jkeisling/hacker-news-corpus-2007-2022 huggingface dataset:
Show HN: Netflix Queue management with iPhone barcode scanning
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/q-scan-for-netflix/id414603457?mt=8
I'm excited to show off my new iPhone app--Q Scan for Netflix! Despite some setbacks with the development process and changes in the Netflix API, I finally have the app live.

With Q Scan for Netflix, you can easily scan a retail DVD or Blu-ray barcode to add the title to your Netflix Queue (instant or disc/DVD). Q Scan can come in handy when you're walking through a retail store and notice a new release you've been meaning to watch--now you can quickly check to see if it's already on Netflix!

I'd really appreciate any feedback and am glad to share this with the HN community. And, what you've been waiting for, a few promo codes:

RJTA64TL46YT
9WJ396PJETYH
6MXMP3RRKNFF
LHL94X4T3ANH

Thanks, John @qscanapp http://qscanapp.com
Comet of the century?
http://www.space.com/22002-comet-ison-timeline-sun-flyby.html
Could be a great show, if it survives it's trip around the sun.
Any good ways to capture initial “WTF”s of newcomers?
any new comer going to a new place/company/group/... will have initial questions/surprises/feelings/opinions/... - good-or-bad.. Some time voiced aloud. i believe these intial WTFs have immense value (and sincerity) - for both sides to learn about themselves.. But their amount and content quickly decline in time, as the individual is changing/adapting (or being shaped) into the new form. So, how best to capture them?
Review my Idea: Email-based database service
I brought up this idea in a post earlier this morning, but it was around 2am and it quickly scrolled off the front pages. I don't think many people may have seen it so I wanted to post it one last time before moving on.

I've been thinking about this idea over the past few days. I've even already written code for it and have a functional prototype. But, everyone I tell the idea to doesn't seem to grasp the concept or just can't see why it would be useful.

My idea is simple. The idea: a hosted database service (a la MongoHQ) with an easy and highly accessible CRUD interface via SMTP (a la Posterous). It would be accompanied by an API for CRUD, also - perhaps REST.

The idea came to me while thinking about writing my own SMTP-based blog, like Posterous. I wanted to write my own blog that I was able to write to using any email client I had, instead of using some annoying WYSIWYG editor. But then a friend suggested, "why not generalize it for more than just blogs"? I'm not sure to what extent he meant, but I immediately envisioned something similar to Posterous but more generalized. Basically, a database that anyone could perform CRUD on using their email client.

Why email? Everyone has it. It's easily accessible. There are email client implementations in pretty much every environment you can think of.

It obviously wouldn't be for heavy read/write traffic database applications, but more for casual users that don't fully understand the internal workings of how to use their own database. It could perhaps be used by myself to write my own Posterous-esque blogging platform. It could be used for email storage and backup. It could be use for file sharing, backing up files with associated meta data. A simple API could provide non-SMTP read access to your data - perhaps REST.

I feel like this idea excites me because of two reasons, A) it has a clear cut hosting-based business plan, which none of my ideas ever do, and B) I don't even know if I fully know how this is entirely useful or what the applications of it could be. I haven't gotten very good feedback on it, though. So, what you think about this?

Here is what I have running for it so far. It's just something I wrote in a single afternoon as kind of a proof of concept for myself. I wrote a simple SMTP server that does nothing but handling incoming emails and performs some simple, crude authentication on them. Authentication is done by signing up on the site, downloading the provided "db.auth" file. To submit data to the database, address an email to "db@collabreate.co" and attach the "db.auth" file. The records will appear on the website. There is no other functionality in this demo.

http://collabreate.co:8080/records/

The domain is just something I use to play with - it's not related to this particular idea.

So, what do you all think? :P
Craziness without culture is just crazy
(apologies in advance for the public brain-dump)

On my drive to work this morning, I was thinking about the company where I used to work and how they tried to instil a sense of craziness by painting the office crazy colours, having crazy events (like laying turf on the carpark) and using "fun" fonts for memos among other things.

They were clearly trying to bring a sense of fun to the company because they had seen big web companies like Google etc do these things and if it worked for Google, it must work for them right?

