Ask HN: How do you avoid spending disproportionate time on unpleasant tasks? - <AUTHOR> I tend to get stuck and procrastinate on unpleasant tasks (administrative stuff, or challenging stuff that I am not well prepared for). That in turn inflates the amount of time I have to deal with unpleasant tasks. Often little time is left for the pleasant tasks. Even though I am aware of it, I haven't found a good way to mitigate the issue. Ideas? <comment><USER2> If there is anything at all that you can do to automate parts of the unpleasant tasks that I have to do, I try to do that. Sometimes it takes quite a bit of thought to figure out a way to automate something, and sometimes it's staring you in the face. Anything you can do to shave off time from these tasks is probably worth the effort.

Another thing to do is to delegate them if possible. As an example, some people really dislike keeping their houses clean, so they'll hire someone to do that. Obviously, YMMV, and it may be that you cannot afford to delegate a task, or there's some other problem (e.g. you cannot offload work onto another freelancer due to an NDA, etc.).

</comment><comment><USER3> Work on those tasks as soon as you arrive at work and if something pops up in the afternoon, try to negotiate to have it done next morning otherwise you will easily lose control of your time.

I'm a lead dev and have been doing it for a while. Also, whenever I schedule 1-on-1s and so on, I do it straight after the daily meeting. Only grooming and Product related meetings can take up the afternoon.

This makes my day always be boring and busy at the beginning, but I get some whole afternoons to do coding and things that matter to me.

Having control of your time means saying no and negotiating, making people aware that your time is precious is the most valuable thing you can do for your career. The more people think that your time is precious, the more money you will make.

</comment><comment><USER4> Do them immediately when I first realize I need to do them.

</comment><comment><USER5> Try to understand it or find a way to automate it.</comment>


The Four Freedoms Speech (1941) - <AUTHOR> https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Four_Freedoms_speech <comment><AUTHOR> "Certainly this is no time for any of us to stop thinking about the social and economic problems which are the root cause of the social revolution which is today a supreme factor in the world.

For there is nothing mysterious about the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy. The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are:

\- Equality of opportunity for youth and for others.

\- Jobs for those who can work.

\- Security for those who need it.

\- The ending of special privilege for the few.

\- The preservation of civil liberties for all.

\- The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living.

These are the simple, basic things that must never be lost sight of in the turmoil and unbelievable complexity of our modern world. The inner and abiding strength of our economic and political systems is dependent upon the degree to which they fulfill these expectations.

Many subjects connected with our social economy call for immediate improvement.

As examples:

\- We should bring more citizens under the coverage of old-age pensions and unemployment insurance.

\- We should widen the opportunities for adequate medical care.

\- We should plan a better system by which persons deserving or needing gainful employment may obtain it.

I have called for personal sacrifice. I am assured of the willingness of almost all Americans to respond to that call.

A part of the sacrifice means the payment of more money in taxes. In my Budget Message I shall recommend that a greater portion of this great defense program be paid for from taxation than we are paying today. No person should try, or be allowed, to get rich out of this program; and the principle of tax payments in accordance with ability to pay should be constantly before our eyes to guide our legislation.

If the Congress maintains these principles, the voters, putting patriotism ahead of pocketbooks, will give you their applause.

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.

The first is freedom of speech and expression — everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want — which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants - everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear — which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor — anywhere in the world.

That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation."

— FDR</comment>


Ask HN: What data points do POS systems send to Credit Card Companies / Banks? - <AUTHOR> What are modern POS systems sending to the banks and visa when you make a transaction?<p>Of course there would be the amount charged, but is the itemization from the receipt sent as well? For example, if I bought a $10.83 book, and 83 cents of that was tax, does VISA or my bank actually know that? <comment><USER2> POS systems don't do the bank interface anymore ... usually it is a piece of middleware sits on the POS that is used to control the actual interface to the bank and the PED (swipe devices).

POS says I need payment to the value of amount ... middleware takes over and the POS get's back the card number encrypted (PCI) , auth code and cryptogram if chip (EMV) was used.

Loyalty programs are a different matter altogether , full itemization is sent to the third party if you are enrolled in a program.

</comment><comment><USER3> The answer depends on the vendor and your bank. Beyond the basic vendor, amount and description, some vendors transmit additional details like tax breakdown, travel class and line-item data. I found a PDF from Wells Fargo[1] that details some of the information that's transmitted.

On the bank side, I've seen the Level 2/3 information exposed to users of a purchasing cards (read: company credit cards). On the monthly statements we'd see line-item details for some vendors, like Best Buy. Travel purchases included flight segment details, cabin class, etc.

[1] [https://www08.wellsfargomedia.com/assets/pdf/small- business/...](https://www08.wellsfargomedia.com/assets/pdf/small- business/merchant/level3.pdf)

</comment><comment><USER4> Like most things it depends. Different payment-gateways support different levels of integration. The highest fidelity ones support itemization. The more information you provide typically reduces the fee that's applied.

For more information google "Level 2/3 Credit Card Transactions"</comment>


Chip-scale blue light phased array - <AUTHOR> https://www.osapublishing.org/ol/abstract.cfm?uri=ol-45-7-1934 <comment><USER2> >> Large-scale integration of this platform paves the way for fully reconfigurable chip-scale three-dimensional volumetric light projection across the entire visible range.

That's what I thought. Do this a wafer-scale and you have a fully holographic display. Curious how they phase synchronize so many light emitters but the full paper looks like $$

<comment><USER3> When you say holographic display do you mean, projected in thin air? How would that even work?

<comment><USER4> No, like a normal hologram, but this one can be animated by changing the light coming from it. [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holography#How_it_works](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holography#How_it_works)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is quite a cool paper. I haven't read the full thing yet, but any talk of displays is EXTREMELY premature. This isn't even _one pixel_ \- it's steerable in only one direction. In order to steer in two directions, you'd need to stack up hundreds of these. That would give you a pixel... one that's at least a millimeter wide, or 10x wider than a color block on the screen I'm typing this into. Certainly it would be incredibly expensive to make an entire display out of this.

It's even pretty premature for lidar- for safety reasons lidar is in the infrared, usually around 1 micron wavelength, which makes a big difference in terms of manufacturability and price. One of the biggest problems for solid state lidar is the beamwidth, which can be a couple degrees or even >10 degrees in some cases. This is .17 degrees, which is a fantastic result, but still quite large compared to conventional lidar. Top end lidar has angular resolution below .1 degrees and you can integrate data over time to find edges as sharp as the beamspot, which can give you some really insane precision. If we used this system, the intense blur over the spot would require deconvolution and strongly limit precision.

Back of the envelope math: at .75 m (2.5'), .17 degrees between pixels would give you ~2.25 mm pixel pitch. Even at that distance, the blurring will be intense- the middle picture here[1] is semi-accurate. Obviously fidelity wasn't the goal and this doesn't represent the limits of the technology! Don't give up hope. Just expect to see someone demonstrate something that exceeds the requirement for fidelity before it actually gets made into a consumer product.

This paper has similar results to an MIT paper[2], but with 3x higher wavelength. Naturally, 3x higher wavelength way more than 3x harder. This device is also smaller- the MIT device is ~1 mm by .1 mm vs. ~1 mm by ~10 nm. That's mostly due to the fact that the MIT device can steer in two directions- the first direction works with phase shifters just like this device, but the second direction works by heating up the emitters so that they change size (genius).

The device here basically just pipes laser light out through the side of the wafer, which syncs up excellently with the MIT approach. MIT used very long (500 micron) antennas that have a thin-thick-thin wavy pattern[3]; at each wide part (IIRC) refraction causes light to escape at a particular angle. Changing the length of the wide parts changes the resonance of the light inside and therefor the angle light escapes at, and that's how they did beamforming. Normally this would require atomically-perfect manufacturing, but the long antenna averages errors out (although you still end up with just under 1 degree of beamwidth). With a suitable intermediate layer you might be able to plug this work into the MIT antennas and get full steering without needing to stack arrays.

This is all way better than current commercial solid state lidars, which mostly use rectangular patch antennas to project lasers. The optical properties of those systems are really bad. It's a shame there isn't more money in research like this, because it's necessary to make that final jump.

[1]: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaussian_blur#/media/File:Capp...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaussian_blur#/media/File:Cappadocia_Gaussian_Blur.svg)

[2]: [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320235900_Coherent_...](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320235900_Coherent_solid- state_LIDAR_with_silicon_photonic_optical_phased_arrays)

[3]: [https://spectrum.ieee.org/image/Mjc5NjU5MA.jpeg](https://spectrum.ieee.org/image/Mjc5NjU5MA.jpeg)

<comment><USER6> Wouldn't the display application here be something like a scanning AR/VR headset which constructs an image directly on your retina with a small number of beams moving very quickly (kinda like an old CRT display)? In which case you really just need three "pixels" of different colors (assuming it's sufficiently responsive to high frequency control).

