Is Facebook killing your iPhone’s battery or are you? - daniper
http://blog.gotenna.com/post/131775543810/is-facebook-killing-your-iphones-battery-or-are
======
CodeWriter23
From yesterday:

"We recently heard reports of some people experiencing battery issues with the
Facebook iOS app and have been looking into the causes of these problems. We
found a few key issues and have identified additional improvements, some of
which are in the version of the app that was released today."

[https://www.facebook.com/arig/posts/10105815276466163](https://www.facebook.com/arig/posts/10105815276466163)

~~~
daniper
Yes, apps (like Facebook's) which are drawing lots of current in the
background is part of it -- but the point of our team's hacking into the
iPhone was to find out what else really affects your phone's battery. It's not
just background apps updating.

Nothing we discovered in the lab is 'revolutionary' \-- everyone knows your
battery gets used up more when the screen is brighter, and when your phone is
trying to find a tower or router to connect to, but we just wanted to put some
numbers behind it.

Hope it was useful; we had fun breaking open an iPhone regardless ;-)

------
rtkwe
The article doesn't seem to address the actual cause that the articles linked
at the top highlighted, background updating. The Verge article especially was
all about background processing issues which the tests and power saving advice
don't seem to address at all.

~~~
tommoor
You're right, it's almost as if the piece was written purely as content
marketing to promote the gotenna ;) Interesting nonetheless!

~~~
daniper
Lol, we did these lab tests before we thought of turning what we learned into
a post (if we had really been strategically content marketing, we wouldn't
have posted this at 8 pm on a Friday night haha). Mostly, we wanted to break
open an iPhone — that's what happens when a hardware team is in TGIF mode ;-)

In any case, it's not just background apps updating. Although yes, that's part
of it. We wanted to learn more beyond what the iOS battery-monitoring feature
will give you -- which is which apps are consuming which % of your iPhone's
battery, both when you're actively using them and when they're running in the
background.

For our own purposes, we were particularly interested in the interaction of
location services and Bluetooth-LE which are required for own product to be
useful. We threw in general "futzing" and screen brightness as well out of
curiosity. And while our team knew that trying to connect to towers & routers
ate your battery a lot (easily observed by just turning your phone into
Airplane Mode -- can last for weeks!), we had no idea it could be as much as
250 mA every few seconds!

------
quaz3l
This isn't exactly related to the article, but I think this post is an amazing
example of how to write an interesting blog post yet, at the same time tie it
to what you are selling and make people want to know more about your product
without directly telling them to.

~~~
twothamendment
I was thinking it was an amazing way to avoid telling people why the product
hasn't shipped yet. They've been doing pre-orders for more than a year.
Sometime in there it went from $149 a pair to $199 a pair. I admire the desire
to make something "absolutely perfect", but perfect products don't ship.

~~~
daniper
We started shipping earlier this month, which is why the price went up from
the prior pre-order discounted number.

Stay tuned for a novel-length blog themed around something like, "Why
Manufacturing & Supply Chain Are 100X Harder (& Take 100X Longer) Than
Everyone Tells You". But I'm sort of still in PTSD mode. ;-)

~~~
7Z7
Well done for shipping!

~~~
daniper
Thanks! :-D

Our hardware team has been working on our next product for a few months --
that's why they found time to hack into iPhone batteries, lol, as work on the
first product has been handed off to supply chain & manufacturing for the most
part. ;-)

Meanwhile, the rest of the engineering team is working on firmware & software
updates to make the hardware we're already shipping even better/more
interesting (and of course, responding to first consumers' feedback).

But... you know what? Sorry for going on a tangent. All I really want to say
is thanks, means a lot. Sometimes it's hard to enjoy these victories because
you get so focused on the next uphill battle. ;-)


Show HN: “Escape from Montegrande”, Procedural Ski Game for iOS and Android - phaser
http://mego.cl/montegrande

======
zimpenfish
One of the achievements says "Slide trough N ice surfaces" \- is that supposed
to be "Slide through"? Apart from that, good work, it's like a proper modern
Horace Goes Skiing.

~~~
chulini
We'll fix that on the next update. Thanks! : _

------
throwaway1979
Nice. What framework are you using?

~~~
phaser
We created the game using Unity3d. In order to generate levels we used a
combination of random "chunks" and perlin noise (very good for generating the
'paths' across the trees)

------
chrisbennet
Great imagination! Good work!

------
jstnn
nostalgia


LooseStitch - Free Online Outliner - absconditus
http://loosestitch.com/

======
markbao
Hmm. It's a very beautiful app, but its user experience is iffy. Case in
point:
[http://screenshots.markbao.com/43208b3dcc19bd9cf1a8e8864459e...](http://screenshots.markbao.com/43208b3dcc19bd9cf1a8e8864459e749.png)

Perhaps it's just my tendency as a developer, but I hate having this "view"
part and an "edit" part in different places. Why should I have this part where
I can see my outline, but then I have to click, move my mouse over to the
side, edit, and then click save on the box? Most of the time during outlining,
I want to use _zero_ mouse. I don't want to use it to add new rows, to delete
rows, etc. It would be awesome if it acted like a text editor with outlining
helpers.

Much of the time that I use outlining is during notetaking, where speed is a
pretty big factor. Maybe this is a different use of outlining that I'm not
familiar with?

An example of an app (that, I should add, I love) that this app should emulate
with view+edit on the same place is OmniOutliner:
[http://screenshots.markbao.com/7e2b04d5fb6f2721287848166a108...](http://screenshots.markbao.com/7e2b04d5fb6f2721287848166a108215.png)

So here's one way you can refactor it:
[http://screenshots.markbao.com/ebef2709d6f0ddde877da8339bac7...](http://screenshots.markbao.com/ebef2709d6f0ddde877da8339bac7345.png)

 _(Side note: why the hell are they using Dreamhost to host their app? I use
them for personal sites. Outages every week.)_

~~~
jerf
My personal project is an outliner. My personal project has been an outliner
for about eight years now, on and off, and the primary reason that it has been
so long is not that I've failed to carry through; it is that my entire goal is
to make a "no compromises" outliner, and the open source text widgets just
haven't been good enough to support it. (I could come close in some ways, but
never close enough that it would ever be a _joy_ to use; always terribly and
unfixable quirks that people would have found in the first hour or even the
first minute.)

I _think_ QT is good enough now, but I haven't gotten far enough in my current
iteration to be sure. But certainly the web is very likely not good enough to
give a really good experience. It might be, but I doubt it. Outliners really,
really, _really_ push the text widgets, way more than you might think just
looking at them. (Especially if you want to take full advantage of them.)

Numerous open source outliners exist with the "click to edit this node" model,
but it's just uselessly klunky, in my opinion.

If you don't find this uselessly klunky, pop "open source outliner" into
Google and you can find several others that will be quite a bit better and run
locally. (I haven't got any recommendations, as I don't like any of them or
I'd simply use them.)

~~~
jaxn
I really like Omni Outliner for the Mac (wish there was an iPhone version).

I like having my outliner local since I often use it for meeting notes and
tend to jump around quite a bit at a fast pace. Maybe a web version can be
fast enough with lots of client side scripting.

------
sidsavara
Tried it out, biggest complaint is that I can't do "in place" editing -

Example: As Mark Bao mentioned, have to edit to the side, rather than in
place. Pressing enter to head to the box, and then hitting enter (or escape)
to go back isn't bad, but it is not as ideal as if I could double click and
edit in place.

Second (more irritating for me) I can't grab something and drag and drop it.

I know these are challenging technical problems (with solutions) but they do
make the experience a little difficult for me.

Also, in Chrome Alt+up and alt+down shortcuts are not working for me. No idea
if this is something I've changed as a setting or not. Other shortcuts appear
to work fine - but why is it one button (?) to open the help and another
(space) to close? I don't see space used elsewhere, perhaps just use space for
both?

For exporting, I was not too pleased with how it exported to HTML. I was
actually expecting a bunch of nested lists, but it gave me lots of divs and
styled it as an outline via CSS. I don't know how other people feel about it,
I was looking to use it to outline blog posts: so for me being able to export
and then import a list of lists would have been dynamite.

------
bayareaguy
I love outlining but I hate outliners. They all make some mistake that limits
their usefulness to me. This one makes the mistake of wanting me to register
before trying it out. Haven't we learned from applications like
<http://jottit.com> that this is the wrong way to do things? Let me build my
outline and then make me register if I want to keep it

~~~
misuba
Outliner users seem even more finicky than other users. (I say this as one of
them.)


Microsoft Windows 8 - atmosx
http://www.convalesco.org/blog/2014/03/24/microsoft-windows-8/

======
nandhp
The Microsoft Store offers PCs with the Microsoft Signature Experience, which
is basically exactly what the author is looking for.

