skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
This could be a temporary condition.

The principal value in my CS courses was access to systems and compilers (!) that I wouldn't be able to afford otherwise. Most of the people ostensibly hired to present the content didn't add much themselves (one was great, and we're still friends).

However, I've been really impressed with the depth and breadth of the coursework I've seen by way of close friends and younger relatives lately. A robotics class now seems like it might actually deliver on the promise of providing more knowledge in less time than designing/building/programming/etc a complex autonomous robot on your own (for example). You can still do it, but it's going to take a lot longer than just taking the bloody class, or you're going to miss out on a lot of depth/context.
But is it necessary for ebooks to succeed? You can't resell a digital movie, video game, or song you bought either.
I disagree - I think you're extrapolating from your own experience into everyone. I sell a moderate number of books I've written each month (nothing special, but it's about 1/10 of my income), and that's print only.

They're definitely not dead in schools, and lots of people have said they like having a physical book to read from. In addition, despite owning a kindle, I always buy physical books, not ebooks. I don't own the ebooks, and the kindle reading experience is convenient (in terms of transporting many books with me), but it's not as good (for me) as a paper book. I read books - in fact aside from work, it's about the only thing that I -do- do.
Yes, it's ASML and their technology partners in Europe (Zeiss, Trumpf, many others).

ASML is really at the core of bleeding edge semi. Their lithography equipment is basically unchallenged in the industry. Noone can make a 7nm CPU without them.
>And not just hard, but without any clear payoff.

The clear payoff is: as far as we've seen, life only exists on one place in the universe, so it makes sense to spread it out. Not putting all your eggs in one basket. If you can't see how that's an inherently good idea, I'm not really sure I'll be able to convince you.

Your post is thinking on timescales of millennia, at the longest. We know the sun will burn out in a few billion years. We know another 'ice age' is coming in a few thousand years - the entirety of human civilization cropped up in the 10,000 years since the last major ice sheet retreated. We know earth will have some kind of natural disaster, whether it's tectonics or bombardment, and we may not be powerful enough to manage it when it happens. This knowledge alone is enough to justify the cost of trying to get off this planet.

>It's a helluva lot easier to apply our intelligence to normal prosaic things here like taking care of the environment, than to building interstellar spaceships that can colonize other planets.

"We should fix all the problems here on earth." Every time the idea of building in space comes up. As if we're capable of fixing all our problems on earth linearly and in order before moving on to space, and as if there are only enough resources for fixing the things you think are important. This is the classic, "this solution won't fix the problems we're currently not fixing, so we shouldn't do anything until those problems get fixed."
Video Highlights| Arsenal 1-2 Chelsea – Premier League FootballGH
(Posted in another branch, here for reference:)

The "they should've called the police" argument is legally wrong in Germany. The allies were pretty pissed off after WW2 and wanted to eliminate the "bystander" excuse for people who watched Jews getting gassed. That's where the "failure to render aid" law comes from. Of course, you're not expected to endanger yourself, but - say, there's an average guy assaulting someone, and you're travelling in a group of 5 reasonably muscular, capable guys... your excuse to not step in is gone.
By the same logic that there's mandated compression when you are forced to encode your stream as PCM. Bluetooth mandates compression, sure, but it's been repeatedly proven to be transparent at the bitrates used by even crappy hardware...

Just Google for 'SBC codec transparent' if curious.

Bluetooth's A2DP only real problem is the unspecified latency requirements.
Pretty sure you're somewhat responsible for your IP
It doesn’t seem fair to compare classics of two media with books that are definitively not in the same league.

I definitely want to be able to pick up my copy of Pale Fire in 30 years and read it. Similarly with The Idiot. Those physical books will definitely still be functional in three decades. And, if a copy is lost or damaged, it’s easy to get a cheap replacement at a used bookstore, something that isn’t possible with ebooks.
Regular people know how to read make/model numbers and use google. Things get dirty. QR codes are not a good solution. It’s a URL it’s not as magically useful as you think.
> However, for the sake of argument: Is there any reason you couldn't get someone else to lend you their name so that they act under their real name for you?

It's possible, but I would find it to be rather unethical. I am much more willing to allow an EV certificate to sign my software, or if I could get the BBB to respond to my requests to register with them, I could even consider purchasing my own EV certificate for my LLC. (my understanding is that the EV validation process confirms your business' validity through its BBB listing, and an article of incorporation is not enough.)

