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Mashups Are Breaking the Mold at Microsoft - bootload
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/business/10slipstream.html?_r=1&ex=1360386000&en=60296335da445fc7&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin
======
altano
I tried to play with Popfly. It wouldn't work in Safari so I downloaded
Firefox. Then I had to register an account. Then it loaded fine, but it failed
to pull the News.yc feed. So I tried digg... nope, wouldn't load that either.
I tried 4 boxes and I couldn't get any of them to work. I guess the app is
still working out its kinks...
------
zetatios
I'm always glad to seem Microsoft doing something neat -- they have a lot of
bright people.
That said....Popfly won't load on my browser -- fully updated firefox running
under ubuntu (strangely, the error message implies firefox is supported).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Lunar entrepreneurs: privately funded SpaceX orbits Earth. - FrancofileL
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/technology/090720/space-commercialization-private-firms-rocket-launch
======
JunkDNA
I love what SpaceX is doing and I really, really hope they succeed. I'm not
sure if it's founded or not, but I fear we're at risk of losing a bit of
institutional knowledge as the original crop of "rocket scientists" retire. In
my mind, SpaceX is pushing the R&D process along, keeping that knowledge going
and expanding it outside the traditional government-run, risk-averse space
bureaucracy. I have to nit-pick about one thing in the article though:
"Livingston said drugs are so profitable that pharmaceutical companies could
become commercial space customers if they had routine and reliable ways to get
crystallization experiments into space and back again."
I have plenty of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and I have to say,
if they're looking for money from this, they will be waiting a long time. This
meme always makes for a nice tidy tag-line in a grant proposal for space
research, but it's not really based in business reality. Protein crystal
structures are certainly important in pharmaceutical development, but they
rarely make or break a drug program. The problem is that protein structures
obtained from crystals don't always accurately reflect what the protein does
in solution. Furthermore, even if you _do_ end up using a crystal structure to
design a compound, your problem is only just beginning. The big problem with
drugs is that they fail spectacularly when they get to the clinic because they
have an unacceptable safety profile or they just plain don't work. The protein
structure is fairly irrelevant in these cases because the rest of the biology
is so maddeningly complex and unpredictable.
------
tocomment
Surely it's not the first private company to launch something into orbit.
Haven't Boeing and/or Lockheed been doing this for years? What's
different/special about SpaceX?
~~~
ori_b
Haven't Boeing and Lockheed been doing government stuff for almost all their
launching? I could be wrong, but I don't remember hearing about their in-house
rocketry.
~~~
tocomment
Boeing says they have commercial customers: [http://www.boeing.com/defense-
space/space/bls/deltaHistory.h...](http://www.boeing.com/defense-
space/space/bls/deltaHistory.html)
~~~
gaius
Yes but development of the Delta was 100% underwritten by the DoD.
Kinda like how the 747 was subsidized by the AWACS contract... And they've the
nerve to complain when the French government bungs a few Euros to Airbus.
~~~
evgen
747!?!? Try 707. All of Boeing's commercial airframe have been self-funded
since before Airbus existed. There may be internal cross-subsidy from other
defense projects (e.g. borrowing to develop A by using the federal funding of
B as a loan guarantee) but no Boeing airframe you can buy today was started or
funded as a DoD project.
------
roryokane
I just saw a discussion about commercial vs. government space travel on XKCD
IRC yesterday. I'm curious; did whoever submitted this read or participate in
that chat and investigate? Is commercial space travel that popular a subject
these days? Or was it just a coincidence?
~~~
zandorg
It's just that it's SpaceX's 2nd successful launch, and nearly as important as
the 1st last year. It's just recent news.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Nassim Taleb discusses uncertainty; more technical than his other talks (2009) - kubrickslair
http://streamer.perimeterinstitute.ca/Flash/9112b33e-4480-41b5-91a6-d90f93750b99/viewer.html
======
kubrickslair
Get's most interesting (statistics and real-world wise) from 13:00 onwards.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How to get hired by GitHub? - trumbitta2
Hey, for the last few years I've had the self-imposed goal of landing a job at GitHub as a UX Engineer.<p>Any advice, maybe from someone who's actually made it?<p>This is what I tried, so far:<p>I'm constantly refining my LinkedIn profile and CV/Resume<p>I participate in Open Source since 1998 and I have a fairly active GitHub profile, with some contributions to major and minor projects.<p>I submitted a total of 10~ applications for a number of open positions: Technical Supportocat, Front End developer, Product Help writer...<p>The idea was to get in with one of the things I can actually do for a living, then try to switch to my top specialization.<p>I also tried the direct approach of sharing my thoughts about their home page:
http://www.williamghelfi.com/blog/2015/06/04/github-home-redux/<p>The best result I was able to get: a written test about system and network administration, for a position in Technical Support for GitHub Enterprise. (I failed)<p>Lately, except for the automated "thank you, we'll get in touch"-ish email, they seem to have stopped even replying to my applications for their open positions (I don't know, maybe some sort of blocking has been put in place).
======
sebg
Have you a) looked through linkedin to see who are the UX engineers at GitHub,
b) found their blogs / twitter profiles to see what they write about / what
the read, c) read their writings, d) read what they are reading, e) reached
out to a few of them to get their advice? It seems to me that you've done just
about everything other than talk to the actual people who have what you want.
So at this point, go for it! Find them, talk to them, ask them what you need
to do, and then do it. :) Good luck!
~~~
trumbitta2
Thanks for the advice, I can and will try this :)
------
Bulk70
Why do you want be a UX engineer and GitHub specifically?
Perhaps apply for UX positions at other companies - ones that are actually
hiring in that position, and build up some working experience in the field.
~~~
trumbitta2
I have 10+ years of experience in the field :D
I fell in love with GitHub as a product just using it, and as a company
reading the posts by Zac Holman.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
My experience as a solo founder applying to YCF with just an idea on HackerNews - abhi3
https://medium.com/@ApplyHN/my-experience-as-a-solo-founder-applying-to-yc-fellowship-with-just-an-idea-on-hacker-news-and-d04d3f44cf77#.54z9hwahi
======
minimaxir
Copy/Pasting my response from Reddit:
> They did polarize opinion but overall I think people liked them
I was one of the people who called you out for your "growth hacking," and this
assessment is blatantly wrong.
For one thing, your original Apply HN submission had a linkbait title, which
you admitted to
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11535928](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11535928)).
What you did later to polarize opinion was to _include an unnecessary link to
your Apply HN submission_ to each comment you made, which is Spam in HN's
rulebook. On the first comment you made
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11536407](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11536407))
(flagkilled), 3/3 of the comments called you out as spamming.
On the second comment you made
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11537017](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11537017)),
half the comments _still_ told you to cut it out with the advertisements.
On the third comment you made
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11537818](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11537818))
which made it obvious you were ignoring the comments on the first two
comments, I stepped in and told you were breaking HN rules, but you still did
not edit out the advertising URL. A HN moderator eventually killed your
comment.
These shenanigans most likely disqualified you from winning the YC fellowship,
which counteracts your "growth hacking is good" sentiment. The results do not
justify disregarding community sentiment.
\---
OP replied on Reddit:
> Hey man you can't see the upvotes but I can, combined the 3 comments
> received more than 100 upvotes. People complaining = 10.
> If it was against the rules I would have been banned, it was not. Anyway if
> you are suggesting I took advantage of a grey area to come up with a way to
> showcase my product, yes I did. When it was no longer gray I stopped.
> Community sentiment is subjective, even you admit half the people loved it
> but I have data to know it was way more than half. So sorry about your
> sentiments. I get your point but don't know why you care so much about it.
------
abhi3
BTW one can find out the rankings of all ApplyHN applications by _just_
upvotes here:
[http://www.thefinac.tk/applyhn/](http://www.thefinac.tk/applyhn/) (sort by
rating)
Pinboard is not a serious application so that can be ignored I guess
~~~
idlewords
Not sure on what grounds you think you can ignore Pinboard. The people have
spoken!
~~~
abhi3
Hahahaha, I'm sure a lot of people (including me) got a nice laugh from your
troll.
I suppose you are "too far along" for YC Fellowship anyway ;)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Please critique my personal digital security strategy - toocool
Hi<p>After the latest events, I thought I'd share with HN what I do to protect myself from identity theft, and ask for suggestions. I'll try to be brief. The goal is to be in a sweet spot between convenience and security:<p>- Froze my credit on the 3 agencies<p>- My personal Google account is the central hub of my online identity: all accounts are hooked to my gmail, and I keep sensitive documents, including financial statements and contracts, on Google Drive. The Google password is complicated and as a MFA I have Google authenticator on my phone and printed backup codes. No recovery phone/email address set.<p>- I keep all my passwords in Lastpass. I really love the app and how well it works on mobile. As a MFA I have Google authenticator on my phone.<p>- My phone is secured with touch id and long pass code, and automatic data deletion after 10 failed attempts<p>- I use a lot of services, I just counted 430 online services. Each one ends up hooked to my gmail and a random password that I don't remember and store right away in Lastpass (including various bank accounts). Whenever available, I always enable the following MFA methods in order of preference:<p>* Google authenticator on my phone (e.g. Facebook)<p>* Email verification on my Google email (e.g. bank accounts)<p>* Text verification on my Google Voice number (e.g. bank accounts). I don't use my non-gv phone number because of how easy it is to trick call center operators into transferring the number away from a given SIM card. Seems very sad.<p>What do you think? It seems pretty secure to me. If I were to lose my phone, I'd recover Google via the backup codes, and all the other accounts via the google email.<p>Thanks!
======
philiphodgen
And if (God forbid, because it could never happen) Google arbitrarily froze
you out of your email account and you could not talk to a human at Google to
remedy the situation . . . ?
~~~
toocool
Thanks for your reply.
That is a possibility, I might be naive but I consider it on the very unlikely
side. What I would imagine in that case is that I would reset the important
other accounts such as the bank ones by showing up in some physical office
with my passport, or something similar, while waiting to solve the situation
with Google.
What alternatives would you suggest? Spreading the accounts over different
email addresses? Letting aside the privacy issue, to be honest I don't think
there is another mail provider that I'd trust better than Google from a
security point of view.
~~~
philiphodgen
Yes I would hedge my bets.
I have seen businesses die because they only had one bank. You and I have both
seen, from time to time, people complaining that something went wrong with a
Google account with no apparent way to obtain recourse.
Always have a backup. And a contingency plan in case the backup plan fails.
I'm with you on LastPass. I am utterly reliant on it, and it bothers me
greatly. I have hedged my bets a bit by backing things up with 1Password. But
what a collosal pain in the ass that is. Friction leads to sloth, and sloth
leads to system failure.
------
j_s
Any consideration given to a hardware security token? The Yubikey NFC edition
(~$50?) can even work with your phone.
[https://helpdesk.lastpass.com/multifactor-authentication-
opt...](https://helpdesk.lastpass.com/multifactor-authentication-
options/yubikey-authentication/#h4)
At the very least, consider securing Lastpass with U2F (fairly cheap) once
they support it.
[https://cognitionsecure.com/u2f-otp-google-
lastpass/](https://cognitionsecure.com/u2f-otp-google-lastpass/)
Be sure to get at least two hardware tokens in case of failure.
\--
PS. Some more exotic options even store actual passwords rather than
encryption keys.
[https://www.tindie.com/products/stephanelec/mooltipass-
mini-...](https://www.tindie.com/products/stephanelec/mooltipass-mini-offline-
password-keeper/)
------
johnpython
Overall you have a great security posture. I would not recommend using
LastPass due to the service having a history of really bad security
vulnerabilities. If you must use a cloud-based password manager, 1Password is
the most secure choice, otherwise use KeePassX. As others have mentioned, less
reliance on Google will do you some good. Look into using Duo MFA. Migrate
high-security accounts like banking to a separate email account. Don't store
credit card details with shopping sites. Disable Touch ID.
------
elops
Storing seed for 2FA on your phone (google authenticator) leaves you
vulnerable to anyone who compromises your phone. If someone compromised your
phone, your likely would not know they are generating the same 2FA codes as
you do. To tackle this problem you could store your 2FA secrets on secure
device (e.g. Yubikey NEO) and use phone as display.
Lastpass is cloud service and they had some issues in the past, I consider
more offline/app approach for password manager as bit more secure alternative.
------
netvarun
Just a word of caution on google Authenticator - the iOS version didn't seem
to be maintained and it didn't have any sort of export or backup feature. I
lost all my codes due to a factory reset of my phone. I've ever since (dec
2016) switched to using Authy for my codes.
~~~
Top19
Furthering this, I would use "Duo". It's such a better MFA app. It has lots of
better usability features, and should you want they just added iOS back up.
By having just your one Gmail account you are making yourself vulnerable.
Google does allow up to 99 character passwords, but still your laptop might be
left open and things like that.
I would suggest starting to use email aliases such as those offered by 33mail
or Blur which forward to Gmail. Basically instead of using the same username
everywhere you now have say 10 or 20 usernames. A lot of people forget that
usernames can be as effective as passwords, they in a sense are credentials
to.
Also read any of the books by Michael Bazzell.
Also also going all the way here I would get a VPN service for your phone.
Then I would go to FladhRouters.com and order a DD-WRT router and embed that
VPN (easy to do) in the router, or even better another VPN service.
------
afarrell
For your more critical passwords, enable the setting where lastpass prompts
you to re-enter your master password. This ensures that:
1) you are less vulnerable to leaving your laptop unlocked.
2) you have to enter your master password frequently, preventing you from
forgetting it.
------
beckler
I've never used lastpass', but is there a way to backup your data? That seems
like the biggest point of failure for me. I dislike purely hosted solutions
for critical info because they become a bigger target as more people join.
~~~
toocool
Thanks for your reply.
Yes, with Lastpass you can export all your data to a csv that is generated at
runtime using your master password. Although, to be honest, why would I need
that? Assuming every important service in that list has some sort of MFA via
Google authenticator/gmail/google voice number and a recovery option via the
gmail address, what would a backup be useful for?
Essentially, the only passwords I really need to memorize in my head are the
lastpass and google ones.
The biggest point of failure to me seems some bank account that I tried to
recover in incognito mode which apparently just asks social security number
plus some other idiotic information instead of relying on sending a recovery
email. And there doesn't seem to be any way to change that, beside changing
bank that is.
------
pmlnr
I always wonder what has higher risks: me, hosting my own mail, maybe getting
hacked, or a gmail user, risking being locked out forever due to posting
something inappropiate in a youtube comment.
~~~
toocool
Haha I hope you're not being serious. If I had to estimate the probability of
Google ever blocking my account over my life time I'd say 0.01%, whereas the
probability of someone successfully attacking my mail server/dns records/...
if I really became a target would be easily 100%.
~~~
pmlnr
Oh, I'm completely serious. Random bots attacking my server, sure, but that's
not what I meant, the real problem is targeted attacks and spearfishing. The
difference is: I can move my domain, I can move my server to another system,
build defenses, if needed, whereas who's gmail address gets blocked or reused
(though this latter is more frequent with tumblr and instagram handles), there
are no options.
Also, I wasn't asking for chances, but for risks.
------
roarktoohey
all your base are belong to us
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Fading Dream to Liberate Africa’s Last Colony - pmcpinto
https://newrepublic.com/article/133561/fading-dream-liberate-africas-last-colony
======
AtlasLion
People really need to read up about the alternative, The polisario Militia is
not exactly a step forward for the Saharan population.
Mohamed Abdelaziz their Secretary General, is in power since 1976 (when Gerald
Ford was US president). Pilsario has been sending kids for indoctrination to
Cuba for decades.
------
pearjuice
The Sahara belongs to Morocco just as much as "Israel" belongs to Palestine
(which, according to the UN, is an actual occupied territory). Besides,
speaking of "Africa's Last Colony", when is Spain giving Ceuta and Melilla
back to Morocco?
~~~
gorkamorka
Ceuta and Melilla were part of Spain lomg before Morocco even existed, so no.
There is nothing to return to Morocco.
~~~
AtlasLion
Most of Spain was in Moroccan hands for even longer than Ceuta in Spanish
hands, should Morocco now ask for al andalous back?
~~~
BurningFrog
These are all ancient Roman lands, by Caesar!
------
smcl
"Last colony" in Africa is a strange way to describe it. what about Reunion
and Mayotte?
~~~
newjersey
Don't know about these so this is an outsider's view: With the people
overwhelmingly voting to stay with France, Mayotte sounds less like a colony
of France than Scotland is a colony of England. The much larger Reunion with
no native population doesn't seem to have much of an independence movement
looking at the Wikipedia page. If they're colonies, maybe they'd be worse off
independent? I mean who'd really benefit from independence? I'm sure as soon
as they become independent, they'd get kicked out of the euro zone...
~~~
saiya-jin
as my french friends told me, these places get tons of subsidies from France
for free (whatever reason there might be), they can come to work in France/EU
anytime. yet they live in their tiny little paradises, far from stressful
mainland. best of both worlds. why the hell would anybody want to leave? :)
~~~
Hasknewbie
A colony in the general sense is a territory that has been invaded and is
permanently occupied, and where the native population does not have equal
rights and cannot decide on their independence (or integration, since the idea
is that they should have a choice).
Although it once was the case, it is incorrect to refer to Mayotte and Reunion
as colonies. They are French departments. Their inhabitants are not "allowed
to work in France", they _are_ French, if they move to metropolitan France,
they're just changing department. Saying they're a colony would be like saying
Alaska or New Mexico are colonies. Moreover Mayotte did not vote to "stay" in
France, the referendum was about switching from one status to another
(essentially, from Oversea Department to 'normal' department) and they chose
the most convenient one (shocking, I know).
It is true that they receive some extra subsidies, mostly because of their
isolated location (which makes the cost of life higher). Due to the high level
of unemployment, they also receive social subsidies, but that's just like any
other department in France (but of course you won't hear a lot of complaints
about how the North-Eastern regions are costing the rest of the country a ton
of money...). Moreover they also receive less government investment when it
comes to infrastuctures, i.e. schools or hospitals (even though they have to
contend with tropical diseases and hurricanes).
The trope about "lazy black people under the tropics" (as opposed to Fench
citizens who happen to live in regions where the economy is bad) is a common
dog whistle in France. Much like with American nativists, there is this thing
with implying who is a 'real' French and who isn't, and it seems to upset a
number of white French that there are also black French who have been part of
France for longer than they themselves may have been, so depicting them as
remote people who are only in it to take money is quite convenient.
To get back to the main topic, it's true that "last colony" is a bit weird.
There are other more-or-less similar conflicts in Africa (Casamance, Cabinda,
Chagos) where the locals could refer to themselves as colonized.
------
IkmoIkmo
This is a decent article but it's flawed in some ways.
Some of it is simply outright wrong:
> The narrative of return and independence also presents many practical
> challenges. In 1976, the Moroccan “Green March” sent 350,000 Moroccans into
> the Western Sahara to settle, massively altering the demographics in the
> sparsely populated region.
The Green March was a peaceful march of 350k unarmed Moroccans into the
region, that pushed out the Spaniards who had colonised it. Not a single
bullet was fired, and these 350k people didn't settle there at all, they went
straight back home.
On the other hand, in the past 40 years people have come to settle in the
region, mostly driven by business opportunities as it's being invested in by
Morocco. This is changing the demographics, but very much unrelated to the
Green March. It's these quite clear errors that show the author isn't doing
the proper research.
Anyway what bothers me the most is that it's so one-sided. I don't mind when
authors take up a position at all, and I too am empathetic with the plight of
the Sahrawi's, but it's a deeply complex issue with many facets left unspoken.
Like the role of Algeria, which has financed the military rebellion for
decades. And not for moral reasons, because they think it's the 'right thing
to do'. Morocco and Algeria had been in a cold war, one was allied to the
west/us, the other to the soviet union. Algeria also had no direct access to
the ocean outside of the med. sea, and wants to build a road through the
western sahara to get to a free standing port. None of this is mentioned at
all, we only hear of the poor human interest story of a refugee girl who's
described as a perfect western hollywood story: poor but desperate to go to
school etc, read it yourself it's a bit corny.
Fact is, Morocco's various dynasties have ruled over these lands a long time.
The Sahrawi's are berbers, just like Moroccans (and Algerians and Tunisians
btw, they're all very similar peoples). Morocco is willing to invest heavily
into the region, and is looking to give large degrees of autonomy, like has
been ongoing in Morocco itself (a country which has many different berber
groups, who've been getting increased autonomy, respect, special educational
programmes, cultural recognition etc). But Morocco is not looking to lose
territory to a few hundred thousand people under the influence of Algeria. The
notion that this vast piece of land, if left alone by Morocco, will be
independently and without other influences (e.g. Algeria) be ruled by a few
hundred thousand people, and run as a successful nation, more so than as a
part of Morocco, is I think naive.
So I fully support their right to self determination, but I'm also cognisant
that it's paired with a complex geopolitical story that's left unsaid in this
article, and honestly I think the best and most sensible outcome is an
autonomous region within Morocco.
~~~
BurningFrog
How precisely were the Spaniards "pushed out"?
~~~
IkmoIkmo
They left, because they didn't want to risk a colonial war.
See for example France and Algeria just a decade earlier, which cost between
350k and 1.5m lives depending on the estimate.
Around the 1970s essentially it was clear that everything would be decolonized
before the end of the 20th century, except places where you actually had
'your' people live a long time, like in Ceuta which is effectively Spanish.
The Western Sahara wasn't like that, Spaniards didn't live there, it was just
a military occupation for the resources there, so they knew eventually they'd
have to give it up. No reason to risk a bloodshed then.
In the 1950s or 1960s there was still a lot of resistance to various
independence movements, by mid 1970s there was no real question of if colonial
powers would have to withdraw, only when. It was a sensible Spanish decision,
only very poorly executed.
~~~
BurningFrog
You wrote "The Green March was a peaceful march of 350k unarmed Moroccans into
the region, that pushed out the Spaniards who had colonised it"
That sounds like they were pushed out by the marching Moroccans during a few
day, not that they calmly decided it was time to move to Spain.
~~~
IkmoIkmo
They were pushed out because if they didn't leave there'd be bloodshed. How
hard is that to imagine?
At the same time, they calmly left. These two things are not mutually
exclusive.
i.e. if a squatter goes to my house while I'm on vacation and lives there, for
personal safety reasons he has a gun as do I, and I come home and make it
clear it's not going to end well for either of us if he's going to stay, and
the squatter makes the sensible choice to leave behind what is not his
peacefully and go back to where he came from, you can say that he was pushed
out by my presence on the scene. After all, if I hadn't been there he'd likely
have stayed.
That's the best analogy I can think of to explain it to you.
Decolonisation was rarely peaceful, in this case it was. But even if it was
peaceful, it doesn't mean Spain left for no reason. They were pressured to
leave my hundreds of thousands of civilians descending on a piece of land that
wasn't theirs with the support of the country. That showed them, if they
wanted to keep the land, there'd be a colonial war. And if the 50s and 60s
taught the world anything, it's that colonial powers always lose their stake
in the end, but not before hundreds of thousands of unnecessary lives get
ruined. Further, it creates animosity that lasts for many decades. Algerians
and French for example still have deep wounds that need to heal, this was a
post WWII war that saw massive death, destruction, torture, assassinations
etc, it was quite brutal. Spain made a more sensible choice in this particular
territory.
------
BurningFrog
You can think of eastern Ethiopia as the last African colonies, since the
Ethiopian Empire grabbed a lot of it during the "Scramble for Africa".
------
ZenoArrow
This particular international dispute is news to me, but based on this article
I hope the Saharawi people will have their land returned to them without
having to rely on force. It's sad that diplomacy can result in stalemate for
so long and that conflict is the means by which we seem to have to fall back
on to inject some urgency into finding a resolution.
~~~
saiya-jin
basically this is a single-hand decision of Moroccan royalty, they do it
because they can, and maybe also they don't want to lose their face while
losing half of Morocco territory. If you travel there, you'll clearly see even
people look completely different in those regions - Moroccans are arabs, these
people are africans. their cultures are worlds apart and they really have
little in common. one were conquered by the other, recently, and the world
just stood and didn't care (at least it didn't end up in usual african civil
war with hundreds of thousands dead and millions driven out).
this place is so far not worth any fight for anybody in the west and morocco
is playing nice & easy with europe/us.
~~~
SRSposter
>Moroccans are arabs Thats a wide generalisation. There are Moroccans who
speak arabic and Moroccans who speak berber, just because they speak arabic
doesnt mean that they are Arabs.
------
caf
"facts on the ground" \- that anodyne term that whitewashes over occupation,
dispossession and suppression the world over.
------
ommunist
A pile of hypocricy. Why on Earth if you are so much about self-determination
of Saharawi, you force them to learn English in a soft game of neocolonialism,
instead of putting money into development of their local industry and culture?
Because you want these people to convert to mobile workforce, seduce them to
leave and get resources from their land.
~~~
walrus01
Force them to learn English? It is the defacto language of science and
technology. For a population of less than 500,000 they're not going to develop
locally created curriculum for, for example, masters degrees in electrical
engineering and medical sciences in the Berber language.
~~~
avar
Icelanders have both those things in their own language at a current
population of 350,000, and have had it since before they were less than
250,000.
~~~
notahacker
Iceland has never consisted of 165000 people living in tents in a desert
refugee camp who never had a single culture or dialect in the first place, and
doesn't rely on dealing with foreign NGOs for things as basic as their water
supply.
As far as I'm aware, the indigenously-developed Icelandic curriculum also
teaches native Icelanders to speak English to a good standard, which they rely
on heavily when interacting with the outside world without consider having to
do so a terrible colonialist imposition.
~~~
ommunist
it did. in the 12th century. but self esteem of the bonds was so hogh, that
they managed just ok.
------
tiatia
Bullshit article.
How about Cabinda?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinda_Province#Ethnic_ground...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinda_Province#Ethnic_grounds_for_self-
determination)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Biggest Problem with Google Glass - jsoverson
http://jarrodoverson.com/blog/the-one-biggest-problem-with-google-glass/
======
dm2
This "problem" can pretty easily be fixed with a more flexible frame and a
slim carrying case.
It's prototype hardware that you are critiquing. Google Glass is more than
just the hardware, it's the software and combination of technology involved.
The Glass "explorers" are for finding these types of MINOR issues and
reporting them to the Glass development team. Creating a lengthy blog post
(WITH THE SOLE PURPOSE OF DRIVING TRAFFIC TO YOUR BLOG) is basically useless
to the improvement of the product.
------
poopsintub
Look at this advanced technology that lets you do things you could have never
dreamt of years ago, yet there's always someone bitching.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Bot that translates tweets from lemondefr to Schtroumpf(Smurf) language - SelrahcD
https://twitter.com/leschtroumpffr
======
Kiteklate
#Troll shtroumpfer
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: DiscoverDev.io – Handpicked developer blogs via RSS and email - deepakkarki
https://www.discoverdev.io/
======
deepakkarki
I'm posting this because my comment on another post
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17004898](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17004898))
got some traction. Thought I'd post it as a Show HN.
Discoverdev is my pet project where I curate articles (relevant to
programmers/software engineers) on a daily basis. 8-10 articles everyday. I
usually skip beginner posts and just pick in-depth/ engineering heavy
articles. The article stream is available via RSS. There is also a weekly
newsletter where I round up the most interesting articles and rabbit holes I
fall into.
Hope you like it, I've been running it for about an year and have curated over
1200+ links. Feedback welcome.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: what do you use for hep documentation in your web app? - racerrick
A cms? Blog software? Hardcore?
======
racerrick
That was supposed to say "hardcode". Thank you autofill.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why Wall Street's Layoffs Are More Serious Than You Think - a5seo
http://www.forbes.com/sites/halahtouryalai/2011/11/16/why-wall-streets-layoffs-are-more-serious-than-you-think/
======
jfb
It is deeply uncharitable of me to say so, but: cry me a goddamned river.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How do I know where my mobile downloads are coming from? - peterstark
Hi everyone,<p>Last month, my company launched its first mobile app. The team has been promoting the app all over the place (FB, Twitter, forums, email, Ads, PR, etc). As a result, we have grown to a few thousand users, which is awesome.<p>The problem is that we have no idea where our users are coming from. We don't know what our most effective marketing channels are. We don't know which marketing campaigns are most effective in bringing users.<p>How do you deal with this problem? Please list the pros and cons.<p>Thanks!
======
kliu0910
Hi Peter,
I have several friends who are experiencing the same pain as you.
As a result, I built a free service (Yozio, <http://yoz.io>) to solve this
specific problem.
How it works:
1) Promote your app using Yozio's tracking links. (e.g. yoz.io/aBcDE)
2) When a visitor clicks on a Yozio tracking link, he is redirected to your
app store landing page.
3) When the same visitor installs your app, Yozio is notified and tracks the
install back to the original click.
We are getting a lot of great feedback. Please give us a try and let us know
what you think.
Regards, Kevin
~~~
justDance83
I see that it only takes 2 lines of code. Does that mean you need to download
an SDK to make it work too? Slightly off topic, does anyone know of a good way
to auto update SDKs for Objective C? Thanks. Also Kevin, I filled out your
survey, please message me an invite code.
~~~
kliu0910
Done :)
------
farren
I've been using a sort of ghetto hack, so I'm not sure if you want to copy me.
When users land on any of my marketing pages, I cookie them in safari. Then
when they open my mobile app, I send them to safari, check if the cookie
exists, and then redirect them back to the app. This lets me tie installs back
to link clicks.
~~~
germancoder
I question the accuracy because w3.org actually mentions that cookies work
differently on mobile devices vs. web. However, if you're only targeting smart
phones with full web browsing capabilities like the iPhone or Android (or
Win7???) then it should be ok.
Source: <http://www.w3.org/TR/mobile-bp/#d0e1925>
~~~
germancoder
Thanks though for sharing this solution. I'll stick around to see if anything
new pops up.
------
PhotonCannonR
Doesn't stuff like Google Analytics do this? At least that's what we use for
our websites to track conversions. Don't know if you can do the same for
mobile apps...
<http://www.google.com/analytics/features/mobile.html>
~~~
PhotonCannonR
Looked a little deeper. Seems like it might only work for Android then.
"If you're an Android developer, Analytics also gives you the tools to monitor
the success of mobile ads for your app. You can track activity from a click on
your ad to the Android Market to app download. It's a simple way to determine
what marketing efforts are most effective for you."
Nothing about iOS conversions on their page.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
7 Reasons Why The New iPad Is Named “The New iPad” - ding_dong777
http://appchronicles.com/03/7-reasons-why-the-new-ipad-is-named-the-new-ipad/
======
callil
It's pretty simple, Apple usually uses a one name paradigm for their devices
and does not distinguish version numbers, the MacBook has always been a
Macbook but has changed a lot over the years. Not sure all of this analysis is
necessary.
------
kaolinite
Every time I see someone declare that we're living in a post-PC world, I die a
little inside.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Since SVN revision r4027 source code is personally insulting me (2008) - 6581
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=477454
======
gregmac
Consider the amount of effort collectively spent by people in that thread
trying to justify not spending the time to modify a single line of code, where
the fix is just to substitute in any other meaningless string placeholder. Any
single person involved could have applied the fix in several orders of
magnitude less time than they spent typing a reply.
I mostly skimmed the inane discussion, but I think at one point someone was
trying to make the argument "if we're going to fix this, we also have to fix
every occurrence of profanity within the entire Debian codebase"?
Given that was 12 years ago, it would be interesting to hear the same people's
current reactions to their response at the time.
~~~
Arnavion
>where the fix is just to substitute in any other meaningless string
placeholder. [...] I mostly skimmed the inane discussion,
You shouldn't have skipped the part where they talked about how the fix was
not just that. (Though I don't think the actual fix merited the amount of
bikeshedding it got either.)
------
lobe
I clicked on the link thinking it would be someone being offended over nothing
as tends to be my stance. But no, that is too far. I wonder what the culture
is like such that anyone thought committing that, with your name on the
commit, was a good idea.
~~~
MPSimmons
And then the replies defending the idea of not changing it.
I am at a loss.
------
Daviey
The day I lost respect for Lennart Poettering, was when a user reported a
bug[0] that starting pulseaudio (which he authored) gave a vulgar error
message and his response was simply "Sorry, but please don't waste my time,
will you?"[1].
It wasn't as if the user was doing anything exotic, just opening it:
$ pulseaudio
W: main.c: D-Bus name org.pulseaudio.Server already taken. Weird shit!
In the end Ubuntu carried a patch specifically to remove it. I thought it was
a real shame he thought that it was both appropriate to do in the first place,
and acceptable to be that dismissive to a polite bug report.
Doesn't surprise me he later won a Pwnie award[2] for his bad handling of
bugs, specifically security. I'd recommend giving them a read!
[0]
[https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/44...](https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pulseaudio/+bug/444400)
[1]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20101129202632/http://pulseaudio...](https://web.archive.org/web/20101129202632/http://pulseaudio.org/ticket/672)
[2]
[https://pwnies.com/archive/2017/winners/#lamestvendor](https://pwnies.com/archive/2017/winners/#lamestvendor)
------
Etheryte
While I'm not familiar with any of the people involved, it's very puzzling to
me to see some people actively oppose removing such blatant personal insults.
Surely changing one string in a package shouldn't be a challenge to Debian
maintainers?
~~~
ComputerGuru
I would have changed it. That said, I get where (presumably) the reluctance to
change it comes from. It means diverging from upstream and introducing
patches. When upstream changes, your patches fail, the package breaks. It's
introducing frailty for non-technical correctness, which is a bit harder to
justify for many engineers I know than frailty for technical correctness.
------
Lammy
See also: Gentoo bug #124595 '"quodlibet" package is useless'
[https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=124595](https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=124595)
~~~
Arnavion
I don't think that one is particularly relevant. The quodlibet author is right
to complain there.
Distro users should be reporting bugs in the distro bug tracker, and the
distro package maintainer should be the one to surface these to the author, or
in that specific case, let it rot because there's no maintainer.
~~~
Lammy
It's completely relevant. The original Debian issue was the same general
thing, with the distro packaging QL alongside an incompatible gstreamer
leading to bug reports for the dev: [https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-
bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=421167#15](https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-
bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=421167#15)
------
JoshTriplett
Is there some especially compelling reason to dredge up a decade-old petty
flamewar? Does anyone believe doing so would produce some interesting
discourse or enlightenment?
~~~
compiler-guy
Culturally this is very interesting to me. So here is one vote that is glad it
showed up again.
------
dochtman
This is (2008).
------
merlincorey
The best part of this thread (from a yak shaving nerd perspective) is joeyh's
breakdown of profanity filtered for personal insult in the Debian changelog:
[https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-
bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=477454#101](https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-
bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=477454#101)
"""
Now that this bug has been brought to my attention, I cannot help myself. I
have to grep Debian changelogs for profanity, filter for profanity that
includes personal insults, and wonder why these packages reached the archive
w/o RC bug reports being filed:
"""
~~~
Tomte
I still don't understand where the personal insults are.
"The fucked up system release": no personal insult
"Changed debian/watch to match with the new fucking Sourceforge Interface.
Sourceforge sucks!": no personal insult
and so on.
The only ones are possibly "thanks Gerfried Fucks" and "The upstream author is
kind of a lazy bastard".
Still, what is that exercise supposed to mean for that bug?
~~~
hinkley
> \+ file:///Sebastian/Droge/please/choke/on/a/bucket/of/cocks", "")
I’m pretty sure that if someone did that to any of several people I know,
they’d find out that not all nerds are soft.
~~~
Tomte
That's obvious,I was talking about Joey Hess and his "there are so many
personal insults in other packages, we can't do anything about it" examples.
------
dewey
This really shines a bad light on some of these Debian maintainers. Everyone
spending all that time arguing about that in dozens of posts instead of just
fixing it and moving on.
------
jimbob45
Heh that’s pretty funny.
------
severine
2008!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Fluid Injection's Role in Man-Made Earthquakes Revealed - jrs235
http://www.caltech.edu/news/fluid-injections-role-man-made-earthquakes-revealed-46986?rp
======
beloch
"The experiment revealed that fluid injection itself did not directly provoke
an earthquake. Instead, the aseismic slip likely built up stress at the edges
of the creeping zone of rock. Eventually, the stress overcame the friction
between the rock faces within the fault, triggering earthquakes."
It's worth asking if this could be used to deliberately set off minor
earthquakes that relieve stress in such a way as to prevent larger ones.
~~~
MiguelHudnandez
Sort of like the straw breaking the camel's back...
I have been wondering why oil companies have not been making the smaller-quake
argument -- the link between hydraulic fracturing and earthquakes has been
clear for some time.
I think 1,000 4.0 earthquakes have the same energy as a single 8.0 earthquake.
The thousand 4.0's would be much more survivable. Even better, ten thousand
3.0's or a hundred thousand 2.0's spread out over decades...
I am wondering if fracking in California will slow down now that a finger can
be pointed at a corporation after a quake, instead of being shrugged off as an
"act of god." The earthquake would occur eventually & naturally, of course,
but what if oil & gas exploitation triggered it?
~~~
igivanov
1 mag 8 = 1,000,000 of mag 4
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter_magnitude_scale#Richte...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter_magnitude_scale#Richter_magnitudes)
On top of that major quakes happen deep below, not where humans do their
thing.
------
glabifrons
I'm amazed that I'm reading in the same article talking about faults in
limestone and "underground trapping of carbon dioxide emitted by power
stations".
The water we're pumping down there isn't the only water deep in the earth.
Water + C02 = carbonic acid, commonly known to dissolve limestone (frequently
the cause of sinkholes when it happens near the surface). Am I the only one
who thinks pumping enormous amounts of C02 deep into the ground (where it's
going to come into contact with water and limestone) is a really, really bad
idea?
Outside of that, very interesting article. Fantastic that they have access to
a fault via an old military installation!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Handy, a hot startup for home cleaning, has a big mess of its own - prostoalex
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2015/07/handy_a_hot_startup_for_home_cleaning_has_a_big_mess_of_its_own.single.html
======
shalmanese
This blog post from a job seeker matches the experiences listed in the article
well: [http://thebillfold.com/2014/10/my-day-interviewing-for-
the-s...](http://thebillfold.com/2014/10/my-day-interviewing-for-the-service-
economy-startup-from-hell/)
------
balls2you
Great article outlining how disconnected the startup culture is from real life
and empathy towards its employees and contractors. If this is the direction
these startups are going, it will be no surprise that they will all shut down
soon. Same fate as Homejoy.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Arimaa – Intuitively simple, intellectually challenging - jonbaer
http://arimaa.com/arimaa/
======
oscilloscope
The ultimate intuitively simple and intellectually challenging game is Go.
Go's rules are far simpler than Arimaa's, and it's just as challenging for
computers.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_\(game\))
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_and_mathematics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_and_mathematics)
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Go](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Go)
losethos mentioned this too, although he is hellbanned. His point was that
Go's advantage is it engages the image-recognition abilities of our brains.
~~~
ig1
The scoring rules for Go are much more complex. I've seen plenty of cases
where novices have struggled with end-game scoring, especially under Japanese
rules.
~~~
JulianMorrison
So use Tromp-Taylor rules. "A player's score is the number of points of her
color, plus the number of empty points that reach only her color."
Sorry Japan, but Japanese Go rules are a mess and need to be retired.
~~~
zokier
I'm very novice Go player, but I've only ever played with Japanese rules.
Could you (and ig1) explain what's so wrong with them? I don't remember ever
thinking that the score counting would be somehow complex or unintuitive.
~~~
lambda
Under Japanese (and Korean) rules, there occur situation in the end game in
which it may be difficult to determine whether a particular group is alive or
dead, but the player who would need to play in order to play it out and
determine for certain may not want to do so as doing so would fill in their
own territory, reducing their score.
Japanese rules have a variety of special cases to deal with this problem, but
most beginners don't know them, and many beginners may not know exactly when
to stop (as they are unsure if a group is safe or not), and so may wind up
reducing their score in the endgame just because they are trying to make sure
a group is safe.
Under area scoring rules (Chinese, Tromp-Taylor, AGA, New Zealand, Ing, etc),
you count the sum of your territory and your stones on the board, avoiding
this problem. AGA has a hack that makes both scoring methods work the same;
whenever you pass, you give your opponent an extra prisoner.
Here's an overview of the different rulesets:
[http://www.britgo.org/rules/compare.html](http://www.britgo.org/rules/compare.html)
------
mushishi
If you'd like to have quick grasp of the rules, here's a site I created for
just that: [http://personal.inet.fi/koti/egaga/arimaa-
begin/tutorial.htm...](http://personal.inet.fi/koti/egaga/arimaa-
begin/tutorial.html)
You can play against (a stupid) bot. Just click once on the golden piece to
select it, and then where to move.
I've also developed Arimaa game viewer, where you can analyse your game. The
code is a mess but it might be useful for some.
[http://personal.inet.fi/koti/egaga/arimaa-
viewer/arimaa.html](http://personal.inet.fi/koti/egaga/arimaa-
viewer/arimaa.html)
I had more ambitious goal but was distracted by other things. You can read
more about it here:
[http://arimaa.com/arimaa/forum/cgi/YaBB.cgi?board=siteIssues...](http://arimaa.com/arimaa/forum/cgi/YaBB.cgi?board=siteIssues;action=display;num=1284084084)
One of the few reasons I don't like Arimaa is that it is patented. It is
probably the biggest reason I won't likely commit any time developing for it.
------
radarsat1
> On average there are over 17,000 possible moves compared to about 30 for
> chess; this significantly limits how deep computers can think, _but does not
> seem to affect humans._
Interesting assertion that the branching factor doesn't seem to affect humans.
I wonder why they don't think it poses a problem for humans to have a large
branching factor, is there any evidence to support this?
~~~
anExcitedBeast
On an only tangentially related note, read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle
Maintenance. It explorers why human beings are able to make quality decisions
in the face of massive branching factors such as making a chess move or (more
relevant to the focus of the book) develop scientific hypothesis. It's also
just a great read.
------
curtis
The Wikipedia article might be a better introduction:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arimaa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arimaa)
------
TomAnthony
Arimaa is a fascinating game; you can learn it quickly and immediately play
against the best computer players and expect to win. The branching factor is
extremely high (~17,000 vs Chess' 30), but each move consists of several
phases where the current player can move several different pieces one after
another, so I've always thought a modified minmax type algorithm may be able
'deconstruct' each move into several nodes on a graph.
Whilst extremely interesting, it seems the amount of research into Arimaa
pales in comparison against research into Go. Go has a branching factor of
~300 so sits far above Chess, but well below Arimaa. It is even easier to
learn but harder for humans to develop an intuitive understanding of how
strong any position is. It is starting to succumb Monte Carlo Tree Search [1]
with games played on a smaller 9x9 (vs the standard 19x19) board.
However, from my perspective whilst MCTS is extremely interesting and have a
wide array of applications, I'd love to see approaches towards these problems
that aren't based around an optimised 'brute force' algorithm.
When Deep Blue beat Kasparov, Douglas Hofstadter noted “It was a watershed
event, but it doesn’t have to do with computers becoming intelligent”, adding
“you can bypass deep thinking in playing chess, the way you can fly without
flapping your wings” [2]. I somewhat feel like this criticism could be applied
to MCTS and Go, and it'll be interesting to see whether the first algorithms
that conquer Arimaa come from a different perspective or not.
[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Carlo_method#Artificial_i...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Carlo_method#Artificial_intelligence_for_games)
[2] [http://www-
rci.rutgers.edu/~cfs/472_html/Intro/NYT_Intro/Che...](http://www-
rci.rutgers.edu/~cfs/472_html/Intro/NYT_Intro/ChessMatch/MeanChessPlaying.html)
~~~
Ziltoid
> you can learn it quickly and immediately play against the best computer
> players and expect to win
That is not true at all. The best available bots on the Arimaa server are
rated above 2000 elo, which is way higher than beginners can expect to be
rated at.
------
quantumpotato_
I've played a few Arimaa rounds, it's very fun. For even more simple +
challenging, try 2v2 speed chess where you give captured pieces to your
teamate.
[0]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bughouse_chess](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bughouse_chess)
(It's one of the best games I've ever played and only lasts 90 seconds to
play!)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How to start a company, for programmers - soundsop
http://codehope.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-start-company-for-programmers.html
======
marketer
After reading his previous entry, "Linus is Darth Vader, and IBM stole Linux",
it's hard to assign credibililty to this one.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask YC: Who's launching something soon? - robmnl
I'd like to get to know some more of the startups you people are launching. When's your launch date?<p>What are you launching?
======
jmitchell
Just launched <http://markmail.org/> Mailing list search for open-source
communities is the first thing out of the gate.
------
german
We launched a few months ago: <http://prezentit.com>
~~~
ptn
Thumbs up for being in Spanish (I'm peruvian).
~~~
german
I'm peruvian too! thats cool, you can contact me if you want (mail in profile)
------
jakewolf
Jan. so top secret we couldn't apply to YC
------
edw519
We're in stealth mode, so I can't tell you.
But...
If you highlight everything between
here
010010101100101001010010010100010101001111011010101010
and here,
and read it upside down in a mirror,
you'll know everything we are prepared to divulge now.
~~~
ptn
I don't get it. :(
------
rrival
Beta in December, stealth mode. Fun fun fun.
------
samwise
Cure for cancer. ETA 01/01/08
------
pownz0r
Stealth mode is for hacks
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Need a Job? Learn Linux - ukdm
http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/14/need-a-job-learn-linux/
======
ecaron
A big kudos to Dice.com for getting such traction out of this non-story. The
actual content of their infographic -
[http://www.linuxfoundation.org/sites/main/files/dice_lf_linu...](http://www.linuxfoundation.org/sites/main/files/dice_lf_linux_jobs_report_2012.pdf)
\- is full of revelations that would be very interesting in 2008.
------
yread
I had to double check the date of this story
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Don't leave anything out. - xyclos
http://drex.svbtle.com/dont-leave-anything-out
======
timrosenblatt
Good post. This is why I like screencasts. Writeups are a version of reality.
Unfortunately writeups are faster to produce.
Trade offs!!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Inside Lucasfilm's Data Center - taylorbuley
http://newenterprise.allthingsd.com/20110325/lucasfilms-data-center-and-an-encounter-with-the-real-death-star-video/
======
phlux
Heh. I designed that facility.
Back then, it was for Raleigh Mann, who is now head of net ops (director?) at
google.
The original design of that facility was supposed to be based on fiber to the
desktop which would allow any idle machines in the campus to become a part of
the render farm when not in use.
Immediately after this facility was designed, it was announced that they were
looking to extend production to asia, which was why they were looking at
singapore - as artists in asia are much cheaper than here.
The cable plant of the DC was pretty novel back in 2004 when we designed it.
This was one of the first 10G networks in production, based on Foundry MG8
chassis at the time. There was a DC powere plant that was designed for the
datacenter - but due to design flaws in the foundry chassis, it had to be torn
out and AC infrastructure installed.
When the DC was being built out, there was many tens of thousands of gear that
were brought onsite and stored overnight in a cage in the parking garage - one
of the workers apparently came back at night and stole a bunch of the core
networking gear causing delays in deployment.
EDIT: I forgot -- when we were frst doing designs of the DC, I wanted to do
the design to look like the inside of the deathstar -- and it was vehemently
opposed by execs in lucas. I have no idea why, though...
We were all really disappointed that they didn't have any interest to apply
some aesthetics to the design.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
3 things that weren't leaked before the Google Nexus announcement - stevep2007
http://www.networkworld.com/article/2987667/android/google-nexus-smartphones-announcement-chromecast-tv-audio.html?nsdr=true
======
stevep2007
This announcement was packed with details about products for consumers - and
just one for both consumers and developers - Google Voice leaped ahead of Siri
with the announcement that the Google API will be opened to independent
developers, letting them create voice-enabled apps.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Increase Conversions with Call-to-Action Buttons - blakeperdue
http://pixify.com/blog/increase-conversions-with-call-to-action-buttons/
======
metachris
Beautiful themes:
\- [http://pixify.com/blog/increase-conversions-with-call-to-
act...](http://pixify.com/blog/increase-conversions-with-call-to-action-
buttons/#demo) (Call to Action)
\- [http://pixify.com/blog/use-os-x-lion-to-improve-your-
ui/#dem...](http://pixify.com/blog/use-os-x-lion-to-improve-your-ui/#demo)
(OSX Lion Theme)
\- [http://pixify.com/blog/use-google-plus-to-improve-your-
ui/#d...](http://pixify.com/blog/use-google-plus-to-improve-your-ui/#demo)
(Google Theme)
------
desigooner
Those look nice. As far as CTA buttons are concerned, I think this Smashing
Magazine article is a good resource:
[http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/10/13/call-to-action-
bu...](http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/10/13/call-to-action-buttons-
examples-and-best-practices/)
------
patio11
Ooh those are sexy. I think I just found some new A/B tests.
------
Udo
Nice, but when I see something that's labeled "Only 3.5 MB" or worse "Only
$29.99" I'm actually less likely to click a given button. This is probably
because this kind of language gives me doubts about the intentions of the site
owner, since it's marketing speak. And it challenges the viewer's brain to
think twice about whether the price tag actually deserves the label "Only". A
better alternative would be to just present the facts and leave the hyperbole
out entirely.
~~~
chaz
The best alternative is to A/B test it with and without that type of messaging
to see if it works for your users/customers or not.
------
danso
Great guide, but I wonder what is the authors' philosophy on rendering in
plain anchor tags the call-to-action to follow them on Twitter/sign up for
email?
<http://imgur.com/BXIxG>
Is it to differentiate it from the visually-distracting call-to-action
buttons? I suppose a follow on Twitter/email is less important than an actual
download
~~~
kristofferR
The purpose is call-to-action buttons is to visually guide the visitor into
doing the main what you want him/her to do (the action).
By giving the visior multiple prominent call-to-actions, you're essensially
destroying the effect of the CTA buttons, which is to guide the visitor into
doing the one thing you want him to do. He won't know what you really want him
to do and may not do anything at all since he's confused over what button he
should click on. With too many call-to-action buttons they're essensially
degraded to just being big buttons.
~~~
blakeperdue
I agree, I rarely see more than two large CTAs on a page. Usually it's just
one large CTA with smaller CTAs sprinkled on various parts of the page.
------
rokhayakebe
Hi Blake, any chances we get into the beta?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Bringing Forward Collision Warnings to our open source self-driving car - pd0wm
https://medium.com/@comma_ai/bringing-forward-collision-warnings-to-our-open-source-self-driving-car-7545b6e398cd
======
cyrux004
I am assuming this needs a supported car since you use radar/ACC for detecting
lead cars. When will this come for cars with panda but no radars (vision only)
?
~~~
pd0wm
The depth output of our vision stack is currently not accurate enough to
reliably measure relative speed. However our ML team is currently working on
new models. Maybe in the future this will be accurate enough to do this
without a radar.
------
pd0wm
Author here. Happy to answer any questions you might have about the post or
openpilot in general.
~~~
astrange
My car isn’t supported (few years too old), but I am running chffr+panda out
of a sense of curiosity and for some internet points.
Any plans to add detection/visualization for iOS chffr? Also, what does grey
panda do?
~~~
pd0wm
The chffr team is now mostly working on improving the dashcam experience.
