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Academia.edu launches, a Geni For Researchers - immad
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/16/academiaedu-a-geni-for-researchers/
======
river_styx
How did these guys get a .edu domain? I thought only accredited colleges were
allowed register those.
~~~
aston
They've had it for quite a while.
~~~
arjunb
yeah, i think they were grandfathered in. very cool ideas, i hope they do
well. their UI seems a bit overcomplicated, though.
www.scilink.com is the only other player i know of sorta in this space (and
labmeeting, as mentioned). anything better out there?
~~~
Alex3917
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_databases_and_search_e...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_databases_and_search_engines)
Of the search engines listed, I think Scopus and Web of Science both compete
in the area of linking papers together by citations, but I don't really use
either.
------
bbb
Yuck. A great reminder why you shouldn't use Flash to build a key navigation
element of your site. This particular site is slow, and it behaves in very
unexpected ways. Is there any advantage to using Flash in this situation?
------
BenS
I think that a simple nested list view would be more useful to browse
departments. The tree is nice too, but not very practical at the current
speed.
------
auntjemima
site's unusably slow (right now)
------
quasimojo
profs are just like you, they want to scope out hot chicks...which is why they
will continue to use fb
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Facebook and Google were conned out of $100M in phishing scheme - mattmanser
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/28/facebook-google-conned-100m-phishing-scheme
======
beastcoast
I used to do Accounts Payable for a large tech company. Any invoice >$5,000
had to be matched to a PO. POs had to be approved by an appropriate level.
Payment information was maintained by a separate team and POs were linked to
that payee. Nearly all payments were done via ACH; we actively discouraged
wire transfers wherever possible by charging ridiculous fees. The payment
process itself was also audited daily by the payments team. We also had an
entire org of finance people responsible for controllership. This fraud would
have been hard, though not impossible to pull off in this system.
~~~
acchow
Public key cryptography of any sort would also probably help here. PGP keys on
their website, Facebook page, annual report?
Blockchain?
~~~
0x0
Blockchain would be WORSE because you have much less of a shot at reversing
and recovering the fraudulent transactions.
~~~
at-fates-hands
True, but can't you still trace the transactions as they are processed or
converted into real cash?
~~~
nols
Bitcoin tumblers obfuscate the trail
~~~
ribosometronome
Tumbling $100 million seems slightly painful.
------
mpeg
A guy I used to work with emailed the CEO of our company, a certain cloud
software shop with thousands of employees, asking for the company to buy him a
plane.
There was some more to it, about using it to participate on a competition
representing the company, but it was absolutely ridiculous.
Instead of the email getting filtered out right away, the story goes that it
rolled downhill through several layers of management, and apparently, people
were asking each other "who is this guy? do we need to buy him a plane?"
~~~
planteen
What? So he an actual employee and wasn't phishing or committing fraud? And
asked the company to buy him an airplane?
~~~
cosmie
Sounds like they knew he wasn't an employee. What they _didn 't_ know was if
he was associated with some high profile account and whether an employee
(generally in sales or marketing) had inadvertently signed up the company to
sponsor the guy in that competition.
Better to check internally (and chew out your employee for overpromising if
needed) than to accidentally jeopardize a large account by calling the guy a
fraud or ignoring him and it turning out to be true.
~~~
mpeg
He was an employee
------
user5994461
Stealing the money => 10% of the work.
Laundering the money and not getting caught => 90% of the work.
The dude made a big fraud and got caught in 5 minutes. That's amateur hour.
~~~
lucasmullens
Sure, but when 'big' is $100M, I wouldn't really call that amateur.
~~~
astrodust
It's amateur hour. There's a sort of paradox: It's actually easier to steal a
lot _more_ money. The problem is that draws eponentially more attention and
the likelihood of getting caught grows to the point where it's pretty much
guaranteed.
If they'd done $1M nobody would have heard about it, nobody would bother
investigating too thoroughly, and they'd just shrug and move on.
The "pro" thing to do is to take your $1M and _walk away_ even though you know
there's more money at that tap.
There's a lot of casino cheats that talk about their craft. The good ones work
extra hard to give the constant illusion of losing money which helps them win
a little bit more without drawing too much attention. There's a whole art to
knowing where the line is and not crossing it, flying completely under the
radar.
That's what professionals do.
~~~
cityhall
The real professionals are the ones who don't talk about it.
------
josu
This does not sound like phishing to me. It's not like they mistakenly gave
their banking credentials away.
~~~
ballenf
Agreed. This scam originated long before the internet existed. Businesses have
long been warned to watch out for fake invoices. They're usually for office
supplies and <$500, but the scam is very old.
A common variation on the them is where they actually ship some low value
item, wait just long enough for UCC return rights to expire and then send a
ridiculous invoice. If ignored, a threatening follow-up comes that includes
the proof of delivery of the item and late penalty threats. The item was
usually shipped signature-required, so the proof more intimidating. (If you're
wondering, the law is generally still on your side but you shouldn't just
ignore the letters and keep the item even though they will likely give up
anyway.)
------
97262733837373
How would criminals actually get away with this kind of scam? Where do you
hide $100m?
~~~
appetizer
Well the one in the article didn't, so there's your answer?
~~~
hippich
well... unless it was shot in the blue sky - how did someone plan to launder
that much money? i mean such amount will certainly attract attention from
local bank, wouldn't it?
~~~
appetizer
right, it was a half baked plan, but its not impossible. typically you would
want either a corporate account in a country with little accurate banking
information required, and then you would obfuscate the origins with casinos.
(Fake players losing, or simply exchanging large amounts of chips which have
no record of ownership, but this is a nuance because it only need to happen on
paper)
To get it back to you in large amounts as clean money, you would need to have
another corporation that contracts with the casino or other service provider,
and it is paid with money that is clean for all intents and purposes.
~~~
antjanus
Basically what Bitcoin laundering does: create a bunch of users, route the
money in small transactions a million times, and repeat the process. Except
what you're also suggesting is doing it in a country where that specific
information would be obscured even further.
~~~
appetizer
yeah I didn't want to derail the discussion with cryptocurrency, as it is
better and requires less cooperation, between partners.
but the problem here is the name on the bank accounts even if you wanted to
get to cryptocurrency, you would really want a nominee director on the
corporate bank account, but then you have to trust they don't take the money
(there are plenty of reputable ones though).
if you had that much in cash already then you could buy mining hardware. set
up a solar powered mining farm and get cryptocurrency over the next 6-12
months, then you have the liquidity. if you are interested in national
currency and bigger material things, then you will still need to contract w/ a
crypto-service so that you could report income, but the crypto-service's
funding source would be a deadend for auditors.
There are many reasons to mine at a loss.
------
fjdlwlv
The Guardian is reblogging original content from
[http://fortune.com/2017/04/27/facebook-google-
rimasauskas/](http://fortune.com/2017/04/27/facebook-google-rimasauskas/)
Admins, please change the link.
~~~
dpark
Does this actually count as "reblogging"? If an independent news agency writes
a substantial story about something a separate news agency covered first, I
wouldn't think that's reblogging.
------
Waterluvian
I'm very naive to how large sums of money transfer. But couldn't you
presumably do a public and private key share with your suppliers and validate
every transaction request?
I hear about a kind of phishing at my company. It is as primitive as
pretending to be our CEO, who is trying to reoncile an invoice for a supplier.
~~~
noxToken
The last time this came up, the same thing was suggested. Someone brought up
that whoever needed to verify the keys would eventually stop doing so unless
the key verification process could be automated from beginning to end.
The argument was that the person who needed to verify the key wouldn't be
bothered to actually verify. The key would be so commonplace that as long as a
nonsensical string of characters appeared, the verifier would check the box
using the it's-good-enough mentality. The crux is still the same: fool the
human, get the goods.
~~~
loceng
Well, then you make them personally responsible and liable - likely having a
third-party company who provides the verifier and keeps a close eye on them?
They'd also be liable. That could be a very successful company if you get the
fortune 1000 on board.
~~~
noxToken
You can make me personally liable all you want for the transaction, but if you
think you can recoup $100M from me, good luck.
~~~
loceng
Hence why needing to be associated with a larger 3rd party company who'd be
insured + have fortune 1000 clients.
~~~
tatersolid
This is called an escrow company. They've been around for about 500 years.
They're not cheap.
------
peter303
We get fake invoice on the Fax and email all the time. Know your venders.
------
SA500
Seems like a fairly simple scam. All you would need is an email thread with
relevant invoices and you would be well on the way. Surprised all the money
was recovered after the fact though?
------
r00fus
And this is why automated industry standards like Ariba cXML are valuable - it
allows you securely automate the bulk of your invoicing (with ties back to
requisition/purchase order chains) and also, more relevant to this discussion,
to force multiple levels of approvals for manual invoicing without a req/PO
chain.
~~~
xrjn
Is Ariba cXML an open standard? In my experience working with SAP stuff is
incredibly complicated coming from a more traditional development background.
~~~
r00fus
It's open and free [1] as of 1999. It has nothing to do with SAP specifically,
many vendors and enterprise software systems support it.
[1] [http://cxml.org/license.html](http://cxml.org/license.html)
------
jgalt212
So funny, I thought this was another article about Levandowski.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Heroku Fucking Console - eik3_de
https://github.com/tpope/heroku-fucking-console
======
sneak
Nothing in computing is worse than software that knows exactly what you want
it to do, then gives some shitdick excuse as to why it's not going to do it in
an effort to get you to jump through meaningless hoops.
~~~
jlarocco
Gimp on Windows does this and it drives me nuts.
Going to File->Save As... and trying to save to .jpg brings up a dialog box
telling me to exit the current Save As dialog and go back to File->Export to
save as .jpg. Asinine.
~~~
jordanthoms
Not only that, but it's a _new feature_.
~~~
zanny
What I don't get is that you can open any image type and modify it in gimp on
the fly. The reason they are separated is that xcf can maintain layers and any
other image loses that information. But anyone who uses gimp for a few minutes
will realize this, and then you don't need 3 dialogs. Hell, have a warning
message in the save as box if you haven't saved a project in xcf.
~~~
jberryman
I think the new behavior is great. First of all because it remembers both
where I'm saving and where I've been exporting in my workflow, and second
because frankly saving in GIMP's native format and creating a flat lossy JPEG
that approximates the work you've been doing are really fucking different
things, and I find it comforting that they choose to make that explicit. I can
how if you open GIMP once a month to make a LOLCAT how this behavior could be
annoying.
~~~
larrik
Yeah, except that you can open a jpg, crop it, and then try to re-save it over
itself, and then: Oh, no you can't.
The work flow is really awkward then. You are exporting a jpg from a jpg?
Oooookay....
~~~
hellerbarde
You __can __just select "Overwrite foobar.jpg" in the menu. You can even have
a keyboard shortcut for it. That should solve all you guys' troubles :)
cheers
------
eik3_de
HN question: I submitted this story with the title "Heroku f.cking console"
and the title was changed to "Heroku console".
Is the string "f.cking" considered unappropriate on HN? What about "f.,.ing"
or "f'ing"?
Edit: replaced the asterisks with "." and "," for formatdoc
Edit: has been changed to "Heroku Fucking Console" at 19:02Z. I approve!
~~~
nawitus
This is what I hate most about American websites. They all have this
neoconservative(?) idea that curse words are fucking horrible. We're all
adults here (well, 99% of us), nobody is going to die from seeing a few curse
words here and there.
The problem is that this American morality is enforced to everyone
internationally, as such a high portion of high-traffic websites are American.
And it's not just about cursewords, it's this sick censorship of women's
breasts, nudity and sex in general.
Communication on the internet is switching to a small number of mostly
American social media websites like Facebook. If Facebook bans certain
expression of thought or certain types of media/pictures, then that decision
has pretty widespread effects. Even worse, when exposed to this kind of
thinking, other countries will slowly start to adopt it.
On the other hand, other countries would enforce a different kind of morals
more (like censorship related to racism and religion).
I love it when some sites make exceptions, like Tumblr (or Reddit in the
past).
~~~
niggler
sometimes people sprinkle 'fucking' or 'shit' or other words as if its salt.
then fuckers shit fucking dia-motherfucking-tribes ass if fuckers fucking make
fucking money and bitches from fucking using fucking fuck words, and suddenly
discourse breaks down.
It's not that the words are bad, but some people take it too far. Especially
on the internet, where some people erroneously believe in the anonymity of
pseudonyms
~~~
nawitus
I agree with your sentiment, as curse words should be used sparingly. However,
a better solution is "bottom-up" moderation, not a top-down site-wide ban on
something. This is essentially important in social media websites where
subcommunities exist. Different subcommunities should be able to have
different rules about these things. (This doesn't apply to YCombinator,
though).
~~~
BrianEatWorld
For HN, I just assumed it was because it sets the tone for the discussion. By
moderating profanity, it helps keep it out of the discussions and so you get
more civil debate on HN than on other sites.
------
GhotiFish
Provide a fucking help topic
210bbc9498 Browse code
tpope authored 16 hours ago
Initial fucking commit
a1b87e8b4b Browse code
tpope authored a day ago
I like how he has total commitment to his commits.
also. WTFPL!
~~~
jerf
It is a well-known software engineering fact that one of the most important
things a software project can have is conceptual purity, a strong, central
thesis that organizes the entire project and can be used both to understand
and build on the project. This project has a fuckload of conceptual purity. My
compliments; truly an inspiration to all us aspiring project architects.
~~~
rbkillea
Not sure if sarcastic or way over my head...
------
nswanberg
Swearing is like typing in all-caps or using an exclamation point. It's
usually not necessary but when it fits it really fits. (Hedberg only swears a
few times here but it sounds exactly right
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5-46bj8b4w>).
Used incorrectly swearing suggests someone who doesn't have much control over
their emotions or vocabulary and lacks range of expression.
Yet this Heroku library, presumably created by someone who, stubbing their toe
on that same problem over and over, is one big exclamation point all-caps
rant, with all possible lines of code and input fields in Github (even the
license!) filled with rage and satisfaction, and the nice thing is that the
library ultimately fixes a problem and makes the solution available to all.
Separately, to anyone thinking this "unprofessional", take a look at Philip
Greenspun's definition of a software professional:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsPFdVrbGeE#t=41m20s> (incidentally, this
entire lecture deserves to be bookmarked and watched).
Edit: By the standards of Greenspun's definition the author of the library
would be considered a consummate professional.
For those without time to watch, here is the link for the presentation he used
(though he's an excellent speaker and the presentation adds much more):
[http://philip.greenspun.com/ancient-
history/professionalism-...](http://philip.greenspun.com/ancient-
history/professionalism-for-software-engineers)
~~~
phillmv
If you're a vim user, Tim Pope is a goddamn hero and I don't give a fuck what
anybody thinks.
~~~
dasil003
And if you're not a vim user then you don't know how good git integration can
be (thanks to Tim Pope).
~~~
ajtaylor
I recently started using Tim Pope's git-vim plugin. The first time I used
:Gstatus and added a file with one keystroke had me won over. Pure genius if
you ask me!
~~~
dasil003
My favorite Fugitive workflow is:
1\. git blame 2\. move to the blame window and hit 'o' to open the commit 3\.
discover that the line in question was merely moved not created by this
commit, then move to the --- line in the diff and hit 'o' to open the previous
version of the file. 4\. repeat from step 1
It's a few more steps than `git log -S` but it provides a different kind of
flexibility. You can trace all manner of historic code migrations even without
a common search term.
~~~
ajtaylor
That sounds super nifty! I'll have to give it a try next time I need to trace
the history of a file.
------
xauronx
I don't use Heroku, so I have no use for this but I love this guy's
enthusiasm.
~~~
flaie
I don't use it either. Even the git commits comments are more than
enthusiastic: `Provide a fucking help topic`. Made me laugh for the first time
today.
~~~
alan_cx
I don't even know what Hero-whatever actually is, and even Im enthusiastic
about that ever he feckin fixed!!!
(Yes, looked it up now)
------
egonschiele
Another example: finding help on hadoop:
[vagrant@localhost conf]$ hadoop --help
Error: No command named `--help' was found. Perhaps you meant `hadoop -help'
[vagrant@localhost conf]$ hadoop -help
Error: No command named `-help' was found. Perhaps you meant `hadoop help'
[vagrant@localhost conf]$ hadoop help
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: help
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: help
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:217)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:205)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:321)
at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:294)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:266)
Could not find the main class: help. Program will exit.
------
rahilsondhi
This plugin is hilarious but very unnecessary.
I solved this a long time ago with a simple `alias hrc-='heroku run console
--remote'`. That way I can type in console `hrc- production` or `hrc- staging`
------
dysoco
And guys... this is what happens when you use Vim too much.
~~~
farmdawgnation
You expect your software to do what you ask? ;)
~~~
agscala
Haha, I think he was making the joke because tpope is a rather well-known Vim
plugin dev
~~~
hboon
That's an understatement. He is a prolific machine churning out useful vim
plugins.
~~~
graywh
Lately (last 2 weeks) he's been churning out rbenv and heroku plugins
------
christopheraden
Hah! Tim Pope is a pretty funny guy. His Vim plugins are fantastic as well
(Pathogen and Surround are indispensable).
------
sheraz
This lacks class regardless of how useful the software may be. And yes, it
does matter.
What is with all the crass language that has become so pervasive in this
industry in recent years?
Why the need to express yourself so poorly?
~~~
lowboy
> Why the need to express yourself so poorly?
What is poor about this usage of "fucking"? It's an intensifier, appropriately
used in this instance. Some people lean on swear words too much, but I don't
think this is such a case.
~~~
sheraz
It's hardly an "intensifier." Expletives have lost their impact because of
overuse.
This is not the case of overuse? That github page drops the f-bomb 20 times.
~~~
lowboy
I read his usage of "fuck/ing" as a literary style considering the context and
name of the repo. If the amount of swearing here was from commit messages in
an unrelated project, then yes, that would be excessive and the author should
invest in a thesaurus.
An aside: why do you use "f-bomb" instead of "fuck" when talking about "fuck"?
It's not like we don't automatically fill it in when we hear it. See Louis
CK's rant about this (nsfw language):
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=zuLrBLxbLxw#t=124s)
~~~
sheraz
Again, that is hardly literary.
If you want literary use of "fucking" (there, I said it), then I would invite
you and the repo owner to read "The Elements of Fucking Style" by Chris Baker
and Jacob Hansen [1]. Maybe then you both would understand how to use the
word.
Lastly, to help the situation I've decided to offer a helping hand to fix this
problem, a pull request[2]!
Does anyone know if you can rename a repo with a pull request?
[1] - [http://www.amazon.com/The-Elements-cking-Style-
Helpful/dp/03...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Elements-cking-Style-
Helpful/dp/031258377X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362267378&sr=8-1&keywords=the+elements+of+fucking+style)
[2] - [https://github.com/undernewmanagement/heroku-fucking-
console...](https://github.com/undernewmanagement/heroku-fucking-
console/commit/e1163e4bb813fa2df73360eccf6450697516888c)
Edit: added a fixing pull request
~~~
lowboy
Maybe literary was the wrong word for me to use, but I get the sense that it
is a purposeful use of the word for stylistic purposes, and that Tim Pope
isn't leaning on it as a crutch.
I feel like you're treating your prescriptivism of how the English language
should be used as more objective than it really is.
------
RyanMcGreal
+1 for releasing it under the WTFPL.
------
auggierose
Programming, motherfucker!
~~~
auggierose
<http://programming-motherfucker.com/>
I feel honoured to be downvoted by obvious twats.
~~~
kamjam
I, for one, understood exactly what you meant straight away. But maybe because
I also ma a Programming, Motherfucker!
------
andymoe
You know this is one of those times where editing the title is not helpful!
The title of the project is actually "Heroku Fucking Console." The edit makes
me think it's pointing to something official and it's not!
------
johnnyg
This has bugged me too. Thank you.
Also, watch your language young man!
------
antipax
What? `heroku run bash` also works and is shorter.
~~~
latortuga
heroku run console actually runs "rails console" for ruby on rails
applications so it's not quite the same as the bash alias.
------
slajax
I love it when software is written out of hatred for other software that
"f*cking sucks".
------
tomhallett
One non-obvious landmine with the heroku console, it attaches to a running web
process. One day I had a typo in one of my console commands:
Post = Post.count # instead of "post = Post.count"
Which re-assigned the Post class to a number. Then we started getting
_production_ airbrake errors where the Post class was now a FixNum, /facepalm.
It was an easy fix, just restart all of the servers, but I was very surprised
to say the least.
Note: I believe this was with the Bamboo stack. I'm not sure if this is still
true with the Cedar stack.
------
endgame
There are a lot of people in this thread who are complaining that
"$some_program won't Do What I Mean".
Sounds familiar: <http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/D/DWIM.html>
~~~
nollidge
It's more than that, though, it's when a program won't DWYM _despite_ an error
message indicating that the programmer knew exactly what was meant, but
decided not to do it anyway.
~~~
fdr
Solution: remove all the error messages for common misspellings of what people
want to do, or alternatively never deprecate any user interaction choice ever.
One may make the argument that removing the default behind 'heroku console'
was too pure and not pragmatic enough, but going from strictly what you are
writing here, this is the logical implication: "don't write error messages
suggesting what I meant, and I'll (apparently?) be happier."
------
jbaudanza
I love this. I also miss how the bamboo console would let me enter a ruby
command locally and then execute it remotely when I hit enter. I've been
meaning to make a gem to replicate this behavior.
------
scottbartell
Because things should just fucking work.
------
squid_ca
"This is a long distance call. You must dial a 'one' plus the ten-digit number
to complete your call."
------
binarycrusader
You haven't used software until you've used it in anger.
------
hiddenfeatures
The true meaning of "opinionated software"...
------
whbk
This. Is. Awesome. Had to be done.
------
vampirechicken
Tim Pope has a potty mouth.
------
skhamkar
Thank you!
------
Cigano
Nice one, dude. Congratulations!
------
dholowiski
Very mature.
------
dreamdu5t
I'm amazed people put up with this crap just to host a rails app.
------
derleth
Is anyone else's page massively wider than it should be?
(Firefox 19.0, 32-bit build on x86_64 Linux.)
~~~
crynix
Yeah, I'm having the issue on Chrome 27.0.1425.0 dev on Mac OS X Mountain
Lion. It's quite annoying.
~~~
socillion
someone enterprising broke the page layout with a long string of U+2006 (six-
per-em space) characters.
~~~
derleth
> someone enterprising broke the page layout with a long string of U+2006
> (six-per-em space) characters.
Is it a bad sign when page-widening spam makes you nostalgic?
(Ah, Slashdot circa late 1990s! What a time to be alive!)
------
mcnemesis
To hell with all yo other stale licensing- other than have none, the F __cking
License included in this project just makes me want to f __rk this project!
The attitude is ill ;-)
------
nacker
You can tongue punch my fart box, Heroku fucking console!
------
huhsamovar
I would be interested in this if it weren't for the foul language. This speaks
volumes about the author's attitude.
If you're annoyed with something, have they even tried bringing it up with
Heroku's support team? If so, have they tried shipping this tool that doesn't
make the maintainer look like an arrogant troglodite?
~~~
antihero
I don't think the language makes him look like an "arrogant troglodite", but
then I don't have a stick up my arse either.
~~~
huhsamovar
That's because I pulled it out of you and stuck it up your mother's arse
instead.
~~~
benatkin
Clearly you're just a troll, and not someone who's deeply offended by
swearing. Hopefully you're the kind of troll who scampers away when outed.
~~~
huhsamovar
I never claimed I was deeply offended by swearing. I claimed it will
ultimately impact the maintainer's reputation and user base. Clearly you're a
narrow minded person that can't see the big picture.
~~~
dasil003
Uh, this is not going to impact Tim Pope's reputation in any way whatsoever
given that it is a tiny inconsequential project. He is already an open-source
A-lister.
~~~
kamjam
And it also shows that he is human and has sense of humour.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Slack just introduced a WYSIWYG editor that you can't opt out of - waynenilsen
Please bother them on Twitter so they implement an opt out.<p>Their handle is @SlackHQ
======
ksherlock
You can opt out here: [https://cancel.fm/ripcord/](https://cancel.fm/ripcord/)
~~~
waynenilsen
Wow this is awesome thank you!
------
jcward
Ugh, I just got it in my workspaces. Folks, can we get #WYSlackIWYGate
trending?
[https://twitter.com/Jeff__Ward/status/1196847624285896704](https://twitter.com/Jeff__Ward/status/1196847624285896704)
------
thecupisblue
And this new editor breaks a lot of my messages and my own formatting. Also
escaping a code block gets really hard.
------
yellow_lead
Heard about this and didn't upgrade. Maybe you can find the old binary until
they fix it.
------
gtirloni
It looks pretty nice. What's the issue exactly?
Reference: [https://slackhq.com/new-slack-features-invites-message-
forma...](https://slackhq.com/new-slack-features-invites-message-formatting)
~~~
waynenilsen
Main issue is that I prefer WYSIWYW to WYSIWYG. There are many reasons why one
may be preferable to another in various situations but I find that I prefer
WYSIWYW for my workflows
~~~
gtirloni
Thanks for clarifying. I can see how that would be annoying.
------
el_dev_hell
It's hidden until you click the 'A' icon. What's the major problem here? It
doesn't take up any extra space and isn't visible unless you actively open the
feature.
~~~
yellowapple
> It's hidden until you click the 'A' icon
It enabled itself by default for me. Clicking the 'Aa' does hide the extra UI
elements, but doesn't disable the auto-formatting.
> It doesn't take up any extra space
It doubles the height of the input box when it's visible.
\----
I don't mind the feature (in fact, it's nice to get immediate feedback on
Slack's "almost Markdown but not quite" syntax), but I can see why others _do_
mind.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Visualizing the Coverage of Deaths in The New York Times vs. Actual Death Data - nemild
https://www.nemil.com/s/part3-horror-films.html
======
bogle
But as my mum says when I try to point out she's worrying about the wrong
things, "I don't care what the statistics say, I read about it in the paper
and I believe it's worse." So is it the papers that are distorting reality or
are people wilfully obstinate in their beliefs? (Hint: it's both).
~~~
nemild
I don't think your mom is irrational given what is covered - but the big
mistake we often make is thinking that what we read is _representative_ of
what is going on. I want to use data to show this effect on a number of
issues.
And the larger point I will make in a future post is that news covers what
people want to read, which is problematic if the goal is good decisions.
(As an engineer, I often think about this as akin to sampling bias)
------
nemild
[OP] I spent some time categorizing death coverage in the first pages of The
New York TImes compared to actuality over a 20 month period. I’ve been
intrigued about why so many make threat assessments based on news coverage,
and wanted to see if the “sampling” of news was close to representative.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Defining Environment Language for Video Games - okket
https://80.lv/articles/defining-environment-language-for-video-games/
======
munificent
Great article. I want to call out one point:
> The more life-like a space appears to be, the more we begin to expect it
> to allow for the affordances we have in real life. But games only enable
> players the actions developers explicitly allow for and implement.
> Unfortunately, that aspect of game development doesn’t scale with
> computing power in the way art has.
This is one of the reasons I got out of the game industry. Schatz (and many
game devs I've worked with) seem to take this as an immutable _fact_ when,
really, it is a _choice_ developers have made. They decided to make games with
realistic artwork and limited interaction. The realistic art is nice, but when
everything is a polygonal shell with baked in lighting, then the set of things
you can do with it becomes very small.
The _computer_ doesn't force you to build games that way. The best counter-
example I know is Minecraft. In Minecraft, the art is decidedly unrealistic,
bordering on abstract. But, in return for that, the world is _incredibly_
interactive. The entire world can be generated procedurally and freely
remolded by the player.
When you play many games today, you will never ever do anything a level
designer and game programmer didn't explicitly implement support for. You may
fail to advance to the next scene if you don't push the right buttons at the
right time, but the overall play experience is not too far removed from a film
(and so many game designers out there have _deep_ film envy). That's fine, but
it's not super appealing to me.
In contrast, when I play Minecraft, I play in a world no one on Earth has ever
seen, and I build things no one has ever built.
But many game developers, and especially producers, don't like games like
that. One problem is that, like the film industry, big game companies are
making bigger and bigger budget games. The main problem becomes controlling
risk. A realistic on-rails game where the player works through a single
scripted narrative is a controllable experience. You can reliably estimate how
much players will like it.
With emergent and procedural gameplay, it's really hard to predict if the end
result will be fun or not. For every Minecraft, there's a million sandbox
games that don't have everything balanced _just so_ to get it to hang together
in that magical way (see: Spore, No Man's Sky). That's a risky bet for a
producer deciding what kind of game to make next.
~~~
__david__
> In Minecraft, the art is decidedly unrealistic, bordering on abstract. But,
> in return for that, the world is incredibly interactive.
Absolutely. But the flipside of this is that Minecraft has no story. It's sort
of up to you as a player to do what you want and make your own adventure.
Naughty Dog, on the other hand, is famous for their games' stories. I suspect
interactivity and story are at odds. I also agree that the more sandbox-y a
game is, the harder it is to make it compelling for a long amount of time.
I personally don't think one end of the spectrum is better or worse than the
other. There are games with _extremely_ limited interactivity (walking
simulators) that I've had a blast "playing". I've also sunk a ton of hours
into Minecraft.
~~~
jdkuuuu
“story“ only conflicts with game possibilities when you don't accept player
created stories. Players will stumble through movie-like stories handed to
them, but the stories they tell friends are more often about dynamic
interactions within a framework (“i made my first house in minecraft over a
period of weeks and then accidentally blew it up“).
~~~
__david__
Maybe I didn't express myself correctly, but I agree. I do think that player
created narratives will be more personal and maybe more memorable but pre-made
stories tend to be deeper and more intricate. And I don't think one is better
than the other.
------
kmill
I noticed in the buffer example's image the text
...et '*weapons-pistol-upgrade-only*]
That looks Lisp-inspired to me. Does anyone know if Naughty Dog still uses
something Lispy to compile game data? (I'm not talking about writing the game
engine itself in a Lisp.)
~~~
tedajax
Yes, Naughty Dog's internal scripting language has always been their own Lisp
flavor and I imagine that they use the same scripting language to define game
data.
~~~
pandaman
Racket [http://cufp.org/2011/functional-mzscheme-dsls-game-
developme...](http://cufp.org/2011/functional-mzscheme-dsls-game-
development.html)
------
falsedan
For more along these lines (specifically about _The Last of Us_ ), I cannot
recommend James Howell's in-progress critical analysis _The Rootwork Bulding_
[0] highly enough. It discusses the affordances of the level design, and how
the game advances the the Joel-Ellie relationship via gameplay.
[0]:
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7vAeDYh8SvShredLiTbO...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7vAeDYh8SvShredLiTbOX7optQMNN39m)
------
LeicaLatte
Like a HIG for 3d worlds and games. Very nice!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Raspberry Pi 3 startup accessories that work - ashitlerferad
https://haydenjames.io/my-ultimate-raspberry-pi-2-starter-kit/
======
gabrielrondon
Do you plan to deliver worldwide?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Starting a company? Forget about the logo. - MrAlmostWrong
http://www.drawar.com/posts/The-Logoless-Brand
======
thaumaturgy
I disagree a lot with this (and with the summary of his previous post); my
opinion is coming both from my own experience as well as from some of Guy
Kawasaki's advice.
First, the author trotted out Craigslist and the RIAA as examples of prominent
brands without memorable logos, but I think that it's far easier to come up
with counter-examples: nearly everyone knows the Ford logo, the Pepsi logo,
the Coke "dynamic ribbon device", the Nike "swoosh", and so on. Mega-companies
like AT&T don't spend millions re-inventing their logo every once in a while
for nothing.
As for my experience: I was just some guy who wanted to bootstrap a technology
company by doing local consulting work. How in the hell was I going to stand
out? What was going to be my message? My field is crowded, and I couldn't
price-compete with the neighbor's kid.
The very first thing I did was come up with a name and a logo, and then I
bought a batch of translucent plastic business cards from a company that took
my naive logo design and turned it into something really professional.
Those stupid business cards, with their shiny, fancy red logo, are probably
100% responsible for getting my business off the ground. I've handed out
hundreds -- almost a thousand now -- cards to people, and I can count on one
hand the number of times that someone has put the card in their pocket without
stopping to look at it, and when they stop to look at it, I've made an
impression. All I have to do is not screw up the next 30 seconds, and I might
have a new client.
And that's why your logo is such an important part of your brand: it makes you
memorable. People have a lot on their mind now. They're being bombarded by
names and products all the time. A great logo is your best bet at getting 30
seconds of their attention.
~~~
bradleyland
Yes, but the question is, would your cards have been just as effective had you
only relied on a simple, but professional looking, logotype. The purpose of a
logo is brand recognition. As someone who did the local consultant thing and
built it to a comfortable income, I can say with confidence that the logo had
little or nothing to do with it. I outperformed and outlasted several friends
who jumped in the game at the same time with fancy logos and websites.
~~~
thaumaturgy
> _Yes, but the question is, would your cards have been just as effective had
> you only relied on a simple, but professional looking, logotype._
I doubt it.
> _The purpose of a logo is brand recognition._
That depends very much on the stage of your business, and still runs counter
to the author's point.
> _I outperformed and outlasted several friends who jumped in the game at the
> same time with fancy logos and websites._
"Fancy" doesn't necessarily mean professional or polished, and presentation is
only one aspect of a business. It doesn't guarantee a business's survival, but
it can help you get a head-start.
------
tptacek
Logos are names are two things that are really easy to spin your wheels on.
The treacherous thing about them is that they _feel_ like company-building
work, but are in fact nothing but wanking.
------
gojomo
_What is the logo for Craigslist? Hell if I know._
The lowercased word 'craigslist' in a serif font, optionally with '.org'.
[http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/epicenter/images/2008/04/3...](http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/epicenter/images/2008/04/30/craigslist.jpg)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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The Most Linked-To Wikipedia Articles on Stack Overflow - dfkoz
http://dfkoz.tumblr.com/post/83927509717/the-most-linked-to-wikipedia-articles-on-stack-overflow
======
bajsejohannes
That makes for a pretty good list of "concepts you should probably know", even
though (or especially because) it's not very overlapping with the list of top
ten concepts I would choose.
It would be interesting to see trending wikipedia articles as well.
------
Sir_Cmpwn
It's disappointing that CORS is listed under JSONP.
------
iancarroll
Ouch, those hover animations kill my browser.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Science of Success [2009] - kqr2
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2009/12/the-science-of-success/7761/
======
snitko
_Could it be, they wondered, that the children who suffer most from bad
environments also profit the most from good ones?_
While reading this article, I was wondering could it also be a reverse of that
and why researches did not mention or think of that.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Review My Resume - codeTheWorld
http://imgur.com/1oapkA0
======
amenghra
I would add a sentence or two at the very top about what you are looking for.
Maybe try to answer were you see yourself now and in 5 years?
If you have specific numbers on your projects it can help put things into
perspective (how many people are contributing to your open source repos, how
large were the codebases you contributed to, etc.)
My $0.02
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Growing World of Moneymaking Fantasy Sports - adventured
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2015-01-15/the-growing-world-of-moneymaking-fantasy-sports
======
daemonk
It's like a more socially acceptable dungeons and dragons.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Redshift: What Ruby and a nice API can do in the browser - bdfh42
http://ajaxian.com/archives/redshift-what-ruby-and-a-nice-api-can-do-in-the-browser
======
jimbokun
The resolution of the screen cast was not high enough for me to read the text
he was typing.
As for usefulness, "my favorite language -> Javascript" compilers are cute,
but I am skeptical of adding another leaky abstraction layer. Javascript is a
pretty feature-ful, modern language with closures, first class function,
collection literals, and some pretty good APIs. Not sure if bridging to other
languages will give much of a productivity boost over just learning Javascript
well, and you will probably need to learn Javascript well, anyways, whenever
the translation from your favorite language to Javascript inevitably leaks.
~~~
mdolon
You can actually watch the video in HD on the Vimeo site. Just click the Vimeo
icon on the corner of the player.
~~~
jimbokun
Thanks for the tip.
------
sant0sk1
I watched the demo over the weekend and was pretty impressed with what they're
doing. Being able to write client-side and server-side code without switching
contexts should yield a nice productivity boost.
------
juliend2
Ruby has a more elegant syntax than Javascript with jQuery. But i don't see
any real advantage of doing it that way.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
NACHA Same-Day ACH Gets Federal Reserve Support - rlalwani
http://www.pymnts.com/news/2015/federal-reserve-backs-nachas-same-day-ach/
======
rlalwani
Starting Sep 2016. This should help create some interesting payment startups.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Axis of Eval: Browsers will let PLs break free from plain text - joeyespo
http://axisofeval.blogspot.com/2011/02/browsers-will-let-pls-break-free-from.html
======
finnw
Even if you program using data-flow graphs with pretty icons, they still have
to be stored in files don't they? Probably XML or JSON (which are themselves
plain text files and some people will still insist on editing them that way.)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Partial Application and Lambda Parameter Syntax for JavaScript - skellertor
https://medium.com/@citycide/partial-application-lambda-parameters-for-js-aa16f4d94df4
======
wwwigham
If you really like the idea of syntactic partial application in your
JavaScript, you should check out the stage 1 tc39 proposal for exactly that:
[https://github.com/rbuckton/proposal-partial-
application](https://github.com/rbuckton/proposal-partial-application) It's
slowly being worked through the committee, so if you care enough about the
feature, you should consider voicing your support.
~~~
citycide
I agree! It's not as powerful as this macro but I really want this in the
standard.
------
a-saleh
Funny, I already kinda use partial application in Javascript, just by using
curried functions a lot. I.e.
const add = x => y => x + y
This is definitely non-idiomatic, but the definition syntax itself doesn't
look that bad, if you can stomach writing add(1)(2) to use it.
I do agree that using _ would probably be a better solution :-)
~~~
Traubenfuchs
Am I missing something? Why not just
const add = (a,b)=>a+b?
~~~
ponkin
You can not use partial application with that. for example const add =
x=>y=>x+y
can be partialy applied like the following const add3 = add(3) // this is also
a function
~~~
masklinn
> You can not use partial application with that.
You can:
const add3 = add.bind(null, 3)
~~~
a-saleh
I still like currying better, but I just might be weird like that :-)
~~~
masklinn
I only asserted that you could partially apply regular functions. But I don't
think currying looks or feels nice in Javascript.
Proper curried languages are definitely better suited for partial application
though.
------
rmrfrmrf
> In Kotlin specifically, this is a shorthand for anonymous functions where,
> if you don’t specify an argument, one will automatically exist with the name
> _it_
I'm pretty sure Kotlin borrowed this idea from Groovy.
~~~
citycide
I'm pretty sure that's correct but Kotlin is a more recent reference so I
chose it instead.
------
citycide
Hi everyone, I'm the author. Looks like I'm a little late to the party (this
post snuck by me) but I'll try to answer any questions you might have.
I'd also like to point out the online playground [0] which allows you to use
this directly in your browser and see what it compiles to.
[0]:
[https://citycide.github.io/param.macro](https://citycide.github.io/param.macro)
------
some1else
Nice article. I still prefer arrow functions over positional arguments though,
because this approach trades some clarity for syntactic sugar. Until partial
application becomes part of JavaScript, the import statement will probably
outweigh the informative "boilerplate" it helps obscure anyway (there's rarely
more than one use case for partial application inside a well-factored
component).
~~~
kalekold
Partial application is a technique, not a language construct. Plus, you can
already use partial application in JavaScript and have been able to for years.
------
optimuspaul
Doesn't javascript have enough magic in it to make code difficult to follow?
What is the benefit to adding more?
~~~
citycide
I think the fact that this (and all macros with `babel-plugin-macros`)
requires an explicit import helps keep it out of magic territory. You do have
to become aware that the symbols transform the function/argument they're a
part of, but this is only really new to JS devs. It's familiar in a bunch of
other languages.
I documented how they work in this part[0] of the readme.
[0]: [https://github.com/citycide/param.macro#differences-
between-...](https://github.com/citycide/param.macro#differences-between-_-
and-it)
~~~
skybrian
The import tells you that some of the expressions in a file might be
functions, but not which ones. For each definition, you have to read the
entire expression to tell whether it's a function or evaluated immediately,
and what its arity is. No thanks! Reading the entire file just to find out its
API is no fun.
I like the direction typescript is going, where you can easily see not only
the arity but the type of each parameter, without reading the function body.
This is more skimmable.
------
kalekold
Are babel plugins the new C preprocessor? and have all the problems associated
with that.
~~~
nsenifty
babel-plugin-macros allow hygienic macros
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygienic_macro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygienic_macro))
so they don't have the problems associated with C macros.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Infrastructure Automation with Chef - zemanel
http://www.slideshare.net/jweiss/infrastructure-automation-withchef
======
lusis
FYI, this is one of the better decks I've seen on puppet/chef/devops. Very
well done.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What could disrupt email? - parvatzar
As the defacto standard for business and corporate communication?
======
chuhnk
You're thinking about it the wrong way. First ask yourself what's wrong with
email and why does it need to be disrupted? What problem are we actually
trying to solve by replacing email.
Email is a powerful tool for asynchronous communication and it's here to stay.
The way in which we interact with email may change over time as user
interfaces change. We've gone from desktop to mobile and soon there may be
some other dominant platform.
To answer my own question. In large corporations email is typically still used
to announce or notify at scale. So what we're really looking for is a way to
strip out this notification aspect. That's basically just an enterprise
version of twitter with an opt-in model for streams which allows you to keep
track of what everyone's doing in the organisation without having your inbox
spammed. Notice I'm not talking about the collaborative use of email since
that's already being solved by tools like Asana, Slack and Atlassian.
~~~
djKianoosh
does Slack have an on premise option? because I think many corporate customers
would definitely pay for it, despite all the cloud/saas hype. there are still
orgs out there that dont want their comms outside their premises.
~~~
zdw
It's called IRC/Jabber + whatever web/GUI/CLI UI is desired. Many companies
deploy it internally.
~~~
majewsky
Having used team chats based on Jabber, IRC, Slack (in that chronological
order), there is a huge difference. Jabber and IRC have always been pure
chats, whereas Slack is the first chat platform where people actually use
integrations and bots to a large extent. (Also, Jabber/IRC doesn't have
/remind, my personal killer feature about Slack.)
------
therealmarv
Nothing. Everybody tried.
I would only optimize it for business users. Shorten the text (maybe force
that even with AI or limitations, keep it async, chat is too sync). If you
follow this rules Emails get a lot more productive. I like the simple
adobtable approach of Emails in the "GitLab handbook"
[https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/)
~~~
scrollaway
I wouldn't say nothing. Discord and Slack are making a serious dent into one
of the primary use cases of email. Facebook has also entirely replaced email
in f&f communication. Twitter+Facebook have mostly replaced product
newsletters. It's also slowly-but-surely being phased out in identity
confirmation, by oauth2 (which is a really, really sad thing given the
proprietary lockin of oauth2).
Nothing will replace email altogether any time soon but if you offer a better
tool for one of the many, many use cases it has, people will switch. Email
became the default means of communication because it was the only way to
communicate; it's not anymore.
What's really unfortunate is that everything I have listed is proprietary.
We're putting our communication channels (both as users and as companies) in
the hands of private companies that could shut us down at any moment.
------
bharani_m
Does email need disruption? I have not faced any problem with emails as a form
of business communication.
I have used Slack but it doesn't come anywhere close to emails in terms of
ease of use, especially for people in non-technical fields.
------
xtiansimon
I use email every day for work in communication with clients and co-workers. I
can't think of anything about email's principal concept which needs disruption
(ie. asynchronous communication). I certainly can't think of any value which
could be made above that which email provides and at such little cost. I think
I can safely say our privately owned company uses email because it satisfies
all our requirements: messages are fast, works with all manner of media we
need, everybody's (clients, co-workers, vendors) has an email account, and
client software is batteries included. I could go on.
That said, I think improvements could be done on the software side.
Integration with applications in meaningful task-related ways (some apps I use
have contact list, but the app can't infer what should go into my email's body
given the context of the windows I have open). For me I could imagine OS level
innovations improving my _writing_ experience.
------
snarf21
I don't think it can be killed. I do think you can make an email++, but agree
with the other comment that it would have to only be for business. I think the
thing that is missing is more structure and management capabilities. The only
problem is how do you have it be interoperable with an email clients that
don't have your new thing. One thing you have to start with is what are the
things that really really suck with email, imo: inability to opt-out of
threads, no ability to say what type of email it is (INFO, REQUEST, PITCH,
COMPLETE, etc.), no ability say that a response/work is required and by whom
and by what date, hard to not lose the important facts of the email after 25
replies, etc....
Quite frankly I can think of a bunch of other things as well. I don't have
time right now but I would look at adding structured data at the top of the
email that you can parse but shows up nicely as text in other clients, for
example (assuming html email, just off the top....)
<div style="color:white;"> <div id="type">REQUEST</div> <div
id="response">No</div> <div id="duedate">14Feb2016</div> <div
id="assignee">[email protected]</div> <div id="keypoint-1">We don't have a good
backup procedure</div> <div id="keypoint-2">We've never tested our
backups</div> <div id="keypoint-3">We've never built a clone network from our
backup</div> </div>
You can now parse/search/filter based on this data. You can manage tasks right
in email and have a button to say "done" that sends an email back to the
originator that they know it is done. There are a lot of other things too but
I need to go do work now :(. I'll monitor this thread if you want to discuss
further. (/sigh, I wish HN had integrated private messages)
------
byoung2
Email is tough to kill because it's not a company or a product, it's a
decentralized set of standards. Email sucks in a lot of ways, but it's simple,
works everywhere, and it's baked into a lot of places (confirmation emails,
password reset emails, alert emails, etc). There are better technologies out
there like messaging and slack, but they're controlled by companies and not
open/decentralized, and while they have integrations, they aren't baked into a
lot of places (e.g. no Amazon confirmation slack messages or bank alerts
through FB messenger).
Imagine trying to kill XML because JSON is better...nearly impossible. Email
may slowly die over time, but I don't think it's likely you can kill it
outright.
~~~
skermes
Yes, the fact that you can send email to people who aren't using your email
system is the main thing that's keeping chat services stuck as part of a
company's communication tools and not being the entire (or almost entire)
thing.
I actually wrote the easy 50% of email back compatibility for a chat app once
- it wasn't as hairy as I expected it was going to be. Everyone has a unique
username (or at least username+org pair) so use that to generate an email
address for them. Similarly, generate an email address for every group/room.
When you receive an email for one of those addresses, use the from headers to
find/create a new pseudo-user and dump the body of the email in as a chat
message. When someone writes in chat that has a pseudo-user as one of the
people watching that chat, send them an email with that text and throw in a
few previous messages as a fake reply chain for context.
There are a lot of hairy details about thread management and making sure you
don't send pseudo-users too many emails and dealing with all the messed up
headers that different platforms send you and trying to only extract the
actual message and not the signature/replies from an email and attachments so
on that I only worked on a little before the whole thing was shuttered. But it
was really cool. Email users tended not to notice that anything was different
(they're used to email looking weird from various services) and chat users got
to stay in chat that was a little awkward instead of having to switch to a
different tool entirely to talk to people outside the organisation. (And, if
all the different chat services started doing it, you'd get really janky chat
federation for free!) And it lets you get a lot of stuff that gets made as
Slack integrations for free, too. Why bother setting up a bot to post to chat
when a Jenkins build fails when you can just give Jenkins your dev chat's
email address and let it send emails?
------
michaelbuckbee
There's a fairly well known graphic of all the companies that have taken
chunks of Craigslist and to varying degrees supplanted them:
[http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4dd4d1cf4bd7c8c90f0...](http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4dd4d1cf4bd7c8c90f000000-1200-924/craigslist%20andrew%20parker.png)
Email is being disrupted similarly.
Slack/Chat -> Intra-team communications. But also sales inquiries (those
ubiquitous: 'We're here to help!' toaster style popups on every company site)
and status notifications (for instance StatusPage was bought by Atlassian in
large part to merge into HipChat).
Internal Social -> Many people are familiar with Yammer (which is FB for
within a company), but other services like Salesforce, etc have versions of
this internally. You could also consider services like Jive in this.
External Social -> I've run some fairly substantial mailing lists and social
accounts. For something like a non emergency information sender ("Weekly
GoLang Tips!") it's about evenly split with people signing up for the
newsletter vs signing up on Twitter.
------
nitai
I don't think there is an issue with email per se. It's more that there hasn't
been much "evolution" in its use.
Though, Google and other companies have definitely tried to make email
"better".
After an elaborate phase of talking to hundreds of companies, I've created a
platform that has the approach of "collaborative email". It's providing an
additional layer to email that helps companies to keep track of all those
customer emails (you can check it out at
[http://helpmonks.com](http://helpmonks.com)).
In any case, I think in adding additional service around email is where the
real disruption lies.
------
plasticdroid
One of my coworkers was fantasizing the other day about starting a company
where they don't send any internal emails. His plan involved prioritizing
face-to-face communication, dedicated Slack channels, and a suite of tools
that made it easier to index, and search across Slack. It was an interesting
thought experiment, but it broke down in a lot of areas, and I think our
conclusions were:
1) It would only have a chance of working in a small organization with a
single team, or few teams that communicate regularly and effectively.
2) It's one thing to favor other channels of communication, but outright
banning of email didn't have a lot of benefits other than forcing people to
favor said alternate channels.
~~~
andruby
I work at a company with about 25 employees, some of which are remote. All
communication happens on Slack, Basecamp and Github. We also have Friday
afternoon drinks to catch up in real life. It works well. Can't remember when
I last received an internal email.
External communication does still happen over email, that won't change any
time soon I think.
------
paulsutter
You can replace certain use cases of email, but you wont replace all the use
cases at once.
For business opportunities might be around workflow and decisionmaking.
Slack dramatically reduced my email volume by replacing a use case that email
handled badly, for example.
A consumer analogy, Facebook replaced a bunch of email use cases. I still have
a friend who sends out email updates with photos while traveling, for example.
SMS and messaging apps, of course.
Someone could do a map like this list of companies that replaced specific use
cases of Craigslist
[https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/craigslist-
unbundling/](https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/craigslist-unbundling/)
~~~
frik
Facebook messages are lock-in. Back when I used it a lot, you could connect
via XMPP client. But there is now no way to get your own messages out of their
eco-system that I am aware off. It's like switching a dumb-cellphone to
another cellphone, you loose all your old SMS (if the aren't stored on the SIM
card and there is no PC link cable+software). Open standards like IRC, email,
XMPP prevent something like this to happen.
------
nnn1234
I completely second byoung2's comment. When we say email , the thing we refer
to would be free email services for personal use or inbox hell at work. The
same question without Gmail,Yahoo mail and other is easier to answer.
SMTP might be here to stay, but a low cost protocol independent messaging
protocol with an Identity layer can and will come along.
Why does no official comm happen on email? No ID validation. Maybe PKI can
help. Solution will either be use case by usecase or platform change like FB
or chat
------
deckar01
An email client that aggressively advocates for and implements new protocol
features. Browsers accelerated web standards and stole market share by doing
this.
I would like to see an email client with an edit button for messages. I have
already thought a lot about this feature [0]. Feel free to comment on the
issue.