1/0.17 = 5.9 ppd is about half the angular resolution of the commercial Index VR headset, so it does still need a bit more progress before it would be competitive. Or a lot more, giving it a few additional factors of 2 for the fact that it's not emitting from directly inside your pupil, and you probably don't want adjacent pixels bleeding into each other (fwhm is still... half maximum which is quite a lot).

<comment><USER5> > Wouldn't the display application here be something like a scanning AR/VR > headset which constructs an image directly on your retina with a small > number of beams moving very quickly (kinda like an old CRT display)?

That would only work if the display stays exactly (.01 degrees) in the same spot relative to your eyes. What's it going to do, project a million images, each the width of your pupil? You'd need extremely good eye tracking. You can't put this on a contact lens because the substrate is too thick, in addition to all the manufacturing problems.

> 1/0.17 = 5.9 ppd is about half the angular resolution of the commercial > Index VR headset, so it does still need a bit more progress before it would > be competitive.

Factors of two is a massive underestimate. The screen in a VR headset is waaaaaay bigger than your retina, which you're projecting onto. Not only that, but you're really concerned about projecting onto the fovea, which has about 1 "pixel" per 20 microns. At 10 cm (4"), 20 microns width would be .011 degrees per pixel. The beam is actually pretty sharp, so halving the beamwidth would lower the bleed to <<10%, which is fine. All together that's ~30x improvement in beamwidth.

<comment><USER6> That would be what is required for an ideal display. Current VR displays get closer to 0.1 degrees per pixel so it would be a ~3x improvement to be competitive with existing tech, as I said.

<comment><USER5> No, I'm talking about what is required to get to the _same_ as current VR. Beamwidth and pixels per degree are NOT equivalent. Beamwidth causes adjacent pixels to blur into each other, which is a much bigger issue when projecting onto the eye because it's such a smaller surface. The equivalent factor for a display would be the diffraction blur introduced by a pixel.

Back of the envelope math: at 10 pixels per mm, 500 nm light through a circular aperture[1] has a half-power beamwidth of .0013 degrees, so two orders of magnitude better than this technology. _That_ is what you'd need for an ideal display. The bare minimum is just that the blurring at the retina does not cause pixels three rows over to bleed into each other.

[1]: [https://www.cv.nrao.edu/course/astr534/2DApertures.html](https://www.cv.nrao.edu/course/astr534/2DApertures.html)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Very cool.

OSA press-release here: [https://www.osa.org/en- us/about_osa/newsroom/news_releases/2...](https://www.osa.org/en- us/about_osa/newsroom/news_releases/2020/chip- based_device_opens_new_doors_for_augmented_re/)

</comment><comment><USER8> Awesome, this could enable cheap high-resolution 3D displays

</comment><comment><USER9> Solid state LIDAR?

</comment><comment><USER10> With an aperiodic spacing, I wonder how high the grating lobes are? The paper is paywalled.

<comment><USER11> Being aperiodic should mean there's no well defined grating lobes. Basically each emitter pair has a different spacing and thus different grating lobe location, so across the whole array they get smeared out to an even sidelobe level. But yes, wondering what the mainlobe contrast is.. it's also >lambda spacing so the efficiency is probably poor.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Imagine a Post Pandemic World, How Internet Use Will Evolve? - <AUTHOR> I ask myself this, because I believe that the lockdown will permanently change our psychology and our way of dealing with everyday life, and since the internet and services will forever play a fundamental role in our society, I am trying to understand how the relationship between man and services will evolve.
For example, what do you think will be the Fundamental Applications for a Post-Pandemic World?
I believe that P2P, decentralization, cryptography and virtual reality will create a new universe of services that will become more and more present.
But this is just an assumption. What do you think? <comment><USER2> " I believe that P2P, decentralization, cryptography and virtual reality will create a new universe of services that will become more and more present."

If anything it will be the opposite. All you mentioned is a concern of a very small part of the population.

I believe that in this regard we will be seeing more control and centralization from governments in order to try to predict/prevent future occurrences.

<comment><AUTHOR> I fully support your thinking, and I believe that the high number of restrictions will create as a consequence a greater number of distrustful people who will suffer greatly from the controls and will look for alternatives to feel more protected and free. I mean as a feeling, even placebo, of having full control and not being controlled.

Of course there will be those who will not take care of these options and will not look for them.

But now more than ever there is a human need to support the growth of these services, at least I think, to ensure a safe area and a private space for anyone.</comment></comment>


Amazon SimpleDB: Winer & Scoble Fail In Tandem - <AUTHOR> http://www.uncov.com/2007/12/17/winer-scoble-fail-in-tandem <comment><USER2> _"... A Trusted Source Tells Me That The Ads On Pownce Are Free. Because Leah can't get anybody to pay for them. That, however, is inconsequential. We are talking about serious engineering here. So beyond the butthurt about Winer & Scoble, there is some real deconstruction to be done. One of the stupid parts about SimpleDB is XML ..."_

Blah, blah, blah.

This is the kind of dribble you'd expect from tech-talk, trash-talking fan- boys. Dave Winer some times is rude, abrupt and often wrong. The difference is Dave doesn't hide. You know his name, what he does and what he looks like and what he is thinking. But not so with the author who is less interested in informing, interacting or asking questions.

So who is the author?

Well it's Ted Dziuba of course. A 23y/o ex-googler doing a startup called 'persai' [0] Persai is working on a personalised information gathering tool. One reason I don't waste too much time on the opinions from the likes of "Ted" is because he (they) hides behind what is essentially a gossip site. [1]

Is this a new form of marketing plan?

Get above the rest of the tech-industry by creating a trash news site in the hope of raising their profile for the beta release? A better idea would be showing your chops through a demonstration or intelligently explaining why the particular problem being solved is good for users. Interesting stuff can be found on persai where they are taking lessons from google and applying it to news [2] Hardly ground breaking without a demo. The technology looks interesting. But it's not just about technology. It's about users.

Lets wait and see how useful users view persai.

[0] _"... Persai is a news aggregator that is specific to your interests. You specify a topic that you're interested in with a few words, and Persai will find new content relevant to that interest and recommend it to you. ..."_ ~ [http://techfold.com/2007/12/17/you-say-per-say-i-say- persai-...](http://techfold.com/2007/12/17/you-say-per-say-i-say-persai-lets- call-the-whole-thing-off/)

[1] Is this typical of the mindset of 'googler' engineers? I certainly don't see this subservient (scared) attitude with say Chris Sacca or Paul Buckheit?

[2] <http://blog.persai.com/></comment>


Ask HN: Is the Linux From Scratch project still relevant? - <AUTHOR> For those that wish to learn to build their own distro, is the Linux From Scratch project still a great place to start?<p>http://www.linuxfromscratch.org <comment><USER2> It is. But I have this radical idea that with a declarative toolbox like what NixOS offers, most distros are trivial.

Lots of simple distros are doable with a page or two of declarative Nix configuration. They are just some opinionated choices concerning a variety of components, a desktop environment and some default applications (or the lack of thereof). Gentoo is also a meta-distro in some ways.

Of course, if you want some fundamental changes, you might not be able to stretch NixOS that far. Or if you prefer an imperative approach to things.

IMHO, most distro designs (imperative/declarative, binary/source-based) have been explored already. Forking yet a new distro is not advisable, unless you have some novel ideas or just want the educational experience.

<comment><AUTHOR> My goal is to have a very small distro, yet easily customizable so I can deploy it over and over very quickly with small changes, etc but also modern enough of a start to promote pull requests to the projects being used in the distro.

<comment><USER3> LFS is a deep dive for learning, not a way to create a production base.

I'd suggest stripping down whatever distro you already like unless you have an exotic target platform or highly constrained resource (like embedded systems).

The off the shelf distros can typically be customized much smaller than their "minimal" images. That "minimal" usually means "a reasonable base for your headless server" not "the least amount of software needed to boot." You'll be able to stay in a packaging ecosystem and process you already know. Learn how to create a custom deployable image and with any luck you'll still be able to leverage their build systems, testing and repos.

If you are talking more constrained than that or an unusual architecture, Yocto seems to be where most of the embedded Linux folks are these days. That targets highly-configurable custom compiling everything from the ground up, lots of additional software packages are available to be layered in.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> LFS is no help creating a new Linux distribution. Rather, it guides you though building a Linux installation on your computer. In that sense, LFS is a distribution. Yes, it could be a (rather odd) base for a new distribution, but you would definitely have better luck if you choose, say, Debian, Slackware or Arch as the base.

