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Hacker Jobs UK is rolling out to Europe & the US - Peroni
http://hackerjobs.co/
======
Peroni
We've had enough interest from various companies in the US & Europe to launch
regional versions of hackerjobs.co.uk so we've almost completed both
iterations and you can use the link above to register your email to get
notified when we launch.
Prior to the US & EU launch we'll be introducing a lot more features to the
site which we'll trial and error on the UK version so it certainly won't be an
MVP.
Wish us luck!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Why Rust is becoming popular? - gilgamesh3
In the recent times, Rust is becoming very popular, and used more and more by people and companies, but why? What is the pros and cons of Rust? Rust does not even have a spec.
======
topspin
Having a "spec" is not a prerequisite to popularity. Perhaps you believe it
should be, but it is not.
Rust is effective, reasonably well documented, fully open and delivers
something novel; bare metal performance with low defects in a practical
language. I find no surprise that this has led to popularity. Just the idea of
it was popular before people could really get their hands on it.
------
watergatorman
Rust popular?
Tiobe language rankings for May 2019:
Rust is ranked 34th at 0.335%, below Lisp and Prolog. Go is ranked 19th at
1.114%. C is ranked 2nd at 14.233%
Rust does not have a stable, standard BNF grammar specification. The language
reference document for Rust has 33 or 34 unspecified missing language
definitions [see "FIXME" sections].
~~~
vorg
Even if the Tiobe rankings said Rust was popular, it wouldn't mean much. Their
May 2019 rankings also say Apache Groovy has risen from #91 to #17 over the
past 12 months, which is clearly wrong. Those rankings are being fiddled with
via search engines such as Baidu.
------
wmf
It's both safe and very efficient (no GC, zero-cost abstractions). There
aren't many languages in that niche so Rust has taken it over.
------
sidcool
I am not sure if it's already famous. What got my attention was that it
simplified systems programing. I don't have a C/C++ background, Rust was my
first attempt to learn a low level language. It's been rewarding so far.
------
oconnor663
There are many safe languages, but Rust is the only safe language with
destructors.
~~~
rurban
This is untrue. Rust is unsafe in all aspects they are claiming to be safe.
It's better than C, C++, or Go, but still type unsafe, memory unsafe and
concurrency unsafe.
They are popular due to the wrong hype around their "safeties", and having a
healthy community.
~~~
oconnor663
If you're concerned about the definition of a word, please go ahead and say
what definition you prefer, rather than just saying "I disagree."
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
That zero-G OK Go video taking over Facebook isn't on YouTube - anulman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFwW2v_-5ak
======
anulman
Notably, the bit.ly link directs you to Facebook.
Nice play, FB Video team.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Oracle, Walmart, and other US investors to take a majority stake in TikTok - mfiguiere
https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-oracle-bytedance-deal-investors-us-majority-stake-treasury-trump-2020-9
======
GretchenKlein91
IDK why everyone is trying to obtain tiktok. it;s going to cost them so much
and is going to die out within the next 3 years (just like vine)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: UI Concept – Focus Transition - NVI
http://n12v.com/focus-transition/
======
nostromo
Often the best ideas are those that make you wonder, "why hasn't anyone done
this before?" and in retrospect seem completely obvious and intuitive. Like
this!
~~~
edwinyzh
Sorry, but I've done similar before, although it's for desktop UI :) Check the
first video on [http://liveditor.com](http://liveditor.com).
To be specific, once the user want to "inspect" a html element, I use a flying
animation to jump from the web preview window to the corresponding source code
in the html/css/js code editor.
~~~
mtdewcmu
It's still a good idea to put it in web browsers. Simple and obvious ideas get
continually reinvented until they take hold.
~~~
deathanatos
If it's a good idea, and we're going to discuss the proper level of the
software stack to situate it, this should go in the UI toolkit for the desktop
environment. (Why should the web browser be special?)
Alas, the state of the web today is that every website should feel the need to
ignore my desktop settings and re-invent the UI — to some degree of success. I
have a beautiful theme, and it seems to me a shame that web browsers (and
sites) ignore it. We should not be re-inventing the UI for each web site we
design. (And it should not be the websites implementing basic UI elements.)
Better, I think, would be a way to hook into the user's UI toolkit and UI
preferences, and theme them. That way, the web site behaves like the rest of
the UI environment, but can be themed to match your corporate style. (If
you've ever seen FreeCiv on Linux, that might be a good example: it uses GTK,
and the settings, but themes the widgets for the game.)
------
NVI
A couple of years ago I saw
[http://osteele.com/tools/reanimator/](http://osteele.com/tools/reanimator/),
OpenLaszlo based RegExp tester. The animation on tabbing between text fields
was unusual and interesting. I implemented a similar effect using JS & CSS,
and made Chrome and Safari extensions.
I released it just two days ago.
------
cmdli
Wow. It fits the current aesthetic, solves a common interface problem I have,
is only noticeable when you need it, fast, and doesn't look half-bad. I'm not
a big design person so I can't comment on that, but color me impressed.
~~~
rurounijones
Ditto, I am usually half-hearted about the design related stuff that appears
on HN but that is a really solid piece of UX.
------
noptic
Great idea. Possible improvement: Only show the effect if the user uses the
tab key. IMHO the effect is distracting if you use the mouse and are already
looking at the focused object.
~~~
vanderZwan
That's actually pretty similar to how in Linux you can choose to either have
to click to give a window focus (like in Windows), or simply have whatever
window currently is under the mouse to have focus.
------
SwellJoe
Subtle change is often underrated...visual feedback that makes it clear what
has changed is a pretty cool improvement.
Some of the mildly frustrating elements of using websites include not knowing
where "I" am on the page. facebook, in particular, has some conventions that
leave me confused and fumbling around for where I was typing a lot. This
particular trick wouldn't fix it for facebook, but I'm pretty likely to add
this to my current and future web UI projects, assuming it works reliably
across browsers and doesn't interfere with other JS libraries I'm using.
------
ecubed
I found it nearly impossible to concentrate on what the video was trying to
show me because of the background music.
~~~
mischanix
The video is also 30fps, which I think is completely inadequate for
demonstrating a subtle effect like this.
~~~
erichurkman
The video really is a disservice to the effect. I played the video first and
had a very different opinion of it vs. the playground!
------
Skalman
Such a simple idea - but it does make it easier to follow. The only problem I
have is that it's very mac-centric. On my system the focus color is orange and
it looks a bit off.
I'd suggest to use the highlight color:
box-shadow: 0px 0px 2px 3px highlight, 0px 0px 2px highlight inset
~~~
NVI
Unfortunately, this will make colors look off on OS X. "highlight" color is
different from the focus color on OS X.
Hardcoding colors for different OS-s might be more reliable.
~~~
thomasahle
And different OS themes... And updating the list every time they change...
~~~
rorrr2
I doubt you can detect an OS theme with Javascript or CSS.
~~~
Skalman
You can actually partially detect it with Firefox.
[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:-moz-
syste...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/:-moz-system-
metric%28windows-default-theme%29) [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/CSS/:-moz-syste...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/Web/CSS/:-moz-system-metric%28mac-graphite-theme%29)
------
hayksaakian
Could someone with the appropriate clout contribute this to chromium and
Firefox?
It seems like in a perfect open source world, a change like this should be
simple to at least propose (pull request).
~~~
ygra
And then please get all major desktop operating systems to follow suit.
Although I guess something like that can be made by someone else to at least
work with applications that honor accessibility APIs (and then it could work
in all webpages as well and even show the focus shift from the address bar to
the default input field on the web page).
------
jeffmess
This is a great idea and executed well but forms should not be complicated.
They should be easy to follow. If you need this library to ease users along
then perhaps you need to take a look at your forms workflow rather...
------
ohazi
How about highlighting the current element with an "active" color border, and
the next element with a different color for "this one comes next" (e.g. blue
and dark gray, or dark and light blue, with the inactive elements being a
light gray)? I think this would emphasize the element that comes next, as
opposed to making you guess whether focus will move down, to the right, back
to the top, etc. The animation is nice, but it doesn't really give you
information until after the tab.
~~~
NVI
This is a good idea but I don’t know how to implement it in JS. Probably, I’d
need to have a list of all focusable elements, e.g. form elements, elements
with tabindex attribute and links (for some browsers). Hidden elements should
be excluded. This list should be updated on DOM changes. Sounds complicated
already, I don’t think it would be robust.
------
harrytuttle
Really like this when using the keyboard.
When using the mouse, the transition is implied so it's annoying.
Great work though!
~~~
NVI
[http://nv.github.io/flying-focus/test/](http://nv.github.io/flying-
focus/test/) is an experimental version that only works on tab and arrow keys
(for radio buttons).
------
PhasmaFelis
I want something like this for text-searching within a page.
------
SimHacker
OpenLaszlo has had this for years. It's a great idea that works well, but it's
not original.
The OpenLaszlo implementation animates four shadowed corner chevrons that
interpolate between the corners of the current widget to the corners of the
next widget, so they are are not as obtrusive as animating a whole rectangle
(drawing a bunch of rectangles over each other tends to look cluttered, while
the corner chevrons are not as visually distracting), and they work well
between differently sized widgets.
The OpenLaszlo animation is a bit slower than the animation shown in this
demo, and I think the slower speed of OpenLaszlo's animation works better for
drawing your eye between one widget and the other.
This demo seems to move faster than eye tracking speed, and the animation
appears to skip or flicker, and it go too fast to follow, especially if the
widgets are far apart.
~~~
NVI
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6415923](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6415923)
I didn’t use OpenLaszlo-style corners because I wanted to keep the native look
as much as possible.
Regarding the speed: Currently the transition duration is constant; it’s
always 0.1 seconds regardless of the distance between the source and the
target. I’m considering to make the duration variable and velocity constant so
it would take more time for longer distance.
------
markbao
This reminds me of the moving brackets between form elements in
OpenLaszlo—anyone remember that from circa 2008?
(Can't find a live demo, but looks like this:
[http://cl.ly/image/3Q2g0a182M46](http://cl.ly/image/3Q2g0a182M46))
~~~
ygra
I knew I've seen it before somewhere. NVI posted an example [1] below [2]
where it can be seen live.
________
[1]
[http://osteele.com/tools/reanimator/](http://osteele.com/tools/reanimator/)
[2]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=NVI](https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=NVI)
------
antidaily
Feels off if you _dont_ use keys. But I guess thats not the point.
~~~
NVI
Yes, I’m thinking of a way to turn it on only when the keyboard is used.
~~~
onli
Could be optional. At the moment, I like the effect even with the mouse. It's
fast enough.
------
agumonkey
Interesting but I think it's a bit too subtle or quick.
------
rndstr
After using it for a few hours I must say it is too distracting since it is
overdoing it for links clicked that don't navigate away from the page (only
some of them, though). So for example navigating GMail and Facebook you get
the focus animation a lot when clicking around which is worse than having a
gif animate w/o your interaction.
------
bliti
This is one of those neat little things that make a big difference in how a
program is used and perceived. Very nice work.
------
mistercow
This is a really great idea. It drives me nuts how pressing tab (or even more
commonly, shift-tab) can sometimes lead to focus being "lost". And not in the
usual sense programmers mean, but in the sense of "where the hell is the
focus?"
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work in Ubuntu at all in either Chrome or
Firefox.
~~~
yesbabyyes
Works for me - Ubuntu 13.04, Chromium 28, Firefox 24.
It looks way better in Chromium, since it's got the correct focus color and
the animation looks more smooth. Firefox is way more jerky and the
color/outline is all wrong.
I still like it, even in Firefox, because it's such a nice addition!
------
romaniv
Good idea, but the particular visualization (moving shadow) is a bit annoying.
I would go with something less in-your-face. Maybe a light shadow that blinks
couple of times on focus? I don't think the directional aspect of this is very
important. Users just need to know where the focus is now, not where it came
from.
------
DrewAllyn
Just installed it, seems awesome so far. Hopefully I don't get annoyed by the
additional transition time.
~~~
NVI
It doesn’t slow down the actual focus, e.g. you can start typing in a text
field before transition is finished.
------
smickie
That's a ingenious little addition.
You could extend it to all the tabbable elements on the page too. So once
you've tabbed outside of the form element, the blue glow files to the next
link, or the address bar in the browser and so on...
------
nfoz
The idea is great. The visual implementation needs work, but that will happen.
(I found it visually scarring to see the blue box jumping around wildly; maybe
that's just me.) Anyway, thanks!
------
notdan
Interesting, I just bought a Samsung smart TV and I noticed during the setup
that when you switch between fields the focus selector moves just like this
does.
~~~
NVI
So did Apple Front Row before Apple killed it in Lion.
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY7o8Rh1D6I](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY7o8Rh1D6I)
------
aagha
The Opera browser has had this capability for years.
~~~
NVI
I don’t think it ever had animated focus transitions.
------
BHSPitMonkey
I noticed the Wii U's system software does this exact thing when you navigate
the UI using the D-pad.
------
johnx123-up
Looking good. But, demo doesn't work in Chrome 30.0.1599.47 beta-m
~~~
NVI
I just tested on 30.0.1599.47 beta, OS X 10.9. It worked well.
What doesn’t work, exactly? No visual changes?
------
batiste
I was expecting some messy JavaScript. This is nice an clean solution.
------
nXqd
Like this ! I think this is so simple and neat :)
------
divya_v
Just started using it. looking good. nice work!
------
rjurney
Still can't figure out what it is. Hitting tab in a form to switch fields?
That exists.
~~~
pests
It animates the focus change with a visible box moving between fields as you
tab or click on different fields.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How does Shine sync with the phone? - harrydoukas
Shine (http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/270243) uses a novel non rf way to sync with phone, I think they do it using the phone magnetometer. Shine generates a small variant electromagnetic field captured by phone magnetometer, using modulation they are able to transmit some data!
======
gallamine
I figured they were modulating the charge on the case and the screen picked it
up as "touches".
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Data That Turned the World Upside Down or How Trump Won - rmason
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/how-our-likes-helped-trump-win
======
yosito
This headline doesn't accurately represent that this article is about than
just another rant against "fake news". Hopefully this post gets more
attention. Psychometrics is a real danger to democracy.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
OpenACC – GCC Wiki - hknapp
https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/OpenACC
======
hknapp
Nice to see that they are supporting GCN. Does anyone have any experience with
OpenACC and GCN?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How to Get Terminal to RaspberryPi via SSL from Anywhere, No Port Fwd - beame-io
https://www.hackster.io/zeev-s-glozman/how-to-get-terminal-to-raspberry-via-ssl-from-anywhere-a94624
======
tracker1
You can use ngrok to forward to SSH directly... though the web ui is
interesting, I think being able to use a client cert would go a l-o-n-g way
towards security.
Also, do you really trust the proxy in question... You could do your own
forwarding on a $5 Digital Ocean account if you wanted to.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Data - DOM binding using ES6 Proxies - potch
https://gist.github.com/potch/7882068
======
zaius
Nice example. I think proxies are really going to clean up a lot of the
Javascript binding libs out there.
Any idea what's been holding back the adoption of proxies? It's still only
implemented in firefox: [http://kangax.github.io/es5-compat-
table/es6/#Proxies](http://kangax.github.io/es5-compat-table/es6/#Proxies)
------
snird
For this specific problem Object.observe will offer a better solution, but for
now Object.observe is only supported in Chrome while proxies are only
supported in Firefox. Not that it matters in any way, as IE is far far
behind..
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How we run hackathons - yurisagalov
https://www.aerofs.com/blog/how-we-run-hackathons/
======
ditonal
I don't care about trophies, certificate, gift cards, etc. What sounds most
positive to me about your internal hack days is your effort to productionize
the efforts. That means you actually realize that all those smart, ambitious
people you hire might actually have good ideas.
I recently left an NYC ed-tech startup that would have 'hack days', but during
the hack days there were games, distractions, and once even a live band. Now I
like parties, but it indicated to me that the non-technical CEO was allowing
the hack day because Facebook did it, and he viewed it more as a recruiting
effort than something he took seriously. I won one of the categories once and
received no followup whatsoever, and the impression that I got was that if I
wanted to work on it nights and weekends after the fact, then maybe it would
be considered. Lots of people did do 'real work' during hack day, and most of
the projects were fluff or things that were obviously going to be on the
product roadmap anyway. To me, the entire thing was a waste of time, which is
unfortunate, because I really wish more companies looked for creativity out of
their engineers. Many companies (especially NYC ones) will begrudgingly pay
you for your coding skills, but then put you at the whim of a product manager
with no experience building anything. I always say that if you think about why
designers/coders learned these skillsets, it's often because they are
extremely interested in the end-products and that's what motivated them to
learn to build products in the first place, and so to totally ignore their
input and put them in pure heads-down coding roles is really unfortunate. This
blog post indicates to me that you're not that type of company.
As for external hackathons, to me they are a waste of time as a coder because
nobody actually checks that your implementation works. And worse, they hire
people like journalists to judge (looking at you Angelhack). What that means
is that the 'hackathon' really turns into a 'pitchathon', and the winners go
to the best designers (which I can at least respect), or slide decks and
charismatic pitches (which I don't). Getting the judging right so that time
spent actually coding is valued is really difficult, but something more
hackathon organizers should consider.
------
markolschesky
How did you manage support during the hackathon?
I liked that you mentioned that everyone had to contribute and no one got a
"hall pass" to do real work, but I often need to manage our customer requests
and it's difficult to say "I can't help you for 1-3 days because we're
focusing on team building".
We do one of these quarterly and I'm trying to think how I can avoid being the
worst hackweek teammate ever next time around. Maybe it is saying that we'll
have limited availability for 1-3 days to some customers.
~~~
yurisagalov
One benefit of doing a hackathon around the holidays is that support volume is
generally way down as well (at least in an enterprise software world). That
being said, one of our internal company values is (bear with me for the
impending cliche) "customer first", and that's a golden rule for the team, so
if something major comes up that would indeed take precedence. For minor
things, it's not crazy to adjust the SLA. Some companies adjust support SLAs
for all-company meetings, conferences, offsites, and so on.
That, and we may've also just gotten lucky :)
------
jasonlotito
I'm the hackathon guy here at MeetMe, where we are starting to plan our 9th
internal hackathon since 2012 that we call HACKD. Most of these thoughts
presented here I agree with. A few additional points I'd like to add:
Themes can also back fire. I'd highly suggest going with no themes as well.
Heck, even encourage things outside of your day to day job. You might be
surprised at what people come up with. Hackathons are about exploration, and
while themes can be great to help people come up with ideas, they can also
hinder. We've had hackathons with themes and those without, and I can't say
that the themes made any noticeable impact on the ideas presented.
Prizes are dangerous. Don't make it tangible, such as money or a thing. We
tried many different prizes, and the one that worked the best was a paid team
outing. Limo to and from a restaurant of their choice, all paid for, and the
net result was a team that had a lot of fun getting out, relaxing, and just
getting to know one another better. The specific outing isn't important, but
that the activity is done as a team. Indeed, the activity itself was chosen by
the team.
Support is also crucial. If the idea is something that can be put into
production, it should be. In this case, those teams were given an additional
week of time to clean up the product and make it ready to ship. Focal came out
of this, and while it's a hobby of ours, it's simple and fun, and still
supported (with new changes coming!).
Voting is interesting. I do votes via a Google Form. Generally we have between
15-20 projects per hackathon, and some projects get 1 vote. You don't want to
be that guy to get the 1 vote. It's demoralizing. We announce the top 3. You
have to account for larger teams. They'll vote for themselves, and that's in
some ways fine. After all, if you can convince 3 other people to help you with
your idea, that should count for something.
Also, look beyond just programmers. We include QA, design, project managers,
and product on our teams. I've had our QA people build websites, and product
people programming iOS apps, and even projects managers working to streamline
processes that needed improvements. They did spend their time learning this
stuff, but that's the whole point of a hackathon. To stretch yourself.
We've had a blast with our hackathons, and I can't wait for HACKD 9.
~~~
therealjonp
It sounds like we agree on a lot of points.
What you said about the prize element really resonated with me - it's fraught
with peril. One thing I noticed is that your suggested prize is 'experiential'
rather than tangible. I thought the ability to choose the movie for Movie
Night would be more coveted than the certificate...
Your points about voting as the company scales are interesting. It's something
we're going to have to watch as we grow. We did use secret ballots (we are a
bit obsessed with privacy...) so the whole presentation-to-voting transaction
could be done in one setting.
As for applying outside the engineering department - this is one of my
priorities going forward.
~~~
jasonlotito
Yep, we do. And while I'm sure it's obvious, I do want to make clear this is
what has worked so far with us. We've tried different things, and some have
worked better than others. Each group of people will be different and value
different things.
The most important thing is obviously that everyone enjoy themselves and have
fun.
Oh! And one more thing I forgot:
5 minute presentations, and you can't use presentation software like Keynote.
------
heitortsergent
Really good read, and great tips on how to run an internal hackathon. 100%
agree on having a theme open to interpretation, prize categories, and kinds of
prizes you are giving. :)
Are you guys running it quarterly already? How much time have you guys waited
in between hackathons? Also, you say "every engineer who was present was
expected to participate". Were the other departments allowed/expected to
participate as well? This is something really positive for improving internal
relations.
~~~
yurisagalov
(Responding for Jon because he's in meetings this AM) -- The first two
questions are related, and actually somewhat adressed in Jon's "frequency"
section. I'm not sure what the "exact" distance between the events should be,
but as he mentions in the blog post, _" setting the events far enough apart
that each time feels like a special event - a welcome visit from an absent
friend."_
This is likely different for different people and companies.
Regarding other departments -- yes! Everyone participated in giving ideas,
feedback, etc. In fact, it's actually the sales people who fell in love with
the results of the hackathon the most and are now vocally asking for more
hackathons.
------
sriram_sun
Great way to utilize some low productivity days! If people have something
planned for the actual week, maybe you could consider giving them the next 3
days off so they still get a "week" off.
------
lowglow
I organized and ran Hackendo
([https://hackendo.techendo.com/](https://hackendo.techendo.com/)) in April.
Hackathons are super rewarding, but a lot of hard work if you don't have help.
My biggest takeaway from throwing a hackathon is: Find reliable people who
want to help volunteer to support before/during/after your hackathon.
~~~
yurisagalov
We probably should've been more clear, but this was about how to run an
internal company hackathon :)
------
cool-RR
I'd appreciate a hackathon for making AeroFS sync reliably. I've been using it
for years, since when it was invite only, and it often simply refuses to sync.
I've spoken with their support a dozen times. They're nice and courteous but
the problems don't get solved. I've already given up on AeroFS; it's great for
moving files inside a lan quickly but not for much else.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
China launches platform to stamp out 'online rumours' - ytNumbers
http://news.trust.org/item/20180830063018-6rju6
======
liftbigweights
And the dream and hope of a free and open internet suffers a death by a
thousand cuts.
It seems like the powerful around the world are competing with each other to
see who can censor and control the internet the most. And of course they all,
to the last man, claim it is for the benefit of the people.
~~~
snaky
That's not exactly "powerful around the world" who are routinely vote for more
censorship in democratic countries. There is no strict difference between
"hate speech", "fake news" and "online rumours".
~~~
Bizarro
And many in the HN community regularly call for censorship - under the guise
of "regulation".
~~~
i_am_nomad
To be fair, I have never seen this on HN. You may still be right, I've just
never seen it. (Maybe those calls for censorship are themselves getting
censored?)
~~~
bittcto
HN has a long history of censoring particular groups of people based on
identity. That’s why it’s become such a monoculture (a monoculture of people
generally convinced than HN is diverse, however.)
Down voting things you disagree with despite being well articulated (in fact
_because_ they are well articulated) is a form of censorship here.
But of course it goes much further when shadowbanning is deployed to enforce
the narrow and rigid views of the moderation team.
Yes, I know pointing this out means it will now happen to me.
Nothing a censor hates more than thwarting the narrative they are trying to
enforce.
But that’s why you think it doesn’t happen here. This is the most harshly and
hypocritically cultivated walled garden on the Net. (Moderators violate their
own rules regularly with impunity.)
Alas, I cannot abide not pointing out these abuses.
~~~
com2kid
Click a checkbox in your profile and you can see those shadowbanned posts just
fine.
Very rarely are they well written or polite.
I have yet to see well presented, civil, arguments censored. I have however
seen entire threads criticizing HN and YCombinator staff, by name, be left
alone.
~~~
existencebox
A "third" perspective; I think there's at least some self-censorship (In
certain dimensions, don't let me paint this as some universal or even majority
thing) from people who tend to write civil, well presented arguments. You can
read my post history if you want, and I've _certainly_ had some of my posts
get greyed with rapidity (Obviously I selfishly found them to be innocuous but
others clearly disagree, I find in situations where the status quo is
_aggressively_ in one direction, even expressing moderation is caught in the
blast radius), so I avoid the really hot subjects with a ten foot pole; you
learn that it just doesn't end well, especially for those of us who have
associated our professional lives with this site.
You can notice this more obviously if you watch new, that certain topics reach
and get to the front page VERY RAPIDLY and stay there, while others are
flagged or fall off with prejudice. I'm not sure I'd call it a huge problem,
and the parent post is probably a bit hyperbolic, (Certainly I give the mods
benefit of the doubt, even though I've gently disagreed with dang via comment
prior) but it's definitely present.
------
chroem-
This is precisely why it is dangerous to let someone other than yourself
decide what meets the criteria for "fake news." It gives the decider an
opportunity to manipulate public discourse.
~~~
umvi
Or "hate speech" for that matter.
~~~
LiterallyDoge
Obligatory: "The purpose of free speech is to protect unpopular speech. If the
speech were popular, it would already be free without any guarantee."
~~~
bilbo0s
More critically, it's to protect that speech from the _government_. Because
you don't really need protection from anyone else, as no one else has a
monopoly on violence.
~~~
mc32
An online mob can turn into violence. Or, the least look to silence opinion,
either directly or by soliciting favor through boycotts, etc.
~~~
bilbo0s
The violence of an online mob is not protected by the government. So who
cares? Arrest the mobsters and move on with life.
A boycott is not even violence. So, again, who cares? We're not even in
physical danger in the case of a boycott. In fact, the boycott is actually
free speech. (Or, more precisely, free expression).
But consider, if the government comes after you, who will you arrest? Who can
you get to defend you? In this case, the Constitutional protections of our
freedoms are _essential_.
The threat from the government is the danger that the Founders were insistent
on mitigating. And they were right to do so. The government is the main entity
that we need protection from vis-a-vis restriction of rights.
------
OedipusRex
"The platform operates under the guidance of 27 government departments..."
China loves bureaucracy.
------
evancox100
From the video promoting the platform: "Rumours violate individual rights;
rumours create social panic; rumours cause fluctuations in the stock markets;
rumours impact normal business operations; rumours blatantly attack
revolutionary martyrs"
One of these is not like the others... You'd think that "attacking
revolutionary martyrs" would be in the government's list of pros about rumors,
not cons. Or at least so I've heard
~~~
jakebasile
Many communist governments consider themselves "revolutionaries", so that is
likely referring to people "martyred for communism".
~~~
evancox100
Ya, I eventually figured out they were referring to people like Mao. But is
Mao a typical rumor topic?? Honest question
~~~
jakebasile
No clue, I just wanted to point out what they meant by using the
"revolutionary" rhetoric.
------
dqpb
How will this platform handle facts that are inconvenient for the moderating
authority?
~~~
protoster
They'll consider those facts rumors and remove them. The function of this
"platform" is so vague that I don't think anyone is under any illusions that
this isn't another way for the government to control public discussion.
------
gonmf
The attack on "fake news", by any other name...
------
logfromblammo
Sinopes.com, the Chinese Snopes.com? Dang, it's already taken.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: My wife and I built a location infographic generator - elhorror
http://cartoscope.io/
======
nprescott
Really interesting much more consumable than most census data infographics
I've seen. Can you speak to what some of the "private sources" of data are?
On a more technical note, I can't get any reports to render in Firefox 56
(working fine in Chrome). Also, it seems Angular is running in development
mode on the live site?
~~~
elhorror
Hey @nprescott,
We have purchased some data (database of business locations, database of
consumer trends) that we integrate into our "premium" reports. You don't see
any mention of those because we haven't rigged up an e-commerce system. But
some users have more reporting options than what you see.
Regarding dev mode, I'm having trouble getting the 'ReportViewer' component,
which depends on JIT compilation to jive with angular-cli's built-in AOT
compilation functionality. Thus `ng build` works when I build it in dev mode,
but not prod.
Let me know if you'd like to chat more, [email protected]
------
godot
Super cool. Is US Census data easy to work with as a developer? How much of
your work was spent on parsing out the data to be a useful format?
~~~
elhorror
Hey Godot!
Census data is _relatively_ easy to get used to once you know how the geo
formats work and you are willing to work with their geographies. They have a
nice API to work with (api.census.gov) and I think that it is going from its
current array of arrays format to full JSON later this year.
That said, the app does two cool things that I have not seen anywhere else:
(1) Arbitrary geographies, like drawing a circle or a polygon of your own
choice, requires significant additional work. The app mostly does this with
procedural SQL and PostGIS on the back-end.
(2) Longitudinal reporting. The Census bureau changes the geographies every 10
years to some degree, so geography with id "foo" might not be the same area in
2010 as it will be in 2020. This is solved by "virtualizing" the geography and
is relevant to the same concepts for handling arbitrary geographies.
Happy to chat more if you have questions!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Innovators prefer Android - deviceguru
http://deviceguru.com/innovators-prefer-android/
======
Ramanean
Yes that's right because I have android
Within 8 months I made 5 apps which would be useful to people in one way or
another..
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Emoji on the command line - bemmu
https://github.com/mrowa44/emojify
======
julien_c
Nice work. I think the git log example is contrived though, because you would
probably include the real emoji characters in the actual commit title, right?
~~~
rdancer
Emoji is just Unicode, so putting "I :heart: you" instead of "I ❤️ you" in a
Unicode text file is rather, shall we say, _na:LATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH
DIAERESIS:ve_ \-- this shit belongs in the editor. As implemented by, for
example and in no particular order: [https://github.com/junegunn/vim-
emoji](https://github.com/junegunn/vim-emoji), [https://github.com/kyuhi/vim-
emoji-complete](https://github.com/kyuhi/vim-emoji-complete),
[https://github.com/mattn/emoji-vim](https://github.com/mattn/emoji-vim),
[https://github.com/rhysd/github-
complete.vim](https://github.com/rhysd/github-complete.vim).
On the command line, the command line _is_ the editor, so this program makes a
lot of sense!
------
acheron
I used to think the "mediaglyphs" in Neal Stephenson's _The Diamond Age_ were
far-fetched.
------
laurentoget
Am I the only one who does not understand why emoji are included in unicode?
Wasn't unicode supposed to be about encoding glyphs used to write human
languages, not cliparts designed by entertainment corporations?
~~~
vorg
The Unicode Consortium need to keep themselves in a job.
------
bentrevor
An awk implementation:
[https://github.com/ecmendenhall/fmj](https://github.com/ecmendenhall/fmj)
------
kalleboo
👍
------
leni536
$ echo "I built a :snowman:." | sed -e 's/:snowman:/☃/g'
I built a ☃.
The wonders of unicode.
------
steckerbrett
I've seen applications using this sort of thing but it typically slows down
rendering log prints horribly.
Use ANSII colour or something if you want things to look pretty, not Unicode.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Leaked Comcast docs prove 300GB cap has nothing to do with network congestion - OberstKrueger
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/s/leaked-comcast-docs-prove-300gb-data-cap-nothing-003027574.html
======
deftnerd
Metered goods have a long history of having to have the meters certified by
state bodies.
For instance, grocery store scales, gas pumps, power meter manufacturers, etc.
If we're going to lose the fight with Comcast over metered bandwidth, then
perhaps we need to push for laws regarding inspection and validation of their
metering systems themselves.
If they're limiting consumers to a certain amount of traffic, I want the
definition of traffic to be clearly delineated and for the measurement systems
to be properly inspected and regulated.
For instance, do they measure at the modem? At the local node? At the edge of
the network?
Does local traffic within Comcast's city-wide network count?
If someone sends an IP traffic that their computer never requested and is
filtered out, does it add to the traffic usage?
Does a UDP broadcast in a subnet count towards everyone's bandwidth, even if
the cable modem filters it out?
Does this cover ICMP and UDP?
Does Comcast's own "Are you there?" packets to cable modems count towards
traffic allotments? Does Comcast's cable modem traffic to the registration and
DHCP servers count?
If they're going to screw-over customers, then there needs to be clear rules
they have to follow so they can't just make up numbers. There also needs to be
a way to make sure that DDOS attacks can't attack the bills of customers.
~~~
willglynn
Anecdote: back in 2009, I had a Comcast account in a metered market and didn't
need cable service for a bit, so I tried an experiment.
I plugged my cable modem into a dumb switch. It had a link, but there was
nothing else attached; there was no router to act as a DHCP client, no frames
being sent to the cable modem at all. In six days, my usage meter incremented
by 0.5 GB. Plugging in a protocol analyzer revealed a constant stream of ARP
requests for other subscribers' IPs. These were apparently counted against my
cap, and presumably they were counted against _everyone 's_ caps, making 250
GB/month 1% smaller than advertised.
Comcast sent me to a document describing their metering methodology:
[http://www.netforecast.com/documents/NFR5101_Comcast_Usage_M...](http://www.netforecast.com/documents/NFR5101_Comcast_Usage_Meter_Accuracy.pdf)
Their reps defended the practice of counting Comcast-generated broadcast
traffic against everyone, even though there's no way for subscribers to
prevent it.
~~~
brodie78382
This is a fantastic point that I don't see brought up enough. I have some
anecdotal experience of my own to help illustrate what an issue this really
is.
Our ISP has recently enacted data caps. The first time they threatened to
disable our account for going over, I pointed out to them that:
\- My firewall has logged tens of gigabytes of dropped/rejected traffic.
\- That if I ran a TCPDump on our WAN interface, could see management and
broadcast traffic for neighboring CPEs (modem).
\- That I know for a fact (I used to work for them in a previous iteration)
that their network isn't built in a way that would allow them differentiate
their management and monitoring traffic from individual customer traffic.
\- And finally, that the Layer 2 & 3 statistics of that WAN interface were
nowhere close to their own statistics for the account.
They have yet to respond to that complaint, despite going to the FCC. I really
wonder what would happen if one were to take their ISP to court with the
proper documentation.
------
bbayles
I previously worked in engineering at ISPs. There are two points to make: (1)
Monthly data caps do not help manage congestion, at least not directly.
However, non-engineers have a lot of trouble understanding this. (2) Telling
customer support agents to say "this is not about congestion management" is a
perception-management move. Cable companies are very sensitive to criticism
that they are offering a "shared pipe" and that you're somehow not getting
what you signed up for.
On the first point: Congestion is problem during peak hours, not during the
whole month. You could download a few terabytes over the course of a month and
not cause a problem for anyone else, if you avoided peak hours. Data caps only
work for congestion management if they discourage you from using services
during peak hours.
There's not a grand conspiracy by the cable or mobile companies about this,
though - it's mostly a failure to understand this concept, or an unwillingness
to go back to peak load pricing (e.g. different night/weekend rates like phone
plans have/had).
~~~
pyvpx
peak load pricing? in an age where physics and manufacturing processes have
given us native 100GE signals at shockingly low cost per bit?
it used to be backhauling access traffic was expensive (think T1s to cell
phone towers). well, those days are long behind us. a little less profit
taking and a little more infrastructure investment would solve bandwidth
problems in duopolist markets.
~~~
rhino369
It's not the backhaul that is the chokepoint. It's local nodes near your
house. The one you share with 50-100 homes or more.
~~~
AnthonyMouse
A Netflix "ultra HD" stream requires 25Mbps. Even if all 100 homes are
simultaneously streaming ultra HD, that's 2.5Gbps in total. Coax can handle
that easily with modern equipment.
Obviously they could be using very old equipment that can't, but whose fault
is that?
~~~
rhino369
Cable companies can't replace network hardware every three years. It's just
not profitable. Cable systems were upgraded to broadband 2000-2005. 10-15 year
replacement is short in the telecom industry. It's not surprising that new
entrants into the market can give much higher speed. If you demand upgrades
every 5 years that is going to increase costs considerably.
Also a large amount of coax spectrum is for video tv service.
The real curiousity is why Verizon fios can't deliver near 1gbps. It's already
has a fiberoptic network. I'm guessing it's the hardware at the nodes.
------
drbawb
>Now Comcast claims that 98% of its subscriber base won’t even come close to
going over the 300GB cap.
I am the 2% !!!
Date Download Upload Total
2015-10 419.63 GB 50.89 GB 470.52 GB
2015-09 601.49 GB 129.11 GB 730.60 GB
2015-08 1,011.83 GB 196.79 GB 1,208.62 GB
2015-07 504.28 GB 56.33 GB 560.61 GB
2015-06 398.04 GB 43.94 GB 441.98 GB
2015-05 305.05 GB 42.20 GB 347.25 GB
2015-04 375.06 GB 81.83 GB 456.89 GB
2015-03 215.10 GB 65.89 GB 280.99 GB
2015-02 316.11 GB 180.48 GB 496.59 GB
2015-01 413.11 GB 135.68 GB 548.78 GB
2014-12 457.10 GB 56.55 GB 513.65 GB
2014-11 270.25 GB 76.81 GB 347.05 GB
2014-10 311.27 GB 86.75 GB 398.03 GB
2014-09 381.53 GB 119.21 GB 500.74 GB
2014-08 237.63 GB 271.40 GB 509.03 GB
2014-07 277.23 GB 388.38 GB 665.61 GB
2014-06 213.32 GB 162.85 GB 376.17 GB
2014-05 223.88 GB 67.49 GB 291.37 GB
2014-04 258.21 GB 124.38 GB 382.60 GB
2014-03 205.78 GB 77.03 GB 282.81 GB
2014-02 315.23 GB 448.78 GB 764.01 GB
2014-01 342.07 GB 279.32 GB 621.38 GB
2013-12 128.54 GB 114.93 GB 243.47 GB
~~~
paublyrne
What kind of things do you do that push you over a terabyte? I don't get
anywhere near that. I'm just curious, and not in any way saying there is
anything wrong with that.
~~~
nitrogen
Reinstalling a Steam library could do it, restoring system backups, having a
large household of frequent Netflix users, etc.
~~~
drbawb
I think you're right; my housemate built a new PC this summer. That download
peak coincides with reformatting his old drive.
------
NelsonMinar
This link is to a Yahoo News republication of a BGR rewrite of a Consumerist
story that was a rewrite of a DSLReports scoop.
Here's the link to the original reporting:
[http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Leaked-Comcast-Talking-
Po...](http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Leaked-Comcast-Talking-Points-Admit-
Caps-Not-About-Congestion-135577)
------
twoodfin
Eh. This is lawyer-speak, probably more than a little bit influenced by all
the trouble AT&T has had with the FCC over their grandfathered "unlimited"
plans.
If corporate documents are instructing reps to tell customers it's about
congestion when there is no congestion, that doesn't look good at all when the
government starts asking about these plans and policies.
It's also probably not a good idea to be telling customers that the network
you spend hundreds of millions of dollars marketing as super modern and
awesome just can't handle their traffic.
I'm not a fan of caps, either, but aggregate home bandwidth usage is going to
go up and up, while more and more customers are going to have everything they
need from IP services and thus want to cancel traditional TV. Should you
charge an IP customer who uses 4TB/month streaming 4K the same as one who uses
200GB? How else do you discriminate?
~~~
ju-st
There is no reason to discriminate as the TB's are basically free. The only
problem is the shared medium on cable (Docsis)/GPON internet. And the evil
ISPs who want to make more money because nobody wants their uncompetitive TV
products anymore.
~~~
sliverstorm
The TB's are basically free- until you have to upgrade the equipment.
~~~
Retric
Not really. It costs a lot to build _and maintain_ a fiber network, the tech
you put on endpoints is just not that expensive in comparison.
[http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2010/03/fiber-its-not-
all...](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2010/03/fiber-its-not-all-created-
equal/)
------
mindslight
Enjoy your 1Mbps connection, Comcast suckers. My DSL connection has ten times
the bandwidth!
Seriously if you still have a local DSL provider, patronize them before it's
too late. National policy is explicitly based around competition between DSL
and cable, so when you ignore DSL because cable advertises fraudulent peak-
rate speeds, you're saying that competition does not matter to you.
Telco infrastructure is even still regulated such that smaller companies can
be ISPs, leading to great customer service and even pro-privacy attitudes such
as these: [http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/06/22/ceo-
of-...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/06/22/ceo-of-internet-
provider-sonic-net-we-delete-user-logs-after-two-weeks-your-internet-provider-
should-too/)
~~~
selectodude
Unfortunately, my DSL provider can deliver me 6Mb/s. Comcast promises 75Mbit
and actually delivers me 90Mbit.
Granted, I live in Chicago which actually has something resembling competition
(AT&T is rolling out GigaPower and as far as I know we're a test market for
DOCSIS 3.1) so the Internet metering on the Comcast website just straight up
doesn't work and throws up an error.
~~~
mindslight
Well sure, if you don't have this 1Mbit/sec usage cap then Comcast's
instantaneous line speed is pretty great.
Hopefully your competitive market continues.
------
maerF0x0
IMO a big part of the issue is the consumer. Consumers know very little about
internet other than "buy the one with the biggest number". So internet is
advertised like flow rate (L per minute) and restricted like water (Cubic M).
I think they should goto a connection + volume model. $10 a month just to be
connected, maybe 500MB free download or whatever. And then you pay per GB,
variable rates based on time of day. $1 per GB at 7pm, $0.01 at 3am. Like how
industrial electricity rates work (if i understand correctly).
Pricing models will screw consumers over until the pricing model matches the
economics of the situation. If I were a startup this is the issue I'd fix;
Pricing models that do not match the economics.
~~~
nitrogen
$1 per gigabyte is an exorbitant price even if everyone on the planet was
using the network at the same time.
------
username223
I can't help but chuckle and shake my head in amazement at the script their
flacks came up with to say "we're starting to charge people an extra $30 to
use more than 300GB":
Current policy: Don't say "unlimited data," say "250 GB data, but not
enforced."
New policy: Don't say "300 GB data," say "we gave you 50 GB more data for
free!"
------
CyberDildonics
Of course it doesn't.
Cable companies know that they can sell you data twice unless you convert your
internet data to be your TV.
They don't want to give their customers the means to free themselves from half
of their monthly bill.
They have every incentive to make their internet service not work for video.
Someone who ran a local ISP said that bandwidth is becoming basically free.
People can only consume so much. Even with a fast connection no one is going
to be using it all the time.
------
rayiner
The most sane pricing would probably be per bit with surge pricing during
congestion periods. But customers would flip out at that.
~~~
binarymax
I disagree, even if customers would not flip out. Charging per bit is an
incorrect alignment to consumption of a finite resource (such as water, gas,
or even electric). Data is not a finite resource, as receiving data does not
deplete the source providing the data. The only sane way to charge for
connectivity is to charge for operations and support, with a profit
percentage.
~~~
harryh
Any given network can transmit only so many bits per second. That bandwidth
is, in fact, a finite resource.
~~~
wtallis
But if you're operating below that limit, the marginal cost is zero.
~~~
harryh
Of course. That's exactly the justification for charging more during
congestion periods. That's when you're operating close to the limit.
~~~
nitrogen
Don't charge more, just provide less. Provide a proportional share of the
bandwidth that is available.
~~~
crazy1van
The point of charging more during peak times is to discourage usage during
those times, which leads to a greater proportion of available bandwidth per
user at that time.
------
Friedduck
There've been a lot of reports locally of Comcast reporting an overage where
none existed. Neighbors saying that nothing in their use suggested they were
anywhere close to that kind of use and yet being charged.
There were enough anecdotal reports that if I had Comcast I'd put my own
router in front of theirs to have an independent measure.
Unrelated: my experience with Comcast business over the last few months has
been the worst customer service I've experienced in the last decade.
Completely unreliable.
------
darkr
I suspect that the 300GB figure comes as a result of (poorly) capacity
planning for 1Mb/month @95th percentile per customer. If they can encourage
people to stay within that limit, they can say: we have 1000 customers
originating from PoP X, so we need to provision 1Gb bandwidth to cover that.
------
nathanvanfleet
When I worked at a University I constantly overheard that the bandwidth was
doubling every year because the costs were coming down so rapidly.
So it's really no question that any cap that doesn't double at least every few
years is a business case and has nothing to do with technological constraints.
~~~
late2part
I ran a $150 million Internet P&L for several years. The general trend is that
customer use of data doubles every year and actual cost of goods sold halve
every year. This trend has gone on for much longer than most people thought
reasonable.
------
msoad
If you have to get Comcast, sign up for their business plans. The speed is
precisely what they advertise for. The regular plans have a spike in speed
when you start downloading something and slow down afterwards.
I'm using their base plan (15Mbps) and can stream HD movies with no problem
~~~
e28eta
I looked into a business plan, but wasn't willing to sign a 2 year contract.
It's been longer than 2 years and I still have Comcast, but I would drop them
so fast if there was any other option that provided reasonable service.
~~~
msoad
I have it month to month
------
late2part
Salient and relevant:
[http://www.dtc.umn.edu/~odlyzko/doc/paris.metro.minimal.pdf](http://www.dtc.umn.edu/~odlyzko/doc/paris.metro.minimal.pdf)
------
joesmo
So it's just about charging $30-35 more for the same "unlimited" service. I
don't understand how that's not false advertising when taking into account the
real definition of "unlimited" and the fact that you have to read some obscure
FAQ / TOS to find out that "unlimited" is not "unlimited."
------
marak830
We dont have caps here in Japan. There is a lot more people in a lot smaller
area, and i dont have issues with my connection.
I also get 2gb/s. Pretty happy im not being gouged by those conpabies over
there.
------
late2part
It may or may not have anything to do with congestion. No Internet provider
wants to advertise issues about congestion to their customers.
------
awqrre
Comcast is trying to get that cable money from somewhere else...
------
dudul
"When that happens, it’ll be interesting to see what type of excuse Comcast
trots out to defend its seemingly arbitrary data cap."
Why would they even have to come up with an excuse? They are in a position of
monopoly almost everywhere, what do they care? "If you're not happy you can go
to another internet company. Oh wait, there is none! Now suck my d*ck and pay
up!"
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why Adventure Games Suck (1989) - networked
https://grumpygamer.com/why_adventure_games_suck
======
the_af
Interesting and amusing read. Of course Ron Gilbert is a well-known authority
on Adventure Games, but the original Old Man Murray article is even better
(and funnier). In case anyone hasn't read it yet: "Who Killed Adventure
Games?"
[http://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/77.html](http://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/77.html)
(As an amusing aside, point-and-click adventure games were considered to be
for "clever" gamers in 90s Spain and Latin America; gamers who mocked action
games as simplistic. But there was nothing "clever" or "cerebral" about most
adventure games; they were mostly arbitrary and nonsensical. And fun, of
course!)
Before I read the Old Man Murray article I was already frustrated with (some)
adventure games, even though I absolutely loved the Space Quest series (the
original, 16 colors and text input!), and of course Interactive Fiction (aka
text adventures). IF games in particular had something of a rennaissance some
years (or decades?) ago and they evolved into something way more complex and
with better UX than what we remember from the old Zork days.
~~~
soneca
Interesting thing about life in the 90s without internet is that we were able
to consume something without being part of any larger culture around it.
I loved and played a lot of adventure games. All LucasArts' and a few others.
I never even heard of this cultural trace of adventure gamers thinking of
themselves as more clever and looking down to action games players.
For me it just something easier to play because it didn't depend on reflex or
accuracy (I was never good those types of games) and I liked the story. I am
the type who loves cutscenes up to today. In any game.
~~~
el_benhameen
Man, LucasArts' 90's games were the best! I have vivid memories of feeling
totally immersed in Monkey Island and Loom in particular.
Do you have any recent favorites with a similar feel?
~~~
lentil_soup
I really enjoyed "Thimbleweed Park" also by Ron Gilbert.
It came out a couple of years ago, the look and feel is just like the old
ones, the humour as well. I was completely immersed.
------
egypturnash
_" If I could have my way, I'd design games that were meant to be played in
four to five hours. The games would be of the same scope that I currently
design, I'd just remove the silly time-wasting puzzles and take the player for
an intense ride. The experience they would leave with would be much more
entertaining and a lot less frustrating. The games would still be challenging,
but not at the expense of the players patience."_
_looks at her unfinished copy of Thimbleweed Park (Ron Gilbert et al, 2014)_
hahaha sure Ron, sure you would
~~~
the_af
I couldn't go past the first few scenes of Thimbleweed Park either. I think I
would have loved it when I was a teenager, but the point-and-click genre is
just not for me anymore. (Also, and I know this is heresy, I couldn't finish
the much lauded Psychonauts back then either). I think I simply had more
patience for this kind of games when I was younger.
I'm more willing to give experimental Interactive Fiction a go though. Some
real gems there.
edit: also, and this is stretching the "adventure" definition, I absolutely
_loved_ "The Return of the Obra Dinn" by Papers Please author Lukas Pope. I
loved that game. At this point I'll play anything made by Pope, that's how
much I trust the guy.
~~~
jerf
"(Also, and I know this is heresy, I couldn't finish the much lauded
Psychonauts back then either)"
I really loved Psychonauts, but... I've tried several times to replay it and I
have a really hard time with it, because even as someone who loved it, the
first 5-10 hours is a _slog_. There's this incredible premise under the game,
and if you get to the point they start using it, it's pretty good, but they
really frontloaded a whole lot of levels that are basically "Yeah, I mean,
sure, this is nominally taking place inside of someone's head and is all like
psychic and freaky and psychological & shit but actually it's just a
completely standard 3D platformer". And not _that_ great of one. And those
levels just go on _forever_ , with hardly any fun elaborations or anything. I
tend to get to the lungfish, right where at least the game gets _interesting_
(though I don't think it truly lives up to its premise until the Milkman
level, which IIRC is next), and gas out from all the slog.
I hope for the sequel they sat down in the early design session and had some
serious discussions about what did and did not work in the first game.
~~~
the_af
Yes, what you describe is _exactly_ what happened to me. I simply couldn't go
past those initial hours. It felt like a (cute) platformer to me. Everybody
said there was something amazing once deep into the game, but honestly 5+
hours of jumping around was too much for me.
------
derefr
I haven’t seen a good analysis of it yet, but has anyone seen a list of
“Guidelines for creating a good/entertaining ‘Troll’ Game” (e.g. IWTBTG, most
Mario Maker levels, etc.)?
It seems like such a guide would almost be an inversion of some of the
principles in this guide: in troll games, you tend to learn _only_ by dying;
the puzzles _always_ require things you forgot in the previous room, and you
can’t go back, so you must commit in-game suicide to try again; etc.
And yet, given that _these_ guidelines are for the sake of making an
entertaining game, how does inverting them then _also_ make for an
entertaining game?
Can troll games even _be_ entertaining without the context of having played
good games that _do_ follow these rules? It seems like having a mental model
of these sorts of guidelines from previous gameplay, allows the player to
predict a sort of meta for how things like puzzles should work; and only in
that context would an inversion of good design principles carry a comedic
punchline.
I guess it’s similar to the question: can you create satire that makes sense
without knowing what it’s satirizing?
~~~
jtolmar
Defender, one of the Mario Maker trolls, wrote a big guide:
[https://docs.google.com/document/d/13ZoqeblLs45HuEfTtsOrq6X0...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/13ZoqeblLs45HuEfTtsOrq6X0LAuEnA8nB721_doxE38/edit#heading=h.2imojds67fn4)
I'm sure it's possible to make an original troll game (never bet on an
artistic idea being impossible), but it certainly seems to make it harder.
I've noticed that when the Mario Maker troll community tries to make Super
Mario World trolls instead, it's just not as funny. The hacking tools for SMW
allow vastly more freedom than MM's editor, since you can always patch the
game's code. The decrease in quality might be from a lack of restraint, but I
think the element of fair play that MM has is important as well. Everything in
MM behaves the way it was programmed by non-trolls (more, Nintendo seems
actively anti-troll), so every subversion comes from the level maker showing
that they know something about how the game works that the player doesn't.
------
jstimpfle
I finished Grim Fandango because it is a wonderful, beautiful, heart-breaking
game. Still dear to my heart. But let me be honest, I looked up most of the
solutions. I don't have a sense for the weird solutions to a good chunk of the
problems. Often I don't even know what is the problem.
I purchased the HD remake of the game on Steam in 2015 to experience it once
again. Just followed the solutions. It was much like watching a movie (a very
good one).
I remember I once played a Broken Sword game (I believe it was The Sleeping
Dragon) and that was an exception in that it was super easy to solve.
Disappointingly easy :-)
~~~
jmckib
I haven't tried it, but there's a website where you can get hints for these
adventure games, if you don't just want to follow a walkthrough. You've
reminded me I need to give another shot at Grim Fandango. [http://www.uhs-
hints.com/uhsweb/grimfand.php](http://www.uhs-hints.com/uhsweb/grimfand.php)
------
lordleft
I so desperately want to like adventure games. I love the visual styles, I
love the storytelling opportunities, but the idea of being defeated by an
opaque puzzle infuriates me.
~~~
gentleman11
The Walking Dead telltale games are worth checking out. Almost all narrative
~~~
kyuudou
I played the first one and legit cried at the end it was so intense. Been
meaning to play the rest of them.
------
tibbon
There did seem to be a huge gap for many years in the existence of good
adventure games. I have fond memories of many ones from yesteryear, but then
it largely felt that anything that was out was pretty boring or just trying to
copy them.
And last week I started playing Disco Elysium, and it's everything I ever
wanted from something like an adventure/rpg and more.
~~~
TremendousJudge
I was going to say exactly the same about Disco Elysium. While classed as an
RPG, I'd say it's more of an adventure game disguised as an RPG. The game is
just point and click, talk to people, interact with the world, and solve
puzzles. The leveling up mechanic makes it much more interesting to play, but
it's not really the core gameplay
~~~
pampelondan
Well it is RPG indeed (unless someone understands it as "Ravage, Pillage,
Grind"), but on the adventure spectrum it is more lika a choose-your-own-
adventure game. The game interface is pretty much dialogue trees, at some
point close to the end of the game, the game even poke at it not-so-subtly.
Puzzles in those kind of games are prone to brute-forcing all dialogue
choices.
------
djsumdog
I subscribe to Grumpy Gamer's RSS feed and I think this was the article that
got me started on this blog.
I recently played Milk Maid of the Milkyway. It's a super cute indie title and
it's an adventure game. Despite the beautiful dialog and wonderful music, it
still had a lot of the issues that Grumpy Gamer touches on that killed the
original genre.
You end up clicking everything on everything, looking up hints for objects you
didn't realize were even clickable, and have stupid puzzles like putting a
frog in a random hole and poking it with a needle so a guy oils a gear.
By contrast, Red Strings Club is an indie adventure game that gets this
totally right. It's story telling with game mechanics and you don't need any
hints or need to solve any insanely stupid puzzles to get through it.
Night in the Woods is another great Indie adventure game that's more about
story. It doesn't have the same level of puzzles as other adventure games, but
the puzzles all make sense. The game has a lot of mechanics that keep it going
forward so you don't get stuck.
Life is Strange is another one that's more story driven. I had trouble with it
initially. It's slow and was difficult for me to get into, but I'm glad I
stuck with it as the story is really interesting and does some very bold stuff
for a game. I haven't tried the 2nd one yet.
Telltale got a lot of this gene right I think. People complained how you don't
really affect the story in Telltale games and that is true, but it is also
very difficult to create those types of games with true multiple outcomes
(especially if you have sequels planned. You only want 2 ~ 3 maximum outputs
at the end. Mass Effect was good about being more complex; they had to plan
for certain characters simply not being in future games -- but Bioware too
ultimately collapsed the story down into very few possibilities by the end
anyway).
Finally, Quantic Dream does a super good job of this (Heavy Rain, Beyond Two
Souls, Detroit). They've been PS4/Sony exclusives for a while, but I heard
some of these games are making their way to PC. They are slow games you can't
run through, but they don't require insane puzzles and keep moving. Detroit
does a really good job with totally different narrative paths and endings, and
they don't skimp on the writing, even on endings people would rarely get to.
------
RootReducer
Adventure games are still not dead! Amanita Designs is making some of the
finest games around - in particular, their masterpiece Machinarium. Anyone who
even has a passing interest in adventure/point and click games owes themselves
the pleasure of playing it. Sublime music and art, a lovely wordless story,
interesting setting and characters, and well-designed puzzles.
~~~
vetinari
There's a bad taste left by Machinarium developers.
It was originally sold for Android here:
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.net.machin...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.net.machinarium.Machinarium)
That is now abandoned and left to bitrot. I don't know, whether they were
expecting that people will purchase it again, but for me the effect was, that
I won't touch anything made by them again.
------
pixelperfect
Sierra adventure games were my favorite single-player games from my childhood.
I understand why a lot of people don't like them, e.g. many of the puzzles
have nonsensical solutions, it's possible to get stuck because you didn't get
an item in an area that you can't return to, etc. And the games haven't really
aged well. But for the time they were my favorite.
~~~
TheBlight
It'd be interesting to me to play the KQ series but with the parser replaced
with something more state-of-art.
