Hacker News Reader

phoreseon MacKenzie Bezos Writes Amazon Review for Jeff Bezos Biography

> commenter K. Mitnick

"Ken Mitnick" btw, not Kevin. Just in case anyone wondered. Like I did-

phoreseon Mysterious Mac and PC malware that jumps airgaps?

Meet dog, your new security alert!

"ARF ARF" -"What is it, doggy? Someone's trying to hack the IRS dbase? Good dog!"

> What happened was the malicious failure of inadequate pressure vessels. Technically correct, but this quite accurately describes every bomb that isn't just naked plastic explosive / C4.

I do agree it's unfortunate that these devices get called bombs, but only because that word has too strong connotations. It isn't wrong: A bottle filled with dry ice is an "explosive device". The fact that it does not rely on an exothermal chemical reaction is secondary (albeit not irrelevant!): Else what would you call atomic bombs?

Also, let's not forget that these things could have caused injuries. Nobody might have died, but I sure wouldn't want one of these going off in my stall. (Plastic shrapnel and ripped eardrums, anyone?)

phoreseon What is the best way to programatically detect porn images? (2009)

So i can literally get paid for looking at porn. Huh, who knew... :)

phoreseon How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

Well, according to the article you just have to build a computer into the wall and let him/her work it all out on their own ;)

phoreseon How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash a Generation of Geniuses

Relevant Carl Sagan: "Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it out of them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and enthusiasm for science intact." (http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199601/carl-sagan?pa...)

phoreseon Amaze project aims to take 3D printing 'into metal age'

Using traditional casting techniques often wastes precious source material. Additive manufacturing - building parts up layer-on-layer from 3D digital data - produces almost "zero waste". "To produce one kilo of metal, you use one kilo of metal - not 20 kilos," says Esa's Franco Ongaro.

I don't understand. What traditional casting technique makes 95% of your metal unusable?

phoreseon Should You Require a Credit Card Upfront for a Free Trial?

Thanks for the comment

> Starting with an addressable market of 1.5 billion is not a bad thing.

(On the other hand, that means ignoring, what, 3 billion adults? But of course you're right, it's unfeasible to cover every available form of payment)

phoreseon Should You Require a Credit Card Upfront for a Free Trial?

Absolutely, but shouldn't the response to that be "I guess we better offer more payment options" instead of "let's ignore all CC-less people"?

Besides, a free trial might even be incentive enough for someone to get a CC just so they can use your app! I know it was for me when I found something I couldn't pay for otherwise.

phoreseon Should You Require a Credit Card Upfront for a Free Trial?

You should also consider the possibility that your potential customer does not have a CC. Here in Germany, that applies to quite a lot of people (sry, I have no numbers).

phoreseon Adblock Plus: the tiny plugin threatening the internet's business model

Thanks, that first link is awesome! Well, at least if you can look past the boatload of sarcasm :/

phoreseon Arizona solar plant achieves six hours after sun goes down

If the goal is to heat up the reserve tanks as quickly as possible, I would think so, else I guess the plant can simply divert some of the heated oil from the water boiler to the tanks and slowly heat them while the sun is shining.

I don't think the plant needs to warm up that long before it can produce energy, since only the oil between the collectors and steam generators has to be heated.

phoreseon Arizona solar plant achieves six hours after sun goes down

"In addition to creating steam, the heat transfer fluid is used to heat molten salt in tanks adjacent to the steam boilers. The thermal energy storage system includes six pairs of hot and cold tanks with a capacity of 125,000 metric tons of salt, and the molten salt is kept at a minimum temperature of 530 degrees Fahrenheit."

(link at bottom of OP's article)

phoreseon CSS Comb

There's a variable

$default_sort_order = '[

"position",

"top",

"right",

"bottom",

"left",

"z-index",

"display",

"visibility",

"-webkit-flex-direction",

"-moz-flex-direction",

"-ms-flex-direction",

"-o-flex-direction" [...]

defined in https://github.com/csscomb/csscomb-for-vim/blob/master/plugi..., so I guess that's what CSSComb uses, although it says one can define custom orderings.

I guess it's useful if you write lots of CSS and don't want to bother with thinking about the ordering at code-time?

phoreseon A strange lonely planet found without a star

From [1]:

"The Milky Way may be teeming with more than 100,000 free-flying planets for every star[...]."

"This is the finding from a study that extrapolates from observations of a dozen so-called “nomad” planets, which were detected when their gravity briefly contorted light of passing stars[...]."

Sounds a bit sensationalist to me...

phoreseon Visualizing World Birth and Death Rates

Some suggestions:

- "O" for birth, "X" (or "+"?) for death

- Filled circle for birth, non-filled circle for death

- Expanding filled circle for birth, Shrinking filled circle for death (might not work well with low fps)

If you decide to go with color change, here's some combinations that I (red/green blind) have trouble with:

- dark red/dark green/brown

- purple/violet/pink/grey

- dark red/dark purple/dark violet

- blue/violet/purple

- yellow/warm green/light brown

- yellow/orange

phoreseon Visualizing World Birth and Death Rates

Heh, thanks. I am red/green blind and didn't realize the dots were color-coded. I also would not have been able to tell you the color of any dot -- though I still can't, but now I have a 50% chance :)

phoreseon Google is changing its logo

So Google becomes flat and keeps its serifs, while Yahoo! unflattens itself, but loses the serifs. Huh.

phoreseon Sony Unveils ‘PlayStation Vita TV,’ a Tiny, Sub-$100 Game Console

I thought about that too, but then you'd have _three_ game tiers: No touch (VitaTV + DS3), single non-video touchpanel (VitaTV + DS4), and the Vita handheld :/

phoreseon Sony Unveils ‘PlayStation Vita TV,’ a Tiny, Sub-$100 Game Console

Some more info from the official page that is not included in the wired newsbite (http://www.jp.playstation.com/psvitatv/hardware/):

[Disclaimer: I don't speak Japanese]

Base package for 9,954 yen includes the console, 2m HDMI cable, AC adapter. "Wireless Controller (DualShock 3) is necessary".

Value Pack for 14,994 yen additionally includes one DualShock3 "PlayStation Vita TV edition (white)" plus USB connector and an 8GB PSVita memory card.

The controller is also available separately for 5,500 yen.

The system features a 1 GB "Built-in memory card" and "maximum power usage"(?) of 2.8W.

In the video an ethernet port is visible, but the site does not specify whether the system actually has builtin WiFi (though I'd guess so, considering the PS4 streaming).

phoreseon Sony Unveils ‘PlayStation Vita TV,’ a Tiny, Sub-$100 Game Console

Interesting, but I wonder why they explicitly mention only the DualShock 3 controller. Would not the DS4 be the better option, considering the PS4 connectivity and the launch date?