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>...still sounding exhilarated months later about providing “Frozen” dolls in record time.

At the risk of a very lame pun, this leaves me cold.

Denigrating someone else's work isn't good reporting.

They may just be "Frozen dolls" but it's what Amazon does, they sell everything to everyone.

Should an Amazon worker be more exhilarated by supplying much needed medical supplies in record time? Perhaps, but in essence - the company's ideals should (and clearly do) run through its entire business.

Working people to breaking point (which is what the article is about) can be reported on without making a value judgement on what the company sells or how important they think it is.

Bang & Olufsen's Beolab speakers do pretty much what you are describing.

They have a test tone and each one has a little micro dick (only way I can really describe it) that pokes out during the test tone playback to pick up reflections.

More here: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/19/technology/how-it-works-a-...

I agree with you.

I think it has to do with a kind of counter-purpose development where the people who create the devices are trying to create a good experience on websites and the designers of websites keep moving the goalposts.

Perhaps it's time that web designers are subject (or subject themselves) to a similar set of human interface guidelines that app developers are subject to, for instance.

Dual monitor window management is... not good.

So they are making an effort at creating not only sustainable energy solutions for their operations but also a good example for other big corporations.

You clearly hate this.

Poor Apple, can't do shit without being shat on.

According to Neal Stephenson, the most badass adversary humankind has faces is influenza.

I tend to nod in agreement, smiling wryly.

You have my apologies for any perceived or actual snark.

I hadn't intended to insult anyone and in terms of derision, I am certainly in no position to be doling it out.

Going back to the comment in question though, it is kind of the crux of the matter as I read it.

There are some posts further up that are very sarcastic about the contributions of these 'figureheads' and my statement to those people stands for itself: if these 'figureheads' are not necessary then do it without them.

I go on to provide very popular examples of where this simply isn't how things work.

Note that I have never even so much as intimated that it couldn't work like that just that it doesn't often seem to.

I will admit that there is perhaps some of my own insecurity slipping in here. As someone with a technical background who now works in a less technical capacity I think I may have taken some of these comments personally and allowed for them to pile onto an already toppling pile of impostor syndrome type thinking.

The fact remains though that to build something you need engineers, you also need architects, you also need someone to bankroll the project. Asserting that one or more of these players are more important that others does seem illogical to me and it would probably take a lot to change that outlook on my part.

So torn on this because I fall into the chest beating, love to drive my car set but I also remember how much reading I got done when I was younger and used to use the train to commute.

Having that time back is a very seductive proposition.

What I do wonder though is what's the point of having your own car, if all cars are autonomous then isn't that essentially a tram system? How long would it take before there are established routes and taking your car to a given location is no different to hopping on any one of the other cars that are heading there anyway?

Surely the one of the first businesses to be radically impacted by widespread autonomous vehicles is the taxi industry?

I can't see an outcome where pretty soon it's not just a fancy tramway.

This comes up a lot on various forums.

The more technical the crowd the more you hear this kind of thing but it really does bear mentioning that if these engineers could be doing it without these figureheads then really, they should do that.

They fact that it's plausible has no bearing on the fact that it is often simply not the case.

Why did Apple nearly fail before Jobs return?

Why are Tesla and SpaceX a direct result of one mans vision?

I'm not saying that no one else is involved in these businesses, I don't think anyone is stupid enough to assert that these are not examples of fantastically great organisations made up of brilliant engineers and probably project managers and lawyers and all of the other parts that make up a great companay but yet the fact remains that the 'figurehead' is there.

Why is that if these 'figureheads' serve no purpose other than to court the media?

That is interesting. Thank you.

I found this whole thread very exciting, I as down-voted into oblivion very quickly so I stopped sharing my thoughts but my mind ran on for a while...

Self-healing machines, buildings and devices also sprang to mind.

Basically, if the printer is small enough to be a part of the object and there were a way of determining what it needs to print then the object need never be broken (for very long) in fact: the object doesn't even need to be defined as a cup, a pair of trousers, a bicycle. If the printer can embed itself into anything it prints then it could literally morph according to a given requirement.

