Hacker News Reader

lawdawgon Facebook makes it official — an external advertising network is coming soon

"The biggest problem in ad networks isn't cost-per-click, it's fraud. And that's where Facebook has a huge advantage"

wat? In what world do you live in where Facebook has a huge advantage, let alone any advantage, over Google who has been tackling the problem of click fraud for 10+ years. FB doesn't even do a very good job of detecting fake accounts (I have a few active ones of my own).

lawdawgon Google Nexus 4 Review

I'll take a lighter device + $100 over 16GB + LTE at least until LTE is widely available in my city (which is probably 2-3 years away).

But again, ignoring OS which is generally not a good idea when making a phone purchase.

lawdawgon Google Nexus 4 Review

There are both cheaper plans available and you won't be locked in for 2 years. Both, combined, are worth more than the ~$300-$400 phone subsidy over two years that the telco provides.

lawdawgon As Microsoft Shifts Its Privacy Rules, an Uproar Is Absent

Bing only has 15% in the US. Globally, it has less than 5% where Google is closer to 90%, so yes, for all intents and purposes, very few people (who would be affected by this policy) use Bing.

lawdawgon Why Windows Just Can’t Win

People said the same exactly thing w.r.t Android when Windows Phone 7 was released. I think history speaks for itself.

lawdawgon Google throws open doors to its top-secret data center

True, buts its a good consolidation/confirmation of what public information there is known about Google's datacenters.

lawdawgon Microsoft Surface RT price announced

you assume Android isn't trying to compete on features as well. Guess what, it is, and competing in various form factors and price.

No offense, but unless this device blows the doors off in reviews (in battery life and usability) this thing is DOA. The Pro version might have better luck with the enterprise, but no reasonable person is going to buy an RT tablet that can't run desktop apps and lacks the ecosystem that Apple has.

lawdawgon Google loses 2.6% per year. At the same time, Bing gained 4.2% market share.

http://gs.statcounter.com/#search_engine-US-monthly-200807-2...

http://www.netmarketshare.com/report.aspx?qprid=5&qpaf=&... (global, have to pay for US only data).

And as already mentioned, Comscore shows Google at an all time high in the US.

Bottom line, these types of things are very hard to measure, so take every statistic with a grain of salt. The only thing we really know is that Google is the king and Bing is slowly growing, mostly taking marketshare from Yahoo. Anecdotally, most people who run websites are seeing barely any traffic from Bing, and on a global scale, Bing is basically a non-factor.

lawdawgon Apple Botches China and Japan Maps in iOS 6

The fact that Steve let "Ping" go through means we should probably stop using the "Steve would have never let XYZ go through" meme ...

lawdawgon New Apple maps app under fire from users

I hear stories like this all the time, but every single person I know that has an Android has very few, if any, problems (most own Samsungs or Nexus phones though). I mean to be honest, I hear a lot more complaining from the iPhone crowd, but that might be more because they expect more and things like the battery dying after 10 hours of moderate use really piss them off.

lawdawgon Elop running out of time to turn Nokia around

When people ask why Nokia isn't selling a lot of Lumias, most people, correctly, answer "Windows Phone". Going with Android puts them in a much better position than Windows Phone for a lot of reasons, and every negative that can be said about going with Android (minus the OS differences) can be said about Windows Phone. The only difference is that Nokia is pretty much the only OEM that is all-in with Windows Phone, but once WP becomes popular, whats to stop Samsung, etc from making more WPs? Nothing really, and at that point, Nokia will only be able to distinguish itself with its hardware (since there are limited/no OEM/carrier modifications allowed to WP) which is WORSE off than if they were using Android right now.

lawdawgon Elop running out of time to turn Nokia around

I think Nokia seriously underestimated the "Instagram/Zynga" factor when they decided to go with Windows Phone. The average consumer does a minimal amount of research before buying a phone, and typically buy whatever the sales representative recommends (unless they are looking for a specific model, like the iPhone or SGS3). But on top of that, consumers will still ask questions like:

1. Oh my friend uses this app called "Instagram", does Windows Phone have "Instagram"?

2. I want to play "Words with Friends" with my friends, can I do that on Windows Phone?

If the sales representative is honest (I mean he has to be or will get an instant return), the consumer is just going to pick up an equally cheap or cheaper Android phone.