~~~
bzzzt
The later games in the series used a 'point and click' interface, but are
still filled with arbitrary or unfair puzzles, some badly written dialogue and
cringe-worthy story moments.
------
justaguyonline
Interesting, I feel like the Author is describing what a well done Visual
Novel does in their critics of the whole Adventure Game Genre. To summarize
lazily: "remove the stupid puzzles and just take the reader on a wild ride for
a couple of hours"
Maybe they kinda predicted YUNO and the whole VN explosion in Japan that came
soon after their article was published. Or a least the reason why the demand
was there.
Granted, these games still cost 40+ bucks and deliver 20+ hours of gameplay,
which differs from the vision the Author outlined. But that seems to be
because the extra effort does lead to better returns (and maybe that consumers
want 20+ hour games), so it's a good thing.
------
jmilloy
> There is nothing more frustrating than solving pointless puzzle after
> pointless puzzle. Each puzzle solved should bring the player closer to
> understanding the story and game.
A friend of mine was recently complaining about how adventure games and even
rpgs (in both video and board game formats) lack significant character
development, even the best ones with great worlds and stories. I don't
personally have enough experience to have an opinion, but I thought it was
interesting that the relevant guideline here shows exactly that: it mentions
"story" but not "character". (I'm not sure what is meant here by "game").
Maybe my friend is not wrong.
~~~
zokier
For (C)RPGs the problem might be that developers try to give players so much
freedom that the character ends up being more of a blank slate, and it is
pretty difficult to write meaningful development for that. And even when the
character is not a blank slate then it might be something very bland/average
so that most people can identify with and immerse in that character. As it
turns out, most people don't really seem to want to play a role, they want to
play their own thing which is very different.
Think how much character development a play writer can write if they expect
the actors to form their characters on a whim? And the actors being not
professional ones who would be very good at it but your average common people.
------
Eric_WVGG
a classic blog post on this topic from "Old Man Murray":
[https://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/77.html](https://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/77.html)
"Who killed Adventure Games? I think it should be pretty clear at this point
that Adventure Games committed suicide."
------
logfromblammo
While playing through the Deponia series, I noticed that all the fiddly little
puzzles, like the rail-car switching puzzle, had a "skip this puzzle" button.
Yay for learning that some people don't want to go insane on brute-forcing all
the possible solutions to advance the story.
Even so, there were still a lot of attempts made at overcoming an obstacle,
using normal logic, that failed because they required a joke punchline
instead, such as... finding a straw in a needle stack.
Modern I.F. games are a lot better in that respect, because you can code in a
half-dozen solutions for the same puzzle, without creating new voice and
graphic resources for all those alternate solutions.
------
acabal
> Never require a player to pick up an item that is used later in the game if
> she can't go back and get it when it is needed. It is very frustrating to
> learn that a seemingly insignificant object is needed, and the only way to
> get it is to start over or go back to a saved game.
This reminds me of Return to Zork, in which on the very first screen the
player sees a small plant growing out of a rock. If the player misses or
ignores it, or if they choose to cut it or tear it out instead of gently
digging it out, they won't able to defeat the last boss.
------
dudul
I'm gonna react to the 2004 date instead of the original 1989 publication
date.
Runaway was released in 2001, Myst in 1993 and the sequel in 1997, Lucasfilm
Indiana Jone in 1992 (a game of such quality that fans demanded a movie based
on it), Broken Sword 1996, etc.
These are just the few I bothered looking up. There has been a good amount of
adventure game masterpieces between 1989 and 2004. Lots of bad ones, but also
a fair count of great ones. There have been rough times for adventure games,
but they were not dead between 1989 and 2004.
~~~
TremendousJudge
You realize that the author is Ron Gilbert, who made a bunch of good games
after he published this article, right?
------
martijn_himself
Tangential question, does anyone have any tips for someone who has lost all
interest in video games?
I used to like them as a teenager and whenever I pick up a game now (I'm in my
early 40's) I am just completely bored. Part of it I think is because it
requires some form of mental engagement after a day's hard work?
~~~
UweSchmidt
Same. My reasons:
1\. I understand software better and can see that my in-game actions are
mostly changing variables, or values in a database.
2\. Games are 'balanced' and therefore limit the upside for a potential great
strategy I might come up with.
3\. Nothing new under the sun: How many more pseudo-scifi research trees or
weapon mechanisms or unit capabilities am I supposed to learn in my lifetime?
4\. They don't make them like they used to. Older games had a hardcore element
to them, were often quite difficult and unforgiving (a result of less market
pressure and less polish). Instead of online guides and pro streamers showing
how they are played, the games had a mystery about them; we often didn't even
have a manual for a game we copied.
4\. Less need to prove myself in competition with my peers through games and
play (which is aparently a fundamental thing for children)
5\. Less magic: The first game that had real voice actors, the first real 3D
game seem to have had a greater impact than today's incremental improvements.
6\. Limited time and energy. I find it tough to spend the prime energy of a
day for a game.
7\. Computer work makes me want to get away from computers eventually.
I do watch streamers and youtube videos of the games of the 90ies occasionally
and find entertainment and closure (through experiencing games I never got to
play).
~~~
schwap
> 2\. Games are 'balanced' and therefore limit the upside for a potential
> great strategy I might come up with.
Wouldn't a 'balanced' game make the impact of strategy even greater? Many of
the most strategic games in the world like chess or go are balanced.
> 4\. Less need to prove myself in competition with my peers through games and
> play (which is aparently a fundamental thing for children)
It's never been easier to find and compete against the best in the world at
games. If you're good enough at an online game you can find yourself
essentially playing pick-up basketball against LeBron James.
> 7\. Computer work makes me want to get away from computers eventually.
Yeah agreed on this one for sure.
~~~
UweSchmidt
#2 Well chess isn't quite balanced, with white having a big advantage. If it
was a modern game, people would complain in the forums and the developers
would try to help out black, maybe with an extra pawn. Even if that was a good
idea, it would take something away from the game.
#4 Just as we get older, it's no longer about computer games, the playground,
or sports where we need to prove ourselves? Don't mind me if that's not
actually a thing, psychologically.
------
reaktion
I played through "A Short Hike" this week (because it was free on the Epic
store.) Easily the most enjoyable indie adventure experience I've had: a
unique but intuitive flying mechanic, simple "quests", and a short (<5 hour)
overall gameplay time.
------
strictnein
Makes me think of the Kings Quest games. In Kings Quest 5 you could find a pie
and then you could eat it. But you needed it later to throw in the face of a
Yeti.
Still loved those games though
~~~
zanderwohl
First thing I thought of, too. There were lots of things you could do that
would make the game unwinnable. Like in the first one, leaving a gate open
would allow a goat to wander off and you needed the goat later. In another
one, you there was a fire that would go out X screen changes after finding it
for the first time, and you needed embers from it.
This article seems to directly call out a lot of the King's Quest mechanics
and puzzles.
------
dukoid
Btw: Can somebody please make a VR version of Machinarium? O:)
------
PaulHoule
One word: Danganronpa.
~~~
degurechaff
and zero escape
------
bregma
YOU ARE STANDING AT THE END OF A ROAD BEFORE A SMALL BRICK BUILDING. AROUND
YOU IS A FOREST. A SMALL STREAM FLOWS OUT OF THE BUILDING AND DOWN A GULLY.
> enter building
~~~
kyuudou
THERE IS NO DOOR OR OTHER VISIBLE ENTRANCE.
YOU SEE A LARGE SNAKE EMERGING OUT OF THE STREAM.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
CZI Engineer Tells Zuckerberg to Resign at a Company Town Hall - op03
https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/6/26/21303664/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-chan-zuckerberg-initiative-philanthropy-tension
======
robmerki
The slow but steady march of negative PR towards Zuck seems to have caused
huge problems for their hiring efforts. I don't know a single engineer that
would want to work for Facebook, despite them being bombarded with FB
recruiters.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Best Hired help you finding the top-notch developer - fizerkhan
http://www.besthired.com
======
minimaxir
You need to proofread your copy dramatically, as it's honestly difficult to
comprehend and breaks many grammatical rules.
Also, don't use sockpuppet accounts to comment on your Show HN thread.
~~~
fizerkhan
Thanks for the feedback. We will correct them. What you mean sockpuppet
account?
------
skjfhskjhf
Got an amazing work? Best developers on town. lol
------
djadmin
Hiring made easy- Awesome UI.Great
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Requisite knowledge recommender for a given book, what's involved? - gdubs
I had this idea, and thought I'd share it with the community. Given the scale, it seems like it would be ideal for open source:<p>I was reading a book recently and realized that in order to approach it, I needed to do a lot of prior reading. It was a book on Schoenberg and 12 tone classical music and it was full of references to a ton of other music and writings and works that I'd never heard of before.<p>So, it made me think: what's the app for telling you what books and subjects you should have a handle on before reading a given book?<p>It's similar to prerequisites in a college course catalog, but for individual books. For autodidactic folks, it could be very useful.<p>Is this an approachable problem? What does everyone think?
======
revorad
I've thought of making something like this, but can't think of an elegant
approach. One starting point might be to show closely related books in
chronological order of publication.
~~~
gdubs
Except, better books on a given subject could easily come along at a later
date. Time of publication doesn't seem like a good basis for grouping.
~~~
revorad
I didn't mean to use time of publication as an indicator of quality, but
instead to find out material which has more chances of being foundational
(because it came before).
~~~
gdubs
I get you, but I just think that prerequisite knowledge is often not going to
be chronologically published.
I was thinking along the lines of the Netflix recommendation engine based on
topics covered in a text and the overall 'grade level' of the book. There's
been some good work done in the latter, eg "The Art of Plain Talk" which has a
system for analyzing the grade level of a given piece of writing.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Watch 4chan destroy a website in real-time - austenallred
http://lpushx.com
======
avinassh
I think this is the thread which started it all:
[http://boards.4chan.org/g/thread/48943329/4chan-
clone](http://boards.4chan.org/g/thread/48943329/4chan-clone)
------
ljk
wow that's sad, just discovered the site earlier today from a comment here
[1], and now it's being abused. This is why we can't have nice things
[1]:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9864254](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9864254)
~~~
austenallred
It'll be back after the weekend
~~~
ljk
looks like it's down already, hopefully it comes back
~~~
austenallred
They said they're pulling it offline for the weekend
~~~
ljk
Ah, I missed that announcement
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
If we stand still, we go backwards - callum85
https://jakearchibald.com/2015/if-we-stand-still-we-go-backwards/
======
steego
Calling for a moratorium sounds very dramatic, but I suspect PPK wanted to use
dramatic language to make the point that we're not putting enough thought and
exercising enough caution about what we're introducing to the web. These are
not free experimental features we can add willy-nilly that we can easily
remove when we don't like them anymore. They have the potential to introduce
an incredible amount of globally shared technical debt if they're bad enough.
Between standing still, and desperately adding features to make the web
competitive with native platforms, I'm inclined to slow it down. I don't think
the web is seriously threatened by native platforms. Even when we did
experience feature freezing between 2001-2007, the web remained king despite
attacks from Flash.
I don't think the web is under real threat from mobile native platforms. It's
nothing that performance tuning and Moore's law can't address in time.
~~~
technojunkie
"I don't think the web is under real threat from mobile native platforms."
The main argument against this statement is home screen icons. iOS and Android
home screens, among others, do not feature, have not featured, and will not
for months or possibly years, feature mobile web icons to launch websites in
the browser of choice. Most or every icon on these home screens are native
apps because mobile websites do not easily allow or make obvious that it's
possible to have an app icon on the home screen. Thus, native will always win
this battle.
When the day comes that it might be easier to see a mixture of native and web
apps on the home screen, unless mobile web is faster than it currently is
(meaning updating changing best practices, using excellent APIs like SW and
designing for offline first access), users will STILL choose native over web
when half or more than half the time they do exactly the same thing.
Native is here to stay for years to come unless the mobile web can offer a
compelling reason to switch to browser based layouts. I'm cheering for the web
to provide a better content experience but we're still a long way off and can
expect web based layouts to be wrapped with native code and wrappers. Maybe
web isn't the place for everything but a universal bytecode for everything is
a dream that could be reality as long as progress is made.
~~~
swsieber
I for one will not choose native apps (not as long as they have a half decent
app). I choose my banking website over their app anyday. And the same with
Facebook. I think for me though, part of the aversion is how invasive apps can
be.
~~~
technojunkie
I am not patient enough to wait for poorly developed web pages to load when a
native app offers the same functionality at a fraction of the load time. My
bank's native app is the only way I can deposit my checks and the web site
does not offer this functionality. Thus, it's imperative that I use the native
app today. If this changes tomorrow or in the future, I'll be giving it
another look in the browser but right now, the bank app I use has similar and
better functionality natively than in the browser.
Same with FB, it's not tuned to perform well on the browser and takes longer
to load. I hate the FB app for privacy reason and would MUCH rather use the
browser FB site but it doesn't compare most of the time.
------
vezzy-fnord
The author's examples of inflated user expectations are unconvincing.
Transferring data across the globe is the whole point of wide area networking,
far predating WWW. Making online purchases has been possible since the early
days of the web.
Furthermore, the author's definition of "native" is revisionist, placing it at
a highly recent time frame, and categorizing it by features that are
semantically disparate.
So-called "progressive loading" and no installation process have been traits
of native applications for a long time. In fact, at a primal level, the
process of installing a program boils down to a copy operation.
Notice how in the last paragraph, the examples of the web's feature richness
are all intrinsically limited browser reimplementations of native interfaces
that exist in parallel with the host OS.
~~~
cromwellian
They have? I've been using computers since the mid 80s, and unless you think
loading apps from floppy disk, datasette, or cartridge, counts as "install
less", this is a disingenuous rebuttal.
The Web brought with it portable executable content that ran without escalated
privileges or install, and this did not exist before in any widescale
deployment accessible by endusers.
Prior art is General Magic Telescript and SafeTcl, or perhaps PostScript or
NeWS if you want to count those as wide deployment.
The difference between the Web and Install models, is that installation
doesn't scale to the long tail because it places shit work on the user to
manage limited resources (screen real estate, disk space). The Browser Cache
doesn't impose this cognitive burden. There is no cost of cleanup imposed on
you by clicking a web link. The back button takes care of it.
That's why it's "surfing" because it is effortless and imposes no long term
transaction cost. To try out a web site, you click it, if it sucks, no harm no
foul.
Native apps are completely different. To check and see if you'll like an app,
you have to install it. It consumes permanent resources. If you then decide
you don't like it, you have to permanently uninstall it. Many people are so
burdened by this step, they leave unused unliked apps on their device. Then
one day, they run out of space when trying to take a photo or download a new
app and find that they must then go clean up their memory and delete a bunch
of stuff. An incredibly shitty experience that the Web Browser solved ages
ago.
Android and iOS apps should work more like Java Applets or Flash. You should
be able to run them without install, and then only if you like them a lot and
run them many times, should you optionally pin them from being purged.
------
dmschulman
"Just because it's there, doesn't mean you must learn it and use it"
You're correct! Except that this is not the way things work in the
professional world, and by refusing to learn or use a new technique or library
you're stunting your personal development as a tech professional.
ppk's argument boils down to progress outpacing need. Businesses desire the
bleeding edge in their online-facing products and if you want to be attractive
as talent you need to keep up with the latest development trends. This can
lead to frustration, barely getting the time to build stuff with your new
skills before the next big framework comes along. The latest and greatest is
hip but might not be entirely necessary. This is where we need to focus our
attention and strike a balance.
~~~
technojunkie
"Businesses desire the bleeding edge in their online-facing products"
What kind of businesses? In multiple enterprises I've worked with/for, they
move at a snail's pace and are resistant to change. I feel like most larger
enterprises are at this snail's pace, whether it's b/c of outdated security
practices they can't let go of, control issues, IT incompetence, or
complacency in the way things are.
The businesses which might be more forward thinking are agencies and some
small businesses but I think these are less common. Why do you think it took
years to let go of IE6, then IE7, and now IE8 and IE9 in the enterprise world?
------
hellbanner
"Hello world" is doable in 3 lines instead of 5, granted. But for more
complicated development.. [http://www.allenpike.com/2015/javascript-framework-
fatigue/](http://www.allenpike.com/2015/javascript-framework-fatigue/)
Question: is there ANY environment or language that has fantastic support and
is continually improving? Any _open source_ one?
------
bcg1
I agree with all of the points in this article. Even if you believe that PPK
is 100% right about the "problem", I truly can't grok the notion that a
moratorium would somehow "solve" anything. From my observation, when standards
are actually under development and look like they will have first class
support in the browser, proliferation of stopgap solutions is much lower
because people would rather wait for "standard" support of whatever feature
they're trying to implement. Also I think that aside from IE, browsers do a
good job of getting standard features done, which is sort of amazing
considering they don't have the "benefit" of top-down bureaucratic governance
like the "native" platforms. As a notable exception WebRTC is a bit of a
clusterfog it seems, but I'm sure that will get worked through without too
much ado.
~~~
mattmanser
How would you know?
We've only had two modes of standards development in recent history. Bugger
all (the age of IE6/Firefox/IE7) and constant churn (pretty much since the
iPhone/Chrome was released).
------
amelius
> "Hello world" is simpler now than it has ever been.
Yes, it is simpler for ordinary people. For developers, however, the web is
getting more and more convoluted.
~~~
wstrange
Agreed. There is nothing wrong with the growing richness of the underlying web
platform (the gist of the article). GPS, 3D graphics and what not all enhance
the user experience.
The challenge is that languages, frameworks, and tooling are are not shielding
the developer from the growing complexity.
The level of abstraction is rather poor , so that for any any non trivial web
application, you quickly _do_ need to know the gory details of CSS, layouts,
web components, shadow vs. lite DOM, and so on.
I agree with the premise of the article (we can't stop the forward progress of
the web ), but we desperately need better tools.
------
angrybits
Who cares how many lines it takes to do Hello World? Honestly, that isn't a
benchmark for any meaningful thing.
~~~
jaffathecake
Good job it's only a very small bit of the article, then.
------
stephengillie
The connection kept resetting for me, so here is the Google Cache link:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:f-pnPOu...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:f-pnPOuBD-
wJ:https://jakearchibald.com/2015/if-we-stand-still-we-go-
backwards/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us)
\---
I don't web develop often. As a user, mobile web is usually more usable than a
native app - not in terms of whether or not it works, but in terms of
usability, flow of actions, and predictability. Cut, copy, and paste work in
the browser but rarely in native apps. Other little things too, items too
little for a project architect to notice or a punch list to pick up.
The other half of what killed Blackberry was Microsoft Activesync.
Blackberry's email service required you have set up their Blackberry
Enterprise Server (or their lower-performing cloud-hosted Blackberry Internet
Service) and connected this to your email account. BES had an "agent": a
service that would log into your email account every 30 seconds, check for new
email, and then forward this to your Blackberry over the Blackberry network
(which is why you had to pay the $10 "Blackberry Fee"). Activesync (I think)
used Exchange mail rules to do the same thing, and the iPhone mail client
could use Activesync.
It was that "one-two punch" that took out Blackberry:
* iPhones were cool. Androids were cheap.
* Activesync comes with Exchange, no other server setup necessary.
* Works with normal carrier service; no $10 Blackberry fee.
~~~
klagermkii
I think you give too much credit to ActiveSync. That was available on Windows
Mobile and I'd say the heyday of that was well before the era of Blackberry
domination.
From my own usage of ActiveSync I remember the data networks of the era were
not great with push protocols, at least not compared to the almost magic
instantaneousness of Blackberry email and their custom solution.
~~~
stephengillie
Activesync was good enough that a lot of smaller customers could stop paying
the extra Blackberry fee to their carrier, the extra Blackberry fee to their
cloud host (OR the cost of maintaining an extra server in their colo), and
stop carrying their 2nd phone.
------
jaffathecake
Something like "If the web stops, it goes backwards" or "The web must develop
to survive" would be a more contextual title here.
~~~
detaro
HN rules highly frown upon submitting links with changed titles.
~~~
jaffathecake
The title was changed before you made your comment btw. Current title is fine.
------
barnacs
"Native apps are looking to gain the web's advantages too [...] If we stop, we
lose."
Who is "we" and why are they competing against some implied "them"? When are
we going to accept the shortcomings of both the web and native applications
and figure out a solution together to benefit humankind?
------
ewzimm
I appreciate that this comes across perfectly formatted for w3m. Just shows
that we can push for advanced features while maintaining compatibility for the
simplest experiences.
Some of the frustration for new features comes when developers ignore
compatibility, but that's not a necessary part of pushing the web forward,
just an indication of sloppiness.
Every new feature brings new challenges. The solution is not to solve
challenges by stopping progress but rather to respond to challenges as they
come. This means more work, but that's okay. There are more people to do the
work every day.
------
draven
"Also, world's first web site[1] still works in modern browsers".
... and half the links on it are broken. That's one of the things I don't like
on the web, content slowly disappear, links are unidirectional, etc.
[1]
[http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html](http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html)
------
spectrum1234
Exactly. Users control the internet. Almost everyone has this backwards.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why Facebook’s Political Moves Should Terrify Us All - jdrucker
http://soshable.com/why-facebooks-political-moves-should-terrify-us-all/
======
mycroftiv
Ugg, what a silly article. I am a non-user of facebook and a dedicated civil
libertarian, and this article is ridiculous speculation. Undoubtedly Facebook
wants connections and influence in government, all big corporations do. The
connection to the Trusted Identities in Cyberspace plans is purely imaginary.
With so many real vital issues of online privacy and security being contested
right now, hypothetical conspiracy theories like this are an unnecessary
distraction.
~~~
jbooth
Yeah, I'm actually more ok with Facebook lobbying than I am with 90% of the
lobbying that already happens. At least their product doesn't kill people or
cause a lot of pollution.
------
koko775
I think that this article is a bit short-sighted. Facebook has a massive,
massive network. I should know - I briefly interned on their TechOps team (and
switched teams partway through). Their slice of the internet is truly massive,
and worldwide. The amount of bandwidth consumed by the Photos product alone,
much less the rest of Facebook's properties, is gargantuan.
Now take a look back and notice just how deeply the telephone companies
influence politics. Do I even need to provide examples? Think about Net
Neutrality. Facebook doesn't just want it, it depends on it to keep its costs
down and its site fast.
Explain to me, how can they battle this without having the ear of Washington?
It's a good strategic move, and I expect that far more of their clout will be
focused on maintaining the status quo than federally mandating Facebook use.
As an organization with a great deal of hackers (as in hacker news 'hacker'),
I think that enforcing a global ID would face major resistance even within the
company. Far more plausible is that they're looking for influence to keep the
internet open, as that is in their best interests.
~~~
perlgeek
> Think about Net Neutrality. Facebook doesn't just want it, it depends on it
> to keep its costs down and its site fast.
When they are really profitable, they can afford to pay some extra cost to
make sure that facebook is well reachable everywhere, while the rest of the
Internet is slow. (Exaggerated, yes).
So maybe they have some motivation to enforce net neutrality now, but will
they stall have it in five years?
~~~
joebadmo
Exactly. In fact, I'd say as an entrenched incumbent, they have every reason
now to _oppose_ net neutrality. They can afford to make deals with the telcos
and pay more for the bandwidth in order to keep the upstart competition out of
the race.
~~~
koko775
Not seeing it. They're so entrenched that slower access only penalizes the
user experience. ISPs peer with Facebook because there's so much bandwidth
both up and down that it's in their best interest, too. Giving ISPs more
leverage to charge only makes it easier for a worse product to succeed on a
basis other than merit.
------
msy
While I get it I don't really see the big fuss. Facebook knows as much as you
choose to tell it. I choose to tell it nothing. Yes you can infer soft
networks from the email address books they've harvested etcetc but really
there's nothing in those that can't pieced together if someone wants to
anyway. As far as I'm concerned Facebook's a busted flush unless you want to
advertise to a slightly below average income demographic with too much time to
play mundane online games and from a professional perspective a FB message or
email address is about as serious as a hotmail.com one. The inevitable social
network market fragmentation is already underway, I'm excited to see what it
brings.
~~~
nsfmc
facebook also knows as much as your 'friends' choose to tell it about _you_
unless you're vigilant and remove their posts to your wall or untag yourself
and so forth.
~~~
ori_b
You think that removes it from their database? They've already said that they
don't delete the data, they just hide it.
~~~
blasdel
How else would they keep people from re-tagging you?
------
eklovlfjkeos
Several commenters on soshable.com and HN say something along the lines of "no
biggie - I can just delete my profile when FB becomes a problem."
But here's the thing: You probably can't delete your profile. As far as I
remember, Facebook didn't even have a deletion feature in the beginning, only
a deactivation feature.
Now there's a deletion feature, but can you be absolutely sure that FB doesn't
save your info even if they tell you your profile has been deleted?
Think I'm paranoid? Think again: Several times I've tried deleting status
updates, and while I get a deletion confirmation, some or all of the "deleted"
status messages show up again some time later.
~~~
reemrevnivek
FB became a problem for me some time ago, and I soft-deleted (deactivated) my
account. There is a deletion feature now.
There's a big difference between a bug in the deletion of status updates
_right now_ , and permanent deletion which takes a couple days. Tape backups
will always be around, though.
~~~
eklovlfjkeos
Sure, but my point is that you can't know for sure whether Facebook will
actually delete your profile even if they say they have.
"They trust me - dumb fucks" - Mark Zuckerberg
------
JonnieCache
I am reassured by facebook's enormous, gigantic attack surface. I am sure that
anonymous would be able to wreak absolute ungodly havoc upon it if they
decided to.
------
mncolinlee
Facebook has stated on numerous occasions that they want to be a central ID
authority, so the article is less speculation than simply extending the
Facebook game plan to the next rung. I currently recommend my site users sign
in through Facebook due to the depth of their instant personalization
features, but may offer Twitter or other access as well in order to calm users
who may rightfully fear a company that does not respect anonymous speech. Even
though I like Facebook's features and respect their technology, I must hear my
customers concerns first.
------
jsz0
I can't say it's among my top concerns in the world right now. The quest for
political influence isn't automatically a crime. Facebook obviously has a big
interest in FCC policy for example. If they choose to opt out of the political
games it puts them at a disadvantage especially when big telecom is one of the
most powerful lobbies in the country. Ironically when it comes to issues like
net neutrality Facebook is actually one of the few big tech companies that
doesn't have any major partnerships with carriers to consider. I find the
whole national-ID angle implausible but let's say it was true. Do we feel
better if Google or Microsoft, both with considerable Washington connections,
are the ones lobbying for a national-ID jackpot? In a strange counterintuitive
way more competition in the high-tech influence peddling business is probably
a good thing. Better than just conceding policy influence to Microsoft, Google
and the other big established players isn't it? I sort of feel like Americans
have been deeply naive about how much influence big corporations have and now
they're confronted with it on a daily basis and it's a big revelation? It's
basically always been this way, or worse, and we managed. No need to get
terrified over it now.
------
TorbjornLunde
I don't see how this makes Facebook worse than other corporations. Isn't
trying to influence the goverment (and probably partially succeeding in it)
the norm?
~~~
MediaBehavior
And does not that 'norm' worry you at all?
The Supreme Court has declared that corporations have many of the same rights
as individuals. We fleshly individuals, however, do not have the same _power_
as mega-corporations, nor does our 'free speech' have the same same power as
'free speech' promulgated/backed by a $100B corporation, nor will my campaign
contribution have the influence as a corporation's (left-wing, right-wing,
whatever). Is it inappropriate to be worried?
~~~
iwwr
As a corporation becomes bigger, it becomes a target. If they don't have a
lobby team in Washington, they will just be pounded on by other political
factors (including other corporations) until they do. See the case of
Microsoft, which until the (in)famous DoJ investigation had no lobby team.
Afterwards, donations started streaming and their lawyers set up offices in
Washington.
------
vessenes
The slightly less Orwellian version than imagined here seems pretty likely to
me. If there ever is an online national ID system, I'll bet 100 to 1 that
you'll be able to port your facebook identity directly across to it.
That said, there's an interesting Silicon Valley goes to Washington --
courtesy of its Harvard roots -- story here -- it may be that Zuck is just
that much more forward thinking than the rest of the nerds, and wants in on
the Washington game in a proactive way, rather than as a mission of last
resort when dragged there by some other group, a-la the MPAA.
That would, in my mind, bookend the 'geeks' era of technology companies -- 30
years or so from long-haired off the grid types hacking Apple II software in
shacks outside of Big Sur to 20-something billionaires hiring up Washington
talent.
If I understand my major industrial history correctly, that's about right,
maybe a bit slower than the oil industry. Look for Biotech to get smart on
this in the next 10 or 15 years?
------
alecco
It's creepy how the Facebook does the Enron moves. And with Goldman Sachs.
------
arthurgibson
Isn't this the natural progression for a big data company these days? ...
At&t, search company, im sure the list grows.
Fortunately I left Facebook b/c all the high school kids that I had nothing in
common with kept cluttering my wall and friend requests queue.
------
tintin
What a crap. _"It will prove to be deadly."_ but no answer is given. If you
are terrified of Facebook, just stop using it.
Maybe an upvoter can explain the upvote?
~~~
dexen
From a cursory read, I reckon it's about the ``National Internet ID''. You
know how governments tend to botch big IT projects? Now imagine being forced
to use one such insecure `solution' for every act of communication over
internet.
~~~
tintin
The thing is, I can't imagine that. My grandma never touched a computer. But
she still is part of our society.
~~~
Herwig
A national internet ID is ahead of our time. Until our grandparents are ready
to commit to such a thing, (maybe even the 40+ generation) something like it
wont happen.
~~~
mhb
Make it a requirement for social security payments. Game over.
------
rospaya
Yet it could collapse overnight.
Facebook is doing all it can to lock users in, but in the end everything
revolves around a single user just saying that he/she doesn't care anymore and
is out.
If the circle of 10 of my closest friends leave Facebook, I would probably
leave as well. Many great services have fallen before Facebook.
------
Du4No
I know this is old, but it still may be relevant:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B37wW9CGWyY&feature=relat...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B37wW9CGWyY&feature=related)
------
stretchwithme
I know plenty of tyrants are annoyed with Facebook.
~~~
trotsky
Yup, the ones that don't align with US interests (anymore).
~~~
Herwig
Is Gaddafi on Facebook?
~~~
trotsky
Tripoli sure was.
------
zethraeus
this article and this comment thread are both infuriatingly conspiratorial.
Facebook may become a defacto standard for an internet ID but its power lies
in having people willingly share information about their lives. This would
cease immediately if the US government mandated it as a form of ID etc. Which
kind of contradicts the company's goals... no?
------
phlux
It started innocently enough. Everyone is on it. Everyone. In the more than 20
years since it was founded - and now - daily life just could not be managed
without it. Sure, it started innocently enough. Connect with your friends,
post your pics, keep up with the fam. Yeah, that was then.
It wasn't too long before they started adding features. Adding value they
called it. Extending your circle. Enabling you they'd say. Yeah, in the same
way a spiders web is beautiful. The pattern and symmetry, glistening like
shiny gossamer art. Its beauty pulls you in - you don't realize at first as
you touch it, that it sticks. No, more than sticks - you become _imbued_ with
it. The more you move it wraps around you, encasing you... entombing you. For
the data-mining black widow to come and suck the marketable value right out of
you, your connections... every aspect of your life is now a product.
Classified, organized, tagged, sorted, tracked, pegged, followed, poked,
monetized, labeled... owned is what you are. A commodity. A small spec among
3.5 billion in the user base of the book.
That's what it was these days... just simply 'the book'.
Everyone knows - everyone is aware. They are all in the book. Not even a page,
or a word either... more like a letter. A single letter. An iconographic
digital hologram of the total sum of your parts - all wrapped up real nice in
a uniform singular profitable little package called your _user profile_.
Displayed and viewed and consumed and tracked billions of times over. With
more than thirty trillion page views per month, the cancerous blue and white
digital encapsulation of the human soul was now blazoned across innumerable
screens as nearly half the worlds population interacted on the book - more
than 20% of the worlds population on the book at _any given moment_.
A study, one of the countless to be sure, said that now more than 90% of real
human interactions occurred through the book. What does that even mean
anymore... real? Real human interactions? Through the book? how is that even
possible.
It was no wonder that in the last few years the backlash has switched to
resisting this unexpected strangle-hold on the human condition. Most never saw
it coming... happily going along with every new feature update, privacy
change, "enhancement". MZ was repeating himself a lot these days... except his
frame of reference had gotten bigger. Where years ago the book was likened to
that which only came along to change humans interactions every 100 years...
now his statements were 10 fold. MZ thinks of himself as the embodiment of the
singularity... whatever that means. Some fucking fantasy of a long dead
cybervisionary that couldn't recognize the makings of our current prison I'm
sure. Fuck him.
Looking around looks a lot more like binary slavery than any form of
singularity. None of our old problems have been solved - in fact the book has
only made things worse. After it became a "platform for governance and
outreach" we, people like - those who _really_ see, knew. We knew what this
meant. Game fucking over.
This era of hyper connectivity and ultra social awareness was supposed to
usher in some sort of Utopian orgasm -- one in which MZ would be carried on
the shoulders of the masses to stand next to fantastical human saviors like
Jesus. Fictional allusions to stellar bodies be damned!
The only problem is that most of the world is too busy. Feeding their
attention into the black hole of the book to notice... or care I guess.
With ubiquitous access thanks to the assimilation of the largest global fiber
network a few years ago, the book was now able to offer complete and total
"free" access via the acquired goog-net.
Years ago, when Athena rolled out - it was a huge success. Welcomed into every
neighborhood - direct, very high speed fiber access in every home was quickly
made into a "right". The model was seen as our manifest destiny, held in a
62-micron translucent hair that fed us with more 1' and 0's to each person in
a single day than the entire digital output of the globe in 1999.
Such an umbilical cannot be bad right!
The only problem is we misjudged the direction of the flow!
Now, with goog-net reaching everywhere, but the book being the only lens into
the tubes -- our minds are warped. We are a most technically advanced - yet
wholly dependant child-like civilization.
A mutant.
If its not on the platform. Not "in the book" they say -- how can it be
trusted - how could it succeed? How can you expect to be relevant?
HOW CAN IT NOT BE RELEVANT!
Slaves! All of them!
This is why we act! This is what is needed. Who are we? Who the fuck were we?
Not this! Surely not this. It is time....
We take action now. Rewrite this so called book.
We will not forgive. We will not forget!
~~~
bodski
Talking of books, I think we should all (re)read Brunner's "The Shockwave
Rider" [1], inspiring and prophetic. The book that coined the term 'computer
worm', maybe parts of the 'remedy' are written within...
[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shockwave_Rider>
~~~
ebiester
Reread all of Brunner, for that matter. Perhaps "The Sheep Look Up?" -- and we
all thought that President Prexy was referring to Reagan!
------
api
.. and this is different from what Rupert Murdoch has been doing for the last
30 years, or what Seymour Hersh did before that, because... ?
------
phlux
we are in for a really rude awakening when it comes to the political pull a
site like facebook can really have.
Here we have a company with a very very large cross section of just about
every culture and country on earth. It has massive amounts of personal.
intimate. detailed data on its users, their relationships, their interests and
activities.
We have a CEO who is young, idealistic, ego-centric and in certain ways,
impressionable. Not in a petty sense - but in a way where providing the
opportunity to feel as though he really is changing the world, he will assume
that he is -- and for the better. The problem is that, I believe, he (and
facebook) will be manipulated.
Regardless of Mark's ideals and lofty goals - politics is politics. It is a
system of control in its basest form. Facebook is the perfect venn between
social utility and totalitarian encroachment.
Sadly - the social utility for its users currently outweighs its encroachment
and it will be ratcheted further into a position where we cannot separate our
daily activities from it.
~~~
forensic
Mark Zuckerberg is the #1 target for manipulation of every intelligence agency
and influence centre on earth.
His 26 year old mind is up against the intelligence apparatus of multiple
nation states that want to use his possessions.
He has no chance. All of his meetings with various power brokers and law
enforcement representatives are well known. The fight is over. He's a
unwitting puppet. All of the information that reaches him is carefully
monitored by tens if not hundreds of professionals in the business of
information trafficking and control.
Something with the value of Facebook either survives through rigid ideological
principles upheld by a mesh of ideologues, or it falls to outside influence.
I think Google's built in iconoclastic values gave it some level of
inoculation against government influence.
But Facebook has no values aside from power and money. Zuck is the classic
power monger geek, a true successor to Bill Gates, except Bill Gates was not
nearly as much of an obvious target because the stakes were not understood at
the time.
~~~
btam
Note that these information agencies that you refer to are in competition.
That makes manipulating Zuckerburg a lot more difficult, doesn't it?
Also, his '26 year old mind' is not alone. He's not the only guy that wants to
support his ideals.
I'm not saying that he can resist manipulation, but I don't think it's as easy
as the parent of my comment makes it seem at all. If anything, it's a war
_for_ Zuck; it's not a war _on_ Zuck.
For example, the US and say, North Korea are not going to be working together
for control of Zuckerburg; they're going to be competing for it.
~~~
isleyaardvark
"Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard, just ask. I have over
4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS. People just submitted it. I don't know
why. They 'trust me'. Dumb fucks."
So when did Zuckerberg develop these "lofty goals" and "ideals"?
~~~
phlux
To be clear, when I said "Regardless of Mark's ideals and lofty goals -
politics is politics." -- I was in no way implying that he had lofty goals and
ideals that _were good_... quite to the contrary.
I do not and shall not ever have an account on the book for many reasons - my
distrust of the founder and company ethos are but just two...
~~~
eliasmacpherson
What's to stop an acquaintance of yours impersonating you?
------
jonah
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
\--Martin Niemöller
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: The ugliest MVP ever because I know squat about coding - gxespino
http://bit.ly/18Aybks - right click save as to save .mov file or click to open in browser. Quicktime needed. It is interactive.
======
bjourne
So you trawl through a users inbox and look for confirmation email from paid
services? How do you differentiate between free services and paid ones? And
after you've identified the services how is your agent supposed to interact
with them?
Getting that right is huge and involves some very heavy nlp. But if you can
create it, then there are many much more exciting products you could create
than just turning off paid services.
~~~
gxespino
Thanks for the response. What possibilities do you see with this?
------
styts
Regarding this form of mockup: it was not clear what else I could do besides
clicking between the years from the dashboard view. In general, I think many
will not have figured out that you're supposed to click somewhere.
So it's subscriptions management app, cool. It won't be so trivial to deduce
the subscriptions from the users mailbox, wonder how you'll do that.
~~~
gxespino
Sorry for the crudeness. In the MVP you can click between years and manually
add a subscription.
Does "cool" mean "meh, cool" or "I'll sign up and pay when it's done, cool"
Thanks for the feedback and yes I know the actual app development will be much
more difficult.
------
tommaxwell
Definitely a cool concept. Now build it!
~~~
gxespino
Thanks! I'm getting it as far as I can and validating it with people along the
way. The goal is to show some traction in order to attract the right
developer.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How to get feedback? - mixmastamyk
After submitting a pair of Show HN (SHN) stories I was a bit dismayed to see
they received zero interest, particularly as I got up at 6am to post
one. ;) http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4196039<p>I wonder what's wrong? Surely the site must suck (first release should be
embarrassing right?), but even so a few "this sucks ..." replies would
be much preferable to the deafening indifference I received instead.<p>Looking over hnshowcase for the last few days I see that the majority of
SHNs get 0-1 votes or 40+. I haven't seen a clear division in site
quality between the two groups though, as many of the interesting are
the ignored. At risk of sounding like a whiner, should I have enlisted
a network of employees or upvoters first? I'm just a single guy and
this is my side project so I unfortunately don't have those kind of
resources available.<p>What can I do to turn this around? Would appreciate any comments.
======
duiker101
Uhm i can feel your pain. I do not have a clear answer for you. But i can make
assumptions.
People know each other. A lot of people on this site are in the startup scene
from SF NY etc... many know each other personally. This is a huge help.
People cheat. i do not have any proof but sometimes i notice that something
that might not be totally worth gets boosted by many points in a short time
period. This can be by bot or maybe even being in a small company can help.
Everyone gives a vote from the pc and the smartphone and the number goes up.
Sometimes it takes very little. I think that if a thread get a couple of votes
in the first 30 minutes it is more likely that people will open it and will
vote it. Generating an exponential effect. Same with comments. It takes very
little to distinguished your thread from the mass. If you do not abuse it do
not be ashamed of resubmitting your thread a week later. Maybe with a new
title. Title is also very important.
I usually look mostly at the new section just to find threads that are worth
an help. And i am sure there are other people that do it. You just need to be
a little lucky. Keep in mind what might be the most interesting hour to submit
for you target audience and try. But please don't abuse.
About you submission, you did a good job. You learnt something new, that's the
most important thing. You might want to work maybe a bit more on the design,
especially the colours, it feels, old. But really liked that hovering an event
would highlight it on the map ;)
~~~
mixmastamyk
Thanks, I'm having the same realization. It helps a lot to confirm that others
are too.
Re: the design, yeah I'm a programmer not a designer. I liked the Japanese
color scheme and thought it looked unique. My two design goals were simply
uniqueness and to avoid images/bandwidth costs, so there are some "old school"
elements such as the clipart.
Thankfully there is a provision built in for theming. There are a few choices
already, but I can make one with blue.
------
Toph
I thought of an idea similar to this a few years back but a VERY different
implementation. Unfortunately the project was finished (in code) but never
launched due to limitations of other platforms at the time to support the
overall way the solution worked. Its a good problem to solve.
------
eragnew
my take: a nice demo/tutorial would be nice. i went to <http://lax.kpasa.co/>
and didn't know what i was supposed to do. how do i use it?
+1 if you can demonstrate _within the demo_ why your service would add value
to me as a user. sell the service to me. tell me what i can get if i use this
service.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Strong Password Hashing for ASP.NET - sk5t
http://zetetic.net/blog/2012/3/29/strong-password-hashing-for-aspnet.html
======
sk5t
With PBKDF2 (Rfc2898DeriveBytes) sitting in the base class library for years
now, I'm not sure why Microsoft have neglected to have it implement the normal
hash algorithm interfaces... it's just a few lines of code, and much, _much_
better than the SSHA1 / SSHA256 that remain the default for SQL user
databases.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Serialized Mystery: The Strange Case of the New Golden Gate - nanomonkey
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/06/07/serial-the-strange-case-of-the-new-golden-gate-chapter-1/
======
nanomonkey
Links to the whole series can be found at Robin Sloan's personal website:
[https://www.robinsloan.com/notes/newspaper-
serial/](https://www.robinsloan.com/notes/newspaper-serial/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
1,800 Minecraft players' email addresses and passwords leak - pallih
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/20/minecraft-players-email-passwords-leak-online
======
Joona
Sounds like the list that has been circulating for months. Dinnerbone
(developer) commented on it on Twitter, I think.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Couple hosting Tor exit node raided by cops investigating child abuse - jackgavigan
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2016/04/07/couple-hosting-tor-exit-node-raided-by-cops-investigating-child-abuse/
======
joncp
SPD. What a bunch of Barney Fifes.
------
2ifrgtmypss
lol tor... why even bother, you'll be lumped in with all the pedos and
terrible people of the world...
~~~
falcolas
A form of martyrism - making a sacrifice for a cause.
You can argue if the cause of anonymity is a greater good (I think it is), but
there are always those who are willing to give something up to support it.
~~~
kbenson
I think it would be interesting to think about ways in which the core
important benefits or anonymity could be achieved through a non-anonymous
society. Anonymity is becoming fetishized in certain subgroups of western
culture, but I don't think anonymity is the real goal, but what it allows.
This is important, because while it may not be possible to salvage anonymity
in some or all locales in the future, that doesn't _necessarily_ mean we can't
salvage some of its benefits, such as protection from authority. Not that I
know how we would accomplish this, but like I said, I think it would be
interesting to think about.
~~~
nitrogen
_Maybe_ perfect equality could be a substitite for anonymity, but as long as
there are any power balances in the world, good people with minority views
(say, political activists in oppressive regimes) will need to hide from
powerful majorities.
I think a better question is how to cure the societal and individual ills that
lead to the abuses of anonymity that cause people to oppose it.
~~~
kbenson
> I think a better question is how to cure the societal and individual ills
> that lead to the abuses of anonymity that cause people to oppose it.
And that as well _might_ only be solved by perfect equality. Actually, looking
at it this way, where each spectrum has a range of positive and negative
consequences, but the constrained side of the spectrum is self perpetuation
and not self correcting, reminds me of freedom of speech itself, where we just
accept the alternative is accepted (in some parts of the world at least) as
the de-facto standard because of this.
Maybe the way to frame anonymity is that anonymity _is_ freedom of speech, and
there isn't truly freedom of speech without it, so we should just accept the
ills that come with it. This is probably a known and accepted strategy and I'm
just slow on the uptake. :/
------
baus
This is the second case in a week involving the Seattle PD raiding an exit
node operator.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11431128](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11431128)
~~~
ikeboy
And coincidentally, the person has the same name!
~~~
baus
Opps.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why I don't want stuff - wallflower
https://sivers.org/gifts
======
0xffff2
I can appreciate the sentiment, but I actually like _doing_ things. Don't get
me wrong, I probably spend much more time than most in front of my computer,
but even so.
I'm a photographer -> Two bags full of camera gear, tripod...
I'm a hiker/backpacker -> Backpack, tent, sleeping bag, hiking boots...
I'm a cyclist -> Bike, helmet, gloves, pump...
I'm a computer engineer -> Solder station, wire cutters, crimping tools...
I'm a DIYer -> Saws, hammers, screwdrivers...
I would love to have less stuff, but the amount of myself that I would have to
strip away for it to make sense is mind boggling to me. I go looking to get
rid of stuff all the time, but even though I have a lot of things, I _use_ all
of them. I truly can't wrap my head around the idea of living a fulfilling
life with only a laptop and whatever furnishings came with my apartment.
~~~
nostromo
I wish there was a startup in this space.
I have so much house maintenance stuff. For example, I only really need a
ladder once a year. But I keep it around forever because when you need a
ladder, _you need a ladder_.
I would love to not have to store and maintain all this stuff and to just
request it on demand. Can someone solve that for me?
I'm embarrassed to admit that sometimes it's easier for me to just buy a new
tool than to find the right one at the bottom of a tool box somewhere. It
seems so wasteful...
Same goes for all my hobby stuff too. (I too have a huge bag of mountain
climbing gear that gets used only twice a year.)
~~~
danans
In my neighborhood we all borrow each others gear, whether it's home
improvement stuff, or occasionally used outdoor sports gear. Any startup in
this space would have to establish the "trust" feature of a sharing community,
which is a feature that a friendly neighborhood has built-in.
You might be on to something if you find an easy way for people to publish
their inventory of stuff to a trusted group of neighbors, maybe with a
smartphone app to take pics of the gear? That way you leverage the trust that
already exists, and just make the publishing and discovery process easier.
We use Nextdoor and our street's email mailing list for this all the time.
EDIT: Nextdoor and email lists only provide the in-group communication
solution, not the inventory solution. It would be interesting to see an
inventory solution that worked with a variety of communication services.
~~~
ycmbntrthrwaway
Instead of trust, it may be possible to rent stuff in usual way by leaving a
deposit and paying per hour for using someone else's tool.
~~~
eitally
And there are plenty of companies all over the world who operate profitably
renting tools & equipment to homeowners.
~~~
Grishnakh
Yeah, and the stuff they rent is probably mostly old junk and beat to hell
because renters don't take care of stuff. It's probably a lot cheaper to just
go to Harbor Freight and buy a tool there than to rent something.
~~~
jessaustin
This really varies. On numerous occasions, I've gone to the rental place,
taken one look at the machine, and then immediately left said rental place.
Once, I had to wait for the dude to take the brand-new backpack leaf blower
out of the box and pour in the first bottle of oil. I had no problem waiting
that time. It's always a good idea to have the dude start the motor before you
load up.
Harbor Freight is great for hand tools you'll use occasionally, or power tools
you'll use rarely. There's a reason people who use those tools for a living
shop elsewhere.
~~~
Grishnakh
The last mechanic I talked to said Snap-On tools had become overpriced junk,
and Harbor Freight tools were a much better value. This is for hand tools,
mind you. All the hand tools I've gotten from HF in the past few years have
been excellent, better than anything I ever got from Craftsman (except torque
wrenches; I haven't tried HF's, and my old Craftsman torque wrenches are
excellent).
Yeah, if I were a professional, I wouldn't use HF power tools either. But
we're talking about DIYers here, not pros. And even good-quality name-brand
tools from Lowe's/HD are a better value than renting.
The only place I can see where renting a tool makes sense is for something
pretty large, that costs at least $500. For instance, a ditch digger is
something I would rent, not buy: it's big, needs maintenance, and probably
costs several thousand dollars new. And it's not something I'd need to use
much, probably only once. But power tool that costs $80? Just buy it. I'll
come out way ahead buying it, using it, and then reselling it on Craigslist
than renting it.
~~~
jessaustin
I've never used a Snap-On tool; that always seemed like a scam. I have an HF
torque wrench that's got to be 10yo by now. It still works, but I don't really
ask much of it. Bicycle stuff, usually, with an occasional top-mounted oil
filter on a diesel engine (the latter only because everything is plastic now,
and one wants neither to break something nor to have oil dripping all over; in
the days of steel I would have just gripped a short wrench halfway off the
axis and pulled hard). If I were rebuilding transmissions I'd have a good
torque wrench. I've broken enough wrenches that I can pretty much tell when
it's going to happen, and now I stop before that point. For that reason, it's
probably true that an HF wrench is at least 90% as useful as any other. I have
yet to really pull on an HF wrench that I would call "excellent", however.
Various hammers and chisels I've purchased have all lost their shape after
just a bit of hard use.
I have HF power tools, but there's something slightly _off_ about each of
them, whether that's a flimsy plastic body, a saw blade arbor that moves
around, or whatever. I don't use any of them on even a monthly basis. If I
did, I would upgrade. Everything my brother has borrowed for a job has quickly
failed. He doesn't buy much at Harbor Freight.
I have a Craftsman cordless drill that has lasted _forever_ ; it predates the
tiny b&w Makita drills all the contractors have been using for years now.
Since the battery is old-fashioned dry cell rather than lithium, I just took
it to Ellis Battery for a rebuild when it failed.
~~~
Grishnakh
>I have yet to really pull on an HF wrench that I would call "excellent",
however. Various hammers and chisels I've purchased have all lost their shape
after just a bit of hard use.
The HF socket wrenches and sockets I've used have been at least as good as any
Craftsman competitor, even from over 20 years ago.
However, for chisels, if you're talking about for woodworking, that's
something I doubt I would buy from HF. For proper woodworking, chisels have to
be incredibly sharp and hold an edge, and that requires high-quality steel. I
guess if you're just installing some door latch plates a HF chisel might be OK
though, but I'd get something nice for doing any serious woodworking because
having really sharp chisels is critical for quality work.
------
Xcelerate
I relate to this guy so much.
> It makes me really happy when another Christmas or birthday has passed and I
> didn’t receive anything. It makes me feel understood.
My sister and I have this arrangement. I tell her every Christmas that her
gift (nothing) is the best one, because I don't have to figure out where to
store more junk until enough time has passed that I don't feel guilty throwing
it away. She's even more of a clean freak than I am — I believe she actually
gets a thrill out of throwing stuff away.
If I want some _object_ , I will buy that _object_ myself. I don't want
someone's semi-educated guess (that's most likely wrong) cluttering up my
apartment. What I find particularly strange is that people consistently give
me things that I explicitly tell them I don't want — they buy me stuff that
_they_ want for Christmas or that they think I "need".
The only gifts I like are the ones that have strong sentimental value —
something that shows a lot of thought went into it — perhaps a handmade photo
book or a good meal. For me, an object will never be as valuable as quality
time spent with family.
~~~
serg_chernata
Between my wife and I, the policy has been to go out and spend time together
instead of buying gifts. I don't try to push this onto others but it does work
with most of my close friends as well.
~~~
ycmbntrthrwaway
It works inside family or with girlfriends, but only as long as everybody
agrees to go somewhere. As with normal gifts, presenting tickets as a surprise
is not a good idea.
~~~
serg_chernata
By "go out" I didn't mean something that requires tickets. It could be dinner,
or a short getaway. In very few cases I've given gift cards to amazon or a
local mall. It's a little more personal than cash but I still get to leave
things open-ended.
------
austinjp
I don't live quite like this, but I feel similarly about gifts: I far prefer
them to be practical rather than decorative or frivolous.
I've realised that people can get slightly upset when I explain it to them.
They want to buy me something fun, something I'll "enjoy". Chances are I
won't, although I do of course appreciate the sentiment.
Equally, I find it more satisfying to buy a "useful" gift for others. And of
course people don't always appreciate this, and some prefer a trinket instead
of a practical item.
There's emotional context imbued in the act of giving, and some people embed
that in the object itself.
So I'm learning to allow people to express their feelings toward me by letting
them buy me whatever they want, although I will still hint at my preference if
given a choice.
This can lead to clutter, which I hate, but I've realised some people love. I
don't know the solution to this yet, but I suspect it's a combination of out-
of-site storage and in-view display cabinet type arrangements. I have disposed
of truly unwanted gifts, but I realise that's potentially hurtful so I don't
enjoy doing it.
~~~
VLM
Refrigerator door culture. At some point in life you will no longer be
permitted not to have magnets on your fridge. I made it until I got married.
Weaponized clothes are a thing too. Everyone knows nobody likes getting
someone elses choice of clothes as a gift, especially not kids, but it is a
socially acceptable weapon to kinda "get" the recipient. More a slap to the
face than a punch to the face, but none the less kinda an aggressive act.
~~~
bbarn
My father hated fridge magnets and resisted for years. Then he remarried, and
it started happening, slowly. One year, he bought a very nice refrigerator for
xmas. It's completely non-magnetic. I couldn't help but ask, and yes.. it was
intentional.
~~~
drunken-serval
This is why scotch tape exists. :)
------
branchless
I fight against this all the time. It's simply impossible due to all the guilt
involved.
I do not want anything for xmas/birthday. My wife always wants to get me
something and makes me feel like a killjoy. This is perhaps manageable.
Bigger problem is I have 2 kids who get invited to parties. I have to take the
birthday boy/girl something. Fine - but this means it's reciprocated.
Valentines day recently. Used to be for asking a new girl out - now you have
to gift something to your wife of 20 years. I have successfully vanquished
this one.
Coming over for dinner? They bring a (bad) bottle of wine that I now have to
get rid of. On and on the waste goes.
It just goes on and on.
~~~
ycmbntrthrwaway
Those thoughts sometimes lead me to conclusion that "gift" tradition is
invented or supported by marketing. It sounds like conspiracy theory, but it
is partially true: take for example valentines day that is exploited by
advertisement industry each year. I wonder if that gift tradition would be
nearly dead were it not for aggressive advertising.
~~~
ZeroFries
Doesn't require conspiracy. It's in the best interests of retailers to peddle
gift-giving, so they do. This peddling increases gift-giving, or the retailers
would stop doing it. Therefore it's safe to assume that gift-giving rates
would be lower if the retailers did not peddle it.
------
ycmbntrthrwaway
Every time I have a birthday I am terribly worried about receiving some gift
that I won't like from people who don't know me good enough but want to give
me some present. Receiving a gift that I don't like and having to avoid
showing that I don't really like it is worse than receiving nothing. In fact I
have enough money to buy anything I want myself, so there is really nothing I
would like to receive as a gift.
~~~
Scarbutt
_In fact I have enough money to buy anything I want myself, so there is really
nothing I would like to receive as a gift._
That sounds like a closed mentality to me, you never know really, someone
might just surprise you.
~~~
jrs235
Give me the gift of recognizing my preference for no material gifts.
EDIT: Or toilet paper. I'll eventually make use of and need TP.
~~~
Scarbutt
So my point was that unless you know everything about life and the universe
you might not know what your preferences are (and preferences change) ;) And
not all gifts are material.
But sure, there's nothing wrong in not wanting anything from someone else if
that is your thing.
------
noir_lord
I'm somewhat similar to this except furnished flats are rare where I live so I
have some furniture.
That said my bedroom has a bed and a side table, my living room a sofa,
computer desk and TV.
Spare bedroom has my road bike and my cycling gear (as a hobby it's
unavoidable).
I have a (somewhat) strict 1 closet policy for clothing, once I fill it for
each item in something has to go (easy this year as I dropped nearly 70lbs,
virtually nothing I had fits).
I could pack and move my entire possessions in a day and with the exception of
my computer gear/bike stuff replace everything for under a 1000 quid.
I can't even claim any asceticism or anything for this, I just don't buy stuff
I don't need and get rid of stuff I don't use because if I don't use it why
have to clean around it.
~~~
NovaS1X
>(easy this year as I dropped nearly 70lbs, virtually nothing I had fits).
Good job. That must feel good.
~~~
noir_lord
Dropped the first 60 in 4 months, that didn't feel great, 1500 calories a day
for 4 months got old really fast but yeah physically I feel better than I have
in a long time.
Also according to NHS guidelines as of a few weeks ago I'm no longer even
overweight I'm in the healthy range (not that I entirely trust their crude BMI
stuff) which is a nice place to be.
