Hacker News Reader

Cbasedlifeformon Singaporeans get hard token baked into credit card

That's pretty cool. I have had two old-style fobs and two new ones from my HSBC bank. Clearly it would be far more convenient to have the TFA baked into the credit card, though one more security risk I suppose (or nuisance if lost).

I travel frequently to SG and their overall banking IT infrastructure seems a generation ahead of that in the US. (Not to mention much better and more courteous service!)

Cbasedlifeformon “Don’t buy this computer.”

I spoiled myself with the Apple thunderbolt display I confess, and love it. But I did not research all the alternatives and no doubt I paid the Apple premium tax.

No doubt there are better deals but if say the premium is $350 over a 3 year lifetime (at least) it's a few starbucks coffees or meals out per year for something I use hours per day :)

Cbasedlifeformon “Don’t buy this computer.”

I was all set to upgrade my 2011 MBA to the rMBP 13" but on reflection I'll stick with the MBA for now... I do most serious coding on an external monitor anyway. I gather the 2012 MBA is significantly faster than my 2011 version.

Cbasedlifeformon Self-Portrait by Curiosity Rover Arm Camera

Amazing but what a ramshackle-looking device!

Reminded me of that 1970s VW Beetle advert: "It's ugly, but it gets you there." (IIRC)

Cbasedlifeformon Apple script resizes iPad banner and pushes Samsung verdict out of view

The "Kardashian Effect"?

After all, nobody gives a fuck about her :)

Cbasedlifeformon [dead]

I'm pissed off at Apple these days for various reasons and very glad Forstall is leaving so as to get rid of the horrid iOS UI elements. And the Samsung suit is turning into a clusterfsck.

Having said that, they do make great kit. I just went by my local Apple store (packed, BTW) and saw the new 13" retina MBPS. Looks gorgeous!

Cbasedlifeformon Apple script resizes iPad banner and pushes Samsung verdict out of view

This whole thing is turning into a PR disaster for Apple... Some variation on the Streisand Effect.

When Apple first posted the "apology" Gruber et al all whooped up how clever Apple was. A bit of blowback now.

Cbasedlifeformon Samsung Moves to Compel Apple to Reveal When It Learned Foreman Was "Untruthful"

Disclosure: long-time Apple fanboi here.

But they are destroying the brand with their take-no-prisoners IP battle with Samsung.

From the posting:

I hate to watch it, and the paralegal side loves watching it at the same time, in that I've never seen anything quite like this, and it's professionally fascinating. But I wish Apple would see reason, and pull back on the extremism. I've always liked Apple, and I can't admire this, and it makes me sad to know that Apple's brand is being ruined. The US got drunk on the idea of IP maximalism, thinking it would solve some economic problems. They think that, though, because Hollywood told them so, and how does the world view Hollywood's IP legal work? If you want people to buy what you are selling, they have to like you enough to want to buy from you. And now it's Apple imitating Hollywood's extremism. Does it make you want to reward the company with your hard-earned money? Are their products as "cool" in your eyes, now that you are watching its legal behavior toward Samsung, a partner of Apple's? 26 devices Apple wants to block. 26. I mean. It's trying to put Samsung out of business in the US. For what? Rounded corners on a tablet? Are they listening to the wrong lawyers?

Sad, and there will be blowback.

Cbasedlifeformon The creepy cameraman of Seattle wears Google Glasses

Hi all I posted the blog link (by Brian Hall) as I thought his take on it was interesting (if inflammatory). I read the original Seattle PI article it links to. I note that the cameraman does not in fact use Google Glasses and apologies for passing on false info. Thanks to the other posters for their detective work.

Cbasedlifeformon 'Starbucks has paid no corporation tax in Britain for the last 3 years'

From the article: Four US companies – Amazon, Facebook, Google and Starbucks – have paid just £30m tax on sales of £3.1bn over the last four years, according to a Guardian analysis. Apple is estimated to have avoided over £550m in tax on more than £2bn worth of sales in Britain by channelling business through Ireland, while Starbucks has paid no corporation tax in Britain for the last three years.

Shameless and shocking. They should be boycotted by UK citizens until they pay fair taxes.

Cbasedlifeformon Australian Win 8 launch fails to mention business

One of my main UK clients has 1000 or so seats still running Win XP. I don't think I'll live to see them running Win 8.

What is going to happen when there is a disconnect between what the enterprise user uses at work (XP or 7 presumably) and the Modern UI the consumer gets at home?

I think this is going to be MS's Waterloo... we'll see.

Cbasedlifeformon Howard Schultz says Starbucks is not making money in Britain

Well then he's the world's worst businessman, as there's a Starbucks every 5 blocks in London. Or is he just being charitable and supplying all the ventissimos and "talls" (translation: "small") without caring about making a profit?

