prompt
stringlengths 4
3.12k
| chosen
stringlengths 3
10.5k
| rejected
stringlengths 3
8.98k
|
|---|---|---|
why loggly chose aws route 53 over elastic load balancing
| > if there is an issue with a collector, route 53 automatically takes it out of the service; our customers won’t see any impact.except when for example rsyslog caches dns resolution forever. or the log forwarded doesn't have a buffer and logs get lost. | former loggly employee here. loggly is at cto #3 or 4 in about 3 years. the ceo, marketing guy with black turtle neck, "runs" engineering. it is not an engineering company and they are on their way to outsourcing all development to india.formally they had all of their ec2 instances configured to run without swap and didn't use ebs such that instances would crash 1-3 times a day and lose all data which would require 1-2 day customer restores of data.additionally, this java shop oversubscribed threads on every solr box which made them restart each solr instance every hour. to think any revolutionary engineering ideas come from an former apple marketing wannabee who puts outsourced indian engineering in place as yes men is a huge stretch.let's be honest, loggly is in huge trouble and can't hire quality engineering talent and as a result is trying to remarket themselves as an engineering driven company as they outsource to india.key question isn't..do you use dns or elastic load balance...it is...what is your voluntary rate of attrition? hint, really bad! |
why loggly chose aws route 53 over elastic load balancing
| former loggly employee here. loggly is at cto #3 or 4 in about 3 years. the ceo, marketing guy with black turtle neck, "runs" engineering. it is not an engineering company and they are on their way to outsourcing all development to india.formally they had all of their ec2 instances configured to run without swap and didn't use ebs such that instances would crash 1-3 times a day and lose all data which would require 1-2 day customer restores of data.additionally, this java shop oversubscribed threads on every solr box which made them restart each solr instance every hour. to think any revolutionary engineering ideas come from an former apple marketing wannabee who puts outsourced indian engineering in place as yes men is a huge stretch.let's be honest, loggly is in huge trouble and can't hire quality engineering talent and as a result is trying to remarket themselves as an engineering driven company as they outsource to india.key question isn't..do you use dns or elastic load balance...it is...what is your voluntary rate of attrition? hint, really bad! | lots of other comments have torn this article apart (and justifiably so), but i still feel the need to pile on.in their docs, loggly only gives out one api endpoint: logs-01.loggly.com.it is referenced as the endpoint for http, https, syslog and syslog tls. these seem to be the only methods available to send log data to them.there is the obvious problem that a dns record with a 60s ttl cannot possibly receive every single packet sent to it in the event of a server failure. even if the returned ip address is an elastic ip, it takes a substantial amount of time to move to another instance in aws.i don't know why you would use the same service hostname for all of these endpoints. separate names for each endpoint, even if they all pointed to the same pool of hosts, would at least give some flexibility in the future when they have enough traffic to get desperate about capacity. i would also think they might want to segregate native syslog from http traffic, since i presume it uses different processes on the backend.it's also curious that they chose to return only one a record. dns rr is a poor substitute for real load balancing, but it's better than nothing. with multiple a records, there is at least a chance that some of their traffic will go to other servers -- rather than all of it potentially going to one as it is now.while they made no claims about using route 53 for its geo dns capabilities, i still found it amusing that i was sent to a us east ip from california. not that it's super critical that my log lines get delivered quickly, but it is ideal to shorten the path of an insecure and unreliable transport in order to improve durability. although i would never ship syslog out to some host on the internet, a host 16 hops away is even more ludicrous.i think their article says a lot more about how poorly elbs function when you exceed the low traffic threshold it is seemingly designed for than about how well route 53 works (and it is a decent static dns service). the inability to robustly direct incoming traffic is the achilles heel of aws. |
why loggly chose aws route 53 over elastic load balancing
| lots of other comments have torn this article apart (and justifiably so), but i still feel the need to pile on.in their docs, loggly only gives out one api endpoint: logs-01.loggly.com.it is referenced as the endpoint for http, https, syslog and syslog tls. these seem to be the only methods available to send log data to them.there is the obvious problem that a dns record with a 60s ttl cannot possibly receive every single packet sent to it in the event of a server failure. even if the returned ip address is an elastic ip, it takes a substantial amount of time to move to another instance in aws.i don't know why you would use the same service hostname for all of these endpoints. separate names for each endpoint, even if they all pointed to the same pool of hosts, would at least give some flexibility in the future when they have enough traffic to get desperate about capacity. i would also think they might want to segregate native syslog from http traffic, since i presume it uses different processes on the backend.it's also curious that they chose to return only one a record. dns rr is a poor substitute for real load balancing, but it's better than nothing. with multiple a records, there is at least a chance that some of their traffic will go to other servers -- rather than all of it potentially going to one as it is now.while they made no claims about using route 53 for its geo dns capabilities, i still found it amusing that i was sent to a us east ip from california. not that it's super critical that my log lines get delivered quickly, but it is ideal to shorten the path of an insecure and unreliable transport in order to improve durability. although i would never ship syslog out to some host on the internet, a host 16 hops away is even more ludicrous.i think their article says a lot more about how poorly elbs function when you exceed the low traffic threshold it is seemingly designed for than about how well route 53 works (and it is a decent static dns service). the inability to robustly direct incoming traffic is the achilles heel of aws. | there is a rather large technical divide between 'no logs left behind' and relying on dns lookup to provide that guarantee. |
why loggly chose aws route 53 over elastic load balancing
| there is a rather large technical divide between 'no logs left behind' and relying on dns lookup to provide that guarantee. | serious question: are people upvoting this to poke fun like some kind of daily wtf?a logging platform that lists 1 of their 2 major requirements as "to not drop any data, ever" is using round robin dns for fault tolerance? i can't see too many people on hn upvoting this for being insightful or impressive.edit: i just can't help myself. how are you going to send syslog when any server fails and not "drop any data, ever"? even over tcp the in transit messages are lost when the connection is broken. so like, their business is basically syslog and they don't know that? |
why peak-oil predictions haven't come true
| he predicted that u.s. oil production would peak, probably in the early 1970s, and then decline. it would resemble a bell curve.
if m. king hubbert were alive today—he died in 1989—would he admit defeat? probably not
no shit he wouldn't admit defeat. he was absolutely 100% correct. us oil production did peak in the 70's.<link> | the u.s. imported more oil for a while, decreasing domestic production, and then recently began importing less oil and increasing domestic production again in areas that had been left as reserves or hadn't been commercially feasible before the record high per-barrel prices of oil a decade ago (see e.g. <link> ; there are other sources available online if you don't like aei).so we have to look at world oil production, not just domestic. and, although world oil production is still growing, that growth is clearly in decline as most new sources for oil require far more effort to extract than in the past (e.g. <link>'m not a peak oil alarmist. it's entirely sensible to expect that as oil becomes more difficult to extract, its price will go up, and as its price goes up, new sources of oil will become more feasible to engineer.but, so much of oil production and consumption and everything associated with it is horrible and disgusting and a potential ecological and economic disaster waiting to happen. (...deepwater horizon...)we shouldn't need peak oil scaremongering to move us off of oil dependence quickly. it should make sense to do so anyway, especially as other technologies continue to improve. |
why peak-oil predictions haven't come true
| the u.s. imported more oil for a while, decreasing domestic production, and then recently began importing less oil and increasing domestic production again in areas that had been left as reserves or hadn't been commercially feasible before the record high per-barrel prices of oil a decade ago (see e.g. <link> ; there are other sources available online if you don't like aei).so we have to look at world oil production, not just domestic. and, although world oil production is still growing, that growth is clearly in decline as most new sources for oil require far more effort to extract than in the past (e.g. <link>'m not a peak oil alarmist. it's entirely sensible to expect that as oil becomes more difficult to extract, its price will go up, and as its price goes up, new sources of oil will become more feasible to engineer.but, so much of oil production and consumption and everything associated with it is horrible and disgusting and a potential ecological and economic disaster waiting to happen. (...deepwater horizon...)we shouldn't need peak oil scaremongering to move us off of oil dependence quickly. it should make sense to do so anyway, especially as other technologies continue to improve. | > the real constraints we face are technological and economic, they say. we're limited not by the amount of oil in the ground, but by how inventive we are about reaching new sources of fuel and how much we're willing to pay to get at it.this is exactly what the peak oil people have been saying, you can't claim they're "looking at it the wrong way" and then restate exactly what they were claiming. peak oil was never about running out of oil, it was always about the rate and economics of extraction. "the size of the tap, not the size of the tank" etc.this "recent boom" in the us remains cash negative - about 600b capex for about 500b in oil. and we don't know yet whether that's going to change.currently "geology is not only winning, it is crushing technology" <link> |
why peak-oil predictions haven't come true
| > the real constraints we face are technological and economic, they say. we're limited not by the amount of oil in the ground, but by how inventive we are about reaching new sources of fuel and how much we're willing to pay to get at it.this is exactly what the peak oil people have been saying, you can't claim they're "looking at it the wrong way" and then restate exactly what they were claiming. peak oil was never about running out of oil, it was always about the rate and economics of extraction. "the size of the tap, not the size of the tank" etc.this "recent boom" in the us remains cash negative - about 600b capex for about 500b in oil. and we don't know yet whether that's going to change.currently "geology is not only winning, it is crushing technology" <link> | there's a much better article covering the topic of 'peak oil' here:<link> don't think the more intelligent people who argued that peak oil was a reality ever thought it was about anything other than the economics of extracting oil. most of the discussion on the oil drum focused on what happened when the cost of energy outpaced economic growth.while i think fracking has been a reprieve, and that natural gas can supply our electricity grid, i still think that there are a number of long-term issues we may face as there are no direct substitutes for cheap oil and all of the infrastructure we have invested to it (let's call it the oil grid).it's not cheap to replace or retrofit an infrastructure of 250 million cars / trucks / etc in the us that run on gasoline. or retrofit the gasoline stations for natural gas for that matter. natural gas may be an alternate source of electricity, doesn't mean it is a perfect or necessarily cheap substitute for oil.similar techniques to fracking have been in the industry for many years btw - they started out with nitrogen injection. it did have the effect of temporarily boosting production in declining fields. the unintended consequence however was that instead of a gentle decline, when the fields using nitrogen injection did finally decline in production their 'curves' went very sharply down (instead of a gentle gaussian curve). the rate of decline after nitrogen injection has been extreme in many oil fields around the world.see what happened to the super giant oil field in mexico - cantarell.<link> think like hubbert's peak - which attempted to sum the aggregate harvesting of oil at the time given what technology he was aware of - has been a fairly good approximation until very recently of what actually happened. in my opinion, while new technology may have turned the curve back upward for oil production, i think the aggregate use of fracking may also result in a curve that on the global level also declines sharply (just as in individual fields with nitrogen injection). |
