skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
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In addition to being a bit sad, I'm having a technical problem with the website. It redirects me to oracle.mobi, which I guess is the mobile version of the site. Not good for the company image, I guess.

Note: my user agent is "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2) Gecko/20100115 Firefox/3.6 Slackware Linux".
250,000 White House Staffers, Visitors Affected by National Archives Data Breach
Not so long ago (last November) I released my book Speak Human: Outmarket the Big Guys by Getting Personal. In it I look at how small can be an advantage, and how small companies can market more effectively. So far the reviews have been really strong, and I've been receiving notes from readers saying that they've found it helpful.

In an effort to introduce the book to a wider audience, I started creating these brief 2 minute videos, which discuss notions presented in the book. If you have a moment (or, preferably, 2) this might be worth a look. :-)
My thought was that if it's perception, it might vary between people. Some might feel Browser A is faster, others might perceive Browser B as faster.
That's a good point, but cars are also much more reliable now so you don't have to know how to fix them. The same could be said for operating systems and computers in general.
Joojoo actually better than iPad? - Lets be honest
I just had a look at the joojoo tech specs again - isnt it a better device at the same price?
The rush of iPad news means there are a lot of lookers on HN and not enough makers. Makers care about tools and processes and generally stuff conductive of making, while lookers want to ogle. Lookers aren't bad people, but makers need to have their own place with high signal/noise ratio, while lookers tend to unwillingly destroy it when they show up in large numbers.
IBM is busy playing defense, trying to extract as much money from legacy customers for as long as possible, not playing offense and trying to win new customers away from rivals.

they won't implement anything until convinced that they will lose customers and their fat maintenance contracts doing so. Until then, a dollar spent playing golf will do far more to retain customers than a dollar spent implementing features.
But yeah, it still is just not going to be as good of tactile feedback as an actual keyboard

This was one of the most common complaints about the iPhone when it first came out. Now? Its not complained about nearly as often. I think its safe to say that for most people, the lack of a physical keyboard on the iPhone isn't a negative.
I'm diving into Lua and loving every second of it. Seeing LuaJIT work its magic is wonderful. Thanks for it.
If you keep refreshing, you can watch the numbers change. (If not, try disallowing cookies first; then Javascript second.) This leads me to think that, since the numbers are shrinking slowly (12.5 bits... 12.1 bits... 11.8 bits...), it means that: of the full collection of data that your browser is sending, only __ bits actually makes you unique. Meaning to say, some of the data is common to others, so isn't useful for distinguishing you from them.

Some formulae and explanation over here: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/01/primer-information-the...
The Java stuff is still here:

http://java.sun.com/new2java/
This is probably too political to be on HN, but the analysis is very interesting. It makes me wonder whether speech writers take things this into account when writing the speech. It is interesting how Obama matches up with first-term Clinton.
Here's a presentation to Congress by Molycorp, the company referenced in the article as the owner of the Californian mine (the largest rare-earth metal mine outside China): http://www.molycorp.com/pdf/MMCEMARCH09.pdf

Two observations from the presentation:

a) it is an interesting example of how to lobby for government funding, and

b) looking at the hybrid vehicle supply chain figure, it is startling how dependent the future of clean energy is on magnets which are made from rare-earth metals: magnets play a big role conversion of mechanical energy to electrical energy - wind, hydro, wave turbines require magnets, and vice versa (permanent magnet motors for hybrids, electric vehicles etc.)
I can see that button being part of an iPad Enterprise SDK, but there is no need for a separate hardware offering, it. Is all in the software.
Unicode nearing 50% of the web
Personally I'm fairly certain not having flash on the iPad will hurt flash usage far more then it hurts iPad sales, and I'm very happy about that.
You're right, there are a lot of better reasons to ban those registries.
When Oracle acquired BEA, they took them offline for awhile.

This sucked, as the BEA products seem to demand frequent trips to the online references, and troubleshooting guides. Actually, it still sucks, because although they have replaced most of the documentation that was available (the most valuable bits were the dev2dev and forum areas) they often link back to BEA, which redirects you to Oracle's front page, or to the front of their BEA documentation section, but absolutely never to anywhere resembling where the link was intending to go.
It's beautifully ironic that the biggest push against a proprietary de facto Web standard is coming from a system so proprietary that it can't be forced to support said web standard.

That said, I'm firmly in the camp of those who'd like to watch Flash wither at the vine.
Don’t Hash Secrets
I agree, total FUD. Oracle also claims to have invented relational databases, also total bullshit.
Kind of a lorem ipsum template post.
Why? Most phones other than the iPhone don't support true multi-touch and it hasn't been an issue for them. The only major use case where I've seen it be a problem is with games that have controls that need to be pushed at the same time.

