gets frustrating really fast when doing it manually.
~~~
rambos
awesome thanks.
------
poyu
I'm using Serverless framework now, but given that Apex can run codes other
than JS and Python, might as well give it a try!
[https://github.com/serverless/serverless](https://github.com/serverless/serverless)
------
reubano
> curl
> [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apex/apex/master/install.s...](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apex/apex/master/install.sh)
> | sh
When did package manager go out of style?
~~~
vertex-four
As soon as people realised there was an easier way than building and testing
packages on 8 different distros, then having people whine because they don't
act "right" for each distro. Packaging takes a lot of time out of development
work.
~~~
reubano
so does that mean there's no equivalent of `pypi` or `npm` for go? Or is the
point to not impose any requirements on the user?
------
rajington
If you're really interested in a serverless stack, check out
[https://github.com/anaibol/awesome-
serverless](https://github.com/anaibol/awesome-serverless)
------
southpolesteve
Apex is totally awesome. Especially if you are just concerned with Lambda. But
if your looking for something that integrates with both Lambda and API gateway
check out the tool I wrote:
[https://github.com/bustlelabs/shep](https://github.com/bustlelabs/shep)
~~~
sagichmal
It's more than a little crass to hijack a post for a project with multiple
advertisements for your own, competing project.
~~~
jkahn
That's majorly overstating it. I disagree. It's interesting and relevant.
------
mahmud
Salesforce is not gonna like this. They already have a "cloud" programming
environment called Apex.
[https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-
us.apexcode.m...](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-
us.apexcode.meta/apexcode/apex_intro_what_is_apex.htm)
~~~
warfangle
And it's a special kind of hell.
Reserved for people who talk at the movies.
~~~
geertj
I've used Apex and I had a completely different experience. The very tight
platform integration with force.com, SOSQL, resource management, builtin
testing and api framework made it a very productive experience to me. And I
say this with a long background in C, C++ and Python.
~~~
warfangle
Having to ship your code back to the mothership to run unit tests made it
impossible to run TDD (~30 second overhead on each test run). That along with
the test coverage requirements made it a pain on the first level. Unless
you're using their utterly abysmal in-browser editor.
On the second level is if you're building an app that needs to talk
bidirectionally to salesforce on a per customer (app install) basis. Each
salesforce site has their own WSDL URLs. That makes sense if all you're doing
is building something out for your own Salesforce site.
But if you're building something installable over their marketplace .... it's
almost impossible to have a seamless user experience, from the customer's
point of view.
------
davedx
Note: I stumbled across this while Github stalking TJ Holowaychuk to see what
he was up to these days. :)
------
homero
Still waiting for php
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: A portal to share mnemonic learning hacks and tricks - nanospeck
http://www.spellogram.com
======
nanospeck
@zoidb I agree, there could be multiple answers. I'm eager to know if there
are any other frameworks that you suggest I can use. My intention is to have
the voting and badge system of SO and the easy collaboration system of
Wikipedia (which uses MediaWiki framework). Instead of the MediaWiki framework
I like TiddlyWiki but it'll take a long time for me to integrate voting and
badges system into it. May be I'll do that once this idea of mnemonic building
is validated. So this was the quickest safe path (tried and tested framework)
I could follow to validate my idea. Do you have any suggestions?
------
zoidb
Nice though I'm now sure if I like the stackoverflow format for this. This
format works extremely well for quickly getting to a single concise answer via
search but will these answers index well in search engines? Also where in
stack overflow you are typically looking for the single, best answer for this
there can often be more than one valid answer.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Global warming could cool down northern temperatures in winter - J3L2404
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101117114028.htm
======
iwr
This reminds me of an old episode of South Park.
[http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/155014/learning-the-
tr...](http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/155014/learning-the-
truth#tab=related)
"Feeling warm is a sign of the last stages of hypothermia"
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Who Owns Facebook? The Definitive Who's Who Guide to Facebook Wealth - angadsg
http://whoownsfacebook.com
======
postit
No one listen to the same artist over and over for the rest of their lives,
facebook is living its hype moment what's great, see what happened to many
internet companies. Nobody rules forever.
If Mark could build facebook with US$25K I don't imagine what he can do with
U$20.4Bi, so Mr Zuck sell those stake right now.
------
jc123
In my opinion, we'll have to wait for the definitive guide to Facebook wealth:
Facebook S-1 when they eventually file for IPO.
------
DilipJ
This list is a testament to the importance of networks for startups.
------
thinkcomp
Well, at least this particular article is transparent about the worship of
wealth going on.
"When you're rich, they think you really know." --Tevye, "If I Were A Rich
Man," Fiddler on the Roof
------
reso
Its great to see so many employees on that list. No one can say the early-
birds didn't get their share.
~~~
vaksel
not really.
Zuckerberg, Moskovitz, Saverin, Hughes were all founders.
The rest were C-level executives, most of which were brought on later through
connections.
The only real employee is Callahan, which owns .08% of the company...and it's
very telling that there are no other rank and file employees on the list.
And .08% is peanuts, if you were a programmer in a company that got bought for
100 million, your stake would get you a grand total of $80,000.
~~~
karzeem
The ownership percentages listed on the site only sum to 72.669%, so there's a
lot of stock not accounted for. I'd imagine that there are lots of relatively
low-profile employees with 7-8 figure stakes of that dark 27.331%.
~~~
rokhayakebe
I think I read in different places that the option pool for a startup is
usually around 10-15%. So assuming those guys on the list are not part of it,
and FB allocated half of it to employees, that is nearly 4B (at a 80B
valuation). If you split that evenly between 2000 employees that is $2M per
employee. Ok, I know my math gots to be wrong. Can someone help?
~~~
reso
Actually, that's not too far off. If you were hired pre-2010 your stock is
probably worth > $1 million by now. That goes up by some constant multiple for
every year previous to that.
------
kloncks
How can one find out the percents owned in a public company?
For example, can anyone tell me how I'd find out how much O Omidyar owns of
eBay? Or, where I could find such information for public companies?
~~~
rwmj
He owns 142,366,408 shares of eBay according to:
<http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=EBAY+Major+Holders>
I can't currently find the number of shares outstanding in eBay, but I'm sure
it's somewhere under that Yahoo page. Edit: found it: 1.30B shares so he owns
around 11%.
<http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=EBAY>
Transactions made by insiders are also quite interesting:
<http://finance.yahoo.com/q/it?s=EBAY>
~~~
kloncks
Transactions are really interesting. Thanks for sharing!
------
ebaysucks
Is Jeff Rotschild a member of the (in)famous Rotschild family that owns large
interests in international banking?
~~~
Empedocles99
Are you referring to the "Rothschild" family?
------
joe_the_user
_"Russian Internet holding company, Digital Sky, grabbed 1.96% of Facebook
stock in May of 2009 when it spent $200 million at a $10 billion valuation.
Digital Sky, which is largely backed by a wealthy Russian oligarch, is the
owner of Facebook clone VKontakte, the largest social network in Russia."_
And remember an "oligarch" mean essentially a criminal who used his
connections to loot the wealth of the former Soviet Union in the 1990s. What
is primary goal of such a criminal? Sound investing ... or any investment that
gets his money out of Russia?
------
angadsg
Cameron Winklevoss Status: Enemy Facebook stake: .022%
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Hands down, this is the best contact form online. - darvy
http://realart.com/contact.php
======
throwaway420
Define best.
Is it the most creative? There might be an argument for that.
Is it very interesting and memorable? Sure, you've succeeded from that
perspective.
But is it the most easy to use? Not a chance, and from that perspective it's
very underwhelming. You have to click on the site's contact form, and then
you're overwhelmed with a video feed thing. Then you have to click a teletype
button and you're presented with a larger view of the typewriter. My first
instinct was to click on the "Your Message Here" and start typing. When that
didn't work I was about to give up until I noticed that I had to scroll down
and enter the message in another form. Like a typical graphic designer, you
designed something that fits your large monitors well, but is kind of crappy
on a typical small notebook.
I can also see a potential customer being confused not only by how to use
this, but also seeing other publicly posted messages and fearing contacting
you not knowing if their private requests might be accidentally publicly
posted.
------
nppc
Its not
~~~
darvy
How many contact forms have you used where your message is printed via WWII
equipment? ;)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Windows on ARM needs more support from developers - kristianp
https://andregarzia.com/2020/01/windows-on-arm-needs-more-support-from-developers.html
======
dblohm7
Part of the problem IMHO is that Windows 10 ARM64 devices are shipping in S
Mode by default. In other words, Windows Store apps only unless users change
it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Dr. NakaMats: The World's Most Prolific Inventor - rpruiz
http://www.motherboard.tv/2010/3/3/dr-nakamats-patently-strange-the-world-s-most-prolific-inventor
======
greenlblue
"Starving your brain of oxygen makes for better inventions" - I have no idea
what to make of this. I think he's trolling.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The head of luxury at Facebook and Instagram - JumpCrisscross
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/08/fashion/facebook-instagram-luxury-brands.html
======
spectramax
When I was growing up, my father used to say "Why do you want to pay for a
shirt and then have them turn you into a billboard with the logo on the chest
pocket?" It was silly at the time, but I always recall it when I see people
buying luxury goods from Dior, LV, Chanel, etc. Luxury goods to my father was
his collection bespoke suits from his favorite tailor to whom he was a
customer but also a good friend. This wasn't on Savile Row or some haute
fashion boutique in New York, but in a small town where I grew up. There was a
direct... human connection between the consumer and the buyer. There is
something to be said about craftsmanship-based luxury goods and services
without the pretense of big-corp brand names, analytics, extravagant showrooms
and marketing campaigns.
~~~
hnhg
Yeah but a large and valid function of luxury goods is wealth signalling. You
might find this lamentable but it has practical social utility.
~~~
warp_factor
yes, everything is signaling. If you get a brandless tshirt, you are also
signaling that you are too smart to buy the luxury brand.
~~~
selune
Everyone above some margin of income indulges in a consumption of luxury
goods. I don't see how wearing a cheap t-shirt but driving a good car or
playing Playstation sitting on a comfy expensive couch is _smarter_ than
buying a pair of expensive sneakers.
It's just signalling to _your_ crowd.
~~~
function_seven
Form and Function.
If I can find clothing that functions just as well as logo'd versions, but for
less money, then that makes sense.
With cars, gaming consoles, etc., there's a valid reason to want to spend more
money if you're looking for function. PlayStation has games that you can't
find on other consoles, or maybe you just like the controller better.
The car I drive is more expensive than I need, but I didn't spend the money to
signal anything to anyone. I bought it because it has features the alternative
doesn't.
If those expensive sneakers do their job better, then great. But if you're
dropping $500 on a limited edition, just for the design, then it's a different
calculation. (I am NOT saying it's stupid to do this, just differentiating it
from buying features vs. design)
~~~
chrisan
> I bought it because it has features the alternative doesn't.
How do we know that you aren't signaling you want that brand? You are just
some dude in a Ford, who for all we know is signaling you want a Ford over a
Chevy
~~~
function_seven
I guess you just have to trust me. And, trust me, this car if anything signals
that I’m boring as shit. The color is bland and styling is okay. I spent the
money for the power seats and the extra room in the back.
Funny enough, it is a Ford, though I’ve also owned Chevys in the past.
------
duado
Yikes! Bad day for the PR flack who pitched this story. She probably didn’t
think the headline would end up “she takes what you’ve told Facebook and sells
it to luxury brands.” Goes to show how once you’ve gotten on the wrong side of
the narrative it’s very hard to come back.
~~~
iliketosleep
Yes this is obviously the case. Feels like the NY times is trying to fit a
square peg in a round hole. The work she describes is nothing surprising and
is quite benign compared to various facebook scandals we've seen. More than
anything, what the article highlights is modus operandi of mainstream media:
rather than reporting news objectively, they package stories into narratives
popular with their target market. Great for creating politcal polarization..
~~~
chillacy
That is the end result but I doubt it's intentional, probably in an effort to
try to get clicks (and therefore ad impressions) they write stories people are
interested in reading, and people are interested in things that fit the
narrative.
But then again there are some fun Hearst quotes about being able to spin
anything he wanted so who knows.
------
yboris
There's a marvelous book _The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in
Everyday Life Hardcover_ by Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson which argues
convincingly that we are often pushed by motives we don't recognize, and do
things for reasons other than what we proclaim: much of what we do is
motivated by signalling, even if we are not consciously aware of it. Highly
recommend this book!
~~~
mud_dauber
Thanks for the recommendation! I was about to start a search for books on
signaling.
------
cm2012
I've worked as a marketer for 10 years, but don't like working on marketing
luxury products. It has entirely different rules and goals then your usual
direct to consumer stuff.
~~~
jmheinkle
Elaborate?
~~~
cm2012
With luxury goods, the brand is the product and the value is from the brand,
so you can't easily iterate with one off sales.
If I'm selling a new type of toothbrush, or a software that helps teachers
grade homework with AI, I can make some ads, see how close they get to the
needed ROI and tweak it. I can test marketing different aspects or selling
points of the product and getting results iteratively.
If I'm selling a new luxury handbag, I will never, ever sell it at a
reasonable ROI from just a set of ads. You have to build the whole eco system
at once (kind of a chicken and egg problem). People have to see influencers
using it, celebrities having them, the right kind of feeling in the ads, the
right news articles, being sold in the right stores, etc. My first marketing
job was at a start-up denim brand trying to become big and I observed and
researched a lot there about how it works.
~~~
shostack
As a marketer who came up on the performance side, I feel your pain.
What would you say the state of analytics is on that side of things? Is
attribution sufficiently advanced to get some read on the impact of various
influences, celeb and PR hits, product placement, etc?
Even as a senior marketer confident in my skills, so much of the luxury space
seems very much like an exercise of needing to put all your eggs in the one
basket of a big launch. None of the steady burn of some more performance-
driven plays with the usual iteration on ads and funnel metrics and such.
~~~
cosmie
Attribution is as sufficiently advanced as needed to get approval to give BBDO
another blank check for another hairbrained scheme that'll fund yet another
award for BBDO. While concurrently being undermined and considered not
reliable or advanced enough if the numbers it provides do not lead to another
blank check for the creative agency.
I come from the performance side, but currently work with a bunch of CPG
clients with products that run the gamut between commodity to luxury.
I specifically work on creating analytics and attribution frameworks, because
these companies are fine with fuzzy hand-wavy "lift studies" for tv
commercials and stupid in store display stunts. But they hold a double
standard and anything digital has to be concretely measured to defend its
budget.
It's actually pretty easy to create robust analytics and attribution in the
space. But it's mainly a process thing, to be able to sprinkle around enough
unique traits or identifiers along the way to measure at an aggregate level
what the impact was. It tends to rarely be done though, due to a lack of that
level of operational discipline for brand marketers and agencies, or due to
the desire to deliberately sabatage the numbers because they don't paint a
particularly flattering picture. So more often than not you end up with a
botched execution on the small details that were required for proper
attribution, then the resulting numbers being full of enough holes to spin the
data however is convenient. Or someone slapping on some poorly integrated
software that spits out a number that's taken as the holy grail, "cuz AI said
so".
... which leads to a terrible cycle of distrust in analytics and attribution
on the brand side, leading to fewer initiatives that prioritize it.
~~~
shostack
Interesting. We share a lot of frustrations and challenges.
What sort of spend levels and data volumes do you typically need to see for
the lift studies you do with TV and CTV? Do you typically isolate to specific
markets for that?
~~~
cosmie
It really just depends. In the case of one retail client, we have carte
blanche access to all of their data, from marketing systems to POS data to app
location data. It makes it incredibly easy to "lazy load" a lift study after
the fact, by looking for anomalies in behavior that are correlated with the
creative. Rather than a standard test and control, we can essentially tailor
the model to a per-store or per-region level and rollup lift from there. It's
less about the spend level and data volume, and more about the data
completeness.
For CPG clients, it's more of a pain. Those usually involve really complex
interagency relationships, with discontinuity in both processes and data
access. And in a lot of cases, they may have access to a retail partners POS
or loyalty data, but can't share it directly with us as a third party agency,
and there's a game of telephone where we have to coach them on what to ask for
and provide to us (in whatever form they're allowed), while being blind to the
data and data/system structures. So a lot gets lost in translation, with the
spend level having to be large enough to compensate for however dysfunction
that process is for that program and client.
That said, I'm lucky enough to be a passive observe to that most of the time.
Another manager under my boss is responsible for those more traditional lift
studies. I have an unusual background in that I've done a lot of process
development work, web analytics, and data engineering/management. So I'm only
brought into those projects when we have more technically sophisticated needs.
------
eitland
> Ms. Oluwole’s staff creates profiles — compiled from user information, like
> date of birth, ZIP code, education and work history, favorite music, pages
> followed — to pinpoint ad targets for brands. For several years, Facebook
> and Instagram also incorporated information from third-party brokers like
> Acxiom but such data compilation was banned when the General Data Protection
> Regulation went into effect in the European Union in May.
> ... Ms. Oluwole said: “We no longer get information from external sources.
> We can’t see what kind of car someone bought, because we don’t work with
> that data provider anymore.”
Two observations:
1.) Yep. My comments the other day were right in how far Facebook goes when
they can. (Yes, there is more juicy stuff there.)
2.) While I view cookie banners as a sign that a number of companies really
really don't "get" GDPR it seems it is already slowly changing behaviour
behind the scenes.
------
jeffrallen
She seems like a smart, resourceful person. It is too bad she's harming her
personal brand by allowing Facebook to use her like this.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Transit of Venus - sol1_sc
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/2012-venus-transit.html
A sight that probably no one currently alive will see again, the next is 2117.
======
ColinWright
I watched the transit in 2004 - fascinating. Sadly, pretty much the whole of
the UK is forecast to be completely covered with cloud at sunrise, when the
transit will be in its final stages, and I probably won't get to see it.
I'll be trying. I can drive up to about 6 hours to get to any point that's got
a good chance of seeing through the clouds. So I'm watching the forecast, and
hoping it works.
I'd like to have seen both transits.
~~~
keithpeter
Cloud; rain in Birmingham and so it goes, but I'll be up early on Wednesday.
Roughly projected image from 2004 just after second contact - improvised with
finder and cardboard early on as I had to attend a Very Important Meeting that
day (about what totally forgotten).
[http://www.sohcahtoa.org.uk/legacy/blog/images/venus_transit...](http://www.sohcahtoa.org.uk/legacy/blog/images/venus_transit.jpg)
------
asmithmd1
Has anyone else noticed that a "once in a lifetime" astronomical event happens
about every 6 months?
~~~
sp332
Improbable things happen pretty often in the universe :)
~~~
wmeredith
The sheer scale of the universe does funny things with probability.
------
bemmu
I tried to figure out when to see this where I am, and found the easiest way
was to install Stellarium and then fast forward in time to see how the pass
happens.
------
sparknlaunch
For those wanting to view the transit and not permanently lose their sight,
there are a few ways to watch it+. I personally prefer option 6:
1 use of eclipse shades
2 pinhole projectors
3 project a magnified view
4 project a magnified image through a closed-loop device
5 viewed directly when magnified
6 live webcast
\+ <http://www.transitofvenus.org/june2012/eye-safety>
~~~
rjsamson
If you can't find eclipse shades, you can grab some #14 shade welding glass
from a local welding supplier - a piece of 4" x 5" shouldn't cost you much
more than about $3.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: spaceuncharted.com - wizzo
I was tired of games like Mafia Wars and wanted a phone-based MMO Strategy game where hundreds of players could actually engage each other on a 2D map, so I made one.<p>I track the state of the game each night so we can display a visual timeline of territory controlled by each alliance. (example: http://bit.ly/q5CFhU) I use jQuery mobile for the front end so it runs on most phones (via Phonegap) as well as modern web browsers. The server side is handled by Java Servlets and MySQL.<p>This started as a hobby - I'm not a developer by training - so I am very interested in feedback, suggestions, and ideas for improvements.
======
crazyj48s
This caught my eye because I'm a lurker here on Hacker News who actually plays
this game! I'm super excited you are posting here because I really want to
learn more about your server architecture. Can you provide more info on your
java stack as well as the kind of hardware is running the site? Previous games
had 300+ users, so scalability shouldn't be an issue yet, but have you planned
for that?
Once criticism: For the time I've been playing, the game has been evolving
rather quickly, and new features seem to have taken precedence over client
stability.
~~~
wizzo
We've actually taken a pretty homebrew approach and aren't using any external
frameworks - just Tomcat and MySQL. On the hardware side we're using Linode
shared servers so that we can quickly and easily scale up or down as needed.
The game code is pretty efficient - we've run tests with thousands of players
and had no problems, on modest hardware, so we're looking forward to growing
quickly!
It's true that we've had some stability issues at times, but we're trying to
cover a lot of platforms (Android, iOS, webOS, web) and add a lot of new
features to improve the game. Now that we've officially launched (on 10/1)
stability will definitely our #1 priority, though.
~~~
crazyj48s
Interesting - since this started as a hobby, any thoughts on open sourcing the
client or server code or documenting the client/server communication so the
community could build clients? I figure folks would be able to pretty easily
reverse engineer it with the web client now, anyways.
------
JonLim
I'm a bit late to the party but this looks like an interesting way to release
a mobile game.
Would you be interested in chatting over email? We'd love to throw you support
from PostageApp. :) Let me know!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Tesla reaches Model 3 production milestone and record 7,000-car week, says Musk - rmason
https://electrek.co/2018/07/01/tesla-model-3-production-milestone-record-total-production-elon-musk/
======
atombender
More comments here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17436604](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17436604)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Blockchain-Enabled Kiosks - bootload
https://www.fastcompany.com/40405379/these-blockchain-enabled-kiosks-make-coffee-farmers-more-money-and-let-you-verify-your-beans
======
bootload
_" Bext360 has spent the last 18 months training its algorithms to identify
dozens of cherry details. The unit makes an offer for the produce, and the
grower decides whether to accept. If the answer is “yes,” the money is wired
there and then to their cell phone."_
Any coffee bean experts here? Q. What details do you grade the beans? Is this
done chemical/analytical way? Do things like smell matter?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Physijs - Physics plugin for three.js (bonus: jenga example included) - minikomi
http://chandlerprall.github.com/Physijs/
======
mrcharles
That's pretty cool, but their framerate tracker doesn't work correctly in
chrome. Not sure what it's measuring but the rendering of the shapes on some
demos visibly starts to tank at sub 20fps, but the counter still says 60.
~~~
mrdoob2
Strange. What's your system?
------
Eduard
I like in my Chrome how the box generation keeps going on while the tab is
blurred/deselected, but simulation is halted... then, when focusing back on
the tab, a bunch of on-the-same-spot generated boxes get simulated again and
explode in all directions.
~~~
xxbondsxx
Chrome limits setTimeout() to 1 call per second when the tab loses focus. I
haven't gotten a chance to look at the code, but if three.js uses
requestAnimationFrame and the physics uses setTimeout, things might get out of
sync.
------
prezjordan
All of this is really cool, but why even bother running this in a web browser
when a desktop application will run it without turning my MacBook air into a
jet engine?
~~~
chadillac
That has to be the least forward thinking stance on this technology I've
heard.
Why hook a bunch of computers together? I can just put my files on a floppy
and give them to a friend.
Why do we need wireless internet? I can just run a cat5 cable without
sacrificing bandwidth.
To take any emerging technology at face value in it's infancy is doing a
disservice to not only the technology but yourself. The quality of graphics
and performance you're seeing here is comparable to late 90's early 00's 3d
performance. If you put in a little more thought you'll see that in the
relatively near future you'll be running full blown games via WebGL with
WebSockets and such directly in your browser. No need to install, no need to
compile, etc.
It's coming, I'm willing to bet we'll see it become common place within the
next decade.
------
xxbondsxx
I'm really excited about this; three.js brought 3D graphics to the casual
developer in a painless process, and now they'll get physics too. Great work
everyone!