The grey panda is a panda where we replaced the wifi chip by a high precision
ublox GPS module. We can use this to make high precision maps, and in the
future this will allow us to stop at traffic lights and stop signs.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Hilbert Hotel - appfactories
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/the-hilbert-hotel
======
btilly
I am amused that only one interpretation of the facts is considered, and not
its bizarre consequences.
At the end it is mentioned that the real numbers from 0 to 1 are not
enumerable. Therefore there exist real numbers that are not in any particular
enumerable set. Now consider the set of all potential finite definitions of a
number using a finite set of symbols. This set turns out to be perfectly
enumerable. Not all definitions in it will turn out to be well-formed, numbers
have multiple definitions (for instance 5/10 is the same as 1/2) and many that
are defined are not in the interval (0, 1). But this is no barrier. According
to the classical view of mathematics, the set of definable numbers in (0, 1)
is an enumerable set. Therefore almost all real numbers in that interval do
not have any possible definition.
In what sense, I ask you, does a number with no possible definition actually
exist?
Is there another way to look at this problem? It turns out that there is. If
you take the constructivist view of things, things only exist if you can lay
your hand on a concrete construction. "Constructions" that classical
mathematics does not blink an eye at may not qualify. In particular this
"enumeration" over possible definitions, and being able to sort through to
figure out which definitions are valid, and which are equivalent, and which
fall in the interval, is an example of something that is beyond the pale. Why?
Well many of the possible definitions are computer programs. Figuring out
which of them actually define numbers means doing things like solving the
Halting problem. Which we can't actually do.
From the point of view of constructivism, "uncountable" does not mean "really
big infinite set". It means "really convoluted set structure".
Yes, I know that constructivism lost. Nobody wants to consider these odd
questions. But if somewhere in the middle of a proof you ask what it all
means, you may find that classical mathematics doesn't necessarily make that
much sense.
~~~
gruseom
Do you mean: for each finite symbol set S, the set of all finite definitions
using S is enumerable? That's clearly true. But then you're not really saying
that there are numbers with no possible definition, just that there is no
particular finite symbol set S that can define them all.
Or do you mean: the set of all finite definitions in _any_ finite symbol set
is enumerable? That's not clear. Are there countably many such symbol sets?
~~~
btilly
What I mean is this.
Given a finite symbol set, the set of all finite definitions is enumerable.
And the enumeration is simple. We enumerate all possible definitions of length
1, 2, 3, 4, etc. We order them first by length, and then by alphabetical
order. We strike out all definitions that are not definitions, or define a
number already defined. This leaves us with an enumeration of all numbers
definable with that set of symbols. (Note, a constructivist will insist
strenuously that this is not actually an enumeration.)
Given that there are uncountably many real numbers, uncountably many of them
are not in that enumerable set, and therefore almost all real numbers cannot
be defined using that finite set of symbols.
The possibility of uncountably many possible symbol sets with a similar
plethora of possible associated definitions is irrelevant, because any
potential symbol set that cannot ultimately be described in the finite
alphabet that we use with the language English is irrelevant to us.
~~~
phaedrus
As a programmer I find constructivism is my default position if I think of
math intuitively; perhaps that's why I butted heads so much with many of my
math teachers. But, your argument actually makes me less sure of my agreement
with it: it seems clear that at bottom constructivism must lead to the
rejection of the concept of continuously variable quantities. It is the horns
of a dilemma: if you reject Cantor you reject the existence of "analog" as
even an admissible _concept_ , on the other hand if you accept continuous
variability then you must also accept the shocking conclusion that the
overwhelming majority of the set you assert you believe exists (the reals)
cannot even be described or calculated.
~~~
btilly
But constructivism does not give up continuity. All of the traditional
definitions carry over.
What you do have to give up, though, are discontinuous functions on continuous
sets. They are not well defined for numbers that are the result of an infinite
sequence converging near the border of the discontinuity. You can still give
them a formal treatment, of course, but they aren't really functions.
However if you're attached to your step functions, never fear. It would not be
the first function-like thing that isn't a function. For another example
consider the well-known derivative of the step function, the Dirac delta. Not
actually a function in classical mathematics, though it is certainly useful.
------
carbocation
On a tangentially related topic, the human genome is essentially a Hilbert
curve in real life. It's behind a paywall, but in the very bottom thumbnail
you can kind of get the idea:
<https://www.sciencemag.org/content/326/5950/289.figures-only>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Multi-threaded emulation for QEMU - webaholic
https://lwn.net/Articles/697265/
======
bonzini
Here is a paper from last month's CGO2017 conference, explaining the
techniques more in detail:
[http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~cota/pubs/cota_cgo17.pdf](http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~cota/pubs/cota_cgo17.pdf)
------
0xcde4c3db
For some reason I thought the reason that this hadn't been implemented already
was that Sony had patents on multithreaded binary translation. I guess those
might have only applied to specific techniques for heterogeneous or ring-bus
systems (i.e. Cell), though.
~~~
pm215
No, it's just that it's the kind of feature that's quite hard to retrofit to
an existing design, since it breaks existing assumptions in a lot of places.
And it's only relatively recently that the kind of embedded board that you
usually want to emulate with QEMU has had a multi-core CPU.
------
webaholic
This has recently landed in upstream qemu and will be available with the 2.9
release.
~~~
bonzini
Some bugs are being found that affect single-vCPU emulation. There's still a
possibility that it will be reverted before the release.
------
compsciphd
does this mean one could run (without hardware support, say in aws) smp
virtualization? i.e. linux on linux or windows on linux (why not just spawn
another machine? because you want to have more control than what aws provides)
~~~
webaholic
This allows you to create one host thread per guest vcpu, so yes, you can run
a smp guest on aws. But, it will be pretty slow compared to KVM, since the
execution of the threads is limited by the host cpu resources and the fact
that you are using translation and full system emulation.
~~~
compsciphd
so I guess that means QEMU always does full translation instead of just
translating the privileged ops? (ala what vmware's innovation back in the day
was)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Let’s retire RSS when they retire Google Reader - hoov
http://pandodaily.com/2013/04/29/lets-retire-rss-when-they-retire-google-reader-2/
======
dalke
"More important, pushing all these RSS readers back to websites will enable
publishers to create more revenue."
That's ... boring. Not everyone demands that people watch advertising
scattered around the page. Jimmy Maher's "The Digital Antiquarian: an ongoing
history of computer entertainment" is an in-depth, high-quality series of
essays. It's a (mostly) self-funded labor of love, and a example of something
that fits RSS well.
------
bsg75
Maybe instead retire bloggers who don't understand the difference between a
data syndication format and an app or brand?
------
mindcrime
Better idea: let's retire Pando Daily and their brain-dead bloggers when they
retire Google Reader.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
IPredict: Speed of light actually exceeded by 2015 - PythonDeveloper
Okay all you theoretical zealots, save your anger and your rage for someone else. You won't get my goat on this one.<p>It's widely accepted that c0, the speed of light in a vacuum, which has a refractive index of 1.0, is 299,792,458 meters per second (1).<p>The speed of light is widely seen as finite and the upper limit of any movement of anything with a positive rest mass. Most texts state with absolute conviction (something that is supposed to be unattainable in science) that even in experiments where the speed of light is exceeded, since the group velocity of the wave carries no information (wait, what?) it's not really occurring.<p>Science also assumes that a vacuum is the ultimate medium through which light can travel, which is why the speed of light (aka c0) is always quoted as measured in a vacuum.<p>I predict that by the end of 2015, subject to the end of the world later this year, experiments in superconductivity will show that light passing through a superconductive field having a refractive index of less than 1 will result in light exceeding c0, until that light encounters another field with a refractive index of 1 or more.<p>I also predict that we won't know what the hell to do with this, since CPU processing and memory access can't currently handle information at even c0 speeds, and passing information across the superconductive substrate at a refractive index of 0.9999999999 will cause a backlog of information at the CPU or memory controller, negating the benefit.<p>Nonetheless, the speed of light will be broken, causing either (a) the opening of scientific minds and the cessation of arbitrary unproven limits to fit mathematical models or, most likely, (b) the redirection and application of millions of man hours of the greatest minds in science to disprove this finding in order to preserve the status quo.<p>What say you?<p>References :
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light
======
Compofchef
Magnets, how do they work?
~~~
PythonDeveloper
Superconductivity is as near as we can come to cancelling the effect of
gravitation, so this is more like anti-magnetism.
A vacuum is still subject to gravitational waves, and we have had no way to
test without gravitational waves to date.
~~~
cludge
HowTo: test without gravitational waves
Step 1: Reverse the Polarity
Step 2: Done
------
PythonDeveloper
Math majors, please correct me if I'm mistaken, but by my calculations, we
won't be able to handle C0 speed data in CPUs until we hit 15 Phz (Petahertz)
( or 15,000,000 Ghz ) clock frequencies AND data/memory operations take 1
cycle, assuming 20 nanometer scale.
While we haven't seen the Lorentz factor (1) (mass expends to infinite as
speed of light is approached), we're still only 3/15000000 of the way there.
If Lorentz was correct (his theory can't be proved until we reach the speed of
light or very close to it), then we'll never be able to compute at C0 speed,
or even 50% of C0 speed AND convey information.
I suspect he's not, since, as I postulated above, the speed of light is NOT
fixed but relative to our inability to measure in field with a refractive
index less than 1.
I also believe that the reason we use a refractive index of 1 for a vacuum and
not 0 is to allow for the possibility of finding a field with a refractive
index of less than 1.
References: (1) <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorentz_factor>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
JustType - simple text editor, inspired from DarkCopy - Veera
http://veerasundar.com/app/justtype/
======
shaunxcode
seems to have issues when you are at the bottom of the doc and press enter and
continue typing i.e it is not "auto" scrolling to the bottom of the text area
so you can't see what you are typing. (ffox 3.5.12 on os x 10.5.8)
~~~
Veera
fixed it. Please check now. :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Average Conversion Rates by Industry and Expert Recommendations - growlix
https://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/unbounce-conversion-benchmark-report/
======
growlix
Direct link to PDF: [http://unbounce.com/docs/The-Unbounce-Conversion-
Benchmark-R...](http://unbounce.com/docs/The-Unbounce-Conversion-Benchmark-
Report%E2%80%93March-2017.pdf)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Senators demand answers over Chinese 'spy chip' - anon49124
https://www.engadget.com/2018/10/10/senators-demand-answers-for-china-spy-chip-claims/
======
craftyguy
When is the last time that someone answering "senators' demands for answers"
has resulted in anything remotely punitive or (socially) productive? It seems
that it is only productive for fanning political campaign fires and 'news'
outlets.. so I'd honestly like to know when, if ever, this has been productive
in other ways that actually matter.
------
seniorivn
The worst case would be if it's true, but Blomberg journalists did a bad job
and everyone will assume the hack didn't happened
------
anon49124
I'm still on the fence as to the veracity of this story. ~ 60% true, 40% maybe
not so.
~~~
julienreszka
It's true but there are Chinese that infiltrated this place and are censoring
this stuff
~~~
anon49124
The reason for the suspicions are the counter stories about Bloomberg having
"only one source" (not 17) and a story about Bloomberg's pattern of writing
negative stories about Apple. So it introduces some (legit?) FUD: reporter
personal beef/s, hate on the megacorp or legit stories stretching the truth.
Either way, I hope some definitive, well-sourced, highly-documented stories
come out from The Intercept or similar to clear up the dis/misinformation.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Image Showing The Surface Area Required To Power The World With Solar Panels - Freebytes
http://imgur.com/j9wrB.jpg
======
onreact-com
You don't need additional space for solar panels. You can add them to existing
buildings or even above parking spaces. So you actually need zero space.
~~~
darien
Just imagine how much money a solar electrician can make servicing rooftop
panels in a large middle class area. It may be more efficient (overall) for
utility companies to build solar farms rather than leaving it up to consumers.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Readable Hacker News Chrome Extension - jarquesp
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/jnnojalnifmaekkfknejbppafnaiepjl?hl=en
======
idle_processor
Aesthetic changes like this seem better suited to being Stylish[1] layouts or
Greasemonkey[2] scripts, rather than full-blown extensions.
A quick userscripts.org search for Hacker News reinforces this:
[http://userscripts.org/search?cref=http%3A%2F%2Fuserscripts....](http://userscripts.org/search?cref=http%3A%2F%2Fuserscripts.org%2Fcse.xml&cof=FORID%3A9&q=hacker+news&x=0&y=0)
[1] <http://userstyles.org/stylish/>
[2] <http://www.greasespot.net/>
~~~
jarquesp
I ran into a few limitations when using Stylish (didn't try Greasemonkey).
This extension uses a JavaScript to re-align some elements, change classes
etc. It's not only aesthetic changes, at least won't be in the next few
updates.
------
ricefield
Sorry, but i'm not sure i find your "readable" hacker news more readable than
the default layout. Might be because I don't mind reading small text, and
can't bear scrolling. Also find the font and color choices iffy.
That being said, I think it has some of potential. Maybe do a little user
testing and get a little more feedback and iterate on the design?
~~~
jarquesp
It's definitely an on-going thing. Over the past week I've gotten feedback and
kept working on it, changing things here and there. I finally decided that
it's at a good enough spot to post on Hacker News and get even more feedback.
It's been a 50/50 hit on whether or not to use a sans-serif or serif typeface.
At least that's the biggest type of feedback I've gotten thus far.
But yes, I'd love feedback on this.
~~~
keyle
I agree, it's not really usable. That being said, if you would give settings,
everyone could make their own style. That would be ace!
~~~
jarquesp
A settings menu is on my todo list. An easy way for you to customize the look
and feel, fonts, colors etc.
------
jschuur
My biggest beef with HN (apart from the amount of cool articles on it) isn't
the look and feel of the site, it's the inability to distinguish old from new
content.
I know, I could probably just subscribe to the RSS feed and do this in a feed
aggregator, but sometimes I want to just quickly look at the front page and
see the new stories since my last visit, without also having to deal with the
stuff from 2 day ago that is still unread in Google Reader e.g..
Are the any community HN tools out there to help me out here?
~~~
_frog
For me, visited links are greyed out whilst anything I haven't seen since last
visit is black.
Are you emptying your cache and history on exit perchance?
Here's what I see for reference: <http://cl.ly/57jx>
~~~
jschuur
No, but that assumes I visit every link. I only end up clicking on 10-20% of
them.
I suppose I could simply find a browser extension t visit all the links on the
site, automatically, but that doesn't seem right if I'm not going to look at
the articles.
------
akent
Seems like a solution in search of a problem to me.
------
greyman
I like to original comments page more. The font after applying the extension
is not contrasty enough, and the gap between the lines is too big. It's
definitely not more readable.
Generally, too much free space - I personally prefer tighter desing with less
scrolling. But still good try, it would be great if you offered some
customizations.
~~~
snarknet
Yeah, I'm using it right now. A thicker font would be wonderful.
------
didip
hm, I was expecting Readability-like styling, but it's a good start. A couple
of feedback:
* make the upvote arrow HUGE.
* make the comments link HUGE.
* more contrast between color and background-color.
~~~
jarquesp
I've been thinking about changing the up arrow. Will play around with it.
Also, I just noticed that text within code is terrible.
~~~
Herald_MJ
I like it! If you could also make comment threads foldable, it would be
fantastic.
------
jemka
I actually use hnsort.com for a related reason. Do you think you'll be adding
any sorting options? Maybe even a feature like reddit to hide posts?
Thanks!
------
ck2
Is stylish available for Chrome?
Because then you could do it cross-browser with Firefox.
In fact it looks like some folk have been busy:
[http://userstyles.org/styles/browse/all/http:%2F%2Fnews.ycom...](http://userstyles.org/styles/browse/all/http:%2F%2Fnews.ycombinator.com)
------
jasonkester
Ow. My squint muscles are just now recovering from having that thing up for a
minute.
I think this has conclusively proven that light grey on light grey is not a
good color scheme for "readability".
------
johnm
Cool.
Yes, customizability would be key for me. There's not enough contrast now, I'd
change the typefaces and font settings, and the line-height (and a bunch of
the rest of the spacing as well).
------
tealtan
I'm happy with your design choices, actually. However, I do wish that clicking
through to the comments was easier - giving the link a larger hit area, for
example.
------
aDemoUzer
You could also use: <http://peri.me/Hack3rNews/>
------
lfx
It's nice. Text is easer to read.
But, could you add some color schemes, from witch I can choose? It would be
great.
------
jonmaim
If you can keep the one page no-scroll policy of the default layout that would
be awesome!
------
mise
You're certainly addressing a problem. HN is the only site I leave zoomed-in
in Firefox.
------
flexterra
Looks really good!
------
solipsist
Any equivalent extension for Safari out there?
~~~
jarquesp
I have an initial port for Safari ready if you're interested. Comments is a
bit messed up: <http://cl.ly/3X323L1Q3I0Z1u2D1v2C>
~~~
solipsist
I love it!
------
catshirt
this looks like a job for dotjs
<https://github.com/defunkt/dotjs>
------
bkudria
I think this looks pretty good! Thanks!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Final Pivot: A Funeral for Failed Startups - microtherion
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/09/final-pivot-a-funeral-for-failed-start-ups.html
======
dreadsword
That sounds like a great event to learn at.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A Walk Through Druid Heights (2018) - Thevet
https://medium.com/@savedruidheights/a-first-visit-to-druid-heights-5956d613110c
======
EdwardDiego
What is it being saved from?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Best Technical Book Publishers - WoodenChair
In your opinion, which companies are the best and most reputable publishers of general interest technical books? I'm largely interested in your opinion on programming books with a fairly broad audience. In other words, when you see a book by this publisher, you think, "It'll probably be high quality."
======
ajeet_dhaliwal
I think documentation is getting better all the time online for both languages
and frameworks. Developers seem to be making it a higher priority and
providing plenty of examples compared to products back 15 years ago. For that
reason I often fine technical reference books by any publisher increasingly
unnecessary. That said I've bought many in my time, O'Reilly sticks out as
having an iconic look but I'm not sure they're actually any better than Sams,
Apress and the like.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What content management system allows to serve private content via unique url? - bitcuration
======
feralmoan
bipio ([https://bip.io](https://bip.io)) kind of does it, its an ephemeral web
hook engine which can obfuscate content sources, with auth/ssl and temporary
lifespan etc. I could help you out with it if you want to give it a
try/experiment. email in my profile.
blog on content proxying : [http://blog.bip.io/post/88186517319/fun-with-http-
pods](http://blog.bip.io/post/88186517319/fun-with-http-pods)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Books for writing a data-intensive Python webapp using CouchDB? - tdoggette
What are the go-to books for gaining comprehension of Python web frameworks (like Django), modern web (and web app) design, and dealing with large amounts of data and analytics, possibly using CouchDB as the database?<p>It's a broad request, I know, but I'm hoping there's some good advice out there.
======
janl
Check this for CouchDB: <http://books.couchdb.org/relax/>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
He was a crook (1994) - antman
http://m.theatlantic.com/past/unbound/graffiti/crook.htm?single_page=true
======
lmg643
I will confess - I've never read a complete Hunter S Thompson piece before. I
could see how this appeals to younger people - very edgy and casts everything
in a nice black-and-white frame with good vs evil.
Admittedly this was written in 1994 - still under a relative veil of ignorance
- and we hadn't seen Clinton, Bush 2 or Obama. By this nice polemic - you
would think we've never had another president do anything close to Nixon. No
politician or party has ever used FBI for political reasons, abused CIA/NSA
intelligence, or used the IRS for political purposes (audits, leaked returns,
etc.) And I don't think Nixon really "innovated" in this, he was just the
first where it became publicly known. LBJ was arguably far worse as a power-
mad president, but he gets a pass because of his Great Society initiatives.
This piece did refresh dots for me with J Edgar Hoover dying in office. This
wasn't known when Thompson wrote this, but Mark Felt (also of the FBI) was
deep throat, an FBI lifer who reported to Patrick Gray. Gray was a Nixon
appointee from outside the agency - not an FBI lifer - a Navy guy, an
attorney, and arguably seen as an interloper by many at the agency.
I'm also fascinated by Bob Woodward, a brilliant Yale grad who spend several
years in the Office of Naval Intelligence, before deciding to become a
reporter. Watergate was one of his first stories, an absolutely incredible
coincidence - a guy with US intelligence connections breaks a story that takes
down a president.
At the risk of a thousand downvotes - I expect Nixon will be up for a re-
assessment at some point. The Watergate story is much more complicated and
fascinating than conventionally understood.
~~~
quanticle
Nixon may be up for a re-assessment... but not because of Watergate. If
anything, what (partially) redeems Nixon is his foreign policy
accomplishments. He wound down the Vietnam War and he successfully pursued a
rapprochement with China that served to split the PRC/Soviet Union alliance.
Both were important things that needed to be done, and arguably, Nixon was one
of the few American politicians who could do those things without instantly
being accused of being a communist sympathizer.
But in terms of domestic policy, Nixon was a disaster. He served over the
worst of the economic "malaise" that would be later characterized as
"stagflation". He started the "war on drugs", and for that reason he is in no
small part responsible for the deaths and incarceration of millions of poor,
minority men. His attitudes on civil liberties and legitimate dissent continue
to infect the military and intelligence agencies, who, to this day, see their
job as protecting the American state from the American people. It was under
Nixon that the Executive branch began to see itself as superior to the
Legislative and Judicial branches. This is what people were referring to when
they said that Nixon began the tradition of the "imperial" presidency. While
blame can be laid at the feet of Nixon's successors for not reversing the
harms that Nixon did, the blame for setting a bad precedent rests squarely on
Nixon's shoulders. No amount of historical revision can or should erase that.
~~~
redthrowaway
>He wound down the Vietnam War
After getting Kissinger to prolong it by getting the South Vietnamese to
torpedo the peace talks, causing the deaths of tens of thousands, simply in
order to get elected.[1]
>a rapprochement with China that served to split the PRC/Soviet Union
alliance.
The relationship was broken long before rapprochement. Nixon/Kissinger took
advantage of the split; they didn't cause it.
As an aside, I'm currently reading Kissinger's _World Order_. It's a
fascinating read by a man who was undeniably a giant of a statesman, despite
his many flaws.
[1] [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/nixon-prolonged-
vie...](http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/nixon-prolonged-vietnam-war-
for-political-gainand-johnson-knew-about-it-newly-unclassified-tapes-
suggest-3595441/?no-ist)
------
erikig
Leave it to Hunter S Thompson to remind us. In listening to the recent
analysis of our US news pundits it is possible to think that the polarization
in today's audiences is a recent happening until you come across articles like
this.
~~~
kiba
I think it is a natural tendency for humans to self-segregate into opposing
groups based on minor difference.
Sometime, I even feel that the Republican party disagree with Obama just for
the sake of it.
~~~
krapp
>Sometime, I even feel that the Republican party disagree with Obama just for
the sake of it.
Well... disagreeing with and attempting to destroy the agenda of Democrats in
power is apparently their job.
Not that the Democrats are any better, but the people who vote and write the
big checks are the people who want their blood and circuses.
~~~
tsotha
No, conservatives simply don't like their agenda. Obama and the Democrats are
taking the country in a direction we don't like, and therefore we oppose them.
Is it that hard to understand?
~~~
krapp
Not at all, I disagree with his agenda as well (probably for the opposite
reasons - I don't think he's nearly left wing enough) but it also seems to be
the case that the Republican party has been stirring up their base over a bit
more than Obama's agenda, for the sake of opportunistic pandering. The entire
"birther" controversy wouldn't even have happened if his name had been John
Smith.
~~~
tsotha
There's no birther "controversy". There's a tiny number of internet wackos
that have been aggrandized in left leaning media such that Democrats think
every Republican believes Obama was born in Kenya.
You believe this kind of nonsense because the Democrats and their media organs
want you to believe it.
------
kbutler
Pieces like this say a lot more about the author than about the subject.
Nixon did some very good things, and some very bad things, but this article
didn't actually talk about any of them.
~~~
sliverstorm
The things Nixon did are widely known, good and bad. You don't really have to
rehash them every time you speak of the man.
Not to mention, as an obit., it was an appropriate time to focus on the man
himself (despite the dramatic break from typical rose-tinted obit. style)
~~~
barsonme
Perhaps I'm a bit more "soft" than you, but I'd rather obituaries or stories
about the deceased be polite rather than an eloquent version of "Ding-dong!
The Witch is Dead!" lest we forget there are actual evil people in the world
whose bad actions vastly overshadow those of corrupt politicians.
~~~
Qwertious
There are more brutally "evil" people out there, who are morehands-on in the
things they do, but they don't overshadow the corrupt people at the top of the
US government, who are responsible for enabling, if not causing, millions of
deaths yearly, and being a roadblock to progress.
I agree that we should be "polite" in the sense that they shouldn't fling
insults around like a monkey flings shit, but I don't think we should stick to
euphemisms and lies by omission, just for the sake of not "sullying his/her
memory".
Speak softly, _cleanly_ , and frankly, but don't be "polite".
------
nyolfen
lest we forget
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Avoiding Programming burnout: lessons learned from a 19th century philosopher - fagnerbrack
https://codewithoutrules.com/2018/09/27/avoiding-burnout/
======
yesenadam
The article refers to John Stuart Mill's _Autobiography_.
Mill talks about his amazing early education at the very beginning of the
book, starting with
_I have no remembrance of the time when I began to learn Greek; I have been
told that it was when I was three years old._
[http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10378/pg10378-images.htm...](http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/10378/pg10378-images.html)
His father, James Mill, was one of the founders, with Jeremy Bentham, of
modern utilitarianism. This essay by (JS) Mill about Bentham I think is
magnificent as an appreciation of Bentham and his huge influence, and as
philosophical prose.
[https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/mill-the-collected-
works-...](https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/mill-the-collected-works-of-
john-stuart-mill-volume-x-essays-on-ethics-religion-and-
society#lf0223-10_head_038)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Found cofounder, cant' find idea. What to do? - a_lifters_life
Has anyone been in this situation? How did you proceed?
======
pavornyoh
What do you mean "can't find idea"? If you didn't have an idea, why look for a
co-founder? I hope you are not looking to start a startup just because you
want to do one.
~~~
a_lifters_life
We've spoken about several domain areas, but non seem viable to us yet.
~~~
pavornyoh
Then it is not yet time for a startup. Why do you want to start up? What is
the underlying motivation for it?
~~~
a_lifters_life
To change something in a positive manner. A lesser, but still important thing
to me is to pave my own way in this world.
~~~
pavornyoh
>To change something in a positive manner.
Ok. What are you passionate about? What is your background now?
~~~
a_lifters_life
A lot of different industries . My background is SE
------
PythonDeveloper
You should have found an idea before a co-founder. Your co-founder should
complement the direction of the business and bring what's missing in your
personal skill set.
First step now, is to figure our what each of your strengths is/are, and then
create a list of potential ideas that spark each of you, then choose the one
that (a) ignites you both, (b) has a realistic revenue model, and (c) can be
built without the need for investor capital.
Make sure you choose something that actually has customers you can get to, not
something that has revenue potential when you say "If we can just get 1% of
the population..."
Lastly, enjoy the journey.
~~~
a_lifters_life
They do complement my skillset.
We did this list mentality to start, but after awhile had crossed off the
ideas in each industry we both were excited about.
------
PythonDeveloper
Perhaps I can help you "find" some ideas... they come so easily if one is open
to them...
For example, Uber appears to be the end of the taxi business, but it opens up
a whole market to developers. You have a beautiful imbalance now, all those
taxi drivers and cab companies are heavily incentivized to compete with Uber
or lose their companies/jobs.
If there was (and there might be, idk) a platform that allowed all the cab
companies to aggregate into an uber-Uber, there's a market for that with known
customers. The only obvious issue I see is that in order to make this work,
the cab companies would have to give up their fights to block Uber using
municipal codes as they are now.
Anywhere you have an imbalance, there's a potential market. The problem is, if
you're not on the demand side, your product has the potential of a short
lifespan unless it corrects the imbalance.
Google did this with ads, Uber with rides, AirBnB with rooms, tinder with..
well, you know.
Each of these markets had an unseen demand side which each of the companies
exploited. Find an unfilled demand and fill it. It doesn't need to be huge,
but if it's in the way of someone already moving there, you greatly increase
your chances of being acquired.
~~~
pavornyoh
>Perhaps I can help you "find" some ideas... they come so easily if one is
open to them...
The idea should not be a spur of the moment thing. It has be well researched,
pros and cons analyzed etc. I am curious if the creator of the thread can
elaborate on why the need for a startup. I am even more surprised he was able
to find a co-founder without an idea.
~~~
a_lifters_life
Please see my comments.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Do we even need men? - mdrzn
https://lithub.com/do-we-even-need-men/
======
zunzun
Once female stem cells can be made into spermatozoa cells - research that is
now underway - men will be physically unnecessary for reproduction as women
could in theory use technology to fertilize each other's egg cells. This would
not have the cellular problems associated with cloning, as it would be sexual
reproduction at the cellular level. All of the offspring would be female, no Y
chromosomes needed.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: DeepElonMusk, a LSTM Neural Network Trained on Elon Musk Transcripts - berpj
https://twitter.com/DeepElonMusk
======
berpj
Here is the dataset I used: [https://github.com/berpj/elon-musk-
dataset](https://github.com/berpj/elon-musk-dataset)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Is fat killing you, or is sugar? - pablobaz
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/03/is-fat-killing-you-or-is-sugar
======
LyndsySimon
I moved to a ketogenic diet on January 9th of this year. I weighed 318 pounds.
As of this morning I weigh 282 pounds. That's 36 pounds lost - 11.3% of my
body mass - in 77 days, and I have not yet changed my nearly non-existent
exercise habits.
My goal is to get 80% of my calories from fat, no more than 20% from protein,
and to consume a maximum of 20g of carbs per day. I intend for this to be my
diet going forward; this is not something I am doing temporarily to lose
weight.
I've done a good deal of research on this topic, and my conclusion is that the
human body is not equipped to deal with the massive amounts of simple
carbohydrates that it gets in today's world.
~~~
thatswrong0
Do you find that you have to put more effort into cooking / eating with the
new diet?
~~~
LyndsySimon
At least initially, absolutely. It completely changed the way my wife and I
shopped and we all but stopped eating out.
After a month or so it seems to have leveled out. We collected a dozen or so
recipes we liked and were easy to make, and we knew what we could and could
not get at restaurants.
At this point, the net effect is that we spend more money on food, eat at home
more often, and often order modified meals at restaurants (e.g. chicken
fajitas, but instead of tortillas, rice, and beans we'll just have guacamole).
------
Overtonwindow
I don't know if it's fat or sugar that's killing us. I lost 50 pounds just
eating balanced, healthy, nutritious meals. I reduce my sugar intake but
didn't eliminate it. In fact I stuck to my twice weekly energy drinks and
occasional candy bars and milkshakes. However my meals were regimented to
include protein, vegetables, very rarely bread, rarely cheese, stopped
drinking milk, and cooked everything at home from scratch. Less eating out.
The only thing I truly eliminated from my diet was packaged foods, and highly
processed meals in a box. So no more Cheeseburger Macaroni. So really, maybe,
it's not sugar and fat, it may just be the highly processed cheap foods,
microwaved stuff, etc.
~~~
JoeAltmaier
Is eating out really that bad? Restaurants cook so much better than me. I know
fast food is bad, but a salad or steak? Don't make me give up my restaurants!
~~~
justboxing
> Restaurants cook so much better than me.
It depends on what you mean by 'better'. Taste better, or nutritiously better.
My friend here in San Francisco runs a Pakistani-"Indian" restaurant on
Jackson St, and during Christmas week I helped him out in the kitchen as his
staff was thin (just moving food in and out to customers' tables, taking back
dishes etc, no cooking)
This may not be the case at all restaurants, but I was pretty horrified at how
the average restaurant around the corner operates. They put loads of salt,
cream and butter in everything. Vegetables and meats are purchased in bulk
from restaurant supply stores and are rarely fresh. If a customer didn't like
an entree, they'd just make a new one with more salt, cream (if applicable)
and butter. They have 4.5 star average reviews on YELP. Always packed on lunch
hour and evenings during the week.
In his (Owner / my friend's )own words "Anything can be made to taste great if
you throw in salt and butter".
Some Indian restaurant use oil and a dash of butter even in their Basmati
rice!
~~~
JoeAltmaier
Still, not talking carbs or sugar right? The old 'fats are bad' and 'salt is
bad' legend dies hard. They are really our savior if moving from carbs to veg
and meat.
~~~
Overtonwindow
Oh, animal, definitely animal.
------
curtis
What if it's not simply too much sugar, but rather too much sugar combined
with too little exercise?
~~~
ardit33
Sugar is a major problem as right now it gets pumped in almost every food. It
is addictive and people are more likely to re-buy those products.
If you think you are avoiding sugar in your diet by avoiding the usual culprit
(processed juices, soda, desserts), think again. Now sugar is being injected
into everything, processed meat, soups, etc...
I just bought some Jerkey at Trader's Joe. Each serving contains 10-11 grams
of protein and, 5 or 6 grams of sugar. That's one teaspoon and a half of
sugar! A packet, ( a normal snack), has 3-4 servings, and you end up with 5+
teaspoons of sugar that if you didn't look at the nutritional labels you
wouldn't know. Normally jerkey shouldn't have any, (or maybe one gram and
best).
This is just one example, but the pumping of sugar is becoming so pervasive
that it is almost impossible to avoid.
~~~
quacker
I recently checked the sugar content in some Prego pasta sauce. It was
something like 50+ grams of sugar in a smaller size jar (depending on the
variety of the sauce). When I did the math, the sauce was contributing 25-30
grams of sugar per meal - similar to a can of soda. I found another sauce with
1/3 the sugar content at my grocery store. (And of course, pasta is not the
thing to eat if you're looking for low carbs, but the point stands)
There has been tons of advertising about the health benefits of cereals, but
cereal has tons of sugar. Honey Nut Cheerios have 10g of sugar per serving.
Corn flakes have 8g per serving. Frosted Flakes have 11g. Some of the few low
sugar varieties are Kix, Cheerios, and Rice Krispies. Even then, the added
milk will have 10g of sugar.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A regular expression to test for divisibility by 7 - eru
http://slexy.org/view/s2QFWeNxZo
======
btilly
The link is not loading for me. So I can only guess how it was done. But here
is how _I_ would do it.
First as you proceed through the digits of a number, you know that after each
digit you will have some remainder mod 7. And each digit changes that
remainder. Now let's invent a piece of notation. Let's say that (n...m) is a
regular expression that matches any string of digits that carries you from a
remainder of n to a remainder of m without in the middle having a remainder
that is m or lower, or n or lower.
So, for instance, (3...1) would match strings like '6' or '23' or '200', but
not '242' because after adding the digits '24' your remainder is 2, which is
too low for the middle.
Now with this piece of notation, the desired regular expression is simply:
(0...0)+
And (0...0) is not to hard to figure out. It is
(
0 |
7 |
(0...1)(1...1)*(1...0) |
(0...2)(2...2)*(2...0) |
(0...3)(3...3)*(3...0) |
(0...4)(4...4)*(4...0) |
(0...5)(5...5)*(5...0) |
(0...6)(6...6)*(6...0)
)
Taking just one of those pieces, what is (0...3)? It is just
(
3 |
(0...4)(4...4)*(4...3) |
(0...5)(5...5)*(5...3) |
(0...6)(6...6)*(6...3)
)
And so on. If you expand all of the pieces out eventually you'll come up with
a horrible regexp without my invented notation that will test for divisibility
by 7. (And nothing stops you from repeating that for divisibility by anything
else.)
~~~
eru
My approach was more mechanistic, but may boil down to the same idea.
I build up the finite automaton for testing for divisibility by 7; one state
for each possible remainder from 0 to 6. Then I compiled this description of
an automaton to a regular expression using the textbook algorithm.
~~~
btilly
Of course from your description, both of us have incorrect algorithms. Because
we'd match things like '0777'. Instead you need to match 0 or match 1-9,
followed by a sequence that leads to 0, followed by anything. (I still can't
download the link, so I can't test whether you actually have this bug.)
If you add to my notation (n.>.m) for a match for any sequence descending from
n that finally reaches m, then the answer is something like this:
^(
0 |
(
(
7 |
(1|8) (1.>.0) |
(2|9) (2.>.0) |
3 (3.>.0) |
4 (4.>.0) |
5 (5.>.0) |
6 (6.>.0) |
) (0...0)*
)
)$
And, of course, you can expand something like (4.>0.) out into
(4...4)* (
(4...0) |
(4...1) (1.>.0) |
(4...2) (2.>.0) |
(4...3) (3.>.0)
)
And now we'll get an even bigger heinous mess. But a more correct one.
~~~
eru
I do match 0777, and consider it the correct thing to do. I don't care here
whether some programming languages consider leading zeros to indicate octal.
Also I treat the empty string as equal to zero.
It would be easy to extend the regex so that it would not match numbers with
leading zeroes or the empty string, if one wanted to.
If you give me your email address, I can send you the regex and the program
that generates it. (My address is in my profile, or you just post yours here.)
~~~
eru
P.S. Try this link <http://pastebin.com/q2AXes8u>
~~~
btilly
Thanks, that link works.
It looks like it did something similar to the strategy I described, but it
ordered the states differently. It also inserted a lot of unnecessary
parentheses. I also dislike the need for \ everywhere. With Perl compatible
REs you don't need them, and that gets rid of a lot of line noise.
I'm tempted to put together a Python program to generate these, with options
to control how much they expand out.
~~~
eru
I removed most of the unnecessary parenthesis, now. I also put my program on
<http://github.com/matthiasgoergens/Div7>
I targeted grep, because I know that grep handles regular expressions
properly. Perl does a very bad job, according to
<http://swtch.com/~rsc/regexp/regexp1.html>
Perl can take an exponential time to match (or reject). grep always finishes
in linear time. Because grep does regular expressions according to theory.
While Perl does something strange.
To quote: "This is a tale of two approaches to regular expression matching.
One of them is in widespread use in the standard interpreters for many
languages, including Perl. The other is used only in a few places, notably
most implementations of awk and grep. The two approaches have wildly different
performance characteristics ... The trends shown in the graph continue: the
Thompson NFA handles a 100-character string in under 200 microseconds, while
Perl would require over 10^15 years."
P.S. Good news: I found out that grep -E makes the backslash unnecessary. At
<http://pastebin.com/Dr7xk8in> you will find the new and shorter version.
~~~
btilly
There are disaster regular expressions where Perl will be slow. But most of
the common disasters disappeared a number of years ago. And your regular
expression is one that is unlikely to have performance problems due to
backtracking. (Though the regular expression engine may hate the size.)
That said, Russ Cox is generally well worth listening to.
------
fleitz
An arithmetic test for divisibility by 7. (x % 7) == 0
~~~
eru
What my program did, was compiling this expression down to the weaker language
of regular expressions.
------
petrilli
"Some people, when confronted with a problem, think 'I know, I'll use regular
expressions.' Now they have two problems." Jamie Zawinski on
alt.religion.emacs
------
eru
Just pop it into "grep -ex". I know the regexp is horrible. But I did not have
time to make the program that created the regexp, clean it up as well, yet.
------
Natsu
You can make a division regex for arbitrary numbers. Turn the number into
unary, then see if it matches the divisor (also in unary) repeated N times
with no characters left over.
I know someone posted something like that to HN a while ago.
~~~
eru
Yes, but how do you convert from decimal to unary in a regular expression?
~~~
Natsu
In Perl, you can use /e which is probably cheating as far as some are
concerned.
You could also probably do it by repeatedly applying a fairly complex regex
that would continually decrement by 1.
~~~
eru
Oh, I was talking about regular expressions in terms of
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression#Formal_langu...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression#Formal_language_theory)).
You can't do decrementing in this sense.
~~~
Natsu
At least for Perl folks, 'regex' acts as disambiguation, informing people that
they're talking about expressions that aren't truly "regular" in the sense
you're talking about.
But I guess that not everyone uses the term that way.
------
sgdfdfyhdfh
Well done. You get a coookie.
~~~
eru
Would you ship it?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How to build a social entertainment website - jmonegro
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/ev2zb/i_run_thathighcom_and_it_pays_my_rent_in_san/c1b6ql9
======
raptrex
He also started <https://www.djangy.com/>
[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/ev2zb/i_run_thathighco...](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/ev2zb/i_run_thathighcom_and_it_pays_my_rent_in_san/c1b6u3q)
------
Andrew_Quentin
Did PG fake start Hacker News?
~~~
astrofinch
rms tells me that nickb was widely suspected to be a PG sockpuppet.
~~~
zackattack
Ah, this explains why Tara Ploughman has been referred to as nickb's wife.
------
fourstar
Not quite.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Free and Open Source: Touch4j, Titanium4, Flash4j, Air4j and more. - quidavoto
http://www.dzone.com/links/free_and_open_source_touch4j_titanium4j_flash4j_a.html
======
quidavoto
Get it while it is hot. All packages can be downloaded right now.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How to build cross-platform mobile apps with JSON - quincyla
https://medium.freecodecamp.com/how-to-build-cross-platform-mobile-apps-using-nothing-more-than-a-json-markup-f493abec1873#.318bp8pum
======
gambler
JSON is the new XML. Except XML was actually designed to have semantics, while
similar attempts in JSON are just hacks.
In general, JavaScript is becoming the new J2EE. Ambitious ideas, clueless
implementations, insane complexity.
~~~
allover
1\. OP article has nothing to do with JavaScript.
2\. It's not like the JS community is anti-XML, most JS libs/frameworks still
use HTML/XML markup for rendering.
3\. The JS community is vast and diverse - generalisations around 'clueless
implementations, insane complexity' don't make a lot of sense.
~~~
devwastaken
>It's not like the JS community is anti-XML, most JS libs/frameworks still use
HTML/XML markup for rendering.
Its pretty anti-XML outside of node. Pure-js solutions for xml are not as
great as built in features other languages provide, while JS only natively
does JSON.
>generalisations around 'clueless implementations, insane complexity' don't
make a lot of sense.
When you are creating languages that compile to JS and adding entire markup
ontop of it along with literally hundreds of dependencies in any average
project, JS has plenty of insane complexity.
~~~
cocktailpeanuts
> When you are creating languages that compile to JS and adding entire markup
> ontop of it along with literally hundreds of dependencies in any average
> project, JS has plenty of insane complexity.
Like parent said, this project doesn't compile to JS. It's simply a JSON to
native mapping.
------
garrettgrimsley
Typo in title. Should read "How to _build_ mobile apps in JSON." And drop the
"Yes, JSON" bit.
~~~
vog
Not sure why this was downvoted. The click-baity "Yes, JSON" is really
annoying and should be removed.
More generally, the title should be corrected to the actual title, which is
almost fine:
"How to build cross-platform mobile apps using nothing more than a JSON
markup"
Maybe remove the click-baity "nothing more than" part, but other than that,
the original title is much better than the submission title.
------
aaron-santos
So why JSON of all things? When I reached the "write a full declarative
program in JSON" section I was internally screaming "but s-expressions!"
~~~
hinkley
Same thinking, I expect, that gave us XSLT.
~~~
stickfigure
XSLT was proposed as a limited transformation language, and actually (still)
does a very good job of that. And since we're doomed to repeat the past we now
see various XSLT-ish languages being developed for JSON/YAML/etc, relearning
all the edge cases that drove XSLT into its current form.
On the other hand, students of the past will notice that Jsonette looks
awfully similar to Ant build files, which sucked. JSON/XML/YAML is a horrible
way to construct general-purpose programs. Computing languages exist for a
reason.
~~~
hinkley
I spent a lot of time with Ant and was pretty good at it because I understood
the tragically backward 'first writer wins' decision they made and had an
elaborate set of techniques to work around it. That decision and the attempt
to keep all conditional behavior entirely out of the build process wounded it
gravely. The fact that they kept making compatibility breaking changes in
minor version numbers was the genesis of my dim view of Jakarta projects. Once
I started noticing the pattern I couldn't stop.
I think we are finally starting to accept that Turing-complete data is a bug,
despite what the Lisp people have been saying for 50 years, and is not a
feature on the Internet. Microsoft served as the poster child in the 90's.
The tension, I strongly believe, comes during debugging. When you are trying
to figure out why the data doesn't look right, the less the code resembles the
data being emitted, the harder it is to locate the source of the error.
Templating engines get pretty close to addressing that concern, in ways that
transforms or generators don't. So we keep trying to invent a better one. But
once you let a little logic in, everybody wants all the logic.
Ant found the Uncanny Valley, in a way that few other tools have managed. I
think I'm okay with your implication that it was actually worse than XSLT,
which is saying a lot.
[edit] Ant is also the reason I shift uncomfortably whenever someone announces
proudly that a tool was 'designed and implemented on a plane trip'. I'd rather
have code you wrote when drunk than code you made while stuffed in a sardine
can, subjected to noise levels that OSHA would have issues with, and suffering
from altitude sickness. You literally designed this while your brain wasn't
getting enough oxygen.
------
zn44
[http://thedailywtf.com/articles/the-inner-json-
effect](http://thedailywtf.com/articles/the-inner-json-effect)
------
MichaelBurge
That's nothing. I can write a chess engine using nothing more than the Latin
alphabet, Arabic numerals, and a couple punctuation characters. All you have
to do is compose these building blocks in the right way, and gcc will take
care of the rest.
------
relics443
I've seen so many projects like this over the years that claim that they're
the one that will allow for true cross platform app development, and they've
developed a simple abstraction for doing so.
I've never seen any succeed at anything more than the most basic apps.
I put more stock in projects like Xamarin or MOE (and even they aren't
perfect).
~~~
drwasho
I understand the sentiment, which is why I approached Jasonette with some
curiosity mixed with scepticism... which I quickly turned into obsession!
The platform is incredible and I've been able to build a complex app in no
time at all. Give it a try, you'll be surprised. I'm in the Slack room too if
you need trouble shooting.
------
redindian75
It is made by the guy who made TextEthan.
direct link: [http://jasonette.com](http://jasonette.com)
------
degenerate
A heads up for anyone wondering if this can do anything "real" on the phone
(such as, you know, take a picture or access the memory card):
[https://forum.jasonette.com/t/media-in-android-
port/79/2](https://forum.jasonette.com/t/media-in-android-port/79/2)
Short answer: _Sort of_ (on iOS) and _No, not yet_ (on Android)
------
kafkaesq
The framework and approach described might be useful in some cases, but... you
still need to understand CSS, HTML, and... pretty much everything about
webfrontendism to meaningfully design and "build" such an app, of course (even
if you do manage to cram all that metadata into a single JSON file).
So it's a bullshit title, basically.
------
Entangled
If it can be done in JSON it can also be done in YAML.
I pick YAML.
~~~
seagreen
Have you read the specs for both? You should read the JSON spec. It will take
you ten minutes. The YAML spec
([http://yaml.org/spec/1.2/spec.html](http://yaml.org/spec/1.2/spec.html)) may
take you a little longer. . .
~~~
Entangled
S-expressions will take you ten seconds still nobody uses them. YAML is made
to simplify the lives of the reader and the writer, not the parser. Let the
parser suffer, let the coder rejoice. You pick your own level of suffering, I
pick mine. Deal?
~~~
cocktailpeanuts
What language you use doesn't really matter much when you can easily transform
one into another. I think that's exactly the case with JSON and YAML.
------
cryptozeus
But why ? What does it solve ? This is xml xslt alk over again.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
One impact of the dropping of Python 2 from Linux distributions - gerikson
https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/python/Python2DroppingImpact
======
mindcrime
You can always fork and maintain the Python2 runtime yourself. Or pay somebody
to do it. Or wait and see if a community fork of a maintained Python 2 emerges
(or maybe it already has, I haven't really been paying attention to the
issue).
But otherwise, I don't have a ton of sympathy here... Python 3 was announced
in 2008... people have known that they needed to start moving away from Python
2 for around _12 years_. If you're panicking now because Python 2 is about to
go away, it's hard not to ask "What were you waiting for?"
~~~
downerending
A big problem is that Python 2 and Python 3 are simply not the same language.
They _look_ a lot alike, but they have substantial differences.
So, it's not just that Python 3 has arrived, but that a separate and widely
used language is being killed, in a way that may very well stick.
That's really a rather bizarre turn, and hasn't happened that much in the
history of programming languages. I'm having trouble thinking of a similar
example. Perhaps Objective-C or VB, but those they were controlled by
corporations.
In the open source world, has the stick ever been used before to kill off a
language?
~~~
gerikson
How do you kill off an open source project? Anyone is free to continue to
maintain and extend Python 2 (possibly under another name).
~~~
downerending
Kind of, but I do think it's accurate to say that a large contingent is trying
to extinguish Python 2 as a language. They wouldn't even deny it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
GitHub is not your new résumé - thinkingserious
http://www.brandonmwest.com/development/2013/08/22/github-is-not-your-new-resume.html
======
hackula1
The one beef I have with the "my github page is my resume" meme is that many
developers work in spaces where they do not have the ability to work with open
source much. I personally have years of work checked into github in private
repos, and if I showed it to a potential employer I could be sued into
oblivion. Many of us work on very sensitive systems with loads of legal walls
around them. Sure, I contribute to OSS in my spare time, but my public github
profile is not even close to a fair representation of my professional work.
~~~
WestCoastJustin
What is the actual beef though? That you are at a perceived disadvantage to
someone who has a public profile?
~~~
ctdonath
Beef?
"Show me your work."
"I can't, it's owned by other companies."
"No job then. There's the door."
And so someone who wrote a million dollars worth of software (actually got
paid for) gets beat to a job by someone whose work nobody will pay for.
Yeah, beef.
------
rip747
`And code on GitHub gives no insight into how someone might fit into a company
culture.`
github does give you this insight if you look at how the person participates
in discussions in the issue tracker and code reviews. remember github's old
moto, social coding? i think the author is hung up on the coding part and
missing the social part.
~~~
posabsolute
I agree, if the person has a public repo with a bit of momentum you can even
see how he manage his open source project with the community...
This is much more valuable than any list of company you work for.
------
smallsharptools
This is a rant. They must not have much worth sharing on GitHub.
These days if I interviewed 2 developers and one had a very nice resume full
of recommendations and stories about successful projects and the other
developer had an active GitHub account with their own active projects with
many watching them as well as multiple accepted Pull Requests for other
projects... I would easily lean toward the developer who has been actively
writing code, sharing and interacting with other developers. It shows they
have passion, drive, dedication and an eagerness to learn from others and
contribute back to the community.
A fancy resume cannot replace all of that.
~~~
adeaver
> It shows they have passion, drive, dedication and an eagerness to learn from
> others
No, all it shows is that they wrote some code and put it on a website.
The developer that has just a resume might be just as (or more) skilled that
the one that uses github but for whatever reason can't post code up like that.
To exclude someone simply because they don't have an active github is foolish.
However did you screen, interview, and hire people before github came along?
~~~
codyb
As someone currently looking for an entry level position in development work I
agree with this. Currently I'm learning about cryptography and web security.
There's not a lot of development work from that I can put on my github
account. Especially since Matasano's Cryptography challenges which I've been
slowly working through don't allow me to publicly display the challenges or my
results. Does that mean I don't have as much drive as someone who's working on
machine learning currently and can write a library and post it on github?