[0] [https://github.com/deckar01/amend-
mail/issues/1](https://github.com/deckar01/amend-mail/issues/1)
------
frik
What's wrong with email? It works fine for decades. SMTP, (POP3) and IMAP are
fine protocols.
Please disrupt chat instead, with a proper protocol. A new non-XML based XMPP
version maybe? Anyway the big players need to support it. Now we have all
these proproitary chat apps (FB/WhatsApp, WeChat, SnapChat, Skype, Hangout,
etc.) that are incompatible closed eco-systems. Maybe we should just disrupt
chat by using the email protocols and infrastructure ;)
------
marczellm
Please don't "disrupt" the last open standard alive in online communication.
------
kijin
Better email.
An email can contain multiple arbitrary payloads. It's almost like HTTP,
except it's asynchronous. We already have the infrastructure to deliver
messages from anyone to anyone. Why keep trying to destroy it when we could
take advantage of the existing infrastructure instead? I don't see anyone
rallying to disrupt HTTP. Why all the obsession with disrupting email?
We could use different Content-Types to embed all sorts of structured
information in an email, and standardize the hell out of it. A schedule for an
event. An item to go on your TODO list. A link to click for confirmation. If
you can express it in JSON, you can attach it to an email. And the resulting
messages will be 100% backward compatible with old email clients, just like
newer versions of HTTP.
There are endless possibilities for email as long as you don't try to get
everyone on your own proprietary platform. Otherwise you will be just another
messaging service that has nothing to do with email, and email users will
happily ignore you. Don't fall into that pitfall. You need to make your
solution an essential part of people's email workflow, rather than trying to
steer people toward a different workflow.
~~~
qznc
The problem is the usual with a federated protocol: adding a feature requires
you to extend all the clients, which does not happen. See for example PGP.
~~~
kijin
The features are completely opt-in. If you don't want to link your email to
your schedules or TODO list, you don't need to do anything. The same
information should be present in a human-readable format in the body of the
email anyway. (YAML might be better than JSON for this purpose.)
------
deckiedan
I've just been setting up a new web server this last week, a shared host for a
few friends and family, personal websites, a couple of side projects, etc.
The bit which drives me the most crazy is setting up email on it. All the
sites need to be able to send occasional notification emails (WordPress, so
password resets, etc). I hoped dragonfly mail daemon would be enough,. But we
also need virtual host forwarding - if you email some addresses at one of the
hosts, it should forward on to the right persons Gmail, or whatever. So we
ended up with postfix. Which is reasonable easy - a hell of a lot easier to
configure than sendmail or exim, but even still... I wish __so __much for a
mail daemon with all the correct options for SRS, DKIM, SPF, SSL, TLS,
greylisting, etc. Turned on by default, and yaml /toml configuration... I'm at
the point of reading golang and python SMTP code and wanting to write one.
Something like caddy for email.
Email is complex, there are so many edge cases and options. It's insane.
Reading documentation is awful, as all daemon docs assume you know what all
the acronyms mean, and that you understand all the various RFCs.
------
rorykoehler
Nothing... I would like to see better interfaces for email. I am looking for 2
things. Conversational layouts so long message chains can be easier to read
and review (this is difficult as not everyone in a cc'd email chain gets each
email). A better way to manage multiple accounts from one inbox.
------
kbos87
We're all likely to have some sort of a communication stream in our
professional lives that needs regular attention from us for the foreseeable
future. Right now, it's email.
I feel like most people who "dislike email" dislike it as a proxy for their
unhappiness with their working environment and how the people around them
communicate.
Email could probably do a better job of compensating for the poor
communication habits of those we work with. In my experience, Slack
exacerbates those bad habits. But with email, I don't think the medium is
necessarily the problem. It's an asynchronous stream of stuff that needs our
attention or that we want to have our attention. The protocol is reliable and
nearly universal.
------
slipmagic
Email itself, as with how Google is with Gmail and Inbox,which has reminders
and interactive messages (Trello, Slack, etc.), the ability to use Google
Drive for large attachments, and send money to friends.
If Gmail had a publishing platform, sort of like MailChimp, in which partners
from large sites could use to gather analytics and craft messages with
embedded content beyond the limits of typical messages. You could:
\- reset your password with a click of a button and have it generated and
stored by Google.
\- chop up lengthy newsletters to contain only the content that you need.
\- Convert threads with other Gmail users into chats, with threaded messaging.
This could reduce traffic to their site, though, making it less sticky. And it
would work ideally in Chrome, unfortunately.
------
csharpminor
I think that Slack would argue that they are disrupting email. We have many
fewer internal emails at work now - most are directed at clients.
Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, etc. Are strong contenders for replacing email
to friends.
Not trying to avoid your question, but I think the future of email isn't a
better protocol or SMTP client enhancement, it's apps that provide a better
way of communicating a given task.
As it turns out, the major feature of email (being able to message anyone) is
also a huge drawback (communications inundated with spam).
------
synicalx
Email is fine, don't disrupt it. Make it better instead.
Blackberry got it mostly right with Hub - get all your emails, messages,
whatevers into one place and let you work out how you want to organise it all.
Something like that but a bit smarter (like Gmail's auto sorting of
promotions, updates etc).
If I could have one pane of glass to look at for my emails, slack/skype, text
messages, social media (business related of course) - I'd happily pay money
for that.
------
richardboegli
1) Better email clients
This would help people manage their email better.
Outlook and exchange are getting better, but still lacking.
Gmail has it's threads which work most of the time. Both have proprietary
tagging which is not IMAP compatible, which is why Thunderbird suffers.
If Thunderbird could handle Exchange and Gmail proprietary nuances it'd be
perfect.
2) Better email etiquette
The easier your email is to read and comprehend the more likely it'll get
responded to.
Fix / improve these two then this need to "disrupt email" would fade.
~~~
camus2
> 1) Better email clients
This, it's all about the UI/UX. Though I found Windows 10 default client quite
nice for non professional use.
------
bogomipz
From time to time I hear about some startup that is going to "disrupt email."
In my opinion email is something that works very well for asynchronous
communication. What is their to disrupt?
If your expectation is real time/synchronous then email is simply the wrong
choice of tool. That doesn't mean its lacking or needs to be "disrupted."
------
dcwca
The thing that will kill email is its lack of encryption. I'm surprised to see
on here that nobody is talking about encryption, but it's very important. Most
companies are not using it, and the email encryption options available are far
too clunky to be used effectively. Key negotiation needs to be built into the
protocol, ala Signal.
------
randlet
I love email. My only problem with email is that it's too difficult to
reliably run your own server with a Gmail quality interface. I have Fastmail
for email on my own domain and it is quite nice but the more experience I get
the less I want companies involved in being the gatekeepers to my critical and
personal information.
~~~
Mailtemi
Hi, your opinion is what we tried to achieve. Gmail UI experience with each
IMAP service.
Although I didn't mention what email client you are using, we will be glad to
give us suggestion what Gmail feature from you are most needed?
Disclaimer: I'm Mailtemi (email) app, developer.
------
mshenfield
We have viable replacements - our habits just haven't caught up to the tools.
Corporate e-mail assigns each employ a revocable identity, groups employees
into roles, and allows people to have private and public conversations. Tools
like Slack have become ubiquitous at software companies, and they provide the
_exact_ same functionality, with a foundation on realtime communication that I
believe is more productive. We still use e-mail for corporate announcements
and engagement when we really don't have to, and I think we'll stop as we get
better at it.
e-mail is just one piece of the corporate communication story though -
document creation and storage are another "standard" feature. Slack's "Plus"
plan is $12.50/user/month [0]. Premium G-Suite and Microsoft's Office 365 are
$10/user/month and $12.50/user/month [1] [2]. You can tell just be the price
tags and features that these companies are competing for shares of the same
corporate communication pie.
Slack right now is a player partly because the can backfill their shortcomings
here by integrating with G-Suite tools. You can see Slack trying to backfill
with Posts, Slack Calls, and I'd bet they're working on other high leverage
features (they have a lot of catch-up to do) to stay competitive as the core
of their platform faces competition from the likes of Microsoft Teams and open
source alternatives [3].
On thing e-mail is better at is person to person contact outside the context
of any organization. e-mail succeeds because I need one piece of information
to contact you (a public address), and I can be contacted by one public
address as well, no matter the tribe (gmail, outlook, etc.). Maybe a global
chatroom with name-spaced public address would be a decent alternative?
[0] [https://slack.com/pricing](https://slack.com/pricing) [1]
[https://gsuite.google.com/intl/en_us/pricing.html](https://gsuite.google.com/intl/en_us/pricing.html)
[2] [https://products.office.com/en-us/compare-all-microsoft-
offi...](https://products.office.com/en-us/compare-all-microsoft-office-
products?tab=2) [3] [http://venturebeat.com/2015/11/27/5-open-source-
alternatives...](http://venturebeat.com/2015/11/27/5-open-source-alternatives-
to-slack/)
------
nunez
Honestly, I think Slack is doing a great job of eliminating massive email
chains that should really be in a group chat. As for casual, slower
communication, I don't think it's going anywhere. We still use paper mail
after all.
------
kapauldo
Two things, 1) auto detect marketing email and remove or get it out of the
way, 2) make replying a taskable thing. Those are my 2 major problems, too
much junk mail and not having time right now to reply.
------
_nalply
Something like HTTP2 for email and then companies using email as a low-level
back-end for communication needs. Imagine FB posts backed by email. Chat
backed by email. And so on. Pipe dream.
------
sdfjkl
The removal of corporate bullshit signatures and legal disclaimers that are
10x the size of the actual email content.
Oh, and secure end-to-end encryption that is simple to set up and use safely.
------
ommunist
Email has its problems, but it is one of the cornerstones of authentication
messages exchange. Are you going to shake this one?
------
funkju
Another question is what technologies can be disrupted by being more like
email? (Distributed, open standard, etc)
Social Media comes to mind.
------
tim333
I don't know about disrupt but I sometimes message new business contacts on
linkedin. It gets kind of annoying after a bit though.
------
cowmix
“Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail. Those programs which
cannot so expand are replaced by ones which can.”
-JWZ
------
sametmax
Idea 1 ========
A client that threat email as a chat message.
You enter your email and your password. You get chat timelines like in
whatsapps/viber/kik/wechat/text message. You can just write and send (no
topic, no inbox, etc).
This way you can use a reliable ID and messaging system to write messages as
easily as text messages. But with none of the jailed env like whatsapps.
You can have reliable encryption with PGP. Share media with attachment (but
with a simple UI). And it works with your regular email address, no need to
create a new account. It works with anybody (every body has an email address).
It works even with people not using the app.
To ensure it works with everybody, when you give your credentials it creates a
special IMAP inbox with just the mails from this "disposable" emails to not
pollute your real inboxes.
Idea 2 =======
Internal email address for a community
You create an email address, and only members of this community can get them,
or write to each others. You can then give permissions to external services to
write to you after approval. Non approved senders emails are rejected
silently.
This system would be great for the government, where any citizen would have an
official email address for life to communicate with the state. But you can't
spam it. you can't write to your friends with it. If an actor negociate with
the state (such as utilities providers), they can send your bills there. But
no ads or they get their permission revoked.
Basically like an real life official inbox, but global, with only important
content and virtual.
Of course you'll need to enforce 2-factor authentication on at the very
minimum.
Idea 3 ======
Email integrated in a Planning + Note system. Right now we integrate notes and
todo into email. I think the problem is backward. Emails are input you turn
into TODO, notes and appointments in your calendards.
What I usually want is to be able to have a link to an email that works
offline, which open my email client to this particular email. I used
thunderlink addon for that because that's the only way to do it, but it sucks.
This link I would be able to paste into my workflow. Apps could use it to
integrate a preview of the mail and attachments in the app, cache the mail,
ask for notifications about the conversation, get callbacks for events (email
deleted, marked as, moved to...) or tell the email client to archive the mail
and prevent deletions.
This should work offline (I want to be able to get organized in the plane) and
online (APIs => webhooks => cluster of integrated services).
------
hashkb
What can we use email to disrupt?
------
charlesism
Probably a social electric car with AI, and a voice interface. The driver's
seat will be a standing a desk, and the dashboard will use flat design. Data
storage will be handled with Blockchain, and devops will keep everything
running smoothly using Github and Docker and React.
~~~
synicalx
Gotta get VR in there as well, maybe a dashboard headset? DashRift? DashRift
2.0?
------
hellofunk
Google Wave is definitely going to change how we do email and instant
messaging and also document collaboration.
Oh, whoops, for a second I thought it was last decade.
------
supersan
Possibly email addresses that won't accept more than 200 plain text chars, so
real people get to the point quickly and spam becomes easier to determine.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Enjoy Friends, C0llude: A Free, Private, Open-Source Collaboration Tool - neflabs
https://neflabs.com/blog/announcing-collude/
======
pushpeshkarki
Link not working
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Clarify Your Story: Internet Businesses - RiderOfGiraffes
http://www.sramanamitra.com/articles/clarify-your-story-internet-businesses/
======
RiderOfGiraffes
From: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1134810>
Related: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1127461>
Links to: <http://mylifeandart.typepad.com/1m1m/>
The question in <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1134810> is how many
people here know of the "strategy" and are intending to use it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
IoT starter kit unveiled by ARM and IBM - funkylexoo
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-31584546
======
eveningcoffee
> One example the firms gave for how this might be used in
> real-life involved using the kit to send information about
> local conditions to a remote data centre, which in turn
> would send back commands to a smart lighting system made up
> of internet-connected bulbs.
Honestly, why would any sane person want to do this?
By doing this you would give up your privacy and also your independence.
------
marssaxman
There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of existing microcontroller-based single-
board computers with daughterboard expansion sockets. Many of them already use
Cortex-M3 or Cortex-M4 processors. It would have been nice if the article
provided even a hint at what this new offering is intended to provide that we
can't already find.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Code42 shuttering consumer offering, CrashPlan for Home - settsu
https://www.code42.com/news-releases/code42-focus-business/
======
kwonstant
Some of the things hidden in the transition here that I noticed when exploring
converting to a small business account:
> Any computer-to-computer backups will be permanently deleted. After
> migration, you can't use computer-to-computer backups.
This was a neat feature to simplify local backups and makes the "higher tier"
a less compelling product.
------
Naveg
Indefinite retention of old versions and even deleted files was the killer
feature for me. It doesn't look like the small business plan supports it. Any
recommendations?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Apple's AirPods and Live Listen are a revolution for the hearing impaired - okket
https://qz.com/1323215/apples-airpods-and-live-listen-are-a-revolution-for-the-hearing-impaired/
======
rgbrenner
Kudos apple for this. Even though most of these (including this one) dont
benefit me, this is always good to see. So many of these accessibility devices
are ridiculously expensive, and Airpods are far cheaper than hearing aids.
Maybe a little competition will bring down the prices to something more
reasonable.
Only 1/3rd of the 15% with hearing loss are using hearing aids. That's a lot
of suffering for what is really just from poor insurance in the US:
_High-quality hearing aids fitted by an audiologist cost between $2,200 and
$7,000 per pair. Prices vary by region, but the average cost of a mid-level
pair of hearing aids is about $4,500.10 Most private insurance does not cover
hearing aids. Only 3 states—Arkansas, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island—mandate
coverage for adults, and just 20 states require that children’s hearing aids
be covered by health insurance.11 Insurance companies say that they do not
cover hearing aids because hearing aids are “elective” or because, unlike
cochlear implants, hearing aids do not require a medical doctor’s prescription
or surgical intervention._ ...
_Hearing loss can have a dramatic impact on work performance, family and
social relationships, and mental health. Studies have found that hearing
impairment is significantly associated with depression and social isolation,
particularly among women.16,17 A national survey found that hearing loss also
has a negative impact on household income, with a loss of earnings up to an
average of $12,000 per year, with the severity of hearing loss directly
correlated with the amount of lost income. The use of hearing devices was
found to mitigate this effect by 50%._
[https://altarum.org/health-policy-blog/millions-of-
americans...](https://altarum.org/health-policy-blog/millions-of-americans-
need-hearing-aids-why-don%E2%80%99t-they-have-them)
~~~
obelix_
Just cheaper these days to buy them from India. You could fly there, get a top
quality doc/audiologist to check you up. The same top of the line aids cost
around 2-3K max. Do the touristy stuff and fly back all for less than what it
costs to get an aid in the US. "Medical tourism" they call it.
~~~
gwern
If you are taking the trouble to look into how to save money on hearing aids,
Costco will get you audiologist testing and hearing aids at <$2000 and vastly
less trouble than a trip to India. (That's what I did for my last replacement
pair last year and so far it's worked out well.)
------
csomar
I got the airpods a couple weeks ago. My main motivation was that the earpods
cable easily tangle. It's difficult to sort it out. The next motivation was to
be able to charge the phone while using the earpods since they have
lightening. And finally, because I can't get the earpods in my macbook unless
I use an adapter.
And here is my experience: It is great and feels like an Apple product.
1\. The charge lasts. It lasts around 2-3 hours + charge 6-7 more times. Can
go with the thing for a full day of usage without worrying.
2\. It is seamless to get it working. You just open the case. Done. Then you
can easily switch on the Mac after you connected it to your iPhone.
3\. The sound is good. It is not too strong. But I guess this will protect me
against my own stupidity.
4\. The airpods are water resistant (though warranty doesn't cover that). I
dropped one on my coffee cup. Still working good.
Simple. Nice. And it works. That's what I'm paying the premium for!
And yes, it is definitively worth the price. I use them for 3-4 hours per day.
So if they last for a couple year, that's like $0.22/day for something that I
use probably more than anything else.
~~~
MBCook
They really do feel like that old Apple magic from when you first got an iPod.
I ordered them when they came out and figured I’d return/sell them if I didn’t
like them. I had normal corded headphones, wasn’t sure I’d really care.
Given how long it took for them to fix supply issues that was a good decision.
But they really changed the way I do everything. They’re so small in their
case that I can just carry it with me all the time, so I never have to worry
about if I left my headphones somewhere. I always have some on me. By and
large they sound better than my old headphones (comfortable/decent sounding
$20 model, so no big surprise) but they’re so incredibly convenient.
I don’t remember the last thing I could give an unqualified recommendation to
other than AirPods. Android users don’t get some of the benefits of easy
pairing, and of course your ears have to fit the things... but they’re
fantastic.
------
anonu
The AirPods are really far and away the best truly wireless in ear headphones.
I did a bit of research before buying them recently. Ultimately my thinking
about buying Apple versus another competitor in this vertical boiled down to:
Apple is sitting on billions and billions in cash... Their R&D can never be
matched. Case in point: they built a custom chip for the airpods... Who else
can do that? The bar is high.
~~~
bognition
> The AirPods are really far and away the best truly wireless in ear
> headphones
If they fit your ears yes, but if they don't fit your ears they're useless
because they fall out after a few moments of use.
~~~
ninkendo
Doesn't that apply to any in-ear headphone?
~~~
nicwolff
Other earphones, you can add a formed rubber cover to make them fit. Due to
the AirPods charging in their clever snug case, you can't easily use them with
any kind of cover attached.
------
victor106
I read all the negativity (I am not a big fan of the touchbar on my MacBook
Pro) about Apple on HN but one thing they deserve high praise for is
accessability and privacy. Going back to the release of the first iPhone it
had great accessibility features.
~~~
mwcampbell
Just curious, what accessibility features did the first iPhone have? FWIW,
VoiceOver, the screen reader for blind users, didn't arrive until the third
iPhone, the 3GS.
------
pjc50
So what does this actually do to the sound? Improve directionality?
Amplification across all bands? Speech processing? Noise reduction?
I have a set of NHS hearing aids (free and with a lifetime supply of free
batteries), and they're effectively given a custom EQ profile to match my
hearing loss (frequencies above 4khz). They also have feedback protection,
which I can occasionally hear kicking in.
~~~
MBCook
It lets you use the AirPods to hearvwhat the phone’s mic picks up.
That’s it.
It won’t replace real hearing aids all the time. The battery only lasts 4
hours after all.
But for people without hearing aids it may be useful in lour places or to hear
quiet talkers.
~~~
lev99
> The battery only lasts 4 hours after all.
Just buy two, and keep one charging at all times. Two airpods are still about
1/10 the cost of hearing aids.
~~~
emit_time
More like 1/40 the cost
------
herodotus
I have been wearing hearing aids for about 6 years. They work, but are
incredibly expensive. If AirPods and an iPhone could be used as an
alternative, that would be an incredible thing. My current hearing aids come
with a blue-tooth adaptor which I never use. I don't use it because the sound
quality is very poor - I have a common, age-related high-frequency drop off.
So my aids boost the high frequencies, but do not transit the lower
frequencies: these I just get as normal. (My hearing aid dome allows low
frequencies through to my ear). So when I use the blue-tooth adaptor, all I
get is the high frequency sound: very unsatisfactory. The only objection I can
see to an AirPod alternative is that the AirPods show - my hearing aids are
the behind-the-ear type, and most people do not notice that I am wearing them.
------
eagsalazar2
I'm confused about what is so amazing about this. To be clear, I have Airpods
and really love them but how is this different than any of the many
"microphone" apps already out there? I have a Pixel 2 so I can confirm there
are a million of these apps on the Play Store, is there some reason this app
isn't possible on iOS? Is it about lower latency?
~~~
notatoad
I can't really say because I haven't used either Apple's live listen feature
or any of the microphone apps on Android, but the article says live listen
doesn't just amplify sound, it isolates and amplifies voices. Which sounds
like a different thing to the standard microphone apps.
~~~
SuperPaintMan
Yeah that's pretty similar to what current/last gen hearing aids can do. My
mother has been dependent on her pair since she was 7, but a few years ago she
upgraded to a newer version. The hearing aid has a few different modes for
isolating foreground and background noise toggled by a small button. There's a
general amplification mode, conversation mode (isolates) and a crowd mode.
Now I'm very curious as to what current gen hearing aids are capable of.
------
inlined
Am I the only one whose AirPods have gotten quiet over time? I use mine now
only to avoid disturbing others around me; I often have to hold them into my
ear to understand YouTube. My phone's speakers are much louder and clearer.
[Edit: the comment is meant to be relevant because this seems cool and I like
the lack of stigma, but a nearly silent headphone may not be ideal for the
hard of hearing]
~~~
philjohn
Sounds like you need to clean them [https://lifehacker.com/the-gross-but-
effective-way-to-clean-...](https://lifehacker.com/the-gross-but-effective-
way-to-clean-your-airpods-1820945258)
~~~
inlined
Ew.. since they're water resistant, I tried ear wax drops. Helps a bit, though
it's weird that my wired Apple headphones don't suffer the same way
~~~
samatman
I never got EarPods to last more than a few months; the wax would get through
the mesh, and cleaning only worked once.
I was concerned Airpods would be the same way but so far (six months) they
sound as good as ever.
------
ricardobeat
The Sony MDR-1000X/WH-1000XM2 have had a 'voice' mode for years, where noise
cancelling let's through specific bandwidths.
I use it as a safety feature when riding my bicycle, and it is nothing short
of amazing. I can hear birds tweeting in the trees around me, tire noise
coming from cars, crystal clear conversation. I'd love to have the same
feature in a smaller package.
------
TheJoYo
Currently using AirPods (I call them AirBuds) to listen to ANYTHING playing on
my Roku TV. They work great on Android and Windows 10, too.
~~~
philjohn
I've found they lose sync on Windows, as in, you hear an echo as left and
right and perfectly aligned. Could be the bluetooth dongle I use I suppose,
but it's an Asus rather than a no-brand off Amazon.
~~~
satysin
I had no end of trouble with AirPods and a Killer 1535 wireless card (WiFi and
Bluetooth) but replacing that with an Intel 9260 and it has been perfect.
------
pohl
I got my pair as soon as they became available, and I’ve slowly realized that
at the rate that I had to replace the old, wired EarPods (due to failures in
the cable or accidentally laundering them) I’ve probably already crossed the
break even point, making the AirPods surprisingly more cost-effective. And,
yet, I use them so much more — very nearly all day.
~~~
lwansbrough
Let me know how cost effective they are when the battery wears out or you
accidentally launder them.
~~~
robin_reala
Batteries are replaceable for $49:
[https://support.apple.com/airpods/repair/service](https://support.apple.com/airpods/repair/service)
~~~
userbinator
Judging by how they're put together,
[https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/AirPods+Teardown/75578](https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/AirPods+Teardown/75578)
...I bet the $49 "battery replacement" is really more like "small discount on
a new AirPod or case".
------
delbel
Can somebody help explain this to me? Can I buy AirPods (looks like they are
$159?) and then use them with android? or do I need an iphone? Which Iphone do
I need? Is there one without a contract that has this software? Will I
eventually be forced to upgrade the phone or it will stop working? Does the
software allow me to adjust for the frequency that I need help in? How much do
I need to spend?
~~~
wlonkly
Buying an iPhone for this feels expensive to me. You might be interested in
PSAPs, which are basically hearing aids that haven't gone through the FDA
hearing aid bureaucracy: [https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-personal-
sound-amplif...](https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-personal-sound-
amplification-product/)
But to answer your question: You can use AirPods as headphones with Android,
but the "Live Listen" feature in the article is an iPhone feature.
------
voidmain
Hopefully the FDA will not move to block this.
~~~
elil17
They won’t, there are already unregulated audio amplifiers. But everyone
should know that trying to use headphones as hearing aids is exceedingly
dangerous. Hearing aids are carefully tuned by doctors to prevent the loud
noises they produce from accelerating hearing loss. The Live Listen feature is
best used with hearing aids, not AirPods.
~~~
drewg123
This contradicts what I've heard from my wife's best friend who was diagnosed
with hearing loss several years ago & has been using hearing aids. According
to her, hearing aids themselves are dangerous, expensive & flaky. She
complains there is no "one size fits all", and she needs at least two or three
different ones. Eg, she has one which is great for indoor conversations, but
is very susceptible to wind noise, which she said gets amplified so much it is
dangerous. On the other end, she has one she wears outdoors that is great for
rejecting wind noise, but she says is useless for indoor conversations with
lots of people talking. These are devices which cost thousands.
I'm going to forward this article to her; hopefully she has an old phone she
can install the beta on and try this.
~~~
elil17
I work in an audiology research lab. It is true that hearing aids can degrade
your hearing. But if it is tuned by an audiologist it can do significantly
more damage. Of course that does little good for people without health
insurance - hearing aids are so expensive. But if you can possibly afford to
see an audiologist and care about maintaining your hearing (which not everyone
does) you should absolutely not use untuned audio amplifiers.
------
JosephHatfield
Is this enabled in the iOS 12 Beta 3? I can't find it.
~~~
alexfringes
It does seem like it is absent from Beta 3. In Beta 1, I had added it to
Control Center but at some point in time since then (Beta 2/3) it was removed,
it seems. Not exactly a promising sign.
Edit: it seems that the feature only appears when AirPods are in proximity.
Seeing it in Beta 3 now that I’ve gone home and am close to the AirPods.
~~~
Cauchon
Yup, I was able to get it when I had my AirPods out > Settings > Control
Center > Add "Hearing". Then turn it on in Control Center and boom!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Coding Machines (2009) - vermilingua
https://www.teamten.com/lawrence/writings/coding-machines/
======
faitswulff
Don't want to ruin it, but I didn't expect this to be a narrative. Chilling
and extremely hacker-oriented!
~~~
tjchear
Oh boy I thought the same. I had a sinking feeling until I realized it's a
story.
------
knolax
This was a great read. The first part reminded me of "On Trusting Trust" but
obviously it's just one part of the narrative. This and I, Rowboat are
probably one of the few sci-fi pieces I've ever read that didn't feel overly
abstract or vague. I hope hard "computer science fiction" like this will
become a genre of its own in the future.
~~~
saagarjha
Shh, don't spoil it :)
------
obituary_latte
Great story. Only hiccup I saw was that he mentioned the patio was always
usable due to their location but towards the end he said it was “enclosed”.
Are there enclosed patios still susceptible to weather?
~~~
cicero
Enclosed patios provide some protection from the weather, but they are not the
same as the insulated interior of a modern house. I've been to a house in
Texas that had an enclosed patio that was unusable in the heat of summer. It
acted like a hothouse.
------
gregfjohnson
In his Turing talk Dennis Richey discusses similar issues. It is a great read.
Here's a link to it:
[https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rdriley/487/papers/Thompson_1984_Ref...](https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rdriley/487/papers/Thompson_1984_ReflectionsonTrustingTrust.pdf)
------
weeber
I like the minimalist design of the website :)
------
BubRoss
This is someone advertising their ebook they are selling on Amazon. You
probably didn't know that from the title, because it doesn't tell you
anything.
~~~
saagarjha
And you can read it on the website too. The title doesn’t tell you anything
because if I linked the paper it’s referencing it’d spoil the story too.
~~~
knolax
Is the ebook the same as TFA or is there more in the ebook?
~~~
saagarjha
Based on the number of pages I'd guess that they're the same.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Running a/UX on a Macintosh SE/30 - kristianp
http://www.datormuseum.se/macintosh-se-30
======
jiveturkey
Title has a typo: 'a' should be capitalized 'A'.
Ah, this is near and dear to me. My first Unix was A/UX on an SE/30\. My
second Unix was A/UX on a Quadra 950. From which I naturally ran a warez site
and irc bot. Gopher/Veronica/Archie were still in their heyday then, and
Eudora was the GUI mail client of choice.
From there I "graduated" to IRIX and did real work. Molecular simulations and
visualizations. A huge step up from the Mac hardware ...
~~~
jfengel
In the late 80s, Virginia Tech's CS department mandated A/UX on a Mac 2,
making us incompatible with every other computer on campus. It was great
having a real Unix, but since networking wasn't a big thing yet, it was still
pretty isolated. (The campus had a computerized phone system that could have
been adapted to networking, but it wasn't set up for it, and in fact hampered
even dial-up networking because of the nonstandard phone jacks.) CS
assignments were submitted on floppy disk.
------
jasomill
"Apple Workgroup Server 95" is a Mac model, not a rebranding of the OS as the
author claims.
I mention this because, per Apple sales literature[1], the version of A/UX
that shipped with that machine was "highly tuned", presumably for the
68040-based Workgroup Server 95 — basically a Quadra 950 — and this may be why
he initially had trouble installing what his screenshots suggest was a copy of
A/UX 3.0.1 from the Workgroup Server software bundle on an SE/30, which is a
68030 machine with a considerably older architecture.
While I'm not at all familiar with A/UX, it's certainly true that,
historically, it was not unusual for bundled copies of Mac OS to be at least
somewhat model-specific.
In other words, when resurrecting older Mac models, use retail OS media when
possible. The obvious "impossible" case is when you want to install an OS that
shipped before the model in question, as retail media will often lack
necessary hardware support that would have been slipstreamed into bundled
copies.
[1]
[https://archive.org/details/WorkgroupServer95](https://archive.org/details/WorkgroupServer95)
------
tolger
I remember running A/UX on a Mac IIsi. It was a quirky UNIX, based on SysV r3.
I remember the first thing out of the box was to compile GCC with the included
non-ANSI C compiler. Then you could actually start compiling everything else,
like Emacs, LaTeX, Ghostscript, GNU binutils, etc.
The best part is that you could run a lot of productivity Mac software such as
Word, Excel, Powerpoint. I used it during my last two years in college and was
really sad when it was discontinued.
------
jimjag
I loved A/UX... it was a fun OS, and porting various software to it was a
great way to learn things. It also got me seriously involved in the Free
Software and Open Source movements with my work on jagubox.
------
ncmncm
I used one of these for years. I bought it with 8GB of RAM, and never knew
bigger modules could be used. I used an 80G disk drive.
As I recall, it took a couple of hours to compile Gcc the normal way (i.e. 3
times over).
~~~
DogRunner
MB, it was megabytes ;-)
~~~
ncmncm
It is hard to type MB anymore, because I have caught myself doing it and fixed
it so many times.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Clink: Bash-style command line editing for cmd.exe - luu
http://mridgers.github.io/clink/
======
ethomson
I spent a long time bemoaning the sad state of shells on Windows. cmd.exe is
pried out of amber for each release of Windows, so intent on remaining
compatible with DOS and NTs gone by that it can't fix its brokenness, let
alone innovate, for "fear of breaking backcompat."
PowerShell is a fine scripting language but using it as an interactive shell
is sort of baffling to me, even compared to the already wonky cmd.exe. Maybe
this is the new hotness and I'm just a crufty old Unix neckbeard but I just
want this off my lawn.
Cygwin and friends always impress me that they work at all, but they're slow
and weird. I could probably put up with the speed of I never had to remember
that sometimes I'm going to need to type `/cygdrive/c` for Cygwin-type apps
and sometimes I'm going to need to type `c:/` for everything else.
Clink, for me, is the best I've found. Yes, cmd.exe is still a trainwreck of
bad ideas from the 90's, but at least entering command doesn't suck anymore.
My emacs keys work, tab completion isn't an abomination and command history
works (up arrow goes to the last command typed, `!history` works!)
------
guiambros
Whenever I use Windows, Clink is usually one of the first things I install.
And this is my favorite inputrc. Search backward/forward history when using
the arrow keys.
# c:\users\username\AppData\Local\Clink\clink_inputrc
"\e`H": history-search-backward
"\e`P": history-search-forward
"\t": clink-menu-completion-shim
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Can You Spot The Partisan Legislation? - araneae
http://www.politicalmathblog.com/?p=424
======
MaysonL
It was only partican legislation because the Republicans refused to make it
bipartisan, instead as a matter of strategy decided to kill it, and failed.
------
tallanvor
Can you spot the partisan blogger?
Seriously, the guy links to newsbusters. Really the only thing his graphics
show is just how good the Republican party has gotten at forcing their members
to toe the party line.
------
bitwize
Elections have consequences.
~~~
smallblacksun
The point was that the people saying that republicans always vote against
social reform, or that major social reform bills are always starkly partisan,
are lying.
~~~
hexis
I think we can be sure that they are wrong, but not that they are lying.
~~~
anamax
> I think we can be sure that they are wrong, but not that they are lying.
Reckless disregard for the truth only works a couple of times. (Since
journalists claim to fact-check things, they get even less of a pass.)
We mistrust known liars for obvious reasons. Those reasons also apply to folks
who don't care whether they get it right.
BTW - The author missed another one. Congressional Republicans voted
overwhelmingly for Social Security when it was enacted during FDR's term.
------
jellicle
Actually the vote tallies just demonstrate how wingnutty the Republican Party
has become in the last few years.
The legislation at hand is, literally and without exaggeration, almost
entirely Republican in nature. It's nearly identical to proposals made by
Republican presidential candidates. It's nearly identical to what Mitt Romney
pushed for and got in Massachusetts. It is an unexciting law that contains
massive giveaways to favored Republican industries like the drug companies.
And yet, not a single Republican in 2010 could manage to vote for it. And
Republican columnists and Republican think-tank members who pointed out the
law is exactly what Republicans say they want... they got fired for violating
Party orthodoxy. That speaks volumes about the modern Republican Party, and
says very little about the healthcare law.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The SSD Endurance Experiment: Two petabytes - geoffgasior
http://techreport.com/review/27436/the-ssd-endurance-experiment-two-freaking-petabytes
======
gerbal
So, we know these SSDs will survive an ungodly amount of read-writes. Is there
a way to test how they will survive as archival media?
Presumably the major cause of data degradation in archival time-scales is bit-
rot from either component failure or media corruption. What are the sources of
bit-rot and component failure? Can they be accelerated to provide a rough
benchmark for component failure over longer time-scales?
~~~
toomuchtodo
Heat is typically used to simulate aging; other than that, just time.
------
knd775
Wow. And the 840 is still going error-free. That's pretty impressive.
~~~
_DadeMurphy
Where did you see that the 840 is still going error-free? It says that the 840
maxed out it's reallocated sectors at around 900TB and veered into a ditch
right before the petabyte threshold.
It'd be interesting to run these same tests on enterprise grade drives as
well.
Edit: You meant that the 840 Pro is still going, I see.
~~~
buryat
840 has TLC, 840 Pro MLC
TLC cells should sustain 1-1.5K Program-Erase cycles
MLC 3-5K P/E cycles
eMLC 10-30K P/E cycles
SLC >100K
256GB eMLC SSD with 10K PE should be able to sustain 2.56PBW, which is pretty
much what the 840 Pro 256GB with MLC was able to sustain in the test.
Also enterprise ssds usually come with huge overprovisioning, a raw 1TB drive
usually comes with 800G usable space.
I had few 720G fusion iodrives with 1.1PBW and 0 reallocated sectors, and
these were rated 10PBW.
------
kayoone
For some reason my SSDs have never lasted very long. Ive been using consumer
grade SSDs since 2009 and among those which failed are a SuperTalent
Ultradrive 128GB, Intel X-25M and Crucial M400. Now i use a Samsung 840 Evo
which is actually a replacement since the first one died after just a couple
of weeks.
Granted i am a poweruser with a lof of small writes because of software
development related activities, but it still strikes me that everyone else is
of the impression that SSDs last forever. Certainly not my experience. The
story is similar for a couple of my buddies.
~~~
dspillett
The experience with SSD reliability of myself and my
friends/colleagues/contacts has been similar to spinning metal type drives,
though with a smaller sample-set thus far. I've used a number of drives at
home and work and had two fail: one just died, and other started reporting
write errors (one Sandisk and one OCZ, I forget which exact models and which
failed which way).
Between us we've got a fair few Crucial drives running pretty much 24/7 (in my
case at home: the system drive in a Windows desktop that never turns off, a
pair in RAID1 for the system + core VMs volumes in a server), and a selection
from other manufacturers. IIRC the ones in the machine at the office are by
Samsung.
Other people I know have had similar experience. Most of the failures we've
experienced were early on, which either means it was down to luck or quality
has improved over time. I wouldn't say I find SSD to be any less reliable than
traditional drives, though when they do fail it is more often that they "just
die without warning" than other failure modes.
------
Yizahi
I'm using:
1) Corsair Performance Pro 128Gb; Marvell controller; Toshiba toggle-NAND
memory; Used for 2.5 years; written about 7-8Tb.
2) Corsair Neutron GTX 120Gb; LAMD controller; Toshiba toggle-NAND memory;
Used for 1.5 years; written about 4Tb.
Both are up and running 24/7 most of the time, both are usually filled to
60-80%, one is system partition, one is for remaining software and games. Both
SSDs suffer about 10-20 electricity outages per year.
------
aperrien
As a side question, how can you tell how many writes a regular drive has
sustained? Say, like the one in my desktop or laptop?
~~~
McGlockenshire
SSDs tend to report this as SMART ID 241, total LBAs written.
I haven't seen this on any rotational drives. I actually find that puzzling,
as it's a very interesting stat to track.
~~~
rincebrain
It's an interesting stat to track, but not one that physically was an
endurance metric for spinning drives, which is probably why it didn't appear
until SSD vendors tracked it because, as much more obvious here, it's a very
serious thing to keep track of sometimes.
~~~
grogers
I thought the main endurance metric for spinning disks is total bytes read or
written? AKA time where the head is right up close to the platter. That
doesn't seem too far off to track both total read and write IOs and/or bytes.
~~~
pflanze
I believe (but can't cite any sources for that) that unless the head is parked
(which either only happens when the disk goes to sleep, or at least after
somewhat extended times of inactivity) HDD heads are always right above the
platter, i.e. regardless of whether something is being read, written, the head
moved, or there being a (short) activity pause. Assuming that the number of
repolarisations of the magnetic substrate is not limiting, while total
parking/sleep times should have a +-strong correlation with life times
(although it might be negative, too, when the periods are too short, due to
parking cost?), total bytes read/written should only have a weak correlation
(by being correlated with the former). I am not a storage device specialist.
------
n0body
glad i have the 840 pro, although the sample size of 1 of each drive
essentially makes these tests meaningless
~~~
wtallis
These tests are only meaningless if you completely misinterpret what they're
testing. It's not a test of the overall reliability of the drives. They're
just testing the write endurance (and occasionally the data retention). The
wear leveling and garbage collection algorithms will have zero variance
between different drives of the same model, so there's no need for a large
sample of controllers. And each drive itself constitutes a large sample of
flash memory so any random variation in the lifespan of individual NAND cells
is already averaged out.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: I made a site that calculates the market price of items on ebay - locksley
http://www.getmarketprice.com/
======
locksley
This was my weekend project. I made it after being frustrated at not knowing
what a fair price for an iphone 5 would be on eBay. I posted this a month ago
but wasn't ready for HN traffic. Learnt about load testing the hard way and
have optimized it since. So, here it is again.
Feel free delve into any questions.
~~~
slashdotdash
Neat site, thanks for sharing. Here's some constructive feedback for you.
* Filter results by eBay category.
* Outlier elimination such as excluding "broken" items (e.g. listings containing commonly used words such as "spares or repair", "cracked screen", "damaged").
* Country specific currency (e.g. for UK searches show the results in GBP, £).
* Predict a fair market value for a given search. Useful when trying to sell items second hand as an "arm's-length transaction".
~~~
jherrick
Good list. I would also suggested eliminating outlying items based on prices.
It seems like when there are dozens of items named XXX, there will be several
with "hard drive for XXX" or something.
I must believe there's any easy way to eliminate some "outliers" using
mathematics, but I can't recall the function(s) to do so.
~~~
SandB0x
> I must believe there's any easy way to eliminate some "outliers" using
> mathematics, but I can't recall the function(s) to do so.
The median is one good way, as you already have. You can also use the
interquartile mean: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interquartile_mean>
~~~
locksley
At the moment I'm filtering out items 2 standard deviations out of the median.
It catches the ridiculous cases, i.e. when some fool tries to get away with
selling an iphone for $6000 (yes I've seen this before).
Perhaps I need to filter it within 1 or 1.5 stdevs. Will experiment with this.
However, sometimes you can easily see there are two clusters of results. Not
sure how to mathematically determine this. Any ideas?
------
regularfry
The search term "win&win riser" breaks it. Looks like you're not url-escaping
the search term?
EDIT - also it looks like you're submitting it to ebay badly, the results for
"win&win" are same as for "win".
~~~
locksley
Ahh, thanks for the heads up. I'm using a URI Escape function on the search
terms and that might be breaking something. Looking into it now.
------
tharshan09
This is a really nice little app. I mean I have only used ebay only a couple
of times but this is really nice, and its something I kinda wish I had at the
back of my mind when using ebay.
Can you give a little details on how it works? Is it scraped data? etc.
I know this is targeted at a person who wants to sell items on ebay, but I am
a buyer and I find this still quite useful. Not sure how up to date the data
is but the graphs are an amazing feature! Makes so much sense.
~~~
locksley
Thanks for the comments!
I actually originally intended this for the buyer! I wanted an iphone for
myself, so I scraped the 'completed listings' page on ebay, and converted it
to csv to build a histogram in excel.
The data is up to the minute. But I cache the queries in order the save
computational resources. Each cache expires within 15 minutes.
Initially the data was scraped, but then I moved to the API which improved
performance by 200 - 300%.
------
h2s
Bug report: choosing US, UK or AUS from the country select dropdown causes the
form to submit as if you'd typed in the country code as your search term.
This is a really killer piece of kit though. I'm very impressed. It's
something I think many of us have idly imagined when struggling to determine a
good starting price for a new eBay auction.
~~~
locksley
Ah Crap, thanks for letting me know. I'll patch it up tomorrow, it's 12:30am
here in Melbourne!
------
booruguru
Very neat site. I think overtime, you should try to find more visually
pleasing ways of presenting the data, but for now it's not a deal breaker.
I have a suggestion: Perhaps you could build some kind of e-mail alert system
that lets me know when there's an e-bay "Buy Now" item available within a user
specified price range. You could also let me know if there an item I want is
still within a certain price range hours before the bid closes.
EDIT: Typos.
~~~
locksley
You don't like the charts?
I'm guess a stats nerd so I like to see that stuff haha.
I like your feature suggestion, just put it in my product backlog.
~~~
hobs
Do not remove the charts. I love the charts.
They are simple and obvious, the only feedback I would give is that I would
think (not being a huge ebay person) the current charts might actually be
changed up a bit. I would be more interested in seeing the clustering of
prices, or something like how long the listing has ran without a bid
(indicating more likely desperate takers and the like). If the current charts
do influence the price in some way that can be used that is advantageous to
the buyer, then I would rescind my comment.
Sent this site to a few friends who don't read HN, they are highly
appreciative.
------
GotAnyMegadeth
Suggestion: You should be able to exclude certain data items from the
calculation, then recalculate (check box for exclude next to the raw data item
or something). I just did a search for "fender aerodyne bass guitar" and the
lowest price that came up was $249.99, though that turned out to be only the
neck of a bass "2007 Fender Aerodyne JAZZ BASS NECK Tuners Bass Guitar Black
Headstock".
~~~
locksley
That's a good idea. I'm planning to build a pricing filter slider on the
results page because it seems most people have a rough idea how much an item
is worth.
Your problem was the reason why I filtered out results below $100. There's
just too much junk below that range like "Fender Bass HELLO KITTY STRAP".
Eventually I'll have to think of a way to algorithmically exclude those
results.
Thanks for the suggestion.
------
nos4A2
Looks awesome! Some outlier elimination would be great (on a search for a
graphics card there was skew due to unrelated items)
~~~
locksley
Hey thanks! I'm just using a filter of 2 standard deviations within the median
at the moment. Any ideas on how to do it more effectively?
------
booruguru
Dude, put a contact link on your site so people can give feedback. Also, once
someone does a search, you should pass the search query into the search box so
they can make modifications without retyping the whole thing.
~~~
locksley
Yeah, that's on the product backlog! But I'm a full time law student doing
this as a side project in order to learn how to code.
NEED MOAR ENGINEERS
------
nekgrim
And you're on lifehacker : [http://lifehacker.com/5986983/market-price-
calculates-what-y...](http://lifehacker.com/5986983/market-price-calculates-
what-youll-get-for-an-item-on-ebay)
Congratulations!
~~~
locksley
This was crazy, thanks for letting me know!
My servers surprisingly seemed to handle it ok with one minor crash.
------
xur17
Is there any way to search for a certain condition only? When I search for the
iPhone for example, it returns a huge range of prices that include ones that
were used and refurbished.
Otherwise, it looks like a great site!
~~~
locksley
Ebay's API might have a 'condition' property, I shall check.
In the meantime it's probably just as effective to put the condition as a
query, i.e "iPhone 5 used"
------
nawitus
Nice site, but I would like a third graph which shows (e.g.) the average price
(for the day) in the y-axis and days in x-axis, so you can estimate how the
price has developed over the last few weeks.
~~~
locksley
Yeah this would be interesting and I can certainly do it for popular searches.
To do it for all items would require collection of lots of data in my own
database though. Will have a think about this.
------
lilfeetpete
Great job, in addition to the comments already made I think it would be more
useful if it said what you would make from a sale after ebay and paypal take
their cut from the sale.
~~~
slashdotdash
Agreed, that's a great suggestion. It's always surprising just how much of a
cut the eBay & PayPal fees take away from the final sale price.
------
xabi
Nice site! Could you please add more countries? Spain (ebay.es)?
------
rokahnhn
Possible bug report: I searched for "thunderbolt LCD" and [recently ended
graph] doesn't seem to match up with prices in [recently ended table].
~~~
locksley
Hey you sure about that? Seems to be fine for me. But there are two obvious
clusters. Perhaps two different LCD models?
<http://www.getmarketprice.com/results/thunderbolt-LCD/>
------
jbrooksuk
Clever idea, it's always time consuming to explain to my father in law that
he'd be better off buying something new in the shop or online.
~~~
locksley
Thanks! Similarly, I've convinced my grandma to use this.
------
makethetick
Looks great and could be a very handy tool but I would of expected prices to
show up in £ rather than $ when selecting UK.
~~~
locksley
Thanks for the pick up.
------
ericcholis
Small bug, searching for "2012/13 Panini Elite Basketball Hobby Box" confuses
your URL pattern, only searching for "2012"
~~~
locksley
Ah balls. I'm on it.
------
therobot24
seems to break when i put in a specific season, ex:
\- "dexter season 6" returns only listings where season 1-6 are sold setting
an average price at ~$140 \- "simpsons season 9" returns listings where
multiple seasons including season 9 are sold setting the an average price at
~$150
In each case the 'raw data' had more than one season in it
~~~
locksley
Hmmm, this is difficult to fix because it relies on Ebay's search engine. The
only solution I could think of is to add a 'price filter slider' on the
results page. This way, you could set the limits to how much you think Dexter
Season 6 should cost.
------
EvaK_de
Ah, that comes very handy! Thanks.
Would it be possible to show the full link when hovering over a truncated link
("lin...")?
~~~
locksley
I guess this would be simple enough. From what I know, it'd just be adding a
title attribute with the full text in the anchor tag.
------
joshcrowder
This is great, very impressive. When searching for an item in the UK the price
still shows in dollars.
------
xanmas
I tried to search for a speedmaster 3510.50 and it cut off everything after
the period. Regex issue?
------
radiospiel
Just curious: this is not in line w/ebay's T&C, or is it? Quite impressive,
anyways.
~~~
fishpi
When I looked at doing the same thing a few years ago, I found it was
explicitly ruled out in the conditions attached to the eBay API. There may be
a way to get by under the radar, but I considered it a sufficiently sketchy
business model I abandoned the idea.
~~~
ahmadss
if you're not using ebay's api, then how are you gathering this data? or am i
reading this incorrectly and you are indeed using ebays api?
~~~
hobs
That is not the creator of this tool. The maker is quoted earlier in the
thread talking about the API usage increasing the speed of the process by
200-300%, so he is definitely using the API.
------
frantissek
Hey, I like it so. If want to design-up that site, let me know. Fkrivda.com
------
momop
Nicely done and Good luck!
------
styluss
What's your stack?
~~~
locksley
Rails (without ActiveRecord/Database) Heroku Unicorn Server
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why many app developers in Asia are prioritizing Android over iOS - fpgeek
http://thenextweb.com/asia/2013/09/06/why-a-growing-number-of-app-developers-in-asia-are-prioritizing-android-over-ios/
======
ZeroGravitas
It's strange that a developer would think that the audience that will buy a
lower-priced Apple device will be the same kind of user as those that bought
the higher end devices, and yet different from those who buy an Android at the
same price point. Seems like a very basic mistake.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
JavaScript objects philosophy - andrzejkrzywda
http://blog.arkency.com/2012/10/javascript-objects-philosophy/
======
snatcher
Thanks for demystifying prototypes. For me it's hard to think that you can
have an object without defining its class. However it seems the right
approach. We're speaking about Object orientation, not Class orientation so
why bother with classes
~~~
speg
You can think of a literal object as having a default class of 'Object', the
built in native object.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Open Source .NET three years later - matthewwarren
http://www.mattwarren.org/2017/12/19/Open-Source-.Net-3-years-later
======
jeswin
What's holding .Net back is a lack of the vision thing. That's a shame, since
in many ways it is a better designed framework, with a superior flagship
language (C#) compared to the Java platform. Their framework and language
designers are truly world-class, probably the best in the world.
The problem with .Net's vision has been painfully obvious to anyone following
.Net over the years - it is still Windows First. While in Enterprises and
Startups [1], Linux is what matters on the Server.