> The whole point of a code signing requirement is to add a paywall so that only two kinds of people will have access to it

Why is the web and Let's Encrypt any different? Websites execute code that can potentially harm your computer (via zero-days.) A paywall harms free software developers who can't afford hundreds of dollars a year for certificates, which is not a problem for me, but would be for many folks.
Artificial general intelligence, the graal of computer science.
Found a license link at the bottom of the page https://ops.city/license.txt

To your Rust question it seems like the standard library is supported https://github.com/nanovms/ops-examples/blob/master/rust/02-...
What infrastructure? A third party is managing the sales and downloads.
I don't think that's true in the Bay Area or New York. Having a house instead of renting in either area, for example, has an appreciable boost in happiness.
A comment[0] by lubujackson[1] from the previous submission[2]:

A shame it isn't available to try. I love the idea of games for education like this. For 30 some odd years education games have mostly been sad "make multiplication fun" attempts, but games are mediocre at conveying through text or words (read the screen like a book or stand around and listen to audio snippets) but amazing at conveying explorable space and first-person experiences.

I have read a few things that show results managing psychological effects through simple experiential games. Two that stand out are VR that gives visual acknowledgment of phantom limb pain and a simple "walking through snow" iPad game that reduced burn victims pain by a significant degree.

I think this is probably going to be a huge industry soon because we are just starting to understand and respect the value of mindset as integral to healing and integral to education.

==================================================================

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21901158

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=lubujackson

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21892229
This is just about how to use the iPad Pro as a terminal to do development on the Pi 4, not about how to do development for the iPad Pro on the Pi. Veeery disappointing.
I enjoyed the part where all the different types of protestor 'classes' were explained like it was a video game.
I get a blank page w/ an empty header. When I allowed google-analytics in UBO, I get a blank page w/ a more populated header and 2 sign-in options.

I tried it in IE11 (where broken things go) and I get the You Need Javascipt message on an otherwise blank page.

Guessing this page just can't live in a decrapified world.
It will soon, in the form of Edge.
I'm surprised that you're giving it a positive spin from the "indie author" perspective, or maybe I'm just missing something about the way you do your marketing & distribution.

If you want your ebook on Amazon, then Amazon will take 70% (The 30% might be available to you if you plan on retailing at a low price and in mainstream markets, but an indie author serving niche topics will often want to set a higher price; Also you can't do public domain content on the 30% option).

70% commission strikes me as being extremely high. Compare that to bandcamp, which takes 15% for being an extremely well-known platform for indie music.

Competitors who try to eat at least a little of Amazon's lunch (like Rakuten's Kobo, or national book chains like Barnes & Noble's Nook in the U.S., Thalia's Tolino in Germany etc) are following Amazon on pricing. Only outsiders like Google & Apple offer better deals, but those platforms aren't all that interesting for e-books.

Of course you can try to sell e-books by offering downloads from your own store, but you'll have to work a lot harder and spend more on marketing, plus I'm not sure that, outside of specialist techie audiences, people would be willing to endure the friction around downloading an EPUB, connecting an ebook reader via USB, transferring the file etc.
I so wanted to use this for work, where there is a rotating password scheme, but unfortunately it doesn’t work on iOS if the hotspot has a captive portal :/
I don't think it burst because of the Canadian market. It burst due to the Canadian LPs building out infrastructure like there was going to be this giant international market in Europe and the US. The Canadians haven't been able to penetrate either market. The US seems to be handling itself and the tiny legal international cannabis export/import market is being targeted by Colombia aggressively. The Canadians only ever had the advantage of first mover and now that legal barrier is collapsing.

What else grows in Canada?

Check out these pics from Colombia: https://medellinguru.com/colombia-cannabis/

In Colombia, you can grow year round with only tarps up to catch the rain.
Edge uses the Chromium engine. That's what the author meant by forks.
I disagree, reading speed at full comprehension level can slow you down and accelerate everything you do.

I'm an extremely slow reader and that has been a major bottleneck in my life, it has slowed me down in everything I do and everything I've been interested in.

Bill Gates is rumored to read several books per weeks and fully understand and remember most details. That in itself isn't enough to have made him who he is, but I'm sure it helps. If I could get one thing from him that's what I'd pick, yes over money and programing abilities, reading slowly is that delibitating.
Hausrecht doesn't, but threatening others does. (See other threads.)
Or Deutsche Post: https://www.dpdhl.com/en/media-relations/specials/electro-mo...

Quote:

=====
Electro mobility

Thanks to an array of StreetScooter vehicles, developed and manufactured inhouse, and some 12,000 e-bikes and e-trikes, Deutsche Post DHL Group today operates the largest electric fleet in Germany. For the good of the environment and its customers, the company plans to replace its entire mail and parcel delivery fleet in the mid-term with electric vehicles that are charged with electricity generated from renewable energy sources.

====

Se also https://www.dw.com/en/deutsche-post-dhl-makes-its-own-electr...
To avoid the "eternal novice" trap, learn computer science fundamentals. If you can, choose projects and jobs which don't force you to burn time learning superficial material which will become obsolete in a few years.