~~~
smallsharptools
Getting active on GitHub was important to me after interviewing last year at a
couple of great places. I learned I was out of sync with the developers I
wanted to work with. So I got more active on GitHub by sharing code I created
which I thought was useful to others. And when I used other libraries I looked
for ways I could improve on them and managed to get some Pull Requests
accepted. There were lots of benefits. One great benefit is regularly reading
code written by developers with more experience than you. And if you form
relationships with these same developers and they start coaching through
changes on their projects you can accelerate your learning. This work csn even
lead to a job. Being active on GitHub is a distinct advantage for sure.
------
VincentEvans
A few internet-years ago the same was said about having a blog. And then there
was a tidal wave of low SNR blogs created by developers employed by offshoring
companies looking for an edge. If this article gets traction - github will
likely see the same. Be careful what you wish for.
To be honest, from my own modest mountaintop of being 35, (gainfully employed
and programming since 14 somewhere in the depths of your typical enterprise) I
suddenly find myself repeating the words of others from long ago when I first
started in the field (though now I can relate) - look at this as yet another
fad: same as those blogs, same as the linkedins and twitters...
I'd like to volunteer that I, though not having contributed to any open source
projects, nor published any of the code that I have worked on (it obviously
being proprietary to the company I work for), nor having any interest to blog
my many unremarkable opinions along with already overbearing gaggle of
"experts" \- still, am not entirely uninterested and apathetic towards
programming, nor devoid of useful engineering skill and reliable experience
accumulated over lengthy career. But you won't believe me.
~~~
VincentEvans
By the way - for a bunch of self-proclaimed introverted geeks and nerds, you
lot sure advocate a lot of "social media" sharing.
------
imsofuture
Github is absolutely replacing resumes. It doesn't replace an interview, which
is what the author seems to be getting at despite the title of their
article...
~~~
uxp
That's my take on it as well.
A resume or CV is a piece of paper to get your name on someone's desk, then
you get hired by passing the interview. Github is just another way of getting
(or keeping) your name on someone's desk.
------
nicholassmith
I've done a couple of interviews recently for a C++ developer role, none had
GitHub pages. It didn't negatively effect them, they were rated on their
strengths from their CV's, interview and a take home programming task but I'd
have loved to have seen at least one repo of work.
You don't necessarily need to be using GitHub to produce OSS to the level of
something like Rails, but even a micro library would have awesome. It gives
you just a little bit more data to look at when you're considering options.
------
jseip
Unless I wrote my resume in html and css and hosted it using Github pages,
which I did. #winning
~~~
proggR
I also did that and I got a job with it too. Fancy that.
~~~
luuse
Any chance either of you could link? I've done it too but i was never
completely happy with the result and it would be nice to see how other people
have done it for some inspiration.
~~~
smallsharptools
[http://brennanmke.github.io/Portfolio/](http://brennanmke.github.io/Portfolio/)
I created a basic portfolio to share on GitHub. I'd like to see more
developers do that. It's quite easy to do with markdown and GitHub Pages.
~~~
luuse
Yeah, i prefer that approach but i find that a lot of recruiters still insist
on a resume despite having linkedin. Thanks for the link and inspiration
though!
------
brianmcc
I find resumes pretty efficient - I can look them over, and make a snap
judgement wrt which ones are worth a phone screen, which aren't. Over many
years of doing this, I find a good correlation between first impression and
subsequent candidate quality (meaning, I've had to interview folks where the
resume screamed "no hire"). Stuff like coherent formatting, brief narrative
and concise, useful explanations of roles and technologies are, believe it or
not, quite beyond some people.
The thought of trawling someone's repo instead, having to take the time to get
an in depth evaluation of what the code's doing and whether that's effective
makes me shudder. But then perhaps people doing this just make a first
impression of the code, rather than a deep understanding?
Honestly I can see a GitHub being a "nice to have", but certainly not the main
deal.
Out of interest, anyone else that's been hiring in the UK seeing any traction
with GitHub? I'm in a pretty enterprisey space, and past clutch of CVs we've
had haven't so much as mentioned it.
------
dblock
For reference, here's my article claiming the opposite:
[http://code.dblock.org/github-is-your-new-
resume](http://code.dblock.org/github-is-your-new-resume)
------
LordHumungous
>A resume and a GitHub account provide different kinds of quantitative data.
Replacing one with the other means you’re throwing out good information. They
complement each other and work best together, like hot fudge and ice cream.
He's constructing a bit of a straw man here. I haven't heard anyone suggest
that traditional resumes should be completely abandoned, or that a Github
account should be the _only_ factor when hiring a developer.
------
qwerta
Github is totally replacing resume. But resumes will always be necessary to
scale-up career beyond code-monkey to consulting and semi-management roles.
------
dsowers
This is why I'm incorporating a bio page into the Silvrback blogging platform.
There needs to be something better than linkedIn and Github for showing
work/accomplishments. Especially if your interests are diverse. My example bio
page:
[https://www.silvrback.com/dsowers/bio](https://www.silvrback.com/dsowers/bio)
------
7Figures2Commas
Given how often resumes are given little more than cursory review (keyword
scanning, etc.), I wonder how many companies using GitHub as a screening tool
actually take the time to thoroughly review the candidate's work.
Everybody talks about code, but software is about more than code. When looking
at a candidate's GitHub repo, is any consideration given to the quality of
documentation, if it even exists (which it often doesn't), and how easily a
project can be built and used? How many employers actually build and use a
candidate's software? Some developers write gorgeous code but gorgeous code !=
great, usable software.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Idea: an open platform for generating custom legal contracts - guptaneil
http://openideas.ideon.co/2011/cure-for-jurisdyslexia-discovered?
======
nyellin
I suggested this to a lawyer I respect once and he suggested I write a program
to do my programming.
We discussed the concept in depth, and it might be more complex than you
realize. Templates are one thing, but you probably can't "mixin" different
clauses without generating legalese based on inter-clause dependencies...
~~~
calcnerd256
Or it might be as easy as writing a compiler. These things are hard to
prejudge.
~~~
Animus7
Compiler writing is easy? No. (I've built compilers for large subsets of C and
Java, as well as my own languages)
Lord help you if you try to write a perfectly conforming compiler for C++ (has
it ever been done?), and the U.S. legal system is _at least_ an order of
magnitude more complex than that.
~~~
a3camero
To make that task even more complicated, people don't agree on what many of
the rules are. Your "law compiler" would have to take in input and have output
that's maybe this, or more likely this, but it could also be this...
------
pents90
Docracy (<http://docracy.com>) is a repository of crowd-sourced legal
documents, designed for scenarios such as this. As others mention, it is very
difficult to reliably construct working contracts from a cookbook of clauses.
A sounder approach is to have a variety of complete templates, along with some
community discussion and social proof of their worth.
------
ianstormtaylor
One thing to remember is that contracts depend on trust. Not only between you
and the party signing, But also between you and your lawyer.
To succeed, the service would have to be trustworthy enough that I wouldn't
feel the need to have a lawyer "double-check" the contract first. You could
argue that just having a lawyer proofread the document would be far less
costly though I guess.
It will take a lot of trust to get a service to the levels of trust required
for some contracts. One mistake and you could be screwed.
------
jacques_chester
Lawyers sort of have this stuff already. They tend to be fill-in-the-blank
templates originally built around WordPerfect.
But the law is, dare I mention this, heinously complex. Why? Because the
_world_ is heinously complex. Law has to deal with everything and everyone;
its subject domains cover all human activity.
One of the reasons lawyers stick to lawyerly gobbledigook is risk management.
Various phrases and terms are embedded in lawyer-drafted documents because
their meaning has been tested in court. They're known forms of words with
known legal consequences.
If you turn law into a write-compile process (I once proposed this[1] and I
was not the first), you run a series of new risks. The most dangerous being:
which document is the "real" contract? Even if you include language saying
"the generated document", too bad, the court might not agree.
Remember: every software system grows progressively more complex as it a)
grows the boundaries of its domain coverage to remedy impedance mismatches and
b) discovers strange and nasty corner cases.
Well the law is analogous, with the difference that the law has been hacked on
for (in common law countries) for nearly a thousand years, including some very
large patches.
It's complex because it's essentially complex.
[1] <http://clubtroppo.com.au/2007/08/25/programming-in-legal/>
------
sunchild
I've put many hundreds of hours into making my forms simple and to the point.
I've considered dropping them into a public github repo, under a simple
attribution license. I'd really like to have other people fork them and make
pull requests for corrections/improvements.
Is there any interest in that?
------
dtsingletary
A company called Microsystems used to have a product named D3:
<http://www.microsystems.com/pdfs/d3-success-stories.pdf>
Unfortunately, they had to discontinue the product, in part due to a patent
dispute Microsoft lost about how it uses XML in Word, if I remember properly.
A solution like this needs to be flexible and allow the logic to be diverted
by humans, but is a brilliant thing for real estate and other industries that
are full of common books of contracts and rules.
------
Facens
We're doing this right now at <http://www.iubenda.com> and Privacy Policies
are our starting point. Anyway, I can assure you that's far from being simple
:) Here you can see a sneak peek of the upcoming new version:
[http://www.iubenda.com/blog/2011/10/12/a-brand-new-
version-s...](http://www.iubenda.com/blog/2011/10/12/a-brand-new-version-
sneak-peek/) :)
------
kylebragger
Not sure how far off the mark this is, but Paperlex[1] could be interesting to
check out.
1\. <https://paperlex.com/>
~~~
siculars
I second <https://paperlex.com>. I was at GA/NYC a week or two back when they
publicly demoed for the first time. It was very impressive. Think markdown for
legal documents. The most interesting thing about it, imho, was not the
structured templating but the counter party signature mechanics. All done
online and driven by the data in the document.
------
drewda
As far as legal contracts and forms for start-ups go, Orrick offers a "start-
up tool kit":
[http://www.orrick.com/practices/corporate/emergingCompanies/...](http://www.orrick.com/practices/corporate/emergingCompanies/startup/index.asp)
I'm not sure if their license allows you to modify and redistribute.
------
desireco42
I had similar idea, most of the time I get cookie-cutter contracts and having
a service that would provide additional value as vault would be useful
~~~
desireco42
to which Paperlex seems to answer almost exactly... good work
------
chadk
What about <http://contractual.ly> ?
------
drstrangevibes
making a contract is fine but how can you enforce effectivly against someone
who breaches the contract, imho a effective system would be able to produce
initial drafts of litigation documents based on the contractual clauses
breached, otherwise people will just break the contracts willy-nilly and
you'll be forced to enter litigation yourself, or take your computer generated
documents to a lawyer
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
NASA proposes new propulsion to cut Mars voyage to 3 days - leecarraher
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2016-02/22/laser-propulsion-system-mars-in-3-days
======
rubidium
back-of-envelope:
conservation of momentum: 2 _(num photons)_ h/lambda = (100 kg)*(c/3), so
5.9×10^36 photons needed to propel a 100 kg object to 1/3 speed of light.
1.5×10^18 joules of energy, which is 11% of the energy output of the US in
2001 (according to wolfram alpha). That's a 5.8 Tera Watt laser running for 3
days straight.
I haven't even gotten into dispersion of a laser beam.
The ludicrousness of this proposal is left as an exercise to the reader.
Edit: here's their proposal with physics. Just to be clear, I don't doubt the
theoretical possibility, I doubt the economic and experimental reality.
[http://www.deepspace.ucsb.edu/wp-
content/uploads/2015/04/A-R...](http://www.deepspace.ucsb.edu/wp-
content/uploads/2015/04/A-Roadmap-to-Interstellar-Flight-15-h.pdf)
~~~
kemiller
How would it slow down at the other end?
~~~
api_or_ipa
Aerobreaking could net you some gain. Obviously, this requires a more
engineeered vehicle, including possibly an ablative shield.
Even at that, however, you'll be skimming very close to Mars' surface and
incurring very high temperatures.
Perhaps (and this is a big perhaps) we could engineer lifting body surfaces to
increase the time-in-atmosphere and dissipate heat better.
This is why I love playing Kerbal Space Program.
~~~
05
Aerobraking from .3c would require materials many orders of magnitude more
heat-resistant than known to humanity.
~~~
kpil
Yes. Stopping from 90000km/s in 100ms (more or less earth radius) might prove
to be a bit hard :-)
------
mahranch
> _Lubin supposes that the system could propel crafts to an "unheard of" 30
> percent the speed of light._
> " _There is no known reason why we could not do this_ "
Yeah, no. There is a known reason. What do you think happens to a spaceship
hitting something at 30% c? What do you think happens to the front of a
spaceship or craft hitting something the size of bead or pebble at 30% c? The
ship will disintegrate.
Granted, the ship could be shielded or employ some sort of plasma/magnetic
deflector technology (still in proof of concept stages of development), but
now you're talking technology that's just as far away, if not further than the
propulsion system they're talking about using. It's also why things like
project Orion really never got off the ground or are feasible in their current
forms. Sure, we can get up to those speeds, it's surviving at those speeds
that's the challenge.
Also, they talk about the weight of a ship being ultra light. If you had to
shield it to survive the impact of tiny particles and other space debris
you'll inevitably encounter on your trip, it's no longer going to be ultra
light.
~~~
dzdt
Not sure its that bad. This thing would be mostly akin to a big mylar sail. A
micrometeorite at high relative velocity will punch right through making a
nice cutout. As long as it doesn't hit the (small) payload I don't think it
should disintegrate. But I would worry about all the atoms and ions hitting
too. Space isn't empty!
------
leecarraher
Jane, Stop this crazy thing! or in other words, how do you decelerate the
spacecraft once you near Mars orbit. You'd need either a ton of conventional
propulsion fuel , or a mars based laser there too. Worse is that you have a
limited energy sources and no one to mine them. Solar might help, but it'd
take a helluva alot of planning to install them via some automated system.
~~~
revicon
Regarding slowing down upon arrival, could they enter a low orbit and skim the
atmosphere of Mars to reduce velocity?
~~~
arijun
Definitely not. Back of the napkin shows that to get to Mars in 3 days would
need a speed in excess of 200 km/s. That is an order of magnitude larger than
Mars escape velocity. Your only chance of being captured by Mars is by
pancaking.
~~~
zelos
Make the first vehicle nothing but a giant mirror, crash it into Mars and then
reflect the laser off the debris to slow down the second vehicle?
~~~
tomswartz07
I think you're having trouble grasping exactly how fast 200km/s actually is.
------
owenversteeg
For context, some of the numbers here:
c: 300,000 km/sec,
1/3c: 100,000 km/sec
Fastest man-made thing in history by far, Voyager 1: 17km/sec
Time it took most recent Mars mission to get there (Mars Science Laboratory,
2011): 254 days
Closest Mars-Earth: 182 light-sec
Farthest Mars-Earth: 1342 light-sec
These scientists are proposing to send something at about six thousand times
faster than anything man-made has ever gone in history. At this scale, the
energies involved become absolutely insane. Guess what would be the energy of
a tiny one-gram pebble floating in space hitting this spacecraft? Ten
terajoules. That's approximately equal to you walking along on your way to
work and getting hit by, oh, I don't know, the International Space Station (13
terajoules) or a sixth of a good sized atomic blast (63 terajoules). Space is
a busy place. If you hit even one thing, you're over.
But, you argue, you won't get hit by any pebbles. I'd imagine that you're
wrong, but let's humor you. You argue that the largest thing to hit you would
be a microscopic 0.001g object. Let's say that your microscopic object is
standing perfectly still in space, somehow, even though that's incredibly
unlikely.
You hit this object, and instantly your craft is subjected to a ten gigajoule
blast. Let's put that into context: at an incredibly small point somewhere on
your craft, rocketing along at just north of 223000000 mph, you just
experienced a hit equivalent to one hundred million large caliber (.45)
bullets. Let's say the scientific payload of your craft is one gram, and the
rest is armor. You'd be safe right? No, unfortunately 99.999kg of armor
doesn't seem so strong in the face of one hundred million bullets.
I don't think it's possible.
~~~
peter303
New Horizons is fastest chemical rocket taking 78 days to cross Mars orbit.
(You'd use a different, longer path for Mars orbital/lander insertion.) New
Horizons crossed lunar orbit in 9 hours, or about six times faster than Apollo
flights.
~~~
owenversteeg
Sure, but my points in the article only really apply once you change the
velocity in a significant way. ke=mv^2, so going 100 times faster means ten
thousand times the KE and thus ten thousand times the destruction.
For an example, New Horizons was at Mars around 13km/s. At 13km/s, the impact
of that microscopic object, instead of being one hundred million bullets, is
now 169 joules, barely a tenth of a bullet's energy. Still harmful, but with
New Horizons being car-sized, slower moving, and armored, that repeated tenth-
of-a-bullet impact is a problem that can be dealt with.
------
ldpg
I think the "Mars in 3" days comment is just for scale, not a serious
proposal.
This is more about getting probes to whiz past other solar systems. As
obviously, you can't stop the craft.
~~~
stcredzero
_you can 't stop the craft._
Zubrin and someone devised a way to use magsails to decelerate starships
without using onboard fuel. That's magic, as you're not subject to the rocket
equation. (Really, it was a failed attempt to develop a Bussard ramjet, but
they figured out you'd never overcome the "friction" with the interstellar
medium. So they were like, let's go with the friction!)
------
RLN
Whenever I read a story about using sails for propulsion in space I'm reminded
of the short story Sunjammer by Arthur C. Clarke
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunjammer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunjammer)
------
CapitalistCartr
To reduce travel time from 9 months to four would be incredibly helpful to
sending people. To halve that again to two months even more so. But after
that, faster has lessened benefits. One month makes it easier on the human
body, less than that is more convenience than anything. We'd be better served
putting our money elsewhere. An Earth-Mars cycler would be a great start.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_cycler](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_cycler)
And for unmanned missions, faster is of marginal benefit.
If I were setting up such a system for planetary flybys and extra-solar
missions, I'd put the laser on one of the lunar poles .
------
sehugg
A practical near-term application of this tech is precision formation flying
of satellites -- Young Bae has been developing test systems for over a decade:
[https://www.nasa.gov/spacetech/niac/2013phaseII_bae.html](https://www.nasa.gov/spacetech/niac/2013phaseII_bae.html)
(It must be annoying when the researchers studying pie-in-the-sky mission
architectures get all the clickbait headlines)
------
gremlinsinc
Okay, so what I read from others is that stopping is gonna be a PITA -- so
maybe Mars isn't the best target.. Why not send some huge telescope in the
direction of that solar system that looks like it has an Alien Megastructure-
- get as close as we can to that thing and take closer pictures of it to find
out what's really going on (and other parts of the galaxy) -- imagine having a
telescope like a couple solar systems away sending back data to us? -- we may
to create some sort of galactic internet though - maybe using lasers and relay
stations? (I honestly have no clue... we'd want to get data back and it to NOT
take 50 years per data dump.) ..
~~~
dalke
It's likely very much easier to build a telescope array in this solar system
than to send a telescope "a couple solar systems away".
KIC 8462852 is 1480 light years away. At 10% light speed it would take over
10,000 years to get within a few solar systems of the star.
On the other hand, a space-based interferometer with a baseline of 15 AU would
have an angular resolution of:
1.22 * 500 nm / (15 AU) = 2.7E-19 radians
giving the ability to see things at KIC 8462852 which are
1480 light years * 2.7E-19 = 3 meters across
That's also fantastically advanced, but working backwards, to see objects
100km in size:
(1.22 * 500 nm) / (100km / 1480 light years) = ~100,000 km
I think we can pull that off within 1,000 years, much less 10,000.
------
huhtenberg
Another back of the napkin thing - if one manages to maintain +1G acceleration
for the first half of the trip and -1G for the second half, one can get to
Mars in 1 to 3 days, with the top speed of about 1000 km/s.
~~~
rubidium
Which does provide the interesting feature that if we could method of
propulsion that gets to c/3 in a day or two, we could just use the
acceleration of the ship to provide artificial gravity on-board, and flip the
ship around mid-trip to provide artificial gravity during the deceleration.
------
danjayh
As much as I love the idea, it is fairly impractical for the reasons that
other commentors have noted. Call me greedy, but within the constraints of a
balanced budget, I would like to see an increased portion dedicated to science
(be it a 'cancer moonshot' or an actual marsshot) vs social programs ... maybe
we could find some real solutions to these issues. In my own life I have a
tendency to skimp on the 'now' in the name of investing in the future, so this
is probably just me applying my own financial philosophies at a larger scale.
~~~
chriswarbo
> Call me greedy, but within the constraints of a balanced budget, I would
> like to see an increased portion dedicated to science (be it a 'cancer
> moonshot' or an actual marsshot) vs social program
Note that this basically happened already. As Apollo wound down, the War on
Cancer wound up
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Cancer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Cancer)
Turns out it's far more difficult to cure cancer than to reach the moon.
------
cowardlydragon
Can't pulse nuclear (Orion) get there in about as close to practicality as
exists? 133 years based on what I've read.
And that doesn't do antimatter-catalyzed fusion, which seems near-term
practical.
~~~
abecedarius
Orion is pretty great, but still suffers from the rocket equation. Well, you
could get around that by keeping the bombs back at home base and throwing them
to catch up with the craft... I wonder if anyone's worked out that variant.
Too complex to be worth it, right?
------
grymoire1
See Larry Niven's Mote in God's Eye (1974) for details..
~~~
stuxnet79
Did Mars figure prominently in the plot? I read the book exactly six years ago
and loved it, but I have no idea why you are quoting it here.
~~~
gherkin0
No, but the aliens were discovered because one of them built a ship based on
this idea ("solar" sail with a ground-based propulsive laser) and happened to
arrive in a human-inhabited system.
[https://books.google.com/books?id=lKt5laoj1coC&pg=PA55&lpg=P...](https://books.google.com/books?id=lKt5laoj1coC&pg=PA55&lpg=PA55&dq=mote+in+god%27s+eye+laser&source=bl&ots=QTucO9WK2p&sig=fwQ9HNOZjtl4at5mi9aWZpuKpQs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjDva2m8YvLAhVEpx4KHWz0BfsQ6AEILzAB#v=onepage&q=mote%20in%20god%27s%20eye%20laser&f=false)
~~~
stuxnet79
Thanks, I wasn't aware that this was the exact type of propulsion that NASA
was proposing. Mote In God's Eye is a classic book! I'm going to have to re-
read it sometime soon. Getting a nostalgia kick just thinking about it.
------
nkrisc
So please help me out here. The article suggests a craft could be accelerated
to .3c; surely this would not be for a Mars intercept!?
This is just an example of the potential, right? Otherwise slowing down a
craft at relativistic speeds for Mars capture sounds... difficult to say the
least.
EDIT: OK, after thinking it through further at .3c the trip would only take
about 50 minutes, roughly. So clearly that's not what the article meant.
~~~
dr_zoidberg
Sounds like Kerbal Engineering at its best... :P
~~~
nkrisc
Relativistic litho-braking?
------
zwetan
"if it works"
between parenthesis, in the title ...
so I'm not a scientific but even if it works at the tech level, even if the
deceleration problem is solved, even if not colliding with something along the
way is solved
what about the impact of travelling at 1/3rd the speed of light on the human
body ?
~~~
pmontra
Nothing, you'll feel only the acceleration which is is equivalent to a
gravitational pull. If it's 1 G you won't feel any difference from being in a
room on Earth.
------
Gravityloss
You probably need to manufacture the terawatt class space lasers from asteroid
materials, at least the majority of mass. One can't afford to lift them from
any deep gravity well.
This is the major reason why asteroids are in total much more important than
the moon or even Mars.
------
dexwiz
So over-under on this being viable before fusion power? Nice idea, but we are
years away from this being viable. If we visit Mars it will be with chemical
rockets first? This may be viable for some sort of highway system when travel
is more common.
~~~
adwn
> _So over-under on this being viable before fusion power?_
There's nothing magical about human-built nuclear fusion power generation
that'll give you noticeably larger or cheaper power output than nuclear
fission.
Therefore, commercial fusion power will not bring us any closer to viability
of this concept.
------
c54
See also: Aurora, by Kim Stanley Robinson
[http://www.amazon.com/Aurora-Kim-Stanley-
Robinson/dp/0316098...](http://www.amazon.com/Aurora-Kim-Stanley-
Robinson/dp/0316098108)
------
TickleSteve
Shooting a 100kg mass off at 30%C wouldn't be taken lightly by whoever it hit!
Planet killer?
~~~
vkou
Not quite.
Considering an inelastic collision, the impact would dissipate roughly mv^2/2
worth of energy, so...
1/2 * 100kg * (10^8 m/s)^2 = 5 * 10^17 Joules of kinetic energy.
In contrast, the amount of solar energy that impacts the Earth each second is
10^17 Joules.
For a more relevant comparison, the Tsar Bomba (50 megatons) released ~2*10^17
Joules. So, worst-case, the probe would cause the equivalent of a ~100 megaton
explosion. Hardly a planet-killer.
~~~
mcguire
But still pretty impressive.
I say we start flinging these things at all the extra-solar planets we've
discovered. Think of it as grafitti or an art project. Leaving our mark on the
universe.
~~~
dr_zoidberg
That sounds like the kind of art that Black Hat Guy from XKCD would aprove of.
------
maxxxxx
Could you make any meaningful observations if you flew through a neighboring
stellar system at that speed? Seems you could reach Proxima Centauri in
between 10 and 20 years that way but you could not slow down.
------
tomrod
How long would it take to catch up to the Voyager probes?
------
boggie1688
So if it take an array of laser to get there, how do you get back? Bring
lasers with you?
------
Kinnard
Very light on details
~~~
Skunkleton
Yep, that is wired for you. As far as I can tell, this plan was first proposed
in the '80s. The technical challenges of a 1.21 jiggawat laser, and a gigantic
sail have led to it never being attempted even though it is probably
theoretically feasible.
~~~
wmfiv
So what changed?
~~~
Skunkleton
Nothing as far as I can tell.
------
amai
How to stop a spacecraft propelled by a laser?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Web apps, credit cards, merchant accounts and PayPal - adamcharnock
http://playnice.ly/blog/2011/03/23/web-apps-credit-cards-merchant-accounts-and-paypal/
======
rexreed
I'm surprised it took this long and cost that much to get the merchant account
and recurring billing setup.
We have an Authorize.Net merchant account, use Recurly for subscription
billing, and found our merchant bank using FeeFighters (ended up going with
Merchant Focus).
It took us less than 2 weeks from start to finish, paid $0 in setup fees,
ended up with a transaction discount rate from 1.75% to 3.1% depending on card
type (Merchant Focus uses interchange-plus pricing), and we accept all major
card types. Not only that, there is no delay or holds placed on our account.
We were able to accept paying customers within 2 weeks of setting up our
accounts, and we only pay the Recurly monthly fee, a $15 Authorize.Net gateway
fee, merchant account transaction fees, and a $7.95 a month Amex fee (their
monthly minimum). All in all, I think we ended up doing well and wasting
little time.
I'm not sure why it would cost a few hundred dollars and take as many
weeks/months as it did in the OP's case. Perhaps because it was a non-US
company?
~~~
petercooper
It's a different kettle of fish in the UK. It's a lot easier to get a merchant
account for a non-established business in the US. While the British banking
system has become incrdibly liberal in the last 20 years, it still lags in the
merchant account department and you have to do a bit of legwork. It's not
uncommon to need to send a business plan or spend time on the phone convincing
a provider of your worth, for example.
~~~
primigenus
It's different in the UK but it's even worse for mainland Europe. Many
subscription billing services don't support businesses that don't have a
registered bank account or address in the US or UK. Many payment gateways
won't work with you unless you're located in the US or UK, especially the
larger American ones like Braintree or Authorize.net. And unfortunately, it's
these larger ones that have solved most of the integration and vertical
problems that you end up still having to face in Europe. So you end up having
to settle for a second-rate, customer-unfriendly, enterprise-oriented,
backwards payment gateway like Ogone or Atos Worldline (both of which we had
to settle for). The only reason these guys are still in business is because
the American services haven't spread to Europe yet.
Thankfully, Spreedly does support European payment gateways, and that's why
Spreedly kicks ass.
I remain stunned that neither Google, Amazon, or PayPal have brought
serviceable solutions to the continent yet. It's 2011, for Christ's sake!
~~~
rexreed
Maybe it's European banking regulations and laws that are the reason for a)
the current sad state of affairs and b) the inability for Google and others to
enter the marketplace? I don't know much about the situation, but given the
size of the market, I wouldn't be surprised if that's what's getting in the
way.
The fact that there's such trouble in handling something as fundamental as
getting payments from customers really imposes a significant impedance on tech
startups in the region. I can see why some Euro companies are compelled to
relocate when they want to seek significant, unimpeded growth.
We techies live in a borderless world, but alas, the rest of the world
doesn't. Sigh.
------
waterside81
I've heard all the horror stories about PayPal and they probably do deserve
the bad rep they get, but I've never had one issue with them. I've had
business accounts setup within 48 hours with website payment pro with no
problems, no faxes, no further proof of identification. I'm guessing a lot of
this has to do with geography. We're in Canada and maybe PayPal deems us
Canadians low risk? But I find once you give them your bank account details
and you confirm it with them (they deposit two small charges to your account)
then you're in and they have no problems with you.
But alternatives are always nice and glad too see PlayNice.ly being able to
get things up & running.
------
rguzman
Sigh. I wish someone would solve this problem already. I mean, some startup to
do to payments what heroku did to rails deployment.
All the recurring-billing systems only solve half the problem: the logic for
recurring-billing, but it is still fairly problematic to get the other pieces
in place. There should be a way to collect payments on your site without
having to setup a merchant account, et. al. Does anyone know what the
regulatory hurdles to something like this are?
~~~
spyrosk
<http://saasy.com> claim that they have solved this problem but I haven't yet
used them. Does anyone else have any experience with them?
~~~
zefhous
Seems really expensive (5.9% plus $.95 or 8.9% flat per transaction).
I've been getting setup with Stripe. They just lowered their rates to 3.5%
(from 5%) plus $0.30 per transaction. Good API and no other fees. Seems great
so far...
<https://eta.stripe.com/faq>
~~~
norova
Everything was awesome up until this part of the FAQ:
\-- Stripe transfers money to your bank account at the end of the following
month: that is, you receive June's payments at the end of July.
------
primigenus
I've posted this on HN before but in case there's someone here who's not in
the UK or the US, but in mainland Europe and facing the same challenge: we've
been there, it was a headache, and we came up with Spreedly/Ogone/Atos
Worldline. It can be done. Here's our writeup:
[http://blog.quplo.com/2011/01/looking-back-on-the-quest-
for-...](http://blog.quplo.com/2011/01/looking-back-on-the-quest-for-
payments/)
Thanks for sharing Adam, there should be more articles like this!
~~~
kgtm
I've read your post recently, it is pure gold. I wish there were more
resources for EU startups, including handling VAT issues/invoicing/taxes. If
you have any insights for those areas, please, do share!
------
pavel_lishin
Bug: "Hello there, fellow HN user! If you like this post, I'd really
appreciate an upvote. Read more about hacker news by __null __"
<http://i.imgur.com/zXCGR.png>
~~~
adamcharnock
Wow, thank you for pointing that out!
------
mmcconnell1618
I'm not sure about the UK but in the US the major credit card companies are
requiring merchants to pay for quarterly security scans on their site in order
to stay PCI compliant. Personally, I think PCI is racket designed to collect
more money while deferring losses to merchants but in the US it is another
thing to think about when accepting payment. If you go with an off-site
processor (like paypal express) you don't need to worry about PCI compliance
because the card is not actually handled by your web app.
------
Breefield
Related, but not about the actual article. I had quite a headache trying to
find something affordable a while back:
<http://breefield.tumblr.com/post/849621934> I'll be reading through these
comments and links thoroughly to hopefully find something with no setup fee,
and approx. $15/mo fee.
------
lucindastokes
We are just starting this process so this is a really useful article for us -
thank you for sharing your experience. Payment systems are a minefield and a
recommendation from a company that has 'been there and done that' really
helps. We are PlayNice.ly customers and love your web app!
~~~
adamcharnock
Thank you Lucinda, I hope things go well for you!
From what rexreed says, it looks like we may not have taken the easiest route
here, but I hope it provides some insight.
~~~
lucindastokes
Thanks.
I think rexreed's comment may reflect the difference between the US and UK
systems. We want this set up within a month though so I'll see how quickly we
can do it!
------
jroes
I'm curious, why do people avoid Google Checkout? Same reason as PayPal?
~~~
sjs382
I'd stay away due to the inability to get a hold of support personnel at
Google, but that's just me.
------
ulugbek
rexreed is right, it shouldn't take long to set up the system. Most of the
time is wasted waiting to get approved. I integrated Braintree api in half a
day, while the application process was taking a few days. We had to drop them
and go for paypal because it had a masspay option, otherwise we are looking
for ways to avoid using paypal.
------
jamesstokes
Excellent advice from the guys at PlayNice.ly.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Enterprise Cloudworks: One Platform, No Code, Any Application - Goatmouth
http://enterprisecloudworks.com/
======
karmajunkie
Efforts have been made at graphical programming for decades now, to no avail.
I see those as a far lesser threat than better frameworks and infrastructure
automation that allow fewer programmers to accomplish more in less time. The
real driver of unemployment is productivity.
~~~
gizmo686
The only graphical programming language I have used is Labview, which I
actually found to be good for running basic sensors/actuators.
My biggest complaints about it aren't actually related to the graphical
element, but the tooling itself: long compile times, horrid window management.
The only language level complaint I have is that the data persistence model is
buried in menus, and not readily visible (so if you have a function for
computing a running average, by default, it computes the average of all values
put into the function anywhere in your program, but you can set it to have a
different instance at each spot you put the function).
I wouldn't use it to write things that are typically considered "programs",
but there is a wide range between full programs, and things that we want to be
able to make the computer do
------
bulte-rs
Shameless plug/Me too:
[http://www.bettyblocks.com](http://www.bettyblocks.com)
I work for the company that builds this; and no... I'm NOWHERE getting nervous
about "no code".
On the contrary :D
------
kentosi
Not nervous at all.
This takes me back ten years ago when "SOA" was the buzzword with companies
like IBM selling complex GUIs that allowed you to drag and drop business nodes
around on a page to generate a business workflow: FTP upload here, send a web
service there, connect to legacy system over there, etc.
Sure it looked impressive to managers, but all I could see was clever
marketing that would eventually force customers to hire "SOA consultants"
whenever any of that complex generated Java/XML/etc fell over. So much for no
more developers.
This looks very much like the same thing.
~~~
sebastianavina
damn, so many buzz words I varely remember now.
------
bcg1
Wake me up when they can bootstrap a compiler for graphical programming using
graphical programming itself. Until such time... not that nervous.
------
belzebub
I use Caspio which is essentially a graphical front end for Microsoft SQL. It
is a good product for rapid application development with minimal
administration.
------
davesque
Isn't it against site policy to make up titles for posts? I don't see that
link text anywhere in the linked page's content.
~~~
dang
It is indeed. We didn't see this earlier.
Submitted title was "“No code” is starting to make me nervous".
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Inventing the Future - astigsen
https://www.oculus.com/blog/inventing-the-future/
======
aaronaarzelbart
So much corporate communication is, in the end, just recruiting
advertisements.
These big companies Like Facebook and Amazon need to create gigantic free
universities that are incredibly appealing to attend, giving the corporation
the chance to cream off the most promising new employees.
~~~
danieldk
I am over thirty, so I am permitted to be cynical ;). While I completely agree
that AR and VR are the future and have many recreational and non-recreational
applications, Facebook's goal for VR is to further read user preferences (I
guess that they've wished to have eye tracking on Facebook for ages) and to
inject advertising in more subtle manners.
So, the question is: do you really want to work for Facebook (et al.) and get
the technology patent-locked to be used for reading of, influencing of, and
advertising to people? Or do you want to change the world for the common good?
It is worrying that so much talent gets 'lost' [1] to spying/advertising
companies because universities and non-profits cannot match or come close to
the (personal) benefits of working at such companies.
[1] I am not denying that the big tech companies have provided a lot of
progress.
~~~
humanrebar
> Or do you want to change the world for the common good?
Suggestions?
It seems to me that "lost" effort is a very normal state of things. Even if we
picked a worthy cause and worked cleverly and tirelessly for it, the our
successors could easily come in and trash our work.
It also seems to me that the real "change the world" technologies don't solve
problems but change our day-to-day lives: the printing press, cars, PCs,
radio, television, consumer-focused logistics (Wal-Mart, Amazon delivery),
vaccines, sanitation, running water, electricity, etc. Not all of these things
are good. Not all are bad. But when Silicon Valley people say "change the
world", they don't usually mean "work for (the next) Ford" or "work for (the
next) AT&T".
~~~
AstralStorm
These technologies do solve problems in a big way:
\- printing press solved the problem of mass distribution of written knowledge
and propaganda (By the way, invented by Chinese not Gutenberg but got lost in
political turmoil), also paper money
\- cars solved a problem of slow transport and having to care for fussy
animals
\- radio solved the problem of long range communication
\- vaccines solved the problem of certain recurring plagues
\- likewise sanitation
\- running water solved a problem of having to walk long distances especially
to irrigate crops (aqueducts, Babylonian invention)
\- electricity solved a problem of cheap transport of energy (as opposed to
coal for steam boilers)
Consumer focused logistics is much older than both Wal-Mart and Amazon. And
does not really solve a problem in as much as is an optimization over older
delivery methods.
------
spacetexas
How has he never heard "I want to invent the future", I thought that was
pretty much a staple. I've heard that in business consulting interviews for
years.
------
panic
_Imagine that your glasses replace all your electronic devices – phones, TVs,
computers, e-book readers, game consoles, the whole lot – with virtual
versions, in the process making them inexpensive and instantly upgradeable._
AR can replace these objects visually. But phones have touchscreens, game
consoles have controllers, even TVs have remotes -- how do you interact with
anything in this AR future?
~~~
AstralStorm
Sign language and gestures perhaps?
We're still quite some ways from making this reliable.
Here is a pithy clickbait title: "How the AR will turn us all into Italians"
------
musage
Abrash's Zen of Graphics Programming was my first programming book I really
loved.. still thanks, but no thanks.
> Well, Google has some new, ridiculous thing, they're marketing glasses which
> have a small computer on them. So you can be on the internet 24 hours a day,
> just what you want. It's a way of destroying people,
[http://grittv.org/?video=noam-chomsky-on-secret-trade-
deals-...](http://grittv.org/?video=noam-chomsky-on-secret-trade-deals-
killing-polio-workers-fighting-for-the-commons-in-turkey-the-heroism-of-
bradley-manning)
Call him an old fool for not liking your toy, but I think he has his
priorities straight, which not a lot of people can say for themselves.
> smart, motivated people who want to change the world
People who do things like invent penicillin don't talk about "changing the
world" or "inventing the future" all the time. Orwell enhanced our perspective
on a lot of things but I think he simply wanted to get it out of his system.
Kafka? Wanted his stuff burned. Konrad Zuse? Was painfully aware of the pacts
with the devil, something the "greats" of today just take as axiomatic. I
could go on. Yes, there were also a lot of great people totally full of
themselves, and they still were great. But generally, changing the world for
the better happens in hindsight. Rosa Parks didn't want to end segregation --
not that she didn't want it to end, my point is she was just sick of being
pushed around. That's where most meaningful change happens, humble and
concerned with the thing and not with the change, and _then_ some needy
assholes swoop in and take credit.
These engineers may be exceptional in their fields, but this and all it rubs
shoulders with, in the bigger scheme and considering really great people, both
big and small, is highly driven mediocrity, constantly touting its own horn.
Entertainment and ads, ads and entertainment. Everything's so awesome and
paradigm shifting, as new avenues to fill more landfills with old product are
created. People have specific questions, concerns, needs, desires. Those keep
getting ignored or twisted for profit, while more gimmicks and tools of
surveillance and control are pushed and rationalized. These days, everybody is
aligned with marketing.
I'm slightly sorry for being negative but only for those normal people who are
excited about this stuff. I don't want to pee on _your_ parade. Everybody has
their hobbies, but when people talk about the future and the world and the
human condition and whatnot they're in the territory of greats, and in this
case it's like bringing a footgun to a nuclear war.
At any rate, this isn't some guy starting out in his garage, he'll live and
prosper either way. To be honest, what triggered me mostly is how I cherished
that book, just because it was the first cool one I had. Now it doesn't feel
cool anymore. Otherwise I still have the above thoughts with plenty of stories
or comments, but I just roll my eyes. But this is a master of his field laying
it on _so very_ thickly.
------
crb
Did he hire the candidate?
~~~
CoolGuySteve
No, one of the 8 interviewers thought one of her whiteboard questions was
“correct but not clean enough” and another thought her design interview was
“too disorganized”.
------
anjc
I've read this twice and can't quite understand....why is this Oculus blog
post primarily about how great AR is and the challenges of it? I can see the
paragraphs about their research but is AR on Oculus' product roadmap?
~~~
bildung
_> why is this Oculus blog post primarily about how great AR is and the
challenges of it?_
It's an ad: "I wrote this because it was the most effective way I could think
of to reach out to those exceptional people and get them to consider whether
Oculus Research might be the most exciting, fulfilling, interesting place for
them to spend the next however many years."
~~~
cocktailpeanuts
It being an ad has nothing to do with whether they're working on AR or not.
They have tons of money, they know that AR will be an important battleground,
and AR is related to VR.
They would be incredibly foolish NOT to at least try to get into AR.
~~~
aaronaarzelbart
I dispute that AR either is, or will be important.
Beyond Pokémon Go of course, which was something of a rarity.
I just can't think of compelling use cases, and no one has ever showed one to
me that has impressed.
Mine craft on your coffee table? I think it's a silly curiosity. I want to get
OUT of my lounge room when gaming, not be stuck in it ... MOVE YOUR DIRTY
COFFEE CUPS OFF THE TABLE I WANT TO PLAY MINECRAFT ON IT... no one will ever
say.
~~~
hobofan
You mean having all the information you want proactively projected in you
field of view, instead of having to take out your phone and search for it
doesn't sound appealing to you?
I'm probably on the opposite side then. I worry that AR will be so appealing
that people will willingly give away their last shred of privacy.
~~~
aaronaarzelbart
This use case is saying "it's a monitor, up close".
Yet another screen doesn't excite me.
~~~
TeMPOraL
It's a monitor, up close, that reacts in real-time to what's in front of you
and _augments it_ (hence the name) with additional information. Preferably in
a wearable format, so that you can have both your hands free to do the work.
------
Geee
Would it be easier to just completely replace our eyes and directly modulate
the optic nerve? From engineering point of view - that actually seems more
reasonable.
~~~
Certhas
No, almost certainly not. We can't even interface with nerve cells directly,
effectively to operate limbs. That's many orders of magnitude less information
than the optical nerve. Peripheral nerve interfaces that can actually get good
performance are quite a way off.
Plus, from what I remember there is a significant amount of preprocessing done
before the optic nerve. But we don't really know what exactly it is.
Edit: There actually are several projects that look at artificial retinas,
making use of most of the eyes nervous system and only replacing the outermost
layer:
[http://www.artificialretina.energy.gov/](http://www.artificialretina.energy.gov/)
[http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/v16/n6/full/nmat4874.html](http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/v16/n6/full/nmat4874.html)
~~~
Geee
Well, we can't focus light at will either. But yes, probably an artificial
retina of some sort will be a working solution.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
FFTs and Optical Lenses - skierscott
http://scottsievert.github.io/blog/2014/05/27/fourier-transforms-and-optical-lenses/
======
mgraczyk
Interesting topic, but one thing should be made clear for people without an
engineering/applied mathematics background.
The FFT is not the same as the fourier transform. Most of the time the
distinction is irrelevant, but in this case it truly does matter. The
transformed signal measured with the lens is the result of a sampled
continuous space fourier transform (CSFT). The FFT computed is the discrete
space fourier transform. The two are not always equivalent.
I bring this up because the author uses the terms "fourier transform" and
"FFT" interchangeably.
~~~
skierscott
You are correct; the FFT or DFT is not the same thing as the continuous-time
Fourier transform (CFT).
This technical report[1] examining the relation between the DFT and CFT shows
in eq. 20 that the DFT is just the CFT evaluated at w=k _2_ pi/(N*T). As N
becomes large (number of pixels is large), this approaches the CFT.
I left this detail out; I wanted to put this in terms the reader knew.
[1]:[http://bsp.pdx.edu/Reports/BSP-
TR0201.pdf](http://bsp.pdx.edu/Reports/BSP-TR0201.pdf)
~~~
panic
If you just left out one "F" from "FFT" it would be more precise and less
confusing. Is there any reason to bring the Fast Fourier Transform algorithm
up at all?
------
frozenport
I work with optics, there is a lot wrong in this article. I would hold the
upvotes until these problems are fixed.
#1. This relationship only holds at focal points
#2. Nothing to do with Fast Fourier Transform
#3. No mention of complex part of FT
#4. No derivation of why this is the case
~~~
gsteinb88
Also, ignores that Fourier optics only holds for the paraxial approximation
(i.e. the small angle approximation). I'd put the rule of thumb somewhere
around a numerical aperture of 0.3 [0] -- beyond that, polarization effects
start to come into play, and beyond 0.5-0.6, it becomes an issue in, for
example, microscopy.
[0]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerical_aperture](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerical_aperture)
\-- Similar to f-number from photography, and describes how big the aperture
of the lens is in relation to its focal length. Specifically, it's the sine of
the angle from the optical axis to the ray extending from the focal point to
the edge of the lens, for a single lens system.
~~~
frozenport
>>around a numerical aperture of 0.3
From experience you are being overly conservative. Foremost polarization
effects depend on the rigidity of your surface and the bandwidth of your light
source. The correction is minimal. Most importantly oil immersion 1.4 NA is
common and nobody complains.
>>Also, ignores that Fourier optics
Although there is another good point. After making the born approximation you
get this kind of dish shape in the Fourier transform, but on the other hand
the dish is compensated on both sides of the lense
~~~
gsteinb88
Ah yeah, to be fair it's not a _huge_ correction, but in what I do (single-
mode confocal microscopy) it definitely becomes an issue around NA=0.3 when
trying to characterize spot sizes and collection efficiency functions. Namely,
the overlap integrals can change significantly if your source is also
polarized. Also, I'm probably more sensitive to these things than most since
I'm at the single-photon level usually.
------
tanvach
Wow this brings back some memories! I spent a long time doing research in this
area. You can do very cool stuff by realizing that spatial light pattern
propagates as Fourier transform with a "spherical" term in the integral
(having a perfect convex lens at the focal point cancels this term, hence
Fourier transform. Also if laser propagates to sufficient large distance, the
term vanishes. A lensless, diffractive projector will always be in focused).
Note that you need a coherent, planar light source like an expanded laser
beam.
------
quarterwave
One interesting point is why is the far-field amplitude of light diffracted by
the lens a spatial Fourier transform? The best explanation I know of is in
Chapter 21 of the Feynman Lectures on Physics (vol 2), accessible online
(thanks to CalTech) at
[http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_21.html#Ch21-S3](http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_21.html#Ch21-S3)
In short: Moving charges create electromagnetic radiation (light). Since light
travels at non-infinite speed, when a wiggle of light reaches us, we're
actually seeing the imprint of the motion of the source charges at an earlier
point in time. This earlier time is clearly related to how far the observer is
from the source. Hence, if the distance is r then at time t we would be seeing
the wiggle of the source charge at an earlier time = t - r/c. For a collection
of source charges we need to integrate the delayed source potential over the
volume of the source, so it's intuitively clear why that would be a Fourier
transform.
There's technicalities of far-field and 1/r fall-off, which I've glossed over,
you can find full details in Chapter 21. The final line is a gem: 'You will
not, then, be surprised to find that the laws of electricity and magnetism are
already correct for Einstein's relativity. We will not have to “fix them up,”
as we had to do for Newton's laws of mechanics.'
------
chrisBob
My favorite example of using a lens for a FT is creating a dark field image.
You just put a small beam block in the center of a pupil plane and block all
of the low frequency components. You end up with bright lines only at the
edges of things which are the high frequency components of the image.
Also "google images" isn't an image source, and just because you found
something on the internet doesn't mean it is free to use.
------
d136o
There are already several comments here from people who are knowledgeable on
the topic, so I might not be fully correct in the following:
I think x-ray crystallography applies similar techniques to try to work
backwards from an image of diffracted light to the crystallized molecular
structure that would have created the (transform) of light to yield the image.
For example, you have some compound, say DNA, and want to know its molecular
shape. I think one of the methods that Rosalind Franklin and company used was
to take crystallized DNA, shoot x-rays at it, and study the resulting
diffraction pattern(s) to determine that DNA had to be a helical structure
with atoms bonding at such and such angles. And if that's not clear enough I
hope it doesn't escape you to note that it immediately suggests a mechanism
for DNA replication hah.
That's hastily written and just tying random facts from undergrad so feel free
to correct/add/disprove at will I am sure there are some commenters who know
way more in much more detail. I do miss the full time learning days!
~~~
SixSigma
The took the photos but Francis Crick used LSD to help him imagine what the
shadow was they were looking at.
------
aortega
Yes, FFT is an algorithm, a computer-optimized implementation of the Fourier
transform.
Speaking of optics, the famous slit-experiment, where you can see the
diffraction patterns of light passing through one or more slits, is the
fraunhoffer-pattern, the 2D fourier transform of the slit:
[http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/94852/why-is-
the-...](http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/94852/why-is-the-
fraunhoffer-pattern-the-fourier-transform-of-the-slit)
------
neltnerb
I think the most memorable thing I learned in quantum mechanics is that
quantum mechanical scattering is also exactly the fourier transform. Suddenly
braggs law became much more sensible.
~~~
frozenport
>>is also exactly the fourier transform
No, this is only under the 1st born approximation, in the far-field and
without the 'dish' shape intrinsic to propagation. A lot of times this model
doesn't work. Also now you are in the momentum space which doesn't map
immediately to the x,y,z coordinates you might have started with. Also the
evanescent fields that the Ewald sphere didn't include...
~~~
neltnerb
Hehe, well, thanks for the correction. Yes on all of these things, I'm sure.
I should have said "the exact solution for the most basic justifiable
approximation". Honestly, it's been 9 years since I last did quantum
seriously, so that was the extent that I remembered.
Deriving Bragg's law in front of my quals committee and refusing to use
"mirror planes" despite it being a Materials Science Ph.D. was just viscerally
satisfying. It may not have been absolutely correct math, but at least it was
way more justifiable than the typical accepted "solution" in my field =)
------
jwise0
Ben Krasnow also did a good piece on this, showing a system that he built with
a 4F correlator. Of course, his piece is full of things that look like things
you could build at home if you had infinite resources on hand ... but it
really does drive home just how possible it is to build this system, and
provides a very intuitive view of how it works.
His piece is:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcRB3TWIAXE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcRB3TWIAXE)
------
ocfnash
A very interesting application of this point of view was a proposed projector
of Light Blue Optics. The projector would have the property that it was near
100% efficient: it would essentially steer the light to the desired locations
(rather than blocking it out where it was not desired).
