Hacker News Reader

netfireon Policing, Mass Imprisonment, and the Failure of American Lawyers

They may not tell them that directly, but when you consider someone's race in giving aid, aren't you telling them that they are disadvantaged because of their race?

We should be focusing on helping someone because they are poor, because they are unjustly treated like criminals or because they have few opportunities to succeed, not because they are black or of a certain race.

netfireon Policing, Mass Imprisonment, and the Failure of American Lawyers

I think racism plays a part, but there are are factors to consider as well, including victimology. The current way we are approaching race in america seems to be part of the problem.

We seem to be telling people of certain races that they are born disadvantaged, that they are somehow second-class citizens and not fully responsible for their actions or outcome of their life. We then distribute aid and provide services based not only on economic or educational status, but also on race, and we form organizations to benefit members of that race. We become outraged when their rights are violated (but no so much when the rights of members of another race are).

I don't think we'll truly eliminate racism in our society if we continue to focus on race the way we are. Instead we need to care just as much about the rights (or the violations of those rights) of a black man as we do a white man (or any other race). Race needs to not be considered when creating programs to benefit the poor or uneducated. After all, shouldn't a poor white man be just as entitled to our compassion and assistance as an equally poor black man?

Martin Luther King said "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." For me, that cuts both ways. Not only should we not be judged unfairly in a court of law or be treated different by police because of the color of one's skin. It should be a non-factor in determining any sort of benefit or assistance as well.

netfireon Think – Fast mobile whiteboarding

I agree that reducing the latency would be awesome, but is this something the app developer has any control over, or is this just a restriction imposed by the device hardware (or operating system). In the example video you posted, it appears that Microsoft is using completely different (and likely very expensive) hardware.

netfireon A Former College Lineman Now on the Streets, Looking for Answers, and Help

The quote was made in the context of NFL players. (At least that's how I read it)

Still, even though college players aren't paid with money, they still receive compensation (scholarships, financial aid, free tutors, etc). To indicate that they receive no financial compensation is inaccurate, I think.

netfireon A Former College Lineman Now on the Streets, Looking for Answers, and Help

"Most never made a dime off the game." The article lost credibility for me there. You may think the majority of NFL players don't get paid enough for what they do, but I'm pretty sure no one is playing for free.

netfireon Introducing Pebble Time

Yeah, contrary to their "No Compromises" promise, this does seem significantly inferior to the Apple Watch (resolution doesn't look nearly as good, no touch screen, polish and finish, etc).

With the price at nearly half ($199) of what the low-end of the Apple Watch price range is expected to be ($349), however, this does open the smart watch option up to more people that don't have that sort of cash to spend on wearables.

netfireon Firefox Hello

Telefonica is a global telecommunications company. (I've never seen them in the US, but they are very common in latin america) Not sure what they have to do with a web video chat system.

netfireon Introducing Aurelia

Looks interesting. It would be nice if they were more specific about what browsers the framework supports though. There's a phrase that you can "Leverage the technology of the future but target today's Evergreen Browsers." That's a nice bit of copywriting, but it doesn't instantly tell me which browsers are supported. It would be nice to have an official supported list.

netfireon Why Inequality Matters

Really? You think we should restrict how people can give their money away? If you are going to go that far, why not restrict how people can spend their money also (because why should rich people, or people in general, be able to decide what kind of businesses are more deserving of their money).

In fact, why have money at all, lets just let the government take care of everyone and not let anyone own businesses or property or anything. Oh wait, because this is a horrible idea and removes a main motivation for people to actually work and contribute to society. What you are suggesting is communism, not democracy.

Democracy doesn't mean that people can't choose to do what they want to do with their money. It just means that the government representing the people has been elected by the people (at least in a representative democracy, like the United States). It doesn't mean that the government should make all the decisions for everyone or control how they spend their money.

netfireon Show HN: TripExpert – Professional Hotel Reviews

Nice site. A few thoughts:

- The city search doesn't work if you specify the state (San Antonio, TX for example). I didn't wait for the autocomplete to load and just pressed enter and it returned no results.

- It would be nice if the results automatically updated when changing filters, instead of having to click an "Update Results" button. Also, usually filters are above or to the left of results, not on the right.

- I expected clicking on the small map on the list view to take me to the map view, instead of having to click on the link below. The map is too small in the list view to really be usable as an interactive map.

netfireon Where are the mobile standing desks? [video]

Interesting concept. I was slightly disturbed, however, watching the video when it showed someone's hand way to close to moving bandsaw [1:49] and miter saw [2:10] blades (what appears to be 1-2 inches away from the blade).

