Datasets:

timaeus
/

pile-hackernews

Dataset card Data Studio Files Files and versions Community

Split (1)

train · 100k rows

text stringlengths 44 950k	meta dict
Show HN: Notational Velocity for Vim - yuppiemephisto https://github.com/alok/notational-fzf-vim ====== tjoff The description isn't that obvious for people that don't know what notational velocity is or how it works. ~~~ fourier_mode Thanks for pointing that out. I thought it is just some name OP chose. It is just a note-taking app for Mac.([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notational_Velocity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notational_Velocity)) ~~~ simplify Not just. It's the best one! ~~~ masukomi Nah NVAlt is the best ;) ------ jmcphers I glued fzf and vimwiki together to do something very similar. If you have both of those tools installed, you can use a mapping like this: nmap <Leader>wp :Files ~/git/vimwiki/<CR> so that you're just a couple of keystrokes away from fuzzy finding any entry in your vimwiki. ------ tomcam I just use org mode.* * Not really. This looks excellent. I just wanted to get the org mode boast dispatched with as soon as possible. ~~~ RaycatRakittra Well, no. That's not what we'd say to use for this (although you could). [Deft]([https://jblevins.org/projects/deft/](https://jblevins.org/projects/deft/)) would be a better comparison/equivalent. Regarding OP, it looks very snappy! I like it. Looks like it leverages `fzf`. Can we swap it out for something else? ~~~ RBerenguel Deft was (around 3 or 4 years) my weapon of choice as well when I was using nvAlt. So, it was nvAlt (for times when I was in a random place on my Mac), Deft (for searching or adding from within emacs and 1Writer [1] from iOS, all were fed from a Dropbox folder. Now (since January) though I have moved to use Bear [2] (non-free) on all my devices. Its use case is a bit different, but I like it better overall. Side question: what do you suggest as alternative to fzf? fzf is excellent (a post I wrote on our engineering blog about using it for custom completions in zsh [3]), but I’m always eager to see new tools I can use. [1] [http://1writerapp.com/](http://1writerapp.com/) [2] [https://bear.app/](https://bear.app/) [3] [http://engineering.affectv.com/aws/devops/2018/08/15/fzf- aut...](http://engineering.affectv.com/aws/devops/2018/08/15/fzf- autocompletions/) ~~~ jedahan skim [1] is a rust alternative that has an interactive mode [2] which makes it easy to drill down to more specific results. [1] [https://github.com/lotabout/skim](https://github.com/lotabout/skim) [2] [https://github.com/lotabout/skim#interactive- mode](https://github.com/lotabout/skim#interactive-mode) ~~~ RBerenguel Thanks, I was actually wondering why I had heard of no fuzzy searcher in Rust, seemed like a natural fit ------ drewm1980 Isn't editing existing notes fundamental to notational velocity UX? I have also been missing NV since leaving Mac OS is 2012. Shame the whole NV codebase is tied to Apple only frameworks. Nothing important about NV is even Mac specific; it is just three textboxes with well thought out key bindings; it's not using a bunch of fancy GUI framework features. ~~~ justusthane I believe that pressing Enter on a result opens the selected file as a buffer for editing. I think they mean that the plugin _itself_ won't modify existing files, not that you can't modify existing files. ------ wincent I made a JS/Electron based clone of nvALT a while back. Easier to hack on than an Objective-C codebase: [https://github.com/wincent/corpus](https://github.com/wincent/corpus) But the node ecosystem has its own problems. I like the idea of doing everything in Vim. ~~~ petepete If you're the wincent who made Command-T for Vim, thank you. I used it for years and years with great success. ------ jpwgarrison This looks cool, but I have been happy with [https://github.com/vhp/terminal_velocity](https://github.com/vhp/terminal_velocity) \- terminal based, I use it with vim but you can specify the editor. ------ rambojazz Sorry what's the license of this? ~~~ ealhad Thanks for pointing that out, I created an issue. ------ msravi This is cool! It's generic enough that it works not only with nvalt on Mac, but also with Notable on Linux ([https://github.com/notable/notable](https://github.com/notable/notable)) Notable also uses markdown files for storing notes, so I just had to point the plugin search path to notable's notes directory, and it worked like a charm! Please keep this usecase in mind when you make changes to your plugin going forward. Thank you! ------ jitl Amazing! This is the vim plugin I’ve always wanted to write. I used Notational Velocity briefly on Mac before I switched to Linux/Windows machines during university and kinda never picked it up again. At this point vim movement is too critical and I can’t use GUI solutions well... so I’m very excited to see a fusion of the two! ------ backpackway So nice my two favorite apps nvim and nvalt got merged. Anyone already tried it, how is it? ------ ecocentrik fzf is such a great addition to the command-line ------ O_H_E Meta: these angle brackets got interpreted into the link. ~~~ dang Sorry; that's a bug and on our list to fix. I've edited the angle brackets out above. We detached this subthread from [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20049765](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20049765) and marked it off-topic.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: negotiating for vacation instead of salary? - luu Have you tried doing this? Did it work? Is this even possible at big companies, where people get X weeks of vacation to start, and then Y weeks of vacation once you hit N years of experience?<p>Am I even asking the right question? Should my question be “what companies have generous vacation policies?” ====== extantproject Yes, I've seen it work at a big company that has a vacation "policy". If you're talking about salary they probably want to hire you, so don't wimp out in negotiation. Don't drag it on too long, but don't accept their first verbal offer either. General plan (especially with big companies): overshoot your idea of a reasonable salary by 20% or something, and when they come back "low" ask for more vacation, citing the "difference". ------ stoney It might be worth asking about how easy it is to take unpaid leave. Some companies have no problem with employees taking off one or two weeks per year unpaid on top of their regular holiday. Or time off in lieu might be another option. ------ voidfiles I work at a big company, and no it is not negotiable. At big companies you get thrown into groups, and for people to be "special", requires a lot of HR work, and managing to get right. Usually something out of the box requires a high level okay, and they don't like to do that. That being said, if you offer something that is rare, big companies will work with you. This is true of high profile persons being hired by big companies. Also as you move up into hierarchy, or attain a certain number of years under your belt the company might be willing to budge. ~~~ byoung2 _I work at a big company, and no it is not negotiable_ I have worked for big companies as well (Gateway, Washinton Post), and while it is true that _officially_ getting bumped to a higher vacation allotment is nearly impossible (e.g. managers get 2 weeks, and I'm asking for 3), it is possible to negotiate "off the books" vacation time with your direct supervisor. Usually your vacation requests go to him/her to sign send to HR/Payroll, who then deducts the days from your allowance. If you have an arrangement with your supervisor, the occasional Friday off or 1 week vacation when you only had 3 days banked can go unnoticed. 2 weeks of vacation can easily become 4 if you get one off-the-books day off per month. ~~~ rphlx Same experience for me. Sad that corporate culture is so thoroughly fucked at so many companies, but the closer you get to HR, the more likely you are to hit some power tripping asshole that gets off on creating and enforcing arbitrary policies that treat high-talent and low-talent individuals alike. In this world, you learn to get what you can, however you can, with as few people aware/involved as possible. ~~~ byoung2 _creating and enforcing arbitrary policies_ It's actually not an arbitrary policy to limit vacation time. The Sarbanes- Oxley Act requires companies to report accrued but untaken vacation time as a liability on their balance sheets. Since companies are required to pay out vacation time upon termination, and some states don't allow caps on accrued vacation, bumping you from 2 weeks to 4 weeks now could be risky. What if you never use the 2 extra weeks? Fast forward 20 years to your retirement, and they could be forced to pay you 40 weeks pay in a lump sum. ------ IronicMuffin I asked for 2-3k more and was denied, so I asked for another week of vaca and got it. Now I'm the only developer with less than 5 years seniority with 3 weeks a year. ------ macca321 “what companies have generous vacation policies?” most of them outside the US [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_statutory_minimum_emplo...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_statutory_minimum_employment_leave_by_country) ~~~ byoung2 My last job had a pretty good vacation policy: 20 PTO days, 13 holidays, office closed between Christmas and New Years ------ ganley Not a statistically significant sample, but I've asked for this in (almost?) every job negotiation, at both bigcos and startups, and it has never even been considered.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Show HN: The Node Handbook - flaviocopes https://nodehandbook.com ====== imnicnic Nice work good info	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Social micropayment system by Peter Sunde of Pirate Bay fame goes beta - jonasvp http://www.flattr.com ====== ivankirigin The cake is a lie. This is exactly like contenture, which shut down: [http://techcrunch.com/2009/12/21/the-anti-ad-network- content...](http://techcrunch.com/2009/12/21/the-anti-ad-network-contenture- shuts-its-doors/) God knows I think it would work in theory. I really like what <http://kickstarter.com> is doing in this space. But really, commerce is more important than this kind of P2P system. Easy payments != voluntary micropayments for free content. edit: so contenture didn't involve explicit clicks like flattr, but I think the analogy still sticks. ~~~ Artifex I disagree in that this channels a (perhaps irrational) human behavior - the desire to click a button just to be able to click it. Present a button to someone in a clean layout without much clutter, and they are going to want to press it. And given Sunde's pseudo-internet-rockstar-type status, this could very well take off. ~~~ ivankirigin People aren't compeled with the presence of a paypal button, to click it and give money. That's because money is a cognitive barrier. People don't want to spend anything unless they have to. ~~~ Artifex Agreed, money typically is a cognitive barrier - but remember we're talking micropayments, and the internet is a BIIIIG place. I think that works in favor of overcoming that barrier. And maybe, just maybe, the paypal button is out of date. Paypal buttons are little more than a dressed-up hyperlink from 1996 that will take you to a form with stuff to fill out and even more buttons to press (no novelty, redundancy, paperwork, etc). It's also a solitary activity. This is inviting in that you get to see a count displayed from people who have already clicked it (much like the digg button), and invites you to participate in that community. I think that community force is a very strong thing that has yet to be tapped in to. Who I see this working really well for at the Seth Godin-types, where they have really developed a whole tribe of followers who hang on to their (and truly benefit from) every word. These people will want to participate in their online community, and this will be a very tangible and easy way for them to do so. ~~~ ivankirigin Actually Seth Godin explicitly doesn't want this kind of donation tool. His blog is a tribe he cultivates to sell books. Believe me, I know about this one. Also, micropayments make it worse. You'll get the same dropoff for $0.05 as you would for $5. Again, I know from data. Making the amounts small just means you get less revenue. <http://redeye.firstround.com/2007/03/the_first_penny.html> ~~~ patio11 I don't know if the data you are looking at are proprietary or not, but I would sincerely love if there were published numbers that I could point people to when I tell them what you are telling them right now. ~~~ ivankirigin This is the data from <http://tipjoy.com> and no I haven no plans to open it up. ------ patio11 I think this comes from Pirate Bay believing their own PR, that their users are not thieves, they merely lack a good way to get money directly to the artists for their works. I just _love_ when people get to dogfood their own PR. This should be good. Like Ivan says, there is a lot of room for improving payments (take Paypal -- please!) but difficulty of affecting payment is not the number one issue for small content producers. The problem is, ahem, they are trying to sell something to people who do not want to give them the money that they largely don't have. Also, there are a million content producers chasing the same pool of money _and_ many of them get queasy at the notion of actually charging for value. Looking at the economy stats in the New York Times I do not get the impression that high school students have 15 times more disposable income than a decade ago. However, they are consuming digital content at a multiple far, far above 15x what they were a decade ago. This means that even if you came up with the Magical Payment Intermediary Fairy who could somehow convince them to pay their money for things, each producer would see less and less. Also, the Magical Payment Intermediary Fairy, if she is fair, is going to tell you that by weight the kids seem to be consuming about 90% Brittney Spears and other mass market hits (oh, I'm msorry, you thought people pirated music that was low quality and paid for the artists they wanted to support? Dogfood your PR.) and 10% long tail, of which you are individually entitled to 1/1000th share. The traditional way to avoid this is to actually charge money to people who have it for things they are willing to buy. If you totally lack in ideas, "Software for grown women" works pretty well and it isn't _nearly_ as fished out as producing anonymous "content" for the usual suspects. ------ Davertron It seems a bit arbitrary to just chop up a flat fee and pay it out equally once a month to all the content providers I "flattred"; it's sort of like saying everything was of equal value, which probably isn't the case. However, from Flattr's point of view, I see how this makes it a lot easier to manage as far as distributing funds goes. ~~~ yungchin <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1116108> (I thought I had a deja-vu, but the top post is a duplicate :)) ------ ique A lot of comments here seem to focus on how to use it to replace payments for an industry (like music) or to replace the subscription model for a webapp, and maybe that is a bit far-fetched but I can see a huge use in this for low- level stuff. If I Google a programming exception and get an answer from a blog I can show them some love. I create a lot of small websites used by friends and people from school or some other social context and I can very well see myself sticking that button on all of them to help me buy an extra beer this weekend. If it grows enough it might be able to fund some "real" stuff, but I don't think it should be put in that context from the get-go. ------ snom370 People still are generally want to do good and genereally want to pay for and reward good content if it's super easy and they don't have to think about spiraling costs. I think the "flat rate" part might be the trick to make this work. If I know I'm only paying for instance $5 or $10 a month, why wouldn't I use flattr to reward content i like? ------ thibaut_barrere I'd be curious to know about other new ways to support payments. ~~~ fexl Here's a simple way to do it in Loom (<https://loom.cc/faq>). The customer visits a paid content site, let's call it <https://valuable- information.com>. The customer's browser has a cookie for that site which stores a Loom location (an ID such as 1d425bd38f6520e6fab684a18b9c924e). A pile of assets sits at that location. When the customer views a paid article at valuable-information.com, the site debits that Loom location accordingly. Or, if the site uses a monthly charge, it debits the location once on the first of each month. The location also serves as an identity for storing the customer's preferences. When the balance gets low, the customer can "top off" the location however she likes. If she decides to stop using the site, she can sweep all the assets away from the location. ~~~ thibaut_barrere Thank you, that's interesting. ~~~ fexl I should also emphasize that this alleviates the "password proliferation" problem. The customer logs into her Loom folder using a passphrase she already knows. She creates a new Loom location there, nicknaming it "valuable- information.com" to remind her what it's for. Then when she signs up at valuable-information.com, she simply pastes the location into the sign-up form and presses Go. As long as her browser cookie lives, she never thinks about it again. If her cookie ever disappears, she just logs into her Loom folder, copies the location, and pastes it into the log-in form at valuable-information.com. ------ gorm Would be better with a camel as an example and not a cake because thats what many industries has to swallow to get into this model. Interesting approach though. Micropayment is a nut that needs to be cracked and if browsers vendors doesn't do it someone else should. ------ sldkei At the end of the flattr intro video, the guy says: _If you haven't guessed it, flattr is a wordplay of "flatter" and "flat rate"_ I'm curious, did others think of the "flat rate fee" wordplay before he mentioned it? ~~~ eagleal Don't get me wrong, but, are you someone from the marketing "department", or something like that? ~~~ sldkei No, but thanks for the chuckle on my first comment ever. :) I was genuinely interested because that 2nd meaning hadn't even occurred to me. ------ minalecs tipjoy I believed a y combinator companyhas tried something similar to this concept, and they shut down already .. <http://tipjoy.com/> I hope they have better luck ------ nazgulnarsil this will forever be up to the content producers rather than some centralized service. when artists make it easy for me to buy stuff from them I will often pay them rather than search for their stuff for free. ------ Adam503 Don't see security questions addressed. Any transaction involving anything of value is going to have to be full secure transaction. A secure transaction takes time and effort for a person to make. Any new supposedly "simple and easy" transaction system is going to have to remove security somewhere. Within 6 months of launch, everyone is the world is going to wake up to find one morning all their flattr cake are belong to some guy in a Former Soviet Republic. After a few failed desperate patch attempts wind up with more cake being bulk shipped to former Soviet Republics, Flattr will be declard a flop.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Show HN: My Weekend Project, leftright.me - ecto From inception Thursday night to near-feature-complete on Sunday morning, I consider it one of my better weekend hacking projects.<p>http://leftright.me/<p>I built it with node and Redis which was particularly fun. Redis truly is the AK-47 of databases.<p>This project has deeply engrained my longtime hate of Internet Explorer. Everything should be kosher in Chrome and FF but I had to make some compromises for IE.<p>I sent the link to a few friends and the userbase grew from there. It's not much but it's definitely something for having it live for a day.<p>I'm really looking forward to any constructive criticism you guys can throw my way. Thanks! ====== codeslush This is kinda similar to a site I was thinking about doing - so you may as well port it and do it instead since you already have the codebase. The concept is "Who's the bigger douche" - pit Michael A. against Jason C. and so forth. :-) Oh, good job - especially for a weekend project. Like others have stated, it wasn't immediately clear to me the function of the site at first. ~~~ ecto Hhaha that's a great idea. You might enjoy the predecessor to this, <http://mugshotwars.com/>, though it's not my proudest creation. ~~~ codeslush Love it! :-) Same concept as biggest douche, different audience. ------ olegious I'm usually very good at figuring out what an app does, but in this case I had to think about 20-30 seconds, that tells me that the explanation needs to be a bit clearer. An interesting idea- I'll poke around and see what else I can say. ~~~ jw84 Well, I see two pictures and the words compare who's hotter instantly. It's for the lack of a better word a FaceMash, which itself is a clone of a few dozen other predecessors before it. No further explanation needed. Your copy, however, needs work to compel me to bother spending 30 seconds to sign up and play with it. ~~~ ecto Was the features list not compelling, or simply too little? ~~~ olegious No the features list was compelling, it is an interesting site. I just mean that when I first signed on, I didn't immediately "get" what it was about- maybe make the "who's hotter?" example from the 1st screenshot a bit more prominent or larger, because once you see that, the purpose of the site is self explanatory. ------ dotBen link: <http://leftright.me/> This site is basically a clone of something I believe OK Cupid offers, which is to let other users rate your photos to find the best profile picture. Based on their data blog it looks as though OKC let you pick some demographics of the people who vote on you too, which this site does't currently. ~~~ ecto Thanks for letting me know about this. I wanted to stay away from making it a dating site but I think private messages would be a good feature to add. I'm planning on adding some more granularity to the battles page if I ever get more users. ------ hardik988 The battle pictures thing seems a lot like <http://www.facemash.com.au/> ------ nicklovescode The design is a bit _too_ much like <http://threewords.me>, intentional? ~~~ ecto Yeah, I wanted to one-up Mark Bao. ~~~ Charuru this sounds much more complicated than threewords.me ------ icandoitbetter The idea was hardly original in 2001. What made you start this in 2011? ~~~ ecto Lack of employment. ------ nolite nice layout and design, esp for a weekend ~~~ ecto Thanks, still trying to improve it. The settings page feels a little messy to me ~~~ nolite I will say that having large forms at the right side of the page kind threw me off. Those kind of things, you expect more towards the center. Current background, its not at all clear what that means	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Real-Time Vehicle Visualizations in JavaScript with D3.js - jamespollack http://www.prettymuni.com ====== dej611 I did a similar vis last year (maybe same company's job :D ) here: [http://dej611.github.io/sfmuni_tracker/](http://dej611.github.io/sfmuni_tracker/) ~~~ jamespollack ha cool, very similar! perhaps the same one: ) how interesting , its cool to see how other people make different choices considering the same starting material. I like route search box!	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
A dose of hope (low dose rate radiation study) - ChuckMcM http://www.frontline.in/stories/20120727291403700.htm ====== ChuckMcM This is an overview of this paper: [http://web.mit.edu/engelward- lab/publications/2010_Engelward...](http://web.mit.edu/engelward- lab/publications/2010_Engelward_HP.pdf) which looks to be some pretty reasonable research. As I've mentioned previously, one of the challenges of talking about radiation dangers is that we don't have a lot of data around what is 'safe' and what is 'dangerous.' Or even damaging. This paper suggests that we may be conservative by over 400x what is considered a 'safe' dosage of radiation. Or put differently, all the land around the current Fukishima plant, and much of the land around Chernobyl may in fact be safe to live on. With the definition that the residual radiation present may produce no more risk than you'd get from regular background radiation. I am really glad we've got people digging into these questions.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Time to end the myth that devs don't like sport - thetimmorgan http://picklive.com/blog/devs-that-like-sport-meetup ====== tatsuke95 >"I mean it’s not like code and sport go well together." While I think it's a stretch to assume programmers don't like sports, I _have_ worked in in a couple of developer shops as a non-programmer. If I had to pick between programmer stereotypes mostly shattered or programmer stereotypes mostly re-enforced, it's definitely the latter. But that's okay. I like the company. ------ dasmoth I've never got the impression that programmers as a whole "don't like sport". Possibly they're less likely to be interested in the local $socially_conventional_team_sport, or at least more likely to admit to the fact. ------ quorn3000 I used to play a lot of QuakeWorld, does that count? ~~~ bradleyland I was thinking the same thing. It's a matter of your definition of sport. The vast majority of developers I've worked with display competitive traits: * They form strong opinions and _care_ if they're right (in other words, they're happy to argue with you) * Ever heard a programmer speak well of another programmer's code? Take an old project and hand it off to a new dev. What does the new dev have to say about the code? Chances are they'll jump straight to what they'd do different, and many times deride the code for some lack of sophistication. * Lots of geeks play video games online, which is competitive by nature. Why do you think games like Modern Warfare and Battlefield provide leaderboards and stats portals? Because many players care about how they perform. Competitive individuals enjoy sport (unless they're losing). It's a means of exerting yourself through a structured outlet. Many would scoff at referring to video games as "sport", but it has all the elements of a sport, less the physical exertion. Geeks love sport!	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Net neutrality fight is about to flare again - JumpCrisscross https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/15/net-neutrality-fight-is-about-to-flare-again-244912?lo=ap_c1 ====== DataWorker “is about to” meaning there might be something to read about in a few weeks. This kind of preview-of-news-that-may-come-soon seems to be getting more and more common. Tick tock as they say.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
What Is Color Management? - PascLeRasc https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/360025502033-What-is-Color-Management- ====== ucarion A more accessible blog post, also from Netflix, mentioned in the article: [https://netflixtechblog.com/protecting-a-storys-future- with-...](https://netflixtechblog.com/protecting-a-storys-future-with-history- and-science-e21a9fb54988) ------ KineticLensman Interesting to read this to see the Netflix perspective. My intro to colour management came from digital photography approx ten years ago, where the goal was 'ensure that colours in printed pictures look the same when printed as they do on the screen'. Printing introduces an additional complexity to the already complex situation described in the OP. Specifically printers have different primary colours (cyan, magenta and yellow) to screens (red, green and blue) and colour is subtractive, so that adding all the colours makes darker results, unlike screens, where increasing the red, green and blue ultimately makes white (actually printers have to add black - the 'Key' in CMYK - to get true black). The colour management and calibration issues are conceptually similar, though. ~~~ jedimastert Fun color-theory fact for those not familiar: the print primary colors are the inverse of the light primary colors. Cyan is white without red (#00FFFF), magenta is white without green (#FF00FF), and yellow is white without blue (#FFFF00). We use these colors because pigment absorbs different wavelengths of light, so we start with white and absorb (i.e.subtract) different amounts of red, green, and blue (the components of human eye-sight) instead of starting with black and adding them! As an added bonus fact, black is all of the pigments at the same time, so we can just add black ink to the lowest of all three numbers then add up as needed. The actual math is _waaaaaay_ more complicated because sight, pigment, and light are are bananas more complicated, but that's the gist. ------ rhklein I recently found this guide on the fundamentals of color management very helpful. [https://hg2dc.com/](https://hg2dc.com/) ------ whatshisface What would it be like if our monitors had ambient light sensors so that they could calibrate their color balance to the surrounding room? The human eye tends to "calibrate" itself based on the average of the scene it's observing, so if you really wanted images to look the same on every display you would have to take that into account. ~~~ closeparen Professional productions can afford to simply work in dark rooms. ~~~ yumcimil They have to calibrate for ambient light still. At least, that's true for radiology. ~~~ marcusjt I'm a dark room lit only by other people's monitors, with each potentially having different scenes onscreen from moment to moment and thus ambient light varying all the time, that's a difficult/impossible thing to calibrate for manually and if automatically recalibrated by a monitor with ambient light sensors could potentially cause a vicious circle of autorecalibrations around the room	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Be proactive, not reactive – Faster DOM updates via change propagation - evlapix http://blog.bitovi.com/change-propagation/ ====== lhorie Interesting article. Some thoughts off the top of my head: Proxies are presented as a possible candidate to improve performance, but in conversations w/ some vdom library authors, I learned that proxy performance is far too bad to make it a viable option for high-performance vdom engines (in addition to having abysmal cross- browser support today) Another issue is that observable overhead _must_ be offset by savings in number of DOM operations in order for change propagation to be worth it. For example, a `reverse` operation would not benefit much, if at all, since it requires touching almost all DOM nodes in a list, and would incur worst case overhead on top of it. While naive vdom can lose in needle-in-haystack scenarios, vdom libraries often provide other mechanisms (thunks, shouldComponentUpdate, per-component redraws, etc) to cope w/ those scenarios. In addition, the field of vdom performance has very strong traction currently. Authors of vdom libraries often share knowledge and implementation ideas and there are now libraries than can perform faster than naive vanilla js in some cases by employing techniques like DOM recycling, cloning and static tree diff shortcircuiting, as well as libraries w/ strong focus on granular localized updates. ~~~ justinbmeyer > thunks, shouldComponentUpdate, per-component redraws, etc I'm not sure how those would deal with the scenarios focused on in the article. The only one I'm familiar with is per-component redraws which wouldn't apply. ~~~ lhorie The general gist is that one would use the subtree diff skipping APIs to prevent expensive diffs, and per-component redraws to selectively update things in the problematic subtree. Admittedly, it's not perfect and requires a not-so-trivial amount of app-space code, but at least it's not a black box renderer like, say, Angular 1. Ultimately, there are a vast number of different scenarios, some of which are likely to remain open problems for the foreseable future (e.g. a 100,000 item reverse), and some of which can be worked around via application space "escape hatches" such as the use of granular update APIs and techniques like occlusion culling. As I said, it's very interesting to see work that tackles the problem from an algorithmic complexity angle, and it's always healthy to explore different performance characteristics, but I think it's important to also keep in perspective what is the performance profile of solutions currently in the market, because looking at their theoretical algorithmic complexity alone doesn't tell the whole story. ------ gmmeyer Rendering the initial list takes much, much longer with the change propagation implementation than with the virtual dom one. I'd say, without benchmarking it, I see about 2 seconds or more difference. Even if the virtual dom is slightly slower at reacting to change, the time to render the latter implementation is more than enough to make me not want to choose it.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Design Thinking: B2 APIs and the Hidden Costs of S3 Compatibility - Manozco https://www.backblaze.com/blog/design-thinking-b2-apis-the-hidden-costs-of-s3-compatibility ====== elFarto I wonder if you could get the same functionality of AWS, with the same implementation of B2, by having a single URL to POST files to, that simply sent a redirect to the correct location (apparently there's the 307 HTTP status code for exactly this). E.g: => POST https://upload.backblaze.com/bucket/file <= 307 redirect to https://pod-000-1007-13.backblaze.com/b2api/v1/b2_upload_file/... => POST https://pod-000-1007-13.backblaze.com/b2api/v1/b2_upload_file/... ~~~ user5994461 Strictly speaking, it's possible but it's not reliable and it shouldn't be used. A redirect on a POST never results into another POST with the same content. \- API typically don't follow redirects (without special flags). Too much risk to cause damages by doing repeated calls. \- Browsers follow the redirect by a GET with no data. It's typical for a completed form to redirect to another page, do not re submit the form there. There are some settings and flags to alter the behavior into what you describe but it's not a good idea to go there. It will definitely not work out of the box with much of anything. ~~~ willglynn There are different kinds of redirects. See the discussion of 303 See Other vs 307 Temporary Redirect in RFC 7231: [https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7231#section-6.4.4](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7231#section-6.4.4) [https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7231#section-6.4.7](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7231#section-6.4.7) 303 means "GET this new URL" while 307 means "resend your request at this URL without changing the verb or body". ~~~ user5994461 And you can see that the RFC only talks in terms of should and may. It's beyond basic HTTP functionality, the RFC is basically moot at this stage and you're dealing in implementation specific details. You will have to work individually on every client you plan to support, both browsers and libraries. It can be done but it's not necessarily a good idea. ------ jlmorton I'm really surprised B2 doesn't seem to charge for upload API requests. I have a project which uploads several billion small objects to Amazon S3. The vast, vast majority are written, stored with a 15 month TTL, and never touched again. Some small number are downloaded each month. To illustrate this, here's a recent S3 bill: $0.005 per 1,000 PUT, COPY, POST, or LIST requests 289,727,754 Requests $1,448.64 $0.004 per 10,000 GET and all other requests 62,305 Requests $0.02 $0.023 per GB - first 50 TB / month of storage used 18,990.009 GB-Mo $436.77 As you can see, most of our spend on S3 is from the PUT requests, not the storage, or download. Probably there are some things we could do to reduce the number of PUT requests. We don't really care that much, because the total cost is not that large, but there is at least some incentive to reduce the number of PUT calls. But if it was free? I would never change this system. Does Backblaze really want this sort of traffic profile? ~~~ brianwski Disclaimer: I work at Backblaze. > Does Backblaze really want this sort of traffic profile? Oh heck yes, we would very much like your business! :-) Backblaze only charges you $0.005/GByte/Month so your $436.77 bill would go down to $94.95 and we would be happy to have it. That is profitable for us. (Since Backblaze doesn't have any deep pockets or VC funding, we have to stay profitable.) ~~~ donavanm So your pricing is aligned with the storage cost. But youre explicitely not pricing in write throughput/IO access, deletes, or similar caused by lifecycle events? How does that square with long term trends to greatly increase density while IO remains flat for the past decade? ~~~ mmt > IO remains flat for the past decade Although I agree that storage density growth for HDDs has greatly outstripped any I/O growth, I don't agree that the latter has been flat (i.e. no growth). Are you sure you're not doing something like comparing 7200rpm drives from 10 years ago to 5900rpm (or slower) or variable-speed "green" or even SMR drives from today? That said, I think what many people forget is that for "cloud" storage, the I/O bottleneck is almost certainly going to be the network and not the backend storage, especially for mainly sequential access. If each of their "pods" holds 60 drives and each "vault" holds 20 pods (17 of which are non-parity data), that's over a thousand drives per vault. If each drive is 7200rpm non-SMR, it can saturate a 1Gb ethernet with sequential I/O, and random I/O would divide that by 10 or so. That's the equivalent of 100Gb/s, per vault. That kind of bandwidth is possible and even affordable to provision inside the datacenter without metering and charging for it and is likely to dwarf the size of the connection to the Internet. ------ hemancuso It’s a bit unclear to me what is so expensive about the load balancing nodes. Care that explain why it’s substantially more than a few round robin’d smart reverse proxies moving data to the correct storage node? With S3/Dynamo design the back end destination is largely known from the hash ring. Also- Wasabi has fantastic pricing and full s3 compatibility. ~~~ zzzcpan > It’s a bit unclear to me what is so expensive about the load balancing > nodes. They also use Reed-Solomon and split data into multiple pieces to store on multiple servers. So they need all those "load balancing"-like nodes anyway and probably no new hardware or infrastructure is necessary to conform to S3 API. ~~~ brianwski Disclaimer: I work at Backblaze. > They also use Reed-Solomon and split data into multiple pieces to store on > multiple servers. So they need all those "load balancing"-like nodes anyway Yes. We definitely do "load balancing" or more accurately "disk space loading balancing" but we do it all in software. The net outcome is the same, but the cost is lower. > probably no new hardware or infrastructure is necessary to conform to S3 API No, it would require additional hardware we do not purchase at all right now. Backblaze's philosophy is to shave off cost at all layers if it doesn't actually contribute to uptime or durability. Put differently, if there is a lower cost way to achieve the same uptime or durability with some intelligent software or possibly an extra network round trip, we do it that way instead of purchasing extra hardware. ~~~ hemancuso What special hardware vs a few cores with a reverse proxy? Surely a trivial cost. ~~~ brianwski > Surely a trivial cost. So we both agree it is more than zero cost? Backblaze saves that cost passes on the savings to customers. I'm not sure what the exact costs would be because Backblaze did not implement it that way. > a few cores By "a few" do you mean 10, 100, 1000 or...? For how much bandwidth will your solution support? For example, can your few cores support 10 Gbits/sec? 100 GBits/sec? 1 TBit/sec? Backblaze is COMPLETELY FREE of worrying about these questions, because our solution does not require this additional step and this additional hardware, and therefore does not have this choke point. ------ bcheung Anyone know why Amazon didn't adopt existing standards like SCP / SFTP / WebDAV? I've always found the S3 APIs to be difficult to work with, especially for authorization and large uploads. ~~~ yzmtf2008 Because S3 is a K/V Store, not a file system. ~~~ bcheung File systems can be used as key value as well. The Key is the path, and the value is the contents of the file. Most modern filesystems also have metadata. Granted it's not hierarchical, so listing a bucket lists everything in every folder, but I don't see why that's too big of a concern. Especially since there are pseudo directories in many of the S3 tools. Many people use S3 and have a folder-like hierarchical naming convention anyways. With WebDAV, the URL is the key, and the value is the contents of the upload / download. ------ willglynn This article contains some misunderstandings about the S3 API. > The interface to upload data into Amazon S3 is actually a bit simpler than > Backblaze B2’s API. But it comes at a literal cost. It requires Amazon to > have a massive and expensive choke point in their network: load balancers. > When a customer tries to upload to S3, she is given a single upload URL to > use. For instance, > [http://s3.amazonaws.com/<bucketname>](http://s3.amazonaws.com/<bucketname>). > This is great for the customer as she can just start pushing data to the > URL. But that requires Amazon to be able to take that data and then, in a > second step behind the scenes, find available storage space and then push > that data to that available location. The second step creates a choke point > as it requires having high bandwidth load balancers. That, in turn, carries > a significant customer implication; load balancers cost significant money. In fact, S3's REST API requires callers to follow HTTP redirects, and the PUT documentation expressly mentions the HTTP "Expect: 100-continue" mechanism precisely so that the S3 endpoint you reach in your initial PUT request does not have to handle the HTTP request body. [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/dev/Redirects.ht...](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/dev/Redirects.html) [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/API/RESTObjectPU...](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/API/RESTObjectPUT.html) > The Dispatching Server (the API server answering the b2_get_upload_url call) > tells the Client “there is space over on “Vault-8329.” This next step is our > magic. Armed with the knowledge of the open vault, the Client ends its > connection with the Dispatching Server and creates a brand new request > DIRECTLY to Vault-8329 (calling b2_upload_file or b2_upload_part). No load > balancers involved! Again, this could be done directly with HTTP. PUT to the first server, receive a redirect, PUT to vault-8329, receive "100 Continue", transmit file. There's no need to have a separate API call to get the "real" upload URL. > 3) Expensive, time consuming data copy needs (and “eventual consistency”). > Amazon S3 requires the copying of massive amounts of data from one part of > their network (the upload server) to wherever the data’s ultimate resting > place will be. This is at the root of one of the biggest frustrations when > dealing with S3: Amazon’s “eventual consistency.” Wait, I thought they were load balancers? Why does the load balancer need to copy any data once it's done uploading? As for eventual consistency, there is truth to this complaint -- but much less truth than in the distant past. Every S3 region except us-standard has always had read-after-write consistency for new objects since launch, and as of August 2015, us-standard does too: [https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats- new/2015/08/amazon-s3...](https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats- new/2015/08/amazon-s3-introduces-new-usability-enhancements/) If your PUT returns 200 OK, a subsequent GET will return the object, assuming you're using unique keys. This prevents the 2015-and-earlier problem where you'd create a new S3 object and enqueue a job to process it, then the job gets 404 Not Found while retrieving the new object. There are other cases where S3's eventual consistency can be an issue, but none of them have been dealbreakers for my applications. Having said that: S3's consistency model is a weaker than the model B2 provides, so this is not an argument against providing an S3-compatible interface. ~~~ brianwski Disclaimer: I'm the original author of the blog post. :-) > In fact, S3's REST API requires callers to follow HTTP redirects... Yes. Let's take the example of uploading 3 small files. With S3, _every_ upload call must start by hitting the same URL that is then redirected. To upload the same 3 small files in B2, it is a little different. For B2, one call is made to the "dispatch server" to ask for where there is spare space, then there is no redirect. The client must disconnect, and contact the final destination three times. So for this example, S3 would need to do 3 redirects (3 total network calls) and Backblaze B2 would do zero redirects but make 4 total network calls to upload three files. I hope that makes sense. I'm not saying one is better than the other, and I freely admit S3 can be a little more intuitive. But it saves Backblaze money to not have such high loads and high uptime demand on the original URL. > Again, this could be done directly with HTTP. Yes I agree it could have been. > There's no need to have a separate API call to get the "real" upload URL. The "need" was to save money. See example above. Amazon S3 would require 3 redirects from the original URL, while Backblaze B2 chose a different tradeoff that is zero redirects and 4 total requests where 3 out of 4 requests were NOT redirected. The 3 out of 4 requests go to the final location DIRECTLY. If you are only uploading one file, the Amazon S3 API is about as efficient as Backblaze and I agree with you. But if you upload 1 million files, the Backblaze B2 architecture is cheaper/simpler. But either way, it is the tradeoff we chose. > as of August 2015, us-standard... has read-after-write consistency for new > objects TIL. We launched the B2 API before August of 2015, sorry if I propagated old info! ~~~ teraflop > For B2, one call is made to the "dispatch server" to ask for where there is > spare space, then there is no redirect. An API call that retrieves the address of another machine to contact is functionally the same thing as an HTTP redirect, just with different syntax, right? > The client must disconnect, and contact the final destination three times. This seems like the key idea that wasn't quite explained in the blog post: the client is expected to cache and reuse the same "vault" server for future requests, not just for multiple pieces of a single upload. If the client doesn't conform to that expectation, your approach would end up with exactly the same performance characteristics as S3. What I find interesting is that unless I'm misunderstanding the API documentation [1], file downloads apparently _do_ go through a load balancer. That is, you make an HTTP request to a single endpoint that's the same for all files in the account, and it fetches the data from whichever "vault" server is actually storing it. So does that mean that Backblaze's rate of incoming uploads is much larger than the rate of downloads? Otherwise it seems like you could just reuse the same load-balancing infrastructure for both. [1]: [https://www.backblaze.com/b2/docs/b2_download_file_by_name.h...](https://www.backblaze.com/b2/docs/b2_download_file_by_name.html) ~~~ brianwski > An API call that retrieves the address of another machine to contact is > functionally the same thing as an HTTP redirect If you are only uploading exactly one file -> yes. But if you are uploading 1 million files, a redirect system would result in 1 million redirects. The B2 system would result in less load on the dispatch server. > the client is expected to cache and reuse the same "vault" server for future > requests Yes, exactly! This is the very core part of the B2 architecture. In fact, it is a waste of time and performance to keep asking the dispatch server for a location for every file. Just assume the last vault you got continues to be "valid" until the vault kicks you off with a 503. In B2 world, the 503 is _NOT_ a fatal error, it means "go back to the dispatching server and ask for a new location to upload to". > file downloads apparently do go through a load balancer Correct. Because we wanted the ability to serve up static web content such as this picture (this is served out of B2): [https://f001.backblazeb2.com/file/bucket9/cute3.jpg](https://f001.backblazeb2.com/file/bucket9/cute3.jpg) and do it in a highly available and highly scalable way if the content goes viral. The way we do that is we have load balanced "download servers" that also act as a caching layer. The FIRST time somebody fetches a file from the vault, the caching layer has to ask the vault to reassemble the file from parts, and then the caching layer caches it on fast SSDs inside the download servers. The second time (in 24 hours) that a customer requests the file, it comes out of the cache and not out of the vault. Otherwise, if a video went viral the vault would get crushed trying to reassemble the video for all 10 million views. :-) The load balancers we used are described in a different blog post here: [https://www.backblaze.com/blog/load-balancing- and-b2-cloud-s...](https://www.backblaze.com/blog/load-balancing-and-b2-cloud- storage/) > does that mean that Backblaze's rate of incoming uploads is much larger than > the rate of downloads? Yes. VERY MUCH yes. Backblaze has more than 10x the incoming bandwidth as outgoing bandwidth. Backblaze started as an online backup company with the "Backblaze Personal Backup" solution. Online Backup is highly inbound heavy. ------ deepsun That "get_upload_url()" trick they invented was in AppEngine's BlobStore since 2008. Although Google deprecated it in favor of GCS. ------ deedubaya That's all fine and good, I don't care if you're S3 compatible or not.... I do care if I have to write my own API client for your storage backend. Or if you have examples to go off of. Backblaze doesn't seem to offer either for non-C++/Swift languages. Complete non-starter. The, perhaps obvious, win of being S3 compatible is that you open the door to thousands of existing S3 clients already implemented in my different technologies, for free. And you get the developers who use them as customers. ~~~ brianwski Disclaimer: I work at Backblaze. > Backblaze doesn't seem to offer either for non-C++/Swift languages. On each of the API web pages there are code examples for the following languages: 1) cUrl, 2) Java, 3) Python, 4) Swift, 5) Ruby, 6) C#, and 7) PHP. For example, go to [https://www.backblaze.com/b2/docs/b2_authorize_account.html](https://www.backblaze.com/b2/docs/b2_authorize_account.html) and scroll ALL THE WAY TO THE BOTTOM of that web page, and you should see "Sample Code" section. Click on the blue buttons to see the different code examples. If your favorite language is missing, we can add it for you! One of our client engineers wrote most of the code examples in all 7 languages in less than 1 week. With these working code examples, the expectation is you should be able to get B2 working in literally less than 2 days in any application in any language. ~~~ trevyn FYI, the most popular Node B2 library seems to be in the process of being abandoned: [https://github.com/yakovkhalinsky/backblaze-b2](https://github.com/yakovkhalinsky/backblaze-b2) Would be nice if there was an official Node library. ~~~ brianwski I really want to do more JavaScript support and examples and SDKs for B2 (both web page and server side). While I think of myself as a 'C' programmer, the GIGANTIC amount of work being done in JavaScript nowadays is just amazing, and you can reach so many customers via JavaScript that I think JavaScript is a huge part of the future of computing. ------ metalrain It's great that cost of elasticity is not hidden. I'm glad that there are alternatives. ------ misterbowfinger Honestly surprised that AWS, GCP, or Azure haven't acquired BackBlaze by now. Seems like an obvious move. ~~~ brianwski Disclaimer: I am the author of the blog post and work at Backblaze. > surprised that AWS, GCP, or Azure haven't acquired Backblaze by now Sometimes press/customers/people ask us how many customers has Backblaze "converted over from" S3 to B2. To be honest, I think the answer is approximately zero. If a customer already has a Petabyte uploaded into S3, it is simply not practical or cost effective to download that from S3 and import it into B2. The S3 download costs are extremely expensive (9 cents per GByte to download out of S3, vs 1 cent per GByte to download out of B2). Most of Backblaze's B2 customers fall into one of two camps: 1) New customers starting out that have just started to look at cloud storage and need to decide where to put their data. They look at S3, compare with B2, and make a decision and Backblaze B2 gets some of those customers. Realistically we don't even get half of these new customers either because B2 is missing a feature the potential customer needs, or because the customer has not even heard of Backblaze. So Backblaze is probably not causing Amazon too much lost revenue yet. 2) Multi-cloud customers. Any one "cloud provider" can have outages, including Backblaze and including Amazon. So if you store an entire copy of your data in Amazon S3, and also store an entire copy in Backblaze B2, you will (by definition) have both more durable data and higher availability data than a single copy in either one alone. By definition this doesn't actually cost Amazon S3 any sales, because you STILL need a complete copy in S3!! For multi- cloud, Backblaze B2 doesn't harm Amazon one bit. > Seems like an obvious move (for Amazon to acquire Backblaze). Amazon has never offered to buy Backblaze, but also we are not for sale. Or at very least not at the prices Amazon would probably want to spend (or could justify to their board). I don't know if this is common knowledge but Backblaze is employee owned. We never took any significant VC funding, so the only people with voting rights on the board of directors are the original 5 Backblaze founders (including myself). We like what we are doing and we COMPLETELY control our own destiny and work environment. Literally nobody (except customers) can tell us what to do, how to price our products, or what features to build. Backblaze is a fun company to work at, and we all make a good living. So it would be inordinately expensive to buy us out just to put us out of business and dissolve our tight-knit group here and ruin all our fun. Our plan is to stay independent forever. ~~~ nicoburns > Amazon has never offered to buy Backblaze, but also we are not for sale. Or > at very least not at the prices Amazon would probably want to spend (or > could justify to their board). I don't know if this is common knowledge but > Backblaze is employee owned. We never took any significant VC funding, so > the only people with voting rights on the board of directors are the > original 5 Backblaze founders (including myself). We like what we are doing > and we COMPLETELY control our own destiny and work environment. Literally > nobody (except customers) can tell us what to do, how to price our products, > or what features to build. Backblaze is a fun company to work at, and we all > make a good living. So it would be inordinately expensive to buy us out just > to put us out of business and dissolve our tight-knit group here and ruin > all our fun. Our plan is to stay independent forever. This as much as anything encourages me to trust and invest in Backblaze. Long may you live. Maybe I'll get around to writing that Rust SDK I've been meaning to write for a while... ------ vpribish "Design Thinking" >>cringe<<	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Will You Take $100 Now or $200 in a Month? - nreece http://www.nilkanth.com/2014/04/11/will-you-take-100-now-or-200-in-a-month/ ====== meric "Will You Take $100 Now or $200 in a Month?" I suppose it depends who you are, on the value of $1, and how many other people you're making the same offer to... Definitely take the $200 in a month if you're my bank. ------ valdiorn Depends. Are you a trustworthy person to handle my money, or are you a meth- head junkie who owes me rent? Because if it's option #2, the risk of "investing" with you is probably not worth the interest rate. ------ vaidhy Would answering "Yes" get me a $100 now and $200 in a month?	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Analyzing Flight Data: A Gentle Introduction to Spark's GraphX - anabranch http://sparktutorials.net/analyzing-flight-data:-a-gentle-introduction-to-graphx-in-spark ====== anabranch Any feedback anyone has would be greatly appreciated! Just getting this site started to teach people about the basics of Apache Spark.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
About the security content of Security Update 2018-001 - mafro https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT208742 ====== CognitiveLens For anyone unfamiliar with Project Zero, it's a team at Google dedicated to finding security vulnerabilities across the internet (and in software in general, it seems) [https://security.googleblog.com/2014/07/announcing- project-z...](https://security.googleblog.com/2014/07/announcing-project- zero.html) ~~~ ehsankia Some high profile exploits they either discovered or played a big role in: \- SHAttered(?) \- Row hammer \- Cloudbleed \- Lastpass exploit \- Meltdown & Spectre ~~~ 0xFFFF0000 Would be good to also highlight the other finders of some of these issues, but this view shows that Google Project Zero is a well executed PR machine taking away the focus of other security researchers. The title of this thread is similarly misleading. ~~~ ehsankia To be clear, I state that "they played a role in", implying that there were other people too. ------ lawguy Here are the details on Project Zero's tracker: [https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project- zero/issues/detail?id=15...](https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project- zero/issues/detail?id=1529) ------ epistasis Google's PR machine strikes again, robbing Tencent of their due. ~~~ 0xFFFF0000 Exactly what I thought. Project Zero allows Google to segway away from their Android ecosystem mess they left beyind and (even relatively benign findings at times - there was a Defense in Depth issue in Windows recently I remember that got an article) get a lot of media attention, and other researches are ignored. Shows that Google's PR works really well. I first noticed that during Meltdown/Spectre where most of the heavy lifting was done by university students somewhere in Europe, but they nowhere got as much attention as Google. Sad. ------ kerng What about Tencent? Very misleading title. ------ mafro Guys seriously.. Nobody is going to read a link titled "About the security content of Security Update 2018-001". People need some kind of pointer about _why_ they might want to read a security update statement. Granted the original title should have included Tencent's name too. ------ threeseed What is with this title ? It's a result of two CVEs. ~~~ awat In the support article Apple is crediting one of the CVEs “CVE-2018-4206: Ian Beer of Google Project Zero” ~~~ PakG1 Title could still be better than it is, I think. Original title is much better. Things like attribution can be done fine in the comments if that's not in the title. Furthermore, Project Zero was involved in only one of the CVEs anyway then. Why not put the other credit in the title too? CVE-2018-4187: Zhiyang Zeng (@Wester) of Tencent Security Platform Department, Roman Mueller (@faker_) ~~~ rurban Correct. And I would rather emphasise Tencent more. They did amazing security work in recent years, to me more impressive work than Google zero.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
