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Apple hires Burberry CEO to spruce up its retail operation - kuanche
http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/15/apple-hires-burberry-ceo/
======
nonchalance
Where is Ron Johnson? Earlier this year, he was ousted from JC Penney ...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
GIMP Windows Installers move from Sourceforge to ftp.gimp.org - uladzislau
http://www.gimp.org/?
======
mathrawka
The link in the article sums up the "what happened to Sourceforge" pretty
well: [http://www.gluster.org/2013/08/how-far-the-once-mighty-
sourc...](http://www.gluster.org/2013/08/how-far-the-once-mighty-sourceforge-
has-fallen/)
The OSS project I maintained for several years was always in the top 10
downloaded lists on Sourceforge, but I got frustrated with how things were
going and eventually moved the code to Github and hosted a simple website on
my own.
Honestly, I can't think of a reason why an OSS project would choose
Sourceforge in this day and age.
~~~
JohnTHaller
That article gets a lot of things very wrong as I pointed out when it was
posted on HN last time (you'll see my comment at the top):
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6262347](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6262347)
Github is an option for some folks but not for us. We need solid file hosting
with lots of bandwidth (pushing well over 50TB a month at SF) that will be
sticking around next month and next year. In my comment linked above, I
mention that Github ditched binary downloads (they did last year). In the
ensuing discussion, it was pointed out that Github added the feature back in
this year as 'Releases'. It remains to be seen if the feature will stick
around, though, and I wouldn't put my all my eggs in that basket. When Github
discontinued binary downloads last year, users were offered no alternative.
So, it's not inconceivable that Github would pull the binary hosting feature
again in the future as they stabilize their product offerings. SourceForge has
been serving our binaries for 7 years now.
~~~
jeswin
You should then consider a better host. SourceForge is clearly a scamware host
now; maybe ever since Dice.com took over. And to be honest, just seeing a file
hosted on SourceForge casts doubts on the quality of the app.
\- Most users just click OK for installers, it is like the EULA
\- I am yet to see a toolbar that does anything useful to anybody; other than
make their system slower and buggy. I hold a very low opinion of people (like
Ask.com) who bundle things with the clear knowledge that most people are
unknowingly installing their app/toolbar. Much worse than spammers.
With your extensive experience with user behavior, it is interesting that you
see this differently.
~~~
chrismorgan
(I shall ignore the toolbar installation matter; that has been discussed at
length in the linked thread and there is little value in continuing that
here.)
> _You should then consider a better host._
Very well then; step one: identify a better host where PortableApps.com can
get over 50TB per month for free. I'm not aware of any other than SourceForge
which would do such a thing and John does not have the money to spend on
commercial rates for such bandwidth. (Incidentally, donations are always
welcome at PortableApps.com, because the rest of the infrastructure does still
cost money, and quite a considerable amount.)
~~~
jeswin
I get that. But somebody must be paying for 50TB, right? It is paid for by
users who inadvertently installed bundled *-ware.
Edit: I am not saying portableapps.com is at fault here for using this free
facility. SourceForge is, for their business model.
~~~
JohnTHaller
No, it is not. It is mostly paid for by ads on the website. There are only a
handful of SourceForge projects trying out this new, 100% optional, offer-
based installer. PortableApps.com is not one of them. Bundling 3rd party
offers is not permitted within PortableApps.com Format apps.
------
tobyjsullivan
The state of affairs really is unfortunate. I think we can all attest to
SourceForge having played a wonderful roll in the open software industry at
one point. But how can anybody, no matter how loyal, support what it has
become?
Define your company values early.
------
jevinskie
This is also a problem with FileZilla. Sourceforge pushing adware? I never
thought I would see the day - totally absurd!
[https://forum.filezilla-
project.org/viewtopic.php?t=30240](https://forum.filezilla-
project.org/viewtopic.php?t=30240)
~~~
copx
Some people here seem to be seriously confused by anti-SF FUD.
These ad-ware loaded installers are _not_ the default. You have to explicitly
opt-in. It provides SF and projects hosted there (a kinda shady) _optional_
way to make money.
The FileZilla installer contains ad-ware because the FileZilla developers
chose to add it. It is their attempt to make money. I use SF too but none of
my projects come with ad-ware installers.
One should point out that bundling ad-ware is a common way developers of free
(as in beer) software make money in the Windows world.. so SF has not cooked
up some nefarious new scheme here.
~~~
shadowmint
There, fixed that typo for you:
One should point out that bundling ad-ware is a common
way *morally bankrupt money grabbing* developers of
free (as in beer) software ...
------
eliteraspberrie
Amazon Route 53 has a feature called _Latency Based Routing_ , which you can
use to distribute traffic to your own mirrors. With AWS, Rackspace and other
similar cheap hosting, I see no reason for a SourceForge.
By the way, SourceForge, Freecode (aka Freshmeat) and Slashdot were all
acquired by Dice.com in September 2012.
~~~
chrismorgan
The GIMP uses an awful lot of bandwidth monthly, well into the terabytes
monthly, I believe. PortableApps.com is another project and one which I know
much more about due to my involvement; it goes through over 50TB per month and
with something like S3 that is already well over $5,000 per month at a
minimum. No reason for SourceForge?
~~~
Eiwatah4
$ 5000 seems way too much.
50 TB of traffic would cost something like $ 200 (if all downloads were from
the US or Europe) to $ 450 (if all of were from South America) according to
this page:
[https://aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/?navclick=true#pricing](https://aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/?navclick=true#pricing)
That's still a lot of money, of course.
~~~
josephlord
Can you recheck your maths? It is $0.08/GB (to Internet in the US 10-50TB
volume price) not $0.0008/GB
1000 GB == 1TB
$0.08 * 50 * 1000 = $4,000
Or have I missed something?
~~~
michaelt
According to [1] there were 1,425,722 downloads of gimp-2.8.6-setup.exe from
SourceForge last month.
According to [2] that file is 90.1 megabytes
So that one file used 122.5 TB of bandwidth in that month.
Assume for the purposes of argument this is 100% from the US and follows the
cloudfront pricing outlined at [3], and per-request costs are trivial.
(10 terabytes) * (0.120 US$ per gigabyte)
+ (40 terabytes) * (0.080 US$ per gigabyte)
+ ((122.5-50) terabytes) * (0.060 US$ per gigabyte) in US$
= 8960 US$ [4]
So, for that single file, about US$ 9000 a month.
It gets more expensive if people download from other countries, and 22% of
downloads were for different files not included in the download count for the
most popular file, which I used above. It would be trivial to top $12,000 a
month in cloudfront fees.
[1] [http://sourceforge.net/projects/gimp-
win/files/GIMP%20%2B%20...](http://sourceforge.net/projects/gimp-
win/files/GIMP%20%2B%20GTK%2B%20%28stable%20release%29/GIMP%202.8.6/gimp-2.8.6-setup.exe/stats/timeline?dates=2013-10-01+to+2013-11-09)
[2] [http://sourceforge.net/projects/gimp-
win/files/GIMP%20%2B%20...](http://sourceforge.net/projects/gimp-
win/files/GIMP%20%2B%20GTK%2B%20%28stable%20release%29/GIMP%202.8.6/) [3]
[https://aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/#pricing](https://aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/#pricing)
[4]
[https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=(10+terabytes)+*+(0.120+US...](https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=\(10+terabytes\)+*+\(0.120+US%24+per+gigabyte\)+%2B+\(40+terabytes\)+*+\(0.080+US%24+per+gigabyte\)+%2B+\(\(122.5-50\)+terabytes\)+*+\(0.060+US%24+per+gigabyte\)+in+US%24)
------
hrjet
SF didn't have a good sustenance plan. If they had a way to charge users
directly (instead of bombarding them with ads), they could have continued to
provide good service to open-source projects.
As a user, it is a good idea to research the sustenance plan of a service
before using it.
------
jackhammons
It's a shame that a company which spearheaded free availability to open source
code has sunken to the point of encouraging proprietary installers and adware
laden applications.
------
mschuster91
If GitHub were to clone some of SFnet's features (full-featured web hosting,
forum), I bet my behind on a mass SFnet exodus.
------
chj
Downloading on Sourceforge hasn't been a pleasant experience for a long time,
and we have to live with that because it's free. But now an installer? I have
to say it's crazy.
~~~
chrismorgan
Again—that is _opt-in only_ on the part of project maintainers. It is _not_
mandatory.
------
jzzskijj
Just realized my Windows laptop is still at Gimp 2.6 and while at www.gimp.org
let's take this as an opportunity to update to 2.8 series:
_Not Found
The requested URL /pub/gimp/v2.8/windows/gimp-2.8.8-setup.exe was not found on
this server._
Bad timing for me apparently.
------
ithinkso
It is unbelievable what SourceForge, once amazing, became of.
~~~
mburns
Is 'unbelievable' even remotely the right word?
------
ash
Bintray is a another service that hosts binaries for open source projects.
Seems nice:
[https://bintray.com/](https://bintray.com/)
------
teekert
But where are the torrents? The ftp-site seems horribly congested.
~~~
mng2
It looks like there are several torrents out there, but an 'official' one
would be nice to have.
------
Nux
All good things come to an end.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Julia Language: Multiple Dispatch vs. Function Overloading [video excerpt] - open-source-ux
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc9HwsxE1OY&t=392
======
ChrisRackauckas
That's a nice example, though I would like it if Stefan had the discussion
about templates inside of the slides to make that point really clear since
that's where the key difference lies. With templates, you can make static code
get generated for the different combinations, but it's still static. And it
will only generate the combinations that it knows about. If you compile a
shared library and ship this off, and then someone makes a new Pet type and
calls that function from your shared library, it won't get a new templated
call because the behavior is static and you didn't make this new variant.
Multiple dispatch is inherently dynamic and always specializes, and it's a
compiler optimization that it generates fast static code in Julia, though
that's not necessitated by the feature itself.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A programming language agnostic type construction and interchange language - mafm
http://typedefs.com/
======
mafm
The documentation seems to have a lot of off-putting mathy category theory
stuff, and it didn't look like there are a lot of practical examples, but it
would be cool to have an alternative to protobufs/thrift that can represent
ADTs directly.
~~~
profquail
Check out ATerms, it’s a storage (and in-memory representation) designed for
storing ADTs: [https://github.com/cwi-swat/aterms](https://github.com/cwi-
swat/aterms)
------
profquail
This is an interesting idea, but I don’t see what’s different about it
compared to ATerms: [https://github.com/cwi-
swat/aterms](https://github.com/cwi-swat/aterms)
------
rendall
14 languages? That's ridiculous. We need to develop one universal language
that covers everyone's use cases.
[https://xkcd.com/927/](https://xkcd.com/927/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why App Speed Matters: Revenue - jpsaccount
https://fly.io/articles/why-fast-pages-are-important/
======
birken
If fly.io is serious about their marketing, this is not the way to do it. Find
a really slow website that sells something, give them your service for free
and run half the traffic through your fast version vs their slow version. Show
me how much money they made in increased sales vs the amount of time it took
to implement and the ongoing costs of your service. I'm pretty confident the
math won't work out, but I'd be open to being convinced. Trotting out the 10
year old Google and Amazon studies about sub-1% gains isn't the way to do it.
For the vast majority of startups or websites, there should be 50 things on
your to-do list that have the potential to increase your conversions more than
1-2%, and your time is almost certainly better spent working on those things
than adopting a service like this. I know engineers like taking the same thing
and making it faster, it is fun and satisfying, but it almost certainly isn't
the best use of your time when it comes to the bottom line. And that is
assuming making your site faster actually will increase conversions by any
meaningful amount, which is a big _if_ (very old and very specific studies be
damned!).
~~~
mrkurt
(disclaimer, I work on fly)
This is really just meant to be decent content, not a sales pitch. We
obviously want to grow our business so we write about stuff that's close to
what we do. Most people are really uninformed about site performance (still),
you'd be shocked how many people don't even know about the 10 year old
studies.
Also note, Amazon's -1% per 100ms of latency holds up for the ecommerce
companies I've worked with. It's not a small number for any company, and we're
actually really cheap for companies with a high value per user (like
ecommerce! or saas!). You probably wouldn't serve billions of page views
through fly with very cheap ads, though.
That said, I pretty much agree with you. We'll only succeed if we can keep
proving that we're valuable. It's part of why we give enough traffic away for
free that you can legitimately test us out. I don't particularly want people
using us if they don't get any value out of it.
~~~
sokoloff
About 5 years ago, I undertook a significant web performance effort on an IR
top 100 e-commerce property. We sped the site up significantly and, being the
good data nerds that we were, split-ran the hell out of it and found a zero-
point-zero (sub-noise) difference in average session value, conversion rate,
and average order value.
Believing those then 5-year old studies, we went in the opposite direction and
intentionally slowed the site down in multi-variate testing. Out to 1000ms of
intentional slowdown per dynamic page, we saw zero-point-zero change in ASV,
CR%, and AOV.
We kept the faster experience, because "hey, why not?" and we'd paid all the
NRE for it anyway, but the project was a technical success but a big bust
versus business case.
~~~
gingerlime
That's really fascinating! What about things like Google ranking that's
supposedly also affected by page speed? (Or maybe it's not? I have a very
limited SEO knowledge)
~~~
hayksaakian
it's only really affected from a negative perspective (think: so slow that
google can't crawl your website or load it).
Anything faster than 2-3 seconds has very diminishing if not 0 returns.
------
misterbowfinger
Not true. Faster isn't _always_ better. If some features seem to take a lot of
time, it appears to the user that it's "working". Take a website I hate a lot
- TurboTax. A lot of the wait times between transitions is incredibly long.
But I'd bet money that it increased conversions.
Yes, it's more of a UX issue than an engineering one. But users don't give a
shit. If something appears slow, no one knows/cares if it's an animation or a
slow server.
~~~
kornish
While you're right that people sometimes value operations that take time,
that's certainly an edge case - in general, snappiness leads to a better user
experience.
Also: if an operation is fast, you always have the option to make it appear
slower. The inverse is not true.
~~~
misterbowfinger
> in general, faster operations leads to a better user experience
That's just too general of a statement. That's like saying a landing page with
a hero image is, generally, a better page. It's a good place to start, but
it's just bad advice in the long-term.
I agree that response times from the _backend_ should be fast, especially the
initial response (as the article mentions). But anything on the frontend
experience should be judged on a case-by-case basis.
~~~
BinaryIdiot
> That's just too general of a statement.
Every time I've ever conducted user experience testing the results have always
been _far_ more positive the faster the app or page is. In fact, while it's
still only anecdotal, I have never seen a decrease in any of the overall
measurements of a user study where, between two versions, the speed of the app
or page improved and little else changed.
Honestly I think it's a great general statement. I'm sure there are exceptions
but that's the case with almost any general rule of thumb.
> That's like saying a landing page with a hero image is, generally, a better
> page.
No, not at all. Speed isn't everything and no one was suggesting that. A
faster application, however, is always better than a slow one _as long as_ you
are comparing apples to apples.
With the way technology works nowadays it's actually very doable to get the
75th percentile to load really, really fast. But it's not without effort and
earlier work may need to be redone, something many avoid at all costs.
------
ultrasandwich
It's a little thing, but 14.4kb/s should really be stated as kbit/s.
14.4kbit/s is 1.8kB/s. Looking at this reminded me how fascinating the
Wikipedia entry for "modem" is [1]. Apparently "The first 9,600 bit/s modem
was developed in 1968, and sold for more than $20,000."
[1] -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modem)
~~~
goodroot
Thanks, ultrasandwich. I have fixed this in the OP.
------
skybrian
On the other hand if you want to reduce the time you spend online, as a user
you should prefer slower websites.
~~~
BinaryIdiot
I'm not sure I follow. If I can do what I want to do online and do it fast,
then I run out of things to do much faster and I can get off the internet for
a bit or do anything else.
~~~
skybrian
You mean you've reached the end of the Internet? What's it like? :-)
Entertainment websites tend to keep providing more things to do, so you never
run out. You can read them all day, like watching TV.
To help break the habit, It might be helpful to interrupt the temptation to
read just one more thing, by making it cost a bit more. You don't want it to
be effortless.
~~~
BinaryIdiot
Hmm. Fair enough.
------
rsp1984
Totally off-topic but I always take slight offense when headlines talk about
"apps" when the actual meaning is websites or web services.
For example I clicked on the headline expecting content about the speed of
Android / iOS apps (which is something I care about professionally), but then
was disappointed (and frustrated) to find that the actual content is all about
web stuff.
When you mean "Web App", say "Web App"!
~~~
goodroot
That's really great feedback. I wrote something about API building a couple
weeks ago without specifying I was referring to a _web_ API. I'll try to be
much more conscious of this going forward. Thanks for the expression.
------
sbov
Note that the fly.io docs let you know that the bandwidth price is per GB, but
the pricing page doesn't let you know that the price is per GB.
~~~
mrkurt
Whoops, something got chopped there that shouldn't have. Thanks for the heads
up.
------
skyisblue
What's the difference between fly.io and any other CDN? Can it serve dynamic
encrypted data from the backend to the edge faster?
~~~
mrkurt
We're designed specifically for dynamic apps. In fact, we tell people to use
traditional CDNs for static files. You can think of us as a combo load
balancer and edge.
This means we do things like handle unlimited ssl certs (for apps that support
custom hostnames), do load balancing on app instance, including geo load
balancing, and even run code at the edge.
My favorite thing we do is app friendly caching. We're "aware" of app users
and can handle caching logic well beyond the http cache control and vary
headers.
~~~
ollerac
Do you support Meteor.js as a back-end as long as it's hosted on Heroku?
------
dna_polymerase
Well how much do I gain by a bit more speed after you took your horrendous 18
cents per gb flowing out?
------
newzzy
your site (not blog) has a bad scrolling experience in Firefox on Android
~~~
mrkurt
I dug into this a little bit and can't figure out why. We don't actually do
anything with JS that would affect scrolling. If you feel like emailing me
with more details I'll keep lookin'.
~~~
pharrington
edit: i'm illiterate
from articles/assets/js/index.js:
$.fn.arctic_scroll = function (options) {
var defaults = {
elem: $(this),
speed: 500
},
allOptions = $.extend(defaults, options);
allOptions.elem.click(function (event) {
event.preventDefault();
var $this = $(this),
$htmlBody = $('html, body'),
offset = ($this.attr('data-offset')) ? $this.attr('data-offset') : false,
position = ($this.attr('data-position')) ? $this.attr('data-position') : false,
toMove;
if (offset) {
toMove = parseInt(offset);
$htmlBody.stop(true, false).animate({scrollTop: ($(this.hash).offset().top + toMove) }, allOptions.speed);
} else if (position) {
toMove = parseInt(position);
$htmlBody.stop(true, false).animate({scrollTop: toMove }, allOptions.speed);
} else {
$htmlBody.stop(true, false).animate({scrollTop: ($(this.hash).offset().top) }, allOptions.speed);
}
});
};
var $document = $(document);
$document.ready(function () {
...
$(".scroll-down").arctic_scroll();
...
});
~~~
mrkurt
He said "not blog". :)
~~~
pharrington
oops
------
JosephRedfern
A minor thing, but it bugged me -- 0.74% of 3.5 billion searches is 25,900,000
searches, not 259,000,000 (as mentioned on 7th paragraph).
~~~
OriginalPenguin
That's not minor, it's an order of magnitude difference! ;)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
New Zealand: Up to 85 cases of illegal spying uncovered - stfu
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10876344
======
owenwil
There's a real lack of context in that article so it's worth mentioning that a
less generic thread about this exists here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6093710](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6093710)
~~~
stfu
Problem is that these long-form postings are rarely getting to the front page
unless they are about personal issues. If both of our posts get buried try
submitting each of the articles over the day and I am sure we can get one to
catch on.
It seems to me that there are probably only a few dozen people actively voting
in the newly submitted category, so it takes a bit of luck to have the right
kind of people lurking at the right moment giving their vote.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Paul Graham and Walt Disney - drm237
http://community.livejournal.com/penguicon/40139.html
Here's more of an opinion piece than a convention report. Needless to say, everything here is my own opinion alone and I'm not speaking for anybody else running Penguicon. I like to think that Penguicon is an incubator of Imagineers. This is a combination of artistic and literary imagination with engineering know-how, a word coined by one of my lifelong inspirations, Walt Disney:
======
zach
Well, Paul's coming at it from an artist's perspective. Don't get in business
to do art - beautiful algorithms, a movie that has a message for modern
America, a meditation on the color blue. Forget about doing that to make
money. L'art pour l'art. That's what I get out of it, anyway.
Walt Disney, whom I never thought much about until I read a biography a few
years back and I now consider a unique American genius, certainly wouldn't
disagree with that. But his alternative wasn't "get money," it was to give
people a certain kind of experience. But, in a sense, that's a great business
plan too. So it works out.
------
far33d
Walt is probably the most successful businessman ever to follow the mantra
"Make Something People Want".
He wasn't a big fan of budgets, business models, and the like. He built things
he wanted, and believed other people wanted too. He was a workaholic and a
visionary, and never settled for just good enough. It shows in his work and it
shows in the work that happened at Disney after his death.
------
greendestiny
This inspired me to write a bit about creativity vs usefulness, which I subbed
to hacker news as this link: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46850>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Gif2sprite – Convert animated GIFs to image sprites and CSS - DigitalSea
http://gif2sprite.com
======
mr_luc
Whoa, cool!
The gif integration would be what appears to separate this from little libs
like Motio[0].
_Question for HN_: is there a reliable cross-browser way to use the sprited
background-image approach with _responsive_ elements?
I'm thinking specifically about responsive images, where you want to fill a
certain amount of space.
Because of IE's lagging support for various background-... css properties, my
impression was that unless you can say goodbye to IE8 it's not an option
(maybe not even for non-sprited bgimage, but actually I think there's a DX
transform that can stand in for css background 'cover').
But in fact I don't believe I've _ever_ actually seen a demo of a responsive,
animated, _sprited_ background-image! I might have just missed it. I've just
been preloading images and animating the src property.
\----
[0] [http://darsa.in/motio/](http://darsa.in/motio/)
------
fletchowns
Neat! I like the minimalism. Might not hurt to have an example of the output
on there. It would be cool if it was an API that was easy to hit from curl.
Ran into an issue with this gif though:
[http://i.imgur.com/5NGvn30.gif](http://i.imgur.com/5NGvn30.gif) \- top of the
page says "Warning: chmod(): No such file or directory in
/var/www/gif2sprite.com/public_html/index.php on line 36".
~~~
DigitalSea
Thank you and sorry about that. The GIF you were uploading was over the 2mb
limit, but error messages as pointed out below weren't showing. I've hopefully
fixed the error messages now, so it should be more clear if your GIF is too
big.
------
Vheissu
This is really cool shame about the lack of style though, but it seems to work
really well. I could see use in this for being able to pause, play and rewind
animated gifs. Seems you also reduce the size of the original gif converting
it which could offer some benefits, I uploaded a 1.5mb gif and it reduced it
to a 700kb sprite. If you supplied a Javascript plugin to be able to use the
sprites as gifs in the zip download, it would make this so much better. Good
job, nice and original idea.
~~~
DigitalSea
The lack of style was intentional, it took me less than the better part of an
hour to build this. I built it because I needed to convert a GIF to a sprite
and didn't want to have to use Photoshop. I am planning on a bundled
JavaScript library with weekend actually so you'll be able to pause, play and
rewind the sprites as if they were videos. I have some code for another
project that does this, but it's not in a form of easy to use drop in code.
And the reduced file size is because I am compressing the JPG images when the
GIF is split, then once the frames are combined, I am compressing further. At
first I thought this would result in poor quality sprites and not make a
difference, but it seems the double compression works really well.
Thanks for the nice words, I hope someone finds it useful. If people find it
of use, I might devote more time to making it a little nicer and more feature-
packed besides the JavaScript library I'll be making for it this weekend.
~~~
super-serial
A javascript library would be extremely useful.
I was thinking of extracting the gif parsing code from this project:
[https://github.com/shachaf/jsgif](https://github.com/shachaf/jsgif)
Then I looked at the code. I've never seen such callback hell in js without
there being a server... so I abandoned that idea and was eventually planning
on writing my own.
~~~
DigitalSea
It's funny you say that, I've been looking at this:
[https://github.com/buzzfeed/libgif-js](https://github.com/buzzfeed/libgif-js)
— it's a fork of jsgif, but doesn't require a server though. You call the
library on the GIF and it handles the rest.
------
madospace
Good job!
I just integrated it with a super simple SpriteSpin
([http://spritespin.ginie.eu/](http://spritespin.ginie.eu/))
[http://jsfiddle.net/madhuvana/PYBDu/1/](http://jsfiddle.net/madhuvana/PYBDu/1/)
~~~
DigitalSea
Ah, nice one. I didn't know about SpriteSpin, really cool library.
------
MiguelJones
This is fantastic. I needed an app like this a couple of months ago, shame it
wasn't around then. Good job!
------
jspc
Hrm, opening the CSS I find ^M chars at the end of every line. Why the windows
linebreaks?
| {
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How to hire top developers? [step-by-step tactic] - mwarcholinski
https://brainhub.eu/blog/how-to-hire-react-developers/
======
pfarrell
I like this idea of the bottom right quadrant being where you want to hire.
I've been advocating the same notion in my startup. We want to build a team
where people grow into top talent, not try to hire them in.
This also lines up with my experience watching where the top performers in my
former companies originated. Hunger and passion are essential if you want an
"A" level developer.
~~~
mwarcholinski
Happy to hear that you advocate the same hiring tactic.
I highly recommend a podcast with Jonathan Siegel on how he used this approach
on buying 29 companies and hiring people to run them ->
[https://okdork.com/buying-a-business-jonathan-
siegel/](https://okdork.com/buying-a-business-jonathan-siegel/)
| {
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Old World Order Alive but Unwell After Four Months of Trump - davidf18
https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-05-29/old-world-order-is-alive-but-unwell-after-four-months-of-trump
======
davidf18
Instructive is a bar chart in the middle of the article that shows the amounts
of money NATO member countries were expected to pay vs. the lesser amount they
do pay (with the exception of the US, UK, Greece, and smaller states).
Our infrastructure is falling apart in the US (the NYC subways system had a
large article in the NYTimes last week showing a dramatic increase in the
number of stoppages and far fewer miles traveled before a problem) in only the
past few years.
Really, really tired of the US subsidizing the world. Time to take care of our
own.
~~~
MrZongle2
What's interesting is that this is not a new issue, nor is it the first time
it has been raised (see [http://money.cnn.com/2016/07/08/news/nato-summit-
spending-co...](http://money.cnn.com/2016/07/08/news/nato-summit-spending-
countries/) from last year), yet _Trump_ is apparently the bad guy for
mentioning it.
I think a very spirited debate can be held over the need for the United States
to spend as much as it does on national defense, but I'm hard-pressed to
imagine how one can defend the financial dereliction by many of our NATO
allies.
~~~
taylodl
The question to ask is whose interests are being served? Why has the United
States funded NATO for so long? Like you say, it's not like this is a new
issue. So what's changed?
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Web 2.0 is a bubble for 3 reasons - xyzzy
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB116679843912957776-fF7CtrdMDTE4n1h5Ju5pv0HKhgM_20071227.html
======
jwecker
OK everyone, so what is Web 3.0 (or Enterprise 2.0 or whatever)? My bet is on
xulrunner type highly responsive local apps with persistent connections to the
server (which is possible with something like yaws, not really with apache).
Kind of a client-server model where the server is Internet based (though, of
course, no one will dare say the words client-server).
~~~
acgourley
Do you really have to think about the Web in discreet chunks to talk about the
future? Besides if you really want to define "web 2.0" (which always maybes me
shudder) its more about the average person contributing content; it's not
about the technology that enabled it.
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A super-lightweight HTTP client for Android and the JVM - psimonazzi
https://github.com/psimonazzi/url-droid
======
NonEUCitizen
It's "lightweight" because the heavy lifting is done by JDK's
HttpURLConnection. Furthermore, it has dependencies on two other libraries.
| {
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The Computer Will See You Now - asnyder
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/06/opinion/06coben.html
======
asnyder
Most of his gripes seem to be coming from the software UI. All these problems
seem readily addressable, there are numerous EMR systems out there with vastly
different UIs, some more intuitive than others. It's a shame that his article
seems to suggest that ALL EMRs suffer and will always suffer from these
problems.
It's amazing how many don't see software as something that's malleable and can
be suited to their needs. Hopefully an EMR manufacturer will publicly respond
to these concerns, else this can become the general view of EMRs if for no
other reason than a quick Google search on EMRs will likely result in this
article, thus giving any opposer the necessary ammunition for an argument.
~~~
stuntgoat
her gripes :)
------
stuntgoat
Uncomfortable using computers in the examination room to enter patient data in
realtime?
How about simply entering in the notes that you write on paper during the exam
into your records database when you are done and alone. You can even scan
images that you draw; however, I would take a high resolution digital
photograph instead ( that would save even more time ).
And you might as well scan the whole page of notes into the system as well.
~~~
streety
> How about simply entering in the notes that you write on paper during the
> exam into your records database when you are done and alone.
Given the training she has received, and the salary she receives, I would
prefer her not to be spending time transcribing her notes from one system to
another. It will put further pressure on the number of patients she can see.
You could employ someone else to transcribe her notes at a salary more
reasonable for the work but it is still, or at least should be, an unnecessary
overhead.
Digital photos are a good idea although frequently details are sometimes
difficult to pick out so I would say it's vital that any system makes it
trivial to annotate the images.
~~~
stuntgoat
> I would prefer her not to be spending time transcribing her notes from one
> system to another.
Ok. But data needs to be entered in the system somehow and patients need care
and attention; and it makes sense to me to focus on one thing at a time,
especially with a mission critical field such as health care.
> You could employ someone else to transcribe her notes at a salary more
> reasonable for the work but it is still, or at least should be, an
> unnecessary overhead.
People differ philosophically concerning what is important in health care.
Some want quality and some want cheap ( most probably want both ). I don't
work in the health care industry but I am curious how doctors would want to
have their jobs structured at HMOs; do doctors want less patients and more
time spent with them or do they want less time and the ability to see more
patients?
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If Japan Can, Why Cant We? (1980) - curiouscats
http://blog.deming.org/2015/11/if-japan-can-why-cant-we-1980-nbc-special-report/
======
Outdoorsman
Quote: "Throughout “If Japan Can, Why Cant We?” executives and front line
workers talk about how important it is to involve workers in improvement
efforts."
That's it in a nutshell...incentive-driven continuous improvement...
"Thinking About Quality" by Dr. W. Edwards Deming, though written 20 years
ago, is still very much worth a read...
The older one gets the more one becomes aware of the fact that "new" ideas are
simply old ideas, re-labeled...
~~~
nickpsecurity
Even more, Toyota recently went back to it a bit by opening a plant where the
work is done by people instead of machines. Got significant improvements in a
short-time from worker innovation. Concept still works.
| {
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Gentrification Spreads an Upheaval in San Francisco’s Mission District - zonotope
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/23/us/high-rents-elbow-latinos-from-san-franciscos-mission-district.html
======
lnanek2
I wish they had a reasonable argument that benefitted everyone. They want the
owners of properties not to be able to set the rent. But my family had an
apartment building in NJ that unfortunately, due to laws, we couldn't raise
the rent more than a set amount per year. Soon there was just no way to even
pay for maintenance when the roof leaked and things like that and it had to be
shutdown.
So giving these people what they want, the ability to force owners not to
raise rent, just does not benefit anyone in the end.
She runs a chile shop, how would she feel if protestors were sitting in front
of city hall demanding she can only charge ten cents per bowl of chile? Sure
the protestors love the idea of nearly free food, but that is just going to
kill the business, not give them nearly free food forever.
~~~
ChuckMcM
And that is the problem in a nutshell. Price fixing a single thing (in this
case rents) means the market moves without those prices changing and that
results in huge imbalances.
Now if the NJ government funded a fixed rate building maintenance team you're
family could use the price appropriate maintenance team to keep the building
in repair, of course they could not pay them market wages (that is why
maintenance costs more) so the people working for the maintenance group would
have to go to the state run stores where they could get their fixed priced
foodstuffs. Of course the manufacturers selling to that store would need fixed
price ingredients which you would get from state run farms selling their crops
at a set price.
It is a silly ad nauseum sort of response but the kernel is accurate, you
cannot successfully control one aspect of prices without somebody getting
disadvantaged. Since you want more housing, the answer is to let people build
more market rate housing, not to control rents.
~~~
sliverstorm
_Since you want more housing..._
Trouble is what people _really_ want is for nothing at all to change. Prices
stay flat, no new housing is built, nobody gets evicted, no new people come to
town.
Sadly, since they want to have their cake and to eat it too, nobody seems to
be approaching it from the POV of:
_We are up against an inexorable force of change; how do we channel that
change in a way that is most acceptable?_
Instead they demand the impossible and lose all control of where that
inexorable force is going to take them.
~~~
williamcotton
I know us programers have a proclivity towards binary thinking, but these
people aren't arguing for a world without any change, just a way to decrease
the volatility of a housing market that fluctuates beyond human scale.
Humans are big, blundering slow moving beasts at the top of the food chain. It
takes us years to settle in to new homes and communities and find our
footings. Having rents double over just a few years is just too much for most
people to handle.
Call it "rent stabilization", not "rent control" and it makes more sense. The
goal is to slow the rates of change and make sure things are happening at
human scale. Real estate, contract law and marketplaces are all human
constructions and we shouldn't let them get the best of us.
------
anaximander
_Luxury condominiums, organic ice cream stores, cafes that serve soy lattes
and chocolate shops that offer samples from Ecuador and Madagascar are rapidly
replacing 99-cent stores, bodegas and rent-controlled apartments in the
Mission District_
It's a minor tragedy to set up the conflict this way. "Largely useless and
hedonistic shops replacing stores that actually matter! How long can the city
tolerate these too-wealthy, dandy scum?!"
Certainly, if the stores are being replaced, that's a function of property-
owners' decisions to change tenants, is it not? Why are we blaming
financially-successful technologists for actions taken by greedy land-owners?
Don't you think these "gentrifiers" would be happy to pay the same amount that
the "natives" have been paying for so long?
The property-owners are extracting as much from the world as they can, because
they have a monopoly on the land/property and nobody except maybe the
government can argue with them. They were taking as much as they could from
you before, and now they're taking as much as they can from the wealthier
people moving in. This is capitalism: they've earned their right to set the
price for their property by buying it/building it/inheriting it before you
did.
What options do we have, if we want this to change? Let's not pit the victims
against each other.
~~~
patcon
imho the landlords shouldn't shoulder the blame either. Regional wealth in
general seems to lead to a surplus of culture consumers and a deficit of
culture creators, for a variety of structural reasons.
it's funny, because we conflate two sides of gentrification that are actually
separate: 1) the harsh reality we impose on oppressed communities of people
living in poverty, and 2) the loss of artistic culture-creators from a
neighborhood that they are living in because society doesn't know how to
reward those who create culture.
Both the marginalized and creative artistic class share a problem, and so have
reason for solidarity, but they're not necessarily tightly coupled in all
possible societies.
------
jkot
> _luxury condominiums .... are rapidly replacing ... rent-controlled
> apartments in the Mission District_
Anyone who comments on this subject should disclose if they hold rent-
controlled apartment. It is a huge conflict of interest. I know from my own
country, how journalists and politicians will jump through hoops to keep it.
Also article tries to create unfair image of new comers. If I would move to
SF, I would probably shop in a dollar store as well, since I have children.
------
snappy173
It's ironic ... The NIMBY's didn't want the BART to go through their
neighborhoods, but having two stops in Mission is part of why it's so
attractive now.
~~~
skybrian
So they were right? Unless they wanted to sell.
~~~
snappy173
No. The concern is that it makes it easier for the wrong type of people to get
there ... from Oakland, etc.
~~~
nulltype
My understanding of the NIMBY thing is it's either: A) keep everything the way
it is so that things don't change for me or B) keep everything the way it is
so that my home value goes up. The arguments you use to enact a NIMBY strategy
are not really important.
So type A NIMBYs were "right" in that they didn't want BART to go through
their neighborhood because it would case the neighborhood to change, and lo
and behold it did. Type B NIMBYs were "wrong" if they argued against BART
because it had a positive effect on their home values.
------
sethbannon
There is clearly a problem with the rapid rise in inequality and the tensions
gentrification create within a community like The Mission District, but what's
the solution? Have there been successful efforts elsewhere that have helped
moderate the negative effects of such rapid changes?
~~~
sliverstorm
Can there be a solution? I don't really think so. More people want to live
there than the area can fit. Someone has to lose out. The newcomers think they
should get to live there because they have a lot of money to pay for scarce
resource. The incumbents think they should get to live there because they were
there first. Right or wrong, one group loses.
~~~
bhickey
Here's a politically infeasible solution: Make the pie bigger. People want to
live in San Francisco because Silicon Valley is an awful alternative. What are
some concrete steps we could take to increase the stock of housing?
* Repeal Prop 13. While Prop 13 stands, cities have a huge interest in combating new residential development because it'll erode the tax base. It serves as a tax on newcomers and discourages people from moving and downsizing.
* Prohibit rent control, it's the surest way to destroy housing stock short of bombing.
* Strip local zoning authority from municipalities. Los Altos Hills has a 1 acre lot requirement and prohibits multi-family construction. Menlo Park has a 30' height limit and a 15' curb setback requirement.