------
jQueryIsAwesome
It crashes the browser (Chrome on W7) when i open them all and try to play
with them for a bit; also, in the "jenga" example i can go across other blocks
without touching them if i move the mouse fast enough. Really cool
nonetheless.
| {
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Judge Unexpectedly Imprisons Goldman Programmer - donohoe
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/judge-unexpectedly-imprisons-goldman-programmer/?src=twr
======
radicaldreamer
Funny how this guy's up for 8-10 years for stealing GS's high-frequency
trading algorithms while the people partially responsible in the derivatives,
mortgage, and insurance industries and the credit markets for the biggest
financial crisis ever are enjoying their bonuses and bailouts.
------
joshes
"Federal prosecutors acknowledged that in the ten weeks since the guilty
verdict, Mr. Aleynikov had not violated his bail conditions, which included
home detention with electronic monitoring."
Preposterous bullying. They are just trying to send a message to their best
buddies/cohorts at Goldman Sachs that they are willing to do whatever it takes
to appease them. We have seen this type of posturing time and time again.
------
CoachRufus87
"Prosecutors depicted Mr. Aleynikov, a Russian-born immigrant, as a brazen
thief..."
Pot calling the kettle black.
~~~
chollida1
How is a government lawyer a "brazen thief"?
~~~
joezydeco
I think he means Goldman, since the gov't is essentially prosecuting on
Goldman's behalf here.
~~~
chollida1
Fair enough:) It sounded like he was assuming the prosecutor was from Goldman.
------
cagey
"[federal prosecutors] explained that they were unable to put Mr. Aleynikov on
the “no-fly” list..."
I wonder why...? Seems like many manage to get on the NFL by accident, and the
feds can't manage put a "flight risk" on it? Who can they put on it?
------
cheez
"To buttress its argument, the government said that Mr. Aleynikov is going
through a divorce and “has an increasingly distant relationship with his older
daughter,” visiting “his children only on alternate weekends.”"
Why am I not surprised...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Caddy (web server) - maxt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caddy_(web_server)
======
tscs37
I've used Caddy for my Nextcloud instance. After some initial problems (how to
translate nginx config to Caddy) it's been probably the single best webserver
I've had the pleasure to use.
Automatic TLS from LetsEncrypt is basically the major seller of it, although
some of the other modules are very interesting as well.
I can only recommend this project.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
GitHub removes the ability to create anonymous gists - reimertz
https://blog.github.com/2018-02-18-deprecation-notice-removing-anonymous-gist-creation/
======
Jaepa
Well this is a bummer. While its not mentioned this sound like a casualty of
SESTA.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Learning the Language of Mathematics (2000) [pdf] - mutor
https://wac.colostate.edu/llad/v4n1/jamison.pdf
======
jostylr
This was written in May 2000, but the following bit sounds like it was written
May 2017.
> In conclusion, I want to confess what my real goals are in teaching this
> material. In a society in which information is passed in 60 second sound
> bites and reasoning limited to monosyllabic simple sentences, careful,
> analytic thinking is in danger of extinction. And this is a grave danger in
> a democratic society beset by a host of very complex moral and social
> problems.
------
cttet
"This is unacceptable because mathematics is written as English is written in
complete, grammatical sentences." Unfortunately natural languages have many
flaws and will easily falls in contradiction like Russell's paradox. Even
formal mathematical axiomatic systems encountered Gödel's incompleteness..
Maybe something like constructive category theory would give us a better way
to formally put ideas in ...
------
MrManatee
The article says: 'A definition MUST be an "if and only if" statement.'
It is an established convention in mathematics to write definitions in the
form "X is Y if P(X)". For example: "A metric space M is complete if every
Caychy sequence in M converges in M".
One may question whether this is a good convention, but it is a convention
that most mathematicians tend to follow.
~~~
jordigh
That's because the other direction is implicit.
"X is a rectangle if it's a quadrilateral with all right angles."
Okay, so you can use this statement to look at an object and then check if
it's a quadrilateral with all right angles, and then conclude that, by
definition, it's a rectangle.
But for the other direction, if I tell you it's a rectangle, it's implicit
that you can conclude all right angles. Contrapositively, it's also implicit
that if I say it doesn't have all right angles, you can conclude that it's not
a rectangle, i.e. that this condition has to be satisfied for anything worthy
of the "rectangle" name.
[https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/566565/are-if-
and-i...](https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/566565/are-if-and-iff-
interchangeable-in-definitions)
------
patkai
I wish we had such a paper for programming.
~~~
walid
What's the difference? Discrete mathematical concepts are applicable to
programming as is without modification.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Automatically Generating Commit Messages from Diffs - ece
https://arxiv.org/abs/1708.09492
======
jjuhl
No, no, no. What I want to see in a commit message is what _the person who
made the change_ thought the reason behind the change was.
Anything generated based just on the basis of the diff (what actually changed)
is going to always fall short as to capturing the _reason_.
The "what" I can always see myself by just loking at the change diff. The
"why" is the important bit and no algorithm can ever give me that.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
University of Tokyo lab suspected of altering data in 43 scientific papers - denzil_correa
http://news.sciencemag.org/education/2013/07/forty-three-university-tokyo-papers-are-tainted-says-japanese-news-report
======
greenyoda
Duplicate:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6102208](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6102208)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
My Conversation with Peter Thiel about Apartheid… and Its Unfolding Aftermath - jhonovich
https://medium.com/@JulieLH/my-conversation-with-peter-thiel-about-apartheid-and-its-aftermath-3fdf4249b08d#.wqhkrtnq6
======
arkitaip
I totally believe that the younger Thiel would support Apartheid and
absolutely deny it years later. His moral compass seems to be the kind you
find in a toy vending machine.
------
exolymph
Prediction: this will rise to the front page and promptly get flagged off.
------
dudul
Can't wait for this election to be over so we can stop seeing these posts on
HN.
------
chinese_dan
Well, there's no real way to prove it because it's your word against his.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
An illustrated guide to our collapsing Antarctic glaciers - srikar
http://qz.com/209528/an-illustrated-guide-to-our-collapsing-antarctic-glaciers/
======
jcr
If you haven't seen it, the following video is amazing. The glacier that's
falling apart is about the size of Manhattan.
"CHASING ICE captures largest glacier calving ever filmed"
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC3VTgIPoGU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC3VTgIPoGU)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
PHP Developers - Wake up - hybrid11
http://www.reddit.com/r/PHP/comments/1m64m0/phpdev_wake_up/
======
wat0
why post a link to lebbit when you could have just posted the link to the
actual post...
this is bait
~~~
ameoba
Linking to a Reddit submission that links to a blog that links to a tweet that
links to a blog that talks about mailing list drama.
...and it all boils down to "Fuck you, I'm leaving & I think I'm important
enough to cry about it for 5 pages".
~~~
hybrid11
The link from reddit links to the PHP mailing list.
Anyhow, it seems like that's the fundamental issue with PHP internals.
~~~
ameoba
...and it shows.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Grimwire.js: A RESTful Browser OS that does Peer-to-peer over WebRTC - wesray
http://blog.grimwire.com/#2013-04-04-grimwire.md
======
nkoren
Very interesting! I've long dreamed of an architecture which does exactly
this, and is geared towards implementing fully distributed social networks.
P2P and social networking were made for each other -- it should be a lot more
efficient to peer with your actual social circle rather than a group of
strangers, since the data you're most interested in is more likely to already
exist somewhere within your own social circle.
Imagine a simple Twitter-like system built on top of this, for example. Each
web client would function as a store-and-forward. Every time you connect with
a friend, both parties would reconcile the latest posts from all friends that
they share in common. In this way, information on social networks could be
disseminated rapidly and efficiently with no centralisation whatsoever.
Seems to me like just two other bits of technology would be needed for this:
ubiquitous dual-key authentication, and a good UID system. I don't think
either of those would be a problem, and I really hope somebody does this,
since centralised social networks bother me more than a little bit.
~~~
lmm
I've been working on-and-off on such a thing, and was hoping this would
provide a useful bit of technology. Sadly, when I scrolled to the bottom it
seems like they haven't got the WebRTC part working, which has always been the
hardest part - it's not easy to run something like a web server in the
browser.
~~~
pfraze
Author here, that's correct, we haven't implemented the WebRTC binding yet.
The way grim's communication works, we put REST semantics and protocol over
messaging transports. We've already done it over Web Workers' postMessage API,
and don't expect any trouble doing the same over WebRTC's DataChannels. In
fact, the blog post's content is served by a Worker server which proxies out
to a markdown file on the remote host, converts to HTML using
<https://github.com/chjj/marked>, and responds.
------
wmf
P2P frameworks sound interesting, but I'm very skeptical of any "browser OS"
since we already have browser tabs.
~~~
marssaxman
I don't understand the phrase "browser OS", but the description of what
they're actually building sounds like they are decoupling the webapp frontend
from the datastore backend, allowing you to use webapps without having to give
control of your data over to the publisher of the app. Maybe I am
misunderstanding the project, and I don't see why they need to call that a
"browser OS", but at root it seems like a pretty cool idea.
~~~
pfraze
You're right about the decoupling, and the key mechanism for doing that is a
multi-process program model built on Web Workers. With small, independent
programs populating the page, you gain versatility and reusability, as
components can be swapped and configured by the user. Compare this to the
monolithic client of one-tab/one-app, and you have the answer to the
grandparent post's question.
Because of the custom program model, Grimwire's concerns include program
lifecycle, resource management, permissioning, peer connectivity, and UI
toolset, so that's why we call it an OS.
~~~
marssaxman
Got it. Sounds like you guys are actually building something I fantasized
about while I was working at Google, while I grew steadily more disillusioned
with their whole data-warehouse business model...
Got any work for someone who has experience with large distributed systems but
is basically allergic to frontend web technologies?
~~~
pfraze
Yeah, no doubt we could use the expertise. Shoot me an email at
[email protected]
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Bob Lutz Talks Tesla and Panel Gaps - 11thEarlOfMar
https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/amp28008116/tesla-model-3-build-quality-bob-lutz/
======
DeonPenny
The Bob lutz praising tesla?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Run SQL queries against MetaFilter's database - thorax
http://mefi.from.bz/
======
thorax
Can we see some more sites do this? Really cool stuff.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
GPU Accelerated Voxel Physics Solver - gableroux
http://www.00jknight.com/blog/gpu-accelerated-voxel-physics-solver
======
gableroux
A very good example of Compute Shaders for the recent release of Unity 5.6
that supports Metal for MacOS and iOS. This is just awesome, grab the project
on Github and try it! It's not perfect, but still very impressive. All the
gravity is being calculated using the GPU :)
Kudos to Jason Knight
Compute Shaders:
[https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/ComputeShaders.html](https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/ComputeShaders.html)
Note that documentation is not yet updated concerning Metal and MacOS + iOS
support
Apple Metal:
[https://developer.apple.com/metal/](https://developer.apple.com/metal/)
Unity 5.6 added Compute Shaders for Metal:
[https://unity3d.com/unity/roadmap](https://unity3d.com/unity/roadmap)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Lead asked about corporate accounts. - grinnick
I started a "startup" 3 months ago and I've been plugging away at coding and marketing it on the side. I've got a couple of paying customers but things are still pretty raw.<p>Today a person reached out to me to ask who to contact about corporate accounts. I feel like I need to take advantage of this small opportunity but I'm not really sure how.<p>It would take me 2 to 4 weeks to have the app ready for enterprise use (as I imagine it) at even the most basic level.<p>What's my play?
======
rickdale
Setup it up at the most basic level. Use this customer as a beta for it. Make
it awesome for them, expand, plan to release for more corporate accounts after
you feel like you are ready.
------
grimtrigger
Probably depends on the app/service
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Hurting For Cash, Online Porn Tries New Tricks - uladzislau
http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/02/17/276897125/hurting-for-cash-online-porn-tries-new-tricks
======
beloch
Porn has long been at the forefront of internet technology, driving next-gen
solutions that eventually trickle down to many other sectors. However, when
faced with declining sales due to privacy fears, Kink (and many other sites)
are shrugging off privacy concerns in order to make a buck off of invasive
advertising ("Honey, why am I seeing so many ads for condoms and nipple clamps
today?"). Talk about self-destructive business practices!
North American society is _far_ too prudish about sex; especially sex that
isn't deemed "mainstream". BDSM themes in particular have long been used by
Hollywood to characterize particularly vile antagonists. Mainstream sexual
mores are becoming less parochial, but not nearly fast enough to alleviate
privacy concerns for most people. Acworth really ought to take this a _lot_
more seriously. His attitude ranks up there with the Sony exec's who figured
rootkits were a good idea! It really is a recipe for disaster when pirated
goods carry fewer risks than legitimately purchased goods!
~~~
broolstoryco
>when faced with declining sales due to privacy fears
thats where bitcoin comes in
~~~
saurik
To verify, you mean by ruining any idea of privacy by making all transactions
public? (It isn't clear if you are actually saying that bitcoin would increase
the privacy experienced in this situation.)
~~~
pgsandstrom
You wouldn't have to make a payment from "JOHN DOES ACCOUNT" to "PERVERTED
PORN ACCOUNT". You could easily set up several wallets in the middle,
obfuscation the transaction and gaining deniability.
However, beware! If your wife is an paranoid data scientist, she could still
find circumstantial evidence for your porn subscription.
~~~
saurik
So, if you aren't going through a remixer (which is the point at which my
paranoid data scientist friends point out "that doesn't even really help, at
least in the long run, if not even in the short run"; and it isn't like any
normal user is going to be doing this) the obfuscated wallet approach isn't
really helping you much, if nothing else due to timing correlations. Even
then, most normal people (the kind of people who are likely going to run into
this problem most often) aren't going to understand how to do anything other
than use the default features encoded into their wallet software (which are
remarkably deterministic in function, almost never obfuscates the change
making the middle steps trivially transparent, and generally don't provide any
control over which transactions will accidentally cluster). Bitcoin is simply
not trying to solve this problem: there are things bitcoin claims to solve,
and things bitcoin succeeds in solving (whether on purpose or as a side
effect), but "I want my transactions private" was never one of them. While it
would be awesome if it were true, not all things related to payments are made
better by bitcoin :/.
It also must be pointed out that you aren't just dealing with your spouse at
this point: you are dealing with everyone who might possibly care; maybe your
pastor is a "paranoid data scientist", or maybe the noisy person across the
street has taken up statistical correlation and inference as a new hobby.
Maybe someone makes a new service that helps companies screen employees, and
one of the things it does is scan the blockchain using some really epic
algorithm coming up with some kind of bogus (and questionably-legal) "morality
score" (I bring this up as there already have been companies constructed to do
this for data on Facebook). The transaction record of bitcoin is out there for
everyone to datamine, and if you make a mistake the record will still be there
and still be public years from now. There might even be new techniques
(whether bitcoin-specific, or generally in the fields of statistics or machine
learning) that will make this data more transparent in the future. The defense
model for "I don't want people I deal with to know about my porn addiction" of
bitcoin vs. even a normal credit card does not come out very strong.
~~~
pgsandstrom
Those are good objections. I guess the only safe way of dealing with bitcoins
is to get money into a wallet without in any way associating it with your real
life persona, which could be very tricky. And after that never ever use your
wallet to pay a service that is assigned to your real name.
Are there any good resources to read up on how the remixers work, and why they
cant be relied upon?
~~~
saurik
I do not have any resources related to that; the summary (as I vaguely
remember the arguments) came down to evidence being accumulated due to
reasonable caps on fees and delays (if giving your money to the remixer
occasionally ate 99% of the money and occasionally made it hold onto the money
for a year, you are no longer in a position to effectively utilize it)
combined with correlations on repeated transactions.
To be clear, though, my argument was simply to move the "data scientist" line
from "wallet obfuscation" (for which I then provided more concrete issues) to
"remixers", and then to point out that normal people (the kind of person who
didn't solve the underlying problem long ago using prepaid credit cards ;P)
aren't using remixers and are unlikely to begin using remixers (as they
probably aren't even using the more useful forms of wallet obfuscation: they
are probably relying on what their wallet software is doing by default).
------
hmsimha
> Acworth says no one has to worry about personal data getting sold to outside
> advertisers. "I shouldn't think anyone would really be interested in that.
> Who would want to buy data pertaining to whether somebody likes bondage or
> spanking?"
Hmm.. how about the same kinds of people who build websites that display
mugshot information, but allow you to pay a fee to have yours removed.
~~~
nwh
Porn habits on one side of the table, real name pulled from the credit card
used to pay for it on the other. $50 and this all disappears from the
internet!
------
bambax
> We're suffering what happened to the music industry a while back
Not really. Songs or artists are not perfect substitutes to one another; if
you want to listen to a specific song from a specific artist, you'll be
looking for that song and in most cases another song won't do. Therefore, if
it was possible to make this song absolutely unavailable via illegal means,
you'd have a very strong incentive to buy it.
Porn videos are mostly perfect substitutes to one another (in their respective
broad specialty; a gay sex video isn't a substitute to a straight sex video,
but a nurse video is a substitute to a teacher-student one).
Therefore, in order to make people pay for porn, the porn industry would have
to make _all_ free porn videos disappear, which is impossible.
It would seem they're in much direr straits than the music industry.
~~~
YokoZar
Don't be so sure. Some porn stars are brands unto themselves, and go on
stripping tours not dissimilar from musician's concerts.
Perhaps it's only a matter of time till we see pornography crowdfunding.
~~~
rickenharp
Pornography crowdfunding already exists:
[http://offbeatr.com/](http://offbeatr.com/)
~~~
bambax
Excellent! The logo is a little reminiscent of Ted
([http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1637725/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1637725/)),
is this on purpose?
Their fees are sky-high (30% of money collected) and the FAQ is not written in
very good English, so I'd be rather weary of using them, but the idea is
great!
------
awalton
Given where we are (hacker news) I'm astounded the first response to this
article wasn't "Use bitcoins!" since that's exactly the type of thing that it
is best at.
Then all you need to do is start explaining bitcoin to your significant other
just long enough for their eyes to go glassy, begging you to stop.
~~~
lightcatcher
Paying for porn with bitcoin puts all of your porn purchases on a public
ledger. I don't think too many people want that.
~~~
awalton
Let's be serious here, laundering a bitcoin is as easy as trading it at an
exchange for another one. Getting a wallet is as easy as generating a new one.
There's no permanent record that person X had bitcoin Y, just which wallets it
passed through along the way.
If your significant other works for a Three Letter Agency, then maybe it's
possible they could reverse the network connection logs to the exchanges, dig
through their databases and prove that you were the one who owned the coin
that bought that porn. Maybe. But given how little the FBI has done with the
cache of bitcash they seized, I doubt it.
So admittedly, it's not as clean as a cash business... but neither is the sex
industry.
~~~
hmsimha
All true, but who needs to launder bitcoin to keep a transaction hidden from
their significant other, unless their SO is well-versed in the technology
behind bitcoin AND really likes to snoop. In that case, an easier and more
likely point of failure is a session logger/keylogger on one's porn-browsing
device
------
easy_rider
Also people who actually end up paying for porn, will end up seeing the same
stuff they can watch for free. The big porn clips get their watermarks
removed, chopped up, re-watermarked, and spammed on tube sites to compete with
all other parties who are doing the exact same thing:
Rip, re-watermark, re-distribute.
No one can really complain, because everyone is doing the same.. Sure you
could buy some "unique content" from time to time. Costs around $750 a video,
shipped from Prague, Czech Republic. But there's not much value in that,
because other people will just rip, re-watermark, re-distribute :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Xkcd: Dress Color - stevekinney
http://xkcd.com/
======
rullgrus
Permalink to the specific comic:
[http://xkcd.com/1492/](http://xkcd.com/1492/)
------
wodenokoto
It still doesn't look white.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Chip industry had worst sales year since dot-com bubble burst - baybal2
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-03/chip-industry-had-worst-sales-year-since-dot-com-bubble-burst
======
ksec
>Revenue fell 12% to $412 billion in 2019, ....That’s the biggest drop since
2001, when industry sales slumped 32% as the dot-com bubble burst.
In 2001 post Dot Com Bubble, that 32% drop was _real_. The 12% drop in 2019
was only due to NAND and RAM went from Record High and back to "normal".
Samsung was the most profitable company in 2018 simply because NAND and DRAM.
Almost everyone in Semiconductor industry is making fairly decent amount of
profits and increase unit shipment in 2019. Look at look at the leading
Foundry ( TSMC ) _and_ Intel all making record profits and shipment.
Bloomberg is quickly becoming BuzzFeed for financial news.
~~~
mrspeaker
I know we're being trained to hate journalists these days, but that quoted
sentence is just stating a fact: the biggest drop since dotcom bubble... and
the article reads very reasonable. I don't see anything controversial in there
- seems to balance the negatives with things like "the rate of decline abated"
and "the decline in industry sales didn’t stop investors betting on a future
rebound." \- how is that sensationalist? Maybe they could have reported it as
"19th best year since dot com bubble"?
~~~
cbanek
As someone who watches the financial news, it almost feels more like baseball
statistics, where they say something like, "this batter on sunny days in April
has an advantage against left-handed pitchers."
While it may be true, it feels more like p-hacking than some kind of useful
fact.
I felt like the financial industry was really doing this early in 2019, after
the huge drop in stocks, everyone was like the S&P is up 20% this year already
(forgetting to mention it was down a huge amount in December and ready for a
comeback).
Of course how you frame these numbers and which numbers you pick is part of
the reporting. When taking numbers of out of context, I think it can get a
little sensationalist.
~~~
smabie
According to EMH, all information is subsumed into the price. As such, how
could the huge 2018 Christmas drop affect future returns?
~~~
barbecue_sauce
Maybe EMH isn't correct?
~~~
VHRanger
Statistically it's not incorrect.
While you should be skeptical of strong forms of the EMH, all evidence points
to weak forms of the EMH being true.
A corrolary that is good to keep in mind is "markets are more efficient than
you're smart" \-- prevents you from starting doomed financial enterprises
------
baybal2
I wrote before that semiconductor industry economists were awaiting a crash
for a very long time.
At least since 2016, I saw notion of a coming crash coming from very esteemed
industry publications that cost few thousand bucks to access.
Everybody in semi knows of the cyclical nature of the industry, and the non-
stop long bull run since 2008 looked very unusual to many.
Why is this so important?
The reason is that few years ago, the industry committed itself to the biggest
capital infusion in history with EUV.
Those fabs costs tenths of billions, and take years to build. They are never
ever constructed without an extremely thorough research done with top tier
economists.
~~~
lwb
> tenths of billions
Do you mean tens of billions? The difference is two orders of magnitude :)
~~~
fred_is_fred
I assume OP meant tenths of trillions.
------
riku_iki
I run this site, where we track public companies revenues, and Q3 2019 shows
-8% drop in revenue for semiconductors segment, but it can be because Q3 2018
had +15% Y/Y:
[https://finintelligence.com/app/segment/2873229239](https://finintelligence.com/app/segment/2873229239)
------
baybal2
Repost from:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20630279](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20630279)
Semiconductor industry is a very reliable canary for the long term economic
situation. Semi industry employs top economists. It is critically important
for them to have extremely thorough economics research when they decide on
their financials. Fabs cost billions, and whole fab complexes close to $10B.
They take many years to construct and make running.
Financing plans for them have to be done impeccably, and account for way more
than capital forecasts.
The financial outlook for a fab changes dramatically depending on how the
world changes during its construction. The few fragments of such report done
for TSMC I saw included everything down to political, cultural, and
technological black swan events.
One of the most bizarre one that they actually managed to predict was the
current regulatory and sociocultural "dotcom backlash".
For example, they see big server chip buyers like Facebook, Amazon, Google
greatly scaling down their ambitions, and therefore they did not include the
option for big reticle sizes in their lithography equipment buy list.
