HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

b0o

37 karma · joined August 29, 2010

submissionscomments
b0o··on Ask HN: How did Google know I clicked SiriusXM in my car?
Was it to the same email you had when you bought the car?
b0o··on Suggestions for donations to tech non-profits or organizations?
wikimedia foundation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation

Without it, I would never would have passed ochem.

b0o··on Ask HN: How would autonomous vehicles handle emergency services right of way?
Best solution: just stop or move to the right when safe. EMS will turn off lights/sirens or sometimes leave the lights on for the opticon to turn the light green, then they'll pass on the left when safe to do so. EMS turns it off so they don't push traffic past the line on red lights which could cause another accident.
b0o··on How I hacked Spinal Decompression
wow, seriously, what a dramatization of problems. Most spinal issues occur due to lack of exercise, it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, that more exercise would lead to a reduction in spinal problems.

And telling the doctor to learn to show respect when he says you have bad genes? How is that offensive?! hilarious.

b0o··on I am done with Google Chrome
I just wanted to say that I've never had this problem before, but the problems I do have with chrome are what people such as sophos has such as: the flash player crashing, certain webpages "memory hogging". I use both Google's chrome and chrome copy that uses less memory and is generally much better for watching flash videos while still compatible with adblock, and other chrome extensions.

The new bookmark UI really bugs me though, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

b0o··on Ask HN: What do I do with those employers who stopped replying to me?
Instead of being mad, you should be glad for having dodged multiple bad employers/partners because sometimes having a bad employer/supervisor is poisonous to your work environment and will lead you to hate your work and burn you out.
b0o··on Ask HN: Being harassed by Odesk client, What should I do?
Don't worry about it. From the pastebin it says to sign it in the email, not on a .doc or .pdf, so it's not legit. From the rest of the info you provided it's definitely a scam so just delete and forget.
b0o··on Ask HN: How do you deal with professional jealousy and getting older?
You're 26? I'm also 26. Like me, your friends are probably also out there graduating from med/law school, getting married turning into parents. I also have that gnawing feeling from the tick-tock in my mind, and my lack of success, but I'm slowly getting there. The best way for me to complete things is to just make a list on what I need to do to reach the goals I want and to just slowly cross things off. i.e. if i do this, I'll be able to do this next, otherwise if you just look at the big picture, it'll just seem impossible. There are always people who are going to be younger and better than us, and if you ask them most of them will attribute their success to two things: extraordinary luck & timing and gut-wrenching hard work.

Coincidentally this was on the imgur fp http://imgur.com/gallery/OLB8s and the comments are mostly of people who worked hard and did what they wanted, and in their eyes, they're the success they wanted themselves to be and that they just never gave up and kept working on what they wanted to be.

b0o··on Ask HN: How and why is it so hard to keep illegal websites down?
A reason why websites are so hard to take down is that they're so easy to set up. For example, the video streaming link hosting website primewire.org/ag/com was letmewatchthis.se/com/org/de and they all just reroute traffic. The point is that they are exactly the same website. As long as the Internet is around they can keep taking them down, but they'll just start again under a different name, and word eventually gets around via reddit/4CHAN, word of mouth and the cycle starts all over again. But recently I think link sharing websites are not illegal but Google can't put them on the top of their search results or something.

What's even better are the websites that they host their streams on are constantly changing names since they keep getting taken down, or throttled but the templates the websites use are exactly the same: the type of embedded video players, the font, format, etc. The only thing they change is the color and the name.

But yes banning a domain name is possible, or ICE can take it down but that only applies to American websites.

It's impossible for websites to be taken down but it is possible to limit their exposure and that is to have an American version of the great firewall, but that'll never happen, hopefully...

b0o··on Mark Zuckerberg Speaking Chinese: Brave, Foolish, or Both?
As a native Chinese mandarin speaker all of my other Chinese friends and family I spoke to were completely shocked at how well he spoke Chinese. Yes, his tones are off but the majority of non Chinese speakers tones (and sometimes my tones are off when I haven't spoken Chinese in a while) are usually off so when you take that into account, and how he said he wanted to learn Chinese because of his wife's grandma who only spoke Chinese, its very cool to see someone in his position (as a multibillionaire ceo) where Chinese has become a hobby and a passion.
b0o··on How valuable was your high school education?
I was actually thinking of doing something like this too, but for just finances and doing their taxes, I wasn't planning on making any money at all, but maybe just a youtube channel or a blog and to just put out the knowledge that I learned from my research/life.

It boggles my mind how my friends are so inept at managing their finances. How they have so much debt and don't know how to divide their paychecks, to put money in their savings while paying off their credit cards but while still using those same credit cards. I would like to know more about finances such as which credit cards to get, which banks are good for me, what kind of savings plan to start (Roth IRA, 401K, w/es), etc. from a knowledgeable and objective 3rd party with no ties to any of the companies they're advocating for, and that's the problem I face when I try to google these things because there's just so much information out there and it's hard to differentiate what's ultimately the best for me. Also, taxes, I have no clue how they're done I just give it to the guy at H&R block and just leave, maybe it's better this way, maybe not, I have no clue.