As an example, just last week I was looking for some http2 libraries in C#. Go
and Java have mature libraries already in production, while .Net only supports
http2 services on Windows. That in turn affects other ecosystems as well, such
as gRPC Services. This to me is a red flag. Given how important something like
http2 was going to be, how come Microsoft is so late to the party? What
exactly is .Net's niche, given front-end wars are over?
Another example, the very promising CoreRT project
([https://github.com/dotnet/corert](https://github.com/dotnet/corert)) page
says this about Linux: "Same as Windows, the libraries are less complete."
As a late comer, .Net faced an uphill climb. High-end web tooling is almost
exclusively JVM based (Kafka, Cassandra, Elastic Search, Kibana etc). The
upcoming competitor is Go, not .Net. If Microsoft doesn't pour a billion
dollars into getting .Net ready for Linux in 2018, .Net is over.
[1] I've been a consultant to several Small and Medium sized businesses
(especially in Medical) which predominantly use Windows and .Net, and that's
still a huge market. But even they are looking to move off Windows.
~~~
Meai
The only thing that is holding .NET back is the significantly slower
compilation speed when compared to Eclipse's incremental java compiler.
~~~
haxton
the resharper plugin to visual Studio or the rider ide will both do this. Only
builds the projects required and doesn’t need to build dependent projects
unless a signature changed.
~~~
Meai
It's not comparable whatsoever to how much faster Java is. In Eclipse it
basically compiles in the background right after saving a file so you never
feel the impact of compilation.
~~~
simplyinfinity
you can do that in .net with the watch command [https://docs.microsoft.com/en-
us/aspnet/core/tutorials/dotne...](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-
us/aspnet/core/tutorials/dotnet-watch)
------
hacker_9
Always confused that people talk about .Net as if it's failed on here, any
time I look for employment in the UK there is a seemingly unlimited amount of
high paying C# jobs available and it doesn't take long to get hired. Even my
university taught in C# for the first year.
Net core is a slow moving project for sure, and it's not at a stage to use in
production yet, but it'll get there and I look forward to further improvements
made in 2018.
~~~
mattmanser
In the UK C# occupies the main enterprise language slot that Java does in
America, that's why. Java just didn't get as far here. I remember in mid-2000s
not being sure whether to learn Java or VB6/.Net, but a few years later I
rarely saw Java jobs.
At least that's my impression from being on HN for the last decade, and
working mainly in MS back-end languages in the UK.
The other one I never see mentioned in the UK is Oracle, I've only had Oracle
mentioned to me IRL once, and that's because the local council is inexplicably
moving from MS SQL to Oracle for reporting, but they're super incompetent.
~~~
JeanMarcS
Aahhh, thank you for stating this. I’m reading HN for only 1 year and half and
couldn’t figure out why Java seemed so present in conversation as I thought it
was not spread that much.
I’m french and I only know one person who’ve been on the Java path, and he’s
not even working in France. I of course know companies working on Java, but
not that much (not at all, if you except those working for Android) and
suddenly it becomes crystal clear.
Thanks again.
------
librexpr
I'd like to switch away from Java in future applications, and C# seems like
the top contender, but there are questions I'd really like answered before I
make the switch.
I see a lot of people talking about Microsoft open-sourcing .NET Core. But as
someone who's never used it, what _is_ .NET Core? And if .NET Core was open-
sourced, what about the rest of it? Am I likely to run into major parts of the
ecosystem that are still proprietary?
Also, can I develop and use C# applications on Linux without feeling like a
second-class citizen? The ability to easily develop on Linux using free
software and then run on my clients' Windows computers is one major reason I
use Java at all, and I definitely won't switch to a language that doesn't
support Linux properly.
And finally, how likely is Microsoft to fuck free software developers over
with proprietary extensions in the future? This _is_ Microsoft we're talking
about, after all.
~~~
blunte
> And finally, how likely is Microsoft to fuck free software developers over
> with proprietary extensions in the future? This is Microsoft we're talking
> about, after all.
There's a radical change in public behavior of Microsoft since Satya Nadella
became CEO. While at first I was skeptical, it's now been three years we have
had to observe whether Microsoft's actions match their promises.
So far, I'm impressed. I think their new vision and approach to doing business
is much improved from that of their previous two CEOs - it's better for
consumers and developers, and frankly it was necessary for the long term
survival of MS.
I don't expect to see nasty behavior from them like we have seen in the past.
~~~
jupiter90000
What about when the CEO changes?
~~~
oblio
Well, they could commit suicide and get a Ballmer clone.
They lost control of the client (it's web + Android/iOS now), steering away
from the current course and back to the old one is a sure way to irrelevance.
------
pugz
My 2c: I never had any interest in writing C# on the .NET platform until it
was open-sourced and added first party-supported cross-platform support with
the introduction of .NET Core.
Nowadays it's my favourite language I write in - it has _excellent_ tooling,
especially JetBrains Rider IDE. The open-source library ecosystem might not be
as broad as NodeJS or Ruby, but it's high quality and growing all the time.
~~~
wenc
Let me say something about the prejudice (mostly my own).
For most the late 80s-early 2000s, I was not a huge fan of Microsoft mostly
because of their predatory practices and the shoddy quality of their software.
But they had a few products that I thought were legitimately good, and Visual
Studio (and the C# language) was one of them. Part of my admiration of it was
partly because of Anders Heijlsberg, its architect.
I started my programming life with Borland tools (Turbo Pascal), and then
later Delphi. Anders architected all of these tools. They are long in the
tooth now but at the time, these tools were fairly well regarded because they
reflected flair and good taste. When Anders created C#, I managed to look at
it without being clouded by my Microsoft prejudice, because I knew who was
behind it.
I started writing C# code a couple of years ago when I started working for a
large enterprise. Even as a Linux/UNIX guy, I am able to say that C# is a
truly elegant language that is fun to work with, and I would pick it over Java
or Scala any day. I don't like its Windows centricity (Windows is still not my
favorite platform), but outside of that, it is truly a well-architected
language.
Silicon Valley types would do well to put aside their prejudices of the C#
language and evaluate it based on its own merits.
~~~
Xeronate
C# is a great language and I love using it (especially compared to Java), but
right now the Microsoft stack is prohibitively expensive compared to the
common stacks for java, ruby, and python. .NET Core is a great step in the
right direction, but it is going to be a long time before parity with other
ecosystems is reached and unfortunately enjoying writing the code is way less
important than having the libraries I need to interact with modern web
technology.
~~~
alkonaut
What are you paying for with C#? Tooling including IDE is free, servers are
typically free (unless you run IIS on windows) and databases are obviously the
same as in any other stack. In an apples to apples comparison I can’t see .NET
coming in more expensive than java. The only thing that might be more
expensive on Linux is if you need a better IDE than vs code - you’ll have to
pay for JetBrains Rider.
But good java IDEs aren’t free either.
~~~
jayd16
I'm pretty sure he meant windows, IIS and possibly the upgrade from headless
to something with a gpu for windows ops.
------
mcny
I have given up on .NET for the most part. Wake me up when we are in Fedora's
repos because until then, there are pieces that Microsoft hasn't (won't?)
release that we need to get out of COPR.
The people of Dot Net Special Interest Group at Fedora are too nice to say
this but I am not. Microsoft is dragging its feet and it is ridiculous.
~~~
teh_klev
.NET core seems to install and work fine on Fedora 27 using:
[https://www.microsoft.com/net/learn/get-
started/linuxfedora](https://www.microsoft.com/net/learn/get-
started/linuxfedora)
There were issues with Fedora 25 which is what I was previously running, but
that resolved itself after I dnf upgraded to 27.
Or am I missing something here?
~~~
mcny
Fedora has strict guidelines that you have to meet to be included in the
default repos. These packages don't meet them.
This indicates the project isn't free enough.
------
polskibus
.NET Framework is still closed source AFAIK. .NET Core is open source, but
that's two different things. Moving existing applications from .NET Framework
to .NET Core and running them on Linux is still troublesome (for example lack
of proper ODBC support on .NET Core). Serialization between the two is often
not possible or not easy (differences in byte layout). While I think .NET Core
is better than nothing, it all has a long way to go, including MS-provided API
dlls (like ADOMD, etc.).
------
kilon
It’s funny when Java devs mention that C# and .NET is a copy cat. The irony is
the other way around , even though Java predates .NET , the same creator was
then one that created Delphi which Java pretty much copy pasted not as
elegantly. It’s great to see Delphi being around and it’s legacy continue
through C# and .NET. The fact that Microsoft open sourced it brought a smile
in my face. My Delphi days are over, nowadays I Code in Python, but .NET still
feels like home.
~~~
wglb
It actually goes further back than that. Anders Hejlsberg created Turbo
Pasacal, then Delphi.
However, the development of c# did follow the development of Java. C# is not
really related to Delphi or Pascal other than they have the same author.
~~~
kilon
Not really, .NET is heavily tied to its IDE and winforms are very similar to
VCL. Not to exclude the fact that Microsoft was already heavily copying Delphi
way before .NET. Java is simply another programming language.
------
pnikosis
I learned C# a while ago when started a project in the now defunct XNA. I
loved how I felt like home when moving from Java bit with some really nice
differences.
I thought that after open sourcing .Net the C# adoption outside the MS
ecosystem would be wider by now, but I feel it's not the case. Or am I missing
a trend I'm not aware of? (which is very likely too)
~~~
oblio
There is still wide resentment towards Microsoft, just go to /r/programming
and check out threads about .Net, there's at least a few threads at the bottom
going "EEE".
Plus dotnet core wasn't API stable until recently. I think we're still 1-2
years from mass adoption.
Also check @librexpr's comment above, there's a lot of confusion around.
~~~
mattmanser
It's still not really any where near finished is it?
I think they finally managed to get image manipulation in to replace the
missing System.Drawing, but EF Core is still woefully half-finished.
The literally seem to have no clue about how people actually use their system
and keep focusing on all the wrong things. Actually, it's more like some
idealist programmers have become the core team instead of getting-it-done
programmers, so it's all the latest fads instead of getting finished. The
obsession with async isn't helping either, it makes the code so bad for no
real-world performance gains.
My impression is they are moving super slowly and from the POV of an existing
customer, the whole process has been a complete disaster. It might end up ok,
but at the moment it's just a bad version of existing .Net.
~~~
genzoman
Your paragraph about they "literally don't know how people use their system"
seems obvious to me that you must be a 10x mega developer with insider
knowledge. Idealist programmers, you're right! Async await offers NO benefits
and was implemented in es6 as a mistake... probably corporate bullying.
------
jsingleton
Link to the recording (slides and audio):
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=garlskQb8BU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=garlskQb8BU)
~~~
romanovcode
Thanks, this is exactly what I've been looking for.
~~~
matthewwarren
If you don't want to watch through the whole thing I wrote a post the gives an
outline, see [http://mattwarren.org/2017/11/14/Microsoft-and-Open-
Source-a...](http://mattwarren.org/2017/11/14/Microsoft-and-Open-Source-a-
Brave-New-World-CORESTART/)
------
mmgutz
Being open source is good but outside of Windows it's still perceived as a
Windows solution with bonus Linux support. I have yet to hear someone migrate
from Java, Go, Node, Ruby ... to .NET in meetups I attend. Is open source .NET
penetration on Linux any better than Mono?
------
Yuioup
What exactly is .Net's niche, given front-end wars are over?
.NET works as an awesome back-end for Angular 2+
~~~
danthejam
But so do most other programming languages and frameworks.
------
romanovcode
Can we have a link to the actual talk please?
------
lafar6502
Maybe because it hasn’t been the most popular tech among open source
developers .net is now a very effective tool for almost any kind of work. The
choice of libraries and frameworks is smaller than in Java but quality is
better and purpose more clear. You can pick a few core libraries and build on
that instead of sifting through millions of half-done or incompatible
frameworks. And if you don’t demand that Windows is like Linux then it’s quite
decent OS. The only thing missing is good desktop UI framework, but nobody has
a better solution now
------
dustinmoris
I am extremely impressed by Microsoft. I think Microsoft has proven the world
that nothing is impossible. Once a hip tech company at the beginning of the
computer era, then transitioned into an old, boring and outdated corp has now
turned into one of the healthiest, most innovative, brave and genuinely nicest
tech giants of our time again. What Microsoft has done and achieved in recent
years is astonishing.
They played many years catch up and I think at the point when they realise
they cannot do everything themselves and started to embrace the open source
world they quickly moved from catching up to being the innovator who pushes
new limits again (Azure, Surface devices, Window 10, .NET Core, etc.)
It's already a bit old, but I wrote a blog post not too long ago where I tried
to sum up some of the amazing things that happened at Microsoft over the
course of the last few years:
[https://dusted.codes/thank-you-microsoft-for-being-
awesome](https://dusted.codes/thank-you-microsoft-for-being-awesome)
~~~
flatline
Literally none of these characterizations of Microsoft, past or present,
resonate with me at all. Maybe the company has truly turned a new page, but I
still mostly see them copying others’ ideas and playing second string as a
result. I’m glad they finally have some real OSS offerings but I don’t yet see
any as truly collaborative efforts which keeps them on the sidelines.
But, you know, hail corporate!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
$1000 to spend - kirandarisi
How will you spend $1000 for marketing b2b product? We have already tried Google ad words. Other suggestions are welcome.
======
tstegart
10 $100 lunches with people who can connect you with people who will buy your
product, or lunches with your engineers about who would buy the product and
how to pitch it to them.
Give away a copy or two or a few months service for customers that recommend
another customer. Can do the same with employees that refer a company to you.
Old fashioned letters. ($1000 will go a long way in stamps).
An advertisement in a trade magazine. Or, conversely, quite a few
subscriptions to trade magazines where you find out the names of companies who
are looking for what you sell.
~~~
kirandarisi
we have a 30 day trail version
------
petercooper
Spend it on your own time to bone up on PR and marketing tactics. There have
been many posts on HN about this before so I won't repeat their advice, but
there are probably popular blogs (and other sites) in your niche who could
drive serious buyers to you if you're on top of your PR game.
~~~
kirandarisi
Can you please give me the links regarding the posts ? that will help me :)
~~~
petercooper
<http://news.ycombinator.org/item?id=341138> is one. I find old posts rather
hard to find (took several Googles to get that one!) :)
------
answerly
Spend it on tickets and travel to the 2-3 biggest trade conferences in your
industry. Make sure to set up meetings with target users/buyers of your
product beforehand. This works a lot better in certain industries than others.
------
ram1024
way more information needed to make constructive observations
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What does it mean to be a data driven company? - mr_t
What would you do different if you are "data driven"? Is it just another buzzword, or are there actual differences in the way you operate your company?
======
paktek123
It means that all projects and discussions are based on metrics collected by
the products.
For example, to increase daily active users for an app the company might
shuffle the UI. Then carry out a/b testing and based on the data make it
permanent. Everything is based on data.
Sometimes it is easy to get "trapped" too. That the company focuses so much on
a particular metric that they completely miss the big picture.
~~~
mr_t
Thanks for the reply! What I just don't understand is, doesn't that mean every
company is more or less data driven? I'd assume most companies act according
to some key metrics they collect.
~~~
paktek123
Not necessarily, some are driven by customer demand, some by community
features or some by investors. It depends on the stage of the company too. An
early stage start up sometimes simply does not have enough bandwidth for
metrics. Slightly more mature startups can begin to base project based
decisions on data.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Parents in poorer countries devote more time to their kids' homework - known
https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2018/04/daily-chart-11
======
lumberjack
The reason for this is pretty simple: you get free public education in these
poor countries, but only if you pass the entrance examinations.
For a lot of families this is the only way for their kids to get out of
poverty. Moreover because of the way the school system is structured, your kid
could easily fall behind at age 7 and never recover. The reason for this is
because of stratified classes, where they group kids into classes, by their
performance on yearly examinations.
So there is simply much more incentive for families in poor countries to put
more effort into homework, which BTW, is nothing like the homework that
American kids get.
It is nonsensical to try to compare what parents in India and parents in
Finland are doing.
~~~
bunderbunder
> For a lot of families this is the only way for their kids to get out of
> poverty.
By contrast, in countries that have been industrialized for over a century,
the preceding several generations found that they could relatively easily find
low- to moderate-skill factory jobs that secured a reasonably prosperous
lifestyle.
There are also industrialized countries with stratified school systems, and I
see that some of them fall toward the bottom of the graph.
------
westiseast
Very surprised the article doesn’t mention a few things:
1\. Some places _just have more homework than others_. Chinese kids have
mountains of homework aged 7, vastly more than British kids. Chinese parents
spend much more time either managing or literally doing their kids homework
for them.
2\. Efficiency/productivity - What are kids doing in school if their parents
are still spending hours and hours after school helping them with homework?
How is this a productive use of parents precious work/leisure time?
~~~
lighthazard
An argument can be made that doing homework with your child is the leisure.
~~~
CannisterFlux
Ha, I think that argument is made by people who don't have kids (with
homework). It's not leisure for me at all. While I worry about being branded a
terrible father for this comment, I will admit that I am a terrible teacher. I
have no patience for it.
My kids mess around, constantly want breaks ("Well I've written a line! time
for a 10 minute break!"), waste hours doing shit that should take them
minutes... When they start "accidentally" dropping their pencils on the floor
because they'd rather be faffing around picking it up than working, I often
just lose my temper. Man, I'm getting slightly pissed off just thinking about
it now! xD
There are brief moments of joy/relief where you can see they've grasped a
concept or improved and you can be proud of 'em. But most of the time it is a
frustrating experience, slow going, and a slog to get them to do anything. The
worst of learning, with the worst of kids messing around, with a massive
feeling of wasting everone's time.
~~~
bunderbunder
It's really too bad the inverted classroom model hasn't become any more
popular.
In a nutshell, the idea is to take the traditional breakdown of what is done
in class and what is done at home, and swap it: Kids do their readings and
watch recorded lectures at home. And then they work on problem sets and
projects in class, typically in groups.
It's a really clever idea. Compared to the traditional model, it has so many
interesting advantages: It levels the playing field between kids whose parents
have time and inclination to help them with homework and those who don't. It
makes the teacher much more available for questions and any necessary 1:1
assistance. Having kids work together (even on math problem sets!) helps them
to learn better, and has the side benefit of giving them more opportunity to
develop social skills.
I've heard it criticized for expecting students to have better access to
technology at home than they necessarily do. In the case studies I've read
about, though, the schools supplied equipment to students who needed it, and
the most dramatic relative improvements were seen among the kids from less
wealthy families.
~~~
haZard_OS
It's a beautiful idea, it really is...except that I doubt it will ever work in
my lifetime. I can't even convince my students at the University to complete
assigned readings in preparation for classroom discussions. I can't imagine
trying to invert a HS or middle school class (and I've taught those, too).
------
mjburgess
It's important to add here that homework has never been shown to improve
grades or educational outcomes generally, and it's a very well-studied topic.
~~~
yoz-y
It has absolutely helped me to drill in my multiplication tables and learn to
write at least somewhat legible letters.
If there is one thing I regret about my college years it is not doing math
assignments.
~~~
mjburgess
By "homework" i mean specifically comparing cohorts of students in high-school
that do and do not do the homework they're set, and connecting that with long-
term grade trajectories.
I dont have the sources to hand, but i recall an economist talking about large
studies in this area.
~~~
nicoburns
I think some of this might be that high school tends to be quite easy for the
brightest students. I did close to none of my homework all the way through
high school because I didn't have to (paying attention in class was sufficient
for me to graduate with mostly A's and get into the university of my choice).
------
meric
National income is correlated with percent of population in workforce. Poorer
countries are correlated with lower levels of total employment. Assuming all
else being equal then parents with less time involved in employment will have
more time for other activities, including spending time with children. Is this
right?
~~~
commonsense123
please don't think about it in terms of first world problems of time
management. it is more like, they are poor and they want kids to get a solid
education and get good jobs and lead a happier, fulfilling life compared to
them. fyi: username is a function of yours'.
~~~
mjburgess
please don't think about it in terms of "the virtues of unfortunate". Everyone
wants "kids to get a solid education and get good jobs and lead a happier,
fulfilling life".
please, rather, try to think about it in terms of what best-explains the
difference.
this data seems highly inversely correlated with productivity, in countries
with lower productivity, people spend more time with their child. _Time
available_ seems to be the best explanatory factor.
~~~
timthorn
> Everyone wants "kids to get a solid education..."
No, this is not universal. There are parents who had a bad experience of
education and think that is universal, and those who fear that their children
will move away if they become educated. It's one of the challenges of teaching
in particular areas.
~~~
pbhjpbhj
Do you mean "a bad experience of education" or do you mean "a bad experience
of school"?
If its the former could you expand on that, like they learnt to read and it
messed their life up?
I understand the selfish desire to keep children near, no need to go in to
that.
------
potatote
Hmm...a bit different experience by me growing up and graduated from high
school in a poor Southeast Asian country.
There, a lot of parents (esp. from lower and mid-middle class) invest a good
chunk of money/resources on their kids' education. BUT, unlike this article
claims, they aren't that heavily involved in kids' homework. The parents in my
country seem to believe that once they pay money to send kids to after-school
classes, the progress in students' learning is up to the teachers in those
after-school programs.
Most of them don't have time or mental energy left to tend to their kids'
homework because they are too busy working (both parents working is typical in
poor countries too) and/or running errands (thanks to inefficient bureaucratic
system and insufficient infrastructure such as frequent power outages, life's
chores take enormously more time than they would in developed world...)
------
k__
First thought: Well, they got nothing better to do.
Second thought: my mother was unemployed at least 70% of my childhood and
didn't devote any time at all to my homework
~~~
spdionis
Third thought: I'm glad my parents didn't devote too much time to my homework.
I was the no-effort-good-grades type. Maybe if I dedicated myself more I
would've left my country and got a prestigious degree. Who cares. I'm glad I
was taught independence and responsibility by my parents instead of them
trying to control me.
------
maire
Ideally, parents shouldn't spend any time on their children's homework. I can
understand answering occasional questions and giving encouragement but nothing
more. Children learn by figuring out homework on their own. Otherwise, why
have homework?
~~~
snarf21
I would guess that you've never been a teacher. The problem is that any
teacher has a classroom with students with abilities and aptitudes that range
between some Low and some High. The teacher must always teach to the middle
kid in that spectrum. Going slower/lower bores the kids in the top half and
going faster/higher completely loses the kids in the bottom half. Half of the
kids may just "get it" and not need help but the bottom half will need help
that the school system can't provide. Note: I don't condone the parent just
doing the homework for their kid.
The problem here is that the parents best able to help their children are more
likely to have kids in the top half (who don't need help) and the ones least
able to help have the kids who need help the most. This can be solved with a
restructuring of our school system but very few schools are willing to try.
Instead we stick with the ridiculous _age == learning level_ method.
~~~
maire
I am not a teacher but I did volunteer in my children's classroom when they
were young. I do understand what you mean by the range in comprehension.
I am not counting the other things a parent does to enhance a child's learning
experience as homework time - so we all might be saying the same thing.
I will give a small example which might illustrate having an enhanced learning
experience. One of my volunteer assignments was to teach children math using
coins. My son and daughter were naturally motivated to understand how much
money they had because I had them save money buy things at a very young age. I
was shocked that some classmates did not understand denominations and others
could not do the math. My husband made coin dice for the classroom kids. They
rolled the dice and added the values to figure out how much money they had on
the coins. This was a big hit with the kids.
What I didn't want to do was do homework for my kids or give answers.
Discovery is how children learn. My kids ended up proud of what they could do
on their own. When they failed - we discussed taking ownership of failure.
------
humptydumpty001
This should have been done in terms of percentage of time taken by child to do
homework and how much of that parents get involved in.
There is huge difference in amount of homework given in countries like India
and that in Australia.
We cannot compare that in exact hours.
Just my 2cents.
------
vezycash
This article conflicts with my experience. All I think this article proves is
that data is malleable to a researcher's goals.
Also, the results from the highly competitive India and China might be skewing
the results.
Finally, survey is the worst method for this research. Because parent would
lie instead of admitting negligence about their kid(s) education.
~~~
haihaibye
Maybe the 2 biggest countries on earth should count more than your personal
experience?
~~~
vezycash
Results from two countries should be generalized to every country in the
world?
If you travelled a little bit like I have, you'll discover a few things.
E.g. The poor are usually uneducated. Meaning they can't help with homework.
Even in poor black American communities, house work is often more important
than school work.
More important, the poor tend to work longer and harder on mental jobs.
They most impoverished behave like reptiles (no insult intended) give birth to
many children and abandon them to varying degrees. (Fulani people actually,
literally abandon their kids and may never see em again)
Read about how American Indian handled children.
~~~
potatote
> E.g. The poor are usually uneducated. Meaning they can't help with homework.
> Even in poor black American communities, house work is often more important
> than school work.
You pretty much nailed what I wanted to described earlier. My mother works
from home and although she has a bachelor's degree, since the education system
(esp. in her times) was poor, she is not even at the level of a high school
grad in terms of knowledge regarding math, humanities and science. This is not
to mention that she (nor my more educated, late father, who was a doctor)
wouldn't be able to help her/his children with their homework due to lack of
knowledge/education or time.
One thing I remember though is that after finishing homework, my mom would
expect us to help out with house chores like sweeping the floor, collecting
clothes from clotheslines, buying small grocery items, etc.
------
watwut
Possible explanation - parents in rich countries have enough power to pressure
on schools to assign homework that requires less parental involvement. If you
are "suspect parent", you are less likely to argue that there is too much
homework because that might badly influence how teachers perceive your kid. If
you are rich parent with good social standing, you are free to say so and
while teachers might complain at home about "spoiled rich kids", you are
likely get your way.
Also, I am more involved where I think school is not sufficient to fix the
issue. Where I trust the teacher and school, I am involved much less.
------
BeetleB
This article is rather poor. So many things not considered:
1\. Perhaps people in some countries get a lot more homework than others. This
does not look like a normalized plot.
2\. Perhaps some countries see helping their kids with homework as a positive,
whereas others do not.
3\. What is the pressure to do well? We already have another HN submission on
the pressures students have in India to do well. Maybe people in developed
countries don't help them as much because they know their kids are not at risk
of not being able to get into college.
Spend an hour and you can probably double the list above.
------
tnuc
The full report has some interesting details.
[https://www.varkeyfoundation.org/sites/default/files/People/...](https://www.varkeyfoundation.org/sites/default/files/People/VF%20Parents%20Survey%2018%20-%20Single%20Pages%20for%20FlipBook.pdf)
------
isa
This is also assuming that parents know how to help children with their
schoolwork. What is the rate where children in school are past their parents'
education level?
------
rdlecler1
Some thoughts: people in poorer countries may spend their time differently. No
internet or TV distractions, no long commutes.
------
endangered
Kids won't learn if their parents are the ones doing the homework.
------
liberte82
Joke's on them when the US decides educational facts are fake news and we pull
a full 180.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Twitter says bug may have exposed some direct messages to third-party developers - uptown
https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/21/twitter-bug-sent-user-direct-messages-to-developers-for-over-a-year/
======
rnotaro
From:
[https://blog.twitter.com/developer/en_us/topics/tools/2018/d...](https://blog.twitter.com/developer/en_us/topics/tools/2018/details-
for-developers-on-Account-Activity-API-bug.html)
_We have validated that this bug might have occurred when all of the
following technical circumstances were true during the relevant time period
for this issue:
🞄 Two or more registered developers had active Account Activity API
subscriptions configured for domains that resolved to the same public IP;
🞄 For active subscriptions, URL paths (after the domain) had to match exactly
across those registered developers -- e.g.
[https://example.com/[webhooks/twitter]](https://example.com/\[webhooks/twitter\])
and
[https://anotherexample.com/[webhooks/](https://anotherexample.com/\[webhooks/)
twitter ];
🞄 Those registered developers had activity relevant to their subscriptions
occur in the same 6-minute time period (relevant because of a cache-like
behavior); and
🞄 Those registered developers’ subscribers’ activities originated from the
same backend server from within Twitter’s datacenter
Under those circumstances, if the bug occurred, the issue (transmission of
activities to the wrong webhook URL) could have persisted until one of the
following conditions were met:
🞄 For up to two weeks, OR
🞄 Until no relevant activity occurred for 6 minutes, OR
🞄 Until the IP address of the developer whose data was being misdelivered
changed_
------
sixhobbits
"Twitter said in a notice that only messages sent to brand accounts — like
airlines or delivery services — may be affected"
I hope this is true. I got the message and only really use twitter DMs for
communicating with banks and airlines.
The message itself seems really poorly worded to me - I assumed that one of
their APIs didn't check permissions and included all DMs and protected tweets
in its output. "one or more" makes me assume "all" and "may" usually means
"definitely has" in these kind of messages so it would have been great if they
had included details about potential mitigating factors.
~~~
mcdowell28
Very personal data is sent to brand accounts by some users (to get support,
etc), so I don't think this is really good news.
~~~
QuinnyPig
Is it? I've sent support case numbers, and my email address, but never
anything like credit card numbers, SSNs, etc.
I'm not trying to downplay this, but I'm also not sending United Airlines my
innermost secrets here...
~~~
Insanity
A lot of people whom are not tech savvy are also not so privacy aware perhaps.
I'm going out on a limb here and say the average hackernews user is not the
average twitter user :)
~~~
uptown
Hence the existence of the now abandoned @NeedADebitCard user.
[http://twitter.com/NeedADebitCard](http://twitter.com/NeedADebitCard)
------
uptown
"The company said that the bug affected less than 1 percent of users on
Twitter. The company had 335 million users as of its latest earnings release."
So the bug affected roughly 3.3 million Twitter accounts. And it also affected
everyone who may be impacted by the contents of the messages which were not
protected, whether you're a Twitter user or not, which could be many millions
more.
~~~
JCSato
"Less than 1" != 1. The bug affected roughly 3.3 million _at most_. It is
annoying that they don't give more precise number, but I doubt most people
would care.
------
uptown
Here's Twitter's official statement: [https://help.twitter.com/en/account-
activity-api](https://help.twitter.com/en/account-activity-api)
------
morpheuskafka
If it's not end to end encrypted via a free software, audited client, you
should be operating under the assumption that it is not being held in
confidence.
In this day and age, you shouldn't settle for anything less.
~~~
smt88
That means I should assume 100% of my emails are not confidential, which is an
impossible situation for most people with jobs and non-technical relatives.
~~~
inawarminister
Wasn't that why PGP got invented? Of course, it's much too onerous to the
typical techie, nevermind non-technical relatives and friends...
------
CryoLogic
The worst one was at the bottom, who cares about DM -
"Twitter also said that earlier this year there was a bug where log files
where created with user passwords in plaintext. Twitter urges users to change
their passwords"
I mean, what type of company with over a billion dollars in VC capital stores
passwords in plaintext?
~~~
guessmyname
They explained the bug here:
> _May 3, 2018_
> _Due to a bug, passwords were written to an internal log before completing_
> _the hashing process. We found this error ourselves, removed the passwords,_
> _and are implementing plans to prevent this bug from happening again._
> —
> [https://blog.twitter.com/official/en_us/topics/company/2018/...](https://blog.twitter.com/official/en_us/topics/company/2018/keeping-
> your-account-secure.html)
------
shady-lady
> Twitter said that a “bug” sent user’s private direct messages to third-party
> developers “who were not authorized to receive them.”
user's -> users'
__plural__
------
mcdowell28
Title should explicitly say "THIRD PARTY". I was thinking of Twitter
employees.
Also:
>a “bug” sent user’s private direct messages to third-party developers “who
were not authorized to receive them.”
But:
>it’s “highly unlikely” that any communication was sent to the incorrect
developers at all
Which one is it?
~~~
sctb
We reverted the submitted title ”Twitter bug sent user direct messages to
developers for over a year” to the original.
~~~
uptown
The article was submitted with a title matching the TechCrunch title at the
time of submission. TechCrunch changed their title after it was submitted to
Hacker News.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Amazon recalls eclipse glasses - alister
http://www.kgw.com/news/eclipse/amazon-recalling-some-solar-eclipse-glasses-week-before-event/463899601
======
typpo
I ordered the top-rated eclipse glasses on Amazon a few months ago and they
were counterfeit.
If you put them on during daytime you can see indirect sunlight and even my
kitchen light. They were shipped from China despite having "Made in the USA"
markings and all the proper ISO certification fine print.
I haven't received any communication from Amazon, so people who haven't heard
from them should not assume their glasses are safe (contrary to Amazon's
statement). I contacted Amazon support and they were quick to initiate a
refund. For some reason Amazon rejected my review warning that items from
third party sellers may be counterfeit and explaining how to tell.
Here are a couple photos of the counterfeits:
[https://goo.gl/photos/1XRKw8KBgo3hjHx6A](https://goo.gl/photos/1XRKw8KBgo3hjHx6A)
~~~
hellbanner
I just checked my "Soluna" glasses - I can see a high watt bulb in a lamp,
previously I couldn't see any lower watt bulb :/
~~~
danieldk
I am not an expert, so take this with a grain of salt: but you cannot visually
check whether it blocks ultra-violet or infrared. So, this visual inspection
seems bogus to me, since you cannot be sure whether all wavelengths are
blocked.
Be careful!
~~~
typpo
This is correct. Visual inspection can't verify glasses, but it can identify
clearly fake ones. Being able to see a house light through these glasses is a
bad sign IMO.
~~~
hellbanner
This has happened for 2 brands of glasses I've ordered, 1 from Amazon & 1 from
manufacturer directly.
Guess I won't be looking at the sun :)
------
dboreham
Reading the comments here, I wonder if folks have read the article? The
problem seems to be not that Amazon has recalled counterfeit items but rather
they have recalled legitimate product, blaming the legitimate seller for the
fact that Amazon can't keep straight where their safety-critical inventory
came from. It is as if they have a bin for "Viagra" in the warehouse into
which they put shipments from Pfizer, along with whatever comes in from their
eBay-grade sellers. Then they blame Pfizer for the eBay drugs not being
properly traceable and tested.
Source: I received the emails, read the article, and at least one of the
products I received is certainly not counterfeit.
~~~
panarky
The article does not say Amazon commingled glasses from multiple sources.
Before I purchased eclipse glasses from Amazon, I first checked with NASA for
approved brands, purchased an approved brand, and have not received a recall
email from Amazon.
The fact is that we don't know what happened at Amazon, whether they
commingled inventory or incorrectly included legitimate suppliers in the
recall or if there were real issues with the products provided by the supplier
in the article.
~~~
snowwrestler
Short of an elaborate test apparatus, there is actually no way for a consumer
to independently confirm they have safe glasses.
It's easy to make fakes that look _exactly_ like the real thing. So a printed
ISO code or brand name is only sufficient if the supply chain is secure.
And unfortunately, there have been plenty of stories lately about seeming lax
stock management at Amazon that makes it hard to know exactly what you're
going to get.
------
joeframbach
> "Customers may have purchased counterfeit versions of legitimate products,"
> an Amazon spokesperson said when asked about the issue.
Does this have to do with Amazon's practice of commingling goods from various
sources together? I imagine in some warehouse, a big box of Panjwani's legit
goods all mixed together with some not-so-good-goods.
~~~
amirmc
I didn't know Amazon did this. It'll make me think twice next time I purchase
certain items.
After a quick search I found this:
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200243180)
_Even though inventory tracked using the manufacturer barcode is commingled
within the network, the source of the inventory is tracked by our fulfillment
systems and is taken into consideration if inventory problems arise._
Given the article, it seems they're not completely sure what was sent where.
It would seem that using the manufacturer barcodes in Amazon's network opens
you up to an unexpected risk.
~~~
wlesieutre
Never buy an Apple USB charger from Amazon, 90% of them are fake.
[https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/20/13343682/fake-apple-
char...](https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/20/13343682/fake-apple-chargers-
amazon-lawsuit)
~~~
voodooranger
Never buy _any_ Apple product from Amazon. I've been burned several times.
Didn't realize it until I had already bought several products.
~~~
sleepychu
I've been pretty pleased with my MacBook air, for big ticket items like
iPod/iPhone/Macbook do you think there's significant risk of counterfeit?
~~~
jowsie
You're more likely to get a brick or clay than you are an actual counterfeit.
~~~
LoSboccacc
Funny you got donwoted the exact last time amazon inventory practices were
under scrutiny here at hn there was plenty stories of people getting empty
boxes and ipad cardboard cutouts
edit: dug out that discussion
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13924546](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13924546)
but there are plenty similar.
------
projectileboy
Interesting... the real issue here is Amazon's long-standing implicit
tolerance of counterfeit goods from disreputable suppliers. I wonder how many
more incidents like this it will take before Amazon finally does something.
~~~
slackingoff2017
They won't until consumers wise up. I've stopped using them completely, not
worth the gamble.
Their price advantage has eroded anyways. I don't see any advantage to buying
from them relative to straight from the manufacturer most of the time.
Amazon has done a great job squeezing shipping costs and margins. I doubt I
pay more than 5% more on anything but I know I'm not getting any fakes
~~~
6t6t6t6
Amazon is de-facto a monopoly. The "invisible hand" does not apply here.
~~~
mseebach
No, Amazon is not a monopoly, they are a very large and influential player.
You can still buy eclipse glasses (and practically all other products) from
other vendors, both physical and online. It may not be as smooth, cheap, fast
or convenient as Amazon, but that's pretty damn far from the bar for a
monopoly.
There was never any guarantee that the invisible hand would fix badness
overnight, merely that it will nudge them in the right direction. Which it
does.
~~~
y-satellite
Not anymore, you can't. Just about every supplier on the Internet is sold out
at this point.
------
abirkill
This isn't limited to glasses. I purchased a 12x12 sheet of solar filter film
from a seller on Amazon, manufactured by Thousand Oaks Optical (who are listed
on the American Astronomical Society's list of reputable vendors), and I'm
also being refunded.
I checked the Thousand Oaks Optical site and they have a list of legitimate
resellers of their products, and the Amazon seller I used is listed. I'm
surprised Amazon didn't do the same basic checks before e-mailing me.
When I was searching for more information after receiving the e-mail, I also
found someone on an astronomy forum[1] who is being refunded for a telescope
that appears to retail for around $1199.
[1] [https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/587658-amazon-eclipse-
gla...](https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/587658-amazon-eclipse-glasses-
refund/)
~~~
dangrossman
> the Amazon seller I used is listed
If it was "fulfilled by Amazon", it doesn't matter what seller you chose, you
could have been sent a counterfeit item from another seller.
Sellers using fulfillment-by-Amazon send their stock to Amazon's warehouse,
where it gets thrown in the same bin as all the other stock of that item from
everyone else selling it. When it gets pulled to ship to you, there's no
guarantee you get one that came from the authorized seller, versus a
counterfeit someone else sent in with the same SKU.
Sellers can opt-out of commingling inventory at extra cost but most don't.
Given you got a proactive refund, that seller probably has commingled
inventory with everyone else, and Amazon is worried they sent you a fake
that'll get someone injured and cause them liability.
~~~
avip
Are they actually liable? If so, we should have seen class acts by now no?
~~~
kevin_b_er
Mandatory binding arbitration. You may not sue amazon in a court of law.
~~~
gamblor956
Binding arbitration is generally not allowed with respect to product liability
suits, except in the Eleventh and Fifth Circuits.
------
yAnonymous
Not only are there massive amounts of counterfeit products on Amazon, they
also encourage it by letting the sellers fake reviews. Here's how they do it:
* Collect positive reviews on a cheap article.
* Change the product, but not the article ID. The new article then has the reviews of the old one.
* Finally, they lock the reviews by setting the article to "not released yet", even though the product is for sale.
That way, you get positive reviews for a shitty product and customers can't
add negative reviews.
Amazon don't do anything about this, even though it's clearly deceptive and,
at least here, against the law.
------
oasisbob
Buying any PPE from Amazon is probably a bad idea. Counterfeit or not, the
barrier to entry is just too low.
eg, there are specialized climbing harnesses on Amazon which confuse the CE EN
standard and the concept of notified bodies. (Which certify conformity.) Leads
to hilarity like a climbing harness claiming conformity with the standards for
intubation tubes.
Or, climbing equipment which is mislabeled as to its country of origin, with
basic specs like dimensions being inaccurate.
The sellers just don't care, and Amazon doesn't care enough to stop them. It's
barely one step above ebay for a lot of items.
~~~
slavak
> It's barely one step above ebay for a lot of items.
Is it, though? At least with eBay I know who the product I ordered came from
and whom to blame if something goes wrong. If I'm ordering from the
manufacturer's official account on eBay I know I'm not getting sent a cheap
Chinese knock-off by some other random eBay seller.
With Amazon I apparently don't have that luxury.
------
sixQuarks
Here's the email I got, the last sentence had me chuckling. We hope to "see"
you soon.
\-------
Hello,
We’re writing to provide you with important safety information about the
eclipse products you purchased on Amazon (order #---- for TOLOCO Solar Eclipse
Glasses,CE and ISO Certified Safe Solar Shades Filter for Solar Eclipse
Viewing (3-Black)).
To protect your eyes when viewing the sun or an eclipse, NASA and the American
Astronomical Society (AAS) advise you to use solar eclipse glasses or other
solar filters from recommended manufacturers. Viewing the sun or an eclipse
using any other glasses or filters could result in loss of vision or permanent
blindness.
Amazon has not received confirmation from the supplier of your order that they
sourced the item from a recommended manufacturer. We recommend that you DO NOT
use this product to view the sun or the eclipse.
Amazon is applying a balance for the purchase price to Your Account (please
allow 7-10 days for this to appear on Your Account). There is no need for you
to return the product. You can view your available balance and activity here:
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/css/gc/balance/](https://www.amazon.com/gp/css/gc/balance/)
For more information about safely viewing a solar eclipse please see the NASA
and AAS websites.
If you purchased this item for someone else, please pass along this
information to the recipient.
We hope to see you again soon.
Sincerely,
Customer Service
~~~
Zhenya
"We hope to see you again soon."
Fairly poor choice of words..
~~~
iamatworknow
They'll see you, but you may or may not see them.
------
mikeash
What kind of piece of shit makes these things? It's one thing to make a crappy
knockoff phone charger. It may be less efficient and even less safe, but you
can probably rationalize it away since they mostly work OK.
But this is a piece of safety equipment with a single function, and people
only buy it to use it in one way, which will cause direct and immediate harm
if the product fails. How can someone live with themselves after doing this?
~~~
microtherion
While I have no experience with sellers in this field, I once had a
conversation with a vendor who sold 2GB FIFO USB sticks as 64GB USB sticks.
This does not exactly blind people, but customers who use these for backups
are in for a rude surprise.
The seller confessed to the fraud, but was utterly unrepentant.
I'm trying to have the same conversation with "Microsoft Support" callers
trying to install ransomware in my computer. Not much luck getting answers out
of that crowd, but no pangs of conscience either.
~~~
QuotedForTruth
You should listen to the latest episodes of Reply All podcast. They go pretty
far to investigate one of those tech support call centers.
There is a part two as well.
[https://gimletmedia.com/episode/long-
distance/](https://gimletmedia.com/episode/long-distance/)
------
Cozumel
>'Amazon said customers who did not receive an email purchased glasses that
were safe to use.'
Or they did receive an email and it went into their spam/junk folder. In a
situation like this it might be better to email _everyone_ if only to say your
glasses are safe. Although that would open them to legal liability if they're
wrong.
~~~
concede_pluto
This. Even before the collapse of email as a writing medium, it was never a
life-critical system.
------
jdavis703
Is there anything particularly dangerous about viewing the sun directly? When
I was dumb and young I'd look at the sun for seconds at a time without any
problems developing so far. Is the danger that an eclipse encourages you to
stare at the sun without encountering any pain?
~~~
schoen
I stared at a partial eclipse as a child without eye protection for several
periods of about 10-12 seconds (remembering that I used to occasionally look
at the regular sun for 3-4 seconds without apparent injury). Unfortunately,
this gave me an afterimage of the eclipse in one eye that lasted for six
months (!) -- although I was fortunate that it didn't last even longer than
that.
The optometrist I consulted the day after the eclipse said that there didn't
appear to be significant permanent damage to my eye, but the subsequent six
months of the afterimage, and not being sure whether or not it would last my
whole life, were certainly no fun. Overall, I feel like I got very lucky, and
I wouldn't have been surprised if the afterimage had lasted for decades rather
than months. Maybe it would have if I had continued looking for just a few
more seconds!
My impression is that the risk of different kinds of damage is complicated,
but there are several things that can go very wrong. One is that the sun
during an eclipse is much more _interesting_ than usual, so it's so much more
tempting to look longer than momentarily; another is the UV exposure that
people have mentioned (where there may still be enough UV to cause damage even
at times when the visible light is weak enough not to cause significant
discomfort). UV is a big factor that means that we shouldn't trust our
intuition about whether something may harm our eyes. In industrial settings,
too, people sometimes get significant eye injuries because they're staring at
UV (or IR) sources that don't subjectively feel dangerous or painful.
(Edit: taneq in this thread also mentions a problem about dynamic range where
your pupillary contraction may not be enough to protect you.)
While permanent damage might not happen quite as quickly as some people may
have been led to believe, and some risks may be slightly exaggerated in
certain accounts, there's just no reason to take the risk of not having proper
eye protection, especially when you can't really judge from the level of
discomfort or lack of discomfort whether damage may be happening. As far as I
know, every eclipse leads to emergency follow-up optometrist visits, and I can
testify that it's no fun to be the patient in one of those visits waiting to
hear the news about whether the aftereffects are likely to be permanent.
~~~
DiThi
> although I was fortunate that it didn't last even longer than that
It's likely that some of the afterimage is still there but your brain has been
rewired to eliminate it.
~~~
schoen
I've definitely considered that possibility, and I figure there's probably no
way to know!
------
twoodfin
zzalpha predicted this a couple of weeks ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14877216#14877731](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14877216#14877731)
------
stevewillows
Instead of risking my vision on some goofy glasses from an unknown supplier,
I'm banking on recreating a small camera obscura setup that I did in
elementary school. [1]
[https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/make-pinhole-
projector.h...](https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/make-pinhole-
projector.html)
------
dwaltrip
Does anyone have good recommendations for getting a pair as of today (before
next weekend)? I'm in the bay area, if that helps.
~~~
hndamien
To be honest, it isn't that impressive unless you see the totality, in which
case you need no glasses. Completely worth the trip out of the way if you can
go see it.
~~~
stordoff
Even in totality, the coolest part for me (1999 eclipse) wasn't the visuals -
it was the way you could feel the cold/shadow set in during the eclipse.
------
cmurf
What goes around comes around. Amazon has been turning a blind eye to
counterfeit products for a long time, it's been getting worse, not better. And
now that they got a clue this particular fraud could CAUSE WIDESPREAD
BLINDNESS, they have to take responsibility for their own cesspool.
~~~
MichaelGG
Yeah I hope the discovery resulting from the lawsuit from this issue will be
explosive enough to force Amazon to change. If it surfaces that they've been
knowingly selling counterfeit products... Wow.
------
halfnibble
How do we still have issues with counterfeit products in 2017? There should be
electronic records with audit trails for every shipment into the US. This
ordeal is probably going to bankrupt several small businesses.
~~~
s0rce
This problem specifically could be easily solved by not allowing any random
seller to sell the same item on Amazon without the purchases having any idea.
~~~
simonh
I'm not sure what you mean. They do track everything, otherwise they couldn't
match up your payment for the product with the vendor it actually came from in
order to pay them.
The question is what else are Amazon willing to do with that information,
which turns out to be very little or nothing because as soon as Amazon gets
humans involved in the transaction making actual decisions, their costs shoot
up.
~~~
ceejayoz
> I'm not sure what you mean. They do track everything, otherwise they
> couldn't match up your payment for the product with the vendor it actually
> came from in order to pay them.
They don't, though. All the same-SKU items go into a big box at the warehouse.
When you order from a particular seller, they pick one out of that box and
send it to you. There's a good chance the specific one they picked out didn't
come from that seller's inventory, but another's.
[https://www.wsj.com/articles/on-amazon-pooled-merchandise-
op...](https://www.wsj.com/articles/on-amazon-pooled-merchandise-opens-door-
to-knockoffs-1399852852)
------
quesera
If you don't trust Amazon's vendor commingling practices, be sure to test the
film:
[https://www.space.com/37698-solar-eclipse-glasses-safety-
che...](https://www.space.com/37698-solar-eclipse-glasses-safety-check.html)
~~~
hyperpape
This page seems to imply that you can tell if your glasses are safe by seeing
whether they block out all but the brightest lights (direct sun or perhaps a
LED flashlight).
But another page from the AAS seems to say you only get a negative result: if
you can see anything other than a very bright light through the glasses,
they're unsafe. But that doesn't imply the inverse, that if you can't, they're
safe, because of UV protection. [https://eclipse.aas.org/eye-safety/iso-
certification](https://eclipse.aas.org/eye-safety/iso-certification)
Can anyone confirm if I've understood that correctly?
~~~
bdibs
That's about right, we can't see (with our eyes at least) if the infrared or
UV is being filtered.
------
sundvor
> "We want customers to buy with confidence anytime they make a purchase on
> Amazon.com"
That's a bit rich, what with the 2nd hand camera lens scam the other day and
all.
~~~
nebabyte
I once took for granted that that was in Amzn's best interests and thus their
goal, but it really just seems like they're hoping to bank on consumar
ignorance/apathy and being the biggest game in town.
It sucks because I recently picked up an amzn gift card from a change
conversion machine (my bank now requires you roll your change yourself and I
discovered those machines are fee-free if you use them for a giftcard), but
I've fewer and fewer needs from Amzn now.
------
kevinthew
I'd say about 50-60% of the electronic items I buy from amazon end up being
counterfeit. For this reason, I avoid amazon unless it's unimportant stuff.
~~~
forgotpw1123
Yup for me I would say over 30%. I'm sure Consumer Reports will do a study
soon and find that near 50% are counterfeit and the stock will drop like a
rock.
------
ams6110
I was always taught to never view an eclipse directly with any kind of
filter/glasses.
Use a simple lens, or even a pinhole, to project the image onto another
surface and view it that way.
~~~
Clubber
That's what we did in elementary school last time it happened in our area
years ago. I believe we used a shoe box, took off the lid, poked a pin hole on
one side and viewed it.
Here's a link to it's construction.
[https://www.livescience.com/33906-solar-eclipse-
viewer.html](https://www.livescience.com/33906-solar-eclipse-viewer.html)
I'd say the box the glasses come in from Amazon is probably more useful than
the glasses in many cases. :)
------
Houshalter
How dangerous is it to watch a solar eclipse without proper dark glasses? I
recall a Feynman story where he watched the first nuclear bomb test without
eye protection, just through the window of a truck. Under the theory that
normal glass filters most UV light.
~~~
Stratoscope
Well, Feynman was one of the most brilliant scientists in history, but he was
also quite insane. (As one of his students, I say this with a great deal of
love and respect for him!)
To answer your question, though, we need to distinguish between a partial
eclipse and a _total_ eclipse. You had best use eye protection for a _partial_
eclipse, or even better, use a pinhole projector as I described elsewhere in
this thread. (Search the page for my username.)
But a _total_ eclipse is perfectly safe to view with the naked eye, and even
with binoculars! You could use a telescope, but binoculars give you a better
field of view. Either way, you're not looking at the sun any more, you're
looking at the solar corona.