------
pkaye
I used to work in the semiconductor equipment industry in the 90s and it was
quite cyclical. One year the demand was great and they were hiring like crazy
and the next year things were looking dismal and they had to do layoffs. This
repeated many times though the overall trend was of growth. I managed to stick
around for some time since I was in R&D and with a bit of luck. Things
smoothed out considerably over the decades.
~~~
dylan604
Does this follow companies not buying new equipment annually, but wait a
couple of years inbetween before the next upgrade?
~~~
Polylactic_acid
I'm not sure why all companies would be on the same cycle of upgrading. You
would assume they would all be offset and it wouldn't make a difference in
sales.
------
wyxuan
Could be that Intel chip supply shortages, and decreased average sale prices
(due to AMD offerings) could be the reason for this. Not as many people
upgrading as inter generational gains start to level off.
~~~
zozbot234
I think embedded systems account for the vast majority of chip production, so
any dynamics involving Intel/AMD would be very minor.
~~~
Retric
Embedded chips are generally cheap. CPU’s sell for ~1,000x the price of most
embedded chips. X00$ CPU vs X0c 32 bit microprocessors / microcontroller etc.
~~~
siracusa23
10c 32-bit microcontroller from Intel/AMD? Have I been buying the wrong chips?
Care to share some links?
EDIT: commenter above edited their post, mentioned $.10 MCUs from Intel/AMD
~~~
Retric
I edited the comment for clarity, but never mentioned Intel or AMD.
~~~
AnimalMuppet
All right, X0 c 32-bit microcontrollers from whom?
~~~
mooibos
Cypress, Microchip, STM... Really, take your pick.
------
jackhack
Agreed, this news doesn't square with market performance. For instance, FSELX
(Fidelity Select Semiconductors portfolio) mutual fund is up 43% over one
year, doubling the performance of the S&P500. Top-10 holdings (68%) include
Intel, Qualcomm, Broadcom, Nvidia, Micron, Marvell, ON, NXP, FLex, Commscope,
so it's a fairly broad measure. For this cross-section to be performing so
strongly, others must be circling the drain if indeed the industry is turning
down steeply. I'm not seeing that.
~~~
totalZero
In saying that there cannot be a turndown because stocks are rallying, you are
not comparing apples to apples. Companies can circle the drain while their
stock rallies. Companies can do good business while their stock gets crushed.
First, people are buying equities in general because interest rates are being
held low artificially by the Fed, which has been pressured by the President to
do this.
Second, few traders and investors understand how to differentiate
semiconductor companies, so when it blows, it will all blow. People get out of
crowded trades chaotically. Investors and traders, who are largely
unsophisticated about the specific technologies that each company develops and
markets, will punish the sector rather than choosing individual names to sell.
I will say it again: most people who trade tech professionally have no fucking
clue what these companies actually build. They look at numbers, watch earnings
reports, and listen to buzzword-laden commentary from research analysts.
Look at Apple. Their supply chain is threatened by factory shutdowns and a
huge market of theirs has basically been put on ice, but their stock is near
all-time highs. They haven't made a game-changing product since the days of
Steve Jobs, and people usually say their value now comes from their execution.
But how can you execute if your suppliers are shut down and one of your major
markets is closed for business?
INTC is facing tons of pressure in enterprise and PC from AMD, their 10nm has
been a disaster for them, and yet their stock popped 9% on earnings due to
cloud demand. It's trading near dot-com bubble levels. They are getting hurt
in their competition vs TSMC on fab, and losing market share to AMD, yet their
stock is like a rocket ship. Doesn't this seem weird?
QCOM has been hit hard by several regulators and in a number of lawsuits for
its IP bullying, it has come out and said that coronavirus is going to hurt
smartphone manufacturing and sales, and yet its stock is trading near all-time
highs.
Don't ever confuse stock performance with company performance. Boeing stock is
trading at more than double where it was when the 737 Max 8 took its first
flight four years ago.
~~~
siracusa23
I'm honestly extremely pleased with my iPad Pro and Airpods Pro, both are
honestly impressive pieces of tech. I'm coming from an EE background, so I
might not be able to really distinguish nuances in software, but hardware-wise
they are impressive.
I can't agree with you on the Apple perspective, and it's my subjective
opinion, I might be also biased since I have a large position on APPL.
However, I can agree on the idea that the stock price can be completely
disconnected from the fundamentals of the company.
~~~
codyb
Apple’s most recent earnings call seems to suggest they’re doing just fine
expanding into wearable accessories and monthly subscriptions as well.
Seems like half of NYC has airpods when I’m walking around and in most of the
stores here they won’t be in stock until March (a jump from mid February a
couple of weeks ago).
That could be supply chain disruption or they’re selling like hot cakes.
Very satisfied with my pro pod pair post purchase as well.
------
swiley
No one can innovate when they can’t understand. No one can understand when
they can’t read the data sheets for chips they don’t use.
Want people to build things with your crap? Don’t fight them when they try.
~~~
adammunich
This absolutely. The chip people always make custom protocols for
/everything/.
~~~
swiley
Custom protocols are not really the end of the world, it’s when they make a
custom protocol and then use copyright to force you to do certain things in
order to use it.
~~~
adammunich
They really do slow down development though, and flrxe you to hire specialists
who can make sense of the often terse datasheets.
~~~
selectodude
Wouldn't a lot of the complexity be due to the fact that these are likely the
most complex pieces of engineering on earth?
~~~
makapuf
Complexity and nicely written datasheets /doc are tractable. Obfuscated docs
and average complexity is cryptic.
------
tjpaudio
Thanks for the post, tipped me off to the current rock-bottom ram prices to
max out the ram of my desktop I built 5 years ago.
------
jhallenworld
There is interesting news about Xilinx specifically: they are no longer
allowed to sell the Huawei, so their stock declined recently. The consequence
is that Huawei needs to switch to home-grown ASICs, and I'm sure the pressure
is on for a high-end home-grown FPGA vendor.
So this is just one company, but I'm wondering if tariffs in general are a
part of this decline.
[https://epsnews.com/2019/10/28/xilinx-cuts-huawei-from-
futur...](https://epsnews.com/2019/10/28/xilinx-cuts-huawei-from-future-
forecasts/)
[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/20/business/economy/trump-
us...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/20/business/economy/trump-us-china-
deal-micron-trade-war.html)
------
kpmcc
"hurt by a trade war between the largest chip producer, the U.S., and the
largest consumer, China"
This sentence confuses me. Seems like they have it backwards. Can someone
clear this up?
~~~
trynumber9
It depends. Do you include Taiwan in China or not? If not, then yes.
In fact, U.S. is the largest manufacturer of semiconductors. In 2018, nearly
half of the total semiconductor market was occupied by firms based in the
U.S., according to the Factbook2019 of SIA.
------
Animats
Here's the historical total graph, not the year to year change graph.[1]
Unclear if this is constant dollars. That's from the World Semiconductor Trade
Association, which collects statistics and resells them, expensively. The
Bloomberg article is what you get from the free tier, press releases.
[1] [https://www.wsts.org/](https://www.wsts.org/)
------
cgh
Coincidentally, I've been wondering about dumping some cash into a
semiconductor ETF like eg the VanEck offering (SMH). I noticed that there are
leveraged ETFs like SOXL that magnify returns and I typically associate these
riskier offering with precious metals and so forth. I hadn't realised that
semiconductors seem to fall into that same "cyclical commodity" category.
------
anonsivalley652
Question: why then are there recent media reports that DDR4 and SSD prices
going to be increased? Is this Samsung's unilateral oligopolic move, another
price fixing event, a ploy to stimulate panic buying and/or some other
structural move related to real ability to supply? (Yes, I remember the hyper-
commodification DRAM price wars and price fixing of years gone by.)
------
Bombthecat
Uhhhh I think it is because everyone is waiting for the next gen consoles of
Xbox and PlayStation. There are even rumors for a Nintendo switch "x"
And they all need chips.. And electric vehicles are also slowly catching up.
They need chips too.
Its not a bubble burst, just a generation change (and wait)
------
Rafuino
This must be mostly attributable to the massive NAND and DRAM prices falls in
2019.
------
Vysero
If only the US had the infrastructure to do everything from mining the
materials all the way up the chain to building custom PC’s, wouldn’t that be
cool? If we could do everything “in house” so to speak?
~~~
SuoDuanDao
Seems like it should be a priority for homeland security really...
~~~
Vysero
Not sure about you guys but I would be willing to pay a premium if I knew that
every part in my computer was created right here in my own country.
~~~
SuoDuanDao
Pretty nasty pressure move to strangle your rival's access to chips. New
foundries can't be built over night.
------
neonate
[https://archive.md/3Ms5l](https://archive.md/3Ms5l)
------
crmrc114
This article sounds alarmist. "Revenue fell 12% to $412 billion in 2019, the
Semiconductor Industry Association said Monday in a statement. That’s the
biggest drop since 2001, when industry sales slumped 32% as the dot-com bubble
burst."
I don't see how 12% is a skyfall number. Especially when compared to 32%.
It was pay-walled so I did not read any further.
~~~
pjc50
Revenue falling at all in any tech industry is usually cause for extreme
concern, as all the investor numbers assume infinite growth.
~~~
t-writescode
Perhaps that’s the real problem there.
If companies like Intel and AMD are still turning a respectable profit,
there’s no cause for actual panic, yet.
Investors should learn that intractable P/Es on established companies are, at
best, unwise in all but the edge cases.
~~~
throwaway5752
Let's stop discussing a hypothetical. Analysts in this space are well aware of
the cyclical nature of it, and have better data than some of the companies in
question. The premise is false.
Cyclical trough/peak earnings normalization is decades old from industrial and
resource sectors.
------
fokinsean
hmmm every time I'm at the store I see like 3 new brands of chips I've never
seen before.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: The Breezy Button, Easy Secure Printing - jamgraham
http://blog.breezy.com/announcing-the-breezybutton-easy-secure-print
======
jaredhansen
Hey folks, Breezy CEO here.
We built this button (which allows devs to integrate robust print
functionality into any iOS/Android app) because there are basically no PC/Mac
apps that lack a print button, and ultimately we think it should be the same
on any mobile platform.
We've put a fair amount of work into making this SDK as easy for developers to
use as possible, and we'd love the HN community's feedback on how to make it
better. We'll be monitoring this thread so please let us know what you think.
Thank you in advance!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How Dozens of Companies Know You're Reading About Those NSA Leaks - rooshdi
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/06/third-party-resources-nsa-leaks
======
hobs
This is what I said about gravatar when it first came out, the ad
networks/analytics software are just obvious.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
TxFS: Leveraging File-System Crash Consistency to Provide Transactions [pdf] - nayuki
http://www.cs.utexas.edu/%7Evijay/papers/atc18-txfs.pdf
======
nayuki
Additional links: [https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=TxFS-
Tex...](https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=TxFS-Texas-
Transactional-FS) ; [https://github.com/ut-osa/txfs](https://github.com/ut-
osa/txfs)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Study Suggests Lower Mortality Risk for People Deemed to Be Overweight - credo
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/02/health/study-suggests-lower-death-risk-for-the-overweight.html
======
tallanvor
BMI was never even meant to be an individual indicator of health. It was an
attempt to classify larger groups. It also uses the same values for men and
women, even though men typically have more muscles than women, raising their
BMI.
Any individual who relies on BMI to decide whether or not they are overweight
is doing it wrong.
~~~
Lost_BiomedE
Agreed. Also, as we age, lower weight is associated with chronic or terminal
illness. I haven't opened up the study, but unless they only looked at healthy
participants, this will be another large confounding variable.
------
kleiba
_The report on nearly three million people found that those whose B.M.I.
ranked them as overweight had less risk of dying than people of normal weight.
And while obese people had a greater mortality risk over all, those at the
lowest obesity level (B.M.I. of 30 to 34.9) were not more likely to die than
normal-weight people._
I seriously don't understand this paragraph. Maybe it's because I'm a geek,
but I was always under the impression that the risk of dying was 100% no
matter which group you belong to. I don't understand what the author of the
article is trying to convey here.
~~~
YokoZar
Without having read this study in detail, other possible things tend to muck
up such studies. Suppose you define mortality as "chance of dying within a
year"
1) People who start dying (eg by developing cancer) might take more than a
year, and generally they lose weight when they do so. So even if obesity
caused you to be more likely to get cancer and die, it wouldn't show up in
this sort of data.
2) People who weigh less may be otherwise unhealthy for other reasons -- this
doesn't imply that gaining weight would benefit them. In this sense weight is
an effect of some other cause.
3) We may not be measuring "overweight" correctly -- scale weight is different
from BMI which is different from body fat% which is different from body
density which is different from body volume which is different from other
things closely associated with "weight" (and specifically the stuff you
gain/lose by eating)
------
twiceaday
BMI is not a completely accurate indicator of obesity so I'm not at all
surprised they got this mild contradiction. Doubly so because it is an easily-
sellable message.
------
jacques_chester
BMI is like KSLOC.
It's the shittiest metric of population health we have ... except for all the
others.
Height and weight is _always_ collected. Blood cholesterol ... yeah, not so
much. So unsurprisingly everything is related back to it.
Anyhow. I'd be amazed if many of we key-hunters-and-karma-gatherers are in
much danger of zooming into the dangerous band at the bottom of the BMI
(modulo EDs).
So, given that most people are not rocking pro-bodybuilder fat-free mass
indexes, the BMI is still better than nothing.
~~~
antihero
Perhaps BMI + body fat + weight able to lift?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Are you a part-time stock investor? - zhangela
If so, how do you test your stock investment strategy? Do you rely on intuition?
======
bryanwbh
Hi Zhangela,
Yes I am. I utilize value investment methodology which is the brainchild of
Benjamin Graham.
On the few aspects on stock evaluation, among them are: \- Company's financial
statements (Balance sheet, Cash flow statement and Income statement) \- The
company's management profile (from remuneration comparison from company-to-
company to governance and each individual's background) \- The company's
activity as published by the Exchange \- Overpriced/Underpriced compared to
book value and also intrinsic value
In order to check the performance of my investments, I measure from two
perspective: \- Realized gains/losses - (dividends received and gains or
losses from sale)/(amount of money put up to purchase the stock) \- Unrealized
gains/losses - (Mark-to-market gains or loss)/(amount of money put up to
purchase the stock)
From the figures attained, I compare them with figures such as fixed deposits
and performance of index funds
~~~
zhangela
Thanks so much!!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Yodlee|Envestnet Risk Insight Report - baus
http://www.yodlee.com/products/data-analytics/risk-insight-report/
======
baus
I don't know much about this space, but the description sounds a bit scary:
"With Risk Insight Report, lenders can see a complete view of consumer account
and spending activity while maintaining consumer privacy. By injecting user-
permissioned financial data into existing credit bureau and custom models,
Risk Insight Report enables lenders to make more informed lending decisions,
based on a comprehensive financial snapshot of each borrower."
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Emoji and Deep Learning - wxs
http://getdango.com/emoji-and-deep-learning.html
======
KennyCason
I have to say this was one of the more "fun" ML articles I have read lately.
Excellent visualizations as well. Great job!
~~~
wxs
Thanks! I was tempted to go _way_ more technical but we decided it would be
fun to let more people get some intuitive grasp of these kinds of algorithms.
~~~
dantheman0207
It was really effective! It was great to be able to visually "walk" through
the state space. If you do another, more technical post digging into the
details then I would definitely be interested.
------
rspeer
This is cool, even if it seems kind of frivolous. Word embeddings work for
emoji just like they do for actual words, and it's neat to see an idea for how
to commercialize that directly.
I wish they had explained details, such as what two-dimensional non-linear
projection they're using for their map.
I also don't see it fully explained how they're getting representations of
sequences of emoji. They explain how their RNN handles sequences of _input_
words, but the result of that is a vector that they're comparing to their
emoji-embedding space. Does the emoji-embedding space contain embeddings of
specific sequences as well?
~~~
wxs
We use t-SNE for the projection! We do mention it somewhere in there. Could
maybe be more clear
The sequences of emoji we ended up glossing over here (difficult balance
making these concepts as accessible as possible). In the app we can beam
search to predict combos, just as you would in sequence to sequence learning.
That's not demo'd on the live website though.
------
hollythebeaver
It's also a little... racist. If you feed it with emojis it spits out other
emojis (I was testing if it could spit out text from emoji input) But what
happens if you change the skintone of the emojis?
White arm: [http://i.imgur.com/KTNky0O.png](http://i.imgur.com/KTNky0O.png)
Obvious connection to sports, sunglasses(like saying "cool" in this context)
Black arm: [http://i.imgur.com/uXtSRfc.png](http://i.imgur.com/uXtSRfc.png)
Policeman searching something, a location marker(search location?)
~~~
spaky
(I am also a dev for Dango)
This is definitely a concern and something we've though about but not yet
fully solved. The neural net is trained on real world data which unfortunately
includes various types of questionable, racist, sexist, etc content. We
already blacklisted emoji combination that are too often triggered in racist
ways. However such a system is very difficult to audit completely.
Your example comparing different skin tone modifiers is a good one that we
hadn't thought of. I've made a note of it so we can try and improve.
------
skykooler
Reading this was somewhat bothersome in that my browser (Chrome on Linux)
doesn't render emoji. Is there a standard font that supports emoji that could
be installed?
~~~
TheCoreh
You could try this: [http://emojione.com/chrome/](http://emojione.com/chrome/)
------
derefr
Extremely neat, but I really don't understand the point of the app (Dango)
that all this engineering is for the sake of. If I'm using an emoji, it's
either _instead_ of words, or to clarify words that could be taken multiple
ways (e.g. sarcasm.)
Who are these people that type a sentence (with a single meaning, clear-cut
enough for Dango to detect), and then want to add a redundant pictorial
representation of the same words they just typed?
~~~
wxs
Yeah so this is a legitimate concern. Of course sometimes it's fun to say
"let's eat pizza :pizza_emoji:", but that's not hugely valuable.
However, Dango's training data _includes_ people using Emoji to augment rather
than repeat their sentence. So if there are two different interpretations and
an emoji could disambiguate, the ideal is that Dango has seen people use that
phrase both ways and, and that it suggests both possibilities and you can pick
the one that you meant. In many cases this works now, in many cases we still
have work to do.
It also suggests based on messages sent _to_ you, so if there are a couple
different replies it can show you them all (although this feature still needs
work).
------
keyle
This is really cool. But half the fun for me is to pick the emojis at the end
of the message. And they "add" to the mood of my message, they don't "amplify"
it. Hence this wouldn't work for me most of the time o_0 ;(
~~~
wxs
Well you _can_ search in Dango, too ;)
But yeah our main focus is suggestions. You can use Dango concurrently with
the normal emoji keyboard, of course! It can just sit there showing you emoji
you might not know about "ambiently"
~~~
hsribei
It seems like you're so close to having a full predictive virtual keyboard
(with nothing but dynamically-generated keys).
Have you given any thought on integrating this with some sort of bluetooth
thimble-like button (makey makey?) on each finger for untethered typing?
I've written more about this line of reasoning here[1] if you're interested.
Feel free to ping me on twitter if there's any way I can help. Congrats on
this awesome project!
[1]:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11223697](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11223697)
~~~
wxs
The possibilities for how language will work in the future are really exciting
and interesting! We made the Minuum keyboard, too, which also explores how
machine learning assistance can open up new ways of communicating.
One reason we're interested in visual communication with Dango, though, is
that regular text input is pretty good already. Chorded keyboards exist and
are way faster, but people mostly can't be bothered to use them. QWERTY is
just good enough. But the field is wide open for rich communication with
images, nothing out there is particularly good yet.
------
the_watcher
This is pretty cool. Emoji's seem trivial, but they're becoming more and more
important in communications (whether that is good or bad is a separate
discussion), and this is a pretty impressive bit of ML.
------
mnkmnk
>IBM uses them for operationalizing business unit synergies
What does this mean?
~~~
thomasfoster96
I'm inclined towards thinking that it might be a joke.
~~~
wxs
;)
------
joefkelley
Why not train the RNN to directly predict emojis, instead of projecting
everything to semantic space and picking the closest emoji? Seems like that
would help with the problem of emojis with multiple meanings in different
contexts. With this model, they could only be in a single point in semantic
space.
~~~
spaky
The RNN does in fact directly predict emoji. It outputs a vector of length
1624 (the number of emoji) containing the score associated with each emoji
given the input text. This vector of probabilities is what can be though of as
the point in semantic space.
The issue of multiple meanings is that if you strongly predict an ambiguous
emoji (say the prayer emoji) how do you then extrapolate what concept is
contained in the sentence (e.g. was the person saying "thanks" or "high five"
or "please").
[I'm also a Dango dev]
~~~
wxs
So yeah: we can focus on vectors at different levels of the net and these are
in some sense _different_ semantic spaces. In the article I talk about a level
_immediately before_ it projects onto the emoji vectors. If you look at the
output _after_ the projection (and do a softmax) you get a probability
distribution across all emoji. This would be a different space in which each
_axis_ is an emoji, rather than the emoji being points distributed around the
space.
~~~
joefkelley
Awesome, thanks for clarifying. So does the training optimize some property of
the "semantic" layer immediately before the final emoji prediction layer? Or
does it just optimize accuracy of emoji prediction directly?
And then the t-SNE projection shown in the article is based on this same layer
(one before prediction)?
~~~
wxs
Well those are sort of equivalent. But yeah, we use cross-entropy between the
projected output and the target emoji distribution as our objective to
minimize.
And yes, we do the t-SNE on that pre-projection space. That's why we can
visualize the targets (emoji) in it. We can also t-SNE the word embeddings
themselves — the input to the RNN — which is also kind of interesting. It
automatically learns all kinds of structures there. Chris Olah has a good post
on word embeddings if you're interested:
[http://colah.github.io/posts/2014-07-NLP-RNNs-
Representation...](http://colah.github.io/posts/2014-07-NLP-RNNs-
Representations/)
------
smortaz
Pretty cool. Tried about 10 sentences and the suggested emojis were spot on.
Nice write up.
------
sherjilozair
The real question is, where do you get this training data from?
~~~
wxs
All over the web! For instance, over 20% of all tweets have emoji in them.
Emoji are very popular in instagram comments, etc.
~~~
milesokeefe
Another example is Venmo.
In fact I made a website that tracks the live count of emojis used on Venmo:
[http://venmoji.com/](http://venmoji.com/)
The source is here for anyone interested:
[https://github.com/milesokeefe/venmoji](https://github.com/milesokeefe/venmoji)
------
jderick
Can it generate sequences of emoji that is has not seen before?
~~~
wxs
Yes it can, language models can generate phrases that have not been seen
before. Karpathy's RNN post is a pretty good intro to how that works
[http://karpathy.github.io/2015/05/21/rnn-
effectiveness/](http://karpathy.github.io/2015/05/21/rnn-effectiveness/)
------
metabrew
This is cool. I hesitate to install it on my phone.. does it send everything I
type to a webservice in order to suggest emoji?
------
sigmar
As a lover of Emoji and deep learning, this is awesome. Are you planning to
support unicode 9.0 sometime soon (I know it isn't even technically out)?
~~~
wxs
We start supporting them as soon as they're available! Obviously we have a lot
less training data early on but we can lean on some heuristics early on until
it builds up.
Unfortunately in the _app_ we can't give you emoji that your phone doesn't
support so we don't always show all the results.
~~~
the_watcher
If you have (or build) a slack integration, would you be able to include
custom emoji's? Or is that not enough input?
~~~
wxs
Yeah we'd need to do some more work. But this is similar to stickers and GIFs:
there are many fewer examples for any given sticker or GIF, which is why we do
transfer-learning approaches as discussed in the article.
So there's a good chance we could get it to work! We've not focused on that
possibility… yet.
~~~
the_watcher
I figured - even a Slack integration as is would be pretty cool though.
------
badlogic
Great article, fun service. Still a part of me feels sad that we spend brain
power on things like this.
------
mdrzn
How come I can't download the app from outside US?
------
ajnin
> This app is incompatible with all of your devices.