In general, what differentiates Linux distributions is, for the most part, package management, installation/configuration process, and the default theme. A brand new, original distribution would have to say something new about some of those, and LFS would be no help there - perhaps, other than just giving you an experience of building and running Linux and some GNU software, well, from scratch.

</comment><comment><USER5> If you have plenty of free time then I would argue yes, if nothing else because it gives quite a bit of context for various things that make up a typical Linux installation. The big problem with LFS is that it's a laborious process and it's extremely easy to lose interest part way through as a result.

If you have less free time (or a not-so-great attention span) then I think that something like Buildroot is ultimately much more valuable. You get the flexibility to choose exactly what makes up your new installation and you are introduced to the sophisticated level of configurability that a system can have, but importantly, you don't have to be the one to compile every single bit of it.

</comment><comment> dfeojm-zlib It's useful. I looked at it last night for a refresher.

Also, look at other major distros. And, for building packages and patches, look at LFS, Free/Open/NetBSD ports, homebrew, macports, linuxbrew, habitat, NixOS, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE and Arch. For security advisories, be sure to check the multitude of sources... note that more than few released packages ship vulns that need patching and some packages are essentially abandonded. Have a look at the old RHEL 5 NSA hardening guide and other major guides for Linux hardening too (be sure to compile things using modern toolchain hardening flags, and test them thoroughly and relentlessly to suss out gotchas).

The big things with distros is package updates and system upgrade securely delivered (Debian flavors are good at this), don't break a system and don't interrupt users unexpectedly. Most distros' packaging systems are flexible but confusing and under-documented packaging descriptions. Habitat and Arch are cleaner.

</comment><comment><USER6> It's not a bad place to start. It still seems to link to a sysvinit style setup by default(good). There are systemd flavored versions available but the relative directions, size and time requirements should tell you plenty without me evangelizing against it.

[http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/stable/chapter06/sy...](http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/stable/chapter06/sysvinit.html)

[http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/systemd/chapter06/s...](http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/view/systemd/chapter06/systemd.html)</comment>


Bounty: Build a decentralized forum and earn $3,200 USD - <AUTHOR> https://gitcoin.co/issue/ArweaveTeam/Bounties/13/3467 <comment><AUTHOR> Centralized industries hold control over their users and their data. Forums are constantly created, users spend hours helping build the community with useful content and then suddenly disappear or you get banned without any prior notice. At Arweave we want to break this barrier and help build the next web, the permaweb.

Create a fully decentralized approach to a Forum using Arweave's blockchain technology to store and host the platform.

If you know Javascript/HTML/CSS you already know how to build an Arweave dApp!

To participate in the bounty and learn more click here: [https://gitcoin.co/issue/ArweaveTeam/Bounties/13/3467](https://gitcoin.co/issue/ArweaveTeam/Bounties/13/3467) Any questions you may have about Arweave or our other bounties you can ask here or join our discord at [https://discord.gg/AhsZfBm](https://discord.gg/AhsZfBm)

I hope to see many of you participating! Good luck! Cedrik.</comment>


Why don't startups list valuations along with funding amounts to the press? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> Just multiply the latest funding by 4x or 5x. That'll get you close-ish.

<comment><USER3> This is a useful estimation formula, and I'm not sure why you're getting downvoted.

The reasoning is as follows: institutional investors prioritize ownership % over $. For the first couple financing rounds, they will want 15-25% of the business and will increase the check size until they get that. If they get 25%, post-money valuation of the business is 4x the investment. If they get 20%, post-money = 5x the amount. There are outliers, but "post-money = 4-5x the check size" is a useful heuristic for mid-market deals.

<comment><USER2> Thank you! Yes, in my experience, "most investors want 20% in each round" has been a good rule to go by...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Because they are not forced/required to. You can find that data in databases like crunchbase i think

</comment><comment><USER5> When they get big enough they do. Depends on what you consider a startup.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, I am just trying to understand the reasoning. Is it the founders or the investors who benefit more from the half hearted secrecy ?

<comment><USER5> IMO I don't think anyone benefits from announcing the valuation.

<comment><AUTHOR> Other potential investors would benefit from knowing the valuation, and if they invest then maybe founders and earlier investors benefit, no ?

What's the benefit from announcing the funding amount ?

<comment><USER5> I think funding amount could attract a specific type of talent.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Why does Microsoft use onmicrosoft.com and microsoftonline.com? - <AUTHOR> In 2019, it seems a given that a cautious user on the internet should be careful about which domains they connect to. Paying close attention to domains, Microsoft users will quickly see that the company doesn't always use microsoft.com - even for high profile endpoints. For example:<p>* Office 365 services use this endpoint for user login: https://login.microsoftonline.com<p>* Email: onmicrosoft.com<p>Can anyone explain the business, user, and technical implications involved in choosing a new domain (microsoftonline.com) over a subdomain of the business's core domain (online.microsoft.com)? <comment><USER2> (This is in no way a complete of even precise answer, but is maybe still helpful.) One big issue is how cookies can be configured by subdomains to affect other subdomains, causing you to sometimes need full domain names to create security boundaries.

<comment><USER3> This is exactly right. Different parts of the business have different security scopes, and different domains are the easiest way to keep things separate: make the browser help keep data separate, and not share things across the organization.

This can also reduce cookie size, which adds up.

<comment><USER4> This all sounds reasonable but Google doesn't use this strategy and it looks cleaner for the end user. So why can't O365 do similar?

<comment><USER5> Not everyone equally applies security concepts and isolation the same way. Google is probably less concerned around certain web attacks compared to Microsoft. Microsoft isolates their corporation from customer things, which is good I'd say.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> In addition to what others said about cookies and security, there's also organizational issues as well. In a giant org like Microsoft, services are launched by different groups at different times, and not always (or better said, rarely) in a coordinated manner.

If I had to guess, the team that made microsoftonline.com probably could have dealt with the group that "owns" microsoft.com and gone through all the security, functionality, routing and systems testing involved to add a new subdomain or root-level path, but it was faster, easier and safer to just use a new domain and not worry about 25 years of domain name baggage. Maybe it was actually a coordinated effort to avoid all that, or simply meet a deadline.

You never know. The longer you work in technology, the more you see systems get larger and larger and have their own rational for things that seem insane to an outsider. Maybe microsoft.com is running on an ancient Windows 2000 server and they've forgotten the admin password. You'd think that could _never_ happen at a company like Microsoft (or maybe you would), but you'd be surprised.

</comment><comment><USER7> I don't remember the particulars, but I know that all of the identity components of Exchange Online and O365 were swapped out once or twice. Microsoft built the airplane in flight.

They also have a very complex service delivery architecture. O365 "Commercial" and "Government Community", share some components, and have separate ones for others. Then there is a separate US Gov O365 with a different TLD.

</comment><comment><USER8> Should be an 'Ask HN:'.

</comment><comment><USER9> Some ideas:

Different SSL configuration.

Avoid DNS entries getting bloated?

Avoid a single point of failure?</comment>


How the second tech bubble will burst - <AUTHOR> http://www.goldworth.com/index.php/82-our-blog/7254-how-the-second-tech-bubble-will-burst-in-the-words-of-silicon-valley-s-poster-child-and-world-s-youngest

<comment><AUTHOR> This is the relevant bit:

> Fed has created abnormal market conditions by printing money and keeping > interest rates low. Investors are looking for growth anywhere they can find > it and tech companies are good targets - at these values, however, all tech > stocks are expensive - even looking at 5+ years of revenue growth down the > road. This means that most value-driven investors have left the market and > the remaining 5-10%+ increase in market value will be driven by momentum > investors. At some point there won't be any momentum investors left buying > at higher prices, and the market begins to tumble. May be 10-20% correction > or something more significant, especially in tech stocks. Facebook has > continued to perform in the market despite declining user engagement and > pullback of brand advertising dollars -- largely due to mobile advertising > performance - especially App Install advertisements. This is a huge red flag > because it indicates that sustainable brand dollars have not yet moved to > Facebook mobile platform and mobile revenue growth has been driven by > technology companies (many of which are VC funded). VC dollars are being > spent on user acquisition despite unknown LTV of users - a recipe for > disaster. This props up Facebook share price and continues to justify VC > investment in technology products based on abnormally large mkt cap > companies (i.e. "If this company attracts just 5% of users that FB has, it > will be HUGE" \- fuels spend on user acquisition as user growth is tied to > values). When the market for tech stocks cools, Facebook market cap will > plummet, access to capital for unproven businesses will become inaccessible, > and ad spend on user acquisition will rapidly decrease - <USER2> > problems for Facebook and driving stock even lower. Instagram may be only > saving grace if they are able to ramp advertising product fast enough. Total > internet advertising spend cannot justify outsized valuations of social > media products that derive revenue from advertising. Feed-based advertising > units will plummet in value (in the case of Twitter, advertising spend may > not move beyond experimental dollars) similar to earlier devaluing of > Internet display advertising.</comment>


Show HN: A library app built with NextJS, Prisma 2 and Apollo – explained - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/poulainv/tottem <comment><AUTHOR> Hi, author here!

