skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
It has been a long time since I was involved in the W3C, but I can tell you that the public lists are plagued with clueless people who jump onto, e.g., the XHTML 2.0 standards definition list and ask for help with converting their BMPs into GIFs for their homepage. Even without those, there are legions of self-important blowhards who will spend weeks arguing whether "<section>" is the semantically best name for a tag.

W3C is not terribly quick at getting things done at the best of times, but the public lists are even more so.

All that said, I've never heard of a "hold" before, but then I was only ever on the public lists.
I can confirm that this just happened to me as well. In fact, if not for this thread I wouldn't have known to go back to check if Buzz was silently enabled.
Because he's being sanctimonious and judgmental ("Responsibility lies on YOU") while having his facts completely wrong.
Not to mention that just by giving it away, they are increasing the likelihood of price drops for the iPad.
With respect to "aggressive" their conduct in the face of Carterphone and MCI was to take no quarter: http://www.chtlj.org/sites/default/files/media/articles/v025...
I dunno if I'd call an ecommerce store a startup.
It is probably there to allow the members to talk freely about internal projects that they don't want to have exposed externally before they are ready.
I agree that allowing users to post to the lists might be harmful in some cases, but I can't think of a good reason why these lists aren't readable by the public.
Oh, I agree. You're absolutely right. I know that the perfect is the enemy of the good, but just knowing that doesn't make it easy to get over the psychological hurdle.

The same hangup keeps me from trying many of my software ideas. It's a feeling that I'm constantly learning to fight.
I'm fairly certain that Apple communicated that it wouldn't implement Theora in private.
The problem I have with halfbakery is that a significant portion of the ideas are there as ideas that people thought were funny and submitted for a laugh; not so much ideas that people thought could actually turn into something bigger.
From the article: "the notices that Google relied on to delete the blogs were woefully incomplete. Google should not have acted until it had proper notices from rights holders, including the name of the actual work allegedly infringed. Since many of the notices did not even include this information, there was no way for the bloggers to file a DMCA counternotice"
The lightbox: the new modal dialog.

"User! Answer this question! Now!"

Our user generally doesn't really care about your new feature if they're logging in to check mail; they want to--wait for it--check their mail. Just like users everywhere, they're just going to click on a random button and not even be able to tell you five seconds later whether it said "Go Away" or "Reveal My Location To My Abusive Ex-Husband And All His Friends".

[edit:formatting]
Not that I'd suggest a "run on the bank" ... but what's the easiest way to download a copy of all my GMail to load it into another service? (Linux or OS X, preferably command line util or Python script)
This is popular in some design circles, particularly with evaluating reactions to 2/3 designs prior to launch.

I'm not sure you'd get exactly the same quality of results with a user test, and demographics is key - after all, the blue-collar workers at the pub aren't the people to ask about your b2b conversion tool - but it's certainly the type of thing that we should be doing.
Oh, I simply used Opera's builtin accessibility mode. But thanks!
Then again, User Voice and Get Satisfaction seem to be doing OK despite the fact that people could always "make their own" customer feedback systems.

The question should be whether achievements/badges can be significantly complex enough to lead someone to consider paying for it as a service rather than doing it themselves. This is pretty much true for any SAAS company.
That's the route I went (opt-in) but a large chunk of people just don't understand what on earth that means and end up inviting nobody. Defaults really matter, especially for new concepts like this.
I'd imagine that for just about any demographic you care to target, there's a bar you can find that caters to them.

Heck, I've seen bars that have clientele heavily biased to a specific industry, and in some extreme cases, even a single employer.
How close is HTML5 to reproducing what Flash can do today?
Barbie Gets to be a Computer Engineer
"Stay anonymous. Use your ISP's email"

You ISP is the least anonymous email provider available. They know exactly who you are, where you live, and can see everything you do online.
Is Google planning to fibre Britain?
I can't even see what it is without agreeing to terms of service. No thanks.
Ask HN: Startups With Great Design
Great design can be hard, and lots of startups don't have the money to pay for fantastic designers. That hasn't stopped some of them - who, in your opinion, has great design.
Else where you on internet?
Socialized Card holds your entire social identity. By sharing the card, your friends can access all your internet profiles.
How to Live 100 Years
Exactly. I don't understand why people are being hard on Google but give Facebook a free pass for doing pretty much the same thing. Granted, you have to put in your email credentials (something which scares me, but most Facebook users won't think twice) which gives Facebook permission scan your address book for 'friends'. They even retain email addresses that aren't tied to accounts so that if they are ever registered Facebook can tie them back to your account.
Clicking "No thanks" in this instance is not a command to disable buzz it is actually a dismissal of the tutorial page. Buzz will still be enabled either choice you make. There should be an obvious opt out of buzz on the splash screen page.