During totality, the sun is completely blocked by the moon itself. This is a
much more substantial filter than anything you could ever buy on Amazon.
~~~
DiThi
> But a total eclipse is perfectly safe to view with the naked eye, and even
> with binoculars!
But one must be careful. As soon as the moon stops blocking the sun, there are
sun rays concentrated in a tiny point. Like looking at the point of a powerful
laser, it doesn't feel as powerful as it actually is. Esp. regarding invisible
wavelengths.
------
Stratoscope
You don't need eclipse glasses.
If you are traveling to (or live in) the zone of totality, don't bother
viewing the partial eclipse at all. It's not what you are there for. You are
there to experience the total eclipse in all its glory, and you can't use
eclipse glasses for that.
Your best viewing tool for the _total_ eclipse is your own eyes and a good
pair of binoculars. Yes, plain, unfiltered binoculars. _During totality_ you
can look directly at the solar corona. Not only do you not need eye
protection, but you'll miss the whole thing if you use any kind of filter.
This is true _only during totality_ , of course.
I recommend doing what hundreds of us did on an Oregon hillside in 1979.
During the first partial phase, we put on sunglasses (just ordinary
sunglasses) and looked _away_ from the sun. The purpose of this was to get our
eyes a bit dark-acclimated, so when it went total we would have an even better
view.
By looking away from the sun, you also have a chance of seeing the other
interesting effects on the ground: the wavy ripply patterns that appear just
before totality, and the shadow of the moon as it rushes toward you at
thousands of miles per hour!
As soon as the eclipse became total, people started yelling "totality!" and we
took off our sunglasses, turned around, picked up our binoculars, and enjoyed
the awesome experience of seeing the solar corona.
The only danger here is that you have to _stop looking_ as soon as the first
bit of the Diamond Ring or Baily's Beads appear. Then you're back into the
partial eclipse and must use eye protection.
But at that point, most of us just cheered and got ready to go home. After
totality, the partial eclipse is not much to get excited about.
If you're not in the zone of totality, then of course you _must not_ look
directly at the sun _at any time_. But if you don't have quality eclipse
glasses, you still have some other good options.
One is a piece of #14 arc welder's glass. Another that you can improvise on
the spot is a pinhole projector. There are various ways you can make one; at
the simplest it can just be two pieces of paper, one that you punch a small
hole in with a pin, and the other on the ground or a wall. Hold the paper with
the hole so that the sunlight goes through it onto the other. You will get a
nice image of the partially eclipsed sun projected onto the other paper.
A pinhole projector is the safest way to view the partial eclipse: you are
never looking directly at the sun at all, only its projection.
There are numerous plans for building slightly more elaborate pinhole
projectors. This page has some good tips:
[http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/how-to-look-
at...](http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/how-to-look-at-the-sun/)
Or search for "solar eclipse pinhole projector" to find more.
There is a lot of misinformation going around about eclipse viewing and eye
safety. Everything above is true and correct to the best of my knowledge,
speaking both from personal experience and extensive research. And I've tried
to make very clear the difference between the partial and total eclipse. Of
course, if I made a mistake or left anything unclear, please let me know!
There are two main dangers regarding eye safety. One is that someone may view
the partial eclipse without proper eye protection and will destroy their
vision. This has happened many times, and it is a real tragedy.
The other danger, albeit of a lesser sort, is that many people who travel to
the total eclipse zone will mistakenly believe that they need some kind of eye
protection _during totality_. As a result, they will completely miss the
awesome, life-changing event they went to so much trouble to see.
~~~
Angostura
I think they are useful to wear in the last minute before totality, simply as
a safe way to determine when totality arrives. Without them it is too tempting
to keep glancing up st the sun to see if it is total yet.
~~~
Stratoscope
That is an excellent point; thank you for mentioning it!
------
dboreham
Poorly handled by Amazon because the _absence_ of an email (there is no other
way to tell, for example from the order page on the amazon web site) signifies
that the glasses are safe. So if the email get spam filtered or otherwise
doesn't reach the appropriate person, they have no idea that the product isn't
safe. The order page should say "not safe" or "safe" so people can check
themselves.
------
davidmurdoch
American Paper Optics made a page showing the differences between their
glasses and some knock offs.
[https://www.eclipseglasses.com/pages/safety](https://www.eclipseglasses.com/pages/safety)
This doesn't mean the shape can't also be copied perfectly though, so I'm not
sure if it's helpful or just doing even more harm.
------
taneq
Selling "eclipse glasses", or anything else cheap that encourages people to
look directly at the sun, is a terrible idea to begin with. All it takes is
some muppet to misread (or ignore) the directions and the next thing you know,
they're blind and you've got a lawsuit on your hands.
~~~
nebabyte
Talking out of your ass aside, ignoring directions and then suing gives you no
recourse. If it did, Mcdonald's would not sell hot coffee.
------
imroot
This is one of the serious problems with FBA and serious problems with FBA's
co-mingled inventory.
When I was selling inventory on Amazon, I actually paid the extra cash to have
my inventory placed in a separate location so that I didn't have to deal with
other seller's stock/quality issues. It was worth the additional cost (from my
point of view) and it worked quite well in ensuring that Amazon's customers
who sourced from my stock got the correct product and that I didn't have to
deal with angry customers or unexplained returns.
------
Bulkington
So our metro library system (well respected) is promoting an eclipse education
event, with free viewing glasses. Should the sourcing be suspect? (95% viewing
area)
~~~
abirkill
Many libraries have received glasses for free from the Space Science
Institute, which is a reputable organisation funded by NASA, the National
Science Foundation, and others.
There's a map of libraries on their website:
[http://spacescience.org/software/libraries/map.php](http://spacescience.org/software/libraries/map.php)
If yours is on that list, you should be pretty safe, I think.
------
cmurf
A viable safe test would be a clear (unfrosted) incandescent or halogen bulb
on a rheostat. Glasses on, bulb off, turn up the brightness somewhat slowly.
You should be able to look directly at the filament comfortably if you have
good glasses. If you have fakes, as long as you ramp up brightness slow
enough, your natural response to squint will kick in before you wreck your
retinas.
You definitely do not want to test this on the sun.
~~~
concerned_user
How does it test the fact that glasses block UV part of the spectrum? That is
where the damage is coming from not from the the visible part.
------
wtvanhest
I posted 32 days ago asking how to tell if they are real [1]. Amazon informed
me that they are fake. Unfortunately I have no way to buy glasses now and will
use the pin whole method, but its pretty dissapointing. I hope no one gets
hurt
[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14755020](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14755020)
~~~
TAeGTrVNmP
I've got some extras that I'm willing to share. E-mail me your address and
I'll mail you a pair. I'm in SoCal so they should arrive in SF in time for the
eclipse.
I got mine directly from one of the NASA-approved suppliers, precisely because
I don't trust Amazon anymore. Had to order a small batch, even though I only
needed a few: I figured not going blind is worth ~$30.
~~~
wtvanhest
Wow, thanks! What is your email? Mine is in my profile.
~~~
TAeGTrVNmP
Hmm, I don't see it. Maybe my karma's not high enough? Looks like my e-mail's
not visible either; sorry I'm not too familiar with HN's system.
Anyway, my e-mail is [HN account name] at x0.ms.
~~~
wtvanhest
I just saw this. I appreciate you offering, but I missed my window as I will
be out of town for a wedding. I appreciate the offer!
------
jimktrains2
I bought a set of 15 supposedly iso certified and tested them all when I got
them. Couldn't see light bulbs or anything else but the sun. I wonder if they
seller sold a mix of counterfit or just wasn't able to get the certification
to amazon as a bulk seller?
~~~
cesarb
> Couldn't see light bulbs or anything else but the sun.
Are all the harmful wavelengths visible? What you don't see can hurt you (for
instance, see the table at
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_safety#Damage_mechanisms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_safety#Damage_mechanisms)),
and depending on the material it could filter some wavelengths but let other
wavelengths pass. Testing just with visible light is not enough.
~~~
jimktrains2
That's not really something I could test readily at home. Additionally, the
light bulb test is what the local news was saying is a good quick and dirty
test to check for counterfeits. I obviously can't certify them.
[https://eclipse.aas.org/eye-safety/iso-
certification](https://eclipse.aas.org/eye-safety/iso-certification)
E1: I'll probably end up getting new ones; I guess you're right.
E2: Because everyone cares about my saga, of course, the seller appears to
have sold blatantly fraudulent ones as well. Apparently lowes has certified
ones, so I'm going to pop in there tomorrow.
E3: in classic "pay attention to me" style, but also in the hopes of helping
someone else out:
[https://www.eclipseglasses.com/pages/safety](https://www.eclipseglasses.com/pages/safety)
my glasses look like the counterfeit version listed on the mfg website.
------
jlarocco
I hope this is a wake up call for Amazon and they start cleaning up and
cutting back the third party sellers.
It's to the point where I don't bother checking Amazon for a lot of things
because I know it will be too hard to find a legit seller.
------
losteverything
Better now than the 22nd. Bravo Amazon.
The walmart i know still has them for $1.
~~~
MichaelGG
Bravo? Amazon sells counterfeit shit all over. They're panicking and trying to
avoid a tiny bit of the inevitable damage. I bet they'll settle quickly versus
risk the full extent of their malicious behaviour become public knowledge.
~~~
losteverything
Well... Bravo in the sense that by recalling they admit they have counterfeit
problem.
It is not too late ever for a company to admit they made a mistake. Look at
the catholic church
~~~
valleyer
I don’t think you’re helping your case there with that comparison.
~~~
losteverything
Yeah. Do over. I was trying to think of an organization that didnt admit to a
problem until confronted and obvious.
My bad
------
zelos
>"Safety is among our highest priorities...
That's an odd way for Amazon to put it. Presumably not injuring your customers
is priority number one in most businesses?
------
PhrosTT
So how long can I safely look at the eclipse WITHOUT glasses.
Can I take like 5 second glances?
Is there some minimum rest period between them?
(I ordered glasses but will assume they are fake).
~~~
jayofdoom
If you look at the eclipse at all without glasses, you will cause permanent
eye damage. It's worse than looking directly at a sun NOT during an eclipse.
Don't do what you suggest. Seriously.
~~~
PhrosTT
OK.. I just assumed it was the same at staring at the sun... except without
the blinding light that normally forces you to look away due to pain.
On further research looks like something about your eye having a specific
point to focus on which gets damaged immediately.
Thanks.
------
raverbashing
Use an old floppy disk to see the eclipse. I'm serious
It seems opaque, but it is transparent enough to see the sun
~~~
dingaling
That is horrific and likely dangerous "advice".
The mylar composite used in floppy disks seems opaque... to visible light. 54%
of the Sun's energy output is in other wavelengths. There is no certification
that a floppy disk cookie will block those. Plus it has a big hole in the
middle, danger of inadvertent viewing.
This is like the argument I have with other photographers _every_ eclipse when
they try to use their 'super-dark' neutral-density filters. Sure they block
ten stops of _light_ , but the IR and UV just sails on through.
Unless it's designed and certifed as a Solar viewing material just don't even
contemplate it. You're better watching the eclipse on TV in that case.
~~~
raverbashing
> Unless it's designed and certifed as a Solar viewing material just don't
> even contemplate it.
People have been using dark pieces of photographic film to see eclipses since
ever. I wonder if there has been studies on its UV transmissibility
Thought you're right about the super-dark film and I don't think those are
dark enough even on the visible range
Though I do agree if you want to stare at it directly your best choice is to
get solar viewing glasses (preferably not a fake one)
This page has some tests: astronexus.com/gatfaq/solar-filters besides poor
optical quality floppy disks allow wavelenghts > 800nm to pass (this is IR
range)
A good suggestion that seems easy to obtain: welder's glass
~~~
4ad
> People have been using dark pieces of photographic film to see eclipses
> since ever.
Fully exposed and developed _black and white_ film is safe, color negative
film, however, is totally unsafe, regardless of how dark it might seem. The
film has to contain real silver particles, not color dyes.
Beware of monochromatic film that looks black and white but it’s really a
color negative film developed using C41 process. It has to be _real black and
white_ film.
[http://www.mreclipse.com/Totality2/TotalityCh11.html#Film](http://www.mreclipse.com/Totality2/TotalityCh11.html#Film)
[https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/safety.html](https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/safety.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why Engineers Make The Best Boyfriends/Husbands - mooreds
http://dangerouslee.biz/2012/08/15/why-engineers-make-the-best-boyfriendshusbands/
======
misframer
...she made far too many generalizations.
------
joshAg
who the hell wears a nice, light-colored suit like to an active construction
site?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Wendy Carlos – Electronic Music Pioneer - old_sound
https://medium.com/a-computer-of-ones-own/wendy-carlos-electronic-music-pioneer-9a795282bb8d
======
throwaway8879
Big fan of Carlos, especially her work with non-standard tuning. I was very
happy to find some of her tunings on Spectrasonics' Omnisphere. Non-equal
temperament tuning is strange to get used to if you've spent all your life
playing traditional western systems. I am on my phone right now so cannot
link, but I highly recommend Chris Cutler's 'Probes' podcast that goes quite a
bit into microtonal music and such.
Anyway, Wendy is great.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Deepjazz: AI-generated 'jazz' - mattdennewitz
https://github.com/jisungk/deepjazz
======
rryan
This is really neat! But I think it's a stretch to call it AI-generated jazz
music.
As I understand it, the author has trained an LSTM on a single MIDI file --
"And Then I Knew" by Pat Metheny. The network is then asked to generate MIDI
notes in sequence.
What this network has been asked to do is to produce an output stream that is
statistically similar to the single MIDI input file it has been trained on. It
would be more accurate to call this an "And Then I Knew" generator. Its "cost
function" \-- the function the network is trying to minimize during training
-- is exactly how well it reproduced the target song.
Neural networks are "universal function approximators". It's not surprising
that given a single input, a network can produce outputs that are
statistically similar to it.
A network that could compose novel MIDI jazz would look like this:
* Train a network on a corpus of thousands to hundreds of thousands of MIDI jazz files.
* Add significant regularization and model capacity limits to prevent the network from "memorizing" its inputs.
* Generate music somehow -- the char-RNN approach described here is fine. There are other methods.
You want the network to build representations that capture the patterns of
jazz music necessary to pastiche them but not high-level enough
representations that the network is exactly humming the tune "And Then I
Knew". This is so much of a problem that any paper presenting a novel result
in generative modeling pretty much must include a section presenting evidence
their model is not memorizing its inputs.
I can hum a few classic jazz tunes from memory but that mental process is not
jazz music composition -- it's reproducing something from memory. If we're
going to call a model "AI-generated jazz" you need some way to tell the
network to not hum a tune it knows and instead compose a new tune with the
principles/patterns it knows. Since we can't speak to our models and tell them
to think one way and not the other, part of the trick in this field is to come
up with models that can only do one thing and not the other.
~~~
aczerepinski
Collective improvisation is the core of jazz's identity, more so than any of
its other defining traits (swing, syncopation, blues-derived harmony, etc).
Generating random patterns that sound jazz-ish is interesting, but until
multiple generators can react to what the other is doing in real time (or to a
human participant), it isn't exactly jazz.
I'd equate it to a basketball playing robot. Teaching it to shoot free throws
is interesting, but doesn't really take a step towards approximating what
basketball is. Can it call for picks, lead passes to cutting teammates, box
out for rebounds, force bad shots, etc?
~~~
Balgair
Well, given enough time and resources, then yes, the b-ball-bot could, and
probably better than a human could. I know this is a cop-out answer, but look
at the DeepMind Go games. The computer beat a top 100 (I don't know the
rankings, actually) Go player, something that was thought of as nearly
impossible in this decade.
The most interesting thing was if you read the commentary on the matches. The
announcers were mystified by the computer's moves. 'Alien' comes up a lot in
describing the play-style. Us humans can't play Go and evaluate each stone in
the game. We have to 'chunk' the game. Exp: These 3 stones are a 'wall' or a
'platoon', this stone is 'hot' and can take your stones, this stone is 'down'
and will be used in 3 turns, etc. The computer doesn't have to do that
chunking, each stone is evaluated individually. As such, the play-style was
totally foreign to people. It did things no player had tried or, importantly,
could have thought of given the limits of our brains having to 'chunk' the
information.
I would predict that a b-ball-bot would play the same way, in totally strange
ways that a human can't think of. Exp: Calculating a reasonably high
probability that the ball will bounce off your nose and go into the left hand
of it's team-mate, throwing the ball as hard as it can at it's own head to
make a shot, not trying to get past just 1 opponent but the entire team's
right thighs 57 seconds from now, etc.
Similarly with jazz, the computer is a dumb machine that will just do strange
things because humans have to 'chunk'. In music, we play in chords and notes
and with rhythm and timing. The computer can evaluate the whole song, and
every other song at the same time and can borrow from all those. You and I can
pull in the feelings of loss of a child, or the joy of strawberry ice-cream
bars in a Memphis summer, things a computer will never. But we cannot pull in
the obscure Tuvan throat singing techno-remixes on Youtube , the Afro-Thai
heavy metal Vimeo channels, or the terrible pre-teen angst poems set to crappy
guitar, etc, all at once. It can only see what you feed it, but you can feed
it the life-outputted-into-music of billions of humans with live updates. The
computer will know more.
But music is emotional and about feelings. The feel of music is most important
to us. And I think that a human songwriter is therefore essential, one that
cares and puts effort into the work. It connects us, and that is what is
important, not the sounds.
~~~
cdr
> But music is emotional and about feelings. The feel of music is most
> important to us. And I think that a human songwriter is therefore essential,
> one that cares and puts effort into the work. It connects us, and that is
> what is important, not the sounds.
Children can play music very emotionally (or rather, in a way that adults
associate with emotional) without having any experience of or real
comprehension of the emotions. Imitation and training is sufficient to be
convincing. A program doesn't need to experience emotion, only know that
certain characteristics of the sound are associated with certain emotions.
------
JamilD
This sounds to me like the "uncanny valley" of music. It's close to being
pleasant, but it's very discordant and hard to listen to…
~~~
Moshe_Silnorin
That's jazz for you.
~~~
erikpukinskis
Not really.
~~~
dbcurtis
I think he is confusing jazz with Bartok.
~~~
erikpukinskis
God I love Bartok. When I played piano in high school I basically only played
Bartok and Brubek.
I think people find unfamiliar music difficult to listen to. I don't think
it's really about genre or artist.
I suppose some genres are trying to be difficult on some level (rock and roll,
punk, metal, and rap each took up that mantle) but all of those were meant to
be easy to listen to for a target audience.
Bartok never struck me as super combative. Brainy, perhaps.
~~~
dbcurtis
Yes, I agree with you about people not liking the unfamiliar. My comment was
tongue-in-cheek. Though, you must admit, badly played Bartok is gruesome. My
daughter plays violin, and discovered his 44 violin duets and also the
Hungarian Dances suite. Luckily she is good enough that it is fun to listen
to. But my standard joke is: "All teenagers seek out music that will drive
their parents crazy. Mine found Bartok."
~~~
erikpukinskis
Truth. The combo of amateur violin and Bartok must be another level of
torture.
------
neurobuddha
Coming from an avid Jazz listener, this is awful. Not even close.
I don't mean this as a slight at all, but definitely raise the bar on your
experiments.
~~~
Uehreka
I thought it was neat for a few seconds, but then it got stale really quickly.
But then I listened to the original (the track used to train the network) and
realized the problem: the network only knows how to write one song. What you
hear on SoundCloud is the equivalent of giving someone a 5 paragraph essay,
and then telling them to write a 10,000 word paper using only sentences
contained in that essay.
Supposing that this program can accept more than 1 song in its training data,
I expect it could produce really interesting stuff.
~~~
mpdehaan2
Yeah it's kind of pixelizing an existing song. What I really want to do is
teach a program to jam and know what sounds good - which is a lot harder.
But there's a part of music where human soul needs to be, and that is
interesting too, and some of the expression stuff is harder to do in MIDI
land, you can modulate a filter cutoff or velocity or something - but compared
to a live player there is a LOT of work to do.
------
daviddaviddavid
One of the central features of jazz (or any music) is rhythm. In the case of
swing-based jazz, including bebop you have the upbeats of 2 and 4 emphasized.
It's the opposite of rock. The Metheny track here has a typical rock beat, so
it's a very odd target.
Also, unless I missed something the clips just play the network's attempt at
duplicating the "head" of the track; not the soloing.
As a jazz musician I find this cool but I also feel safe that it won't be
stealing gigs from me anytime soon.
~~~
aczerepinski
To clarify your first paragraph, rock and jazz both emphasize 2 and 4. Swing
is about the relative duration and weight of the first and second eight notes
in a single beat.
In fast tempo bebop they tend to have relatively equal durations, and in other
jazz styles they trend closer to 2/3 + 1/3 of the beat respectively.
~~~
daviddaviddavid
That's not correct.
In a typical jazz swing drum beat the high-hat is closing on 2 and 4 (the
upbeats).
In a typical rock drum beat the bass drum is on 1 and the snare drum is on 3
(the downbeats). There's almost never emphasis on the upbeats.
The two styles are almost completely opposite in feel and that Metheny track
is using the rock style.
~~~
duderific
Huh? In typical rock, the bass drum is on 1 and 3, and the snare drum is on 2
and 4. Think "boom...bap...boom...bap". 1 and 3 are the downbeats and 2 and 4
are the upbeats.
Maybe you are thinking about counting eighth notes on the high hat -- in that
case the bass drum would be on the first high hat hit, and the snare would be
on the third. However the counting should always be on the quarter note, i.e.,
two high hat hits per count -- "One and two and three and four and."
~~~
daviddaviddavid
No, I'm talking quarter notes in 4/4 time here. Bass drum on one, snare drum
on 3 and timekeeping hand playing on all four quarter notes.
In your "boom...bap...boom...bap", the ellipses are quarter-note rests. Listen
to any simple rock tune, say, AC/DC's Back in Black. With BD == Bass Drum, SD
== Snare Drum, HH == High Hat, what you get is:
Note | 1 2 3 4
-----|-----------------
HH | x x x x
BD | x
SD | x
~~~
6581
That's only half a measure. What you transcribed as 1, 2, 3 and 4 are eighth
notes.
------
devin
As a card-carrying jazz nerd, I am impressed. If there were more dynamics,
some of these soundcloud examples would sound significantly better.
ETA: The default midi sound font doesn't do it any favors, either. I have some
software instruments I could throw at this that would make it sound a whole
lot better.
------
brandonmenc
Anyone interested in algorithmic jazz should check out Al Biles:
[http://igm.rit.edu/~jabics/](http://igm.rit.edu/~jabics/)
~~~
kevinmgranger
More specifically, GenJam:
"GenJam (short for Genetic Jammer) is an interactive genetic algorithm that
learns to improvise jazz."
[http://igm.rit.edu/~jabics/GenJam.html](http://igm.rit.edu/~jabics/GenJam.html)
------
newobj
The best part is that the resultant "jazz" sounds more like vaporwave[1].
[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdpP0mXOlWM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdpP0mXOlWM)
------
alexc05
That's funny, I was just researching this last week.
I stumbled across some music generators. A downloadable one
[http://duion.com/link/cgmusic-computer-generated-
music](http://duion.com/link/cgmusic-computer-generated-music)
And [http://www.abundant-music.com/](http://www.abundant-music.com/)
Both are "procedurally generated music" so I'm not sure where that falls in
the AI spectrum.
I found that the quality was interesting and there was some potential there
but at least in these cases, there were some issues with the quality of the
midi instruments and song structure was very "same-y"
Anyways, Looking forward to poking around in the DeepJazz code.
------
mpdehaan2
Always good to see more computer music projects.
I started on recently - and need to do more work on it - to do some things in
a bit more of an object-oriented way trying to model more music theory
concepts (like scales) as objects, not so much analyzing existing files but
making the primatives you might need to build a sequencer (and eventually some
generative stuff).
If people are interested check out:
[https://github.com/mpdehaan/camp](https://github.com/mpdehaan/camp) (in the
README, there is mailing list info).
The next thing for me is to make an ASCII sequencer so it's a program that can
also be used by people who can't code, and then I'll get back more into the
generative parts.
------
shams93
George Lewis wrote a realtime improv AI in forth back in the 90s it used midi
so the sounds were like general midi at the time but the interplay between
human trombone and the machine listening to his playing on the fly was amazing
given the limitations of the machines at the time. To be AI jazz it has to be
able to jam with humans or other machines.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lewis_(trombonist)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lewis_\(trombonist\))
~~~
shams93
[https://muse.jhu.edu/article/20320](https://muse.jhu.edu/article/20320)
------
ARothfusz
I'd be more impressed if they had trained it on Pat Metheny and then given it
"Mary Had a Little Lamb" and said "jazz this up"
~~~
tjr
I'd be more impressed if they had trained it on Kenny G and Pat Metheny liked
the results.
------
trsohmers
Serious question: Who is the copyright holder on generated works? The program
author? The person who wrote it? Do you have to give any sort of authorship
credit to those who created the works in the mined data set? Copyright law in
the 21st century is just getting more and more complicated...
~~~
mbrock
I read an interesting argument related to this topic in a Jehovah's Witness
pamphlet. There was an article about how human inventions mimic God's
creation, and the silliness of our squabbles over copyrights and patents.
~~~
6stringmerc
Quite interesting. If I ever get in a situation where one believer would like
to engage in a dialog with me, that sounds like a good subject to discuss.
------
twic
There's an enjoyable summary of some other efforts in neural network music
synthesis here:
[https://highnoongmt.wordpress.com/2015/08/11/deep-
learning-f...](https://highnoongmt.wordpress.com/2015/08/11/deep-learning-for-
assisting-the-process-of-music-composition-part-1/)
The same author's Endless Traditional Music Session supplies all the Irish
session music you could ever need, by mechanical means:
[http://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/~sturm/research/RNNIrishTrad/inde...](http://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/~sturm/research/RNNIrishTrad/index.html)
------
phatbyte
Awesome work, and this is quite interesting, something worth exploring with
more depth that an hackaton can't provide.
Having said that, and as a Jazz fan, the generated music is horrible. Keep
feeding it more jazz tunes :P
------
gluelogic
One thing that comes to mind is that, to me, it sounds like all of the notes'
velocities are equal. It would sound a lot more natural if volume differences
were incorporated
------
granttimmerman
I built a very similar project for classical music using Theano and MusicXML
for a Sound Capstone Project at UW.
Blogpost + music: [https://medium.com/@granttimmerman/algo-rhythm-music-
composi...](https://medium.com/@granttimmerman/algo-rhythm-music-composition-
using-neural-networks-f89897ff2df7)
GitHub: [https://github.com/grant/algo-rhythm](https://github.com/grant/algo-
rhythm)
------
desireco42
I respect the criticism of people who love and listen to jazz quite a bit.
As someone who maybe is not as sophisticated in his taste for jazz, this
sounds good enough for me. Especially this can be passed as elevator music.
On the other hand, it would be more valuable if there were more than a single
file used for seeding. This way this is a theme that is listenable but will
always have the same style of it's seed.
I intend to play with it and see if I can get more interesting melodies.
------
imaginenore
It's rendered with some really shitty sounding instruments. Run it through
Ableton Live at least. Or even better, a specialized piano engine.
------
pjdorrell
When human composers attempt to compose original music, they have immediate
access to their own subjective judgement of the quality of the music.
Until such time as we discover an algorithm that replicates human taste in
music, any AI-based approach to composing music will fail because it will not
have any feedback about the quality of the music.
------
return0
It sounds like with a few epochs it captured some rhythmicity. The notes still
sound random, but overall its promising. This is only a hackathon project, I
'm pretty sure we ll see more elaborate networks in the future that make
acceptable jazz. Its gonna be a bit more difficult for other kinds of music, i
guess.
------
I_HALF_CATS
Can someone explain to me the difference between this and the computer
generated music David Cope of the early 1990s?
[https://youtu.be/yFImmDsNGdE?t=44s](https://youtu.be/yFImmDsNGdE?t=44s)
It seems like the word 'AI' is getting thrown around.
------
jbmorgado
An improvement that should be quite straightforward and take you no more than
a couple of hours is to use sampled sounds for recording the play.
It would massively improve the quality of the output and make it sound more _"
humane"_ IMO.
You can use the samples from www.freesound.org for instance.
------
ryanmarsh
Was expecting to hear some Blue Note, got frantic muzak. Humans are safe...
for now it seems.
~~~
imaginenore
Not really. AI wrote some compelling classical music, and years ago:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEjdiE0AoCU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEjdiE0AoCU)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kuY3BrmTfQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kuY3BrmTfQ)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnBUxG-
wSVg&t=13s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnBUxG-wSVg&t=13s)
~~~
soundwave106
That's better than the jazz works (which is fine considering the jazz works
were a hackathon). But I wouldn't call these masterpieces.
From my perspective, AI generated music at the present often falls really
short on two areas. The first is instrumentation and dynamics. AI music often
sounds "robotic". Probably better soundsets for some AI examples would help,
but beyond that, I find a lot of AI music "overly quantized" sounding. Humans
often don't play the music exactly as written(see:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressive_timing);](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressive_timing\);)
this "non-perfect timing" is a large part of many music works' expressive
element.
The second problem to me is that AI music often falls short on overall
coherent musical themes. A lot of AI pieces tend to sound "structureless" with
no real direction, no thematic elements, nothing that could be called a motif
or hook, etc. There are definitely some established "rules and patterns" for
music, so it's not like some of this could be fed into the AI. The best
composers however bend and play with convention a bit, though.
------
genolilie
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq6lypuUPeg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq6lypuUPeg)
------
squeaky-clean
Even if it is a very limited model and the tracks get boring quickly like
everyone is saying, this is still extremely cool. I really need to buy a new
GPU that I can run Theano on.
------
KON_Air
Knowing next to nothing about musical terms I couldn't figure out the workflow
of the AI. Does it generate note after note trying to follow the learned
"structure"?
------
sengork
This reminds me of AWK Music [http://kmkeen.com/awk-
music/](http://kmkeen.com/awk-music/)
------
fiatjaf
I like this because I don't like jazz.
------
DonHopkins
Hook it up to a speech synthesizer, to make Deep Scat!
I played around with looping different speech synthesizers back into different
speech recognizers, kind of like audio or video feedback, but with chaotic
noise injected like quirks of the synthesizer, the voice, speech speed and
pitch, and the audio environment around the microphone (you could talk over it
to interfere with the words it was speaking and lay down new words in the
loop), working against the lawful pattern matching and error correction
behavior of the speech recognizer, and the HMM language model it was trained
with.
It was a lot like beat poetry, in that it tended to rhyme and have the same
number of syllables and use plausible sounding sequences of words that didn't
actually make any sense, like Sarah Palin.
You can start it out with a sensible sentence, and it will play the telephone
game, distorting it again and again. If you slow down the speech rate, words
will split into more words or syllables, and if you speed it up, words will
collapse into fewer words or syllables, or you can tune the speech rate to
maintain the same number of syllables. Its analogous to zooming the video
camera in and out with video feedback.
It would wander aimlessly randomly around poetic landscapes, sometimes falling
into strange attractors in the speech recognizer's hidden markov model and
repeating itself with little or no variation.
At any time you can join in with your own voice and add words during the pause
at the end of the loop, or talk over its voice, much the way you can hold
things in front of the camera during video feedback to mix them in.
Different speech recognizers are better at recognizing different vocabularies,
and therefore like to babble about different topics, depending on which data
they were trained on, which we could guess by attepmting to psychoanalyze
their incoherent babbling.
IBM's ViaVoice was apparently trained on a lot of newspaper articles about the
Watergate hearings, as it was quite paranoid, but business like, as if it were
dictating a memo, and would start chanting and fixating on phrases like
"congressional investigation," and "burglary and wiretapping," and "convicted
of conspiracy".
Microsoft's speech recognizer had obviously been trained on newspaper articles
about the Clinton Lewinsky scandal, since it was quite obsessed with
repeatedly chanting about blow jobs (just like the news of the time), and
whenever you mentioned Clinton this or Clinton that, it would rapidly converge
on Clinton Lewinsky, Clinton presidency, Clinton impeachment, etc.
What I'd love to have would be a speech recognizer that returns a pitch
envelope and timing that you could apply back on the synthesized words, then
it could sing to you!
------
aaronlevin
If you're interested in making deep-jazz more discoverable, consider applying
to our Search team! :)
[https://soundcloud.com/jobs/2016-02-19-search-engineer-
berli...](https://soundcloud.com/jobs/2016-02-19-search-engineer-berlin-
germany)
~~~
dang
Job posts aren't allowed in regular threads on HN.
~~~
reitanqild
Sorry, honestly didn't remember that. Thought it was just usually frowned
upon.
------
SubiculumCode
Sorry. Not impressed.
~~~
kafkaesq
People need to stop knee-jerkedly downvoting stuff. The above comment might
not sound very civil or friendly in response to posting about an AI project --
but it's a perfectly reasonable gut-level reaction to have to an (alleged)
piece of _music_. Particularly this "music".
And it happens to be mine, also, in regard to the SoundCloud samples. Sure,
the project behind it might be mathematically interesting and all... but
really now, this ain't _music_ , let alone jazz. In fact, if I came across
those samples whilst flipping between radio stations, I would probably hover
for at most a second or two, before giving the dial another turn... or turning
the damn thing off.
Absolutely unlistenable, in other words.
~~~
mrspeaker
No one downvoted the OP because they thought the music was good - they
downvoted because the comment was garbage and didn't express any reasoning. It
was a useless "-1" reply.
Your comment on the other hand (aside the complaining about downvoting, which
is discouraged in the HN guidelines) was fair and interesting - and I
personally upvoted it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Commentit: comments on GitHub pages - guilro
http://blog.guilro.com/2015/10/01/commentit.io.html
======
patrickdavey
Is there an easy way to migrate content into it (e.g. my wordpress site that
I've thought about migrating to jeykll many times but I want to retain control
of the comments). Also, is there a way to get comments back _out_ again
easily?
Great work!
~~~
guilro
If you choose to store them in a single data file, it is quite easy to get
them back out again : you just have a big YAML file. In the other way, you
need to find a way to migrate from Wordpress to YAML.
------
nicolewhite
Can't wait to try this out. I've been using Disqus on my Jekyll + GitHub pages
blog and I don't like it much. I changed the URL of one of my posts once and
it was a huge pain to get the comments migrated over.
~~~
pickle27
I agree I just moved from wordpress to middleman and disqus is a pain. Its so
close to be a great thing but so far...
------
e_w
Nice job! Gonna give it a go when I have time to play with my blog.
------
mumoksha
looks like [https://commentit.io/](https://commentit.io/) is down
~~~
guilro
I don't think it has been down since launched, but it may be a problem of DNS
propagation.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
More than 1,000 Nokia employees walk out in protest at Symbian phase-out - adambyrtek
http://www.hs.fi/english/article/More+than+1000+Nokia+employees+walk+out+in+Tampere+in+protest+at+Symbian+phase-out/1135263743059
======
RiderOfGiraffes
Also here: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2206437>
... with many, _many_ comments.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Deepdreaming without the Slugdogs - geb
http://blog.thehackerati.com/post/128746247346/deepdreaming-without-the-slugdogs
======
ericjang
I find it interesting that these hallucinations do not maintain a consistent
3D perspective: the images look really flat and any noticeable three-
dimensionality is localized to a small part of the image.
Intuitively, this makes some sense - one would expect an object classifier to
not care too much about determining viewpoint, so the amplified representation
of a dog or a slug is flat. I think convolution layers being the bottom-most
layer also has something to do with it.
My dreams are a lot more perspective-correct though. Deepdream certainly
entertains the idea that biological dreaming might be somehow similar to
gradient ascent. Even if it were so, it means that the sensory experiences we
feel in our dreams somehow integrate a much more unified "reality" than what
we would experience if we were only dreaming with an object classifier.
~~~
grrowl
I think the computers can only "express" (input or output) in terms of a 2D
image, whereas it seems to me that human dreaming is in terms of abstract
thoughts. We're not really dreaming in 3D, but dreaming in perception. If we
could train a computer on 3D scenes in the same manner, it would be able to
express its dreams in 3D, but we don't have the data to feed it.
~~~
albertzeyer
We don't have the resources yet to train such a system on high resolution
video. But it's probably coming soon. There are some works already in action
recognition in videos.
------
chippy
Try interactive version with one or two objects from the object list at
Twitch.tv [http://www.twitch.tv/317070](http://www.twitch.tv/317070)
"Instead of using it for classification, we are showing it an image and asking
it to modify it, so that it becomes more confident in what it sees. This
allows the network to hallucinate. The image is continuously zooming in,
creating an interesting kaleidoscopic effect."
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Founder of Liberty Reserve Pleads Guilty to Laundering More Than $250M - us0r
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/founder-liberty-reserve-pleads-guilty-laundering-more-250-million-through-his-digital
======
patio11
Liberty Reserve's main line of business was operating a shared ledger trusted
by multiple companies which would exchange cash for ledger entries and ledger
entries for cash, earning a fee each time. Think like Western Union except
minus all the pesky regulated bits.
LR was a direct reaction to what had befallen e-gold, which was in
fundamentally the same business except it did all of the cashing first-party
(early in life, at any rate). e-gold was shut down for being a money
laundering operation, principally because it was a money laundering operation.
LR was also a money laundering operation. It observed various issues e-gold
had had, such as being physically located in the US (though theoretically
registered in a country friendly to money laundering), and intentionally fixed
these bugs with the intent of being the most robust money laundering operation
it could be.
This ended up not working out, which is why the vacuum that urgently desires a
money laundering operation has replicated the same hub-and-spokes model with
the hub being a cryptocurrency (presently Bitcoin) and the spokes being
exchanges and LocalBitcoins sellers. The onramps/offramps to Bitcoin are
exposed to a variety of ways to curtail their operations but the central
trusted DB required for them to cooperate is not controlled by anyone who can
be conveniently extradited. People in the Bitcoin community refer to this
obliquely as either "censorship resistance" or "resistance to policy attacks."
If you're interested in the history of this, Paypal and e-gold were
approximately contemporaries, and one of the reasons Paypal succeeded and
e-gold did not was that Paypal conspicuously courted respectability, so that
even if Paypal was also doing hundreds of millions of dollars of fraud and
illicit transactions it would be unlikely to indict them as a criminal
enterprise because they were a proper company whose lawyers wore suits and
whose VCs were quite respectable. Bitcoin collectively cottoned onto the
wisdom of having its fronts benefit from the same factor as opposed to being,
well, insufficiently socially insulated from legal process. (I can accurately
summarize who makes Bitcoin exchanges but it would read like a parody.)
~~~
driverdan
Bitcoin and other online exchange / transaction systems (e-gold, LR, etc)
represent a small fraction of global money laundering, a small enough fraction
to be laughable and irrelevant.
~~~
anonbanker
One would assume there were more than $250M in bitcoins circulating, which
seems to be the threshold for prosecution here.
------
miles
Perhaps if Liberty Reserve had only aimed higher:
HSBC Judge Approves $1.9B Drug-Money Laundering Accord [1]
_" U.S. District Judge John Gleeson in Brooklyn, New York, signed off
yesterday on a deferred-prosecution agreement"_
HSBC money-laundering procedures 'have flaws too bad to be revealed' [2]
_" HSBC’s procedures to prevent money laundering, sanction-breaking and
criminal activity still have deficiencies so serious that to publicly disclose
them would risk serious crime, the US Department of Justice has said."_
[1] [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-07-02/hsbc-
judge...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-07-02/hsbc-judge-
approves-1-9b-drug-money-laundering-accord)
[2] [http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jun/05/hsbc-
money-l...](http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jun/05/hsbc-money-
laundering-procedures-flaws-too-bad-to-be-revealed)
------
Kinnard
Money Laundering is Financial Thoughtcrime:
[http://www.americanbanker.com/bankthink/money-laundering-
is-...](http://www.americanbanker.com/bankthink/money-laundering-is-financial-
thoughtcrime-1058902-1.html)
. . . By Former Chief Foreign Exchange Dealer; Director of Credit Card
Interchange @ Visa & Founding Director of the Bitcoin Foundation . . .
~~~
ycmbntrthrwaway
It also falls under "victimless crime" definition.
~~~
SCAQTony
Where is that definition?
~~~
Kinnard
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victimless_crime](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victimless_crime)
------
pakled_engineer
Their biggest issue (besides being a centralized service thus easy targeting)
was not encrypting internal communications and allowing comments to accompany
transfers which were typically "For 200 dumps of CCs" or something similarly
illegal. They tried to avoid KYC regulations by just providing the internal
ledger, you had to go through 3rd party exchangers in order to buy in or cash
out of the system and these parties were supposed to do KYC.
Pecunix and C-gold are other centralized, closed book-entry systems still
around though Pecunix changing to a voucher system.
~~~
atemerev
Well, lots of drugs are sold for cash. Cash is issued by the Fed. Can it be
sued for facilitating drug crime?
~~~
chipperyman573
The feds also actively try to combat drug sales. LR made little to no efforts
to do so.
I agree with what you're saying but I disagree with your example.
~~~
wavefunction
I think op meant the Federal Reserve, who are not involved in the War on
Drugs.
~~~
yardie
Federal Reserve does not issue cash, that is the job of the Treasury
Department.
~~~
Kinnard
Issuance and printing are distinct operations. Federal Reserve Notes are in
fact issued by the Federal Reserve, and printed by the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing, which is a part of the Treasury[1].
[1] [http://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/8320/how-and-
wh...](http://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/8320/how-and-when-
is-m0-money-created)
------
ycmbntrthrwaway
Why is it illegal to operate money transfer? Why founders are responsible for
the crimes committed by its users? Are they guilty because the business was
"unlicensed" or did they specifically promoted crime in some way?
~~~
dogma1138
You can't operate MSB these days without complying with regulations regardless
of where you operate from.
Laws for MSB's anywhere require them to comply with legislation based on where
their costumers are originated.
When you move money from your US account to your friends in the UK through say
PayPal; PayPal has to comply with the regulations in both the US and the UK.
Amongst those things the MSB also needs to ensure that they do their due
diligence to ensure that they do not provide a service to launder money or
facilitate other illegal activities this often includes running background and
credit checks on the costumers, providing notifications of transfers to the
authorities, checking their costumer base against a list of known criminal
organizations and suspect individuals, and in general even required to report
any set of transactions which fit a certain pattern.
LR (just like say Megaupload with it's "reversed" payment model) was designed
to circumvent all of this intentionally while there might be some legitimate
use for it it's primary use was to transfer funds and exchange currency in an
unregulated manner which makes it attractive to only a certain type of
individuals which seek that intentionally, anyone else would not want to use
it using an unlicensed MSB is a sure way of getting your funds frozen and
putting you under investigation.
I don't even understand how people can support them, even if they did not do
so intentionally they've put their entire costumer base under a microscope if
people used this service thinking it was a legitimate MSB they were defrauded.
Money laundering and tax evasion is tricky, many laws in many countries are
often structured in such manner that the accused has to prove that those funds
were acquired legitimately and that all taxes were paid as due. Even if LB did
this out of sheer stupidity (which obviously they didn't) they deserve to get
their asses handed out to them just for putting every person who ever used
them at risk of going to jail or getting in debt due to financial
irregularities.
~~~
niij
I agree. You have to look at the intent of the business. LR's primary use was
illicit, whether they explicitely advertised themselves as such or not, they
were still out of regulation and obviously not innocent.
Also it's customer, not costumer.
~~~
aminorex
Strong accusations.
~~~
mikeyouse
No longer accusations when they've been convicted in the court of law to the
exact claims made.
------
rasengan
This is serious stuff, and I want to mention to anybody on HN who is thinking
about running a business like this given the rise in cryptocurrency related
platforms, please consult a lawyer before you embark on your quest.
These are serious laws and it doesn't cost much to find out if you're in or
outside of MSB regulations.
~~~
pakled_engineer
Some additional advice for anybody doing so regardless of where they live or
the market they service:
\- Contract a legitimate 3rd party ID verification service like bitstamp does.
You get API access where the entire verification process can be automated on
your end, and it's out of your hands, so you have some kind of legal
protection offloading the KYC risk to that party.
\- Encrypt all internal employee messages, regardless if they are totally
innocent looking a prosecutor will find some way to twist the emails and chats
into a crime. Have a written data deletion policy for internal messaging so
they are not saved forever, as deleting them to satisfy a business operations
policy will prevent possible future obstruction or evidence tampering nonsense
charges.
\- Avoid any and all political ideology, don't call your service
DownWithTheFedCoin. Notice how the prosecutors made a point about Liberty
Reserve's name.
\- If you create an asset pegged to a currency don't use USD.
Finally have clear, concise instructions to resolve disputes, and some kind of
phone number escalation procedure for users to actually talk to somebody.
Better yet have a disinterested 3rd party to help moderate customer disputes
in a totally transparent way instead of merely freezing accounts and ignoring
their emails. As soon as somebody has their funds seized or delayed they run
to regulators and lawyers to complain which in turn spawns government
attention on your little cryptocurrency related service.
------
kregasaurusrex
For anyone who doesn't know about Liberty Reserve, here's a good back story:
[http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/05/bank-
of-...](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/05/bank-of-the-
underworld/389555/)
------
atemerev
Read: "refused to cooperate with government ops".
Thank goodness they didn't find Satoshi yet.
------
ycmbntrthrwaway
Feel free to look at their indictment. The crime is providing too much
anonymity and not centralizing enough. See "The criminal design of Liberty
Reserve", starting from point 14.
[http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-
sdny/legacy/...](http://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/usao-
sdny/legacy/2015/03/25/Liberty%20Reserve%2C%20et%20al.%20Indictment%20-%20Redacted_0.pdf)
------
aminorex
Compliance with tyranny is treason.
~~~
anonbanker
the reason why your comment is greyed out directly correlates with why I left
the country back in Bush II.
------
stickfigure
Isn't every non-US country, and every bank in those countries, operating an
"unlicensed money-transmitting service" as far as the US government is
concerned? I'm a little curious about where the lines are drawn.
~~~
gamblor956
No, see 31 US 5330 and related code sections.
~~~
stickfigure
I don't get it:
[https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/31/5330](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/31/5330)
doesn't seem to mention anything relevant.
I also don't understand the downvotes. I'm asking a serious question because
I'm curious - if this company was operated by a Russian citizen living in
Moscow (or by an Albanian citizen in Albania, or a Swiss citizen in
Switzerland, or even let's say by the North Korean government) - what would
have happened here?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What Advice would you give your 100 year old self? - vladmk
Imagine you somehow make it to your 100th birthday. What advice would you give? Perhaps we can all learn from this :-)
======
informatimago
Don't listen to the young idiot. Rather, invent a time machine to send him
back a good advice or two.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Please respect my decision not to dance - luu
https://medium.com/@henryreich/please-respect-my-decision-not-to-dance-e19d1b6ae482
======
galapago
I can't upvote more this.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
If Chinese Were Phonetic - jonbaer
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/05/16/if-chinese-were-phonetic
======
rabboRubble
The author failed to fully investigate input methods. The iPhone has
handwriting input instead of a keyboard. The iPhone character matches what is
handwritten and provides a pick list of potential matches.
If you don't like the handwriting input style, there is a stroke entry method,
that has no dependency on sound for input. So if I want to write 本, I can tap
horizontal stroke, downstroke, slanted stroke and this character is 6th option
in the pick list.
Then there is the Canjie input method. Plus endless others.
------
fulldecent
They already have this. Please see books printed in Taiwan. They have use a
phonetic alphabet next to each Chinese character.
------
sheepdestroyer
Japanese has basically the same problem obviously.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
[video] Can These Revolutionary Body Hacks Beat Aging in Our Lifetimes? - highandflighty
http://longevityfacts.com/video-revolutionary-technologies-beat-aging-lifetimes/
======
highandflighty
Hi - I'm new here. Question: What does the * in front of the post mean? Thanks
~~~
grzm
It indicates submissions you've submitted or comments you've posted. Only you
see the asterisk.
~~~
highandflighty
thanks so much
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Russia plans its own 'Chernobyl' show after HBO's hit - okket
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/06/07/unhappy-with-hbos-chernobyl-russia-is-planning-its-own-series-blaming-cia/
======
Chazprime
From the linked _Variety_ article regarding the show:
_Few details have been revealed so far, except for a short synopsis, which
states that the series will follow a group of Soviet KGB officers tasked with
uncovering a CIA agent stationed at the Chernobyl nuclear plant and involved
in espionage._
Wow, this sounds better than that time we got all of those Amy Fisher biopics.
I’m stocking up on the popcorn now.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Apple macOS 10.15 vs. Windows 10 vs. Ubuntu 19.10 Performance Benchmark - truth_seeker
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=macos1015-win10-ubuntu&num=1
======
user9837
I'll just leave this here
> Where macOS tended to perform the best was with the Firefox web browser
> benchmarks
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Chute (YC W12) Secures $7 Million Series A Funding - awwstn
http://blog.getchute.com/2013/05/07/chute-secures-7-million-series-a-funding/
======
ctide
Also, we're hiring!
Looking for a frontend lead and a senior rails developer. My email is in my
profile, ping me if you'd like to hear more!
------
briholt
I checked out the site, but I have no idea what it actually does. "Powering
the visual revolution" is a little open ended.
~~~
throwaway1512
I thought it was pretty clear. They're the first-to-market ad product,
providing its clients with the ability to better ingest, understand, manage
and leverage real-time visual content with its arsenal of developer tools and
media platforms.
------
resu
FYI, The demo (<http://www.getchute.com/developers/demos/presenting-media>) is
broken on Chrome.
~~~
ctide
What version of Chrome are you using? It's definitely unstyled, but it's
functional for me in Chrome.
~~~
joosters
On Firefox (20.0/Mac), your homepage <http://www.getchute.com/#> also seems
broken. I can't use the scrollwheel / gestures to move down the page.
~~~
ctide
Should be fixed now, thanks!
------
ttruong
Congrats Greg, Ranvir, and Team! Exciting to hear about all the progress.
------
ank286
isn't the name Chute a derogatory curse word? And of all things, the website
is called "Get Chute"
~~~
watsthat
Yes, it means pussy in Hindi. Given that the founder are of south asian
decent, this is funny:
[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chute&def...](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chute&defid=5941181)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ways to Cultivate Gratitude at Work - gkst
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/five_ways_to_cultivate_gratitude_at_work
======
buckbova
> people are less likely to feel or express gratitude at work than anyplace
> else. And they’re not thankful for their current jobs, ranking them dead
> last in a list of things they’re grateful for.
First off I don't want to be thanked or praised, I want to be PAID. If I do a
great job give me more money, a day off, or something tangible. I don't want a
non-monetary gift either. I have a drawer full of work trophies. It's
nonsense. Why should I be thankful I have a job? I've earned this.
I used to have a manager that would thank me all the time and then praise me
for the littlest thing. It lost any meaning it may have had and often feels
more manipulative than anything. Student of the one minute manager
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_One_Minute_Manager](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_One_Minute_Manager).
I thank my co-workers all the time though because they don't have to be nice
or helpful. And I nearly always help a co-worker when they ask for it and
sometimes when they don't. I typically get a thank you. Thanks and praise from
my teammates goes well beyond anything from a higher up. Maybe I'm cynical,
but it nearly always feels like I'm being placated in some way.