I took some months off to learn web dev. What an awesome experience!

\- Typescript makes you feel safe.

\- Prisma2 changes your life when dealing with data. It provides a flexible type safe client

\- No need of external heavy & complicated to override UI library: (almost) everything is very simple is TailwindCSS

\- GraphQL & Apollo provides flexibility and all I need to manage my local state

\- Deployment is made so smooth with Zeit Now I love immutable deployment approach. Here GraphQL API is fully serverless and blazing fast

Let's take a look to the mono repo. Happy to share it with you (no plan to make money with that)!

<comment><USER2> Hey, nice one! I wanted to try out a modern stack and also building something with Prisma 1 and GraphQL as well. Agree that the client gen is awesome. How is Prisma2, can I migrate to v2 now or is it too early?

<comment><AUTHOR> Prisma2 client will be production ready in few weeks. On my side, it's already very stable and performant. I've heard that only specific edge cases concerning database introspection are not fully production ready.</comment></comment></comment>


Today is the fifth anniversary of Aaron Swartz's death - <AUTHOR> thank you for everything <comment><USER2> I always remember the quote from Sir Tim Berners-Lee about his death:

> Aaron is dead. Wanderers in this crazy world, we have lost a mentor, a wise > elder. Hackers for right, we are one down, we have lost one of our own. > Nurturers, carers, listeners, feeders, parents all, we have lost a child. > Let us all weep.

<comment><USER3> [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vz06QO3UkQ&feature=youtu.be...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vz06QO3UkQ&feature=youtu.be&t=5803)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This StackOverflow question from Aaron about using rsync to download and copy lots of files is like a piece of history frozen in time.

[https://stackoverflow.com/questions/48491/keep-rsync-from- re...](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/48491/keep-rsync-from-removing- unfinished-source-files)

<comment><USER5> And the required context, for those coming across this: Aaron was under investigation for downloading an archive of academic articles from within MIT (because they'd otherwise cost a lot), presumably to make them available outside free of large, much like Sci-Hub does nowadays.

He committed suicide during the investigation, and it's supposedly not unlikely to be related to the pressure the investigation and trumped-up charges brought him. And then there's those that surmise he was murdered, of course.

See also this documentary: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Internet%27s_Own_Boy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Internet%27s_Own_Boy)

<comment><USER6> Knowing that context (besides the suicide) makes the question so hilarious to read!

<comment><USER7> tragic

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> His blog Raw Thought ([http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/](http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/)) details his experiences. I found his memoirs about Stanford particularly interesting. An example entry:

""" Surrounding them were groups of kids chatting. Clearly social rituals depend on communication, which is presumably used to get a sense of the kind of person the other is. In my culture (of vaguely technical people), people converse by sharing information through mutually-beneficial discussion and debate, but the teenager's system is altogether different and wholly alien to me.

I have little firsthand experience, but I have developed an initial theory of how things work. The protocol begins by sharing basic personal information to establish identity, then moves to the humorous recitation of cultural information. (Humorous may be too strong a word; the key point is that there's a lot of laughing.) This is the beginning of a loop. The two parties exchange information, allowing them to get a better sense of each other. If the clearer picture is disliked, the party breaks the loop and disassociates. Otherwise, more personal knowledge is shared as the parties get to know each other better. Discussion moves from cultural issues, to societal ones, to gossip, to personal matters, to deep intimate issues, presumably shared with close lovers or friends. """ ― [http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/001421](http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/001421)

<comment><USER9> Aaron's second paragraph there sounds like Social Penetration Theory: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_penetration_theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_penetration_theory)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I wanted an Aaron Swartz t-shirt so I made these graphics:

For dark fabric: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6fL4G1FVF- AdHhCdVU4UHhCNk0...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6fL4G1FVF- AdHhCdVU4UHhCNk0/view)

For medium shade fabric: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6fL4G1FVF- AblFNYlBrWTJmems...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6fL4G1FVF- AblFNYlBrWTJmems/view)

(Even though these look dark against a white background, it works best if the gray shadow part is darker than the fabric color: dark example: [https://drive.google.com/open?id=1RY9wtKNtDzKdZKF- eAa_vYNCXU...](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1RY9wtKNtDzKdZKF- eAa_vYNCXUcIhyHm))

Source Inkscape SVG: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6fL4G1FVF- AbHB3ZW9CZWNDVmc...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6fL4G1FVF- AbHB3ZW9CZWNDVmc/)

Based on a photo by Sage Ross (CC BY-SA) ragesoss.com/blog/2013/07/12/the-use- aaron-swartz-photographs/

I printed one on zazzle.com on a dark t-shirt but it seems I can't share the design without becoming some kind of t-shirt vendor and take a royalty which I don't care to do. If you want one, you will have to upload the image yourself.

</comment><comment><USER11> Still the Federal Prosecutors are just as aggressive as before this event. We had the Supreme Court having to get involved in the Virginia Governor case where he and his wife were prosecuted. He set up meetings for a donor and those meetings got the person zero money or business. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_v._United_States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_v._United_States) Personal Note: My friend is a mayor and is under Federal Prosecution. He was wired for 2 years by two people, one of which made $500,000 in three years and didn't declare it to the IRS. He earned his money by illegal political means. My friend has hundreds of hours on tape and thousands of documents and after lawyers and people going through them there is nothing there. He has stated his innocents since day one and there is zero direct evidence yet trial starts in a few weeks. Federal Prosecutor has released statements and quotes of the recordings that were one sided and actually if they just let the quote go for one more sentence it would show that my friend actually told everyone to stop doing anything to anyone. The person being wired actually said that the mayor has never done anything wrong so we have to set him up and the FBI informant actually sent out illegal texts and emails to a possible campaign donor. My friend confronted him on tape and told him to cut it out and to stop this or else they would all go to jail. US Court System is unbalanced and it will sentence possibly innocent people multiple times higher sentences over people caught red handed and plea bargain. It is better to lie and admit guilt than to fight for your innocence.

Edit: Spelling

<comment><USER12> Yeah, anyone who is surprised by shitty things done by the "Justice" Department has no clue about them: they exist entirely to do shitty things and that's basically all they ever do. Once you're on their radar, you might as well emigrate, because your life here will suck, no matter what you do or don't do.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> We barely crossed paths, but in the couple of interactions we had he changed my engineering for the better.

In particular, he demanded that all features have measurable success criteria and if they didn't happen he pulled the feature from the code base.

Simple and elegant way of keeping your code base small and focused. The real miracle there was he got the customer to agree and held them to it. I still don't know how he did that.

<comment><USER14> How are you supposed to test it if there's no success criteria? And by extension, how are you going to write good software without tests?

<comment><USER13> Sorry, I wasn't clear.

It wasn't if the software functioned the way that we wanted (is the business logic correct), so much as did it have the effect on the business that we wanted.

The criteria would have been something a long the lines of:

"By adding this ad banner to this page template we will increase revenue by 5% per page view", or

"By adding this widget to the on boarding page we will reduce drop out by 50%".

If your feature didn't have the business impact it was supposed to, it was pulled. Maybe the widget actually increases drop out? Maybe increasing ads reduced page views?

But it prioritized being to answer those kinds of questions. Very neat.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> "The way Aaron always thought is that programming is magic, right? You can accomplish these things that normal humans can't, by being able to program. So, if you had magical powers, would you use them for good, or to make you mountains of cash?" [0]

I feel this conflict also here on HN. When a point is made why a technology or development is bad because of it's political impact on our society, always there is the response that you gotta have profit. When for so many people profit is more important than what is right, then negativity towards that is not only understandable, but an ethical imperative.

We have powers we never had before. We transform this world, we shift power and open new possibilites. We must not let profit and money steer it, for this is much too important.

The masses meander around, wiping over shining tablets, consuming what gatekeepers let them see, using the magic they have in their hands only in golden jails their platforms force them in. We must never accept that, and fight it every day.

[0] around 24:00 of The Internet's Own Boy - The Story of Aaron Swartz

</comment><comment><USER16> On a request from a friend who thought it might be handy to have the domain ready but registered outside of the states, I owned freeaaronsw.com for a while with the intention of using it for a campaign against the prosecution later on.

The "oh, fuck, we're already too late" sensation I had when I saw his death announced stays with me to this day.

<comment><USER17> I am so sad for you

<comment><USER16> Eh, I was just helping out. Hold onto that thought and if you ever meet somebody who was actually close to him, give them a hug or something instead :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Rest in peace you beautiful beautiful heart.