The idea is outlined briefly here:
[http://redfrontdoor.org/blog/?p=409](http://redfrontdoor.org/blog/?p=409)
~~~
gjm11
(Mathematician at Light Blue Optics here.)
Unfortunately that near-100%-efficiency wasn't quite realised in practice, for
several reasons. I think I can describe some of them without giving away
anything commercially sensitive:
1\. The spatial light modulator we used didn't give anything like the 180
degrees of phase rotation outlined there, which means that a large fraction of
the light landing on it passed straight through.
2\. Having only two phase states leads, as mentioned in that page, to a
conjugate image with as much light in it as the one we actually want.
3\. All that random noise does indeed average out nicely when you have many
"subframes". But since there's no such thing as negative light, parts of the
image that are meant to be black will inevitably end up something other than
black. So there's a loss of contrast, which means that some of the light in
the image isn't really doing you much good.
4\. The optical design has a bunch of lenses and mirrors and things in it, and
every surface is an opportunity to lose a little bit of light.
The actual optical efficiency figure was, let's say, somewhat less than 100%.
(Also, for every frame we displayed we had to compute a lot of Fourier
transforms, and the compute hardware takes power too. Which wouldn't matter
for large mains-powered projectors, but is more of an issue when you're trying
to make a small low-power device for mobile use.)
We had some next-generation technology in the works that would (if brought to
completion) have fixed most of these issues and produced better efficiency
along with better image quality -- but then we made the (very sensible)
decision to get out of the picoprojection market completely.
~~~
ocfnash
Fascinating, I've wondered a few times over the past year or so why the ideas
were shelved.
Each of your points is very illuminating. It's such a nice idea that it's a
shame it turned out not to be worth pursuing from a business point of view.
Perhaps some day somebody will take up those next-generation ideas!
------
Ono-Sendai
We use the FFT to simulate aperture diffraction in our computer-generated
images. Example:
[http://www.indigorenderer.com/sites/default/files/features_a...](http://www.indigorenderer.com/sites/default/files/features_aperture_diffraction.jpg)
| {
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DIY on the Moon: how Buzz saved the launch back to Earth - dlnovell
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article6625673.ece
======
ckinnan
Cool story. I learned something else from the comments-- the Apollo missions
left reflecting mirrors on the moon and we have been pinging them with lasers
ever since. Good ammo to debunk the Apollo hoax nutters.
<http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/21jul_llr.htm>
~~~
mhb
Because people who believe that Apollo was a hoax would surely be convinced by
instrumentation asserting that a laser is bouncing off a mirror those guys
left there.
~~~
sneakums
They can buy their own damn lasers and try it themselves.
~~~
randallsquared
Have you ever tried to convince someone of something which they were skeptical
about, but had little knowledge about? It's hard. They're suspicious of
everything they learn about it, because they're obviously aware that all the
people who know about it claim the thing they're skeptical about. They're
looking for the trick, where it all goes wrong, and if they don't see it, they
often just decide that they missed it, rather than that everything is on the
level.
There are probably things you have the same attitudes about: astrology,
alchemy, global warming, macroeconomics, or whatever. You don't bother to
study these things enough to refute them, but you might notice that the people
who've invested years in such study all seem convinced (at least, most of the
vocal ones, James Randi aside :]). Note that I'm not saying that those things
are all equally valid or invalid. Just to be clear.
I know people who will refuse to agree with perfectly reasonable, obvious
assertions because they're afraid that a series of such will "trick" them into
changing their mind where we disagree.
~~~
sneakums
Yeah, I just thought it was time for a little bullish naïveté.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Using fabric with EthOS - degconnect
https://github.com/degconnect/ethos-fabric
======
antmor70
So you can do
degflasher([http://flasher.degconnect.com](http://flasher.degconnect.com))
using your fabric file too. Is it really easy to flash RX 570 4GB using it?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
FCC approves 100% foreign ownership of U.S. broadcast properties [pdf] - aaronbrethorst
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-20-568A1.pdf
======
genjipress
"...the ruling is subject to the requirement that Cumulus obtain specific
approval for any foreign individual, entity, or group of such individuals or
entities that holds, or would hold, directly and/or indirectly, more than five
percent (or more than 10 percent for certain institutional investors) of the
equity and/or voting interests, or a controlling interest, in the company."
~~~
antonzabirko
Which would be trivial when those individuals are lobbying the decision makers
and bankrolling fcc-supporting entities.
------
mef
for anyone else mislead by the title, this is not a blanket change but looks
to be an exception being granted to an entity that owns 450 radio broadcast
station licenses
~~~
inetknght
That... isn't misleading...?
------
nogbit
Ya, this is going to end well for us.
From wikipedia... Cumulus Media, Inc. is an American broadcasting company and
is the third largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the
United States behind Entercom and iHeartMedia, Inc. As of June 2019, Cumulus
lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 media markets.
------
unstatusthequo
Queue China...
~~~
jmole
Cue
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Wal-Mart Returning To Full-Time Workers - TheLegace
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/09/25/wal-mart-returning-to-full-time-workers-obamacare-not-such-a-job-killer-after-all/1/
======
michaelwww
I was surprised to see this in Forbes but the author says _" I write from the
left on politics and policy."_ and _" I am a Senior Political Contributor at
Forbes and the official 'token lefty,' as the title of the page suggests.
However, writing from the 'left of center' should not be confused with writing
for the left as I often annoy progressives just as much as I upset
conservative thinkers."_
I applaud Forbes for having opposing viewpoints and also applaud the author
for defending himself vigorously in the comment section from the more
conservative readers. A good time was had by all as far as I can tell.
~~~
revelation
It's Forbes, they have thousands of "contributors" and their site is nothing
but a shell of blogspam now.
Make no mistake, there is no editing going on.
~~~
eropple
This isn't completely true. Rick Ungar is an actual published writer with a
nontrivial history (most of it outside of politics--he was head of Marvel
Productions for a while). He appears on Fox News--such as that is--programs as
the token liberal.
------
jobu
My favorite bit in the whole article:
"[Walmart] now hires people to work with its employees to help them sign up
for Medicaid ..."
So Walmart cares about the health of it's employees, just not enough to
provide them with a reasonable health care option.
~~~
maratd
> So Walmart cares about the health of it's employees, just not enough to
> provide them with a reasonable health care option.
Walmart is not a person. It does not care one way or another. Not because it's
evil, but because it's not a person. It can't care. About anything.
This entire "don't be evil" crap has really got to stop.
Corporations respond to incentives, not moral arguments.
If we, as a society, have decided that we want employers to completely provide
for the health of their employees, that's fine. We should make laws requiring
them to do so, with penalties in tow for non-compliance.
But please stop the entire "they just don't care!" crap. They're not supposed
to. They're corporations, not people.
And yes, I know people run those corporations. Those people have fiduciary
responsibilities to their stockholders, not to your moral compass. This is
something resolved on a societal level, not on the corporate level.
~~~
shiftpgdn
Then shouldn't Costco cut all of its employees salaries by half? They are a
publicly traded company as well you know...
~~~
npc
I think the whole point is that "should" and "shouldn't" simply aren't very
useful concepts when dealing with corporations, like talking about what a
slime mold should or shouldn't do. Getting morally outraged at WalMart is like
getting really indignant about what plantar fasciitis is up to. Individuals
will respond to moral accusations, but corporations are really only
effectively controlled via legislation.
~~~
nikatwork
> _Getting morally outraged at WalMart is like getting really indignant about
> what plantar fasciitis is up to._
Except plantar fasciitis doesn't have a CEO, board or steering committee. Or a
public reputation.
> _but corporations are really only effectively controlled via legislation._
That's true, but it doesn't mean we can't publicly shame corporations when
they act in bad faith. Incorporation is not some magical get-out-of-ethics-
jail-free card.
------
tzs
NOTE! The submitter linked to the second page of a two page story. For those
who want to start at page 1, try this:
[http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/09/25/wal-mart-
re...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/09/25/wal-mart-returning-to-
full-time-workers-obamacare-not-such-a-job-killer-after-all/1/)
~~~
TheLegace
Oh my gosh, I could have sworn I was on the first page.
Sorry about that.
------
bane
Oh, you mean when I can't buy things because they aren't on the shelves
because there's nobody available to move them from the loading dock to the
shelf, and I don't want to shop there anyway because the entire store is in
disarray because there aren't enough employees to clean up the products that
sales might drop?
~~~
derleth
On the other side of the coin, there also aren't enough employees to stop
shoplifters and it's policy that they can't really challenge them anyway.
------
gwright
The author claims that shelves weren't being stocked because the employee mix
had been shifted towards part-time workers.
OK, accurate or not, it says nothing at all about the total number of
available 'worker-hours' just that the full/part-time mix had changed. It
simply doesn't follow logically that there would be a shortage of labor just
because the mix changed.
~~~
nathos
Is it possible that full-time workers would be more experienced and/or better
motivated, resulting in increased productivity per worker?
~~~
runamok
They treat employees like crap and pay them as little as possible. Thus they
get exactly what they pay for; sullen workers who do the bare minimum not to
get fired.
------
TheLegace
>Wal-Mart’s competitor, Costco, a company that experienced a 19 percent
increase in profits in Q2 2013 while paying its employees 40 percent more on
average (the average Costco wage is $21.96 per hour) than what a Wal-Mart
worker can earn. In that same quarter, Wal-Mart numbers revealed the company
is going nowhere fast given its current state of operations.
>the availability of a store clerk to get to the rather critical job of moving
the merchandise from the box to the shelf where a customer can actually
purchase it. But when there are insufficient numbers of store clerks
available—due to Wal-Mart’s commitment to using temporary workers or busting
its full-time employees down to part-time so as to avoid worker benefit—the
products Wal-Mart sells stay off the shelves and unavailable for customers to
purchase.
------
adventured
Some parts of this article may be correct, however this:
"For anyone who has not been following the Wal-Mart saga, sales have been
sinking dramatically at the retailer as the company has turned to hiring
mostly temporary workers"
... is simply wrong. Sales (from the '13 annual report):
FY09: $401b | FY10: $405b | FY11: $419b | FY12: $444b | FY13: $466b
Sales are sinking dramatically at the retailer? At best that's ignorance, at
worst a sensational lie.
~~~
michaelwww
Sales are up around the world. He is referring to U.S. stores that are
affected by domestic health care law changes.
[http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142412788732354920...](http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323549204578317782804145490)
------
FredDollen
"In fact, Wal-Mart’s unwillingness to pay most of their workers a livable
wage"
Wal-Mart is paying their workers what the market will bear. In fact, it can be
argued they are paying MORE than the market can bear, since they have 25
applicants for every opening.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Predicting the Future with Google Maps APIs - Oatseller
http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2015/11/predicting-future-with-google-maps-apis.html
======
bambax
Can someone please explain what this means:
> _up to now, [traffic predictions] [were] limited to Google Maps for Work
> customers only.
> Today [...] we’re making all traffic features in Directions API and Distance
> Matrix API available under our Standard Plan, and increasing the waypoint
> limit in Directions API for these developers from 8 to 23 waypoints.
> (Traffic features and higher waypoint limits in the JavaScript Maps API are
> available to Google Maps for Work customers for now.)_
Does it mean that the new traffic predictions, as well as the increased
waypoints limits, are not accessible via the JavaScript API except for Google
Maps for Work customers, but they are accessible to the general public via
some other API? What is the non-JavaScript Maps API?
~~~
Oatseller
Does it mean that the new traffic predictions, as well as the
increased waypoints limits, are not accessible via the JavaScript API
except for Google Maps for Work customers, but they are accessible to
the general public via some other API?
It appears so, but they state "for now" so I'm guessing it will be available
(hopefully) soon.
What is the non-JavaScript Maps API?
There are Java and Python client libraries:
[https://developers.google.com/maps/web-services/client-
libra...](https://developers.google.com/maps/web-services/client-library)
------
bitcuration
Wow, I just thought about it this morning due I miscalculated the commute time
from home to a far place I don't usually commute. Checking on traveling time
last night didn't give me when factor in the morning traffic. I only wished if
Google gets smarter so travel planning can be more realistic.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Trump Shutdown Must End - joelx
https://joelx.com/trumps-shutdown-must-end/14546/
======
taylodl
We'll see what happens once the airports shut down. If not this paycheck then
certainly the next - air traffic controllers are going to strike and then it's
Game Over. Trump may declare the strike illegal, but the court case currently
proceeding from the union is going to argue otherwise. Since no one has missed
a paycheck yet then technically no one is not being paid to work. Once
Friday's paychecks are missed the government is in breach of contract. This
could get really interesting really fast.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How we turned a hobby into a dream work - toround
We are a team of creative, business people with vast array of ideas, projects and tasks. We need to intelligently manage our time. We tried many different task managers, but none of the existing solutions answered our demands. That is why we decided to create a task manager, which will satisfy all our needs. The idea became a challenging task for us, since on the one hand, we wanted our to-do app to be a full-fledged task manager, and on the other – we needed a solution that is very simple and easy to use. Another important thing we kept in mind while designing our task manager is that just a quick glance at the main screen should give you an idea of how important a task is. After a series of brainstorming sessions, we created our unique main screen – the funnel, where each task is shown as a bubble and the task importance is represented by the bubble size, the bigger the bubble the more important is the task to be done. The title To Round reflects the concept of a task manager where tasks are represented as bubbles.<p>We quickly developed the prototype, and after just a few months our web app went live! We were the first to use the app, then we told about it our friends, they shared with their friends and so on. The result was a viral effect, and several thousand people registered on our website in the next few days after the release. Our first users left us comments and gave us kind advices on how to improve To Round. At first, we made To Round just for ourselves, but we were so touched to find out that people really do like it, that we decided to continue developing the product. In the summer of 2015, we managed to attract a private investor, which gave us additional resources and allowed to expand the team, launch the Telegram bot, and release iOS and Android apps that our devoted users waited for.<p>Now for us important know your opinions. So, please use visual task manager To Round in the case and share your opinion with us. https://to-round.com
======
fastbird
Tried on ios. To many moving for me. Your app is unusual tape of to-do mb good
4 young kids, but not for business.
------
George322
The most creative way to manage personal tasks. Thanks a lot guys, will share
with friends
------
David007
Fun idea, guys. Good luck to you!
------
AnnaSaaS
Great idea! Good job
------
Pacan
Super puper!
| {
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Time interviews Larry Page about new venture to extend human life - raldi
http://business.time.com/2013/09/18/google-extend-human-life/
======
manifold
> One of the things I thought was amazing is that if you solve cancer, you’d
> add about three years to people’s average life expectancy ... it’s not as
> big an advance as you might think.
Thinking about improving total life expectancy in this way is not so useful
because the large gains have already been made. For instance if no-one in the
UK ever died between birth and age 60 it would only add 2-5 years to life
expectancy at birth. 100 years ago the same situation would have added 20-25
years.
Perhaps more interesting would be to look at increasing the maximum life span,
reducing the variance about the age of death, increasing the median age of
death, or to consider the effect of curing cancer/other diseases on healthy
life expectancy which I think could still be meaningfully increased.
------
richardjordan
Extended life is great, provided you solve the problems of over-population /
birth rate exceeding death rate, and resource depletion. The carrying capacity
of the planet is limited. Technology and ideas don't replace physics and
chemistry.
So, can we radically extend life? Probably, with sufficient research.
But without solving the other two issues it raises huge problems. Unless of
course we're talking a tiny immortal class controlling all the world's wealth
and dwindling resources, and the rest with no access to it.
~~~
julespitt
Why are we limited to this planets resources exclusively?
~~~
rizzom5000
I think the answer to that in the part where the parent mentions physics and
chemistry.
Until we can provably show that resources outside of Earth are available for
human consumption, and within some range of feasibility; it's not valid to use
the argument that the potential availability of said resources are a solution
to the magnification of natural resource depletion on Earth caused by
overpopulation.
~~~
julespitt
Resources outside of Earth are available for human consumption provably. Alas,
just at astronomical prices presently.
I understand that it is rather prudent to presume to act as if we are limited
solely to Earth's resources - because we are right now - but to be reflexibly
dismissive of space exploration as an avenue to be actively pursued to remedy
such issues is simply not constructive.
~~~
richardjordan
Those prices are merely a proxy for the complexity and resources necessary to
go and mine off-world resources. We need a highly complex economic and
manufacturing system to remain in place for a long period despite increased
pressures of resource depletion and overpopulation and the commensurate rise
in instability; we need to use huge amounts of resources to create a space
program - materials and energy; energy - all of the above requires huge
petrochemical inputs which are finite and depleting rapidly. There was only 1
cubic mile of oil in the world and we're half way through it and what's left
is being sucked out faster than ever before and is harder to get to (EROEI).
------
Terretta
Why isn't anyone mentioning that this is coming not long after Google hired
Ray Kurzweil?
[http://www.kurzweilai.net/monolith-when-google-hired-ray-
kur...](http://www.kurzweilai.net/monolith-when-google-hired-ray-kurzweil)
Now he can put Google's resources to work on the problem.
~~~
yolesaber
I wonder what capacity he is operating in with regards to this project. I was
actually surprised that he wasn't named as the CEO of Calico.
------
pamparosendo
Life expectancy is increasing, but quality is decreasing... we've been made to
die; not live forever... but some egos just can't stand it.
| {
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13900+ of these devices have their password as “123456” - DyslexicAtheist
https://twitter.com/ankit_anubhav/status/1017836336672399361
======
fencepost
I haven't tested, but this appears to be (mostly) "Unidentified" and a few
LANDesk Remote Control or Remote Management. That makes me wonder if they all
are, and whether they are in fact remote console/desktop access to systems.
------
contravariant
Is anyone able to clarify what 'these devices' refers to?
~~~
moondev
port 37777 looks to be commonly used for tcp video streaming
[https://www.cctvcameraworld.com/port-forwarding-for-dvr-
and-...](https://www.cctvcameraworld.com/port-forwarding-for-dvr-and-nvr/)
------
gruez
Obligatory reminder that trying to access one of these devices is a felony
(under the CFAA). You probably probably won't be prosecuted, but it's a
possibility.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Internap evacuates LGA datacenter - brokentone
http://pastebin.com/9Fr2eW6U
======
KyleBrandt
Stackoverflow and Stack Exchange are usually hosted in that building at peer
1, but we failed over to our secondary dc out in OR ealier in the evening.
------
lucb1e
It's interesting to see how a storm can singlehandedly cut out some major
websites and cause millions to go without power. I think it shows how fragile
this tech world really is, and how little we should rely on it in case of a
major disaster.
~~~
achille
Don't underestimate "a storm". A hurricane releases about 1.3 x 10^17
joules/day [1] of raw kinetic energy (wind), and that's not including rain and
flooding. That's equivalent to 31 megatons per day. The most powerful US
nuclear weapons today are about 25 megatons.
[1] - <http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/D7.html>
------
rossjudson
Here's the part I don't understand. This was a record 13 foot storm surge. Is
it true that, had the pumps been located above the storm surge, service would
have continued uninterrupted? It sounds like everything else in their data
center is just fine.
This makes it seem like there was a serious design flaw. These pumps were a
critical part of the system, but were located in a vulnerable area.
~~~
aes256
I'm guessing a complete evacuation of the building would have been required
regardless, which makes things a little trickier.
Would they be able — or would it be advisable — to leave the fuel pumping,
generators running and all operations unaffected without any staff on site?
------
sgill
F*$cked
Ironic they tweeted this re AWS 12h ago: Internap @Internap Could
'Frankenstorm' Lead To Another AWS #Outage? <http://onforb.es/Vtr45J>
~~~
acdha
Did you by any chance save that? They deleted it…
------
ChuckMcM
I really don't know what the proper procedure should be in a data center when
the big klaxon goes off and you here those fateful words over the intercom,
"Close all doors, DIVE, DIVE, DIVE!"
~~~
shimms
If it is a halon equipped datacenter you listen. And then do as it says.
Quickly.
~~~
ChuckMcM
So true, my first experience with halon was a briefing at IBM about their
machine room policies (I was a student intern) and they stressed that when the
fire alarm went off, even if you knew there wasn't a fire, you evacuated the
room because when the halon dumped if you didn't have your own source of
oxygen it was game over.
------
frozenport
Clouds are bad for cloud computing.
~~~
silentOpen
Virtual machines can migrate at lightspeed?
------
brokentone
Update at 10:17ET <http://pastebin.com/NUQNHHJi> Interesting they don't have a
public status page of any sort.
------
Zaheer
Lifehacker/Gizmodo and its affiliate sites are down too
~~~
yuhong
<http://qz.com/21606/how-hurricane-sandy-broke-the-internet/>
[http://buzzfeed.tumblr.com/post/34607165930/major-media-
isp-...](http://buzzfeed.tumblr.com/post/34607165930/major-media-isp-goes-
down)
------
patrickgzill
Are they unable to bypass the destroyed pumps and take fuel to the generators
via 55-gallon drums? If so, why not?
~~~
mikescar
The building is being evacuated.
~~~
patrickgzill
So why didn't they do it earlier? That was my point. Of course you have to
keep your people safe, but this shows poor planning.
~~~
greyboy
How long would some <X> 55-gallon drums full of fuel have helped, anyway? Most
_cars_ can easily run through 55 gallons of fuel in a matter of hours (<10),
much less a datacenter!
There well may have been poor planning at some point, but these things happen
so infrequently there must be an allowance for this-is-a-disaster that cannot
easily be worked around.
Another question is for the customers: are they running all their services
from a single datacenter? Sounds like it shows poor planning.
~~~
patrickgzill
It is an easy question to answer, e.g. <http://www.pmsi-
inc.com/pdf/GeneracPowerSystem.pdf> shows 1MW generator uses about 63 gallons
per hour, just a little more than 1 drum.
I don't know the size of the facility, so I can't tell how many drums it would
take, per hour, to keep the place running.
~~~
greyboy
So, now they're expected to move around an unknown quantity of 400-500 lb
55-gallon drums of fuel? And where would they have sourced these so easily and
quickly (another unknown, I would think)?
We don't know how much energy is being used nor how much fuel is required to
run the generator(s) per hour, among other things. That seems like a lot of
important information that's missing to call this situation 'poor planning.'
But, I'll respond to your single datapoint with mine: according to [1] that's
2 full drums for every one hour of generator running.
My point isn't to be simple argumentative but to look at things from a more
appropriate perspective. Generators in these circumstances (and my
professional experience) are not meant for very long periods or indefinite
usage.
I'm filing this proposed drum-filling plan into the 'unrealistic' category.
1) <http://datacentersmadesimple.com/tech_highlights.html>
~~~
patrickgzill
Try to see it from a different perspective: customers are paying (my guess)
$800 per rack, per month, plus power and bandwidth charges; and a rack takes
up 30 square feet once you include the space around that rack.
So almost $30 per square foot for just the raw space alone. $360 per square
foot per year is a high rent, even for NYC.
And what is the client supposed to get for his money? Reliability! The
engineering and facilities management expertise to ensure this, is baked into
the costs.
You ask, "so now they are expected to move 55 gallon drums of fuel"?
_ABSOLUTELY_ they are expected to do that. The only "appropriate perspective"
is that the clients are paying a lot of money for the datacenter to do
whatever needs to be done.
They had a week of warning to source these; they already have a long-standing
relationship with their fuel supplier for diesel delivery, so they call him up
and say "Joe, we need 20 drums of diesel in addition to topping up the tanks
we have" and they arrive in the next 2 days.
These diesel generators are basically modified / tuned versions of a big truck
or marine diesel, which has a rebuild interval of 500K to 1 million miles if
used as a truck engine or some high number of operating hours (like 10,000
hours). Perhaps you are thinking of LPG, natgas or gasoline powered gensets,
which are designed for less frequent use.
I researched all aspects of building a DC years ago and realized that even if
I could raise the $5 million to do an entry level one, my effort was best
spent elsewhere.
Customers punish downtime, this DC will lose clients, be sure of it.
Aside: there was a guy in New Orleans who kept his DC running all through
Hurricane Katrina and after it - if you search the site at <http://mgno.com>
with terms like "diesel drums" you will find his old posts. Can't seem to
easily link to these old posts, though.
~~~
greyboy
I'm well aware of these generators with two shipping-container sized units
right outside my building, tested fequently. So, I concede and simply
disagree.
I agree they will likely lose some customers but I disagree that there was too
much they can do now. Were they in the mandatory evacuation zone? (I don't
know) Will 20 drums (10-ish hours) really help if this is a multi-day outage?
Did the customers plan for a failover to another datacenter, or put all their
eggs in one basket? (oops!)
------
tlrobinson
See also <https://twitter.com/DEVOPS_PORN>
------
kalleboo
So they have more sense than DirectNIC had during Katrina
<http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2005/09/68725>
------
brokentone
Internap LGA11 lost power at 11:48AM ET <http://pastebin.com/6AxvbzF1>
------
jart
Some websites affected by catastrophe: OccupyWallSt.org, Alternet.org
------
KevBurnsJr
Internap's cloud service taken down by Sandy's cloud service.
| {
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Bank Hackers Steal Millions via Malware - mparramon
http://nautil.us/issue/21/information/how-i-taught-my-computer-to-write-its-own-musichttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/world/bank-hackers-steal-millions-via-malware.html
======
dredmorbius
Page not found.
| {
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The email, data and privacy implications of Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn - zhuxuefeng1994
https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/16/the-email-data-and-privacy-implications-of-microsofts-acquisition-of-linkedin/
======
brudgers
Microsoft paid about $60 per member. That's not counting the value of
Linkedin's assets or revenue streams. Linkedin members are probably
monitizable at higher rates than a typical Facebook member...and perhaps in
more respectable and more useful {to the member} ways.
| {
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What language has the quickest payback? - biznerd
I've tried numerous times to pick up programming in my free time. I'm not dumb (actually smart when it comes to SAT tests) but I've always failed.<p>Looking back, I think what hurts me is the feedback loop. To get a job in programming would take 6 months+ of hard work. Sitting by the computer every night vs spending time on a hobby eventually becomes a hard decision. This is especially true when the coding becomes more tedious and I must reach out for help.<p>This time around I plan on hiring a tutor. Also I think it would be good to link it to easy odesk/freelance work. I plan on moving to a 3rd world country in two years, so its not unreasonable to assume that if I do good work it could provide a decent standard of living.<p>I'm more money-oriented than many people seem here (I don't have some cool side project I've been dying to build). I think it would be good to use odesk/freelancer as a motivator because:
1) Forced deadlines. I have several abandoned programming projects
2) Pay. This amounts to beer money in the States but it would help as I'm a student. But also for the potential to live abroad in the future.<p>Which is the best language or framework for this? PHP? Cakephp? I'm guessing something like wordpress or joomla, but could be wrong.<p>Again, the greatest threat of this is me spending a month reading a coding book, starting a side project and never finishing it before becoming proficient.
======
saluki
Don't read a coding book . . . you need to work through the examples and code
along with the book.
I recommend starting with (this is the same advice I usually give everyone
just getting their feet wet):
Head First HTML and CSS
Work along with it using Sublime Text (editor) and MAMP or WAMP (OSX or
Windows, I recommend using a mac if possible).
After working through part of that book. Buy a domain and a hostgator account
learn about DNS, point your A record to your hostgator account and start
FTP'ing (Filezilla client) up a website to your hosting, view on your domain.
Once you complete that book, learn some javascript/jQuery, there are head
first books for those too, but I think you can learn this from the web.
teamtreehouse.com is a great place to learn.
Next back to Head First PHP and MySQL. Work through that book, working locally
and on your hosting account.
I would stay away from odesk now upwork and try find local clients first or
connect with friends/clients online (craigslist and twitter are better than
upwork), better pay, less headaches.
Once you have some PHP and MySQL knowledge next I'd recommend Wordpress. There
is a head first book for that too.
Install wordpress on MAMP/WAMP locally and on your hosting account. Install
some free themes and free plugins. Modify a theme, make some posts.
Wordpress is a popular ecosystem and there is lots of work there.
Leveling up beyond the items above is creating web applications.
You can create a simple one from scratch using PHP and MySQL this is a good
way to learn the inner workings of an app from scratch. Once you explore that
for an app or two you can move on to a framework.
For frameworks I would go with Laravel (PHP) and/or Rails (Ruby) those are the
most popular in each language.
LaraCasts.com is a great resource.
Good luck.
------
jfaucett
The easiest way has to be PHP + Wordpress if you just want to get your foot in
the door as a web programmer. There is tons of work (albeit much of it low
paid) for this skill set. So if you just want to get started earning money go
with PHP. Ruby and Rails, Python, or the JVM langs provide great programming
environments but you will need to invest more time up front, and there are far
less jobs on the market for a complete junior / newbie.
PHP was essentially the route I took way back in High School and started
earning money with it, learning sql, javascript, html/css along the way on an
as needed basis. Now Im a software engineer who has built projects in a half
dozen programming languages, still I think PHP is a really good way to get
into the field, at least it worked for me.
Good luck
------
monroepe
Ruby on Rails is always a good choice. Ruby is a pretty readable language and
has a pretty good community (so solutions to your issues will be more abundant
than with some other languages/frameworks). Also not that hard to get started
and make something decent.
~~~
gt565k
I second this.
Ruby is a great language, because it was designed with developer productivity
in mind. Same goes for Rails. The most feature complete framework I've seen to
date. Django is up there too.
~~~
zippy786
Ruby/Rails might be great. Not so sure if it is the easiest way to earn. A
bloated opinionated framework will be difficult for new comers to grasp. PHP
would be the easiest.
~~~
mod
I mostly agree with this for a pure beginner, however learning rails makes you
pretty hireable, which is OP's goal.
Still, there's so much magic happening that it'll be hard to get a grasp on
things.
------
husseiny
If your goal is to make money and don't want to spend the effort and time to
really learn coding I would focus on simple web presence development versus
"coding".
What I mean by that is learning to code takes a lot of patience and diligence.
For you to truly add value to a team building a product you will need to learn
best practices, theories, tools, Git, code structure, code style, etc.
If you want a quicker path, practice launching and customizing
Wordpress/Wix/SquareSpace sites and focus your efforts on people looking for a
web presence instead of people trying to build apps and products. That should
be an easier path for you.
------
CyberFonic
Passing tests is not a good indicator for programming aptitude.
I don't think you'll do well at freelancing unless you have some useful
skills. Getting paid to learn is unlikely to work out well.
Python is one of the easiest languages to learn and you can be very productive
with it relatively quickly.
Javascript is quite a bit harder, but more widely used.
If you are really money focused (your handle is "BizNerd" so take looks like a
hint) why are you looking at programming? Sales is very much in demand and a
good sales person earns heaps more than an average programmer (which takes at
least a year or two of dedicated work to reach).
------
sharemywin
you should take a programming class at a local community college. Next go to
the job boards and search on the various languages and see how many jobs.
Also, if you switch to computer science as a major you can look at co-ops or
internships.
------
zhte415
Developing is problem solving. You mention you don't have a cool project
you're dying to build, so when learning, re-invent the wheel a little bit (a
lot of learning development is done like this) and reinvent a wheel. A
blogging engine, a framework for whatever.
I'd be apprehensive on undertaking previously undertaken work on places like
odesk/freelancer as the problems solved there are often carbon copies of what
a freelance developer has done before. It's not a learning platform, it is a
platform for frustration and complaint from you're customer you've promised
something to.
Why not try Udacity? They have some great introductory stuff, suitably
technical, and if you need a tutor running into a problem, post on odesk etc
for a Skype tutor for an hour. You will get a reply.
I don't know where you're moving to, but as being 'money orientated' you'll
may find far greater financial reward not pursuing programming but pursuing
business and cultural differences and using fluency in what's possible in IT
(i.e. both a cultural and technical project manager) for financial gain.
------
osullivj
Others have said Python or Ruby, and I'd agree. Other mainstream languages
like Java, C# or JavaScript have a steeper learning curve. With JavaScript you
have to deal with all the CSS & HTML stuff too if you're doing front end dev.
As a longtime Pythonista I's say give the Tornado web framework a try. Unlike
Django, you're not compelled to use a DB.
~~~
collyw
You could do Django without a DB, but the framework kind of assumes you will
have one.
------
Ch_livecodingtv
The bad news is it's probably not just one. The most popular languages to
learn are Ruby, Python, JavaScript,Java, HTML, CSS, PHP, C/C++, .Net. They
maybe are the ones you should learn to make money today. You have to determine
whether you may be interested in mobile apps, gaming, client or server type of
programming etc. and base you skill from this. Btw, if you want to consider
hiring a tutor. You might also want to visit this site where there are live
streamers where you can learn code in languages you can choose.
[https://www.livecoding.tv/video/new-project-with-ruby-on-
rai...](https://www.livecoding.tv/video/new-project-with-ruby-on-rails-4-10/)
------
Mimick
If you are focusing on oDesk/freelance it's easy to say you need to learn PHP,
Ruby on Rails is easier as others said but you won't get a lot of projects
with it. More likely to get a job with it.
------
veddox
Why do you want to learn programming in the first place? Why not make money
with something else? Learning programming is hard work and takes a long time,
even for those who love it.
I would recommend you look around for distance-learning courses on other skill
sets that interest you more and doing those instead of trying to force your
way into programming. Of course you _can_ learn programming even if you don't
enjoy it at all, but I think the only way to be really good at _anything_ is
to love doing it enough to put in your 10,000 hours...
------
anon5_
The obvious answer is Haskell.
It is the only logical language that exists. Anyone who doesn't know it just
hurting themselves.
After you master functional programming, you will be able to use it in EVERY
other language.
You can even program ruby on rails functionally.
If anyway says anything negative about functional programming - they're just
not dedicated or intelligent enough to understand its' abstract concepts.
In a world filled with hurt feelings and thin skin - finally seeing the
_logical essence_ of code is a transcendent experience.
~~~
veddox
That has got to be a troll post. Nonetheless, on the danger of starting a
flame war, here is a brief answer:
No, Haskell is not the _obvious_ _language_. Though no doubt a very nice
language, it is nowhere near the top of the most commonly used languages.
Thus, it's money-making potential (in terms of available jobs) is pretty low -
which seems to be the main factor the OP is interested in.
As for functional programming: much as I love it, it is not the non-plus-ultra
answer to life, the universe and everything. And even if it were, there are
other languages that are also functional; all the various Lisp dialects to
start with.
And by the way, please refrain from personal attacks on HN.
------
VOYD
you clearly don't have what it takes.
| {
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Show HN: Compute similarity to wikipedia vital articles using doc2vec - amirouche
https://github.com/amirouche/wikimark
======
opax
Great script. The API is pretty easy to use. Could be integrate to many
projects
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
AppStore Developers Aren't Millionaires, But Some Are Living Life Richly - pxlpshr
http://appcubby.com/blog/files/app_cubby_success.html
======
pxlpshr
David of AppCubby was quoted in the Newsweek article.
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=867048>
I thought the post he published to his blog today reflects what a number of
indie developers are experiencing. For all it's pains and problems, if you
have a good idea(s) and stay focused — it's not all negative. The quote at the
top sums it up nicely:
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
looks like work." - Thomas Edison
------
mattmaroon
The real question is: how does app development on the iPhone compare to it on
competitors (Twitter, Facebook, Web, etc.). It stacks up very poorly (in
general of course) by almost every metric compared to the last two. I'll be
able to tell you about #1 in a couple months.
If your goal is to leverage your programming skills to make money (be it
millions or thousands) and work from home, you're going to find much more
success elsewhere. If you want to make cool mobile devices that run on a
popular smartphone, you won't.
------
hackoder
I have an 8-month old son, and one of my annoyances with working at a Real Job
(tm) is that I really feel I am not giving enough time to him. I used to be a
graduate student so I would get to spend a lot more time with him in his
earlier months.
Anyhow, glad to see its working well for you. Your post is well-written and
thoughtful. Success in any sort of business venture has some really simple
rules, the App Store should be no different.
------
hristov
OMG why do I hate that baby already!
~~~
drbarnard
Careful, that's my son you're talking about... just because I'm brainwashing
him into a life-long obsession with Apple, doesn't mean he's someone you
wouldn't like. ;)
david
~~~
hristov
Sorry :) he is a very cute baby.
I just get the feeling that he has a condescending look on his face. Being a
baby he cannot possibly be condescending, so this might be something I just
subconsciously associate with apple t-shirts nowadays.
~~~
plinkplonk
"he has a condescending look on his face"
Ha ha! Poor baby! The Apple T shirt is the villain! Amazing how brand
associations carry over into the most innocuous situations.
| {
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A filesharing parable - indy
http://zenbullets.com/blog/?p=525
======
DanielStraight
Sigh. If every music pirate spent hundreds annually on concerts and impulse-
bought mp3s, maybe pirating wouldn't be a problem. I don't know a single
person like Barry though. Let me tell you about real people I know, not made
up ones. The names are changed to protect the innocent.
First, you have Sal. Sal has an iPod loaded with a couple thousands songs that
he got from a friend. None of them were obtained legally. As far as I can
tell, Sal doesn't listen to music any other way. Period. He listens to the
iPod on shuffle 24/7 and spends not a penny on the artists which are on the
iPod.
Next is Matt. Matt is a huge music fan and spends hours finding cool new
music. But as far as I can tell, Matt has never spent a penny on music in his
life. Matt will download an artist's entire collection and listen to it for
years without ever dreaming of buying something from them. Besides, most of
the bands Matt listens to don't tour widely enough to come to town. Surely if
you're listening to indie artists from Portland and you live in D.C., you
aren't supporting them by going to concerts.
The story of Barry, the good pirate who downloads music just to find what he
likes so he can pay money for it, is just that, a story. It sounds nice, but
it isn't what I've seen in the majority of music pirates.
Besides which, if your intent is just to discover new artists, you can do that
legally in numerous ways. There are online radios like Pandora and Jango which
let you hear lots of music. There are free previews on every music store I
know of. There are official YouTube stations from the artists or record
labels. There are artist websites, which almost always have an embedded player
playing their music. There is MySpace, which most artists are on, even though
MySpace sucks in general. There are sites like CDBaby which offer
substantially longer previews (sometimes up to 2 minutes) and have indie
artists and pay the artists better. There is Magnatune, which lets you listen
to entire albums as a preview.
Also, the argument about not going to stores is crap. A cover and blurb? Is
there a music store in the world that doesn't let you preview CDs in some way
or another?
In fact, the whole "but copyright will prevail" paragraph is crap. No one is
trying to stop impulse buying of mp3s. _Buying_ of mp3s is what record labels
want. No one is trying to stop anyone from reading about artists online. And
unrelated to my main point, has the author ever heard of film trailers?
The author creates a false dichotomy in artists as well: favorite artists and
artists whose music is crap. What about artists that you listen to every once
in a while but aren't favorites? Should you support them or is it OK to pirate
their music? I'll grant you that if you listen to an album only once, you
aren't committing a huge sin in not paying for it, but what if you listen to
it 5 times? 10? 20? When do you have to pay for it?
This is getting very disjointed, but there are also plenty of sites (or there
used to be at least) where you can pay for an unlimited amount of listening,
but pirates still won't use them. If they're honestly just trying to discover
cool new music, why not pay a small fee for that right? You could also use
satellite radio for the same purpose. Numerous business models for music have
been tried, and piracy hasn't been affected at all. CDs have been reduced in
price almost 50% from 10 years ago, and piracy hasn't been affected. Doesn't
this suggest piracy isn't just about a bad business model?
As far as I can tell, piracy is about this: people see no reason to pay for
something when they can get away with not paying for it. This is the actual
real-life use of piracy that I have seen hundreds of times. This is what
people were doing when I was in school and they would spend hours on school
computers on P2P networks. This is what Sal and Matt are doing.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Trouble with Twitter - jkopelman
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2008/tc20080815_597307.htm
======
shafqat
I love how Josh posts here. Redeye VC or Grassroots VC?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Node.js Examples – How Enterprises Use Node in 2016 - hfeeri
https://blog.risingstack.com/node-js-examples-how-enterprises-use-node-in-2016/
======
daxfohl
> Because of the way Node works we can attach debuggers, and set breakpoint
> steps through the code. If you wanted to debug these groovy scripts in the
> past, you would make some code changes upload it to the edge layer, run it,
> see if it breaks, make some more changes, upload it again, and so on
Can anyone expand on this? I haven't worked with Groovy, but most languages
have debuggers that let you attach to an existing process. Is this something
especially great about Node, or something especially horrible about Groovy?
~~~
vorg
Apache Groovy (around v 1.0 or 1.5) used to produce bytecode that could easily
be decompiled to Java code, but since version 1.6, the bytecode generated was
changed so it couldn't be decompiled with the tool I was using at the time --
I forget what it was, could have been JAD. I know the JVM situation has
changed a lot since then, but that breaking change was just one of those many
little things that put people off using Groovy for anything more serious than
quick'n'dirty scripting. I wouldn't imagine it would be easy to write a Groovy
debugger if the bytecode generated is still so non-standard it can't be
decompiled to Java source.
~~~
eeperson
Why would you need a decompiler to write a debugger for Groovy? The groovy
compiler supports including source code line numbers and variable names in
compiled jar files (just like Java). As a result you can use any Java debugger
to debug Groovy.
Also, why would you expect that Groovy can be compiled and then decompiled to
Java? This doesn't even work 100% going from Java to Java, and Groovy is going
to have idioms that doesn't map easily to Java idioms.
~~~
vorg
> The groovy compiler supports including source code line numbers and variable
> names in compiled jar files
I haven't used Groovy since v 1.8, and certainly didn't know about this
facility then.
> why would you expect that Groovy can be compiled and then decompiled to
> Java?
It worked in Groovy 1.0, and the decompiles to Java were useful back then when
Groovy often had unexpected behavior.
------
aphextron
>"Instead of two teams, one is a pure back end, and one is a pure front end -
consisting seven people overall - a ninja team of five can do both."
...said the manager.
------
zamalek
I really don't like it when a framework is touted to be the be-all-and-end-
all. The article tries to put this idea across. Node.js is nothing more than a
tool, it is good at some things and bad at others. It is not the ultimate
solution that "enterprise" developers can use for any problem.
~~~
collyw
It seems to attract the crowd who do tout it as a tool for everything, which
in turn puts me off learning it.
~~~
asimuvPR
I've been using Django for some years now and have taken an interest in
Node.js. In spite of Django (IMO) being simpler to get up and running. Node.js
is now everywhere and is making progress in the enterprise stack.
What I'd like to know (or make happen) is a Django equivalent in Node.js.
Something with a built-in Admin, ORM, and (server side) templating system.
Anything stable out there that fits my requirements?
~~~
collyw
Won't Django channels cover the same sort of tasks?
~~~
asimuvPR
I've been doing small projects to get settled with channels and it works very
nicely. The big difference with node and django is that Node is backed by
bigger entities than Django/Python. I love Django, and use it for many things,
but JS and node are winning a lot of ground.
------
Scarbutt
_How Node.js affected developer productivity at Netflix?
The developer productivity comes from breaking down the monolith into smaller,
much more manageable pieces._
How is that directly related to nodejs only? I mean, you can have a monolith
in one language and still break it down into smaller, more manageable pieces
in the same language.
~~~
niftich
Marketing and mindshare. Node.js encouraged that architecture as the proper
way to compose services, and you got async libraries for free. You could do
the same thing in Java, but with frameworks and libraries that weren't as
well-known before Node.js became popular.
------
JoshGlazebrook
I've been a Node.js developer for a couple years now and one thing I've
noticed is I've never come across a company that actually uses it for their
core api. There always seems to be a Java based (or another statically typed
typically 'monolith' language) backend api server that smaller node.js
microservices/apps communicate with.
~~~
olalonde
As someone who has been writing core APIs in Node.js for a few years now, one
thing I really miss is a good ORM. The best one is probably Bookshelf.js but
it's poorly maintained and lags behind more mature ORMs like Active Record in
terms of features and stability.
~~~
ruddct
Not to go too off-topic, but Sequelize is worth a look if you haven't played
with it already.
~~~
olalonde
I used Sequelize for a while before Bookshelf was released and haven't used it
since so I'm not sure how it compares these days. One thing I like about
Bookshelf is that the query builder (Knex.js) is fairly decoupled and it's not
that scary to drop down to the SQL layer. I still feel it's not quite as good
as it could be.
~~~
gaastonsr
This might not be objective because I hate sequelize but sequelize sucks! I
never understood its API. Is so clunky compared to Bookshelf.js.
Bookshelf is less opinionated on the way you integrate it with your web app
with makes it good to work with if you have strong opinions on how it should
integrate with your codebase.
------
quantumhobbit
Node is pretty viral in the "enterprise". My company is listed in the article
and I've seen node sneak into big java projects, you know just to run unit
tests for the frontend code. Then it takes on more and more responsibility
until the project is a node project with a little java rather than a java
project with a little node.
~~~
cheez
Well when the options are Java and Node, even I would choose Node.
~~~
eweise
I would choose Java. Java 8 with lambda functions and streams library, is a
much more pleasant experience than previous versions. If you take the same
library over framework approach with Java as you might with Node, you can
build microservices just as easily, and docker equalizes the deployment
effort. The main advantage I see with Node is working with JSON and a more
simplistic concurrency model but to me Java is getting on the reactive
bandwagon and beats Node by having more mature and stable libraries and by
being statically typed.
~~~
Scarbutt
What Java libraries are you talking about in this case?
~~~
latchkey
Jackson combined with JSOG is great. Resteasy as the endpoint layer with Guice
as the DI framework. Project Lombok to remove the java boilerplate. Run that
on AppEngine and you have an infinitely autoscaling application with zero
downtime. Use Objectify for the ORM with the Datastore. =)
------
stephenhuey
Mostly testimonials, but interesting examples for me to see considering I've
just got 6 months of full-time Node.js under my belt after many years in Java
and Ruby. There's a link from this blog post to the Node Hero Tutorial and I
don't remember coming across this recommendation to organize file structure
around features rather than roles:
[https://blog.risingstack.com/node-hero-node-js-project-
struc...](https://blog.risingstack.com/node-hero-node-js-project-structure-
tutorial/)
It looks like a good option to me. I just finished a standalone notification
system in one of our Node.js apps and all the files are organized more like
this than the typical Rails file structure.
------
jaequery
Is node.js really ready for mainstream? I've coded javascript for 10+ years
and I sometimes laugh at the state is in right now. There's a reason why we
are experiencing javascript fatigue and that's because it's not mature to the
point it should be mainstream yet. Recently the language tried to tackle the
callback hells with es7 async/await but it's way too hacky and I believe it's
got quite a ways to go before the language can be used to develop
elegant/pragmatic codes.
------
romanovcode
> GoDaddy started to use Node for the front-end
I don't get it. Do they mean asset compilation etc. How can one use Node in
front-end?
~~~
ralusek
I assume they mean they use it to build and serve their web pages, but not
necessarily their backend services. Ironically, Node is much better suited for
data APIs and backend services.
------
SadWebDeveloper
> Ferenc Hámori > PR & Marketing @RisingStack.
Confirmed: NodeJS is pure hype.
~~~
lghh
I can't tell if you're being cheeky or not, but the fact that a marketing
person wrote this does not confirm anything. Also, why would it even matter?
~~~
aphextron
To be fair, RisingStack basically exists because of Node hype. It's literally
their name. They've been putting out sensationalist articles like this for
years.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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AirBnB and Weebly interviews now online - jl
http://ycombinator.posterous.com/airbnb-and-weebly-interviews-now-online
======
jayair
Its kinda cool how David mentioned they use Google Spreadsheets for their team
task list (if I understood correctly). We do the exact same thing at our
startup. Two founders, on one spreadsheet with 3 columns, date---founder---
founder and we keep adding these sections of rows for each day. Its great to
keep track of what each of us is working on and its fun when we need to answer
questions like "where did the week go??"
So yay for ghetto project management.
------
stevederico
This was a great interview and was very inspiring to me. This is an awesome
format and I would love to see more. Just finished Founders at Work as well...
Thanks Jessica!
------
atiw
The links are not working ... could you please fix that ?
~~~
rantfoil
They do appear to be working (?)
~~~
atiw
They are now...they weren't when I posted this....
------
rgrieselhuber
I like that Mixergy is inspiring more people to do this format. It really
works and I could see it applied to a lot of niches.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Awful AI: a curated list to track current scary usages of AI - dsr12
https://github.com/daviddao/awful-ai
======
parliament32
Some of this list doesn't seem fitting...
> Uber God View - Uber's "God View" let Uber employees see all of the Ubers in
> a city and the silhouettes of waiting Uber users who have flagged cars -
> including names [rides of glory]
It's a cool story, but how is this AI-related?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Should I work for free? (Flowchart) - Sukotto
http://shouldiworkforfree.com/
======
ColinWright
Many comments from when this was last submitted:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2098332>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: A website to analyse your NPM package and create an npmignore file - junkern
https://package-analyser.herokuapp.com/
======
junkern
This is a fun-weekend project I built during the last days. What I like about
such small projects is the possibility to try out new technologies or tools
(and maybe use them in bigger projects). For this one I am trying out
honeybadger to track backend and frontend errors.
It still has a few shortcomings I want to tackle in the next few days:
* The biggest one is to handle npm-packages that are also shipping browser-bundles
* Better design of the website
* Add a queue to process the analysing requests
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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A Puzzle of Clever Connections Nears a Happy End - pavel_lishin
https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-puzzle-of-clever-connections-nears-a-happy-end-20170530/
======
triplesec
As soon as Ronald Graham turned up it wasn't surprisinng that this was related
to Ramsey Theory, even as a non-mathematician. Graham's Number is such a
wonderfully large thing that introduced me to tetration and up-arrow notation.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham%27s_number](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham%27s_number)
------
ehsquared
I like the terms "cup" and "cap". They correspond to the LaTeX shortcuts \cup
and \cap for set union (∪) and set intersection (∩).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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New York Times Experiments with Ways to Fight Ad Blocking - eplanit
http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-times-experiments-with-ways-to-fight-ad-blocking-1457378218
======
hackuser
_“The goal is to inform users of the harm of ad blocking and to encourage the
whitelisting of nytimes.com. Ad blockers do not serve the long term interest
of consumers. The creation of quality news content is expensive and digital
advertising is one way that The New York Times and other high quality news
providers fund news gathering operations,” the New York Times spokeswoman
wrote in an email._
She's wrong: Ad blockers don't serve the long term interest of _the NY Times_
; customers apparently like ad blockers. It reflects a self-centered view of
the world when you think your customers have the same interest you do,
including your profitability and success. Your customers want the news and
apparently don't like your ads, and another news website is a click/tap away.
You'd better learn what your customers' interests are and serve them, not vice
versa.
I happen to value the NY Times and hope they succeed. Often what I read about
them reflects this kind of insular thinking, stereotypical of a long-time
incumbant unable to even see, much less adjust to changes around them. It's
worrying.
~~~
betaclass
You haven't demonstrated convincingly that she is wrong. At best you've
explained why ad blockers don't serve the short-term interests of those who
consume the NYTimes. Your mistake is that you extrapolate that the short-term
interests of consumers are aligned with their long-term interests.
