skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Can you expound upon what it is that you did not like in working with ExactTarget? I would love to balance out what I hear from recruiters with some negatives.
Thanks
Reminds me of the MIT guide to avoiding burnout:

http://www.zianet.com/wpickens/jokes/mit.html
The way to write that comment would be "It's interesting that so many people believe X. I wonder why." Not "X. X! X! X! X, god damn it!"
Peter Norvig answers reddit's questions (Ask Me Anything video interview)
I have never bought the grassroots explanation of history, on the good or bad side. bad people bend good people and good systems to their purposes because they can. I'm wary about assigning excess blame to people responding to the incentives placed in front of them, even under ideal conditions. there are good reasons why intent plays such a large role in our conception of justice.
Examples please? I still find that number hard to believe.
The bullseye was the kicker! Great video.
I guess that makes Steve Jobs a hypocrite http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW0DUg63lqU
I love it! works great on chrome :)
Apple counterpoint is right on the "money". Apple was having quite a lot of problems before wunderkind returned.

This is obviously hindsight, but imagine:

It is early 90s, you are the company that goes by the motto "the network is the computer", and you have this incredibly hot tech called Java that can run on any tier. A bit later and your JME is on billions of mobile devices all over the world.

A Steve Jobs type of leader would have been able to leverage that amazing potential. And the transformation would have been as decisive as Apple's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMac
to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone

The gods must be laughing as key failure here was the abysmal execution of a tech called the "applet".
I am really surprised he is really suggesting that!
Hacking BlackBerry - خدمات العرب
Ask HN: Review UX of my new website
The "authenticity" problem has haunted music since the era of recorded music began. The public asks for a "real" sound, and yet simultaneously, our recording practices indicate that we don't actually want "real" recordings - we want larger than life recordings with "punchy" sound, with all the flaws processed and spliced out, and mixed in a way so that it translates down to the humblest radios and up to the most extravagant audiophile system, and can be played in both noisy crowds and quiet living rooms.

This tends to affect musicians as well - the idea that only a brand name piece of gear can give you the authentic sound you're looking for and perhaps heard on some recording from the 60s or 70s, which itself was treated with the specific recording processes of that era.

But the truth of it is found right in the article - even the famous composers were simply trying to use the particular pianos they had at the time as effectively as possible. When they changed equipment, their sound changed as well.
Bla, bla, bla.

The most important question is, I think, why force yourself to read more books?

I grew up in a family where everyone reads a lot of books. No one forced me to read books but I spent most of my childhood reading something, being completely convinced that it is good for me.

I used to read everything. From silly to hardcore stuff, like philosophy, sociology and literature critique. From novels to strictly technical books about management.

I was able to fluently speak about postmodernism, and I was a complete imbecile.

It took me few years to realize that I actually learned nothing from books. My world expanded enormously just within few years because of few random discussions, people I met and admire, as well as Internet, and silly blogs.

If you say that books help you to focus, I'd recommend taking some hardcore courses of typography. Writing down the whole alphabet takes much more patience than reading almost any book.

I agree that you should read books, if you enjoy them. However, please stop treating books as something more special than watching a movie, taking a walk or other pleasures of life.
Steve Jobs:

> "innovating is stealing"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW0DUg63lqU
Johnny Cache - Caching Framework for Django Applications
I'm really hating how tech discussions relating to Apple are turning in the Apple fanboys versus detractors of Apple.
6. add features and customers forever and rake in the dough

Even though they eventually sold to Google, the initial plan including raking in the dough. I think that's an excellent lesson here: Hope for a massive buyout, but plan to make money.
Ok, for example, this morning I've gone through: http://zef.me/2913/javascript-oop-style-performance http://cairnarvon.rotahall.org/2010/02/28/search-trees-are-e.... http://norvig.com/sudoku.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knuth%27s_Algorithm_X http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tutorials... http://www.extjs.tv/index.php/2010/javascript-debugging-tech....

I suggest reddit.com/r/programming, Hacker News obviously, and YourVersion.com for finding new stuff to read based on your interests, and then you can usually find more to read without too much trouble. There is always more!
6 Steps To Crafting An Effective Communication
Thanks for the reply!

I'd say the data is definitely going to be analytical - but some parts will be transaction oriented, if that makes sense (people will be able to pay for greater functionality).

I don't think I know enough about flat file systems to code one up myself at this point either (not that I know enough about DB's - but enough to create something).

Any good resources for understanding star schemas?
Ask HN: Assassination Robots
Looks like slow news day to me, so I have a question to the HN community.

Last week there was a story about a hit team in Dubai that got tracked from multiple CCTV cameras as they did their job. It was a large team and performed a very-well coordinated assassination.

It occurs to me that such hit jobs with big teams are a thing of the past due to constant surveillance, and we've probably seen the last one. That means that a shift might be coming, with lower-cost disruptive technology doing the work that highly-trained paramilitary people used to do.

We're already seeing a lot of recon being done by man-portable UAVs in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition, we're seeing some very complex IEDs being created by insurgents using off-the-shelf technology.

