chmac

Can you share any info on how you set this up? I also have more faith in Apple's privacy policies than I do in Google / Amazon, so this could be an interesting option. Any idea if it works on an apple watch?

This is freakin EPIC. A hat that captures audio and then decides whether or not to relay it to the physical Alexa / Google / etc speaker. I struggle to believe it'd be super reliable, but the concept is ultra cool!

According to this[1] post, that might not always be the case. I also have this assumption about alexa devices, and I haven't seen any other evidence to say that voice recognition can happen locally. Personally, I find the claim in the thread a bit hard to believe, but...

[1] https://community.home-assistant.io/t/local-voice-control/29...

AFAIK, the thing that sets Gatsby apart is the integration of the built static site and React to do pre-fetching. The output from Gatsby is not just HTML, it's HTML + React javascript, with data loaded from JSON files. That means that once the site has loaded, Gatsby can pre-emptively fetch all the linked pages, both React components and data, to give instantaneous second click page loads. That's a pretty impressive feature in the wild, the second click is neck snappingly fast. I'm not sure if this is an option in other things like nuxtjs or not.

But, you're right that Gatsby requires a lot of code. To get a simple static site setup, it's a lot of work. Plus it changes very fast. We stopped paying attention for a few months, and things broke on the next upgrade.

But, if web performance is the goal, Gatsby is hard to beat. In addition to pre-fetching, it also inlines every resource, images, CSS, the whole thing. So a single HTML fetch should be enough for a full first paint. That's a lot faster than a usual static site, which in turn loads all the additional resources before it can show the site to the user.

Could it also discourage potential purchasers in the event of an exit? Instead of buying shares from a company in a known jurisdiction, they'd be buying shares from a foreign jurisdiction. Might complicate the legal work, and so on. This was one reason I considered as to why it doesn't seem to be common practice.

In Germany there's a very simple structure that's commonplace where a UG (a sort of German Ltd) owns shares in a GmbH (a real German Ltd). In that scenario, if both are incorporated at the same time, there's only tax of around 2% if the GmbH is sold.

Higher tax is due when a person withdraws money from the UG, and so on. But for reinvestment in other companies this system is ideal. Unfortunately Germany is also extremely hostile to bitcoin, and we're in the bitcoin space, so incorporating here seems like a bad idea on that front.

Thanks. This might be the most compelling argument I've heard so far, that any thought on the topic simply distracts from building something people want.

Interesting reading, thanks for the link. Who'd have known that HMRC used such elaborate language! :-)

In this case I'm imagining only holding shares offshore, not paying dividends, etc. So not sure if that article applies fully. But it sounds like the intention of HMRC is to restrict the ability of companies to move profits offshore to avoid paying UK tax.

I think you make a great point ibsulon. If you did take the decision to close down the site, the least you could do is signpost users to somewhere else where they could continue to communicate.

As far as I'm aware, during the CouchSurfing crash, some volunteers set up a separate forum, but it wasn't sanctioned or initiated by the founder, I believe he simply walked out. :(

For a smaller database, dmpayton's suggestion is spot on. Simply cron schedule a mysqldump and then push that offsite. Here's a few example code snippets I use:

/usr/bin/mysqldump -u dbusername -pdbpassword --skip-lock-tables database_name | gzip > /path/to/backup/file/file_$(/bin/date +\%Y-\%m-\%d_\%H-\%M-\%S).sql.gz

I'm using --skip-lock-tables because on a ZenCart site, the lock tables option was adversely affecting site performance.

Then you could add something to automatically email or scp the file to another host.

For bigger, more complex databases, look into MySQL binary logging, DRBD replication, and MySQL slaves. That should give you some keywords to get started.

Running mysqldump on a database the size of CouchSurfing's is a real problem. It's a resource hog. To properly back up a consistent data image you need to use locking, which prevents writes to your database while the backup is running. That causes downtime on every backup, not ideal.

Likewise, when backing up 100s of GiBs of data, a simple tar gz is not suitable. More sophisticated strategies need to be used when the data becomes that big.

I've found http://HighScalability.com to be a great source of information on building scalable applications.

CouchSurfing International Inc was registered as a non-profit and is now a charity.

Knowing a bit about it (having been a volunteer for the org) I think the crash was extremely badly handled. For better or worse, many people were relying on the service to find places to stay, connect with people in foreign cities, and so on. Leaving those people high and dry is bad karma. Likewise, users should be encouraged to make "backups" in the form of phone nos, email addresses, etc if the reliability of the site can't be guaranteed.