The Cmd+space Bullet Journal - Tahul https://journapi.app ====== Etheryte While this looks like something that might be interesting, the landing page has too little information to deduce what it is and how it compares to other similar tools. Having a screenshot, or a small demo video demonstrating how you use the tool would do wonders here. As a separate note, Cmd + Space is used by Spotlight out of the box on macOS and is probably not a shortcut many people would like to give up. Using something else as your default shortcut and making it configurable might be a better approach. ~~~ Tahul Thanks for your feedback ! I might work on the landing soon. The product has not so much features and is made with a minimalist leitmotiv. I’m not trying to create some kind of marketing or comparative analysis, I built the tool that fits my needs and want to share it with you because that’s what hackers do. Hope it can fit your needs too. Also, you can find screenshots on the ProductHunt page. Yaël ------ Tahul As a human, you are having great times and new achievements everyday. Keep log of them the easiest way using Journapi. When the hard times comes, use it to reflect on your life and stay positive. \--- Journapi offers you a way to keep the daily-writing routine you always wanted to maintain. It allows you to write in a minimalistic bullet web-based bullet journal from any command prompt. It has an API that you can integrate pretty much anywhere. I'm personally using it with an Alfred app workflow. The app is built with TALL Stack and was a way for me to learn this new paradigm. It is free and will ever be. \--- Links: [https://github.com/Tahul/journapi](https://github.com/Tahul/journapi) [https://github.com/Tahul/journapi-cli](https://github.com/Tahul/journapi-cli) [https://twitter.com/yaeeelglx](https://twitter.com/yaeeelglx)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Top 5 tools every serious Linux user should have - mnazim http://blog.atlanticmetro.net/2013/07/02/top-5-tools-every-linux-server-should-have/ ====== mooism2 Article title is _“Top 5 tools every Linux server should have”_. Why has it been posted here as _“Top 5 tools every serious Linux user should have”_?	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Building BasicMan.co: Static-Dynamic Application Architecture - jacobwg https://blog.jacobwgillespie.com/building-basicman-co-static-dynamic-application-architecture-55f9f8021eaf ====== EwanG Case study of building a website. Feels a bit more like an ad for the website than a real case study, but that may be me. ~~~ jacobwg Definitely not trying to be an ad - I wanted to share with the technical crowd as I was most excited about the following: \- being able to use GitHub pages for a "dynamic" website with React/SPF \- integrating React with SPF.js \- solving cookie issues related to the chosen approaches on mobile devices \- performance optimization targeted at the initial visible content I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of these solutions, though I couldn't find anything about React+SPF.js, but I was excited to learn and share. Personally I know I enjoy reading website case studies with technical details. ~~~ dave84 I enjoyed reading it because it's probably the complete opposite of the way I'd build something similar. I also think that there may be a further product in allowing people to set up their own shops.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Turbolinks: SPA-like Experience without the SPA-framework Hassle - filipewl https://goiabada.blog/can-you-build-a-single-page-application-without-a-front-end-framework-6799cee03750 ====== disconnected I know they are trying to promote their own Front-End Framework (while trying to pretend that it isn't one), but with regards to the question on the title, my experience is: you can, but please, don't. It actually isn't THAT hard, but what will happen is that you'll end up reinventing the wheel badly, and you'll be chasing bugs and fixing platform inconsistencies for months. It won't be optimized and it won't work in some random obscure browser, or under some random platform (and there's always THAT user that just happens to have that browser/platform combo... Murphy's Law spares no one). Also remember: YOU have to maintain your poorly cobbled-together "framework" for the next 2, 3, or more years. If anything changes and pages stop working "right", you get to pick up the pieces. Yes, "you", because since your framework is something that you pieced together, there are no "tutorials" nor stack overflow questions nor manuals to refer to. If someone DOES pick it up after you, (the poor bastards), they are going to be bothering you day and night, or go insane after 2 weeks. In conclusion, just grab something that works for you and is reasonably well supported (and looks like it will REMAIN supported in the future) and use that. Don't fall into the "NIH syndrome" trap. ~~~ bruncun Turbolinks evolved from Pjax (4 yrs old) and is part of Ruby on Rails (11 yrs old). Not only does it respect back/reload out of the box, but it also supports native. Its as mature as it is supported as it is powerful. It really just works - drop it into a project and you instantly have a SPA. Its far from a framework - its API has less surface area than even React. The above comment couldn't apply less to Turbolinks. The only true caveat necessary is that it's written in CoffeeScript. :P ~~~ dcwca The only true caveat is you can’t have multiple dynamic elements per view. ~~~ bruncun It allows you to do partial updates, but indeed it doesn’t support view transitions out of the box. :/ That said, the native wrappers offer built-in transitions, and you could probably hack web transitions with some modding and a component library. ~~~ jwandborg I like your optimism, but I would like to remind (scare) you: If you decide to put your effort into customizing the framework, you increase your risk of building > [...] your poorly cobbled-together "framework" for the next 2, 3, or more > years. If anything changes and pages stop working "right", you get to pick > up the pieces. Yes, "you", because since your framework is something that > you pieced together, there are no "tutorials" nor stack overflow questions > nor manuals to refer to. ------ nicc I don't think you'll find anyone who thinks it's hard to build 1 SPA without a framework. The thing is that if you build 2, 3, 100, you'll find yourself doing the same stuff over and over again (and always better than the previous time, so that you'll want to replace all your old code, which is now obsolete), and that's when frameworks are useful. ~~~ ourmandave _so that you 'll want to replace all your old code, which is now obsolete), and that's when frameworks are useful._ You know, like Angular 1. ~~~ jchw It ain't an easy transition, but transitioning from Angular 1.x to Angular 2.x can be done. A path forward was forged in 1.x updates that let you incrementally make your code more Angular 2-y. Also, there doesn't seem to be a huge breaking change in the foreseeable future either. That being said, React seems far less likely to pose this threat, with the caveat that you do have smaller pieces you may have to rewrite as the ecosystem evolves. That being said, in a few years of using React, the only things that have hugely changed are: 1\. React Router 2\. Use of ES6 classes 3\. Better compilers/tools ...That's it. And the latter 2 don't really mean you need to rewrite code, although often you can to take advantage of new stuff. All in all, not at all a raw deal. You get a lot from the work. ------ WA Yes, you can. Maybe you even should, because then you at least understand all the moving parts. Because there are way too many shitty SPAs out there that break functionality (Twitter and Facebook when hitting the back button) or are annoyingly slow and unreliable (iTunes Connect, Play Developer Console). Read [1] to see all the disadvantages and understand them. Then maybe build an SPA. [1]: [https://adamsilver.io/articles/the-disadvantages-of- single-p...](https://adamsilver.io/articles/the-disadvantages-of-single-page- applications/) ~~~ cname Building your own is educational and maybe even fun (to a point), but it's not going to magically fix these kinds of issues. Most if not all frameworks support navigation and custom framework XYZ probably isn't going to do a better job. The fact that some sites do a bad job at navigation, performance, or whatever really seems orthogonal to me. We can also come up with numerous examples of "classic" sites that are slow, bloated, and have a bad UX. ~~~ WA That’s precisely my point: a good SPA is more than a framework and the only thing that helps to make it good is education. ------ libria Downvoting everyone answering the title question and not reading the article. You guys should be better than this. It's not about cowboying or NIH. It's about using a library called Turbolinks [https://github.com/turbolinks/turbolinks](https://github.com/turbolinks/turbolinks) to render static pages server-side and swap the content out with js. ~~~ s73ver_ It seems like most people are more interested in discussing the question posed by the title than discussing the product the article is advertising. ~~~ libria Is it a useful discussion, though? We all seem to already agree reinventing wheels is a waste of time. ~~~ s73ver_ I would say it's more useful than discussing the ad. Which is still to say, not very. ------ sebringj If you are not on a team and don't have any budget requirements, then sure. Do it all from scratch and in your own arbitrary flavored-way in your basement, then write documentation later and put it on hacker news as the next great js framework to use out of plethora already there, then someone writes an article like this and places it on hacker news, then repeat the process again. ~~~ jwdunne I think we've had some of this on the backend too. I've seen "you don't need a framework" a few times outside of the current JS atmosphere. Seems like the easier it is to get going, the more frameworks you'll get. PHP is similar - a good whack of frameworks. The community has banded together, producing a group of developers, one from each major library or framework just so they can figure it out. It's called the Framework Interoperability Group and is responsible for the PSRs which have done a lot of good for the PHP ecosystem. JavaScript, I'm not sure you'd have the same luck simply because any interoperability group would need an arena or virtual equivalent just to start. That's ignoring the communication issues and length of decision making time. ~~~ sebringj I actually prefer coding by myself as I get to do my own thing but when it comes to working with teams, I strongly prefer a framework because its kind of like how religion helped form alliances or like how a river flows in the same direction. Its all arbitrary bullshit but helps reduce collisions and arguments. After all, highly documented, well tested bullshit, is much better than highly untested, no-documented bullshit. ~~~ jwdunne Oh I agree. It's a good way to learn how something works. How do you become "good enough" to build production ready libraries that solve particular problems without practice solving said problems? ------ cocktailpeanuts Actually the first thing I do nowadays when I start a new project using rails is turn off turbolinks. Rails has so many "magic" hidden underneath and Turbolinks is the epitome of this problem. I have no idea how it works, but all I know is it breaks my apps too often if I ever make use of a lot of JavaScript code. Nowadays I do: 1\. Pure old school websites with no SPA approach (Surprisingly, most web apps work just fine this way. You're just being tricked into building SPA when you don't need one) 2\. Use rails as API backend and use frontend JS framework (I do this when I know I will need to make this work both on the web and mobile. Since I just need to write the API once and use it cross platform, it's much more efficient this way IF I'm doing something like this) Turbolinks actually doesn't fit into any of this workflow and just complicates things IMO. ~~~ toasterlovin As a counterpoint, Turbolinks has been an unmitigated success for a huge app that I work on. 80% of the performance and responsiveness of an SPA with about 5% of the work. Granted, the app is very vanilla-Rails. I can see Turbolinks getting in the way if you have a bunch of other "complicated" Javascript, but if your app is mostly standard Rails views plus some jQuery, Turbolinks is an amazing hack. ~~~ cocktailpeanuts Yes, but my point was that if I want my app to be "vanilla rails with jQuery" (which actually is all you need for most web apps), I actually WANT it to behave like a "website", meaning I DON'T want it to behave like a single page app because it's confusing both for users and the developer (myself), which is where turbolinks comes in. ~~~ toasterlovin IMO, it doesn't _behave_ like a single page app. It just _performs_ like one (aka, it's fast as heck). ------ wanda It’s the wrong question to ask. Frameworks exist so that devs can stand on the shoulders of wheel reinventors/optimisers, and perhaps more importantly debuggers. If you’re going to build an SPA, you may as well use a framework. The question to ask is: _should_ you build an SPA? Many complaints we as developers have, especially regarding browser history issues with SPAs, are issues that the end-user also experiences, but under the umbrella classification of “the website doesn’t work well.” An SPA offers much in the way of developer ergonomics, but does it benefit the end-user? I’m inclined to think it doesn’t in many cases. Aside from the issue of downloading Javascript libraries, SPAs often make the user experience unnecessarily jarring when even simple things can seem to take longer because the browser is hanging while JS occupies the main thread — which, in the end, is at least on the same level as a full page refresh, in terms of user experience. Of course, I’m no UX expert, but speaking from my own experience and the experience of some non-developers with whom I communicate, I have concluded that web applications which do the bulk of the work server-side and emit fully rendered HTML without the need for Javascript libraries etc. tend to offer preferable experiences for end-users. Obviously React blurs the line a little with server-side rendering, but it's rare that you see a truly well-executed example in the wild. Maybe I'm wrong, I don't have a good sample size to make remotely objective conclusions. All I know is that Github is a website that works very well (in my opinion) and its full page refreshes never bother me. Same goes for a handful of other websites (FreeAgent, an accounting platform, was also very nice to use when I was a freelancer). I just can’t shake my scepticism about SPAs as a result, despite the fact that working on them comprises my profession, my every day life. It makes me miserable sometimes though, to feel dubious about the things I help build day after day, but I don't have the luxury of being able to just build what I want, I need money so I build what others want. ~~~ GoToRO Frameworks are used because they provide a lot of functionality for zero dollars. You then sell the SPA to the client including that functionality for non-zero sum. The part in which the site stutters and the like, comes after the client paid and it's too late. There are also clients that want a website done in Angular. That's what they want and that's what you have to give them. These are two use cases I found for frameworks and these are the reasons they exist. ------ ronneybezerra Hi, as the author of this article I would like to thank you all for the discussion about the title. Thinking in retrospect, I see it was misleading indeed, but it wasn’t intentional, just a bad choice. So I decided to change it in order to better describe its content. Now it’s called Turbolinks: SPA- like Experience Without The SPA-framework Hassle. ------ quantumofmalice Turbolinks is OK, but I prefer intercooler for HTML-based apps because it gives me a lot more control: [https://github.com/LeadDyno/intercooler- js/](https://github.com/LeadDyno/intercooler-js/) I don't use it for everything, but it's great for a lot of my work. ~~~ mhd I've experimented with Intercooler, and it's a nice intermediate step between just enhancing a site with some jquery or vanilla JS and full-fledged SPAs. This is almost a general theme in webdev, the middle ground is often left out, with things accumulating either on the complex or purposely minimalistic. Rails/Sinatra, Flask/Django, React/Angular... (and yes, I'm aware that it's slightly ironic that RoR is now my "monolith" end of things, given how light it was back when we were doing horrible things with Struts and J2EE) ~~~ quantumofmalice I hadn't thought of it in those terms, but I definitely agree. I also like that I don't have to decide up front that I'm going to write my whole app using it and can add it in later on where it makes sense. I don't know what to call that, but it's nice. I wouldn't try to write a video game or anything like that with it, but for most of what I do it gives me what I want with very little complexity. ------ tbirrell Er... Yes. Its fairly easy. Granted I've never done anything on the scale of FB or Netflix, but SPAs are not as difficult as everyone likes to think they are. ~~~ Scarbutt Its no the difficulty, its that it is more work and takes more time. A small example: with a SPA that's needs a backend (most apps) you need to do routing in two places, the backend and fronted, versus just doing routing in the backend. ------ archi42 Hmm, my backend is some SQL, a bunch of PHP scripts handle requests and return JSON to my SPA. Only thing I use is jQuery since I didn't want to handle the FX stuff; everything else goes through some wrappers I wrote in half a day and which take care of browser glitches. JSON to html5 content is now at a few thousand SLOC, but still easy to maintain - by me, but honestly not by others. Would it be better with a framework? No, because my employee is a C.S. company with an entirely different focus (applying some corner theory stuff to industrial products): no one here is an expert in PHP Frameworks, instead we have some pretty good C++ and ocaml masters. ~~~ ch4s3 If you have some OCaml masters, why not slap together some BuckleScript to call an simple OCaml wrapper around the sql and call it a day? ~~~ archi42 They're working on more important stuff ;) ------ jand From my point of view SPA and solid backend APIs go hand in hand. I see the main reason to use a SPA is to decouple front- and backend. Doing so allows you choose a new frontend after some years while keeping the backend - or rewriting performance critical backend code while reusing the frontend. Do you think the SPA-ish look and feel really is the key? That would surprise me. It is more of an architectural design choice to me. ~~~ ec109685 Your front end web server can call your backend API, so you can decouple without it being SPA. ~~~ Scarbutt Correct, but its arguable which will be more work, with a front end server and backend API you are still writing two applications, and most probably, you still need to sprinkle some JS for UX enhancement. ------ dustingetz Server side rendered javascript means you can mix and match turbolinks style with spa style For example, initial load SSR but popovers SPA, all same codebase, you could even configure which components render which way _after_ the code is deployed ------ quantumleap22 If you want more fine grain control over your app than turbolinks, but like the general idea, intercooler.js gives you that: [https://github.com/LeadDyno/intercooler- js](https://github.com/LeadDyno/intercooler-js) There are some good blog posts on HTML and HATEOAS too: [http://intercoolerjs.org/2016/05/08/hatoeas-is-for- humans.ht...](http://intercoolerjs.org/2016/05/08/hatoeas-is-for-humans.html) ------ twobyfour Yes, of course, but why would you want to? Either you'll end up with a mass of spaghetti, or you'll end up inventing your own, probably buggy, front-end framework. ------ gscott Reading a bit into it they never say the word Ajax but that is what it is. Something used for years they are pitching as something new and exciting. ~~~ ccachor It's actually PJAX. ------ endlessvoid94 Does anyone have a good resource for using the iOS and Android wrappers for Turbolinks? I find the official documentation to be kind of lacking. ------ stevedonovan Discussion about frameworks and SPA focuses on developer convenience, but it's necessary to look at user happiness. Is the bloat of the modern web a necessary consequence of big frameworks or a result of incompetence? That is, are people just bad at using them? ------ ubersoldat2k7 Yes, I've made a few vanillajs SPA for HbbTV apps which were very unhappy about loading any framework everytime you change channels. Hardest part is the "router" which ends up being a big'ol switch statement. ~~~ mtpn Once, I made an SPA for an interview with plain JS and handlebars for templating. It was for a react team and I was not big into react but wanted to show I get how all the pieces fit together, but still be able to understand and debug what I had written for them. Instead of being in unfamiliar territory with react debugging. Anyhoo, the switch-statement router based on changes in the URL hash was just about where they couldn't take it anymore. They couldn't see why I hadn't used some library for the routing. I had genuine flubs aside from that in the interview and definitely wasn't right for them, but it was funny to see heads quizzically turn to the side during that portion. I was like "well, what a weird little detail to get hung up on". ------ TheCoelacanth No. You can build one without using a framework that someone else wrote, but you will inevitably end up with an ad hoc framework of your own design. ~~~ hawski If that's the case every program ever contains a framework. That would be quite an useless definition. I assume that it depends on how general the internal code is. If it's very specific it's not really a framework. Of course people often forget about YAGNI principle and end up with an ad hoc framework. ------ scelerat Beyond the simplest of apps, if you don't use someone else's framework, you will -- like it or not -- be building your own framework. ------ CaptSpify Sure. I build them all the time. It's dead simple as long as you keep it simple. I'd argue that the bigger problem is knowing when you need an SPA. Every website thinks they need an SPA, even when they obviously don't. Your news site doesn't need to be an SPA, your document-sharing service doesn't need to be an SPA, your movie recommendation service doesn't need to be an SPA, etc. ------ ComputerGuru It’s just clickbait link spam. ------ jaux It's not very hard, and it's a good exercise if you have time. ------ 1001101 > Keeping the heavy work in the server-side with Turbolinks .. and paying AWS for it. ------ mattnewton For the purposes of this exercise, are we talking vanilla js only or can I build my own with excellent libraries like page.js? Because if the former, sure we can, but I wouldn’t want to ship a product on a deadline that way. ------ robinduckett The Answer: Yes, but use this Front End Framework. ------ ggg9990 Making your own tools is a great learning experience but probably not the best idea for production processes. ------ zzzeek ah, the old, "it's not a framework, it's a library" switcheroo. a classic. granted I totally make my living around the same phrase applied to my own software. ------ pier25 The title is misleading since this is basically a TuboLinks article and doesn't really explore the problems of building an SPA without a framework. ~~~ bodyloss Agreed. TurboLinks itself seems unnecessarily heavy. So you avoid a full page reload, but you do still have to fetch the whole page over the network and render it. Just without the browser loading icon spinning. ~~~ ch4s3 Well, you can use data-turbolinks-permanent to prevent turbolinks from trashing a dom subtree, so that lightens it up a bit. Its also often paired with caching so that big chunks of the page are pulled from the cache so you can often do a sub 300ms refresh of the page with turbolinks while working well on slow mobile connections that choke on large js bundles. It is complex in its own way though, so there's no free lunch here. ------ ebbv Absolutely. It's really not that hard. I did it with the first version of my little meeting agenda app Meeting Rainbow. I rewrote the UI using Angular 1.4 later, and honestly it wasn't any easier using Angular than no framework. Angular just made things different, and depending on your opinion made the code easier to understand (though both versions are several years old at this point and far from what I'd consider a good codebase.)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
The Principle of Incomplete Knowledge - MichaelAO http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/%5EINCOMKNO.html ====== brudgers Recent, related: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11544149](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11544149)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
BinDiff now available for free - ner0x652 http://security.googleblog.com/2016/03/bindiff-now-available-for-free.html ====== aurelianito Shameless plug: Several years ago I did a tool that shows differences between disassembled functions basic-block graphs, that you can use for free and it is GPLv2 licensed. I believe my tool shows the differences in a better way than bindiff, and it piggybacks on a disassembler made by a former coworker and friend. Maybe someone wants to use it. [http://www.coresecurity.com/corelabs-research/open-source- to...](http://www.coresecurity.com/corelabs-research/open-source- tools/aureliax) PS: I don't work at Core Security anymore. ~~~ wslh > I don't work at Core Security anymore Where do you work now? ~~~ aurelianito Now I work at a small company named Disarmista. ------ dsl To be clear, it is still a plugin for a ~$5000 application. Nonetheless, thanks Google for lowering the bar for entry into professional security work! ~~~ linkregister From the article, it didn't appear that the decompiler was required, just the disassembler. IDA Pro disassembler (professional edition) is $1129. So it's somewhat less expensive. I wish Hopper (hopperapp.com) were more publicized; it's only $89! ~~~ Tomte What's the Windows status there? I have looked at their web page many times and it's just confusing. The main description page says Mac only, a blog post from long ago says Windows is available (with some restrictions). ~~~ josso Version 2 of Hopper had a Windows version available, but with later versions it has been discontinued: [https://twitter.com/bSr43/status/672185178236825601](https://twitter.com/bSr43/status/672185178236825601) ------ fungos Remember that 4.2.0 works only with IDA 6.8, if you have an older IDA license, there goes the link to the 4.1.0 that is compatible with IDA 6.5+: [https://dl.google.com/dl/zynamics/bindiff410-win-x86.msi](https://dl.google.com/dl/zynamics/bindiff410-win-x86.msi) UPDATE: Linux is here: [https://dl.google.com/dl/zynamics/bindiff410-debian7-amd64.d...](https://dl.google.com/dl/zynamics/bindiff410-debian7-amd64.deb) ~~~ AdmVonSchneider Well it mostly works on 6.9 as well. Linux should work without any restrictions, but on Windows there were some IDA Qt changes that lead to some annoyances: \- Can't reopen BinDiff windows after they were closed \- Shortcuts don't work Other than that the Windows version is functional. ------ ikeboy Why is the linked site served over http? [http://www.zynamics.com/software.html](http://www.zynamics.com/software.html) Changing to https reveals a security cert valid for *.google.com, but not for www.zynamics.com. ~~~ newjersey Interesting. I brought up a similar issue about what browser dot org and while they took months to get it working with HTTPS, I consider it a win. Still interesting though. I'd just use a separate certificate for this. > www.zynamics.com uses an invalid security certificate. The certificate is only valid for the following names: _.google.com,_.android.com, _.appengine.google.com,_.cloud.google.com, _.google-analytics.com,_.google.ca, _.google.cl,_.google.co.in, _.google.co.jp,_.google.co.uk, _.google.com.ar,_.google.com.au, _.google.com.br,_.google.com.co, _.google.com.mx,_.google.com.tr, _.google.com.vn,_.google.de, _.google.es,_.google.fr, _.google.hu,_.google.it, _.google.nl,_.google.pl, _.google.pt,_.googleadapis.com, _.googleapis.cn,_.googlecommerce.com, _.googlevideo.com,_.gstatic.cn, _.gstatic.com,_.gvt1.com, _.gvt2.com,_.metric.gstatic.com, _.urchin.com,_.url.google.com, _.youtube- nocookie.com,_.youtube.com, _.youtubeeducation.com,_.ytimg.com, android.clients.google.com, android.com, g.co, goo.gl, google-analytics.com, google.com, googlecommerce.com, urchin.com, youtu.be, youtube.com, youtubeeducation.com Error code: SSL_ERROR_BAD_CERT_DOMAIN ------ derefr Isn't this the same basic idea as Google Updater's Courgette algorithm ([https://www.chromium.org/developers/design- documents/softwar...](https://www.chromium.org/developers/design- documents/software-updates-courgette))? Both seem to disassemble and then untangle the static call graph into something that can be effectively diffed. ~~~ rincebrain It may well be, but given the relative age of both Courgette's publication and Zynamics prior to Google's purchase, I'd be surprised if the two implementations are not entirely disjoint. ------ lamby Would love this introduced into [http://diffoscope.org/..](http://diffoscope.org/..). ------ drakenot I saw someone post this googleblog entry over a month ago on the Freenode ##re channel. Then it was quickly taken down again. I guess they must have pulled the trigger a little early. ------ int_handler Man, I'm getting tons of early-2000s vibes from the design of the zynamics website. ~~~ AdmVonSchneider Yup, we didn't bother with updating it in a looong while :-/ ------ steipete Is there a version for OS X? ~~~ AdmVonSchneider There used to be (4.0). I'm working on it, though :) ------ sshykes No OS-X support? :( ------ sandra_saltlake It's an awesome free debugger! ------ lolidaisuki If you look at the EULA you'll see that free here means free as in no cost. It is still proprietary software and isn't considered "open source" by the OSI definition[2] even tho the page claims it's "open source". [1] [http://www.zynamics.com/eula.html](http://www.zynamics.com/eula.html) [2] [https://opensource.org/osd](https://opensource.org/osd) ------ armitron This would have been news worthy 10 years ago. Today, it's more like _shrug_ who cares. Dependency on IDA, closed source, limited platform support, Java/Swing ... Far better free solutions out there. ~~~ 13of40 Serious question -- can you point to a better (or at least more free) recursive, graphical debugger for Windows than IDA? ~~~ Strom Not sure what you mean by recursive, but OllyDbg [1] is an awesome free debugger on Windows. [1] [http://www.ollydbg.de/](http://www.ollydbg.de/) ~~~ fabulist They are alluding to IDA's recursive disassembly capabilities. [http://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/2347/w...](http://reverseengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/2347/what- is-the-algorithm-used-in-recursive-traversal-disassembly) (It's worth noting the answer from Igor Skochinsky, while not the selected answer, comes from IDA's author.)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
How Your Race Affects the Messages You Get (2009) - Cozumel https://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/your-race-affects-whether-people-write-you-back/ ====== ksk Probably a combination of media brainwashing, societal expectations, and biological programming, but you can't control who you're attracted to. Maybe its worth fighting against all that conditioning, but it sure ain't easy, and IMHO shouldn't be forced upon anyone. ~~~ rarec Everyone has features they are attracted to. You can't negotiate attraction, and so there's no reason to feel any sort of guilt if you just aren't into someone. For any particular reason, race or otherwise. In regard to your thought, what would fighting the conditioning achieve? ------ heyheyhey I'm curious how different this would be in 2016 as online dating is currently much more popular than it was in 2009. ~~~ tristanj There's a followup post that spans 2009-2014 here [https://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/race- attraction-2009-2014...](https://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/race- attraction-2009-2014/) . Sadly I don't think there will be a 2017 version. The OkCupid blog has basically been dead ever since Match.com acquired them. ------ orangea Anyone have any idea why men seemed to prefer Middle Easterners?	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Tell HN: iPhone app using Quizlet API hit Top 15 in Free Apps - philfreo Our small startup, Quizlet.com, is using online flashcards and games to make studying fun, social, and more productive. We've got 800,000+ registered users and over 50 million user-generated flash cards on the site.<p>Just wanted to share with HN a cool story...<p>We have an API that lets developers create apps that search and download from our big flashcard database so our students can study in new ways and when on-the-go through mobile apps.<p>One of our favorite iPhone Apps using the Quizlet API was Agilis Lab's Flashcard Touch ( http://www.agilislab.com/ ). It was a simple but beautiful implementation.<p>For the month of March, we decided to heavily promote their (previously $2.99) app if they'd make it free for the month. The app had only been getting a relatively small number of downloads and had ~16 reviews on Feb 28th. After only a few days of the promotion, the results have overwhelming:<p>- Day 1: it hit #2 free app in the Education category of the App Store and had 5,000 downloads<p>- Day 2: it hit #1 free app in Education category and made #94 in overall free apps<p>- Day 3: hit #40 in top free apps overall, then 33, and kept climbing<p>- Day 4: hit #15 in top free apps, (on the coveted Top 25 page), surpassing the Facebook app in the process. now has almost 500 reviews.<p>Of course the big question is how their app will do once the initial popularity fades and when it's no longer free, but it sure is fun seeing so many people get to try out the app and get exposed to Quizlet.<p>We'd really love to see other API developers do even more with Quizlet. We'll be releasing 2.0 of our API soon which will include the ability to get authenticate, get private sets, and even upload flashcards. http://quizlet.com/faqs/the-quizlet-flashcards-api/ ====== philfreo So we have this big moment of publicity right now -- how should we capitalize on it?	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Chopin on an 1832 Pleyel Under Creative Commons (Kickstarter) - robertDouglass https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/opengoldberg/kimiko-ishizaka-plays-chopin-on-an-1832-pleyel ====== crazycomposer A fantastic, worthy project which will allow everyone to experience Chopin's 24 Preludes on the instrument Chopin composed the music on (the TYPE of piano that Chopin composed it for, and on, not the actual piano); the recording will also be added to the Wiki page about the Preludes - for FREE - truly, a wonderful example of the democratization of music. The performer, Kimiko Ishizaka, has also released the "Open" Goldberg Variations, and, most recently, the "Open" Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 - both by J.S. Bach (which are available to be heard for free) - which are both brilliant performances. She is an amazing, sensitive pianist who will, undoubtedly, perform the Chopin with marvellous musicality and sensitivity. ------ hcderaad Her Bach recordings are world class, I can't wait to hear what she can donwith these masterpieces (both the music and the instrument)! ------ robertDouglass Chopin loved Pleyels so much he even took one on vacation with him to the island of Majorca. There, he composed the 24 Préludes which Kimiko Ishizaka will record (with 4K video), and release to the Creative Commons.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Easy Ways to End All Diseases Immediately (and Forever) - transburgh http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/alttext/2007/12/alttext_1212 ====== jey Far more effective: <http://vhemt.org>	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Refactoring code that accesses external services - henrik_w http://martinfowler.com/articles/refactoring-external-service.html ====== e28eta I like the goal of the article, I think it does a great job of refactoring a typical-looking method with too many responsibilities into a reasonably decomposed system. I also really like Fowler's technique of strict refactoring augmented with tests. However, I don't think his articles (like this one) do a very good job of teaching that technique. While reading, I don't know where the code is headed (maybe I need to read the end first?), so I don't have a good frame of reference to understand each intermediate step, or the rationale for choosing it. He presents a refactoring (complete with link), but doesn't explain what leads him to choose that refactoring at this particular stage. On Blooms Taxonomy, I don't feel like this article even gets me to the Applicative stage, at least for the intermediate refactoring steps. On a different note, I was surprised that the YoutubeConnection still contained the fields to retrieve (the 'part' parameter). Once he color coded the initial state, I expected to see that list of response fields to be extracted into a parameter. On the other hand, the way the final code is structured, it would be provided by the VideoService, which doesn't seem right either. ~~~ lgunsch Yeah, there is a whole host of things that are left unsaid. He does a lot with TDD, and other principles like SOLID, refactoring methodology, and testing patterns that are normally associated with clean code. This topic could easily be expanded into a whole book for beginners. This is just barely scratching the surface, probably more like just wiping the dust off. ------ jaredcwhite These kinds of articles often tend to annoy me because the end-result code doesn't necessarily look any better, just convoluted for the sake of perceived modularity/maintain ability. However, I thought this article was excellent, and Martin did a bang-up job of illustrating the kinds of decisions experienced OO programmers make when they're writing or refactoring code. I also thought Martin's suggestion to use pattern names in class names was interesting. I'm not sure how I feel about that -- maybe for beginner/intermediate programmers it's a good habit to have. ~~~ vinceguidry Personally, when I'm refactoring code, it'll go through a phase where the classes are named for the patterns they're using, but eventually, they all get single names and get put under modules that usually only hold other classes with that pattern. Like, I'll have a "Gateways" module for the YouTubeGateway to go into, and then it'll just get renamed "Gateways::Youtube". I used to do "Youtube::Gateway", but I find that grouping by functionality allows me to DRY up code a lot better and winds up being cleaner. Actually, with Gateways, I maintain an internal gem that I use just to manage them. I got tired of reimplementing FTP gateways every single time I needed one. So I just include the gem, it's called Orchestra, and just call Orchestra::Server[server_name].ftp_get(path). The gem has all the URIs to connect to, all the code managed with its own DSL. ------ mazer_r Learned a lot, hopefully Martin's curiosity leads him to follow through with the same codebase refactored in a functional style.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
F*dging up a Racket - sea6ear https://www.hashcollision.org/brainfudge/ ====== tonyg Nice article. One thing that people are doing these days is using the #lang mechanism to easily turn a Redex [0] model into a quick-and-dirty prototype implementation of a new language, integrated with the Racket tooling (IDE etc.). [0] [http://docs.racket-lang.org/redex/tutorial.html](http://docs.racket- lang.org/redex/tutorial.html) ------ 616c If anyone does not recognize dyoo, the owner of hashcollision.org is also the author of Whalesong, a Racket->Javascript system. I think it has been discussed before on HN. [https://github.com/dyoo/whalesong](https://github.com/dyoo/whalesong) Needless to say, if this guy is fudging Racket, I am not sure what we can say about the rest of us and what we do with the language. Haha. EDIT: Was the author, it seems he passed it off to another Racketer now that he is busy with other stuff. Should have clicked the link before posting. [https://github.com/soegaard/whalesong](https://github.com/soegaard/whalesong) ------ soegaard If anyone is interested in seeing how the principles in the article can be used to implement a traditional language, I offer MiniPascal. [https://github.com/soegaard/minipascal](https://github.com/soegaard/minipascal) The reader (lexer and parser) turns the source program into syntax objects. The main idea is to make a Racket macro for each Pascal construct. The Racket macro expands into normal Racket. [https://github.com/soegaard/minipascal/blob/master/minipasca...](https://github.com/soegaard/minipascal/blob/master/minipascal/compiler- simple.rkt) ------ codemac Overriding `read` is really neat! While I was reading this I realized just about any scheme implementation could probably override their `read` like this as well. Obviously racket as an implementation has focused on making this work well. ------ kd0amg This is still the first place I look when I'm trying to remember what bits and pieces go where in building a #lang. ------ RickHull Since when does _Fidging_ need character masking? ~~~ cgtyoder Makes the article seem "edgy"	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Code, Eval, Play, Loop – Common Lisp OpenGL Environment - joubert https://github.com/cbaggers/cepl ====== raphaelss Be sure to check out the videos of it in use [1] and the Lisp to GLSL translator [2]. [1] [http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2VAYZE_4wRKKr5pJzfYD1...](http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2VAYZE_4wRKKr5pJzfYD1w4tKCXARs5y) [2] [https://github.com/cbaggers/varjo](https://github.com/cbaggers/varjo) ~~~ baggers Hehe looks like I need to get some visually interesting demos up, I've been pretty lazy about that. I started looking to input and event propagation and got lost in a sea of frp and data-flow stuff for a while. ------ zach For Clojure enthusiasts, I highly recomment Zach Oakes' environment in the same vein, Nightmod (his Nightcode IDE specialized with his play-clj library). It's an experimental platform that is a tidy, simple way to experience game programming in a functional style. [https://nightmod.net/](https://nightmod.net/) Also, here is his presentation on this subject at the last Conj (great talk): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GzzFeS5cMc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GzzFeS5cMc) ~~~ krat0sprakhar My first question on clicking the link was - Does there something like this exist for Clojure? Glad to the have my question answered. Thanks for the links! ~~~ lynndylanhurley Lol me too! I'm gonna check out Nightmod asap. Anybody here tried it yet? ------ orbifold Not to take anything away from that, because it's awesome, but that can also be accomplished in C. In fact pretty much any good game engine supports both dynamic shader recompilation, hot swapping the renderer and dynamically reloading the game code. A classic example where this technique is implemented is Quake 2. Basically the renderer and game are linked into the client as dynamic libraries and reloaded on demand or when a change is detected. ~~~ yarrel Rebuilding those dynamic libraries requires external build system and compiler invocation. In Lisp you just use the REPL. ~~~ orbifold Of course, but in practice that doesn't really matter. Recompilation time for small changes is negligible and if you have a sane build system setup is pretty much invoked the same way you would load new code into a repl. In the case of shader compilation, compiling and linking actually is exposed as library functions, so you have complete control over how to do that. Most of the dynamic features a repl provides, like introspection and so on is also available with a good debugger, depending on the scope of the project you can also just use Lua as a scripting language to get the majority of the benefits that Lisp has. Moreover nested parentheses sort of pale, if you can visualize most of your state in much more powerful ways on the screen. Since you have complete control over memory, you can implement time travelling debugging pretty easily, you just need a good ordinary debugger, a way to record all input to the game (easily done if you have clean separation between game and platform code) and a way to snapshot the game state at some point in time (also easy if you allocate all memory ahead of time and only let the game code use your memory allocators). ~~~ malisper Could you redefine a class/structure and update every instance of it at runtime? For example, let's say you are currently representing complex numbers in rectangular form. Is it possible to convert every existing instance to polar form, at runtime, without breaking any code? ~~~ yoklov That's a pretty ridiculous use case. I'd think if you wanted to make a change this drastic, having to reload the game wouldn't be a huge deal. I mean, you'd want to make sure everything up to the point you were at still works anyway. (Besides, this is an awful way to represent 2D points in practice). FWIW, It's certainly possible to write code that reorders struct fields on changes, but it requires either boilerplate, macro hell, or parsing part of your C code for structure declarations (I've heard this sounds worse than it is). Arbitrary mappings are more difficult and IMO not worth the trouble. Not to say this technique doesn't have downsides. It's downsides are so huge that IMO it's benefits aren't worth it, _unless_ you were already going to program in that style to begin with. \- No pointers to static memory (globals, vtables, and pointers to string literals or constant arrays are out) \- No pointers to functions (most other ways of emulating dynamic dispatch are out). \- You need to use custom allocators that work out of your game state block. And since you have no global or thread local state... you need to hope that any library you want to use allows you to provide a context for any memory allocation it wants to do. Most don't. \- etc, etc, etc... you get the picture. Essentially, you need to write your game like its 1995. And sure, maybe you can get this in lisp without any limitations (I don't know, but I believe it if you say you can), but the reality we live in is that it's unrealistic to write production-quality game engines in lisp. I've heard it's used for scripting and AI in some places (probably just Naughty Dog, tbh), but most of the code that goes into a game isn't in script, unless it's a slow game. ~~~ malisper > That's a pretty ridiculous use case. It was just an example. I never said you would actually want to do it. > maybe you can get this in lisp without any limitations See my response to orbifold: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8943113](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8943113) > I've heard it's used for scripting and AI There are many different versions of lisp, some of them are used for scripting, but most implementations of Common Lisp could be used for almost anything. > most of the code that goes into a game isn't in script, unless it's a slow > game. Write version 0 in a high level language. Figure out the design and representation. Then rewrite the slow parts in a more efficient language. ~~~ yoklov > See my response... That's very interesting, and would definitely solve a lot of the problems with hot-reloading code. >> There are many different versions of lisp, some of them are used for scripting, but most implementations of Common Lisp could be used for almost anything. I was talking specifically talking about uses inside of production quality, high performance (e.g. AAA-quality) game engines. The only usage of lisp that I know of is inside Naughty Dog (Last of Us, Uncharted, Jak and Daxter, etc), who have used it internally for a long time. I hear they're lisp nuts, but even they don't try to write the game engine in it. > Write version 0 in a high level language. Figure out the design and > representation. Then rewrite the slow parts in a more efficient language. For something small, retro, or 2D then maybe this could work. For anything else, this would be setting yourself up for failure. You'll end up rewriting all or most in C or C++. This will cause you to miss deadlines and generally people will shit on your game on the internet. Maybe it will be fast enough at this point, but odds are it won't. It will probably have the same problem as most game engines written in a high-level style, even if they're in C or C++. You'll fire up a profiler but there won't be any optimization targets. The whole program will be more or less equally slow. This is because you didn't design with memory access patterns in mind. 90% of the code will be spent waiting for memory to load during a cache miss. Eventually, the game will be released and will struggle to hit 30fps. People will continue to shit on the game online, and that's if anybody bothers to play it. Since you're starting now, it will probably be at least 4-5 year in the future, so even if 60fps expected by everybody yet, the oculus rift will be out, and anybody who plays your game on that will have a bad time. On the oculus, the framerate needs to be at least 90fps, or you risk inducing nausea. That means you have 9ms to update, and do _two_ renders of the game (one for each eye), and if you can't make this target, your game isn't just slow, it's actively harmful to the users. The only way to avoid this is to think about memory usage, access, and the cache from the very beginning. At that point, maybe you could still write it in lisp, but any benefit it would have given you is gone. I've seen most of this first hand (on engines that were written in C++, but ignored the cache), and it really sucks.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Coping with Java security changes - wmnwmn We really like Java for bioinformatics apps because the same app can run the heavy-duty backend processing, as well as the web-enabled front-end for querying results. We don't have to program two UI's, one for standalone use and one for public data access over the web. Also, it provides a full UI programming environment so you can be pretty sure you're going to be able to accomplish what you want to in that regard.<p>Problem is the security is getting ever more burdensome. I am wondering two things: 1) How are people coping with security? By paying a CA for signing? 2) Is there another platform we could be using to achieve the goals outlined above? ====== brudgers The answer to the issue with Java security from the a web user's perspective is simple. Skip web certificates and rewrite the code with something less hazardous. A certificate doesn't solve their problem and it doesn't solve the organization's problem. It just solves the problem of a person within the organization tasked to do something about the problem but who is not looking forward to what is required. Java on the web is technical debt whose note is coming due. Fortunately it's not onerous just a little painful, and repayment removes a possible impediment to user base growth. ------ fadzlan What about using JSP? It's somewhat Java and doesn't require Java on the front end(which is the source of most security problem). On the server side, you have to look for the vulnerability of the web container that you are using. I do not see how would a CA helps you in your concern. Yes, having certs provides you encryption when your data is travelling, and client side cert may also helps you as a method as authentication if you wish, but all those does not help you in the Java security problem itself. I'd be interested of a different opinion. ~~~ wmnwmn Sorry, I was not being very clear. We're not concerned with security per se, only with reducing the security-related hurdles that our users have to go through to run our applet. Signing with a proper cert will reduce that, and probably we'll do that, but it's not free and I'm guessing it will have its own inconveniences. We are worried that Java security could become so onerous that it just isn't usable on the public internet, but we're not seeing another similar option. ~~~ lgieron That could be true for general consumers, who could be scared into disabling Java altogether in their browsers(so that some part of the population wouldn't be reached by the app). On the other hand, if you're making B2B/scientific app for a specific niche, your target audience should be interested enough in what you have to offer so that, even if they disabled Java, they'll turn it back to check out your app. In other words, people will gladly suffer minor inconvenience for an app that adds value, while would be probably put off if the app is another social network/messaging app/game etc., where the perceived value is vague at best. ~~~ wmnwmn Yeah, you're probably right...I hope...and Java still seems to the only game in town for unified web + desktop functionality.I just don't see another choice. ~~~ lgieron My understanding is that web apps have some limitations that can be a show- stopper for scientific apps - for example, there's no way to gain an arbitrary access to file system (something that is easily doable with a signed applet), which can make bulk processing/import etc. impossible. That's the reason I recommended applets in the startup I work for.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Why salaries don’t rise - altern8 http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-salaries-dont-rise/2015/03/11/38c08cea-c81d-11e4-b2a1-bed1aaea2816_story.html ====== ap22213 Software development is supposedly a high-demand skill. And, I hear that companies can't seem to hire anyone qualified. I still get dozens of recruiters contacting me, each week. Yet, with all of that, my salary has remained stagnant for the past few years. My guess is that people have no idea what they're worth, so they don't ask for anything more. I see way too many developers who are getting paid pennies to the dollar. I see upper-end developers working for 70-80k. Look, people. If you have skills, you should be getting paid 150k+ a year. Please, stop taking menial salaries. You're hurting all of us. ~~~ EC1 Why don't I strap on my job helmet, and squeeze down into a job cannon, and fire off into job land where $150k salaries are just ripe for the picking. I'm trying to find a kick ass salary, I'm great at what I do, but the _only_ place I can find such high salaries are contracts in Switzerland. $180k - $225k. What kind of frontend/uiux jobs are out there for $150k~? ~~~ kevinnk High end at Google for UI designer is ~160k according to Glassdoor. That's in line with what I've heard from friends as well. UI design does have lower salaries than other types of software development, in some cases much lower, so I doubt you're going to be getting 150k+ unless you're pretty senior. ~~~ EC1 The thing is I'm not just frontend. I build product from A-Z. I can ideate it, build a strategy, a business plan, mock it, design it, code it, deploy it, market it. What role should I be looking for? I'm great at stepping back and looking at it from the bigger picture instead of hammering out details. Should I be looking for project management roles? Product designer? Art director? I have no idea. ------ adventured Wages are not stagnant, they have begun to rise. And this is simultaneously at a time when Americans just received one of the greatest purchasing power increases in modern history, as the USD has skyrocketed in the last nine months (so far that the USD and Euro are near parity). November "Wages and salaries climbed last quarter by the most since 2008 as a dwindling number of unemployed per job opening approached a tipping point." [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-11-19/wages- pois...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-11-19/wages-poised-to- rise-as-signs-emerge-of-improved-u-s-job-market) December "An important measure of household income rose in December by the largest amount in nearly 8 years, signaling a long-overdue rebound in family earning power." [http://finance.yahoo.com/news/families-are-finally- earning-m...](http://finance.yahoo.com/news/families-are-finally-earning- more-151120875.html) January "Average hourly wages, meanwhile, jumped 12 cents to $24.75, the biggest gain since September 2008" [http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article9388535.html](http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article9388535.html) Wages aren't rising as quickly as expected, because the labor force is not tight enough yet. The U3 is only partially accurate. The labor force participation rate is sitting near a 40 year low and the U6 unemployment rate is still significantly elevated. The U6 was about 9% in 2004 (8% by 2006). It's 11.4% as of February. ~~~ wheaties This, right here. This is what matters. It's not just that U3 and U6 mean something entirely different but that even the "employed" are people working 20hr jobs, i.e. what anyone else would consider part-time work. ------ tsotha Yeah... no. The reason salaries aren't going up is in the piece but casually dismissed as if it doesn't matter. Instead of "following the money" to people who own companies, why don't we follow the smell of bullshit to the BLS. Unemployment numbers are laughably phony. Of course workers don't have bargaining power - there are millions of people who've been out of work for half a decade desperate for a job and yet not counted as "unemployed". Also, add in health care cost increases that employers have to pay but that don't show up in salary surveys. ~~~ Iftheshoefits That's part of it, sure. The other part of it in America is the successful suppression of any sort of labor movement and the success of efforts by the very rich to drive a wedge between the merely affluent and the middle and lower classes. America has a real strong strain of the "I'm not poor, I'm merely a temporarily embarrassed millionaire" sentiment. ~~~ jgmmo Organized labor getting everything they wanted is what led to basically all US auto companies going bankrupt. ~~~ Frondo You ought to read this: [http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/03/05/myths-and- facts-...](http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/03/05/myths-and-facts-unions- and-organized-labor/198343) ~~~ tsotha Mediamatters? Seriously? Well, okay. Let me find an equally credible source: [http://www.aei.org/publication/maybe-patriarchal-labor- union...](http://www.aei.org/publication/maybe-patriarchal-labor-unions-are- to-blame-for-rising-inequality/) ~~~ Frondo If you can find factual errors in the source I linked, or errors in interpretation of those facts, I would be keen to hear them. ~~~ tsotha Oh, I'll accept your link uncritically if you do the same for mine. ~~~ Frondo Of course I didn't tell you to accept it uncritically. ------ patmcguire My own theory: For most employers, there's something almost inconceivable about rising salaries. It's been routine for so long to have layoffs, to tighten belts, to pull together in these tough times and sacrifice, that market power over labor has been internalized into the entire way they do business. If you read any HR industry literature you'll see a lot about the costs of a bad hire and missing out on candidates because they were out of a company's budget. You will not see concern about the opportunity cost of leaving a position vacant. If a company spends six months hobbling along understaffed, waiting for the sure thing to walk in the door for $5k less, that will seriously harm their business. It isn't considered. There are a lot of things like that, aspects of employment that the employer won't change because it simply isn't done. This sort of creates an informal price ceiling, which has exactly the effects you'd expect: lower supply (discouraged workers, low labor force participation), "shortages", and more or less frozen wages. ------ pXMzR2A I love that a nation and an industry that is bent over backwards against unions (both in policy and in stereotypes) gets surprised when wages don't go up. What do you think pushes companies to increase wages, rainbow ponies? Benevolent investors? Gee. Organized labor. ~~~ prostoalex Unionizing works for micro-optimization but rarely works at macro level, when entire division, company or industry can be outsourced. To quote from [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america- and...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a- squeezed-middle-class.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all) "Apple executives say that going overseas, at this point, is their only option. One former executive described how the company relied upon a Chinese factory to revamp iPhone manufacturing just weeks before the device was due on shelves. Apple had redesigned the iPhone’s screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant near midnight. A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company’s dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day." ------ everyone Cant we just fire all these finance guys out of a cannon into space? ~~~ mikeash Yeah, right; where are you going to get the money to finance the cannon? ~~~ kazinator Out of next year's budget, just as we learned by watching the finance guys. Or maybe by selling some debt to another corporation to be used as a valuable tax reduction device. ~~~ cheepin ...and just like that, we have become the finance guys. ~~~ kazinator But cool finance guys who know how to code and correctly recognize Tom Baker as the best Dr. Who. ------ ghshephard It's important to see what the average _age_ of these newly employees are, age of those unemployed, and also who is exiting the job market. If the newly employed are young (and therefore making lower wages), and those unemployed (or leaving the job market, or just not looking) - are older, and therefore commanding higher salaries - that alone could account for why salaries not increasing on average. It would be useful to get a breakout of salaries biased by tenure, so as to accommodate for the confounding impact of average age of employed/unemployed/left-the-job-market. ------ fma Maybe the article refers more towards the assembly line worker, but GM IT receives an annual merit increase (a.k.a. raise) across the board. YMMV based on performance, but if you worked the year you get something. But I do agree that 'returning value back to investors' is sucky. I'm of the opinion rewarding your employees, and hence retaining your employees and their knowledge brings value to the company, and in the end, the investor. ------ Zenst Big difference from the IT industry and other Industry is IT is still evolving and defining itself. This not only means that those in the feild have to learn far more than other trades to do the same job as it changes. But also this lack of stabilisation has not allowed standard certification and qualifications that stand the test of time. Compare that with accountants and lawyers. Yes they have new thinsg to learn, but controlled and lesser in volume. They also have qualifications that are as current today as the day they got them. There is no standard body that has recognition globaly or the history and in a market in which things change so much, it is hard without seperate area's. Other industries have governing bodies and they in part act like Unions and protect workers and standards for the fiarness for all. Actors guild and book and music rights another area of contrast to software. Lets face it software has developed a culture of free and open which is great, imagine if music and books were more towards that model. So I can see why many feel the industry is and the people working in it are overly taken advantage of. Let us not ignore all that learning and long hours has a burn factor and people burn out quicker than some other profesions. Those prefessions factor in pay to compensate or have standard pension deals. But IT is and will be a while until itself has a good standard and until then it is down to individual companies and it is not since the Googles and the like came about that a level of appreciation for what is involved has come into play. But IT is if you compare to the book industry, still defining the format and types of size teh book should be and ink colour and paper thickness and other details. There is a lot of abstraction from creative aspects and the implementing of those. Also the trade has been easy picking for TAX and with that UK introduced a rule IR35 just some may say to hit IT contractors. Yet in contrast the building industry, they can get a CIS that in effect means you pay less National Insurance than normaly would. Like say in other not so old industries like IT. So IT is still as a trade young and with that has less protection and measure of worth than other trades. Also let us not forget the move from companies to focus more onto share dividends than not and experdited trading that makes it mroe trigger happy. If they can get away with paying 50k a year and say the job is only worth that and use that to class people as over qualified, when the job is actualy underpaid perhaps. Well easy to cry for more fodder into the labour market and one persons poor wage is another persons gold. Just makes it more a case that not skill level and what they are paid are not the greatest of metrics . Still, startups allow you to cut out the wage aspects and many other ways get you into tapping directly instead of more often, feeding into the companies pocket from your own quality of life. Still there are many things in life that have not resolved, I can purchase fair trade chocolate and know the farmer got paid fairly and yet read about local dairy farmers being underpaid for milk at a loss and no fairtrade logo on milk ever. So many unfair things propagate in life. Way to view it, if dairy farming as a industry gets treated badly and is more established than IT then, we take what we can get. Least for a while yet and things are more standard. C today is not C when invented and things change more often than fashion wardrobes at times. At the very least enjoy the ride.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