Well that's disappointing. Is it country-restricted ?
------
okonomiyaki3000
Quick! Somebody make a slackbot!
------
dk8996
Do you guys have API?
~~~
wxs
Not officially, although people have started reverse-engineering the website
;).
We can get an actually supported one up officially if there's interest. Email
me at [email protected]!
~~~
dk8996
Yeah, I saw that you guys take a query test and spit out json with emojis :).
It would be nice to have official one so you guys don't cut IPs off :)
------
nparsons08
Nice post
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A Mysterious Sound Is Driving People Insane – Nobody Knows What's Causing It - ctoth
http://mic.com/articles/91091/a-mysterious-sound-is-driving-people-insane-and-nobody-knows-what-s-causing-it
======
panarky
Maybe the mysterious noise is from one's own living body, like what you hear
when you put your fingers in your ears.
In 1951, Cage visited the anechoic chamber at Harvard
University... "I heard two sounds, one high and one low.
When I described them to the engineer in charge, he
informed me that the high one was my nervous system in
operation, the low one my blood in circulation." Cage had
gone to a place where he expected total silence, and yet
heard sound.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4%E2%80%B233%E2%80%B3#Backgrou...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4%E2%80%B233%E2%80%B3#Background_and_influences)
~~~
coldtea
That needa an anechoic chamber because it's so small, it would get drowned in
normal noisy environment.
Plus, allegedly they've been able to record the Hum in some cases.
------
anon4
That map looks just like a population map of the USA and UK, plus assorted
English speakers from western Europe. Combined with the fact that the sound
seems to grow stronger indoors, I think the source is inside their own heads.
Not in the sense that they're crazy, though. Maybe as people get older and
their inner ear changes slightly, the signals that are being sent when
everything is silent also change, but the brain doesn't. So they interpret the
"silent" signal as "the hum".
My first test would be stuffing their ears and putting them in a perfectly
isolated acoustic chamber to see if they still hear it. I'm pretty sure they
would.
~~~
VikingCoder
Relevant XKCD ("Heatmap"):
[http://xkcd.com/1138/](http://xkcd.com/1138/)
~~~
tempestn
Yes, exactly. Every time I see one of these I wish they would plot the _per-
capita_ occurrences as a heat-map instead, which would actually be useful. (A
bit more work sure, but certainly doable.)
~~~
VikingCoder
[https://www.google.com/search?q=cartogram&tbm=isch](https://www.google.com/search?q=cartogram&tbm=isch)
~~~
tempestn
Those are neat, but from what I can tell a cartogram is something different
from what I'm describing. From wikipedia: "A cartogram is a map in which some
thematic mapping variable – such as travel time, population, or Gross National
Product – is substituted for land area or distance." So they're basically
distorted maps, where the distortions are proportional to a variable.
(It might help to include some explanation in your comment.)
~~~
VikingCoder
Yeah, the most common cartogram in those pictures is population.
Therefore, each pixel of the cartogram contains an equal number of people in
it.
If you bin your heatmap into pixels with equal number of people in them, then
HOT regions in the final image will correspond not merely to the number of
people who live in an area (like in the xkcd), but to the percentage of a
constant number of people.
You can still recognize the underlying geography, because the population
density isn't CRAZY skewed.
Here are some well-documented cartograms that give you a feel for what they
can do:
[http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/11/01/163632378...](http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/11/01/163632378/a-campaign-
map-morphed-by-money)
------
devindotcom
_A Mysterious Sound_
that can't even be isolated or really called a "sound," since reports differ
so greatly
_Is Driving People Insane_
the article itself does not make or substantiate this claim
_Nobody Knows What 's Causing It_
because "it" may or may not be a new thing, a single thing, or even a thing
~~~
DanBC
I'm not sure why you're so hostile to this. Perhaps I'm just misreading your
words.
Various "mysterious" noises are heard across the workd and cause problems for
inhabitants. The noises are mysterious because it can be hard to work out what
is causing the noise.
Noise is used as a tool by torturers. Tinnitus can sometimes lead people to
attempt suicide. It seems fair to suggest that an unstopping unexplained noise
can cause extreme distress. I dislike the wording "driving people insane"
because I work in de-stigmatising MH problems, but the meaning is clear.
Here's an example of a mysterious noise from England.
[http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/HUM-
KNOW/story-20347005-detail/...](http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/HUM-
KNOW/story-20347005-detail/story.html)
[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum)
EDIT --
I'd be interested to know what happens if they build a chamber that is
provably isolated from "The Hum" and put sufferers inside it. Do those people
still experience it? Even better if there's some kind of double blind way of
isolating / not isolating the chamber from the Hum.
~~~
revelation
I think we can all agree on what you said. But I will not agree that there is
one universal, _external_ common cause for all these things, an elusive
mystery. But this is what the article claims.
------
logicallee
The article was really hard for me to read, because the author just thinks so
much differently from me. i.e. if an area is driving you mad, do you get
instant relief if you leave the area?
It could still be chemical / something in the air that makes you hallucinate,
but not talking about such basic questions is just so different from how I
think.
the next most basic question is whether there are actually any physical sounds
at any frequency - if microphones aren't sensitive enough at certain
frequencies to tell us, then I would lead with that. If they're sensitive
enough, but show nothing, then I would lead with that and then show a
differential as to why it's not psychosomatic, or a chemical poison that gives
you this effect, etc.
I just found this article too different from how I think to read through.
~~~
coldtea
> _The article was really hard for me to read, because the author just thinks
> so much differently from me. i.e. if an area is driving you mad, do you get
> instant relief if you leave the area? It could still be chemical / something
> in the air that makes you hallucinate, but not talking about such basic
> questions is just so different from how I think._
I asked that too, but some people like/love their cities, houses, relatives
and friends and jobs. They don't just move on the first issue that happens.
------
tempestn
It's not clear to me why it's not straightforward to test these hypotheses.
There are apparently plenty of hum sufferers out there, and it sounds like
many would be happy to help with any testing that might isolate the source.
There are also plenty of anechoic chambers and Faraday cages available. Seems
like it would be relatively easy to test the two prevalent theories. You may
not be able to pinpoint the exact source, but you could at least tell whether
the hum in a given region was acoustic or electromagnetic in origin.
~~~
dthunt
I wonder if you could get subjects who travel a lot to record, before going to
sleep each night, in a secret journal they do not share with each other, about
whether or not they experience a hum in any given location. If those journals
substantially agreed, you might be able to get a clearer picture of what, if
anything, is going on.
If there is any sort of community built around a potentially hard to observe
phenomenon, it's likely going to be a mess sorting out true stuff from false
stuff.
~~~
boatzart
Why not just make a web site for this? If this really affects 2%-10% of the
population, then it should be pretty easy to determine if the source is
internal or external with enough data.
~~~
tempestn
Here's a start, just to see if that 2-10% figure looks reasonable:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7918694](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7918694)
------
asdkl234890
Couldn't it just be:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinnitus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinnitus)
As I get older, I hear some sounds I am certain are like tinnitus. It
terrifies me because I love and need quiet. But so far I've been able to move
around, create some other sounds, and the fake sound stops. But tinnitus is a
disease of old age.
~~~
andrey-p
That was my first thought too. I've got permanent tinnitus even though I'm in
my mid-twenties (brought on due to headphone abuse when I was a teenager). It
sounds more like a high-pitched _tweee_ sound than a hum, but I've heard
different people hear different sounds.
Sorta OT, but I've actually been able to get some use out of my tinnitus. If
there's background noise that's preventing me from falling asleep (but nothing
too loud), I can purposefully focus on the sound of my tinnitus. It becomes
more prominent and effectively drowns out the sound that keeps me awake.
~~~
ogig
I relate to the paradoxical utility of the tinnitus sound. For sleeping and
meditation! it's like a never ending chant you can focus back whenever.
I've also tried to use the hum as reference point to get perfect pitch earing,
that is been able to tell if a note is a C, a F or whatever. Unfortunatly my
tinnitus seems to be composed of several frequencies and out of tune. I can't
make any use of it for musical purposes (yet).
~~~
coldtea
Just carry a pitchfork with you. Or a mobile app that can make any pitch at
will!
------
coldtea
> _" It completely drains energy, causing stress and loss of sleep," a
> sufferer told a British newspaper in 1992. "I have been on tranquilizers and
> have lost count of the number of nights I have spent holding my head in my
> hands, crying and crying."_
Yeah, if it gets that bad, how about ...well, MOVING elsewhere?
------
disputin
I've experienced this. It's not tinnitus which is high pitched - this is low
pitched. I could hear it best in a certain room, but not when I stuck my head
out the window. It occurred over a period when the nearby overground tube line
was being worked on. So I concluded it's industrial machinery causing low
frequency vibrations which reverberate in certain acoustic configurations. And
it's very, very annoying.
~~~
personZ
_reverberate in certain acoustic configurations_
This is a very important point. Low frequency noises can have a wavelength
exactly the size of common rooms, yielding an unbearable amplification as the
waves gang up with common peaks and troughs.
[http://www.bobgolds.com/Mode/RoomModes.htm](http://www.bobgolds.com/Mode/RoomModes.htm)
------
vanderZwan
While living in the city of Groningen, the Netherlands I experienced _a_ Hum
during some nights (I doubt that there is such a thing as _the_ Hum - there's
too many possible sources for low-frequency sounds). I have not had that issue
before or after. However, in my case the most likely case is easy to pinpoint:
the control centre for the Groningen gas field[0] was just a few blocks away
from where I lived, and I expect that if they open or close a valve, that can
cause some low-frequency whistling sounds that propagate through the ground.
[0]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groningen_gas_field](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groningen_gas_field)
------
TazeTSchnitzel
Around 50Hz... They're not hearing the hum of AC electricity, are they?
------
jotux
This is pretty interesting because I've been hearing a low-frequency hum for
the last few years -- since moving into my current home. I only notice it at
night, lying in bed when it is quiet. To me, it sounds like an idling car
sitting within a few hundred feet of my house. At first, I suspected cops were
sitting near my house (on a corner, near a stop sign) waiting for people to
run the stop sign, but I never found any idling cars when I went to
investigate. Fortunately I'm not bothered by it.
~~~
jacquesm
Freezer, airco or refrigerator. Probably contact sound from a pump or
compressor in one of those. Don't be surprised if it ends up being very far
away from where you're located, sound waves travel very well through solids.
------
Xcelerate
I don't understand why this is such a big problem.
1) Locate someone suffering from the hum.
2) Take expensive pressure and sound equipment to their location.
3) Record all observable frequencies.
4) a) If nothing shows up, it's a personal biological problem. Direct problem
toward medical professionals b) If something shows up on the frequency graph,
identify the direction the sound is coming from (again using equipment that,
you know, has been designed for this kind of thing and has been around for
ages).
5) Follow sound, locate source.
6) Voilà, problem solved.
Someone tell me why it's not that simple.
~~~
logn
Items 4b and 5 might be hard. The sound is non-directional.
~~~
personZ
This caused issues in locating the Windsor hum, as mentioned in the article.
It seems like it should be extremely easy to put up a couple of mics and
narrow it down, but it ended up being a significant technical challenge
involving a number of seismic detectors. Low frequency noise is a bitch.
------
burkeen
Blood-pressure + or - sinus-congestion?
Maybe some people begin to sub/consciously listen for their phone to buzz,
vibrate or make a sound and notice the noise of air, static noise, computer
fan hums, blood traveling inner ear?
Their utilities run @ 50hz. Maybe there's a conflict with older and newer
products manufactured from other countries?
Maybe doppler radar.
Maybe dead air space.
Maybe they're not used to the sound of silence.
------
graeme
Is the Hum constant or sporadic?
I've had an occasional rumbling in my left ear. It increases when on a
cellphone or skype. Certain voices can also trigger it.
I had assumed it was musculo-skeletal; it developed after a bike accident
where I hurt the left part of my jaw.
But if their hum is constant, it's definitely not what I'm hearing.
------
BritishScifi
[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Changes_(TV_series)](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Changes_\(TV_series\))
Soon people will start destroying all the machines!
------
anonymfus
After reading this article I started to pay attention to all background noises
and currently can not to sleep because of some strange rhythmic series of tone
bursts.
------
joshu
I hear this. I just assumed it was some internal thing that I could only hear
when it's sufficiently quiet.
------
teilo
They lost me when they tried to blame the Connecticut shootings on the "hum".
------
burkeen
Air Conditioner? Wind? Water? Heart?
------
guard-of-terra
Hmmm, inner ear problems?
Aren't VLF radio waves supposed to be very very weak energy-wise? Why would
your body pick those.
~~~
lutorm
No, the transmitters are extremely powerful.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLF_Transmitter_Cutler](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLF_Transmitter_Cutler)
says it was at some point the world's most powerful radio transmitter at
1.8MW. Actual field strength will of course depend in a complicated way on
distance from the site and the propagation, but you'd think that if these
sites were the source, there should be a strong concentration of cases around
the transmitters.
~~~
Torgo
Presumably you could delocalize it with something like this:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Frequency_Active_Auroral_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Frequency_Active_Auroral_Research_Program)
I realize that this is entering conspiracy theory territory, but generating
VLF from a distance is one of the things this thing does.
~~~
lutorm
Ah, interesting. I hadn't heard about that before.
------
mbell
This article heavily confuses sound waves and EM waves in places. Just because
they are both described in Hertz doesn't make them equivalent.
~~~
lutorm
It's not very clearly stated, but they say the ELF radio waves may be able to
excite nerves and hence be "sensed" by the body.
~~~
mbell
The author follows the intro to that topic (which says nothing about EM waves
causing 'sound' I might add) by saying:
Finally, there's a body of empirical evidence that makes this theory more appealing. A study funded by the Canadian government and led by University of Windsor mechanical engineering professor Dr. Colin Novak spent the last year listening to the "Windsor Hum" that's been torturing residents in the Windsor area of Ontario since 2011.
If you read the intro to that paper, it's very clear that it was acoustical
noise that was measured and likely to be caused by a blast furnace. So that
study provides no evidence at all that EM waves are causing 'noise'.
The author continues with:
The study concluded that not only does the Windsor Hum actually exist, but its likely source was a blast furnace at the U.S. Steel plant on Zug Island, which reportedly generates a high volume of VLF waves during its hours of operation.
The study did not find that the blast furnace was radiating VLF waves (VLF
being a term limited to EM waves) but rather that it was emitting sound waves
in the 30-35Hz range. 30-35Hz is the SLF EM range, so even if the author
conflated the types of 'waves', I'm not sure where they got VLF from.
And then:
Dr. Novak's study caps off decades of Hum theories
No, it really doesn't, it just found a loud blast furnace. Not to take
anything away from the work needed, locating a sound source at frequencies
that low in a complex environment isn't trivial.
~~~
lutorm
Ok, can't argue with that.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Mystery of the Universe’s Expansion Rate Widens with New Hubble Data - daegloe
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/mystery-of-the-universe-s-expansion-rate-widens-with-new-hubble-data
======
ncmncm
So there are three numbers: the expected expansion based on Planck
measurements of a historical value based on cosmic microwave background, red
shift of distant supernovas calibrated to nearby Cepheids, and an independent
value obtained from LIGO based purely on gravitational waves, which still has
uncertainty that encompasses both of the others, but will sharpen in coming
years.
The LIGO measurement is not subject to vagaries of electromagnetic effects
that could be introducing anomalous redshift, or to possible systematic
changes in supernova brightness, such as might be caused by metal
concentration of stars decreasing with distance/age.
So, if we just wait, LIGO will give an answer. Possibly, a third answer. If
so, we will then have two problems, or maybe three: explaing why the Planck
prediction is off, explaining why supernova brightness and/or redshift is off,
and maybe even why LIGO is off.
~~~
chopin
Do you have a citation for the LIGO based derived Hubble constant? I didn't
find it mentioned in the article (just CMB and Cepheid derived values).
~~~
ncmncm
No, it wasn't in the article, because it wasn't relevant, except as
independent confirmation that both are in the ballpark.
I just gurgled LIGO and Hubble relation, and up popped
[https://arxiv.org/pdf/1710.05835.pdf](https://arxiv.org/pdf/1710.05835.pdf)
and 'Dr Stephen Feeney of the Center for Computational Astrophysics at the
Flatiron Institute in New York City, “We should be able to detect enough
mergers to answer this question within 5-10 years.”'
------
danielbigham
I wonder if spacetime, in addition to being curvable by mass, is also
inherently curved at the scale of the universe.
~~~
scotty79
Maybe it's not inherently curved. Maybe it's just curved by a mass that is
further from us than tens of billions of light-years.
We can't know if whole universe looks as smooth as observable universe.
~~~
ben_w
I sometimes ask a similar question about matter/antimatter symmetry, if the
“tiny asymmetry” that gets used as an explanation for why any baryonic matter
exist at all, could be explained by the antiparticles we should’ve annihilated
with being on the other side of our cosmic event horizon.
~~~
DebtDeflation
I've often wondered the same thing. What if the entire universe is finite, but
something like 1^(enormously large number) times larger than the observable
universe? We could be this tiny speck of a backwater that's completely
unrepresentative of the overall universe. The Big Bang itself could have been
a minuscule local disturbance that took place in some small part of the
overall universe which is trillions of times older.
~~~
jvanderbot
Surely you mean 10^(enormously large number)
------
stillbourne
Missed opportunity for title alliteration: Hubble Hobbles Hubble Constant.
------
ccvannorman
We are an ant on a leaf in a bathtub with a fancy tiny telescope. These
observations aren't going to make sense until we get far outside of our mono
perspective from Earth (eg travel to Andromeda and take more data).
Yes, I realize this requires FTL. :-]
------
v_lisivka
The mystery is why only one theory is accepted, while all other are left
behind.
For me, it's clear that Universe has no bounds, so objects after Visible
Universe is invisible because of geometry - we just cannot see objects which
are sending less than 1 photon per hour per square meter, so there was no Big
Bang less than nanosecond ago at Universe scale, it's just aging of light, so
background microwaves is just aged light from distant objects.
~~~
magicalhippo
> The mystery is why only one theory is accepted, while all other are left
> behind.
Because the other theories we leave behind do not make predictions compatible
with our measurements of the universe.
> so there was no Big Bang less than nanosecond ago at Universe scale
What is this supposed to mean?
> it's just aging of light
You mean red-shifting or something else here?
> so background microwaves is just aged light from distant objects
How do you account for the CMB angular power spectrum[1][2] with your "tired
light"?
[1]:
[http://background.uchicago.edu/~whu/intermediate/summary.htm...](http://background.uchicago.edu/~whu/intermediate/summary.html)
[2]:
[http://folk.uio.no/hke/AST5220/v11/AST5220_2_2011.pdf](http://folk.uio.no/hke/AST5220/v11/AST5220_2_2011.pdf)
(slide 23 and onwards)
~~~
v_lisivka
> Because the other theories we leave behind do not make predictions
> compatible with our measurements of the universe.
It's temporary. With more data, we will have more and more exceptions, which
cannot be explained by patches to mainstream theory.
>> so there was no Big Bang less than nanosecond ago at Universe scale
> What is this supposed to mean?
Lifetime of larger objects usually is much larger than lifetime of smaller
objects, so, as we increase scale of x,y,z, t axis should be increased
proportionally.
> You mean red-shifting or something else here?
Modern version of tired light. A kind of resistance for light, which causes
loss of energy proportional to light frequency. See below.
> How do you account for the CMB angular power spectrum[1][2] with your "tired
> light"?
I see just aged spectrum. IMHO, it's helium. :-/
~~~
magicalhippo
> It's temporary.
Yes, it's called science.
> With more data, we will have more and more exceptions, which cannot be
> explained by patches to mainstream theory.
At which point we hopefully come up with a new theory which fits the
observations, and leave the current mainstream theory behind. This happened
for example when General Relativity was introduced.
Until we find a new theory which fits all the observations, we have a
transition period where things are a bit confusing. See for example particle
physics before the QCD model tied it back together. Now we're starting to see
cracks in the the current standard model of particle physics, so something new
is likely needed soon. This is science.
> I see just aged spectrum. IMHO, it's helium. :-/
The power spectrum I linked to is the _angular_ power spectrum of the CMB.
It's _not_ the spectral density. The horizontal scale is (in essence) angular
separation, not frequency.
How does helium explain the peaks in the _angular_ power spectrum? Link to
some calculations please.
~~~
v_lisivka
> _angular_ power spectrum of the CMB
My bad. I'm not familiar with this.
(Beware, my English is weak).
I had year long discussion about similar topic by email, so I see nothing
exceptional there. If you have sum(sin(x_nat _scale)), and you will start to
play with scale, you will see sinusoidal graphic, freq=a_ sin(scale). Object
formations in space usually have round shape, so it's will be same in 3D. :-/
Why? Because our formation exists for very long time. Let's play simple
example: we need a 1d function f(x), such as sum(f(x_nat*scale)) newer
produces infinite sum or singularity. Physical meaning: Our Universe exists
for infinite time, but all matter is not attracted into one single point of
infinite mass, so it's not possible.
The simplest such function is sin(x) or cos(x). If we will try to play with
scale, we newer be able to make infinite sum, because Pi is irrational number.
The closer our scale will be to Pi, the larger peaks of sum we will have.
In real life, this influence diminishes after some point, so, for example,
size of nuclei has influence at frequency (distribution) of chemical elements,
but it has no influence at macro objects, so function becomes flat and sum
must rise (e.g. collapse into a black hole), then next level begins.
So, it looks like at some point, these formations cannot be bigger, or we
cannot see light from them, e.g. because they are so massive, so light cannot
escape them. If so, we have lower limit of formation size we can see at this
distance, dictated by geometry (angular size) and luminosity, and upper limit
dictated by nature, e.g. upper mass of formation of such size (upper density).
It's like in our galaxy: we can see stars, but cannot see black holes (too
heavy), lone planets and smaller objects (too cold), and far away objects
after certain distance (too small luminosity). IMHO, angular power spectrum of
visible stars must show distribution similar to CMB or distribution of
chemical elements.
~~~
magicalhippo
> I had year long discussion about similar topic by email, so I see nothing
> exceptional there.
But the point is we have models which predict quite specific values for the
angular power spectrum, and when compared matches observations very well.
This is highly non-trivial. And for any new model to take over, it must do
better.
It's not enough that it has potential to have some sinusoidal-like features.
Lacking matching model predictions, you'd need to have a plausible explanation
for why the features are missing from your model predictions. For example you
used some first-order approximation for some term and due to <insert
convincing argument here> a higher-order approximation should produce the
missing features.
~~~
v_lisivka
I saw math paper about systems, which can remain stable for unlimited time. As
far as I remember, infinity number of solutions exist for 1D, and 2D worlds.
Only 3 solutions found for 3D world (named 1, 2, and 42). None found for 4D
world, so, if infinite time given, 4D world will collapse into 3D world.
I can't find this paper again yet. (I'm quite busy: revolution, ongoing war,
problems with health, my father died, politics, delivery for 1+y long project
in less than 2 weeks, etc.)
This paper complimented view I already had in my head (everything is particle,
surrounded by spherical wave, and propelled by vibrations/noise), because now
I know that Universe is very simple thing in general. Nothing complex can
survive in infinite time. This mean that on lower level only extremely stable
(simple) systems can survive, because time is very fast on level below. On our
level, we can find temporary complex systems (we live at one of them, and we
itself are another example). On level above, it unlikely that we will find a
complex system, chances are very low, thus what is see around us should
continue for very long time and space.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: As of 2017 – best PDF/academic paper reader? - caycep
I guess its a sad state of affairs that the landscape has changed so much over past few years, but wondering what people were using to read/organize academic papers, i.e. from PubMed or ArXiv?<p>Mendeley - still developed, owned by Elsevier
ReadCube?
Papers (acquired by ReadCube...in limbo)
DevonThink?
iBooks?
Zotero?
flat files?
Appears Sente is sunsetted..