why peak-oil predictions haven't come true
| there's a much better article covering the topic of 'peak oil' here:<link> don't think the more intelligent people who argued that peak oil was a reality ever thought it was about anything other than the economics of extracting oil. most of the discussion on the oil drum focused on what happened when the cost of energy outpaced economic growth.while i think fracking has been a reprieve, and that natural gas can supply our electricity grid, i still think that there are a number of long-term issues we may face as there are no direct substitutes for cheap oil and all of the infrastructure we have invested to it (let's call it the oil grid).it's not cheap to replace or retrofit an infrastructure of 250 million cars / trucks / etc in the us that run on gasoline. or retrofit the gasoline stations for natural gas for that matter. natural gas may be an alternate source of electricity, doesn't mean it is a perfect or necessarily cheap substitute for oil.similar techniques to fracking have been in the industry for many years btw - they started out with nitrogen injection. it did have the effect of temporarily boosting production in declining fields. the unintended consequence however was that instead of a gentle decline, when the fields using nitrogen injection did finally decline in production their 'curves' went very sharply down (instead of a gentle gaussian curve). the rate of decline after nitrogen injection has been extreme in many oil fields around the world.see what happened to the super giant oil field in mexico - cantarell.<link> think like hubbert's peak - which attempted to sum the aggregate harvesting of oil at the time given what technology he was aware of - has been a fairly good approximation until very recently of what actually happened. in my opinion, while new technology may have turned the curve back upward for oil production, i think the aggregate use of fracking may also result in a curve that on the global level also declines sharply (just as in individual fields with nitrogen injection). | "peak oil" as a phrase always seemed like a way to stumble into some really simplistic conversations. i never really quite understood it. i've been in conversations where people have described it as a peak "moment" where overnight our life will turn into one of those bad abc tv shows that gets canceled mid-season.if you've got a steep price curve, such that a little bit of extra demand means that the cost goes way up (because of constrained supply), then it also means that the price curve is also steep on the way back down.what that means is that if a demand spike makes the price skyrocket, then all sorts of alternative fuels become economical when they weren't before. and then, as more people switch to them and the demand for oil relaxes even a little bit, the oil price can fall dramatically as well, until some of those alternative choices don't seem as economical.even just a simple model like that can explain all sorts of brain-numbing conversational patterns. like the certainty that big oil has had the knowledge of clean, cheap energy and that they keep it secret to make money on oil... or that they'll pump up oil prices to lure the alternative energy people to make business risks, and then purposely flood the market in order to put them out of business, etc. |
the shockingly obsolete code of bash
| i don't see how it's obsolete. just because code is old that doesn't mean that it's obsolete.if code is sound it will be around for as long as it takes to supplant it. as far as i know the majority of the current bash code is well suited and up to date. if this article is some kind of response to the recent vulnerability (that the media decide to lose their collective minds about) then it's simply reactionary garbage that has no real familiarity with the code base.i'll finish by saying that a code base that is algorithmically sound will remain so for the foreseeable future. | how do i downvote this shocking lame post? |
the shockingly obsolete code of bash
| how do i downvote this shocking lame post? | "shockingly" - hardly. it's code written years ago and has done it's job in the meanwhile.recklessly refactoring it is probably equally dangerous. the article says something along the lines of "changes might break old scripts, but who cares, they are relying on bugs". this is a bad attitude, the broken old scripts might become new vulnerabilities which is what you are trying to prevent to begin with. |
the shockingly obsolete code of bash
| "shockingly" - hardly. it's code written years ago and has done it's job in the meanwhile.recklessly refactoring it is probably equally dangerous. the article says something along the lines of "changes might break old scripts, but who cares, they are relying on bugs". this is a bad attitude, the broken old scripts might become new vulnerabilities which is what you are trying to prevent to begin with. | global variables aren't quite as evil as is made out, in the context of an application like a shell. it's better to think of the shell process as a big fat object instance, which gets forked when it does stuff. it's not ideal, but when the globals are appropriately scoped to translation units (i.e. static, not extern), it's usually not too bad to maintain. each module acts a bit like a singleton.snprintf, implemented as a library function, is also a lot (like 1000x) slower than strcpy; however, i don't condone use of strcpy. |
the shockingly obsolete code of bash
| global variables aren't quite as evil as is made out, in the context of an application like a shell. it's better to think of the shell process as a big fat object instance, which gets forked when it does stuff. it's not ideal, but when the globals are appropriately scoped to translation units (i.e. static, not extern), it's usually not too bad to maintain. each module acts a bit like a singleton.snprintf, implemented as a library function, is also a lot (like 1000x) slower than strcpy; however, i don't condone use of strcpy. | duplicate from yesterday: <link> one has many comments and does not have a spurious fragment appended, so probably best to flag this one to try to avoid splitting the comments. |
'anti-facebook' platform ello attracts thousands
| andy baio wrote a small piece exploring ello's funding and hypothesizing that their bluster about not selling your data/running ads is worth about as much as livejournal's was: <link> | maybe "free" has become too expensive. as the technology needed to provide a service gets cheaper, the revenue needed to support it drops. the ad density ought to drop too, but it doesn't. that
creates a vulnerability for "free" social services. they can be undercut on user attention cost.what does it really cost to run a social network? $5/user/month? $1/user/month? if you could put it on your phone bill, would you notice?as for "the fact is nobody has ever made a significant move away from any internet provider because of advertising or data", remember myspace. they were #1 once. their ad density got too high and people got fed up and left. |
'anti-facebook' platform ello attracts thousands
| maybe "free" has become too expensive. as the technology needed to provide a service gets cheaper, the revenue needed to support it drops. the ad density ought to drop too, but it doesn't. that
creates a vulnerability for "free" social services. they can be undercut on user attention cost.what does it really cost to run a social network? $5/user/month? $1/user/month? if you could put it on your phone bill, would you notice?as for "the fact is nobody has ever made a significant move away from any internet provider because of advertising or data", remember myspace. they were #1 once. their ad density got too high and people got fed up and left. | what is so "beautiful" about this? honest question.1) so much dead real estate.2) the buttons the same as input fields. only difference is color but there's no distinguishing otherwise.3) strange choice of font. seems like they're going for a typewriter feel, but i'm not sure how that's useful for a website. my opinion of course, but i don't really see the aesthetic appeal of a typewriter look here. |
'anti-facebook' platform ello attracts thousands
| what is so "beautiful" about this? honest question.1) so much dead real estate.2) the buttons the same as input fields. only difference is color but there's no distinguishing otherwise.3) strange choice of font. seems like they're going for a typewriter feel, but i'm not sure how that's useful for a website. my opinion of course, but i don't really see the aesthetic appeal of a typewriter look here. | has anyone actually used this? it was posted to hn the other day and didn't not seem to receive positive feedback.most of the users profiles i have clicked on seem pretty boring. i fail to see what is so attractive about it.i definitely am taking the owners claim of "31,000 requests an hour" with a grain of salt.honestly, does the average person even care about being advertised to, or having their data mined? i have never heard anyone outside of tech circles even talk about it. |
'anti-facebook' platform ello attracts thousands
| has anyone actually used this? it was posted to hn the other day and didn't not seem to receive positive feedback.most of the users profiles i have clicked on seem pretty boring. i fail to see what is so attractive about it.i definitely am taking the owners claim of "31,000 requests an hour" with a grain of salt.honestly, does the average person even care about being advertised to, or having their data mined? i have never heard anyone outside of tech circles even talk about it. | i saw a lot of hype about ello in the hackathon hackers facebook group. this may be against the typical positive feedback mentality of hn, but it kinda seems like a huge circle, a product of the tech bubble enthusiasm, as no one else anywhere has mentioned it (except on hacker news that one time).in fact, i suspect the "31,000 invites" was the result of one post on the facebook group involving an exploit that used dictionary attacks to generate invites for someone's account, which was quickly used by several people, but eventually taken down, and is not their average traffic.i suspect this because my personal opinion, my friends' opinions, and it appears quite a number of hacker news peoples opinions, while anecdotal, seem to indicate that ello is quite lackluster, and i find it hard to believe that many people would want to try a social media platform that:a) has none of their friends on it yetb) doesn't look greatc) appeals to you through things you typically don't care about ("ads", "data", "privacy") |
ask hn: will being self-employed hurt my employability?
i'm considering becoming self-employed for a stint to bootstrap an idea that has gotten a lot of positive feedback from individuals who have tried it. essentially, planning on picking up contract work and using that to fund the development of the idea. should i be concerned about this hurting my future full time employability if it doesn't work out? | i do not think self-employment damages your employability so long as you have something to talk about at interviews. self-employment is still employment. any employer that is going to be successful in talent acquisition among the younger generations will know this.the tech industry illustrates this regularly with company cultures that embrace diverse career backgrounds.of course i think your field will probably determine how much my statement applies. for my field in software, independent contracting is a common feature in ones work history especially for the younger generations. i would look at your peers in your industry and domain for clues. | the short answer is that you're right to ask the question because it could hurt you badly.a lot depends on your specific situation. how accomplished and in demand are you right now? do you have a network of people who would hire you in a heartbeat or at least enthusiastically recommend you and actively help you find a job? if you are in demand (i.e., frequently turning down overtures from recruiters) and/or you're very confident that if you lost your job tomorrow that you could find another equally good job in a matter of a couple weeks or less, then going out on your own for awhile probably won't have any negative impact.on the other hand, if the above does not describe your current career situation, then i'd think hard about it. there are many recruiters and hiring managers who look at self-employment as barely better than unemployment. that's outrageously stupid, but it's reality. i personally know half a dozen people who experienced significant setbacks to their careers after leaving their jobs to try self-employment or work on their own startups. (but, again, a lot depends on how hireable you are currently, where you live, etc.) |
ask hn: will being self-employed hurt my employability?