The problem was - it didn't work for them, whereas Google and their ilk have a culture of embracing fun and exciting things, beneath the madness, this company had a deeply ingrained culture of excessive numbers of middle managers, meetings and strict rules about what staff can and can't do.

In the end, it very much felt like they were trying to polish a turd - on the outside it might have appeared to be zany and fun but on the inside the environment was toxic - ideas were quashed without consideration, meetings were held to plan meetings (really!) and rumours and gossip were running rife about the future of the organisation.

I guess what I'm trying to do here is just offer a little bit of advice to my fellow hackers to save your companies from ending up like this.

If you want to make your company appear to be crazy, you have to take the craziness and make it part of your culture, be prepared to take risks, listen to your staff and do your best to eradicate the toxic elements that make a place hell to work in.

I've now left this company and I'm working for a great little start-up that doesn't try to hide behind a false culture. I couldn't be happier.
Boxee giving away free boxee box if you get an interview
http://blog.boxee.tv/2012/02/29/iosandroidweb-developer-get-a-free-boxee-box/
If you want a boxee box and you're in New York... worth checking out.
Implement jQuery from Google Ajax Libraries API.
http://9lessons.blogspot.com/2009/05/implement-jquery-from-google-ajax.html
Implement jQuery element draggable() form Google Ajax Librries API it simple just some lines of code take a look at livedemo.
Google host providing frequently used javascript files eg. jQuery, Mootools, Dojo. Use google.load() to speedup your website loading.
A Product Manager on the Front Lines, Pt 1
http://blog.redline.cc/post/53772476067/a-product-manager-on-the-front-lines-part-1
"How would you describe what you do?

As stereotypical as it sounds, my main job is to keep new development moving forward fast. I make sure projects are clearly defined, that there are no major roadblocks and everything is on schedule. Part creative thinker, part project manager, part QA engineer, part production manager, part team advocate, etc."

Read more for what Jack Lyon (veteran of CNET, Blurb and Good) has to say.
Ask HN: Why Windows never bundle pdf reader, flash and java runtime?
Whenever I have a fresh Windows installed, the first software to installed are Acrobat Reader, Flash and Java runtime. On my Mac these software comes with the OS. Is there any history why Microsoft don't or can't bundle these software? Thanks
Ask HN: Is it a good idea to open source your webapps source code?
My brother and I are building a website for the Bolivian market:

https://github.com/oceanis

It's nothing new, nothing unique in terms of algorithms or anything fancy. Our prime selling point is speed of the app, and openness via our API.

I decided to open source our ember-cli frontend app, and our Rails 4 api server.

Pro's to this I feel are exposure as a company, a literally -real- portfolio example ("Just check out our github"), and growing as a company in Bolivia.

What might be the cons of this? Has anybody open sourced their core and why? What are the angles I'm not contemplating?
Why is no one talking about this site?
http://the-diplomat.com/
Well, I mean for an Asian news site. Pretty fantastic contributors and original content for once. Damn slick.
Ask HN: Why doesn't Apple have a mobile site?
http://apole.com
Can someone please explain why the site apple.com is not optimized for portable devices? You know, like iPads or iPhones.
Cloudflare seeing major network interruption
http://twitter.com/CloudFlareSys/status/235436973878284288
Anyone else effected by this? All my sites are currently down.

Related? : http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/13/cloudflare-helps-save-wikileaks-bacon/
Folly (acronymed loosely after Facebook Open Source Library) 
https://github.com/facebook/folly/blob/master/folly/docs/Overview.md
Folly (acronymed loosely after Facebook Open Source Library) is a library of C++11 components designed with practicality and efficiency in mind. It complements (as opposed to competing against) offerings such as Boost and of course std. In fact, we embark on defining our own component only when something we need is either not available, or does not meet the needed performance profile.

Performance concerns permeate much of Folly, sometimes leading to designs that are more idiosyncratic than they would otherwise be (see e.g. PackedSyncPtr.h, SmallLocks.h). Good performance at large scale is a unifying theme in all of Folly.
[humor] Q&A With Andrew Chen: "What fuels you?"
http://andrewchen.typepad.com/andrew_chens_blog/2008/03/reader-questi-5.html?
I regard Andrew with a high regard for the quality of his blog and the insights and analysis he shares with us all through it, so when I had the chance to participate in his Q&A system, I submitted the simple question: "What fuels you?"