Double tapping to zoom works fine... in fact I can't tell you the last time I pinched on my iPhone, I always double tap.
Except for one little problem, you can't buy one. So you're comparing Apples (pun intended) with oranges. Apple has staked its considerable reputation on being able to deliver, in terms of time-in-the-channel that means that right now somewhere in China there are a lot of these devices being packed and shipped. Probably by the containerload.

As for 'thejoojoo.com', they're taking orders but I'd be a little skeptical about their ability to actually deliver on time or at all.

They'll have to show more than one joojoo in the hands of ordinary people before I'll believe in their ability to ship product.

Time will tell, if by mid March the joojoos are arriving in quantity I'll eat some crow, and I may even order one.

edit: and you can bet your nelly that the second they ship Apple will be at them for violating their multi-touch patents.
The universe is a very big place
If you want a founder, pick someone you already know and trust. The next best thing is to hire someone, and down the road promote them to effective founder status.
I will be very impressed if the collective mind of HN stopped voting this comment up/down when it hit 5. :)
Both are scheduled to begin shipping in about 8 weeks. One I expect to make it to the church on time, the other to leave me standing there like a sucker. Can you guess which is which?
I feel like this should be titled "Don't hash secrets, unless you actually know what you are doing."
[vidoeo] Nate Koechley on Professional Frontend Engineering
Loosely organized initial thoughts on the iPad
>There is a 30pin -> USB connector accessory with iPad by default. That will help with the interface, but how will you get data out of it ?

Really, a web enabled tablet computer can't use google docs to solve this problem?
STMicroelectronics NV has IPAD trademarked in EU
New "Suicide" Molecule Halts Rheumatoid Arthritis
the best part of my macbook is scrolling on the mousepad with two fingers. both vertical and horizontal scrolling works. i find other computers (and git gui, which is the only app on my mac that doesn't handle mouse pad scroll touches) virtually unusable because i have to do something special to scroll. scrolling is key to internet browsing and coding.

so....can it rock scrolling without multitouch? i doubt it (since it would be confused with moving the mouse somewhere)
IPad - Name Fail, Photoshop Win - FailBlog.org
Yep, sorry, I was not really paying attention and saw what I was expecting to see.
The list of Oracle claimed firsts is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_Database#List_of_claimed...

I don't see them claiming to have invented relational databases. Do you have a reference for that claim?
Catcher in the Rye is the purest and starkest expression of someone's struggle against the environment in which he was brought up. If you didn't have such a struggle (or had it in a very different form), then you're fortunate and your life will probably be better for it, but there will be very little in Catcher for you to relate to. I'll admit that the plot of the book is rather boring, it's just a guy doing some stuff cuz he feels like it. It requires a lot of subtext for it to be meaningful or valuable, which some people lack simply due to different experiences and background. While a lot of people find it a deeply moving or inspiring book, it's definitely a YMMV sort of thing.
Not necessarily, it would just be the union of all of your media libraries on your computer, and a subset (sync play lists [Billy's iPad, Martha's iPad] ) for each iPad. With todays 1TB $100 hard drives, how much will it matter to have everyone's iPad library on your computer?
"The only conclusion that I 've been able to draw from this mess is: climate science has been seriously compromised"

Really? I'll give you a more plausible conclusion: that the scientists in question got tired of responding to repeated Freedom of Information requests from people whose only interest was to disseminate distortions of their findings.
Ice is and polar bear populations are increasing? I have only read evidence to the contrary. Please provide a citation so I don't think you just made this up.
I wasn't saying that Copenhagen was an example of how the US is great and China is bad. But it seems that right now the US is more aligned (selfishly) with cutting pollution then China is. It is directly against China's immediate interest to cut pollution. If roles were reversed the US would behave in a very similar fashion.

It's ironic because, in all the world, I can't think of a place where cutting pollution is more against a countries best interest then in China.

China has the largest population in the world and would need to be many times more "green" then the US to make a positive impact. As it stands now, being green does not lend itself to fast economic growth. Any restriction on Chinese pollution would necessarily result in it's people suffering the consequences of slower growth.

I hope that altruism can prevail all around, but I have little faith that it will.
For Sale: Technology and site for creating and selling customized Android apps
See everything in action: http://redbirdapps.com

The web-application allows anyone to create, purchase, and share their own Android application (no programming required).

The technology behind the site is for sale, including: website code and Android code. (The company is not for sale. There are no obligations to existing customers.)

The buyer could have their own site up and running, creating Android apps
and charging customers within days.

The app currently built by the site is an "Android Business Card" (check out the above URL for a full demo). The system could also be used for building and selling other customizable Android applications.

The ability to monetize is built into the site. Users can build and test their application for free and pay to get a releasable and shareable version.

Similar services that build applications for the iPhone are charging $199-$499 per app. Getting a developer to build an app similar to that produced by the site would cost several thousand dollars.