i'm considering becoming self-employed for a stint to bootstrap an idea that has gotten a lot of positive feedback from individuals who have tried it. essentially, planning on picking up contract work and using that to fund the development of the idea. should i be concerned about this hurting my future full time employability if it doesn't work out? | the short answer is that you're right to ask the question because it could hurt you badly.a lot depends on your specific situation. how accomplished and in demand are you right now? do you have a network of people who would hire you in a heartbeat or at least enthusiastically recommend you and actively help you find a job? if you are in demand (i.e., frequently turning down overtures from recruiters) and/or you're very confident that if you lost your job tomorrow that you could find another equally good job in a matter of a couple weeks or less, then going out on your own for awhile probably won't have any negative impact.on the other hand, if the above does not describe your current career situation, then i'd think hard about it. there are many recruiters and hiring managers who look at self-employment as barely better than unemployment. that's outrageously stupid, but it's reality. i personally know half a dozen people who experienced significant setbacks to their careers after leaving their jobs to try self-employment or work on their own startups. (but, again, a lot depends on how hireable you are currently, where you live, etc.) | ...becoming self-employed...future employability...bwahahahhahaha.... wait, sorry. ok, has working for clients hurt my future employability?who cares? i wouldn't take a job now if they offered to pay me! |
ask hn: will being self-employed hurt my employability?
i'm considering becoming self-employed for a stint to bootstrap an idea that has gotten a lot of positive feedback from individuals who have tried it. essentially, planning on picking up contract work and using that to fund the development of the idea. should i be concerned about this hurting my future full time employability if it doesn't work out? | ...becoming self-employed...future employability...bwahahahhahaha.... wait, sorry. ok, has working for clients hurt my future employability?who cares? i wouldn't take a job now if they offered to pay me! | assuming you are technical, even a failure is probably a net positive to your career prospects. this is particularly true if you are very early in your career, or are later in your career and have been involved with some well-known or successful companies along the way so far.i view entrepreneurial experience as a positive that tends to correlate with intrinsic motivation, follow-through, and analytical risk-taking.obviously ymmv, and a lot depends on how you execute. if you have a crappy idea and throw years of your life away with no demonstrable progress, obviously it's not going to be easy to tell a story about. but a failure reasonably well done will be a good learning experience -- and obviously even a modest success has lots of upside.the biggest real issue is opportunity cost, factoring in not just income but the potential to be part of something epically successful and all the experiences, halo effects, and relationships that come from that. |
ask hn: will being self-employed hurt my employability?
i'm considering becoming self-employed for a stint to bootstrap an idea that has gotten a lot of positive feedback from individuals who have tried it. essentially, planning on picking up contract work and using that to fund the development of the idea. should i be concerned about this hurting my future full time employability if it doesn't work out? | assuming you are technical, even a failure is probably a net positive to your career prospects. this is particularly true if you are very early in your career, or are later in your career and have been involved with some well-known or successful companies along the way so far.i view entrepreneurial experience as a positive that tends to correlate with intrinsic motivation, follow-through, and analytical risk-taking.obviously ymmv, and a lot depends on how you execute. if you have a crappy idea and throw years of your life away with no demonstrable progress, obviously it's not going to be easy to tell a story about. but a failure reasonably well done will be a good learning experience -- and obviously even a modest success has lots of upside.the biggest real issue is opportunity cost, factoring in not just income but the potential to be part of something epically successful and all the experiences, halo effects, and relationships that come from that. | let me start by saying that i've founded and sold 2 companies one for a big return and one that was a soft landing. the first co i started when i was working full time at a job.to answer your question:since you are self employed you can put whatever you want on your resume --ie you can call yourself the vp of development, dish washer, or whatever. in fact, i have a friend that called himself vp of business development for his company in the early days.so i don't think it will hurt much from a political perspective. you just need to be able to tilt the narrative to your favor if things go wrong.ie: "i left xyz company because i wanted to try to solve this very important problem. i starred the company, got investors, hired a team, delivered product to customers, and we ran into some market difficulties so shut it down and am now looking for a job"the one thing that will change, however, is you.
when you pass through the looking glass & start your own company, you will fundamentally change. you will develop skills in many area and you will know what it feels like to work on something that you really love that is really difficult. this is what makes it the hard to work a job after a project. because you know what that feels like and you will want to feel it again. so you will be very picky.also, there is the power law to consider. if you start a co, the skills you acquire will compound over time. quickly they will become the biggest asset you have and you will realize that.my #1 advice for you is to stop thinking about what will happen in a downside and look at what will happen in an upside. the more you think about how a new venture can screw you, the more likely it will.if you want to chat more dm me on twitter @jsfour |
ask hn: run your own email server or use 3rd party?
i'm working on a website that will eventually need to be able to send thousands of emails a day. i'm not too worried about receiving any email, just sending them. is is worth setting up my own email server, or should i just use google or something else? thanks for your feedback. | do not run your own mail server. deliverability is a full-time job for somebody. you can share that "somebody" by using a mail service agent (msa -- sendgrid, postmark, amazon ses, etc) for roughly 1/100th of the cost of employing them directly. mail server software is also notoriously finicky and every minute you spend administering it is time that doesn't move your business forward. | we use postmark <link> for most of our emails at perch - including things like notification emails from the support forums.it's always been reliable and inexpensive. |
ask hn: run your own email server or use 3rd party?
i'm working on a website that will eventually need to be able to send thousands of emails a day. i'm not too worried about receiving any email, just sending them. is is worth setting up my own email server, or should i just use google or something else? thanks for your feedback. | we use postmark <link> for most of our emails at perch - including things like notification emails from the support forums.it's always been reliable and inexpensive. | we use amazon ses...very easy api. you don't want the hassle of dealing with ip address blacklists for your own server. |
ask hn: run your own email server or use 3rd party?
i'm working on a website that will eventually need to be able to send thousands of emails a day. i'm not too worried about receiving any email, just sending them. is is worth setting up my own email server, or should i just use google or something else? thanks for your feedback. | we use amazon ses...very easy api. you don't want the hassle of dealing with ip address blacklists for your own server. | one site: mandrill.com. from the fine folks at mailchimp. i've been using it and it rocks. |
ask hn: run your own email server or use 3rd party?
i'm working on a website that will eventually need to be able to send thousands of emails a day. i'm not too worried about receiving any email, just sending them. is is worth setting up my own email server, or should i just use google or something else? thanks for your feedback. | one site: mandrill.com. from the fine folks at mailchimp. i've been using it and it rocks. | google is not a good choice for sending out mass emails.even with premium google account you cannot send more than few thousand emails per day.so either setup your own server (lots of up front effort to make it right) or use something like amazon ses or sendgrid. |
judge rules against grooveshark in copyright infringement case
| i never really agreed with the whole "ignore copyright law" approach. i think tech companies in our increasingly examined world need to stand for righteousness and integrity.the power of tech and ramping up of robotics is going to bring the pressure of public opinion on us all very soon -- we need to be on the right side of the fence, and so, although i enjoyed the technical capabilities and innovation from grooveshark, i'm glad they've lost the war.the founders are still smart and will be able to continue to do great things. they've proven their ability to build/design a functioning, beautiful product and amass an very large audience. excited to see what is next... | the reality is more and more services will switch to the 'client-side-encrypted' model and then you're left trying to stomp out easily replicated and anonymously sharable lists of pointers to legally stored encrypted blobs. good luck with that.from an ideological point it seems hard to rationalize. we pretty much have an obligation to fix copyright law, build a digital alexandria, and give it to the world. for free. all art, movies, music, books, educational materials, everything. free. we can figure out another way to reward creators without creating artificial marketplaces that demand most go without so the few left have reason to spend.if we're going to fuck up the climate for later generations - i think we can manage to at least figure this out. it's pretty low hanging fruit from a technical perspective. |
judge rules against grooveshark in copyright infringement case
| the reality is more and more services will switch to the 'client-side-encrypted' model and then you're left trying to stomp out easily replicated and anonymously sharable lists of pointers to legally stored encrypted blobs. good luck with that.from an ideological point it seems hard to rationalize. we pretty much have an obligation to fix copyright law, build a digital alexandria, and give it to the world. for free. all art, movies, music, books, educational materials, everything. free. we can figure out another way to reward creators without creating artificial marketplaces that demand most go without so the few left have reason to spend.if we're going to fuck up the climate for later generations - i think we can manage to at least figure this out. it's pretty low hanging fruit from a technical perspective. | whelp, time to export my playlist-metadata so i can find the songs again:<link> |
judge rules against grooveshark in copyright infringement case
| whelp, time to export my playlist-metadata so i can find the songs again:<link> | it's interesting (at least to me) to think that without the likes of napster, limewire, kazaa, grooveshark, pandora, etc. we would not have gotten to a place where the music industry is willing to play ball at spotify's level. it's too bad that there was a lot of collateral damage in the process. |
judge rules against grooveshark in copyright infringement case
| it's interesting (at least to me) to think that without the likes of napster, limewire, kazaa, grooveshark, pandora, etc. we would not have gotten to a place where the music industry is willing to play ball at spotify's level. it's too bad that there was a lot of collateral damage in the process. | warning - the grooveshark founders were personally liable for the copyright infringement. this means its not just the grooveshark company that has to pay the fine, but cofounders tarantino and greenberg will need to pay out of their own pockets.from pages 54-56 of the decision:> here, defendants tarantino and greenberg satisfy the criteria for corporate officer liability. tarantino and greenberg are the co-founders of escape. tarantino is the chief executive officer and greenberg is the chief technology officer. together, tarantino and greenberg manage all aspects of escape’s business. they both directed the infringements at issue in the present litigation by: (1) creating a business model that was based upon the unlicensed sharing of copyright protected material; (2) sending written instructions to the entire company requiring employees to operate “seeding points” so that they could launch the grooveshark p2p network; (3) creating the central music library and directing employees to upload files to the library; (4) deciding to launch the grooveshark lite streaming service and instructing escape employees to upload files for that service; and (5) personally uploading copyrighted protected material, moreover, they both have a substantial equity interest in groovershark and thus, directly benefit from the infringing activity. |
mozilla brick
| can we get a package manager for package managers?there is so many already, its hard to keep track what names come from what repositories of what package managers.it used to be so simple, yourdistropackagemanager install whatever, now there is x2000 versions of packagemanager. | i clicked through all of the examples, and i would never use any of these components. they are very plain, they don't provide much functionality, and the functionality they provide is lackluster ( unappealing ).as others here have stated, i also couldn't tell if some of the examples are even working or not; they are that bad.if you are looking for a fine set of interworking components that provide a refined look and feel along with nice examples of the options provided; then you'll probably want to look at one of the other 30 or so ui widget sets. |
mozilla brick
| i clicked through all of the examples, and i would never use any of these components. they are very plain, they don't provide much functionality, and the functionality they provide is lackluster ( unappealing ).as others here have stated, i also couldn't tell if some of the examples are even working or not; they are that bad.if you are looking for a fine set of interworking components that provide a refined look and feel along with nice examples of the options provided; then you'll probably want to look at one of the other 30 or so ui widget sets. | the demos seems very unpolished but i hope they keep working on it.does anyone know what framework is used to 'generate' such doc websites? <link> |
mozilla brick
| the demos seems very unpolished but i hope they keep working on it.does anyone know what framework is used to 'generate' such doc websites? <link> | wth is going on at mozilla? there seems to be a lot of excitement to create stuff, without much attention to whether it's needed .. or where the lifecycle goes beyond creation.<link> |
mozilla brick
| wth is going on at mozilla? there seems to be a lot of excitement to create stuff, without much attention to whether it's needed .. or where the lifecycle goes beyond creation.<link> | the things that deters me about brick are that there aren't very many components yet, they aren't very styled or pretty, and the site doesn't show me what the components look like on one page (i have to click through to a demo for each component). it's only been around for a year, though honestly with the support it has gotten, i'd need to see more before i'm able to imagine developers using it. obviously, it's a beautiful concept.i like ionic's, which is the most fully fleshed out set of ui components i've seen. though it's not as modular as brick, i'd rather have a complete monolithic set of components rather than sparse modular ones: <link> site does throw some errors, which leads me to believe this wasn't meant to be shared yet. although, brick has done the "hn launch" already in the past. |
felicia, the pipe-cleaning ferret of fermilab (1971)
| i am suprised that there was only one. i knew someone who kept ferrets (to catch rabbits for her hawk) and was told that, as social animals, being kept in isolation would send them crazy, while all-female groups didn't get along well.
