HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

tomaha

171 karma · joined October 11, 2012

submissionscomments
tomaha··on The math prodigy whose hack upended DeFi won’t return funds
Like high frequency trading players front-running trades, faking liquidity, manipulating prices, and changing infrastructure to benefit them to really screw people that want to buy or sell stocks? Never heard of anyone getting prosecuted by the legal system for that (besides for taking HFT code with them, but never for screwing a normal buyer or seller).

Edit: It would be great if there was more moral in finance, but I think that's wishful thinking and doesn't really distinguish traditional finance or Defi. The only nice thing about Defi is that everyone can see what's going on in contrast to what happens when you do something in traditional finance.

tomaha··on Bose QC 35 Firmware 4.5.2 Noise Cancellation Investigation Report
It's only marketing. There is no integrated assistant. It's a plain old button that can be used to activate one of these useless voice assistants on your phone because some people like it. If you're like me, you can use it as an extra control to modify noise cancellation.
tomaha··on Facebook Net Income dropped 49% on the first semester of 2019
They already expensed $3 B last quarter.
tomaha··on Oregon passed sweeping housing crisis laws
It's really about planning. Modern Swiss towns mostly consist of high density buildings with parking underground and most of the areas around the buildings are for walking & biking. The really good thing about high density is that it allows for much more efficient public transport which reduces the need for cars.
tomaha··on Ask HN: Should I teach my kids to type with QWERTY or Dvorak?
Teach them QWERTY. I use Programmer's Dvorak and I love it. But I also have a very specialized setup and everything optimized for myself. Your kids will have to work with different setups in the next decade or two. For them it's more important to be flexible. Later when they specialized themselves and only work in an environment they control they can switch and choose whatever fits them.
tomaha··on Archive Shows Medieval Nun Faked Her Own Death to Escape Convent
You mean like the Dark Ages?
tomaha··on Vanlife: Build your own van to live on the road
Incinerating toilets also work with propane, which makes more sense for vans etc. I didn't check this specific one but they all work similar no matter what creates the heat.
tomaha··on Vanlife: Build your own van to live on the road
You could try something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rdkGUFzvfc . It burns your waste and you'll have to empty the ash tray every 2+ weeks. It's more expensive initially but is also much more convenient.
tomaha··on Ask HN: Highest paying remote companies?
Did you check inside your company. E.g. Google gives a lot of freedom to people with 10+ years with them and I know at least one other company in the same area, which did it with even less. So might not be the worst idea to look for something remote friendly in your current company.
tomaha··on Ledger Nano X – A Bluetooth-enabled secure device that stores private keys
What happens when the battery is dead on this device? Why can't they make a simple USB C stick and focus an security instead of adding new potential entry points?
tomaha··on “Free College” programs vary in how they define both “free” and “college”
The problem with that is that it depends on what you measure (same with GDP if e.g. education is free). E.g. Germany and Switzerland have different branches in education that are well regarded but you don't go to university (e.g. nurses go to university in the US and thus count in your statistic but in Germany they get a special multi-year training which is not counted)
tomaha··on “Free College” programs vary in how they define both “free” and “college”
It's an advantage to have wealthy and/or educated parents no matter what kind of system you have. But in Germany your chances are much better than in the US. No one in my family went to university before me and I had disadvantages because of that. But you still have excellent opportunities and just lack the advise of experienced parents/friends and perhaps are more risk-averse (but with Bafög you'll get some help there (monetary support if your parents don't earn enough)).
tomaha··on You could have invented the LMAX Disruptor, if only you were limited enough
Memory usage is still terrible with Java but at least there are plans to address part of it with value types etc. But for a web service performance is pretty good (just look at techempower benchmarks and the fact that most high scale companies use Java for a significant part of their infrastructure). If you need to talk about startup time you don't need scalablitiy or really want a different solution/architecture.
tomaha··on Why Can’t Europe Do Tech?
At least EU citizens should have no problem to immigrate at the moment.
tomaha··on Why Can’t Europe Do Tech?
Can't tell much about contractors but e.g. Google pays you 10-15% more in Zurich than in Mountain View and you pay much less taxes (and you don't have capital gains here). It's more expensive to live here but you'll still have much more left because of the tax advantages here.
tomaha··on Where the Super-Rich Go to Buy Their Second Passport
No capital gains is what does it for you because it means the money you earn in your sleep is tax free (at least if you are not a US citizen). There is no need to use the banks or brokers in the country you're citizen of. It's important where you live officially and with a citizenship it's easier to claim residence.
tomaha··on European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case
A better example would be you own 75%+ of the cinemas but revenue wise you only control 50% of it. And in that case I think it's fair to do it. If they would force Apple out that would be a problem, but instead they even give you the basis for your own cinema for free (in contrast to Apple).

