271
Measuring how bad Twitter is
My last blog post (exposing Twitter's excessive costs) prompted horror story emails on Twitter. But the best thing sent to me was a finan...
Topics /
Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 354 posts.
272
How I added 6 characters to Unicode (and you can too)
Edit (June 2018): Unicode 11 is released, containing the half stars. Now the wait for font support... Star characters (☆★) have long b...
273
A billion prices can’t be wrong
‘A “big data” approach to inflation is helping us understand the fundamental question of why recessions happen’ In the dying days of 2015 came news to set any geek’s pulse racing: the declaration o…
274
275
276
People in Silicon Valley Don’t Click on Ads
At least, not according to Facebook data
277
278
279
280
So Long, Whitechapel Bell Foundry
It is with deep regret that I announce the closure of Whitechapel Bell Foundry , the world’s most famous bell foundry and Britain’s oldest manufacturing company. Below you can read my interview with Alan Hughes, the last in a line of bell founders stretching back to 1420, who will retire next year at sixty-eight years…
281
The FBI can almost certainly crack the San Bernardino iPhone without Apple
The title kind of says it all. How do I know? Because of this photo : That's a picture of the logic board of an iPhone 5C, the same mod...
282
Why there is no Facebook killer: the death of the P2P dream (2014)
This is why we don't have a Facebook killer, and why we won't. We might have a 'better' Facebook, but it will still be a Facebook.
283
284
“Guccifer2”'s second release from DNC hack
This’s time to keep my word and here’re the docs I promised you. It’s not a report in one file, it’s a big folder of docs devoted to Hillary Clinton that I found on the DNC …
285
286
Born for it – How the image of software developers came about
Where did the common image of the socially-awkward, white, male programmer come from?
287
288
289
290
The threat of technological unemployment
There is a widely reported threat to our economy: robots are going to replace human workers. It is nothing new... In 1930, Keynes, the famous economist introduced the term "technological unemployment"... We are being afflicted with a new disease of which some readers may not yet have heard the name, but of which they…
291
Stephen Hawking confirms: The problem is Capitalism, not robots
To call what we have now as Capitalism, is just wrong. What we have bears little resemblance to even what I saw as a child in the US, let alone anything like what Adam Smith talks about. What we have is at best crony capitalism, and more likely straight corruption top to bottom, with a fake veneer of something called…
292
Why Haters Hate: Kierkegaard Explains the Psychology of Trolling in 1847
“Showing that they don’t care about me, or caring that I should know they don’t care about me, still denotes dependence.”
293
294
295
You can't trust Amazon Underground
Bid on the RGP-Domain discours.es. Bid now from €10 and secure the domain at an early stage!
296
A Historical Tour of Silicon Valley
A tour of Silicon Valley
297
I Am Alex St. John’s Daughter, and He Is Wrong About Women in Tech
My name is Amilia St. John and I am the daughter of Alex St. John. Yes, that one. For those not following the horrific toddler meltdown my…
298
Security Risks of TSA PreCheck
Former TSA Administrator Kip Hawley wrote an op-ed pointing out the security vulnerabilities in the TSA’s PreCheck program: The first vulnerability in the system is its enrollment process, which seeks to verify an applicant’s identity. We know verification is a challenge: A 2011 Government Accountability Office report…
299
300
