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Show HN: Modular LOB Apps in C#/LINQ/WPF/TypeScript/Bootstrap - olmo
http://www.signumsoftware.com/en/Framework
======
olmo
We're re-launching Signum Framework.
Is an Open Source (LGPL) framework for writing applications using a modular
design, and taking advantage of the latest technologies from Microsoft (.Net
4.0/4.5.1, C# 5.0, LINQ, SQL Server, WPF, ASP.Net MVC 4.0/5.0 and TypeScript)
and other popular web frameworks (jQuery, Bootstrap and D3.js), to provide a
complete solution to Line-of-Business application.
In
[http://signumsoftware.com/en/Extensions](http://signumsoftware.com/en/Extensions)
there are examples of reusable modules that can be plugged in any Signum
Framework application, including the necessary tables entities, business logic
and windows/web user interfaces.
You can create an example application in
[http://signumsoftware.com/en/DuplicateApplication](http://signumsoftware.com/en/DuplicateApplication).
|
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Founder Collective - New $40 Million Early Stage Fund - rabble
http://foundercollective.com/
======
jmtame
<http://foundercollective.com/people/Bill-Trenchard> <\- wonder if they could
have found a bigger picture?
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Apple’s iPhone App Refund Policies Could Bankrupt Developers - vaksel
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/25/apples-iphone-app-refund-policies-could-bankrupt-developers/
======
patio11
Egads, the capacity for hyperbole never ceases to amaze me.
I have offered refunds for _any_ reason, no questions asked, for the last 3
years. Just between you and me, the 30 day limit on the website is a little
white lie -- I think the most ever was 2 years, 1 month after the initial
sale. I also proactively remind my customers about it if they report bugs that
I can't fix immediately.
You know how many refunds I've given out, with that absurdly generous policy?
About 3% of sales.
Now since I use a payment processor which is well-known for being developer
friendly, _chuckle_ Paypal, those refunds never cost me a penny. (+) But even
if they did cost 30%, that would be under 1% of gross sales.
You think "bankrupt" might be a little strong?
P.S. There are _numerous_ reasons why the App Store model is a terrible,
terrible deal for developers. This isn't one of them.
\+ Actually, that isn't true, come to think of it. For the 3 refunds I've
given after 90 days passed, I had to refund via check, so Paypal would have
kept their $1 in fees then. OK, so this policy has cost me $3 and change. My
bad.
~~~
bprater
I think the real problem will be how easily a refund can be generated. If it's
a one-click refund, I suspect people will buy a game, play it out and then
request a refund.
Hopefully, they require people who want refunds to jump a hoop or two.
~~~
evgen
Alternatively, developers could create games that are not played-out in a
month. It would probably also be a good policy on Apple's part to say that if
you purchase something in-game via the new in-app payment system then you
can't get a refund for the original app (or the upgrade.) This would lead to
cheap teasers that would effectively allow users to test-drive the game with
an in-app upgrade to the "real" game coming once the user has played a level
or two and decided they actually like the app.
~~~
derefr
It's a nice policy in theory, but what happens if you buy something in-app and
_they don't give it to you_? I'd say that would be the _best_ time for a
refund, of both your original price and the upgrade price, but now you're
screwed.
------
zain
Just to note, this policy isn't new. It has been in place since the SDK came
out. So far, it has been neither enforced by Apple nor abused by customers.
Source:
[http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/iPhone+news/news.asp?c...](http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/iPhone/iPhone+news/news.asp?c=12333)
~~~
Ashwani
exactly! not sure why this uproar at this time but this has been there for a
while. Regardless, I am hoping that Apple will fix it either on its own or due
Facebook-style user revolt :)
~~~
dean
I suspect the uproar is coming at this time because someone actually took the
time to read the agreement, rather than automatically clicking through it.
Those agreements might say that I have to give up my first-born child and I'd
never know it. I just click through.
------
khangtoh
This doesn't make sense. I can see a refund policy within 48 hours of the
purchase to ensure no one is hoodwinked for an app that does nothing. So hold
the payment for 72 hrs and if no refund is requested, release the payment to
the developer.
90 days is just unreasonable considering the majority of apps in the appstor
have really short game play time.
Whoever making these policies changes at Apple needs stop coming up with such
policies and think twice about it. I came up with a better resolution in less
than 30 secs.
~~~
amichail
Do users need to give a good reason to receive a refund (e.g., the app crashes
frequently, misleading description, etc.)? If so, then this may not be such a
big deal.
~~~
patio11
You should never require a "good reason" for a commodity software refund:
1) Adjudicating reasons requires valuable support time. Refund and move on
does not.
2) This causes customer friction. The annoyance of the prospect of having to
justify yourself to an uncaring CS grunt in India destroys the value of having
the guarantee in the first place, which is to make purchasing from you look
like a risk-free endeavor.
3) Any customer can get a refund any time they want by calling up their credit
card company and humming a few bars about "Internet merchant did not live up
to their claims". This is called a chargeback and it means the merchant just
lost $15 to $25 plus the refunded amount.
4) Product quality is much more effective than hoops in decreasing the number
of refunds. ("Good relations with the customer" is more important than either.
You know how bedside manner is a better predictor of malpractice claims than
clinical outcomes? Same story.)
[Edit to add: incidentally, the reason Apple has refunds is to zealously
protect their "All interactions with Apple should be mindblowingly awesome for
our customers" reputation. This is the same reason that they make it
essentially impossible for developers to be anything other than an anonymous
cog behind a shiny new icon -- anything else and you're a risk to the True
Apple Brand Experience. And that is why I will never, ever develop for any
platform that insists that they own the customer relationship.]
~~~
amichail
I doubt such an approach would work 10 years from now when I predict people
will be much less honest.
~~~
numair
Human nature is not subject to Moore's Law.
------
LargeWu
The solution here is obvious: Give your apps away for free, but make up for it
in volume...
~~~
khangtoh
how do you make up for it when your app is free? unless you're doing in app
purchase or ads in your app.
~~~
nuclear_eclipse
That was the joke....
------
jackowayed
lim Apple = Microsoft
t→∞
(Eh, HN wasn't made for displaying calc, I guess.)
They're starting to show some of the monopolistic tendencies. For example,
newish iPods can only connect via iTunes (at least they said they were going
to do that), which not only kinda sucks for people who liked using a different
program that didn't suck memory, usually even when "not running", but also
made it impossible (or at least hard) for Linux users to connect iPods at all.
~~~
barrkel
Seems to me that Apple is a lot worse than Microsoft, and has been for a very
long time. Microsoft prioritizes developers much more than Apple ever has,
that I know of.
------
YuriNiyazov
The exact text says that Apple "reserves the right to keep the commission". I
don't think that's synonymous with "will always keep the commission", unless
there's something weird about legal jargon that changes the meaning of
"reserves the right". It would help to actually hear a story from an iPhone
developer who was debited the 30% commission during a refund.
------
dell9000
This is totally overboard. Apple clearly didn't intend this 'loophole' and if
it is not good for the developer (especially in such a dramatic way), it is
not good for Apple. It will change.
~~~
chollida1
> Apple clearly didn't intend this 'loophole'
How do you know?
------
TweedHeads
Apple bashing + techcrunch = no credibility at all
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DigitalOcean - StartupSanatana
https://www.digitalocean.com/company/blog/ready-set-hacktoberfest/
======
Joseph45levy
[http://security.cioreview.com/whitepaper/digital-
identities-...](http://security.cioreview.com/whitepaper/digital-identities-
and-security-wid-454.html?utm_campaign=ddoct18)
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The Coming Collapse of Kleiner Perkins, the Green Economy, and VC as a Whole - njess
http://thesecurepc.com/coming-collapse-of-kleiner-perkins/
======
drallison
"The economic collapse will hurt most companies in the financial sector, but
Kleiner’s position is particularly vulnerable because its investments
critically depend on economic growth to produce the pain that these
investments solve."
So economic collapse is assured but KPCB will be hurt more than most because
of its portfolio.
~~~
hga
Well, yeah. Which is not to say there isn't money to be made in such a mess,
you just have to e.g. fulfill the real requirements of people and/or
companies.
After a good fraction of a decade where the environment for normal VC was
awful KPCB changed its business model to rent seeking but made a bad bet on
the field to do that in. Other fields where there's real value, not stuff that
depends on unsustainable in bad times government subsidies, will do better. Or
at least less worse.
~~~
drallison
What is meant by collapse here? I think it means "general systemic failure"
and, if it were to occur, hurt would not be limited to the financial sector.
Everyone and everything would be involved. KPCB's investment choices would not
have much significance one way or another looking forward.
------
MaysonL
Frankly, to know whether this guy is blowing magenta [anti-green :)] smoke, or
has a valid point, I'd have to look at KP's green portfolio, and see how the
companies there are doing. He doesn't give any data points that I can see.
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Here's ALLLLL the signup credits for new startups in one list. $$$ - gregmuender
http://blog.whttl.com/2014/12/17/startup-signup-bonus-list/
======
mtmail
That's the same as
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8763936](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8763936).
No need to submit the same content twice in one hour. Also see the guidelines
on changing titles. I'm talking about the extra '$$$' which in my opinion make
the submission sound cheap
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)
~~~
gregmuender
Thanks for sharing! 2 different posts (Medium + Native Blog), but yes, we like
to abide to the rules. :)
|
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Welcome to the new Freakonomics.com - Blog moved from NYTimes - JacobAldridge
http://www.freakonomicsmedia.com/2011/03/01/welcome-to-the-new-freakonomics-com/
======
jdp23
Is it just me or is the new site realllllly slow?
~~~
kgermino
Not just you. Took >45s to load for me
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“To Reach the Pure Realm of the Imaginary:” A Conversation with Cixin Liu - vo2maxer
https://daily.jstor.org/to-reach-the-pure-realm-of-the-imaginary-a-conversation-with-cixin-liu/
======
0_gravitas
That title immediately conjures up images of Banks' "Infinite Fun Space"
|
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Lilium Aviation - lelf
http://lilium-aviation.com/
======
cousin_it
Why is this more likely to succeed than the other thousand flying car
companies that I remember, which all failed?
------
thrill
Nice! I do wonder how close to the end design the mockup we see is. It
wouldn't seem from eyeballing it that the multiple small electric engines
could generate sufficient lift for controlled VTOL. This will be a fun project
to follow.
------
aravindet
Is there any engineering information on that site apart from the spec sheet?
Any description of the propulsion system, or how this will accomplish VTOL?
|
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Do you use cash/have you increased your cash usage out of privacy concern - clubm8
Have any other HN posters increased their use of cash recently? (Or already pay for things in cash when possible)<p>I originally did it for privacy reasons:<p>1.) No one can judge me for what I buy.<p>(Ex: OP goes to bars too often. No new liver for him!)<p>2.) I don't generate a giant list of establishments I frequent.<p>Ex: I want to harass OP - looks like his favorite cafe is at $ADDRESS.<p>But I had an interesting side effect - looking at cold hard cash makes me less frivolous with it. The money I make from my frugality exceeds what I'd get from credit card rewards.<p>I often see articles about societies going "cashless" on HN, and I thought it would be interesting to hear from HN users who are going in the opposite direction.
======
tompark
I'm definitely in the cash camp, not only for privacy but also just wanting to
limit how many vendors have my credit card info (so I use Apple Pay whenever
possible, if not cash), especially after point-of-sale breaches like the ones
at Target and Home Depot.
The problem with cash, for me, was that I'd run out of it too quickly.
That changed when I started focusing on saving 60% of take home pay, cooking
almost all meals at home, stopped going to bars/cafes/coffee shops, comparison
shopping of groceries (shifting to costco), etc.
Now I don't worry about small effects like CC cash-back or accidental
frugality, because hitting over 60% savings is an overwhelming effect.
------
NeedMoreTea
It's been studied quite a few times since credit cards arrived, finding that
spending cash means you spend least. It explains some of the push for cards,
app stores, more recently cashless, and alternative game currencies. Perhaps
explained as simply as paying over notes "hurts more" psychologically than
invisibly debiting 50 to a card or account.
[https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/the-science-
behind-b...](https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/the-science-behind-
behavior/201607/does-it-matter-whether-you-pay-cash-or-credit-card) Lots of
other research and links to find about this.
~~~
clubm8
This is also why casinos use chips, not cash, for betting
------
tobylane
When you're judged for a liver donation it's not by your bank records but by
your liver condition. When you have your phone in your pocket you still
generate a list of establishments you frequent (maybe cash machines too). Even
if you were famous who'd have access to that information?
You have good points but bad examples. China is the only country where there's
a known link between purchase history and government/quasi-government
decisions. They have a lot of facial recognition technology so cash wouldn't
help. If USA started this too do you think the NSA/etc are far behind?
------
EldonMcGuinness
I've actually had the opposite experience as you. Having my debit card keeps
an easy running tally which is difficult to do unless you only leave with
small sums of cash in your pockets. However, when you only have a small amount
of cash you run into the "just short" effect, where all you need is a few
dollars more to get what you want and you can afford it but can't get it. To
me, the potential opportunity cost is just not worth it.
~~~
creatornator
I have found it difficult to track cash spending. I picked up using GNUCash
this year, and that helped a bit. I at least can capture most cash spending to
see if I'm within budget in different categories. But every few week's I still
need to make a 'correction' transaction for ~$10, which is annoying.
~~~
clubm8
I adjusted my budget so dining out is included in the broad category of
"entertainment", along with bars, movies, and other stuff.
(I do track calories from these things though :))
------
bitxbitxbitcoin
I always end up being more frivolous with my cash. The fact is that society
has made it hard for users to use only cash or to use only any anonymous
payment method. Living only on cash is almost as ridiculous sounding as living
only on Bitcoin as a demonstration of what privacy-less dystopia we are
barreling towards.
~~~
clubm8
Living on cash only is not doable.
But only using a CC for bills/groceries and moving your day to day stuff -
bars, eating out, small errands to cash is doable.
~~~
5555624
> Living on cash only is not doable.
Why not? My last apartment, where I lived a year ago, included utilities.
Although I wrote them a check for my rent, I could have used cash and gotten a
money order. Groceries, eating out, etc. I always use cash. Once I got a car,
I started using a card for gas, since it saved me a trip inside and I did not
need to worry about if I was a bit over $20.
------
wprapido
If it it's an offline payment, it's always cash. It's not much about privacy
as it is about optimized spending.
------
paulcole
I haven’t. I get a discount/cash back for using credit cards.
~~~
clubm8
Do you make more in cash back than you'd make not buying something?
Keep in mind, to make 20.00 at 5% you need to spend $400. ($1000 at more
common 2% rewards)
~~~
paulcole
With the extra bonuses that come with new credit cards I actually come out way
ahead.
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Using Programming Language Concepts to Teach General Thinking Skills (2008) [pdf] - lainon
https://people.csail.mit.edu/rinard/paper/wowcs08.pdf
======
davekinkead
While I think programming can be a good way to teach general thinking skills
like perspective, clarity, precision, and abstraction, I'm dubious about the
claim that it is the best way to do so (§2.1).
Perspective - does learning multiple programming languages engender more
awareness of different perspectives than say, learning multiple foreign
natural languages?
Abstraction - does learning programming languages develop better use of
conceptual abstraction than say, mathematics?
Precision and clarity - does learning programming languages develop better
precision and clarity than studying philosophy and logic?
These are all empirical questions and no empiric data is provided. The lack of
support in the argument for the conclusion given also hints that maybe
learning programming isn't _the best_ way to learn clarity & precision after
all.
Where I thinking learning to program stands out as superior is that it teaches
a skill that is currently in high demand - programming.
~~~
seanmcdirmid
It is difficult to gather empirical data on human behavior and efficiency, so
I wouldn't ding Rinard points for that (as a systems PL researcher from MIT,
he surely knows how to measure numbers). You'll find the lack of useful
empirical data for most any pedagogic technique (what we can measure is
performance in simple tasks, by this doesn't scale up).
Math and philosophy are hella abstract, while learning through programming at
least has the learner building something concrete that can be more gratifying.
When maintaining the student's interest is much of the battle, it might not
matter as programming is not better than the other approaches, it only needs
to be good enough.
~~~
ujal
"[…] Students can work with them in an interactive setting that provides
immediate feedback and requires completely precise thinking." \--
Math and philosophy provide the latter but not the former. I guess the tight
feedback loop programming provides guides us by reducing the solution space.
------
hasenj
I don't know. I think general thinking skills are a pre requisite to
understanding programming.
I've seen many people try hard to learn programming but fail miserably no
matter how much they try.
~~~
mannykannot
Agreed. Furthermore, if programming can be a good way to teach general
thinking skills like perspective, clarity, precision, and abstraction, why is
there so much code lacking these properties?
I am particularly skeptical of the author's suggestion that developing a
domain-specific language would be one of the ways to teach general thinking
skills through programming. Absent an example to prove me wrong, I would think
that writing a DSL is so laden with task-specific minutiae that those parts of
the job that extend general thinking skills would be highly diluted.
On the other hand, I think programming helps with one thing: programs are, in
some sense, half-way between the physical world of discrete objects, and the
abstract world of words and symbols. I have seen it suggested (but I cannot
find the reference) that all abstract reasoning developed from an ability to
mentally model the physical world. If so, then programming may be a stepping-
stone from the latter to the former (though only if it is taught as such; most
programming instruction makes programming the goal, not a waypoint (which is
not surprising))
~~~
Jtsummers
I may be misreading the article, but the author doesn't suggest having the
students write a DSL, but using DSLs with students so that they can focus on
the specific problem domain. Think things like (classically) Logo, or recently
Scratch.
~~~
mannykannot
I believe that approach is also mentioned, but I was referring to section 5,
"Potential Teaching Approaches", and specifically 5.1, "Domain Specific
Language": "This approach would organize the course around designing and
implementing a language for computations in a particular domain."
------
naskwo
I'm Dutch, and in the Netherlands, for a certain level of high school, Latin
and Greek are required.
Learning Latin, and its framework (grammar) has been very helpful to me in
improving my German, Italian, French and Portuguese (I like languages).
However: it's important to have a solid grasp on one (mother tongue) language.
If you look at LearnXinY, you can see a lot of semantic parallels between most
programming languages.
I've been developing web apps since 1996 (Perl > ColdFusion > PHP and mainly
Ruby/Rails these days) and found that, intuitively, it's not so much the
programming language itself, but rather the act of programming itself that
helps me think more clearly.
------
jarek-foksa
When programming you learn practical ways to distinguish between good and bad
abstractions. A good abstraction should make it easier to reason about given
problem and make you more efficient. A bad abstraction complicates the problem
or even makes it impossible to solve because of the assumptions imposed by the
abstract system.
The skill to tell apart working vs non-working abstraction is useful in real
life. For example to distinguish a religion from a cult, you don't study the
bible or some other holy book, instead you look how that abstract believe
system has been working so far, e.g. by checking how many generations have
been successfully raised with it and how much progress they made.
You also learn that almost every programming abstraction is leaky to some
extent. You are very likely going to run into edge cases where the abstraction
needs to be adjusted or replaced with a lower level one in order to get things
done. Again, using the religion analogy, sticking to the dogma that the Earth
is 6000 years old is going to make it impossible to reason about e.g. the
theory of evolution.
~~~
cr0sh
> For example to distinguish a religion from a cult, you don't study the bible
> or some other holy book, instead you look how that abstract believe system
> has been working so far, e.g. by checking how many generations have been
> successfully raised with it and how much progress they made.
Note - I am not an expert in any of this, but that said:
“In a cult there is a person at the top who knows it's a scam. In religion
that person is dead.” - Anon
Examples:
Mormonism - started by a known documented and convicted con artist
Scientology - started (apocryphally) because of a bet
Both of these new religions, both started within the last 200 years (1830 for
Mormonism, 1954 for Scientology), the former having in common only certain
general themes with Christianity, and then ret-conning new material in to
complete the "history", and the latter making up everything out of whole, bad
sci-fi cloth.
One could easily argue that all religions started out as cults; certainly what
we know of the historical parts of Christianity makes it a likely candidate.
Likely only the very earliest naturalism-based quasi-religions lost to pre-
history are among the only ones which could honestly count as "pure".
Not that any of them have led to honest understanding of the world (I will
allow for philosophical introspection and discussion, which definitely and
ultimately led to our current scientific methods, though those methods too
were influenced and pre-empted by earlier non-religious philosophical methods,
particularly those by the early Greek societies).
Again - these are my (perhaps flawed) understandings, though I am open to
learning more, even if that new knowledge contradicts what I already know...
~~~
jarek-foksa
An abstraction layer can be still useful even though its core assumptions
don't reflect the reality and could be easily disproven by a scientific
experiment. Take classical physics for example.
Just to be clear, I was not defending any religious system here, I just meant
it's easier to judge their usefulness based on a practical basis because of
their complexity.
------
grashalm01
Factorio does an amazing job teaching programming concepts without even
noticing.
------
newbear
Programming def helped me understand exactly what focus means - making sure
all details are intentional.
------
sitkack
General writing skills teaches thinking skills. We already have DSLs for
humans to communicate human ideas.
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Meet The Double (YC S12), A Teleconferencing Robot With An iPad For A Face - davidcann
http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/13/meet-the-double-a-teleconferencing-robot-with-an-ipad-for-a-face/
======
iandanforth
That's a pretty impressive price point and I'd love to know more about the in
house manufacturing.
The one company that has really succeeded in this area is Giraff. They've done
so by intensely focusing on in-home care and the user experience for the
person interacting with the robot. Things like end user controls to
approve/reject someone who wants to start driving the robot.
Anybots, on the other hand, focused more on the driving experience. Their
rendered, in-browser, drive window helps overcome the awful user experience of
trying to turn under lag. They also did a lot of hard work to solve wifi
roaming and seamless handoff.
I wish Double the best of luck with my advice being that you need months of
uptime and recorded daily use in a target vertical before you're ready to
release.
~~~
Undertow10
Thanks! We're out in Mountain View now, but we built out our own shop a year
ago in Miami, FL. About 90% of the manufacturing on Double is still done there
today by our contract workers. We have a Haas VF-2SS mill and have made custom
fixtures for most of the parts on the robot. We purchased a Stratasys FDM
printer and brought it with us out to CA with us to do rapid prototyping
during YC. All of the prototype electronics were hand-soldered under a
microscope and tested in house, but we will soon be handing that off to a PCB
Assembly house now that the boards are finalized.
As far as driving goes, we have 3 or 4 different methods we want to experiment
with once things settle down, but so far the joystick-style is most intuitive.
OpenTok's new iOS to iOS video has cut down on the lag a bunch.
Thanks for the comments!
-marc @ double
~~~
iandanforth
Very cool, I hope you have a Dimension series, those are sweet.
------
jaysonelliot
We used a pair of VGo telepresence robots at our NYC and Philadelphia offices
last year. Here's some video from the demo, just before we got them:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3tLLzOqKs4>
I found the VGo to be a huge help when it came to being present in an office
that I couldn't physically go to at the time. I was the head of a department
that had groups in different cities, and it was a lot easier for me to feel I
had a cohesive team when I was able to actually "be" there instead of just on
Skype. It's hard to overstate the value of being able to go join a quick work
session at the couches, or go looking for someone in an office where people
are always busy and wandering around.
Of course, in a large company where not everyone is an early adopter, to put
it politely, there's also an annoying side to having a telepresence robot.
Some people spend more time focusing on the novelty than getting to work, and
it can be a distraction. A lot of people weren't comfortable using the VGo
themselves, even though it was available for anyone. There are definite social
hurdles to overcome with some people.
I'd probably like the Double even more than the VGo, because it looks less
intrusive, has a larger screen thanks to the iPad, and the adjustable height
is a very big deal. I'm looking forward to having one in the future. Love the
price, too.
~~~
emelski
Interesting perspective as the remote user, but I wonder how your employees
felt about that setup. It was easier for _you_ to feel you had a cohesive
team, but did _they_ feel more cohesive for having a robotic you floating
around?
------
jedc
So their biggest competitor is Anybots, but they're funded (through YC) by
Anybot's founder and going through YC in the same physical space as Anybots?
It strikes me that the main axis of competition is simply price. Otherwise it
just seems like co-opetition.
~~~
tlb
I'm no longer running Anybots, which has moved to new premises. I like both
products for different applications.
~~~
ph0rque
Do you have another startup in the works, or are you concentrating on YC full-
time?
------
waterside81
For the reason that this is real technology and not just another
consumer/social/we'll figure out the business model later idea, I hope this
grows and becomes huge, or at the very least spawns some other applications.
In a week that NASA lands a robot on Mars, I'm glad to see real technology
being created, that perhaps looks crazy or inapplicable at first. Great stuff
guys.
------
davidcann
Direct link to our site: <http://www.doublerobotics.com>
~~~
repsilat
The site says it charges with a wall adapter. This may be a silly question,
but can someone driving the Double manoeuvre it into "charging position", or
do you need fingers to plug it in?
------
Qworg
The hardest part for telepresence robots is finding a market/use case to grow
in. Being cheaper is a great first step, but who are you selling to?
~~~
jgrahamc
I work remotely for CloudFlare. I wish we had one of these so that I could
attend meetings at the company or hang out at someone's desk.
~~~
Qworg
Right, but how will this be better than screensharing and teleconferencing?
I'm not trashing the technology - it is an extremely well done version of a
telepresence robot, combined with a spectacular price point. I'm worried that
they're not competing with who they think they are competing with.
~~~
jgrahamc
It means I can go into a meeting and 'sit' at a table with people and turn and
see what's being written on the whiteboard.
It's much better for me (because I can attend) and it's better than
screensharing and teleconferencing because the participants in SF do not have
to use some program to accommodate me.
~~~
tankbot
> and it's better than screensharing and teleconferencing because the
> participants in SF do not have to use some program to accommodate me.
This is huge. There's nothing worse than holding up an entire meeting while
someone struggles to connect to you via video chat while IT is in there
sweating bullets because a new driver/update is trying to install itself.
Removing this burden from others would be worth it to me.
~~~
Qworg
This isn't an argument for a telepresence robot - it is an argument for a
Cisco teleoffice installation. Having a robot adds a whole new layer of
complexity and issues.
~~~
nooneelse
Then after the official meeting, when attendees go out to the food table in
another room and the tele-attending people can't digitally follow them, I'm
sure the attendees will all just not discuss anything important, right?
Or "hey, Bob, I'm glad you could use the teleoffice installation to join us
today. Gosh, I wish I could have you with me tomorrow when I go across town to
check out a small factory. You know so much more about that stuff than me, but
unfortunately the tele-office is huge and all."
~~~
Qworg
First, I think you're overestimating how easily people will adapt to having
these robots around. I hope there's no stairs or elevators in between the
official meeting and the food table.
Second, does this small factory have high speed wifi? In my experience, that's
very rare.
You know what does work in these situations? Flying out to the meeting.
As a technologist and possible early adopter, it is really easy to see how
YOU'D use something. It is far harder to put yourself in the shoes of another
and judge it from their perspective.
That said, once telepresence robots are in place, they seem to be very sticky
- most people don't want to give them up. [1]
A key quote from [1]: "the greatest barrier keeping telerobotics from
conquering the office probably isn’t hardware or software, it’s red tape"
[1]: [http://singularityhub.com/2010/08/23/exclusive-head-of-
robod...](http://singularityhub.com/2010/08/23/exclusive-head-of-robodynamics-
reveals-the-hard-truth-about-telepresence-robots/)
------
Gring
According to the article, they want to do it "the lean startup way".
So... why does it have to be self-balancing? Just add a third wheel and it's
always stable - no need for gyros and complicated electronics. And as a by-
product, you have immediately lowered the price massively: it's just a few
motors then instead of that balancing magic. My price lowering guess would be
between 50% and 80% lower. That would be really "the lean startup way" in my
book.
(Idea courtesy of
[http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=segway_more_complicated_t...](http://maddox.xmission.com/c.cgi?u=segway_more_complicated_than_it_needs_to_be%20))
~~~
davidcann
Thanks for your thoughts, but the third wheel theory isn't actually true. We
investigated this, of course, and a third wheel without balancing provides a
pretty crummy and bumpy user experience. The key is reaching the magic human
height while keeping the base no larger than a human's foot prints. Look at
the VGo, they opted to limit their height to about 3' and add a third wheel,
but the driver is always looking up at people's stomachs and up people's
noses. It's awkward in a standing conversation and, even at that height, it's
a bit shaky riding around - not to mention the extra counterweight they need
to put in the base to weigh it down. Two wheeled, self balancing is simply a
more elegant solution all around.
Also the extra cost of the accelerometer and gyro is almost negligible these
days, thanks to smartphones requiring them to be made in such high volume. For
both together, it's maybe $20 or less in volume.
~~~
Gring
Interesting, that clears up my reservations, thanks!
I feel like the biggest issues might be missing ambient spatial awareness for
the user - with that non-wideangle lens and mono microphone you can't see the
whole environment at once, you have no idea where somebody is talking from,
and you cannot turn quickly enough to always track what's happening in a room,
if people are leaving/entering etc.. How do you plan to make the user feel
more "there"?
Also, micro-managing the movement of the bot would take up a lot of time that
I don't have to spend when I'm present locally. E.g. when I'm present myself,
I just look somewhere, then think "I want to go there" and it all happens
automatically. With the bot, I have to manually navigate around plants and
desks. It would be great if we could do the same thing with the bot: just
touch on the screen where you want to go, and the bot figures out the rest. Or
show a floor plan, touch where I want to go and the bot does it. Do you have
plans in this direction?
~~~
davidcann
Ah, I'm glad you see the potential of where this technology can go! Those are
all great ideas. "We have nothing to announce at this time."
~~~
Gring
Yep. Bring it down to $500 and I'll buy one!
------
mirsadm
I'd find this difficult to tolerate at work. I can't imagine anybody
addressing me with one of these. Not only that I am certain no work place I
have worked at would ever buy something like this. And they're all happy to
spend thousands of dollars on things which would improve our productivity.
I was ready to dismiss the idea until I saw the end of the video. I think
outside of business/work it could be quite useful (as demonstrated by the art
gallery).
~~~
patdennis
The art gallery idea struck me as interesting at first.
On second thought, however, why would you want to look at art through a low
quality iPad camera when you could browse a website with high-res images of
the same stuff?
I'm not sure that usage would pass the gimmick test after the novelty wore
off.
~~~
mertd
Another complication is navigating through the museum without violating the
personal space of the visitors. I guess they could only be allowed in the
after hours but then how do you prevent the experience from deteriorating into
high-tech bunch bumper cars.
------
retube
That's really neat, I think this has a number of uses and not just at work.
How does it stand up though? Is there an acceleramoter or similar powering a
balancing act?
~~~
Eduardo3rd
Yeah, probably a few gyroscopes/accelerometers.
I would guess that it is a beefed up version of something like this:
[http://blog.makezine.com/2012/03/28/an-inexpensive-self-
bala...](http://blog.makezine.com/2012/03/28/an-inexpensive-self-balancing-
robot/)
I like their tiny kickstand as a solution for keeping the thing upright
without draining the battery. I wonder if that deploys only when the bot is in
sleep mode, or if it can come out when someone is using it but "standing" in a
single spot for a prolonged period of time.
~~~
davidcann
Yes, that's right! Our very first prototype was using a 5 degree of freedom
IMU board from SparkFun.
Yes, the kickstands can be deployed manually during a call or automatically,
if the robot is sitting in one place for a long time. When the user attempts
to drive again, the kickstands instantly lift off the ground and the robot can
drive again.
------
stcredzero
I had a related idea recently: Just hire a tall actress to carry around an
iPad running Facetime. (Perhaps with a custom shoulder-strap?) It's going to
be a bit longer before robots get up to the level of humans in terms of
versatility, social awareness, and attractiveness. Until then, using a human
would have certain advantages for a high-end solution.
------
Eduardo3rd
I'm excited to see some hardware concepts coming out of YC in the past couple
of years. I think that the lean startup model is starting to be much more
viable (vs 5 years ago) in the hardware space thanks to low cost prototyping
electronics, 3D printing, and small batch size manufacturing.
~~~
pg
There are a bunch of hardware startups in this batch. I'm not sure why. Could
be just random variation. But for whatever reason it's kind of the hardware
batch.
~~~
Eduardo3rd
That's great! Looking forward to hearing more about the others after demo day
rolls around.
------
telepresencefan
Impressive design, both mechanical and graphic. Does anyone know who produced
the video?
~~~
Undertow10
Thanks! It was a collaboration between missioncm.com and cc-prod.com.
------
zbowling
I built something like this 2 years ago at iOSDevCamp out of legos.
<http://zbowling.github.com/NXTRover/>
I love that of this was taped at TokBox :-)
~~~
davidcann
Nice, I love it. We started out super simple and just kept improving it and
making it taller.
------
willowgarage
For those who are interested, Suitable Technologies (from Willow Garage) will
be making an announcement next month:
<http://suitabletech.com>
------
hornbaker
Check out the prototype, made public at WWDC over a year ago:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BXM9PYaXY0>
~~~
davidcann
Haha, yes, we've come a long way since then!
------
technotony
Here's another competitor... looks like the home telepresense market might be
ripe and ready! <http://9thsense.com/>
~~~
kdsudac
Another competitor designed for industrial settings: <http://collaborate.io>
Disclaimer: I'm the founder
~~~
davidcann
That looks pretty cool. It looks like you nailed the precise zoom feature,
which is key for your use-case.
------
portman
_> > It uses OpenTalk to essentially let you video chat with those people._
What is "OpenTalk"? I've never heard of that protocol/API/software before. And
Googling turns up nothing except some abandonware from 2009.
<http://download.cnet.com/OpenTalk/3000-2150_4-10568159.html>
~~~
monvural
It's actually OpenTok. Check it out here:
<http://tokbox.com/opentok/api/documentation>
------
andysinclair
Cool concept, hope it does well.
Seems ironic that "They were actually developing a product that required
partnerships with Chinese manufacturers, and they found themselves
increasingly frustrated by the fact that they couldn’t keep an eye on the
project".
------
corin_
Does the iPad need to be charged seperately, or can it recharge when the robot
is plugged in?
~~~
davidcann
Yes, to keep things simple, the iPad and robot communicate wirelessly, so the
iPad is currently charged separately.
~~~
tankbot
They should be integrated. You need to be able to 'park' this thing on a
charging pad and know that it will be there, fully charged when you need it.
Otherwise you're creating more work for someone at your remote site (assuming
there is someone there to create work for, these could probably be used at
unmanned sites with great success).
~~~
davidcann
Agreed and noted. "We have nothing to announce at this time" is our standard
response in a situation like this.
------
yumraj
This is pretty darn cool and pretty darn freaky at the same time. It may want
to use both front and back cameras to see if someone is coming at it from the
back since it won't be able to get back up on its own. :o)
------
hnriot
So, it's a Segway with FaceTime? The main question is why? Even the video
can't seem to find a decent use case. The art gallery idea is ridiculous, why
would you physically control a robot that wanders an art gallery when the
gallery has a website? Also have you ever tried actually wandering around a
gallery? The robot wouldn't stand a chance. What happens when someone knocks
it over?
In the workplace this would just be embarrassing. Not to mention a security
threat, there's no way any serious corporation would allow roaming cameras in
their offices.
If I put my idealist hat on and try to imagine the future with these, I keep
coming back to those Segway videos of the hype of a new kind of city, a new
kind of transportation.
This really is a technology in search of a use case, that isn't already being
addressed. I read comments that say they would use these to attend meetings,
how does this robot compare to Cisco's video conferencing, or FaceTime or even
just calling in from the car/home. At work we use screen sharing and
audio/visual conferencing which seems to work just fine, and where it doesn't
it will evolve.
I'm wondering how this robot would push the elevator button to get to a
meeting on another floor? There are just so many problems with this idea, not
the least of which is who would actually buy one.
~~~
pg
It's been useful already. One of the founders was out of town at the last YC
dinner and but he participated in a conversation in the lobby with me and his
cofounder through a Double. He wouldn't have been able to if he'd been using a
standard teleconferencing setup, because it wasn't a pre-arranged meeting.
In my experience, many if not most of the most important conversations are not
pre-arranged meetings. If you use existing teleconferencing technology you
miss them all, and if you use a Double you don't. That's a qualitative change.
~~~
kdsudac
Pre-arranged meetings are the first thing that jumps into people's minds, but
do telecommuters really want to replicate the experience of being in meetings?
For me, one of the nicer aspects of telecommuting is I can call into meetings
and during portions of the meeting that don't apply to me (or are boring) I
can work (or surf the web).
On the other hand, people do have a love/hate relationship with meetings:
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120519462810425677.html>
I can buy into the importance of impromptu meetings. I wonder if the Double
team can figure out a way to market around impromptu vs pre-arranged meetings
and love/hate meetings without alienating too many people.
|
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Writing a Language in Truffle, Part 1: A Simple, Slow Interpreter - StylifyYourBlog
http://cesquivias.github.io/blog/2014/10/13/writing-a-language-in-truffle-part-1-a-simple-slow-interpreter/
======
agumonkey
This is a 4 part (as of Jan 15 2015) series
[http://cesquivias.github.io/tags/truffle.html](http://cesquivias.github.io/tags/truffle.html)
Greatly appreciated topic.
------
dkarapetyan
This is awesome. If someone does this for PyPy that would be equally awesome.