* Institute land value tax. It's inexcusable that 24th Street is surrounded with two-story construction. Compare it with Central Square in Cambridge: [https://www.google.com/maps/@42.365178,-71.103326,3a,75y,273...](https://www.google.com/maps/@42.365178,-71.103326,3a,75y,273.3h,96.9t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s5En2leDaMgVcLGj9Lt2POQ!2e0)
~~~
sliverstorm
_People want to live in San Francisco because Silicon Valley is an awful
alternative._
Maybe that's the answer right there. San Francisco doesn't need to fix itself
if Silicon Valley can be made attractive, and Silicon Valley has a lot more
space than San Fran.
~~~
sthu11182
the only construction i see is in redwood city. the rest refuse to change.
------
pbreit
The statistic that "29% of rental inventory is being leased on AirBnB" is
absurd. They're calculating it on the number of rentals that just happen to be
unoccupied/available right now which makes no sense at all as a statistic.
| {
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Replace multiple strings, O(1) wrt number of replacements - alphaBetaGamma
https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/137932
======
alphaBetaGamma
I was using sed to do many replacements (hundreds) in a file and it was
starting to be slow, running in O(num_replacemnts). I thought that this can be
done with a state machine so the runtime could be independent of the number of
replacements.
I googled a bit and found this amazing gem: it uses lex to create a custom C
program that does just what you want. Posix compliant. All wrapped up in bash
function.
| {
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Is it okay to ask for feedback about my business here? - WheelofCommerce
Hi!<p>I've created a free platform for e-commerce, something like Facebook meets Amazon, except users pay no commissions or anything at all (it's 100% free). Is it okay to ask for feedback here?<p>Thanks! :)
======
troydavis
Sure! Submit a “Show HN”:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/show](https://news.ycombinator.com/show)
| {
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} |
Laboratory tests of vegan restaurants in LA find some aren't - mariorz
http://www.quarrygirl.com/2009/06/28/undercover-investigation-of-la-area-vegan-restaurants/
======
ankhmoop
The subject matter is interesting, but what I find most interesting is a blog
performing real, 'hard-hitting' local journalism, of genuine interest to a
very specific social subgroup.
~~~
dag
The mainstream media had this idea first, they picked up the story of the New
York highschool student who tested Red Snapper in various sushi restaurants
and found that it was often Talapia.
That story got repeated in some jurisdictions, now a year or so later someone
gets around to doing it with vegan food.
\-----
EDIT:
Sushi from New York:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/science/22fish.html?scp=3&...](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/science/22fish.html?scp=3&sq=red%20snapper%20talapia&st=cse)
Sushi from Toronto (reported in Vancouver):
[http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=4381b...](http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=4381b239-db40-47da-
ae6b-b573bc5dc72c)
~~~
pyre
If you really want a "what food is advertised as isn't what it really is"
story search youtube for Vegan Marshmallows. (short: some guy was supplying a
'vegan' gelatin substitute to several groups (not just vegans) and when it was
tested it had animal products in it and the guy 'disappeared').
Revealing that some companies/restaurants aren't always truthful isn't a new
thing. Certainly not only a year old. It's really as old as investigative
journalism in general. Dating all the way back to "The Jungle".
Edit: and what you're really saying is that 'mainstream media' just copied the
idea too. And from a grassroots-level at that.
------
dtf
As a non-vegan, these recipes truly baffle me. Why on earth would anyone eat
that? Surely there are some nice, simple dishes you can make using fruits and
nuts and vegetables, rather than these massively processed soy products
pretending to be meat or fish or cheese? Seriously, what's the point?
~~~
theorique
I'm a vegan primarily for health reasons, so I generally agree with you. I eat
mostly 'plant-based whole foods', in the words of Joi Ito.
At the same time, it's nice to be able to eat a variety of foods. Some people
who are vegans primarily for ethical reasons rather than health or taste
reasons may miss meat and/or cheese a lot (especially in the early stages). In
this case, these products provide a substitute for the foods that they may
remember and enjoy but no longer choose to eat.
~~~
aristus
Doug Coupland called these kinds of people "crypto-carnivore". :)
I enjoy meat and veggie food but I draw the line at egg and milk substitutes.
Real vegan cheese is _appalling_ and no amount of processing can make up for
it. "Soy" cheese that uses milk protein is much better... and there are a lot
more simple vegetarians than radical-Shiite vegans. Nor is there always a
bright line. I have heard good arguments over whether honey is or is not
vegan.
------
shaunxcode
This is going to have some pretty big reprecussions for the restaurants in
question. A few years back the same thing happened on the east coast when
someone ate a vegan philly "cheese" steak at a vegan joint and swore down that
it could NOT be vegan. They ordered one to go and utilized their campus
laboratory to discover that, yes, it had casein in it. Turned out that the
supplier of the restaurants vegan cheese had not been entirely honest. It
looks like the same thing is happening with a lot of these cases. Most people
source their vegan "meats" from central import supermarkets and the people
doing the translation seem to be leaving out a few crucial facts i.e. "this
vegetarian fish contains fish" etc.
This is another great reason to source your food locally. When you are having
to trace the contents of what is going into your mouth across state borders
let alone oceans you're going to have some difficulty.
One of my long term plans is to open a restaurant which sources _everything_
locally (with in the county) - it will be inherently vegan but will not
champion that so as to not turn people off of the concept but rather push the
idea of healthy food supporting local business and thus the overall food
security for the community.
~~~
pyre
It's actually better to eat food that is _seasonal_ than local. Case in point,
if you buy local tomatoes during the winter they are grown in a greenhouse
that burns more energy than shipping tomatoes up from Mexico.
I recently found out that most (maybe all?) rice that's grown in California is
grown in an area where they need to pump the water uphill to irrigate that
area. Energy/greenhouse gas-wise it's more environmentally-friendly to import
the rice from India.
Load of people seem to think that 'local' implies something like a small town
and therefore must be better and/or closer to the earth or something, but
that's not always the case.
~~~
shaunxcode
I agree about seasonal eating patterns and I guess that is implicit if you are
eating local organic (i.e. no crazy hydroponic winter tomatoes). Living in
utah that would mean the winters would bring a lot of grains, canned/bottled
fruit and vegetables from the growing season etc. How does a fresh vegetable
stew with some home made bread not sound good?
On rice - I actually tried growing rice in my apartment using 5 gallon buckets
one suspended in the other so that there is a constant supply of water in the
bottom (I think the term is self watering container). I just threw in some
soil and tossed a hand full of organic brown rice and it sprouted within the
week! I am not sure how much I could have grown had I taken it past that point
but I was surprised that it even sprouted!
~~~
pyre
That's actually pretty cool that your tried to grow your own rice. My comment
is mainly because I know there are a lot of people out there with only partial
knowledge of the reasons behind things like 'local'. Some people think "it's
not being shipped in from Mexico or Columbia so it's obviously not using as
much energy" while others just do it to try and support local business. But
that first group is grossly misinformed.
------
grandalf
Casein is a huge problem. I went to the nearest grocer (a Safeway) and looked
at the ingredients in all of the "vegan" cheeses and psudo-meats. All
contained casein or some ambiguously named "milk protein".
Also, soy protein (isolate and concentrate) is harmful and is contained in a
wide variety of additional vegan foods:
<http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2005nl/april/050400pusoy.htm>
Bottom line: For best results eat foods in their natural state or as close as
possible, with minimal processing.
~~~
viggity
I'm assuming by "best results" you mean "the greatest probability of not
consuming any animal products whatsoever"
For the "best results nutritionally", you're probably better of eating animal
products, including ones that have been cooked.
[http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2008/09/15/he_co...](http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2008/09/15/he_cooked_up_a_new_theory_on_evolution/)
~~~
grandalf
Quite the contrary (that research makes the common logical error of assuming
that just because something may have conferred a selection advantage over eons
of evolution, that it does so today in a world with no calorie/nutrient
scarcity). See the following thread and article:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=676446>
and
[http://www.amazon.com/China-Study-Comprehensive-Nutrition-
Im...](http://www.amazon.com/China-Study-Comprehensive-Nutrition-
Implications/dp/1932100660/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246301048&sr=8-1)
------
biotech
I have been on a "gluten-free" diet for a couple years now. This means that I
have to carefully inspect the ingredients list of everything I eat, something
that I didn't really do before. The results are unappetizing to say the least.
Even worse, sometimes potentially harmful ingredients are not necessarily
listed, or are listed by some rarely-known name.
If you wish to have good control over what you're eating, whether that means
avoiding gluten, casein, animal products, soy, etc; your best bet is to
prepare all of your own food. Don't eat out, don't buy preprepared foods at
the market.
Disclaimer: I'm not quite disciplined enough to follow that advice, and I know
that I end up eating small amounts of gluten. It's a trade off between stress
and nutrition, I guess. Since vegans usually don't get sick by eating trace
amounts of non-vegan food, my advice is to just deal with it. And be happy
that you don't have a lot of real food allergies (unless you do, of course).
~~~
pyre
I guess the 'real' issue here is whether or not restaurants are knowingly
using non-vegan ingredients and lying to their customers (i.e. committing
fraud) just to turn a buck.
Restaurants lying about what is really in their food should tick _everyone_
off vegan or non.
------
buugs
Vegan and vegetarian always fascinated me why do they, or you if you are among
them, seek out normal foods that should not fit their diet, such as lets say
vegetarian hamburgers bacon etc.
Or even from the article why are they searching out quesadillas, cheese pizza,
pancakes things that me seem to clearly not be vegan other than that they may
have found a way to make remnants of them.
It just seems counter-cause to me.
~~~
moted
What makes a pancake inherently something 'not vegan'? The ethical concerns
which led me to veganism in no way removed pancakes from my desired diet. As
such, I make them on a regular basis.
Just because somebody doesn't eat meat doesn't mean they don't like the
concept of the meal in general. I make vegan versions of tacos, hamburgers,
chicken salad, and egg salad because I like everything else about the meal
other than the animal product. If I can substitute the animal for a plant
based alternative I can enjoy the meals I've always loved, why wouldn't I?
~~~
buugs
pancakes: milk and eggs is why i say it isn't vegan from the pictures the
vegan pancakes are not what I would call pancakes and maybe there is another
way to make them though
I can understand lets say tofu salad or tacos, things that the meat isnt
really the ruling taste I do not understand tofu burgers, cheese pizza,
quesadillas.
Thank you for your reasons though.
~~~
inc
For pancakes, you can use soy/rice milk and substitute apple sauce for the
eggs - this works in most baked foods also.
~~~
pyre
Before my wife went vegan, we never had milk/whole milk around the house and
soy/rice/almond milk works in pancakes even when using eggs.
------
wooster
This reminds me of the schoolgirls in New Zealand who tested Ribena and found
it contained almost no Vitamin C:
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/mar/27/schoolsworldwide...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/mar/27/schoolsworldwide.foodanddrink)
~~~
rubikscube
If people ate 9 to 12 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, or better yet,
ate only/mostly fruits and vegetables as their entire diet, they wouldn't
think they need supplements like Ribena to get their Vitamin C, as well as a
host of other nutrients.
~~~
paragatelatte
Man,there are a lot of raw foodists chiming in on this article.
------
jrockway
I'm not vegan, but now I have to wonder what contaminants are in my food.
~~~
JimmyL
Have a read of _The Omnivore's Dilemma_ by Michael Pollan, and you'll be
wondering even more.
I'm not a vegetarian or vegan (meat is too tasty), but that book in many ways
changed how I shop for food.
------
tdavis
Why would a vegan blog do this in the first place? Presumably the vast
majority of vegans are so for ethical reasons; they can't possibly be allergic
to anything that has once been part of an animal. In which case, veganism (?)
is basically the definition of "what you don't know can't hurt you."
I applaud the blog for their investigative journalism, but all they've really
done is taken restaurant choices away from a group that already has a smaller
number of places to eat.
Right? Am I missing something?
~~~
pyre
What about people that are vegan/vegetarian for ethical and/or religious
reasons? While it won't 'kill' them, people are making money by lying about a
product to their customers (fraud). Is this a good thing?
Wouldn't you feel pretty violated if you thought that you were making an
ethical choice, only to have the person helping turn out to be a cheat? (e.g.
killing someone to put them out of the misery only to find out that they still
had a desire/will to live)
An even better example would be if you were boycotting the RIAA by buying
music from an independent label that claimed they weren't part of the RIAA.
Only to find out that .5% of their profits really _were_ going to the RIAA.
Wouldn't you feel violated if all that time you thought that you were doing a
good thing boycotting the industry, but you weren't entirely? Obviously it's
better than if you were buying directly from big name labels like Sony,etc but
you're still going to be pissed off at being misled.
------
pmorici
I wonder how many vegans and vegetarians are also pro-choice and how they
reconcile that inconsistency.
~~~
pyre
I debated whether or not to respond since you just sound like flame bait, but
I guess I'll respond...
Vegan/vegetarian is a description of a diet, _NOT_ a philosophy. People can go
vegan or vegetarian for a number of reasons: 1\. boycott poor treatment of
animals in the livestock industry 2\. health concerns and/or allergies 3\.
dieting/losing weight 4\. ethical concerns (not wanting to kill things) 5\.
religious practices
I'm sure there are many more. Pro-choice does not necessarily run counter to
any/all of those. But even if you don't agree with someone's decision you can
agree that they had a right to make it, no?
Edit: Just to add that years ago 'vegetarian' used to describe what 'vegan'
now describes. But there are a lot of people nowadays that have given up meat,
but not eggs/dairy so 'vegetarian' as a term has grown to largely describe
those people.
~~~
pmorici
Well, the thought just popped into my head because of the sites subtitle "meat
is murder" (clearly someone who is vegan by reason #4) and the fact that the
article deals with establishments in L.A. which people generally tend to
associate with a less conservative political view.
------
tel
Concerns about the results aside I found it wonderful that the people who
carried out the experiment, while not producing a bulletproof scientific
analysis, were very thorough and kept to the stated aim to have a fair
scientific trial. Blinded randomization, repeated measurements, and further
information about those tests would have been interesting to see, but the
article manages to largely avoid jumping to unwarranted conclusions. They
asked a fair question; performed systematic, documented experiments; and then
produced compelling research to support their theory.
Altogether it's a testament to using science to explore everyday questions.
------
whatusername
Reminds me of this story:
[http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN26324168...](http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN2632416820070326)
(Where two teenage girls found out that Ribena (Blackcurrent) Juice didn't
contain any Vitamin C - despite advertisements to the contrary. GSK eventually
admitted 15 breaches of the NZ Fair Trading Act.
------
cmars232
<http://failblog.org/2009/06/29/bulletin-board-win/>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What's the best way to convert HTML to PDF in 2018? - npad
https://medium.com/paperplane-app/whats-the-best-way-to-convert-html-to-pdf-in-2018-4da8d2c85d7
======
FetchBen
There are indeed a wealth of HTML to PDF solutions out there... In fact, I
created yet another one.
[https://fetchpdf.com](https://fetchpdf.com)
FetchPDFs focus is on the template designer, which can be linked to or
embedded to allow customisation of your outputs at scale (e.g. if you need to
provide _all_ of your users with the ability to customise their PDF outputs
from your service).
------
ColinWright
So not getting a mention are htmldoc, pandoc, LibreOffice in headless mode,
and probably several others. I routinely use htmldoc and it's perfect for my
needs.
YMMV.
~~~
npad
Thanks, I wasn't aware of htmldoc or that LibreOffice had a headless mode.
It does seem like htmldoc doesn't support CSS which is going to be a blocker
for a lot of people.
Pandoc is definitely worth considering but I didn't include it as I believe it
just delegates it's PDF rendering to a configurable engine like LaTeX,
weasyprint or wkhtmltopdf.
~~~
ColinWright
I've used LO without an interface, but I don't know how effective it will be
in general. It's very likely that the ones I mention are limited in their CSS
or JS support, but my context doesn't use them (much) so I've got a _much_
wider choice of things I can use.
In my context I'm producing documents that need to be displayed in both
contexts, so I steer clear of things that are primarily HTML.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
America’s ‘Fried Chicken War’ - elorant
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200429-americas-fried-chicken-war
======
stronglikedan
For those in the SE US, I recommend trying Publix fried chicken, if you
haven't already. I get a whole fried chicken for less than $10, and it's
better than anything I've had in a restaurant. The trick is to call an hour
ahead, and have them make it fresh for you. That's half a fried chicken, plus
another half as fixin's!
~~~
chasd00
grocery store fried chicken can be amazing. A local store in my old
neighborhood ( SW Dallas ) would cook a fresh batch on Saturday afternoons. so
good and very affordable.
~~~
csommers
Safeway has some of the best chicken tenders.
------
westwooded
Love that they use lard vs. the unhealthy vegetable seed oils that all places
use nowadays.
Just like how McDonald's used to use beef tallow.
Best fried chicken has to be Korean fried chicken at this point. Double frying
it gives the inside the tenderness temperature while the outside is perfectly
crispy.
~~~
bluntfang
I've been curious about McDonald's fries since I think they are tasty. There
are many articles around that still say they use beef products in their french
fries. According to their website they do not use beef, but a "beef flavoring"
that contains milk products and not beef product.
[https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/product/small-french-
frie...](https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/product/small-french-fries.html)
~~~
Ironlikebike
Yes this is true. It's a beef flavoring. My father spent the majority of his
career in food-processing engineering working in a factory that made
McDonald's french fries and confirmed this was the case. They're also par-
cooked (pre-fried) before being flash frozen, and they don't use a batter or
seasoning. Interesting tidbit, all of their competitors had their fries made
in the same facility. I believe most of them even used the same type of
potatoes.
------
adaisadais
I moved to SF last year from SC and it has been a royal pain to find a good
fried chicken joint.
Friends, if you find yourselves in the southeast do your best to get into a
Bojangles.
Any suggestions for a good chicken joint in the Bay Area?
~~~
anxman
I know this is kind of heresy but there isn’t good fried chicken in the Bay
Area and I’ve traveled the country in search of fried chicken. I can’t tell
you how many times people have said “omigod you have to try so and sos” only
to be disappointed over and over.
The best I’ve found in the US is Howlin Rays in LA (obviously) followed by Ms
T in Chicago followed by the Gus’s chain.
In the Bay Area, KFC is still the most reliable.
~~~
sevencolors
I'd agree SF could have better Southern-style fried chicken. But at the KFC
level Krispy Krunchy Chicken is pretty damn great :)
~~~
anxman
I haven't tried KKC yet. It's on my list. Also, Thomas Keller's fried chicken
is wildly overrated also. Perfect fry but very unseasoned. Not worth a trip
up.
------
II-V-I
I'd love to choose a side. Sadly, I'm living in Copenhagen after living in the
U.S. for many years and there's no fried chicken war and barely any fried
chicken. I recently found one joint where you can get a decent fried chicken
sandwich, though that's about as far as it goes.
It's such a shame because the chicken you can buy here is, to my taste, of
much higher quality compared to that in the U.S. The tenderness is incredible,
and it's so moist it's almost impossible to overcook. I'm not really sure why
it hasn't caught on here. Perhaps it's simply a matter of preference/taste.
~~~
mikkelam
I'd love to know which place serves fried chicken sanwiches in Copenhagen,
could you share that?
~~~
II-V-I
Of course. Jagger [1] is the one I'm speaking of.
[1]: [https://jaggerfastfood.com/menu](https://jaggerfastfood.com/menu)
------
danans
I don't know if it is any good by discerning fried-chicken standards, but I
would be amiss not to put in a plug for the American fried-chicken destination
of my youth: Frankenmuth, MI (AKA Michigan's little Bavaria):
[https://www.frankenmuth.org/dining/world-famous-
chicken/](https://www.frankenmuth.org/dining/world-famous-chicken/)
~~~
bluedino
The blandest chicken you can get. It's such a soulless midwestern plain Jane
place to eat (Zehnder's)
~~~
danans
I believe you, and I would probably agree if had it again today, but nostalgia
has its own flavor, ya know?
These days I guess they'd at least give you Tabasco or Sriracha on the side?
------
ksenzee
Chicken Mary's is the only place I've ever been offered fried chicken with a
side of spaghetti. It's good, too.
~~~
spike021
Jollibee's also has fried chicken with spaghetti! It's a Filipino thing and
it's super good. Not sure where they have locations other than California,
though.
~~~
NikolaeVarius
They have a NYC branch.
I argue that they use entirely too much sugar in their spaghetti. Not that I
have some moral outrage about sugar in the stuff, but it was actively very
sweet.
~~~
kyllo
Yes, Filipino spaghetti is definitely intended to be sweet--it uses banana
ketchup in the sauce. Bananas were used as a substitute for tomatoes due to
the Philippines' relative abundance of the former.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_ketchup](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_ketchup)
~~~
stephenhuey
Banana ketchup usage for Filipino spaghetti came about during a tomato sauce
shortage in the Second World War:
[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/filipino-
cuisine...](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/filipino-cuisine-
asian-fusion-180954947/)
------
bpyne
The best I've eaten was from a stand at a Dominican Republic heritage festival
in Providence, RI sometime between 1989-1991. A little, old, Dominican woman
cooked the chicken. It was loaded with flavor including some spice.
Recently I picked up friend chicken from a small restaurant in Providence, RI
called North. It was their take on chicken karaage. It was crispy but tender
and was spiced with something mildly hot. It's my new favorite.
I prefer sticking with the small places. They're not afraid to spice to local
tastes rather than spice for the median person in the US.
------
koenigdavidmj
Another Kansas chicken place worth mentioning is the Brookville Hotel. It’s
two lies for the price of one—no longer in Brookville (now in Abilene) and no
longer a hotel (but they have some old rooms preserved as a museum). But it
serves half a fried chicken per person, plus all the fixings (creamed corn,
mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and more), at a sit-down white tablecloth
establishment, for under 20 per plate.
~~~
curiousllama
You want to talk value... Harolds fried chicken in the south side of Chicago
has half a fried chicken, a bed of fries, two slices of wonderbread and a shot
of coleslaw all smothered in mild sauce for less than 5 dollars.
I'm sure some pedant is about to come out with "oh really, the cole slaw is
smothered in mild sauce?" Yes. Nothing in that bag avoids the sweet tang of
mild sauce shoved through bulletproof glass.
It's the greatest food in the world.
~~~
germinalphrase
Harolds is really good, but if you’re in Minneapolis go high dollar and get
the Tennessee Hot from Revival.
~~~
curiousllama
Ooh - I will be in Minneapolis once this whole global shutdown thing is over,
so I'll definitely head that way
------
29athrowaway
The only way to make fried chicken fast preserving its inner moisture is using
a pressure fryer. That's the innovation that enabled KFC to become a fast food
chain.
~~~
selimthegrim
And here I thought it was buttermilk...
~~~
blaser-waffle
I thought it was the 11 secret herbs and spices
~~~
selimthegrim
You probably think you're getting fresh chicken when you pull through the KFC
drive thru window right before it closes too....
------
peterclary
Coincidentally I was just last night reading about another "Fried Chicken
War", which was a rivalry between two hotels in the Catskill Mountains arising
from a guest/manager dispute.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catskill_Mountain_House#The_Fr...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catskill_Mountain_House#The_Fried_Chicken_War)
------
bitxbitxbitcoin
I've been searching long and hard for the best fried chicken for all my life.
I'll need to give Chicken Mary's and Chicken Annie's a try the next chance I
get.
So far, the best has by far been Willie Mae's Scotch House - and the country's
food critics seem to agree. [1]
[1] [https://thehighestcritic.com/munchies/the-fried-chicken-
buck...](https://thehighestcritic.com/munchies/the-fried-chicken-bucket-list-
best-fried-chicken-restaurants-america-ranked/)
------
phibz
Babe's in North Texas, several locations near Dallas, has got to be the best
fried chicken I've ever had. Easily.
~~~
larrydag
Should have read more. Beat me to it. I agree
------
pvaldes
[https://ifunny.co/picture/how-to-find-kentucky-on-a-map-
hat-...](https://ifunny.co/picture/how-to-find-kentucky-on-a-map-hat-head-
kentucky-bOMrAKuc6)
------
homarp
if you're in Bangkok try the chicken from
[https://www.instagram.com/phonjaroen/](https://www.instagram.com/phonjaroen/)
behind the Thai boxing stadium.
------
larrydag
For those in Dallas, TX I suggest Babe's Chicken or Bubba's (same owner).
------
selimthegrim
They always say you've moved to New Orleans when you stop at Popeye's on the
way home after getting $250 worth of groceries
~~~
wincy
Oh man now I want to get Popeyes for lunch. I swear they put some sort of drug
in their red beans and rice, I just can’t get enough of that with some spicy
chicken!
Definitely try Popeyes if you get the chance, we’ve got them all the way up
here in Kansas City, so I’m not sure how wide their range is.
~~~
selimthegrim
One time I was driving back from Boulder to New Orleans. I think this was
somewhere on US-84 in Texas or I-25 in Colorado (I think the latter). My fan
had conked out (my AC had quit on the leg in). After a few hundred miles of
driving with the window down I saw Popeyes on the blue sign at the next exit
and pulled off at the exit. The moment I turned left to cross the overpass and
laid eyes on the Popeyes sign on the other side of the Interstate my fan
croaked back to life. I call it Al Copeland's miracle.
------
throwaway123x2
What do people think of KFC's fried chicken in the US?
~~~
Larrikin
Personally, it's trash chicken that's usually poorly fried that comes with
awful sides, with the best spice blend of any chicken I have ever had that
wasn't coated in a sauce. The corporate suits have found a way to basically
destroy the product by doing everything as cheaply as possible yet there is
still a glimmer of what must have been an amazing product.
It taste better in other countries but not because they do a better job
replicating the original, but because it just taste like a completely
different chicken place with the same logo. It's like getting Fanta in a
different country.
~~~
wincy
Oh neat, thanks for the heads up, the next time I travel out of the country
I’ll have to make a point of trying KFCs to taste the difference.
I think KFC provides a baseline for other chicken restaurants though, like a
“your chicken must be at least this good to have a chicken restaurant”. You
have to get your MVP (Minimum Viable Poultry).
------
danans
> To keep her family from starving, Annie began selling ham and veal
> sandwiches for a few pennies to miners passing the front of her house.
It seems like an editor at the BBC missed something here. This should have
probably read "To keep her family from destitution" \- if they had ham and
veal to sell, they presumably had it to eat themselves.
~~~
miscPerson
It could be a sustainability thing:
If you butcher an animal, you have X lbs of meat now. Maybe you don’t need all
of that immediately just to survive.
If you only need Y < X to feed yourself, you can sell the excess and buy a new
animal plus food to fatten it up.
This converts a onetime benefit (killing an animal you have now) into a
sustainable way to provide for yourself.
~~~
danans
That explanation makes sense, but the author's phrasing still seems clumsy to
me.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Seeing Through the Hangover “Fog” from 2014-2015 - yarapavan
http://blog.semilshah.com/2017/09/12/seeing-through-the-hangover-fog-from-2014-2015/
======
dvaita99
Thanks for this:
I only see Series As and Series Bs happening when one or more of the following
conditions are met: (a) An elite executive team (bonus if they know the VC
already). “the team test“; (b) Highly demonstrable month-over-month or even
quarter-by-quarter growth in key metrics. “the metrics test“; and/or (c) A
well-reasoned, detailed roadmap and vision for taking the company from Point A
to Point B. “the communications test” — Most seed-stage companies don’t have
these (yet). I advise anyone serious about raising Institutional VC to ponder
these conditions.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Protecting customers from the Ticketmaster breach: Monzo's story - tldnr
https://monzo.com/blog/2018/06/28/ticketmaster-breach/
======
Sholmesy
Nice write up.
Blows my mind that these big companies can juts ignore things like this and
hope that it doesn't come up.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Webify Me - tathagatadg
https://webifyme.org/en-US/quiz/
======
hammock
I just took the whole effing quiz and when I submitted it threw an error,
losing all my answers in the process. Great
_Forbidden (403)
CSRF verification failed. Request aborted._
~~~
reemrevnivek
Same here. First few questions were interesting, but my interest waned quickly
and I only finished it because I had already invested 45 seconds.
The message also includes "More information is available with DEBUG=True."
------
tmeasday
Doesn't work for me either. What do you guys think about the collage layout
though? I'm interested, as it's very similar to what we are trying to achieve
at bindle: <http://www.bindle.me/bindles/2>
------
tworats
Well, that sucked. Go through the whole process then ask for an email address?
Waste of time.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How is the startup employee hiring market doing? - genieyclo
Hello HN, I'd like to commit a very unscientific study here asking how busy and active the startup hiring market is. I'd really appreciate it if current YC-funded (and non-YC as well) startups could input with their experience when posting jobs.<p>How many replies do they get to job postings? 5 replies? 15? 30? <p>Are most of the replies genuine and related to the position/posting at hand or just enquiries into meta things related to it?<p>Do certain types of postings get more attention than others?<p>How many hits do the engineering/dev postings get compared to postings for designers and how is the response different between them?<p>What platform or service do you use to handle the process? Email? The Resumator? Jobvite? Something else?<p>What job boards do you all post jobs typically to? 37Signals? StackOverflow's? Others?<p>Do you notice any trends not asked here that you can share? For example, where do the best employees tend to come from, word-of-mouth/network referrals? Company site postings? Competitions/hackathons?<p>How prevalent is the use of Github/Bitbucket/Launchpad and general open source contributions to gauge employees?<p>I really appreciate your time in responding, I'm really curious about the startup space and how hiring is going currently and would like to see how competitive it is right now.<p>I think it's fine if some/most of the
postings are anonymous/throwaways, maybe you can share more in privacy that way. <p>Some of the more mature, older YC startups are posting pretty regularly to the /jobs board on HN so it'd be especially neat to hear from them. Can't wait until the new batches start growing and needing to post hirings there.
======
josegonzalez
I'll answer this from the perspective of an engineer SeatGeek where possible:
I cannot speak for hiring outside of engineering positions, but we created a
developer "challenge" as described here:
[http://seatgeek.com/blog/hiring/henceforth-all-job-
applicant...](http://seatgeek.com/blog/hiring/henceforth-all-job-applicants-
must-hack-into-our-backend)
We posted the results here: [http://seatgeek.com/blog/seatgeek-news/open-the-
beers-and-wa...](http://seatgeek.com/blog/seatgeek-news/open-the-beers-and-
wait-to-be-showered-with-job-applications)
As far as handling the applications, I believe we handled most of the initial
contact through email, and then gradually to an actual interview/job offer.
GitHub/BitBucket etc. accounts are good indicators of developer quality, but
certainly not the only one and shouldn't be the deciding factor. If this were
true, I'd easily be one of the best developers in all of NYC - by sheer number
of repositories, forks/contributions, repo collaborators and watchers - yet I
graciously bow down before the other engineers at SeatGeek - and sometimes
even the cofounders!
Social coding accounts are a great way to find out if programming is just a
day job for a developer, to see if they have an interest/knowledge of the area
in which you'll work, or to perhaps verify things on their resumes.
------
RyanGWU82
My company posted 3 job listings 3 weeks ago -- you can look at my posting
history to see the jobs I posted here on HN. So far we've gotten about 120
responses in total. The majority were for the Software Engineer and
VP/Engineering positions; very few responses for the Operations Engineer job.
Most of the software and ops candidates were so-so, though the VP candidates
were quite a bit higher caliber.
Most of our candidates came from Craigslist; we advertised in 3 cities and got
quite a few candidates from all 3 cities. We also got a few good candidates
from the monthly HN thread. We posted to a few inexpensive job boards like
Startuply and Startups Hiring but we didn't get many responses. We haven't
tried any of the more expensive job boards like GitHub and Stack Overflow
because the ROI isn't very clear. Those sites are pretty expensive, especially
with 3 positions open. I'd love to hear more from others about whether those
are actually worth the money.
------
rsheth
@genieyclo I would love to know the results that you compile. We run a
startup: recruiterbox that helps startups manage their hiring process. Please
let me know. Thanks! Raj
~~~
genieyclo
Not much to share at the moment :D
I think I timed and titled this post a little badly, maybe that's why it
doesn't have that strong of a reception. Perhaps I'll resubmit later or do it
as a poll or survey on Wufoo.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Woodworking, the opposite of software development - disposablename
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20180618-00/?p=99035
======
Finnucane
"Move fast and break things"\--said no carpenter, ever.
------
tonyedgecombe
It never bothered me when customers changed their minds. What did bother me
was when they changed their mind and expected the schedule to stay the same.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Software developers: How plans to automate coding could mean big changes ahead - sunnyP
https://www.zdnet.com/article/software-developers-how-plans-to-automate-coding-could-mean-big-changes-ahead/
======
faizshah
No doubt these innovations are impressive and will change software developers
role. But I think the way to think about this is more like how ML replaced
expert systems or ruby on rails helps you write less code using meta
programming and code gen. It’s one thing to generate code it’s another thing
to maintain it, test it, make tradeoffs, find product market fit, etc. which
is the bulk of the job. But we do see innovations in each of those pieces so
maybe it will come around sooner than we think and we’ll all be no-code +
zapier developers.
------
tmaly
There is still going to be a bridge to gap between what business people want
and what the computer needs to do. Software developers will need to still
bridge that gap.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Fable of Edward Snowden - JackFr
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-fable-of-edward-snowden-1483143143
======
dbg31415
Dupe.
[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=http:%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Fartic...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=http:%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Farticles%2Fthe-
fable-of-edward-
snowden-1483143143&sort=byDate&prefix=false&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story)
------
grzm
From 16 hours ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13296003](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13296003)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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History of Lisp - parenthesis
http://www.softwarepreservation.org/projects/LISP
======
rbanffy
I am speechless.
Not because of LISP, but because this history preservation effort really
deserves all support we can give them. Unfortunately the mailing list and
volunteer forms are 404'ed. The contact form works just fine.
------
pmcjones
I'm the editor of the History of Lisp web site at the Computer History Museum.
I'm sorry about the 404s, but if you email me, I will be happy to answer
questions, and help you get involved.
Paul McJones (paul at mcjones dot org)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Skype for Android uses your T-Mobile minutes for calling - fromedome
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2009/1/skype-for-android
======
dcurtis
How they can justify this? Skype should use my _unlimited_ data plan that I
pay for to route the call completely independent of the carrier.
~~~
jm4
Just because they've routed calls over the internet up until now doesn't mean
this is the only way to do it. There are probably quite a few reasons for not
using the data connection. A couple that come to mind are possible call
quality issues and wanting to stay on the good side of carriers. We can gripe
all we want about how much the carriers and their policies suck, but can you
really blame someone for trying to avoid having to battle one of them?
This still covers users who primarily use Skype for international calls and
maintains a high level of quality. The data connections on mobile phones can
be spotty at times and this way you have a reliable connection to a relay
point which in turn uses a more reliable internet connection. I used a VOIP
service a while back that worked like this and it was great.
For all we know, they tried VOIP calls directly from the handset only to find
out it's unreliable. I use StreamFurious on my handset and I'm disconnected
every few minutes so this isn't so far fetched. Or maybe their market research
revealed that most users are interested in international calls in which case
it's an easy decision to go in this direction to avoid trouble with carriers.
We really don't know. It's possible there's a good reason for it.
In any case, they're not being deceptive about it, and for the most part, the
result is pretty much the same despite the varying methods. The only ones who
are really left out here are the people who want to buy a handset with a data
connection and make most or all of their calls for free over the internet. The
reality is that they probably make up a small portion of Skype users. Sure, it
would be nice, but when the companies building and controlling the networks
are still in the business of selling phone calls this is a pipe dream. Maybe
one day they'll just provide access to the network but we're not there yet.
I'm not aware of any terms of service that prohibit using the data connection
for VOIP calls so someone is always free to create an application that does
this. The best part about Android and the G1 is that you can install whatever
you want on there whether you have permission from a carrier or not.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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A survival guide for people with Asperger syndrome - qwph
http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~alistair/survival/
======
pmorici
"It can often be an effort to have a shower or a bath three times a week and
to wear deodorant but it is much easier to talk to people if you feel you are
clean and if you cannot be smelt. Remember, if you smell you might not be
aware of it. "
You have got to be kidding.
~~~
mstevens
why?
~~~
pmorici
Who doesn't know that. I don't think that has anything to do with having
Aspergers.
~~~
sethg
There is a theory that people with autism-spectrum disorders have trouble
modelling what is going on in other people's minds, and this is what makes
social situations hard for them.
If this theory is true, then a person with Aspergers who is not annoyed by his
or her _own_ body odor would have trouble realizing that the odor might bother
other people.
------
steveplace
Step 1: Go to your doctor and see if you actually have Asperger's. If you
don't, stop using it as an excuse.
~~~
pixpop
Is there some tendency for people to falsely claim they have Asperger's
disorder?
------
lg
I think some of this is useful for normal, not-very-social people.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
T. Greg Doucette on reforming the police - js2
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1266053291684827138.html
======
dredmorbius
An excellent Qualified Immunity explainer:
[https://theappeal.org/qualified-immunity-
explained/](https://theappeal.org/qualified-immunity-explained/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Shoplocket partners with WordPress to enable blog-based ecommerce - peteforde
http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/28/shoplocket-blog-commerce/
======
ninjakeyboard
For someone blogging about their latest scary teddy bear frankenstein creation
this may be a nice convenient way to hook in for a sale with little technical
knowledge or skill while still giving an ecommerce feel. It's simple so my
grandma could use it. Don't know why so much hate :) especially if partnered
with wp it should be easy and that will be attractive.