...I'll stop now.

Weir Al's versions are parodies yes, but they are also cover versions - they are never claimed as original aside from their satirical lyrics.

What is the precision and how small can an object be? How small can the printer be? Can we make nanoprinters that are controlled from the cloud to mutate the models they create as necessary?

Nanovaccines that can change in response to mutating threats...

I feel like I have understood the importance of 3D printing for the very first time which makes sense, I have tended to be a little slow.

I met him once.

He came to talk at UNiversity of Cape Town here in South Africa.

I was never really a fan (not for any reason apart from my infatuation with Gibson which kept me more in Chiba City than in Discworld) but I went with a friend who got his copy of Mort signed.

Sir Pratchett gave a great talk and made a funny (yet by todays standards perfectly hideous) comment about fat goth girls.

Just a memory that a total random holds of the man. For what it's worth.

The universe is wider than we can accurately calculate. Could have life.

I have always been a fan of skinning, even since the days of Litestep and other PC OS skinning systems.

These are nice.

Thanks a stack - I went for Pinterest in the end, not much on my board yet but if you're super bored you can look here:

https://www.pinterest.com/marki0427/shitidigandhavedug/

OK, if it wasn't clear that that was me being facetious then let me make it clear - I was being facetious and poking fun at the fact that people think Pinterest is 'for girls' ...jeez guys.

Incidentally I started my sexist Pinterest board last night, I have enjoyed using the platform thus far - the Chrome P button plugin is super handy.

Oh shit, I think it might know the answer and I think the answer might be Pinterest, how embarrassing - I'm a dude!

Strident anti-antivax here.

The main sticking point that I have experienced is that anitvaxxers refuse to accept that their actions impact other people (children) by way of herd immunity.

When they do see it, they are often too deep into the argument to back out.

The other issue is that the argument is often heavily laden with emotion - I had a discussion with ageing hippy grandparents who blame a last minute MMR vaccine on the still birth of their second grandchild.

It's not a fair argument when you are showing data and they are reacting to a still birth. Even harder when you deeply love the people you are having the damned argument with.

MacBook Air

I'll chuck my hat in the ring here too... got a new MBA recently and it came with Yosemite which introduced one or two curveballs when setting up for web development.

As others have noted: Cryptonomicon.

...but that basic idea did give me another one: electromagnets on a separate circuit inside the drive enclosure or laptop body.

Fail to pass a security check on schedule and the circuit is engaged, destroying the HDD.

I'm no hardware wizz although I did make a motor out of a nail and copper wire once.

If you do that on mobile you can view the image through a portal about 20% of your screen size - the rest is crowded in with some sort of chrome.

So it's like he grabs the mag from you, scolds you and then leaves the page you wanted to see open behind the counter where you can stand and squint at it for a bit if you like.

I think this is maybe not the best type of post on HN that I'm about to make but I'll do it anyway... I really liked your story, thank you for sharing it.

Tortured artist.

In my own experience this is very true.

I have a penchant for poetry and writing but I only face the page in times of turmoil.

The distinction between heartbroken me and happy me in terms of power through the pen is staggering.

I have at times even considered self sabotage in order to align these necessary forces and generate a period of productivity in writing.

I have a beautiful wife and beautiful children and I could never do it but still I have found myself considering it.

Such is the power of this effect in my own personal case.

There was a thread on Reddit by some dude who claimed to be a friend of a friend of someone who had some connection with the group.

...as I remember it, it felt on slightly stronger than speculation.

What kind of footprint would a system of this nature require I wonder? Geographically speaking.

Down 15kg since April, Keto.

I highly doubt that anyone doing Keto with a good amount of success is doing so without tracking macros.

It is ironic that you'd decry ignorance and oversimplification when in point of fact you are guilty of the same in doing so.

The Chrysalids - John Wyndham.

Used Fogbugz at my second real job in the world. Read a ton of this guys blogs.

Good on ya man!