The way to turn it off is a very small textual link in the footer of the page that says turn off buzz.
I'm assuming you did not have group insurance at some point so it was deemed preexisting? Otherwise, how did they get out of paying for it?
I never willingly played with Barbies as a kid (I sold my last 6 at a yard sale my mom had when I was like 8 or 9), but I do believe I'll be buying this one--even if she just stays in the box.
Non-standard navigation... To scroll you have to click the up/down arrows in the bottom right.
The utility to having a central location for badges will be if you can find a way to establish virality. That would lead to new people wanting to earn these badges, which leads to directing traffic towards the company's site/application. A user being able to see all their badges in one place doesn't really provide much benefit for the company. If however, you can find a way to promote those companies through those badges (posting "User X just earned Badge Y on Site Z!" on Facebook, for example, then you might have something that someone would be willing to pay for.

It sounds like you don't plan on providing a service to actually determine when to award badges and are instead leaving that up to the companies themselves, so the above would be the only advantage to using the service that I can see. You have to think of "how does this benefit my customer ?"(in this case a site).
Surely these are just seven cliches, trite, or unhelpful phases. I didn't get the impression the list suggests anything that would be a major red flag or an automatic disqualification with anyone except to author.

It just reads like a list of personal pet-peeves. Like if I wrote "things you can't do on the tube/subway", they would be some pretty great rules.
It's a public thread. You'd rather the dev's ignore what people say about their product on an open discussion?
What is the internet death penalty?

Hacking by anonymous? Heckling on 4chan?
The Truth About Europe
Why is a Facebook beer worth more than your news story?
But do make sure to do these steps in that order- clicking "turn off Buzz", as far as I can tell, only keeps you from seeing Buzz-related stuff, including the Buzz privacy and follow/follower settings. It doesn't disconnect you from those followers, hide your (by default) public or shared information, etc.
This really is a superb thread, worth at least 5 minutes of your time. Lots of connections to software/hardware.
For there to be freedom of speech we can't be deciding who has the right to speak. We can only hope to keep the idiots penned up in places like youtube so they don't come to places we value.
They did, in fact, destroy the missile. The articles about this event are badly worded. From the original MDA Press Release:

At 8:44 p.m. (PST), February 11, 2010, a short-range threat-representative ballistic missile was launched from an at-sea mobile launch platform. Within seconds, the ALTB used onboard sensors to detect the boosting missile and used a low-energy laser to track the target. The ALTB then fired a second low-energy laser to measure and compensate for atmospheric disturbance. Finally, the ALTB fired its megawatt-class High Energy Laser, heating the boosting ballistic missile to critical structural failure. The entire engagement occurred within two minutes of the target missile launch, while its rocket motors were still thrusting.

However, the fact that they were able to do it from the ALTB during the boost phase of the missile launch (first two minutes!) is worthless. To do this during an actual ICBM attack would require /many/ ALTBs to be flying over enemy territory at the time of launch. This is because of simple physics. The earth is round. ICBM launches take place on the other side of the earth. The ICBM will no longer be in the super vulnerable boost phase when we can target them with the ALTB platform.

The immediate reaction is that satellites would solve this problem.
But, there are two problems with that idea. First, to make a laser powerful enough to destroy/disable an ICBM requires a lot of space (there's a reason they use a 747 and it's not sex appeal). Satellites just aren't big enough or powerful enough or reliable enough to be effective platforms.... and we'd need /a lot/ of satellites. Second, there are treaties about weapons in space that no one wants to break. Modern society (particularly the United States) are too heavily invested in delicate satellites for communications, commerce, etc. Once weapons are allowed up there... back to the industrial era we go.
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They certainly have the software and bureaucracy for it.
Sadly, they chose to demonstrate the capability using exploded 3D pie charts-- a truly terrible way to present data.
This is an interesting idea, but I don't think that there's any real substitute for going out and starting your own company. In any big company (no matter how good or liberal technology-wise), there's always an element of inertia. That is to say that there's always a sizable group of people who will resist change for resisting change's sake.

I simply don't think there's any way to remove that element without leaving the company altogether.
"That's what enables a massive amount of cyber crime: if you're attacked from a computer, you might be able to figure out where that particular machine is located, but there's really no way to go back one step further and track the identity of the computer that hacked into the one that hacked into you."

"What Mundie is proposing is to impose authentication."