was spaying felicia not an option in 1971? | ferrets are awesome. i wish they were legal in california. |
felicia, the pipe-cleaning ferret of fermilab (1971)
| ferrets are awesome. i wish they were legal in california. | there is quite some build-up of residue in my warp drive's plasma conduits. is there a ferret lending service somewhere? my emh mark 1 is offline. |
felicia, the pipe-cleaning ferret of fermilab (1971)
| there is quite some build-up of residue in my warp drive's plasma conduits. is there a ferret lending service somewhere? my emh mark 1 is offline. | >the ferret is an animal filled with curiosity and seeks out holes and burrows. its instinct is to find out what's at the other end of a burrow, or, for that matter, a tube or a pipe.a true scientist at heart :) the ferret was among its peers. |
felicia, the pipe-cleaning ferret of fermilab (1971)
| >the ferret is an animal filled with curiosity and seeks out holes and burrows. its instinct is to find out what's at the other end of a burrow, or, for that matter, a tube or a pipe.a true scientist at heart :) the ferret was among its peers. | just curious, isn't more "sterile" to use robot? i mean, a ferret can poo in the middle, it can leave fur and feet traces inside the tube. |
pitched my idea, positive feedback, then no responds
hi,<p>i've pitched my idea to a company that works in the field my idea is aimed at. i was looking for a partnership. they were very positive and asked for my skype to continue the discussion.<p>i've replied them 36 hours ago and still don't have a responds. should i send another email?<p>was it stupid of to not have them sign a nda first?<p>regards,<p>hans (netherlands) | sometimes entering discussions with a potential partner trigger an internally required process of due diligence. this means the company is required to go out and find other potential partners to compare against. while they may not find any, they are required to do this search in order to prove they are not giving preferential treatment to one supplier.just a maybe. | 36 hours is a very short amount of time, certainly if you are dealing with a bigger company. they can need time for internal discussions and probably have other projects to work on too. too soon to worry i would think! |
pitched my idea, positive feedback, then no responds
hi,<p>i've pitched my idea to a company that works in the field my idea is aimed at. i was looking for a partnership. they were very positive and asked for my skype to continue the discussion.<p>i've replied them 36 hours ago and still don't have a responds. should i send another email?<p>was it stupid of to not have them sign a nda first?<p>regards,<p>hans (netherlands) | 36 hours is a very short amount of time, certainly if you are dealing with a bigger company. they can need time for internal discussions and probably have other projects to work on too. too soon to worry i would think! | joint ventures can take forever to sort out as they are not their current business priority. |
pitched my idea, positive feedback, then no responds
hi,<p>i've pitched my idea to a company that works in the field my idea is aimed at. i was looking for a partnership. they were very positive and asked for my skype to continue the discussion.<p>i've replied them 36 hours ago and still don't have a responds. should i send another email?<p>was it stupid of to not have them sign a nda first?<p>regards,<p>hans (netherlands) | joint ventures can take forever to sort out as they are not their current business priority. | emails get lost, most often in junk mail boxes.when i don't hear back from someone within a reasonable time frame, i follow up with a short email asking if my previous email about this and that was received. if i do not get anything back either within a day or two, i call with exactly the same question: "i sent you an email about <subject> on <date> but have not heard back, so just want to make sure it found its way to your inbox". more often than you would think the person i called would either find my emails in their junk folder, do not find them at all, apologize for overlooking them, or apologize for not replying sooner. (and sometimes they would say they replied and i would find their replies in my junk folder.) |
pitched my idea, positive feedback, then no responds
hi,<p>i've pitched my idea to a company that works in the field my idea is aimed at. i was looking for a partnership. they were very positive and asked for my skype to continue the discussion.<p>i've replied them 36 hours ago and still don't have a responds. should i send another email?<p>was it stupid of to not have them sign a nda first?<p>regards,<p>hans (netherlands) | emails get lost, most often in junk mail boxes.when i don't hear back from someone within a reasonable time frame, i follow up with a short email asking if my previous email about this and that was received. if i do not get anything back either within a day or two, i call with exactly the same question: "i sent you an email about <subject> on <date> but have not heard back, so just want to make sure it found its way to your inbox". more often than you would think the person i called would either find my emails in their junk folder, do not find them at all, apologize for overlooking them, or apologize for not replying sooner. (and sometimes they would say they replied and i would find their replies in my junk folder.) | don't over think this-- back away now, ping them in a weeks time. try once a week for a month, then move on. but don't ever convey that you are needy or desperate.we've all had prospective partners and clients who gave great tonality in the initial conversations, only to go dark. stuff happens, people get busy or lose interest.here's a good read by oren klaff on pitching > <link> |
python repl with syntax highlighting, autocomplete and multiline editing
| this is awesome. can't imagine wanting to use anything else now.folks who like the library aspect of this and are interested in building similar things for bash instead of python might want to check out twosheds [0], a library by a friend of mine that lets you do zsh-type-stuff in python.[0] <link> | this is actually brilliant. it fixes my (relatively minor) gripes with the standard ipython front-end. namely the multiline mode is miles better, so so much better.already mentioned on the thread somewhere else is an issue with autocompletion on imported modules, but that sounds like a bug that will be fixed.i'm using the ipython mode and there are a couple of differences. for example i'm used to typing 'hist -l 100' to see the recent history, now i need to use the magic ipython variant '%hist -l 100'. not a big deal, just slightly different behaviour.the vi-mode is actually not too bad. for me it's good enough to be used in this context. would be great if it was more complete (eg, daw doesn't work). maybe it could make use of neovim at some point?i love that a syntax error means the line isn't flushed so you can fix the issue and hit enter to execute it again. that's a really smart enhancement that i hadn't even noticed was a total waste of time in my workflow until now.does it read my local ipython config profile? i use auto-reloading heavily for hot code swapping during my development, will that still work?edit: just tested and the ipython auto-reloading isn't working. maybe it needs to be converted to run as a front-end to get the full power of ipython?also, needed to do pythonpath=. ptipython --vi to be able to load modules from the directory in which i started the app. |
python repl with syntax highlighting, autocomplete and multiline editing
| this is actually brilliant. it fixes my (relatively minor) gripes with the standard ipython front-end. namely the multiline mode is miles better, so so much better.already mentioned on the thread somewhere else is an issue with autocompletion on imported modules, but that sounds like a bug that will be fixed.i'm using the ipython mode and there are a couple of differences. for example i'm used to typing 'hist -l 100' to see the recent history, now i need to use the magic ipython variant '%hist -l 100'. not a big deal, just slightly different behaviour.the vi-mode is actually not too bad. for me it's good enough to be used in this context. would be great if it was more complete (eg, daw doesn't work). maybe it could make use of neovim at some point?i love that a syntax error means the line isn't flushed so you can fix the issue and hit enter to execute it again. that's a really smart enhancement that i hadn't even noticed was a total waste of time in my workflow until now.does it read my local ipython config profile? i use auto-reloading heavily for hot code swapping during my development, will that still work?edit: just tested and the ipython auto-reloading isn't working. maybe it needs to be converted to run as a front-end to get the full power of ipython?also, needed to do pythonpath=. ptipython --vi to be able to load modules from the directory in which i started the app. | if you're looking for a better python prompt, you might want to check out bpython as well:
<link> |
python repl with syntax highlighting, autocomplete and multiline editing
| if you're looking for a better python prompt, you might want to check out bpython as well:
<link> | for ruby there's something similar called pry <link> which i've been using instead of irb for a while now. it's great news to do something similar with python now too. |
python repl with syntax highlighting, autocomplete and multiline editing
| for ruby there's something similar called pry <link> which i've been using instead of irb for a while now. it's great news to do something similar with python now too. | getting some errors trying to define simple functions and call them: in [3]: foo(exception in thread thread-159:
traceback (most recent call last):
file "/system/library/frameworks/python.framework/versions/2.7/lib/python2.7/threading.py", line 810, in __bootstrap_inner
self.run()
file "/library/python/2.7/site-packages/prompt_toolkit/__init__.py", line 200, in run
callback()
file "/library/python/2.7/site-packages/prompt_toolkit/__init__.py", line 440, in run.7.6
completions = list(line.completer.get_completions(document))
file "/library/python/2.7/site-packages/prompt_toolkit/contrib/python_input.py", line 449, in get_completions
for c in script.completions():
file "/library/python/2.7/site-packages/jedi/api/__init__.py", line 161, in completions
for call_sig in self.call_signatures():
file "/library/python/2.7/site-packages/jedi/api/__init__.py", line 574, in call_signatures
self._pos, user_stmt)
file "/library/python/2.7/site-packages/jedi/cache.py", line 90, in wrapper
value = optional_callable()
file "/library/python/2.7/site-packages/jedi/api/__init__.py", line 572, in <lambda>
_callable = lambda: self._evaluator.eval_call(stmt_el)
file "/library/python/2.7/site-packages/jedi/evaluate/__init__.py", line 226, in eval_call
return self.eval_call_path(path, par, s.start_pos)
file "/library/python/2.7/site-packages/jedi/evaluate/__init__.py", line 240, in eval_call_path
search_global=true)
file "/library/python/2.7/site-packages/jedi/evaluate/__init__.py", line 113, in find_types
return f.find(scopes, resolve_decorator, search_global)
file "/library/python/2.7/site-packages/jedi/debug.py", line 51, in wrapper
