Hacker News Reader

ndespreson Sun Flyer, an Electric Trainer Aircraft

This is addressed in the article:

"We designed and built a pneumatic rail launcher so that the plane does not have to take off under its own power."

In the spirit of everything old being new again, the Wright Brothers' original 1908 flyer also used a catapult to launch the planes. https://simanaitissays.com/2012/08/13/vintage-aero-wilber-wo...

ndespreson Hackers nab $500k as Enigma is compromised weeks before its ICO

Well, it seems unfair to say "investors lost 500k" if they weren't really investing in the ICO so much as taking the bait on a phishing email, which is what it sounds like happened. If a hacker took control of their domain and Slack, and socially engineered people into sending funds into the hackers' personal accounts (which is what it sounds like has happened), Enigma never really had the funds to lose in the first place themselves.

ndespreson Comcast accused of cutting competitor’s wires to put it out of business

I don't doubt that the linked story is true, but I know that individually this can happen all the time inadvertently. I worked for an ISP which provided "dry loop DSL" (DSL without dialtone service on the phone line) in the mid-2000s and as a consequence of having internet service from a 3rd party over telco pairs with no phone numbers attached, the local phone companies would regularly re-use our customers' lines for new phone installations. Since they were not tagged with phone numbers in the exchange building, and had no dialtone, the phone company techs had no way to tell the lines were in use.

ndespreson Windows Is Bloated, Thanks to Adobe’s Extensible Metadata Platform

Windows 7 included what you describe as a feature called "Windows XP Mode," which would launch applications inside a Windows XP virtual machine which was closely tied to the host OS. It worked really well for a lot of applications which weren't ready for Win 7 yet.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee681616(v=ws.10...

ndespreson This Is the Mindfulness App Apple Doesn’t Want You to Have

Space gives you a replacement icon for your time and attention sucks of choice, whether it’s Twitter, Facebook or Snapchat.

OTOH the easiest way to do this would be to have the Space app help to automate creation of Safari shortcuts on the home screen (which would be called Twitter and show the correct icon), which launches a hypothetical page in Safari like https://twitter.space.usedopamine.com which would show the pulsing animation for 12 seconds, before launching the actual Twitter.app.

ndespreson Ask HN: How would you turn Twitter around?

I'm not exactly sure what people mean when they reference "aggressive SJWs" but many would prefer stricter moderation on Twitter. Racists and targeted harassment is a big problem. I doubt that there is a pattern of "social justice warriors" who are seeking out and harassing those with mildly opposing viewpoints.

ndespreson Ask HN: What is the worst software that you have to use?

Lately for me it's the iOS Music app. Every iOS release it gets further away from the original purpose. Off the top of my head, the "Search" screen used to show the last 10+ things I searched for (artists, playlists, songs, etc). Now it only shows the last 3 things I searched for, and fills the rest of the screen up with what's trending on the iTunes store. I didn't ask for that!

It also regularly refuses to play music which has been downloaded to my iPhone because my cell signal isn't strong enough. I have to put it in airplane mode when I'm on the subway.

ndespreson Ask HN: What is the worst software that you have to use?

I administer my company's internal Confluence server and author most of the content, and I have a few complaints but overall I love using it. What do you dislike about it?

ndespreson Starting an Internet Service Provider

I'm the type of person who can lose hours reading stories on sites like Jargon File, Folklore.org, Raymond Chen's blog about MS internals, and even more modern internet history stories. And as I wouldn't limit my search on areas to get involved in muni ISPs to my own country, a global perspective would be interesting to read.

ndespreson Starting an Internet Service Provider

I subscribed to Chris' newsletter as I hope to hear more about the challenges involved in his endeavor. Starting a small ISP has been a vision of mine since my first after-school job at a ISP helpdesk 15 years ago. I'd really love to be involved in running a community ISP in an underserved area, so I'm interested in reading about the technical and regulatory challenges especially.

@froztbyte I'd be doubly interested in a writeup of your experience, have you blogged anywhere?

ndespreson Whole Foods is struggling

I disagree that the animal welfare labels are doing some kind of lip service to animals, or paying a guilt tax. There is a big difference between a chicken from a factory slaughterhouse, and a grass-fed truly free-ranging (outside) one. When people come for a tour of my farm they get a better idea of what it's about and why it costs more. Over time more people will be informed about the origin of their food and why labels aren't just labels.

ndespreson Ask HN: How do you make big bucks and get out of grinding?

