Hacker News Reader

quackerhackeron Michael Hastings Sent Panicked Email Hours Before Car Crash

A common oversight in politics is that some corporations and even other foreign dignitaries will fund political campaigns and lobby politicians.

Side Note: Please don't ask people to upvote you.

quackerhackeron Michael Hastings Sent Panicked Email Hours Before Car Crash

A more thorough article with pictures: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/21/email-sent-by-mic...

Wanted to share this since there was alot of great opinions about what happened: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5943251

quackerhackeron Text of letter to Edward Snowden from his father and father’s attorney

It is absolutely great to hear these comparisons made and the support of his father. I'm very glad the father went through an attorney in this situation, instead of the possibility of some ludicrous claim (like interfering in an open investigation, or some other charge that I know the FBI has done to break people[0]) if he supported him directly.

[0] http://www.thenation.com/article/174851/strange-case-barrett...

quackerhackeron The first physical Facebook fan counter for local businesses

Given the price tag, this is obviously tailored to businesses, to be showcased on a front counter. Running on a battery would be counter productive in the sense of imagine running a call center with cordless phones.

quackerhackeron The first physical Facebook fan counter for local businesses

While I may not be on Facebook anymore...this is actually real intuitive. Kudos.

I hope they implement more products similar to this...like twitter followers.

quackerhackeron Ask HN: Who are the journalists covering Internet privacy?

I follow KPoulsen from wired, on Twitter. Although I do question US media, to explain why, Snowden brought his story to Washington Post first and had to push them to publish by going to The Guardian[0].

[0] http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/06/nsa-leaker-shop...

quackerhackeron Snowden withdraws Russian asylum bid after Putin says he must 'stop harming' US

Other countries weren't built on our constitution and bill of rights. I understand why the surveillance was implemented under the Bush admin, since we were fighting an elusive collective (terrorism). What needs to be held accountable is the overreach into violating our civil privacy rights.

quackerhackeron Snowden withdraws Russian asylum bid after Putin says he must 'stop harming' US

When I read that title and the source, to me, it just looked like NBC trying rally the general public to defame Snowden's character and view him as having his own interests at heart.

I agree with you that Snowden's actions was to reveal what the administration was doing and overreaching in its power. How do you protest our government's action without evidence, reputation, and without being dragged in the general media....it's not possible without looking like a conspiracy theorist.

This is why I respect Snowden. He gave up everything... safety, great pay, family... for what he believes in.

quackerhackeron Snowden withdraws Russian asylum bid after Putin says he must 'stop harming' US

Snowden withdraws Russian asylum bid after Putin says he must 'stop harming' US

This title strongly implies that he seeks to harm the US. Let the media marauding begin. I really don't feel that Snowden looked to harm the US, but rather hold the country he was serving accountable for what it was and still may be doing.

quackerhackeron How They Sent Photos Across the Ocean Back in 1926

I think the illustration is beautiful. It makes me appreciate technology, but also reminds of the process when beepers existed, and pay phones were prevalent (before 2way pagers, and alphanumeric paging).

quackerhackeron Show HN: Google Glass + Tesla Model S = GlassTesla

I can actually see what you mean and agree with you. I remember some driving law...something about not obstructing a driver's field of vision (which is why it's technically illegal to drive with a handicap placard or even a little tree fresher hanging off your rearview mirror).

It'll really come down to officer judgment, since they can also view it as hands free (like a Bluetooth).

In regards to this app though, it doesn't appear to serve any function while driving, so I can't imagine it being used during driving.

quackerhackeron Why the Story on Snowden and the NSA Doesn't Add Up

I agree mtgx. Snowden has stated before that he's wanted to keep the focus on PRISM and not himself, although I'm sure the media has a hand in focusing on him, and not on what he has risked his life and livelihood to reveal.

quackerhackeron Jury finds protester not guilty in chalk-vandalism case

Just for a reference, the old HN thread:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5948804

quackerhackeron Jury finds protester not guilty in chalk-vandalism case

I could not express my elation in words for this victory!

I said it before when this trended on HN, that I hoped he would go to trial and not take a deal. I don't care if BOFA showed video of him doing it, he had chalk on his hands, and posted pictures up online on FB or Twitter...if I was on the jury, I would've said he wasn't guilty.

Ridiculous lobbying of resources and obvious oppression by BOFA!

quackerhackeron Bush says ‘civil liberties were guaranteed’ under his NSA Internet surveillance

What's shocking about this...is I actually believe Bush and understand why he approved the surveillance in the first place.

Only problem I have with this article is this statement is misdirected: "I think he damaged the security of the country."

quackerhackeron Firefox OS phone launches Tuesday in Spain at $3 a month

Aaaah...good ol' G1, that was my first smartphone too, then I had to get an iPhone for coding. Nothing like typing out code on a pocket keyboard.

I think Apple is very similar with requiring an account to activate the phone's functionality. If I remember correctly, the 1st gen needed to be synced with iTunes (directly to a computer) and the latest iOS devices require an Apple ID.