The dark side of an MIT brain - andrewljohnson http://tech.mit.edu/V131/N34/normandin.html ====== zacharyvoase Gosh, that was judgemental. I suppose it was intended to be an opinion piece, but it took prostitution to be wrong _a priori_ , with no discussion or justification of this premise. Bandying about words like ‘exploitation’ is, frankly, cheap. The phrase “exploiting young women and enticing men to have extramarital affairs” reveals several of the author’s strong inner biases (to wit, that women are weak and men are evil). If anything, I'd say the author himself demonstrates ‘the dark side of an MIT brain’. On a more general note, where are the articles discussing the long-term effect of prostitution on psychology? For example, do students who sell sex at college go on to be less or more successful than their cohort? Do they form longer-lasting or more volatile relationships later in life? Those are the articles I’d like to read. ~~~ pyre I'd also like to see the correlation between prior sexual abuse and selling sex at college. I would assume that those who were abused may be more likely to do so, but by how much? Is the group of students that do this 99% abused (1% not) or is it closer to something like 60/40? ~~~ zacharyvoase Just out of interest, why would you make that assumption? ~~~ loup-vaillant Because others did: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution#Consent> _Studies also show that most women in prostitution, including those working for escort services, have been sexually abused as children.[link]_ ------ DennisP "When a young woman is in desperate need of money and a wealthy man comes along and uses that vulnerability to get sex, that's the definition of exploitation." Seems like you could also say: "When a man is in desperate need of sex and a young woman comes along and uses that vulnerability to get money, that's the definition of exploitation." ~~~ pyre Lack of money is a much more severe situation than lack of sex. Lack of money comes with the possibility of poverty, while lack of sex just means that you will have to wait longer for sex. ~~~ DennisP The article also says "To test this proposition, make college free. If college girls were no longer desperately in need of money, I would be more than willing to bet that SeekingArrangement.com would cease to be highly profitable." Seems to me he's saying that the women aren't doing it to survive, they're doing it to get a college education. I would submit that the drive for sex is a much more primal urge, going back a half billion years or so, than the drive for a college education. ~~~ pavel_lishin I doubt that the women who sign up to be sugar babies are doing it to get laid. ~~~ learc83 That's not what he was saying at all. Read the last few comments again. ------ gacba _Just as his website was MIT-driven by encouraging Mr. Wade’s entrepreneurial spirit and putting him in those awkward social situations, it was also MIT- driven by twisting his view of reality into a purely utilitarian model, completely devoid of any morals. As SeekingArrangement.com says, “Who is to say what is right and wrong?” Many would see this as dangerous, but to Mr. Wade, it is purely a case of the output being worth the input._ It really rubs me wrong that the OP believes that MIT is responsible for certain actions that are really up to the individual. \- You are the only one responsible for cultivating a moral compass. A college can require an ethics course, but whether you absorb any of it or not will be entirely on you. \- MIT didn't fail him any more than any other institution. It's not MIT's job to give him or anyone social skills. Again, see point #1, it's on you to do something about it. I get the point of the article and the general depravity of the site he started, but seriously, is MIT responsible for this or simply collateral damage in this article's bomb crater? What if Ted Bundy, or Osama Bin Laden graduated from MIT? Is it MIT's fault that they are sociopathic too? ~~~ esrauch I completely agree that it is not reasonable to say that any action taken by an individual is the responsibility of an institution or community, but conversely I don't think it is fair to say that individuals actions should never reflect poorly on the community that they are a part of. > You are the only one responsible for cultivating a moral compass. I don't really understand this point; you are the only one responsible for cultivating Physics 1 knowledge as well. If there were high profile instances of people who had recently taken Physics 1 at MIT and clearly did not absorb it at all, then that still can reflect poorly on MIT. Clearly there are going to be outliers, but it doesn't even sound like you are arguing that this guy is an outlier, but rather that MIT shouldn't strive to cultivate ethical behavior and any amount of unethical behavior by MIT alum shouldn't reflect badly on them as an institution. I'm actually living in Cambridge now, and (based on completely anecdotal evidence of conversations with students) it appears to me that MIT focuses far less on being a responsible citizen or an ethical engineer than most other universities that I have had experience with. At many schools, ethics is not only a required course, but something that is not uncommonly discussed in the context of any random CS course. One of my interns from MIT was specifically surprised to hear that I had talked about ethical considerations related to being employed in a CS related field in my undergrad. ------ bitops It occurred to me as I read the article that SeekingArrangement.com actually could not have asked for better publicity than this article. Sure, there will be a round of condemnation and so forth, but there will also be a great many thinking "hey, that's just what I need". ------ samlevine > To test this proposition, make college free. In this case you'd still be taking money from rich men and women and giving them to the people going to college, only without the services rendered. It's like asking whether I'd still do IT if I were paid to hang around playing video games. Obviously I'd rather study, tinker or engage in leisure rather than do my job. This doesn't answer the question of whether the exploitation is right or wrong. ------ DasIch The fact that woman feel compelled to go to such lengths is a problem, the fact that this site (in part) exploits that may be a problem morally speaking but what are those women supposed to do instead? To which length would they feel compelled to go if they didn't have this option? It appears to be that this site provides at least some sort of security. I don't think anyone wants to see them "work the street" either. I think the real problem is at an entirely different level and begs an entirely different set of questions: \- Why do these women feel compelled to do this? \- Do they have alternatives and if so why don't they use them? \- If they have usable alternatives how do we educate them about those? \- If they don't have alternatives should they be given financial help and by whom? EDIT: How do I make this a proper list? ~~~ mst Why do you assume they "feel compelled" to do this? I mean, it seems highly likely in my opinion that some percentage (possibly/probably the vast majority) are doing so as a last or near-to-last resort, but "highly likely in my opinion" doesn't strike me as sufficient grounds to write up your questions with what seems like an implicit assumption that the percentage is as close to 100 as to make no useful difference. ------ delinka "...exploiting college women by taking advantage of their financial need..." Let's replace 'college women' with 'software engineers.' Where's the difference? You need money, you have a skill set, you trade your skills for money. Is that not exploitation? How about at the "lower" end of the wage pool? Are employers not "exploiting" teenagers with "financial need" by paying the teens minimum wage? Lest you reply "but ANYONE can have sex," allow me to suggest that you might not have the ability to offer me sex in a manner for which I am willing to pay. I don't get this taboo against paying for sex. EDIT: I am aware that a thread on this topic appeared while I was typing. It happens. ------ guard-of-terra "To test this proposition, make college free. If college girls were no longer desperately in need of money... When a young woman is in desperate need of money and a wealthy man comes along and uses that vulnerability to get sex, that’s the definition of exploitation." I would say that the poor blamed site is less responsible for the exploitation happening, and the mre responsible is higher education being paid and pretty expensive in USA. The site in question is a mere adaptation against a problem. And the problem have a lot more grave consequences than some victimless prostitution. Like having no future. ------ Vivtek Wow. This is an astonishingly hypocritical screed coming from a college that costs $55,000 a year. ------ reader5000 I think the basic argument the writer was failing to make is that it seems a bit of a waste of an MIT education for a guy to make a prostitution website. More disturbing was the site's creator trying to align his site with MIT's admittedly idealistic "mission statement" with the obtusely reductionistic argument that a business wouldnt have customers if it didnt "create value". It would have been less disturbing if the creator was just like "yeah it's kind of fucked up and sure some of the girls are going to regret doing it but hey it makes me a lot of money and thats enough for me." Maybe the more interesting debate is, had MIT known this individual was going to spend his education on running a prostitution website, should it have admitted him? ------ andrewljohnson It was an interesting article, but it got real interesting in the last paragraph when the journalist just comes out and condemns the founder. ------ johnnybgoode Leaving aside the arguments about prostitution for a moment, I think it's fair to say that a number of these women (not all) are uncomfortable with being prostitutes and are only doing it to pay for college. College is expensive largely because it is essentially the policy of this country that everyone, especially women[1], ought to have college degrees. We've seen how student tuition rises along with student loan limits; we've seen how students tend to go to college somehow no matter how expensive tuition is, how much debt they're getting into, or how important the degree is. In these terms, far from being contrary to the spirit of universities like MIT, this type of prostitution arrangement service is in keeping with the proclaimed importance of college education. I.e., going to college is considered so important that many female college students are now willing to prostitute themselves (something most of them would not ordinarily do) to make sure they can keep attending. [1] <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=611440> ------ peteforde This "opinion piece" isn't very well written, and I'm genuinely unclear why it's on Hacker News. Surely the author isn't the only hack journalist at MIT, and I doubt Mr. Wade is the only sex entrepreneur to emerge from MIT. It's just not that interesting. ------ Hyena The reason that people feel prostitution is wrong is because they feel that no-consequences sex is wrong and so providing an inducement is doubly wrong, likewise, that doing anything immoral for money is worse than simply doing it. All the various comments which go on and on about exploitation fail to see what actually makes most people uncomfortable about the situation. ------ Tichy I thought desperate need is starving, freezing, facing eviction, not "struggling to pay for a college degree". Can't you put those degrees on hold for a while (not sure how the system works)? ~~~ wmf Many high-school students are told that you _have_ to have a college degree to get _any_ job above subsistence level, so student loans look like the only option. ------ acroyear ..and another thing - MIT brains should never engage in 'one-night stands'. ..and another thing - MIT brains should never buy a girl a drink unless they fully intend on making an emotional commitment. (gimme a break) ------ dreww MIT - not a school known for its English or Journalism programs. ------ anonymous lol he mad.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Google buying Songza - raldi http://songza.com/google ====== marclave I do not exactly know I feel about this..	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Total Nightmare: USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 - sfoskett http://blog.fosketts.net/2016/10/29/total-nightmare-usb-c-thunderbolt-3/ ====== jws We will survive this. We survived having RJ45 jacks (which I just learned are not really RJ45 jacks, but 8P8C connectors) in walls. Is it a phone, a token ring, or an Ethernet? Cat 3, Cat 5, Cat 6? Did the installer unwrap the pairs too far? Are there crossed pairs? Does it have two pair or four (in days of old it was common to make single Cat 5 wire serve two devices since they only used two pairs)? Does it have a DC voltage supplied between some of the pairs? What voltage, what current capacity, which polarity, which pairs? What speed is the ethernet switch port? Maybe it is a VGA extender or an HDMI extender. Maybe it is a serial console. I had an office where one RJ45 went to an FM antenna above the steel roof, you _really_ are not supposed to do that. (I have installed or used all of these conditions except for token ring.) USB has already had this problem for 16 years. When they went from USB 1.0 at 11mbps to USB 2.0 at 480mpbs they had to change the shielding. The only visible change on the connectors was a tiny + sign in the three branched USB tree molded on the end of the cable, which was apparently so useless to users that no one bothered to put them on. At least, my quick rummage of cables didn't find any. There is alleged to be a color code. The plastic inside the connector is white for 1.x, black or white for 2.0, blue for 3.0, and yellow or red for sleep/charge. My quick rummage of cables suggests this is not necessarily known to cable manufacturers. I think the ports on devices are more rigorous about this, at least, I think all my USB 3 ports are blue. ~~~ novaleaf we survived wired home networks because they are expensive, and a superior IO solution (wifi) caught up quickly. Re usb-c: good luck not using the (only) io port on your device. ~~~ StillBored Superior if your a laptop user sitting on the back deck. I run backups/bluray movies/etc between my NAS and assorted devices. I will assure you that my desktop PC's, which are connected via 10GbaseT have ~30x faster access to said NAS than the small business class AC WIFI AP's I use. The latency, throughput and most importantly the reliability of a decent wired network is still far superior to wifi, and I have a far cleaner/stronger wifi system than the vast majority of wifi networks I've seen. Even so, I still run wires to my home theater devices because I don't have to worry about dropouts in the middle of streaming a bluray, or more importantly the random driver/etc bugs that seem far more frequent on wifi than boring old ethernet. Plus, with the advent of reasonable speed internet accesses (thanks google!) the WiFi is frequently the bottleneck. One room away and that AC 1200 router is only actually delivering 200Mbits, or for that matter the 20 closest neighbors APs/wireless phones/airport radar/etc are messing up the spectrum. ~~~ novaleaf I think people are forgetting that most people (in the usa or globally) don't have the disposable income to (re)wire a house with ethernet. From a "humanity" perspective I stand by my point. Now for the average HN reader, sure I'm wrong. Enjoy your first world problems :) ~~~ andwur It cost me $250 ($100 of which was 300m of Cat6) and a very tedious, insulation filled, Sunday to wire my house up with 1Gbit ports in every room. Comparing that to the price of the current batch of AC WiFi access points (that look like stealth bombers) I don't think it's too unreasonable. ~~~ jl6 You are not counting the cost of your expertise in networking and DIY. Most people don't get that for free. ------ Animats The spec [1] is a long read, but interesting. Misc. stuff that's not well known: \- The 24 pin connector does not have symmetrical connections. The interface IC senses which way it is plugged in. \- It's still a master/slave system, but either side can be the USB master or the power master. Those need not be the same. \- Who powers whom is an interesting issue. It's up to the OS to decide. There's special support for the dead-battery case - what happens when you plug something with a dead battery into something else? Can you charge your phone from your laptop? Laptop from phone? Tablet from laptop? Phone from phone? It's complicated. \- There's something called the "billboard device", which is the interface IC's mechanism for sending error messages when both ends are not in agreement about modes. The devices at each end are supposed to display this information. Hopefully they do. At least the designers thought about this. \- Hubs are more restrictive. They don't pass through much more than USB mode and power. They don't pass any of the more exotic modes, like HDMI, since those are not multipoint protocols. It is supposed to be possible to pass power upstream through a hub, though. \- Anything with a female USB-C connector has to talk USB-C. It is prohibited to have cables with a female USB-C on one end and some other USB connector on the the other. Male USB-C to other USB is permitted, and will provide backwards compatibility. \- There are extensions defined for "proprietary charging methods" to allow higher current levels. (I wonder who wanted that?) \- There's a mode called "Debug Accessory Mode". This is totally different than normal operation and requires a special cable as a security measure. (In a regular cable, pins A5 and B5 are connected together and there's only one wire in the cable for them. Debug Test devices use a cable where pins A5 and B5 have their own wires and there's a voltage difference between them.) Debug Accessory Mode, once entered, is vendor-specific. It may include JTAG low- level hardware access. Look for exploits based on this. If you find an public charger with an attached USB-C cable, worry. Always use your own cable. [1] [http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/](http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/) ~~~ yurymik \- Who powers whom is an interesting issue. <...> It's complicated. Yeah... I have a battery bank from Anker with two plugs: USB-A and USB-C. If I connect my Nexus 6p with USB-C/USB-C cable, everything is good, phone gets power. But if the only cable I have at the moment is USB-A/USB-C, then phone starts to charge the battery bank. ~~~ Hondor That has to be a spec violation of at least one part of the system. How can a USB-A port possibly ever receive power? Does it actually charge the battery or does the phone just think it's delivering power - perhaps because of a non- compliant cable? ~~~ colejohnson66 That's a problem I've seen with cheap Chinese powered USB hubs. You plug them into the wall and your Raspberry Pi and all of a sudden your Pi turns on (even though its power is unplugged) but doesn't boot. ~~~ Animats That may be a Raspberry Pi problem. The Pi's non-power USB ports are "On the go" ports, and potentially bi-directional. But they don't have the proper power circuitry and protection on the power side. The Pi's power USB port doesn't do power negotiation, so if connected to a power source that demands negotiation, it may only get the default per-negotiation 100mA, which isn't enough. (I've been designing a board that gets power from USB, and had to read up on all this. The USB power system is complex but well designed, and if all the devices comply with the standards, immune to user mis-plugging. The problem is that doing it right usually requires an extra IC at each USB port just to manage power.[1] A lot of low-end devices don't do all this right.) [1] [http://www.linear.com/product/LTC4085](http://www.linear.com/product/LTC4085) ------ dognotdog Personally, I am rather sad to see the Magsafe connector go, and having to sacrifice IO for charging while mobile seems like quite the headscratcher. It's somewhat funny that not only will you have to carry dongles for everything for a few years time, but also make sure you carry the right USB-C cables, as your friend's might not work. Yay we have superlight laptops, but need to carry a backpack full of spaghettied cables. ~~~ ryanmonroe >having to sacrifice IO for charging while mobile You're not sacrificing anything. The old MBP had two usb ports and the new one has 3 available while charging. The only thing that has changed is now you can use the charging port for IO when not charging. Framing this as a "sacrifice" doesn't make any sense. >make sure you carry the right USB-C cables, as your friend's might not work With the old Magsafe chargers, and for laptop chargers in general, it's the same deal. If you want to charge your laptop, you have to bring your charger. The fact that the charger is USB-C doesn't make the situation worse. ~~~ tnones But the old MBP had two thunderbolts and an HDMI connector, on top of the two USB. You could plug in 3 displays, charge it and still have room for a mouse and a keyboard. Now it's always a trade-off, so on top of DVI/HDMI/DP dongles, you'll have to carry a USB hub. ~~~ colanderman Where could you possibly go where (a) there are three monitors, a mouse, and keyboard waiting for you, and (b) none of those devices have a built-in USB hub, and you did not think to keep a USB hub there? Either you're mobile and need the USB ports, or stationary and there's a hub there. What use case am I missing? ~~~ connor4312 > Where could you possibly go where (a) there are three monitors, a mouse, and > keyboard waiting for you, and (b) none of those devices have a built-in USB > hub That describes my workplace. (But with two rather than three monitors.) Standard monitors that operate over HDMI/DVI/etc don't have USB hubs without a separate USB connection, most keyboards are the same way. > Either you're mobile and need the USB ports, or stationary and there's a hub > there. What use case am I missing? Sure, you can work around the lack of IO by buying a hub, but the point was that previously you would not have needed yet another dongle. ~~~ colanderman So buy the USB-C hub/dock/whatever and _leave it at work_. No need to carry it around with you. This isn't really any different than the case of a traditional laptop with a dock, except instead of some weird giant proprietary connector, you have a small standardized connector. ~~~ merb > USB-C hub/dock/whatever There aren't that many good one's. What I would need would be one which handle's at least, 4-6 USB, two HDMI, Ethernet and charging would be a bonus. ~~~ lmm Can I tempt you over to the Microsoft side? The Surface Dock has exactly those connections - I leave everything connected to the dock as my "workstation", and carry my Surface Book travelling when need be. ~~~ douche If you're being tempted over to the Microsoft side, you might as well just buy a Dell or HP or Thinkpad or whatever, and get Mac-level specs at half the price, and usually a good collection of today's standard ports. ~~~ lmm It's hard to match the Surface Book on specs, at least if you care about the size and weight and resolution and touchscreen. I went shopping 6 months ago with requirements of: thin and light (13" or smaller), available in the UK, NVidia graphics, 12gb or more of RAM, reasonable processor, and touchscreen; I wasn't expecting to walk out with Microsoft hardware but the Surface Book was the only laptop I saw that (more-or-less - it's 13.5") matched up to that. ------ etblg I liked when we just had USB2 and all you had to do was try to plug it in once, flip it over, try to plug it in again, flip it over once more, now it plugs in, and now you're reasonably sure it'll work. And now the near-future seems to be full of dongles, shame. ~~~ colanderman You forgot the step where you realize it's in an Ethernet jack. ~~~ lisper At least if you tried to plug a USB cable into an ethernet jack it would be immediately obvious that it wouldn't work. In today's world the wrong cable will plug in to the wrong port just fine, and you can be scratching your head for a long time trying to figure out why it's not working. And, if you are particularly unlucky, while you are puzzling it out your device can fry. [UPDATE] Well, I stand corrected. It is actually possible to stuff a USB A connector into an ethernet socket. (You learn something new every day.) But come on, folks, telling the difference between a USB socket and an ethernet socket is really not that hard. You don't even have to look, you can do it by feel. But all these different USB-C/Thunderbolt ports are physically identical. They are literally and by design impossible to distinguish. ~~~ 0xcde4c3db > At least if you tried to plug a USB cable into an ethernet jack it would be > immediately obvious that it wouldn't work. Not necessarily. Ethernet jacks are often wide enough that a USB-A plug can be partially inserted, and it's pretty common to stack the two types of ports. If one isn't looking directly at the connector (common when dealing with the back side of a tower or docking station), it's a surprisingly easy mistake to make. ~~~ vacri That's a problem that can be solved instantly with a visual inspection. Not necessarily the same for a protocol mismatch. ------ smilekzs It is not easy to see, but we ARE on a converging path, instead of the other way around. Current high-speed off-board point-to-point data links (SATA, USB3, DisplayPort, PCIe, etc.) have converged onto some sort of 8b/10b differential signaling. We used to have totally separate OSI stacks, but now we are seeing potential to leverage the same physical layer (i.e. USB Type-C). Sure, we would have to carry different protocols, but I am optimistic --- eventually ASIC makers roll out adaptive chips (just like the cross-wire RJ45 @jws mentioned was solved by Auto MDI-X) that are smart enough to negotiate the correct protocol (MAC layer upwards) between the two sides. ~~~ djsumdog I dunno... I've been meaning to write a post about multi-protocols on the same connector for a while. Thunderbolt can run across DisplayPort and now both can run over USB-C. M.2 NGFF sockets can run mSATA, PCIe SSDs (either in AHCI or NVME), but not every M.2 or mini-PCIe Wi-Fi card will work in every laptop because of blacklisting (wtf?) even though they both attach to the exact same PCIe bus. Some M.2 sockets are only mSATA and can't take pcie/nvme drives. I'm pretty sure any M.2 drive can attach to the mSATA controller via an mPCIe adapter, but I'm willing to be there are some board that don't support that. Why the hell are we doing multiple protocols on the same wire? It's beyond confusing. I thought with USB3.1, at least there'd be a universal cable, and I didn't realize until reading this article that the cables themselves are different per protocol! I agree with what the writer is getting at. This is really confusing and it all feels like weird questionable design decisions. ~~~ smilekzs > the cables themselves are different per protocol I feel this is a transient rather than inherent problem of running different stacks over the same physical layer. If the physical layer can "miss pairs" then I agree we lose the whole point. One way is to have some sort of official certificate system enforced by USB.org and adopted by major manufacturers. Basically "guaranteed to support a few pre-defined subsets of protocols". ~~~ weinzierl > If the physical layer can "miss pairs" then I agree we lose the whole point. It's not about missing pairs, Thunderbolt 3 cables are active in the sense that they contain electronics. That's why a Thunderbolt USB-C cable has much larger plugs than a regular USB-C cable. ~~~ smilekzs Having never used Thunderbolt myself, I feel this "cable chip" is an intentionally retarded design that violates the end-to-end principle. Is there anything technical that prevents it from being absorbed into interface controller chips inside devices? ~~~ weinzierl I'm not a Thunderbolt expert, but I think the reason is twofold. Thunderbolt was originally designed as an optical link and optical connectors are highly problematic. Misalign the fiber just a tiny bit and you have considerable losses. So they went with a hybrid design where the converter is in the plugs and the connector is electrical. Later it was changed to all electrical but the design where the connection between the two plugs and the plugs and the devices are two separate things was retained. The second reason is that this design still makes sense. With traditional designs the driver in the end device is always a compromise. For example the Ethernet driver has to be able to drive lines up to 100m long, but how many Ethernet lines are really that long? For Thunderbolt they dis-coupled the physical characteristics of the line driver from the driver in the end device. They basically move all the problems of the physical connection (line length, EMV and so on) form the end device to the cable. ------ 0x0 And then there's this: [http://www.macrumors.com/2016/10/28/macbook-pro- tb3-reduced-...](http://www.macrumors.com/2016/10/28/macbook-pro-tb3-reduced- pci-express-bandwidth/) "MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports) The two right-hand ports deliver Thunderbolt 3 functionality, but have reduced PCI Express bandwidth." ~~~ blumentopf Yes, because the PCIe root complex in the CPU can only connect one other device besides the southbridge, and that's used for the Thunderbolt controller on the left handside. The second Thunderbolt controller is connected to the southbridge (as are all the other PCIe peripherals), so it doesn't have the same number of PCIe lanes available as the one directly connected to the root complex. Apple could have solved this by connecting a PCIe switch to the root complex and attaching both Thunderbolt controllers below it, but that would have consumed additional energy. Alternatively they could have used a beefier CPU with more PCIe root ports on the CPU, but I guess those available would have been too energy hungry. Which kind of means this is Intel's fault for not providing a low-energy chip with enough PCIe root ports on the CPU. I'm wondering what the situation is like on the 15" version with discrete graphics. This would require 3 root ports directly on the CPU to drive both Thunderbolt controllers and the GPU with full speed, I assume that's indeed the case since it's not mentioned in the document. Another thing not mentioned in the document is that energy consumption will be suboptimal if one device is attached on both sides of the machine because it prevents one of the Thunderbolt controllers from powering down. One should connect both devices on one side to improve battery life. Edit: On Skylake the PCH is apparently optional, the functionality is mostly integrated into the CPU, so the limitation is really the number of lanes provided by the CPU, and this wasn't sufficient to connect both Thunderbolt controllers with 4x. The CPUs used in the 13" model all have 12 lanes, the ones in the 15" model have 16 lanes. So for the top-of-the-line model this could be 4x for each of the Thunderbolt controllers, 4x for the GPU, 2x for the SSD, 1x for Wifi, 1x for HD Audio? ~~~ revelation Full Thunderbolt 3 for all four ports on the 15"? I mean, I'm not sure how you can get 40 GBit/s with 4x PCIE 3.0 in the first place, every quote I find says 32 GBit/s. Maybe there is that much overhead in Thunderbolt. But surely 4x40 Gbit/s would require 16 lanes at least. I don't think Intel makes any consumer CPUs with more than 16. ~~~ erik The 40 GBit/s is definitely confusing. My understanding is that that's total bandwidth across all protocols. So the mix of Displayport and PCIe 3.0 can't exceed 40 GBit/s. The 4x PCIe 3.0 on it's own is 32 Gbit/s, as you mentioned. Each controller provides two Thunderbolt ports, which share bandwidth. For the 15", 4x PCIe to the left side Thunderbolt controller, 4x PCIe to the right side Thunderbolt controller, and 8x to the GPU would be a sensible configuration. Though who knows if Apple took this approach. ------ ChuckMcM And some vendors are apparently not having all ports do all things, so two USB-C ports, one can charge at high power and one can't, but from the outside they look identical, plugging into either can charge, but the low power one will take forever. While I'm a big fan of backward compatibility, I feel that at some point it is better to start fresh rather than try to wedge another solution into the same mechanical configuration. And while I get that people didn't appreciate motherboards that went ISA->PCI->AGP->PCI_e, it saved people from the frustration of plugging cards in that wouldn't work. ~~~ jaggederest So one of the things I wonder here is, if I plug all 4 ports into chargers, will it charge faster? I know the onboard battery is current limited, but I wonder how it works in practice. ~~~ SiVal Since there will be many occasions where power is being passed in on more than one of the USB-C connectors, the new Macs are designed to take power from the ONE charger that offers the highest power (capped at some limit) and reject power from all others. So, plugging in all four will NOT charge faster than plugging in just the one offering the highest power. This is a very explicit, intentional design decision, not some hidden side effect of something else. ~~~ jaggederest That also makes me wonder whether devices that both charge and provide power get confused. Is there a hierarchy of charging beyond simple amperes provided? Otherwise I could see plugging in a spec-max 100w portable battery and draining it prior to pulling from the wall charger. ------ todd8 I once had a large plastic tub, full of SCSI cables, there were around 10 kinds of connectors, in both male and female configurations and about 10 different kinds of cables. Disk drives would have one kind of connector and often computers would have a different style connector necessitating lots of A to B connection issues. And the cables were expensive, often over $100. It was an absolute mess. It seems that the USB-C connector, finally, represents a small, robust, easy to use connector that is capable of high data bandwidths. It wouldn't make anything any better to have different connectors _and_ different cables for charging, mice, keyboards, disk drives, monitors, etc. I just hope that I'll be able to get by with a handful of different lengths of the highest end cables (e.g. the thunderbolt 3) and use them for everything. ~~~ jzl Read the article. That's crux of the complaint -- that there _isn 't_ just one type of cable for USB-C. Heck, the USB-C power cable that comes with the the new MBPs can only do power and USB2 data. See for yourself: [http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MLL82AM/A/usb-c-charge- cab...](http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MLL82AM/A/usb-c-charge- cable-2-m?fnode=8b) ~~~ todd8 Yes, maybe I wasn't clear. The USB-C connectors look like they will simplify the end points so that's an improvement. We should need fewer cables. I'm hoping that by buying the more capable cables (the Thunderbolt 3 versions) that I will be able to use them on all of my devices, even the ones that don't require Thunderbolt 3 like my 12" MB where I only use the USB-C connector for charging, USB3, and sometimes an external monitor (not at Thunderbolt 3 speed). ~~~ jay_kyburz Yeah but, I think the point is you will never be able to do this. There is no "ultimate" USB C cable that can just do everything. You have to use the cable that ships with your device, or risk, not only getting the correct performance, but actually damaging your hardware. ------ Kliment There's actually a semi-legit reason to make a usb2-only c-c cable: because it can get away with not having the high-(super)speed differential pairs, it can be thinner, lighter and cheaper than a full-function cable. Compare to charge- only microusb cables - they are indistinguishable from real cables, but lack critical functionality. If they were easily distinguishable, this would not be nearly as much of a problem. One really major (to me at least) concern with moving from USB to thunderbolt is that thunderbolt is a PCIe connection, with the same security issues as firewire (a device can basically access all your RAM, extract keys and passwords, plant exploits etc). By bundling that into the same form factor as the (by comparison) far safer USB and hdmi/displayport we're putting users at risk. ~~~ rdmsr Recent MacBook pros use the IOMMU for isolating PCI devices. With that, the devices can't read arbitrary ram (if Apple configures it correctly). ------ gengkev Back when we had different connectors for different things, we knew one thing: if it fit, it worked. But the proliferation of incompatible connectors, driven by the advancement of technology, meant that nothing fit! So we created one connector to rule them all: USB-C. Now everything fits, but nothing works. ~~~ mycall I say establish matched color coded ends for both the cables and rings around the plug ports. ~~~ mattnewton I think that's too subtle for many consumers and it has been hard for manufacturers to stick to that, especially when selling cords in specific shades of colors is good product differentiation. ~~~ lmm It worked for PS/2 keyboards and mice. When Microsoft first introduced PC'97 everyone mocked it, saying that even if the computer had coloured ports you never had a coloured keyboard and mouse or vice versa - but eventually after a few years the standard became established enough. And that standard relied on some truly nasty shades of purple and green. ------ jzl Food for thought: will USB-C be the "last" standard connector? Speaking in terms of the physical connector, not the data protocol. I'm sure it will eventually prove not to be, but it's got a lot going for it and I suspect it will last for a very long time. If USB-A was the dominant connector for nearly 20 years I think C could see a run of 50 years or more. RJ45 connectors are around 40 years old and aren't going anywhere soon. I wonder what the qualities would be of a connector to replace USB-C. ~~~ comex Well, Lightning (which is older) is already significantly thinner than USB-C, 1.5mm rather than 2.6mm, though it has fewer pins. Looking at this visual comparison, I'm a little concerned that USB-C will start being too thick if the phone thinness war ever starts up again: [http://josh-ua.co/blog/2015/3/15/usb-c-dimensions-size-compa...](http://josh- ua.co/blog/2015/3/15/usb-c-dimensions-size-comparison-with-the-lightning-port- and-usb-type-a) Lightning also differs in not being hollow on the male side, which, aside from reducing thickness, apparently has both advantages and disadvantages for durability. ------ ilyagr Why doesn't the USB consortium standardize (and, ideally, enforce) labeling of ports and cables by capabilities? Kind of like washing instructions labels on clothes, only printed on the cable. The ports on a laptop wouldn't have to be physically labeled if the OS could display a list of their capabilities in a user-friendly manner. Or, perhaps, they should have the most important label (e.g. thunderbolt or not). Something the committee would decide. ~~~ hk__2 How would a consortium force you to print stuff on the cables you produce/sell? ~~~ ilyagr By making it one of the conditions for licensing the specification and permission to use the USB trademark to you. ------ jda0 USB3 ports and cables are (when spec compliant) easily distinguishable from USB2 due to them being blue. Why was the same not done for USB-C (black for USB3, red for Thunderbolt)? ~~~ usaphp How is it going to help to a regular user? I doubt regular users even know what those colors are for, adding more colors just brings more complexion ~~~ fudged71 At least you (or technical support) can look up the difference. If the cables all look the same then you need to physically test the cables to know their capabilities, which is a waste of time and resources. ------ Matthias247 Very interesting article. Can here anybody maybe even explain a little bit more about the video (Displayport) alternate mode? As far as I understand now both USB3 and Thunderbolt support it, but they support it with a different Displayport standard. How will that work if I plug in a future monitor with USB-C? Will there first be some negotiation in which both devices clarify whether to use USB oder Thunderbolt. And then another one in which the alternate mode is set? Or is displayport directly available on some dedicated pins of the cable and if yes, would it be the same for both cases? Or is displayport somehow modulated/multiplexed on the remaining data stream, and in a different fashion for USB3 than for Thunderbolt? ~~~ sfoskett "Alternate Mode" means "using the same USB Type-C pins for other protocols". That protocol can be HDMI or DisplayPort or Thunderbolt or even analog audio! The USB consortium specifies using HDMI 1.4b and DisplayPort 1.3 (and MHL 3.0) on the Type-C port. So non-Thunderbolt machines have these specs as a maximum. Thunderbolt 3 can also pass video signals, and Intel specifies different versions of the protocols: HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.2. Again, these are the maximums. So if you have a USB Type-C monitor (not Thunderbolt) or a native USB Type-C to video cable, you're limited to HDMI 1.4b (1x4K at 30 Hz) but instead you might be able to use DisplayPort 1.3 (1x 4K at 120 Hz). If your video card, connector, cable, and display supports it, of course. If you have a Thunderbolt-native monitor, you might be able to do 2x DisplayPort 1.2 (4K at 75 Hz or 5K at 30 Hz) or 2x HDMI 2.0 (4K at 60 Hz and much more). If your video card, cable, and the Thunderbolt controller support it. Essentially, you can pass video directly over the port (in USB Alternate Mode) or over Thunderbolt. Then there are external video adapters that use USB or Thunderbolt data. But that's not in scope of your question. ~~~ Matthias247 Thanks for the answer. Also to fragmede. That means from USB-C I would either go to thunderbolt or directly to displayport AM. But how would it go on from Thunderbolt mode to video (displayport 1.2 version that intel specified)? Would Thunderbolt again dedicate some pins for it or is the signal somehow multiplexed into a big thunderbolt stream which carries everything? ~~~ kuschku Thunderbolt multiplexes that in, yes. Although, more accurately, it’s actually just a PCIe connection – you can even connect a GPU via thunderbolt via USB-C ------ kartickv Color-coding would have helped solve the cable mess, especially for users who are not tech-savvy. Imagine if USB-C were green, Thunderbolt were blue, Lightning was yellow, and DisplayPort red. If you have a rat's nest of cables behind your desk, it becomes easier to tell what's what, which makes it more manageable and less frustrating. Also easier to guide non-tech-savvy family and friends on the phone: "See the red cable? Is one end plugged into the monitor?" "Yes" "Good, now plug the other end into the laptop." is a better conversation than: "There are a dozen cables here, all alike!" ~~~ lathiat I'm sure that would be great for everyone except Apple. Even blue ports (probably the least offensive color) are too ugly for Apple hardware :) ------ ufmace I think I can answer at least one of the questions, on why make 2.0 only C cables. When I got my Nexus 5X, I bought some assorted A to C cables to go with it. I noticed that the 3.0-capable cables are awfully thick and heavy, and not so convenient to carry around with a mobile device. I bought some 2.0-only A to C cables that are much thinner, lighter, and more flexible, and use those instead. Considering that I will basically never need the extra 3.0 speed for connection to my phone, I'll take the cheaper, lighter, more flexible cable every time. ------ phamilton Is the long term dongle free? C to C everywhere? My TV could have USB-C instead of HDMI ports. I could use the same cable I use for charging my phone to hook my laptop up to the TV. This solves the cable problem (every cable should support the full spec) but it doesn't quite solve the support question. Just because I have a cable that works between my phone and TV doesn't mean it will actually do anything. ~~~ kevincox I hope so. It also solves the hub or dock problem in one go. I just get back to my desk, plug in one USB-C cable and I now have all of my devices plugged in. ~~~ hereonbusiness There are Thunderbolt (2) hubs that allow you to do just that even now, bit pricey though. Also I don't think USB-C is the deciding factor here, it'll still have to use Tunderbolt to provide the hub functionality. ------ tw04 >The core issue with USB-C is confusion: Not every USB-C cable, port, device, and power supply will be compatible Not every USB-A port, device, cable, and power supply are compatible. I'm not sure I understand what his point is. That people who refuse to do research are going to occasionally run into incompatibility problems? Like they have since the dawn of the computing age? And? ~~~ gaius The consequence of this incompatibility is damage to the host device; that's what's new. Never an issue with RS232! ~~~ rictic As far as I'm aware it is only out-of-spec cables that can cause damage. If everything is in spec then the worst case is just reduced performance or the connection not working. I'd add that – IMO – if an out of spec cable causes damage, then the cable manufacturer should be held responsible. I'm sure that an out of spec USB 2 cable can cause damage as well. ~~~ lh7777 Right -- it's cables that do not comply with the USB-C spec that can cause damage. It's not as if plugging a Thunderbolt 3 device into a laptop that doesn't support Thunderbolt will damage the laptop. It just won't work. ~~~ notatoad and trying to argue that out-of-spec cables causing damage to your computer is a deficiency in the spec makes about as much sense as saying the etherkiller demonstrates a problem with the RJ45 spec. ([http://etherkiller.org/](http://etherkiller.org/)) ------ tbatchelli A meta comment. There are many other threads lamenting that this is not a "Pro" machine, but all this cable discussion is not foreign to audio, video and IT professionals and prosumers. If you want to get the max of your pro computer's IO you will need to learn your cable specs and protocols. It does look that the future will require some rebuilding of our cabling. I have a thunderbolt hub that connects to my screen, my external thunderbolt drive, and a plethora of USB devices. I only use a single Thunderbolt port on my laptop. I like this Future. With these bandwidths I can see us connecting more interesting devices to our laptops ------ __david__ This strikes me as being the same situation as hdmi cabling. Anyone who has bought a 1080p tv then a 3D tv then a 4K tv then an hdr tv knows that not all hdmi cables are made equally. This is not great, but it's very far from a nightmare. ~~~ nicholassmith I was going to post this very same thing, the upside is it'll be easier with USB-C because it'll appear in far more devices over time than HDMI. ------ corndoge Is it possible to make one Type-C cable that supports every possible protocol that can go over Type-C and works as long as the devices are compatible? I.e., if the two devices can talk over Type-C, then the cable will work? ~~~ ianburrell Type C cables only come in two types: USB 2.0 and 3.0/3.1. USB 2.0 cables have fewer wires and only support USB 2.0 data and power. USB 3.1 cables have all the wires (and are expensive) and support higher speeds and alternate modes. Finally, Thunderbolt 3 requires active cables for longer lengths and higher speeds. It can only do 40 Gbps with 0.5m passive cable, and 20 Gbps with 2m passive cable. Anything longer requires active Thunderbolt 3 cables. ------ calinet6 One interesting thing is that when the port is the same for everything, the port itself (the shape, size, look and whether it matches the other thing you're looking at) ceases to be a useful interface for connecting things together physically. Instead we need other indicators, labels, and on-screen error messages to tell us those things, which is a much more indirect and less clear way of understanding connectivity. Did anyone ever stop to ask if we really wanted everything to go through one port, even if everything wasn't really inter-compatible? I think we had it pretty right before, with a mix of ports, some of which were exclusive to a purpose (like HDMI, power, audio), some of which were generic (like USB, FireWire, Thunderbolt). Now we've removed clarity for what exactly? Aesthetics? "Simplicity?" The technological advancement of a single standard? There could be good reasons, but we should be aware of the usability tradeoff. ------ sesutton The USB 3.1 gen1 and gen2 thing still really boggles my mind. It's almost as if the USB-IF was trying to confuse people. Who retroactively renames a standard? ~~~ pitaj They should have just named things this way: USB 3.1 gen1 => USB 3.1, USB 3.1 gen2 => USB 3.2 I don't know why they would do differently. ~~~ Tempest1981 Agreed, 3 levels of versioning is too much for most users. Even 2 levels isn't ideal when dealing with a novice user. - Good: Thunderbolt 1, 2, 3 - Good: USB, USB-2, USB-3 - OK: DisplayPort 1.2, 1.3 - OK: HDMI 1.2, 1.3a, 1.4, 2.0 - Bad: USB Hi-Speed, SuperSpeed, SuperSpeed+ - Bad: USB-3.1 gen 1, USB-3.1 gen 2, ... - Bad: LEV, ULEV, SULEV, PZEV, AT-PZEV ------ icinnamon I'm a bit confused. The ports on the computers themselves can have different protocols- that makes sense. But the cables themselves can _also_ support different protocols? Maybe I'm just naive, but can someone explain how a "dumb" cable supports different specs? ~~~ cheiVia0 Specifically, different cables support different bitrates and Wattages. This is due to the number and thickness of the wires in the cable. I think Monoprices's labeling of a 5Gbps or 10Gbps USB-C to USB-C is false, however. There is nothing about the USB 3.1 Gen2 (10Gbps) spec that requires anything more than a regular USB3 cable. I think the "5Gbps" version is just an older product description from when 5Gbps was the fastest USB available. ~~~ sfoskett Plus, as noted by lee_s2, the higher-cost/higher-protocol cables are "active" with chips in them. ------ billylo USB standard bodies can borrow a page from the Ethernet port and signal standards. 10-mbps to Gbps evolution does not have to be painful for users. ~~~ jzl Start getting involved with 10Gb Ethernet and it is no longer trivial. You've got Cat 6, 6A, and 7, and all sorts of different length and shielding considerations and often don't get anywhere close to 10Gb. ~~~ kccqzy At least for most Ethernet cables I buy, the category is actually printed on the cable itself. I don't see that happening on USB cables. ~~~ tmzt It would be nice to see something like #lanes@XGhz + 1 . ------ fragmede Generally the cable hasn't mattered in consumer devices - as long as the device and cable are good and you plug it in to the right port, it'll work. A cable's a cable, after all, right? Unfortunately, that's not true, hasn't been true for a bit, and Apple's only partially to blame. DVI-A, anyone? Some of Apple's dongles have a microcontroller inside in order to do the signal conversion, so it's a wonder they're only $30. That lighting-to-3.5mm jack that comes with the iPhone 7? Tiiiiny DAC - [http://www.macrumors.com/2016/09/20/lightning-earpods- teardo...](http://www.macrumors.com/2016/09/20/lightning-earpods-teardown- confirms-dac/) (The other option being dumb signaling with the iPhone itself doing the DAC and passing the signal, as USB-C allows with alternate mode). Past Apple's dongle madness though, the bleeding edge of technology has always had a few edges. Despite the connector at the end fitting, HDMI 1.0 cables won't work where HDMI High Speed cables are necessary (though monster cables are still a rip off). High-end 4k TVs need the proper cables or else it won't work, just like a random cable with RJ-45s on the end won't necessarily support gigabit connection speed (or even support ethernet, for that matter). If Monoprice listing all the possible variations of USB-C cables seems frustrating, and you're allergic to details, only buy the expensive Apple cables and certified Apple accessories and you'll be fine, same as it's always been. If you need to venture outside their walled garden, yeah, there are some details to know about that the article doesn't go into, but I'm quite excited for what's become known as the USB-C connector to become the global consumer connector standard. Once that's true, the fewer weird dongles we'll all need, and you'll always be able to charge your phone-that-has-usb-c (we'll see if the iPhone 8 picks up USB-C). What the author glosses over in the article is actually an interesting part of USB Type-C spec, which is Alternate Mode. This allows a device and host to negotiate to speak something other than USB on the pins, be it video, networking, or in Apple's case Thunderbolt 3. Apple's definitely gone and made things confusing with Thunderbolt 3 - for everyone else. Buying only Apple stuff is going to "just work" as long as you keep buying their newest shiniest gadget, and, well, they're in the business of selling gadgets. ~~~ sfoskett I agree that it's exciting to have a durable/flippable cable that can be used for all sorts of things. The issue is that the nomenclature is unclear, with everyone just saying "USB-C" when that can mean all sorts of things. I actually spent quite a lot of time talking about "Alternate Mode", I just didn't call it that all the way through. ------ krylon The proliferation of various ports and interfaces has been disturbing, even in the PC arena where Thunderbolt is rather hypothetical. Displays alone drive me insane these days. Twenty years ago, you had a VGA connector, and that was it. Then came DVI, which allegedly worked better with TFT panels. Then came HDMI, but there is also DisplayPort which appears to be similar, yet different. I have not seen a display or beamer that will accept DisplayPort input. Does such a thing even exist? And laptops have, of course, the "mini" version of these, so there is mini- DisplayPort (which looks suspiciously like ThunderBolt) and there is mini-HDMI (which looks suspiciously like USB-C). I am still telling myself this is a transition, and in five years everything will be USB-C. Once we are there, that sounds like a nice future, but I am not certain we'll get there in time. (Plus, a tea leaf got stuck my Galaxy Tab's USB-C port while riding the train - it took me an hour to scrape and shake everything out before that thing could be charged again. Something that never happened to me with good old USB ports for some reason, even though they were much larger.) ~~~ douche Plus, we have all the old devices that still work just fine using the old ports. I've been using some LCD monitors for five or six years that are VGA- only, and they are still going strong, with no need or reason to replace them. DisplayPort vs HDMI is one of the real bafflers. Graphics cards always seem to have one HDMI out, and two or three DPs, yet I have never encountered a monitor that have DP-in ports, just VGA or HDMI. ~~~ hocuspocus Wow VGA... even 13-14 years ago my monitors were on DVI. As for DP, you've never seen a 27 or 30" monitor? All high resolution (QHD, UHD, 4K, 5K) or high refresh (120/144 Hz) or G-sync/FreeSync monitors use DP as their main input source. ~~~ krylon Okay, for higher resolutions that may be a thing. I have only seen one 27" display, and it was "only" 1920x1080, with one VGA, one DVI and one HDMI input. :-/ (Also, I have seen many PCs with builtin graphics that have no DVI output, only VGA and HDMI (and sometimes DisplayPort).) ------ vladimir-y Thunderbolt 3 is a great thing (really), though some time is needed for the transition period. ------ revelation That's just the start of it. So the new MBP has what, four USB-C ports. Can I put power into all of them? What if I try to do 4xHDMI for all of them? Surely I can't connect four external graphics cards over Thunderbolt 3? Can I chain Thunderbolt devices? The author also missed the "audio accessory mode". That's right, in some unique star constellation, some of these USB-C pins can be repurposed for pumping out analog audio! Supported? Who knows. I think before long every USB-C accessory will have to come with some sort of EEPROM that the host reads first to figure out 1) what is this you are plugging in and 2) is this going to work. So that there is at least some user feedback instead of "plain doesn't work" or "oopsie now the port is dead". ~~~ djrogers The answers to all of the questions in your second paragraph are easily available and in most cases the answer is yes (you can do 4x HDMI if they're 4K or less on the 15", 2k on the 13" \- video card limitation, not port limitation). [1] [http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/](http://www.apple.com/macbook- pro/specs/) ~~~ revelation It says two displays for both, so the answer is no. I'm not sure a user is particularly interested in the video vs port distinction. Also says nothing on the four external graphic cards, but frankly the answer is probably going to be no as well. That's the principal problem here: there is now a port for things that the underlying hardware can't even offer. ------ ulfw It is a pity that they didn't introduce a common color coding for USB-C connector cables. ~~~ kevincox How many color bands would you have to have one each end? The point of USB-C is that it can support many, many protocols. Labeling that is legitimately hard without a massive book. ~~~ ulfw At least some basic coloring would be nice. Let's say (For the sake of discussion) blue for USB-C (maybe a different shade for 5 ws 10GBits if you want), a black one for a Thunderbolt 3 connection, a white one that only has charging pins (hello Macbok Air cable). Still better than the mess we have now. ------ bootload There is a real evolutionary fight going on with connectors at the moment. > Apple's fastest growing product category. This tweet highlights the Apple problem right now [0] What is damaging to users is the cost / availability of connectors. What was the last time this connector nightmare played out? Token/Ethernet, Serial/DBX/USB? It pays to be a bit conservative in hardware choice at this moment. [0] [https://twitter.com/dbreunig/status/792034409788518401](https://twitter.com/dbreunig/status/792034409788518401) ------ naner The fact that certain devices cab be damaged by the wrong cable is inexcusable. ~~~ ominous This is like complaining "mv ~ /dev/null" does what it is meant to do. I know \- "Keep It Simple, Stupid" is a thing, but so is \- "UNIX was not designed to stop its users from doing stupid things, as that would also stop them from doing clever things." ~~~ et2o Disagree. This is an engineering failure. You have to look at reality; it's often not easy to tell what kind of cable you are planning to use. Any command line interaction is decidedly more involved than the typical user plugging in a cable. This type of interaction should have been planned for and mitigated. This also has nothing to do with UNIX. ~~~ ominous It has to do with designing a system to be used by people. UNIX is a system designed to be used by people. \- "Any command line interaction is decidedly more involved than the typical user plugging in a cable." Right. "The typical user plugging a cable". I expect the user to become a "typical user" after learning how to choose and use a cable, and getting acquainted with his hardware and software. One is not born a typical user, as you seem to imply (plugging a cable is not a complex task). It is. Everything is complex. Using the command line is complex, and then you factor your "typical uses" into aliases or scripts. Or maybe you curl \| bash scripts from the web, and then cry when they fail / your box catches internet aids. Or you use an ipad for all the computing you do, and expect things to just work. See: a typical everyday usecase: [https://github.com/alex/what-happens- when](https://github.com/alex/what-happens-when) Did the user write "oogle.com" instead of google, and got malware? ....Inexcusable, as you said? Should it just work? I say: "why did the user write oogle.com? Did he want malware?" Simple stuff. ------ russdill The article is pretty good, but this amount of hyperbole is really unforgivable: "If you’re not careful, you can neuter or even damage your devices by using the wrong cable." First of all, the linked post says that C to C cables _do not_ have this problem at all. The issue comes about in relation to how older standards report allowable power draw via resistor configuration. This is a problem that can only occur with USB A to USB C and also USB A to USB B. ~~~ sfoskett No you can damage your devices with C-to-C cables. [https://plus.google.com/u/0/+BensonLeung/posts/HakwCMmd346](https://plus.google.com/u/0/+BensonLeung/posts/HakwCMmd346) ~~~ cpeterso Q: Do C to C cables have the same problem? No. C to C cables do not have the same problem because they are required to be straight pass through ------ makomk I think this understates the number of ways you can connect a monitor over USB-C if anything. Let's see, there's Alternate Mode DisplayPort, Alternate Mode HDMI, Alternate Mode Thunderbolt's video support, Thunderbolt to an external GPU, USB 3.0 graphics, possibly more, most or all of which can be converted to HDMI with different compatibility and performance tradeoffs. ~~~ sfoskett ...and most of which won't work with a given display. SO you have to figure out which of the dozen or so possibilities works with your monitor and computer and buy the right cable to go between them. ------ crudbug The politics behind standard committees is horrible. Just call the new standard USB 4.0 which supports alternate mode, power delivery ... ~~~ joecool1029 4 is unlucky some places. They'd probably go to 5.0 next. ~~~ cpeterso _Tetraphobia is the practice of avoiding instances of the number 4. It is a superstition most common in East Asian nations. … The Chinese word for four sounds quite similar to the word for death in many varieties of Chinese. Similarly, the Sino-Japanese, Sino-Korean, and Sino-Vietnamese words for four sound similar or identical to death in each language._ Wikipedia's "Examples of sensitivity to tetraphobia applied" section is interesting: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraphobia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraphobia) ~~~ mcv Sounds appropriate for this mess. ------ chewxy I was in shenzhen a couple of days ago, and faced with the prospect of having different types of USB-C cables, I bought one of each standard (thunderbolt, USB3.0 and 3.1). I now have a problem because I don't remember which colour is which. Is there a way to find out without having to break the nicely braided cables? ~~~ sfoskett You could try them with appropriate peripherals and see if they connect at max throughput... But that's going to be very hard since there are pretty much no Thunderbolt 3 peripherals out there. ------ transfire And here I am wishing HD-BaseT would catch on, but I don't think the people behind that (and USB-C) have any intention of actually making our lives easier -- it's just to having something new to sell :( [http://hdbaset.org/](http://hdbaset.org/) ------ nashashmi This makes my brain hurt: _Thunderbolt 3 is really an “Alternate Mode” use of the Type-C port /cable, just like HDMI. But in practice, Thunderbolt 3 is a super-set of USB 3.1 for USB-C since no implementation of Thunderbolt 3 will be USB 2.0 only._ Anybody care to explain? ~~~ sfoskett "Alternate Mode" means "use these same pins for something other than USB". So Thunderbolt 3 uses the same connector but re-purposes the pins and wires to carry 2 or 4 PCIe 3.0 lanes rather than USB. HDMI similarly repurposes these pins to carry traditional HDMI signals. Anyone implementing Thunderbolt 3 will also be implementing the full USB 3.1 stack in the same chipset. Intel, for example. It would be silly to implement just Alternate Mode Thunderbolt and skip the USB 3.1. That's all I meant. ------ hkjayakumar Here's a slightly unrelated question - What happens if you plug in 4 power cords into the new MacBooks ? ~~~ geerlingguy In Apple's documentation, it mentioned that if you plug in multiple power sources, the MBP would choose only one at a time. ------ partycoder Well, a similar situation exists with UTP cables, where cat5 offers 100 Mbps, cat5e offers 1000 Mbps, and cat6 offers 10000 Mbps. They all look exactly the same unless you go and read the label on the cable and are familiar with this. ~~~ jzl It's even worse: getting consistent 10Gb on Cat 6 depends on cable length and electrical interference. Cat 6A and 7 also start coming into play for long cable runs and make the situation even more complicated. ~~~ partycoder Yes, though cable crosstalk and interference is an issue with most cables. There is STP (shielded rather than unshielded), which protects against external interference. ------ shurcooL Such mixed feelings about this. Really nice content, but misleading title. :( I already knew all that, but I appreciate the write up for others who don't already know all those details. I'm an enthusiast and obsessed with these details of ports, protocols and cables. I predicted this a year ago [0] and I'm very happy with this outcome. Yes, it's a transition period, which is unpleasant every time, but we will be in a fantastic state in a few years. [0] [https://twitter.com/shurcool/status/607351368387469312](https://twitter.com/shurcool/status/607351368387469312) ------ jay_kyburz What is so crazy about this is, if you can't risk just using any cable that fits in a socket, becuase you could damage your hardware, end users would be better off with a completely unique shape for every cable. This is a giant leap backwards. ~~~ tmzt Where does it say you would damage your hardware? Alt modes are negotiated with a standardized protocol as is power transfer. The defaults should be electrically compatible with all devices, though not necessarily functional. ~~~ jay_kyburz "If you’re not careful, you can neuter or even damage your devices by using the wrong cable. Seriously: Using the wrong cable can damage your machine! This should not be possible, but there it is." ~~~ Niksko This refers to out of spec cables, not the incorrect type of cable. As long as your cable is within spec, you wont have issues. ------ jonathanberger The mistake this article makes is thinking that the typical person will interact with many different USB-C ports and cables than his or her own. The reality, is that people will get to know their own ports, buy their own cables and devices, and things will work 99% of the time. Only occasionally they'll need to use a friend or coworker's device or cable and then there could be confusion. Although, even then, assuming the friend also has one of the most popular computers/phones/cables, it'll probably still work. ~~~ Angostura Ah for a world where you never have to go and make a presentation in another office. ------ Dylan16807 > Thunderbolt 3 requires a special cable Apparently this isn't quite right. You can use normal passive USB 3 cables to get 40Gbps at very short lengths and 20Gbps at medium lengths. Unless they're too low quality. ------ bobsgame It would be nice if calling things "Total Nightmare" did not become a trend. I've seen more of this negative rhetoric lately and I suspect it's influenced by Trump's speech patterns of describing everything as a "Total Disaster, Sad!" It's not a constructive way of speaking, and it's hurtful and discouraging to whatever or whomever it is criticizing. That's likely why Trump does it. How about changing the title to "USB-C adapter confusion: what can we do to improve this?" ------ fredfoobar42 This just sounds like the same whining people did when the Mac went to USB back in 1998. "You mean I need an ADAPTER for my SCSI device?!" ------ exabrial Tim Cook is the Steve Balmer of Apple. Balmer lead Microsoft to near oblivion. Really nice to see Microsoft change into a more open company... I'm getting more and more impressed with things like the Linux subsystem. I haven't bought a Mac or an iPhone in awhile because their hardware is terrible compared to their competitors. Gimmicky features like 3d touch (haven't used it once, intentionally), unnatural scrolling, and this touch bar are things I'll probably use once or twice. Literally the only reason I stick with OSX is because it's a commercially supported Unix system with a nice user interface. What I don't understand is the "pro" in the name. Doesn't a "pro"fessional need to do things with their computer outside of a coffee shop; usable I/O, gigabit ethernet, slots for interfacing with their other professional equipment, etc. I can totally understand these features in a consumer edition laptop. But there is no longer a reason to call these "pro" laptops. The silver lining I guess is maybe Apple drives a new wave of people to desktop Linux and we can finally get a nice, modern, desktop environment. Either that or another project to get OSX running on [superior] non-Apple hardware. Anyway, just my opinions. I wonder if anyone has similar thoughts. ~~~ andybak Rather off-topic don't you think? ~~~ Matachines Pointless Mac vs PC debates are never off topic on internet forums :-) ------ LeanderK Does anybody know how the protocol/mode gets negotiated? Its unbelievable what capabilities such a small port has. ~~~ makomk Well, that depends on the protocol being negotiated and the connectors and devices on either end, of course. Having just one or two methods of protocol negotiation would be too simple. ~~~ LeanderK Well, i would expect that. But how is the detection done? i don't think USB was designed with an alternate mode/thunderbolt in mind. I would expect some tricky solution to play nice with legacy USB-devices, or not? ~~~ makomk I think legacy USB 2 has dedicated pins and devices are expected to deal with all of the old legacy signalling methods in addition to the new ones. ------ aq3cn You know whenever there is a bad press about Apple product they start to black list those reporting websites. Blacklisted company don't get any pre-released news or products for reviews. I wonder how many websites have been blacklisted. ------ karlb So am I right in understanding that… (i) When my new MacBook Pro arrives, I need to learn which is the Thunderbolt port. (ii) I can simplify matters by always buying the top-spec leads. If so, how do I know which to buy? ~~~ taejavu Answer for (i): They're all Thunderbolt. ~~~ kccqzy But some might be slower than others. [https://support.apple.com/en- us/HT207256](https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207256) ------ kartickv Is the article correct in claiming that the CABLES are backward-compatible? I have a Nexus 5x, which uses USB-C. I want to buy a cable to charge it and connect it to my computer. Would a Thunderbolt 3 cable work? ~~~ lmm Yes - thunderbolt 3 cables are required to support the full 100W of power. It sounds like there are only really four types of USB-C cable, at least for the time being - USB2, USB3 without power, USB3 with power and thunderbolt 3. ------ bootload interesting read on the technical details of the ports b/w 13"/15" and port placement: _" Thunderbolt 3 Ports on Right Side of 13-Inch MacBook Pro Have Reduced PCI Express Bandwidth"_ ~ [http://www.macrumors.com/2016/10/28/macbook-pro- tb3-reduced-...](http://www.macrumors.com/2016/10/28/macbook-pro-tb3-reduced- pci-express-bandwidth/) ------ wyager USB needs to go back to being "universal". The USB spec has been getting progressively more complicated over the years; it's time to cut back. ~~~ eyelidlessness Has it ever been "universal"? ~~~ wyager Yes, hence the name. It's quite easy to implement a USB 1 controller, and there was very little difference across implementations. ~~~ eyelidlessness I'm reasonably certain there have always been differences in power delivery and connectors. ------ teilo What a bunch of alarmist BS. Drop all the exclamation points. No one takes you seriously if you end every damn sentence that way. ------ nobrains Table nightmare: [http://i.imgur.com/52zh3Ki.