~~~
chrisdinn
I couldn't agree more. At this stage they don't appear to be aiming at
professional retailers, but the market they're going after is interesting
enough. Stripe even recommends Shoplocket in its FAQ:
<https://stripe.com/ca/help/faq#not-a-developer>
A better looking, easier to use buy-now button doesn't have to increase sales
by much to offset the additional cost. Besides, pricing models can change
pretty easily.
------
gesman
Nice site and great ideas.
Although I disagree with 2.5% per transaction + plus paypal fees. There are
plenty of embeddable, widgetized, turnkey ecommerce offerings that are not
trying to undercut every sale merchant is making.
Why would i want to give up extra 2.5% on top of payment processor's fees?
~~~
astrodust
Convenience. If Shoplocket is costing you hundreds of dollars a month in fees,
you could pay to have your own widget built. If it's only _tens_ of dollars,
why fret?
~~~
gesman
Well, web tools to build online stores today are dime a dozen, and few good
ones are actually free or priced flat (not as a percentage of business).
Percentage of sales works well when demand for tools exceeds supply.
~~~
astrodust
If your time is free, this is true. Otherwise this will cost you a non-zero
amount of time and money.
It's the classic buy vs. build decision. Many companies do obvious things and
charge money for it, yet succeed because they do a better job than you could
do yourself for the same price.
~~~
gesman
100% agree.
PS: 2.5% off every hard earned sale? Ouchhh....
------
richardv
To a lot of sellers, this is going to be a non-starter... The pricing model of
2.5% per transaction plus paypal/stripe fees, means that in liklihood it will
only attract casual users who barely make any sales... The pricing is probably
fine for these users, but it's priced well beyond the convenience that it
offers for established sellers who might just be thinking, "let's give it a
shot".
Marketplaces go for the 4-10% per transaction.. but provide payments and the
actual exposure on their marketplace... Shoplocket is just providing a widget
to integrate...
So ultimately, I only see these guys as going after the _really_ (emphasis)
really, small fishes...
~~~
gesman
That's a good point.
99% of wordpress bloggers are just going to consume widget delivery bandwidth
and make exactly zero sales. 1% who actually sell will go for services that
cost them less. And these would be the ones who are either flat fee (possibly
monthly) priced or free.
Today is the great business model to offer base functional services for free
and charge for perks and extras.
------
arbuge
What's the benefit of this over just adding a PayPal button?
<http://en.support.wordpress.com/paypal/>
Sure, it opens in a new window, but is that really such a big deal? You just
pay PayPal fees this way...
~~~
katherinehague
Katherine, co-founder of ShopLocket here. Generally PayPal buttons aren't
great when you start having more advanced product options (variants, taxes,
shipping etc). And creating a beautiful storefront full of products from
PayPal buttons is hard. Not to mention, the process isn't the most seamless
for buyers, especially when compared to how shoplocket works with Stripe (ex:
popslate.com or somawater.co).
Also, while it works, this WordPress 'integration' is more just a hack where a
button image is linked to a checkout page.
~~~
gesman
Kat, take this:
1\. Average WP audience is spammer, player, lousy useless blogger (80%) or
wanabe affiliate for someone else.
2\. WP is a platform to support, but not a platform to be based on.
3\. Target people who sell stuff, not people who use wordpress.org blogs. Then
% off sale starts to make sense. But then these people start not liking giving
up % off their sales either.
4\. Whats your USP? My wife sells high end dog collars through ECWID. Make me
an offer. Don't just be "Yet Another". Be a "Wow!"
5\. You email is a win. Keep doing stuff this way and people and businesses
will turn your way big time. Why? Because anyone else is ignored by everyone
else. People (businesses) LOVE personal attention.
------
tobin12345
awesome - nice move from ShopLocket
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Usermind raises $7.6M from Andreessen Horowitz - kt9
http://www.geekwire.com/2013/usermind-raises-76m-andreessen-horowitz-build-software-improves-inhouse-business-operations/
======
noir-york
Did you notice the skill reqs for the dev position? They're asking for Go
~~~
jchenry
(disclaimer: I work for usermind)
We are in fact writing in go. Its not required to know it coming in, but it
certainly wont hurt your chances.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Hello quantum world - imartin2k
https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/hello-quantum-world
======
KenanSulayman
"Serious quantum computers are finally here."
What does "serious" mean in this context? Do we _actually_ have usable,
_serious_ quantum computers?
~~~
cjohansson
“We have this device that is more complicated than you can simulate on a
classical computer, but it’s not yet controllable to the precision that you
could do the algorithms you know how to do.”
It doesn't sound like it's usable yet. It's just a serious computer now. Maybe
it means that they consider it as a seriously potential machine but it have
not acquired any usability in actuality yet.
------
elorant
In every article about quantum computers I have a hard time distinguishing
what's reality and what's pure fiction, or simply put journalists who don't
understand what they're writing about.
~~~
madeuptempacct
To this day, I still don't understand if "spooky action at a distance" is a
thing and if there is actually any sort of connection between entangled
particles. People vehemently, dramatically claim one side or the other with no
support...or I don't get it.
Was just reading this:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMB_cold_spot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMB_cold_spot)
And how it's "proof of a parallel universe that is quantum-entangled with
ours." Don't understand any of it.
Someone on here explained quantum radar to me - that's about the only
"quantum" thing that made sense to me.
~~~
speakeron
The short answer is that statements like "spooky action at a distance" are an
attempt to shoehorn quantum mechanics into a classical framework. It doesn't
have any meaning in that sense.
The long answer is here:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Eeuqh9QfNI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Eeuqh9QfNI)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Ask HN: Why aren't people making tablets with normal OS? - digamber_kamat
Samsung Galaxy (and zillion others) run Android, iPad runs iOS and so one. RIM playbook alone seems to run a normal Linux operating system.<p>I would have loved to buy a tablet if it could run an operating system like Windows 7 or Ubuntu.<p>Processors are getting faster, hardware is cheaper then why the hell have something as tacky as Android on your device? Wouldnt a tablet shaped device with normal OS (may be with interface tuned for smaller screen) make more sense?
======
marknutter
Normal OSes were designed with a mouse and keyboard in mind, which is a big
reason why Microsoft's original Tablet PC's were such a huge failure - they
tacked on some interface elements that were supposed to make it easy to
interact with a pen, but it was never more efficient than using the mouse and
keyboard. The reason they caught on this time around was because Apple
designed the tablet around the fact that multi-touch would be the only way
people would ever interact with it. Given that iPads are flying off the
shelves, you have your answer as to why tablets aren't getting normal OSes.
------
jeffmould
There are Windows tablets running Windows 7 in fact. The problem isn't that
they don't make them, it is more that the media just covers the ones running
the "latest and greatest" OS, which at this point in time the ones getting the
most attention are Android and iOS. Mainly because of the competition between
the two and they tend to be a bigger user favorite over Windows.
------
benologist
Tablets have been around with normal operating systems for years.
HP have the TX series which is pretty nice, I used to have one of them.
One big difference is they're stronger internals = heavier + less battery.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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One of world's biggest container ships arrives in the UK - mrlonglong
https://news.sky.com/story/hmm-algeciras-worlds-largest-container-ship-arrives-in-uk-for-first-time-12006469
======
LargoLasskhyfv
[1] [https://www.shippingandfreightresource.com/hmm-algeciras-
lar...](https://www.shippingandfreightresource.com/hmm-algeciras-largest-
container-vessel-on-earth/)
“HMM Algeciras” is the _first of twelve_ 24,000 TEU class vessels scheduled to
be sequentially delivered until September 2020 out of _a total of 20_ , with
the balance 8 planned for delivery from second quarter of 2021 onwards."
_BAM!_
edit: [2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyundai_Merchant_Marine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyundai_Merchant_Marine)
Living in Hamburg with its port since 2004 it was exiting at first, to see
these large ships come and go, and the rumbling sounds they make when they are
turned around by tug-boats on the river, to even fit into their berths.
Altough they weren't that large by then. Then the little economic hiccup [3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_crisis_of_2007%E2%80...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_crisis_of_2007%E2%80%932008)
happened, and it seemed to me like less ships come and go. Anyways, they got
larger, and larger, and then it was almost boring, like almost every month in
the local press: "Largest container ship ever first time in port!" Oh, really?
Again?
Anyways, when I'm at home, awake and hear some fog-horn honking from afar, I
open [4]
[https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:9.846/cent...](https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:9.846/centery:53.538/zoom:12)
to see who it is :)
Right now [5]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMA_CGM_Alexander_von_Humboldt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMA_CGM_Alexander_von_Humboldt)
is leaving port destined for Rotterdam. Made headlines also, a while ago.
It reminds me a little bit of the very incremental improvements in CPUs since
about 2005. One could do this and that, but it would be uneconomical. The same
goes for these giants. Any larger, and they have less ports to dock, because
they don't fit, can't pass through channels, or twist and warp too much in
rough seas with current materials. So it is slow steaming with greener engines
instead.
[6]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_steaming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_steaming)
Funny Captain playing Star Wars theme on the horn of MSC Zoe in 2015 :)
[7]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8DMd1ddl68](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8DMd1ddl68)
(4m33s)
HMM Algeciras a week ago in Hamburg during docking
[8]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZdIJFdP3AM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZdIJFdP3AM)
(5m16s)
------
mrlonglong
It's mind boggling how quickly they built this ship. Keel laid down late Sept
2019 and launched just two months later in December. Arrived here today after
two months voyage from the Far East.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Toyota and JAXA plan to send space rover to the moon in 2029 - Ultramanoid
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/03/12/national/toyota-jaxa-plan-send-space-rover-moon-2029/
======
Ultramanoid
Here's a short news video of the vehicle :
[https://youtu.be/97gsm3TFd4E](https://youtu.be/97gsm3TFd4E)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Learning Rust with Entirely Too Many Linked Lists - xwvvvvwx
http://cglab.ca/~abeinges/blah/too-many-lists/book/README.html
======
Animats
Rust needs back pointers as a primitive. A back pointer and a forward pointer
are locked in an invariant relationship (A points to B which points back to
A). The borrow checker needs to know about that to check back pointers
properly. Then you could do trees, doubly-linked lists, and various other
graphs safely.
(The two basic constructs that are hard to express safely in Rust are back
pointers and partially initialized arrays. There's also some trouble with
concurrency primitives. See [1])
[1] [https://people.mpi-
sws.org/~dreyer/papers/rustbelt/paper.pdf](https://people.mpi-
sws.org/~dreyer/papers/rustbelt/paper.pdf)
~~~
dbaupp
Do you have any thoughts on how it might even begin to be possible to do back
pointers safely, in ways that don't already exist in Rust?
I find it very confusing that you often complain about Rust's complexity, and
then also complain that it isn't complex enough (i.e. doesn't have the
features required statically reason about complex ownership graphs at compile
time). It's fair that maybe there's complexity budget spent in places that you
think aren't quite right, but I haven't picked up any reasonable plan for
modelling back pointers (from anyone), nor many specific pain points that
could be solved in your suggested way while maintaining the low-level nature
of Rust.
~~~
Animats
_Do you have any thoughts on how it might even begin to be possible to do back
pointers safely, in ways that don 't already exist in Rust?_
First, you need to be able to talk about them. A forward ref/back ref pair has
to be identified with some form of declaration at compile time. The forward
pointer is an ordinary owning pointer. The back pointer is special. So add a
variable attribute "back", to be used like much like "mut", but only on a
reference field of a struct. Let's see if that's enough.
The invariants to be enforced are:
\- If b.bak points to a, a.fwd must point to b.
\- If a.fwd points to b, b.bak must be Option(None) or point to a.
These can be enforced by some simple update checks when a.fwd or b.bak is
updated. The normal sequence of events is something like:
a.fwd = &mut b;
b.bak = &back a;
or, when breaking a link,
b.bak = Option(None);
a.fwd = None; // drop ownership of b, which deallocates it.
You have to clear the back reference before dropping the object, to avoid a
dangling pointer situation. The compiler might optimize that out, observing
that b is dead at deallocation.
If you try to change b.bak to anything but Option(None) or a, that's an error.
If you try to change a.fwd while b.bak is not Option(None), that's an error.
This can usually be checked at compile time.
Open questions:
\- Can the compiler figure out which field of a is the forward ref? That's the
ref that owns b. Or is syntax needed in the declaration of the a struct for
that.
\- What about arrays of forward refs?
~~~
dbaupp
You've missed a far more fundamental question: how does this interact with
aliasing XOR mutability? That's the core reason why back pointers are hard:
they result in complicated relationships between things, in that an &mut
pointer to a child may not be independent of its owner. I suspect one would
need annotations for different ways to handle this, like single threaded
checking of mutability (which already exists: Cell and RefCell) or multi-
threaded (Mutex, RWLock), essentially meaning that this would be inserting
into the language things things that don't need to be there.
In any case, even switching to the correct Option::None syntax, your example
doesn't actually make sense: &mut isn't an owning pointer, so it doesn't make
sense to try to construct an owning tree with it. Maybe something like
a.fwd = Some(b);
a.fwd.as_mut().unwrap().bak = Some(&back a);
is what you're trying to get at? In either example, the mutability question
appears: in yours, b is mutated while an outstanding &mut borrow exists, and
in mine, a is mutated while an outstanding &back borrow exists.
This all seems like it might be possible to solve for some special cases, but
pointer aliasing is one of the hardest parts of static analysis. It's
essentially impossible to do in the general case, and my intuition is that
back pointers get you very close to the general case. It's not even obvious to
me how one can get a binary tree with back pointers to work well.
_> The compiler might optimize that out, observing that b is dead at
deallocation._
Only if b doesn't have a destructor (or has a destructor that can be
sufficiently inlined).
~~~
Animats
_That 's the core reason why back pointers are hard: they result in
complicated relationships between things._
That's why they need built-in checking, rather than hacks using "unsafe". Use
of back references is going to have to be restricted so you can't get two
mutable handles to the same object. The trick is making that work through
restrictions which can be checked locally.
~~~
dbaupp
That's not my point. A general built-in checking scheme that handles all the
variations of linked lists and trees will likely have to have quite a few nobs
to tweak for the various trade-offs one might want to make, and will likely
have to be very general to handle all the variations, making that general
infrastructure significantly more complicated (both to implement in the unsafe
block that is the compiler, and, likely, for users to understand) than focused
`unsafe` blocks, which can, and often are, packaged up into safe interfaces
(like reference counting with weak pointers).
_> Use of back references is going to have to be restricted so you can't get
two mutable handles to the same object. The trick is making that work through
restrictions which can be checked locally._
Talk is cheap, and I'm not sure this talk actually says anything of note.
Those "ideas" seem to be the most obvious first considerations for working out
how this feature might even work:
\- disallowing two mutable handles is the fundamental rule of Rust,
\- the ability to check locally is a strong convention for programming
language implementations, and a _very_ strong one for Rust.
Having _some_ concrete idea that addresses just those two points (no need to
worry about syntax or anything like that) would be an improvement on the
current situation: I haven't see any for this other than "runtime checking"
(already exists in Rust) and "no back references".
\---
In other words, vague assertions like "Rust should support back pointers" with
syntax ideas are jumping way ahead. The language typically tries to provide
building blocks to allow things to be built in libraries, rather than lumping
opinionated features into the language. These features will often then require
unsafe to create safe abstractions, but this isn't bad: the compiler itself is
essentially one large unsafe block.
The place to start would be trying to create a safe back-pointer interface in
a library, and seeing if there's anything that is too hard to make truly safe.
This has in fact already been done, with Rc/Weak and Arc/Weak, but for zero-
overhead/non-reference-counted scenarios, I think a good place to start would
be a smart pointer pair like Rc but with a constructor `fn make<T>(val: T) ->
(Forward<T>, Back<T>)`.
~~~
Animats
It's hard to make compile-time checks for consistency between two different
places in the code using a library.
------
gradschool
An old school c programmer wants to know if there's a Rust idiom for
recovering gracefully from failed allocations (i.e., when malloc returns
NULL). Otherwise, what good is a type safe program that crashes due to a heap
overflow? If this is the wrong kind of question, I'm listening.
~~~
bryanlarsen
Where are you using this? Embedded? By default Linux is set to over commit
memory, so malloc always be succeeds even if you're out of memory.
~~~
SeanDav
> _" By default Linux is set to over commit memory, so malloc always be
> succeeds even if you're out of memory."_
How does Linux handle 1 trillion mallocs of 1MB, on a 8GB system with 500GB
hard drive, without failing?
There is nothing magic about Linux, it still cannot allocate and use memory
which physically and virtually is simply not there.
~~~
steveklabnik
When overcommit is set, it's not malloc that fails; the OS kills your process.
So, checking the result of your allocations will never let you handle this
kind of error.
~~~
rcxdude
Though if the allocation is ludicrously oversized (not sure the threshold, but
2x present memory will do it) it will just straight up fail without over-
committing.
------
emerged
I feel that Rust is something of a religion at this point. Curious how many
downvotes I might accrue for expressing that perspective. Might be wrong, but
my sense has been that challenges with Rust are written off in an off-hand way
and its features exaggerated.
Glad to see promising new languages pushing progress forward, though. I'm head
high in C/C++/asm for decades so many of the complaints about those languages
fall flat with me since I'm over the hurdles via sheer years of experience.
~~~
mikebenfield
> challenges with Rust are written off in an off-hand way and its features
> exaggerated
I think people are pretty straightforward about Rust's challenges. The borrow
checker can be a hurdle and probably needs more work (although it is getting a
big boost soon with non-lexical lifetimes). Compile times are not great. The
macro system is powerful but can be confusing. People from some mainstream
languages may have trouble wrapping their heads around the type system.
Regarding its features, these attributes:
* it can do low level, fast code;
* it's not garbage collected, but is memory safe;
* it has zero cost abstractions (and, conversely, it _doesn 't_ have ridiculous, unnecessary, slow abstractions);
* it doesn't ignore the last thirty years of innovation in programming languages (by which I mean it has a modern type system, closures, variant types, and a few other things);
* it doesn't have 30-40 years of cruft;
* it has a standard and very high quality build/packaging system;
* its developers are thoughtful and have good taste;
* it has a reasonably big community and has a good chance of catching on even more widely;
are huge. You say you think its features are exaggerated, but to my mind,
what's to exaggerate? That list looks pretty great to me.
~~~
posterboy
half of these "features" are your own subjective opinion
~~~
mikebenfield
They are? I'll grant you the one about the taste of the developers. Which
other one is opinion?
~~~
posterboy
after zero cost abstractions you got carried away.
------
derefr
Question: does a hash table with linked-list chaining count as a non-niche
use-case for linked lists, or is the linked list just counted as an
implementation detail rather than a separate data structure in that context?
(Though, Rust's own std::collections::HashMap just does robin-hood hashing
instead of separate chaining, and everyone's just going to use that, so "what
data structure should a separately-chained hash-table use in Rust" is mostly a
moot question.)
------
PaulHoule
Makes Rust look hard.
~~~
steveklabnik
Getting this code right is hard in many languages in Rust's space; Rust just
forces you to get it right, whereas they let you get it wrong.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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LLVM.js: LLVM Itself Compiled to JavaScript via Emscripten - cleverjake
http://badassjs.com/post/39573969361/llvm-js-llvm-itself-compiled-to-javascript-via
======
MatthewPhillips
I think I know where they are going with this; PNaCl compiles Native Client
code to LLVM bitcode, which now will be able to be compiled to JavaScript in
the browser.
~~~
azakai
I am not aware of any concrete plans to do anything like that. It is true that
PNaCl generates LLVM bitcode, but so does clang, which is what Emscripten
uses.
PNaCl has its own set of new APIs, none of which are supported by anything but
PNaCl (and in particular not Emscripten); Emscripten does support the typical
libraries a cross-platform app uses, like SDL, glut, egl, xlib. So it would be
a lot of work to get Emscripten to do anything with PNaCl binaries given the
different APIs.
Furthermore, converting PNaCl binaries to JS in the browser would add a lot of
overhead compared to compiling to JS ahead of time and just sending the user
the JS to directly run.
So if you want to run a C++ app in JS, you should just compile it to JS
directly using Emscripten, PNaCl doesn't fit there in any way that I can see.
~~~
MatthewPhillips
I was thinking of this being useful in the way that the PDF.js and Shumway
projects are. But if you say the APIs are not there, I believe ya!
~~~
zem
PDF.js and Shumway both look like very promising projects. thanks for the
pointers.
------
cmircea
Atwood's Law strikes again!
~~~
tlrobinson
Emscripten lets you compile basically anything to JavaScript (including
itself, apparently), so Atwood's Law is really equivalent to saying JavaScript
is Turing complete.
See also: jslinux (<http://bellard.org/jslinux/>)
~~~
timcameronryan
Makes me excited for a forthcoming Emscripten => Brainfuck compiler.
------
arcatek
Does it means that C++ compilers which use LLVM can finally be compiled to
Javascript ? If so, it's a great news !
~~~
iso-8859-1
No, cause they use LLVM parts that were not yet successfully compiled to JS.
This is just an LLVM assembler and bitcode-to-JS translator.
Obviously, a JavaScript C compiler would have been a much more impressive
demo, and that would have been demoed instead.
------
jethroalias97
x86 also has been compiled to javascript (<http://bellard.org/jslinux/>) QEMU
style.
~~~
iso-8859-1
people usually use the word "emulator" for this. I do not believe jslinux
actually outputs anything. So to call it a compiler would be misleading, IMHO.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Is Offer HN Dead? - il
So news.ycombinator.com/offers is dead, and I haven't seen any Offer HN threads anywhere recently.<p>Was Offer HN just an extremely short-lived HN meme, or has it simply changed or moved elsewhere?
======
RDDavies
I'm still following up on all of the people who replied to my first offer :).
I offered free front-end development. I received ~50 or so requests for help.
I replied to the 35 or so of them that were written in a form of English I
could understand. Probably 20 of those replied back. I'm actively undertaking
work for five or so of them right now.
------
jaspalsawhney
I also was helping someone do UX modeling. If anyone needs help - feel free to
let me know.
jaspal.sawhney@gmail.com
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Evolution of C Programming Practices: Study of the Unix OS 1973–2015 [pdf] - adamnemecek
http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/2890000/2884799/p748-spinellis.pdf?ip=71.227.158.231&id=2884799&acc=OPEN&key=4D4702B0C3E38B35%2E4D4702B0C3E38B35%2E4D4702B0C3E38B35%2E6D218144511F3437&CFID=797301950&CFTOKEN=27845792&__acm__=1465405943_032509c500cb9d511b5ad26aba7f33d7
======
adamnemecek
There's an associated Github repo [https://github.com/dspinellis/unix-history-
make](https://github.com/dspinellis/unix-history-make)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Zephyr – Collaboration for teams and freelancers - gotzephyr
https://zephyrplatform.com/demo/login/?fname=hacker&lname=news&email=hn@zephyr.email
======
bshimmin
I'll be honest - I find the UI impenetrable. It's dark and full of fiddly
icons and I'm not sure what I can click, what I can drag, etc.
If there's any way you can find someone amenable who has no personal
attachment to this project (ie. hasn't used it before, doesn't really know
what you're trying to achieve) _and_ has strong UI/UX sensibilities to take a
look over this, I really think you should. Sometimes when you've built
something and you're proud of it, it can be very hard to have an objective
perspective on how usable something is.
~~~
ericcholis
The UI is quite jarring at first, and doesn't give any call to action or
incentive to "try" anything. The "Join the Beta" window is overlaying the
"Welcome to Zephyr" box, which is confusing.
The dark color scheme is nice for a workspace, but the font size is difficult
to read with large quantities of text. This makes it harder to onboard a user.
Also, I took myself to the home page
([https://zephyrplatform.com/](https://zephyrplatform.com/)) in hopes of a
nicer pitch....and was presented with a sparse version of the demo.
~~~
gotzephyr
Good point on the overlapping cards, we're fixing that now. Thanks!
For our main website, soon as we release the full beta we will move that to a
more detailed website. It's just a basic splash page for now.
------
gotzephyr
This is our first release, built to showcase the card based UI and platform
command system, come and try packing and flipping our cards. Also modules for
chat, pinboard and storage for you to play with.
As we roll out beta there will be further modules added for productivity and a
suite of core enhancements, new command functions to push faster usage, the
Zephyr analytics engine and more.
Would very much love to have you onboard, also any feedback you have. Thanks!
------
fragmede
Does this have anything in common with the Zephyr instant messaging protocol
designed in the 80's created at MIT as part of Project Athena? A quick look at
the link didn't seem like it.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zephyr_(protocol)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zephyr_\(protocol\))
It's not the sexiest new protocol, but there are still pockets where it's
still used, particularly SIPB.
No other product (save Zulip which used Zephyr on the back end anyway), has
had the same notion of messages having both a class and instance which makes
it hard to replace, so I'm stuck on screen + barnowl for the time being.
~~~
gotzephyr
Ha, no. It's just the same name.
~~~
tux
Yeah there is also Zephir Language > [http://www.zephir-
lang.com/](http://www.zephir-lang.com/) Same names is very confusing.
~~~
gotzephyr
That's a different spelling. I see what you are saying though. Name's just a
name at present, a working title, and everything is under test to produce the
best product possible for launch.
~~~
tux
Oh you're right sorry, I did not even see that until you mentioned it.
------
gotzephyr
Thanks for all the comments, massively appreciated! Just remember its a first
demo release, we've still much more to do before we launch, especially on the
UI.
Everything has to start somewhere, but you will see many improvements as each
week rolls by, would very much love to see you all on our beta so we can show
you what we can do and how Zephyr will be progressing.
------
chandika
I'm struggling to understand the purpose of this compared to other
collaboration platforms. Could you elaborate why this should matter to a team
above and beyond other collab platforms out there?
~~~
gotzephyr
We're only around 20% of our final build functionality on this demo. It's just
a little taste of what Zephyr can do.
Tasks, events, screenshare, integration with mail and other 3rd party systems,
analytics and a lot more besides will be rolling out.
Basically you and your team will be able to create your data, visualise it how
you want, analyse it and store it on Zephyr. All on one platform, across all
your devices, fully secured.
This isn't our final product but if you do want to come onboard and see what
we can do and how we will benefit you and your business, sign up to the beta
as I would very much love your help in making Zephyr (even more) awesome ☺
------
almaspite
Super cool, well done!
~~~
gotzephyr
Thanks! :-)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
To Raise, Or Not To Raise (Money) - BenSS
http://maplebutter.com/to-raise-or-not-to-raise/
======
BenSS
Best bit of the article:
"Here’s what I know. If you’re raising so ..
you can quit your job
your co-founders will join you full time
you can build the features that you might monetize
you can show the world your a “legit” startup
Then you don’t have the right mindset."
~~~
dan_martell
;) Thx Ben!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Brit converts jet engine nacelle into camper - samizdis
https://www.thedrive.com/news/34636/this-hollowed-out-jet-engine-camper-took-over-six-years-and-1000-hours-to-build
======
adrianmonk
Ironically, it doesn't look like it would be very aerodynamic when being
hauled down the road.
~~~
simonh
It would probably be more aerodynamic the other way round.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Tinder++ – Tinder for Desktop (plus extra features) - mfkp
http://tinderplusplus.com/
======
mfkp
Author here, just wanted to note that it's free and open source:
[https://github.com/mfkp/tinderplusplus](https://github.com/mfkp/tinderplusplus)
~~~
mx12
That's awesome that you made it open source!
Maybe I'll to try implement one of my ideas for Tinder. That is A/B testing of
profiles in different locations. Let's say I live in SF and could set up a
weeks worth of testing with various different profile pictures and determine
which one gets the most swipe rights in different parts of the country. Then I
could use that profile in my own location.
~~~
mfkp
Sounds like a good idea for a service, figure out the optimal profiles for
people with different combinations of pictures/text, and return the results.
Tinder consulting.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
VC Fund Performance - Some History - luccastera
http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2007/11/vc-fund-perform.html
======
danteembermage
"The very best funds of every vintage generally pay out at least 5x and
sometimes more than 10x.
Like all asset classes, venture is all about manager selection and timing."
The very best craps players can earn 2x, 4x, 8x, even 16x invested capital in
one afternoon riding the pass line.
Like all games of chance, craps is all about dice selection and timing ;)
Of course venture investing is more than just dumb luck. However, even if you
could do an amazing job identifying future 10x'ers ex ante, chances are so can
the other funds, bidding your 10x down to 3x. What's left is probably
compensation for the high variance of returns, which the graph nicely
displays.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Latest Battle Over When and Where Kids Can Walk to School - jcater
http://www.citylab.com/navigator/2016/01/kids-independence-free-range-parenting/423168/
======
Afton
The closing of this article is actually the key for me. I've been trying to
teach my kids that if they have a problem, and I'm not around, they should
pick an adult and ask for help. The odds that they will pick an adult that has
malicious intention is astronomically small. The odds that things will get
worse because they can't bring themselves to ask someone for help seem much
higher.
~~~
Someone1234
Exactly.
"Stranger kidnappings" (where someone the child doesn't know kidnaps them) are
incredibly rare, a child is at much more risk from traffic, guns, cancer, or
swimming pools.
The reason why child kidnappings (non-stranger) are seemingly common is
because the vast majority of these are by family members (e.g. parents during
a custody dispute, grandparents, etc).
Child molesters are also very rare (although you can make them seem more
common by massaging the statistics, as some charities/politicians/media like
to do), and on average in a large retailer there won't even be a single one.
There are stories where kids have literally died both because they were scared
to approach a stranger, or a stranger was scared to approach them.
I have a kid. I am going to teach them to approach any adult, with a slight
bias towards people who work there (simply because they are more likely to
know the procedure for lost child, not because they're inherently safer/less
safe).
~~~
rdtsc
> "Stranger kidnappings" (where someone the child doesn't know kidnaps them)
> are incredibly rare, a child is at much more risk from traffic, guns,
> cancer, or swimming pools.
Agreed, I am a parent as well. But a word of warning, you'll get mean looks
and talk behind your back from playground parents if you take that attitude.
I've seen moms and dads on playground who are way out there in assessing what
is threatening and what is not. They'd see a man walking by the playground
going by their business and start calling their children closer to them acting
all scared. Or make comments about "hmm what are they doing, we haven't seen
this person before". Mind you we were not in a crime ridden neighborhood, this
is a quiet suburban area. Was going to say "lay of the news people, take it
easy" but of course couldn't they'd think I am crazy.
Oh and co-worker's neighbor called CPS (child protective services) on them
because they were playing by themselves in the cul-de-sac while the parents
watched from inside the house. They of course don't know who did it, and even
if they knew there no repercussion they could take against that person. They
can always claim "they thought of the children", nobody can argue with that...
~~~
lotharbot
> _" I've seen moms and dads on playground who are way out there in assessing
> what is threatening and what is not. They'd see a man walking by the
> playground going by their business and start calling their children closer
> to them acting all scared."_
This happens to me all the time in the grocery store. In the past I was a
teacher, and now I'm a stay-at-home dad. If I have my son with me, everyone
thinks I'm awesome for being a man who takes responsibility for his kid; if
he's at school and I'm at the store and happen to be within half a mile of a
kid, people look at me like I'm a creeper.
~~~
mgkimsal
Hrmm... maybe you are doing something you're not aware of? I go in to grocery
stores all the time by myself and never get weird looks. Really, I'm pretty
sure I'd notice after 20+ years of being an adult male in grocery stores
(nearly all the time by myself).
~~~
spacehome
Something is missing from lotharbot's story. Single men pretty regularly go
grocery shopping without reproach.
~~~
edraferi
Yes, but _solitary men are mistrusted around children in public_
Example: your at the grocery store when a young child wanders around the
corner and starts pulling items off the shelf onto the floor right in front of
you. A woman could stop the child, ask "where are your parents?" and carry the
child to fjnd the parents. A man better back away and ignore the child lest
somebody call the cops.
------
kogus
This article (from 2007) has a map that stuck with me. It shows the decreasing
range of permissible movement over the past century in Sheffield, England.
[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-462091/How-
children-...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-462091/How-children-
lost-right-roam-generations.html)
It would be very interesting to have a similar map across different countries
and compare.
The thing is, most parents I know would agree this is troubling, but few of
them actually allow their children to roam with anything close to actual
freedom until high school age.
------
jrcii
This is a very interesting article that relates to this topic:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_childhood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_childhood)
Remarkably, "During the 1600s, a shift in philosophical and social attitudes
toward children and the notion of 'childhood' began in Europe." This seems to
imply that the notion of childhood didn't even exist. Prior to this it
explains that, "Children were often temporarily sent off as servants to
relatives in need of help."
I know in my own family, my great-grandfather's many sisters and brothers (13
in total) had tremendous work responsibilities as children. We appear to have
gone from one extreme to the other.
~~~
david-given
Don't forget that a couple of hundred years later, the teenager was invented.
Prior to that, then pretty much at puberty you were deemed to be an adult, and
you'd go off to work/marriage/both. (But it's important to remember that
puberty now is way earlier than it was then, mostly due to better health and
diet, IIRC.)
I do find myself wondering what the next social step will be, as social
maturity diverges even further from physical maturity...
~~~
e40
My understanding is that puberty is earlier due to additives in food. Tofu,
for example, has compounds that mimic female hormones. Compounds in soft
plastics are thought to disrupt the hormones of young children, too.
~~~
stvswn
As long as we're throwing out unproven but provocative theories along these
lines -- I think I read something about how residual compounds from birth
control passes through to urine and then into our water supply in trace
amounts, triggering hormonal changes that lead to earlier puberty. I like that
one, it has a lot of things going for it: tainted water supply, culpability of
drug companies, punishment for our hubris in thinking we could control
reproduction, etc.
~~~
pavel_lishin
Don't forget that it would probably be a stronger effect in more populated
areas, so on the surface you'd expect it to hit inner cities more.
------
kqr2
In Japan, kids are quite independent. It's a bigger issue in the US because of
the lack of social trust.
[http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/09/why-are-little-
kids-i...](http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/09/why-are-little-kids-in-
japan-so-independent/407590/)
------
tn13
I feel that the battle is kind of lost when you have ventured into this level
of detail. If you have to discuss "legitimate way to give permission" to a
child it has reached outside the realms of parenting common sense.
I think lot of these issues tie-in very closely to the fact that government is
trying to control our lives with the assumption that government knows better
than us. As an Indian immigrant to India I am extremely concerned to about my
child here because I simply can not exercise my inherited parenting judgement
anymore.
One thing liberty loving individuals could do here is learn a thing or two
from NRA and completely deny any legislative space to the law makers on this
issue. These small bills will not deter the government from what they are
already doing.
------
rayiner
I hate people calling normal parenting a "free range parenting movement." It's
not. When I was a little kid in the early 1990's, even my overprotective asian
parents let me walk to and from school. And I think even today the majority of
parents would think nothing of it. Legislation like this is a response to a
vocal minority of psychotic millenials. Because few of their peers have kids,
and they've moved far from home in pursuit of their careers, they have no
frame of reference for normal parenting.
~~~
asift
Norms are not static and based on your experiences as a child. It's labeled
"free range parenting" because it is no longer the norm.
Edit: I should have been more careful in my wording. Whether it is "the norm"
is obviously very location dependent. The US is a large country with all sorts
of different norms at the community level.
I happen to have grown up in a suburban Midwest community (incredibly safe)
with large residential areas directly across the street from many schools.
However, walking to school was prohibited. Any students caught walking were
subject to suspension and the school threatened to report parents to law
enforcement. Obviously my particular anecdote doesn't apply to everyone, but
there are some communities with insane policies in the US.
~~~
jandrese
In an affluent Maryland suburb? That should be the norm.
If you live east of the Anacostia in DC then yeah, the kids aren't as safe
outside on their own, but that's more from a gang recruitment angle than a
traditional "stranger danger".
Obviously people who live in crime ridden ghettos can't be quite as free as
people who live in safe neighborhoods, and it's something we should fix in the
long term, but it doesn't mean we should punish those people who live in safe
areas with overly restrictive laws that hurt their children's development.
It's kind of sad that the kids who are already disadvantaged by being poor,
having failing schools, and likely only a single parent are also the ones who
don't get to be free and learn independence as children. It's yet another cog
on the cycle of poverty.
~~~
asift
I mentioned it in my edit above, but I grew up in an affluent Midwest suburb
where parents were threatened with criminal action if they let their kids walk
to school. Even high school aged students were threatened with suspensions for
walking. Whether this is the "norm" will depend on where you live, but there
are certainly entire communities where letting kids walk to school is not the
norm.
~~~
mixmastamyk
And why didn't anyone sue for their right to walk?
~~~
gknoy
Initiating a legal battle is not for the faint of heart. Few want to tangle
with authority, and the kind of people that would implement + enforce such a
thing (e.g. school administrators) are notorious for being petty and
inflexible. Moreover, they often have lots of legal backing for their actions
(due to "in loco parentis" status) that are hard to pin down.
Most parents don't have the resources for such a suit (or defense), and most
students probably don't want to risk getting suspended/expelled or sent to a
different school for being the one who sticks up for their rights.
~~~
mixmastamyk
No "tangling" is needed, just someone to file the suit. I would be surprised
if there was not a lawyer in the whole state interested in working on it at a
reduced cost due to the subject. The local ACLU chapter would be a good place
to look.
------
dahart
My first gut reaction was, like many, that policing whether children can walk
to school is effing retarded.
But, I remember when we had no seat belt laws or child seats, and that was a
dumb idea, and got solved by government intrusion. My parents moved me and my
siblings to Mexico for a year, and used to send us walking through the city on
own. I was the oldest, at 7, my sister was 6, my brother 4. One time my
brother was kicked in the head by a horse while we were wandering in a field
petting the horses. In retrospect, my parents were lucky he lived, and a
little more supervision may have been called for.