The 920 does not solve this problem despite having pretty sweet hardware. Not only that, its a huge phone like the SGS3, but quite heavy, which will turn off a lot of consumers who want big screens, but light devices (you don't see Apple making bigger phones that are heavier). Even if the camera is the best on the market (and to be honest, I don't think it will be noticeably better than the iPhone5 and upcoming Android phones), without useful apps for sharing those photos, people won't be drawn to the platform.

Finally, things like wireless charging and using the phone with gloves on are not major selling points, just like NFC has never been a major selling point.

lawdawgon Vic Gundotra reports Google+ passing 100,000,000 monthly active users

If I was a betting man, I would say most of the usage is not in the USA and Europe. Probably primarily in India, Asia, and South America where Google products tend to get a ton of usage. That's really nothing to be ashamed of, but it really gives the impression that no one uses G+ when the tech press is primarily located in an area which doesn't see a ton of G+ usage.

lawdawgon Vic Gundotra reports Google+ passing 100,000,000 monthly active users

From Vic himself: "Today's number of 100m is just on our plus.google.com destination site and the mobile app. Pretty amazing."

I'm going to wager that uploading a photo through instant upload doesn't count as using the mobile app.

lawdawgon Vic Gundotra reports Google+ passing 100,000,000 monthly active users

probably, but the same can be said about Facebook users. Anyways, Vic expanded more about this metric in the comments:

The numbers at I/O were google+ users all across Google. So gmail users who used circles, or Android users who plus oned an app etc were included. Today's number of 100m is just on our plus.google.com destination site and the mobile app. Pretty amazing.

lawdawgon Google Apps update alerts: Internet Explorer 8 support discontinued

And yet you can't install IE9 on Windows XP. You have to wonder why Google should go through the trouble to support users that even Microsoft won't support.

Finally, this is not an example of Google pulling "the rug out from under people with virtually no notice." This policy has been in place for over 18 months. I know some of you love to find things to hate on Google for, but this is not one of those times.

lawdawgon IPhone 5 opens the door for Nokia, Samsung

This article should really be re-written and titled "iOS6 opens the door for Microsoft and Google". On the hardware front we are reaching a point where only incremental changes are necessary/possible, and even things like wireless charging or using the phone with gloves on, aren't that revolutionary and are mostly gimmicks.

iOS6, on the other hand, seems like a very incremental step on the software side, a major step backwards on others (like Maps). Seems like the perfect opportunity for Android (and possibly Windows Phone) given they aren't constrained by the "only 1 major iOS update a year" rule that Apple appears to be tied to.

lawdawgon Live From Nokia’s Windows Phone 8 Press Conference

Wow, no prices or dates? Fail.

(Guess they just wanted to announce/show off the devices before the iPhone5 announcement ... but without prices or dates, the hype is going to fade into non-existence).

lawdawgon Live From Nokia’s Windows Phone 8 Press Conference

Even in those two screens, everything just blends together (especially with the white text on yellow tiles). Just seems like a usability nightmare imo.

Regardless, I don't find Android home screens messy at all (although there are a few widgets that are poorly made), and with the customization ability that's provided with custom ROMs, it can be as beautiful as you want it to be.

lawdawgon Live From Nokia’s Windows Phone 8 Press Conference

I am the only one that finds Metro to be ugly (hate the color choices and block-y design) and cluttered? This does not strike me as something I want to see on my home screen:

http://d35lb3dl296zwu.cloudfront.net/uploads/photo/image/769...