If you do use maker spaces, please learn how to use the equipment safely. StorkStand, please edit these clips out of the video and try to keep your fingers while helping others save their back!

netfireon The Economics of a Kickstarter Project

Right, but you are left with an extra 800 posters, which have already been printed and just have to be shipped. Had you just done a printing run to fulfill the commitment to the backers, you'd be left with more profit from the project at this point, but instead you've been paid less, with the potential for more revenue with higher margins. More risk, (potentially) more reward.

netfireon How to be a sane programmer

What do you define as creativity then? You could say that the majority of writing is composing sentences with nouns and verbs if you look at it from such a low level. (or that artists are just applying specialized techniques to add to or subtract from a medium).

I suppose that you could leave the creativity in engineering to other people (designers, product managers, etc), but my experience has been that you end up a far better product when you engage developers early on in the brainstorming and product planning process and let them help decide what the product should be.

netfireon Some things can’t be wireframed

Not sure I agree with this. The article compares extremely low-fidelity wireframes with very high fidelity mockups. You don't have to choose between one or the other. Tools like Balsamiq allow you to create mockups that give a better approximation of the real thing with substantially less work.

I'm not saying you shouldn't create high-fidelity mockups, but get the usability problems solved first in a lower-cost environment. That could be as simple as a whiteboarding session or using index cards. You should be excited for a product/site not only based on how it looks, but what it does.

netfireon Turn It Off: NSA's Achilles' Heel

Underground aquifers, reservoirs from streams, rivers, etc. Northern Utah gets a fair amount of snow as well. There are around 2.9 million people living in Utah[1]. There is also a fair amount of agriculture in the state, especially up north, which uses most of the water in the state[2]. States like Arizona and New Mexico are much more arid.

[1] - http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/49000.html [2] - http://www.water.utah.gov/brochures/wiu_broc.htm

netfireon Amazon Wants to Ship Your Package Before You Buy It

I don't think they are improving shipping speed to compete with online stores, as much as to compete with stores in your community. I think the goal is to make ordering from Amazon almost as quick as getting in your car and going to a local store.

netfireon Fired? Speak No Evil

Can you provide a source for this? I've never heard of this before and am curious what legal restriction you are referring to.

netfireon The War on Terror's Jedi Mind Trick

Besides the obvious violation of individual rights, I worry about the enormous potential for abuse in these programs that could quickly turn our democracy into a dictatorship.

Systems designed to identify terrorists could easily be used to identify political opposition and supress them once they've been labeled as "terrorists". The lack of due process, transparency and checks and balances here is concerning.

netfireon The American Way of Hiring Is Making Long-Term Unemployment Worse

I might agree with you in other fields, but not in technology. There's no good reason (provided you have the ability to work) to have a 6 month to a year gap in your resume where you have nothing to show. You don't have to start a company (in the entrepreneurial sense) to do freelance/contract work. There are tons of remote opportunities.

Even if you can't find a job during that time, there's still things you can do to improve your chances of getting employed. Start learning new technologies, attend/start a local meetup, build a website, volunteer, take online courses (many of which are free or low-cost), answer questions on StackOverflow, contribute to projects on GitHub.

The worst thing you can do is to just interview and wonder why you aren't getting any offers. Technology is a rapidly changing field, if you can't get a job with your current skill set, do something about it and show that on your resume.

netfireon US Supreme Court Will Hear Case Re: Standards for Software Patent Eligibility

I agree that patents should be unique and novel (and that many patents are issued that are not novel). I disagree on the idea that innovation can only happen through expensive R&D and by experts in labs. Such innovation is useful and should be done and protected, but seems to be more evolutionary than revolutionary. Also, will companies take the time to do the R&D if they can't patent the idea and concept first?

Its important to protect more revolutionary ideas that may be developed by someone in a garage or starting a small company. Patents are supposed to also protect small businesses and individuals with great ideas that don't have the type of budgets you are talking about.

netfireon Rather than savage cuts, Switzerland considers “Star Trek” economics

It seems like a system like this would be designed to replace Social Security, Medicare, Disability, Food stamps, WIC and other benefits paid to those who are poor, disabled or not working (which would be well over a trillion dollars -- see http://www.usaspending.gov/explore). I'd imagine you'd also remove the standard deductible and other deductions and exemptions for taxes and possibly move to a flat tax bracket that wouldn't discourage people from earning more money or working in general. The question is, how much more money would that bring in, if any?

Also, if you just give people money, will they really spend it on basic necessities or spend it unwisely? Seems like it would work better if the money were given as housing, food, and healthcare insurance vouchers that could only be used for those purposes.

It will be interesting to see if/how this works out Switzerland.

netfireon Ask HN: Who is hiring? (May 2013)

SpinGo - Web Software Engineer - http://www.spingo.com

Full-time, Remote, HQ in Draper, Utah

SpinGo builds web and mobile products that help millions of people across the country discover local events.

We partner with media companies like the Chicago Daily Herald and the San Diego Union Tribune who use our platform to inform and engage their users. We have over 200 partner sites with more being added each week.