I suggest you read Garrett Hardin's writings about The Tragedy of the Commons,
so you can see how one's short-term and long-term interests are not always
aligned and that finding mechanisms to curtail one's own and others' short-
term interests might be in most's long-term interests. You might also be
interested in Elinor Ostram's work on managing the commons, for which she won
the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
(Of course examples of short- and long-term interests not being aligned abound
-- high tobacco use, high alcohol use, high-cholesterol diets, etc.)
I think the key question is whether NYTimes' readers' long-term interests are
closely aligned with the NYTimes' long-term interests. I suspect they are
(disclosure: I pay monthly for online access). Many of us believe the NYTimes
produces quality content, primarily news reporting, that's expensive to
produce. And we realize if we want to have long-term access to it, the NYTimes
needs to generate income by various means, which can include subscriptions and
advertising.
Furthermore, your use of the term "customer" for those who neither subscribe
nor view the ads is problematic and defies the common definition of
"customer".
~~~
hackuser
Interesting points. One observation I'd make: The New York Times is not the
Commons; it's not a shared public good like a public park. It's a business,
owned by some people in particular who are responsible for it.
They do provide a public good, but so do GE, Hacker News, politicians, and a
hot dog vendor. (I happen to particularly value the NY Times' goods.)
~~~
betaclass
I was not claiming the NYTimes is a commons. Rather I was using the commons as
an example of a) how one's short- and long-term interests are not always
aligned, and b) how mechanisms that curtail one's own short-term interests can
benefit one's long-term interests.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Denmark’s wind farms generated 140% of the country’s electricity needs yesterday - prostoalex
http://qz.com/450737/denmarks-wind-farms-generated-140-of-the-countrys-electricity-needs-yesterday/
======
interfixus
Alas, as the wind soars, so do our energy costs. Danish electricity prices
have only gone up, up, up, and through the roof during the last thirty years
or so, concurrent with the massive, statesponsored introduction of wind
turbines. Or, to be precise, the pricetag of electricity itself hasn't really
changed much since the 1930s, but has been completely buried under an
avalanche of taxation, which in various guises makes up nearly nine tenths of
my electricity bill. A lot of this is "green" tax, earmarked for sponsoring -
you guessed it - more governmentally mandated wind turbines.
To the best of my knowledge, our Danish electricity is the most expensive in
Europe.
~~~
mrbabbage
Make sure you qualify what "most expensive" means. Here in California, we have
some of the highest electric rates in the United States but also some of the
lowest electric bills [1]. Saying we have "expensive" energy requires defining
what that metric is; sure, CA loses on energy _rates_ but I'll argue the rate
is a questionable metric at best. I have no idea what the situation is in
Denmark, of course, but there's more than the per-kilowatt-hour figure.
For the curious, California achieves this by a regulatory measure called
"decoupling": a utility's profits are not connected to how much raw energy it
sells. In particular, CPUC (the statewide utility regulator) lets electric
utilities, both municipal (e.g. SMUD) and investor-owned (e.g. PG&E), charge
higher rates if they implement energy efficiency or demand-side management
measure to reduce total demand, allowing the utility to maintain about the
same level of profitability but at reduced energy consumption. It's pretty
cool.
[1] in 2012, from EIA data, CA paid $0.15/kWh rate and $88 average monthly
bill mo whereas the national average was $0.12/kWh and $107/mo. Slides from
Jane Woodward.
~~~
interfixus
Yes, there is more than the per-kilowatt-hour figure. There is a fixed charge
for being connected to the public grid. That connection, here in Denmark, is
mandatory, by the way.
But apart from that, there's nothing more. That's the cost I see, that's the
price I have to pay. And I do mean HAVE to pay. Going off the grid, producing
my own electricity, will only get me into taxational hot water and possibly
fines.
~~~
rsync
Wait, what ?
If you have a rural vacation house (for instance) in Denmark, and you are off
the grid and ... perhaps have some solar arrays ... you would have to pay tax
on the power generated ? And possibly fines ?
Am I misunderstanding what you wrote ?
~~~
niklasni1
The thing you have to understand about Denmark is, there is no "off the grid".
If you have a house that it's legal to live in, it's connected to public
utilities. There are no unnamed roads or unnumbered houses here. (Or
unnumbered citizens, for that matter.)
What happens if you install a solar array is that your meter stops running or
runs backwards when you're generating more than you're using (and you're
selling back power). Even if you don't draw anything from the grid, you're
still paying to be connected.
~~~
afar
Fascinating. Wondering what their tax rates look like...
~~~
jafingi
VAT is 25%. And the tax is depending on your income. It's from about 40-51%.
However, living in Denmark I've got multiple things in return: \- Free health
care \- Free schools and university (got my computer science degree for free.
Only had to pay for the books). \- You get paid about $1000/month while
studying to cover apartment rentals etc. \- If you loose your job, you will
still get paid by the state to continue living :-)
When having got your education, and you might think that it's crazy to pay so
much in taxes of your income, but remember what you've got for free to get
there :-)
However, I think the whole tax-system needs an overhaul. For example there is
a 180% tax on cars (+25% VAT). So many people are driving in unsafe, fuel-
consuming cars. Lowering the tax on cars could lead to roads with safer and
more fuel-efficient cars. Electric cars have been tax-free the past years, but
it looks like it's going to change in 2016.
AND electricity is expensive by the end-users. The electricity itself is
cheap, but when I buy electricity for 200 DKK, I have to pay about 800 DKK in
taxes.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Denmark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_Denmark)
~~~
dylanjermiah
When ~half your income is getting taken, it is most definitely not 'free'.
------
thebmax
This is partly the problem with renewable power. You get large swings in
generation where some days it's your entire demand and you may even have to
pay to export the excess power and other days it's 0 and you need to fire up
the gas plants in order to avoid brownouts. Building two power plants (wind
and gas) results in double the cost and less reliable grid overall. It's
surprising how much people seem to discount the reliability of wind and solar
when discussing them as true alternatives to fossil fuels.
~~~
crdoconnor
It's surprising just how much people seem to discount the reliability of
markets to smoothly deal with variations in supply and demand.
German aluminum smelters for instance are already building their plants to be
able to scale electricity with supply. They've seen these periods where
electricity prices dropped almost to zero and they want in.
As always, markets often take time to adjust to new realities, so this shift
won't be instantaneous.
~~~
Gibbon1
I'm totally with this, the idea that no market for 'excess' electric will
appear doesn't pass the sniff test. A paper I read discussed a pilot plant in
the 50's that produced iron from sulfide ores. Certainly sounds like a process
that can consume excess power without much trouble provided that situation
happens frequently enough.
[http://www.ulcos.org/en/docs/Ref03%20-%20Electrowinning%20-%...](http://www.ulcos.org/en/docs/Ref03%20-%20Electrowinning%20-%20publ.pdf)
'High purity iron was produced, with a current yield of 85% and a power
consumption of 4.25 kWh/kg iron'
Far as I can tell, 1 GW for an hour would produce ~250 tons of iron.
------
bottled_poe
Does anyone know how many days are required to cover the energy required to
produce one turbine?
~~~
mariopt
I don't think this is relevant honestly. ( I'm assuming you want to compare
the costs with other energy sources )
This reminds the question about How much energy are we spending today to build
an electric/hybrid card versus a petrol one? (By comparing the factory
emissions for example) Currently petrol cars are cheaper to produce because of
the decades of investment, usually no one has in consideration in the
equation, but on the long run eco tech wins the race. We should also expect
new discoveries in Material Engineering that would help to reduce the cost
and/or improve the efficiency.
I don't think it's a fair to compare the cost of producing versus the cost of
petrol solutions until the planet's crust isn't a source of energy.
~~~
bottled_poe
Depending on the answer to my question, it is totally relevant.
> but on the long run eco tech wins the race
Fine, but if some cleaner alternative is developed over the carbon repayment
period, we could in fact be better off sticking with the current technology
until then.
~~~
gonvaled
You can not make the switch in a hurry.
------
PebblesHD
Meanwhile in Australia, "Coal is the future!" \- Tony Abbott
~~~
static_noise
Financially it is, at least in the short term.
Australia has a lot of coal (no need to import raw material).
Australia has coal mining companies (no need to import technology).
CO2 is only a global problem, the coal which Australia burns won't make a big
dent in the effects and the cost is shared globally.
So, financially it totally makes sense to use up the local resources first. At
least in the short term until these resources get scarce.
In the long term, saving resources may be the wiser option. E.g. have coal
plants on standby most of the time while solar and wind supply the grid. Then
you can export some of the coal or save it for future generations.
~~~
ams6110
Coal plants don't really do "standby" well though. They are much better at
providing constant output. Gas turbine plants are better at handling rapid
changes in supply and demand. Possibly pulverized coal could be used in a
turbine but I don't know how well that works.
------
wodenokoto
It's worth noting that we sell wind energy a lot cheaper than the non-
renewable we buy back to cover the times where we don't produce surplus.
~~~
sauce71
Then buy it back from Norway. (99% hydroelectric) :-)
~~~
mrweasel
We also some times just give the excess power to Germany, or pay them to take
it. The Danish power grid is funny like that.
------
idlewords
This article reminded me of an interesting structural problem in eastern
Germany, right next door to Denmark. The many wind farms there give a net
surplus of power, but there's no easy way to route it to western Germany,
where most of the demand is. Maybe a fellow commenter will remember the
details better than I do.
~~~
cmarschner
The problem is mostly discussed in Germany in context of north vs. south - the
north with the coast and all its wind parks, and the energy-hungry, industry-
rich south. Right niw the solution is to build new power lines, but that
spawned a huge political debate (NIMBY). Power lines are about as unpopular as
new freeways, and there is a risk of court cases dragging on for years,
stalling the energy transition program. The compromise right now is to spend
more tax money and use underground cables in densely populated or otherwise
sensitive areas (e.g. nature reserves).
------
irixusr
The question never was can wind generate enough power - just build more
windmills. The question is can it be reliably integrated into a stable
electrical system?
Unfortunately, largely no. At least not still. Without getting into technical
details note that in jurisdictions with a legal mandate to prefer windpower
(when available) and large installed windbase the price of power goes
negative. That is, there are situations when power companies pay to have
anyone dump their power. Otherwise they'll damage their equipment.
the problem never was the turbines, but the grid!
~~~
7952
I agree the grid issues are a major constraint on new wind turbine. But is
there actually evidence that they cannot be reliably integrated in the grid?
Is Denmark's grid actually unstable?
At least in the UK the grid operators simply refuses connections if their is
not enough grid capacity in the locality of a proposed wind farm. It is surely
a problem, but one that is well understood. And paying people to dump power is
a method of maintaining the grid in unusual conditions; it is just a bit
unpleasant. Excess capacity is an unintended consequence of having free fuel!
~~~
irixusr
Before I rant; I dunno the specifics about Denmark, but as a maritime nation
they have a unique advantage for windpower. Off-shore windpower is far less
stochastic than on-shore windpower (see last paragraph for why). So all the
problems below are significantly mitigated.
In power engineering we're not talking about switches that readers in this
forum are more acquainted with (in computer architecture). Currents are in the
thousands of amps, not nano, and volts are in the hundreds of thousands (or
millions in one Soviet era line).
Furthermore the grid is very strict with quality. The frequency must be within
a certain tolerance at all times, and no more than a maximum allowed of phase
shift in a period of time. The sinusoid must be quite pure, with strict
maximums allowed of harmonics. The voltage has to be right. The power has to
flow out, not in.
Keep in mind that the grid is unforgiving with the python philosophy of asking
for forgiveness. A mistake costs millions.
Every time you add or remove a load/source the frequency changes, the voltages
change, the flows change. To stabilize the grid you have a bulldozer (the
throttle) and a little scalpel (capacitor banks). A few jurisdictions are
blessed by the engineering gods and have an instrument that works in-between
(hydroelectric storage).
Now imagine you don't have to slowly integrate a single large and lethargic
source in the middle of the night when ppl are sleeping. Instead you have
thousands of stochastically generating sources being integrated and removed as
the load is changing.
The proof are in the prices. Wind power is expensive, but ironically the spot
price sometimes drops to negative!
Wind power needs a storage revolution. Then most of these problems go away.
There is one cavet to all of this, off-shore wind. Since maritime flows are
very constant and the relative speed at an interface is zero, offshore wind
power if _far_ more reliable and useful the on-shore.
~~~
7952
In this kind of discussion I think most of us would assume that "instability"
means a threat to continuity of supply. High prices are hardly evidence of
that.
I understand that balancing supply from numerous turbines is difficult, but is
that a solved problem? Is there evidence of customer supply problems or not?
------
allendoerfer
That is the reason why there are currently huge North-South power lines
planned to go through Germany. As you would expect, from the German states to
small villages everybody is fighting over where they will be build. Germany
has a huge generation of fit retirees and it has become a meme that they
engage in citizens initiatives to fight power lines. Then there is our special
child Bavaria, for whom these lines are primarily build, who wants them to go
through Hesse.
------
usaphp
I wonder if taking energy (sun, wind, water) from the earth make any damage in
long term to it - let's say fields that not going to get sun they got used to,
or clouds wont move the way they otherwise would - thus causing unpredictable
climate changes. Just a thought
~~~
Kaizyn
Wind farms are known to impact their micro-climate. See for example:
[http://m.phys.org/news/2012-04-farms-temperature-
region.html](http://m.phys.org/news/2012-04-farms-temperature-region.html)
~~~
Intermernet
Almost everything impacts it's own micro-climate. Cities being the most
obvious example.
It's when the effect creeps into the global climate that we need to really pay
attention.
------
krasin
While the number is slick, it does not account for the energy needed for cars.
(see below for the explanation of this terse statement)
~~~
higherpurpose
That's why it says electricity. Also, when you can produce this much
electricity (already), it makes it possible to fill electric cars' batteries
with 100% renewable energy.
~~~
ekianjo
You will need to burn a whole lot of fossil fuels to make batteries for every
car on the road. Thats always ignored by proponents of electric cars who
conveniently ignore the fact that batteries manufacturing processes are very
dirty and use a number of toxic materials.
~~~
lyschoening
You also need a lot of energy to make a car, or to build a combustion engine.
Yes, battery driven cars are particularly polluting to produce, but a couple
tanks full of gasoline will make up for the difference.
[http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2013/07/21/are-
electr...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2013/07/21/are-electric-
cars-really-that-polluting/)
------
guard-of-terra
"Earlier today, the Chernobyl power plant has fulfilled its 5-years plan of
thermal energy generation in just 150 milliseconds"
Talk about mad swings.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
"The Issues" - a Demo Realtime Application in AngularJS - embwbam
https://github.com/seanhess/the-issues-angularjs-demo
======
embwbam
I made this for a local user's group. It demonstrates how to do some "custom"
stuff in Angular. It includes two custom directives, one of them is bound to a
jQuery plugin. I also made it poll the server for realtime updates.
I'm hoping it can help show how Angular helps you dive below the hood when you
need to, while giving you a great place to put the under-the-hood stuff
without cluttering your code or breaking the abstraction.
It's live here: <http://the-issues.herokuapp.com/>
------
tocomment
This is really cool. Was it difficult to deploy on Heroku?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How Andrew Warner decides who to interview - revorad
http://mixergy.com/how-do-i-decide-who-to-interview/
======
zandorg
Yeah, like if he interviewed me - "My positive attitude to making profits had
a downward effect on my profits". In other words, I haven't made a million,
and I haven't got a success story.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Hnr.el – Simple Hacker News Reader for Emacs - calx
https://github.com/c41x/hnr.el
======
rafaqueque
Amazing. Any good options for vim?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Hound: A Fast Code Search Tool - caiobegotti
http://codeascraft.com/2015/01/27/announcing-hound-a-lightning-fast-code-search-tool/
======
spain
I'd be interested in knowing how this compares to the Silver Searcher [0], I'm
surprised it wasn't mentioned at all since they're similar.
[0]
[https://github.com/ggreer/the_silver_searcher](https://github.com/ggreer/the_silver_searcher)
~~~
reledi
One big difference is the UI. Silver Searcher is used on the command line
whereas Hound is used in a webpage.
Edit: A command line version is also on the way.
~~~
escherize
I've been using helm-projectile's helm-projectile-ag in emacs (on prelude) a
lot lately. It's very nice to have live filtering while you type a query, and
the ability to search for symbol at point.
[https://tuhdo.github.io/helm-projectile.html](https://tuhdo.github.io/helm-
projectile.html)
------
reledi
I was a little confused by the title because thoughtbot has an open sourced
tool also named Hound [1].
1: [https://houndci.com](https://houndci.com)
~~~
andrewjkerr
Same here. Since they're both dealing with code I think the name confusion is
a pretty big deal.
------
bucky
This has basically replaced ack for me. I was dubious of a web -based search
tool when Kelly first sent an email about it, but after trying it a couple of
times, I abandoned ack. It being linkable is extra icing on the cake for me.
------
knodi123
I really feel the burn with simple "find globally" in my IDE... but I won't
use this unless it can integrate into an IDE or advanced editor.
Is there a sublime or textmate plugin?
~~~
spdustin
Yes. It's linked in the article.
[https://github.com/bgreenlee/SublimeHound](https://github.com/bgreenlee/SublimeHound)
------
sciurus
For another example of a code search service written in Go, see the software
powering [http://codesearch.debian.net](http://codesearch.debian.net)
[https://lwn.net/Articles/627609/](https://lwn.net/Articles/627609/)
[https://github.com/Debian/dcs](https://github.com/Debian/dcs)
------
prezjordan
Looks like the config requires you to specify repo URLs (only GitHub?). Can't
seem to get a private repo to work.
~~~
JimmyL
If you're experimenting, use `git config --global credential.helper 'store'`
to set git to store your credentials in a plain-text file. Then (if you're on
GitHub), generate a personal access token
([https://help.github.com/articles/creating-an-access-token-
fo...](https://help.github.com/articles/creating-an-access-token-for-command-
line-use/)), and then use that as the password - once you've entered it once,
it should be stored and not prompted for again.
Please remember how insecure this is.
------
PaulHoule
I've wanted one of these for Java, that reads my POM file and searches over
the dependencies of my project.
~~~
mdaniel
Do you mean outside of an IDE, because as the sibling comment notes: both
IntelliJ and other inferior editors do this.
If you mean from the command-line, then, yes, it likely take some use of mvn
dependency:tree and javap invocations (or unzip for the deps that ship
-sources.jar artifacts)
------
stephenmm
I have been using Google Code Search
([https://code.google.com/p/codesearch/](https://code.google.com/p/codesearch/))
and find it indispensable.
~~~
junkblocker
I am maintaining a fork of it at
[https://github.com/junkblocker/codesearch](https://github.com/junkblocker/codesearch)
where I've added some niceties.
------
caio1982
It is a pity this didn't get much traction when it was posted! I was loosing
some hair trying to deploy OpenGrok and I think I am going to give Hound a try
instead.
~~~
4ad
Well, as far as J2EE apps go, OpenGrok is a breeze to deploy, but it's still a
PITA.
OpenGrok indexing is very very slow. It used to take 10+ minutes on my
codebase and my machine. When I switched to Russ Cox' codesearch, indexing was
so fast that I just put it in my .profile. And I didn't have to run Tomcat on
my laptop.
I haven't tried this tool yet, but if it works by the same principles as
codesearch I'd expect it to be very fast.
------
quanticle
How is hound better than ag [1]?
[1]
[https://github.com/ggreer/the_silver_searcher](https://github.com/ggreer/the_silver_searcher)
~~~
kellegous
The biggest difference is that Hound uses an inverted index to support regular
expression searches. This is a technique borrowed from the original Google
Code Search. The details are discussed on Russ Cox's site
([http://swtch.com/~rsc/regexp/regexp4.html](http://swtch.com/~rsc/regexp/regexp4.html)).
With this technique, you can generally avoid even opening the vast majority of
the files you are "grepping" (the number obviously depends on the pattern). To
give you a sense, I just searched for a particular method name in several
repositories totally several 100k of files and the search only had to open and
search 9 files.
~~~
quanticle
Thanks for the explanation. I guess I missed the part that said that Hound is
indexed search rather than straight file search.
------
hatred
I tried using file based URL's (file:///) but it did not work for me. Is it
supposed to work with f ile based URL's ?
------
benaiah
I wonder how difficult it would be to write additional frontends to this. A
documented API would be huge.
~~~
mindcrash
Looks like there isn't any. But after a bit of code spelunking I found this:
[https://github.com/etsy/Hound/blob/master/src/hound/api/api....](https://github.com/etsy/Hound/blob/master/src/hound/api/api.go#L155)
(it basically tells the service how to interact with the outside world using
mux - which, as a small aside, one of the more popular http routing packages
in Go. But I wander...)
How the frontend interacts with the backend per default can be found here:
[https://github.com/etsy/Hound/blob/master/pub/assets/js/houn...](https://github.com/etsy/Hound/blob/master/pub/assets/js/hound.js#L95)
So it looks like wiring the default backend onto a custom frontend shouldn't
be that difficult. Unless you want extra features ofcourse, because then it
seems you need to learn a bit of Go ;)
------
weitzj
Is this similar to SourceGraph?
------
blt
Cool. Seems like a perfect use case for Go. That code is a pleasure to read.
------
johncoltrane
> Before Hound, most engineers used ack or grep to search code,
…meanwhile, programmers used _actual_ code searching tools like GLOBAL, cscope
or ctags to "search code".
~~~
comex
I use cscope extensively, but it serves a quite different purpose from grep.
It's good at jumping to definitions and references for a specific symbol
(although C++ support is miserable; AFAIK the other tools you listed are
similar), but grep's required if you need more structure/context, if you're
searching comments or don't know exactly what something is called, etc.
~~~
taeric
I've gotten used to GLOBAL. Basically a nicer version of cscope, from my
memories of it. Some of that could just be a better emacs mode, though.
It is funny, because I can not deny that there are more powerful ways of doing
searches on source code. However, I think there is a beautiful thing about
code that is easily greppable.
------
lloydde
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8955663](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8955663)
~~~
prezjordan
How was this posted again?
~~~
dang
See
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8961739](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8961739).
------
dang
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8955663](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8955663)
~~~
caio1982
Dang, is there any design reason for not listing only a single news for
submissions with both [http://](http://) and [https://](https://) in the URL?
I basically posted that again because IMHO the original post didn't get
attention that Hound deserved (since it was posted in a shitty hour of the
day), but this is a cheap trick to bypass the submit form I know.
EDIT: clarification
~~~
dang
The duplicate detector is left weak like that on purpose to allow for reposts
of good stories that didn't get significant attention the first time they were
posted. This is described in the FAQ:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html).
We treated this one as a dupe because it's pretty hard to argue that the
previous post didn't get significant attention at 46 points. On the other
hand, the interest in this project (including the repost) looks organic and
genuine, so as an experiment, we've unburied it and merged yesterday's
comments into this thread.
~~~
caio1982
Oh, +1 for merging these cases indeed. Thanks for the info :-)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How to Tell Someone’s Age When All You Know Is Her Name - ca98am79
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-to-tell-someones-age-when-all-you-know-is-her-name/
======
te_platt
Not only can you get a good idea of age from a name you can generate names
that match age and sex. I have a niece who recently did a science fair project
where she used Markov chains seeded with U.S. census data over the last
hundred years to create new names. With about 90% accuracy people could tell
if a fake name was from 100, 50, or <10 years ago and the sex.
An interesting side note was that she put in a simple profanity filter but in
all of her trial runs it never picked up any "fuq" or variant names.
Edit: Here are sample boy names: Shill Flay Roshard Per Coll Milius Madfrego
Derry Fer Fordy Carlel Marler Rommyronance Jord Felwooke Rott Luper Bent Zekin
Othen Nolanterry Jerarton
Here are some girl names Esalessie Rine Nolenn Alynna Myrtinet Faybeciline
Aline Orassabenda Phina Dorgia Lideleaste Beara Sonilinn Judelia Monangeora
Jarnina Geleene Emozellyn Maudra Verta Lortis Fret Kathoph
~~~
andrey-p
Any chance she could open source that? My friend's writing a fantasy novel and
I think he could really use a realistic-sounding fake name or two.
~~~
tomwalker
[http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/](http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/)
~~~
andrey-p
I did specify "fantasy" for a reason. If you're writing fantasy you want your
names to sound natural yet unlike anything your reader will seen before. Hence
why I guess many names in fantasy novels (I'm thinking Song of Fire and Ice
and Wheel of Time) are pretty much a normal name with one or two letters
replaced.
I'll keep your link in mind though - for my own writing which is in a non-
fantasy setting.
~~~
cac04
I was horrified when I realised that all the names in Game of Thrones are just
normal names as pronounced by my one year old daughter.
------
taliesinb
One of the built-in models in the Wolfram Language does precisely this:
In[1]:= Predict["NameAge", "Gertrude"]
Out[1]= 84
In[2]:= Quartiles @ Predict["NameAge", "Gertrude", "Distribution"]
Out[2]= {62.8975, 74.7389, 84.8247}
More info about Predict and Classify here:
[http://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Predict.html](http://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Predict.html)
[http://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Classify.html](http://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Classify.html)
~~~
gkoberger
WolframAlpha can handle this, too:
[http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=how+old+is+mable](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=how+old+is+mable)
~~~
lesterbuck
My first name is Aubrey, which completely flipped to a girl's name in the US
about ten years ago. According to this chart, the fraction of female Aubrey's
is approaching 12% at birth. When that fad wears off, it will make a nice
spike in the curve for many decades. By the way, Aubrey means "elf leader" or
"king of the elves".
www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=how+old+is+aubrey
------
palakchokshi
This is one of the ways cold readers hone in on all kinds of things about the
person they are reading. It is a very effective way to guess someone's
mother's or grandmother's name or sister's name. if the audience is a group of
mostly 30 to 50 year old women the reader has a good starting point. It goes
something like "Is there a Laura or Lisa here?" There is a high probability
there will be one of those. Once a woman acknowledges their name is Laura the
reader can see what her approx. age is and make a guess about what their
mother or grandmother or grandfather's name is. They use other cues to figure
out which dead relative the woman is there to "hear" from and then say
something like "Someone with a M or K is coming forward" if the target reacted
to one of those letters the reader guesses "Mar.... Marg... Mary...Margeret...
Margeret... Is that your mother?"...
You get the idea.
------
jwegan
I actually used something similar to this (but not as sophisticated) at a
previous startup to generate recommendations of people to invite to the app
because the app's target demographic was women ages 20-40.
[http://jwegan.com/growth-hacking/hacking-mobile-invites-
with...](http://jwegan.com/growth-hacking/hacking-mobile-invites-with-help-us-
government/)
------
hudibras
Baby Name Wizard (linked in the article) is one of the true hidden gems on the
internet. It looks like a fluffy website for moms-to-be, but then you start
poking around at the graphs and you realize that an hour of your life has
disappeared...
[http://www.babynamewizard.com/](http://www.babynamewizard.com/)
Bonus: This blog post from Baby Name Wizard is utterly fascinating. Everybody
I've ever showed this to has been amazed.
[http://www.babynamewizard.com/archives/2012/5/the-shape-
of-b...](http://www.babynamewizard.com/archives/2012/5/the-shape-of-boys-
names-an-update-on-the-age-of-aidan)
------
btilly
I found the age range on "Jennifer" to be particularly interesting.
My sister Jennifer (see
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Tilly](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Tilly)
for details) is in her mid-50s. She was in college before she met another
Jennifer her own age. People still are mislead by her name and believe that
she has to be a lot younger than she really is.
The moral is that if you have the great fortune to pick a girl's name that
_will_ be popular some day but is not now, that girl will probably be happy
about it. :-)
~~~
ryanx435
so according to your username and that wiki page, you are therefore her half-
brother ben tilly. your mother is patricia, your father is john ward, and you
are from british columbia, specifically texada island.
honestly, i'm not really sure why you would post identifying information on
the internet.
edit: just checked your profile. hey ben!
~~~
btilly
There is enough identifying information about me out there that there is no
point in denying it. That ship sailed for me many years ago. And sometimes it
is convenient to be able to say something and have people realize that I have
direct experience with it.
Of course you shouldn't believe everything you read on the Internet. Contrary
to what you surmised, I was actually born in California, did most of my
growing up in Victoria, British Columbia, and Jennifer is not part-Irish.
Now if you want to get disturbed, go read my sister's book, Singing Songs.
None of what is discussed there was stuff that I had any control over, so I
have no shame about it. And it is all stuff I've said in public before.
As I said, that ship sailed for me long ago. There is no point in hiding it.
~~~
thret
I'd no idea she'd written a book. Thanks Ben! As I said her blog was great, I
read the entire thing in a single sitting.
Edit. Other sister. Still, I'll give it a look. Talented family you have
there.
------
bane
I used to work for an NLP startup, we focused on stuff you could do with
Romanized names -- names that were original not written in the Latin alphabet
and ended up being written in the Latin alphabet using some kind of
transliteration scheme.
For example, we could take a name and generate a pretty comprehensive, and
culturally aware, list of variants.
Jennifer -> Jenifer, Jen, Jenny, Jennie, etc.
Richard -> Rich, Richie, Dick, Dickie, Ritchard, etc.
Rho -> No, Lo, Loh, Noh, Roh, Ro, Nho, etc.
The intention of course was to build up lists of name variants that could be
used during identification checks.
We also had some pretty significant statistical models that could guess Gender
and provide a descending list with confidence levels of the most likely
country of origin for a name. It was surprisingly accurate and could account
for different Romanization schemes popular in different countries. It could
even guess if a name was a surname or a given name.
What did we build the models on? Somehow, one of the founders was able to
swing access to U.S. Border Control Data. Even though it was names and country
of origin data, it's de-identified (having a list of names doesn't mean we
know who the names belong to). There was something north of a billion names in
the collection, and included place of birth, country of origin, gender, etc.
Names were mined for digraphs so we could build CFGs that could be walked to
generate variants. There was lots of manual work as well. Endless regex
writing and testing, QA, that sort of thing.
For some countries, we had pretty poor data to be honest. I think we had a
couple dozen North Koreans, but for most of the world, our coverage was
surprisingly good. It turns out all that work boiled down into a surprisingly
small library just a couple dozen megabytes in size and was pretty fast -- I
don't remember how fast, but something like a few thousand names per hour. It
was pretty niche, but eventually the company was acquired and I went on my
way.
I always assumed that technology like that would find its way into more
applications, but I'm constantly surprised it hasn't.
~~~
incision
_> 'I always assumed that technology like that would find its way into more
applications, but I'm constantly surprised it hasn't.'_
Many years ago, I was working on a large project for an organization nothing
apparently consistent between half a dozen systems with tens of thousands of
users each except names. Naturally, those names were full of exactly the kind
of variations you're describing.
When I went looking for a solution to do exactly what you're describing I ran
into solutions that were both vague about their functionality and expensive.
Like you say, pretty niche - it seemed that everyone was used to selling very
specific 'solutions' not a library/API.
I ended up hacking together a very basic script to accomplish the same. It
took days to run thanks to my non-existent coding skills, but the accuracy was
pretty good.
What it couldn't line up was solved by later decoding and discovering
correlations between the long forgotten conventions used for unique IDs in the
various systems.
------
ilamont
Two thoughts:
1\. Marketers surely have mined this data to the hilt -- cross-referencing
these trends with address lists and full-name email prefixes can make targeted
promotions a lot more effective.
2\. My own name is relatively rare in the U.S. among my age cohort
([http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=ian](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=ian))
to the point where some adults had problems pronouncing it when I was in
elementary school 35 years ago ("Isn't that a girl's name?"). But I suspect,
based on anecdotal evidence and personal observation, that the name is more
common in England, Scotland, Australia and Canada. And the Wolfram data shows
that it has been growing in popularity for many years in the U.S.
~~~
meric
I live in Australia and I concur with you, I know quite a few Ian's.
------
shawkinaw
Can we agree to use the plural "their" for ambiguous sex third-person
possessive? "His" is sexist, but so is "her", which is distracting on top of
that because it isn't conventional.
~~~
Spittie
As someone that's not a native english speaker, can I ask you why "his" is
sexist?
A quick read of a dictionary
([http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/his](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/his))
says that his is "the possessive form of he", and the second definition of
"he" is "anyone (without reference to sex)". That's also what I got taught in
middle/high school.
Sorry if I'm just missing something and this is a stupid question.
~~~
Someone
Something is sexist when language users think it is. The problem with
he/him/his is that the primary meaning refers to males, only. Because of that,
anyone reading it gets pushed towards the primary meaning.
That's why some people push towards the use of the singular they
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they))
That may eventually change the language for all.
------
mooism2
...and her nationality.
I'm British. I know two women called Deirdre. They're both Irish. It seems
that the name had fallen out of favour in Britain by the 70s, but was still
fashionable in Ireland until at least the 80s.
~~~
slyall
Could be related to the character on the long-running primetime soap
Coronation Street. She started in 1972.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deirdre_Barlow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deirdre_Barlow)
~~~
mooism2
Corry's been shown in Ireland since 1978.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation_Street#International...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation_Street#International_syndication)
Not saying it's not the reason for the divergence, but it seems less likely.
~~~
rmc
A lot of Irish households have access to British TV stations like BBC, ITV
etc. and could have watched it there.
~~~
theoh
Since Deirdre is an Irish name, it is possible that the decline in popularity
(among the general population) in the UK was at least partly due to increased
anti-Irish sentiment in the 1970s.
------
jaxytee
The Wizard of Oz was released in 1939, so it makes sense that the median age
for Dorothy's is around 75 years of age.
I wonder what other pop culture events influenced naming trends.
~~~
probably_wrong
I bet Liam Neeson is the reason for the new wave of Liams, but I can't decide
whether the Karate Kid remake is the reason for the wave of Jaydens, or if
it's just a coincidence.
~~~
personZ
[http://names.yafla.com/#n=Jayden&s=mt](http://names.yafla.com/#n=Jayden&s=mt)
Coincidence. The name started its ascent in the mid 90s.
~~~
Larx-3
Not necessarily. Liam Neeson was the star of the 1993 film "Schindler's List."
It won 7 Academy awards in 1994, including best picture.
------
was_hellbanned
I was curious about one of the deadest male names, Isadore, so I looked it up.
It's of Greek origin and it turns out the female counterpart, Isadora, is the
ninth most popular name for baby girls in Chile in 2006. The website linked
from the article indicates that it's never ranked in the top 1000 in the US.
Interesting how a shared, ancient name could be so wildly divergent in usage.
~~~
officemonkey
Kirk Douglas was known as Isadore Demsky when he grew up in Amsterdam NY in
the early 20th Century.
Apparently it was a popular male name for immigrants and first generation
children in the early 20th Century. It was often shortened to "Izzy."
There was a social trend in America during the middle of the 20th Century to
"anglicize" names. For example, I have uncles who changed their birth name in
the early 50s from "Wozniak" to "Wagner." Even Izzy Demsky became Kirk Douglas
when he grew up.
Let's take for example, the children in "the Godfather" books, The older
children have "old country" names (Santino, Fredo) and the younger children
have "new world" names (Michael, Connie.) It's almost as if the older kids
"Americanize" the family when they go to school.
Anyhow, names are funny things when taken in aggregate.
~~~
cookiecaper
My immigrant grandparents named my mother an anglicized version of their
intended name after pressure from the older children, who said, "In America
you say ____, not ____". I think there is probably something to the theory
that the family gets more Americanized as the older children are raised in
American culture and "correct" some of their parents' old world ways.
------
danso
The combination of the SSA babynames data, which is very cool and deep on its
own, with the SSA actuarial data is pretty neat, partly because I hadn't known
about the actuarial data set...but when I saw that the OP had tried to
calculate surviving persons of a given name and birth year, I assumed that
they just used the SSA's death database...from until at least 2010, the SSA
had a list of every SSA person who has died and also, when they were born, and
also, their social security numbers. Since the SSN, until relatively recently,
was indicative of what state the SSN-holder was actually born...well, that,
combined with the babynames-per-state data, could get you very granular
calculations...I'm sure the SSA's actuarial table gets it pretty much within
an acceptable margin of error, but who knows, maybe some awkwardly named
people were doomed to a shorter lifespan? (I'm only half joking, I think)
~~~
alttag
> what state the SSN-holder was actually born
No, it was the state where the SSN was issued. Not all children applied for an
SSN at birth. Centralization of SS offices also altered this practice.
See, e.g.,
[http://www.ssa.gov/history/ssn/geocard.html](http://www.ssa.gov/history/ssn/geocard.html)
------
dllthomas
The assumption that death rates have no link to names will probably break down
in some cases.
~~~
jedberg
This was your subtle way of saying that the average lifespan for a typical
Afro-American name is lower, right? :)
It's ok to differentiate things amongst races sometimes -- it isn't _always_
racist.
~~~
dllthomas
That was certainly an example, but I moved away from it for generality (and
brevity), not concerns over racial tension.
------
bazzargh
Would be interesting to apply it to a group of friends. Since they're likely
to be similar ages, you should be able to get an improved guess from combining
the distributions for all of their names.
------
Finbarr
"The peak year for boys named Joseph was 1914 — when about 39,000 of them were
born. Those 1914 Josephs would be due to celebrate their 100th birthdays at
some point this year. But only about 130 of them were still alive as of Jan.
1."
Something quite poignant in this. I'd be interested in seeing a life
expectancy chart based on name.
~~~
DougWebb
I'm pretty sure that would be "a life expectancy chart". It's pretty unlikely
that your name has any impact on your life expectancy. But, since name
popularity is influenced quite a bit by social/cultural status, and those _do_
affect life expectancy, you'd probably see some differences along those lines.
~~~
hluska
Great comment!
In case anyone is interested, there have been some studies done where
researchers send in two identical resumes. The only difference is that one has
a traditionally 'white' sounding name, whereas the other has a name more
associated with minorities. The 'white' sounding name performs better in these
types of tests.
[http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_dismal_science/20...](http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_dismal_science/2005/04/a_roshanda_by_any_other_name.html)
^ This article gives some more information, including an interesting story
about two brothers named Winner and Loser. The most relevant quote, however,
comes right at the end:
"The data show that, on average, a person with a distinctively black
name—whether it is a woman named Imani or a man named DeShawn—does have a
worse life outcome than a woman named Molly or a man named Jake. But it isn't
the fault of his or her name. If two black boys, Jake Williams and DeShawn
Williams, are born in the same neighborhood and into the same familial and
economic circumstances, they would likely have similar life outcomes. But the
kind of parents who name their son Jake don't tend to live in the same
neighborhoods or share economic circumstances with the kind of parents who
name their son DeShawn. And that's why, on average, a boy named Jake will tend
to earn more money and get more education than a boy named DeShawn. DeShawn's
name is an indicator—but not a cause—of his life path."
(Levitt and Dubner, "A Roshanda by any other name")
------
onewaystreet
Did FiveThirtyEight steal this idea from Business Insider?
[http://www.businessinsider.com/popular-girl-boy-
names-2014-5](http://www.businessinsider.com/popular-girl-boy-names-2014-5)
They did the same research a week ago.
~~~
jonas21
They were probably both inspired by Social Security Administration's release
of name data for 2013 a couple of weeks ago:
[http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pressoffice/pr/2014/babynames2...](http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pressoffice/pr/2014/babynames2013-pr.html)
------
drpgq
Somewhat related, here's the latest NIST results for age estimation based on
face photographs (PDF):
[http://www.nist.gov/customcf/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=915238](http://www.nist.gov/customcf/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=915238)
------
ElongatedTowel
Xavier? Logan? Guess someone wants to have his son grow up as the Wolverine.
------
bostonpete
It's surprising that Jacob isn't one of the top 25 most common male names
considering that it's been the most popular male baby name for 14 of the past
15 years.
~~~
dfc
The list is the 25 most popular names _since 1900._
~~~
bostonpete
I assume its the 25 most popular names of the living. But either way I would
have expected the most popular male baby name for 14 consecutive years to make
the list.
~~~
dfc
Baby Boomer generation.
------
talles
That's very interesting.
Anyone knows some sort of service or website where you input a particular name
and then gives you statistics like the average age of persons with the name
given?
------
tzury
Can someone tell what software was in used to products charts ?
~~~
skeletonjelly
Nate Silver willed them into existence.
I often wonder this about newspaper ones as well. I guess graphic designers
custom make a fairly large amount.
~~~
qwerty_asdf
How can y'all not know 'bout R?
[http://www.r-project.org](http://www.r-project.org)
...just kidding, lots of people don't know about R, but check it out, because
it's pretty badass!
I'd be curious to know if people still use Processing, professionally?
[http://processing.org](http://processing.org)
------
cafard
Amusing. My brother and I are almost smack on the median of our names. Yet I
was named after my father (and his father), my brother after our mother's
father.
------
ojbyrne
Its great to be unpredictable (Owen, slightly older than 8).
------
akilism
Baby names, is this the new wave of data journalism?
~~~
jonathanjaeger
Baby names were heavily discussed in Freakonomics as indicators of a variety
of things. An interesting read if you like this sort of data. Relevant
content: [http://freakonomics.com/tag/baby-
names/](http://freakonomics.com/tag/baby-names/)
------
MarkMc
I've just been travelling through Singapore and was astonished to come across
young women named Agnes and Gertrude.
~~~
skrause
My name is Sebastian, which was extremely popular in Germany in the early 80s
(not once was I the only Sebastian in the classroom). In the USA people would
now imagine a small child when hearing my name. It's very interesting how
different popular names are in different countries.
~~~
dalke
Was that perhaps influenced by the name "Bastian" for the main character of
Ende's 1979 book "The Never-Ending Story" (Die Unendliche Geschichte in the
original German)?
------
p1itopre
I was searching for a link to download the data (a csv maybe) for me to play
with. Did someone find a link?
~~~
keithba
[http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/babynames/limits.html](http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/babynames/limits.html)
has links.
~~~
p1itopre
Thanks!
------
autokad
sorry if someone already posted it, but you can also get an estimate on where
they live :)
[http://jezebel.com/map-sixty-years-of-the-most-popular-
names...](http://jezebel.com/map-sixty-years-of-the-most-popular-names-for-
girls-s-1443501909)
------
subdane
This totally nailed my Mom. That sounds worse than I meant it.
------
shmerl
That's very much culture / language / country specific. Naturally societies
tend to have certain preferences in names in different time periods. But those
only a tendencies, not a set in stone set of names.
------
jccalhoun
I wonder how names with alternate spelling fit in?
------
bmmayer1
My app, DrillbitApp.com, uses the same data to run on marketing lists. Also
does race and gender.
------
madengr
Amazing that the oldest male names do not include biblical Old Testament names
but the youngest male names do! A sign of increasing religious fundamentalism?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Startup Quote: Justin Kan, co-founder, Justin.tv - raychancc
http://startupquote.com/post/3144888909
======
raychancc
I try to work the hardest I can without burning myself out.
\- Justin Kan (@justinkan)
<http://startupquote.com/post/3144888909>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Human Extinction by 2026? (Part 1 of 3) - rolph
https://human-wrongs-watch.net/2019/06/23/human-extinction-by-2026-part-1-of-3/
======
diavelguru
The world will heat up and Wars will be fought for those needing to move to
other areas to avoid the increasing heat. We will not go extinct directly due
to the heat but indirectly. The more preoccupying issue is that of the insects
or lack thereof. Those are to the air breathing world as is plankton to the
oceans...the basis of all food chains. Pollinators and instigators and life
givers and life agitators. I mean c’mon we all saw bee story.....but don’t
fret, our planet will be just fine and that process which brought us about
will go to work again and do the same with some other result once earth calms
down from this tinkering of ours. The tectonic plates will continue to move
and subduct; Mother Earth will adjust and thrive as always; and maybe, just
maybe our first colonization experiment won’t be on mars....
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Daimler stops developing internal combustion engines to focus on electric cars - evo_9
https://electrek.co/2019/09/19/daimler-stops-developing-internal-combustion-engines-to-focus-on-electric-cars/
======
mherrmann
Sorry, but this is just wrong. The original source [0] quoted in the article
says:
> jetzt ist erstmal Pause
> Das Daimler in Zukunft wieder die Entwicklungsarbeit an Verbrennern
> aufnimmt, sei aber nicht ausgeschlossen.
So it's a "pause", not a stop, and Daimler explicitly say that they may resume
developing ICEs in the future, not just of "specific parts" like the article
claims.
The fact that the article is by "electrek", whose name clearly implies a bias
towards electric motors, should make anyone suspicious.
PS: I have nothing against electric cars. But this article is simply
overreaching in its conclusions, and seems to me to be more in service of its
own agenda than the truth.
[0]: [https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/tech-zukunft/daimler-
sto...](https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/tech-zukunft/daimler-stoppt-
verbrennungsmotoren-entwicklung-2019/)
~~~
stiGGG
I believe this is only to calm some people down. If you think about it’s like
Sony would say in 2000 „We pause development on VHS, however it cannot be
ruled out that we will resume development work on VHS in the future.“
~~~
mherrmann
Still. The article has no right to put that extra, unqualified spin on this.
If it had written what you just said, then fine. But it presented the "stop"
as a fact.
~~~
stiGGG
This is true on the other hand. They should separate their interpretation of
that quote as another article or at least paragraph if they want to be
journalists.
------
herogreen
"Daimler [...] recently released its latest generation internal combustion
engine and it might be its last."
"Furthermore, generations of combustion engines have long development
timelines [...]"
"[...] they still might work on some specific parts to improve on their
existing engines."
So this is the best moment for them to make this kind of announcement, which
does not seem that much engaging.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Windows 1.01 in Your Browser - eliyak
http://www.pcjs.org/devices/pc/machine/5160/cga/256kb/win101/
======
azakai
Nice!
If you missed it, there was also a similar demo but with Windows 95 just a few
days ago, [http://win95.ajf.me/](http://win95.ajf.me/)
~~~
ikeboy
93 was better [http://www.windows93.net/](http://www.windows93.net/)
~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
Personally I find that site less interesting. It vaguely resembles Win9x, but
only vaguely, it's not even trying to be faithful, and you can't really _do_
anything.
Compare that to michaelv.org (now defunct), which very faithfully reproduced
Windows 3.1, complete with games, a filesystem, various small utilities, and
such. Or to win95.ajf.me (which I made) which has an actual instance of
Windows 95 in it, so you can fiddle about with the real thing.
I dunno. Windows 93 is fun, but it's not quite the same experience. I'd love
to make something in the same vein as michaelv.org for Windows 95. I already
have win95.ajf.me, of course, but a recreation of 95 is fun for its own
reasons.
~~~
ikeboy
It's meant to be cute, not useful.
Besides, it has a (broken) gameboy emulator!
~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
It does have a gameboy emulator! It's Grant Galitz's GameBoy-Online.
------
kristopolous
It's really fun to realize that the disks you load with all of DOS are about
the size of a typical web asset.
------
galago
The UI uses the "hamburger" element. I was surprised by that.
~~~
endgame
And flat UI elements. And you interact with a single program that takes up
most of the screen. The more things change...
~~~
Stratoscope
Try launching a few programs (double-click the floppy disk after each one to
open the MS-DOS Executive again) and then move them around.
It's a tiled window manager!
~~~
kristopolous
overlapping windows was actually a challenging problem within the constraints
of the old hardware.
~~~
bonzini
Actually it was due to legal worries that Windows 1 only supported tiling. In
Windows 2 they ignored the worries and Apple promptly sued.
~~~
technofiend
There's a million links on that, this is one of the first with names and
dates:
[http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=A_Rich_Neighbor_N...](http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=A_Rich_Neighbor_Named_Xerox.txt)
------
agumonkey
Some things really stick in your mind. The pointer acceleration, icons,
sandclock.
It's funny that Paintbrush lost the constrained line drawing (no more guides),
what a regression.
Also, I laughed at the TODO list. todomvc.com has nothing on it.
------
santaclaus
Sweet! I'm a bit sad that you don't get to launch Windows by typing 'win' and
pressing enter.
~~~
eliyak
You can if you want to! Close Windows and you are at the DOS command prompt.
From there, you can do "anything"... like write a better OS, perhaps?
------
dom96
I left it running in another tab and then it started beeping. Thought my PC
was about to die.
~~~
hellameta
Absolutely terrifying w/ sound hah.
------
Zelphyr
The fact that they actually tried to compete with the Mac with this is amazing
to me. And, as much as I dislike Microsoft products, you have to hand it to
them; they persevered until they had a product that _could_ compete. ...at
least until OS X. (I couldn't resist)
~~~
iolothebard
This is why everyone still used DOS. Mac OS was bloated and slow as well. It
was certainly the future but the 128k wasn't nearly enough. 512k made it
better but it was still years away from living up to the hype.
Until OS X, laughable. iOS has done exponentially more for Apple than OS X has
or ever will.
~~~
Zelphyr
My comment is about desktop OS comparisons.
------
aceperry
It crashed or something. Glad it didn't take down my whole computer.
------
xyby
C64 please!
~~~
crb
[https://www.kingsquare.nl/jsc64](https://www.kingsquare.nl/jsc64)
------
taejo
It crashes if you try to run an executable from DOS.
------
brassattax
Can someone please do DeskMate?
------
huyvun
Really good.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Netflix Apologizes to Customers & Rebrands Its DVD Service - jamesbritt
http://mashable.com/2011/09/19/netflix-qwikster-apology/
======
jerrya
1\. I found value in having the instant queue and dvd queue integrated. I
could pick and choose how I wanted to watch a movie very easily. With separate
queues on separate websites, not so much. It will be a royal pain.
2\. I consider this another way to stealthily raise rates. Right now, I have 3
dvd's out at a time, which means I can have three (actually four) streams
running at a time. Which means I can stream, at the same time my kids are
streaming to their computers or iTouches. Now with separate companies, I will
probably be told I have to buy some upgraded streaming ability from netflix.
Grrr. Netflix, you seem to be intentionally destroying your value. Amazon,
Google, Walmart, here's your chance, because by destroying the queue and
raising prices, Reed Hastings just tore down all my barrier to switching.
------
mattlong
This whole Netflix debacle is a shame. Its one of the few web apps I don't
mind paying for at all since they provide excellent value and user experience
on both the DVD and streaming side of things. Hopefully they can continue to
do so after the split.
------
bradleyland
Here's the message I'm getting: "We realize you didn't like the fact that we
separated the two delivery methods, so we're separating the companies to make
it more clear 'why' we're doing it."
I hate to be a jerk about this, but I really do not care why you're doing it.
As a customer, I hate it. I really loved how I could manage my streaming and
DVD queues through one website. Based on water cooler chat, lots of other
people feel the same way.
Trust me, Mr. Reed. We hear your reasoning loud and clear: Netflix first,
customer second.
------
sixtofour
"We realized that streaming and DVD by mail are becoming two quite different
businesses ..."
That may well be, from their point of view. From my point of view DVD and
streaming were part of the SAME product, with DVD backing up streaming by
offering what streaming didn't have.
For the amount of DVDs I had coming (1 at a time from their minimal DVD+stream
deal), I can get about the same service from the local library. There are a
lot of movies the library doesn't have; the same is true of Netflix.
------
kevin_morrill
The communication seems really bad on this. In one hand Hastings says it will
open all kinds of new possibilities, but then in the next breath he's
emphasizing how nothing but the logo will change. That and they sound like
they're both reading from a teleprompter the whole time.