Who is authenticating to whom, and how long is this recorded for (and by who)? If someone posts a virus on a random discussion forum somewhere, and I download it a month later and start sending spam and posting new copies after another week, will this be sufficient to track whoever posted the very first copy? If it is, what will prevent it from having an incredible chilling effect on free speech?
I still do have lofty ideas about writing interesting articles on mine, but amusingly the post that has attracted by far the most traffic is http://blog.iangreenleaf.com/2009/03/rsync-and-retrying-unti..., a simple little bash script for rsync. A good lesson on the power of filling a niche - clearly I wasn't the only one Googling for "rsync retry".
1. Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels

2. Dazed and Confused

3. Caddyshack
The "internet license" proposal is likely hyperbolic rhetoric being used to underscore a more moderate point that MS wants to make.

Still, it's becoming commonplace to hear these kind of draconian, totalitarian proposals, from all ends of the political spectrum, and it's not inconceivable that at some point, one of these proposals will end up enacted in law.

Perhaps we will eventually need to construe this kind of rhetoric as an overt statement of intent to undermine the constitution, and reinstate prosecutions for seditious libel.
As I pointed out two months ago, this quote is taken out of context [1]. I'll reproduce the full quote here:

Judgment matters... If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place... If you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines - including Google - do retain this information for some time and it's important, for example, that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act and it is possible that all that information could be made available to the authorities.

Schmidt simply suggested that if you have an extraordinarily high need for privacy you should not use Google. He's right and I agree with him. This is the CEO of a company reminding his consumers that Google has to conform to the PATRIOT Act. He's saying something that could potentially hurt his business by pointing out how your privacy is hurt because of the laws they have to comply to.

Remember the attack on Google by China a few weeks back? Where the subject lines of the email of civil rights activists were compromised? This happened because of a mechanism Google was forced to put in place to conform to federal wiretap laws. Schmidt was spot on in what he said.

We've got a strong enough case against Google without resorting to cheap tricks. What they've done with Buzz is unforgivable. I may well be migrating away from Google's services in the next week or two, depending on how this pans out.

[1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=984646
Must-Have Windows Programs (or Windows Programs that I use)
I like how the customization works. The interface looks clean, and easy to use. I imagine most women would enjoy a piece that is uniquely theirs. I expect I'll be heading to your store the next time I'm in the market for something shiny.

As a side note, your availability of non-diamond alternatives may be a good selling point for the growing number of people who dislike the diamond industry (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1109318). You might want to think about highlighting these alternative, more ethical choices.
No, you are not the only one annoyed by the author's tone and style. I find it very tiresome. I also didn't care for his attempt to use a column about internet censorship as a platform for propagandizing about global warming, nor his apparent belief that he and others like him would be the likely targets of censorship (thus limiting his freedom of speech to, er, having a column in a major national newspaper, OH NOES) when historically the people picked on in this way have generally been of quite a different political persuasion.
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The connotations of "implacable" are more to my taste.
I think the biggest breach here is the forwarded emails. I have used email forwarding to maintain pseudo-anonymity (just barely, anyone with a brain can figure it out).

It is a valid breach in privacy and trust. Careless on Google's part to consider that use-case.
Actually, that's pretty much how good sci-fi treats lasers. Try reading "Consider Phlebas" by Iain M. Banks, it has a rather good scene of liberal use of laser weapons. It's a good book in other ways too, at least as long as you can stand the blatant socialism. :)

In any case, I rather doubt laser weapons will get much use at ground level, if only because of rain/various kinds of active smoke you can use to defend yourself.
One additional note that should be added: results will only be useful if your desired customer base is represented well by people at a bar.
When I was a kid my dad didn't let me play with Dolls. He ended up getting rid of all of my sister's Barbies so I would play with other toys instead.

Ever since I never play with or thought about buying a Barbie until now.

I will for sure be getting this one.
Limelight's performance was very surprising. The availability of PAYG Akamai from VPS.NET was also interesting.
Hopefully that's the first thing Barbie will fix in her new occupation.
8 Visions of The Future – Videos
SIMFi merges WiFi with SIM cards, turns any phone into a hotspot
Does anyone else find the crazy amount of copyright symbols in that press release funny?
Miles, I love your fink software! Any chance you'll release it?
The conspiracy theorist part of me suggests that the reason for this proposal has something to do with the MiniMSFT blog.
Do the family members have to live in the same household as you for this to work (disregarding the ToS)?
Ahh, yes. A case of Microsoft misunderstanding human behavior and technical possibility. There will be no drivers licenses, as there will be no web police, as there will be no hegemonic Microsoft. It's a good day when you can file an article like this under comedy.
Assuming you're a freelance programmer, how do people find you? You have a site, you market, word of mouth, you look on CL, job boards, etc. It's the same for designers and illustrators. Google around for "illustration portfolio" and similar. A lot of professional illustrators use agents too.
Venmo.com Making Moves In Text Based Payments Space
As a computer engineer, I might have to buy one and stash it away for any future daughters.