======
notlob
For annotations and notes I love LiquidText (iOS only,
[http://liquidtext.net](http://liquidtext.net)). It’s great for ebooks and
longer reviews, has a nice “accordion” feature for comparing between distant
pages, and can help produce nice summaries to share with others. File
management is a pain, sufficient enough that I don’t use it for manuscripts.
For those, I generally print them out and annotate directly. It’s really hard
to beat paper.
For organization, I use BibDesk
([http://bibdesk.sourceforge.net](http://bibdesk.sourceforge.net)). I used
Papers when it first came out, but for reasons relating to business practices
I now forget I went back to BibDesk.
------
josephhardin
I just spent a fair bit of time on this question last week and here is my new
setup. (Previously I used a mixture of mendeley with goodnotes and an Ipad pro
with apple pencil).
Currently what I have moved to is using zotero on the desktop as the master
store. This works well with the chrome and firefox plugins to auto add papers.
I use feedly to monitor RSS feeds for each journal from my phone, and then
pull them up on the desktop once every so often to add to zotero. On the ipad
pro with apple pencil I use papership to interface with the zotero library.
It's annotations are usually good enough, but if I really need to do something
fancy, I'll export it to pdfexpert, annotate it, then move it back in.
~~~
caycep
yeah, I suppose one really has to just play around with different setups to
find one that fits.
------
janerixo
I'm the former Mendeley founder, take a look at Kopernio
([http://www.Kopernio.com](http://www.Kopernio.com)) to access and read PDF
journal articles with one click. It's my next project I'm working on, after
getting fed up with "chasing PDFs" through the internet. It's an attempt to
make reading of PDF journal articles much easier, and it integrates with
Google Scholar and Pubmed.
And thanks for the support and nice words for Mendeley!
~~~
caycep
ah cool - will check it out, thanks!
Overall, not sure if you are able to speak about this, but has the Elsevier
acquisition affected day to day development/operations of Mendeley, or is the
team still relatively independent?
------
m_ke
Download to dropbox then print and read on paper.
------
kbvk
SumatraPDF
------
jongold
I like Mendeley a lot
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Lavabit abruptly shuts down - cstuder
http://lavabit.com/
======
lmkg
For the unfamiliar: Lavabit was a webmail service, that (claimed to) encrypt
emails in such a way that they literally did not have access to the content
stored on their own servers. The linked email would lend some credence to
those claims. It was originally designed in contrast to gmail scanning your
email for targeted advertising, but my imperfect memory says that their system
should also have been resilient to "we have a warrant, hand over the data."
~~~
yajoe
Edit: I was a PM on Exchange and Exchange Hosted Encryption for some time, so
it looks like Lavabit tried to fight the government on whether they are
required to release private keys. I've seen one other customer try to fight,
and it was not pretty either. The US government in these cases are _serious._
Takeaway for fellow hackers: If you are building a system that stores user-
generated data, prepare for the eventuality that someone other than the user
will demand to see it.
In general, the prevailing theory is that all companies are required to
release private keys or passwords needed to unlock evidence. As a consequence
of Lavabit fighting, they likely got slapped with some pretty harsh contempt
of court rulings, including a demand to record all private keys needed for
decryption going forward. The worst case (that I can talk about) I saw
involved requiring a specific employee be demoted due to improper care of a
_company 's_ systems.
What's sad is that because Lavabit was such a small service provider, they
never had the previous rounds of government threats and must have been caught
off guard. As I've said in past posts (before Snowden), it is common knowledge
among large-scale service providers that the local government can always come
in to take a look. Doesn't matter if you are in the US, EU, or China, you have
to comply. I've seen the US DOJ threaten pretty harshly a customer who simply
asked about 'options' of how to comply.
Past post with explanation:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5754641](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5754641)
_P.S. Right or wrong is a separate conversation..._
~~~
qwerta
Could you name some examples from Europe? Cases when police physically takes
servers are common. But I never heard of case where police would require
encryption keys for 'maybe we will needed it'.
~~~
northwest
Also, what prevents the guy from setting up that service in a European country
(Switzerland is not subject to EU laws)?
I don't see why his 10 years of work would be lost.
~~~
draugadrotten
He might not want to relocate.
It's risky to relocate the servers in another country. You will have to obey
the other country's laws, but the US gov will still claim jurisdiction if the
staff and/or owner is in the US. The US will even claim jurisdiction as soon
as you use a ".com" domain [1]
Of course the hosting nation will also claim jurisdiction. So relocating your
servers to one country while staying in another will expose you to two
national laws as well as any international agreements between these nations.
[1] Richard O’Dwyer, a UK citizen who ran a UK-based web site, was facing
extradition to the U.S. because he used a .com domain. -
[http://www.theguardian.com/law/2011/jun/17/student-file-
shar...](http://www.theguardian.com/law/2011/jun/17/student-file-sharing-
tvshack-extradition)
~~~
northwest
He could still just sell it to someone in another country. Neither the service
nor his 10 years of work would be lost.
~~~
kbenson
Depending on how bad the government wants the data, that's essentially just
charging a high premium to get _all_ the data instead of a specific user's
data.
If the purchasing party is less scrupulous, you've thwarted nothing. In
extreme cases (or for smaller companies), the purchaser could even be a
government front.
~~~
rdl
I'm pretty sure there are known entities offshore you could sell to who are
unlikely to be government fronts. Imagine selling to someone Wikileaks
affiliated...
------
grey-area
So he pretty much does say why he's shutting down, the US gov. has demanded
access and he said no. Kudos for standing up for his users, and he does raise
an interesting point at the end:
_This experience has taught me one very important lesson: without
congressional action or a strong judicial precedent, I would _strongly_
recommend against anyone trusting their private data to a company with
physical ties to the United States._
The worst thing about this situation is that other governments like the UK,
France and Germany are equally guilty.
For history on lavabit, see the cache, this page is now gone:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?sclient=tablet-...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?sclient=tablet-
gws&site=&source=hp&q=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Flavabit.com%2Fhistory.html&oq=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Flavabit.com%2Fhistory.html&gs_l=tablet-
gws.3...1877.7996.0.9385.7.7.0.0.0.0.513.1492.0j1j0j1j1j1.4.0....2...1c.1j2.24.tablet-
gws-psy..3.4.1436.lIv1Hdpu5EY&pbx=1)
~~~
joering2
> Kudos for standing up for his users,
Where did you get this one from? I think its a bit of a stretch to say he is
"standing up to his users". I would rather say he is standing up against the
GOV, and that's nice for a change, but we have no idea what has happened with
all the emails residing on their servers.
Knowing just a bit that I know how the us gov operates, I am pretty sure he
was given two options at exact the same time: either you accept our black box,
OR you will not. If you not, then you are not allowed to delete or alter any
messages on your servers. Given the business lavabit was in, I am sure Feds
will punish him to the extends of the law (or more) if he decides to "stand up
to his users" and delete content of their mailboxes.
~~~
grey-area
Hello, I didn't say stand up to, but for (i.e. on behalf of) . The most he can
do is stand up to the government, _for_ his users, in court, deleting servers
would not be a wise move, and I wouldn't expect it of him, would you? Just
standing up and saying no in a climate like this takes some courage, for which
I admire him.
~~~
joering2
by the time he is done wish courts defending their users, Feds will be given
chances to copy all users data over and over again about 250 times. So it
doesn't matter whether he loses or wins. Not a bit.
~~~
grey-area
Well, I can't agree with that. I do believe the only way to fight this sort of
overreach is in the courts, and in the court of public opinion. Publicly
standing up to bullying like this is the only way to provoke larger
discussions, and ultimately to stop such actions in the future. In addition he
doesn't have permission to just unilaterally wipe all his users' data, even if
he wanted to.
It was too late for his users' data the moment representatives of the
government walked through the door of their data centre/offices, but their
rights he can stand up for, which is what he has done.
~~~
CmdrKrool
Yep. Now I naturally have to e-mail all my friends and work contacts (from my
throwaway Gmail address), not to mention the person I know who opened a
personal Lavabit account on my recommendation, announcing to all that my
e-mail address is changing - and such a message wouldn't be complete without
mentioning the reason why, venting a little of my shock and disappointment,
and perhaps dropping in a little potted history of the recent developments in
government net snooping leading up to this with newspaper article links.
Messages that I wouldn't have otherwise sent without this justification, for
fear of boring my dear friends, having assumed that any of them who are likely
to care about this stuff, will already have read about it themselves without
me telling them.
Despite the annoyance of not being able to use my e-mail the past couple of
days, and the possibility that the US Gov may have some copies of my e-mail
(which I imagine will be perfectly useless to them) I am immensely gratified
at the stand Lavabit's owner appears to have taken, and having chosen them in
the first place due to these values which I am in broad alignment with, I feel
it confirms that it was a good choice, despite the fact that I now have to
find another provider. I am sorry for the guy that he's effectively had his
business - perhaps his livelihood - pulled out from under him, and I will be
donating to his defense fund out of sympathy, though I am not an American.
------
RyanZAG
I'm in the process of moving any Saas offerings I use off USA-affiliated
companies, but it's actually more difficult than I first thought. I believe
there might even be a very profitable market in simply duplicating the
functionality of Saas offerings at a higher price with security/privacy
guarantees in Germany/HK/etc. Might be the next hot business to be in? You'd
be surprised as to the number of people seeking alternatives at this point.
EDIT: Relevant XKCD for people calling for technical solutions to the problem:
[http://xkcd.com/538/](http://xkcd.com/538/)
~~~
meritt
Moving services off USA-based companies is like using two bicycle locks
instead of one. A determined government is still going to get your data, they
just need to spend a bit more time.
Focus instead on encryption.
~~~
fnordfnordfnord
It is just as bad or worse. You have to move the data in/out of the country.
It definitely isn't protected when it leaves the country. The only advantage I
see is that it punishes US businesses for failing to protest.
~~~
smtddr
I don't blame the companies; they're about as much a victim of USgov as we are
IMHO. That being said, if all the online-storage/cloud-server/email-
providers/social-whatever companies in US start going out of business because
nobody trusts them I strongly suspect something will have to change. It's just
too bad we have to do a "scorched earth"[1] to bring about change.
1\.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorched_earth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorched_earth)
~~~
sixothree
This is where I disagree. I do blame companies like Google for not fighting
this more. At the very least they make users aware that these laws exist, even
if they cannot detail specifics related to their surveillance involvement.
~~~
smtddr
See this comment :
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6182179](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6182179)
Fighting the USgov isn't a decision to take lightly regardless of how much
money & resources you have. I cannot condemn a company that backs down from
that battle. It could hurt an employee(s) significantly, or the whole company.
While I agree they have the most resources to fight it, they're not immune to
harm from USgov.
------
guelo
The US government is destroying one of the few bright spots in the American
economy with its out of control military. It is unconscionable. And the sad
thing is it has been enabled by the betrayal by many of the web 2.0 giants,
Facebook, Google etc. Google especially is sad to see since they were willing
to forgo the Chinese market on principle, but then decided that taking on the
authoritarian US government was too lucrative for principle to be involved. If
Google had done what Lavabit just did we would be living in a freer country
today.
~~~
MrKurtz
If you are seriously suggesting that abandoning the US market is a realistic
option, especially for a multibillion dollar corporation, then you are (and
I'm not using this word lightly) an _idiot_.
Not to mention that there is no US equivalent to the rampant human rights
violations and censorship in China.
~~~
pinchyfingers
The US certainly has many more prisoners per capita and in total than China
does.
Also, the U.S. government is censoring Ladar Levison of Lavabit and others in
his situation.
I've never been to China to see anything for myself, so I won't make further
comparison, but prison state thing definitely bothers me.
~~~
cmccabe
_I 've never been to China to see anything for myself..._
Yep, I can tell. I can tell you haven't read about it either.
~~~
LinXitoW
Numbers, facts, anything. Please substantiate your comment, instead of adding
nothing but snark to the discussion. Here, i'll start:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/americas/23iht-23pri...](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/americas/23iht-23prison.12253738.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)
------
modeless
Please donate to their defense fund. It's not often you get a chance to
directly support a cause like this. The link is at the bottom of
[http://lavabit.com/](http://lavabit.com/), but I'll repost it here:
[https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-
xclick&hosted_b...](https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-
xclick&hosted_button_id=7BCR4A5W9PNN4)
~~~
Tossrock
One of the benefits of a high-paying software industry job is that I can
afford to support causes like this now. I suspect many other HN readers are in
a similar position. I encourage everyone to give what they can, as standing up
for our rights at the cost of ten years of labor is an incredibly difficult
thing, and deserves reward.
------
ferdo
Takeaway:
> "This experience has taught me one very important lesson: without
> congressional action or a strong judicial precedent, I would _strongly_
> recommend against anyone trusting their private data to a company with
> physical ties to the United States."
It's kind of fitting. The nation that spawned the internet is the nation
that's killing the internet biz on its own turf.
~~~
sentenza
I wonder if there is some historical regularity here. After all, my own
country, "Das Land der Dichter und Denker" turned on its "Dichter und Denker"
when it was at (or close to) the apex of intellectual achievement.
~~~
javert
Yes, there is a strong parallel between pre-Nazi Germany and current USA. Of
course, Americans will not literally follow Nazi ideology.
What we see in America is an increasing merger between industry and
government. Finance is the most regulated sector; hence "too big to fail" and
all the exploits pulled by big banks. Telecom is almost completely government
controlled (through the graning of regulatory monopolies). The government
spies on everyone all the time now. This is the fulfillment of Progressivism:
regular people are ignorant, but we can fix all social ills through government
control. It is also, literally, the fascist model. I sound like an immature
teenager for saying that, but I mean it in the full, intellectual sense.
tl;dr the American Progressive movement occurred in parallel, but to a must
greater extent, in Weimar Germany. American Neo-conservativism is
Progressivism in a right-wing flavor. The modern USA is Weimar Germany all
over again.
As the USA's societal ills continue to accelerate (because we're taking anti-
corrective action instead of corrective action at every step), the USA will
increasingly resemble a command-and-control system like Nazi Germany.
~~~
javajosh
_> we're taking anti-corrective action instead of corrective action at every
step_
That's not true. The Congress almost defunded the NSA recently. It was a far
closer thing than anyone in the establishment suspects. In the end, we are a
country that values it's privacy, values small government, and we'll assert
that sooner or later. It may be later. But hey, it took a long time for us to
figure out slavery, women's rights, civil rights, gay rights, and drug rights.
But in the end we did the right thing, and we'll do the right thing on this.
Patience.
~~~
javert
Maybe there will be a turnaround, but given that the education system has long
been (and continues to be) controlled by Progressives, it doesn't seem that
likely to me.
But yes, the USA is the only nation founded on the principles of individual
freedom, and many people remember that, so there is a chance.
~~~
eightyone
Education is controlled by corporate interest and always will be. In fact the
education system was founded by wealthy industrialists so they could churn out
great factory workers. To learn more about this read Seth Godin's Linchpin.
It's not profitable to have a smart populous.
George Carlin sums it up here:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMqJvhmD5Yg](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMqJvhmD5Yg)
~~~
javert
I don't believe there's any evidence at all for what you're claiming regarding
"corporate interests." In fact, I think it's obvious that it's wrong.
As far as I know, Otto von Bismarck started modern education so that he could
indoctrinate the German youth, but I'm less certain on the details of that.
------
raganwald
I like the part where he can't tell you why he's shutting down. As if we won't
engage in rampant irresponsible speculation that they have told him to decrypt
and forward everything to them in real time.
~~~
toyg
what would you have him do? He's clearly under NSL, so he can't tell you what
he was asked for. This is the strongest statement he can legally make (in
fact, i'm sure some US lawyers would argue that it's actually _beyond_ that).
I guess we now know how it must have felt to watch republican institutions
spiral into tyranny in ancient Rome.
~~~
hga
Yes, unfortunately; I'm a student of that period of history and it's getting
pretty bad by its standards. No proscriptions yet, though ... perhaps because
that doesn't work so well with a well armed populace.
------
dkulchenko
This is infuriating, and the worst part is that a clear solution isn't in
sight.
Sure, we can fight this in the courts, and a few secret programs might get
shut down, but operations will just continue under a different name. We can
encrypt our data, move our services and data offshore, but that just paints a
big target on our heads - doesn't actually address the fundamental issue. This
is supposed to be a democracy, but I don't see any democratic way of
addressing this.
What do we do?
~~~
sneak
The only nonviolent solution I've found is to move away and stop paying taxes
to the US war machine. Don't use or support services that pay US taxes,
either.
It's what I did.
PS: It is very, very, very difficult, because most of the people you care
about will not move with you.
~~~
deftnerd
My family and I have started this process already and expect to be in Central
America within the year.
~~~
rayiner
Because the Central American governments so wonderfully respect human rights.
~~~
unimpressive
I know you'd probably prefer people stay in the US, but would you like to make
a recommendation for our viewers at home looking to get away?
~~~
rayiner
Where are you going to go? People playing up third world countries don't know
shit. The day-to-day corruption in nearly every such country is so bad that
after awhile you'd rather have someone reading your e-mail but otherwise
leaving you alone. And let me tell you from first hand experience--it is soul
sucking to live in a country like that where you're constantly surrounded by
people living on the edge of subsistence (or if you aren't you've segregated
yourself into 1%-er bubbles, which is its own kind of bad).
Look at the BRIC countries, which are supposedly on an upward trajectory.
Russia, India, and China are out off the bat. Russia and China do not have
functioning democracies, and while India does, it is corrupt from top to
bottom. Someone commented about Brazil yesterday how debts are inherited in
that country, not to mention it's got outrageous income inequality.
Out of the big European countries, you've got the U.K. with cameras on every
corner, and France where until recently it was a crime to insult the
President. It has come out that Germany spies on people too, though apparently
less than the U.S. to a degree (I guess just because of shorter retention
periods).
Australia tried to put up a nation-wide internet wall a few years ago, so
that's out. Canada? Canada does it too:
[http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6870/125](http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6870/125).
Libertarians like to put up Hong Kong as some shining example, but that's just
proof that libertarians don't really value democracy (since Hong Kong doesn't
even pretend to have democracy). Hong Kong apparently does less internet
surveillance, except if you're a pro-democracy activist in which case all bets
are off.
That leaves the Scandinavian countries, I suppose, but I have a hard time
seeing a lot of libertarian-minded people fleeing the U.S. for that
collectivist utopia.
~~~
icelancer
> That leaves the Scandinavian countries, I suppose, but I have a hard time
> seeing a lot of libertarian-minded people fleeing the U.S. for that
> collectivist utopia.
As a pragmatic libertarian, I am willing to pay many more dollars in taxes to
provide services I don't agree with so long as little to none of my tax
dollars go towards bombing brown people and spying on citizens.
Some things are worth compromising over.
~~~
varjag
All Scandinavian countries do implement EU Data Retention Directive just as
well.
~~~
iand
Can you confirm this since Norway is not in the EU
~~~
varjag
Norway is in EEC, and it volunteered to implement the directive, at the
bidding of Arbeidspartiet.
(I live in Norway)
------
dmix
From 2011:
> Lavabit processes 70 gigabytes of data per day, is made up of 26 servers,
> hosts 260,000 email addresses, and processes 600,000 emails a day. That’s a
> lot of email.
[http://www.dbasoul.com/2011/1008.html](http://www.dbasoul.com/2011/1008.html)
Update: According to their stats page, they had 410k email accounts hosted
before shutdown
[https://twitter.com/georgemaschke/status/365553445538775040](https://twitter.com/georgemaschke/status/365553445538775040)
~~~
trimbo
70 GB / 600K emails = 122KB per email. That's a large average even with
headers. To put things in perspective, Costco's massive marketing email sent
to me this morning is 138K including headers.
So the question is, what were people sending though Lavabit that _averaged_
122K and would have attracted attention? Therein probably lies the reason for
all of this.
~~~
dictum
If Lavabit allowed large attachments, I'd say photos.
122KB is the average. The majority of emails were probably 1-2KB. Then
newsletters, around 50KB. Lastly, emails with attached photos, ~5MB.
Probably follows a simple Pareto distribution: 20% of emails comprised 80% of
the total storage required.
------
koenigdavidmj
"I can't tell you the reason" is a rather blatant way of saying "National
Security Letter".
~~~
aroman
At first I read your comment as "rather _brilliant_ way" and I agreed with it
more than your actual comment :)
------
rsync
Time to donate to the EFF. They haven't been branded as a terrorist charity
yet, AFAIK...
~~~
venomsnake
Don't give ideas.
Too bad that he does not have donations page. I would gladly donate. Also -
respect for the decision he made. If he kickstarts a campaign for restoring
the service I will be there too.
~~~
erichurkman
There is a link at the bottom of the email to a PayPal page for donations to a
Legal Defense Fund.
I do wonder if PayPal was a good choice for this, or just a choice of
convenience. I have trouble trusting PayPal given how many horror stories
about accounts being suspended, funds seized (or returned to the senders), and
phantom account locks for fraud investigations.
------
joelrunyon
> I wish that I could legally share with you the events that led to my
> decision. I cannot. I feel you deserve to know what’s going on--the first
> amendment is supposed to guarantee me the freedom to speak out in situations
> like this.
Anyone know what happens if he just says "F it" and writes a massive blog post
on what exactly happened or what exactly they said to him?
~~~
guelo
He'd probably go to jail immediately and then spend years working the case
through the courts in the hopes of getting a Supreme Court decision striking
the law down as unconstitutional.
~~~
hkarthik
Probably worse. They'll often go after family members (siblings, parents,
extended family) and their businesses until you comply.
------
kefs
Seems like it would make sense for users to demand that any US based service
includes a warrant canary, just like rsync.net's implementation. A global
canary + separate canaries for individual accounts would also make sense.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrant_canary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrant_canary)
[http://rsync.net/resources/notices/canary.txt](http://rsync.net/resources/notices/canary.txt)
~~~
jaggederest
I don't think canaries are effective. You can't get around a court order just
by mental gymnastics, they'll hold you in contempt. I'd be happy to be proven
wrong, but I suspect that they'd simply order you to keep updating the canary.
~~~
kefs
I'm also unsure of their proven effectiveness, but how could they hold you in
contempt for _not_ taking an action?
~~~
cschmidt
I'm sure they would argue that you weren't supposed to reveal that you were
under an NSL, and that your inaction _did_ reveal it, so you violated the
terms. As the grandparent says, it probably just a cute legal trick that
wouldn't impress a judge.
~~~
jlgreco
If it gets to the point that a judge is not impressed, at least the public has
been warned.
~~~
IvyMike
The "judge is not impressed" means they would probably view it as the same as
just warning the public directly, with equivalent penalties.
And thus the canary is legally useless--if you're going to have the penalties
of violating a national security order, might as well just do it in a
straightforward manner.
~~~
jlgreco
At this point, it is speculation that the judge would not be impressed. If
anyone decided to test the theory, the public would be informed regardless.
~~~
jongraehl
I agree, but your analysis is missing something: the canary-threatener may be
secretly, without a public ruling, within the refresh interval, be convinced
that if he doesn't keep updating (falsely) the canary, he'll go to jail. In
other words, the precommitment to stop producing the canary signal isn't fully
credible (though it seems much more likely to get the message out than a
promise to actively say if something happens).
~~~
patrickmay
The technical solution to that social problem (yeah, we know how well those
work) is to set the refresh interval to be less than the time required to
process a motion contesting the government's order to update the canary.
------
mtgx
Source: [https://lavabit.com/?repost=true](https://lavabit.com/?repost=true)
This is very unfortunate and sad. I hope he wins in Court. The
NSA/administration are really trying to destroy the last bit of privacy in the
world, and they will fight relentlessly until they do (especially if the
People aren't fighting back).
~~~
joering2
um okay. If it is what we think it is, what makes you think that he will
wrestle with Feds if Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft and other billion-
dollars giants were not even interested pursuing the legal way?