His response is both genuine and humorous. Here's the YouTube link to his response:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo9buo9Mtos

I'd like to think we all share similar motivations.
REAL marketing: getting celebrities to retweet you
I have a website with a twitter account that is quickly gaining momentum. We have two (that I know of) twitter followers, and I'd like to be able to search our 2k+ followers list for other celebrities for possible communication and collaboration.

How can I search my own followers for other celebrities?

(http://www.twitter.com/thathigh) - lindsay lohan and sarah silverman...ha
Johnny Carson goes viral - 3,000 hours of tonight show released for free.
http://www.johnnycarson.com/
3000 hours of the tonight show were just released for free on the web. In my opinion, that is a great way to make sure your legacy lives forever rather than piling up more cash for your estate.
Experimental Spiral Reading App and Potential Help to Dyslexics (with source)
http://www.dropby.com/ElGrande/spiralreader/
I wrote this recently and thought it might be useful to some people. The concept started at SuperHappyDevHouse.

This is part of an ongoing experiment to code for an hour every week day in the morning, with an emphasis on finishing a prototype in that span of time.

I really appreciate this community. Thank you.
The Best and Worst in Business and Entrepreneurship
http://www.cheaprevolution.com
What better way to re-evaluate the end of the year, get caught up on what you missed, learn from what worked and what didn't, and prepare for 2008?
High Shipping Costs Leading To High Shopping Cart Abandonment 
http://internetrack.blogspot.com/2008/05/high-shipping-costs-leading-to-high.html
According to a survey by web measurement firm comScore Inc. for PayPal, the online payment service owned by eBay Inc.,
"Shipping costs is the reason behind a lot of online consumers adding items to a shopping cart but leaving before completing the purchase."
Darkreading.com persistent XSS vulnerability
http://secureappdev.blogspot.com/2010/04/darkreadingcom-vulnerable-to-persistent.html
darkreading.com was found vulnerable to persistent XSS injected in published articles. Details are available at http://secureappdev.blogspot.com/2010/04/darkreadingcom-vulnerable-to-persistent.html
ProCSSor, a slick, powerful CSS beautifier.
http://procssor.com
"Web devs, under no circumstances should you miss this one."
Passing of RBCP Brad Carter of phonelosers.org
http://www.phonelosers.org
Unfortunately I bring news of the passing of RBCP of phonelosers.org suddenly just hours ago... RIP Brad

:(
Show HN: I Made a Playwright Recorder
https://github.com/dnv-opensource/playwright-live-recorder
Playwright comes with a recorder, however I had a few killer features I wanted/needed:

1. I need a repl to execute the "next lines of code" live, either in vscode or the browser.
Without this I have to restart the entire test to get to the end and try the next line.

2. I need to be able to configure the selector to match application or lib specific UI pieces
One-size-fits-all selectors isn't working well for my company's SPA

3. I need this to generate test code as good as I would write
This means awareness of the page-object-model, and not just emitting raw selectors into my test

As far as I'm aware these 3 killer features aren't out there in the web automated test world. I tried to find them. When I couldn't I began writing my own. I got the go-ahead from my workplace to continue implementing it, dogfood it, and even have it open sourced and published on npm.

@dnvgl/playwright-live-recorder

feedback appreciated!
RobusTest – One Click Automation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGU_SPUkPis
- Robustest Integrated Testing Environment (http://www.robustest.com)

With RobusTest , you can Create and Manage Manual and Automation Test Cases, Perform Cross Browser Testing, Convert Functional Tests into Regression and Performance Tests .

Point, Click and File a Bug

The easiest way to file Bug. Browse on the Page, Open Bug Report, Point to the Element on the page, Click to File and Sumit the Bug.