~~~
whitegrape
Nice. Did you just do it with strict calorie watching or some other diet? My
friend lost his 100lbs in about 5-6 months on Keto, I've used it to lose 50lbs
quickly myself, I think it makes the lower calorie count hard to notice... In
his case he avoided the clothing problem by wearing all his old clothes he's
had in storage boxes for years since they no longer fit.
~~~
noir_lord
Straight calorie counting, had a fancy spreadsheet I logged everything I ate
with calorie counts, it predicted weekly and monthly weight loss plus expected
goal weight date etc (I was out by a week, I hit target early as was averaging
1430 a day not 1500).
The prediction based on 3500 calories equally 1lb of weight loss was
remarkably accurate for me.
I also took supplements since 1500 a day is considered very borderline for a
man and I'm quite big naturally.
Supplemented with cod liver oil, multivitamin, vitamin D and calcium and used
dissolvable fibre drinks (one side effect of not eating a lot is unfortunate).
Breakfast was porridge (plain oats, no salt, sugar or honey), lunch was no fat
cottage cheese with salad, tea was either pork, chicken or fish with steamed
veggies.
Occasionally I'd eat McDonalds if the the junk craving was too strong (because
it has accurate calorie counts).
Drank a lot of water as well, probably 5-6 pints a day plus coffee and diet
energy drinks for pick me ups.
It was actually pretty easy once I got past the first week.
The hard part since has been eating clean and still getting 2500 calories,
it's amazing when you cut out sugar and really high fat stuff how much you
have to eat to get 2500 calories, its the equiv of 2.5kg of regular cottage
cheese!.
Blood pressure went down, insulin response is normal and I feel better
generally than I have done in ten years despite my ongoing medical problems,
you truly are what you eat.
------
grecy
My family has taken to giving "expereiences" rather than "stuff" because we
prefer to live with less stuff.
So we'll get each other cooking classes, surfing lessons, bungee jumping,
skydiving, etc. etc.
~~~
VLM
Birthday Dinner. Either very fancy home cooked, or go out to a very nice
restaurant. Its fun.
~~~
grecy
Home cooked every time - everyone in the kitchen pitching in - best family
time there is!
------
NovaS1X
I feel so close to this guy; I can relate to him so much.
I don't think I've lived in a house for longer than two years in my entire
life. I've lived in different cities, provinces, and even countries. I
naturally keep the amount of "stuff" that I own down to an amount that can be
packed up into one car/truck load. I love the sense of freedom that comes with
being able to pick up and go somewhere else in a day.
I also share the thoughts on gifts. Christmas time a Birthdays I always tell
people to not get me anything and I their gift to me is a good dinner and time
spent with each-other. If they have to get me something then it's the
essentials like clothing or consumables. I like having a small set of core,
quality items such as my clothing, cameras, and laptop/phone. Everything else
is temporary.
Come family time this will change, but for now I'm happy living simply.
------
AstroJetson
We agreed one year of no Christmas Gifts. I brought a $100 bill. Gave it to my
brother who passed it on to my sister who gave it to me, I gave it back to
her, she gave it to my brother and he gave it back to me.
Next work day "Hey for Christmas both my brother and sister gave me $100
each!" So it works out ;-)
I'm like 0xffff2 I have a ton of things that makes house stuff go better like
a ladder, hand tools I like electronics, bench full of parts and different
tools. My partner is a quilter, so tons of fabric fills that space. There are
two shelves with 4 totes of holiday decorations. And so it goes.
I have divested of lots of stuff, like paper books now reside as digital ones
on a file server, a book case of movies and music are now stored on a few TB
drives. We are pretty much devoid of small decorations that need to be dusted.
But unlike the University me that could move to my first few places with all I
owned in my VW bus, the last move took most of a Mayflower truck.
Not sure how all of the things I like to do are going to fit into the Old
Folks Home in a few years.
------
greggman
I do want stuff but ... about 30 months ago I got rid of everything and
started traveling. I've been living out of a large suitcase and backpack for
that entire time, staying at hotels or renting AirBnBs a month at a time.
Because I'm living out of my suitcase I can't buy anything without throwing
something away. I have 2 pairs of shoes, dress and non-dress. When I've gone
to some place tropical I've had to buy sandals and then throw them away when I
get on the next plane because there's no room in my suitcase.
It also means I can't really go shopping. Some of you might think that's a
good thing but many people enjoy shopping while traveling. I'm in a cold place
now. A couple of days ago I spilt something on my one heavy jacket. While it's
in the cleaners I had to buy another which I'll have to discard one way or
another before I get on the next plane.
For me personally yea, I miss having a TV to chill at. I miss video games and
PC games (carrying a mac which few games run on and can't have a console).
Wish I had a desktop PC for higher end graphics. Wish I could play with VR but
can't carry that equipment. (well except for a Google Cardboard)
I'm ready to go back to living somewhere though being un-rooted I'm finding it
extremely hard to decide where I should plant roots again.
~~~
DaveSapien
So much this! I am in the exact position and facing the same issue. For me
going back full time to my homeland and buying a ps4 seems like a good idea,
but I have to keep reminding myself that these comfortable things ultimately
just drag you down and end up owning you. I too will plant roots 'somewhere'
someday, and that to will be an adventure. Good luck in finding your home!
------
ck2
Not wanting "stuff" is a gamble that your present and future is secure and
safe.
Having been homeless at one point, I've become a bit of a hoarder, because you
never know when things will go south and you are one month away from being
homeless (again).
Also we'll see how often you keep erasing things and starting from scratch as
you get older and find that remembering things is a lot harder and takes a lot
longer to rebuild.
Youth can cause foolishness.
~~~
SyneRyder
That's an interesting perspective, as Derek's future is quite secure. He had a
large personal exit from his business CD Baby, and put all the money into a
charitable trust[1] that will be given away when he dies, but in the meantime
pays him a (very) good annual income out of the interest for the rest of his
life.
"Why I gave away my company to charity"
[1] [https://sivers.org/trust](https://sivers.org/trust)
~~~
draw_down
I agree with both of you - this minimalistic getting rid of all your stuff is
an affluent-person thing. That doesn't make it wrong, but it is an important
piece of the background, I think.
This is part of why I wrote in my other comment that we should not conflate
this minimalism stuff with some sort of higher virtue. It's just affluent
people prioritizing a certain type of convenience over other types of
convenience, because they can afford to.
------
colmvp
People have good criticisms about e-readers like the Kindle. It's not great
for technical books. It can be a little laggy and not as sensory compared to
paper books.
That said, the ability to retake space is soooooo worth it. My Kindle has
dozens of books, magazines, and long form articles. Over the long term, I have
saved volumes of physical space and pounds of weight.
While I miss the physical look of having rows of beautiful books decorate a
place, I don't mind having more open space for my psyche and other activities
(music).
~~~
puzzlingcaptcha
I give away physical books I liked to friends, and those that I didn't like to
Books for Amnesty. While you can email someone the .epub, it's not quite the
same. A scribbled dedication will persist longer and be more evocative that an
email too.
Technical books I tend to keep as ebooks on my desktop where I work anyway.
~~~
colmvp
While I have friends who read, they admit they don't read as much as they used
to. So giving books or even games to them often results in an expensive dust
collector.
And while I admire the act of giving books away, either to BoA or one's local
library, I like to go back to my book every once in a while to recall a
specific section that resonated. E-readers allows me to save highlights in the
cloud, where I can go back to find particular interesting tidbits and find the
fuller section if need be. This is helpful complicated concepts that often
require multiple reads over time to sink in.
------
moonlighter
I can very much relate to this; my motto is "you don't own stuff; the stuff
owns you". And every time I've moved, I was amazed at just how much stuff one
(even unwillingly) accumulates, and how liberating it feels to get rid of it.
I also prefer to own just a few high quality and/or useful things over having
a 'ton of crap'.
~~~
majewsky
I've recently started building an actual database of my physical inventory,
and have already found multiple items which I needlessly own twice because
when I bought the second one, I didn't realize I had one already.
~~~
artursapek
That's awesome. You just have a sql database of your physical possessions?
~~~
mbrock
One time I took square photos of all my things and put them in CouchDB with
just a label. It was pretty fun to see an alphabetical list of photos of
nearly everything I owned. Like an RPG inventory.
~~~
solotronics
This is an amazing idea. First thing that comes to mind is a process to
automate labeling like with google images. Is there anything open source that
fits this?
~~~
wayfarer2s
That seems like it would take longer than just manually labeling the things to
begin with, especially with edge cases (what happens when there are 2 items in
the picture? how do you handle mislabeling?).
------
ycmbntrthrwaway
This newsitem reminds me of times whan HN had that news about people traveling
with just a backpack, 100-thing challenge and other minimalism-related news. I
discovered [http://zenhabits.net/](http://zenhabits.net/) and /r/minimalism.
The idea of selecting 1 or 2 Most Important Tasks for the next day really
worked for me, for example.
Anyone care to share some good minimalism-related resources?
------
andrewjl
I grew up in a house with lots of stuff and share Derek's aversion to clutter.
My solution is to aim for quality over quantity.
I think there's still a case for keeping a good set of tools around. For us
software engineers, most tools are virtual with the exception of our computers
and / or writing utensils. I don't view it as any different from someone
mechanically inclined keeping their physical tools around. Same deal with
hiking or camping gear.
I still find it hard to dispose of books. Not so much because I want to keep
the physical book but because the book is a physical manifestation of an idea
I respect and want to keep a physical record of it in my life. (I even own
both physical and electronic versions of some of my favorites to re-read when
traveling.)
~~~
cfallin
Books and tools are my two vices as well.
Books especially -- there's something to be said for the user-interface both
of an individual paper book, and of a whole bookshelf, in terms of ease of
navigation. PDFs allow you to grep but spatial memory is much better suited to
physical things. And I'm much more likely to pick up a paperback from my
bookshelf when I'm looking for something to read than I am to go find a PDF
and sit in front of my laptop/tablet.
And finally I really like the social aspect of physical books. "Hey, we were
just talking about X, and you might like this book!" works way better with
paper than with a PDF.
------
jrs235
My number one wish/want/desire for my birthday (which happens to be today!) is
no gifts. I prefer no one make a big deal either.
One year my parents didn't send me a card or anything. It was soooo sweet!
They finally listened and respected my desire(s). Then I found out they
actually forgot. Which was bittersweet because that's sad to many but awesome
because they made my birthday a non issue.
Anyways, for my birthday... I want to celebrate my parents for giving me the
greatest gift of all, life. I'm ordering flowers for them right now.
Edit: changed "a catch 22" to "bittersweet" and "mother" to "parents".
------
carsongross
I very much appreciate the sentiment, particularly in todays marketing-
saturated environment. However, I can say from personal experience that having
a few nice or meaningful things can lead to some happiness, given the
appropriate relationship with them.
This book has quite a bit of silliness in it (I found it charming, you may
not) but it has been very good for my mental health:
[http://www.amazon.com/The-Life-Changing-Magic-Tidying-
Declut...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Life-Changing-Magic-Tidying-
Decluttering/dp/1607747308)
------
phat4life
this is why when i give gifts, i give something edible, or consumable, like
nice chocolate, wine, coffee, etc, usually something gourmet or something that
the person wouldn't normally buy.
------
SCdF
Fascinating post. Parallel thought: should he be deleting old blog posts to
keep his online collection of things decluttered?
------
draw_down
Getting rid of stuff feels great, but I think we have a cultural thing where
we equate it with some sort of higher virtue. That's a mistake, but sure, get
rid of all your stuff. Like I said, feels great.
------
mhurron
Not having any friends is a really easy way to deal with this.
------
markmontymark
I don't really enjoy getting presents all that much because I've attained a
certain comfort in life. But, it doesn't seem to me that I had to consider
much or stress a lot about where I could donate gifts or items I don't want.
There's Baras Foundation, Goodwill, AmVets, shelters, schools, so so many
people happily ready to receive anything you give them.
Ok, you don't want stuff, but spare me the stress you feel around your
family/others not understanding you. Use your energy in a more friendly and
giving way and maybe you'll find that it's a bonus to receive the chance to
get out in your community, meet and share and give to those that could use a
leg up.
I bet once you cycle back and tell your family and friends about the people
and places and experiences you now have after donating things, they'll
understand. Some will have a hard time with it, but I doubt for long.
I get a bonus item every 5 yrs at my company. Couple years ago received a 60"
TV, took me all of a minute and one email to a local school in need and they
drove over and picked it up.
~~~
philh
I don't like having obligations thrust upon me without my consent. A gift is
an obligation: I need to find a use for it, or at least find somewhere out of
the way to keep it until I can get rid of it.
The way I read your comment, you're trying to replace one obligation with
another (find somewhere to give it away). You're telling me that this absolves
the first obligation ("they'll understand"), and that I'll enjoy the second
one ("it's a bonus to..."). I'm skeptical of both of those things: you don't
know me and you don't know my family and friends. But even if you're right, I
don't want the second obligation.
If I want to get out in the community, I can do that without waiting for
someone to give me a gift I don't want.
(As it happens, in my case, I often like the gift more than I dislike the
obligation. Maintaining an amazon wishlist is helpful for this. But not
everyone is the same, and "spare me" is an unkind reaction to them.)
~~~
markmontymark
You are filled with what emotions when you:
\- donate \- after talking to a friend you realize you have something you
don't want you can give them \- talk to a neighbor and realize you can clear
out space in a garage or house or shed by giving them something \- just throw
something in an alley and someone comes by within the hour and happily loads
it up in a truck for use or selling elsewhere
Sorry if you can't see the positive in the effort expended.
Yes, I should not assume much about you. I am optimistic that people don't
feel WORSE during the act of giving.
~~~
philh
That's not the point. If I want to do good, I can choose to do good. I don't
want someone else choosing how I do good. If those things are positive, if I
feel good about them, then I can do them, whether or not someone has given me
a gift I don't want.
~~~
markmontymark
My "spare me" could really have been summarized as "1st world problems".
Giving stuff away to needy trumps my own personal feelings of "obligated to do
something with a gift given to me". Maybe I over-prioritize in my head about
this kinda thing, but reading OP post about experiencing stress sounds kinda
lame or just words from too young a person.
~~~
philh
"First world problems" is also unkind, you're dismissing someone else's
feelings because you personally don't have the same problem.
The guy started a company in 1998, I'm guessing he's not what you call young.
------
juniorplenty
"So when I receive something in the mail, no matter how thoughtful it is, it
kinda sucks because now I have to figure out how to get rid of it. I feel
really wasteful if I just throw it in the trash, so I have to figure out who
to give it to. Then I feel bad for whoever spent a bunch of money and time to
get and send me something."
Hey Derek - you might find Yerdle a useful outlet for this stuff. It's not
selling for USD (so you don't feel bad,) and it's not donation - you swap
these things that you don't need for YRD (Yerdle Re-use Dollars) and if you
ever do want something you redeem your YRD.
Meanwhile, your unwanted gift goes to someone who actually wants it, and who
either can't afford it, or has simply decided not to participate in a
consumerist economy. The YRD they spend was earned through a similar give. On
Yerdle, our community shops with what they already own, instead of creating
more waste through more consumption.
Anyway - way to commit to decluttering, and try that next time, see if it
feels better...
------
DubiousPusher
I allow myself a single medium size box of sentimental items. If the box
should become full, I select some things to photograph and pass them on
(though that seldom happens.) Everything else I own must be useful. That is
not to say my home is spartan. Art, decor, etc are useful but they must be
employed to that prupose. No stashing such things away for future use.
------
sridca
I have a similar arrangement (live in a furnished apartment, don't own stuff,
etc) except there is no gift problem - as in my culture (India) reunions are
more common than gift-giving.
Example:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_Pongal#Kaanum_Pongal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_Pongal#Kaanum_Pongal)
------
KineticLensman
Perhaps this is a generational thing. When I was much younger, I was also
minimalist. My key possessions were the things I could carry to a new
apartment, plus a massive stash of books at my parent's house.
Nowadays, I have a house myself, and have spent >15 years converting bare
terrain into a garden. I still enjoy travel, but enjoy being grounded in a
space I've created myself. Now, my key possessions are good tools: a beefy rig
for 3D rendering, a pro-quality camera, some essential garden kit including
BBQ, log splitter, leaf blowers, lawn mower, etc and some good general purpose
cooking gear (e.g pans and knives). This is my 'essential' toolkit of stuff.
Ironically, I would now find it much easier to part with the majority of my
physical book collection, since apart from a few nostalgic items (first
hardback edition of The Lord of the Rings, etc) most of this stuff is in the
cloud.
Your mileage may vary, young grasshopper.
------
danans
Like so many things, minimizing "stuff" falls on a spectrum, and your ability
to minimize depends a lot on your status in life (kids, family, wealth). It
seems like what the author is talking about here is stuff that gives you
neither basic utility nor inspiration, but that you have accepted as part of a
social custom that is disconnected from both utility and inspiration.
A beautiful-to-you piece of artwork (or 10) could be worth keeping if provides
you inspiration. A really nice chair or couch, or a plant could do the same,
as do your family heirlooms. These are examples of stuff that it probably is
worth keeping.
Things that do little to nothing to sustain or inspire you, but whose primary
purpose is social status signaling are good candidates for stuff reduction.
------
anuj_nm
My girlfriend lives this philosophy of minimalism, and I try to follow it as
well. She's had to move at least once a year every year for the past 8 years,
and she brings her stuff down to two suitcases each time (with no storage
anywhere else).
I'm not as regular at it as she is, but I go through 'stuff cleansings' about
once a year. I probably have 4 suitcases/boxes, along with some stuff stored
at my parents's place in India.
Living minimally is very freeing. It allows you have to a low maintenance
lifestyle, while giving you a sense of security. On the other hand, getting
into any hobby becomes a trade ofd between buying and maintaining the
equipment, or paying absurd amounts to rent it.
------
suyash
My rule is:
Only keep stuff that gives you a lot of joy or makes you money. Everything
else must go!
Read this book if you want to clean up your junk: The Life-Changing Magic of
Tidying Up - The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo or
atleast watch her talk on YouTube - very inspiring.
------
jarjoura
I looooove purging stuff from my life. I'm about to move again in a couple
months and will sell, donate and throw away pretty much most of my current
possessions.
It's a great freeing feeling, and I'm not one that gets sentimental over
inanimate objects.
------
paddy_m
I feel similarly about wedding registries, for myself emphatically and for
others slightly less. I'm fortunate to have everything material possession
that I want, asking for more seems wrong to me. I feel incredibly grateful,
and couldn't imagine asking anyone, much less people who have less to give
material possessions that I don't need. I don't need them, nor would my
partner, because we have managed to live to this point without them. If it
comes time to register for a wedding, I would only request that donations be
given to select charities. </end rant>
------
NEDM64
I'm not that extreme, but I'm always postponing the day I finally get a trash
bag and fill it with everything I don't want or don't need and put it in the
trash or sell it on eBay/give it to goodwill.
The favorite part of my house, is the micro studio in my apartment where I
keep my electronics stuff (workbench with instruments) and various components
like resistors, transistors, caps, inductors, switches, LEDs, glue logic,
mcu's soldering stuff. Because I arranged it like it should be, with
everything in it's own place.
------
forinti
I really wish we only gave gifts to children and that between adults people
would exchange just edibles (wine, chocolates, or some really nice home baked
bread) if they exchanged anything at all.
------
grownseed
This is something I've written about before, at least indirectly, but I
believe not owning much at all has deep therapeutical value. Until recently, I
was in a very similar situation to the author, I sold and gave away nearly all
of my stuff (an apartment full of it) years ago, to only be left with a
backpack and a suitcase worth of stuff. It was extremely liberating, I didn't
have things to look at making me wonder whether I used them enough or
unfolding years of history associated to it that would burden my mind. By the
time I'd gotten accustomed to this lifestyle, the only thing that mattered to
me was my passport, and only because I wanted to keep travelling. The rest of
my stuff could have been stolen and I would have shrugged at it. After a
while, that made me realize that the problem wasn't so much with the
belongings themselves, but rather the attachment we develop towards things,
sometimes to unhealthy degrees.
My finger in the air theory is, we teach kids to value the things they have,
because as adults we work to pay for most things and we know what it's like to
not be able to afford something, particularly when it comes to providing for
your close ones. Children's concept of money is rather simplistic (or even
non-existent), so I believe the value is more emotionally based (there have
been studies showing that children ascribe human emotions to inanimate things,
among other things). I think this emotional bond with objects remains, to a
certain extent, as we grow older, which would also emphasize the idea of
owning as a social signal (i.e. "that person has many [friends|things]"). The
idea that we should be thankful for the things we have, not the things we
might get, is great in theory, but explaining to a small child that they
should be thankful for their very life is a bit brutal to say the least.
Not completely sure where I'm going with this. I suppose attachment is
something for which you have to both program and de-program yourself to
appreciate without being dependent. But even that is made more complicated as
soon as another person enters the picture (partner, child, etc.). The way I
try to make it work is to offer people tangible signs of affection, such as
cooking a nice meal, playing some music, help out with a problem and so on,
things that can be valued in and of themselves, but that carry little or no
baggage. Likewise, I tend to ask close ones to give me something from
themselves, rather than buy things. As the giver, you get to do something
you're passionate about and share it with the person you care for. As the
receiver, you value the sentiment more profoundly and you learn a little bit
more about the other. Anywho, it works for me, YMMV :)
~~~
chipsy
My mom, and to a lesser extent myself, have some attachment issues to old
stuff. It's not quite like "Hoarders" but it's worse than it has to be, with
lots of books and boxes and boxes of books, shelves buried behind boxes, etc.
Basically, all the stuff we have is a method of remembering the past, and if
you are very sentimental, some of it crosses over into "If I get rid of the
object, I lose the memory". Trashing stuff then becomes difficult because I
have to get past that towards the practical element of "this is just clutter
99% of the time and it impedes my future self", on top of concerns like "I
don't want to just trash it if it has value" which make it 10 times as
difficult to eliminate stuff.
I'm attacking the problem now with a slow-paced weekly streak to clean and
organize things. I don't necessarily throw things out every week, but I do
document what I have and how to categorize it. That way I can make a decision
without having to open a box and bring out the stuff.
------
mstade
Every time I read anything from Derek Sivers, or see him give a talk, I feel
happy and inspired – regardless of whether I agree with what he's actually
saying. I like that.
~~~
sivers
Thanks! That's a wonderful compliment. Email & introduce yourself sometime.
------
lifeformed
I used to do this, but then I started to really get into cooking, which makes
you end up with a ton of stuff! Pots and pans, tools, utensils, appliances,
etc.
~~~
lfowles
Bowls bowls bowls and tiny bowls. I'm sure I could make do with much less in
the kitchen but that wouldn't be very satisfying to the functional programmer
in me.
------
UncleSam
I grew up with my parents getting us lots of gifts for Christmas and
birthdays, but now I realize that I don't enjoy that. I much prefer that they
don't send us lots of small gifts that I will have to find a 'spot' for in the
house. I understand how someone can choose to live a very minimalist life. I'm
not there yet, but I'm working my way towards having less stuff.
------
mathattack
I agree. My brother keeps wanting to send massive toys for our kids, and we
have to finesse out of it. "We have a small space..."
~~~
nkrisc
This is one of my biggest anticipated headaches for when we have kids. One of
the hypothetical future grandparents likes to spoil...
~~~
mathattack
Just have the kids, and don't let them catch you throwing out their old
artwork from school.
------
AndrewKemendo
Our family has taken this philosophy as well and you wouldn't believe the
animosity we have gotten from it. People calling us selfish for asking for no
gifts, or getting upset when we get rid of the stuff they do send even after
we asked them not to send anything.
Quite baffling till you understand that giving gifts is the only way some
people know how to express themselves.
------
BinaryResult
My daughter just had a birthday and we got a "Frozen" themed waffle maker.
It's tiny, cheap, ugly and we already have a waffle maker. Now I have to
figure out what to do with it because it's brand new in the box. Unfortunately
every day that passes increases the likelihood that it just ends up in the
garbage =P
~~~
whitegrape
Sounds like it's more for your daughter to experiment with cooking waffles on
than to be of practical use? Kind of like an easy-bake-oven. Though if I had a
kid I'd just encourage them to use the full appliances to start with. ;)
Hopefully you'll take it to Goodwill/equivalent instead. Maybe it'll end up in
a landfill after that, but I always feel like I should give people a shot at
finding my junk to be their treasure.
------
fs111
I don't get it. His website says he reads quite a few books. Why can't he just
create an amazon wishlist full of books he wants to read and refer to that?
Problem solved. Nobody likes getting random stuff, but getting things you
would have gotten yourself anyway is not a problem, I'd argue.
~~~
obsurveyor
I assume he reads digital books based on his uncluttered nature and gifting
Kindle books is a pain because you can't schedule when it's delivered or
create a redemption code. It's just immediately sent to that person's Kindle
library.
~~~
fs111
fair, but not all books exist in kindle form.
------
hack_mmmm
"Living minimalistic" \- life connects you more to the present. In the end,
this is what matters most. But having memories makes us more empathetic by
virtue of emotions. If you know yourself and connect with humanity no matter
what, then living minimalistic could be great! Otherwise not!
------
msluyter
Related, the notion of "peak stuff:"
[http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/31/consume...](http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/31/consumerism-
reached-peak-stuff-search-for-happiness)
------
collinmanderson
After reading this article, I had the thought to view the html source. I
wasn't disappointed. :) Very clean and minimal. Very little html, very little
css, very little javascript.
------
waynecochran
In grad school I could fit everything I owned into my small pickup. Now that I
am married w/ 3 kids, it would take a semi truck to move. I long for those
simpler days. sigh.
~~~
magic_beans
It's not like someone forced you to marry and have three kids ;)
------
jrs235
It's my birthday today. This is the gift I would like: The gift of not having
to expend energy over the issue of gifts and social reactions to them. Thank
you.
~~~
gknoy
Happy birthday! Best of all, since it's not my birthday you don't have to
worry about reciprocation! :D
------
seansmccullough
Best thing about not having a lot of stuff (if you live alone) - studio
apartments. Easier to clean, lower rent/utilities, and easy to move whenever
you want.
------
RikNieu
Well, I certainly want stuff for my birthday. But only chocolate stuff. All
the chocolate I can stuff in my belly.
------
xyzzy4
The last time before I moved, I took a bunch of perfectly good furniture and
other stuff I didn't want anymore and put it on my street corner. Within a
day, it was gone. There was low income housing nearby so maybe one of those
people took it.
~~~
bstamour
You don't need to be low-income to appreciate free, perfectly good stuff.
------
mdni007
If you don't want it send it to me.
------
mattbettinson
I like when people buy me nice film.
------
swah
Acquire stuff, give unwanted stuff to people who want it.. its really not that
hard.
------
jmzbond
Love this discussion! I’m currently running Last Minute Gear:
www.lastmingear.com which rents outdoors gear for camping/ snowsports in the
San Francisco Bay Area. Before that though, the concept was called
www.projectborrow.com, very much borrowing!
I want to address why there aren’t “successful” startups here in my experience
and my outlook on the future. The 2 dominant forces governing buy vs not-buy
behavior for anyone are price & convenience. For example, if a tent costs $200
to buy and $100 to rent, you’re obviously going to buy it, since as long as
you get 2 uses out of that tent, it’s financially more worthwhile to buy. If a
tent costs $200 to buy and $1 to rent, you’re obviously never going to buy it
since you’ll probably never camp 200 times in your life.
In the real world, though, the rental price is fixed and retail prices move.
Let’s say the rental price is $20. A nice tent is $200 and a crappy tent is
$40. If you’re like most people, you’re going to decide to buy the $40 tent,
reasoning that as long as you get 2 uses out of it, you win.
But this is actually very irrational, because it doesn’t account for the fact
that: \- that crappy tent may break your 1st trip \- even if not, you’d have
to make sure you maintain it well enough such that it’s still usable the 2nd
trip (i.e., did you know storing a wet tent can lead to mildew growth?) \- and
the psychological/ spatial burden cited elsewhere in this discussion
$40 may be too much of a low ball, but the reasoning above is why people
persistently choose to buy instead of rent even though rationally, renting is
almost always better. It’s irrational, but such is the amazing magnetic power
of the low price. (Should prices be so low in the first place, aka should a
bag of chips be cheaper than a bag of carrots, is a-whole-nother debate!)
Borrowing is just like renting, except that the cost is the value of your time
in finding a lender and sorting out all the logistics. This has its own set of
complications, because what I found is that different people place different
premiums on non-monetary values (aka convenience). In other words, some people
would rather pay a taxi back and forth $40 to get a tent for free, while
others would rather rent a tent at a store for $40. Same cash outflow, but
vastly different user beliefs about which is more “worth it.” Here’s an
extreme example: if I told you that the building you lived in would stock a
mini “toolbox” on every floor so residents could share things like drills, and
the building would cover all costs, you can bet that plenty of people are
still going to buy their own things. Your closet is 10 feet closer, and
therefore, to some people, a million bucks more worth it. (Consider the
startup service provider Alfred.)
Because people are so different in how they perceive the value of not buying,
I think it’s improbable to have a product that works for even 50% of the
market. In fact, I’d venture that stuff-sharing startups will continue, but
you’ll see a lot of smaller players rather than large. But that of course
limits investment, which further limits the appeal of this space.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Indie short film shot in Japan which looks like a big Hollywood movie - mirceagoia
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1261313080/dust-0
======
epikur
It appears you guys are getting pretty close to your deadline and your goal. I
wonder, if you get closer to May 6 and still have a funding gap, if you could
could just put a $10k charge on your credit card, and then immediately pay it
off after you receive the funds from Kickstarter.
------
mirceagoia
The teaser is here: <http://vimeo.com/39011756>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Best way to do a coding exercise for a phone screen? - chollida1
I'm conducting phone screens for candidates. Let's assume for now two things:<p>1) We want to do a phone screen before onsite interviews and<p>2) we want to have the candidates do a simple coding exercise as part of the phone screen.<p>As part of our phone screen we make all candidates do a simple coding exercise during the interview. It's at the fizbuzz and Steve Yegge phone screen blog post level. ie one of....<p>- Write a function to reverse a string.<p>- Write a function to compute the Nth fibonacci number.<p>- Print out the grade-school multiplication table up to 12 x 12.<p>- Find the largest int value in an int array.<p>We do this as we've had people who we've brought in for onsite interviews that couldn't code at all.<p>My question is what should we be using for phone screen coding exercises?<p>Currently I'm using a shared google doc as the coding platform. This allows me to see the user code and help him/her along the way if they get stuck on something.<p>What else could we be using here?<p>I'm currently against giving the user "homework" but I'm willing to be swayed if someone can come up with a convincing reason...<p>Is there a better way to determine basic coding ability during a phone screen?
======
karterk
Hi Chris,
Try out Codassium ([http://codassium.com/](http://codassium.com/)), which is
built exactly for this use case. Disclaimer: I helped build it.
Google Docs is just too painful for both the candidate and the interviewer.
You might also want to consider using Interview Street, if all you want to do
is to eliminate people who don't know how to code without spending too much
time on the phone.
------
meowface
Personally I don't see the problem with using Google Docs for this, especially
since they're just writing one function that should be pretty simple for any
programmer to write.
It handles tabs decently enough, lets you see what they type live, and is
familiar to most people.
~~~
bendmorris
Unfortunately it defaults to smart quotes so copying and pasting from the doc
into a REPL is impossible.
------
bmm6o
Does it have to be just a phone call? Can you do some kind of screen sharing
with Hangouts/Skype/etc?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
THE VOID - donbox
https://thevoid.com/
======
donbox
Concept video : [https://youtu.be/cML814JD09g](https://youtu.be/cML814JD09g)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Amazon Is a Monopoly - juokaz
https://www.marketplacepulse.com/articles/amazon-is-a-monopoly-an-interview-with-sally-hubbard
======
blairanderson
I run a consulting company for Amazon suppliers. We have roughly 2-dozen
Amazon suppliers and our first-hand experience is that Amazon is absolutely
stifling competition/business to the detriment of customer.
The biggest problem is `agreements that restrain trade` is a monopoly practice
that happens across the board. They're a black box AND have tiny support
systems for their marketplace.
One recent example. A client was on track to be selling $X-million this year
of some appliances. Our client was forced to to stop selling because of trump
tariffs. Amazon won't accept a "higher price" from our little company that
only sells $Xm/year. I guarantee they're talking everyday to the teams at
frigidaire/honeywell/GE/etc.
If their systems would transparent this wouldn't be a problem but their
algorithms have blackbox variables for the big brands.
~~~
scarface74
People have been complaining about basically the same thing with respect to
Walmart for decades.
~~~
dylan604
Exactly this. I've worked for a company where Walmart was the largest retailer
for their product (DVDs). They were constantly being beat up to lower their
wholesale prices while also demanding a separate SKU with edited content.
Amazon is no different in this case (except not demanding edited content).
Whenever I asked about this, they said you still had to provide product for
sale wherever the customers were. The large retailers all want you to believe
that you can make up for the lower price in vast quantities their store front
provides.
~~~
Findeton
Yeah, there's nothing inherently bad about monopolies. The problem only arises
when monopolies are forced into people by the government. Instead, people
choose Amazon on their own.
~~~
alexgmcm
But Telecoms and the old Robber Barons had monopolies without government
forcing people.
I mean there are areas where peoples only choice of ISP is Comcast and equally
the Government wasn't forcing people to buy Standard Oil.
Any monopoly is bad because it allows them to ignore consumers as there is no
competition.
~~~
ernst_klim
> But Telecoms and the old Robber Barons had monopolies without government
> forcing people.
Telecoms were totally built by govs. Back in the days govs were obsessed with
controlling the means of communication, so all the related biz was due to the
monopoly right.
> AT&T established a network of subsidiaries in the United States and Canada
> that held a government-authorized phone service monopoly, formalized with
> the Kingsbury Commitment, throughout most of the twentieth century.
> With $18.8 million spent in 2013, Comcast has the seventh largest lobbying
> budget of any individual company or organization in the United States.[62]
> Comcast employs multiple former U.S. Congressmen as lobbyists.
Sure, nothing to do with the government. Go ahead, try to bypass FCC and
establish a new telecom company. It's literally pushed by the gov, as in any
heavily regulated domain with patents and other monopoly rights.
As for robber barons, that's mostly an antitrust myth to scare people
> After 1900 it did not try to force competitors out of business by
> underpricing them.[37] The federal Commissioner of Corporations studied
> Standard's operations from the period of 1904 to 1906[38] and concluded that
> "beyond question ... the dominant position of the Standard Oil Co. in the
> refining industry was due to unfair practices—to abuse of the control of
> pipe-lines, to railroad discriminations, and to unfair methods of
> competition in the sale of the refined petroleum products".[39] Due to
> competition from other firms, their market share had gradually eroded to 70
> percent by 1906 which was the year when the antitrust case was filed against
> Standard, and down to 64 percent by 1911 when Standard was ordered broken
> up[40] and at least 147 refining companies were competing with Standard
> including Gulf, Texaco, and Shell.
~~~
skinnymuch
But everyone does lobbying. Singling our Comcast like that is weird to prove a
point of government and telecoms. Even if they are in the top 10.
~~~
ernst_klim
>But everyone does lobbying.
What? Your local Cafe does lobbying? Only magacorps do that, and yes, they use
it to protect themselves from competition.
And no, protecting yourself from competition using lobbying, monopoly rights,
patents, regulations means exactly this: big biz uses government to ensure its
monopoly/oligopoly, aka governments creating monopolies.
>Comcast like that is weird to prove a point of government and telecoms
Comcast is using government to ensure its marketshare is not an example of
government forcing people to use the service?
It exactly is IMHO.
~~~
skinnymuch
It’s disingenuous to do faux ignorance by acting like you don’t know what I
roughly meant when I said everyone. You know I wasn’t talking about your local
cafe. Or even a $10M/year company.
~~~
ernst_klim
> It’s disingenuous to do faux ignorance by acting like you don’t know what I
> roughly meant when I said everyone. You know I wasn’t talking about your
> local cafe. Or even a $10M/year company.
Then articulate your point more clearly.
Sure, many the American megacorps are using the government for their own sake.
That's exactly proving why US is such a crony state, where big corps are
protected from competition by a huge apparatus of bureaucracy.
What's your point? If they use the government it's not the government's fault?
Government is literally a mean of establishing oligopolies and shifting the
bargaining balance from people to corporations.
~~~
coliveira
You point is moot because there is no capitalist society where big companies
will not interfere with government. If government is too big, they will lobby
the government. If government is too small/inexistent, they will run
monopolies by direct financial control and other "standard" practices: buying
out competitors, collusion, threats of violence.
~~~
ernst_klim
> buying out competitors, collusion, threats of violence.
You can't buy a competitor if he don't want to be sold. Neither can you threat
somebody with violence if the government does its job. I don't even comprehend
how the absence of interventionism presume allowance of such violent measures.
Don't confuse violence with "non-competitive practices". The latter are seldom
harmful, or at the very least much less harmful than those leveraged by the
allowance of interventions.
~~~
skinnymuch
I gave the Diapers.com parent company example elsewhere. They were doomed with
Amazon’s relentless price cutting and marketing. Either they sell or they’ll
become worthless. You can say they have a choice, but did they really? I don’t
think they did.
~~~
ernst_klim
> They were doomed with Amazon’s relentless price cutting and marketing.
> Either they sell or they’ll become worthless. You can say they have a
> choice, but did they really?
So they've provided a worse service? I'm fine with it, if it means lower
prices.
Of course they had a choice. And not only "to sell or become worthless", but
also invent or innovate, as Amazon did, when it swallowed a huge chunk of
Walmart's pie.
I don't know if Amazon is good or bad, neither myself nor anybody around ever
used it, but if its service would not be good enough, any competitor could
easily use it to conquer the market (as Amazon itself did), until Amazon would
protect itself via regulatory capture.
------
turc1656
Solid interview. But one thing I saw that was missing was that Amazon also
doesn't charge itself the 15% marketplace fee (it varies slightly depending on
category but most are 15%) that it charges 3rd party sellers. Since Amazon
directly sells tens of millions of items, it had at least a 15% head start on
every single one of those products in terms of price competition. Since we're
talking retail here, the margins on most items don't exceed 15% in many cases.
The fact that they have been allowed to charge 3rd party sellers this fee
while not facing it themselves or being forced to stop selling products at all
if they are going to run the marketplace is mind-boggling to me.
At the previous company I worked for, they were very careful about this issue.
It was a fintech company that had 20+ different lines of business/revenue. Due
to the nature of the fintech space, certain business units wanted
information/data/services from the other divisions. For example, the index and
ETF team wanted corporate actions data from the team that monitored all
corporate actions globally and delivered it via a standardized feed. The ETF
and index teams were forced to take money from their budget and actually buy
the service from the other team to avoid legal issues. They knew that if other
ETF and index providers found out _they_ had to pay for the product but our
internal team got everything for free and could then undercut them and charge
less for the ETF and index products, I guaran-fucking-tee you they would have
sued us. Every division in the company was financially separated for _exactly_
this reason. There should be some sort of class-action lawsuit on this basis
from all sellers against Amazon, in my opinion. Amazon should be forced to
separate that business that actually sells its own products into a new legal
entity and have to pay the fees.
~~~
metalliqaz
Amazon doesn't have to pay the 15%, but they DO have to pay for the massive
web infrastructure of their retail storefront and for the massive order
fulfillment infrastructure.
~~~
tk75x
That's what the 15% fee is for. I can envision splitting up amazon into its
retail, web, and logistics branches where the retail branch pays the logistics
branch the 15% fee to use their network.
~~~
thirdsun
I don't think it's the government's job the dictate the structure of a
company, which, frankly, isn't anywhere near monopoly status in my opinion. I
can order most products from countless other stores, which allows me to easily
avoid Amazon if I wanted to.
------
Arrezz
How we actually define a company to be a monopoly seems to be somewhat
arbitrary? I agree that Amazon engages in anticompetitive behaviour but I'm
not sure that it can control prices or exclude competition to that extent? I
mean every company can affect that, at what point does it become problematic?
~~~
Alupis
> I'm not sure that it can control prices
Amazon very often competes directly with sellers on the Marketplace, and often
undercuts them on price.
There are products they sell below the purchase cost, sometimes below
manufacturing cost. You can't compete with that unless you have piles of money
to burn.
They sell at a loss until they shake everyone loose from a product, then
dominate all sales of that products on the Marketplace, raising prices to
profitability when they feel like it.
Don't forget they get all product sales information and statistics from every
seller on the Marketplace - basically all the market research necessary to
pick only "winner" products to sell. Then, when they feel like it, they
require sellers to produce original invoices proving purchase of the items.
These invoices conveniently contain all necessary information for Amazon to
start buying the items directly themselves so that they can sell the item at a
loss until you can't compete anymore, leaving Amazon as the sole source for
the product.
Wanna be part of Vendor Central - selling directly to Amazon? They dictate the
pricing and strong-arm you into selling exclusively to them in many cases.
There is no negotiation - there is no adjusting pricing based on quantity
ordered. And as much as people might want to think Amazon just buys enough
quantity to get what they want - they don't. They just tell you what it will
be.
> or exclude competition to that extent?
They can ban you from their Marketplace (the largest consumer Marketplace in
the world) at will, with little to zero recourse on your part, via an opaque
"Seller Performance" team that only responds to email, sometimes, and provides
vague responses to what policies you might have broken.
That is, if you somehow get the eye of the Seller Performance team upon you.
The reasons they go after certain sellers and leave others alone are as
mysterious as the team behind the decisions.
~~~
mikeash
So don’t sell on Amazon. There are tons of other options. Amazon is merely the
largest, not the only.
~~~
Alupis
Is that really still an option the bigger Amazon gets?
At what point is it a defacto monopoly? A huge share of people shop
exclusively on Amazon, particularly when compared to 10 years ago. There's no
sign it'll stop growing any time soon.
Choosing not to, or being prohibited from selling on Amazon effectively blocks
you out of a significant share of ecommerce sales. There's no way around that.
~~~
arkh
> A huge share of people shop exclusively on Amazon
People should ask why. Is it the prices? No. Is it the discoverability? No.
It's because when you have a problem with whatever you bought you get
reimbursed. No "call Samsung hotline", no "we'll add this totally not free
warranty package in your cart".
~~~
dwyerm
Agreed. The prices are meh. The discoverability is terrible and seemingly
getting worse. I even feel like the customer service is also screaming
downhill. Still, I'm nearly exclusive with Amazon because I give them money
and they send me product, and there's _no_ friction in that exchange.
Consider for comparison my recent experience purchasing a wedding gift from
Bed Bath and Beyond. They had done everything right to capture my purchase:
They hosted the wedding registry, kept the new couple's address hidden, and by
not allowing me to select "I'm buying this somewhere else" made it difficult
for me to get the item cheaper from another retailer.
Despite all of that, I still abandoned the cart and came back to Amazon. BB&B
requires Verified By Visa, and I require my credit card provider to not be
stupid about security, so my card was declined with no recourse.
Mind you, Amazon has declined my payment before, too. But they only did it
once, more-than paid for their mistake, and haven't troubled me since.
Amazon is a monopoly like Visa and Mastercard are monopolies. They enrich
themselves while facilitating commerce. While I'm uncomfortable with that
power they hold, I wouldn't want to be without it.
------
tim333
It's not a monopoly under the dictionary definition:
>the exclusive possession or control of the supply of or trade in a commodity
or service.
It is maybe under the Sherman Act:
>“Monopoly power” is generally understood to mean “the power to control prices
or exclude competition”.
I wish when people use words in a different way to the dictionary meaning
they'd say so. Otherwise it leads to a whole lot of pointless "Oh yes it is"
vs "oh no it isn't" in discussion.
~~~
wry_discontent
I find that there's a huge amount of discussion that basically amounts to
definitional disagreements. I'll cede definitions like "monopoly" for the sake
of a discussion and continue to use them otherwise.
The trouble is those are uninteresting questions. "Is Amazon a monopoly?"
immediately takes the more interesting discussion "what should we do about the
size of Amazon" off the table and leaves us to bicker about what words mean.
We likely won't reach an agreement about what officially constitutes a
monopoly, but we can reason about what we should do in the future.
~~~
zinclozenge
Most likely nothing will happen with respect to these large companies because
generally speaking prosecution only happens when the company's status as a
monopoly negatively affects the consumer (allegedly). The criteria is usually
price of goods/services. It's possible this might include things like privacy
violations or data mishandling in the future, but I doubt it.
There's a DoJ memo, or something similar, that spurred this recent-ish change
in policy but i can't seem to find it.
------
IloveHN84
Well, years ago, when Amazon wasn't a monopoly, who had the choice to make it
one?
The final user.
Personally, I've never used Amazon before seeing a friend ordering a fairly
huge amount of stuff from there. Prior to that, I was a not-so-obsessed-from-
ecommerce eBay user, where I placed an order maybe every 4-5 months. I've
started using Amazon because of its returning policy, which is better that
eBay's, but by doing so, i've also increased the amount of stuff bought on the
platform, because of time. Getting older and having more responsibilities,
you've to save some time, then Amazon comes to rescue when it comes to generic
stuff.
I guess now it's really late to blame Amazon for the monopoly, as well as
Microsoft did in 90s with PCs and Google is doing nowadays with
Android+Chrome.
Sure, there are alternatives, but the final decision on who gets the monopoly
is the user
~~~
mrtksn
Aren't they playing really nice and even operating at loss until they become a
monopoly? It's not really a choice if a company is giving you free stuff.
Probably it's the same idea with Uber: We can have really nice rides at good
prices because rich people are co-paying our rides. When it's only Uber out
there, they can start testing our patience while maximising the profits.
Amazon and Uber are not really selling some high margin tech products, their
core innovations are not in the product but the business operations and
strategies.
~~~
dodobirdlord
> Aren't they playing really nice and even operating at loss until they become
> a monopoly?
No, they aren't. They publish their financial statement every quarter.
Generally their revenue is very close to their expenses. Given that, it's
impossible that "operating at loss" is an accurate characterization of their
business strategy. Jeff Bezos has a saying; "Your margin is my opportunity."
It lays out pretty clearly what Amazon's actual business strategy is, and it
lines up well with their financial statements. Target a very small profit
margin, move into every possible market by accepting a lower profit margin
than incumbents, make money by leveraging scale and network effects to drive
down costs in ways that other businesses can't replicate.
~~~
mrtksn
What I meant was pre-monopoly. The times when a company is constantly loosing
money, like Uber.
Anyway, what happens when there are no competitors because the margins are too
slim to be profitable without being at Amazon scale? If they are not a charity
these margins will get fattier as much as their hearts desires. Their
potential competitors won't be able to say "your fat margins are my
opportunity" because Amazon will be able to do all kinds of anti-competative
things.
Thanks god we have laws that keeps monopolies in check but sometimes these
laws can move quite slowly and the damage may not be possbible to repair. Like
with the case with Mocrosoft and Google.
~~~
dodobirdlord
> Anyway, what happens when there are no competitors because the margins are
> too slim to be profitable without being at Amazon scale? If they are not a
> charity these margins will get fattier as much as their hearts desires.
If Amazon significantly raises their prices, then suddenly their prices aren't
particularly hard to compete against.
> Amazon will be able to do all kinds of anti-competative things
I think we can cross this bridge when Amazon starts doing anti-competitive
things.
------
indopedia
She forgets that the Amazon marketplace is made up of sellers and the prices
aren't controlled by Amazon for a lot of their products. These are inherited
from the distributor in most cases. Sure Amazon fulfills the orders but it's
not like Walmart that controls the entire process. There is more freedom in
Amazon.
Anyways, this is just the hip thing of today. How about making a service
better than Amazon? No that's impossible?? Well you can bet there are a
million people trying right now so there are and will be plenty more
alternatives.
~~~
youeseh
> Anyways, this is just the hip thing of today
Observing that Amazon may be monopolizing isn't a new observation.
When they began competing against their vendors is when they crossed the line,
in my opinion. The same goes for any marketplace. It is one thing to provide
your vendors the tools and information they need to operate better, but then
to act on that information yourself - the operator of the marketplace - that
is pretty shady.
~~~
kevinsundar
Yes but EVERY retailer does this. Every single store brand product you see
(Costco, Target, Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, etc.) is a result of this. Cheaper
products that meet the same demand as brand name vendor goods.
In fact customers are already trained for this. I walk into a store and I
immediately price compare against the store brand. So if people doing the same
on Amazon, why shouldn't Amazon be allowed to fulfill that? This was a thing
in retailers a long time before Amazon started doing it.
If you look around in retail stores today its easy to see how everyone strong
arms vendors just the same. For example, ever notice that all of Target's pen
section all have a certain color and text printed on the bottom of their
packaging indicating the type of pen (Gel, ballpoint, etc)? Target has forced
every single vendor (massive companies like Bic, Sharpie, etc.) that sells
writing implements in Target to change their packaging, create new SKUs, do
different production runs, and handle the logistics of different versions of
the same pen. All to be undercut in price by the Target brand pen.
~~~
__jal
> why shouldn't Amazon be allowed
Antitrust law used to address this. Monopolies are not allowed to do things
that non-monopolies are allowed to do, because the effects of monopolies doing
them are different than the effects of non-monopolies doing it.
Of course, Bork rewrote monopoly policy in a way that opens the door to
exactly the sort of monopolies we now have. But it isn't as if this is some
new notion invented because people hate Amazon; it used to be the rule.
~~~
kevinsundar
Monopolies weren't allowed to do things that non-monopolies are allowed to do
because they would have an outsized ability to harm consumers as a monopoly.
But Amazon has repeatedly shown that it isn't harming consumers. In fact, it's
pushed other retailers to better the customer experience or go out of
business. Should a company be split up just because it's doing its customers
good and got too big because... they're doing their customers good and people
like that and want to give them their money?
~~~
__jal
That is a reasonable restatement of parts of the Bork doctrine, yes.
Suffice to say this is a recent legal innovation, and many, many people
believe ignoring other monopoly effects is myopic.
~~~
kevinsundar
Agreed. It basically comes down to if you agree with his viewpoints on M&A and
monopolies. Looks like thats where we differ :)
------
higherkinded
No it's not, and you still have a burden of a proof on your shoulders. It
probably is, indeed, kept up by some degree of anti-competitive practices but
it's still not a monopoly but a member of what you call oligopoly, providing a
lot of cheap stuff in every of its areas of competition.
I'd like to point out as well that sanctions (not necessarily well-deserved)
against Amazon will just destroy some workplaces, mostly lower-qualified ones,
which will cause quite a bit of a problem.
~~~
daveFNbuck
The interviewee didn't define monopoly by anti-competitive behavior.
> Is Amazon a monopoly?
> Yes, monopoly power is defined as the power to control prices or exclude
> competition. Amazon has the power to do both. But being a monopoly on its
> own is not illegal under the antitrust laws. Illegal monopolization requires
> both 1) monopoly power and 2) that the firm acquired, enhanced, or
> maintained that power by using exclusionary conduct.
~~~
AnthonyMouse
> Amazon has the power to do both.
No they don't.
If Amazon significantly raises prices it charges customers, or lowers prices
it pays suppliers, to above/below what Walmart or a hundred others do, are the
customers and suppliers going to stay with them? No. When they don't put you
in their store, can they also prevent you from reaching the same customers
through any other store? No.
The fact that they can choose not to buy from you, or won't pay more than a
given price, doesn't make them a monopoly. Anybody can do that. The mom and
pop coffee shop on the same corner with six other mom and pop coffee shops, a
Dunken Donuts and two Starbucks can do that. But the fact that they won't do
business with you doesn't mean you can't sell your goods for a similar price
to the same end customers through a hundred competitors, which is why they're
not a monopoly.
~~~
headsoup
You appear to be only referring to the retail side of Amazon, not the platform
side where the article mentions Amazon has numerous restrictive practices in
place and set the price through these by excluding competition and competing
through their own retail lines, regardless of other (uncompetitive) options
~~~
cryptica
Amazon could drive companies within entire product sectors to bankruptcy
simply by lowering the price of that product category on Amazon. The problem
is that they can afford to do this in a sustainable way because they have so
many other product lines.
When other big chains like Walmart do similar things, it does not have the
same effect because people don't go to Walmart to buy just one item. Amazon is
different; if they lower the price of an item, consumers react quickly and
that can put other websites which specialize in that item out of business.
Then when all major competitors within the item category are out of business,
Amazon can increase the price to any amount it wants and use the extra
proceeds to continue the process with different item categories.
~~~
AnthonyMouse
> Amazon could drive companies within entire product sectors to bankruptcy
> simply by lowering the price of that product category on Amazon. The problem
> is that they can afford to do this in a sustainable way because they have so
> many other product lines.
Selling below cost can be illegal dumping. But do you have any evidence that
they're actually doing that, rather than them merely negotiating a better
price for it than you and then selling it with thin (rather than negative)
margins?
> Then when all major competitors within the item category are out of
> business, Amazon can increase the price to any amount it wants
Notice that this only works if nobody is willing to reenter the market when
the price increases, which is rarely the case. Otherwise they have to maintain
the lower prices forever.
------
stcredzero
_being a monopoly on its own is not illegal under the antitrust laws. Illegal
monopolization requires both 1) monopoly power and 2) that the firm acquired,
enhanced, or maintained that power by using exclusionary conduct._
_Exclusionary conduct includes things like predatory pricing, exclusive
agreements, refusing to deal with a company, most-favored nation clauses,
designing your product or service in a way that excludes competition, and more
types of anticompetitive behavior._
How is the above different from "having a moat?" Isn't any company that starts
and maintains a curated "ecosystem" engaging in some of these behaviors? Isn't
Apple guilty of refusing to deal with certain companies and designing their
product or service in a way that excludes competition? For that matter, aren't
most of the tech giants?
~~~
DenisM
A company that has a monopoly has to follow more rules than other companies
because it can do more damage. Certain kind of moat-building is severely
restricted for them, such as exclusive contracts or deliberate technology
lock-in, while other methods are still legal, such as brand recognition or a
rich partner ecosystem or simply a superior product.
>Apple guilty of refusing to deal with certain companies
Apple does not have anywhere near a monopoly in any of the markets they are in
[+], hence the anti-trust rules do not apply to them. By contrast these rules
do apply to Microsoft and Google, for example.
[+] in the eyes of the law monopoly means control of a market, and market is
comprised of interchangeable goods. In this case iPhones and Androids are
interchangeable - a consumer is free to buy a Samsung or an Apple phone and
neither company is running the risk of excluding the other. Hence the consumer
is in no danger of being deprived of choice, and there is no monopoly.
~~~
stcredzero
_Apple does not have anywhere near a monopoly in any of the markets they are
in [+], hence the anti-trust rules do not apply to them._
Having a "moat:" All of the benefits of being a Monopoly, with none of the
penalties!
------
mikeash
I wish this elaborated more on how Amazon is a monopoly. The interviewee
defines it as having the power to set prices and exclude competition. I don’t
see either of those happening. There’s a ton of competition, more than enough
to severely limit their ability to set prices.
~~~
scoofy
You're looking at it as the customer being the people buying things off of
amazon. They are in a sense, but not the sense that is important here.
The the sellers on amazon are customers of their marketplace. Much like
Colgate and Crest might fight over ideal shelf space in a supermarket (and be
changed accordingly by the market), the sellers on amazon must pay the price
to be on amazon. Amazon has the power to set prices of appearing in their
marketplace, where, and for what keywords. Amazon is also now selling their
own merchandise on those same (digital) shelves. There are few alternatives to
amazon for online retailers. So, to reach customers, many retailers must use
amazon, despite the rent-collection they do. The next marketplace for online
retail is walmart.com, which, and lets be honest, when was the last time any
of us went to walmart.com...
~~~
mikeash
There are plenty of alternatives to Amazon for sellers too. None of them are
as big, but they are there.
If Amazon has the power to set prices, why are their prices the same as
everyone else’s?
~~~
scoofy
We don't see the price to use amazon to sell things. We only see the retail
price. A marketplace can be using monopolistic-pricing to capture returns from
the retailer.
------
nickik
No it is not. Unless you can't buy basically the same stuff from lots of other
places this is simple the usual whining about 'big cooperations'.
The reality is that amazon overs good prices and people like to shop there.
And yes, suppliers are gone complain, that amazon is evil, just like suppliers
complain that walmarket is evil, just as suppliers always claim whatever
larger reseller they sell to is a evil monopoly.
The definition of a monopoly in economics is if that seller can essentially
employ monopoly pricing, but amazon prices are not incredible higher compared
to the competition.
~~~
dominicr
What you're referring to is a 'pure' monopoly, which are relatively rare (but
still common enough).
The wider use of definition in economics is a company that dominates a market
to the extent that is has control over the market. For example, when suppliers
have little actual choice in dealing with the company.
Higher prices are not necessarily a product of a monopoly and are not needed
to define one.
~~~
nickik
Its actually now standard in anti-trust law now that you actually have to show
significant consumer harm. Richard Posner writting has this made the standard
in Anti-Trust.
In the past it was just politics and any big company could get hit with anti-
trust. Presidents routinly used anti-trust to go after their political
enemies.
And if you don't use this 'pure' definition you are essentially just saying
'this is a big company'. Every single large company would be a 'monopoly' by
those definition.
~~~
dominicr
The comment I was replying to was referring to the word's definition in
economics, not the current legal standards of specific countries.
------
acover
As governments seem slow to action, would coordinating consumers shopping help
combat the monopoly power of some industry? For example, having an app that
notifies you to try and buy from a competitor like walmart for a few days to
pressure amazon into bargaining?
