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snappieT

262 karma · joined April 2, 2013

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snappieT··on Foreign visits into the U.S. fell off a cliff in March
> For some EU perspective

> Serbia is not part of the EU

> Racial profiling is everywhere. Also in the EU.

snappieT··on US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU
I am quite certain that none of that software revenue is recognized in the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple%27s_EU_tax_dispute
snappieT··on Tell HN: SMS-based two-factor authentication is not secure
This oversimplifies the situation - if every US bank uses SMS and you want to retain a US bank, what do you do?
snappieT··on Tell HN: SMS-based two-factor authentication is not secure
It can be costly.

I moved from Ireland to the US and kept my Irish number active - the cost was a €5 topup every 6 months.

Going in reverse is much harder - a lot of the budget phone providers in the US don't have any roaming offering. Best I can tell, you really need to have an account with a real provider, and that realistically looks like $20/mo (Google Fi), 20x more expensive than the reverse.

snappieT··on Uber used 50 Dutch shell companies to dodge taxes on $6B in revenue
Poster said "rocky _previously_ poor outcrop". If you take a look at any of the economic indicators before the early 90s, you'll see a very different picture.

There is absolutely no doubt that the policy of encouraging foreign-direct-investment has transformed Ireland into a modern and wealthy nation. The question is whether we sold our souls to the devil to achieve that. My personal take is no, but I respect the opposing opinion.

The issue today is indeed CoL, but that is a function of the government's failure to build. We were poor before the celtic tiger, we got addicted to property, the financial crisis hit us incredibly hard, and we are not building housing nearly quick enough today, especially with the (welcome!) influx of continental europeans to Ireland as multilingual workers servicing the european market for these US companies. There's a fresh batch of emigration happening now for this very reason.

snappieT··on Illegal Prime Numbers
If you take copyrighted material and put it on a daycare mural, then you _intended_ to put copyrighted material on a daycare mural. It is not about intent to damage, it's just pure intent.
snappieT··on Google Play service fee reduced to 15% for the first $1M/year
Congrats on the 17,000€ - happy to hear that this change puts that kind of money into "small" app developer's pockets.
snappieT··on Desirable streets: where do people prefer to walk?
These results seem selective and flawed to me.

For one, the videos keep stopping and pointing out trees/greenery on the "desired" path, but ignore trees on the "fastest" path.

Also, the route along Marlborough Street shows walking on a street versus walking down an alleyway. The "detour" is a half block on either side of the route. I live in Boston and wouldn't even consider those alleys to be streets - they only exist for garbage trucks and parking for the people who live in those buildings.

snappieT··on Lack of sleep, stress can lead to symptoms resembling concussion
Sorry to hear you're suffering through this experience. I can emperically recommend Moana (the pixar movie) for perfect familiar background noise - it was my go-to on red-eye flights for a long time.
snappieT··on Google announces Pixel 5, Pixel 4A 5G, and Pixel 4A
If it makes you feel any better, the $349 US price tag doesn't include sales tax, which adds on upwards of $25 depending on where you live.
snappieT··on How you 'attach' to people may explain a lot about your inner life
It's so sad to hear about mom/mother/maternal so much in that article, and so little about the father's side of things. I want to believe that I can be an emotionally-nurturing influence on my kids, it feels like such a shame that there was zero mention that a male can fulfill this role - does the science say it's not possible at all?

Otherwise a great article and some sections certainly did resonate.

snappieT··on Fujitsu announces permanent work-from-home plan
At a large Seattle-based technology company ~10 years ago, the only way to submit an expense report was via fax "for security", but there were no fax machines in the office, only multifunction printers that could send virtual faxes (not via a phone line)
snappieT··on Revolut staff claim they’ve been told to quit their jobs or be fired
Did you read the article? It specifically mentions that the Polish office has workers from India, Chile and Italy
snappieT··on Shopify CTO: our platform is now handling Black Friday level traffic every day
This sounds like the lipstick effect [0] - consumers buy inexpensive luxuries when they're feeling cash-strapped. Tends to be a leading indicator of recessions (though I don't suggest that's the exact phenomenon that's happening here)

[0] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/lipstick-effect.asp

snappieT··on Saving money on international payments as a remote freelancer
+1 on recommending CurrencyFair - I've found that their fees tend to be lower than TransferWise and I've always had great service from them.
snappieT··on Saving money on international payments as a remote freelancer
The Interactive Brokers $10/month inactivity fee is (kinda) no more - they have a new product called IBKR Lite that has no minimum balance or maintenance fee, but still supports forex: https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=45500
snappieT··on Ask HN: Quitting Big Tech, what is it like?
Apple/Amazon, depending which one you're missing.
snappieT··on Man sues AT&T over 'SIM Swap' hack allegedly involving employees
I don't even see how it's an industry problem - AT&T didn't do thorough verification before swapping the SIM, there's nothing broader about it.
snappieT··on France to tax flights from its airports, airline shares fall
My example literally demonstrates just how cheap they can be???
snappieT··on Airlines are finally fixing the middle seat
In fact, Frontier charges more for the middle seat. I assume this is because middle-seaters are likely to be a couple/family wanting to sit together and forced to pay the premium. No solo traveler would willingly purchase a middle seat, so you don't need to optimize for pricing the middle seats for them.
snappieT··on France to tax flights from its airports, airline shares fall
This doesn't explain why Norwegian are above to fly transatlantic for as low as $104 one-way (PVD-DUB on Feb 5th). I know that Providence airport likely charges lower fees, but it demonstrates how little "tax" is being paid on international flights.
snappieT··on France to tax flights from its airports, airline shares fall
Likely because the connection is within the US. There are no direct flights SFO to Berlin - only from New York, Philly and (surprisingly) Wilmington.
snappieT··on Amazon.com Credit Builder: Build credit with no annual fee
This is not true. For example, when I first moved to the US, I was unable to get a "real" credit card, much less a car or home loan.

I was effectively required to get a secured credit card to demonstrate my "ability" to repay "debt". After doing this for some time, I was able to get a normal credit card, with a far higher limit and no security.

It's a little farcical really, that my ability to pay back a few hundred dollars monthly granted me access to a credit line far in excess of my monthly income.

snappieT··on Apple has completed its acquisition of Shazam
+1 on that usage.

If only Soundcloud/Mixcloud integrated it so you saw the current track while the mix played - likely avoided for copyright deniability?

snappieT··on Using FOIA Data and Unix to halve major source of parking tickets
Too inebriated to read a sign but safe enough to drive a metal box at high speeds?

Not saying the signage was clear, but that is a very very weak excuse to not understand them.

snappieT··on Google AMP – A 70% drop in our conversion rate
Because nothing will be faster than the Google-cached copy of your page, and that’s only served up if it meets the AMP spec.
snappieT··on Downloaded my Facebook data and it has the call history with my partner’s mother
Best "move to Paris" since London ain't going to be in the EU soon enough
snappieT··on How Fake Money Saved Brazil (2010)
Thanks for the suggestion, updated.
snappieT··on Show HN: Snapception – Intercept all snapchats received over the network
lol1 @ using a single key to decrypt everything; lol2 @ not using certificate pinning
snappieT··on Forget flat design. Design in a 1995 style for full impact
See also: http://www.powercity.ie/