(I do share data leakage and privacy concerns).

I use an Apple phone, so I can't comment on the mobile targeting scenarios re Google.

However, I have been using Google and its web services (email, search) for over 10 years now for both work and personal use. I have bought maybe 2 products as a result of their ads. After installing ad-blockers, I simply get no advertising now. None. Zero.

The same applies to Facebook. I use the mobile app almost exclusively and see no ads or simply ignore the promoted stuff. None of it seems to be location based. For example, I enjoy whisky but when I open the app in the middle of a whisky store, I get no ads or promoted links.

So where is all this data matching and targeted advertising? How effective is it if any person with a modicum of intelligence can take simple steps to avoid seeing all the annoying crap?

To me it seems that these companies, specially FB, are working on a foundation of sand -- the companies are built and run on the basis of "we can sell intelligent advertising" and the marketing execs fall for it and throw money at them without any measurable results. Google has a more solid use case (they searched for it, so show them an ad that is provably relevant) but Facebook....? Seems like a house of cards in the long run...even if they can implement merciless targeting they are afraid of doing so as it would result in backlash.

Meanwhile, the tech behemoths use this shifting sand to conjure money out of nowhere and continue fueling the computer industry -- with some good benefits re. facility to share stuff with people you want, hardware improvements, contributions to open source, advancements in AI, research, etc. I guess just enjoy it while it lasts...

If you are a citizen of a country like Australia, the medical safety net is a life saver. No way will insurance pay for complete cancer treatments.

You are correct, LRB is generally not easily fooled into writing puff pieces; O'Hagen is a very sharp writer (check out his masterly analysis of Assange who is much more capable of blowing smoke than Wright).

My prediction is that this will be looked upon more as a an essay about digital con men, and this is why M-K Willmers allowed it to be published.

FWIW, I say Neal Stephenson is Satoshi :)

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8770461

Points: 13

# Comments: 0

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8732342

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

I can't touch type but my code reads:

  def snmp_command(session, oid, media_servers):
    result = list()
    for host_name in media_servers:
        snmp = SNMP_CMD.format(host=host_name, oid=oid)
        snmp_reply = [x for x in session.cmditer(snmp)]

        if len(snmp_reply) == 0:
            log.warning("No data for EMS Media Server SNMP cmd {0} for host {1}".format(snmp, host_name))
            continue

        # add the Media Server host from which we got this reply to the list of snmp reply
        snmp_reply.append(host_name)
        result.append(snmp_reply)

    return result

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8364841

The "some parts" is worth bearing in mind. In my opinion, the mode of classifying or looking at a company like IBM as a single entity is plain wrong and outdated. Size, geographical distribution, org setup and variety of businesses they are involved in practically dictates that there will be no uniform culture in terms of management and performance.

Works as advertised and the online sharing enables very neat integration with services such as pinboard.in.