So, without getting into the politics of assassination, what do you guys think the next step in technology will be? Small UAVs with sniper rifles? Pre-positioned automated sniper rifles? Robot bombs disguised to look like ordinary street items?

If speculating makes you uncomfortable please don't participate, and I'm not crazy about working all the bugs out of these ideas, but I am interested in what sorts of unique ways you guys can come up with for whacking somebody. Note that effectiveness and anonymity are the scoring criteria. And let's stipulate that the goal has to be to whack one person with a very low chance of whacking anybody else by accident, so IED's aren't going to work.
I thought he was being sarcastic.
Lessons Learned From The Best Customer Service Companies
Also must-see when discussing commercial Rube Goldberg devices: Honda's "Cog" commercial at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYabfifhEPE

(Interesting in part because of how trivial it is to translate to different language.)
Sanuk sells thin flexible shoes. They are a bit casual, but a few styles are work friendly:

http://www.sanuk.com/products/341027

VivoBarefoot is another alternative, although a bit more expensive:

http://www.terraplana.com/vivobarefoot.php
This is not technically "at" work, but I recently started walking to work instead of taking the subway
The problem with patents is they kill all kinds of innovation.

Once one company, let's say Apple, gets some patents in an area, then no one else can work in the same space. Give Apple all the copyrights they want plus trademarks and design patents, but no software and hardware patents. Even independent invention is no defense against patents - if I invent something and sell it, and I've never heard of you, but you have a prior patent, you can steal my invention and work from me.
Tabula tips time-share FPGA architecture
Good questions.

Gestures, yes.

Look and feel, yes. (Without infringing trademarks.)

Drivers, yes.

Duplicate the code, no.

If someone can follow you fast into innovation, it's not innovative! If you can't stay ahead you'll get eaten by the wolves.
"Don't eat until you're full, eat until you're not longer hungry."
They're fighting on the wrong side in the Loudness War. The gated cymbals and cranked compression makes it like getting punched in the ears over and over.

Cool video though.
Being the smartest man in world(or at least) can be a big burden. Can you imagine that? Every body expecting you too be perfect; every little sentence you make analyzed; everybody trying to see how smart you really are; everybody trying to prove that they are smarter than you; everybody criticizing that you haven't contributed more. Being the smarter man in the world was given to you; you didn't ask for it. Besides, there are plenty of things that are important, and intelligence should be also about living a full filling life.
Some have suggested the trip-planning app.
Ex-Mozilla Security Chief Takes Job at Apple
Bwha? It could be that I'm missing sarcasm, but wasn't Apple named the best brand of the 00s, and Jobs the marketer of the decade? There is no way that the company that screwed up the introduction of Buzz is better at marketing or branding than the company that got months of free advertising of its name and product for the cost of one significant demo.

Apple gets millions of dollars in free advertising by keeping things close to its chest—and even stories like this give Apple free advertising because it keeps the Apple name in the headlines.

These sorts of stories are nonsense anyway; the tech industry isn't a zero-sum game. There won't be one winner. There will always be people who only buy Apple products because they're blinded by the RDF. There are those who buy Apple now because the quality's higher, but could see switching if something better comes along—but nothing so far has. There are those who buy nothing Apple because they are also blinded by the RDF.
He brought up a case where someone made it to an on-site interview, and it was noted that the guy repeatedly belittled the office assistant and sort of thumbed his nose at her.

You can take my word on this or not, but I'm not an asshole. I'm a decent guy whom he chose not to hire, probably for good reasons, but it would have been better to tell me what those reasons were, seeing as I was in a very tough spot (remember that recession thing?). Now I'll never work with Fog Creek in any capacity, never buy their products, and never recommend anyone to work there (although I wouldn't advise against it; I'm not vindictive).

Even if you were qualified to get a job there normally, someone could've applied that happened to wipe the floor with everyone.

Fair. I wouldn't have objected at all if he told me something to the effect of "someone else applied with more experience". That's the reality of a competitive market and I would have respected him for telling me that. Besides, if I don't get in because they're hiring these great people, then that's an incentive for me to re-apply in a few years when I am a stronger applicant and much more likely to succeed.

Regardless, the odds of you reapplying aren't that high (though he notices it), so it's simply not worth the effort - if he noticed you stood out, he would've made the effort to continue.

If he turned me down because he didn't see me as a fit for the job, or I didn't have the skills he was looking for, then that's perfectly reasonable and he could have said as much. On the other hand, if the reason he didn't take 5 minutes out of his day (or that of someone else who could do so) to explain his rationale was because he didn't think I am talented enough for doing so to be worth it, then his judgment of talent is worth less than dogshit.
The Complaint: Apple’s Patent Lawsuit Against HTC Is All About Android
HN: Andy Thompson's original analytic-rumination hypothesis of depression
It's a serious read, 34 pages, but very interesting, remarkable readable.<p>You upvoted two other articles about this to the front page, so I thought you might find the original interesting as well

The other two you've linked to are:

<p>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/magazine/28depression-t.html?pagewanted=print<p>http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=depressions-evolutionary
the average american needs to drop fully half, or more, of their calorie intake to lose weight (make cal_intake < cal_burned). http://www.diet-blog.com/archives/2006/12/27/do_americans_ea...
NASA scientist: Chile earthquake may have shifted Earth's axis, shortened day
I get your meaning, but all the same I think calling a tech company "evil" falls under Godwin's Law, at least in spirit.