[http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/html/pbpage.Micros...](http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/html/pbpage.MicrosoftSignature)

~~~
atmosx
A good to know for further purchases! Thanks!

------
scholia
Pointless because written by someone who doesn't understand that Microsoft has
no control over what OEMs ship on Windows PCs (though Microsoft did try
offering crapware-free PCs in Signature editions).


Why designers can’t stop reinventing the subway map - ingve
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/11/09/why-designers-cant-stop-reinventing-the-subway-map/
======
tikhonj
My favorite subway map redesign is Art Lebedev's take on the Mosco Metro[1].
It's both better-looking _and_ more usable than the current map, and the
current map isn't bad. (It's certainly better than the official New York
subway map linked in the article.)

They wrote a fascinating article about how they designed the map[2] and how
they came to many of their design decisions. It's a great look on how much
attention to detail goes into a design like this. And it's just cool to see
all the different approaches they tried.

The second version of their map, and its accompanying explanation, are also
worth a look[3].

[1]:
[http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/metro/map/](http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/metro/map/)

[2]:
[http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/metro/map/process/](http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/metro/map/process/)

[3]:
[http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/metro/map2/](http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/metro/map2/)

------
onion2k
Subway maps improved _hugely_ when designers realised that they're not
actually geographic maps - (generally speaking) users don't really care where
things are when they're using a subway but rather they're interested in which
points connect to which other points. A subway map is actually a graph.

EDIT: Fixed topological mistake.

~~~
JonnieCache
Surely that means they _are_ topological maps?

~~~
onion2k
Yes, you're right. Commenting before coffee is a bad idea.

------
Atheros
This is why graphic designers should be kept as far away from projects that
create things that must be _used_ by other people and not just admired for
their beauty. The current subway map is a good map because it was basically
designed by sociologists. Sociologists should be doing much more designing
than what we ask of them today. This is one of the reasons the current map
shows some but not all curves along a train line- the sociologists figured out
that if a curve can be felt onboard a train then it is best to try to reflect
the curve on the map. To not do so makes people feel uneasy. If I need
beautiful or creative content for my art gallery, graphic designers are
invited. If I need to create something useful then they are not.

~~~
paulojreis
> This is why graphic designers should be kept as far away from projects that
> create things that must be used by other people and not just admired for
> their beauty.

> If I need beautiful or creative content for my art gallery, graphic
> designers are invited.

You're confusing design with art or decoration.

It doesn't make sense, at all, to say that designers should be _kept away_ if
you don't even have a correct working definition of design. I'd suggest you do
a little bit of research before establishing such a position. You wouldn't
dismiss, e.g., an economical model without at least some knowledge about it,
right?

~~~
thwarted
Many designers confuse design with art and decoration.

~~~
paulojreis
Yeah, the same way many "software developers" confuse software development
with mashing up copy & pasted code without a clear picture of how it works.
I'd argue that those aren't software developers, just like the designers" you
refer to aren't designers.

------
rtslgrmpf
Mixed Integer Programming has been used to automatically create metro maps:

[http://i11www.iti.uni-karlsruhe.de/extra/publications/nw-
dlh...](http://i11www.iti.uni-karlsruhe.de/extra/publications/nw-dlhqm-10.pdf)

------
wwwdonohue
"And I think that’s the great thing about trains. We are all using this common
system together, and it’s very kind of leveling. We all want it to be better.
And we want it to run more frequently, more smoothly, with less problems. We
have a love-hate relationship, and an enormous desire for it to work better."

I respect what designers do but the NYC MTA, at least, has way, way bigger
problems than the way its system is visualized.

------
digi_owl
The moment you have anything other than utility in mind, you are off into lala
land...

~~~
PMan74
You can't consider utility _and_ aesthetic?

It'd be a pretty boring world if every problem was approached like this.


Toward UI and UX Guidelines for Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Realities - mkempe
https://medium.com/usable-or-not/toward-user-interface-and-experience-guidelines-for-virtual-augmented-and-mixed-realities-939eec8394e4
======
mkempe
I found this while looking for a deeper discussion than "Apple Augmented
Reality Human Interface Guidelines" [1].

[1] [https://developer.apple.com/ios/human-interface-
guidelines/t...](https://developer.apple.com/ios/human-interface-
guidelines/technologies/augmented-reality/)


Rihanna falls prey to hackers. A nude photo of her was posted - raul001
http://hackingnews.com/vulnerability/rihanna-falls-prey-hackers-nude-photo-posted/

======
dozzie
Yeah, another idiot with fame who takes nude photos, fails to secure them
properly and then complains somebody stole them.


CommanderSong: Song videos with hidden commands your phone recognizes - ColinWright
https://twitter.com/dragosr/status/1192246019926315009
======
qnsi
He was so focused on whether he could, that he didn't ask himself if he should


We Need Young People To Take Risks And Build Inspiring Things - henryaj
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3026586/skip-the-hedge-fund-we-need-young-people-to-take-risks-and-build-inspiring-things
======
FD3SA
Though the author has good intentions, I fear he has very little understanding
of the reality for today's young graduates.

Let's look at a smart young grad's options:

1) Academia - Potentially interesting work. However, grad students are
underpaid, overworked indentured servants in a vicious dictatorial status
hierarchy (do what the PI says or you're out). Very poor career prospects,
guaranteed negative return on time invested. The road to PI is sure to destroy
your love of research.

2) Industry - Decent pay but work is extremely mundane. Very few "unicorn"
positions which allow freedom for creative roles. No control of hours.
Promotion becomes a very serious game of office politics, which can get very
nasty.

3) Professions (Law, Med) - Enter at your own risk. Savagely competitive and
draconian entrance requirements, incredibly expensive education, inhuman
hours, constant stress at every milestone, and a never-ending barrage of
standardized tests. However, if you endure, you can start your own practice
and potentially have a comfortable life.

4) Entrepreneur - By far the riskiest option. Due to the get rich quick mantra
of current investors, social/web/photo apps are the name of the game. Have an
idea for a radical new research project with a long term focus? Forget about
it. Build and flip is the only game in town. Build an app, get acquired or go
go public, make your billions and get out. If it fails, try again, and again,
and again....

So, now that we have looked at our options, can we really blame someone for
going to work at a hedge fund? I can't. Especially if one is burdened with
massive student debt. Ironically, hedge funds and investment banks pay
employees much more fairly than any other industry, due to their profit
sharing systems (bonuses). Meanwhile, tech industry execs are screaming over
how high (!!) engineer salaries are, and are going across the globe to find
H1-Bs and changing legislation to push those salaries back down.

If we want everyone to work on world changing projects, we have to set proper
incentives. That requires a radically different setup than we have now.

TL;DR: Go to the hedge funds young man. Don't look back. Nothing else makes
sense.

~~~
Fomite
These two particularly resonate:

> 1) Academia - Potentially interesting work. However, grad students are
> underpaid, overworked indentured servant in a vicious dictatorial status
> hierarchy (do what the PI says or you're out). Very poor career prospects,
> guaranteed negative return on time invested. The road to PI is guaranteed to
> destroy your love of research.

Potentially interesting work, massive opportunity cost, and starting at the
bottom of a ruthlessly competitive advancement pyramid. I love academia, and
very much intend to stay in it, but it's not exactly a rational choice.

> 3) Professions (Law, Med) - Enter at your own risk. Savagely competitive and
> draconian entrance requirements, incredibly expensive education, inhuman
> hours, constant stress at every milestone, and a never-ending barrage of
> standardized tests. However, if you endure, you can start your own practice
> and potentially have a comfortable life.

Bimodal incomes that mean mainly these jobs come with a huge amount of debt
for what is, for many people, a comfortable upper middle class lifestyle, but
no more than that. You're not going to get rich doing either of these, because
your income is capped by the hours you can work. A hedge fund on the other
hand, if you're doing your job, is making money all the time.

~~~
mjn
Although I'm not sure whether I'll stay in it, I haven't found CS academia as
bad as the stories about Big Science academia. At least, if you look for a job
outside the top-20 "R1" schools, which are more focused on big labs and big
grants to support those labs. Industry hires away a lot of PhDs, and there are
a _lot_ of small to medium-sized CS departments, both of which improve the
supply/demand situation and working conditions compared to areas like biology
and physics. Things in parts of Europe are even better (which is why I took a
professorship in Denmark out of grad school, rather than in the US), but there
are a lot of small CS departments in the US where you can work on your
research without having an insane life. It does require that you have the kind
of research that doesn't need huge funding and huge labs (if you need >$1m/yr
budgets, you more or less have to be at an R1 and play that game). And you
should at least somewhat like teaching. But if those things are true it can be
an ok job with some freedom to decide what to work on. And the odds of getting
a tenured position at a smaller school aren't 1000:1 like trying to get to be
a tenured prof at MIT.

~~~
Fomite
One of the suggestions I've seen for how happy people are in their field is
how readily available the "Eject" button is for leaving your field if things
don't work out.

For CS, and some parts of math and physics, it's fairly close. For many other
fields, even STEM fields, being able to bail out is a much more distant
prospect.