However, we don't wear "binary code patterned t-shirts". I guess maybe conference shirts aren't as recognizably geeky.
Why are we still using linked in?
Upvoted, because I would read that "things you can't do on the subway" article.
Graphing Tumblr reblogs
The way doctors are reimbursed is based on a formula that ranks the amount of effort the doctor has put in and not on the actual value they are providing. This means that specialists, tests, and other advanced areas receive the bulk of the money regardless of the actual impact on the patient. This leads doctors ordering unnecessary tests and a lack of general practitioners and an abundance of specialists.

I don't recall exactly how Britain and Canada do it, but I'm pretty sure it's not the same way.
Here's how it works:

The RBRVS Fee Schedule.[6]Medicare uses the resource-based relative value scale (RBRVS) to pay for physician services. Under this formula, Medicare offi­cials compute the “objective value” of an estimated 7,000 procedures.[7] Each component of a medical service is assigned a weighted value that is calculated by using social science measurements of the time, energy, and effort required to perform a given proce­dure, including resource inputs such as medical equipment, malpractice insurance, and administra­tive costs. These weighted “values” are then con­verted into dollar amounts and used to determine the fees that Medicare pays to physicians for those ser­vices.[8] The diagnosis related group (DRG) system reimburses hospitals using a similar strategy.[9]

http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/bg1882.cfm
The value of a money manager at a hedge fund is easier to objectively and fairly measure than the value of a startup.

Even if an Internet behemoth like Google paid engineers large sums for their successful 'internal startups', I don't see how they'd come up with the same value as a competitive acquisition process with the startup retaining the option to walk away and carry on independently. Entrepreneurs would still leave in order to avoid being subject to the whims of the one and only one potential 'acquirer'.
Adobe, HTML5 Standards Blocking, and the evil of the private backroom
Not to be sarcastic, but there is the whole internet full of tools to point people at your Bandcamp or MySpace page, in fact that's what people are doing for their MySpace music pages, promoting them on Facebook and in some cases writing their address on bathroom walls.

Also, there is something to be said for doing a single thing and doing it well. Managed hosting of musicians websites and nothing else.

If anything this is the year of overshoot, Google wants to be Facebook, Facebook wants to be Twitter (still), the Sixty One decided to be more like a glossy magazine.

Everyone wants to be your single source, conveniently forgetting that this is the internet we are talking about and not the cable or phone company.
(b) is almost certain. I have trouble believing no one at Google thought, "I have people in my email contacts I don't want to share with on Buzz." They probably thought that these cases would be in a tiny minority, and that they could respond to complaints with pointers for how to block people.
Sorry, had to stop reading when he was complaining about his computers. My vista and linux machines can pretty much run forever without any memory problems. I'm pretty sure OSX is the same way.
Definitely. Did you see Sebastian Seung's talk at SfN a few years ago about connectomics, I think he called it?
That's a good analogy, but I think the OP is arguing it shouldn't be like that, and I'm inclined to agree (although I'm hazy on the standardization process). The W3C wields enough influence that they should be able to strong-arm standards to hesitant vendors, or at the very least disallow broken policies like secret ballots.
Most computer engineers would
See http://www.barbiemedia.com/admin/uploads/ComputerEngineerBar... [PDF] for a photo.
Bluetooth headset?! Come on!
Ask HN: Gmail alternatives?
Where do you go? Any experiences?
M4 in Wales to be 'hydrogen highway'
I think if you ignore his specific technical examples, he has a good point, that perception is being sold mostly and firstly, not reality.
"Both News Anchor Barbie® and Computer Engineer Barbie® are currently available for pre-order exclusively at www.MattelShop.com."

Could anybody actually find it on their site?
Gmail is accessible via IMAP: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answe...

Use the client of your choice to copy it to another account or download it to your computer.
I would wager that if you were to aggressively short other traders' portfolios in your own fund, you'd quickly find that there are limits to the independence of your pad.

Selling into the same consumer segment is much more cannibalistic than finding varying arb opportunities in different market segments.
2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony Live Stream Online
Apple to award 10 billionth download with $10,000 iTunes gift
So you say that a team of engineers does not understand that most frequent contacts != those whom I wish to share my stuff with? Are edge cases like the original post hard to predict? Did they do any testing, even with their friends/colleagues?

That doesn't sound smart to me. Either their incentives are misaligned (b) or there are some other problems.