Edit:
I think it goes further to respect and listen to the opinions of your fellow
co-workers and your employees. Take all opinions into consideration. Do not
dismiss anything immediately. Acknowledge those who've contributed yes, when
taking any sort of credit when speaking to other higher-ups or outside the
department.
Also respect a person's work. Don't throw it away for a complete rewrite
because that's easier than trying to understand it and don't suggest a
revision without fully considering what already exists.
~~~
roflc0ptic
I'm moving towards a lead dev role, running a small group (3 other devs). I
always try to thank people, and include enough specific detail that it's
plausible. One dev, fresh to a problem, recently identified a place where if
we used a multi-map instead of a map, it would solve problems that had plagued
us for months. My response was "Fuck yeah, we've been trying to figure out how
to work around that for months. Good catch." I praised another dev who just
joined for getting a whole lot more done in her first two weeks than I
expected. Entirely new language and tech stack on a sophisticated application.
It's impressive. I said so.
Remuneration aside, they're humans who benefit from positive validation. It
seems well recieved. Maybe an important point is _I actually am grateful that
they 're good at their jobs_. Man, working with competent people who aren't
phoning it in is a pleasure.
And yeah, in the abstract, my position with my employer is basically "fuck
you, pay me." But that's just a sine qua non. Whether or not I like being
there is contingent on how I'm treated.
~~~
Mz
_My response was "Fuck yeah, we've been trying to figure out how to work
around that for months. Good catch." I praised another dev who just joined for
getting a whole lot more done in her first two weeks than I expected. Entirely
new language and tech stack on a sophisticated application. It's impressive. I
said so._
Your anecdotes are not about _thanking_ people or expressing gratitude. I kind
of agree with both you and the GP comment. I am a woman and my life taught me
to do a lot of emotional labor. It mostly has not led to money.
I think discussions about stuff like this are probably overlooking something
important. As best I can tell, being too touchy feely personal reads as "I
love YOU" and is problematic. A better message is "I love your work, good
job!" and that seems to be the note you are hitting.
So: Good job!
~~~
roflc0ptic
That is an interesting point. I had not made that distinction, and didn't
really realize that was my MO. Maybe there's a rule to be conjectured there
about praising actions instead of people.
Insightful. Good job :)
------
vvanders
> 2\. Thank the people who never get thanked
I _always_ make a point of telling anyone in IT at whatever company I worked
for that I appreciated what they did and knew it was a thankless job.
It's one of those areas where if you do a perfect job no one knows you're
there and you're only high-profile when you screw up.
I've found over the years that they'll pay back that kindness ten-fold and
often when you're in some sort of gnarly bind where time is critical.
~~~
sambeau
My old boss had the motto:
"Treat the cleaners like they're The Queen; treat The Queen like she's a cleaner"
I took this to mean: treat cleaners with respect & appreciation; do not fawn
and scrape to your bosses.
Similarly: "grief travels up, praise travels down" and "be nice to those you
meet on your way up as you may well meet them again on your way down".
I use all of these mantras on a daily basis and I believe they work. I can't
guarantee my food is spittle free but I have never had reason to believe
otherwise.
I confess I have been known to break this rule with phone spammers.
~~~
keithpeter
Caretakers and canteen staff.
I'm a teacher: the canteen staff know a _surprising_ amount about students and
can spot changes in mood/attitude very quickly. Its uncanny. Caretakers
basically run the building. Advanced warning of furniture moving needs, and
any special setups and a quick word of thanks afterwards, ensures smooth
running. Good reception staff know where everyone is.
------
sebastianconcpt
Just wanted to say something about this part: "In short, Americans actively
suppress gratitude on the job, even to the point of robbing themselves of
happiness. Why? It may be because in theory, no one gives away anything at
work; every exchange is fundamentally economic." <\- this does not matches
with my work experiences with americans at all. On the contrary I noticed
careful attention to appreciate every bit.
~~~
8ytecoder
I agree - this matches my experience too. Americans are blunt but that goes
both ways. They appreciate a good deed while at the same time make their
disapproval heard too.
~~~
pjlegato
I would point out that "Americans" are not a homogenous entity, culturally or
otherwise. The United States is _huge_ and has many distinct local cultural
regions, with radically different behavioral norms that are obscured through
the use of a common language and political system.
San Francisco is vastly different than New Jersey, for example, and both are
vastly different than, say, the rural south.
------
qznc
Our group uses a chat bot, which plays silly games at random times. Sometimes
the challenge is like "Say thanks to somebody to earn some points". Those
points are useless gamification tokens, but maybe it helps to encourage
gratitude. There was always somebody who took that challenge so far.
~~~
pjlegato
Rather, it encourages people to become good at _simulating_ gratitude in a
plausible manner.
It devalues the entire notion of gratitude to engage in that sort of petty
manipulation. Gratitude is rendered into a base and superficial thing.
~~~
qznc
Now that you mention it, I think that maybe our team spirit was better when we
had regular Quake matches... ;)
------
dominotw
Is it really gratitude if you cultivate it? Can you really become
mindful/thankful/x via pure practice? If it makes sense and is logical why
can't you instantly become thankful, why do you practice?
I see ton's of people in daily life who have cultivated modesty (eg:
politicians, ceo's ect) . It is so obvious that its fake, why do ppl do this?
~~~
chadgeidel
It's not "fake gratitude", it's "verbalizing real gratitude". The article is
about cultivating an environment where gratitude is known.
~~~
qxt
To add on to this, this thinking of "fake" vs "real" gratitude falls into the
typical Socratic thinking of "I can tell you what isn't XXX but I can't tell
you what it is cause I'm not wise yada yada." As human beings we like to think
we can tell human beings intentions. However, as miscommunication proves, we
often can't, at least accurately. Having individuals go through the motions of
generosity, humility, and gratitude is just as good as teaching people those
intentions e.g. play the part long enough and you stop playing.
~~~
dominotw
> teaching people those intentions
why do we need to teach people though? If its obvious that gratitude is good
why can't we simply adopt it in an instant. Unless you mean 'anti gratitude'
is inherent to all human minds and needs to be constantly suppressed and
overpowered through practice.
~~~
somestag
Call it "teaching," "training," "learning," "conditioning," or whatever else
you like, but it seems pretty self-evident that people change how they think
and feel based on their experiences. Some of those experiences involve acting
a certain way and seeing how others react.
Think about it the other way—in terms of negative emotions. A person with
anger problems might practice suppressing blowups and taking a moment to try
to deal with the anger before moving on. Would you accuse them of being _fake-
not-angry_? Of course not. They're practicing healthy behavior, and over time
the practice becomes natural and they don't even have to think about it
anymore. They have become a genuinely less angry person by practicing non-
angry behaviors.
Practicing gratitude is the same thing, except you're reinforcing a positive
emotion rather than suppressing a negative one. You can become a genuinely
more thankful person by reminding yourself to express gratitude.
I question any person's ability to truly read the thoughts or emotions of
another. At any given moment, a person's thoughts and feelings are very
complex and entangled, yet when we interpret their actions we reduce them down
to a simple emotion or intention. That oversimplification is always
inaccurate, and we should work to develop more complex understandings of other
people. So when someone looks like they're _faking_ modesty, they may in fact
feel somewhat modest, or at least be faking it for "good" reasons.
There is, of course, a difference between "saying what you're supposed to say"
and "trying to be more outwardly grateful," but in reality the lines blur a
lot and neither is a bad thing. This may be an unpopular opinion, but when it
comes to public discourse, I'll take fake expressions of _gratitude_ over
genuine expressions of _contempt_ any day of the week.
~~~
unFou
Just curious about your reasoning behind the last statement, that with "public
discourse [you'd] take fake expressions of gratitude over genuine expressions
of contempt any day of the week".
If they were to openly express their contempt, then I know where they stand,
and adjust my actions accordingly. If they fake expressions of gratitude, I
can't be sure what their feelings actually are. Are they having a bad day, and
trying to turn it around? Do they genuinely view me with distaste? If it's the
former, it might benefit me to support this person. If it's the latter, I
might not.
I can understand why it'd be good for a politician to present this ambiguity,
but why is it good for you, the consumer of the public discourse?
~~~
somestag
I put a lot of stock in the power of discourse. When a person publicly
expresses their hatred or contempt, they always raise the levels of hatred and
contempt in the listeners--those that agree with them are emboldened, and
those that disagree are aggravated. Creating a more hateful society is so
negative (in my opinion) that it outweighs the benefits of the honesty.
I think the strongest case against my stance is the politicians, since we need
to "know" them in order to be informed as voters. Except politicians are
actively campaigning, so it's impossible to know whether a politician is
expressing those views because they actually believe them or just because they
think it's good strategy. Therefore, when it comes to politicians, I judge
them more on what they've done in the past, and I consider their public
statements mostly on their _tone_ than on their content, because it probably
reflects the tone they'll continue to take once they're in office.
_Hypothetically_ , if I could instantly detect the truth in a politician's
statement, maybe the information benefit would outweigh, but since I need to
assume that I don't know the full story no matter _what_ they say, I'd prefer
they be kind than mean.
------
debt
yo gratitude is nice but mainly make sure you're at a minimum in a good
working environment. again, gratitude is nice, but it's not necessary for a
healthy working environment.
i think many people here would be surprised how many people don't give a shit
about things like gratitude etc but just want a working/decent coffee maker in
the office.
a healthy working environment is the most important.
------
Gravityloss
Thanking can be the new humble brag.
------
kvcrawford
On that note, I'm gonna give a shout out to QA. Thanks guys.
------
ommunist
Thank you.
------
br_smartass
\- Here's the money
\- Thanks
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Using Google Cloud Pub/Sub to Connect Applications and Data Streams - jganetsk
http://googlecloudplatform.blogspot.com/2015/03/using-Google-Cloud-pubsub-to-Connect-applications-and-data-streams.html
======
ecesena
I had the chance to test it out during the Oscars [1], receiving about 1.2M
tweets via Twitter Streaming API in 6 hours, publishing them in Pub/Sub,
pulling with another process and storing in BigQuery. I still need to find
time to blog about the experience, happy to collect a few extra questions
here.
[1]
[http://ecesena.github.io/oscars2015/](http://ecesena.github.io/oscars2015/)
~~~
gtaylor
Did you get any feel for the latency between publishing and consumption? I'm
definitely interested, but I'd be looking for no more than a few second delay
between publish and potential consumption.
~~~
ecesena
We didn't collect precise timing data, but I hope to release the code soon,
and it's pretty easy to setup a test similar to ours, e.g. with high volume
hashtags such as #nowplaying.
What I can tell you is that we published messages in batches, closing a batch
every 5 seconds or 100 tweets (at the highest traffic rate, we were receiving
and publishing about 100 tweets every 1-2 seconds). This is way below the
quota limits.
On the subscriber side, we received batches of at most 10 messages. I didn't
investigate if this is a limit or a config param. The sensation was to receive
the messages pretty much instantly (I was looking in parallel at 2 shells, one
publishing and one receiving), but again, I don't have precise measurements.
------
chris_va
This was one of the most rock-solid internal services that I very much miss,
now ex-Google.
~~~
gtaylor
Could you elaborate on what you liked about it? Rock solid as in availability,
feature set, or other?
~~~
a-robinson
I haven't played with the cloud version yet, but internally it's rock solid in
terms of its quality. It's very highly available and reliable, extremely and
effortlessly scalable, and has dependably low latency.
~~~
gtaylor
> and has dependably low latency
I am particularly interested in this part. If you are able to share any
anecdotal experiences, I'd love to hear them.
~~~
haakonringberg
We won't have a cloud SLA until GA but for end-to-end latency our goal is to
be only slightly slower than inherent network latency.
------
cwmma
ah now that it's been publically announced people might find the mode module I
wrote for it useful
[https://www.npmjs.com/package/cloud-
pubsub](https://www.npmjs.com/package/cloud-pubsub)
~~~
tmatsuo
That's great! Looking forward to see it rolled forward to the new API revision
(v1beta2, which we don't expect to change significantly). Also, please check
our gcloud-node repository out, which also offers idiomatic Cloud Pub/Sub
library and the team is planning to move to v1beta2.
gcloud-node: [https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/gcloud-
node](https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/gcloud-node)
------
julianpye
I assume this will replace Appengine's Channel API?
~~~
rohitkhare
I’d suggest Firebase for scenarios that need real-time notification all way to
a device, app, or browser.
Google Cloud Pub/Sub is better aligned to server-to-server messaging, similar
to other Cloud queuing services, service buses, event logs, or open-source
systems such as RabbitMQ or Kafka.
------
pfalke
This is a free of charge beta release - in other words, no way to figure out
if their pricing model is going to be attractive for your app.
[https://cloud.google.com/pubsub/pricing](https://cloud.google.com/pubsub/pricing)
~~~
richdougherty
_During the beta period, the service is available for free. Once it comes out
of beta, developers will have to pay $0.40 per million for the first 100
million API calls each month. Users who need to send more messages will pay
$0.25 per million for the next 2.4 billion operations (that’s about 1,000
messages per second) and $0.05 per million for messages above that._
[http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/04/googles-cloud-pubsub-
real-t...](http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/04/googles-cloud-pubsub-real-time-
messaging-service-is-now-in-public-beta/)
~~~
yueq
This is cheap considering the amount of work if a company build/operates on
their own.
------
AceJohnny2
Oh man, Pub/Sub, there's a term I haven't heard in a few years. It was a
pretty big thing in XMPP [1] not so long ago (standardized only 2010?), and I
remember people being disappointed that the HTTP-based and Google-driven
PubSubHubbub [2] was gaining popularity faster. In retrospect, this was a sign
of XMPP's loss of steam as a general web protocol :(
Google Cloud Pub/Sub is HTTP(S), so I guess it's based on PubSubHubbub?
[1]
[http://www.xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0060.html](http://www.xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0060.html)
[2]
[https://code.google.com/p/pubsubhubbub/](https://code.google.com/p/pubsubhubbub/)
~~~
hencq
From the FAQ [1]: "While Googlers were closely involved in originating
PubSubHubbub, its strengths in RSS and content syndication generally are not
use cases that Cloud Pub/Sub is designed to address. Aside from the name, they
have very little in common."
[1]
[https://cloud.google.com/pubsub/faq#pubsubhubbub](https://cloud.google.com/pubsub/faq#pubsubhubbub)
~~~
tmatsuo
Yes, you are right. BTW, the use cases are different, but both are using the
same core infrastructure that is widely used within Google, which is proven to
be scalable and robust :)
------
pbhowmic
Used it, hated it, switched to RabbitMQ on GCE, saved my life
~~~
stegro32
Would you be willing to say why you hated it?
------
KillerRAK
Like the idea of future cloud portability? Go ahead and use this service --
Google dares you.
~~~
joshrivers
PubSub messaging is definitely a PaaS feature more than an IaaS feature, so
it's going to be less portable until we have the problem so well surrounded
that we get some sort of open source abstraction to the whole problem and all
of it's semantics. So, yes, there is a level of lock-in.
However! I know of a number of PaaS products that provide similar
functionality, and with some effort, you can build it in AWS or Azure
features, or you can build your own on top of RabbitMQ or Apache projects. The
characteristics are going to be different, but it's doable. It might be like a
MySQL to Postgres migration, or it might be like a MySQL to Mongo migration,
but there _is_ a migration. Using a vendor product with unique advantages as a
dependency is a known engineering problem with known risks. Take your
dependencies carefully, but it's riskier to take no dependencies and fail to
deliver a useful product.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Microsoft deploys first major server application on Ubuntu - tanglesome
http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-deploys-first-major-server-application-on-ubuntu-linux/
======
mtgx
Aren't Skype's nodes Linux boxes, too?
~~~
hga
Yes, initially around 10,000 of them running a grsecurity kernel when they
switched over from Skype the corporation's "volunteer" supernodes.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Looking for feedback on a Webpack/etc plugin - Klonoar
I say "/etc", because it kind of covers a bunch of different topics.<p>https://github.com/ryanmcgrath/react-iconpack<p>react-iconpack is essentially a suite of plugins:<p><pre><code> - A Babel plugin to track <Icon> usage across your builds
- A Webpack or Browserify plugin to inject SVG source as a module
- A React Component that gets injected to handle
displaying icons from the aforementioned module
</code></pre>
The build on npm is the old one, which the docs are still more or less current with. The code in the repository linked above is the updated version to work with Webpack; while it does work, it falters when caching is enabled on the upstream stuff (i.e, Webpack/Babel/etc). It's probably because I've just been staring at it for too long but I'd be interested in anyone's thoughts on integrating with said cache setups - the crux of the issue is that the Babel plugin won't run on already-built and cached modules (which makes sense, but is annoying in this particular case).<p>The rationale for the project is that I don't want to have to specifically import an icon at the top of each file just to display it - I'd rather just write the <Icon ... /> JSX and have it auto-pulled in. It rides on the mental ease of JSX all being inline (not interested in the for-or-against JSX debate).<p>Apologies if the formatting is off on this, I can never remember how it works on HN.
======
brudgers
If there's just a link and a title, the link gets submitted. If there is
anything in the text box, that gets submitted instead of the link.
For a "Show HN", it usually makes sense to submit the link and then an
explanatory comment after the thread has been created. For a link to a Github
repository, _I_ like to land on the _readme_ page rather than the main
repository, but that's just _me_ not finding much value in scrolling.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Amazon ECHO - syshackbot
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X4WHP5E/ref=s9_pop_gw_g451_i2?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-7&pf_rd_r=1NA8YZ60W55V0MXKEWM7&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2090151022&tag=facebookoffer15-20&pf_rd_i=desktop
======
heavymark
Confused, why is this trending. What's the new news about the Echo?
~~~
JoeAltmaier
Maybe it got cheaper? $179 is less than the beta price I think...
~~~
bauer
beta price was $100
seems like spam to me
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Send message beyond time and space - kayxxxxxxx
https://spacetimepost.uc.r.appspot.com/
======
kayxxxxxxx
SpaceTimePost makes it possible to send message to someone without knowing
name nor email address. The only thing you should know to send message is the
place and time.
This is a beta version and we'd like to have your feedbacks:D Thanks.
~~~
brudgers
How does it work?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Unreal Engine 4.19 Released - ksec
https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/unreal-engine-4-19-released
======
frenchie14
I've tried to learn UE4 multiple times before and I can never get into it.
I've been using Unity for several years and the workflow was much more
intuitive to me when I first picked it up. Visual scripting doesn't really
work for me and the UE4 C++ scripts feel very cumbersome next to Unity's C#
scripting (not just the language, but the amount of work needed to get the
desired behavior). It's a shame because the tooling, rendering pipeline, and
updates for UE4 are way ahead of Unity and I get envious every time I see
these releases.
Does anyone here use UE4 to develop small games? If so, what's your
development workflow like for game logic?
~~~
peterlk
I had also tried to get into UE4 a couple times, and failed until I used found
the following resources:
[https://www.udemy.com/unrealcourse/learn/v4/overview](https://www.udemy.com/unrealcourse/learn/v4/overview)
\- a bit slow, but there is tons of content
[https://www.udemy.com/unrealmultiplayer/learn/v4/overview](https://www.udemy.com/unrealmultiplayer/learn/v4/overview)
\- building an online game with Unreal turned out to be stupid hard for me,
and this has paved the way
[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRnPBe1tJpXA0lccx_U1mww](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRnPBe1tJpXA0lccx_U1mww)
\- UnrealGaimedev is amazing. I have so much thanks for his videos
With those, I have built some simple games. One of the things that I have
found interesting is that the visual programming of UE4 can accomplish way
more than I thought it was capable of. If you're getting started, I'd
recommend not even touching C++ because the visual programming stuff is
powerful enough for pretty much everything you would need in a hobby game.
~~~
isopede
I have been getting into Unreal the last few months and had the opposite
experience.
I found the visual programming language frustrating to use and reason about.
While I loved the discoverability of working with blueprints (it is easy to
find new nodes), I found that actually working on game logic quickly devolved
into an unmaintainable mess of literally, spaghetti code. It was great for
prototyping, but horrible at actually building something maintainable and
understandable. Reading other people's blueprint setup is even worse.
I found the workflow even more frustrating. Blueprints are stored as uasset
binaries, and as such make traditional version control impossible. Changing a
single default parameter in a blueprint rewrites the entire file, and can not
be diffed, merged, or reviewed, making git/p4 log nearly useless.
I know there is a builtin diff/merge in the editor, but it's pretty limited
and I would say it's quite a far cry from what "normal" developers are used to
in other parts of the software world.
I have since switched to using mostly C++, and only using blueprints for
derived Actors to set up art (meshes, materials, etc). It's definitely slower
to set up than using the blueprints. I'm not happy about being back in a place
where segfaults can happen; the compile-play-crash-restart cycle is much
longer than it should be. I'm not a huge fan of C++, warts and all. In return,
however, I can actually read the code, grep it, review it, etc. Do "all the
things" you're supposed to do as a good software engineer. I really don't know
how the AAA game studios are managing real games with blueprints, I kind of
doubt they are.
At least as an experienced software developer but amateur game programmer, I
found it much more comfortable to sit down with C++ and learn their API, than
it was to perform game logic by dragging around 'foreach' boxes and doing
arithmetic by crossing lines.
~~~
peterlk
I was also frustrated with the poor git support by blueprints. I ended up just
writing long commit messages so that I could read about what I (thought) I had
changed
~~~
pfranz
I've found the git support to be lacking. Every game studio I've known uses
Perforce mostly because it handles lots of binary data much better. Because of
the way games are developed, DCVS don't have as many benefits.
~~~
isopede
Perforce is great for binaries, but really kind of a substandard experience
for code, at least compared to hg/git.
I also tried Git LFS and it is a hot mess.
~~~
pfranz
I don't have much firsthand experience with Perforce. I've set it up, attached
it to UE4 and just appended commits. I have been on the miserable side of git
and binary data, LFS and other solutions seemed like awkward solutions.
Even ignoring the distributed aspect of git, the things I loved as a solo
developer was immediate branching, a sane way of merging, and things being
fast because there was no server to talk to (coming from SVN and CVS).
Now that I think more about it, I think some of the game studios I'm familiar
with were using Git for the engine and artists were using Perforce for their
assets.
------
bhouston
This is just brutal to Simplygon:
"The new system is used by HLOD and is a replacement for Simplygon....After
the prompted editor restart, the Plugin will replace the third party Simplygon
tool for static mesh merging LODs. This new Plugin is accessed in two ways:
The HLOD Outliner, and the Merge Actors dialog."
~~~
jensvdh
They got acquired by Microsoft, they'll live.
------
ksec
I cant think of a single pieces of software that has this consistent pace of
improvements, massive changes every release and shipping every few months, and
has been doing so for years.
~~~
vvanders
Many internal game engines go through similar levels of churn + updates, they
just usually don't see the light of day.
Gamedev is a somewhat unique space in that about 6 months from ship you fork
from upstream and almost never merge again. Heck most licensees I know hacked
UE3 to hell-and-back(which we did too) to add the features that we need to
actually ship.
------
minimaxir
It's funny how Fortnite became the ultimate pitch for UE4's versatility.
~~~
strgrd
I think it's funny that Fortnite will probably cause the inevitable unraveling
of UE4, as yet another game engine without baked-in anti-cheat.
Cheating in Fortnite is practically unheard of at this point. But it won't be
long until the player base is just as jaded as PUBG's:
[https://github.com/Griizz/Fortnite-Hack](https://github.com/Griizz/Fortnite-
Hack)
~~~
quacker
I have a few reactions here:
1\. Why should Epic go and reimplement anti-cheat that you can grab off the
shelf?
2\. A big part of limiting cheating comes down to the specific game design and
implementation. You need a server implementation that is as distrusting of
clients as possible, you need secure (networking) code, etc. Anti-cheat is not
a cure-all.
3\. Even without anti-cheat, Unreal Engine is still well-used by tons of
single-player video games. I don't see it "unraveling" regardless.
~~~
admax88q
> 2\. A big part of limiting cheating comes down to the specific game design
> and implementation. You need a server implementation that is as distrusting
> of clients as possible, you need secure (networking) code, etc. Anti-cheat
> is not a cure-all.
Unfortunately that's just not realistic for a large category of games. If you
can trust the clients to some degree then you can really really offload a lot
of server work. It's not feasible to process user's mouse input on the server
in an FPS for example. Not just from a server load standpoint but from a
latency standpoint.
~~~
monstrado
You don't need to do this in real time, instead you could log the data (e.g.
mouse clicks, key presses) to something like a database, Kafka, or Kenesis.
Now you've unloaded the anti cheat logic to other servers.
You don't necessarily need to ban a player immediately. If you can accurately
ban people within a day of using a cheat, then that's a pretty serious
deterrent from using them.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Tuning machine learning models - Zephyr314
http://blog.sigopt.com/post/111903668663/tuning-maching-learning-models
======
mjw
Nice post, couple of bits of feedback:
When you talk about "fit" it sounds like you mean fit to the training data,
which would obviously be a bad thing to optimise hyperparameters for. From the
github repo it sounds like you are using a held-out validation set, but maybe
worth being clear about this (e.g. call it something like "predictive
performance on validation set").
When you've optimised over hyper-parameters using a validation set, you need
to hold out a further test set and report results of your optimised
hyperparameter settings on that test set, rather than just report the best
achieved metric on the validation set. Is that what you did here? Maybe worth
a mention.
A question about sigopt: how do you compare to open-source tools like
hyperopt, spearmint and so on? Do you have proprietary algorithms? Are there
classes of problems which you do better or worse on? Or is it more about the
convenience ?
~~~
Houshalter
>When you've optimised over hyper-parameters using a validation set, you need
to hold out a further test set and report results of your optimised
hyperparameter settings on that test set, rather than just report the best
achieved metric on the validation set.
It is possible to overfit hyperparameters. However that's beyond the scope of
these methods, whose only goal is to find the best settings for the validation
set. So comparing their validation scores is fair, and the test scores could
potentially be misleading.
~~~
mjw
Yeah I was thinking about this after I posted. Not entirely convinced though
-- I want the hyperparameters I learn to generalise to unseen data, just like
plain old parameters. If there are two methods for learning them then I'm
going to pick the one which performs best on unseen data and I'd like a metric
which helps me make that choice.
Sure, you can evaluate them purely as optimisation algorithms, but does it
follow that the better optimisation algorithm is necessarily better at picking
hyperparameters that generalise to unseen data?
One way that hyperparameter optimisation can overfit that people don't always
think about, is by repeatedly evaluating high-variance metrics and picking the
best of N tries. This has burned me when it comes to optimising settings for
stochastic optimisation algorithms for example. An algorithm that was very
aggressive in doing this might reach a better maximum on the validation set
but wouldn't do any better on held-out data.
There are things you can do to compensate for that of course (variance
estimates for metrics is a good idea!), but evaluating on a test set data
usually doesn't hurt and seems like the safest option.
~~~
Houshalter
>If there are two methods for learning them then I'm going to pick the one
which performs best on unseen data and I'd like a metric which helps me make
that choice.
But both methods will converge to the exact same set of hyper parameters, the
ones that are optimal for the validation set. The only difference is some
methods are faster.
------
Zephyr314
I'm one of the founders of SigOpt and I am happy to answer any questions about
this post, our methods, or anything about SigOpt. I'll be in this thread all
day.
~~~
pfhayes
Another founder here! If you have any questions about our engineering stack,
I'm happy to answer.
~~~
orsenthil
Can it solve the halting problem?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Late Bloomers: Why Do We Equate Genius with Precocity? (2008) - kawera
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/10/20/late-bloomers-malcolm-gladwell
======
iliketosleep
I believe this really depends on the field you're looking at. In pursuits
where extraordinary levels of raw ability is absolutely paramount, precocity
will be there 9/10 (or more). The best example is the quintessential chess
genius. It's hard to find a chess champion who wasn't a precocious talent.
It's the same with concert pianists.
In other fields, some raw ability (but not necessarily an obvious precocious
talent) is still necessary but other factors are also paramount. In the field
of literature, richness of experience and maturity can take an author to a
higher level. In various fields of scientific research, decades of accumulated
knowledge/experience can be pivotal to success.
My point is that in some fields, it makes complete sense to equate genius with
precocity, but in others it makes little sense.
~~~
InclinedPlane
> _" The best example is the quintessential chess genius. It's hard to find a
> chess champion who wasn't a precocious talent."_
Hold on a second there. Becoming a chess champion is effectively a full time
job, and it takes a tremendous amount of work to acquire the skill to do so.
Who, as an adult, is going to pursue that as a career if they haven't been
playing chess tournaments since childhood? I would argue that there really
isn't a path to becoming a chess champion except via being a precocious
talent. Without that hope the family and the individual isn't going to pursue
it as an option. Nobody is out there earning degrees in professional chess and
then going into office work or silicon valley or what-have-you, it's just an
extremely specialized field.
~~~
grenoire
I agree, the causation is likely due to the fact that kids who are good at
playing chess early on keep playing chess, which by default gives them years
of additional training and experience more. As opposed to someone who has only
started at 18, they are going to have a hard time competing not due to their
intelligence or genius-factor, but lack of training.
------
daviswithanS
I recently had the pleasure of reading the book Outliers, also by Malcolm
Gladwell. In this book, one of his techniques is to present the typical
"genius" or "rags-to-riches" type story and pick it apart, showing that
success comes more frequently from environment and having the opportunity to
work hard than from some innate genius. Here he uses the same technique. He
presents the popular conception of Ben Fountain's story - a man quits his job
and becomes a successful author through talent and motivation. Then,
throughout the rest of the article, he adds nuance and exposes some of the
overlooked details - that man was supported financially by his wife, had free
time throughout the day to work, developed his talent excruciatingly slowly
and took almost twenty years to catch his first break. While the focus of this
article was more to discuss what it means to be or become a genius, I find it
refreshing to think that these kinds of success stories often have hidden
details that allow them to feel more realistic and attainable.
On a more personal level, I really appreciated this article. I recently made
the decision to study music at a conservatory rather than go into programming
as I had originally planned. Programming has always been something I've been
naturally good at (I used to think of myself as a very technical, STEMmy kind
of person - I laugh at that now), whereas performing music is a passion I've
only recently rekindled. As a result, I've had a few doubts about my ability
to become a good musician or whether I've made the right choice. This article,
however, reassures me that being born with innate talent is not the only path
to becoming a good musician (although it sure would have been nice).
~~~
Retric
Just understand these stories are still focused on the winners. You can be a
top 1% musician and still need a day job.
~~~
maceurt
You can be the most skilled musician in the world, and still not have a job.
Luck and politics matters a lot in music, and the margins between the best
musician and everyone else is such a small percent that the king makers
(record labels, opera houses, etc.) can afford to not have the most skilled
musician if they see fit.
~~~
puranjay
A lot in music depends on the kind of music you want to make. Certain music
genres are able to support a much larger section of musicians, regardless of
their innate talent. A top 10% violinist doesn't have as many opportunities as
a top 10% EDM producer.
Music is also strange that you can be a top 1% musician (in terms of sales and
popularity) without having the skills of a top 1% musician. As long as you can
write pop hits (which doesn't require the strongest technical skills, that is.
~~~
weliketocode
Agreed on all your points except for that it is strange.
I'd say in most fields, expertise is second to sales & politics ability for
generating revenues & popularity.
------
eksemplar
I think our educational system is flawed as well. I know a lot of talented
people who would be able to do great things in science and research if there
was a way for them to enter academia after they’ve become full fledged adults.
Often it’s people who matured late or spend their youths trying to figure out
what they wanted, and now they can’t really enter into academia because the
institutions were build to educate the same way we educate children.
I know there are masters programs, but a lot of those, and a lot of people who
take the time to re-educated, are solely focused on getting more valuable for
business, not for research.
It’s a shame, because I think we lose a lot of potential by almost entirely
focusing our higher learning systems on young people.
~~~
InclinedPlane
It is flawed, flawed to the point of being broken. What education should be:
teaching children to become mature adults and functional members of a
cooperative society, teaching coping skills for adulthood, cultivating and
encouraging a sense of curiosity and interest in reading, learning, etc. What
education tends to be: a brutal factory that is not unlike prison that
babysits children until they are legally (but not emotionally or
intellectually) adults while burning out every ounce of curiosity in science
and learning in all but a precious few individuals.
There are tons of ways the system can be improved. One little thing I'll point
out is that in school the expectation is perfection and deviation from
"perfection" (orthodoxy, memorization, etc.) is punished. If you "fail" a
midterm or a big project but end the course with a high degree of mastery of
the material you are punished with a lower grade. If you excel in certain
subjects but only passably good in some others then you are again punished.
Which is exactly the opposite of the way real life works. If you are a
superstar (perhaps literally) in even just one area (science, music, art,
writing, comedy, machine tools, what-have-you) whereas in other areas you
merely have a basic level of competency, well in that case you can become
hugely, wildly successful. And yet the educational system would lead you to
believe that you would have a dim future in that case and you should stop
focusing on what you are best at and most passionate about to improve your
"grades" on everything else.
~~~
trukterious
_> educational system [...] stop focusing on what you are best at and most
passionate about to improve your "grades"_
Yes. Precocious boys follow a sequence of obsessions. The way to foster
achievement, then, is to find out what a child loves and help him to do more
of it. Ultimately this may involve finding a master who can act as mentor.
It's not going to happen in conformity factories dominated by ideologies (and
often policed by bullies).
~~~
watwut
That is not true. Kids who develop abilities or inclinations at an earlier age
than is usual or expected don't necessary follow obsessions. Their brains
often simply develop a bit faster then brains of other kids, hence sooner
abilities and inclinations.
It does not mean they will end up more skilled in adulthood nor that they are
necessary obsessed types.
Conversely, obsessed personality types are not always that much better then
others if their obsession is not channeled in an effective way. The obsession
is not necessary combined with larger talent or effective learning methods.
~~~
trukterious
Well I'm not talking about obsession in the sense of a mental disorder -- but
in the sense of that one thing X that a particular person happens to be in
love with at the moment (could be piano, could be tennis, could be computer
programming or could be something socially disapproved of like pokemon or
skateboarding or whatever). The obsession creates a _depth_ of knowledge. Even
when you try to make such people do other stuff, they'll still be daydreaming
about X. So better to work with it.
~~~
watwut
Obsession creates time spent by topical activity. If does not create depth of
knowledge unless channeled right. Kid won't go far in piano or tennis or math
unless having good teacher no matter how obssesed. All those fields are too
competitive for that.
> Even when you try to make such people do other stuff, they'll still be
> daydreaming about X. So better to work with it.
That is point where it is approaching mental problem. Most kids, evenovanej
those with strong hobbies are fully able to learn other things too.
Also, the competition winning programmers among my peers had wide knowledge in
non coding areas. Then again, our environment and camps encouraged that sort
of thing.
------
chrissam
Because geniuses are often precocious.
Here's a critical review from Steven Pinker that criticizes the kind of
reasoning Gladwell uses in this article:
[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/books/review/Pinker-t.htm...](https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/books/review/Pinker-t.html)
~~~
neumann
Thank you, that was a great example of a critical review. I need to find my
Igon Values.
~~~
jacobush
"Readers have much to learn from Gladwell the journalist and essayist. But
when it comes to Gladwell the social scientist, they should watch out for
those igon values."
I didn't know Steven Pinker was tactful!
------
motohagiography
More interested in why we need to believe in genius in the first place.
I find it can be a kind of secular sainthood that has a mythology around it
that serves as a post-hoc justification of certain social outcomes. Few
understand the contributions of minds like Feynman, Davinci, Einstein, but we
hold them up as symbols of a kind of mystery cult around science, which should
make people at least a bit curious.
There are a lot of prolific artists who aren't included in the genius canon,
and it's an almost exclusively masculine archetype, which means it either
tells us something about who we are, or it's the noisy artifact of a crude
model. My bet is on the latter.
While the particular acumen for appreciating and operating on abstractions is
probably pareto distributed (like everything), what it represents is much more
interesting.
When you believe in genius, you likely believe it is meaningful that there are
people you will never compare to, who have advantages you are physically
incapable of obtaining, who were chosen to receive a gift while you were not,
that there are people whose nature or perceived potential means they should be
held to different standards, or that someones success can be less legitimate
because of a perceived intellectual advantage. Not saying any of those
statements are true, but they are definitely the effects of how people relate
themselves to the belief in genius.
Without those beliefs, we've got some much harder questions to answer.
Personally, I think precosity can be cultivated and refined into something
great, but genius itself is an artifact reflected from others beliefs, and not
an intrinsic quality.
~~~
Isamu
>Without those beliefs, we've got some much harder questions to answer.
Personally, I think precosity can be cultivated and refined into something
great
Very much so, and sometimes ascribing genius is just shorthand for "I don't
plan to try".
More insidious is "talent", also held to be an intrinsic quality. But it turns
out that "talent" is a trap for those who are talented.
Talent is a trap: I came across this when watching a digital painting video,
the host was relating how some of the people in art school were obviously
talented and some were just slugging it out like he was. He noticed over time
that the talented ones were more likely to give up at some point, and the
sloggers were more likely to keep going and become successful making art a
profession.
The problem is that the talented are characterized by things seeming to come
easily, but it's not an infinite ability and sooner or later they come up
against some technique or assignment that is a problem and that will take real
patience and work to get through. That comes as a real shock that can shake
your confidence in your "talent", which was an illusion anyway.
The sloggers have the advantage of always having to work hard to make
progress, so everything is a struggle and the only surprises are when
something goes easily. Those kind of expectations set you up better for
success in a profession, which is just hard work in the end.
------
RcouF1uZ4gsC
My two biggest counter examples when people say that geniuses are not born are
John von Neuman and Srinivasa Ramanujan. These two were surrounded by other
people who were regarded as geniuses in their own right, and yet these people
viewed von Neuman and Ramanujan as being on a completely different level.
~~~
adventured
Warren Buffett is an interesting example of specialized genius. He has a
gifted memory and based on what has been described about him in several books,
from birth he was of a certain emotional tilt that would serve him very well
in consistently not making investment decisions based on emotion across
decades. Buffett is an investment/financial genius, whose quite abnormal birth
traits were a prerequisite to his extreme success in the investment world.
I favor the notion that genius potential is a combination of specific narrow
traits, such that if you swap any of them out, you're very likely to lose the
genius outcome (rather than the pop caricature that genius is mentally broad;
ie if someone says: he/she is a genius! - the only proper response is: in what
narrow regard?). The popular successful genius outcome then further requires a
number of external environmental factors, such as luck (where you were born,
who your parents were, who you went to school with, who your friends were,
what time in history you were born, all the way down to the tiniest of
minutia).
~~~
moate
Like the saying goes "better lucky than good." Being born a white man in
America at the time he was to a politically connected, financially stable
family were all things that benefited him greatly and which he had 0 control
over.
The older I get, the more of a fatalist I become. The whole universe is just
luck and entropy, and anyone telling you otherwise is probably just trying to
sell you something.
------
Blackthorn
Media plays such a huge part in this. How often do we see young people saving
the world versus old people? I like the Marvel movies because the protagonists
are mostly reasonably aged.
I try to remind myself at times that Gaston Glock didn't design his first gun
until age 52.
------
whitepoplar
Because it's a lot easier for someone to convince himself that "genius" is a
born trait, lest he look in the mirror and ask himself why he's not working
harder to achieve something.
------
wwweston
Precocity means early identification of potential in a given field.
Early identification of that potential means individuals and institutions
around the individual start to dedicate resources towards their development.
Having resources dedicated to that development means such individuals can
specialize and focus without having to spend as much (or, perhaps, anything)
in terms of time/resources on normal life-supporting activities.
Early identification also means investment of attention which accrues in
_reputation_ (and probably compounds in much the same way early financial
investment does), which means less time spent having to convince people to
give you opportunities.
Basically: there's a path-dependent element to success / prestige. Precocity
is not the only route but it helps so much that of course it's often
correlated with recognized genius.
------
hodgesrm
What a great story. The most intriguing person was Sharon, Ben Fountain's
wife. She seems like an outstanding human being.
------
amelius
I'm not sure if this is true. For example, Nobel prizes are usually assigned
at quite an old age, and this leads people to think the opposite. Also people
usually associate the word "professor" with an old guy. The picture of
Einstein that people have in their minds is not of his younger years. Etc.
etc.
~~~
TheTrotters
But the relevant research is usually done when these people are much younger.
Einstein has made his major contributions to physics by the time he was 36.
Fame and prestige are lagging indicators.
------
occamschainsaw
This podcast by Gladwell also expands on his article:
[http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/07-hallelujah](http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/07-hallelujah)
------
rawoke083600
Well I can't be one(Genius) - I had to google "precocity"
~~~
commandlinefan
I figured it came from "precocious" but I was like, "is that actually a word?"
------
dang
Discussed in 2014:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8229385](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8229385)
~~~
teddyh
Isn’t that what the “past” link is for at the top of the page?
------
k__
You learn the best when you're young and if you aren't distracted by social
stuff you have more time?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Simulating RISC-V Clusters with FPGAs on AWS - fabuzaid
https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/compute/bringing-datacenter-scale-hardware-software-co-design-to-the-cloud-with-firesim-and-amazon-ec2-f1-instances/
======
meta-tron
I think it proves AWS will be an alternative and potentially great choice for
fabless chip company/startup.
They all need emulation to validate their chip design. However emulator is
very very expensive, and unlikely in full use.
------
brian-armstrong
Deving on AWS? That seems awfully frustrating and expensive. Now every time I
click compile I can remember how much this is going to cost me.
~~~
akshayn
You should compare this to the cost of buying an FPGA. It can be cost-
effective.
~~~
taylorphebus
[https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/xilinx-
inc/XCVU9P-...](https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/xilinx-
inc/XCVU9P-L2FLGA2577E/XCVU9P-L2FLGA2577E-ND/7604578)
The list price of a Vu9P is like $50,000. I'm sure that's not the real price,
but still.
~~~
gravypod
[https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/microsemi-
corporat...](https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/microsemi-
corporation/M2S090TS-EVAL-KIT/1100-1228-ND/5148974)
This is about half as powerful but comes preassembled and ready to go. Also
"only" $500
~~~
mng2
The 'VU9P has ~2.5M logic elements and 6840 DSP units. The M2S090 has ~90K
logic elements and 84 math blocks. It's nowhere near the same class of device.
The AWS FPGA offering only makes sense if you absolutely need a massive FPGA
connected to massive amounts of RAM, and don't want to spend the bucks to own
it yourself.
------
borramakot
To try this, do I need the full 16XL F1 instance, or can I run 1 node on the
2XL (1 FPGA) instance?
~~~
sagark
You can run a single node on an f1.2xlarge instance.
------
monocasa
How much is an f1.2xlarge instance? My google fu seems to be failing me.
~~~
taylorphebus
[https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/on-
demand/](https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/pricing/on-demand/) $1.65/hour in N.
Virginia
Way less with spot prices, but for something like this, you probably want on-
demand.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ohm: we've decided to cancel the campaign - ycnews
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ohm-a-car-battery-that-never-needs-to-be-jumped#/updates
======
sterlingross
Thank you for being honest about the challenges you have faced with this
hardware goal. I'm a little disappointed I won't be getting my Ohm battery,
but it is better than promising something you can't deliver or delivering
something that wouldn't live up to your promises.
I might be in a different market though, since I specifically wanted an ultra
light weight battery for a stripped down street legal race car. Any plans to
continue pursuing this market segment? We obviously don't have any high
electrical needs beyond simply starting the car and running the on board ECU.
------
tonyarkles
Any possibility we could get more details on what went wrong? I'm an EE and
had some thoughts when I first heard about the campaign, but I suspended
disbelief and gave you guys the benefit of the doubt.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A deep-sea fisherman in Russia has been posting his finds on Twitter - Jerry2
http://www.businessinsider.com/a-deep-sea-fisherman-in-russia-has-been-posting-his-finds-on-twitter-2016-12
======
adrianN
Trawling the deep ocean ought to be banned. These ecosystems regenerate
extremely slowly because they're so poor in nutrients and sunlight.
~~~
whyenot
When it comes to many ocean fisheries, we are literally scraping the bottom of
the barrel, unfortunately.
Take for example slimeheads (marketed as "orange roughy" in the USA). These
fish live deep in the ocean, can take _decades_ to reach reproductive maturity
and a marketable size, and can live up to 149 years. Harvested by bottom
trawling, their commercial exploitation causes tremendous damage to the
seafloor. Just some food for thought the next time you sit down in a
restaurant and dine on a fish that is likely older than your parents.
~~~
antisthenes
They aren't even good fish to eat.
High in mercury, low in omega-3 acids. And being from the twilight zone,
something tells me it will taste like all the other scavenger-type fish and
sea creatures.
Only reason to eat one over a farmed salmon would be for the novelty factor.
------
rsiqueira
The top scariest are:
1\. The Chimera:
[https://twitter.com/rfedortsov/status/808018055905349637](https://twitter.com/rfedortsov/status/808018055905349637)
and
2\. The Cyclops:
[https://twitter.com/rfedortsov/status/811778971075547136](https://twitter.com/rfedortsov/status/811778971075547136)
~~~
theparanoid
They make the alien in Alien look practically warm and fuzzy.
~~~
jghn
Some are close enough that they're believed to have inspired the xenomorphs
directly
[http://www.livescience.com/43076-meet-phronima-the-barrel-
ri...](http://www.livescience.com/43076-meet-phronima-the-barrel-riding-
parasite-that-inspired-the-movie-alien.html)
~~~
cgh
I think this is a myth that gets propogated online without any citations.
Giger's "Necronom IV" painting from 1976[0] was the inspiration of the
xenomorph in "Alien". Is there any evidence this painting was in turn inspired
by deep undersea creatures?
[0]
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/db/H.R._Giger_-_...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/db/H.R._Giger_-
_Necronom_IV.jpg)
~~~
jghn
I believe the article I linked mentioned the thought being that it was the
queen from Aliens, not the original xenomorph. I also wouldn't be surprised to
find it to be untrue altogether, thus the "believed to be" phrasing.
------
fauria
Imgur gallery:
[http://imgur.com/gallery/CWOr8](http://imgur.com/gallery/CWOr8)
Many of them are abyssal species, I wonder how deep are they trawling.
------
zilian
It is fascinating, yet sad to see so many endangered species if you go on his
instagram feed. For instance the Ocean sunfish:
[https://youtu.be/ddUJT0i9sCM?t=59](https://youtu.be/ddUJT0i9sCM?t=59)
------
acqq
Wow:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoplight_loosejaw](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoplight_loosejaw)
"Malacosteus and the related genera ... are the only fishes that _produce red
bioluminescence._ As most of their prey organisms are not capable of
perceiving light at those wavelengths, this allows Malacosteus to _hunt with
an essentially invisible beam of light._ Furthermore, Malacosteus is unique
amongst animals in using a chlorophyll derivative to perceive red light."
------
spodek
HN mostly puts down reddit, but:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/deepseacreatures/](https://www.reddit.com/r/deepseacreatures/)
~~~
nkrisc
That sub has posts of "dead dragons" and "mermaids"...
My eyes are rolling so hard right now.
------
paulmd
Business Insider has been posting an awful lot of clickbait lately.
~~~
qwrusz
By lately do you mean 7 years? Clickbait has been their entire business model
from pretty much day 1.
To their credit, BI's clickbait headline writing skills are stronger and their
thesaurus of adverbs thicker than many competitor sites.
Plus you'll never guess this one _amazing_ thing BI does that skyrocketed them
to among the best in the industry at headlines...
------
whowalrus
Extremely fascinating. Seeing the alien-ness of the creatures, I wonder if any
fiction writers have written well-researched stories set in this portion of
the ocean? Seems like it would make for a fascinating setting.
~~~
Lio
What always blows my mind is that these most alien looking creatures are not
alien at all. We share DNA with them and are evolved for the same planet.
Which begs the question, what would actual aliens look like?
Would parallel evolution produce familiar looking creatures or something much
much stranger? I imagine it's something that sci-fi authors spend a bit of
time thinking about.
~~~
ecdavis
There's a great book about this called "Life Beyond Earth" by Gerald Feinberg
and Robert Shapiro. It discusses possibilities ranging from silicon-based life
to plasma-based and even radiation-based life. It's not speculative, but since
it's rather old the science in it may be dated.
It's worth reading if you're interested in this topic.
------
anc84
I would be scared about toxicity, is that not a possible problem?
~~~
woliveirajr
Given that he's holding with bare hands... I would never do that. Just one
specime with poison or something line that, and you're done.
~~~
JoeAltmaier
A fisherman's hands are almost as good as gloves. Not much going to get
through that hide.
------
tannhaeuser
spiegel.de had a biologist classify these creatures (in German, [1]); Google's
translation ([2]) probably won't make sense, though.
[1]: [http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/russland-fischer-
fa...](http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/russland-fischer-faengt-immer-
wieder-gruselige-kreaturen-a-1126992.html)
[2]:
[https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=h...](https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spiegel.de%2Fwissenschaft%2Fnatur%2Frussland-
fischer-faengt-immer-wieder-gruselige-kreaturen-a-1126992.html)
------
kasperset
Reminds me of second episode of this documentary (2001):
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Planet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Planet)
------
s_kilk
I hate the sea, and everything in it.
~~~
GrinningFool
Take comfort in knowing that it hates you, too.
And know that it's waiting for you. It's very good at waiting.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Elusive Byzantine Empire - diodorus
https://www.historytoday.com/miscellanies/elusive-byzantine-empire
======
geowwy
> To begin at the beginning is tricky. Did the empire begin when the emperor
> Constantine moved his capital from Rome to Constantinople in 324? When the
> city was consecrated by both pagan and Christian priests in May 330? Or did
> it begin in 395 when the two halves of the vast Roman empire were officially
> divided into East and West, or even later in the late 5th century when Rome
> was sacked, conquered and governed by the Goths, leaving Constantinople and
> the East as the sole heir of the empire?
It's tricky to define the beginning the Byzantine Empire because the Byzantine
Empire is a construct invented by Western historians.
The Byzantine Empire is just the Roman Empire.
~~~
jcranmer
Yes and no. The Byzantine Empire is _a_ continuation of the Roman Empire, but
it is not _the_ continuation of the Roman Empire. Saying that the Byzantine
Empire is just the Roman Empire masks the fact that it really is a Ship of
Theseus situation: in terms of administration, culture, military practices,
etc., there is rather more discontinuity between the Roman Empire of 200 and
the Byzantine Empire of 800, although the changes were gradual and not sudden.
A good comparison is to Chinese history. The Chinese tend to argue that they
have a continuous empire stretching back to the Xia dynasty (or the Qin
dynasty, depending on how much credence you give to the historicity of Xia,
Shang, and Zhou dynasties), albeit broken up into distinct dynasties. Yet this
is similarly not quite so truthful--China was often fragmented into warring
polities with no clear hegemon, and there are times when even the Chinese
historians couldn't maintain the pretense that there was on (say, the Three
Kingdoms period).
Western historiography does emphasize the discontinuity rather than the
continuity, and it is wrong, but so is emphasizing the continuity and ignoring
the discontinuity.
~~~
ozgune
It's worth noting that the term Byzantine was invented in late 16th century,
way after the empire collapsed.
Between 330-1453 AD, it was called the Roman Empire. To this day, the Greek
ethnic minority living in Istanbul call themselves Rum, meaning Roman.