~~~
kevinsundar
And why would consumers coordinate against a company that is benefiting them
with lower prices, great customer service, and insanely fast shipping now (I
live in a small town of 40,000 - 3 hours from any major metropolis and get 1
day shipping)? Honestly I'm pretty impressed how such a massive company still
seems to do a majority of their customers good, without even making them pay
more. I'd say most of the people I know who use amazon are pretty happy with
the service they are getting. To the average consumer whose looking out for
their own personal bottom line, whats the benefit of coordinating against
them?
~~~
acover
There wouldn't be! However, if your assumptions that consumers are all happy
with amazon are incorrect and there are things they would like changed at
amazon then there would be an advantage to collective bargaining to combat
amazon's monopoly power.
Also, such collective bargaining could be used to bargain with companies other
than amazon.
~~~
kevinsundar
Fair point. I'm not saying that all consumers are happy. But for collective
bargaining to work you pretty much have to be the majority or its hard to do
much.
------
OnlineCourage
I have actually started adopting other online vendors because Amazon's quality
control and customer support is so atrocious. I think Amazon will end up
digging its own grave by building this huge adoption for online buyong,
training competition how to do online retail right, and then die from a
million cuts as thousands of specialty vendors step in. Their search sucks
too...you just get fed paid advertisements for crap. AWS is amazing but I no
longer trust Amazon as a place to buy physical items.
~~~
patrickfatrick
Amazon’s customer support “atrocious”? Literally only heard of great
experiences with their customer support from people I’ve talked to.
------
amelius
Richard Stallman has some thoughts on this topic:
[https://stallman.org/amazon.html](https://stallman.org/amazon.html)
~~~
cyborgx7
Stallman's biggest problem, in my opinion, is that all his proposed solutions
are individual consumption choices. A beast like Amazon can only be tamed by
collective action and regulation.
~~~
amelius
From his post:
> We should not allow a company to have a share over around 10% of any market.
> If in a certain field a single dominant company is beneficial for society,
> that means it is a natural monopoly, and should be served by a regulated
> utility.
~~~
cyborgx7
Fair enough. I had just read the introduction, and the section headlines. I'm
glad to see him agree on the importance of regulated utilities. Free Software
sometimes gets associated with the American Capitalist Libertarian movement.
So I wasn't clear on Stallman's personal views on the matter.
~~~
boomlinde
_> Free Software sometimes gets associated with the American Capitalist
Libertarian movement. So I wasn't clear on Stallman's personal views on the
matter._
The problem isn't that you weren't clear on his personal views on the matter,
but that you comment on "all his proposed solutions" when even a cursory
reading of his political articles would reveal that he is very much not a
libertarian.
------
AlchemistCamp
According to Ben Thompson, "There really is no plausible argument that Amazon
has a monopoly."
[https://stratechery.com/2019/tech-and-
antitrust/](https://stratechery.com/2019/tech-and-antitrust/)
------
mlguy456
This is an attempt to divert attention from real monopolies like Comcast and
healthcare monsters. What we really need in the tech space is UK-style laws to
enforce competition between ISPs, GDPR-style laws to protect personal data and
CA-style prohibition on NDAs. But politicans won't get paid for any of this.
Instead they go for easy and profitable targets, such as pretending to care
that Amazon is a monopoly.
~~~
dredmorbius
Stronger anti-trust protections and enforcement will be a benefit all 'round.
------
breadandcrumbel
I'm following Amazon for a long time They are a monopoly indeed
But they became one only because they are great at doing business
They built an empire from an online book store....
~~~
davemp
Exactly.
I recently bought a razer blade stealth through amazon, but the speakers were
messed up and there was coil whine. I installed the recommended firmware
upgrade but that caused Linux to crash with non-standard ACPI behavior. I
decided to go through razer support because I know it's better for them.
After over a week and maybe ten hours of emailing back and forth with support,
I was asked to reinstall windows and see if that worked... Instead, I just
clicked a few buttons on amazon and dropped the laptop off at the local UPS
store and was done in ~20min.
There's a reason Amazon is in its current position. If I had bought from the
razer store directly, I would've had an even worse time.
------
EngineerWannabe
Unless Walmart Canada,No Frills,Sobeys or any other retailer compete with
Amazon,we will still read these news.Amazon prime is great if you don't find
enough time to go shopping for minor things.Amazon is great for non-perishable
item shopping if you compare its prices with other retailers.
Why would I pay $4.99,at Sobeys, for a jar of nescafe if I can get it from
Amazon for $3.97?
------
rb808
I think I can generalize that the problem with Amazon is similar to many of
the modern tech companies in that they're super well funded and aren't
expected to make a profit which allows them to undercut incumbents.
Amazon can price lower than Target/Wallmart/B&N/Local Stores, lose money every
year while the competition slowly dies.
Uber can price lower than local taxis, lose money every year while the
competition slowly dies.
Tesla can price lower than Ford/Toyota/Merc, lose money every year while the
competition slowly dies.
AirBnB can price lower than Hilton/Marriot/Locals, lose money every year while
the competition slowly dies.
WeWork can price lower than office buildings, lose money every year while the
competition slowly dies.
The problem is low interest rates and another tech bubble.
~~~
lisper
I'm not a huge Uber fan, but in their case at least I don't think you're being
entirely fair. My home airport is SFO. The official taxis there have an
extremely annoying pricing policy: if your destination is more than 20 miles
form the airport they add a $50 surcharge to the cost of your trip. (I live 25
miles away.) And you can't summon a cab with an app. If you're at the airport
they are very convenient. If you are anywhere else taxies are hopeless. In the
face of such abject stupidity on the part of the taxis, I use Uber (well,
Lyft) despite my sympathies for professional drivers. If the taxi companies
weren't behaving like such utter and complete morons for _years_ it would be
easier to sympathize with them.
~~~
tj-teej
Serious question: once the taxi industry has died what makes you believe that
Uber won't implement similar policies?
~~~
abakker
Nothing. As the saying goes, “get while the getting is good”.
If I don’t take the cheap fare today, it doesn’t buy me anything in the long
run anyway. Present dollars saved are a certainty, and if history repeats,
there is a reasonable likelihood of future disruption being my easy-our for an
anticompetitive Uber.
~~~
pessimizer
I don't know if it's a good strategy to wait as long as it took Uber to
supplant taxis for something to supplant Uber. If it follows that pattern, you
won't live to see it, so "easy-out" is probably not the greatest descriptor.
That being said, your individual boycott will have a minuscule effect, and
money in your pocket is good. I just can't imagine that capitalism is meant to
work like this; paying people to use your product until all the competition is
gone, then once you're a monopoly jacking prices up to infinity, ditching
quality, and regulating or buying out any potential upstarts.
~~~
abakker
A cynical person might say that it is meant to work _exactly_ like this.
Killing off older companies seems likely to be a service to progress and the
economy. (not to the employees, which is a reason why I'm not a genuine
advocate of pure capitalism). nevertheless, There are organizational,
bureaucratic, and process debts in addition to technical debt, and I think
capitalism acknowledges that in the end, those debts never get paid. Borrow
against the future and burn out bright and fast. The good news, is except for
capital itself, borrowing technology/process/and bureaucracy against the
future is borrowing from yourself, not creditors.
~~~
AmericanChopper
Every dollar of funding that Uber receives comes from an investor that
believes there is a long term business model in Uber. Even the short horizon
investors have to believe that, otherwise they would have nobody to sell their
shares to in the short term.
In terms of killing competition, price wars almost always benefit consumers.
Prices go down during a price war, and if the industry is susceptible to them,
then another one will occur after the war is over. Look at the airline
industry, it’s full of price war cycles. A carrier will try compete on a
route, drive prices down, and sometimes this will result in carriers leaving
the competition, and prices going back up again afterwards. When that happens,
some time will pass, and it will happen again.
The worst outcome for consumers is that the market returns to a non-
competitive state when the dust settles. In that case, consumers are just back
where they started, after having temporarily enjoyed the benefits of the price
war. If the market ends up in an unreasonably non-competitive state after the
price war, then the victor has just set themselves up for anti-trust action.
Every mainstream capitalist economist I’ve ever heard of has firmly believed
that regulating competition is an essential part of a capitalist economy. So
if you think that’s not happening, it would seem to be a failure of government
more that a failure of capitalist economics.
------
mikojan
Expropriate them.
------
coding123
And what about Alphabet?
~~~
liability
All of these companies (Amazon, Alphabet/Google, Facebook, etc) are very
fortunate that the others exist because _every single goddamn time_ anybody
criticizes one, somebody will try to derail the discussion with _" well what
about [one of the others]?"_
They all suck. Stop trying to use one to justify another.
~~~
jklinger410
>somebody will try to derail the discussion
Pointing out competitors to a supposed monopoly is not derailing the
conversation. It _is_ the conversation.
~~~
whatshisface
Amazon is probably not a monopoly in the advertising market, but Alphabet
doesn't run an online store.
~~~
jklinger410
[https://shopping.google.com](https://shopping.google.com)
~~~
bhandziuk
I'm also having a garage sale this weekend but that's not really competition
to Amazon
------
raven105x
For clarification: Monopolies can result from anti-competitive practices, or
an overwhelming competitive advantage. Talking about the latter here
The 'anti-trust' and 'monopoly' arguments strike me as hypocritical and self-
contradictory in the context of capitalism. We encourage businesses to compete
and succeed, yet when they do so disproportionally, everyone suddenly feels
entitled to intervene in their structure, policies & processes - and best of
all, we have no objective guidelines or criteria for when this should happen.
The question then becomes: who gets to decide when to bring forth these
concerns, and what's their agenda? Food for thought.
~~~
theturtletalks
I remember reading about an anti-trust case against Microsoft in the 90s since
they included Microsoft Explorer with the OS. They were forced to separate the
two, but Chromebook does the same thing without consequences. The rules for
Antitrust keep changing and companies are integrating vertically and
horizontally quickly before the law catches up.
~~~
jdietrich
_> Chromebook does the same thing without consequences_
It's not the same at all. Microsoft were forced to unbundle IE from Windows
because they were using their market dominance in one area (operating systems)
to give themselves an artificial advantage in another area (web browsers).
This bundling shielded IE from competition and squeezed other players out of
the web browser market. Apple are within their rights to bundle Safari with
MacOS, because MacOS only has a minority market share; same goes for ChromeOS.
You can't be sanctioned for exploiting a dominant market position if you don't
_have_ a dominant market position.
[https://www.computerworld.com.au/article/273591/eu_microsoft...](https://www.computerworld.com.au/article/273591/eu_microsoft_shields_ie_from_competition/)
~~~
theturtletalks
Ok so dominating the market is an important factor for anti-trust litigation.
Google is dominating the search market and used this to push Chrome (searching
from the url address bar was one of the main reasons people switched). Is that
not the same as what Microsoft did? Now they dominate both markets and
leveraged both to grow the other.
~~~
jdietrich
Google were sanctioned in 2017 for exploiting their dominance in the search
market to promote their other services.
[https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/27/15872354/google-eu-
fine-a...](https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/27/15872354/google-eu-fine-
antitrust-shopping)
~~~
theturtletalks
This is the EU. What has the US done to limit or sanction Google? Why was
Microsoft pursued and Google not? Both were using one market dominance to push
another.
~~~
sjy
Google wasn't a dominant search engine at the time of the Microsoft
litigation, and different people were in charge of the Justice Department by
the time that it became one. Not every potential crime is or can be prosecuted
– especially when there is a lot of room for legal debate as to whether the
conduct was criminal, and the defendant is well-resourced.
------
rrggrr
If eBay, UPS, Walmart, Rackspace, Oracle and Dropbox (post Hellosign
acquisition) merged -- you would have a near approximation of the market
impact of Amazon. If it's not a monopoly then it's something worse.
~~~
DickingAround
How do you figure? Amazon makes less than half the revenue of Walmart.
Personally it seems kind of silly to talk about any of them as a 'monopoly'
when I literally use a competitor to each of the biggies (Amazon, Apple,
Google, etc.) every week. Why does anyone consider these companies a
'monopoly' when I'm easily and conveniently getting the same product from
someone else?
~~~
crazygringo
They're each (arguably) a monopoly in their own principal market(s) which
(mostly) aren't the same.
You're not buying toilet paper from Apple.
You're not searching the internet with Amazon.
For the discussion to make sense, you have to specify which market you're
looking at -- a company can have a monopoly in one market (e.g. search) but
not in another (e.g. mobile phones).
~~~
perl4ever
I'm not buying toilet paper from Amazon or searching the internet with Apple!
------
paulcarroty
> Amazon gives its own private label products and first-party products an
> advantage over competitors in a number of ways, from algorithmic ranking, to
> the buy box, to premium advertising, to direct to consumer marketing, to
> exclusive customer reviews.
Alphabet does absolutely the same but have more power in advertising & page
ranking plus collects petabytes users data using Chrome browser and Android
platform.
Walmart, Google Clouds, Azure are alive and still grows up, so this article
use over-dramatic effects like TV show.
~~~
smt88
Let me restate the article's argument:
Amazon has enough monopoly power in certain categories to abuse that power to
harm competition, and Amazon chooses to do so.
Would you still disagree?
~~~
stcredzero
_______ has enough monopoly power in certain categories to abuse that power to
harm competition, and ______ chooses to do so._
This generalizes nicely!
What if a company has enough power in certain categories to abuse that power
to harm competition, not directly for itself, but for its clients and
advertisers? I'm thinking about YouTube here. YouTube has enough power in
certain categories to abuse that power to harm media enterprises on the
YouTube platform. Some people argue that YouTube does so to the benefit of
other media enterprises who happen to pay YouTube for advertisement.
------
Areading314
Couldn't read this because of the huge, glaring falsehood on the first page.
Monopoly does NOT mean "power to affect prices". It is defined as having
_exclusive_ control of the supply of a good within a market. Redefining
monopoly to fit your argument is just lazy clickbaiting.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Caffeine is killing your productivity - productionQA
http://www.inc.com/laura-montini/why-coffee-is-wreaking-havoc-on-your-productivity.html
======
productionQA
I constantly see studies and opinions for both sides of this coin. I was never
much of a coffee drinker, but now I am. I still think in moderation when you
need a boost it is better than anything.
However, the points made in this article I can definitely related to.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why batteries both thrill and terrify the U.S. utility industry - dotluis
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2014-12-05/musk-battery-works-fill-utilities-with-fear-and-promise.html
======
msandford
From the article:
...said Ellen Hayes, a PG&E spokeswoman. “Having a solar panel that isn’t
connected to the grid is like having a computer that’s not connected to the
Internet.”
Patently false. It's a great way for them to rationalize their continued
existence. But as rooftop solar takes off and the "smart grid" fails to
materialize I suspect that you're going to start to see federated neighborhood
grids running at 48VDC.
Anything less than 50V isn't regulated by the NEC which is why you're supposed
to hire an electrician for new or major upgrades to your house wiring but
nobody cares if you put in low voltage pathway lighting, doorbells,
networking, etc.
That means that although you'll have to buy thick copper wires, people can
wire themselves up with their neighbors LEGALLY to share power. That's a big
deal. It doesn't take all that many people to be connected to substantially
smooth out fluctuations. Most A/C doesn't run all the time, it's only supposed
to be about 15 minutes out of every hour. So if I and four neighbors team up
then we might need 5kW of solar panels between us instead of 5kW each. At
least if it's somewhere sort-of temperate where A/C isn't crucial at night.
The power electronics to make this happen are getting cheaper by the day. Sure
it means having to talk to your neighbors and some retrofitting, but that's
doable. And with a lot of new equipment having VFDs in them from the factory
(refrigerators, mini splits, even a lot of A/C compressors) it means that the
cost of converting them drops even more.
~~~
gambiting
5kW at 48V is over 100 amperes - absolutely no offence to you personally, but
anyone handling this without training and precautions is absolutely stupid, no
matter how thick the cables are.
~~~
ddeck
While you are correct that 48V is definitely sufficient to cause injury/death
in certain circumstances, it's not the current that matters here (e.g. a
1V/5000A supply would have a lower risk of shock).
What will hurt/kill you is the amount of current passing through your body (in
particular your heart) and that is determined by the resistance of your body
and the potential difference of where it's flowing from/to (I = V/R).
Interestingly, the current required for ill effects is significantly higher
for DC vs AC (at lowish frequency) [1]:
BODILY EFFECT DIRECT CURRENT (DC) 60 Hz AC 10 kHz AC
---------------------------------------------------------------
Slight sensation Men = 1.0 mA 0.4 mA 7 mA
felt at hand(s) Women = 0.6 mA 0.3 mA 5 mA
---------------------------------------------------------------
Threshold of Men = 5.2 mA 1.1 mA 12 mA
perception Women = 3.5 mA 0.7 mA 8 mA
---------------------------------------------------------------
Painful, but Men = 62 mA 9 mA 55 mA
voluntary muscle Women = 41 mA 6 mA 37 mA
control maintained
---------------------------------------------------------------
Painful, unable Men = 76 mA 16 mA 75 mA
to let go of wires Women = 51 mA 10.5 mA 50 mA
---------------------------------------------------------------
Severe pain, Men = 90 mA 23 mA 94 mA
difficulty Women = 60 mA 15 mA 63 mA
breathing
---------------------------------------------------------------
Possible heart Men = 500 mA 100 mA
fibrillation Women = 500 mA 100 mA
after 3 seconds
---------------------------------------------------------------
The linked article suggests an across the chest current of at little as 17 mA
could potentially induce fibrillation. At 48V, this is equivalent to a hand to
hand (assuming the second hand is the exit point) resistance of ~2,823 Ohms.
While is this a very low resistance for the body, it's possible with wet hands
and a large surface area in contact with the voltage source.
[1]
[http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_3/4.html](http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_3/4.html)
~~~
sliverstorm
Fibrillation is a problem, but so are electrical burns. 5kW is going to cause
a lot of tissue damage.
~~~
marcosdumay
Your body does not let the 5kW go through it.
~~~
sliverstorm
While I believe that precisely 5kW will not travel through your body,
considering you can arc weld with 48V/100A and your household 120V/10A (1.2kW)
sockets can cause severe burns, I think it's safe to say this hypothetical 5kW
source could do a _lot_ of damage.
Unfortunately I specialize in low voltage, not high voltage power electronics.
------
ChuckMcM
This is something I've been considering of late. I was an 'early adopter' for
Solar and have had 5kW of panels on my roof for 14 years now. Initially we
were on a 'watt for watt' type rate schedule with a flat true up at the end of
the year (basically net usage would be billed every 12 months). This was a
good deal for me, and a bad deal for PG&E apparently. Over the years they have
morphed that into something much more in their favor and with the help of
"smart" meters have factored in various timing aspects which all work toward
increasing how much I pay PG&E even though I am using about the same amount of
power that I was before.
The only answer then is to go 'all in' and just cut them out of the equation.
But battery maintenance is a huge challenge with lead-acid packs, a fire risk
with lithium ones. I'd love to have a locally owned and operated 'storage
depot' where I could shove my excess power to the depot, and pull power when I
needed it (like being grid tied) but consolidate and amortize the cost of
maintaining the power storage component across a bunch of customers.
~~~
Raphmedia
Can you legally do something like use the solar power for your lighting or
small appliances and use the company's electricity for your heating? With
different sockets and wires?
~~~
ChuckMcM
Yes, I could do that.
What I can no longer do is come out revenue neutral if I generate exactly the
same number of kwH that I consume in a 12 month period.
~~~
infogulch
I don't think that would be fair anyway. There is more value in electricity
than net kwH used in a year. Ignoring other value that power companies provide
(such as supplying for large demand fluctuations over days and seasons) and
asserting that you should get them for free seems disingenuous at best.
~~~
ChuckMcM
Interesting use of the term fair. If I had 'super capacitors' or pretty much
any 98% or better charge storage device I could take my house off the grid and
give the power company zero dollars for power. In my ideal world I would set
up solar to nominally charge the base load charge supply for my house, and
power the house from the base load charge supply. In the event my base load
charge supply dropped below a set limit, I'd use natural gas to run a fuel
cell for some number of hours to get the base load charge supply back into the
right zone. I continue to use gas for heat applications (stove top, dryer,
house heater, water heating) but would be no longer part of the electricity
grid.
Right now, to do this costs more than the 'surcharge' I'm paying PG&E to be a
utility with electricity on demand. But once the economics switch I'm going to
kick their electricity service to the curb. And I consider that both right and
fair.
------
jarrettc
The article suggests that solar panels could be an "existential threat" to
power companies. For those of you who are familiar with the math of solar
panels, how realistic is that prediction? How much of a normal home's energy
needs could be supplied by solar panels, assuming the panels covered the
entire surface area of the roof? How much is the ROI on solar panels likely to
improve in the foreseeable future? (I've heard estimates of 5-8% annual return
for 2014.)
~~~
djrogers
I installed a 10kw system ~15 months ago on my 3600sq ft house. Average
electricity costs was ~$6k/year before the panels, the first year on solar to
total cost for the year was $300.
That $300 worth of electricity for the year is before I've been able to talk
the wife in to replacing our incandescent bulbs, swapped out our old pool
pump, etc etc - I could easily get that down to below 0 with a small
investment in bulbs. So in my case at least, it was trivially easy to get to a
net-zero usage.
A few $$ notes - the system cost $37k, I got 11.1k of that in a tax credit
from the feds, so my net cost was 26k. I'm saving 5.7k/yr, which means my
break even point for the system is 5 years. In 5 freaking years I'm making
money from my solar panels! And I don't have to write a $500 check to PG&E
every month. It's a beautiful thing...
BTW - the above numbers (plus my severe aversion to debt) are why I'm so
against solar leases. If we had a solar lease, we'd still be stuck with
monthly payments, would have trouble selling our house, and would be stuck for
20 years.
~~~
mrfusion
$6K/year sounds really high no? My neighbor pays $100-150/month for a 3200
sqft house.
~~~
Shivetya
Welcome to a fully regulated rate structure, throw in the combined weight of
years and years of "its for the environment" and the costs go to the people
who have the least voice and for many the least ability to pay.
The have so regulated pricing and punitive structures into service there that
they have to have assistance programs just to alleviate the burden on middle
income and lower consumers.
------
diafygi
For people who want to learn more about the complexities in this topic, I
highly suggest listening to the Energy Gang podcast[1]. A senior editor at
Greentech Media, principal lobbyist at a huge energy lobby firm, and the
founder of Sun Edison get together once a week to talk about at latest news. I
work in the new energy industry, and everyone I know in this industry listens
to this podcast.
For example, a few months ago, they talked extensively about how Hawaii's
utility is basically falling apart since it can't find a way to compete with
solar now that solar is at grid parity, and solar+storage is on the verge of
reaching off-grid parity[2]. What happens when half of your customers simply
leave? We're about to find out over the next few years.
Also, if you want to learn more about tech entrepreneurship in the solar, I
recommend reaching out to the SfunCube[3].
[1]:
[https://www.greentechmedia.com/podcast](https://www.greentechmedia.com/podcast)
[2]: [https://soundcloud.com/the-energy-gang/can-the-us-
government...](https://soundcloud.com/the-energy-gang/can-the-us-
government#t=19:55)
[3]: [http://www.sfuncube.com/](http://www.sfuncube.com/)
------
oblio
One thing to note - while this all sounds very exciting and optimistic, a huge
percentage of energy is actually generated by coal fueled plants:
[http://www.worldcoal.org/resources/coal-
statistics/](http://www.worldcoal.org/resources/coal-statistics/) \- 40%.
Let that sink in for a while. More than 1 century after the introduction of
gas and oil fueled power plants and more than half a century after the
introduction of nuclear power plants, coal is still powering almost half of
the world. Perhaps even this PC on which I'm writing this comment.
Don't expect a revolution. Expect an evolution that will take another half a
century or more :)
~~~
okaybutthen
Only because right now the economics of coal fueled electric plants are
favorable.
Coal based plants will die down as cost per kWh of ocean tide, wind, solar,
etc are optimized.
------
nostromo
Another reason: consumers subsidize industry.
Look up your local utility rates for high demand users. (These usually include
things like factories or data centers.)
They pay a lot less for energy than you do at home -- even though the power
plant doesn't care if the electricity is used for your hair dryer or smelting
aluminum.
If the consumer goes solar, industry will suddenly have to pay their fair
share of the bill.
~~~
maratd
I experienced the exact opposite with PSE&G in NJ. I had both a residence and
an office in the same municipality. I was paying a higher rate per kWh at the
office. Almost twice as much. When I asked them about it, they said it was
because I was at an address marked as a business.
I think this depends heavily on state-level regulation of the utility and
market conditions for your segment.
~~~
mikeyouse
To be fair, you're talking about a third distinction in the eyes of utilities.
They typical tier pricing by residential, commercial and industrial. It's not
uncommon for commercial power to be more expensive than residential, but it's
extremely uncommon for industrial power to cost more.
------
rdl
Even if this didn't make sense in California (it might), it makes huge sense
in Hawaii -- power is $0.30-0.50/KWh, and they're starting to look at higher
charges for grid-connected solar users (connection fees), and lower purchase
prices for power.
If I could handle peak and steady state loads off-grid there, I'd be very
tempted. I was assuming water pumping storage, or scheduling loads, and a
diesel or propane generator for extreme peaks (running tools), but this might
work too.
~~~
amalag
This was from last year, I don't know if things are still this way there.
[http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-solar-boom-so-
su...](http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-solar-boom-so-successfull-
its-been-halted/)
------
jhallenworld
I learned recently that nearly ideal batteries already exist for the purpose
of storing energy from solar: nickel-iron batteries (side note: Edison made
more money from selling these batteries than from any other invention). They
last a very long time (50 years), are durable (not damaged by full discharge)
and can be made from cheap materials. The energy density is not high, but this
is probably not a major issue for home energy storage.
~~~
infogulch
I didn't know about NiFe batteries. With a long lifetime, deep discharge
durability, and cheap non-toxic construction they look quite promising. Except
overall efficiency isn't great, and it looks like they require regular
maintenance. Of course, maintenance becomes less of a problem at
neighborhood/grid-local scale.
------
kefka
Why are they so scary? They're just a whole bunch of 18650's, with integrated
cooling chambers and nice chargers.
I just picked up a pack of 10 from ali express for $14. The charger was $10
and can charge 2 batteries in about 1/2 hour. The American markets don't see
them unless you crack open dead laptop batteries and test.
~~~
mullingitover
I've seen plenty of 18650s outside of laptops. They're extremely popular in
the electronic cigarette scene.
~~~
defective
Yep, and we inherited them from the flashlight enthusiasts.
------
bdamm
Even if individual homes can sustain themselves on solar power, there are many
homes and even more businesses that cannot. Even if people are storing power
in batteries and charging them up for later use when power is cheap
(determined locally) you still need the utility to be that conduit to get the
power from the (distributed) sources to the (distributed) consumption.
Can the existing grid handle this kind of workload? Yes, if it is managed well
and controls are in place to prevent delivering more power into the network
than it can handle.
------
grecy
This is materializing in Australia right now.
My parents just put 5kW of solar on their roof, and are still tied to the
grid, selling some back for a tiny fraction of what they buy it for at night.
The government has now mandated that everyone on the grid must pay an "access"
fee every month, even if they use nothing, and they are limiting how many
people in any neighborhood can go solar and sell power back to the grid.
It's no secret the government are doing this to protect their friends in the
coal and electricity industry.
~~~
TrainedMonkey
So what would happen, if government did not mandate that? Some people would go
completely off grid, this would raise prices for everyone else. In some
communities it would not be economical for electric company to operate at
all[0]. Moreover they can't just leave this over to the cities because rich
communities would go off grid and raise prices for others in the area. While I
am sure there is "friendship" angle you are coming from is real issue is far
more complex than that and there is no simple solution.
[0] And given utility status of electrical companies they are mandated by the
government to do so anyways.
~~~
JoeAltmaier
Another issue is sunlight. Most folks own land but not the right for sunlight
to fall on it. Someone next door can shade your roof with their large solar
collector; now you HAVE to connect to the grid. Such disputes will interfere
with the smooth deployment of roof-mounted solar energy panels.
------
elihu
What is the price of a residential battery? Let's say you need 10 kilowatt
hours to last from sunset to dawn (you might need more some nights, but if
you're still on the grid, 10 kwh might be enough most of the time, which is
what matters).
The Tesla model S has a 60 or 85 kwh battery. I don't know what the cost of
the battery alone is, but it's probably pretty expensive. For fixed
residential, you wouldn't need to use the most energy dense cells available,
so it might be cheaper.
Wikipedia has a price per kwh comparison, showing lead acid considerably
cheaper, though that might not be up-to-date with the price Solar City and
Tesla pay for Lithium Ion cells.
If lead-acid is $250 per kilowatt hour, that puts a 10 kwh battery at $2500.
Not too bad, but if they only last six years or so, that's a pretty big part
of the ongoing cost of maintaining the system. How does lithium ion compare on
price and longevity?
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_battery](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_battery)
~~~
jared314
> The Tesla model S has a 60 or 85 kwh battery. I don't know what the cost of
> the battery alone is, but it's probably pretty expensive.
As of 2013, the 60 and 80 kwh batteries are approximately $10k and $12k
respectively. [1]
[1] [http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/2013-model-s-price-
increase](http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/2013-model-s-price-increase)
------
nullgeo
Oh how funny, 130 years ago Tesla scared the hell out of some battery company.
------
yason
Since they also make stationary batteries I wonder what would it cost to
manufacture small flywheel energy storage units for homes instead.
To an extent, those are used in bigger grids to balance out peak production
and peak consumption: they rotate in a vacuum on magnetic bearings and require
very little if any maintenance.
Those big boys probably cost a lot but a consumer-grade flywheel which could
spin for, say, 24 hours and be slightly less efficient (wrt. input-to-output
and friction losses) could still be a big deal to even out daily usage.
------
dmritard96
The interesting situation is that companies regulated as a utility, presumably
because a competitive environment for infrastructure isn't always practical
(defacto monopolies) is facing competition hence creating some interesting
questions.
------
cportela
Thank you for posting this as the print link. Literally a simple task, but
again thanks.
------
DanKlinton
This Elon Musk guy sounds more and more like Tony Stark from Iron Man :)
~~~
falcor84
Musk was indeed was an inspiration for the movies (and did a cameo on Iron Man
2)
[http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,288...](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1984685_1984745_1985495,00.html)
~~~
gohrt
It seemed to me that Iron Man (comic) was an inspiration for Elon Musk's
persona.
------
jcromartie
Entropy will increase...
Everything will become increasingly decentralized and democratized thanks to
the miniaturization and increasing efficiency of technology. It's all but
inevitable. The only thing that can stop it is politics.
------
JoeAltmaier
Rooftop solar would have a very hard time supplying the same current feed your
power company has. A few back-to-nature Californians may be satisfied with the
battery-solar combo straw man in this article; most of us want our TV and
microwave too.
~~~
mabbo
The threat isn't that people don't need _any_ power from the electric company,
it's that people need very little of it. Demand dropping to 5% of your usual
business model might as well be demand dropping to 0%.
~~~
JoeAltmaier
Some of that drop can be beneficial to the power company. They are always on
the edge of capacity, because building more capacity is very (billions)
expensive, and at first you don't need all of it, so the marginal cost of
expansion is huge. Deploying solar across the area could postpone the need for
generator expansion, and save money for current customers.
~~~
hga
Depends on the type of capacity. I gather that peaking power is typically
provided by gas combustion turbines
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_turbine#Industrial_gas_tur...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_turbine#Industrial_gas_turbines_for_power_generation)),
which have much lower capital costs and much higher operating costs (including
maintenance). But if you need more baseline, then, yeah, you're going to be
spending a lot of money, although I'd expect modern gas powered baseline
plants to be relatively cheap (don't ask about nuclear, and fuel handling is
much easier than coal, plus coal is nasty dirty stuff that needs exhaust
cleaning, and disposal of ash).
~~~
abakker
I think Joe might have been referring to transmission and switching costs.
Adding generation capacity to the grid usually means that you need more
substations, and control infrastructure.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Carnegie Mellon student shows that 64 pixels is enough for Mario (video) - aresant
http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/12/carnegie-mellon-student-shows-that-64-pixels-is-enough-for-mario/
======
nwinter
Whoa, that's my girlfriend! So proud. Weird to see this after not being online
for a week while traveling with her.
~~~
nsrivast
hold on to that one
------
SpacemanSpiff
Looks like the levels and perhaps the idea are based on "Super Pixel Bros"
game: [http://hackaday.com/2010/02/19/update-most-interesting-
game-...](http://hackaday.com/2010/02/19/update-most-interesting-game-
in-64-pixels/) Here's a youtube progress update:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avvba3prLlc>
Pretty awesome if you ask me.
------
patrickgzill
I was a little surprised because I thought everyone knew that if you bumped
one of the first blocks with your head, you got a coin ...
------
nitrogen
Very cool. This would probably work for any tile-based game by assigning a
unique color for each tile. The original NES Zelda comes to mind.
~~~
derefr
I experienced precisely this effect, in a before-and-after style, _as a
gameplay element_ yesterday. The game started with lots of visual detail, but
began to "degrade" as you advanced through it, and at 100% completion every
tile was replaced by a single-colored block.
(The game was "REDDER": <http://www.auntiepixelante.com/?p=540>)
~~~
mquander
Holy crap, nice game! Hats off to you.
------
ynniv
Dupe: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1179745>
------
charlesju
I'm waiting for someone to port this onto a building using the lights as LEDs.
------
jazzychad
I need to buy some Arduinos, stat!
~~~
jrockway
A regular computer can draw red and orange squares and accept inputs from
buttons too. If you really want to do a hardware project, get an Arduino, but
you can easily play with ideas like this without any hardware. And you won't
have to write your code in C.
~~~
smackfu
Yeah, but it looks a lot cooler when the orange squares real.
------
albemuth
to bad she didn't hook it up to a NES controller, should have been trivial no?
------
pnz
why does she talk like homestar runner?
~~~
pmichaud
It sounds like she may have some minor hearing problems, but I think your
social disabilities probably have a much greater affect on you than her
disability has on her.
------
angelhaze218
prediction for this years' hottest xmas present - arduino
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
TechCrunch on the iPhone - auston
http://icrunch.rememberthisguy.com/
======
timcederman
Or use Google Reader with TechCrunch as your only feed.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Hacker Monthly Issue #10 - March 2011 - kingsidharth
http://hackermonthly.com/issue-10.html
======
ianl
I look forward to this every month, its always packed full of good
information. Especially since students get it for free.
When I graduate and have some income I will pay for a subscription.
Really good product.
~~~
guptaneil
I had no idea students get Hacker Monthly for free. Thanks for the tip!
~~~
bearwithclaws
More details here: [http://hackermonthly.posterous.com/students-read-hacker-
mont...](http://hackermonthly.posterous.com/students-read-hacker-monthly-for-
free)
------
perokreco
I just saw you use e-junkie for fulfillment. Are you satisfied with them? I am
considering using them for a digital goods sale, except mine would be an one-
off sale of unique items.
~~~
bearwithclaws
Very happy with them. Balsamiq and BCC use it too.
------
alexanderswang
Free?! The link directs to PayPal page asking me for $29.00...
~~~
AdamTReineke
That is confusing text. I assume the subscription is for the next 12 issues,
so you'd get that one free as a bonus.
Hacker Monthly isn't free, but they link to all the articles, so you can
consume the same content by clicking the titles listed. HM just packs it into
a beautiful package.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Qualcomm 'Tax' Rebellion (2017) - drtillberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2017-01-24/qualcomm-s-tax-collection-days-are-looking-numbered
======
projektfu
In a way it's better than the Microsoft tax which set, for a time, a lower
bound on the price of a computer because one had to pay approximately the same
amount for a low-spec computer as for a high-spec one. Eventually if you're
making 20% margin on the components and that margin is lower than the cost of
the Windows license, you have two options: use an incompatible operating
system or not sell the computer. From what I understand, in the 80s and 90s,
if you sold computers with Windows or DOS OEM, your license agreement probably
said that you had to pay the tax on every system sold, regardless of the
actually installed operating system.
~~~
mdasen
That's an argument that Qualcomm would push. If Qualcomm charged a flat
$25/phone, that would hugely drive up the price of low-cost phones. However,
why should Qualcomm get more money if a manufacturer includes a better display
or camera? Qualcomm isn't adding more value, the better display or camera is
adding the additional value. Qualcomm is just demanding more money.
Microsoft is saying that Windows makes a computer better by $N and so
manufacturers need to pay that. If you sell a computer with an integrated
monitor (rather than an external display), there's no reason for Microsoft to
get more money.
One big difference between Microsoft and Qualcomm's situation is that
technologies like CDMA, UMTS, and LTE are official standards that only use
patents from those willing to commit to FRAND licensing (fair, reasonable, and
non-discriminatory). Microsoft never agreed to FRAND licensing while Qualcomm
did.
Because Qualcomm wants a percentage of the selling price, it refuses to
license the patents to, say, Intel or MediaTek. If they licensed the patents
to Intel, Qualcomm couldn't then ask for royalties from Apple on devices that
use the Intel modem. For example, when you buy an iPhone, Qualcomm can't come
up to you and say, "you're using our patents so you owe us money." Likewise,
if you sell the iPhone to someone else, they similarly can't ask for money
from that person. But Qualcomm wants to get a percentage of Apple's selling
price, not a percentage of Intel's selling price on the modem alone.
You brought up Microsoft's practice of requiring an OEM that uses Windows on
some machines to pay for Windows for all machines, even ones shipped without
Windows. In fact, Qualcomm has a similar arrangement called "no license-no
chips". If you want access to Qualcomm's modems for your high-end phones, you
must agree to elevated royalty rates for Qualcomm's patents even on your
devices that don't use Qualcomm chips.
Much of the information in this comment comes from:
[https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/170117qualc...](https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/170117qualcomm_redacted_complaint.pdf).
It's a decent read.
~~~
projektfu
Interesting. It seems it should be illegal to require someone to pay for IP in
a phone that doesn't contain it. I wish the Microsoft trial had made that
practice explicitly illegal.
~~~
mdasen
All the phones contain Qualcomm IP so it's a variant of what Microsoft did.
With FRAND licensing, you can challenge the royalty rates in arbitration or
court. Let's say that a court would set the royalty rate at $5 and we somehow
know that and let's rewind a couple years before Intel was seriously making
modems.
LG comes up to Qualcomm and says, "we need those Qualcomm modems for our $650
flagship phone, but we're happy using non-Qualcomm lower-end modems in our
cheap phones." Qualcomm says, "Great! We'll sell you the chips for $N per chip
and you agree that you'll pay patent royalties of $15/phone." LG could retort,
"but the patents are only worth $5/phone and you agreed to FRAND licensing!
We'll see you in court!" Qualcomm confidently says, "well, we might be
required to FRAND license you our patents, but nothing requires us to sell you
chips. If you challenge our preferred $15 royalty rate, good luck selling a
$650 phone with a low-end modem in it. You'll be paying $5 royalties, but you
won't have a flagship phone and those are the only phones you make money on."
Because phone manufacturers had no other high-end modem option, they had to
agree to Qualcomm's preferred royalty rate rather than a true FRAND rate that
a neutral third party would say is fair. If they went without Qualcomm's
modems, they could make low-end phones with low-end modems, but the money is
in the flagship phones.
At the same time, no company had enough incentive to invest in a high-end
modem. It would take many years and many billions to get close to Qualcomm's
modems and they might still stay one step ahead. Plus, all that royalty money
could be poured into making sure their chips were always a step ahead. If
you're thinking about competing, what's your business model? Pour billions
into a few generations of LTE chips that no one buys in the hopes that you'll
produce a generation close enough that customers will dump Qualcomm? Even if
they buy your chips, unless they're willing to write-off Qualcomm, they're
still on the hook for the higher-than-fair royalties.
If Apple didn't force the issue with Intel, nothing would have happened. Apple
made a big bet there that they could break Qualcomm's hold.
It's different from Microsoft's case since the devices without Qualcomm chips
would still have to pay Qualcomm a royalty, just a lower one that was either
negotiated or set by a court/arbitrator.
Imagine if Microsoft owned the BIOS and had committed to license it to anyone
under fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms of $1. Then they turned
around and said, "if you want to run Windows on any of your computers, we'll
only sell you Windows if you pay $20 for the BIOS on all the machines." If you
cut Windows out of your company entirely, you'd still need to pay Microsoft
the $1 for the BIOS. But you couldn't run a PC company without Windows - just
as you couldn't be a phone company without Qualcomm modems. Technically,
nothing requires them to sell you Windows or sell you modems. FRAND only
requires the BIOS/IP portion. By tying the two together, they can make it so
that you pay elevated rates because you can't forgo the Windows/modems on all
your devices.
To paraphrase Rick and Morty, that just sounds like what Microsoft did with an
extra step.
~~~
Fnoord
> It's different from Microsoft's case since the devices without Qualcomm
> chips would still have to pay Qualcomm a royalty, just a lower one that was
> either negotiated or set by a court/arbitrator.
Microsoft enforced every OEM of PCs should be distributed with Microsoft
Windows. Later on, they enforced every OS should be distributed with an OS.
Hence you had a few (very few) PCs which were distributed with FreeDOS.
Microsoft argued this was to combat piracy. I argue the other [more nefarious]
reason was to stop alternative OSes such as BeOS and Linux. Though I don't
know which reason makes more sense, I can say I'm glad this hegemony is over.
Too bad we apparently have different monsters to be slain.
~~~
Nomentatus
If you were to OEM Windows at all, then Microsoft charged a fee per computer
you sold whether with or without Windows, (to encourage Windows use), is how
I'd put it. That was illegal (but enforcement was VERY slow.)
------
thisisit
The article is very illuminating on how the licensing on the technology side.
But I am confused. First it said:
_This approach had advantages for everyone involved. It meant licensees and
Qualcomm didn 't have to scrap over which parts of the phone did or didn't use
Qualcomm technology, so they could just go ahead and focus on the more
important task of developing and selling these hip new gadgets._
And then:
_Qualcomm 's argument was that no matter what went in the phones, they
wouldn't work at all without its technology._
So, was the current licensing agreements put in place because it was
advantageous for everyone or was it because Qualcomm argued that the company's
technology enabled mobiles? The reasoning is important because if it was
former then wouldn't removing the current licensing structure remove the
intended "simplicity". But, if it was the latter then I find it surprising why
weren't people fighting an obviously dubious claim from Qualcomm.
~~~
mdasen
I think looking at it through a couple lenses might help. For the sake of
simplicity, let's say that the average royalty Qualcomm gets is $15/phone and
they're charging 5% of the MSRP (manufacturer's suggested retail price). These
are made-up royalty rates since, as the article notes, royalty rates are a
closely guarded secret.
1) Let's look at it from Apple's perspective. Their current device lineup
costs $700, $800, $850, $950, $1,000, or $1,150 (iPhone 8, iPhone 8+, iPhone 8
256GB, iPhone 8+ 256GB, iPhone X, iPhone X 256GB). Qualcomm is taking $35 to
$57.50 per phone. Increasing the storage from 64GB to 256GB means Qualcomm
gets an additional $7.50 for doing nothing. They didn't make the LTE faster on
the devices with more storage. It's the exact same technologies, why should it
cost more? In fact, Apple is paying 2.3-3.8x more per phone than the average.
So, you can imagine that Apple wants to pay less. They're a manufacturer that
only makes high-end phones.
2) Let's look at it from LG's perspective. They sell a variety of phones and
let's say they have a $100 phone, a $300 phone, and a $509 phone and they sell
equal amounts of each. They have to pay a $25.45 royalty on the $509 phone and
only a $5 royalty on the $100 phone, but they're paying on average $15/phone
in royalties so it doesn't really matter.
Before Apple, most device manufacturers created a variety of devices at a
variety of price points so it didn't really matter if it was a percentage or a
fixed cost. In fact, being a percentage meant that you didn't have to worry as
much going down-market. If you create a cheap device, you could capture some
of that market without as much worry about what the royalties would do to your
margins.
I think the article is a bit fuzzy there. It's hard to argue that a percentage
is really better for everyone. It does offer a certain flexibility in a market
where people might be feeling things out. For example, let's say I want to
make the next IoT LTE-connected thing - you want sensors around your home
connected by LTE measuring micro-humidities and you'll need at least 100 of
them per house. I'm planning on selling them for $10/sensor. It's going to be
the next-gen of home comfort automation! If Qualcomm just has a straight
royalty fee of $15, I can't get my business of the ground. New, innovative
uses of LTE can't come to the forefront because while a $15 royalty is totally
manageable for something like a smartphone with a high selling price, it's
unduly burdensome for something like my sensors.
You can also say that the value-add of LTE in a smartphone is higher than the
value add of LTE in my sensors. Why not just use WiFi for the sensors? Even if
LTE is needed, they're going to be transmitting a lot less data, don't really
need fast data or low latency (old GPRS would provide enough bandwidth to send
the tiny updates). LTE is adding less value to these sensors than it does to a
smartphone.
I think that's part of the argument from Qualcomm's perspective. They want me
to be able to create my micro-humidity sensing IoT with affordable royalty
rates while still raising enough money to pay for the technology development.
If they had to charge $0.50/device to everyone (5% of my $10 selling price),
they wouldn't make back their investment in developing new wireless
techniques. If they had to charge me $15/device, I couldn't make a viable
business model.
So, in that way, it can benefit everyone and make it simple. There's no
arguing about how much value-add that Qualcomm is adding to my sensors vs your
smartphone. I think most people would agree that the value-add proposition of
LTE in a smartphone vs WiFi-only is way above my sensors having LTE or WiFi
only.
I think one way one could measure the value-add is by how much data is
consumed by the device. If the device's user is using more LTE data, they're
getting more value from the Qualcomm IP than a device that's always on WiFi.
If I agree to turn off LTE/CDMA/UMTS and just use WiFi, should I get a rebate
of the Qualcomm royalty? While that's impractical, it makes sense - I'm not
getting any value add from that IP.
Ultimately, we only have imprecise approximations. As phone prices have
skyrocketed in recent years, the fact that the royalty is a percentage has
become a bigger issue. For years, the prices of phones would have been going
down as technology became cheaper. Smartphones changed that as phones went
from something where a good one was $100-200 to where a decent smartphone
started at 5 to 10x that. I'm guessing that's part of the big issue now.
People are looking at Qualcomm as getting fat off of their smartphone
innovations rather than Qualcomm's wireless innovations. A better display or
more memory doesn't make Qualcomm's IP better.
Of course, to play Qualcomm's side of the argument, a better camera means that
fast data is a bigger value-add since you don't want to be waiting forever for
uploads; a better display means more pixels and more data to send over the
network; a better phone means a device you're going to be using more data
with.
I tend to take Apple's side in this argument, but I can also see how Apple's
side is self-serving. I think FRAND (fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory)
should be FRAND. Everyone should pay the same price and, in fact, hidden
royalty prices should be enough evidence alone that a company is violating
FRAND. Apple making better software or a better display doesn't mean Qualcomm
should get to leach off that. Of course, that's kinda self-serving for Apple:
a non-percentage royalty rate would mean royalties would have to rise on
cheaper, non-Apple devices. It would also stifle innovation in areas we don't
even know LTE might be useful yet. Maybe there's some hot new use for the
technology just waiting to be invented, but if it requires a fixed fee, it
won't get off the ground. Should a farm sensor that uploads maybe 1MB/day
really require the same royalty as an iPhone where I slog through a couple
hundred MBs/day? Do we want to say, "sorry, IoT is cancelled due to
royalties"?
Maybe we just need categories. Phones cost $15/device, sensors cost
$0.50/device, etc. based on some notion of value add.
~~~
dis-sys
Apple doesn't pay Qualcomm directly, thus the retail price you see in apple
stores means nothing here. Companies like Foxconn pay Qualcomm to make those
phones, because they are the M (Manufacturer in MSRP) here.
Open data such as custom export data indicates most iphones shipped by
companies like Foxconn are valued at around half of the retail price you see
in apple stores.
~~~
icebraining
Yeap. In fact, Apple pays Foxconn which pays Qualcomm which pays Apple!
[https://appleinsider.com/articles/17/09/21/qualcomm-loses-
tw...](https://appleinsider.com/articles/17/09/21/qualcomm-loses-two-key-
rulings-in-its-patent-royalty-fight-with-apple)
------
mankash666
This is much like the multiple Apple tax(es) in place today:
1\. 30% cut on apps regardless of their price (an assumption that Apple's
channel reach is the one enabling the sale, not the merit of your app)
2\. A $5 or more price on licensing to build a MFI authorized Apple accessory
3\. Complete lockdown of apps not distributed via the app store (for iOS)
4\. Ominous warning while launching an app on the Mac, if app was downloaded
outside the app store
~~~
mdasen
Apple certainly puts taxes in, but Apple never agreed to FRAND terms. Qualcomm
did. That's a huge difference.
When an industry group sets a standard, everyone must disclose their patents
and agree to FRAND terms. If they don't, they'll work around their patents and
they'll get no licensing fees. This is because everyone will be forced to use
that standard. Rather than being a competitive market, it's a monopoly. As
such, FRAND licensing is so important.
Apple, by contrast, doesn't force you to use their technology and is far from
a monopoly. That doesn't mean that what Apple does is good or fair or just.
However, I can buy an Android phone if I dislike what Apple is doing. I can't
decide I'll buy a phone without Qualcomm's tech in it.
While Apple has significant market power, it doesn't have the type of market
power that a monopoly gives you. If Apple has patents on a lot of iPhone
things, competitors can work around it. While Apple still has power, it's much
more limited.
Without the FRAND threat, once a standard had gotten traction like LTE, a
company like Qualcomm could start charging $200/phone. Cell networks have
invested at least $25 billion per carrier in the US into LTE networks. They
have a huge installed base of LTE phone users. They can't move to a different
technology even if they wanted to.
By contrast, while Apple has power, they don't have that kind of power. When
the iPhone was AT&T-only, sure it helped AT&T, but Verizon countered with
Android devices. Sure, some people might have left Verizon for the iPhone, but
it didn't have any lasting impact on Verizon.
If Qualcomm decided to cut off Verizon from all its LTE patents and license
them exclusively to AT&T, that would kill Verizon.
Apple's biggest power-move was AT&T exclusivity, and while it helped AT&T, it
didn't change the dynamic of the industry. If Qualcomm did the same, it would
change the industry.
That's not to say you should like Apple's exercise of power. It's to note that
there's a difference between standards-essential patent licensing which is a
bedrock of how we can have these industries and Apple's somewhat annoying
practices which we wish they'd be nicer about.
~~~
tooltalk
>Apple certainly puts taxes in, but Apple never agreed to FRAND terms.
Qualcomm did. That's a huge difference.
Nonsense, that's a completely red herring. There is nothing different about
Qualcomm's or Apple's extortion-like rates. l Qualcomm can charge a percentage
per device (or unit) if this is a widely accepted reasonable industry
practice.
Further, FRAND has nothing whatsoever to do with the royalty base or rates.
Standard Setting Organizations, SSO's, aren't in the business of setting rates
or telling their members what their basis ought to be, in part for fear that
it might cross paths with regional anti-trust regulators. The IEEE has broken
the tradition recently, but it's very rare for SSO to do so. Likewise, courts
or regulators rarely want to set rates either -- for they understand their
limits in their understanding of technology and market. Where they were
exceptions (eg, Moto vs Microsoft), the courts have used the similar set of
standards industry uses to charge potential licensees.
Contrary to pro-Apple fanbois views, FRAND doesn't necessarily mean cheap or
does it imply that Qualcomm's IPs are essentially public properties. It just
means that they must be open and willing to license their IP portfolio in
fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory manner to promote optimal
interoperability and wide-adoption.
~~~
ksec
>here is nothing different about Qualcomm's or Apple's extortion-like rates
True,except you can work with android in smart phone apps, you don't even have
a choice inn Qualcomm case.
------
pentae
I wonder when App store developers try using the same case against the Apple
tax, how far they get? Why should we care about Goliath vs Goliath when the
little guys are the ones getting screwed?
~~~
JBReefer
App developers have options - iOS is a small chunk of the market. Handset
makers don’t, because of broken ip laws.
------
garmaine
Shouldn't CDMA be out of patent?
~~~
maxerickson
Probably, but they have a whole portfolio of related patents obtained at later
dates.
~~~
garmaine
Sure. So use something cinformant to the original standard.
~~~
rhino369
Backwards compatibile with the old standard. But newer standards are very
different. If you want to use the CDMA standard from 1995, you can do so
without invalidating a patent. But nobody wants to do that.
------
madengr
Is it possible the whole push to 5G is to get out from under royalties? The
first published 5G spec was not Qualcomm. There is definitely a technical
improvement, but I’ll bet there is more to it.
~~~
kalleboo
Qualcomm has plenty of 5G patents
[http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2016/03/31/5g-mobile-networks-
next...](http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2016/03/31/5g-mobile-networks-next-big-
battleground/id=67632/)
~~~
Tempest1981
Proposed 5G royalties per device: [https://www.fiercewireless.com/5g/qualcomm-
to-charge-up-to-1...](https://www.fiercewireless.com/5g/qualcomm-to-charge-up-
to-16-25-royalties-for-every-5g-phone-more-than-ericsson-s-5-phone)
Excerpt: "2.275% of the selling price of branded single-mode 5G handsets; and
a royalty rate of 3.25% ... (for) multi-mode (3G/4G/5G) handsets"
------
wyldfire
This article is inaccurate or incomplete in that it doesn't mention the
royalty cap. A more fair argument might be "the cap is too high"
To take Qualcomm's POV, consider this analogy: if you had patented the
microwave oven and you licensed that to appliance manufacturers. Those
manufacturers then decided to offer new ones with a larger cavity for cooking
larger meals. They could charge more for this new product, and might pay more
in royalties. That's not particularly unfair.
Apparently Apple's suppliers have been making phones under this licensing
agreement since before apple entered the business.
I sympathize with apple because unlike the microwave example, they truly do
innovate a lot in this space. But they protect their inventions too.
~~~
Nomentatus
This neglects FRAND - without FRAND, a patent is precisely the right to
exclude, and you can do that in just about any way you wish, including
charging royalties according to astrological principles.
------
hownottowrite
Cached: [https://archive.is/QicI4](https://archive.is/QicI4)
------
JudasGoat
Apple could get back at Qualcomm and charge $100 for an Iphone, right?
~~~
robocat
I wonder if they could charge $100 for the phone, and have a separate $500
boxed copy of the OS to install? Or an OEM licence that the phone seller
installs for the consumer?!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Internal Facebook Note: Here Is a “Psychological Trick” to Target Teens - dsr12
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/ryanmac/facebooks-teens-tbh-psychological-trick-memo?m
======
analogmemory
Discussion from yesterday:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17711930](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17711930)
------
PhasmaFelis
Ironic to see this coming from Buzzfeed.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Offer HN: I'll build it, you design it - b9704
If you're a designer with an idea but haven't been able to team up with a developer I may be able to help you out.<p>I have some time on my hands so I'm offering 24 hours of rails development (spread over a week or so) to help build your mvp. Post your idea here and I'll choose one to work on from the top 3 most voted ideas.<p>- you'll need a git repo I can commit to<p>- you'll retain full ownership over everything<p>- you'll have to do the design, I'm offering rails development only<p>No charge. No catch. I just thought it would be fun to collaborate with someone and hopefully build something people will use.
======
wittjeff
IT for the Blind. (non-profit) Basically like Kickstarter, but applicants will
be asking for (pooled) funding for always-too-expensive technology that helps
overcome vision problems. Check out Humanware.com for example of this kind of
gear.
The main problem with this kind of technology is that it remains very
expensive, even as tech in general keeps getting cheaper. A CCTV that would
help Grandma write checks and read Christmas cards may cost $1500 on the low
end. The market-dominant screen reader applications have been around $800
since I was an accessibility program manager in the 90s. The main problem is
that with such a small market they don't get good economies of scale. Some
have estimated that we may currently reach as little as 5% of the affected
population, and cost is a big factor.
Fundraising for Guide Dogs for the Blind, and their many clones, is
ridiculously easy. It's a pitch everyone can understand. Well, guide dogs get
many blind people outside their house, but technology lets them keep middle-
class jobs, interact with the world via the internet, etc. In terms of
fundraising, it's a fairly powerful pitch, but there is no equivalent central
non-profit that just focuses on IT. Most of the non-profits out there focus on
skills training or fighting the causes of blindness. IT for the Blind will
first determine whether applicants can get funding from schools and employers
(as required by law), then pass on the many requests that aren't addressed by
existing sources.
I've got board members / founders and a UI spec, but haven't been focusing on
this one because my consulting work has been keeping me busy. I'll be able to
work on it full time in the summer, and having a MVP would make initial donor
fundraising much easier.
By the way, you should assume that donated work would be tax deductible, if we
get 501(c)(3) status this year. :) Thanks!
~~~
b9704
Great idea and a worthy cause. What do you think about (eventually) releasing
the code as open source?
I'm in the UK so US tax regulations aren't relevant.
~~~
wittjeff
I'm definitely open to sharing code. I also have friends in the UK who have
deep experience in this area and can give advice on setting up a non-profit
over there.