I haven't had an opportunity to try a Firefox phone yet, but I'm really hoping that it doesn't require some cloud based account to function. Just having all my data in one collective resource bothers me.

quackerhackeron Firefox OS phone launches Tuesday in Spain at $3 a month

Given the atmosphere with the PRISM fall out, I would imagine Firefox's OS would be welcomed by the public and promoted by privacy advocates.

I'm really excited about Firefox's mobile OS. I was really hoping that the Ubuntu's Mobile OS was going to pick up steam, but it looks like that may not come to fruition.

quackerhackeron Startup Investing Trends

there's a third: start your own company

I'm going play the role of semantics really quick. I like how PG differentiates between a startup and a company. What I've learned while coding, and dealing with Angels are the differences in stages...so I'll share my definitions (with dev examples)

  1. Idea: just a concept, like an app
  2. Project: the investment (usually time) we as entrepreneurs put in, like coding an app
  3. Startup: just launched/deployed and ready to improvise as you grow, now your in the App Store and are out of beta
  4. Business: your in the black, or at least have a projected growth rate of being there (u made angry birds)

I see why the startup stage is the greatest risk/reward investment, because in my eyes, it's like you just turned on the engine, everyone hears the growl, but you haven't spun the wheels yet.

quackerhackeron Things I Do With My Raspberry Pi

Thanks tuananh, I was wondering this. I've been debating between an RPi or a WD My Book Live.

quackerhackeron Things I Do With My Raspberry Pi

RE: file sharing/local NAS

Do any of you guys experience a bottleneck on the RPi's 100Mbps nic?

quackerhackeron Why to use Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus share links and not buttons

In regards to not tracking users...integrating a http request to Google for JQuery, is still tracking users.

I always find this ironic about these articles don't track your users, or prism is watching, let's use mailvelope, some of these pages that is promoting privacy, integrates google analytics, have a share button, or some type of off server request.

quackerhackeron Why to use Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus share links and not buttons

I actually agree with this article...from an optimization standpoint. Whenever I've had to integrate paypal, youtube, or even coinbase...I always add the images to my static sprite sheet (to reduce http requests), and will serve a post href link...instead of button code suggested.

Even before the whole tracking was exposed, I always hated paypal's 1px blank gif that is integrated in their button code.

quackerhackeron Ask HN: Can A Video Playlist Over The Internet Be Patented ... Comcast has one

I'll just speculate my concern, if this patent is the way I'm viewing (real)...then I can see YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, and Apple (ITunes) having some problems. I don't think a patent can be retroactive, but maybe Comcast can do a cease and desist.

quackerhackeron What if hackers ran Washington?

Of course coders built the programs and networks that made up PRISM, but do you think the PM's and lobbyists that approved the programs were technically minded. The coders just did what they were hired to do.

My take is that the PRISM program could have started as a foreign intelligence program, but was adapted to a domestic one as well. I as a coder who has built web analytic tools before, how do you differentiate from a foreign user or a domestic one? Just because an IP or mac address is located in the US, it doesn't mean the end user is in the US or it's not spoofed.

Our future is not too far fetched than Eagle Eye or Minority Report.

quackerhackeron CIA Agents Were Embedded With NYPD And Had “No Limits”

I was actually guessing that it had to be a way to better allocate government resources.

quackerhackeron Ask HN: Instagram says I'm infringing on their name

If the site is worth it for you, seek the advice of a lawyer.

One of my investors once told me that the most disappointing thing about dealing with entrepreneurs (mainly coders) is that most will take a shotgun approach to business and believe in quantity over quality. We spit out so many products in hopes that 1 hits it's mark without checking patents, trademarks, or at least filing articles of inc.

quackerhackeron Tesla wins in North Carolina, paves the way for direct-to-consumer sales

Great to see Tesla changing the industry.

It's disappointing to see New York (whom I view as a progressively similar to California) attempting to block Tesla though[0].

[0] http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/21/autos/tesla-new-york/index.h...

quackerhackeron CIA Agents Were Embedded With NYPD And Had “No Limits”

I actually felt the same way, but I think it was used as quoting his justification for the NSA law forbidding him to be involved in domestic surveillance.

quackerhackeron CIA Agents Were Embedded With NYPD And Had “No Limits”

National Security Act of 1947 explicitly forbid the CIA from conducting domestic surveillance

To me, this is actually a little confusing. My assumption has always been that the CIA was the intelligence agency which...gathers intelligence. If the government itself is forbidding them from domestic surveillance, it makes me question their tactics and methods that would be unconstitutional...I guess it could be that this is suppose to be the work of the DHS and NSA.

quackerhackeron What if hackers ran Washington?

I'd actually leave the US.

When I think of hackers, I think of black hats like I once was, and most tech people know that knowledge is power, I think that hackers may justify what the NSA is doing and may take it further. (ex. how far do you track the ip's and associate them with users on a website)

Truth is though, with our generation being technically minded, it's inevitable that some of us will become the people in the background that fund political campaigns. Politicians are just front men with IOU's behind them.