~~~
pekk
You mean like this tutorial on writing an interpreter using PyPy? [2011]
[http://morepypy.blogspot.com/2011/04/tutorial-writing-
interp...](http://morepypy.blogspot.com/2011/04/tutorial-writing-interpreter-
with-pypy.html)
~~~
dkarapetyan
Yes, but a bit more in depth like the tutorial on Truffle.
|
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Flask 0.5 Released - Python WSGI microframework - enduser
http://pypi.python.org/pypi/Flask/0.5
======
cgbystrom
List of changes (from the mailing list)
What's new:
* fixed a bug with subdomains that was caused by the inability to
specify the server name. The server name can now be set with the
SERVER_NAME config key. This key is now also used to set the
session cookie cross-subdomain wide.
* autoescaping is no longer active for all templates. Instead it is
only active for .html, .htm, .xml and .xhtml. Inside templates
this behaviour can be changed with the autoescape tag.
* refactored Flask internally. It now consists of more than a single
file.
* flask.send_file() now emits etags and has the ability to do
conditional responses builtin.
* (temporarily) dropped support for zipped applications. This was a
rarely used feature and led to some confusing behaviour.
* added support for per-package template and static-file directories.
* removed support for create_jinja_loader which is no longer used in
0.5 due to the improved module support.
* added a helper function to expose files from any directory.
Links:
Online Documentation: http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/
Downloadable PDF: http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/flask-docs.pdf
Website: http://flask.pocoo.org/
On Github: http://github.com/mitsuhiko/flask
PyPI Record: http://pypi.python.org/pypi/Flask
[http://flask.pocoo.org/mailinglist/archive/2010/7/6/ann-
flas...](http://flask.pocoo.org/mailinglist/archive/2010/7/6/ann-
flask-0-5-calvados-released/)
------
cageface
Of the python microframeworks I've seen this one looks the most appealing and
polished.
~~~
enduser
It is also an interesting springboard to working directly with Werkzeug,
around which Flask is a relatively thin wrapper. Werkzeug is a very featureful
library with which one can rapidly create exactly the framework one needs for
a given project. No magic, no ponies ;-)
~~~
cageface
I looked briefly at Werkzeug and I've heard good things about it. I have to
confess I was deterred for no better reasons than the name and finding too
much resemblance between the start page and the classic "under construction"
web page circa 1998.
~~~
jokull
I'm sensing that Roman's Flask project was born out of frustration with people
not getting his Werkzeug and Jinja2 projects - probably because of bad
marketing. On 1 April he created a silly little microframework and did all the
right marketing tricks (flashy website, code on github, references to "ninja
coders" etc.). It was supposed to be a joke, but upon seeing how much interest
the project got he went ahead and started glueing these components together
properly (that's Flask). Werkzeug was a marketing failure but Flask builds
upon these mistakes. The documentation is good, the name is excellent and he's
attracted attention through GitHub.
I'm waiting for an excuse to try this project out :)
~~~
cageface
We've arrived at a very interesting point in the evolution of programming
languages. For a lot of tasks there are several functionally interchangeable
languages to choose from, so increasingly language choice is a matter of taste
and style. Languages are developing the same kinds of brand identity that used
to be the domain of cars and clothes.
In this context marking is everything.
------
mhd
How does it compare to Bottle?
(<http://bottle.paws.de/>)
~~~
enduser
Bottle uses one process-wide application object. Flask supports initializing
multiple application objects (such as for testing the app with different
configurations).
Flask is built on top of the feature-rich Werkzeug library, which can
significantly reduce the amount of code you must write for more complex
applications. It is straightforward to refactor Flask out of your code and use
Werkzeug directly.
Flask has a growing community of contributors. See the extensions library:
<http://flask.pocoo.org/extensions/>
In a nutshell, Bottle is suitable for very simple websites. Flask has what it
takes to grow into a large site.
~~~
defnull
> Bottle uses one process-wide application object. Flask supports initializing
> multiple application objects.
The process-wide application object is a sane default for small applications,
but not the only option. You can instantiate bottle.Bottle() and work with
that, if you need multiple encapsulated application objects. This is fully
supported.
------
enduser
Flask 0.5.1 released (bugfix): <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1491638>
<http://pypi.python.org/pypi/Flask/0.5.1>
~~~
the_mitsuhiko
I'm embarrassed it had to come to that, but the testsuite was lacking tests
for templates in folders and a bug sneaked in.
------
joshu
Isn't this the one that was written based on an april fool's joke?
i am finding choosing a python framework to be stressful.
~~~
enduser
Yes.
It is stressful.
Look for libraries that make working with WSGI as painless as possible.
Working with WSGI directly allows you to write modular code that works
together gracefully with other WSGI code. Pylons is really just an
amalgamation of WSGI modules. Smart people can amalgamate their own modules.
Django was written before WSGI was an established standard. It has the
advantages of being established, a relatively large pool of developers, and
the admin interface. It has the disadvantage of dictating your project layout,
not integrating well with other WSGI modules, and having a large degree of
lock-in.
The best options are Flask (for a simple start), Pylons (for more obvious out
of the box functionality), WebOb (for a simple and slightly too magical WSGI
library), and Werkzeug (for a well-written library that dictates nothing).
~~~
lowkey
Um, what about Web2Py? I must say, so far I've been extremely impressed. It's
polished, has batteries included, is very similar to Ruby on Rails in
experience, and even has a built-in web-based IDE. (<http://www.web2py.com/>)
~~~
joshu
i've seen it before but every time i saw the word "enterprise" my helmet
snapped shut in self-defense.
~~~
enduser
I highly recommend going through the examples/ directory in the Werkzeug
source. It might prompt you to take off your helmet and relax.
~~~
fictorial
I think the reference was to web2py.
~~~
enduser
I think it was, too. I was suggesting that he might no longer need to wear a
protective helmet upon experiencing Werkzeug.
------
enduser
Major points of interest: Flask has been split into multiple files in a
package, added support for per-module templates and static files.
------
adamilardi
What is a good use case for a microframework?
~~~
enduser
Being able to get off the ground quickly while still determining the structure
of your project. Thinking like a system programmer rather than a plugin
programmer / integrator. Using the libraries of your choice to implement your
site in the best way for your requirements.
------
jamongkad
How does Flask compare with web.py?
|
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New tech by Nissan: Tactile feedback in gas pedal to help you save gas - MikeCapone
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/08/nissan-eco-pedal-system-fuel-efficiency-save-gas.php
======
kirse
As someone who drives a stick, I would love to see this feature under the
right foot of drivers of auto cars. I drive a 300hp sports car and on my
stoplight commutes if I'm not accelerating pretty aggressively, people will be
on my tail behind me.
I think many people just don't realize how much they slam on the gas once the
light turns green. With auto cars getting smoother and quieter (especially
with the CVT transmissions), many people don't even get the auditory feedback
anymore that they're hauling ass. Combine that with your average driver who
doesn't understand what the RPM gauge is for, and you get the stoplight
quarter-mile drag race on repeat until you get to work.
~~~
ajross
I'm trying to square your concern for the gas mileage of your fellow drivers
with your choice of vehicle. Those cylinders and their parasite losses (more
air to compress, more manifold vacuum to suck, more surface area to rub
against) don't come for free...
You'd have to be a true leadfoot to pull a typical automatic sedan down to the
mileage range of a 300hp monster (c.f. the Mustang GT, which gets 15/23mpg on
the EPA test). My '99 Saturn, a pure commute vehicle which drives 5 miles at a
time in stop and go traffic on a cold engine (basically pessimal fuel
efficiency conditions) never gets below 22.
~~~
kirse
The point of my comment is that I'm driving a sports car yet have to
accelerate pretty aggressively to keep up with the automatic drivers. I have a
Mazdaspeed6 with K&N intake and turboback exhaust (~300hp and 250 to the
wheels). The few mods aside, Mazda's 2.3L I4-DISI engine is highly efficient
and there's a reason it has been on Wards 10-Best Engines for the past 3
years.
I get 22-24mpg around town and 26-29 highway depending on how aggressively I
drive. I've gotten it as low as 17 when I initially owned the car and was
racing everywhere, but that's the absolute worst I've seen. My best efficiency
run on a drive from TX->PA saw ~455 miles before I had to fill up again.
Here's some more information for you on why my 300hp "monster" gets equivalent
gas mileage to your Saturn:
<http://wardsautoworld.com/ar/auto_story_behind_wards_2/>
~~~
Retric
I have an 205hp Acura TSX (07) and I have gotten anywhere between 32 - 36
highway on a tank of gas which is almost 25% better than your Mazda and IMO
the TSX has great highway acceleration even if it's a little slow from a dead
start. Granted it takes an extra second on the 0-60 vs. Mazdaspeed6 but you
don't accelerate that hard anyway so what's the point.
I like power but there is a direct relationship between HP and efficiency but
going over ~200 in a car seems to be a waste IMO.
~~~
kirse
That's the tradeoff. I smoke you through the turns, and you get better gas
mileage. I don't drive hard on commutes, but I don't work on the weekends =)
Also, the MS6 is a mid-size sedan, the TSX is a compact entry-level sedan that
weighs ~400 lbs less. The Acura TL vs. MS6 would be a better comparison.
Finally, gas mileage is much more related to the weight of the car mated to
the engine, rather than the horsepower output of the engine itself. A simple
example -- when people drop in an LS1 engine (when tuned it's upwards of
400hp+) to a Mazda RX-7 body - which weighs about 2400lbs - they get around
25-30mpg.
~~~
Andys
I think you're on the right track here when you mention vehicle weight.
Some kind of feedback for drivers on the ridiculously weights new cars are
carrying these days would be more useful than gas pedal feedback.
------
mhb
I think a dashboard meter displaying $/hour of fuel consumed would be more
effective - and probably cheaper to implement.
~~~
hugh
Why bother? Sure, you might save a few dollars a week, but in exchange you'd
spend your whole driving time depressed. Not worthwhile.
~~~
mhb
Some people find it entertaining:
[http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/01/king_of_the_...](http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/01/king_of_the_hypermilers.html)
------
occam
If there's one thing I'm certain of, it's that there is no such thing as
excess acceleration.
~~~
jobeirne
is there some physics in-joke I'm missing?
------
aardvarkious
In regards to the first paragraph: my mom has a sweet gadget I'm envious of.
It is a sensor you attach to your electric metre (its a camera which reads how
fast it spins) with a wireless monitor. The main feature of the monitor is how
many $/hour you are spending on electricity (you can have it in real time or
averaged over any length of time). I enjoy walking through the house turning
on various lights and appliances to see how much they cost to run.
|
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Where to get referal links to gain commission? - airswimmer
For example I want to write articles about a smart phone, and want to add the shopping link to amazon/ebay or other sites. Do you know if there's open service/site to get the referal links for commission?<p>Thank you so much!
======
mtmail
[https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/](https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/)
[https://partnernetwork.ebay.com/](https://partnernetwork.ebay.com/)
more advertisers via [https://www.awin.com/us](https://www.awin.com/us)
(doesn't include Amazon,ebay)
~~~
airswimmer
Thank you. Do you know more like awin.com ? I just registered it but it needs
48 hours to response.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
}
|
Ask HN: Would You Take One a Side Gig? - grooks1234
I've had a stable (remote) SWE job for company A that pays 6-figure. I feel under-challenged and not super-excited about the industry (marketing), so a few years ago I took on a side-gig at company B in a completely different industry to learn new things, did that for about 8 months (not impacting my job at company A as I would work evenings).<p>Then I quit company B (on good terms), for the following reasons 1)was not super happy with the engineering practices. Code that was produced by other engineers was - to my standards - not of high quality (testing wasn't enforced, random bugs would pop up, lots of patches etc) 2)B was in a complete startup-phase so big uncertainty about the future 3)got burnt out and wanted a shift to focus on open-source projects in the AI domain (which I built and still do, on the side, not making any $ for those currently but being excited about building them)<p>Now, years later, B has seemingly (survived?), raised $$$ and since I left on good terms they want me back (with higher base offer than what I currently make at A, and higher pay than what I was making last time I worked for them).
So my options are<p>1) stay at a "boring" (remote) job at A (being under-challenged), decline offer from B and have time to work on open-source AI libraries (that really excites me) in hopes of productising those and making $<p>2) stay at a "boring" (remote) job at A and take on a side-gig at B as part-time in hopes that engineering practices have improved, make a lot more $$$ per paycheck, though sacrificing time spent on open-source AI libraries.<p>3) quit "boring" (remote) job at A, and join B full-time in hopes that engineering practices have improved and make a bit more $ than at A, and have time to work on open-source AI libraries<p>What option would be best in your opinion?
======
evoneutron
Either option seems pretty good. But it may be that option 2 is the best, if
you can still find time on the weekends/evenings to work on the open-source
projects
|
{
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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|
Things You Didn't Know Apache (2.2) Could Do - linuxmag
http://www.linux-mag.com/id/7480
======
ratsbane
Thanks for posting this. I wasn't aware that Apache 2.2.12 supported SNI out
of the box. SNI is kind of a big deal. It means that you can have multiple
virtual hosts running HTTPS on the same IP address.
mod_proxy_balancer is also a very nice feature worth some attention.
~~~
timf
SNI looks nice but considering that amount of SSL libraries out there that
don't support it (including browsers), it will probably be something like 5-10
years before we could deploy SNI for a general purpose site/service.
~~~
ratsbane
From <https://sni.velox.ch/>:
Opera 8.0 and later (the TLS 1.1 protocol must be enabled)
Internet Explorer 7 or later (under Windows Vista and later only, not under Windows XP)
Firefox 2.0 or later
Curl 7.18.1 or later (when compiled against an SSL/TLS toolkit with SNI support)
Chrome (under Windows Vista and later only, not under Windows XP)
Safari 3.0 or later (when running under OS X 10.5.6 or later and under Windows Vista)
~~~
tptacek
In other words, it's going to be 5-10 years before you'll be able to use it.
=)
~~~
sho
If I had a job where I seriously thought I'd be supporting Windows XP and IE6
for the next _ten years_ , I'd kill myself.
~~~
tptacek
That's good to know.
~~~
sho
Elucidating you, tptacek, is my _highest_ priority.
~~~
tptacek
You can start by looking up the word "elucidate".
~~~
sho
elucidate
verb [ trans. ]
make (something) clear; explain
As usual, you have no point whatsoever. Glad to see the fan club noticed
though. Why don't you "tweet" about it?
~~~
timf
He may have meant that elucidate does not take "you" as an object unless the
thing being made clear is the subject matter "you."
At any rate, can you guys take this to email or something? :-)
------
mlLK
Something else most may have not known about apache is it has a built-in
server-side scripting feature, think php w/o loops, called mod_include
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shtml> In the purest sense though, it is
templating for html.
This feature is a bit dated and unnecessarily redundant if you write php, but
could be great a addition if your back-end requires CGI or you don't wanna
'messy' up your pretty mark-up with php. ;)
------
tptacek
I'm pretty sure SNI has browser support issues.
~~~
charltones
From Wikipedia:
The following combinations do not support SNI: * Windows XP and Internet
Explorer
Well that's going to be a bit of an issue then.
~~~
tptacek
IE7 Vista supports it, IIRC, but lack of IE6 support is still a dealbreaker.
------
korch
Apache does too much. Whatever happened to the Unix dictum to "do one thing
well"? I think this is actually a good reason for switching to Nginx whenever
possible, where the conf files are tiny enough to be readable by mortals.
------
pluc
Dear writer. In the future, please refrain from telling your visitors "Well if
you ain't gonna read the whole thing here's the best". Having your article on
one fucking page usually ensures people will scroll to the bottom. Thank you.
~~~
joshu
Why is this being downvoted?
~~~
pluc
Cause no one likes me :(
~~~
nudded
by reading your profile I could see that was you first comment, please don't
post such comments in the first place.
Content is to be discussed, not style
~~~
pluc
You mistake me for someone who cares.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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WordPress 3.3 "Sonny" - bennesvig
http://wordpress.org/news/2011/12/sonny/
======
wx77
List of improvements: <https://codex.wordpress.org/Version_3.3>
Since I didn't spot the link right away.
------
simoes
Software developers can really learn a lot from the wordpress video style of
showing new updates and enhancements. Great work!
------
photomatt
Yay! :)
~~~
ComputerGuru
Hi Matt! Congrats on the release - I just moved back to WP mainstream from a
performance-oriented fork I'd been working on.
Was about to hit the downvote button, but then I realized it was you :)
------
ricardobeat
Looking good. The flyout vs accordion wars seems never-ending.
I won't complain, but still prefer the accordion style, it's more visible,
memorable, requires less dexterity from novice users, and adapts better to
input methods other than a mouse.
~~~
ComputerGuru
Great job "not complaining" ;)
~~~
ricardobeat
Commenting here instead of at WP.org makes it more of a rant than complaint :)
------
alanh
I’m glad to see that, after so many years, WordPress will no longer create a
URL like
yourblog.com/i-said-“here’s-johnny!”
whenever you enter a title that includes quotes
------
the_cat_kittles
Stitt over Rollins? woah...thats brave
~~~
nacin
As far as I know, WordPress has never been named after a living jazzer.
~~~
gcorne
How can you name a release after Sonny Stitt before naming a release after
Charlie Parker?
~~~
nacin
We plan to be around for a while. :)
------
brianbreslin
how does the "ipad optimization" affect onswipe and similar companies?
~~~
chrisguitarguy
It shouldn't. The optimization is just responsive design for the admin area.
Twenty Eleven[1], the default theme, has a responsive design as well. I don't
see either of those things taking away from a business like Onswipe. Until
more responsive design themes get into the WP repository, that is.
1\. <http://twentyelevendemo.wordpress.com/>
|
{
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Show HN: Validating the email addresses on signup, contact and subscribe forms - san_at_weblegit
https://weblegit.com
======
san_at_weblegit
Hi HN, We are providing a simple to use service to validate the user email
addresses at the web doorway for the businesses. We validate the email
addresses for more than just the syntax. The goals are three folds, First,
give another chance to the real users if they made a typo mistake with their
email. Second, Filters the people from entering spam emails with correct
syntax. Last, as business/website owner you will have less fake users to chase
and waste the monetary and time resources
The service is free to use for the trial period. Thought has been put into
making it simple enough to integrate. Integration does not requires any
programming skills. We would really appreciate the feedback from the HN
community on how we can improve this and make it more usable.
------
ninja9283
I like your service and been looking for something like this to integrate with
my website. I will get in touch with you, I might be your first customer :)
------
pradeepdhankhar
nice, this is something new I would definitely take this service.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
}
|
Ask HN: Would you pay $4 for not being tracked by a content provider? - gergely
======
sfrechtling
I would. The pertinent point then becomes; is this for every content provider,
or just a single one?
And also; Does the service then track me? Am I replacing a known evil for
another?
|
{
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
}
|
Ask HN: How can I learn computer security? - boniface316
I am taking some data science courses. Is there any link between data science and cyber security? and where can I learn cyber security stuff?
======
artie_effim
Cyber pro here - 5 years doing IV&V testing, 15 years as Fed, State and Local
contractor, now a firewall admin at a major U.S. uni. I got an NSA accredited
([https://www.nsa.gov/resources/educators/centers-academic-
exc...](https://www.nsa.gov/resources/educators/centers-academic-
excellence/cyber-defense/)) Master's in IT with a specialization in security.
While the degree got my foot in the door (I have a BA in Arts - but have been
messing around with computers since the early 80's - plus a lot of self taught
stuff) - I've found that a ton of side reading (anything related to the
subject - I spent a lot of time on the RFCs - that stuff I use every day)),
looking at PCAPs to understand the protocols and reading case studies are the
best way to hone the craft.
For a while I was doing Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) work, but have
always loved being a network security engineer, so I went back to that.
Also - I have a CISSP, which opens a lot of doors. I know that it is being
knocked a bit nowadays, and there are certainly a some who are test
knowledgeable but no hands-on, common sense experience. I still find it
valuable enough to maintain.
Set up a lab - 2-4 computers and a switch should do (you could virtualize
some/all of it) and work on all aspects of the TCP/IP stack if you're
interested in netsec.
If appsec is your thing, spend a lot of time looking at good and bad code,
plus reading on-line of good and bad appsec.
IF GRC is up your alley - read NIST 800-53, HIPPA, PCI-DSS, SANS Top 20 and
GDPR - to understand the full breadth of controls and risk mitigation.
As far as data science python and pandas are all over the industry, R not so
much. There is a big push for ML/AI work, but it might be snake-oil, time will
tell. I use a lot of python and pandas for log and flow analysis.
Also - learn Linux CLI; grep, sed and awk can save your butt in most
situations. Gray beard stuff will come later.
Good luck!
<edit - word choice>
~~~
elorant
While on the subject and since you're an expert in the field, there's
something that's nagging me. How good are you guys at programming? My feeling
is that most people in the infosec are average at best and only the elites are
good at it.
~~~
susam
I am not sure why you are getting downvoted. You have a very valid question.
There are many different kinds of security roles such as risk, compliance and
security reviews (very little programming), penetration testing (programming
and scripting to various degrees depending on the work) and security software
development (full-time programming).
How good one is at programming would of course usually depend on the
individual. In the rest of the software industry, there are all kinds of roles
(some of which involve programming and some do not) and the ones that do
involve programming have programmers of all kinds and calibre. It is no
different in computer security.
I have over 12 years of experience in this field now in various positions
where my various colleagues and I have written large security products in C,
C++ and Java, as well as smaller security solutions in Python and Go. Most of
the times programming is just a means to an end which is true for many other
fields as well. It is usually math, algorithms, crypto, protocols, etc. that
are more interesting and that we need to be well versed with along with being
skilled at programming. Also, I would like to share two of my earlier posts
around this subject:
\-
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14873475](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14873475)
(about demand and job prospects in security software development)
\-
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12545851](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12545851)
(about math and software development in the computer security field)
~~~
watwut
I haven't downvoted, but "How good are you guys at programming? My feeling is
that most people in the infosec are average at best and only the elites are
good at it." sounds trollish to me. Designed to elicit emotional response from
people as they will try to defend security people.
------
santiagobasulto
Let me tell you one thing, it's going to be tough. Cyber security is one of
the fields of IT that requires the most deep knowledge of how computers and
networks work. So, be aware of that. It's like, when someone is asking how to
build a game, and the first answer is: learn a lot about Math and Physics.
This is the same thing.
Recommended path:
1\. CS Basics (concepts) Conceptually understand how computers work, how
interpreters work, compilers etc. You're probably past this point.
2.Low level programming Basically C, but pay attention to the OS APIs (posix,
win32). Make sure you understand the fundamentals of memory management,
procedures, threading, etc. You need a lot of C knowledge.
3\. Networking [0] You basically need to know by heart all the TCP protocol. I
have a friend who's incredibly successful working in security and he knows
each bit in each packet in a TCP connection. He can just recite it. Once you
know about networks, start throwing code at them. See if you can push the
wrong bits to a switch, or if you can access some other processes network
stack, etc.
4\. Web standards Basically, how the web works. Once you're past that: Apache
and Nginx. You have to know them in depth.
5\. Known threats and vunerabilities In this process you'll know that there
are many exploited issues that have been resolved. But you should study from
them. For example, Heartbleed. Would you have the knowledge to find
Heartbleed? You should also practice with every other security threat known
like XSS, SQL Injection, etc.
[0] depending the security field, you might not need so advanced networking
knowledge, this is just a general recommendation.
This is just my recommendation, I'm more of a purist, and I have a lot of
respect for cybersecurity people.
Source: +10 years programming, I have a good friend making A LOT of money as a
private security contractor and we speak about this all the time.
~~~
godelmachine
May I ask how much you friend makes, on an average?
~~~
Hextinium
I had a teacher who's brother worked in security, his bonus for the year was 6
figures IIRC. His salary was 300k but this was a while ago (5+ years).
------
altharaz
"Is there any link between data science and cyber security?"
Data Science might be useful if you want to work in Security Information
Management or in malware analysis: big companies try to identify "weird
behavior" in their networks, based on "normal behavior" records.
"Where can I learn cyber security stuff?"
Well, that depends on the stuff you are interested in...
You should focus at first on learning "system administration" and at least a
programming language like Python or Ruby. Network protocols would also be a
bonus.
Then, if you want to learn "offensive techniques" or "penetration testing", I
suggest that you try websites like RootMe [https://www.root-
me.org/?lang=en](https://www.root-me.org/?lang=en) or Cryptopals
cryptopals.com.
Once you'll have resolved by yourself some of these challenges, you'll be able
to try the "industrialized approach" of penetration testing. For this, this
book is quite cool:
[https://www.nostarch.com/pentesting](https://www.nostarch.com/pentesting).
If you're more interested in "defensive techniques", you have tons of
resources online.
For instance:
Secure Coding Best Practices: \-
[https://www.owasp.org/index.php/OWASP_Secure_Coding_Practice...](https://www.owasp.org/index.php/OWASP_Secure_Coding_Practices_-
_Quick_Reference_Guide) \- [https://security.berkeley.edu/secure-coding-
practice-guideli...](https://security.berkeley.edu/secure-coding-practice-
guidelines)
=> These documents will help you to understand what are the main risks in your
apps
For "general" cybersecurity: \- ISO27001 standard \- The NIST Cybersecurity
Framework [https://www.nist.gov/cybersecurity-
framework](https://www.nist.gov/cybersecurity-framework) \- PCI/DSS \-
[https://www.us-cert.gov/](https://www.us-cert.gov/)
=> These documents will help you to understand what are the main risks in an
organization based on their assets.
------
indigochill
Security fundamentally is just "the art and science of how things work".
Breaches in security are caused by malicious actors finding vulnerabilities in
trusted systems, such as when Chinese webcams shipped with default credentials
which made it trivial for the Mirai botnet to take them over and acquire so
many devices that it could DDoS Dyn.
Towards that end, just about anything you learn can be applied in some way
towards security. The conventional recommendations others have made will get
your foot in the door, but ultimately security is a lifestyle of never-ending
learning and imaginative reasoning about systems.
So to directly answer your questions, yes, there are links between data
science and security (others have mentioned its use in things like malware
research, but going the other way it's also important to store your data
securely to prevent theft, destruction, or tampering) and you can learn
something about information security pretty much anywhere in-depth information
about computers is taught. Which information is relevant to your interests
will just depend on which aspect of security is of interest to you.
~~~
thephyber
> Breaches in security are caused by malicious actors finding vulnerabilities
> in trusted systems
Alex Stamos, the CISO of Facebook, likened the causes of security breaches to
a pyramid. The bottom of the pyramid, where the vast majority of security
breaches happen (perhaps 80%), are caused by basic fraud: shared passwords,
phishing, asking the user to do something like self-XSS. Of the remainder,
perhaps 80% of security breaches are done through the more common, more
mundane attacks like unpatched vulnerabilities or misconfigurations. It's only
a fraction of a fraction of a percent of attacks that are done using zero-day
vulns.
As much as what you said is relevant for security, I would argue that
engineers think that security is more of an engineering problem set than it
is.
------
emiliobumachar
I highly recommend the online Cybersecurity Specialization of the University
of Maryland on Coursera.
(disclaimer: I didn't pass the Capstone project, and never got around to
trying it again)
Back then it was free if you didn't need a certificate, may still be.
[https://www.coursera.org/specializations/cyber-
security](https://www.coursera.org/specializations/cyber-security)
------
aknoob
The very first thing that you need to do is to pick a software stack, ideally
opensource and then learn how that software-stack works bottom up. Learning
how a linux application works might be a good starting point if you are
totally new.
There are multiple layers involved here and really understanding each one
would take time.
Next would come understanding browsers, browser although it is an app, it is a
world in itself. How an http request flows through a browser, how an http
response is rendered, what are various layers involved. TCP/IP stack to
physical layer, wifi/usb. It is extremely vast and very interesting.
And once you have gained enough experience , you will be able to clearly see
the similarities and differences between various software stacks, both bottom-
up and top-down, right from hardware level to your application's code and vice
versa. And then reasoning about security of the stack at various layers would
become straightforward.
In terms of conferences, I find
Blackhat([http://www.blackhat.com/](http://www.blackhat.com/)) Conference is a
very good source of keeping oneself up to date with world of security(
including applying Data Science to Security)
------
stoneridge
[http://mooc.fi/courses/2017/cybersecurity](http://mooc.fi/courses/2017/cybersecurity)
"Cyber Security Base with F-Secure is a course series by University of
Helsinki in collaboration with F‑Secure Cyber Security Academy that focuses on
building core knowledge and abilities related to the work of a cyber security
professional. The course series is free and open for anyone to attend."
------
vog
If you want to get a really deep understanding, study computer science (e.g.
bachelor/master) [1], then specialize by taking all security courses that are
offered. Not only will you get a deep understanding of the topic, you will
build on solid fundamentals, as well as have people (professors, assistants,
trainers) who you can ask anything.
[1] Of course, you can this only freely in a country that remotely cares about
the education of its citizens (e.g. most European countries, where you can go
to university for a hew hundred Euros per year). Otherwise, the risk of a huge
debt is probably not worth it.
~~~
justaman
I went to a mid level business school in the Midwest. Their IT program had a
few segments. One was security. The difference was basically just one course
on pen testing. I learned more about security in the CS courses they didnt
recommend I take.
You don't need college, what you need is a desire to learn everyday.
~~~
vog
_> what you need is a desire to learn everyday_
This is true, but in my opinion this advice misses the point.
Of course, if you are older and finally developed this skill, you don't need
anything more. However, the questioner seems to be on the beginning of this
journey.
Recommending "just learn everyday" is like telling fat people to exercise and
not to eat too much. Of course that's true, but misses the point: How to get
there?
Having people around you who motivate you to learn, who know and acknowledge
what you are doing, and who are willing (and paid for) to help you if you get
stuck - this is exactly what young and/or inexperienced people need, and a
very good starting point until they are finally able to get along with the
internet and nobody's assistance anymore.
------
kalimatas
[https://www.hacksplaining.com/](https://www.hacksplaining.com/)
~~~
Zhyl
This is on of my favourites.
* It is neatly packaged, wonderful UX and a little sweetening of humour that makes it palatable to the layman
* It gives code examples that provide a little bit more in-depth exploration for the enthusiastic or aspirational novice
* It has a nice structure such that single exploits can be shared. For example, after a client of ours was hacked via a SQL injection on their website, we were able to show them the SQL injection exercises to demystify the topic a little bit and to make it seem less intimidating
* It's a great go-to starter. When I go to schools for careers fairs, I always give this link out to kids who are interested in security work.
------
hackermailman
This is a good course
[https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~213/schedule.html](https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~213/schedule.html)
Buy the 3rd version book (used) and then try the labs as you go through the
lecture vids/chapters
[http://csapp.cs.cmu.edu/3e/labs.html](http://csapp.cs.cmu.edu/3e/labs.html)
but avoid the 'global edition' as it's filled with errata, or just know there
is mistakes.
You will learn assembly/C and also Return Oriented Programming, stack
protections and how they work, buffer overflow attacks, implicit casting
grenades, cache optimization, how the linker works, ect. Then you sign up for
that old Matasano CTF
[https://microcorruption.com/login](https://microcorruption.com/login)
When you complete it apply to NCC Group who I believe now owns
microcorruption. Start at the bottom, work your way into a policy/advisory
role somewhere else after gaining experience and applying for certs
[https://ciso.eccouncil.org/](https://ciso.eccouncil.org/) Having data science
experience is likely helpful since you can produce shiny presentations that
board rooms like to see when you become their CISO
------
trapspring
If you are a veteran or a federal employee, the Dept. of homeland security
offers free online courses in network security. The program is very networking
specific and you'd have to pay for any certification testing yourself, but the
courses will help take you a good chunk of the way in terms of prep and
learning. [https://fedvte.usalearning.gov/](https://fedvte.usalearning.gov/)
------
cschmidt
Since no one has mentioned it yet, Capture the Flag contests (CTF's) can be a
good way to get into security. They are online contests featuring a series of
security related puzzles.
They are hosted by lots of different groups at different levels. There are
CTF's aimed from high school through the DEFCON CTF. This is a directory:
[https://ctftime.org/](https://ctftime.org/)
------
urahara
I'm using Cybrary, it is a free and open source for learning cyber security:
[https://www.cybrary.it/](https://www.cybrary.it/)
------
twoquestions
One question I have along with the very good question from the OP, do larger
companies and governments actually _care_ about security, or are they more
interested in doing the proper dance and checking the right boxes to not be
held responsible when they're hacked?
It seems irrational to want to learn how to secure systems when their owners
don't care about it (and won't pay to secure them) if the risk can be
transferred to other parties. I'm sure there's a few organizations that care
if their data are stolen, but by and large it's a cost center, and treated
accordingly in my experience.
~~~
wepple
It’s a spectrum. There are companies that absolutely care with every fiber of
their being, and those that couldn’t care less.
Now that “cyber” is a thing that can lead to a CEO losing their head, most
companies are roughly in the middle somewhere. Sure, there will be a fall-guy
and finger pointing, but it’s better to at least not be completely negligent.
“If the risk can be transferred to other parties” - that’s pontentially a
business avenue OP wants to pursue. AcmeCorp can buy OPs shiny
datascienceDefender(tm) network monitor.
A lot of tech-first companies (and don’t forget, some legacy companies are
desperately trying to become these) care a massive amount about security, so
there is definitely volume of work with people who genuinely want to improve
the state.
------
brudgers
Probably the most serious route to serious cyber-security training is via a
military rating. At the state level the stakes and threats are highest.
------
lrvick
Get involved in an active community full of security professionals and learn
hands-on helping to secure open source projects.
There is no replacement for mentorship and getting your hands dirty with real
world systems.
I will now shamelessly plug the community I learned the most from:
[https://hashbang.sh](https://hashbang.sh)
------
ajr0
yes.
Data Science can be applied in many different ways, (somewhat) Recently
LightCyber was acquired by PANW [0] and I believe that if you are in data
science that may be something that tickles your itch.
if I may give advice, asking a more specific question to a search engine may
also get you ona path with additional information. 'cyber security' is a
pretty large umbrella and much of it may bore you while only a small handful
is interesting... so try to be more specific rather than say 'stuff'
[0] [https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/products/secure-the-
network...](https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/products/secure-the-
network/lightcyber-behavioral-analytics.html)
------
perlgeek
What do you want to learn? Network security? Application security? Secrets
management? Security operations?
I'm sure there are fields where data science is useful, like anomaly
detection, malware classification etc.
------
sectossaccount
Just created this account so that I could comment, and stay (reasonably)
anonymous. I'm the CTO of a reasonably well known security company, for what
it's worth - and I've been doing this for a little over two decades in a few
countries.
This first misnomer, is that there's one security thing. There are several.
The offensive security folks (penetration testers) are far different than the
advisory folks (think PCI, HIPAA). Vulnerability scanning, SOC (Security
Operations Centers), secure development, and more - it's a wide field. The
first thing to ask yourself is "what does security mean to me, and what do I
want to do with it".
Give the first part of your question, I'll assume you're interested in
software-based security (development) as opposed to infrastructure (network
security, physical security, systems security), or the offensive side.
On the other hand, if you just want to 'get into security' \- then learn a
little bit about networking, and go find a job as a 'Network Operations
Engineer' or 'Security Operations Specialist'. These are fairly low-level jobs
in the security industry, that can serve as entry points, and help you learn
about the other parts of the industry in depth, whilst getting paid.
Echoing what @santigobalsuto and others have mentioned.
1\. CS - Understand how software works, not just how to code, but how things
happen on machines. What are CPU registers? Write some assembly - nearly every
single week my staff uses assembly to test an exploit. It's one hell of a lot
easier to make a good developer a decent security professional than the other
way around - just trust me on this.
2\. Take philosophy and propositional logic courses - Good security folks are
terrific critical thinkers. They learn to understand what risk means, and how
to contextualize it for an organization. In other words the approach to risk
and tolerance is completely different for Home Depot than it is for Evernote.
3\. Learn Software Testing (not Quality Assurance). Combining this with
critical thinking means you can start to pick apart software, even networks,
from varying vantage points. If you combine this with your CS knowledge, it
can really help you understand how to attack an application, or an
organization.
4\. Build lab out of cheap, garbage hardware. For about $300-500 you can get 4
servers on Kijiji that can be used to run OpenStack and VMWare. Get a physical
switch, ideally something with a TAP port (but you can replice with VMWare
easily enough). Create VMs, play with things like Security Onion, create and
destroy networks - use traffic generators... have a great time.
5\. Read about standards - it helps to understand what NIST is for, what CVEs
are, CWEs, OVAL. Explore a few vulnerabilities (CVEs), and understand what
they are, why they matter, how they apply. Then grab a copy of Nexpose
Community Edition, and scan your lab - play around.
6\. Rebuild your lab, iterating on what you've learned above.
~~~
amorphous
Thanks for your reply. I asked above already, could you explain what to study
or what certs to get to follow the path of "advisory folks (think PCI, HIPAA)"
~~~
thephyber
Not the gp, but I also work in security (not in management).
"What are the best information security certifications?" @ Quora[1]. The
problem is that it's a massive list. Even if you pick a short list / subset of
this list, it's far too much work to get started.
Honestly, I would join/start a club at your school or in your neighborhood.
Find people with similar interests. Work together on a single certification.
Start small and target a single subset of "cybersecurity".
Honestly, I would start by trimming down the list by filtering out what you
aren't close to achieving yet. If a cert requires access to Cisco hardware or
assembly language programming skills, there is no point in working on one of
those certs first.
[1] [https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-information-
security...](https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-information-security-
certifications)
------
wepple
OP: you’ll find you got a lot of very vague, broad, range of answers. I think
it might help if you try to find a subset of security that you’re interested
in or would like to tackle.
It’s very hard these days to be a complete and effective generalist in
security, let alone be good at a range of security stuff while also being
great at data science.