I have children, and usually encourage them to walk to school, a little under
a mile. But, I'd never let them loose on their own in a foreign country.
I'm also white and have lived only in at least middle class, ridiculously safe
neighborhoods, except for my year in Mexico, my whole life. I realize I've
been really lucky, and that there are a wide variety of people and places and
standards and ways kids can and do get hurt. So, who am I to judge?
I think I could accept policing being reasonable, if it turned out that it did
on average prevent injuries or deaths, and that my feelings about what's too
intrusive might be irrelevant, biased, or lacking data.
~~~
jim-greer
> I remember when we had no seat belt laws or child seats
There's really no downside to putting on a seat belt, or using a child seat.
There's a big downside for being overly protective of children - both for
their development and for busy parents.
~~~
dahart
I'd wager my personal preferences align with yours, but I'm playing devil's
advocate as an exercise in trying to be open minded before deciding what I
think about the new laws.
There was a lot of uproar about the downsides of seat belt laws when they were
proposed. It took government action in the face of industry and some public
opposition to make it happen. It doesn't seem like there are downsides now,
but in fact there was a fight, and hindsight is 20/20.
Do we have proof and data that being over-protective has big downsides? Do we
have proof that driving kids to school amounts to being overly protective? Is
it really clear cut? Is it possible to be protective about physical safety and
lax about social development? I don't know that, even if I suspect it.
I'm personally afraid of being over-protective of my children. And, like I
said, I send my kids to school on foot. But I might be able to withhold my own
incredulity toward the idea of this kind of policing until more evidence has
stacked up. ;)
------
xyzzy4
Preventing kids from walking down a public street is nearly as stupid as
preventing mature women from doing so. Reminds me of Afghanistan and Saudi
Arabia.
~~~
dudul
I'm a strong proponent of what is now called 'free-range' parenting (I just
call it "normal parenting"), and think that kids should be allowed to walk
around. But your comparison is ludicrous.
~~~
x1798DE
Both are oppressive, both are ostensibly done to protect the oppressed target
(from rape and violence), both undercut the decisions of mature adults (women,
parents). Seems like it's valid on at least a few dimensions.
The major difference is that children grow up to be adults and are freed from
the restrictions. If that is the most salient issue, then it's a bad analogy,
but I don't think it's a "ludicrous" comparison.
~~~
dudul
The problem is mature women do not compare to children. It's like saying
"forbidding children to vote is as stupid as forbidding women to vote".
Children do _not_ have the same legal status as grown ups. They can't drive,
should they drive because mature women can drive? They can't watch porn,
should they be allowed to watch porn because mature women can?
Yes, kids not being allowed to walk down the street is stupid, but using the
argument that mature women can do it so kids should be allowed to do it is not
valid.
------
ilyaeck
There mere fact that there are legal battles around this issue in a country
that calls itself "free" is mind-boggling and unsettling. More like, police
state cum Idiocracy, with some avenues from venting.
------
JustSomeNobody
My parents, and those of all my friends growing up, must have been complete
and utter failures as parents because the ONLY restriction of our travels was
be home before the streetlights came on.
~~~
duderific
Yep, that's how it was in the 70's. At 9 or 10 years old I was roaming the
city on my BMX bike without a care in the world. No helmets of course. My mom
would come out and yell for us when it was time for dinner.
------
FussyZeus
I was a latchkey kid for most of school post 6th grade or so because both
parents needed to work to keep us fed. I regularly made my own dinners (boxed
macaroni, but still) and had to help out around the house too.
I credit this for giving me a solid work ethic and my self-reliance. I don't
know what I would've turned out as without a lot of responsibilities as a kid
(A lot by american kid standards anyways.)
~~~
tn13
I was raised in India. I walked half a mile till 4th grade and 2 miles from
5th grade to 10th grade. I remember I had to deal with a madman on the way who
would keep running after the kids and throw stones on them. I remember once I
slipped and fell into a small ravine where there was this huge f __ __python
(goosebumps on my hand right now just remembering that incident), once I was
chased by a fox.
I never even bothered complaining to my parents because in one way it was fun.
We ventured deep into woods, caught crabs, put traps for birds and squirrels
etc. etc.
It was a wonderful part of my childhood, my kids may not experience the same
but I dont want the government to restrict their experience either.
------
cafard
About 1967 I was one of seven or eight cousins in a Midwestern suburban park
when one of the younger ones tripped and hit her head against a bench. She was
not gravely hurt, but it tore the skin on her temple, and it bled a lot. A
couple of utter strangers, a man and a women of probably 45 to 50, drove her
and an older sister to the emergency room while the rest of us waited for my
mother to get us.
It all worked out. We rounded up the cousins at the ER. The one who fell had
no visible scar.
Sometimes I think about this and how odd it seems in the context of the last
25 years. If my wife and I showed up at the ER with two girls from a town 200
miles away I think that the staff would call the police. I also wonder what
would be required in the way of release forms, payment assurance, and so on.
------
ps4fanboy
I am 14 years older than my sister, when I was in grade 3 I was walking myself
to school, however as my parents got older and had my sister they became
incredibly paranoid and she wasnt allowed to walk to school ever.
~~~
duderific
It all shifted in the 80's due to the kidnapped children on the milk cartons,
among other things. I wonder did your 14 year difference span the 80's?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Secret-sharing app Whisper left users’ locations, fetishes exposed on the Web - miked85
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/03/10/secret-sharing-app-whisper-left-users-locations-fetishes-exposed-web/
======
olefoo
It said Secret _sharing_ app. I guess people should pay attention.
~~~
lasagnaphil
The dataset also revealed the location data for each post, which could be
easily used to identify individuals. Did the service stated in the EULA that
location data is also going to be public? If so, did they notify this to the
users in a clear, straightforward manner?
------
rickwierenga
[http://archive.vn/oI92L](http://archive.vn/oI92L)
------
passerby1
Do they officially sell user data or show ads to users?
------
rolltiide
They could have made so much on Empire with that.
Actually, does anyone use Empire anymore with its reliability issues?
Dark.fail is like the darknet downforeveryoneorjustme.com and seems like other
marketplaces are up a lot more lately.
------
hmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Can we stop posting all the paywalled links? So frustrating. I would never
subscribe to one of these sites.
~~~
dang
If there's a workaround, it's ok. Users usually post workarounds in the
thread.
This is in the FAQ at
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html)
and there's more explanation here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989)
[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=by:dang%20paywall&sort=byDate&...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=by:dang%20paywall&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix&page=0)
------
1024core
Such carelessness needs to be heavily punished. I didn't check the details,
but I'm guessing it was some No-SQL database left open with default settings.
But that's irrelevant: the company that does such a thing needs to be shut
down.
~~~
cmdshiftf4
>I didn't check the details
It's in the first line of the third paragraph of the article. If you're not
bothered reading about the topic being posted, why are you weighing in on it?
>But that's irrelevant: the company that does such a thing needs to be shut
down.
People who post their dirty laundry on an app in a time when we know
everything online is recorded, tracked, sold off to others, hacked and stolen
or archived in a government database and then have the gall to complain about
that dirty laundry getting out should have their internet access removed from
them. Parents who let their children put themselves in this situation should
be monitored by CPS.
Ignorance is no longer an excuse.
~~~
alpaca128
> Ignorance is no longer an excuse.
Nor is it justification for the leak. It may be unwise to share sensitive data
online but people aren't going to stop doing it just because it's not a good
idea; it needs real consequences for companies who let that happen.
~~~
cmdshiftf4
>it needs real consequences for companies who let that happen.
Companies are ran by business people who often aren't technically literate, or
are at a high level, or have become detached from it, and so they hire and pay
people who lay claim to expertise knowledge to create these systems.
Why stop at the companies?
Engineers ultimately allowed this, and other such breaches, to happen. We've
seen auto engineers in Germany being taken to task over fudging numbers for
emissions tests, what if we held software engineers to the same level of
liability when their creations result in people's data being stolen?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask YC: Where do you get simple legal counsel on your startup ideas? - lunchbox
I'm wondering what you guys think the best way is to get quick advice on simple legal questions related to startups. I'm not talking about complex things like drafting partnership agreements and evaluating the legal merits of a patent application; I'm talking about more basic things like "is it legal to make a mashup that scrapes data from ${website}.com?" or "can I be held responsible for comments users make on my website's forum?" In my last startup I did, I was luckily able to consult with a family friend who was a lawyer, but that might not be an option this time. Is there any solution to basic legal questions short of paying hundreds for a legal consultation? (Which seems like overkill for the type of questions I have.) If I need to see a lawyer, how can I find one who's cheap and is an expert on internet issues specifically?
======
iamdave
"is it legal to make a mashup that scrapes data from ${website}.com?"
Is usually covered in either the site's privacy policy, or their TOS.
"can I be held responsible for comments users make on my website's forum?"
In many cases, no; but not all of them.
Overall, to answer your question I'm sure a business attorney would be willing
to answer such questions without any cost. I've consulted with a few of them,
drop in schedule a meeting and just ask some general questions without any
sort of consulting fee that you'd get with people who call themselves
'specialists'. With this sort of thing, I'd go directly to a lawyer; you avoid
both bs fees, and also getting involved with someone offering legal advice
without a license which can land you both in trouble.
------
mixmax
The meta-solution would be to clone YC news now that it's open sourced and
create legalnews.com. As a site admin you'll get all the advice you want.
Of course you'll probably also be sued.
~~~
iamdave
Right. Be very careful with that, operating without a license as mentioned is
sketchy and if someone calls you on it, good luck.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Datadex public beta: Find and exchange data easily - fjeanson
https://datadex.net
======
fjeanson
Hi Everyone,
We're excited to share with you our first public beta release of Datadex.
We're a cloud service start-up that helps organizations and data scientists
share data with proper security, privacy and governance. You can make your
data findable and evaluate matches based on metadata analysis alone. Then make
or approve requests for data exchange with others.
Take is for a spin and let us know what you think!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
San Francisco Opens The City’s Data - vaksel
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/19/san-francisco-opens-the-city%e2%80%99s-data/
======
vaksel
Site doesn't seem that polished, since hitting the logo gets you an error
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What is the biggest problem a programmer has? - mcartyem
======
Kelliot
Its got to be answering to a non-technical manager. I have had particular
problems in the past with the 'hands-on, always in the know' types that need
to be educated about the full issue before action is taken.
Drags out the most simple tasks.
------
debacle
Leaky abstractions - not really the most original answer, but the layers of
abstraction away from the machine code allow me to do things in hours that
would take months or more.
It's also the source of most of my bugs, most of my slowdown, and it's the
reason my C:\Windows folder is 13gb.
------
pinion247
Not knowing how to code :)
Seriously - in my experience the biggest problem a programmer can have is
having a manager that doesn't programming/programmers. The long-term effect of
that alone is crippling.
------
AznHisoka
not getting over-burned, getting enough sleep, and finding love.
------
mcartyem
Really, is this all you have?
How about not having time to write they programs they want? Or being afraid of
using the most powerful language?
------
yolesaber
Time arithmetic and off-by-one errors
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
If You Want to Write Useful Software, You Have to Do Tech Support - pchristensen
http://nick.typepad.com/blog/2009/06/if-you-want-to-write-useful-software-you-have-to-do-tech-support.html
======
derefr
And the corollary, from the customer's perspective: The best possible person
to get on the phone is a developer with commit access.
~~~
prpon
I would second your thought. I worked for a enterprise software company that
had developers building the product, a maintenance team that fixed bugs and 3
layers of support.
The only people who knew what was going on with a huge product were the
developers who actually wrote it. But you had to go thru so many layers to get
to the developers, irrespective of silver or gold or platinum support. I would
never ever pay for support of another product that comes from a big
corporation.
We went opensource with our products and every developer responded directly to
questions from customers. It made a big difference to the users.
~~~
alain94040
I don't think open source is the particular answer to the problem you state, I
think it's an orthogonal issue.
If you have millions of users who want to ask questions (think of supporting
Microsoft Office), then direct access to developers is a non-starter.
What I have seen work are rotation programs where developers spend some time
as first-line support (maybe 1 week per year). When doing so, they help
educate the rest of the support staff, and they get great exposure to real
users facing real problems.
~~~
derefr
> What I have seen work are rotation programs where developers spend some time
> as first-line support (maybe 1 week per year). When doing so, they help
> educate the rest of the support staff, and they get great exposure to real
> users facing real problems.
This skirts the real issue, though, which is that the person you get on the
line should _have the power_ to fix your problem. Putting developers on first-
line support would only help if they were still _developers_ while they worked
there, with all the same access privileges and tools available to them.
~~~
prpon
One of the reasons often cited for the structure that existed was 'it would
distract developers working on the product from meeting the deliverables'.
There is a role for support on a complex product where user errors often are
the reason for tech support calls.
However, If you have a problem that requires code fixes, I cannot imagine
having to deal with a long line of people who have no power to make those
changes.
~~~
kragen
If a lot of users make the same error, then a fix in the code is required.
------
joshu
This is really good advice. This was an essential part of developing
delicious.
------
tsally
If it's for a product you love (and it should be if you're doing a start up),
it's not tech support. It doesn't even feel remotley close to tech support.
It's just fixing or explaining something that matters a lot to you. Hackers
always want to talk about their pet projects... why not make the customer
happy while doing it. :-)
------
sosuke
I love doing tech support on my own sites, anything for one on one feedback
with my users is very fun to me. If one user has an issue it's likely
affecting others.
On my full time work though I run into the same problems he mentioned and I
make a point to asking the requester (of the feature or project) why they want
to do it or what the user will get out of it so I can see if there are problem
areas or possible improvements as I implement the request. It might irritate
the requester but I feel better knowing I've done a little bit more to make a
good final result.
------
sophacles
I worked in a place where devs were also top-tier tech support. This worked
well, as we got to figure out what the problems were, got to help teach our
users the capabilities of the system, and got to look cool when we fixed a
problem in 2 minutes. This was for an in-house network appliance, so our users
were pretty technical anyway, which definately helped. What did not help tho,
was when the help desk got lazy and started directing tickets to us which had
no place in our laps. Then it all went down hill.
In short, its balancing act.
------
mrduncan
I'm curious what balance others have struck between development and tech
support. I know personally I wouldn't want to be developing something and have
to take a support call (or email) every 15 minutes.
My idea would be to rotate who is "on support" every week or two. This would
ensure everyone does get time doing support without it becoming a hassle and
interruption to getting other things done.
What are your thoughts?
~~~
run4yourlives
You could always force email, like 37Signals.
I don't think there's a one size fits all solution though.
~~~
mrduncan
Good point, although if I remember correctly 37signals has at least one
dedicated support person (possibly more).
~~~
run4yourlives
That's just to answer emails though.
------
io
Summary: Direct communication with users yields better software. Dedicated
tech support often translate poorly from user issues to feature requests.
------
Goronmon
A similar sentiment should be mentioned as a developer looking for feedback
from users when you have to deal with your customer's version of "tech
support". The managers and tech support people are explaining what they think
the problem is that the users are seeing, but when you walk through what the
user is actually doing it's usually pretty surprising what you will uncover.
------
Pistos2
I think anyone heavily involved in a not-too-unknown open source project can
get this experience, via mailing lists, forums, issue trackers, IRC channels.
~~~
marcusbooster
Depends who your target is. The channels you listed require a bit of tech
savvy, my mom is not going to file a bug report.
------
andrewljohnson
I tend to agree, but there are obvious counter examples.
~~~
thinkzig
Such as...?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Financial Modelling for Startups - Madintelligence
http://www.madintelligence.com/financial-modelling-question-page/
======
Madintelligence
If anybody would leave feedback so I can improve the content I would be very
thankful.
~~~
blazzar
A couple of items that would help the initial page:
\- the page title would be better represented as "Financial Modelling Ebook"
or similar
\- a simple book image with the book title would be a quick way of making it
obvious what you offering
~~~
Madintelligence
Just updated. The response to this has been way beyond my wildest thoughts.
Thank you!
~~~
blazzar
Those updates would also be good on the sales web page.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Manning Books – Half Price on All MEAPS - myth_drannon
https://www.manning.com/dotd
======
clishem
I don't like Manning books in general. The writing is often unnecessarily
verbose and their books contain lots of redundant diagrams.
With the last book I bought from them they refused to honour their refund
policy for MEAP releases, because at the time they _read_ my request for a
refund, the full book had already been released (which was nearly two weeks
after I had actually sent them a request). They still allowed me to exchange
for another book, but this was not a positive experience.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
AirPods Are Becoming a Platform? - bdr
https://www.aboveavalon.com/notes/2019/11/19/airpods-are-becoming-a-platform
======
vegardx
There's something very Her-esque
([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/))
over the AirPods, at least when they were first released. There's something
futuristic but also realistic about it. Can't really put my finger on it.
One of the features that I feel is glossed over very quickly is Live
Listen[0], especially for an article about it being "a platform". For those
that have family members with hearing loss they are a godsend in noisy
environments like a cafe. Just put an iPhone with tons of processing power and
an array of microphones on the table and let it filter out most of the noise
and send it to the AirPods with impressive low latency. It's truly amazing, if
you have AirPods and an iPhone you should try it. They outperform more
professional solutions by miles. I have only tried it with AirPods, but I can
only imagine how well it works with proper hearing aids that are tuned to the
frequency range.
I wish they'd make an audio loop "bridge" of some sort for Live Listen, as
hearing aids are expensive and available technology from government usually
lags behind 10+ years.
[0] [https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209082](https://support.apple.com/en-
us/HT209082)
~~~
boudin
The whole point of hearing aids is to be easily forgotten and to last a day
without the need to charge. I'm quite sure that with a good computer,
profesionnal microphones and some good headphones with a jack you'll have a
better solution with lower latency than an iphone and airpods, but that misses
the point of hearing aids
~~~
hombre_fatal
My father doesn't even use his $1000+ hearing aids because he says they just
amplify everything and don't help.
If Airpods + an iPhone on the table can help him out, like making table
conversation more accessible, that would be a big deal. I'll have to look into
it.
The point of Airpods + iPhone here is that they are still highly portable,
people today already carry both around just for fun. Your desktop PC + mic
setup is not.
~~~
jjeaff
That's not the way high end hearing aids are supposed to work, at all. You can
buy $20 off the shelf hearing aids that just amplify everything.
Although $1,000 is not quite what high end hearing aids usually go for. I
usually see prices closer to $3000+.
------
KaiserPro
This is peak tech journalism: uncritical wishful thinking.
A strong claim, I know, but hear me out.
1) these are very small bluetooth headphones.
2) They only work when attached to a smart phone
3) They are still headphones.
Another thing to note is that they are still a substandard user experience
compared to 3.5mm jack and decent headphones ($50+ with non tangle wires)
Bluetooth headphones are great if you want to not have to fiddle with wires.
But, they are capricious and run out of batteries.
The pros have both noise isolation _and_ reduction. But, they are still let in
a boat load of noise, especially speaking.
For long term use, you have to sacrifice isolation for comfort. For the same
price as airpod pros you can get custom moulded in ear monitors. 35db of noise
reduction, and they don't hurt.
The real selling point of ear buds is the fashion part. People are wearing
them because they are a signal of how rich/successful they are. (in the same
way people wore those shitty ipod ear buds.)
As for a platform, what are they going to do to be useful? "intelligent
noise"? but that requires situational awareness that doesn't exist on
smartphones yet.
They will be swept aside as soon as decent AR wearable pop onto the scene. Be
that in 3 or 15 years.
~~~
csomar
> People are wearing them because they are a signal of how rich/successful
> they are.
They are 150-250 bucks a piece. If people are wearing them as status signal
then we have real gone downhill a lot.
~~~
jankiehodgpodge
That comes across quite snobbishly to be honest. People pay several thousands
for jewelry or watches as they expect them to last many years or decades.
$200 dollars is a lot of money for a device that in most cases will last a
year or two and there are plenty of alternatives that do the same for a fifth
of the price. Especially in the context of teenagers using them as a status
symbol.
~~~
csomar
But also people pay dozens of thousands to hundreds of thousands for a vehicle
that will last a little bit longer than an airpod (at least from a status
point of view).
My point is, a status symbol is something unachievable by most people
regardless (like a Yacht or a Ferrari). An airdpod can be bought by almost
anyone in the US if that's their priority.
~~~
willis936
You can have a useable vehicle for 5 years with a $10,000 upfront cost and
$5,000 in maintenance. That’s something people need to operate in the US. Yes,
a brand new Tesla is a status symbol just the same as $250 purely optional
luxury items are.
If your question is “Doesn’t everyone have disposable income?” The answer is
no.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States)
------
jeethsuresh
This seems a little far-fetched.
There's a great quote from someone whose name escapes me right now, about the
definition of a platform being when revenue generated by software running on
the device far outpaces revenue generated by sales of the device itself. I've
always liked that definition, and it seems accurate to me based on historical
evidence (PCs - definitely a platform. Smartwatches - definitely not).
In this test, the airpods fail abysmally - not only do they not allow for
revenue generation today, they don't even allow for third party developers to
use their hardware features in any capacity. In fact, the main use-case for
airpods appears to be efficiency and convenience when combined with Siri. All
three "sources" described by the article fail to define for me the benefit
users will gain from airpods as a platform, and instead have done an excellent
job of convincing me that users will benefit far more from treating airpods as
a product.
Compounding this is the fact that most computing platforms are primarily
visual in their interactions with their users - this is clearly no
coincidence. Visual interfaces allow developers to surface many pieces of
information at once, and they allow users to absorb information at a pace that
is variable (based on context) and comfortable to them. Aural platforms don't
have this capability, and the context that they assume is often wrong. For
example, I've been driving a lot these past few days, and one of the worst
Apple-built experiences I've ever had occurred when I needed to stop for gas.
Not only was I directed to a gas station I had already passed (driving on the
freeway), but when I wanted to navigate to another gas station there was no
way (obvious or not) for me to tell Siri to find me a gas station ahead of me.
In fact, there was no way to confirm where any of the gas stations Siri found
me were in relation to me, without looking at my screen.
One more thing: Aural platforms are exclusively serial. They surface one piece
of information at a time, and in fact they would be less usable if they
surfaced any more than that (or surfaced each piece of information any
quicker). This alone, I feel, makes them unsuitable platforms in today's
world.
Edit: randall found the quote, by Bill Gates: 'Gates said something along the
lines of, “That’s a crock of shit. This isn’t a platform. A platform is when
the economic value of everybody that uses it, exceeds the value of the company
that creates it. Then it’s a platform.”' [1]
[1] [https://stratechery.com/2018/the-bill-gates-
line/](https://stratechery.com/2018/the-bill-gates-line/)
~~~
randall
>>There's a great quote from someone whose name escapes me right now
Bill Gates. You're looking for Bill Gates.
[https://stratechery.com/2018/the-bill-gates-
line/](https://stratechery.com/2018/the-bill-gates-line/)
~~~
johnnycab
More recently, the concept been distilled by the current Microsoft CEO,
without indulging in apophasis.
_He goes on to contrast the role of companies such as Microsoft with that of
aggregators, which dominate a market by amassing far more content than rivals
— like Google and Facebook Inc. in online media, or Amazon in e-commerce.
Referring to how companies like these work, he says: “You commoditize supply.
You’re even sort of commoditizing the demand, in some ways. That’s a very
different dynamic.”_
[https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2019-12-21...](https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2019-12-21/satya-
nadella-reinvigorated-microsoft)
------
kejaed
When I look at AirPods and AirPods Pro I don’t necessarily see a platform, but
what I do see is the 2nd wearable hit from Apple (after the Apple Watch), and
what is likely the basis for their AR platform.
Wearable, miniature, real-time allow-latency (audio) processing and with the
precise indoor location tracking on the iPhone 11 series, I see Apple setting
the technology stage (as the often do) for a true platform, AR, with these
technologies coming together.
This is one of the pieces I’ve been meaning to write up for my audience of
zero...
------
msci100
I don't know if I necessarily agree the line of thinking that Airpod users
will buy more than one pair, but the potential to push Airpod Pro's syncing
capabilities to other rooms is interesting.
A fun example would be to use Airpod Pros as walkie talkies with other Pro
users in the same house or area.
Definitely would interested in tinkering with any Dev kit came out for
building Airpod apps.
~~~
soneil
Buying more than one pair happens quite easily - I did, but I didn’t set out
to do so. When the second generation came out, I upgraded for the wireless
charging. I tend to sleep with one in (a pre-existing habit, and as I’m an
“active sleeper”, one that benefitted from being freed from the tangle), so I
kept the previous pair as my bed-pair. This usage is noticeably detrimental to
the battery, so I figured keeping the old ones like this would save me doing
the same damage to the next pair.
Now I’be upgraded again to the pros, but kept the gen2 because they better fit
the times that I only have one in one ear (which the pros don’t seem to suit
well at all).
So I now have three pairs, not because I wanted three pairs - but because the
situational uses I’ve found for them, feel more appropriate than discarding
them while they still work. And I can’t imagine this is going to be a very
rare outlier, thanks to the huge ick component of their resale value.
~~~
msci100
Interesting! That's a great example of why to have multiple pairs. Learn
something new every day.
------
LeoPanthera
The Pro Airpods simply don’t fit my ears. The left one could be made to fit
with some determined wiggling, but the right one would never make a seal, and
the phone would complain that the seal was bad. I returned them.
I can’t imagine that I am _that_ unique. It’s especially odd, as I own the
first generation “regular” airpods, and they fit just fine.
~~~
zarriak
Did it still happen with the different sizes of ear tips? That sounds very
odd.
~~~
LeoPanthera
Yep. Tried them all.
------
jonplackett
I had a really weird experience with my AirPods Pro.
I was cooking with the noise cancelling turned on and I sliced off half my
fingernail with a potato peeler, right down between the nail and the finger.
It was pretty gross.
But I had the noise cancelling on and as I looked at my finger I had this
weird out of body experience where I couldn’t feel anything and just felt
completely separate from it - I had to take the AirPods out before I could
come to grips with the situation and do anything about it.
That noise cancellation is powerful stuff. I can see how it could transport
you maybe even as much as VR
~~~
nneonneo
There are a whole bunch of reasons (physiological and psychological) why
getting a cut like that produces a delayed sensation of pain. Psychologically,
if you're deeply concentrated in something (e.g. immersed in listening to
music), you might be subject to a form of delayed perception. Physiologically,
the cut area may not send pain signals until an inflammatory response mounts
against the bleeding. These could combine to produce a significant delay in
your (conscious) perception of the wound, even without something like the
AirPods.
(One could argue the degree to which it isolates you from the environment
acoustically might also be insulating you from heeding your environment at all
- sounds like something that might be worth studying!)
~~~
allovernow
Adrenaline also quickly increases and can totally mask pain. Even if one feels
relatively calm.
~~~
jonplackett
It wasn't so much the pain. It was like a kind of paralysis because I didn't
feel like I was quite there.
The AirPods didn't even have any music playing, just the ANC turned on.
------
DiabloD3
Unfortunately, wireless headphones will never take off until they either
permanently fix Bluetooth, or replace it with a better protocol that _doesn 't
drop signal from my pocket to my head_.
Seriously, get your shit together, guys. And no, AirPods aren't magically
immune, in fact, their bifurcated nature makes it worse.
Edit: For those asking/stating "they already took off", not really. Most
people do not own headphones, do not want headphones, and most people keep
owning or keep buying wired headphones; even if the numbers say more wireless
sold, it isn't backwards facing enough, and doesn't include all the wired
pairs people already own, it also doesn't include ones included in the box.
The two largest complaints I always hear is either the device connectivity is
garbage, the device audio quality is garbage, or the comfort is fucking
horrible compared to similarly priced wired earbuds and IEMs.
Too many corners are cut to make these things work, and most consumers just
aren't happy. So, they didn't take off if _most people hate them_ , you have
to have one hell of a RDF-boner for that industry to argue otherwise.
Also, /r/headphones says hi.
~~~
maxsilver
I'm pretty sure you have a defective unit somewhere. Bluetooth isn't perfect,
but it's definitely not "drop signal from my pocket" bad unless you have some
weird specific-to-you problem.
AirPods work reasonably well. My _cheap knock-off_ AirPods ($50 Anker
Soundcore) work really well. I can drop my phone and walk into the next room
and still have full audio without losing signal. The battery life is basically
the same as my wireless headset, despite being a tiny fraction of the size.
They sound just as good as any pair of $20 wired earbuds I've ever used.
Yes, they aren't perfect (the dual MacBook + iPhone pairing handoff thing
seems sometimes problematic. And they are easy to lose). But they aren't
trash. These products sell reasonably well because they _work_ reasonably
well.
~~~
secondo
I don’t fully agree with parent about all drawbacks for wireless headphones
but I do agree with Bluetooth having issues. In particular in Apple hardware.
My AirPods will drop out if I cover my iPhone 11 Pro with my hand in my
pocket. My Bose NC 700 will either drop out or cause my magic keyboard to lose
connection if they are too close to my MacBook Pro. I’ve learned to live with
these things as I understand they are minuscule problems to have, but the
point still stands. Bluetooth has issues.
~~~
maxsilver
> My AirPods will drop out if I cover my iPhone 11 Pro with my hand in my
> pocket. (snip) Bluetooth has issues.
To be perfectly honest, that doesn't sound like a bluetooth problem at all.
That sounds like an Apple defect in their product.
~~~
saagarjha
I’ve had similar issues across multiple AirPods and iPhones.
------
rsp1984
Forget platforms, the real prize is making the form factor comfortable enough
for side sleepers and making the battery last 8+ hours (duration of a good
nights sleep).
The number of people on the planet with bedroom noise problems is vastly
larger than the number of audiophiles. _Plus_ the value created per customer
would be dramatically higher.
Solve these issues and I can see AirPods being a $50B / year business.
~~~
theNJR
I sleep with one AirPod in. Have been since 2016.
~~~
germinalphrase
What is your purpose in doing so? Background tones? Notifications?
~~~
theNJR
Background sound. Usually reruns of The Office, which is a bit absurd but it
helps me fall asleep. It’s now a conditioned response.
------
hayksaakian
A lot of "could" and "would" to speculate about airpods becoming a platform.
The article vastly overpromises and underdelivers
------
ck425
I don't see what is unique about airpods that an androids supplier couldn't
replicate in terms of the platform stuff.
Also I expect the growing trend of disconnecting from technology will hit
immersive technology forms like audio particularly hard.
~~~
briandear
> I don't see what is unique about airpods that an androids supplier couldn't
> replicate in terms of the platform stuff.
The W2 chip, that’s what.
~~~
brian-armstrong
You are right, Apple holds an exclusive right to any novel RF or DSP
techniques.
------
dpflan
> “Another example involves utilizing AirPods to deliver different sound
> experiences to different people despite being in the same location and
> looking at the same thing. As an example, a single presentation shown in a
> school or office setting can end up delivering a dozen different experiences
> to those in attendance.“
Devil’s Advocate: Personalized, targeted advertising? A presentation that is
different per user requires a model for that person, I’m not quite sure how
useful this example is except if we’re talking about foreign language
translation.
~~~
abraCadabstrax
I think translation (or rather interpretation) is actually a wonderful use
case. My experience with doing simultaneous interpretation for large
conferences usually means that the cost of maintaining and providing listening
devices is borne by the interpretation company. Providing your own listening
device, especially such a high-grade device as what this purports to be,
offers an interesting cost reduction and performance improvement.
------
zarriak
I think the vast majority of people on the airpods to airpods pro path are on
because like most people they hate the apple hard plastic headphones.
The reason that the people that have both pairs they polled is because the
people in their family/friend group that they would give them to don't have
airpods specifically because they hate the hard plastic.
It is very interesting that they still look quite stupid when you see people
wear them but it is enough of a different type of stupid than google glass
that people won't laugh at you out loud in public.
~~~
Animats
From the article: _" This technology prowess and manufacturing acumen goes to
waste if people don’t actually want to be seen wearing the devices. Apple’s
success at redefining luxury, combined with the company’s design-led culture,
gives the company a large advantage in the area of understanding what people
will want to wear on the body."_
Apple, after all, is the company that successfully positioned white-wire
earphones as cool. Users could easily have been ridiculed as "iDweebs", like
Google's "Glassholes".
~~~
saagarjha
They were for a while when AirPods first came out. Remember the “toothbrush
head” images that were going around?
------
elagost
Lots of people in this thread seem to be fighting about whether AirPods (and
wireless headphones in general) are a viable product or not. "Wires are not a
hassle and provide a better experience most of the time" crowd, vs. "Wires are
awful and I'll take all the drawbacks of wireless just to get rid of them"
crowd.
Generally, won't people who care about headphones own multiple pairs of
headphones? I have a cheap pair of liquid-resistant bluetooth buds for
workouts, and they work great for that but sound pretty bad. For walking or
home use, I use either a wired set of nicer earbuds, or some wired over-ear
headphones that sound amazing.
All of them combined cost less than airpods, too. If you care enough to spend
money on headphones and not just use the wired pack-in ones that come with
most devices, would one not just do an hour of research before spending almost
$200 on something with a very obviously limited lifespan?
And as far as airpods being a platform: the author seems to think "sensors =
platform". They're a nicely integrated part of Apple's whole mobile platform,
but not a platform themselves. You can't use airpods by themselves, so how
does that make them a platform?
------
SirHound
The point about people owning multiple AirPods is a weird tangent and not
something I expect to play a major part of their strategy.
However I totally buy the rest of this and used to think something similar
when they were first released. They haven’t done much in the meantime but with
the Pros capabilities and the location detection of the iPhone 11 I think
we’re only just at a place something interesting could be done.
------
pcarolan
It seems like we've hit a point where someone could have airpods and a mobile
enabled iwatch and accomplish 80% of what needs to be done communication-wise,
namely text, email, voice calls. Has anyone tried this? It might actually
encourage more voice calls due to the interface constraints which might be a
nice side effect (for some).
~~~
Eloso
I have tried it as an experiment to lower my mobile phone usage.
I wanted the ability to make calls, check texts, pay using mobile payments,
and play music without the distraction of mindlessly grabbing for my phone to
browse the Internet whenever a moment of boredom surfaces.
It works quite well. I turned off notifications for emails and texts. Instead,
I check those once an hour or so. If a conversation becomes longer than a
message or two, I call the person or tell them I’ll text them later.
I haven’t been fully able to ditch the phone, but I didn’t intend to. I
experimented with this set up mostly for nights and weekends.
------
xg15
> _In essence, we are moving away from pulling data from various apps to
> receiving a curated feed of data that is dynamic - always changing and
> tailored to our needs._
Is there any indication that _users_ (not designers, developers, businesses or
"the industry") actually want this?
~~~
shuckles
TikTok?
~~~
bori5
What do breath mints have to do with anything
------
Slippery_John
One of the best features of the airpods is seemingly not advertised: in
transparency mode they automatically switch to active noise cancellation if
there is some excessively loud/harmful noise.
I live in a city where I walk everywhere. The audio landscape of a city can be
incredibly harmful. Notably the shrieking of brakes in need of replacement and
the many awful sounds of construction. Walking around with transparency mode
on, even when not listening to anything, has immeasurably improved my quality
of life. I can still be aware of my surroundings without having to deal with
anything but the first few fractions of these hostile noises.
------
jammygit
My air pod microphone stopped working with the iOS 13 update. The only thing I
want is for the basic functionality to work
~~~
takeda
Things like that is why I hate Android followed this stupid trend of removing
DAC. This was working perfectly fine, there was no good reason to "fix" it.
------
tazjin
Now if only they had a wire so I could use them in areas with higher
population density than Silicon Valley.
~~~
therein
Even in San Francisco walking across busy intersections I get significant
enough interference that audio is dropped for 2-3 seconds.
Also is it just me or does the article just talk about how great AirPods are
and how Apple really set it apart from competition this time and killed that
silent launch but never really even tries to support or justify this opinion?
~~~
itg
Looked at the history of AboveAvalon, seems like a site that tries to justify
everything Apple does and how great they are.
Speaking of AirPods, their sound quality isn't all that great. I ended up
getting the Galaxy Buds which were cheaper and sounded better.
------
neya
I currently own a 1000xm3. My colleague recently just bought an Airpods pro
and was going on for ages about how awesome it is. I offered him to try out my
XM3s. He tried them out for 15 mins. I never heard another word from him
again. See, my colleague's behaviour is what many bloggers and self-proclaimed
journalists exhibit today. They try out one thing and simply go on to write
about how superior it is.
The Sony XM3s have all the functionality in the AirPods pro with so much more.
For example, you can swipe your fingers over the headphone housing and it will
do different things depending on the direction of the swipe. They provide you
an app to configure this and the buttons on the headphone itself. Not to
mention, they also allow you to enable high resolution codecs, equalizer and
surround sound from the app itself. The sound quality (which is one of the
reasons people buy headphones for) is also vastly superior on the Sony's.
So, it's not an apples to apples comparison, yes (Headphones vs Earphones)?
Ok, In addition to my Sony's, I also have the Galaxy earbuds. It also
supported swipe gestures and configurable actions via the app which is tightly
integrated with Galaxy phones. The sound quality is superior and has
officially been benchmarked by consumer reports to be the same as well[1].
Nothing what the author is excited about here is unique just to Apple even in
terms of strategy or technology. IF anything, it's confusing nomenclature
bundled with mediocre hardware.
[1] [https://www.consumerreports.org/headphones/apple-airpods-
vs-...](https://www.consumerreports.org/headphones/apple-airpods-vs-samsung-
galaxy-buds-earphones-face-off/)
The author simply needs go out and try other brands of headphones.