Most likely, this is all so secret with secret courts foreseeing secret
rulings that unless he has solid capital to burn on legal defense, he won't
get far. He won't get far probably either if he has the money. I am sure
courts would stretched it in infinity. And I am sure the owner is businessman
more than a libertarian.
~~~
SageRaven
Sometimes a David makes a bigger impression than a Goliath.
It's been years since I've worked with Ladar. However, he's a man of great
intelligence and principle. It's not unheard of for "the little guy" to take
on the machine and win. I believe that Ladar will prevail in the end, and I
hope he'll resume operations or come up with something even better.
I'll be donating something as soon as I finish my post.
------
lawl
I really would want to donate to them. But you know I kind of feel weary now
connecting my PayPal Account with them. I hope some kind of organisation is
standing up for them. Like EFF or something. Not because I don't trust them.
But because I don't trust the NSA. They might flag me as a terrorist or
something. Then again I'm probably already on this list for having some
technical involvment with something the US gov doesn't like.
I guess it _purely_ a _coincedence_ that Snowden used a lavabit address the
last few weeks. I guess there is _no_ relation _at all_.
~~~
jerfelix
There should be a bitcoin address for donations.
There's no reason to trust me, but if you send me bitcoins, I'll convert to
dollars and send to the fund. You preserve your anonymity. I'll convert all
donations at the end of each month.
173WSQxBiwswTtMBxnnhGTZJtTy2RrdLgn
~~~
lawl
Thanks for the offer, unfortunately I don't have any bitcoins so i would first
have to buy them. Which I would have to do with money that can be traced back
to me...
------
jka
I've posted this link on HN before, but it's potentially relevant - we might
find out more, but it sounds like this might be the result of a National
Security Letter preventing Ladar from talking about the reason behind the
shutdown.
I would suspect he has tried to protect his users from a request for
information (NSLs are allegedly limited to metadata), but would prefer to
discontinue the service than take the other possible legal action (silently
disclosing information). Perhaps it is possible he will/has been forced to
disclose information anyway.
This link is a video featuring Nicholas Merrill who (if this is in fact NSL-
related) went through a similar situation with his ISP Calyx, and gave as much
information as legally possible about the frustrating process as a talk at the
yearly Chaos Communication Congress in 2010.
[https://events.ccc.de/congress/2010/Fahrplan/events/4263.en....](https://events.ccc.de/congress/2010/Fahrplan/events/4263.en.html)
------
tehwalrus
I had just signed up for 2 years pro service, and had been wondering why
thunderbird couldn't log in all day (and I've been waiting to send an email
all day!)
I also recently had a chat with their support about this (before purchasing,)
and they told me something like _" don't worry, we're not big enough to get
hit by this stuff, and if we are we'll tell them where to shove it!"_ \-- it
looks like they were telling the truth.
------
unethical_ban
I watched Casablanca the other night.
SPOILERS
I thought about how the Gestapo had Lazlow in their midst, at the same TABLE
as them, and yet didn't do anything immediately other than deny him further
travel. Of course, it's a movie, but it was an interesting thought. Nowadays,
if Snowden were known to be hiding in a foreigner's Moroccan cafe, we'ds drone
half the building.
Also, I noticed the pride and the wonder that America inspired in the workers
and patrons of Rick's. It was a symbol of freedom and opportunity. I wonder
how many people see it that way now.
~~~
toyg
Old European elites shared a common culture that went beyond borders, at times
perversely so (e.g. the whole Geneva Convention mindset where war is all a big
game in need of more gentlemanly rules). They respected each other more than
they did their fellow countrymen from lower classes. It's the same today:
you'd never see a Saudi billionaire droned, even if we knew he'd been "the
real Osama" all along.
Snowden is a little fish and as such he's being treated, as an example to his
uppity peers. His friends are little fish, and as such are being burnt down
without a second thought.
~~~
Dylan16807
Iterated prisoner's dilemma isn't exactly a 'perverse' way of looking at war.
Taking the high road helps you more than it hurts you. And remember that a
country taken with minimal casualties is going to be much less rebellious.
Killing is not the _goal_ of war.
------
junto
They should open source the whole thing. We can bring it to Germany. I believe
we are legally allowed to tell the NSA to GFYS.
Any people who have businesses in the US need to take a serious look at the
risk now posed by their own government on the success of their business.
One rogue customer and business could go down the toilet, or you'll be forced
to bend your morals to suit a rogue secret fiefdom.
------
spoiledtechie
When the FUCK did we become a nation that starts shutting things down that
don't comply with the government?
What really have we come to?
Reminds me of Nazis Germany, except replace communist and socialist with Free
Thinkers, The Innovators.
First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a
communist.
Then they came for the socialists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a
socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I
wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.
~~~
NegativeK
> When the FUCK did we become a nation that starts shutting things down that
> don't comply with the government?
This is not new. When a company doesn't comply with fire code, the business is
shut down. When a company doesn't comply with law enforcement, it's shut down.
This is the case when the law is just or not (until the courts rule it unjust,
best case.)
But to your actual point: we've been a nation that enslaved an entire race,
locked up another one because of war, genocided yet another, banned speech
against the government, ruined careers of famous scientists and actors because
of political affiliations, passed laws against sex acts, shot water cannons
and unleashed dogs at protesters, shot others, tore up the shanty towns of
veterans, trained our soldiers to be racist so they'd be more effective,
classified encryption as munitions, and on and on and on and on.
This NSA crap is infuriating, but pretending that we've suddenly turned into
Nazi Germany (and conveniently ignoring our history, such as J. Edgar Hoover,)
turns a complete blind eye to the fact that we've dealt with this before. We
need to tell our representatives that this is not okay -- not hyperbolize it.
Also, and most importantly, quoting things from the Holocaust is absolutely
disrespectful to the survivors of the Holocaust and the millions who died. Not
only is that poem diluted by it being towed out whenever a government does
something that someone doesn't like, but your argument is better served by
coming up with something original.
~~~
stass
> But to your actual point: we've been a nation that enslaved an entire race,
> locked up another one because of war, genocided yet another, banned speech
> against the government, ruined careers of famous scientists and actors
> because of political affiliations, passed laws against sex acts, shot water
> cannons and unleashed dogs at protesters, shot others, tore up the shanty
> towns of veterans, trained our soldiers to be racist so they'd be more
> effective, classified encryption as munitions, and on and on and on and on.
Yes, and police in US has historically acted to protect the regime and not the
citizens regardless of whether the citizen actions were justified and lawful
or not. Environmentalists have been dealing with this for decades[1], so it's
not something new and probably not getting worse: internet activists' homes
could as well have been raided, family members handcuffed and their eyes
pepper-sprayed. This is fairly common, unfortunately. The question is what do
we do about it?
[1] See the "If a tree falls" documentary for an excellent example.
------
Kelet
Crap, I had just recently migrated all of my accounts to my new Lavabit
address, paid for a year of service, etc.
Although I've seen some mentioned, what recommendations does HN have for a new
e-mail service? Preferably something stable and also respecting of a user's
privacy. Or perhaps you can only have 1 of the aforementioned attributes.
~~~
aleksis
I just lost access to my primary email account.
~~~
unethical_ban
Do what I do!
I have my own domain name, currently hosting with Google Apps. If I get the
motivation to move to another host like myself, I can do it without changing
contact information.
~~~
throwit1979
Oh good, because Google will never be subject to an NSL.
~~~
unethical_ban
At the moment, I accept the danger and resent myself for it. Moving to a
custom domain is one step in the process, though.
And really, since all your email hops through relays constantly, the only
truly effective anti-spy technology is message encryption, which wouldn't
depend on where the messages end up.
------
DASD
Interesting thread from Email Discussions:
[http://www.emaildiscussions.com/showthread.php?t=66968](http://www.emaildiscussions.com/showthread.php?t=66968)
If you're a SAAS provider, be aware if you need to shutdown that many users
are not prepared for this. Several posters in the linked thread rely on a
recover password feature sent to e-mail for access to other accounts. Not a
prudent practice but this is common for many.
~~~
toyg
This is not an orderly shutdown, this is basically a civil disobedience act.
As such, the more people are pissed off, the better (as long as their rage is
channeled to the real culprits, i.e. the feds).
------
joyeuse6701
You know, all these counter measures we come up with are just 'patches' to a
set of bugs in our society. We need to rewrite the damn thing. This will just
become a cat and mouse game against our own gov't and indirect defensive
movements are meaningless without some sort of offensive to change policy.
This is becoming a full blown arms race over people's private information. The
funding, the computational power, the human capital used to create these
things... if the gov't can't or won't listen to the people's will and the
situation is bad enough, then something will rise to replace the broken
system. Someone's got to spearhead a defense of the individual.
~~~
WhoIsSatoshi
You're talking about Assange. He's currently running for australian senate
spot. Read his book, spread the word.
~~~
joyeuse6701
I may have to.
------
nsxwolf
If there's any upside to this news at all, it's a confirmation that encryption
in general does frustrate the NSA's mission to some extent.
------
Karunamon
Are there any countries, anywhere, where a person can store data outside the
reach of the US government's illegal overreach?
Any countries friendly to the US are right out. They can tap the lines, but
there are ways around that.
I just want to be able to park data where some twit with a piece of paper that
says "NSA" on it can't get it retrieved or deleted. Any suggestions?
~~~
vlastik
Iceland should be OK
~~~
flixic
Iceland is a NATO country, and fairly friendly with USA.
~~~
vlastik
That's irrelevant in this case, please see [http://torrentfreak.com/kim-
dotcom-will-move-mega-privacy-se...](http://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-will-
move-mega-privacy-services-to-iceland-to-avoid-spying-130809/) and more.
------
sage_joch
If Congress has passed laws abridging the freedom of speech, then those laws
are illegitimate. Unfortunately, it feels as if speaking favorably of the
Constitution is enough to get put on a watch list anymore.
~~~
gecko
Congress can legally pass laws abridging freedom of speech, and has always
been able to do so. For example, if someone were to talk up and threaten my
life, that is not legally protected speech. Nor is blackmail, for that matter,
nor the famous adage of shouting "fire!" in a crowded theater.
For that matter, Congress can legally restrict speech in certain national
security issues, and has, again, done so for a very long time. The Supreme
Court has (in my opinion, correctly) understood that restricting people
handling classified documentation from repeating that information is, _without
extraordinary circumstances_ (more on that in a second), completely legal, for
example.
The trick here is the sheer _breadth_ of the NSLs. I completely agree that
they're unconstitutional, and I sincerely hope they are struck down in court.
But I hope that I've just highlighted why this isn't a slam-dunk situation for
those on the receiving end of an NSL. Add in that, at least so far, any
disputes with NSLs have to be taken up with the FISA court, and even wins
against NSLs don't actually count as binding precedent, because FISA itself
does not create binding precedent.
Congress can, in certain circumstances, make laws restricting freedom of
speech. This isn't one of those instances. But suing our way to that
conclusion will take time, money, and personal risk for the petitioner.
~~~
mattraibert
>the famous adage of shouting "fire!" in a crowded theater
[http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/11/its-
time...](http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/11/its-time-to-stop-
using-the-fire-in-a-crowded-theater-quote/264449/)
> In 1969, the Supreme Court's decision in Brandenburg v. Ohio effectively
> overturned Schenck and any authority the case still carried. There, the
> Court held that inflammatory speech--and even speech advocating violence by
> members of the Ku Klux Klan--is protected under the First Amendment, unless
> the speech "is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and
> is likely to incite or produce such action" (emphasis mine).
------
raganwald
Seems like a good time to hunt through the wayback machine:
[http://web.archive.org/web/20130116102854/http://raganwald.p...](http://web.archive.org/web/20130116102854/http://raganwald.posterous.com/friendly-
for-business)
------
alan_cx
So, secret court case, started by a secret spy service gets an email service
shut down. We _know_ next to nothing, except the service went down, with out
an open honest explanation. The owner is left with leaving a cryptic-ish
message to their users.
So, I ask again: at what point is it reasonable to use words like fascist,
police state, etc? What is a reasonable tipping point?
~~~
PavlovsCat
If you'd simplify it as fascism being about control instead of, say,
conscience and justice, then it certainly seems to continue to be headed in
that direction: [http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/08/nsa-will-
rep...](http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/08/nsa-will-replace-most-
their-potential-snowdens-machines/68153/)
------
EthanHeilman
The line "A favorable decision would allow me resurrect Lavabit as an American
company." seems to suggest that he may be working to create lavabit outside
the borders of "Mordor". Can he reopen it as a foreign business?
------
tareqak
Some questions given the reasons why they had to shutdown:
1\. Can Lavabit now set up shop overseas (with a different TLD)?
2\. If not 1, can Lavabit license their software infrastructure in such a way
such that someone overseas can set up shop for them?
3\. If not 2, can Lavabit open source their software such that someone
anywhere else in world can start their own Lavabit?
The point that I am trying to get across is that if Lavabit has been forced to
shutdown through no wrongdoing of their own by the US government, a case can
be made that certain American government actions are making American companies
uncompetitive/non-viable in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.
TL;DR jobs are leaving the United States.
~~~
toyg
Not knowing the actual crime, you cannot answer any of those questions.
See, this is why "secret laws" are so bad: you cannot legally counteract
because _you don 't know what's legal anymore_.
~~~
tareqak
I am speculating because I am genuinely interested.
Assuming this event is the result of an NSL, what can the owners do next? An
NSL would have to have been served against an organization. If said
organization no longer exists, there should be no reason why another
organization that performs exactly the same activity as the first could not be
formed.
If the answer is no, then it's as if a coffee shop was destroyed by a
hurricane, but now the government says you aren't allowed own/operate/license
coffee shops anymore except the hurricane is actually an arm of the
government.
This event really gives a new meaning to "invisible hand", except this time,
it's in the shape of a fist[1].
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_hand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_hand)
------
mathattack
This is a real shame. 10 years of work gone, and they have to ask for help for
the legal bills.
------
scoofy
How in the hell are national security letters constitutional? It's
mindboggling to me that they haven't reached the Supreme Court. I don't mean
to sound like a hippie or patriotic douche, but it seem rather tyrannical that
you aren't even allowed to talk about something that happened to you.
~~~
john_b
I have been wondering the same thing. They very clearly abridge on one's
freedom of speech, so if they have been tested in the courts at all (?) then
some mental & legal gymnastics were no doubt required to justify them,
probably invoking analogies about "tradeoffs" of dubious validity in the
justification.
If someone knows of any court precedents here, I'd genuinely be interested in
hearing & reading about it.
------
bgentry
How long until PayPal suspends their legal defense fund?
On a serious note, if you want to donate to their defense fund, consider doing
so anonymously. Pay cash for an Amex or Visa gift card, and use that to make
your donation.
~~~
burke
This is a really great way to get their PayPal account frozen for sure.
Abnormally high rates of Visa gift cards will absolutely trip all the fraud
alarms.
------
vermontdevil
Lavabit needs to contact their congress representative and raise stink.
Explain to the representative that jobs and money is at stake. And explain to
the local community how there will be jobs lost due to this behavior.
We need to start getting on both local communities and their representatives
to emphasize the long term dangers of NSA's actions towards tax revenues,
jobs, etc.
In other words speak their language and make them understand that inaction is
not an option.
And yeah spare me the comments about how all Congress representatives are
owned by corporations etc. It is still possible to get your representative to
pay attention as they still need votes for the next election every two years.
------
plainOldText
I know I've said this before in one of the other threads, but I believe
donating to their Legal Defense Fund is a sensible thing to do if you care
about your rights. Link: [https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-
xclick&hosted_b...](https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-
xclick&hosted_b..).
------
tenpoundhammer
Sounds like any country willing to guarantee a snoop free environment could
have a lot of servers hosted there. I'm thinking the Caymen islands of data.
Set up a shell company and a shell server in the Caymens to protect your money
and your customers.
~~~
johnrob
Don't forget a _physical_ shell to keep the U.S. marines at bay.
------
Theory5
Well, that's it. I am now going to move everything onto my own infrastructure.
I signed up for lavabit a while back, and I like them as a secondary email
service; and now they just shut down!
------
joncfoo
Is there a way to verify that the service has been shut down for the reasons
stated/(not-stated)? I want to call my political representatives and let them
know that these secret court filings that prevent people from speaking about
their case hurts businesses & individuals alike. Before I do that though I'd
like be sure that the reason Lavabit shut down is due to the government's
interference. Is there any way of finding out?
Also, can someone recommend a trusted alternative?
------
Glyptodon
I've had a lavabit email as one of my main emails for years (close to when
they first started) and this is a major inconvenience. I'm not sure I'll be
able to change the email address associated with a lot of my various accounts
now that they're offline.
~~~
vincentstorme
I'm in the same boat. Anyone know of other services similar to Lavabit?
~~~
vincentstorme
Switched to runbox: [https://runbox.com/](https://runbox.com/)
~~~
chopin
MD5 message authentication for the site. No PFS (ephemeral key exchange).
Mixed content. I couldn't find a statement where the servers are hosted. Not
exactly encouraging.
------
samstave
So this is the reality. 100% proven that there is utterly NO privacy nor any
"legal" defense against the spying of the NSA.
America has NO 4th amendment rights and encryption is now a criminal activity.
------
u2328
Any other Obama supporters out there so utterly disappointed in this
administration? Call me naive, but good god this is depressing. Seems like the
country at large is so much more willing to let this stuff slide because it's
not Bush/Cheney doing it.
Congrats Democrats. Your complicity here has pretty much converted me to a
third-party voter.
------
uptown
So we've hear stories of the big companies being targeted. Now a smaller
company has been included. How small will this go for monitoring?
Should we assume that any browser plugins are potential trojan horses for
desktop targeting?
~~~
unimpressive
Why stop there? You can probably bully the smaller open source programmers who
work on various utilities to backdoor their programs.
~~~
vdaniuk
Actually, open source provides plausible deniability where a programmer would
be able to provide information about a backdoor to the community anonymously.
------
EdSharkey
When I read the Lavabit statement, I felt like this was "The Strike" Ayn Rand
predicted. Guy took his marbles and left. Tough to be optimistic about our
future after seeing this happen for realsies.
~~~
SmokyBorbon
Atlas shrugged and dropped the world wide web.
------
throwaway420
Lavabit's UI was a bit imperfect, but their death is a horrible loss to people
who were using it and looking to defend their privacy. Additionally, the fact
that this guy running the service was clearly threatened with some kind of
national security letter that clamped down on his freedom of speech is rage
inducing.
There's a lot of ridiculously smart folks on here who are making good money
working on advertising, social networking, and other typical web 2.0 startups
and companies. There's nothing wrong with these things, they are certainly
enriching peoples' lives and create value.
But if what is going on in the world isn't a clarion call for a lot of these
smart people to look into startups, networks, services, software, open source
projects, etc that try to defend peoples' privacy I don't know what is.
I urge everybody to look at your notes, ideas, forgotten projects, and see
what you can come up with to provide services and ideas and concepts that will
work to defend people's security and privacy from government entities that
have gone drunk with power.
Not only is this vital to everybody's liberty, but there is a ridiculously
huge business opportunity here for services and software that can provide some
measure of defense for people.
If we don't stop what is going on soon there will not long be a market for a
lot of cloud based services that people are going to want to use.
------
acuozzo
I only used webmail on Lavabit; not IMAP.
All of my e-mail is gone.
I was a paying user. WTF.
~~~
sneak
Why did you not make backups?
~~~
acuozzo
I only started using Lavabit a few months ago.
------
afarrell
Wired says "Court records show that, in June, Lavabit complied with a routine
search warrant targeting a child pornography suspect in a federal case in
Maryland. That suggests that Levison isn’t a privacy absolutist."
Can anyone find me a primary source on this document? It is from
[http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/08/lavabit-
snowden/](http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/08/lavabit-snowden/)
~~~
Ningzhi
[http://dblf27q6vp5m8.cloudfront.net/Lavabit_Joey006.pdf](http://dblf27q6vp5m8.cloudfront.net/Lavabit_Joey006.pdf)
------
MarcScott
Can you imagine if this had been the response from Google, Microsoft and Yahoo
when the FISA court demanded they hand over data? I commend Ladar Levison.
~~~
nilved
If I was using Google, Microsoft or Yahoo I wouldn't have found out that my
primary email account was shut down abruptly, my subscription canceled without
refund and my email lost without any ability to download it. Not sure if
that's really a worthwhile tradeoff for the average person.
~~~
kbart
On the contrary, I believe millions of angry Gmail and Facebook users (and
voters) COULD have influenced some politic decisions on this matter.
------
dgregd
Is this really the end of freedom in the US? Does your constitution means
nothing nowadays?
Almost everybody here talks to move email elsewhere, etc. There are no
positive comments.
Does this mean that the US government has won and can do anything they want?
~~~
SmokyBorbon
It's over.
------
rexreed
This may have something to do with it: [http://bbs.boingboing.net/t/so-
apparently-edward-snowden-use...](http://bbs.boingboing.net/t/so-apparently-
edward-snowden-uses-security-focused-email-service-lavabit/3645)
And he references his troubles over the past six weeks, which would be pretty
much perfect timing with this.
------
nish1500
It won't be long before companies start introducing non-USA-affiliated as a
feature.
~~~
grote
That's already happening. [https://MyKolab.com](https://MyKolab.com) for
example is heavily playing the hosted in Switzerland card.
------
mpyne
One big question I have for the legal beagles: It's understood (if not well-
liked) that Fourth Amendment protections don't apply to data given to a third-
party...
What if, instead, you host server space within the U.S. and run your own
software (email, listserv, whatever) and data on the leased hardware? I would
think there's a good argument that Fourth Amendment protections then resume,
and the domestic-ness of the server would also mean the NSA is not legally
allowed to look at it, at least without a real Article III warrant.
Do similar rights apply IRL, e.g. if you rent a storage closet, can law
enforcement just open the door when they wish or do they need to get a
warrant?
~~~
tootie
You need a warrant, but honestly we don't know if that isn't the case here.
It's come up before that the NSA, FBI et al, serve warrants for encrypted data
and can demand it be decrypted. Otherwise, services like lavabit are
equivalent to Swiss bank accounts that are unreachable by any means,
legitimate or otherwise. Realistically, this service was almost certainly
hosting a ton a illegal activities.
~~~
mpyne
Well there we go then, Constitutional Fourth Amendment protections restored.
But why do I get the impression that's not _actually_ what we all were really
asking for here?
~~~
Dylan16807
There are multiple overreaches.
In this case the government is probably trying to pull a hushmail: getting the
service provider to install spying equipment targeted at their users, and then
sharing the spy data with the government.
1\. The government should not be able to force this kind of spy equipment to
be installed.
2\. If we had good privacy laws it would be illegal for the company to even
_willingly_ share this data without a warrant.
~~~
tootie
I think the trick here is that lavabit can't share data even with a warrant.
Their inability to do so is pretty much their entire business model. That
protects people from unwarranted intrusions, but it also insulates people from
legitimate investigation. If they build a backdoor for only duly authorized
warrants, they are no more or less obligated to comply with an NSL.
~~~
mpyne
I would hope that _if_ they've received an NSL ordering them to wiretap their
own email, that the NSL is at least limited to specific targets of an
investigation.
But some people do strongly believe in throwing out the whole bathtub if
that's what it takes to keep the data safe, and to those people I will
certainly tip my hat, even if I disagree myself.
~~~
Dylan16807
I can accept a company complying with a warrant and divulging data for some
customers.
I will not accept a company that promises complete security and then sends a
trojan to customer computers. Anyone that betrays the security promises made
to the entire user base (eg. hushmail) should be ostracized.
~~~
mpyne
Agreed.
------
yaiu
As a user I'm essentially fucked. I can't change emails since the service is
shut down... and the money I paid is now gone.
~~~
MrGando
I'm guessing that you will receive some sort of notice on your data.
You should reconsider foreign hosting the next time, this sucks.
------
sycren
Would it be naive for me to ask if the private key can also be encrypted?
User logs in, password is used to decrypt the private key which is used to
decrypt the emails.