result = func(*args, **kwargs)
file "/library/python/2.7/site-packages/jedi/evaluate/finder.py", line 46, in find
names = self.filter_name(scopes)
file "/library/python/2.7/site-packages/jedi/evaluate/finder.py", line 89, in filter_name
scope = name.parent.parent
file "/library/python/2.7/site-packages/jedi/cache.py", line 139, in wrapper
result = func(self)
file "/library/python/2.7/site-packages/jedi/api/interpreter.py", line 69, in parent
module = __import__(module_name)
typeerror: __import__() argument 1 must be string, not none |
a brief history of cpan
| python needs something like cpan. python has cheese shop (now called pypi). it's just a link farm; it doesn't host the modules. nor does it have any useful curation. so there's no quality control, and no way to fix anything short of forking a new version.that's the big advantage of cpan. cpan is the de facto owner of the modules in cpan, and those modules can be maintained. | a point for non-perl folks looking at this on hn: while the use of a minor version number might suggest to you that perl 5.20 is just a bugfix/update from perl 5.6, that's very much not the case -- in most other language cultures it'd be several major version numbers on and be seen as a vast improvement over the earlier release.the problem for this is that the name "perl 6" was reserved a long time ago for what has become essentially a different language -- bearing about as close a relationship to perl 5.x as c++ bears to c. so perl is stuck with minor version number increments, from 5.6 (which imo should have been perl 6) to 5.20 (which equally well might be called perl 20). |
a brief history of cpan
| a point for non-perl folks looking at this on hn: while the use of a minor version number might suggest to you that perl 5.20 is just a bugfix/update from perl 5.6, that's very much not the case -- in most other language cultures it'd be several major version numbers on and be seen as a vast improvement over the earlier release.the problem for this is that the name "perl 6" was reserved a long time ago for what has become essentially a different language -- bearing about as close a relationship to perl 5.x as c++ bears to c. so perl is stuck with minor version number increments, from 5.6 (which imo should have been perl 6) to 5.20 (which equally well might be called perl 20). | having to fight with the node.js package-space just increased my appreciation for cpan, its content and users. perl might never had much luster and got slightly outpaced by other scripting languages within the last few years, but it's got a very solid foundation, unlike e.g. tcl.managing projects with perlbrew and carton is pretty convenient, and you're free to choose between old-style modular development or various object systems, both lite and heavy, with syntactic sugar or not (recent discovery: moops). |
a brief history of cpan
| having to fight with the node.js package-space just increased my appreciation for cpan, its content and users. perl might never had much luster and got slightly outpaced by other scripting languages within the last few years, but it's got a very solid foundation, unlike e.g. tcl.managing projects with perlbrew and carton is pretty convenient, and you're free to choose between old-style modular development or various object systems, both lite and heavy, with syntactic sugar or not (recent discovery: moops). | many thanks to the perl community for cpan! having an easy to access repository of reusable libraries has given us more power to develop cool stuff than any specific language features. that's why nowadays every important programming language has some sort of cpan clone. |
a brief history of cpan
| many thanks to the perl community for cpan! having an easy to access repository of reusable libraries has given us more power to develop cool stuff than any specific language features. that's why nowadays every important programming language has some sort of cpan clone. | something missing from the history is the existence of the "categorical tree" for cpan modules, the existence of "registered modules", and the recent destruction of both of these features, primarily due to lack of people maintaining cpan ( brian d foy got overloaded ).the interface doesn't show any difference currently between modules that were just thrown up willy nilly and those that went through community discussion and review.it could be useful to mention some of the various binary distribution systems in existence pulling from cpan ( such as activestate )one of the sources for some of the information is very interesting though:
<link> |
solar power is growing so fast that older energy companies are trying to stop it
| that is just bs. power companies are expected to absorb all negative externalities, such as keeping 1:1 power plant on hot standby, or adding more power lines to handle peaks. they have a right to complain!what i find way more disturbing is tax on off-grid solar panels on roof tops. already happening in spain and other south european countries. | ugh, sour grapes from the utilities.surely cashing in and taking a cut of the 'net meter' money for maintaining the infrastructure to allow selling electricity back to the grid would allow profitability to be maintained? |
solar power is growing so fast that older energy companies are trying to stop it
| ugh, sour grapes from the utilities.surely cashing in and taking a cut of the 'net meter' money for maintaining the infrastructure to allow selling electricity back to the grid would allow profitability to be maintained? | there is a very good reason why utilities have a problem with solar and wind.the reason is that they are expected to run the grid reliably and solar and wind are in no way contributing to that end.solar and wind are causing major issues in distribution networks, because when you have massive unscheduled energy spikes from wind and sun, that energy has to go somewhere.i am disappointed by the article, which is trying to portray the utilities as villains, which they may be - but in this case it is a legitimate concern.i am also disappointed by the comments in this thread. i would expect "hackers" to be better educated about electricity and power generation. |
solar power is growing so fast that older energy companies are trying to stop it
| there is a very good reason why utilities have a problem with solar and wind.the reason is that they are expected to run the grid reliably and solar and wind are in no way contributing to that end.solar and wind are causing major issues in distribution networks, because when you have massive unscheduled energy spikes from wind and sun, that energy has to go somewhere.i am disappointed by the article, which is trying to portray the utilities as villains, which they may be - but in this case it is a legitimate concern.i am also disappointed by the comments in this thread. i would expect "hackers" to be better educated about electricity and power generation. | to be clear, the issue here isn't that they want to stop the upstart solar revolution (although i'm sure that's a factor too), but the bigger problem of grid spikes due to tie ins.solar comes in two flavors: battery and grid tie. when you tie your solar setup to the grid, technically you can make money back from the power company for selling your excess power and as an added benefit, you don't need to keep a bank of (expensive, heavy and space consuming) batteries.during the night, you can draw power from the utility in lieu of drawing from a battery bank, but the idea is that you can buy back most of the excess power you "sold" to the grid during the day. this is the "net metering" they're talking about.battery and solar is how i'm planning to go with my cabin setup so i won't have to deal with this problem. but the subsidies escalating the issue is really the fault of the law makers who enabled it.it would have made far more sense to promote off-grid for energy since that doesn't put the burden on power companies, but grid tie is being sold and promoted as a much cheaper panacea for both power costs and environmental benefits. |
solar power is growing so fast that older energy companies are trying to stop it
| to be clear, the issue here isn't that they want to stop the upstart solar revolution (although i'm sure that's a factor too), but the bigger problem of grid spikes due to tie ins.solar comes in two flavors: battery and grid tie. when you tie your solar setup to the grid, technically you can make money back from the power company for selling your excess power and as an added benefit, you don't need to keep a bank of (expensive, heavy and space consuming) batteries.during the night, you can draw power from the utility in lieu of drawing from a battery bank, but the idea is that you can buy back most of the excess power you "sold" to the grid during the day. this is the "net metering" they're talking about.battery and solar is how i'm planning to go with my cabin setup so i won't have to deal with this problem. but the subsidies escalating the issue is really the fault of the law makers who enabled it.it would have made far more sense to promote off-grid for energy since that doesn't put the burden on power companies, but grid tie is being sold and promoted as a much cheaper panacea for both power costs and environmental benefits. | in spain the conglomerate of big energy companies is so scared that recently they lobbied the government in order to cut r&d funds for solar companies and pushed for the introduction of a law that basically says: "if you install solar panels at home and you don't pay us a tax, then you'll get a fine up to €30 million (~$40m)"...<link> |
the iphone 6 will save the internet of things
| i can't stand the eye-shut adherence to the "iphone" in this article. what is so enabling in the iphone 6 that isn't in other smartphones, heck even iphone 5? | >internet of thingsi don't know why but this phrase makes me irrationally mad, more so than other buzzword terms. almost as mad as when a tv/webseries is referred to as belonging to the "slice-of-life" genre. |
the iphone 6 will save the internet of things
| >internet of thingsi don't know why but this phrase makes me irrationally mad, more so than other buzzword terms. almost as mad as when a tv/webseries is referred to as belonging to the "slice-of-life" genre. | so many buzzwords. i stopped reading at the point where he claimed that nfc would become more important than wifi and bluetooth combined. |
the iphone 6 will save the internet of things
| so many buzzwords. i stopped reading at the point where he claimed that nfc would become more important than wifi and bluetooth combined. | internet of things is a mediocre idea without a single convincing/exciting use case. with this technology users can remote control the lights/door/microwave/fridge, download recipe/timetable/schedule from mindless makers, it's freaking boring! |
the iphone 6 will save the internet of things
| internet of things is a mediocre idea without a single convincing/exciting use case. with this technology users can remote control the lights/door/microwave/fridge, download recipe/timetable/schedule from mindless makers, it's freaking boring! | of course the author is going to bash wifi and bluetooth - they're promoting the only tech they use, 433mhz radio.
