jest3r1

Shortened links become trackable by a third-party (less secure), obfuscate the real URL (less secure), and can be brute forced easier: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2016/04/security_risk...

They have been buying LCD panels from Samsung of South Korea in a joint venture:

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=4344101&page=1

And their new OLED TV is mostly the work of LG Display:

https://www.theverge.com/ces/2017/1/10/14222986/sony-bravia-...

Additional fee:

hackernews.app is available! CA $25.72 per year (pre-registration) CA $16,082.01 (early access)

Helluva fee.

https://www.name.com/preorder/app?domain=hackernews.app&tld=...

I've never used Slack but these name drops are all familiar.

Back in the good 'oldays of Eggdrop? It's amazing that Slack was "backwards" compatible with IRC for so long.

But honestly, their API is mature. No need to be backwards compatible. Easier to sell when you are in control of access and client.

And sure, the big three don't seem to care too much about privacy (although Apple has recently been making some strides with regards to encryption).

The fact that there are many "not worth mentioning" competitors building Dropbox alternatives (or add-ons) with E2E encryption may signal that there actually is a demand.

It's only a matter of time before one of these companies gets it "right".

The fact that both of us are actively using at least one alternative, in addition to Dropbox, proves my point. That E2E encryption (alternatives that offer better privacy) could be a threat to Dropbox, if and when the alternatives become a viable total replacement.

I clearly outlined many competitors similar to Dbox that offer end-to-end encryption: (SpiderOak, Tresorit, Sync.com, pCloud). NextCloud (open source self-hosted Dropbox alternative) also just launched end-to-end encryption.

>Therefore I would trust Gmail more than I would trust Proton Mail.

Google: don't expect privacy when sending to Gmail: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/14/google-gm...

Google terms of service: Our automated systems analyze your content (including emails) to provide you personally relevant product features, such as customized search results, tailored advertising, and spam and malware detection. This analysis occurs as the content is sent, received, and when it is stored. https://www.google.com/policies/terms/

Dropbox (employees and trusted third parties) will always have access to your files.

Before you downvote.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. They can deliver more features and better performance as a result. Reliability is key, and it's certainly easier to understand what users need, and to develop, implement and debug new features, when you've got access to the files users are storing.

But eventually, end-to-end encryption will take hold. It took decades for HTTPS to become the defacto standard, but it did. Email is moving that direction (Proton Mail, Tutanota). Text messaging is moving that direction (Signal, WhatsApp?). And there's a number of Dropbox competitors that are growing fast because of better privacy and E2E encryption (SpiderOak, Tresorit, Sync.com, pCloud). NextCloud (open source self-hosted Dropbox alternative) also just launched end-to-end encryption.

These companies have been slowly solving the problems that Drew claimed were impossible when Edward Snowden dropped the bomb. Meanwhile Dropbox has been pouring dollars into marketing and a Microsoft Office / OneNote / Google Docs competitor (Paper).

Drew's response to end-to-end encryption: https://techcrunch.com/2014/11/04/dropboxs-drew-houston-resp...

Dropbox risk factors (many unsolvable): https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1467623/000119312518...

I use Dropbox and feel the product is still the leader in terms of features, but I see the competition catching up, with better privacy (end-to-end encryption) built in.

For example, if you purchase SaaS products with Bitcoin, you don't need to trust that the service provider or their merchant provider will handle your personally identifiable information with care (eg. billing info), because you didn't have to provide the information.

Perhaps there are other utility uses for Bitcoin that will eventually lead to demand based on something more than fear?

So the additional UI functionality announced today is great news, but yes, lack of RAM undercuts performance one might expect from a Pro product.

My first car was a 1989 VW Golf GTI. Loved it. Second car was a Golf GL. Third car was a Jetta TDI. Ran all these cars close to 400K KM. Always loved the fact that VWs are built to last. Relatively cheap to maintain, and just the usual minor VW issues like leaky doors, seized door handles, rust spotting, but never any major drivetrain problems.

It was time for a new car this year, and I ended up purchasing a brand new Honda. I love it.

It will take some time for VW to earn back my trust, and I hope I'm not the only loyal customer that has expressed dissatisfaction by purchasing a competing brand.

There's no reason why I shouldn't have been a VW customer for life.

Smartphones could be due for a substantial reduction in price (there's certainly demand for that). Not just hardware pricing, but also carrier pricing.

From a hardware perspective Apple must innovate (or have you believe they're innovating) to keep the product price and profit margins as high as possible. However, as the article points out, the smartphone market is mature. There's not much left to innovate in terms of the "hand held" form factor, other than price, or improving on already available features (better camera, better voice control, wireless charging etc).