Makes me wonder if the real reason for this is to have different legal
entities for negotiation or something like that.
------
r00fus
Wow, so due to cost structure imposed by the media conglomerates, Netflix has
to completely divorce the two offerings into two separate companies. Amazing.
I'm wondering if billing and or queues will exist across both?
~~~
terinjokes
According to Reed, nope for both.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Coalition Announces New ‘Do Not Track’ Standard for Web Browsing (2015) - cpeterso
https://www.eff.org/press/releases/coalition-announces-new-do-not-track-standard-web-browsing
======
NelsonMinar
The decision of the Internet advertising industry to ignore the original Do
Not Track setting is a landmark in the cynicism of the industry. I mean users
made an explicit request to not be tracked and companies like Google and
Facebook were all "lol, no, we'll track you anyway". It's one of the reasons I
feel no remorse running an ad blocker.
~~~
ocdtrekkie
In fairness, a leading cause of DNT's failure is that Microsoft, for marketing
purposes, chose to set DNT by default for a while. While I applaud the goal of
assuming people don't want tracking, it gave ad companies an excuse to dismiss
DNT: Because many users showing DNT settings had not explicitly meant to do
so.
~~~
Fnoord
> Microsoft, for marketing purposes
If Microsoft does something in the interest of their users it is suddenly "for
marketing purposes"?
> While I applaud the goal of assuming people don't want tracking
_Of course_ people don't want tracking. I'm not going to argue everyone
agrees with GDPR, but that sets the trend further.
> Because many users showing DNT settings had not explicitly meant to do so.
Just because someone doesn't explicitly agree with something, doesn't mean
they disagree with that.
~~~
treve
Even though it might in theory have been the best default for end-users, in
practice they made DNT fail as a result because advertisers wanted users to
make an explicit choice instead of getting opted out by default. It's easy to
blame the advertisers here, and sure.. you can argue that in this scenario
they were the 'more evil' ones, but had Microsoft not made this choice, we
ultimately could have ended up with a respected DNT header, which later on
could have become a default anyway.
So I don't disagree that the decision might have come from a good place, but
the end-result was not hard to predict and was ultimately not in the interest
of users. It was incredibly dumb.
~~~
belorn
The advertisers chosen to ignore DNT. It don't matter if they decided to do so
because they disliked the concept of DNT or if they did so because the OS
manufactorers decided to change the opt-in to opt-out. The decision was made
solely by the advertisers, and there the blame resides.
If Microsoft had not made this choice then the advertisers could still have
made the same decision. We will never know, and it doesn't really matter. Its
a "what if" situation, and like many such "what if"s we are simply speculating
about motives while not looking at the billions of dollar worth of obvious
reasons why the advertisers wanted to ignore DNT.
------
TravelTechGuy
As others have mentioned here, this is akin to a sheep carrying a sign saying
"please don't eat me", hoping wolves would respect it.
Furthermore, this sheep just highlighted the fact that it's a troublesome
sheep, that requires special attention (i.e. if the DNT flag is in the header
of the first request to my site, I know I can bust out my adblock-bypassing
scripts, and start serving ads differently).
When I worked for [name of major ad-supported company redacted], I
specifically asked a senior PM one day why are we ignoring the DNT flag in our
products. He said "because that's how we make our money", thought for another
second and added "also, everyone else ignores it".
~~~
user5994461
The wolf comparison is on point in that advertisers are evil creatures who
rely on hurting internet users to survive and thrive.
------
xg15
I don't really understand how this is supposed to help. If I'm an
advertiser/tracker/etc, what keeps me from adding the policy file to my
website - so adblock, duckduckgo etc. are happy - and then blatantly violating
it?
The "policy" doesn't seem to be legally binding in any way, there is no way to
even detect violations and the EFF itself writes that it can't enforce it:
> _Posting the dnt-policy.txt file makes a promise to the users who interact
> with their domain. We believe it would be a false and misleading trade
> practice to post the policy without the intent to comply in good faith.
> However, EFF is not in a position to enforce this promise or monitor
> compliance._ [1]
So what's the point?
[1] [https://www.eff.org/dnt-policy#faq-What-does-the-dnt-
policy....](https://www.eff.org/dnt-policy#faq-What-does-the-dnt-policy.txt-
promise-mean)?
~~~
greglindahl
If you're a US company and you lie to your customers about what your policies
are, the FTC may well sue you. They do it all of the time over privacy
policies.
------
javery
This is from 2015.
~~~
Ajedi32
Yeah, my first thought when I read the headline was "Again?".
DNT was actually pretty widely implemented in browsers for a while, but it
ultimately failed because there wasn't anything actually enforcing the
standard. It was essentially just a way to politely ask servers not to track
you.
~~~
Sylos
If Microsoft had't made it the default in IE, then DNT would have been an
explicit action to show that you do not consent to tracking, which would have
had legal bearing.
~~~
user5994461
It had zero legal bearing either way.
------
hermitdev
I seriously doubt this will gain much traction. I would love it to, but I
doubt the motives behind advertisers.
I mean, just look at the current state of advertising on mobile. One
constantly gets ads hijacking the browser to show ads ostensibly from Amazon
or Walmart (I doubt either Amazon or Walmart would actually prevent you from
getting to the content you're looking at). The "well-done" ads prevent you
from even hitting the back-button on your browser to return to the content.
Being an Android user, I've effectively taken to using MS Edge on Android,
because at least in Edge, I can disable javascript, which has gone a long way
to crippling such ads. (Before anyone asks: I'm normally a Chrome user +
UBlock, etc etc, but Chrome doesn't support extensions on Android, and I've
never had good luck with FireFox for anything other than draining battery).
When Ad companies learn to play nice and not hijack my browser and
occasionally serve up out right malware, maybe, just MAYBE, will I reconsider
playing nice with them.
~~~
mtgx
You're right. The ship has sailed... _for advertisers_. They'll _wish_ this
DNT variant had caught-on, because since then ublock origin and others like it
have become significantly more popular, the native-adblock Brave browser is
growing slow and steady, and now even Mozilla offers users the option to
disable all tracking. Perhaps in another couple of years Mozilla will enable
it by default for everyone.
~~~
Endy
Except of course tracking for Mozilla's monetary and advertising partners,
like Google. They'll pass that off as part of their Shield Studies and insert
hidden tracking plugins into the browser which will be invisible to the user.
~~~
KozmoNau7
You'll need to provide some pretty solid proof for that accusation.
Credible Wireshark log dumps would be a good start.
~~~
Endy
Since I refused to downgrade to WebExtensions Firefox, and I'm currently using
Pale Moon for most browsing (and I'm looking at Otter as a possible #2), I
don't have access to it anymore. I simply do not trust Mozilla anymore, or
Firefox.
~~~
KozmoNau7
So you have absolutely no proof of any kind, other than paranoid ideas, which
fits in nicely with the usual misguided anti-webextensions ranting.
I'm sorry, but if you expect anyone to believe you, you're going to have to
produce actual evidence.
------
mmagin
My issue with DNT is that it is generally another bit of uniqueness that makes
my browser slightly EASIER to track for anyone who doesn't care about obeying
it, which are likely the greatest threats.
------
jackhack
If a security or privacy model depends on the cooperation of those on the
other end of the wire, it will fail.
~~~
nykolasz
This is the reason why DNT failed. If it can't be forced, the bad players
won't follow it.
------
TheAceOfHearts
IMO, tracking should be strictly opt-in, making it opt-out is abusive and
ubethical.
I recently learned of GDPR. Although I'm uncertain of the exact law's
implementation details, I think it's a step in the right direction. It's
strictly opt-in and requires providing a clear explanation of what data gets
collected.
------
noncoml
It is one of these things that it is too little too late. Ad blockers filled
in the gap and there is no need for a solution anymore.
Not to mention that AdBlock has lost all the good faith from the users, so
including it in the coalition only does damage to the public image.
------
Feniks
Please don't kill anyone vs. killing is against the law and you'll go to jail
if you do it.
I know which one works best.
------
tzahola
Coalition Announces New “Please Don’t Listen” Standard against Man-in-the-
middle Attacks
~~~
Endy
Or even better a new, "Please Don't Listen" standard against cell-phone
conversations on busy streets!
------
labster
Cool, a new way our browsers can be fingerprinted! Thanks EFF for one more bit
of entropy!
Yes I know this was in good faith, but when you are trying to get good faith
agreement against the business model of an industry, it's no surprise it was a
failure.
------
Cyberdog
> Disconnect’s partners in this launch are the innovative publishing site
> Medium
I know this is off-topic, but what is so innovative about Medium? Does it
break any significant ground beyond what LiveJournal was doing almost two
decades ago?
~~~
jasonkostempski
Nothing. I'm a bit surprised an EFF article is using all those meaningless
fluffy words to describe the partners.
------
kevinoid
Could someone clarify: What's the standard? Is it adopting EFF's DNT policy
[https://www.eff.org/dnt-policy](https://www.eff.org/dnt-policy)? Is it
hosting any privacy policy at /.well-known/dnt-policy.txt? Do any tools or
browsers use that URL or display it to users? Has anyone else adopted this
standard?
------
yuhong
The ad bubble and how it affects Google/Mozilla is now one of my favorite
topics. It is not just Google, but it is the most interesting.
------
zimbatm
Now all we need if for websites to automatically hide the cookie warning
header when DNT is set.
~~~
Endy
Oh, I'm sure that someone out there already does. The question is whether
they're making enough money off it to do it en masse.
------
paulogubio
AUGUST 3, 2015
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google's push from Talk to Hangouts, XMPP and workonomic - middayc
http://workonomic.blogspot.com/2013/05/googles-push-from-google-talk-to-google.html
======
captn3m0
We use partychat extensively, and everyone who tried out the new hangouts
faced the same issue: Our partychat bot won't even show up in the list.
Messages sent from either side were lost. Ultimately, we have decided to ask
everyone to "undo the upgrade" as of now.
We are looking for alternatives.
~~~
middayc
I don't know partychat .. is that an XMPP server or a XMPP client/bot?
~~~
rb2k_
Apparently Multi User Chatrooms for Google talk:
<http://partychapp.appspot.com/>
------
unwind
Annoying typo in the original article's title, faithfully reproduced here. Can
someone fix it locally, at least? Thanks.
~~~
middayc
thanks, fixed
~~~
ontoillogical
While we're on the subject of typos: the title of the main workonomic page is
"workonomic - manage your time, without loosing it." It's also crept into the
google results for workonomic.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Monitoring Distributed System Health with Ruby, Splunk, and Honeybadger - jeffthespasm
http://techblog.trunkclub.com/2015/08/21/health-monitoring-with-splunk.html
======
zer00eyz
Splunk is an amazing tool.
The amount of data I can jam into logs can give massive, real time insight
into everything. When engineers start logging performance information as well
as conversion info, you can see the impact that an underperforming system has
on user behavior. If you can prove that performance matters, or that your
missing a critical threshold with it, the arguments between fixes and features
tend to solve themselves.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
This Entrepreneur Raised $300,000 By Wearing Dad’s Wool Shirt For 100 Days - starpilot
http://www.fastcoexist.com/1682002/this-24-year-old-entrepreneur-raised-300000-by-wearing-dad-s-wool-shirt-for-100-days
======
hardwaresofton
Isn't this another misuse of Kickstarter?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What projects are you working on? - mfalcon
I've recently finished working on some clients projects and now I've got some time to work on my own projects. I'd like to know in which projects the hn people is working on for some inspiration.
======
jlhonora
I'm connecting a Hedgehog to the Internet :) . I have a hedgehog that runs all
night in a wheel. Counting the laps gives me the traveled distance, so every
morning he'll tweet how much he ran. He runs up to 15 km./9 miles!
Check him out at
[https://twitter.com/runhedgie](https://twitter.com/runhedgie)
This project is a combination of hardware and software. I'm using a Raspberry
Pi, a custom-built wireless node based on Arduino, Python, Redis, and a Go API
for data analysis. I wanted to build almost everything from scratch, to really
see what's happening in every part of the system, so I've done from PCB design
and soldering to struggling with Go HTTP routers (I gave up and used Gorilla).
But it's been fun watching the hedgehog interact with the real world.
[https://github.com/jlhonora/iot](https://github.com/jlhonora/iot)
[https://github.com/jlhonora/iot-go](https://github.com/jlhonora/iot-go)
~~~
meowface
Very cute hedgehog.
Any particular reason you're intermixing Go and Python? For something like
this I imagine Python alone would be more than suitable. And if you just
wanted to mess with Go and learn it, then you probably could've used Go for
the whole thing.
~~~
jlhonora
Thanks! Good question.
I wanted two things from this project: get it up and running as quickly as
possible and learn Go. That's why I programmed an MVP in Python while I
finished the backend in Go. I figured that if I waited for the Go code to be
finished I may have never shipped it.
I'm still going to use Python for the raspberry Pi, since I don't know any
serial port libraries for Golang (well, a quick google search shows me an
option:
[https://code.google.com/p/goserial/](https://code.google.com/p/goserial/))
and anyways that part is already working fine.
But if I find the time then yeah, I'd totally rewrite it entirely in Go. But
there's many things I'd do before that:
\- Live streaming with a Pi NoIR camera (WebRTC + a paid CDN I guess).
\- Visualization and data analysis. I'm thinking github-style punchcard for
the running activity, and when you click a day you can analyse the minute-by-
minute laps.
\- Correlation with other sensors. I have temperature, humidity, and ambient
light sensors, which could be use to correlate the activity or even predict
it.
\- Public API.
------
adamonduty
I'm working on PhoneCard, a service to make cheap international phone calls
without requiring a data connection. You enter the phone number in the webapp
and it calls you.
Next time you're using poor hotel wifi or you're frustrated with skype (e.g.
multiple disconnects per hour), try PhoneCard for a high-quality call.
PhoneCard can call most places in the world, and in some countries you can
also purchase incoming numbers that will forward calls to you internationally.
Still very much a beta product, but check it out at
[https://www.getphonecard.net](https://www.getphonecard.net)
Also working on an Android app which I hope to release soon.
~~~
thegeomaster
Eh, didn't work for me. I entered the number of my mobile phone and my
landline, and neither rang.
I guess it's just an issue pertaining to Serbia (or maybe I'm doing something
wrong?). No service works here unless they specifically mention they do. It's
a frustrating thing :)
~~~
adamonduty
I just saw your call in the logs! It will work in Serbia, but I need to do
some additional work on the backend to enable certain countries that are
typically high cost to call. I had already done this, but apparently it wasn't
complete.
For now, I've reset your trial call limit and it should work for you.
~~~
thegeomaster
Whoa, it works! I was surprised to actually see a service with such a wide
coverage. I've made an account and verified it, and all seems to work
smoothly. The only thing is that I can't find any info on how much the
messages or calls cost. Maybe I'm missing something obvious.
I'll also be sure to recommend you to people I know are having this specific
difficulty of poor call quality with Skype or Viber. That's a great service
you've got there, and keep up the good work :)
~~~
adamonduty
Awesome! I agree that I need to improve the cost discoverability. The problem
is the matrix of rates is huge. In some countries, costs are different per
mobile provider, and landlines are usually half the cost or less than mobiles.
For example, calling Serbian landline to the US would be roughly $0.20 per
minute. Serbian mobile to the US would be roughly $0.55 per minute. That all
changes when you call somewhere else.
Of course many countries are not nearly so much. I also do plan to add voip
calling within the app. This would allow you to skip the high cost of crossing
Serbian boundaries when you're near a decent internet connection, but give you
flexibility to make calls directly over the PSTN when needed.
~~~
rahimnathwani
Check out the UI for 'webcall' at didlogic.com. I use this service for the
exact use case you're targeting, but it's a slight pain because:
1) I have to use Safari instead of an app, so it can't interact with my
phone's address book. So I have to copy-paste the two phone numbers.
2) I almost always have to log in each time I use it, because the auth session
has timed out.
3) I have to zoom in/out as it's not mobile optimised.
If you could offer the same quality and price as didlogic.com, but with a
convenient app interface, that would be awesome.
------
bigfoot13442
I am rebuilding a 1981 Suzuki GS750E. I find it really helps to get away from
my desk once in a while.
I have never done any mechanical work before and I am having fun and learning
a lot. I highly recommend it as an alternative to starting yet another
project.
When I don't feel like working on that or am waiting for parts, I am building
an original arcade game. Its in the really early stages but I hope to house it
in a traditional coin operated arcade cabinet painted with original artwork
from a local artist and put it in a local coffeeshop or something.
I don't have a site to point anyone to for either of these projects.
~~~
seestheday
I did this with a 1981 Honda cb750 two winters ago. I also had no prior
mechanical knowledge and found it incredibly fulfilling and rewarding. There
was an amazing online community dedicated to the motorcycle that I have that
was incredibly helpful. I'd recommend this to anyone willing to put in the
work.
Edit: I should add that this bike now my daily rider. I could afford a much
newer and nicer bike, but I don't think I'll ever sell this one given how much
work I put into it and how familiar I am with its internals.
------
juretriglav
A distributed search engine for science, with all parts contained within a
browser extension:
[https://github.com/ScholarNinja/extension](https://github.com/ScholarNinja/extension)
A blog post about it recently hit the front page of HN:
[http://juretriglav.si/an-open-distributed-search-engine-
for-...](http://juretriglav.si/an-open-distributed-search-engine-for-science/)
130 people have installed the extension and my server has churned through 100+
GB of data in the past three days, so I'm having scaling/performance issues
right off the bat, which is great. Just today we made significant performance
improvements (10x) to the underlying webrtc-chord DHT implementation:
[https://github.com/tsujio/webrtc-
chord/issues/6](https://github.com/tsujio/webrtc-chord/issues/6)
It's a whole lot of fun developing this :) If anyone cares about this stuff,
I'm always happy to discuss!
------
heidar
Working on TruckPlease
[https://www.truckplease.com/](https://www.truckplease.com/) If you need to
move something you can post it there and guys with trucks and moving companies
around you will put down quotes for the job. Then you can accept/decline the
quotes and get connected to the mover. It's a Rails app. The focus is on stuff
within the same city (or county at least) so shorter local moves.
It's mostly in Vancouver, BC right now although we get stuff posted from all
over the US and Canada.
~~~
gingerlime
I think it's a great service, and was really toying with the idea of creating
something like this when I was living in the UK. But mostly for ebay
purchases.
There are lots of bargains for furniture and heavier stuff which is 'pick-up-
only'. If you can get a quote for picking it up and delivering it before you
even bid on an auction, this will open up loads more opportunities for both
buyers, sellers, and local delivery companies.
So my 2 cents worth of tip is adding an ebay bookmarklet or a way to add an
eBay id instantly to get a quote on.
Also lots of potential if this grows for moving companies who have extra space
in their trucks to bid and fill those gaps within the area.
~~~
heidar
Thanks! You might already know but the UK has AnyVan which is similar but
perhaps more for long distance stuff. I think they have eBay integration too.
You're right that is a huge market though.
~~~
gingerlime
Thanks for the tip about AnyVan. I wasn't aware of it. Now I'm in Germany, but
I see that they have German presence as well. Very useful to know!
------
wslh
A social data flow engine called Egont. You can take a look at these articles:
\- Egont, A Web Orchestration Language: [http://blog.databigbang.com/ideas-
egont-a-web-orchestration-...](http://blog.databigbang.com/ideas-egont-a-web-
orchestration-language/)
\- Egont Part II: [http://blog.databigbang.com/egont-part-
ii/](http://blog.databigbang.com/egont-part-ii/)
You can define things like this using s-expressions: (let mytwitter (twitter
"databigbang")
Then you can do (twitterdb store (twitter.tweets)) and for every tweet your
defines db is updated. Then imagine that your user is called "wslh" you can
share your whole db via egont.users.wslh.twitterdb.
Building a service like IFTTT is trivial with this engine, you can also add
processing rules to this stuff and share the whole data. For example, if every
friend "connects" this service with their IMDB Movies Ranking, you can send
all this information to a recommendation engine or just do an average of the
scores between all your friends. When a friend adds a new movies everything is
recalculated like in a spreadsheet.
Another use is sharing summarized information within a specific market.
Imagine you work on selling ruby on rails services, you and others in your
market can connect their google analytics information to Egont and provide
summarized information for this specific market that helps other to take
decisions based on it. You can also restrict how the information is
distributed.
~~~
tree_of_item
Very nice. IFTTT was a nice first step, and I've been hoping more
sophisticated solutions to the same problem would arrive.
Do you see this being commercial software as a service or self-hosted?
~~~
tectonic
See also Huginn:
[https://github.com/cantino/huginn](https://github.com/cantino/huginn)
------
joewalnes
I'm working on my first consumer hardware project - an external Bluetooth
camera flash for iPhone: [https://wantnova.com](https://wantnova.com).
The hardware is now shipping and now I'm working on improving the iOS app,
which I've made open source: [https://github.com/nova-device/nova-ios-
app](https://github.com/nova-device/nova-ios-app)
~~~
emilioolivares
Wow, this is an awesome idea. Very nice site and product, would buy in a
heartbeat. Guys, this needs to get on the frontpage now!
------
dangrossman
I spend about 90% of my time working on Improvely
([https://www.improvely.com](https://www.improvely.com)) which is doubling in
customers/revenue every few months. Next month I'm going to be wrapping up a
bunch of major features that have been on my TODO list for a long time which
will be pretty neat.
I also run W3Counter ([https://www.w3counter.com](https://www.w3counter.com)),
a couple e-commerce stores, manage two more e-commerce stores for relatives,
and have a few open source projects I mostly just manage pull requests in
these days. My date range picker for Bootstrap
([https://github.com/dangrossman/bootstrap-
daterangepicker](https://github.com/dangrossman/bootstrap-daterangepicker))
still generates a lot of e-mails asking for help, and I usually end up writing
some code for those people.
~~~
abestic9
Funny running into you here! I use your Bootstrap date range picker for many
of my projects and I think I tweeted you a while back. Really happy with the
BS3 update and good to see you in the HN melting pot, thanks again.
------
alfg
[http://guildbit.com/](http://guildbit.com/) \- Free, temporary, 10-slot
Mumble servers for the gaming community.
I built this so gamers can easily deploy Mumble servers without having to
subscribe to a service or install their own server.
I've been working on this for the past 6 months or so and recently added
purchased upgrades via Bitcoin (Stripe soon).
~~~
frankydp
great idea, look into the eve community.
Also think a temporary mumble channel api would be cool, for the premium
server folks.
------
unoti
I've been learning Unreal Engine 4. Its worth taking it for a spin just to see
its visual Blueprint scripting language that compiles down to C++, which you
can watch execute via animation at runtime. It also does mind-blowing things
with materials on 3d objects, which can be programmed via connecting nodes
visually in blueprints, which then compile down to shaders. It's
technologically amazing. A sample
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hwhH7upYFE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hwhH7upYFE)
~~~
doppp
I have been doing this too! I actually just bought a new PC so that I can do
hobbyist game development. Always wanted to learn game development (I'm a web
developer mainly) but never got around to doing it. With the new subscription
service and all, I decided to pick UE4 up to tinker around and create random
things, regardless of whether or not I release a commercial game. It's
amazing. :)
------
dochtman
I'm working on a programming language. It's a reimagining of Python as a
statically-typed, compiled language. The compiler is written in Python and
targets LLVM IR. Currently working towards support for exceptions; raising
already works, currently trying to work my way through all the stuff that
needs to work for catching.
~~~
dmarble
If you haven't taken a look at Nimrod, it might give you some ideas, or
perhaps inspire you to be a code contributor! As a python guy, I'm really
liking it for some hobby work I'm doing. The compiler and standard library are
MIT licensed.
[http://nimrod-lang.org/](http://nimrod-lang.org/)
[https://github.com/Araq/Nimrod](https://github.com/Araq/Nimrod)
Also, there's a recent forum posting about the decision not to do LLVM codgen
for now: [http://forum.nimrod-lang.org/t/480](http://forum.nimrod-
lang.org/t/480). Perhaps you can ask some questions of the main contributors;
they're quite responsive.
~~~
dochtman
Yeah, Nimrod is somewhat close to what I'm working on, though my language is
quite a bit closer to actual Python in many ways. Also, my language does not
rely on GC, instead using annotated pointer types to get deterministic memory
management (without requiring very explicit allocation and deallocation).
I don't really buy into their reasons that LLVM is harder than C; it's just a
different environment, closer to assembler in some ways, but actually quite
readable in my opinion.
~~~
dmarble
Very cool. Good luck to you and look forward to checking it out!
------
maz1b
I haven't been a fan of most music blogs out there, so I started one alone
with a different focus and combined my passion for music with coding to help
us stand out. Now, my team has grown to 34 people and we're building our own
platform to help people discover all kinds of music.
[http://radcircle.com](http://radcircle.com)
New completely custom platform built from scratch in it's Alpha stages, using
Ruby, Rails and possibly SailsJS.
Would love feedback on our alpha stage or advice / feedback of any kind when
it comes to music. I'm a college student and so are all people on the team.
First time with a "startup" / web dev / design and everything that goes along
with it. :)
~~~
contingencies
This is a great problem to attempt to solve, for a few reasons. First, there's
heaps of audio content out there with friendly licensing already. Second,
there's huge amounts of metadata and related text available. Third, there's so
many different angles of analysis to tie things together with. Fourth,
everyone's got at least a few devices that can access some or all of that
content.
I share your belief that someone can do better than the current offerings in
this area.
However, right now your site is not giving me a lot of useful response. I am
seeing no results for some pretty popular instruments (I searched 'hang' and
'sitar' and neither had any results). I am seeing very little of a lot of
genres out there. And when I do get results, they are not presented in an
easily reviewed manner (eg. with Google-style text snippets, many results
visible per page in an uncluttered, single-direction-scannable results list).
Here's some random ideas: \- consider search by artist, individual within an
artist group, instrument, instrument genre, time, event, venue, genre, review
text, reviewer rating or location or age or something \- consider limit by
'has upcoming events near me' (good monetization path) \- timeline of genres
\- timeline of releases by an artist \- links to wikipedia background \-
metadata from same (+wikidata, etc.)
Good luck developing this further, I think there's a lot of great work to be
done.
~~~
maz1b
Thank you very much for your feedback. I agree, the site is very basic right
now, and we have grand visions for it that we're actively working on to make a
reality.
We do believe that we can fine tune and help people discover all kinds of
music, and some of the things that you mentioned were absolutely terrific
ideas.
Would you be interested in reviewing at a later date to see how we did?
If not, I truly appreciate you taking the time out to let us know what you
think :)
~~~
contingencies
Sure thing, feel free to send me an email when you'd like me to take another
look.
------
level09
I'm working on a new python based system, consists of Flask and many helpful
extension built-in by default.
it will be an easy starter template for any kind of project, and it will have
a css on the front (Bootstrap or Purecss), User management
(Registeration/Authentication),Asset management, Admin panel, caching, Redis,
Task Queue, and two database stores (SQL and no-SQL), and a websocket push
functionality.
I call it, the framework for the next decade :)
~~~
ddorian43
don't forget to post on the mailing list when you publish it
~~~
level09
Sure will, I'm planning to be in EuroPython soon in Berlin, but planning to
put an initial version before that on Github.
------
ftfish
Nothing as interesting as many of the projects here, but I've had around 10k
visits this month and plenty of returning visitors, so I guess it's useful
enough.
It's a very simple generator for static social media sharing buttons with
support for Font Awesome:
[http://simplesharingbuttons.com/](http://simplesharingbuttons.com/)
Quite useful for mobile websites or email newsletters.
~~~
Turing_Machine
I recently went through the hassle of tracking down the necessary info to
create a bunch of share buttons manually. Not hard, but time-consuming. This
would have been _very_ useful. Simple to use, too. Bookmarked for the next
time I have to do that. Thanks!
~~~
thebiglebrewski
This is pretty awesome! I also made a similar tool at easilyshare.me
~~~
ftfish
I really like the interface.
If you're interested, there's a link to a blog post on the bottom of the
website with code for some extra social networking/bookmarking sites -- if
you'd perhaps like to add support for those. (I didn't add those to the
generator because of missing icons in the icon sets.)
------
dzink
There are a whole bunch of projects on
[http://DoerHub.com](http://DoerHub.com) looking for contributors from code to
medicine (and you can soon have private and public project sections over there
to manage open contributions and core team stuff).
A few of the projects:
[http://www.doerhub.com/for/robopaint](http://www.doerhub.com/for/robopaint)
[http://www.doerhub.com/for/securityfirst](http://www.doerhub.com/for/securityfirst)
[http://www.doerhub.com/for/hello-tractor](http://www.doerhub.com/for/hello-
tractor)
[http://www.doerhub.com/for/theodinproject](http://www.doerhub.com/for/theodinproject)
[http://www.doerhub.com/for/highstride](http://www.doerhub.com/for/highstride)
[http://www.doerhub.com/for/www-roomva-com](http://www.doerhub.com/for/www-
roomva-com)
[http://www.doerhub.com/for/www-farmstacker-
com](http://www.doerhub.com/for/www-farmstacker-com)
[http://www.doerhub.com/for/message-
impossible](http://www.doerhub.com/for/message-impossible)
------
jkbr
I'm working on a plugin system for HTTPie (the user-friendly cURL
replacement)[1]. It will allow things like displaying MessagePack responses,
or rendering images directly in the terminal. [2]
[1] [http://httpie.org](http://httpie.org)
[2]
[https://twitter.com/jakubroztocil/status/462173042626801664](https://twitter.com/jakubroztocil/status/462173042626801664)
------
drsintoma
A meta-search engine for English speaking jobs in Germany. Backed by Go,
elastic search and python scripts.
[https://englishjobs.de](https://englishjobs.de)
~~~
Everlag
Just a heads up, the yellow/orange text inputs are fairly unreadable for me.
Might just be my monitor config though.
------
s_kilk
I'm working on an open-source snippet-saving app (think a dumber version of
Evernote), with the intention of making it easy to self-host:
[https://github.com/ShaneKilkelly/jetcan-
server](https://github.com/ShaneKilkelly/jetcan-server) . At the moment I'm in
the process of refactoring how user accounts are handled, so it's not quite
ready for self-hosting in a serious way.
I'm also planning on writing a CLI client and an Android app for that project,
but have yet to get started on it.
I've also been working on a clojure library to provide a key-value json store
abstraction over PostgreSQL
([https://github.com/ShaneKilkelly/bedquilt](https://github.com/ShaneKilkelly/bedquilt)).
It's mostly for fun, but I'm thinking of moving all the core logic out into a
PostgreSQL plugin, so that all the "smarts" can be done on the PostgreSQL
server instance, and then reduce the client library to a thin wrapper over
some SQL functions.
------
nnoitra
It's not a product, but I am trying to get better at meditation. Being able to
calm yourself is an invaluable skill for a hacker.
~~~
silverlight
I've been thinking of trying to work on this myself. Both as a way to manage
stress in my life and as a way to put myself in a better creative mindset. Any
good resources/tips?
~~~
parley
I'm a meditation novice so take this with a grain of salt, but the only "For
Dummies"-book I've ever enjoyed was "Meditation For Dummies".
It's not a heavy read like some meditation tomes can be but it's not very
dumbed down either (IMHO), and it recognizes that some people are interested
in the spiritual parts, some the philosophical, while some are only interested
in the practical. The book has them all to a good extent, but helps you
navigate to the parts that are of use to you.
I'm sure YMMV and different books suit different people, but this one worked
well for me. I recommend it, but regardless of what resource you use: There is
calm to be found, and it can feel great. Good luck!
Edit: Grammar.
------
Dnguyen
I'm working on a todo list with a Seinfeld calendar. My take is that there are
only three categories: Work, Home, Personal. There are two buckets of tasks,
Short term and long term. You'd move long term tasks into the short term when
you start working on them. At the beginning of the week, you'd move the tasks
from the short term into the day of the week that you planning to work on
them. The catch is, you can only work on three tasks per day. Each task has an
associate cost or reward. Get enough done you can reward yourself a nice
purchase. Or don't get things done and you'll owe your friend a fancy dinner.
There are more details and reasoning behind it, but my idea is to keep the
number of tasks small so we can get them done and keep the calendar line
going. Other todo lists I used I ended up putting too much on there and it
turned into list of lists.
~~~
sergiotapia
Please add me to your mailing list, I'm interested in using this. All of the
"Seinfeld-todo's" on the play store or app store look HORRIBLE and work just
barely.
Someone should build something that works but also looks and feels nice.
------
janesconference
Working on a Digital Audio Workstation in HTML5 / Web Audio API, front and
back end: [http://hya.io](http://hya.io)
~~~
wturner
This is one of the projects I most admire in the space. It's the ideal I set
my programming learning around when I started teaching myself this stuff.
Upvoted
~~~
janesconference
Thanks wturner! If you ever want to develop a plugin for hya, feel free to
contact me for any info or support you need.
~~~
wturner
I don't have the time or the know how for that to be honest. I do think you're
ahead of the curve in terms of the opportunities that are possible. If I were
you I would seriously try and pitch your know-how to Yamaha or some of the
other music instrument companies about building things in this realm. I heard
a talk by Chris Lowis that Yamaha was exploring the web audio api for MIDI
devices etc.
~~~
janesconference
I'll probably try that. I'm trying to expand the project, currently.
------
matt_hova
I just made a parametric FDM 3d printable violin. I hope it can change the
education system's music programs. Hear it:
[http://instagram.com/p/pxIME9GHfd/?modal=true](http://instagram.com/p/pxIME9GHfd/?modal=true)
Download it:
[https://github.com/matthova/hovalin](https://github.com/matthova/hovalin)
------
kodablah
Wanted to learn JVM internals by writing a compiler. Just started, decided to
make a toy JVM impl of Swift. Very early and I don't have a lot of free time.
[https://github.com/cretz/gulliver](https://github.com/cretz/gulliver)
~~~
mattgreenrocks
That's pretty sweet, I'll be watching!
------
DLarsen
I've been working a personal finance web app focused on measuring and
improving spending behavior. It goes beyond merely "how much did you spend"
and addresses the context and decision making process which drives good or bad
spending.
The big challenge has been keeping it simple yet providing the appropriate
prompts for folks to reflect on and improve their spending decisions. In other
words, the code is easy; the product design has been harder for me.
Teaser: [http://www.spendlight.com/](http://www.spendlight.com/)
With luck I'll bring the first batch into the beta in the next few days.
Invite code "HN" will bump you to the front of the line.
~~~
dchuk
How are you handling the actual accessing of user's finance data?
Automatically via API? Or having them maintain a ledger?
~~~
DLarsen
For now it's manual input. A lot of folks balk at this, but I find I do better
when I'm forced to thoughtfully engage with my budget.
For example, my wife and I are primarily concerned about improving our grocery
spending. This means that we only have to input spending 2 or 3 times each
week. It's really not a burden, and really helps keep our use of the app
simple. All of the other spending that goes through our checking account isn't
mixed together. It allows us to be very focused.
I sometimes think of it in the same vein as workout/fitness apps. Manually
recording some aspects of your activity shouldn't kill the deal. And in our
case, we encourage you to do self-evaluation... and that wouldn't come through
a feed from your bank anyhow.
~~~
gingerlime
My wife was using zaim.net (it's in Japanese, but similar principle), and I
asked her if it doesn't bother her to enter everything manually. She said it's
not a bother, and indeed a part of the enjoyment of tracking her spending.
For me it seems like a real hassle, but for some it's part of what makes it
work for them.
Keep it simple! It might not fit everybody, but I think it could work great
for enough people. Good luck launching this.
------
bsenftner
I've been writing the documentation for my neural net powered 3D
Reconstruction WebAPI that creates lip sync'ing 3D avatars from a single
photo: www.3d-avatar-store.com
~~~
Matt_Cutts
Interesting--have you written up much about how you do it?
~~~
bsenftner
It's exposed as an API, so others can drive the process. If you're asking how
the neural nets are trained, that's discussed in the power point hosted on our
blog.
------
mattgreenrocks
Been working on a series of toy compilers to get the basics down. I just
pushed gamma, the most advanced one yet. It features a Ruby-like syntax which
supports mutable variables, basic flow control with if/else, loops using the
while statement, and functions. I also wrote an interpreter, bytecode compiler
and VM to execute it.
Check it out: [https://github.com/mattgreen/learning-language-
design/tree/m...](https://github.com/mattgreen/learning-language-
design/tree/master/gamma)
My next toy language will probably be homoiconic in nature. Afterwards, I plan
to move on to doing more toy languages in Haskell.
------
FrozenCow
I work on DriveDroid on and off. It's an Android app where you can 'host'
ISO/IMG files as if they were real CD/USB drives. It makes it possible to, for
example, boot your PC from your phone with live Linux distros.
DriveDroid (Free):
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.softwareba...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.softwarebakery.drivedroid)
DriveDroid (Paid):
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.softwareba...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.softwarebakery.drivedroid.paid)
------
nevi-me
I've been working on [http://rwt.to](http://rwt.to) for a while now, which is
a public transit planner for South Africa. It's meant to be a replacement for
Google Transit, with fare calculations. I'm accountant/consultant by day, and
programmer by night. An example route for those not in South Africa:
[https://rwt.to/*H5ZVyZFo6](https://rwt.to/*H5ZVyZFo6). Almost production-
ready, most work lies in gathering data as our transit agencies don't supply
GTFS data like most 1st world countries :)
EDIT: brief on what it is.
~~~
instakill
Cresta to Sandton returns a 502.
------
arafalov
I am working on popularizing Apache Solr search engine: [http://www.solr-
start.com/](http://www.solr-start.com/) . It's a couple of books, a website, a
mailing list and a bunch of connected Open Source projects, all having the
focus on making it easier for people to learn Solr.
The fun part is that doing this for/by myself, I can scratch any itch I want,
as long as it's around the core theme. The extra interesting - and challenging
- part is to ensure there is a positive-feedback and self-fulfilling prophecy
across those products.
~~~
antrix
This looks like a great idea! Some feedback: for a site named 'solr start', I
was hoping the first thing I see would be something named 'start here' which
explains what solr is, what to use it for, how to get started, etc. Instead,
the 1st thing is something arcane called 'UpdateRequestProcessors'!
~~~
arafalov
Thanks for the feedback. Currently, I am targeting people who already know
what Solr is (otherwise they would not find the site).
But that does not mean that the first page could not do an introduction with
some pointers. I'll add that to the todo list.
------
fenollp
I'm working on simplifying Erlang's syntax [1] (its a grammar and examples).
I have this Uni project that I was allowed to do in Erlang [2] (300LOC,
readable, distributed text mining).
I'm also maintaining a somewhat famous unofficial doc of Erlang [3].
[1] [https://github.com/fenollp/kju](https://github.com/fenollp/kju)
[2] [https://bitbucket.org/fenollp/tmln-
google](https://bitbucket.org/fenollp/tmln-google)
[3] [http://erldocs.com/](http://erldocs.com/)
------
shayief
Hacking on my JavaScript operating system
Built on V8 engine and actually boots on my hardware :)
[https://github.com/runtimejs/runtime](https://github.com/runtimejs/runtime)
~~~
joewalnes
That's pretty frickin' sweet!
------
Wouter33
I'm working on a service which provides (obfuscated) aliases of your users
e-mail addresses on your own domain. It only requires some API calls to
generate the aliases and eliminates e-mail servers or servers to process the
e-mails. Started working on it after a request of a fellow HN'er.
Check it out on: [http://mailobfusc.com](http://mailobfusc.com)
~~~
meowface
I'm not sure I understand the tradeoff here.
It sounds like people are gaining a little bit of extra privacy (by preventing
spammers harvesting your email) while sacrificing a ton of privacy (by
allowing a a third party MitM to intercept all of their emails to and from
that domain).
I actually like the idea a whole lot, but I'd prefer if this could be done in
some provably confidential way (where your service has no ability to see the
content of messages, only To and From).
~~~
Wouter33
Of course you're putting some kind of trust in a third party. But the idea
here is that you do that with all your good intentions and have a better
alternative than just plain listing the address. It is up to us to prove our
reliability, got some ideas on how to do that, but love to discuss that with
you!
Apart from that it could also provide a service to your customers with the
webhooks you utilize.
~~~
meowface
It's not hard to believe in good intentions, but a bit harder to believe that
your service is and will always be secure. One breach and suddenly millions of
emails from thousands of domains from old backups are all over the internet.
There is a way of making a service like this with minimal risk if you have a
full breach, but it's hard to verify that as an outsider.
------
binarymax
Working on a markdown language for APIs. Define an API in a markdown like
style, then use it to automatically generate the client/server libraries,
integration tests, and documentation:
[https://github.com/binarymax/restlang](https://github.com/binarymax/restlang)
[http://binarymax.github.io/](http://binarymax.github.io/)
------
marcamillion
So this project is likely to be VERY different than what most HNers are
posting - largely because there isn't a MAJOR tech component.
I partnered with a friend of mine to launch a fitness workout series -
[https://10poundpledge.com](https://10poundpledge.com) \- Basically, an in-
home workout and nutrition guide to losing 10 pounds in 5 weeks with fitness
coach Kamila McDonald.
It may sound cheesy, or even 'me-too-ish'....but we think we have done a few
new things.
The way this came about is that she entered Miss Jamaica in 2009 when she was
overweight and used it as a catalyst to lose her last 15 pounds. In total she
lost like 60+ pounds from her peak to where she is now.
She started sharing her journey and her results on social media and people
literally started begging her for a "DVD".
So after seeing the many informational type products launched and how well
they do in terms of revenue, all of which are focused on some super niche
(like Nathan Barry's iOS & Web Design books that have grossed hundreds of
thousands so far), I figured we could do something similar with fitness.
Alas, after 2+ years (I know, I cringe when I think about the time too, but it
was well worth it) we finally launched and the feedback has been awesome.
I have launched a few products on my own, and I have read many stories about
successful products with actual customers - but this is the first time I have
had my own.
The best feeling in the world is getting emails from customers, literally
thanking us for giving them the opportunity to give us their money.
Never thought I would ever have that experience, and even though the journey
is just starting (i.e. 4 weeks ago) I am pleased with what we have done so
far.
------
tomkinstinch
I'm working on this on the side with a few friends from college. It's a place
to upload photo-based disassembly guides:
[https://www.takeitapart.com](https://www.takeitapart.com)
------
Spearchucker
My own database -
[https://www.wittenburg.co.uk/Entry.aspx?id=0a505400-5bf6-4a6...](https://www.wittenburg.co.uk/Entry.aspx?id=0a505400-5bf6-4a6d-b107-6b4b797f33ae)
------
nathankot
My significant other and I are working on a new kind of wedding registry (a
wish list for wedding gifts) in our spare time:
[https://wed.is](https://wed.is)
It solves two big problems for us when we were looking at existing options:
\- They tend to look reallly old school or lack customization
\- If we chose a registry we were stuck with the products it had to offer
~~~
michaelmior
Looks great! A dev and designer make a powerful team :)
------
efiftythree
Just getting into development so its slow going. One of the ideas I am working
on is a service which will provide a "one stop shop" to manage rental
properties and rental relationships. It will includes things such as listing
rentals, managing the viewing process, tenant verification, legal documents,
and all financial transactions including the ongoing rent payments.
"Landlords" and "Tenants" would set up profiles which will be used to match
prospective tenants with listings and vice versa.
Some of the key aspects of this concept are the creation of a marketplace to
encourage rental unit upgrades, community management both for large
apartment/condo complexes and geographical communities with large
concentrations of rental units, and tie-ins with third party services /
various partnerships.
------
restless
More a proof of concept, bringing 3D into industry automation. Some Scada/Mes
Software already have some kind of 3D interaction but these are basically DWG-
Viewers. And that's the first point, dwg is the format which you will get most
source from machine producers. A standard in software in production is OPC_UA
which already offers functional protocols to be used for 3D implementation. So
what I want to see is can you get dwg (maybe parsed to another format)
together with the functionallity in OPC_UA present it in an engine (PCs in
production are build for durability not graphics power) and can you find an
interaction system which can actually be used by a machine operator in
production.
------
ThePhysicist
I'm working on a document-oriented database engine written purely in Python:
BlitzDB!
[https://github.com/adewes/blitzdb](https://github.com/adewes/blitzdb)
My motivation was that I needed (wanted?) a pure-Python document database that
does not have any dependencies (like pymongo) and provides querying
capabilities similar to MongoDB.
Currently, Blitz is under active development and comes with a file-based
backend as well as a MongoDB backend.
Contributions to the codebase and feedback are highly welcome :)
The issue tracker contains various suggestions for contributions, with various
difficulty levels:
[https://github.com/adewes/blitzdb/issues](https://github.com/adewes/blitzdb/issues)
~~~
chrismorgan
Have you heard of ZODB? You might find it interesting to look at—perhaps you
might even find it does all you want, and more.
~~~
ThePhysicist
Yeah I know ZODB, but it's not what I want for several reasons:
-Requires C extensions to run (makes it complicated to install on other systems) -Does not provide advanced querying capabilities (to my knowledge) -Does not have transparent references and lazy loading (to my knowledge) -Does not interoperate with MongoDB and other DB systems (to my knowledge)
The nice thing about Blitz is that it allows me to switch from a file-based
backend to MongoDB (and SQL in the future) without changing any of my code,
and I can write stuff like this:
al_pacino = backend.get(Actor,{'name' : 'Al Pacino'}) robert_de_niro =
backend.get(Actor,{'name' : 'Robert de Niro'})
joint_movies = backend.filter(Movie,{'cast' : {'$all' :
[al_pacino,robert_de_niro]}})
~~~
webmaven
I can debunk two of these right off the bat:
_Requires C extensions to run_ \- Nope, there are pure-Python implementations
as well.
_Does not provide advanced querying capabilities_ \- Nope,
[https://pypi.python.org/pypi/zope.index](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/zope.index),
[https://pypi.python.org/pypi/zope.app.catalog](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/zope.app.catalog),
[http://docs.repoze.org/catalog/](http://docs.repoze.org/catalog/)
~~~
ThePhysicist
Thanks for the clarification, ZODB sure is a very interesting project!
------
nemo1618
[http://github.com/NebulousLabs/mkvsynth](http://github.com/NebulousLabs/mkvsynth)
Non-linear script-controlled video editor for Linux; basically Avisynth
reimagined for the 2010s. Our scripting system in particular is a massive
upgrade from Avisynth's bloated and ugly language.
Development has slowed a bit due to my involvement in a startup venture, but
the only thing missing at this point is a decent standard library of filters.
If anyone (esp. in the encoding community) is interested in helping out or
taking over the project, please get in touch or open a pull request. We think
this is a program that the encoding community would really benefit from.
~~~
tbirdz
You might be able to use the filters from libavfilter
------
mambodog
1\. A git-based version control system for music projects, with branch/merge
and cloud sync. I know others exist in this space, but I'm building a vital
workflow tool for pro users, rather than a social network (which seems to be
the direction others are taking).
2\. An archive of classic Mac OS software which you can run in the browser. I
previously ported a mac emulator to the browser[0], now I am building a
wrapper around it which can intelligently consume Stuffit, zip, disk image,
etc. files and run them, along with a web-based archive to collect and make
them available.
[0] [http://jamesfriend.com.au/pce-js/](http://jamesfriend.com.au/pce-js/)
~~~
fineIllregister
As for 1, I'm working on something similar. I'm curious about your approach to
the idea.
------
kylelutz
I'm working on an open-source C++ library for GPGPU/parallel-computing based
on OpenCL called Boost.Compute.
Check it out here:
[https://github.com/kylelutz/compute](https://github.com/kylelutz/compute)
------
acj
An app for playing media on a Chromecast using AirPlay on an iOS device or
Mac.
It's currently an Android app, which presents an odd set of hardware
requirements; hoping Google releases a Cast SDK for Mac sometime soon.
First iteration is done and will be shipping soon.
~~~
thibauts
You might be interested in these
[https://github.com/thibauts/node-castv2](https://github.com/thibauts/node-
castv2) [https://github.com/thibauts/node-
castv2-client](https://github.com/thibauts/node-castv2-client)
~~~
acj
Indeed I am. Thanks for your efforts!
------
will_brown
4 days ago I launched my first iphone app (Ticket Titan App).
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ticket-titan-
app/id838769146...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ticket-titan-
app/id838769146?mt=8)
As a law firm we are only handling Florida, but as of now you can pay your
tickets (traffic, parking, red light camera) or hire our firm to defend you.
The future is much more interesting where we are seeking to become a niche
search engine, whereas you will just take a picture of your ticket and the
results will be attorney who practice on the jurisdiction filtered by their
fee for that charge.
------
augustflanagan
A friend and I launched [https://cronitor.io](https://cronitor.io) last week
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7917587](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7917587)).
It's a simple cron/scheduled jobs monitoring and alerting tool.
We built it after trying to use a similar tool, but were unhappy with the
types of alerts we could set.
It's still in its infancy, but we have a couple of paying customers and are
trying to get feedback from as many people as we can. If anyone has a few
minutes to look it over and offer feedback I'd greatly appreciate it!
~~~
jtrtoo
I have a few places where a quick and dirty check based on the receipt of an
email (or not) (think backup job emails) would be easier to integrate than
http. Plus then adding the ability to notify based on the existence/non-
existence of a keyword (e.g. "success" or "error").
I totally get the HTTP integration, but some places that just isn't all that
convenient and part of what I pay for is convenience/one less thing on my to
do list. :)
------
ww520
The recent side projects that can be seen on the web are:
Daily productivity goal tracking app,
[http://dailybadge.com/](http://dailybadge.com/)
Online privacy simple encryption tool,
[https://boxuptext.com/](https://boxuptext.com/)
Memcache in Rust,
[https://github.com/williamw520/rustymem](https://github.com/williamw520/rustymem)
GZip in Rust,
[https://github.com/williamw520/rustyzip](https://github.com/williamw520/rustyzip)
I've just finished a work related project and have some time; I will do a
cross platform phone app.
------
zwischenzug
A means of building complex docker containers.
[http://ianmiell.github.io/shutit/](http://ianmiell.github.io/shutit/)
[https://github.com/ianmiell/shutit](https://github.com/ianmiell/shutit)
I got frustrated with Dockerfiles and wanted a similar means of building
complex deployments without the declarative complexity of puppet and chef.
It's taken off a fair amount in my company since the syntax is so easy to
learn and the module level so quick to grasp. There's also a UI :)
[http://shutit.tk:8080/](http://shutit.tk:8080/)
------
Estragon
Learning Deep Learning. I want to recapitulate the results in this paper:
[http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~vmnih/docs/dqn.pdf](http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~vmnih/docs/dqn.pdf)
~~~
psycovic23
How far along are you?
------
SuperChihuahua
I'm improving my Elon Musk biography
([https://leanpub.com/theengineer](https://leanpub.com/theengineer)), and I'm
learning C#, Blender, and Unity by building a tank simulator
([http://www.habrador.com/labs/cv90-simulator/](http://www.habrador.com/labs/cv90-simulator/))
and a Tesla Motors simulator ([http://www.habrador.com/labs/tesla-
simulator/](http://www.habrador.com/labs/tesla-simulator/))
~~~
abestic9
Just read some of the sample, I think I'll buy it. Nice simulations, too!
