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beaker's comments

beaker | 12 years ago | on: Putin critic Khodorkovsky in Germany after pardon

Copy & paste from a friend who called this over 2 weeks ago: "12/3/13 >Free pussy riot! >But I hear he's giving them amnesty. Khordokovsky too. All hail Putin!"

Look for Pussy Riot to be the next to be released...

beaker | 13 years ago | on: iOS 6 Breaks the App Store

I was very excited when I saw early versions of the new app store that eliminated the need to page through search results five apps at a time and replaced it with a scrollable list. Then at the last minute though, it seemed like Apple had a change of heart and added the screenshot-centered design - very disappointing from my perspective as both a user and developer..

beaker | 13 years ago | on: Selling $2,000+ Worth Of My Unfinished Book

The copy on this article and the book page itself feels so spammy that I would never buy the product. I respect the desire/need to make money, but I do think a certain percentage of your potential audience will be turned off immediately by the excessive use of this type of obvious marketing-speak (excessive use of bold fonts, short, pointed sentences, all the vague truisms, "money back guarantee"..). I hope this doesn't become the standard type of post on Hacker News, I'm sorry but after clicking on that link it really feels like I've just been spammed.

beaker | 13 years ago | on: Data Mining Exec Pays For Burgers In Cash To Avoid Insurance Company Snooping

The last thing I need is this kind of kruft polluting my brain causing me to continuously second guess myself. I have a hard enough time deciding if a purchase is "business related" or not, now I have to ponder the future implications that every purchase I make will have on my permanent record? Sorry but I can't play this game without encumbering my mind with an amount of stress that completely outweighs any future benefit this bit of clever purchasing discretion would bring. I surrender to our big data overlords and beg for mercy on my consumption footprint. Maybe someday someone will be able to provide a technical defense to all of this nonsense: e.g. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/06/apple-...

beaker | 13 years ago | on: Windows Azure Dance Routine

Probably will get downvoted for this, but I didn't really think this was as vile as apparently everybody else does. Sure it's a bit cheesy and stupid, but the dancers seem to be wearing shorts and a full shirt (essentially standard dance attire) and not doing anything particularly suggestive. As to the lyrics, again stupid attempts at humor but not any worse than what you might see on an evening TV sitcom. Maybe I am just old..

beaker | 14 years ago | on: Thoughts on Growing Old

Did anyone find anything insightful, interesting, or entertaining about this article? To those that upvoted it - why? I ask because I think I must be missing a kernel of wisdom that you may have observed.

beaker | 14 years ago | on: How To Crash A Party

Agreed, I honestly don't understand how it could be so well received on HN. Do you really need to use boldface <b>at the end of every sentence?</b> This article just seems like money-worshiping, social-climbing drivel.

beaker | 14 years ago | on: Hit men, click whores, and paid apologists: Welcome to the Silicon Cesspool

The interesting thing to me here is how the story is no longer about Path and whether their actions were right or wrong. In the course of attempting to defend their portfolio company, Arrington and Co. have created a new debate about the role of journalism in the tech world, pitting the VC-backed insiders and their well-oiled hype machine vs the hordes of unconnected outsiders seeking to break down the gates. This dynamic is reflected by the passionate reactions coming fast and furiously from both sides. It could get ugly, but in the long run it's probably a good thing for everyone to have this discussion.

beaker | 14 years ago | on: Anger for Path after Privacy Breach: So Many Apologies, So Much Data Mining

The previous replies do a good job of addressing your post, so I won't repeat what's already been said. The only thing I want to point out is that the in the specification I mentioned in my original post, the requirement was to circumvent the operating system's built-in warning to the user when their contacts were being accessed. Why go through the trouble to do this except to consciously deprive the user of the ability to say no? iOS doesn't have such a warning (and therefore I don't think the current issue is equally as egregious as this), but I think a lot of people are starting to wish it did.

beaker | 14 years ago | on: Anger for Path after Privacy Breach: So Many Apologies, So Much Data Mining

I probably should keep my mouth shut, but after seeing so many posts about how great Path is for giving such a genuine and heartfelt "mea culpa", I can't help it. A friend of mine did some work for an older version of Path.com which included an installable desktop client. One of the key features in the spec was the ability to grab the users entire address book without ever letting them know what was happening (e.g. no alerts or confirmation). This behavior wasn't a mistake or an oversight, it was completely intentional from the beginning. Of course my friend thought this was a bit shady, but the truth is that shady tactics are used all the time in the software industry for one reason - because they make money.

When Path states they didn't realize users would feel deceived and that they only intended to use the information to make better suggestions for the user's contact list, well, I don't want to sound cynical, but I think anyone who blindly believes these kinds of statements (from Path, Facebook, or any other company) is either personally/financially interested or extremely naive.

beaker | 14 years ago | on: Amit Gupta has found a 10/10 matched donor

I'll admit I got a little "misty" reading that - what a roller coaster. I'd love to know a little bit more about the donor (e.g. who they are, how they were found, etc..) Godspeed Amit!

beaker | 14 years ago | on: Y Combinator in Forbes' top 10 incubators

A well deserved number one spot for YC. Warning that this is one of those articles that makes you click 10 times to see the entire top 10 list - this really turns me off so I left after the seeing the first entry.

beaker | 14 years ago | on: Why Marketing and BD Professionals Should Learn to Code

I think there's a huge difference between the kind of "coding" being discussed here and the work of an actual software developer. That said, if coding simply means having some familiarity with the concepts of computer programming, then I think it definitely makes sense for those people who are interested to partake!

beaker | 14 years ago | on: Steve Jobs has passed away.

The first time I heard the word "icon" was when I was introduced to the new Macintosh 128k as a young child. Seems very appropriate now. Steve Jobs, Icon. RIP.
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