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traviswingo

2,160 karma · joined October 3, 2012

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traviswingo··on How America lost its love for the stick shift
America lost its love of more than just the stick shift. I regularly find myself around people who just simply can’t drive safely. They don’t use their mirrors, they don’t know how to stop rapidly in emergency situations; I’m not surprised no one drives a manual anymore.

On top of this, we pretty much hand out drivers licenses like fucking flyers in this country. Just stand in line and earn yours.

If you’ve ever been on a road in Europe you’ll see a dramatically different scenario. Free flowing traffic, everyone seems to see everyone else around them; people are paying attention and know their cars.

The market for automated vehicles is ripe because we’re fucking morons behind the wheel, and somehow we’re ok with that.

traviswingo··on Popular iPhone apps caught sending user location data to monetization firms
I’ve reverse engineered ssl encrypted iPhone app traffic before using Charles proxy and a self generate ssl cert to decrypt the requests. From there, you can see which endpoints are receiving what data in plain English.

I’ve only done this for apps not using certificate pinning. It gets more complicated from there.

traviswingo··on California to become first state to require companies to have women on boards
Does this only apply to companies incorporated in the state? Most companies operating in CA (at least I assume the ones they’re trying to target) are incorporated in Delaware. Seems like this won’t make a difference if that’s the loophole.

On another note, what the flying fuck is this supposed to achieve? All this will create is scenarios where people are only there because they legally have to be, not because they’re the best person for the job.

I’m 100% for equal rights. I don’t judge a person by anything but their ability to perform the job as best as possible. This isn’t equal rights. This is a legally binding pitty-hire. Hopefully people leverage it positively, though, and start considering more women for board positions. On that note, women need to also push for these positions, too. It’s not exactly a cookie cutter issue.

traviswingo··on With more students boasting flashy GPAs, academic honors lose their luster
I think your grandfather was a wise man. I have frequently noticed the best employees I’ve hired are not the top students. They’re self starters, independent, and “street smart.” I actually never ask about education, simply because true intelligence doesn’t come from a classroom.

The valedictorian will frequently bother me for the next task or to sign off on something, the 3.0 gpa figures it out on her own. Obviously this isn’t always the case, but it’s what I’ve observed in my mere 28 years on this earth, and happens to match my beliefs.

traviswingo··on Amazon Is Complicit in Online Sales of Counterfeit Goods: Report
I, too, have more and more frequently been running into these issues with Amazon. I've been extremely dissatisfied with my last handful of Amazon purchase - all of them were clearly used items that were being sold as "new." I can no longer tell if I'm going to buy something from Amazon or a legitimate Amazon seller or some random company. It's really a shame, because Amazon used to be such a great place and I'm still having problems purging my trust for them since its so heavily supported by the years of great service.

Thankfully, many places now price match with Amazon, so the need to use them is becoming less and less.

traviswingo··on Towards a world without Facebook
I upvoted you. What gets down voted on HN no longer makes sense to me. You make a really good point alluding to the direction our society is heading. I think a world where everything is digital and behind a "veil" of keyboard and monitors is a dangerous one. We need to make sure we don't lose touch with the reality that is the physical world so we don't live 100% online. All I see these days are groups of teenagers standing together looking at their phones...it's fucking terrible.
traviswingo··on Ask HN: Where to go after deleting Facebook?
Outside.
traviswingo··on The Race to a Trillion
We should be careful with these types of articles and claims. Apple is trading at 18x earnings while Amazon is trading at 250x, as of this comment. Lower P/E ratios point to sturdier valuations in the market. In other words, AAPL is ACTUALLY worth its valuation in the eyes of the market, whereas AMZN would be dumped quickly should something spook investors.

Just be careful on these rapid upticks, and be prepared to bail out if you went in too aggressively.

traviswingo··on DoorDash raises $535M, now valued at $1.4B
Unfortunately I no longer use DoorDash. The concept was amazing, but I’ve had one too many questionable people deliver my food that the last time it happened I didn’t even eat it.

I’m a huge fan of the “1 million jobs” type of companies like this, but there’s a level of trust that comes with allowing someone to handle the food you eat. I’m not even a judgemental individual, and I hate people that are, but I shouldn’t feel uncomfortable about my food delivery. I now go get my own food. Oh well.

traviswingo··on Peter Thiel’s Warning to the Valley
> “that’s when you get into trouble politically, when you’re all on one side.”

Actually, no. Political trouble reigns from the notion of “sides.” I understand that sides make it easier for people to “choose a side,” but it severely reduces the number of people who have any idea what they’re actually on the side of.