The iPod provided good insight into "size", and even when given smaller sizes (like the nano), consumers generally preferred the standard, easier to hold sizes, with displays big enough to read. The Sony WM-10 cassette Walkman from 1983 was about the same size!

Size has been consistent for over 30 years.

It must be getting harder and harder for Apple to spin each revision as groundbreaking enough to pay the same price as last year. Android capitalizes on this. But it's still a pricing monopoly on both sides, which carriers enjoy as well.

When will there be a substantial reduction in price?

Does the capability exist yet?

So is this 100% client-side, or is there a (server) dependency?

Would be nice to get the free upgrade back.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/01/23/a-third-of-ci...

These and other features may require our systems to access, store and scan Your Stuff. You give us permission to do those things, and this permission extends to our affiliates and trusted third parties we work with.

So, in order to work on collaborative documents, I give Dropbox, Dropbox affiliates and trusted third parties access? Who are these people?

Others working for Dropbox. Dropbox uses certain trusted third parties (for example providers of customer support and IT services) to help us provide, improve, protect and promote our Services. These third parties will access your information only to perform tasks on our behalf ... https://www.dropbox.com/terms

Maybe not so great for business data privacy compliance then?

I know it's not just Dropbox, but the idea that I'm creating business content in some pseudo-document format that an unspecified number of people, including outsourced IT, have access to is unsettling.

It's a gold mine for Dropbox of course. They control the document format, making it really easy to data mine. They know exactly what everyone is working on. Your team spends hours planning bigger, brighter ideas, and someone is watching.

And they hold us hostage forever. Export is .docx only and the export formatting is atrocious, non usable.

What ever happened to encryption for cloud-based services? We're giving all our data away.

--

Now, with all that said, Dropbox Paper does solve a number of problems businesses face. The bare bones editor, overall simplicity, and elimination of the traditional file format makes it really easy to use, especially when collaborating with folks that may not create documents every day.

Paper docs are giving Basecamp, non-developer Confluence Pages (JIRA) and web hosting at our office a run for the money. Because it doesn't feel bloated.

Plus, there's too many options for these types of business productivity tools at the moment. Simpler is better in this regard, as navigating all of the options, and training people, is a project nobody really wants to commit to. At least not at our office.

That makes Dropbox Paper a good fit for something.

It may take a couple more decades but it really does feel like today's Programmer will become yesteryear's factory worker.

A large chunk of what we're building is rebuilds, or maintenance, or minor upgrades. Every market is saturated. We keep ourselves busy building the same things, solving the same problems over and over, with the latest and greatest "stacks".

Post secondary education is churning out more and more programmers, and the available programming tasks continue to move towards mundane repetition.

I wonder if the new technological revolution you mention will simply be more globalization?

Manufacturing in China will eventually move to "cheaper" countries. Factory workers in today's established manufacturing centers around the world will want a better life for their children, and push them into STEM. We'll lose our jobs overseas. It happened here. It could happen there.

Perhaps it's already happening?

I've been wanting a mac laptop the size and weight of a MacBook Air 13" ... how about the size and weight and price??

They removed a bunch of ports, reduced battery life and upped the price.

USD $1799 to $2799 (with touch bar). Pricing is out of reach. Especially if you live outside of the USA where exchange rate kills it completely.

I love the 13" Macbook Air, just wish they would add retina, retain the ports, AND the price point.

EIG took over a Small Orange in 2010, but thankfully left them autonomous for while. Unfortunately in 2014 Douglas Hannah (ASO founder) left and since then things have gone downhill.

This happened around the same time EIG took over HostGator. HostGator founder Brent Oxley and (no coincidence) friend Douglas Hannah have gone on to start a new venture with their big time profits from selling out to EIG.

2014 and 2015 were riddled with major outages at both A Small Orange and HostGator.

I'm sure you remember the 4-day Small Orange VPS outage of Christmas 2015 ?! That was fun.

I got my last client off them after that and never looked back. Just now I looked at their status page and looks like they never really recovered: https://status.asmallorange.com/

Some say EIG killed shared hosting.

I've been with them for about the same amount of time. A few domains registered, personal email, a few website projects, a couple cron jobs, and an OwnCloud install ...

Generally they deliver. Not spectacular, but much better than any of the other shared hosts.

The reason why I haven't moved off them completely is because for smaller web projects it's easier to have everything in one place, ready to go and managed, without dealing with deploying and maintaining the stack (which can be overkill for hobby stuff).

All of the other shared hosts went to shit about 5 years ago. Dreamhost may eventually get there as well, but for the time being they are still decent, and get the job done.