Hacker News Reader

"What product needed to be built that harnessed HTTP, when it was first created?"

Browser. '94. Killer product.

"Isn't that fair though? Writers could do it for fun and give away their work for free."

No.

When I read this I think of Bruce Perens and BusyBox. [0] BusyBox, created by Perens as a floppy rescue/boot/installer disk for Debian, written as a single binary. [1],[2] Real handy if your partition failed or you needed to install an OS or update.

This didn't stop unscrupulous companies installing BusyBox charging for it and violating the GPL licensing agreements. [3] At no time did these companies chip in to help in the development of BB. Yet they wanted (needed) the inclusion of this useful software.

This is HN, a place where smart people hang out at the intersection of technology and commerce. I posted the article as an experiment to see what possible commercial possibilities could be imagined.

    SVG is too important to the web
    to let it whither and die.

There must be some other way to continue this kind of work sustainably. What else can you think up?

Reference

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BusyBox

[1] https://busybox.net/about.html

[2] https://busybox.net/oldnews.html

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BusyBox#GPL_lawsuits

bootloadon Me and SVG

"I am torn: I have invested this much of my life into SVG. Do I build on that? Or do I write it off and start afresh with lessons learned and no regrets?"

What product needs to built that harnesses SVG?

bootloadon New Zealand tightens immigration rules in 'Kiwi-first' crackdown

Only six days ago, this story ran in NYT: "As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw" [0] There is a ripple effect going on here. Australia announced similar plans yesterday. [1]

Reference

[0] "As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14112748

[1] "HR, coders and manufacturing: The occupations most affected by 457 visa changes" http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-19/australia-457-visas-oc...

bootloadon Bose headphones have been spying on customers, lawsuit claims

Is the app responsible for the monitoring?

bootloadon CodeStar – Quickly Develop, Build, and Deploy Applications on AWS

"AWS CodeStar is a cloud service designed to make it easier to develop, build, and deploy applications on AWS by simplifying the setup of your entire development project."

So amazon moved from letting you develop from the cli to a gui-code editor.

bootloadon Pegasus Mail

best read, new product written while maintaining ability to read old message formats.

bootloadon Bose headphones have been spying on customers, lawsuit claims

"And he download the Bose Connect app, which the company said would make the headphones more useful by adding functions such as the ability to customise the level of noise cancellation in the headphones."

I was thinking ^how^ Bose could collect info. A ^connect app^. Is software really required for a piece of hardware like headphones. This is why the head jack rules. No need for interaction with software.

bootloadon Designating the hamlet of Sumte as a sanctuary for hundreds of displaced people

"The last arrivals are four Iranian men in their early 20s. One is awkwardly overdressed in a powder-blue suit. They sit in the last pew and don’t talk to anyone. Most Iranians are not long in Amt Neuhaus once they learn of the diaspora in Hamburg."

It is difficult to stop movement of individuals in a large country. What was the reason for allowing the asylum seekers to leave the area?

bootloadon Older Workers Challenge Firms’ Aggressive Pursuit of the Young

Dan, what do you mean by ^context shifting?^ Switching from one problem in a different area to another problem?

bootloadon Explain mathematically a video from a space station (2011)

I take care on the titles. I even forget the exact title but I did put ^Dzhanibekov^ in there. There is an army of little helpers trying to make it easier. I'd prefer the ones I assign 'cause I take care to stay within the 80char limit, be technically descriptive and true to the article.

bootloadon Explain mathematically a video from a space station (2011)

A good example: https://twitter.com/fermatslibrary/status/853236042966552576

bootloadon Windows 0-days, SWIFT bank hacks among latest Shadow Brokers release

"It is very significant as it effectively puts cyber weapons in the hands of anyone who downloads it. A number of these attacks appear to be 0-day exploits which have no patch and work completely from a remote network perspective."

MS Windows on a network was never really secure. These hacked will makes old Windows based machines toxic. Pretty sure not all, if any of the historic releases will be patched. Read this post, "Microsoft: most ShadowBrokers exploits are already patched" ~ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14119656

"Researchers from security firm Kaspersky Lab, meanwhile, have confirmed the leaked code they analysed bears unique signatures tied to Equation Group"

Here is a Kaspersky Q&A (pdf) on the Equation Group ~ https://securelist.com/files/2015/02/Equation_group_question...

bootloadon As New Zealand Courts Tech Talent, Isolation Becomes a Draw

Waitangi. The successful negotiation of land with Māori. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Waitangi

bootloadon What made Xerox PARC special? Who else today is like them?

"Sutherland's Sketchpad"

Fantastic read, "Sketchpad: A man-machine graphical communication system" ~ https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/techreports/UCAM-CL-TR-574.pdf

bootloadon Blockchain-Enabled Kiosks

" Bext360 has spent the last 18 months training its algorithms to identify dozens of cherry details. The unit makes an offer for the produce, and the grower decides whether to accept. If the answer is “yes,” the money is wired there and then to their cell phone."