------
achamilt
I've been writing an algebra editor. It automates much of the details of doing
maths while letting you select or move equation fragments. It has been
designed around solving back-of-the-envelope calculations so it starts and
runs quickly, it's cross platform (a single executable Java *.jar file) and
open source
([http://sourceforge.net/projects/ket/](http://sourceforge.net/projects/ket/)).
Once you get good at computer programming or maths on paper, problem solving
becomes relaxed and automatic. Hopefully the same is true of Ket.
Just as you would write an essay by repeatedly redrafting it, real-world maths
problems often require as much effort be put into understanding and clarifying
problems as are required to solve them. And yet existing maths programs assume
you know the question and need only break it into a series of standard steps
(integrate, solve etc.) and leave the details to the computer. When doing
maths on paper, you learn to recognize fragments and how to move them around.
The intuitions are quite different.
The user interface lets you add functions and symbols which can alternatively
be written in plain text, e.g. "sin(\alpha)^2=sqrt(x)". Equations are viewed
in conventional mathematics notion and are updated quickly and smoothly.
Click-and-dragging equation fragments lets you solve or substitute for
variables and - with practice - perform algebra by various keyboard shortcuts.
------
pmorici
I built a piece of hardware that lets you recycle power supplies from old HP
servers for powering Bitcoin mining equipment.
[http://gigampz.com](http://gigampz.com)
------
vhf
I'm trying to collect and gather all free programming learning resources from
the Internet and index them. URL : [http://reSRC.io](http://reSRC.io)
[edit] Feedback is welcome!
------
fallenhitokiri
Most of my private project time goes to Leeroy CI[1], an open source,
continuous integration service. Since releasing the first stable version which
provides the basic functionality to run tests / builds and get the results
communicated back via web, mail or Slack I started working on a web based
configuration system, which also requires adding some kind of authentication
and authorization system.
[1]
[https://github.com/fallenhitokiri/leeroyci](https://github.com/fallenhitokiri/leeroyci)
------
AliAdams
It is surprising how few of the projects have actually monetisable products
not aimed at the developer niche.
------
hmsimha
I'm working on bitcoinp
([https://github.com/hmsimha/bitcoinp](https://github.com/hmsimha/bitcoinp))
and a couple other projects I've yet to push to github, but which I'll
describe anyway:
Bitcoinp ("bitcoin, with padding") is a jsonp enabled api that aggregates api
data from the most popular bitcoin exchanges (and platforms that 'provide
bitcoin exchange services' such as coinbase) and delivers it to anyone who
wants to make it visible on their page (client-side), so they don't have to
build a backend to do the same thing. I think it will be useful to people just
cutting their teeth on html who've maybe set up a neocities, as well as people
making browser extensions or phone apps that want to deliver a customizable
view on bitcoin prices, or deliver something similar to
[http://preev.com](http://preev.com)
I'm also working on an API intended to be used by chrome extensions that wraps
google's diff-match-patch library and allows content script writers to enable
their users to easily track and visualize changes to sections of the webpage
they modify.
I'm _also_ also working on an easier way to manage resume changes that would
run as a single-page application.
I'm also contributing to open-source projects that interest me: most recently
submitted a bug fix to tubalr.com, but I'm also planning some contributions to
the Reddit Enhancement Suite.
------
mgrouchy
As always, hammering away on new ideas for Pycoder's Weekly
([http://pycoders.com](http://pycoders.com)), a fairly popular Python
newsletter.
Also doing some work on a basketball news site,
HoopsMachine([http://hoopsmachine.com](http://hoopsmachine.com)), which
currently isn't much more then a pretty awful looking up to date feed of
Basketball news (with accompanying RSS feed). Keep an eye out though, lots of
stuff to come there soon.
------
ollerac
I'm working on an extension for Chrome that lets you add a bunch of new
emotive reactions to Facebook posts. It's based on this PDL comic
([http://poorlydrawnlines.com/comic/proposed-facebook-
buttons/](http://poorlydrawnlines.com/comic/proposed-facebook-buttons/)) and
includes all of the reactions described there: dislike, hate, love, threaten,
applaud, stare creepily, accuse of racism, offer bribe, express doubt, incite
rebellion, pass joint, and throw tomato. I even got the author of that comic
to tweet about my extension!
[https://twitter.com/PDLComics/status/481493925878714368](https://twitter.com/PDLComics/status/481493925878714368)
I work full-time on Javascript, but this is the first Chrome extension I've
completed and actually added to the Chrome Web Store.
Right now it works by adding a unique emoticon comment and parsing that out
into a "reaction", but I've been rebuilding over the past week and a new
version of it is almost complete (public git repo here:
[https://github.com/ollerac/New-Facebook-
Reactions](https://github.com/ollerac/New-Facebook-Reactions)). This version
relies on an external API instead of parsed comments to keep track of the
reactions on Facebook posts.
------
Taek
I'm working on a proof of storage cryptocurrency. It's quorum based as opposed
to blockchain based, which allows it to scale such that each node only needs
to track log(n) transaction while maintaining a secure network and being able
to be certain about the validity of incoming transactions. Storage is cheaper,
faster, and more secure than centralized alternatives. There is also
functional (but expensive) support for secure decentralized computing.
It's nearly in an alpha stage. www.siacoin.com
~~~
Egregore
I'm interested in this field and follow it eagerly, how is siacoin different
than Storj and MaidSafe?
------
aaronbrethorst
I recently built a website to track product availability online:
[http://www.purchazen.com](http://www.purchazen.com)
It's rough, but is functional enough to have helped me purchase the nigh on
impossible to find Fuji XF 56mm f/1.2 lens. I'm in the process of adding SMS
alerts to the website.
Also, I'm aware of other websites like
[http://www.nowinstock.net](http://www.nowinstock.net), but I hate their
design, among other things.
------
RogerL
Writing a Creative Commons licenced book on Kalman and Bayes filters, along
with supporting software. It's been slow going the last few weeks as I have
taken time to teach a class on it at work. The working premise is that you can
get a long way without heavy duty math; you won't send a rocket to Mars w/o
mastering all of the relevant math, but you sure can write a filter for your
hobby robot, arduino project, computer vision tracker, and what have you.
------
terryjsmith
An account service network for developers:
[http://www.gowalli.com/](http://www.gowalli.com/)
We connect freelance developers (and small shops) to a professional account
service person (we're recruiting AS people from larger agencies to do some
extra work) and help them with spec, contracts, billing, change requests, and
on-going support.
It's free for developers; we just add 5 - 10% to your final invoice depending
on how much work we did.
------
djfumberger
Have just launched an app to enable people of all skill levels to create music
- [http://beatwave.co](http://beatwave.co)
~~~
zo1
You should probably know: You just lost a sale/install because you only target
one platform, a mobile one even.
~~~
djfumberger
Yeah reality is we only have enough dev resources to pick one. iOS is a good
platform to start on because if things go well there then there's a chance it
will do well elsewhere and on the flip side if doesn't go well then it's
probably not worth investing in an android, windows mobile ver etc.
What platform would have been your pref ?
~~~
zo1
It's unfortunate, definitely. I would have liked a desktop/web "client", if
you will. But android/windows, definitely.
Look forward to trying this on a platform I have.
------
0xeeeeeeee
I'm working on an enterprise honeypot framework with an emphasis on internal
honeypots that alerts a network administrator as soon as an attacker messes
with it. An example would be a fake PHP myadmin page that alerts a security
engineer as soon as it receives a POST request
It's closed source but I've finished the architecture for the software and a
couple of the services (MySQL, Web, FTP). They are really cool in my opinion.
I'm writing this in Java (yuck but great at the same time), so packaging each
service as a Jar file makes deployment super super easy.
It's actually been really successful thus far (and really easy to write, only
a few hundred lines). I think enterprises need to use more "trickery" in their
security systems and I don't think a framework exists for this previously. It
is really powerful to know that
if (honeypotTouched){ //critical alert }
A lot of honeypot software is old and does not send you alerts when something
bad happens to it. Most are external facing. I guess a better name for this is
"canary". I got the idea my second time sitting through mubix's "Attacker
Ghost Stories" talk.
~~~
stevekemp
That does sound pretty interesting, though I'm not sure if the enterprise folk
would pay for it.
I know on my personal hosts I tend to grep the access logs for requests to
/wp-admin, /phpmyadmin, and blacklist IPs that make request to them. I should
probably just switch to using fail2ban to do the processing, but I like the
notices posted to my internal xmpp server.
~~~
0xeeeeeeee
Hey I appreciate the response. I'm honestly not sure if they will buy it. If
it's cheap enough and portable enough I feel it could be extremely effective
in drawing attention from attackers.
If not I guess I'll just open source it and turn it into a con talk =).
------
abestic9
I've been working on a web-based remote management system for controlling and
monitoring industrial systems such as plant rooms, cold storage, orchard
irrigation and dairy farms. We're based in New Zealand and very near being
approached by a multinational for inclusion within their products (farm
solutions). Things like turning pumps on and off, getting SMS alerts, user
management etc.
I used Bootstrap 3 to take away the load of developing a native app for each
platform and as of this weekend I've been working on a replication scheme
which should get our command delays down to within a few seconds. The next
process will hopefully be to eliminate PLCs and get Arduinos or similar
hardware involved.
A similar face in this thread is dangrossman, who created the awesome
Bootstrap date range picker that's plastered all over our graphs and
historical reports.
Unfortunately it's still very much in beta and I have contractual obligations
so I can't you a full tour but the marketing page (WIP) can be found here:
[http://concar.co.nz/services/rms/](http://concar.co.nz/services/rms/)
------
jackiekong
I am working on Flashback - a lockscreen replacement for Android. It randomly
displays photo from your Facebook and Dropbox account in your lockscreen.
There is a bit of #tbt and nostalgic feel to it.
I take a lot of photos and probably have thousands of photos in the cloud but
I only look at them when I have time (rarely!). I thought of getting a photo
frame but have been disappointed with the limitations (ex. switching sd cards,
limited space). I set out to create a better photo frame app that connects to
the cloud so you don't have to worry about swapping photos. Eventually I
pivoted to do a lock screen because it made more sense for the phone form
factor. Last week, I add live world cup scores on the lock screen. Its pretty
neat. Eventually, I would like to add more relevant information to the lock
screen and more photo filtering capabilities.
Its still a very much beta product (just released last week). Try it out at
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flashback....](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flashback.android&hl=en)
------
enowbi
I have been wrestling with a solution to help wage and part time workers find
work in short distances and avoid unnecessary commuting costs. This is
especially true since the type of jobs these people do can be produced and
consumed by almost everyone. A beta webapp is here
[http://1milejobs.com](http://1milejobs.com). We will be coming up with mobile
versions later.
~~~
Hell3D
I great idea but it needs more explanation. May be some video showing the
benefits and how to use.
~~~
enowbi
We just put it up 3 days ago. We will add that. Thanks
------
mtmail
There is a open and growing database of 30 million addresses
[http://openaddresses.io/](http://openaddresses.io/) and no system is actively
using it yet. Such addresses need a search engine (geocoder). Will be part
[http://geocoder.opencagedata.com/](http://geocoder.opencagedata.com/) (in
beta, announced last week).
------
falcolas
An actor library which lets you run easily addressable processes on multiple
machines in Python. And a Colosseum type RPG for the fun of it.
------
morganf
As a tech (and literary) nerd type with a little baby, I've been inspired to
create two little fun community sites on the side:
[http://parentsintech.com](http://parentsintech.com) \- Interviewing other,
well, parents in tech! There are a lot of us, but very little online to
discuss best practices and tips for getting the best of both worlds, start-up
and parenthood.
[http://quantifiedbabies.com](http://quantifiedbabies.com) \- The latest news
and profiling companies who are building up the "quantified baby" space.
Basically quantified self nerds like me who want to do the same to those who
can't yet quantify themselves, their young kids.
If you'd like to be interviewed/profiled on either site, drop me a line,
morgan at parentsintech followed by a dot then a com hmmm I wonder if the spam
filters can figure that one out hehe. Any other parents in tech out there? I'd
love to meet you! We need to stick together ;)
Okay time to change someone's diaper!!! -morgan
------
conorgil145
A friend and I are tired of using the Google Authenticator app to manage all
of our 2 Factor Authentication codes, so we are planning to build our own set
of tools to improve the entire user experience related to 2FA. We are going to
treat the project as an experiment and attempt to follow the principles
outlined in Ash Maaurya's book Running Lean as strictly as possible. We are
planning to start a blog so that we can share all steps of the experiment with
the community. This will likely involve documenting the original motivation,
our Lean Canvas, the Problem Interviews, the Solution interviews, how/why we
made certain engineering decisions, experiments we run and the learning
gathered as a result. The first step will be to find and interview as many
people as possible to understand if others have a pain point relating to 2FA.
If you are interested and/or have a pain point relating to 2FA, please send me
an email at conorgilsenan - gmail so that we can arrange a time to chat!
------
liamgooding
Not strictly a coding project, but definitely not the day-job so I'm classing
it as a project.
I've been writing a book introducing people to the idea of using data
effectively in startup marketing decisions.
"Growth Pirate" \- [http://growth.trak.io](http://growth.trak.io)
I launched the pre-orders at the beginning of June and had some great
feedback, plus plenty of suggestions for the next release.
I've found it really liberating and relaxing to write something that has a
"flow" like a story. Any blog posts or guest posts need to be "standalone"
where as the book has to flow and take the reader on a much longer journey,
and I've found it hugely challenging but I've learnt tons from it already.
As the book is aimed at "data-driven beginners" (who are mostly really
experienced marketers/CEO's but perhaps new to SaaS or tech startups) so it's
a very specific target reader. I'll definitely work on more books in the
future after the experience so far!
------
gliese1337
Personal Programming: A 4D videogame which displays 3D renderings of arbitrary
hyperplanes and allows for arbitrary rotations (so you're not limited just to
axis-aligned views). Leading up to that, a 3D videogame which is experienced
via arbitrary 2D planes, displayed in raycaster-style 2.5D. Turns out to be
incredibly difficult to navigate a 3D maze with only a 2D viewpoint....
Personal Not-Programming: Building a pair of 5-foot single staffs with
woodburning decorations, metal end caps, and quarter pound lead weights
embedded in the end for more angular inertia. Also trying to estimate the
electric field in orbit around a pulsar for a science fiction story.
Professional: Building a web-based annotated media player for foreign language
instruction that supports video, audio, and plain text, and provides a uniform
interaction model for interactive text in plain text documents, transcripts,
and subtitles with both automated annotations derived from electronic
dictionaries and manually edited annotations.
------
eiriklv
Right now I'm working on multiple projects;
SpotiPi:
[https://github.com/eiriklv/spotipi](https://github.com/eiriklv/spotipi) \-
Set up a Raspberry Pi as a streaming device for Spotify, where anyone can add
songs to the queue via a web interface/app.
Express-Passport-App: [https://github.com/eiriklv/express-passport-
app](https://github.com/eiriklv/express-passport-app) \- An elaborate
boilerplate/scaffolding for the nodejs/express stack supplied with social
logins, to bootstrap my projects. I try to get it as hexagonal as possible.
Congregator-Sitescraper: [https://github.com/eiriklv/congregator-
sitescraper](https://github.com/eiriklv/congregator-sitescraper) \- Scrape a
website with JSON templates. Feed it a template and it gives you structured
data back. I think [https://www.kimonolabs.com/](https://www.kimonolabs.com/)
is using something like this in their backend. I'm going to use it for
something similar.
Congregator-RssReader: [https://github.com/eiriklv/congregator-
rssreader](https://github.com/eiriklv/congregator-rssreader) \- Parse RSS-
feeds into structured articles by providing a template. Going to use it for a
kind of DIY Feedly.
Picturegr.am: [http://www.picturegr.am/](http://www.picturegr.am/) \- An
Instagram search engine, with integration to Google Maps.
Flytr.no: [http://www.flytr.no](http://www.flytr.no) \- Get new Instagram
pictures on your screen realtime, by supplying a hashtag or a location on the
map.
I'm also working on a project for managing subscriptions for
teams/origanizations (like local sports teams)
------
eric-brechemier
Interactive visualizations about authors who contributed to the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment reports.
[http://ipcc.projetmedea.fr/](http://ipcc.projetmedea.fr/)
[https://github.com/medea-
project/ipcc.projetmedea.fr](https://github.com/medea-
project/ipcc.projetmedea.fr)
------
tpinto
A couple weeks ago I bought aeropressrecipes.com because I wanted to try new
Aeropress Recipes and they are scattered all over the web so I thought of
building a simple community based website to allow anyone to create their
recipes as well as rate the ones they try. Talk about yak shaving: wanted new
coffee recipes ended up building a website...
------
wizzardy
I'm working on a FUSE-based userspace filesystem for accessing Amazon S3
buckets: [https://github.com/skoobe/riofs](https://github.com/skoobe/riofs)
This is my hobby project, but recently it's got attention to several startups,
so I hope I'll be able to spend more time to work on it.
------
wmij
I've been working on a web based JSON generator called ObjGen that lets users
model and generate JSON data interactively using an easy to use shorthand
syntax. I wanted to write a tool for quick modeling and prototyping of API
values for other projects that I work on. Since putting it online, I've gotten
some good user feedback and have heard that it's been helpful for students
just learning about JSON and data structures. Check it out here
[http://www.objgen.com/json?demo=true](http://www.objgen.com/json?demo=true)
I have a couple of other live generators online there too for creating html
fragments and java classes, but haven't really updated them in a while. The
html generator is Bootstrap aware, but only supports Bootstrap 2 css. The html
generator was good for pair mockup sessions, but haven't used it much lately
because my other projects are all Bootstrap 3 now.
------
deutronium
I'm working on a piece of hardware to measure the progress of fermentation (as
one of my hobbies is brewing). I'm going to do this through the use primarily
of an FPGA to measure the speed of sound through the liquid.
[http://hackaday.io/project/1231-Zymeter](http://hackaday.io/project/1231-Zymeter)
~~~
mohene1
You are busy. For which type of fermentations does this work? For making
vodka, beer, pilsner, etc.
------
thomaslieven
Ahoy! for Piratebay :) im working on Popcorn time for Piratebay, still needs
work what do you think ?
[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ahoy/afllgcmlodpcc...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ahoy/afllgcmlodpccmmaigifnaeahbamonhn?hl=en-
US)
------
Killah911
The Giant Tetris Build. Everything from Hardware to the Web. We're building an
LED array that will hang on the window of TrepHub, run by a raspberry Pi.
People walking by outside can just hook up to the Pi's wifi (via smartphone
browser) and control the display (I.e play Tetris or space invader). Gamers I
the community can develop other low res games for the display too (we're
building he game framework out in python and using Flask for the web
controller interface).
[http://www.meetup.com/Coders-Hackers-
Founders/events/1917388...](http://www.meetup.com/Coders-Hackers-
Founders/events/191738872/)
[http://www.meetup.com/Melbourne-Makerspace-Florida-
USA/event...](http://www.meetup.com/Melbourne-Makerspace-Florida-
USA/events/191738972/)
------
Aeolus98
I'm working on a frontend to manage arbitrary applications, and provide a
centralised place to manage them all. It works across machines through ssh,
and can provide pretty statistics and logging bits and pieces, but the core of
it is to do something to multiple machines at once.
I can select and add arbitrary numbers of machines to a job, then run it, and
also put that command on a schedule. Say i want all my packages to be upgraded
at all times. I can have this every night at 00:01, to ssh to all the machines
and run the appropriate command based on architecture.
This is useful for my internship, where i have to simultaneously deploy and
manage many machines, and this app has proven to be immensely scaleable, with
up to 1000 VM's being managed at once with no signs of slowdown.
Besides that, all i do now is worry about college
------
mlawren
I've been working on bif ([http://bifax.org/bif/](http://bifax.org/bif/)) for
the past 3 years.
Bif is a project management tool with a command-line interface. It helps you
track tasks, issues and bugs using a local database, exchanging updates with
remote databases on demand. The tool has several features of interest to
distributed project teams:
* Offline Operation - Many bif actions work offline; you can create and update tasks and issues while disconnected from the network.
* Inter-project Cooperation - Bif issues (and tasks) can be linked with (or copied to) multiple projects, mirroring the inter-project relationships that exist in the real world.
This flexibility comes with minimal additional complexity; bif commands are
designed for consistency and ease of use.
Bif runs on any system that supports Perl and SQLite.
~~~
mlawren
I should probably also mention that bif, while functional is still alpha
quality software. And so far tests only pass on Linux and the *BSDs.
Testers/bug-hunters for MacOS would be appreciated.
------
mrfusion
Nation chess! Once at least ten people from a country are logged in they'll
matched up in a chess game with people from a different country. The entire
nation (or at least those who are logged in) votes on each move.
I'd love some help if anyone is interested. I'm still in the planning phase.
~~~
rbonvall
I think it's a great idea! I'm sure a friendly chess game between nations will
not end up encouraging nationalism and political division :)
~~~
contingencies
Bah! Pure humbug.
------
donniezazen
I have been working on my first Android app. Nothing big just uses a few
spinners and a mathematical formula. Halfway finishing through the app I
learned that my hypothesis was wrong. Lesson is before writing the code make
sure one has think it through. I am just learning so that is fine.
------
LVB
I'm enjoying looking at the git commit history of a weekend project that just
reached its one-year-in-development anniversary :). It's still weekend project
size/scope, but I've redone it 10 different ways in 3 different languages.
That's called procrastination.
------
lettergram
I'm working on an free statistical Ebook reader, which hopefully will have
recommendations, a library to download from, etc.
Currently, it has similar statistics to Anki and is only available on a
desktop, but I hope to launch an app version in the upcoming year.
I also has a much more high quality "paid" version I hope to come out with.
This will be used for authors and authors can pay me to distribute their books
so they can get insight into their readers. This I hope to launch Fall 2015.
Website:
[http://austingwalters.com/openbkz/](http://austingwalters.com/openbkz/)
Github:
[https://github.com/lettergram/OpenBKZ](https://github.com/lettergram/OpenBKZ)
Unfortunately, I have had very little time to work on it between work and my
blog.
------
krapp
Nothing very interesting.
Still trying to find a purpose for this experiment in threaded feeds:
[http://precis.gopagoda.com/url/http://www.reddit.com/r/progr...](http://precis.gopagoda.com/url/http://www.reddit.com/r/programming)
[http://precis.gopagoda.com/url/https://news.ycombinator.com/...](http://precis.gopagoda.com/url/https://news.ycombinator.com/news)
Also teaching myself SDL2 because I want to try to make a game in C++.
I was going to teach myself Android development this year but the emulator
isn't even usable on this laptop i'm using.
I'm also working on an anonymous HN clone in Laravel, with passwordless login.
It works but it's only on my HD and I can't be arsed to host it anywhere right
now.
~~~
soyangel
For Android emulation try this
[http://www.genymotion.com/](http://www.genymotion.com/)
------
_b_
I'm working on an flash (ActionScript) vulnerability scanner. Which has some
"automagic" components doing static and dynamic analysis, but also supports
manual checking and organizing/finding flash-files.
Since I have collected a few (maybe a bit too much) files and found some
vulns, I recently started work on a simplified user interface for less
security affine people, to get simple results for a single URL or file. (Not
quite ready to link here yet.)
At the moment I'm expanding the same concept to JavaScript and integrating a
crawler to feed my systems. Having large amounts of source code, I'm also
looking into search platforms and have been using Solr for some stuff, as well
as a small implementation of a simple search index by myself.
------
yeureka
I have been working on a game on my spare time in remote collaboration with
designers and musicians who live in other countries.
I have every build since the beginning and I am hoping to use these to make a
video showing the evolution of the work.
The HN crowd will probably be the first people to see it.
------
wise_young_man
At UserDeck, we're building customer support software that works with existing
websites.
The first product is an embedded knowledge base widget that displays inline
into the page and inherits the styling and blends right into the design you
already have rather than setting up another support site and spending the time
to match the design. To build on that customizability we added layouts and
components which are simply javascript settings changes that dynamically
change the display of the widget.
You can learn more at
[http://userdeck.com/guides](http://userdeck.com/guides).
Send me a message if you are frustrated with existing solutions as we branch
into other products down the road such as ticketing and live chat.
------
morsch
Here's my weekend project: [http://deja-entendu.zomg.zone](http://deja-
entendu.zomg.zone)
Basically it accesses your last.fm profile to get a list of songs you listened
to one/two/etc years ago and assembles a corresponding Spotify playlist. I've
been pretty diligent in tracking my played tracks on last.fm, and it's neat to
jump back in time to see what I listened to back then. If you don't use
last.fm, you can try it with my account (last.fm data is public):
[http://deja-entendu.zomg.zone/morsch/5y-ago](http://deja-
entendu.zomg.zone/morsch/5y-ago)
80% of the motivation is having an excuse to try out Scala's Play framework.
:)
------
Anilm3
I'm working on a library to provide the same capabilities of the STL but in C:
[https://github.com/Anilm3/ARC-Library](https://github.com/Anilm3/ARC-Library)
I don't have much time due to my job, but it's quite a lot of fun to work on
it.
------
schappim
I've been working on the getting worlds fastest selling Arduino (the MicroView
link: [http://geekammo.com](http://geekammo.com) ) out the door. I think we're
the first hardware Kickstarter at scale to ship early ;-)
------
y3di
I'm working on a simple little utilty for finding and exploring internal rhyme
schemes in poems and songs. I made this in order to better show people just
how complex a rap artist's rhyme combinations can get. You can view my work in
progress online at [http://reasonedrhymer.com](http://reasonedrhymer.com)
(Click on a combo or word to filter the results)
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/j7u3f9rllmb1jbx/Screen%20Shot%2020...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/j7u3f9rllmb1jbx/Screen%20Shot%202014-04-26%20at%206.35.53%20PM.png)
The screen shot shows a subset of the rhyme combos found in the Eminem song
'Lose Yourself'.
~~~
overload119
[http://rappad.co/blueprints/1064](http://rappad.co/blueprints/1064)
------
cabalamat
SiteBox -- for website in a box -- is software that will allow users to
quickly create a website. Think of it as wordpress.com but where each site has
an integrated wiki. SiteBox uses markdown as its markup language.
People will also be able to run SiteBox on their own PCs to use as a personal
wiki. Or to have offline backups of wikis on the net that can be easily
resynced.
People will be able to collaboratively write a book using SiteBox. It will
have version control, possibly using git with an easier user interface.
SiteBox will also have privacy-enabling features: people will be able to run
it locally (on a PC or a Raspberry Pi) to communication using email and a
collaborative wiki, and all communication over the net will be encrypted.
~~~
KajMagnus
Is it this site? [http://www.sitebox.com/](http://www.sitebox.com/)
~~~
cabalamat
No, that's something else. SiteBox is my internal code-name; when it's
released I may (probably will) use something else.
------
ledlauzis
I am building free WordPress themes just to get some basic knowledge about web
development and hopefully will move on to something bigger and bolder in near
future.
You can follow my journey on [http://colorlib.com](http://colorlib.com)
------
apike
I'm working on a competitor to Meetup called Caravan. We're focusing on
larger, more established meetups that aren't served well by Meetup.
[http://launch.caravan.io/](http://launch.caravan.io/)
------
mattgeb
I'm working on ConvoSpot (SnapChat for YikYak) iOS App. ConvoSpot creates
small, temporary, geo-based chat rooms (convospots) so you can chat with
people around you, and within a few hours, the messages vanish and are purged
from our systems.
App Store:
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/convospot/id856444697](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/convospot/id856444697)
Site: [http://www.convospot.com/](http://www.convospot.com/)
The project has been a lot of fun and I've learned a lot. We released version
2 a few weeks ago and have been getting positive feedback from a passionate,
but small(and growing) user base.
~~~
samdb
Though I'd give it a go but Facebook login on iOS fails for me.
~~~
mattgeb
Sam,
Thanks for giving it a go. You can login without a FB account by signing up
for ConvoSpot account. This is the first we've heard about an error with the
FB login, we'll take a look.
I'd like to hear your thoughts on the app, feel free to contact me: matt [at]
jetrobotlabs [dot] com
Thanks. Matt
------
mkile
I am working on a small C# library implementing the Promises/A+ specification,
details here:
[https://github.com/matteocanessa/SailorsPromises](https://github.com/matteocanessa/SailorsPromises)
------
tslocum
I am creating a new type of imageboard based on tagging content rather than
isolating it to individual boards. Danbooru uses tags but lacks the
traditional thread/reply model.
[http://1chan.us](http://1chan.us) (NSFW)
~~~
krapp
Interesting idea. I guess you have to sign up to tag? That's probably a good
idea.
------
Egregore
I'm working on gamifying learning, here is our first project, it automates the
learning of times table, kids like it:
[http://netforza.com/times-ninja-adventure/](http://netforza.com/times-ninja-
adventure/)
~~~
Hell3D
Too much violence for an educational game.
~~~
Egregore
Kids of that age group (who learn times table) play other violent games so to
keep up we had to do something similar. My son helped us with ideas for this
game and he learned times table with it.
------
NicoJuicy
I'm currently working on a hackernews with tags, recently got confirmation of
a 100-employee company that they want it.
It was on hold because of waiting for them, but i just had a meeting with one
of their employees, that gave the go-signal.
Also, it contains an API and a full role system + tag management (inheritance
and much more)
My second project is Surveyor, that can send emails to people, requesting
feedback (eg. An after sale mail). But currently using it for sending mailings
to website launches (to people who signed up on landing pages) for clients. I
am currently using it only internally, because it's not ready for public use.
So the scope of the second project is making a small change.
------
SnowProblem
Voodoo.js - a Javascript library to integrate 3d controls seamlessly into 2d
pages, and be able to mix them with other peoples 3d controls. You get a nifty
parallax effect, too. Its all open source, and IMO the best option if you want
non-intrusive 3d elements in your design.
Specifically, I'm working on a components library for Voodoo that works with
Polymer. Meshes, 3d text, etc. It'll have 2d fallback support on slower
devices. Long term, I'd love to grow a marketplace for controls like we have
with Wordpress themes today.
Check it out! And let me know what you think.
[http://www.voodoojs.com](http://www.voodoojs.com)
------
shawnreilly
I'm working on a new App that we're hoping to launch soon. I can't talk about
what it does because our application to TC Disrupt SF is still pending. 2 man
team. Our front end stack is jQuery Mobile integrated with Backbone.js,
wrapped with Cordova (native ios/android App). Our back end is based on
Django/Tastypie (API/JSON) hosted on Heroku (probably move to AWS before
launch). So far the App has near native speed; I spent a lot of time
optimizing performance (both on the front end, and also relating to the API
call payloads). I think we've nailed the UX, feedback has been good.
------
frankydp
I am working on a visualization of 60k USGS historical maps that are rendered
on the fly from geoPDF, which makes the server size under a TB.
pdfl, c++, spdy, openlayers
[https://demo.northavenue.net](https://demo.northavenue.net)
~~~
Sprint
Nice project!
5 minute grumpy feedback:
I don't like "flat design", maybe add some subtle color changes at least? For
example highlight the text "Go" (I would suggest "Search" or "Locate" rather)
to make clear it is clickable. The text in the search box first made me thing
it was active, not sure how to solve that, a lighter color might be too light.
I am on a small screen, the map is limited to a rectangle in the middle:
[http://i.imgur.com/TJJ1zfx.png](http://i.imgur.com/TJJ1zfx.png)
There is a non-desript slider in the bottom left (opacity). The list of maps
only appeared after I clicked on a different timeframe. I expected the
timeframe to switch, but instead it was added to the previous one.
What does the eye mean? What does green mean? What does the + button do? If I
hover it, it says "Visible". When I click it I get a (too transparent and
subtle) popup saying it was added to my cart. I see no mention of a cart
anywhere. If I click the eye, nothing happens.
Browser is Opera 12 something and I pretended to be need hand-holding. :)
~~~
frankydp
Thanks a ton for the feedback. This version is a somewhat handicapped version
I could share, as the cart process is not ironed out. The only thing I am
thinking with the cart is for large bulk downloads in a zip file, for a fee.
Trying to solve the USGS discovery and download process.
If your email is good on your profile I will shoot you a note when it is
closer to prime time ready.
Also I should test on opera once in awhile.
~~~
Sprint
Sure, I am always happy to give feedback. By default it will be unfiltered and
not nice on purpose, so be warned or say "be nice". :)
------
truthmagnet
A survival guide for creative geniuses. You can sign up here for early access:
[http://diepenniless.com/](http://diepenniless.com/)
A quick warning: as the title suggests, this book isn't for everyone.
~~~
mohene1
It would help to have an example of what the subscription provides.
------
Turing_Machine
Burning Slug book engine, generates ebooks and LaTeX code for print using a
(greatly) extended variant of Markdown.
It's all client-side Javascript. No server-side processing.
[http://burningslug.com](http://burningslug.com)
~~~
zimbatm
Do you know about [http://asciidoctor.org/](http://asciidoctor.org/) ? It's
asciidoc tuned to look a lot more like Markdown and they also have a JS
renderer, browser extensions, ... Might be useful to you
~~~
Turing_Machine
Thanks! I'll have a look.
------
byennen
We've been trying to automate qa. Allowing anyone, business owner or qa
manager to record acceptance tests in the browser, then play them back across
multiple browsers with a single click by selecting which OS's, browsers, and
the versions.
If anything is broken we have a link that can be sent to the developer which
will replay the recorded test back in real time allowing the developer to
debug the issue without a qa manager writing up a long step by step ticket.
We just launched (it's still in beta). Request an invite and I'll be happy to
add you.
[https://www.gorillatest.com](https://www.gorillatest.com)
------
eddie_31003
I'm a grad student working on my Masters Project. It's a Personal Health
Information System. I'm using this project to develop a cross platform
application using #Xamarin. I'm hoping to have a prototype soon.
------
sergiotapia
A fansite built for the game Smite. We offer 3D models, counterpicks and
general God information.
We average around 35,000 monthly uniques and are in the process of a complete
overhaul and searching for ideas to monatize other than ads. Any ideas?
Current LIVE version:
[http://smitecamp.com/gods/51-ullr-guides-counterpicks-
and-3d...](http://smitecamp.com/gods/51-ullr-guides-counterpicks-and-3d-skin-
viewer?locale=en)
Overhaul in progress:
[http://smitecamp.herokuapp.com/gods/51-ullr-guides-
counterpi...](http://smitecamp.herokuapp.com/gods/51-ullr-guides-counterpicks-
and-3d-skin-viewer/skins?locale=en)
------
zachlatta
I'm working on hackEDU. We help high school students start and lead
programming clubs at their high schools.
[https://hackedu.us](https://hackedu.us) \- current website, new one will be
online in mid-July
------
alexatkeplar
I'm just finishing off the first release of Iglu, a schema repository
initially for JSON Schemas,
[https://github.com/snowplow/iglu/wiki](https://github.com/snowplow/iglu/wiki)
It's the first new product since we started work on Snowplow two and a half
years ago. The idea is that you register your JSON Schemas in an Iglu repo and
then software like Snowplow can go fetch the Schemas to check that incoming
JSONs pass validation.
There's also "Iglu Central" which is like Rubygems.org or Maven Central, but
for schemas instead of code.
------
Flolagale
We're working on [http://jokund.com](http://jokund.com), a very easy to use
blog platform: you type your article in an email and just send it to
[email protected], it creates your blog. No signup form, no password.
You can customize 'my.blog.name' to whatever you want, and in your email you
can use font sizes, bold, attach pictures...
I also work on [http://mailin.io](http://mailin.io), a node.js smtp server
that listens for emails, parses them and posts them as json to the url of your
choice.
~~~
livestyle
Really cool product!
I submitted you to ProductHunt.
[http://www.producthunt.com/posts/jokund](http://www.producthunt.com/posts/jokund)
------
yaronl_elh
I'm working on SAPpack, which is a Password manager tailored for SAP
Consultants and developers [http://www.sappack.com/](http://www.sappack.com/)
it helps you connect to everything SAP securely and easily with no setup.
Plus I have my side project, which is called
[http://mynativemap.com/](http://mynativemap.com/) It's basically a list of
Google maps in local languages, Because I hate when Google maps automatically
chooses the language to use, So this forces the variable in the URL.
------
istoselidas
I am using rss a lot, I've tried almost all of the popular solutions but I
didn't find some specific features I need, Like knowing which rss feeds I
usually skip, which I read the title and pass and which I actually click and
read.
I created a fetcher/bookmarker for storing the information I am interested in
[https://github.com/johndel/freeze](https://github.com/johndel/freeze)
Right now you can just connect rss but I'd like to add facebook, twitter,
stackoverflow, github and youtube updates and of course a powerful search.
------
davexunit
A game engine called Sly (formerly guile-2d). It's written in Guile Scheme and
implements a functional reactive programming API and allows developers to
build games iteratively from their REPL. It's still missing a lot of features,
but it's slowly coming together.
[https://gitorious.org/sly/sly/](https://gitorious.org/sly/sly/)
[http://dthompson.us/functional-reactive-programming-in-
schem...](http://dthompson.us/functional-reactive-programming-in-scheme-with-
guile-2d.html)
------
gabceb
[http://www.smartvaletparking.com](http://www.smartvaletparking.com)
SmartValet is an app that allow people to interact with valet parking
locations via mobile apps to improve their experience when valet parking their
vehicles. Some of the features of using SmartValet are paying with credit
cards, requesting a car pickup and up to date information about your parked
car (cost, time, etc). SmartValet also provides a dashboard for the valet
parking location with awesome reports and real-time location information.
------
andrewflnr
A malloc implementation:
[https://github.com/andrewf/scarymalloc](https://github.com/andrewf/scarymalloc)
. The idea was to have a simple, low overhead implementation that still has
the potential to be performant, not that I've gotten around to benchmarking
it. I'm working on a leaner system of headers where the free-list pointers are
stored in the payloads of free blocks instead of the bodies, and the footer of
one block is the header for the next (if there is one).
------
wturner
Working on a library of videos that teach programming basics ( and advanced
topics ) using JavaScript and the Web Audio API.
[http://learnwebaudio.com](http://learnwebaudio.com)
[http://learnwebaudio.com/portfolio_item.html](http://learnwebaudio.com/portfolio_item.html)
There are a lot of books and tutorial videos that teach programming to those
interested in video games but not much in the way of teaching people who
already have familiarity in the creative digital audio space.
------
indrekv
I'm working on a local multiplayer Zombie Platformer called ZombieRun. It's
retro style game with the aim to remind us that gaming is the most fun with
your buddies in the same room with you. It allows up to 4 players play as on
team or against each other. Living dead, guns and superpowers that's what's
ZombieRun is all about.
I'm working toward releasing the game in the end of summer for PC-s and a few
months later on Android.
More info: [http://zombierun.eu](http://zombierun.eu)
------
brwalker
I just finished version 1 of my product called Pushed. It's an on premise
mobile push notification server for companies that don't want to utilize cloud
providers for this service. It supports iOS and Android. It includes some
unique features like encrypting secondary content as well as Active Directory
intergration for user authentication. Check it out here
[http://www.abrumpo.com/Products?p=pushed](http://www.abrumpo.com/Products?p=pushed)
------
four
• iOS app using Multipeer Connectivity Framework for personal medical
information communication • A healthcare social network • Curriculum for my
child and I to learn programming together - without spending all the time
staring at screens. Using drawings, machinery, logic problems and so on. • An
online clearinghouse for running in Boston., Then D.C. • Web back-end for
tracking my $$ balances from SMS/email expense itemization: I send an email
for an expense, it sends back my new balance.
------
Jhsto
Blog engine in Go. Just a side-project though, but it has been fun.
[https://github.com/9uuso/vertigo](https://github.com/9uuso/vertigo)
------
tehwebguy
Royalty-free music site specifically for YouTube + independent musicians. Two
months old, 3200 users, 181 tracks and ~350 videos (YouTube search count is
fuzzy)
Site: [http://www.sovndwave.com](http://www.sovndwave.com)
Screenshot of my dashboard for fun:
[http://i.imgur.com/icmw74u.png](http://i.imgur.com/icmw74u.png)
To use a track you must include an attribution that includes a unique URL.
That's what the "clicks" on that page refer to.
------
krrishd
I'm working on improving technology used everyday in education through open
source.
Specifically, right now I'm working with a brand new school to get their
technology started, and in the process learning about what they're looking for
in their software that's different from existing solutions.
Right now, the copy on the site is really confusing (new site coming out in a
week) but here it is: [http://opensourceschool.co](http://opensourceschool.co)
------
aaronandy
We just launched [http://andersonspeed.com](http://andersonspeed.com), where
we combine automotive data from several different APIs and home-grown
databases to create custom service logs for specific vehicles, which we sell
as actual printed books.
It's been fun to take the "low technology" solution (i.e., printed pen-on-
paper record keeping) and inject it with some high-technology magic
(customized dynamic content creation, etc).
------
widmogrod
I'm working on DOM diff JS library. [https://github.com/widmogrod/jef#dom-
diff](https://github.com/widmogrod/jef#dom-diff)
------
hunt
I'm working on an X11 tiling window manager that behaves quite similarly to
vim. It is my first C project, so I am learning a lot as I go.
I feel it has unique features that were missing from other WMs, such as vim's
use of operators, modes and motions.
For example, you can kill 3 clients with a command similar to q3c.
Project is hosted over at github:
[https://github.com/HarveyHunt/howm/tree/develop](https://github.com/HarveyHunt/howm/tree/develop)
------
Buetol
Building an open-source forum-as-a-service platform, so
schools/companies/friends can have a cool place to speak online. I hope this
will be cool and appreciated.
~~~
KajMagnus
That's interesting. Is there any demo running online? I'm also building forum
software, [http://www.debiki.com/forum/#/](http://www.debiki.com/forum/#/)
You're aware about Discourse, [http://discourse.org](http://discourse.org), I
suppose? How is your software different from Discourse?
~~~
Buetol
Not yet, a previous vision was [http://kioto.io](http://kioto.io) but now I'm
switching to something less pie-in-the-sky. If you want to know more about it,
just email me! (see my profile)
------
hrvbr
I've just finished a clean-looking alternative to Twitlonger and Pastebin,
with Markdown support.
The last thing on my to-do list is that the site should be named 1p.cx but I'm
still waiting for the domain name (bought tuesday) to be activated.
So you can check it at
[http://1pcx.azurewebsites.net/](http://1pcx.azurewebsites.net/)
For another source of inspiration, I've discovered faviconit.com recently,
it's a useful little tool I intend to use again.
------
chipsy
I am making a "paddle game synthesizer." It is a Pong-style game engine that
is designed to have all game parameters be easy/fun to tune, from the game's
physics and logic upwards to the audiovisuals. It also includes connectivity
options so that MIDI devices can be used to control parameters.
In parallel with this project I am also working on a longer-term software
sound synthesis project - a framework containing synthesizers, effects, and
sequencers.
------
gabemart
I'm working on a hobby project called vidyabuzz [1]. It's a search engine /
instant newspaper for video games. You give it the name of a video game that's
been in the news lately (or a studio, or a developer) and it gives you a bunch
of article snippets in a newspaper-esque format.
It's just a toy, but I'm interested in the format for more serious
applications in the future.
[1] [http://vidyabuzz.com](http://vidyabuzz.com)
------
db42
I just finished working/updating on these three apps:
\- 1000 WPM ([http://bit.ly/wpm1000](http://bit.ly/wpm1000)) – Spritz-style
speed Reader for iPhone and iPad with Pocket integration
\- Track your productivity ([http://bit.ly/1iPr8ye](http://bit.ly/1iPr8ye)) –
Chrome extension
\- QuickFill ([http://bit.ly/Tsrte5](http://bit.ly/Tsrte5)) – Handy Clipboard
for iPhone and iPad
------
fitzpasd
Nothing overly exciting, but I've started a blog recently at
shanefitzpatrick.io and am working on a Ghost theme inspired by Google's
recent Material Design.
------
dewey
I built a small site to track your hackernews karma/comment/submission count:
[https://hn.notmyhostna.me/](https://hn.notmyhostna.me/)
------
loupereira
I am working on Thunder Defense and building Anti-Big Brother tools to help
the general public protect their privacy. The goal is to help create awareness
about potential privacy threats with simple to use tools. It's not meant for
tech savvy people or hackers but the general population.
My first tool is called Webcam Blocker Pro which protects your audio and video
inputs.
[http://www.thunderdefense.com](http://www.thunderdefense.com)
~~~
lawl
I don't mean to offend you but I watched your promo video and it just
_screams_ FUD.
Basically scamming not tech savvy people out of their money?
Your product has _nothing_ to do with what's a firewalls job and yet you claim
your product is better and cheaper?
Also if someone has access to your microphone and webcam they probably have a
trojan on your box. So I don't see how a your software product could prevent a
trojan from simply enabling it again. And no you can not protect against that
in any way. Which is _exactly_ the reason why people (including me) put tape
over their webcam. Because a trojan can't rip that off.
~~~
loupereira
No offense taken, appreciate the input. It's a matter of perspective, like
most things. If you are indeed infected with a Trojan that simply re-enables
your microphone and webcam after they've been disabled, the software is
designed to inform you of that. I don't know of any firewall or anti-virus
program that does that, do you? That being said, this certainly isn't a
replacement for firewall or anti-virus protection, it just does a better job
of making it easier for non-technical users to easily disable and re-enable
their devices.
------
synunlimited
Just finished up a site that displays the World Cup results with the arena the
game is being played at in the background. Still working to make it a little
bit better but just wanted to get the functionality in. It uses the Software
for Good API [http://worldcup.sfg.io/](http://worldcup.sfg.io/)
[https://github.com/friss/worldcup](https://github.com/friss/worldcup)
------
brenfrow
I'm working a simple Medium like blogging engine, except I wanted to add a
customizable reading experience for the user. try
[http://www.discusr.com](http://www.discusr.com) for the site and
[http://www.discusr.com/post/12/Fear-and-Hope-with-
Spacephobi...](http://www.discusr.com/post/12/Fear-and-Hope-with-Spacephobia)
for an example read.
------
n3on_net
I'm working on a platform that allows everyone create HTML5 and mobile games
directly in the browser without any programming knowledge. Still in a very
early stage. First MVP will come in a month.
screenshot: [http://goo.gl/rLVcM6](http://goo.gl/rLVcM6) some devlog videos:
[https://www.youtube.com/user/symplatonix](https://www.youtube.com/user/symplatonix)
~~~
ilaksh
So basically it installs a whole bunch of stuff in one container automatically
and then does a commit to save the image?
~~~
n3on_net
More or less. "Container" and "Commit" are probably not so good choices here
because it doesn't create repositories for you. But yeah, it makes a lot of
stuff automatically. At the end the editor creates a game JSON file that
specifies everything in the game and is interpreted by the engine. But the
enduser don't have to think about it.
The platform has three components. 1\. game portal for
playing/rating/commenting... of games 2. The assets market to find and/or
share game assets and 3. the game editor
Basically the editor workflow is:
For every game you need game assets like graphics and sounds. You can upload
your own assets or import assets which were shared in the community. Then
using these assets you make gameobjects by grag&drop. You can define all kind
of properties for the objects like velocity, animations and so so. To make
interactions (e.g. fire where a key is pressed or play explosion animation on
collision) you define event rules by selecting specific conditions and
actions. By creating more of objects and rules you make your game. After your
game is finished you can save it on the platform and/or import as android/ios
file. But the MVP will allow only webgames in the beginning.
There are already a lot of great game editors, but I hate installing stuff or
searching for the assets, so wanted something more integrated all in one place
without entry barriers.
~~~
ilaksh
Sounds very powerful.
------
PanMan
I just released [http://burgerfest.nl](http://burgerfest.nl) which is a
skinned version of a flapy-bird clone, as promo for a party (yesterday). I
also build a physical interface where you could play the game by hitting a big
red button. And a big scoreboard consisting of 63 incandescent lights, which I
control with an arduino and 21 relays. One of my first arduino projects, which
was fun.
------
fundamental
ZynAddSubFX - an open source synthesizer which due to some architectural flaws
has spawned the need for a subproject of librtosc which is a hard realtime
safe implementation of the OSC serialization protocol and a dispatch system to
go along with it.
[http://zynaddsubfx.sf.net](http://zynaddsubfx.sf.net)
[https://github.com/fundamental/rtosc](https://github.com/fundamental/rtosc)
------
gkoberger
I'm working on an on-demand developer hub for APIs or software. Basically,
dev.yourstartup.com. I want everyone to be able to have beautiful,
Stripe/Twitter/Parse quality documentation. Fully customizable, all docs are
collaborative (like a wiki) and versioned, support section, API signup, sync
with Git(Hub), error lookup, blog/changelog, etc.
(If you're interested in beta testing, email me at my username at gmail)
------
coderjames
I'm building a robot to drag around a ribbon toy for my cats. It supports
either autonomous motion or receiving commands from a PC via a wireless link.
------
JDDunn9
Building an open source CMS for creating single page apps using AngularJS.
Trying to build a low-cost ($4-$5k retail) mobile robotic platform to function
as a robot butler.
------
hmcfletch
A ruby gem that takes an RGB triplet and gives you a color name. Been using
the XKCD Color Survey dataset ([http://blog.xkcd.com/2010/05/03/color-survey-
results/](http://blog.xkcd.com/2010/05/03/color-survey-results/)) to find
mappings for the color space to names. It has been a pretty interesting little
project. Color is a pretty interesting topic.
~~~
TheLoneWolfling
Hmm... Just nearest color in the CILAB colorspace? Or what?
Color is fascinating, I agree. Or rather the human perception thereof. Same
with sound.
~~~
hmcfletch
I have been experimenting with a bunch of different ways of do things, but Lab
nearest neighbor is one of the ones that has been working well.
I think that the gem will have a bunch of different options so you can choose
and play with different methods of doing it.
------
napolux
Just started the design phase for a little iOS8 (spritekit + swift) game...
I've opened a dev blog about it, but it's all private for now :-)
------
JamesAn
Flash (SWF) player written in ARM assembler (personal project). The declining
usage of the former, and the unproductivity of using the latter, are
cheerfully dismissed.
[http://flashasm.wordpress.com/](http://flashasm.wordpress.com/)
Web-app with TAPI computer/telephony integration, for receptionists and
telephone answering services (business project) Website not finished.
------
Brabon
I'm porting an Android app to iOS with no prior knowledge of Obj-C. It's a
load capacity calculator for yarders used in the logging industry.
Dealing with the differences between Java/Android and Obj-C/iOS has been both
interesting and frustrating at times.
[https://github.com/Brabon/Mobile-Anchor-Capacity-
System](https://github.com/Brabon/Mobile-Anchor-Capacity-System)
------
michaelmior
Automated schema design for NoSQL databases[1], which admittedly is incredibly
broad. Currently I'm working on a workload driven tool to select appropriate
column families in Cassandra. The hope is that a similar approach will be
viable in other NoSQL databases (e.g. MongoDB, Redis).
[http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2602624](http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2602624)
------
marclave
I have been contributing to an open-source project called JASPER
[http://jasperproject.github.io/](http://jasperproject.github.io/). I
contributed by making a Twitter and Google Calendar Module
([http://jasperproject.github.io/documentation/modules/](http://jasperproject.github.io/documentation/modules/))!Check
it out.
