Hacker News Reader

codfranticon Netherlands bans illegal downloading

To Clarify, banning illegal downloading sounds quite logical.

Until now, downloading of copyrighted material such as movies, tv shows and music was allowed for personal use. This apparently has been overruled by an EU court. Quite interested to see what this is going to change....

codfranticon 1930s immigrants who Americanized their names earned more

On your unusual first name:

Jimmy Carr:

"I got talking to a girl in the front row; I asked her her name. She said, 'It's Pataka.' I said, 'That's an unusual name. You don't hear that every day.' To which she replied, 'Actually, I do.' "

http://www.cc.com/video-clips/0miodh/comedy-central-presents...

Joke starts around 1:50.

codfranticon The secrets of the world's happiest cities

Like Yetanfou I use a motorbike to get to and from work (no sidecar though, maybe in the future for winter riding!). I absolutely love to air out (literally) my head on the ride home every day. I get home totally relaxed.

This is probably helped by the fact that the activity of riding a motorcycle is much more demanding than some other forms of transport this mainly because of all the cars that are actively trying to assassinate you daily!

Because of this focus it is much easier and actually important to let go of work-related things!

codfranticon Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

The Higher spec Model S' has active suspension that will lower the ride height at high speeds to reduce drag. The active suspension's control system was changed to lower it less.

codfranticon Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

>This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

ridiculously awesome?

codfranticon Homeopathic remedies recalled for containing real medicine

A Dutch TV programme ('de Keuringsdienst van Waarden') did a show on oscillococcinum, they went to the factory and actually got a tour. When they started asking about the duck they were quickly taken to lunch (also no Duck). They went to duck farms near the factory but none of them had ever provided the factory with duck liver/heart...

Episode (in Dutch / French) http://keuringsdienstvanwaarde.kro.nl/seizoenen/2011/aflever...

codfranticon Los Angeles Cops Argue All Cars in LA Are Under Investigation

True, some highways in the Netherlands already use a system like this.

Worst part is, in a stretch of road with for instance 15 camera's . they won't take the average speed between camera 0 and 14, they'll fine you for the most expensive one.

So:

if you average 100 Km/h from 0-14,

and average 115 Km/h from 0-5,

and average 117 Km/h from 8-9.

You get a fine for the 117 km/h

codfranticon SparkFun: We Hear You

So it doesn't matter that the 'mythical' Apple AirPort devices don't run iOS?

codfranticon Tesla Announces Ambitious European Expansion Plans

I've seen many Model S' driving around Amsterdam. Mainly because I filter through the traffic jams on my commute. Yesterday I was at a company which had two parked in front (connected to a charger on an EV-only parking spot next to a Plug in Prius).

One of the main reasons Tesla S' are this popular is that as a business owner you can get tax breaks for electric vehicles which can change the actual price you pay from €80.000 to ~€35.000...(Curious when that gets shut down by the government...)

codfranticon Tesla Announces Ambitious European Expansion Plans

In the Netherlands an EV will come with a charger at street level if there isn't allready one available within 500 meters or something. Some cars come with two, one at home and one at your office...

codfranticon Tesla Announces Ambitious European Expansion Plans

>how much of Western Europe can fit in Texas?

Texas is roughly similar size as France.

http://mapfight.appspot.com/texas-vs-fr/texas-us-france-size...

codfranticon Downloading Software Safely Is Nearly Impossible

Also Sophos

http://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/virus-remova...

codfranticon Ask HN: What's the worst you've ever screwed up at work?

Hey m3mnoch, you asked me to remind you to tell us about the time you ran a database query on production that nuked the entire website for the publicly-traded software company which relied on -- wait for it -- the website to do all its commerce!

codfranticon Tesla Completes L.A.-to-New York Electric Model S Drive Chargers

Uk gallons are slightly largers than US Gallons.