Any coffee bean experts here? Q. What details do you grade the beans? Is this done chemical/analytical way? Do things like smell matter?

bootloadon How Pushing to Extremes Led an Amateur Cyclist to Ventricular Tachycardia

"Many "recreational" athletes push themselves harder than olympic competitors. Their bottleneck is talent and they attempt to overcome this with drive and determination"

I would re-label talent as "genetics". [0] There is a genetic profile of people who have the advantages of speed and endurance over mere mortals. [1] Then there is the rest of us. With respect to "drive and determination" I agree. Taking into account age (youth is another measure of fitness), no amount of training, preparation, conditioning or pharmaceuticals make up for this genetic deficit.

Reference

[0] For example the relationship between ACTN3 and sprinting: "Top sprinters may have key gene" (2003) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3183119.stm

[1] "Physical Performance Predictors of Success in Special Forces Assessment and Selection" http://dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a245729.pdf

bootloadon Monsanto Weed Killer Roundup Faces New Doubts on Safety in Unsealed Documents

As a youngster I used to work PT while I was at Uni back in the 80's, taking care of a semi-rural parkland spread over 200 square miles. Every Spring, our workload would increase, slashing, clearing of weeds and blackberries. So Round-up was used. I told the boss no and refused to use it. The pesticide would be measured then added to the spray packs and the blokes would hand spray what ever needed to be knocked down. When they would slightly bend over, the air-relief valve would spit the spray out over their bare necks. After work was done they'd complain of dizziness.

Whenever I read about Monsanto now, I also think about Michael White and his fight to sell seed, [0] after a neighbour accidentally contaminating it with ^round-up ready^ seed. [1],[2]

So, F. Monsanto.

Reference

[0] "Why does Monsanto sue farmers who save seeds?" http://www.monsanto.com/newsviews/pages/why-does-monsanto-su...

[1] Seeding Fear: https://youtube.com/watch?v=YZGueeao0tE

[2] http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/see-neil-youngs-monsa...

bootloadon US Administration Considers Far-Reaching Steps for ‘Extreme Vetting’

"could be forced to provide cellphone contacts and social-media passwords and answer questions about their ideology,... The changes being considered could apply to visitors from America’s closest allies as well as other nations and include subjecting more visa applicants to intense security reviews. "

and

"We want to say for instance, ‘What sites do you visit? And give us your passwords,’ so that we can see what they do on the internet,” Mr. Kelly said at the February hearing. "If they don’t want to give us that information then they don’t come.'"

So you leave your phone at home, ^they^ want to peer through your public Internet? The US is becoming a very difficult place to visit even for ^closest allies^. This viewpoint is going to be really interesting in the competitive, international VC/Startup scene.

bootloadon Ask HN: Do you still use browser bookmarks?

yes HN itself. I don't bother organising them, search is provided. The articles posted by myself, others are as good as it gets. Moderated/insightful comments are a bonus.

bootloadon An off-grid social network

"the occasional sendmail.cf flashback still hits me."

that's why I asked.

bootloadon An off-grid social network

" I have been running mail for a long time, so I got to learn the complications as they happened, rather than all at once. But anyone who can set up a production-quality web server/appserver/DB along with the accessories that go along with it can handle it."

Are you using Sendmail?

bootloadon Australia's quantum capabilities

"The reason for this strong focus on quantum physics and quantum technology in Australia is due to a range of factors including historical precedent, governmental policy and playing to the Australian psyche. Since at least the 1980s, Australian and New Zealand have an exceptionally strong representation in the field of quantum optics."

Is there any attempt to go beyond the basic science and start new industries? All that basic science and competitive advantage will go off-shore if products are not built.

bootloadon Solitude Is the School of Genius

"I have this vague notion in my head that you need to gather enough clues through the socialisation and then focus relentlessly to produce something of value"

One example, Darwin. The time delay publishing "On the Origin Of The Species", 20 years was broken by a letter from Alfred Russel Wallace who came to similar conclusions. This spurred Darwin to publish his findings. [0]

[0] "Charles Darwin: Evolution and the story of our species" http://www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/zq8gcdm

bootloadon Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

"Interesting another conspiracy driven website batted to the top"

More interesting: You use points #5 and #4 from the article to suppress. I add this article to highlight how ^suppression^ of information can be justified.

cf: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14056254

bootloadon Not a Dot-Com Bubble, Not 2007, but a Nasty Mix of Both

"There will be demands for high inflation to relieve debtors."

@ryanSrich: personal debt, reduced demand in a declining market . If you are in debt at a variable rate and have reduced or no income.

bootloadon Startup School 2017 First Lecture

"seems too granular,"

Probably right. I used the term diff as a concept not implementation.

bootloadon Nuclear plant shutdowns tied to coal pollution, decreased birth weights

"..except for maintenance."

Good point. Q. Would the amount of energy generated by a solar/wind system outstrip energy used to maintain?

bootloadon Startup School 2017 First Lecture

" it would be interesting to have a diff tool for videos"

    videoA -> transcriptionA
                |
                V
    videoB -> transcriptionB
                |
                V
               diff

bootloadon Nuclear plant shutdowns tied to coal pollution, decreased birth weights

"Coal,"

Don't mix coal... with wind and solar.

Coal releases proportional amounts of carbon dioxide when used to generate power. On the other hand, wind and solar release fixed amounts of carbon dioxide (during construction and transport) then generate energy C02 free.