I would like to recommend the documentary "The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron" for everyone to watch.

<comment><USER19> Which is, of course, available for free under a creative commons license: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLxpTGsclXM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLxpTGsclXM)

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> It would be nice to see reddit have some sort of memorial. Sadly, I think the "new" reddit finds his memory a bit uncomfortable.

<comment><USER21> Reddit's founders have stated that Aaron's story about his history at reddit isn't truthful so it's no surprise they're snubbing him.

Here's a 10 year old thread about various Aaron's claims regarding reddit and Wired.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/1octb/reddit_co...](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/1octb/reddit_cofounder_aaron_swartz_discusses_how_he/)

<comment><USER12> PG, at your link:

 _Aaron 's not wrong to call himself one of the founders. The company behind Reddit was a merger of two startups, one that made Reddit and one that made Infogami, and in that situation the founders of both startups are considered founders of the combined company._

<comment><USER22> Without knowing the details about this particular case that sounds wrong.

Note how PG subtly shifted from "Aaron co-founded Reddit the product" (what everyone meant) to "Aaron co-founded the company that today owns Reddit", which is defensible, but mostly uninteresting.

I consider that dishonest.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Here is a list of the books he read and enjoyed the most from 2006 to 2011.

[https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/2577-a-hacktivist- reading-l...](https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/2577-a-hacktivist-reading-list- aaron-swartz-s-recommended-reading)

Very illuminating to see how wide his interests were.

<comment><USER2> Pardon me for asking, but why a third-party source?

They're all on his blog[0], which is still alive.

[0] [http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/books2011](http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/books2011)

<comment><USER24> Reading through his review of _The Trial_ is surreal.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> People like Aaron Swartz represent the future of humanity. The people that attacked him represent the dark past.

He was one of us, on this very site, and then he wasn't.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=aaronsw](https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=aaronsw)

</comment><comment><USER26> One of his posts - "Believe you can change" [1] - has helped me a lot with motivation issues. Thank you indeed.

[1]: [http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/dweck](http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/dweck)

</comment><comment><USER27> I was doing some research today on the topic of RSS and stumbled upon his name. I remembered seeing his name before but did not remember who he was. Now seeing this pop up -- what an uncanny amount of coincidence. He seems like an incredible influential person with a story that must not be forgotten.

</comment><comment><USER28> [http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/archive](http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/archive)

</comment><comment><USER29> I was thinking about him the other day funnily enough. I was thinking about Reddit and the contribution that has made to modern social discourse, and how it has elucidated the discussion on freedom of speech, the perceived kind versus the legal, constitutional kind. I feel sad that he came to the end that he did, and that he didn't get to see the course of the fiery debate he kicked off. Hard to believe it's been five years.

</comment><comment><USER30> I made a script to compile all his blog posts to .mobi ebook if anyone interested, just in case his site goes down.

[https://github.com/tienthanh8490/aaronsw](https://github.com/tienthanh8490/aaronsw)

</comment><comment><USER31> Sad day for the tech community.

</comment><comment><USER32> And two weeks ago was the second aniversary of Ian Murdock's death. Time flies.

</comment><comment><USER33> In today's age of dramatic economic and political inequality, it does not matter how talented you are or how hard you work. American meritocracy is a sham and Swartz's death is the proof.

<comment><USER34> Oh wow. I recently dug up Max Payne again. Guess what, I find some of the content to be quite inspiring:

The trick in my situation was that there was no trick, no matter what the movies tell you. No rules, no secret Mantra, no road map. It wasn't about how smart or how good you were. It was chaos and luck, and anyone who thought different was a fool. All you could do was hang on madly, as long and hard as you could.

<comment><USER35> For a lot of people the decisions and actions they make can (and will) shape their circumstance..

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> We love you Aaron.

</comment><comment><USER37> Never forget how prominent HN members treated him during his last call for help to this forum. Aaron was a special person and we are all diminished by his passing.

He did not fit our world and it was primarily a failing of the world that he did not.

<comment><USER38> Well gee, he seemed to fit the world better than most people do.

Whatever that means. But he seems to have met a lot of inspiring people, people he could work with, found important stuff to do etc. More than most people do in a life time, much more.

</comment></comment><comment><USER39> Any memorial to Aaron should include the name of the federal attorney whose prosecution for copying journal articles was so overzealous that Aaron saw suicide as his best option.

He shouldn't be subjected to a witch hunt or mob justice, but he should be placed in context (and in search results) for history (and the public) to judge: Stephen P. Heymann.

<comment><USER40> Overzealous prosecution is the default, not the exception. Prosecutors build their careers on high profile convictions. It's a systemic problem.

MIT was not without fault either.

<comment><USER41> > MIT was not without fault either.

Shameful and weak is the phrase you are looking for. The follow on report [0] by Hal Abelson showed a lack of personal and institutional critical integrity.

[0] [http://swartz-report.mit.edu/](http://swartz-report.mit.edu/)

<comment><USER12> It is to their credit, however, that they commissioned and publicized that report. I have a hard time imagining my _alma mater_ up the street doing the same in a similar situation.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER42> I find it disappointing that the front page of Reddit isn't flooded with Aaron Swartz posts.

<comment><USER43> Can anyone explain why it is not on the front page of HN as well? The post is 3 hours old, has over 500 upvotes and yet still is not to be seen on the front page.

<comment><USER12> It was #1 earlier today; with 595 points it's now #123. Presumably mods have adjusted it somehow? I can't imagine HN has enough anti-"politics" zealots to flag it down to that point.

<comment><USER44> If this were about the anniversary of the death of a mainstream celebrity, it would have been flagged outright, and deservedly so. But even given Aaron Swartz' background and popularity within the community, this thread doesn't present an interesting new phenomenon or anything to gratify intellectual curiosity. A sentimental footnote doesn't deserve to be on the front page.

<comment><USER43> I see. That makes sense, thank you.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER45> Thanks for the feelz :(</comment>


ASK HN: How to announce a new startup/website? - <AUTHOR>

Just curious as to how folks get the word out about their start-ups/websites once they're finished.  I'm extremely new to all of this, and as such I really don't know anything about this topic!  What works?  Press releases?  Emails to bloggers?<p>Thanks guys! <comment><USER3> Sending e-mails to bloggers was a great way for us to get our startup off the ground and get some initial traction. We also did some advertising - <USER2> ads did really well for us.

</comment><comment><USER4> Submit a "Show HN" post on the site...

</comment><comment><USER5> The broad answer is depends on your product. However, there is a general formula that answers your question. But first...

With first time founders, there's a temptation to rush ahead and capture the low hanging fruit. They read articles and watch interviews about tactics and strategy that works for others. So they rush ahead to imitate those actions. More often than not, underlying principles that are key to a strategy's success are skipped, leading to less than satisfactory results.

For example, take "press releases" or "email bloggers". On the surface it seems like one should pay for PR Web or simply email the Scobalizer ( a blogger ). Have a good pitch is the most common advice. Easy enough right? Nope.

In reality, having a good pitch means prep work. What happens after the blogger or reporter Googles your name or product? Will they find a good back story? Are bios, head shots, and screen shots easily available? Do you look like you have traction, a fan base, twitter followers, any kind of momentum? Do those things improve your odds of being picked up in a story... absolutely. Reporters and bloggers want to see momentum and hop on board.

It's not all gloom and doom. The point is not to rush ahead and accept the fact that there is a formula and steps should be taken in the right order. Especially if its a founders first rodeo. One must set a pace and grind through the necessary tasks. Its not glamorous, thats why the magazine interviews leave it out.

So what's the formula...

Knowing the formula is the trick. It saves time and keeps one focused to execute to a steady cohesive strategy. First time founders, when learning from mistakes, are actually discovering the formula and burning the idea. Seasoned founders know the formula, thats why they launch and sell startups like PEZ dispensers. A track record and connections help too, but thats a different article.

In a nutshell the formula for getting the word out is the process of building an echo chamber from your website outwards. Setting up a larger and larger online footprint that reinforces and multiplies marketing efforts as they get more advanced. For example, before pitching TechCrunch, have a CrunchBase profile, before that have a social media following, before that have a shareable site, before that have the right message, before that have the right branding, etc... There are many paths and variants on the theme but the idea is to build up, not jump ahead.

