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danielh

1,592 karma · joined September 24, 2008

Software Consultant, based in Cologne, Germany.

http://epicco.de

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danielh··on First they came for Hitler... Youtube takes down Hitler parodies
The source the article cites [1] contains this sentence:

These videos were blocked by YouTube’s Content ID system, not taken down via DMCA notices

This probably means that neither YouTube nor Constantin Films took any active steps to take down the video. It was probably all automatic through content fingerprints.

It works like this: Content providers, e.g. Constantin Films, create fingerprints for their catalogue with a fingerprinting service, e.g. Audible Magic. Sites with user generated content e.g. YouTube check any uploaded content for a matching fingerprint. If anything gets identified as copyrighted content it gets blocked. I work at a video platform, and this is how we deal with copyrighted content.

Usually, this happens during upload, my guess is that YouTube started to use such a service at some point and now cleans their content, which takes some time.

I think the parodies are only collateral damage. One more reason to reform copyright.

http://openvideoalliance.org/2010/04/hitler-downfall-meme-ge...

danielh··on PyDev Python IDE: code completion, integrated documentation, debugging
To be precise, the formerly closed source commercial PyDev extensions have been merged into PyDev, which was always open source and still is.

That is great news and I almost missed that point. Thanks for pointing it out!

danielh··on Ask HN: How much does it cost to outsource iPhone app development?
I think if your whole business is based on one iPhone app, you are at high risk. Even if you get approved today, there is no guarantee that Apple doesn't change their mind tomorrow.
danielh··on Ask HN: Is artificial intelligence/natural language processing a futile pursuit?
1) Trying to solve any hard problem bears the risk of failure. But as you already mentioned, if you succeed, you might have a competitive advantage, because it can't be easily duplicated. I think the risk of Google entering your market affects every internet-related venture. But at the same time, the fear is often unjustified. How often has that happened? Orkut did not kill Facebook, Buzz did not kill Twitter, etc.

2) I would build the technology and a cool showcase, but I would not directly target the consumer, but rather someone who can use your technology to make money.

Your technology might be interesting for advertisers to ensure that ads are only displayed next to articles with a positive sentiment towards to product. E.g. to avoid Toyota ad next to the latest news on stuck gas pedals. Maybe show a Volvo ad instead. I don't know if something like this is done at present.

danielh··on Ask HN: got to 33 in the App Store. Now what?
I can't comment on the pricing, but IMHO both the description and the support website have room for improvement.

Half of the short description I see in iTunes describes what the app can't do (no multiplayer over Internet). Only when I click on "more", I see the wealth of features. You could write "play with your friends on a local Wifi" and move the disclaimer to the extended description. Put a feature on top instead, like "robot players are pretty good".

On the website, there is a lot of text, which is good because it shows you care. But make sure the features don't get lost in the details. Make them stand out and list the most exciting feature first. Strong robots and easy multiplayer game setup are probably more interesting than a Default.png graphic. Mentioning Default.png will only confuse them anyway, unless most of your potential customers are iPhone developers.

Also, put the iTunes Store links on the bottom as well, so your visitor does not have to scroll all the way back up.

Just my 2c, I hope you find some of it useful.

danielh··on NASA Stealth Copter
There seems to be a company in Japan selling one person helicopters. Gasoline powered though.

http://en.gen-corp.jp/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd99ziWFF7Q

danielh··on Cross-domain privacy vulnerability using CSS, in all browsers
The exploit page (the one the victim is supposed to click on) loads the injected page (in this case Yahoo Mail) as stylesheet. The CSS parser throws away all the html and correctly parses the injected css.

I think the description is not very clear about this step, I had to look at the source of the exploit page to understand what happens.

danielh··on Hacking Stephen Fry's Twitter Account
Unfortunately, the chain is only as strong as the weakest link.

FWIW, the vulnerability is listed in the OWASP 2007 Top 10 as Malicious File Execution http://www.owasp.org/index.php/Top_10_2007-A3

danielh··on Ask HN: What is your policy on IE6 development?
I think you are spot on. But maybe you should not look at the visitor profile but at the revenue profile. Maybe the typical IE6 user has a higher probability of clicking on your client's advertising.

After all, if your gain from supporting IE6 is higher than the cost of supporting it, it makes no sense to abandon IE6.

danielh··on Massive Facebook and MySpace Flash Vulnerability Exposes User Data
If you want to provide access to an API, put the API on a separate subdomain. That's why api.flickr.com has an open crossdomain.xml file and flickr.com doesn't.