~~~
1123581321
I suspect your colleague was more bemused than shamed by your comparison.
Wireless buds are considered a different product category from headphones due
to market perception as well as how and when they are used. Some people find
Airpods to be nice to use everywhere; those who prefer headphone audio quality
use them when convenient.
------
anonu
I would also add that there is a custom chip design in the airpods (m1?). In
terms of "sucking the oxygen out of the market", it's a lot easier when your
competition can't even come close to the level of tech savvy you put into your
hardware
~~~
FireBeyond
How is it a failing of their competitors "tech savvy" that Apple put a custom
chip for which they are able to embed support in the OS, and won't share /
license?
~~~
anonu
It's not so much a failure by the competition. My point is that Apple raises
the bar so much by building a custom chip. A custom chip raises the bar on
user experience: faster bluetooth connection times, longer battery life. What
does the R&D cost for that chip? $100 million? Thats a complete guess - but
totally within the realm of possibility given how much cash Apple sits on...
Do you think the next viable competitor can spend that kind of money?
------
dzhiurgis
Apple could easily add eSIM to AirPods (probably makes more sense to put into
care) to enable fully wireless life experience. Make them even smaller and it
could challenge neuralink for a while (especially for Alexa generation).
~~~
4ad
The Apple Watch is hundreds of times bigger in volume and putting eSIM inside
was a huge engineering challenge, one that still comes with MANY caveats. I
don't see how it's feasible to put eSIM in earphones with current and next-gen
technology.
~~~
dzhiurgis
Problem still is Apple is tasting third party modem. 5G SOC could be more than
feasible. Putting it into charging case is piece of cake.
------
TurkishPoptart
As an Android user (begrudgingly) I hate bluetooth. It never works the way it
should. My impression is that iPhone users have no issue with it.
------
tootie
Jabra Elites are better and cost less.
~~~
lostdog
This previous thread suggests that Jabra's are pretty terrible:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19095576](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19095576)
Do you know if the product line has improved since then?
~~~
tootie
It's the top rated by Wirecutter right now. I mostly use them just paired with
my phone but I haven't had trouble using then with whatever when I've needed
to.
------
stopads
Oh please, they sold us on a fake problem and then the cure by removing ports.
That's not innovation. That's not a platform.
iPhones could all have usb ports and audio jacks and removable storage.
Nothing is preventing any of that. Stop pretending Apple is moving the ball
forward here.
~~~
briandear
Wires get tangled. To switch from your iPhone to Mac, you unplug the wire and
plug it in again. Then there is the question of having to remain within wires
length of the machine. AirPods actually made wireless headphones usable and
dead simple.
~~~
josteink
> To switch from your iPhone to Mac, you unplug the wire and plug it in again.
So you are saying there is a _standard_ -mechanism for _interoperability_
between units from any vendor, and it’s mirrored in a highly _discoverable_
physical interface which always reflects how things are connected, so there’s
never any confusion or need for debugging? And no need for firmware updates or
charging?
That sounds just about perfect to me, like a dream come true! When will the
iPhone support this amazing, new technology without the need for proprietary
dongles? I can’t wait!
------
hootbootscoot
just wait til the charger becomes one...
bluetooth audio IS lo-fi, on purpose, but whatever floats your 64kbps Real
Audio boat, I suppose...(I'm an OGG Vorbis person myself, lol)
~~~
hootbootscoot
I can't believe no one mentioned the optional subwoofer er "plug" yet...it's
like a meme and stuff already...
------
torgian
Eh.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
NetBeans 6.7 Released: New Interface for Mac OS X - mdasen
http://www.netbeans.org/servlets/NewsItemView?newsItemID=1399
======
st3fan
What I hate about NetBeans is that they ship the OS X version as a .mpkg. Why
not simply a disk image that has a NetBeans.app? I don't trust installers.
------
dpurp
Are there screenshots of the new Mac OS X interface available somewhere?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Star Trek and the shiny, boring future - jnazario
https://medium.com/geek-empire-1/7e7dc993b4fd
======
anigbrowl
Oh, so you have a teleportation device? Antigravity machines that let you fly
and hover without aerofoils or rockets? FTL communications? Disease-adaptive
medicines? A volume-based universal positioning system?
It seems to me that the author a) took a highly selective reading of the
technology on display in the film, and simply omitted anything that didn't
suit his argument and b) ignored the fact that the _Star Trek_ franchise has
about 40 years of 'world data' that it needs to maintain a fair degree of
continuity with if it is not to piss off the large fan base.
People carry tablet computers in Star Trek not because we have iPads now, but
because characters in Star Trek were using tablet computers (albeit large
wedge-shaped ones with stylii) from the very early episodes.
~~~
true_religion
I have to agree, the author simply ignores all the technology that doesn't yet
exist.
I don't think anyone could have predicted before how quickly computers, and
radio technology would minaturize giving us cellphones and ipads.
------
redact207
Just another formulated Hollywood movie, not an eyeglass into the future.
I don't want to nerd out on this, but realistically if we were however many
hundreds of years down the line where we had the technology to do interstellar
travel, it's unlikely it would resemble what's on Star Trek.
As far as devices go, they're getting smaller and more integrated so at some
point they'll jump the bio-tech gap and just be integrated with your
physiology. But who wants to watch a bunch of spandex laden crew walking
around like schizophrenics? Gotta give a general audience something they can
understand and relate to.
~~~
repsilat
Exactly right.
At the beginning of the new film Spock is lowered on a rope into a volcano
hanging from a little shuttle. Everyone knows this situation exists for the
immediate drama and for the ramifications further on in the story, not because
it's in the least bit plausible (let alone necessary). In the future they
couldn't have had a robot deliver the package? Maybe just drop it in with a
timer on board? The trouble is that it wouldn't have served the story, and it
wouldn't have been Star Trek.
Today Star Trek is a brand, a flavour. Maybe once upon a time it was meant to
have something to say about our future, but now any reasonable extrapolation
would lose the essential character of the property. Hell, maybe Star Trek has
never been about the future anyway. I'm sure everyone caught the bit about the
morality and legality of extrajudicial killing in the new flick... I'm sure
plenty of people would say the series has always been about the present as
much as any other time.
------
intrazoo
Said this before, but Denno Coil is a recent post-cyberpunk sci-fi animated
series from japan that explored AR tech in interesting new ways. It is not the
"hardest" of sci-fi, and it is about kids, but it is touching, does not pull
punches, and I like the art direction. I would suggest checking it out for
anyone who wants some fresh sci-fi.
I think saying main stream movies are supposed to be imaginative is a bit of a
straw man argument.
------
j2kun
I hate to think that what's driving innovation is fantasized _movie_ tech. I
always thought it was science fiction literature, and, you know, trying to
understand how the universe works in reality.
~~~
krapp
Science fiction literature isn't actually all that often _about_ the science.
The number of science fiction authors writing about fields in which they're
technically experts is likely vanishingly small, as being a successful
storyteller is an expertise in and of itself. The trope of science fiction
writers not having a sense of scale in regards to interstellar distance or
geologic time is one good example. Or Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, which
weren't even really an extrapolation on the potential encoding of machine
morality so much as a plot device, the entire point of which was the clever
ways in which it could be broken by antagonists.
Of course the counterpoint... when it works (Peter Watts and Neal Stephenson
and maybe the near-future stuff by William Gibson... Cory Doctorow maybe) the
technology serves the story and illustrates the future in brilliant and almost
plausible ways. More often than not though, the science in science fiction is
window dressing or magic with "science" spray painted on it, because really
how many stories about how bloody hard it is to get into space and not die
from something besides aliens can people be expected to read?
~~~
repsilat
Yeah, this essentially comes down to the "hardness scale" of science fiction
writing. If you're making a big budget film then it's all for mass
consumption, and realistic extrapolation only really makes the cut if the
novelty or plausibility of it impresses the audience. Special effects and
space battles are a better bet most of the time.
As you've said, exceptions exist, but they're even less present in the film
market for obvious reasons. I'd actually say there's no dearth of good hard
written scifi, though. Charles Stross (sometimes seen around here and on
Reddit) has introduced a bunch of incredible new things in "Accelerando" that
appear obvious in retrospect, things in Hannu Rajaniemi's "The Quantum Thief"
like the privacy settings on Mars were insightful as hell. Just about
everything written by Greg Egan is grounded in some jaw-dropping speculative
physics or steeped in new thought on the philosophical or social ramifications
of foreseeable technologies.
------
jdmitch
_It’s a terrible shame and a real disservice for the years to come when the
people we count on to dream are content with IKEA and iPads._
------
danso
I do agree that Star Trek tech has been boring, but its tech predictions have
always been boring, mostly just extensions and upgrades to what we have now,
or invented as plot contrivances (i.e. the Holodeck)
It's too bad we have to hope that Hollywood invests more in thoughtful edgy
fiction rather than marquee fan service vehicles mainly intended to make
millions for the industry. If only there was some other form other that movies
and TV that fiction could be communicated in...perhaps someone in the future
will invent such a format that is ubiquitously consumable and intellectually
stimulating.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
In 2013, so many people still search for a site instead of writing the URL - basilesimon
http://journalism.basilesimon.fr/2013/11/why-on-earth-do-you-search-instead-of-typing-the-url/
======
joosters
People do it because it is quick and easy. If Google is your homepage, then
when you start typing stuff in, it goes into the search box and not the
address bar. Typing 'facebook' and pressing return is pretty damn quick and
saves some of the clicking and mouse moving. I know lots of people who do
this. My parents don't really understand the address bar, for example.
As a side note, the author's arrogance is irritating. He can't think of a
reason why people do something, so he declares it 'irrational', 'dumb',
'stupid' and 'highly illogical'. Perhaps he should have paused and considered
that there could have been a reason behind the actions of so many people.
~~~
basilesimon
The Google homepage seems like a very valid point. But when you open a new
tab, you are typing in the address bar - and the autocompletion is enabled.
Ah, the irritative arrogance. I am quite happy about it because it led to a
fair amount of exchanges about what I wrote, including yours. What I really
can't understand is - and my point of view is very likely to be biaised by my
own experience - why do people do not go for the fastest and what seems to me
the easiest way? I'm very sure you can help me with that.
~~~
joosters
People don't know the easier ways, and they stick with what works for them?
My experience is mostly with my parents and other more elderly relatives, who
are fine with googling stuff but haven't really got the hang of what an
address bar even is.
As for 'when you open a new tab', I don't think my parents even understand or
use tabs. Also, for older people, precision mouse movements to click into the
(relatively small) address bar are fiddly (and then you have to delete the
text that is already there...), whereas the big search result boxes are much
easier to click on. Speaking of which, they will often click on the top advert
for a website rather than the search result. They don't see the difference,
and they both take them to the website...
I stand by my points about your arrogance. Failing/not bothering to see other
peoples' points of view, or even considering the possibility of your own lack
of knowledge, is not an attribute to be proud about.
------
tlarkworthy
Well its funny when it goes wrong
"I want the old facebook back"
[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-want-the-old-facebook-
back](http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-want-the-old-facebook-back)
[http://readwrite.com/2010/02/10/facebook_wants_to_be_your_on...](http://readwrite.com/2010/02/10/facebook_wants_to_be_your_one_true_login)
------
kijin
I don't do this with well-known sites like Google and Twitter, but sometimes I
deliberately search a website's name even when I think I know what its URL is.
This helps me avoid landing on a similar but unrelated -- and possibly
fraudulent -- website, especially if the website I'm looking for uses an
unconventional domain name. Too often, it's impossible to remember whether the
startup I just heard about uses .com, .net, .io, _get_ name.com or name
_app_.com.
Fortunately, with modern browsers, the difference is only between typing
"websitename" in the address bar and typing "websitename.TLD" in the same bar.
So if I'm not 100% sure what your TLD is, I just hit Enter and the browser
shows me the search results.
~~~
geofft
Yeah, I've made a habit of this too -- what is the _advantage_ for me in
typing in, say, python.org when there's a risk I might be misremembering it as
python.com?
I believe there's also a slight security advantage, in that search engines
will index and respect redirects to HTTPS (even without HSTS), and if I click
through the search engine link, I stay on SSL for the entire transaction since
the search query itself is HTTPS. This protects me against a man-in-the-middle
when possible, and also saves me the annoyance of getting an SSL error when
not. (I am also training myself to type [https://](https://) instead of
[http://](http://), but the search-engine route is way more usable.)
------
kken
I just starting doing it a couple of years ago when browsers began to support
searching from the address bar. Why do it do it? Sometimes I don't know the
exact URL of a site (is it .org or .net), sometimes I want to avoid entering
scam sites, sometimes I am just lazy and want to type less.
------
PeterisP
Using the search engine is the safe way - sometimes the link I remember is
wrong (say, sitename.com instead of sitename.org) and is held by some squatter
peddling spyware downloads; but if I type 'sitename' in google, then it brings
me to the proper site.
It doesn't do it 100% perfectly, but it certainly does it better than I do
myself.
And why would I ever write any domain name (other than my own servers) at all?
If I see a link, then I click the link; If I remember a link then
autocompletion remembers it as well - I just hit 'n'+enter in the
address/search bar to go to news.ycombinator.com.
------
stinos
Didn't Opera have 'omnibox'-like features already _way_ earlier than 2008? At
least I've been using it for over a decade and it seems like ages ago I ever
visited a search page directly instead of searching via the address bar. The
only time I'd do it now is to get the correct url to enter in Opera's 'Manage
Search Engines' dialog.
~~~
basilesimon
I can't find it on Wikipedia. If you do, please let me know so I can update
the article.
------
gum_ina_package
The reason I think this happens is because two of the main browsers (IE and
Chrome) have a major interest in maintaining the status quo. They might even
possibly be making it more advantageous for users to search for a website
instead of navigating directly to it on it's URL. The more searches, the more
ad revenue.
~~~
basilesimon
If it was their intention, why introducing autocompletion - a functionality
which, if used correctly, allows to avoid search engines for queries.
------
psadri
For us software engineers, the details of how something is implemented become
more important than the goals they serve. Navigating to a site using a URL is
such a detail. Main stream people only care about the end goal. Searching for
a site name is "simpler" than entering a cryptic URL.
~~~
basilesimon
When talking about webpages consulted on a regular basis (like facebook, for
example), thanks to the 'omniboxes', there is no such thing as URLs anymore,
don't you think? The browser does all the work in a few keyboard hits.
------
stephenaturner
This is mostly from people mistaking the search box for the address box and
just putting in the URL there and not knowing there's an extra step in this
that they could avoid.
------
martius
I think that search engines are commonly used instead of URLs in countries
where the occidental alphabet is not the standard one.
~~~
basilesimon
Did not think about that. It would be worth exploring the difference in the
top searches in, say Europe/US and in Asia or the Gulf.
------
stasy
I almost never go to search engines. Even if I have to, I just type the query
into the URL bar.
------
stratosvoukel
Uhm, should we apologize to you or something?
~~~
basilesimon
Nah, just telling me how do you behave when it comes to typing URLs will do
the job :)
------
deepakbenny
people just hate writing www. and .com as simple as that
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Using SMS Text Messaging to Monitor and Track Weight Loss - mp3jeep01
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/08/15/prweb8718864.DTL
======
kevin_morrill
I built textWeight in my basement on New Years Eve and planned to just have it
as an experiment with a few friends to better understand usability of SMS and
whether it could have an impact. I was inspired by Tim Ferriss's book 4 Hour
Body on keeping it simple. We ended up getting picked up by Tech Crunch, and
the reception was pretty phenomenal.
One of my ambitions in this version is to see if we can get people to stay
more engaged with their health on weekends. We know people are more likely to
eat unhealthy foods over the weekend. Excited to see if we can make a dent and
help people out.
------
BrandonMTurner
It seems like they have a subset of the features that we have created in Lose
It! and they are clearly going for simplicity.
Lose It! is a little more complex(?) in the sense we do full food and exercise
tracking. But I do still have some insights into the observations they have
written about.
We offer reminders to log your food if you have done so far today. Users can
pick the time and then we use iOS notifications to remind them, similar to the
way they remind users to log their weight. Tis feature is iOS only, no Android
or web only version of it. If you compare users with reminders enabled to
users without reminders enabled we see users with reminders enabled lose 1.8
more pounds. (8.4 vs 6.6lbs)
However there are two other observations that we see from the Lose it! base.
First, weighing yourself daily is stressful. People get down on themselves all
the time because they gained weight from one day to the next when they thought
they were doing good. This is because people fluctuate weight so much day to
day based on so many factors. Most users on the forums always recommend only
weighing yourself once a week. We also had to build in a buffer range for
users once they hit their goal weight because so many users complained that
their weight moves around so much once they hit their goal weight they kept
getting bumped back into a weight loss plan.
Another pattern we see is that users that have a Withings scale that
automatically records their weight receive a lot of value (expressed in emails
to us, posts on the forums, or written on their wall) from the device. We
haven't had time to run stats (on how it effects weight) on this yet but we
are starting to talk about the 'passive tracking' for users that have a Fitbit
and a Withings connected to their Lose It!. Users cannot get over how much a
better picture of their health they get after the values come in on their own.
The Withings scale takes the textWeight idea to a new level. Sadly, both of
these devices are pretty costly and out of the range of a lot of people. So
textWeight might be a good way for people to track weight that are on a low
cost budget.
All in all though, the most important feature that will improve your weight
loss is accountability via social / friends both online or in real life.
Studies have shown this in the past so we are not the first to notice or the
first to say. In fact, this is the first thing out of the mouth of most health
startup CEOs.
~~~
SPCorwin
You bring up some relevant points -- we also have data from our first version,
textWeight 1.0, and have used a number of the analyses and insights from our
data, independent reports and surveys. Use of SMS texting is key here. To your
point while some believe frequent weigh-ins are detrimental, there is
published literature that supports improved outcomes with frequency of weigh
ins, and textWeight 2.0 puts this totally in the hands of the user. As a user,
you can configure number of days per week and time of day for text alerts. I
have to agree, overindulgence is generally unappreciated, Self Tapper at 5-7
texts per day may be overboard but that remains to be seen. textWeight also
has a weight maintenance option to message and encourage users appropriately.
All users receive motivation, support and encouragement based upon their
personally defined challenge and latest weight entry. This along with the
behavioral information they contribute and our continuous bidirectional
dialoguing enables us to provide such encouragement. This is unique to the
healthcare space -- where well designed programs like Text4baby and Vaxtext
push messages to survey and collect data to discover their impact. To your
point about filling a low cost niche, we call it providing access in
healthcare, we have intentionally used SMS texting to allow for use by feature
phones (current smart phone penetration is under 30%) and since being
overweight and/or obese strikes across demographics we want to enable broad
access to all we can help. There is not a CEO of a start up or Fortune 500
company who would dispute this.
------
dools
This seems pretty retarded. Firstly weight is not a measure of health and
weight loss is not the goal (you can improve fitness without changing weight,
just shifting weight from fat mass to muscle mass).
Secondly, Who can't remember how much they weighed last time they weighed
themselves? It's such a pitifully simple piece of information where small
variances are inconsequential. If you weigh about 110, and your ideal weight
is about 85, you hardly need to know historically what your weight was.
Thirdly, the best measure of "weight loss" is how you feel, not how much you
weigh.
I can see merit in recording something but I think weight is the wrong metric,
or maybe weight isn't an appropriate metric when taken in isolation.
Perhaps if it were weight correlated with mood, diet, time (of month? day?
year?) or various life events then it'd be worthwhile.
Perhaps sending a text: "110kg :S pizza" indicating you're 110kg, feeling
stressed and the last thing you ate was pizza.
If the "request for information" SMS were sent out at some sort of "random
sampling" time, then you could probably build some sort of useful statistical
model based on mood and food consumption correlating to fluctuations in weight
then use the feedback to reduce weight over time.
~~~
mp3jeep01
To your first point -- some people do need to control their weight (or even
lose weight), not everyone is in the same category with regards to
health/weight/etc., And to be quite honest, I'm pretty sure last time I saw my
doctor they told me "it'd be a good idea / healthy to lose X pounds..." --
that's fairly cut and dry to me, I need to lose some weight -- this service is
just a method of tracking that progress while offering up helpful advice along
the way.
------
jessexoc
I am using Google Docs with a simple form for daily input. Entries are
automatically timestamped and the Google Docs trend chart works quite well for
this kind of data.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Pit Ponies: ghosts of the coal mines - brudgers
https://www.horsejournals.com/popular/history-heritage/ghosts-coal-mines
======
rad_gruchalski
This reminded me of a Polish primary school reading:
[https://www.amazon.com/Lysek-pokladu-Idy-Morcinek-
Gustaw/dp/...](https://www.amazon.com/Lysek-pokladu-Idy-Morcinek-
Gustaw/dp/8375685992)
Exactly on this subject.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Kill the Password: Why a String of Characters Can't Protect Us Anymore - esolyt
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/11/ff-mat-honan-password-hacker/all/
======
pefavre
That's a great article. I thought I was pretty secure with the two-factor
authentification. But with the 'socialing' technique it looks quite easy to
break. To me, the best advice is to give bogus answers to security questions.
That leaves very little chance to pass through the password resetting process.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: CardBase – the most comprehensive credit card database in the US - beachminter
https://www.walla.by/cardbase
======
jonrx
My first surprise is on the APR. In Canada, most cards have an interest rate
of 19,9%[1], if you're not counting the store ones (27,99%+).
Even looking at the "poor credit" section, there is a variety of APR
available.
Competition at work...
[1] With the exception of reduced interest credit card. My credit union offers
one with 9,9% APR and is claiming that's the "lowest interest rate for a
credit card in the Country".
~~~
derstang
Canada suffers from not enough banking competition, for sure. The broad
breadth of banks in the US issuing credit cards (more than 450!) make a huge
difference
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Language Oriented Programming - Hexstream
http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/martin/papers/middle-out-t.pdf
======
kleevr
makes me want to learn lisp, but not until I'm speedy in python
LISP, you're next and I do expect to have my mind thoroughly blown when I 'get
it'... I was thinking about code-emitting and meta programming in C#, and I
realised that what you're really after is access to the AST... which I hear
LISP lays bare..
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
NodeJS is now the most popular repository on Github - diamondhead
https://github.com/popular/watched
======
bascule
Just to show how Github watchers correlate to real-world popularity, my now-
defunct programming language Reia is the #3 most watched Erlang project on
Github, ahead of projects like Riak and RabbitMQ:
<https://github.com/languages/erlang>
~~~
wslh
Also we can compare with StackOverflow tags followers:
\- C# 22.2K followers
\- NodeJS 2.2K followers
~~~
blacksmythe
I think having 10% as many StackOverflow followers as for C# is a big win for
an emerging technology.
~~~
skrebbel
also, it would make more sense to compare node to ASP.NET.
------
ryanfitz
Looking at that listing the more amazing stat is that twitter bootstrap is #3.
That was just released a few months ago and is "simply" an html ui framework.
I think this highlights that over anything else, what most developers really
need is a solid web ui to get started with.
~~~
ergo14
It just shows that people hype on everything and follow like sheep - doesn't
matter if they need particular project or not. Developers are no exception it
seems...
~~~
hello_moto
At the same time, it also shows that developers or hackers are no different
that consultants that keep selling new methodologies.
Our products are new programming languages, new patterns, new programming
paradigm.
~~~
ergo14
What's the name of last thing you sold?
~~~
hello_moto
scalable architecture utilizing event-driven non-blocking I/O
~~~
ergo14
anything open source? id love to see link to it - ive recently wrote my own
cometd server with gevent and im looking for more examples ;-)
------
skrebbel
Call me a cynic, but how is this relevant? Everybody knows that Node is
popular. It's like adding "Rihanna scores #1 hit record" as a news item.
~~~
hello_moto
I find the example fits nicely. Rihanna and Node.
FWIW, I think Node is a great way to teach, explore, and learn JavaScript
without the browser. It helps me learn modern JS techniques quickly. But Node
powering my web-server? Like Rihanna...
PS: Check out this free online book: <http://eloquentjavascript.net/> big
props to the author. He's done a great job teaching modern JS.
~~~
phillmv
You are being non sensical. Does Rihanna respond to HTTP verbs?
I like Node insofar as it distracts hate away from the Ruby community, but
c'mon now.
~~~
hello_moto
C'mon what?
No, Rihanna does not respond to HTTP verbs. But then again, that's what young
teens/early adults listen these days with less appreciation of music.
Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, Rihanna. C'mon now. What has come to the
music industry?
I thank Ted Dziuba for knocking the wind out of Node a bit. It puts some
perspective and questions to a lot of people's head when it comes to how to
use Node.js. Props to him for taking time explaining the important bits.
Rails community was off the chart when it comes to cockiness back then so I
suppose it deserves the hate.
~~~
phillmv
1\. Thirty years ago, this dutch novelty pop act charted #1 in the US
Billboard charts <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bGQ1-Gmoso> (watching it now
is kind of great, actually)
2\. In much the same way I tire of Node people claiming it's The Best Thing
Ever because it has the shiniest Cargo[1] I also can't stand people who hate
things purely because other people like it. You hate them because they have
the shiniest Cargo.
I'm sure it has a purpose and it solves problems. I'd much prefer to discuss
its technical merits, though. (Note: this was not an invitation to discuss its
technical merits in this thread)
[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult>
~~~
hello_moto
For the record: I don't hate Node.JS as I am using it to explore JS. I'm glad
CommonJS exist to introduce common standards to JS (modularity, OS APIs, etc)
so I can write JS outside browser.
I am with you that I'm tired to see people pushing NodeJS. But I suppose am
even more tired to see people working on some simple web app using NodeJS and
pretend that it's Gold. I prefer to see people get better in fundamental
concepts as oppose to keep hack-job and move on to the next thing.
I'm tired to meet with people in my day job that keep pushing for the latest
tech.
"For the next project we must use JavaScript and NodeJS" or the "I can cut
most of the LoC if we were to use JS". Only to hear that "Yeah, I'm not too
sure, I just have a gut feeling that we could do with less LoC" after I
drilled them as to "why it'll be less LoC? How can we solve X component with
JS and its current libraries? How can we test Y automatically and
efficiently?"
I'm tired to interview people that put in their resume "I know NodeJS" but
flunk fundamental computer science aptitude.
I'm tired to hear "you know, if we re-wrote this bits with Rails, it'll be
_MUCH_ better".
For these people, their Java skill is "decent". Their Ruby skill is "decent".
Their JS skill is "hey I just read JS The Good Parts and this is how Crockford
sez we should write JS" yet still missing the structure, the discipline, the
"write for readability not for meta-programming"
Too many Learn-Yourself-24-Hours Ruby programmers out there. Too many Learn-
Yourself-24-hours-me-too JavaScript programmers out there.
Ok, enough rant for Saturday morning :) Good day everybody.
~~~
pault
What do you consider fundamental computer science aptitude?
------
senthilnayagam
congrats to nodejs , it is the shiny new thing, but it is still not there yet
rails is lot older and it came to github when forking was the norm , watching
came lot later
in terms of forks nodejs is half the popularity of rails, but I wish more
contributors for nodejs
~~~
damncabbage
rails is lot older and it came to github when forking
was the norm , watching came lot later
Aha! So is _that_ why there are so many accounts that just contain forked
repositories with no further commits?
(I suppose it was a heavy form of bookmarking something.)
~~~
senthilnayagam
Git workflow is evolving, and github in its forefront
If you want to compare on contributors Rails would again beat most open source
projects , I remember seeing that number well above 1000
~~~
vijaydev
Last count: 2155 as per <http://contributors.rubyonrails.org> :)
~~~
spooneybarger
Some of us on that list haven't contributed in a really long time.
My contributions for example were pre rails 1.0 days so my part of that number
isn't really meaningful to current popularity.
------
lucian1900
I think this is a little sad. Pragmatically, NodeJS is great. But the only
reason it's popular is because browsers only run one (deeply flawed) language.
~~~
maxwell
Remind me which existing language(s) aren't deeply flawed?
~~~
jjm
Yeah seriously. The be all end all of languages has yet to arrive. Language
and programming is an art, not some maximist metric. The Mona lisa is as
flawed as JavaScript and every other language that exist.
------
terrellm
I wonder how much of the popularity is because popularity was perhaps a goal
of some of the NodeJS advocates. Recently I stumbled on <http://nodejs-vs-
ror.nodejitsu.com>, which in the source at
[https://github.com/mmalecki/nodejs-vs-
ror/blob/master/public...](https://github.com/mmalecki/nodejs-vs-
ror/blob/master/public/index.html#L24) seems to imply beating Rails follow
count was a goal. I'm not sure where I found the link but probably here on HN.
I guess someone in the Rails community could create a similar project and say
"OK guys everyone go follow Rails on GitHub."
I have no issue with the technique as businesses do this all the time...
encouraging customers to Like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, etc.
Perhaps this a hacker version of social media marketing... who needs Facebook
likes, let's get Github followers.
~~~
mmalecki
It's my project and it's purpose wasn't to beat Rails follow count, really.
As you can see, it uses knockout.js and this is why I wrote it - I wanted to
learn this library and to study whole client-side rendering and templating
concept a bit. It's also my first project using bootstrap.css.
It was a fun thing to hack on.
Of course, I'm happy that node.js has more followers than RoR, simply because
I like node.js more than RoR. However, lets not make it a big deal. These are
just numbers.
------
muppetman
Silverlight was very popular when it was first released too.
~~~
coreyrecvlohe
Silverlight was popular? When did this happen...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Ask HN: How do you delegate? When? Without micromanaging? - ohjeez
I’m writing a white paper tentatively titled “Learning How to Delegate” – and once again I’d like your input. I want this to be real-world useful!<p>For any startup – or even software development team lead – a difficult-but-necessary transition is when its founder/visionary must recognize when it’s time to let go of the day-to-day hands-on tasks.<p>You start out with your finger in every pie. You know every line of code. You have a clear understanding of the target customer, and the messages she needs to hear in order to buy the product.<p>And in the beginning, that holistic view is exactly what’s necessary. But it doesn’t scale. At some point you need to hire people to do the work, and who know each piece better than you do (an e-commerce expert, or a chief marketing officer). And then YOU HAVE TO LET GO.<p>What I hope to write about is the process people go through during this transition… and how they succeed and fail. Ideally I can turn this into a Dos-and-don’ts document that really does work as a guideline for growing a company and creating a healthy team.<p>So I hope you’ll help me (and lurkers) by answering these questions:<p>* How do you know when it’s time to bring in another person? What’s the point at which you say, “I can’t do this anymore; I need to hire someone!”?<p>* How do you choose the right person to whom to delegate a task?<p>* How do you respond when the individual doesn’t do it the way you think she should? Or as fast as you would have gotten it done?<p>* How do keep yourself from micromanaging? Are you aware when you’re doing it?<p>* What do you have trouble with? What have the consequences been?<p>For worker-bees: Have you ever dealt with a manager who was reluctant to delegate or did a lousy job? How did you handle it? Were you satisfied with the result?<p>(Give me some idea of your background – lead programmer in a Fortune 500 financial company, startup founder with 25 employees, etc. – so we all have some context.)
======
nowarninglabel
Take a look at "Turn the Ship Around!" for a real world example of delegation
that worked.
As for me, it's about finding people who hold themselves accountable, then
giving them a clear goal but with broad discretion in how to achieve it.
The problem is when you have people who fail to hold themselves accountable.
Then they usually blame the process or the org or such. This usually requires
transitioning those people out of the organization or into roles in which they
have a micromanager to keep them responsible.
| {
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Pinterest president and top business chief Tim Kendall is out - joubert
http://www.businessinsider.com/pinterest-president-tim-kendall-leaves-to-launch-his-own-startup-2017-11
======
CrankyBear
"Pinterest's president and top business executive, Tim Kendall, is leaving to
create a startup with the goal of curbing tech device addiction." Wait! What!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Ask HN: Where do Marketing Guys hang out? - mukgupta
We are in the process of validating our SAAS Product Idea. How do i find Marketing Guys/Agencies who can provide us feedback on new product that we are planning to build for them?
======
notduncansmith
Just find other SaaS products that look successful, and email them. They've
been through the validation stage too, and probably not long ago - you'll be
surprised at how many people would be happy to help. Maybe offer an extended
free trial or lifetime Early Adopter discount or something, but only if you
find it really difficult to get responses. I've had a lot of success just
using companies' contact forms and sending cold emails.
~~~
mukgupta
We are actually planning to run a referral campaign which will offer discounts
based on number of referrals. I saw one such campaign getting great response
recently. But the product was in a different domain and their target audience
were developer s who have a bigger online presence. I will definitely try out
the email approach. Thanks!
------
walterbell
[http://www.theproductmentor.com/](http://www.theproductmentor.com/) has a NY
meetup
[http://www.meetup.com/TheProductGroup/](http://www.meetup.com/TheProductGroup/)
and livestreams
[http://www.youtube.com/user/TheProductWay](http://www.youtube.com/user/TheProductWay)
------
seanrrwilkins
Marketing guy here. Yes, there are a handful of us here too.
I'd recommend Strategy Hack, if you're here in NYC. Online, you can read and
lear, and interact on Growthhackers.com and Startup-Marketing.com.
And I'm always happy to have a quick chat about product validation, and
potentially make some introductions to a few agency people here in NYC.
~~~
Gustomaximus
Another Marketing guy here. I hangout here (obviously) and mod over at
/r/marketing & /r/askmarketing - you can post a product validation request at
the latter.
Happy to have a quick look at your product if you PM me.
------
JSeymourATL
Build your own community. Go to Linkedin, read the trade press, create a
target list of people who look well positioned to opine on your idea. Then
reach out to each individual and engage in a live 1:1 phone conversation.
You'll find the high-touch, high feel approach is your secret weapon on the
pulse of the market.
~~~
mukgupta
Thanks! Will try that out
------
hvass
You can try [http://inbound.org](http://inbound.org) &
[http://growthhackers.com/](http://growthhackers.com/)
------
thisisdallas
I am a fan of [http://growthhackers.com/](http://growthhackers.com/)
Also, you might check out some subreddits like r/marketing.
------
thenomad
There's a few of us on HN, too.
(I wear a lot of hats, but one of my bigger and more battered hats is that of
Marketing Guy.)
Feel free to email me - address is in my HN profile.
------
cix
Unfortunately the marketing community is much more scarce and scattered than
the development community. I have had the same issues myself.
~~~
mukgupta
I just know of inbound.org and some marketing related subreddits on reddit.com
currently
------
marketingadvice
Reddit and HN if you want tech focused marketing people.
I am one such tech focused marketing person :D
~~~
mukgupta
how do i contact you. No contact details in your bio .
------
nreece
Also check out inbound.org
------
fawyd
drop me a line - email is in the bio ;-)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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The Internet is Shit (2003) - chroem-
http://www.internetisshit.org/print.html
======
userbinator
_If I can operate Google, I can find anything_
Or the collorary "if I can't find it on Google, it doesn't exist" \- which
seems to be the perception among people these days, and in some ways it's
quite scary how much power Google has over what information people can find on
the internet. I've noticed a decline in the diversity and breadth of their
search results over the years, where sites that I used to visit containing
detailed technical information - many of them are still around - have
basically disappeared from the search results, overtaken by highly SEO'd sites
that have only superficial information (a lot of the time they contain words
that only approximately match some of the query, which makes it even worse.)
It seems that in attempting to prevent spam, a lot of the genuinely good
content (that just "wasn't SEO'd enough") has been buried too. The mundane,
shallow, and practically worthless content is emphasised over the detailed,
in-depth information that I believe certainly exists out there. If the
internet was shit in 2003, it's even more shit now.
~~~
leephillips
Most of those high-quality sites that contain detailed technical information
have something in common: they don't carry Google's advertising, so Google
earns no revenue when you visit them. Despite Google's protestations over the
last few years, I haven't heard a better explanation for the shift in the
nature of the results they return.
~~~
vertex-four
In reality, the issue is simply that the sites that contain in-depth writings
don't get updated as often as the blogs, forums, and content farms that
contain superficial information. Google's engines are tweaked to always prefer
sites that are updated very regularly, so as to sift out obsolete information.
~~~
graeme
Why is this? In many fields, information does not become "obsolete".
Google's policy on this issue seems to be pushing the internet in a
superficial direction.
~~~
pixl97
Google is a tech company, tech is seemingly outdated as soon as it arrives.
They push the tech line of thinking everywhere they go, even if it doesn't
belong.
~~~
rtkwe
Well to be fair, trying to differentiate between information which does become
outdated and information which is static is non-trivial to do algorithmically.
Choosing between promoting new and updated information and promoting static
information I think the former is a better choice for most things.
------
TillE
"I can walk into any public library, no matter how tiny and underfunded, and
find facts, stories, amazing information I would never touch in a month of
webcrawling."
This remains absolutely true. Wikipedia and the internet in general has done a
great job of making shallow information readily available, and providing
access to out-of-copyright works.
But for the vast majority of topics, it hasn't come close to providing the
kind of information available in books, except when Google is actually
scanning and OCR'ing those books.
~~~
nly
> Wikipedia and the internet in general has done a great job of making shallow
> information readily available
Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia. The word 'encyclopaedia' literally means a
volume of shallow, broad-base, all-round knowledge.
> But for the vast majority of topics, it hasn't come close to providing the
> kind of information available in books
I disagree strongly. Writing a book is an incredibly time-consuming and
difficult endeavour, and not all people who have knowledge worth sharing have
the skill or time to do it. By praising books as a supreme medium you put
authors on an intellectual pedestal while suffering from (or being blessed
with) their editorial choices and interests. Some great things have come from
people scribbling on napkins, exchanging letters, or scribbling in journals.