but what about bluetooth le ? it's already present in all modern smartphones (iphone 4s+, all android flagships from 2013+), works great, the connection lag is less than the 2sec advertised for rf in the article, and was built for the iot.the iot has been struggling to break the surface for a while now, and it's not just the ability to attach a communication and control device to your door lock. it's also your wifi-enabled tv, sound system, or even thermostat. the iot is evolving, growing, and doesn't need "saving". of course the apple will help, but not for the reasons the author thinks. the real helping hand is coming from ios 8 and it's home kit, bringing a standardized (and user-friendly) way of connecting everything to your phone. |
command-line file sharing
| i like in the little example animation, hello.txt is uploaded and a url is returned, but then a completely different url is used to get the hello.txt back. | how do you intend to make money? |
command-line file sharing
| how do you intend to make money? | i use cloudapp for os x for sharing files and it's pretty convenient. the best part is sharing screenshots with it. you take a screenshot, it is automatically uploaded to the cloud (no pun intended) and the link is copied to your clipboard. you could not ask for anything simpler. |
command-line file sharing
| i use cloudapp for os x for sharing files and it's pretty convenient. the best part is sharing screenshots with it. you take a screenshot, it is automatically uploaded to the cloud (no pun intended) and the link is copied to your clipboard. you could not ask for anything simpler. | that's great, you can encrypt stuff then as follows (on a mac). brew install gpg
gpg --gen-key
gpg -ac < file.unencrypted | curl <link> -t -
to decrypt, take the returned url: curl <link> | gpg -ad
someone can probably improve this! |
command-line file sharing
| that's great, you can encrypt stuff then as follows (on a mac). brew install gpg
gpg --gen-key
gpg -ac < file.unencrypted | curl <link> -t -
to decrypt, take the returned url: curl <link> | gpg -ad
someone can probably improve this! | my usual procedure goes something like this: rsync -p foobar.png personal.sircmpwn.com:/var/html/
# "hey dude, go download <link>; |
visual revolution of the vanishing of ethan carter
| this is why i don't play modern games: the big houses seem to be hell bent on "realism", not catching on that we've been in the uncanny valley for over a decade and are not getting out. a computer can't simulate the experience of going for a walk, and it's a colossal waste of talent and dollars trying to get closer.those pictures aren't realistic in the sense that they're ever going to fool anyone. the game videos (linked above by buro9) are beautiful though. but that's because of the art, not high-fidelity rocks. | it's worth mentioning that this is coming from a small, new game studio from poland and this is their first game under the name "the astronauts". some of them worked in game industry before as "people can fly" [1], but it's still very impressive feat that this is the first game their new studio released.<link> |
visual revolution of the vanishing of ethan carter
| it's worth mentioning that this is coming from a small, new game studio from poland and this is their first game under the name "the astronauts". some of them worked in game industry before as "people can fly" [1], but it's still very impressive feat that this is the first game their new studio released.<link> | it's beautiful work, but not a revolution. taking pictures for geometry and textures is well worn. the techniques they're using are effective, i'll give them that. but maybe i'm jaded and was expecting a more procedural approach.
also, how does the game actually play? lol |
visual revolution of the vanishing of ethan carter
| it's beautiful work, but not a revolution. taking pictures for geometry and textures is well worn. the techniques they're using are effective, i'll give them that. but maybe i'm jaded and was expecting a more procedural approach.
also, how does the game actually play? lol | i happened to watch a video of this game a few days ago, and it was the first time in maybe a decade that i was genuinely impressed by the graphics of a game. it's simply gorgeous. |
visual revolution of the vanishing of ethan carter
| i happened to watch a video of this game a few days ago, and it was the first time in maybe a decade that i was genuinely impressed by the graphics of a game. it's simply gorgeous. | had to go look at the game after reading the cached page (no images): <link>'s beautiful. though... windows only.i wonder, how much effort does it take to make a game work multi-platform (+mac, +linux)? |
ebay to spin off paypal
| spinning off paypal really hurts the long-term growth potential of ebay. they haven't grown much at all over the past few years, once you take out the paypal revenue. that will really hurt the stock price. meanwhile, i would expect paypal's stock price to grow as it's potential for growth is pretty large. will be very interesting to see how they split the existing ebay shares for shareholder and at what price. | the recent alibaba ipo demonstrates this is a stupid idea and that ebay has been chronically mismanaged for years. that it has effectively squandered such a massive lead and headstart is incredible. |
ebay to spin off paypal
| the recent alibaba ipo demonstrates this is a stupid idea and that ebay has been chronically mismanaged for years. that it has effectively squandered such a massive lead and headstart is incredible. | when the going gets tough, firms call in consultants. when bain or mckinsey arrive, they tell you to make a change. is your firm centralized? decentralize it! is your firm decentralized? centralize it. donahoe's "master fix" and subsequent exit should give pause to industry thinking of hiring consultants to run their companies in the long-run; for as the saying goes: the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. |
ebay to spin off paypal
| when the going gets tough, firms call in consultants. when bain or mckinsey arrive, they tell you to make a change. is your firm centralized? decentralize it! is your firm decentralized? centralize it. donahoe's "master fix" and subsequent exit should give pause to industry thinking of hiring consultants to run their companies in the long-run; for as the saying goes: the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. | great decision, allowing paypal to grow beyond the virtual ceiling placed by being governed by a marketplace company which rightly has its own agenda before paypal's. |
ebay to spin off paypal
| great decision, allowing paypal to grow beyond the virtual ceiling placed by being governed by a marketplace company which rightly has its own agenda before paypal's. | is anyone else worried about the long term stability of braintree under such an aggressive board environment? i was always concerned about conflicts of interest with paypal acquiring braintree - two competing and incompatible ways to pay with a credit card. as much as i admire braintree engineering, and i would normally trust a board to believe in the braintree brand of reliability, it does no good if a single unpredictable actor, namely icahn, could strongarm the parent company into underfunding or cannibalizing braintree. am i just being paranoid? |
programming a problem-oriented language (1970)
| this is a better typeset version (without the bold font-face and using monospace for code):<link> | thus far a lot of what he says seems smart... until i got to this:"make variables as global as possible. why not? you can save some space and clarify your requirements. for instance, how many is, js and ks do you need? in most cases a single copy in common would suffice (you have to declare them, remember, and may as well put them in common); you can redefine it locally if you must; and it is of interest that you must."maybe i'm just misunderstanding him, or it's a difference in languages |
programming a problem-oriented language (1970)
| thus far a lot of what he says seems smart... until i got to this:"make variables as global as possible. why not? you can save some space and clarify your requirements. for instance, how many is, js and ks do you need? in most cases a single copy in common would suffice (you have to declare them, remember, and may as well put them in common); you can redefine it locally if you must; and it is of interest that you must."maybe i'm just misunderstanding him, or it's a difference in languages | although it only uses html, that text manages to look as god-awful as can be. seriously, everything in boldface? no text rendering engine in the universe can save you from a writer like that. |
programming a problem-oriented language (1970)
| although it only uses html, that text manages to look as god-awful as can be. seriously, everything in boldface? no text rendering engine in the universe can save you from a writer like that. | >> a problem-oriented-language is a language tailored to a particular application. to avoid that uniquely clumsy term, i'll usually substitute application language as synonymous.is this equivalent to today's idea of domain specific langauges? |
programming a problem-oriented language (1970)
| >> a problem-oriented-language is a language tailored to a particular application. to avoid that uniquely clumsy term, i'll usually substitute application language as synonymous.is this equivalent to today's idea of domain specific langauges? | pdf version: <link> better typeset version by btbytes: <link> |
real life mmo fps
| i'm really split on this. the gamer in me thinks this looks like great fun, but i just can't see myself running round the streets of london shooting people with my phone, mostly because its likely to result in either ridicule, or stepping into traffic. | this seems like a really good way to get shot in real life. |
real life mmo fps
| this seems like a really good way to get shot in real life. | a similar start-up in berlin/prag: <link> you're in london, howard, the founder will be speaking at #geomob on 13th of jan. <link> |
real life mmo fps
| a similar start-up in berlin/prag: <link> you're in london, howard, the founder will be speaking at #geomob on 13th of jan. <link> | considering that you can be arrested for playing paintball out of restricted areas in germany, i would avoid this."simulated killing" can be banned by communities here, the european rights court found that legal about this 10 years ago (c-36/02). laserdrome was the game in question back then. the decision goes down to §1 of the german grundgesetz (our constitution), which is the inviolability of human dignity.while laserdrome and paintball is rather commonplace nowadays, often, one of the provisions expected to open such a space is the exclusion of anyone not involved in the game.i don't want to know how the reaction to people running around town "shooting" at each other will be. |
real life mmo fps
| considering that you can be arrested for playing paintball out of restricted areas in germany, i would avoid this."simulated killing" can be banned by communities here, the european rights court found that legal about this 10 years ago (c-36/02). laserdrome was the game in question back then. the decision goes down to §1 of the german grundgesetz (our constitution), which is the inviolability of human dignity.while laserdrome and paintball is rather commonplace nowadays, often, one of the provisions expected to open such a space is the exclusion of anyone not involved in the game.i don't want to know how the reaction to people running around town "shooting" at each other will be. | on campus in college played humans vs zombies frequently. it's one of the most fun sports i've ever played. the magic really came from two directions. the first was being a human, where you've got a nerf blaster that fires nerf darts. if you hit a zombie, they are frozen for a few seconds, usually between 6 and 15. a decent human could manage 5-on-1 attacks. its a blast to be charged by 5 opponents and to come out on top. but you only had one life.as a zombie, the fun came from having unlimited lives. you grab 2-5 friends and you charge a group of humans. and then you spend minutes wearing them down, taking their ammo, waiting for a mistake. occasionally you'd dodge a shot or two and then you'd be close enough to tag them. it's very rewarding when you finally do get the human, because they are so much stronger than you. the infinite lives means you don't get discouraged, and it also means its okay to make risky attacks.this game looks like fun, but a few mechanics worry me. the first is dying. if your opponent is a lot better than you, can you have fun? how long do you stay dead? you are almost certain to have interactions that you aren't prepared for, or you drop your phone, or some set of frustrations happen. is the game built to prevent frustration?the second is that having to hold your phone with two hands seems really clunky. in hvz, the (for many players anyway) blaster is everything. it has to feel good in your hands, you have to trust it, you have to be able to sprint while firing. you can't sprint and aim with two hands. if you stumble, having two hands out means you have nothing to help you hit the ground smoothly. you can't grab a tree and use it to turn faster. you can drop a nerf blaster because they are tough and cost $5-$20 for the small ones. you can't drop your phone unless you really trust the case. you have to be a lot more careful, and you have to trust your grip. phones don't have handholds the same way that blasters do.cool idea, but not excited by the current demo video. |
declassified photos from tinian island as the b-29 “enola gay” was being loaded