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/52zh3Ki.jpg) ------ cmurf I think the nightmare is if we give up and go back to separate ports and cables for various things. ------ moogly What happened to Thunderbolt 3 over USB 3.1 Alternate Mode? ~~~ sfoskett It's in there. ------ ngoldbaum Anyone have a mirror? ~~~ fernandotakai google has one [http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:8O__73q...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:8O__73qyoS0J:blog.fosketts.net/2016/10/29/total- nightmare-usb-c-thunderbolt-3/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=br&client=firefox-b) ------ tunneln I love ------ beedogs > Although it looks exactly the same as a regular USB-C cable, you need a > special Thunderbolt 3 cable to use Thunderbolt 3 devices! They're clearly putting a lot of lead in the water in Cupertino lately. ~~~ Tempest1981 Intel's headquarters are in Santa Clara. [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_(interface)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_$interface$) ------ riobard Worse case scenario: USB-C is gonna ruin the entire PC/Mac industry due to confusion and potential damage. ~~~ joeberon huge overreaction	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: Why did you accept a lower salary? - mattbgates Anyone who has settled for a lower salary when they know they could probably go and earn more elsewhere, what are your reasons?<p>For me, I work with my fiancee... for over 5 years now. This is our second job together and this is the longest job I've ever held in my career. I make way less than what I could be making as a web developer. I know I could probably go to another company and make more, which may be an assumption, but I like my company and I like working with my lady.<p>My job is fairly laid back; less than 10 minutes from home; Friday nights I get to work from home; I get about 4-5 weeks paid vacation a year; no one bothers me too much; and I have so much downtime, I spend a majority of the time working on side projects.<p>I also have a dream that someday I will finally be able to work for myself and not someone else hence the side projects. To go to another job means a whole new environment and I am just developing and supporting a product for yet another company. So I willingly accept my lower salary. ====== ManlyBread I accepted a lower salary because I went from maintaining a shitty VB6 apps to a company that uses .NET, hoping I could learn something more marketable working there. It wasn't worth it, they had a bunch of incredibly stupid systems and maintaining these was even worse than the VB6 apps. On top of that they lied to me - I was supposed to work on a new project and instead I worked on sorting out the mess that other programmers made. I noticed that some other people on the team did more or less the same kind of a job, expect their pay was better since they didn't have "junior" in the title. I will never accept a pay cut again. ~~~ mattbgates You are explaining a job that I used to work. Visual Basic 6.0. Support and fix bugs in a program. Add new features. Make it more user-friendly -- was my job. I had to deal with a tyrant boss who would watch over me while I would code, belittle me, do everything he thought was "making me a better coder." Only lasted a year and a half... even turned down an offer that was double my salary because if it meant dealing with him... I just couldn't do it. When I began working there... he was paying me just $10 an hour. The most I ever made there? $12 an hour. Read more about it here: [http://www.confessionsoftheprofessions.com/the- opportunity/](http://www.confessionsoftheprofessions.com/the-opportunity/) I wonder how similar our experiences are. ------ mrdependable I'm in almost the exact same situation as you, except I'll add one thing. I worked a string of really heinous jobs where the work environment was extremely toxic. Bosses yelling in your face, watching you work over your shoulder while drinking their morning coffee, other employees being verbally and physically aggressive. I don't particularly like the company I'm at, but I get to work remotely, it's super relaxed, and I can pretty much put the hours in whenever I want. If I leave to go somewhere else, I have no idea what kind of situation I'd be getting myself into. I get paid a bit below 100k, which in Los Angeles with 5+ years experience is pretty bad, but my end goal is to build my own business. ~~~ mattbgates Been there done that! [http://www.confessionsoftheprofessions.com/the- opportunity/](http://www.confessionsoftheprofessions.com/the-opportunity/) ------ glancast I took about a 120k paycut to work whenever and wherever I please. My SAAS app provides me a nice middle-class salary and continues to grow mostly on its own. I don't have to deal with being a "true believer", repeated "temporary" crises, unreasonable deadlines, etc. No backstabbing office politics. More importantly, with a self-enforced 10 hour work week I have lots of time to improve my tradecraft, explore pet projects, take care of my body, etc. I feel in control of my own life, rather than chasing other people's dreams. ~~~ mattbgates Would you mind sharing your Saas product? ~~~ glancast I generally prefer not to broadcast the business, but I'm happy to answer questions about my experience :) ------ olavgg My second job was a Linux consultant, Python / Java Developer. At that time the salaries was rather poor as everything with money involved Windows and .Net. But I found Unix technologies a lot more interesting, especially for learning and solving the really hard problems. I really enjoyed that job, the problems we solved were challenging and fun. And I learned so much, I accepted that lower salary as I bet on Linux, Python and Java knowledge would be in demand later. And today I'm really happy that I specialized in these technologies, because the market has really changed in my favor the last three years. ------ UnoriginalGuy I recently accepted a 10K/year lower salary ($70K instead of $80K). Better work/life balance inc. flexible hours, generous paid vacation/sick, closed for Christmas & federal holidays (on top of paid vacation), and unlimited (but optional) telecommuting. The $80K would have cut my flexible vacation by a third, no closure at Christmas, flexible hours gone, and telecommuting pretty much gone (with a "maybe" they'll start in the future). Plus the commute was fifteen minutes more each way. I may have made the wrong decision financially, but I have a family, and I get to see them a lot more telecommuting, we get to go on family holidays, we get to spend time together at Christmas, and flexible hours will help picking them up/dropping off at school. ~~~ pcurve Those are good perks for $10k. based on your post, I think you made the right call. ------ exotree Not an engineer, just a marketer/writer. Had two jobs offered, one offered 15k more a year. Took the other job: it fell in line with my strengths, I can be full time remote from my forest, and I knew my new boss at lower paying gig, while expecting me to still work hard, would be good about making sure I got off on time to go to gym as well as respecting when I needed to take vacation. Do I sort of wish I had more money? Yes. But I'm in this company for the long haul, and I decided 15k was worth the specific lifestyle I wanted over the long haul. ------ Sytten In my case, this was only for an internship. I study in Canada where the interns in CS and Computer engineering are rather well paid (easily over 20USD per hour for a first internship). I accepted a much lower salary to work in start-up in Copenhagen (its called pleo.io). The experience was amazing and the team was awesome, but it is hard to live in such an expansive city with an intern salary of around 1600USD per month. Only renting a room in a shared apartment usually costs more than 800-900USD per month. ------ Clubber My last job was a political hellhole where they imported new management and new management imported their friends and marginalized the people who built the company pre-aquisition. ------ bsvalley Work life balance, lower expectations at work and no internal competition. As bad as it sounds like, that's what I need since I burnt out not a while ago. The pay cut was mostly made on stocks/bonus. I lost a lot of those by leaving my previous employer. My base is actually slightly bigger now. In other words, it feels like I'm really getting paid for what I do everyday and that the salary/productivity expectation is at a sweet spot on both sides. ------ noir_lord In my case because it was - own office in a building 15 minute walk from where I live as the only developer working on an interesting problem Vs a 7 mile commute by public transport to work on a less interesting problem in an open office with 30 other Devs. It just wasn't even a choice for me, the final kicker is employer operates a strict 9-5 policy for work, not had that expectation on a Dev job in a long time. ------ NumberCruncher The last time I jumped ship I did not took a paycut - actually a got a small raise - but took a job where I am paid ca. 15% less than my market value. I was recruited by the VP of IT at a small company. We used to work together in the past and he knows what I am capable of if I work under the right conditions, which excludes discussions about BS and interruptions through "burning issues". I do what I love to do, I set my own priorities and my own deadlines. I have a site in Confluence showing the satus of my current projects, he gets every two weeks an e-mail from me with the actual highlights/achievements and once a month we go for lunch together where I can ask him for guidance. I can take some time learning new technologies during working hours and make homeoffice now and then. Why should I leave? Actually I can imagine working for someone else than me only under these conditions. ------ indemnity I took a 40k paycut moving to New Zealand back in 2001. I don't regret it, since leaving my country of birth, things have only gone backwards there, and NZ is a great place to raise my son. Since I was here, I took a 10k paycut once, to move from a big company to a small startup. It was the right call, but I was lucky, and it was by no means guaranteed to work out (2009 was scary). Company got acquired by a massive one, and compensation ramped back up to the top of the scale (w/ RSUs making total comp p.a. something I can't match elsewhere in the local market - I interviewed around, and found out I was making substantially more than the CEO of the startup I interviewed at). But thinking of making the move again, since I'm feeling my skills atrophy a bit, and financially now on a solid footing, so I'd like to work somewhere a little more fast-paced. ------ allhailkatt My employer has good policies on ADA accommodations. I still need to go into the office, but I feel good that when I can't anymore I'll still have a job with them. Plus, I went from being responsible for the PM side of data architecture to natural language processing. Way less stress, way better skill set. ------ jonnycomputer I'm definitely paid less than I could be, by maybe 20-30k, but cost of living is quite low, found a 1/2 acre ranch house (totally decent) for $140k, I bike to work and the only a traffic I deal with are pedestrians, I choose my own tools, choose how and when I want to work, work on interesting stuff, have lots of paid leave, and receive solid benefits including an old-style pension. Money is tight sometimes, but can't otherwise complain, unless its that I sometimes miss city life, and I end up working on too many different things (javascript, python, bash, matlab, php; web dev, data analysis, file management, elementary IT). And the boss has agreed to a raise, on condition that expected funding does come in (pretty sure it will) ... so getting better. ------ SeaDude To move from union to mgmt. Yes, I was a ditch digger 16 yrs ago. Now i'm a PM in Tech Svcs. The 10k/yr paycut hurt, especially in Seattle right now, but work remote on somewhat interesting projects, no commute, get so spend time in the presence of family. ------ godot OP, you're basically describing a dream scenario I'm sure many of us developers have. I'd be very willing to take a lower salary if it means a 10-minute commute, and having a lot of time for side projects. I took up a job that's fairly middle-of-the-road in terms of salary -- plenty of lower, and plenty of higher, around the bay area. I took it at the time mostly because of working with some friends that I knew I liked working with, so I knew at least that part won't be bad. It's still a long commute though and I'm starting to question if it's worth it, especially if there's closer jobs that are potentially higher salary. ------ Terretta Scope of challenge and room to learn, coupled with sufficient support to enable meaningful impact on a world-class problem. With the right mix of global problem plus virtually unlimited resources, and depending on your personal values and the company culture, a big co with built-in funding and mass market can be more rewarding than “home run” startup money. // If that sounds right to you, maybe you’ve already cashed out and now want to really change the world, consider joining us. We intend to fix banking from vantage of 5th largest bank in world with 2.5 trillion in deposits. And if you haven’t cashed in yet you probably can enjoy a pay bump, not cut. Email in profile. ------ adrianmsmith Don't forget that if you want to start your own company, the more money you have saved up the better. Then you have a longer runway before you have to start talking to investors, etc. Having a higher salary now will help you do that. ------ spoonie My first full time job was for CAD 70k at Research In Motion. I knew other local employers (e.g. Google, Sortable) were paying more to new grad but I didn't care because I got to write C code and was hoping to sidestep onto the security team. My next job I took a full-stack webdev role for GBP 41k (got a raise to GBP 43k the next year). That was around CAD 7k less than another offer I got in Vancouver. But I wanted to travel a bit, plus I knew that company paid their Sillicon Valley employees twice that. ------ wreath I accepted a lower salary (than another offer, but more than what I make right now) at a company whose product I'm excited about, they had a team of more experienced people than my current company and I moved from frontend to a fullstack position. Of course, only time would tell if this was a good decision. ------ tiggybear Last time I was interviewing for jobs I took the lowest of my 3 offers. There were several reasons for this, I will refer to the accepted offer as A and other offers as B and C. 1) Large corporation vs small corporation, offers B and C were for very large corporations (one private and one public) and I took job A because I do not enjoy bureaucracy. 2) Challenge. Offer B was a job I felt I could already do 100% and everything I really wanted to do was offered as a "maybe if things go the right way you'll get to build something cool." Offer C seemed challenging, but was a different direction for my career. Offer A offered as much challenge as I was willing to accept and was very aligned with my career goals. 3) Flexibility. Offer B - no work from home until after a year, but even then it's not guaranteed and at most once a week. Offer C - it seemed like people were only allowed to work from home when there was a state of emergency/snow- closures, etc. Offer A - we are as flexible as possible, we are more concerned with getting the work done. Also worth noting, I was the youngest person on staff when I was hired at company A. At B and C there were tons of people my age - I think this is why they had a worse work/life balance. I'm single and no kids, but most people I work with are pretty established in that regard. I believe I benefit a lot from the fact that my older coworkers won't accept crappy work/life balance. 4) Connecting with people. I definitely connected with those at company A moreso than those at company B and C. I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that at companies B and C people were just going through the motions during the hiring process, so it felt very robotic. Also, while interviewing at company A it was very acceptable to discuss the displeasures of working at public corporations (I was able to have a very blunt convo with a CxO during my interview - and we commiserated a bit on our non-optimal experiences working at them). ------ dagmx I accepted a lower salary (135k vs 150k) and a lower title (lead for a project rather than lead for the department on every project) because of work culture. I can fix code etc, but it's very hard to change culture. It would have been a big step up in many regards but culture is a huge part of accepting a job. ------ cultofmetatron I took a 30k paycut for my current job. Why? because they gave me the ultimate perk, 100% remote! I'm heading to thailand next week and plan to just travel around the world. As a bonus, my total living cost in southeast asia (including rent food and plane tickets) is going to be less than what I pay in rent right now. ~~~ borplk What do you do with your rental? ------ eeks I cut my salary in half going back to research after some years in a HFT gig. I'm gaining quality of work (wider breadth of topics), quality of people (world class researchers) and quality of life (office 10 min from home instead of 90, travel to conferences, ...). ~~~ calstad What area of research do you work in? Did you go back to working at a university? ~~~ eeks I work in systems and no, I went back to industrial research. ------ nastypants I relocated from the NE back to Austin and took a lower pay. I grew up in the South and didn't like how impolite people are in the NE. I actually didn't fit w the regional culture. Goes to show how important culture fit is for work too. ------ briandrupieski 1\. I could work from home most days of the week. 2\. I enjoyed the work. 3\. The expectation was a maximum of 40 hours/week, which I thought I wanted at the time. When I worked more, my manager explicitly told me to work less. ------ jdmoreira I really wanted to be part of the team I'm currently in. I thought I would learn a lot with them and become a much better developer, turned out to be true. I asked for less money just to make sure I would still be hired. ------ sidcool I had 6 offers 2 years ago. I chose the third highest salary option because of the unique company culture and people. Totally correct decision in hindsight. ------ thdxr Being able to work from home full time is my number one factor. The multiplier of work I get done is so high that many weeks I work around 10 hours. ~~~ QuercusMax Genuinely curious: do really only work 10 hours, including email and other forms of communication? Do you think you could get more done working 20 hours / week, or do you only think you have about 2 good hours of coding work in you per day? ~~~ thdxr I spend the rest of my time reading on engineering related topics that I care about. These may or may not be relevant to my work I could get much more done, but realistically there's rarely enough work to keep me actually busy for 40 hours a week ------ ajeet_dhaliwal I did it to fulfil my dream of working in the games industry (AAA games for PlayStation/Xbox etc). Six years later I'm ready to leave. ------ afarrell Because it was a life goal to move from the US to Europe for a while and because my wife is much less fearful. ------ psyc There basically aren't any senior dev positions (that I've ever seen) where the money is low enough to even factor into my decision. Every other thing people commonly look for in a job is a higher priority to me.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Why we can’t wage war on drugs - jseliger http://aeon.co/magazine/living-together/we-cant-wage-war-on-drugs/ ====== aggieben I checked out the moment the author drew a kind of strained equivalency between illegal amphetamines (i.e., meth) and modafinil and _caffeine_. I'm all for ending the drug war as we know it, but I don't find this kind of thing helpful. Is a very technical way, he's right: the overall picture of what drugs _are_ and what they _do_ and why some are judged "bad" and others not is a nuanced, historically literate view. And almost completely irrelevant. Being high on meth is a completely different phenomenon than being stimulated into wakefulness. The former can cause people to do really stupid and dangerous things, not to mention the physical destruction it wreaks on the human body. The two are really incomparable in practice. IMO, policy arguments out to focus on the ill effects of the "drug war" itself, not the technical equivalencies between drugs to which most people will not assent (including me). ~~~ jqm Dose and scale of usage are kind of important factors here... If people are chewing coca leaves is that really very different from caffeine? No, probably not. So then...what if they are doing very small amounts of cocaine or amphetamines? Is that very different from caffeine? I'm guessing most of the problem with drugs actually comes very simply from the abuse of drugs. ~~~ dscrd Excluding outright poisons (which none of the narcotics are), everything is ok in moderation. Trouble is, many things are too enticing to keep using moderately. ------ grownseed This is beautifully written. "As drugs have swirled into this kaleidoscope of lifestyle and consumer choices, the identity of the ‘drug user’ has slipped out of view." This perfectly sums up the situation in my opinion. Many people still, regrettably, automatically associate drugs with the "classical junkie", while forgetting that they themselves are drug users, of a kind or another. Not mentioned in this piece, but I believe there exist escaping habits incredibly akin to drugs, with effects at least as damaging, or I suppose, as good too. One only needs to look at chronic social networkers, obsessed reality TV show watchers or compulsive buyers, to only name a few. Any attempt at suppressing these behaviors therefore seems utterly pointless, push on one end and it'll come out of the other. One might think that helping people realize self-worth and be critical, through (actual) education, would be the answer, but one may dream... ------ paulannesley I love this: “A cup of tea is psychoactive, but we would only call it a drug if we wished to make a point.” ------ mindstab If people want to get high, they will find a way. For me, "Jenkem" is the ultimate argument ender [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenkem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenkem) Fermented human waste in tupper ware in the sun for a day or two. How can you fight a war against that? Instead try some other approach to education, management, and social state that reduces the number of people who feel driven to this in the first place perhaps. ~~~ Chinjut But jenkem was a hoax, as your link tells us... ~~~ x3c Usage in US was hoax. Jenkem isn't.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Tesla Is Now America's Number One Premium Automotive Company - danhak https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeanbaptiste/2019/01/02/tesla-is-now-americas-number-one-premium-automotive-company-outsells-bmw-lexus-in-q4/#14c2254d4af3 ====== toomuchtodo Title is inaccurate due to the Forbes article being inaccurate. Forbes compares Tesla's worldwide sales with BMW's US sales. [https://twitter.com/FredericLambert/status/10809989511956766...](https://twitter.com/FredericLambert/status/1080998951195676673) ------ fl0wenol That's great but this is being very generous because Tesla cuts across market segments in a way that the other manufacturers don't per brand. This is by total vehicles sold, not delivered, including the Model 3, which I would not put on the same level as a MB C-Class, for example. It competes with Honda Accord, not Honda Legend/Acura RLX. If you were to split up the numbers by auto groups and then focus on sales of comparable vehicles across brands, it would look very different. ~~~ zamadatix Competes with the Accord? ~~~ Fins Certainly not in build quality. ------ throwaway98121 Why anyone would spend $40K plus on a vehicle baffles me, but that being said, if the article is accurate, good on Tesla for being such a rival to the other established brands against all odds. ~~~ reustle How does it baffle you? A vast majority of people in the US rely on their cars daily. These people prioritize quality and moving away from gas/diesel. ~~~ rcMgD2BwE72F >A vast majority of people in the US rely on their cars daily This keeps baffling me. Why don't we just build far denser cities? ~~~ NullPrefix >Why don't we just build far denser cities This keeps baffling me. Why don't all people just start working remotely and move to Thailand? ~~~ rcMgD2BwE72F Are you sarcastic? ------ 7e BMW's average selling price is about $55K, but Tesla's Model 3 sold in the high $30s to low $40s when the federal tax credit is included. States like California offer additional discounts. ~~~ 7e Further, the author compares Tesla's _global_ delivery numbers with other manufacturers' US-only numbers, and doesn't explicitly mention that the expiring tax credit temporarily pulled demand forward this quarter. ~~~ jryle70 So maybe BMW is more profitable or pulls in more revenue than Tesla in the US, or maybe not. Also, Model 3 has only been delivered to US and Canada's customers, and only expanded to Europe very recently. But the point remains, Tesla is "now America's Number One Premium Automotive Company"? Whether that will be true next quarter remains to be seen. Not sure what you're trying to dispute? Also true that tax credit expiration played a part. Do you think BMW or Lexus didn't have any promotion this past quarter? ~~~ 7e Tesla doesn't release US-only numbers, so the article is factually incorrect, and thus its conclusion is also incorrect. See [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-04/contrary-...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-04/contrary- to-musk-s-tweet-tesla-isn-t-the-no-1-premium-carmaker).	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Parrot Secrets - robotrout http://www.cringely.com/tag/parrot-secrets/ ====== ankhmoop I'm weary of hearing how market success is demonstrative of genuine value. Parrot Secrets may be a valuable resource -- we don't know -- but a snake oil salesman can also be quite successful, and his success does not validate his product. This is where Cringely's article falls over. The Parrot Secret's book is comprised entirely of information collated by a 'ghostwriter' from purchased books. Is the information accurate? Are pet owners causing their pet's unnecessary duress or training them poorly due to faulty information? The site claims that the author is a 12 year parrot 'lover' -- as a potential purchaser, you may use this information to determine the likely veracity the information. Unfortunately for the purchaser, "12 year parrot lover" is a lie. ~~~ mustpax So, by that token, would you consider the latest Microsoft ads scammy (maybe even fraudulent)? They feature Lauren, apparently a real person, looking for a laptop under $1000. Turns out she is an actress, which would also affect the likely veracity of the ad as well. <http://blog.seattlepi.com/microsoft/archives/165113.asp> Advertising, by its very definition, is _only_ meant to promote a product. Just turn on your TV, you will see plenty of misleading advertising that's not really illegal. Would you be OK with Parrot Secrets if the owner paid for a real American girl who owns a parrot to be a spokesperson? I just don't see the reason for the outrage when an Indian guy is the marketer instead of a multibillion dollar conglomerate. ~~~ sofal _Advertising, by its very definition, is only meant to promote a product. Just turn on your TV, you will see plenty of misleading advertising that's not really illegal._ Ignoring the fact that there are various degrees of misleading, from the mild to the outright fraudulent, are you suggesting that people have no good reason to be disgusted with it because a lot of companies do it? ~~~ mustpax Disgusted is too strong a word, but I think people should be bothered. I know I am. I was just trying to draw a parallel between false advertising on the internet by individuals, and false advertising we see through mainstream channels every day. I don't think we should give the latter a free pass because it's been around longer. ------ kqr2 Previously discussed: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=516215> ~~~ mkuhn It's a different post... ------ robotrout This is a follow-up article on a previously discussed item. I posted it, as I found the follow-up interesting, and thought others might also. ------ cesqui I thought this was about Parrot VM when I read the title. ~~~ SwellJoe Me too, but then I saw Cringely, and I know he doesn't cover that sort of tech.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Chamath Palihapitiya says most of the things VCs have funded are "mostly crap" - jackgavigan http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/03/chamath-palihapitiya-interview-says-start-ups-are-mostly-crap ====== grandalf The broader thing I've realized of late is that so many startups exist simply because they are building something that appeals to VCs, not something that necessarily appeals to any sort of customer. So we have reason to be skeptical of any claim to wisdom from VCs and even any claim to understand relevant metrics or KPIs. Good VCs are humble about this, but others posture behind it. What we should really be wondering is how many bad decisions are made by startups based on pressure from VCs. Since average (non-accredited) investors are prohibited by law from investing in early stage startups, those who are not prohibited get a highly leveraged game which some are bound to play successfully several turns in a row. There is nothing wrong with this, but it's sad to see promising startups make bad decisions because they are simply striving for rapid growth at all cost. ------ gtirloni _we’d ship in lunch and probably two to three times a week the lunch had maggots in it_ Can't continue reading past this. They were ordering food from a place that 2-3x a week delivered maggots? Please. ~~~ fapjacks It raises questions about everything else he says. ~~~ bobbygoodlatte Chamath wasn't in charge of the food. I'm sure he told the relevant person within the company and I'm pretty certain that problem didn't last very long. ~~~ pavel_lishin > _I 'm pretty certain that problem didn't last very long._ More than once is too long. ~~~ anxman I worked at Facebook back when food was a problem. We didn't quite have maggots 2-3x a week but we did have maggots more than once. We used a lot of different caterers but quality was a persistent issue. Randi actually handled a lot of the food services back then. Corporate catering has evolved a lot since 2007 and there are a lot of better product offerings now for startups to use. ------ ergothus Is there a reason that's surprising? The difference between a great idea and a dumb idea is largely commercial success. Amazon was crazy when it started, now it's huge. Startups are experimentation, and you have to try lots of things to find the right things. I'd be _worried_ if most startups didn't end up "crap" in one way or another - it would mean we were being too conservative in our experimentation. That doesn't mean we have infinite tolerance for "crap", but to say "mostly crap" doesn't seem alarming to me. ~~~ S4M By "crap", I think he means something like "poorly understood copy cats of successful ideas", not "really bad ideas". See the whole quote: > I think what we’ve had is a handful of investors who have extreme vision who > make great investments in things that are amazing businesses: Facebook, > Google, Uber. And then everybody else reacts to that success by trying to do > the thing that most approximates the thing that’s working. As a result, most > of those businesses are fundamentally not good, they’re poorly run, and they > never should have been invested in in the first place. But the capital came > in because the person who had control of the capital was able to justify it > intellectually to themselves versus something else that could have become > the next Facebook or Google. ~~~ sinatra I can actually see why some VCs would invest that way though. A startup proves that there's a massive market opportunity (think Uber's initial days), it's still not a certainty that that startup will be the eventual winner. So, I can see some VCs thinking: Now that one of the biggest risks (finding whether there's a market at all) is reduced, we can just build a better team and maybe become a much better second-mover. Or, although I am convinced that there's a massive market, I disagree with how the first-mover is trying to handle it. ------ thaumasiotes In other news, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_law) . This applies to everything. ------ kafkaesq Well, strictly speaking he said "most of the things _we’ve funded_ are mostly crap and largely worthless." Which isn't that far off from the title -- but still, that just wouldn't have been click-baity enough, now would it. So they just _had to_ tweak it, I suppose. ~~~ jackgavigan Fixed. ;-) ------ imron Isn't that the whole premise of VC funding though? Invest in a bunch of things, most of which will fail, but make that back from a big payout from the ones that succeed. ~~~ TheOtherHobbes I'm not sure what the premise of VC funding is. But I'm baffled when VCs invest in businesses that don't have a business plan that demonstrates a reasonable likelihood of actual profit margins within a reasonable pay-off time, as opposed to steady losses of unknown and unstated duration. That's pretty much the definition of a failed business. So when everyone seems very surprised that businesses like this fail, it's even more surprising that they're surprised by it. I think there's a serious opportunity for VCs to fund workable but unspectacular non-unicorns with reasonable but not explosive growth potential. But maybe that's just not exciting enough, while hyper-growth is, even with no profitability. I can't pretend to understand it, because it makes no sense to me. ------ PhantomGremlin What was unmentioned in the article, and here in the comments as of yet, is ZIRP, Zero interest-rate policy.[1] Central banks around the world have made it easy to borrow money almost for free. That money must be invested somewhere, because keeping capital in the bank has _negative_ interest rates in many countries! That's a big reason why there's so much venture capital sloshing around. What else are they going to do with it? Buy a German 10 year Bund that returns 0.18% per year, or maybe a US Treasury that's about 2%? Why not take a chance on the next startup instead? After all, maybe _Tinder for Cats_ is the next big thing? [1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_interest- rate_policy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero_interest-rate_policy) ------ dekhn I'd say that roughly 90% of things VCs fund fail. A VC which could reduce that reliably to 60-70% YoY would be considered godlike. Think of VC investments as a portfolio where you expect most of the investments to fail, but the few that succeed give you 1000% gains. As mentioned elsewhere in the comments, this is consistent with Sturgeon's law (and other power laws). ~~~ st3v3r See, that illustrates another problem: Everything is considered a failure unless it nets 1000%. Taking a more critical eye toward what you invest in, and having more realistic views of success, and therefore not pushing insane growth on everything, would make things much more successful overall. ------ bikamonki Which is how the VC roulette works: bet on all numbers hoping at least one will pay many, many times more. No? ~~~ rdl Except what probably terrifies them: each VC firm probably only bets on, at most, 2/36\. And the industry as a whole only really bets on 18/36. ~~~ econner Why 36? ~~~ rdl Just using the roulette analogy from above. Roulette wheels have 36 numbers (well, they also have 0 and 00. Maybe that's recession and global thermonuclear war.) In reality it is worse because you don't actually know the number of companies, and you don't get presented with the same options as everyone else -- a good part of being a top investor is access to top dealflow. ------ partycoder There's a lot of apeness in the world of startups and tech. Is Whatsapp worth $55 dollars per user? If you pay 1 dollar per year and you have no advertisement? Really hard to believe, unless the money is coming from monetizing nosy activities. Doesn't possibly add up. ------ sidechannel Reminds me of Geordie Rose who said most people in Silicon Valley work on things that don't matter and won't last ------ nxzero Why would an investor complain that other investors are wasting capital on deals unrelated to their investments?	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Build Your First Thing with WebAssembly - NickLarsen http://cultureofdevelopment.com/blog/build-your-first-thing-with-web-assembly/ ====== tdumitrescu Nice investigation! A minor point about your description of wasm: "WebAssembly or wasm is a bytecode specification for writing performant, browser agnostic web components." The term "web components" already has a pretty specific meaning referring to the in-progress specs for custom html ui elements and surrounding technologies (see [https://developer.mozilla.org/en- US/docs/Web/Web_Components](https://developer.mozilla.org/en- US/docs/Web/Web_Components)). You probably don't want to overload that term given how close the domains already are. ~~~ NickLarsen That's fair. Originally asm.js was named capsule.js but that was taken and didn't really mean what it was. We could also call it modules but there is another very related spec out there for that as well. What would you call it instead? ~~~ Someone OpenDoc used 'part'. IIRC, all parts had a presence in the GUI, though. This, I think is just a library or archive (in the ar/ranlib sense; [https://sourceware.org/binutils/docs/binutils/ar.html#ar](https://sourceware.org/binutils/docs/binutils/ar.html#ar)) of code that the browser loads over the Internet. Java hit a jackpot calling such a thing a jar, a word that is both shorthand for "Java archive" and a noun describing a container. That suggests looking at words such as 'bottle', 'box', 'cask', 'pot' (nice word, but its connotations do not make it a winner), 'cup', 'amphora', 'pithos' (not well-known enough, and typically unmovable), 'crate' (taken by rust), or 'vase' but I can't find a nice alternative interpretation as an abbreviation ('Jug' has a 'j' that could mean JavaScript, but I think we would be looking for something with a W for 'web' or I for 'internet') or even something that sounds good ('crate' is growing on me, but already taken by rust. That shows that other terms might grow to become acceptable, too. Maybe 'jug' could be such a word?) ~~~ kahnpro Plus jug will give us great opportunities for immaturity, like hey Bob, can you take a look at my jugs? Are my jugs too big? ~~~ DelaneyM I'm not sure if that's a plus (because I think it's hilarious) or minus (as a top-heavy female developer.) Have an upvote and a ಠ_ಠ. ------ vonklaus I suspect webassembly will fail miserably. If it succeeds anywhere it will be for gaming applications. I could be totally wrong, but most web developers who build applications and sites will not be likely to embrace this given the leverage JS provides and the simplicity of use. Again, I am not extremely against wasm, but this writeup is pretty well done and my take away was that it was non-trivial to pickup, buggy and has poor documentation. I am curious who web assembly is for and who is really excited about it. Is it gaining traction in gaming, and also what am I missing(serious)? edit: Can advertisers bypass content blockers by compiling to wasm? ~~~ NickLarsen We (at Stack Overflow) have a new documentation product coming down the pipe with an emphasis on examples and I thought it would be awesome if we could expand our stack snippets feature to languages beyond javascript. A reproducible example right there on the webpage. In researching existing solutions, nothing was satisfying, and then I had the idea to just use asm.js and write an MSIL interpreter. I spoke with some people familiar with asm.js and decided that it wasn't particularly difficult, but it had a ton of limitations from js file sizes to ways to get all of the libraries people ask about uploaded, and of course regular breaking changes in the browser. Wasm seemed like it could help with some of the issues being a formal web specification with representatives from multiple browsers. Other than that, I can see a lot of uses for it, from small neural nets in the browser to high performance applications like photo editing, and of course gaming. It might not be for all applications, but it certainly has a spot. ~~~ vonklaus Nick, Great writeup. I am a big proponent of the _idea_ of webassembly as I believe many are. The browser is one of the greatest apps, and it is easy to look past many of its flaws because it provides a universal environment to develop for. I have always been a harsh critic of the balkanization apps provide when they are unneccessarily trying to extend functionality already provided by the browser and live natively on my device providing virtually nothing but more access to "my" resources. That said, while I don't love writing apps in an old IBM GML and pulling in heaps of scripts to get the functionality I need, it is easy and well understood (which is why it has proliferated). If we are to change this, I think an entirely new paradigm would be easier to use and embrace than something like wasm because the browser has a lot of access to resources and this has a fairly narrow use-case relative to it's complexity. I could be wrong, as this technology is super nascent and people as intelligent and synonomous with the web like BRendan Eich are openly supporting it, I just don't see it being embraced at the sort of tipping point neccessary to proliferate. It will be very hard to build a community of people doing things like you have here: providing great resources and tutorials and a community of code base to build on. A new standard or tech must be 10x better than the current one and I do not feel this is. ~~~ kkarakk Also you can't trivially copy/debug a web component built using web assembly(so far) and play with it which is kinda a death sentence for any tech on the web unless it's championed as being a killer tool for some usecases- which this doesn't seem to be so far ------ Fej On one hand, I want to bash WebAssembly because it takes away our ability to see what we're running on our own PCs. On the other, it helps us slowly get away from the mess that is modern JavaScript. ~~~ vonklaus I think "this javascript mess" is largely bourne out of an attempt to mitigate content blocking. asm.js is pretty fast and I am not sure how much improvement wasm will provide, but if given access to more of the low-level environment I am concerned advertisers will implement maliscious code and pop-ups in wasm that is non-trivially blocked. ~~~ colordrops It's the same VM as JS, so why would it be any less secure? ~~~ vonklaus I am not sure exactly how it can be implemented, but I imagine that compiling and serving a binary file could allow for some maliscious things. My biggest worry is that many content blockers override js and search scripts for keywords and functionality which they muitigate. I could see a binary file executing code which provides pop-ups, advertisements or drm which would be harder to eliminate than it is now. I am not 100% sure if this is true, but it seems possible. ~~~ izym Serving a binary file is in principle no different than serving a string file. What can be done with WebAssembly today can most likely also be done with asm.js. ------ wofo Thanks for the writeup! I had a hard time figuring out how to compile C++ to WebAssembly a couple of weeks ago and finally gave up given the lack of maturity of the implementation. I am sure this will help more people get interested in WebAssembly! ~~~ NickLarsen I had the exact same problem when I first started. Someone once told me "what we can throw away to solve this problem", so I kept removing parts until I got here which I think is currently the easiest way to get started. ~~~ binji Ultimately you should be able to use your C compiler and generate wasm files directly, rather than go through asm.js. There is an experimental backend of LLVM that you can try, but it will require building LLVM from source currently. Emscripten has an option to do this automatically, I believe. You can also write the AST format by hand, which IMO is much easier to do than writing asm.js by hand, just more verbose. I wouldn't advise anyone do this, as the format has been changing over time. Finally, there is work on specifying a true "text format" that is meant to be used with view-source and directly maps to the binary format. You can see some proposals if you look at the pull requests in the design repo. When a proposal is accepted and we implement the tooling, you will be able to generate a binary directly from this format, which will be much nicer. ~~~ NickLarsen I'm familiar with the LLVM direct to wasm tool, but I was unable to get it working using the steps from the emscripten docs. The binaryen toolchain is pretty easy to digest, but I've been using the emsdk almost exclusively for the convenience. Once you have to rework part of it from source, I just don't know enough about it to debug it yet. Thanks for the info on where to find outstanding proposals. ------ _pmf_ Hey, the intermediate language is actually a nice step up from JS. ------ benkuykendall Huh, the AST looks pretty human readable. Anyone have tips for writing WebAssembly without using asm.js? Even a pointer to decent documentation would be great. ~~~ niftich Well, if you're comfortable with that AST text-format, check [1] for docs and examples (the .wast files in the links). If you're super brave, there's hints about the Binary AST format here [2] [1] [https://github.com/WebAssembly/design/blob/master/TextFormat...](https://github.com/WebAssembly/design/blob/master/TextFormat.md) [2] [https://github.com/WebAssembly/design/blob/master/BinaryEnco...](https://github.com/WebAssembly/design/blob/master/BinaryEncoding.md) ------ shurcooL This is super useful and helpful, thanks for writing it up! ------ gscott I have a problem with making designing websites more complicated. This snobbery of finding a new complex way of doing something that should be made easier... not harder. ~~~ thomasfoster96 If you understand the problem - that a dynamically typed, interpreted language has performance issues that prevent it being useful in computationally intensive scenarios, but can't be replaced easily - then this solution is actually quite reasonable. ------ bobajeff I still see a lot of misunderstanding here about what WebAssembly is. It's not really a "bytecode" like JVM's. The best simplest way to describe it is a virtual ISA for compilers to target. So the languages that make use of it will be compiled languages like C, C++, Pascal, Fortran etc.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Code to Inspire: Coders Without Borders - prtkgpt http://americas.startupbus.com/2013/a-short-story-behind-coders-without-borders/#.UTeatDCG0rX ====== KateScisel Honestly, I joined startupbus because I needed a ride to SXSW, I didn't expect to meet so awesome people and in 3 days create a project that actually makes a difference and people want. Sign ups are rolling in :) We need your feedback guys, thx Kate ------ Pro_bity I think this is amazing!	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
‘Outsiders’ who cracked the 50-Year-Old Kadison-Singer Problem - retupmoc01 https://www.quantamagazine.org/20151124-kadison-singer-math-problem/ ====== mathgenius > The fact that he, Srivastava and Spielman were able to solve it “says > something about what I hope will be the future of mathematics,” he said. > When mathematicians import ideas across fields, “that’s when I think these > really interesting jumps in knowledge happen.” So much yes. Academia is hyper-focused, over specializing everywhere. There is little incentive to spending time making one's work understandable to a wider audience. I would argue that this is actually dis-incentivised as the downside to "making it look easy" is very bad indeed. But it's worse than this: the typical academic seems to have little ability to even explain their work to others within the same micro-field. Once again, the emphasis is on making it look as complicated as possible, in the interests of securing prestige (and funding). ~~~ seventytwo > There is little incentive to spending time making one's work understandable > to a wider audience. I wonder if there's a way to create incentive here? Or perhaps even a need to fill for the academics who are poor at explaining their work? Maybe some kind of layman's explanation service for technical papers with the authors' hope that by better explaining their research, they might be able to gain a wider audience or be more often referenced? ------ noiseman Computer scientists are hardly "outsiders" to math problems. The famous computer scientists (Turing, Knuth, Dijkstra etc) were all mathematicians by training. ~~~ k2enemy Absolutely nowhere in the article did it suggest that computer scientists are outsiders to math problems. ~~~ sp332 _Word spread quickly through the mathematics community that one of the paramount problems in C_ * _-algebras and a host of other fields had been solved by three outsiders — computer scientists who had barely a nodding acquaintance with the disciplines at the heart of the problem._ ~~~ Ar-Curunir Theoretical computer science _is_ mathematics ~~~ seba_dos1 But it's _not_ "discipline at the heart of the problem". ------ mherrmann I think it's intriguing that they took an experimental approach to what is originally a theoretical problem: Generate lots of examples with a computer and see if you notice any patterns. ~~~ AngrySkillzz We do that all the time in mathematics though; generate some random examples of the phenomena you're investigating to see if there are any "easy" counterexamples. If not, try to visualize them and see if patterns emerge. This is an easy way to build up intuition on a problem: seeing "how" something behaves gives you clues about where to look when you go to prove it. ~~~ Someone Not only for the easy counterexamples, also to check whether the things you are studying actually exist. Once the stuff you think about is abstract enough, you may start thinking of objects with properties P, Q, and R, showing all kinds of wonderful results before somebody else shows that there are no objects having properties P, Q, and R, or that there only are trivial ones. ------ wrigby Unrelated to the actual content, but am I the only one driven crazy by the way that bridge rectifier is hooked up? ~~~ amatus Sometimes you need a diode and all you have in your parts bin is a bridge rectifier with half the current capacity. ------ bsder “All of us were completely convinced it had a negative answer, so none of us was actually trying to prove it” The problem was preconceived bias, not ability to prove. ------ IGetConfused Can anyone link the research articles? ------ OJFord Could do with a "[2013]", just to be clear this is an editorial on the history of the problem and solution, rather than "actual news" of a problem just cracked. (Very interesting regardless though) ~~~ dang We edited the title so it wouldn't imply that the solution itself was news.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Can 'Cover' convince a doubting Valley that Android-first is sexy? - trendspotter http://pandodaily.com/2013/10/25/can-cover-convince-a-doubting-valley-that-android-first-is-sexy/ ====== _lex Given android's upward trending market share dominance, android-first will probably be the default in the next year, with android-only becoming the norm in 3-5 years. As the article points out - you've got to follow the numbers. At that point, iOS will be treated similarly to mac os - there will be groups of people who love and swear by it, but while they'll be rich, they won't be the mainstream market. ------ uncoder0 Android-first? I'm pretty sure Apple would never allow an app like Cover since it would rely on all sorts of Private APIs tp take over the home and lock screen. Cover is 'Android-only' not 'Android-first'... ~~~ guyzero The thesis of the article is that Cover makes Android so compelling that other app developers go for Android first because they'll get more usage via Cover surfacing their app better post-installation.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
The pi is a lie… Happy Half Tau Day! - mhartl http://halftauday.com/? ====== GavinB If we don't fix this, everyone at the galactic congress is going to laugh at us. ~~~ archangel_one If the only thing the others at the galactic congress laugh at us about is our usage of pi instead of tau, I reckon we'd be doing pretty well :) ~~~ zyfo They'll also laught at the west for seeing chess as the ultimate intellectual game instead of Go. _While the Baroque rules of Chess could only have been created by humans, the rules of Go are so elegant, organic, and rigorously logical that if intelligent life forms exist elsewhere in the universe, they almost certainly play Go._ \- Edward Lasker ~~~ nazgulnarsil in the rules for first contact (they do exist) should be "Show them Go and Bach ASAP so we at least have a chance of not looking like idiots." ------ sp332 This tau video was posted already, but it's off the front page and... you really need to see it! <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2321796> ~~~ mhartl I love this video. Vi Hart says, "No! You're making excuses for pi." With this beautifully succinct exclamation, Vi cuts through the pi smokescreen and puts her finger squarely on the problem. This phrase will, I think, become a rallying cry for tauists everywhere. As the author of _The Tau Manifesto_ , I am proud to have Vi on Team Tau! ------ snissn This joke is starting to get pretty annoying.. There are lots of things we do for conventional reasons, such as having electrons exhibit negative charge. If you're doing any actual complicated math or physics, the last thing you care about is having a different constant floating around in your terms. What it is, however, is a great learning tool - This thing called pi, maybe we could get away with, or even be better off calling it 2pi. - Can get lots of people thinking about math and possibly learn something cool like trig. But when used in a psuedo intellectual way, it 'really grinds my gears'. ~~~ rudiger Perhaps you're right about people doing "actual" complicated maths simply not caring about a multiplicative constant. However, a lot of people do most or all of the complicated maths they're ever going to do in their lives when they're in university. During this period, the correct symbol makes every formula and equation simpler and easier to learn. Crucially, it's also during this period that people's understanding of complicated maths is most important, as they are judged by letter grades upon which many of life's opportunities depend. ~~~ amalcon How often do people actually make this error? I make all sorts of errors of that class when doing math by hand, but I've never once been off by a factor of two because the formula calls for 2pi. ~~~ aplusbi It's not about errors but understanding. A lot of math involving trig is abstract enough to be confusing to most people. Tau makes is [slightly] less so. For example, understanding that sin represents the y value of a point on a unit circle is easier when 1 tau is a full circle rather than 2 pi. ~~~ dunstad >>>"...understanding that sin represents the y value of a point on a unit circle..." Wow, I'm enrolled in a college trig class right now and your comment just made me realize that. Thanks for the heightened understanding :) ~~~ swolchok For the sake of completeness, cos is the x value, because of the identity sin(x)^2 + cos(x)^2 = 1. You should find a good unit circle trigonometry picture if your class isn't giving it to you. Wikipedia's picture is frightening (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_circle>), but perhaps <http://www.themathpage.com/atrig/unit-circle.htm> or [http://www.snow.edu/jonathanb/Courses/Math1060/unit_circ_tri...](http://www.snow.edu/jonathanb/Courses/Math1060/unit_circ_trig.html) will help. ------ 3pt14159 I'm having a bit of crisis. Ever since I found out about Tau, I just can't look at my username the same. Maybe I can get it changed to 6pt283185? In either case: Happy me day! ~~~ camiller Hmmmm.... You are half the man you should be. ;) ------ wallflower Good luck to those who hope and dream to attend MIT, for today is admissions decision day! 3/14 9:26pm (not 1:59pm this year because of Class of '15) ~~~ cjtenny I sent this link to the admissions staff. 6/28 decisions next year, perhaps? ~~~ nickbarnwell I think that might be a bit cruel to those who get deferred in December, not to mention slightly impractical ;) Only 7 hours and 15 minutes to go.... ------ ilovecomputers I'm sorry, but on pi day, I eat a whole pie. I am not settling for half a pie. ~~~ camiller No no, tau is 2pi. So eat 2 pies. ~~~ kissickas On June 28th. Today you can eat half a tau... ~~~ ilovecomputers How does one eat a tau? ~~~ camiller convert into pi equivalent units. ------ dskhatri Tell that to my 12-year old nephew who memorized π to 128 decimal places in celebration of today! He'll be heart-broken to find out he memorized an inconsequential number. ~~~ jonsen He should have memorized π in binary then. ~~~ graywh only the last bit is different (if you can find it) ------ randomibis Every objection here is answered succinctly and powerfully at <http://tauday.org/> I suggest you read it if you haven't done so. ------ bugsy This whole thing is ridiculous because it ruins the whole justification for baking pies on 3/14. Those of you that want to study the Dao De Jing on 6/28 are free to do so but please leave those of use that eat pies on 3/14 alone. ~~~ rtaycher At my HS they gave everyone a piece of pie on pi day. ------ graywh It's funny when the dup makes the front page and the original doesn't. Guess it's all a matter of timing. <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2322355> ~~~ mhartl I saw the first submission, but I wanted to use a different headline, so I appended a question mark to the URL and submitted a new link. It's always a good sign when people submit your stuff before you do, but in this case I had a clear idea of what I wanted the headline to be. If I recall correctly, essentially the same thing happened on Tau Day itself, with the same result. ~~~ graywh And I didn't realize _you_ were the duper until later. ------ Fice Just think of 2π as a single symbol — the circle constant. Why do we need another name for 2π? ~~~ tspiteri Is 22π equal to 2 times 2π or is it equal to 11 times 2π? That is, is 22π equal to 2(2π) or (22)π? If 2π is a single symbol, then 22π would be equal to 2(2π), which would be really confusing. ~~~ Fice What I was trying to say is that there is no need to introduce another symbol τ as we can simply refer to "the circle constant" as 2π. I am not suggesting to treat 2π as a single symbol in formulas. ~~~ jerf The _hard_ part is getting people to agree that 2pi is the true "circle constant" and that pi was a historical accident; once you've gotten over that hurdle agreeing that it should have its own symbol is a no-brainer. ------ redcap While we're at it, can we please: \- change electric theory so that it's a flow of negative charge and not positive. \- get the US to use SI units instead of Imperial or whatever they think they're using. ------ tokol I already bought a pie for the office. Where can I find a half Tau? ------ DennisP Kinda messes up Euler's Identity. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler%27s_identity> ~~~ DennisP Ok, so I read down further and I'm wrong. ------ itsnotvalid Just missing a stroke under the horizontal line. ------ gsivil Maybe we should wait for June the 28th for that discussion. Just to show some respect for pi that was with for quite some time ------ tybris bah e^(0.5τi)+1=0 ~~~ tspiteri > bah e^(0.5τi)+1=0 nah e^(τi)=1 ~~~ pixcavator It's not as good! You can get it from the original formula easily, but not vice versa. ~~~ waterhouse You can get _both_ formulas from this one: e^(0.25τ) = i but that doesn't make it a better formula. Or if it did, then the following formula would be infinitely superior to all of the above (and it doesn't directly mention either π or τ): e^(ix) = cos x + i*sin x ~~~ pixcavator Yes and yes. A formula is better if it reveals more of the math behind it, in a compact form. ------ VladRussian well, Gamma(1/2) = sqrt(pi), putting tau there wouldn't make things better. ------ sliverstorm I dunno, I'm rather fond of people forcing pie into my hands on Pi Day... ------ vjwaks You think you've got issues : my sci fi series TAU4 is getting all your emails, as Google alerts! I am learning a great deal! check me out at vjwaks.com or on Amazon books. VJ WAKS TAU4 HAMMERSPACE Los Angeles, CA ------ lmkg Tau is only convenient in geometry. In calculus, Pi rules the day because the natural unit is radians. Since I like calculus more than geometry, I won't be accepting Tau anytime soon. ~~~ ddlatham If your natural unit is radians, then you're arguing for tau rather than against it. How many radians in the circle? Tau How many in half a circle? Tau / 2 How many in a quarter turn? Tau / 4 Much better than mentally switching from a quarter circle to half a pi. And if you're using it in calculus, it's more natural to integrate from 0 to Tau than from 0 to 2 Pi. ------ justatdotin that's 14.3, not 3.14	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