I think the problem is a classic one in technology. The geeks at the helm are over confident. Their self belief clouds their judgement with regards to backups, failure planning, and so on.

Now that would be awesome. Even better if you could configure your own search engine. I use scroogle, but site:currentsite.com still works...

A quick hunt[1] didn't throw up anything for me... [1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search?q=current+si...

The subject is a little misleading, it's not a resume nor related to employment, but it is a good history of breaking encryption.

Great article, some good links, and a damned eye opener. I need to start salting my passwords...

Congrats on the job, what does PG's work mean? Is PG a person?

I'd suggest you go focused rather than shotgun. Who are your target customers? What other sites are they using? Are you a cross between eBay and Facebook? Who are the biggest bloggers out there on those topics? Target those people, like a laser beam, you should be able to guarantee coverage on launch day.

Plus, you should be able to generate some hype beforehand. Start targetting these sites now. Tell them the launch is coming. Build the relationship. Make sure the authors know who you are and that you're coming.

Oh, and in 4-6 weeks means nothing, pick a date. Pick a date in 8 weeks so you can be sure you hit it, but a date, an actual date, a timeframe is always meaningless.

So you've targetted the top bloggers in the field, now offer them something. Tell them you're coming, then offer the top blogger a 4 hour exclusive if they'll guarantee coverage. Offer them all a sneak preview. Delay your launch by 3 days and run 3 days of "private, invite only beta testing". Tell all the bloggers you're targetting that they can invite people, on their blogs.

The people you're targetting (bloggers, not customers) have to feel like they're getting something real, something that's a scoop, not some generic, third hand, run of the mill announcement.

Second, target forums / user groups / fan sites / etc. Anything in the eBay / MySpace / Facebook / etc space, if there's a forum out there, find their news section, add them to your list above. Then get an account on the forum and start talking (try to keep it relevant, spam never helped anyone).

Scrap the "Coming soon" on your site and start a big, fat counter. LAUNCHING IN 45/44/43 DAYS, etc.

Generate some hype, get people excited, this thing is going to happen, it's going to be huge, and you want to get into it right now.

Most of all, good luck!

I get it, you can click the teeny weeny up arrow next to the item and that votes it up! Ok, simple.

For example, this item has 24 points, but the user is brand new and has only posted 1 item which has no comments. Where does that karma come from? http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49785

How does one vote? I can't see anything about voting or about downvoting. Is it based on some external voting?

Absolutely, open plan offices are a nightmare. I haven't yet figured out how to balance it out though. Social contact is important, interacting with other team members, etc. Maybe longer lunch breaks, or social meeting or something. Being in an office alone all day is pretty unhealthy!

I agree that a lot of people want to work more, but I think that's part of the problem. I think people need to be encouraged to work less, to take more time off.

I believe the best employers encourage their staff to get out into the world and find fulfillment and I believe the best way to do that is by having a varied and interesting lifestyle.

Simply working all day every day doesn't lead to a balanced, healthy life.

In my view, it's a pretty useless list, it contains a total of 10 links, 4 of which are NYC specific.

Not sure what the point is, but it sure looks pretty!

That's what I call service, if only I had a Blackberry... :)

That is FANTASTIC. I've officially just wasted 20 minutes of my life. I'm definitely going to twitter that site... :)

This only applies if you leave your profile public to anyone. Otherwise, they'd have to friend request you first!

It's the same as publishing anything publicly, people can run background checks on you and find it. That's life.

As an employer, I'd be suspicious if somebody's online profile presented a completely different (beer swilling, rock partying) image than their resume. You can't be two people after all.

That's pretty crazy, but as one of the commenters said, he is a convicted criminal, that has repercussions. Could be a great opportunity for RedHat or Suse to sue the government on the basis of unfair competition though... :)

Grrrrreat, so Google can listen to your phone calls as well as read your email, view your schedule, track your browsing, etc... :)

If the phone isn't locked to Google services and is based on an open source platform it could be nice. Personally, I'm waiting for OpenMoko to be consumer ready... http://www.openmoko.org/

AWESOME DUDE

Thank you for posting that link, that's sweet. Seriously, you've made my week. I've just signed up with Pingability.com because they offer a (basic) test for free if you post a link to them on your homepage.

This service is MUCH better, and it's free because I use Firefox. Gotta love open source! :)

Thanks again terpua.