------
HowDroll
It's hard for educated young people to feel like they can take risks when many
of them are shackled by five or six figures of student loan debt. When you
know you have a $500-$1000 minimum loan payment ahead of you every month for
the next 10-25 years, it's hard to feel like you can fight a dragon when
selling a sword is a sure thing.

~~~
normloman
This goes to the root of the problem, which the linked article ignores.

------
Qworg
The core idea in this article is that it is possible to convince Cole, a 24
year old making mid 6 figures in finance, that he should have instead taken a
job making mid 5 figures (maybe) at an energy startup.

I don't see how you can make that happen. His entire trajectory was "making
the correct choice" \- in which that correct choice was future potential
maximizing. Why would he suddenly abandon that track?

In many ways, people in high finance have already "won" in real terms. If he
really wants to try his hand at startups, why can't he just jump in as a VC?

~~~
a3voices
I don't think people in high finance have "won". I view winning on a
logarithmic scale, and they're somewhere in the middle. At the top would be
someone like Augustus Caesar. Below that is Bill Gates, Elon Musk, etc. At the
third rung maybe you have multi-millionaires, and below that maybe typical
high finance types. So they are at least 4 rungs down.

~~~
Qworg
Except by dint of cash, they can participate in the potential of startups
without the risks of actually participating in the startup.

Also, consumption as a portion of income decreases as income increases. Their
choice is not $150k/year or "never work again". Their choice is close to
$Xmil/year or "never work again". $Xmil is far closer to never work again than
$150k.

------
mgkimsal
I'm not sure why it has to be 'young people'. Don't we need people in general
to build inspiring things?

~~~
tachyonbeam
Older people tend to be more conservative. They tend to have less
energy/motivation and more to lose (partner, children, career, friends,
house). Younger people are more likely to take risks such as relocating or
invest money and time in something that might well fail. This of course
doesn't mean that you _have to be_ conservative and unmotivated when you're
older, but it's the trajectory the large majority take.

~~~
mgkimsal
That's describing what is, not what the title claimed is needed. We need
people to build inspiring things and take risks. The fact that many older
people aren't in positions where's comfortable or easy to do doesn't mean that
it's not needed.

One could also make the argument that many 'older' people also tend have have
more disposable income and savings to bootstrap their own ideas, have larger
networks of people reach out to for connections, etc, and often may have many
of their life stuff behind them (kids, house, etc). Therefore there's many
older people who are in a better position to be risky than a young person. The
'risk' factor is all relative, of course, with people at different stages of
life.

~~~
a3voices
Maybe older people don't fit into the rockstar image as well.

------
gdne
Why "young" people specifically? Seems extremely limiting. There are a lot of
talented people out there of every age and we should be encouraging of anyone
building the next innovation.

~~~
matteotom
Why "young" people? They don't have families, mortgages, car loans, etc that
require consistent income, giving them the freedom to make low-mid 5 figures
now, with the possibility of making more later.

Unfortunately, the problem with this is that many young people now are stuck
with large amounts of student debt, so they have to take the highest paying
job they can find right out of college.

So the theory is in my first paragraph, while the reality is much different,
in my second paragraph.

~~~
thrush
You're treating the effect as the cause. Many young people don't have these
obligations because they don't know what they are going to do with their lives
and families, mortgages, car loans, etc. are the real risk.

It seems to me that you're implying that young people shouldn't have the right
to these things until they contribute to society. I would argue that a real
problem we have right now is that people can't figure out how to have
families, mortgages, car loans, etc. and contribute to society at the same
time. Once we figure that out, then we'll see people taking on more
obligations at an earlier age.

~~~
matteotom
They also don't have these obligations because they are young. They haven't
had time to start a family or buy a house. It's true that some people may want
to go into a startup to avoid the "real risk". However, the "real risk" is the
tried and true path, making it easier to fall into. And once a young person
does, they have much more to lose by taking a job that may not work out in the
long run.

I really don't see where I implied young people don't have the right to these
things until they contribute to society. While it's fine if the majority
continue on a "normal" path through life (college, job, family + house, 401k,
etc), we need some young people who are willing to take the risk of not
following that path.

------
zxcvvcxz
It's a very idealistic message, but I think it's worth thinking about from
time to time. I used to (still sorta do) think that entrepreneurship for
people in my age range (20s) was a potential answer. But oftentimes the urge
to _run a startup_ outweights the urge to create something of greater value.
I'm not saying a lot of startups shouldn't exist, but I find it kind of
ridiculous that I know aerospace engineers making shopping apps. A bit of this
is fine, if you have some special domain knowledge / experience / insight that
can really change this space. Oftentimes though, people just do what's
fashionable or safe.

------
owenjones
Don't worry about the "real-world consequences [of] fail[ure]" because the
author sure doesn't seem to either. For the risk-averse out there, don't you
have some family to "fall back on so [you] will be unlikely to starve"?

I think the headline should be: We Need To Lower The Consequences of Failure

------
bishopknight
I was just reading the other day how a kid build a brail writing machine out
of Legos. Google it. Afterwards, tons of people are contacting him with
opportunities. He smartly found a niche where brail machines were highly
expensive and produced a low cost alternative with free plans distributed. On
the flip side is he undercutting the makers of the brail machines? Perhaps,
but hes helping the "greater good".

So what are the projects and ideas we can tackle? I myself am in a unique
position where I have the time to develop such a project. I'm an experienced
J2EE developer with Web Design skills. I'd even be willing to work with others
on a worthy project.

~~~
hershel
You could find a few ideas here:

[http://www.reddit.com/r/realproblemsolvers](http://www.reddit.com/r/realproblemsolvers)

------
henryaj
Glad this article made the front page. I like the author's message, and while
there are a lot of comments here about how US college students graduate with
colossal amounts of debt, that isn't true everywhere -- like over here in the
UK, where student debt are fairly reasonable and paid back in proportion to
your income.

I found the article hauntingly accurate, at least for me: a child of well-off
parents, not left wanting for anything and with every possibility open to me,
but fundamentally risk-averse because of some misplaced sense of
responsibility and duty.

------
mkaziz
> What’s interesting is that many of the people I meet who are young, highly
> educated, and from good families are among the most risk-averse

I would think that because these people are risk-averse, is why they have the
stability that can help form a bedrock for "success". (Disclaimer- I'm biased
because I'm risk-averse)

------
Beasting247
Finance and consulting are the biggest brain drains and it's a huge impediment
to society. But until someone starts leveling the playing field compensation-
wise, our brightest graduates will continue to flock to finance/consulting.

------
rottyguy
Young people are one segment. Those hitting a wall in their late 30's/40's are
another. Just need folks with an itch to scratch young or old(er)

------
namelezz
I wonder if the writer is going to inspire his own children.

------
Fomite
I have a really hard time taking this seriously from Fast Company of all
places.

------
hiphopyo
TLDR -- People need to build things. Also, here's a story about some kid who
got rich.

------
michaelochurch
First of all, the VC-funded startup scene is not an antidote. I heard people,
in 2008, expressing hope that the financial meltdown (at the time, it was not
clear that the financial industry wouldn't contract to 1/20 of its pre-2008
size) would push smart people into Silicon Valley. That wouldn't do much good.
The VC-funded world has a corporate ladder that is even more dysfunctional,
packing more downside and less upside.

Second, this person ("Cole") is right to take the hedge fund job because it
has a far higher chance of making him a founder or VC, in the future, than an
engineer position at a startup ever will. When finance people (after a few
years) enter the VC-funded tech world, they come in at the top. Seems like a
good deal to me.

Silicon Valley doesn't respect its own people. It doesn't respect the people
making things. Because of that, it's dead as far as innovation goes, and the
death of Silicon Valley has done a lot more damage to society than the mere
existence of finance.

------
a3voices
_> > What would the ideal be? There’s a renewable energy startup in
Providence, Rhode Island, called VCharge that probably could have used Cole
too. Its chief science officer, Jessica Millar, has a PhD in math from MIT.
VCharge is trying to make our energy grid more efficient using energy storage
and transmission algorithms. It’s not a sure thing, but if it succeeds we’ll
all be better off for it._

How is a more efficient energy grid the ideal? It sounds very status quo to
me.

The ideal would be doubling human life expectancy, building massive Elysium-
like space stations that orbit the Earth, a guaranteed minimum income for
everyone, and stuff like that. It seems like everyone lacks an imagination
nowadays. Where are the people who used to invent things like airplanes and
such?

~~~
moron4hire
They work as quantitative trading engineers at giganto investment banks. Or
they are underprivileged people who have the potential to do more, but are
placated by the soma of social media. Or they're somewhere in the middle,
aspiring to develop better soma.

It is a rare combination to find the ability and the ambition (for something
other than just economic gain) to make new, exciting things of real value. You
have to have all three. Drive, intellectual and economic means, and vision.
With the growing gap between rich and poor (or, in other words, the
evaporation of the middle class), it's probably not getting better anytime
soon, either.

~~~
mkaziz
Intellectual and economic means aren't hard to come across - it's mostly a
genetic lottery.

Drive? Vision? They're far harder to have.

------
Dewie
The author complains that the success story does not make for a good story.
But this is a person's life, not a novel. That people can take predictable and
incremental steps towards leading a good life is a good thing. But maybe that
is exactly why we tend to glamorize struggle, risk and unpredictable
adventures - because our lives in these relatively streamlined, modern
societies are so boring?