| i found out a few weeks ago they made a bunch of those bombs, minus the nuclear elements, for training. they even dropped some on japanese targets and found they were fairly effective just from the explosive content.<link> | it always amazes me how seemingly careless they were with these nuclear devices back then. to know that such a devestating bomb was handled by a sultry, shirtless youngster, in a shed on a small island in the pacific...it reminds me of the slotin incident (<link> where dr. louis slotin accidently slipped the screwdriver he used to separate two plutonium/uranium hemispheres:"immediately, all eight scientists in the room felt a wave of heat accompanied by a blue glow as the plutonium sphere vomited an invisible burst of gamma and neutron radiation into the room. as the lab's geiger counter clicked hysterically, louis used his bare hand to push the upper plutonium hemisphere off and onto the floor, which terminated the supercritical reaction moments after it began."big oopsie.however gruesome the goal of these bombs, the rate of advancement in such a short timespan is nothing short of amazing. from the very first successful test (trinity) to bombing hiroshima: just 21 days. they were great days for science, but a shame to mankind that it had to come this far. |
declassified photos from tinian island as the b-29 “enola gay” was being loaded
| it always amazes me how seemingly careless they were with these nuclear devices back then. to know that such a devestating bomb was handled by a sultry, shirtless youngster, in a shed on a small island in the pacific...it reminds me of the slotin incident (<link> where dr. louis slotin accidently slipped the screwdriver he used to separate two plutonium/uranium hemispheres:"immediately, all eight scientists in the room felt a wave of heat accompanied by a blue glow as the plutonium sphere vomited an invisible burst of gamma and neutron radiation into the room. as the lab's geiger counter clicked hysterically, louis used his bare hand to push the upper plutonium hemisphere off and onto the floor, which terminated the supercritical reaction moments after it began."big oopsie.however gruesome the goal of these bombs, the rate of advancement in such a short timespan is nothing short of amazing. from the very first successful test (trinity) to bombing hiroshima: just 21 days. they were great days for science, but a shame to mankind that it had to come this far. | for those that have not read it, the richard rhodes book is one of the finest pieces of science/engineering writing i have read:<link> |
declassified photos from tinian island as the b-29 “enola gay” was being loaded
| for those that have not read it, the richard rhodes book is one of the finest pieces of science/engineering writing i have read:<link> | here is a mirror for the site: <link> |
declassified photos from tinian island as the b-29 “enola gay” was being loaded
| here is a mirror for the site: <link> | there were amazing (and deadly) alternatives to a-bomb. most interesting was bat bomb:<link> |
everyoneapi
| i want to know if they have information about me, if so, i want it off.edit: i signed up with a throwaway account and you can't make a single query without paying. makes the "try it" link seem misleading to me. | no terms and conditions, no privacy policy, no about us, no way of knowing whether these details were lawfully obtained.after some digging, looks like it's by these guys: <link> looks to be a spin off of their other product: <link> |
everyoneapi
| no terms and conditions, no privacy policy, no about us, no way of knowing whether these details were lawfully obtained.after some digging, looks like it's by these guys: <link> looks to be a spin off of their other product: <link> | this is pretty scary. i imagine this is public information, but making it easily accessible just makes it a little more frightening. |
everyoneapi
| this is pretty scary. i imagine this is public information, but making it easily accessible just makes it a little more frightening. | as mentioned in many of the other comments, the site does not do a good job or explaining it's purpose. as far as i can tell, it's a database of personal information indexed by telephone number. while this information may be public, it raises privacy concerns, and i do not necessarily condone their right to sell it. furthermore, i'm very curious as to the "location.geo" attribute that specifies the user's latitude and longitude -- is this in real time? (meaning they can track individual users somehow) or is it based off of the billing address of an associated account? -- either way, i definitely do not condone selling a users's location information. |
everyoneapi
| as mentioned in many of the other comments, the site does not do a good job or explaining it's purpose. as far as i can tell, it's a database of personal information indexed by telephone number. while this information may be public, it raises privacy concerns, and i do not necessarily condone their right to sell it. furthermore, i'm very curious as to the "location.geo" attribute that specifies the user's latitude and longitude -- is this in real time? (meaning they can track individual users somehow) or is it based off of the billing address of an associated account? -- either way, i definitely do not condone selling a users's location information. | i think the website illustrates perfectly what can be wrong with a landing page, i had absolutely no idea what the product is suppose to do. is it a mocking api generating fake user data ? "a simple data api" is also to vague to get an idea on what the product is doing. (i had the answer when having a look at the footer but i'm not sure everyone will have a look at the footer).the pricing page is also really terrible, i see a list of prices for data types but i have no idea how it's actually billed. there is a small infobox on the bottom saying that i'm billed for each successful request, but that should be on the top since i had no idea what the price meant (the button is not inside the box as any pricing page by the way).it would be also nice to have a price average for the api, how much does it cost to look-up basic customer info on 1000 numbers ? i have to use a calculator to answer that.(by the way does it work outside the us ? i can only see us phone formats and zip codes). |
the iphone 6 review
| i've had the iphone 6 since sept 19. in the 10 days since then, i've shattered the screen, when it slipped out of my pocket as i got out of a chair, and bent the phone just yesterday, after putting it in my back pocket and sitting down on it (and then immediately getting up when i realized what i did). let me tell you that the bending issue is very real. my phone isn't bent like those consumer reports videos, but it is definitely warped.i realize that both incidents are my fault, but this phone is by far the most fragile iphone i've ever owned, out of 4. in the 10 days that i've owned it, i haven't changed any of my behavior and it already has been damaged twice. i'm pretty disappointed with the poor durability of the phone and am considering replacing it with my reliable iphone5, and waiting for the 6s which hopefully fixes these durability issues. | it's amusing how much space is devoted to the location of buttons and ports. i don't recall ever thinking, "i want a phone with the power button on the right side and the charge port on the bottom. those are my primary requirements."phone hardware just isn't interesting, anymore. we've reached the point that personal computers reached a couple decades ago: they're all pretty good and not much different from the model released two years ago (though they are faster and have more storage and ram). |
the iphone 6 review
| it's amusing how much space is devoted to the location of buttons and ports. i don't recall ever thinking, "i want a phone with the power button on the right side and the charge port on the bottom. those are my primary requirements."phone hardware just isn't interesting, anymore. we've reached the point that personal computers reached a couple decades ago: they're all pretty good and not much different from the model released two years ago (though they are faster and have more storage and ram). | great review, as always.i was pretty entertained by the second comment, which i think has the highest density of apple hatred the web has thus far witnessed. |
the iphone 6 review
| great review, as always.i was pretty entertained by the second comment, which i think has the highest density of apple hatred the web has thus far witnessed. | this is an amazingly detailed review.but, at the end of the day, fussing over curvy edges, chevroned pixels, and extreme cpu and gpu performance is irrelevant to me. i bought the iphone 6, but then i took it back and returned to my nexus 5. i just can't justify spending over $700 (upgrade fees, contract, etc.) for a phone that does nearly everything my current $350 phone does.i'm sharing this because i hope that some people will avoid this mistake. they're taking advantage of the denomination effect (<link>, and i got sucked into it too. for most of the people reading this: your current phone is just fine, save your money and use it for something more important. |
the iphone 6 review
| this is an amazingly detailed review.but, at the end of the day, fussing over curvy edges, chevroned pixels, and extreme cpu and gpu performance is irrelevant to me. i bought the iphone 6, but then i took it back and returned to my nexus 5. i just can't justify spending over $700 (upgrade fees, contract, etc.) for a phone that does nearly everything my current $350 phone does.i'm sharing this because i hope that some people will avoid this mistake. they're taking advantage of the denomination effect (<link>, and i got sucked into it too. for most of the people reading this: your current phone is just fine, save your money and use it for something more important. | > at this point, it’s not really possible to revolutionize the smartphonei see this sentiment batted around quite a bit these days. just because nobody has revolutionized the smartphone in the past few years doesn't mean it's not possible. |
elon musk argues that putting a million people on mars ensures humanity's future
| this is one of the only articles i have read that keeps musk's mars vision in check with doses of reality throughout:on mars, the best we can expect is a crude habitat, erected by robots...us colonies from roanoke to jamestown suffered similar social breakdowns, in environments that were edenic by comparison...for all we know, revolutions in energy, artificial intelligence and materials science could be imminent. any one of them would make human spaceflight a much easier affair.the only thing that makes me feel better is that musk seems to not be thinking through it all the way...and i mean that in the best way possible. at this point, from what i can tell he's still an evangelist and isn't putting resources to solving the minutiae of how to live on mars.he is so laser focused on the logistics that he likely wants to leave practicalities of the biology problem to someone else. | to the nay-sayers here:“what if columbus had been told, ‘chris, baby, don’t go now. wait until we’ve solved our number one priorities — war and famine; poverty and crime; pollution and disease; illieracy and racial hatred—and queen isabella’s own personal brand of ‘interal security’‘” – w.i.e. gateshumans are capable of doing multiple things at once. some people working on space travel doesn't preclude others from working to slow (can we even reverse at this point) climate change. |
elon musk argues that putting a million people on mars ensures humanity's future
| to the nay-sayers here:“what if columbus had been told, ‘chris, baby, don’t go now. wait until we’ve solved our number one priorities — war and famine; poverty and crime; pollution and disease; illieracy and racial hatred—and queen isabella’s own personal brand of ‘interal security’‘” – w.i.e. gateshumans are capable of doing multiple things at once. some people working on space travel doesn't preclude others from working to slow (can we even reverse at this point) climate change. | what sort of existential risk is this supposed to protect against? the articles' examples are all wrong (these aren't musk's examples): "a billion years will give us four more orbits of the milky way
galaxy, any one of which could bring us into collision with
another star, or a supernova shockwave, or the incinerating beam
of a gamma ray burst. we could swing into the path of a rogue
planet, one of the billions that roam our galaxy darkly, like
cosmic wrecking balls. planet earth could be edging up to the end
of an unusually fortunate run."
rogue planets are categorically not a threat to earth [0] -- the "cosmic wrecking ball" is pure fiction. and you get no risk reduction from supernovas / grbs by spreading out across planets -- even collimated grb "beams" are several degrees wide [1], a spot size light-years across (inner solar system is merely light-minutes across). actually, those things aren't existential risks to a very advanced earth: their strongest effect is severe damage to the ozone layer [2], which other planets don't have in the first place..(i'm not at all dismissing exotic existential risks. but is this a solution, or is it "we must do something. this is something. therefore, we must do this.")[0] <link>[1] <link>[2] <link> |
elon musk argues that putting a million people on mars ensures humanity's future
| what sort of existential risk is this supposed to protect against? the articles' examples are all wrong (these aren't musk's examples): "a billion years will give us four more orbits of the milky way
galaxy, any one of which could bring us into collision with
another star, or a supernova shockwave, or the incinerating beam
of a gamma ray burst. we could swing into the path of a rogue
planet, one of the billions that roam our galaxy darkly, like
cosmic wrecking balls. planet earth could be edging up to the end
of an unusually fortunate run."