Another thing would be your career. i.e. I want to be a doctor. What exactly do I have to do. Step by step instructions based on time period, schooling: what schools would be good, what majors to choose depending on your location, how/when to study/take the MCATs, how/what to expect when I apply/get accepted, what happens during med school. Just an overall timeline, to do list and how to do it, and what exactly the profession/specialty does (i.e. doctors look at patients, yes, but ~80% of their time is devoted to paperwork). Adding a comprehensive guide such as this would be nice too, but for different professions, especially government jobs.

b0o··on Ask HN: Are tablets worth owning?
I bought my Nexus 7 first gen the week it came out and I don't regret it. There are so many apps that smartphones can use but it's just so much better to use on a tablet.

I mainly use it as something that I can just leave it on the car because its cheap, Nexus 7s are less than $200 right now, and it's ultra portable, I just throw it in my backpack and forget about it until I need it, next to my portable battery charger in case I ever do need it.

The two main differences between a smartphone and a tablet are Battery life and screen size. Some of the functions that are both battery intensive and need a bigger screen are using it as a gps, reading, and browsing. When I'm traveling and I constantly need to know where I am and where I need to go. When I'm on a 14 hr flight, I like to read my books or catch up on HN It's also just an ultra portable, longer lasting laptop. And I also play minecraft on it, and they're working on servers that I can connect to when I'm on my tablet or my computer.

As for a virtual whiteboard, I use evernote, as it has that function, but I haven't really found an app that I really like as a whiteboard.

b0o··on Google Earth Discovers Woman Trapped On Deserted Island For 7 YEARS
This story is fake.
b0o··on Ask HN: How do you make sure your employees are staying healthy?
I like thinking about this question.

I have no experience in this but I'll give it a shot.

The keys to staying healthy are diet and exercise absolutely since they probably with through lunch it would be good to provide your employees a good and healthy, yet affordable lunch. It would be best to ask around to see what your employees would like and maybe set up a catering service for them or order to go from a reputable healthy restaurant, or just have your employees cook if you have the facilities available. Basically just have them eat healthier, gift cards to places like sweet tomatoes might help too.

Next is exercise. I can't help but think of that one 'The Office' episode where they are separated into groups and whichever team loses the most weight win something. If you already have groups at your company, either keep it, or switch it up, but don't put the overweight people together, and groups of 3-4 would be optimal.I like to think that people who don't exercise alone, would function better if they have a goal and have a group to encourage/punish them. But some might oppose as some just refuse to work out. Then there are those who already work out or those who just refuse to, and they can just opt out.

Just my 2 cents as I sit here in my lawn chair.

b0o··on Ask HN: What does PG mean here?
It's tennis btw because you hit the ball back and forth. I guess it's also referring to how to just keep bouncing ideas off each other this way too.
b0o··on Our group got pickpocketed at a concert of the weekend
a high tech solution, to where a low tech solution would work equally as well is just inefficient. A simple solution would be to not put your wallet in your back pocket, or to just not bring your wallet, put your phones around your neck, or heck, put everything in a pouch around your neck. perfect.

But a high tech solution is a good backup, don't get me wrong here.

b0o··on Bird in Flight, B2 Bomber
they do, but i think its what the B2's are coated with that give them stealth capabilities, and not the overall shape.
b0o··on Ask HN: Should I make myself into a limited company?
well, I think the purpose of you wanting to get an LC isn't to protect your own personal assets, which is the purpose of LCs. I think you want to look more professional, which a fancy business card can do, and maybe a small office, or rent part of an office, maybe split an office with someone.

Another thing you may want to consider for LC's are tax rates. I'm not certain about how it works in the UK, but you may also be subject to higher (or lower?) taxes on your income.

b0o··on Ask HN: Does a Skype work for you on mac?
skype crashes for me when i forget to reconnect my external webcam. I hope you find a fix.
b0o··on It Took Five Years To Make a Beautiful Android Phone
G2, Nexus 1, S2 and the mytouch 3g aka G1 looked really nice compared to the other phones out there
b0o··on Ask HN: Which cheap computing device would you get your 5 year old daughter?
yeah the nexus 7 is an awesome device for kids too.
b0o··on The babies who nap in sub-zero temperatures
When I go to Taiwan in the winter, everyone's wearing thick coats, and its only about 50-70F, that's perfect weather in California, and there I was just in shorts and a t-shirt. I stopped and conformed to wearing at least a jacket after I kept getting odd looks everywhere I went, also my grandma kept yelling at me to wear more than just shorts. But I'd probably die in minnesota.
b0o··on A Realistic Way to Eliminate the Federal Income Tax
The lottery system is no gamble, and with it also means creating a uniform receipt standard, which further simplifies our current system as well. My taiwanese relatives keep every single receipt, and they even ask for my receipts when I go back to visit. At the very least it'll have some sort of positive impact because both the Taiwanese and American economies have a number of similarities, one of which is that both economies have a huge percentage of small business owners, and they are the ones most likely to benefit from tax evasion in the case of a single-rate federal retail sales tax such as the one proposed by FairTax. However, a lottery system would force consumers to demand receipts from these small business owners thus preventing them from doing sales off the books.