Ask HN: Advice in collecting dues from a membership organization/club? - middlegeek

I help out with a 500 member organization, an alumni-type of group. Everyone in this organization is a volunteer. We don't have a lot of funds at the moment, we are just now moving from a loose unorganized collection of people with a similar background to an actual orgnization.
* Can you please recommend a service to automate the collection of dues from members of an organization? We'd like to offer them the option of having a $5 - $20 per month taken out of their checking account. Obviously participation is voluntary and opt in.
I have seen what PayPal and BlackBaud have to offer. Other options? Can we get a better rate than having the provider take 4.9% and $.30 per transaction?
I'd love to hear your recommendations and experience if you have had it in this area.
Thanks!
======
johnny22
just depends on if you want to build it, or let somebody else run it. Off the
top of my head.

1\. "web 2.0" SaaS like recur.ly

2\. wepay.com

3\. whatever your merchant account offers \- they are all starting to offer
recurring subscription as part of their API. (perhaps for an extra fee)

~~~
middlegeek
We are definitely looking for something pre-built and do not have a merchant
account.

Recur.ly looks a little pricey. Wepay does recurring billing, but not
recurring payments.

Thanks, though!

------
motvbi
wepay.com is one option, their fees are listed here wepay.com/about/fees

~~~
middlegeek
They do recurring billing, but not recurring payments. We want a "set it and
forget it" option for people to choose.

Thanks, though!


Ship It Now Is The Best Time Ever To Start An Internet Company - jpirkola
http://blog.socialmedian.com/2009/05/ship_it_now_is_the_best_time_e.html

======
Jakob
"Think small. Think cheap. Think fast."

I’d like to add "Fail fast." because that’s what you likely will do thinking
"cheap" and "small". Enough of this "it’s so easy"-posts already.

He seems to be an intelligent guy but this post has just no content. (Except
those 25 occurrences of "ship it").

~~~
socialmedian
Fail fast, for sure. Give yourself one year to prove it. If you can't prove it
in a year, move on. There are plenty of other interesting problems to solve.

------
tybris
Also, you might want to offer a compelling product...


Things Worth Knowing About Coffee - pegobry
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/coffee
======
stcredzero
The most important thing I know about coffee: most of what you buy in stores
is _stale_. Even vacuum-sealed roasted whole beans are a compromise,
expiration date notwithstanding. Buy roasted whole beans at a place that
roasts every week, and posts the roast date on the bin. Never mind stuff being
from Ethiopia, Costa Rica, Kona, &c. It's most important to get the degree of
roast you like, as recently as possible.

I go to the Allegro Roasters counter at Whole Foods each week and buy a medium
roast from that day, or the day before. I have a cheap grinder at home, and I
just use cheap #2 cone filters in a cheap single-cup cone brewer. I emphasize
that those last 3 items are _cheap_. You don't need a fancy-schmancy grinder.
You get a _huge_ bang for the buck just by using beans roasted in the past 2
weeks. The other thing: make sure your water is the right temperature. (190 to
195 degrees seems to work for me.) Just borrow a candy thermometer, always use
the same amount of water, the same pot, and figure out how long to wait to let
the water cool to the right temp.

I have wowed friends with my coffee. Not rocket science. It's just brewed at
the right temp, and it's fresh!

Cheap cone brewer: <http://amzn.com/B001S353EQ>

Cone filters (hate the eco-guilt marketing, though):
<http://amzn.com/B000U5ACLW>

My cheap grinder. Has nice design features. Still a mediocre grinder. Doesn't
matter so much. <http://amzn.com/B00006IUX5>

Aeropress for cheap DIY "Espresso" <http://amzn.com/B000GXZ2GS> (Don't have
one, but people seem to like it.)

EDIT: I grind for 20-25 seconds with my blade grinder. Again, this works for
me. YMMV.

~~~
mseebach
100% agree on freshly roasted bean. I see people put week-old store-brand
coffee beans in a $500 Kitchen Aid grinder and serve a cup of absolutely vile
tasting coffee. Some people simply don't deserve nice things.

However, a Burr grinder is good investment, especially if you need the finer
grinds. The cheapest one you can find will do fine, however.

The blade-grinder will beat randomly around all your beans for the entire
grind-time. This will kick the crap out of the aromatic oils, and you lose
some flavour. The Burr grinder "crunches" each bean once and never touches it
again, leaving the oils alone.

~~~
stephencelis
Most coffee is still good when it was roasted a week ago (whole-bean, of
course, and true, a week is starting to push it). The problem is that plenty
of places—Starbucks, etc.—sell several-month-old beans.

~~~
stcredzero
Two weeks is the outside for me. A big problem is that even sitting in an
airtight container, the stuff _still_ ages.

------
tel
The roasting section actually has a few hidden gems. The first "pop" (called
the first crack in roasting lingo) occurs slightly after the green bean begins
to brown from carmelization and the moisture trapped inside rapidly expands
via evaporation cracking the bean. After the first crack is known as a City
Roast and is lighter, more woody and fruity tasting than the darker roasts.

The second crack occurs shortly after the first one at the end of the City
Roast range as the cellulose matrices that form the coffee bean themselves
begin to break down from the heat damage. At exactly the start of the second
crack the beans are called Vienna roasted and begin to have darker, richer
flavors. These coffees are where you hear about honey and chocolate flavors.

As you keep going the beans will continue to crack as they begin to literally
degrade to ash. Further carbonization begins to take over the flavor alongside
the aromatic oils which seep out of the now lipid-hostile inner bean
environment. These form the oily-looking French roasts which are known for
strong flavors, intense bodies, and bitterness.

If you do start to buy fresh coffee, play with the roasts. A single bean from
a single place in the world has a _wide_ spectrum of flavors depending on how
long it's been roasted.

Notes: <http://www.sweetmarias.com/roasting-VisualGuideV2.php>

~~~
lssndrdn
Really nice explaination! Now I'm trying to resist shopping for a home coffee
roaster, _right this second_...

~~~
khafra
If you do shop, bear in mind that you can get great results inexpensively with
a modified popcorn maker; there's DIY guides and instructables all over the
place for all different brands.

------
imok20
I've had some of the best homemade coffee by using (1) fresh beans (2) a
French press.

My secret to a good roast is <http://www.stumptowncoffee.com/> \- you can't go
wrong with a good roast there. Not only that, but you can order the specific
coarseness you'd like the coffee ground at, and they roast it and grind it
after you order and send it to you with priority mail. It's nearly as fresh as
it gets, anywhere in the US.

------
dylanz
I have a friend who meticulously puts a small pinch of salt in her coffee
before brewing. She says the salt slightly cuts down the acidity, and the
flavor comes out a bit more. I'm not sure of the science behind it, but, she
makes a damn good cup of coffee.

------
michael_h
Another fun fact: a shot of espresso generally has slightly less caffeine than
a regular cup of coffee.

Not sure why, but I'd always assumed a shot of espresso was like a
concentrated giant cup of regular roast. However, a regular sized cup of
espresso is a different story...

~~~
rdtsc
I could be just a matter of volume. The volume ratio is greater than the
concentration ratio. You can say the same thing about espresso vs. soda --
drinking a shot of espresso will probably result in less caffeine than downing
a large soda bottle. For example 1oz a espresso would have about 70mg of
caffeine, which is less than 20oz of Diet Coke (80mg of caffeine).

------
gcheong
"Coffee was originally eaten". When I worked in the Alaskan fish canneries
during summer break from college, one of the things we used to do to help stay
awake and alert during peak times was eat chocolate covered coffee beans.

------
chrischen
You guys should also know there's a coffee called Kopi Luwak, where the beans
are ingested, shit out, and then people make coffee out of that.

------
jcapote
Does anyone know of a brand of coffee thats 100% robusta?

~~~
jrockway
The cheap grocery store brands.

------
sleepingbot
Jared Diamond explains in "Guns, Germs & Steel" that coffee beans were first
domesticated in what's currently Ethiopia, yes, and from there it spreaded
through Eurasia via de Fertile Crescent.

Does that fact have anything to do with the battle between Starbucks and
Ethiopian local coffee producers around the right of using the names of the
different local coffee beans?

~~~
pegobry
Not that I can tell.

The Economist had a very good article on this dispute a while back, don't know
if it's been paywalled yet.


JQuery Super Labels Plugin - remybach
https://github.com/remybach/jQuery.superLabels
This plugin positions your labels on top of your form fields (similiar visually to placeholder) and makes the label slide across the field when gaining focus and fade out when a value is entered.
======
phzbOx
It's cute but too much distracting IMO. I prefer to have it fade a little bit
on focus and disappear on writing.

~~~
remybach
There's an option to do that:

$('form').superLabels({ slide:false });

------
5h
Seems OTT to me,

I generally use normal boring labels, then modernizer to detect if the browser
supports placeholders, if so hide the labels and add placeholders to the
attributes

~~~
remybach
Oh, also... once you're in the field, the placeholder disappears and you have
no idea what you were meant to type (which is why the plugin slides to the
side by default).