rogue planets are categorically not a threat to earth [0] -- the "cosmic wrecking ball" is pure fiction. and you get no risk reduction from supernovas / grbs by spreading out across planets -- even collimated grb "beams" are several degrees wide [1], a spot size light-years across (inner solar system is merely light-minutes across). actually, those things aren't existential risks to a very advanced earth: their strongest effect is severe damage to the ozone layer [2], which other planets don't have in the first place..(i'm not at all dismissing exotic existential risks. but is this a solution, or is it "we must do something. this is something. therefore, we must do this.")[0] <link>[1] <link>[2] <link> | every time that this argument is made, i can't help but wonder if the mere existence of a sustainable off-world colony would cause humans on earth to give even less of a damn about maintaining a habitable planet. a sort of moral hazard (<link> on an interplanetary scale. which is to ask, could colonizing other worlds actually accelerate the destruction of human civilization, rather than ensure it?as an alternative to possibly engendering environmental apathy, imagine a scenario akin to the cold war, except that one of the superpowers has a million citizens on mars, and the other doesn't. does mad still apply, or does the interplanetary superpower suddenly becoming all the more willing to watch the world burn? |
elon musk argues that putting a million people on mars ensures humanity's future
| every time that this argument is made, i can't help but wonder if the mere existence of a sustainable off-world colony would cause humans on earth to give even less of a damn about maintaining a habitable planet. a sort of moral hazard (<link> on an interplanetary scale. which is to ask, could colonizing other worlds actually accelerate the destruction of human civilization, rather than ensure it?as an alternative to possibly engendering environmental apathy, imagine a scenario akin to the cold war, except that one of the superpowers has a million citizens on mars, and the other doesn't. does mad still apply, or does the interplanetary superpower suddenly becoming all the more willing to watch the world burn? | all this talk of sending people to mars seems like putting the cart before the horse. if you have the technogy to not die on mars, why not start with, say, underwater cities on earth? at least there you'd have a ready supply of several life-supporting elements that would be absent on mars. as it is, we've never tried to ensure anybody's long-term survival under conditions anywhere near as harsh as mars — no air, no nitrogen, no readily available water, no indigenous animals to hunt, no fossil fuels, no geothermal energy, no hydro or windmills.i never see plans to get around this with real-world technology — it's always just hand-waved as something we'll figure out. but it seems like the "letting people live natural lives under utterly inhospitable conditions" part has a lot more to do with ensuring humanity's survival than the mars part. |
stripe fund invests $500,000 in baremetrics
| i think one of the most interesting things here is that this investment comes "as part of a new fund they’ve created for businesses on stripe." this certainly sends a different signal to third-party applications than the signal twitter was sending. if i had an idea to build on top of stripe, i'd feel pretty good about that right now. smart move.also, congrats josh! | congrats, always thought baremetrics was promoted in an intelligent manner. |
stripe fund invests $500,000 in baremetrics
| congrats, always thought baremetrics was promoted in an intelligent manner. | congrats josh!i think i like this model of investment a lot for a company like stripe. rather than trying to copy or buy baremetrics and add that to the list of things stripe would need to focus on, invest in someone who spend all day every day worrying about only how to make that thing the best it can be. keeps all of the incentives nicely aligned for both stripe and baremetrics.i would think baremetrics probably should grow to include other payment system integrations. however, i think as long as stripe continues focusing on being the best option available for what they provide, choosing to invest in the eco system around them like this seems like a great way to grow the business as a whole vs. spending the same money on making their own product bigger.i also like it from baremetrics point of view that stripe is now invested in them for the obvious and already stated reasons. |
stripe fund invests $500,000 in baremetrics
| congrats josh!i think i like this model of investment a lot for a company like stripe. rather than trying to copy or buy baremetrics and add that to the list of things stripe would need to focus on, invest in someone who spend all day every day worrying about only how to make that thing the best it can be. keeps all of the incentives nicely aligned for both stripe and baremetrics.i would think baremetrics probably should grow to include other payment system integrations. however, i think as long as stripe continues focusing on being the best option available for what they provide, choosing to invest in the eco system around them like this seems like a great way to grow the business as a whole vs. spending the same money on making their own product bigger.i also like it from baremetrics point of view that stripe is now invested in them for the obvious and already stated reasons. | > will this work with non-saas businesses?> at this point, not really. right now baremetrics is focused primarily on providing analytics and metrics for saas businesses with recurring billing.this seems odd to me. i don't see why any business which has recurring billing wouldn't benefit from baremetrics. |
stripe fund invests $500,000 in baremetrics
| > will this work with non-saas businesses?> at this point, not really. right now baremetrics is focused primarily on providing analytics and metrics for saas businesses with recurring billing.this seems odd to me. i don't see why any business which has recurring billing wouldn't benefit from baremetrics. | baremetrics seems like a heck of a way to get a good view on how various saas startups are doing.if i were a vc... |
idiomatic generics in go
| if a language is not dynamically typed then it's cumbersome not to have generics, that's for sure.on the other hand what i really like about go is that they are the only popular recent language that pushes back against a lot of modern features and says: "it doesn't matter how clever those features are, overall simplicity and consistency matters more."the point is that we really need this experiment. it's in everybody's interest that the go people push back and continue to keep the language minimal. in a few years time someone will say on the internet that unless you have features x, y, and z in a language you simply cannot be productive/concise/maintainable/performant/safe/not-a-blub. at that point it may be possible to point at some evidence and say "well i noticed that those machine learning guys at myappsthegreatest.com wrote a large system in go". then you can go study it and see if they really needed those features. you can also ask the developers who used it and hopefully some of them will also have experience in [insert crystalline functional language here] so you can get them to weigh up the pros and cons. go is an experiment that is needed. | i also miss generics in go. it is especially a pain to implement a nice high performance collections library without them. i have been working on and off on a data-structures library and you have to go through a lot of hoops to make it nicely usable and your still end up with `interface{}` everywhere.[1]it should be noted that this is not the first attempt by any means. droundy implemented basically this several years ago.[2] the problem is these things are non-standard and i don't feel comfortable using them. i want generics but i want them as part of the language not as some weird third party cgi script. i also want them integrated into the template system. that way i can create type variables which must implement an interface. however, when the code is actually run, it isn't an interface object it is the actual object. features like that would make them fit much better with the rest of the language.[1] <link>
[2] <link> |
idiomatic generics in go
| i also miss generics in go. it is especially a pain to implement a nice high performance collections library without them. i have been working on and off on a data-structures library and you have to go through a lot of hoops to make it nicely usable and your still end up with `interface{}` everywhere.[1]it should be noted that this is not the first attempt by any means. droundy implemented basically this several years ago.[2] the problem is these things are non-standard and i don't feel comfortable using them. i want generics but i want them as part of the language not as some weird third party cgi script. i also want them integrated into the template system. that way i can create type variables which must implement an interface. however, when the code is actually run, it isn't an interface object it is the actual object. features like that would make them fit much better with the rest of the language.[1] <link>
[2] <link> | whenever this issue comes up (and on hn, it never appears to die), i'm reminded of an eye-opening moment i had reading rob pike's excellent essay "less is exponentially more" (<link> excerpt (original emphasis): "early in the rollout of go i was told by someone that he could not imagine working in a language without generic types. as i have reported elsewhere, i found that an odd remark...what it says is that he finds writing containers like lists of ints and maps of strings an unbearable burden. i find that an odd claim. i spend very little of my programming time struggling with those issues, even in languages without generic types...but more important, what it says is that types are the way to lift that burden. types. not polymorphic functions or language primitives or helpers of other kinds, but types."it seems to me that people program heavily with types because that's what compilers are really good at. therefore that's what most languages give us. but i don't want to be constructing huge, complex type hierarchies with every application. if i'm spending more time on that than the actual problem domain, generic type systems are more of a problem than a solution. i don't use a hammer because i love driving in nails, i use it because it's the best way to stick two pieces of wood together.(edit: perhaps i should clarify that i'm referring to type hierarchies within the application itself as an intrinsic part of design, not language type hierarchies) |
idiomatic generics in go
| whenever this issue comes up (and on hn, it never appears to die), i'm reminded of an eye-opening moment i had reading rob pike's excellent essay "less is exponentially more" (<link> excerpt (original emphasis): "early in the rollout of go i was told by someone that he could not imagine working in a language without generic types. as i have reported elsewhere, i found that an odd remark...what it says is that he finds writing containers like lists of ints and maps of strings an unbearable burden. i find that an odd claim. i spend very little of my programming time struggling with those issues, even in languages without generic types...but more important, what it says is that types are the way to lift that burden. types. not polymorphic functions or language primitives or helpers of other kinds, but types."it seems to me that people program heavily with types because that's what compilers are really good at. therefore that's what most languages give us. but i don't want to be constructing huge, complex type hierarchies with every application. if i'm spending more time on that than the actual problem domain, generic type systems are more of a problem than a solution. i don't use a hammer because i love driving in nails, i use it because it's the best way to stick two pieces of wood together.(edit: perhaps i should clarify that i'm referring to type hierarchies within the application itself as an intrinsic part of design, not language type hierarchies) | go, which claims not to have either generics or objects, has both for built-in types. channels and maps are both opaque objects and parameterized types. the argument that generics are unnecessary would be more convincing if those built-in types were not needed. the problem is adding generics without making a mess of things. this is harder than it looks.in the example, there's a set of "int", and a set of "string". a new set is created withset := set.new()in both cases. it looks like you could not instantiate "set" for both types in the same program without a name clash. that's no good. parameterized types for go make sense, but the types need to be given a user defined name each time you create one. with "generics as a service", you'd have to encode that name into the "import" statement, which is getting a bit clunky.go's lack of generics is a reaction to the mess c++ made of them. in c++ the generics system turned into an entire compile time programming environment based on term rewriting rules. nobody wants to go there again. but go went too far. |
idiomatic generics in go
| go, which claims not to have either generics or objects, has both for built-in types. channels and maps are both opaque objects and parameterized types. the argument that generics are unnecessary would be more convincing if those built-in types were not needed. the problem is adding generics without making a mess of things. this is harder than it looks.in the example, there's a set of "int", and a set of "string". a new set is created withset := set.new()in both cases. it looks like you could not instantiate "set" for both types in the same program without a name clash. that's no good. parameterized types for go make sense, but the types need to be given a user defined name each time you create one. with "generics as a service", you'd have to encode that name into the "import" statement, which is getting a bit clunky.go's lack of generics is a reaction to the mess c++ made of them. in c++ the generics system turned into an entire compile time programming environment based on term rewriting rules. nobody wants to go there again. but go went too far. | it is worth pointing out that if the go community settles on something like this as the solution, it negates one of the underlying arguments that the go designers have against generics in the language. they have a set of criteria necessary for them before they are willing to put a solution in the language [1], and one of them is that they aren't willing to do c++-style template-based generics that involve compiling separate functions for every generic instance, causing the binary to grow in size.but all the other solutions that are headed into that gap are just one level or another of convenience wrapper around exactly that. if the go community just starts doing this at scale, then there's really no reason not to pull that up and make it official.[1]: whether or not you believe that they're just against them full stop and can't be budged no matter what, there's at least some claimed reasons. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.