-ml
------
mohene1
Customized Cookbook
=], I have a cookie/muffin recipe generator. Instead on a cookbook with
limited recipes, the generator can be customized (produces recipes based on a
user's preferences).
Baked Goods are grouped by type (e.g. chocolate chip cookie). The generator
generates a unique recipe each time you click on a type of cookie/muffin.
[http://www.easierbaking.com](http://www.easierbaking.com)
------
thrush
I'm working with an awesome team to revolutionize how companies enable their
employees to access apps. We want to make the workplace a better place. It's
more of a nested set of projects, but hopefully it counts.
Join us! We are growing fast and have tons of openings.
[https://www.okta.com/company/careers.html](https://www.okta.com/company/careers.html)
------
mhluongo
We're working on a mobile app to help people spend bitcoin at Target &
Starbucks- the successor of coinforcoffee.com. I'm focused mostly on the
backend (Python / Django) while waiting for a designer friend to give us comps
for the app.
I'm also working on a web app where folks can exchange their gift cards for
bitcoin - cardforcoin.com. It's Python / Django / Angular.
------
dfox
Recently I started to again actually have enough of free time to continue in
improving my toy implementation of Scheme (called dfsch,
[http://dfsch.org/](http://dfsch.org/)) into something that is not a toy, but
really usable. Given the fact that two months ago I actually sold an app
written in dfsch it seems that it might be actually useful.
------
javon
I'm working on a small webapp for music discovery. My friends and I share a
lot of music, but it's hard to find a good point to start listening. So I made
www.goodnot.es. It queues up the best 5 songs of any artist and plays them for
you. It's been super fun to work on and I use it regularly.
link: [http://www.goodnot.es](http://www.goodnot.es)
------
thefate
I’m working on an online platform to store and share raw footage from action
cameras like gopro / contour and others.
We’re working on things like GPS support, real slow-motion and generally
designed to work better with raw footage.
[https://boldkit.com/](https://boldkit.com/) and your feedback is welcome at
[email protected] (use ASKHNKIT code to get extra space)
~~~
thefate
Here’s an example of what I mean by GPS support:
[https://boldkit.com/v/gidxXqcj](https://boldkit.com/v/gidxXqcj)
(the file is uploaded separately by the *gliders unless the camera has that
capability)
And here’s an example of how a profile might look like:
[https://boldkit.com/serge-shakuto](https://boldkit.com/serge-shakuto)
------
mburst
I've been working on [http://www.problemotd.com/](http://www.problemotd.com/)
for the past few months now. It's a site for people who are in to programming
and logic puzzles. A new one goes up every day Mon-Fri. I definitely need to
step up my marketing game though as traffic has been rather static over the
past month.
------
mahadazad
I am working on [http://www.qrunched.com](http://www.qrunched.com) a very
advance QR code generator
------
presty
I'm building a basic CRUD app ([http://clj-notes.herokuapp.com/](http://clj-
notes.herokuapp.com/)) to showcase some backend libraries
([https://github.com/meta-x](https://github.com/meta-x)) for Clojure/Ring that
I built and also as a way to learn Clojurescript and Om
------
YousefED
Besides working on my startup
[http://www.tweetbeam.com](http://www.tweetbeam.com) (twitter wall), I'm
currently working on open sourcing a collection of angularjs directives for
Elasticsearch. Preview at [http://www.elasticui.com](http://www.elasticui.com)
(feedback welcome)
------
irremediable
Currently I'm taking a few weeks' holiday, so I'm making sure I work on _no_
projects in the next week or so!
The projects I'm eventually going to return to are the following:
* Data analysis for a property search engine.
* Build some demonstrations for an engineering course I'm going to teach.
* (Longer term) Try to tie brain perfusion data to brain health, and hence predict dementia onset.
------
thakobyan
I'm trying to create a platform that connects multiple blogging platforms
together. In other words, if you are a blogger/writer and have an account in
multiple places (medium, tumblr, etc..) you can write your article in one
place and we can post it to all connected platforms. Similar to bufferapp.com
but for blogging. What do you think?
------
crt000
Machine learning predictions for everybody (still an early prototype!):
[http://datapal.io](http://datapal.io)
------
chrisgd
An algorithmic trading model. I have been investing for 2 months on my own and
hope to open an investing firm in 2 years or less
~~~
noname123
You trading equity, options, futures? What's your strategy, stat arb,
directional, delta-neutral? What's your broker? Lime/IB/Lightspeed/DMA? What's
your tech stack? C/Java/Scala/GPU?
~~~
chrisgd
Equity, directional. Using trade king right now but no tech developed. Once I
prove out my model works, would look into the tech side. Using excel right
now.
~~~
noname123
Nice. I'm trading delta-neutral, volatility strategies on options using
Interactive Brokers API. Right now trade entry is automated, but I do
adjustments and closing trades manually. I spent a lot of time on tech,
digging deep into C/messaging queues/distributed backtesting/event processing
but I think best to use Excel instead of worrying about tech.
~~~
chrisgd
Good stuff. I might need to work with you to get mine working!
~~~
noname123
Nah, bro. Unless you want help on how to lose money on the market and also
give more commission to your broker. If you're in the right area, they have
Algo Trading meetup's or regular trading meetup's where some peeps maybe do
algo-trading. e.g.,
You may find this helpful for what you're trying to do for equity trading,
[http://blog.quantopian.com/gary-chan-on-pairs-trading-
presen...](http://blog.quantopian.com/gary-chan-on-pairs-trading-presentation-
from-nyc-algorithmic-trading-meetup/)
[http://www.godotfinance.com/workingpapers/](http://www.godotfinance.com/workingpapers/)
~~~
chrisgd
This is great! thanks
------
t__crayford
I'm working on my startup: [http://yellerapp.com](http://yellerapp.com). It's
a smarter exception tracker, with a severe emphasis on helping you diagnose
exceptions faster through better analysis.
Last week I shipped time series graphs for all your exceptions, and now I'm
working on some new client libraries.
~~~
Pratheeswaran
Good one. Best wishes for your success.
------
rrradical
A Haskell game engine. It's still in the early hacking phases, but I'm going
to do a full writeup and code dump soon.
------
hexsprite
I'm working on a new productivity app for startup entrepreneurs who are
feeling unfocused and overwhelmed. It schedules your work in your calendar,
keeps it up to date and gives you helpful notifications so you stay on track
with your most important work. [http://focuster.com](http://focuster.com)
~~~
hexsprite
originally wrote the app with Django backend and Angular frontend. Currently
re-writing using Meteor.
------
pm
Working on a git GUI client called Rook, because I'm too unoriginal to do
anything else, and I'm just sick of looking at all the ideas I could work on
and not doing them.
Oh and working on building a controllable PSU Arduino shield with friends (for
which I'm writing the software and learning electronics). That's actually fun!
------
patrickg
I am working on a database publishing software (= xml to pdf) based on LuaTeX
([http://speedata.github.io/publisher/index.html](http://speedata.github.io/publisher/index.html))
- actually this is my main source of income (creating product catalogs and
such for big companies).
------
dturnbull
I started a blog about the Meteor JavaScript framework:
[http://meteortips.com](http://meteortips.com) I've been working on the web
for a long while now (about a decade) but it's been a while since I've thrown
myself this deep into the web development side of things. :)
------
plumeria
We are planning new features and design for our tool aimed at compiler
students: [https://github.com/pygram/pygram](https://github.com/pygram/pygram)
There is a demo hosted in Heroku, details in the link above.
We are deciding if changing to Javascript and what other features to support.
------
farmdawgnation
I've been spending some time working on a view first development framework
that sits on top of Node and Express! It's called vain (because it cares only
about its presentation... layer. Yuk yuk.)
[https://github.com/farmdawgnation/vain](https://github.com/farmdawgnation/vain)
------
silentinteract
Been working on growing this new blog at
[http://silentinteraction.com](http://silentinteraction.com) and testing out
some new product ideas I have. Currently working on a lot of client work.
Doing contract gigs in the meantime, while trying to build some online
products.
------
canercandan
In my free time, I contribute to the project uCoin [1], protocol + softwares
building P2P crypto-currencies based on individuals and Universal Dividend.
It's based on WoT as opposed to bitcoin-like cryptocurrency based on PoW. [1]
[http://ucoin.io](http://ucoin.io)
~~~
cabalamat
You probably want to get your landing page proof-read since it contains a
number of spelling and grammatical errors.
------
ahmednuaman
I've been working on [http://trailers.flix.ie](http://trailers.flix.ie), I'm
looking to finish the main site off soon, but trying to figure out the best
way to get background video/media to work on tablet and mobile or what's the
next best solution.
------
mediascreen
Right now in Istanbul on a six week vacation from my a long term consulting
gig (in Sweden). Using the entire vacation to improve and get some traction
for Analytics portfolio, a multisite web analytics dashboard.
[https://analyticsportfolio.com/](https://analyticsportfolio.com/)
------
JoshTheGeek
I'm working on an app for my school's bell schedule, and a website to go with
it. I've already created an app for the school newspaper:
[http://joshuaoldenburg.com/apps/steinbrenner-
oracle](http://joshuaoldenburg.com/apps/steinbrenner-oracle)
------
alasdair_
A price history guide for magic: the gathering cards (soon, other
collectibles) at [http://www.mtgprice.com](http://www.mtgprice.com)
It's on app engine - something that was pretty horrible to start on but is
much better now that I'm aware of most of the hidden constraints.
------
vasusen
I am currently working on an app that let's you send messages which can only
be read in certain a moonlight - similar to the moon letters in The Hobbit.
Trying to tie digital messages to the real world. MoonLetter
[http://moonletter.com](http://moonletter.com)
~~~
johnpur
This is completely awesome :).
------
qhoc
I am creating what the next DIY hangout place should be:
[http://www.wisrr.com/](http://www.wisrr.com/)
Basically you can say it's a child of Pinterest and DIY Message Board. If you
ask question on how to fix your house, you know people want to see the pic of
your mess.
Mobile app coming.
------
noufalibrahim
A C library that allows querying system and process information. The aim is to
support multiple platforms and then write wrappers for the library in several
higher level languages.
[https://github.com/nibrahim/cpslib](https://github.com/nibrahim/cpslib)
------
KajMagnus
I'm working on a discussion system for forums and blogs, which is hopefully
going to help people understand each other better and solve problems in
society more efficiently. (Well, that's a goal alyway.)
[http://www.debiki.com](http://www.debiki.com)
------
kidlogic
Business: [http://www.protoexchange.com](http://www.protoexchange.com) \- A
freelance Hardware community. We match you to experts who can help solve your
hardware headaches :D
Side-project: A/B Testing tool that compares metrics between two completely
different websites!
------
cj
Been working on Localize.js, a javascript library + SaaS for translating
websites: [https://localizejs.com/](https://localizejs.com/). Screenshot:
[http://i.imgur.com/KpULrEs.png](http://i.imgur.com/KpULrEs.png)
------
braindead_in
We are working on a MTurk like system for audio/video transcription. We have
developed a four step process to ensure that the accuracy as high as possible
irrespective of the difficultly level of the file.
Check it out at [https://scribie.com](https://scribie.com)
~~~
rokhayakebe
If your cost of transcription is above 10-15 cents/minute email me at 1000app
at gmail and I can give you some feedback on how to get there.
If you are already below, then Kudos.
~~~
braindead_in
Cost of transcription is not really the problem. The problem is quality.
~~~
rokhayakebe
I agree, I learned you have to have both human + machine to do this
efficiently and with quality.
------
jwcrux
I'm finishing up an open source phishing framework called gophish
([http://github.com/jordan-wright/gophish](http://github.com/jordan-
wright/gophish)). It's written in golang and angular, and has a full REST api
and web frontend.
------
ThomPete
Working on Ghostnote which is a contextual notes & todo app. It allow you to
add notes to Folders, Files, Applications, Documents open in applications and
even URLs.
Don't think there is anything like it out there.
It will look kind of like this:
[http://grab.by/xJIG](http://grab.by/xJIG)
~~~
mcintyre1994
This sounds interesting, but the URL isn't working (404). Nor is
ghostnote.com/uploads (same 404), and ghostnote.com redirects to
"ghostnote.net the drum builder's community".
~~~
ThomPete
Sorry I was an idiot should be fixed now.
------
Pratheeswaran
I am working on a side project -
[http://www.kopyscreen.com/](http://www.kopyscreen.com/)
started this to learn Go lang, but with the interests shown by some of my
friends, slowly building it into a website during the weekends. I am hoping to
complete it soon.
~~~
mohene1
How is this different than copy and pasting to Paint. What different does this
do?
~~~
Pratheeswaran
To be honest, I started working on this and then trying to find a best fit for
the tool :)
my current plan is to build KopyScreen into a light-weight-paint-like online
tool for use-cases like Bug Reporting, UI Review, etc.
------
ChuckMcM
Mostly an educational operating system/monitor (and a platform to run it on)
that is between Arduino/Processing and Linux in complexity to provide a
platform for teaching the 'mid-layer' of computer science people who have had
at least Algebra level mathematics.
------
S4M
A webapp to give students in Junior High school maths exercise. I built some
code to understand a bit basic algebra. The site is here:
[http://www.magako.com](http://www.magako.com), although on a very beta
version (I'd say alpha, in fact).
------
olegp
[https://starthq.com](https://starthq.com) \- a browser extension that lets
you search across all your cloud services, here's the API:
[https://starthq.com/developers](https://starthq.com/developers)
------
rakoo
I'm building a Bittorrent Sync alternative aimed at ease of use to solve
[http://www.xkcd.com/949/](http://www.xkcd.com/949/):
[https://github.com/rakoo/rakoshare](https://github.com/rakoo/rakoshare)
~~~
findjashua
Just out of curiosity, why not just share it through Google Drive? 15 gb is
more than enough even for bluray.
~~~
rakoo
I want a Free-as-in-free-speech alternative. I also don't want users to depend
on yet another third-party (do you remember Megaupload ?), and I certainly
don't want someone to know who shares what with you.
------
iagooar
I'm a co-founder of Podigee, a podcast publishing platform, batteries
included:
[https://www.podigee.com](https://www.podigee.com)
The backend runs on Rails + PostgreSQL, the frontend is a mix of Rails and
AngularJS. Also, we run dedicated download / stream servers.
------
PurplePanda
Experimenting with ways of having automatic memory management without either
traditional garbage collection or reference counting, but rather by finding
proofs of nonliveness at compile time. Trying to find under what language
restrictions such a thing might be possible.
~~~
thomaslee
You may already be aware of it, but sounds something along the lines of
lifetimes in Rust:
[http://rustbyexample.com/lifetime.html](http://rustbyexample.com/lifetime.html)
~~~
PurplePanda
Thank you, I'll look into it. I haven't studied Rust.
------
shadesandcolour
A side project iOS app that keeps track of movies, tv shows, books and video
games you want to watch/read/play. Mostly because it will let you know with a
notification when something is releasing or when it is added to
netflix/iTunes/paperback etc.
------
viggity
just recently launched a service that will let you create interactive
dashboards (pivot charts) off of your excel files. Got a huge influx of beta
sign ups from HN and ProductHunt.com.
General Site: [http://www.machete.io](http://www.machete.io)
Example Boards:
$4.4B in startup funding:
[http://www.machete.io/board/view/seed_db_funding_rounds/157a...](http://www.machete.io/board/view/seed_db_funding_rounds/157a518b-cbf2-4bde-84b4-98cfa0bc15ba)
All Penalties in NFL's 2013 Season:
[http://www.machete.io/board/view/NFL_2013_Penalties/3731630c...](http://www.machete.io/board/view/NFL_2013_Penalties/3731630c-e064-4d4c-a152-82d92997713f)
~~~
emilioolivares
This is very cool. Are you using D3 for data visualization? What is your
stack?
~~~
viggity
main engine is dc.js (which builds off of d3 and crossfilter.js). all three
libraries have big learning curve, machete's goal is to make it accessible to
non-devs. We're looking at targeting devs that don't want to learn yet another
3 frameworks. If you're already familiar with the three (which we are), it
makes a great prototyping tool then you can re-do it to add the bajillion
features that we purposefully left out of machete.
------
sidlr
I am working on AlteredMe([http://brazil.altd.me](http://brazil.altd.me))
altering the way we interact in major events, starting with sports. via
commentary/audio/emotes highly contextual experience rather than just text
------
rusher81572
I am working on this Amazon S3 client that is getting good reviews
[http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Other-Internet-
Related...](http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Other-Internet-
Related/Phillip-Tribble-Cloud-Explorer.shtml)
------
dsplatonov
Working on my start-up "Staply [https://www.staply.co](https://www.staply.co)
" \- smart messenger for groups. From user prospective - it is a web-based
dropbox folder with messenger. Planning to participate in next YC.
------
paukiatwee
I working on open source personal finance app (Web, Android and probably iOS).
It will be small and simple enough to deploy to Heroku's free dyno without any
hosting fee.
I know out there have a lot already, but I want a modern and open source
version of it (Web + Mobile app).
------
mattdeboard
I'm tryign to recreate Ticket To Ride boardgame in Clojure w/ Neo4j
[https://github.com/mattdeboard/ticket-to-
ride](https://github.com/mattdeboard/ticket-to-ride)
Work stress over the past week or so has forced a break though
------
Ap0c
We are working on solving e-commerce logistics issues within Africa.
Effectively an outsourced warehouse and logistics engine which enables
e-commerce sites to be able to sell items throughout africa.
[http://www.parcelninja.co.za](http://www.parcelninja.co.za)
------
matthiasb
I built this video tutorial for Citrix XenApp this weekend:
[http://codebazaar.blogspot.com/2014/06/install-and-
configure...](http://codebazaar.blogspot.com/2014/06/install-and-configure-
citrix-xenapp-65.html)
------
ziyadb
I'm working on a blog that is intended for aspiring founders to gain some
inspiration and share their stories,
[http://buildingof.com](http://buildingof.com)
Email me (in profile) if you have any ideas or would like to share your story.
------
dannyr
I'm a big fan of the US Soccer team.
I built an Android app last year and continue to add content to it.
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.usmnt360.a...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.usmnt360.android)
------
zubairov
I am building a JavaScript widget that give you access to over 10 different
sources of contact data and storage services, check it out at
[http://www.elastic.io/product#samples](http://www.elastic.io/product#samples)
------
mattt416
I'm working on WFH.io ([https://www.wfh.io](https://www.wfh.io)), which
provides job listings for remote tech-based employment. The site is still
pretty basic in functionality, but is slowly picking up traction.
------
shawnk
I am working on a project to help ecommerce shoppers get a super micro loan to
pay for next day shipping. Think of it as Max levchin new startup"Affirm" but
just for next day shipping to shipping that cost over $20+... To the top we
will go!!!
------
namanyayg
Just launched an extremely simple tool for categorizing and displaying my
favorite free fonts, Pretty Open Type. [http://namanyayg.github.io/pretty-
open-type/](http://namanyayg.github.io/pretty-open-type/)
------
lnanek2
A fashion finder for Google Glass! Public beta that you can sideload available
here: [https://acemoda.com/](https://acemoda.com/)
Still a long road to walk polishing it and getting it into the official My
Glass console, though.
------
mirovarga
I'm working on a RESTful API to run CasperJS scripts online plus an online IDE
built on top of the API.
The IDE has quite a number of users so I hope it's useful.
You can check it up at [http://ide.casperbox.com](http://ide.casperbox.com)
------
haosdent
Cgroup on JVM.
[https://github.com/haosdent/jcgroup](https://github.com/haosdent/jcgroup) You
could use this library to limit the CPU shares, Disk I/O speed, Network
bandwidth and etc of a thread.
------
rudexpunx
I am working on my hobby project [http://techpost.com](http://techpost.com)
which is basically manually built tech post index.
Other than that, I am developing few small websites, and still selling and
brokering domain names.
------
hamburg
Ah, self-promotion opportunity! :)
Just finished a little helper app (arrange windows on the screen) for Mac:
[http://www.zonesformac.com](http://www.zonesformac.com)
About to start work on a 3D game engine. Reviewing the required maths now.
------
andrew_isidoro
We're working on Typefonts ([http://typefonts.org](http://typefonts.org)), a
font discovery platform that allows designers to find beautiful typefaces
quickly and easily.
Already have hundreds of beta signups waiting.
------
PerfectElement
I'm working on an online intake forms web app
([http://intakeq.com](http://intakeq.com)). I built it initially for my wife,
who's a nutritionist, but there are a few other people using it now.
~~~
emilioolivares
Great idea and nice execution. How do you do HIPAA compliance, I hear it's not
easy.
------
eftpotrm
I'm working on a site for enthusiasts of construction toys - initially Meccano
/ Erector but not system tied, they're just what I know best :-) Model
galleries, plans, collection management and sales facilities for dealers.
------
endriju
I'm building Google Fusion Tables competitor called EXMERG
[http://www.exmerg.com](http://www.exmerg.com)
It starts to look like a reporting tool, but the main purpose is merging
datasets based on common columns.
------
RomanPushkin
[http://taskthemall.com/](http://taskthemall.com/)
My own vision on easy checklists for managing other people (and myself). It's
50/50 made, hope I'll be able to finish it till the end of the year.
------
finspin
My weekend project is a script which tracks prices of used cars which I'm
interested in and saves the data to a Google spreadsheet. It will also notify
me via email if price for a car has dropped. I'm about half-way done.
~~~
prakster
Finspin,
Interested in learning more. Could connect you to the ex-cofounder of a
popular car parts company.
~~~
finspin
Yes, sure. Feel free to hit me up on my email, it's in my profile.
~~~
prakster
Um...I don't see it in your profile.
~~~
finspin
OK, now it should be visible.
------
alixander
Just finished up my first Android app:
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alixander....](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alixander.nutrihawk)
~~~
scope
hey, am just wondering when you say 'first android app', have you made other
apps for another os (iOS obviously) or this is your first app?
am intrested in knowing the "context switch" on app development, from iOS to
android and vice versa
~~~
alixander
First mobile app, I'm mostly a web developer
------
gregpasta
An easy to use opinionated reporting system in django.
[https://github.com/gregpinero/django-
mr_reports](https://github.com/gregpinero/django-mr_reports)
I'd love to get some feedback if anyone is interested.
~~~
emilioolivares
Very nice, I need something like this for my current Django app. Not at this
stage yet, but will definitely try it out once I get there. Thanks for
building this!
------
wesley
Nxt cryptocurrency built in java, with decentralized asset exchange and
digital goods store.
[http://nxt.org](http://nxt.org) [http://nxtforum.org](http://nxtforum.org)
------
twelvechairs
I'm writing a flexible working environment for getting things done. Its
intended to be usable for any field/task and should allow a lot of flexibility
in use (like real-time programmatic and interface additions).
------
ChikkaChiChi
Learning Go and finding a way to integrate the new Polymer initiative from
Google into node-webkit to start building Go GUI applications.
If Go can get some attention on the frontend, I think it's going to speed up
adoption even more.
------
gamebak
This is my startup [http://skyul.com](http://skyul.com) and right now I'm
implementing a proxy server in php. So mostly working for fun, I think this is
what's most important.
------
taber
I'm working on a website to help local DJ's find paying gigs. It's at
beathavenapp.com. There are solutions that DJ's use, but none of them are
designed specifically with local musicians in mind.
------
Bootvis
In order of time spent:
\- Since forever working on an actuarial cash flow model
\- Since a few months: risk management in the agrarian sector
\- Starting to look at the Kona (K) programming language
\- The Matadano crypto challenge, this project suffers under work load for the
other three.
------
lgmspb
We are now building a smart communication platform, where files and links are
never lost. Think of a shared folder with a chat built in.
[https://staply.co](https://staply.co)
Feedback is welcome.
~~~
kirillzubovsky
Can't tell you much about the service, since I haven't used it, but your
translation to Russian is flawed: "Обмен файлами начинается с _общениями_"
should be "... общения". my 2c :)
~~~
lgmspb
Thanks. We'll fix that :)
------
jsumrall
As the semester is ending this coming week, I'm making some android apps this
summer to help pad my resume/give-me-something-to-show for when I look for a
job next year. I'm making something like Yo.
------
mkal_tsr
I've got a monitoring service I'm spinning up that came from my main project
needing another monitoring service (one external, one internal) ... that's
coming along well and almost done, \o/
------
mstipetic
A friend and I are finishing an iPhone app right now, it should be out soon
[http://getlooksgood.com/](http://getlooksgood.com/) (the website is still
work in progress)
------
dully
Working on updating my current alarm clock app
[http://www.spinmealarm.com](http://www.spinmealarm.com) to have a social
aspect that will gamify your wake up experience.
~~~
el_duderino
Do you ever plan to bring this to Android? In this day and age, it'd be a
shame if you didn't.
------
aashaykumar92
Skanout, an Uber for your annoying searches. We run product searches to help
people get the products they want for the price they want.
[http://skanout.com/](http://skanout.com/)
------
digitalmentat
I'm working on a solution to multi-device sync and display of org-mode data.
Opensource software for self-install if you like and if there's wide enough
adoption I might try monetizing it.
~~~
osener
If/when you are looking for testers I'd be interested in helping out (had
something like this with dropbox integration on my to-do list forever).
------
arronroy
I've just launched an app for building D3.js charts online. Getting some
interesting people sign.
[https://app.chartblocks.com/tryme](https://app.chartblocks.com/tryme)
~~~
hanley
Looks cool. You should make some sample datasets available for the trial
accounts to play with.
~~~
arronroy
There are some if you go through the chart wizard but that's actually a good
idea - we should at least have one sample dataset in the dataset list.
------
AndyKelley
I am working on groovebasin [1], an open source music player server with a web
based user interface inspired by Amarok 1.4.
[1]: [http://groovebasin.com](http://groovebasin.com)
------
itisbiz
A web app to quickly record 'visits' .. visits by customers, meeting or event
attendees, etc [https://www.speedvisit.com](https://www.speedvisit.com)
------
buttscicles
I've been working on a little hosted websockets service, would like to ramp up
the pace though.
[https://preview.gorealtime.io/](https://preview.gorealtime.io/)
~~~
zo1
May I ask where you got your front page image? Stock photo site?
~~~
buttscicles
Apologies, I can't remember exactly where as I was trawling through various
free stock image sites at the time, but it may well have been somewhere on
this list which was posted to HN.
[https://medium.com/@dustin/stock-photos-that-dont-
suck-62ae4...](https://medium.com/@dustin/stock-photos-that-dont-
suck-62ae4bcbe01b)
~~~
zo1
Thanks very much! That's just what I was looking for.
------
iancarroll
I'm working on a simpler, faster, and cheaper to manage digital certificates:
TLS, S/MIME, code signing, etc. Right now, our prices are lower then any
current retail price.
------
hansonywu
[http://www.craftedbylove.com/#/](http://www.craftedbylove.com/#/) is my most
recent project. it is a showcase of beautiful web design.
------
minhajuddin
I am working on a hosted CMS with javascript templating and some neat features
like pagespeed integration, CDN publishing, design and content separation,
page generators etc,.
------
Vektorweg
I try to program games. But because i have too big plans and work alone, i
spend most of the time to write software that increases my productivity in
writing software.
------
auxbuss
I'm just getting back to [http://fndout.com](http://fndout.com) after a year
or so back building products with and for others.
------
komrade
I'm working on [https://studentloanhero.com](https://studentloanhero.com) It's
a tool to manage student loans with ease.
------
CMCDragonkai
I'm working on the Matrix. [http://matrix.ai/](http://matrix.ai/) Can't say
much than this at the moment though.
------
feint
As a side project I've been working on [http://saved.io](http://saved.io) a
simple way to store bookmarks across devices
------
petersouth
Building a free service that gets consumers small discounts or upgrades when
they buy a new car.
[http://NewCarDeal.net](http://NewCarDeal.net)
------
trevordev
Ive started to make a collaborative brainstorming tool
[http://ponderout.cloudapp.net/](http://ponderout.cloudapp.net/)
------
skizm
www.sleepmarrykill.com
I wanted to take node/redis for a spin and this was one of the more simple web
apps I could think of. There isn't any data in the system right now so don't
take the percentages too seriously.
I might add the ability for users to upload images so people could up make
funny trios and share them, but since this was more of a learning experience I
doubt I'll get that far before something else takes my interest.
~~~
xavierxf
It looks pretty cool but I think it would be nice if you could put the
instructions somewhere more visible. Maybe I'm just retarded but I couldn't
figure it out until I noticed the little question mark. Maybe somewhere on the
side rather than below.
~~~
skizm
Yea I'll fiddle around with the placement of that, or maybe just make the
popover be showing the first time you load the site.
------
nshm
CMUSphinx - open source speech recognition system
[http://cmusphinx.sourceforge.net](http://cmusphinx.sourceforge.net)
~~~
Aaronn
Any specific reason your still on sourceforge?
------
afaqurk
Working on a very simple web dashboard for monitoring linux server stats:
[http://linuxdash.com](http://linuxdash.com)
------
sparkzilla
I'm working on trying to get [http://newslines.org](http://newslines.org) on
the front page of Hacker News ;-)
------
melenaboija
I'm working on a coordinates storage service to be used for future mobile
projects.
[http://latitudr.org](http://latitudr.org)
------
raarky
A multi-color image search engine for streetwear in my spare time.
[http://www.inthatstyle.com/](http://www.inthatstyle.com/)
------
Lockyy
Currently working on a gem for ruby that extends Faker to allow you to produce
fake data related to RPGs. Weapons, characters, gods, spells etc.
------
terranstyler
I currently work on an automatic Piano agent (software only) that randomly
creates and plays well sounding melodies in the spirit of Chopin.
------
aymeric
I am working on [http://weekplan.net](http://weekplan.net) helping people
better manage their time.
------
ins429
[http://futbol-cards.com/](http://futbol-cards.com/) Search world cup player's
stats.
------
ankit84
two projects:
1\. Application Performance Monitoring: this shall help understand software's
runtime behavior, alerts, etc.
2\. Company Directory - A online software for Compnay HR: For now just a
proposal, soon to start as I see some people follow it :P
[https://github.com/ankitjaininfo/Darpan](https://github.com/ankitjaininfo/Darpan)
------
late2part
I'm working on a API derived observased triggered notification system for loan
status on prosper.com and lendingclub.com.
------
madprops
[https://github.com/madprops/lindora](https://github.com/madprops/lindora)
------
instakill
Still working at the marketing of
[http://www.mybema.com](http://www.mybema.com)
------
sesteel
I am creating a widget toolkit for Go on Linux. Fun times.
Http://github.com/sesteel/go-view
------
marxdeveloper
Just went live with my game homepage [http://mo.ee/](http://mo.ee/)
------
mafellows
iosleads.com and androidleads.net are the main projects right now.
Also have a few client projects I'm excited to announce this fall.
I'm also trying to buy a side project. If anyone has a project proposal SaaS
tool they're looking to unload (think proposals for freelance developers),
shoot me a message!
------
someotheridiot
LEGO + databases = A lot of fun :)
[http://rebrickable.com](http://rebrickable.com)
------
scotthtaylor
Currently working on: [http://www.peeky.co](http://www.peeky.co)
------
rok3
Finishing up documentation and some cleanup before release on a Go logging
library for LogEntries.
------
baken
I'm quantifying reflexivity in financial systems and building trading models
on top of it.
------
bosky101
very inspiring to see the breadth/scope of projects HN'ers are working on, but
i shouldn't be surprised.
i'm working on a kafka producer in erlang
[http://github.com/helpshift/ekaf](http://github.com/helpshift/ekaf)
------
kephra
My main sideproject is still w3dig, a domain specific language to describe the
semantics of web sites for a distributed and censor free search engine. Thats
my big cathedral, with the final goal to get rid of evil google.
Other side projects are Tibetan input for Qt, or detecting herons and
cormorants with OpenCV to shoot them with a water canon.
------
Vaanir
I'm working on making a JSON API for Tennis scores, as I couldn't find one!
~~~
baken
I'd be really interested in how this turns out!
------
swah
Chat app, I kid you not. But just deciding on the front-end stack at the
moment.
------
lutorm
Building a Zigbee weather station and digging a French drain around the house.
------
cfredmond
I'm working on a trading platform. Using Go + MongoDB.
------
shanth
A time table generation app in Haskell using Yesod :)
------
evertonfuller
A music discovery/streaming curated platform.
------
timtamboy63
Creating a subtractive synthesizer in Javascript
------
swayvil
I'm cultivating cosmic consciousness.
------
jimmaswell
An MMORPG, Legends of Equestria
------
dschiptsov
[http://karma-engineering.com/lab/wiki/Hybridr](http://karma-
engineering.com/lab/wiki/Hybridr)
[http://karma-engineering.com/lab/wiki/Implementation](http://karma-
engineering.com/lab/wiki/Implementation)
~~~
frou_dh
I like your taste 8)
------
miguelrochefort
I'm designing the future of communication.
A few related topics:
\- Semantic Web
\- Internet of Things
\- UI/UX
\- Knowledge Representation
\- Big Data
\- Smart Contracts
Evoluton of communication:
\- Facial emotions
\- Sign language
\- Verbal communication
\- Writing
\- Printing
\- Photography
\- Telephone
\- Radio
\- Television
\- Computers
\- Internet
\- Smartphones
\- ... <\- What I'm working on
~~~
supercoder
you seem like the kind of guy who'd be asking for someone to simply build the
future of communication for you , for only 50% of equity.
~~~
miguelrochefort
I don't get why people are reacting that way. I'm completely serious.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Benefits of a Quiet Ego - gull
http://www.quietrev.com/the-surprising-benefits-of-a-quiet-ego/
======
icanhackit
The gold is at the bottom: _“The humble person is probably more aware and
accepting of the fact that against a cosmic scale of time and space, every
human being is minute.”_
If there's one thing that will humble you it's trying to fathom the scale of
the universe. You think a celebrity matters at these scales? But don't let it
make you feel impotent - rejoice at the fact that you're alive, you exist and
the world is fucking interesting. Even if you just stare out the window all
day, you're a consciousness residing in a stardust body observing the thing
that made you.
~~~
codeshaman
"that against a cosmic scale of time and space, every human being is minute"
There is a paved road to clinical depression which starts with thoughts like
these. I know it because I've taken it.
Life stops having meaning if you take this too seriously - I mean, why do
anything or achieve anything if we're just specs in time and space destined to
die and be forgotten ?
Besides, this doesn't necessarily imply humility. If it doesn't matter then it
doesn't matter - if you've got a small/quiet ego or you're a larger-than-
universe egomaniac... because... we're just a minute...
~~~
welanes
We are minute, yet here we are - the Universe observing itself.
"Why do anything?". Presented with these options, which would you prefer:
A. Live a normal life and be promised that after your death people will
fabricate a story of your adventure, heroism and glory?
B. Live a life of adventure, heroism and glory with the promise that when you
die nobody will remember you?
The point being, why derive meaning from the notion of being remembered by
people you will never know, when the meaning may be found in the experiences
our actions produce now?
The heights of human happiness (yeah, misery too) are ours for the taking.
Derive meaning from trying to squeeze as much of the former from life as we
possibly can.
~~~
greggman
I'm not disagreeing with you but just feeling like I could look at (A) as be
helpful too lots of people and (B) live a selfish life of hedonism. Was that
your intent or do you see a different way of defining (A) and (B)?
------
andor
While there might be some benefits, the biggest disadvantage of humbleness is
that many people are not prepared for it. It's not how the role models on TV
act, therefore it's weird.
People often take ego as an indicator for status or intelligence. If you're
not asserting yourself, you don't know as well, or you're not as smart as
others. Humbleness doesn't mix well with assertiveness. Assertive people need
to be humble around humble people, and the other way around. With just two
persons it might work, add more and you get interesting group dynamics.
~~~
marcus_holmes
It's perfectly possible to be both humble and assertive. Assertiveness is
about having clear boundaries and enforcing them. You can be humble about your
place in the wider scheme of things and very assertive within that place.
Humility doesn't mean letting people walk all over you, it means not thinking
you're the most important person in the room.
Mr Myagee (sp?) from Karate Kid was both humble and assertive.
------
ken47
What's interesting in these comments is the egos clearly trying to defend
themselves. Introspection begins with the question: do you own your ego or
does it own you?
~~~
hosh
Heheheheh :-)
------
marsay
Seems like a rebranding of old ideas. We should be expecting new book soon I
guess.
All this has been talked about by various western authors and scholars
before(Alan Watts, Joseph Campbell, Carl G. Jung etc.) and as far as I
understand them, they all agree on one thing: western people are good at being
individuals, having an ego, and it would be mistake to start removing this
part of ourselves and think about it as something bad. Of course we should be
integrating mindfullness and controlling our narcissistic behaviour, but
without antagonizing our ego.
~~~
rukuu001
> All this has been talked about by various western authors and scholars
> before(Alan Watts, Joseph Campbell, Carl G. Jung etc.)
I'm reading Marcus Aurelius (AD121-180) right now. It's one of the themes he
covers over & over again.
------
hliyan
I've come to see ego as just another evolutionary mechanism that can on
occasion misfire due to the complexities of modern civilization. It's a
mechanism (IMO) in gregarious species meant to maintain or enhance a member's
status in the pack/tribe/group, since that status affords survival advantages.
But a lot of the times when ego is triggered today have nothing to do with
survival advantages or success. Identifying this fact in itself is a first
step to quieting down the ego. Identifying a feeling as not valid (just
because a feeling is 'natural' doesn't automatically make it valid) can take
away a lot of the justification to perpetuate it.
~~~
mjburgess
Anything can be reduced to cheap evolutionary psychology with just-so stories.
~~~
hliyan
There's no need for condescension (especially on HN). I presented that as an
opinion rather than a scientific assertion. In terms of practicality, it is no
more valid or invalid than most of the other theories/models of the human mind
we entertain. But yes, I share your disdain for evolutionary psychology
theories not backed up by data (I suspect these are what you call "cheap").
~~~
mjburgess
It wasn't condescension. Every word was accurate, intended, and addressed
widely with the intention of it being understood by equally competent people.
My concision was a reaction to its banality.
The problem with evo-psych just-so stories is that they do not discriminate
between possible worlds: ie. if men of place A were all angry then the just-
so-ers of place A would come up with a story about why men are
"evolutionaryily angry". And if men were mellow in place B, we'd get some
other story about how men are evolutionarily mellow.
Narratives of this kind are not good explanations of anything. And I suspect
mostly false anyway, since evoltuion does not provide particular psychologies
genetically - genetics provides merely the hardware, not the software.
~~~
hliyan
> since evoltuion does not provide particular psychologies genetically -
> genetics provides merely the hardware, not the software.
I'd venture to say that's an unsupported assertion.
------
kfk
It's funny how most of this ideas are in reality very old concepts of
Greek/Roman philosophy. Seneca was a big proponent of "quite ego", for
instance (his critic to a strong ego/desire: Tamquam mortales timetis, omnia
tamquam immortales concupiscitis). Socrates could be too. I think the common
denominator was the understanding that we have no access to the Truth and that
we might as well spend the time trying to know ourselves.
~~~
dschiptsov
It is actually Indian philosophy, based on Upanishads, much older that
anything Greek/Roman. Basically, they say that it is your "ego" which prevents
you, like a veil, from seeing reality as it is, because your mind is
constantly busy, preoccupied with petty desires and childish concerns. Think
of the ego as a virus processes with results in a high load average
load average: 5.38, 5.30, 4.11
The oldest maxim says - let it go (killall -9) and you will find everything
(the ultimate reality, which is unity of everything, the state above socially
conditioned intellect (which could be called 100% idle), and source of endless
joy (due to personal realizations of unity and non-self) which is (and always
been) within you.
This is, by the way, the basis of Buddhism, which nowadays is ruined by piles
upon piles of narcissistic commentaries of so-called teachers.
~~~
puredemo
The idea of some "ultimate reality" is so annoying to me. There is regular ol'
reality which our mind and senses have evolved to perceive as best they can
via natural selection over millions of years.
The reasons we have a lot of "scripts" running in our mind is because they
have historically helped us survive and pass on our genetics. Turning them off
doesn't manifest joy but a genetic dead-end, in aggregate.
~~~
PavlovsCat
We evolved to spread our genes better, yes, but how does perceiving reality as
best as we can follow from that? Both things are kinda orthogonal I'd say.
> Turning them off doesn't manifest joy but a genetic dead-end, in aggregate.
Everything ends, anyway. So at worst it'd be a dead end just like everything
else :P And concepts like "chair" or "puredemo" or _anything_ we talk or think
about are really more concepts than tangible, discrete entities, you might
also say they're made up. They can be useful shorthands, but when they take on
a life of their own in our minds, when we think the symbol is the thing,
that's where things get kinda pathetic, and not rarely it turns into a sort of
pyramid scheme where we have to make up more shit to defend the delusions we
already are invested in. Considering neuroscience, I'd even say we are
willfully overriding what we discover because we like the delusion of ego
better.
And considering what humanity "in aggregate" is up to, how we pollute and
destroy, I would say the latest word in the effectiveness of ego to "survive"
isn't spoken yet. It's not like there is this alternate Earth where people pay
attention to people like Buddha or Erich Fromm we can compare ours to.
To me saying "we" have evolved to be this way for obvious reaons is like
saying "this person is a heroin addict because that's obviously the best way
get them going each day", without comparing them to a non-junkie in earnest.
If you think not being possessed by ego means just meditating all day or doing
nothing, you're wrong, from what I understand and experienced it just means
doing and being without having a fake narrative in your head about it you
consider to be real and super cereal. Being deeply content and at peace feels
great, too, and compared to that short bursts of "ego-based" happiness seem
very flimsy.
------
carapat_virulat
So how is a quiet ego measured? I understand those four facets in the article
are supposed to correlate with the quiet ego, so it would be interesting how
the loudness of your ego is measured before those 4 questions. Otherwise is
seems like imposing your own bias to create a category that fits your per-
conceived western Buddhism bias.
For example "Facet #1: Detached awareness", I don't really see what "detached"
adds to the category of awareness if it only involves those 3 questions
mentioned in the article. I can easily imagine people that also score low on
those questions but who practice "involved awareness" feeling really attached
to what they are doing in a very aware state of mind.
Same with the rest of facets, the idea that "Facet #3: Perspective taking"
involves quieting your ego is a point of view that is not obvious and you will
have to prove somehow. I think for a lot of people empathy intuitively
involves feeling the pain of others as your own, which is not a detached
feeling at all, and involves a strong involvement of the ego.
And I really can not see how the last point of personal growth is supposed to
fit with the rest of them. It seems like the typical Western Buddhist
marketing, they start speaking about how alienated we are in our consumerist
way of life, some love and compassion follow, but the real selling point is
that with their help and a little bit of detachment you can even be MORE
successful on the consumerist game.
All in all I don't buy it unless there's more to it.
~~~
cinquemb
> _So how is a quiet ego measured?_
In our lab, we recognize is as deactivation in the PCC, some of our
collaborators recognize it as deactivation in the DMN, measurable with both
EEG/fMRI.
> _All in all I don 't buy it unless there's more to it._
I'd say it's preferable if more people don't feel like they have to "buy" into
it… but as you know, there's a burgeoning industry surrounding such, but I'm
mostly grateful that I get to be apart of working on the technology which I'd
say will be way more useful outside of just meditation and contemplative
practices…
------
thetruthseeker1
Interesting. I want to make a point that questions the premise of the article.
What is wrong if people dont have a quiet ego? What is wrong with the fact
that humility is mentioned 43% less. Why is that automatically bad( I am not
saying it is good either)? Values of a society change over period of time,
many things that were acceptable behavior in the 1900s are not acceptable
anymore. In the early 1900s black people were disenfranchised, there were no
laws to protect same sex partners. I am sure many of you will agree that you
dont miss those laws.
Again why do we want to demonize or characterize not having a quiet ego as
less superior to having a quiet ego. I do think that if the non-quiet ego is
bombastic and misleads people by stating not true statements, that can be a
problem.
~~~
learning_still
Let's be honest. The things the article is talking about are largely a
reflection of people's demands. The type of people who are looking for self
help are clearly not looking for lessons in humility. There is a type of
person who would experience problems in their life from not having enough
humility. Maybe the number of these people who experience enough personal
problems to seek self help has gone down. Perhaps this means that our society
has actually become more humble, since there isn't a demand for the value
anymore. Or maybe it means that people without humility simply don't
experience as many problems anymore? Or maybe a lack of humility would prevent
you from seeking self help in the first place. You see these statistics could
go many ways depending on how you want to interpret them.
~~~
jal278
The reduction of 'humility'/'humbleness' was across a broad sample of books,
not only the self-help section, and was part of a broader study [1] describing
the down-trend in many words associated with virtue.
You can indeed interpret these statistics in many ways, but you first need to
know the statistics.
[1]
[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254336923_The_cultu...](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254336923_The_cultural_salience_of_moral_character_and_virtue_declined_in_twentieth_century_America)
~~~
learning_still
Thank you for pointing this out.
------
leoh
I really liked this — but how to cultivate a quiet ego?
~~~
zhoujianfu
Sadly, I would say experiencing a great personal tragedy is a "good" way to
cultivate it. There really is nothing like the death of a loved one to put
everything, including your own place in the world, in perspective.
~~~
puredemo
That gave me more of a sense of urgency and egoic ambition, not the other way
around.
------
rokhayakebe
I would pay for a social network/dating app/site for the introverted. I just
do not know whether this is an oxymoron or not, but if someone figures this I
would pay for it. Gladly.
~~~
hliyan
An 'Anti-social network', so to speak. I too, have thought of this before. The
main feature, I suppose, would be that interactions revolve around smaller
groups.
~~~
onion2k
Introversion has nothing to do with being anti-social. An introverted person
can be as sociable as an extrovert. The main difference is that the introvert
doesn't get energised by being around other people; they need time alone to
recharge. An extrovert is the opposite - they're tired by spending time alone
but recharge in social situations.
Susan Cains book "Quiet" is an exceptional exploration of the field, and well
worth reading to breakdown some of the misconceptions about introverts.
~~~
learning_still
Is there any hard science that supports that you can generalize the entire
population into two categories: introverts and extroverts? I find this
impossible to believe.
~~~
onion2k
Introvert and extrovert are the two extremes of a well-defined spectrum which
everyone places on _somewhere_. Those in the middle are called ambiverts.
~~~
learning_still
Why would there even be a spectrum? Maybe a 2 dimensional spectrum. I'm sure
someone can be both an extreme introvert and an extreme extrovert. Honestly, I
think the idea is ludicrous. People aren't so different. But if there is hard
science to back it up, I'd be willing to have my mind changed.
~~~
RogerL
Look at the work of Harvard Professor Jerome Kagan, or the fRMI work of Carl
Schwartz at MA General Hospital. People are different, and the differences are
measurable, both behaviorally and in brain structure.. It's not as simple as
introversion-extroversion, but its also not a useless way of thinking about
it.
Anyway, somebody offered you a book to read. You chose to call the ideas in it
ludicrous without reading it. Not sure why.
------
jstanley
Off topic: site totally unreadable on my phone. The content is in a huge font,
wider than the screen, and zoom behaviour is disabled...
------
nathan_f77
I don't want to lose any anxiety about death. I'm hoping that organizations
such as sens and calico can solve aging within my lifetime, and that I'll be
able to afford the treatments. This goal definitely requires a strong ego. It
takes pride to say that I deserve to live longer, instead of donating that
money to save other people's lives. I've come to the conclusion that I would
like to extend my life indefinitely, and I'll have plenty of time to help the
poor after that.
Of course, I'm probably going to die pretty soon (relatively speaking), and
I've come to terms with that, but you should question the inevitability of
death.
~~~
hosh
The anxiety of death isn't just about the death of the body. It is rooted
deeper into the anxiety about change.
This is change happening at the microscopic scale all the way to the
macroscopic scale: the death of a thought, the death of an emotion, the death
of an idea, the death of an ideal, the death of a pet, the death of a person,
the death of a group, the death of a startup, the death of a community, the
death of a nation, the death of a civilization, the death of a star, the death
of a galaxy, the death of the universe.
Real change does not happen without the death of the old.
Change is inherent. Changes happen with or without you. Resisting change makes
from some incredible drama, but it doesn't have to be a struggle.
You could find longevity treatments so that your body does not die, but I
think people will ultimately find the whole thing fruitless even if it works.
------
hosh
I think this really depends on someone's stage of development for a particular
issue. I'm coming from the frame that, there is no "standard" maturity for an
"average" person. Each of us have pieces of ourselves that are in different
stages of growth, and not necessarily because some of them got "stuck"
somewhere. It is what it is.
For some people, on some issues, there is a need to assert themselves. I've
met people for whom, some issue, left them feeling victimized, helpless, and
hopeless. There's a shift that happens when, such a person drops that sense of
victimization, and develops the sense of the initiative, of agency, of being
able to make choices. For a lot of people, this idea that you can make choices
(as opposed to merely taking options presented in front of you) is life-
altering.
Likewise, when you are used to making choices and having an effect on the
world, all sorts of things now come up. This includes the asshole (someone
acting from entitled superiority), the jerk, (someone acting as if surrounded
by idiots), and so forth.
As one of my friends put it, the "ego" \-- and by that, I speak of "the
acquired self", or "the conditioned self" \-- likes to take credit for
everything even if it is not the source of everything. That means that even
humility, modesty, charity, mercy can get hijacked by the ego. I've met
people, even meditators, for whom, the ego hijacks the spiritual development
that comes out of their practices.
One of the things the ego can hijack is that very capability of making choices
(real choice, not just taking one of the options). We have long associated the
acquired self with this idea of making choices, but making real Choice ... the
ego actually shies away from it.
It's similar to how most people don't actually want real Change. Real change
has much more to do with death. People tend to seek out novelty, instead --
apparent change that doesn't really change anything deep down.
One of the things I've been working on in the past week or so in my meditation
is the relationship between posturing and posture. Posturing happens as a
result of clashing egos. In some cases, maybe it is just one person thinking
they need to posture, while no one else is participating. The noun "posture",
though, is neutral, associated with "martial arts stance", or "yoga asana".
I've found through martial arts, there is a particular feeling that comes from
wanting to win and overcome the other person, which leads to becoming
physically unbalanced, and then the other person exploits that. My desire to
win and submit the the other person is the seed of defeat. A lot of work went
into being sensitive to balance and imbalance ... to seek out balance within
myself, to upset the balance in my opponent, to correct postures and structure
of the body, to learn how to break all of that. It's only in the last week
that it dawned on me that posturing is accompanied with the same kind of
imbalance in the emotional and social dimension, and that by simply by
dropping things to the ground, the desire to win an argument disappears.
------
endgame
Started reading, got stupid interstitial popup, left. Has anyone built a
blocker for this new breed of pop-up?
See also: [http://tabcloseddidntread.com/](http://tabcloseddidntread.com/)
~~~
doelie_
Mindfulness might help as well.
| {
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Nexus Security Bulletin – December 2015 - aroch
https://source.android.com/security/bulletin/2015-12-01.html
======
mtgx
Another critical media server vulnerability? Really? Is Google at least
working on an overhaul of its media library for the next version of Android?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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