The Eyjafjallajoekull Art Project - garbeam http://eyjafjallajoekull.com/ Icelands second strike in less than 2 years ====== garbeam Please submit your art entries! Presumably Eyjafjallajoekul will stop flights for longer than people imagine...	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Google's Android unit reportedly building a smartwatch - edwinjm http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/21/4133428/is-google-building-a-smart-watch-of-its-own After Samsumg and Apple, now it seems Google is making a smartwatch, too. ====== Mahn Somehow I can't help but suspect Apple will, again, be the first to get the UI of the smartwatch right, and I say this as a long time Android user. Another question is whether the average consumer wants it. I guess at very least it'll take a few months or even a year before smartwatches start selling.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
A brief history of the UUID (2017) - tosh https://segment.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-the-uuid/ ====== ponytech Comments from the first post in 2017: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14508413](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14508413) ------ thanatos_dem Reading through this, I kept thinking that ULIDs[1] give the same benefits described, with wider adoption/support. Luckily it looks like the author has already written up his thoughts on the differences[2]. [1] [https://github.com/ulid/spec](https://github.com/ulid/spec) [2] [https://github.com/segmentio/ksuid/issues/8](https://github.com/segmentio/ksuid/issues/8) ~~~ masklinn UILD is pretty much lying though: > UUID v1/v2 is impractical in many environments, as it requires access to a > unique, stable MAC address RFC 4122 Section 4.1.6 "Node" > For systems with no IEEE address, a randomly or pseudo-randomly generated > value may be used; see Section 4.5. The multicast bit must be set in such > addresses, in order that they will never conflict with addresses obtained > from network cards. There is no requirement of "a unique, stable MAC address" in UUIDv1, and most UUID API should allow overriding the node (and probably clock_seq) fields. > Canonically encoded as a 26 character string, as opposed to the 36 character > UUID > Uses Crockford's base32 for better efficiency and readability (5 bits per > character) > Case insensitive > No special characters (URL safe) You could just encode your UUID in base32… > correctly detects and handles the same millisecond I mean, that's worse than UUIDv1 by 3 orders of magnitude. The lexical ordering is not a lie at least, so there's that. ------ dabber Here's the Google cache until the server regains it's bearings: [https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:xWcDCg...](https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:xWcDCgDGYKwJ:https://segment.com/blog/a-brief- history-of-the-uuid/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us) ------ jph We changed from UUID-4 to ZID ([https://github.com/zidplan/zid](https://github.com/zidplan/zid)) because it's faster and easier for many of our typical projects, including ones with distributed computing and concurrent computing. ZID is a secure random number represented as lowercase hex. No embedded timestamp, no MAC address, no reserved character, etc. ZID-64 uses 64 bits, ZID-128 uses 128 bits, same as a UUID, etc. KSUID describes a hybrid ID approach i.e. the ID is a hybrid of a timestamp as a string and random bits as a string. Our projects use a similar approach, creating a timestamp and ZID (which is more flexible than a KSUID) or if we want embedded time sortability then we use a ULID. ~~~ masklinn > ZID is a secure random number represented as lowercase hex. […] ZID-128 uses > 128 bits, same as a UUID, etc. So… A UUIDv4? ~~~ jph ZID comparison with UUIDv4: 1\. ZID specifies secure random number generation. UUIDv4 does not. Thus ZID is useful in higher-security areas such as creating a unique ID that functions as a password, or bearer token, or proof of knowledge, etc. 2\. ZID specifies that it can be as many bits as you want in multiples of 8, and a notation suffix that says the bit count e.g. "ZID-128" means ZID with 128 bits. UUID can only be 128 bits. Thus ZID is more flexible e.g. ZID-64 is a good fit for 64-bit systems, ZID-256 is good for fulfilling requirements for 256 bits of randomness, etc. This notation suffix is akin to the SHA algorithm, which has SHA-128, SHA-256, SHA-512, etc. 3\. ZID specifies lowercase for hexadecimal string representation. UUID does not specify lowercase or uppercase. Thus ZID is more-specific; ZID parsing is one step easier/faster/clearer; ZID string comparison uses exact character matching rather than case-insensitive matching. Thus ZID skips entire areas of UUID bugs that we see in practice, such as one UUID system that emits lowercase, one UUID system that emits uppercase, and an integration system that needs to do string comparisons. 4\. ZID is always random. UUID has multiple algorithms, as you point out. In practice we have seen the UUID multiple algorithms cause confusion and bugs e.g. when a spec says "UUID" and the implementation uses a UUIDv4 yet the spec's intent was a UUIDv1, or vice versa. Thus ZID makes it easier to write a better spec. 5\. ZID subsections all satisfy proof of randomness e.g. computational statistical analysis. UUIDv4 does not, because UUID4 uses 6 fixed bits to indicate the algorithm. Thus ZID is easier and faster to prove as random, both as a whole and also as any subsection such as by subsampling. ------ classichasclass It's remarkable how much influence Domain/OS and Apollo had on later computing and how few people actually remember them. I have an HP 425t here with a Domain keyboard port, but after someone upgraded it to a PA-RISC 715, the keyboard port is no longer connected to anything internally. Somehow this seems metaphorical. I also remember their computer graphics division. "Fair Play" made the rounds at a lot of CGI festivals around that time. ------ amaccuish I guess the NCA/NCS rpc stuff explains why UUIDs are so pervasive on Windows, since DCE/RPC was based on NCA, and MSRPC is based on DCE/RPC. ------ ch33zer I don't understand the desire to store timestamp information into a UUID. Why not just add an extra timestamp field to your data? That seems like such a simpler solution then embedding it into your UUID. I would go further and argue that embedding anything but randomness into your UUID is a bad idea that you will pay for in the future. ~~~ grzm > _" I don't understand the desire to store timestamp information into a > UUID"_ One reason is to be able provide sortability with respect to what is often a surrogate key attribute, as listed in the introduction: > _" It borrows core ideas from the ubiquitous UUID standard, adding time- > based ordering and more friendly representation formats."_ You can find additional motivations in the "Time is on our side" section: [https://segment.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-the- uuid/#time-i...](https://segment.com/blog/a-brief-history-of-the-uuid/#time- is-on-our-side) > _" In Cassandra, TimeUUIDs are sortable by timestamp, quite useful when > needing to roughly order by time."_ While you may not agree with the the reasons, I think they are understandable. ------ the_arun Timestamp in the UUID will make sense if these are generated by one computing node. Even if the nodes are off by a nano second in a cluster, we lose the accuracy. ~~~ grzm Timestamps in UUID values shouldn't be (and generally aren't) used for coordination between nodes (where such precision an accuracy would be important): they're used for rough sorting and partitioning of values. Indeed, node-generated timestamps should never be used for coordination regardless of whether they're encoded in UUIDs or not. ------ OliverJones Credit where credit is due: Apollo Computer founder Paul Leach dreamed up and implemented the UID concept, and later took it to Microsoft. ------ gumby what a strange article. No, networked computing was not invented by Apollo and indeed, I like how the author describes the first UUID as having been based on prior UUIDs. I feel dumber after reading this. ~~~ contrast Did you read it, though? It absolutely does not say that Apollo invented network computing, it just says it was one of the companies at that time working in that field. Of course there were unique identifiers before the first UUID standard was defined, and the author gives examples. Acknowledging precursors, following the threads of how a particular implementation or standard developed, is the only intelligent way to read up on its history. The dumb thing would be to read into this things the author simply never said or implied. ~~~ cfmcdonald I think the clearly wrong statement here is "Workstations were really the first networked computers."	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Show HN: C2mon-Core - Shared404 https://github.com/EvanGHoose/c2mon ====== Shared404 This is the first semi-serious code I've open sourced. I'm mostly a sysadmin, and not a particularly good programmer, so if you see anything done badly, please let me know. I know that I did a bad job with error handling, I couldn't quite grok how to do it properly. edit: changed word.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
What is your Sublime Text workflow? - joshearl I'm curious: What does your editing workflow look like when you work with Sublime? What type of development do you do, and what plugins and features are most useful? ====== allyant PHP/Rails web developer here using OSX: I like to keep ST full screen with the file browser hidden (Cmd + K + B) with just the code being displayed. When I need to find a file in the project I simply use the file finder (Cmd + P), or if I can't recall the file name or need to create new files I open back the file browser (Again using Cmd + K + B). I don't really take full advantage of ST plugins, sometimes use Emmet and have BracketHighlighter installed. Theme wise I use the Tomorrow-Night-Eighties colour scheme, Soda Dark theme along with Menlo 12 font. I also keep chrome open full screen again in another window and swipe across to that when I need to view changes (Gets automatically updated when made using the LiveReload app). ------ jimymodi I mostly do Web Development with Python, PHP, Javascript, HTML and CSS. The plugins I use are * Package Control (<http://wbond.net/sublime_packages/package_control>) - For easy installation of plugins. * Tag (<https://github.com/SublimeText/Tag>) - Autocompletation, Indentation, Lint of HTML tags. * Sublime Linter (<https://github.com/SublimeLinter/SublimeLinter>) - To identify the parse errors on the fly. ------ bbeckford I write Javascript/PHP/HTML/CSS in Sublime 2 on Windows 8 with Chrome for previewing. My main workflow is to have my active projects added on the file browser so I have ctrl+p to find files, I have Chrome open on my second monitor and I use the fantastic SFTP plugin to upload to my server on save. I use the LivePage Chrome plugin to reload pages when something changes - [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/livepage/pilnojpmd...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/livepage/pilnojpmdoofaelbinaeodfpjheijkbh) ------ deweller For PHP/coffeescript/LessCSS projects, here is something that I use: I create a Phing build file in build/build.xml. Then I map a key combination (alt+super+b) that builds the default Phing target defined in that file. I find this helpful for quickly compiling Coffeescript and Less CSS on my local machine. ------ CodeLikeABawss 1\. Open Sublime Text 2\. Write code like a bawss 3\. There is no step 3 ~~~ onlyup So you never get around to releasing your code either, eh?	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Late applications for summer 2010 have all been considered - pg http://ycombinator.posterous.com/late-applications-for-summer-2010-have-all-be ====== avk Thanks for accepting late applications and for lettings us know the cycle's over. Maybe next time :)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
RHODOS – A Microkernel-Based Distributed Operating System (1994) [pdf] - vezzy-fnord http://darknedgy.net/files/rhodos94.pdf ====== unboxed_type Why this paper deserves attention in your opinion? I found nothing remarkable there. ~~~ vezzy-fnord Focuses specifically on multiserver interactions in reasonable detail. It was also targeted towards the m68k, but that isn't covered in this particular paper. ------ ranjeethacker Its future of OS.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
DOJ Closing Bank Accounts for "undesirable" but legal businesses/employees - melindajb http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/chase-closing-porn-stars-bank-accounts/ ====== dragonwriter Actual headline from source article: "Chase Closing Porn Star’s Bank Accounts" First line of text (emphasis added): "Chase Bank has been closing the accounts of porn stars and others affiliated with the adult film industry, and the Federal Government _may_ have something to do with it" Then later it points to articles about Operation Choke Point that have already been discussed here recently.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Julian Assange claims his encrypted laptops were stolen in 2010 while traveling - jessicasumthing http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/09/julian-assange-claims-his-encrypted-laptops-were-stolen-in-2010-while-traveling/ ====== grecy > the document revealed that the police force was instructed to violate the > Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations in order to arrest me: That's great they have direct evidence the Police were instructed to violate the Vienna Convention. More and more everyday we're seeing Governments doing whatever they hell they want, in blatant violation of laws - laws from their own countries and international laws. Sooner or later, people will have to stand up and fight this. ~~~ WildUtah Even as a youngster, well before I was ten, I learned that airline checked baggage is a gamble. Specifically, it's roulette. Sometimes it's a 00 and you get your bag on time. Sometimes it's red and you get your bag an hour to a week after the plane lands. And other times it's black and you never see you baggage again. It's not a place you'd put anything you really care about. ------ johansch He put his super important laptops in checked baggage? (What kind of dimwhit does that?) And claims a conspiracy because he (says) there were lost? Come on... ------ powertower From the article - > unlawful interference in [WikiLeaks'] _journalistic activities_. From - [http://wikileaks.org/cablegate.html](http://wikileaks.org/cablegate.html) > Wikileaks began on Sunday November 28th 2010 publishing 251,287 leaked > United States embassy cables... Indiscriminately releasing dumps of secret US embassy cables in no way can be classified as _journalistic activities_. If on the other hand WikiLeaks only released a specific few cables that in some way showed a real crime taking place, that would be another story. But what they did had only one purpose - promote WikiLeaks, embarrass the US, attempt to hurt the US, give ammunition to non-US players. While what WikiLeaks did is not a crime (since they did not facilitate the theft of those cables, and Julian is not a US citizen), what they did cannot be classified as _journalistic activities_. The notion that they did this to expose the fact that US has self-interests first and foremost is absurd. Every nation is like that, except for the one or two that are committing suicide. ~~~ yuubi [http://wikileaks.org/static/html/faq.html](http://wikileaks.org/static/html/faq.html) says > For this release we are releasing the documents in a gradual manner, > reviewing them with the assistance of our media partners. which doesn't exactly sound "indiscriminate". ------ dreen I understand they had to wait but... I wouldnt like to be a source now. ~~~ jessaustin Assange must have set off alarm bells for potential sources even before this latest news. For example, it seems that while Snowden might have gotten some advice from Assange, so far he has done all his leaking through other channels. ------ cube13 So this happened 3 years ago... and they're doing something about it now? If this was important, wouldn't it have made sense to deal with it, say, 3 years ago? ~~~ toyg TFA says he waited for the trial of Chelsea Manning to end, which is fair enough -- Manning was in a delicate position already, no point in making it even more complicated. Also, part of the alleged activities were put on record during that trial, so they cannot be denied now.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: How to sell your app/side project while working full-time? - bradtx As in B2B sales, where nearly all potential clients are only open Monday - Friday. ====== codegeek Automate as much as possible. Payments ? Slap a stripe checkout form (unless you happen to be in a country where Stripe is still not supported) or Paypal for others. Onboarding: Make it as easy and smooth as possible for clients to get started after signinup. Show them exactly where and how to start. Documentation & FAQ: Create tons of it. If a client has a question, thy should be able to resolve it through your documentation for the most part. Don't let little simple questions to come to you EVERY time. Setup a Support Ticket system and only answer via emails/support ticket for questions that cannot be resolved via your documentation. If a client is not aware of documentation, point them to it before answering the same question again and again. Get a decent smartphone and answer the tickets/email through that. You could even do it sitting at your desk or during lunch break If you absolutely need to schedule phone calls, schedule them during lunch break and find a relatively quiet place where you can talk. If not quiet enough, tell the client that you are travelling and they may hear background noise. As long as it is not a screeching train, clients won't mind specially if you already told them. Hustle. Do whatever it takes to get the first few clients except illegal activity of course. You may have to cross a few lines at work (lying about lunch plans etc) but I personally think those are reasonable to do. ~~~ anfractuosity Regarding payments can you recommend a simple API over both Stripe & Paypal out of interest (or would you just implement both using their respective APIs?) I know Paypal has its Instant Payment Notification API, were they ping your server once a payment has gone through, I assume Stripe has something similar. I was just wondering if there's a simple API, that can handle payments through both Paypal and Stripe etc. ~~~ adamqureshi I actually had a problem with PP. They can freeze you without notice at anytime (something todo with risk exposure). So now Im sticking with STRIPE. Unless the customer insist. Yeah STRIPE api is super easy for integration. I get my money in 2 business days. 2.9% fee+30 cents P/transaction. ~~~ CodeWriter23 Stripe or any merchant bank for that matter will freeze funds, or extend rolling payout intervals if your refund and chargeback metrics indicate a need to hedge against your losses via refunds and chargebacks. Stripe is pretty up front about it: [https://stripe.com/docs/payouts#payout- schedule](https://stripe.com/docs/payouts#payout-schedule) while PayPal buries it in the click-wrap TOS. Maybe that's why people get totally unglued when PayPal impounds their funds. PayPal Capital has also been known to solicit loans to companies that had their funds impounded...we just swiped your cash, can we loan it back to you for an extra charge? ------ callmeed Contrarian view: don't spend time automating things. Spend any extra time you have selling and building the product people need. If someone needs your product, they'll probably be fine with an invoice. Spend the early mornings before work prospecting and reaching out to potential customers. If you're on the west coast, even better because you can conduct sales calls with east coast people who are already at work. After work, you can check-in and see if anyone got back to you. Track it all in a Trello board or spreadsheet. I highly recommend reading _Predictable Revenue_ and putting as many of its practices in place as you can. ~~~ mvindahl As programmers we really _like_ to automate away the mundane stuff, and we're not too fond of human interaction. I'm grossly exaggerating, of course, but for a lot of us, this was the push and pull that originally drove us to hack away at computers. Creating a big and shiny automated processes is almost a no brainer for us. Yet, I believe that you are absolutely right. We should fight our inclination to see everything as a nail for the hammer that we master. The ROI on automating everything from the outset is not worth it, and if the business flops, it's just wasted effort. Worse yet, it's a missed opportunity for learning about the customers and about the domain. So yes, do things that don't scale. If and when you get in the air, profile the business processes and only then automate the bottlenecks. It's the only sane way when you think about it. ~~~ HeyLaughingBoy Not only is he absolutely right, interaction is a selling point. A prospective customer/client is usually more comfortable with someone who keeps up an open line of communication than having it automated away by forms, FAQs, etc. For many industries, they _expect_ the hands-on approach and this can be the way you get business over other competitors. I'm not kidding when I say that simply being friendly has won me business. ------ rsoto The naive answer would be to automate it: put up a Stripe or Paypal form and let them pay for your product. However, if you're in B2B, the client would need to trust you, as in meeting you, the sales process, even training. What I would do is not automating the sales process, but the leads process: so you don't waste time in leads that are just passing by or checking out your product. With those you could arrange a meeting and then perhaps close the sale. After you get some clients, you could hire someone to do the sales process you can't do. Or, if you have some savings, you can hire right away and ignore the previous paragraph. Another option would be to have a sales co-founder, but that's another story. ~~~ obilgic Exactly this. Don't automate sales! Automate lead generation! learn from your potential customers, improve your product and perfect your sales->setup->training->support process. Once you do all this, and satisfied customers are pouring in, then find a way to scale. ~~~ uladzislau What do you use for outbound lead generation? ------ helpsite \- Keep your product really simple. The more complex it is, the more you need to teach and sell. If your product does one thing well and can communicate its value clearly on a homepage, it requires a lot less work from you. \- Tactically: you don't need to respond to emails M-F 9-5. Yes, that's when many B2B customers are working, but they don't know what timezone you are in, and it's not uncommon to have a delay in answering emails. Just be sure to answer emails before work and after work. \- Create lots of FAQs (using [https://helpsite.io](https://helpsite.io) – shameless plug) so you aren't answering the same questions over and over. \- (Actually you'll still have to answer many of those questions, but at least you'll have a quick link you can send them) \- Focus more on inbound marketing (creating blog posts, SEO, AdWords, etc.) rather than outbound sales, which requires a much higher amount of active work that you can't do with a full-time job. ------ 02thoeva We ran our side-project, [https://emailoctopus.com](https://emailoctopus.com), for around 3 years before going full time. As a low-cost platform, our sales are quite low touch, so we'd be able to set up our marketing projects (Facebook ads, email campaigns) in the evenings and just let them run on a schedule. Support was a little bit more tricky, however. The only solution we found here, other than outsourcing to an Upworker, was to try to minimise support. Make your help docs as useful as possible and spend time on improving error messages. I would also advise you to switch to working on the project full-time as soon as you can afford to. Our growth went through the roof (we'd spent around 3 years getting to £1k MRR and tripled that in the first full-time month). Some reasons why? We could spend time with our customers and focus on improving our metrics, the stuff that you just can't automate away. We also began treating it more as a business and valued our own time spent on the project more, which resulted in increasing our prices and getting across our value proposition better. ------ wetwiper Myself and a colleague are in this same position... we've just launched a store selling physical products, with a 2nd product store (with a completely different product set) launching in a few weeks. And then we're also working on an app that should be ready in about 3 or so months (at current projections). Our approach has been approaching people or businesses in similar fields or related industries, and pitching the products to them and getting them them to sign up as affiliates. It reduces our income quite a bit and we make very little off it, but instead of us trying to reach the people they know and are in contact with all on our own, we effectively use them and benefit from them doing our marketing. They are keen to do it, since they have a good incentive to do so. Se make it worth their while. The long term goal is building up a brand, and then profiting off of that. In the meantime, everybody wins if they generate sales, but we dont have expensives if there isnt. And yes, we met with potential affiliates during our lunch breaks, or after hours, etc. A couple were also generated through friends, family, and social group contacts. ------ akanet Hah, this is really something. I literally gave a talk at Dropbox entitled "how to start a side business without quitting your day job," and a lot of it was about B2B SaaS sales. You might enjoy it: [https://youtu.be/J8UwcyYT3z0](https://youtu.be/J8UwcyYT3z0) ------ saluki Here are some quick ideas: Use your lunch hour. Sell to businesses outside your time zone before and after work. Hire a part time sales person. Send postcards. Improve your online signup flow. ~~~ mxuribe I've heard pretty much all the other good recommendations that others have added, but this one - "Sell to businesses outside your time zone before and after work" \- is novel! This is a great idea, though I can imagine there might be some challenges, such as if support issues peak/surge, there will be a few sleepless nights...but that might happen even if dealing with clients in same time zone. Regardless, this is quite a novel idea; and i think a good one! Kudos! ~~~ dakom It's so interesting that this comes across as novel, though I totally understand how that can be - it's an unavoidable reality for those of us building side projects while living on the other side of the pond :) It also plays into the R&D stage where the dynamic of participating in forum posts and irc/slack chats is a whole other experience. There's a forum or two where I tend to post a question at night, and don't even look at it till the next morning because I know nobody's going to really get to it till then (my time, in Israel). The hard part with this setup is getting motivated after a full day of work, family, etc. Pushing before/after work is perfect in terms of time, but not in terms of energy. Burnout/fatigue becomes a tougher challenge. That's really a whole other subject though... ------ leggomylibro Don't, until you've gone over it with your current employer and had them sign off on your ownership of the project and its potential intellectual property. If they won't, you'll need to keep it as a side project while you're working for them, unless you're okay with relinquishing some rights to it. ~~~ kingnothing This advice is highly dependent on where you live. Look at the laws that govern your locale. ------ rdegges I just sold one of my side projects, Ipify ([https://www.ipify.org/](https://www.ipify.org/)) for a reasonable amount of money just a month ago. It's something that I built on my free time, and ran for several years successfully. I was contacted with a purchase offer, did some negotiation, and ended up selling it several weeks later. I realize this isn't the sort of sales you were asking about in the title, but figured it might be useful information. If anyone has questions, I'm happy to answer them. ~~~ jventura Is it as simple as returning the IP address from the incoming TCP/IP message? If so, damn, why don't I have this kind of ideas! :) Edit: it seems so - [https://github.com/rdegges/ipify- api/blob/master/api/get_ip....](https://github.com/rdegges/ipify- api/blob/master/api/get_ip.go) ------ forkLding Realistically speaking, you should do research and just talk to people with problems and try to figure out how to convince them. Then start setting realistic goals, how much do you think you can handle per day and then per week. You have a busy schedule and so does your client, first thing is to not automate if you're starting out because you have to design out the system you're going to use gradually. I've tried straight-out automation but just like code most times you have to tear it down a couple times. I recommend trying to figure how to get people to reject their current software or their current ways if not using software and use yours and find a common theme you can talk about to other prospective customers because I think that will be the main bulk of your sales and marketing efforts as we live in more software-saturated times. ------ robinjfisher I'm just beginning to push my product (it's been around for 6 years) and have certainly noticed the customer requests increasing. I agree with a lot of the advice here and in particular I've just started building out the knowledge base in Intercom to mitigate some of the support queries. Sales is tough but can be worth it. I've spent lunch hours walking round the business park where I work on the phone and those calls have led to multiple other leads where I've been working with a consultant rather than the end client. Putting the time in does help. One thing I would say: be honest that the app is a side project whilst you grow it. I've found customers very understanding and willing to accommodate calls at specific times or accepting of slight delays in support queries. Good luck. ~~~ daliwali Care to explain how your product has been around for 6 years and you're just beginning to push it? ~~~ robinjfisher Of course. Started as a side project, part of learning to code. Had my mom's company as first subscriber and then periodically people would find me and sign up. They were paying £13/month and it dropped into the bank account - nice side earner. Never really had time to promote it and Adwords is just an expensive game unless one has data on conversion rates and can accurately calculate a CPA. So, it's kinda trundled along with me tinkering in spare time - upgrading the code base but not really developing it. Recently did a Slack integration which has noticeably increased traffic (1-2 trial signups per day)[1] and that's driving more development requests and encouraging me to blog a bit more, promote on social etc. I've also been working with some HR consultants who are selling to their clients. Long term plans are to build our more of a basic HRIS rather than just focus on absence management. Waiting for Digital Ocean to launch their object storage so I can see what that looks like versus S3 or similar. Main challenge is to balance time between feature requests and marketing. One of the suggestions I received here many years ago[2] was to "internationalise" the language so need to have landing page which is more US-oriented e.g. PTO management. [1] [https://pasteboard.co/GDUbwPA.png](https://pasteboard.co/GDUbwPA.png) QTD numbers from Stripe. So just over a month. [2] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3666318](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3666318) ------ ipapi-co What worked for our SaaS ([https://ipapi.co](https://ipapi.co)): \- Extremely responsive and flexible with customer's requests. We've implemented some features overnight in response to a customer query. Turns out, some of the features have helped us with revenue growth :) \- Honesty. Even though you might lose a subscription in the short run, word of mouth helps to win back a lot more. It's delightful to break your rules if it eases a cash strapped customer. We frame such "thank-you" e-mails for motivation. The goodwill garnered has helped us grow by word of mouth. ------ karlhughes I have a lot of trouble with this too as I work 9-5 and have had a couple side projects with a few customers. I always suck at the sales and marketing bit. My latest tool has been just building a huge checklist of (mostly) passive things I can do to drum up business and focusing on just two or three of them every week: [https://github.com/karllhughes/side-project- marketing](https://github.com/karllhughes/side-project-marketing) This helps me stay focused. ------ donmatito B2B Sales can mean a lot of things... from very low-touch to involving a lot of in-person time. To help you better, we'd need to know more about your product and your market. ~~~ bradtx K-12 schools and universities to be specific. My app is a bubble sheet grader that grades multiple choice questions and captures free response-style answers. Much like Scantron, but with automated data entry: [https://swiftgrades.com](https://swiftgrades.com) ------ pryelluw Hire someone to do it for you and automate as much of the process as possible. Mind you, you dont necessarily need an outbound sales person. You may do with an inbound marketer. ------ socialmediaisbs I think the best thing would be to run a PPC campaign when you're at work, so you can acquire emails, and then email those leads through automation (you can do this with Mailchimp) just to confirm their interest. Then, you have to use your lunch hour or anytime you can sneak away to get the deal done. That's if you have a budget. If you don't, I like the idea of hiring a sales person. P.S. I wrote a book on branding and marketing. If anyone reading this want a free .pdf copy, feel free to email me at [email protected] ------ helen842000 The best thing you could do would be to take Weds or Thurs afternoons off. See if your employer will let you re-arrange or reduce your hours. Funnel leads to book demos on those afternoons you are free then follow up in your lunch breaks when back at work. You could argue with a full time job you aren't available enough yet to be there to support B2B customers. It might be worth the 10% pay cut to take a half day each week if you truly want to give this a go. ------ Naushad Make sure you do a fivesecondtest.com for your landing page. Thats a make or break. Everything follows after whats the first impression. ------ bald Most of the responses in this thread now revolve around collecting money from already paying customers. I think we need a proper definition of what the OP meant with "sales": Acquiring new customers? Onboarding them? Or billing existing customers? ------ hxmc [https://medium.com/leaf-software/5-tips-for-actually- shippin...](https://medium.com/leaf-software/5-tips-for-actually-shipping-a- side-project-72080f7b8d5e) ------ marxama Maybe see with your employer if you could start working part-time? Taking two hours off every day, or one day per week or something like that might be enough to help move your project along. Best of luck! ------ PeterisP Hire a salesman? Seriously, B2B sales tend to _require_ "touch", and it's often reasonable for sales to require as much or more man-hours than developing the actual product. ------ etattva This advice has been given but from my experience, do not try to automate things unless you have enough customers and revenue. Spend time selling and promoting. ------ realworlddl Automate everything. I did the same with my side project (www.deepartistry.com). Use templates and third party integrations like Stripe whenever possible. ------ muzani Pay someone else to handle it. It might actually cost you quite a bit early on, but a relative or friend might be happy to help. ------ diegoperini Learn from PgModeler. Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with its author. ------ gargarplex Go work for a company in another time zone ------ yalogin Are there any sites that help me estimate how much it would cost me to run a consumer facing site using Amazon’s service (or others)? ~~~ ryannevius This is built in to the AWS platform: [https://calculator.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html](https://calculator.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html) ------ debt Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, quit your job and do it full-time. ~~~ dakom Self-sacrifice is admirable when family and dependents don't suffer from it. Realistically, most startups fail and it's negligent to place one's family on the line given the odds of failure. Even for the sake of accumulating debt, it may not be wise (who knows when you'll need to take a loan for groceries, tuition, etc.) I really hate how this attitude is so abundant, and rarely comes from somebody who knows what it is to live check-to-check, already be maxed out on loans, support a family, and _still_ build something on the side. ~~~ jcadam Thank you. Not to mention you'll lose your health insurance for your family if you quit your job (at least in the US). ------ throw2bit Stripe is US only and very bad charge back fees and worst dispute resolution. After losing a lot of money by using Stripe as a small time side projector, I recommend using PayPal, they have all that Stripe provides. I don't understand why people go behind Stripe. Because Stripe is cool ? Paypal has everything Stripe has plus zero dispute fees. Stripe has 15$ fees. You will feel the burn when you have lot of disputes which are common. Stripe has statistically favoured customers in disputes as far as my sales. So I ditched Stripe way back. Let Stripe be equal to PayPal. Otherwise using Stripe do not give you much advantage. Edit: Stripe is not US only, but the countries that they support is very limited. Not recommended if your product has worldwide customers. ~~~ andysinclair Stripe is not US only, it's available in 25 countries: [https://stripe.com/global](https://stripe.com/global) ~~~ throw2bit It was when I tried it way back. Didnt care to check back. My customers are from everywhere around the world. Not only from those petty list of countries that Stripe supports. I cant tell them, sorry you cannot buy my product because the payment processor dont support your country. What a turn off it will be for the customers. ~~~ bowersbros Those 25 countries are where to _seller_ can be based. Stripe allows purchases from over 135 countries. [https://stripe.com/docs/currencies#charge- currencies](https://stripe.com/docs/currencies#charge-currencies) ~~~ throw2bit Don't you understand ? Using Paypal anyone can sell from anywhere in the world. Why are you still insisting on Stripe ? "Stripe allows purchases from over 135 countries". I want my product to be sold all over the world. Stripe don't do that. Stripe has a good API than Paypal and it ends there. I ditched Stripe for Paypal and I never looked back, sales from everywhere in the world, rather than customer's emailing me..."It says cannot accept my card" ~~~ wegi Well I have the same problems with Paypal that you have with Stripe. Its also not true that you can use Paypal everywhere. As a German citizen I cannot use Subscriptions with Paypal for my company for example.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Conflicting goals between VCs and entrepreneurs - amichail It seems to me that VCs and entrepreneurs have conflicting goals. VCs are looking to hit a home run in one out of ten attempts. Entrepreneurs are looking to maximize their probability of financial independence -- which is a different goal altogether involving less risk and a lower payoff. ====== klein_waffle Yep. Joel Spolsky summarized the risk/reward imbalance in an article: <http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/VC.html> This one is a bit more personal and rather bitter: "An Engineer's View of Venture Capitalists". [http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/careers/careerstemplate.jsp?Art...](http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/careers/careerstemplate.jsp?ArticleId=i090101) This guy's main experience was in the 1980s, so it doesn't take into account technical people who got rich in the 90s boom and then went into VC. So things may have somewhat improved, in that you might find VCs who really grok your idea. Nevertheless, that doesn't address the mismatch of incentives. ------ gigamon Take a look of the following which is my on-line book in progress. One of the chapter is entitled "How to turn your VC into your worst enemy". <http://www.startupforless.com> At the end of the post, there are quite a few links for comments from successful entrepreneurs on their experience with VC's. My own advise is to deal with VC's as what they are, not what you think they are. Do not romanticize, but also do not demonize. ------ sethjohn I've been thinking a lot about the 10x rule recently. There was a post on YCnews a few weeks ago suggesting that the real success rate was much closr to 50%. <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=74562> At a panel of Boston-area VCs I attended, each of them said they had no idea where the mythical 10x number came from and that their success rate was closer to 50-90%. I seem to remember YC suggesting the sucess rate was much higher than 10%. Granted a lot of these 'successes' are companies that are barely managing to stay in business...but they haven't gone bust either. Maybe a better way to look at the situation is that the VCs want to keep as many companies above water as possible in hopes that some smaller percentage will be a huge hit. Bottom line, I don't think the goals of VCs and entrepeneurs are really as divergent as the 10x factor suggests.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: Windows Laptops with Good Keyboards? - puranjay My 2018 Macbook's butterfly keyboard started causing issues 4 months after I bought it. Apple will replace it but it's clear this problem will happen again.<p>So I've decided to move back to Windows. Linux isn't an option because some tools I use are Windows/Mac only<p>What are some good Windows laptops currently on the market with good keyboards? Writing is a big part of my work so a solid keyboard is a must.<p>I see some Thinkpads on Amazon for $600 right now, which is honestly too cheap for a Thinkpad. I've also been burned by Lenovo in the past. Is a Thinkpad still a good option then? ====== ssvss I would suggest waiting for Icelake laptops. Recent Twitter thread from someone asking for a similar suggestion. [https://mobile.twitter.com/lemire/status/1156025690619146240](https://mobile.twitter.com/lemire/status/1156025690619146240) [https://mobile.twitter.com/Wunkolo/status/115949643138157363...](https://mobile.twitter.com/Wunkolo/status/1159496431381573632) [https://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/cnmail/10nm_ice_l...](https://www.reddit.com/r/hardware/comments/cnmail/10nm_ice_lake_based_dell_xps_13_inch_7390_2in1/) ------ siphon22 You can't go wrong with any of the thicker Thinkpads like the P series(I personally use a P50 now), but that does come with lesser portability. With the thin and light models like the X1 Carbon, there's probably some level of compromise to get the laptops that thin, but I'm sure it's still miles ahead your current Macbook's keyboard. Other notable mentions: LG Gram, XPS (2018/2019 models) ------ lukaszkups Asus Zenbook / Thinkpads (although personally I don't like its "raw/oldschool" design) / Surface Book (2) ------ polyterative Huawei's matebooks are nice ~~~ puranjay They look nice but are they long term reliable? ~~~ __warlord__ I have a matebook X pro running Linux (with its own limitations under Linux) for a year now and without any issue. Battery is excellent, keyboard and screen are fantastic as well. ------ gesman Msft Surface Book 2 MSI GT 76	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Microsoft downloading Windows 10 to your machine just in case - JustSomeNobody http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2425381/microsoft-is-downloading-windows-10-to-your-machine-just-in-case ====== maxharris Anything that reduces the usage of IE is a very good thing! I've been working on a project for a couple of months, testing on Chrome, Safari and Firefox. With zero effort, things look great in Edge, but completely broken in IE. If this takes off, it will be a great thing from a web development perspective!	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: How do think tanks make money? - mbesto ====== Rhodee I worked in that space for seven years. To put it plainly, we were paid to create ideas by entities and individuals who wanted a certain frame or perspective to emerge or persist in the wild. ~~~ noodle i understand generally what you're talking about, but could you elaborate or provide an example? i've always been kind of curious, myself ~~~ jellicle CEO selects appropriate thinktank, says, "I run an oil and gas company. I need you to produce articles that are critical of global warming. Here's one million dollars." Thinktank goes and hires a couple of global warming "skeptics" for $50K/year. They produce writings and speakings, which the thinktank personnel shop around to appropriate outlets for minimal fees. Op-Eds are distributed to newspapers. Pre-edited 5-minute segments are distributed to TV news programs. The media outlets are happy to receive ready-to-publish content for cheap. You the viewer receive all this information against global warming from a "neutral, non-partisan" thinktank. You are likely to believe it. The name of the CEO's oil and gas corporation is never mentioned. Money laundering is taking money from illegal sources and turning it into clean, usable money. Thinktanks are engaged in the practice of idea laundering. ~~~ mbesto Aren't these just PR firms then? ~~~ GHFigs Think tanks: are they just PR firms? This person with important title from important-sounding organization says yes. Critics like this other guy say no. The more important person says the critics are wrong. The only thing that is certain is that the debate about whether think tanks are just PR firms continues. ~~~ iuguy Tom Logan from the Institute For Studies says that Think Tanks are an "Invaluable source of impartial opinion that help reflect the thoughts, movements and science that drives the world." Ribena de-Farquhar-Toss from the Policy Research (PR) Think Tank disagrees, suggesting that Think Tanks form "part of the process by which corporations and governments brain wash us into spending money we haven't earned on shit we don't need." ------ tibbon I was part of getting something similar off the ground the other year (Web Ecology Project, www.webecologyproject.org). From what I've seen a Think Tank basically acts like an academic research group, but does commissioned research when possible. Getting started is a bit of chicken and egg thing, but once you're rolling you're kicking out research which seems to entice private companies into wanting to know more or use your tools. With Web Ecology Project, we started off doing research on Twitter stuff, happened to grab every tweet out there on the Iran Election in 2009, self published a paper, and then boom. Tons of people wanted our data, expertise, analysis, etc. We weren't ready for this business-like shift, so we somewhat self-imploded for being able to run with it business-wise, but we're still doing research. ~~~ Rhodee Its funny I had the EXACT opposite experience. I realized I wanted to make the products and left to look for opportunities to do so. But I think the point is that people use think tanks for self-affirmation. Whether its research, talking points, connections - my boss once said - it's better to be used than useless. ------ inerte Most of their work is commissioned, that is, some(one/group/thing) comes to them and ask for their opinion, or they sell topical reports once in a while. Most think tanks have a bias, and have their "findings" used as justifications. ~~~ mbesto Which makes me inherently think to never trust anything they say. ------ dasht Some do a lot more than just commissioned research. It's a very social business and one that, well beyond simple commissioned reports, is used by customers to maintain asymmetric advantages in information awareness and social access. (Some of the best established tanks are staffed in part by elites who, interestingly enough, achieve some notoriety outside of work for throwing some of the most famous elite dinner parties and such.) Besides commissioned reports: Expensive periodicals: informing an elite of little known new developments in a field of interest. For example, one article might be a survey of recent research in microprocessor fabrication written for an audience of investment bankers and CEOs. Expensive membership libraries: Over time, some tanks accumulate extensive libraries of reports, many of which remain useful long after they're written. You can buy one-off copies or buy memberships. Elite Conferences: Some run invitation-only conferences. Public speaking, article publishing: self explanatory. Lobbying: self explanatory. Being a social butterfly: This requires some explanation because generally money does not change hands. In some cases, the reason the tank is able to do the kind of research is because it "knows all the right people" (and knows the diplomacy of how to speak with them without raising too many legal or social problems). Thus, a report might just come from looking up lots of open source stuff and synthesizing ... or it might come in part from having a lot of conversations with a related elite (who, normally, are barred or just would not speak directly with one another on the matter). As the diplomat, spreading around selected information while protecting sources, etc., they can help elites in industry and government to be "situationally aware" in ways that the general public can not. Nobody pays them for that but the social butterfly role helps to reinforce the "brand" of the more serious tanks, and so when people are ready to spend on something, they have some reason to think of the tank. I imagine that these days there are innovations I haven't seen yet (but that must be there) like "hidden" social networks, and such. ------ kongqiu From my experience at a political think tank, money comes from big donors who want intellectual support of their pre-conceived positions. There is some "independent research" that goes on along the edges of the "accepted stances," but when a big donor wants an article slanted this way or that, they get it. ------ wmeredith From what I can deduce, they get paid to cheerlead or spread FUD by parties with a stake in their area of expertise. ------ notahacker Generally they don't; their overheads are covered by those with a vested interest in supporting their continued existence. Usually they exist to analyse details and implications of policy decisions proposed or opposed by individuals and organisations that fund them. ------ orls In my (limited) exposure to the think tank "industry", it seems that many make a fair chunk of their bottom line through memberships; companies buy memberships to receive publications & analysis, newsletters, networking opportunities and a voice in any policy processes the think tank can get involved in. Some member companies will pay, partially or fully, for their memberships with services rendered; which means the think tanks have ready access to good and plentiful legal representation & financial advice/management, which must help lower costs quite a lot. ------ stcredzero I wonder if it would be possible to create a Think Tank that actually produces ideas, instead of laundering wishful thinking? This could be constructed as a consortium into which companies pay money. The output would be in the form of reports. The idea is to give the money going in a bit of "Platonic Amnesia." This is a function that Universities used to perform. ~~~ ohashi They could give you money, or they could give that other think tank money that produces reports in their favor... ~~~ stcredzero In this case, those are exactly the customers you don't want and who don't want you. ~~~ ohashi That's the existing market. It also makes sense, businesses generally don't behave altruistically. Perhaps approaching businesses at all is a mistake, maybe wealthy individuals, social-angels per se. ~~~ stcredzero It's not that businesses don't behave altruistically. It's that humans are usually too short sighted to be willing to pay for honest research of that depth. ~~~ ohashi So, you've ruled out humanity as potential clients. ~~~ stcredzero Only most of them. ------ known think tank == lobbying ------ captaincrunch Catch 22? ------ zwadia Think Tanks are paid to consider all possible and plausible eventualities, forecast outcomes and correlate dependencies for their given client or scenario.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