We honestly need to rethink the notion of having political parties, because it’s breeding bandwagon voters who no longer feel the need to look at the details, and will openly vote against something they are personally in favor of because that’s what their “side” is doing, like it’s some sort of necessary compromise.

traviswingo··on Snap Revenue Surges 72% on User Growth, Advertising Gains
Whatever happened to businesses making money?
traviswingo··on Things are going so well we’re doing a hiring freeze
Amidst the craziness that is the startup battlefield, its always a breath of fresh air to hear from the Basecamp founders. I feel more people should take this realistic approach to starting and running companies, and stop putting their life's work on 17 red.
traviswingo··on Tesla’s Elon Musk May Have Boldest Pay Plan in Corporate History
I feel like too many people hold a short sided “stock market only” view of Tesla. Its not, long term, an auto maker. Its solar panels, energy storage, energy management...everything that will be necessary to survive somewhere coal wont be available to burn. There is a long term vision that is funded by capitalizing on short term markets along the way. That vision is much larger than P/E ratios...

Thus I’m not surprised when i hear about Elon being sad or annoyed with “shareholders” and the board, because he holds a vision for our future that Wall Street just cant comprehend, and thats depressing.

traviswingo··on Ask HN: If you had a month of free time, what would you do?
Nothing. The value of doing nothing can far outweigh the value of doing something. Consider taking the time to just live before you go back to whatever grind you’re always on in a month. :)
traviswingo··on How PayPal Shares Your Data
I just recently opened a new checking account with Chase and, upon reading the terms, found they do exactly this. All banks do...its why (at least for me) we get so many offers on a daily basis. I really wish it werent the case.
traviswingo··on “Faking It Till You Make It” Is Disingenuous
I think your interpretation of this quote is of a much higher level of logic and intelligence than the majority. I've been around more people than I can count that live by this quote, and all they do is act snobby to rude to people because that's how they think successful people act.

The interpretation here is the most dangerous part of the "fake it 'til you make it" mindset.

traviswingo··on Ask HN: How do you get better at coding?
I get better at coding by coding.

No, really. You can read all the books, blog posts, open source code samples you want, but nothing will substitute writing code.

I maintain a handful of side projects as well as write code daily for my job. Plus, I love it. Also, my side projects usually encompass something I have no idea how to do, which quickly elevates my skill level. I love learning, so it works for me.

traviswingo··on Orcas have learned how to drown great white sharks
Ive never heard about this. It's very interesting to me.
traviswingo··on Startup Ideas
This reminded me of the urinal in "Benchwarmers"
traviswingo··on Ask HN: What are best tools for web scraping?
I’ve been using puppeteer to scrape and it’s been fantastic. Since it’s a headless browser, it can handle SPA just as well as server side loaded traditional websites. It’s also incredibly easy to use with async/await.
traviswingo··on Porsche will begin an app-based subscription service next month
I feel like I’ve seen more busted up GTs than anything else. I guess it makes sense when you build a 400hp muscle car and sell it for less than $30k.
traviswingo··on Porsche will begin an app-based subscription service next month
Insurance rates are all determined categorically. Mustangs have a higher “accident rate” because they’re cheap and fast and young people with lower incomes, who are also most likely irresponsible, buy them and crash them.

Vipers aren’t exactly in the same group. It’s not performance based, just statistics.

traviswingo··on Designing Websites for iPhone X
Yeah, I’m not going out of my way anytime soon to design for the X.
traviswingo··on Ask HN: What weekend projects have you created?
http://postcardbot.co

And

http://parseaddress.io

Both were spun up in a weekend. They’ve changed a lot since then, but only because of how many people use them now :)

traviswingo··on Freight startup Flexport soars from ‘unsexy’ to $800M valuation
lol -4 so far for my comment...
traviswingo··on Freight startup Flexport soars from ‘unsexy’ to $800M valuation
Sorry for the downvotes - it’s early and the caffeine and adderall is kicking in. Your joke was funny.
traviswingo··on Ask HN: How do I clean a Laptop from a previous setup by a Law Firm
I know you said “without a complete wipe,” but that's honestly the best approach. Drag all documents and files to an external drive, take note of all programs your wife still wants on the computer, then clean install the OS. After, drag all files back from the external drive and reinstall all programs you made note of. That guarantees a clean slate.

Otherwise, you’ll have to go through the OS and attempt to uninstall anything that appears to be installed by the law firm, but usually you’ll leave behind small trace files and things that might keep them up and running.

traviswingo··on Nest launches an outdoor security camera
Also, even if the camera captures a face, most local police departments won't be able to do anything with that image except put up "wanted posters" for a while. They don't necessarily have the authority/luxury to run it through a facial recognition system to find a stolen tv.
traviswingo··on iPhone X
Off topic. I posted this same link right when the page was live and it got flagged. This seems to be the only iPhone X link on HN now, but was posted 20 mins after mine. What caused mine to be flagged? Not mad, just curious :)
traviswingo··on Equifax terms of service may include binding arbitration clause
Wonder if I can just have my spouse check for me.
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