I’d consider focusing on appsec for a year, get a job attacking or defending
apps for a year, and then you’ll have a basic understanding of the problem
space.
------
lvh
That’s a short question with a complicated answer. I’m traveling right now,
but you should shoot me an email and I’ll help you get started. Address in HN
profile.
------
video-host
Check out
[https://pentesterlab.com/bootcamp/](https://pentesterlab.com/bootcamp/)
------
redsec
In addition to great ressources people are sharing, Security+ and CSA+ from
CompTIA can be great certification (vendor neutral and inexpensive).
------
grajaganDev
If you are interested in web pentesting, learn to hack Webgoat and DVWA. From
there go after live sites via a bug bounty platform (I like Bugcrowd.)
It is hard to overstate the value of the chance to test (and demonstrate) your
skills against a live production site.
------
Fundlab
[https://www.edx.org/micromasters/ritx-
cybersecurity](https://www.edx.org/micromasters/ritx-cybersecurity)
------
godelmachine
Would anyone please revert a name of a book that may probably help here?
------
_spoonman
Is the OSCP certification worth it?
~~~
wepple
It depends. If you’re expecting it to land you a job, no. If you’re trying to
add to your arsenal of skills, maybe (arguably you could self teach a lot of
it and save your money). If you’re trying to get past HR in some big company
who use it’s metric, yeah sure. It also depends on what you want to do - I
gather it’s useful for netpens but useless if you want to do appsec, which is
a huge chunk of pentest work. What are your end goals?
~~~
_spoonman
No goals per se...just kind of interested in the field and would be doing it
for personal interest. I've found tons of sites that offer lab environments
and downloadable VM's that allow you to practice exploits so maybe that would
be a cheaper way to go in the beginning.
~~~
wepple
Yeah totally do that then. And get a copy of burp and hack some web stuff.
Have a crack at bug bounties to test your chops.
------
vectorEQ
low level programming / radio. try not to cry ;)
------
CodesInChaos
Start by forgetting the word _cyber_.
~~~
throwawayReply
This is bad advice.
There's a reason that cyber is used, because you need something to
disambiguate it from all the other kinds of security.
Imagine you're a policy person at the pentagon (or equivalent), if someone
talks about security then that doesn't narrow it down to all the other kinds
of security going on there.
You could use "info sec" but there are agencies who deal with a lot of
_information_ which doesn't necessarily mean this space either. They've been
dealing with information security since their inception most of which I
suspect is focused around people and not machines.
Cyber security makes it clear to those people what you're talking about.
To someone who works in SV and spends all day with developers the context is
other way around, and in that context cyber sounds asinine and if you talk
about security someone immediately knows it's security in your space.
That's my guess at why you tend to see 'info-sec' in the private space and
'cyber security' in the public space.
------
digitalzombie
> Is there any link between data science and cyber security?
There's... a company around LA area that does cyber and data science. I would
think they apply data science to logs and such to figure out abnormality.
Likewise if you count email spam detection as a cyber security thing.
For cyber security, take Network+ or just grab a Network+ book. I believe
that's where you should start first in cyber security.
|
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Ask HN: Why do companies interview using Google Docs as a coding environment? - anonymousjunior
Why do companies like Google and Asana push developers into writing "production quality" code in a non-IDE like Google Docs during tech screens?
======
carusooneliner
During coding interviews, I'm looking for the following evidence in a
candidate:
1\. how good is the candidate at problem solving?
2\. is the candidate able to think in code?
3\. are there any glaring syntax errors?
To assess the above three, a whiteboard, paper or Google Docs is sufficient.
I'm not averse to using an IDE, just that the IDE's syntax checking hints will
shift the candidate's focus to writing syntactically accurate code (#3) rather
than on the problem (#1 and #2).
~~~
diehunde
If all the interviewers were like that I'd be OK with using whatever they
want. But one time I was doing a Python exercise on a google doc and I was
missing a colon after an if statement. The guy had me for a couple of minutes
trying to find my "error" without telling me it was syntax. The algorithm was
correct.
The other problem I see is when you don't agree on something with the
interviewer. One guy made me write some fictitious SQL queries on a doc and
then asked me some questions. He was wrong about several things but we didn't
have any way to test it. I was so shocked he didn't know that stuff that I had
to tested after to see if I was actually wrong, but no.
------
smt88
I've never heard of this, and it's completely insane. It sounds like satire.
Stay away from companies that do this if you can. It indicates a deeply broken
hiring culture.
~~~
anonymousjunior
lol it's literally the initial tech screen for Google
------
gtirloni
I think we're going a little bit crazy with the complaints about the tech
interview process lately (I'm not a fan as well). Now it's the shared
scratchpad to blame as well?
It's just a shared buffer that works pretty reliably and no interviewer cares
about your typos or lack of indentation.
------
BjoernKW
So, they're basically hiring humans to mimic the features of an IDE? Right,
sounds like solid plan ...
Honestly, I have no idea why anyone would do this. What this will achieve at
best is optimising for rote learning and selecting for people who are capable
of writing syntactically perfect code unassistedly. This however is an
unrealistic scenario during daily development work because that's - among
other things - what an IDE is for.
Problem analysis, mapping requirements to code, finding solutions in a
deliberate rather than haphazard manner - these actually relevant aspects of
software development aren't assessed at all by such a 'process'.
------
sethammons
I'm part of my company's hiring guild. We are revamping the way we hire.
Someone on the HR side proposed and almost got Google Docs as part of the tech
screen and on site coding interviews. I successfully pushed back. The real
goal is collaboration or collaborative editing, and that is just the first
tool that jumps to mind. There are others. What I'm pushing for is just screen
sharing (probably with zoom or hangouts) and the candidate uses their own
computer or a loaner laptop.
------
cwt
It shows mastery of the language, one could argue. With the tools available
today it makes development a lot faster and easier. Functions have tooltips on
how to use it, you can scroll through the available functions, libraries
imported, and more. While it is unpleasant, it is an exercise that
demonstrates your independence from dev tools.
------
keithnoizu
why do they care if you have memorized all of each languages specific apis
when you can easily look them up on the fly with intellisense or similiar. My
own pet peeve since being super dyslexic despite being a solid programmer I
memorize very little just the general idea and capability of how different
constructs generally work across languages.
~~~
thisisnotatest
For what it's worth, when I do coding interviews, I really don't care if the
candidate calls the function at() or get() or find(), whatever that particular
library in that particular language actually has, as long as their usage of
the supposed function is appropriate in the language.
~~~
keithnoizu
I've transitioned away from spending too much on coding and mostly ask
stylistic open ended questions although I still do some coding when
interviewing a candidate. As a dyslexic though the current industry white
board interviewing process is a poor indicator of how I actually perform in
the real world.
------
tathagatadg
I don't know if they are ok with you taking the liberty to make some changes
to google docs.
There is an add on called Code Blocks that you can install on google docs for
free. Huge language support - but don't expect it to be a fully functional
ide.
Other than that, you'll want to turn off auto-capitalization, and spell
checking from Tools->Preferences.
------
shanemhansen
Worse is better. It's an easy place to do collaborative editing. For google
specifically, I think they leverage some google docs automation for capturing
artifacts for hiring committee in their interview workflow.
~~~
anonymousjunior
It's not though. They expect shit to run afterwards. As someone who primarily
writes Python (whitespace matters) in Vim (it's universal), having to code in
Google Docs is a horrifying experience
~~~
orangecat
_They expect shit to run afterwards._
No reasonable interviewer expects you to write perfect code on a whiteboard or
in a non-IDE editor. I'm sure there are plenty of unreasonable interviewers,
which is an indicator that you don't want to work for them.
~~~
anonymousjunior
That was my thought, but I got syntax complaints after my first tech screen
with Google. Now Asana is asking me to do the same so I'm hesitant to even
move forward.
------
sergiotapia
Never heard of this, is this an actual thing?
~~~
diehunde
Yes, happens very often.
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Show HN: Tiny-httptest – Lightweight HTTP compliant test framework - avoidwork
https://www.npmjs.com/package/tiny-httptest
======
avoidwork
Hi,
I made this module to deal with test gaps I've noticed in libs/frameworks I've
used over the last few years; specifically cookie & header capture/reuse, CORS
& etags (special header case).
It's not doing anything new, it's just making things easier. No dependencies;
should be usable in any task runner.
|
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Une percée en mathématique rend caduques des procédures de chiffrement - volent
http://www.lemonde.fr/sciences/article/2014/05/13/une-percee-en-mathematique-rend-caduques-des-procedures-de-chiffrement_4415604_1650684.html
======
AlDante2
Here is the paper:
[http://arxiv.org/abs/1306.4244](http://arxiv.org/abs/1306.4244) ("A quasi-
polynomial algorithm for discrete logarithm in finite fields of small
characteristic")
|
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It's National Handwriting Day, we have a messaging app with typed 'handwriting' - caipivida
http://www.letterme.com
======
caipivida
Hey HN! I'm one of the founders of the app^ letterme. We got hunted on Product
Hunt yesterday and wanted to see what the HN community thinks today!
You can message to friends directly in Letterme, or share Letterme messages to
other social apps; pick your poison!
------
ptrammell
Actually pretty fun if you like doodling/experimenting with your handwriting
style. Plus you can draw your own little emojis and stuff
------
crusher83
idea sounds nice. eager to play. u got my vote
|
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Google Drive Reality Check - nrbernard
http://www.symform.com/blog/google-drive-reality-check/
======
debacle
FUD
|
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Ask YC: Gap year ideas? - deltapoint
I am graduating high school early and am looking for cool ways to spend my time before college. I am looking to do some combination work/intern, travel and educational programs. What activities do you think I can get the most out of during a gap year?
======
sqs
After high school and before college, I spent half of a year in Beijing
learning Chinese and the other half in Palo Alto working at a Web startup. (It
sounds like a cliché now.) This was three years ago. I'm really glad I did
what I did, but there were many things I learned during and afterward that
would have helped me a lot. A lot of my friends who deferred college for a
year don't consider it a good choice, so it's not a given that you will enjoy
it.
My recommendations:
\- Leave home.
\- Spend only your own money. Don't ask or let your parents pay for a single
cent. If possible. (But stay on their health insurance.)
\- Make your own plans. If you're traveling, don't sign up for "packages"
offered by American (or whatever your home country is) tour companies. Get an
airline ticket on your own and correspond with local tour agencies, local
universities, etc., on your own.
\- If you have to spend your parents' money or get your plans approved by
them, then do your best to persuade them to give you as much freedom as
possible, and take as little money as you need.
\- Embrace your freedom. If you're traveling, don't overplan. Leave room to
take a trip to another city with people you meet or to abruptly decide you
want to go somewhere else or do something else.
\- If you're looking for a job, people will try to take advantage of you.
Don't underestimate the value you provide. Don't sell yourself short.
\- Asia is cheap, safe, and fun. South America, Africa, and the Middle East
aren't safe. Europe and Australia aren't cheap. And the US isn't quite as fun
(for people who grew up there like me). Those generalizations are what led me
to go to China, and I think they still hold (relatively) true.
I see from your post history that you don't program. If you're interested in
the tech (and tech business) world, which I think you are, then you will be
missing out on 99% of it unless you learn to program. I would recommend you
figure out what environment would be most conducive to you learning to
program, and then put yourself in that environment for the next 10 months.
It's that important. Then travel or something for the next two months.
My email is in my profile.
------
pedalpete
You didn't mention where you are from, you might be able to mix a few of these
things together. If you're from the US, how about work/intern at a start-up
(assuming you're into that since you're on HN) in Europe or Asia?
There are 'working holiday visas' which will allow you to work while you are
traveling in certain countries.
------
lionhearted
Start off by looking into where your future college will matriculate credit
from. If you're going to school, you absolutely don't want to waste any more
time/money than necessary in your general requirements. Most 100/200 level
classes in university don't offer you much intellectual bang for your buck. If
you could do one semester of community college and one summer term for $5,000
total and knock out 3-4 semesters of high priced boredom inducing garbage
general requirement classes, you've got to look into it.
Travel's good and builds the hell out of your wisdom and character. You'll get
lots of great business ideas from traveling too. There's two schools of
thought: Spend less time (4 days to a week) in a bunch of countries to see
which you like and see the major attractions, or spend more time in one or two
places going for immersion to really deeply learn about the place. I've done
both - I "quick travel" through parts of the world that I'm not sure if I'll
like (rapidly did most of Europe), and went for more immersion in China and
Spain. Japan I passed through on the way to China and fell in love with it,
and have been back a number of times.
If you travel, I'd say think about picking up some skills instead of just
doing tourist stuff. Tourist stuff gets boring. Learning another language, a
martial art, or some kind of craft that's big locally could be great times.
Working is good, and I know internships aren't such a popular idea on HN, but
I interned at my local statehouse for a while between semesters at university
and it was blast. Seeing how government really runs to some extent was pretty
eye-opening. (It's even more corrupt than you'd expect, but everyone's really
nice and friendly)
What I'd recommend against: Staying in your home area without a really filled
schedule. Because all of your free time is likely to be sunk into whatever you
currently do to waste time (so... maybe XBox and Hacker News? Just guessin').
No matter how much you tell yourself you'll read a ton of books, plant trees,
go jogging 10 miles a day - you probably won't if you stay on your home turf.
You're likely to read more books, jog more, and plant more trees in foreign
countries, at least in my experience. If you do decide to stick around
wherever you're at, I'd say almost overschedule yourself - some of the most
fun I ever had (in retrospect) was when I was running a company full time out
of Boston, building a startup in NYC, taking full time courses in project
management, and sometimes traveling for work on the weekends to other cities
in North America. Maybe 100 hours of my life were booked from the start of the
week, but I still had plenty of free time.
For whatever reason, being busy always seemed to mean I had more free time:
Anyone I wanted to see would always work hard to schedule me into the limited
time I had available because I was so scarce, I was never bored, and I
realized how precious my own time was so I did plenty of gym-going and reading
too. Great times.
------
chris_l
WWOOFing
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Technology’s Role Changes Comic Books - pseudolus
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/13/arts/comic-books-computers-dc-marvel.html
======
egypturnash
I do comics with a process _radically_ different from the assembly line the
superhero factories use. Their pipeline is script>pencils>inks>colors>letters,
often done by different people at every stage; mine is
script>pencils>letters>colors, all in Illustrator by me except for the script,
which is largely written by my creative partner. By freeing myself from the
need to look like What Superhero Comics Always Look Like, I’ve dropped an
_entire phase of the process_.
I’m not producing work anywhere near as fast, in part because I’m a slacker
compared to the work schedules most people working in superhero mills take on.
I also spend more time per page because I’m doing it almost all myself. I
_think_ I’m spending less time per page on my three visual stages than the
total time of 2-4 people doing four separate visual stages. But working
entirely in Illustrator and leaning on some of its more esoteric capabilities
lets me produce work where every panel is a gorgeous little painting, with
surprisingly high speed. Full control over the whole process is a nice bonus,
it’s very definitely _my_ art as opposed to the work of a team.
([http://egypt.urnash.com](http://egypt.urnash.com) if you are curious,
Parallax is the fully painted project, Decrypting Rita is much more visually
constrained and done before I figured out a lot of the techniques I'm using on
Parallax.)
------
open-source-ux
For a time, the Wacom Cintiq was the only serious contender for drawing direct
on screen with a stylus. But there are now affordable alternative brands (XP-
Pen, Artisul, Huion, Parblo) that offer decent performance. Wacom is still
regarded as the high-quality, premium choice but there's at least competition
in the market where little existed before.
Additionally, the iPad Pro + Apple Pen + Procreate (drawing and painting app)
has quickly become extremely popular among digital artists.
As for digital comics, it's worth checking out this fascinating experiment in
trying to making comics more than just static pictures:
_" Protanopia is a digital comic for iPad and iPhone. Created as an
experiment into the possibilities of digital comics. Using elements from 3D
and 2D animation in a realtime game engine, it creates an unique visual style,
whilst still having a familiar feeling."_
[http://andrebergs.com/protanopia/](http://andrebergs.com/protanopia/)
~~~
Hoasi
> As for digital comics, it's worth checking out this fascinating experiment
> in trying to making comics more than just static pictures: "Protanopia is a
> digital comic for iPad and iPhone. (...)
Very nice.
Also check _Bottom of the Ninth_ , by Ryan Woodward if you are interested in
creative use of the digital medium.
[http://ryanwoodwardart.com/my-works/bottom-of-the-
ninth/](http://ryanwoodwardart.com/my-works/bottom-of-the-ninth/)
------
neonate
[http://archive.is/k2ZpX](http://archive.is/k2ZpX)
------
kashyapc
Speaking of Comics Books ... this morning I began the excellent treatise on
Comics as a medium (some of you surely would know this): _Understanding
Comics_ [1] by Scott McCloud.
The book itself is written in a comic book form, with black and white art.
Thoroughly enjoying the "visual literacy" and the "mechanics of storytelling"
by McCloud; a fine explainer.
(Looks like this is the book I needed to give me the push to try the World of
Comics.)
[1] [https://www.harpercollins.com/9780060976255/understanding-
co...](https://www.harpercollins.com/9780060976255/understanding-comics/)
~~~
carapace
I second this. "Understanding Comics" is actually about how the human mind
works subjectively. It's mindblowing about every five pages or so. Scott
McCloud is a genius.
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Microsoft shows off its 'Centaurus' dual-screen laptop ahead of Apple's WWDC - RmDen
https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-shows-off-its-centaurus-dual-screen-laptop-ahead-of-apples-wwdc/
======
smush
I really loved the Courier idea; even if all it was going to be was a voice-
enabled two-screen OneNote w/ UI refresh I was going to get one.
As it stands, I dare not hope for this to actually become a shipping product
given Microsoft's past history of hyping up cool ideas on hardware (Courier)
and software (WinFS) that often don't quite get to the market.
|
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BuckleScript: write JavaScript faster, safer and smaller - _qc3o
https://bloomberg.github.io/bucklescript/
======
virtualwhys
From Why BuckleScript[1]
_Large JS output even for a simple program_
"In BuckleScript, a Hello world program generates 20 bytes JS code instead of
50K bytes. This is due to the fact that ... all BuckleScript’s runtime is
written in OCaml itself so that these runtime libraries are only needed when
user actually call it."
What happens when you go beyond Hello World though? Surely there's some
overhead vs. plain JS. For example, Hello World in Scala.js is tiny, but once
you touch, say, the Scala collections library, then file size increases
significantly. In the end, once you go beyond trivial applications, there's a
150KB baseline tax to pay for using the full power of Scala in the browser.
If BuckleScript provides an OCaml-like language with file sizes comparable to
plain JS that is both compelling and impressive.
[1]
[http://bloomberg.github.io/bucklescript/Manual.html#_problem...](http://bloomberg.github.io/bucklescript/Manual.html#_problems_of_javascript_how_bucklescript_solves_it)
~~~
hongbo_zhang
Unlike scalajs, bucklescript maps one OCaml module to one Js module, it is
like coffecscript/typescript compilation model, there is no tax on the code
size. You can write very clean code, here is an example of avl tree in ocaml
compiled into JS([http://bloomberg.github.io/bucklescript/js-
demo/#Balanced_tr...](http://bloomberg.github.io/bucklescript/js-
demo/#Balanced_tree))
~~~
sjrd
I like that BuckleScript has chosen the module-by-module design, if only to
explore more design space than what was previously done in Scala.js and
ClojureScript.
I do not think this is what makes the 150 KB tax of Scala.js, though. The dead
code elimination of Scala.js is really good, plus we combine it with Closure
as well. But it faces a very difficult challenge: the entanglement of the
Scala standard library. The collection library was designed when the JVM was
the only target, and decoupling within the collections library was definitely
not in the requirement set. This is why, once you touch the Scala collections
library in Scala.js, you receive 150 KB worth of (non-gzipped) code. There is
currently a large-scale effort to redesign the collections library for Scala
2.13 [1], with, among others, a desire to reduce inter-dependencies (while
keeping most of user-level compatibility). This should hopefully significantly
improve the situation of Scala.js regarding code size for smallish
applications, as you will only pay for the collections you actually use; not
the entire set of collections once you require one of them.
[1] [https://github.com/scala/collection-
strawman](https://github.com/scala/collection-strawman)
~~~
paulddraper
.NET was (past tense) also a target of Scala. Also didn't work out.
Java is the greatest and worst part of Scala.
Without Java, the language would be far, far less popular than Haskell. With
Java, it has a lot of forced compatibilities, e.g. null.
~~~
sjrd
> Also didn't work out.
Are you implying that Scala.js didn't work out? That would be denying the huge
success it has within the Scala community. It is notably supported by most
major Scala libraries. To back this by data, it appears 5th in a ranking of
Maven artifacts based on the number of artifacts depending on it [1]. Above it
are Scala itself, Specs2, Akka and scoverage.
Scala/.NET didn't work out because we never managed to reconcile the type
system of Scala with that of the CLR. For JavaScript, we _did_ manage that,
and pretty easily: it's much easier to erase all types than converting from an
advanced type system to another advanced type system.
[1] [https://scaladex.scala-
lang.org/search?q=&page=1&sort=depend...](https://scaladex.scala-
lang.org/search?q=&page=1&sort=dependentCount)
~~~
paulddraper
> Are you implying that Scala.js didn't work out?
Er, definitely not. Bad mis-statement on my part. Should have said "also had
challenges." And you're correct about type erasure.
Scala/Scala.js/SBT are my tools of choice for web apps.
I gave a talk "Scale your code with Scala.js" at Fluent last year
[https://conferences.oreilly.com/fluent/fl-
ca-2016/public/sch...](https://conferences.oreilly.com/fluent/fl-
ca-2016/public/schedule/detail/46780)
~~~
sjrd
Cool!
I had completely misunderstood your earlier comment ;)
------
yawaramin
I wrote up a non-technical post about my experience with BuckleScript
[http://yawar.blogspot.ca/2017/01/bucklescript-significant-
ne...](http://yawar.blogspot.ca/2017/01/bucklescript-significant-new-ocaml-
to.html)
------
bootload
_" BuckleScript is one of the very few compilers which compiles an existing
typed language to readable JavaScript."_
Elm (type inference) is sort of. While there is a lot of OS type projects
used, having bloomberg use it is a plus. Interesting that FB have build system
^Reason^ (build system) doing something similar (OCaml backend->JS) ~
[http://facebook.github.io/reason/](http://facebook.github.io/reason/)
~~~
yawaramin
Reason is an alternative, JavaScript-like, syntax for the OCaml language. Same
language, different syntax! It's crazy cool. BuckleScript is an OCaml -> ES5
compiler, so it actually compiles Reason to ES5 just fine.
Bloomberg and Facebook are two big users of BuckleScript. FB have a couple of
folks writing significant stuff in Reason, compiling with BuckleScript, and
deploying to user-facing web properties.
~~~
k__
What is the difference between reason and bucklescript?
~~~
phpnode
Reason is a language, bucklescript is an alternative backend for ocaml which
generates JavaScript. You write reason, you don't write bucklescript
~~~
k__
okay, then what's the difference between ocaml and reason? :)
~~~
phpnode
Reason is a js like syntax for ocaml, semantically they're identical. Similar
to coffeescript and JavaScript, except ocaml has really good support for this
kind of stuff
~~~
nerdponx
So what you're saying is I could write a JavaScript-esque program and compile
it to OCaml using Reason, and then compile it to true JavaScript using
Bucklescript?
~~~
phpnode
Yes exactly, although you can avoid the middle step and go straight from
reason to js because of the way bucklescript plugs into the ocaml compiler
~~~
e12e
Why would one prefer reason to ocaml? (Honest question)
~~~
phpnode
It is much more like JavaScript than ocaml and so you get a familiar language
but one which benefits from all the cool things that ocaml can do.
~~~
k__
Another n00b question: What are "all the cool things that ocaml can do"?
I only saw rather simple typing examples, which didn't seem much different
from what TypeScript can do.
On the other hand I read often that ocaml doesn't have runtime errors, which I
certainly get with TypeScript.
~~~
yawaramin
This is a good overview I think, although it doesn't get into specifics:
[https://realworldocaml.org/v1/en/html/prologue.html#why-
ocam...](https://realworldocaml.org/v1/en/html/prologue.html#why-ocaml)
Of course the rest of the book is a great read too if you're so inclined.
------
djsumdog
This looks pretty interesting. It makes me want to learn OCaml. :-P
I've been using Coffeescript in projects for about two years. I know people
have raised issues with it vs ES6, but I still really like Coffeescript. I
feels more natural with my Scala/Ruby background and it outputs into
Javascript in ways that (mostly) make sense and are predictable.
~~~
aikah
> This looks pretty interesting. It makes me want to learn OCaml. :-P
You can learn F# with dotnet core, which has a better ecosystem for web
development. OCaml is quite poor in that domain.
~~~
KurtMueller
Are you speaking from experience? If so, do you have any or know of any
resources I could look at? Also, what type of backend are you using with F#
and dotnet core?
~~~
ZenoArrow
If you want the BuckleScript equivalent for F#, that would be Fable.
[https://github.com/fable-
compiler/Fable/blob/master/README.m...](https://github.com/fable-
compiler/Fable/blob/master/README.md)
There's a newer branch called Fable Arch which I believe is focused on
promoting the Elm Architecture for structuring web apps:
[https://github.com/fable-compiler/fable-arch](https://github.com/fable-
compiler/fable-arch)
FunScript is another alternative:
[http://funscript.info/](http://funscript.info/)
~~~
elbear
Elm Architecture for F# is Elmish: [https://github.com/fable-compiler/fable-
elmish](https://github.com/fable-compiler/fable-elmish)
------
willtim
I found a page explaining the differences between bucklescript and js_of_ocaml
:
[https://github.com/bloomberg/bucklescript/wiki/Differences-f...](https://github.com/bloomberg/bucklescript/wiki/Differences-
from-js_of_ocaml)
------
jxm262
Built in npm support is huge for me. I use Scalajs full time and one of my
biggest issues is having to use SBT and webjars. I also end up using some
mashup of npm modules as well later on in the build which complicates it even
more. Plus the speed of the compiler becomes a massive issue, especially
during unit tests.
By turning it into a more readable Js, I wonder if the debugger would play
more nicely too. I've noticed in Scalajs the debugger randomly misses
breakpoints or moves to the wrong line sometimes. Anyway not a rant on
Scalajs, I do like it but there's definitely some bottlenecks for me.
~~~
sjrd
npm support is now available through [https://scalacenter.github.io/scalajs-
bundler/](https://scalacenter.github.io/scalajs-bundler/)
I agree with your analysis on breakpoints and step-by-step in Scala.js.
Usually it's a good idea to disable the Scala.js optimizer if you're doing
that, using:
scalaJSOptimizerOptions ~= { _.withDisableOptimizer(true) }
But it's still not 100% perfect. I am toying with the idea that we should have
a mode of the optimizer that tries to optimize for debuggability with step-by-
step and breakpoints. This would try to arrange the generated source in closer
relation with the source code (like, 1 line = 1 line). All of this is trying
to work around limitations of source maps, and also of browsers' support for
source maps. It would be so much easier if source maps were a little bit more
powerful in what they can express (e.g., indicating what a "step" should be in
the code).
~~~
jxm262
This bundler looks awesome sjrd, will give it a try soon. My other option I
was going to suggest to other is to take a look at the sbt-web project. But
keeping things compatible and seamless with npm I think is important since
it's ubiquitous with front end devs
------
david-given
This looks really interesting. Does this implement the entire OCaml language?
I found a section of the docs marked 'semantic differences', but it seems...
suspiciously small...
This would allow me to write GWT-style client/server apps where both ends are
written in the same language with a set of common library code compiled for
both, right? What's the library support like? Don't suppose there's any ELM-
style DOM diffing support, is there?
~~~
hongbo_zhang
Yes, we implement the whole language, except a very few places that is hard to
due to the limitation of JS runtime.
Exactly, client side/ server side in a single language. People are working on
porting the Elm architecture to BuckleScript, they will be coming soon
------
grandalf
I think BuckleScript is going to blow up one of these days and become hugely
popular.
~~~
fspeech
I am waiting for the next Windows release that would allow one to use the bash
subsystem from native programs so I can use Reason/BuckleScript with Vscode.
OCaml/Windows integration isn't the greatest.
~~~
yawaramin
BuckleScript itself works fine on Windows. Installs in an npm project with
`npm install bs-platform` and good to go from there. Try it out.
~~~
fspeech
I can run BuckleScript under Windows/Bash. However as I understand it one
needs things like merlin working to get a decent IDE experience.
~~~
bobbbi
There's an OCaml VSCode extension powered by merlin.
[https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=hackwaly...](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=hackwaly.ocaml)
------
progx
Learn a language to program another language. Find the issue. (I did not say
that BuckleScript is bad, i have only a problem with all kind of these tools)
~~~
yakshaving_jgt
How is there an issue at all? Most languages people use compile down to
something else. You don't need to know assembly to write Ruby.
~~~
innocentoldguy
I cannot speak for the parent, but the difference for me is this: Matz wrote
Ruby, for instance, because he felt that Perl lacked some
features/capabilities that he wanted. This is good, and from this perspective,
I have no complaints. Now, if Matz wrote Ruby to compile down to Perl, then it
becomes an issue. At that point, Ruby wouldn't really be a new language, but
just a Bandaid to hide the weaknesses and blemishes of Perl, for instance.
Fundamentally, I would still be writing Perl, and that, for me, is where it
becomes an issue, because I really haven't solved anything. I've just
disguised it.
My opinion on the matter is that Javascript sucks. We all know it sucks too,
which is why things like Elm, CoffeeScript, ClojureScript, TypeScript,
BuckleScript, Scala.js, etc. exist. We want to fix Javascript because we
understand that it sucks; therefore, we tend to embrace these various attempts
to make it less stupid. The solution to the problem, in my mind, isn't yet
another Javascript transpiler though, but rather native support for superior
languages.
I'd like to see an API built into browsers to make them language agnostic. I
think that would go a long way towards making web programming less lame. It
may also give us a chance to clean up the DOM.
~~~
eru
Our bearded forefathers wrote C because assembly had some issues. They still
compile to assembly.
Haskell compiled to C for the longest time (and quite a few other compilers
use that trick). That didn't make Haskell a bandaid around C, did it?
------
hazza1
BuckleScript looks great but I've never found any project using it - maybe
Reason will be the tooling to make it mainstream?
~~~
bobbbi
Projects in Bucklescript do exist, here's one that shows how easy it is to
integrate with JS -
[https://github.com/paulhoughton/montecarlo/](https://github.com/paulhoughton/montecarlo/)
Or lots of examples here - [https://github.com/OvermindDL1/bucklescript-
testing](https://github.com/OvermindDL1/bucklescript-testing)
------
coot_
[http://www.purescript.org](http://www.purescript.org) \- PureScript a small
Haskell like programming language compiled to JavaScript (and C++)
------
buzzybee
Ooh, I wonder this could lead to the Haxe compiler running in JS.
------
vorotato
For those who need babel source maps there's Fable, it uses F# and Babel to
generate javascript, OCaml and F# are remarkably similar.
------
dochtman
Well, Rust can compile to asm.js or wasm, too.
Might still be rough around the edges, but it will improve soon enough.
~~~
chrismorgan
Rust compilation is slow, and the compilation target opaque.
BuckleScript is fast, and compiles to readable JavaScript.
Please don’t just go spouting that Rust is the answer to everything; it’s not.
It’s also not always relevant in a discussion.
(I say this as someone who is lauding Rust at every turn and who has been
using it seriously for years and who is looking forward to a solid wasm target
and ecosystem.)
~~~
dochtman
Sorry, my post maybe came off as more negative than I intended, but the
downvotes seem a bit harsh.
To me, in the WebASM world, transpiling to JavaScript is starting to seem a
little old-fashioned. Readable JavaScript is not as important as long as we
have source maps, which WebASM was designed to take into account. Presumably
Rust (or Ocaml) compiled to WebASM will also have substantially improved
performance compared to transpiled JavaScript, which IMO is worth the longer
compile cycles.
I think Rust is relevant because Ocaml and Rust share a lot of heritage
(indeed, I think Ocaml was one of the most influential languages in the Rust
design), so I think that makes it relevant in this discussion.
~~~
sjrd
The problem with wasm right now is that it gives you very little in terms of
interoperability with JavaScript. You simply cannot manipulate JS objects
(including DOM objects) from wasm.
Compiling a language like BuckleScript to wasm is therefore not possible at
the moment, simply because the interop features of BuckleScript cannot be
encoded in wasm.
Besides, there are other difficulties: wasm doesn't have any kind of managed
heap at the moment, which means that compiling a managed language to wasm
requires to embed an entire GC in your production code! It's much better to
take advantage of all the VM features offered to JS, like a GC, when compiling
a managed language to the Web platform.
------
1_listerine_pls
Advantages?
------
sheerun
Could somebody compile Flow to JavaScript?
~~~
phpnode
The flow parser is already available in js, it doesn't seem impossible to
bring the rest of it to the browser but I'm not aware of anyone working on it
|
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You Can't Name a File Con in Windows [video] - abhisuri97
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC6tngl0PTI
======
maxbaines
Confirmed this still exists in W10 bit of web search and found there resrve
from DOS days, others are AUX, NUL, COM1-COM9, PRN, LPT1-LPT9.
[https://answers.microsoft.com/en-
us/windows/forum/all/file-n...](https://answers.microsoft.com/en-
us/windows/forum/all/file-name-as-con-cannot-be-created-on-desktop-
can/c41e136a-56ac-4385-b119-3773cdee7a9c)
|
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The four categories of NoSQL databases - wspruijt
http://rebelic.nl/engineering/the-four-categories-of-nosql-databases/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=twitter-publisher-main&utm_campaign=twitter
======
michh
Imho this article is too much of an oversimplification. It's forcing artifical
labels on some things that don't really fit very well.
It's fairly useless if you've already heard about most of these and it's a
false start if you haven't.
If you do want such a list, a much more accurate and complete one is at
<http://nosql.mypopescu.com/kb/nosql>
~~~
antirez
You could be surprised about the efforts many folks do to try to put the
different DB solutions into some kind of schema. The reason for this is mostly
opaque for me...
~~~
_delirium
It can be useful to have a sort of map of the landscape if you're looking
around. Sort of how in PLs, it's nice to be able to have a categorization
better than "there are thousands of programming languages". Coming up with a
_good_ map is hard, though, and any categorization does tend to emphasize some
factors and gloss over others...
------
strlen
Categorizing the stores by their data model is misleading. Tokyo Tyrant and
Voldemort are very different: later is a multi-master, partitioned,
distributed system; former is a network attached database. In fact, one could
easily use Tokyo Cabinet as the persistence engine in Voldemort in place of
BerkeleyDB.
A far better classification should be done along the lines of the distribution
models and handling of failures. Do they use consistent hashing or range based
partitioned? Under failure, is consistency or availability given up? Are there
barriers to nodes rejoining after recovering from a failure? Is there an
ordered, distributed commit log, etc...
It's much harder to change the distribution model than it is change the query
model. Riak, HBase and Voldemort also have support for running custom code
against which queries may be made. On the other hand, adding a totally ordered
commit log (via serializing through a floating master or using consensus) to
Voldemort or Riak, or adding multi-master (in the sense of multiple region
servers taking reads and writes for the same partition) support to HBase is
going to be far more difficult.
Creating a "grand classification scheme" that ignores the most important
aspect suggests a dilettante approach (not saying the author is a dilettante,
but it's a much more complex topic which requires more than dabbling).
------
btilly
I'm puzzled by their describing Riak as a column oriented database. It is a
key/value store. Perhaps they are thinking of the highly beta Riak Search?
<http://wiki.basho.com/Riak-Search.html>
~~~
Fluxx
Key/value store or _maybe_ a document database. But it certainly has nothing
to do with being column oriented.
~~~
sjs
Basho themselves have complained about being called a document DB. Probably
because you can store absolutely anything in Riak. Regardless of the reason I
think we can safely call it a KV store and be done with it.
edit: And by Basho themselves I don't mean some official statement, I just
mean people who work for Basho.
------
simonw
Describing Redis as just another key value store kind of misses the point.
~~~
kennu
I agree. Anybody interested in Redis should get to know its hash tables,
lists, sets, sorted sets, etc. It's sometimes amazing how many problems Redis
can solve out-of-the-box, just because it provides these common data
structures as a persistent service.
~~~
est
redis is key-structured-value db
------
spenrose
I believe his description of document-based databases is mistaken WRT
versioning: it's a central concept for couchdb, but not for mongodb.
------
arkitaip
It would be great if there was a very basic web site that could guide you to
the most suitable storage solution based on the problem you are working on.
Sorta like a guide or wizard.
I think it's a shame that the movement is called NoSQL because it sorta
creates this false dichotomy that the field of web data storage is divided in
two camps. In reality, you need to, as always, pick the right solution for the
problem you are facing. NoSQL databases will never entirely replace SQL
databases and I think it's important to not shoehorn NoSQL in places where it
doesn't really belong.
~~~
andrewl
Philip Greenspun has a short article on the subject at:
[http://philip.greenspun.com/teaching/three-day-
rdbms/beyond-...](http://philip.greenspun.com/teaching/three-day-rdbms/beyond-
the-rdbms)
And there's a discussion about the article on his blog:
[http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2011/01/13/rdbms-
versus-n...](http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2011/01/13/rdbms-versus-nosql-
article-drafted/)
------
russell
The article is a summary of this:
[http://blog.monitis.com/index.php/2011/05/22/picking-the-
rig...](http://blog.monitis.com/index.php/2011/05/22/picking-the-right-nosql-
database-tool/)
The review of Cassandra: [http://blog.monitis.com/index.php/2011/05/24/nosql-
databases...](http://blog.monitis.com/index.php/2011/05/24/nosql-databases-a-
look-at-apache-cassandra/)
------
baddox
What about non-relational object databases?