A Brief Overview of Deep Learning - ozansener http://yyue.blogspot.com/2015/01/a-brief-overview-of-deep-learning.html ====== amelius I found this to be insightful: > ... human neurons are slow yet humans can perform lots of complicated tasks > in a fraction of a second. More specifically, it is well-known that a human > neuron fires no more than 100 times per second. This means that, if a human > can solve a problem in 0.1 seconds, then our neurons have enough time to > fire only 10 times --- definitely not much more than that. It therefore > follows that a large neural network with 10 layers can do anything a human > can in 0.1 seconds. ~~~ svantana This seems wrong. My understanding is that the ~200 spikes/second limit derives from the cell needing to "reload" before firing again, rather than some built in latency. Relaying a spike can be very quick indeed. A better conclusion would be that we don't have time for too many recursions in that short a time. Also, I can't think of any particularly hard problem that humans can solve in 0.1 seconds (see e.g. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hick%27s_law](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hick%27s_law)) ~~~ bnegreve > Also, I can't think of any particularly hard problem that humans can solve > in 0.1 seconds Recognizing someone is a hard problem that most humans can do efficiently (except me maybe) ------ anjc Good article, but I still don't understand why they're suddenly popular again. So processing is faster, but is there some development in processing which has improved this domain especially? Developments in "big data" processing? Concepts like mapreduce? What's with the resurgence :S ~~~ discardorama There are a myriad reasons why they're popular again. 1\. Hardware has caught up, and is cheap. When Backprop was invented back in the 80s, you couldn't train networks with more than a couple of 1000 nodes tops. Today, with GPUs, you can train networks with billions of parameters. 2\. More data is available. Back in those days, you had a few dozens (maybe a few 100s) of examples in your training set. Today, people play with sets larges than 1TB. 3\. Dramatic successes. For a while, the ImageNet competition was seeing slow and stead progress. Then DL comes along, and there's a 20% jump in performance (I'm too lazy to look up the exact numbers...). If you've ever competed in such competitions, progress is painfully slow (see, for example, the Netflix competition). So a jump of that magnitude in performance in 1 step is mind- blowing. On top of that, every year since then, the performance has increased significantly. These are just 3 that come to mind. ------ dharma1 I've been playing with Caffe for recognising images. It's kind of mind blowing how well it works. Yet the networks I tested could "only" recognise photos, not drawings or anything abstract. A human could easily attribute meaning to a drawing, even if the drawing was very abstract or she had never seen a similar drawing before. Whereas a deep networks seem to rely on visual similarity to things it has seen in the past, on a pixel level. The networks I tried could tell something was a cartoon, but not what the cartoon depicted, even if it's something simple like a face. The deep networks I tried also really struggled with recognising different textures. Like closeups of sand, water etc, things that a human would instantly recognise. They could classify it as a texture but not what kind of texture. ~~~ Houshalter NN's have been able to represent fairly abstract art, e.g. [http://i.imgur.com/HU66Vo7.png?1](http://i.imgur.com/HU66Vo7.png?1) They can also generate abstract images when the images are optimized to be recognized by the NN: [http://i.imgur.com/Mixk96V.png?1](http://i.imgur.com/Mixk96V.png?1) I think it's likely that cartoons contain a lot of meaning and symbols that is specific to human culture. Imagine a stick figure in the simplest case. It's not obvious that a circle and sticks should be a person. Same with a lot of other cartoon features that look nothing like reality. ------ joyofdata > therefore follows that a large neural network with 10 layers can do anything > a human can in 0.1 seconds. very funny ... as if ANNs are sufficiently comparable to actual neural activity. also I think it is naive to assess the "powerful"-ness of the brain to what is going on in a single neuron - it is certainly the parallel interaction which creates the human intelligence. > And if human neurons turn out to be noisy (for example), which m... it is pretty naive to consider noise as something of only handicapping nature - a lot of algorithms are as powerful as they are by utilizing noise and stochasticity > What is learning? Learning is the problem of finding a setting of the neural > network’s weights that achieves the best possible results on our training > data. Wrong - this is memorizing ... learning is the process leading to a low _out- of-sample_ error. ~~~ lars This post is written by Ilya Sutskever, who has co-authored some of biggest breakthroughs in machine learning the last five years. Which do you think is most likely: a) That he has a naive understanding of machine learning and neuroscience, or b) that this was written informally, and without guarding against every possible way it can be misinterpreted. Please be a little charitable when interpreting other peoples writings. ~~~ joyofdata just curious - can you give an example for a big breaktrhough he co-authored? nonetheless - some of his remarks are very specific and I don't see how informal style applies here to excuse them. ~~~ lars He was second author on the AlexNet paper, wherein Alex Krizhevsky, Sutskever and Hinton blew everyone else out of the water on the ImageNet competition [2]. Their error rate was about 10 percentage points lower than others. Relatively speaking they had about 40% fewer errors than anyone else. This is possibly the biggest result in computer vision the last five years. So it seems a little silly to educate him on the basics of machine learning :) [1] [http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~fritz/absps/imagenet.pdf](http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~fritz/absps/imagenet.pdf) [2] [http://www.image- net.org/challenges/LSVRC/2012/results.html](http://www.image- net.org/challenges/LSVRC/2012/results.html) ~~~ joyofdata well thanks for the info - but then I shift my critique to that I find it unnecessary to distort ML and biological concepts just to simplify the subject, when an accurate depiction wouldn't be much more difficult. Especially to not differentiate properly between memorization and generalization/learning is odd b/c this is one of the most prominent mistakes - it is specifically not the goal to minimize the in-sample-error! that would lead to very bad results most of the time ~~~ p1esk Actually, Ilya explains his statement regarding minimizing training errors in his comment exchange with Bengio: "Although I didn't define it in the article, generalization (to me) means that the gap between the training and the test error is small. So for example, a very bad model that has similar training and test errors does not overfit, and hence generalizes, according to the way I use these concepts. It follows that generalization is easy to achieve whenever the capacity of the model (as measured by the number of parameters or its VC-dimension) is limited --- we merely need to use more training cases than the model has parameters / VC dimension. Thus, the difficult part is to get a low training error." ------ sadkingbilly "so I implemented a small neural network and trained it to sort 10 6-bit numbers, which was easy to do to my surprise" Does anyone know what the inputs and outputs of a neural network that sorts numbers would look like? ~~~ fchollet Input: a 60-dimensional vector that is the concatenation of 10 6-dimensional binary vectors encoding the binary representation of the input numbers. Output: the same, sorted. At least that's one dead simple way to formulate the problem, multiple other solutions would work as well, and some would probably work better. ~~~ primaryobjects I started playing with this. I take each digit and normalize it by dividing by 9. Then use each normalized digit as an input: Example sorting 987654 and 123456 Input: 1, .9, .8, .7, .6, .5, .2, .3, .4, .5, .6, .7 Expected output: .2, .3, .4, .5, .6, .7, 1, .9, .8, .7, .6, .5 You can then encode/decode the inputs and outputs accordingly. if (value <= 1) digit = 9; if (value <= 0.9) digit = 8; ... if (value <= 0.2) digit = 1; if (value <= 0.1) digit = 0; etc. I'm able to get 100% accuracy on a limited training set with 2 hidden layers of 10 nodes. 33% accuracy on the test set (but likely need a lot more data to train with). ~~~ primaryobjects Update: I was able to train the network to sort sets of two 3-digit numbers. I used a neural network with 2 hidden layers of 25 nodes. The training/test accuracy after 10 minutes is 78%/74%. Not bad. [https://github.com/primaryobjects/nnsorting](https://github.com/primaryobjects/nnsorting) ------ elliptic Has anyone had experience training deep nets for domains in which examples are large heterogenous collections (as opposed to speech, or text, or images), like say transactional or click-stream data? ------ fchollet This post, while very interesting, attempts to draw a completely unwarranted parallel between deep nets and the human brain, as if layers of artificial neurons running on a GPU and the cortical layers of your brain were two interchangeable things. So far, there has been no evidence that the brain works anything like an artificial neural network. Maybe it does, and there are several theories in that direction, but at the moment we have no solid reason to think so. ~~~ lscharen The point of drawing comparisons to the human brain is that we know how quickly humans can perform visual recognition tasks and speed of signal propagation between neurons. Combining these two properties implies that the human brain is able to solve these tasks without feedback, i.e. no loops. Thus, a DNN should be able to perform similar tasks if it can be trained (which it can). Recurrent neural nets add feedback and are are whole different kettle of fish. ~~~ LoSboccacc The brain also appears to have dedicated network structures that are not trained, but constrained, i.e. programmed to one transformation, say, the equivalent of feeding both an image and it's edge enhanced version to the same DNN. Current approach of feeding raw bitmaps to DNN falls short of that and is very sensitive to training data[1] I remember an old paper I cannot find now about how to normalize image for NN processing in face recognition. Software extracted the face, centered it on a square and projected that square on a circle around the center to make face orientation irrelevant (hard to explain without images) Anyway, it is unfair to expect a DNN to perform vision recognition tasks from raw bi-dimensional image points. [1] [http://www.i-programmer.info/news/105-artificial- intelligenc...](http://www.i-programmer.info/news/105-artificial- intelligence/8064-the-deep-flaw-in-all-neural-networks.html) ------ rdtsc Whatever happened to shallow learning (or you know the regular learning) everyone did before deep learning. Anyone still doing that? Is this like BigData. As soon as someone mentioned BigData, anyone in the world who touched data all of the sudden did BigData. So is this something coming out of Google and Facebook and such and everyone else in Academia is happily building SVMs and 2 layer neural networks or some new discovery happend and overturned the whole ML and AI field on its head? > Crucially, the number of units required to solve these problems is far from > exponential --- on the contrary, the number of units required is often so > “small” that it is even possible, using current hardware, Number of units is not what's important. There are "only" what, 10B (100B?)neurons in the brain? But isn't the trick in the connections. And there are orders of magnitudes more connectsion (hundreds of trillions). Not exponential but even quadratic at those numbers is still quite large. ~~~ nl _Whatever happened to shallow learning (or you know the regular learning) everyone did before deep learning._ Deep learning happened, and it pretty much always beats other approaches. Saying that sounds unbelievable, so here's a quote from Pete Warden: _I know I’m a broken record on deep learning, but almost everywhere it’s being applied it’s doing better than techniques that people have been developing for decades_ [1] There's a great paper from a group of researchers who set out to prove that their technique, which they had many years of experience in (SVMs?) was just as good as deep learning (I can't remember their field). They ended up proving the opposite, and switched their whole lab over to doing deep learning. I can't find the paper (!!) so I'll refer you to [2] instead. [1] [http://petewarden.com/2015/01/01/five-short- links-76/](http://petewarden.com/2015/01/01/five-short-links-76/) [2] [http://petewarden.com/2014/06/10/why-is-everyone-so- excited-...](http://petewarden.com/2014/06/10/why-is-everyone-so-excited- about-deep-learning/)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: Best way to manage custom email addresses? - sbuccini I have several email addresses through custom domains that I want to be send/receive mail from. I currently use one Gmail account that sends/receives emails from the POP mail servers maintained by my domain registrars.<p>There are two main problems with this approach:<p>1) I don't receive emails instantaneously. While it's possible to manually pull emails from the mailserver on a desktop, it's impossible to do so through a mobile app. This is particularly burdensome when handling password resets/responding to urgent emails.<p>2) Whenever I reply-all to an email within the Gmail interface, it always includes my non-Gmail email in the to field because it doesn't recognize it as the email I'm currently sending it from.<p>What other solutions are there? Open to free and paid services. ====== cdvonstinkpot Fastmail is, as its name implies, indeed quite fast. Noticably so compared to others I've tried over the years like aol, Yahoo, Gmail. They allow you to set 'personalities' from the web interface which allow to change the 'from' address. You can even set different 'from' addresses based on what folder the message you're replying from has been moved to, say based on 'rules' you've set. Not free, but fairly priced. Good luck! ------ bobbba In order to reduce the delay in receiving mail from non-gmail addresses you may want to consider forwarding the emails from the domain register to your gmail account. However this will not solve your issue #2.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: Cool intro videos for your startup's landing page? - fjabre I figured this would be a good place to ask. Does anyone have any recommendations for flash design shops or individuals who specialize in video intros for a website's product or web app?<p>The video intro on the Dropbox site would be an example of a great video intro and the kind I'm looking for. ====== towndrunk You will be excluding iPad and iPhone users but you probably know that already. ~~~ fjabre thanks.. changed the title. ------ curlyque5000 appshows.com	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Systems Thinking and Making Homelessness Worse by Helping - liamzebedee https://stw.kumu.io/making-homelessness-worse-by-helping ====== jlg23 TL;DR: By providing temporary shelters the problem of homelessness is less visible and therefore less long term solutions are sought. This is one of the most perverted line of arguments I can think of, it leaves those in need completely out of the equation (except for "keep them on the street so they are visible").	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Mozilla's latest step in fight to save net neutrality - jdorfman https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2018/08/20/mozilla-files-arguments-against-the-fcc-latest-step-in-fight-to-save-net-neutrality/ ====== core-questions Net Neutrality might be important in the grand scheme of things, but overall I find that it's less important to me than the current rumblings that may eventually give way to a push for an Internet Bill of Rights. From the article: > This case is about your rights to access content and services online without > your ISP blocking, throttling, or discriminating against your favorite > services. Unfortunately, the FCC made this a political issue and followed > party-lines rather than protecting your right to an open internet in the US. A lot of this language, and the website blackouts and other promotion of pro- Net Neutrality arguments we've seen over the past few years, are unfortunately drawing people's attention away from the real issue here. It's all well and good to make sure your ISP provides fairly prioritized access to the websites you want to load, but in the end this isn't really that much of a freedom or rights issue as they'd like you to think, and it's sapping energy that could be put to better use. In my view, an Internet Bill of Rights is needed to really enshrine the right of freedom of speech and of association in the modern age. The key would be to enable websites to choose between two roles: either a publisher, or a platform. If you're a publisher, you're acting as a curated source of content, akin to a newspaper or a broadcaster. Real names and identities should be associated with this, and these people should be liable for what they post. Publishers retain complete control over their content, and complete responsibility for any libellous or illegal content. Applying for status as a platform should be like registering as a corporation, and should carry with the advantage of a little bit of prestige, at least in the sense that you're verified to be real people operating under the law. If you're a platform, you're acting as a common carrier, akin to a network provider. Anonymity should be an option, and you're only liable for the content on your network to the extent that a mechanism must exist to report illegal content and it must be taken down and reviewed on report. Other than that, there's no direct liability for the content posted. This should be the default state if you don't apply to be a publisher. If you're a platform, you fall into one of two categories: natural monopolies (Facebook, Twitter, and anything else that reaches a certain size or certain percentage of their specific market), or a bit player. There's a long history of regulating monopolies differently than bit players, because monopolies can unfairly use their position for any number of nefarious things. Natural monopolies in an Internet context need particular attention because of their incredible and unprecedented reach and power. In particular, they need to be prevented from deplatforming people. Deplatforming people from a natural monopoly is arguably similar to kicking someone out of the public square and telling them their freedom of speech can be exercised in a dark alleyway instead - it's antithetical to what was meant by freedom of speech, especially considering the fact that these natural monopolies could not exist were it not for the public investments in DARPA and various network efforts since. In contrast, bit players aren't the public square, they're like public houses - places that can reasonably reserve the right to kick people off because their goal is not to cater to the general populace and their position in the market is not one of a monopoly over any niche. In short, I think the real modern fight for neutrality that we need to have is content neutrality, in the form of regulating natural monopolies so as to remove their ability to deplatform, shadowban, and otherwise curate content (generally for political purposes).	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
The Opposite of Fitts' Law - bdfh42 http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2010/03/the-opposite-of-fitts-law.html ====== dagw Another relevant example would be the voting arrows here on this site. I don't know about anyone else, but I have voted comments the wrong way on a number of occasions. Having some sort of obvious undo vote feature might be nice as well. ~~~ jlgosse Are we using the same site right now? I see only "up" votes, so how could you possibly make the mistake of making a "down" vote? ~~~ alanthonyc I think you need 200 karma before you can start downvoting. ~~~ eru The target may shifts over time, as karma inflation goes its course. ------ rm-rf Another example is OS X's active screen corners. If I set the upper right corner to something useful, like 'Beam me up Scotty', I have about a .5 probability of transporting back to the Enterprise when I really wanted to find a file. Active corners are cool, but they make a couple other functions difficult to use. ~~~ wtallis When I set up an active screen corner action, I always go for the top-right corner first, because that's the corner my cursor is least likely to hit. I always bring up the spotlight menu with the keyboard, because there's nothing useful to do with it without moving my hands to keyboard anyways. Since search results can be picked using the arrow keys, there's no need to move your cursor away from the part of the screen that you're working in. ------ cool-RR For at least 10 years I've wanted to have a GUI version of this switch: [http://awaregeek.com/wp- content/uploads/2007/10/panikknap.jp...](http://awaregeek.com/wp- content/uploads/2007/10/panikknap.jpg) (This is the best picture I could find, ideally I'd want the switch to be facing the person.) I think it'll be possible to do something like this in-browser, with an animation that shows the plastic cover opening. ~~~ johns One way to achieve that would be to make the user check a confirmation box before enabling the submit button. I've used this in a couple places and I've never seen it confuse anyone. ~~~ lotharbot I was doing my taxes the other day and clicked a button to import some information. It automatically upgraded me from the free version of the tax software (which doesn't have that specific functionality) to the paid version -- no confirmation, no "are you sure?", no undo function. Had I not been planning on upgrading to the paid version anyway, I'd have been really, really upset. Compare this to, say, Amazon. In order to purchase something, I add it to my cart, and then go through a checkout process, which clearly details what I'm buying and lets me remove stuff from my cart. It's pretty dang hard to accidentally buy something on Amazon. Having an "enable" checkbox or a post-click "are you sure you want to [clear description of what you clicked]?" confirmation are great ways to help users avoid accidentally deleting something they wanted to send, or sending something they wanted to save, or buying something they wanted to remove from their cart. ~~~ ggchappell That problem with the tax software does not sound like something to be kept secret. What were you using? ~~~ lotharbot H&R Block's online version. The initial page actually did say that to import the info required an upgrade, but it was poorly worded, and the lack of a confirmation or undo option was frustrating. I put in a complaint to their customer service guys, who said that the only way to go back to the free version is to register a new account. Like I said, had I not actually planned to upgrade to the paid version partway through the process, I'd have been extremely angry and probably gone to one of their competitors. ------ alanh Not an "opposite" so much as another way of thinking about Fitts', but this is definitely important when designing interfaces. ------ phatboyslim Those who use Outlook will probably agree that the "Reply All" button is just a bit too close to the "Reply" button. ------ Qz Hotmail does the same with "New \| Delete \| Junk" My CMU webmail recently moved the Delete button to the middle of the button bar, as far away from other buttons as possible. It's practically impossible to misclick, unless you're clicking around with your eyes closed. ------ RyanMcGreal >Like, say, the "delete all my work" button? Why on earth would an application designer provide a non-recoverable way to delete everything in the first place? ~~~ ZeroGravitas Because you're leaving their hosted service and you don't want them to continue datamining your documents? ~~~ Hexstream Having a "delete all my work" button and doing datamining are not mutually exclusive... The "delete all my work" button might mean "make my stuff inaccessible for me and all normal users". ------ ableal And the software equivalent of the switch cover, the confirmation dialog ... (which, coming to think of it, works the opposite way - instead of "enable, activate", it's "activate, confirm") ------ CapitalistCartr Picking on Google Mail is a bit like shooting fish in a barrel. I use Gmail, and I like many of it's qualities, but it has a UI that seems to have been designed by a 9 year old boy on his first experiment. It's laughably random, or perhaps 'eccentric'. ~~~ qcassidy Really? I've never seen a better webmail interface than Gmail's. Can you justify your claim by providing some of "it's" qualities that are so laughable? ~~~ alanh I hate to get into a flamewar but 90% of the themes they are so proud of break basic usability guidelines: Too distracting, not enough contrast between read and unread items, ignoring color theory for the meaning of colors used in the interface, etc. Drives me crazy. Edit: And as I posted to my Tumblr (<http://ajh.us/GmUI>) just 5 days ago: > Today I opened a Gmail window. At the top of the screen, I saw a yellow > message beginning, “Hey, this is important! …” I never finished reading it > because I had clicked something else (a message) and the supposedly > important message disappeared, never to be seen again. > So the Gmail team either > 1\. Lied about the importance of the message, or > 2\. Totally failed to make me actually read it. > Not so impressive UI design. ~~~ daniel02216 I've seen 'Hey, this is important!' before: on a gmail account that had its password compromised. I seem to recall that it was 'you might be compromised, you should verify your secondary address for account recovery' You might want to check your Gmail usage log at the bottom of the window, check your secondary address, and change your password. ~~~ sesqu Oh, it's because they think the account is compromised? Huh. I've had that message a few times before, noted that yes, that is the recovery address I told them about and yes, it's wrong, but no, I won't update it just because it's been a while. If I had known they asked because they noticed I'd logged in from a new location, I would have updated the record. ------ alexkay _I can tell what you're thinking. Did he click Send or Save Now? Well, to tell you the truth, in all the excitement of composing that angry email, I kind of lost track myself. Good thing we can easily undo a sent mail! Oh wait, we totally can't. Consider my seat, or at least that particular rash email, ejected._ If you ever wished you could undo that sent email, there's an "Undo Send" feature in Gmail Labs which you can enable. ~~~ ZeroGravitas It's not really relevant to the point he's trying to make but a simple low- tech hack is to write your message first, then put in the recipients email addresses. With no email address, any accidental send will fail. ~~~ JeremyBanks I include the email addresses but append ".invalid", which achives the same result. ~~~ chronomex I tell mutt to automatically sign + encrypt outgoing email. Since I so rarely send mail to people who have PGP keys, mutt almost always asks me to pick a recipient key before it'll send.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Where to start counting, 0 or 1? - joseakle My hypothesis: It's more usual to start with 0 when counting steps and with 1 when counting things.<p>Maybe that's why programmers start with 0, they usually count steps. Age also starts at 0, nobody is born being 1 year old, although we are living our 1st year of life. Races also start at 0. When you want to know how many eggs are in the basket it makes little sense to say, oh i have an empty basket, 0 eggs, let's add some, now i have 1 egg, 2 eggs, etc. ====== dkokelley When my littlest brother was learning to count, he would count the first object twice (0, 1) then continue as normal. Honestly, it depends on the situation, and I think you got it right. Things start at 1, steps start at 0. But starting at 0 presents a problem. If I have a set of stairs with 5 steps, I either count the ground or the landing in my steps but never both. If I want to get to the middle (3rd) step, if I'm at the bottom I just count 1, 2, 3 steps and I'm there, but if I'm at the top I only count 2 steps down. There are really 6 positions I could be, but only 5 steps. You guys may have this down, but it still trips me up sometimes. ------ blgraves Age starts at 1 in some countries. I know this is the case in both Taiwan and the Philippines, not sure where else. Someone who is 10 in the U.S. would be considered 11 there. ~~~ edgarjph With computerized registries, age surely starts at zero, as in zero year and so many months. With rounding, age 1 will start after the sixth month. For children's growth status tracking, the UN has a method in computing for children's age and have been localized. I have used the Philippine reference and age is computed in months. There is a 0 month age. Culturally, I would presume you might be referring to parts of the Philippines where people start counting age at one. I have never heard of this. We celebrate the first birthday the usual way: one year after birth. ~~~ patio11 _With computerized registries, age surely starts at zero_ Except that, by convention, in China what you consider zero is already "0 years 9 months". Its similar to describing the epoch time to my colleagues. You know, epoch time: the number of seconds which have passed since midnight (GMT) on January 1st of the 45th year of the Showa era. Incidentally, you want to have some fun in outsourcing? Try convincing your Indian outsourcing team that it is Very Bloody Important that their code account for the edge case when the last day of one era and the first day of another era fall on the same day of the Western calendar. ("The data are passed in as strings, the strings are always in the same format, why can't we use string compare? It saves the conversion into a date." "That is premature optimization and will introduce a bug for the following dates:..." "There's only a few of them!") ~~~ edgarjph That was what I meant when I said zero is zero years and so many months. Using integers (or even decimals) and without rounding, 0 years and 9 months is really zero. One will start 12 months (or the number of months the calendar is using) after the date of birth. Edge cases, I would estimate, would account for 30% of a program's logic. When doing the first cut, I classify those as exceptions: abnormal values that generate, well, exceptions. Time-bound edge cases are abundant, especially in financial apps. End of periods, beginning balances, ending balances. Other edge-case values are max and minimum values, limits of whatever sort. And these don't include limits of systems, like how many times a stored procedure can be dropped and recreated, that are not commonly known or just ignored hoping the app will hold before the longint limit will be reached. ------ trjordan Dijkstra argues 0. [http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD08xx/EW...](http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD08xx/EWD831.html) ------ rubentopo In my opinion, convention means nothing. Do what makes sense according to the problem you're solving.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Going underground: the Moscow metro - e15ctr0n https://widerimage.reuters.com/story/going-underground-the-moscow-metro ====== Grue3 Ride it everyday, and all the Soviet nostalgia aesthetic is making me sick. Here are some actually interesting stations: \- Vorobyovy Gory (the longest station, situated on a bridge over Moscow River) \- Dostoyevskaya (decorated with scenes from Dostoyevsky's novels which tend to be rather... dark) \- Timiryazevskaya (the only deep single-vault station in Moscow, looks cool) \- the entire monorail line (just weird) \- Vystavochnaya (the station under business district Moskva-City, it's just huge) \- Arbatskaya, light blue line (one of the smallest, and possibly the most useless station, very quirky) Some of the recently built stations (yellow line Ramenki extension, light green line north of Maryina Roscha, dark blue line north of Strogino) have pretty interesting designs, if you don't mind travelling to the outskirts of Moscow. ~~~ arjie I mean, it's only appealing to those of us not living under an oppressive regime. If I were in Stalinist Russia I would have been in no mood to appreciate that style. ~~~ vkou If you lived through Russia in the unmitigated disaster that was the 90s, you might be nostalgic for the good old days. America currently incarcerates almost as many people (Depending on how you count, more) as the Khrushchev era did, yet that's clearly not the biggest factor in how people evaluate their quality of life. Most of all, people want food, shelter, and security - and communism largely provided that. Poorly, but better then the collapse that followed. ~~~ thriftwy Well, it was an inevitable ending to communist experiment, I would say baked in from the beginning. The real tragedy that the whole communism thing even happened. Some people also want dignity. That thing was in short supply back then and is getting thin today. ~~~ vkou The real tragedy was the system prior to communism, during communism, and after communism. Tsarist Russia was highly, and poorly centrally planned, and incredibly backwards. It ended _serfdom_ in 1861, for Pete's sakes. The first world war demonstrated exactly how broken that system was. Market reforms, on the other hand, inflicted immense amounts of suffering on the population, particularly segments of the population that were unable to work. (But, as with every economic system, market advocates only want to take credit for successes.) Falling from its position as a super-power to a back-water second-world state was also a huge blow to national dignity. In case you're wondering why Russians are largely supportive of Putin's aggression, its because they see him as restoring said national dignity. It's the story of Trump's deplorables writ large. ~~~ gozur88 >Market reforms, on the other hand, inflicted immense amounts of suffering on the population, particularly segments of the population that were unable to work. That's like saying impact inflicts enormous amounts of suffering for people who are falling through the air. The market reforms were painful because there was no other option after the mess that communism made. ~~~ thriftwy Well, I think we _could_ go without hyperinflation and voucher privatization. It would still be pretty bad, sure. Most of Soviet enterprises will go belly up either way. Even in the USA the rust belt suffered during that time. And Russia was basically one big rust belt. ------ avenoir Some interesting facts about the Moscow's M. The Metro could have appeared as early as 1875 in Moscow, but the Russian Orthodox Church blocked it by claiming that "a man, created in the image of God, cannot humiliate himself by descending into the underworld." In the October of 1941, during 2nd world war, the soviet government was preparing complete liquidation of the Metro. It was supposed to be flooded but the government order was soon abolished. The total combined length of the M is 300km or 186 miles. Source: [https://www.buzzfeed.com/victorstepanov/mscw- metro](https://www.buzzfeed.com/victorstepanov/mscw-metro) ~~~ negus The story about Church protest has no proof. At least I tried to find it and found nothing worthy ~~~ avenoir According to this source [1] the quote was supposedly from a bishop's letter to the Patriarch of Moscow at the time. > Церковники распускали разные, порою до глупости нелепые слухи. Один из > архиереев писал московскому митрополиту: «Возможно ли допустить сию > греховную мечту? Не унизит ли себя человек, созданный по образу и подобию > божию разумным созданием, спустившись в преисподнюю? А что там есть, то > ведает один бог, и грешному человеку ведать не надлежит». И подобная > нелепость воспринималась всерьез. Seems like it was one of many letters, but not the sole factor that forced Duma to scrap the project. [1] [http://www.metro.ru/library/metropoliteny/147/](http://www.metro.ru/library/metropoliteny/147/) ~~~ cat199 Considering the presence of famously well known cave monasteries within the Russian Empire's borders dating back for 800 or so years even already at that time, with many famed ascetics, elders, and saints, I would hope that the letter yielded a sharp rebuke from the patriarch on that particular point.. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiev_Pechersk_Lavra#Caves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiev_Pechersk_Lavra#Caves) Not to mention the well known knowledge of Roman Christian persecution and the related subterranean activities required to survive at that time.. But since the quote is out of context and has no reference to an actual response, who is to say... All the better to make the church seem backwards though.. ------ scrumper I tagged along on one of my wife's business trips to Moscow about a decade ago. I spent a week mostly on my own exploring the city, and consequently much time on the metro (and more time lost). It certainly helped my ability to read Cyrillic but I would not call it a relaxing trip. The metro stations really are breathtaking: emerging into a gilded, be- chandeliered hall after a near 5 minute escalator ride isn't something I'll forget. ------ pavel_lishin Unfortunately, they're not all as beautiful as the ones pictured here. The one I grew up next to is pretty drab: [https://flic.kr/p/C6QcXj](https://flic.kr/p/C6QcXj) Although right outside is a pretty awesome statue of Gagarin: [https://flic.kr/p/dLU1xg](https://flic.kr/p/dLU1xg) ~~~ simlevesque Fun fact: This statue is pure titanium. ~~~ cat199 Hmm.. Wondering if this is some sort of post-Stalin reference.. ~~~ pandaman People did not care much about Stalin in 70s-80s. It is symbolic in this case (space ships in Russia are made from Titanium). Another space-related monument in Moscow (the Conquerers of Space) is also Titanium. Also, from what I've heard, steel technology in the USSR was not that great and it might be just too expensive to build these from steel. ~~~ vkou In that time period, the USSR produced most of the world's Titanium - a metal critical for defense and aerospace industries. This was the equivalent of, say, South Africa commissioning a statue covered with diamonds. ~~~ pandaman Yes, the main reason for lacking in steel technology probably was the abundance of Titanium. ------ sAbakumoff I always thought that the most amusing part of Moscow Metro is people one can meet there. Just one example : [https://twitter.com/maxsparber/status/858330495788220416](https://twitter.com/maxsparber/status/858330495788220416) ~~~ richard_shelton Yeah... Just an another example: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpr8pvSgqI8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpr8pvSgqI8) ~~~ sAbakumoff Owls are the coolest creatures in the known Universe! ------ thriftwy [https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/05/scenes-from-the- mo...](https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/05/scenes-from-the-moscow- metro/528660/) A larger set of photos, partially the same, suggested to me by Zen.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Netflix shares sink 10% as subscriber take-up slows - osrec https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49008300 ====== JauntyHatAngle As someone who recently cancelled my Netflix subscription after idly flipping through it and realising nothing here holds my interest anymore, I feel like many of the reasons people pirated TV/Film content in the past (and Netflix helped to reduce by many-fold) have now returned with a vengeance. I'm on Australian Netflix, and the selection of titles has steadily diminished from an already reduced catalogue to the sad state it is now. There isn't much to hold my interest anymore. Piracy for me, since becoming an adult and being able to pay my way through life, is mostly a question of convenience and availability. Netflix made it convenient and reasonably available. But now, with the steadily more and more fragmented state of streaming services, to watch the things I want to watch I have to either sign up for 3-4 different services. This makes the piracy route become more and more attractive again - and I don't like that this is the case. I want to pay people for their content. But ultimately, it's ended up just pushing me away from tv/film content altogether. I can easily get a wide selection of books on my kindle, a game from gog or steam (that I don't need a subscription for) or just watch youtube. For the stuff I really want to watch, I look around, see if there it is worth the dosh/hassle for the legal version (it rarely is) and usually just give up (and in rare cases, pirate). ~~~ sleepinseattle Or just sign up for one service one month and a different one the next month. No one’s forcing you to keep all four subscriptions active. ~~~ JauntyHatAngle I'm not signing up for a service for 1 month, and then going through the back catalogue in that 1 month. I want to watch media when I want to, not when it wants me to. Think of it like TV, I tune in when I want something to watch and change the channel until I find something. Simply needing to switch between services and time my subscriptions is enough for me to not bother. TV/Film is burntime for me, not a dedicated hobby. If I need to stuff around figuring out which service has which shows that I might enjoy, you've lost me and I'll go watch something on youtube. Netflix originally had all the varieties of shows I needed. It doesn't anymore. If someone shows me another service that is accessible to Australians that has a better catalogue, I'd probably switch to it permanently. ------ Semaphor The reason I like Netflix less and less is their atrocious browsing interface: No customizability. I want "continue watching" always at the top and have an easy way to remove shows from there. I never want to see "Watch it again" anywhere. I don't want any movies on the Index. And I want a clear sign which shows are dubbed. (Well, and I'd like Japanese shows to have English subs, but that's not a UI problem) Over the years their interface got worse and worse that it's now at a point I need to use third party sites. So as they make discovery as hard as possible for me, I might as well cancel it whenever there isn't a release I want to watch. ~~~ pcurve You know what would save Neflix? A table view with columns Custom play lists Reviews and star rating. Boolean search. They can build and roll these out in a month. I really think their toxic UI is damaging them. My hunch is, they can't roll these out because they don't want people noticing how little content there is on Netflix. ~~~ gabrielizaias They had reviews and star ratings before. Now they don't have reviews and only like/dislike ratings. ------ xienze > "Much of our domestic, and eventually global, Disney catalogue, as well as > Friends, The Office, and some other licensed content will wind down over the > coming years, freeing up budget for more original content," the company said > in its statement. That's got to win the award for "spin of the year." I think they're in a world of hurt once Disney+ gets rolling. It's great to have a lot of original content but they just can't seem to come up with original content that has the kind of cultural cachet (established over years or in many cases decades) that these sitcoms, Disney movies, etc. have. ------ afarviral I doubt this is the average person's experience but the Netflix interface is so geared toward user engagement that it is actually not productive or convenient to use. Its merely designed to keep you searching and stumbling. Rather than performing the function that I pay for which is simple convenience. Its an inconvenience and an absolute burden. I make it usable with a few firefox plugins but theres no way to get it to a no-nonsense state where you can just select the show you want to watch and watch it. They seem to have an imperrative which is to distract and misdirect you and it is pivotal to the platform, given they cannot magically show you more content. They rehash the existing content to fool and entice you. ------ tyingq I suspect they will also get hit by people subscribing for a month to see something specific, then unsubscribing until something new worth watching appears. Now that good content is so fragmented across services, it will likely be common to cancel often. I paid for a month of HBO mostly to watch Chernobyl, then cancelled. ~~~ hbosch In a meeting room somewhere, a young PM rubs hand sanitizer on his palms and loads up his latest deck: Okay guys, what we have here is something we’re calling Loyalty Seasons. Our recommendation is to make season 4 of Stranger Things, as well as the new Will Smith movie, available only to customers who have been subscribed for 3 or more months. ~~~ schlumpf This would in turn cause a different group of PMs (portfolio managers, in this case) to borrow Netflix stock and sell short. Paying up-front production costs on an asset being provided only to users whose revenues the company has already captured is a suboptimal use of equity capital -- to put it gently. ------ Waterluvian Once I realized that VLC on my phone does chromecast to my TV without issue, and that I can torrent directly to my phone, I began downloading old TV shows again. I would pay $15/mo for ONE service that has a ton of old content. Also nothing is more irritating than a show with only a few seasons. Don't even bother, Netflix. ~~~ apexalpha >I would pay $15/mo for ONE service that has a ton of old content. Exactly, this is why I love Spotify and am worried that players like Apple will use their cash to break of the market and buy songs exclusive to them. Jay-Z tried it by only releasing his new album on Tidal, Apple bought exlusive rights to a song named 'Freedom' (lol). I really hope we don't import this exclusivity to the music streaming business. ------ stock_toaster Pretty much all of Netflix's interfaces that I use, I find awful to use, and they seem to only get worse over time. I actually can't wait for another company to eat their lunch. ------ bsharitt I've not cancelled Netflix yet, but I'm looking to pare down my streaming services, and Netflix is the top of the list to go. Amazon and Hulu seem to be getting better for non-original content than Netflix. Rising prices and and a shrinking library aren't a good combo for me and while some shows are okay, the original content isn't worth it at older prices, but less the recent price hikes. The biggest thing about all these content owners making their own me too streaming service is that I'm more likely to subscribe to a few services and I'll go back to torrents for the rest. ------ chank I like many others struggle to find something of interest on Netflix. I also don't want to subscribe just for one movie/show. With all the other services popping up, I really think this market is starting to become too fragmented. ------ tobsmagoats Netflix is fast on its way to becoming HBO, when other companies pull their content they'll use the money to pay for more original content. I wouldn't be too worried about their financials at the moment, but rather a year down the road when other subscription services are established. ~~~ echelon Given Netflix's propensity to burn money in an attempt to solve the problem, they're in for a world of hurt if things don't change. They fund and cancel so many projects it feels like throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. They have a few hits, but this won't save them from the content behemoths. I think Netflix should begin lobbying for a greatly retracted copyright period. Studios always need to produce, so this doesn't impact their bottom line. Streaming companies are needed to facilitate interchange. The one thing this does is handicap players with lots of IP and forces them to invest in new content. I think it would be a win for consumers and competition. Lawmakers should take a serious look at Disney, too. They own a large and important swath of American culture, and they can effectively muscle out non- Disney content from both distribution and attention. ~~~ rlayton2 After a couple of cancellations of shows I was liking, I'm not generally that enthused about starting a new show. Especially given the trend of not resolving anything at the end of the first season, where you get no payoff at all. I don't mind cliffhangers, but resolve the season's main problem first! (ref: The Expanse) ~~~ quelltext The Expanse has 3 seasons, a 4th coming. Not sure if Netflix has the rights to air those, though. ~~~ salemh S4 of Expanse was actually picked up by Amazon, not Netflix. ~~~ quelltext Yeah, but Netflix didn't cancel the show or discontinue seasons, given that it's not a Netflix series. So the complaint is fine in the context of "Netflix is losing content I like" but not when it comes to Netflix's (mis)treatment of their own shows. ------ paul7986 There's too much content making it feel nothing special. Disney+ will have original shows from legacy IP (star war shows, marvel shows, pixar, etc) and HBO Max if WarnerMedia is smart will create live DC character TV shows or fold the DC Universe into HBO Max, along with Friends and all their 100 or more year old legacy content they can pull from. Though so far HBO Max the shows announced looks Warner isn't following Disney+ playbook which seems dumb. Personally Netflix can nor will ever compare or have that type of strong legacy content needed to compete against Disney+. I only use friends or family accounts and again when i do there is so much content Ive never heard of with popular actors that i just sign out/do not even use it for free. Clips on Youtube suffice(mac mini connected to TV) and it's forever playing things I like works for me. ------ natrik Market saturation, advent of many streaming services, etc. I'd say it was to be expected. ------ wolco The content selection has changed. Less variety overall, simple original movie plots. They spend too much for a few A listers.. [100 million for three specials is crazy] and less on shows produced by other networks. They should buy some older networks like turner. ------ azernik Earlier discussion: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20463467](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20463467) ------ Splendor I cancelled my subscription, not because of the price increase, but because the auto-play interface made me stop using the app. ~~~ Wump FWIW, you can turn off auto play in the settings. ~~~ dbetteridge Unless this has changed recently you may be confusing turning off autoplay (Of the next episode) with autoplay of the trailers for shows as you move around the home screen. The second is the annoying one without an off switch that I could find within the xbox app ~~~ Wump Ah ok, yeah I thought the parent post was referring to autoplay the next episode. ------ neural_thing I'm not short Netflix because of subscriber count. I'm short Netflix because of their accounting. Capitalizing Stranger things season 1? Sure, makes sense, why not. But Stranger things season 3 is a lot closer to COGS. Their real income statement at this point in their growth curve (full saturation in the US) should be a lot closer to their cash flow statement, which is horrendous. ~~~ riffraff What's COGS? ~~~ neural_thing Cost of goods sold ------ superasn The best part about Netflix was their recommendation engine at least in the beginning. Now they have their own shows which they want to force down our throats match or no match. I think their USP at least to me was their great recommendations which is totally lost now because of their ulterior motives. Coincidentally I too am going to cancel my subscription this month. ~~~ albanread I am staying subscribed; I don't have the spare time to watch all of their shows; so getting bored of it; is not a problem; I like that they don't have adverts; and you can just play what you choose when you do have the time. This morning I got a letter from the BBC thanking me for paying my mandatory license fee; for owning a `colour television`. Netflix is good value; because I actually watch it; and the fact that people can legally cancel the subscription should keep them on their toes. Not that long ago there were only one or two channels of government propaganda to watch; that displayed a commercial test card transmission through most of the day. Life is good. ------ rco8786 I’ve realized in the last few months that I basically watch nothing on Netflix anymore. I’ve been considering canceling. ------ Fej The writing is on the wall. Netflix isn't doomed to fail, but it _might_ be doomed to comparative (i.e. not a third of US internet traffic) irrelevancy. Every rightsholder has realized that it can make more money than Netflix will/can pay, either by making its own service or by licensing it to someone who will pay more (perhaps Hulu?). The content will continue to trickle out of Netflix until it's left with just some TV shows, B-movies, and of course their original content (which judging by other comments and my own experience is very hit-or-miss). The question is whether people will stay subscribed just for the original content (inertia is a powerful thing!) which is, as far as I can tell, a toss-up (which is why I wrote _might_ ). ------ richliss I'd not touch Netflix shares with a barge pole. They're a great tech company but their original content, on the whole, doesn't do it for me to keep the subscription any more. I think I'll be subscribing again in the winter and watching everything at once then cancelling again. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_original_programs_dist...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_original_programs_distributed_by_Netflix) Out of the 22 drama shows on that list that are still on-going I'm definitely interested in 4 of them and probably will watch 2 others. That would probably take 2 weekends and the weeknights to watch all of it. ------ JoshTko Netflix content these days feels like Madlibs. Take actor X in setting Y with the problem Z. ------ WomanCanCode I'm noticing that my child doesn't even like or watch anything on Netflix kids. Youtube actually has a more appealing kid contents. I think what Netflix is missing is the daytime talk show/news reporting/ sports. They don't have good movie selections. And their sofware/app is terrible. You cannot find anything anymore. They keep on changing the order of my list and they also put different poster for the same title/content. This gets confusing, when you start watching something, only realizing you already did, a couple of months ago. Just the poster of the show/movie has changed! ------ distant_hat Additionally, one of the reasons for signing up for Netflix in India was that they were not into the silly government censorship rules. But then they folded like a cheap lawn chair when government made some noises, so why bother with them when the good international series make no sense or have important bits chopped out? [https://www.businessinsider.in/As-it-seeks-to-grow-in- India-...](https://www.businessinsider.in/As-it-seeks-to-grow-in-India- Netflix-will-censor-itself-to-avoid-a-crackdown-on-offensive- content/articleshow/67577890.cms) ------ lm28469 Not surprising, on demand video services became the same thing as cable TV. Dozens of services, each having their own content... I wouldn’t be surprised if they started bundling them in the future; something like an internet provider offering Netflix + Disney + Mubi for slightly cheaper than getting the 3 separately. That would mean we went full circle and a new cycle can start. ------ refurb My uneducated prediction: The next recession is triggered by a number of major Silicon Valley business models failing (e.g. Netflix, Uber, etc). ~~~ axaxs But the models haven't failed. If anything, they've proven success. Netflix's success has spawned what, 8 or so competitors now? Uber, 4 or so. I may be off, just what I'm thinking of in my head. So, it may be fair to say that SV businesses will fail, but definitely not their business models. ~~~ flukus The SV business model is to take investors money to grow big fast, lose billions a year in the hope that you either dominate and become profitable our get bought out before you go bankrupt. That's what is under threat. ------ dvfjsdhgfv > "From what we've seen in the past when we drop strong catalogue content... > our members shift over to enjoying our other great content." Or just give up on you, as they're doing right now. When I see "Netflix Original", my expectations drop in an instant. ------ luhego I am not surprised. I am still a subscriber because I like some series like Mad Men and Dark. But their catalogue is shrinking and new content is mostly bad(with few exceptions like Death, Love and Robots). ------ empath75 It’ll be interesting to see if other streaming services also lose subscribers. Might be an early sign of recession as consumers cut costs. ------ gaucheph I remember when Netflix started automatically playing trailers (or their own version of one) whenever you rested on a title for longer than a few seconds. And I remember looking up how to disable this feature but you can't. I'm sure there will be "well actually"'s for this but when I checked, you couldn't and I don't bother every day checking to see if it's there. I noticed the Netflix app on some older smart televisions don't have this feature which I can only speculate why but it's like an upgrade watching on those old versions. I think it's clever, it gets the content they paid for playing on television sets sooner. Trailers can draw people in to watch something they might not have the same way the beginning of a book can suck you in sometimes. And for users that don't like this feature, it keeps them scrolling. Cause every time you scroll over to the next title, the trailer stops and you reliably get about 2 seconds before the next trailer starts playing. So I started scrolling faster. I think what happened next was that I realized there was nothing interesting to watch much sooner than I would if I wasn't scrolling as fast to avoid the automatically playing trailers. Their original content comes out so fast and different people in my social circles are so excited about completely different ones and recommending them to me all the time that they just all seem the "same". Something about not having months of hype and advertisements, big reveals, franchises, etc. makes the Netflix originals feel like the product of an assembly line than legitimate inspiration. Like they're doing sprints for creative work. There was a thread a while back on HN about "Bright" when it came out. I remember there was a comment suggesting that the plot/setting/actors/world seems like it was generated with neural nets or something. That's how they all feel to me. Also the recommendation algorithm gets some things right about me. Most things probably. But it's noticeably more exciting to use when scrolling through someone else's profile. Because it's all new stuff. It's completely tailored for _someone else_. You're likely to find titles you wouldn't bother to search for specifically (typing in the title) but you're surprised it's on their and you want to watch it immediately. I like The Incredibles but I don't want to watch the Emoji Movie. So I think they're getting eaten from a couple of angles. original programming is soylent green, other media companies are taking their balls home, the interface is designed in a way that reveals the lack of interesting stuff quicker, their price went up. ------ Lucadg I also cancelled lately when I realized some data may be shared. I watched "back to the future" on Netflix and YouTube started suggesting related content immediately. ------ yur3i__ Yo ho ho, a pirates life for me ------ oeoeo00 Netflix has yet to find a property that can go the distance and really hook people long term. This whole “cancel a show after 3 seasons” is not what users who grew up with 6,7...10 year runs of shows connect to. They need some content with long legs to keep the sort used to Frasier like life spans. That’s who was tuning in during their growth period, for those old shows they can’t hang onto now. ~~~ fullshark Stranger Things seems to be a massive hit. Shelf life is unclear though. House of Cards was a hit and now it’s completely irrelevant it seems for comparison. ~~~ kyshoc House of Cards had to be emergency-landed due to the whole Kevin Spacey thing though, so it's not a good anecdote here. ------ OrgNet 10% is nothing for netflix ~~~ powerslacker Seriously. Wake me up when it hits $250 a share again. ~~~ OrgNet it is way over valued... since we know that the list of available content keeps getting smaller. ------ turtlecloud The content was too liberal leaning and alienated way too many of middle America. ~~~ ladberg What content was too biased for you? ~~~ dx87 A lot of their stand up comedy specials are very political. You start to hear the crowd cheering a lot more than they're laughing. My wife and I watched the first episode of their new sitcom where Gabriel Iglesias is a teacher, and within the first couple of minutes it has a student saying that American history is just slavery and mistreating minorities, and the teacher makes a joke about our current president being covered in cheeto dust. My wife and I aren't Trump supporters, but it gets old seeing shows rely on political pandering for views instead of good writing. Here's a quote from Rob Schneider about it: "Much late night comedy is less about being funny and more about Indoctrination by comedic disposition," Schneider continued on Twitter. "People aren't really laughing at it as much as cheering on the rhetoric. It no longer resembles a comedy show, it's more like some kind of liberal Klan meeting." ~~~ bcassedy The political comedy stuff is both topical and easy to write which makes it easy to see the appeal. You don't need some deep understanding or keen observation to mock cynical politicians. It's definitely lowest common denominator type stuff though. The Rob Schneider quote is a bit much. His quote is political nonsense from the right instead of the left. He should be talking about the lack of effort or insight in those types of bits instead of harping about liberal indoctrination. But he can't go that route because he's a hack whose entire claim to fame is that he's good friends with Adam Sandler. ------ quotemstr I cancelled Netflix when I realized I never used it anymore. There's practically no good third-party content left and the first-party content all seems to come from one particular worldview that I find grating and repulsive. ------ baby I strongly believe in Netflix, there is just no way they will go down because they were the first ones and the fastest to get into the market. They're already producing a lot of masterpieces and soon it'll be a hard loss not to have your content there. ~~~ fullshark First mover disadvantage is a thing ------ xwdv I’m a Netflix investor. I’ve posted my tech portfolio here before, Netflix was a big part of it. Not anymore. I’ve decided to sell off in the after hours and be content with my 25%+ gain before things get worse. Or better. I don’t care. I’ve had a bad feeling about NFLX for some time, but this earnings only confirmed it. And if they’re counting on a Stranger Things, they’re screwed. I felt season 3 was garbage, and so do many other people, the latest season of Black Mirror was also terrible. There’s just nothing here for me anymore, and because of that I can’t sleep soundly being invested in this company.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: I was fired from a startup I helped found, I'm fucked - grumpymarketer I'm in a rough spot and I'd like to ask for advice from my fellow HNers. I was employee #1 at my startup and was fired 11 months in - 1 month from my cliff. I'm not necessarily bummed I was let go, things changed with the company and my role so I guess I just wasn't a good fit anymore. I get that. I'm sad because I'm out of money and and have no stock. I spent so much $$ commuting (SF to Palo Alto), eating out in Palo Alto, courting clients etc. I hardly have 2 months of personal runway saved up. And of course I worked my ass off. I never even expensed any travel expenses because I figured it was best to keep the money with the company. All the while I was getting paid a startup salary to begin with.<p>But now I don't have anything to show for it and am going broke. They are offering me a tiny equity package which is approximately equal to 3.5 months of work but it seems like an insult. In exchange they are asking me to sign a document which basically says I can never take any action against them, ever. So should I ask or demand more? Do I have any other options here? I would like to stay on good terms with the 3 founders because I really do respect them professionally but I'm not sure what to do. Another potentially interesting detail: I'm in my 20s and they are all 10-18 years older than me.