(4.54 L vs 3.78 L)*

*(note how I used the universal 'Liter' measurement to stunn you all! ;-) )

codfranticon Tell HN: Server Status

I used http://www.hckrnews.com/ for that :-) But I actually usually prefer reading the comments more than the links ^_^

codfranticon Spotify explained

http://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/spotify/

But you were looking for something more detailed?

codfranticon Hate Parking Tickets? Fixed Fights Them In Court For You

>and also shouldn't trigger the camera for exactly the same reason they won't trigger the light-change cycle.

I have a similar problem on my motorcycle. There are many lights which are not triggered by my being there. But the camera's always know. I wish they used the same loop / detector!

codfranticon $695 USB cable wins TAS's editors' choice award

Luckily you can customize the lenght of that Avatar-II cable. the maximum input it allows is 1010 meters. For the low low price of: $10,006,050.00 ...

[Add to cart]

codfranticon We Hacked North Korea With Balloons and USB Drives

Red Star OS is available from http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/DPRK%20Red%20Star.iso

Once found it through the wikipedia page about it. Installed it in a VM and ran it full screen to scare some of my colleagues :-)

codfranticon In London 'Guardians' live in empty office buildings

Exactly! I've had friends living in school buildings(huge!) empty post offices, bank buildings, even a church!

The guy in the church stayed there for about 4 years...

codfranticon USA ISP Speed Index

My guess is many people on HN are happy with their ISP but you never hear from them :-)

I have 100/100 from xs4all.nl with no bandwidth cap whatsoever :-) (55€ / month and it includes spotify premium)

codfranticon 2x 40 min of train everyday. Best way to spend them?

ThisAmericanLife is usually a really interesting listen, not anything Hacker specific but usually a nice insight in other (people's) worlds.

codfranticon Replica Ferraris Raise Ire of Auto Maker

>He[Hitler] contracted Porsche in 1934 to design and build it to his exacting standards. Ferdinand Porsche and his team took until 1938 to finalise the design.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Beetle

codfranticon Tesla Model X Spotted on Public Road in Culver City, California

How much extra range does this actually end up giving if you take into account that they actually cost range to power the camera(s) and the screen(s) though ? :)

codfranticon Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition review

> I've been using one of these with the HD screen since the spring,

So not the Haswell version the review is about?

codfranticon Essays from the funniest man in Microsoft Research

From 'theSaddestMoment'

"As it turns out, Ted the Poorly Paid Datacenter Operator will not send 15 cryptographically signed messages before he accidentally spills coffee on the air conditioning unit and then overwrites your tape backups with bootleg recordings of Nickelback. Ted will just do these things and then go home, because that’s what Ted does. His extensive home collection of “Thundercats” cartoons will not watch itself. Ted is needed, and Ted will heed the call of duty."

codfranticon Getting a SIM card in India

In the Netherlands it's really easy, go to any phoneshop and walk out with a pre-paid sim after paying cash.

In Germany you need ID, maximum 2 per ID at a time....

codfranticon Delta CEO: No Voice Calls on Our Flights

Dutch railways has silent carriages too. Most people don't notice / care, but when told off they usually move or shut up :-)

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&pr... (Google Translate)

codfranticon High Speed Trains are Killing the European Railway Network

How many countries do you expect to visit, doing 4 / 5 countries in 15 days would seem like the best idea. Any more and you'll be on the train non-stop..

https://www.google.com/search?q=US+vs+EUROPE+size&tbm=isch&t...

codfranticon High Speed Trains are Killing the European Railway Network

Last year I did exactly that. Was in Lucca, wanted to go to Florence for the day. Came to the station, bought a ticket, all very easy, even shows you what trains are available and allows you to choose a specific one, which I did.

On the train, conductor came past. Must have been a bad day because this lady was furious at us that we didn't stamp our ticket... No idea we had to (since we chose the specific train on the machine...) She was gonna let it slide this time but next time we would pay a huge fine...

7 seconds later we heard her shout exactly the same story to basically every other tourist in the cabin :P

Protip to TrenItalia, when printing the ticket, show a big warning on the screen that you need to stamp the ticket to make it valid ^_^.