Waaaaaaaayyyyyyyy oversimplified formula:

      Phase I - Button Up Your Website
      Phase II - Positioning And Branding
      Phase III - Messaging
      Phase IV - Create Credibility
      Phase V - Serious Online Presence
      Phase VI - A Few General Press Releases
      Phase VII - Get Listed As An Expert
      Phase VIII - Hit The Press Directly
      Phase IX - Paid Advertising
      Phase X - Pitch For Funding

Keep in mind that the list above is meant to occur in tandem with the development of a product and is iterative. Founders are meant to learn from the process ( not learn the process ). As founders complete phases, they will go back and tweak prior phases. Those adjustments are a product of learning from the customer base and achieving minimal viable product. If on the right path, the founding team will make fewer and fewer adjustments further back. The trick is to complete each phase as fully as possible and learn as much as possible before beginning the next. This is second nature to seasoned founders.

No doubt there will be debate about the order or necessity of some of the phases. Every product and founder is slightly different. This approach has helped get me from zero users to 16K signups and sustainability in a few months. Of course partnerships and connections were a huge part of my success, but the phases above helped me get those. If you are a first time founder go through all the phases and learn.

I have written an essay on this topic because I am the founder of AwareLabs and a subject matter expert on this. All of the phases above are broken down into individual tasks within the AwareLabs Marketing Task Guide:

<http://www.awarelabs.com>

AwareLabs started as an excel spreadsheet, I'm glad to share it as a product. For the first time founders out there I hope the guide is as helpful to you as it has been to me.</comment>


Banks' ageing IT systems buckle under strain - <AUTHOR> http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/90360dbe-15cb-11e5-a58d-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=intl

<comment><AUTHOR> For those behind paywall:

Igor Feitoza, a Brazilian-born entrepreneur, left an angry message on his bank's Facebook page this week.

"I want to see if you guys will pay my overdue bills and my employees as I can't access my money which I . . . deposited last Friday to pay them," he wrote following a "ridiculous" three hours spent at the bank.

Mr Feitoza is not one of the many frustrated Royal Bank of Scotland customers hit by the latest technology failure this week. He is a client of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the country's biggest bank by market capitalisation, which had its reputation as one of the most digitally advanced lenders tarnished by an outage in its payment and online systems late last week.

As well as provoking outbursts on social media, the technology glitches at RBS, which caused some 600,000 payments and direct debits to go missing, and CBA underline how the world's biggest banks are often failing to get to grips with the growing demands being placed on their IT platforms.

Banks spent about $188bn on IT last year and that figure is expected to grow at close to 5 per cent a year, taking it above $200bn by next year, according to Celent, the research company.

Many banks, such as RBS, are plagued by computer systems that have been built up over several decades through acquisitions and new product launches to form a costly and complex patchwork of systems. "A lot of these programmes get three-quarters done," says a senior technology executive at one of the largest US banks. "It's one of these technical debt problems that builds up over the course of time. If you have one thing happen it might cause the whole thing to fall down."

The cost of maintaining these often ageing and unwieldy systems eats up three- quarters of banks' IT spending, according to Celent. That leaves only a quarter to spend on innovations to keep up with the rapidly emerging threat from the many technology groups and start-ups trying to steal market share in areas such as payments.

"For a sector that spends significantly more on technology than most other sectors in the world, it is the least innovative, so there is a paradox here," says Bill Michael, head of financial services in Europe at KPMG.

As many banks struggle in the post-financial crisis environment to generate returns above their cost of capital, these spiralling costs and inefficiencies are becoming increasingly unacceptable to managers and shareholders. Bank-IT- spend-chart

"The banks are all putting their hands up and saying: 'Help, I no longer want to do this alone any more — can someone else come and help, whether that be a cloud services provider or a partnership with a start-up'," says Mr Michael.

RBS, which last year paid a record fine to regulators for a bigger systems outage in 2012, hoped to solve its problems by replacing its core processing engine at a cost of £750m. But in a recent interview, its chief executive Ross McEwan conceded there was still a big job to reduce the number of systems and applications at RBS from more than 3,000.

Andrea Orcel, global head of UBS's investment bank, says: "The challenge for most banks is that they are not technologists ... As technology continues to evolve at a fast pace, becoming ever more critical to their business, they are having to navigate a space that is both highly complex, and does not play to their core competencies."

Asian banks spend more than Europeans or US rivals on IT; their spending is growing faster; and more of their IT dollars are going on new projects than on maintenance.

However, they are hardly glitch-free. In January, a problem in the system linking accounts at Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country's largest lender, with securities brokerages, disrupted Rmb4.9bn in fund transfers, affecting nearly 55,000 customers at 90 brokerages. Bank-IT-spend- chart

As regulators make ever growing demands on banks to provide them with vast amounts of data for everything from stress tests to anti-money laundering checks, banks are racing to keep their systems up to speed.

Deutsche Bank insiders blamed its failure in this year's US stress test on years of under-investment in IT that made it unable to meet US regulators' demands.

Concern is growing about cyber security after a string of high profile hacking attacks, such as last year's theft of data on 76m customers from computer systems at JPMorgan Chase.

Executives say this focus on cyber security is a catalyst for change, pushing banks to simplify and upgrade their IT systems. "Making something secure requires it to be consistent and clean and up to date and well managed," says the US tech executive.

James O'Neill, senior analyst at Celent, predicts that within a decade most big banks will have switched from using costly mainframe computers for overnight processing of customer data to using much more flexible cloud-based services.

If nothing else, the shortage of developers trained in the Cobol programming language that drives most bank mainframes will force them to make the switch. Australia's CBA has moved to a cloud-based system, while Deutsche recently outsourced many of its applications to a cloud provider. Bank-IT-spend-chart

"The story about legacy systems impeding innovation is a bit oversold," says Mr O'Neill. "I'm not saying they will go on for ever, but they have done a pretty decent job of supplying new products and services."

Like many sectors, however, banks are realising the need to harness the power of "big data" to offer better digital services to their customers.

Mr Michael at KPMG says his banking clients know the stakes are high. "They have seen what technology has done to music and home shopping and so far they have been relatively slow to adapt — but the longer they wait the harder it will get."</comment>


Looking for feedback for UX Engineer interview prep platform - <AUTHOR> https://codefuse.netlify.com <comment><AUTHOR> Hi All,

I'm trying to test an idea for an Interview prep platform specifically designed for UX Engineers. In case you've never heard that term before, these are the folks that site in between design and development I got this idea when I was interviewing for Google. While there is plenty of information available for Software Engineer candidates I found it very difficult to find resources for their UXE track.

I put together this MVP just to show the basic idea - [https://codefuse.netlify.com](https://codefuse.netlify.com)

For starters I just have 1 exercise available, but I've compiled a list of about 10-15 good ones that I've come across through my experience interviewing with FAANG as well as smaller companies.

As you'll see, when you login and start the exercise, I have the image, description on the left and a placeholder for submissions and discussion on the right.

Looking for any feedback or just general interest in something like this.

Thanks in advance!</comment>


Microsoft Introduced NeuronBlocks – Modulized NLP DNN Toolkit - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/microsoft/NeuronBlocks <comment><USER2> Sounds vaguely like my caffeine fueled musing: [https://github.com/noizu/artificial_intelligence](https://github.com/noizu/artificial_intelligence) "3\. Working rudimentary memory, and reusable modular networks.

So keeping in mind of the concepts from 1. & 2\. and a large amount of computing power plus some caveats it should be possible to train modular deep networks, that can be dropped into existing solutions and capable of altering behavior/focus based on upstream signals, with minimal additional training, and without the need to alter the training on the core module. The training process however becomes much more involved.

The approach I would propose here is to,

Stage 1

Prepare a deep network in the usual manner. Define output sections. (These nodes must contain the make of the car in the image I am viewing) (those nodes must encode the color of the car, etc.). a. Break the output layer into regions that must contain specific data in it's entirety. b. Train neural networks against those regions to answer or show specific data. Use these split off networks to reinforce learning. c. Once the network is sufficiently trained such that each of the split off networks correctly interprets the data to a sufficient degree re run the network and record the output of all of the split off networks and the intermediate layer they split from d. Repeat, breaking up large sub layers into smaller sections that can organize machine data into specific segments that can be routed to other components.

"</comment>


Ask HN: How to Beat Boredom? - <AUTHOR> When I come home after work, it usually happens: I get bored. I keep asking myself "What should I do next?". It's hard to think that this is a "privilege of a free mind" and I know this is a first-world problem, but it doesn't help with the fact that feel bored. I'm not really satisfied with the situation. I'm not stressed, nor depressed — just bored. Any help?<p>Thanks, fellows!!! <comment><USER2> I think it's really about being passive. If you're passive, nothing can hook you. Everything (anything?) is enjoyable when it's an active activity.

Books should not be downloading content to your brain. They should be more of a conversation. TV is only fun when you're asking questions back - that's why things like anime, drama, and Marvel movies have such dedicated fandoms.