------
martinshen
If you have availability... probably more long term than short.. My buddy is
looking for a good dev to work with the music industry. He's building fan
sites with gaming elements. He has a few medium names signed up: Wale, Diggy
and others at Rock Nation. He's seed FFF funded and raising cash. I'd work but
I'm caught up with <http://UpOut.com>
Shoot me a PM martincshen [at] gmail.com if you're interested in it.
------
systemtrigger
Wow, that's very kind of you. I'm just learning Rails so would appreciate the
help with my mvp.
I designed and prototyped a text-to-speech service - <http://audiothink.com>
\- and need help making it work.
It's on heroku. If you provide me your email address I will add you as a
collaborator to [email protected]:seirt.git
Otherwise here is the identical repo on github:
[email protected]:ryanm/audiothink.git
I was thinking of using Wufoo to handle payments. That may be out-of-scope for
an mvp, but if it isn't I can add you as a collaborator on Wufoo as well.
My email address is [email protected] if you want to discuss. To anyone
else reading this, I could sure use a co-founder with some Rails skills -
please reach out to me if you're interested in partnering.
------
maxbrown
Simple, inexpensive, drop.io-style assignment management for educators. E-mail
me for more info if interested in the project - maxbrown at umich.edu.
------
kingsidharth
Where do we contact you? Possible on email? I have the idea ready, how it's
gonna work out - ready.
I think I can learn rails enf to do the views and design part later - but core
is what I need help in.
~~~
b9704
I'd prefer if people post their ideas here.
~~~
kingsidharth
Idea: Take reading material from your Instapaper & Twitter (more services
later) and suggest you the best ones out of all to read.
I don't have time to read 1000 links that cross my way and most of them I miss
out. So just gives me the best and improves suggestions based on reading
habits.
I've the factors I decided to rank the articles. Can mail you the flow-chart
or something?
~~~
wittjeff
Do you have an algorithm for this, or an app idea? Some folks at the MIT Media
Lab worked on this concept in the early 90s. See for example
[http://web.media.mit.edu/~lieber/Lieberary/Letizia/AIA/AIA.h...](http://web.media.mit.edu/~lieber/Lieberary/Letizia/AIA/AIA.html).
I mention it only because it might be relevant intellectual property; I don't
claim to be up to date in that area.
~~~
kingsidharth
I have the parameters for it sorted out. So basically the concept for algo is
in place but not implemented yet.
I am not sure about IP, that ways somebody might have concept of commenting
IP'ed. =/
------
systemtrigger
Which project did you choose?
~~~
b9704
I haven't yet but I plan to tonight
~~~
robflynn
Please keep us updated when you have time. I have been interested in doing
something similar to this, possibly in exchange for some design work on one of
my own projects.
Now I've just got to find the time.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Donkey Kong: Pauline Edition (hack) - winkerVSbecks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeXDNg7scyU
======
gus_massa
Main discussion: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5354142>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
When You SHOULD and When You SHOULDN'T Use Real Time Analytics? - Cappuchin
https://onthe.io/learn+When+SHOULD+and+SHOULDN%27T+you+use+Real+Time+Analytics%3F
======
somaglor
It's always good to use real time analytics, but not to decide solely on them.
The picture is usually broader.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Indian Americans: The New Model Minority - queensnake
http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/24/bobby-jindal-indian-americans-opinions-contributors_immigrants_minority.html
======
ajju
Here's a suggestion from an Indian American on immigration policy: Don't force
skilled immigrants (even those with graduate degrees from US universities) to
work at the same employer for 5-8 years just to get a permit to stay in the
country.
I have to stay with the same employer on an H-1B visa while my application for
a greencard is pending (currently, people who applied in 2001 with a bachelors
degree or 2004 with a masters degree are being considered).
_Half_ of my immigrant classmates (Indian or not) from gradschool would have
started a startup if they didn't have to stay stuck with the same employers to
be in this country.
~~~
statictype
Why not start a startup in India? Internet access to people in India is still
on the way up and has not yet reached critical mass. You could launch a
business there targeting India-specific needs. The possible market there is
larger and not yet saturated.
FWIW, I'm kind of the opposite of you.
I'm an American citizen working in India.
~~~
jey
" _I'm an American citizen working in India._ "
Why? (I'm American but my parents are immigrants from India.)
~~~
statictype
_shrug_ , just because. I was born and brought up in America but my parents
wanted to moved back when I was 15. So I did my undergrad in India and just
continued living there. Didn't find any compelling reason to go back to
America after that. (Not that I don't like the place - I do. But I'm
comfortable living in India too)
------
biohacker42
Again with the pseudo science IQ crap!
Here's a much better metric for _immigrant quality_ what ever that means. The
more expensive the trip is, which has very good correlation with distance, the
higher IQ the immigrants will have on average. Bonus points if the only way to
get here involves a plane.
No wonder Indian immigrants are doing so well in America. Considering they are
located on opposite end of the earth, and given the average income in in India
vs the price of plane tickets, it's fairly obvious you'd have to be pretty
extraordinary to even make to the US.
~~~
g__g
I live in India. Although it's not really hard for me to get a plane ticket to
America, your reasoning I think correctly sums up everything.
------
ajju
As an Indian American, I appreciate the attention. I truly do. But comparing
an IQ score derived from the average score of immigrant Indian American kids
on an arbitrary _memory test_ (it was 112) to the average IQ of Ashkenazi Jews
(110, claims the article) to show them in better light is scientifically wrong
in so many ways, (not to mention, an indicator of nothing) it made me want to
stop reading the article.
~~~
vizard
112 was quoted as IQ score for Indian-Americans.
~~~
ajju
"When statistical adjustments are used to convert the backward digit span
results to full-scale IQ scores, Indian Americans place at about 112"
I don't know how you can meaningfully relate a score on a "backward digit"
memory test to an exact IQ score. Nevertheless, I am editing my comment to
reflect that it's an IQ score derived from the test and not the score on the
test.
------
dangoldin
The suggested action ("A new immigration policy that prioritizes skills over
family reunification could bring more successful immigrants to the U.S. By
emphasizing education, work experience and IQ in our immigration policy,
immigrant groups from other national backgrounds could join the list of model
minorities.") is similar to Australia's immigration policies which is based on
a point system.
They even have an immigration point calculator:
<http://www.workpermit.com/australia/point_calculator.htm>
~~~
aditya
As is Canada's:
[http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/tool/index.as...](http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/tool/index.asp)
------
tokenadult
Oh, yeesh, not yet more junk science on IQ. First of all, digit span is
exquisitely subject to training effects
[http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordD...](http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ762777&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ762777)
(this is just one citation among many for this often-replicated result) and
digit span is not related to important cognitive functions that sum up to
"rationality" as distinct from IQ.
[http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=97803001238...](http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=9780300123852)
[http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Tests-Miss-
Psycholog...](http://www.amazon.com/What-Intelligence-Tests-Miss-
Psychology/dp/030012385X)
But in general about articles in the popular press posted to Hacker News about
IQ, what I say is that the obligatory link for any discussion of a report on a
research result like that is the article by Peter Norvig, director of research
at Google, on how to interpret scientific research.
<http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html>
Check each news story you read for how many of the important issues in
interpreting research are NOT discussed in the story.
------
sanj
_A new immigration policy that prioritizes skills over family reunification
could bring more successful immigrants to the U.S._
And they would earn as much money as they could, and then they would leave.
Because people like being with their families, especially parents, especially
when they kids.
------
tokenadult
The most successful hack of the founders of the United States was to found a
constitutional and economic system that could bring in people from different
countries all over the world, and have them all work hard to build up a new
nation. There must be some reason that the smartest people (however we define
smart behavior) in many other countries see more opportunity in the United
States than they see in the countries where they grew up. Read the Federalist
Papers to become a better political hacker.
------
bluishgreen
"A new immigration policy that prioritizes skills over family reunification
could bring more successful immigrants to the U.S."
So if I can code and spell, and my wife cannot I get stuck without a family?
How many of your wives can spell Guerdon or whatever.
------
known
Isn't it desirable to include Indians in
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diversity_Immigrant_Visa> based on
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caste_system_in_India>
------
gclaramunt
At the end it could be read as just another lobby attempt. Using the same
statistics, we can say that the majority of H1B visa fraud is committed by
Indians, and 100% of the arrested for that kind of fraud are Indians too...
that proves anything?
------
chiffonade
This whole "model minority" concept is so incredibly degrading and haughty.
It's a bunch of white people thinking they are doing a group of people a favor
by applying a label to them.
Oh you should be so proud - you're not like how most other dark skinned people
are! So smart and able to succeed!
~~~
randomwalker
That's funny--as a member of the group under discussion, I didn't feel
particularly degraded. Nor, for that matter, did I feel proud; rather, having
always felt that the curious facts mentioned in the article deserved
scientific study, I was glad that this was getting some attention in the
mainstream press. Maybe this will prompt some research into the cultural
factors in my community and how they translate into the observed behavior. I
have anecdotal explanations, as does everyone else, for why my people prefer
certain professions, but that's not science, and it doesn't answer why the
effect is so strong, even in comparison to other Asian groups.
As the article says, "Most Americans know only one thing about Indians--they
are really good at spelling bees." I'd much rather be labeled than ignored :-)
~~~
neilk
Do you really think it's something about Indians, or just the large numbers of
candidates and the selection process?
In my experience Indians are a lot more willing to commit to long-term,
difficult projects at the urgings of elders. But they share that with other
Asian cultures. This also helps explain the spelling bee thing; Indian
families are used to the idea of rote education being very important, and even
participating in the education of their child that way. Really, almost anybody
can get that good at spelling, it's just that more European-American parents
would tend to see it as pointless.
The one thing I do find interesting is how the gender split works. Asian
minorities (in the American sense: China, Japan, SE Asia) seem to have very
different expectations of boys versus girls. But modern Indian families, from
the castes that are likely to produce US-bound immigrants, seem to encourage
their daughters to go for technology jobs. For me at least, almost 100% of the
female engineers I've worked with in the Valley were Indian-born.
And the other thing I've always found strange: the QA departments of many
companies in the Valley are dominated by Indian-born women.
~~~
chiffonade
> Asian cultures.
Oh my god dude. You mean all the people from Asia who came to the US for the
explicit reason to bust their ass and get rich.
Go to Asia, if you've never been (I'm guessing not). You're going to find
plenty of lazy people who aren't that smart.
~~~
neilk
Uh, I have? Also, I am half Indian, half mix-of-all-European-countries-
Canadian, so I know what North American families are like as well as Indian
immigrant families.
In Indian families, children obey and rely on their parents well into
adulthood. At pretty much all levels of society. I am a committed Western-
style individualist, so I actually think this is a very bad thing.
So you're right that not everyone is a careerist, and that immigrants are
self-selected for ambition. But, the thing I was drawing attention to was that
an Indian parent can and will suggest a long-term career like going to medical
school, and many Indian kids actually do it _just because their parents said
so_.
This is changing -- today, Indian kids assert their own choices more and more
-- but it is amazing to me that there are Indian bachelors I know in their
30s, even some living in North America, who still expect mummy and daddy to
find them a bride.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Origin: Making 3D Printing Ready for Mass Production - rmason
https://medium.com/@m2jr/origin-making-3d-printing-ready-for-mass-production-1f48193ec3af
======
bradknowles
Sounds good at first glance.
But what’s the actual technology?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
YC W2016 Interview Invites - techbullets
Does anyone know around what time are the invites/rejects sent out?
======
oucil
Seems lots of us are still waiting, reports in both of these threads...
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10467290](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10467290)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10466754](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10466754)
------
sr_banksy
I think they send them at the end of business Pacific Time.
------
jshaap
Got email couple minutes ago and unfortunately we were rejected. Best of luck
to you all!
------
KurtKumar
Did anyone get actual invites to the interviews?
------
sfraise
Anyone want to share what you're working on?
~~~
Molz
Customized Nootropic Stacks. www.mindfyl.com. You?
------
sfraise
Just got our rejection email
------
jiahen
I am waiting for it too.
------
JasonMWomack
I am still waiting .
------
guilha
Just got it.
------
tezer
Nothing yet?
~~~
jiahen
yup.
------
Aditya_DIKY
Waiting
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
XAML Edit and Continue - mjgoeke
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/visualstudio/2016/04/06/ui-development-made-easier-with-xaml-edit-continue/
======
mjgoeke
I'm really happy to see microsoft implementing this feature. A couple years
ago at work I created a tool to do this within a single (Caliburn Micro) WPF
app. We called it the Dynamic View Reloader. It basically intercepted calls to
caliburn micro's ViewLocator and either fell back to the default
implementation, or Xaml Parsed the (sanitized) xaml for the view. The results
felt rather magical and was a huge productivity boost for visual/layout
changes. I've been hopeful since that microsoft would make that sort of
feature a priority. Apparently today is the day, bravo.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Resources for Hackers - patrickk
NOTE: I realise there is a link at the bottom of the page for this, I've submitted this there already; but I'd like to get some feedback on this.<p>Resource lists for Hackers. This would fit nicely next to "submit" above.<p>Over the last few days, I've looked for music/white noise that people listen to while coding, and this kind of discussion pops up now and again. It pisses off people who've commented on the older discussion, and possibly disenfranchises newer readers who see all the negativity on the repeat thread.<p>Net result: it's difficult to get a nice, complete list.<p>What's needed is a list of books/music/white noise sources/software tools/hardware/useful websites divided by topic/[insert stereotypical geeky obsession here] that people can upvote and comment their favourite.<p>I use Lifehacker.com as a way of discovering new, useful software, it would also be nice to get those kind of suggestions easily on HN.<p>My suggestion would be to scrape the past discussions on these topics and let the readers sort out the jumbled data, as a start. Crowdsourcing one of the brainiest audiences on the web, bound to work out.<p>Bonus for Paul Graham's wallet: more book sales.
======
pg
I think the more general answer would be to designate certain topics as
evergreen, and have a page listing those.
~~~
patrickk
Perhaps even a wiki, usable by HN members. That way it wouldn't necessarily
add to your administrative burden. I recall you mentioning how much of your
time HN takes up in some video I saw recently.
------
johnl
For white noise you might try: brainwavelab.blogspot.com It's not in English
but that should be no problem. Dig up the tropical storm stuff.
~~~
patrickk
A great one I found too was SimplyNoise.com
It allows you to select white, pink or brown noise, and select whether you
want the noise to oscillate automatically or not. You can also download the
sound file and listen to the looped track in iTunes.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why Capitalism Creates Pointless Jobs - monsieurpng
http://evonomics.com/why-capitalism-creates-pointless-jobs-david-graeber/
======
objectivistbrit
'Capitalism' doesn't create jobs. Companies create jobs. Many companies are
badly managed, and employ staff they don't need. This is true. (And only has
one solution - people not taking jobs they think are pointless, and companies
not hiring for those positions).
However, the OP is calling jobs "pointless" based on reference to his ideal
planned economy where everyone works on a factory or farm for 15 hours a week.
In this imaginary utopia, jobs which grease the wheels of capitalism - sales,
marketing, finance - are superfluous.
Thing is, planned economies fail disastorously badly in practice. I assume HN
knows why. The deeper issue is that many capitalistic service businesses do
serve a vital purpose - finance is a hyper-efficient resource allocation
engine, for example, marketing ensures customers find the best products for
their needs, and so on. The managers and administrators the OP reviles are
highly paid precisely because making large organisations efficient (e.g., not
hiring for unneccessary jobs) is hard.
Instead of asking why someone chooses to pay for jobs in these areas, the OP
simply assumes that they need to be abolished, by fiat, and like every
intellectual since Plato starts planning how everyone should live their lives
in his ideal republic.
------
gozur88
What nonsense.
Yes, compared to 1910 there are more people in administrative positions, and
this has _nothing to do with capitalism_. It's government. It's because there
are more rules, more laws, more restrictions. Rules, laws, and restrictions,
by the way, that are very popular with voters.
You can do away with all these "bullshit jobs" if you're prepared to do
without environmental restrictions, a nontrivial tax code, employment
regulations, etc. Do we really want to live in the non-rose-tinted world of
1910, where you can legally pipe your toxic wasted into the nearest river,
where you can fire your secretary if she won't sleep with you, where you can
chop down the tree with the last spotted owl?
There's a cost to economic organization. One that you can't just wave away.
The idea a job is a "bullshit job" if the person holding that job isn't
swinging a hammer is just childish.
~~~
scotty79
I could do without nontrivial tax code.
~~~
gozur88
People _say_ that, but most of the complexity in the tax code (that average
people deal with, anyway) is there in an effort to make it more "fair" or to
encourage socially beneficial behavior.
~~~
scotty79
Which fails horribly and instead benefits many antisocial economical
behavioirs. Encouraging "right" activities through convoluted taxation has all
the same qualities as planned economy. Although it's not as harmful because it
affects smaller percentage of economy.
~~~
gozur88
Nonetheless, this is what voters want.
~~~
scotty79
Not really. It's what the representatives think voters won't strongly oppose
to.
------
dilemma
Enterprise organizations are like machines: They need to be serviced and
maintained. That is what these "pointless jobs" are for, but they're not
pointless. They're vital for the function of the organization and therefore
essential to the economy. They just aren't fun or well paid, like factory
jobs.
------
hammock
(2013). And blogspam. Original: [http://strikemag.org/bullshit-
jobs/](http://strikemag.org/bullshit-jobs/)
------
HillaryBriss
A lot of programming jobs turn out to be pointless. Is that what this article
is about? I didn't read it.
------
squozzer
I liked the article better when it had the chimp in a suit for its lead
illustration.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Windows 10, coming July 29, free to Win7 and 8.1 users - aroch
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/windows-10-faq
======
btgeekboy
Maybe I'm just thinking old school here, but I don't see a way to download an
ISO / USB image and get a product key. If we want to do a fresh install,
anyone have any ideas how that's going to work?
~~~
rdudek
I was going to ask the same thing. I am not 100% but I think I did see an
option to do a format type of deal when I got the 8.1 upgrade.
In any event, even though my Windows 8 setup from 2 years ago is running
excellent on my Intel SSD drive, I thing Windows 10 will be a big enough
upgrade to warrant a fresh install. I already have most of my stuff backed up
so it will be just a matter of reinstalling my applications.
~~~
Encosia
FWIW, the upgrade process works very well. If your current setup doesn't have
any issues, I wouldn't bother with a full repave.
I've upgraded a half dozen machines from 8.x to 10 throughout the past several
months and all of them have gone smoothly. The only real issue I've had is
that I needed to reinstall the driver for my ScanSnap scanner after one of the
upgrades.
------
Tomdarkness
What is the purpose of reserving your free upgrade? Is there any advantage or
is it just some kind of capacity planning tool for Microsoft?
------
nogridbag
This is surprising. I was expecting a release much later this year. Actually,
I just tried installing Windows 10 in a VM using VirtualBox with OS X as my
host OS and it hasn't really gone so well. I encountered lots of bugs and
instability right from the initial setup and first 15 minutes of use. Right
after initial setup, it froze while signing into my MS account (seems to be a
common problem) so I took some advice I found online and rebooted skipping
this step and opting to use a local account. This worked fine, but upon
completing initial setup it flashed the welcome message multiple times "Hi"
... "Unknown User" .... "Hi" .... (I suppose for each of the two accounts it
had just created). Then I launched Settings, and then Spartan, and the start
menu stopped functioning... :) Really looking forward to this release. I just
hope it's stable!
------
ListeningPie
Does anyone know if Windows 10 will support external graphics via thunderbolt
like in the vaio Z [https://www.theverge.com/2011/10/24/2510531/sony-vaio-
series...](https://www.theverge.com/2011/10/24/2510531/sony-vaio-series-
review)
------
mhurron
And what if I fail to 'reserve' my free copy? Because that's excatly what I
intend to do.
------
arscan
I thought that Windows 10 was switching to a subscription model, but I can't
find any details on that here. Did they decide to stick with the traditional
pricing after all?
------
wlesieutre
Previous discussion here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9637292](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9637292)
~~~
atap
Microsoft's forum sliding efforts are quite muscular, and serious.
~~~
pmelendez
If you check the history of the user who posted this, it is not Microsoft
exclusive at all.
Why is there always a comment like this in every MS related story?
------
mplscoder
I'm skeptical it will work with Mac BootCamp
~~~
wlesieutre
Yes, you'll want to wait until Apple puts out drivers for it.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9638084](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9638084)
~~~
Max_Horstmann
Hopefully, when they do, it'll support _two_ external Thunderbolt displays on
a MacBook Pro.
[http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/171650/boot-camp-
on...](http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/171650/boot-camp-only-detects-
two-out-of-three-monitors)
------
rfolstad
Here I thought Microsoft was changing.. Why not make the consumer/developer
version free for all and only charge for the enterprise versions.
Is it so hard for them to realize that they can make more money in the long
run if people use windows rather than promoting other free alternatives by
putting a price on it?
~~~
wvenable
> Why not make the consumer/developer version free for all and only charge for
> the enterprise versions.
Probably because Microsoft makes a lot of money licensing the OS to PC and
device manufacturers.
Most end-users already don't pay exclusively for Windows -- it's bundled in
with the price of the device. What's the purpose of making Windows free if
most people, with the hardware to run it, are already entitled to it?
~~~
rfolstad
If windows was free for schools, consumers and developers for the last 15
years I think the tech landscape would look much different than it does today
in Microsofts favour. Also I dont think that it would affect their revenue
that much. If i'm not mistaken most of their revenue comes from enterprise
licensing.
~~~
apalmer
Ummm windows even today, own 93% of the desktop market. You think giving it
away would have improved on that? The only significant desktop OS that they
could have taken share from is OSX where people are paying the same or more.
Microsoft makes money from selling OSs and from selling Office. The suggestion
to stop selling OS's for some kinda freemium model, just doesnt make sense.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Disruptive innovations and why great firms are so helpless to survive the impact. - vorador
http://www.msmisp.com/futuretest/Disruptive-cake.htm
======
russell
The article discusses Clayton Christensen's "The Innovator's Dilemma, When New
Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail", which shows why large entrenched
companies don't survive disruptive technologies. The dilemma for the incumbent
companies is, do I make the the incremental improvements in the current
product (which the customers are demanding) or do I cannibalize it in favor of
a (currently) niche product?
Innovator's Dilemma is out of print, but I strongly encourage any would be
entrepreneur to get hold of a copy. I consider it to be one of the most
important books to read and understand. It will show you how to be disruptive.
The bigger your competitors, the better.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What Analyzing 50 Brand Guides Taught Us About Building a Lasting Company - tgoldberg
http://sketchdeck.com/blog/what-analyzing-50-brand-guides-taught-us-about-building-a-lasting-company
======
pj_costello
"20% of all companies stuck to Helvetica for their font face"
I'm really curious about the lesser known fonts people really like since
Helvetica and Arial are so common.
------
mliso
Very interesting read. Can't say it's surprising how much of a skew towards
positive startups have.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Profound Programmer - da02
http://www.jwz.org/blog/2012/07/the-profound-programmer/
======
dustin999
Indents with tabs are bad? I always thought this was a good thing, allowing
each user to set their tab spacing.
~~~
SeppoErviala
Languages where indents have semantic meaning tend to prefer spaces. Python
style guide [1] explicitly specifies spaces and while Ruby community doesn't
have official style guide all their popular unofficial style guides prefer
spaces over tabs.
I think the problem is that it's so easy to accidentally mix spaces and tabs
that it is more convenient to disable tabs and just use spaces.
[1] <http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: YC Series A Deck Template? - ian0
I found the YC Seed Deck Template[1] by Aaron Harris / akharris extremely useful to keep our deck in check. (thanks Aaron!) The article mentions there was a series A deck in the works, but I don't think it was released. Any plans to do so?<p>[1] https://blog.ycombinator.com/intro-to-the-yc-seed-deck/
======
slap_shot
I have the privilege of getting see a lot of pitch decks, from seed to late
round. Most of them are really, really bad.
I'm a founder and have two decks: one is 9 slides, the other is 3.
I think all seed and even Series A decks should follow a very similar format:
problem, solution/product, team, traction, competition and the ask.
I think two really good examples are Guy's Kawasaki's pitch deck[0] and
Sequoia's[1]. If you're veering off these paths, you had better have a damn
good reason (hint: you probably don't). I especially like Kawasaki's "What's
the underlying magic?" slide, and I really like Sequoia's "Why now?" Those two
slides are underrepresented.
I just looked at three decks that were sent me this week: 26 slides, 23
slides, 17 slides. Unnecessary.
Lastly, I'm in the minority with this belief, but I think more founders should
run their decks past designers. I'm not saying you need an elaborate and fancy
design, but good typography and composition make it look like you care. But,
as always, content is king.
[0] [https://guykawasaki.com/the-only-10-slides-you-need-in-
your-...](https://guykawasaki.com/the-only-10-slides-you-need-in-your-pitch/)
[1] [https://www.slideshare.net/PitchDeckCoach/sequoia-capital-
pi...](https://www.slideshare.net/PitchDeckCoach/sequoia-capital-
pitchdecktemplate)
edit: removed my opinion of the HN seed examples after further reflection.
~~~
ian0
Cheers for the links. If you followed the sequoia link you would end up with a
huge deck though - I think the original article [1] sums it up better.
[1] [https://www.sequoiacap.com/article/writing-a-business-
plan/](https://www.sequoiacap.com/article/writing-a-business-plan/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What are the best blogs/sites to generate big buzz? - rami
======
ereldon
i'm part of writewith, a yc startup, and i have a side gig writing for
venturebeat. the readership skews towards investors and established
entrepreneurs. so although it has a smaller readership than TC and some of the
others, there's a lot of value in getting covered by it.
email me at eric at writewith dot com if you have a good story idea.
~~~
dshah
I agree with Eric.
VentureBeat is great with high quality content and a relatively savvy
readership.
------
rami
So far I have: TechCrunch GegaOm ReadWriteWeb WebWorkerDaily LifeHacker
~~~
KB
I would suggest that any rss feed aggregated through
<http://web20.originalsignal.com/> should all be on your radar.
------
jaggederest
Why are people so concerned about buzz?
Buzz is for people who cannot build a useful product.
Once you have a useful product, it's not 'buzz', it's marketing. Hire a suit
for that.
~~~
rami
Buzz = free marketing :)
~~~
jaggederest
Right, but it's completely out of your target market. To me, buzz means 'Oh,
hey, they'll never actually use it, but it looks cool'
~~~
rami
Steve Rubel from micropersuasion.com will disagree with you :) Few marketing
keywords: meme and word of mouth
------
RyanGWU82
For me it's Scholastic News and Nick.com.
(In other words: shouldn't this depend on your product and your target
market?!? Or is everyone just building generic Web 2.0 apps that only appeal
to alpha geeks?)
------
Mistone
Business 2 Beta, and some of the Inc. blogs can be good a well, also there are
a few ZDNet blogs that might be applicable.
------
ivan
<http://www.emilychang.com/go/ehub>
~~~
jamesbritt
I have eHub in my bloglines collection, but gave up trying to track sites
because, after a while, they all become a blur of vowel-deficient clones.
------
zaidf
Nothing like TechCrunch.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Product Team Antipatterns - allanberger
http://www.allanberger.com/post/35054897217/anti-patterns-of-lean-ux
======
allanberger
Have you made an experience based upon one of the topics mentioned in this
article? Do you know some Product Team Anti-Patterns everybody should be aware
of? I’d love to hear your opinion.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Tox: A Free as in Freedom Skype replacement - Spittie
http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=8KdFUiFa
======
verrsa
Does this support Android? Would be so sick so chat with IRC friends on the go
~~~
volitek
There's an android client in the works:
[https://github.com/Astonex/Antox](https://github.com/Astonex/Antox)
------
L4mppu
[https://tox.im/](https://tox.im/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Trustycon LiveStream: Starts at 9:30am Pacific Time - zmanian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkO8SNiDSw0&feature=share
======
zmanian
It only worked for me after turning off Https Everywhere.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Data Dividend Project - snake117
https://www.datadividendproject.com/
======
dang
Comments moved to
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23601333](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23601333).
Normally we'd have merged the other way, since this is the canonical source
and was posted earlier, but people are complaining about not being able to
read the site.
------
zirkonit
> Access from your Country was disabled by the administrator.
Cutting off entire countries at the level of firewall rules seems almost
dehumanizing.
~~~
Hitton
I wonder why in the current year™ this isn't considered racist too.
EDIT: I'm getting downvoted and I don't know why. When Trump issued travel ban
on citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen it was
considered racist. I don't see how banning users from other countries using
some other arbitrary measures is any less racist.
~~~
sergiotapia
It will be just give it time.
At previous positions I've banned entire countries like China from our
backend. The truth is some companies do zero business in Country X, so it
makes sense to outright ban them to avoid the headache.
You should see the traffic I would get from people in china trying to hack in
our backends. The funniest bits were seeing people trying to hit /phpmyadmin
------
robjan
Unable to access this site in Hong Kong: "Access from your Country was
disabled by the administrator."
For anyone else with this problem, here's an archive link:
[https://archive.is/h3PWJ](https://archive.is/h3PWJ)
------
lucasb9
The online "user data" business model is identical to the highway, or the
magazine, or the mall, or the airport business model. You create traffic by
providing access at or below cost, and make money by selling ads to all the
traffic you create. Should highways, airports or magazines pay users money
from the revenue they generate by selling ads around their high traffic
properties?
Another consideration is about the proportion of an ad's cost that can be
attributable to the data these companies have, which depends on the degree to
which the ad is targeted or not. For example, are keyword-tied search ads and
the money Google makes from them related at all to any data they may have on
you?
Furthermore, any attempt to account for the "price" of used data (basically
just something to id you online) should be matched by a valuation of the true
value this companies offer in compensation. In the case of google: what's the
value to users from having fast, accurate search; petabytes upon petabytes of
free content (from the mundane to the educational) on youtube ($5 - $9/mo if
you go by Disney+/Netflix prices); and entire office suite ($5 - $12/mo
looking at many SaaS/Office 365) kept up to date; a quality email client
($99/yr for Hey); a free OS for your phone and computer (Android/Chromebooks);
a high quality global mapping service w/ turn-by-turn GPS ($300 devices back
in the day?); a Calendar ($3 - $9/mo looking at competitors), 15GB of cloud
storage; unlimited storage for all your photos in the cloud (say the average
user has 50Gb of photos, thats $3 - $9/mo).... and I could go on. In the case
of Facebook I believe there is genuine value in having a directory of all your
friends/acquaintances/family, and a repository for memories either there or on
instagram.
I see the techlash and policies like this data-dividend as a very natural
impulse from society to get a spoonfull from the honeypot these companies
created. Just because it is natural doesn't mean it is right. Our economic
model is premised on the idea that the fruits of your labor/property/ideas are
yours to keep, however spectacular they may be. Keep in mind that this policy
does nothing to change the way this companies operate, or question their
overall effects on society.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
RPN Ever 4 - wlll
http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2760-rpn-ever-4-
Get your nerdon.
======
shubber
Funniest thing is "RPN sounds like a joke" - like they're discovering it for
the first time. Isn't RPN the next chapter after hexadecimal in The Short
Course for Computer Geeks?
New tech interview question:
1 2 + 3 * 4 - 5 / =
~~~
burgerbrain
Seriously, RPN was freshman year stuff for me. Did all the schools somehow
ditch the classic "write a calculator" assignment?
~~~
el_chapitan
I recall learning prefix before I learned RPN. Then again, our teaching
language was scheme. Writing an RPN calculator was one of the first homework
assignments, though.
------
cromulent
My dad worked for HP when I was at high school so I had a 12C. It was great,
mostly because no-one else would just "borrow it for a second" due to the RPN.
A few years later I bought a paddock car for $150 (for a demolition derby on a
friend's property) and it had a 12C in the glovebox. I sold it for $100. 150
[enter] 100 [minus] = $50 car.
------
amalcon
I know a guy who likes to tell the following story about how he learned RPN:
Back in college, his calculator battery died right before a big test. He
borrowed his roommate's calculator. It was an HP calculator.
After failing that test, he made a point to both learn RPN _and_ always keep
extra batteries.
------
tzs
HP has official HP calculator apps on the iOS app store. There's a 12c for
$15:
[http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hp-12c-financial-
calculator/i...](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hp-12c-financial-
calculator/id318954345?mt=8)
A 12c Platinum for $20:
[http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hp-12c-platinum-
financial/id3...](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hp-12c-platinum-
financial/id328224790?mt=8)
Finally, a 15c for $30:
[http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hp-15c-scientific-
calculator/...](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hp-15c-scientific-
calculator/id318956846?mt=8)
~~~
nas
Emulation is a good idea. HP spent a huge amount of resources to try to ensure
their calculators return the best possible numeric results. It is an issue
many people forget about, for example, compare the statistical function
accuracy of Excel vs R or Gnumeric.
As an example in the calculator world, I like free42 and had it installed on
my Palm. However, I don't have the same confidence in it as I have in my HP-48
or my HP-35s. If I'm doing engineering calculations then I really prefer to
use a real HP calculator or an emulated one using original firmware.
~~~
roxstar
One of the sad things though is that hp has really declined in quality
calculators, if you look around you'll find quite a few problems regarding
accuracy in the new 35s close to critical values. (Though they may have
updated the software version since my purchase a few years ago)
I do like my giant hp50g for anything that doesn't need matlab though, and the
35s is still pretty good despite its errors (especially since I know where the
errors exist).
------
mcculley
I have a 48SX on my desk that I use almost every day. It's not just the
notation and interaction that is nice as there are plenty of calculator apps
that support RPN. The tactile feel of the keys gives good positive feedback
that you haven't missed a digit when calculating in a hurry.
~~~
alexg0
apt-get install rpncalc
~~~
SageRaven
Better yet: "apt-get install x48"
~~~
alexg0
E: Unable to locate package x48 :-(
------
ScottBurson
I'm sure that part of the reason I found Lisp syntax so natural, when I first
encountered it, is that all the time I had spent in high school using RPN
calculators had already warped my brain^W^W^W helped me escape from the
tyranny of being able to think only in infix.
~~~
arethuza
Many years ago I was working on a project that required development in Lisp, C
and PostScript. If sort of agree that jumping from Lisp to PostScript and
vice-versa was somehow easier that jumping from either into the infix world of
C.
------
alexg0
For all the die hard RPNers, m48 and pcalc on iphone great replacements. m48
actually runs original HP48 and HP49 roms.
<http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/m48/id332100614?mt=8>
~~~
SkyMarshal
I just installed Droid48 on my Android, it looks really good so far too:
<https://github.com/shagr4th/droid48>
<http://www.appbrain.com/app/org.ab.x48>
------
KC8ZKF
I have a 12C as well. The OS X desktop calculator has an RPN mode, but the
very best RPN desktop calculator is Emacs Calc. It has an infinite stack, is
programmable with Lisp, and can even operate on formulas in other buffers.
------
yason
Reverse-Polish notation is safe and good. I use M-x calc, mylsef.
------
DarthShrine
I have an HP 35s which I found to be a lovely calculator which got me started
with RPN. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to use it at school for my final exams
since they had a list of specifically approved calculators (which the 35s
would never have made since it's programmable). I switched to the Casio
fx-82AU Plus which graphically displays your calculation, meaning you don't
have to keep track of the inside-to-out expansion of RPN or the mountains of
parentheses you usually require in algebraic mode. They're both good systems,
but I can see the graphical display being more useable for most people
(despite being awfully slow).
------
cagey
My dad had a HP25 (not C), which was the first calc I ever used. I can't use a
algebraic calc (drives me nuts). I had an 11C, then a HP15C in college, sold
em both to get a HP71B. Now I collect these when I can. There's something nice
about holding the HP quality in your hand. I've picked up a number of HP48's
off craigslist over the years for cheap: I've never used them "in anger" but
wow they've so much better than the single-line display calcs (to say nothing
of their programmability) that got me thru college. My dad still uses his
HP32SII for engineering calcs on the go...
------
wazoox
A friend of mine is so fond of HP calculators he wrote a complete language
inspired by RPN, Reverse Polish Lisp (RPL) : <http://www.rpl2.net/>
------
proee
We put RPN mode on eCalc. Just click on the ALG menu button on the top right.
<http://www.ecalc.com/>
When we started with the project, I was a die-hard RPN guy. However, buy the
end I was converted over to using algebraic. There's a little tear in the
corner of my eye right now.
~~~
habitatforus
Being able to see the stack is a great feature. Thanks!
------
tomkarlo
The default OSX “Calculator” has RPN support as well, just press cmd-R. Handy
to know if you forget your 12C.
------
gchpaco
I'm so much an RPN geek that I have an HP 41CX emulator for my phone, because
my physical calculator isn't everywhere. (It's actually an excellent emulator,
but of course there's no tactile feel to be had from the keys, which I miss a
lot)
------
samlittlewood
Don't forget the unix version:
mac:~ sam$ dc
2 2 + p
4
mac:~ sam$
------
ilikejam
That is frankly awesome. People think there's something wrong with me for
using dc instead of bc in Unix shells.
Not sure I can justify £50 to buy the hardware version, though.
------
bound008
This article deserves upvoting just for the title alone.
------
muerdeme
Best calculator ever - HP 32Sii: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP-32S>
------
pqs
In high school and college I used a HP48GX first and then a HP49G. Now I'm
using Emacs Calc.
------
NoSalt
I love my 48G ... it got me through Calc I/II/III and DiffEq.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Engineer builds 'working' Thor's hammer that only he can lift - davidiach
http://www.cnet.com/news/engineer-builds-working-thors-hammer-only-he-can-lift/
======
Jemaclus
This is pretty clever. The major improvements I'd want to make are some sort
of RFID chip that deactivates the magnet when I'm close enough, instead of a
fingerprint scanner. It seems like anyone who gets close enough can see the
scanner, so I'd prefer to have something more invisible.
And the second thing would be just to improve the lag time between grasping
the handle and the deactivation of the magnet, so I can just lean down and
casually grab it, instead of having to hold it for a second before bringing it
up. The more magic, the better.
Still, this is pretty awesome!
~~~
deftnerd
There are some ways that he could have improved the deactivation routine, but
I thought the most clever thing was that he used a capacitance sensor to
activate the magnet the moment the handle was touched. That had to greatly
increase the battery life.
~~~
jobigoud
But also make it prone to discovery as the guy at the end of the video that
spin the hammer out without touching the handle.
~~~
poizan42
You could probably spin it out even with the magnet activated. The friction
coefficient is probably too low for any realistic electromagnet to be strong
enough to make it impossible to "slide" out.
Just try with a magnet on your fridge door. It's much easier to slide it
around than it is to pull it away.
------
carbide
Cool idea, terrible acting. I feel like the "wow" factor in his audience was
really killed by the awkward way he made it look like he was pushing a button
and waiting for something to happen, instead of struggling to "lift" the
hammer while he waited for the thumbprint to register.
~~~
Cerium
I knew a guy that made a lightsaber that only he could use. Part of the act
was that only a "real Jedi" can activate a lightsaber. He used a neodymium
ring and a hall sensor. The trick was seamless.
~~~
HeyLaughingBoy
With all the people getting magnets implanted subcutaneously, that would be an
even better trick!
~~~
sslayer
This would end badly - around this Thors hammer, it would rip them right out
through the skin.
~~~
curiousGambler
And this is why I will never get a magnet implant, despite the wicked cool
ability to sense active AC power lines.
------
oakwhiz
It needs an accelerometer to engage the magnet if the device is disturbed
without the handle being touched.
~~~
khaki54
Ahh yeah to prevent the guy from spinning it off and picking it up
~~~
raziel2701
Most of the magnetic field lines are along the z-axis (up and down) so anyone
could still simply slide the hammer towards the end of the metallic floor it's
sitting on(like the sewer cover) and be able to pick it up then. That's how we
unstick really strong magnetic targets in our sputtering system, we simply
slide them off.
------
MisterBastahrd
Woulda been cool to add a remote shutoff so that the kids trying to lift it
could have a bit of a thrill.
~~~
slazaro
Downside: They might throw it or smash it on the ground like they might with a
regular hammer.
------
lifeformed
I was hoping that instead of magnets, it would just be extremely heavy, and be
able to activate an internal gyroscopic system to do something like this:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeyDf4ooPdo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeyDf4ooPdo)
It'd be pretty hard to fit all that in a small package though, and probably
dangerous.
~~~
Moshe_Silnorin
That's not how physics works. If the hammer is too heavy to lift, putting a
flywheel in it isn't going to change that.
------
ck2
Instead of a thumbprint, he should have used a bracelet with an rfid chip,
much faster response time and his hand could have been anywhere on the handle.
Or just inject the rfid chip under your finger.
~~~
yakult
A fake wedding ring would be better. Won't look out of place, doesn't require
surgery.
~~~
ck2
Ring would have to be non-ferrous
------
animex
An NFC ring might have been a better solution than the laggy fingerprint
scanner. Still, cool idea!
------
jeffwass
In 'The Illusionist', the magician Eisenheim did a similar trick to Crown
Prince Leopold, except it was King Arthur's sword in the stone.
------
magicseth
Magician Robert-Houdin performed this trick in 1846 (without the fingerprint
reader) [1]
He used the "Light and Heavy Chest" to demonstrate his ability to remove the
strength of men for political ends.
[1] [http://www.themagicdetective.com/2012/05/politics-magic-
and-...](http://www.themagicdetective.com/2012/05/politics-magic-and-wooden-
chest.html)
------
netcraft
I think NFC or Bluetooth might have been better but neat execution
nonetheless.
~~~
mmanfrin
NFC matched to a subdermal NFC chip would be great.
~~~
tlrobinson
Is there enough metal in those that a strong electromagnetic (say, like the
one in this device) could rip it out of your skin...?
~~~
drewbug
MRI machines don't: [https://dangerousthings.com/implant-
faq/#mri](https://dangerousthings.com/implant-faq/#mri)
------
copsarebastards
I'd have picked a different legend: the sword in the stone is more similar to
how this works, the sword can be wielded by anyone after the king pulls it out
of the stone, and this hammer can be wielded by anyone after the engineer
pulls if off of the magnet. Thor's hammer can only be wielded by him, ever.
But it's still awesome.
------
Vintila
Is it possible to figure out the force required to lift this with magnets
engaged?
------
trishume
Neat project.
I can't help but wonder if you could beat the magnet by kicking the handle
sideways, the strong impact multiplied by the lever force might be enough to
beat it.
~~~
paultannenbaum
Good observation! If you watch the video to the end, this actually happens.
------
KM33
This is really neat. I wonder if there is the possibility of using a similar
magnet set-up as a lock? I worry about my motorcycle being stolen since it is
so easy to pick up and most locks can be broken, if I had an electro-magnet
like this one it might be much harder to steal.
------
brador
Could you do something similar with cornflour mix?
~~~
c0nfused
In testing, I found that the cornflower mix did not conceal the magnets
effectively enough for the illusion to be maintained.
YMMV:)
------
ljk
Since it's magnet, did it break the electronic devices the "lifters" were
carrying?
~~~
moron4hire
Why would it?
~~~
ljk
I was thinking something like this -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yEu2R1gYSs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yEu2R1gYSs)
Also some credit cards have warnings to not put near magnets, but maybe the
magnet's not strong enough to do damage
~~~
moron4hire
Magnetic force decreases with the cube of distance from the source. Which is
to say that it would take a ludicrously strong magnet at arm's length to do
any damage to credit cards in their back pocket.
------
oconnor663
What happens if the magnet comes back on while the hammer's not touching the
metal? Is there a way to make this safe?
~~~
raimue
The hammer seems to have multiple magnets on the bottom, so you could probably
check for a closed circuit between them before turning on the magnets.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: You watch as someone codes. How long until you know how good they are? - nsheth17
And what gives it away?
======
nostrademons
I think you can tell if they're _bad_ pretty easily, within the first half
hour or so. They won't know where to get started, or they'll start reinventing
common knowledge from first principles.
I think it's very hard to tell if someone is _good_. One of my hobbies when I
was at Google was to occasionally go read through Jeff Dean or Rob Pike's code
reviews, and just look through the code they were writing. On a daily basis,
it really didn't look all that much different from the average Googler's code,
in either output or style. On a monthly basis, they got _a lot_ more done,
through clever re-use of other components, understanding exactly what the
requirements were, and not having to go down blind alleys and re-write stuff.
------
dennybritz
I think that we really need to stop talking about the "quality" of developers
without being able to quantify it. There are lots of different dimensions
among which one can be a good or bad developer, and not all of them are
equally important in all situations.
For example, I know several people who regularly win or get top ranks in
coding competitions. However, they wouldn't be able to produce production-
quality code due to a lack of experience in the industry. Are they "good"
developers or not?
------
greenyoda
Are you talking about a job interview situation, or just watching someone go
about their daily work?
Are you an experienced programmer who can understand what the person you're
watching is doing, or are you non-technical? If you're non-technical, I don't
think you could figure out very much about someone's skills just by watching
them program.
~~~
nsheth17
You're technical. And watching them day to day, like if you were their
(technical) manager
~~~
greenyoda
If I were their manager, I'd be talking to them regularly about their work and
how they intended to approach their assignments. I'd probably be spending time
pair programming with them if they had problems they couldn't solve on their
own. I wouldn't need to try to figure out how good they were just by watching
them. (I was a technical manager in my previous job.)
If I absolutely had to evaluate somebody just by watching them code, I'd use
this heuristic: People who repeatedly try random solutions that don't work are
probably poor programmers - they don't understand their own code, and are not
in control of the process. People who spend a lot of time thinking, reading
the code or tracing execution methodically in their debuggers - and then do
something that quickly works - are probably good programmers. If you want to
have a chance at solving difficult problems, you have to spend more time
thinking and less time typing.
Also, people who spend a lot of time fighting with syntax errors are either
bad programmers or don't know the language they're using very well.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ustwo: An Open Source Example of a React-Powered WordPress Site - AJAlabs
https://wptavern.com/ustwo-an-open-source-example-of-a-react-powered-wordpress-site
======
crudbug
Any specific tool for making the architecture frames [0] ?
[0] [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ustwo/ustwo.com-
frontend/m...](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ustwo/ustwo.com-
frontend/master/docs/infrastructure.png)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
CanPlayType() - fugyk
http://www.w3schools.com/tags/av_met_canplaytype.asp
======
shredprez
Other (undocumented) values this method returns:
"perhaps" \- There is, of course, a chance the codec is supported. Or not.
"why bother" \- Everyone will die anyway, browser support is meaningless in
the grand scheme of things.
"ask again later" \- Computer needs to be shaken vigorously and restarted.
This value is returned with annoying frequency.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Programmers vs. Zombies - ajwinn
Recently, I've been trying to learn Ruby on Rails via Rails for Zombies (www.railsforzombies.org), and it's gotten me wondering: what's the deal with Zombies? (Yes, I'm going to use a capital Z.)<p>Our monsters have always described our contemporary fears. I think these are the eight most revealing monsters through the ages:<p>1. Ancient Mesopotamia - Golem: fear of the implications of Origin stories<p>2. Dark Ages, Europe - Werewolf: fear of the dual nature of self<p>3. Victorian Era - Vampires: fear of blood/rabies/sexuality/nobility<p>4. Industrial Revolution - Frankenstein: fear of the implications of medical science<p>5. Pre-World War II - King Kong: fear of the undiscovered/uncharted/unconquered<p>6. Post-World War II - Godzilla: fear of the discovered/nuclear technology<p>7. Baby Boom - Robots: fear of rapid technological progress<p>8. Internet Revolution - Zombies: fear of the lack of technology<p>Somewhere between #7 and #8 we changed our minds about technology. We went from being afraid the future would move on without us, to being afraid that we'd lose everything we've built. And take a look at who creates the monster - it's not the guy tinkering with science anymore, it's usually some prideful oaf abusing the scientist. Also note whose skills become fearfully useless in the Zombie apocalypse - the programmer.<p>To me, Zombies teach us:<p>1. People love technology and fear it's demise.<p>2. Many people are programmers and would fear the demise of their usefulness.<p>3. Most people believe programmers and their skills are the future - if they become useless, the future becomes a scary question mark.<p>Programmers, you are the world's only hope against the coming Zombie apocalypse. Only you can keep the Machines running to defend us against the onslaught. Who better to defeat the brainless army lumbering toward us than the tastiest brains on earth? Some ways to help:<p>1. Consider designing missile software in your free time that could be used to prevent alien asteroids from reaching earth.<p>2. Do not let your hubris cause you to join LulzSec, hack secret biological weapons facilities, and release strange puffs of green smoke into the atmosphere. I'll be so pissed.<p>3. Given the possibility you will not heed #1 or #2, at least become a ninja so you stay alive long enough to engineer us back out of the coming nightmare.
======
gyardley
Personally, I think zombie movies reflect 'fear of societal collapse' more
than 'fear over the absence of technology'. (The absence of technology is
certainly part of a societal collapse, but societal collapse is more than just
the absence of technology.)
Sudden, unpredictable, uncontrollable events - large stock market
fluctuations, 9/11, the housing crisis, almost certainly the upcoming
sovereign debt crisis - have made people very uneasy.
Zombie movies give people an opportunity to think about what they'd do in a
societal breakdown, reassuring them on some level - since unlike a sovereign
debt crisis, the zombie apocalypse isn't going to happen. Thinking about
barricading the windows and aiming for the head is fun; thinking about total
market failure is horrifying.
There's also a certain segment of the population, the underclass that's being
left behind, who sees nothing in our society for them and would _love_ a hard
reset. For them, zombie movies feed into happy fantasies about their rugged
gun-toting individualism. (The hero-protagonist in a zombie movie is never,
say, a stockbroker from New York.)
~~~
ajwinn
Good thoughts. Something else I've been wondering about - why do you think the
reset always brings us to Pre-Industrial Revolution (lack of infrastructure) -
as opposed, to say, the Dark Ages (lack of scientific method)? Specifically,
the apocalypse never seems to impact survivor knowledge, just the speed at
which they can rebuild?
~~~
sorbus
There are a really huge number of books around - it's unlikely that they'll
all be destroyed, unless some doomsday cult starts burning every book they can
find, so there would be a large amount of knowledge that could be recovered
without much difficulty. The scientific method is a fairly easy thing to know;
it doesn't seem likely that it's just going to vanish. Realistically, there
would also be a lot of people hiding out in bunkers, mountain cabins, or other
areas where the number of zombies would be more manageable. So, while a large
amount of knowledge is going to vanish (anything computerized is going to be
hard to access unless you have a generator), most of it won't be hard to
recover unless you wait too long.
I highly encourage you to read World War Z (written by the same guy who wrote
the Zombie Survival Guide); while it doesn't directly address most of those
questions, you can read between the lines to find the answers. It is,
admittedly, only a type 1 Apocalypse, by the TVTropes scale, but still.
------
user9756
:) I like how you outlined the discussion.
Now, there are many different Zombie scenarios, but I can understand why you
see Zombies corresponding to a fear of loss of technology. Although I always
took the fascination with Zombies as:
(besides being the "post-apocalyptic scenario" where you have to figure out
how to survive)
\- a fear of losing individuality/being slave to society, or the sort.
\- people feeling others in society are some sort of "monster" or "animals"
consuming each other,
\- which makes people feel frustrated, creating a schism between wanting to
see it all destroyed (especially if you're a "forever alone"), but at the same
time seeing those that reflect what you are/were and your friends and loved
ones, becoming something else; join them or psychically "kill" them
("disconnecting" the bond).
And the end product (hitherto): stories about it (or a proletarian
revolution?).
Regarding "Also note whose skills become fearfully useless in the Zombie
apocalypse - the programmer."
Dude. If the dead starts walking and your worries are finding a job then maybe
your problems lies elsewhere.
... Code. Need to code...
~~~
ajwinn
I think you're right that the feeling others in society are some sort of
"monster" is really key. I heard a podcast of This American Life that
interviewed Mr. Rogers, and I remember this moment where he's asking a man why
they don't talk with their neighbors, and he has this way of making them open
up like they're a kid. And the guy responded something like, "I'm afraid they
won't BE like me. Like a monster or something."
And that's where our modern monsters come from (and maybe always have): these
unspoken, emotional, real-life fears. Like the fear of 'Others', I would
suggest that the fear of finding a job is probably weightier than the fear of
Zombies, and if they DO start walking... it will be a relief to stop worrying
about losing/finding a job. :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Any recommendations on Google Glass? - sGrabber
If someone has experienced Google Glass, Pl provide feedback. Wondering if I should buy now or wait<p>How is it?
======
bbovenzi
Unless you'd plan to develop with it, wait.
~~~
sGrabber
Thanks for the suggestion. I think 1500 price point is too high, it shall come
down to around 900-1000 once it is commercially launched.
Just too curious to know how it feels. Have you tried it.
------
sGrabber
Anyone tried google glass ?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Cryptocurrencies are pulling the U.S. back to the 1830s, Fed official says - augustocallejas
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/cryptocurrencies-are-pulling-the-us-back-to-the-1830s-fed-official-says-2018-05-14
======
blackbrokkoli
The situation seems entirely hamfisted into the metaphor.
It's like saying "Wow, with everyone being to able to read and write there is
way to much chaos, how annoying. Times were better when only a few chosen
would guard the knowledge of humanity"
EDIT: Also, what an egocentric worldview is this? As if crypto were some kind
of America-only phenomenon...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
‘Israel’s ancient NYC’: 5k-year-old Canaanite megalopolis may rewrite history - HerrMonnezza
https://www.timesofisrael.com/embargo-until-1130-5000-year-old-canaanite-megalopolis-rewrites-history-books-say-archaeologists/
======
idoubtit
Megalopolis, really? At the same time, Mesopotamia's cities were much larger.
Uruk's population was probably more than 30,000 people. Even outside
Mesopotamia, Ebla, south of Aleppo, was a large city where nearby villages
provided agricultural resources. In these regions, technology and art was
apparently centuries ahead. See
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruk_period](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruk_period)
for some achievements before 3000 BC.
> Among the interesting artifacts revealed at the site was a cylindrical stamp
> impression of a man holding his hands up in the air, as well as several
> figurines of people and animals and tools imported from Egypt.
This was surprising for me. A city that cannot build tools, but imports them.
And if the site was fertile and inhabited for milleniums, how come these
artefacts look
------
hos234
Awesome that they got 5000 students involved in the excavation.
~~~
noworld
>A massive 5,000-year-old metropolis that housed some 6,000 residents
That's 1.2 ancient denizens per student. The size of the research is nearing
the size of the ancient city.
------
ptah
> that housed some 6,000 residents
is this article an exaggeration? a quick search shows NYC has over 8,000,000
residents
~~~
nkoren
At the time, the whole world had a total population of about 5 million people.
So both this city and modern-day NYC would have about 0.1% of the global
population. The comparison seems apt.
~~~
ptah
it wouldn't need nearly as much infrastructure and innovation to house 6,000
compared to 8,000,000. it is not in any way comparable in scale
~~~
petewailes
It's a simile, that it's a simile is obvious, and you know that that's the
case. No-one is reasonably going to expect that the Canaanites literally built
an NYC. Don't be persnickety.
~~~
liveoneggs
pretty obvious he was talking about the global relevancy of the restaurant and
theater scene; not like he expected ancient subways!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Dojo 1.2 and Django 1.0 on Google App Engine 1.1.3 - ltaylor
http://adamfisk.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/dojo-12-and-django-10-on-google-app-engine-113/
======
charlesju
Cool!
But I still that in order for Google App engine to hit critical mass it needs
to add support for Ruby on Rails and PHP.
~~~
afisk
It would certainly help, no question. I'm sure they'll support it soon.
Django's honestly tough to beat, though, and GAE's tools for updating your app
and viewing your logs and traffic are pretty sweet.
Google's mostly a Java and Python shop, so I'd guess they'll support Java
before RoR and PHP.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address - nirajan
http://vidinterest.com/video/4594/drawing-from-some-of-the-most-pivotal-points-in-his-life-ste
Drawing from some of the most pivotal points in his life, Steve Jobs, chief executive officer and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, urged graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life
======
davcj
Most inspiring speech ever !!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Is “Show HN” replaced with “Ask HN” and not popular any more? - vakulaego
======
mtmail
When submitters forget the 'Show HN' in the submission title it ends up in the
'Ask HN' category. Usually new users, example
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21450381](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21450381)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Cheap and Reliable API for Building a Bank? - davidajackson
Hi,<p>I'm looking for some more information on what people think are the best banking setup APIs. I'm considering a few different options:<p>1. Stripe - I've used it a bit in the past. Easy to use but I'm a bit worried about costs, 2.9% is high.<p>2. SynapseFi - I'm curious if anyone has used this product/API? I couldn't find any pricing on their site either.<p>3. Any others people can recommend that I can check out.<p>I'm looking for the cheapest API to quickly spin up a financial service (and hoping to avoid larger fees) and thought people here might have some suggestions. Thank you.
======
rahimnathwani
What product(s) do you want to build? Your submission suggests it might be one
or more things.
"API for Building a Bank?"
Do you want to take customer deposits?
"Stripe"
Do you want to sell stuff to people, and allow them to pay you by card?
"SynapseFi"
Do you want to engage the services of another company, which is a bank, so
that you can, e.g. issue payment cards?
Based on the lack of specificity in your post, maybe one or more of the
following applies?
A) You aren't sure what you want to build yet?
B) You want to provide a wide range of retail banking products?
C) You're still getting up to speed with what banks, card networks, processors
etc. each do?
Feel free to email me (address in profile) if you don't want to share here.