That's what I was referring to. OP listed domains which are probably used exclusively to provide an API, e.g. api.ebay.com, implying that the crossdomain files on these domains pose a security risk.

I was wondering if my comment is understandable, obviously it's not :) Thanks for the clarification!

danielh··on Massive Facebook and MySpace Flash Vulnerability Exposes User Data
Just having <allow-access-from domain="* "/> in your crossdomain.xml doesn't mean you have a security issue.

In case of an API, it makes perfect sense to allow crossdomain flash access. After all, this is what an API is made for, allowing access for third party services.

It is only problematic if you don't have proper authentication, e.g. when a flash app can use the cookie of the user to authenticate.

danielh··on Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala released
It seems the website is in transition. While still coming soon on the homepage, the download page now lists 9.10 as newest version.

http://twitpic.com/ndx0v

danielh··on [dead]
I think he referred to FDP, which replaced the SPD.

Currently, Germany has a coalition of CDU + SPD which will become a coalition of CDU + FDP.

danielh··on Ask HN:help to find that article about testing an idea without building a site
Have you tried http://searchyc.com ?
danielh··on Ideas are cheap, development easy, so why aren't we rich?
I think you are mixing up problem and tools.

OP was probably thinking of something like web frameworks that help you realize your idea for a web-based app..

If you have a fundamentally different approach for developing web-based apps, you might have to start from the scratch, though.

danielh··on Ask HN: What website project are you working on?
http://analytics4i.appspot.com Google Analytics web interface for the iPhone.

Feature list is still very short and I'm having some trouble with OAuth on GAE.

danielh··on Ask PG: Is voting on HN anonymous?
HN stores the links you upvoted, you can view that list by clicking on the number of saved items in your profile.

Don't know about votes on comments.

danielh··on Engineyard Challenge Python Code
It uses the multiprocessing package, which is new in Python 2.6. From the docs:

The multiprocessing package offers both local and remote concurrency, effectively side-stepping the Global Interpreter Lock by using subprocesses instead of threads. http://docs.python.org/library/multiprocessing.html

danielh··on Billie Tweets - a Twitter tribute to Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean"
I had a quick look at the source, I hope that qualifies me to answer your question :)

The page contains a list of tuples which contain word, time, and indentation level. The tweets are loaded in the background from the billietweets server. I don't know if the list is static or gets updated from time to time. The YouTube player is used to get the current play time and the right word is looked up from the word list. The highlighting of the word in the tweet is done with a regular expression. And yes, it uses jquery.

Edit: great, I craft an answer, just to see the question vanish.

danielh··on Ask HN: basic web design for small projects?
If you use YUI reset, you can use YUI Base to get a consistent style as a starting point.

http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/base/

danielh··on The Scribd Story and the Trip Method
The title of the talk is "How to Come up with Good Ideas for Startups" not "How to add value to the web". The two are not necessarily connected.
danielh··on Introductory course to iphone development
There was a thread about this on Stack Overflow:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/276907/starting-iphone-ap...

In summary, it is not impossible, but if you want to distribute your app through the app store, you should probably get a Mac.

danielh··on Honda Insight's immersive ad on Vimeo
There is even a making of on vimeo http://vimeo.com/4295148
danielh··on Where the Web Grows Without Profit
The companies who cried foul when the attack on net neutrality endangered their bottom line now block out user that can't be monetized.
danielh··on PinkTweet: Twitter for porn (nsfw)
http://bash.org/?104383
danielh··on PG&E Plans to Beam Solar Power From Space Back to Earth
It seems the designers of Sim City were really ahead of the times. And they knew that a misguided energy beam can do a lot of damage.
danielh··on FCC Blames World of Warcraft Addiction For Huge College Dropout Rate
The first commentor nails it:

World of Warcraft addiction is a symptom of a much more serious problem.

danielh··on Why port your Firefox add-on to Internet Explorer? Because your competitors won't
"IE sucks, the users are dumb and the influencers use FF."

Not what I expected, maybe I should look up the definition of "evangelist".

danielh··on Funding an "Adult Oriented" start-up?
They don't have blogs, but there are a couple of big adult webmaster forums where they hang out.
danielh··on Employees Suck
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/961379
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