The technology behind the site: Python/Django, Android SDK, Amazon S3, and Google Checkout for charging. I have developed all code behind the site and can make transitioning it fast and easy.

Email bennybeta (gmail) for offers and inquiries.

(Any helpful advice on how to make selling this easier would also be appreciated.)
Not only is this an insightful article, but the one it refers to at its bottom is deeply insightful about iPad as a reader ... iTunes LP viewer ... educational potential, etc.
http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/09/rebooting-the-book-one-appl...
Ask HN: Interested in using Lisp for IMAP with SSL and S3?
With extensions not yet published in the latest release of mel-base and additional functions I've added to allow storing email to s3 (using ZS3) and retrieving back as a multi-part with attachments, I was wondering if anyone would be interested in a blog post on it?
By "Unicode" they mean "UTF-8".
There are a lot of times when I need to SEE my email without composing email. I read a lot more email than I reply to, or I will need to see something but won't need to respond immediately, or I will log into email to get tracking info for packages, etc. I wouldn't use it for email all the time, of course. I'm not going to write a novel on the thing. That is rather impractical. But for accessing email when I'm away from the desk, it would be better than, say, an iphone, and less cumbersome than a laptop.
At this point, there's a lot more money to be made with a successful app on the Cocoa Touch platform compared to Cocoa/OSX.
Can't Catch Me
The iPad: Linux Kills it on Price, but Where is the Magic?
Cute comparison, but do you really need key travel when there is great visual and audio feedback? It's not like you have to hammer the iPhone like you did the ZX-80...
> Not to nitpick

That's exactly nitpicking.
IPad? That’s So 2002, Fujitsu Says
75,000,000 says that it is a already very successful interface. Which underlines that 'intuitive' isn't a claim, it's a fact. Because the press needs things spelled out.
Those are harsh words for a creative work. I'm sure Salinger didn't ask to be regarded as he is. Most people create nothing in their lives.
Video chat would have been a truely killer application on the iPad. With an increasing number of laptops coming with built in webcams, I think personal video conferencing (think grandma to grandkids, etc) is just starting to really take off. The iPad could have been the market defining device for video chat.
Exactly right. The fervent nature of global warming denial-ism drives people to go to great lengths to undermine the real science and delay action.
"When we write lisp, we have magic powers, and the reason is that our code is in a form that is easy to manipulate programmatically."

Yet there isn't a single macro or piece of code writing code implemented in this example. Also, it isn't magic, it is list construction. For the last time LISP IS NOT MAGIC.

"This is clearly seriously annoying, and like monads in Haskell, it's the first thing you hit when you learn lisp, but I promise that after a month or so of using it you stop noticing it, and although it's never quite as good for actual arithmetic, it's actually much nicer as a notation for a generalized function call."

No, it is seriously clearer than having implicit rules for order of operations that you have to memorize. Not annoying, and much better for arithmetic.

Also, there are a boatload of built in functions in clojure-contrib related to math. USE THEM. There is no need to waste time reimplementing absolute value when it is in clojure-contrib already.
Server Density - Easy Server Monitoring
Same here about "Catcher in the Rye" (although I only read it once).

I've heard that it's a generational thing. Times were supposedly different when it was first written. As for me, I didn't get it.

I liked "The Great Gatsby" though.
Webinar: Agile Data Warehouse - Next Generation BI in the Cloud
Not all the time, no, but it can be a life saver when you're out somewhere, without access to a computer, and a server goes down and you have to deal with it.
Well said.

I'd add that evolution works for organisms because they have evolved evolvability. By this I mean that the source code isn't fragile, so that you can take the source code from two organisms of the same (sexually reproducing) species, mix and match them together, and the resulting DNA codes for a viable organism. This even works for closely related species as the existance of mules demonstrates.

Programs written by humans in the sort of programming languages we use do not have this characteristic of robustness.

Genetic programming would work better using languages specifically designed to be robust in this sense.
Yet another spec-list comparison that completely misses why Apple has succeeded in the past: usability.

The iPhone didn't have as many features as its competition when it came out, the iPod was missing some highly touted ones too... yet they wiped the floor with the competition. You would think that at this point geek pundits would be looking at these spec tables they keep putting up, and realizing the world doesn't think in spec matrices.
Eric Schmidt (former Sun guy) could have bought Sun with his Google money (note: not quite).
requests from people whose only interest was to disseminate distortions

How do you know the intent of those asking for information? It seems to me that there are plenty of people here on HN that would just like to try their own hand at models. Who gets to decided when a request merits a response?

the scientists in question got tired of responding to repeated Freedom of Information requests

The one who pays the piper calls the tunes. If you're going to build your business (yes, research and universities are businesses) on public funding, then you've got to be prepared to have your customers -- the public -- ask about what you're doing. It seems to me that they ought to have at least an intern dedicated to maintaining a public web site where everything is made available. Then no annoyance to the researchers would occur.
The iPhone doesn't allow this - so I doubt the iPad will either...
If by "manifestly" you mean "in your opinion, and despite a lot of critical acclaim."
okay. joojoo has figured out something to get this stuff out at 499 and make some money out of it.

cant anyone just buy them out, and ship this thing?
I use my iPhone camera as a note taking device, and on an iPad, video conferencing could be nice.