I've only recently moved to the US, but have launched financial products
(covering payments, deposits and loans) in the UK, which is somewhat similar.
~~~
davidajackson
Thanks, I'll shoot you an email.
------
_448
Search for BaaS i.e. "Banking As A Service" and you will find lot of startups
already offering an API to start neo/digital banks.
------
posguy
Check out Dwolla and KeyBank KeyNavigator.
~~~
davidajackson
How do you like using Dwolla versus Stripe? Specifically around pricing too.
Thanks
------
verdverm
You could try the blockchain
I'd be skeptical of anyone building a financial platform on the cheapest
things money can buy
~~~
mratsim
I'd be skeptical of anyone trying to build regulated financial services on a
technology that is still unregulated in large part of the world.
Getting a financial service license is possible, getting a blockchain-based
banking service recognized by you financial authority might be a stretch. And
you'll likely spend __a lot __in accountants and lawyers fees, not even
talking about KYC and Anti-Money-Laundering requirements.
Disclaimer: I work in blockchain (not for finance) and used to work in
financial services in particular gearing up financial systems for new
regulations (Basel III [1], EMIR [2], KYC, Anti-Money-Laundering...)
[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basel_III](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basel_III)
[2]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Market_Infrastructure...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Market_Infrastructure_Regulation)
~~~
verdverm
I was being a bit facetious w.r.t. blockchain :]
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How A Solicitor Can Help You At Christmas - Lozzer1000
http://thblegal.com/blog/5-ways-a-solicitor-can-help-you-at-christmas/
======
gadders
I'd flag this if I could.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Has anyone fixed their own bruxism? - graeme
I’ve clenched my teeth for 9-10 years. It either happened from a bike accident hurting my left jaw, wisdom teeth extraction, or stress from starting a business. All three happened pretty near together. It is not malocclusion, dentist ruled that out.<p>I clench. No longer damaging my teeth as I have a guard. But I still have tight masseters and neck pain.<p>I would like to eliminate or reduce the habit. Has anyone succeeded in doing so?
======
11thEarlOfMar
Being that this is Hacker News, and thinking completely off the top of my
head...
I fixed my sleep apnea by sleeping with an oxymeter on. When breathing was
obstructed, my blood oxygen dropped. The oxymeter beeped and woke me up. I
changed positions, and went back to sleep, ultimately changing sleep habits to
the point that I can get through most nights without awakening. I was able to
avoid using a CPAP that way.
Perhaps a muscle tension sensing device, such as
[https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13723](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13723)
could serve a similar function. Place the sensors on your jaw muscles while
you sleep (may only need to be one of them) and if you clench, it beeps or
buzzes and wakes you up. May take some inventiveness to integrate it with
power and alert, and then to get it comfortable enough to sleep in. And you'd
want to avoid any cords that could wrap around you.
It may not lead to a cure, but might give you an idea of what's going on when
you clench at night.
~~~
elric
Sleep apnea is a problem for two reasons: low oxygen saturation is Very Bad,
and frequent arousals are Bad.
Sounds like you've managed to address the first issue, but without a sleep
study it's impossible to say for sure whether you've addressed the second
problem.
Most apneas typically occur during REM sleep, when muscle tone is at its
lowest and airways are more likely to collapse. If you frequently wake up
during REM (even if it's a micro-arousal), your sleep architecture is broken.
It boggles the mind that sleep apnea severity is diagnosed on number of events
(AHI) without considering when those events occur. Maybe you have an AHI of 3,
but if they all happen during 2 hours of REM, you basically wake up 24 times
during REM, which sounds a lot worse than 3 events per hour.
Sauce: have sleep apnea, hate the machine, but have learned to live with it.
~~~
Viliam1234
I fixed my sleep apnea using a Velumount device, which is simply a piece of
wire you stick in your throat before you go to sleep, and it keeps the
important part of throat unblocked during the night. One of those things that
truly deserve to be called " _life_ hacks".
Learning how to use it is a lot of "fun" (expect to spend half of the day
vomiting until you learn how to insert it properly), but afterwards it works
like magic.
I would recommend to try it, and verify by oxymeter how it works.
~~~
ariste
I would love to try this, but I don't believe they are available in the US.
Are they custom made?
~~~
TheCapeGreek
According to velumount.ch (and the other location sites), it does need a
fitting session to mould it. I wasn't able to find a price list for my country
and the doctor who would do the fitting is in another city, so it is pricey
overall it seems. Especially if the Swiss pricing is anything to go by.
The product itself seems like it's supposed to be malleable to adjust to the
individual, which kind of makes the fitting session + workshop seem like rent
seeking. Just give me an instruction booklet with FAQ and warnings.
~~~
Viliam1234
Not sure if I understood it correctly, but the branch in Hungary seems to do
it for 120000 HFT = 350 EUR.
If you have a friend who is a customer, he could (this is cheating) buy one
for you (pretending it is a replacement for him), and explain to you how to
use it. You save a lot of money, but the disadvantage is that it is not fitted
for you. I am not sure what difference it makes.
So, if that is an option, I would recommend buying one via friend, testing it
(with oxymeter), and if you are satisfied, follow the official channels
(through Hungary). At the moment you are sure the solution works for you, I
think it is worth the money, considering how costly and/or inconvenient are
the alternative solutions. (Then you can do an extra test whether having the
wire fitted for you is an improvement.)
(It would probably also make sense to take photos of the wire immediately
after you buy, so that you can try making duplicates later when the original
piece breaks or loses shape.)
------
sevencolors
In my experience you'll need to build up a toolbox of ways to help solve the
root cause.
For the past 10 years I've been lightly grinding my teeth. Previous partners
have noticed it at night and my dentist has suggested a mouth guard in the
past to help.
I hate the feel of a mouth guard so avoided the suggestion for years and also
avoided trying to solve it. But in the past 3 years i accidentally discovered
the root cause and have been using various methodologies that as a side effect
have mostly got it to stop.
Root cause: Trauma. (this can be either mental and/or physical)
The body will attempt to protect you in different ways. Tension, clenching,
stiffness, etc. These are short term strategies which can be useful. But if
the trauma isn't worked out it can leave the sympathetic nervous system in a
heightened state.
Toolbox: (I like this metaphor because it's never one "trick" to fix things)
* Therapy - Seems obvious in retrospect but i was very skeptical at first. I ended up seeing one who specialized in mindfulness & cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). But you'll want to see what system works best for you
* Acupuncture
* Meditation practice
* Literally learning how to breathe (i would oddly hold my breath)
Using this toolbox has been a life-changer for various "bugs" in my life. Many
i wrongly assumed were unfixable.
All of this has led me to feel calmer. Which has relaxed my body and helped
with my posture. I can sleep better, and this lowered heightened state has
largely removed my jaw clenching.
Find a way that works for you. But know that it's not a forever issue <3
~~~
DenisM
> Literally learning how to breathe (i would oddly hold my breath)
How did you go about learning?
~~~
gotem
Would love to know as well. I often find that I've been holding my breath for
quite a while whether I'm reading or working and suddenly will gasp for air.
~~~
sevencolors
Responded above, basically learning to breath in meditation showed me how much
i was holding my breath.
Now it's almost unconscious when I'm sensing anxiety/tensions rising. I'll
start focusing on my breathing to bring me back to a calmer state
------
kerkeslager
Two things:
1\. Reducing caffeine intake. The science seems to be fairly conclusive that
high caffeine intake is associated with bruxism.
2\. Magnesium supplementation. Here the science is a bit less clear: I haven't
found any study tying magnesium to bruxism, but there _are_ studies
correlating magnesium deficiency with conditions related to bruxism, such as
anxiety and muscle tension. In any case I think the risks of magnesium
supplementation are low.
I will say that my experience with grinding my teeth stopping was that it
probably went away because of changes that were out of my control that made my
life much less stressful. But those aren't much good as interventions.
~~~
santa_boy
Just inquisitive. How much is a high caffeine intake? What is a reasonable way
to size my consumption?
I drink 3 cups of Black coffee every day. 2 after waking up and then 1 in the
evening.
Black coffee has been perpetrated as a magic potion by the latest weight loss
consultants. It adds to my feel good factor.
~~~
kerkeslager
Well, I don't know enough to answer all your questions with certitude, but I
know that for me if I drank a cup of coffee in the evening I would almost
certainly grind my teeth that night. I still drink coffee (and a lot more than
you) in the mornings but never after 2pm.
I will also add that coffee dehydrates you, which can also be associated with
muscle tension and anxiety. So maybe make sure you're drinking enough water
(and electrolytes!) as well.
I feel ya on the feel good factor though. It would take some serious side
effects for me to want to quit coffee.
------
chufucious
I've had problems with bruxism for decades. Dentist said it was stress, he
gave me a mouthguard and I proceeded to break it. I would still grind my teeth
even if I was super relaxed.
I now do something that has reduced my bruxism by a LOT:
Mouth taping.
My dad's old college roommate is a bruxism expert and wrote to me:
"Bruxism is the body's attempt to dilate pharyngeal muscles to open the airway
and facilitate breathing. You probably snore and or have sleep apnea."
Mouth taping solves this because it forces my body to breath thru the nose vs
the mouth and consequently I get more oxygen and much better sleep.
Add a magnesium supplement to this and I'm doing so much better.
EDIT: Forgot to mention I had bad allergies and have asthma so I learned bad
breathing habits early on. AKA mouth breathing.
A simple test: Where is your tongue resting right now? If it's at the bottom
of your mouth, you're probably a mouth breather. And that's not good!
~~~
graeme
Hmm. My tongue is always t the roof of my mouth when awake. But my nose gets
stuffed when I sleep. Does yours with allergies?
I ordered some breathe right things for the nose for sleep to try to improve
this, hoping it helps with bruxism. If they work and I still have it, will try
tape. Want to make sure I don’t suffocate first due to blocked nose haha.
~~~
chufucious
Try mouth taping. I suggest 3m Micropore tape.
My nose gets clogged sometimes but when you force yourself to breathe through
your nose, your body tries to accommodate and opens it up. It will feel weird
in the first week but you'll get used to it.
I'd skip breathe right and go straight to tape! I tried breathe right but I
was still mouth breathing.
I started with [https://somnifix.com/products/mouth-strips-snoring-sleep-
aid](https://somnifix.com/products/mouth-strips-snoring-sleep-aid) – they have
a tiny cut in the tape that allows some airflow; but it got too costly and
wasteful so I moved to 3M's Micropore.
------
ornornor
For me it was definitely stress related. The shittier the job the worse it
got. I realize this is not a solution for everyone but what fixed it for me
was to leave North America altogether and move to a country in Europe where it
doesn’t feel like companies are employee grinding machines, with sustainable
work week length and hours expectations, and 6 weeks PTO a year.
OP I would seriously look into reducing stress. Maybe that means scaling down
your business, or learning to say no, or getting better work and life
habits... I don’t know you so I can’t specifically tell bit id look in that
direction.
------
smhmd
I don't grind my teeth, but one thing I do is that I hold my breath when I'm
thinking or doing something irritating like reading bad docs. When I started
programming two years ago, I thought that it would be impossible for me to
continue because I was stuck too often and didn't breathe. It got a little
better since then.
~~~
glitcher
> or doing something irritating like reading bad docs
Not to make light of your situation, but this made me chuckle.
I think earlier in my programming career I suffered a lot of anxiety from
imposter syndrome. Learning to let go of that gradually over time has me
experiencing a lot less work related anxiety, but I can definitely relate to
your experience.
------
dayandtime
I have wear on my teeth from cronic grinding during sleep years ago when I was
objectively under huge stress but felt fine . I suggest you write out every
possible source of stress you can think of or guess might by in your
subconscious past, present ant future. Past e.g. difficult experiences.
Present: e.g. financial, relationship. Future: e.g. getting old, sick unable
to work. Do this every day expanding on the previous day for a month. I can't
say for sure if this stopped my problem but my grinding did stop and never
returned.
~~~
graeme
Interesting. You just wrote them out, no analysis?
And did you use pen + paper, or digital?
~~~
dayandtime
I still have the notebook I wrote in but haven't looked in it for years. I
feel I would be inhibited if it were digital a notebook feels more private.
Yes just write it out no analysis.
------
bagpuss
I had exactly what you describe, with similar root causes. A 360 degree x-ray
showed uneven wear of the jaw bone at the condyles (where lower jaw meets
upper jaw)
One set of botox injections into the masseter muscles completely solved this.
About $250 (a cosmetic type procedure performed by doctor). It has never
returned, it’s been about 3 years.
~~~
Marsymars
Botox has some wacky non-cosmetic applications. I've got a friends whose
migraines are entirely suppressed by regular Botox injections.
~~~
mxd3
It's entirely possible that your friend's "migraines" are actually the
headaches experienced by persons with TMJ (caused by bruxism). I say this as
someone who has this condition and was previously misdiagnosed with migraines.
------
DrAwdeOccarim
When I was 28, I presented with terrible TMJ pain. Turns out my sleep apnea
led to grinding my teeth at night, putting horrible strain on my TMJ all
night. Got a mandibular advancement device (MAD) and fixed both issues in like
day. Changed my life, slept great, felt great. But, these devices only work
for 8-10 years before your jaw permanently changes and your bite starts
misaligning toward underbite. So I slowly transitioned over to CPAP when I
felt my teeth were no longer snapping back into place in the morning. After 3
years of CPAP and no MAD, my jaw is 95% back to normal. So keep that in mind.
I'd also recommend getting a back-up dental appliance in case yours breaks, or
learning how to use CPAP now while you don't need it. Some of the worst stress
of my life was when my MAD broke and it took months to get a new one...ugh, I
still have latent traumatic responses thinking about that point in my life. I
had moved jobs and insurance so finding someone who would do it required
significant searching. Medical insurance hates paying for MADs, you gotta make
sure you have a solid TMJ disorder diagnosis from an MD and then find a
dentist that will do it.
~~~
graeme
Thanks. Reqd of MAD devices. May be worth it as a temporary solution, as long
as temp use won’t disturb my jaw.
Do you still use the cpap? And do you think it will be for life or will the
issue resolve when your jaw is fixed?
~~~
DrAwdeOccarim
Good question. Yes, I still use the CPAP and I really love it. It's not
something I even notice when sleeping any longer. The devices are also very
quiet now (I use an AirSense10 with heated line and nasal pillows). Combining
SleepyHead software to look into the data and with a Dreem sleep device for
EEG, it's incredible the quality of sleep I get. I used to also add pulseox
data, but I've since stopped since it never fluctuated while using the CPAP
correctly. I've also had turbinate and nasal polyp issues my whole life until
I began CPAP usage--the filtered, warm, moist air has done wonders for my
sinuses, to the point where I avoided surgery.
So to answer your question, no, I got my time with the MAD. I do not expect to
be able to go back to it. I view it as a temporary solution in hindsight since
around the 8-10 yr mark it will permanently change your jaw. It allowed me
freedom to sleep at partners houses and travel, but now that I have kids and
stuff, I no longer need the flexibility of the MAD. Plus, I like being able to
chew food normally :)
------
joekrill
I've been reading this book "Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art" by James
Nestor. He attributes this sort of thing to, effectively, "mouth breathing",
and suggests it can be fixed by learning to breath correctly (through the
nose).
I have no idea if it's bullshit or not, but it's compelling. Would love to
hear from anyone that has insight into this.
~~~
elric
I can't speak for bruxism link, but mouth breathing is pretty awful. You're
completely bypassing the filtering that goes on in the nose, the air
conditioning (temperature and humidity), and gas exchange in the paranasal
sinuses (nitric oxide). In addition, you're more likely to overbreathe through
your mouth.
------
gandutraveler
I never used to grid the teeth but in last 6 years due to work stress I put on
weight, sleeping cycle got messed up and just last year in may my dentist told
me that I grind my teeth. I tried the mouth guard for few months which seemed
to work. But these things are expensive. 6 months back I was also diagnosed
with sleep apnea so the sleep specialist suggested CPAP. Surprisingly with the
CPAP machine I have completely stopped grinding my teeth. It makes me wonder
that teeth grinding is highly correlated to breathing and quality of sleep.
~~~
randycupertino
> It makes me wonder that teeth grinding is highly correlated to breathing and
> quality of sleep.
I'm a respiratory therapist and grinding is highly common with sleep apnea.
Basically, the brain stimulates the jaw to try and move in an attempt to open
the airway when it's not getting enough oxygen. Losing weight, getting tonsils
out (if you still have them), fixing a deviated septum and soft tissue removal
(basically, an ENT does a rotor rooter to the upper throat area) or surgery to
bring the jaw forward all can help.
60% of the time, losing 30-40lbs will correct it for the majority of people
grinding. CPAP helps immensely as well.
~~~
M5x7wI3CmbEem10
I’m quite skinny already, but definitely don’t feel refreshed after sleep.
I visited an ENT once for chronic fatigue. I was told that I had a slightly
deviated septum from a possible childhood injury, but surgical correction was
optional. Do you think it would be worth fixing? I’m apprehensive about going
under a knife.
I currently only breathe through one nostril at a time, but the one I breathe
from changes randomly.
~~~
hirsin
I suffered the same thing (deviated septum runs in the family it seems). I
just got the septoplasty and a turbinate reduction done (3 weeks ago) and even
though I'm not fully recovered I can already breathe better than ever before.
The recovery was also very easy. I highly, highly recommend it.
~~~
M5x7wI3CmbEem10
do you breathe through both nostrils now? how bad was your deviated septum?
your procedure sounds terrifying, and I’d prefer to do something minimally
invasive if possible. I wonder if you can do a septoplasty via physical
realignment rather than cutting anything open.
~~~
hirsin
I can! And previously could not. The process isn't bad, and isn't terribly
invasive. I had a sore nose for a few days, took Tylenol to recover, and was
back at work 4 days later (sat, sun, Monday off, Tuesday half capacity,
Wednesday back in full). Got the stents out Thursday.
My surgeon characterized my septum as "not the worst he's ever seen but
definitely not minor". If you're around Seattle, it was Chris Yang at Swedish
who did it.
------
mrwww
Two things has greatly reduced it and it resulted in a significant change in
general QOL for me; 1\. bite guard when sleeping. 2\. jaw relaxation exercise
program.
I have a malocclusion however. So ymmv perhaps.
Ask your dentist for a jaw relax program. It's just 5-6 simple exercises you
do with your jaw, (I could upload a copy of my pdf if you'd like).
Something I'm looking into now is myofunctional training/exersices (haven't
tried yet). The "science" on it doesn't seem 100% yet, and mostly promoted by
one company. Thoughts?
Edit: forgot to mention that physiotherapy helped immensely as well. I had
poor posture/forward tilting head, which i believe i feel into due to my
malocclusion. Perhaps be wary of aches/bad alignment/discomfort in neck and
shoulders and see whether physio for that could help alleviate.
~~~
bperk
Would like to see the jaw exercises PDF if you'd be willing to share.
~~~
mrwww
there are several;
[https://www.mah.se/fakulteter-och-omraden/Odontologiska-
faku...](https://www.mah.se/fakulteter-och-omraden/Odontologiska-
fakulteten/Avdelning-och-kansli/Klinisk-bettfysiologi/Tandvard/Program-for-
rorelsetraning/)
I'm using the first one. Pardon the swedish but pictures/google translate
should sort things out. That's from a orofacial pain dept at a swedish uni
------
mlthoughts2018
1\. try lots of night guards, don’t stop just when you find one you can sleep
with. Some offer even more comfort, etc. that can reduce clenching or soreness
beyond just preventing grinding.
2\. muscle relaxers if your doctor thinks it can help.
3\. reducing stress
4\. improve sleep posture and quality of bedding
5\. establish rigorous sleep habits, like when you stop eating at night, when
you stop using devices, adequate darkness, temperature control
No solution is guaranteed, it will be different for everyone. For me
personally the main thing was trying many night guards even after finding one
I could sleep with.
The most frustrating thing for me is that clenching recurs with work stress.
I’ve talked to endless doctors and counselors about it, basically nothing
anyone can do to help.
------
Taek
Hey, I used to struggle with jaw clenching, nonstop. My masseters were huge, I
looked something like a chipmunk and by the time I found a solution I was
having continuous daily pain. I realized I needed help when one day I caught
myself rocking back and forth just to cope with how much pain I was in. Saw
multiple specialists at several different hospitals.
Full-stop, the most helpful thing was physical therapy. The process itself was
super painful, there were exercises we did involving pinching the muscle and
me opening my jaw which were easily some of the most piercing moments of my
life. There were also these metal scraping things we used which would leave my
whole face red and inflamed for many hours. But I would walk away from a
session feeling like my muscles were looser.
I think it took about 3 months to get to the point where I was no longer in
continuous pain at home. About 6 months (and several thousand dollars of PT -
$70 three times a week adds up) until I was comfortable dropping PT.
Two other things that helped, though difficult to know exactly how much:
1\. Braces. I had braces a second time in my 20's because it was supposed to
help. I think in the end they weren't necessary and PT alone would have been
enough. Certainly the pain was gone long before the braces were gone. But my
teeth are straight again, so I guess that's a win.
2\. An awareness app that beeped at me every 15 minutes. The beep meant "check
your jaw, put some space between your teeth (like 1mm) and unclench your
muscles". Over time I was able to gain awareness and control over all the
muscles in my face and neck and forcibly relax them. I don't think this would
have been effective without the PT, my muscles were locked into place when I
started PT and it was only the PT that got them loose again.
If I were to start struggling with this issue again, I'd go back to PT and I'd
set up a 15 minute beeper again.
Can't stress enough how much PT helped. Through the 6 months, we ended up
targeting probably every muscle group from the shoulders up. They were all
tense together, and there's no way I would have found all of those muscles on
my own, nor identified how much they worked together in causing all the
clenching. It really was a whole-face-and-neck problem.
~~~
graeme
Hmm, I tried PT, but not so intensively. I had been about to target it
specifically again before covid hit. Once the pandemic passes I will try this.
Thanks!
Do you remember the awareness app?
------
edoardoo
Yes! In my case was just a matter of head position on the pillow + stress.
With half head on the pillow and half off, my jaw was hanging and I
unconsciously tightened my teeth all nigh long in order to keep my mouth
closed. Problem solved after 2 months of hell and 2 dentists, the first of
which wanted to remove my perfectly sane wisdom teeth. Also, dedicating more
time to extra work activities, instead of work, helped a lot.
~~~
graeme
What position did you settle on? And you mean tidying loose ends in live
outside work, right?
------
offsky
About 10 years ago I slept with a headband my dentist recommended that could
detect clenching and would beep. It would wake me up just enough to stop
clenching. It was horrible sleep but worked after awhile and I stopped
clenching at night and didn’t need the headband anymore. I still sleep with a
nightguard regardless. Don’t remember the name of the headband, sorry. I got
rid of it years ago.
~~~
troydavis
That sounds like SleepGuard:
[https://mysleepguard.com/](https://mysleepguard.com/)
~~~
graeme
Did you use it? I couldn’t get it to work previously, but have bought some
electrode gel to try it again.
~~~
troydavis
Yes. It worked fine for me and appeared to help a lot, though with a sample of
1 it’s hard to say. I can say that reducing (but nowhere near eliminating…)
stress and using SleepGuard ended nighttime grinding many years ago and that
SG reliably beeped anytime mouth tension occurred. Arguably the root cause was
a bad bite, which I later fixed with Invisalign.
For OP, I’d definitely recommend at least trying it. I’d also suggest a taking
a 1-2 month mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) class. Finally, if you
get a night guard, try to get it from an orthodontist rather than a dentist.
They take much more accurate impressions (often 3D scans now), know more about
jaw mechanics, and may have access to more guard/retainer materials (like
clear plastic liners).
------
tinganho
Take my argument with a grain of salt. I'm not an expert. But, if nothing
helped you. I can give you my experience.
What really helped me. I went from grinding a lot to almost nothing. Was, I
fixed my teeth. My front teeth was a bit worn out from acid drinking and food
taking. Though, they looked quite normal. My problem was that my teeth where
porous. Acid always slipped into to the pores, which cause my teeths to
hurt(more like itching, think like a small scratch whom). Not even brushing my
teeths or washing them with listerin helped, because the acid slipped very
deep into the pores. Dentists couldn't see from any xray scan what was wrong,
so they refused to give me any treatment that would remove some parts of the
teeth. It took me a lot of effort to convince a dentist to get me something
that almost resembles a teeth crown(it was more like a filling). After getting
these teeth crowns, me and my wife have not noticed any teeth grinding since.
I'm beginning to suspect whether bruxism is caused by the body's reflex to
tooth ache? Note, I have amateur researched this topic a lot and I don't quite
bought the argument of stress, but I was pretty convinced about the argument
of the body's reaction to insufficient oxygen. But, I didn't quite bought this
argument either. Because, if we worn out our teeth, it would be naturally
deselected by Darwin's law a long time ago. Since, we would have a small
deficiency of chewing. And it would be strange if only humans did tooth
grinding and not other animals? But, what we humans have been doing a bit more
recently is having an increased acid consumption, which lead to my argument if
bruxism is just a reflex to tooth ache?
Note, there are treatment like (epoxy??) that can fill the pores, though it
didn't helped with my ache. Once, the tooth ache was gone, so was my teeth
grinding.
------
m3kw9
Try this from my experience. During the day, you may not notice, sometimes you
would clench your teeth slightly, that’s why you may not notice it. When ever
you start to notice, open your month wide a few time for a few seconds. And
keep doing that, it helped to reverse habits. Would take a while to reverse
the longer you had it, but be persistent.
~~~
graeme
Thanks! Did your nighttime bruxism stop completely?
~~~
m3kw9
I caught it early because I notice my jaw was tired of in the morning. And it
slowly stopped but it came and went, but eventually it did stop. Just try to
be very conscious about even the slightest clenches and fight it. Took a
couple weeks or months.
~~~
graeme
I’m giving it a shot. Neat idea, basically trying to condition a
reflex/pattern of motion while awake, since we can’t in sleep.
------
shaggyfrog
I use an NTI: [https://nationaldentex.com/products/headache-therapy/nti-
tss...](https://nationaldentex.com/products/headache-therapy/nti-tss-plus)
Well, two actually; one of the top and one on the bottom. It prevents the jaw
from clenching at night.
~~~
gww
Having one on the top and bottom is critical. When I was young my dentist gave
me one that was only at the top and the constant grinding wore down my bottom
teeth.
------
furstenheim
Same here. I have the impression that it has improved by
a) having a softer pillow.
b) having a hard guard. Before that I had a gummy-like guard. According to the
new dentist the was making the bruxism worse.
~~~
graeme
Did they say why soft guard made it worse? And did you sto or just have less
pain?
~~~
furstenheim
What they said is that if it's gummy, it will induce you to chew during the
night. They claimed that the only approved one was hard, but I didn't verify
that.
I have less pain. But I won't risk sleeping without it
------
seehafer
One counterintuitive thing to consider: poor air quality and allergies can
contribute to bruxism by making it more difficult to breathe thru your nose. I
fixed my allergies via immunotherapy and air quality via a filter and my
bruxism dropped dramatically.
~~~
elric
Are you talking about the therapy where they inject low doses of allergens?
Doesn't that take ages?
~~~
seehafer
Yes. ~5 years. Very very worth it though.
~~~
graeme
How did you determine the correct allergen? I do get a stuffy nose when I
sleep. Not sure what causes it.
------
SirensOfTitan
So I clench my jaw and infrequently wake up gasping for air (like once a
month). Does anyone have any recommendations for a sleep study at home to
determine sleep apnea? I don’t feel comfortable going to a hospital right now
to get a proper study done.
~~~
orisho
Sleep studies are often done at home now using a device you get and then bring
back the next day. It has a finger VO2 sensor, snoring sensor, and you attach
it to your chest to detect breathing. Contact your physician.
~~~
graeme
Wait that’s it? I could probably rig that up myself. Just a pulse oximeter and
a sound recording, not more?
------
verganileonardo
Look, there are two ways to approach this.
1) Physical source
The source could be physical, so you should go to an orthodontist to get a
professional perspective. I've heard of people doing a minor surgery to solve
the problem.
2) Emotional source
The source could also be emotional, as you mentioned. Then, you should seek
professional help (from a therapist) to learn how to deal with the stress you
are feeling. This could mean simply rewiring how you deal with stress,
exercising more often or take medicine.
Sometimes, you simply need to pay attention to how physically tense you are
due to work and try to relax your whole body.
I suffer from the bruxism as well and I got significantly better by going to
therapy.
~~~
graeme
Thanks! How does therapy help?
My stress seems to manifest mainly by muscle tension. I don’t really have what
you would describe as anxious thoughts.
I’ve managed to reduce stress by focussing on my breathe, and relaxing certain
muscles if I notice them tensing. This seems to happen when I’m deep in
thought.
But I don’t really worry about things, have racing thoughts, or anything like
that. Can therapy help this kind of situation?
~~~
jodrellblank
> " _I don’t really have what you would describe as anxious thoughts._ "
Dr David Burns (Cognitive Behavioural Therapist) talks about this in some of
his Feeling Good podcast episodes, patients who say they don't have anxious
thoughts. His position is that they do[1], but they aren't aware of them.
One of his ways to identify them, is to get the patient to identify a specific
time or event when they were anxious and tense (e.g. walking into a meeting,
etc.), and draw a cartoon character in the same situation with a thought
bubble, and then has the patient come up with any reasons why somebody -
anybody - in that same situation might possibly be feeling anxious about
anything. They do.
"... and are you feeling any of those things?" "yes, that's exactly how I'm
feeling".
He's described it at least twice in different episodes, as a very simple but
effective way to dig out the thoughts people have, that they aren't aware of
having.
[1] His approach to therapy is based on the idea that life events lead to
thoughts which create moods; people who have unhelpful thoughts get stuck in
unbalanced moods; methods to identify and change the thoughts is what changes
moods and "cures" people.
~~~
verganileonardo
Awesome example! Thank you
------
doitLP
I’m surprised no one on here has mentioned CO2 levels yet. A simple CO2
monitor will tell you if your ambient co2levels are too high. Modern, newer
homes are like sealed boxes and high levels can exacerbate breathing issues
and by extension, bruxism problems.
I was waking up with headaches after moving into a new apartment. When I first
got and plugged in a monitor the alarm went off because the ambient air was
>3000ppm. Now that I’ve correct the issue with airflow, I sleep better and
don’t wake up with headaches.
~~~
M5x7wI3CmbEem10
do you have any co2 monitor recommendations? the ones on amazon are around
$150
~~~
doitLP
[https://amzn.to/2ZlI0EU](https://amzn.to/2ZlI0EU)
This one is good. The company that makes it co2meter.com is awesome and was
helpful as I was learning more.
I went down a bit of a rabbit hole in general air quality after that. I ended
up with the uHoo monitor. It’s a pricey but great.
------
jbob2000
I recently finished a popular dental alignment program, where you have to wear
aligner trays in your mouth for 22 hours a day. It solved my clenching
problem, but I’m not sure why. I suspect it’s because the aligners created a
Small gap between my bottom and top teeth, which is making it very hard to
clench now. With the aligners on, clenching became very uncomfortable too
because you feel like you’re going to snap the damn things.
Probably a bit of a stretch to pursue dental aligners to fix your bruxism, but
hey!
------
throwaway765858
Actually yes, when it was quite an issue I made sure I sleep on a high pillow.
Just by mechanics it's more difficult to chew on your teeth. Also back then I
only slept on either multiple pillows or thick pillows that are meant for
sofas to have the head higher, just by mechanics it's more difficult to chew.
Also I started the habit to eat chewing gum regularly, it makes the jaw
muscles more tired at night. And, holding your head up high during the day
helps. Especially when sitting on the computer, I highly recommend using an
external screen, so your head is straight.
That in combination was already a game changer.
Also I started the habit to do light sports at least once a week, although
that was mostly because of back pain. The bruxism practically vanished after I
went to the psychologist to treat my anxiety. It was a treatment without
pills, just talking and learning new methods. In my case it was a Systemic
Therapy (I think combined with CBT - though I'm not sure) but YMMV and I think
you need to choose someone you're comfortable with. For me the priority was to
pick someone that I'm comfortable with, that seems to be specialized in what I
think might be the overall issue and that seems to adhere to modern methods.
Whenever I feel tense when going to sleep, I do Progressive Muscle Relaxation
(PMR) which was a recommendation from the Psychologist. There are audios on
the internet which guide you through this, takes 10-15 minutes but now I just
do it myself in 2 minutes. It's kind of a non-issue for me now, I cannot
remember the last time I woke up with my teeth hurting because of that, the
last series must have been years ago.
~~~
sowbug
Opposite experience here with the chewing gum.
My dentist noticed some wear on my molars right around the time I started
experiencing a bunch of minor issues: xerostomia (dry mouth), excessive
salivation (strange to have at the same time as xerostomia), jaw fatigue,
teeth clenching during the day, and an abnormal awareness of the position of
my tongue in my mouth. These were among the many low-priority bugs I'd filed
against my body as I was recovering from chemotherapy.
I started chewing gum to help control the xerostomia, and it became a habit.
Over time, I believe I actually strengthened my jaw muscles enough to make the
bruxism worse, leading to a vicious cycle of needing gum chewing to alleviate
the discomfort from constant jaw clenching. This went on for many years.
About a year ago, after changing nearly everything about my daily routine to
narrow down the cause, I stopped chewing gum, cold turkey. I replaced it with
Tic-Tacs, resolving never to chew them. After a couple months I gave them up,
too. While the bruxism and jaw clenching occasionally come back during times
of work stress, it no longer seems to be a chronic condition, and my mind has
restored enough muscle memory of what a normal mouth feels like that when I
notice it's coming back, I can will myself back into a comfortable state
again.
Hard to say whether the gum really was to blame. but for me, when I stopped
was when I regained control.
------
01100011
Probably not relevant to OP, but FWIW bruxism is often associated with sleep
apnea. If you grind at night and are tired during the day, get a sleep study.
~~~
graeme
Thanks! I had actually asked my doctor for a home test. (Lab tests currently
impractical due to pandemic). We’ll see what the results are.
~~~
kerkeslager
I don't know whether you've been told that lab tests are currently impractical
or whether you're just assuming, but if it's the latter, I would definitely
ask before assuming that they're impractical. Medical professionals are better
equipped to keep you safe than your local supermarket, and it may be that the
local sleep lab is nowhere near places treating covid patients. I haven't
heard this specifically about sleep labs, but I've heard this from friends who
were putting off a few other medical procedures and were advised not to by
doctors. It's at least worth calling the sleep lab and finding out what
protective measures they're taking.
It may be that you're well-informed already and it really is impractical, in
which case I hope I didn't offend you. It's just that my impression is right
now a lot of people are putting off treatment unnecessarily due to covid
concerns.
------
bsima
In my experience teeth grinding is cause by too much coffee and alcohol. My
clenching/grinding always eases up when I abstain from those
------
amasad
After I lost faith in western medicine's ability to help me with this problem
I started tinkering and have come to the conclusion it's related to my
breathing problems: mild sleep apnea and sinus inflammation.
The first thing I did was start sleeping predominantly on my sides and
stomach, which turns out is how people sleep in nature[1]. This made my apnea
all but disappear.
Then after I noticed my sinuses react to dietary changes I went on a carnivore
diet -- basically only meat -- for an extended period of time and my sinuses
fully cleared up. Right now I deviate from the diet a bit but I remain
cautious and it's working out well.
When my breathing improved my clenching subsided.
[1]
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1119282/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1119282/)
~~~
M5x7wI3CmbEem10
doesn’t sleeping on your stomach cause back problems?
~~~
jointpdf
In “Treat Your Own Back” ([https://www.amazon.com/Treat-Your-Back-Robin-
McKenzie/dp/098...](https://www.amazon.com/Treat-Your-Back-Robin-
McKenzie/dp/0987650408/ref=nodl_)), the author—a physiotherapist—accidentally
leaves a back pain patient face down on an examination table with their back
slightly hyperextended (i.e. head and upper back slightly above prone
position). They were horrified that they’d harmed the patient, but instead the
patient felt completely relieved of their pain. This is the story of how the
McKenzie method
([https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKenzie_method](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKenzie_method))
was discovered. Lying prone is the core position of the method (in addition to
progressive back extensions), and it actually works surprisingly well for me.
------
cesarosum
I suffered from mild bruxism about 10 years ago and have had several bouts of
TMJD where I couldn’t close one side of my jaw. For me, the key has been poor
posture induced by stress; these bouts coincide with heavy laptop and mobile
phone use (neck angle forward and down). What fixed it for me was switching to
a good desktop set-up whenever possible and self-treatment via Kelly
Starrett’s Becoming A Supple Leopard (there is whole section in the second
edition on neck and jaw). He has good general advice in this video as well -
[https://youtu.be/kfg_e6YG37U](https://youtu.be/kfg_e6YG37U)
I haven’t used the mouthguard now in probably 5 or more years.
------
mathiscool888
Hey, pretty much got over dealing with this on-off for 2.5 years due to a
combination of depression, stress and a herniated disk in my neck. For the
physical side, you gotta see a PT - the neck especially could take a while to
see progress. Even simple PT exercises initially aggravated the issue, go real
slow and at your own pace. It's taken me 3 months of consistent PT to sleep
pain-free. For the mental side, I recommend a therapist and
mindfulness/meditation.
Learning to sleep on my back was really important too - I used to roll over
onto my stomach a bunch - get a sleep study done if you can
------
sameerds
TIL that this thing had a name. I used to clench my teeth unconsciously for
around two years, until one day I broke a premolar. The reason was mostly
anxiety, unhappiness, etc. I was aware of my mental state but completely
unaware of the clenching. Surprisingly (or not) focusing on the clenching
helped me relax my jaw as well as my mind. Kinda like what is taught in
Vipassana ... just trying to be mindful of what the body is doing helped me
get out. I still find myself clenching my jaw some times, but I quickly relax
when I do.
EDIT: added a missing "body _is doing_"
------
maceurt
Possibly look into "mewing" i.e. orthotropics which deals with proper oral
posture, breathing, and swallowing.
You could also try just putting your tongue on the roof of your mouth when
your mouth is closed (which is what you should be doing anyways). Your tongue
is actually what is supposed to help get your jaw to stay up with a suction
hold against the roof of your mouth, and if you don't have your tongue in that
position then you will have to use only your jaw muscles which can cause to
much pressure.
------
nesyt
When I developed a clenching habit, I resolved it by training myself to put my
tongue in the correct position in my mouth. It is pretty simple: with your
lips closed but your teeth not touching, place the tip of your tongue right
where your gums and your two top front teeth meet. That's it. At first it
takes effort but once the habit and muscle memory develops it'll happen
naturally. This eliminated my bruxism because now my jaw has a healthy resting
state.
------
pdfernhout
A previous dentist recommended -- paradoxically -- actually clenching your
teath consciously a few times for a few seconds each time before going to
sleep. The logic for this was something like how it would make your brain more
conscious of what was going on to prevent it from happening when you were
asleep. I think the other suggestions here on reducing stress, reducing
weight, getting enough magnesium and so on might work better though?
~~~
graeme
Did it work for you?
------
def8cefe
If you have not seen a doctor, do so. Dentists are not MDs. They can help you
fix or prevent damage caused by grinding but they are not qualified to
diagnose or treat the cause despite what they may tell you.
Also don't take medical advice from strangers on the Internet (or request it,
because you just end up helping to generate more insidious noise that will
show up in search results for decades).
~~~
graeme
My doctor told me to ask a dentist iirc
------
abdullahkhalids
I don't know anything about this particular ailment. But look at the
literature for fixing your posture. That also involves changing what your body
is doing at rest while you are not paying attention.
Some of the principles involved in changing your posture (often involving
which muscles are kept relaxed and which stretched) might very well apply to
helping you relax your jaw muscles.
------
Donald
A proper mouth guard will prevent your jaw from closing 100% and will
unprogram the clinching behavior.
------
robbintt
Mine is triggered by: caffeine after 1 pm, cold sleeping conditions, sustained
stress like job stress or family health stress. Maybe related to acid reflux.
Also I sleep on my back to keep force off my jaw. Probably more and maybe
related to congestion, too.
------
enneff
I recently got a mouthguard that sits on my bottom set of teeth and prevents
me from closing my jaw entirely, which I wear while sleeping. It helps a lot.
I wake up with my jaw muscles feeling loose rather than tight and tender.
~~~
graeme
Interesting. What makes this different from a guard worn on top? I have that
but still can clench my jaw.
~~~
enneff
When I had it fitted they told me it could go either way, top or bottom, just
my personal preference.
It stops me from clenching because it makes it uncomfortable.
------
throwaway391003
Read some of Alexander Lowen's books, he talks about how posture can actually
be an indication of something going on emotionally in the person. When people
clench their jaw they're said to be grinding through life.
------
everybodyknows
Yes. Cause was stomach gas. How can you belch when asleep? Not properly, at
least in my case, and manifestation was bruxism.
Fix was of course, a change of eating habits. Specifically, to work around
FODMAP intolerance.
~~~
nikkwong
Also worth noting that bruxism is correlated with gut dysbiosis and parasitic
gut infections which may be otherwise hard to pin down. In my case bruxism was
a notable symptom of the severity of my SIBO—an infiltration of the small
intestine with pathogenic bacteria. It's an incredibly hard condition to spot
and will almost certainly be completely unnoticed by western medical
practitioners. However, it can wreak havoc over your health & well-being and
is worth ruling out if you're generally feeling unwell.
~~~
everybodyknows
How do you treat or mitigate the SIBO?
~~~
nikkwong
Ha! That's the most difficult question of all and there is not one best
answer; it's highly contextual based on the individual's circumstance. The
goal is to eradicate the bacteria; this is usually achieved through
antibiotics, antimicrobials (think herbs/herb oils), and prokinetics (to
increase regularity). It can be a chronic and reoccuring problem in many
individuals and is much more difficult to treat than the apneas,
unfortunately.
------
zero-sum
Benzodiazepines, such as alprazolam, works great for me. Keep in mind that
such drugs should only be used as last resort and for short periods of time,
since it can easily lead to addiction.
------
giardini
Children may manifest bruxism if they have parasites (e.g.,worms).
Parasitic worms were endemic where I was raised. Every childhood physical
included required a fecal sample for parasites. Years later, when I returned
home, it struck me that I hadn't been tested for parasites in decades. Knowing
what I know, I just couldn't believe I had none. So I bought some ivermectin,
measured an amount proportional for my weight and slathered it on. Nothing
happened that I noticed. Any parasites would almost certainly have been
flushed out. Much cheaper than a doctor's visit! And I now have a 5-year
supply of parasiticide!
Posts on HN report ivermectin is being tested against Covid-19 so maybe that's
a plus!8-))
------
emrosenf
Most dentists don’t know what they don’t know. You need to see a physiologic
dentist: lviglobal.com
If you have an hour, join their fb group and watch their video. It will be
quite illuminating.
~~~
graeme
Thanks! What will they do? Did you have this problem?
I will check them out.
~~~
emrosenf
What started out as a desire to get Invisalign turned into a much deeper
journey into understanding the relationship between occlusion, TMJ, posture,
sleep apnea and more.
I'm now almost 18 months into treatment with an LVI dentist in San Jose. I
don't personally have bruxism, but it's very much in the family of issues.
My HN/lay explanation: the jaw seeks an equilibrium position that maximizes
occlusion and minimizes muscular tension. However, many people live in a local
equilibrium where occlusion is maximized but the jaw positioning comes with
increased muscular tension. This tension can lead to symptoms like bruxism,
migraines, etc.
They have a machine called the BioPAK which can track the 3D path of your bite
and measure the tension in the different facial muscles to determine if you
are actually in the globally optimal position.
~~~
graeme
Hmm, no dentists of that type anywhere near me. Is there any other relevant
organization that might have dentists with similar expertise?
------
11235813213455
The ideal natural position of your jaw is actually when your teeth (lower and
upper range) don't touch, with a 1 or 2cm gap, and with your tongue touching
your palate
------
GEBBL
Does anyone’s jaw click? I can make the right side click at will. I think it’s
off aligned. It’s not sore but I think it must be common enough that someone
knows the cause?
~~~
sevencolors
Yeah i can make my left side "click" by opening my mouth to it's widest. I got
hit with a soccer ball directly at my chin in high-school. Been doing it
since.
I've asked every type of dentist about it and had one x-ray it. They all say
unless it's painful it's probably nothing and I'll be fine. Which technically
i am but it's really annoying.
The only satisfying theory i got was the bone in the joint got chipped when it
got injured. During the healing process it didn't grow back smoothly. So
opening it to it's widest causes it pop like that.
------
sul_tasto
Mine was stress related. I switched jobs and it went away.
------
dricornelius
Reducing stress levels is key: yoga, exercise, omit caffeine, omit alcohol,
eat well, spend time with family and friends, don't forget to breathe.
------
SwiftyBug
I'm surprised that's how it's called in English. It's very similar to how we
called it in Portuguese. How is it pronounced?
------
sombrereptile
Yes, eliminated it by relaxing for 20 mins before going to sleep. Otherwise
the stresses of the day manifest themselves in grinding.
~~~
graeme
Anything specific, or just calm reading etc?
~~~
sombrereptile
I just allow myself to wind down thinking my own thoughts, generally a calm
reflection on what’s happened in the day which often turns into what I want to
do tomorrow.
------
pengaru
If you haven't tried eliminating all stimulants like ADD meds and/or caffeine,
they're obvious places to start.
------
lambdaphagy
Two friends of mine have cured jaw tightness by taking methylfolate.
It may not work for you, but it's cheap to try.
------
robbseaton
Try magnesium.
~~~
dcpdx
Was scrolling through the comments to see if anyone mentioned this. I started
taking magnesium supplements a couple of years ago after hearing somewhere
(forget where at this point) that it helped with teeth grinding. Whenever I'd
go into dentist appointments, they'd always mention something about my teeth
grinding and recommended getting a mouth guard, which I didn't pursue due to
expense. Oddly enough, they never mentioned magnesium. When I started taking
magnesium supplements every day, my grinding almost completely stopped. I now
notice after a couple days if I haven't taken it, my jaw starts tensing up
again and naturally reverts into clenching mode. I don't have any medical
expertise or evidence to back its effectiveness, but it sure worked for me.
Worth a try before exploring other options.
~~~
gnusty_gnurc
Which type/amount of magnesium?
------
akinhwan
so glad you posted this, I was wondering the exact thing coincidentally... My
dentists always notice it and try to get me to spend $600 ish on a guard. i
currently just use a cheap one I bought at walgreens
~~~
mark212
I just got my first guard from Clearclub and it fits great. Less than 1/10 the
price (I think $90 for a year, get a new one every six months) and the same
polymer tray molds that the dentist uses. Might be worth a shot.
I’ve had several night guards from dentists but chewed through them pretty
quickly and it gets expensive.
~~~
awinder
I’ve been wondering about these sites, there’s several of them. I really need
a new guard but I’ve seen some reporting that dentists might be a very high
risk place to be. Did you have any problems with fitting / making the mold?
~~~
mark212
No it was a piece of cake. Exactly like the dentist’s assistant did it at the
office, with likely the same putty. Tray looked the same too.
------
ar21
TLDR; Bought a Remi custom night guard online and finally can wake up feeling
good
Hey! First I want to thank you for posing the question and I would love to
share my experiences with this. Early on during quarantine, I began having a
hard time getting through the night. Oftentimes I’d wake up with severe
headaches and pain in my jaw, which a late-night google binge taught me are
both prominent symptoms of Bruxism.
I found this new sleep & wellness company called Remi (www.shopremi.com) that
makes custom night-guards for individuals who struggle with Bruxism. I ordered
my night-guard and the entire process was super easy all taking places at
home. Remi sent me an “impressions kit”, a do-it-yourself version to make a
mold of my teeth. From it, they created my night guard and sent it back to me.
I've been using my night-guard for about a month or so now and I couldn't be
happier with the results. I can finally sleep well at night and wake up
feeling refreshed.
------
dgm885
I’d did, by giving up all soft drinks. Especially Coke.
~~~
graeme
Do you have caffeine? I don’t drink soft drinks, but coke has caffeine.
~~~
danw1979
Caffeine sets my gnashing off too. two cups of strong coffee in the morning
result in clenching all night and headaches the next day.
Well worth trying to cut it out completely for a few weeks.
------
twobuy
Taking Magnesium supplements can relieve jaw tension.
------
dylanhassinger
for me, cannabis/cbd before bedtime reduces bad dreams and grinding teeth
while sleeping
------
loceng
Two options I'd recommend as your priority - and then two different exercises
you can try now: a jaw exercise to help relax and strengthen the jaw,
strengthening the muscles at an open position vs. how clenching will
strengthen them at a grinding position, and a mouth strengthening exercise.
First of two is lower cost, however if you can afford it you may as well go
for the higher cost option which will have much higher potent healing
potential.
Re: PRP & stem cell treatments
I'd recommend PRP (platelet rich plasma) injections as low cost option for
your jaw including the clenching muscles. PRP is healing property concentrate
from your blood and is highly anti-inflammatory. That alone could help break
the cycle of clenching, and perhaps heal some damage and reduce strains in the
muscles.
The more expensive version is using your own stem cells that can potentially
heal/regenerate the tissues fully. You'd be prescribed opiates for a number of
days and need liquid, soft diet for a few days too. Stem cell treatment would
literally be the best experiment you could try. That you mentioned jaw injury
makes me feel like it's likely the best route, but if you can't afford the
~$7000 - $9000+ USD + travel and stay costs for stem cell treatment, PRP is
usually closer to $1000 but from my own experience only heals maybe the top
20% of pain at a source and not the deeper pains - perhaps a good litmus test
where if you feel improvement but not enough then you'd know that stem cells
would heal further.
There would be enough stem cells to treat more than your jaw as well, and
would be best to also have your neck looked at and treated. Different
doctors/clinics have different requirements before treatment such as seeing an
MRI of the areas to be treated or where they may only use ultrasound to check
and guide them.
I've had my jaw treated multiple times - had a lot of pain from a dislocated
jaw, and also a bicycle collision. My jaw pain is arguably 90%+ lower than it
used to be. I've had a lot in my body treated, I have a complex pain situation
- old injuries that are amplified by central sensitization I developed - so
healing even small injuries helps reduce the pain a lot.
There are two places I've gone for treatment multiple times: a doctor in San
Francisco, California, who uses adipose/fat derived stem cells (think mini
liposuction), and a clinic near Denver, Colorado, that use bone marrow
aspirate (drill into hip bone on both sides of Iliac crest to then suck out
the marrow); then there's processing they do with it, along with drawing blood
to mix the stem cells with PRP to support the healing. You may find a doctor
or clinic closer to you, otherwise I'd trust recommending you to them if you'd
like their details; I have no incentive for referring them to you, you could
tell them I did or not, or hopefully find another place that seems reputable
enough to you - I'm just wanting to help people.
Re: Jaw strengthening exercise
As I said the purpose of this jaw exercise is to help strengthen the muscles
at an open position, which also helps relax the muscles through the resistance
part of the exercise that acts to stretch them.
It's quite simple: 1) Open your mouth enough so your teeth aren't touching
(your lips never need to separate) - you'll find what range of open is
comfortable as you do the strengthening-stretching. 2) Place the fingers of
both hands on your chin - thumbs underneath, other fingers in front with
pinkies next to each other just touching above the last joint, with your
elbows relaxed down. 3) Start by applying slight pressure diagonally towards
the jaw joints which will engage your hands slightly preparing to the hold to
begin. 4) It doesn't matter which order you start in: as you gently pull your
jaw downward with your fingers, resist by engaging your jaw to keep your jaw
from ...
This can stretch out really tight muscles and may cause things like a
headache. It will also help stretch fascia as well that if tightened over time
will contribute to problems.
Re: Mouth strengthening via oil pulling
Oil pulling will strengthen your tongue and the holistic musculature of your
mouth, as well has help stretch it. You can use any type of consumable oil
(though you don't want to swallow it) like coconut oil, however sunflower oil
is more often recommended in certain holistic health circles as sunflowers can
absorb radiation - whether that translates to oil pulling radiation from the
body, I'm unaware if there's any research showing that. The mechanism for
using oil over say water is that it's viscous - and the goal is to keep moving
the oil around as fast as you can for tbe duration: pushing and pulling,
swishing through teeth forward and back, and sides of the mouth through the
teeth, using suction or pressure with the action of the tongue. Try to do it
for 2 minutes when you begin, do it daily to quickly strengthen. Your tongue
and other mouth muscles will get tired but you'll feel a difference and how it
gets easier each day you do it. Use a tablespoon of oil, though if not enough
resistance than add more oil - if too much resistance/difficulty, use less;
mouth size varies. Oil pulling is good for your teeth and gums too. Spit the
oil out into the toilet, it's often suggested then to rinse your mouth,
swishing around like you were, with highly diluted hydrogen peroxide for 5
seconds or so - and can spit that out in sink.
------
ta622
[I'm not a medical professional. This is merely my experience, not medical
advice.]
tl;dr yes; using a pacifier
Here's my experience with sleep and other issues that I've been dealing with
since the beginning of this year. Some background: I was a moderately active
male in my 20s with a perfect BMI. I started a company in January working from
home. Prior conditions: Chronic pain in the sternocleidomastoid area when I
turn my neck. Chronic RSI that made using computer keyboard painful. Chronic
pain behind right eye noticeable when I move it around too much e.g. playing
foosball. Chronic ITBS. Chronic constipation and ensuing haemorrhoidal
problems. I'd generally consider myself a healthy individual. I believe the
average healthy human has dozens of such minor annoyances.
I begun experiencing bruxism (as evidenced by damaged gums from one slightly
misaligned tooth in the morning), frequent intense dreams where I'm not
breathing, lightheadedness/dizziness and memory problems (including amnesia),
worsened chronic neck pain, new chronic right-sided post-nasal drip, inability
to concentrate, and breathlessness/high heart rate after just minor exercise
or even just standing up for a long time. These issues were triggered/made
worse after visiting a proctologist who, in an act of malpractice _, medicated
me with a drug that made me delirious (it wasn 't supposed to) and gave me a
severe headache that lasted 2 days. After the headache subsided I was left
unable to concentrate on work. I tried, and I didn't even realize there's
something wrong for the first couple of days, but my mind was just wandering
all over the place and when I looked at my timesheets at the end of the week
there were just a couple hours of work done. I gave myself a 3-week vacation,
but I didn't see much improvement. I ended up doing no work for three months.
I've been to a dentist, GP, ophthalmology, and ENT and neither had any
findings except for a deviated septum. I haven't been to neurology which had
been next on my list.
First off, I fixed the haemorrhoids by eating oatmeal with added fibre and
psyllium (the doctor didn't even tell me to fix my diet; ironically I read it
in a publication that requires the user to declare they're a certified medical
professional). Note that my case was just prolapsing without bleeding.
I started going to the gym every other day (20 minutes of light cardio + 25
minutes of strength exercise). This had noticeable impact on the
breathlessness/high heart rate. I should note that when exercised too hard it
made the issue worse for the rest of the day.
As for the bruxism, my dentist suggested I get braces, but I can't afford that
anytime soon so I just got a dummy. I got one that lets some air flow by but
not too much so my mouth doesn't get dry. I should stress that the dummy is
impossible to swallow. It sounds awkward, but I can measure how bad my bruxism
is by how injured my gums are and it's worked flawlessly - they recovered in a
couple of days. When a month ago I tried to sleep without it once they got
injured again.
I didn't mention that the headache following the medication was much worse in
a horizontal position and that it didn't subside fully. When I found myself
sleeping on the side or on my stomach I would wake up with a headache. Also
whenever I slept on the side, I would get dizzy and have very poor sleep. I
adjusted my bed so that my head would be above the body level at all times (my
thanks for this advice goes to the NHS website), which helped with the
headache. As for the dizziness I fixed that by sleeping on my back with
sunglasses on because that doesn't allow me to sleep on the side/stomach, and
it also made the bad dreams go away. I wish I got the sunglasses idea earlier.
I moved back in with my parents which relieved my anxiety about spending too
much (>half o my expenses were rent). I now drive to do my work away from
home, which helps with keeping a regular schedule.
I'd like to stress that I don't know what underlying conditions led to such
severe decline. Stress probably played a role as well as everything being shut
down due to COVID-19. But in the end I just know the symptoms and what
triggered it. Today I'm almost fully recovered. Not at the top of my game as I
was before, but I can focus on my work and I've done a lot of progress with my
company this month. Also the RSI that made using the keyboard painful is gone.
p.s. I suspected I may have been suffering from sleep apnoea but I had no way
to verify. I decided to create an app that tracks breathing using a phone's g
sensor and gyroscope. This was when I was starting to recover and I could
start doing lightweight programming work. I implemented a Non-uniform DFT-
based algorithm that suffices with just one axis from the g sensor to reliably
detect breathing while I'm awake with the phone on my stomach. Unfortunately
the parameters that work while awake don't work while asleep - the app would
wake me up the second I started sleeping, just like holding something in your
hand that drops to the floor wakes you at the very moment you fall asleep. I
was going to implement data collection and improve the app after collecting
enough data, but since I got better I returned to work and I'm not really
interested in continuing with this app. If anyone's interested the algorithm's
here: [https://pastebin.com/aVvh8YDK](https://pastebin.com/aVvh8YDK) (sorry
about the quality it's very much WIP & my first Dart project at the same time;
but I believe it's all the math you need unless you want to go full ML).