------
est
how about EAV, OOdbms, functional and deductive db?
|
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He got to name two moons of jupiter - rungekuttarob
https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/cvseur/i_got_to_name_two_moons_of_jupiter_this_is_amazing/
======
vectorEQ
they could of been named after halfgods offspring of jupiter and his
mistresses :D then the moons would be the kids of jupiter :D
google says this: Jupiter Consort Juno Children Mars, Vulcan, Bellona,
Juventas Parents Saturn and Ops Siblings Roman tradition: Juno, Ceres, Vesta
Greco-Roman: Pluto and Neptune
pehraps they were taken already for some other celestial bodies. idk too much
about that.
super cool for the dude though that his names got picked :D must be feeling
like a champ :D
~~~
rungekuttarob
That actually would have been cool. Not sure if they were taken. He has a
video where he explains more about it and the background to the names he
picked.
|
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Show HN: Lsvine: `tree -L 2` with less empty screen space - shadiakiki
https://github.com/autofitcloud/lsvine
======
brudgers
It's a nice piece of work. I like it. Tree's output is probably easier for me
to reason about when I'm handling it programmatically. There's a recursive
structure.
------
eps
Interesting stuff. How does it handle running out of screen width?
~~~
shadiakiki
A running total of maximum filename lengths per directory (i.e. column in
display) triggers a flush-to-screen of the directories in buffer every time it
hits a multiple of the terminal width.
|
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Herbalife shares slide: Bill Ackman calls it a pyramid scheme - kunle
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/herbalife-shares-slide-on-allegations-by-hedge-fund-manager-william-ackman-of-pyramid-scheme/2012/12/20/c29244c4-4ad7-11e2-8758-b64a2997a921_story.html
======
lutusp
> Herbalife shares slide: Bill Ackman calls it a pyramid scheme
Translation: "Bill Ackman calls it a pyramid scheme, then Herbalife shares
slide."
Not taking a position on the truth of the claim, only on the sequence of
events.
|
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64bit ARMv8-A Cortex-A53 on Raspberry Pi 3 -confirmation - wolfgke
https://www.dropbox.com/s/66u2mvkuqnkec40/0900766b814ba692.pdf?dl=0
======
wolfgke
Source:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/48629c/64bit_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/48629c/64bit_armv8a_cortexa53_on_raspberry_pi_3/)
See also
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/qk9u3s37ncxut32/0900766b814ba5fd.p...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/qk9u3s37ncxut32/0900766b814ba5fd.pdf?dl=0)
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Deep - knappster
http://jeffrock.com/deep.html
======
FailMore
Great post. A theory that makes sense & I have not heard.
|
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Casimir Effect - infinitebattery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_effect
======
readerrrr
My favorite (im)plausible thruster using this effect.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_vacuum_plasma_thruster](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_vacuum_plasma_thruster)
~~~
zackmorris
Ya sounds like the NASA EmDrive (possible) verification from a couple days
ago:
[http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-07/31/nasa-
validate...](http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-07/31/nasa-validates-
impossible-space-drive)
I heard about this independently from JLN Labs and other replication groups,
doing lifter experiments with asymmetric electric fields in near-vacuum:
[http://jlnlabs.online.fr](http://jlnlabs.online.fr)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G359-G4SZlE&list=FLBsZga0Y-s...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G359-G4SZlE&list=FLBsZga0Y-s2-p8HVZput4VQ)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGN65lse5yE&index=5&list=FLB...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGN65lse5yE&index=5&list=FLBsZga0Y-s2-p8HVZput4VQ)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QuHgzrPuGk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QuHgzrPuGk)
Running in the atmosphere, the electric field created between a small
conductor like a wire or point charge and the larger foil is asymmetric,
meaning that the field strength on the surface of the wire is stronger than
the electric field holding the electrons to the atoms of the gas molecules.
The molecules become ionized and get accelerated by the electric field to the
large conductor. This would ordinarily cause no net force, because the action
and reaction of the molecules bouncing off the large conductor are exactly
balanced. However, the molecules drag on the order of 100 other molecules in
the air along with them, creating a frictional force against the air and
propelling the craft forward. The most efficient lifter uses pulsed DC and is
about on par with a helicopter:
[http://jnaudin.free.fr/html/lftphv.htm](http://jnaudin.free.fr/html/lftphv.htm)
However for near-vacuum, the electric field would have to be strong enough to
separate virtual pairs, which would then be sent in opposite directions. There
would probably be no interaction with other virtual pairs, so there should be
no frictional force and no propulsion:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_polarization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_polarization)
My best guess is that if they aren’t running the experiments inside Helmholtz
Coils, then they are actually creating a homopolar motor that interacts with
Earth’s magnetic field by way of the Lorentz force, or possibly resonances set
up in the surrounding metal that create small magnetic fields:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmholtz_coil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmholtz_coil)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homopolar_motor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homopolar_motor)
The big question is, if one of these drives eventually does work, then why is
the force stronger than light pressure? I just mean that it’s straightforward
to build an accelerator that creates photons with high enough energy that they
oscillate between waves and say electrons/positrons, then separate the pairs
and fire them out the back like an ion drive. But the momentum delivered by
the energy to do that that should be less than or equal to light pressure.
I suppose if a way can be found to pull virtual pairs from the vacuum that
takes less energy than splitting photons, then a Q-thruster might work. It
would work by creating mass at one location, propelling the engine against it,
and returning the borrowed mass to the vacuum.
I know there’s a lot about quantum mechanics that I don’t understand, and
there’s probably a specific reason this won’t work (probably because virtual
pairs are created randomly and can’t be coerced into existence?) so if anyone
knows, please explain. I’ve tried to write this as scientifically as I can
because I dislike psuedoscience.
|
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Why does CT corp charge startups $213.74 annually? - prbuckley
This is the company that YC recommends their companies use to incorporate in the state of delaware. I can't figure out what they do exactly but they send us a bill for $213.74 every year threatening that if we don't pay it this "may impact the company's authorization to do business. Please consider the legal consequences of CT's discontinuance."
If there are 40 YC companies a year and these guys make ~$200 off each one, they are getting $8000 from the pockets of YC companies for doing nothing! Can someone please tell me why we should have to pay these jokers?
======
bhousel
They are a registered agent. I've seen other Delaware registered agents
perform the same fee for $50/year.
~~~
prbuckley
Thanks bhousel, do you have any names of other companies? Is it easy to
transfer?
~~~
bhousel
Sure, you can just Google for "Delaware registered agent". The first page of
results returns plenty that seem to offer their services for $50-$100/year.
Many will even do the transfer paperwork for you.
The transfer process basically the same as changing your corporate address. I
believe that many registered agents don't do much other than accept mail and
legal service.
|
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Achilles Heel of OAuth or Why Facebook Adds #_=_ - homakov
http://homakov.blogspot.com/2013/03/redirecturi-is-achilles-heel-of-oauth.html?m=1
======
gdeglin
The OAuth Spec actually does address white listing redirect_uri's. This threat
is discussed in section 4.1.5 of the OAuth 2.0 spec here:
[http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-
oauth-v2-threatmodel-0...](http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-
oauth-v2-threatmodel-08#section-4.1.5)
Oddly, Facebook has chosen not to follow this recommendation. So any websites
that integrate Facebook OAuth must ensure that they contain no open-redirects
or they can be hacked in this way. This is worrisome because open-redirects
would not otherwise be considered much of a security problem.
~~~
arice
Hopefully not too oddly: Facebook was one of the first OAuth 2.0
implementations and the additional benefits of requiring stricter pre-
registration was not initially apparent. An unfortunate oversight. For kicks:
compare section 5.2.3.5 v00 with v01
Changing the implementation at this point is a daunting task (for both
Facebook and our developers) but we do hope to offer it as part of a future
migration.
~~~
gdeglin
Interesting. I didn't know that detail but it explains a lot. Hopefully it
won't be too long until you address this!
------
mardiros
I am sorry but I still miss something.
And, I read the OAUth2 spec again <http://tools.ietf.org/pdf/draft-ietf-
oauth-v2-26.pdf>
* Why is there an access_token in a browser url ? (query string or fragment)
The access_token is provided by the Authorization Server to the client, and
not to the user.
The user should only received an authorization_code. And, to get an
access_token, the client must have an authorization_code and know the
"client_secret".
access_token should never been seen on a browser, right ?
Does Facebook really respect the protocol? in other word, is it a facebook
problem or an OAuth problem ?
~~~
homakov
you just raised another problem haha. response_type.
it's also flexible. Even if app 99.99% of time uses response_type=code someday
hacker comes and usues token on hacked redirect_uri.
simply speaking response_type is also should be static and constant. But,
gosh, let's fix first-world-problem first
~~~
mardiros
It's exactly what I missed.
Thanks!
------
bjourne
To me it seem hyperbolic to call it the "Achilles heel of OAuth [2.0]." Other
oauth providers than Facebook are smart enough to make the redirect_uri
constant. Then the attack surface is reduced from the whole of mydomain.com to
mydomain.com/whatever-redirect_uri-is. For those, the attack needs to be
sophisticated enough to interfere with that specific url. But if the client
site is owned that hard, it's lost anyway.
~~~
homakov
client credentials threat is OAuth1 too.
~~~
bjourne
Right, but other oauth2 providers than facebook aren't vulnerable to the
redirect_uri hack you are describing, are they?
~~~
homakov
not sure, i didn't check all of them
also facebook is 90% of oauth
------
tlogan
I'm not sure if I understand this problem or security hole here. When I write
some OAuth application I need to register my redirect_url. So how somebody can
steal access token / code?
~~~
icambron
If I understood, it works like this:
1\. You register foo.com as your redirect with FB. Your oauth endpoint is
actually foo.com/fbauth, but Facebook is OK with just the domain.
2\. Somewhere else on your site, you allow open redirects, like maybe a user
can create a link that you proxy with a redirect for click-tracking purposes,
like foo.com/links?url=evil.com
3\. An attacker makes an oauth query to Facebook with the redirect URL hacked
so that it points at foo.com/links?url=evil.com
4\. FB dutifully sends your user to the hacked URL, which redirects to
evil.com with all of its hashy stuff in place.
5\. Javascript on evil.com reads the hash and uploads it
It's not clear--and I'm too lazy to test--whether FB will restrict the forward
to foo.com/fbauth if you're explicit about it when configuring your app. But
certainly the wording on the developer console just asks for your site URL,
and even though I'm pretty familiar with oauth, I have never bothered to do
more than that. Google, on the other hand, forces you to.
~~~
tlogan
Thanks for explanation. May I ask how the attacker can make "an oauth query to
Facebook with the redirect URL hacked so that it points at
foo.com/links?url=evil.com"? Are you saying that attacker somehow convinces
user to visit maliciously created Facebook authentication URL?
~~~
icambron
Right, I worded that poorly. You need some other vulnerability for the
attacker to pull this trick off. But, like homokov says, there are a lot of
possibilities for that. Obviously, such a vulnerability is bad on its own and
the site owner should prevent it, but FB should be better about mitigating it
from their end.
------
snikch
Can someone explain to me why the access code is sent back as the hash in the
url not the query string?
~~~
homakov
because query string is available in document.referrer on external websites.
hash is supposed to be more secure - not sent on server side.
but with 302 redirects it's not so secure.
~~~
bsimpson
But this is only for JavaScript clients, right? I believe all the OAuth APIs
I've consumed from Python send access_token in the query string.
~~~
jkrems
Maybe you are thinking of the code parameter? The one that can be exchanged
for an access token in a server-to-server request?
~~~
bsimpson
I believe they're both in the query string, but you're right - code is what's
sent by way of the client. access_token is exchanged between the servers.
------
smarx
For those who are totally confused as to why an access token is being shared
with an end user and why it's transmitted in a URL fragment, I think I figured
out what's going on. Facebook appears to have a flow for logging in client-
side in the browser [1]. In that flow, the access token is meant to be
delivered to a JavaScript client in the browser, so a URL fragment makes some
sense.
I don't know if any of this is covered by the OAuth spec. (I'm only familiar
with the so-called "three-legged" OAuth protocol.)
[1] [https://developers.facebook.com/docs/howtos/login/client-
sid...](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/howtos/login/client-side-without-
js-sdk/)
~~~
homakov
response_type is also flexible,
but spec says explicitely to avoid Implicit flow
------
jkrems
I don't quite get the "let me explain again response_type=code flow". Doesn't
seem relevant to the article since the code flow isn't leaking any access
token to the client side at all. Though the solution of making the
redirect_uri explicit seems pretty good for the original problem.
~~~
homakov
it is relevant — for Stolen Credentials threat.
if you have creds you can obtain access token for ANY redirect_uri, even for
leaking. if it would be static it would not be possible to leak it at all
------
dubcanada
I don't understand what they expect them to do? Drop their entire current
system and build a new one?
What alternatives are their?
------
jokull
This guy is on a role!
|
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Startup Uses Eggs to Poach Employees from Facebook, Google - kumarrahul
http://www.freshtechapps.com/bigcommerce-an-e-commerce-site-is-literally-poaching-google-and-facebook-employess-waiting-for-their-company-buses-in-san-francisco/
======
sergiotapia
This is fantastic! Don't be fooled a company has _zero_ allegiance towards
you, sure they pay you but when things go south they will drop you lickity-
split. I've seen it done and I've had it done to me once.
Employees out there: don't feel guilty about leaving a company, always find
what's best for you - not the company.
------
bayesianhorse
The article uses an interesting phrase "[BC] has been accused of poaching
[employees]".
As if competition on the buyer-side of the labor market was morally suspect...
Steve Jobs would have approved of the sentiment!
~~~
kalleboo
The mugs of coffee they're handing out say #poached on them along with their
URL. They're serving poached egg sandwiches. [http://www.freshtechapps.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/04/Eggs...](http://www.freshtechapps.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/04/Eggs-to-Poach-Employee.jpg)
It's not the article, it's the company themselves.
~~~
bayesianhorse
My point was about "accussation" rather than about "poaching".
------
lost_my_pwd
I have no issues with companies courting employees from other companies; it
shifts the power balance a bit back towards the individual for a change.
I am, however, a little put off by the term "poached", which BigCommerce is
actively using in their campaign. It implies the sentiment that these people
are simply a quarry being hunted as a prize rather people, of their own free
will, deciding that the grass is greener elsewhere. Language matters.
~~~
mark_l_watson
Is using the word "poached" just a joke since they are handing out poached egg
sandwiches?
~~~
samatman
Nope! The poached egg sandwiches are a joke, since they're "poaching".
------
jobseekr
I don't think they're poaching anybody. I'm looking for a new job and this
company has been posting the most ridiculous, desperate ads on Craigslist.
[http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eng/](http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eng/)
Y work for 1 startup, work for 50K - Software Eng (PHP, Ruby) Product
Are you down with OLTP?- Database Engineer (MySql, Innodb)
Are you SaaS-y enough? - System Engineer (Linux, Perl, PHP, Ruby)
Are you ob-cess!d?- Front End Engineer (HTML, CSS, Javascript)
Engineers: Last day to RSVP here for Happy Hour at our new SoMa digs!
Engineers: RSVP here for our Happy Hour at our new SoMa digs!
[http://sfbay.craigslist.org/web/index100.html](http://sfbay.craigslist.org/web/index100.html)
Rich and Sexy- Front End Engineer (HTML, CSS, Javascript)
The headlines are horrible.
The postings are horrible...
We are SoMa's hottest new startup and we are building a team of badass engineers to help us take the world's fastest growing e-commerce solution to the next level.
The image (which doesn't show anyone working) is horrible...
[http://i1286.photobucket.com/albums/a605/Bigcommerce/CL-
Ad2_...](http://i1286.photobucket.com/albums/a605/Bigcommerce/CL-
Ad2_zpsc15233da.jpg)
The recruiting video (with swearing!) is horrible...
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uibkWc26MgQ&hd=1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uibkWc26MgQ&hd=1)
These guys have been posting this crap nonstop on Craigslist for a while so
I'm not surprised at all to see them trolling bus stops.
------
ghfdaghkj
If someone harassed me while I was waiting for the subway and tried to get me
to quit my job, I definitely wouldn't want to work for them. I'd probably go
out of my way to never use their product, actually. I don't see how this is
any better than the "do you have a minute for ____" clipboard people that prey
on tourists for donations/signatures on the sidewalk.
------
Steko
Similar gag from this cartoon on recode yesterday:
[http://recode.net/2014/04/02/tim-cook-turns-up-the-heat-
comi...](http://recode.net/2014/04/02/tim-cook-turns-up-the-heat-comic/)
------
danbarker
The writing on this site seems pretty terrible:
[http://www.freshtechapps.com/7-reddit-amas-that-went-
horribl...](http://www.freshtechapps.com/7-reddit-amas-that-went-horribly-
wrong/)
~~~
rachelbythebay
Well sure, start with this: [http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Bigcommerce-
tries-poachin...](http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Bigcommerce-tries-
poaching-tech-workers-at-S-F-5378102.php) ... then rewrite it until it doesn't
look like it was straight-up ripped off.
Edit: this, too, complete with the same photos:
[http://mashable.com/2014/04/04/startup-eggs-
recruiting/](http://mashable.com/2014/04/04/startup-eggs-recruiting/)
Blogspam.
------
smoyer
This may be a catchy way to make your company known, but I imagine you're only
getting those who were thinking of leaving anyway.
~~~
dasil003
Well yes, by definition, you can only poach employees from a company who at
some point think of leaving the original company.
Seriously though, to your point, why do you say "but"? Are the ones who think
of leaving somehow less valuable than the ones don't think of leaving? In my
mind, those who never think of leaving probably tend to be the weaker talent.
That could just be my unsubstantiated bias, but either way, I think the point
is that they all got hired by Facebook/Google at some point which is a pretty
good signal as far as tech signals go.
~~~
smoyer
It wasn't supposed to imply you were getting lower quality applicants _BUT_
rather that you were getting some fraction of a bigger pool.
It's entirely possible I use the word "but" too much or that I don't need a
conjunction there at all - would two shorter sentences be better?
Or maybe I'm just a butt?
~~~
dasil003
Okay, that reasoning makes sense. I would never read it that way though,
because when you're hiring you're _always_ getting some fraction of a bigger
pool.
~~~
smoyer
I usually associate the idea of "poaching" employees with convincing those
that weren't thinking of leaving that they should join you (I'm not saying my
impression is correct). Think about Jobs "poaching" Sculley from PepsiCo. Jobs
didn't even give him an egg sandwich (just the famous line: "Do you want to
sell sugared water for the rest of your life? Or do you want to come with me
and change the world?").
~~~
dasil003
I see, so you were originally saying that you don't think the campaign would
cause anyone to consider leaving Facebook or Google that wasn't already
thinking about it?
I think it's really hard to pinpoint the moment in my own head when an idea
like leaving my job first crosses my mind, probably even harder for an
abstract class of people such as Google or Facebook employees. To me, poaching
is more concrete, it means going after someone you know works at a specific
place.
~~~
smoyer
Two good points ... it's also interesting that the word "poaching" has
negative connotations [1] but if you read those definitions the impression is
that poaching employees is somehow wrong rather than being a facet of a
competition-based economy. How can an at-will employee be considered
"another's property, rights, ideas, or the like".
[1]
[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/poaching](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/poaching)
~~~
001sky
Poaching is going after anyone employed currenty, IMHO.
Taking applicants from un-employed job seekers was traditional "hiring". World
has moved on, presumably tho. Switching contexts, ou would be "poaching"
someones significant other (~negative connotation). vs Just "picking up" a
single person you met at a bar (~fair game connotation).
TLDR english is a loaded language
~~~
maxerickson
I would think the allusion is rooted in hunting, where poaching is taking
something you don't have a right to take.
~~~
dasil003
I disagree with you both because as the GGP said, companies don't own
employees. In the business world I see poaching as hiring a person who you
learned about solely through their employment at the company in question.
~~~
cpwright
I tend to think of poaching as a bit broader than that, but not just cold
calling someone because you know they work at X.
For example, if someone leaves the company, and then there is a concerted
effort to recruit other members of that team or based on their recommendation
that is poaching. If you've signed an agreement that forbids this, and you
actively take part in it, I think it is wrong; otherwise it is fine.
Alternatively, if you've engaged a companies services and then try and hire
away the people doing the work to disintermediate the service providing
compnay, that would probably count as poaching in my book too.
~~~
dasil003
I consider both scenarios you described to fall squarely under my definition.
Think about it, in both cases you learned about the prospects through their
employment at said company.
------
raldi
More like, startup uses eggs to get free media coverage. The eggs do nothing
to help recruiting.
------
MicroBerto
Those are not good enemies to make... seeing as though they probably drive
well over half of your network's traffic.
~~~
bayesianhorse
On the other hand Facebook and Google might be encouraged to buy out the
company to get their employees back.
------
usujason
Like the 'poached' campaign, dislike the misspelling of 'employess' in the
article's headline.
------
ma2rten
_The recruiter of Bigcommerce, Steve Donnelly, will ask the guys waiting for
the Facebook bus whether they were interested in changing the world of
e-commerce. But to his disappointment, many of them replied no._
Obviously, they are going to reply that in a situation where they are together
with their co-workers.
~~~
codeonfire
Are you saying there are people out there that want to change the world of
e-commerce? Maybe someone who owns a large share of an e-commerce firm will
feel this way. Some guy waiting for the bus to go to work to pay the bills
definitely does not give a shit about changing e-commerce. A more apropos
question is to ask if the person wants to become financially secure quickly
and not have to take the bus to work every morning. Alas, there's no company
that makes that as a goal for its employees.
------
rpwilcox
Hmm. Seems like a technique with a very low success rate: out of 1,000
applicants they hired 2? So what's that, a .2% success rate?
Seems like there has to be techniques with better success rate than that...
------
jchrisa
Now that's what I call a hack. Bravo!
------
kevrone
Nothing wrong with this at all.
------
stuaxo
Egg sandwiches ... yuck !
~~~
antonioevans
You don't like Egg Sandwiches? They're excellent.
~~~
LukeB_UK
I believe you mean eggcellent...
|
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Wireless 'BlueBorne' Attacks Target Billions of Bluetooth Devices - rayascott
https://threatpost.com/wireless-blueborne-attacks-target-billions-of-bluetooth-devices/127921/
======
download13
Basically there's a bunch of different vulnerabilities in various chipsets and
operating systems that can, in some cases, allow remote code execution.
The most common fault seems to allow a remote attacker to pretend to be an
internet connection for a bluetooth enabled device and perform man in the
middle attacks.
Wait for your OS vendor to push out updates and make sure websites you visit
are using HTTPS.
|
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Quora Banned Me for Saying the Earth Isn't Flat - kerisavoca
https://medium.com/@brothke/quora-banned-me-for-saying-the-earth-isnt-flat-9bd98010c09d
======
rvz
> Quora Banned Me For Saying The Earth Isn’t Flat
1 + 1 = 2
> From a scientific perspective, no flat earther has ever given me a rational
> response to why it is incorrect. So rather than answer the field of science,
> they reported my answers as spam.
Flat-earthers are free to think this nonsense, despite being proven wrong over
and over again. But of course. If they can't attack the authors argument. They
attack the person by getting them banned.
As soon as Quora was breached, the bots came. I stopped looking at Quora a
long time ago.
~~~
thephyber
> As soon as Quora was breached, the bots came.
I'm curious why the flat earthers and the anti-vaxxers seem to have such good
bot power but their adversaries don't.
~~~
vivekd
I suppose those who are spreading bad ideas are more committed than those
refuting those ideas. It takes a fair bit of commitment to even adapt flat
earth or ant vax ideas in the first place.
Tge internet is good at filtering commitment and not very good at filtering
truth.
------
aaron695
I think we all agree Quora has pivoted to spam.
But I think we need to start acknowledging anti-flat Earthers and anti-anti-
vaccers are part of Cancel Culture and are an unhealthy part of society.
They are about bullying not moving society forward in a positive way.
~~~
moioci
I believe the pro-polio advocates are an unhealthy part of society.
~~~
aaron695
I believe quips that anti-vaxers are pro-polio are no longer insightfull or
funny.
I think they are about cruelty.
Humans like to be cruel, and the current game is finding who we are allowed to
be cruel to next.
|
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Show HN: Extend and automate JIRA workflows using Groovy - johnou
At work we recently updated JIRA and were forced to update all plugins, unfortunately one of those turned from free to paid (ScriptRunner). The pricing seemed ridiculous so I challenged myself to create an alternative plugin and here is the result!<p>https://marketplace.atlassian.com/plugins/it.johno.jira.mercury/server/overview
======
brudgers
Clickable:
[https://marketplace.atlassian.com/plugins/it.johno.jira.merc...](https://marketplace.atlassian.com/plugins/it.johno.jira.mercury/server/overview)
When submitting to HN, the |submit| page will publish either the contents of
the |link| field or the contents of the |text| field. If there is content in
both it will publish the |text| field.
So when a person has a link _and_ something to share, the best practice is to
submit the link and then add a comment once the story shows up on the |new|
page.
~~~
johnou
Thanks for the tip!
|
{
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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CDC director warns that Congo's Ebola outbreak may not be containable - loisaidasam
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2018/11/05/cdc-director-warns-that-congos-ebola-outbreak-may-not-be-containable/
======
coldcode
The real fear is that one person makes it out of the area and into another
part of the world, similar to what happened in Dallas. The more people are
infected in that area the more the odds of escape go up. Any place in the
world can wind up with an outbreak within a short time. Given the response of
the hospital in Dallas, it's very likely most medical facilities would not
recognize Ebola before transmission had already occurred.
~~~
ams6110
I'd think (hope?) that any hospital ER is trained to recognize hemorragic
fever when it presents.
~~~
ashildr
Whether the patient will see a doctor in the early or late stages of Their
Ebola infection will depend on whether they have health insurance. So here’s
another reason for socialized healthcare.
~~~
newbrict
I don't want to pay my insurance deductible... Many people "worse off" than me
pay nothing and get to go to the hospital no problem... I'd be much more
interested in everyone paying a reasonable amount like it was decades ago
~~~
headShrinker
> Many people "worse off" than me pay nothing and get to go to the hospital no
> problem...
This is terribly misconstruing the facts. They get to go to ER treatement
only, no midterm care. The problem is if they don’t pay, their credit record
is heavily penalized. This may seem like nothing but for someone with out
money or means it spells a quick down hill slide to homelessness. No problem
=/= homeless
FYI the #1 cause of home foreclosures in the US is medical bills
~~~
PopeDotNinja
> This is terribly misconstruing the facts
When you're broke, you're broke. Just because you have health insurance
doesn't mean you can afford to use it. I had better healthcare as a homeless
person than as a massively indebted recent college grad with a health plan
through work.
~~~
caseyscottmckay
How did you have better healthcare as a homeless person than through your
employer? Like what were the numbers (e.g., monthly cost, deductibles,
prescription cost, co-pays, and coverage). This is hard to believe.
If you're referring to EMTALA requiring emergency rooms stabilize all
patients, (1) EMTALA applies to everyone, and (2) EMTALA is not healthcare.
~~~
PopeDotNinja
Medi-Cal was free. Basically everything covered on Medi-Cal was free, or super
cheap, and it covered a lot. While on my health insurance plan provided by
work, the job where I wasn't making enough money to save or meet my
deductible, I got into a bicycle accident & ended up with a $50,000 USD out-
of-network hospital bill.
In case you don't know, one of the reasons that some chronically homeless
people don't have healthcare is that many don't bother to get it. There's guy
in my neighborhood that told me he hasn't gone (but probably should go) to our
local government to get his $100-ish/month, food stamps, and healthcare. Also,
he ends up in a local emergency room because someone calls an ambulance when
he's drunk, passed, and shaking out on the sidewalk. I've called an ambulance
a few times for people in that state myself. He also ends up in the emergency
room because he routinely gets assaulted while sleeping on the street because
there's are not enough shelters for him.
~~~
watersb
I totally believe this.
When we first met, my wife was still in school, and I had been working in
computer stuff for about 10 years. I had good benefits, and thought that
medical insurance was a solution to a big problem.
Then watched as my wife tried to get treated for some routine stuff. Not
available via the campus clinic, and yet her student "insurance" was not
accepted anywhere else within 150 miles without a "co-pay" that was larger
than the cost for uninsured patients.
The situation only got worse when we were married later that year. My
insurance would only apply after she had sought coverage through her school
plan.
We called it "anti-insurance": a form of coverage that, when encountering
actual insurance, annihilates it in a violent explosion of virtual particles
and real paperwork.
Yeah. The system is fucked.
I believe you.
------
findyoucef
I didn't even realize there was recent outbreak. This hasn't been in the news
at all.
~~~
cududa
It’s been reported on for months in major outlets, just not with the fervency
of last time. Find new news sources or pay closer attention to your existing
ones behind the outrage cycle.
~~~
makomk
Almost everything is reported in major outlets somewhere, to the point that
it's pretty remarkable when something isn't. There's just so much news out
there that the priority they give to it matters.
------
starbeast
[https://www.msf.org/drc-2018-ebola-outbreak-crisis-update-
oc...](https://www.msf.org/drc-2018-ebola-outbreak-crisis-update-october-2018)
[https://www.msf.org/donate](https://www.msf.org/donate)
------
runciblespoon
"CDC director warns that Congo's Ebola outbreak may not be containable"
especially as the locals insist on following traditional burial methods such
as washing the deceased and sitting in for days on end with cadaver.
~~~
guilhas
US, UK, France, UAE,... insist on traditional bombing of countries for peace.
------
lifeisstillgood
I would love to see regularly updated and triaged "backlogs" for countries,
and subsequently the world. And then maybe just report on the top 100 in each
news cycle.
Just lists of most important tickets in a global todo list - because this
would just rise to the top pretty quickly and make us rethink mid terms,
Brexit and train delays.
~~~
toomuchtodo
Something like [https://ourworldindata.org/](https://ourworldindata.org/) but
with more frequent updates? I ask because I too am interested in the very same
type of dashboard, and instead have a "Dashboard" bookmarks folder with a
variety of links for data.
~~~
lifeisstillgood
More akin to the Copenhagen Institute thingamijig that Biorn Lomborg hosts,
that tries to get bigwig economists to prioritise interventions based on cost
benefit (various low cost high impact projects like innocuoation and medical /
public health top the bill)
Something that takes this concept and runs with it, taking both identifiable
_problems_ (Ebola outbreak) and _solutions_ (do nothing, invade, stop
subsidising petrol in that country)
I suspect that the equivalent of National Security Advisor in each major
country does this. I guess what I want is to steal each of their daily
briefing documents and make a combined one, and have it read out each day
onthe daily news.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_Consensus_Center](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_Consensus_Center)
------
toomuchtodo
Uganda is preemptively vaccinating front line/first responder workers with an
experimental, unlicensed vaccine (with WHO backing) that has shown efficacy in
attempts to contain the virus.
> Country becomes first to administer experimental vaccine without active
> outbreak of the deadly disease, in bid to protect 2,000 medics close to DRC
> border
> “In previous [Ebola] outbreaks, Uganda lost health workers, including the
> renowned Dr Matthew Lukwiya, as they cared for patients,” said Yonas Tegegn
> Woldemariam, WHO’s Uganda representative. “Scientists believe such
> invaluable lives would have been saved had a vaccine been in existence
> then.”
[https://www.theguardian.com/global-
development/2018/nov/06/u...](https://www.theguardian.com/global-
development/2018/nov/06/uganda-vaccinates-at-risk-health-workers-ebola-congo-
drc)
~~~
tango24
> including the renowned Dr Matthew Lukwiya
Short video about Dr. Lukwiya's story. He was on a sabbatical, but rushed back
to provide aid, while others were running in panic:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7LpjpuOvc8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7LpjpuOvc8)
~~~
toomuchtodo
"Look for the helpers" \-- Mr. (Fred) Roger's mother.
------
jonawesomegreen
Some interesting data about the efficacy of the experimental vaccine that is
being used to try to control the outbreak.
> Merck's Jakub Simon, MD, MS, addressing a session at the American Society of
> Tropical Medicine's (ASTMH) annual meeting here, showed two charts tracking
> Ebola during this past spring's outbreak in the DRC's Equateur province and
> the subsequent one now raging in the North Kivu and Ituri provinces. In
> both, health workers on the ground have been using the Merck vaccine in a
> so-called ring vaccination strategy to contain the epidemic. Although not
> yet formally approved for marketing, the vaccine has been cleared for
> emergency use.
> In Equateur, immediately after vaccination began with the Merck product, the
> outbreak petered out.
> But the experience in North Kivu and Ituri has been quite different.
> Although new cases dropped significantly after vaccination began in early
> August, they never approached zero, and 2 months later they rocketed back to
> the level seen before vaccinations began.
[https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/astmh/76018](https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/astmh/76018)
~~~
amputect
That's not great! I wonder if Ebola is especially quick to mutate. This
article:
[https://jvi.asm.org/content/early/2015/12/08/JVI.02701-15](https://jvi.asm.org/content/early/2015/12/08/JVI.02701-15)
suggests that it is. A mitigating factor is that it doesn't seem to tolerate
mutations very well (i.e. lots of mutations lead to non-viable strains), but I
guess with a large enough patient pool it could have out-run the vaccine.
------
carboy
It’s scary to consider it making it to some of the large slums in Nairobi,
India, or Pakistan.
~~~
the-red-herring
That's a bit racist to call a place a slum
~~~
estsauver
Comment currently says "Slums _in_ " a place.
------
bluetwo
Seems like a bigger problem than a bunch of migrants slowly walking towards
the southern border.
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{
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
}
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Panther: DIY Website Builder - gopanther
http://panther.ws
======
dang
Corporate accounts don't do well here. You'd be better off posting as an
individual (that doesn't mean you need to use your real name, just present as
a person rather than a company or project).
For best results, put "Show HN" at the head of the title and add a first
comment to the new submission introducing yourself, giving the backstory of
how you came to work on this, and explaining what's different about it. That
tends to seed discussion in a good way. Good luck!
|
{
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
}
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Never use Wikipedia as a sandbox - paulpauper
One of my math papers I wrote using Wikipedia's sandbox was deleted.<p><pre><code> It was deleted for U5: Misuse of Wikipedia as a web host
</code></pre>
I seldom visit the page ,and I assumed it would remain safe up there until I eventually would type it up on latex later. Nope. Gone. months of work deleted.<p>Some of these editors are awful. There is no respect or regard for anyone's work. They see something that they don't like , it's gone. I thought that the sandbox was safe, but it's not.<p>Feel completely gutted like the rug was pulled out from under me<p>NOTHING YOU WRITE IS SAFE ON WIKIPEDIA
======
AznHisoka
Why didn't you use Google Docs, or Evernote? Or even email it to yourself? Or
just create a fake FB account, and add it to your FB notes?
~~~
paulpauper
That's what I'm doing now for all my other Wikipedia sandboxes. I just assumed
it was safe up there, and it was for almost 2 years, until I checked recently.
~~~
ScottBurson
You should never, ever have just one copy of any important document. _ALWAYS
MAKE BACKUPS!_
------
prodigal_erik
You could try finding an active admin on
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_administrat...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_administrators_willing_to_provide_copies_of_deleted_articles)
and asking whether they can get you a copy of your deleted paper.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Nuclear Isn't Needed for the Green New Deal - mimixco
https://www.jacksonville.com/opinion/20190510/guest-column-nuclear-power-isnt-needed-for-green-new-deal
======
natch
I love that the article mentions one of my biggest gripes with nuclear power,
that it does not lend itself to scaling down to the level of the individual
household.
The inescapable implication is that nuclear is inherently a centralized, big
government or big industry solution... in stark contrast to household-scale
solutions like solar and wind, which tend to promote the preservation of
individual freedom and self determination, since control can stay with the
individual owners.
~~~
mimixco
Great point! When I attended the NRC hearing over the proposed new nuclear
plant for Turkey Point (FL), a local mayor produced evidence that Florida
Power & Light could put solar panels and Tesla batteries on _every home in
their market area_ for less than the cost of building another nuclear plant.
The future of green energy lies in decentralizing its production.
------
verdverm
What about the thorium reactors and the enegry levels needed for large scale
industry?
What pollution is created when a hurricane or tornado destroys a solar farm?
(Think of all the nasty materials on the inside which leech into the ground
water).
All solutions have drawbacks, that's why we call them tradeoffs.
~~~
mimixco
Metals can be filtered out of water. But nothing can remove nuclear subatomic
particles from the Earth. Once something is radioactive, it continues to emit
particles which fly off into the environment and contaminate their
surroundings. Heavy metals don't do this.
|
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"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Microsoft wants to monopolise games development on PC. We must fight it - Jerry2
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/04/microsoft-monopolise-pc-games-development-epic-games-gears-of-war
======
massysett
This is over two years old.
~~~
TwoNineFive
Two years old but looking more and more correct as time goes on.
I think it's only a matter of time before Microsoft starts to link gaming
features to their store, or doing something else to try and capture/extort
revenue from Valve and other self-distributed games.
~~~
flukus
I'm sure they'll try, but gaming on linux is becoming more and more viable all
the time. I took the plunge 18 months ago, knowing full well I was giving up
access to a lot of purchased games, but in that 18 months a lot of my missing
collection has been ported.