<p>Onward and upward,<p>-grumpymarketer<p>[This is a throw away account obviously because I want to protect the identity of my former employer for the time being.] ====== paulsutter Tell them you'll sign the release if they give you the first 12 months of vesting. Firing someone at 11 months is a dick move. Remember: if you're not willing to walk away, you're going to pay retail (ie, end up with 3.5 months). I'll put odds at 70% that they give you 12 months and get the release they want, and odds at 30% that they give you no months and get no release. That puts the expected return of this approach at 8 months of vesting. In either outcome you keep your self respect (priceless), and the expected return is twice as good as caving. The key to staying on good terms with them is being _respectful and polite_ while you make your case. If you remain respectful to them, they will remain respectful to you. If you let them walk all over you, you're likely to lose their respect and may actually end up on worse terms with them. EDIT: Even if you end up with no agreement, your situation still has an option value, a valuation exercise I'll leave to the reader. There's a reason they want that release, and that reason only matters if they become a successful company. ~~~ achompas I really think you have it right: negotiate the release. Firing a month before OP's first year of equity vests is an incredibly low move. It's also suggested (and arguably correct) that OP might have legal recourse (the "option") if the company makes it big (which is why founders want OP to sign a release). They don't want a mess if things get big, so OP has little to lose by offering this deal. There's a good chance the founders accept, too, since (a) they're high on their company's prospects, given their thriftiness with equity, and (b) negative press always sucks, and exercising the "option" would generate negative press. I'll disagree, though, and say OP should ask for 11 months of vesting--that's what OP earned, after all. It'd be harder to get that extra month, given that OP wasn't there for a full year and the founders have worked to hang onto as much equity as possible. EDIT: _Consult with a lawyer when attempting to negotiate._ A lawyer can help you get through the process while avoiding any suggestion of extortion, blackmail, etc. (which, unintended or otherwise, will torpedo you and ruin your rep). ~~~ paulsutter You are right - 11 months is better. It's the honorable ask. ------ nilsbunger Unless you did something really wrong, custom would be getting your 1-year cliff and maybe a bit more (3-6 months vesting?), plus a month of salary or so as severance, in exchange for signing. They're trying to get a "sweetheart deal" for themselves -they know you're not represented, and they figure it's worth a shot. The signature is irrevocable, so be very careful with it. You should get an employment attorney to give you advice before you respond, and if he recommends it, have him fire off a nastygram to the company. Showing the company you have representation is likely to make the company sit down seriously and give you something reasonable. No startup can afford to spend its $$$ and attention on legal back-and-forth. I know you said money is tight, but an employment attorney doesn't have to be expensive. You'll get free advice in a consultation, and if you choose to engage them, usually ~$500-1000 will buy you nastygrams to the company from the attorney, a couple phone calls with their attorneys, and advice on a settlement. Doty Barlow is a firm I've used for employment advice - small group with lower rates but solid guys. (I have no personal connection or financial incentive for an endorsement). Good luck, it's hard to lose your "baby", and worse to be hurt like that. Just keep the dispute private, and be a gentleman, and you'll walk away smelling like a rose :) ~~~ n9com Any founder worth his/her salt would have ensured that the company has full legal insurance cover. I.E. it won't cost them money (other than a small excess) to get lawyers involved. ~~~ ebaysucks Could you please recommend one or a few legal insurance providers that cater to startups in the US? Thanks. ~~~ n9com Sorry, my startup is based in London, UK - the only insurer we found here that was willing to provide worldwide coverage for a tech startup was Hiscox. ------ snowpolar I am in a similar situation before (Being employee #1) and the way I'm thrown out is just by a simple SMS telling me that I'm not needed anymore, taunting me and locking me out of everything. I got so mad that I don't even want to accept their money as I agreed to help them (used to be friends) for free back then till they are profitable. Having said that, looking back at it now, it is perhaps a good thing. I went on to have much better success elsewhere, while they had success in their business as well. Do I feel bitter? maybe in the past, but now I can't be brothered. He still send emails 2-3 times a year taunting me about his success with different email addresses which I simply send it to my spam folder. Most importantly, what I learn is that, sometimes things just don't work out. The reasons for falling out could be many and weird. For my case, my 2 other founder friends are people who prefer 'Yes' men who agree with their groupthink all the time. I'm not one of them and hence it is not surprising we have to part (Although it turn out for the case which I'm arguing against and got them angry, I turned out to be correct as time passed) It is up to you if you want to chase for more compensation. You may wish to consult a lawyer if you deem it's worth it. For me I don't want to waste further time hence I did not. ~~~ tweiss That sounds horrible - what kind person sends victory emails to former employees/friends they fired? Maybe that's one of the downsides of having very young & immature entrepreneurs running companies. ------ balloot The question here is why are you so concerned with keeping on good terms with the founders? This is a humongous dick move, and either they're very shady or they are extremely angry at you. Either way I am not clear why you would work with them again. But as for the deal, I think it's pretty reasonable given that they are exercising their ability to screw you over. Assuming you signed the boilerplate options paperwork everyone uses, you signed a contract that explicitly stated that you get nothing if you are let go before 12 months. They gave you 3.5/11 of what you were supposed to get. That seems pretty reasonable compared to 0, which is what you are entitled to. Best of luck. Try not to dwell too much on this and I'm sure you'll land on your feet. As for your employer, karma will surely bite them in the ass if they pull stunts like this and screw over employees. Shame on them. ~~~ bmelton I hope you'll pardon me for making assumptions about your age, but if there were one lesson that I could teach the younger generation (or even just my own child), it would be 'assume good faith'. Because they want somebody out of the company doesn't have to mean that they're shady, or that they're angry. I can think of dozens of reasons why you might want to get rid of someone that wouldn't have any bearing on them personally. ~~~ ahoyhere If there's one lesson that I could teach the younger generation, it's that you ought to trust what a person shows you & tells you about their honor and the value they place on their word. When a person shows you who they truly are by acting like this, don't make excuses for them, don't rationalize it, don't give them a third or fourth chance, and certainly don't "assume good faith." Assuming the best when a person shows you the worst makes you a rube, begging to be taken. We're not talking about a friend who lied about why he couldn't come to your wedding or babysit your kid. You don't get more "bad faith" than firing somebody right before you were about to owe them a lot of money. When a person dicks you over, the best thing to assume is that they are a dick. This not only protects you in the future, it equips you to deal with them in the present. If you wish and hope that underneath they really mean well, you will only be disappointed _and_ ineffective. If they were acting in good faith, they would have A: fired him sooner, or B: given him the proportional share of what they originally agreed. Leaving aside bankruptcy or serious, newly-come-to-light malfeasance on behalf of the employee, the only explanation of a firing right before the cliff, AND a disproportionally low offer (just over 25%!), is bad faith. Even if they decided he's a terrible fit and they hate him, it's their responsibility for not taking action sooner. They need to fulfill their side of the agreement. Otherwise they are bad actors, acting in bad faith. It's just that simple. NB: when we fired 2 employees who were not working out at all, I paid them both severance, _even though I had zero obligation to do so_. Why? Because I believe in acting in good faith. Yes, it hurt my business, but it was the right thing to do. ------ guelo Equity isn't really worth anything for an early stage startup, it's a lottery ticket that probably won't pay, take what they give you and move on. You're actually lucky that they're giving you straight equity and not options that you have to come out of pocket to convert. So you have two months to find a job, no biggie if you're any good and have startup experience in the SF market. Actually even if you aren't that good you should be OK. One advantage to keeping things friendly with your ex-bosses is that you can use them as references for your interviews. I would talk to them and ask them if they could give you really great glowing reviews, most people will do that for you if you keep things friendly. Your new full time job is to find a job, it's a crappy job but at least you can do it from home in your undies. I've been there and it's really not that bad. One thing to remember is that you do have that two months runway, feeling panicked you might be tempted to take the first crappy offer that comes your way, but a job is a big portion of your life for years at a time so you should be as choosey as you can be and try to get something that you can live with and be happy. ~~~ ricardobeat > You're actually lucky that they're giving you straight equity No, he's not lucky at all. Maybe a tiny little less screwed. ------ nowarninglabel Many lawyers will give a free consultation, have you considered consulting one to explore your options? ~~~ jseims My guess is a lawyer will say "yes, you could sue" but they won't do this work on contingency. However, if you tell your former employer that you feel 11/12 of your cliff in equity is fair; otherwise, you'll pursue a law suit, my guess is they'll pony up without you having to take this any further. ~~~ qq66 Is there any legal standing to sue? The 1-year cliff is very specific, and while firing someone at 11 months just to avoid the cliff (if that's what happened) is a complete dick move, it might be legal. ~~~ kika Then why did they ask for release? :-) ------ tonystubblebine I complete disagree with the people saying you should talk to a lawyer. If you want to stay on good terms with them, anyone connected to the company, and anyone they know, then you need to work this out at a personal level. If you sue or even admit that you've talked to a lawyer then a lot of people are going to be afraid to work with you. Thankfully, it's a pretty easy conversation to have with them. Tell them that working for them has left you in a financial straight. Then ask them if they could include any sort of cash in their severance package. ~~~ rayiner I disagree. As someone said above, talking to a lawyer does not mean filing a lawsuit. No professional business person is going to hold it against you for talking to a lawyer in a situation like this--that's what they're there for. And frankly you'd be a chump not to explore your options, but that's almost certainly what OP's founders are counting on. ~~~ trevelyan I agree. The parent poster is also giving bad advice in encouraging this guy to tell his former coworkers that he does not have the money for a lawyer/lawsuit. I'm not a lawyer, but a bit of searching online suggests that the behavior of the company may be illegal in California under a law called ERISA (see the third bullet point under "ERISA Violations" on <http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/case/stock_option.html>). The onus would presumably be on the employee to establish he was fired in order to avoid having his shares vest, but if the company had no other reason to be dissatisfied with his performance and never communicated any concerns before his termination he might have a case. Personally, I think he should ask for his full year of equity and try exchanging equity for severance if they are reluctant. The thing to remember is that he might only have been on good terms with one of the founders, which means there are group dynamics to how any action he takes will be interpreted on their side. It may also only be one of the founders who cares, and the offer may be a negotiated settlement offered from a negotiation between them rather than any specific desire to formalize anything and avoid a lawsuit. ------ psychotik Man, that's a tough spot to be in. Your young age helps - you can still start from scratch and not be too much behind. I do not fully understand why you respect your other founders if they didn't treat you right. Even if what they did is within legal bounds, it certainly sounds like it could have been handled better (of course, I only know your side of the story). Outside of what others have suggested, I recommend spending a year or two working at a larger company to build your reserves, and to build confidence that you can go and do something like this again. You can keep exploring opportunities on the side while building your bank account, resume and experience. ------ mahyarm You shouldn't of felt bad about expensing business expenses. If the company pays for it, it's with before-tax money. If you pay for it and doesn't get reimbursed, it's with after-tax money since your an employee. If you felt bad about charging the company, then offer some of your own money in exchange for equity to cover the expenses, especially when a startup is just 3 other people. I think that way it will be still be a pre-tax expense. I'm not a accountant so ask one. If they are not willing to do that when the company is at that stage, then that is a big warning signal. Since people out of the company can have their stock diluted to nothing, and you are on bad terms with the founders, I would suggest the business expenses you still have records for instead 3.5 months of equity. ------ Mz A rule of thumb I use: Do you think you can get more out of them than you could earn if you invested your time elsewhere? Do not put more time into it than makes sense under that rubric. I am disinclined to sue people, fight with them, etc. Go ahead and ask for more and see what you can get. Then move on. Work on building a life for yourself. Try to learn from your mistakes so you don't repeat them. (If you do it right, you get to make entirely new mistakes on a regular basis.) Best of luck. ------ waivej I would switch to survival mode and land on your feet. It's hard to deal with being rejected. Take time to honestly assess if you could have done things better. Try to resolve your emotions with the situation as quickly and cleanly as you can to get your thinking straight and take care of your financial situation. Dealing with lawyers seems like a distraction unless there are contracts with your name on them or loans/financing. ------ ciscoriordan Contact me (email in profile). We're hiring Marketers at my company, Meraki, in SF. ~~~ grumpymarketer Thanks Cisco I will. ~~~ ricardobeat That was funny. ------ Simon_Templar You have to ask yourself what is it that you brought to the table and why do they not need it now? They are dealing from a position of strength, because of this knowledge. you are the one that has to deal from a position of strength. What has changed. You hae some homework to do. They want you to sign away any future rights away. that means something is about to happen. I would not settle for less than 7 months full salary and expenses. You have your homework to do. Approach this as if it is a prospective client and you really want the contract. What has changed . Good Luck but ablove all remain calm and methodical, don't panic. Like they said in Wall Street " never let them see you sweat " ------ djt Everyone learns the hard way. I had a similar thing happen to me at one of my first jobs. Things to take away: \- first employee =/= founder. \- negotiate stock or wage before you start. Always. \- research the founders and ask their past staff. \- trust your gut if you think there is something fishy. \- learn from this experience and move on. ------ SeoxyS Walk away. Take the stock, you actually got a pretty damn good deal (assuming you weren't ripped off on your stock package in the first place). Even 1/10 of the stock package of a typical #1 employee is usually better than a #5 employee. Don't expect to get anything out of it. Move on. Don't mull over it. It's actually a great time to be into startups… there has never been such a drought of developers. Hell, maybe learn how to code, while you're at it. ~~~ achompas _Hell, maybe learn how to code, while you're at it._ It's not clear that OP DOESN'T know how to code. Also, OP wasn't employee #5--he or she was employee #1, and sacrificed a year of earnings as a result. You don't make that sacrifice, then roll over when the founders unceremoniously let you go a month before you're due to vest. I say fight for it. ------ xrd What do you want to gain from this situation? What position are you in professionally after this experience? Meditate a lot on those two questions. Remember that there are countless stories like yours, and this does not prove that the people in charge are assholes, just that they are in the throes of the startup rollercoaster. They are probably failing all over themselves, and you were an easy fall guy. It does not excuse their behavior, but this is a very common circumstance. If the answer to the first question is that you want to get another job quickly, take the high ground and ask them how you can make things easier AND how they can help you. If you did nothing unscrupulous they should be willing to help you find another position and move on, and you should be expected to put them in a position where they can honestly look future investors in the eye and say we negotiated a settlement with past employees that will not screw us and your money in the future. If you did not help them succeed at the level they needed to (and this does not say you are a bad person, it just says you did not succeed at the level they needed you to) then it is good that your future has been freed up. It is honest for both parties to look at it this way. If the answer to the second question is that you are in a bad position after this, then you really need to make sure you act responsibly and rationally or you could have a very hard time the next time you interview. Saying to an interviewer "I can't have you talk to the people I worked with the last two years..." is a huge red flag. The best advice I ever got was when I was on the playground and another kid punched me in the chest and the teacher had us understand we were equally responsible. I was livid, and she was right. Taking the high road at this point in your career is a great opportunity for you because this situation is common and there is nothing worse than working with someone who has a chip on their shoulder because of something like this. If you become the type of person who can get through this and take the lessons well, you will prove yourself as a valuable employee anywhere. ~~~ grumpymarketer great help, thanks xrd ------ karljacob First off sorry you are in this situation it sucks. I have mentored quite a few people thru this situation and here are my thoughts. If you can afford it a lawyer is a good idea. It doesn't hurt your relationship with your other founders. They clearly consulted lawyers before letting you go which is why they are asking you for a release. On the other hand don't just use the lawyers to communicate with the other founders but do use them to understand your rights and your situation. Your co-founders should respect you even more if you stand up for what you believe in and what you are owed. It may be painful in the short term but generally I find people respect those who stand up for themselves. If they are asking for a release you have leverage and I don't think it is a big stretch to ask for your 12 months. One thing to discuss with lawyers is what were the terms of your offer letter. Was their acceleration? Are they trying to terminate you for cause? If so this is really hard to prove in California and its unlikely they would try to do so. Finally on the expenses if you have the receipts submit them its another item in your favor. In the end there is often a lot more to these stories than it seems so I am sure there is a lot more going on, but if you keep a cool head and focus on getting to something that is fair you can close this chapter and move on to your next with the knowledge that you got what you deserved and learned some valuable lessons ------ HardyLeung Your bottomline is probably somewhere X months of equity, where 3.5 < X < 11\. Why don't you (politely) email them that you are a reasonable person and believe it fairness. You don't expect full cliff vesting per agreement, but a 3.5 month compensation is simply _not_ fair. Counter them something like 8 months worth of equity + expense report. Project a tone that you are reasonable and professional about it, but out of personal principle, you will _fight_ against unfair offers. Give them a hint (but don't say you are talking to a lawyer) that if the arrangement is unreasonable, you'll not just walk away. You'll spend the time and energy to right the wrongs. Give them hints that investors, public laundry, and/or legal means are within consideration (but don't do any of these yet) -- even at the expense of potentially not getting anything at all. I think if the founders are serious about continuing with the startup, they'll think twice about this. What you are asking them is to just be reasonable, so they shouldn't have a problem with it. They would be far more worried about all these things you hint at (investors, public laundry, legal means). If they counter with something -- say 6 months. Take it. Heck, if you do this correctly, you lose no karma, not even the relationship with them. BTW the equity... probably worthless anyway. So, the other approach is to simply move on. I agree with others that this may actually be the better route, but it depends on your situation. ------ btbuilder Ask about, and submit your expense report. Never feel bad about being repaid for money you've lent a company. ------ tylermenezes There's a reason they want you to sign a release. You need to convince them it's a better deal to have you sign the release and give you your 12 months of equity, than to have you walk away without signing that release. Given that they're early stage, and it would be pretty easy to fuck them over, it shouldn't be hard. Posting this under a throwaway was a good move. ------ T_S_ Termination sucks but a they would never have called it a cliff unless you can get pushed over it. Your termination agreement sounds like the typical thin futon parked at the bottom of the cliff. If you can dig up receipts you could ask to get your expenses paid. Suggest you sign and move on unless you have a discrimination lawsuit in mind. ------ bkyan Do you feel this company has a viable future? If not, I'd ask for the cash equivalent of the equity package they offered and see what they say... ~~~ loumf I agree with this -- get as much cash as possible, not equity. If they are not successful, you come out ahead. If they are successful, you will probably be so diluted, that it won't matter to you. Get your expenses and 11 x (difference between your monthly salary and a market salary). (I AM NOT AN ACCOUNTANT, but) If they give you equity, and the company has a set valuation (if they took funding), then the equity has an established value that you pay taxes on (cash out of pocket). ------ arrgeebee 1) Why did they let you go? 2) What was your role in this organisation? 3) What does your former organisation sell? 4) Your age in this scenario is irrelevant unless you provide more detail. ~~~ grumpymarketer I was in charge of marketing and also did all sorts of bd under the CEO. Something I did not mention is that the CEO was cultivating an overly confidential culture. Over the past couple months I did not know who our clients were, how much they were paying, status updates from our software development. It felt like I was mindlessly rowing a canoe with blinders on and earlplugs in. While this definitely is one management strategy, I don't agree with it. As a result I think I got a little unplugged and they didn't like it. I don't want to reveal what we sold yet to preserve confidentiality for them. ~~~ gyardley Heh - if you were in charge of marketing and didn't know who your clients were, your CEO's out of his tree and your stock's never going to be worth anything anyway. I'd take the 3.5 months worth of equity just in case and start looking for another job. (Oh, and next time do your expenses and take a sustainable salary! Early-stage employee doesn't equal martyr.) ~~~ grumpymarketer "Early-stage employee doesn't equal martyr" >> I think that's my biggest lesson so far ~~~ kls Right, and if you are going to take a significant pay cut over market, make sure that equity vests every month. You are being compensated in equity in these arrangements. Make sure the equity is not a future promise for sacrifices today. ~~~ balloot That's just not how it works. Pretty much every startup uses the 1 year cliff. And rightly so, because for a very early employee 1/48 of the employee's options is not a trivial amount of equity. You could hire a guy that comes in and works for a few months and then leaves and takes .3% or whatever of the company. That is just as bad of a screwjob as what happened to the OP, and companies are right to protect themselves. Anyway, the right answer here is to work for someone who doesn't pull crap like this. And if the OP was competent at his job, I would hope the other employees have seen what happened and are properly aware of their employer's shady ethics. In any regard, this is just bad business and likely killed morale to some degree. ~~~ wpietri The deals for early employees are much more flexible than for later employees. If he took a significantly below-market salary in exchange for equity, asking for a shorter cliff is not unreasonable. ~~~ kls Right, anytime I take reduced compensation my cliff becomes very short. If it does not then it is not the deal for me. Any other arrangement leaves you in a position to hold the bag. Now there are a multitude of way that that vesting can be scheduled for example an introductory 3 month window where there is no vesting and then a sliding scale where each month compounds until fully vested at 12. I am sorry but any deal where you take reduced compensation with no equity until 12 months is a bad deal. This post being a prime example of why. ------ huhtenberg Try and talk to them about (back-dated) expense reports, but that's probably it if you in fact want to keep relationships with the founders. PS. If I read between the lines correctly, the "tiny equity package" basically reflects their opinion of your contributions to the business, i.e. it wasn't much. This in turn implies you were let go because of that rather because "things changed" and you weren't a "good fit anymore". If this is close to reality, then I can certainly appreciate the general mood you are in, but take it as a valuable experience and learn from it. If money is an issue, just tell them exactly that - "I'm in a crunch, please help." The chances are that they will. I saw an absolutely abysmal programmer get hired back on a short contract as a favor, because he would've lost his home otherwise. Just don't lawyer up for crissake (or do it very discreetly), that's an ass move that will _not_ make things any better. ~~~ zobzu asking a lawyer is good to know one's options. doesn't mean you're going to yell it at every door. you gotta know your rights. blaming people for that is just wrong. Talking like "i spoke to my lawyer and ur in troubles!" is just as wrong obviously. ------ smsm42 Take what they give you and move on. If you're good, you'll have a new job in no time, everybody's hiring in the Valley now. Theoretically, it could be that with lawyer etc. you could get more. But fresh startup probably doesn't have much more than equity, and even that equity would not be worth anything for years, and chances are - never. And you'll spend your energy dwelling in the past and nurturing insults done to you. Not a good strategy for a guy in his 20s. IMHO just move on, you'll have many good opportunities. Next time you do startup remember to be more careful and have some cushion - in this case you got let go, but startup could also just fold through no fault of anybody. ------ dlitwak For what it's worth, whenever our family has a conflict that's possibly legal with someone, it is resolved pretty quickly once something is sent on my father's legal stationary. Lawyers scare people, can't hurt. ------ robocat 1\. If it is a lowball offer, you won't keep respect if you accept it. Nobody respects a schmuck. 2\. As a minority shareholder, everything revolves around what they are contented to give you. Facebook movie got something right - if majority want to screw u they can (depending on how much effort they are willing to spend doing so!) 3\. How can you keep a good relationship with them? - e.g. I work some hours per week for free and keep on good terms with founders to retain my minority shareholding. I am an engineer type, so read above as random engineer dude advice :-) ------ dlitwak I think it's hard for anyone to tell the reason why he was fired. But 11 months is just suspicious. They didn't realize he wasn't a good fit sooner? Fire him sooner, or wait a month so he vests to do the right thing. Sounds like they used a young guy to do their dirty work while they were small, and once they got funding and didn't need someone who had rights to such a large portion of equity in the future, brought on people who would take less. Pretty sketchy. ------ rpwilcox Unless you were underage when you took the contract (or someone pointed a literal gun to your head) you were fully capable, should have known the the risks of the position when you started. You took a gamble on a startup and you lost. You're not a unique or special snowflake in this regard. Brush yourself off, maybe take a paying position to build back your reserves, and maybe attack the next gamble with some more wisdom. ~~~ rayiner At least under California law, his legal rights may extend beyond just "brush yourself off." It is incredibly shmucky for him to not find out what he is entitled to. ------ lisper Did they fire you for cause? If so, take the 3.5 months and run. If not, I'd ask for the full 12 months of equity and a month's severance pay. ------ uptown How do most startups quantify a month's worth of equity? Is there an obvious formula based on current valuation? ~~~ daeken Presumably it's his equity divided by 12 months times 3.5. ~~~ grumpymarketer It is the # of shares the offered me divided by my total restricted stock agreement. This represents the total % of equity they are granting me after letting me go, then I multiply this by 48 (because my equity grant vests over 48 months). The results is about 3.5 months. ~~~ howmuch How much equity (%)? Curious as I'm looking at first employee position offer at 2.5 and nOt thrilled. ~~~ grumpymarketer I'd prefer not to state publicly but you can email me [email protected] (another dummy account I made). ------ dctoedt Here are some other things to consider: 1\. EXPENSE REIMBURSEMENT LAW: You didn't say where you're located, but check out California Labor Code section 2802, especially subdivision (c), at <http://law.onecle.com/california/labor/2802.html>: \--snip-- (a) An employer shall indemnify _[that is, reimburse]_ his or her employee for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee in direct consequence of the discharge of his or her duties, or of his or her obedience to the directions of the employer, even though unlawful, unless the employee, at the time of obeying the directions, believed them to be unlawful. (b) All awards made by a court or by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement for reimbursement of necessary expenditures under this section shall carry interest at the same rate as judgments in civil actions. Interest shall accrue from the date on which the employee incurred the necessary expenditure or loss. (c) For purposes of this section, the term "necessary expenditures or losses" shall include all reasonable costs, including, but not limited to, attorney's fees incurred by the employee enforcing the rights granted by this section. \--snip-- 2\. WRITTEN AGREEMENT? You didn't say whether you had a written employment agreement, stock-option agreement, etc. Any of those might contain a mandatory-arbitration clause; a jury-trial waiver (probably unenforceable in California); and/or other relevant provisions. 3\. TIME SUCK: Lawsuits and arbitrations against former employers are a _huge_ time suck for all concerned, but especially for the (former) employee. Ask yourself whether, at this stage of your career, the upside of equity in this particular startup justifies your making such an investment of your time. Because no matter what happens, you'll never get that time back. 4\. SIGNAL TO FUTURE EMPLOYERS: If you file a lawsuit, future prospective employers won't know who's right or who's wrong. All they'll know is that you've sued a former employer. (They may well find that out when they run a background check.) That will trigger the fear that someday you might sue _them_. And that in turn could color their decision whether to hire you, or instead to hire the next person, who _isn't_ suing their employer. 5\. THE REST OF THE STORY: Your former employer's founders _will_ have a different perspective. If you sue them, there's absolutely no doubt they'll tell their side of the story. Consider whether you want that made a matter of public record. 6\. BRIAN REID EXAMPLE: Check out Brian Reid's story: He was fired from Google at age 52, nine days before the IPO. His options apparently would have been worth $10 million at the IPO; presumably they'd be worth a lot more now. His lawsuit against Google for age discrimination has been pending for years. Dr. Reid has a clear upside, plus what the court of appeal felt was a triable case, i.e., a case that at least had sufficient merit that it deserved to be decided by a jury instead of being summarily tossed out. From the facts you've given, it's not clear that either of those things is the case for you. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Reid_(computer_scientist)...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Reid_$computer_scientist$#Working_at_Google) 7\. KEEPING GOOD RELATIONS: Other commenters have made good points about the upside of keeping a civil relationship with your former employer, in the (perhaps-vain) hope that in the future they'll give you a decent reference or perhaps someday even want to hire you again. 8\. USUAL DISCLAIMER: I'm not your lawyer, the above isn't legal advice because we don't have all the facts here, etc., etc. ------ sparknlaunch12 How do you go from number one to out the door? What protection did you have in place? Isn't your name on any paperwork? I thought when a founder leaves you get some sort of payout for time and cash put in? ------ j45 Don't sign anything without getting advice. ------ georgemcbay You might as well ask for more, because why not? But either way... 3.5 months of severance at such an early stage company is actually pretty good. That plus your own 2 months of savings puts you in a much better spot than you seem to think you're in. ~~~ grumpymarketer Just to clarify...it's 3.5 months worth of equity so it's not liquid and not worth much right now. ~~~ wglb I would take that deal, then put it behind you and start on the next thing. Maybe it will be worth something some day. However, move ahead and start work on your next thing. Don't delay--it is very easy to sit and stew. Here is what works for me in serious times of stress. Spend most of your energy working on your next deal. And then, say, one hour per week, allow yourself to internally mope about this. I am quite serious. I call it "the hour of sniveling", and when that is done, you haven't necessarily solved a problem, but you have let those feelings express themselves, but then move forward. (I admit this sounds very goofy, but I use this approach to positive effect.) ~~~ pudakai This isn't so goofy - it is like the same advice they give to people losing weight, they are allowed to have a pig out day once in a while. ------ new_high_score Sounds like an unfortunate story (I'm torn between recommending a lawyer or walking away) - but the positive thing is that you're so much younger - it all comes around, just hang in there. ------ kayman forget it and move on. Focus on delivering value. energy you spend on dealing with your old company is better channeled on new things. ------ wavephorm Beware that even if you had vested stock you typically would have to buy the options for whatever they were worth when you were hired, within 90 days. If you're broke now, you'll need to find some place to get the money to buy those options, which may or may not be a good investment. ------ rprasad Get a lawyer. Immediately. That is the only advice that matters. ------ Drbble Why is profanity in a title on the front page? ------ rainboiboi No sh*t. You are on your way to being the next Steve Jobs. ~~~ johnx123-up Newbie here... wants to know why the above _motivational_ comment is been downvoted? This will help me. ~~~ rainboiboi I have no idea too.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: Dear Recruiters Stop Asking why do you want to work for our company - syed123 Nothing worthwile came out of this question. At the end of the day everyone wants to get paid. ====== NotPaidToPost To me the real purpose of this question is to see if the candidate did a minimum of homework about the company and what it does. ~~~ ziddoap I don't understand the beat-around-the-bush approach to this. "Do you know what we do here?" "Did you find anything interesting about our history?" "Have you done any homework on the company and what it does?" Ask straight questions, get straight answers. Ask round-about questions, expect round-about answers. In the second case, it's a lot of words without much being said.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
It's Harder to Get an Uber or Lyft If You're Black, Study Says - dickbutt http://time.com/4551521/uber-lyft-black-discrimination/ ====== cup No real surprise there. Most things are harder when you're black. Getting a job, getting an airbnb, getting a fair trial, getting an education, getting a lease on a house, getting a homeloan etc etc. The only thing thats really easier is going to jail. ------ mstodd I'd like to see that study data as I'm skeptical that a person's name is the only factor. I can see them going the same route as Airbnb, forcing drivers and passengers to not discriminate. Unfortunately, the freedom to use your property how you want is why people are drawn to driving for Uber. Take that away, and less drivers means higher prices, and longer wait times... but at least we'll all be waiting longer together.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Learn Voraciously (2015) - arbingsam http://www.arbing.co.uk/learn-voraciously/ ====== jasode _> So why do so many people who have chosen to take that extra step, just stop educating themselves when they graduate?_ Because most people _don 't_ go to college to "get an education." They just go there as a hoop-jumping prerequisite to hopefully get "a job" and with that, a middle-class lifestyle. It's not that they want to know Shakespeare (running _towards_ an academic milestone), but rather, they simply want to avoid _" flipping burgers"_ (running _away_ from a miserable economic existence). The author appears to be from Spain. I don't know how the culture there perceives higher education but in the USA, the vast majority of students go to college to _" get a piece of paper"_ as a signaling mechanism.[1] As another comparison, Germany doesn't seem to have as much of a social stigma for young adults pursuing the apprenticeship track instead college. In America, the "trades" of plumbers/electricians/welders are lower social rank than office workers with a degree. For most (especially those not pursuing STEM), any education received -- is a side effect and not the primary purpose of school. This is not a negative judgement about those students. They _do want to learn_ ... they'd just rather not learn about Shakespeare at college just so they can copy paste numbers from one Excel spreadsheet to another in their post-graduation professional job. Those people _do continue learning_ but the topics they pursue on their own don't match the typical university curriculum. (e.g. they learn more about cooking, travel destinations, or other hobbies that interest their minds.) The university was originally for well-off children of aristocracy or those training for religious studies. Perhaps _those_ students pursued "education" purely for education's sake... along with the "grand tour" of Europe, etc. Those young adults didn't have to get a job so the "purpose" of university schooling wasn't intermingled with impure motives of economics. (E.g. I get my rich dad's inheritance regardless of how well I learn Greek/Latin). However, over the last few decades, higher education became a sorting mechanism for employers (e.g. this job application with no college degree gets rejected) so it's perfectly logical that students these days just go to college to check off that box for potential employment. [1][http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2015/04/educational_sig_...](http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2015/04/educational_sig_1.html) ~~~ 50CNT American Universities do seem like they are playing dress up in the clothes of the older aristocratic systems whilst having dropped the key features that made these systems desirable. As an example, take analytical reading, writing, and discourse. They used to be a key component (the trivium of Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric) of higher education, and they are still valuable skills. Being able to dissect, evaluate and challenge an argument is the basis for making informed choices. The clashing of dogma that stretches from politics to tech discussions might just be down to us not knowing how to argue. So we lob things past each others heads like that makes sense. As of now, it's been relegated to being touched gingerly at the end of highschool, and taught hush-hush on a need-to-know basis during graduate studies. It's a pity because we could fit that in and a dozen other things. Cut the fat. We go through 12 to 20 years of education at tremendous costs. I sincerely believe that we could get an order of magnitude better value. We retained the means of higher education but lost sight of its ends. ~~~ sotojuan American college students are plagued by mediocre and high-school level courses universities like to call "the core". It's a huge waste of time and money not because of the stuff taught but because of it's level. Rarely anyone takes the core seriously and most try to get out of it. ~~~ fu9ar And legions of STEM graduates with poor critical thinking skills believe that is the norm for the liberal arts and post ceaselessly with poor grammar and qualitative reasoning about the superiority of their academic discipline. It is like an underwater basketweaving major taking one requires remedial course and declaring that all of Mathematics is blow off easy stuff. ------ blowski It's a bit aphoristic for my liking - up there with 'work smarter, not harder' and 'never give up'. How do I prioritise learning against using what I've already learned? Is it better to learn things I already know in more detail, or completely new things but only to a shallow level? Is it OK to learn from YouTube videos or should I register with a proper education establishment? And how do I balance learning against other demands on my time like networking and spending time with my family? I doubt anybody wakes up one day and says "OK, I've learned enough now, I'm not going to bother learning anything new." so advising against that seems a bit pointless. ~~~ k__ Well, I had the experience that only some of the new stuff I learned required to forget about old stuff I already knew. ~~~ Declanomous That is a salient point. Learning requires a lot of humility. You need to admit you don't know something, you will probably do poorly when you first start out, and, as you've pointed out, you might need to admit what you already know is wrong. I realized a while back that I tended to get defensive when someone presented information that I was wrong. Initially I felt that this was because people tend to disagree with other people in a way that can be considered, at best, a little dickish. However, I also felt attacked even when the information was presented in a fairly neutral manner. This was a bit of a shock to me, because I like to think of myself as open-minded. After some self-reflection, I found the reason I felt attacked was because I felt that any time someone presented me with information that conflicted with my worldview, it attacked my self-identity as a reasonable and observant person. When someone told me something that didn't seem possible based on my worldview, I almost took it as if they were attacking my worldview itself. This defensive behavior would present itself in how I told my stories to other people as well. So, while I felt attacked when other people presented information that conflicted with my worldview, I'm sure they felt equally attacked when I shared my worldview with them, even if I didn't outright say they were wrong at any point. It took me a while to figure out how to avoid this behavior, since I was effectively putting up emotional barriers against what felt deep down like an attack. (Perhaps this step is easier for people who are in tune with their emotional side, rather than their analytical side.) I just started thinking about everyone as having their own world (myself included), and their stories being true in their world. In a sense, sharing knowledge was a bit like they were taking me inside a bit of their world. It freed me from having to immediately evaluate whether what they said was true or false. I could keep their ideas in their world and evaluate them there, and compare them to how things worked in my world. Sometime other people's ideas explain what is going on in my world better than my own ideas. At that point, I ditch my old ideas and accept their ideas as the new truth in my world. It sounds kind of weird, and it probably is a bit. I've kind of created a analytical system for empathy, which allows me to evaluate world views in a scientific manner. Regardless, I've learned so much more since I stopped worrying about whether I was right in any given situation, and instead worried about listening instead. There's always time to evaluate later. ------ epalmer My challenge is I want to learn everything. I have learned to focus what I spend time learning about. that has paid off in a number of career ways and in my ability to innovate at work. This applies to my learning "Slow down to speed up". ~~~ sotojuan Learning to choose what to learn and what to spend time on is a very very hard skill to gain but one of the best. It'll save you so much time but also make you happier because you will actually master what you really want to learn rather than know a bit of everything and feel stretched out. ~~~ SpruceSlope Any resources you can recommend on learning to choose what to learn? ~~~ sotojuan Not specific to learning but the book "Essentialism" is good. ------ licsiousness The old saying that "hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard" applies here. ------ dfan > _Apparently after graduating from university 42% of people never read > another book. Ever! Now I have no idea how accurate that statistic is, but > if it is anywhere near remotely close to the truth, that’s amazing._ is not really the best way to try to convince me with statistics. I spent 5 minutes poking around the internet and nobody seems to have the actual study, just summaries of it. The closest I could find to a real discussion was at [1]. One survey with data there said that 12% of college graduates had not read a book in the last 12 months, which is very different from 42% not reading a book ever. [1] [http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/9446/do-33-of- hi...](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/9446/do-33-of-high-school- graduates-never-read-another-book-for-the-rest-of-their-li) ------ ajarmst "Apparently after graduating from university 42% of people never read another book. Ever!" [Citation Needed] ------ fatninja Very true. I have always felt this. When I joined my new workplace, I spent quite a lot of out of office hours on learning more in my field. To be honest, it really paid off. Studying after uni really matters. ------ shas3 She may also be learning! You're discounting experiential learning aka learning on the job. Also, she may be reading books relevant to work, including domain-specific books, management books, pop-sci management books, etc. I think the spirit of the article is great, but the definition of learning is rather narrow. ------ choosername Maybe she's just flatterin. Or she thinks that working less and being comfortable with it is clever and she has to admire the skill this takes, which she struggles with to adjust right. Maybe the author is right, though. ------ klue07 This is why when we hire entry level techies, we mainly look to see if they have a drive and passion to learn the work they do. ------ Hydraulix989 This content doesn't belong on this site -- why are you giving us unwanted personal advice peppered with trite anecdotes on a forum for hackers? ~~~ dmalvarado There's also an article about flossing on the front page. Crazy times. ~~~ blowski From the guidelines: > Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate > for the site. If you think a story is spam or off-topic, flag it by clicking > on its 'flag' link. Personally, I found the discussion about flossing quite interesting. ~~~ curiousgal >Personally, I found the discussion about flossing quite interesting. You should check out the latest episode of the Surprisingly Awesome podcast. ~~~ blowski Thanks! I listened, and it was great.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
South Park Sums Up Most Web Startups - jasonlbaptiste http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe6kGJDGctU ====== snprbob86 As funny and cleverly satirical as South Park is, I don't think this belongs on HN. ~~~ zepolen You must admit, this scene is a lot more on topic than a lot of other submissions. ------ Rawsock That's the old Web 1.0 startup scheme. Web 2.0 changed phase 2 from "?" to "Banner ads/Get bought by Google". ~~~ jrockway And Phase 3 has been removed. "Agile" teaches us to simplify, after all. ------ joechung Does this predate the Slashdot meme? ~~~ alaskamiller This is where the Slashdot meme came from. ------ nopassrecover Oldie but a goodie. What's impressive is that '?' often works itself out. ~~~ daeken In visible cases, yes, it often does, but that's because they already have mindshare and often users who are invested in the service. However, this ignores the other 99% of startups with no business model, who silently fail.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: what software do you use for analyzing apache logs? - hashtable What software do you use for analyzing apache logs? I would prefer open source ones that will work on Linux, although this is not a deal breaker. ====== davidw I use 'visitors' ( <http://www.hping.org/visitors/> ), which was written by my friend, YC.news visitor antirez. I tried Google Analytics too, but found it kind of annoying in that it's sort of a pain to get the information I want. ~~~ antirez Thanks David, note that in most debian-based distributions all you need is apt-get install visitors. __Edit: __Also if you could like to play with real-time analysis to get detailed information about how your users are interacting with your web site please feel free to write me at antirez -at- gmail ~dot~ com for a free invitation for<http://lloogg.com> ~~~ apathy cool, you wrote Visitors? thanks for saving me a lot of work! I used it from 2004-2005 for clicktrails... great idea and implementation. Graphviz makes everything better (corollary: anything that needs Graphviz is interesting enough to get better) Google Analytics and/or Visitors are about all I would think a person needs. And now that you have lloogg.com out there, it looks like clicktrails are covered in a GA-style interface. Kick ass! Great idea, _again_ , best of luck. I haven't run into many websites that couldn't be improved by clickpath analysis and refocusing navigation on the ways people actually use a site -- optimizing for the common case, in other words. It baffles me that any site would fail to do so. Now they _really_ have no excuse. ~~~ antirez Nice to hear that visitors was useful :) and sure Graphviz is very cool, it was a great help in our startup (the main product we developed is a digg/reddit/...-alike system for the Italian market) in order to visualize voting patterns and try to improve the algorithm for fraudolent voting patterns detection. LLOOGG is still pretty raw and we are developing the "filters" part of the UI, but still it seems pretty useful to check what's really happening in a web site. We have a lot of success stories of people using LLOOGG for some week and then modifying the site structure to optimize the user experience. Thanks for the comment. ------ pk Started with Webalizer, switched to Google Analytics. Webalizer's ok, but it's missing a bunch of features like sane user agent string parsing (to give an overview of the browsers accessing your site). It also displays most of the stats by page hits (such as country and user agent) rather than "visits" or unique IPs, which I think is a better way to group. I've been pretty happy with Google Analytics so far - it has a ton of options for sorting and grouping data (like viewing users' paths through the links on the site) and good IP geolocation. Plus, the JavaScript tracker gives you stats on visitors' screen resolution, which can be handy. On the downside, all our data is belong to Google. ~~~ nickb If you have $3K to spare, you can purchase Google Urchin 5/6 (Analytics was based on it) and keep all the data. As a bonus, it also analyzes log files. ~~~ rms Free trial for Urchin 6? <http://www.google.com/urchin/download.html> ------ sam apachelog is a nice python module for parsing log lines from apache. it works as a great base for doing your own analysis. <http://code.google.com/p/apachelog/> It's based on this perl module: <http://cpan.uwinnipeg.ca/~peterhi/Apache- LogRegex> To manage log files, use cronolog edit: I use cronolog to break up the logfiles daily and then I run a python script (which uses apachelog to handle the nasty parsing) to create a summary dictionary of parameters from that day. For example: {num_unique_ips:140, num_pageviews:532, ...} I pickle that dictionary and save it as a file. So every day has a raw log file and a "summary dictionary" file. To make plots I go through the summary files and unpickle them to extract the quantities of interest. ------ hoyhoy AWStats with GeoIPFree is pretty good, but a major hassle to configure. ------ PStamatiou #!/bin/bash sudo awk '{print $11}' access_log \| grep -v 'yourowndomain.com' \| grep -v 'bloglines.com' \| grep -v '"-"' \| grep -v 'feedburner.com' \| sort \| uniq -c \| sort -rn \| head -20 ------ SwellJoe We use Google Analytics, Webalizer, and AWStats, plus some custom Perl bits. Clicky looks pretty swish, but I haven't taken the time to try it. ------ dangrossman I'm using W3Counter (<http://www.w3counter.com>). It's like Google Analytics minus the 1-24 hour delay, and all the goodness that comes from realtime reporting. But I keep GA installed as well for some of the more detailed back- reporting it doesn't have. ------ ivank Stone Steps Webalizer: <http://www.stonesteps.ca/projects/webalizer/> along with cronolog and a bunch of custom Python scripts to autogenerate webalizer configs. ------ slurpme I use <http://polliwog.sourceforge.net> open source, runs on Java. Not suitable for large websites since it provides a LOT of information about your site. ------ dpapathanasiou Webtrax (<http://www.multicians.org/thvv/webtrax-help.html>) is a good open- source tool. ------ tom_rath A Windows solution, but WebLog Expert works great for us: <http://www.weblogexpert.com/> ------ mleonhard <http://code.google.com/p/recordstream/> ------ ubudesign I use analog. ~~~ xirium I use a combination of analog and some custom scripts. analog is written by a profession statistician and is a steadfast tool. The custom scripts look for interesting searches. Classics include "What does the fur on a rat do?" and "How do I connect an airbrush to a scubadiving tank?" ------ uruzseven Use Awk or Perl. They are available on every Linux system already so it's highly portable and very powerful. ------ agentbleu I like bbclone a lot, it's not like the usual stats but gives me very uniquely useful information and much better than many of the others as its so direct,	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
How to roll your own streaming service - MPetitt https://medium.com/p/4e8d9f7308cd ====== MPetitt Hey everyone, I'm the author of the article and one of the developers at CuriosityStream. I'd be happy to answer any questions you guys have about streaming technology or the industry.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Show HN: Founderkit Deals – Credits and Discounts for Startup Founders - ryanmickle https://founderkit.com/deals ====== codegeek I am not sure if it is just me but what do you mean by "Sometimes it pays to know the founders" Are you offering a discount on specific products if I know their founder ? This sounds silly and I am sure is not the case but that is what the tagline says to me. Or are you offering a discount to founders of other companies ? I suggest you change this tagline. I could not figure out what you do in 5 seconds. It seems like some kind of a discount coupon offering site for saas products but that line confused the hell out of me. ------ ryanmickle When Ian and I built Founderkit, we wanted to give founders tools to save time, make fewer mistakes. One of the things in YC that was always helpful was credits for services like Heroku, to help get started. We wanted to give this edge to more founders, so when companies reached out to us after launching, we asked them to help our founders get started by adding a deal. This is just a tiny start, and look out for a Heroku deal shortly, but we'd love feedback and suggestions. ------ ezekg I agree with codegeek on the tag line, it's confusing and I'm not really sure what it means. Also, I think it should be more apparent that some "get started" buttons shoot off an intro email. I know there's a small disclaimer under the button (which I noticed after getting the email), but those types of disclaimers are usually (and easily) ignored. I was expecting to hit a landing page, or at least get more info on the company, but was instead sent an email which I wasn't even sure I was interested in getting. Even changing the verbiage from "get started" to "request intro" for offers that fire off intro emails.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
High-Memory Instances and $5 Linodes - joshtronic https://blog.linode.com/2017/02/14/high-memory-instances-and-5-linodes/ ====== pjungwir Linode is my top choice for hosting, but lately I've been tinkering on a project that needs a lot of disk, and it's hard to find good options there. On AWS every dimension scales independently, but with Linode I can't buy disk without buying CPU and RAM too. When I had a similar need a few years ago, I wound up renting a dedicated server, where even the cheapest came with 2TB or so. I'd love to just stick with Linode, but I need an option to add disk! ~~~ deftnerd Delimiter has a clever solution for $10 a month. They call it Slot Hosting. You ship them a disk and they'll host it and attach it as additional storage on a VPS. [https://www.delimiter.com/slot- hosting/](https://www.delimiter.com/slot-hosting/) I use it to host an 8tb drive that I then attach to a dedicated server I rent for $20 a month. $30 a month and I have a server that I use for Plex (16 cores, 3.2ghz, 32 gigs of memory, and 10tb of total storage). ~~~ BrianT [Disclosure - I work at Delimiter] Thanks for the recommendation, slot hosting is a good solution if you need to get a disk online with a VPS attached to it. We've had a lot of people asking how you did this so just to explain: Slot hosting $120/year ($10/month) - that gives you one 3.5" or 2.5" slot to send your disk in. You can aggregate up multiple slots and aggregate the VPS resources into one large VM. This is great for things like ZFS and software RAID. The VM is KVM based. [https://www.delimiter.com/slot- hosting/](https://www.delimiter.com/slot-hosting/) The server is this: Dual E5420, 16GB RAM, 1TB or 2x500GB HDD $200/year ($16.66/month). [https://cc.delimiter.com/?cmd=cart&action=add&id=1718](https://cc.delimiter.com/?cmd=cart&action=add&id=1718) Slot hosting uses dedicated (non-contended) CPU/RAM/Disk resources so you can run Plex directly on it if you have enough slots aggregated to give you the RAM. ~~~ thatusernametho Why annual pricing? I'd do it if you had monthly pricing.....Since the payment is annual what happens if 2 or 3 months in I decide to change and need something else? ~~~ BrianT Slot hosting moved to annual only as administering a customer-owned equipment adds an additional layer of headache. Its not cost effective to have customers who want to load up on 'warez' cancelling their service, shipping back their disk to get it back the next week empty for another round. We're positioning this as a long-term storage product where customers don't want to be paying the hosting company each month for disks. ------ brettfarrow I used to use Linode for some projects, and really appreciated their speed and server quality, which seemed better than Digital Ocean at the time. But after using them for 12-18 months, and losing several days of data due to the 2015 DDoS, and reading about more and more security issues, I switched back to DO and haven't looked back. The performance differences aren't noticeable to me, and I'd rather have my hosting through a company with a better security record than Linode. ~~~ Hello71 DO isn't any better, just hasn't been targeted by any serious attackers yet. until very recently, they didn't allow using a custom kernel (except via kexec hackaround) and were quite slow updating their kernel for security patches. they repeatedly gave random dates for implementation, then repeatedly pushed them back, then eventually just ignored users on this issue for _years_. their images were also poorly sanitized, leading to the well-known problem of SSH host key duplication, which was the case for years. ~~~ nacs > just hasn't been targeted by any serious attackers yet. Source? Just because they haven't announced any successful security breaches, doesn't mean they haven't been seriously targeted. In fact, considering the amount of times my random dedicated server instance (not hosted at DO) gets hit with random attacks, I'm sure a large provider like DO has had numerous serious, targeted attacks against their network/servers/control panel/etc. ~~~ Hello71 > Source? Just because they haven't announced any successful security > breaches, doesn't mean they haven't been seriously targeted. True, and in fact the only basis for my statement is that they have historically taken security so not-seriously that it would be surprising if they were in fact able to withstand advanced attacks, given that even the most secure organizations are often unable to do so. (see: every talk at Black Hat) > In fact, considering the amount of times my random dedicated server instance > (not hosted at DO) gets hit with random attacks, I'm sure a large provider > like DO has had numerous serious, targeted attacks against their > network/servers/control panel/etc. this statement is just as baseless as mine. perhaps even moreso, since the two numbers seem to have nothing to do with each other. one could just as well say "my server gets lots of bogus SSH attempts, so banks get robbed a lot". ------ mwpmaybe PSA: If you're using the Linode API, the 2048 plan is now PlanID 2 and the new 1024 plan is now PlanID 1. The other PlanIDs were incremented by one as well. I wish they hadn't done that, but there it is. ~~~ Matheus28 That sucks. Those PlanIDs should never change. ~~~ mwpmaybe Well, they've changed in the past... it's fine as long as the plans corresponding to the PlanIDs never get smaller or more expensive. This particular change violates that assumption and so is definitely not fine. ~~~ Matheus28 The hardcoded plan (PlanID 2) that I had in my program was pointing to a 4 GB 2 CPU plan (4 GB), now it's pointing to a 2 GB 1 CPU plan (2 GB). ~~~ biot There is an API method to query plans: [https://www.linode.com/api/utility/avail.linodeplans](https://www.linode.com/api/utility/avail.linodeplans) Presumably you can select the relevant ID based on plan properties (cores, RAM, etc.) rather than hardcoding IDs. Though I completely agree that once a plan has a specific ID, as long as that plan is available the ID should be constant. ~~~ mwpmaybe Yeah, that's... not practical. What if they upgrade the 1024 plan to 1536? (That has actually happened, by the way.) Now you're extracting the number and comparing it to a range? > Give me the plan where the RAM is >= 1024 and < 2048. What if they upgrade the 1536 plan to 2048? > Nevermind, just give me the plan with two cores. Okay, do you want the $20/mo plan or the $120/mo plan? > Fine, sort the plans by cores and memory and give me the smallest plan. Oops, they introduced a new plan with one core and less (i.e. not enough) storage. I'm not saying it's impossible. Just impractical. ~~~ Sir_Cmpwn It's not as difficult as you're suggesting. Figure out your minimum specs and get the cheapest plan that meets them. ~~~ ceejayoz Or, the API's plan IDs could correspond to specific plans, and never change. New plans mean new IDs. Like how IDs are supposed to work. ~~~ Sir_Cmpwn The plans themselves have changed many times before. They become obsolete over time. What if your plan ID becomes unavailble, or the specs change in a way your application can't handle? Don't shrug off your bad design decisions on someone else. ~~~ ceejayoz > What if your plan ID becomes unavailble The API should throw an error, so I can adjust my scripts, instead of silently provisioning a server I never intended to provision. There should be a deprecation process when a plan is discontinued, so this doesn't happen unexpectedly. If AWS can't provision me a t1.micro, they don't just go and give me a m3.small instead. ------ zzzeek I would love to add a couple of gigs of RAM to an existing linode for a small monthly fee. But there's this dropdown on the "extras" page, "90 MB additional ram - $5.00 / mo", down to "360 MB additional ram - $20.00 / mo". Yes, those are MEGAbytes. As in, you can get a 4.36G/ram node for _twice the price_ as a 4G/ram node. Very strange. ~~~ mwpmaybe Those are legacy options and to the best of my understanding are not available on new accounts or after switching legacy accounts to hourly billing. ------ rp36 I recently switched from DigitalOcean to Linode and could easily shave off 20% bill. The migration of VM was much easier than I expected (use rsync - [https://lowendbox.com/blog/how-to-migrate-a-hosted-server- in...](https://lowendbox.com/blog/how-to-migrate-a-hosted-server-in-5-easy- steps-with-rsync/)). My only complain is, I would like to take multiple manual backups even if it costed little extra. ~~~ braindead_in VM migration between the cloud hosting services is a big pain. I hope someone comes up with an app to do that. ------ tomschlick Nice to see Linode stepping up again and competing hard with DO. Other than the Christmas 2015 DDOS, I have never had any significant issues with Linode. Especially in the Dallas DC. ~~~ colept I've been with Linode for a little over five years and a satisfied customer. That being said - their policy for handling DMCA notices is abysmal. They will network filter out your Linode until you respond to the notice. ~~~ tomschlick I can't speak to that really. Never had it happen and my work's customers are in Commercial Real Estate so our services don't dabble with DMCA notices. Hopefully they at least give you some warning before a filter is placed. ------ msbarnett Digital Ocean _really_ needs to cut their prices at this point. There's no compelling reason to pay them 50% more for the same thing. ~~~ ben_bai I don't get the whole VPS thing anyway. 