Hacker News Reader

snom380on Apple's First Public Demonstration of the Mac, Unseen Since 1984 [video]

People took issue mainly because the App Store is the only way to get apps on iOS devices. And they took even more issue with the often random and vague rejections.

snom380on On Google's Acquisition of Nest

My guess from the kind of companies they buy, is that their products really need to fit with Apples area of focus. If not, they buy the company for the talent or technology (like FingerWorks).

snom380on RSA denies link with US spying agency

Most probably they said something like "many of your government agency customers would be very happy if / will require that you implemented this PRNG".

snom380on Nobody builds nuclear reactors for fun anymore

If that's truly cost effective and feasible, why isn't it being done on a wider scale?

snom380on Nobody builds nuclear reactors for fun anymore

Agreed, I think many people don't realize the enormous cost of an accident like Chernobyl, and that wasn't even the worst case scenario even though it was pretty bad.

snom380on Nobody builds nuclear reactors for fun anymore

I think the biggest problem is to guarantee that some future civilization will not dig up the waste believing it to be valuable, like we did with the old Egyptian graves. We could make it very difficult to do so, but it's not a "solved problem". http://vimeo.com/55736976 is an interesting watch (although perhaps a bit biased).

snom380on Ask HN: Have you had trouble getting a job after a failed startup?

No, he might prefer to wait with hiring someone. In some jobs, it can take a few months just getting a person up to speed, certified etc, so hiring someone is an investment.

snom380on Two million Raspberry Pi sold

Ah cool, I do the same thing (with arecordmidi)! Would really love a web interface if you make one.

snom380on Coin: A step in the wrong direction

I think you're going to have a very hard time cloning them. Security researchers have worked on this for years, while the card manufacturers have learnt from their mistakes and adapted.

snom380on Jobs Never Coded. Did He Get Too Much Credit?

Well, many people seem to just view Steve Jobs as a "product guy" that simply greenlighted or nixed products, and that's certainly discrediting him and what he did.

Again, could you explain why you chose that headline? Perhaps because it would grab attention?

For me, all it did was turn me off your book.

What's next, some other people writing a book about Scott Forstall or Bertrand Serlet, saying "Jony Ive never coded. Did we give credit to the wrong guy?"

snom380on Jobs Never Coded. Did He Get Too Much Credit?

When you say "he never coded", that's obviously meant to imply something, perhaps to lessen his contributions in some way especially in a forum of coders. What does it have to do with this film at all? Jony Ive didn't write a single line of code either. And Steve Jobs did a lot of design.

Why not just focus on the people you want to cover, without asking the unnecessary question "Did Steve Jobs get too much credit?"

snom380on Sticker shock: Why are glasses so expensive? [video]

Being a monopoly isn't illegal. Taking unfair advantage of it can be.

snom380on Why Hardware Development is Hard, Part 2: The Physical World is Unforgiving

There are plenty of hardware startups, you just don't hear about them a lot. The AVR (used in Arduino) was designed by a few guys from Norway, which sold their idea to Atmel.

The development costs are higher, but with some investment it's certainly possible for a small startup to create new CPUs and GPUs. Gaining market share is more difficult which often necessitates a huge established chip company as a backer.

snom380on Why Hardware Development is Hard, Part 2: The Physical World is Unforgiving

An Arduino kit is a good starting point. You can get some starter kits with excellent tutorials for $50 or less.

Arduino gets you quickly up and running, without spending days fiddling with compilers and settings just to get something working.

snom380on 6TB helium-filled hard drives bump capacity, decrease power use

I don't think any one person can create a piece of engineering as complex as a modern day hard drive. There are just too many disciplines involved: Physical, electrical and embedded software engineering, applied physics, information theory for encoding the data and recovering from errors. But certainly a single person or group in those fields can be responsible for specific breakthroughs.

snom380on Coyote Board - A 2G GSM Shield for Arduino

This one is a shield: http://dx.com/p/manolins-sim-900-gsm-gprs-shield-expansion-b...

And so is this: http://dx.com/p/arduino-compatible-gsm-gprs-shield-wireless-...