As with so many other things, we as consumers control how much control MS gets
and if more of us refuse to compromise and install windows then non-windows
gaming becomes more viable.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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The Black Sea has lost more than a third of its habitable volume - upen
http://sciencebulletin.org/archives/4831.html
======
PeterWhittaker
Summary: The oxygen-rich habitable layer of the Black Sea has declined over
the last few decades from a depth of 140m to a depth of only 90m. The oxic
layer does not mix with the layers below. All theories as to why the decline
has occurred are speculative, but some believe that the increase in H2S2 at
greater depth may be implicated (though this is unsubstantiated).
~~~
woodandsteel
Your summary is quite inaccurate. As the article explains, the change in
thickness of the oxygen-rich layer is well-explained by global warming and the
addition of nutrients from farming. The H2S2 increase is also explained,
except the causes of its precise depth are not.
In discussing the changes in the Black Sea, it should be noted that Russia is
heavily invested in fossil fuel production, and that Putin denies the reality
of anthropocentric global climate change. This leads me to the possibility
that the purpose of your comment is to divert criticism of Russia. Of course,
that idea might be mistaken, and you honestly just misunderstood the article.
~~~
ivan_gammel
I do not think Russia must be solely responsible for what's going on there.
Russian government and Putin himself does recognize artificial nature of
climate change, as was shown in his speech on Climate Change Conference in
2015. Truth is that Russia did not make big contribution to it in last 25
years (yes, there's huge oil and gas industry, but most of it is being
exported, so it's a responsibility of consumers to use it in emission-neutral
way). Current emissions are more than 25% below 1990 levels - can you say such
thing about America, China or India? And this happens not only due to reduced
output, but also because of some investment in more environmentally friendly
manufacturing (yes, Russia has ecological standards and they are enforced -
unfortunately, not fully because of corruption). There exist government-
sponsored programmes to invest in green energy (e.g. new manufacturing
facilities for solar panels), close the top polluters (like BTsBK) and reduce
car emissions. It's not that easy to transform such a big economy and fix all
the issues of Soviet planning, so it will take time to change and become as
green as e.g. Germany (I doubt it's even possible to start something costly
like Energiewende in Russia at this moment).
~~~
woodandsteel
The reason Russia produces so much in the way of fossil fuels is that Putin
decided when he was a doctoral student in economics back in the 1990's that
the Russian economy should focus through about 2150 on increasing the
extraction of natural resources.
He makes this clear in the summary for his doctoral dissertation:
[http://www.theatlantic.com/daily-
dish/archive/2008/08/putins...](http://www.theatlantic.com/daily-
dish/archive/2008/08/putins-thesis-raw-text/212739/)
~~~
ivan_gammel
Do not take seriously doctoral dissertations of anyone in Russian government
but few people with academic background. They are written not to make
scientific contribution, but to get "d.something.n." prefix (doctor of some
sciences) and a line in CV. They have nothing to do with their real position
or policy they enact or implement. Actually, some dissertations may be even
written by other people (see Dissernet data mining project to reveal
corruption in this field).
In Russia the only policy you can know for sure is the codified policy. Public
statements cannot be treated seriously until they are codified, because very
often they are made as means of information warfare, messages to specific
groups of special interests. Look at the laws, court decisions, government
orders etc. Sometimes you can figure out what's really going on only
retrospectively, by looking at statistics and filtered stream of the news.
~~~
woodandsteel
The reason I included this link is because Putin in his governance of Russia
has followed the general economic strategy he presents in his doctoral
dissertation, and so the document helps us understand the reasoning behind his
decisions.
As to codified policy, Putin is an authoritarian ruler in a country with
little rule of law, and so he does what he wants, no matter what the laws
happen to say.
ivan_gammel, I strongly suspect that you are quite aware of all of this, and
are attempting to mislead readers as to what Putin is up to and why.
Let me make one more comment. Putin believes that the road to becoming an
advance industrial power is first spend a half a century focused on natural
resource extraction, and only then turn to developing advanced industry. I
think he is here trying to emulate his interpretation of the economic history
of the UK and the US.
But this mistaken, and in two ways. First, in the US and the UK mineral
extraction and industrial development proceeded in parallel, not sequentially.
Secondly, more recently countries have industrialized by focusing on industry
directly, and especially exports, as in the cases of Japan, China, and South
Korea.
I think part of the problem here is that Putin greatly mistrusts
industrialization that is successful enough to compete on global markets,
because it requires independent commercial enterprises, and he is an
authoritarian who wants to retain control of the economy, and this is much
easier when you are focused on natural resource commodities.
In any case, the whole matter of Putin and his economic views just illustrates
the general problem that Russians have never figured out how things work in
the modern world, and are always trying to do things in ways that are still
half back in the authoritarian, agrarian ways of their past. As a result they
get off on paths that succeed for a few decades, but eventually stall out.
It's so sad, Russia could be such an amazing nation if it could just get on
the right track.
~~~
woodandsteel
There's something else here, too. For thousands of years, national wealth and
power were largely based in natural resources such as agricultural land and
gold mines. In the industrial revolution, new natural resources, especially
fossil fuels, were added, but wealth and power shifted mainly to manufactured
goods. That is why you can have great industrial powers like Japan, China, and
South Korea that are relatively poor in natural sources. And it is why Russia,
even though it has natural resources far beyond any other nation, is about
10th in the size of its economy.
The problem with Putin is his mind is still partly back in the pre-industrial
era, and so he only half gets this. He knows Russia has to industrialize, but
he still sees natural resources as being much more important than they really
are, and so he is simply on the wrong economic track.
A key case here is petroleum. It accounts for half the Russian government's
tax revenues, and it is central to Putin's plans and investments. But thanks
to the renewable energy revolution, based on manufactured technologies like PV
cells and giant wind turbines, in half a century petroleum will be largely
replaced, and so worth very little. But Putin doesn't get this, which is why
so little effort is being put into renewables.
~~~
ivan_gammel
First of all, Russia is already post-industrial state and it experienced
multiple industrialization waves in its history - from colonization of Urals
(there were the biggest manufactures in the world in XVIII century and there's
a special term for that amazing period of history of Urals region - Mountain
Manufacturing Civilization introduced by Russian writer and historian Alexey
Ivanov), to industrialization in late XIX century (with such projects as
Trans-Siberian railway and production shifting to European part of Russia), to
industrialization by Stalin in 1930s and finally industrial expansion of
1950-1980s. It's all in the past now, not least because Russia lost most of
its industry in competition with China and hi-tech manufacturing to the West.
Indeed, Russia is a petrostate now, but it still has large industrial
capacity, to name some in which there's some good progress - aerospace (how
many nations are capable of creating new civil and military aircraft
designs?), arms, automotive (very hot sector with big investments and non-stop
race on building new plants). It's not feasible and already too late to
compete with China or emerging economies like Vietnam in light industries or
consumer electronics, but some targeted efforts to join global manufacturing
chains are already paying (e.g. did you know that sapphire glass for Apple
products is made in Russia?)
Putin's mistake is not that it applies XVI century resource extraction
approach to finally get industrial economy (which is not true because of
above), but that it applies command-administrative methods of XX century to
build post-industrial economy. He is more interested in playing war games,
than writing economic strategies - this job is left to his advisers, and
there's ongoing competition to fill that position between liberals like
A.Kudrin and communists like S.Glazyev. These bureaucratic battles did not
produce any document that could be fully implemented, so significant progress
could be visible in only some technical fields, which are far from politics
(hence very smart Central Bank, Federal Tax Service or Ministry of
Informatization and Communications).
~~~
PerfectDlite
> Russia is already post-industrial state
> Russia lost most of its industry in competition with China and hi-tech
> manufacturing to the West.
Congratulaions, you've managed to contradict yourself in one paragraph.
~~~
dragonwriter
A post-industrial state is one which was dominantly industrial, and has moved
on to some other primary basis for its economy, usually because it is engaged
in international trade and its comparative advantage is no longer in
manufacturing but some other area.
Usually, this shift in comparative advantage is reflected in industrial work
moving overseas to competitors whose comparative advantage _is_ in that kind
of work.
So, the two sentences you quote as a supposed contradiction actually support
each other, rather than contradicting each other.
~~~
PerfectDlite
> A post-industrial state is one which was dominantly industrial, and has
> moved on to some other primary basis for its economy, usually because it is
> engaged in international trade and its comparative advantage is no longer in
> manufacturing but some other area.
In case of Russia it wasn't so, they still struggle to get back to Soviet
level of industrialization after USSR fell apart.
~~~
dragonwriter
> In case of Russia it wasn't so, they still struggle to get back to Soviet
> level of industrialization after USSR fell apart.
The US keeps struggling to maintain or restore its previous level of
industrialization, too, even though its unmistakeably a post-industrial state;
there's a lot of emotional attachment to industrialization as a source of
economic output that lingers even in post-industrial states, so struggling to
restore it is a common response to dissatisfactory economic experiences even
in post-industrial states. If Russia were struggling to get back to Soviet-era
aggregate or per-capita economic output, that would be a difference -- and
there certainly was a time, throughout much of the 1990s, where that was the
case. But its not now (though Russia has seen a precipitous output drop since
the peak in 2012, so it might be a thing again in not too long.)
(Russia may be in a situation now -- especially with the recent drop -- where
living conditions for the masses are as bad or worse than in the late Soviet
era, but that's orthogonal to the economy being post-industrial, and more
about the _distributional_ features of the economy than anything else.)
~~~
woodandsteel
Here is the wikipedia explanation of the term "post-industrial"
"In sociology, the post-industrial society is the stage of society's
development when the service sector generates more wealth than the
manufacturing sector of the economy"
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-
industrial_society](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-industrial_society)
That doesn't apply to Russia, so ivan_gammel was using the term in an
unconventional manner.
------
shmerl
Hydrogen sulfide area is like a death zone in the depth of the Black Sea.
------
wildeswildes
Hydrogen sulfide is in deep of Black See is deadly area. If clean water
contamined by h2s2 most of will die about it.
------
simplemath
>The link you are accessing has been blocked by the Barracuda Web Filter
because it contains spyware. The name of the spyware is:
Spyware.Exploit.BRTS.sciencebulletin.org
~~~
andrewjf
Are these web filter things generally accurate?
~~~
simplemath
False positives are a thing... but just thought it was worth mentioning that
it was flagged for me.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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The end of the level playing field - mooreds
http://avc.com/2017/02/the-end-of-the-level-playing-field/
======
intended
There isn't a new level playing field coming along anytime soon.
The internet was the pinnacle of a series of benign regulatory choices, clear
and present dangers of older models being avoided, and lack of incumbent
awareness, and adaptation.
This era has ended, we are in the end game, and how America fights and sets an
example here, <despite> all odds, will influence how this resource gets used
for generations.
This is not a fight you can give up.
~~~
djsumdog
I use to have this notion too, but keep in mind that the Internet was started
as a military project. The fact that it ended up being commandeered by large
conglomerates shouldn't really be surprising.
There are countries in Europe, the South Pacific, et. al. where carriers offer
"free social" where they don't charge for Facebook and Twitter. Wikiepdia is
offered for free by some African carriers; which allows them to also benefit
from a lack of real network-neutrality.
When it comes to media and freedom vs industry, I think this video from the
mid-2000s explains the situation best (in terms of network neutrality):
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66PbSzwnLes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66PbSzwnLes)
~~~
Retra
It wasn't a military project any more than the radio or telephone were. Or
railroads and highways.
~~~
Inconel
Slightly off topic but wasn't the original purpose of the interstate system to
be able to move war materiel around the country by land efficiently?
~~~
pc86
And to land bombers, if memory serves.
~~~
WorldMaker
This was not a goal of the American Interstate system:
[http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/airstrip.asp](http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/airstrip.asp)
------
danjoc
Fred's a smart guy. I hope the end of the neutral internet hastens the rise of
mesh networking.
If I want to order a pizza online, it really shouldn't have to go through the
ISP gatekeepers, travel along a Level 3 trunk, be inspected by the NSA, and
then be routed back down to the pizza joint 3 blocks from my house.
~~~
mahyarm
Mesh networking has theoretical limits that guarantee that normal internet
will beat it by a mile.
~~~
lend000
This is not true. Any network topology, including the present-day Internet,
can be considered a subset of a mesh network topology.
~~~
hvidgaard
And it works because there is capacity where it is needed, and the network is
deterministic with authoritative lookup services. Even if everyone had
100/100mbit and we use a mesh network with a relatively efficient topology,
with say random walkers to find ressources, it will wouldn't scale well
enough.
~~~
vertex-four
A mesh network with an incentive system could provide incentive for building
out infrastructure where it's needed, without our existing oligopolies over
the last mile. In other words - if you were to pay each of the nodes your
packets pass through, you'd have competition where absolutely anyone could
hook into the network at any point and provide the necessary bandwidth and get
paid for it, no permission necessary.
~~~
mahyarm
Thats the current internet with a twist, which means wires, which mean land
rights, regulations and large telecom competition.
~~~
vertex-four
The point is that your last mile can be a proper meshnet, and the backbone
operates in real-time competition, and people wanting to compete on parts of
the backbone are much more able to - and people wanting to compete in the last
mile are able to as well. You could have someone pull fiber from the backbone
to somewhere vaguely near you, and depend on the meshnet from there, or you
could travel a few kilometers over meshnet hops, or some combination of the
two depending on whether a packet relates to something user-interactive. It
solves a problem - monopolies in Internet transport - it just doesn't handwave
away basic understandings of physics.
------
peteretep
I still can't get excited about net neutrality, but maybe that's because I'm
from a country (UK) where telco competition is strong enough - and number
porting etc easy enough - that anything that's anticonsumer will get punished
by the market.
~~~
arjie
The UK extensively regulates and censors Internet access. It's possible you
can't get excited about it because you don't have a culture of a free
Internet.
British providers have happily performed deep packet inspection in order to
"prioritize" traffic with little to no resistance from the public. Britain
just doesn't share this principle.
~~~
corford
Yes and no. The market works in the UK. If you don't want a "hand holding" ISP
that filters and DPIs your connection you have a range of good alternatives
e.g. [http://aa.net.uk/](http://aa.net.uk/)
The shittiest providers in the UK are usually the vertically integrated
players (Sky, Virgin, BT) that optimise their business around selling bundles
to consumers (TV, mobile, net and movie subs).
Fortunately, thanks to local loop unbundling providing a relatively level
playing field, there are lots of "net only" providers that focus on delivering
a technically strong, unadulterated connection to the internet for consumers
that value that.
Bonus: VOIP is also really easy in the UK. When I lived there, I ported my
landline number to [http://www.voiptalk.org](http://www.voiptalk.org) (which I
still maintain now), had a 4G unlocked SIM from Virgin with virtually
unlimited data and an 18MBit ADSL connection from Andrews & Arnold. All
monthly contracts, no tie in. Total cost was ~£50/month iirc. Worked
beautifully and felt very "free" (as in freedom) to me.
~~~
radiowave
If we accept that neutrality regulation is unnecessary in the UK due to the
effectiveness of the market that exists here, we should remember that this
market itself exists because of other forms of regulation which have been
imposed, including: the ease with which customers can switch ISPs, publishing
official figures of the frequency of complaints about ISPs, the incumbent
telco being required to provide wholesale internet access (with price
controls) which can be resold by any company who wish to set themselves up as
an ISP.
It seems to me to have done reasonably well at encouraging suppliers to
compete on price, and on customer service quality (provided you don't take the
ISP's word for it).
It _hasn 't_ been great at hastening the widespread availability of > 20Mbit
broadband, and that is probably in part because of a particular technological
and financial internet access model becoming somewhat entrenched, due to the
very same regulation.
I tend to be of the opinion that net neutrality is a useful tactic where a
functioning competitive market doesn't exist, and is beyond hope of being made
to exist. Outside of that, I'm much less certain of how valuable it is.
(I'm not going to address the whole UK internet censorship and data logging
thing, because it's orthogonal to the structure of the market. And also
because it's really fucking depressing.)
~~~
corford
Yes, I'd argue that the UK's approach to regulation may as well be network
neutrality by another name. It's looser than the FCC's interpretation but the
desired end result (from a consumer perspective) is very similar.
Re: UK internet censorship and data logging - agree not connected to this
debate (and, yes, it's fucking depressing).
------
sytelus
I don't get it. So is FCC just silently sneaking in anti net neutrality again?
I thought they pulled that out after huge outcry. Were they just waiting for
public to forget and move on?
~~~
coldpie
It's not "sneaking in," Pai has been explicitly against net neutrality and
consumer protections for his entire tenure. This was one of the things
Americans decided last November: a free and open Internet is bad thing, and
access to it should be controlled by the big multimedia companies.
Turns out, you get what you vote for.
~~~
ChrisLTD
I don't remember this issue coming up at all during the presidential election.
Although, I'd wager even if it had, the outcome of the election would not have
been altered in any significant way.
~~~
coldpie
Doesn't exactly take a rocket scientist to realize Republicans are against
regulations and favor big businesses over consumers. It was absolutely on my
radar during the election, the Republican members of the commission have been
exceedingly clear about their opposition to small businesses and consumer
rights.
~~~
ChrisLTD
Sure, I just don't think we should make broad claims about the will of the
people vs. consent to govern in broad way. To put another way, Americans may
be happy to say they are against regulations, but yet still may favor a
particular regulation if it was brought up in a poll.
------
paulsutter
SpaceX's low latency internet access won't come a moment too soon. Competition
hasn't been possible but it could be.
Maybe Google can reconsider their decision to deproritize Google Fiber.
~~~
brokenmasonjars
How feasible would it be to just crowd source something through maybe an
organization like EFF or a collection of organizations? How many satellites
would be required? Could they be rebuild so they cost less? What else would
this entail? I know nothing of the subject so these are idiot questions I
know.
------
mrdrozdov
Would this only effect up and coming telecom firms and high bandwidth services
(video streaming, audio streaming, gaming, etc.), or also your every day SaaS
startup?
Edit: how exactly would this have a negative impact on SnapChat?
Double edit: I think net neutrality is a good thing, and worth finding clear
arguments to fight for.
Triple edit: Reasons I believe the net should be neutral...
1\. Consumers should be able to use any internet service they choose.
2\. Consumers should pay the same for data usage regardless of what the
service is.
3\. Businesses should be able to provide their service for the same data usage
cost as any other business.
~~~
ryanworl
If Facebook makes deals with cell phone carriers to have their traffic be free
to the end user, it may incentivize SnapChat users to switch to Instagram for
a comparable experience minus the data charges.
Luckily, most of the largest technology companies are incentivized in one way
or another to keep net-neutrality as it is. Google, Microsoft, and Amazon
literally sell cloud computing services to tons of companies large and small
who could be negatively impacted. Apple wants new apps made in the App Store
and would prefer these new apps hurt Facebook, Google, and Amazon in some way
if possible. Facebook relies on third-party mobile applications and websites
for collecting tons of data to feed back into their ad system. Google prefers
an open web to index and serve search ads against.
I don't think the lines are as clear as Fred has drawn here. There are
plausible reasons for major technology companies to come out in support of net
neutrality that are in their own self-interest, not just good-will.
~~~
richardwhiuk
The opponents of net neutrality aren't those guys - it's AT&T, Verizon,
Altice, Comcast, CenturyLink, Charter, TimeWarner, etc.
With net neutrality, they are essentially forced into a very low margin
business of selling data pipes, where it's all very comoditized, and it's
difficult to 'add value'.
Without net neutrality, they can pick and bundle services over the top and
give them prioritised traffic on their network, so watching Comcast Video is
prioritized, but watching Netflix buffers every 4 seconds. Offer subscribers a
short term discount to try Comcast Video, and then watch as the money rolls in
when everyone dumps Netflix and moves over to Comcast Video.
~~~
trome
I can attest to this experience on Centurylink gigabit trying to stream
Comcast's Xfinity Go, or streaming Netflix while on Comcast before they made
the backroom peering deal. In the evenings, they would either run at the
lowest quality, or buffer very often while running in potato vision.
------
panic
Why are we giving up? Tech workers, startups, and VCs collectively control
huge amounts of money and skilled labor. Organizing it all would obviously be
a challenge, but fighting this is a solvable problem!
------
jeffdavis
Are there technical solutions here?
The client-server model of the WWW seems to tilt in favor of consolidation.
What about something more akin to database replication for sharing
information? Data moving around asynchronously, viewed at the users leisure,
and synchronous actions are only needed sometimes (e.g. for buying things).
Right now, a lot of synchronous things happen, requiring users' action and
attention for little reason (but encouraged by the client/server model because
you need to make a request).
It would certainly change things. "Engagement" might be harder to measure and
monetize, so it might force us toward something more like micropayments. But
micropayments might be more possible in such an environment as well. With
little money on the line, it's easy to update a database record and move the
real money around later (if that's even required -- you could imagine digital
IOU records acting like currency).
And more importantly, I think it would reduce the need of companies like
facebook and other consolidating forces (though perhaps not google search).
~~~
acdha
It's not a technical problem so I think the best thing would be figuring out
ways to make it visible to the average user: e.g. imagine if Netflix could
reliably show a “Comcast's network is throttling your movie” message.
------
PublicFace
There never was a level playing field? Narrative fallacy.
Occasionally technology produces moments where dynamic conditions allow for
people to leverage large amounts of energy if they get lucky. But all those
people participating on a "level playing field?" they are "cheating" as hard
as they can at every step.
The perception that things were ever even is just that. A perception. Our
ecosystem is not "even". Nature doesn't "know" what "fair" is.
~~~
matthewmacleod
I'm not really sure what you're trying to say.
The idea being presented—which I agree with—is that the nature of the Internet
up until relatively recently was that any organisation could participate with
equal access to any other – regardless of their size. That was a good thing,
and is a really excellent tool for democratisation of a resource, because it
removes essentially all barriers to entry. Any company could, for example,
offer streaming audio or video services, and Internet users were free to
purchase those which they think are worthwhile.
This changes when the Internet stops being a public communications network in
principle.
~~~
PublicFace
Basically: the internet was never a level playingh field. It was always
controlled by telecom and Big Gov. It wasn't designed to be equitable and has
never been a laissez faire system of any sort. To participate you need
capital, clout, and insider status.
My point is that the principle of an open Internet is a fallacy of narration,
trying to fit a story to the situation for the purposes of journalism.
------
qwrusz
Big fan of Fred. But I am struggling to connect all the dots on the FCC
statement and what the various companies responses will likely be and how long
that will take?...
Basically, there's new people at FCC, where will we see the effect of new
policy first and when?
Is my Verizon bill going to double? Is my phone going to give me mild but
painful electric shocks if I don't click on any fucking Google AMP links?
Fred, what is going to happen?
~~~
origami777
Your bill won't change. It's the companies that want to offer things on the
internet that will have to pay a premium. The cable companies can now tax
every little startup as well as big companies. It means only well funded
companies will be able to offer things online.
~~~
gr3yh47
> Your bill won't change.
__yet __
wont be long at all before these monopolies start double dipping i.e. charging
customers for netflix traffic (either via having it count towards a cap while
hulu doesnt or some other method) while still charging netflix.
there's no business incentive for this not to happen because 90% of people
have no choice, and when verizon and comcast both do it almost no one will
have a choice
------
strken
I wonder how difficult it would be to stream data over Facebook video or
messenger? With messenger I assume they'd rate-limit you, but video might be
harder to stop.
------
fuzzfactor
Fundamentally, net neutrality is when everyone's upload speed matches their
download speed, there is no throttling, and it is enforced.
Otherwise individual creators or those who can not pay for preferential
treatment are at a disadvantage to those who can, with the spoils going to the
most predatory actors.
------
nojvek
May be Elon's satellite cluster will come and deliver the deathblow. Fast,
cheap, anywhere, wireless.
~~~
pdimitar
To be fair, that's my only hope as well. There doesn't seem to be almost
anyone on this miserable little planet who doesn't bend when they receive some
very particular phone calls. It's disgusting and discouraging.
------
grandalf
"Neutral" just means using some QoS setting that someone thought was "fair".
It's heavily biased toward current protocols and their current uses, and is
just as unfriendly to potentially groundbreaking tech as an "unfair" QoS.
While the alarmists predict that all google.com requests would be redirected
to bing, I think the reality is likely to be far more like T-Mobile's recent
controversial approach.
Some factual points to keep in mind:
\- There is a big difference between peak and average bandwidth, and it's very
specific to the protocol what defines acceptable performance. This applies to
every upstream provider, not just ISPs.
\- Bandwidth providers (ISPs, ISP's ISPs, etc.) are often in the business of
speculating on demand. Simply put, this means that they preorder bandwidth
that they expect to be adequate for the peak and average bandwidth demanded by
their downstream nodes.
\- The characteristics of bandwidth demand are a function of the protocols in
use and random variation. QoS is used to create a graceful fallback when there
is not quite enough bandwidth to route all traffic instantly. Optimal QoS
settings are a function of the protocols being used by downstream nodes. It is
not guaranteed that every network congestion situation can be mitigated by QoS
without a desegregation in service to someone downstream. This applies to ISPs
as well as upstream providers.
\- So aside from the google => bing scenario everyone pretends is worrisome,
in reality what would happen is that removing net neutrality would allow for
bandwidth speculators (ISPs and everyone upstream) to make smarter longer-term
deals which required less extra bandwidth. This is analogous to an improved
financial instrument to make longer-term thinking (and longer-term deals)
possible, with less uncertainty about demand, etc. For example, a startup
could offer a 4K streaming service by negotiating a deal with ISPs to ensure
high quality. See the next point for an example of why this matters.
\- Services with heavy demand such as youtube are not vulnerable to QoS
(except for the google=>bing dystopia). Why7? Because there is extremely
predictable demand. If you are an ISP and your upstream provider offers you
discounted bandwidth for youtube only traffic, you can safely make that
decision for the medium/long term because you know youtube is infrastructure
and your customers are going to use it. This predictability creates the
incentive for firms to add fiber links and capacity between youtube and ISPs
so that customers get high quality video without slowdowns at peak times. Note
that Youtube encouraged this competition between ISPs by having an ISP ratings
page a few years back.
\- For services like Tor or BitTorrent, there may be increased fees for
residential circuits that require those services, because they will
opportunistically use up any available bandwidth. This doesn't really fit the
residential pricing model that is arbitraged by ISPs, and is more akin to a
business level circuit. If the protocols become more widespread then that will
change, and it will be included in the profile of residential data.
In conclusion, net neutrality limits the ability of firms to offer long term
deals. It's why we don't see things like $4.99/month youtube only data plans
or $1.99/month email only plans. Sure you may think that all users should
subsidize those running tor or bt nodes, but that's really more of an extreme
position.
Also, it would probably be better for privacy if protocols like Tor and BT
started to be more indistinguishable from regular residential traffic.
~~~
dragonwriter
> "Neutral" just means using some QoS setting that someone thought was "fair".
No, it doesn't. The Open Internet Order doesn't dictate any particular "QoS
setting".
> While the alarmists predict that all google.com requests would be redirected
> to bing
No, they don't, they predict that prioritization of ISP-preferred (either
first-party or because of payment to the ISP, often for exclusive preference
in a category) will result in degradation of service to competing services and
squeeze out competition, particularly for services like internet telephony and
video streaming, where ISPs are often first-party providers.
No one, or nearly so, has predicted redirection of the type you describe;
that's a strawman.
~~~
prostoalex
> prioritization of ISP-preferred (either first-party or because of payment to
> the ISP, often for exclusive preference in a category) will result in
> degradation of service to competing services
Currently the payment to ISP is conveniently handled by the CDN industry. They
pay the ISP for the privilege to place a server rack or two in the ISP's data
centers, and then charge customers for speedier delivery of their content to
the subscribers of that particular ISP.
So what is the change that's being protested here?
~~~
grandalf
This is a great point.
------
Shivetya
Honestly I am not worried, I am pretty sure one or more carriers will attempt
to capitalize on the restricted or limited offerings from other carriers to
move the market in the right direction.
by offering bound services the carriers are only going to increase users
appetite for more and they will have to open the gates as the carriers will
not have access to exclusive content that requires a data connection. those
that offer unfettered access will win subscribers to their cell service and
those that do not will adapt or just take what they can get.
would I like to see a bit of pressure from the FCC, sure but I would like to
see the market work. the carriers for the most part cannot deliver bandwidth
reliably but this will push them to get better
------
jimmywanger
This is fearmongering at its greatest.
He goes from "Companies can pay for competitive advantage" and cites a S1
which is not backed by evidence, and jumps to the conclusion that the free net
is over.
Somebody had some column inches left to fill or a click quota left
unfulfilled.
~~~
aptwebapps
> This is fearmongering at its greatest.
That's some pretty extreme hyperbole.
> He goes from "Companies can pay for competitive advantage" and cites a S1
> which is not backed by evidence, and jumps to the conclusion that the free
> net is over.
The IPO story was merely illustrative. He's basing his argument on what he
sees happening in the market today and the changing regulatory climate.
> Somebody had some column inches left to fill or a click quota left
> unfulfilled.
He's not a journalist. He's a (very successful) VC and that is his blog.
|
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Show HN: Community ASCII Wall using Socket.io for Real Time Updates - andrewmunsell
http://blog.andrewmunsell.com/post/30012142975/wall-of-text-experiment-with-node-js
======
andrewmunsell
I just built a wall of text app using Node.JS and Socket.io... It's just sort
of an experiment and break for me, but let me know what you think.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
}
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Help my startup pick a new logo - axiom
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LPRWKT5
======
jskopek
Hey guys
As an employee at Top Hat Monocle, I hope I can answer some of the questions
that have been brought up:
We started out as an iphone gaming company, but did a 180 shift very early on
and are now in the process of relaunching the company as an education software
company.
One of the goals with the logo redesign was to retain the quirkiness of the
name (it's been scoring very well among our current users), but we want to
shift the focus more towards the icon, for a couple of reasons:
\- we want to be able to use the logo on stationary, tshirts, the product,
application icons
\- we're targeting the academic market
\- it gives us a lot more flexibility with how we name our products in the
future
Thanks for all the feedback! It's all incredibly helpful
~~~
angelbob
_it's been scoring very well among our current users_
Sampling bias at its best :-)
------
alabut
It depends on what the rest of the site design is as well - it's hard to judge
the logo in isolation. It's the same concept as pairing wines with cheese.
For example, A is the most neutral and could go well with a modern layout, G
is minimal while still having an old school flourish and can match up with a
similar design if the designer had the chops to pull it off, and the rest are
bit crowded and overdone, which means they probably wouldn't sit well in a
cluttered interface but could look good if they were showcased on a simple
site.
------
tomkarlo
Ah, the lazyweb at it's best.
Have you thought about a rename? That's a hell of a mouthful for a company
that's not the result of some kind of international M&A event.
------
peteysd
It would help to know what your business name is, and what your business does.
Otherwise there is nothing to base a decision on, other than "it's pretty."
~~~
Frazzydee
I'm guessing this is the startup: <http://tophatmonocle.com/>
"Top Hat Monocle develops mobile applications for the Apple iPhone with focus
on games and interactive applications."
------
dirtbox
Being honest, I'm not particularly enamoured by any of those in the main link
or singularly any in the second.
I'd probably go for the hat in this:
<http://99designs.com/designs/3702194-original> Combined with the monocle and
text placement in this: <http://99designs.com/designs/3682895-original>
Although not with those particular fonts. Something deco and 20's would be
nice. Cicle or even Futura would work at the right weights.
------
dwohlfahrt
Man, only if <http://www.modernballots.com> (from this thread earlier today ->
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1115385>) supported images (or better
yet, some kind of web markup, i.e. textile) as "candidates" this would make
for a great use of the site, seeing as I don't love or hate any of the logos
and would find giving each a star rating much more appropriate.
bradbeattie, i hope you're reading this thread :)
~~~
bradbeattie
Styling needs a bit of work, but textile is up and running. See
<http://modernballots.com/photo/vote> as an example. Enjoy!
------
asolove
Design isn't merely taste. That you can't immediately rule out half of them
says you don't really know what you want the logo to convey. Some of these
logos say "playfully campy," some "serious" and some "5 year old with
clipart." We can help pick which achieves any particular goal, but you better
start by being sure about the goal.
~~~
axiom
Ah, good point. If you look at the brief at 99designs it does a better job of
explaining what we're going for. <http://99designs.com/contests/36804>
But I'd say "playfully campy" is a pretty good summary :)
------
petesalty
My criteria for this is always can I print it on a t-shirt in one color (i.e.
black ink on white t-shirt in this case). If it works on t-shirts it works on
business cards, stickers, etc. Keeps it simple and keeps promo items cost down
in the early days.
So in short B (that's how I voted).
------
angelbob
The grayscale one will give you fits when/if you need to use cheap printing in
black and white.
Similarly, the ones with a lot of fiddly detail will be harder to render well
on paper.
------
yesimahuman
I would suggest the ones that don't look like sperms :)
------
bayleo
Given no other information I think I prefer (c).
~~~
pbhjpbhj
(f) for me but it depends on how you intend to fit it in the design, (f) is a
bit tall.
Also I'd call it "Top Hat & Monocle" as I think this flows better, turn the
cord into an ampersand.
------
axiom
Also: <http://99designs.com/contests/36804>
~~~
uptown
I'd go with this one instead: [http://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/logo-
shiny-tech-st...](http://99designs.com/logo-design/contests/logo-shiny-tech-
startup-36804/entries/83) Just modify the text so it's not 3D, and the other
elements so they translate well to a black & white printing without the need
for shading.
------
fnid2
i dont know what it is, so i don't know. is it a pharmacy or a search engine?
|
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Ask HN: Why is Google so bad at UI Design? - vuyani
Have you ever looked at a google product and thought.why thats a nicely designed product? I doubt many of you have. I just want to get an understanding, from a company that attracts the best talent. Why are they still producing such underwhelming designs?
======
adocracy
The Marissa Mayer effect still lingering? And a culture of data proofs over
creative experimentation? So it's not that the UI is bad - is just
stereotypically "Google" and has been homogenized to emphasize technical
features over customer delight. A better question is why customer service
capabilities have lagged so significantly.
------
bengunnink
Why are you assuming that everyone agrees with you? Maybe we reject your
premise.
------
RmzH
Simplicity
~~~
vuyani
Simplicity maybe...but elegant? no
------
bshef
Troll harder
~~~
vuyani
Im not sure what you mean here?
|
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Tales from Comcast’s data cap nation: Can the meter be trusted? - jonbaer
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/09/tales-from-comcasts-data-cap-nation-can-the-meter-be-trusted/?href=
======
Cpoll
> (Note: there are 24 hours in a standard Earth day.)
Obvious, but unfortunately irrelevant, since you can run multiple instances of
Netflix simultaneously.
Accidentally leave it auto-playing some long series and it's not hard to
believe that you might actually be watching 33hrs a day.
|
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JAI Primer: A Programming Language for Games - tasoeur
https://sites.google.com/site/jailanguageprimer/
======
AlexeyBrin
_As of this writing there are no public compilers for Jai, so all information
in this text is collated from Jon Blow 's YouTube videos. _
Until the language is actually released, at least in an alpha version, writing
a tutorial is just speculation. Anything can change in the actual language
implementation.
That being said, the author initiative is laudable if you don't want to watch
a few hours of Youtube videos.
~~~
candeira
I have a friend who writes a lot of C++ code for signal processing, software
sound synthesis mainly.
Watching Jon Blow's videos I could tell this was something my friend would be
interested in, because the problem space is very similar: you need realtime
performance, can't afford even the slightest garbage collection pause, etc.
However, I could not tell my friend "go watch videos for six hours".
Thanks to Jorge Rodríguez, I can email my friend a document that will take him
less than half an hour to read.
~~~
nephewtom
This is what Jon Blow said about C++ on Twitter:
[[https://twitter.com/jonathan_blow/status/561371202350878720](https://twitter.com/jonathan_blow/status/561371202350878720)]
"If you want to never get any work done, use a programming language like this:
[https://isocpp.org/blog/2012/11/universal-references-
in-c11-...](https://isocpp.org/blog/2012/11/universal-references-in-c11-scott-
meyers) "
I used to enjoy programming in C++, even though I always thought it was too
complex. Too many things to learn and too many approaches. For example, I
never could grasp template-meta-programming thing. May be I didn't dedicated
enough time, but that's the point. If it takes so much time to learn the
language and its complexities, you have much less time to program "things"
with it.
------
kabdib
Rule of thumb for doing a programming language: Write the debugger first. Or
at least, very, very early. This will inform you of poor choices you've made,
and you're going to need a debugger anyway.
~~~
cheepin
What poor choices are revealed by writing a debugger in particular?
At this point, he compiles Jai to C, and the compiler isn't too gigantic yet,
so there's not a huge surface area to look for compiler bugs.
~~~
humanrebar
> What poor choices are revealed by writing a debugger in particular?
Well, for one, you can't just transpile to ANSI C, compile, and end up with
sensible debug symbols in your binary. You'll end up with debug symbols for
the C code, not the original language. So you end up writing in one language
and debugging in another. This is one reason most new languages target LLVM.
~~~
sanxiyn
Compiling to C with #line directive actually gives a good enough debugging
experience, similar to compiling to JavaScript with source map. This is _much_
easier than generating debug info, even with LLVM.
~~~
pcwalton
I don't think it's good enough. You can't inspect variables, types will be
wrong, any namespacing you're doing will leak into the debugger, single step
won't give you the right semantics unless your language is extremely close to
C, gdb pretty printing won't know how to print your language's values, etc.
Backtraces will sort of work (although the name mangling will leak through),
but little else will. You really need to generate DWARF directly in your
frontend in order to have an acceptable debugging experience.