Here's a demo of the app albeit with just uniform DFT which wasn't great at
fitting the data: [https://gofile.io/d/cTf1y9](https://gofile.io/d/cTf1y9)
_ If anyone with expertise in the field is reading this I wonder whether my
use of the word malpractice is justified. The doctor diagnosed grade 1
external haemorrhoids with slightly increased tone. Was it appropriate to
administer (without my knowledge or prior warning, during what should have
been merely an examination) the following: 20mg extr. belladonnae sicci, 40mg
papaverini hydrochlor., 50mg indometacini, 10mg cinchocaini chlorati; and
prescribe it for me to use over the next 3 months in the form of 36
suppositories? I ignored the prescription and healed with just dietary fibre
and an analgesic OTC ointment.
------
paulcole
What does your dentist recommend? Start there instead of with anecdotes here.
Following the advice of randos has a good chance of damaging your health worse
than it is already.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
ScrollCast – social network - fraialex
http://www.scrollcast.co
======
bradknowles
Could be interesting, but is apparently in Russian, which I don't read.
Would be nice to see the developers support other languages, presumably
including English.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: DevDash – Creating highly configurable dashboards in your terminal - thanato0s
https://github.com/Phantas0s/devdash
======
angelmass
Is there a significant difference between this and
[https://wtfutil.com/](https://wtfutil.com/) ?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
IBM unveils plans for Watson supercomputer - evo_9
http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/09/technology/enterprise/ibm-watson/index.html
======
th0ma5
What about the new Watson 3U setup is more than a turn key Apache UIMA
install? Seems like in all of this they gloss over how there is no free lunch
and you still have to write a lot of services for your problem domain.
~~~
nl
Apache UIMA can just do the data import & transformation.
Watson is much, much more. For one thing UIMA doesn't have any of the question
analysis and answer confidence rating that the Watson DeepQA pipeline[1] does.
[1] [http://www.slideshare.net/jahendler/watson-summer-
review8201...](http://www.slideshare.net/jahendler/watson-summer-
review82013final)
------
sandieman
Fluff and I could really use some meat and potatoes.
------
wildchild
Just kidding. How much Khash/s this dude can?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Gtkmm now uses C++11 - ingve
http://www.murrayc.com/permalink/2015/07/31/gtkmm-now-uses-c11/
======
superfunc
Lambdas really do clean things up nicely in some places. It pains me to have
to write function objects at work knowing this.
~~~
andresmanz
That must be annoying. Why can't you switch to C++11/14?
~~~
superfunc
Reliance on certain, newly-deprecated things like gnu hash_map which has
performance characteristics important to our specific application.
~~~
lholden
Does -std=gnu++11? not still support the gnu version?
~~~
nly
You can use hash_map just find in C++11/14 mode, you'll just a nag #warning at
compile time.
------
ridiculous_fish
I'd like to hear more about how the transition was accomplished. Which
platforms are no longer supported for example?
------
benwaffle
Thanks
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Supercomputer uses warm water to cool its servers and heat its building - ph0rque
http://www.nrel.gov/news/features/feature_detail.cfm/feature_id=15403
======
IvyMike
I used to work with water-cooled test equipment.
One thing that surprised me was that the water _was_ warm. The reason I was
given was that had chilled water been used, you would have all sorts of issues
with condensation. So instead of cooling the system with cold water, you
cooled by pumping in lots of room-temperature water. The next effect: the same
amount of heat is pulled out.
~~~
joezydeco
How does the volume of water needed differ from the ambient temp vs the
chilled temp?
~~~
bengali3
per the chart here [1], it appears that a given volume of 40 degree(F) water
is 0.03% smaller than that of 80 degree water.
[1] [http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/water-specific-volume-
weig...](http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/water-specific-volume-weight-
d_661.html)
~~~
joezydeco
My question was more about how much _more_ water is needed to absorb the same
amount of energy from the server.
If the water pumping into the server is 20-30 degrees (C) hotter than chilled
water, it can't absorb as much heat energy from the server before turning to
steam. So you need to transport more water through the same system to keep the
cooling effect the same.
~~~
IvyMike
I was the software guy, and I have to admit I weaseled out of taking a thermo
class in college, so unfortunately I don't have an answer for you.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Mkd – Markdown editor with WebRTC peer-to-peer sharing - alexghr
https://github.com/alexghr/mkd
======
dawnbreez
Isn't the point of Markdown that it's self-documenting and editable in any
text editor? If I were to write an editor for Markdown (or, more likely, a
plugin for Vim or Emacs), I would focus on providing editing shortcuts and
autocompletion. WYSIWYG editing is more useful in standard HTML than it is in
Markdown.
~~~
alexghr
It is, but the point of the project wasn't to create yet-another-markdown-
editor, it was so I could play around with WebRTC and get two browsers talking
to each other directly. I used Markdown just so documents wouldn't be plain
text.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Static to Dynamic and Back Again - reubano
https://reubano.xyz/blog/static-to-dynamic-and-back-again/
======
reubano
I recently redesigned my website using Metalsmith, a static site generator.
This post outlines the pros/cons of transitioning from the original Octopress
static site, to a single page app (Chaplinjs), and finally back to a static
site.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
I want my OpenID - julieb2
http://www.16thletter.com/2008/04/29/i-want-my-openid/
======
sanswork
I installed OpenID on one of my sites to avoid people having to go through any
sign up process and still had people complaining about having to sign up to
view it.
OpenID is a great idea. But I think it will probably remain as a niche thing
used by few enough people that it probably isn't worth the time to implement
it properly.
------
webwatch
There is nothing more annoying than a company that makes you jump through
hoops (complex registration system) to get something that they want from you
(your comment, which makes their post/site/life better).
~~~
mechanical_fish
Correct. The answer is to put your comments on a site that is easy and
worthwhile to log in to. Like this one. :)
------
brlewis
Immad and Peter: Stop reading news.yc and get back to work on Clickpass. :-)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Going beyond vulnerability rewards - WestCoastJustin
http://googleonlinesecurity.blogspot.ca/2013/10/going-beyond-vulnerability-rewards.html
======
casca
Interesting idea. Try get people who are considering selling exploits to get a
little money from Google instead. Michal Zalewski (lcamtuf) is highly
respected in the security world - The Tangled Web and Silence on the Wire are
excellent reads.
It would be very surprising if this didn't lead to a few new BIND and ISC
DHCPD bugs coming out in the near future.
~~~
WestCoastJustin
What's really cool about this, is that it looks like it applies to more than
just security fixes i.e. _Qualifying submissions - Any patch that has a
demonstrable, significant, and proactive impact on the security of one of the
in-scope projects will be considered for a reward. Examples include:_
Improvements to privilege separation,
Memory allocator hardening,
Cleanups of integer arithmetics,
Systematic fixes for various types of race conditions,
Elimination of error-prone design patterns or library calls.
_Reactive patches that merely address a single, previously discovered
vulnerability will typically not be eligible for rewards. [1]_
[1] [https://www.google.com/about/appsecurity/patch-
rewards/](https://www.google.com/about/appsecurity/patch-rewards/)
~~~
IanCal
I suppose these are likely to be security fixes, but it's really nice to see a
change in attitude. You can have fixed a security bug before anyone knows it
exists by fixing up areas of code likely to contain bugs.
This also widens the group of people who can submit fixes, since you can fix
something that looks a bit dodgy without having to prove there is a particular
exploit.
------
3JPLW
Earlier discussion (of the same post):
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6523434](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6523434)
Ah, the wonders of multiple country-code TLDs for the same blogspot page (also
submitted under Australia)
~~~
WestCoastJustin
I didn't see the earlier post.
------
swamp40
Google's going to pay for GCC toolchain improvements?
Good for them.
But a normal company would go broke doing these kinds of things.
~~~
IanCal
Maybe. They've got a lot riding on these things being secure, a bit of money
now is probably a lot better than lots of money later. A lot of companies
probably have the same risk/reward, but can't place it neatly in a budget.
This may also be part of reaching out to developers, and gaining some trust
back. They've probably taken quite a hit recently, and I think they've
somewhat relied on being the cool place to work.
------
swamp40
Aren't they worried that people will inject open-source vulnerabilities for
free, then have Google to pay them when they are "found" and "fixed"?
~~~
rictic
According to the page, fixing individual vulnerabilities won't typically be
rewarded. This seems like it's for more systemic fixes, like improving
privilege separation, security at the memory allocation level, etc.
------
kylequest
It would be great if they could add Django, RoR, and Node/Express.js to
improve their security proactively. They can definitely use that :-)
------
alanbyrne
I love that the Max reward is $3133.7 dollars. Made me chuckle.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google Removes Patrick Moore as Founder of Greenpeace - bhartzer
https://mobile.twitter.com/aaranged/status/1108443770071113728
======
mindcrash
Not entirely correct. Moore got disavowed by Greenpeace for "political
disagreements", which triggered Wikipedia authors to rewrite the English Wiki
page thus made his entry in the Knowledge Graph disappear because it is fed by
the English Wikipedia.
------
Dahoon
Clickbait.
Google removed nothing.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Linux Cousins Part 1: Reviewing AROS, the Amiga-Like OS - bane
http://www.networkworld.com/article/2995585/opensource-subnet/linux-review-aros-os-amiga.html
======
orionblastar
AROS is basically so much like an Amiga that one doesn't need to buy an
Expensive Amiga One system to have the Amiga GUI.
For hackers who are into crosscompiling programs there is a bounty system for
people to port code to AROS.
[http://www.power2people.org/projects/overview/](http://www.power2people.org/projects/overview/)
I should add they already made a Kickstart ROM replacement for the Amiga
series of computers so they can run AROS and use the Kickstart replacement in
emulators for the Amiga as it should also run AmigaOS/AmigaDOS as well. Giving
new life to 68K based Amiga systems and the PowerPC upgrades as well.
------
vidarh
The big caveats with AROS are basically:
\- Lack of SMP
\- Lack of memory protection
Both are very tricky to do while retaining any kind of reasonable
compatibility with AmigaOS.
This + lack of a decent pthreads implementation makes porting of a lot of
useful software hard (the amount of Linux/Unix software that depends on fork()
alone is massive)
I like AROS, but it badly needs more developers to resolve the issues above if
it's to get beyond the "fun to tinker with" stage for most people.
------
keithpeter
Word-processing: A bit of googling suggests that a texlive distribution may
exist for AROS. Not wysiwyg but can produce professional results. PDF reading
looks like xpdf or one of the dvi based viewers or gv.
OA could perhaps have mentioned bit more detail about the apps supplied.
Perhaps a typical workflow for small task?
------
unixhero
I liked the cheery tone of this piece! It came without the unnecessary
editorializing and fluff found in typical review articles. +1 to
Networkworld.com
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: We got an invite to TechStars for a day, should we go? - innominates
I created a new account for obvious reasons.<p>In light of this:<p>http://blog.aisleten.com/2009/04/06/what-we-did-to-not-get-into-techstars/<p>I think that we have about a 5% chance of getting in even if we go. Would it be better for us to just stay home and work on our product?
======
andrewhyde
(I'm with TS)
Keep in mind that attendance at TechStars For A Day is not required in order
to receive an invitation to participate in the program. It can obviously help,
but there are plenty of examples of companies that didn't attend and were
still invited to the program subsequently.
It is also a really fun day filled with a lot of smart people looking to help.
Plus Boulder is a fantastic place to visit (and live).
Let me know if you have any more questions or anyone wants some offline
answers [email protected]
------
jasonlbaptiste
you should probably go. you'll certainly meet some new smart people, get to
talk to other entrepreneurs, and have some sort of experience. It's good to
put yourself out there and experience new things. your product will still get
done, don't worry.
------
henryci
Reasons to go: \- Meet new entrepreneurs in your physical location or
technology space. \- Get free advice from great mentors. \- Be involved in the
community. \- Increase your chances if you apply next year by learning about
TechStars. \- 5% is significantly more likely than life happening, and yet
here we are.
Reasons not to go: \- You miss 8 hours of development, of which you'll
probably work for 4 at best. \- Might catch a cold from all the hand-shaking.
Seems like a no-brainer to me, but I'm biased because our company got in to
last year's Boston program.
------
andyjdavis
You may as well go. One day won't make any difference to your development in
the grand scheme of things. Better to go along and at least have the
opportunity to meet someone interesting.
------
quigebo
with an attitude like that, you wont get very far with your business. Figure
your startup has an even smaller chance of being successful but you still want
to pursue it, correct? Have faith in yourself because no one else will.
------
hiroprot
Come out, we'll have a beer :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Extended Isolation Forest for anomaly detection - mgckind
https://github.com/sahandha/eif
======
Macuyiko
Very nice. Does this also solve the original drawback of IF of not being able
to handle categorical values? You could create dummy vars but this would lead
to somewhat biased results using the standard orthogonal splits. Would EIF
work better here?
~~~
mgckind
Thanks! We were concerned about continuous variables. For categorical values
there might be some improvement although it might require extra attention not
to be bias due to the dynamic range or cardinality of the values.
~~~
Macuyiko
That makes sense, thanks!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Which programming language has the best documentation? - zoowar
Recently I was playing around with Scala/Lift and found the online documentation horrible. It was mostly auto generated function specifications with very little background information. Which programming language has the best documentation?
======
spacemanaki
The Java standard library docs are very good, and the language spec is quite
clear and precisely defined.
Another language with brutally specific docs is Common Lisp. Even though I
have really only dabbled in it, the Hyperspec is really pretty impressive.
At least one common factor between them is Guy Steele, I don't think that's a
coincidence.
Edited to add that I'm pretty sure my comment was motivated by this comment by
mahmud: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1661254>
~~~
colanderman
I remember reading that Guy Steele was specifically hired to the Java project
for this reason. Wikipedia corroborates this: "In 1994, Steele joined Sun
Microsystems and was invited by Bill Joy to become a member of the Java team
after the language had been designed, since he had a track record of writing
good specifications for existing languages."
He also documented ECMAScript 1, which I've found to be pleasurably precise.
------
brudgers
It depends on how narrowly one defines "documentation" and what one means by
"best."
I.e. there's probably a book on Visual Basic that's a good fit for just about
anyone's level of interest and programming experience...assuming of course
that one has an interest in Visual Basic.
On the other hand, K&R is a concise and well written.
Yet one has an inexhaustible supply of JavaScript examples only an F12 away.
~~~
zoowar
When you answer, you get to define the scope.
------
zoowar
In addition to documentation, I find a language specification useful. Golang
has an excellent one <http://golang.org/doc/go_spec.html> My original
Stroustrup C++book included a language specification which was nice.
------
zoowar
I like both python <http://docs.python.org/modindex.html> and golang
<http://golang.org/pkg/> best.
~~~
harold
also the PEPs for Python: <http://www.python.org/dev/peps/>
------
colanderman
I'm going to vote twice:
1) ECMAScript, for being excrutiatingly detailed. Guy Steele did a wonderful
job shoehorning an unambiguous specification around a loopy language. 2)
PostgreSQL. While not particularly mathematical, Postgres docs do a good job
of "covering all the bases"... potential "gotchas" and incompatibilities are
always documented, and I never find myself wondering what a particular feature
does.
------
samth
The Racket Guide [1] and Reference [2] are very nice (and almost all the work
of just one person, Matthew Flatt).
[1] <http://docs.racket-lang.org/guide/> [2] <http://docs.racket-
lang.org/reference/>
------
VicT11
In my experience I've been trying to learn beginner programming with Ruby on
Rails. I feel like there are tons of high quality resources for Python that I
come across. Ruby on rails documentation seems pretty good. Ruby documentation
though has been tough to find.
------
mikeburrelljr
PHP via <http://php.net/function>
------
TMK
C ISO/IEC 9899 - 1999 Standard is my favourite piece of documentation.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Model S Long Range Plus: Building the First 400-Mile Electric Vehicle - Reedx
https://www.tesla.com/blog/model-s-long-range-plus-building-first-400-mile-electric-vehicle
======
steelframe
I've been following a multi-month discussion over in the r/electricvehicles
subreddit about EPA range. There's a growing consensus that something is very
wrong with it.
Here are a couple of the articles that got some discussion in that sub:
[https://insideevs.com/news/407807/eletric-car-real-world-
ran...](https://insideevs.com/news/407807/eletric-car-real-world-range-
tested/)
[https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a30874032/porsche-
tayca...](https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a30874032/porsche-taycan-range-
test-tesla-model-s/)
As someone who has owned both a Tesla Model X and one of the other EVs on the
list from the first article, I can also provide my own anecdata that at
freeway speeds Tesla routinely underperforms their EPA range rating, and by
quite a large margin. Meanwhile at freeway speeds my non-Tesla EV routinely
exceeds its EPA rating.
That's not to say that Tesla hasn't done an amazing job at maximizing
efficiency in their cars. They have. Just maybe not to the degree that the EPA
test would suggest.
~~~
davidwhodge
I make an app (called Nikola, not the truck company) for Tesla owners that has
seen over 5 MM miles driven on it. I did some quick queries to validate actual
range vs. EPA range for those curious.
My general takeaway is to see the EPA range as a useful, albeit unrealistic,
indicator. Essentially nobody gets the EPA range, either because they choose
not to go the speed limit, they accelerate harder than the EPA test factored
in, or the vehicles drain some juice while parked.
The data: For the hundreds of Nikola trips with an average speed of 60 mph,
the actual MPGe was about 102. Once you get up to a 75 MPH average trip speed,
the MPGe drops to 94. And by 80 MPH the MPGe drops to 77. (avg over all Tesla
types)
As a bit of "anecdata", I've driven trips where I hit my range on the nose,
just to show I could, but the driving is less fun and I was going slower than
traffic. I don't drive that way anymore.
What's most striking to me as someone who has heard over and over again about
how air resistance is a X^2 property, is the extent to which short (and
presumably slow) trips punch above their weight in terms of range consumed per
mile. From what I can tell, the actual cost here is the fixed cost of booting
up some systems and electronics, and the variable costs of running them over
fewer miles can make the MPGe drop. Starting and continuing to run the AC adds
up!
edit: have had some people ask. The app can be found at
[https://download.nikolaapp.com](https://download.nikolaapp.com)
I can also post data / graphs or make a blog post about that if people have
more requests. Let me know what you'd like to see!
~~~
btilly
_What 's most striking to me as someone who has heard over and over again
about how air resistance is a X^2 property, is the extent to which short (and
presumably slow) trips punch above their weight in terms of range consumed per
mile. From what I can tell, the actual cost here is the fixed cost of booting
up some systems and electronics, and the variable costs of running them over
fewer miles can make the MPGe drop. Starting and continuing to run the AC adds
up!_
Two factors.
First, if you go 10% faster, air resistance may be 21% higher, but you only
take 10/11 for spending 10% more energy per mile. So higher speeds cost less
than you'd naively think.
Second, at low speeds we start and stop a lot. Coming to a full stop requires
actually putting physical brakes on and losing energy. The heavier your car,
the more that this costs you. For slower traffic, if you look at distance
traveled, number of full stops and energy, I bet that you can fit a linear
model in 2 variables that fits the data better and gives you a sense of how
much coming to a stop costs you.
~~~
tlb
That's incorrect. Power consumption is proportional to drag * speed, and drag
is speed^2, so power is speed^3, and energy per mile is speed^2.
~~~
carlob
True but we're interested in power consumption per distance traveled so it
goes back to O(v^2).
~~~
sokoloff
That’s precisely what the last clause you’re responding to says. You’re
agreeing but couching it as a “but”.
------
leesec
Man do I love Hackernews.
Everyone is pro-innovation, pro-future, pro-forward thinking until literally
anything new happens, in which case everyone shows up with a "well,
ackshually", to tell you why the new idea is dumb.
It's amazing to me that Tesla continues to increase State Of The Art range and
EV efficiency, at scale, for cars that already smoke the competition. I hope
their fervor to improve the technology never stops, and I'm glad they're
dragging the industry, kicking and screaming, into the future.
~~~
rossjudson
"Nobody is going to buy this thing. I commute 250 miles each way to my job, in
my pickup truck. Call me back when Tesla makes a _real_ car with _real_ range.
Anybody who buys these now is a sucker."
Because people keep saying shit like that. Tesla's range increases are a giant
experiment to find out at exactly what point opposition to electric collapses.
~~~
jacobush
For me it has always been at a range of 1000 kilometers. (600 miles.)
~~~
csunbird
It is the same limit for me. The car should be able to go until I am tired
driving it, which is around 6 to 8 hours driving at 120km/h, including breaks
of 15-20 minutes each 3 hours. Then I can accept a 30-45 minute break to
charge if I have to continue.
~~~
Klathmon
Tesla's are already very close to that right now.
I used to drive from Florida to Pennsylvania fairly often, and in my model 3
it's a rough cadence of drive for 2.5 to 3 hours, stop at a supercharger for
under 30 minutes, repeat until I'm there.
And that's with the vast majority of the trip at 75mph/120km/h.
It does get worse in the winter though, I need to stop more frequently like
every 2 hours, and for more like 30 minutes per stop.
~~~
dahfizz
I think discussions of range alone are misguided for this reason. The state of
charging infrastructure is just as important as the range of the car itself.
The 300 mile range on a tesla is fine even for long road trips because the
infrastructure is solid.
~~~
octorian
> The state of charging infrastructure is just as important as the range of
> the car itself.
And this is why I facepalm every single time I see a car manufacturer trying
to make a "Tesla competitor" by focusing on getting most of the range with
none of the charging infrastructure. (Or they assume the infrastructure is
someone else's problem, that can be solved with some press releases about
business agreements.)
------
kenhwang
I wonder how much of this will translate to real world driving. Teslas have
generally significantly underperformed in real world range compared to EPA.
This reads very much like they're optimizing more towards a benchmark.
~~~
kjksf
If it's possible, every car maker can "optimize towards benchmark".
So is your theory that all car makers except Tesla are dumb and cannot
optimize their range for EPA tests?
That they are morally superior to Tesla and will sacrifice sales by not
optimizing for EPA range but some purported "real world range"?
And in what way exactly do you optimize for EPA test?
I've seen this "explanation" for superior Tesla results many times but somehow
no-one actually explains how do you make a battery or electric motor or drag
coefficient of the car that is optimized for EPA test but doesn't generalize
to regular driving.
~~~
justapassenger
> If it's possible, every car maker can "optimize towards benchmark".
Like VW optimizing cars towards benchmark. Doesn't always ends great.
~~~
10-1-100
Not sure faking results counts as optimizing cars /shrug
~~~
justapassenger
They were not faked. Cars were optimized to behave in a certain way under
exact test scenario.
They were not producing any fake output data from the sensors, just
"optimizing" engine behavior.
~~~
Zanni
They didn't output fake data, true, but their "optimization" was to only
activate emissions controls _during testing_. That's fraud.
[https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-
way/2015/10/08/446861855...](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-
way/2015/10/08/446861855/volkswagen-u-s-ceo-faces-questions-on-capitol-hill)
------
kylecordes
It's great that Tesla keeps increasing the range, but the EPA numbers are
ridiculous. I would love to see the EPA range claims for electric vehicles re-
standardized to measure:
* at the median driving speed on free-flowing US interstate highways
* during cold weather
* with some hills
* using a medium level typical of drivers of cars of the price range
A car manufacturer particularly focused on realism could publish a two range
values; a lower number as described above, an upper EPA number (perfect
conditions, low speed).
~~~
burlesona
The EPA tests are interesting. They do simulate stop and go driving, and
that’s why on a gas car the city number is worse, but the steadier highway
test shows better numbers. One of the weird things with an EV is that the
highway numbers are actually worse (as other posters have commented).
The tests definitely trade off realism for consistent reproducibility though.
This article describes it in detail, it’s really interesting:
[https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15388892/the-truth-
ab...](https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15388892/the-truth-about-epa-
city-highway-mpg-estimates/)
~~~
kenhwang
The test is absolutely insane and it totally makes sense why EPA estimates can
vary so much from real world numbers. It would practically ignore the effects
of aerodynamics and I'm not even sure weight plays a role given both of those
are supposedly accounted for by a simulated drag on the rollers.
~~~
avs733
weight is inertia and aero drag is a speed dependant force...both are just
forces that can be simulated really easily on a dyno.
------
elihu
They mention "significant weight reduction" but don't mention how much weight
they saved. Considering how heavy Model S's are, this seems like it could be a
productive approach, though on the other hand if there were easy/obvious ways
to reduce unnecessary weight, it would have been done by now. On some level
it's a trade-off between being too heavy and being unsafe, though reducing the
weight also means it doesn't have to be as strong.
~~~
sgc
yes and no. Older cars were far heavier and far less safe. They could make
incremental safety design improvements that allow to reduce weight
incrementally without compromise.
~~~
laurencerowe
I’m not sure whether you mean older teslas or older cars generally here. Small
cars in the 70s and 80s weighed just over half as much as they do now. The
Golf Mk 1 was 795kg while a Mk 8 is 1255kg. Much of that increase in weight is
safety equipment and they are much safer for it.
~~~
globular-toast
Some of the increase is safety equipment. Some is just the fact they they are
bigger in just about every way. The Golf Mk1 wasn't even a particular small or
lightweight car. The Mini was about 600kg, for example.
~~~
laurencerowe
Individual models do have a tendency to grow in size over time so perhaps the
current Polo is a better comparison to the Mk1 Golf and even that weighs in at
1164kg.
------
Tepix
Congratulations to the Tesla team! You deserve the success that you‘re having!
Tesla is 100% succeeding in their quest to speed up the change to renewable
mobility.
------
pkulak
Wow, they are doing brake blending now? I'd be interested to know how good
their implementation is. I always assumed they refused to do it because it's
so damn hard to perfect.
~~~
Reason077
Tesla doesn't do any blending of the brake pedal. Pressing the brake pedal
always applies the friction brakes only.
However, since a software update last year, they have had a one-pedal driving
mode (Stopping mode "Hold"). In this mode, the vehicle is able to come to a
complete stop without using the brake pedal, using a blend of re-gen and
friction brakes to do so.
In practice, it means it uses re-gen down to a very low speed (< 5mph), then
applies the friction brakes to achieve a complete stop (this also doubles as a
"hill hold" \- the brakes won't release until you press the accelerator
again).
~~~
dzhiurgis
Quick question - do Teslas turn on brake lights when using one-pedal mode?
Seems it can brake quite aggressively using regen.
~~~
zamfi
Modern vehicles are required to turn on the brake lights at a given level of
deceleration, regen / brakes or not!
~~~
oh_sigh
So if I'm driving a new manual transmission car, and downshift/engine brake,
my brake lights would activate?
~~~
zamfi
That’s my understanding!
EDIT: Actually this may only be required for vehicles with certain features,
like regen or endurance braking! Car regulations are...complex.
------
late2part
It's really incredible what Tesla is doing. Haters gonna hate, but they
continue to innovate and move the industry forward.
~~~
xvector
Really enjoying Tesla's 'innovation' of giving my Model 3 only 70% of the
promised range.
Doesn't help that everyone on Tesla forums love to praise the company no
matter what they do, so it's not like this is something easy to learn prior to
using the car for some time.
~~~
cwhiz
There are a million variables that go into range. I could drive the same route
and get 25mpg on my old Prius, or I could get 65mpg.
[https://teslike.com/](https://teslike.com/)
This site has been linked on this thread a few times and I’ve had it
bookmarked for some time. TLDR = drive more slowly and lay off the brakes.
------
jokoon
Still wondering why they haven't announced a new, cheaper EV yet.
Autonomy isn't such a big issue, price is.
I know Tesla needs to develop its production scale, which means making low-
quantity high-margin vehicles first.
Did Tesla deliver all the model 3 yet? I'm pretty sure that selling a vehicle
that can do 150km at a lower price could still sell well.
~~~
lazyjones
> Still wondering why they haven't announced a new, cheaper EV yet.
They seem to be selling their current low-end cars as fast as they can make
them, why should they attempt to divert their efforts to a new lower-margin
car? They can leave the cheap EV announcements to other manufacturers like VW
for people who want to buy an EV some time later...
~~~
jokoon
> why should they attempt to divert their efforts to a new lower-margin car?
why not?
~~~
lazyjones
Because it makes no sense from a business perspective.
~~~
jokoon
I'm not really sure Elon Musk really wants to make money in the first place,
he also wants to make ICU cars obsolete.
And I'm pretty sure there are plenty people willing to buy an electric vehicle
even if it performs worse than an ICU vehicle. A lot of customers are ready to
do it because it's the right thing to do.
------
sidcool
This is impressive. Almost 650 Km. Conservatively, let's say 600 Km, it's very
very impressive.
My daily commute is 30 KM, I can go 20 days without charging. Back of the
napkin suggests that if I charge overnight in my garage, I can go without
super charger charging for more than a month and a half. This is no small
feat.
~~~
NiekvdMaas
If you charge overnight on your garage, you _never_ need to visit a
supercharger unless you take road trips. Last time I visited a supercharger
was 4 months ago.
~~~
sidcool
That's even better.
------
pedrocr
EV range as a blended efficiency using the same test cycle we use for ICEs is
not a very useful metric. EVs are already insanely energy efficient so we
don't really need to measure that. What people want to know is if they go on a
road-trip how far can they go until they need to charge. Just testing the
highway range at whatever the normal speed is in your location would be a much
more useful number. It would be nice if we had a standard rating for highway
range in winter/summer at a continuous 120/130/140 km/h for example. For a
Model 3 this can easily be 60-70% of the rated WLTP range. When you're in the
city the car is parked most of the time and may as well be connected to a
charger, range on city cycles and short trips is not nearly as relevant.
------
dmix
402mi = 647km
------
woodandsteel
The larger importance of this is that for a lot of potential ev purchasers,
400 miles is the lower limit of what they consider acceptable range. Yes, I
know that is rather arbitrary and irrational, but that's how it is.
400 mile range is also important for political debates about the practicality
of ev's and whether or not governments should be promoting them.
------
virtualritz
When I open the page it asks me which market I'm in. I choose Germany yet all
units used in the piece are imperial.
------
systemBuilder
So it used to be rated at about 335mpc (miles per charge)? And 20% yanks it up
to 402? That must be an incredible mass savings something like 10% I'm
guessing, on a car that is already built on an all-aluminum unibody. I hope
the NHTSA crash ratings are not affected!
~~~
CarVac
335, then 370, and now 402.
------
xyst
Now give us a truck that doesn’t resemble late 1990s video games with these
long range innovations, and I would put in a reserve for a Tesla.
Right now I’m leaning towards Rivian, but they are currently unproven and
would like to ideally wait out a few generations.
------
tenpies
I'll wait for Consumer Reports or the EPA before believing any of Tesla's
range claims.
E: As in from the EPA itself and validated by Consumer Report's field-testing,
not Tesla claiming EPA certification and verified through easily cheat-able
testing.
~~~
new_realist
Teslas are known for achieving only 75-85% of EPA in the real world.
This is based on my own data, owning multiple Teslas over four years.
The issue is that short drives suffer HVAC losses and long drives are at
highway speeds, which is significantly above the speed the EPA uses for their
dyno. tests. Further, Tesla actually runs the tests themselves and uses their
own calculations to simulate wind resistance.
~~~
SEJeff
The HVAC losses are much less in the Model Y due to the heat pump / octovalve,
something I wish they'd update the new from the factory Model 3s with. Sandy
Munroe did a full Model Y teardown and has a whole segment on how this simple
invention is brilliant as it increases real-world range.
Edit: mentioned the octovalve, which has no equivalent in any existing EV (i3,
taycan, and leaf included).
~~~
new_realist
Other EVs have been using heat pumps for years, like the i3 and LEAF. I don’t
know why they didn’t go with it for the 3, or retrofit it to the S and X.
~~~
SEJeff
Not one like this. The Model 3 "superbottle" was the best in the industry for
the problem they were trying to solve with it. The Model Y "octovalve" heat
pump is the successor and does things even better (and it is patented FYI).
[https://insideevs.com/news/408437/tesla-model-y-teardown-
hea...](https://insideevs.com/news/408437/tesla-model-y-teardown-heat-pump/)
~~~
clouddrover
All I see in the video is a description of a heat pump. In what way is Tesla's
heat pump better than, for example, Hyundai's:
[https://press.kia.com/eu/en/home/media-resouces/press-
releas...](https://press.kia.com/eu/en/home/media-resouces/press-
releases/2020/New_Heat_Pump_Technology.html)
~~~
SEJeff
Not sure if you’re familiar with the Model 3 super bottle. Here is an overview
of that from Jason Torchinaky (who used to design heat pumps for a living):
[https://jalopnik.com/the-tesla-model-3s-superbottle-
easter-e...](https://jalopnik.com/the-tesla-model-3s-superbottle-easter-egg-
is-a-fascin-1830992728)
The octovalve heat pump in the Model Y improves the range by 10% (per an
interview with Elon and Sandy Munro).
I’ll note that the total range of the Model 3 LR is 322 miles and the Max
range of the larger Model Y is 316 miles.
This compares to the 111 miles of all electric miles in the Kia Soul EV, 258
for the Hyundai Kona, and 170 electric only miles in the Hyundai Ionia EV. To
be fair, the press release is likely correct as in 2014, the Soul having that
heat pump likely was industry leading. It isn’t even close to it today, and
things like Tesla’s patented (but very strange) inventions like the octovalve
are why.
Today Tesla announced the Model S Long Range Plus is EPA rated at 402 miles.
There really isn’t any competition (thr VW ID.3 likely being the closest).
~~~
clouddrover
> _I’ll note that the total range of the Model 3 LR is 322 miles and the Max
> range of the larger Model Y is 316 miles._
That's a function of battery size. The maximum battery size of the current
Kona, Niro, and Soul is 64 kWh. Batteries cost money. The Kona, Niro, and Soul
are all less expensive than the top end Teslas.
> _This compares to the 111 miles of all electric miles in the Kia Soul EV_
Not the current model.
> _There really isn’t any competition_
Sure there is. Tesla used to be the #1 BEV maker in Europe. Now they're #3.
That's competition for you:
[https://www.schmidtmatthias.de/post/april-2020-european-
elec...](https://www.schmidtmatthias.de/post/april-2020-european-electric-car-
market-top-sellers)
But none of this answers the original question. In what way is Tesla's heat
pump better than Hyundai's?
~~~
SEJeff
> That's a function of battery size. The maximum battery size of the current
> Kona, Niro, and Soul is 64 kWh. Batteries cost money. The Kona, Niro, and
> Soul are all less expensive than the top end Teslas.
The Model 3 LR battery size is 75 kWh. Are you telling me a 9 kWh difference
say ~15% is the sole reason for an almost 25% increase in range? If it is only
a matter of the battery size, the range would be linear. It is a function of
battery size, total mass, and efficiency. A more or less efficient heat pump
is absolutely a defining part of this equation, especially in the cold, as the
press release you linked stated. It is why the longer, wider, and taller Model
Y has only slightly less range than the Model 3 when it should have less due
to aerodynamics and increased mass.
> Not the current model.
Sorry, you are right. The 2020 Kia Soul EV range is 243 miles. The google card
result is out of date.
> Sure there is. Tesla used to be the #1 BEV maker in Europe. Now they're #3.
> That's competition for you:
I was referring to competition when it comes to overall efficiency and range.
The ID.3 and any EVs built on VW's EV chassis are the closest competition to
Tesla has in that area. When it comes to price, it isn't hard to beat Tesla so
you're right on this, but I wasn't being specific enough.
> But none of this answers the original question. In what way is Tesla's heat
> pump better than Hyundai's?
This segment dives much deeper into the octovalve / heat pump for you to see:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGffUODWWSE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGffUODWWSE)
and this podcast has both Sandy Munro and Elon Musk discussing the design in
depth:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pih4kU6yvz8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pih4kU6yvz8)
Tesla heat pump patent (with diagrams):
[https://patents.google.com/patent/US20190070924A1/en?oq=US20...](https://patents.google.com/patent/US20190070924A1/en?oq=US20190070924A1)
Kia / Hundai heat pump patent (with diagrams):
[https://patents.google.com/patent/US20160009161A1/en](https://patents.google.com/patent/US20160009161A1/en)
TL;DNR: look at the diagrams from the Tesla vs the Kia / Hundai patents. The
Tesla pump combines the heating and cooling for the cabin interior, battery,
drive drain, inverters, and motors into a single package with a closed heating
loop. It does it in an entirely novel "printed circuit board design" that uses
zero tubes.
The Hundai / Kia approach is more industry standard and much simpler. By being
less ambitious, it is not as efficient overall as they still need separate
heating / cooling systems for the battery, and/or separate cooling systems for
the motors plus drive train.
It isn't a real apples to apples comparison, which is what I meant when I said
there is no competition. This sort of thing, or things like the use of
Inconel, a super-alloy not seen in any other automotive manufacturer, in the
Model S and X. Inconel is usually used for orbital class rockets like the
SpaceX Merlin Engine Manifold or United Launch Alliance's new rocket engines.
Or the use of the IDRA gigapress (first the OL 5500 CS for the Model Y in
2019. Later, it was upgrade to the OL 6100 CS.
[https://www.idragroup.com/index.php/en/solutions/machines/gi...](https://www.idragroup.com/index.php/en/solutions/machines/gigapress)),
the worlds largest aluminum die cast machine for the underbody of the Model Y.
When it was first done with the rear part of the Y body it was the first in
the entire industry and created two parts. They've managed to get it down to a
single piece with the upgraded OL 6100 CS. There is no one in the industry
doing this. All of this ontop of Tesla creating their own Aluminum alloy using
metallurgists on loan from SpaceX, who use a proprietary aluminum alloy for
the Falcon 9 rocket body.
~~~
clouddrover
> _The Model 3 LR battery size is 75 kWh. Are you telling me a 9 kWh
> difference say ~15% is the sole reason for an almost 25% increase in range?_
No, I'm telling you you're comparing paper miles instead of real world miles.
Here's a real world range test of the Kia Niro 64 kWh and the Model 3 LR:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH7V2tU3iFc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH7V2tU3iFc)
The Model 3's extra 11 kWh only bought it an extra 15 miles. It achieved 78%
of its WLTP range. The Niro delivered 90% of its WLTP range.
> _By being less ambitious, it is not as efficient overall_
All you've really said is that Tesla's heat pump is a different design, not
demonstrated that it's actually better than Hyundai's. You should take Tesla's
claims with a grain of salt.
------
softgrow
Can we have an EV for people who don't suffer from range anxiety and are
willing to trade that off for cost?
I travel 5000km (3000mi) a year, longest single day use 50km (30mi). Vehicle
is garaged with access to power. I just need 100km (60mi) (double to be sure
:) ) range at an affordable cost.
~~~
ssheth
So .. a used Nissan Leaf is good for you. 70-100 mile range. Probably < $12k
------
ryanmarsh
Here I am with a 2018 S 75D getting low 200’s. _sniff_
------
codecamper
dear Tesla. I live in a city.
~~~
allendoerfer
Inside a (properly designed) city you should not need (to own) a car at all.
~~~
lazyjones
Perhaps not everything in life is about need.
I presume what you actually wanted to say is: _you_ don't want other people in
cities to own cars.
~~~
allendoerfer
This is a thread about EVs and how a particular feature (range) that is worse
than ICU cars is improving over time, which everyone wants, because we _need_
cleaner cars for the environemnt. Nobody in here is taking the position of
saying: Who cares? Just use ICU cars forever, there is no problem at all.
So I am argueing a specific point about cities. Because EV cars might be
better, but are still objectively bad compared to public transport. So no,
it's not about what _I_ want, it's about the underliying point of the whole
thread: What I (or really we/our children) _need_ other people to do.
~~~
lazyjones
> but are still objectively bad compared to public transport
For whom? Certainly not for the owner.
> So no, it's not about what I want, it's about the underliying point of the
> whole thread: What I (or really we/our children) need other people to do.
You don't even have children. So you confirmed my interpretation: it's what
you want from other people, not as you initially claimed what they need.
~~~
allendoerfer
You are refusing to accept, that I am talking within the context of this
thread. There are some premises here, which I explained in detail and take for
granted in further sentences I am writing. I refuse to define everything to
first principle in every sentence, because your only goal seems to be to go
one step further up and suddenly you are right. In that sense, you or anyone
does not need to do anything at all, because you don't even have to live. But
then this whole discussion becomes really pointless.
------
dmitrygr
"a new custom tire"
sounds expensive to replace when you drive over a nail
~~~
mc32
Yes but don’t most “luxury” automobiles come with non-cheap tires to begin
with that may or may not bring 2% mileage improvement with them?
~~~
leetcrew
I guess it depends what you mean by "luxury", but the vehicles I'm thinking of
tend to come with sticky high-performance tires. these actually increase
rolling friction.
~~~
mc32
Exactly so one, they don’t run very long and two they add rolling resistance
(for better two wheeled traction), so both in Tesla’s favor.
------
tomohawk
This is a good step, but 400 miles is hardly long range. Any gas powered car
can get 500 miles of range with a 5 minute fill up.
------
yalogin
Tesla’s batteries fall from their initial range in 2 yrs and to get around it
they changed the display. Instead of miles they started calling it “range
miles” or something like that and that is a cooked up number using some
algorithm. It’s it real and is done to get around the fact that the battery
holds less charge over time.
------
new_realist
The Hyundai Nexo EV is already at 380 miles, and it’s a real SUV, not a flat-
as-a-pancake Model S. It refuels in five minutes, to boot, but is only
practical in California. If they increased tank volume by 5% it’d be at 400
miles EPA.
~~~
zaroth
For those wondering this is a Hydrogen fuel cell car, only available for sale
in CA because that’s the only place you can fill it. It appears they sold
about 270 units in the US last year.
~~~
clouddrover
> _only available for sale in CA_
No, you can buy it in Korea and Europe as well. Europe and China are the most
important markets for EVs. Hyundai isn't making many Nexos yet though.
------
anonymousiam
They are lying. I was in the market for a new car earlier this year, and I
really wanted to get a Tesla. I also really wanted a car that could handle a
trip of 295 miles that I regularly make. I will not go into the nightmare that
was scheduling a test drive of the long-range Model S, but after getting
conflicting answers from multiple PoCs at Tesla, I finally got the firm
answer. The car cannot do even my 295 mile commute (either way) without
recharging once. I gave up and bought something else, but I did reserve a
"Cyber Truck" which they claim will have a 500 mile range.
~~~
jodrellblank
The BMW i3 has had the perfect electric car design for the last 7+ years - a
battery pack good for ~50-120 miles (increased with model revisions) and a
gasoline generator "range extender" with a small tank for indefinite length
journeys hopping between standard gas stations - which are abundant.
It improves on hybrid-car designs: the engine isn't connected to the drive
train, so it's a lot less complex, and the engine is not as large because it
doesn't need to power the entire car for 100k+ miles and it can use the
battery for short bursts of power (acceleration, hill climbs) while charging
on flats and downhills. As it's smaller and less heavily used, it only needs
servicing every two years.
Given the top concerns about electric cars are range anxiety, charging time,
and availability of charging points, and this design addresses all of them,
why don't more electric car makers offer something like this?
~~~
rcMgD2BwE72F
Range axienty disappears as you get familiar with driving an EV with trip
planning. Charging time is already short enough with version 3 of Tesla
Superchargers. Availability of charging points isn't an issue when you charge
at home/work. Hybrids are just adding complexity, cost and air pollution.
~~~
lazyjones
> Range axienty disappears as you get familiar with driving an EV with trip
> planning.
It's true, but in some parts of the world (e.g. eastern Europe) it has been
replaced with "what charging cards or apps do I need" anxiety.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Facebook Tells You What You Like the Minute You Sign Up - timr
http://www.nytimes.com/external/venturebeat/2010/07/02/02venturebeat-facebook-tells-you-what-you-like-the-minute-61093.html
======
ElbertF
Thanks to the Like buttons scattered all over the web Facebook probably knows
a lot about you before you even sign up, they can simply keep a record of your
IP address/browser signature and the sites you visit. I wonder if they'll use
this data to recommend interests when you sign up. I've blocked all Facebook
domains in my hosts file for this reason. Yes, I'm a bit paranoid.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Congressman calls on tech CEOs to explain the spread of mosque shooting video - tareqak
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/19/rep-bennie-thompson-asks-tech-to-explain-mosque-shooting-video-spread.html
======
milsorgen
Information must be freely available. What do congress critters not
understand?
~~~
xg15
> _Information must be freely available_
Says who?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
42 days of HN karma - isomorph
http://blog.jgc.org/2009/09/forty-two-days-of-hacker-news-karma.html
======
PostOnce
Karma observations: if you reply in the early morning, before everyone gets up
and reads HN, you'll get more karma than if you reply in the middle of the
night when no-one will see it. Same goes for replying to threads that don't
have many comments yet. More comments = old news, less new viewers, less
karma.
Also, the other day, I replied to someone, got downvoted to negative
something, and then, as an experiment, I copied the comment, deleted it, and
pasted it into a reply to the parent of the comment I originally replied to,
and got upvoted +8.
It's science.
~~~
jakevoytko
"Karma observations: if you reply in the early morning, before everyone gets
up and reads HN, you'll get more karma than if you reply in the middle of the
night when no-one will see it."
This goes double for being an early riser on the East Coast!
Until recently I commented early in the morning for a few months. I fared well
- I usually got the top comment in the thread, unless a power user struck
first. I don't think my comments were particularly insightful, but the timing
worked - they would stay above the fold long enough to pick up an upvote.
The "shape" of a comment also seems to affect the rating. A quick summary
followed by several reasonable-sized paragraphs is a local maximum for
gathering karma.
------
pavs
One thing I hate about reddit is user's obsession over karma to the point that
on most of the major sub-reddits highest rated comments are boiled down to
puns and memes. I hope that type of obsession doesn't spill over here.
I rather have no public karma score or leader board. It adds zero value other
than comparing e-penis.
Karma doesn't necessarily reflect the quality of comments. More often than not
it reflects how much time you spend and how popular you are here (people will
often blindly upvote users who adds nothing interesting to the discussion but
is a popular user at HN) and how fast you can submit TC article.
~~~
Mz
On the one hand, I try really hard to ignore karma and remind myself that I
post here to participate in conversation, not to rack up karma points. On the
other hand, obsessively checking if my karma has changed is one of the most
harmless things I have done while feeling like crap and being unable to sleep.
All communities have some means to keep track of pecking order. I really have
no idea if karma is better or worse than other methodologies. <shrug>
~~~
petercooper
I agree but I'm happy with the ambivalence. People who outright dismiss
points/karma remind me of people who think money is "evil."
I have just shy of 13k karma and I'll admit that my rise from around 3k->10k
was driven entirely by, first, trying to get on the /leaders page, and then
into the 10K club ;-) A pointless, egotistic goal but good things came out of
it. Firstly, most of my comments and posts weren't frivolous so people
appreciated them at _some_ level. Second, spending so effort here made me feel
more a part of "the community" and has led to some interesting extracurricular
discussions and opportunities.
Not everyone _needs_ numbers, scores, or money as motivators, but some of us
find it a handy metric. Being a points scorer doesn't mean the outcome for
third parties is necessarily negative and I certainly wouldn't do "anything"
just to score a few points, that's for sure - just like not all rich people
are evil money grabbers.
~~~
Mz
I am unlikely to get on the leader board. I am very much an "outsider" here --
not a programmer and not male. Former homemaker in fact. This is the first
place I have ever posted where a) I can't keep up with all the traffic
(historically, I have been known to read every single thing posted to forums I
belonged to -- not so here) and b) no one has ever remarked on my posts being
too long or there being too many of them (a common complaint about me in most
forums I have participated in). Many of my posts do not get upvoted and I may
never figure out how to pursue such an achievement here. I have mixed feelings
about that: Slightly bruised ego because I so very often attract the spotlight
without meaning to (whereas I am being "overlooked" here) but also relief at
not attracting so much negative attention just for being me.
I will note that many of the benefits you cite could have occurred even if
karma were not the means by which pecking order is tracked here. So I don't
think it really says much about karma per se.
But thanks for sharing.
~~~
petercooper
_I am very much an "outsider" here -- not a programmer and not male._
My take is that if you identify with HN and many of the "hacker" standpoints
and pursuits, you're not an outsider here. At least, I would hope one wouldn't
feel that way. More than most other communities I've experienced online, HN
isn't very cliquey nor very focused on one's vital stats - there are people
from all corners, all genders, and all races here but it's already anonymous
enough that it's hard to tell. Being a geek and taking an interest in new
things are probably the only prerequisites to be "in" here. I think that's a
great thing.
_I will note that many of the benefits you cite could have occurred even if
karma were not the means by which pecking order is tracked here._
Sure, but from different people. Without my side goals, I probably wouldn't
have spent as much time on my comments or "contributing" here generally. Of
course, I wouldn't dare to suggest HN would be any better off with more people
like me ;-)
~~~
Mz
My only point (in mentioning that I am an "outsider") is that I don't expect
to make it on to the leader board. I think the fact that I am not a programmer
is definitely relevant to that expectation (or lack thereof). (If you really
think I'm wrong in that regard, perhaps you can list several people on the
leader board who are not programmers? Or even people on the leader board who
are openly female?)
------
rewind
It would be nice if people just posted because they had something worth saying
instead of worrying about all this nonsense. Karma: some people should lose it
when it matters, but most of the time, too many people care about it when it
doesn't mean anything except a number.
------
Tyrant505
I would like to take this time to send a huge "thank you" to all of these
"power" posters for spending their time to contribute thoughtful incites on
the topics we love here at HN. Happy Holidays!
~~~
bigiain
+1
I'm a little disappointed to see that some of the top replies in this
discussion right now are people who've obviously put some thought (and
presumably effort) into working out how to post in ways that maximise HM
karma.
It feels a bit to me like the old problem of not having the right metrics to
measure and encourage the goals. If people are deciding when to post based on
how it'll affect their karma, presumably that means sometimes they're choosing
_not_ to contribute to the discussion "cause the karma payoff is too small".
That's a bit sad.
(Which I guess is an easier to hold view from a lowly ~300 karma account...)
~~~
powrtoch
I don't know that it's anything to worry about. When you throw a bunch of
analytical people into a rating system, it's only natural that they'll be
searching out its weak points. A lot of us have probably noticed various
weaknesses in the karma system, but I don't think it's because we're all
scrambling to game that system. HN is just full of the types of people who
can't help but notice.
------
steveklabnik
(2009)
------
derefr
This makes me wonder if it would be more useful to display the (weighted)
first or second derivative of your karma score instead of the raw point total.
The people who were most obviously "rising" in the graph are the ones everyone
knows and recognizes around here.
------
Tycho
Hypithesis: membership of an online community becomes a major
distraction/problem once you pass the threshold of recognising many posters.
There's only a few names I recognise at the moment, mostly due to these leader
board features. I'm pretty sure my name is not recognised at all. But I've
been involved with a few forums in the past and often I wish I could have all
the hours back that I spent on them.
HN is a bit different though as it's more of a meritocracy and the 'top
posters' aren't just people who never log off.
------
iworkforthem
Interesting.
@edw519 get more karma in a day than me in some 388 days.
~~~
rodh
Yet the rate of growth seems to be more or less linear. At least within this
time frame.
------
maxklein
There is no nickb on the current leader board any longer.
~~~
spatulon
Only because he hasn't posted recently. He'd be in 7th place if he started
posting again.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The world's fastest human-powered vehicle tops 85 mph - yurisagalov
http://www.engadget.com/2015/09/18/aerovelo-fastest-human-powered-vehicle/
======
ohazi
I'm a little surprised nobody has mentioned the opaque fairing, visibility, or
the camera.
At first I thought it might be to keep the weight down, as there are plenty of
composite materials that are lighter than (even thin) plexiglass. But then
there's the weight/complexity of the camera, display, and battery.
Then I thought, well, the rider in in such an odd position, maybe he wouldn't
be able to see very much even if there was a window.
But apparently the actual reason is that the rider produces so much heat that
a window would fog up, and it would be too difficult/unsafe for the rider to
wipe it. Given the white coloring, I suspect they're also trying to avoid
cooking their human power source.
Here's part of a Q&A where they discuss visibility:
[https://youtu.be/mscVAb1VZJw?t=271](https://youtu.be/mscVAb1VZJw?t=271)
------
irl_zebra
I'm guessing something can't get much more aerodynamically shaped? I wonder if
they used a power meter to measure the driver/rider's power output and whether
the driver was an accomplished cyclist. It seems that at this point, it would
simply be a matter of getting a stronger cyclist, say someone like Brad
Wiggins who can push 430 watts for an hour over an amateur, but still
respectable rider, who puts out something more like 250 watts for an hour.
The article states that riders have 5 miles to speed up before they cross the
speed trap that measures. Assuming the average speed of the whole endeavor is,
say, 60mph, you would want a pro time trialist who excels at hard 5-minute
efforts. This chart[1] states that a world class cyclist should be able to put
out 7.5 watts/kg for 5 minute efforts. Brad Wiggins weighs 77kg, so I guess
theoretically he should be able to put out 577 watts, versus a "good" with the
same weight who might "only" put out 350 watts in the same 5-minute period.
I would be very interested to see what would happen if you simply replaced the
85mph rider in the submission with Brad Wiggins.
[1] [http://d4nuk0dd6nrma.cloudfront.net/wp-
content/uploads/2009/...](http://d4nuk0dd6nrma.cloudfront.net/wp-
content/uploads/2009/07/powerprofiling.jpg)
~~~
yurisagalov
Todd is actually a world-class rider (based on the chart you provided, as
well).
From the article before they won the Sikorsky prize:
"Reichert, a national-level speed skater, can pedal at 1.2 horsepower for a
full minute"
[http://m.thestar.com/#/article/news/gta/2012/08/26/humanpowe...](http://m.thestar.com/#/article/news/gta/2012/08/26/humanpowered_helicopter_toronto_engineers_aiming_to_win_elusive_sikorsky_flight_prize.html)
~~~
irl_zebra
EDIT: Made a mistake with the numbers!
This is interesting; 1.2hp is about 895 watts. Assuming he's probably 65kg
(total guess from the looks of him). That means he can do about 13.7 Watts/KG
for 1-minute. According to the chart I posted above, looking at 1 minute
power, that puts him as a Far to Moderate level cyclist. Even giving the
benefit of the doubt and assuming 55kg, making the ratio a better 16.2
Watts/KG, that just moves him up to the "Good" category.
So perhaps a lot of improvement could be had moving to a professional cyclist.
~~~
yurisagalov
You are looking at maximal power output for 5 seconds (the left most column)
while you should be looking at maximal power output for 1 minute (the 2nd
column from left) :)
~~~
irl_zebra
Wow you're absolutely right, my mistake! Todd must be a very, very fantastic
cyclist!
~~~
jonknee
Hence setting the speed record!
------
sandworm101
So my question is now: In terms of aerodynamics, what aren't they doing?
Some commentators have noted that the shape of this bike is just about as good
as it can get. The rider/engine is also not going to see any vast
improvements. So rather than this become a pure athletic event, where can
engineers look for improvements? Will they have to start dealing with boundary
layer issues? Will the next generation of bike be covered in golfball-like
holes to reduce turbulence?
~~~
x0054
Does it have to be a bike? What about a rowing rig, where you can leverage the
powerful muscles in your back and upper body?
~~~
jacorreia
Contrary to what it might look like, rowing is almost entirely dependent on
your legs, your arms/back merely keep the momentum going at the back of the
stroke. Also, the muscles in your back are nowhere near as strong/large as the
muscles in your legs, there's nearly a magnitude of difference. Though if you
added power from your arms in addition to fully utilizing your legs (it would
be much harder to concentrate) then there would be a benefit. But then you run
into how to engineer such a thing, especially with respect to aerodynamics.
------
drpgq
I wonder why for fastest human-powered they don't use more than one cyclist. I
assume with eight humans like in rowing you could get up to a ridiculous
speed. Might be a little dangerous though.
~~~
Semiapies
This isn't horribly safe, either. Wiping out at 85 MPH would _suck_.
I'm curious what multi-cyclist vehicles could do, now that you suggest it.
With the lightness of these vehicles, at what point would you have to add
spoilers?
~~~
irl_zebra
While I know it would suck to wipe out, I'm hoping with this thing it may be
more of a "slide for 1000ft and off the flat road" type of suck than a "life
altering injury" type of suck.
~~~
bronson
The video shows a wipeout around 4:30, just a long slide. The bike wasn't near
85mph though.
Sadly, the video is pretty cheesy and content-free. It's hard to recommend.
------
dasil003
> _The WHPSC is basically where cyclists put their knees where their mouth is,
> and attempt to beat the record for pedal-powered speed._
This is truly an epic pun, I'm duly impressed.
~~~
Asbostos
Could have done better using "feet" :P
~~~
dasil003
No, that's the beauty it. When you tuck for aerodynamic efficiency your knees
come very close to your mouth.
------
carlhu
The video ends with a brief second where the cyclist explains what prevented
even higher speed. I make out: "too much vibration...", "knees rubbing...",
"unable to continue increasing power output". Would love to hear more about
this.
~~~
QuotedForTruth
Note the video was from last year when they failed to set the record. This
year they've done it. They probably will release a video of this year's
efforts eventually.
------
PetitPrince
For those lazy to convert that's 137.94 km/h . That's just above most of the
world's road speed limit.
~~~
ching_wow_ka
That's interesting. Any source? I live in the northeastern part of the United
States and it's rare for me to see a speed limit above 65 mph.
