skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Intricacies of the Diode Machine
You can download builds of the Android operating system and fully rebuild your whole phone from source, so that seems odd to me also.
Note to all Android app makers: Please include a QR code. If the Weather Channel is hip enough to show their QR code on-air (http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/03/weather-channel-distribut...), you can put your own on your website.
OK. How about "Don't build hexagonal wheels, unless you have a very unusual use case."
Keep in mind that this is Larry Ellison we're talking about here.
Nokia: Sorry Apple we beat you by a mile
From my POV (SaaS CMS for Designers and their Clients) You are filling a gap. That gap is "Designers who want to fiddle with code a little bit".

Most of our designers would rather be done after a PSD, but some want to tinker with it a little more (we call them front-end developers if they know HTML and CSS... and dabble in javascript)
I'd do it just for the experience... and the extra money wouldn't hurt.
strange how first hand stories, speak of 3 shells coming into a gym where people are training, along a straight line, luckily my brother, leaped behind sandbags and just prayed that the fourth one didn't come down on top of him.

it didn't come in, but people died.

3% chance, more like 3 shells at a go.
White pebble syndrome: form cannot follow function
Yes. Very solid yes.

You don't see much of this in the media, but Iraq is a stunningly beautiful country. There's a lot that you can learn from the people there (and certainly much they could learn from you), and the Arabic language is nothing short of remarkable.

Diving head-first into another culture is one of the few educations that the Internet and college cannot fully convey via text. You won't regret it.
This seems completely backwards to me. The kernel of course is open, with the possible exception of some specific hardware drivers for specific phones (Wifi and perhaps GPS). The virtual machine (dalvik) and development environment are both open. The closed parts are at the apps level: Gmail, Gmaps, Marketplace, and so on.
If you're willing to risk going over a vague TOS restriction (no "excessive" usage), try fusemail.com.

If you want to pay for certainty, some standard SMTP services are: Sendgrid, AuthSMTP, fastmail.fm.
I'm going to guess, right about here:

http://www.teeandcakes.com/blogosphere/
What I find awesome is that Andrew is able to conduct and produce these videos from Argentina!

He used to live in Santa Monica, and while SoCal startup guys like me were sad when he and his wife moved last year to Buenos Aires, I love how modern technology lets him keep up the pace of interviews just fine from another continent.

http://twitter.com/AndrewWarner
Location[:] Buenos Aires, Argentina
A friend of mine did this kind of work. He worked for KBR as some kind of contractor (in the green zone, out of the field). He said he grossed 216k in one year, 80k tax free. He also said that because he was always in the same location and working 12/hrs day, meals free, room free, he spent very little of what he earned. This was 2007, and he was ex-military, so mmv.
Really? As the sentences get longer, I'd expect NLP engines to have a much easier time with it than people do.
I can't wait until someone figures out how to sell Kwedit Default Swaps.

Think of all the FarmVille foreclosures.
I don't think I agree.

It really depends on the transaction cost of the thing implemented. If it takes a day to implement something that has a 2x signup rate that the 20 minute thing, you are clearly making a bad tradeoff.

This is engineering. There are no absolutes, just a series of tradeoffs.
That's exactly what I was thinking...
(Designers?)
One thing to consider is whether or not you are rationally evaluating the safety of the situation. We are not privy to the details, but you should keep in mind the fact that most of the new you will get about that particular location is "news" because it is basically bad news. Like airline travel, you don't hear the "person gets on plane, has boring trip, gets off plane" stories but instead only notice the events that end up killing people. I would suggest you try to get as much information as you can about the reality of your potential situation over there and then compare it to the violent crime rate in your current location. Once you have established some baseline facts you will be in a much better position to decide if the experience/money is worth any additional risk that might be involved.
Cloud Mirror augmented reality art & our problem with privacy
I'd link the text "watch my screencasts" to your blog page. At first I thought you actually didn't have any screencasts done. I'd consider highlighting them more as well, maybe making them have a section like the demos and featured as prominently.
I agree, it reminds me of Netscape's decision to spin off their code base into open-source Mozilla. Arguably the web benefited greatly from this decision, but at the time it produced a four year delay in a new version at a time Microsoft was rapidly releasing new versions of IE:
http://www.jwz.org/gruntle/nomo.html
Well, if a 10 year old can make it with the help of his dad: http://adzoe.8m.com/Aerogelsa.htm

... then yes, I would hope it's getting cheaper.
For me the big orange button on the top right reads "Log In To My Accoun" (the button is not wide enough to fit the t)

I'm running FF 3.0 (hey, it's a work machine) on Ubuntu 9.04 with default fonts/settings etc

[Edit: On the email demo, the second section says "Date Selector and Captcha" but the selector on the form asks for a shoe colour, not the date]
The court's standard of what "deception" is seems a very slippery slope indeed. What next - mis-spell a word on a form, and have the entire application voided years later and a permit revoked?
http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_kwcq9nj4D11qa...
don't go there mate, it's not worth it
The analysis is pretty wonky. What were Nokia's numbers the year before? And Apple's? And the rest of them?