------
imron
I love the idea of seamlessly switching between AoS and SoA for data types.
~~~
unwind
For those who don't follow, the acronyms mean "array of structures" vs
"structure of arrays". These are two orthohonal ways to represent data, both
of which have advantages which make them attractive. Being able to switch the
same data around between the two is cool and innovative.
------
DoctorZeus
The #run directive addresses some major pain points for me. Is there anything
analogous in other languages?
~~~
adrusi
Yeah, similar constructs exist in D and Nim.
I don't know well enough how they compare to give any thorough analysis,
though.
~~~
renox
I don't know what Nim do but AFAIK in D you're (voluntarily) limited in what
you can do at compile time because in effect with Jai compiling a program is
running it, so this can have security implications..
------
eigenbom
I'm excited for Jai, and if it ever makes it out into the world I look forward
to building some games with it.
However, I just see C++ continuing to get better and better for games
programming. The recent appearance of the Core Guidelines [1] (and the
eventual codified form for compilers) will be a huge leap. I wish we had full
#run-type control over the compile phase, but full constexpr support is a step
of the way there.
1\.
[https://github.com/isocpp/CppCoreGuidelines/blob/master/CppC...](https://github.com/isocpp/CppCoreGuidelines/blob/master/CppCoreGuidelines.md)
------
vvanders
Aside from the aos/soa I feel like Rust hits a lot of the same points.
Nice to see #run similar to elixir macros.
~~~
Hemospectrum
Yep, a lot of people have noticed that. He's mentioned Rust in a few of his
videos (and the compiler devs are always taking notes about his grievances)
but he doesn't seem interested in working with the Rust community in any way.
He considers Rust too ideologically opinionated to be of use to him.
~~~
PopeOfNope
> He considers Rust too ideologically opinionated to be of use to him.
He's not wrong. The rust community approaches everything from the standpoint
that we should be forcing devs to code in a particular way because safety.
What I like about Blow is that, so far, he's big into giving the dev options
along with some (completely optional) syntactic sugar. The focus is on
functionality, not ideology.
~~~
pcwalton
> The rust community approaches everything from the standpoint that we should
> be forcing devs to code in a particular way because safety
No, I'd actually be perfectly fine allowing the safety features to be turned
off, and have suggested it several times. Nobody has seemed particularly
interested, though, because what people tend to find is that safety ends up
being good for _productivity_ as well.
~~~
sanxiyn
I don't think that's entirely true. We had many people interested in turning
off bound checks with compile option, but it was rejected.
~~~
pjmlp
Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
My favorite Hoare quote given at his ACM award speech in 1980, referring to
his work in Algol during the late 60's:
"Many years later we asked our customers whether they wished us to provide an
option to switch off these checks in the interests of efficiency on production
runs. Unanimously, they urged us not to - they already knew how frequently
subscript errors occur on production runs where failure to detect them could
be disastrous. I note with fear and horror that even in 1980, language
designers and users have not learned this lesson. In any respectable branch of
engineering, failure to observe such elementary precautions would have long
been against the law."
~~~
erikpukinskis
In Jai it is easy to, for example, have bounds checks on during the entire
development process to aid in finding bugs, then turn off bounds checks in a
dozen critical loops for testing and release, then turn bounds checking on in
one loop that still proved crash-y.
Blow has said many times: he doesn't think the language should be prevent you
from shooting yourself in the foot, because sometimes that means preventing
you from doing what you want to do.
He usually asks: what is something simple we can do that will give us 90% of
the benefit, without adding a layer of overhead. Rather than Rust's "Safe All
The Things!" approach, bounds checking is just another tool you can use or not
use as is appropriate for the context.
~~~
agentultra
Most Common Lisp implementations, for what it's worth, take this approach as
well. For tight loops where you've removed the invariants and proved its
bounds removing the run-time checks can give a non-trivial performance boost
to production systems.
~~~
zurn
If you mean the (speed 3 safety 0), it's more in line with pcwalton's idea to
have a switch for generally turning off safety checks, not just bounds checks
- because the other checks typically affect performance more.
~~~
steveklabnik
Most of the checks affect compile time performance in a minor way, but also
have no runtime overhead. The borrow checker is an entirely compile-time
thing, for example.
------
jjaredsimpson
Watching him occasionally stream his sessions shows me that what he is doing
is just funzies.
His tooling is so far behind anything all other languages have that I would
never bother to learn this language, because it was "for games."
If I wanted to make a game I would learn any engine using any number of
language bindings.
~~~
adrusi
He's been working on this project mostly alone for only a few months, how can
you possibly expect the tooling to be on par with anything else.
There's a reason it's not released.
And it's great that you can just pick up an engine, but someone's gotta write
that engine, and there's a reason triple a studios aren't using unity for
major releases; you'll never get quite as good performance out of a general
purpose engine as you would from a custom one.
~~~
cheepin
Hearthstone (by Blizzard) is a Unity game, not that performance is a huge
concern for card games. It's a pretty thin client mainly for displaying the
animations/artwork while most of the logic runs serverside.
Still, it's a very profitable game by a triple A company.
~~~
learc83
Hearthstone isn't what anyone would normally call a AAA game though. Until the
end of the beta they only had 15 employees working on it.
They basically had to use an established engine because they didn't have the
budget to build their own.
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Microsoft: Windows Phone 7 to be GSM-only until first half of 2011 - gspyrou
http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/16/microsoft-windows-phone-7-to-be-gsm-only-until-first-half-of-20/
======
byoung2
_Product manager Greg Sullivan told CNET that trade-offs had to be made in
order to meet the schedule and GSM was prioritized since it's used worldwide_
Good luck with that...I have a feeling that WP7 is not going to be that
competitive in a worldwide market where Nokia still dominates, and Apple is
creeping in. In the US, how many WP7 phones will they sell on AT&T when they
have to compete with iPhone? In the meantime, Verizon and Sprint customers
whose contracts are expiring between now and the "first half of 2011" are
going to re-up with shiny new Android phones that are bound to be out by the
holidays and they'll be off the market until 2013.
|
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Show HN: Linuxify – Transform the MacOS CLI into a GNU/Linux CLI Experience - fabiomaia
https://github.com/fabiomaia/linuxify
======
danieldk
I use Nix[1] as my package manager on macOS with home-manager[2]. Since Nix
puts nix paths before OS paths and doesn't prefix GNU commands with 'g', I
just install _coreutils_ and others:
[https://github.com/danieldk/nix-
home/blob/a7ddc5acf260552f73...](https://github.com/danieldk/nix-
home/blob/a7ddc5acf260552f737700795252905ca64f4214/machines/macbook.nix#L20)
The nice thing is that the system state is never mutated, you can just remove
these lines from the configuration, run _home-manager switch_ and you are back
to the standard macOS userland.
You could also only use GNU userland in specific projects by putting a
_default.nix_ file in the project's directory and using dirvenv. _cd_ to
_myproject_ and you have a GNU userland, _cd_ out of _myproject_ and you are
back to the macOS userland.
[1] [https://nixos.org/nix/](https://nixos.org/nix/)
[2] [https://github.com/rycee/home-manager](https://github.com/rycee/home-
manager)
------
noobermin
One of the things I suppose I still couldn't get used to was just how BSD-
ish[0] tools differ from GNU tools. One of the things that drove me mad was
having forgotten a switch and having to move back to the beginning of the line
to add it again. Perhaps it was just me learning to be sloppy with GNU
userland but it was hard and it'd always be a fresh breath of air to use Linux
again.
Moreover, when things break, it's easy to fix. When things break on Mac, it's
a black box. Trying to find help online is also equally frustrating. Getting
help for linux issues is usually easy and informative, for example, forum
posts and answers on stackoverflow-likes are detailed and generally
explanatory, in which it seems like the intent is for both the askee and
answerer are looking for "why" and not just "what". MacOS answers are always
"copy and paste this" and half of them are obviously just plug and play or
have bits that have accrued like gibberish extras in a game of telephone. Even
blogposts are like this!
[0] I assume it's BSD-ish, but I wouldn't know because I've never used it.
Moreover, openssh's tools act like this which catch me from time to time.
~~~
badrabbit
Everyone(new to bsd tools) is annoyed by that. This will get me many downvotes
but the BSD community embraces elitism,this is part of that "if you can't be
bothered to learn your shell's shortcuts to move to the desired position
immediately then you're not elite enough for bsd" or something on that line...
~~~
asveikau
I don't know if it's elitism, but I would say using *bsds over the years has
made me embrace minimalism a bit, and write shell scripts that make fewer
assumptions and work in more places. There is value in that, I think.
I still prefer gnu make though.
~~~
fabiomaia
I'm interested, can you elaborate on how your shell scripts now make fewer
assumptions?
And why do you prefer GNU make specifically?
------
joshuamcginnis
Alternatively, provide a Brewfile (`brew bundle dump`) and let users edit and
install (`brew bundle`) themselves.
~~~
dcreemer
thanks -- now I know about `brew bundle` and `mas`
~~~
ChristianBundy
Cool, people are still using Brewfiles!
I hacked it together over a few hours and all of my original code has been
completely replaced (and moved to its own repo, no less), but it's really cool
to see people still using that feature.
------
otherflavors
They lost me at " replacing pre-installed BSD programs..."
~~~
teilo
Very bad idea, and one that will cause a lot of breakage. There’s a reason
every package management system on Mac uses its own prefix.
~~~
sigfubar
What are you talking about? I've been using a similar homegrown setup for many
years and never had any issues. In fact, I've come to appreciate being able to
write directly on my Mac shell scripts destined to run on Linux boxen in
production.
~~~
fabiomaia
I had a similar goal I guess: make my dotfiles, scripts and workflow the same
across macOS and Linux. :)
------
mschuster91
@OP I'd suggest mentioning the Homebrew dependency or automatically using
macports if available. IIRC all the packages you install from brew are also
working in macports.
------
zuttton
For people to rich to afford just installing linux..
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Ask HN: Recommendation for Books on Startups? - nishantmodak
What are the books on startups that you would recommend as a must read for an aspiring entrepreneur?
======
hga
_Walking the High-Tech High Wire: The Technical Entrepreneur's Guide to
Running a Successful Enterprise_ by David Adamson,
[http://www.amazon.com/Walking-High-Tech-High-Wire-
Entreprene...](http://www.amazon.com/Walking-High-Tech-High-Wire-
Entrepreneurs/dp/0070004684/)
The best tech startup book I've read, by a founder of a company that came up
with a unique semiconductor device. They had to create their market (it had
great advantages but they had to convince EEs to do something unconventional),
they had to discover what made them money (selling parts or services
(consulting)), etc.
If your company is going to have a lot of people and has repeatable processes
(i.e. you're not developing software) _The E-Myth_ by Michael Gerber or I
suppose its revision (which I haven't read): [http://www.amazon.com/E-Myth-
Revisited-Small-Businesses-Abou...](http://www.amazon.com/E-Myth-Revisited-
Small-Businesses-About/dp/0887307280/)
He suggests that you build up any company of this nature as if you're going to
franchise it.
He also has a _lot_ of other good advice; one that comes to mind is to make
sure that there's a head for every "hat", i.e. make sure every critical
function is the responsibility of _someone_ , don't let anything fall through
the cracks simply because of oversight.
At the other end of the spectrum, it's no accident that Robert X. Cringely's
_Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions,
Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can't Get a Date_ is still in print:
[http://www.amazon.com/Accidental-Empires-Silicon-Millions-
Co...](http://www.amazon.com/Accidental-Empires-Silicon-Millions-
Competition/dp/0887308554/)
Read/skim it if for nothing else but the lesson of how Intel, after it had
gotten quite big almost died due to the innocent well intentioned actions of
one man. He makes the point that high tech companies, even if they enter the
Fortune 500, aren't like "normal" ones.
There's the conceit that when a company gets big enough, no one person can
kill it. His example is only one of many you can find where screwing up at the
technical level can with frightening speed put a high tech company on a
terminal path (see the recent "When the elves leave Middle Earth" HN item for
another example of this: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1007750>).
------
ScottWhigham
What are you looking for? That is, IMO, too broad of a question for me/us to
give anything more than broad suggestions. Are you looking for inspirational
stories? War stories? How to? Legal and "how to form a corporation"? There are
great books in probably 20 different areas but you need the right ones at the
right time to get the most out of them IMO.
------
mfalcon
I think "Getting Real"(<http://gettingreal.37signals.com/toc.php>) is an
excellent book.
I can't remember another one, but as someone previously said, articles, posts
and discussions are better resources of information about it.
------
csomar
I read <http://www.foundersatwork.com> and it was not really bad. However I
prefer to read articles and discussions about startups; I think they are the
best resource of information.
------
sutro
"Startup" by Jerry Kaplan. [http://www.amazon.com/Startup-Silicon-Adventure-
Jerry-Kaplan...](http://www.amazon.com/Startup-Silicon-Adventure-Jerry-
Kaplan/dp/0140257314)
------
chaosmachine
You're probably already aware of it, but Founders at Work is worth a read.
<http://www.foundersatwork.com/>
------
Caligula
My personal favorite and one that I wish I read before I started:
the four steps to the epiphany
|
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NASA Is Having a Conference Tomorrow Regarding Latest Kepler Discovery - uxcn
http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-hosts-media-teleconference-to-announce-latest-kepler-discoveries
======
a3n
Any significance to a guy from SETI being in the conference?
~~~
rossdavidh
Could be something to do with the Stephen Hawking announcement of lots of
money going towards SETI? Perhaps Kepler/NASA is announcing what they're doing
as part of that.
Or, you know, aliens have contacted us. But probably the Hawking thing.
~~~
a3n
It must be hard to be associated with SETI.
"911, what's the nature of your emergency?"
"Well, we're here at the SETI Institute, and -"
"What, SETI? Are they here? What should we send? All of it?"
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The disappearance of salesmen explains America's economic woes - aarghh
http://www.slate.com/id/2268122/
======
Muzza
Praise be to FSM, think of all the productive workers this has freed up! (I
kid... Sorta)
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Remind HN: Unicode hacks - olalonde
Just a friendly reminder that some Unicode characters[1] look like spaces and should be taken into account when writing filtering/trimming functions. Of course it's not a big deal but something to keep in mind to prevent stuff like usernames who are basically a bunch of spaces.<p>[1] http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/chars/spaces.html
======
tptacek
This is a classic web security problem; most famously, WinAPI systems have a
"flattening" function that would convert things like PRIME U+2032 into ASCII
0x27 (the tick that terminates SQL statements). Database engines can also
interpret character sets differently than the rest of the app stack, leading
to similar problems. UTF-7 cursed Wordpress for something like a year in which
multiple preauth SQL injection flaws were discovered.
The answer to these problems is whitelist filtering and neutralization; if a
character isn't known-safe, substitute its HTML entity alternative. If you're
writing blacklist filters that need to know what spaces are, you're already
playing to lose.
~~~
perlgeek
Sorry, whitelisting isn't the answer to SQL injection - bind parameters are.
With bind parameters you can pass data out of band, and the DB engine never
tries to parse it as SQL.
~~~
tptacek
I wasn't trying to be prescriptive about SQL injection. But, it always skeeves
me out when people knee-jerk out "parameterized queries" as the answer to SQL
injection. Yes, they're better and safer and you should use them wherever you
can. But they don't "solve" SQL injection; for instance, there are query
fragments that can't be parameterized (which is why you still find SQL
injection in sortable table headers and in pagination and in custom query
builders).
Be careful.
------
olalonde
Seems like Twitter is "vulnerable" to U+00A0 tweets:
<http://twitter.com/#!/olivierll/status/7852651047817216>
For those who are wondering, you can type Unicode codes directly from your
keyboard (Ubuntu: Ctrl-Shift-u, other OS:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_input>)
~~~
Bootvis
A more innocent trick with unicode and twitter is squeezing extra characters
in a tweet by using unicode ligatures:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_precomposed_Latin_chara...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_precomposed_Latin_characters_in_Unicode#Ligatures)
Unfortunately the amount of ligatures is small but it might come in handy.
------
VMG
Interesting - just tested it in python and everything is removed with
str.strip(), _except_ "\ufeff", which also has zero width.
>>> print("\ufeff#")
#
>>> print(len("\ufeff#".strip()))
2
------
olalonde
For more details on the potential visual spoofs:
<http://unicode.org/reports/tr36/#visual_spoofing>
------
stwe
There are also other unicode hacks like changing text direction (U+200F).
~~~
stwe
It used to have funny effects on websites (browser name in title bar spelled
backwards), but it doesn't seem to work now. The above comment contains the
unicode character three times.
------
citricsquid
~~~
citricsquid
Seems ALT+0173 works here as a "blank" character. I'm not sure of its exact
purpose, but I've never seen it dealt with and often use it as "nothing". The
only solution I've seen to properly sanitising Unicode characters is just to
disable them entirely and print their name.
~~~
alanh
If you break my “typographer’s quotes” by overzealously sanitizing when you
don’t absolutely need to, you’ll end up 6' under a † if you know what I mean.
;-)
|
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Encryption doesn't stop the FBI - ZainRiz
https://theintercept.com/2015/09/28/hacking/
======
pearlsteinj
I think this title is a little misleading. The article says nothing about the
FBI's ability to beat encryption, just that they have more success with
keyloggers and backdoors than they're willing to admit. Encryption used
correctly is still able to "stop the FBI".
------
AdmiralAsshat
Title is rather clickbaity, and the article itself has little to do with
encryption so much as going _around_ encryption.
In short, it can be summarized with the following XKCD:
[https://xkcd.com/538/](https://xkcd.com/538/)
|
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Americans were never excited about space exploration. - mchanson
http://si.academia.edu/RogerLaunius/Papers/93299/_Public_Opinion_Polls_and_Perceptions_of_US_Human_Spaceflight
======
prosa
This is an interesting study, but I found the HN title to be misleading. Here
are the bullets from the concluding paragraph:
* The American public has long held generally positive attitudes toward the space program, but is not very familiar with its details.
* Over the history of the space age, an average of more than 60 percent of those polled rated the job done by NASA as either ‘‘excellent’’ or ‘‘good.’’
* Most Americans have shown support for space exploration and view it as important over the years, but also believe that federal money could be better spent on other programs.
* Most are also in favor of NASA as an organization, but are relatively unfamiliar with the majority of its activities and objectives.
* These polls also suggest historically close relationships between public perceptions of NASA and spaceflight depictions in popular culture, especially film. These images from popular culture, coupledwith real-world accomplishments in spaceflight, work together to create powerful visions affecting the public consciousness.
------
anigbrowl
What a superb paper! thanks for posting this, I learned a good deal from it. I
was _astonished_ by figure 15, showing that although NASA,s budget has
historically been about 1% of the total federal budget, the general public
simply has _no idea_ , with 15%+ of the public (in the 1990s) thinking that
NASA consumes 50% or more of total federal spending. WTF.
------
WiseWeasel
It's a shame the data only seems to be available up to 1997 for the study. For
those curious how recent private space initiatives have impacted these
numbers, here are a couple more recent data points I could find:
[http://www.gallup.com/poll/121736/majority-americans-say-
spa...](http://www.gallup.com/poll/121736/majority-americans-say-space-
program-costs-justified.aspx)
[http://www.people-press.org/2011/07/05/majority-sees-u-s-
lea...](http://www.people-press.org/2011/07/05/majority-sees-u-s-leadership-
in-space-as-essential/)
[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/gen...](http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/general_lifestyle/july_2011/50_say_space_shuttle_program_worth_what_it_cost_taxpayers)
|
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Xbox Architecture - timeoperator
https://www.copetti.org/projects/consoles/xbox/
======
joezydeco
Bunnie Huang’s _Hacking The Xbox_ is a great read, and it’s available as a
free ebook:
[https://bunniefoo.com/nostarch/HackingTheXbox_Free.pdf](https://bunniefoo.com/nostarch/HackingTheXbox_Free.pdf)
------
TeaDude
I know nothing about the actual underlying architecture but from the
(credible) sources I've heard from apparently it's a really nice API hiding an
absolutely unholy mess and that's why emulation has been so poor for so long.
~~~
elcomet
If the API is nice, shouldn't the emulation be easy ? Since the emulator
doesn't have to care about security / hacks.
Or do you mean that the API only nice in theory, but is actually not nice in
practice (lot of undocumented corner cases, or bugs, that games might rely on)
?
~~~
TeaDude
I have no idea about the specifics but from what I've heard developers really
liked the XBOX (despite it's unholy internals) so I'd say the API was actually
nice.
As for HLE based on the API it's definitely possible but there's probably tons
of nasty corner cases and that's my theory on why it's never been done. That
and the chance of games with their own proprietary APIs existing and thus they
won't work with that solution.
------
saagarjha
I'm just looking at the motherboard layout at the very top of the article, and
it's really strange to my non-expert eyes. The CPU is off to one side, and the
_GPU_ is the thing in the middle. And the SDRAM is all split up and far away
from the CPU! Is this some sort of game-console specific thing?
~~~
phire
The xbox (like many consoles, n64, gamecube, xbox360, wii, wii u, xbox one,
ps4, switch ps5, XSX) has unified memory, as in the CPU and GPU share the same
sdram.
The only way to do this is to have one chip (It's always the GPU. The GPU
needs more memory bandwidth) connected directly to the dram, and the second
chip (CPU) has to send memory requests to the second chip.
Though, this console dates to a time when CPUs didn't typically have dram
controllers onboard. PCs usually relied on a northbridge chip to have the dram
controllers, along with the routing to all peripherals (PCI/AGP) and present a
nice tidy Front-side-bus that the CPU understands. In the case of the xbox,
the GPU is acting as a combined Northbridge/GPU (a design that was common at
the time in low-cost desktops and laptops)
Unified memory has a large number of advantages for consoles. It lowers cost.
It gets rid of copying delays between GPU and CPU memory and it allows the
game developer to dynamically allocate memory to the GPU or CPU depending on
their needs.
~~~
fulafel
Why would it be impossible to have >1 chip access the SDRAM? Like Amiga did.
Especially if the GPU already had custom silicon for it.
Whether it would be good engineering (cost, time to market, risks) is of
course another issue.
~~~
rasz
Amiga worked exactly the same way. All memory access to the so called "Chip"
ram had to go thru Agnus. CPU address lines didnt touch ram chips directly.
CPU was just a passenger riding on the back of powerful GPU.
[https://www.pmsoft.nl/amiga/A500-block-
diagram.jpg](https://www.pmsoft.nl/amiga/A500-block-diagram.jpg)
~~~
fulafel
Notice the data bus is shared but the address bus is not in the pic. So there
was arbitration by Agnus but the data didn't go through it.
~~~
rasz
Low level implementation detail. Agnus is the memory controller here, handling
refresh and addressing. Block diagram tristate latch (74LS244 & 74LS373 in
real hardware) should be considered part of the chipset (controlled by Gary).
Take away Agnus(or even Gary) and CPU cant do anything, cant really say there
is any ">1 chip access the SDRAM" here. We would have to go back all the way
to C64 to say cpu and graphic chip share same sdram bus ~equally.
------
person_of_color
For the Xbox 360, they ditched Intel and went for PowerPC. Microsoft then
bought a bunch of PPC Mac Pros from Apple for development since they shared
the same ISA :D
~~~
messe
That entire generation of consoles, the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii (and then
arguably the Wii U) were all some form of PowerPC.
The following generation though everything switched to more commodity
hardware, with the PS4 and Xbox One using x86_64 processors and the Switch
using an almost off-the-shelf SoC from nvidia.
EDIT: Gamecube was also PPC.
------
walrus01
I still remember the "Xbox is HUGE" jokes from 2001.
~~~
crazysim
Fun fact: The PS5 is huger than the Xbox!
------
loa_in_
> It is speculated that Microsoft may have left that code from prototype/debug
> units, so for the purposes of his research (possibly accidental, since this
> block exposes the types algorithms that Microsoft applied). In conclusion,
> this was considered garbage code [...]
I can't parse this excerpt
~~~
flipacholas
Fixed, thanks
------
MayeulC
A few tidbits not included in the article:
* Some emulator do exists. The earlier attempts were just API translation layers that work a bit like wine: translate the function calls to native system APIs on windows. As time went, tricks and workarounds were piling up, especially as some games used lower level HW functionality (writing in registers, etc), which provided difficult to emulate, and game executables had to be patched, thus making the emulators a collection of special cases. Such emulators include Xenia, Cxbx (and derivatives such as shogun's version, dxbx, etc).
* More recently, efforts turned to low-level emulation, with complete emulation of the Xbox GPU, using a codebase derived from QEMU: XQEMU, and more recently XEMU (mborgeson's fork, focused on trying less-proven tricks and workarounds to maximize compatibility). Both are being developed in the open (XQEMU's development process might be slightly more open), and reverse-engineering is ongoing.
* There is also an ongoing effort to port ReactOS to both the Xbox and XQEMU (probably using the official nvidia NV2A driver): [https://reactos.org/wiki/Install_ReactOS_on_Xbox](https://reactos.org/wiki/Install_ReactOS_on_Xbox)
* Big names (among others) on the emulation scene: mborgeson, JayfoxRox, Espes, Shogun
* Bunnie Huang’s _Hacking The Xbox_ was mentioned by another commenter, but _17 Mistakes Microsoft Made in the Xbox Security System_ is also an interesting read about working around the Xbox security mechanisms: [https://xboxdevwiki.net/17_Mistakes_Microsoft_Made_in_the_Xb...](https://xboxdevwiki.net/17_Mistakes_Microsoft_Made_in_the_Xbox_Security_System)
* I cannot stress enough how [https://xboxdevwiki.net/](https://xboxdevwiki.net/) is a great resource for information. Other links: [https://xqemu.com/](https://xqemu.com/) [https://github.com/xqemu/xqemu/](https://github.com/xqemu/xqemu/) [https://xemu.app/](https://xemu.app/) [https://github.com/mborgerson/xemu/wiki#content-top](https://github.com/mborgerson/xemu/wiki#content-top) [https://shogun3d-cxbx.blogspot.com/](https://shogun3d-cxbx.blogspot.com/)
* There is a big discord community, some rooms are bridged with IRC on freenode, I also bridged #xqemu on Matrix: [https://xboxdevwiki.net/Main_Page/Header](https://xboxdevwiki.net/Main_Page/Header)
------
transpute
Xbox One architecture talk (2019):
[https://www.platformsecuritysummit.com/2019/speaker/chen/](https://www.platformsecuritysummit.com/2019/speaker/chen/)
_> Every game console since the first Atari was more or less designed to
prevent the piracy of games and yet every single game console has been
successfully modified to enable piracy. However, this trend has come to an
end. Both the Xbox One and the PS4 have now been on the market for close to 6
years, without hackers being able to crack the system to enable piracy or
cheating. This is the first time in history that game consoles have lasted
this long without being cracked to enable piracy. In this talk, we will
discuss how we achieved this for the Xbox One. We will first describe the Xbox
security design goals and why it needs to guard against hardware attacks,
followed by descriptions of the hardware and software architecture to keep the
Xbox secure. This includes details about the custom SoC we built with AMD and
how we addressed the fact that all data read from flash, the hard drive, and
even DRAM cannot be trusted. We will also discuss the corresponding software
changes we made to keep the system and the games secure._
~~~
vmception
Well this is false.
But I can say that I became disinterested in piracy when they made getting
games more convenient than piracy. When they made using the hardware closer to
its full potential part of the default experience. When they got the pricing
right for these “premium” but pretty basic features. And of course, personally
having the disposable income to afford the content because I would have never
been a customer when I was pirating, only an unpaid evangelist of the
franchise.
~~~
jariel
"And of course, personally having the disposable income to afford the content"
I think this is most of the story.
I mean, it's fun to hack, but a lot of people's ideology about a lot of things
go out the window as soon as they have a regular job and can afford to buy
regular stuff and see these things as pretty much regular products and
services.
~~~
vmception
Where I would disagree is when I think about Xbox and PS2, they had hardware
to be media centers. They had compelling region locked content that just
couldn't be used. Hacking any of that meant hacking all of that, and now you
could also download games which was faster and more convenient than going to
the store. And play Japanese games you couldn't get anyway.
Future generations of consoles made that default behavior, and games are
released in multiple continents at the same time with their respective
localization. American flagship games are now more appealing and engaging than
their Japanese counterparts.
Its not just the money.
~~~
m4rtink
More importantly they no longer do the stupid region locking & on the Switch
for example you can even buy digital games from other countries eshops.
|
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Python Verbel Expressions - regex for people who don't know regex - gdilla
https://github.com/VerbalExpressions/PythonVerbalExpressions
======
pagekicker
maybe()
|
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Museums from around the world. - franze
http://googleartproject.com
======
riseart
The cameras they use on this project are absolutely incredible. If you know
what you are looking for, you can really gain a new appreciation for works.
The only two downsides I have seen with this project and ArtFinder is that 1.
They seem to focus on Modern Art and earlier, and are really weak on
contemporary challenging artists. Meaning you can't really interact with
artists you read about at Frieze etc. and 2. I still find it hard to just get
pleasantly lost in the work - Quite often it is a chore to discover things you
actually care about, and the "fun" of wandering around a museum wears off
quite quickly. would love to hear people's thoughts.
|
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|
Swissquote Go: a game from a Swiss bank that lets people “catch” shares for free - MasterScrat
https://www.swissquote.ch/sqw-static/marketing/swissquote-go/en/
======
MasterScrat
Full disclosure: I work there, didn't work in this project. I definitely find
it cool though ;-)
|
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|
The Money Letter That Every Parent Should Write - pavornyoh
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/18/your-money/the-money-letter-that-every-parent-should-write.html?ref=business&_r=0
======
fefifofu
This article and the book is exactly what's wrong with personal finance
education. There is no special wisdom, clever tricks or golden rules in
finance. Chicken soup for the soul won't help.
Personal finance should be taught as a math problem. Figure out the cost of
the lifestyle you want, and work backwards from there. If your fancy house,
car, and dinners out cost $100,000 then you can figure out if your choices
make sense... does you career choice match up? does taking on school debt make
sense? etc.
Or if you are older and made these life choices already and make $50,000, your
math problem is a bit different. Does the honda or tesla fit? You can very
easily see if credit card interest of 20% will help or hurt you achieve your
goals/lifestyle if you do the math.
None of this generic "avoid debt" or "house are the best investment" (garbage)
advice helps and only confuses the matter. I think the only area that has more
confusion and bad advice than personal finance is nutrition. In the letter,
grandma says "go for a fixed rate mortgage"... what!?
~~~
jpatokal
> You can very easily see if credit card interest of 20% will help or hurt you
> achieve your goals/lifestyle if you do the math.
Is there _any_ scenario where paying 20% interest on credit card debt (or,
rather, getting into a scenario that requires that) would help you achieve
your financial goals?
~~~
fwn
Don't know about "financial goals", but goals: If your utility gain from the
20% interest is lower than the utility gain from the instant availability of
that money.
I can think of various situations where, if there were no better products
available, this might end up making sense.
------
sandworm101
A good letter if you are a middle-class household without any real problems.
But that american dream isn't applicable to everyone.
I'd write a very different letter for a family struggling with one or more
dependant/disabled family members. There, conventional saving can be difficult
but also dangerous. A big pile of money or other assets can too easily be
attached or lost to a horrible situation.
I'd also write a very different letter for wealthy families. For them, asset
protection is far more important than savings. They often spend more energy
dissociating themselves from their wealth via trusts and other tax-efficient
games than they do actually building savings.
~~~
OscarCunningham
>I'd also write a very different letter for wealthy families. For them, asset
protection is far more important than savings. They often spend more energy
dissociating themselves from their wealth via trusts and other tax-efficient
games than they do actually building savings.
I've always found it weird that so many rich people think this way. They
should be _less_ risk averse then other people. If you're rich then you should
make yourself a safety net and chase a high risk-reward strategy with the rest
of your money.
~~~
gnaritas
> If you're rich then you should make yourself a safety net and chase a high
> risk-reward strategy with the rest of your money.
If you're rich you don't need to chase rewards, certainly not risky ones;
you've already won and can relax and do whatever you want without worrying
about whether it rewards or not. That is the point of being rich, getting to
do what you want rather than what other people want.
~~~
sandworm101
I don't think it is so much not trying to earn, but being rich allows you to
take advantage of investments that normal people wouldn't or couldn't
consider. If you are not rich then you need ready access to your investments.
You might need the money one day. A rich person can instead invest in less
liquid concepts such as private equity or offshore havens.
~~~
DasIch
That you have that advantage isn't all that interesting. In the end it's not
your income that matters, it's your happiness and these two things don't have
a proportional relationship.
If you're rich, you don't gain more happiness as you gain more income. So the
only thing you really care about in regards to your income, is that it doesn't
drop low enough to affect your happiness.
~~~
sokoloff
Many of the rich care about power and influence, so aren't likely to take
their foot off the gas and coast, content to merely protect a high passive
income.
Like many of us, I'm a 2-3 percenter. I care about building wealth for my
family, giving my kids a solid financial footing, etc. If I had $10MM in
assets (enough to passively generate a 99th percentile income), I don't think
I'd only be worried about protecting income.
~~~
gnaritas
> Many of the rich care about power and influence
I'd wager most don't. Sure, some do, but they're a minority.
> If I had $10MM in assets (enough to passively generate a 99th percentile
> income), I don't think I'd only be worried about protecting income.
But you won't know until you do, anything you say now is merely a guess that's
likely wrong. Once you have a work free income, odds are your evaluation of
its value will change drastically and you will become very protective of it
due to the freedom it provides.
------
cmurf
I think more than anything right now, the advice to give is how to avoid debt.
Savings is certainly important, but increasingly a luxury, as friends still
have school debt even as they contemplate having kids. And then think it's
normal their kids will have school debt too.
School debt is not normal. That used to be for only the classic professions:
teacher, lawyer, doctor. College was either paid for by family, by grants, or
you worked your ass off but had no debt after the undergraduate degree. Now
everyone thinks debt is sane.
If I were a parent, I'd plot with the kid how bankruptcy is part of their
normal college education. Not debt.
~~~
SolaceQuantum
As far as I understand, it is very difficult to clear student loan debt via
bankruptcy.
~~~
Clubber
It is. People came up with the same plan. I believe it was popular with
lawyers, but I could be mistaken.
Get your degree, file for bankruptcy. Since they can't take your degree away
and you have no collateral, there wasn't much they could do.
The inability to relieve debt through bankruptcy is a result of that scam.
~~~
lawpoop
Yes, it was doctors and lawyers. Get out of school, declare banktupcy on
$100+k of debt (abnormal at the time except for those degrees) and then in 7
years, start over with all the money you saved as a Junior doctor/lawyer.
------
em3rgent0rdr
How about teaching in small doses at regular intervals throughout their
growing up. Or give them tools to learn by themselves.
~~~
n72
The scary thing is that banks actually sponsor investing games to be taught in
schools, encouraging crappy habits like stock picking and trusting your gut
and such.
~~~
tominous
We had a yearly competition like that at school. The "winner" was always
someone who put all their money in one penny stock and got lucky.
A better approach is to reward the portfolio with the highest Sharpe ratio,
but even that is flawed because it ignores systemic risk and confuses
historical volatility with actual risk.
Anyway, these games teach nothing about the essential habits of delaying
gratification and living within your means. Those habits are far more likely
to make you rich (and keep you rich) than any particular investment strategy.
------
thesumofall
Never heard about the tradition of the "Money Talk" and never got one either.
Feel like it is much more worthwhile to teach kids critical and independent
thinking rather than trying to teach them principles ("invest in index funds")
that might (or might not) be all that useful a couple of years down the road.
~~~
pilom
You know what I wish my parents had taken the time to teach me? How credit
cards work, how student loans work, and why I should max my 401k. Yes all of
those things could change with legislation, but I'd be much much better off
knowing those 3 things when I graduated high school than when I finally
figured them out years after graduating college.
~~~
MrFoof
I never got much of a talk, yet every time I did, I questioned my parents'
rationale and savvy. It was simultaneously both an epiphany and a dark moment
when in your early teenage years you realize you are unquestionably smarter
than your parents.
Here is what I was told:
* The value of your home doubles about every 7 years. I was told this in 1994. I then asked if my father's salary doubled every 7 years. I was immediately grounded and sent to my room.
* I was told to, without question, borrow money for the best college I could. When I asked on how I would pay that back, the question was dodged.
* How much money to save? Never came up. 401K? My parents didn't have one. Credit card interest? I was told to get it as low as I could -- but never told to avoid it.
* We always seemed to buy new cars. We had a basement full of junk. Seemed to be a nice setup for a guy working at a landfill and a stay at home mom in a city that had been in non-stop decline since the end of World War II.
I ended up going against my parents' advice. Something that got me kicked out
of the house, for refusing to borrow 150% of their homes' value (I got a
scholarship, but far from a free ride) with my own future money I hadn't yet
earned, to attend Carnegie Mellon (and instead taking a job to pay for state
school, which I ended up leaving after 3 semesters). When the dot-com bubble
was about to burst. Result?
At age 22 I moved back in with my parents. Not because I needed help, but
because they tapped their savings after Dad was unemployed for 6 months,
despite unemployment insurance, and desperately needed help (and I wasn't
giving them a handout while also renting my own apartment). I was the only
person in the immediate family that had a decent job. This was exasperated by
the fact they took a huge HELOC (at 10.5%) to help my sister pay to attend
Cornell, an offer that wasn't extended to me, but was now burying them alive.
They had to help my sister because she dropped BioChem for Psych, which for 2
years hadn't yet landed her anything better than working at a Hollywood Video
store.