The Web Software Engineer will develop high-quality user interfaces to meet the needs of our users. You will help improve our main calendar product and build tools to help users submit and promote events and manage calendars. You have the skills to build pixel-perfect, cross-browser interfaces and help build scalable web applications. In addition to owning the development of the SpinGo calendar product, the Web Software Engineer is expected to be self-motivated, give accurate estimates and deliver quality code on time.

Qualifications

- BS in a Software Development Field or Equivalent Work Experience

- Ability to use critical thinking skills to solve development problems

- Several years experience developing cross-browser web applications

- Expert in PHP, Python, Ruby or JavaScript

- Advanced knowledge of MVC-based architecture and frameworks

- Advanced knowledge of JavaScript, HTML and CSS

Salary is $50K-$90K based on experience. If hired you will have a flexible full-time work schedule and be able to work remotely from anywhere you have a fast internet connection. Benefits include Health, dental, and vision plans, 7 paid holidays and 17 days paid time off and performance bonuses.

To apply, please send your resume to devjobs@spingo.com. Please provide examples of relevant work experience.

netfireon The Terrifying Reality of Long-Term Unemployment

Probably not. Something like "I've been volunteering down at the hospital" would be much better in those professions. Regardless of your profession, surely you can find something productive to do for 6 months, even if its part-time or without pay. Taking that sort of initiative will probably also get you the connections and referrals you need to get a job. Doing nothing but submitting applications for months on end is about the worst thing you can do. If you aren't getting hired, do something to make yourself more hirable.

netfireon Gitmo Is Killing Me

The interview in the story claims to be reported by the prisoner's lawyers. What prevents them from taking legal action now? What changes if their client is released?

netfireon Visualizing Yahoo Mail

Creepy? No. A clear violation of expected privacy? Yes.

netfireon Highcharts 3.0 Beta released

Agreed. This is a confusing and very strange way to do pricing. It shouldn't matter what the size of my team is. I should just be able to buy a license for my entire website/application.

netfireon YouTube Set to Introduce Paid Subscriptions This Spring

How else will you know to keep consuming if you only use the youtube search box and have an ad-free existence?

Really? The only way to educate users about other similar shows is to interrupt the viewing experience with intrusive ads?

If I like the video I am watching, I'm going to go to the creator's profile or channel or just click on one of the videos that appear after I've finished watching. Personally, I find these ads annoying and not effective. (I can't remember the last time I clicked on an in-video ad)

There seems to be this idea in marketing that if you promote yourself in a way that forces the user to be exposed to your message, you will be more effective and successful. The more effective companies, however, seem to focus on creating advertising that people want to see and create products that people like to use and will recommend.

netfireon Show HN: Github for recipes

+1 on a diff-tool. Its very hard to tell what's different between the forked recipes. Some sort of short commit-style message on the change would be helpful. (Something like "Added potatoes and carrots" or "Smoked the chicken instead of grilling it")

I really like the idea, but as others have mentioned, it does need some design help.

netfireon Ask HN: Who is hiring? (January 2013)

Provo, UT - Remote, Full-time

SpinGo - Front End Software Engineer

Who We Are: The SpinGo Event Platform is the optimal ecosystem for events in the digital age. It is comprised of a comprehensive and dynamic database of events, calendar applications rich with features, and an ever-expanding partner network. We we work closely with closely with venues to obtain event information directly from the source, and to help them promote their events.

Who You Are: The Front End Software Engineer will develop high quality user interfaces to meet the needs of our users. You will help improve our main calendar product and build tools to help users submit and promote events and manage calendars. You have the skills to build pixel-perfect cross-browser interfaces and help build scalable web applications. You are self-motivated, give accurate estimates and deliver quality code on-time.

Required Qualifications - BS in a Software Development Field or Equivalent Work Experience

- Ability to use critical thinking skills to solve front-end development problems

- Several years experience developing cross-browser web applications

- Expert in a server-side interpreted language (PHP, Python, Ruby, NodeJS, etc)

- Advanced knowledge of MVC-based architecture and frameworks

- Advanced knowledge of JavaScript, HTML and CSS (experience with SASS a plus)

- Advanced skills with relational databases, preferably PostgreSQL or MySQL

More details at http://www.spingo.com/jobs. To apply email devjobs@spingo.com

netfireon Are Designers Crazy?

Although these changes may seem like an unnecessary level of attention to detail, its important to keep in mind that this would be a very minor change to make design and engineering-wise. We're not talking about moving around elements or re-doing the entire design, just changing some colors/gradients. In my opinion, the little bit of extra effort required to put this level of polish on a product is completely worth it.

Most problems with perfectionism in design and engineering come from people making bad decisions early on in the design/development process and not realizing that something is fundamentally wrong until much later on--when its much harder to fix.