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mike463

116 karma · joined February 27, 2008

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mike463··on Why TCP Over TCP Is A Bad Idea
I thought this was going to be something like when I ssh into a remote system and run 'tcpdump' without filtering out port 22. :)
mike463··on The iPad 2
He seemed to be an apologist for the new app store policies on selling outside the store.

http://daringfireball.net/2011/03/dirty_percent

To me it seems like apple is implementing not only a tax on all apps that run on the device, which has been there from the start and is ok. As a customer I like the fact that the apps are centralized and under quality and security control.

But the new move seems to be a tax on ALL MEDIA played on or loaded on the device. I don't want apple to control the data I load on my device, and this is what they're doing.

mike463··on Pocket Legends game generates 30 to 50% more revenue on Android than on iOS
I think it's demographics. Who owns an android phone, and what game would they buy? And how many competitors to this style game on the platform.

Meanwhile on iOS, the demographics are more flat, and additionally there are more choices for RPG/MMO style games than on android.

mike463··on Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular?
I think the sounds are cool. I mean yeah, the gameplay, but the sounds are fun.
mike463··on IPad 2 Official Specs
They must use pointers to do it. :)
mike463··on Spray-on liquid glass is about to revolutionize almost everything
This isn't that new... I've always been told glass is already a liquid. :)
mike463··on Google's H.264 decision: It's all about YouTube costs
nah, doubt it.
mike463··on Why Do Schools Fire Losing Coaches But Not Bad Teachers?
A: No coaches union.
mike463··on Intel to introduce processor with remote kill switch
Except for processors of course. (Intel wins there)
mike463··on Why Do Google Maps’s City Labels Seem So Readable?
Google has better thought out color contrast too. The other ones are either too monochromatic, or the map details overwhelm the labels (think 90's web page color contrast)
mike463··on How I filled two dumpsters and went paperless
Ok, I have a question about this:

    Should you do it?
I've done this for a long time. I have the fi-5110EOXM for the mac that I love.

Here's what I learned. I spent a lot of time scanning stuff. When in doubt, scan it. I spent a days and weekends here and there.

I felt SUCH a relief after tossing all that physical stuff, but keeping it "just in case".

But... I've NEVER looked at the stuff I scanned.

I mean, I could look at it. I could data mine my power bills for trends. I could start categorizing my spending over the years and predict stuff.

The reality is that maybe I could have tossed the stuff (make a DECISION) and live with the consequences (which in my experience are zero).

I think I couldn't toss the stuff out of fear.

Maybe I could have used all the time saved to live a little more.

mike463··on Open ID Is A Nightmare
As a user, I HATE openid.

I use one unique username/password for each site I visit. My browser will maintain this for the sites I'd like it to, and sites where security is important, I type it in manually.

In my opinion, developers are being selfish. They want one of their coding problems to go away (authentication and all it entails), at the expense of their users.

With openid, I have to open two accounts. One on the site, and another separate openid account to provide authentication. Problems? Well, it could be one, or the other. Does the brower help me? NO. Does it make me feel more secure? NO.

I used to contribute to stackoverflow, and then after having to deal with openid all those times, I STOPPED USING THE SITE.

mike463··on Why should I firewall servers?
Firewalls can protect you from a number of things because they deal with the entire stack at once, which tcpwrappers can't do.

They can detect and take action against denial of service attacks, port scans and probes for known vulnerabilities. They can manage incoming connections statefully.

They can block outgoing connections (big one there), including replies from the stack that give away information you don't want to give away.

They can also log what's going on.

Really, the ideal system only responds to the one port you're serving (and should stop that if you DOS or probe the system).

mike463··on 1001 Things To Hack Before You Die
I've always wanted to switch emacs from elisp to perl. :)
mike463··on Do the Right Thing: A lesson by Netflix
I never redeemed the credits, and I got a few of these. I suspected it was because I reported issues with a couple videos. (Most disney sitcoms my kid watches seem to have audio and video COMPLETELY out of sync)

What would make their customer service just a little bit better? Being able to report a problem that's NOT on their list.