~~~
flixic
No. Placeholders stay visible until user starts typing. That is, empty focused
field still has visible placeholder.

~~~
Skalman
Only in Chrome. Not in Firefox, at least.

~~~
remybach
True! It wasn't like this when I wrote the plugin though, plus I needed the
effect to work cross-browser.

------
jonknee
FWIW, Safari and Chrome both keep placeholder text there like this plug-in
does (without the animation). It'd be nice to get FireFox on board.

~~~
Keithamus
Yes, in -webkit- browsers you can achieve the same effect with this CSS:

            &::-webkit-input-placeholder {
                -webkit-transition: text-indent 200ms ease-in-out;
                visibility: visible !important;
            }

            &:focus::-webkit-input-placeholder {
                text-indent: 115px; /* Change to width of input */
            }

If only you could do the same for Firefox...

~~~
btucker
<https://developer.mozilla.org/en/CSS/:-moz-placeholder>

------
egze
Should probably use stop() before animating or else there's a funny effect if
I click the fields back and forth really fast.

~~~
remybach
Hmmm... not quite a real-world scenario though. I like to consider it a quirky
easter-egg :)

------
david_a_r_kemp
how do you get the labels back again? sometimes my browser or password manager
fills in the wrong fields, and, once there's something in the fields, there's
no labels.

~~~
remybach
Yeah, I've got an issue open on github for this. I'll fix it when I get the
chance. Thanks :)


Ask HN: How do BitTorent Bundles work - steren
http://bundle-help.bittorrent.com/customer/portal/articles/1697610-what-is-a-protected-torrent-?b_id=3886

======
hnha
I would guess that they do it similarly to private trackers. Each user gets a
unique and secret ID which is transmitted when announcing. The tracker then
decides if the user is allowed to get the swarm details.

~~~
aidos
Does that have the same benefits in terms of distributing the sources?

I just purchased the new Thom Yorke album [0] via a bundle and it felt like a
regular torrent. Very quick to download etc.

[0]
[https://bundles.bittorrent.com/bundles/d0b4beba8efc4b46f6dba...](https://bundles.bittorrent.com/bundles/d0b4beba8efc4b46f6dba119b511a5b2d5cabc96168c0dc097ee9d514059ab63)

~~~
spindritf
See what kind of announce URL is included in the .torrent. Is it just

        udp://tracker.publicbt.com:80/announce

or does it include information that could be used to identify you, like

        http://tracker.bittorrentbundle.net:3000/3pr4s5y7l9nh0mdwcqyh3a9k6n7d0kta/announce

Other than tracker identifying you, seeding and downloading works the same in
both cases.

~~~
jc4p
Just anyone else is wondering, it's:

        http://tracker.bundles.bittorrent.com/tracker/{a whole lot of hex}

------
gcb0
lawyers.

regardless of how they configure their trackers, this only works if people
dont use clients that use others trackers

~~~
lawl
I'm not sure why you're downvoted, technically you are (probably?) correct.

If they use technology similar to private trackers, that won't help against
peer exchange.

And yes I think other trackers could announce the same torrent and have people
join the same swarm.

I could not imagine what else they'd do.

------
dmerrick
It appears that Thom Yorke's new album has been released using this feature:

[https://bundles.bittorrent.com/bundles/d0b4beba8efc4b46f6dba...](https://bundles.bittorrent.com/bundles/d0b4beba8efc4b46f6dba119b511a5b2d5cabc96168c0dc097ee9d514059ab63)

~~~
steren
Yes that was why I asked. I did not know about Bundles or private tracker
before downloading this album.

------
steren
Strangely enough, I downloaded Thom York's album yesterday from Bittorrent
Bundle, and this morning my torrent is displaying an error: "Tracker gave HTTP
response code 402 (Payment required)".

So I guess it's not very torrent friendly, as I cannot seed any more.

~~~
kzahel
Yeah I am getting also a 402 response from the tracker. I wish they would have
put up a BEP or something with an explanation of how they're extending the
tracker protocol...


How I Turned an Idea into $7K by Teaching Online - leerob
https://leerob.io/blog/teach-online
======
genofon
It's a great project, I would only make a small correction... What the author*
calls profit still includes all the time and effort you put in: building an
audience, creating the course, building a reputation, marketing, etc.. Just to
make people understand that it's a lot of hard work and taking that not
consideration the ROI is much lower.

*small correction: you->the author

~~~
leerob
That's a good point to call out. Building an audience and establishing
credibility takes time and effort. You pay an upfront cost, but having an
audience will pay dividends in the future.

------
BossingAround
To me, it's counter-intuitive that people would pay $100 for a course on such
a niche topic such as NextJS. My experience with these courses is that they
provide all that's available for free (typically docs), but nicely packaged
and with videos. And, especially if it is on a custom platform like this one,
I'd be worried about them being kept up to date.

~~~
leerob
Here's how I look at it. You're absolutely right you can learn everything on
your own––but how long would it take? How much is your time worth?

Is $100 for five hours of video worth the years of experience the author might
have? For me, it is.

~~~
ansq
+1. You can easily turn 10 hours of connecting the dots into 2 hours with the
right materials.

Though in my experience, the courses on Udemy/Udacity and the like have been
disappointing. I always get the feeling that they're trying to fill up time,
and they tend to move really slowly.

I've had more luck with books being very useful.

~~~
BossingAround
I often go through these "amazing courses", everything makes sense, everything
works, and then I'm unable to do anything other than what the course showed.
So, I'm still forced to spend some hours outside of the course to really
learn.

This 2-hour-course vs 10-hour-learning is a false dichotomy to me.

~~~
ansq
YMMV. I chose 'materials' instead of courses specifically since I've found
books to be more useful.

A course, or any kind of structured learning, is just a foundation. I would
still expect to spend hours outside of the course, but with a good background
I can now search for more specific things than if I had started w/ a blank
slate.

------
dagmx
I had a similar experience with putting a course on udemy. Made about $4k in
the first month and $400-500 per month after. Completely passive income with
no advertising and just word of mouth

~~~
leerob
Very impressive, nice work. What was the course and would you recommend Udemy?

~~~
bdcravens
What made you choose your own site vs Udemy? I'm interested in my own courses,
but I know that Udemy comes with a built in audience (with the understanding
that the prices they charge are pretty much highway robbery for course
creators)

~~~
leerob
You can't contact your customers via email through Udemy. My customers are my
audience and having an email list is crucial. After I found Gumroad, it was a
no-brainer to use their platform.

The course site is basically just a marketing page. There's information about
the course, some blog posts, and the ability to pay. That's it.

The biggest advantage of Udemy is its audience. How much are you willing to
sacrifice for using Udemy to gain an audience? I'd argue you should build the
audience first, then sell the product.

------
amelius
For those wondering: this is about a video course on Next.js and React.

------
bdcravens
You say it took about 6 months, but what would you say that actual time outlay
for the course creation itself was?

~~~
leerob
I had the idea in October and started creating in November. Made the first
video, launched a pre-order, and worked on the content until January. The
course went live in February.

------
saadalem
It's me that shared your post about stripe, I discovered your blog by
searching something about dashboards, keep going !


Facebook Home destroys any notion of privacy - shawndumas
http://gigaom.com/2013/04/04/why-facebook-home-bothers-me-it-destroys-any-notion-of-privacy/
======
mattmaroon
This is idiotic. For one, it's no secret which apps are popular. Facebook
doesn't need a trojan horse to figure that out, they just need to look at App
Annie.

For another, any app with location services permissions can do exactly what
he's describing.

Also what does "Android allows Facebook to do whatever it wants on the
platform, and that means accessing the hardware as well," mean? Unless you're
rolling your own version of Android (is that what's on the HTC First?) that's
simply not true. You have access to a few things you don't on iOS but it's not
"whatever you want" if you're putting it in the Play app store.

As far as I can tell this is just another third party launcher with the same
privacy implications as any app that has GPS permissions.

~~~
danilocampos
> As far as I can tell this is just another third party launcher with the same
> privacy implications as any app that has GPS permissions.

Except for the part where no other app collects or maintains anywhere near as
much data about your personal history, your friends, what you look like, what
your friends look like, what you like, what your friends like, who you talk
to, what you talk about, what your friends talk about, which services you
subscribe to, where you went to school, where you worked, when you worked,
when you graduated, when you began a relationship, when you ended a
relationship, your sexual preferences...

I could keep going.

~~~
mattmaroon
Facebook already has that data and gives most of it away via connect to third
parties with a click. If you're already using Facebook, and using location-
based apps, then getting upset over this is silly.

~~~
danilocampos
You're free to feel any way you'd like. I don't have a strong opinion.

That said – Facebook's long record of privacy over-reaches is well
established. My hunch is that given the high value a smartphone, and its data,
has in people's lives, a position of caution is probably a lot more reasonable
than plugging one's ears and saying "Everything is going to be just _fine_."

Software is changeable. Who knows what they'll do once they're entrenched.

Who knows what will become possible.