Nokia only gets to keep bragging rights if they've /increased/ their share of the pie in the last year. If the trend instead shows that Apple's been eating up their margins, especially in the smartphone category, Nokia's execs would instead have some serious reasons to sweat.
How the war on AIDS was lost
which don't contain the proprietary apps from google like maps, gtalk, app market, and youtube.

in addition, a number of android phones currently on the market have closed-source hardware drivers for things like their wireless radios.
That because that's the legal point. He was denied planning permission, but built it anyway - relying on a rule that says if nobody reports it for 4years it's grandfathered in.

But the court ruled that the four years only started from when he removed the concealing straw bales and people could see it.

Otherwise I could bury some foundations, wait four years and claiming that nobody had complained I could 'complete' my 40 story apartment complex.
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I interviewed Johnny last year!!

http://www.limitemagazine.com/2009/08/qa-johnny-cupcakes/
In the past, I wished for a sane and cautious government. I wished for a government run by intelligent and cautious people who believe in incremental progress and are skeptical of new bureaucracy. I wanted a government where leaders are accountable and individuals are protected first as individuals. I wanted the primary job of politicians to be to role models and advocates, looking to encourage voluntary good behavior rather than legislating it.

I'm starting to think that's impossible.

And if it is impossible, then I want the biggest, most ridiculous frigging circus imaginable. I want more regulation, regulations contradicting other regulations, courts getting into feuds with other courts, criminals stealing bureaucratic credits. If good governance is impossible, then at least let the bureaucracy be entertaining. Bring on the circus. More bailouts, more surveillance, more legislation, more courts, more politicians, more taxes, more programs, more agencies. Bring on the circus - if good government is impossible, then at least let us be entertained.
"Pretend the salary is the same in both places, and judge the decision just on the experience factor. I say this because for a variety of reasons, you could make that much money in the States as a reasonably curious, skilled person."

200K for one year in Iraq might actually be significantly more than 200K for one year in California, for instance, depending on cost of living. I can't imagine actually buying anything in Iraq would cost much (or be that compelling of an option), so if room and board is either cheap or included with the job, you might save a lot of the 200K.
I'm a DC native, born and raised. For starters, almost all that violence is between subsistence drug dealers in areas of the city and PG County where the poster is unlikely to even drive through. It doesn't involve the yuppies at all, and it's a fraction of what it was in the mid nineties before gentrification kicked into overdrive.

Furthermore, he said he was in "Washington DC area", which is code for the wealthy suburbs where the vast majority of the population lives. Most work there too: the only jobs in DC proper are in NGOs, lobbying, civil service, and the service jobs to support them.
I'd do it if I wouldn't have a family here and realise: one year. what is one year? its about to be nothing and in the end maybe you like this country get contacts there and more opportunities for more jobs, projects, whatever.
And about the risk. Scientists found out that the risk of dying on a heart attack increases about 50% if you are spending more than 5 hours per day in front of a computer or tv, so what are 3% compared to 50%? Offices equal all over the world.

One year for debt free living and extra money? Yes, you can.

edit: but please keep us informed and upload pictures :D
If you are going to be coding, I would think that you are not going to be in too much danger - they aren't going to ship you out to places to install things in the thick of battle, right?

I say go for it. IIRC the entirety of the $200K will be tax free.

While there, network amongst the people there (you should be able to make some long term friends) and well, who knows where those contacts will lead afterwards.
When Is It Ok For A VC To Back Out Of A Term Sheet?
Seth Godin's sliced bread and my big hairy lemon
I saw this great talk by Seth Godin today about standing out from the crowd

http://www.ted.com/talk/seth_godin_on_sliced_bread.html

I have an iPhone app.
It is (another!) task manager that lets you set up projects and tasks and can sync with Google calendar and other bluetooth devices.

So... The app is one of MANY in this category. It's for small lists and projects and people that get lost or are lazy and want to send the task to someone else... which is me.

Apple messed up and launced this app on page 18 of apps :(

I have made three good updates and they still buried the app on page 18.

I need some thoughts on what might be a good hook to make this app stand out. Making an app for lazy people has its drawbacks.

Any ideas? I am NOT trying to sell anything today. To prove it here are 15 free codes for the app. I just want your thoughts please.