I agree with this post (except for swearing allegiance to any specific programming language): learning programming languages is a poor way to prioritize. Learning algorithms, or math, or operating systems, or compilers, is more effective — and will make it easier to pick up a new language when you need to.
People would have a lot fewer issues with Google if it actually had support contact that functioned. It is awful that they just kill a thing without even contacting the author but it is made so much worse by the utter lack of willingness as a company to even accept the possibility they made an error.

These sorts of problems are the reason I stopped doing Android and OS X apps, being that beholden to companies who have shown time and again to do not just wrongfully takedown apps but also act anticompetitively in their marketplaces, it is just asking for trouble. Stick to games and website apps and avoid genuinely innovative takes on anything that Google (and Apple) has any remote interest in or your business might just disappear overnight and you won't have the funds to stop them.

This sort of protection is just messed up but I can't see the USA taking action against this giant of a company any time soon. You still see people complaining about EU fines for anti-competitive behaviour regularly here on HN and yet they are a drop in the bucket. The web isn't free anymore and those that want their data to be their own went underground into the self-hosting community.
> we don't understand why programmers are paid so well

productivity, supply/demand

Businesses can create and capture value faster with technology - they compete for the talent that will deliver that
"Publishers don't like the ebook market, and my guess is that it's because of how little control they have over it."

I heard a different explanation in the early days of ebooks: that publishers were afraid ebook pricing and lack of physicality would diminish the perceived value of print books. This from a few in the print publishing industry, but I don't know how widespread it was or is.
This would be true unless the stores you are talking about were not imposing countless limitations. Microsoft store is for UWP apps only, Mac AppStore is for sandboxed apps only, and I’d better not even start with Play store and iOS AppStore restrictions.

We need independent stores which purpose is to prevent security issues and not impose additional limitations.
The point is: used ebook is indistinguishable from new ebook. While used book is distinguishable. Person who wants new book will buy new book. But person who wants new ebook can buy used as well, no difference, but price is likely lower. So it hurts sales more.
Of course, but the point of the comparison is that there is no shortage of forgettable books.

I predict it will be quite easy to download a new digital copy of The Idiot in 30 years if you lose access to the one you have today as well.
Like Calorie King? https://www.calorieking.com
My understanding is that it is like many "bad" bodily functions and covers a spectrum, for some it's awful, for some a relief. No idea what the distribution is, though.
Whoever owns the customer relationship will take the lion’s share of profit, true in books as in everything. Amazon takes 70% because people are willing to share 70% to get distribution, because Amazon is where anyone searches for books.

It raises interesting questions about the definition of monopoly. Especially as Google gradually fades the distinction between ads and results and starts to take over categories like travel.

(not proposing anything, just making an observation)
> Google has an undeniable monopoly on search

This is not necessarily a lasting fact. DuckDuckGo works just for fine and as for browsers so does Firefox. Even learning the differences in browser devtools isn't as hard as it seems. Don't presume the premise that produces a doomed conclusion.

Edit: why have I never run into this problem? Am I not a heavy app user or is this mostly on Windows?
> This would create the problem that people could buy an used ebook, read it, and then resell it afterwards for the same price, basically reading the ebook for free.

If the author still got a cut of the resale price, this might actually increase sales.

There are tons of books I'd like to read but I felt were out of my monthly book budget.

If I could recoup a good portion of my costs I'd buy more books.
That depends on your legal jurisdiction and its ideas about liability.
> What infrastructure? A third party is managing the sales and downloads.

Somebody is paying to run that.

It's reasonable to assume that they'll stop paying the second it stops making money for them.
Every indication I've read is that simply linking to the binary download, even if it's offsite, will be enough to flag the page hosting the link. So I would have to link to an alternate site hosting the link, and risk that page being blocked instead, and then I'm right back where I started.

I would, if at all possible, prefer to find a solution to this problem so that I can directly host my software.
I haven't made any assumption. Unlike you, I read the post, instead of just linking it as if it supports my arguments.
Do any of us anticipate that Amazon is going to leave the digital book business anytime soon? It's about as theoretical as saying you shouldn't use EC2 because Amazon might get out of the cloud services business.
I can't imagine a qr code on a receipt being anything but tracker-infested spam.
For anyone else that ends up seeing this, the font is Source Code Pro and theme is Lucius.
If they only sell the platform then they are at the bottom of the value chain. Nobody is going to say "I want Rivian in my EV".
They did not keep GOP documents silenced.
It may not necessarily be a lasting fact, but it probably will be. Google has over 90% of the market share, and the average person is so asleep and so apathetic that they'll continue to get a warm fuzzy feeling every time they see the friendly looking Google logo.
I’m actually one of the architects of this processor.
The story that I tell wasn’t so much that they were at the point of needing to spend real money, but it was pointed out that to compete with Intel/Motorola they would have to pay for development over and over- and the couldn’t afford (then) to spend the money to do that.