------
Nursie
I'm not sure why I would allow Facebook on to my phone in the first place, let
alone to run the whole show. Their privacy record isn't exactly great and runs
contrary to their business model.

I don't trust their app (look at the email address change nonsense), let alone
a bigger one, and the page renders just fine in a mobile browser. I also find
the whole "ping me when a close friend does or says anything" aspect of the
app as I've seen others use it to be a little obsessive and possibly even
creepy.

~~~
unreal37
If you don't trust them, you wouldn't install this app. So... whats the issue?
Nobody will be harmed by this.

~~~
Nursie
_"If you don't trust them, you wouldn't install this app. So... whats the
issue?"_

Other people will install it without thinking about the implications.

 _"Nobody will be harmed by this."_

What definition of 'harm' are we using? Because they've already shown that
given access to people's address books they cause trouble.

~~~
scott_meade
It's interesting to consider if it's really your or my job to call on the
government to "protect" other people that don't think about the implications.
My answer would be sorry, but no.

~~~
Nursie
Who said anything about the government??

~~~
dmlorenzetti
The original post ends with this: "We need to ask our legislative
representatives to understand that Facebook wants to go from our desktops and
browsers right into our home-- the place where we need to be private."

~~~
Nursie
LOL. I guess the 7 people who upvoted me didn't read to the end of the article
either :)

------
arindone
Some thoughts:

1) this article is based upon hypothetical notions about what Home "may" do,
despite it being not even released yet

2) Google has collected user data for ages via Android for Google Now and few
complained about privacy issues -- all data from its various accounts are
aggregated into one centralized location to target ads more effectively for
users. If you're really going to cry about privacy issues you need to be fair
here and hold everyone accountable, and not just sites you may not like.

3) The majority of people may not care, frankly -- people optimizes their
utility differently.

~~~
rayiner
> few complained about privacy issues

Everyone complains about Google's privacy issues. I remember having a class
discussion on it a couple of years ago.

~~~
unreal37
A couple of years ago... and that Google Privacy discussion ended within days
of starting.

------
zmmmmm
I find this line extremely cynical:

> Facebook is going to use all this data — not to improve our lives — but to
> target better marketing and advertising messages at us

It's entirely possible that better targeted marketing and advertising can
"improve" our lives. To state this outcome as a dire dystopian end point is
making a huge cynical assumption about the motives of companies and commerce
in general. I honestly believe that Facebook (and Google for that matter)
actually want to improve our lives. I honestly believe that they think that
they can introduce advertising in such a way that it's a win win for both
parties, at least for a significant number of people.

That doesn't mean I'm naive about things, or even agree. But to see this
assumption - that these companies are out to intentionally make our lives
worse - written into editorial reporting as if it's a foregone conclusion, is
disappointing.

~~~
eplanit
I believe you mis-characterized the statement you're objecting to: "...not to
improve our lives — but to target better marketing and advertising messages at
us."

"but to target better marketing and advertising messages at us" does not equal
"are out to intentionally make our lives worse". His point is that is clear
that FB _will_ benefit from the newly acquired data. You have confidence we
all _might_ benefit. The OP points out FB's history, which is undeniably
historic in how it has challenged social norms for privacy. It is also no
secret that FB (and Google, and ...) make money from advertising, and that
rich datasets of details about people make for financially richer advertisers.
Skepticism (maybe a little cynicism, even) is not unhealthy or "mean", in this
context.

------
yalogin
The article brings up a very good point about FB getting access to a lot more
user data on the phone outside of their app since they essentially are
replacing the app launcher as well. Google gets access to all this data by
owning the OS. FB in that sense made a brilliant play. It kind of corrupts
google's data collection as well since all user interaction will be going
through the FB Home app now.

Also its kind of naive to expect facebook to respect privacy when all they do
is deal with data.

~~~
orangethirty
You think Google will let that happen? They are enemies competing for the same
market. What I think will happen is that Facebook will fork Android, offer
facebook edition phones, and simply one up google. How come? Google is awfully
bad at marketing, and Facebook is not.

~~~
wting
Not too long ago when iOS was released users jumped ship to Android due to the
maps fiasco.

If Facebook forks Android, do you think people are willing to give up Google's
ecosystem in exchange for Facebook's?

Even if you find Facebook chat / messages a viable replacement for Gtalk /
Gmail, this still means no access to Google Play Store.

Amazon was willing to create a second competing marketplace and sell its
devices as media players, but Facebook will not have those in place if they
fork Android. Do you think Facebook has enough leverage to pull this off?

I don't think so, but since the phone is already in the works time will tell.

~~~
myko
> Not too long ago when iOS was released users jumped ship to Android due to
> the maps fiasco.

I don't think this really happened very much, but I'd love to see some
numbers. Maybe a lot of tech enthusiasts waited on upgrading to stick with
Google Maps until the new Google Maps came out.

> Amazon was willing to create a second competing marketplace and sell its
> devices as media players, but Facebook will not have those in place if they
> fork Android. Do you think Facebook has enough leverage to pull this off?

I would be surprised if Facebook went this way and didn't stay within the
bounds other phone makers do and get Google certification. There is no reason
why Google wouldn't allow Facebook to sell a phone with Google Play on it.

------
jfernandez
"This future is going to happen – and it is too late to debate. However, the
problem is that Facebook is going to use all this data — not to improve our
lives — but to target better marketing and advertising messages at us."

A little sensationalized? It's most definitely a strong mix of both sides, not
everyone at Facebook is "evil". Honestly I think most of us can agree Facebook
on average is useful service that has improved our lives. So yes it will
probably help target us, the product, better to marketing/advertising.

As more and more promising services get absorbed or shutdown maybe it'll get
clearer and clearer that if you dont want your data to be the product itself
then we should start paying for the services we care about.

~~~
rayiner
I don't use the word "evil" pretty much for anybody, but I think the business
model is at the very least screwed up. If it's a valuable service, why do they
have to be so shady? I'd happily pay facebook $10/month or whatever (I can't
imagine they make more than that on ads on me) to use their service. The
problem is that they make it seem free, and people just don't understand the
extent to which it tracks you. It's the same business model car dealerships
use when they try to steer you towards negotiating in terms of monthly
payments to avoid your focusing on the bottom line cost--you can get more out
of people when you hide the ball about how much your service actually costs
them.

Indeed, my non-technical friends have only the vaguest idea that their usage
has a correlation with the ads (Facebook isn't exactly full-disclosure about
how their targeted ad model works). This is especially true with kids. You
think my 13 year old nephew understands the privacy implications of using
Facebook?

There is also the worry of what happens when Facebook stops being "the good
guys" (which is a possibility for any corporation). What happens when the
constant push to meet analyst expectations causes them to monetize user data
in more and more insidious ways? I don't think anyone thought at first that
the credit card companies were "evil", but the whole credit card/credit score
mafia is doing legitimately devestating things to many peoples' lives now.
Some people can't get jobs because of their credit scores. What happens when
Facebook starts selling user data to employers doing background checks? Do we
just assume that Facebook is full of "people like us" so they would never do
that?

~~~
onedev
Is Google's business model screwed up as well?

~~~
rayiner
Well, to the extent that Google+ is a wannabe Facebook, it can't be any
better, right?

Without getting into an argument of which is worse, I think ultimately
Facebook is more dangerous. Facebook has tremendous network effects and lock-
down effects. I can switch from Google to DDG easily, but as long as my family
in Bangladesh uses Facebook to post pictures of my nieces and nephews, my
ability to switch away from Facebook is limited.

And I don't personally care--I'm not a private person and anything you want to
know about me is probably on the internet. But I'm making an informed decision
(within the constraints of the fact that Google and Facebook don't disclose
exactly how they use your information, but I assume the worst). In my
experience, most people who use Google and Facebook aren't.

Don't get me wrong. I think this stuff is useful. But there needs to be more
transparency and more restraint than there is. A ban on collecting data on
minors would be a start.

~~~
onedev
You know advertisers collect data about what you watch on TV? Certain channels
cater to certain type of people so ad buyers would buy ads based on
demographics of a certain show (for example, Shark Tank has one of the highest
avg income audiences in the country, so it would make sense for Mercedes to
advertise when the show airs) .

People seem to forget that it was the original targeted advertising. You
subliminally got targeted by demographic specific ads based on the type of
shows you were interested in. It just so happens that the way Google and
Facebook do it is way more high tech.

The data goes into their platform, they dont' sell it. I think maintaining a
healthy paranoia is good and we should pressure the companies to be better
with our data. However, as long as they maintain security as a strong value, I
think it'll be ok. At least I myself personally don't mind them holding my
data as long as it is secure and private to me.

~~~
rayiner
> You know advertisers collect data about what you watch on TV?

Not unless you have a Nielsen box.

------
alanctgardner2
Everything he's complaining about is a feature in Google Now. Google Now does
know where my house is based on where I stay during the night. It figured out
where my girlfriend lives, and tries to route me there sometimes. It knows
where I work. It knows when I'm expecting a package from eBay, where I shop,
where I go to eat out. Based on those signals, it probably knows how much
disposable income I have. This is just Facebook getting jealous over how well
Google has sucked all of this data out of it's userbase.

As an aside, Google Now is pretty awesome, and I trust our Google Overlords to
not use my personal information for evil.

