Hacker News Reader

sirmike_on CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work

Heatworks made this $300 wonder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4UgIijI0Z0 I am down. Sad to see more hype than substance re:robots.

sirmike_on Mapzen Shutdown

Hey there all! I work for Boundless Geo. This sucks. But thankfully we and many like us will be able to help pick up the Geo Spatial slack as it were.

Boundless helps reduce the cost and time of deploying and managing geospatial software with a scalable, open GIS platform – including Server, Exchange, Desktop and Connect – and a powerful ecosystem of geospatial knowledge, tools and resources.

Please let me know if anyone has any questions!

sirmike_on Chef gives up a Michelin star, reflecting hardship of ‘the Other France’

additionally: archive.is.

sirmike_on Uber paid 20-year-old Florida man to keep data breach secret

Lol sounds like a settlement but without the lawyers.

sirmike_on Microsoft Has Stopped Manufacturing The Kinect

I think it is but for a more base reason. If they cut it, no man hours have to care for it. Simple monetary explanation. It sucked when they cut it.

sirmike_on A new kind of map: it’s about time

Personally this is not how I think about this kind of concept divorced from the geography. But am glad there are tools to help express how I want to use GIS info! https://boundlessgeo.com/ is a highly customizable open source suite for GIS data as well.

sirmike_on Windows for Linux Nerds

You know, I kindly disagree. Tech is suppose to run flawlessly/with minimal effort required out of the box for the average consumer.

Power users, Devs, IT Pros and SysAdmins follow a much different path. Each one of these groups taylor's their systems to match their professional work flows. I do not know about you but I am constantly messing with things to get them just right. It doesn't take all that long but I love that I could come home to Windows and be greeted with add ons and programs which make my digital daily grind enjoyable.

Case in point WinXCorners ( http://apps.codigobit.info/2015/10/winxcorners-hot-corners-f... ) -- think Hot Corners. Love it. Throughout the years this and the Desktop spaces are Ah-Mah-Zing. They make a huge difference to me.

From the Start Menu to forced Cortana-Bing-Edge is a mess. Yuck. But there are ways around it. But that's for me. That's my personal take. However looked at from my 8 year old's perspective -- those things do not matter. When he uses it -- it works for him. He was born into the iPad touch is first world. He had zero issues adapting to Windows touch/kb/mouse paradigm. It just works for him. The parental controls through MSFT accounts are outstanding, simple and get the job done.

MacOS and Linux have yet to really nail multi-user accounts in the Desktop GUI realm mind you this is well outside of terminal land where multi-user accounts are never an issue. Granted MacOS has a leg up on Linux Desktop distros for multi-users. However this defect is compounded and made worse by the continuous client model. Iphones, Ipads, Apple Watches and Macs of all stripe were meant to be single user only. Sharing need not apply.

Use cases matter a great deal.

I am just happy I have a PAID alternative in Windows 10. Two years and they have gotten to the point where the growing pains are gone from Windows 10. WSL has matured quite a bit.

WSL SSH (the lowest hanging fruit if there ever was) works orders of magnitude better than any wonky Powershell/CmdPrompt/Putty/Cygwin ever did. VI/VIM the same applies.

Granted my perspective is from the SysAdmin/ITPro space.

There are tradeoffs to everything. There are good tools and bad tools. Use the right tool for the right job. I personally have zero tolerance for non-cross platform Apps. I put the ability to be able to use the tool or service I pay for across different platforms first. I am not a fan of lock in. I should be able to spin up a new system and get it running to working status in 15 minutes or less. I do not get too attached to one OS or another. I prize flexibility over flashy niche and sometimes uber-sexy lock in. This model forces me to constantly stay sharp and educating myself.

sirmike_on Qualcomm’s 48-Core ARMv8 Processor Runs Windows Server

The company is releasing its 48-core Centriq 2400 processor, which works with Microsoft Windows Server and Linux.

sirmike_on iOS 11 turns the iPad into a different machine

Just an observation but at this pace which will happen quicker to market -- mouse integration on iOS or Windows 10 ARM?

And of those two which has a bigger impact?

sirmike_on Elon Musk's growing empire is fueled by $4.9B in government subsidies

Tesla Inc TSLA (NASDAQ) 339.85USDPrice decrease0.52 (0.15%) Closed: Jun 2, 7:59 PM EDT - Disclaimer After-hours: 339.65Price decrease

sirmike_on Xperia Touch makes any surface interactive

Yes I think it is much cooler than VR. This would be used every day. No one is going to use it on a table to to play the 2 half decent games it can do /snark. But in the kitchen in the wall mode, with some good Google Assistant integration. Vs VR? No one uses VR everyday. However the cynic in me guffaws at the VR price level. Jesus Christ. Way to much. At least with an ok VR rig I have a general purpose computer to use or put to work. Maybe I'm wrong but I can see this being used everyday in the morning and evening. It would become a fixture. VR only exists for gaming. No one is going to put VR goggles on every day to watch the news or check the time.

sirmike_on Sonder E-Ink Keyboard

Hilarious. New tech with pun marketing. Precious. I think I enjoyed the pun more than the product. I agree that not every thing needs a cloud behind it. Why couldn't it just store the bits to it self? Shock! Then I wouldn't have to spent ten or twenty extra minutes making sure it could connect to some damn server to update itself or change a simple function. Pass. Cool concept.

sirmike_on After Mac?

Bologna. Dell and system 76 offer current and last gen Intel processors in excess of 16 GB of RAM going up to 64 in the case of system 76.

sirmike_on Stealth Boat the U.S. Government Won't Buy or Let Be Sold Abroad

Because it has effectively become the government's property. What else would you call it? If they control where it goes, who can look at it, how many can exist or be built. Those and many more are property rights. US Govt needs to pay up seeing as this is a fully mature platform. If it was just some drawings on paper then they wouldn't owe a dime.

sirmike_on AT&T Is in Advanced Talks to Acquire Time Warner

Relevant: https://youtu.be/Z8zNsUTWsOc

sirmike_on What I learned while securing Ubuntu (2015)

Enhanced and driven by ease of use. Not sure what parts you mean for default package install? The default set up out of the box with guaranteed regular security updates or if this is a criticism of how Ubuntu achieves this.

sirmike_on What I learned while securing Ubuntu (2015)

This is a good article but the author missed the broader CONSUMER/dev consumer mission of Ubuntu. It's sole purpose and number one priority is Usability first followed and shaped by quick deployment as number two. Ultra top tier hardened Security isn't in the top mix. Easy answer. Having said this I'm glad someone is taking a hammer and chisel to it so that it can be a better platform. The same thing can be said of Windows or Mac. Consumer facing off the self platforms simply weren't designed for hardened security.

sirmike_on Source: Microsoft mulled an $8B bid for Slack, will focus on Skype instead

Please no, stay away. I thought those kinda days at MSFT were over ...