I've had a few movies I watched that were at the wrong aspect ratio for the TV, and I couldn't fix it with my tv "zoom" menu. The frustrating thing is there's no way to report it (though I guess you could drop it in the "picture was unwatchable or blurry" bucket)

mike463··on Ask HN: anyone using the new MacBook Air as your main development machine?
Who develops on a laptop? Do you ignore ergonomics? This stuff will catch up with you (at the end of the day, and over your lifetime).

I'm healthier and lots more productive on a desktop with a keyboard, mouse and large screen (all at the correct heights and distances).

mike463··on Stack Overflow hit 1,000,000 questions last night
Bet they'd have more questions and answers without that stupid third-party login crap. (OpenID)
mike463··on Spare Batteries
Nowadays, most people could probably bolt the hood on their car shut without any consequences (but there would be outcry from the car guys).

But a lot of cars nowadays basically do this. There's an engine cover underneath the hood hiding all the engine parts, with only a place to add fluids visible.

mike463··on Where to See Silicon Valley
I have to agree. I would think the epicenter of Silicon Valley would be more likely Sunnyvale. It's surrounded by Mountain View, Santa Clara, Cupertino and North San Jose. Think Apple, Google, Intel, AMD, Lockheed, Nvidia, Cisco, Adobe, HP, ebay, Yahoo. These are all a small drive from Sunnyvale.

I think Fry's started in Sunnyvale... And Cyberdyne Systems is in Sunnyvale. ;)

mike463··on iPhone HDR - Before & After Photos
I think the algorithm could try harder (or the photographer could possibly point to the shadows to expose them better).

The photos show a good job of underexposing to prevent blown-out highlights, but it could do better overexposing to bring out shadow detail.

mike463··on Bose Unveils First TV, With Magical, Sound-Throwing Speakers Built In
"For the money, though, you can get a much better setup"

This is the key point.

In this case, "For the money" = $5,349 (yikes!)

mike463··on Evercookie: A cookie that undeletes itself from 8 different storages
but you have to exit the browser
mike463··on Ask HN: How large is your display, what's preferable for development?
I have a single 30" monitor and use Spaces on the mac. It makes me much much more productive than smaller monitors.

The thing I like most about the 30" monitor is the HEIGHT -- I can see more lines of code. The width doesn't usually get used until I do side-by-side diffs.

The thing about one monitor is that I focus on one thing, and other things don't usually distract me from the sides. The notable exception is the red apple mail badge (small red numbers counting new mail). I sometimes have to turn down/off the mail check frequency.

I organize things with Spaces: 1) mail+organizer+chat 2) calendar 3) browser 4-7) main dev windows (terminal/xemacs) 8) itunes

mike463··on About your f***ing website.
that's why I stopped using the site.
mike463··on Ask HN: Startup stopped paying my salary
Any way you can deduct the loss against taxes?
mike463··on Feynman explains why school textbooks are bad
I read this and found it fascinating...

But I think Feynman might have been incorrect in regard to number bases:

"Translating from one base to another is an utterly useless thing."

I use number bases (base 2 and base 16) every day.

mike463··on Google Kills Wave
I think it was grievously hurt by google's slow-start "invite" thing.

It was a catch-22. You needed people to collaborate with for it to catch on, but you needed to wait a long time to invite people.

mike463··on Ask HN: Recommend me a Podcast
TED Talks are wonderful

http://www.ted.com/

They have both audio and video podcasts available. search "TED talks" in itunes.

mike463··on New Amazon Kindle announced: $139 WiFi-only, $189 3G, available August 27th
It saves me quite a bit of money.

I never buy books until I'm sure I want to read them. When I first got my kindle, I bought more than one book at once, and I regretted it.

Now I keep a backlog of sample books on my kindle. When I finish my current book, I can pick something from the many sample books I have, and if I like what i read, I buy it right then.

Of course, I tend to carry my kindle quite a bit out and about when killing time (auto shop, kids swim lessons, etc)

mike463··on Please update your emergency contact information.
Sounds like an golden opportunity for a software tweak.

Have the ability to configure this stuff on the lock screen.

Either text (this phone owned by bleh) or a maybe a button to dial an emergency number.

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