Cbasedlifeformon Microsoft Surface Team Dances Around Resolution vs. iPad

Did "Stevie" actually type in his response during the AMA or just cut-and-paste it in from prepared material?

Cbasedlifeformon Microsoft’s lousy Surface ad

I can't believe someone at MS thought this was a good idea. Looks like an episode from "Glee" -- not in a good way. Catholic school girls acting like cheerleaders?

Cbasedlifeformon 30 sec Win 8 ad shows about 10 secs of product

Hard to get a sense of anything here. For the younger generation I guess.

Cbasedlifeformon Apple Turns on iPhone Tracking in iOS6

Should have been under the "Privacy" setting -- if they really cared.

Cbasedlifeformon The Best Reporting on Facebook and Your Privacy

Or "lack of privacy"...

Cbasedlifeformon Losing The Plot

dire forecast from JLG on HP's future prospects. I still have somewhere one of those classic HP calculators (the 65 IIRC) but no battery to put therein... How the mighty fall!

Cbasedlifeformon Rails Rumble is Complete - Judge the Entries

just stumbled on this via the Koi entrant link further down... some cool stuff here -- thanks! --v noobie RoR developer

Cbasedlifeformon Photographer Sues Apple Over the Use of Her Photo to Promote the Retina Display

Is Apple losing its ethical way these days? I suppose it wasn't perfect under Jobs of course, but this example plus the unlicensed use of the Swiss clock design -- at best this is very sloppy.

More cynically, they really hid the way to turn off the advertising tracking in iOS, as has been reported elsewhere. I can't believe one has to go into General-->About to find the setting rather than under Privacy! Shameful.

Cbasedlifeformon The game of life emulated in the game of life

Amazing... I'm old enough (sigh) to remember reading about Life in a Martin Gardner column 40 years ago and playing it on a piece of graph paper.

Cbasedlifeformon The Magazine

What ruffles my feathers is the name itself--couldn't Marco find something a bit more imaginative and perhaps less pretentious than The Magazine? Or maybe he was aping Gruber with his The Talk Show... Or is it just some uber-geek inside joke?

Cbasedlifeformon A Martin Gardner Sampler

When I was a kid I adored his Scientific American columns... what a great man, teacher, puzzlemaster, mathemagician. Dr Matrix!

Cbasedlifeformon Facebook fought SEC to keep Mobile risks hidden before IPO

What investors didn’t see until a month after the IPO were the letters that pushed Facebook to disclose in detail such key financial challenges as decelerating revenue growth, user count and its dependence on gaming company Zynga Inc. (ZNGA) -- all issues that arose in prominence after it became a public company.

Publishing the SEC letters beforehand would be “a better way to get the information to the market than an amended filing,” said Peter Henning, a former SEC lawyer who teaches at Wayne State University in Detroit. “The SEC is a better soap box than the filings.”

Christ, that sounds like a PR disaster if not the stuff of more class action suits.

Cbasedlifeformon The tablet office: are businesses ready for Windows 8?

The author may be "a visionary technology executive with the drive to bring to market innovative and profitable solutions [and] an experienced team leader under start-up and growth conditions" but I confess I've rarely seen an article with less real content or newsworthiness. A quote from Ballmer raving about how Win 8 is going to change everything?

Cbasedlifeformon French Entrepreneurs Revolt

The problem is if they take the young gifted entrepreneurs with them. I heard anecdotally that they were already leaving e.g. for London and that was before this latest tax increase.

Cbasedlifeformon Steve Jobs passed away one year ago - HN Frontpage

He was some kind of a man.

Cbasedlifeformon The Story of the New Microsoft.com

I cannot stand stock images in any context... E.g. biotech or pharma web sites with a (usually young, pretty, female) scientist standing over a lab bench. Or the many ones on MS pages (often amusingly with disguised Mac laptops).

If a company doesn't have its own genuine material to feature and its own damn image, just leave it out!

Cbasedlifeformon Imagine No Ads On Facebook. It’s Easy If You Try

Thanks but no thanks:

"But Facebook moves fast. It had been testing off-site web display ads, the first step to an ad network, on Zynga.com. Then a few weeks ago it revealed it would begin letting advertisers pay it to use its wealth of biographical and social data on us to better target ads shown on non-Facebook mobile sites and apps — essentially a Facebook mobile ad network."

Cbasedlifeformon To Encourage Biking, Cities Lose the Helmets

Absolutely... Just visit Amsterdam, Copenhagen, or Paris and see all the cyclists... What a joy. Instead of helmets the US cities should try to implement cycling lanes for a change.