It reads like the kind of spam that will link me to a program that wants 8 easy payments of $12.99 for a few pamphlets by mail and a patented pheremone spray, guaranteed to help pick up women.

ndespreson Twitter is down

Here's a "quoted reply" tweet, where the frame that should contain the quoted tweet shows the error page. This is from a few minutes ago.

http://www.mynameisneil.com/projects/chickenbucket/files/n_2...

ndespreson “We have decided to disable IMDb's message boards”

If the IMDB boards were shut down due to the actions of malicious trolls, sending folks in search of a new movie forum to 4chan is rather ironic.

ndespreson The FCC is stopping 9 companies from providing subsidized Internet to the poor

Basically this program has NO budget so costs have spiraled "From 2008 to 2012, Lifeline spending grew from $821 million to over $2.1 billion, an increase of over 160%."

Sounds like a very successful program that many in need are benefiting from. I'm glad the USF I pay every month is being put to good use.

ndespreson Shoes.com shuts down

I remember showing my father the www, probably 20 years ago, and he was incredulous that certain .coms would exist for any reason. "You're telling me I could type 'shoes.com' and there would be a page about shoes? No way." I don't remember shoes actually being on the page anywhere, prompting the response "see? I told you it wouldn't work."

From the article: "Its approximately 200 employees were made aware of the decision early on January 27, and the company said that it will compensate the employees through to the end of the month." Gosh, how generous of them. A whole 5/7th week severance. I wonder if they were in talks with Walmart for a buyout but they acquired shoebuy instead in early January. Either way shoes.com should have shut the doors earlier and given employees more notice.

ndespreson Ask HN: Is anyone using Microsoft Teams?

After using Slack on my team for about a year to get away from the annoyances of Lync/Skype for Business, management made us shut it down for not being an approved product/not defined by company policy/contributing to team fragmentation across other depts who weren't on it. Fair enough, I guess. We turned on Teams as it comes with our existing Office 365 subscription and we are much likelier to get approval to use it for cost and "Microsoft is a known quantity" reasons. I was excited for something that would finally help us transition into using anything better than Lync compabywide.

So I was disappointed with the chat experience, the notifications, the way my colleagues still using Lync wouldn't consistently get my messages, and the way groups vs private messages are displayed. We all found it really frustrating to use.

ndespreson An account of a serious medical emergency on a transoceanic flight

I fear the day I have to call upon my experience birthing livestock to help deliver a human baby.

ndespreson The Windows 95 User Interface: A Case Study in Usability Engineering (1996)

Well by that logic, why's the Start menu at the bottom? (Rhetorical question: I assume it's because then it would have been TOO much like the Apple menu).

ndespreson The Windows 95 User Interface: A Case Study in Usability Engineering (1996)

One thing I'd like to see explained is the location of "Programs" at the top of the Start menu, rather than right at the bottom where it would be closer and less mouse movement. I do think the Start menu is a much better location for the program list than their earlier idea, a Programs folder on the "Desktop," and better still than the Windows 3.0 Program Manager. But I wonder what the thinking behind making the user mouse up past Run, Find, and Settings to get to Programs, when their research indicates that "opening a program" was the primary objective of a user. I know it's an old joke that "you have to click Start to Shut Down," but it does seem far from the way the Apple menu worked at the time for effectively the same thing.

http://www.sigchi.org/chi96/proceedings/desbrief/Sullivan/kd...

"Launching Programs: Start Menu. Although we abandoned the idea of a separate shell for beginners, we salvaged its most useful features: single-click access, high visibility, and menu-based interaction. We mocked up a number of representations in Visual Basic and tested them with users of all experience levels, not just beginners, because we knew that the design solution would need to work well for users of varying experience levels. Figure 5 shows the final Start Menu, with the Programs sub-menu open. The final Start Menu integrated functions other than starting programs, to give users a single-button home base in the UI."

ndespreson Everyday ‘Placebo Buttons’ Create Semblance of Control

I'm so used to the NYC crosswalk buttons being useless, that when I visit other cities I'll find myself waiting at a crosswalk for 2 or 3 cycles before remembering that I won't ever get a "walk" sign without pressing that button.

On the other hand I ride the office elevator every day with people who slam on the "close door" button multiple times despite that the door closes automatically very quickly, as if slamming on the button will increase the speed of the already-closing door.

ndespreson How landlords get kickbacks to lock tenants into big Internet providers

A client of mine in NYC was getting gouged for Internet service in their office building, by the incumbent building-wide ISP which seemed to be operated by the landlord. When it became necessary to upgrade to a higher tier of service, their only upgrade options from the incumbent provider were $1000+ per month above market rate. When we brought in service from a competing provider, we learned that we would have to pay the building's ISP a rental fee for use of the "risers"- they owned the rights to the conduit from the basement to my clients' suite, and charged us rent at what I considered an unfair rate on our use of it.