~~~
leephillips
"I trust our Google Overlords to not use my personal information for evil."

What do you consider "evil"? You must already accept that they are, or plan
to, sell your personal information to advertisers - because why else would
they bother setting this service up? Purely for your convenience? So you've
made your peace with that, and don't consider it evil, which is entirely up to
you. But someone else may feel very differently about this.

------
SkittlesNTwix
I know this doesn't ring true for most people, but I'm actively looking to
distance myself from facebook. It doesn't make me "happy" for the most part.
It doesn't add to my overall level of fulfillment. Most of my "friends" on fb
aren't real friends and often I'm not truly interested in what they're doing.
These are all common complaints - nothing new here, but they're all the reason
why I'm not interested in incorporating what fb already does, more deeply into
my life.

~~~
msutherl
It's a great idea! I've removed everybody from my news feed and use it for
events, email, and finding keeping track of people I meet (Rolodex).

------
ferongr
Instead of bloggers and "journalists" complaining about a service they do not
pay for, they should do the only thing they can. Delete their accounts. I saw
the writing on the wall 3 years ago and did it. I was not worse off
afterwards.

Passively complaining (while at the same time, ironically, including FB
buttons) without taking actual actions does nothing.

------
VeejayRampay
Right, cause pre-Home Facebook was so respectful of people's private lives...

~~~
kmfrk
There's an Apple-tastic motto for you:

       All your privacy is gone. Again.

~~~
Systemic33
_Giving up privacy has never been this much fun_

~~~
newman314
It is a magical experience!

------
anigbrowl
Get rid of the sharing buttons and tracking cookies on your page and maybe
I'll take your argument seriously.

------
u2328
It's concerning to me, because I'm worried about this social network creep
over our phones. Of course, I'm not going to install this crap, but if
Facebook Home proves successful for Facebook, will Google move in the same
direction? (Yes.) We've already seen Google kill off Google Reader in hopes of
driving more traffic to Google Plus.

This is what prevents me from getting too invested in a mobile ecosystem like
Android or iOS. I like smartphones, but I want the device to serve me, not
Google or Facebook's advertisers.

~~~
untog
_will Google move in the same direction?_

They could already have if they wanted to- they own the code for the stock
launcher, after all.

~~~
u2328
Right, but it's all about the incentives. If they did that now, there would be
a big backlash against Google and Android. However, with Facebook leading the
way, it could become a plausible scenario to see some similar behavior from
Google.

Hopefully not, though. I hope this whole thing is a disaster for Facebook.

------
recloop
This is one of those posts with a scandalous headline to draw you in, but
without anything substantial to back it up. I am quite disappointed that this
came from a stalwart of a tech blogger like Om Malik. I can understand this
coming from an MG Siegler or an Arrington or from the joke of a blog, Gizmodo.

It hinges on the GPS location, which Apple does, quite publicly with theing
like Find my iPhone. Google does that already, and so do every other GPS
device on earth. I don't even need to know if you are stationary at one
location every night. I can just connect the dots on your end points of your
trips and figure it out.

Heck even an app like Yelp can figure my home address, based on my restaurant
searches. Facebook already knows much more about us, with or without our
permission; just by using the website.

------
Havoc
Never trusted FB to begin with. I've got a profile that forwards notifications
to my email in case someone needs to contact me. Good luck extracting data
from that.

------
cbeach
"the problem is that Facebook is going to use all this data — not to improve
our lives — but to target better marketing and advertising messages at us"

If "the problem" is more relevant advertising, I for one, welcome Facebook
Home. When advertising becomes useful to me I might stop blocking it.

~~~
freehunter
It's a controversial topic, but I agree. If the privacy issue is handled
properly (advertisers are not allowed to access any data about you) and the
ads are not terribly intrusive, advertising based on what I'm actually
interested in and looking for is useful. I'm not the kind of person who gets
irrationally angry about any advertising at all, only if it gets in the way of
what I'm trying to do at the moment.

------
leeoniya
i will just say that Firefox OS cannot arrive quickly enough.

~~~
Zikes
I'm not sure how Firefox OS vs Android OS really factors into the discussion.
If Firefox OS is fully-featured and open enough to become an alternative to
Android, FB Home could conceivably be built to run just as well on Firefox OS
as on Android.

~~~
leeoniya
yes, but i'm expecting mozilla will have vastly more granular and privacy-
first oriented permissions than android. since google wants your data, and
mozilla does not.

ideally, i would like to hook and script a conditional firewall of sorts
between any apps and my hardware or data. for example, i dont want any app
querying my location when i am at home or at work. how awesome would it be to
set rules like this?

some invasive permissions are ok when i choose to allow them, but not
indefinitely so long as the app lives on my phone, which is the situation
right now. i can do a lot of quasi-scripting with Tasker for android, but not
nearly enough.

~~~
trhtrsh
You know how Mozilla makes their money, right?

[https://www.google.com/search?q=ok&rls=org.mozilla:en-
US...](https://www.google.com/search?q=ok&rls=org.mozilla:en-
US:official&client=firefox-a)

~~~
leeoniya
and? are you suggesting that google, by some logical extension, is influencing
mozilla's privacy decisions in their OS?

18% of internet users use firefox. thats a lot of eyeballs google would be
missing out on without the search deal in place. they gets _much_ more out of
that arrangement than mozilla does to have any leverage. MS would be equally
happy to pay mozilla for that 18%. moz can easily find many other avenues to
make money while goog cannot find an extra 18% user base elsewhere.

------
ivankirigin

      The phone’s GPS can send constant information back to the Facebook servers,
      telling it your whereabouts at any time.

I really hope someone can finally make something like Loopt work on
smartphones. I can't believe we need to manually check in to see where friends
are right now. FindMyFriends on iOS requires your apple password, and much
like GameCenter, the social design is horrendous.

Focusing just on the privacy side ignores all the benefits from giving a
service more information. Facebook isn't tricking users into this. Users want
it.

~~~
tlrobinson
Highlight?

~~~
ivankirigin
I get that they needed to drive engagement before they had ubiquity, but the
interaction became about seeing people I didn't know. Like most social
products, the experience changes when more people are on it. In my opinion,
Facebook, Apple, Google, and device makers are the only companies that can
solve this problem.

------
gavinlynch
If this is a problem for you, then don't use it.

~~~
smiddereens
You don't get it man, there won't be a choice. You will be forced to use
Facebook Home.

~~~
Karunamon
On one phone by one manufacturer. If you don't like the OS, don't buy the
phone.

------
nonamegiven
Ads suck, but the bigger danger is that the uber-profile will be available for
subpoena, or the govt might just flip the fuckit bit and take it because they
can. Being allowed to run a billion dollar business unmolested by the govt
would be a strong incentive, especially for a company not known for privacy
advocacy.

------
arthulia
Google Now already does all of this. It deduced my address by scraping my
emails, and somehow it knows where I work, too. When my airline tickets were
emailed to me, it brought up flight tracker information and weather for both
arrival and destination cities. Creepy.

~~~
trhtrsh
Yeah, and they make like 6 copies of every email you send or receive also.
Creepy.

------
malloreon
I have an iphone and even if I had an android, I'd never install this app or
get an HTC First. I cannot say the same for everyone I'm fb friends with.

Question: if one of my fb friends installs this or buys that phone, will fb
have any additional access to MY personal data?

~~~
trhtrsh
Obviously not, as Facebook already has ALL your data.

------
Vinnix
Facebook has a lot to offer and its design is showing to be top notch. I think
based on numbers they are a 'mobile' company, but all this fluff and desire to
sandbox them from the others just proves that they aren't competing, but just
being thrifty.

------
jcomis
I want to know how permissions will be handled on Facebook Home when
preinstalled. Going through the play store, you will more or less see what you
are agreeing to (likely, a huge list of everything possible). But
preinstalled?

~~~
desas
I doubt it would prompt you for the permissions in a similar way to the play
store, I imagine that everything they need legally is probably covered by the
facebook ToS, or will be in an extra ToS clicked through on first use.

------
voxmatt
I think the more obvious and immediate threat to privacy is that anyone can
see the contents of your facebook stream right on the lock screen; and they
can even interact with the contents without unlocking the phone.

~~~
CrazedGeek
Do we know if that's true if the phone is password protected? (Honest
question, I haven't been able to watch the video.)

~~~
Zikes
Android already offers lock screen widgets, so it's possible FB Home will
include something to that effect that would show even while the phone is
locked.

It would be entirely optional to use that widget, however, unless FB Home is
able to replace the lock screen itself. As far as I know, that can't be done
without rooting the device.

~~~
voxmatt
It's pretty clear from the website and the coverage that it does replace the
lock screen itself: <https://www.facebook.com/home>

Now, whether or not it replaces the lock screen when it has a
passcode/security, is a different story.

But, by default, your FB info is available just by tapping the unlock
button/home button BUT BEFORE you unlock.

------
joshguthrie
TL;DR: "I already tell Facebook all it needs to know, but this new thing is
gonna destroy all my privacy (like the Timeline did, like the Graph API did,
like FBConnect did,...)"

------
killion
So previously your private information went to Google/Samsung or HTC or
Motorola/Your carrier, now it will go to Facebook/Google/Samsung or HTC or
Motorola/Your carrier?