There's the Pirsig's brick principle. To quote a site: [https://www.thestrategyexchange.co.uk/2014/05/pirsigs- brick/](https://www.thestrategyexchange.co.uk/2014/05/pirsigs-brick/)

"There's a point in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance where the author, Robert Pirsig, is describing semi-autobiographically his experience teaching English ('Rhetoric') at a college in Bozeman, Montana. One of his students, a clever but unimaginative girl, has set herself the task of writing an essay on the US. Pirsig gently suggests that she try narrowing her focus a little, perhaps to an essay about Bozeman.

A few days later the girl is back, quite upset this time, because she's struggling to get started, and she can't understand why she should be able to write about a small and incidental town like Bozeman when she'd wanted to write about the US.

Pirsig, angered, tells her to write about a street in Bozeman, about one building there – the opera house – and to start with the upper left hand brick.

Puzzled she goes away, and a few days later turns in a lengthy and outstanding piece of work. She had sat herself in a coffee shop across the street, started writing about the brick, and it was like taking a cork out of a bottle. She couldn't stop writing."

</comment><comment><USER3> Some suggestions that can add up to fill every minute of the day:

\- Learn to play an instrument.

\- Make a side project.

\- Read a book a month.

\- Plan a trip to somewhere.

\- Hang out with friends/family.

\- Go run outside.

\- Work out.

\- Cook some really nice food.

\- Imagine what you could achieve for the world in 10 years and try to work towards that slowly.

Most importantly, don't get stuck in you cellphone screen for any time at all.

</comment><comment><USER4> Have a kid, forget what boredom is

<comment><AUTHOR> Haha. I experienced The Chaos, but it seems to last only until they are three or so. Now I have time for boredom again.

<comment><USER4> Mmm enjoy the boredom and think about it as a time for you to attentively choose what to do with your spare time?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I get bored when I have too much to do, and none of it seems fun. Procrastination boredom if you want. My solution is to do anything small on my to list just to get started. Hardes thing for me was noticing this.

</comment><comment><USER6> I love this question! I especially like that you point out to not being stressed or depressed.

How cool is it at a time where no one seems to have time and is depressed and stressed to experience boredom? Boredom sounds 90s, a time in which people practiced humanity! The world lays at your feet. Be active - draw, read books, go out, taste red wine, be creative, do photography, learn photoshop, play an instrument, get involved in an intense relationship with a friend, listen to classic music really loud, go an adventures and enjoy it. And enjoy boredom!

</comment><comment><USER7> Can't really recommend it, but I never feel bored when I drink.

Some philosopher(s) noted that boredom and terror are the two basic states of consciousness. I try to find useful distractions.

<comment><USER8> >Some philosopher(s) noted

Source?

>boredom and terror are the two basic states of consciousness.

What about _happiness_? Joy? Gee, believing that is no way to live. Even, say, Samuel Johnson, Kierkegaard and Schopenhauer I don't think were quite that dark.

<comment><USER7> I was thinking of Schopenhauer. And it's actually _pain_ rather than _terror_ , which should make us all feel a bit better.

I suppose he would argue that happiness is transitory, as is terror (usually).

"The basis of all willing is need, lack, and hence pain, and by its very nature and origin it is therefore destined to pain. If, on the other hand, it lacks objects of willing, because it is at once deprived of them again by too easy a satisfaction, a fearful emptiness and boredom comes over it; in other words, its being and its existence itself becomes an intolerable burden for it. Hence life swings like pendulum to and fro between pain and boredom, and these two are in fact it has ultimate constituents." (The World as Will and Representation)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Do a ten day Vipassana meditation retreat. You will want to meditate any time you are bored afterwards.

[https://www.dhamma.org/en/index](https://www.dhamma.org/en/index)

It was actually a post on HN that inspired me to do one: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16842040](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16842040)

</comment><comment><USER10> Social or physical are the only things that will help. Home shower eat then straight out the door for sport, gym, run, meet-up, funtimes, discussion groups, board game night, whatever.

Your body and mind want to stretch and flex. Not sit in another box.

Get outside.

</comment><comment><USER11> Ah, boredom! This sure is a first world problem, I was there until a couple of weeks ago. Until I got into reading and meditation which has kept me busy for now. Give it a try!

Hope this helps, let me know what else you try, might help me too!

<comment><USER12> I wrongly assumed boredom no longer exists (If I become a 1000 years old I still do not have the time to do the things I want and I only do things I want now... But I have ideas for 5 more projects daily and have had that since about my 10th. My friends more or less have the same thing); that assumption seems to be incorrect. How widespread would this be I wonder. I have seen it far more in poorer countries (2nd world?) because people have boring jobs or no jobs and spend their time hoping it will pass fast, so drink a lot and browse facebook all day.

<comment><USER11> There was no question of whether if it's a 2nd world issue or not, nor did I assure it isn't. Boredom is inevitable to humans, everyone has to go through it. We just have to find ways to keep us out of long stretches of boredom!

<comment><USER8> >Boredom is inevitable to humans, everyone has to go through it. We just have to find ways to keep us out of long stretches of boredom!

Well no, this isn't true! Gee. I haven't been bored in like 30 years. There are so many things to do in this world - now the problem is I need more lifetimes to do them all. Like 5 or 6 at least. Then I always have a good book on me, if I have to wait in an office or something. And a notebook to write down ideas. (I've never had a mobile phone) Plus I'm a musician, so can always play in my head. (It feels just like playing a real piano or guitar.) And I learnt to draw and paint, and learnt how little we usually _see_ things, so I can spend hours looking at the details of a scene. Then there's reminiscing, making plans, talking to myself in Spanish–a language I'm learning etc etc.

Hmm also years ago I read about that what is unpleasant about boredom is rebelling against it. If you just accept it and sit with it, it's fascinating. (The suggestion to meditate is a great one. Focus on your breathing. Just keep returning to that. Stop judging your thoughts!) I developed a way of _not waiting_ e.g. for buses. _Waiting_ is unpleasant–but just being there isn't - it's wonderful. Waiting is a state of mind, a state of lack, not having what you want. (The way spiritual seekers define themselves as not having what they want! But always seeking it.. I stopped doing that too.) I could go on, but in short - develop your mind and your life.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Build a small aquarium and learn to care for the fish. No more than 10 fish. It's almost a zen exercise.

Boredom is good, its very hard to get bored these days with so many things needlessly wanting our attention.

But definitely try the aquarium.

</comment><comment><USER14> Boredom is usually a good thing. You can use this time to meditate and just let your mind wonder. I love it. Doing nothing is much harder than doing something actually.

</comment><comment><USER15> Maybe try some meetups? Do a new one each week. Some techie, some social, some fitness oriented.

</comment><comment><USER16> Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time - Marthe Troly-Curtin

</comment><comment><USER17> I highly suggest listening to Sam Harris's take on this subject.

Here's an (entertaining) 2-minute video summarizing his cure for boredom: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-175C95uGE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-175C95uGE)

</comment><comment><USER18> Get a hobby.

</comment><comment><USER19> make something</comment>


Useful items on the viva64.com website - <AUTHOR> http://www.viva64.com/en/b/0190/

<comment><AUTHOR> I'd like to give you some tips on what useful items you can find on our website www.viva64.com.

The audience of our site is constantly rising. Programmers subscribe to our blog, follow us in twitter, and so on. As a result, many of our readers read new articles but don't know of other useful materials posted earlier. We don't position us as an information portal, so you may miss a lot of useful items of information when visiting our site. However, we find it cruel to refer our readers to the site map. Yes, you can find all the site contents there but it's an impossible task for a guest to choose what to read.

That's why I've decided to arrange a small tour around our website for new visitors. I've picked out the sections which, I suppose, will be most useful and interesting. Enjoy your reading.</comment>


Show HN: Dawg Android app for social networking - <AUTHOR>

Let's meet Dawg, your new friend. Simple application making social life easier than ever before. Now you can seamlessly connect your social life at Facebook and Twitter in one place. Get updates on the go, and glance over them - even if you get disconnected from the Internet! .Dawg helps you stay social with your tweets, updates, photos and videos in a single application. Let's gear up to explore your social network easy way with Dawg.<p>Currently available for android , try it today http://bit.ly/gakCmT and give your valuable feedback. <comment><AUTHOR> Adding click able link <http://bit.ly/gakCmT></comment>


HN: Was the internet designed to resist nuclear attacks? - <AUTHOR> Doesn't look like current internet infrastructure could survive, am I mistaken assuming this? <comment><USER2> This question is addressed in the book "The Innovators" \-- [https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Hackers-Geniuses- Created-R...](https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Hackers-Geniuses-Created- Revolution/dp/1476708703/) \-- and it's posed something like this: was the internet invented by DARPA researchers who wanted a nuclear-proof communication system which could dynamically route around broken/gone segments of the internet, or by a groups of academic-based hackers at universities around the country?