I think many landlords around here signed away rights on telecom services without knowing better, or set up exclusive agreements like this and those mentioned in the article, but this was the worst offender I've ever encountered.

ndespreson AI expert says that ‘sex robots’ will be mainstream in 10 years

You understand that football is a sport, a game, with few long-term consequences outside of the game; sex is usually a deeply emotional experience with many short and long-term effects on body and mind very different from sports.

ndespreson Prison phones are a predatory monopoly – One family fought back and won

Thanks for the link and the correction. I'm going to look into pulling a list of contractors who have used erate funds for infrastructure upgrades which mainly benefited a private prison telco rather than the incarcerated juveniles.

ndespreson Prison phones are a predatory monopoly – One family fought back and won

Not to mention the municipalities that benefit. There's a perverse incentive to pick the vendor with the highest price, since the muni will net a higher dollar value on the kickbacks.

I'm interested in seeing more about using erate funds to pull fiber and invest in other infrastructure, especially if it's then turned over to a private operator. Do you have any more info about who is doing this, and where?

ndespreson Prison phones are a predatory monopoly – One family fought back and won

They are part of a cycle of private wealth creation that includes, but is not limited to, the following elements:

1. Local politicians "save money" by outsourcing management of prisons in their districts to private companies

2. Contracts awarded for services within these systems have kickbacks which direct money for services back to the municipalities

3. States award contracts to build new prisons in towns, who are told that jobs will be created for their towns, plus the aforementioned kickbacks

4. Now that the prisons are built, they have to be filled. So the local police departments get to work arresting people to fill them up. Judges, lawyers, sherrif's departments, etc justify their own existences by meeting arrest quotas, being "tough on crime," etc., get promoted up their respective ladders until they're in positions of power to keep the cycle going.

ndespreson Prison phones are a predatory monopoly – One family fought back and won

Thanks for sharing. I'm glad this is staying on our radar lately.

There was another link discussed here recently (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11648361) about how these exorbitant prison phone calls are being replaced with video calls- and ONLY video calls. In the linked article we have this quote: The alternative to high rates isn’t lower rates, the association has suggested — the alternative is that phone calls in jails will be done away with entirely. "Absent these commissions," association president Larry D. Amerson wrote in a comment to the FCC, "counties would need to either increase taxes for the system or jails could potentially cease to provide inmates with this service." So either continue to support this monopoly, or don't speak to or see your brother/cousin/mom in jail at all.

Here in New Jersey where I live, as of yesterday you can no longer visit an inmate in a couple of our prisons, in person. Instead, you can pay Securus for a video connection to the inmate you'd like to speak with. I think if more people who were not directly connected to the System via a friend, family member, or personal experience were aware of what's going on, they would be appalled. Instead we conveniently pretend this stuff isn't happening.

From the linked article: [Securus'] Smith defended his company’s profits on many of the same grounds other inmate phone companies do. The contracts, he says, are a source of funds for crucial corrections services like health care. "It’s really a public policy issue," Smith says. Securus also provides security services, recording calls sent through its system and intervening to break up any illegal plots that it detects. "We really feel like we perform kind of a noble service for society," he says.

What he's not saying is that local municipalities can also get a kickback from the money paid to contact prisoners. So not only does it fund healthcare within the prison system (which of course are also increasingly privatized, so how much of that money do you think can be claimed as profit by the company running the prison), but to fix potholes etc in the local town.. on paper, at least.

What I wish these stories left me with is what to do next. Who do I call, petition, or vote for to get this changed?

ndespreson Ask HN: How do I deal with the first sexual harassment complaint at my startup?

Consider that when a woman reports harassment and says "I don't want to cause trouble," it's coming from a lifetime of not having her experiences taken seriously and situations like this backfiring. <i>Boys will be boys, you shouldn't be dressing like that, maybe you shouldn't have lead him on..</i> and then the woman reporting the harassment gets labeled as the troublemaker instead of the real perpetrator.

Demonstrate that you are taking her experiences seriously and behavior like that exhibited by your new employee is not acceptable. Get him out of there.

ndespreson Why do old statues have such small penises?

The American Family Association is a hate group who also believe that gay people are obscene. I wouldn't trust their opinion on what is acceptable.

ndespreson Show HN: Simple Postcard – Send a photo postcard from a text message

I've been using Postagram (https://sincerely.com/postagram) for a few years to send a card to my grandmother regularly from my smartphone. The cards look great, cost $1, and have the image in a perforated square which can be punched out of the card, with the description on the back. They have a solid app with tracking and history. Hard to beat that, but maybe the feature that Simple Postcard has is fitting the image to a 4x6 area (full front of the card) rather than the smaller square (3x3", I think) on the Postagrams.