That said, people seem to be forgetting all about the camera connection kit. Right now it is for downloading off your camera or memcard (something I wish the iPhone had long ago) but it could support more use cases in the future.
Hmmm, yes, the fate of products in a services company is iffy at best and generally dire (been there, done that).
Motorola Building a Google-Only Phone
Have you looked at Django lately? They basically give you everything you need including a full-featured with JQuery admin back-end. Their template system is extendable and swappable for alternatives if you want more flexibility. Not to be a nay-sayer, but this sounds like a tough sell when there is so much people can get for free.

Can you beat Squarespace in terms of features, performance, support, etc.?
I can live with it, but it's still a compromise.

The negative of not having tactile feedback from the keys is more than compensated for by the rest of the features available on the iPhone.

Not being able to touch type is a pain.
Zed Shaw Launches Original Music Publication Site SongBe.At
Not surprising at all. I've worked with these kinds of vendors (campaign sites), and they are bottom barrel non technical people with a couple connections.
There's a classical filesystem. Trust me. You may not see it, but it's there.
Whos.amung.us - dashboard » obrlghdcrs1i
Fascinating story, short, descriptive, vivid.
Genetic approaches will get you whatever you design them to do - in cell biology, we call that "you get what you evolve for". If you want code to do a particular task, and write a fitness score that only reflects that, you'll get a hack that does that. If you want readability, you add constraints to the mutation parameters that enforce that requirement at every generation, and you'll get readability.

The hard part becomes writing those constraints, not writing the actual solution.
Trust your instinct and don't lose site of the fact that these cases of bad science are few compared to the good.

My instinct tells me that we're destroying the planet. The effect of global warming is hard to see, but it's not hard to imagine given all of the other messes we've made.
We'll probably see some of the same tech make its way into the macbook/pro lines.
I've always thought wide screen was strange. Didn't it originally come from projecting from two movie cameras side by side ? It's terrible for closeups in movies. It seems to me the human eye 'viewport' is somewhere around 4:3
Its his page on the net and he is clearly venting , that's his right.

However, this is nothing new and has been there in various forms for ages , HN could do without this submission.
Dup: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1084471

Remove feedburner parameters from the URL to help HN detect duplicates automatically.
Java and Python are actually doing all of the work to compute their
trigonometric functions

Not true in the case of CPython. It uses the underlying C implementation. See line 270 onwards.

http://www.google.com/codesearch/p?hl=en#2T6lfGELm_A/trunk/M...
In http://theflashblog.com/?p=1641 the Adobe developers seem to complain about lack of possibility to use hardware acceleration on OSX. Yet as you said, Windows Flash has been fast the whole time. Could someone better versed in plugin development tell us if there is a difference in how the browser plugins are done between OSX and Windows (drawing the video part perhaps?).

Or what else could create the difference as I would think that much of the Flash VM code would be identical between Intel OSX and Windows?
Did you mean that you personally didn't like it? Or that it was objectively bad or unworthy of acclaim?

Yes, there are people who think that Catcher in the Rye was "a load of rubbish", but that doesn't make it so. Having a sympathetic protagonist isn't a requirement for good art; neither is not being boring to you personally at the time you first encountered it.

It's possible that now, with greater knowledge of the sweep of literary history, that you'd recognize what's good (or even great) about it.

I'm cautiously sympathetic to you. I used to think that Joan Miró was intensely overrated, but that was before I got some more schooling in 20th century painting. Now I'm happy to see his work when I visit modern art museums.
100:0 From what I can tell, but that being said, they're all coalescing into something interesting.
I was (pleasantly) surprised when my 9th grade English teacher put this on book on the assignments list, since most of the other teachers at my school would have avoided it for its themes and language.

It was also amusing to see the class reaction when he tried discussing it in class.

Most people hadn't read it, and when he tried to get our reactions to some of the more taboo stuff, everyone's facial expression changed to "I've got to go read this now".
Re: Just rewrite the lot as you think it ought to work. Call it refactoring if anyone asks.

I recently worked on someone else's code that was... terrible. Just really terrible. State information was stored as strings like "B13" to indicate that you are in part B step 13, everything was driven by line after line of twisty nested if statements.

My first inclination was to rewrite everything. I could have cut the size of the code in half, maybe more - but this was an existing, working system. Sometimes the right decision is to rewrite everything, but sometimes the right decision is to fix only what's broke. It takes experience to tell which situation you're in.