After the Ottomans invaded Istanbul, they claimed themselves as the legitimate
successors to the Roman Empire. Those in Western Europe weren't too happy. So
they coined the term Byzantine to discredit the Roman Empire's legitimacy.
Byzantine was the name given to Istanbul prior to the Roman Empire, in 657 BC.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantium](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantium)
If you ask some Rums living in Istanbul today, it was a big PR campaign to
discredit the Roman Empire's legacy post 330 AD. It worked nicely.
~~~
YeGoblynQueenne
>> To this day, the Greek ethnic minority living in Istanbul call themselves
Rum, meaning Roman.
That's all Greeks. We all call ourselves "Romioi", i.e. "Romans". We also call
ourselves Hellenes, like in ancient times and "Graikoi", which is also an
ancient word for "Greek".
We call ourselves lots of things. It proves nothing.
------
khrbrt
For those interested, the excellent History of Byzantium podcast[0] is
covering the entire history of the empire, from the fall of the western
empire, up to the sack of Constantinople. It gets pretty in-depth, with each
episode covering a distinct event or topic, and stops every century to give a
survey of what's going beyond the empire's borders and broad changes in the
lives of its people and their culture.
0: [https://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/](https://thehistoryofbyzantium.com/)
~~~
Dylanfm
I really enjoyed the 12 Byzantine Rulers podcast too, along with the
accompanying book Lost To The West
[https://12byzantinerulers.com](https://12byzantinerulers.com)
------
acjohnson55
The rise of the caliphate at the expense of the Romans (and Persians) seems a
lot less shocking after listening to the History of Byzantium. The Romans
thought the deserts were a natural southern border. But they became a giant
highway in the face of unifying desert tribes.
It's quite similar to how the Vikings inverted the strategic safety of the sea
and rivers in the north.
------
girzel
That's the second Byzantine-related posting I've seen today. I'll chime in
with Ghost Empire by Richard Fidler, which I'm reading because I'm organizing
some author events for him in China. Seems very well researched and well
written; a popular account rather than a historical deep dive, but lots of fun
to read.
------
gumby
> ...infamous wife, Theodora
What an odd aside. I would hardly call her 'infamous' \-- she was influential
and charitable!
------
woodandsteel
Great article, told me a whole lot I didn't know about the Byzantine empire
Articles like this are good because most people mistakenly believe that the
Roman Empire ended with the fall of Rome, and don't realize the Eastern branch
lived on for another thousand years, and with enormous impact.
------
rubayeet
I would also recommend Season 2 of Tides of History podcast series.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Edward Snowden promotes global treaty to curtail surveillance - jsnathan
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/edward-snowden-promotes-global-treaty-to-curtail-surveillance-1.3243469
======
jsnathan
I wonder what the chances are for something like this taking off. On the one
hand it is popular for politicians around the globe to criticize the U.S.
surveillance programs - on the other hand, most governments probably want the
same kind of power over their own citizens that mass surveillance can give
them.
Governments which don't currently have the technical means to run these kind
of programs might be more likely to sign up.
I really hope some country will step up soon and get the ball rolling.
~~~
hugh4
The chance is zero.
Treaties work in a situation where states are happy to stop doing something if
they can be reassured that other states will do so too. But this isn't even
really about state vs state, it's primarily about state vs non-state actors.
The interests of all states are aligned here in not signing any such treaty.
~~~
jsnathan
Not all states have these kinds of programs already running. And even if all
states interests are aligned, that still leaves the people demanding change.
Does democracy have no chance in this instance?
Remember that this is not the first time that mass surveillance programs have
been defeated. East Germany might be a good example. Of course it's different
- but also it's the same. I hope we don't need to go further down the
Orwellian rabbit hole before we realize the problems and stand up to fight
them.
~~~
vezzy-fnord
Saying the GDR's surveillance program was defeated has the causality wrong.
The state was dissolved entirely amidst the Fall of Communism. With
unification, the main SIGINT, HUMINT and foreign surveillance agency is now
the BND.
Unless your proposal is to topple nation states.
~~~
jsnathan
Just because a government is overthrown doesn't guarantee that the new
government uses less repressive policies than the old. But it worked here
because the new government had a different vision for life than the old.
I am not hoping that violent coups are necessary - or even possible in many
places. But the fact is that not all governments around the world are as
cordial as the Western ones, and mass surveillance has a terrifying potential
in many places around the globe.
I do hope that democratic states can avoid these outcomes when enough
political will has been gathered to affirm a way of life that values privacy,
and a transparent government.
------
athenot
A more realistic option would be to institute a strong audit process. Anytime
personal data is viewed or matched against some criteria, it would be logged.
By default, those logs would be available after something like a few years,
unless there's an ongoing investigation (and that extension would be logged
along with who/why it was authorized).
The only way something like this could even work is if there was a completely
separate government agency that was both empowered and motivated to be the
counterweight against warrantless surveillance. Unfortunately, I have no idea
how this could ever happen.
------
pcrh
The only way surveillance on the current scale will be defeated is if
technology makes it moot.
Perhaps someone could comment on whether current encryption protocols are
sufficient? If not, what would it take?
~~~
devit
There is currently no system that can provide perfect anonymity against a
global adversary (someone who has wiretaps on all links and can possibly
inject data as well), and it's not clear if it is technically feasible to
build one.
There is also no feasible way of mathematically proving that complex hardware
or software does what is supposed to do, which means that you need to trust
the authors, and isolation against bugs with security impact is required.
------
techdragon
I can see something like the Open Skies treaty, actually working. But that
doesn't end the surveillance it merely formalises the situation so all parties
have equal access to the same level of spying capabilities on each other.
------
ketralnis
They were already doing it secretly and lying about it. Why wouldn't they just
sign the treaty, win their political points and votes, and go right back to
doing it secretly and lying about it?
------
code_sterling
He's got a better chance of being pardoned, unfortunately.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What are other "Frighteningly Ambitious Startup Ideas"? - IgorCarron
In his recent essay, (http://paulgraham.com/ambitious.... ), PG discusses several frighteningly ambitious startup ideas. The question revolves around other ideas that PG did not discuss, Here are the one he discussed:
1. A New Search Engine
2. Replace Email
3. Replace Universities
4. Internet Drama
5. The Next Steve Jobs
6. Bring Back Moore's Law
7. Ongoing Diagnosis
======
bdr
Replace eBay. Their interface is crappy, they don't help with fulfillment, and
the reputation system could be improved. In general they seem stagnant.
~~~
karolisd
How do you solve the chicken/egg problem with replacing ebay?
~~~
threejay
There are tons of forums with a buy/sell board. Might be a nice place to
start.
------
DanBC
People keep doing dating type websites. That market is frighteningly full. But
I'm surprised people haven't seen the state of the "penpals for prisoners"
market - there are lots of websites and they are all, without exception,
appalling. Not just a bit clunky, but really really bad.
To turn that from a dull idea (it's been done, it just needs to be done
better) you'd add in some human rights stuff, and some prisoner reform stuff.
If you wanted to push some boundaries you'd use it to include schemes that
befriend, and monitor, paedophiles.
(<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11755527>)
Add in some work / education programmes (using some disruptive technology to
deliver the education; because you have a captive market.) and you've got a
nice socially aware start up.
------
breathesalt
Obtainable but challenging products I would pay for:
_Transportation:_
1\. A two-seat, 80+ mi/charge, <= $5,000, autonomous EV. Should be simple and
modular enough for self-assembly (basically Ikea for EVs). Insurance for this
would be next to nothing.
_The following should be franchises in every city that matters:_
2\. Co-working space, learning space, and living space franchises for <=
$5/day each per customer.
3\. A vertical, autonomous farm franchise for <= $5/day per customer.
4\. An autonomous, scalable manufacturer-as-a-service with a simple API (like
Heroku for manufacturing).
_Web services, Hardware, and Software:_
5\. Email will change, but not on a deep technical level. The winning service
will just let its users do everything they wish they could with email now but
can't. If such an email service were created, it would replace most social
apps/services and affect the rest profoundly.
6\. I don't think we need another Steve Jobs--but a few more PGs wouldn't
hurt.
7\. A way to prevent talent acquisitions and to encourage entrepreneurship in
a broader population outside of tech. The economy could definitely be more
distributed and diversified than it is today.
8\. An inexpensive OS and accompanying tablet tested and proven to work for
old people. If any demographic needs the power and grace of the internet, it's
old people. The interface and functionality should adapt automagically as you
get older.
9\. A subscription based service for the EV I mentioned earlier.
10\. A web service that creates DRM/copyright free songs based on songs you
like.
11\. Every time I say this I get down-voted but I would like a search engine
as good as Google, but lets you explore a realtime graph of anonymous or
aliased queries passively or actively; collaborative searching would
definitely be a feature. This solves "A New Search Engine" and "Internet
Drama" at the same time.
12\. Replace the FDA.
------
AznHisoka
Keyword popularity prediction. Not Google Trends, or Google Insights. They
show what keywords are popular after the fact - months later.. I want a tool
that scour social networks, Twitter, forums, blogs and gives you a list of
keywords in a specific niche that have been mentioned a lot in the past 7 days
or so.
~~~
spydertennis
this is interesting. you could add alerts to show when something has an XX%
rise in popularity. for example the explosion in keywords. basically creating
stock market types graphs for keywords?
------
utunga
fixing the monetary system - how about that for ambitious ;_)
~~~
michael_fine
What's wrong with the monetary system?
~~~
samstave
The Fed, Central Banks, IMF, Fiat based.
~~~
michael_fine
Any proposals on how a startup can fix that?
------
debacle
Micropayments that actually work.
------
IgorCarron
other ideas expressed on Quora:
[http://www.quora.com/Startup-Ideas/What-are-other-
Frightenin...](http://www.quora.com/Startup-Ideas/What-are-other-
Frighteningly-Ambitious-Startup-Ideas)
------
kirk21
Discover (the characteristics of) every item in the universe.
~~~
huxley
Made me think of Douglas Adams: develop an app to personally insult every
sentient being in the universe ... alphabetically.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Identify the niche influencers for your market using Google data studio - annadante
https://www.agrigoryan.me/post/identify-niche-influencers-with-google-data-studio
======
erikbrodch
very interesting, thanks! Been trying to connect the Twitter connector but for
some reason, I get: "Sign in with Google temporarily disabled for this app".
btw, I don't agree influencers' marketing is a great tactic (at least for a
startup), but that's for a different discussion.
~~~
annadante
would love to have a discussion on that! I'm thinking that each of us can be
an influencer in one way or another, and word of mouth is in its own way an
influencer marketing too.
~~~
erikbrodch
In that sense I agree, we can all be influencers, but that’s more like a
referral program and not an influencer imho. I wrote about my experience here,
I think it sums up my view [https://www.polidoesntcare.com/blog/thoughts-on-
influencers-...](https://www.polidoesntcare.com/blog/thoughts-on-influencers-
marketing) However, I do have some ideas on how to make it more efficient with
ecommerce
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
CareCloud Raises $20 Million in Series B - mikecuesta
http://www.forbes.com/sites/zinamoukheiber/2013/06/18/carecloud-raises-20-million-in-crowded-market-for-electronic-health-records/
======
will_brown
Very happy to see a Miami start-up tackling such an important space.
------
tmandarano
Congratulations to Albert and the rest of the team.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A16z AI podcast touches on cultural challenge in tech - bodecker
http://a16z.com/2016/06/29/feifei-li-a16z-professor-in-residence/
======
bodecker
Fei Fei Li has some great quotes near the end (starting around 31:10):
"I find it very hard to convince women and underrepresented minorities to work
in AI."
“We are not sending the right messages to attract people of all walks of life
- we tend to just celebrate geekiness, nerdiness, but when you have an
ambitious young woman coming into our department or into the AI lab... if we
present ourselves just as geeks loving to do geeky things, we’re missing a
huge demography..."
“We're missing a huge opportunity attracting diversity because we're not
talking enough or thinking enough of humanistic missions in AI."
I have a little sister who often wonders whether she should keep studying
engineering because of things like this.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Uneasy Coexistence of Yandex and the Kremlin - oedmarap
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/08/19/1006438/yandex-putin-arkady-volozh-kremlin/
======
haspoken
[http://archive.is/xPgjc](http://archive.is/xPgjc)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
More women needed in technology - soitgoes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19884720
======
peteretep
This article appears deeply confused, and doesn't seem to bear much
relationship to its title.
By "more women needed in technology", what it appears to actually be
advocating is "more women needed in designing products for women, because men
are condescending in their design of female-oriented products".
... and ok. Then the author follows it up by saying "it's basic economics!
More women will buy your products!", but doesn't follow that up with "and so
market forces will make it happen!". But whatever. If you want to try and
change how an industry talks to your group, have at it.
But then also the author has taken the time to produce a cartoon book telling
young women to go in to computers and technology, because (from the image
provided) apparently all young women ever hear is badly-spelled messages
telling them that they should focus on home economics (untrue) and that
programming generally involves working in dark cubicles (sometimes true) and
being a nerd (all too true). Why doesn't the author already know that ...?
Because the author, and head of this campaign ... isn't actually a woman in
technology. She's a woman in advertising, who has decided that more women need
to be in technology. Not her, just other women. So how does she know that
women can thrive in technology? How is she able to legitimately address their
concerns? It all feels a bit condescending towards ... people in technology.
"Here I am, a person outside of your field, telling you that you talk to women
all wrong, and I'm going to fix it with a swish advertising and graphics
campaign".
If you want the message to be taken seriously, get Marissa Meyer to say it.
Bring me the opinion of Danese Cooper. Shouldn't tech role models come from,
ya know, tech?
Conclusion: the message I probably agree with. Diversity of every sort in
technical teams is a great thing in my previous experience. But what the hell
is this article about, and who is this advertising exec to tell deliver it?
~~~
netcan
These articles always tend to be quite bad.
They always address the two main questions/premisses "more women needed in
tech" & "why are fewer women in tech" flippantly with weak, unthoughtful
arguments & cliche explanations. Both are genuine questions that need to be
addressed. Even if you are willing to accept that women need to be equally
represented in tech as self evident or fundamental, you should still find out
the real reasons why things are this way if you want to fix it.
Any answers that you come up with to the "why" question need to answers it in
a way that doesn't equally apply to law, medicine, academics & government.
Professions that women entered a generation ago.
In any case, I'm only half convinced about the economic rationale given by
this article: _We need women to design stuff for women_. It is a definitely a
real problem people designing tech products are disconnected from many of the
people using tech products. But women are the one "group" that technology
designing men _do_ interact with. I think if you want to add useful
perspectives something to encourage might be technology as a second career.
People who spent 10 years as farmers, nurses, builders or rodeo clowns.
~~~
rayiner
Law firms took concerted efforts to recruit women into the profession. Today,
those efforts are no longer necessary because the representation of women in
the field (about 55/45) seems to be self-propagating.
~~~
netcan
Engineering departments have been taking concerted efforts to recruit women
into the faculties for years, with less effect. I assume some technology
companies have too.
I'm not sure how to quantify the efforts put in by different fields.
------
Tichy
"Examples of getting it wrong are abundant: A common 'for-the-ladies' strategy
is to take last year's product, re-release it at a slightly lower-price point,
slightly smaller and clad in pink plastic."
The fact seems to be, pink gadgets sell. So I am not sure that the companies
are "getting it wrong". Not saying that there couldn't be a better way.
Also wondering about the oft cited former communist East European states with
their high percentage of female engineers. I have heard that not many of them
actually work as engineers. Don't have numbers, though.
I wish more women would go into engineering, but to be honest, my attitude has
become a bit cynical: I think women have more attractive choices (not in the
least becoming stay at home mums, or working for unattractive salaries in fun
jobs because husbands bring in the big money - fun jobs including
kindergardener, nurse, fashion shop owners,...). Engineering, or let's talk
about programming, is not actually that much fun in the real world. You sit in
front of a screen all day long and wreck your brain. Talking with people is
better for the soul, and women are smart enough to realize that.
Yes, bring on the downvotes. I am not saying this is a law of nature, just
that it is the current state of things for a variety of reasons.
~~~
rayiner
> I think women have more attractive choices
Possibly, but what makes engineering different from say law? My engineering
class was 28% female, and the engineering team I worked on after graduating
was 5% female. My law school class was 45% female, and my law firm starting
class is about 45% female as well.
I can't think of a principled way to distinguish law from engineering in terms
of gender attractiveness, other than the culture of the respective fields. I
don't think it's aptitude. The male-female gap on the SAT Math is about the
same as the male-female gap on the LSAT. I don't think it's attractiveness.
Law isn't any more fun than engineering. In your words: "you sit in front of a
screen al day and wreck your brain." It's analytical, detail work, not unlike
debugging code. Yet, women seem to self select into at a relatively similar
rate to men.
I'll also note: women make up the majority of accountants and auditors and 45%
of accountants at accounting firms. Talk about boring detail oriented jobs!
~~~
barry-cotter
_Possibly, but what makes engineering different from say law?_
Higher social status. For any given amount of money the job with more autonomy
wins. Also, just by virtue of being a more verbally focused field lawyers will
tend to have higher social skills than the average engineer. Said differently
engineering has a higher proportion of the socially maladroit than law. Women
have much less tolerance for that kind of stuff.
All of the fields you mention, law, engineering, accounting demand
intelligent, conscientious, hard working people but engineering is unusually
willing to tolerate weirdness if the person can get the job done compated to
the others and is less autonomous.
That doesn't explain everything but it goes a long way.
~~~
rayiner
Here is what I don't get about your argument. You're using one theory of
social conditioning to explain why women stay away from CS (the social status
of the field), while implicitly rejecting the more obvious bit of social
conditioning: the perception that engineering is for socially maladjusted men.
And neither provides a principled reason to maintain the status quo. Why
should the socially maladjusted men already in engineering (as you call them)
get to define the culture of the field?
What if tech companies tried to actively change the culture of the field. What
if, say for 15 years, tech companies put a thumb on the scale by actively
trying to recruit say 25% women. You'd definitely have to take slightly less
qualified candidates in order to meet the quota, but it would be transient.
After 15 years, there would be a critical mass of women in the field, and the
perception of the field as being for socially maladjusted men would be greatly
diminished. Tech companies would have enough women applicants to maintain
their new ratios without putting a thumb on the scale. You can say it's
"unfair" to the men who would have gotten those jobs in the interim, but is it
any more "fair" for a group to keep another group out of a lucrative
profession by defining a particular culture?
~~~
barry-cotter
Absent a large rise in the earnings of engineers relative to lawyers the
skills demanded by both professions are such that the average lawyer will
always bemore verbally facile than the average engineer. Whoever has better
facility with words has better social skills, on average. So lawyers have
higher social skills.
Your thought experiment in which companies discriminate against men in hiring
might work. It would need to be forced upob all participants in a
field/economic sector because if it was voluntary those who were not
discriminating would be hiring from a superior talent pool. They'd win, on
average. I thonk it would be unfair to women who could have made it on their
own merits too, but hey.
~~~
rayiner
Nobody had to force law firms to try and increase their representation of
women, at least in any systematic way. Law firms did it because lawyers are a
very liberal bunch and demanded it from within.
I don't see why the same couldn't work for engineering. Would engineering
companies have to dip into a slightly less talented pool to begin with?
Probably. But here is an interesting statistic. At my alma mater, the entering
men have about a 30-point higher average SAT math score than the entering
women. Of course, the school has gotten more competitive over time, so the
women entering today have about the same SAT math score as the men who entered
as freshman in my class (about a decade ago). Think about that--the cohort of
"affirmative action" women today have about the same level of mathematical
aptitude (measured purely by test scores) as the cohort of experienced male
engineers who are 5-6 years out from graduation. That's the magnitude of the
thumb on the scale, and I'd argue it's very small.
I think the bottom line is this--there is no reason there should be fewer
women in engineering than can be explained by any difference in aptitude of
women for engineering. In terms of aptitude for engineering, the starkest
difference we see is in standardized test scores, particularly the Math SAT.
In the range that characterizes engineers from good schools (~700) the pool is
~40% women. That's the upper bound. I honestly think you could get an
equilibrium in the engineering field with ~40% women, an equilibrium that
would be stable, once established, with no affirmative action.
~~~
barry-cotter
Your point about possible stable equilibria I don't have any beef with. But
honestly I think the “problem” is more on the supply than the demand side.
Fewer women find engineering/technology attractive than men. Women have better
options given their preferences than tech.
Normally this would be where I linked to the Study of Mathematically
Precocious Youth paper showing girls who entered math competitions withr
similarly skilled boys to leak out of the tech/science/engineering path much
more but I'm on my phone.
Bowing out.
------
shanelja
Here is my $0.02:
I believe that the tech industry is dominated by men, that's a given, but I
don't necessarily believe that we need more women, or even more men. At the
moment, the tech industry has a surplus of jobs and not enough bodies to fill
the desks, so what we need is more people, irrespective of age, gender, race,
etc.
In my opinion, it is extremely sexist to even suggest that we need more women
in tech, it implies that the (large amount of) men who are currently in the
industry are not doing their jobs correctly and should be replaced by women,
that women would do a better job; granted, some women would do a better job,
but so would some men.
You can not force equality (a thing which you already have) upon the masses,
but look at it like this, there aren't less women in tech because men don't
want them there, there are just less women who are inclined to go in to
technology, this isn't a case of "Male oppression is forcing us not to follow
our dream", it's merely a case of less women having this dream.
Let's be honest, from our earliest childhood years, we are given this
impression that certain activities are for certain genders, and yes, to some
degree this is wrong, I happen to like the colour pink and my sister
absolutely loved playing in dirt, to my mothers disdain, but these young
character building years are what defines us, the fact is that there are two
genders, not one, and they are not always equal, we need to celebrate these
differences instead of trying to subdue them in to none-existence.
Personally, the finest developer I have ever met was a woman, so I have
nothing against women in tech, but let's look at the fact, from a young age,
boys are taught that playing computer games is a boys thing, playing these
games often fosters a natural ability to understand computers.
If you play model of honour enough times, you begin to recognize the path
finding model which the computer takes, and at a very primal level you begin
to understand the most simple AI elements, this experience builds your
understanding of how computers works. I'm not saying this is the _only_ way to
get in to computers, I'm just giving the example which was relevant to myself.
tl;dr: Stop blaming men for the lack of women in tech, take a look at your own
base camp, men have given you equality for years now, just accept that most
women don't want to go in to tech; not because they are women, but because,
let's face it, we're a big bunch of nerds and foreveraloners and most sane
people would do anything they could to stay out of this space.
~~~
rayiner
If you took all the male foreveraloners and replaced them with normal people
and women, would more women be attracted to the field? If so, why not do that?
It's one thing to say that women don't select into a profession because they
don't have the aptitude to do it. I think the number of women who score 700+
on the Math SAT proves that at least a lot more women have the aptitude for
tech than to into it. If its not aptitude, then it must be culture, and why
should the male foreveraloners get to dictate the culture of the field?
Because they were there first?
~~~
prodigal_erik
It's the forever-aloners who spent half a decade obsessively learning how
computers work before college. If the women you're talking about are being
driven away by something so tangential as the culture (which isn't between you
and the keyboard), do they still have enough insatiable curiosity to be coding
alone as a hobby? If not, how do you figure they have the aptitude?
We need more qualified people, but mostly fewer unqualified people. Most of
the men we already have are worse than useless, and I don't want to attract
anyone who isn't markedly better.
~~~
rayiner
Culture is not tangential.
------
Wintamute
This article is odd. Isn't the real issue here that there are so few female
programmers, computer scientists and researchers, i.e. the people actually
_making_ tech? Whether there are insufficient numbers of women in tech company
marketing roles to effectively market products at a female audience seems to
be a totally separate issue and ... well, somehow less problematic to me. It
also seems quite demeaning to suggest that the only reason a girl would want
to get into tech is to work at targeting advertising and PR at her own gender.
How about a campaign to drastically improve science, math and computer science
teaching at school from a young age, and work hard to ensure both genders get
enough exposure so that the kids with the most aptitude and passion, whatever
their gender, get a real chance to choose tech as a career path, instead of
this marketing and PR bullshit?
------
rayiner
As someone with a -4 week old daughter, this is a subject at the forefront of
my mind.
I always see tremendous skepticism whenever an article comes out saying that
we need to reduce the gender gap in tech. The attitude seems to be that if a
gap exists then it is natural and there is no point in taking affirmative
steps to reduce it. What I find interesting is that these same people probably
wouldn't apply this reasoning to many other situations. They're often totally
willing to believe that we have too many people in liberal arts programs and
not enough in engineering programs, or not enough people going to college or
too many people going to college. They're often willing to believe that we
have a "digital divide" that needs to be corrected, or that there aren't
enough people with science backgrounds in Congress, or any of a number of
other ideas predicated on the presumption that positive action is required to
address some imbalance in society.
~~~
alid
Amen! Thank you for highlighting this. I've been following threads such as
these on HN - I'm surprised and saddened at the level of sexist (sometimes
even misogynistic) comments they seem to procure. To me, the overall weight of
comments show an undue amount of skepticism. They'll fastidiously pick apart
the research or article semantics, and keenly pull out standard diversionary
or derailing tactics. Strange considering we're far from living in a
meritocratic society (as illustrated by studies such as these:
[http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/unofficial-
prognosis/201...](http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/unofficial-
prognosis/2012/09/23/study-shows-gender-bias-in-science-is-real-heres-why-it-
matters/)). On the upside, I've created a program to log everyone who flaunts
sexist comments on HN and elsewhere - they will never do business with me. All
the best!
~~~
Tichy
I think you have to take into account that people value their personal
experiences. We all have encountered women in our lives and sometimes in Tech.
Since I never attempted to rape a tech woman, or diminished their
achievements, I tend to find the typical portrait of male tech environments
insulting. From my personal experience they are not true, and you have to
provide a lot of arguments to override people's personal experiences.
~~~
rayiner
Discussions of gender equality: the only subject on Hacker News or Reddit
where someone will, with a straight face, try to refute an empirical study
with anecdotal evidence.
~~~
Tichy
I think you exaggerate. Most of these discussions are not about empirical
studies but about opinion pieces.
~~~
rayiner
You were replying to an article involving an empirical study.
~~~
Tichy
I did not say the study is false or anything. I just tried to explain the
sentiment of people accused of fostering a sexist industry.
For what it's worth (although this is tangential), I think the study is
interesting but I can still think of a lot of questions to ask. And it wasn't
about IT, the experiment was done with lab jobs.
------
nadam
I hate the expression 'working in technology'. Because it does not say
anything about what a person actually does or knows or likes. (For example I
am a prototypical hacker/programmer, but not working in the 'tech industry'. I
work as a software developer in a different industry right now (with lots of
woman coworkers by the way).)
So the author wants more women in _marketing_. (tech-marketing) Ok. But if my
now 5 year old daughter will be interested in programming, math, algorithms, I
will not force her to learn marketing just because Belinda Parmar says so. Yes
I will be happy to talk about marketing with my daughter when she grows up, I
am interested in marketing, but I equally happily will talk about the beauty
of Hindley–Milner type inference with her.:)
------
adaml_623
_"It's time to change things. Any chief executive with half an ounce of sense
should be putting their blood, sweat and tears into ensuring that the make-up
of their company mirrors the make-up of their market."_
What if my target market is teenagers...
------
countessa
oh the irony - the article notes that "pink it and shrink it approach
represents typically shallow thinking" and then we are invited to check out
the twitter feed and website of "Belinda Parmar who is the author of _Little_
Miss Geek".....
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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JQuery UK Conference site, uses no jQuery - johnwards
http://events.jquery.org/2013/uk/index.html
======
tzaman
Apparently jQuery is not the right tool for the job on this site, so kudos to
developer(s) who didn't include it just for the sake of it.
~~~
johnwards
With the reliance on CSS for the animation and targeting browsers that support
pushState then there was no need in the end to use jQuery.
~~~
KorvinSzanto
Push state without onpopstate.. genius.
~~~
johnwards
We weren't recording the first visit to the page with History.js, for some
reason we "got away" with this during testing or didn't press back!
Think we've fixed it now tho
------
nailer
I got a free ticket to this last year and really liked it.
I was expecting a bunch of 'JQuery is Javascript' people and it wasn't like
that at all: the most popular talk as Christian Heilman on now using JQuery
(ie, using Elements / Nodelists and native DOM methods).
Tip: get a hotel room in Oxford for the night.
------
haar
Using the "back" and "forward" swipe motions on OS X 10.8 (Chrome
24.0.1312.57) broke the site for me.
EDIT: Scrap the swiping, just pressing back and forward on the site break it.
~~~
johnwards
Yeah we have a bug! We're on it. :)
------
payalnik
What a cool site, I like it
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Redecentralize: Taking back the net - mortenjorck
http://redecentralize.org
======
dang
A dupe of
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6543846](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6543846).
When an item has had significant attention, HN generally doesn't allow reposts
for about a year.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Ask HN: Not enjoying working at my 1st large company, are there any good ones? - MrHeartBroken
I was working at a startup before that had to fold. Luckily in the Bay Area you have many companies that need engineers. I had multiple offers from big corporations. I took up one of them. The code here sucks. There are some talented people but barring them most are "Java developers".<p>Do all big companies suck? By suck I mean any two out of three of the following are true:<p><pre><code> 1. Shitty code and a lot of tech debt
2. Lack of hacker types
3. No design work or challenges as everything has already been done
and you just service these parts or reuse them
</code></pre>
Sometimes I don't get why do we need so many employees to being with.<p>Some more things to rant about:<p><pre><code> 1. How the whole systems works is a mystery
2. May people use Git as the new SVN
3. Code review is a thing that's done at a later point or sprint end
while it may have gone live and broken things in between that
4. There's layers on top of layers on top of layers built
</code></pre>
Thanks,<p>Mr. Heart Borken
======
informatimago
Corporations are there to make money, not to make beautiful code.
If you want to create code with love and care, do it at home. Or we'll have to
do without money (= debt), and without corporations (= economic entites based
on the money). Instead let's have a resource based economy, and realize that
you don't need a lot of resources to code, as long as you don't have to get
money to pay taxes to pay for being spied upon.
[http://thevenusproject.org](http://thevenusproject.org)
------
RogerL
You will find this sort of thing in big and small companies, and find really
good practices in both big and small companies. You will find tiny companies
(< 20 engineers) with no code review, no unit tests, long lists of unfixed
bugs, a resistance to source control not spelled "svn", broken custom written
solutions when there are excellent open source or low cost alternatives,
people that won't talk to each other, and so on.
In general I'd say you have a greater chance of changing things in a small
company. But really, don't judge by company size but by the groups you talk
to. Learn to interview better. _Ask them_ about the workflow. Ask to see the
code base. Ask about the balance of process vs pragmatism. Ask about the
challenges (both in terms of interesting work, and then annoying stuff you
deal with). If you seem to have it together more than the majority of people
that you talk with, run away. If you don't think you can learn from them, run
away. If you find yourself thinking "man, I'm really going to have to step up
my game" take the offer.
------
tjr
One possible solution is to find a reasonably isolated, independent small
group within a company. For example, groups that make custom software tools
that other people in the company use can be more interesting, perhaps, than
the main stuff the company works on.
~~~
MrHeartBroken
So is this a common thing at big corporations? For instance, I was mid-process
at Google but was not in a position to go wait to see where it goes. Then you
hear about a story on HN about how the dl.google.com server was shitty and
would take 24 hours to boot and was full of bugs.
------
valipour
I want to agree with @thenerdfiles in that you should make somewhere a better
place to work in. It only takes one thing: the potential there that will make
you "able" to achieve this goal.
believe me, I worked at a very dynamic, fresh startup for 4 years but with no
room given to me for introducing stuff. Moved to a very large organisation but
with the potential given to me. I'm very happy now.
~~~
thenerdfiles
Startups are usually so concerned with launch that the time to learn or
implement new things is seen as a negative downside of the things to be
implemented, indeed. Then one has to argue how the time afforded after the
implementation would make up for the time spent during implementation.
On top of the virtues afforded of the thing itself. Like LESS.
------
thenerdfiles
Look at it this way, if you are charismatic enough you can install new
standards where they do not exist.
~~~
MrHeartBroken
I tried to get people to code review before merge and nobody cares. Nobody
cares about clean code either. Everyone is worried about getting something
working somehow even if it's bug-ridden and slow.
~~~
valipour
I would say get into the process than the code. this way you can justify your
actions better to PMs and managers. People don't like their code to be
watched, but they will eventually fix their coding-standard issues each time a
red light comes up after they check-in. (styleCop is the tool for .NET
community).
------
vermasque
Google?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The major carriers have finally agreed to replace SMS with a new RCS standard - scarface74
https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/24/20931202/us-carriers-rcs-cross-carrier-messaging-initiative-ccmi-att-tmobile-sprint-verizon
======
mikece
Lack of end to end encryption is a deal-breaker for a lot. And contrary to
what law enforcement says, the metadata of messaging — who is contacting whom,
when, and how often — is more than enough for non-lazy cops and intelligence
operatives to do their job.
------
mikece
I wonder how much of RCS was planned with advertising and corporate partners
in mind: will short-codes (and the $20k/year fee) still be required for
companies send massive numbers of RCS messages?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How much BTC could AWS mine if Amazon put all resources into mining? - geetfun
======
noloblo
Probably enough to do a 51% attack on the bitcoin network and convert all
bitcoins to amazon coins
~~~
Frogolocalypse
Do you have any figures to back that up? My assumption would be that all of
amazon would be a drop in the bucket for bitcoin mining. Their hardware isn't
designed for SHA-256 hashing, so unless they had dedicated ASIC's my
assumption is that they wouldn't even be close. Be interesting to find out for
sure if someone knows though.
Just as an aside, even if you had 100% of mining you couldn't spend peoples
coins. You could stop people spending their coins, but miners can't modify
existing transactions, just not include new transactions in blocks they mine.
------
geetfun
Definitely not meant to be interpreted as a practical question. Just a
theoretical "what if" kind of question.
------
mammajamma
Stupid question, it would be negative ROI as electricity costs eclipse BTC
value
~~~
gus_massa
Correct answer, but bad tone. From
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)
> _In Comments_
> _Be civil. Don 't say things you wouldn't say in a face-to-face
> conversation. Avoid gratuitous negativity._
Somewhat related: If someone steals your Amazon credentials, he can use them
to mine bitcoins. Using the CPU to mine bitcoin is not efficient and the value
of the mined bitcoins will be much smaller that the cost of electricity and
Amazon services, but it doesn't mater because he is not paying the bill. For
example read: [http://www.securityweek.com/how-hackers-target-cloud-
service...](http://www.securityweek.com/how-hackers-target-cloud-services-
bitcoin-profit)
PS: It may be a interesting to know this as a theoretical question. But as a
practical question, the idea is not profitable at all.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ztail Launches Innovative eBay Guarantee - corgan1003
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/08/ztail-launches-innovative-ebay-guarantee-for-worry-free-shopping/
======
ShabbyDoo
Just after reading the latest Steve Yegge rant ([http://steve-
yegge.blogspot.com/2009/04/have-you-ever-legali...](http://steve-
yegge.blogspot.com/2009/04/have-you-ever-legalized-marijuana.html)), I read
this article. Steve explores the hidden complexities of seemingly simple
projects.
What's hidden in ztail?
Insurance companies hate adverse selection bias and have actuaries work to
control its effects. Won't those who beat up their stuff be most interested in
a "put option" on their investment? So, ztail must control for this somehow.
They can stipulate that the item must be in like-new condition, but that would
make the stroller customer mentioned in the article unlikely to place value in
the ztail guarantee. It's hard to push kids around in a stroller for a year
without some damage occurring. So, ztail is stuck between a rock and a hard
place. They could stipulate "normal" use, but how many scratches should an
iPhone have after a year?
Do consumers really want to purchase a put option on their stuff? If
something's cheap enough, I don't worry about the manufacturer's warranty
claims -- I "self insure" by taking on the risk myself. Options are insurance.
We know that that $900 stroller (hopefully a quad model for that price!) will
likely have some value two years from now. And, most mommies (at least my
wife) take a lot of time when shopping for a stroller, so they know
approximate resale values by brand, etc. So, one could easily calculate the
likely value of the option at the date of expiration. The option doesn't seem
like its worth that much given that most items aren't likely to be worth
nothing in a year or two.
As another poster pointed out, the whole process is complicated -- both in
terms of comprehension and execution. Is it worth incurring this fixed cost to
purchase an option that will be a pain to execute?
I have a $2500 deductible on my home insurance for two reasons: (1) it makes
the insurance cost less (partially by proving to the insurance company that
you don't think you're likely to incur a loss!) and (2) because it's a PIA to
file a claim for a gutter bent by a fallen tree branch.
I don't get this much like I don't get BillMeLater.
------
vizard
Article title on TC : "Ztail Launches Innovative eBay Guarantee For Worry-Free
Shopping"
(Why was this title not retained when submitting to HN?)
------
calambrac
How do they figure the guaranteed price? Is it based on historical auction
data? If so, won't the increased volume of these items drive down the actual
sale price at auction? Does their model take that into account?
~~~
jonknee
eBay has a program that lets you see historical selling prices for goods, so
I'm guessing that's where they started.
Who knows what kind of cash reserve they're working with though, I wouldn't
trust them for anything more than a vague estimate of what products are
selling for in second hand markets. And that much is free!
------
jonknee
What a terrible headline, Ztail doesn't even sell any merchandise. They are no
competition to Amazon. In fact, they may even add Amazon as one of the
merchants you can purchase through.
Ztail is selling a put option on retail products (well sort of, with eBay
being involved too), interesting but not revolutionary. Considering all the
bail outs we're having to do for firms that wrote tons of paper they couldn't
back, who knows if Ztail will even be around next year when you want your $50.
It's sad that the HN headline is less reactionary than TechCrunch.
~~~
corgan1003
I guess I have always looked at Amazon as a portal to buy other merchants'
merchandise. ZTail is doing that.
Do you think it is in ZTail's best interest to add Amazon? I read that Amazon
does not pay for referrals anymore.
The truth is, I posted the article right after I read the TC article, and was
super hyped about it. I thought to myself: "For once, I might actually buy
some stuff from ZTail as opposed to Amazon" (Big deal for me). Looking back, I
agree that this idea is certainly interesting but not revolutionary.
------
kjw
maybe I just don't get it, but I don't think this site will be stealing any of
Amazon's thunder. while Ztail's concept is interesting, it's way too
complicated for the average consumer.
~~~
jrockway
I agree. Way too much effort.
If they can really guarantee these prices, they should just let you return the
item and get the guaranteed amount of money back.
------
newy
If you can't explain an idea in a sentence or two it's general appeal is
likely quite limited. The basic premise is sound, but why can't I just buy
something from Ztail and then have an option to return it a year later
directly to them for a fixed price (like Chegg for textbooks)? I don't want to
deal with eBaying it myself. There are way too many intermediaries involved
for me to feel comfortable as a consumer. Are they planning on making all the
affiliate revenue first and then figuring out how to handle the refunds a year
down the line?
I like the example in the TC article of the $900 stroller. Forget the
guaranteed return, just buy a cheaper stroller!
------
jrockway
So, this E-Commerce site will "steal some of Amazon's thunder" by linking
people to products on Amazon?
Interesting analysis.
~~~
corgan1003
Where does the article or the ZTail site show indication of linking to
Amazon's products?
I have also read that Amazon does pay for referrals to buy goods anymore.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Americans Are Not Prepared for the Coming Mother of All Stock Market Crashes - spking
https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2019/05/30/40347971/americans-are-not-prepared-for-the-coming-mother-of-all-stock-market-crashes
======
FreedomToCreate
You cannot predict the market. Here is a Forbes article citing the same issue
in December and speculating that the stock market would not rise in 2019.
[https://www.forbes.com/sites/jessecolombo/2018/12/31/when-
th...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jessecolombo/2018/12/31/when-the-stock-
buybacks-go-bye-bye/#2c3a9bdadedf)
If you had pulled out of the market at the end of 2018 expecting a bigger
drop, guess what, you would have missed one of the fastest market comebacks.
The scenario being discussed is just one possible outcome. There are numerous
other outcomes as well. You can off course bet on this scenario and pull your
money out of the market, and if the crash occurs, you can tell everyone about
how to timed the market. Or you might be the person who lost big time.
As with all speculation...only time will tell
~~~
julianlam
"Lost big time" is relative. At most you "didn't gain", and it's easy to get
swept up in FOMO when you don't always remind yourself of that.
That said if the market shoots up and you hold on, you didn't gain anything
either. No gains or losses until they are realized.
------
bestnameever
Looking at the author's bio, I'm not sure how he is any more qualified to make
a statement on this than any other random person on the street.
> Charles Mudede—who writes about film, books, music, and his life in
> Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, the USA, and the UK for The Stranger—was born near a
> steel plant in Kwe Kwe, Zimbabwe. He has no memory of this birth, but he
> does remember noticing himself in the mirror for this first time—it happened
> on May 3, 1972. Mudede is also a filmmaker: Two of his films, Police Beat
> and Zoo, premiered at Sundance, and Zoo was screened at Cannes. Mudede has
> written for the New York Times, Cinema Scope, Ars Electronica, C Theory, and
> academic journals. He also wrote the liner notes for Best of Del Tha Funkee
> Homosapien: Elektra Years. Mudede has lived in Seattle since 1989.
~~~
3327
Agree, I thought i was reading the wrong bio.
A little out of his league i would say.
------
intopieces
What bugs me about these doomsday articles about how Americans are unprepared
is that they never mention what Americans ought to be doing. Saving more
money? Sure. But what exactly am I supposed to be investing in / divesting
from / etc?
~~~
mnky9800n
Until you are old, basically investing is better than not. When you are old
short term dips start to matter. Prior to that, the market eventually goes up.
------
jasonbarrah
Danger ahead! Pivots quite strongly from somewhat reasonable market discussion
to advocating communism/socialism. Reminds me of college...
~~~
thatoneuser
Whenever someone tells you "the only solution is..." You can just write them
off. There's never only one solution to any problem, let alone one where the
problem is purely speculative.
------
lowdose
A good read on QE is Currency Wars by James Rickards. It isn't written as a
dry traditional economic book while covering the monetary history of last 2
centuries. I suspect the book is not mentioned often being published in 2012
it predicted the destruction of the dollar by the QE policies. The predictions
of the book can still become reality because QE is a monetary experiment which
increases the supply of money at unprecedented level. Creating money out of
thin air and holding more than 4 trillion dollar [0] on assets is not a
healthy situation for the FED. [0]
[https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.png?g=lFm1](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.png?g=lFm1)
~~~
jonahbenton
Define and defend "unhealthy."
Money is created out of thin air every day. That's how banking works.
There are hundreds of T of undervalued assets around the world. You can buy a
beautiful castle in Sicily for $100. The Fed's holdings are nothing.
The assets on the Fed balance sheet are also largely inert. Like the
archeological underpinnings of a skyscraper. Dig and you will find interesting
things, could put them into museums. But they do little from a structural
perspective.
The translation of capital into productive work and actual value worldwide is
still extremely inefficient. This inefficiency is the guard against inflation.
Pay more attention, as always, to actual businesses, their P&Ls, projections
of future cash flows.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Jamboard is now available - happy-go-lucky
https://blog.google/products/g-suite/lets-jam-jamboard-now-available/
======
casca
The Jamboard is a collaborative whiteboard that costs $5k for a 4k 55" screen
plus $600/year ($300/year for early adopters). It's similar to Microsoft's
Surface Hub[1], Cisco's Spark Board[2] and SMART Technologies SmartBoard[3].
Pricing seems about normal for products in this space, even a little low. I'd
think that the big question that anyone considering buying this should be
asking is around Google's history with hardware support and service. This kind
of product will often be expected to be used for 5+ years and the dependency
of a non-core service from Google could affect that.
As I'm looking to purchase one of the products in this space, here is a little
more comparison info in case anyone else finds it useful. Only Google will
sell you one of their devices, everyone else goes through resellers with
opaque pricing and unpublished RRPs.
Microsoft Surface Hub 55": 1920x1080 @120Hz, 4th Generation i5, Intel HD 4600,
2x HD cameras. Windows 10 + MS Office
Microsoft Surface Hub 85" 3840x2160 @120Hz, 4th generation i7, NVIDIA Quadro
K2200, 2x HD cameras. Windows 10 + MS Office
Cisco Spark Board 55": 4k (4096x2160?) display, unknown hardware and software,
4k camera. Cisco Spark and SIP protocols supported, requires Cisco
Collaboration Cloud service.
Cisco Spark Board 70": same as 55"
SMART Board 8055i 55"/8065i 65"/8084i 84": 3840x2160, 4k available. Doesn't
seem to have cameras for videoconferencing, comes with SMART Meeting Pro 4.0
software to "collaborate in the 4th dimension", whatever that means.
Google Jamboard 55: 55" 4k (4096x2160?) @60Hz. Unknown hardware, software
probably Android? Costs $5000. Requires Google's G-Suite subscription, uses
Hangouts and $600/year annual management and support fee. EOL is May 2021
[1] [https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-surface-
hub](https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-surface-hub) [2]
[http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collaboration-
endpoint...](http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collaboration-
endpoints/spark-board/) [3] [https://home.smarttech.com/interactive-displays-
for-business](https://home.smarttech.com/interactive-displays-for-business)
~~~
and0
I'm sort of confused about the annual management / support fee. Sounds like
this would be a cool accessory that would require G Apps and therefore bring
startups into the ecosystem. Why charge support for something so expensive
that also requires G Suite for every user in the first place? Why isn't the
functionality just linked directly into some G Suite OneNote equivalent?
I feel like that fee would really kill the appeal, if I were hunting for
something like this. Also, I'm assuming there would be a support fee for each
device?
~~~
casca
Any form of collaboration like this requires something server-side that needs
to be maintained so an annual fee is not unreasonable. The Microsoft Surface
Hub uses Skype for Business so would be backing into an Office365 SAAS account
and the Cisco one requires a Cisco Collaboration Cloud one which the only
price I can find is CAD3547.99[1]
[1] [https://www.cdw.ca/shop/products/Cisco-Spark-Board-
subscript...](https://www.cdw.ca/shop/products/Cisco-Spark-Board-subscription-
license-1-license/4547717.aspx)
~~~
chiefalchemist
But I think the point is you need a Google suite account. So how much more
server-side are we talking about here? Enough worth killing sales for?
------
accountyaccount
This will eat SmartBoard's lunch and I'm all for it — existing stand-alone
collaborative whiteboard technology is shit.
I'm guessing this originated as a tool for Google's internal teams? The market
for it isn't all that big outside of startups (but it exists).
~~~
habosa
Interestingly I work at Google and I haven't seen or used one yet, but maybe
it just didn't make it to my building in testing.
------
morinted
What am I missing that makes this so expensive? Is it just a "Google
Glass"-syndrome kind of thing?
This is a $5,000 whiteboard with an annual SAAS fee.
~~~
tinco
Comparable digital whiteboards go for similar (or larger) amounts. $5000 is
actually not that expensive.
The real question, is why isn't it free? As in, why can't we just download
this from the Play store and use it on whatever we device we already have,
like everything else in the G suite?
Microsoft is already moving in this space, not sure about Apple, but I guess
there's just a _lot_ of money here.
~~~
and0
They do actually mention there being a Jamboard app being rolled out this week
for iOS and Android, but there are no details that I could find.
~~~
tensafefrogs
Here's the Play store app link:
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.jam&hl=en)
------
jtraffic
I'd love to hear from anyone who is planning to buy one.
It feels as if collaboration tools are made for a type of collaboration that
people don't really do. Consider this delightful gem of marketing copy:
"Jamboard breaks down barriers to interactive, visual collaboration across
teams everywhere"
Whenever I've engaged in "interactive, visual collaboration," the visual
content has been super context-specific. This meant there was usually a
purpose-built tool for that kind of collaboration (e.g., wireframe mockups for
websites, storyboards for videos).
~~~
notatoad
Microsoft's version has apparently been selling like hotcakes, so i guess it
is a type of collaboration that people really do.
~~~
jtraffic
>Microsoft's version has apparently been selling like hotcakes
I was going to ask you for more on this, but found an Ars Technica article
with a bit more info: [https://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2016/12/micro...](https://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2016/12/microsofts-surface-hub-sales-surprisingly-strong-its-a-
huge-hardware-hit/)
------
emsy
My first thought upon reading this was: This looks cool, I wonder how long it
will take until they kill it. I wonder if I'm alone with this gut reaction?
~~~
notatoad
I'm sure you aren't alone, but i'm getting very tired of this comment
appearing on every single google product or feature announcement. It's not
interesting or insightful, it adds nothing to the discussion other than
cliched whining.
~~~
jwcooper
Google has an amazing list of discontinued products:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products#Discon...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_products#Discontinued_products_and_services)
I'm not saying it's terrible to buy Google products, but maybe wait until it's
a success first. There is very little reason to risk being an early adopter of
a Google product.
The recent Google Home (not a cheap product) advertising snafu is another
recent red flag for buying any Google product.
Edit: Parent originally commented about 'getting over Google Reader being
discontinued'.
~~~
blacksmith_tb
Note that Google is primarily a services company, and many of their services
are free. As a result, lots of people try the services, and complain if
they're discontinued. Compare Apple[1] and Microsoft[2] both of which have
discontinued many more (hardware and software) products than Google - yet the
immediate reaction to new introductions from either is not 'fine, but when
will they discontinue that?'
1:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_products_discontinued_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_products_discontinued_by_Apple_Inc).
2:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Discontinued_Microsof...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Discontinued_Microsoft_software)
~~~
ClassyJacket
Discontinuing a piece of consumer electronics is completely different to
discontinuing a service. Firstly, your electronics don't disappear when they
stop making them. You just can't buy a new one.
Plus, many of those had direct replacements that were obvious iterations of
their predecessor. Sure, Apple discontinued the iPod Mini, but they released
the iPod Nano. Sure, Apple discontinued MobileMe, but they released iCloud.
Google just quietly abandons services and products and if they ever replace
anything, they appear to have started from scratch.
Plus, the item in question is not a free service, it's an expensive physical
device with a costly subscription service.
------
davidjnelson
The post is light on details. If this is actually a collaborative whiteboard
that would be a huge boon for remote work.
~~~
stevesearer
Here's the spec sheet which has some extra details:
[https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/gsuite.google.com...](https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/gsuite.google.com/en//files/Jamboard_Specs.pdf)
Also the actual product landing page has some info too:
[https://gsuite.google.com/products/jamboard/](https://gsuite.google.com/products/jamboard/)
~~~
davidjnelson
Thanks. The main landing page is much better. Still a little unclear on
whether 16 touch points is spread across all remote locations. So if there's 5
jam boards and three stylus/eraser sets at each, that sounds perfect. Glad to
see someone finally built this, nice!
~~~
trevyn
"16 touch points" is just the spec for the touchscreen hardware -- "Jamboard
supports up to 16 touchpoints at once on a single device."
------
oatmealsnap
Wasn't the idea behind create Alphabet that Google would focus on Search-
related stuff, while the parent company could create all these wild IoT
products?
~~~
dragonwriter
No, it was that Google would focus on the established businesses that weren't
rolled out into other parts of Alphabet.