The Internet means these sorts of mediums can proliferate. If you want depth
on the Internet, go to discussion forums, go to IRC, send e-mail, read mailing
lists, watch talks, go directly to the personal blogs of experts, post
comments, download electronic journals... these are the alternatives the
Internet provides to going to a library. Don't wait for someone to patch
Wikipedia.
In all honesty, there are only two valuable aspects I have ever found and love
in a library: geographically local reference material, like newspaper archives
etc, and a nice quiet place to study, away from distraction.
~~~
jjoonathan
It depends strongly on the subject. For the majority of science and
engineering subjects, books win hands down. Some recent examples:
1\. Chemistry. Want to know the details of a common battery chemistry? The
regular google results aren't helpful -- they're a combination of grade-school
demos and premeds incorrectly explaining electrochem MCAT problems to each
other. The google scholar results aren't helpful because the relevant
literature is too old to be indexed, the trail of scientific discovery is too
difficult to quickly and correctly follow, and/or it's in german (with shit
OCR so google translate doesn't work).
Meanwhile typing "battery chemistry" into the library search system brings up
several relevant tomes, the first one of which has exactly the discussion I'm
looking for condensed into the space of several pages. A quick google search
reveals that this page was never posted to the searchable internet.
2\. Math (or Chemistry or Physics). Want to know the precise definition of a
symbol you keep seeing? Too bad: google doesn't know how to search for
formulas or symbols (btw, I'd love to be wrong here). Naturally, the journal
article you're reading doesn't bother to define it, so you're SOL.
Unless you find a similar discussion in a book -- in that case, you just look
in the front or the back and 80% of the time you'll find exactly the precise
definition you need. The other 20% of the time you have to binary search
backwards until you find the point in the book at which the symbol was
defined. Easy enough.
3\. Engineering. Want to find a cohesive discussion of X? If you go to google,
you'll find 30 ppt presentations with piss-poor production value, big useless
unexplained formulas with undefined terms and not enough discussion to fill in
the blanks. In contrast, if you check out a book you can find a cohesive
introduction via the index. If you're lucky, it even includes motivation: "we
argue that X is a linear transform, we project it onto basis Y, blah bla blah"
rather than a big nasty tensor equation. Maybe you read the first few
paragraphs in the chapter if it's too hard and you need pointers to further
supplementary info.
4\. Computer Engineering. If nobody is willing to pay to make good digital
documentation, sometimes engineers are still able to get funding for a book. I
learned about Mach and mDNS this way -- the books were amazing compared to the
digital docs and well worth 5x their price (by which I mean their printed
price, not the $0 I paid to check them out).
5\. Open Source. Books are a great open source business model because two
magical things happen that wouldn't happen otherwise: 1. the author of the
documentation gets paid, 2. the culture of bookwriting imposes minimum quality
standards on their documentation. You get to learn the story. You feel like
you're along for the ride, not someone who got dropped into a room full of
people who already know what's going on and cantankerously respond to your
questions with "google it" despite the fact that your post documented the
search terms which failed to produce useful results.
\----------------------
Books have a degree of cohesion and completeness that websites and journal
articles lack. Since it sucks to follow printed citations, authors err on the
side of including everything you need. The culture of bookwriting figured out
long ago that you need to include the boring stuff too -- and that's a lesson
the internet has yet to learn (if it ever will).
Also, the internet hasn't been around for long enough to capture every
subject's burst of initial excitement + willingness to write about it. The
list of things the blog-o-sphere doesn't know or care about (literally) fills
libraries.
Science & Engineering bloggers willing to write highly informative articles
are a scarce bunch. Historically, that communication happened in books, so
that's where you often need to go to get what you want. The situation _a lot_
better in computer engineering; y'all don't know how spoiled you are :P
~~~
ethbro
I think the bigger gripe (and summary of your comment) is the following: books
and the internet present information in a completely different way.
A book is by definition an end-to-end, self-contained experience. Even on
highly-specific scientific topics, try to find one that doesn't bookend with
context.
The internet has evolved into a place where it's normal to create an extremely
specific piece of content without context. After all, that's what linking is
for ("Or they could always go read Wikipedia!" Ha). Moreover, I would argue
that the expert context that's necessary for ideal grokking in fact doesn't
exist. On a information-wide scale, no one creates just context for other
things: Khan Academy provides it by building end-to-end learning experiences,
and blog posts create it in an extremely limited and piecemeal manner (we've
all been fortunate to read one of those "Eureka!" expert blog summaries).
Indeed, it may not even be possible for such content to self-generate without
external impetus. Where do shallow articles come from? Lay-persons (for lack
of a better term) researching and writing for other lay-people (minimal time
investment, maximum audience = $$). Where do hyper-specific articles come
from? Trained-persons writing for other trained-people (maximum time
investment, minimum audience = $grant$).
Does anyone have a motive for where and why "trained-persons writing for lay-
people" (e.g. deGrasse Tyson or Sagan: maximum time investment, quasi-maximum
audience) would be created? Aside from altruism and digitized introductory
academia?
If you want to find a tragedy of the internet, it's the fact that it never
evolved a systematic context-creation process. And so we don't have any. There
may have been proposals in the original design of hyperlinking, and there were
the 90s/00s "curated human indices of links". However, the "good enough" of
modern search engines seems to have precluded the time investment necessary.
~~~
jjoonathan
Exactly! It's half a problem of legacy and half a problem of motivation.
Books and review articles (if you're lucky) are the only things I know of that
plug the gap.
------
stewdio
Why did you change the link to the plain single-page version? The pacing and
design of the original was very intentional. This is how it was meant to be
experienced: [http://www.internetisshit.org/](http://www.internetisshit.org/)
Also, for fun you ought to WHOIS the domain name. Here’s a sampling:
Registrant Name: alain a-dale
Registrant Organization: iis
Registrant Street: Sherwood
Registrant Street: Forest
Registrant City: Nottingham
Registrant State/Province: State
Registrant Postal Code: 111111
Registrant Country: US
~~~
marquis
I still find it refreshing that you can buy a domain name without publishing
private contact information. I do not look forward to the day I go to buy a
random domain and find that they want a verified ID.
~~~
aaronem
There are proxy registrars for that, if you're worried about it. After all,
it's not required that your actual contact information be present in the WHOIS
record, only that you can be reached via the contact information provided
there.
~~~
marquis
Absolutely, and I also make use of these when needed. But they cost extra
money and for quick and dirty projects it's refreshing to not have to pay for
privacy. We now live in a world of "real names" and "show me your passport to
use my service".
~~~
aaronem
I see your point, but WHOIS contact information requirements are hardly a new
thing.
------
placebo
It might be a good headline to get attention but the Internet is not shit.
When I was first exposed to it (in 1989, even before the World Wide Web was a
thing) it blew my mind. My first thought was that this is going to be as
powerful as the invention of the wheel. This incredible tool, as might be
expected when understanding it's immense scope and potential, has over the
years become more and more a mirror of the civilisation that uses it. This of
course causes it to include unbelievably huge doses of shit (content which is
shallow, stupid, ignorant, petty, immoral, illegal etc.), but also gives us
access to an unparalleled abundance of deep, interesting, educational,
inspiring and fascinating stuff on any topic at unbelievable speed.
Of course you might still find things in libraries that you can't find on the
Internet but what I know is that today I can find in seconds what would have
taken me days to find once in a library (and this is assuming the library even
had enough information on the specific topic I'm interested in). There are
things I can (and do) find today and people I can contact with a quick search
which I never could have found or known to exist in the "library only" era. It
might require honing your search and "shit filtering" abilities but that's a
small price to pay for what you get.
The article seems to be expressed disappointment of the disappearance of the
"good ol' days" but I was never one to reminisce about the "good ol' days",
I'm only interested in the good new days and believe that, taking everything
into consideration, they're only getting better. Exponentially so.
~~~
noobermin
I for one am tired of people ripping the medium, whether it be cellphones or
instagram or the internet, people need to realize that it's the message, not
the medium.
Wait, OP said that. Ironically, that very statement is a fantastic
counterargument to everything s/he says. Saying that the internet is
unreliable is like saying books are unreliable. It's such a general statement
that it can't be taken seriously.
~~~
InclinedPlane
People often forget that most of life is just boring or trivial, so when
they're exposed to a new medium they see all the boringness and triviality and
then dismiss the entire medium. In reality a representative example off
literature is a shitty fantasy novel, not Shakespeare. It's only because we've
had centuries to accumulate lots of great material and billions of hours of
work putting into judging, reviewing, and curating works of literature that
are of value that we value and respect the medium.
------
jchrome
"Fiction is self-perpetuating."
I've found really interesting ways that this manifests itself.
I'm a film-camera lover. Well, my Fuji GW690 mk3 is fantastic, except that
when I trip the shutter, there's an awful "ping" sound that it makes. I read
forum after forum and watched youtube videos that all said the same thing:
"Remove the counter assembly and it will remove the ping."
Getting a hair up my derrier, I decided to do this and found, after much work,
that the ping sound was in the shutter assembly and could not be mitigated.
Check the work here.
[http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1447...](http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=144759)
Anyway, just one internet myth amongst millions I'm sure. I was just so
surprised that people would parrot other peoples lies like that. If that's the
case with something so minor, I can only imagine the amount of misinformation
out there (where people have something to gain).
~~~
userbinator
Thanks for providing an actual example of this. As someone whose hobbies
include fixing and improving things, that sounds like a spring that's ringing.
I think you could dampen it if you could identify the exact one and put some
sound-absorbing material on it, or if you find the end-stop some part is
hitting sharply on, put something soft on that.
As another datapoint, service manuals for various equipment (including
cameras) are another difficult thing to find, as Google _really_ thinks you
want the usual brief and increasingly useless instruction manual even if you
very explicitly type "service manual" in your query.
------
PhasmaFelis
...And it's only gotten worse from there.
You know what I miss? Personal home pages. When's the last time you saw one of
those? Somebody taking a bunch of stuff they'd made or written about,
embedding it in HTML, and slapping it up on the web?
The closest thing we have now is blogs, and they're not all that close.
~~~
ARCarr
Every university professor's web page is like that. They all look awful.
~~~
kissickas
Funny. Respectfully, I think they look great.
I always get the information I need - books and research they've been involved
in, career history, a few personal details (family, hobbies, interests, where
they live), and some links to more websites I never would have found
otherwise. Maybe they don't have exciting animations, memorable logos, or even
colored backgrounds, but it beats searching my university's over-engineered,
information-starved profile on them.
------
InclinedPlane
"Fiction is self-perpetuating"
There are several ways that people react to this. One way is to see it as a
fundamental and unique fault to the internet and use it as a reason to write
off the internet as a useful or serious medium. This is a mistake. Another is
to see it as an opportunity to reevaluate our assumptions of trustworthiness
in general.
The truth is that no encyclopedia is more trustworthy than Wikipedia, no news
medium is more trustworthy than the internet. We've merely been willing to
abide by the faults and biases of familiar media. But what you see on tv, what
you read in the paper, what you read in books; all of it is just as vulnerable
to persistence of fiction as the internet. In some cases we tend not to be
aware of such things merely because it's harder to check.
------
bad_user
> _But still we praise the internet for everything, from mobilising global
> protests to creating the latest trends_
Except that's true and it's much more apparent today than in 2003. What
happens throughout the world is that the mass-media is basically owned by
oligarchies, with journalists being sellouts shaming their profession.
And for example, what happened in my country for several times has been mass
censorship of opinions and facts that went contrary to the whims of the
established power. Not by any decree mind you, it's not that kind of
censorship, I'm talking about major television and newspaper channels simply
ignoring events or twisting facts in gross manipulation attempts. Imagine
30,000 people protesting on the street with no media coverage. Imagine people
standing in line for 8 hours to vote at the London embassy, while the major
television channels and the government's spokesman were reporting that there
are no lines.
And so in my country at least, the only channel for reaching the truth really
is the Internet. And it may be full of shit in general, but that goes with its
open nature, as an Internet that isn't full of shit is not the kind of
Internet I want.
As to the points raised, those kind of scream "first-world problems". If you
have public libraries within reach, stuffed with useful material, you may not
realize it, but you're lucky.
~~~
Mimu
I think you are right and the OP comparison is not very relevant.
She (?) compares a library (so a place that stores only the relevant /
interesting books) to the internet in general. I mean 90% of everything ever
written is probably shit too, it's just not in the library.
However I observe a kind of "wikipedia I know everything" generation, I think
it is somewhat connected to the article and it's very sad.
~~~
gshubert17
The idea that "90% of everything is crap" is often attributed to science-
fiction writer Ted Sturgeon.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law)
------
drcode
The problem with the internet is that its positive attributes are so awe-
inducing that they make it impossible to realize its limitations.
I believe we could have something much, much better, and there are concrete
steps we could take to improve things.
For a concrete exploration of how much better things COULD be, I suggest the
following video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJGIeSCgskc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJGIeSCgskc)
(BTW I am just saying these people realize the internet is shit and are trying
to do something about it, I'm not suggesting their particular solutions are
the ones that will win out in the end.)
------
thewizardofmys
Why did he use internet to communicate it to such a large number of people? He
should have written a book and stuck it in some unknown underfunded public
library.
~~~
jokoon
I guess because he'd like to see a better internet
------
agumonkey
Anything of mass will have taints I guess. That's I like low bandwidth medium
(ML, IRC), they allow less bloat. Makes me reconsider the meaning of progress.
------
jokoon
I wonder if there's a discussion about net neutrality somewhere in there.
Although I really think the real issue with the internet right now is its
monolithic, centralized, html oriented architecture. I want more decentralized
technologies.
I'm curious, but I don't think the amount of websites increased like the
amount of internet users did.
Also the fact that people are alone despite the success of social network, is
the proof that the internet is failing.
------
codeshaman
This was written when 'Internet' meant Internet Explorer 6, before Facebook or
the iPhone or youtube.
Sine then, shit has evolved. The smart phones brought 'the shit' into
everyone's pockets and the social networks made the shit ubiquitous. We now
have access to all the movies, music, documentaries (back in 2003, broadband
was still surfacing, HD video streaming was a still a wet dream back then).
Basically, anyone, anywhere can consume everything that was ever learned or
created and communicate with anyone anywhere on the Planet. This is
incredible.
The awesome part of the Internet (and technology in general) is the part of
the iceberg that's above water. Below water lurks a chunk of ice so big and
dark that few people want to look at it or acknowledge that it is indeed an
iceberg, not a fluffy white mountain of awesomeness.
Below water there is misinformation, mass surveillance, information wars,
espionage, monopoly and control on a global scale.
But the darkest part is that we are totally addicted to this shit. We sleep
with our phones. We 'go online' (2003 term) when we wake up and offline when
we're asleep.
We have to read, watch, comment and discuss everything and then go ahead and
forget everything the next day, because, well, there's more shit to read,
watch and comment on.
By 2014, the Internet, with all it's infinite amount of information, has
created a generation of clueless, spoiled information and entertainment
junkies who live in a system of control beyond any dictator's wildest dreams.
I've seen a stroller with a smartphone holder yesterday and the 1-year-old was
watching videos while his father was pushing the stroller through the park.
Instinctively I understand that that is fucked up, but I can't explain why,
because I know "that's the future".
Part of it. But there are other parts of the same future that scare the shit
out of me. The fact that it has accelerated the rate of planetary destruction
to unprecedented levels, by making globalisation possible and required. The
fact that tech is now controlled by several corporations with mantras like
'don't be evil', which is telling, because it means that it is possible to be
evil with this tech and the amount of evil that can be done is equal to the
amount of good that it brings. This tech is godsend for evil people and in
many countries, control of the Internet is the most important condition for
holding power with an iron fist.
Maybe, just like the splitting of the atom, the Internet is one of those
things that shouldn't have been invented?
------
greenyoda
Single-page version:
[http://www.internetisshit.org/print.html](http://www.internetisshit.org/print.html)
~~~
dang
Thanks; changed.
Interestingly, the previous post was 7 years ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=159353](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=159353).
I wonder if that's a record.
------
XorNot
Obligatory "everything today is terrible and it's those kid's fault" quotes
from every single time period, in every single culture, since the dawn of
recorded history.
------
anotheryou
It says "the medium isn't the message", yet the article is happily criticizing
its content, but speaking of it as the medium.
~~~
anotheryou
also s/he should have published it in his local library :P
------
chbrown
Is it ironic that this guy bought a domain name specifically for this? or does
he just know his audience.
~~~
monochr
"A URL is not a mark of quality. It's not proof of honesty or approval from
the FDA."
------
wilson0x4d
i'm just waiting for a sun spot to fry half our tech infrastructure (again!),
perhaps then we will see the value of alternative channels for education,
information and social function.
------
ommunist
Yeah, that's a problem. You cannot be happy in the INternet. Only with other
people.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Overoptimism of Research Assistants - jmcguire
http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-excessive-optimism-of-research.html
======
jmcguire
This gives a good (and cynical) way to correct for naive programmer time
estimates.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Dear OpenOffice - Snoddas
http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=11526
======
wccrawford
Dear guy who doesn't allow comments on his site,
Have you tried LibreOffice instead? If so, have you filed a bug report?
Sincerely, HN Reader.
~~~
cstross
Warren has been Informed.
You can stand down, now.
~~~
rbanffy
He could also want to contact Microsoft and file a bug report with them, since
the problem only appeared after a Windows upgrade from some previous release
to Windows 7, it looks like a Windows problem more than a OpenOffice problem.
That's not a very promising road.
Another option would be to try LibreOffice (as pointed out by wccrawford) and
see if whatever behavior Microsoft changed in Windows 7 wasn't already
compensated for.
I don't see OpenOffice as a viable product right now. LibreOffice, at least,
doesn't have the only serious rival Microsoft has in the uncoolness category
behind the steering wheel. So far, they never failed to ruin perfectly good
products and OpenOffice was not particularly good to begin with.
~~~
Hov
Are you serious? Windows 7 was in beta and RC publically for a very long time.
Thats just lazy in my opinion.
~~~
rbanffy
Of course I am. If a new release of Gnome broke some code of yours (that
sticks to documented APIs and worked fine on the previous release), you would
file a bug, regardless of the fact you could have downloaded and built
everything from their version control on a daily basis to test, even
automatically. Why should we treat Microsoft any different? Even if I detected
the problem in the first public alpha, I would file a bug.
If the code sticks to the API rules and a new release of the OS broke it, it's
the OS that's buggy, not your code. If the OS maker doesn't fix the bug using
the "you should have tested" excuse I question how much it respects its users
and developers.
------
iuguy
Dear Upset guy,
Try a different build (as it looks like yours is broken), consider using Go-OO
(<http://www.go-oo.org/>) which is much better than straight OO anyway. Don't
forget to uninstall before reinstalling and check your appdata folder for
leftover config data.
Hope this helps, hugs and kisses,
iuguy
~~~
zievo
Going forward, the Go-oo project will be discontinued in favor of LibreOffice,
as stated on <http://go-oo.org/>
~~~
iuguy
That's a very good point, which I'd forgotten. Thanks ever so much for the
reminder.
------
ciupicri
Dear..., it's spelled OpenOffice.org, not OpenOffice.
~~~
pbhjpbhj
You were downvoted but I think this is an important point.
The subject appears to be clear however OpenOffice.org is called just that as
OpenOffice is a different application and IIRC they had a slight trademark
tussle and OOo ended up telling everyone that they had to refer to it as such
not simply "open office". This was all eons ago in internet time and I can't
find a good citation quickly.
There is also now possibility of confusion with Oracle Open Office (perhaps
this is what you meant) which is a commercial version based on OpenOffice.org.
Unfortunately one really needs clarity to be sure which software exactly he's
complaining about.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Hmmm: 2009 Bail out = $700B, investment in VC funds in 2009 = $15B - jasonmcalacanis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d51bAiXHkZw
======
schmittz
I honestly can't believe this guy is a financial reporter and doesn't know the
difference between TARP and the stimulus. I'm sorry, but you can't argue that
he works in startups as an excuse to have misunderstandings about major
macroeconomic policies that certainly, to varying degrees affect the business
he work in.
------
nhangen
What's interesting about this to me is that so few companies are going IPO. Is
there more money to be made by staying private, or is it just that they're
waiting for the right time?
Beyond that, I hope it's not a bubble, because if you ask me, this is the only
thing giving me hope in the economy. When VC's stop investing, the whole
sector is going to be in trouble.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What's the status of Stripe's Ruby type checker? - BaronVonSteuben
About 9 months ago, Stripe announced they were building a type checker for Ruby called "Sorbet." Haven't heard or seen anything since, and was wondering if anything has been announced that I may have missed, and/or if the project is still going to happen.<p>Reference: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17217815
======
z1mm32m4n
Hey! I work at Stripe on Sorbet. Don’t worry, you haven’t missed any
announcement. Stripe is still very much committed to Sorbet; it’s used by
hundreds of engineers every day to catch bugs and increase developer
productivity. We’re currently hard at work polishing Sorbet to make it mature
enough for people to use outside of Stripe. It’s not quite ready yet, but if
you email sorbet@stripe.com we’ll have your email address so we can let you
know when we do have something worth announcing.
Thanks for the interest in Sorbet!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Open-Source Recycling - pelim
http://preciousplastic.com/
======
herbst
While i nether have the room nor the time to do this, i love the idea. I also
love the "Why" section of the website, so simply yet so mighty.
~~~
rootlocus
I'm hoping to find some workshop that would share the tools and space (for a
fee), but I have no idea where to look.
Making stuff out of garbage would make me feel like Tony Stark.
~~~
herbst
I could see hacker spaces doing this, there is almost always room and a budget
for new machines.
------
smellf
I wonder if this project is based off the earlier Recyclebot? That was
something I'd wanted to build for a long time.
[http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:12948](http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:12948)
[http://reprap.org/wiki/Recyclebot](http://reprap.org/wiki/Recyclebot)
[http://www.appropedia.org/Recyclebot](http://www.appropedia.org/Recyclebot)
Precious Plastic certainly looks further along though - and their instructions
look to be higher quality, too.
------
agumonkey
Always wanted to do this, but I was afraid reprocessing plastics would release
toxic fumes or hard to detect dangers for the average guy. I can't stand
throwing things anymore.
~~~
albertojacini
I'm obsessed with not throwing away things and really appreciate a cool
project like this. But nonetheless, I would like to emphasize that recycling
is no substitute for not producing and not consuming plastic, which is by far
the best way to fight what is depicted in the Why? section!
~~~
agumonkey
You're into the San Francisco glass jars + tissue bag trend ?
~~~
albertojacini
No
------
pingec
A positive thing for sure. But the hardest part is not the processing, it`s
the sorting of different types of plastic and the washing phase if required.
~~~
dzhiurgis
How advanced are the sorting facilities? I assume they must use some image
recognition and robotics already. Do they use deep learning yet?
~~~
ska
Do they use deep learning yet?
"yet" ? Deep learning is no panacea - it's not clear why this would even be on
a top 5 list of approaches to try on a putative ML part of the process. There
seems to be a lot of confusion on this, generally.
Most likely they just use cheap labor for sorting
~~~
rvense
I'd think once you have built sensors that can digitize the whatever
properties of the plastic that are relevant to sorting them, actually
recognizing the different types of plastics would be rather simple.
------
aznpwnzor
Someone who knows more should prove me wrong, but...
Intuitively shouldn't a dedicated plant's machinery have much higher
efficiency? Coupling that with the biggest problems of recycling being the
combined energy costs of transportation and processing, this seems to not
solve anything?
It kind of solves only one leg of the transportation, but the final recycled
plastic will still need to be transported. That's again assuming costs of
transportation are linear with respect to number of sources (but I don't think
that's true...). And assuming same thing about processing energy efficiency,
this does worse with the processing energy part.
~~~
hosh
I think we'll find something more interesting if:
\- The outputs of this recycling tech can be fed into personal fabrication
tech (3D printers, etc.)
\- Power generation is decentralized (solar, etc.)
It's part of a set of tech that would allow for the localization of
manufacturing, closing the whole lifecycle locally. This in turn brings things
back to the community. It's not always about total energy efficiency.
~~~
smellf
> The outputs of this recycling tech can be fed into personal fabrication tech
> (3D printers, etc.)
I can:
[http://preciousplastic.com/videos/build/extrusion/](http://preciousplastic.com/videos/build/extrusion/)
------
winterismute
My wife was wondering whether this can be considered 100% healthy: don't you
need plastic to reach a very high temperature to model it that way? Doesn't it
start releasing whatever thing that might be carcinogenic or such?
~~~
maxerickson
Thermoplastics will melt before they start to chemically decompose. Whatever
residue is in the plastic might be liberated by the heat (those residues will
also migrate out at room temperature, so we tend to be somewhat careful about
what residue ends up in products).
Thermoset plastics will not melt and will release all sorts of magnificent
things when heated.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoplastic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoplastic)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermosetting_polymer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermosetting_polymer)
------
fake-name
From
[http://preciousplastic.com/machines/](http://preciousplastic.com/machines/)
> You can make the molds completely yourself using CNC to mill the lathe or
> simply welding them.
.... What? "mill the lathe"? I think they accidentally a word in there.
>These lines can be used to make new raw material (3d printing filament),
granulate, spinned around a mold or up to you to find new creative ways.
> Well suited to make large and more solid objects, the oven itself is also a
> great machine for prototyping and making plastic test.
> Since it works with molds you can easily replicate and set up a production.
This website desperately needs copy-editing.
\----
Also, I'm completely tired of people coming into an existing engineering
discipline and deciding to come up with a whole bunch of terms for existing
processes. It's not "a injection", it's *an injection molding machine. All the
new terminology does is make things extra confusing.
~~~
wila
The people behind the project are Dutch, German, Mexican [0] and none of them
-from what I could see- would normally speak English as their first language.
Why don't you send an email to point out the mistakes in their text? [1]
They might even appreciate it :)
[0] - [http://preciousplastic.com/thanks/](http://preciousplastic.com/thanks/)
[1] -
[http://preciousplastic.com/contact/](http://preciousplastic.com/contact/)
------
Fastidious
Not everyone has the skills, nor the tools to do this. I love the idea, and
wish someone would make the machines (or the entire kits to assemble at home).
I would buy them!
~~~
bigbugbag
As said in the intro video, ask the local handyman.
This is not out of reach, they managed to build those in Africa with whatever
was available.
------
asimuvPR
I've been looking for something like this for a while. Was already thinking on
developing mynown machines but this just saved me lots of resources. Great
project!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
So How Do We Fix the Patent System? - grellas
http://www.phphosts.org/2011/08/so-how-do-we-fix-the-patent-system/
======
bediger
Best to go over to techdirt.com for the original, plus the usual stimulating
comebacks to persistent "Intellectual Property" maximalist trolls.
| {
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The lifesaver app for delinquent boyfriends, the disorganized, and forgetful - sbkirk
http://twotoasters.com/ideas/2013/introducing-the-h-bloom-gifts-app-for-iphone/
======
marknutter
or "The lifesaver app for all people who have a hard time spending their money
fast enough."
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What's the significance of 0.05 significance? (2013) - xtacy
http://www.p-value.info/2013/01/whats-significance-of-005-significance_6.html
======
avs733
The problem with all of this is that the reducto-scientific paradigm for
understanding science has long been extended to communicating and teaching
about science.
As the author does a really nice job explaining, and as seen in the Fisher
quote, these articulations of heuristics and guidelines are often taken as
closed form rules.
Look beyond statistics and you see it everywhere. Common ones include
entrepreneurship and design...in both areas, experts' ways of thinking are
often highly situated, highly metacognitive, and the actions they take are
inherently inseparable from their thinking process. However, because of the
academic drive towards objective/deterministic/observable phenomenon the
research tends to report and attribute only the actions. The result is that
those actions, rather than the underlying thinking processes, are valued and
taught.
The result is simulations of expertise masquarading as knowledge. Its one
thing when its students, but as you are seeing in psychology's 'replication
crisis' (which, side note, is kind of a metaversion of its own critique) it
can create real problems when surface level understanding is accepted and
generalized as a normative 'truth' in a field. You see it in economics and
business a lot...strive to appear scientific, but do so in ways that
inherently betray the underlying structure of what you are studying. It comes
from an underlying value in those communities, and society, that the only
truth is objective truth.
If I have an experiment where I am screening 5 possible predictors and I get p
values of .9 for 4 of them and .52 for 1...I would be an idiot not to pursue
the 1. if I get 4 .49s and 1 .00000000001...same thing. Statistics is
relative, literally.
[happy to provide citations...not sure anyone really cares]
~~~
thedailymail
I care, and agree with your points. It seems at least part of the
fetishization of p < 0.05 has arisen from its common use as the cutoff point
in drug clinical trials, and thus represent a make or break point in a multi-
billion dollar industry. There needs to be some predefined standard for such
trials to prevent cherry-picking and other games, but as the blog describes,
this could have just as easily been a different threshold. Similar
observations can also be made about the values used to set study sample size
(based on somewhat arbitrary alpha and beta).
The arbitrariness at the heart of the regulatory enterprise may seem
disconcerting, but the alternative (no shared standards for evaluating drug
efficacy) has also been tried historically, and the result was markets flooded
with useless, often dangerous, products many of which nonetheless sold very
well.
~~~
avs733
> It seems at least part of the fetishization of p < 0.05 has arisen from its
> common use as the cutoff point in drug clinical trials, and thus represent a
> make or break point in a multi-billion dollar industry.
I think that is a bit recursive. Its not so much a fetishization as it is a
misunderstanding that results in it being a valuable target.
It would be a heck of a lot more useful as a target (and granted...I would
argue the target should be more like .001) if more research adopted Bayesian
statistical techniques where you can't as easily P hack.
------
thearn4
The standard ritual for measuring significance in research seems to me to be
some strange marriage of the ideas of Fisher, Neyman, and Pearson that I'm not
sure any of them would have actually agreed with. I'd be interested to hear
any historians of statistics or scientific methodology comment more on that
angle or correct my misinterpretation if thats what it is.
~~~
kgwgk
I think you’re right.
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4347431/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4347431/)
------
netcraft
Semi-off topic - as someone who does a lot of data analysis with sql but has
never taken a statistics course - can anyone recommend any resources about
where to learn about how to calculate / apply p-value, r-square etc?
~~~
madhadron
I wrote a couple papers for clinicians introducing p-values and the necessary
apparatus to understand them correctly:
[http://madhadron.com/posts/2016-01-25-p_values_for_clinician...](http://madhadron.com/posts/2016-01-25-p_values_for_clinicians.html)
~~~
nonbel
>"The P-value is the smallest relevant value of α given your data (i.e., the
smallest probability of making a Type I error and deciding there is an effect
when there isn't one)."
Nope, the p-value calculation assumes there is no effect. How can it be the
probability there is an effect?
~~~
madhadron
Reading comprehension: "deciding that there is an effect when there isn't
one."
------
pontus
p-values are very misunderstood and a lot more subtle than most people
believe.
If you're interested in p-values, I wrote a post on them here with some
counterintuitive examples (one of them shows how a lower p-value can sometimes
increase your belief in the null-hypothesis).
[https://mindbowling.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/pvalues.pdf](https://mindbowling.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/pvalues.pdf)
~~~
hnhg
This is great - you should really put your name and details on there. You
deserve the recognition!
~~~
pontus
Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. I guess I didn't think about putting my name on
there, but maybe I will :)
------
lokimedes
What frightens me more is how rarely I see talk about decision theory and
hypothesis testing in the (deep) machine learning community, it is as if
people consider the classification output as sufficient evidence of
recognition, just quote that max(p(class)) rather than the significance of the
class given its classifier score. Am I missing something?
~~~
nonbel
What do you think calculating the "significance" would add?
~~~
lokimedes
Most dCNN classifiers I’ve seen used simply rely on softmax to provide a
“probability” among the classes. But it really is a score that has been
normalized across the classes. Having 0.7 of one class does not mean the same
level of discrimination from the remaining classes as it does for another
class with the same score. By only using the maximum scoring class you don’t
account for what score value is sufficient to claim a significant
discrimination between the maximum score and the alternatives.
~~~
nonbel
I see how the probability (softmax output) contains more info than simply the
class with highest probability, but not what you want regarding "significant
discrimination".
Perhaps you want to weight different types of errors differently? Eg:
[https://github.com/Hezi-Resheff/paper-log-bilinear-
loss](https://github.com/Hezi-Resheff/paper-log-bilinear-loss)
------
VikingCoder
[https://xkcd.com/882/](https://xkcd.com/882/)
------
hackeraccount
Someone needs to reference the XKCD strip on jelly beans.
[https://xkcd.com/882/](https://xkcd.com/882/)
------
BoiledCabbage
Scientists needs to start using a "training set" and a "test set".
If you have 2000 samples of data, you don't train your model on it and then
say that's your success rate. You'll end up with conclusions that don't
generalize.
Instead train on 1600 and measure your success on the remaining 400.
Similarly, don't look for statistical significance among your 2000 samples and
conclude that's the result. Do it across 1600 and then validate it on the 400.
If there is a real result there, it'll reproduce. It now makes your process
robust to overfitting / param hacking.
You avoid the green jelly bean problem entirely.
~~~
kbutler
This is the standard recommendation, but does it really help?
You do that test on the second subset, and then you discard every theory that
doesn't pass both the 1600 set and the 400 set.
So you end up with the predictions that pass all the data in your original
2000 samples.
Is it really any better at generalizing to new data? If so, can you just
evaluate your theories on the unpartitioned data by doing randomized subset
testing after-the-fact?
~~~
BoiledCabbage
Probably would be helpful to see the math on it to confirm, but I believe if
it's a spurious relationship, the probability it will pass both the 1600 & the
400 are less than the prob of it passing the 2000.
~~~
ralmeida
It may (or may not) be less, but if scientists just discard the tests which
don't pass both, then passing both becomes the new prior, and we go back to
the same situation.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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IPhone Touch Events in JavaScript - tlrobinson
http://rossboucher.com/2008/08/19/iphone-touch-events-in-javascript/
======
auston
Good stuff, will put it to use.
------
matt
Great presentation last night at the JS meetup!
~~~
boucher
Thanks, glad you liked it.
| {
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Lockheed Network Suffers Major Disruption: Sources - hornokplease
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/26/us-lockheed-network-idUSTRE74P7U320110526
======
hornokplease
According to the report (which cites Robert Cringely), the intrusion technique
involved SecurID tokens:
_The slowdown began on Sunday after security experts for the company detected
an intrusion to the network, according to technology blogger Robert Cringely.
He said it involved the use of SecurID tokens that employees use to access
Lockheed's internal network from outside its firewall._
| {
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Android is dead - linhtran168
http://brianshall.com/content/android-dead
======
kaolinite
No it's not, that's ridiculous. Stop attention-seeking.
(I did write a long post about the future of Android, etc, but soon realised
after flicking around on the blogger's site that it's not worth it. Load of
rubbish from an "expert on how digitalization and the mobile web are remaking
markets, industries, business models and lives around the world." ..Yeah).
| {
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A Linux distribution inspired by Chrome OS - matthodan
http://lifehacker.com/5369361/try-out-an-unofficial-but-working-chrome-os
======
dbz
It's not even a working "Chrome OS". It is a fan based unstable linux distro
revolving around the Chrome browser. One might as well make chrome and open
office the only two apps on his or her computer and call it chrome OS....
------
Timothee
Putting quotes around the name doesn't make this title less misleading.
This is not related to the official Chrome OS in ANY way. The key sentence
here is "this early stab at a fan-made Chrome OS".
~~~
fogus
Maybe the quotes do nothing to make the title "less misleading" but the word
"Unofficial" was a big hint for me.
~~~
sjs
I thought unofficial just meant not sanctioned for public consumption by
Google, not that it wasn't actually ChromeOS at all.
ReactOS is _not_ an unofficial "Windows".
------
peregrine
This isn't very good. gOs at least looks nice and is simpler.
<http://www.thinkgos.com/gos/index.html>
Doesn't have chrome but then again chrome on linux is fairly unstable for
normal use. That said I use it normally :)
~~~
stcredzero
Wow, gOs looks like someone figured out Apple's secret sauce and they're
applying it to a user-oriented Linux desktop. That is: keep it simple, avoid
surprises, make it all just work.
------
jsz0
I'd be careful with this. I find it a bit suspicious this project is named
"Chrome OS" and hosted on Google yet it has nothing to do with the real Chrome
OS or Google. Seems very suspicious to me. No one would be dumb enough to
create this type of confusion by accident. Would they?
~~~
eli
Yes.
------
stcredzero
Why is a desktop even necessary for a Chrome OS? Why not put everything in
browser tabs? Want to run OpenOffice? Just lick an icon, or select a bookmark,
and run it in a tab. If a tab has its own process, why have the Taskbar _and_
tabs? Just have a tab per application, plus some sort of Expose-like thing
within each tab.
If one developed a plug-in for VNC, this would be relatively easy to do in
open source. Just run each app in its own virtual image, with the window
manager tweaked to send an event asking for fullscreen to the first window
that opens.
My girlfriend ran across a man-on-the-street survey, and it turned out that a
big percentage of users aren't really clear on what a browser is anyways.
~~~
rms
I am very, very curious to see the actual design for Chrome OS. I'm optimistic
for something revolutionary and I am hoping to use it as my primary OS.