Regardless, I'm wondering if the average consumer feels the same way as well. WP7 is not selling well, and WP8 (and the new Lumias) don't really differentiate themselves that much from the previous iteration in terms of what a consumer will see in the first few minutes of using the phone.

Also, this is DOA in the US if they are AT&T exclusive.

lawdawgon Galaxy S III beats out iPhone 4S as top selling device in US

People are all pointing to the fact that the new iPhone is coming out, and for obvious reasons, the iPhone4s will not sell as well.

That said, people are forgetting that this is basically the FIRST TIME that any smartphone has sold more than the iPhone in the US. It's not as big news as it could be, but its definitely big news, and could be indicative of a trend in the US, namely, not just cheap/mid-range Androids are being sold, but a lot of high-end Androids, that cost as much as iPhones are being sold. This is a very interesting and important distinction.

lawdawgon Google Search is only 18% Search

Until people show me that paid results aren't relevant (hint: they usually are), then most of the real estate is fulfilling his purpose.

Also, if Google decided to some how change to using 2 columns of organic search so they could squeeze 16 results into a single page, you'd hear just as much, if not more, complaining.

lawdawgon Google Search is only 18% Search

For a query like "credit card", those non-organic results seem much more, if not just as, relevant than the organic results. Why do people assume that if it's an ad that it must be non-relevant? Advertisers wouldn't be advertising on these keywords unless they were converting a good percentage of users ... that means a good percentage of users are finding those links relevant.

I don't use AdBlock, don't really see the reason to as I find most of the search ads to be relevant whenever I'm searching for a term that actually shows search ads (which isn't really that often). Hate for search ads just because they are ads is kind of an odd imo ...

lawdawgon Google Search is only 18% Search

http://www.google.com/search?q=saas+help+desk

How is DDG any better really?

lawdawgon Ask HN: Is Google still a cool place to work?

From my xoogler and googler friends, its the best big company you could possibly work for, and better than 95% of the medium/small companies as well.

Obviously its not a perfect fit for everyone, but for most it is.

lawdawgon Apple vs. Samsung, and the rise of Windows Phone 8

There was a huge (and costly) marketing campaign for the Lumia 800/900, and that resulted in very few sales. The problem isn't the amount of marketing (as WP and Apple can both attest to), its the product. Average users just aren't interested in Windows Phone, and the Windows name does not inspire user confidence (or desire).

lawdawgon Walking out of an interview

People seem to think its fine to walk out of an interview early ... but how do they feel if the interviewer ends the interview early, or your "full day" of interviews is cut to just 1 or 2 hours because they just didn't think it was a good fit?

I'm guessing some of you would be pissed because you took the whole day off for the interview only to be kicked out early.

On the other hand, if I was on an interview loop, and the person left before it was my turn, I'd be grateful ... now I have extra time to do meaningful work.

lawdawgon A device with a touchscreen and few buttons was obvious

i was referring more to the Samsung phones that run 2.2 or 2.3. The ones that run 4.0 and 4.1 cost the exact same as the iPhone, so people who buy phones like the SG3 (and 6 months ago, the SG2) are doing so because they CHOSE Android, not because it looks like an iPhone.

lawdawgon A device with a touchscreen and few buttons was obvious

and people act like all Samsung did was copy. You realize they wouldn't be the most successful Android OEM if they didn't do their own innovation as well. And no, people aren't rushing out the buy Samsung phones because they look like iPhones (I mean they don't even have an Apple on the back, should be pretty obvious to anyone that it isn't an iPhone), they are buying them because they are cheaper and can do 90% of what an iPhone can do. Changing that to 88% (removing the two behavior patents) isn't going to make a dent in Samsungs ability to sell to the masses.

lawdawgon Jury in Apple v. Samsung Goofed, Damages Reduced; What's Wrong With this Picture

3 months? I think your math is a bit off.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_(original) - June, 2007 vs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_i7500 - June, 2009