I ended up giving them the third degree. Their books I forced open. So much
credit card debt (nothing insane, but significant, and lots paid in interest).
So much garbage. So much useless crap. ZERO ever saved in a 401K (it wasn't
until 7 years ago that I forced my father's hand on contributing to one).
Virtually no savings to draw on. Never mind the extreme animosity considering
that I was repaying part of my sister's Ivy League schooling, in addition to
my parents' primary mortgage (not paid off after 32 years), and their health
insurance.
Crazy thing is, they were far from the biggest financial basket cases in the
neighborhood.
~~~
seanp2k2
I grew up in a similar situation, though not as dire. I definitely had to
figure this stuff out for myself, and because of my own lack of research
combined with memories of when my father basically lost what they had called
my college fund picking stocks in the 90s (he thought things like Ricochet and
wireless ISPs were the future...thanks dad, maybe 20 years early with the
wrong players in the wrong country), I ended up not recognizing a great
options opportunity at my company and contributing nothing to it for 2 years
before our stock price increased roughly 15x (basically, I would have been a
millionaire like some my other coworkers now are).
We also had the "houses are always a good investment" bit of advice, despite
living in a much smaller house in a much crappier town than we could afford.
They're currently back at about mid-90s levels value wise, and my family did a
horrible job of maintaining our home, so the value is actually less now. This
covers basically what happened:
[http://infographics.economist.com/2015/uscitieshpi_11_2015/?...](http://infographics.economist.com/2015/uscitieshpi_11_2015/?n=21011894/2014/02/daily-
chart-18&w=595)
Needless to say, getting out a few years back was the best decision I could
have made for my life and career in tech.
If you're a parent considering writing one of these letters, how can you fact-
check yourself to ensure that you're not giving your children a huge
disadvantage with terrible advice? I personally learned a lot from
Investopedia and from messing around with Bitcoin in the early days (another
opportunity where I could have made tens of thousands of dollars had I hung
onto the 20BTC or so I had mined instead of selling them for $12/btc, happy to
have paid for a new GPU I got just for the task).
~~~
lostlogin
> I ended up not recognizing a great options opportunity at my company and
> contributing nothing to it for 2 years before our stock price increased
> roughly 15x (basically, I would have been a millionaire like some my other
> coworkers now are).
I'm unclear - is this your parents' fault?
~~~
phkahler
>> I'm unclear - is this your parents' fault?
No, it's hindsight and regret. It's funny because it would be similar to
picking that stock, yet the same poster says his parents lost a lot by picking
stocks so apparently that's a bad idea. It's easy to get confused about that
when "you worked there" as if that automatically should have given you insider
information about a 15x increase in the stock price. No, picking individual
stocks is not usually a good idea and Enron taught the lesson about investing
in your employer - if they go down you have no income and no savings.
------
rectang
"Dear kid: The 'American Dream' is a myth. Its purpose is to flatter the rich
that they are virtuous."
------
Zelmor
I do double-bookkeeping on every expense in GnuCash. One of the best decisions
I did in my 20s was not to go to bed without hitting in those couple numbers
into the computer. Elliminated a lot of stress in my life, and made me more
savings oriented. My parents never talked to me about money. Reading The
Richest Man in Babylon did the magic instead. Check it out, even if just the
wiki article. It is worth its weight in gold-pressed latinum.
------
ericfrenkiel
A modern - and superior - option would be a mobile application that could
provide ongoing and reinforced instruction to the child.
As a millennial, we're probably the last generation to learn how to write a
letter in elementary school (as well as how to use the Dewey Decimal system to
find a book in library), yet even I find the concept of writing a letter silly
and more about nostalgia for the parent than the child who will probably
wonder why you just didn't use email or IM.
After reading this article, I'd rather have the couple minutes back in my life
than trying to wonder why applying archaic communication to perennial concepts
suddenly makes it relevant for the NY Times to cover.
~~~
pilsetnieks
> A modern - and superior - option would be a mobile application that could
> provide ongoing and reinforced instruction to the child.
Reminds me of the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer of Neal Stephenson's Diamond
Age.
~~~
angersock
And now imagine you're the company providing that, including _very_ subtle
advertising!
So much profits. :)
~~~
nitrogen
Isn't that the approximate definition of Disney?
------
n72
In the same vein, as a kind of adjunct to my will, I recently put up a memo on
github to be given to the beneficiaries and trustees of my estate, when it
should come to that.
[https://github.com/nickgieschen/investingguidelines](https://github.com/nickgieschen/investingguidelines)
Feedback welcome.
~~~
hluska
I have two pieces of feedback.
1.) The letter itself is excellent and full of great advice.
2.) I especially love that you open it up with "Hello from beyond the grave.
Nice work - you've not only convinced me to write my own similar letter, but
you've also given me a great template to follow.
Thanks!
------
m-i-l
In my case I did see good examples set by my parents - although their
frugality was a little too severe for my liking (they had come from poor
backgrounds and grown up during wartime rationing), they did have plenty of
good advice like never borrowing money except where doing so can generate a
greater return than the debt (e.g. often a mortgage, or making the most of
interest free credit for things you have money for and have to buy anyway).
But there were some things that they didn't know about, because for example
their generation didn't buy stocks and shares, and had a pension provided by
the state. So there are many things I've had to learn the hard way, in some
cases too late to get the most benefit. For example, I bought a lot of BP
shares on 15 April 2010. That was 5 days before Deepwater Horizon, which not
even the world's best financial experts could have predicted. After decades of
investing in individual stocks that's when I finally realised that investing
in individual stocks is too much of a gamble, and began investing in things
like index trackers instead.
I've actually been making notes over the years, initially to help crystallise
what I've learned in my mind, but possibly also pass on to my children. It's
things I'd have liked to have heard from a trusted source myself a long time
ago. So while I hadn't heard of the practice of either a money talk or a money
letter, I might consider it now. Judging by the other comments I might be one
of the few people here who thinks this is a good idea. But it would be
alongside the usual practising what you preach, given that the best way to
teach is by example, and that education is continuous.
------
srtjstjsj
Thin submarine PR advertising for a book, not honest enough to put it in the
title.
------
somethingsimple
In the same vein, and my favorite, is Jim Collins' "How I failed my daughter
and a simple path to wealth":
[http://jlcollinsnh.com/2011/06/08/how-i-failed-my-
daughter-a...](http://jlcollinsnh.com/2011/06/08/how-i-failed-my-daughter-and-
a-simple-path-to-wealth/)
------
ktzar
In most EU countries the letter you'd need to write is very different since,
as long as you have a decent job, you'll get a decent pension which will allow
you to live comfortably as long as you own property by the time you retire.
Reading some of those letters made me realise how different risks families
have and take in the US and the EU.
~~~
sheepleherd
These things have changed dramatically in the last couple generations, in
Europe and in the US, and Asia. I would caution you against thinking that
things will stay as they are. Hell, I'd caution you against thinking things
actually are the way they seem to be.
------
a_small_island
So she kept a letter and ended up writing a book about it? What if the letter
was just made up so she could write a book?
~~~
geerlingguy
Sounds a wee bit like 'Rich Dad, Poor Dad'. Probably not helpful to someone
who understands personal finance reasonably well, and wants to pass on that
knowledge to their heirs... but that said, don't throw out the baby with the
bathwater—all of these self-help-with-a-little-finance books are better than
nothing, since most people (at least in the US) have little or no financial
education.
------
eeeeeeeeeeeee
I've always been curious about how best to approach this with children. My
parents hid all their money problems from us because they didn't want to freak
us out. On one hand, I respect this discipline. On the other hand, I feel it
allows kids to grow up without knowing how important it is to budget. I think
I would rather know the truth, even if it freaked me out because it allows
kids to have a distorted view of money and there will be a huge wakeup call
when they become an adult.
------
LoSboccacc
you know what? this is utter bullshit. lived by this advice for 30 years or
so, stashed a good amount of money, then the storm came, and I lost 90% of it
in a very rough year.
if I hadn't that, I could have had access to welfare. instead, working hard
and saving money put me squarely in the 'have to spend for everything' class,
without any benefit.
so here's the advice letter I'm gonna write to my gc:
hide everything. dodge as much as you can without breaking the letter of the
law. go find the most skilled practitioner in tax evasion and have them hide
whatever you earn so much you can qualify for welfare, free tuition, college
scholarships for low income family for your children etc.
being middle class sucks.
------
13of40
Huh- I clicked that with a little sense of doom that it would just be a list
of ways I've screwed myself financially. Turns out I've been doing most of
what's on the list.
|
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Show HN: K8s Gatekeeper Policy Manager, Easily Visualize Policies and Violations - jnardiello
https://blog.sighup.io/announcing-gatekeeper-policy-manager/
======
arez
looks nice, I don't want to hijack this post, but does anyone know a software
that shows a GUI to manage OPA policies that are not OPA Gatekeeper ones?
~~~
jnardiello
No worries, this is a simple web-based UI - maybe you want to check out a more
complete solution like Styra?
~~~
arez
hmm, might be what I'm looking for, I'm just turned off by the "Give us a call
and request a demo website"
~~~
jnardiello
don't! I happen to know them in person: they are super nice and super
knowledgable!
|
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|
How to crash Erlang - mbrubeck
http://prog21.dadgum.com/43.html
======
mononcqc
quoting myself from reddit:
About atoms: "calling integer_to_list and then list_to_atom on the current
loop index."
There is a function called 'list_to_existing_atom' done to circumvent that.
Note that each atom is only 4 bytes (8 bytes in a 64bit system) and you have
to use several hundred of thousands of them for it to be problematic. As long
as you don't dynamically create atoms from user input, it's not a problem.
Point 2 about 'process leaks' is valid, but fixable by the programmer again.
Just make sure processes can die, or create a pool (what servers like mochiweb
and YAWS do, as far as I know).
Flooding a mailbox has bitten lots of people in the ass, and is even a problem
in the default settings of the OTP logger. Lots of people have gotten problems
with the selective pattern match making their app die (too much in, not enough
out). It's probably the biggest menace for an Erlang VM because it mainly
becomes apparent under heavy load, which is sometimes harder to simulate and
test for.
As for the binary problem, a general behavior causing the problem is that when
you split a large binary, the fragments are just references to the big one
until the process dies. So using these can often mean you'll mess up the
reference counting. A work-around for that is to call a variation of
"list_to_binary(binary_to_list(Bin))" which will allocate the binary as a new
one separate from the large one.
Erlang definitely has problems, but to crash the VM with them takes some kind
of mistake or lack of awareness on the programmer's side. I'm not writing this
to contradict James Hague (he's one of the bloggers I like the most), just
thought I'd complete/comment.
------
noss
> Now that's a loaded title, and I know some people will > immediately see it
> as a personal slam on Erlang or > ammunition for berating the language in
> various forums.
Instead, this is actually a quite good discriminator for those that understand
high availability programming in Erlang and those that do not.
E.g. Erlang is about programming in the presence of failure, not about having
eliminated everything that could possibly fail.
|
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|
Word Lens for Google Glass - jf
http://blog.questvisual.com/post/67443954608/an-eye-towards-the-future-with-word-lens-theres
======
andrewljohnson
1) I remember the original post. Word Lens lit up #1 on Hacker News for an
impressive amount of time:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2014555](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2014555)
2) Looks like jf did the original submission too, I wonder if he knows a Word
Lens founder.
3) I like the forward-looking embrace of Google Glass. It's such a futuristic
thing to have shades that translate for you. Your phone is essentially a
babelfish already - how long before you can buy an auto-translating bluetooth
headset?
~~~
veemjeem
jf does know the word lens founder, but then many people here in the bay area
also know Octavio -- he's a super cool "always positive" person. You'd
probably like him if you met him.
~~~
andrewljohnson
I don't mean it in a harsh way, I just noted it because I noticed.
When I saw this submission, I tried to Google to find the original post. When
I couldn't find it, I thought to click the OP's name, to see if they had
submitted the link.
If the word lens founder told jf to post this, that doesn't bother me, and I
don't consider either party unethical. It's just interesting to think about
how social news works.
~~~
jf
Otavio didn't know about HN when he released Word Lens, so I posted it here
for him and made him make an account so he could reply to people in the
comments.
Ever since then, he's asked me to announce their new products here for him, so
I do ...
~~~
hnriot
how does a san francisco game developer _not_ know of hn...
------
mrinterweb
Word Lens is amazing software, but from my experience with it, its results are
frequently more confusing than trying to decipher the foreign language on your
own. Word Lens shines when you are using it on text that is large, on a plain
background, in good lighting, and a recognized font. If one or more of those
conditions are not met, your results will likely be less than satisfactory.
For example, trying to use Word Lens to read most restaurant menus is usually
not productive, in my experience. I love the spirit of the software and what
it is trying to accomplish. I just don't feel that it is yet useful for
translating most of the text you may be trying to read.
A good companion to Word Lens is the Google Translate app. I found the Google
Translate app was much more accurate when I took pictures of text that I
wanted translated. The downside to the Google Translate app is that it
requires a data connection which can be tricky when traveling in another
country.
~~~
eru
On Android you can cache the whole `dictionary'. It takes in the order of 1
GiB per language pair.
~~~
mrinterweb
That is fantastic. I'll need to try that. I wish I knew that a couple weeks
ago.
------
swalsh
Oh man, this is great. I have the World lens app for the ipad, i didn't have
an iphone when I was in France... so I was "that guy" holding an ipad up in
public. My wife tried to distance herself from me :D
The app is not perfect, it does a word for word translation, so sometimes its
a bit weird. However most of the time its good enough, and it is surprisingly
flexible with different signs. It definitely saved me from eating some things
i'm just not adventurous enough to try :D
------
jeremydw
I just downloaded it to Glass and tried it out. The UI is nice, and very
simple. You say "OK Glass, translate this" and then you point your face (the
camera) at some text (there's a bounding box on the display that you put the
text into).
You need to hold your head still, and then the software expands the bounding
box to the full size of the screen. Everything I've described so far happens
very quickly, and then slowly some of the words on the screen are translated
and replaced in place. The lighting in my room is not very bright, and so far
I've been unable to get full sentences to translate (just words, and just for
a moment until I move my head a little), but I suspect it'd work better in
high contrast situations (out in the sun, block text, etc.)
Tapping the side of Glass lets you switch between to/from English/Spanish.
Edit: Last thing, IMO, the largest downside to the UX right now is that when
you move your face (even a tiny bit) the in-place translation disappears and
you need to hold your face steady again to get the translation to appear. This
would obviously make it pretty difficult to use in a real world situation
(like, if you're walking outside – you'd need to stop and hold very still to
translate a sign) but it's still super cool.
~~~
otaviogood
Word Lens needs a lot of light. If there isn't enough light, the scene will
have noise and motion blur. That's bad for the OCR algorithms. The camera also
makes a huge difference. As cameras get more sensitive, the noise and motion
blur are reduced. That has been our experience working with Word Lens over the
years.
------
physcab
I actually might buy Google Glass just to have this app when I travel. It's
the perfect app for Glass. I just hope Google can take away the auditory cues
of "Ok glass, do this...". I should be able to just turn on Glass, steady my
head, and get the translation.
~~~
bhups
You already can.
For those that have Glass, if you wake the screen, it gets you to "ok glass",
tap again, scroll through the options until you get to "Translate".
Edit: More generally, any "Ok Glass..." action can be triggered this way.
------
seliopou
I forgot that Google Glass existed.
I'm not saying that to be smart. I actually read the headline and caught
myself in the middle of asking myself, What's Google Glass? Am I the only one,
or what? I guess people just haven't been talking about it lately or
something. Weird.
~~~
dannyr
Actually, it is possible that something exists even if you don't know or talk
about it.
/sarcasm
------
vlad
This must have been the app I saw at Super Happy Dev House in 2009 or 2010,
because it was secret at the time. I remember the creator was a really nice
guy and this is a great idea.
~~~
otaviogood
Yes, this is the same app I was showing to people at Super Happy Dev House
pretty much the whole way through the development process. I'm a big fan of
SHDH. So many creative people.
------
tobyjsullivan
I like the idea of this. I'm curious how well it'll actually work in practice.
Will the Glass camera require you to hold everything up to your face?
~~~
dag11
Actually, since the camera currently has no ability to focus (fixed to
infinity), it only works well for large type far away. It works best with
large signage.
~~~
hnriot
in my experience, the type of text that meets these criteria is nearly always
in english, or doesn't need translation - like street signs, airport signs,
bill boards etc. Translation should really be "lookup in my language" \- I
should be able to lookup with something on a menu says, and what it means, for
example. This is where things like Word Lens fails, it just does a word-for-
word translation. Take hors d'oeuvres, as an example, translates (word for
word) as "out work", which is very unhelpful. There are times when i'd like
something that looks at a MWE and tells me what it is, no matter what language
it was written in. Like Google does.
------
danellis
I feel like I'm missing something obvious here, but how do I actually get
this?
|
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|
18 years of tech disruption in 60 seconds - DyslexicAtheist
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tawdk1wr5f54dk0/18Yrs-Tech-Disruption-60Seconds.mp4
======
DyslexicAtheist
data source: [https://www.interbrand.com/](https://www.interbrand.com/)
method: [https://www.interbrand.com/best-brands/best-global-
brands/me...](https://www.interbrand.com/best-brands/best-global-
brands/methodology/)
|
{
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
}
|
Debunking C# vs C++ Performance - nreece
http://journal.stuffwithstuff.com/2009/01/03/debunking-c-vs-c-performance/
======
jd
Debunk misses the point of original article. It was a cache performance test.
You'd expect almost identical performance in C# and C++ for the reasons the
original author explained.
Original author responds:
[http://systematicgaming.wordpress.com/2009/01/04/performance...](http://systematicgaming.wordpress.com/2009/01/04/performance-
c-vs-c-revisted/)
------
vyrotek
agreed :)
|
{
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|
404 page that lets visitors express themselves - admp
http://leftlogic.com/info/articles/404
======
ck2
Ah I thought it was going to be a feedback form - which would be a good idea.
------
jawns
I've seen a lot of creative 404 pages. Some of them are intended to have some
extra utility. This one, on the other hand, is intended to be merely novel and
fun. And I'd say it succeeds. I especially like that it shares some other
pictures that have been created.
------
antidoh
If I am directly getting the 404 page, and I receive it, then shouldn't the
status code be 200?
curl -I http://leftlogic.com/info/articles/404
HTTP/1.1 404 Page not found
Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2012 12:45:07 GMT
Server: Apache/1.3.37 (Unix) DAV/1.0.3 mod_gzip/1.3.26.1a PHP/5.4.0
X-Powered-By: PHP/5.4.0
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/html
But it _was_ found.
~~~
pestaa
There is no resource on that endpoint so nothing was really found. It is
merely arbitrary that applications redirect you to a preconfigured URL to show
that error.
~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
Yes. Returning content for error pages is normal. The status code indicates
this isn't what was expected, but doesn't say you can't produce some other
content along with it.
------
ftwinnovations
A page discussing creative 404s giving me a 502 (where I can _not_ express
myself, no less!) is just too delicious.
~~~
ipeefreely
I love that. Worked for me though. Cool idea. I wonder if it increased
engagement.
------
Jakob
Ironically, now their servers are overloaded because too many people wanted to
see their error 404 page.
~~~
octagonal
I wonder, for every vote on a submission here, how many people actually visit
the link?
------
hnriot
How completely pointless. If I stop by my local hardware store looking for
some paint and its closed, then find a little sketch pad where I can draw a
picture to express myself if think this was the most stupid thing I've seen
all year. What is is this, kindergarten?
------
laserDinosaur
Finally!
|
{
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}
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Ask HN: We have an app. Now what's our niche? - ehsanul
The website: http://jellly.com/<p>Many web apps are heavily dependant on network effects, and are completely useless without a decent user base already in place. When faced with this issue, the common wisdom is to target a small niche at first. Over time, you can branch out to other users. There are many examples of this, such as Facebook starting with just Harvard students for example.<p>The strategy makes a lot of sense, but the question is what niche should one choose? In our particular case, we need to sign up people who browse many of the same web pages. This is necessary because our app, Jellly, is meant to suggest related links as users browse the web, so there better be other users who saw some of the same web pages earlier and already suggested related links.<p>The “hacker” niche, as represented by this community, may be a good choice here, but I’m not sure. We had thought about targeting bloggers, as they are often all looking at the same blog posts and articles; they provide free marketing and they could get into an app like this (it’s much better than using track-backs for sure), and they’d be happy to get some traffic out of it too by linking their own posts to other relevant stuff on Jellly. But the overall blogosphere is huge; the target needs to be more focused than that at first. Hacker-bloggers?<p>To better understand Jellly and our problem, you could take a peek at our FAQ. It may be more instructive though to see the crappy demo app I threw together in a few hours for our (failed) YC application, as long as you don't consider it to be characteristic of the actual app. It really just demonstrates how it might work for finding content: http://prettyobscure.jellly.com/
======
javery
I think it's a very interesting idea, but I definitely see your problem of how
to get initial content. I think a good niche would be programmers of a certain
language, maybe ruby, javascript (or even just jQuery). Try to hire a couple
of the more popular bloggers in the space to start seeding it with data and
promoting it some and I think it would take off. If I was looking at a certain
rails plugin it would be really interesting to see a list of links to
tutorials for that plugin as well as some competing plugins that I should
checkout.
~~~
blalajah
I agree with you. Programmers and bloggers are definitely the way to go.
------
AmberShah
Do you have any beta sign ups? If there is a recurring theme that might make
it easy to select a niche. Another thing you can do is select a niche, any
niche, that you are already active in, like gaming or cooking or something
like that.
Hacker bloggers is not a bad place to start if you are already active on HN
and other places. The only thing I would caution is that hackers tend to be
much more critical than the average person. Like some are willing to be early
adopters but others expect everything to be perfect. Expect to hear a lot of
"You should fix this bug/implement that feature - it should be EASY!" I think
that tech-savvy but non-hacker people might be more open to "Is this useful?"
discussions.
As a side note I find your logo to be really unclear. Honestly I think you
should change it if you want it to really catch on, but if you're not willing
to do that, then you might put "jellli.com" text underneath it.
~~~
ehsanul
We just started telling people about the site two days back via
Facebook/StumbleUpon and I guess HN now, and we have just above 40 signups so
far. Conversion is pretty low, but that's expected without any real content.
Need to fix that, add the demo perhaps. Part of asking what stuff people are
into is to try to find a recurring theme, so I totally agree about that.
I think your comments about hackers are on target mostly, but I don't mind the
criticism. It's really better than having friends tell you how great what you
made is.
The logo was not worked on too much, and I'm not exactly good with graphic
design. I'm definitely going to get a professional to redo it in the future.
I'm not sure it would make a huge difference to whether people sign up for
beta, but I can see how it might.
------
kes
I'm going to take a leap here, but I'm pretty sure that -- on the internet --
hacker/blogger/programmer/designers are not a 'niche'. There are numerous
communities for all of these people. Instead you should focus on groups of
people who have a hard time connecting. There are plenty of communities that
have no real internet equivalent. A small list of actual niches:
\- UrbEx (Urban Exploration) \- Board Game Enthusiasts \- Cooking (This could
be a big one. Food blogs are really popular, but disconnected.)
There are a lot of people out there, and if you can focus on long-term user
acquisition (which rules out the 'try every new thing and then drop it a month
later' tech crowd), you'll be a lot happier.
~~~
ehsanul
Very interesting. I think it would be difficult to help create an internet
presence for those who don't already have some, whether in a community or not.
But in the case of disconnected blogs and other content, where a presence does
exist, there may be great potential to help unify all the bits spread all over
the web. I'll look into this more, but I may have a hard time finding
appropriate niches.
By "niche", I had really meant a group of like-minded people. There may be a
more appropriate word. I don't want to stick to a particular niche forever,
but expand to all possible topics eventually. The "niche" is just required to
make sure there are network effects. People who try a new thing every other
month are ok with me, as long as they help bring in others who are more likely
to stay. Besides, some tools are rarely dropped by the tech crowd if they are
truly useful, and I would hope that my application fell into that category.
------
javery
Site - <http://jellly.com/>
Demo App - <http://prettyobscure.jellly.com/>
clicky clickable links
------
fezzl
I think that it's a great idea. One thing that I'd like to comment on:
crowdsourcing > algorithms, especially with social going mainstream now.
The demo was great, but I much prefer that it's a bookmarklet instead of an
inline frame. "Related sites" is not something that I need to see all the
time, and it takes away vertical screen real estate, which can be annoying to
some users. If you're set on using a widget, use the side of the screen to
maybe house a button, expandable on click.
~~~
ehsanul
I agree about crowdsourcing > algorithms, obviously.
Yeah, I'm planning to have a bookmarklet, iframe and browser extension UIs all
available. The final UI is in no way set, and probably won't look exactly like
the demo. Lots of people don't know how bookmarklets work, but they'd know how
to use the toolbar. And many people are wary of installing extensions still,
so a web-only version is good to have. Only problem is the confusion having
multiple interfaces may cause some people. Will have to A/B test and see.
BTW, do make sure you sign up, haven't gotten any more signups since a while
back :-)
------
jheriko
I think you've done this backwards... problems that need solving tend to come
with their own niche - the people who want the solution.
Don't get me wrong, this is an interesting app, but I don't see a demand for
it (people are more than happy with Google mostly), and I'm curious exactly
how you'd expect to turn a profit with it as well? Adverts and mass adoption?
~~~
ehsanul
_I think you've done this backwards... problems that need solving tend to come
with their own niche - the people who want the solution._
I actually intentionally worded it backwards from the usual as a minor form of
headline bait, which failed. The app really should have broad appeal among
people who frequent the web in general. That group of people is just too
varied and spread out to help each other find links through Jellly. Hence the
need to focus on a smaller, more closely knit group.
Not all apps fit the "solve a pain point" model that paid web applications go
through. While pain killers are great money makers for sure, sometimes you
don't know you'd want to use an app till you've tried it and see why it would
be useful. These apps have a lower chance to succeed I guess, but they can be
great when they do.
I know there's nobody dying to have this service. But Twitter comes to mind as
another application that people thought was mostly useless. That is, until
some of them used it (I know most people still think it's useless, but many
obviously don't).
Advertising fits perfectly here, since the service is there for relevant
links. The advertising would consist of relevant text links, similar to search
ads. Mass adoption would be necessary for large profits, but I believe it's
possible to break even much earlier, using advertising networks to start
advertising early on.
------
webwright
Why not do "Hacker News Readers" as a niche?
I'm just one data point... But, while I think I grok what you're doing, I'm
not sure I grok why I should want it. When I read articles, maybe 1 out of 10
makes me want to explore further. When I do want to explore further, there's
usually a pretty natural way to do it-- the google search box in my browser.
Google uses the link graph to find stuff related to the keyword. You're
proposing to have users do it, right? The Google path doesn't seem to be
broken to me... Other than the rare time that I can't think up the right
search phrase to get good results.
~~~
blalajah
I'm sure you sometimes click on hyperlinks besides those that show up in
search results. The point is to make navigation of that manner via related
hyper-links better, which is somewhat orthogonal to search we think. Sure, you
can search and find anything, but it's not quite the same as just browsing by
clicking links.
_Google uses the link graph to find stuff related to the keyword. You're
proposing to have users do it, right?_
I'm proposing to have users create a new link-graph, separate from the web's
own inherent link graph. Keywords have nothing to do with it. :) - Looks like
my home page isn't as clear as I thought.
~~~
webwright
I'd suggest a screencast on how to use it. Is it a separate site? An add-on
that allows me to explore/suggest sites based on what I'm currently viewing?
~~~
ehsanul
I think I'll be adding my demo to the home page soon, once I polish it.
Otherwise, it can be pretty confusing.
There is probably going to be more than one way to use it, but the main way
would be a browser extension. A web toolbar is also going to be there for
people who don't like installing extensions, to get them started fast. You can
see the demo of that (only shows you how you might browse through, had no
functionality to add links): <http://prettyobscure.jellly.com/>
Let me know if it makes any more sense after trying the demo :)
------
bdickason
How about music bloggers? They generally are always looking for 'new artists
like this one' or 'new blogs like this one.'
------
iterationx
I vote for web design community. Graphic design / photoshop / ajax tutorials
are all over the place.
------
DanielStraight
Seed with Google related site search?
~~~
ehsanul
I might if that didn't suck so bad. It's probably not allowed by them anyways,
robot.txt and ToS.
~~~
notahacker
seed with something hacked out of the Delicious API... see moreofit.com for an
excellent example of what might be possible
~~~
ehsanul
Yeah, I had looked into their API before and it's a good option. Using tags to
figure out the related links could give decent results to start off with. The
results will be suboptimal though, as any automated approach would be, since
"relevance" is more complicated than simply having a few matching tags. I
hadn't seen moreofit.com before, seems to give pretty good results, so I may
have been underestimating how far you can take tag analysis.
|
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|
Analyzing the Windows 8 Metro/Desktop interface train wreck - evo_9
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/138847-the-metro-desktop-interaction-in-windows-8-is-an-absolute-train-wreck
======
gm
Gotta love these bloggers trying to make a story where there is none. It's a
new UI. It takes some getting used to. Deal with it. It's not a train wreck.
~~~
k3n
No story? Nice try MS.
It's stories like this that prevent the rest of us from wasting money on such
a POS.
~~~
s_henry_paulson
I'm two months or more into my Windows 8 experience, and I love it.
Articles like this are just spread FUD in a desperate grab for pageviews.
Windows power users will likely have no need to ever touch a metro app. The
only people that will be using Metro apps are tablet users, and the type of
users that would add gadgets to their vista toolbar thing. (your average 40
something office drone).. and for them the metro interface is great, IMHO.
It's graphically rich, and simplistic keeping the confusion levels of these
typical users to a minimum.
For the rest of us, we just work on windows the same way we always have,
except for now we have multiple task bars, and the os is faster, can mount cd
images without software, and a few other minor features that make it a
pleasure to use.
All this metro fanfare is manufactured hype.
------
macavity23
As he says in the article, _"It’s true that these issues will eventually be
fixed, the same way most of Vista’s issues were eventually fixed."_
As others have said, this is a new desktop paradigm, some bugs are to be
expected. The problem is, if it's broken on non-touch-enabled machines at
launch, as it seems to be, then a 'Windows 8 sucks' meme will spread, as it
did with Vista, and it will be very difficult for Microsoft to come back from
that before Windows 9 - by which time IOS and Android will be further
entrenched, and MS will have an even bigger hill to climb.
------
dmethvin
> But what if you want to share a story? In Desktop, I’d right-click, copy the
> URL, and send it over. Metro News doesn’t have URLs. So I go to the right
> side of the screen and choose “Share.” I have two real options — I can send
> an email, share via Facebook, or share via Twitter. If I send an email, it
> generates a link that only people with Windows 8 can read.
This seems like a general problem with trying to share non-web content inside
apps, regardless of the platform. If you're just putting an app wrapper around
web content, like the Wikipedia app, you can provide a URL. But if your app
does more than that you can't give them a web URL if there is no web
implementation.
~~~
runako
Your point makes sense, but the author is specifically talking about sharing
news stories from a news app. There may not be a Web view of the stories, but
I think it's fair to call that a major shortcoming of the news app.
|
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|
Ask HN: What factors determine app store success? - smoyer
A group of Media Effect students, under the oversight of S. Shyam Sundar (http://comm.psu.edu/people/individual/s.-shyam-sundar), is studying what factors determine whether an application is successful in app stores. Please complete the short survey at https://qtrial.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_eE6iDimiYgPLokB and watch for the publication of preliminary results in three to four weeks.<p>Thanks!
======
smoyer
Working links:
Survey - <https://qtrial.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_eE6iDimiYgPLokB>
Dr. Sundar's profile - <http://comm.psu.edu/people/individual/s.-shyam-sundar>
|
{
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|
What is the best use of a CEOs idle time? - Apane101
I don't want to hear that there is no such thing is a idle time for a CEO because frankly that isn't true in every case. There are cases when you're waiting for other parties to make their move as you've made a bunch of moves.<p>I'm at that point today, where I'm waiting for my developers to finish things up, I'm waiting for a client to get back to me about something, and I'm waiting for a prototype to be completed before I can start calling customers.<p>What do I do in this case that is a good use of time?
======
atmosx
I'm not a CEO but my current job has a lot of stress. I think a CEOs daily
workload has even more so, I'd say the most important things are:
* Exercise: Helps you 'de-compress' yourself. This is vital for anyone expected to go the long run.
* Family time: Relationship are not static. They are dynamic. You need to _put a lot of effort_ in to a relationship in various forms (patience, trust, physical work, romance, etc.). This takes time and having a healthy relationship in your personal life, helps a lot.
* Quality time: In the form of vacations, SPA, a walk with a friend, a nice dinner with a friendly interesting new couple (if you're married, etc.) or friend. Organise a nice family weekend so you can be all together.
* Self-improvement: The mind needs spiritual inputs, exactly like our body needs food (energy). I've seen people increasing their daily lives incredibly by becoming more patient, less aggressive (towards arguments) and more aggressive towards ending but habits, etc.
* Think: Thinking is an Art that very few people master. Thinking _clearly_ takes time and effort. It takes concentration and amounts of un-interrupted time. Taking your time to think _alone_ with _no distractions_ about important decisions will help you avoid mistakes that will cost you money and energy.
All these are interconnected and people have talked about them in one way or
another since (at least) ancient Greece (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle), probably
even before.
Wish you all the best & stay strong :-)
------
alexvomwald
Idle time means idle money. Think about how you would react if you were hiring
someone and that someone had "idle" time while you're paying him. If you have
investors, they expect you to do something good with your time that ultimately
multiplies their money. If you don't have investors, you are your own investor
(your time is your cost of opportunity) and you probably also want to make
your time worth.
I've been in that situation and even while it doesn't feel ideal (just the
fact of having idle time feels weird and wrong), I think its the best time to
learn new things relevant for your business. There will always be something
helpful to learn that can be useful for your business, so just try to
prioritize on what would be the most useful in the short term. There is indeed
many times idle time, but it is only idle if you keep it that way.
The easiest learning comes from reading. Keep up to date with industry trends,
read about marketing strategies, read about cases of successful and failed
companies similar to yours.
Learn to fulfill positions that are yet non-existent on your company. If you
are a small startup and you have no one doing marketing, pr or something else,
use your time to learn about it and do it yourself.
__just my thoughts from someone similar __
------
T808
I have been a CEO of a startup 2x, so my response just reflects what I've
learned is best for myself and my past companies:
* Call an existing client. Maintain the relationship. It's easy to always just focus on what's next down the pike, but the best way to get new clients is to have happy existing clients, and it's amazing how a simple call or a drink with one can make them forgive/forget the little issues that arise, or become your strongest advocate.
* Take a group of junior team members out to lunch. Again, easy to get 'head down' and rely on your exec team for insight to company morale or suggestions. But there's nothing like caring about every level of person on your team and treating them with respect and an open door policy. I have had some executives say they are uncomfortable with a CEO 'mingling' with their teams. I think that is only happening if the CEO is creating a distraction, or undermining the execs in some way (or the execs are misrepresenting or creating politics on their teams) - none of these things should happen. You should be doing more listening than talking during these outings.
* Research what's happening outside your bubble. It's easy for myopia to set in when you're working so intensively. It's good to be current and forward-thinking, and inspired by outside industries/sectors.
* Be healthy. Echo-ing other sentiment expressed before me - being physically strong helps you be mentally strong. It only takes 30minutes a day to clear your head.
* Talk to other CEOs. Whether it's YPO, old college friends, new entrepreneurs, whatever - no one understands the trials and tribulations of being a CEO other than someone who has lived it. I spent so much time focusing on what I could do for my company, I didn't think 'networking' was worthwhile. But I learned later that surviving the struggle is easier when you realize you're not alone.
------
JSeymourATL
Get outside in the fresh air, take a long walk-- & just think!
------
dqdo
I would say that the main job of any CEO or top executive is to continuously
learn and self improve. As a CEO, your job is to think strategically and with
a long-term vision. Most of the daily problems should be delegated to the
functional managers as you will be buried in work if you try to do everything
yourself. Only in situations when the rest of the company cannot figure out
themselves or when there is a lot at stake should the CEO intervene. I believe
that a sign of a good leader is someone who is able to delegate work to others
and trusts that they can get it done.
Given how fast we are moving in the world in terms of technology and business,
there are new break throughs and developments everyday that can change the
landscape of entire industries. As a CEO, your main role is to understand this
landscape and have a vision for the next 2 to 5 years in the case of
technology companies. For older and less turbulent industries this could be 5
to 10 years.
Keep in mind that what I am saying applies to companies with +100 employees.
For early stage start-ups, the CEO will have to wear multiple hats and have to
take a hands-on role otherwise the company will not have enough revenues to
survive. Once you have pass the threshold of survival (~100 employees), you
need to reorganize your company for growth. This is a difficult transition for
most start-up CEOs and the dirty little secret that VCs keep from founders is
that few founder CEOs make it through this transition.
One of the best way to ensure growth in your organization is to learn about
the ever changing world outside of it so that you can help the rest of the
organization continuously grow and thrive. One way of doing this is to look
beyond your own industry and explore how other industries are dealing with
their problems. Different industries are more advanced in different area so
use this to your advantage. You can "steal" the best ideas and use them to
improve internal operations. Remember that at this stage in your company, you
are not really building anything new. Instead you job (which is just as
difficult) is to improve on whatever already exists.
One reason why you should use your spare time to learn is that some companies
actually march towards a wall because they are too busy pursuing immediate
profits. This is the argument behind Clayten Christensen's book the
Innovator's Dilemma. It is a great book and I would highly recommend it to all
CEOs whether in start-ups or in large organizations.