------
cedsav
a linux distribution _inspired_ by Chrome OS, that's all...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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A CodePen alternative, that fits inside of a bookmarklet - artbit
https://gist.github.com/ArtBIT/98c15ec047d30ebd5d2a18c601ca180f
======
artbit
data:text/html;base64,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
| {
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Building an IOT Platform: Centralized vs. Decentralized Models - jesusmrv
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-iot-platform-centralized-vs-decentralized-models-rodriguez
======
danyork
I found this an interesting view... but I think there's another model that's a
combination. The author assumes all devices will talk to the cloud-based
service, although in the "Decentralized" model the devices may talk amongst
each other and THEN out to the cloud.
However, there could also be model where all the IoT devices communicate with
a local hub within a building and then communicate back to the cloud through
that local hub. So the model is "decentralized" in that it does not have
reliance on a central hub... but "centralized" _within_ the local area.
Perhaps this is a "Distributed Hub" model or something like that.
| {
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Coursera's free online courses delayed further - lars512
http://www.aiqus.com/questions/37055/nlp-delayed-again
======
lars512
I just received emails about NLP and PGM, and still haven't heard from other
classes. Does anyone know any of the details around the issues they're facing?
Good on Scott Page for getting some Model Thinking videos up nonetheless.
<https://www.coursera.org/modelthinking/auth/welcome>
| {
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Stanford seeks to create new breed of engineer - ilamont
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/22/BASU1CI2U7.DTL
======
hga
Hmmm, the job of my friend who runs MIT's EECS undergraduate program is even
more secure than I thought.
And what I know of that department's accreditation is that the only problems
are with fine differences in educational philosophy, the biggest being the
question of can you teach design per se, or only as past of other courses. MIT
EECS believes the latter for their field, so they have to show the
accreditation how the various required courses include enough design
time/effort to qualify.
I also noticed a little while ago that of the big 4, Standford has by a
substantial margin the lowest number of CS undergraduates. U.C. Berkeley as a
state school of course has the most, and CMU has a program who's size is
capped, but is as I recall more than twice as big as Stanford's.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Apple Design Awards 2017 - huangc10
https://developer.apple.com/design/awards/
======
huangc10
Just want to point out 5/12 of the design award goes to puzzle/game apps and
they were showcased as the first apps. It could mean something or it could
mean nothing.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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The End of "Disruption:" Is that term even relevant anymore? - ohjeez
http://www.enterpriseefficiency.com/author.asp?section_id=1129&doc_id=264849&
======
VandyILL
I think the author misses the point on what is being disrupted. It sounds like
he thinks a law firm that adopts a better version of office is being a
"disruptive." He says that if a business is constantly open to change, then
what's the point of disruption? He confuses the role of adaptability and who
the disruptor is displacing.
Think about the first word processor compared to a typewriter. A company's
choice/ability to adopt the word processor didn't make them a disruptive
company. However, the word processor creator entirely disrupted the typewriter
company.
In the author's article, he references Office 365. Incorporating new features
of 365 as they role out does not make the 365 customer more or less
disruptive. What's disruptive is that 365 is attacking dropbox / google docs /
other service providers.
In fact, when the author asks is the term "disruption" relevent if businesses
become adaptable is kinda silly. Adaptable businesses open up opportunities
for more disruption. If a business is willing to take on new ways of doing
things then they are more likely to become customers of a new disruptive
product or service, whereas old non adaptable businesses would limit the new
product's potential client base / make it harder to find first adopters.
| {
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Lyft lobbying to prevent Portland from regulating impact of ride-sharing - cozzyd
https://humantransit.org/2019/02/lyft-lobbying-to-keep-cities-from-governing-themselves.html
======
joecool1029
Honestly, I would much prefer everything get regulated at state level.
I live in NJ. There are 565 municipalities here. Every single one has
different regulations. For example, if one were to pick up a prearranged
regular fare from Terminal A at EWR (Newark Liberty International), they might
not know that this terminal is in the City of Elizabeth. The city sometimes
has plainclothes detectives write $783 tickets. For prearranged pickups by
non-airport taxi, not solicitation.
Uber and Lyft got regulated under a statewide 'rideshare' law here. Townships
and cities can't ticket them for doing pickups. Taxis have to know all the
regulation of every municipality they operate in. In the above example,
Elizabeth wrote a ton of tickets for rideshare drivers before the statewide
framework into effect.
I'm aware large cities provide unique challenges and can understand why NYC
for instance should be allowed to regulate their own taxi/livery situation,
but for the rest of the state it doesn't make sense to have every little town
have different regulations.
Edit: Seems someone did write a petition that even covers the nuance of
allowing some larger municipalities a little oversight
[https://www.change.org/p/new-jersey-governor-help-the-
taxi-i...](https://www.change.org/p/new-jersey-governor-help-the-taxi-
industry-taxicab-crisis-in-new-jersey-legislation-needs-to-be-changed)
~~~
woodpanel
Echoing you concern and somehow related: in Germany it is almost impossible to
get state of the art software infrastructure on the road for customers of
public transit because of the fragmentation of transportation providers.
Municipalities run their own systems and while not all of them are actively
sabotaging attempts at increased coherence, none of them has any incentive to
increase coherence either.
If it weren't for the state-run federal railway system, that runs also
commuter railways in all German cities (and thus can enforce pressure) I
reckon there would even be no software to calculate a ride from one end of the
country to the other. And there would certainly be no product like the
BahnCard, were you can use all of Germany's public transit for ~4.200 € /
year.
~~~
adrianN
Japan has bunch of different rail providers that run parts of the network. I
wonder how the interoperability problems are solved over there.
~~~
klodolph
Well, sure. But long distances are usually covered by Shinkansen, and shorter
distances are often covered by one of the regional JRs. All of these are
supported by JRS
([https://www.jrs.co.jp/english/](https://www.jrs.co.jp/english/)) which run
IT and the railway information services. You only need to buy one ticket for a
JR trip even though several companies may be operating the trains you use.
For more local service, there are also private railways and various metro
systems. They sometimes have agreements to allow transfers between them, like
the two Tokyo subways. So if you are going to use two different subway systems
in Tokyo, you buy a transfer ticket and have to pass through a gate in the
middle of your trip to transfer to the other system.
~~~
CaptainZapp
_They sometimes have agreements to allow transfers between them, like the two
Tokyo subways._
That's a pretty gross understatement.
There are more than a dozen companies operating public transport systems in
Tokyo alone and it's all interconnected. They don't only seemlessly
interconnect (via PASMO or SWICA smart cards), but they also share common
designators for their station labellings.
_So if you are going to use two different subway systems in Tokyo, you buy a
transfer ticket and have to pass through a gate in the middle of your trip to
transfer to the other system._
I remeber exactly that. But that was around the year 2000, where it was really
difficult to use public transport without a guide as a foreigner. Today, with
a smart card, consistent and unique labelling of every station, regardless who
operates it, and all ticket machines talking perfect English it's a breeze.
~~~
delfinom
>There are more than a dozen companies operating public transport systems in
Tokyo alone and it's all interconnected. They don't only seemlessly
interconnect (via PASMO or SWICA smart cards), but they also share common
designators for their station labellings.
Perhaps they are more culturally motivated to present customers with the best
experience unlike trying to fleece customers for every dime in America. Just
saying.
There's a chance if you don't integrate your transit with the other guy, they
may pay more to use yours and spend 2 hours traveling. Win!
------
r_klancer
Of interest to HN.
_Specifically, the bill Lyft has proposed and is attempting to pass would
eliminate the ability of every Oregon city from taking the following common
sense steps to protect TNC passengers:
...
- Collecting local data, which is critical for understanding congestion and climate impacts.
...
_
TNC providers are not eager to reveal any more of their data than they have
to, for reasons of proprietary advantage. Similarly they understandably don't
want to take on the operational cost of having to comply with many local
requirements. (I work in data at a tech company; I can sympathize with their
point of view.)
Yet if urban mobility ultimately becomes a good provided by tech monopolies,
we want to make sure local governments are in on the loop with respect to the
knowledge and data those companies have, and have some leverage to enforce
local requirements.
Applications to current issues regarding privacy regulation, antitrust and
tech monopolies, and the potential rollout of autonomous vehicles are left as
an exercise for the reader.
Also, recommended: "Inside the Transportation Data Tug of War" \-
[https://www.move-forward.com/inside-the-transportation-
data-...](https://www.move-forward.com/inside-the-transportation-data-tug-of-
war/)
------
dvtrn
I've complained about this here before after Uber and Lyft did the same thing
in Texas
([https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2017-03-14/lege-f...](https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2017-03-14/lege-
for-sale/)), states certainly have an interest in legislative preemption when
there's a good and prevailing cause for it, I won't argue the legal merits
there, but I think this warrants serious consideration beyond the surface when
voters (as was the case in Austin) decide on municipal code and business
effectively 'buy' preemption or else threaten to take their ball and go home
([https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2016-05-13/our-city-
our...](https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2016-05-13/our-city-our-
headache/)).
~~~
pbreit
Shouldn't legislation be more reactive than preemptive? Isn't the Uber/Lyft
worst case scenario that traffic gets a little worse?
~~~
vkou
The worst case scenario is also that fixed rate, lottery availability taxi is
completely replaced by highest bidder availability.
Depending on your value system, this can be a good, or a bad thing.
~~~
SilasX
That’s only how it works in theory. No city actually has a blinded lottery
system for equitable pickups. In practice, drivers just discriminate on who
looks likely to tip more when demand is hot, and this is very hard to police.
Price controls rarely have this ideal outcome.
------
pdx_flyer
Calling Portland "dense" is hysterical.
As a Portlander, I can say we are a terrible example of what NIMBYism does to
efforts to lower housing costs by adding density.
Our city has a decent public transit setup and if the focus was on adding
usable density with improved transit options, rather than people trying to
protect neighborhoods, we'd be much better off.
I am fine with Lyft wanting this regulated at the state level. It seems like a
weird hill to die on for Portland.
~~~
SilasX
“Less dense than than optimal” does not imply “density effects don’t matter
for city management as claimed in the letter [eg for scarcity of road capacity
or pickup points]”.
~~~
pdx_flyer
Well, the city has done very little to move density forward. They continue to
approve buildings that are mostly overpriced, poorly built, studio apartments.
The other problem is that the commute pattern in Portland isn't into downtown
only. There are people who commute from the east side of town, through
downtown, through the tunnel (or one of the other limited transit options over
the hills) to Beaverton or Hillsboro to work at Nike, Intel, etc. The
efficient public transit options for that commute simply don't exist. It can
take 1.5+ hours to do that via MAX and bus.
~~~
SilasX
Which, I agree, are important issues, but don't obviate the mayor's reference
to municipalities' need to manage the problems of density (rather than be
overridden by voters that don't encounter such problems).
------
cheriot
If America's urban areas were good at "geometry" they wouldn't have so much
parking and such shitty transit.
------
syntaxing
I feel like every state should mandate accessible data similar to Taiwan's
approach ([https://data.cdc.gov.tw/en/](https://data.cdc.gov.tw/en/)). New
York has a similar program but does not have the hackathon or incentives for
people to use the data.
------
kodablah
Color me naive, but I'm always confused why those troubled by the lobbying
criticize the influencers instead of the influenced. The influenced aren't
some innocent party here. Surely it is more reasonable to act in the best
interest of your company as a lobbyist than it is to act against your
constituents as a politician. Where is the scathing letter directed towards
the writers/signatories/supporters of the bill in question? The reason you see
this one is simple PR as a city lobbies for their way at the state level just
as Lyft lobbies and they know anti-big-company is an effective tactic.
If the city of Portland has a problem with the state of Oregon, then that's
where the politicians need to hash out their issues.
> Specifically, the bill Lyft has proposed and is attempting to pass [...]
Lulz...what kind of terrible spin is that. I would be ashamed if I voted for
this guy. Lyft doesn't pass laws.
~~~
eganist
> I'm always confused why those troubled by the lobbying criticize the
> influencers instead of the influenced.
Bribery tends to be a crime because we haven't found a way to short circuit
_en masse_ the human tendency to submit to influence.
> Lulz...what kind of terrible spin is that. I would be ashamed if I voted for
> this guy. Lyft doesn't pass laws.
Considering your comment, I shouldn't be surprised that you would be
dismissive of the idea that directing influence means exerting greater control
over the legislative process; it's only the technicalities (i.e. Lyft is not a
legislator) that differ. The statement holds, and I think many of us would
appreciate a more dignified rebuttal to the article's point rather than
"lulz."
~~~
darawk
> Bribery tends to be a crime because we haven't found a way to short circuit
> en masse the human tendency to submit to influence
Contrary to popular belief, lobbying and bribery are in fact not the same
thing.
~~~
pbreit
What's the difference?
~~~
darawk
Seriously? Lobbyists are paid to talk to politicians. They represent interest
groups, and make their case in DC and other places. They do make campaign
contributions, but that does not represent anywhere near the same level of
influence as an actual person to person, quid pro quo bribe. There are actual
places in the world where bribery is rampant, and if you lived in one of those
places, you really wouldn't need to ask this question.
~~~
moosey
Local level bribery might not take the same forms that it takes in other
countries, but the top level bribery is easy to see. We have massively
expensive elections that are used to direct money towards a massively
expensive system of 'election contractors' all of whom were elected officials
at some point that now receive dark money via this system.
Of course, compared to our lobbying system, where people like Joe Lieberman
now work, taking money to inform other elected officials that if they play the
game right, they'll also make millions from corporations 'lobbying' the
government. They'll help to make sure that you have a long career with lots of
attention by funding your campaigns.
Lobbying sounds great, but like many things, we've perverted it.
~~~
darawk
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying lobbying is great. I'm merely trying to
keep some perspective that lobbying, while not ideal, is still much better
than actual bribery.
------
googlemike
Really odd comment sentiments here. I fail to see how this is a good thing as
opposed to alarming.
------
ikonst
Many of the bullet points are somewhat vague, but one is strangely specific:
> Prohibiting companies from charging passengers with disabilities higher
> prices during busy times.
First of all, what constitutes 'disability'?
How will passengers identify themselves as 'disabled' to the apps?
How would the companies store this highly private information? (think medical-
info grade, not credit-card grade)
What will indemnify the companies from claims of discrimination, claims
possible in light of the companies being aware of users' disabilities,
information they never wanted to keep in the first place?
And finally, not to make it the main topic, but who would pay for this? That
"surge pricing" you pay is, in turn, being paid to the drivers. The drivers
are "chasing the surge'.
~~~
thomaslangston
I would assume the definition of disabled at play here is related to the
equipment of the car e.g. wheelchair lift, or service required e.g. driver
getting out of the car to help someone in or out of the car.
~~~
ikonst
So it's not a status but just a per ride assessment -- if you appear disabled
when the driver comes to pick you up, he should ask not to receive surge pay
for that particular ride?
------
a_imho
How is Lyft different from any taxi service?
~~~
beerlord
Because its much better, and so attracts more people to the service.
Uber has a great potential to be used as public transport, with dynamic route
pathing based on supply and demand. Something traditional public transport
could never do.
~~~
anth_anm
Uber is a disaster as public transit. It's functionally little different than
just having everyone drive themselves. Not needing parking is a big benefit,
but it's still a bad idea.
~~~
beerlord
It is functionally very different because:
-You dont have to drive around and find a park (less congestion and real estate)
-You can pool your trip with another user (Uber Pool)
------
wutbrodo
It's worth noting: as much as a low-quality source like this frames their
headline as if devolving control to local government is an unalloyed good, the
interplay between the policy of nested polities (eg city, state, federal) is a
much more complex issue, and one that people come down on the other side of
fairly often (as a simple, dramatic example, the repeal of Roe v Wade is
considered to be a nightmare scenario for many here, and yet it's precisely a
case of federal law restricting the ability of local govts under the aegis of
protecting individual rights[1]).
I'm not expressing approval or disapproval of Lyft's actions, but I think it's
worth pointing out what a low-quality source this is, given its reliance on
leaning into the reader's biases right from the headline. Low-effort advocacy
like this is almost never the best way to understand a topic, just as a
libertarian think tank's hypothetical "Lyft protects consumers from
authoritarian local govt's" headline wouldn't be.
[1] I know this is a complicated issue and I'm really not interested in
getting arguing it on its merits; it's just a convenient, widely-recognized
example that takes the jurisdictional form I'm describing here.
~~~
CaptainZapp
What exactly is low quality about the source? Apart from the fact that Mr.
Walker is without question an expert in public transport most of the blog post
reprints a letter from the city of Portland outlining Lyft's dirty tacticts.
The actual blog entry simply outlines the different requirements between dense
- and suburban city areas.
Your comment, smearing the original poster, seems to me vile and totally
beyond the point.
~~~
Dylan16807
Repeatedly stating that only city folk can understand a city is uh... rather
divisive and insults the reader's intelligence.
~~~
techsupporter
But that's not what the author wrote in context. He is pointing out that
representatives from rural and suburban areas propose regulations and laws
that benefit those types of areas and are often directly opposite of what
people in a dense area need or want.
That's not being insulting; that's the expected outcome. People should
advocate for what is suitable for the area where they live. (What that happens
to be and how to implement it is always up for debate.) But for a
representative of a rural or suburban area to insist that a city have the same
rules as--and no more than--a rural area is not feasible.
That's what the author was getting at within the context of those two
paragraphs. It's also the push/pull dynamic of cities and rural/suburban areas
that's been going on in state governments since time immemorial.
------
ineedasername
It seems like the tldr of Portland's objections is that rideshare services
result in a net increase of cars on the road-- the rideshare cars-- because it
makes taking a cab more convenient than mass transit. But it seems like an
inverse effect might offset this issue: fewer people choosing to own & drive
their personal vehicles because it's now more convenient to use rideshare
services an not have to worry about finding & paying for parking.
~~~
jerrysievert
burst traffic vs constant traffic, where burst can be defined as commute
times.
you can see the affect in downtown Portland, where car traffic was mostly
concentrated to burst hours with the rest of traffic being a relative trickle
of vehicles that weren't delivery or transit vehicles. now, it's a constant
stream of lyft/uber labeled cars at all hours, in addition the the burst
hours. anecdotally, no passengers most of the time (around 70%), seeming to be
between fares.
------
Kiro
The HN crowd has always been hypocritical when bashing Uber but praising Lyft.
They are the same kind of crooks.
------
subroutine
ITT there seems to be a lot of sentiment that city/county local governments
shouldn't be able to implement policy on anything but the most trivial
matters. As if politicians and corporations residing in other cities are
better suited to make impactful local policy. I dont get it...
Then again I am still scathing from a similar case study in my home town of
San Diego, with Airbnb. Our city council passed some policies to regulate
whole-home short term vacation rentals in residential areas. It limited whole-
home short-term Airbnb/VRBO rentals to 6-months per year (you could still rent
out a spare room or granny flat on Airbnb as much as you want).
Airbnb wasn't having it. They hired a gazillion signature gatherers to brute
force a public ballot measure. I'm talking about a signature gathering army;
they were such a presence/nuisance it led to absurdities like Trader Joe's
filing a lawsuit against Airbnb [1].
To be clear, Airbnb is killing San Diego's local renter market. Over the last
5 years, thousands of rental properties have been converted to short-term
Airbnb rentals. These images speak for themselves:
[https://imgur.com/a/UBJYbwr](https://imgur.com/a/UBJYbwr)
This is on the heels of an independent consulting firm warning that sd housing
and rental prices are rising at an alarming rate, and F grade in new housing
development (blame SANDAG?), and single-family home prices slipping out of
reach of median income earners (further saturating the apartment rental
market) [2].
The natural reaction was SD locals filling town-hall meetings for several
solid months, demanding city council take action (it was a sight to behold,
because, I mean, when do you ever hear your friends say 'I just got back from
a town hall meeting?'). And they did. And everyone cheered.
And then a week later it was all over.
The funny thing is; it won't even be a ballot measure. Airbnb understood that
if they got the minimum number of signatures, they could force san diego city
council to either (1) rescind the policies they just passed and start over on
new policy more favorable to Airbnb - it had to be since laws require
resubmissions after a petition to be _substantially_ different; or (2) no
policy whatsoever, until a formal ballot measure could be put in front of
voters (i.e. 2+ years of no policy & airbnb propaganda).
TLDR; a silicon valley company has more sustained influence on san diego
rental/housing policy than san diego elected officials
1\. [https://www.fastcompany.com/90231150/trader-joes-has-
filed-a...](https://www.fastcompany.com/90231150/trader-joes-has-filed-a-
restraining-order-against-airbnb)
2\. [http://londonmoeder.com/wp-
content/uploads/2018/06/Regional-...](http://londonmoeder.com/wp-
content/uploads/2018/06/Regional-Housing-Study-San-Diego-County-Final.pdf)
~~~
twoodfin
Or to put it another way, San Diego property-holders now have more control
over what they do with their property than San Diego elected officials.
~~~
subroutine
Right, if only that were true.
It's a bigger pain-in-the-ass to run a property as an STR compared to renting
to some local on a yearly lease, since tenant turnover always requires a
variety of owner/prop-manager/property interactions (cleaning, fixing stuff,
finding the right seasonal listing price, interacting with people unfamiliar
with the area, and a big issue of dealing with 'vacationer' collateral damage:
trashed apartment, pissed-off neighbors, etc.).
That final hurdle (the 'pain-in-the-ass bottleneck') is almost completely
mitigated in the current manifestation of Airbnb. We are at a tipping point
where corporations buy dozens, hundreds, of residential properties and
automate the entire STR process. Vacationers book online, they show up at the
STR and punch-in a pin code to open the front door (no need to shake anyone's
hand), vacationers stay for a few days, leave the STR in whatever state of
affairs, later that day some contracted cleaning staff shows up and cleans the
mess, washes the sheets etc, and resets the door-lock on the way out. Voilà,
fully automated STR. Rinse, repeat. And the more STRs the corporation owns in
a city, the lower the overhead cost per unit.
Here is one such company... Sonder.
[https://www.sonder.com/destinations/san_diego/search?ne=32.8...](https://www.sonder.com/destinations/san_diego/search?ne=32.87694%2C-117.08127&sw=32.674009%2C-117.285917)
If you take a look at the map of their San Diego offerings, you'll see a bunch
of pins on the map with numbers like <9>, <12>, <14>, up to <27> it seems. But
if you look closely, that doesn't mean they own 27 total apartments in San
Diego, that number means they own 27 apartments/lofts under that single pin.
Sonder is a Silicon Valley based company, waddayaknow.
------
scarejunba
I've seen the effect of San Francisco "governing itself". In many respects, I
would rather they didn't.
"Governing itself" isn't some magical good. The cost of incompatible laws in
jurisdictions can be large and invisible. Since the legislature ignores the
cost of laws, they are encouraged to complicate things as much as possible.
I'm on Lyft's side here.
~~~
spacegod
You want corporate interests to rule a city? That's not even remotely
democratic.
~~~
iamdave
_" Governing itself" isn't some magical good_
I don't think one who holds this particular stance is particularly concerned
with the merits of democracy. Call me on it, if I'm wrong, scarejunba.
~~~
Dylan16807
The topic is city level democracy vs. county or state level democracy.
A lot of housing and transportation problems are caused by the regulation
being too local.
~~~
anth_anm
a lot are caused by things like messed up state level property taxes.
California's housing problems are multiple levels of poor regulation.
------
rahimnathwani
After reading the article (including the letter which was reproduced within),
I feel an equally fair title could be:
"Mayor and Commissioner of Transportation lobby for the right to enforce their
own rules, not just state laws, on Lyft"
~~~
NeedMoreTea
How so? It seems like the mayor is reacting to lobbying by Lyft.
~~~
rahimnathwani
The state is considering a piece of legislation. The mayor:
\- wrote a letter and released it for publication by the press
\- gave interviews or quotations to journalists for publication
Both of these seek to influence state legislators, and the evidence is right
there in the article.
Where is the evidence of Lyft's lobbying?
And does 'who started it' matter? (I mean, if X did the first lobbying act,
does that automatically make them the party in the wrong?)
~~~
dvtrn
_Both of these seek to influence state legislators, and the evidence is right
there in the article.
Where is the evidence of Lyft's lobbying?_
I'd like to counter your question with a question: why shouldn't a mayor be
speaking up to influence state legislators if they believe legislative issues
could have an impact on their city? This is literally one of the primary
duties of being an elected leader at the city level.
~~~
Dylan16807
> why shouldn't a mayor be
...but nobody said they shouldn't.
~~~
dvtrn
I'm sorry, taking into context the comment I quoted from the chain it resides
in, from the way the person I'm responding to initially reacted to this post,
it looked otherwise at a glance.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Amazon Quietly Closes Security Hole After Journalist’s Devastating Hack - sciwiz
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/08/amazon-changes-policy-wont-add-new-credit-cards-to-accounts-over-the-phone/
======
brudgers
This is the only possible response after the "exploit" was published. Amazon's
process was appropriate for their business, and the problems the journalist
experienced were due solely to the level is security Apple chose to implement
and their decision to allow remote wiping of people's Macbooks.
This is only a story because of Apple's of operational decisions. The
information required to game their system could have come from a myriad of
sources other than Amazon.
~~~
Osiris
I disagree that Amazon's processes were 'appropriate'. Being able to gain
access to someone's Amazon account with such basic information can be a big
problem.
I know a guy that's a huge amazon seller and he says there are Amazon sellers
often with upwards of $100,000 in their accounts on Amazon before pulling the
cash out. If someone were able to gain access to a seller account (I'm not
sure if this 'exploit' would have worked for a seller account or not), that
could have been quite financially painful for some people.
~~~
Wingman4l7
Why are they leaving so much in their accounts? Amazon is not a bank, and as
such they're probably not subject to the same regulations. We've already seen
this issue with people leaving too much money in winnings in online poker
accounts, or PayPal accounts.
------
jakeludington
While they have closed the loophole for adding credit cards, you can
apparently still change your email or password via phone:
[http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyclay/2012/08/07/amazon-
tigh...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyclay/2012/08/07/amazon-tightens-
security-after-high-profile-hacking-sort-of/)
~~~
nohat
If you can change the email or password by phone, then nothing is solved.
Adding the credit card was, as I understand, simply because amazon required a
credit card number on the account (possibly last four digits).
------
stephengillie
I would like to see a customer service/tech support org where customers have
to enter their 2-factor PIN at a phone menu before reaching a _human_ support
agent. You could possibly combine that with caller ID for better verification
- basically use phone # like a username and the PIN as password.
Or you could just use them alongside other verification steps.
~~~
LoganCale
What if they've had their mobile phone stolen and can't do 2-factor auth and
that's why they're calling?
~~~
Wingman4l7
Isn't this scenario why Gmail's 2-factor authorization gives you a set of one-
time passwords?
~~~
ianferrel
What if you lose them?
At some point, there has to be a way to get back into your account. Probably,
going through slow and hard to hack methods like the postal system.
~~~
Wingman4l7
Well, continuing to use Gmail as an example, there is an account recovery
system, which IIRC asks for a bunch of details to try and determine if you are
the account owner (account creation date, names of labels used, etc.) If
Google or a third party would provide a list of these details, then you could
collate that info as additional insurance against your posited scenario.
------
davros
Is it possible to prevent a remote wipe by Apple? Or at least so it is only
possible with knowledge of my password? If I lose _both_ my MBA _and_ my
password, I am ok with not being able to remote wipe.
EDIT: OK, I can disable remote wipe entirely by disabling 'find my mac'.
~~~
X-Istence
It is only possible if you know your iCloud username and password.
Now the reason why the attacker was able to remote wipe is because he had the
iCloud username and the newly generated password.
------
larrys
For those not aware whenever a journalist uses the term "quietly" it equates
to "didn't issue a press release" or post publicly in an announcement.
~~~
arrrg
Yeah, and? What else would it equate to?
Press releases and public announcements are how a company communicates. If a
company changes something without communicating, they changed something
quietly.
I’m not really understanding what point you are trying to make. What is there
to misunderstand about that “quietly”?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Does anyone know of a good android app tutorial? - mohsen
I've googled already, I assure you. But none of the ones I've seen so far do it for me.<p>Do you guys have any recommendations? If so, what's good about your recommendation?<p>Thanks a lot!
-M
======
middlegeek
I have have sort of made my own path.
I watched this video which is not exactly a tutorial but gave me some good
comprehensive knowledge, there is a part 2 as well.
<http://marakana.com/forums/android/general/230.html>
Next I have been going through Hello, Android (Introducing Google’s Mobile
Development Platform, 3rd Edition, by Ed Burnette) and will probably be doing
the Apress Beginning Android book next.
Also check out <http://www.reddit.com/r/android>. Look on the sidebar as there
are other subreddits of interest to you, especially
<http://www.reddit.com/r/androiddev>.
Finally there is a tutorial in the Google documentation.
Best of luck!
~~~
mohsen
Wow, thanks a lot. I really appreciate the details.
~~~
middlegeek
No problem, now that I am on lunch, I looked up a few others.
Here is the Google guide I was talking about: <http://developer.android.com/>
here are some tutorials from there:
<http://developer.android.com/resources/index.html> They call these tutorials
but you are really just copying and pasting but I bet you could reverse
engineer simple apps from this starting point.
[http://developer.android.com/guide/tutorials/views/index.htm...](http://developer.android.com/guide/tutorials/views/index.html)
Here are a couple tutorials, I have not reviewed them much so it is up to you
to decide if they are any good:
[http://www.activefrequency.com/blog/2009/ground-up-
android-g...](http://www.activefrequency.com/blog/2009/ground-up-android-
getting-started-with-app-development/)
<http://www.vogella.de/articles/Android/article.html>
These guys talk about their experience in app development.
<http://www.kreci.net/> [http://www.bryandenny.com/index.php/2010/05/25/what-
i-learne...](http://www.bryandenny.com/index.php/2010/05/25/what-i-learned-
from-writing-my-first-android-application/)
Of course there is the App Inventor but when I did their tutorials I felt a
little more like I was building a pre-fab kit rather than learning how to
create: <http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/about/>
~~~
mohsen
Thanks again! What do you think of alternatives like appcelerator, or
PhoneGap?
------
veb
This one: <http://www.vogella.de/articles/Android/article.html>
I read it before making my first application.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Python API for Pintrest - rohitn
Pintrest does not have an official python API, but I wanted to see if anyone has attempted it and has suggestions. There are a few projects out there trying to accomplish this: https://github.com/richid/python-pinterest, https://github.com/creotiv/python-pinterest-api
======
rohitn
I'd love to hear any feedback from people who've attempted this.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Choosing meaningful work with Python Pandas data analysis - freeradical13
https://github.com/freeradical13/ValueBasedPrioritization
======
bluemania
Hmm not seeing much reference to pandas here, is this the correct link?
~~~
freeradical13
Most of the pandas code is in the abstract base classes here:
[https://github.com/freeradical13/ValueBasedPrioritization/bl...](https://github.com/freeradical13/ValueBasedPrioritization/blob/master/vbp/__init__.py)
That's combined with statsmodels code to run things like exponential smoothing
and ordinary least squares, or Facebook Prophet for GAM. For example:
[https://github.com/freeradical13/ValueBasedPrioritization/bl...](https://github.com/freeradical13/ValueBasedPrioritization/blob/master/vbp/__init__.py#L801)
The actual DataFrames are constructed in the concrete classes such as the
following for analyzing underlying causes of death for the United States:
[https://github.com/freeradical13/ValueBasedPrioritization/bl...](https://github.com/freeradical13/ValueBasedPrioritization/blob/master/vbp/ucod/united_states.py)
The overall purpose is described in detail here:
[https://github.com/freeradical13/ValueBasedPrioritization/ra...](https://github.com/freeradical13/ValueBasedPrioritization/raw/master/value_based_prioritization.pdf)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Teaching My 5 Year Old Daughter To Code - gkwelding
http://www.in-the-attic.co.uk/2012/10/04/teaching-my-5-year-old-daughter-to-code/
======
moistgorilla
Has anybody considered the idea of stealth teaching young kids rather than
forcing them to memorize things? Imagine that instead of watching useless
cartoons kids where playing games like this (robomind) and or dragon box.
Maybe throw in some strategy games that tell accurate history of the world and
some economy games. I just feel like this would be extremely effective in
teaching younger minds.
~~~
harryf
I've tried various means of getting my kids (both under 10) programming and
the fundamental hurdle is they don't want to sit at a keyboard long enough to
make any progress. 15 minutes is about the limit for attention - if there's no
reward, in terms of achieving something, it won't work with kids under 10 IMO.
The only successes I've had are Cargobot - the iPad game and
<http://drtechniko.com/2012/04/09/how-to-train-your-robot/> \- this is great
as its programming without needing computers
~~~
Sakes
I think you are correct about the short attention spans and need of quick
rewards. Here is my strat to combat it.
My Son is 2 yrs old, and I want to start teaching programming at 5.
2-3 work on reading 3-4 work on basic math 4-5 work on basic algebra (w/tools
like dragon box of course)
5+ start programming strat \- find an open source game \- start playing it
with my son \- after a while start modifying the code with my son
To sum it up in one sentence... get your child emotionally invested in the
environment before trying to show him how to manipulate it.
~~~
pooriaazimi
I apologize beforehand because it's none of my business, but I must say that
perhaps that's really not such a good plan. Life is short, but not (hopefully
for your son) _that_ short that you want to teach him algebra before the poor
boy is even 5!
It might backfire. In many (but not most) cases the child actually gets to
resent this kind of "education" instead of loving it.
It's great to want them to love reading books, love mathematics, love music,
love science and encourage thinking, but a life-long passion for these _good_
things is only guaranteed if _they_ choose them.
Postpone your plan 3 years (5-8 instead of 2-5) and IMO it will be 10 times
better.
~~~
Sakes
I think your concerns are valid and no apology is necessary but it is
appreciated. What I did not get into in my original post is how I am currently
integrating the teachings into his life.
Rule #1 for me is to never assume what my child is capable or incapable of
learning.
Rule #2 do not force learning and figure out how to make it enjoyable.
I have already started teaching him how to read. Most mornings I ask him if he
wants to play letters. If he says no we do something else. If he says yes I
practice with him. It started out learning to recognize the word CAT. After
one week it turned into learning about 12 words. Now it consists of practicing
his vowel sounds. Typically we play this game for about 5 minutes. I always do
this in the morning because that is when he is the most open to learning. We
use a dry erase board so somewhere around the 5 minute mark it degenerates
into doodling pictures of cats, dogs, mommy and daddy. Sometimes he wants to
try and trace the letters on the board. The best part is, even when letters is
over and we are drawing, he is still learning. So I do not believe that I am
in danger of turning him off to the joys of learning.
He is already playing dragon box. He can play up to the 13th level by himself
at which point he starts asking daddy for help. He usually asks for daddy's
phone about once a week to play dragon box. His favorite part is when the
dragon gets bigger. Then he yells "It got bigger daddy! :)"
Assume nothing, try everything and you will discover amazing things.
~~~
notlisted
Agree 100%, especially with rule #1.
I typically take the Feynman route...
[http://thenearbypen.blogspot.com/2009/11/feynmans-
father.htm...](http://thenearbypen.blogspot.com/2009/11/feynmans-father.html)
You'd be surprised how much of the 'complicated' stuff sticks, and comes back
at a later time when they have an Aha! moment and it all clicks.
By the way, I've learned sooo much doing this, e.g. I've recently discovered
that Pluto isn't a planet anymore... :p
------
jbattle
Another nice one for kids ... <http://research.microsoft.com/en-
us/projects/kodu/>
VERY visually interesting and easy to make things happen
Only runs on xbox and windows
~~~
tucif
I used Kodu with kids between 5-9 years on a summer camp, they caught up very
quickly. The interface was pretty cool and straightforward, they loved being
able to modify the terrain.
I always told them like: "Kodu is hungry and wants to eat some apples", or
"can you help Kodu find X", etc. Kodu (the robot) became kind of a
character/friend they empathized with, which eased having their attention and
interest.
Only downside I saw was its cpu and memory consumption.
------
Brajeshwar
You should check out Scratch too. <http://scratch.mit.edu/>
------
cinbun8
I tried to teach my nephew to code with python. He is 7. It didnt stick on the
first attempt. However when I showed him how to use a for loop, he printed a
multiplication table, turned around to his mom and exclaimed 'homework done' !
:)
------
SamuelMulder
As other comments have mentioned, Scratch is great for younger children. I've
had some success teaching basic Scratch concepts to 5 year olds, although they
vary a lot in willingness to play with it. If nothing else, showing them the
cool set of sprites and showing them how to make fun backgrounds will keep
them entertained enough to start introducing programming concepts.
It helped that I was working with a group, so the kids having more trouble
could see the neat things some of the others were doing to get them motivated.
By 7, they should be able to work with pretty much all the fundamental tools
in Scratch and you can start introducing them to higher order constructs.
I've found that for young kids the social aspect can be very motivating. If
she has friends of a similar age, get them all started on it and they'll soon
be showing each other what they come up with. If that doesn't work, then you
provide the social reinforcement :)
~~~
drbawb
Ditto for the social aspect.
For me, I was a bit older [6th-8th graders], but my social experience was
FIRST Lego League [FLL].
Basically, the FIRST robotics competition also sponsors competitions for
middle schoolers to build LEGO robots using the Mindstorms kit [when I did it,
it came with the yellow RCX "brain", now they use the NXT and some more
advanced sensors/motors].
The social aspect helped bind our team's programmers & "hardware engineers"
together. I was always terrible at building things w/o direction, and some
kids weren't great at programming. However, when you all have to work
together, you start looking at each other for guidance.
Seeing the robot take shape eventually led me to learn about gearing and
transmissions.