The answer is... both. Yes, DARPA wanted a self-repairing communications network but the computer hackers at MIT, Harvard, Utah, and the Bay Area would have likely produced something very similar without government being involved. One interesting legacy from the DARPA funding is the RFC nomenclature: the students designing TCP/IP couldn't "specify" anything without risking their funding, so a public "Request For Comment" was a way to publish how they were implementing things -- and how others would need to do it also if they wanted to be compatible.

</comment><comment><USER3> The ARPAnet was theoretically designed to withstand a nuclear attack. The commercial Internet was not; there are a lot of paths that exist but are not used by policy.

</comment><comment><USER4> You are right. There are many Tier 1 networks so Internet can't be destroyed easily. Even If internet dies there's radio communication and other stuff. Like SATCOM.</comment>


Show HN: A simple Prolog Interpreter written in a few lines of Python 3 - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/photonlines/Python-Prolog-Interpreter <comment><USER2> Cool tests! PyDatalog does Datalog (which is ~Prolog, but similar and very capable) logic programming with SQLAlchemy (and database indexes) and apparently NoSQL support. [https://sites.google.com/site/pydatalog/](https://sites.google.com/site/pydatalog/)

Datalog: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datalog](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datalog)

... TBH, IDK about logic programming and bad facts. Resilience to incorrect and incredible information is - I suppose - a desirable feature of any learning system that reevaluates its learnings as additional and contradictory information makes its way into the datastores.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback :) I'll definitely check out Datalog - I didn't realize they had logic programming integrated with SQLAlchemy, so it definitely sounds interesting!

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Nicely done! I have been trying to implement actual usable (as in, they can be used as a scripting language for instance to build anything) languages in as few lines as I can (without making them unreadable). Ofcourse that's more as a challenge than anything serious, but it is fun. A minimal implementation I define as being something that can parse the language, interpret it and has FFI to add whatever else you may need. So far I got down to around 50 lines in C# [0].

0\. [https://gist.github.com/tluyben/16ee2645c4c8aed813005d51488d...](https://gist.github.com/tluyben/16ee2645c4c8aed813005d51488d5c6a)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you :)

If you want real power for implementing things in as few lines as possible, F# is definitely worth taking a look at as well!

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This is about 10x larger than i would call a few lines :)

<comment><USER5> still way less lines then I would have thought, especially because it has no dependencies.

<comment><USER6> But the title does not mention that. It says few lines. Maybe 100, 200, 300 lines are few. Its misleading and otherwise discredits a good project.

This project even has a GUI/IDE. I believe that is a stronger selling point rather than "few" lines of code or "little work", "easy way" or any of these other colloquial 'flexing' terms.

<comment><USER7> It's worse than that - the title says "a few", which is basically always less than ten. If it said "quite a few", it would certainly be accurate. If it actually said "few", it wouldn't be as bad, though still misleading.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> FYI, there is a mature implementation of this idea called YieldProlog.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks :) Yup, there are also constraint programming libraries in Python which can be used for providing similar functionality, and they're definitely worth checking out!

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Very impressive.

Does anybody use Prolog scripting engine as part of their applications? For example, to write a solution lookup function for some specific problem that would be a nightmare to solve otherwise.

As a side note, I found that Lisp (the Scheme flavor) is essential in many applications. First of all, as a small and capable templating engine. Secondly, as a sophisticated NLP (natural language processing) engine.

<comment><USER10> I've used ad-hoc test case generation using Prolog (MC/DC, all-permutations and other combinatorials) which is a quite natural application for Prolog. Around 2005 I've also used Prolog to generate Java code for analysing/monitoring business processes based on formal business process descriptions on a research project for a Telco who went all-in on SOA. As part of that, I also started to develop decision procedures for static type checking of XML-manipulating programs, along with validators for common markup meta-languages (XSD and subsets). Many years ago I've also developed custom file parsing/business rules checking using Prolog. Plus, a couple ad-hoc parsers and DSLs. And, having developed 2 1/2 prolog engines so far, I'm planning to include ISO Prolog in my upcoming document storage/search system based on SGML, where Prolog is an excellent match since it's both an ISO standard (like SGML), and even has a binding to a document query language based on ISO/IEC 13250 (eg. the proposed "tolog" language, though alternatives were proposed and an ISO/IEC 13250 query language was never completed as a standard).

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> How long did it take you to grok unification? It has always seemed quite mindbending to me and I don't think that I have ever properly understood what's happening

<comment><AUTHOR> I didn't grok anything at first actually. I had familiarity with Prolog and wanted a refresher, so I decided to take a look at implementation attempts done in other languages. I found one which did it in a few lines of Javascript, and you can find the full read and implementation here: [https://curiosity-driven.org/prolog-interpreter](https://curiosity- driven.org/prolog-interpreter) . My apologies if I didn't make it clear that this is a port of the original write up - I did include this in the first paragraph of the README though, so maybe I should have been clearer?

Originally, I was trying to learn Kotlin along with wanting a refresher in Prolog, so I attempted to do the port using Kotlin and gave up half way though. I didn't have the patience to try to grok too many things at once, so I decided to go with Python due to it's simplicity, popularity, as well as the fact that I'm a lot more fluent in it than I am in Kotlin.

Anyways - sorry if I'm going off track. To answer your question, I grokked the implementation details through porting / refactoring the original code. The concepts / unification I was already familiar with from taking a university course which involved Prolog and from using it in a large AI project. From what I remember, it took me quite a long time to grasp the language and its power!!

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Nice. For complex operations with reasonably sized data pypy would be a good choice.

</comment><comment><USER13> Racket also has a Prolog-Style Logic Programming DSL named Racklog.

</comment><comment><USER14> Absolutely Brilliant!</comment>


Meta///Bias – make information reliable and easy to consume - <AUTHOR> http://metabias.io <comment><AUTHOR> Hey, let us talk about media & information.

News outlets are receiving a lot of hate recently, and not for a lack of reason.

Everybody is trying to push their agenda. VCs shilling for their company, Lobbyist, Left, Right, Pro-Bitcoin, Pro-Gold, Russians, Chinese, EVERYBODY has an agenda.

What about complex topics, expert opinions? They are biased too.

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube's main KPI is the number of eyeballs on the screen. They will feed you with information you already like and watch most, creating your personal echo-chamber.

Now let us think about the amount of information we deal with. By 2025, it's estimated that 463 exabytes of data will be created each day globally.

With every major company having access to advanced NLP & Ai tools is using them to hook you up and make you scroll this timeline the whole day. How are we going to navigate through all of that?

It is true that information is essential to our development, both professionally and personally. It is also true that we need different opinions to make sound decisions. We need to include different parties to the dialogue. We need to see the full picture, not a part of it.

So what options do we have? How can we achieve this?

Thanks to technology advancements and communities like ods.ai, Natural Language Processing (NLP) is becoming more accessible than ever. Now we can use it to serve the bright side.

With blockchain, it became easier to use the crowd's wisdom and organize people in a decentralized fashion.

Our vision is to make information reliable and easy to consume. And that is why we created Meta///Bias.

We are releasing our Web-Platform this year and invite you to join us on this journey.

Follow @Meta_Bias or Subscribe to get invited to our closed beta.

E-mail us at email@example.com if you want to be a part of this project. We are looking for Journalists, Content-creators, Ai-Specialist, and everybody who wants to make the media better</comment>


Rhode Island Innovation Fellowship - <AUTHOR> http://www.rifoundation.org/CommunityInitiatives/RhodeIslandInnovationFellowship/tabid/1002/Default.aspx

<comment><AUTHOR> The Rhode Island Innovation Fellowship is designed to stimulate solutions by Rhode Islanders to Rhode Island challenges. The program, made possible through the generosity of Letitia and John Carter and managed by The Rhode Island Foundation, provides seed funding for ideas to reap community benefit. Our goal is to invest in Rhode Island's potential.

Rhode Island Innovation Fellows will receive up to $300,000 over up to three years to develop, test, and implement innovative ideas that have the potential to dramatically improve any area of life in Rhode Island.</comment>


GXUI: A New Cross-Platform UI Library by Google - <AUTHOR> http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Google-Go-GXUI-UI-Library

<comment><AUTHOR> "GXUI is a new cross-platform user interface library developed at Google for their Go programming language.

GXUI is currently in an experimental state for delivering cross-platform GUIs written in Go. The code is owned by Google but is not currently an official product and was started as an experiment while the community contributing to it requires compliance with Google's Individual Contributor License Agreement (CLA), that may put off some in the open-source community.

The initial code drop of GXUI happened a few weeks back while new code continues being pushed almost daily. Those interested in learning more about the new Google GXUI Go interface library can visit the GitHub page ([https://github.com/google/gxui](https://github.com/google/gxui))."</comment>