Also, the grand prize for the lottery is 10M NTD (New Taiwan Dollar), which is ~$337,781 USD, and overall they might pay around $1-2M USD which is a fraction of any estimated potential losses in tax revenue if such a lottery receipt system was not put into effect.

Also, our current tax-system is most definitely not holding our economy together, it's pulling it apart. Implementing it into our current tax system might also work too. At the very least, I hope it'll teach Americans to keep their receipts which is a huge improvement in itself.

b0o··on Unlocking Cellphones Becomes Illegal Saturday in the U.S.
You're partially correct in that you would still be "paying" for the phone through your contract, but once you get the phone, you own it, but because most contracts state that if you were to cancel your contract before its completion, you would have to pay a cancellation fee, most of which would be the "subsidy" portion for your phone.

This is to prevent people from getting iphone 5s for free and then running off with them and selling them on craigslist or china for $1000 (which you'd probably still make money even if you paid the $600 or $700 cancellation fee)

b0o··on Unlocking Cellphones Becomes Illegal Saturday in the U.S.
Well, MOST of the world has cheap (below $10 USD) prepaid plans like europe, I think japan is an exception where "cheap" calls using prepaid sim cards is very difficult (nearly impossible) to get because the three most popular providers docomo, au, Softbank all have very steep prices for just calls. The situation is even worse for prepaid data plans (~$25/mb using Softbank, insane. Texts were also $2.50/text, so that's not an option either). Their reasoning is to prevent criminals from buying burners. And if your phone is locked then you would have no choice but to rent their phones for about $50/week or $200/month, to put it into a monthly contract perspective.

There are a few exceptions such as buying from other networks besides the big three but those networks don't work in non-metropolitan areas (i.e. outside of tokyo, kyoto, or most major cities), and that's when you might need your phone the most, especially if you can't speak Japanese.

The loopholes: using wifi to gvoice call internationally at $0.11/min in Japan, or payphones, because receiving calls is free. I digress, but to explain the situation, I found a store (Mobal) at narita int'l airport that gave free SIM cards where you "pay as you go" at around $2.50/min (the other stores charge ~$1.50/min but you needed to pay $25 flat fee and then a rate of $1.50/min), but I also bought a portable wifi router so that I could make internet calls through gvoice for $0.11/min (or free calls back home in the U.S.) and you can avoid paying them as long as you can make wifi calls (free wifi isn't as common in japan as everyone thinks).

b0o··on Unlocking Cellphones Becomes Illegal Saturday in the U.S.
technically, baudehlo is mostly correct. Most new phones: androids (HTC, Samsung, etc), iphones and whatever, are able to be used around the world as long as they're unlocked and have SIM card slots because these countries are at least using one or more of these frequencies: 850/900/1800/1900/2100, which most new phones are capable of.

The parts that he's wrong would be those few "dumb" phones that companies still sell that aren't able to use the other frequencies, but this is rare. Also, some countries don't use the same "LTE" or "4g" frequencies that the US uses, so if you were to bring your phone there, it would still work, but it be limited to "3g" instead of "4g" speeds, but this varies country to country and it also depends on the network and plan that you choose.

b0o··on Namecheap Makes $44,000 Donation to the Electronic Frontier Foundation
I was regretting registering my domain with them recently, but not anymore, I'll be renewing it just because of this. nb
b0o··on Free Adobe CS2 suite dl. Straight from adobe.com. Link in text.
sorry about that, but it is most definitely legit.

You can try using a windows emulator or something, I don't use a mac, but I'm certain a solution is out there!

b0o··on Our startup saved the world on Dec 21
It's been a long day. Good thing nothing happened... yet. We might need your services again if something does! :D
b0o··on Some gun control stats
Same survey (maybe?) shows that U.S. gun owners on average own 4.4(ish) guns per owner. A quick search of the number of guns in the whole world gives me a wiki.answers.com reply of some 12 billion guns in the whole world (excluding .50 cal and above weapons) and wikipedia says the population of the world is around 7 billion. There are also surveys that show how gun ownership is at pre-1970s levels (at around 70ish/100 residents)
← PreviousPage 2 of 4Next →