Ironically, that decision led (pretty much directly) to the formation of ARM (and PowerPC, of course)
I am not sure if an indie developer can afford doing that anyway.
That is certainly not true of everything. Ask a car dealer how much commission/margin they get.
I'm finding the article's arguments pretty unconvincing.

eBook prices might be high, but as I've grown older I've realized that the price of the content is typically well below the opportunity cost of consuming it. If a good portion of that money makes it back into creators' hands, I'm satisfied.

The author spends some time complaining about the lack of first-sale doctrine, which is just a relic from the time when all content came on costly physical media. It would be wasteful to be forbidden from selling a book that you no longer want to read, so the reasoning went.

The arguments get even more nonsensical ("eBooks don't appreciate in value", "You can't photocopy them")

Meanwhile, they totally miss my biggest issue with eBooks: that they give significant power to platform providers, who may demand unreasonable concessions from authors and publishers.

In the process of writing this, I wondered if there was a Bandcamp for eBooks. HN had an answer: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18704436
I am currently trying to learn how best to present my ideas and reach people who don't necessarily see problems as a large network of pictures and concepts in their heads.

It's a process that I struggle with, but I truly want to improve. Do you have any suggestions or resources?
So live near family!
70% commission might sound bad to you - but imagine an industry where the standard commission had historically been 85-90%.

Of course, historically an 90% commission on a print book would cover expenses like editing, printing, and marketing which Amazon doesn't provide; and the risk/cost of unsold copies, which ebooks don't have. Still, if you think your publisher wasn't putting much effort into the marketing anyway....
This seems like a hasty generalization based on your experience. My wife and I definitely “actually read books”. Between the two of us, we’ve read more than 50 books over the last year. Almost all of these have been physical purchases. Some were library rentals, and a very few (one or two) were ebooks. We have a lovely local bookstore where I can put a book on order, then take a quick walk from the office over lunch to pick it up. It’s more convenient than getting it delivered and gives me an excuse for a nice walk. Alternatively, I can walk from the office to the library and pick up whatever I need there. Certainly that is more than convenient enough for us.
Ask HN: Who runs archive.today / archive.is / archive.ph?
archive.today has been around for years and folks have been using it freely for archiving web content. There's a large organization behind the Internet Archive, but what's backing archive.today? What's preventing it from just shutting off one day? If it does, there's zero accountability to whose responsible.

Wikipedia provides very little background:

> Archive.today was founded in 2012. The site originally branded itself as archive.today, but in May 2015, changed the primary mirror to archive.is. In January 2019, it began to deprecate the archive.is domain in favor of the archive.today mirror.

The site has a FAQ [1], but it's lacking any information as well.

The site seems to change TLDs constantly.

Who's behind it? Why are the owners so secretive?

[1]: http://archive.ph/faq
Here's a BSP tool - the originals for Doom were both in Objective-C and big-endian, so third party tools were used when the community made level editing tools

http://games.moria.org.uk/games/doom/bsp/
Yes, in that sense Wikipedia is one of the greatest human achievement. I wish it had been around when I grew up!
I disagree with this on two points:

- First, I disagree that every program an average consumer might want or need is available on an app store.

- Second, I strongly disagree that app stores provide security, trust, and accountability.

App store security is really bad. At best, we have Debian repos, which are clean-ish mostly because nobody cares about writing malware for desktop Linux so the moderation is much easier. At worst, we have Windows store and Android. These platforms are not effective at screening out malware, because content moderation doesn't scale to these levels, and blocking malware is just another form of content moderation.

Telling people to trust app stores and not downloaded binaries is like telling them to trust Amazon and not Ebay. You're right, there is technically a difference, but the difference is not big enough to matter. If you download random things from any source, you will mess up your computer. It'll just happen faster with downloaded executables.

There is (unfortunately) no shortcut to get around teaching people about security. At some point, native platforms will catch up to where the web was 10 years ago and start doing a better job of sandboxing executables, and then the job of educating users will be easier. We're just unfortunately living in the world where that hasn't happened yet.

"Get rid of unofficial software" is counterproductive to what we actually need to do -- to update our native permissions and security models to match modern users' requirements. But even though mass-moderation is a band-aide fix that doesn't even work well right now, it's heavily promoted by companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft because under the guise of security it gives them a new stranglehold over the common-user software market, which was traditionally un-monetizable by them.
>>then Amazon will take 70%

You have a source on that? Everything I see and read shows amazon takes the "standard" 30% platform rate that Apple started years ago, I think 30% is way to high as well but I see nothing in any of Amazons documentation where they take 70% of revenue for selling an ebook