This is a free liscense with no limitations (sorry only for U.S. store)

[1] 3HJWHYJMLAH6
[2] 6LEXKNKRF4J4
[3] 7LRHLXLXKLWR
[4] F93RM9YF4JW9
[5] 3F3H3JFFH6MH
[6] HYW63TKKXH4E
[7] XJLXJNERPM46
[8] X7YM9F9AT7X4
[9] ME3YH4KJTNTW
[10] PEWFKANHEME7
[11] J7TYLP3T3EYX
[12] 669ARHF7T3LJ
[13] RW7NYX434JF4
[14] NMPE9MNRM79N
[15] PW99L96AEWLR
Money is a huge incentive especially early in your career. It will absolutely be a once in a life time experience, that said it may be your last experience in this lifetime.

You enjoy your job now and are only 4 months in. Do not discount the value of local experience relative to foreign experience. Later in your career taking experience abroad may be an asset depending on your role, but early on local experience and the local contact network you build has a lot of value.

I suspect the hour or two a day you spend relaxing can be filled with starting those projects you have "always wanted to get off the ground". It is far more dangerous there than it appears on TV; private contractor casualties are NOT public information. If it was elsewhere in the region like Dubai it'd be an entirely different equation, but it is Iraq.

This link will give you an impression of the lifestyle of a tech guy in Iraq http://www.rezendi.com/travels/bbbb.html "blood bullets ad bandwidth" be aware that the situation has changed since this was published and the danger is very real. If it seemed like you've been in that kind of environment before I wouldn't have responded at all as you'd know the score, but it sounds like you've never served in the military, or been in hot zones before, I urge you to consider carefully.
Carbon credits are an attractive target for all forms of deception because they're modeled on an institution that has a couple of hundred years worth of bullet-proofing but do not themselves use the same, battle-tested institutions.

For example, if I tell you "I've got here a number which represents a one millionth part ownership in a company in a country you've never been to -- will you pay me $600 for it?", as insane as that might sound it is actually pretty routine. You can trust that paying me $600 will effect the transfer for the number, that the number does indeed represent a one millionth part ownership in a company, and that the company actually exists. This is guaranteed by an interlocking web of regulations, trusted relationships, and whatnot which is one of the wonders of the modern era.

By comparison, carbon credits are, well, is magic a strong word? With stock you're paying for partial ownership in something which doesn't exist but is convenient to think about for illustrative purposes. With carbon credits you're paying for partial ownership in something which might have existed but didn't, and potential-but-crucially-not-actual existence is convenient to think about for illustrative purposes.

My private suspicion is that carbon credits probably involve outright fraud on a scale that would shame Communist agricultural ministers.
Any site with pagination to subdivide content into 2 or 3... 
... needs to die
Fortune favors the bold.
It reminds me of a Rolling Stone article about how Goldman-Sachs has been behind the regulations and systems that made the last bubbles possible. It finishes with explaining how the next market would be carbon emissions. The fact that carbon emissions tickets are now an item to steal is a bit worrying.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29127316/the_grea...
The price will go down of course; but note that grayscale and high-res is out of the question. Looks like about 250dpi resolution based on the closeups I saw in the video.
No hands-on experience, but VP6 was a pretty good codec - at least XviD/DivX/MPEG-4 level, and quite a bit better than Theora. If VP8 > VP6, and it was free, then it would definitely be worth using.
If you care about things like this (I do) then I suggest following @github on Twitter. The GitHub guys are great about keeping everyone informed about what's going on.
Not quite---the rule says (according to the BBC article on this) that the four years starts from completion of the building, which would prevent your scenario. The current judge appears to be arguing that the bales of hay, which were not structural and to my understanding didn't even touch the house, were integral and that the house was not 'complete' until they were removed. It's a bit of a stretch, and it sure sounds like the judge is just annoyed that this guy found a loophole.
nitpicking: "allow you build websites" rather than "allow you to build websites" looks like a typo to me (which is an unfortunate first impression)
The US Government pays generous Worker's Compensation insurance premiums (mostly to AIG) for all overseas defense contractor employees under the terms of a WWII-era bill: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_Base_Act
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Any ideas how you could solve this problem? IMHO, generating a clean UI is harder to do than a slideshow.Although, maybe doing something as simple as fitting a design to a grid could be beneficial.
I think this is largely the same content as the article being discussed here http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1098426
I am a defense contractor; I've worked in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, etc. since about 2004.

1) $200k is pretty weak, even for today (it's gone downhill overall). If you can get a secret (basically, us citizen and not a felon), and have decent tech skills, you should be at $200-350k.

2) It's not tax free. The FIRST ~$85k is tax-exempt, which saves you about 18k. You then pay taxes at the normal 27-36% rates above that. My win s that I don't have an apartment back in the US, so my only expenses while here are car payment, storage, and server colo.

3) Big difference in quality of life throughout the country -- if you're on base at Balad or Victory it's basically like living in a small town in the US. If you're out in a Bn or smaller unit on an iraqi army base, or out in the city, it's a lot different. I've done a variety.