Edit:perfect->problem

tomaha··on European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case
I agree that assumption is the wrong word. But do you have examples of monopolies that didn't take the profits and control the pricing of the markets they control?
tomaha··on European Commission fines Google €4.34B in Android antitrust case
The problem with this definition is that it also assumes that if you have 75%+ market share you're likely having a similar share of the profits which is not the case here. If you take profit into account it's really at best a 50-50 market for Google.
tomaha··on Bulletproofs – Short zero-knowledge arguments of knowledge
The Waldo zk proof isn't a good example. You can easily fake knowing where Waldo is by gluing a Waldo to the board you use to hide the book. That way you can even proof you know a solution for a picture that doesn't even have Waldo in it.
tomaha··on Unequal Cofounders
One important part you need to add: The equity vests over time. So if one of the co-founders leave they just walk away with the part they earned over time and not the same share as the rest that stays.
tomaha··on How to Pay Remote Employees
Try sending money around the world and you will get to know how much manual work and paperwork is involved. Banks don't live in this century yet and if multiple countries are involved it gets worse.
tomaha··on GitHub and Medium take down database of ICE employee LinkedIn accounts
Sadly I think this is the new way of doing things. It gets more and more acceptable to crucify people using social media. But at the same time I don't agree with your conclusion that this makes it right for Medium and Github to remove this. They should keep out of the judging/censoring business. Steam is sadly the only good example of how it should be done at the moment.

Edit: Because really otherwise they should remove the information from LinkedIn (or make it non-searchable) which also makes it very easy to get and they don't do that.

tomaha··on Web Framework Benchmarks
That's great. Thanks.
tomaha··on Web Framework Benchmarks
Do you have any plans to add memory usage to the benchmarks? It adds an extra dimension and sometimes even shows if there's a problem with a specific implementation (e.g. in the benchmark game it's often a hint for a program that can be optimized if the ratio compared to other languages is off).
tomaha··on Microsoft acquires Github
It would be great if companies like GitHub would figure out how to earn money. I love more diversity in companies and not just a handful of them dominating and being insanely profitable. The only good thing I see about acquisitions like this is that there will be a few employees with enough money to care less about their future and build something new and interesting. At MS, Google, FB, etc this will not happen.
tomaha··on How to get rich without getting lucky
I really liked investing in companies I love to use or just want to succeed because I think they are onto something. More risky but at the same time 'supports' what I like and with more reward if it works out than index funds (which you should do in general).
tomaha··on How to get rich without getting lucky
There is a difference between consuming and getting what you need to live.
tomaha··on How to get rich without getting lucky
But one important part of their success was to invest their income. I know too many people that use their money to consume. Investing early in your life is what makes the difference. It's very easy to spend it on little things and claim to not have anything to invest.
tomaha··on Book recommendation: Measure what matters
The problem is to determine what matters. It sounds nice but especially at the bigger companies which measure pretty much everything today it's one of the reasons that there is no creativity. It optimizes short-term goals (and most of the time focus on money/engagement) and discourages long-term goals or riskier approaches. IMO that's because innovative companies turn into optimized earning machines but produce little useful.
Page 1 of 2Next →