The G Suite (formerly Google Apps) enterprise offering, which this is part of,
was part of the core business retained in Google. This is not a wild IoT
product, it's a competitive entry in the enterprise collaboration space that G
Suite targets.
------
napolux
Dear Google, Please stop producing cool things you're not able to sell.
Sincerely, World.
P.s. I still can't buy the latest google phone because I live outside US.
------
nevir
Why does the _stand_ cost $1350!? (or a _mere_ $1200 during introductory
pricing)
------
askvictor
I'm curious if the Android app will run well on the touchscreen panels that
I've got that area already running Android; or indeed on an Android dongle/box
connected to and large (tv sized) touchscreen
------
artur_makly
this seems like an evolution of [https://mural.co/](https://mural.co/) \-
which does a decent job, but this is next level stuff. bravo
------
rmac
one painfully obvious missing feature: voice capture.
It seems to so natural to integrate google assistant into this thing. I wonder
when 'Alexa' for meetings will be good enough to commercialize.
~~~
markaius
I don't think it will be hard for them to introduce voice commands to it with
the google home. I understand not wanting to spend more money on another
device but this is their whiteboard, then google home is their voice command
module.
------
Stickipete
Thats awesome. I bet Googles been using one of these for years.
------
ungzd
"Cloud service" supporting it will probably not last for long.
------
lerie
Why not just a webcam and a touch screen? Seems like it won't last, the
pricing is outrageous.
~~~
chickenbane
The Jamboard does way more than that, you can see them demo it at Next:
[https://youtu.be/kwnWfHq2EfQ?t=1h40m33s](https://youtu.be/kwnWfHq2EfQ?t=1h40m33s)
If you've been in countless business meetings whiteboarding, Jamboard is
definitely not outrageous.
------
draw_down
This seems like exactly the sort of thing they won't have the dedication to
support for very long. $5k for this thing is quite risky in that sense.
edit: Oh, it's actually over $6k if you want the rolling stand, which you
will.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Yahoo Homepage redesign going live - janezhu
http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-project-homerun-homepage-test-2012-10
Yahoo is in the process of rolling it out its new homepage. The revamped design is already up for many users, however it seems like only the landing page has been updated so far.
======
janezhu
The new design doesn't seem to change much though. This is understandable
since they started working on this before Marissa Mayer joined Yahoo, but it'd
be nice to see how an entire redesign including a better way to categorize
that left column would look. I especially hope that giant "astrology" section
is just a module users can change out..
------
roh26it
This is most definitely interesting. I really liked visiting the yahoo page to
get everything done from mail to chat to news etc.
Okay, it was 5 years back, but Yahoo just got stuck there. And, well, we all
moved on.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Bret Victor: A Personal Note about "Media for Thinking the Unthinkable" - dirtyaura
http://worrydream.com/#!/MediaForThinkingTheUnthinkable/note.html
======
ColinWright
Significant discussion: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5781072>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Introducing Ixoth, Siri's little helper. Webhooks for Siri - qrush
http://ixoth.com
======
Timothee
Good idea. Though I don't have Siri so I have no use for it at the time…
It feels that it should work like <http://ifttt.com> with recipes and pre-
defined actions rather than having to code and host each webhook manually.
The difficult thing is that you don't get to benefit from Siri's ability to
understand the meaning rather than the specific phrase said. Which means you
either have to have your own engine or have a fairly specific list of commands
for each webhook.
edit: (granted I understand this is a very early version) the thing with
having to write your own code is that right now you're just removing one step
from me doing it myself. I could get my own Twilio number, and do the sorting
by keyword myself before running the different scripts.
edit: also, see <http://tyranotext.com/>
------
hmottestad
This uses SMS right? Isn't that a bit costly?
Could you do that same with email for instance?
It's a great idea all in all. Lot's of companies will be looking for a way to
integrate with Siri, and this approach seems quite fair.
I see possible uses:
Messaging with your dry cleaner. "Siri, ask My Dry Cleaner when my dry
cleaning will be done" Send email/sms to contact with name "My Dry Cleaner"
with text "when will my dry cleaning be done". Get email/sms back with date
and time
Messaging with your TV [schedule]. "Siri, ask My TV if [enter name of show] is
running tonight" Get sms/email back from your TV :)
This will all need natural language parsing on the backend though.
~~~
qrush
Yep, it's using SMS. This will be a paid service.
I am really excited to see the use cases here, and to become a "platform" of
sorts to build on top of.
~~~
sumukh1
Just curious, what sort of SMS backend/API are you using to accept and deliver
messages?
------
jeremymcanally
Curses. Had this same idea the day Siri came out but no time to execute. Good
job! Interested to see how people put this to use.
~~~
qrush
Thanks Jeremy! If you have ideas related to it I'd love to see how I can help.
------
jacobbijani
I'm surprised you named a product designed to be spoken by name something so
unpronounceable.
~~~
Timothee
I agree that the name is not easy but the good news is that you can call it
whatever you want since Siri just sends a text to the contact you're telling
it to, and you can call the Ixoth contact something easier to pronounce.
------
mrinterweb
I'm not sure why this is Siri specific. I can send text messages using my
voice with Android as well. Maybe I'm missing something, but this looks like a
service that interacts via SMS instead of anything specific to Siri. I do like
the concept of this service and I can think of many uses for it.
| {
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A comparison of books for learning assembly language - iamtechaddict
http://allthatiswrong.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/a-comparison-of-books-for-learning-assembly-language/
======
chris_wot
The HLA version of Randall Hyde's book is OK, but you can still get the
original version of his books in PDF that don't use HLA at all.
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"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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The Printed Word in Peril - diodorus
https://harpers.org/archive/2018/10/the-printed-word-in-peril/
======
coffeefirst
There's two major oversights in all the arguments like this:
1\. Books are more analogous to vinyl than they are to CD's. People think
they're cool, they like having bookshelves. In the age of screens, having
something physical that you can set on a coffee table is refreshing.
Print might be more niche, but it will no go anywhere in our lifetimes.
2\. It assumes that digital reading experiences are inherently the way we see
them right now.
I can't for the life of me read anything lengthy on my phone, but I'll tear
through thick old books on Kindle.
A big part of that is the kindle screen will show almost the same number of
words as a printed page.
My iPhone shows less than half of that. Paragraphs that read smoothly in print
or E-ink devices don't even fit on the screen. Social posts and tiny snippets
fit well. Throw in some notifications and why would anyone be able to stay
undistracted while using a phone?
The more I look at these things the less it looks like something inherent to
print and digital and more like a collection of design decisions and
consequences on what happens in the screens, not the screen themselves.
------
emodendroket
The Norman Mailer anecdote seems strange. I think I read more than average; I
finish about 30 books a year, most of which are literary fiction or history
books. Still, I haven't read a Norman Mailer book anytime recently. There's
literally thousands of years' worth of literature from all over the world; why
him, in particular?
Some other things that strike me: I agree that a phone or iPad isn't much good
for reading a novel, but I love reading on my Kindle (and the built-in
dictionary makes it easier to approach foreign-language works, although I
still don't do this as often as I feel I ought to).
The idea that books have to compete with more stimulating technologies isn't
new either: radio, movies, and TV were there first. Is this a wholly new trend
or the acceleration of an existing one?
The distraction of always-on Internet is certainly real, though, and
exacerbated by smartphones. And it is striking that even journalists and
political leaders often don't seem very well-read, particularly when you go
back and look at 19th-Century rhetoric rife with allusions to the Bible or
Greek myth that are opaque to much of the modern audience.
~~~
coldtea
> _The Norman Mailer anecdote seems strange. I think I read more than average;
> I finish about 30 books a year, most of which are literary fiction or
> history books. Still, I haven 't read a Norman Mailer book anytime recently.
> There's literally thousands of years' worth of literature from all over the
> world; why him, in particular?_
Well, 4-5 decades ago ago he was for US mainstream literature world what Led
Zeppelin were for 70s hard rock fans...
So, the essay author explains very well why he asked the question: to show the
very short span of literary glory, from someone who was ubiquitous and
celebrated not long ago.
He also adds, when 2 out of 300 raise a hand: "Frankly I was surprised it was
that many".
Half a century or so ago, and for a long time before that, people didn't just
chose from "thousands of years' worth of literature from all over the world"
\-- they knew the authors of their time, and the times before, with many
overlaps that formed a canon, not a free choice among thousands of works (if
that, since many don't read that much, period).
> _The idea that books have to compete with more stimulating technologies isn
> 't new either: radio, movies, and TV were there first. Is this a wholly new
> trend or the acceleration of an existing one?_
Does it matter? Both are comparatively recent -- there are people alive in the
US who were born when none of them (radio, tv) were available at any home.
~~~
emodendroket
Sure, and once upon a time Mr. Ed was wildly popular. Nonetheless, nobody
would start off an article about the death of television by complaining that
he asked a roomful of people and nobody had watched it recently.
~~~
coldtea
That's because television is a real time medium. At best you get re-runs.
Reading is an on-demand medium, and popular authors can very well stay on the
reading lists of subsequent generations, the way Mailer himself would have
read Melville, Hemingway, Poe, James, and so on.
TV is also shallowly based on technical quality (people wont see black and
white shows etc), whereas the written word on paper is a stable technology for
centuries, if not millennia.
~~~
ghaff
>television is a real time medium
Arguably that's less the case than it used to be insofar as you can get your
hands on many older TV shows if you want to.
That said, TV--and, especially, historic network TV--is a lot more rooted in
its time and place than a lot of writing is. It's partly for technical reasons
as you say. The production values of a lot of older shows are going to be a
distraction even if the content were otherwise modern. But TV shows also tend
to reflect (to an arguably greater degree than the typical film) the period in
which they were made. Not just the look but a lot of the sensibilities.
I'd wager than there are very few TV shows dating to the 1970s and before that
are really watchable today whereas there are plenty of films going back to
almost the beginning of "talkies." (There are some good silent films too but
obviously those have to be approached with a somewhat different mindset.)
There are some exceptions. For example, episodes of The Twilight Zone or a
series like M _A_ S*H can still be appreciated, but for the most part, no.
(ADDED: For example, All in the Family was a groundbreaking show when it
aired. But, although I haven't seen an episode in years, I'm willing to bet it
would come across as very much a period piece today.)
~~~
fsiefken
Some other exceptions; Dr. Who, Pippi Longstocking, Battlestar Galactica,
Logan's Run, Star Trek, The Tripods, Chocky, Colditz, Cosmos with Carl Sagan,
all good series which are still watchable
~~~
ghaff
I think you're being very generous--or at least not representative of people
in general. Even a lot of the original Star Trek doesn't hold up very well
and, personally, I didn't care for about half that list even at the time they
aired.
------
cproctor
I find particularly interesting the claim that
the literary novel ha[s] quit center stage of our culture and [is] in the process,
via university creative writing programs, of becoming a conservatory form,
like the easel painting or the symphony.
Drawing on Bakhtin, we can see BDDM (bi-directional digital media) as having
precisely the qualities previously celebrated in the novel:
Among genres long since completed and in part already dead, the novel is the only developing
genre. It is the only genre that was born and nourished in a new era of world history and
therefore it is deeply akin to that era, whereas the other major genres entered that era as
already fixed forms, as an inheritance, and only now are they adapting themselves-some
better, some worse-to the new conditions of their existence. Compared with them, the novel
appears to be a creature from an alien species. It gets on poorly with other genres. It
fights for its own hegemony in literature; wherever it triumphs, the other older genres go
into decline.
...
The novel parodies other genres (precisely in their role as genres); it exposes the
conventionality of their forms and their language; it squeezes out some genres and
incorporates others into its own peculiar structure, re-formulating and re-accentuating them...
Those genres that stubbornly preserve their old canonic nature begin to appear stylized...
Parodic stylizations of canonized genres and styles occupy an essential place in the novel...
What are the salient features of this novelization of other genres suggested by us above?
They become more free and flexible, their language renews itself by incorporating extraliterary
heteroglossia and the "novelistic" layers of literary language, they become dialogized,
permeated with laughter, irony, humor, elements of self-parody and finally-this is the most important thing-
the novel inserts into these other genres an indeterminacy, a certain semantic openendedness,
a living contact with unfinished, still evolving contemporary reality (the openended present).
I don't know, I'm excited about computational media and the new kinds of
reading and being we're developing. I wish we could make space for this in
school without having to wait another 50 years.
------
cafard
Hard to say.
"In March, I gave an interview to the Guardian in which I repeated my
usual—and unwelcome—assertion that the literary novel had quit center stage of
our culture and was in the process, via university creative writing programs,
of becoming a conservatory form, like the easel painting or the symphony."
Hard to say. Various authors role out big literary novels at their pace:
Margaret Drabble, Margaret Atwood, Jonathan Franzen come to mind, and they get
respectable reviews.
"Furthermore, I fingered BDDM as responsible for this transformation, the
literary novel being simply the canary forced to flee this particular mine
shaft first."
I don't think that the RSPCA made it to the coal mines back then.
At the moment, I'm a bit too BDDMed to follow the argument all the way,
though.
------
jrf6
What is BDDM? It is used throughout, and I can't find a plausible definition
anywhere.
~~~
ThrowawayR2
It's defined in the essay.
> " _I referred above to “bidirectional digital media,” by which I mean the
> suite of technologies that comprises the wireless-connected computer,
> handheld or otherwise, the World Wide Web, and the internet. Henceforth I’ll
> abbreviate this term to BDDM._ "
------
SolaceQuantum
_The printed books being sold are not the sort of difficult reading that
spearheads knowledge transfer but picture books, kidult novels like the Harry
Potter series, and, in the case of my own UK publisher at least, a great
tranche of spin-off books by so-called vloggers (a development Marshall
McLuhan anticipated when he noted that new media always cannibalize the forms
of the past)._
I feel an issue behind this essay is that it makes assumptions of the purpose
of literature. That literature should be difficult to read, and that difficult
works are the only works that transfer knowledge, is not reflected in
contemporary understanding of literature... anywhere. Although there are
essays discussing the merit of difficult literature, they have always been in
response to an equal or greater number of essays denigrating difficult
literature.
_I began to lose faith in the power of my own imagination, and realized,
further, that to look at objects on a screen and then describe them was, in a
very important sense, to abandon literature, if by this is understood an art
form whose substrate is words alone._
This isn't true either. Literature has not (perhaps never been) purely a
substrate of words. For much of history literature involved pictures,
diagrams, spoken word. One only needs to look at modern mixed-media poetry to
see that literature does not rely only on words. It is traditionally viewed
this way but this view doesn't reflect the reality of literature.
_And then we cleave to this new intimacy, one shorn of all the contingencies
of sex, race, class, and nationality._
This isn't true either. Lots of literature is written involving the above,
including many of the works referenced here. Even writing about this is its
own contingency of nationality, as it heavily references national statistics
of only one nation.
_Moreover, the determination to effect cultural change—by the imposition of
diversity quotas—is itself an indication of printed paper’s looming
redundancy._
Diversity quotas the way the author is referencing here either don't exist of
have always existed in the form of "women's literature" (a term itself having
undergone controversy long before technology's prime). Discussing diversity in
literature must also acknowledge that women have always been writing. In fact,
throughout the years, women have been a good number of contemporary
bestsellers in their time. The only discussion would then be to discuss why
women's literature are only rarely considered literature as relevant to the
culture from which the literature is produced- but this discussion has been
ongoing long before technology's time! An example is right in this essay, in
which JK Rowling's Harry Potter series is simultaneously a cultural phenomenon
and worth no literary merit whatsoever (described as "kidult")! In short, I
don't think this point is relevant at all to technology.
_It was only when finishing this essay that I fully admitted to myself what
I’d done: created yet another text that’s an analysis of our emerging BDDM
life but that paradoxically requires the most sophisticated pre-BDDM reading
skills to fully appreciate it._
With all due frankness (and my degree in English literature) this attitude of
requiring sophistication in communication as fundamentally superior
communication (as stated multiple times in his rhetoric) is not an established
case. This essay should be read as an opinion of one guy on the state of
literature and not the reflection of literature as a whole- and likely not
even reflecting contemporary established academic views on this matter.
~~~
emodendroket
> I feel an issue behind this essay is that it makes assumptions of the
> purpose of literature. That literature should be difficult to read, and that
> difficult works are the only works that transfer knowledge, is not reflected
> in contemporary understanding of literature... anywhere. Although there are
> essays discussing the merit of difficult literature, they have always been
> in response to an equal or greater number of essays denigrating difficult
> literature.
"Literature" in the sense he's using it doesn't refer to every work of
fiction. I don't know that literature has to be challenging to be good (A
Farewell to Arms is pretty universally recognized and it isn't long or
difficult), but an audience that reflexively gravitates only toward YA novels
is demonstrating a certain lack of desire for thinking. The number of
political takes I read that involve analogy to a children's book about wizards
is somewhat hard to look at without thinking that our current literary
environment engenders a lack of critical thinking.
I don't know that women's literature has "always" been respected; why did
Emily Bronte (among many other Victorian woman authors) write under a male
pseudonym?
~~~
SolaceQuantum
Please note I specify that women's literature distinctly has not always been
respected and in fact is rarely considered reflective classical literature of
the time of the work.
~~~
emodendroket
Wow, I was led totally astray by mention of "diversity quotas," which weren't
even your words. Sorry.
------
teddyc
Trees rejoice!
~~~
justtopost
Paper production replants trees. Its not saviving any forrests. I would argue
the enviromental toll from kindles and cellphones is magnatudes worse.
~~~
hrktb
Any of those has non trivial impacts.
Your claim is valid, but we should take into account that cutting trees and
planting new ones is not the same a leaving the trees alone in term of
ecosystem. Just like burning down an old town an rebuilding a new one is not
neutral in term of things lost.
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The Powder Toy - severine
https://powdertoy.co.uk/
======
bigyikes
When I was younger, my friends & I would carry this game around on our pocket
USB drives so that we could quickly launch it up on our school's computers any
chance we got. Good times. It's a surprisingly intricate game, but I mostly
just like to blow stuff up.
~~~
DavidPeiffer
We had Halo CE on flash drives and on the school file server in the depths of
the Robotics club shared drive. It was great until they found the file and
made us delete it.
Back on a FIRST Robotics trip, we all had laptops with trackpads playing Halo
CE in the car, with a LAN setup via power inverter. We successfully ran
between 2 vehicles with a semi in the middle at one point with no noticeable
lag!
~~~
Shared404
> It was great until they found the file and made us delete it.
I got lucky with my school, the teachers/sysadmin were defacto okay with us
storing a game on there, at least until enough other students found it and
caused network problems.
> Back on a FIRST Robotics trip, we all had laptops with trackpads playing
> Halo CE in the car, with a LAN setup via power inverter. We successfully ran
> between 2 vehicles with a semi in the middle at one point with no noticeable
> lag!
That is amazing.
------
umvi
Another fun game in a similar vein:
[https://sandspiel.club/](https://sandspiel.club/)
Fun fact - sandspiel was written in Rust -> WASM
~~~
ttul
This is shockingly performant on an iPhone 11.
~~~
tydnbvbv
It's not surprising.
[https://browser.geekbench.com/ios-
benchmarks](https://browser.geekbench.com/ios-benchmarks)
[https://browser.geekbench.com/processor-
benchmarks](https://browser.geekbench.com/processor-benchmarks)
Iphone is as fast as top desktop CPUs. It has 200% performance of my desktop
pc (where it runs fast).
What is surprising is that it's very slow on Snapdragon 730 phone.
~~~
agloeregrets
Might be half CPU there but also half that the JS Engine on Android is much
slower than iOS’s. In all JS benchmarks the iPhone outclasses the Android
devices by amounts greater than the CPU advantage.
------
wfme
I remember playing with this game back in high school. Was my first practical
introduction to logical operators and binary. Ended up spending so much time
trying to build some basic electronics once I found out how to build logic
gates.
No idea if these still work, but kinda cool looking back on them, ten years
later. Here's a fairly simple 4 bit adder with display and memory
[https://powdertoy.co.uk/Browse/View.html?ID=12853](https://powdertoy.co.uk/Browse/View.html?ID=12853).
Powder toy was never complete without some kind of explosive, so here's a
grenade that proved quite popular
[https://powdertoy.co.uk/Browse/View.html?ID=6390](https://powdertoy.co.uk/Browse/View.html?ID=6390).
~~~
haspoken
The R216 computer in powdertoy:
[https://trigraph.net/powdertoy/R216/manual.md](https://trigraph.net/powdertoy/R216/manual.md)
A Forth for the R216 computer:
[https://github.com/siraben/r216-forth](https://github.com/siraben/r216-forth)
------
siraben
There's a Powder Toy subcommunity which focuses on building computers in-game.
The state-of-the-art (subframe) involves exploiting particle evaluation order
to create CPUs that can run at 1 instruction per frame. I even wrote a Forth
implementation for such a 16-bit 8K RAM computer. Good times.
[0]
[https://github.com/siraben/r216-forth](https://github.com/siraben/r216-forth)
------
jamespullar
Noita is a rather interesting game that has some similarities:
[https://noitagame.com/](https://noitagame.com/)
------
JohnTHaller
The Powder Toy is solid fun. We've been portablizing it at PortableApps.com
since 2012: [https://portableapps.com/apps/games/powder-toy-
portable](https://portableapps.com/apps/games/powder-toy-portable)
------
verroq
Is this a clone of the classic: [https://dan-
ball.jp/en/javagame/dust/](https://dan-ball.jp/en/javagame/dust/)
~~~
zamadatix
The Powder Toy came out about 3 years after The Powder Game and there was "The
Falling Sand Game" considered to have kicked off the genre to popularity
(video: [https://external-
preview.redd.it/KbiveNFl8yr3yJ0znWqoZM-7sIa...](https://external-
preview.redd.it/KbiveNFl8yr3yJ0znWqoZM-7sIa8DIiUSum9HbpHAGM.gif?format=mp4&s=501e066c5bfefcb2a1cfab1cce74bf85ba2c96ea))
which came out about 2 years prior to either (~2005).
Of course nothing is ever fully original and you can continue to trace back to
an older "classic" if you like.
~~~
verroq
Powder game is the first I was aware to have a pressure system. There were of
course falling sand games before that.
------
dang
If curious see also
2016
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11052473](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11052473)
------
plutonorm
Be nice to hook this up with an OpenAI gym container and let a real time agent
loose on it.
------
dwrodri
Hadn't thought of this game in a long time, and didn't know it was open
source! Props to the team for their continuous updates over the years, looks
like there's a lot of new stuff since I last played this.
------
krrishd
Damn, I used to spend hours and hours as a kid on the dan-ball.jp version of
this, what a throwback.
Absolutely loved going through the gallery and seeing all the super elaborate
stuff people built too.
------
aabbcc1241
This game is addictive, I often player that for a half day when I was in year
1
------
masterofhouses
Ah, I forgot how fun this game can be.
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Cross-Browser Development Tips (or how to make CSS work in IE8) - angelirizarry
https://www.tinfoilsecurity.com/blog/cross-browser-development-tips-css
======
feverishaaron
Looking at their usage "graph" (if the relative visuals indicate actual
percentages), it appears that IE overall is a very small percentage of their
views - perhaps 3-5%. Within that small percentage, IE 8 makes up what appears
to be around 20% of all IE users. So they are spending time to optimize for
around 1% and maybe 2% of their total views.
I'd suggest that it probably isn't worth it to spend a significant amount of
time to support an audience that small. To determine if this is true, the
company should track conversions from those using the IE browsers. If they
have an average or higher than average number of conversions, one could argue
that it is worth the time spent.
Otherwise, you are probably wasting significant engineering and design
resources to solve problems for laggards who probably won't give you any
money.
~~~
bensedat
That's normally very true. What we didn't say in the article was that we have
some customers whose corporate IT departments haven't upgraded yet and we
didn't want to drop them on the wayside :)
~~~
jffry
I think the latter point of his argument still stands. Presumably you're able
to justify the cost of testing for and dealing with IE8 problems because
enough of your revenue and conversions come from IE8-bound users. If that's
not the case, why would you still support IE8?
~~~
borski
You're correct. Large corporations take ages to upgrade.
------
russelluresti
And now I feel old. I remember when I was writing articles like this for IE6.
Though I'm betting there are a few of you out there who remember writing
articles like this for IE5 or Netscape.
This article is obviously written for beginners, so I won't be too hard on it
for lacking comprehensive detail, but I will make a few recommendations.
In the reset section, showing the * reset is okay, but I think it would be
good to mention a few of the more popular/established/supported ones - like
the Eric Meyer reset or normalize.css, and link to those. Beginners can
obviously google "css reset", but it may be hard for them to discern which
results are good and which are bad. Showing a few that are popular or commonly
used will help them move forward on this point.
For the vendor prefix area, I would also recommend including a paragraph about
checking sites like caniuse.com to see if the CSS property that you plan on
using is even supported in browsers like IE8 or IE9.
Since the article is for beginners, too much detail within the article may be
overwhelming for them, but links to resources they can use to expand their
knowledge on the points you mention would be nice, as it would allow them to
build on top of what you've written at their own pace.
~~~
Joeri
It's interesting to see how the milestones shift. I started out making
websites in IE3 and NS3, and you were glad just to get some sort of basic
navigation going across browsers. It wasn't really web "design" back in those
days. Then we had the IE4 / NS4 period, where you could actually do design in
the browser, provided you built it twice, once for IE and once for NS. I wrote
my first web app for NS4. It was a horrible browser, but it was good for its
day. Then IE 6 happened, and it was the best browser by far and set a new
baseline. It's funny to think back how at the time of its release IE 6 was an
amazing browser, with fantastic standards support and stellar performance. The
mozilla guys were playing catch-up churning out iterations of seamonkey, until
firefox rose from seamonkey's morass, while all that time netscape users kept
suffering on with NS 4. And inexorably IE 6 got old, and people like you were
writing articles about how to bend back your code to support it. IE 8 was the
first MS browser where I felt they really got their standards support right,
and where you could build for it without major hackery. I was of course sorely
mistaken, and now IE 8 is the old stuff that doesn't support the new hotness.
It keeps shifting.
One good thing that happened were auto-updating browsers. You don't see these
articles anymore about supporting old versions of firefox. Microsoft has to
get onto the auto-update bandwagon, and we can finally stop bending code
backwards.
------
mundizzle
instead of the "nuclear option" of reset proposed by the author, i would go
with normalize...
[http://necolas.github.io/normalize.css/](http://necolas.github.io/normalize.css/)
also, an issue that never fails to rear it's ugly head in IE8 and below -
trailing commas in javascript. JSLint/Hint will help avoid this
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The Case for React.js and ClojureScript - mpereira
http://murilopereira.com/the-case-for-reactjs-and-clojurescript
======
chao-
Almost everything I've seen about React makes me happy. However there are some
parts for which I do not understand everyone else's excitement. This
presentation contains a great example on slide 53 when it says:
"No Templates!"
With an exclamation mark, even! What it doesn't tell me, is what is wrong with
templates in the first place? I happen to like them versus the feeling the
alternative gives: Awkwardly-mixed-paradigms and using string concatenation
while attempting to represent one language within another.
Can someone who dislikes templates explain? Or maybe explain what a template
means to you, as perhaps we're not all thinking about the same thing when
someone says "No Templates!"
~~~
zoomerang
I agree very strongly, but I can understand the opposite viewpoint.
For me, I like to write HTML in HTML. While I'm primarily a backend programmer
these days, I've spend a considerable portion of my career writing HTML, so
I'm very familiar and fluent in it.
As such, to me, writing HTML as HTML with annotations for data bindings and
loop is a much better approach. Anything else just gets in the way of my
workflow. AngularJS is the only tool I've used so far that really nails this
properly. (At least since Zope)
However a lot of developers aren't HTML guys. They think in code, and to them
HTML == DOM == a Tree structure. So it makes sense for them to be returning a
tree.
I quite religiously think the latter is the wrong approach and results in less
maintainable code. Instead of having a single template with the entire page
clearly laid out, you end up with small snippets of HTML rendered all over the
place.
This becomes even more jarring when you're working with designers that aren't
coders. I manage a team of 7, and Using HTML-based templates means that my
designer can write fluent AngularJS templates without developers having to do
a thing. The alternative is for the designer to mock something up, and then
for developers to cut it up into tiny little pieces and rewrite it in whatever
DOM abstraction is the flavour of the month. Try reskinning a site made up of
hundreds of small snippets of DOM vs a few complete HTML templates - the
latter is far easier.
Some developers like to write Dom in Javascript because they know Javascript
and don't want to learn another language.
To me, the idea that templates are bad because somebody doesn't want to learn
another language just reeks of anti intellectual bullshit. Angular template
aren't difficult.
I'll finish off this post by adding that I _much_ prefer reactive code over
imperative observables or dirty-checking, but Angular templates work so
ridiculously well it'd feel like a step backwards moving to another framework
that didn't have them. My dream toolchain would use something similar to
Angular templates, with FRP code behind the scenes.
tl;dr To somebody used to writing HTML, building a page by emitting snippets
of DOM inside Javascript is about as annoying as trying to write Javascript by
emitting snippets of code in XML.
~~~
joshma
Have you looked at JSX[1] yet? Because I feel it was invented exactly to
address your tl;dr - you're writing something that is very close to HTML
inside your Javascript, so it definitely seems easier than writing JS snippets
in XML.
Also, although I've found that ReactJS tends to encourage a more modular
component structure (which I'm personally a fan of), there's nothing stopping
you from laying out large chunks of a template instead of small snippets.
[1] [http://facebook.github.io/react/jsx-
compiler.html](http://facebook.github.io/react/jsx-compiler.html)
~~~
zoomerang
Yep - JSX solves many of those complaints. (My post was more of a reaction to
the 'templates are bad' tone than React itself). I'm not a fan of JSX as a
templating language, but it's good enough.
I still feel that React encourages a style of development that pushes small
snippets of HTML rather than full-page templates. Depending on your
development style and the type of application your building, this may or may
not be desirable. (If you're building something that's inherently component
based, then it's good. If you're building something that's not, then it just
adds boilerplate).
I'm working on a pretty large Angular project at the moment - it's been
utterly fantastic, although it does have its warts. (Primarily around
maintaining state ). React.JS claims to solve many of these issues, although
I'm not entirely sure it solves them in the right way. (I'd prefer to aim for
a more FRP approach personally).
~~~
Myrmornis
_I still feel that React encourages a style of development that pushes small
snippets of HTML rather than full-page templates._
I work with Django currently. For dynamic content, in order to avoid
repetition, we use includes and template inheritance. So that goes in the
direction of _small snippets_ rather than _full-page templates_. Do you not
have to do anything similar with your angular templates?
~~~
ludwigvan
Don't forget inclusion_tags. They are really poorly named though, they would
have been much more popular had they been called "components".
The primary difference between an inclusion_tag and an include is that with an
inclusion_tag, you can define the interface of your component with much more
granularity. By default, each inclusion_tag is passed an empty context,
whereas an include accesses all the data in the current context. This way, an
inclusion_tag provides a much better isolation.
One other advantage is, this way, if you need to include some Python logic,
you don't need to do all in a single view function. So, assume that your view
function responds with a page with 5 components in it. If you follow the
include path, all the data preparation goes into the view. With inclusion_tag,
you can basically drop to Python at any level. For example, let's say you are
viewing a list of questions and answers. Views do not allow you to attach
Python code at the question or answer level. You can do it, but you have to
traverse inside the data for the whole feed. With an inclusion tag, you can
"attach" to the processing at the question or answer level.
For Angular folks, an inclusion_tag is very much similar to an angular
controller. The primary difference there is again by default, Angular
components inherit all the scope (similar to JS scope or Django's include
scope), whereas react by default does not pass any variables, you need to pass
them _explicitly_ as props to the children (in angular, you need to add some
information at the "directive" level to achieve this level of isolation).
One alternative for keeping the scope clean while using include is to use the
"only" flag though, so if you are not going to do any data processing, that is
easier.
That said, the use of inclusion_tags is a bit cumbersome, and I'm not making
much use of it lately since I have switched to react.js and basically building
my components in JS instead.
------
numbsafari
Decent presentation.
Something that would be really helpful for me, as a consumer of these slides,
would be to have a better setup between the slides with just code. I get the
impression that, with some of those slides, you would be saying something
while that slide was up. But without your audio, I have no idea what that is
and so the slides are confusing at that point.
So, if you are giving a presentation that goes best with audio, it'd be
awesome to have the audio. If you are giving a presentation with the goal that
it can be consumed without the audio, would it be possible to have your
speaker notes show up on the slides where you are showing something and
talking?
All that said... I'm very interested in looking at react.js. I don't know that
it would work with the team that I am working with now, mostly because the
team that does the front-end work doesn't do JS programming so much as they
format HTML and CSS.
Does anyone know of something that mixes react.js with templates? Any
success/failures in that regard?
~~~
dustingetz
I am the lead guy of a React library: [https://github.com/wingspan/wingspan-
forms](https://github.com/wingspan/wingspan-forms)
All the design work was done by an actual designer who maintained the JSX
directly. He knows enough javascript to get around but basically he just
pretended it was HTML. JSX is awesome because it means designers can commit
directly without involving engineering.
~~~
ryanjshaw
As a developer I'm interested enough to try React.js on my next project.
However, it seems like designers will still need to write Javascript to
implement repeating structures (tables, lists, etc.)? Just like designers
don't want me fiddling with their HTML and CSS, I don't want them fiddling
with my code -- but React.js's model seems to make such a separation of
concerns impossible?
~~~
dustingetz
You can of course continue to have designers handoff markup/CSS for
integration by engineering. But if your designer can handle basic javascript,
you needn't involve engineering at all. In practice it doesn't really matter
if the individual views are sloppy javascript since React separates concerns
so well.
------
baddox
I think I get it. Can anyone let me know if this description of my
understanding is close to correct?
React lets us program reactively by rerunning the entire JavaScript
description of a component every time its data changes. This lets us use
"normal" JavaScript code to describe our component (as opposed to explicitly
attaching Ember dependencies or using Angular ng-* attributes). This normal
JavaScript code will describe the component at all points in time, not because
there is two-way binding, but because any change in the state of the component
will cause the entire JavaScript function to re-execute.
React's virtual DOM, then, doesn't have anything to do with reactive
programming per se. It's just the way that rerunning JavaScript code for every
single data change can be made performant.
~~~
hcarvalhoalves
Have you ever programmed graphics?
To make a paralell, usually in graphics your main loop reacts to events (user
input) and you change some internal state in some object(s). Finally, you get
all those objects that know how to render themselves, see what's relevant and
render the whole scene. You don't have to care about pixels, you just react to
events and blit a representation of the entire state.
React.js is the same, the difference being your components "render" themselves
to the DOM, and because it's a tree, it's naturally composable. It's still a
pipeline taking state and outputing a representation though.
~~~
seanmcdirmid
That is retained rendering with scene graphs. Immediate-mode rendering is
obviously very different.
------
the_watcher
The simple v. easy section was interesting. Those words are probably used too
often as synonyms. In reality, we should think of them differently - something
easy is something that a lot of people should be able to replicate without
much expertise, whereas something simple, a lot of people should be able to
understand (what it does, the purpose, how to use what was built), but not
necessarily replicate themselves. I think that is probably the right
distinction, although it is a very fine one.
~~~
KingMob
If you haven't seen it before, check out Rich Hickey's talk on the topic:
[http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Simple-Made-
Easy](http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Simple-Made-Easy)
~~~
the_watcher
Thanks! Never had seen it, really interesting.
~~~
ludwigvan
You're off for a retreat if this is the first time you are seeing this talk!
~~~
lgas
And in case you missed any of the others, this is a great list:
[http://thechangelog.com/rich-hickeys-greatest-
hits/](http://thechangelog.com/rich-hickeys-greatest-hits/)
------
haberman
> Immutable data structures make React's diffing algorithm really smart.
I was very intrigued when I heard this claimed in a blog article a while back.
So I investigated this claim deeply and was not entirely convinced. For
example, the immutable approach to tree diffing actually requires more work in
some cases, since you always have to diff from the root.
I wrote more about this here: [http://blog.reverberate.org/2014/02/on-future-
of-javascript-...](http://blog.reverberate.org/2014/02/on-future-of-
javascript-mvc-frameworks.html)
~~~
swannodette
This actually isn't true anymore that you always have to render from the root
in Om. We've already changed component local state to avoid this, and likely
in the near future this will be true in the props case as well.
~~~
haberman
Thanks for the update -- could you explain how this works? Do you figure out
internally-to-Om which subtrees have actually changed and call setState()
and/or forceUpdate() on them?
The original article said that Om doesn't use setState() at all -- has this
changed?
------
coolsunglasses
I'd rather use a typed language which is why I'm following the development of
PureScript ReactJS bindings.
[http://www.purescript.org/](http://www.purescript.org/)
[http://tryps.functorial.com/](http://tryps.functorial.com/)
------
juliangamble
David Nolen (@swannodette) has been doing some great work in Om with
ClojureScript and React. In addition to the links posted - this is a link on
why ClojureScript's data structures (functional with structual sharing) make
implementing undo trival in Om [http://swannodette.github.io/2013/12/31/time-
travel/](http://swannodette.github.io/2013/12/31/time-travel/) and this is a
link on data binding in Om with :instrument
[http://swannodette.github.io/2014/02/27/taking-off-the-
blind...](http://swannodette.github.io/2014/02/27/taking-off-the-blindfold/)
------
programminggeek
Um, a lot of what I see in React.js reminds me of Knockout.js but without the
data binding on the view side. I know there's a lot more to it than that, but
the simple example seems like something Knockout's MVVM model could handle in
similar or less complexity.
So why use React.js when Knockout.js works perfectly fine?
~~~
dustingetz
Maybe it's easier to see by example. Knockout doesn't do so well when the
state isn't trivial. Build these in Knockout, I dare you to try. (Once upon a
time, I tried, and failed, and now I use React)
[http://wingspan.github.io/wingspan-forms/examples/form-
twins...](http://wingspan.github.io/wingspan-forms/examples/form-twins/)
[http://wingspan.github.io/wingspan-forms/examples/faceted-
se...](http://wingspan.github.io/wingspan-forms/examples/faceted-search/)
~~~
candl
These seem to be React wrappers around KendoUI. There are wrappers in Knockout
for the same library as well. [http://kendo-labs.github.io/knockout-
kendo/index.html](http://kendo-labs.github.io/knockout-kendo/index.html)
Writing custom bindings in Knockout is quite easy. I also do not understand
the appeal of React. Performance is often cited because of the virtual DOM
implementation, but for example in this benchmark Knockout is three times
faster than React in my browser. [http://vuejs.org/perf/todomvc-
benchmark/](http://vuejs.org/perf/todomvc-benchmark/) The only criticism that
can be made against Knockout is the syntax when using observables in bindings
(the ugly and error prone parentheses) and lack of reusable components. The
first is solvable by using the Knockout-ES5 plugin if we are willing to drop
IE6 to IE8 support. As for the second, components are finally comming to
Knockout:
[https://github.com/knockout/knockout/pull/1396](https://github.com/knockout/knockout/pull/1396)
~~~
dustingetz
For the record (for anyone who is following the discussion), I have used the
KendoUI/Knockout bindings and am comparing Knockout and React on equal ground.
Nothing about the programming model would change if you just used straight
HTML <input>s.
The main issue with Knockout here, is that the state of these apps (the JSON
blob that changes as you click around) is not nice and rectangular and doesn't
fit nicely into ko.observable and ko.observableArray. particularly the faceted
search demo has tension where the lefthand facet checkboxes are grouped and
have counts, but the top facet list is not grouped and don't have counts. In
react, those are backed by the same state data, and the data is just regular
nested javascript objects and arrays, you don't need to access the data
through observables. You just use underscore to transform the data as you see
fit.
------
mossity
This seems slightly cribbed from "Rethinking Best Practices" by Pete Hunt
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7cQ3mrcKaY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7cQ3mrcKaY)
~~~
Confusion
Pete Hunt is quoted on one of the slides, so that sounds likely :)
------
marknutter
function renderApplication(tweets) { return(document.dom.ul( { class: 'tweets'
}, tweets .sort(compareTweetsByScore) .slice(0, 5) .map(function(tweet) {
return(document.dom.li({ class: 'tweet' }, tweet.text); }) )); }
What I like best about Ember and Angular.js is that you don't have any hint of
the DOM in your controllers. I don't like how the above example mixes
concerns.
~~~
antris
Its concern is mapping the tweets (data) into a view (another form of data).
That is one concern. If you like, you can split it into smaller functions
(since everything is referentially transparent, unlike in MVC), but that would
be overkill considering the given example.
~~~
camus2
the point i think is scope injection makes controllers clueless about any view
responsability. That's a powerfull idea. Well they are not totally clueless
because one still needs to "force update the view" sometimes in Angular
($scope.$apply),but this can be avoided by using Angular promise api.
------
morkbot
Anyone knows more about "doing the rendering in web workers" part?
Is it really possible?
Someone doing it already?
Any real benefits of that (web workers have their own overhead)?
------
thrush
It would be useful to see side by side benchmarking and comparisons of typical
Javascript vs React.js. I've just finished reading High Performance Browser
Networking, and it appears to me that most client side code is slowed down
much more by the network than the language. Am I missing something here? Is
Javascript really that bad on its own?
~~~
dangoor
In my experience, JavaScript is quite fast in most browsers. Communication
between the DOM and JavaScript is much slower and causing lots of layout
invalidation and repaints absolutely kills an app's perceived performance.
React's approach is simple for the programmer but takes advantage of the fact
that JS is fast and minimizes those slow bits.
------
whatthemick
I like the idea of React.js and immutable data. But i'm not a fan of the lisp
syntax, am i missing something?
~~~
axle_512
I used to have an issue with lisp syntax until someone pointed it out to me
like this.
In c and java like languages, you invoke a function like this: f(x)
In lisp, just move the paren before the function name. What's the big deal? (f
x)
Similarly, f(g(x)) becomes (f (g x)). All we did was move the paren before the
function name.
The syntax is extremely consistent and it makes the lisp syntax trivial to
learn. In nearly everything you do, the function name comes first the
arguments come next. (+ 1 2) Here + is a function, and you are giving it 2
arguments. There are no special operators or syntax to learn. Just functions!
The mind blowing part comes when you realize that this consistent syntax
combined with the fact that the code is really just written in lisp
datastructures, is what makes lisp macros so powerful.
~~~
whatthemick
Interesting, that does provide a highly consistent base as you say. I might
just have to try out Closure with Om/React for my next project.
------
civilian
Is the presentation available anywhere? The slides just don't cut it for some
of this.
------
camus2
Why isnt clojurescript compiler written in clojurescript? i cant run java on
my machine.
~~~
juliangamble
You can read more about the ClojureScript compiler here:
[http://swannodette.github.io/2014/01/14/clojurescript-
analys...](http://swannodette.github.io/2014/01/14/clojurescript-analysis--
compilation/)
------
tylermauthe
Okay, I'm sold!
------
mantrax5
Just the slides aren't enough to sell me here, I'm sure the missing video to
go with this fills in the holes.
Buuut. "Problem - UI is complex - because DOM not Reactive - what if it was
reactive - random code sample", is just non-sequitur out of context.
DOM programming is inherently "reactive" \- it's event based.
Furthermore, I think it's nice that tools like React.JS exist that "free the
developer from manually programming the DOM", but that's exactly what
Angular.JS offered too. Automatic binding and updating yada yada. Why is this
author flaming Angular.JS? Was it because its leaky abstraction turned out
ugly over time? Well the same fate is awaiting React.JS and its "minimally
leaky abstraction".
Leaky abstractions never remain "minimally leaky" over time. The fact they're
leaky from the very start shows the model was flawed to begin with.
Angular.JS does manual compare between two large model objects to detect
changes and emit model update events.
React.JS does manual compare between virtual DOM and real DOM and emits DOM
update events.
They both try to solve the hardship of having to update your DOM, via an
abstraction that only works well in specific circumstances and incurs
irreducible runtime overhead when behind the scenes structures have to be
compared over and over and emit update/change events.
Sometimes the problem is in the platform. But even more often a bad developer
blames the platform for their own inability to architect their app cleanly and
thinks leaky abstractions are the answer.
~~~
peterhunt
The reason UI programming isn't reactive is because reactive systems are
immediate mode (describe the whole state at any point in time) and the Dom
(hell, most UI toolkits) is retained mode (stateful). So you need to abstract
that away somehow and that abstraction is guaranteed to be leaky to some
degree.
The thing that separates react from the rest (disclaimer: I work on react) is
that these leaks are pushed to the edge of your system (that is, you need an
external signal to re render) rather than threaded throughout your system
(like requiring everything to go through $scope for one). We have seen massive
dev efficiency gains because this removes many limitations for not much
downside.
~~~
mantrax5
Hello, Peter.
Incidentally I was just watching one of your presentations on YouTube to
understand the reasons behind React's design choices.
The thing I still can't understand is why we need to model the UI around
emulation of immediate mode.
Two big reasons:
1\. The fact is when you want to create a meaningful animation between one
state and another, you need to be aware and in control (as a developer) of
what exactly the change is. Diffing may produce one _possible_ valid state
change delta for the developer to work with, but no guarantee it'll be the
correct one. So what does that mean for animated transitions? Is immediate
mode dooming them to either not be used, or to be semi-arbitrary depending on
what the diff engine decides?
2\. Fact is that the browser usually has no access to the full server-backed
state of the widget that it's rendering. Instead, the communication with the
backend that powers said widget (say a chat box) is in the form of delta state
changes. You don't get the full chat log from the server every time someone
sends you a chat message, you get the change only: new message from x.
So if we need to be "state aware" and communicate with "state change events"
so to speak with the server anyway, why suddenly drop that knowledge and
pretend all the state is local by emulating immediate mode rendering?
It doesn't feel like less work. It feels like more work, and less
possibilities (said animations in point 1).
~~~
peterhunt
Thumbing this from my phone so can't go into as much depth as normal.
1\. The diff algorithm is deterministic and accepts that some widgets are
stateful. You can tell the system which items to preserve and which ones to
destroy by providing an identifier. This is essential complexity in the
current world we live in (global dom state tied to element instances like
focus). If we were to throw out the Dom spec and rebuild it we would not need
to do so much.
So you can animate by tweeting a value and rerendering/diffing every frame.
Facebook look back video editor works this way.
2\. Yes, but delta updates are imperative mutations over time and humans are
really bad at keeping track of them so we should try to isolate them as much
as possible. We have a separate system that coalesces these deltas into
consistent views of the world which are then passed to react. This is also the
role of systems like rx.
One way to think about it is like rest. People like rest because it is
predictable: URL refers to the same resource always and refreshing the page
always works consistently and you never need to think about deltas.
~~~
mantrax5
I tend to model and see all communication (at all levels) as message passing
and not as resource/state snapshot passing, but the web has worked fine with
the latter concept so far. So React's architecture certainly provides value in
such situations.
Thanks for answering my questions.
~~~
peterhunt
Totally get you on that. I think that message passing is valuable because it
forces you to decouple systems in a way that reduces shared state. But for
complex apps this means that you will probably have to introduce some sort of
coordination system, which is where things start to get complicated. If you
can pull "time" out of the equation (ie look at complete state snapshots
rather than messages over time) it can make things a lot easier. Obviously not
appropriate for everything, but has worked well for us when building UIs.
No problem btw, fire away if you have any more questions!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Setting up an HA Kubernetes cluster with private networking in AWS - kris-nova
https://www.nivenly.com/k8s-aws-private-networking/
======
jondubois
I wrote a similar article a while ago; except using Rancher - Which adds extra
features for infrastructure management. [https://blog.baasil.io/how-to-
install-kubernetes-on-aws-d9fb...](https://blog.baasil.io/how-to-install-
kubernetes-on-aws-d9fbbc04e816#.cnqfv841r)
------
whalesalad
Good lord this is so much easier than it was 6 months ago. Really glad to see
the barrier of entry going down to get these clusters built. Kubernetes has
been paramount to our engineering growth at FarmLogs.
~~~
chrislovecnm
Yah I agree. K8s install has been the bane of the projects existence.
~~~
kris-nova
Happy to know we are finally "here" with deploys/installs!
------
iddqd
kops is pretty great for managing the lifecycle of a k8s cluster. It even
supports outputting Terraform code, if that is your Infrastructure-as-Code
tool of choice.
~~~
kris-nova
One of the best features of kops, is it's ability to be open ended in
generating what the user wants! The private networking piece of Terraform
codegen is right around the corner, and rumor has it, it will be used in some
new API tests
------
alexbilbie
ECS tasks now support IAM roles; how does this work for K8s equivalent? Do you
need to use IAM user credentials for app credentials?
~~~
tazjin
IAM credentials for ECS tasks are implemented with a transparent proxy to the
metadata API, and there are similar projects for Kubernetes.
The one that's most popular I believe is kube2iam:
[https://github.com/jtblin/kube2iam](https://github.com/jtblin/kube2iam)
Using IAM roles then boils down to setting an annotation such as
`iam.amazonaws.com/role: my-db-access-role` on a pod (assuming the correct
trust relationship has been configured).
------
sandGorgon
kops is nice... but too tied to AWS.
I'm really liking the direction that kargo is taking. It leverages a well
known toolset - ansible - to build out its functionality.
kargo is compatible with everything from bare metal to AWS... with the caveat
that when using it in AWS, you have to use a different provisioning tool like
Terraform.
This is a feature.. not a bug.
~~~
justinsb
Kops actually isn't tied to AWS, though we only support AWS right now. We'll
likely be adding GCE support next; user requested features on AWS have taken
priority so far though...
~~~
sandGorgon
@justinsb - oh I didnt know that. For example, we are struggling to use kops
on bare metal. However, I quite understand your AWS feature priority.
~~~
justinsb
So right from the start I wanted to make sure it wasn't locked to AWS. We used
to have GCE support enabled (and continue to have it on a branch, though
obviously it has bit-rotted as we've added more AWS feature support) But we
built GCE support early so we could be sure that the abstraction wasn't AWS
specific. And we have bare metal support on another (more experimental)
branch. Bare metal is much more challenging, largely because on clouds we can
run etcd in HA mode with automatic instance replacement, which isn't really
possible on bare-metal, so it looks we have to settle for HA with operator
intervention when an etcd instance fails.
So I actually think kargo is a great choice on bare-metal - and it also does a
great job of running on multiple clouds and bare metal. But the design of kops
isn't particularly tied to AWS, though it does match better with clouds.
------
marcoceppi
This is a nice write up, but we honestly needed to stand up kubernetes on-
premise and in public/private clouds. This is why we've been using this:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7nMFVaOOi8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7nMFVaOOi8)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Need to hire Pro iPad developer ASAP - jessica_moyer
Need some help. Have a programmer who has bailed and left me empty handed after months of delays. Really need to get my client at least a "beta" version on a development iPad this week to win back their confidence.<p>What we need is very simple for "version A". Basically an FTP client that downloads a users whole folder and then an "overlay" for browsing the folders and underlying PDF files.<p>If anyone out there is interested would love to hear from you ASAP!