------
alain94040
_I 'm waiting for a prototype to be completed before I can start calling
customers_
That sounds really bad. There has to be something you can do to line up
customers beyond waiting for a prototype. Have you pitched all the possible
customers yet? Do they all know that the next exciting step is you coming back
to show the prototype?
You have to be pro-active.
------
pskittle
find something personal to do. Call your family or loved ones. catchup with an
old friend. go out on a date. be socially relevant
------
floppydisk
Haven't been a CEO, yet, but I have worked a high stress job that involved a
lot of team coordination/leading and these were my takeaways:
Short Term:
1) If you have other business to attend to today--i.e. the customer--get out
of the office for an hour and go take a walk or read a book somewhere quiet
and private. Driving yourself batty waiting on everyone else is a fool's
errand.
2) If nothing is going to be done "today", call it a day and go home.
Seriously. Use the time to run personal errands, think, and do things that
will take your mind off of the things holding you up.
A former CEO would get real fidgety when things weren't done exactly when he
envisioned them and would then spend the next several hours frequently
checking in with us and just slow things down. If you're getting antsy about
things, the best thing you can do is take yourself out of the environment
until you calm down and not infect the rest of your team. People feed off
their leader's emotions and if you're getting fidgety they'll start getting
nervous and frustrated.
Long Term:
1) Budget in time for self-improvement. Be reading as much as you can, take up
a physically active hobby that gets you moving, and try to improve in areas of
weakness.
2) Budget work time to think and plan out the business. Bill Gates was famous
for taking thinking trips where he'd duck out for a week with a stack of
research papers and other materials to see where the industry was headed and
figure out how to get in front of it. You might have not the time to take a
week, but take a day here and there to pay attention to the trends going on
around you.
3) Know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em. Sometimes you gotta ride
herd when things aren't getting done for legitimate reasons (i.e. everyone's
clowning around). Other times, you gotta let things ride and accept that it's
not all under your control -- you can't control the server crashing,
unforeseen technical bugs, delayed client responses etc. Learn to be
comfortable with things not being under your control and not letting it
frustrate you to no end.
4) Enjoy the down time! Really. We all think we have to be hyper productive
all the time and any down time is simply a waste of our time because we could
be doing _something_. I struggle with this a lot and it makes it hard to be.
Consider having an unplanned hole in the schedule as an opportunity to take 15
minutes to clear your head--writing helps me a lot--refocus and prepare for
the next challenge. Those unplanned holes can be a lifesaver if you count them
as a blessing instead of a cost.
Edit: Grammar errors.
|
{
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SSLH – Access https and ssh from the same port - wjh_
http://www.rutschle.net/tech/sslh.shtml
======
wjh_
I've found it to be very useful, my college firewall blocks pretty much all
ports except 80 and 443. Using this I can both host websites over HTTPS, while
being able to SSH into my server.
------
pmontra
Useful when one is travelling and stops in places that insist blocking
everything but port 80. Thanks!
|
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"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Csscaffold - rapid css development framework - meddah
http://wiki.github.com/anthonyshort/csscaffold
======
timdorr
Pretty cool to make it transparent. Considering a lot of these have the model
of a compiled language, this makes it much easier for a designer to work with.
The only real problem I have is that it was made pretty heavyweight with the
framework they included.
One really cool feature would be automatic CSS sprite generation. Add a
"mixin" background-sprite, read in the image, suck up all the others as
sprites and generate the final CSS and image file.
~~~
nex3
Any CSS preprocessor is basically transparent in its native language (in this
case, PHP). The only time systems like Sass need a compile step is when
they're being used with languages other than those they're written in, or with
static CSS. Scaffold isn't transparent in these cases, since it simply doesn't
support them.
------
snitko
It's the same as LESS for Ruby: <http://lesscss.org/>
|
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Why EU startups are an incredible opportunity for US investors - davidw
http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/30/why-eu-startups-are-an-incredible-opportunity-for-us-investors/
======
johnrgrace
Or you could skip the legal and currency risk and look someplace like Chicago,
Detroit
|
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Reverse Engineering Pokemon Go - dpflan
https://blog.bugcrowd.com/big-bugs-podcast-episode-hacking-pokemon-go
======
vilda
> Most traffic is not SSL.
:(
|
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Boeing Calls for $60B in Coronavirus Aid for Aerospace Manufacturing - hindsightbias
https://aviationweek.com/aerospace/boeing-calls-60b-coronavirus-aid-aerospace-manufacturing
======
jfk13
Seems like one of the last industries that we should be offering billions in
aid. If this pandemic leads to a long-term reduction in air travel worldwide,
that'll be a benefit to the planet.
------
simonblack
When an aviation company is being run by accountants instead of being run by
aeronautical engineers it's time for that company to go under.
------
amacalac
are they going to fly the virus away?
~~~
cjbenedikt
turns out it was the virus that affected the 737 Max
|
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Good morning hackers, seeking criticism - kleevr
http://kleevr.blogspot.com/2008/04/screaming-tangent.html<p>Please rip it all to hell if you've got 5 minutes to burn. I'm young, overly ambitious, and (I hope) prepared for a taste of real criticism from those whom I hope with time to consider me a peer.
======
nuggien
What am I supposed to criticize? Your post reminds me of a time a guy asked me
to do a code review of his java hello world program. I couldn't tell if he was
f'ing with me, or if he was really seriously that much of a n00b.
------
jrockway
I see words but they don't parse into anything I can understand.
------
kleevr
(clickable) <http://kleevr.blogspot.com/2008/04/screaming-tangent.html>
|
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Show HN: AI Weekly – Hand-picked resources and news on AI in your inbox - mylittleai
http://aiweekly.co/issues/2
======
seahorse
What if there was an AI that hand-picked resources for me to read?
|
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Sass Style Guide - drinchev
http://css-tricks.com/sass-style-guide/
======
kawsper
I am a bit sad that the community seems to prefer Scss over of Sass.
But I really welcome these technologies, because anything that makes CSS more
maintainable is welcome.
~~~
jabbernotty
I thought sass and scss were the same thing.
~~~
jvzr
SCSS still uses {} and ; while SASS goes for Python-like syntax with
indentation doing most of the work. But they are the same thing and are
developed by the same guys.
------
freshyill
Nesting a maximum of three levels deep is _generally_ good practice, but don't
let that stop you from using parent references (&). This doesn't create a
longer CSS selector, even though it's technically nested deeper in the SASS.
In case what I'm saying makes no sense: <http://codepen.io/seraphzz/pen/ByEcx>
~~~
smrtinsert
Nesting should be as long as it needs to be provided the structure is semantic
and not html tags.
~~~
program247365
Yes, but also while keeping in mind best practices, for speed of rendering in
browsers:
[https://developers.google.com/speed/docs/best-
practices/rend...](https://developers.google.com/speed/docs/best-
practices/rendering#UseEfficientCSSSelectors)
See Github's slide deck on CSS performance, and what they gained by being
smart about refactoring, and how they use selectors:
<https://speakerdeck.com/jonrohan/githubs-css-performance>
~~~
smrtinsert
html based diffs might be a special case, but the report is very interesting,
thanks for the link.
------
wincent
Shameless plug: the scss-lint tool we built at Causes provides you with an
automated way of enforcing a consistent style, including a number of details
not mentioned in the original article:
<https://github.com/causes/scss-lint/>
------
bchen
Great list. I agree with most of these conventions, except the following:
> List "Regular" Styles Next
> List @include(s) Next
Depends on what the @include gives you, I would either treat @include the same
as @extend and put @include after @extend, or just treat @include as regular
styles and mix them together. The reason for this is that I generally organize
my styles by listing block styles first and then the text styles. It would
mess up this organization if all @includes that set only 1 property are listed
the last.
------
duiker101
Am I the only one that thinks css-tricks is a really ugly website? which is
kind of ironic...
~~~
mnicole
I love Chris Coyier for everything he's done for the front-end community, but
between his CSS-Tricks layouts and Codepen.io, his aesthetic is much to be
desired.
------
drivingmenuts
I generally tend to go with @extends and @includes first, followed by the
specifics for that rule. Alphabetized, because I'm that OCD about it. So,
externalities first - if you mix them in the middle of regular rules, it's
easy to overlook.
------
tsunamifury
The complexity that SCSS and Sass are demanding seems to point to a need to
abstract design elements of CSS from the complex layout engine its becoming.
Hunting through this to set fonts and colors (the original intent of CSS) is a
bit of a nightmare now. Could we solve this by creating a design only CSS
style sheet that defines the variables that plug into this more complex
system?
This way designers can tweak live code without hunting through long and
difficult to read stylesheets that point to 50?! nested objects.
~~~
crisnoble
Once you use Sass or LESS you realize that it is much much easier to update
things like colors and fonts and font sizes, since they can all become
variables. Update one line of code and all of the rules will change.
The number 50 you refer to is max number of lines of code the autor recommends
inside of a nested rule, specifically so that you don't have to dig to far in
to tweak a rule.
CSS preprocessors were scary to me at first, but I once I started digging in a
bit I realized I could never ever go back.
------
dfischer
Good stuff. I’ve been compiling a list of best practices at
<http://betterfrontend.com> – it’s open source so feel free to add your
feedback.
------
bwilliams
A lot of this was really good but I disagree with three points. You shouldn't
stop using ID's unless you have a reason to. Mixing dashes and underscores is
just ugly. And finally he calls @import after he declares his own styles which
will override anything that he just declared. That is the opposite behavior of
what you want it to do most of the time. Beyond that most of it is a good
write up and has some really good rules that really help keep your SCSS clean
and organized.
~~~
isleyaardvark
>You shouldn't stop using ID's unless you have a reason to.
The opposite approach is more useful: don't start using ID's unless you have a
good reason. Classes can do anything (CSS-wise) that id's can, and lack the
downsides (namely reusability and dealing with increased specificity, here's a
pretty good write up: [http://csswizardry.com/2011/09/when-using-ids-can-be-a-
pain-...](http://csswizardry.com/2011/09/when-using-ids-can-be-a-pain-in-the-
class/))
------
gbog
The one thing I don't agree too much with is splitting in many small files.
This slows down refactoring and long files are handled properly in good
editors.
~~~
program247365
The reasons for this are a couple I can think of:
1\. Large web applications will eventually demand this of you to break the
large solution into smaller chunks (components/modules).
See this methodology: [http://coding.smashingmagazine.com/2012/04/16/a-new-
front-en...](http://coding.smashingmagazine.com/2012/04/16/a-new-front-end-
methodology-bem/)
SASS will help you follow whatever standard/methodology your team may be
following.
2\. And having multiple files will ease development on a large team. Having
multiple frontend developers checking in code, it helps to organize, and
alleviate one developer stepping on another when checking in SASS files into
source control. No conflicts, if developer A is working on the footer, and
developer B is working on the header, which are separate SASS files.
I don't agree that it slows down refactoring, and would argue it speeds it up.
In the end, the multiple SASS files will probably (depending on how you do it,
and your situation), compile down into one file. SASS also has options that
allow you to say what the output looks like too (nested, expanded,
compressed).
~~~
gbog
Dev a working on the header and dev b working on the footer is an ideal case
that actually never occurred to me. Most of the time they work on both. And
any good versioning tool properly used should help avoid conflict, no matter
if the coffee is in the same file or not.
It's not like we are doing c or java under cvs, we don't have to split in
minuscule files, therefore maybe we shouldn't, in python, js, or css dialects.
------
coldpie
I've never heard of Sass before, so I thought this was a standard for how to
communicate sassiness online.
------
camus
Why most people like sass over less?
~~~
jwarren
The language has more powerful functions available, or at least it did when I
first compared them.
I also find Compass, Bourbon and Susy to be great assets.
The Chrome dev tools support is outstanding.
The biggest drawback is that there's no client side evaluation like less.js.
This occasionally makes working with other people a bit tricky. I usually make
a sandbox.css for them to fiddle with, and then incorporate their changes
every so often.
~~~
ceejayoz
> The biggest drawback is that there's no client side evaluation like less.js.
I've seen less.js make its way into live sites enough times that this almost
counts as a positive for Sass for me.
~~~
program247365
For designers, just including a JS file that does the compiling on the fly
seems why LESS gets more love from that group. And also that Twitter Bootstrap
uses it as default (although there are SASS ports of Bootstrap).
For beginners/designers to the whole precompiling CSS scene, setting up Ruby
for the SASS/Compass toolchain could possibly be daunting. Although there are
nice GUI alternatives: [http://mac.appstorm.net/roundups/internet-
roundup/5-mac-apps...](http://mac.appstorm.net/roundups/internet-
roundup/5-mac-apps-that-make-css-preprocessors-easier-to-use/)
However I agree with other comments that it seems there are more
tools/frameworks built on SASS (with Compass), that make it more appealing to
me.
|
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A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Your First 100 Signups - akassover
http://www.zoomstra.com/guides/startup-launch-resources.php
======
akassover
We put this workbook together a few weeks ago to document the steps a startup
can take to get the beta users flowing. I hope it's something we call can
benefit from to speed up our startup process.
A few notes:
* There are bigger lists of 'beta' sites and blogs out there, but we've gone through them all and removed the dead sites and spam
* This is an interactive workbook that you login to and track your progress against, not just a overwhelming static list (hence the requirement for an email)
* We've gotten a LOT more than 100 signups by following this workbook - that was what we got in the first 24 hours
* This is for us mere mortals, not startup celebrities who can get covered in Techcrunch at the drop of the tweet
Please do check this out! And if you have feedback, comments, additions, or
anything else, let me know. It's a work in progress and meant to be something
we can all benefit from.
Thanks!
|
{
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Is Flipboard Building an HTML5 App? - alexwilliams
http://siliconangle.com/blog/2011/11/01/flipboard-hires-html-5-star-but-no-web-version-planned/
======
rwang0
Check it out! Looks like it from this end!
R "ray" Wang
|
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Show HN: Application for comparing domestic Nigerian Flights - c4obi
http://beta.flightdey.com
======
jibolso
Nice, Its doesnt connect from your listings to their process page. I
understand these carriers dont have apis but you can scrape then mimic their
datasets so it can pull results and data on their process page. Cheers
|
{
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Do Rich Kids Do Better In School? - jsnk
http://allfuzzy.tumblr.com/post/19797077112/do-rich-kids-do-better-in-school-findings-based-on
======
K2h
My interpretation of the data is that wealthier households weight academic
success as a higher importance and as such more support is given as well as an
expectation of scholastic success. I can't say I'm surprised by the results of
the study. After spending so many years in school I have to remind myself that
there are plenty of people smarter than me that don't have the grades to
'prove' it.
------
guga31bb
Sorry to be a downer, but I'm sure what the point of this post is. The gap
between kids from high and low SES families has been exhaustively documented
(try going to Google scholar and searching, for example, "income
achievement").
The only interesting bit, perhaps, would have been seeing the R code which
generated the figures, which the author declined to post.
------
InclinedPlane
Of course. Educated parents typically have educated kids. Wealth is positively
correlated with education and IQ. This is a no brainer.
|
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New Facebook Layout Is Smart - charlesju
http://www.charlesju.com/2008/07/new-facebook-layout-is-smart.html
======
sysop073
It doesn't seem to be working, it just redirects to www.facebook.com
~~~
brianlash
Same
Edit: K, this is bizarre, but try signing in at facebook.com, then exiting
(without logging off). When you go to new.facebook.com it'll bring you
straight to the new layout.
I guess it's the sign-in step that fudges things up.
~~~
danw
It used to be that you had to be signed up as a developer to go to
new.facebook.com, not sure if this is still in effect
------
charlesju
You have to go to www.new.facebook.com
------
attack
Screenshots, anyone?
~~~
mlinsey
just go to www.new.facebook.com and see for yourself.
~~~
attack
I disabled my account years ago and then my school disabled my email so I
can't re-enable it. Just as well though, I don't really want to go back. It's
kind of like how when you start programming video games you don't play them as
much anymore.
~~~
charlesju
You can get an account now without a school e-mail.
|
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Sk*rt Launches Digg for Women - horatio05
http://mashable.com/2007/08/08/skirt/
======
aston
<http://lipstick.com> was there first, methinks.
|
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Ask HN: Can we fix the interview process for engineers? - brwr
As the interviewee, I don't find some of the questions I've been asked to be especially enlightening when it comes to my abilities as an engineer. Obviously I am biased, because I think there is a better way to display my skills, so I'd like to get some input from people on the other side of the table.<p>I propose that there it is very hard to know whether a candidate is a good fit for your company the way things are currently done; that is, with questions generated by the interviewer. Instead, wouldn't it be better to spend more time discussing the work that the candidate has done in the past and how that could apply to your company? The idea is that any engineer worth their salt can learn new ideas and technologies readily and that past experiences are a better indicator of an applicant's talents than algorithm questions and one-hour hack sessions.<p>Maybe there is a way to let the interviewee construct the interview in a way that showcases their talents.<p>Thoughts?
======
seige
First, the state of the art of "taking technical interviews" hasn't changed in
the last 10yrs at least. This is, when we as an industry are harbingers of
"change".
The bottom line is that the interview process is time consuming, expensive and
often not the aspect of your job for which you will be held accountable for
(i.e. you get fired if you are unable to recruit).
An interviewer in such a case, has no incentive to carefully think about the
process. Usually the interview time during his/her day is not the prime task
at hand and he/she has to run to "other meetings".
In such an environment and time constraints, We come down to our rote notions
of what "intelligence" means.
If you are interested, I would recommend these two very well written articles:
1)[http://code.dblock.org/five-ways-to-torture-candidates-
in-a-...](http://code.dblock.org/five-ways-to-torture-candidates-in-a-
technical-interview) 2)[http://code.dblock.org/how-to-reject-engineering-
candidates](http://code.dblock.org/how-to-reject-engineering-candidates)
Lastly, I wish you luck if you are a so called Front End engineer or worse, a
female engineer in this industry. Its really rough out there for them in
special.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and practice my bit manipulations.
~~~
mrfusion
Why is it tough for front end engineers?
------
thomasmeagher
So are you suggesting that the interviewee goes through something similar to a
portfolio? These are some of the projects I have done in the past, I wrote
this code here to solve this problem, etc. I agree with something along the
lines of "the best predictor of future performance is past behavior," but it
could be hard to keep a consistent--dare I say level--playing field that way.
~~~
brwr
I completely understand where you're coming from, but I'm not sure that a
level playing field is necessarily a good thing. Everyone should be given the
opportunity to shine at their highest potential and it is my opinion that a
level playing field gives candidates the opportunity to shine at their lowest
potential.
------
notduncansmith
Find ways to slip your past work into the conversation. If they ask you to
solve a particular problem you've solved before, tell them about it. Tell them
about the first time you solved it, and what your thought process was, and (if
applicable) what better solutions you may have found after your first go at
it. Better yet, don't lead with all that; just say something like "Ah, I've
actually solved this problem before" and then give them a chance to ask for
some detail. If they don't probe on that, you're dealing with an ineffective
hiring manager, and are probably wasting your time unless it's a company you
_really_ want to work for.
~~~
brwr
You've brushed up against a key point, I believe. Given a set container all of
the problems an interviewer could ask me to solve, there exists a subset of
those problems that I've solved previously, but that subset is small.
The problem here is that I don't believe most engineers can effectively
explain their thinking when they are still working on solving the problem.
Perhaps this is something I could work on, but I prefer everything to be
silent while I gather my thoughts. It is my understanding that being quiet
when asked by an interviewer to solve a given problem is a bad thing, which
ultimately leads to points being docked because I have a process for
considering problems that works very well for me.
Conversely, should the interviewee be free to pick a problem they've
previously solved and talk with their interviewer about it, they should
already have their thoughts gathered. Working under the assumption that the
candidate put in a substantial amount of work, they should be able to talk at
length about the project. An interesting and useful consequence of this is
that, in the event a candidate can't speak about a project they worked on, I
believe that says something about their capabilities as an engineer. Should
the interviewer be put off by this? Maybe. Maybe not. How far down the rabbit
hole do you want to go?
Overall, I think this is a pretty interesting problem that could use some good
discussion to generate ideas about what a more effective and efficient process
might look like.
------
JSeymourATL
From the Other Side of The Table--
Don't approach the interview as an audition, it's not. This conversation
should be a two-way exchange of information.
Consider first the interviewer, what's their specific role and background? Are
they an influencer in the process or decision-maker?
Just as a physician will perform a patient examination, before prescribing
medicine-- can you probe for stated and unstated needs? Can you ascertain what
they're trying to accomplish? Any particular areas of pain?
Those insights will help you show-off your talents with the right person at
the appropriate time.
------
wikwocket
Algorithm and coding questions are indeed lacking. They may end up revealing
your true ability to do the job, but it's like deciding on an architect by
seeing how well they can cut wood and hammer nails.
It's true that discussion of your portfolio and past work, and how it reveals
your way of thinking about things and how you can tackle the company's
problems, is likely to better convey your ability and value. A smart hiring
manager will include topics like this in their interview. A smart candidate
might find ways to inject this into the conversation.
|
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Inside Out Design - luccastera
http://jounce.net/blog/2009/jan/23/inside-out-design/
======
thinkzig
Good read. This reminds me of the "start with the end in mind" philosophy that
David Allen espouses in Getting Things Done. His point is that your brain is
much better at starting from the end and working your way back, though that's
not the way most people are taught to tackle abstract tasks.
Most people jump in and start "planning" rather than stopping to think about
what their goals are and then planning accordingly. I'm guilty of this at
times too, especially when it comes to site design, so it was nice to read
this article as a refresher on how to do it right.
------
sam_in_nyc
I find it hard to take design advice from a blog post that is barely readable.
edit: I'm using FF2... site looks great in IE, though.
------
whafro
sam_in_nyc: FF2 (specifically gecko 1.8) has a bug rendering HTML5... should
work fine in FF3, safari, IE6/7, chrome, etc
|
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Quadsort: a stable non-recursive merge sort - geophertz
https://github.com/scandum/quadsort
======
nightcracker
C's qsort() is notoriously bad because the comparison function isn't inlined,
meaning the majority of time is spent in call overhead.
Zhangxp1998 ported quadsort to C++ and compared with std::sort and found it to
be slower:
[https://gist.github.com/zhangxp1998/0e2fa30656c894017d183e0d...](https://gist.github.com/zhangxp1998/0e2fa30656c894017d183e0dbf2d862a)
Shameless self promotion, if you want a faster sorting implementation, check
out pdqsort
([https://github.com/orlp/pdqsort](https://github.com/orlp/pdqsort)) which is
almost twice as fast as libstdc++'s std::sort for randomly shuffled integers,
and has all sorts of tricks for input distributions with patterns (like pre-
sorted, reverse sorted, single out-of-order element appended, etc).
~~~
vhvjkyhkogvv
Comparing a stable sort to a normal sort is unfair. Compare it with
std::stable_sort.
~~~
zhangxp1998
I agree is unfair. The point of my benchmark was that the OP's claim "quad
sort is faster than quicksort" is false.
~~~
abjKT26nO8
libstdc++'s std::sort doesn't implement quicksort per se. It implements
introsort[1]. I'm curious how a pure C implementation of introsort would fare
against std::sort.
[1]:
<[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introsort>](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introsort>)
~~~
zhangxp1998
It's just quick sort with insertion sort for small base cases.
~~~
abjKT26nO8
You forgot about heapsort. It's a combination of three sorting algorithms, not
two. However trivial the difference may seem, I'd still prefer to look at a "C
introsort vs C++ introsort" benchmark than a "C quicksort vs C++ often
quicksort, but not really" benchmark.
------
nneonneo
How does this fare against Python's famous Timsort (used by several languages
and systems)? How about the dual-pivot quicksort used by Java for primitive
arrays?
Someone has to have put together a nice benchmark for comparing many sorting
algorithms. I wish that the author had done some benchmarking first, so that
the proposed algorithm can properly be positioned w.r.t. state-of-the-art
techniques.
~~~
monadic2
I’d like to see this too but benchmarking sort algorithms is a pain in the ass
due to the wide array of sorting shapes and sizes, I wouldn’t expect a well
maintained benchmark suite for language X.
------
jph
Summary: this is a non-recursive merge sort with improvements.
Benchmark of quadsort() versus C qsort():
* ~10x faster on forward-order items
* ~2x faster on reverse-order items
* ~equivalent on random-order items
Improvements:
* Ordering: when blocks of items are in order, or in reverse-order, then do special case handling, which gives quadsort O(n + log n) instead of qsort O(n * log n).
* Boundaries: compare data rather than traditional merge sort wasteful boundary checks.
~~~
chalst
Good summary. Quibble: O(n + log n) = O(n).
~~~
kannmig
I think OP made the distinction intentional to “show their working”, so to
speak.
------
xucheng
Quick sort is not the fastest sorting algorithm. It would be nice if there is
a benchmark comparing with other state of the art algorithms like Timsort.
~~~
nwellnhof
It depends on the implementation but Quicksort typically beats Timsort with
random data. Quicksort is unstable though, so that's not a fair comparison.
------
proc0
Interesting, but I'm surprised if this is the first time we have sorting
algorithm that is swapping more than two elements at a time. I would have
guessed every possible iteration of sorting algorithms has been already
explored, proven and tested.
~~~
thaumaturgy
It isn't. Sorting networks
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorting_network](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorting_network))
provide the best possible in-place sorting combinations for N elements, where
N is currently < about 11. If somebody could find a way to generalize the
sorting network algorithm for any number of input elements, they'd be settling
the issue of sorting things pretty much forever.
At lazy glance, it looks kind of like Quadsort has re-derived a variation of
the 4-element sorting network.
~~~
csense
> If somebody could find a way to generalize the sorting network algorithm for
> any number of input elements
In section 2 in that Wikipedia article, it links to many constructions that do
exactly that.
A couple are O(n log(n)), but complicated and impractical. The algorithms
people use are O(n log^2(n)) ones.
FWIW, sorting networks are _data-independent_. I.e. for any input, you always
compare-and-swap the same elements.
~~~
thaumaturgy
I was imprecise. I was talking about the construction of optimal sorting
networks. You're correct to point out that there are several approaches now
for constructing sorting networks for arbitrary numbers of inputs, but as
noted in that section, they all have some very important tradeoffs. I said,
"...provide the _best_ possible in-place sorting combinations for N elements,
where N is currently < about 11"; the 11 there was a reference to this part
from the second section of that article:
"For one to eleven inputs, minimal (i.e. size-optimal) sorting networks are
known, and for higher values, lower bounds on their sizes S(n) can be derived
inductively using a lemma due to Van Voorhis: S(n + 1) ≥ S(n) + ⌈log2(n)⌉. The
first ten optimal networks have been known since 1969, with the first eight
again being known as optimal since the work of Floyd and Knuth, but optimality
of the cases n = 9 and n = 10 took until 2014 to be resolved.[11] An optimal
network for size 11 was found in December of 2019 by Jannis Harder..."
Clearly I also should've said < ~12.
~~~
csense
The point I was trying to make is that sorting networks restrict your
algorithm to a data-independent memory access pattern.
For some particular N, you might be able to find the smallest sorting network
that sorts N elements. And then you might be able to find an _even faster_
algorithm that sorts N elements using some strategy that's not equivalent to a
sorting network (e.g., if your strategy does data-dependent memory access).
------
kccqzy
This reminds me of a programming exercise I was asked to write when I first
learned programming: write a sorting program generator that given N, generates
a program that sorts an array of N elements optimally: the generated code has
N! branches, one for each possible permutation. With some CSE help from the
compiler, it can be really quite fast at the expense of code size.
The author's explanation isn't entirely clear, but it seems similar to the
above construction with a fixed N and then a merge sort afterwards.
~~~
praptak
A truly optimal sorting for a given N is a nontrivial problem. By truly
optimal I mean the actual absolute minimum in the number of comparisons, no
O(...) approximation.
For five elements the lower bound from counting the permutations is
ceil(log2(5!)) which says you cannot sort 5 elements in less than 7
comparisons.
An actual 7 comparison algorithm exists but it is not very easy to write it.
For greater numbers it gets much much trickier - in general the
log(#permutations) lower bound cannot be met.
~~~
kccqzy
Agreed. My use of the word "optimal" in the original comment was a bit
careless.
~~~
praptak
Hope my comment did not got across as a disagreement. Just wanted to add some
relevant detail.
------
xeeeeeeeeeeenu
In his benchmark, the author is assuming that qsort() is implemented using
quicksort, but that's not necessarily true. For example, glibc is using
mergesort (although it falls back to quicksort if the system is short on
memory).
~~~
hinkley
I can’t imagine the sort of bugs you get when your code relies on stable sort
but calls qsort and everything works great until the machine is under heavy
load.
~~~
Sean1708
The most annoying part of development, your users can and _will_ rely on any
observable behaviours of your software.
~~~
hinkley
Someone recently did something very stupid/clever with an API that I wrote.
In the code review I initially complained, but then I couldn’t think of any
other way to interpret the design. So I guess that’s a feature now. ‘Course
later we found a performance problem, but, you know…
------
zhangxp1998
qsort has to invoke your comparison function repeatedly, which incurs a lot of
overhead. Try C++'s std::sort
~~~
zhangxp1998
See
[https://gist.github.com/zhangxp1998/0e2fa30656c894017d183e0d...](https://gist.github.com/zhangxp1998/0e2fa30656c894017d183e0dbf2d862a)
for a comparison of quadsort with C++'s std::sort. The compare functions are
inlined.
~~~
thedance
Thanks for saving us the time. The punch line:
Summarize: Slower than std::sort except on random tail.
Also a very important tidbit that std::sort is 10x faster than c's qsort for
ordered inputs.
------
Naac
Since we're already using O(N) space, it would be interesting to see how this
compares to Radix sort[0], which is O(N) space but O(N) time ( due to just
hashing everything ).
Like others have said, it would be cool to see quadsort stacked up to other
current state-of-the-art sorting algorithms.
[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radix_sort](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radix_sort)
~~~
stkdump
Small nitpick: radix sort has nothing to do with hashing.
~~~
darawk
A radix sort is a type of hashing, no? You're bucketing the items based on a
reduced form projection of them onto some smaller subspace.
~~~
stkdump
Radix sort (similar to bucket sort) groups items based on individual digits of
the non-hashed values. If you hash the values before, you will end up with the
data being sorted according to their hash, but they will appear almost random
in their unhashed form.
~~~
dahart
A hash function is any function that maps arbitrary data to fixed-size values.
A radix is a type of hash. Hashes are not defined as random or required to
sort differently than the unhashed values. If you define a hash function that
returns the first 32 bits of it’s input, then you have a hash that sorts
almost the same as the unhashed values, as long as the first 32 bits are
changing frequently, and you also have a hash function that you can call a
radix.
~~~
stkdump
I have never heard about hash function in the context of radix sort or
anything similar as you describe. Wikipedia says about hash functions, that
they "[S]cramble the bits of the key so that the resulting values are
uniformly distributed over the key space". I would say that isn't the case for
the function in radix sort that is used to 'pick' a digit.
~~~
dahart
Well, good you were here, now you have heard about radixes as hashes. ;) It's
good to see and understand the connections and relationships between these
things.
You're right that a radix doesn't scramble the key, but the quote you've
picked is a qualified subset of hash functions. That paragraph is attempting
to define a practical/good hash function that is used in specific ways. Not
all hash functions scramble the bits, and the Wikipedia article is very clear
about this if you read the whole thing.
You skipped over two important sentences that came before it, and a whole sub-
section on radix hashes after it:
"A hash function is _any_ function that can be used to map data of arbitrary
size to fixed-size values." (very first sentence, emphasis mine.)
"In some cases, the key is the datum itself." (Right before the 'scramble'
quote)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_function#Radix_conversion...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hash_function#Radix_conversion_hashing)
String hashing is sometimes similar to radix as well: "Simplistic hash
functions may add the first and last n characters of a string along with the
length" and I've seen string hashes in production that do only the first n
characters and stop. That kind of hashing is frequently useful in small,
embedded systems, video games, etc. where you have a limited set of strings
and a good idea of how well distributed the keys are.
------
QuinnWilton
I've never seen a sorting algorithm that uses a non-binary comparison function
to order values. Is that a novel technique?
It seems really obvious in hindsight, so I'm sure there's just prior art I
don't know about.
~~~
klodolph
This is still binary comparison.
There are, in general, a number of different sorting algorithms which are
optimized for a specific number of elements. In this case, four. It uses five
binary comparisons to sort four elements.
You can find other algorithms like this, such as an algorithm that uses seven
comparisons to sort five items, or one that uses ten comparisons to sort six
items.
~~~
QuinnWilton
Ah, I completely misunderstood what was going on with the quad swap at the
start. Rereading it makes more sense. Thanks!
------
loeg
Seems it's mergesort but with a slightly more complicated comparison
primitive.
~~~
proc0
Or it's like mergesort without the wasted steps that are proportionally less
needed as data becomes less random.
------
chkas
This Quicksort is almost twice as fast
[https://rextester.com/XHCGA23293](https://rextester.com/XHCGA23293)
~~~
pvidler
Only in the random case. Already sorted in either direction and it's ~10x
slower.
~~~
chkas
Who wants to sort sorted data. If the input data is more often sorted, you can
test this before sorting.
~~~
simias
Sorting sorted or mostly-sorted arrays is not uncommon in many use cases.
~~~
chkas
"Mostly-sorted" is a very vague definition.
~~~
seanhunter
Usually what people mean by mostly sorted in CS is that there is some small K
such that each element in the input is no more than K places from the position
it would be in if the input was sorted.
~~~
chkas
According to this definition, the "random tail" test data is not "mostly
sorted".
~~~
seanhunter
Well you could extend the definition to allow a small number of items which
are entirely out of place. The point is that the right sort algorithm depends
a lot on tthe distribution of input data and how much you care about worst-
case vs average case trade offs.
------
thdespou
I'm a bit sceptical because I don't see any mathematical proof. Only
benchmarks which do not prove a lot. It may be faster only by a constant
factor on a particular machine but for sufficiently large n it would be as
fast as mergesort.
1000000 is peanuts. We need to see convergence for about billions+ of numbers.
~~~
mcherm
No one is claiming that this sort algorithm (or any other) is asymptotically
faster than O(n log(n)). It can be mathematically proved that no sort
algorithm can improve on this. The object with sort algorithms is to find one
with good constant-factor performance on typical inputs.
Frankly, I am more persuaded by the arguments in favor of an algorithm like
"Tim-sort", which doesn't claim to micro-optimize hardware more efficiently
(that's basically what "better swapping" is claiming), but instead claims that
the algorithm is particularly efficient on some commonly-seen patterns (like
"partially-sorted", or "pieces of the list are reverse-sorted"). Of course,
any kind of argument about why one sort is better than another are inferior to
actual benchmarks.
~~~
amcsi
I'm quite a noob, and this is a bit off-topic, but if it's mathematically
proven that no sorting algorithm can be faster then O(n*log(n)), but we know
for sure that checking if an array is sorted is O(n), then doesn't that prove
that P ≠ NP?
~~~
C4stor
No it doesn't, since O(n*log(n)) is in P too. P = NP doesn't imply that the
complexity of finding the solution has the exact same complexity than
verifying it, just that both are polynomial.
------
aliabd
Man, that's a good gif
~~~
jerf
You may enjoy this:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPRA0W1kECg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPRA0W1kECg)
There are several similar videos on YouTube demonstrating sorts. If that's a
bit sterile for you, you can get a more human touch via the playlist
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdIKIf9mHk0&list=PLOmdoKois7...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdIKIf9mHk0&list=PLOmdoKois7_FK-
ySGwHBkltzB11snW7KQ)
~~~
rthille
In the 1990's, NeXT had a demo of their threading capabilities, and you could
select a bunch of different sorts to run in parallel. Doesn't seem to be much
still "live" on the net about it though:
[https://www.google.com/search?q=%22SortingInAction%22](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22SortingInAction%22)
------
WillyNourson
Oh lord it's almost 1k long
~~~
msafadieh
quad_swap64 and quad_sort64 are only about 350 lines combined.
------
ummonk
I’ll read the article when I get the chance, but would this be in-place?
~~~
N3XT
From the article:
"These operations do require doubling the memory overhead for the swap space."
It seems it is not in-place.
~~~
metalliqaz
I'm pretty sure it's in-place, thus the need for "swap space" to hold the
values that are being moved.
~~~
cwzwarich
The term "in-place" almost always means O(1) additional space, whereas this
uses O(n) additional space.
~~~
gpderetta
technically quick sort needs O(log N) additional space and it is still
considered in-place. I guess the threshold for in-place-ness would be less
than linear additional space?
~~~
utopcell
quicksort is not stable. the disadvantage of classic mergesort is that it
needs to copy elements out of the input array, although there exist (slower)
in-place variations.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
}
|
If Leicester City win the league, it will be a victory for hackers everywhere - poshaughnessy
http://pebblecode.com/blog/leicester-city-victory-for-tinkerers/
======
HoopleHead
There may exist in the world more shameless, more transparent and more tenuous
attempts to turn a current news item into an advert for your own poxy company
—but they'll have to go some to beat this one.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
}
|
Sound Localization - peter_d_sherman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_localization
======
peter_d_sherman
Related:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_sound_localization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_sound_localization)
|
{
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
}
|
Hawaii Suspends Visitors for 30 Days - ZguideZ
https://twitter.com/CryptopherJones/status/1240103833671364608
======
ZguideZ
The Governor has called for a ban on tourists for 30 days.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
}
|
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