I guess this method would mean that the password is not stored as such.
Perhaps there is a method of encryption that you could use that generates
different sentence structures and word choices instead of obfuscation. So even
if a user tried to bruteforce the login, they would always get a message back
in the language it was written with no idea if it was the correct message
unless they demand the password from the user.
Therefore, all the 'keys' can be handed over but it's all meaningless.
------
ics
I _just_ signed up three days ago, and was exchanging mail with one of their
reps about opening a couple more accounts with them. I went to log in last
night and noticed that the service was down, which I thought was a little odd
(since everything was down at once). I'm going to have to read this again
later when I get a chance but for now, wow. I respect their decision but I'll
bet the timing sure was bad for a lot of people (especially those coming to
Lavabit specifically to escape what's going on here).
------
wellboy
Looks like the second hero from the NSA scandal emerges.
------
ozziegooen
Apparently they just cut off all email access. From Facebook: "Could you
please at least forward the messages for a couple of days to some other e-mail
accounts? I can't reset/change the e-mails I used on other websites because
they require validation PER EMAIL." "While I approve of what you've chosen to
do, I just purchased a decade of advance service from you, and you've left no
contact addresses or information. Who are your customers supposed to speak to
at this time?" "i do respect your decision. But as a long time lavabit
customer(8 or so years) I am very upset. I have paid money every year to
upgrade and have spam protection and now lost all my emails. I would have
liked some notice and a forwarding option for us."
[https://www.facebook.com/KingLadar?fref=ts](https://www.facebook.com/KingLadar?fref=ts)
~~~
nwh
I doubt they truly have much choice in the matter. It sounds more like a pull-
the-plug-and-run sort of situation than one that leaves any actual planning.
As their servers now just flat out don't have an SMTP service running, it
seems like a fairly reasonable guess.
------
HNaTTY
Here's my speculation, to be buried 450 comments deep:
The government said, "you must update your software to compromise your
encryption, and deliver us this information we have a warrant for." Lavabit
said, "well, no, that defeats the purpose of our business". The gov't said "we
don't care, we have a valid warrant" and now Lavabit is out of business.
If I'm right, nobody's files were compromised because Lavabit refused, but I
imagine that doesn't bode well for returning user data because there could be
huge legal consequences if one of the confirmed users is strongly suspected of
XYZ.
If I'm right, it shouldn't prevent the owner from starting a new secure email
service outside of the US. I suggest Iceland.
------
th3byrdm4n
If I could afford it I would donate, big time, to them.
------
kelvin0
The whole system is collapsing under it's own weight. There is no simple
solution, we simply need to accept that the current power structure in place
and anything resembling it will always cling to power for it's own sake.
It's up to us to decide if we want to continue having our cake and eating it
too. What I mean is that we cannot continue incensing our shiny techno-gadgets
based system, and then also be surprised that the same system tries to keep
itself 'on top' by whatever mean necessary.
We need to change our attitudes and actions within the current system,
anything else is simply a band-aid on an open wound.
------
skrowl
So.... what should we use now?
~~~
WhoIsSatoshi
Is MEGA ([https://mega.co.nz/](https://mega.co.nz/)) an acceptable company?
What's the HN consensus on this? Kim Dotcom does appear a bit sketchy.
~~~
hnha
god, no. that weasel ran bbs systems for the whole purpose of ratting out
warez users to the authorities, making money through it as he coorporated with
a lawyer. he actively spied on the users.
[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Schmitz#Werdegang](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Schmitz#Werdegang)
never ever trust that piece of ....
------
methehack
Maybe we should all just start writing letters again. Snoop that mutha fucka!
~~~
cracell
The USPS reportedly has some very expensive machines that can read letters
without opening them now. I believe it was Russell Tice that said that, though
I can't find the specific source at the moment.
But it's technical feasible and a desirable tool to get around being unable to
legally open letters.
------
tn13
Shutting down of Lavabit makes us more safe from suicide bombers!
------
biomechanica
I support his dicision. I just wish there was some warning so I could have
prepared for losing all of my contact information, etc. This couldn't have
happened at a worse time as my backup server took a rather ultimate farewell
yesterday.
I _really_ don't want to use gmail or hotmail, so what other service can I
use? Ugh. It might be time to get back to the roots and invest more time and
effort in decentralized services instead of relying on centralized services.
------
MrGando
This is terrible, I'm thinking about migrating my personal stuff out of
Digital Ocean to some VPS host under the Netherlands legislation or other...
any suggestions?
~~~
eqyiel
For a NL VPS host I would like to recommend tilaa.com. No affiliation, just a
happy customer.
------
laureny
Doesn't the fact that Snowden was using Lavabit lend credence to the
allegation that he has been leaking information?
If you're just a regular joe who, one day, realizes that what he's working on
is bad for the public and decides to release it to the public, surely you have
had no reason to use an encrypted email service before this realization dawned
on you.
~~~
DanBC
No.
Some people are aware of the long history of government surveillance, or of
the lack of privacy in regular email. Some of those people will have encrypted
their email in an attempt to reduce the amount of casual snooping they leave
themselves open to.
------
mrshu
It's very sad news. For those who didn't use it, Lavabit has been down for 2
days prior to releasing this statement. To give you an idea what it felt like
I wrote up my experience here:
[http://mareksuppa.com/blog/notes/lavabit/](http://mareksuppa.com/blog/notes/lavabit/)
------
resplin
This is a great story about an ISP owner having to deal with National Security
Letters: [http://www.shiftfrequency.com/madison-ruppert-owner-of-
small...](http://www.shiftfrequency.com/madison-ruppert-owner-of-small-utah-
isp-describes-how-the-nsa-got-him-to-install-surveillance-equipment)
------
revelation
The health page is still up:
[http://lavabit.com/health.html](http://lavabit.com/health.html)
------
photorized
Host in Russia. You all saw how the Snowden issue was handled.
Just don't do anything that would attract FSB's attention.
~~~
jlgreco
Snowden isn't a general purpose tool. As far as Russia is concerned, he
presents no threat to them; it's not like they are going to let him pursue a
career in the FSB.
This service however _is_ a general purpose tool. It would attract the
attention of the FSB immediately.
~~~
dsuth
Exactly. A lot of the fallout from this seems to be revolving around the idea
of getting a service in 'not the USA'. Never mind the fact that: a) The US has
been shown to actively compromise targets in their ally's jurisdictions and
then share that information. We can assume allies are doing similar. b)
Countries not allied to the US are not necessarily your friends either.
Odd times, when the data havens proposed by Neal Stephenson in his sci-fi
books start to look more and more important... to the citizens of (supposedly)
the most freedom-loving country in the world.
------
dmead
[http://gizmodo.com/somebody-read-government-goons-shut-
down-...](http://gizmodo.com/somebody-read-government-goons-shut-down-edward-
snow-1070103469?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_facebook&utm_source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow)
------
declan
My initial guess about what the government did to Lavabit that forced Ladar
Levison to shut it down:
[https://plus.google.com/112961607570158342254/posts/EujgUYbr...](https://plus.google.com/112961607570158342254/posts/EujgUYbrEwv)
------
andy_ppp
Given what we know about all this; the NSA has a legal right to retain access
to everything - you have no right to complain or to stop it (because of the
terrorists/children/anything that'll wash), we can assume Google Glass is a
dead product at this point right?
------
Zelphyr
I really wish he had chosen some other means for accepting donations. PayPal
has gotten so bad that I literally can't donate money to a worthy cause
because I can't even change my fucking address on file without some generic
error message popping up.
------
olsn
A "complicit in crimes against the American people" \- he's just providing a
tool, if he's a complicit then ANY weapon-/gun-manufacturer in the US is a
complicit in armed crimes/murders against American citizens!
------
shirro
Anyone care to comment on the chances services like LastPass are compromised
in some way? I would expect they would have been approached. Even if the data
is end-to-end encrypted there have to be ways - injecting something client
side etc.
------
oldgregg
dear god I hope he open sources his codebase.
------
chx
Do you know much coverage this extraordinary events gets in mainstream media?
Nothing, zilch, nada. [http://imgur.com/a/WyDKy](http://imgur.com/a/WyDKy)
~~~
MyDogHasFleas
Washington Post: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-
switch/wp/2013/08/08...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-
switch/wp/2013/08/08/snowdens-e-mail-provider-is-closing-cannot-legally-say-
why/)
You may not include the Drudge Report
[http://drudgereport.com](http://drudgereport.com) in your definition of MSM,
but they have huge readership. They linked the WaPo story this morning.
------
mladenkovacevic
Hmm another tremor... I wonder how long until the big one hits.
~~~
helloNSA_
This is big news to a persistent minority. The larger population will never
care. They simply don't have the context required to understand the extent and
severity of the problem.
~~~
mladenkovacevic
It's true.. I think Americans might sleep through the whole thing. It seems TV
news doesn't even try to ask questions and whenever they do it's about where
Edward Snowden might be and what Obama's favourite vegetable is.
------
BinaryAcid
I just don't get it. Why not create and store the encryption keys client side?
That way, even Lavabit would not have any keys to hand over. Just like Mega
does.
------
dendory
This will never go away, what we need is strong email encryption to become the
norm. Then the US would need to go see the individual users if they wanted to
spy.
------
khafra
Seems like a great time for cperciva to remain in Canada.
------
jorgecastillo
Maybe if you use Yandex Mail the US government will at least have to do the
proper procedures in a Russian court, to get your data.
------
nilved
Does anybody know of a good European VPS provider for self-hosted email? That
seems to be the only way to go moving forward.
~~~
cheald
If you want security, avoid VPSes. Your VPS is at the mercy of the hypervisor.
You need to own a physical machine under lock and key if you want to be
assured of its security.
~~~
jasonkostempski
And your own army to defend it when whatever government has jurisdiction in
the location of your servers demands access to it.
------
JimWestergren
What about relocating to South America? Perhaps Bolivia? Bolivia is _really_
pissed about USA ... I know as I live here.
------
nilved
I regret giving Lavabit my business and more so paying for several years up
front. This is immensely disrespectful.
~~~
epo
Jesus! The guy is being leaned on by the Government. This is his only option
to maintain customer privacy. "disrespectful"? There aren't polite words to
describe the contenpt I have for whiners like you.
~~~
nilved
Moving forward, yes. Why can't he provide content dumps?
------
pearjuice
Any word on what happens to our data?
------
brass9
Since they've stopped providing service, they should opensource their stack.
------
mnml_
They didn't even bother giving refunds ?
------
superconductor
Can we get a list going of non-US alternatives of popular apps most of us use?
Let's start with Dropbox. What's the alternative?
~~~
Karunamon
I'd suggest Owncloud for that, on a server running in your own home. Encrypted
file system (LUKS), the works.
Pretty much identical to Dropbox and just as stable, IMHO.
Pricewise? You can buy an HP Microserver for about $300 that's capable of 12TB
of storage on the top end (more if you get fancy with external arrays), whack
it into a APC UPS for another $50, and just run it off your home internet
connection. Hang a free domain hame at afraid.org off of it, and run a script
on the box to keep the hostname pointed at your dynamic IP if your ISP won't
give you a static one on reasonable terms.
~~~
patrickdavey
afraid.org looks nice - thanks for sharing :)
------
LekkoscPiwa
In communism there was no progress exactly because of laws like this. Who
wants to operate hosting business in the US now? Why not Asia? HK, Singapore?
Or even New Zealand at this point. See how much business is lost. See how much
Google, Yahoo, MS, Facebook are hurting now. That's true people will still use
them, but not for business critical stuff. No way. In the name of catching a
few idiots from a desert who try to blow up themselves they just handled over
the whole IT industry to the rest of the world. How stupid you must be to do
that?
~~~
Torkild
I'm sure some of the largest of the tech firms are getting something for their
troubles.
------
MyDogHasFleas
Where's the "I wish you hadn't done that, lavabit, I'm a customer and I feel
very screwed over by this action" comments?
Or is this appropriate for any SaaS vendor? You're OK with this? Should all
customers, even those who really don't care if the NSA could be watching, be
put out because some feel that this cause trumps actually doing business and
having customer-vendor relationships?
I could see someone suing an SaaS vendor for an action like this, actually.
"You cost me $XX in actual costs and $YYY in lost business. Your TOS says
nothing about your shutting down because the government asked you to do
something you didn't agree with."
~~~
mariuolo
> Should all customers, even those who really don't care if the NSA could be
> watching, be put out because some feel that this cause trumps actually doing
> business and having customer-vendor relationships?
If they don't care, why pick lavabit then?
From my point of view they did exactly what they were supposed to do.
~~~
MyDogHasFleas
Yep, you're right. I wasn't thinking about their specific business model and
customer set. Thanks for setting me straight.
I wonder what the Lavabit TOS and privacy terms actually said? Usually they
say something like "we will not disclose ... Except to comply with legally
served requests..." I'm curious whether Lavabit had something different here.
Perhaps this suggests a new business model, a sort of turbo canary, where the
service explicitly commits to shut down rather than comply with a secret order
which it would otherwise be compelled to obey.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Samsung to halt production at its last computer factory in China - whalesalad
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-samsung-elec-china-pc-idUSKBN24X3K4
======
phkahler
>> amid rising Chinese labour costs, a U.S.-China trade war and the blow from
the COVID-19 pandemic.
Do companies think about the military situation over there?
~~~
runawaybottle
Wait ... Chinese labor is now also too expensive? Give me a fucking break
already. What do these people want, slaves?
I leave this here:
[https://www.theonion.com/jeff-bezos-tables-latest-
breakthrou...](https://www.theonion.com/jeff-bezos-tables-latest-breakthrough-
cost-cutting-idea-1824144898/amp)
~~~
api
China hasn't competed on labor cost for a while. They now have the largest
concentration of manufacturing and tooling skill in one place.
Cheap labor seekers are going to cheaper parts of India (but that won't stay
cheap for long), Africa, Indonesia, etc. Africa is establishing some kind of
union to reduce concerns about stability, and if that works we will see the
80s-90s in China repeated there.
Someday there won't be any large pools of cheap labor left. Unless automation
is much cheaper by then, we will see massive inflation in manufactured goods.
Also: if Africa industrializes and we don't have cheap fossil fuel
alternatives, we should just start moving Miami and building the New York Sea
Wall. Another half billion to billion people will be joining the new global
middle class, and after centuries of colonialism Africa is not going to listen
to Westerners asking them nicely to stay poor so we can meet a CO2 target.
~~~
hlfy_hn
China's strength was never cheap labour.
1\. Educated people (most former communist countries have fewer analphabets
than the US)
2\. Tons of people
3\. Infrastructure and clustering.
4\. The political will to move forward.
You won't see this in Africa. India is possible but unlikely.
~~~
hlfy_hn
Nut sure why this is also downvoted. Feel free to disagree. I have a PhD in a
STEM field and live in China. I think my opinion has some value.
~~~
waterheater
Currently doing a PhD in a STEM field in the USA.
I think your points are generally right but vastly oversimplifies the
situation.
>1\. Educated people (most former communist countries have fewer analphabets
than the US)
Literacy != education. In the USA, we used to talk about the 3 R's: reading,
'riting, and 'rithmetic. That's the base level. I would equate education with
higher-level thought processes developed in college. Re communist countries:
yes, this is where communist control can be effective, but it also stifles
creative thought (are you really sure the state's education regime is
correct?)
>2\. Tons of people
Certainly helpful, when used correctly. Definitely drives the cost of labor
lower, though (simple supply-demand relationship).
>3\. Infrastructure and clustering.
To an extent, sure, but the infrastructure development is more a consequence
of the large amounts of people. Also, you get more bang for the buck when you
build infrastructure there because so many people now live in population
centers.
>4\. The political will to move forward.
This is the primary point I would say is wrong. We have plenty of political
will in the USA. However, we also have much clearer legal separation between
private and public companies. The CCP holds a very different view on how
private companies should exist. We in the USA theoretically can block
companies from operating in certain countries, but we choose to not do so in
most cases. Liberty is much more protected in the USA, which may hurt short
term but works best long term.
As to your projections:
>won't see this in Africa
I presently agree, but no one expected China to do as well as it has 50 years
ago.
>India is possible but unlikely
As China and India continue their border clashes, they will grow more distant.
I expect the West to align with India than China, given than Indian values
more closely align with the West.
~~~
hlfy_hn
"Literacy != education."
Irrelevant for many jobs. What to do with people who can not read?
"Certainly helpful, when used correctly. Definitely drives the cost of labor
lower, though"
Why should this be the case? The labor is probably lower in Benin. Yet, nobody
moves there.
">3\. Infrastructure and clustering. To an extent, sure"
No. In fact there was a study from a business school that showed that this is
the most important point about China. Clustering. All the suppliers and sub-
suppliers that can work hand in hand.
">4\. The political will to move forward. This is the primary point I would
say is wrong. We have plenty of political will in the USA."
As a immigrant in both systems and a naturalized US citizen I tell you that
this is not my impression.
~~~
waterheater
>What to do with people who can not read?
They can do jobs which don't require high literacy rates. Farming is such an
example. The USA has plenty of Mexican immigrants who don't know English yet
are still highly capable at performing manual labor.
Also, as a counterexample to your point about former communist states leaving
higher literacy rates: a Marxist-Leninist state existed in Benin until 1990,
but they still have one of the lowest literacy rates in the world [1].
>Why should this be the case? The labor is probably lower in Benin. Yet,
nobody moves there.
The principle is just supply and demand. If you increase labor supply and keep
demand stable, the cost of labor decreases (on the other end of this spectrum,
tight labor markets drive wages higher).
But considering why Benin isn't the manufacturing powerhouse of the world
(with only 11.3 million people) is tightly coupled with political realities.
For example: does their country need those manufacturing jobs? CAN the country
support those jobs? Apparently cotton is 40% of Benin's GDP and ~80% of their
official exports. Political instability in Africa generally hurts all other
African nations. Perhaps the African Union will help them [2].
>All the suppliers and sub-suppliers that can work hand in hand.
Oh, clustering is highly effective. There's plenty of clustering in the USA as
well. That said, the CCP has much more control over all industries, so they
can force clustering with greater ease. Ascribing economic success to
clustering oversimplifies the broader context.
>As a immigrant in both systems and a naturalized US citizen I tell you that
this is not my impression.
Well, as a person born and raised in the USA and surrounded by hard-working
immigrant family members, I attest otherwise. Mainstream news in both China
and the USA is manufactured and does not reflect the reality of how people
feel. People here want change, and it's coming.
Sources:
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benin#Education](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benin#Education)
[2] [https://au.int/](https://au.int/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Drones that can haul a 20-pound load for 500 miles and land on a moving target - spking
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/26/volans-i-drones-can-haul-cargo-for-500-miles-and-land-on-a-moving-ship.html
======
haberman
What 20 pound load could have saved the Titanic? Why wouldn't such a
miraculous tool or part have been brought aboard already as a precaution?
~~~
Broken_Hippo
At the time, probably nothing. At best they could have sent out life jackets
or something similar, though I don't know how much they weighed at the time.
But if that happened today, we could minimally start getting inflatable
lifeboats out to the people, supplementing afterwards with blankets for heat,
life preservers, food, and so on. If you kept some on the ship in a slightly
similar tragedy, the drones could offship as the sinking is happening and then
immediately deliver goods to survivors. This last option seems more useful.
~~~
haser_au
[https://www.amazon.com/Sevylor-Colossus-2-Person-
Inflatable-...](https://www.amazon.com/Sevylor-Colossus-2-Person-Inflatable-
Boat/dp/B0032GT9X8)
Weight: 9.5 pounds each.
They're not for long term use, but it would have kept people out of the water
until proper rescue boats arrived.
Obviously these didn't exist back in 1912, but then again, neither did these
drones.
------
daveguy
Technology like this is why The Wall is a waste of money when it comes to
deterring drug trafficking.
~~~
ShorsHammer
Jamming drones is easier than you think, the new battleground will be
autonomous flying to avoid trivial radio/gps jamming. MIT has open source code
for this already.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qah8oIzCwk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qah8oIzCwk)
[https://github.com/andybarry/flight](https://github.com/andybarry/flight)
~~~
a012
I'm no expert but how autonomous works if there's no positioning methods
involved? (To avoid GPS/GLONASS,... Jamming)
~~~
tfolbrecht
Surprised nobodies mentioned celestial sensors.
Celestial navigation by imaging the sky, and combining that data with a clock
and compass.
~~~
varjag
Very unreliable for ground based systems.
------
jmickey
Aerones have developed a drone that can haul a human -
[https://www.aerones.com/eng/news/?text_id=18](https://www.aerones.com/eng/news/?text_id=18)
~~~
asynchronous13
so did i :-) We logged a lot of hours with a person onboard who didn't touch
the controls.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7SjOOuTct0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7SjOOuTct0)
~~~
Hasz
That's really neat. It looks like the company is defunct -- what happened?
~~~
asynchronous13
Yeah, some founder conflicts right when things were getting good. I've been
able to leverage the experience to keep doing cool things though :-)
------
SCAQTony
Fine and dandy when flying over a desert but when the drone meets the city and
an "autopilot" failure occurs over a freeway/highway/street or someone's head
the consequences will be unforgivable.
~~~
candiodari
I don't get that. Before the sun rises tomorrow, for the US alone, 32
Americans will make a mistake with their car that kills someone (potentially,
but unlikely, themselves, 2 will kill themselves, 29 will kill someone else,
one will kill 2 others, for a total of 33 deaths). At the same time, a further
2000 Americans will injure someone with a car, and another 3000 will cause
severe (I believe > 1000$) property damage, mostly on cars.
That's on 260 million cars, or an accident rate of something like 1.3% on a
yearly basis (unfortunately, this masks the fact that ~70% of those accidents
are done by < 10% of drivers. So plenty of people are, frankly, just plain
insane and have double digit accident rates).
That, we find perfectly acceptable. Drivers that crash cars about once a year
are not that rare. And it's not like these people are the ones having minor
accidents. Maybe it's just me but ... weird how people's sense of risks work.
~~~
narag
Don't you have a score system? It has a noticeable effect, that probably
happens by taking the insane drivers off the road.
You start with ten points that you lose with infractions, more points for more
serious ones. If you run out of points, you don't drive or face jail.
~~~
astura
It plain just doesn't work (as implemented.)
First off, it is much too lenient and the points drop off your record much too
quickly. Most infractions can be reduced in court and many crashes (especially
single car crashes) don't result in infractions unless they are serious.
Secondly, those people will just drive unlicensed anyway, so it really doesn't
matter if we take their license away or put them in jail for a month, they
already don't follow the rules and don't give a shit. There's nothing
physically preventing someone unlicensed, uninsured, or unfit to drive from
climbing into an vehicle, starting the engine, and driving on public roads.
The only thing that can deter them is getting arrested after the fact, but
that's pretty rare.
My dad lost his licence years ago (for good reason) and a judge has denied his
application to get it reinstated many times (for good reason). He still drives
all the time and still crashes his truck fairly regularly. Sure, he gets
arrested once in a while, but that doesn't stop him.
~~~
narag
The difference seems to be that here in Spain you are seldom sentenced to less
than two years. Jail, when you finally get there, is a serious matter. And of
course you can't drive in prison so problem solved :)
Points and permit revoking are the way to fast-track what otherwise would be
administrative sanctions, clustering them to build a criminal case.
------
ryanmarsh
My first thought was “oh they built a bomber”. Curious if drones with
capabilities like this will start getting export restrictions.
------
merinowool
If I was a drug lord, this is something I would invest my money to.
------
Tepix
Once this (cool) tech is commonplace (they already have competitors) these
airborne drones will be a logistical and regulatory nightmare.
~~~
avoutthere
Nah, once there are established rules about which classes of aircraft use
which altitudes, corridors, etc, it will be just like private aviation
operating in the same sky as commercial airlines.
~~~
Tepix
But their numbers could be so much greater!
------
nordsieck
Of all the things I think this will really impact, I think food delivery and
fresh ingredient delivery will be near the top of the list.
