Hacker News Reader

sbashyalon Tracktor: Managing Harvest Timers the Arduino Way

Nice hack! You could use Arduino WiFi shield to directly post data w/o using the computer, no need to switch to Raspberry Pi just for that.

sbashyalon Poll: Freelance developers in London, how much do you charge per hour?

I used shameless plug more as a means to imply I am associated with the project. The phrase probably roots from the general tendency of hackers to feel ashamed of promoting their own work?

sbashyalon Poll: Freelance developers in London, how much do you charge per hour?

Shameless plug - visualize this or any other hacker news polls using HN Charts http://hnlike.com/hncharts/chart/?id=6573796

sbashyalon Poll: Which hosting provider do you use?

Shameless plug: You can visualize the result of this or any other hacker news poll using HNCharts http://hnlike.com/hncharts/chart/?id=6555505

sbashyalon Ask HN: Nepal's ccTLD registrar won't let devs update nameservers. What to do?

I am from Nepal (living in the US) so it gives me joy to see this post in HN. I see that you wanted to know if ICANN has basic guidelines that could be enforced in Nepal. I do not know much about that.

But, I suggest that you initiate a local campaign to pressure Mercantile to make the process easier. Here are few ideas to consider - 1. Bring this to the attention of Computer Association of Nepal 2. Share this tragedy with tech-activists (Gaurab Raj Upadhyaya, Brijen Joshi, Bhupal Sapkota, Ankur Sharma, Akar Anil are few names that come to mind) and get their help raising the concern to the wider community (blogs, meetings etc) 3. Meet with Mercantile management to make sure they are aware of the current hoops and communicate how backward the current process is. Also make sure they are not being asked to make it this way from govt. agencies. Offer help if they need it. 4. Meet with government representatives and request them to facilitate the needed change.

Email me if you need intros to people I mentioned above or if there is anything else I could do.

sbashyalon How to Create 100,000 Parking Spots in San Francisco

One impact of your suggestion will be increased congestion as these automated cars use the road twice - once to drop and once to return to parking.

sbashyalon This Post Took 3 Years to Write

Congrats on launching! Not much of a gaming guy but liked the tutorial you have. Good luck!

sbashyalon Show HN: Help test out swarm robot control

Here is the video for radiation source localization problem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKofA3ygvPA

And here are two other use cases: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49rxqItJFeY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrq6nq3FLmo

This was all done in Matlab as that was the preferred platform for my lab.

sbashyalon Show HN: Help test out swarm robot control

I proposed an approach for human swarm interaction in my Master's thesis [1] and published a conference paper based on the research [2]. I wonder if you have come across my work and would like to discuss it if you are interested.

[1] https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/handle/10355/27879 [2] http://faculty.cs.byu.edu/~mike/mikeg/papers/MOSC/Bashyal_09...

sbashyalon Single Tweet Sends Apple Shares Soaring

Technically, the single tweet did not send the shares soaring. A significant investment from successful active investor Icahn did. The tweet just revealed the investment to public.

Take Elon Musk's tweet that Tesla was being profitable for the first time as an example. The tweet lead to soaring stock price but the cause was excellent execution by Tesla team, not the tweet itself.

sbashyalon I Am Being Watched

Radio was a bad analogy but how about books or newspapers? As another commenter has mentioned in this sub-thread, there has always been some kind of attention divide like screen has been for our age. Also, we may discard books as a source of distraction but my question is whether it is so because we are used to it.

sbashyalon I Am Being Watched

But if “multi-tasking” with a screen and interaction with my child bothers me so much because I’m worried about the lesson she’ll take away from it, why do I find it perfectly acceptable to behave this way around my wife, family, co-workers, and friends? I always wonder how much of this feeling is due to culture-shift (there wasn't much screen distraction when our parents were our age so when we do this, there is a feeling of guilt) and how much of this is a real concern. For example, when our parents turned on the radio or tape, was that audio distraction? Were we parked in front of the radio and did it have a bad effect on the society?

sbashyalon Hyperloop

Not for the first 30 minutes - which in this case is the entire trip.

sbashyalon Quickly generate product screenshots in realistic environments

Feature request: stages like these http://www.slickwebsite.com/img/showcase1.png

Also, stages with transparent background would be nice

sbashyalon Google will pay for free wireless in S.F. parks

many many Googlers feel VERY STRONGLY about not doing creepy/immoral things like that

Many Googlers != All Googlers != Google

How would you explain this? http://mashable.com/2012/02/17/google-caught-tracking-safari...

sbashyalon Tesla announces 90 sec battery swap

That's even more backwards in my opinion. The fact that it takes a human to fuel the car was my point.

sbashyalon Tesla announces 90 sec battery swap

Yes, there are a few batteries types with different capacities that give various range to the car. So it sounds like the ones who bought a lower-capacity battery can extend their range by swapping their battery while traveling.

sbashyalon Tesla announces 90 sec battery swap

This sounds like the future of automobile - why do we still need to step out of our cars to refuel?

sbashyalon Poll: How do you protect your privacy?

This happens when there are way too many options in the poll

sbashyalon Poll: How do you protect your privacy?

I created HNCharts to visualize Hacker News polls. The results for this poll can be viewed as a chart at http://hnlike.com/hncharts/chart/?id=5793326

sbashyalon Flickr gets new UI, new Android app, 1 TB free space

Its not just the change in business direction. Look at Yahoo's stock chart for the past year: http://money.cnn.com/quote/chart/chart.html?symb=YHOO

sbashyalon Flickr gets new UI, new Android app, 1 TB free space

Marissa is nearing her 1 year anniversary as Yahoo CEO and it seems that she is turning the company around.

sbashyalon "I can't do math" (2001)

This reminds me of my experience with people in China when I was there. My friends there told me that many young people in China do understand English. But every time I approached them with "Do you speak English?" They usually took two steps backward and replied "no". They hesitate speaking English (because they find it difficult) despite knowing enough to serve my purpose.

I have had similar experience with "Do you know maths?" in the US.

sbashyalon Poll: What would it take for another company to poach you?

I created HN Charts to visualize HN Poll data. Click the following link to visualize the result of this poll in a chart: http://hnlike.com/hncharts/chart/?id=5554681

sbashyalon Poll: What is your age?

That can certainly be done!

sbashyalon Poll: What is your age?

I created HN Charts to visualize HN Poll data. Click the following link to see the result of this poll in an easy to read chart: http://hnlike.com/hncharts/chart/?id=5536734

sbashyalon Poll: Is cell phone more ubiquitous than cash?

You are right! I think I should have provided all 4 options to begin with

sbashyalon Poll: Is cell phone more ubiquitous than cash?

I wanted to find out which one is more ubiquitous and the None option (as well as the ones having both cash and phone) does not impact the result.

sbashyalon Poll: Is cell phone more ubiquitous than cash?

I pay for everything with my card. If I need to go to places that only accepts cash, I need to stop by a bank!

sbashyalon The Handshake Deal Protocol

I just created a poll to find out the statistics among HNers. Please vote: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5377521