And this (includes an Arduino Uno compatible board for $80):http://dx.com/p/elecfreaks-diy-gprs-gsm-learning-development...

snom380on Coyote Board - A 2G GSM Shield for Arduino

I wish they would explain what this GSM shield does apart from the one year subscription and connection to their own platform?

There are several unlocked GSM shields and modules available with working libraries and tutorials for under $50, using the exact same GSM module (SIM900): http://dx.com/s/Sim900?category=499

snom380on Russia: Hidden chips 'launch spam attacks from irons'

Could you elaborate on the Nest? I was considering getting one.

snom380on FAA to lift mobile shut-down rule

I mentioned specific example of how very low probability events still caused accidents, you asked for links and I provided them.

If you want links to examples of PED interference, I've posted them elsewhere on this thread. All anecdotal of course, but there are enough examples that to say there's no chance if interference would imply a secret conspiracy amongst pilots to file false reports.

And again, you are misunderstanding the concern. It's not whether a cell phone can stop the airplane from working and make it fall out if the sky. It's whether, at a critical time such as during landing and takeoff, it may cause interference that can increase the pilots workload and contribute to an accident.

snom380on FAA to lift mobile shut-down rule

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterile_Cockpit_Rule http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_212

snom380on FAA to lift mobile shut-down rule

http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/docs/rpsts/ped.pdf

Search for "laptop" and you have a few examples of spurious TCAS RAs.

In some older report there was a specific instance where the pilot out of curiosity had the passenger turn the device back on, and had the problem reappear (this was in cruise so there was more time to debug the problem). Google for NASA PED reports and it should be in one of them.

snom380on FAA to lift mobile shut-down rule

Unfortunately aviation safety is concerned with those 0.001% probabilities, because many of them tend to gang together and cause fatal accidents. Just like the sterile cockpit environment rule. What is the chance of some random thing being missed because the pilots were talking about an upcoming football game during landing, and moreover what is the chance of that oversight causing a real accident?

It's really, really, really small, with millions of successful flights done without problems. Yet accidents like those have happened, and have been prevented after that rule was put in place.

I was using mathematical proofs as an example of why in IT security, often times since you can't be sure, you do the proactive thing and don't run services exposed to the internet. If you have a database with credit card numbers, you don't let the DB listen for connections on a public IP, not because you think there is a security hole in the DB, but because you can't be sure there isn't.

snom380on FAA to lift mobile shut-down rule

Standard David Clark. I think it's a bigger problem with GSM which uses TDMA (the noise is caused by the cell phone transmitting only at specific intervals and therefore rapidly switching on and off, causing the buzzing noise).

snom380on FAA to lift mobile shut-down rule

Most of today's airplanes were designed in the 70s at a time when the only small electronic devices were wristwatches and calculators. They've added shielding afterwards, but an airplane needs antennas and has to receive RF signals, so there will always be a possibility of interference. I exactly the same way that there will always be the possibility if a security hole in a computer connected to the internet, unless you mathematically prove every piece of code.

snom380on FAA to lift mobile shut-down rule

I've read the cargo cult essay. Would you say that based on their actual performance, you would place the aviation industry or the FAA in that category? If so, could you point to other, more successful industries?

I suggested getting a PPL to get rid of all those annoyances that commercial air transport impose on you to reduce their risk. There is even an experimental airplane category if you want to err on the risky side.

I agree that it has to be approached analytically, but since you can't prove a negative, in the end you have to make a risk assessment. I certainly don't agree with all of them, but there have been enough examples of fatal accidents when the FAA didn't do their job, that I'm happy that they are taking their time to, guess what, do the analytical work, before changing a regulation. As opposed to acting on a gut feeling about what would be safe.

snom380on FAA to lift mobile shut-down rule

And I could point to lots of counterexamples like Deepwater Horizon. What's your point, that you would be happier with a riskier aviation industry? As I said, get a PPL, or better yet start an airline and start lobbying against FAA rulings.

snom380on FAA to lift mobile shut-down rule

I keep them away because of the noise, nothing else (except for the magnetic compass).

snom380on FAA to lift mobile shut-down rule

And it's the reason why flying is no longer only for the adventurous willing to risk their lives. Too bad you don't appreciate that and seem to take it for granted.