4) If you've never been in the military or had contact with it, I'd do it for a year just for the experience -- it's actually something I think everyone should do for a couple years.

The biggest downsides for me:

1) I gained about 20 pounds last year in Afghanistan living on Bagram, due to the shitty but high-calorie carb-laden food.

2) Generally, working for government is the anti-startup. You are specifically instructed not to take any initiative, everything is more concerned about process than results, etc. Actual combat is different, but there is no real combat in Iraq or Kuwait now, and in Afghanistan it is unlikely a contractor involved in direct combat support would be posting like this on hackernews. (If I could get a job where I got to put bullets into bad guys 12-24h/day, I'd do it for $20k/yr, but aside from joining a government agency or the military, it would be difficult to find a contractor in 2010 who does this ... blackwater/triple canopy/etc. etc back in 2003-2005 were about the only ones)

3) There is no firm end date. I did this for 6 months just to see what it would be like, and have wasted about 4 of the past 5 years in the sandbox. I'm planning to leave in a few months to work on a startup of my own in the USA again (maybe YC 2010 Summer!), using some of my experiences from here, but it's totally possible to keep doing this indefinitely.

4) The war is definitely winding down, so pay, upward mobility, etc. continue to decrease

5) People in the defense industry are NOT like startup people -- there are huge amounts of fraud, backstabbing, incompetence, etc. Startup deals for $50m can be done on a handshake; here you need lawyers, contracts, audits, etc. or you will get fucked.
Heh, that article was written about me by my friend Jon!

It's not really very realistic for 2010 working for a big contractor, in 2005 things were in flux and I ran my own tiny company.
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This is brilliant, especially the idea of a Kwedit score (and consequently Kwedit limit) tied to one's Facebook identity. ivankirigin, had you ever considered something like this for Tipjoy?
that's exactly what I am looking for. Thanks
> Nothing in your sarcastic "Uh ..." missive makes me or anyone else care about the features you just named. Yes, I know Ruby doesn't have True Lisp Macros. The point is, why should I care? What real-world problem can I not solve elegantly in Ruby because it lacks this language feature?

It allows for the creation of real Domain Specific Languages and the real extension of lisp for a given problem domain. Do you need constraint propagation on a network of cells? You can make a macro that turns this into an operator in lisp. You can extract nearly any pattern out to the language and begin complex manipulations there.

Since you have a frame of reference I can use, let's talk about rails routes. Imagine if you could specify rails routes in a way at least as naturally as you do in ruby (albeit with more parenthesis, but with fewer line-noise symbols otherwise), but have this become the most efficient implementation of that specific routing table.

You get to have your cake (a syntax that is expressive and immediate) and eat it to (is transformed under the covers into the most optimal code for that task), with frosting (0 runtime penalty for this decision).

> Again, my point is that if you can't name a single real world benefit of macros over what's already in Ruby, then why should anyone care how fast they are?

I say "the language is extensible!" and you say "but what about the real world." Sir, I don't know how to get more real world than this. You use it a billion different ways all the time.

A simple example... I've been working a lot with the JodaTime library in clojure, and I got sick of having to work with the ponderous Java-centric method for building PeriodFormatters (for an example see: http://www.bestinclass.dk/index.php/2010/02/reddit-clone-in-...). So what I've done is write a macro in just a few lines of clojure that lets me say:

(period-formatter days ("day" "days") " "
hours ":" minutes ":" seconds)

If that's not cleaner and more usable, I dunno what is. You only need to write one or two formatters (and typically you need a few) before the macro has "paid itself off" in temrs of line count. And to the underlying code at run time, this code and the code snippet for the formatter from my link are basically indistinguishable. There is 0 runtime cost to this abstraction, but a lot of read-time improvement.

Could you do this particular example in ruby? You could do it to some extent, yes. But not without some significant work. Note, for example, that the argument list to the macro needs to be checked for strings after lists of strings, as this case is not directly supported by the underlying formatter.
Also, people here do not realize:

An IT contractor (presumably for ITT, at that low salary) is working at a helpdesk on a big base. The contact with locals is almost zero. You'll encounter a lot of interesting third country nationals (filipinos, indians, etc.) working on base, but that's about it. Mainly, you will be dealing with other Americans (military or contractor.

It's basically the most boring helpdesk job possible in a boring environment.

The "contact with local culture" is "local vendor sets up a shop on base selling overpriced carpets and camel figurines".

If you just want contact with an exotic culture, go backpacking in India/Nepal/Indonesia/etc.

The only reason for defense contracting in 2010 is money, and "seeing what the military is like up close" (I thought it was much more homogenous and omnipotent than it turned out to be. I'm not sure if I like it more or less now)
i think this is stupid, and in the spirit of the post, i won't bother to explain why.
I could do that. It might still be good for any tech company looking at my app. We'll see.