======
mmic82
Do you still need someone? I can probably help. I can testflight you a quick
demo I put together. Contact me by email (in my profile).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
List of English terms of venery, by animal - mrzool
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_terms_of_venery,_by_animal
======
db48x
And a tragedy of telepaths.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Heatmap of the Most Instagrammed Cities in the World - kendrick__
https://kndrck.co/posts/visualizing_the_worlds_most_instagrammed_cities/
======
habnds
looks cool but dangerously close to
[https://xkcd.com/1138/](https://xkcd.com/1138/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Interstellar communication using microbial data storage - novalis78
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3265/1
======
novalis78
A must read article by Mars Society founder Dr. Robert Zubrin. Quite
intriguing proposition.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How to get PHP lamp or mamp on Ubuntu 19.10? - futurechange
I recently changed my pc from windows to Ubuntu 19.10 I Love linux so much faster and simple than windows<p>but I want to learn php on this machine what's the best way to get MySQL php lamp or apache and all that good stuff for PHP development on this ubuntu machine?<p>everything seems outdated or there is always new stuff and new code hard to differinate what to use and keep up with.
======
roosgit
Try tasksel. It has a simple wizard-like setup. I used it to install Apache,
PHP and MySQL on a server by following a video tutorial. You can preview the
whole process in this video
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxuAwCKIoKg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxuAwCKIoKg).
Unfortunately, it doesn't also install phpMyAdmin like MAMP does. But from a
quick search, it seems that phpMyAdmin can be installed by running a single
command in terminal.
------
monoideism
Haven't worked with PHP in years, but I found a good LAMP install tutorial
from Digital Ocean:
[https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-
inst...](https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-
linux-apache-mysql-php-lamp-stack-ubuntu-18-04)
Probably, you'll use the same process on 19.04 as on 18.04.
~~~
futurechange
seems like getting PHP dev on Ubuntu is more complicated than a simple MAMP on
OS X or Wamp on Windows.
~~~
monoideism
Yeah, it is, but it's also much closer to how PHP is deployed on a production
server if you're not using a shared host, so it's good for someone to learn
these kinds of command line skills if they have any plans of working in the
software industry.
------
lovelearning
I generally use Bitnami's stacks. There's one for LAMP too.
Benefits: Fairly latest versions. Everything in one directory (I usually
install them under /opt). No effect on system packages. No need to add PPAs
for new versions.
Drawbacks: Can't update an existing installation; have to install a new
version of the stack in another location and migrate.
[1]:
[https://bitnami.com/stack/lamp/installer](https://bitnami.com/stack/lamp/installer)
[2]:
[https://bitnami.com/stack/lamp/README.txt](https://bitnami.com/stack/lamp/README.txt)
~~~
futurechange
this looks interesting and it works for Ubuntu? I can have PHP/MYSQL and
phpmyadmin ?
I like this, so basically it's the MAMP or WAMP version for like Linux ubuntu?
~~~
lovelearning
It works on Ubuntu. I use it on Ubuntu.
It's LAMP. There are different ways to deploy LAMP on Ubuntu but they are all
LAMP stacks at the end of the day. 1)From system packages is most common. 2)
From PPAs if you want latest versions. 3) As virtual machine. 4)As containers.
5) As software bundles like the Bitnami stack 6) Building all components from
their sources.
~~~
futurechange
wow main you're a life saver this worked perfectly on ubuntu. most of the
online saved was outdated this helped a lot thanks
------
LarryMade2
Ubuntu runs a little behind in the PHP versions...I think it is mainly for
compatibility sake (which is good if you are looking long-term without much
breakage)
I switched to Linux Mint recently (which is a offshoot of Ubuntu) to have more
recent PHP/MySQL versions. There are many guides out there for getting LAMP up
and running with Mate as well as Ubuntu. Just include the version with it
(i.e. search install php mysql ubuntu 19.10 )
------
saluki
[https://cpriego.github.io/valet-linux/](https://cpriego.github.io/valet-
linux/)
Check out laracasts.com [https://laracasts.com/series/laravel-6-from-
scratch/episodes...](https://laracasts.com/series/laravel-6-from-
scratch/episodes/4)
See comments about linux.
~~~
monoideism
Note: that first program installs Nginx, not Apache if OP wants true LAMP.
------
p0d
Just to segway a little I am a fan of lxc. I would be happier fiddling with
PHP in a container than the main os.
I run lxc containers and PHP on another box and run sublime seemlessly on the
remote box to edit code.
------
tyzerdak
Check digital ocean / linode tutorials
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Apple’s New iPad Pro Ads Were Shot and Made Entirely on the iPad Pro [video] - plg
https://petapixel.com/2019/01/29/apples-new-ipad-pro-ads-were-shot-and-made-entirely-on-the-ipad-pro/
======
fermienrico
Everytime I see one of these "Shot on ____ ", I think about the following:
People used heavy film cameras, awful lenses, rusty shutters amidst a raging
war to take incredible pictures (Magnum photographers). If they had iPhone
cameras back 50 years ago, they'd kill to get such a small camera system in
their pockets.
Good photography (and cinematography) is largely a conceptual thing - put the
right brain behind the tools, however limited, and they'll produce incredible
content. This is hardly surprising. It is the Jimmy Hendrix equivalent of
using an eBay cheapie to shred incredible music. Or look up Robert Rodriguez's
El Mariachi film shot with a total budget of $7000. No shit!
~~~
rtpg
I definitely get this argument but take some pictures with the newest iPhone,
compare with some pictures taken with one of those fancy Canon cameras, and
the difference is night and day. With almost no effort a really nice camera
will produce shots that are extremely hard to do nicely with an iPhone
It’s also the difference between a random bike and something really well
maintained with tires pumped to perfection. Super expensive bikes won’t get
you to the Tour de France, but it sure makes riding a lot easier
~~~
joshvm
Aside from framing, the reason the footage looks is well-controlled lighting
and good camera mounting. Any camera will take a good photo outdoors in
sunlight, but indoors it's all about how the scene is lit.
SLRs have enormous sensors. The largest common sensor size in computer vision
is 1". That's smaller than micro 4/3\. APS-C and full frame are huge. Big
sensor means more photons, which means less noisy images. Combine that with a
big ol' lens and a good processor and you get nice well-exposed images without
any effort.
People are disappointed by phone images because they take snaps indoors or in
low light, and their pictures come out grainy and noisy. In the iPad Pro
advert the scenes are lit so brightly that the sensitivity of the sensor is
basically meaningless.
~~~
criddell
> People are disappointed by phone images
You think? I'm amazed by the photos I get on my phone (Pixel) and that my wife
takes with her iPhone. The low light performance is especially shocking.
I used to have an SLR and sometimes I think about getting a Leica just because
they are beautiful, but if I'm honest my phone is a better camera than I
really need.
~~~
zeristor
I have family pictures taken on a Kodak Discman from the 80’s, which is of
similar thickness but the photos are terrible.
So I appreciate the quality of mobile phone photography in such a small form
factor
------
josefresco
Reminded me of this:
[https://youtu.be/OkPter7MC1I](https://youtu.be/OkPter7MC1I)
~~~
faitswulff
Article for those unwilling to sit through a video:
[https://petapixel.com/2017/06/30/truth-shot-iphone-style-
ads...](https://petapixel.com/2017/06/30/truth-shot-iphone-style-ads/)
------
gumby
The cameras on phones are already so much better than what I could pull off
with an old snap camera in the film days. To me the improvement of camera
systems isn't in an of itself that interesting -- but the degree to which it
can give more/better data to software that can then produce a photo I'll enjoy
more than I could had I "done it myself": that's what matters.
I still have a snap (digital) camera to shoot things I can't with a phone. The
pictures aren't as good.
As a side point: what do I mean by can't shoot on a phone? On a whitewater
raft; climbing; on a multi-week backpacking trip (only one small, spare
battery needed); sleeping in the snow; has controls that can be used via feel
while wearing gloves; non-digital zoom. These are all niche applications and
while adaptors (cases) can be found to use a phone in these situations they
are much worse than just getting the right tool for the job. Which sits unused
on my desk more than half the time.
------
amelius
Offtopic, does anyone know a good app for video editing which kids age 8+ can
use? I'm thinking of normal film editing, but perhaps a stop-motion capability
would be nice, so they can animate their LEGO figures :)
~~~
goldenkey
iPhoto?
[https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207587](https://support.apple.com/en-
us/HT207587)
~~~
philwise
My wife taught the kids at primary school how to use PowerPoint. After they
were given a camera to take some pictures around the school, some of them
randomly figured out they could make stop motion animations. I was blown away.
Six year old kids can do amazing things, as long as their environment doesn't
railroad them down boring paths.
------
benj111
Don't these kind of articles just show that it's the craft of the professional
that makes the difference?
If a person can do something good with any old piece of kit, doesn't that say
more about the person than the kit?
~~~
chrisseaton
No because the kit can limit you.
If you tried to film this advert on a VGA webcam and edit it on an Amiga I
don't think you'd get results this good no matter how skilled the person was.
It may take someone skilled to get the best out of the kit, but they're
showing that they kit doesn't limit you.
~~~
jacobush
Though, you could get some awesome results from VGA webcam and edits on an
Amiga, I'm sure. :-D
~~~
theelous3
If the film maker was good, the output would be good regardless of the
terrible camera. It would just be a different ad. Not focused on flawless
lighting and gliding smooth lines etc.
~~~
ShinyCyril
An interesting example of this is an episode of DigitalRev's Cheap Camera
Challenge, whereby the filmmaker Phillip Bloom was tasked with producing a
short film using a Barbie with an integrated 240p camera:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VS3C183G8g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VS3C183G8g).
------
qrbLPHiKpiux
Hats off to them. Film editing is such a time consuming mind numbing tedious
process for me. I have tried it with family videos with a normal keyboard and
mouse and to imagine doing it on an iPad, touch only...
~~~
miohtama
I have done some minor video producing with a proper equipment and then small
flocks on iOS / Android.
I understand the filming part, though iPad probably does not offer any
advantage of mobile cameras.
But is there a need to edit on iPad? Any laptop with a proper desktop UI is
much more powerful for this purpose.
~~~
petepete
iPad Pro has more than enough power to edit on, and when applications are
designed to be interacted with via touch or pencil, the experience is a
productive one.
I don't do video, but a photographer (Ted Forbes) who's YouTube channel I
really enjoy released a video yesterday about how he's switching to LumaFusion
and gave some reasons and thoughts on why.
[https://youtu.be/4fRJXJCEIyw](https://youtu.be/4fRJXJCEIyw)
------
Guest10928391
In this video someone mentions, "It was a really cool challenge". I think that
sums it up well. It's like hitting a nail into a piece of wood with a shoe.
It's technically possible if you're given the constraint and enough time, but
for your own sanity you'll wish you had a simple hammer.
~~~
patrickg_zill
Buck Knives used to have a demonstration where their knives could be used to
cut a bolt with a series of many light taps.
But if you want to cut bolts in real life you should probably use a bolt
cutter...
------
throwaway415415
This makes me kinda regret buying a different laptop. The iPad pro is perfect
except for the following reasons:
* It doesn't sit well in your lap. So if you don't have a table and you want to type that's annoying
* It's not a great environement to code and run tools
I wish it could fix these issues, but in truth I'm wondering if it could
without becoming a laptop.
~~~
ghaff
>* It doesn't sit well in your lap. So if you don't have a table and you want
to type that's annoying
I'm not sure why there isn't a better detachable keyboard/tablet system out
there. One of the main reasons I still travel with a tablet and a laptop (even
if it's only a small Chromebook) is that the laptop is so much more ergonomic
to just grab and stick on my lap which I often even do in, say, a hotel room
even if there's a table available.
~~~
LyndsySimon
Doesn't that pretty much describe the MS Surface Book?
~~~
ghaff
Surface is better but it’s still not really like a laptop. Though probably
comes closest. (I’m also not really in the Microsoft ecosystem so Surface
isn’t that attractive to me.)
------
louieadamian
This is great marketing, but I don’t see the purpose to arear facing camera on
the iPad. I have never needed the one on mine. I find it cumbersome to use and
the rear camera bump ruins the design on the new one in my opinion.
------
pier25
The camera is the least important aspect in getting a good image. With a good
lighting and good production even a cheap phone can get a good image.
------
kyriakos
With correct lighting and direction you can shoot a high quality ad on pin
hole camera made out of carton.
------
foolsgold
It's a poor craftsman who blames his tools.
~~~
21
But a good craftsman doesn't use shitty tools. Sure, he could work with
everything, but given the choice...
------
21
And tens of thousands of dollars of professional lighting.
Ask a pro photographer what he would prefer:
1\. a cheap entry level DSLR and ultra-expensive light setup
2\. the most expensive DSLR and cheap household light setup
Most would pick 1.
[https://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/its-not-about-the-
camera...](https://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/its-not-about-the-camera-
improve-photo-quality-with-better-lighting/)
~~~
coldtea
> _And tens of thousands of dollars of professional lighting._
There have been great (and even award winning videos) shot on iPhones (or even
cheapo dslrs/compacts) with no "professional lighting" or just natural light.
A random example:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyr9NwyszNY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyr9NwyszNY)
~~~
21
Your video shows no cloud full brightness summer lighting. Hardly what's
considered a difficult setup.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
"64 bit" Snow Leopard defaults to 32 bit kernel - swernli
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/08/latest-snow-leopard-build-limits-most-macs-to-32-bit-mode.ars
======
brk
This article is almost 2 weeks old and appears to be related to pre-release
versions of Snow Leopard.
The headline of your submission also appears different from the article itself
and makes it sound like a much more definitive case than what seems to be
happening (from the articles description).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Whatsapp hits one billion users - aritraghosh007
https://blog.whatsapp.com/616/One-billion
======
xufi
I wonder when WhatsApp will be finally morphed with FB Messenger. I figured it
would be about now or soon since it's been growing expoentially
------
jlg23
accounts != users
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ubuntu lockscreen bypass by removing hdd, devs say fix unlikely - codedokode
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity/+bug/1777415
======
codedokode
Article with detailed description, machine translated from Russian:
[https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&js=y&prev...](https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fhabr.com%2Fcompany%2Facribia%2Fblog%2F416425%2F&edit-
text=&act=url)
It says the OS had user's home directory encrypted, but not the whole
filesystem.
For those who prefer video, here is what you can do if you forgot your or
someone's password:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGu5AFCQ1Uw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGu5AFCQ1Uw)
Also, I think this bug also deserves a name, but nothing comes to mind.
"hddunlock" maybe?
~~~
mindcrime
_Also, I think this bug also deserves a name, but nothing comes to mind.
"hddunlock" maybe?_
hddbleed?
------
slededit
With this it attack it should be possible to extract the keys and access the
encrypted home partition. Disk encryption and TPS chips are supposed to
mitigate physical attacks. Its worrying if Ubuntu doesn't care about that
vector.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why Draw Something Is A Hit - hamey
http://www.bonobolabs.com/the-7-sneaky-reasons-why-draw-something-is-a-hit/
======
msluyter
I've enjoyed the game, but it seems to have a short shelf life. I started
playing with about half a dozen co-workers last week, and now almost all of
them have quit playing. This may in part be due to a.) not enough words (I'm
seeing a lot of repeats), b.) time required to play -- drawing an elaborate
picture (or watching it be drawn) takes considerable time (on an iPhone), and
I often find myself shying away from the game for that reason.
Finally, I'd add that the game has a few annoyances. For example, the popup
requesting you to rate the game in the app store can't be ignored. You must
either rate the game, or postpone doing so. I also lost all of my purchased
colors after an update. Clearly they're having growing pains, but my
enthusiasm is waning.
~~~
afterburner
"or watching it be drawn"
I believe there's a skip button? Never tried pushing it, though.
~~~
roc
You send drawing 1 to player B. They watch it being drawn and guess. They send
you drawing 2. When you open your app you see drawing 1 happen again and
player B making their guess. You can skip that. Then you're shown drawing 2
and can make your guess.
You can "pass" during drawing 2, but that ends the game (streak) between you
and player 2.
And though the streak doesn't really matter, it means that, no, you can't
really 'skip' watching the other player's drawing stroke-by-stroke. You can
only choose to stop playing.
~~~
rictic
I think they hit the right compromise here. As you said you can give up and
pass on the word. If you get the word early then it shows you the final
drawing then moves on to the next turn.
Not allowing someone to skip to the final drawing when they do want to play
but can't guess the answer yet is a feature, not a bug. It allows new
strategies, like drawing a series of states to show a change. It also gives
you a sense of the other person, it's a big part of the fun sense of
communication that you get with the game.
A skip button, if added, would be widely used and make the game worse.
------
carlsednaoui
For those having a hard time getting to the article.
<copy>
1\. Watching friends screw up is fun
This is genius. Draw Something combines the benefits of asynchronous gameplay
(easier to play with friends instead of strangers because they don’t have to
be online) with the benefits of synchronous gameplay: watching the action in
quasi-realtime. Watching your friends painfully draw a crude Tom Hanks stroke-
by-stroke is just good ol’ fashioned fun. Even better, this acts as an
indirect communication channel for users to write messages and clear the
screen before starting the actual drawing.
2\. There isn’t a freaking back button
When you tap on a game to have a turn, there is literally no way back. You are
forced to complete the turn before you can view your other games. Given most
players have a lot of games on the go, they are keen to get back to the home
screen and see who is ready to play. If you play Words With Friends, how many
times have you tapped on a game, not thought of a move then tapped back to try
another game? Draw Something forces you through the turn which keeps the whole
machine ticking over faster.
3\. Play for seconds or hours
The amount of time you want to dedicate to playing is completely variable. If
you are waiting in a queue you can spend 10 seconds drawing a quick move on a
single game. If you really want to knuckle down, you can slave over every
pixel for 20 games and spend hours playing it. This is vital for a mobile
casual game to fit into all sorts of time-killing / entertainment situations.
4\. Natural encouragement to start new games
You just finish 5 moves and are waiting on everyone to have their turn…what do
you do? Start another game of course! Why wouldn’t you when you can see all
those other fun Facebook friends are ready to play?
5\. Cooperative playing where scoring actually doesn’t matter
Most game developers spend a huge amount of time trying to tune scoring
systems and get the balance right. In Draw Something it’s all kinda a bit
vague…and that’s a good thing. If you are really into scores, you can dive
into it. Most regular players just have fun guessing drawings from their
friends (and maybe getting a decent streak). You are essentially working
together, which can be a lot less intimidating for people who are worried
about not being good at games.
6\. Virtual ice breaker with Facebook crushes
Seriously, don’t tell me you didn’t start a sneaky game with that guy/gal you
don’t really know but thought “why not”. Given the tight Facebook integration,
it makes it socially acceptable to start a game with someone on the outer edge
of your social circle. Because there isn’t a chat option, it forces you to
communicate purely through drawing which can be far less awkward.
7\. Words are taken from pop culture
Rather than just ripping a bunch of words straight from the dictionary…you end
up drawing things like Lady Gaga or Dubstep. Far more stimulating!
</copy>
~~~
hamey
Thanks for posting, back up now ;-)
------
nextstep
Being able to see your friend's brush strokes as they draw is very cool. It is
fun to watch people draw because it is interesting insight into how people
think. Also, clues can be given through "actions" this way, e.g. the word
"wind" can be clued through the action of the artist, and this information
would be lost if users could only see the finished product.
Additionally, the reverse is interesting and fun as well: it is kind of fun to
see your friends guess the word in realtime. This way, you get to see what
clue in the drawing finally made it click for your partner.
------
obiefernandez
Not having a back button is a big deal. You sit there and think "well, I
better just whip out a drawing so I can get back to my list of games" -- the
only alternative is to exit back to the homescreen and wait some undetermined
time (perhaps for the app to be moved out of memory?)
But the point is that forcing you to play the next turn in the round instead
of picking another game acts to perpetuate engagement very effectively.
~~~
wbrendel
You can force quit the app, and it will relaunch to your list of games.
~~~
toadkick
Heh, which I find myself doing frequently. Every time I get to the point where
there are no "easy" choices for words to draw, I find myself force-quitting
the app, relaunching, and playing a round with someone different, and then
coming back to the round I skipped (incidentally, you get offered new word
choices in this case). Hard to say whether having a "back" button would end up
discouraging people from continuing the game or not without some A/B testing,
and I have a hunch that not having a back button probably keeps people in the
game a little longer, but I still wish there was a back button. I'd like to be
able to return to the same point in the round instead of having to completely
restart the round again.
EDIT: something else occurs to me too. When you are presented with a list of
words to draw, you have the option to "bomb" the list and get new words. As I
mentioned, if you force quit the app at this point, and come back to that
round, you will be offered different words, for free (definitely an exploit if
you are patient enough to go through the process of force-quitting and
restarting). I guess putting a back button on this screen would pretty much
obviate the need for the "bomb" button, and would directly impact their bottom
line since people wouldn't have as many opportunities to use their bombs. I
have a suspicion that _that's_ the reason there is no back button...the fact
that it doesn't give players a chance to back out and keeps them a little more
engaged it probably just a happy side effect.
~~~
freehunter
I was frustrated by the new word choices popping up after quitting, actually.
I had a pretty awesome drawing, the app crashed, and the new choices were
pretty lame.
Minor quibble, I know, but it does seem odd that you get new choices just by
quitting when they really want you to pay for them.
~~~
toadkick
Yeah, I was wondering how they would have let something like this slip
through. I figure either a) they weren't aware of the exploit (unlikely, but
possible...Draw Something, while fun, is not a very polished game), or b) they
know of the exploit, but fixing it is a non-trivial. I suspect b) because the
game does not appear to store any state between the time you start guessing
the other player's drawing, and the time you complete you drawing (so it just
starts over if the round is interrupted, as if nothing ever happened). So, in
order to remember the list of words that was previously presented to you, the
game would have to 1) maintain state that indicates which "phase" of each
round you are in for a given game, and 2) maintain the original list of words
presented to you after you get to the "choose a word to draw" phase. I suspect
they just decided that fixing the exploit isn't worth it, because a lot of iOS
users don't even know that they can force quit the app, and a lot of the ones
who do probably still wouldn't be bothered to actually do it. Also, having to
go through the process of watching/skipping the other player draw his picture
again can be tedious.
------
saurik
I would love to see a comparison to Depict, which was really popular a year or
two ago, and now seems much less well known than this "Draw Something" that
people started talking about.
(edit: Ugh, and Draw Something apparently has a "choose a username" feature,
rather than using your name from Game Center or allowing multiple people to
have the same username, so of course someone chose my username, because they
knew it would cause a lot of people to try to play games with them.)
------
minouye
This Quora answer by Nabeel Hyatt goes into more depth on the actual game
mechanics involved:
[http://www.quora.com/Draw-Something/What-did-Draw-
Something-...](http://www.quora.com/Draw-Something/What-did-Draw-Something-do-
differently-from-other-Pictionary-apps-that-made-it-so-viral)
------
hamey
WordPress issues sorry folks, working on a fix now will be back up shortly!
------
hamey
Site back up after a hefty Linode upgrade, thanks for your patience y'all.
------
jeffool
I'm curious, but it kills the Android Browser on my Droid X. Words appear on
the right frame, but before I can see them, or anything, the screen goes black
and I'm back at the home page.
------
apricot13
Its unplayable on my iphone 4 (up to date) I really dont see why its so
popular? its SO slow. Personally I prefer depict!
~~~
MattBearman
How odd, it runs really well on my old 3Gs. And yes, I'm completely addicted
to it :)
~~~
apricot13
its annoying because when I finally managed to draw something (see what i did
there!) it was really fun!
------
darylteo
Getting a database error, Hamey.
Daryl - bonobo +1
~~~
hamey
Fixed! Thanks Daryl - hope you're well!
~~~
calydon
Still can't connect...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google is paying Apple billions per year to remain on the iPhone - pestkranker
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/14/google-paying-apple-3-billion-to-remain-default-search--bernstein.html
======
miket
So, in other words, $25B worth of attention is transferred from iOS users to
Google[1], which Google pays Apple $3B for this access.
[1] [https://www.recode.net/2017/7/24/16020330/google-digital-
mob...](https://www.recode.net/2017/7/24/16020330/google-digital-mobile-ad-
revenue-world-leader-facebook-growth)
~~~
wwweston
What's the exchange rate between units of attention and dollars these days?
~~~
SeanDav
to Google: about 8 to 1...
------
intopieces
>On the other hand, Sacconaghi said that Apple's iOS devices contribute about
50 percent to Google's mobile search revenue, which means Google might be too
afraid to walk away from its licensing deal with Apple.
50%? Am I reading this right, that iOS makes up 50% of Google's mobile search
revenue? IDC reports that Android made up 85% of the mobile OS market share in
Q1-17, while iOS makes up 14.6%. How could iOS be contributing half of the
mobile search revenue when Google's own OS is on most of the mobile devices in
the world?
[0][https://www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-
share/os](https://www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-share/os)
~~~
genericpseudo
This observation is the single most important thing you need to know if you
work in consumer mobile.
To first order, iPhone owners spend money. Android owners don't. This is
because your average iPhone user cares more about what phone they're using and
simply _uses_ it more.
This _is_ a first-order approximation. The small percentage of people who
actively _choose_ Android do spend and do use their phones a lot, and by
goodness are they vocal, but the more useful way of thinking about the market
is not two-segment, it's three-segment:
* Vast majority: don't care about their phone OS, won't pay for anything
* Significant minority: want iPhones, will most probably spend money
* Significant but even smaller minority: actively want Android, will buy premium Android phones (e.g. Nexus, high-end Samsung), will either spend money or, with roughly equal likelihood, jailbreak and pirate everything in sight.
From this perspective iOS remains the most compelling mobile OS to target.
Additionally, iOS users – on average - use apps more and for longer, though
again that effect is small when you control for the kind of Android devices
people go out of their way to choose.
~~~
Symbiote
> From this perspective iOS remains the most compelling mobile OS to target.
That fine if you're trying to make money, but it still annoys me when
something like a government or non-profit targets iPhone first.
~~~
genericpseudo
Absolutely, yes. Your moral argument there is pretty undeniable; I'm speaking
purely to propensity-to-spend and that's a pretty narrow lens.
In fact, I'd say "target the web" if you're going for maximum accessibility
and you're not driven by commercial factors, though that doesn't work for
every app and the usability/discoverability issues can be real. Favoring any
commercial platform as a government is a very uncomfortable place to be.
------
myusernameisok
> "Court documents indicate that Google paid Apple $1B in 2014, and we
> estimate that total Google payments to Apple in FY 17 may approach $3B,"
> Bernstein analyst A.M. Sacconaghi Jr. said. "Given that Google payments are
> nearly all profit for Apple, Google alone may account for 5% of Apple's
> total operating profits this year, and may account for 25% of total company
> OP growth over the last two years."
It's crazy considering even if Apple switched default search engines I'm sure
a lot of users would switch back to Google.
~~~
wnissen
Several months after Apple Maps became the default, something like 2/3rds of
all users switched away from Google Maps. It's hard for me to believe, since
the Apple Maps are more attractive but still less useful, but those are the
numbers. I wouldn't count on a big return to Google Search.
~~~
saagarjha
Most people can’t tell the difference and go with the default. Even the people
who have it installed are often redirected to Apple Maps by Siri and location
links since they will always use it.
~~~
dionian
I prefer usability (UX) over content, I used to switch to other maps when I
had issues with data, but there hasn't been the need to in a very long time.
Default is great especially if the UX is better. Google is ok, but Apple Maps
UI is the best. I still use Waze from time to time though.
~~~
nowherecat
I find Apple Maps annoyingly slow in calculating routes and responding to my
input. Google Maps worked alright for me, but I switched to Waze a couple
months ago and can't go back anymore.
Waze is superior in so many ways. It knows (most) contruction sites/road
closures (there are many where I live), Waze tells me about speed traps and
accidents. Maybe not the best UI, but I definitely get the best results. And I
enjoy submitting Road closures etc myself - hoping that I am helping others
get where they want faster/without unexpected issues. It's not perfect, but it
has definitely saved me a lot of time.
~~~
Spooky23
IMO, Waze is hit or miss, but fun. If you're doing a multi-car road trip the
little messaging/beep features and stuff are fun. It overweights traffic and
underweights stop signs and lights. It's great for inter-city travel,
especially if you're a little familiar with the road.
But it's subject to flights of fancy similar to MapQuest circa 2002 where you
find yourself taking some strange back road to save little or no travel time.
~~~
DigitalJack
It does not give traffic enough weight for my commute. Waze is consistently
too optimistic in travel time by 10-15 minutes (25% of my commute if I hit
rush-hour).
With no traffic, it's spot on. I feel like it doesn't account for traffic that
develops during the commute. Given the length of my travel, the roads may be
clear when I start, but very congested before I finish.
------
timdellinger
It's in Google's best interest to keep the price high... it raises the price
for any potential competitor who might try to outbid them.
Google knows how much money it makes through iPhone... a potential competitor
could only guess how much money could be made by being the new default search
engine (especially since the number of people who would be loyal to Google and
switch away from the new default is a big unknown).
It's interesting to see exactly how valuable it is (or how valuable people
think it is) to be the market leader.
If Google lost the iPhone default position, their customers (i.e. advertisers)
would see them differently.
~~~
elihu
It's also a disincentive for Apple to make their own search engine.
~~~
ryanwaggoner
This really doesn't seem like something Apple would do. It's not in their DNA,
would be very tough to do while keeping their pro-privacy stance, and isn't
how they like to make money. I'd be very disappointed if they went down this
road.
~~~
elihu
I doubt that creating a new competitive search engine is quite as hard as
Google would like us to believe. Whether it's something Apple would do, I
don't have an opinion; in general I don't pay much attention to Apple.
They could conceivably setup a search engine as a pro-privacy move by
deliberately not collecting/monetizing user's search data, and perhaps not
even running ads at all if they can figure out some other way to pay for it or
justify the expense. However, I agree with you that it feels wrong. I think
I'd feel better about a new search engine if it was run by a less profit-
driven institution, like the Internet Archive.
Maybe the best course of action if Apple wanted a Google alternative to exist
is to develop some of the technology in-house and then give a giant grant to
some well-respected pro-privacy organization to actually run the thing.
~~~
sumedh
> I doubt that creating a new competitive search engine is quite as hard as
> Google would like us to believe.
MS, Yahoo and many others would disagree.
------
msoad
Apple is developing its search engine. If you use iOS search you might notice
there are results that are not either Bing or maps results. Map on its own
eats lots of Google's search share because people search on their iPhones for
locations and businesses a lot.
------
ksec
With iOS 11 you can type your Questions to Siri for results, replacing some of
your Searches. I remember vaguely that 80% of all searches are some specific
type that Apple could replicate in Siri "Should they choose to".
I think the End Game will be Apple providing very good, high quality curated
Search Results for its Users, Eating up to 40% of Google's Mobile revenue. (
80% of searches and 50% of Mobile Revenue coming from iPhone ).
That is, of course assuming Apple could do Searches or Services, judging from
the few years of Apple Map, Apple Music, iCloud etc. This segment is simply
not in their DNA.
Notes: Some may argue Apple's Services Revenue continues to increase, but if
you look at the break down majority of it are from App Store, and majority of
App Store Revenue are from Gaming, which ironically is a category Apple
doesn't care much.
------
slackoverflower
Pretty baffling that a few lines of code for a default setting could be worth
the GDP of a country...
~~~
jey
You're referring to cost, not value. The price charged here is for the value
of the effect, not for the cost of changing the few lines of code.
~~~
ancap
Yes, this is an excellent example which further debunks the labor theory of
value.
------
stephenr
Given Apple's recent public push on privacy, I keep expecting DDG to become
the new 'default' search engine in Safari.
~~~
27182818284
I think they'd be interested if the results were half as good as Googles. As
an experiment the last 6 months or so I've been using DDG at work and Google
at home. The difference in quality is very noticeable—Google still is the best
search engine.
~~~
JBReefer
Do you use the bang system in DDG? I think that more than makes up the
difference.
~~~
Sargos
If you have to remember to use arbitrary bangs to get specific results then
DDG has already failed as a search engine. Coding a query yourself is
obviously the most powerful way to search documents, but the key to useful
software is to do the hard work for you.
~~~
stephenr
Bangs dont 'get specific results' \- they're shortcuts to let you do site-
specific 'searches', _on_ that site.
So, if I want to check the versions of haproxy in the various Debian suites,
then `!dpkg haproxy` would take me to
[https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=haproxy](https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=haproxy).
If I just want general results about HAproxy, that isn't what a bang is for.
------
malchow
"Sacconaghi said that Google might decide to back away from paying Apple any
licensing fees if it feels confident enough that its search engine is so
popular Apple won't include any other option by default."
Wasn't there a period just a few years ago when Apple switched to Bing
platform wide? Or am I mistaken?
~~~
droopyEyelids
Siri currently defaults to Bing search, and that is not a setting that can be
changed.
If you want google you have to explicitly tell Siri to search using Google.
------
pasbesoin
Well, I'm dealing with a bootloop-ed Nexus 5X, with no help from Google nor
its manufacturer, LG.
My previous Android phone, a 2013 Moto X bought while Google owned the cell
phone part of Motorola and was promising users (finally) timely, consistent
updates, was largely abandoned with respect to updates within a year. This
also involved Verizon, for me, who was promising... finally, timely and
continuing updates, for this now Google phone -- no, really, believe us,
despite our history.
So... I guess Google better be paying _someone_ to maintain their presence in
mobile.
Maybe they should have paid _me_ and all their other Android users a little
better attention. Because I'm seriously considering an iPhone as a replacement
for my 5X brick.
~~~
CobrastanJorji
I saw an article with a proposed fix for this the other day. I have no idea
how correct it is, but it's probably worth trying if your phone is already a
brick. [https://www.xda-developers.com/nexus-5x-bootloop-fix-boot-
ph...](https://www.xda-developers.com/nexus-5x-bootloop-fix-boot-phone/)
~~~
pasbesoin
Thank you. I started briefly looking into possible remedies, but I haven't
gotten too far, yet. Lots of "maybes", it seems; and the likely need to pursue
them in the "right" order so as not to have one rule out another.
All from third parties. I haven't seen any useful, official response, yet --
except for some warranty replacements supposedly for units still under
warranty. (But then, bye-bye data...)
I'll have a look at your link, now. Appreciate it!
P.S. "Heat"... I've rather pampered my 5X, but I did -- with all the intention
of taking it in with me to the restaurant -- leave it in my car's dashboard
compartment for an half hour to an hour, where I had atypically placed it
while driving because the passenger seat was full of stuff. That compartment's
door closed itself while driving due to shaking and gravity, and I forgot.
It was cloudy when I went in, but sunnier when I came out, and the phone had
gotten pretty warm while still running. Not melty warm, and it was idling
during that time. My friends treat their phones far worse.
It seemed to be fine, when I came out. But now that I think about it, a few
days later, I experienced the bootloop.
Then again, the phone had spontaneously restarted 2 or 3 times in the past few
months, while I was using it. On those occasions, though, it promptly and
successfully rebooted.
The phone's only about 1.3 years old. I've heard some people have had success
claiming a replacement, even out of the official warranty. Seems to be a
matter of chance or/and reaching the right person.
------
sjg007
I thought the number one search term for all search engines is "google"..
~~~
giarc
Reminds me of a time I watched an admin assistant at my work perform a search.
1\. Open IE 6 (although this was only a few years ago, my org was slow to
upgrade).
2\. Use some weird in browser search tool and enters "Google"
3\. This brings up a Bing search results for "Google"
4\. Clicks on the first result, which is for the homepage of Google.com
5\. Enters original search term in Google.com
It's amazing what you can see when you watch users work.
~~~
badwolf
My mother called me crying once, because some software she installed changed
her homepage from google. She was crying because "Google was gone" and she
couldn't "search for www dot bankofamerica dot com"
~~~
giarc
I've co-founded a startup and we are blown away with what users come up with.
You think you've captured every corner case... but then someone new comes
along.
For example, we have a small CTA with email and location. I'm not sure one
person has entered both fields correctly.
------
nkkollaw
Mmm... I doubt they would set Bing or Yahoo as the default search engine and
alienate all their users.
Every time I use those SE, I realize how good Google is.
------
goldensnit
I wonder how much Yahoo pays oracle to put their goddamn awful malware on
chrome whenever i update java.
------
jondubois
When advertising companies start paying large sums of money to product
companies, you know that there is something wrong with the economy...
Money should flow from product companies to advertising companies; there is
something sinister about money moving in the opposite direction.
~~~
Method-X
Are there other examples of this happening, or is it just an isolated thing
with Google?
~~~
jondubois
At one point, a lot of mobile game companies (which make money from
advertising) bought up advertising space to advertise themselves - This is not
as bad though because money flows from advertising to advertising but it's
still weird.
~~~
Method-X
Not necessarily; it's just arbitrage. If they can get cheap advertising and it
converts well, then selling more expensive ads would make sense.
------
Animats
It has to look tempting to Apple to get into the search engine business. They
already have Siri, which is similar to the front end of a search engine.
------
arrty88
Would MSFT or Yahoo really pay more though?
~~~
jakobegger
If Google stopped paying, Apple could ask users during setup which search
engine they want to use, instead of using Google by default.
Right now you can choose in the settings app between Google, Bing, Yahoo and
Duck Duck Go, but only a small percentage of people change the setting.
If the setting was more prominent, and Google wasn’t the preselected first
option, Google would lose a lot of market share on iOS.
~~~
empath75
I really doubt that this is true. Google didn't just accidentally become the
search engine of choice for the internet. People chose to use it.
~~~
smhenderson
End users just don't always notice or care. Most search engines are reasonably
good at returning results for basic queries. As long is it's "good enough"
most people don't even notice they have a choice and make the switch. Sure,
you and I do, but as another poster said the HN demographic isn't the norm
here.
~~~
johnsmith21006
Not true in Mobile. Bing is not very good in comparison to Google. Then with
MS down to 6.5% share in the US for all devices it will just get worse.
[http://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-
share/all/uni...](http://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-
share/all/united-states-of-america)
------
rakshithbekal
Siri definitely shows bing results. I'm not sure Microsoft is paying for that
------
ars
Does Apple realistically have any other options? If not, why is Google paying
them?
~~~
HillaryBriss
serious question: what if Apple bought (something like) DuckDuckGo and
invested in it? could that form a good enough replacement?
~~~
ars
DuckDuckGo is just Bing with a filter. It's not a search engine in and of
itself, so there's nothing much there for Apple to buy.
~~~
ribosometronome
Are you sure of that? I get considerably different results for queries on Bing
vs DDG.
~~~
seanalltogether
I've just done a search for "fuengirola" which is a popular tourist
destination for people from the UK. Both on bing and duckduckgo. I have the
exact same results from both searches.
[http://imgur.com/P1akOab](http://imgur.com/P1akOab)
------
gigatexal
most users would switch it to google if apple switched it to bing or something
else meaning Google is paying them for just the ease of not having the risk of
not being default.
~~~
mrgordon
I don't think most users would switch. Don't forget how many users Internet
Explorer has since it comes preinstalled. And that's after a monopoly suit to
make it easier to choose a competitor.
Most people are not techies and are lazy. Sure maybe their kids will switch it
or their friend will tell them to do so, but MANY devices will stick with the
default.
~~~
gigatexal
my mom doesn't know how to use a computer, turn it on, navigate a GUI, but she
knows what the google logo looks like and if presented with something else
she'd chime in to have me or a coworker switch it for sure. So i disagree.
------
pix64
What else is Apple going to use Bing?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Duplicacy: Lock-free deduplication cloud backup tool, with “fair source” license - acrosync
https://github.com/gilbertchen/duplicacy
======
kefka
Reported to Github, as Commercial software masquerading as various open free
license projects (MIT, GPL, BSD, etc.).
Also, intentional namespace pollution with existing backup tool, which IS
gpl'ed.
Not cool. Not cool at all.
____________________________________
(response, since I'm submitting 'too fast'... ):
Github has commercial repos, and private repos.
It's pretty simple, really. If you want the free options on GH, you choose
from a list of standard Open Source licenses.
[https://github.com/blog/1964-open-source-license-usage-on-
gi...](https://github.com/blog/1964-open-source-license-usage-on-github-com)
It's also asked you create a LICENSE file, to go along with this.
Their license, however, is very much NON-FREE. As in, if I click clone, since
I work for an employer of 50k people, I'm in violation. Full stop. And we're
not even talking about developing on it, or submitting PR's, or what have you.
This is simple copy which puts me in violation.
It's very much against the spirit of GitHub, and probably against the license
on GH as well.
And it also is attempting to dilute another project that does similarly. Just
so happens they're 2 letters different. Duplicacy vs Duplicity. That's an
asshole thing to do.
Here's a few names I just devised: ClouDuplicate , Clouder, DupliCloud, CfC
(cloud file cloud)..
Instead, it's very uncool to try to pollute an existing namespace of the same
thing. Talking about pro-level bad will here.
~~~
vertex-four
Wait, how's it masquerading as what?
~~~
nerdponx
The name is very similar to the GPL software Duplicity, and the license is not
a free software license.
~~~
vertex-four
While I'd agree it's similar, it's not the same.
Public projects on GitHub do not need to be under an open source license -
there is absolutely no requirement for that anywhere.
~~~
nerdponx
Right, I was just explaining the "masquerading".
------
davexunit
Note that the "fair source" license is a proprietary software license that
happens to sound like a free software license.
------
bascule
Some claims:
"It is the only cloud backup tool that allows multiple computers to back up to
the same storage simultaneously without using any locks (thus readily amenable
to various cloud storage services)"
"What is novel about lock-free deduplication is the absence of a centralized
indexing database for tracking all existing chunks and for determining which
chunks are not needed any more. Instead, to check if a chunk has already been
uploaded before, one can just perform a file lookup via the file storage API
using the file name derived from the hash of the chunk."
Tahoe-LAFS's immutable file model (based on convergent encryption) was capable
of doing this same thing a decade ago, and also features a pretty nifty
capability-based security model:
[https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-lafs](https://tahoe-lafs.org/trac/tahoe-
lafs)
~~~
acrosync
Naming chunks by their hashes is not a new idea, but this technique along does
not give you a practical backup tool. The deletion of unreferenced chunks
becomes a hard problem, and the center piece of lock-free deduplication is the
two-step fossil collection algorithm that solves this hard problem.
~~~
bascule
Tahoe-LAFS supports a mark/sweep-style garbage collection algorithm
------
acrosync
Developer here. Duplicacy is built on the concept of Lock-Free Deduplication
([https://github.com/gilbertchen/duplicacy/blob/master/DESIGN....](https://github.com/gilbertchen/duplicacy/blob/master/DESIGN.md)),
which allows it to backup multiple computers to the same storage without using
any locks. Currently it supports local or networked drives, SFTP servers,
Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Storage, Google Drive,
OneDrive, Dropbox, and Hubic.
I recently released the source code under the Fair Source 5 License
([https://fair.io/](https://fair.io/)) which means it is free for individuals
or businesses with less than 5 users. Otherwise the license costs only $20 per
user/year.
Questions and suggestions are welcome.
~~~
koolba
From the link to the license:
> Fair Source has the power to _promote diversity within the developer
> community_. To date, contributing to open source has been an expensive
> proposition for developers. You have to have a stable income and a lot of
> extra time to work on side projects for free, which means talented
> developers from underprivileged backgrounds often aren’t able to contribute.
> Fair Source allows developers to monetize their side projects, which means
> more people can afford to join the ranks of developers who pursue these
> initiatives.
I find it funny that some people feel a need to justify charging money for
something by coming up with bogus social justice rationalizations.
~~~
actuallyalys
I agree that people don't _need_ a justification to charge money, but the
rationale isn't bogus—it is hard to contribute without a stable income,
underrepresented groups in tech tend to make less money in general, and
getting paid could help that.
I'm not sure this license is the way to go, though. Unusual licenses tend to
turn people off, and it's not clear how profits from this license would go to
contributors.
------
whyagaindavid
The name is too similar to Duplicity; do you mind renaming?
~~~
acrosync
I didn't want to sound like duplicity intentionally, but duplicacy.com was
still available at that time and I thought it was a perfect name for a backup
tool...
~~~
CogitoCogito
For what it's worth, I thought this was Duplicity until I read the comment
even after I did a quick glance at the github repo. Since you're both in
backup, this is going to be very confusing to people.
~~~
btschaegg
Same here.
Edit: Come to think of it, it seems quite funny how many backup solutions are
named akin to this, while, under the hood, they actually go through great
lengths to actually get rid of duplicates. Maybe a name deriving from
"condensing" or "shelving" would be more accurate? ;-)
------
zekevermillion
I think I understand the goals of the "fair source" license but why not make
it copyleft all around, and just sell hosted version to small biz, and license
exceptions to corporate clients?
~~~
wmf
Nobody needs the exception so they won't buy it. That business model only
works for copyleft libraries.
~~~
gant
Depends, if it's something likely to be customized, AGPL might work.
------
dom0
The verdict of the "open source competition" in Duplicacy's README is not
entirely accurate. Exclusive locking in the sync'd approach is just the
easiest implementation, not the sole possibility. I can't speak for other
tools, since I do not know their internals well enough, but I can say about
Borg ([http://www.borgbackup.org/](http://www.borgbackup.org/)) that there is
no _inherent_ issue in running the important parts of making backups (i.e.
uploading and deduplicating data) in parallel. It's just not implemented.
Cloud storage back-ends are a somewhat similar story. It wouldn't be that
complex, although locking is a problem due to the EC model of most of these
services. Plans have existed for quite some time now to enable this — just no
time to implement them, and other features are requested more frequently.
~~~
acrosync
I might be wrong but I want to hear more from you if you're a Borg developer.
My understanding is that you may be able to have multiple clients uploading
chunks at the same time, but you won't be able to exploit cross-client
deduplication if different clients have a similar set of files (OS files or a
large code base for instance). Moreover, if your implementation require locks
then it would be very hard to extend to cloud services.
~~~
dom0
Yes, that's right, _concurrent_ addition of the same chunks would generally
mean that some work is wasted; so concurrent long running jobs would not
synchronize well in this model, and lock-free performs clearly better there.
The only operation which inherently has to be guarded by a lock in Borg is
inserting the archive pointer into the manifest (root object, see
[https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/latest/internals/data-s...](https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/latest/internals/data-
structures.html#the-object-graph)). I suppose it would be possible to work
around that without locking or to use the usual hacks around EC,
put/get/check/get/check?put/get/check?put etc. until it's "probably there".
Deleting / pruning archives would still require a full lock due to the same
conceptual issues that your two-phase GC avoids. The same goes for "check".
------
Mister_Snuggles
For about the last year or so I've been looking for an online backup system
with the following requirements:
\- Off-site storage, preferably not costing too much.
\- Option for on-site storage (e.g., to store a backup "in the cloud" and on
my NAS)
\- Keeps version history, with the associated goodies (purging old backups,
etc)
\- Able to run on FreeBSD and Linux, with Windows and MacOS being nice to have
but not required.
\- Able to back up multiple machines to one account.
I strongly suspect that my solution will involve two separate things - one to
actually do the backups and another for the storage.
So far, not having looked at Duplicacy, I'm leaning strongly towards
attic/borg with rsync.net for off-site storage. At first glance, Duplicacy
looks like it will meet my requirements so I will have to give it a closer
look before I pick a solution.
~~~
StavrosK
You just need Borg. Here's a post I wrote about it (as you say, Borg and
rsync.net):
[https://www.stavros.io/posts/holy-grail-
backups/](https://www.stavros.io/posts/holy-grail-backups/)
I have posted it to maybe help a few people who want to do backups:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14507656](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14507656)
~~~
Mister_Snuggles
I currently use Attic for backups going to onto my NAS, so one plus for
attic/borg is familiarity. I figure that if I'm going to go with rsync.net,
I'll switch to borg since it's (as you point out) better maintained.
Are you using rsync.net's "hidden" attic/borg option? This makes the price
very attractive.
You mention using "attic check" to guard against bitrot on the provider's
storage. How is this in terms of bandwidth used? Does it have to transfer
every byte or does it compute a checksum on the encrypted data (since
rsync.net doesn't have the raw data) and just send that?
~~~
StavrosK
> Are you using rsync.net's "hidden" attic/borg option? This makes the price
> very attractive.
I am, yes, and it is quite attractive.
> You mention using "attic check" to guard against bitrot on the provider's
> storage. How is this in terms of bandwidth used? Does it have to transfer
> every byte or does it compute a checksum on the encrypted data (since
> rsync.net doesn't have the raw data) and just send that?
It's very bandwidth-efficient, but I have stopped doing that every day, as
rsync.net told me they use ZFS and scrub their arrays regularly, so they would
discover bit rot early. I only run the check once a month now.
------
someonewhois
How is this related to the other Duplicity backup software?
[http://duplicity.nongnu.org](http://duplicity.nongnu.org)
~~~
dom0
Not related at all. (Duplicacy != Duplicity)
Duplicity is a pretty straight good old-fashioned incremental backup program.
Duplicacy on the other hand is hash-based deduplication (BorgBackup / Attic,
Restic etc. are some others).
The design of Duplicacy is slightly different from that of e.g. BorgBackup.
Duplicacy, as the title says, uses a _lock-free_ approach. BorgBackup and the
handful of open source tools in the same spirit use a synchronized approach.
------
bmaranville
I had been using rclone ([https://rclone.org/](https://rclone.org/)) for
Amazon S3, which has some of the same features but recently the application
key was blocked by Amazon. Is duplicacy safe from the same fate?
~~~
acrosync
I think Amazon only blocked rclone's application key for Amazon Drive. There
is no way for Amazon to prevent a third-party application from accessing S3,
since users provide their own S3 credentials and Amazon doesn't know who is on
the other side.
------
voiper1
Can someone explain how it's able to make small updates, e.g. to s3? How does
it know what's already there -- cache? How does it prune old chunks -- will
there be tons of individual API requests to S3?
~~~
acrosync
We use a pack-and-split approach -- files are packed first (as if it is
building a big tar file first, although this is only conceptual) and then
split into chunks using a variable-sized chunking algorithm. You can customize
the chunk size but by default the average chunk size is 4MB so you won't be
uploading too much small files.
------
kierenj
Played with it for 20 minutes, really struggled with the GUI/UX. Have raised
some issues (really wanted to like it), but just feels really clunky for
something asking for cash.
------
leni536
Its encryption scheme and threat model seems to be similar to cryfs's [1].
[1] [https://www.cryfs.org/](https://www.cryfs.org/)
------
bebopfunk
What is the encryption standard being used for file encryption?
------
X86BSD
The website makes it sound just like Tarsnap. Am I wrong? Is there some
compelling feature I am missing that would make me want to switch from
Tarsnap?
~~~
wmf
AFAIK Tarsnap backups go through Tarsnap's server but every other backup tool
seems to not have that requirement.
~~~
j_s
Does this mean Tarsnap de-dupes before encrypting? That doesn't seem to make
sense but I don't see any other reason going through their server would be
required.
~~~
Scaevolus
Tarsnap uses content based hashing too. The pipeline is basically: tar | chunk
| encrypt | upload-new-chunks
The tarsnap server provides a transactional KV store-- "In order to create a
new archive, the tarsnap client sends a "write transaction start" request,
many "write data" requests, and a "commit transaction" request to the tarsnap
server; deleting an archive is similar (except with a "delete transaction
start" and "delete data" requests)."
[http://www.daemonology.net/blog/2008-12-14-how-tarsnap-
uses-...](http://www.daemonology.net/blog/2008-12-14-how-tarsnap-uses-
aws.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
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