Other kids weren't great at programming, but when you see your hardware do
wildly unexpected things, you stop and ask "woah, wait, why did it do that?
[programmer], show me why it did that!" -- When they see their hardware
misbehave, they start to learn what the power of software really is, and vice
versa.
That and it's a great precursor to FIRST, which I regrettably never got to
participate in.
------
notlisted
There are two very nice programs on the iPad which my 4yo likes:
Move the Turtle [http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/move-turtle.-programming-
for/...](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/move-turtle.-programming-
for/id509013878?mt=8) ($2.99)
Similar to the Logo programming language another commenter mentions. Starts
simple, but goes into loop solutions a little too quick.
Cargo Bot (free!) <http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cargo-bot/id519690804?mt=8>
Cargo Bot is much more visual, little or no text, but I think they dive into
recursion much too fast (for 3 star solutions that is).
Bee Bot (free!) <http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bee-bot/id500131639?mt=8>
Just discovered, also for the really little ones. No comments yet.
~~~
gkwelding
My wife has an iPad 3, but I have a Nexus 7, any similar tools for that?
Anyone?
~~~
notlisted
I'm far from an Apple fanboy, have an Android phone, but... the best
investment I've ever made is an extra iPad for my kid.
There's sooo much good stuff for the little ones on the iPad that's really
educational. Android is simply lacking in that respect (for now).
Case in point, I downloaded some apps, and without any intervention on my part
she taught herself how to write letters (little skywriter), do simple math
(monkey school math), work with sets (firstapp.com peeps), draw lovely artwork
with commentary (doodlecast), learn about physics (amazing alex) etc etc.
Nothing better than having her come over to me and "explain" how things work.
If you think an iPad is going overboard in terms of expenses, a lot of this
stuff works on the iTouch as well.
~~~
gkwelding
she's had a touch screen device for a few years now, something called a
LeapPad which is designed for children. I think soon though that'll get passed
down to my youngest who's currently 2, and she can have a cheap tablet of some
kind as she's quite clumsy so wouldn't trust her with anything like an iPad!
~~~
infinite8s
My 2.5 year old has been playing with our 1st gen ipad since she could pick it
up. We just got one of the original Apple black rubber cases
([http://www.amazon.com/Original-Apple-CASE-ZML-MC361ZM-
Packag...](http://www.amazon.com/Original-Apple-CASE-ZML-MC361ZM-
Packaging/dp/B003CGMQ38)) and it's survived all the times she's dropped it
(only being able to drop it from a height of 2 ft helps reduce impact forces
too :)
~~~
infinite8s
And by survived, I mean when we take it out of the case and wipe off all her
sticky fingerprints it looks brand new.
------
srikrishnan
I believe the right mental model is the first step towards understanding
coding or computers. The easiest way to start for a kid might be with
something that interests them - like creating shapes/graphics. (I am grateful
for my school introducing me to programming via logo when I was nine)
I've been at it 2 weeks now trying to teach my grandma how a computer works.
She now understands how a processor works, what is a software program, etc.
I made my grandma dictate code to make me dance giving her exactly 4 commands
(moves) I could take (I am a 2-bit processor ;) ). We had fun! Ha. So she
coded. No computers. I could also explain processor speed, n-bit processors,
different instruction sets, instructions that need operands, etc. Of course I
used none of these words.
------
pbhjpbhj
I've been trying to get my lad in to Scratch.
The OP's app looks to be like Logo Turtle which was taught to me as a child in
the UK c.1984. Indeed IIRC most schools in my area had this and some [later?]
had a real-life 'turtle' that you could move around (connected by a long
Centronics cable I think).
There was a toy called Big Track
([http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0035IZ85G?ie=UTF8&camp...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0035IZ85G?ie=UTF8&camp=213733&creative=393177&creativeASIN=B0035IZ85G&linkCode=shr&tag=flapjacktasti-20&qid=1349389623&sr=8-1&keywords=big+track)
: aff) that allowed small sets of serialised instructions to be entered.
Robosapiens are probably the modern equivalent.
------
gkwelding
The first comedy response to this article:
[http://betabeat.com/2012/10/unsuspecting-5-year-old-girl-
bei...](http://betabeat.com/2012/10/unsuspecting-5-year-old-girl-being-
stealth-prepared-for-a-grueling-life-of-coding/)
------
tocomment
I remember we had that turtle system (logo?) in third grade.
I never once realized I was programming! I thought it was just a dumb game to
make a turtle move. And I remember always wishing I could learn how to program
a computer at that age. If they had told me that's what I was doing I probably
would have been more interested.
I guess the moral is to not abstract too much of the system from the child.
Maybe they want to see variables, and print statements.
~~~
gkwelding
Good point but I think for children as young as 5 the RoboMind system works
very well. Most kids struggle to read/write at that age and a true programming
language would probably be a bit of a struggle.
------
bsaunder
I think visual feedback is very important in teaching kids how to program.
Several months ago, I installed Alice (v2.2) (<http://www.alice.org/>) for my
kids to explore. They generally enjoyed it but the UI was a bit cumbersome in
some respects. Looks like there's a new version that seems worth upgrading to.
------
ph0rque
Neat! Both my daughters, four and six, have been asking me when they can
program like daddy :).
The six-year-old can read, but the four-year-old cannot. I'm looking forward
to trying this later with the older daughter.
~~~
gkwelding
It was some good bonding/educational time. She spent an hour sat on my knee
playing around with this.
------
freehunter
Looks like the site is down right now. I'm getting a blank page.
~~~
gkwelding
Yeah, sorry about that. The good old Hacker News effect. I'm working to get it
back up.
------
gadders
I might have to give this a go, given that "Computer Studies" these days
doesn't seem to teach children to program any more...
------
delinka
Is there a setting to change the UI to English? I can muddle through a few
things but I feel I'm missing out.
~~~
gkwelding
Yeah, click on the big red spot in the top left corner. Go to settings. It's
the first drop-down box.
~~~
CapnGoat
Does that actually work for you? I've been setting it to English and
restarting the app about 5 times now and it still launches in Dutch.
~~~
notlisted
Use the keyboard. Mouse fails for me as well (Mac).
Eye -> Instellingen -> Taal -> Click on dropdown to open it. Scroll UP to
English (silly Dutchies) -> Press Enter
You may also want to adjust the Scriptdefinitie field to en in a similar
fashion. I left it on nl for the samples, will update it later once I've
checked them out (and not a problem since I'm Dutch anyhow).
I think this tool fails a little because of the language dependency. Move the
Turtle is more language independent, and Cargo Bot (links above) needs no
language at all. Actually, I _LOVE_ cargo bot myself, very challenging.
------
p_sherman
Why would you want to force something on a child that young? Why would you
want to basically indoctrinate your child with something?
How about, instead, developing reasoning skills and the ability to make their
own decisions and then actually letting them decide what they want to do?
Crazy, I know!
~~~
notlisted
You underestimate children and you underestimate the contribution programming
(structured thinking) can make in a child's development. It's all about
exposure... if you don't show them anything, they won't discover what they
like.
Do you have children? I get the feeling you're talking from a theoretical
perspective here... They're sponges. I say we "soak 'em" don't let them dry
up.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask For Opinion: what you do when everything is going wrong? - wantedhelp
and you feel that there is no way out.<p>I know I've to give some details and will be ignored by some, but still.<p>(yes it's account-for-a-post, apologies for that.)
======
hga
Well, if you don't punch out (pull the ejection handle), one piece of advice
from the head of LMI was to focus on one thing and get it done. I.e. better to
make some forward progress than let yourself get overwhelmed and paralyzed.
I would add: especially since some of the things going wrong will get resolved
one way or another.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What's to stop the US Government from buying 51% of Bitcoin? - vinchuco
Hopefully this is not a silly question.
======
dragonwriter
Why would you buy 51% of BTC? What you really want to buy is 51% of the
hashing power in the BTC network.
And the correct answer is nothing stops them from doing that (or even stops
them from _having done that_ in the past).
Its generally presumed that they haven't and won't because it is presumed the
cost to do so would exceed the value to the government of doing so.
~~~
chrisBob
If I understand BTC correctly then the return on mining is going down. Once
the cost of mining exceeds the return in coins then there are only a few
reasons to continue mining: 1) Altruism. Some people will just want to support
the network. 2) Botnets. If you aren't paying for the hardware then you don't
care about the cost. 3) Control. You are a large entity that wants to take
over the network. 4) Ignorance. I assume some people will continue to mine and
just not know they are losing money doing it.
Please let me know if I am missing something.
I am betting on a turning point where it becomes more reasonable for the
government to take over the network, at least temporarily. It is not a stretch
to think that someone (not necessarily the US govt) with enough computer power
could get a benefit from controlling the entire network.
~~~
dragonwriter
> If I understand BTC correctly then the return on mining is going down.
The cost in terms of hashing effort expended to produce new bitcoins goes down
over time, and eventually no bitcoins can be mined, _however_ , there are two
reward systems for mining: _first_ (and by design important in the early
stages of bitcoin adoption) is production of new bitcoins, _second_ (and by
design important in the late stage of bitcoin adoption) is transaction fees.
Remember that miners are the ones verifying transactions in the bitcoin
network, that they can prioritize which transactions to verify, and that all
transactions can include an offer of a transaction fee as a reward for
verifying them.
------
zbtc
Even if they did, it wouldn't matter. They need 51% of the _hashing power_,
not 51% of bitcoins, to be able to manipulate the blockchain.
------
hkarthik
Because quite simply, they can't.
To buy it, they would borrow the money from China. China would provide it by
using the BTC they own at whatever price they choose to sell it at.
~~~
drabiega
They most certainly would not have to 'borrow it from China'. If for some
reason they wanted to do this, they would just have to sell some securities,
most of which would be bought by U.S citizens, the main holders of U.S.
Government debt.
------
bottled_poe
Obviously this wouldn't work as bitcoin clones will just pop up.
------
bmelton
I'm not an expert at all, but right now, I think the only thing stopping them
from buying large quantities of Bitcoin is availability. Throwing money at a
problem is sort of a unique proposition when the problem is money, and
everybody else is doing the same.
The question I would have is what objective would that satisfy? Is there some
power in holding a slight majority of the currency? I mean, they already hold
quite a lot of regular cash (or at least do transiently), but that doesn't
seem to be affecting dollars in the same way that shares in a corporation
does.
Perhaps I'm missing it, but I don't know what significance would arise from a
single entity holding a majority of the currency. If there is, and I'm
clueless, my apologies.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
There's No Protection In High Ports Anymore, Son. If Indeed There Ever Was. - ehamberg
http://bsdly.blogspot.no/2013/02/theres-no-protection-in-high-ports.html
======
mooism2
I'm tempted to hide sshd behind websockets, partly for this reason. It seems
too much hassle to be worth it though.
(To be clear: my concern is about reducing my exposure the next time there is
a sshd 0day exploit.)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
I’m Brianna Wu, and I’m Risking My Life Standing Up to Gamergate - MaysonL
http://www.marco.org/2015/02/11/brianna-wu-standing-up-to-gamergate
======
MaysonL
Since there seems to be a flagging campaign (based on the low placement
relative to articles with similar upvotes and time submitted) against the
original, I'm submitting this.
~~~
catmanjan
You added little to no content to something which was already being flagged,
are you going to be surprised when this gets flagged too?
~~~
MaysonL
No, but maybe the moderators will do something about the situation.
~~~
catmanjan
If you actually cared you would write a more moderate piece, most of the
reason #GAMURG8 gets flagged is the hysteria makes it unbearable to read.
You basically blogged a "re-tweet", a poor attempt at circumventing the
hackernews community...
~~~
MaysonL
Learn how to read.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A Study Used Sensors to Show That Men and Women Are Treated Differently at Work - twobyfour
https://hbr.org/2017/10/a-study-used-sensors-to-show-that-men-and-women-are-treated-differently-at-work
======
belorn
They have a theory. They make a experiment to prove the theory. The experiment
disprove the theory. They conclude that since the first theory is false, the
second theory must be true.
This is bad science. A disproved theory only prove that the theory is false,
not that some other theory is right.
> Bias, as we define it, occurs when two groups of people act identically but
> are treated differently.
If I walk into the hospital, I act identical to any other patient. The
mechanical actions I do do not reflect how I get treated, and the reason is
very basic. Context matter. Intentions matters. Motivations and incentives
matter. A lot of the speculations could be investigated further to find
evidence for this, but the research in this article has not done that. They
had a theory, they tested it, got negative results. A poor scientist turns the
data around to fit their narrative, making the experiment itself irrelevant to
their conclusion. A good scientist either refines the theory or moves on,
making new experiments to prove or disprove them.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: MS jobs search using bit fields, CloudFlare Workers, WASM, and no DB - wilsonzlin
https://work-at-microsoft.wilsonl.in/jobs/
======
mleonard
Source available somewhere? Would love to take a look. If not... could you
explain the bit fields approach a bit more please? Thanks
~~~
wilsonzlin
Yep the source is available at [https://github.com/wilsonzlin/work-at-
microsoft](https://github.com/wilsonzlin/work-at-microsoft). It should be at
the bottom of the filter pane which is admittedly not obvious on mobile.
~~~
mleonard
Thanks! Yep didn't post it on kobule. :)
------
kinow
Oh, very simple interface! And great performance! Neat! Going to check out the
GitHub readme with more calm later :) Thanks!
~~~
wilsonzlin
Thanks!
------
dmarlow
Love the approach. So many things around the web could be designed this way.
~~~
wilsonzlin
Thanks, it's definitely a departure for me from the typical web app, which
turned out pretty neat.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Id Software - bane
https://github.com/id-Software
======
paradigmshiv
In case anyone doubts how revolutionary some of these games were, check out
these fan letters from the Wolfenstein source:
_As a former POW (Vietnam), I hesitated to play WOLF for over a month after
downloading as I feared flashbacks. I didn 't want to remember all that I had
been through all those years ago, when, as POW's, my friend and I decided an
escape attempt would be better than a slow death by torture and starvation.
My friend and I made crude maps and hoarded food. The day of the escape we
clubbed the guard with stones, took his gun and fought our way through two
levels of underground tunnels (only a few guards and had to crawl). I made it,
my friend didn't.
Dreams...NO! NIGHTMARES...YES!! However, the more I play WOLF the less
frequently I have nightmares. The chilling part is turning a corner and seeing
a guard with his gun drawn.
WOLF is a powerful game. Fearful as well. I believe that a person should face
the past. So... when I can play EPISODE 1 comfortably (no nightmares), I plan
on ordering the full series._
There's also a letter from a Microsoft manager requesting a multiplayer
version.
[https://github.com/id-
Software/wolf3d/blob/master/WOLFSRC/GO...](https://github.com/id-
Software/wolf3d/blob/master/WOLFSRC/GOODSTUF.TXT)
~~~
kinleyd
As you say, that is an extremely moving letter. I would never have associated
Doom with therapy - thanks for sharing. (I am a big fan of John Carmack and
the id team.)
------
kar1181
We owe a lot to John Carmack in many ways - but I hope one of his enduring
legacies will be the amount of programmers he inspired with both the games he
helped make, and the code he made available. It helped many of us to get
started somewhere.
I never ended up going into games myself, but in no small part I owe my career
to him.
As well as the Doom book, his plan files are a fascinating time capsule to go
back over, particularly if you 'came of age' during that golden age of PC
games development.
[https://github.com/ESWAT/john-carmack-plan-
archive](https://github.com/ESWAT/john-carmack-plan-archive)
~~~
DEADBEEFC0FFEE
Curious that you think it was a golden age.
~~~
barrkel
It was a golden age for the first person immersive simulation game.
Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, Thief, System Shock II, Half-Life, Deus Ex -
there was a period of classics with large improvements and innovation from one
game to the next, where game design space was explored just as the technology
to render it became available.
First person immersive sims are generally best played on the PC. When consoles
that were able to do decent graphics for a reasonable period (i.e. the pace of
hardware evolution slowed) came into their own, third person control worked
better with joypads, and for commercial reasons, PC games often ended up as a
second-rate ports of console games, with compromised controls. You really need
a mouse for first person.
~~~
dfxm12
_first person immersive simulation game_
FPS stands for First Person _Shooter_. The games you're listing don't simulate
much, even if some of those games have RPG elements.
~~~
barrkel
I know what FPS stands for, but Thief most definitely isn't a shooter, and
System Shock II is less of a shooter than a creepy exploration game. Deus Ex
is half an RPG.
FPS is too reductive. I'm using the phrase immersive sim in the same way as
these articles:
[https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/06/29/dark-futures-
par...](https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/06/29/dark-futures-part-1-randy-
smith/)
[https://www.pcgamer.com/history-of-the-best-immersive-
sims/](https://www.pcgamer.com/history-of-the-best-immersive-sims/)
See also Wikipedia -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immersive_sim](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immersive_sim)
HTH
~~~
dfxm12
No, it doesn't really help explain how Doom, Wolfenstein, or Quake, etc., are
lumped in together with games like Thief as simulations. FPS is certainly not
reductive. A game can be more than one genre, but sometimes an FPS is just an
FPS, and more than half the games you listed are pretty much just an FPS.
------
CaliforniaKarl
For some of the history of that time, I suggest checking out "Masters of Doom
: how two guys created an empire and transformed pop culture", by David
Kushner. The book is 15 years old (!!!) at this point, but I think it's still
a compelling read.
~~~
westoncb
I can second that—it's an excellent book. It put a clear image in my mind of
the sort of environment I'd like to develop software in: primarily just a
group of friends who have a shared idea of something cool they want to build
together. I've been disillusioned that that will happen at a Silicon Valley
type startup (not that it's impossible—but far more likely that the founders
will segregate themselves from employees in such a way that everyone involved
can't feel the same passion, commitment, interest, etc.—or even just the
knowledge that they're going through the same struggle at the same time. Also
the big stakes and investor pressure etc. are almost certainly gonna drain the
fun.), but I'm still hopeful I can find or create similar circumstances
elsewhere.
~~~
nsp
I have trouble believing the nyc startup scene is more egalitarian, but I’m on
my 4th startup as an early employee (#1-18ish) and the founders have always
been in the trenches. Not to invalidate your experience, just to emphasize the
role of luck in all of this.
~~~
westoncb
I've been at two startups, one in Boston and one in San Francisco. At the
Boston startup, all the founders but one were very much 'in the trenches'; the
one who wasn't was a professor splitting her time elsewhere, so it made sense.
That company was ~20 people when I joined. At the SF startup, the founder
was... (to avoid saying too much) alienating, though the whole company was
only four people for much of the time, and never more than eight or so.
In any case, the main thing I want to say is that it doesn't really matter
whether they are 'in the trenches.' You are in different realms of existence
if you own the company vs. work for it. As a founder, it's your personal
creation; as an employee, you may care about the product, but the primary
thing is your paycheck (most startup employees I've spoken with are much more
mercenary with this than myself, too). You know that if it succeeds, the
founder will become rich and famous and enter a social stratum that the
employees will still only be able to fantasize about. No one will know their
name or grant them ridiculous amounts of respect etc.
Even if none of that comes to fruition, the fact that your potential courses
(as they relate to the company) are so divided creates immediate present-term
social distance. And you lose the sense of shared struggle—or it's at least on
a much lower level.
If you're all equal owners, the feeling of going to work on your shared thing
must be very different, I imagine. I think it's probably also necessary to not
take investment (or somehow do it in a very low pressure way), in order to
have fun like the Id guys.
------
ddtaylor
Here is the famed "Fast Inverse Square Root" trick:
[https://github.com/id-Software/Quake-III-
Arena/blob/dbe4ddb1...](https://github.com/id-Software/Quake-III-
Arena/blob/dbe4ddb10315479fc00086f08e25d968b4b43c49/code/game/q_math.c#L561)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_inverse_square_root](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_inverse_square_root)
~~~
kchr
Thanks for lifting this up!
~~~
philbarr
My favourite part of the wiki page is:
i = 0x5f3759df - ( i >> 1 ); // what the fuck?
~~~
ddtaylor
I like how they rewrite the code in different ways (type punning) and keep the
"what the fuck?" comment intact.
------
westoncb
If you'd like to try out Doom now, there is an OpenGL port called Doomsday[0]
which is very complete and loyal to the original, while smoothing
out/modernizing things enough to make it genuinely fun for modern players. For
instance, you can look in all directions with 'mouse look' and jump and run
faster while pressing shift, and there are dynamic spot lights attached to
certain things (e.g. fireballs), even though the original sprites are still
the primary visual. It also supports Hexen and Heretic and adds a more modern
multiplayer interface. (Also allows swapping alternate game assets, so some
people have done mods with 3d models.)
Gameplay video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Ddl4CM4ao](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2Ddl4CM4ao)
[0] [http://dengine.net/](http://dengine.net/)
~~~
SmellyGeekBoy
As someone who grew up playing Doom I have to admit that video makes me uneasy
- almost like an "uncanny valley" effect. Although I can see why it might be
easier on the eyes for modern gamers and if it introduces more people to the
game then that can only be a good thing.
For those looking for a more period correct experience there's Chocolate Doom:
[https://www.chocolate-
doom.org/wiki/index.php/Chocolate_Doom](https://www.chocolate-
doom.org/wiki/index.php/Chocolate_Doom)
Though I have to admit I generally just fire up my 486 to play. I've already
had one complete playthrough of Ultimate Doom and Doom 2 this year and I'm
sure it won't be the last. :)
~~~
westoncb
Actually I get that now too when I skip through quickly. For me it's because
he mostly uses 3d character models during the video—although that's not the
default setup. I mostly just watched the beginning earlier and didn't realize
how much was using the 3d character set.
------
deckarep
I burned many hours on the original Doom, in my bedroom as a young teenager
with headphones on in the dark.
Remember the No Clipping cheat code?
Here’s the source code check to turn it on:
[https://github.com/id-
Software/DOOM/blob/77735c3ff0772609e9c...](https://github.com/id-
Software/DOOM/blob/77735c3ff0772609e9c8d29e3ce2ab42ff54d20b/linuxdoom-1.10/st_stuff.c#L429)
~~~
danieldk
Another fun (90ies) fact: the noclip cheat code (idspispopd) stands for
_Smashing Pumpkins Into Small Piles Of Putrid Debris_.
The Smashing Pumpkins paid tribute by using a Doom sample on their Melon
Collie and the Infinite Sadness album.
[http://doom.wikia.com/wiki/SPISPOPD](http://doom.wikia.com/wiki/SPISPOPD)
~~~
glenneroo
And apparently the comment includes a small typo:
// Smashing Pumpkins Into Samml Piles Of Putried Debris.
I kept wondering what "samml" meant... in German "sammeln" means to gather and
"semmel" in Austrian slang is a local kind of roll or bun.
------
vertexFarm
Id's move back in the day to open their software enough to allow a modding
community was an early stroke of genius. I still play quake mods from time to
time. It's amazing how much longevity they got out of those games, let alone
the engines.
Modding quake was one of my first great bursts of curiosity and creativity. I
really remember those days fondly.
~~~
SmellyGeekBoy
As an example, Half-Life and Counterstrike started life as Quake mods!
~~~
LambdaComplex
> Half-Life
I think you mean Team Fortress? Although Half-Life does use a modified Quake
engine, it was a commercial game that used none of the assets of Quake, so I
don't think calling it a "mod" is really appropriate.
(Side note: my username is a Half-Life reference)
------
jameskegel
This is a gift, just to have. Thanks for posting it. I have very fond memories
of playing Wolf3d years ago on DOS. It will be fun to read through the source
of the classics.
~~~
ovao
If you're looking for a high-level overview of some of id's source code
releases, check out Fabien Sanglard's guides[0]. He's also written a book that
goes into greater detail about the Wolf 3D engine.
[0]: [http://fabiensanglard.net](http://fabiensanglard.net)
~~~
megaman22
His Wolf3D book is gorgeous (full-color, lots of great screenshots and
illustrations). Well worth the price. Plus a lot of great info about the
vagaries of sound, graphics, and memory architectures on the machines of the
era.
------
ksec
There used to be sort of an Engine War in the late 90s and early 00s, Id tech,
Source Engine, Unreal. Now ID is basically gone. And it is interesting both
Valve and EPIC manage to create a platform, valve created Steam, and EPIC made
Unreal almost like de facto standard. ( Yes I know there is Unity ).
I wonder why ID didn't continue to compete with Unreal in the middleware
engine. Why Valve decide to leave what was at the time possibly the best game
engine. How Unreal went from some mediocre engine to an insanely great engine
and still improving rapidly.
Doom ( Or John Carmack ) used to be the sole cheer leader for OpenGL. I still
loved 3Dfx, Voodoo and Glide though. The API was small and fast, in an era
when Direct3D was .... really not very good. And Interesting times, Intel is
now coming back to GPU market again after i740, it was the first Graphics card
to use AGP Slot. May be instead of GPGPU which we should go back to graphics
with AGP; Advance Graphics Processor.
~~~
badsectoracula
> I wonder why ID didn't continue to compete with Unreal in the middleware
> engine.
IIRC from one of his later talks, Carmack wasn't interested in tech licensing
and it was mostly the other owners pushing the idea. I remember even before
Doom 3 was released and the Quake 3 engine was in its apex in terms of
licensing (basically the most licensed of their engines by far), their
licensing page wrote that all the support you'd get was a day with Carmack to
explain some bits.
> How Unreal went from some mediocre engine
Unreal was never a mediocre engine, even from its first release it had amazing
tools and a very flexible architecture. I'd say that even if the rendering
tech wasn't sometimes behind id (i always noticed that id would come up with a
neat new idea and the next UE would polish it up - the only time this didn't
happen was with Rage and UE4), their toolset and architecture is what made
other devs go after them and their stance to support (you'd get constant
updates and documentation and i think at some point they set up an internal
"community site" for people licensing their engine) was the icing on the cake.
------
sliken
I don't see anything new, last commit was 2012. maybe add "(2012) to the
title?
~~~
scruffyherder
It's the Zenimax buyout and John Carmack stepping down & out. It's the end of
the iD era.
~~~
exikyut
:O
:(
------
scruffyherder
DooM is not only fun, but it's great fun to play around with from the inside,
or even to port. I've helped bring Doom to the x68000, which was quite the
mission as the only compiler we had that could build 'large' executables was
GCC 1.39 which had been translated into Japanese.
But it's been fun doing ports to OS/2, DJGPP v1, Watcom C, and of course
various other Unix via the X11 code. The GPL'd code was 'cleaned up' and kind
of bugged up on the way, sadly what was released really wasnt' all that pure.
For anyone wanting something more 'pure' for MS-DOS I'd highly suggest:
Mara'akate's DooM-New
[https://bitbucket.org/maraakate/doomnew-for-
dos](https://bitbucket.org/maraakate/doomnew-for-dos)
And then there is Quake, which I compiled with the excellent MS-DOS based
TCP/IP stack WATTCP so that I could bring native TCP/IP networking to Quake.
[https://virtuallyfun.com/wordpress/2011/01/05/quake1-with-
wa...](https://virtuallyfun.com/wordpress/2011/01/05/quake1-with-wattcp-built-
with-djgpp-on-dosbox/)
And on the heels of that, I did a QuakeWorld client for MS-DOS
[https://virtuallyfun.com/wordpress/2011/01/06/quakeworld-
cli...](https://virtuallyfun.com/wordpress/2011/01/06/quakeworld-client-for-
ms-dos/)
which kind of took a life on it's own here:
[http://dk.toastednet.org/QDOS/index.html](http://dk.toastednet.org/QDOS/index.html)
And of course with the source to Quake 2 available, it only seemed proper to
port it to MS-DOS.
[https://virtuallyfun.com/wordpress/2015/06/02/porting-
quake-...](https://virtuallyfun.com/wordpress/2015/06/02/porting-quake-ii-to-
ms-dos-pt1/)
[https://virtuallyfun.com/2015/06/03/porting-quake-ii-to-
ms-d...](https://virtuallyfun.com/2015/06/03/porting-quake-ii-to-ms-dos-pt2/)
[https://virtuallyfun.com/2015/06/07/porting-quake-ii-to-
ms-d...](https://virtuallyfun.com/2015/06/07/porting-quake-ii-to-ms-dos-pt3/)
[https://virtuallyfun.com/2015/06/26/porting-quake-ii-to-
ms-d...](https://virtuallyfun.com/2015/06/26/porting-quake-ii-to-ms-dos-pt4/)
[https://virtuallyfun.com/2015/09/17/porting-quake-ii-to-
ms-d...](https://virtuallyfun.com/2015/09/17/porting-quake-ii-to-ms-dos-
pt5-3dfx-gamespy-quake-2-and-the-universe/)
So yes, there is GREAT fun to be had in the iD source.
Also don't forget some of their earlier games:
[https://github.com/CatacombGames](https://github.com/CatacombGames)
[https://github.com/FlatRockSoft/](https://github.com/FlatRockSoft/)
~~~
Nican
Some of the porting-quake links are broken. You have to add the "/wordpress"
bit.
~~~
scruffyherder
I added the mod_rewrite stuff that should have been there. Thanks for letting
me know!
------
nineteen999
Recently I saw watched his QuakeCon talk from 2013, "Principles of Light and
Rendering" at QuakeCon. It helped me solidify a lot of the basic understanding
of 3D rendering I already had and provided a lot of additional knowledge as
well.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyUgHPs86XM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyUgHPs86XM)
------
cup-of-tea
Can I use this to play Doom 3 BFG edition on Linux? I'd love to just buy it on
Steam but sadly it's Windows only.
By the way, I love this from the readme:
> If you have obtained this source code several weeks after the time of
> release, it is likely that you can find modified and improved versions of
> the engine in various open source projects across the internet.
~~~
pjc50
See [https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/playing-doom-3-on-
lin...](https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/playing-doom-3-on-linux-
in-2017.10561)
~~~
cup-of-tea
I wish I hadn't looked. It doesn't look anywhere near as good as Doom 3 in my
memory looked. I've had this when playing old games from my childhood before.
In my memory they were perfect, beautiful. Then I looked again and my memories
were shattered. I didn't expect it to happen with Doom 3.
------
fsiefken
Thanks to the Quake engine being open source and LordHavoc's source port we
have a very efficient VR shooter running on all VR devices, like the Oculus
Go.
[https://quakewiki.org/wiki/DarkPlaces](https://quakewiki.org/wiki/DarkPlaces)
~~~
err4nt
Love seeing LordHavoc mentioned. I collaborated a little bit with LordHavoc
while helping build the open source shooter game Nexuiz (~2004-2005) and he is
truly a brilliant game engine programmer!
------
nakedne
Is there a good entry point into quake mods these days?
When I was a kid in 1996 I toyed with Quake C but really had no idea what I
was doing. I'd love to toy with mods again but not really sure if there is a
good way to get started. Most of the resources I knew of 22 years ago are gone
or significantly outdated.
~~~
badsectoracula
Check Quaddicted[1] for some singleplayer maps. The most common engine by far
is Quakespasm[2] which keeps the original style but fixes bugs, reintroduces
some features from the software renderer that were lost in the original OpenGL
version (fullbrights, lightmaps that go above 100%, non-power-of-two textures,
etc) and removes and raises some hardcoded limits. You probably also want
QuakeInjector[3], which is a "quake mod installer" that handles dependencies.
You may also want MiniQL[4] (made by me) as a more straightforward and
minimalistic launcher (you can also launch QuakeInjector from MiniQL if it is
installed in the same directory).
This is all you need for playing maps and mods. For making maps (the most
common type of mod) you'll also need a map editor - currently the most common
seems to be Tenchbroom[5], but it is far from the only option and a lot of
people use other editors, such as BSP[6], QuArK[7], GtkRadiant[8] and some
people even use either the original Worldcraft 1.3 (i think) or a modded
Hammer (from Valve) to make maps. I think some also use J.A.C.K.[9], which is
basically a Hammer clone, although i think it is abandoned now.
The map editor isn't enough, you also need the command line tools to "compile"
the map (this is how the Quake engine can support multiple and different
editors: by decoupling the tools from the engine and the individual types of
tools from each other - which to me is one of the best ways to architect and
engine and its tools, but sadly most popular engines have forgotten it). There
are several variations, depending on the features you want. But i think these
days most people are using ericw's tools[10] since they support some advanced
features from modified engines (like the BSP2 format for larger maps and
colored lightmaps).
Beyond mapping, if you want to delve in QuakeC (the game's scripting language)
you need the original QuakeC source code[11] and a QuakeC compiler - while you
can probably use the original QCC, i've seen FTEQCC[12] from the FTE engine to
be mentioned way more often. Some tutorials can be found here [13] (the
Inside3D site which was a sort of 'nexus' for QuakeC modders was shut down
some time ago and while the community create InsideQC[14] it looks like not
everything survived the transition).
[1] [https://www.quaddicted.com/](https://www.quaddicted.com/)
[2]
[http://quakespasm.sourceforge.net/download.htm](http://quakespasm.sourceforge.net/download.htm)
[3]
[https://www.quaddicted.com/tools/quake_injector](https://www.quaddicted.com/tools/quake_injector)
[4] [http://runtimeterror.com/rep/miniql](http://runtimeterror.com/rep/miniql)
[5]
[http://kristianduske.com/trenchbroom/](http://kristianduske.com/trenchbroom/)
[6] [http://www.bspquakeeditor.com/](http://www.bspquakeeditor.com/)
[7] [http://quark.sourceforge.net/](http://quark.sourceforge.net/)
[8] [http://icculus.org/gtkradiant/](http://icculus.org/gtkradiant/)
[9] [http://jack.hlfx.ru/en/](http://jack.hlfx.ru/en/)
[10] [https://ericwa.github.io/ericw-tools/](https://ericwa.github.io/ericw-
tools/)
[11]
[https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/idstuff/unsup/progs106](https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/idstuff/unsup/progs106)
[12]
[https://sourceforge.net/projects/fteqw/files/FTEQCC/](https://sourceforge.net/projects/fteqw/files/FTEQCC/)
[13]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20120526014134/http://www.inside...](https://web.archive.org/web/20120526014134/http://www.inside3d.com/showtutorial.php?id=129)
[14] [http://www.insideqc.com/](http://www.insideqc.com/)
~~~
nakedne
Awesome, thanks for all of this information. It's much appreciated!
Of the 3 quakes, which is easiest to dive into mod development?
~~~
badsectoracula
I think the first one (the list i gave is for that) since it seems to have the
most tools and documentation available out there. After that Quake 3 seems to
be the most popular, but that is multiplayer only (not that some people didn't
try to make singleplayer mods though :-P).
Also i forgot to link to the Quake Wiki:
[https://quakewiki.org/](https://quakewiki.org/)
------
chrisparton1991
There are so many interesting tidbits tucked away in the code, things the devs
had to consider that have never crossed my mind whilst playing.
For instance, the idclev cheat handling in st_stuff.c has to check if the game
is shareware and restrict level changes beyond a certain range.
~~~
kchr
I never quite grasped how that shareware check worked. Always thought the WAD
file was what you bought, not the engine/executable itself?
~~~
chrisparton1991
From doomstat.h line 60: // Game Mode - identify IWAD as shareware, retail
etc. extern GameMode_t gamemode;
I haven't done a deep dive on the code, but it looks like gamemode is set
based on something in the WAD file.
------
nailer
Have id officially stopped their policy of releasing 'current - 2' game source
as Open Source?
Shouldn't Doom 3, Quake 4 and maybe Rage 1 be up here?
~~~
chupasaurus
There are Doom 3 + BFG Edition source codes, ctrl+f "DOOM-3".
~~~
floatboth
Also, an id employee ported DOOM 3 to Vulkan
[https://github.com/DustinHLand/vkDOOM3](https://github.com/DustinHLand/vkDOOM3)
[https://www.khronos.org/assets/uploads/developers/library/20...](https://www.khronos.org/assets/uploads/developers/library/2018-gdc-
webgl-and-gltf/4-Vulkan-Getting-explicit-How-hard-is-Vulkan-really-
GDC_Mar18.pdf)
------
Scott_Sanderson
Has anyone tried compiling on os x?
~~~
scruffyherder
I've cross compiled the MS-DOS stuff from OS X. From the PowerPC days even.
If you want native doom, check out the source ports like Chocolate DooM. Doing
ports to stuff like SDL is somewhat straight forward, or you can do a Cocoa
one yourself, but I'd start with something known to work first..
~~~
jquast
Didn't Carmack himself port X11 to OS X? What is now "XQuartz".
Anyway, great work scruffy!
~~~
geocar
XQuartz is an X11 server.
[https://www.xquartz.org/](https://www.xquartz.org/)
~~~
parasubvert
Carmack did the original XFree86 3.3.x port to Mac OS X Server beta back in
1999 (Which still had the OpenStep GUI!). This eventually evolved into the
XFree86 mainline, and then into XQuartz
~~~
geocar
How strange. I could have sworn I was replying to _Didn 't Carmack himself
port it to OS X? What is now "XQuartz"._
------
thinkingkong
Where’s the commander keen?
~~~
scruffyherder
Back in 2014 John Hall found the source to some of the old stuff, including
Keen 4,5,6
[https://games.slashdot.org/story/14/09/17/133228/commander-k...](https://games.slashdot.org/story/14/09/17/133228/commander-
keen-keen-dreams-source-code-released)
The game was bought by fans, the source was released and Keen Dreams was
published on steam.
[https://github.com/keendreams/keen](https://github.com/keendreams/keen)
[https://store.steampowered.com/app/356200/Keen_Dreams/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/356200/Keen_Dreams/)
The ownership of the older stuff is quite fragmented.
~~~
acheron
Oh cool, I hadn't heard about this. Thanks!
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