~~~
onion2k
It's a little sad that people's first thoughts about tech like this is "It can
bring me goods faster than FedEx!" That's such a trivial thing to use it for.
Emergency deliveries in rural areas are where this will be most useful.
Getting medicine and mechanical parts to remote places during crisises is
_hard_.
~~~
sonnyblarney
I think the simple economics of it would completely rule out this being used
for 'fresh groceries' ... or rather only to people who want to pay 10x for
their groceries.
My bet: the military/security/coast guard, for far off service posts (like
when they put hydro wires way out in the middle of nowhere), offshore Oil, and
for very specific things (i.e. medical equipment) for remote communities.
~~~
asynchronous13
I agree with you that deliveries to offshore oil and specific functions will
be very practical.
However, not so sure I agree that economics will prevent 'fresh grocery'
delivery. It will be different vehicles for sure, but the operating costs of a
small electric vehicle with 5-10lb payload can be very low (cents/hour). I
doubt there's going to be direct farm-to-house deliveries, but instead
something that can augment the current transportation infrastructure. Imagine
a national grocery chain adopts small electric drones for last-mile delivery.
They leverage existing shipping network in place to keep stores stocked, and
just send drone deliveries from store-to-house. Actual flight cost for one
round-trip store-to-house is going to be pennies.
~~~
ams6110
Marginal flight cost might be pennies, but they will also have to account for
the cost of the drones, maintenance, repair, replacement, and liability for
damages that they do.
------
CaptainJustin
This reminds me of Passerine Aircraft.
I believe they are also attempting to take advantage of runway-less takeoff
and fixed-wing flight (more efficient than four fans pressing down).
[https://passerineaircraft.com/](https://passerineaircraft.com/)
Am I correct in understanding that Volans-i has two propulsion systems?
------
tim333
Looks like cool tech. I wonder if they could do the same for a regular
aircraft - put electrically driven propellers to lift it off the ground for a
few seconds while it accelerates to above stall speed.
------
arvind3199
Admirable, sets a timeline for instant delivery systems
------
cyrux004
It makes me happy to see that people are venturing out and building something
that takes longer and has a higher failure rate that web apps/software.
~~~
icelancer
The man who gets the most press in the tech community is trying to launch
rockets to Mars and build electric supercars and networks that cost ludicrous
amounts of money. Whether you think these ideas are any good or not, people
are doing large things in our society. It ain't all web apps.
~~~
djsumdog
He did start with web apps though (PayPal).
~~~
tim333
Well, zip2 then x.com then PayPal. Also sold some program when he was 12 pre
the web. Here's some video of him after the zip2 sale
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHKT3yxYvDQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHKT3yxYvDQ)
~~~
SimbaOnSteroids
That was adorable.
Coincidentally he completely totaled that car on Sand Hill Road with Peter
Thiel on a trip to a meeting at Sequoia Capital[0].
[0] [https://www.inverse.com/article/26369-elon-musk-peter-
thiel-...](https://www.inverse.com/article/26369-elon-musk-peter-thiel-story-
mclaren-f1-paypal-tesla)
------
alkonaut
So basically every terror org on the planet have crude off the shelf 500mile
cruise missiles now.
~~~
Tepix
They've had this for 15 years already, see
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Simpson_(blogger)#DIY_Cr...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Simpson_\(blogger\)#DIY_Cruise_Missile)
~~~
alkonaut
Fair, but that's built with off the shelf _parts_ , not an off the shelf
device (He didn't actually mass produce it I assume?). In the article is a
device you can unpack from the store, and then have it go 500 miles with 20lb
bomb within minutes. I find more frightening than the fact that it's possible
with the right skills to _build_ something like it.
------
orf
20 pounds = 9kg, for the rest of the world.
~~~
merinowool
If that is cocaine, then it is almost $1m of cargo.
------
ttul
“Both have graduate degrees from Stanford, which is where they met.”
So, basically the silver spoon of Silicon Valley. These guys have a shot!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Trying to join a #JavaScript community in 2017 - akras14
https://twitter.com/akras14/status/890583088740261888
======
inglor
We have a nice JavaScript room at
[https://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/17/javascript](https://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/17/javascript)
for the past 6 years.
Our only rule is "don't be a dick". A lot of things are offtopic but we have
some pretty profilic regulars and ex regulars include some big names in
JavaScript.
Everything is under reasonable (but not restrictive) code of conduct (slightly
more relaxed than StackOverflow).
It's not all on topic - and it's not targeted at newbies - but you're very
welcome to join.
~~~
akras14
Nice, thanks!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Security researcher Cédric 'Sid' Blancher dead at 37 - bane
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/12/cdric_sid_blancher_dead_at_37/
======
4rt
let me guess: bag, padlock, bath
| {
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Building an electronic human brain - ronnier
http://www.israel21c.org/201005237948/technology/building-an-electronic-human-brain
======
az
Go Israel!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Theorists with a Swamp, not a Theory - chmaynard
http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=10460
======
danharaj
Anyone have insight into how theoretical quantum field theory is developing
outside of string theory? Not just high energy physics but also condensed
matter physics. I'd imagine understanding quantum field theory more deeply
leads to more efficient modelling and computation, but that sort of
incremental advancement doesn't get much public exposure.
~~~
ssivark
The breadth of your question makes it difficult for any one person to give a
representative answer. I'll give a few examples, biased by my limited
background.
1\. Amplitudology: [https://www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-discover-
geometry-...](https://www.quantamagazine.org/physicists-discover-geometry-
underlying-particle-physics-20130917)
2\. Conformal bootstrap: [https://www.quantamagazine.org/using-the-bootstrap-
physicist...](https://www.quantamagazine.org/using-the-bootstrap-physicists-
uncover-geometry-of-theory-space-20170223)
3\. Tensor networks:
[https://arxiv.org/abs/1306.2164](https://arxiv.org/abs/1306.2164)
~~~
auntienomen
I'd say all three of these are topics related to string theory and worked on
by string theorists. I don't think of them as part of string theory exactly,
but it's roughly the same set of people doing the research. What does that
mean? The two possibilities that occur to me are a) that the age when one
could make a career purely as a string theory specialist is ending, and b)
that knowing string theory is a competitive advantage for anyone doing formal
theory.
~~~
ssivark
I would say that all three of those topics are being worked on by researchers
who have also worked on string theory (among many other people), but string
theory is not directly relevant to most of the work in those topics.
Especially tensor networks, which is largely driven by condensed matter
physics and thus far has limited relation to string theory. Eg: most of the
research at the interface between tensor networks / high-energy physics is
restricted to a particular tensor network known as MERA, and its association
with holographic spacetime [1].
If I might make a sociological observation, people who work on "string theory"
have had to do the hard work of understanding quantum field theory in its many
contortions, and the "good researchers" among them often have a thorough
understanding of a good chunk of ideas in fundamental physics and related
math. This also puts them in a position to capitalize on any related research
avenues which they consider promising, even if those topics have little to do
with string theory as such. So, IMHO (b) definitely carries weight, and I do
not have a complete enough picture to comment on (a).
[1] PS: I have worked on this topic. Also, FWIW, I wouldn't claim to have a
string theory background, but I did learn a little string theory in grad
school.
------
fusiongyro
I enjoy Peter Woit's writing and especially loved his book "Not Even Wrong." I
also enjoy shitting on string theory from the comfort of my armchair. Maybe
this is "productive," in the sense that getting people to stop investing in
string theory will get them to work on investing in something else, but again
from my armchair, I just don't see what _positive_ work is happening. It feels
like there are not enough holes in the standard model that need plugging and
no big theory trying to supplant it or handle gravity gaining ground.
~~~
mahranch
His book contains _several_ factual inaccuracies that he either has failed to
correct or refuses too (as of last year). It makes me think a lot less of him
and his position on string theory. It makes me wonder what else has he
misrepresented in his criticisms.
Keep in mind science is not free of "agendas"; people in competing areas love
to bash the competition because they're competing for funding, aka their
livelyhood.
~~~
fusiongyro
Can you point me to something about these inaccuracies?
------
RcouF1uZ4gsC
Bored medieval philosophers speculated on how many angels could dance on the
head of a pin. Bored modern philosophers peculate on string theory. Neither
put forth experimentally testable hypotheses, so one is about as scientific as
the other.
~~~
21
Well, if angels are physical in the slightest, modern philosophers have
computed an upper bound of how many of them could dance on the head of a pin,
before they collapse into a black hole
| {
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When we ban begging we take away the first amendment rights of the poor - pavornyoh
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/26/when-we-ban-begging-we-take-away-the-first-amendment-rights-of-the-poor
======
Camillo
When we ban stalking we take away the first amendment rights of jilted lovers.
When we ban playing loud music at 4 AM we take away the first amendment rights
of jerks. When we ban plastering every square inch of a city with ads (to say
nothing of banning billboards entirely), we take away the first amendment
rights of business owners. When we ban vandalism we take away the first
amendment rights of vandals.
Any limitation on any act that has a component of communication (which is to
say, almost any act at all) can be framed as a violation of the first
amendment.
In my opinion, "I need 'bout tree fiddy" ranks below spray-painting a dick on
a wall in terms of contributing to the free exchange of ideas.
------
JoeAltmaier
Straw man. They showcase mothers begging for diaper money after a national
disaster. But the bans are for all those healthy-looking guys that hang out
downtown and accost strangers.
~~~
dpark
What's the name for the fallacy where you ignore the broader point in favor of
nitpicking some minor piece of the argument?
~~~
theandrewbailey
Bikeshedding?
------
hga
Maybe people ought to think about how willing they are to abridge commercial
speech?
| {
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Tree.io - Open source Project Management written in Python and Django. - pajju
http://tree.io/en/tour
======
schrodingersCat
Nice! This seems to be well thought out and visually impressive
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
U.S. attorney: Criticism of Aaron Swartz prosecution is 'unfair' - declan
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57570635-38/u.s-attorney-criticism-of-aaron-swartz-prosecution-is-unfair/
======
DamnYuppie
Those who are doing the oppressing always find it "unfair" when the persecuted
speak out against them.
------
nonamegiven
Unfair.
Do you hear that? It's the world's smallest violin, smuggled in to prison in a
body cavity.
| {
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Ask HN: What are the '7 wonders' of the coding world? - vinnyglennon
======
angersock
I'll only go with things you can read the source code of:
_The Quake 1-3 engines_. Truly groundbreaking for each one, and easily
understandable by mere mortals. They were critical in the adoption of consumer
GPUs and in network gaming. With modding and everything else, they basically
created an entire industry.
_PostgreSQL_. Amazing RDBMS that has a long history and is also very
approachable by the layman. It sets new records for technical writing as well,
and is in widespread use.
_Linux_. Hugely important, full of smart and not-smart pieces, and the
backbone of a lot of the computing world today.
_Plan 9_. Maybe the best version of Unix ever made, and very approachable in
both its system design and implementation. It's a future that never came to
pass, but is hugely interesting.
_BLAS /LAPACK_. Gigantic and scary piles of optimizations for numerical
linear algebra, but of utterly unmatched importance (barring _maybe_ the FFT).
Everything behind control and data modeling today relies on this.
_Erlang 's BEAM_. Another very approachable VM, and one that has an amazing
track record. Combined with OTP, this powers a lot of very important telecom
and other systems.
_MUMPS_. A dark wonder, but almost all healthcare interacts with a MUMPS
runtime at one point or another. A sobering reminder that we as engineers can
do horrible things that will stay in production for decades and maybe even
kill people.
~~~
sigjuice
What do you consider the non-smart pieces of Linux? Thanks!
~~~
angersock
The OOM killer, the graphics and audio stack (arguably a userland problem, but
still), various other things. A lot of the baggage inherited from being Unix-
ish.
------
FroshKiller
I don't know about _the_ seven wonders, but I can tell you my personal ones:
fast inverse square root
MP3
BitTorrent
Git
Bitcoin
AWS
fast Fourier transform
------
dwe3000
I don't know if this follows the spirit of the question, but if I consider a
'wonder' as something that had a major affect on the coding world, wouldn't
some virus/Trojans be applicable? Like the first, whichever that might
technically be, but I'm thinking of the Morris worm [1], though I know it
wasn't the first.
[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_worm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_worm)
------
AnimalMuppet
Well, the 7 wonders of the world were things that you could go _see_. It seems
reasonable to say, then, that the 7 wonders of the coding world have to be
things to which you can see the source code.
I'd nominate a few:
Linux
The Fast Fourier Transform
Lisp (whichever version you like best out of the ones where you can get your
hands on the source)
~~~
cevi
More nominations:
Hashlife (golly)
SAT-solvers (minisat, glucose, lingeling, ...)
Convex optimization (CVXOPT, ...)
------
Saturnaut
Linux
SQL
HTTP
BitTorrent
Git
Blockchain
Neural Networks
| {
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The Art of Assembly Language Programming - wyclif
http://www.arl.wustl.edu/~lockwood/class/cs306/books/artofasm/toc.html
======
psykotic
If you aren't fluent in assembly language, the biggest marginal benefit you
get from learning it is the ability to read the assembly output from your C
compiler for debugging or low-level optimization. For that purpose I've always
recommended these two old MSDN columns by Matt Pietrek on Just Enough Assembly
Language to Get By:
Part 1: <http://www.microsoft.com/msj/0298/hood0298.aspx>
Part 2: <http://www.microsoft.com/msj/0698/hood0698.aspx>
They're outdated in some ways but still relevant.
Once you have the fundamentals down, the best source for up-to-date knowledge
relevant to performance optimization and assembly programming for x86 machines
is Agner Fog's manuals:
<http://www.agner.org/optimize/>
That said, there is a lot of room for improvement on Matt Pietrek's columns.
This is a great blog post series waiting to happen for anyone up to the task.
Take out the cruft about ENTER, LEAVE, LOOP, etc, include more about basics
like signed/unsigned comparisons (JG/JGE/JL/JLE are the signed counterparts of
JA/JAE/JB/JBE, where the mnemonic is that 'A' stands for above and 'B' for
below), and so on. I'm trying to get an assembly guru and technical blogger
coworker of mine interested in writing this. If that doesn't work, maybe I'll
have to roll up the sleeves and write it myself.
~~~
wccrawford
Well, that depends on your needs, actually.
If you want to write trainers for video games, knowing Assembly is a must!
Well, sorta. Knowing just enough to get by, and being able to look up the rest
is good enough.
I used to write trainers for the original XBox. Unlike PC trainers, which can
often rely on simply putting the same value in the same memory location over
and over, XBox required that you modify the code in memory.
I still do it for PC games occasionally, but it's gotten harder... Windows
seems to try to prevent hacks by loading the code into different places in RAM
each time.
tl;dr - There are still uses for Assembly other than just debugging.
~~~
psykotic
I said the greatest marginal benefit was from debugging. I didn't say it was
the only one. :)
------
mtkd
"Your knowledge of assembly language will help you write better programs, even
when using HLLs."
Assembly was the first real coding I did after learning BASIC. It taught me:
1) How to build and structure an application - from intrinsics like 'divide'
upwards, I now seem more able to build large/complex systems than people who
only learnt HLLs
2) Fundamental datatypes like DWORDs that have helped me optimise performance
of HLL apps
3) To appreciate the heavy lifting provided by a language like Ruby - and an
understanding of how it does what it does
Application developers that have never worked on the bare metal are poorer for
it.
------
watmough
This is also somewhat dated, although it does make it as far as the Pentium,
and it is a brilliant read.
Graphics Programming Black Book - Michael Abrash
[http://www.gamedev.net/page/resources/_/reference/programmin...](http://www.gamedev.net/page/resources/_/reference/programming/140/283/graphics-
programming-black-book-r1698)
~~~
vjeux
Some funny quote showing it is dated :)
"If a program requires 1.5 megabytes, it will not fit on a 1.44 Mbyte floppy.
Likewise, if an application requires 2 megabytes RAM, the user will have to
install an extra megabyte if there is only one available in the machine. Even
on big machines with 32 or more megabytes, writing gigantic applications isn't
excusable."
~~~
Deestan
Double the numbers, substitute "mega" with "giga" and "floppy" with "usb
stick" and it's up to date again. :)
~~~
wccrawford
For a short while, anyhow.
------
angrycoder
There is a much newer version of this book that uses HLA.
<http://nostarch.com/assembly2.htm>
~~~
breadbox
The No Starch Press book is really just the Nutshell book for HLA, a language
of the author's invention that is a cross between x86 assembly and Pascal.
This web site, on the other hand, appears to be the contents I was expecting
to find in a book titled "The Art of Assembly Language".
Why oh why did the author give both of these very different creatures the same
title?
~~~
aklein
Speaking of, it looks like there are at least three different versions here
for free:
[http://homepage.mac.com/randyhyde/webster.cs.ucr.edu/www.art...](http://homepage.mac.com/randyhyde/webster.cs.ucr.edu/www.artofasm.com/index.html)
------
agentultra
_It is surprising how many people are willing to speak out against assembly
language based only on conversations they've had or articles they've read._
Most people will speak out against any language because of some troll or
flame-war they've followed on the Internet.
If you want to learn assembly, do it. There doesn't have to be a practical
application. You can learn something just because you think it's cool. It's
not always about the salary or the market-usefulness of each skill you learn.
------
jules
This is not a good book if you want to learn assembly. Instead the author will
teach you his own language HLA (High Level Assembly), which is actually more
like Pascal with some assembly mixed in. The writing style is also incredibly
verbose.
I don't know a good comprehensive book about modern x86 assembly. Can you
recommend one?
~~~
groovy2shoes
These are pretty indispensable when it comes to modern x86 assembly:
<http://www.intel.com/products/processor/manuals/>
~~~
exDM69
Not only the assembly language but also the organization of a whole x86 based
computer architecture, including memory buses and interrupt controllers and
whatnot. I've spent weeks reading these things and trying to figure out how a
modern operating system is built with the hardware at hand.
Every piece of hardware should have a manual like this!
------
barik
I haven't had the need to write assembly language programs in years. However,
I've still found x86 assembly quite useful to know due to having to reverse
engineer binaries and DLLs.
So knowing x86 still has some practical value, and with reverse engineering,
just knowing a small subset of x86 will go a long way.
------
aklein
"Unfortunately, MS-DOS is not a modern multitasking operating system and it
does not support shared memory. However, we can easily write a resident
program that provides this capability missing from DOS. The following sections
describe how to create two types of shared memory regions - static and
dynamic."
One word: badass.
------
rnicholson
Darn. All the exercises and labs appear to be missing. Anyone know where else
to find them? Or am I not missing anything by not having them?
------
gautamc
I don't consider myself a "real" assembly programmer. I can, however, try to
debug compiled c code via gdb disassemble and not get totally lost.
I managed to pick up this ability after getting to know assembly programming,
and the subsequent "higher level manifestations" in C/C++, from Paul Carter's
open source ebook: <http://www.drpaulcarter.com/pcasm/>
When I first downloaded this book in 2002, I was fairly comfortable with the
linux command line, gcc and emacs, but I knew nothing about assembly and
computer architecture (registers/interrupts etc).
Whereas other books on assembly were somehow tied to DOS, this was a free book
that wasn't tied to any OS and was easy to understand.
------
jodoherty
Along with JWasm -- <http://www.japheth.de/JWasm.html> \-- and DOSBox, this
can make for a lot of fun.
------
noonespecial
Assembly provided me with my "there is no spoon" moment on the arduino
platform. It's easy to pick up and suddenly, you know kung-Fu.
------
pajju
I enjoyed the practical approach. I started off with 8086 in the
Microprocessor lab, played with motor Rotations- Serial port and parallel port
communication, keyboard interfacing, DOS Interrupts,LED interfacing etc. It
was the most amazing time of my career. I fell in love with microprocessors.
------
alecco
I always feel these books on assembly are like car user manuals. The knowledge
of driving is far from that.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the free book. But there's a need for a good
assembly book to learn the ropes.
~~~
aklein
This one is decent. Its teaching style is basically "assembly as a first
programming language".
[http://www.amazon.com/Assembly-Language-Step---Step-
Programm...](http://www.amazon.com/Assembly-Language-Step---Step-
Programming/dp/0470497025/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1313101779&sr=8-3)
------
mansr
Looks like it might have been nice were not so x86-specific, and obsolete x86
at that.
~~~
cageface
Yeah. These days it's ARM assembly that I care about.
------
tintin
Little offtopic: I think the layout and the colors of this site are great!
------
alok-g
Any recommendations for learning AMD64/x64 assembly programming?
~~~
exDM69
Writing it. Lots of it. Assembly is not a language that you can grok by
looking at it. Use the official Intel manuals for reference. There are lots
and lots of deprecated/incomplete/incorrect assembly language references out
there.
I got my black belt in assembly by writing a 1 kilobyte software synth for a
4k intro that was never finished (but the synth was playable). That was one
cool project!
------
betov
Rosasm is the best!
~~~
silkodyssey
Are you betov, the author of Rosasm?
~~~
betov
I am not. I am making fun of endless battles betov and rhyde had on usenet.
------
jc-denton
"Converting CFGs to assembly language" Nice we didn't cover how to actually
implement it in our theoretical computer science class.
------
jc-denton
Nice post, however it's a bit dated I wonder if there is a newer version.
~~~
granitepail
The Art of Assembly is, itself, an immensely useful and dated piece of work. I
remember flipping through this years ago. Certainly worth the read, though
it's likely not worth pouring one's self into too far, as it isn't so easily
applicable these days.
~~~
GeorgeTirebiter
...unless maybe you want to write highly-optimized code for special
applications, or maybe to write compiler code generators. Assembly language
knowledge is still useful otherwise to understand what the machine _really_
does.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Who wants cheaper books? (Help the Domino Project) - cgshaw
I've noticed many HN readers mentioning books of all sorts of varieties.<p>I'm a member of the Domino Project Street Team. Seth Godin along with Amazon is trying to disrupt the publication and book distribution process in a big way.<p>One of the things we're experimenting with now is how to build a list and market to folks in a meaningful way. To get people interested in the project and spreading ideas, Seth is offering to lower the price of his first book, "Poke the Box." For every 5,000 people that sign up for the mailing list, he'll drop the price of the Kindle copy by 1.00. Right now the price is 7.99. He'll go all the way to .99. The Kindle version can be read on nearly any device / computer, but if you want a hardcopy, the book is still at a reasonable 9.99.<p>Just for clarification--I'm not here to sell books. I'm here to spread ideas and come up with ways to get better books in our hands faster and cheaper. If you have no desire to read Seth's book, but want to help us validate (or invalidate) ideas on how to better reach people to keep book prices down, please let us know.<p>This is but one experiment. We've got other ideas and eventually other books will be published through the Domino Project. Please comment in here and ask about the project or contact me, my info is in my profile.<p>You can subscribe to the newsletter at http://bit.ly/h3C0vv .<p>More info on the Domino Project at http://thedominoproject.com
======
Raphael
Who wants free books?
I'm a member of the Internet. Web pages have disrupted publishing and text
distribution in a big way.
One of the things we're experimenting with now is how to build links and get
relevant search results. It'll drop the price of all text to $0.00. The text
version can be read on nearly any device, but if you want a hard copy, you can
use a printer.
This is but one experiment. We've got other ideas and eventually text will
lead to images and audio. Please comment anywhere.
More info on the project at <http://w3.org/>
------
cgshaw
Clickable - <http://bit.ly/h3C0vv>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
8 Companies That Shouldn't Make a Tablet - adeelarshad82
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2375995,00.asp
======
locopati
Short version: only Apple should make tablets (to which I say thpth!)
~~~
tzs
They said Amazon should make a tablet. For most of the rest the reasons given
were not because they aren't Apple, but rather because they weren't hardware
companies, or because they've shown they suck at it, or because they have
problems they need to address first before going into a new line.
------
edge17
most of the small chinese companies at CES that were "making" tablets just buy
kits and assemble them.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
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