5$ for playing around is great but anything that costs more is just not worth it. 60$/month for 16GB, 1CPU, 20GB disk for VPS... in comparison a root server with real remote console access, 16GB, 4 core AMD, 4TB disks, unlimited traffic costs me 30EUR/month (30$/month). Or for 60EUR/month (60$) I could get a root server with 64GB Ram, 2x500GB SSD, i7-6700, 30TB traffic. ~~~ mwpmaybe What is your definition of a "root server" and where do you rent them? Do you mean a dedicated server? I've checked a few providers and none of them come close the costs/benefits you're listing. OVH's EG-16 (4c/8t, 16G, 2x4T) is $79/mo. 1-and-1's L4i (4c/4t, 12G, 2x1T) is $80/mo. ~~~ msbarnett SoYouStart (OVH's lower tier brand) has 4c/4t 32 GB 3x120 GB SSD) for $49/mo. Or same price, same ram, 2x2TB and 8t with a slightly slower clock. ~~~ mwpmaybe That's interesting. Thank you. I realize that I am doing that thing where you try to rationalize your preconceived notions, but here are some high-level observations: * Looks like there are normally setup fees associated with provisioning new servers, although they are suspended at the moment. * Support seems next to non-existant, which I suppose is not surprising considering they're a low-cost provider. * SSD-based servers appear to be frequently out-of-stock. * If you need a KVM attached to your server, it is $30 for 24 hours or $200+ for a week. * 250Mbps bandwidth (presumably in and out) cf. Linode which is 40G in and 1-10G out. All that being said, my interest is piqued. I could see this being a good fit if 1. you have a more-or-less dedicated sysadmin, 2. need a lot of storage and/or memory and have solid sizing requirements ahead of time, and 3. cloud (VPS or otherwise) isn't an option due to cost or other facts. It could be great for running your own VM or container cluster. Thanks again for sharing! ------ flaviuspopan I love seeing cloud providers offering better deals, the more the merrier! However, I still have yet to find a better deal than the one Scaleway offers. ~$3/mo for a dual-core, 2GB RAM, 50GB SSD host. They also support terraform, rancher, swarm, etc. Been using them for a few months and haven't had a single complaint. ~~~ Karunamon I probably wouldn't host a blog there. Their ToS[1] has, among other things: \- A prohibition against _the propagation of data, images or sounds that may constitute defamation, an insult, denigration, or an infringement of privacy, image rights, good morals, or public order_ \- _Users are required to use decent and respectful language_ \- _Users are reminded that they must update software without excessive delay when a security failing is noted by the user or the software publisher or Scaleway_ This reads like: If you might offend anyone by the standards of the French, or might use strong language, or don't run the latest version of everything, this isn't the service for you. On the positive side, they lack the litany of restricted services that most hosting companies I've seen provide, and I don't see any prohibitions against using your paid for resources to their maximum, so that's good. US customers should note that all of their prices are in Euro, so -- for exchange rate shenanigans and currency exchange fees on most credit cards. There's no selector to show prices in USD. [1]: [https://www.scaleway.com/terms/](https://www.scaleway.com/terms/) ~~~ ve55 I was concerned about this as well. I use Scaleway but I don't host any websites with notable content there. I haven't heard much about these terms being held against users, so I'm not sure how much action there would really be behind this type of stuff. With that said, it is definitely more comfortable to be on a host that doesn't have terms that are this strict. ------ inlineint It would be really fascinating if you added GPU instances with GTX 1080 cards. These cards could allow you to make the prices much lower than those of AWS GPU instances that use K-80 and make it a perfect fit for Deep Learning applications that don't require double precision. ------ ovi256 OVH.com is selling 2GB VMs for 2.99 Euros per month. No idea about over- provisioning or any comparison with Linode though. ~~~ mike-cardwell I use OVH. Their support is horrendous though. For example, I put in a support request at mid-day this Saturday to ask if their geo-ip feature where you can select which country you want an additional IP to appear to be from, meant that the IP address actually terminated in that country. They didn't get back to me until this morning (3 days later), and the response was a bit vague. I bought some new IPs 4 hours ago for my VPS. I've had an automated response to say they've taken payment. Do I have the IPs? Not according to the control panel. I imagine I'll get them at some point in the next 24 hours. _shrug_ If not, I'll put in a support request to ask where they are and maybe wait another 2 or 3 days for a response. When I signed up a few months back, I purchased my first VPS on a Saturday. At no point did they tell me that my order needed to be manually checked. I eventually got my VPS on Monday morning. Does anyone even work there on the weekend? Amateurs ~~~ duncanawoods Meh, doesn't sound too bad to me. Its not like your machine has failed and they are not responding. You use OVH/Hetzner with the understanding that the great prices come from minimal support and the hardware will be used or desktop class. Hetzner support is strictly standard office hours. If you want instant responses, you can pay 10x at another provider but you chose not to. ~~~ mike-cardwell The thing is, it wouldn't have cost them anything for them to have sent me an automated email to tell me that my order needed to be manually checked, and I would get it within X hours/days. In fact, because they _didn 't_ give me this information up front, I ended up logging a support ticket to find out what was going on. It wouldn't have cost them anything to tell me up front that IPs aren't automatically provisioned and required manual intervention and it would take ~24 hours before I get them either. Luckily for them, this time I didn't log a support ticket, because I just assumed that they would have crap processes and that's why it was taking so long. I mean, why did it take so long? Where they manually checking my order again, even though I used the same payment details? Does somebody need to manually pick some IP addresses from a spreadsheet? Why is this process not entirely automatic? This is the sort of thing that _should_ be automated for low cost hosting systems, precisely to prevent having to provide unnecessary support. ------ gkop Is this a bold move by Linode, or am I the only Linode customer (7 years going) who chose them in part because they steered clear of the bottom of the market? ~~~ fapjacks I'm sorry, but this pricing doesn't put them _anywhere_ near the bottom of the market. As someone that has been buying from the VPS market for almost twenty years now, Linode cannot in any reasonable verbiage be lumped in with the riffraff crap vendors at the bottom. I could rattle off a dozen or more companies run by thugs and thieves that truly define "bottom of the market" for VPS, and Linode, DO, Ramnode aren't even on the same planet. ~~~ yumaikas I know that I switched to Ramnode when I had problems with another VPS provider back in 2013 or so when one of the Admin panels was hacked across a large number of VPS providers. Ramnode was down for a few hours, the other VPS was down for a few days. ------ terrywang Some feedback: I've been using DO droplets since mid 2013, reliability is excellent, no unexpected reboots at all. With the help of Ksplice the Ubuntu Server droplet has achieved 555 and 401 days uptime without downtime (could hang on a bit longer but later decided to reboot once every 3 months to address security concerns). DO support has been responsive and friendly, DO keeps (slowly) delivering new features such as private network, Load Balacer etc. For existing $5/m DO users, I don't think it's worth the hassle to migrate to Linode (or Amazon Lightsail), the performance difference will be unnoticeable for most people's use cases (personal web hosting, strongSwan based IPsec VPN, etc.). A good reference: [https://joshtronic.com/2016/12/01/ten-dollar-showdown- linode...](https://joshtronic.com/2016/12/01/ten-dollar-showdown-linode-vs- digitalocean-vs-lightsail/) Will provide the feedback to DO and see if they can match the Linode offer (I am sure they will do something). ~~~ joshtronic Appreciate the link, I have a $5 review up as well now :) Since my posts are straight benchmarks, I don't touch on the support side of things typically (mostly because I only have had support interaction with the companies I use). That said, I've had exceptional support from both Linode and DigitalOcean over the years. Always responsive and friendly. Interestingly enough though, yesterday my Linode went down due to a power outage in the Atlanta data center. I'm a huge fan of Linode, but something like a power outage at this stage in the game seems a bit like amateur hour. ------ Phil_Latio Scaleway recently added new cloud servers. Example: 10 cores, 60GB RAM, 700GB SSD, 1Gbit/s Unmetered = 90€ ------ astrodust Maybe one day that ColdFusion atrocity of a control panel will be hurled into the sun and something better will take its place. Until then, yay, cheaper high-memory instances. Redis appreciates it. ~~~ colept ColdFusion or not - Linode's hosting panel is one of the simplest and flexible management interface I've experienced. Digital Ocean's is too simple, and some other providers are too infuriating. Linode is that porridge that's just right. ~~~ astrodust > ...one of the simplest and flexible management interface I've experienced... Well, I'm really questioning what you've used then. It's atrocious. It's right up there with GoDaddy in terms of dashboards that are needlessly obnoxious. Digital Ocean's may be simple, but there's nothing wrong with that. It works. It's clear what it can and can't do. It's not cluttered up with confusion. For example, on Linode you cannot delete a Linode instance anywhere but the main view. You must go back to the main listing, carefully look for the one you want to remove, then click the remove link and double-check you clicked the right link. If you have a lot of instances and you cycle them over frequently enough this is a real hassle. Likewise, there's many occasions where you get kicked back to the index page for no reason. There's just so many unresolved little things that, over time, grate on you considerably. It _works_ but it could be considerably better. It has not evolved much since launch, that's very concerning. Digital Ocean's interface, to use one example, has evolved considerably. Amazon's AWS dashboard may be a monstrosity but it's also becoming better and better organized over time. Linode needs to remember that their dashboard is important and invest in it. Maybe all you ever eat is porridge and you're okay with that. Fine. Other people demand some real food now and then. ~~~ eatonphil We do think our dashboard is important, and we are investing in it. As a matter of fact, you can even watch the development take place yourself because the new manager is an open-source app. :) [https://github.com/linode/manager](https://github.com/linode/manager) ~~~ astrodust That's really good to hear. Please give us an option to use it as soon as it's available for production accounts. ------ bluedino Wow, $5 finally. Must have gotten tired of DO and Vultr taking those customers ------ throwaway2016a Might finally get me to give up my ChunkHost account for throw-away servers. ------ proyb2 Why not 2GB Ram and 2 cores, easier for CPU demanding on a $10 plan? ------ dyu- Thanks to amazon lightsail we now have $5 linodes :-) ~~~ vbtechguy Yup $5 shoot out between Linode vs DigitalOcean vs Vultr [https://community.centminmod.com/threads/10437/](https://community.centminmod.com/threads/10437/) :) ------ nik736 75 Mbps?? Are we in 2005? :-( ~~~ eatonphil I think that was a misprint. The floor on all plans are now 1000Mbits. :) ------ nilved Can we stop ignoring the fact that Linode has been hacked several times and responded terribly in every case? ~~~ falcolas In the current environment, I personally believe that it's safe to say that _everybody_ has been hacked to some degree. Linode being open about it, even if not having the perfect response, strangely makes me feel better. Being a customer while this occurred and not feeling any impact makes me feel even better still. Having to go in and change my password is hardly an exceptional event on today's internet. ~~~ nilved They were not open about it. When their ColdFusion system got hacked they didn't tell anyone until weeks after the fact. When you search for "linode hack," Google suggests "linode hacked again." They were hacked in 2012. They were hacked in 2013. They were hacked in 2014. They were hacked in 2016. They will be hacked in 2017. ~~~ falcolas > they didn't tell anyone until weeks after the fact. Unfortunately, this is fairly standard practice in the industry. Companies want to make sure the vulnerability is closed, positively identify what was compromised, who was affected, what legal liability exists, and so forth. Weeks is, frankly, pretty quick to go through that process. > There's not much more to say -- they are dead. Huh. Funny, I'm still hosting things there; their prices are competitive, there are no rumors of acquisition or shutdown... Seems quite alive to me. > They will be hacked in 2017. And, as I stated originally, I have no reason to think they will be unique in this. ~~~ ryanlol I don't think there's any reasonable arguments left to defend Linode with. [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10845278](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10845278) There's a clear, undeniable pattern of incompetence here. I also suggest reading this glassdoor review: [https://imgur.com/sJd56AT](https://imgur.com/sJd56AT) And this thread: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11136743](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11136743) ------ brilliantcode I'm really curious to what people plan on doing with such insane amounts of ram. Maybe it's possible to scale with just RAM! Fire up a uWSGI + Flask and up the RAM as traffic increases. ~~~ problems database servers, redis and memcached I'm guessing. All of which are basically designed to take a memory-time tradeoff. ~~~ icelancer Yes, this is what I use my high-memory servers for. Giant memcached and redis slabs. ------ thedangler AH! Linode! You used to have a $5/mo plan and you got rid of it. I found and switched to DO. I would have stuck with you but I only use it to mess about and 10$ was too steep. If you make it $5 Canadian I'll switch back. ~~~ astrodust It's $5 USD, just like Digital Ocean. If Digital Ocean works for you there's no reason to switch back. They're equal cost now. ------ gcb0 In the past they kept changing their pricing. I was paying for the smallest one (static site and a few prototypes) around $150/yr. Then they advertised that per-use would be mandatory and cheaper for everyone. I kept the site there barelly receiving any hit, using 0% of cpu and network. Endedup paying well over $250 after 12 monthly charges. ~~~ teach Unless I'm mistaken, per-use means you aren't billed for the server when it's _powered down_. If the server is up, even if you use 0% CPU, you're getting charged. Per-use is a lot cheaper for people that spin up servers to meet demand and kill them once things slow down. ~~~ cmg From Linode's FAQ: "If My Linode is Powered Off, Will I Be Billed? If your Linode is powered off, but is still added as a service on your account, you will still be billed for it. This is because Linode maintains your saved data and reserves your ability to use other resources like RAM, transfer, etc. even when your Linode is powered off. You will be billed for any other active Linode service, such as Longview Pro or an extra IP, as well." [0] [https://www.linode.com/docs/platform/billing-and- payments](https://www.linode.com/docs/platform/billing-and-payments) ~~~ astrodust "If I'm not in my hotel room will I still be charged? I was at a ball game for three hours! Also I wasn't in my apartment all weekend, can I get a partial refund?" Seriously, people do not understand leasing and renting. ~~~ gcb0 Question here is about they using the new model as a smoke curtain for the price hike. All their marketing during the change was how it was cheaper. When it clearly was over double the price. And your argument is "it is cheaper if you are not using". So good luck going to a hotel and not booking any room so it can be cheaper. ~~~ teach It would never be cheaper for you because you want a single low-utilization server that's available 24/7. It's only cheaper for companies that have lots and lots of servers, but most of them aren't provisioned most of the time.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: Is anything like TotalSpaces possible again with macOS? - benologist ====== BinaryAge You can still run TotalSpaces on 10.11 El Capitan and 10.12 Sierra: [http://totalspaces.binaryage.com/elcapitan](http://totalspaces.binaryage.com/elcapitan) TotalSpaces is still being actively developed.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
How to be the 10X programmer - johnfn http://blog-johnfn.herokuapp.com/entry/4 ====== danielrhodes Couldn't disagree with this article more. What the author is saying is that to be a 10x programmer, you should be building scaffolding all day (instead of actually tackling the problem at hand and getting things done). The part about no margin for error is also ridiculous and is the type of thinking that results in aversion to risk rather than a process for dealing with errors. The reality is that there are different types of coders who are better suited for different types of tasks. When you mismatch a coder to a task they aren't well suited for, results are not great. Some are super fast but there is little regard for how it was created (great for trying out new ideas that need validation), others are more methodical and better for tricky things that need to be done right. ~~~ johnfn Your point about scaffolding kind of distorts the point I was trying to make - it's a false dichotomy to say that you either build scaffolding or get things done, and I didn't intend to favor scaffolding over the other. I think your point about error is more valid. When I wrote about errors, I was thinking about more serious errors, but I don't think I wrote that, and I think it changes my argument some. ------ polyfractal Eh, I'm going to quibble with your assertion that other professions have more error tolerance than programming. A bricklayer that makes a chimney collapse could very easily make the bathroom collapse too. Arguably, the bricklayer has even _less_ margin of error because if he messes up, people could be physically injured or killed. I'm a neurobiologist. While doing dissections I separate the hippocampus from the cortex. If I don't perform that dissection well, my cultures will be contaminated with excessive cortical neurons and that will bubble through all my results. Typically not noticed until weeks later when the neurons are mature. If the errors were subtle enough these might get propagated into a journal article and published as Scientific Knowledge. When I worked fast food waaaay back in high school, if I dropped a burger on the floor, I would back up the entire kitchen because our orders were no longer flowing correctly. ------ ajankovic That final remark about Rasmus is unnecessary and not in the spirit of the article. I agree PHP was not designed for developing highly complex applications, but you have to consider how much flow PHP actually created when developing small websites and web scripts. ~~~ johnfn You're right, it was a dumb joke and it was in bad taste. I have removed it. ~~~ YourAnMoran Submitting an essay for others to judge, and then altering it after receiving criticism is not quite doing it right. Mistakes are okay, covering them up is not however. In my opinion a better way to deal with the issue is to cover the bad joke with strikethrough formatting, followed by rationale for doing so. ~~~ systemtrigger I disagree. Someone found a bug in his essay and he removed it. No point repeating it to future visitors. In general, the final copy of a document does not include strikeouts. ~~~ veidr Yeah, but it's pretty much accepted that once an article is publicly posted (much less submitted to a popular reposting site) it _is_ final. I find that most good blogs tend to mark such after-the-fact revisions in a manner similar to that suggested above. Otherwise, there is no coherent article for the readership to discuss. There's the version you read, which is different from the version I read, which is different from the version Alice will read tomorrow... ~~~ johnfn Yeah, but in this case, the removed part was small, not related to the rest of the article, and the most common reaction to it would be "you should remove this". I was actually not aware that there was an accepted finality to online writing though, so that is something I should keep in mind. ------ MaysonL I think of myself, and enough other people have considered me, as having been (at least some of the time) a 10x programmer. And yet: one afternoon ( _many_ years ago) I came in to work, and my boss called me into his office. He was holding a copy of Time magazine, and looked angry. "Page 23." Woops! The border around the picture at the bottom was glitched. Turned out to only occur for pictures with vertical line count of the form 4n + 3: even line count or 4n + 1 were fine. Luckily, the bug had been noticed before millions of copies had been printed. "The only reason you still have a job, is that the compression routine you added let Time push back their photo deadline by a full day." [I believe that at the time, the communication between their headquarters and their regional printing plants was over 4800 bps leased lines. Note that the compression routines achieve ~50% lossless compression, looking at only one scan line at a time (core was tight in those days: some of it even _was_ literally core).] ------ bjoernbu I really dislike the footnote [3]. I think he shouldn't argue that the remaining margin of error doesn't matter, but instead should argue that it happens less often. This is why safety critical systems are sometimes verified using model checking and so on. In some cases (airplanes, etc) even the best programmers cannot garuantee a necessary level of quality. In your every day app where a user could crash teh program by using an obscure value, this still IS a significant problem. Especially if the error happens rarely it mike take a lot of time to be noticed for the first time and might have critical impact (loss of money?) by that time. The important point is that the great developer will introduces less of those subtle errors. ------ hoschi There is a link error: "flow" should link to <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)>. You forgott the trailing ). Beside that, the title of your articles is just "Hi". ------ hoschi How do you think code checking tools (FindBugs), buildsystems (Maven), version control systems (Git), ... has an impact to your productivity/flow? I think, this tools helps me a lot, because I just must write code, commit, write code, commit, ... and all other stuff runs automagically in background. ------ jpadilla_ I like more the idea of "The idea is that a 10X programmer does 10 times the work of a mediocre programmer." in 10x less time. ------ georgieporgie Good piece, but I felt like it was a bit disjointed. Specifically, it jumped from "10X" (productivity) to "-10X" (hindering others) without much segue. I'd love to see more discussions of flow on HN. I'm particularly interested in the statement that Python leads to more flow for the author. ~~~ johnfn This is a good point. I actually trimmed this out of a larger piece, which is probably why it feels that way. I've edited the first few paragraphs to make it a little less jumpy - thanks for the comment. Aside (not directed at you): I watched the article drop from #6 all the way down to #20 in the space of a minute. Does anyone know why that might happen? ~~~ polyfractal I doubt it was your article being bumped down; it was probably the rest of the articles being bumped up. Weekday mornings are very active.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Principles Of Minimalist Web Design - bearwithclaws http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/05/13/principles-of-minimalist-web-design-with-examples/ ====== blehn The problem with this article (other than the usual SM lack of substance) is that almost all the examples are portfolio sites for artists and designers. How about showing these principles applied to more complex projects - applications, e-commerce sites, corporate sites, admin systems, etc? ~~~ irondavycole This is the problem with most SM articles and with most web design sites in general. I say this as someone who is featured in this post. Portfolio sites have a perfect reason to be minimal: the work comes first. But that's what you get from an article that takes an aesthetic and works backwards — the exact opposite of a good design process. ~~~ iamdave I think at least 80% of the links in this article have been featured on SM before, actually. Source: [http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/04/25/55-minimal- black-...](http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/04/25/55-minimal-black-and- white-web-designs-to-inspire-you/) ------ megamark16 I like this part: "Subtract Until It Breaks". It's easy to put stuff on a page or in an app because someone might need it, but when you start really limiting yourself it forces you to put it (be it a button or some text, whatever) where it's most intuitive, not just blast it all over the site. ~~~ bobbyi That should be the only one listed. What sort of minimalist needs seven principles? ------ kadavy Lots of cool examples, but I wouldn't call these "principles." The Real Principles of Minimalist Web Design: Size, Weight, Contrast, Texture, Proportion, and Respect for the Medium. ------ aleem [http://aleembawany.com/2008/12/04/minimalist-design- guidelin...](http://aleembawany.com/2008/12/04/minimalist-design-guidelines/) ------ grk I think you could just randomly shuffle the 'examples' and they would make just as much sense. ~~~ akaalias So agreed. Yes. ------ MWinther Interesting reading, but way too many examples dilute the message.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
What technical reasons are there to have low maximum password lengths? - LinuxBender https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/33470/what-technical-reasons-are-there-to-have-low-maximum-password-lengths/33471#33471 ====== pwg Note also that an enforced length limit is sometimes an externally visible code smell of not performing proper password hashing, and instead storing the plaintext password in, i.e., a char(8) db column. ------ vladojsem I like how the story ends: The Internet is full of chimpanzees. So true :-)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Apple products are back on EPEAT, glued-in batteries and all - Foomandoonian http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/07/13/stop-the-presses-apple-admits-it-made-a-mistake/ ====== Foomandoonian There's a lot about this Apple/EPEAT story that doesn't add up to me. I'd be fascinated to read some educated speculation as to what exactly happened, and why.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Project Natalia: A wristband panic button for activits - bjornsing http://natalia.civilrightsdefenders.org/ ====== HoopleHead "Activits"? Some kind of health supplement, I guess?	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Expedia Affiliate Hacks Google Plus Local hotel listings - Aussiewebmaster http://blog.sweetiq.com/2014/01/expedia-affiliate-hacked-google-plus-local-hotel-listings/#axzz2qgalvsWF Recent Google Plus Local hack shown to be by Expedia affiliate ====== no-brainer apparently this stuff happens all the time... "Quite a few of these hijackings were my properties so I wanted to leave a few thoughts. This is not unusual activity, especially in the affiliate space, it simply got press this time. This has been happening for quite some time, albeit at a smaller scale. I will even go as far as to say it is the same group of affiliates. RoomsToBook is affiliated with RoomWhiz(z) which was an offending affiliate less than 2 months ago. Read more: [http://blog.sweetiq.com/2014/01/expedia-affiliate-hacked- goo...](http://blog.sweetiq.com/2014/01/expedia-affiliate-hacked-google-plus- local-hotel-listings/#ixzz2qh1VX1xe") ------ Aussiewebmaster any SEOs for hacked sites see traffic changes or referral changes	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
VMware, Google Team On Chromebooks - cpeterso http://www.informationweek.com/cloud/software-as-a-service/vmware-google-team-on-chromebooks/d/d-id/1113817 ====== neeks I use Fedora, and occasionally run into the same problems with proprietary apps as some Chromebook users would. All and all this sounds ok, but unfortunately seems like it's meant to appease enterprise users and not consumer end-users. P.S. someone make a real PS & AI replacement for Linux and/or Adobe port CC, so I don't have to use Mavericks in a VM anymore ~~~ octopus In 1 - 2 years from now I bet you will be able to use Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator in the cloud only (not necessarily a good thing). Your OS will be irrelevant (in the sense that any of the above apps will run on any OS that has a browser). ~~~ neeks Totally agreed; I checked out the ultra Photoshop web app just the other day. Until it happens though, I'm stuck with either the hideous VMWare window chrome or cursing at Gimp/Inkscape for not having the features I've been used to for years.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
iMessage + Apps - brbcoding https://developer.apple.com/imessage/ ====== wlesieutre I admit it, I don't get the draw of these things. I can vandalize people's messages with stickers now? And from the keynote, "Nothing beats a fullscreen moment!"? Ookay. The amount of applause for "We made emoji bigger!" was ... surprising to me. I got on board the Snapchat train, but I just can't get excited about being able to tap words to turn them into emoji. In the words of Principal Skinner: _Am I out of touch? No, it 's the children who are wrong._ ~~~ robterrell I clapped for at bigger-emoji line. But I'm over 40 and have to squint to read the pictograms my wife and kids send me. ~~~ wlesieutre Ah that's a good point. My eyes are still at a point where one prescription works for near and far vision. If it's an improvement it's an improvement and it might as well be as good as it can, but "we caught up to facebook messenger" doesn't feel that exciting to me. I was really hoping for the iMessage on Android rumors to pan out, but now that they've gone and created an iMessage extensions system it seems a lot less possible moving forward. ------ cthulhujr Google wave was just too far ahead of its time. The world wasn't ready yet. And now look where we are. A clean UI and a little magic makes things so much different. ~~~ sintaxi Agreed. It's looking more and more like we collectively screwed ourselves by turning our noses up at Wave. ------ Steko Instead of selecting text I'd rather have a dedicated softkey to emojify what I type after. E.g. ⁂poop spits out pile of poo emoji. Tap and hold the button and the emoji menus show up. ~~~ wlesieutre HipChat uses parens for this, with (thumbsup) turning into a thumbs up icon even if you're communicating through the IRC bridge. It's a bit weird when you're using parentheses for a parenthetical and it pops up the emoticon search, but you get used to it. ~~~ blacksmith_tb The Slack equivalent, which wraps the keyword with colons, :+1: is less likely to happen on accident. I am surprised HipChat went with parentheses, honestly, but maybe they felt they were too subtle for mobile users (I like them, myself). It is nice to have a text-only method of mapping to emoji, though. ~~~ wlesieutre For extra fun you can add your own in-joke shortcuts within your organization. ------ calebclark It seems that there is no ability to create iMessage bots. ------ snaky in-messenger apps and payment system - Apple wants to be WeChat	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Twelve-Year-Old Awarded $3,000 for Finding Critical Firefox Flaw - Mikecsi http://news.softpedia.com/news/Twelve-Year-Old-Awarded-3-000-for-Finding-Critical-Firefox-Flaw-162522.shtml ====== RiderOfGiraffes See also: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1822116> <\- This one has the comments. <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1828671> <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1824895>	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: How frequent do you rewrite from scratch? - beenpoor I am writing a template generator for my team and feel like I need to rewrite from scratch. I started couple of weeks back and already redid once. I feel like I need to rewrite and improve it again. It's frustrating to see how not-so-well-thought out my design was. Would love to hear some anecdotes. ====== kefs Some possibly relevant reading.. [http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html](http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html) [https://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/6268/when- is...](https://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/6268/when-is-a-big- rewrite-the-answer) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rewrite_%28programming%29](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rewrite_%28programming%29)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Local-time effect on small space-time scale - seedlessso http://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0610137 ====== jmakov That's one of the papers Global scaling theory is based on. There's a long story on how Hertmut Mueller as a researcher in Soviet Russia did some research for the gov. that was classified etc. They even had some talks on some german Uni's with some presentations. Keywords for ggl would be: \- global scaling theory \- g-com \- interplanetary communication \- communicating without el.mag. waves etc. The papers were published in some alternative energy, bio suff, water memory etc. things german magazine. As to why aren't such to be profound findings published in a serious sci magazine, H.Mueller stated some dislikes about nature, sciam etc. magazines. They even have a site, they are prepared to educate you on this wonderful magic theory if u give them some money... ~~~ jmakov some more info: they state that their model can get info from static. check out utube links (mainly in german): [http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=global+scaling&#...</a> ------ zvrba Has somebody just made an analogue of <http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/> for physics? ~~~ aangjie Huh... i couldn't make sense of it, but that's not saying much, given my knowledge of physics is limited to pop. sci. books. can somebody with more physics/math knowledge answer this please? ~~~ Goooo <http://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0605064> ~~~ polynomial Still trying to make sense of this. Isn't there an app I can download or something? ------ sp332 I think what it's saying is that germanium semiconductor RNGs in different places happen to give the same result at the same time? ~~~ jmakov <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Consciousness_Project> ------ m0tive On scribd: [http://www.scribd.com/vacuum?url=http://arxiv.org/pdf/physic...](http://www.scribd.com/vacuum?url=http://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0610137) ------ mijnpc ADD IN THE TITLE THAT IT'S A FUCKING PDF ~~~ Sandman I agree, it would've been nice if the OP had mentioned that this is a PDF in the title of the submission. However, yelling and cursing is, I think, below the level of discussion we'd like to see here on HN. A simple remark in the comment would suffice.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Understanding Linux CPU Load - when should you be worried? - colinprince http://blog.scoutapp.com/articles/2009/07/31/understanding-load-averages ====== molo_ There are two contributions to the load factor: number of processes/threads on the ready-to-run queue and the number blocked on I/O. The processes blocked on I/O show up in the "D" state in ps and top and also contribute to this number. This article entirely ignores the number of processes blocked on I/O. A load average exceeding the number of CPUs (cores, whatever) does not automatically mean the CPUs are overloaded. ~~~ caf Not all processes blocked on I/O are in D state - for a common example, processes blocked on I/O to a network socket or terminal will simply be in the S state, and not count towards load. ~~~ duskwuff In practice, processes typically go into D state ("uninterruptible sleep") when they're blocked on access to a local disk, whether that's explicit I/O (read/write) or implicit (paging). Not coincidentally, this is also the one type of blocking I/O that you can't get knocked out of by a signal. ~~~ freiheit Actually, they'll get blocked on access to NFS or other network-based disk, too. (but you can configure the NFS mount to allow signals to interrupt) I've seen NFS problems lead to loads over 100. ------ kbob Three comments. 1\. I can't comment on the original article. Are comments closed, or am I dumb? 2\. The author seems to have assumed a web server responding to bursty traffic. Several people have pointed out workloads to which the 0.7 heuristic doesn't apply - compute servers, I/O bound servers, compile jobs, desktops. He should have stated that assumption up front. 3\. Hyperthreads. For purposes of load monitoring, you should be counting the number of threads, not the number of cores. Yes, hyperthreads are slower than cores, but that doesn't matter. The load average is the ratio of work available to work being done (oversimplified, I know), and, as such, it's scaled to the actual throughput of the threads available. Fortunately, the author suggested counting CPUs by reading /proc/cpuinfo, and /proc/cpuinfo lists threads, not cores. So those two errors cancel out. (-: ~~~ scott_s Point 3 depends on the workloads. Most SMT [1] implementations replicate integer functional units - otherwise the threads would stall on basic things like computing addresses - but they don't replicate floating point units. So if you have lots of floating point heavy work, then you're limited by the number of cores, not the total number of SMT contexts provided by all of those cores. So it's not that SMT pipelines are _slower_ , it's just that they share resources with the other SMT pipelines. [1] Simultaneous multithreading (SMT), <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simultaneous_multithreading>, is the generic name for what Intel calls hyperthreading. ~~~ kbob You are correct. I should have had two oversimplification disclaimers in that sentence. (-: ------ acabal I love reading stuff like this. As a kind-of sysadmin by need rather than by choice, I'm often confused and intimidated by systems that other sysadmins seem to be born knowing about. It's always refreshing to read a straightforward explanation for one of those important concepts that seems to be common knowledge for everyone but me, and never seems to be explained anywhere. ------ sciurus Load average is an easy number to monitor, so lots of people focus on it. However, it doesn't provide you with much information. When your load is high, you have to examine other values (e.g. CPU time spent in user mode, system mode, and iowait) to determine why the load is high before you can start to resolve the problem. If you monitor and alert directly on those other values, you'll save time. ~~~ keithnoizu Exactly, looking at the load curves over time is useful to gauging how well you are doing overall and for spotting potential trouble issues but when it comes to actually dealing with these issues or predicting an eminent collapse i tend to look at mysql threads and performance, the slow query log, concurrent users, etc. for determining what needs to be dealt with and what will hit us on the head in the near future. ------ DrJ (if you don't know this you should read the link): If (# CPU Cores / Load) > 1, shit has hit the fan I disagree with 0.7 being the starting point for investigation on extraneous load, but you should be more worried about changes in 1st or 2nd moments in the load (velocity and acceleration), which as analogy on the link, you don't care too much about steady traffic, it's when traffic starts bursting at the seams. Having a machine running at 0.75 load for a shared machined (say a development database) might actually mean your resources are actually being consumed regularly. Albeit seeing that average load climb slowly towards ~1.0 means you need to fix it before the pipes clog shut. ~~~ syedkarim Would there be any reason that perceived performance would decrease when the cpu load is 50% of the total number of cores? We have an X5660 with 24-cores and once the one-minute average gets over 12, pageload times increase dramatically. ~~~ mrich make sure you are looking at physical core count, not hyperthreaded cores (which should be a 2x difference for your CPU). ~~~ syedkarim Am I using the wrong command to count physical cores (I'm guessing so? grep 'model name' /proc/cpuinfo \| wc -l What should I use to count physical cores? ~~~ mrich /proc/cpuinfo are hyperthreaded cores, as exposed to the OS. For basically all the modern multi-core Intel Xeon CPUs you can divide that by 2. It seems you can also find out by looking at physical ID and "cpu cores". On a 64 (hyperthreaded) cores machine, I see physical ID 0..4 and cpu cores 8 in this case, which would mean 8*4=32. ~~~ mrich small correction: "physical ID 0..3" ------ aaronharnly Incidentally, on a Mac, this will give you your number of cores, along with other handy stuff: system_profiler SPHardwareDataType Hardware: Hardware Overview: Model Name: MacBook Pro Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,1 Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz Number of Processors: 1 Total Number of Cores: 2 L2 Cache: 3 MB Memory: 4 GB Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz Boot ROM Version: MBP51.007E.B05 SMC Version (system): 1.41f2 Serial Number (system): [snip] Hardware UUID: [snip] Sudden Motion Sensor: State: Enabled ------ jff Nicely written... but looking at the last section "Bringing it Home" I'd like to point out that if you were to, say, do a make -j<#cores> in the Linux source tree (or any other bloated GNU monstrosity) you'll get a 15-min load of well over the 70% desired :) But it's not a bad thing... it just means Firefox will run like crap for a while. Also, don't do that on your web server, which is probably what he was talking about anyway. ~~~ jerf "it just means Firefox will run like crap for a while." Put an "ionice -c 3" on that job and you probably won't notice the performance effect on Firefox anymore. (You probably don't need conventional "nice" because compile jobs tend to get their priorities dropped anyhow because they are using a lot of CPU without yielding, but dropping the scheduler that hint can still be helpful in some cases.) (Annoyingly, unlike nice, ionice requires the specification of the class; I wish it would just default to -c 3 like nice has a reasonable default.) ~~~ simcop2387 IO Nice will just affect the io scheduling (obviously), but you can also do the same thing to the CPU schedulers. schedtool -B -e ionice -c3 make -j10 That's the idiom I commonly use on long large compile jobs. means that anything else will always get the cpu or io time (maybe with some increased latency, which usually isn't too bad) that it needs while all idle time is taken up by the larger compile job. This makes for a very happy desktop system when upgrading (gentoo user here). ~~~ sciurus If you don't have schedtool available on your distro, you can use 'chrt --batch 0' instead. ------ afhof I had heard that the load averages were the size of the scheduler's ready queue. If that is correct, wouldn't a load of more than 1.00 on a multi processor machine still be bad, since processes are ready to fire but are waiting for the next jiffy? ~~~ seiji Here's a more thorough treatment (with maths and all): <http://www.teamquest.com/pdfs/whitepaper/ldavg1.pdf> <http://www.teamquest.com/pdfs/whitepaper/ldavg2.pdf> ------ Create <http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8002801113289007228> ftp://crisp.dyndns-server.com/pub/release/website/dtrace/ ------ quantumhobbit So how does this change for logical/nonphysical cores. Should a hyperthreaded dual core system be considered full at a load of 2.00, 4.00 or something in between like 3.00?	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Something Is Broken in the UK Intellectual Sphere - lottin https://medium.com/incerto/something-is-broken-in-the-uk-intellectual-sphere-7efc9a1f154a ====== kwhitefoot Whine, whine. ------ danharaj A prominent intellectual in one field pretends he knows immediately how to be an expert in another field and then subsequently digs in his heels and starts casting aspersions and bragging about great he is once he gets egg on his face? Why, that's a tale as old as academia itself. The UK ""intellectual sphere"" seems just fine.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Google AppEngine - A Second Look - nickb http://highscalability.com/google-appengine-second-look ====== thorax They do have a very basic fulltext search library they didn't put in the documentation: <http://ri.ms/2r> ------ acgourley What grinds my gears is that you can't have files in your application over 128k due to an uploader error. Thats not even the size limit, its just a standing bug.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Company tries to scam iphone developer, claiming they own public data - jmathes http://sfappeal.com/news/2009/06/who-owns-sfmta-arrival-data.php Does A Private Company Own Your Muni Arrival Times? ====== Timothee "Muni spokesperson Judson True says otherwise. In fact, he says that, no, Muni owns the data in question and that the public is, of course, entitled to access it." I paste this here, because it's at the very bottom of the article and it doesn't seem obvious to me that the arrival time of buses is public data that can be used for free. Well, that's what most of us wish but if Nextbus had made a deal with Muni to put their transponders on the buses in exchange of owning the data and giving it to Muni for free, it would be hard to argue otherwise. I wouldn't be surprised if Muni actually got a special deal because I think I remember looking at this exact thing for the buses where I live and that it had to be licensed. It's somewhat similar to satellite or map imaging, in that companies have invested money to gather the data. It is public data in one sense but that doesn't necessarily mean it can be used freely. I'm glad Muni spoke out and made it clear though. Another example (of a similar kind of possible deal) would be JCDecaux which offered (I believe) bus-stops benches to cities in exchange of managing the advertising on them. ~~~ andrewljohnson The founder of Routesy should sue NextBus for harassment and Apple for complicity, and see how fast this case gets settled. He'll get his app reinstated and probably get some compensation for lost revenue from NextBus to avoid trial... if in fact the MUNI position is correct. ~~~ menloparkbum NextBus isn't the company harassing the Routesy guy, "NextBus Informaion Systems" (NBIS) is. Reading between the lines, it appears that NBIS is run by a crafty fellow who got NextBus to grant NBIS exclusive rights to collect license fees for their data, without NextBus knowing the full scope of what they were getting into. (hence their "we cannot comment" stance) ------ menloparkbum The link is heavily editorialized. The actual title of the article is: "Does A Private Company Own Your Muni Arrival Times?" ~~~ defunkt I bet at least some people outside SF have no idea what "muni" means. ------ mojonixon Even if NextBus "owned" the data, it's unlikely any claims they made on it would be enforceable. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications_v._Rural_Tel...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_Publications_v._Rural_Telephone_Service) I am not a lawyer, and neither is wikipedia. ~~~ fatdog789 That case is inapplicable; it deals with static factual data collections. Bus times are dynamic, _estimated_ facts. The act of estimating, via the use of proprietary means, is what gives NBIS the right to "own" bus (estimated) arrival times b/c estimations are just interpretations. Obviously, NBIS has no ownership to historical bus arrival times, b/c those are actual, irrefutable facts.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Groove on branding - alexmturnbull http://blog.groovehq.com/post/10202618882/hackernews-1-groove-on-branding ====== mustpax This is a great article but your headline distracts from it. I know using "HackerNews #1" in your title might increase click-throughs, but what does "HackerNews #1 Groove on branding" even mean? ------ acangiano I would slightly change the logo so that it looked less like a sideview of a breast, nipple included.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: What are some good resources for web design? - devcheese My girlfriend has really been enjoying designing websites. I bought her a course on Udemy that teaches her the basics of photoshop, and she's been in love with it since. What good resources should she read/watch to keep her learning/motivated to design? Also, what kind of tools should she use? (graphic tablets, pens, etc.)<p>Thanks in advance! ====== MichaelCrawford [http://www.warplife.com/tips/webmaster/](http://www.warplife.com/tips/webmaster/)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: Where in Berlin are most of the startups? - rdl I'm visiting Berlin right now (after speaking at 30c3), and wondering which areas of town have the greatest density of startups. There are various hackerspaces, but a lot of what's going on seems to be less commercial than in SFBA. Would definitely be interested in seeing what the commercial startup scene is like, too. ====== playing_colours You can check Mitte and Friedrichshain areas. I work at southern Schönhauser Allee / Torstraße, and there is a lot of startup life here, particularly you may be interested to visit St. Oberholz Café at Rosenthaler Platz, popular cafe / co-working place among startupers and guys with Macbooks. ------ davidsmith8900 \- This might help ~> [http://berlinstartupmap.com/](http://berlinstartupmap.com/) ~~~ rdl Thanks! That was exactly what I was looking for. Particularly trying to figure out of Neukoelln is "up and coming" or "a neighborhood too far". ~~~ playing_colours I am not sure Neukölln is popular among commercial startups in software development. AFAIK it's rather attractive for art students / expats.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Ask HN: What are your pain points with Python? - alexbecker Pain points with the language, ecosystem, package management, distribution, anything. I'm working on making package distribution easier, but happy to kvetch about other pain points as well. ====== ThePhysicist Since the introduction of wheels I’m mostly happy with package distribution. In most professional projects we include wheels of all dependencies in the repository, which allows us to install everything without downloading any additional data (and this also ensures compromised packages will not automatically creep into our projects). Good static typing is something I miss more and more in Python, though the tooling around this keeps improving. ------ runjake * Whitespace as a delimiter. I don't care if it's a tired argument. * That there isn't actually one obvious way to do it, there's often many. * Python as a language does not fit my idea of elegant at all. I do not enjoy programming with it. I use it because of it's immense popularity and reasonable levels of documentation. ------ bjourne Perhaps it is minor, but I hate how not all packages are imported using the same syntax. For example you have "import numpy as np" and then "from keras.layers.convolutional import Conv2D" You have two mix two different import styles. Ugly.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
GraphiQL Explorer 2.0: A power-user release - sgrove https://www.onegraph.com/blog/2019/05/30/GraphiQL_Explorer_2_0_A_Power_User_Release.html ====== sgrove The GraphiQL explorer is completely open source, and anyone can use it in their own GraphiQL instance, so you can get this visual exploration and quick query building for your own GraphQL API. The kind of tooling we can build on all different levels for GraphQL is really surprising. Every time I ship a feature set like this, I suddenly realize that it's opened up (or composes with) another set of possibilities that I haven't see elsewhere. You can see an example of how to use it with your own GraphQL server here [https://github.com/OneGraph/graphiql-explorer- example](https://github.com/OneGraph/graphiql-explorer-example) (just change this one line! [https://github.com/OneGraph/graphiql-explorer- example/blob/m...](https://github.com/OneGraph/graphiql-explorer- example/blob/master/src/App.js#L17) ) or try it out to see what it's like to explorer massive graphs of APIs here [https://serve.onegraph.com/short/2H987X](https://serve.onegraph.com/short/2H987X)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Detailed analysis of a star’s orbit near supermassive black hole - furcyd http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/einstein-general-relativity-theory-questioned-ghez ====== idlewords This is a weird title given the content of the article, which is that researchers observing a supermassive black hole got a result completely consistent with general relativity. ~~~ btilly The title was the best clickbait that they could get, based on an offhand comment that the theory has to break down inside the black hole. But if the title was, "General Relativity succeeds again", who would have read the article? ~~~ hetman It's unfortunate some people think having their article read is a priority. Perhaps we need a browser plugin where people can rank the accuracy of titles from various outlets so the user can decide if an article is likely to waste their time. ~~~ ngold That's a good idea, it's basically why everyone checks the comment section first. ------ agiri Not questioned, the best approximation we have for now. As for all theories attempting to describe empirical truth. ------ ddingus That's science. Hate this headline. Basically, every theory is "standing for now." We get understanding, that leads to questions, which leads to greater understanding... A predictive theory, finally found to not be predictive, is still valid for all it can predict. Our understanding improves in some way, or technology does, and we advance all of those things, being able to predict to greater detail and depth. ------ ijidak I have a question relating to black holes. The equivalence principle in General Relativity says there is no way to devise an experiment to determine if I am in a craft accelerating due to thrust from "engines" of some g or in that same craft on the ground being accelerated by the same g due to gravity. But wouldn't this break down inside of a black hole? Imagine I fire a beam of light directly at a black hole. It would never been seen to come out on the other side, because it would become trapped in that black hole. But if I fired that same beam of light normal to the path of my craft accelerating at the same g as that black hole, wouldn't the light be able to pass right through it? So doesn't that break the equivalence principle? ~~~ btilly The equivalence is "local only". Meaning that if you take a small volume of space, and measure first order effects, it is equivalent. But over larger volumes of space, there can be second order differences. An example of that is "curvature". Once you get to experiments involving the geometry of a black hole, you're a long ways away from the local equivalence, and it is no surprise that you can tell that something massive is nearby. ------ luc4sdreyer The title is pretty misleading. Yes, it's technically correct, but it implies they found something else that might question it. ~~~ dang Ok, we've swapped it out for the subtitle. ------ RandomTisk Does this mean it's at least possible that space and time aren't linked in the way we think? That General Relativity only makes it appear so? ~~~ wwarner No the finding is that they tested GR near a boundary, where you might expect find issues, and found that it held up. The title and the comment Ghez makes about the interior of a black hole are a bit misleading. As far as interiors of black holes, I can only guess that she's pointing out (a) that we can't directly observe anything past the event horizon and (b) GR doesn't really make claims about what's going on in the very center at the singularity. From what I've read, it's thought that inside the event horizon, black holes are almost totally empty until you get to the singularity (or torus if it's spinning) at the center. ~~~ AgentME > From what I've read, it's thought that inside the event horizon, black holes > are almost totally empty until you get to the singularity (or torus if it's > spinning) at the center. I can see how this could maybe be true for a black hole that never has anything fall into it after yourself, but for regular black holes that have things falling in regularly I think the situation would be pretty different. As you get closer to the event horizon, the rest of the universe appears to speed up. This means that as you get closer, the rate of objects / energy coming into the black hole past you and sometimes colliding into you will increase. You can imagine that at some point near the event horizon, every second, 100 years will pass for the rest of the universe, and 100 years worth of debris and light will enter into the black hole, some of it colliding with you. As soon as you reach the event horizon, an infinite amount of time's worth of debris and light will enter into the black hole, some of it colliding with you. From inside the black hole, it must look like everything that has ever fallen into the black hole in the history of the universe has fallen into it at the same instant. (And then I'm not entirely sure how black hole evaporation fits into this. I'd expect the perspective of someone going into a black hole must look like you immediately collide with everything that ever has and ever will fall into the black hole, and then instantly everything is obliterated into Hawking radiation.) ~~~ wwarner I'm just a reader, but Kip Thorne doesn't agree with your picture. In his book, he claims you wouldn't notice passing through the event horizon, except for extreme tidal forces that would tear you apart. The time freezing and red shifting reverse so that looking away from the center, distant objects move faster and are bluer. His book for the layman is Black Holes and Time Warps. ~~~ shagie The tidal forces depend on the size of the black hole. [http://www.hawking.org.uk/into-a-black- hole.html](http://www.hawking.org.uk/into-a-black-hole.html) > ... If you fall towards a black hole feet first, gravity will pull harder on > your feet than your head, because they are nearer the black hole. The result > is, you will be stretched out longwise, and squashed in sideways.. If the > black hole has a mass of a few times our sun, you would be torn apart, and > made into spaghetti, before you reached the horizon. However, if you fell > into a much larger black hole, with a mass of a million times the sun, you > would reach the horizon without difficulty. So, if you want to explore the > inside of a black hole, choose a big one. There is a black hole of about a > million solar masses, at the center of our Milky way galaxy.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Full Scheme web development stack - amirouche https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.lang.scheme/uKdi-kZoSpE ====== shakna Using SRFI-69 would cut out some of the alist boilerplate, and help with unexpected cornercases. And seeing Biwa Scheme makes me nervous - its an interpreter, not a compiler. That's both a perf and size overhead. Maybe it might benefit from something like Parenscript which compiles? Otherwise, great work on the huge mimetype list, and fibers looks really cool. ~~~ amirouche > Using SRFI-69 would cut out some of the alist boilerplate, and help with > unexpected cornercases. I need the datastructure to be persistent, maybe I will use fash in the next iteration cf. [http://wingolog.org/pub/fash.scm](http://wingolog.org/pub/fash.scm) > And seeing Biwa Scheme makes me nervous - its an interpreter, not a > compiler. Yes, I understand. Though I don't want to divert too much from scheme standard. The end goal is to run everything using GNU Guile. Tx! ~~~ shakna > Yes, I understand. Though I don't want to divert too much from scheme > standard. The end goal is to run everything using GNU Guile. jsScheme might be able to give you a good halfway. [0] It's a JIT-capable, and mostly R5RS compatible, and works from IE6 and up. [0] [https://bluishcoder.co.nz/jsscheme/](https://bluishcoder.co.nz/jsscheme/)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
The eastern coyote, a wild N. American canine with coyote-wolf and dog parentage - curtis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_coyote ====== itp There's a Nature documentary about the Eastern Coyote/Coywolf called, appropriately enough, "Meet the Coywolf," available on pbs.org[1]. It was surprisingly non-fluffy for a Nature documentary and if you're interested in learning more, it's a good place to start. You can also probably find it elsewhere if you're not a supporter of your local PBS station, but I'll leave that search up to everyone and their conscience. [1] [https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/coywolf-meet-the- coywolf/](https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/coywolf-meet-the-coywolf/) ~~~ ben11kehoe Also featured recently on the New Hampshire Public Radio podcast Ouside/In [http://outsideinradio.org/shows/coydogs](http://outsideinradio.org/shows/coydogs) ------ dalbasal Besides the very interesting insight into how evolution, speciation & fauna dynamics in general work, it is always interesting seeing people's reactions to the classification problems these grey areas pose. Species, taxa, subspecies, hybrids, populations, chronospecies, trunk species, type species.... All words describing a fundamentally non discreet thing. Yet, knowing that, we (anywhere from casual readers to biology taxonomists) get stressed and obsessed when our leaky categorisations leak. It's a good reminder that we're natural categorizors. Our minds are all about instances and abstract truths. Lassie the dog, coyote the canid, Socrates the philosopher. ~~~ posterboy The name of a species is fixed to a specific "holotype". Oetzi is the only neanderthal; archeopterix had different names for each of the first specimen found; Carl von Linee is the holotype for Homo Sapiens Sapiens, according to some taxonomists, at least (himself, I guess) ... Exactly because this is a known problem. A single individual is as discrete as it gets. In linguistics this problem is called the single other hypothesis and rater popular. In programming and math it's the diamond square problem, e.g. for java's inheritance mechanism, which is countered with generics, traits, typeclasses and so on. Abstract Algebra and Category theory have to deal with this and the corollary from my POV is, that it's just really complicated. Before genetics, phenotype was based on appearance. Genetic genealogy is a rather young field, so it might take a while for deeper insights to trickle down. Also, it's not completely wrong to base a classification on environment, because a protein to synthesis X from Y is useless, if the environment doesn't provide Y. ~~~ tropo A single individual you say? I present to you the clonal colony and the synctium. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clonal_colony](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clonal_colony) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncytium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncytium) ------ JoshMnem I spent a lot of time tracking them through the forest when I was younger. If you live in the northeast, get a copy of this book[1]. The difference between a coyote's tracks and a domestic dog's tracks teaches something interesting about the difference between a non-domesticated human and a domesticated human. [1] [https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062735249/tracking-and- the...](https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062735249/tracking-and-the-art-of- seeing-2nd-edition) ------ zumzumzum Check out Coyote America by Dan Flores. It's an amazing account of the coyote's spread across the continent in the face of extreme pressure to extirpate it in the west. ------ pvaldes [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Mitchell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Mitchell) ------ martind81 Eastern Coyote is a variety of Coywolf but it's not the only one: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coywolf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coywolf)	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }
Three Roads To The Top Of The Mountain - jerome_etienne http://jacquesmattheij.com/three+roads+to+the+top+of+the+mountain ====== tuhin _from what I've seen in the people around me that 'made' it without a tremendous amount of luck or access to outside capital, starting from 0 with nothing to show for themselves but the shirts on their backs and their skills_ Love the way Jacques removed the outliers Mark and Bill from the discussion in the very beginning. Every advise is well reasoned and articulated with precision. Of course, in the middle of your journey you might find your own shortcut trail to being in the first road, till then keep trying. Keep Hacking! ~~~ shushuni How is Mark an outlier relatively to the sentence you have quoted? He started from 0 and had nothing to show besides the flip flops on his feet and his skills. The two arguable factors are luck and outside capital. Are you sure luck played such a great factor in his case ? and was his decision to take outside funding at that stage unnecessary? ~~~ Kyrce He was raised in Westchester County and went to Philips Exeter, then Harvard. Many others have as well, and have not done what he did. But that still doesn't qualify as "starting from zero" or "nothing to show." ------ codeslush This was the first lengthy article I read today and what a great way to start the day! It's not sexy - it's not hip - it's just some good old fashioned advice framed in a way that anyone should be able to understand. I especially appreciate the way he defined "The Top." "someone that I helped (this will be my downfall one day)" I doubt this will be your downfall! It's likely a major contributor to your rising!!! I know you only from your contributions to HN, and now your blog posts - and I hope you continue to provide your valuable insights to those you've never met! p.s. - I sure wish you would come back! ------ rexf A good read about working hard with constant learning. This 3rd road of 'Keep Moving' reminds me of the Seinfeld Calendar (<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1033433>). Every day, you want to be able to have something to show for it. While it won't pay off immediately, constantly learning new things and having the experience to show for it will make you stronger, marketable, and ideally self-sustainable. ------ mark_l_watson Good read, and basically my strategy: measure success as relative freedom from worry, time for self and professional development, accruing assets, and lack of debt. Achieve his by focused hard work, but don't work so hard that you burn out. ------ tintin But what if you really start at the bottom? Like a homeless person without job. I wonder if those rules could also be applied to them. Because if they do, I would like to tell the guys in the street... ~~~ rythie To a homeless person, I could well imagine the top is a regular well paying job and a home they own - Which should be achievable in 10 years with hard work, education, internships, career ladder. The top of the mountain is relative to where you are now. For many people at the 'top', may actually consider that the bottom, especially if they were born into it. The top in their case is Bill Gates, Zuckerburg etc. e.g. the Winklevoss twins. ~~~ tintin Ofcourse everybody has a different top. But most stories like this one start with a descent position. But even the crappiest job can be a million miles away when you don't have access to education, internship, a career ladder.	{ "pile_set_name": "HackerNews" }

Subsets and Splits