Cross Browser Testing Choose Browsers, Choose Test Cases and Click to perform Cross Browser Testing Schedule a Smoke test and Get extensive reports.
Announcing TwitterBot
http://ionrock.org/blog/2010/02/01/Announcing_TwitterBot
A really simple IRC bot like app/lib for twitter written in Python.
Opacity + Photoshop Blend Modes = Pattern Magic
http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2010/06/opacity-photoshop-blend-modes-pattern-magic/
Forget the clone stamp, paint bucket and pattern presets. When it comes to creating patterns, the ability to duplicate a layer is one of Photoshop’s greatest features.
Rep. Johnson worries loading too many people onto Guam could capsize the island
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/03/hank-johnson-guam-.html
... really?
Avail the services for making maximum profits in your business
http://www.infradesign.com.my
you can easily avail the services offered by the online advertising agencies. The advertising agency having well qualified and proficient staff can help in the growth of the businesses because with the growth in the number of opportunities available, the already established businesses have the need for implementing the communication solutions so that they can easily match up with the rising competition in the business world.For more information log on to http://www.infradesign.com.my
This augmented reality motorcycle helmet could save your life
http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/30/augmented-reality-motorcycle-helmet/
NYC-based FUSAR Technologies is helping make motorcycle riding safer with their real life Iron Man inspired helmet.
Things Every Programmer Should Know
http://www.javacodegeeks.com/2010/12/things-every-programmer-should-know.html
The collection is intended simply to contain multiple and varied perspectives on what it is that contributors to the project feel programmers should know. This can be anything from code-focused advice to culture, from algorithm usage to agile thinking, from implementation know-how to professionalism, from style to substance, etc.

In this article we provide a summary of the first 27 "Things Every Programmer Should Know"!
Poll: What degree is needed to be an SE
I'm just curious about decision makers out there. What pedigree is the minimum pedigree you would hire for someone who you consider to be a Software Engineer?
Show HN: Outfit
https://www.outfitappt.com/
Outfit is a new virtual shopping experience that allows brands to connect to their customers wherever they are in the world. Outfit allows retail brands to convert more online visitors, increase order value, and decrease returns.
An Open Letter to India’s Graduating Classes
http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/23/an-open-letter-to-indias-graduating-classes/
Recent grads are spoiled and unambitious, says an Indian manager for a multinational corporation.
Online Lead Generation Gaining Importance 
http://internetrack.blogspot.com/2008/06/online-lead-generation-gaining.html
"The vast majority of company respondents (82%) and agency respondents (85%) expect online lead generation to be more important to their own or their clients’ organizations over the next 12 months."
Poll: do you work for a startup? what has your experience been like?
It's surprising how much negativity there is about working at startups on HN. Two posts currently on the front page are dominated by comments that working at a startup is silly and early employees are exploited.

It would be interesting to see how many people on HN currently work at startups, and what their feelings are about it.

If you worked at a startup in the past, what has been your experience? were you burned by it? did it work out well with or without an exit?
France's anti-piracy goon squad pirates the font in its logo
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/01/12/frances-anti-piracy.html
Oh the irony! gg
Some tips for email layout and responsiveness
http://artsy.github.io/blog/2014/03/17/some-tips-for-email-layout-and-responsiveness/
Hey guys- first HN post. In 2014 it can still be frustrating getting nice emails built quickly, and looking good in different mail clients, browsers, devices, etc. Here's a post with some examples and tips I've been using successfully!
You Didn’t Really Think You Were Eating "Beef" at Taco Bell, Did You?
http://abovethelaw.com/2011/01/lawsuit-of-the-day-you-didnt-really-think-you-were-eating-beef-at-taco-bell/
I don't care what it is, it tastes good....
Open source flashlight
http://www.hexbright.com/
Hi, I have a couple days left for funding my project. A colleague said I should post here. We're driving a light with an ATmega ic so users can re-flash the board with their own source code. Leaving a pin open for you to drop in another I/O. Also, we are releasing the hardware info so that you can build what you want around the core. If you like it please hit it up before Monday 7/18 !
Show HN: VSCode Extension to jump between local git repositories
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=mohitsingh.repo
Hi HN,

I've a lot of repositories on my local machine and previously I was using Project Manager extension, but I had some issues with it -

- It was kind of slow.

- It showed ignored repositories.

- It was not completely open source.

- There was no automated grouping for repositories.

So, I ended up creating my own that does everything above.
It's still in early stage but I use it on daily basis.
While it's does not have all features of project manager,
It takes around 50 ms to detect all repositories inside my home directory.
It is powered by a bundled rust binary that does the all the heavy lifting.