~~~
bhaile
Right. Between Google Now and other location services by Google (Latitude),
Google knows when I'm home, work, traveling, etc. Now Facebook will want to
get into that information via their "Home" app/launcher. Many services want
location data. Context based location data is getting more popular.

------
dreamdu5t
I am so... so... fucking sick of Facebook privacy articles. Don't want
Facebook? Don't install their app and use their service. End of discussion -
years ago.

------
tlrobinson
So Facebook can now do everything Apple and Google has been able to do for
years.

~~~
damoncali
Apple and Google have a don't have a long track record of intentionally
exposing information that was entrusted to them as private.

------
aet
I just noticed that gigaom.com has at least 9 tracking services on their site.

------
Ideka
Wow. It's like the, what, fifth time Facebook destroys any notion of privacy?

------
saintx
The problem with online privacy, is that people believe it exists.

~~~
Executor
That's why you need people to fight for it. Consider movements such as silent
circle and megabox. At the very least, people should worry about blocking
companies from abusing user data, removing Patriot Act, so on. Truth is,
people have to give a shit.

------
edouard1234567
Facebook "open house"

------
badgar
I don't think we should be too surprised with how FB will use the new data.
I'm just wondering who Facebook is going to share this data with.

I know a guy who works at one of Facebook's "partner companies" that pays gobs
for FB user data. This partner company gets (as far as they can tell) fully-
populated user data in Facebook's user dumps - way, way more information than
they need or ask for. So the partner company puts this data through arduous
preprocessing steps to filter out most of the details before any user data
hits real systems. They're scared of the legal liability of holding onto all
the personal details they receive don't need but Facebook shares anyway
because Facebook genuinely doesn't care as long as they're monetizing.

So yeah, I'm scared of where this new data is going to go. Not what FB uses it
for themselves.

~~~
monkeynotes
I deleted my FB account when they IPO'd as I could then plainly see that the
only worth in the company was user data and it would certainly be monetised as
much as possible.

But 'deleting' an account probably doesn't do much more than remove the data
from the immediate web services. My data has probably been sold to multiple
3rd parties by now.

~~~
HarrisonFisk
When you delete your account, the data is actually removed. As part of the
recent privacy audit, the Irish DPC reviewed the account deletion framework
and verified that it does indeed work:

[http://www.dataprotection.ie/docs/21-09-12--Facebook-
Ireland...](http://www.dataprotection.ie/docs/21-09-12--Facebook-Ireland-
Audit-Review-Report/1232.htm) (section 2.10 - page 41)


Ask HN: What is happening on Mt. Gox right now? - ljd

http://www.bitcoin.clarkmoody.com/
I'm not sure if anyone has been watching but someone is buying 729.2489 BTC at 850. Which wouldn't be unusual if it wasn't following by an exact buy of 135 of 775 right after. This cycle has happened, with the exact same amounts for the past 30 minutes and I don't know what to make of it. It's just in a loop. The market won't move either way.<p>I know there is some kind of gaming going on, I just don't know what it is, yet. Any ideas?
======
washedup
I can confirm this. I have watched the cycle happen from ~877 to ~829 ten
times now, with a bid size of 729 at 850 every single time. As soon as a price
around 829 is filled, it shoots back up to 877. Each time the cycle lasts
roughly 5 minutes.

------
ChrisClark
It's a bug. Mt. Gox had the same repeating bug before.

Basically, don't trade on Mt. Gox. It's not a good idea.


Are symbols, myths and metaphors sort of like file compression for culture? - eli_oat
http://elioat.tumblr.com/post/86402521425/are-symbols-myths-and-metaphors-sort-of-like-file

======
coldtea
Well, symbols, myth etc are a summary of complex events and notions.

In that sense, they are sort of file compression.

But in other senses the metaphor breaks, because it cannot convey the
similarities.

One can enjoy a myth or symbol in itself -- but a compressed file is useless
unless it can be opened.

Second, the uncompressed file can be comprehended at once (e.g a movie can be
viewed, a compressed doc can be read, etc). The cultural notions that are
"compressed" into myths, though, cannot be understood by anyone in their
entirety -- so the "compression" of the myth is somehow necessary.

Third, a compressed file is usually the work of a single person. Whereas
culture (and myths, symbols etc) are a shared work of a people.

~~~
eli_oat
Noting that a myth can be enjoyed in and of itself, while a compressed file is
really rather boring until it is uncompressed, I think you've hit on something
I didn't think of at all. Thank you.

I'm wondering now if a more apt word would have been "encoding," rather than
compression?

~~~
coldtea
Yes, encoding sounds more apt on this regard. Perhaps "lossy crowd-sourced
encoding" would convey all aspects!


Rate my startup: Holono, showcase your projects and build a portfolio - ozziegooen

http://holono.com/
I'm a EE college student and realized that I needed a website to show off all my projects.  After talking with some of my friends I realized that it was an issue a bunch of people had.
The site is quite simple; you make pages to showcase all of the projects you have done or are doing.  A "project" could be electrical research, a startup, an adventure, or anything else you are proud of.  As you add things you'll make a pretty portfolio of your accomplishments.
I've been working with two other Harvey Mudd students to build the site.  None of us knew rails until we decided to give it a go about 4 months ago.  So far we've debuted it to our college, but are now opening it up outside of that.
We'd really, really appreciate some feedback.  The website has taken quite a bit of work but I think could be very useful.
======
codeslush
I like this - good job on your first Rails project. Similar to about.me, but
actually much more useful (in my opinion).

Very well done!

------
sagacity
Clickable: :)

<http://holono.com/>

------
jsavimbi
This is good, I like it.

Feedback:

\- Lose the hippie on the front page. \- Even-off the weight of the login
options. Consider making the Fb login less prominent and equal in stature to
the "normal" login and also consider enabling Google and/or Twitter auth as
well. \- The registration form needs to be a little bit more preemptive like
the facebook link being facebook.com/(html input follows text) \- get thee to
gravatar \- you need some visual design help, but that can come later (tone
down the reds, bigger fonts in forms, etc.) consider a theme. \- I love the
random button

Good work, I hope you get a lot of users.

~~~
ozziegooen
Thanks!

I've gotten a fair bit of negative feedback on the homepage and am looking to
re-do that completely soon. We'll work to add Twitter auth soon, and maybe
Google soon after.

I would have changed it before submitting to HackerNews, but was afraid of
never submitting. This is great encouragement, thanks.

~~~
jsavimbi
Don't worry about it, you guys are fine. The app works as expected and also
has the added benefit of the random button, and if you're using any type of
metrics (hint) it would probably be a well-used feature. The UX is probably
something you guys don't have a lot of experience with but as long as you can
consistently provide the functionality you have and scale it accordingly, I
think people will like it and find it a lot more interesting than waiting for
others to bubble the content up.

Something I forgot: GitHub. it' a great resource and you can add value by
listing the user's projects from there. That will give you an easy-import
option to seed the app in its early stage. Seeding is important.

~~~
ozziegooen
That's a good idea.

We were trying to decide between importing content from Github, scraping
PDFs/word Docs, or importing from another site. Right now we were going to try
to figure out who the first users were going to be (and what they want), but I
definitely would like to add the functionality sometime, especially if coders
start taking a liking to it.

You are very right about us not having a lot of experience. None of us have
ever had any design or UX experience, and are kind of making it up as we go
along while making numerous revisions.

As for metrics, do you mean us using Google Analytics and such, or us giving
the users metrics about how many views they are getting to their user &
project pages?

~~~
jsavimbi
My reasoning around Github is that you guys are engineers and are obviously
going to gravitate easier to your brethren and make it easier to
develop/refine your featureset. Making it for everyone is hard as we all have
competing interests. The thing about having immediate content available from
my past makes it easier for me to contribute without having to come up with
something to make the app immediately useful for me. The first engagement is
the most important and will help the user decide if the app is worth it or
not. That's why I always use gravatar yet allow the users to add/edit their
photo in my apps. It's a personalized welcome, like they do at nice hotels.

Don't worry about the UI too much. A good one requires a professional to focus
on that alone for awhile to get it right. A good one costs money. That can all
come in time.

Google analytics are fine, there are some other packages out there that you
can slip on, but when I do usability tests, I measure exactly how many clicks
each button/action receives and valuate their purpose to the app based on
those metrics, so yes, some internal metrics will be very valuable to you in
order to dole out resources to the app, and if you're so inclined, give some
light metrics to the user to show them how many times their particular project
was visited. It's a cheap trick (like karma) but people are people and they
enjoy validation.

Also, if you think of it, listing the number of active projects in your app on
the homepage is another easy come-on and helps conversion, just like
McDonald's has been doing for decades now.