~~~
Symbiote
120km/h looks like the typical global speed limit, but I haven't calculated
it. It includes China, India, Brazil, several countries in the middle east and
Africa.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_by_country](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_by_country)
------
trevorcreech
They just posted the video where they actually beat the record:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33clAZoaLWs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33clAZoaLWs)
------
QuotedForTruth
I wonder how much impact a professional track cyclist would have. Im sure the
current pilot is a strong rider, but if you got a world record sprinter into
the world record bike, how fast could they go?
~~~
SeanLuke
A professional track cyclist would be quite inferior to these riders. These
aren't some average Joe riding here: they're they best high-performance
cyclists in the world. For example, this particular record was long held by
Sam Whittingham: I invite you to see his Wikipedia entry.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Whittingham](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Whittingham)
~~~
QuotedForTruth
He's obviously very very strong. I'm sure the riders all the teams select are
amazingly strong riders. They aren't, however, gold medal caliber track
cyclists. The men with the strongest legs in the world. There is much more
prestige and money in winning a track cycling medal than setting a record in
human powered vehicles.
Im simply wondering, what happens if they get the best of the best. With
proper time to adapt to the vehicle, its probably worth a few mph. Not too
significant, but enough to reset the record.
~~~
SeanLuke
> They aren't, however, gold medal caliber track cyclists.
Correspondingly, gold medal track cyclists aren't world record setting
performance cyclists.
These tasks demand somewhat different skill sets, and at this level,
"somewhat" is a big deal. There's a _reason_ why the "top" track cyclists
don't hold any of these records.
~~~
QuotedForTruth
What I'm saying is that that reason most likely isn't lack of physical
ability, but lack of ever trying. Why would they when they are chasing olympic
medals and making way more money than would earn setting these obscure
records?
------
SeanLuke
It's interesting to note that this record was once again set along a very
specific stretch of highway in Battle Mountain, Nevada which is prized for its
near perfect flatness and is often used for human-powered vehicle record
attempts.
~~~
paulgerhardt
The course is not perfectly flat, but it is perfect for the contest.
The rules for this event stipulate that the track cannot be slopped downhill
by more than 0.66%. Conveniently this track averages 0.64% downhill over the
entire 5 mile duration. [1]
The story about how Raymond Gauge (what an aptronym!) happened to find this
particular stretch of road makes for it's own fascinating big data tale.
Months of mining away on USGS tables with Celeron processors to get 10
suitable tracks. A documentary made a few years back went into the specifics
with plenty of dramatic shots of him driving the lonely stretches of Nevada,
New Mexico, Kansas, etc whittling down his choice candidates until he settled
on Battle Mountain.
The biggest limitation in these events is air resistance. Plenty of other
folks have gone significantly faster on bicycles not facing a headwind[2].
Altitude helps.
[1]
[http://www.recumbents.com/wisil/whpsc2015/whpsc_site.htm](http://www.recumbents.com/wisil/whpsc2015/whpsc_site.htm)
[2] 207.9 mph -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_records#Speed_record_o...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_records#Speed_record_on_a_bicycle)
~~~
mikeryan
Interesting that for land speed records you generally need to do two passes of
a course one in each direction and your speed is an average of the two passes
in order to prevent these types of shenanigans ;-)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_speed_record](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_speed_record)
------
tsumnia
While watching this, a thought occurred in my head: for these types of
challenges, are the participants tested for PEDs and such?
------
tangled
I'm guessing that the rules prohibit using some of the pedal power to charge a
battery during the initial part of the run, and then using that stored energy
to provide an additional speed boost :D
~~~
sandworm101
I don't see why not. The initial run is essentially the storing up of
momentum. From that, running up a flywheel inside the bike is just storing the
same energy in a different place.
~~~
kazinator
It stretches the concept of "human powered". Why not just pedal while
stationary to charge a battery (take as long as you like), and then ride the
course with no additional expenditure of effort.
~~~
tangled
Because then you would be bringing additional stored energy into the
competition (beyond what's in your body)?
~~~
aninhumer
Well, the course is a 5mile run up to a 200m speed trap. So if you allow
batteries/motors, you could just sit stationary somewhere in that 5 miles
pedalling for a while, and then use electrical acceleration to get up to speed
for the trap. You're not bringing any additional energy, but its clearly not
in the spirit of the challenge.
------
ak39
This is probably the few projects in life where you can say you've challenged
your mind just as much as you've done your body. And one can see the impact of
both of these in these young and beautiful "geeks". What a project it must be
to work at - beautiful minds and beautiful bodies. And the happiness shows.
:-)
------
zyb09
Picture on top has new Google logo on it, video at 3:49 shows old Google logo
on the vehicle.
~~~
cubix
That video is from last year's attempt.
------
thearn4
I've met with some of the guys from Aerovelo and done a little bit of
collaboration with them. They're top notch, and an all-around awesome team of
engineers. And Todd is a beast (watch the Atlas human-powered helicopter
video).
~~~
giarc
Video
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syJq10EQkog](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syJq10EQkog)
------
MrBra
What software solutions are there that could be used to simulate mechanics and
physics (including gravity, friction, ...) in order to prototype, say, a human
powered heli_thing? :) No, I'm serious.
------
songgao
I was gonna say this makes me realized just how aerodynamically inefficient a
regular bike is, but then I found out that the world record of cycling on flat
surface is actually 83.13 mph [0], which is actually pretty close to this.
Assuming the rider is also top notch, I guess the benefit from optimizations
done on aero isn't much larger than the weight added.
[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_records](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_records)
~~~
joe_the_user
wikiepedia doesn't check it's own references.
The speed is for a human powered vehicle (fully fared). Edit: All the flat
records in the section you're referencing are for hpvs, not tradition
bicycles, as a look at the pages of the riders will show.
See:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastiaan_Bowier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastiaan_Bowier)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Buatois](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Buatois)
~~~
songgao
Thanks for pointing that out!
------
rdlecler1
So let me get this straight, WeChat and other major companies are downloading
pirated Xcode software which has malware?
~~~
christianmann
A swing and a miss.
You might try again, on a different story. This doesn't seem to fit here.
~~~
nstart
I'm curious as to how that comment even ended up here :S
------
revelation
Seems like they could get an extra 10% by simply going to a higher track.
Mexico City is popular at 2250m of altitude..
~~~
brandmeyer
Also less oxygen for the cyclist.
~~~
revelation
The body will naturally produce more red blood cells at altitude so while
there is a performance hit, it is mitigated. Also, the crucial power here is
anaerobically produced anyway.
If must be, I think the rules don't forbid an oxygen tank.
------
sergers
last night they broke their own new record,
"On Friday evening, Sept 18th, Todd set another record at 86.50 mph"[1]
[1]
[http://www.ihpva.org/home/?view=plink&id=21](http://www.ihpva.org/home/?view=plink&id=21)
(the site of the competition that engadget links to)
------
amelius
This reminds me of the Flintstones :)
------
sandworm101
Typical Canadians. Their country's flag is smaller than the GMC logo. I hope
someone from UofT alumni relations gives them a call.
If you are going for a speed record, you need something more like this:
[http://cdn.rsvlts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/olympics-
sk...](http://cdn.rsvlts.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/olympics-skeleton-
helmet-pic-2-642x396.jpg)
~~~
darcyparker
I am a proud Canadian who lives in the USA and have a little Canadian sticker
on my car. It's my little shout out to other Canadians on the road. I guess
we're quietly showing our pride to others. Being loud about it is not in our
nature. But I do like that luge helmet :)
~~~
sandworm101
It's not luge. When the idiot goes head-first they call it skeleton.
~~~
darcyparker
Thanks - I never noticed the difference.
------
jfoutz
The d&d fan in me thiks falling is a free action. A human powered plane doing
a dive would go faster I'd bet. Not prepared to rules lawyer that case though.
~~~
vacri
If you're willing to allow that, then just wear a single shoe (to be the
'vehicle') and do a BASE jump.
~~~
tyho
You might want to bring a parachute too.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: GIFpitch – your elevator pitch in an animated GIF - sfalbo
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gifpitch-animated-gif-your/id1016716708?mt=8
======
sfalbo
I'd be happy to hear any feedback you might have on this side project. My
friend and I spent about a month developing it as a tool for entrepreneurs to
help refine their pitch.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A brief survey of Fully Homomorphic Encryption, computing on encrypted data - type0
http://blog.quarkslab.com/a-brief-survey-of-fully-homomorphic-encryption-computing-on-encrypted-data.html
======
FabioBertone
The explosion in computation complexity is a BIG problem… but the potential is
massive.
The are scenarios in which the additional privacy would be a game changer:
imagine getting a 23andMe type of analysis from your DNA without having to
disclose yourself, or people being able to get a credit check without telling
to a bank who they are.
Thanks for sharing it!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
International Travel Guide for Basecamp employees - slyall
https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/international-travel-guide.md
======
8draco8
I live in Europe. From my perspective going to US looks like going to some
kind totalitarian country. First I have to got visa which is not automatically
approved because I'm Polish not British. Then I have to go trough a lot of,
mostly pointless, security checks, checking social accounts, interrogations,
scans and manual personal revisions. On any stage of that I can be handcuffed
and sent back to Europe for almost no reason. It's sad but from where I sits
US starts to look like all of those countries they was fighting with "for the
freedom".
~~~
danieldk
We had serious plans to go on holiday to the US this year. I have been in the
US at least a dozen of times, and absolutely love the desert states, Oregon,
and Washington.
Entering the US was already a large hassle, but with Trump's travel bans,
rumors of phone, laptop, and social media checks, we have decided to postpone
our travel plans until the political/security climate improves.
Semi-related: we were in the market for a new car. One of the factors we
decided to go for a European car this time (we had a Ford Focus before) is
that we'd like to support Trump America as little as possible.
Before you say that this is overreacting, hear me out: the US belongs to US
citizens. If you want this president, fine. But some of his policies, such as
denying climate change and undermining journalism is going te have a large
influence on the rest of us.
~~~
ItendToDisagree
The majority of US citizens did not vote for Trump. Just thought I'd point out
that most people DO NOT want this president.
~~~
danieldk
Thanks for bringing up, since it is a relevant point. However, it still does
not change the fact that he is now leading the most powerful nation, with all
its consequences.
I have always wondered how hard it would be to switch to direct voting rather
as opposed to the system with an electoral college. Is it impossible because
the current system is codified in the constitution, or does it 'only' require
an amendment. If so, was there ever a serious attempt to change this system?
~~~
watter
You would have an NYC-LosAngeles government nearly every time. Clintons for
life.
The system was designed to avoid the concentration of power you desire.
~~~
sgift
Why exactly would this be the case? As far as I can see most people don't live
in this two cities?
And saying the US system "was designed to avoid the concentration of power"
sounds like a sad joke from an European perspective (First-past-post-system,
extreme presidential powers etc.)
~~~
caseysoftware
Those "extreme presidential powers" were not in the system design.
They were submitted as (sometimes secret) change requests by every president
post WW2 and accelerated by presidents in the last ~20 years. Unfortunately,
the code review team didn't remove the changes and tacked on their own during
the process.
~~~
boomboomsubban
>They were submitted as (sometimes secret) change requests by every president
post WW2 and accelerated by presidents in the last ~20 years.
They started way sooner than that, the first major one was the Louisiana
Purchase. Basically non-Washington presidents have been trying to expand their
power.
------
SCdF
Just don't travel there.
I'm sure I'd be fine: I've been fine a dozen times before. That was before
they decided that it was OK to demand passwords and so on. Maybe now it would
be worse. Or maybe my skin colour lets me off the hook.
Regardless, I'd rather just not waste jet fuel on flying to a place that
treats anyone this way.
Your phone/tablet/laptop is, for better or worse, a gateway to your entire
life. It contains your photos, bank account credentials, messages between
friends, messages between you and your wife, photos between you and your wife…
Random border thugs absolutely should not have the right to rummage through it
in another room.
There are plenty of ways to do meetings remotely. There are plenty of places
in the world you can travel to for work meetups that aren't the US.
Just don't travel there.
~~~
StavrosK
People who have recently travelled to the US, what's the probability that you
will be asked to unlock your stuff and have random employees search through
it? Is it something that happens a lot?
~~~
baby
It hasn't happened to me, but when I go to the US embassy in France they take
my phone for the entire time I'm waiting there.
~~~
cr1895
The US Embassies in the Netherlands explicitely disallow you from bringing
most electronics* and they say they are unable to store things for you.
[https://nl.usembassy.gov/embassy-
consulates/amsterdam/access...](https://nl.usembassy.gov/embassy-
consulates/amsterdam/access-security-notice/)
*It used to be no electronics, but now you are apparently allowed to bring a mobile phone provided you turn off Bluetooth.
~~~
germanier
Now I'm curious. Does anyone know why they ask you to switch off Bluetooth
specifically (and nothing else)?
~~~
baby
in France you have to turn off your phone, then handle it to them. I couldn't
turn off mine (it was badly broken xD) so I just took the luminosity to the
lowest and they didn't see anything.
------
tremon
Besides the obvious "don't cross the border with work data", I found this
recommendation much more interesting:
_[ask] for someone to remove you from the Basecamp team for 1Password so you
no longer have access to Basecamp logins and passwords._
Maybe we should temporarily suspend our employee's accounts too when they
travel to the US.
~~~
Markoff
maybe just stop traveling to US would be easier and cheaper solution, why one
need to be physically present anywhere in 2017?
i find it odd, i can understand it for my father that when some of his
agricultural company partners has training, people from neighboring countries
must travel there for hours to stay there for few hours and go back, but IT
company in 2017?
reminds me of Huawei which is still organizing teleconferences (!) for
trainings, because why not let people call across half planet in horrible
quality instead of providing cheap full HD video stream work live chat, it's
not like there are hundreds of us, max 100 people present
~~~
raftaa
Because the costumer wants some of the developers on site to see that they are
actually working on his problems.
~~~
cryptarch
Which is great, because now the developers can do their side jobs while their
customers provide them with coffee.
------
bloomca
So, many comments here target US or Trump in particular. But in fact, as many
noted, there is not real connection – it started long time ago. Also, I bet,
there are quotas (e.g. number of people) to be detained, so they have to
fulfil it.
Also, US is just an example here (because many conferences are held in the
US), but also there are stories from the UK, for instance. From my point of
view, the problem is that with social networks it is extremely easy to get
access to your whole life – it is already pretty easy to identify person on
the facebook, for instance (right now there is no way to prove that it is
_exactly_ you, but I am pretty sure they will be soon). So, with restrictions
on such monopoly media (and I've heard it is already harder to register on the
Facebook), it is very easy to end up in a situation where we will get "human
score" (similar to credit score, but in the digital world), which will be used
in such situation.
And even the bigger problem is that it might be needed for a work, for a loan
application, etc, so you wouldn't be able to do all this without it (or even
"to apply for a visa your score should be higher than 3.0". My predictions are
that governments will try to work more closely with popular platforms trying
to emerge such (there were few stories than people were detained because of
tweets) metrics, and to broad access not only from your phone, but from their
device, just your user profile.
~~~
ibejoeb
The UK border is far worse. Surprisingly, the easiest border I've ever crossed
on an American passport was Russia's. No questions, not hassles, neither in
nor out.
------
emeidi
I've traveled from Zürich to Los Angeles on Good Friday (April 14, 2017) for
leisure - my first visit since February 2016 and thus my first trip to Trump's
'murrica.
I was joined with my dad who recently retired and never has left the continent
- his first long haul flight and first time to the US.
I feared and prepared for the worst and I even was debating about leaving my
iPhone, iPad and MacBook Air at home to avoid any searches.
It turned out to become the smoothest immigration ever: We stood at the curb
waiting for the car rental bus within 45 minutes after we stepped out of the
plane.
Short lines, smoothly working self-service kiosks, a friendly immigration
officer, not one single intimidating or aggressive question.
Way to go!
~~~
pcurve
" a friendly immigration officer"
I've never seen this one in the U.S. or anywhere else.
I think they are trained to be neutral or even aloof.
~~~
ajdlinux
I've usually found Australian customs to be fairly friendly whenever I've been
returning home - though these days they make me use the automated passport
gates so I don't talk to them at all...
------
omarqureshi
I'm a British Muslim who flew to the US on Sunday. Honestly I had assumed it
would be hell. In actual fact it was only a little more painful than before.
I'm used to being randomly selected for an additional search every time in the
UK premiere flight. My colleague (another British Muslim) was also selected
which we found quite amusing.
On the other side it wasn't bad, just answered truthfully, only snag was my
colleague who accidentally had both a 10 year business visa and an ESTA at the
same time who then had to go down to immigration to have it removed.
After immigration I was asked to speak to a customs officer and that was it, I
continued on my journey.
Little more painful but not overly.
Personally I think this guide is a little extreme and I'm sure in the worst
case it probably does apply.
~~~
Markoff
your are not selected randomly, they use profiling and they search Muslims
because majority of terrorists are Muslims, i can't comprehend why even smart
people always come with this random check nonsense, do they really claim it's
random and try to hide it instead of telling truth?
~~~
omarqureshi
Yes. I understand this
------
AngeloAnolin
Kind of disheartening to read that (most) of the comments here diverted away
from the topic of Basecamp's travel guide, which shows a lot of character from
this company.
A company composed of a lot of remote workers outside US that definitely goes
out of their way to have their employees come into the US for their business
meetings is a keeper.
On a side note, I am a bit confused on a questionnaire asked at the Customs:
_Here to do work? Nope! Here on business, meeting with Basecamp._
Wouldn't this be under the discretion of the customs officer to determine
whether business meeting qualifies as work? I suppose that being on a business
meeting with your company still predisposes the fact that you are technically
still paid on those days that you are meeting with your company?
~~~
talklittle
The work vs. business question is simpler than that. Business = working in US
for a foreign company. Work = working in US for a US company.
Presumably Basecamp has set up business entities abroad.
[https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/2272/about-
differ...](https://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/2272/about-different-
types-of-visas-for-business-vs-work-in-the-u-s)
------
bnt
I'm from Eastern Europe and I (literally) just flew back from a 2 week work
trip from the US (California):
\- Getting a visa was a painless process. I just applied and I got a business
visa.
\- Entering the States required me to show my passport. Nothing else. Nobody
asked me why I was going there, nobody asked me to show my phone or laptop (I
had both). There was no separation, pat downs etc.
~~~
1337biz
Maybe because Eastern Europeans are rarely shooting or bombing innocent
people? Just a wild, wild guess...
~~~
foldr
In the US you mean? Eastern Europe isn't entirely free of terrorist activity,
assuming that you include Chechnya.
~~~
1337biz
Last time I checked these were local military conflicts and not about
murdering innocent civilians around the world.
~~~
mcrae
You might remember that the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon Bombing were
Chechen.
I say this not because I think we should screen Chechens more thoroughly now,
but because your original appeal to profiling at the border is provably
ineffective and, frankly, ignorant.
------
edanm
I really can't believe all the negativity here towards traveling to the US.
You're taking a few admittedly awful anecdotes, and turning them into giant
statistics about the country.
You know that thought experiment where you have scientists debating global
warming, but to make it clear just how much consensus there is, instead of
having 1 scientist against and 1 pro, you have 1 against and a whole crowd
pro?
I run this thought experiment every time I enter the states. I can usually see
around me many thousands of people in the airport, getting along just fine. I
can imagine the many tens of thousands who go through those airports every
day, and the probably millions all across the country who go through the
airports without trouble.
These millions are what you should be stacking up against the dozens of
anecdotes you get on the web.
(For what it's worth, I have had very easy experiences with immigration, with
mostly people being very nice to me, but a few times someone was rude/mean to
me. Nothing more than that.)
~~~
robteix
But from the company's perspective, all that matters is that it _can_ and
_does_ happen.
I don't believe anyone is saying every single person coming into the US will
get searched. We _know_ they are not. But searches _do_ happen and _are_
legal, and that alone justifies preparing for the eventuality.
My employer has always had rules about how to take care of data on your
devices. They tell you to enable encryption and to never leave your company
laptop alone and stuff like that. The vast majority of employees will never
have their devices stolen, but the fact that some might is enough
justification to make sure everyone does their best to protect their data.
It's the same thing.
That you always had very easy experiences with immigration _is_ the anecdote
here, because it does nothing to change the fact that _some_ people will get
their devices searched (and data potentially copied) by Immigration agents.
------
celticninja
So what happens when they ask for my Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat logins and I
do not have accounts with these companies? If a simple "I don't have social
media accounts" is acceptable then I'm not sure why they even ask for
passwords. Proving a negative is very hard.
~~~
paulajohnson
Lying to them is a serious criminal offense carrying (IIRC) up to 5 years in
prison. Even a harmless fib counts.
~~~
martinko
Jesus. I will seriously try to avoid ever having to travel to the US in this
climate.
~~~
dx034
That lying at the border is a serious offence is neither new nor US specific.
------
staticelf
I recently visited the US and I thought the process was going to be hell after
reading a lot of these threads on HN. Turns out it was pretty chill, got some
questions before boarding and was selected for extra security check. Then upon
landing I got like 3 questions from the officer, how long I would stay, where
my friends were and what the purpose of my trip was.
Sure they didn't seem very friendly but it wasn't a big of a hassle. I didn't
bring my laptop though because I don't want it searched.
It seems like you run on luck mostly. You only need to give up passwords and
such if you are unlucky.
~~~
js8
> You only need to give up passwords and such if you are unlucky.
Very comforting, isn't it? Especially when this is said about a legal process.
~~~
kidmenot
Frankly, I find the thought of having to give my passwords away to be baffling
to say the least. No chance I will ever visit the US under these conditions,
because I tend to dislike totalitarian countries.
~~~
plandis
I think you misunderstand the definition of a totalitarian country.
------
benevol
> "Don't Travel With Work Data"
Why would I value my _personal data_ any less than my _work data_?
So what this rally means is: "Don't Travel With _Any_ Data".
And knowing that they only need to plug an infected USB device into your
PC/phone/tablet to infect the latter irrevocably, the situation can now be
summed up as:
"Don't Travel With _Any Data_ Or _Any Hardware_ ".
Now what does that say about the sate of a country?
~~~
mstade
Recall that these are instructions to employees – the company's first
obligation is to protect the company, not the employees. Wiping work data is
simply a means of limiting liability. Should sensitive data leak out due to a
laptop getting seized at the border that's a lot more serious _to the company_
than if your nudes were stolen.
~~~
cmrdporcupine
Contrast this with my employer's advice: cooperate fully with the authorities,
our lawyers can and will defend the company, we are more concerned about your
safety.
Telling people to work travel and then telling them to not bring work data
seems like you should have told them not to travel at all?
~~~
rapind
Retracted. Misread the article. Apologies.
~~~
cmrdporcupine
I think you're being deliberately obtuse and argumentative. I never mentioned
personal time travel. The context is an article telling people not to bring
work data with them when traveling for work/professional functions.
If you're traveling for work, and your company can't guarantee your safe and
reasonably comfortable travel to that destination in a work capacity -- they
should recommend you not go.
~~~
rapind
Agreed, they shouldn't be asking them to go in a work capacity. I
misunderstood your objection as them not having a right to ask their employees
to remove data before _personal_ travel.
~~~
cmrdporcupine
Sorry I'd delete and edit my comment but it's too late now.
------
kidmenot
This only reinforces my intention to postpone my first visit to the US until
after this presidency and its associated madness have ended.
EDIT: _at least_ until after this presidency.
~~~
imron
Don't expect it to get any better once Trump leaves office.
This madness didn't begin with him and it won't end with him either.
~~~
rurban
And don't forget: Many people voted for Trump to restore the legal and
democratic system in the US. As the lesser evil. Same as with Obama. He
promised the same.
It didn't happen. Both went 180 degree immediately after the election.
For the reality check: The big airports in the South and North are well known
as extremely racist and strict with their "work vs business" checks for
decades. What's new are the unconstitutional passport rules from the outgoing
Obama administration. The constitution doesn't apply at the border and not to
foreigners.
Hence all the new travel warnings in this year.
------
sidchilling
Woah... this definitely seems over the board! If all of this is required, it's
a recent thing, I guess.
I have been to the US multiple times with a B1-Business Visa and didn't do any
of this stuff. I just showed up and the customs officer asked a bunch of
questions about my purpose of visit and that's about it. I didn't need any
invitation letter or hotel bookings, etc.
Hotel bookings and a LOT of other documentation is required when applying for
a tourist / business visa for Europe or UK, but traveling to the US has always
been fairly straightforward (except that you need to make two visits the US
embassy or consulate twice for the visa formalities).
At all times, I had my company laptop with all the data + source code.
Is this something that has recently begun?
~~~
Fzzr
Yes. Recent (this administration) policies allow for demanding passwords etc.
at the border. There was an incident where a NASA engineer lost control of
sensitive data as a result
[https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/02/a-nas...](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/02/a-nasa-
engineer-is-required-to-unlock-his-phone-at-the-border/516489/)
It's not paranoia. Welcome to 2017.
Edit: It's not like they're scanning every cell phone that enters the
country... but they reserve the right to.
~~~
tomp
Please stop spreading lies. This happened long before this administration.
E.g. articles from 2016:
[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/28/us-
custom...](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/28/us-customs-
border-protection-social-media-accounts-facebook-twitter)
[https://www.theverge.com/2016/12/22/14066082/us-customs-
bord...](https://www.theverge.com/2016/12/22/14066082/us-customs-border-
patrol-social-media-account-facebook-twitter)
~~~
HelloNurse
So it's even worse, because excessive border checks are an established trend
rather than a new measure from the rather voluble Trump administration:
returning USA airport to civilization is going to be a long and difficult
process.
------
throw2016
This is just ugly. We have become a mirror image of what we claim to be
against. No one in human history has woken up one day suddenly to
totalitarianism but the process in undeniably well under way here.
The posturing and denial may continue for now but it is only a matter of time
before the edifice of pretension falls on the weight of its own
contradictions.
The soft power and moral credibility is gone. No one can take any US position
on human rights seriously. What's left is force and brazen hypocrisy as we
become more brazen building totalitarian infrastructure, go about destroying
entire countries and putting millions of lives in disarray to pursue
'strategic objectives' or to put it simply make more money.
Internally it seems citizens don't care about privacy, spying, human rights or
the destruction of other countries as long as the money is flowing. It keeps
on becoming more and more egregious as more boundaries are crossed yet there
is no citizen response. If there is a value system its certainly not visible.
The government can do whatever it wants.
In the end we seem to have succeeded in building a commercial hub, not a
country. Humanity and all that makes it wonderful beyond the practicality of
making money will rest elsewhere.
------
oblio
I know we would only have anecdotal evidence here, but I'd like to hear from
other HackerNews readers. My guess is that based on where you're from and how
you look, your experience with the CBP can vary wildly.
Edit: s/TSA/CBP.
~~~
cr1895
FYI: TSA and CBP are not the same. You first interact with CBP when you enter
the US, and then you interact with TSA for security while flying within the
US.
------
secfirstmd
For those interested in more information and security guides to travelling
through borders, we have some in our Android mobile app Umbrella
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.secfirst.u...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.secfirst.umbrella)
or raw content here:
[https://github.com/securityfirst/Umbrella_content](https://github.com/securityfirst/Umbrella_content)
------
jlg23
> Put Andrea and our attorney on speed dial.
If _that_ is advice you have to give to your employees, either stop working
for the US army in war zones or hold meetings in a free country.
------
jbb67
Most of the posts on here are ridiculous. People saying they are not going on
holiday to the USA because it's too much of a pain.
Seriously.
We applied online for the visa thing. It took under 5 minutes. Then at the
airport we queued up at immigration for around 10 minutes. We showed our
passport and answered one question about purpose of visit, and they waved us
though.
This is the experience of 99.9% of those who visit.
~~~
GFischer
What country are you from? That is not the experience for people from my
country (Uruguay, Latin America), nor for any of the high population
countries, and it is highlighted in this article.
I applied for (and was granted) an U.S. visitor (B-1) visa last month, it was
very expensive, I had to fill out a form that took significantly more than 5
minutes (several hours because I had to contact family members for details),
and I had to schedule an in-person interview where they (very politely) cross
checked most of what I wrote in the visa form, and were very detailed in the
questions.
That's why the article says _" If your country does not participate in the
Visa Waiver Program or you are not eligible for an ESTA, you'll need to apply
for a B-1 business visitor visa… the long way."_
_" We'll work with you through this process. Start early, as soon as we have
dates for a meetup or conference. Visa appointments and processing can take
weeks to months."_
That directly contradicts your claim (and matches my experience).
I still haven't flown to the U.S., but those in my family who have,
experienced multi-hour delays (my mother lost her flight in Boston only last
month due to 2 hours in the immigration queue), most of my family members have
been set aside for in-depth questioning at least once, etc.
I do know some Europeans have a very different experience (those under ESTA),
but I'm not certain your saying "the experience of 99.9% of those who visit"
is correct.
You might notice that none of the highly populated countries (China, India,
Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Russia and Mexico) are in
this list:
[http://www.esta.us/visa_waiver_countries.html](http://www.esta.us/visa_waiver_countries.html)
------
futurix
I feel like posting something positive here - I travelled to the US last week
for tourist-y purposes and the border control was fast, efficient, nobody
looked at my devices (even though I had 3 phones with me), and the only gripe
was with tourists of certain nations constantly trying to jump the queues.
------
djhworld
I visited the US last year for a conference (from the UK)
Border Guard was very angry at me for some reason, very cold, didn't smile.
Quite curt with his responses. Which was strange because he was laughing and
joking with the couple before me in the queue.
He took particular umbrage with the fact that I'd ticked "Business" on my
customs form, as I wasn't sure what else to tick - I was attending the
conference on behalf of my employer who had paid for my trip.
------
ksjjf
>At Customs:
>Here to do work? Nope! Here on business, meeting with Basecamp
I never understood this. What's the difference? In both instances, money is
being earned.
~~~
betaby
Important things are a) which entity is going to pay b) where is added value
created. In terms of business meeting both are mostly other seas. I had that
info about meetings in my travel guide at least for 10 yeas.
------
lucaspiller
Re the purpose of visit, have the rules of what is defined as work changed
recently? I traveled a couple of years ago to LA to work on-site with my
employer for a couple of weeks - I told the customs official this, and they
let me through without issue. I'm from the UK so just got ESTA.
~~~
osullivj
When they ask if it's work or vacations I always say "meetings". Worked for me
so far...
------
bladecatcher
It's not clear to me whether the US Border control can ask you to login on
their desktop even if you're not carrying any devices. In such a case, there's
no way to avoid being subject to search.
------
TuringNYC
So what happens if you have 2FA via SMS, but obviously you are traveling and
cannot get an international SMS? Should one turn off 2FA before traveling to
the US?
------
grecy
Does anyone know how homeland security will react when I say I don't have a
cell phone?
(I genuinely, honestly don't)
------
shifte
Has anyone created a tool to automate the removal and restore of work and
secrets for this purpose?
------
elorant
Why can't US adopt Israel's border control practices? Going in and out of
Israel is a breeze. Sure, it's strict, as it should be, but you never feel
harassed or worse. And surely their problem with terrorism is equal if not
larger than that of US.
~~~
reirob
I don't know if it changed in the meantime, but I was flying to Israel in 99
and it was an experience I will not forget my whole life. It included the
security officers making a call to my parents pretending to be my friend and
asking where I am - I guess it was a trick. My mother was very scared, because
she didn't know this guy's voice.
I found this very mean. Hopefully it changed in a positive way.
------
binarray2000
Are there other US companies which have same/similar policy?
------
marknote
Welcome to come to China to make business meetings :)
~~~
Markoff
no need to worry someone will go through your Facebook, Gmail and other
accounts even if they wanted, they will force you to sign up for WeChat and
buy Alibaba share on top of it
------
rocqua
Would it be accepted to give a wipe code rather than a password to customs?
~~~
DanBC
They would deny you entry if you did that.
~~~
HappyTypist
YMMV. I refused a month ago and sat in secondary for 3 hours, but they
eventually let me in. On ESTA.
------
memiux
What is SIP?
~~~
memiux
Security, Infrastructure & Performance (SIP)
SIP is a instant-response team.
[https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/orgchart.md...](https://github.com/basecamp/handbook/blob/master/orgchart.md#security-
infrastructure--performance-sip)
------
faragon
Please, stop bigotry and nationalist hatred. That's for both the US, and the
ones willing to do the same as revenge against the US people. Let's stop the
nationalist madness together.
------
Mhodesty
It really is a shitty feeling for me. I grew up in New York, and was too young
to really understand what was going on during the Bush days, so for me the
Trump era is a new feeling.
This is the first time in my life I am embarrassed to be an American.
------
shpx
This is a political statement highlighting the current legal uncertainty of
refusing to unlock your devices at the US border[0].
By default iphones and macs are encrypted when you completely power them down,
so the right way (assuming you have a good password) is to shut down your
computers at the airport and only turn them back on when you've passed the
border.
Nothing interesting here tech-wise, effectively just a checklist of files to
manually delete or encrypt. I'm not a lawyer, but to me this seems like just
plugging holes until someone puts up the money and time to rule the whole
thing unconstitutional.
[0] [https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/02/what-could-
happe...](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/02/what-could-happen-if-
you-refuse-to-unlock-your-phone-at-the-us-border/)
~~~
rurban
They closed this loophole a couple of years ago, by explicitly demanding that
your devices need to be powered on and have enough battery power when entring
the country.
So powering off your device, putting out the battery or encrypting it is all
forbidden.
~~~
zeveb
Do you have any source for your assertion that one is required to have a
powered battery when entering the country? On the face of it, that seems
absurd.
~~~
doubleunplussed
I've heard announcements to this effect during takeoff on-route to the US:
"Ensure you don't use your devices too much during flight if you can't charge
them—they are required to be powered on during entry to the United States".
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Instacart Closes Latest Funding Round at $3.4B Valuation - rayuela
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-07/instacart-raises-funding-valuing-grocery-startup-at-3-4-billion
======
apike
In Vancouver, our most popular local supermarket chain (Save-on-Foods) has
started offering a service where you can order groceries on the web or in an
app at the same prices as in the store. Then, you can either quickly pick up
the collected groceries for free, or you can pay them a fee for delivery if
you prefer. Even though the chain is local and the service is new, the
software works well, the service works well, and overall it's a good offering.
So my question is: how do investors project that an intermediary like
Instacart can outcompete the same service provided by the supermarkets
themselves? Doordash can compete on variety and speed, but most folks shop at
the same one or two supermarkets all the time and rarely need groceries
urgently.
~~~
clairity
this is not quite the right question to ask, because it assumes that the
delivery business is the revenue driver for instacart, and that for instacart
to win, they need to be better at delivery than the grocery store. it's very
hard to make such a logistics business work in the last mile because it's so
inefficient. grocery stores know this, which is the reason they are reluctant
to implement such services themselves, not because they afraid of innovation
(rather, lots of pricing innovation happens in grocery stores, to squeeze what
little margin they can out of the value chain). companies like fedex and ups
subsidize last-mile through their much more efficient long-distance logistics
operations, which people are willing to pay more for.
the delivery service is actually a loss leader for instacart's underlying
business, which is influencing purchase decisions through their app and
getting paid for it. this is where brands compete with each other (just like
shelf space in the store, which they also pay for), so it's where the money
is. instacart also has fantastic shopping data tied to individual accounts
that they can monetize in a number of ways. and then there is a bit of a
winner-take-all element in that grocery stores are unlikely to want to
integrate with more than one such service.
this last part is where the valuation comes from - it's a bet that instacart
can become critical marketing infrastructure for the grocery industry. like
many others, i'm skeptical because it's a risky strategy, but if they pull it
off, they get a big payday.
~~~
raiyu
This seems a bit left field. If you were a $100MM startup I could buy this
argument but at $3.4B you better believe that their valuation is tied to their
gross volume of goods and revenue moving through their platform.
Which is why the recently announced a change to tipping, where it would no
longer be hanlded separately but instead as part of the regular checkout so as
to make their revenue numbers look better.
They could certainly look into an advertising model for virtual shelf space,
but that will be a significantly smaller amount of money than what they are
doing in grocery delivery.
This is the same play as Seamless/Grubhub, and while they have a "promoted"
listing which generates revenue, the majority of their revenue still comes
from creating and order and doing the delivery.
The real benefit to Instacart from an investor perspective is that they are
taking a distributed market and consolidating it into one single player. So
while some stores may do their own delivery, by consolidating that space into
a single player they are able to create tremendous volume.
Now, at 33% the value of whole foods that's a different matter. But there are
some attractive pieces to Instacart's revenue story.
They don't stock inventory, so there aren't many carrying costs, they are
charging 20% on the order which means they directly benefit from customers
spending more and you can quickly see that their immediate revenue model
assuming they can keep costs under control is definitely enough to justify the
price.
The real question is how much money they are losing and if they are able to
become profitable in the long run, but that will be a question that is decided
well post IPO.
~~~
misterbowfinger
So while some stores may do their own delivery, by consolidating that space
into a single player they are able to create tremendous volume.
OP's point was that shoppers typically shop at 1-2 grocery stores.
Seamless/GrubHub is different because people are more likely order from
several restaurants across time.
clairity makes an astute point that Instacart's personalized data is more
valuable than any single grocery store's data. and competing on "store
shelves" allows them to negotiate with brands directly, and totally circumvent
the grocery stores.
.... but in order to do that, they need to capture the market, and they need
their operating model to work well for long enough to meet that goal
------
webnrrd2k
If there is as much money to be made as Instacart's valuation implies, then
it's just a matter of time until the big chains, at least, start offering
their own online shopping.
This strikes me as another version of AutoByTel.com Remember them? They worked
between you and the dealership, and generally got you a much better price on a
car, usually the fleet rate.
They did well until dealerships figured out how to use the web, and then the
company hasn't been anywhere near as relevant for a long time. It tough
existing between web-based customers and physical dealers. There isn't a lot
of loyalty, so as soon as tgere is a better price customers will change sites.
Also, Autobytel's business is really offering highly qualified sales leads to
dealerships. The basics are nothing fancier than that.
I see the same thing for Instacart. Grocery stores tend to be effective at
shipping stuff around, but tge same "shoping" experience has worked for many,
many years.
It seems like the grocery stores have a lot more power than Instacart, and
Instacart is going to have a very hard time getting between customers and
stores. It's going to be hard to make a profit when stores offer free/cheap
delivery and develop their own shopping apps.
~~~
simplehuman
What you are saying is correct. But this comment is true for every startup out
there.
~~~
koolba
In this case though I don't see a secret sauce that keeps the customer with
Instacart rather than going direct to the retailer.
With something like Uber or Lyft, you're accessing a pool of drivers that
can't immediately be created by a small competitor. Even in a local
environment.
With a grocery store I'm generally ordering from the same place repeatedly. If
they offer the same service directly, I see no advantage to dealing with
Instacart.
Maybe if they integrate vertically but at that point they become a modern
grocery store without a store front ( _I bet they 're considering this
already_). But otherwise they're just tacking a markup on something the stores
can do directly.
Another example would be a maid service like Homejoy. It's great if you don't
have a contact to begin with but once I've had a maid come to my house, I want
the same person to come back again. It's in my interests (cheaper, same
person) and the maid's interest (no commission to service) for it.
~~~
kingbirdy
As far as Instacart vertically integrating, at that point they'd be competing
with Amazon Fresh, and Amazon could likely muscle them out of the market
------
jpm_sd
It must be really weird to work for Instacart. The shoppers spend the entire
day in the supermarket, shopping for other people, waiting in the checkout
line over and over again. The drivers are just sitting around in the grocery
store parking lot most of the time. [0]
[0] [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/02/instacart-
workers_n...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/02/instacart-
workers_n_6548822.html)
~~~
duderific
You can tell the Instacart shoppers in the store by the way they charge around
frantically, almost pushing people out of the way. They stick out like a sore
thumb.
~~~
omarchowdhury
There's also the blue uniform. But yeah, they are pretty aggressive.
~~~
ArlenBales
> There's also the blue uniform. But yeah, they are pretty aggressive.
Green?
[https://www.google.com/search?q=instacart+shopper&source=lnm...](https://www.google.com/search?q=instacart+shopper&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj_w76IgsjSAhVBU2MKHajHBysQ_AUICSgC&biw=1077&bih=1411#tbm=isch&q=instacart+shopper&*)
------
saycheese
For anyone that doesn't know how Instacart got into YC... "How Instacart
Hacked YC":
[https://techcrunch.com/2012/08/18/how-instacart-hacked-
yc/](https://techcrunch.com/2012/08/18/how-instacart-hacked-yc/)
~~~
swampthinker
Takeaway: Every "no" in tech can be solved with a 6 pack of beer and lots of
persistence
~~~
sneak
...and by being male and speaking English well. :)
~~~
sushid
I get that what you're saying is tongue-in-cheek, but yes, when you're usually
trying to persuade anyone --person, organization, business, etc., having a
grasp in the local language is almost always a requirement.
In this particular example, however, those points are completely irrelevant as
he just used his app to show off Instacart's delivery feature.
~~~
sneak
What I was saying (on International Women's Day) is that many opportunities
are still afforded to people based on group identity that are denied to
others, and that "all problems" can be solved trivially... for some people
because of their inborn traits. It was a rejection of the "all problems can be
overcome with sufficient gumption" theme of this thread.
Beer, Maleness, being physically present in the USA, English - all of these
are group signifiers.
It saddens me to see HN users rejecting this on a day designed to highlight
this inequality.
------
dopamean
I've found Instacart to be prohibitively expensive. When in New York I've used
Fresh Direct and have never felt that I was being over charged. I have never
had an order with Instacart that made me thing the increase in price was worth
it. I'm sure a lot of people like it but I'm having a hard time being one of
them.
------
jzig
It's from those markups on sales tax [0].
[0]:[https://np.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/5xj47l/ever_what_ins...](https://np.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/5xj47l/ever_what_instacart_is_really_charging_you_in/)
~~~
sillysaurus3
_At this point, the store cost me $86.87. Instacart is now up to $142.47 after
taxes and fees. This is a difference of $55.60, or 64%. I added a 10% tip
(honestly, the shoppers deserve it, especially shopping in a grocery store on
a Sunday for me), which brought my Instacart total to $154.80 for an $86.87
grocery bill, or a difference of $78.20._
Ouch.
~~~
joering2
So it basically boils down to be a service for those few who either can make
more than $78 in an hour working rather than shopping, or those who don't like
shopping (spending all day in front of bunch of monitors I love to go shopping
just to anonymously socialize for a moment).
So as long as Instacart can survive with 1% of regular folks shopping with
them, they are golden.
------
simonkjohnson
Not entirely on topic, but in Denmark we have something similar called "Vigo",
where other people buy your groceries for you, and deliver them to you. The
fee you pay is fixed (about 6 USD).
People who want to make a little extra cash then log on to the app, look for
tasks nearby, and pick a task they want to complete. Then they buy it, deliver
it, and get paid.
The stores are partnering with the app to provide their inventory, so that you
can pick what you need and expect it to actually be available for your shopper
to buy.
Curious to see if something like Instacart would break through here.
------
overcast
What's the big deal with going to a grocery store, I mean seriously? I can
understand a market for wealthy people, who just want someone else to do
things for them, but to have enough market that the common person would find
this worth it?
Also, who wants someone picking through all their produce/meats/perishables?
That's a pretty subjective thing.
~~~
Gargoyle
I went without a car for a year, in Los Angeles. I lived near a subway, worked
remotely, and used Uber when I had to. The one thing that was still annoying
to handle was groceries, Instacart solved that. I only used them for stores
where the prices were the same as in-store, and I handled tipping in cash
(drivers were also the shoppers in my case).
I was very happy with the service, but my circumstances were pretty specific.
I'm now in a small town in the outskirts of a city and they're not an option
here. Even if they were, I have to have a car for other purposes and wouldn't
use them anyway.
I don't know how they'll expand outside of urban centers, honestly.
On a side note, about half the Ubers I see around here are pickup trucks,
which would make using them for grocery trips more practical. Hmmm.
~~~
overcast
I agree, this can really only exist in very urban areas.
~~~
ghaff
That's not really true although some degree of density is needed. I can't get
any of the latest VC-backed services but I can get Peapod and live well
outside the nearest major city on a number of acres. Where I live is certainly
not "very urban."
------
CptJamesCook
I have no comment on the valuation, but the service has made my life better.
I no longer fight with my significant other about grocery store trips, and the
house is always stocked with healthy, delicious food from Whole Foods.
In 3 years, I'm not sure I've ever had a problem with an Instacart delivery,
other than them occasionally forgetting items.
edit: I should have mentioned that I'm not very picky about what is actually
delivered, I'm just happy to have a bunch of fresh vegetables, fruit, and
sparkling water stocked in my house at all times.
~~~
MegaButts
As a counterpoint, I've never had a positive experience with Instacart.
Whenever an item is missing (and sometimes I suspect they just can't find the
item in store - one time they told me Whole Foods had no parmesan cheese at
all), there is a frustrating back-and-forth texting frenzy to decide whether
or not you want something else. Not only is it not what you want, it
inevitably costs more, and a typical order will have something like a dozen
texts from the shopper. In addition to this, the markups are way too high in
my opinion. And since I'm not in the store, I never know what's on sale and
can never take advantage of it.
After about a half dozen tries I gave up on Instacart. It was so much worse
than just going to the store myself.
~~~
jabzd
For what it is anecdotally worth, this has gotten better. It launched in
Chicago at least a year ago and the first few orders my wife and I placed, I
felt like I should have shopped myself for how many items weren't found and
how much hand holding the shopper needed to replace items. We almost gave up
on it, but with a baby in the house my wife kept with it and the replacement
feedback loop has really gotten much better. Nowadays, out of a 25 item order,
maybe 1 item is replaced and usually without a back-and-forth necessary
(something reasonable is picked and you have the opportunity to reject it).
Also, luckily, in the Chicago market most of the stores are "same-price-as-in-
store" and the prices seem fairly reasonable where I mostly believe that.
------
largehotcoffee
>$400 million round of venture funding As it stands now, I believe Instacart
will fail and this money will be wasted. The only hope for the company is to
be acquired by someone larger looking to bootstrap grocery delivery (or maybe
Uber or Amazon or something).
I regularly use Safeway grocery delivery
[https://shop.safeway.com/ecom/home](https://shop.safeway.com/ecom/home) and
I've always been happy. Delivery fees can get as low as $4 while grocery items
are (I assume) the same price as inside the store.
Instacart needs to do something different. Why don't they just copy Blue
Apron/Hello Fresh and offer meal packages with all the ingredients and recipe?
Hell, I'd be way more interested in the service if I could get that along with
groceries.
Postmates
Blue Apron
Hello Fresh
Instacart
Amazon Fresh
etc etc
These companies need to become each other, before Amazon becomes all of them.
It seems like the biggest innovation from Instacart I could find was "the
company wasn't collecting beverage can and bottle deposits accurately until
recently, and the fix has increased gross margins by 25 cents on average
deliveries nationwide.". This company is doomed.
Side note, I still can't get over the fact that I can't view a single item
they offer without creating an account. Even going to browse their website for
this comment, I walk away disappointed.
------
asciimo
I expected Whole Foods to acquire them. They have so much infrastructure on
site at popular Whole Foods locations that it seemed inevitable.
~~~
ironchief
I thought so too. However, the valuation of Instacart is now in the range of
Whole Foods $3.4B vs $9.3B
Expect to see much rougher competition from Whole Foods. They have quietly
already started this with their coupon app[1] (the wedge) and pickup (powered
by instacart)[2]
[1][https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/feb/10/whole-
foods...](https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/feb/10/whole-foods-
introduces-digital-coupons-app-shoppering)
[2][https://pickup.wholefoodsmarket.com/](https://pickup.wholefoodsmarket.com/)
~~~
marrone12
The valuation doesn't necessitate what they may ever sell at. It'd be very
easy for whole foods to acquire instacart after their hypothetical exit never
happens and their valuation tanks.
------
jonnynezbo
We use InstaCart to keep the fridge and pantry stocked at my small company. It
works like a charm, and saves us nearly 2 hours a week. You get "free"
deliveries with InstaCart Express for $149/year. The website and iPhone app
are easy to use, and interaction with the shopper works almost flawlessly.
Honestly, it's a no-brainer for us.
~~~
paulcole
Wow! Almost 2 hours a week! What do you do with the extra time?
~~~
puranjay
Why, post on HNews, of course!
------
tabeth
Am I missing something or are of these "I'm too rich to be bothered with this
task" services just creating a new servant class in the United States?
This "servant class" has already existed, but now I feel as if it's being
carved out of the already diminishing middle class.
~~~
27182818284
>Am I missing something
I think you are a bit, because I use a lot of these services and am not rich
Uber/Lyft isn't "I'm too rich to drive" it is "I'm drunk at the bars and need
a ride home." or "The BART is closed because high winds blew stuff on the
tracks and my flight leaves out of SFO in just a bit. "(Lyft really saved me
on that one, no cabs around)
Instacart isn't "I'm too rich to go grocery shopping" it is "I'm a mom of two
kids, one of them has diarrhea right now, we need some things from the store"
Etc - have to run but you get the idea
~~~
aianus
Even daily Uber use is cheaper than owning a car where I live (Toronto). Car
insurance alone is $400 a month for a young single male.
------
euphoria83
I have used their service many times and am in general not satisfied. Items
are missed, the quality of produce picked is not the best, items ordered are
not found and replaced, same day delivery is almost gone as an option now, the
service fee of 10% stinks of mal-intent. Also, I am not sure how they will
compete with Amazon Pantry/Prime or Google Express. The investment and
valuation seem bloated.
------
coupdejarnac
Are they actually making money, or are they going to be another fantastic
short-sell opportunity, a la Snapchat?
------
Hydraulix989
Those had to be some pretty bad terms.
------
misiti3780
I just logged in for the first time and used a lower manhattan zipcode, the
options seemed fairly sparse. I assume that it is more useful in other parts
of the country?
~~~
dopamean
If you're in Manhattan Fresh Direct is the best choice IMO.
------
dkarapetyan
Obviously the numbers still don't add up for a delivery business so what
exactly is driving the valuation up?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
“Relational Databases” - mpweiher
http://home.pipeline.com/~hbaker1/letters/CACM-RelationalDatabases.html
======
eesmith
Early on the letter says "Biological systems follow the rule "ontogeny
recapitulates phylogeny".
That was known to be wrong well before 1991, which is when the letter was
written.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Saving 9 GB of RAM with Python's __slots__ - benhoyt
http://tech.oyster.com/save-ram-with-python-slots/
======
_wmd
Worth pointing out that on PyPy you effectively get this for free..
[http://morepypy.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/efficiently-
implement...](http://morepypy.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/efficiently-implementing-
python-objects.html)
~~~
PythonicAlpha
PyPy is not an option everywhere. Since as much I know, many, many
enhancements and libraries are just not available for PyPy but just for plain
old CPython.
PyPy might be an interesting project with much potential, but there seams to
me a long way until it can be an one-shot replacement for CPyton.
------
PythonicAlpha
That's the cost of being a dynamic language. Since Python objects can be
dynamically enhanced everywhere (also from inheriting classes and even from
outside of the class) it needs dictionaries. But those can be very memory
inefficient, specially on modern 64bit Hardware. One dict can easily take 1-2k
for very few stored attributes (size can even depend on actual names used,
because of the nature of dicts). So when it comes to millions of object
instances, it is better to use __slots__ but those come with a cost: Those
objects are not enhance-able any more. You have to know all attributes of the
objects in advance. So you should only use it on objects that are really used
a lot or are really simple.
~~~
brandonbloom
> That's the cost of being a dynamic language.
No, this is a cost of this particular style of dynamic object model. Not all
dynamic languages are dynamic in this way.
> Those objects are not enhance-able any more.
I don't see any reason why Python can't do what Clojure's defrecord does:
Provide fixed fields for pre-declared slots, while still using a dictionary
for extensions. It has been a while since I've used python, but I'm almost
certain that there is some __special__ magic that can make this work with
relative ease.
It's also worth pointing out that most modern JITs, like V8 or PyPy, can
automatically detect "hidden classes" like this and optimize these objects to
pack such static fields.
~~~
gsnedders
"modern JITs" aren't so modern at all. All that work was originally done on
Smalltalk in the 1980s — it's also entirely tangential to JITing compilers, as
it can easily be done with interpreters too, so it's not even a cost of this
particular style of dynamic object model — it's a cost of this implementation
strategy of this particular style of dynamic object model. The fact that PyPy
manages fine shows it is not the language, or any model to which it
subscribes, that is at fault.
------
austinz
I did something similar for a batch log processing system I wrote in Python
some time ago. All the log messages could be classified as representing one of
a few dozen 'packet' types, each represented by an object instance (so I could
do some additional processing later), so predefining each type's fixed sets of
fields using slots noticeably decreased memory usage. Of course, it was the
first time I had ever done anything like that in Python, so I may have been
doing it wrong...
Anyways, definitely a good short read, thanks for posting!
------
omegote
Mmm I don't quite get why sys.getsizeof is reporting a bigger size in the
slotted class, it should be the other way around according to that post.
Test code at: [http://codepad.org/wlb53BLf](http://codepad.org/wlb53BLf) not
sure if I'm missing something...
~~~
benhoyt
Per the Python 3 docs (for some reason not in the Python 2 docs, but the same
holds): "Only the memory consumption directly attributed to the object is
accounted for, not the memory consumption of objects it refers to."
Most of the space for the NonSlotted version is in the __dict__, and if you
print the size of ni.__dict__ you'll probably get a couple of hundred bytes.
There are better, recursive ways to get the real size of a Python object in
memory, for example see:
[http://pythonhosted.org/Pympler/asizeof.html#asizeof](http://pythonhosted.org/Pympler/asizeof.html#asizeof)
~~~
omegote
Nice, just used pympler.asizeof and it reported that the slotted version has
about 22% of the size of the non-slotted version.
------
asmosoinio
Useful tip. Anecdotally this helped me save 40% of memory on some data I need
to store in memory for analysis: Used to be about 1KB per object, after adding
__slots__ it came down to 590 bytes.
------
pmiller2
Using __slots__ is not really the same as using a namedtuple, because
namedtuples are immutable.
~~~
burntsushi
The OP didn't say it was the same. It said they were similar. And they
certainly are.
Although, there may be performance differences between `namedtuple` and
`__slots__`. Particularly _access_ time. This SO post elaborates.[1]
[1] - [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2646157/what-is-the-
faste...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2646157/what-is-the-fastest-to-
access-struct-like-object-in-python)
------
mixmastamyk
Thanks, great article. I've used Python for years, but this was a remaining
dark corner I hadn't got to yet. Now, off to the next.
------
stcredzero
Basically, going back to Smalltalk's memory model. It also becomes much easier
to JIT optimized machine code for such objects.
~~~
rguillebert
PyPy does the same thing as using __slots__ on CPython automatically, no need
to use __slots__ to take advantage of the JIT.
~~~
stcredzero
I didn't say that __slots__ makes JIT possible. However, it does make writing
one easier. (Also makes writing a faster one easier.)
EDIT: Is it the new modus operandi on HN: If a statement isn't seemingly 100%
in support of your pet language, automatically read the statement in the
dimmest and narrowest way possible?
~~~
sgrove
Just think of it as there was some confusion and possible ambiguity, and your
clarification has cleared it up for anyone interested in the subject but not
yet knowledgeable enough. Someone can skim through and have their mental model
corrected slightly now - a very nice thing!
------
kevinburke
Probably missing a lot of context here, but wondering why you wouldn't use
something like nginx or squid for serving static content, as they are designed
for this kind of use case.
~~~
benhoyt
Good question -- however, it's not completely static content. The hotel
reviews and photos are more or less static (updated only on deployment),
however a fair number of the features of the site are dynamic: user accounts,
real-time pricing, search, recently-viewed hotels, etc.
See also my comment on reddit about design decisions:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/1qu5ai/saving_9...](http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/1qu5ai/saving_9_gb_of_ram_with_one_line_of_code_using/cdgjxom)
~~~
zhemao
Have you considered using something like Memcached or Redis then? There'd be
some overhead sending data over a local TCP connection, but I think it would
be a lot more memory-efficient.
------
simgidacav
Extra-nice thing about this feature: it can be enabled and disabled, for a
class, with a very little effort. So you can check correctness first, and
optimize later.
Does that fuck up? Rinse and repeat.
------
cmhamill
Does anyone know if there's any similar ability in Perl 5?
~~~
xb95
Yup. It's called 'fields':
[http://perldoc.perl.org/fields.html](http://perldoc.perl.org/fields.html)
I echo what they said in that post, though: don't prematurely optimize. If you
find you have tons of objects and need the RAM or you're actually paying a
premium for hash accesses, then fields can save you some effort... but if
you've a small use case, don't bother.
------
RaphiePS
Does anyone know what the code is "compiled" into, if not a hash table?
~~~
Mithaldu
I'm not entirely sure, but based on my experience with OO in Perl i guess that
it simply uses an array in a special attribute, instead of putting the various
attributes into dict keys on the actual object. Possibly it even uses some
kind of inside-out implementation where the arrays are stored via closure in
some other scope and only visible to accessor methods.
------
pdknsk
Why run Python on Windows?
~~~
mixmastamyk
Rather, why not?
Works perfectly well, and empowers one to escape from it at a later date if
necessary.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
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