For those looking for source code -

extension - https://github.com/mohitsinghs/vscode-repo

bundled binary - https://github.com/mohitsinghs/repo

I hope it helps someone else as well.
Ask HN: Does Windows purposely degrade experience to coerce an update?
For years now, I’ve noticed otherwise performant machines stack choking. Apps will freeze, the desktop will lag, etc. and when I restart, there’s a Windows update. I can’t help but feel all those issues are Microsoft trying to make me want to restart so the update can be installed. Has anyone else noticed this or am I just crazy?
New Visual Studio Warning World Record
http://dotnetbutchering.blogspot.com/2008/11/new-warnings-world-record.html
Just wondering if this might be the Visual Studio Warnings World Record
Silverlight OS
http://amazedsaint.blogspot.com/2009/11/microsoft-isn-it-good-idea-to-have.html
Google stretched the definition of OS and now some dev is suggesting an alternative Silverlight OS. I'm sure there will be new OSs like Flash OS or Lisp OS or even more scalable Erlang OS for servers.
Women 2.0 Startup Competition
http://www.women2.org/pitch-competition-2010/
The competition is open to early-stage web, consumer, mobile, cleantech, and biotech ventures around the world! Applying companies must have at least one female on the founding team, be in beta stage and have not received significant funding. The perk: All entries will receive written feedback from the judging panel of investors and executives.<p>Finalists will be invited to PITCH Night on November 4 in San Francisco to present their startups onstage. Winners receive meetings with iconic investor Esther Dyson (Principal, EDventure Holdings), Matt Murphy (Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers), Mike Maples (Managing Partner, FLOODGATE), and Naval Ravikant (Partner, AngelList). Winning teams also receive a host of startup-friendly services (valued at $18k) to help jumpstart their startups. For more info and to apply, visit http://www.women2.org/pitch-competition-2010/
Exo: Protein Bars Made from Cricket Flour
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/exoprotein/exo-protein-bars-made-from-cricket-flour
Exo will introduce to the West one of the most nutritious and sustainable protein sources in the world: insects.
Show HN: Eleven – Code sandboxes with automatic HTTPS
https://github.com/eleven-sh/cli
Hey HN,

Eleven is the second project that I've built to learn Go. It lets you create a code sandbox in your cloud provider account easily.

What's a "code sandbox"? Just a VM, running in your cloud provider account, with some runtimes pre-installed, your repositories cloned, a way to connect to it with your preferred editor (or via SSH) and a way to serve your apps easily via HTTP (with automatic HTTPS).

You could use it to deploy your app, as a remote development environment or even to test some code. It's up to you.

For example, to deploy a Node.JS app:

$ eleven aws init hello-world --runtimes node@18.7.0 --repositories eleven-sh/hello-world

> Success! The sandbox "hello-world" was initialized.

$ ssh eleven/hello-world forever node index.js

> Forever: command started. Run "forever stop" in current path to stop.

$ eleven aws serve hello-world 8000 --as hello.eleven.sh

> Success! The port "8000" is now reachable at: https://hello.eleven.sh

$ curl https://hello.eleven.sh

> Hello World

Still learning Go by the way, so I'm open to any suggestions to improve.
Wordpress on Amazon Web Services (AWS) Linux EC2 Micro Instance, For Free
http://compositecode.com/2011/03/29/aws-linux-ec2-wordpress-free/
I’ve been wanting to get a write up done for WordPress on AWS, the fact that it is free for a year, since they’ve released the free-tier many months ago. Well I finally got around to it, however it isn’t a write up. I went ahead and put the work in to produce a video of the steps for setup & configuration. Enjoy.
Motorola announces Moto E which will retail for just $129
http://www.motorola.com/us/consumers/shop-all-other/Moto-E/moto-e.html
Motorola today announced a super cheap phone Moto E. This is going to put a good smartphone in a lot of people's hands and a lot more people are going to buy this phone for the first time. Guess this is a good time to learn Android SDK.
Web Developer for Swedish start-up
http://crowdser.com/index.php/careers
We are a Swedish start-up with two of the founders based in Los Angeles. We are looking for an experienced developer who can work remotely or in our office in Malmo, Sweden. If you are interested, please send me an email at careers@crowdser.com.