If only Google had chosen "don't be a dick" instead, the world would be a less confusing place...
Apple Sues HTC For Infringing On 20 iPhone Patents: The Complete Documents
Negligible? 10% of daily consumption?

So a person consumes 2200 calories a day. He burns 1850 per day. Losing 220 off the top of daily consumption means you have only 130 calories to cut out to not gain week or a lot less to cut to lose weight.

It's a free snack a day the person loses by eating slower. That's a HUGE difference when you look at the very small amount that they may be in excess of their burn rate (or increases the amount of the deficit they're managing to engender).
Ask HN: Now that Joel and Yegge have quit blogging, who are you reading?
Ask HN: Now that Joel and Yegge have quit blogging, who is your favorite active blogger?
Nope. the new docs are for angel rounds. Horowitz makes the point that VC's should act like angels when in an angel round (when in rome).

I anticipate that both docs (YC + Andreessen/Horowitz are very similar. They keep it simple so that shit doesnt get complicated if you make it to an A round.

What's great is that lots of top notch folks have pledged to use them = a standard is upon us.
What if everyone wanted to work more?
Very well regarded on the Geek.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/215/tichu
Still: it doesn't hurt to add it for new readers.
How does your experience "differ" from how Joel presents his "philosophy of business"? Please be specific. Joel has touched on this specific topic in podcasts before (i.e. why he wouldn't provide feedback to a job applicant), so I don't see how this differs from what he has preached before. If anything, your experience fits in rather perfectly with how he claims to run his business.
I did that! Thanks for the suggestion.
Same. If placebo cures X, doesn't that mean that, for them, the placebo is a cure for X?
Your screenshot was kind of confusing because it gets cut off. I thought it was part of the page and that the text on the right was cutting of the text on the left.

I'd remove the target="_blank" on the "try a demo" link just because I, personally, think it's annoying.

Also, the demo is just redirecting back to the homepage.

I'd add some extra text to your <title> pages to help with SEO and to make it clearer. "to re-do | Reusable todo lists" or something similar.

Add some labels to your "new list" form just to make it clearer. The center align on the title of the list is kinda weird. Make it clearer that each new line in the textarea means a new item on the todolist.

I don't see any way to add/edit items on my lists. Planned feature?

All of your links are highlighting when I hover over any one of them. I mean the "save restore clear" links when you're looking at a list.

I don't really like the background changing when I finish an item. It's unexpected and kind of jarring. For a second I was like "my monitor is messing up, wtf?"

I'd add a bookmarking button just to make it easier to get back to your lists. I'd also change the url from using the autoincrement ID to using some sort of random alphanumeric key. I don't really like that people can just change that number and peruse through all of the lists.

The "restore" and the "clear" buttons don't seem to be doing anything.

Consider adding a link to the todolist page that goes back to the homepage. Maybe also a "Create new List" page.
New Archos Mini-Tablet Challenges iPad, Kills eInk
http://ipadtest.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/new-archos-mini-tab...
Using 'Getting Drunk' as your example isn't putting your best foot forward.

Edit: Not only because its immature, but because most people would never consult a checklist on the internet when they want to get drunk. How about an example that is practical for most people?
I just bought a pair of vibram's last week. That's crazy enough for me.

I did notice that running down hill requires new technique. You cant use your heel as much or at all when barefoot.
Let the "name" in the url be irrelevant. Build your links so that there is a unique identifier in the url that takes you to the page you want that will never change. Then the name can change frequently without breaking links.

So if you have an album like this:
http://albumsite.com/albums/1/This_Great_Album and the name changes to This great cd, then the url becomes http://albumsite.com/albums/1/This_Great_cd and both links continue to work forever. Where the unique identifier in this case is 1.

Of course that makes users have to know what the unique ID is, but you can put the permalink on the page.
RCA Spectra 70
Eating slowly and eating greens are not mutually exclusive.
Blog Pioneer Joel Spolsky Calls it Quits - Lessons Learned
You should also see: Der Lauf Der Dinge (The Way Things Go). Which is a 30-minute long Rube Goldberg machine, although filmed in several stitched takes. It's really interesting as well as it also includes chemical reacting stuff.

Here's a part of that movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXrRC3pfLnE
I'm playing devil's advocate here, but is it possible that they thought so negatively of you that they didn't want to violate the old "if you have nothing good to say, then say nothing" rule? Your response here in the thread does not paint you in a very good light. We recently hired this bright young intern. Only he second-guesses every decision and he's becoming more of a burden than a help. My gut's telling me that you might be one of those kinds of people.
The study quoted in that post is completely flawed, as people mention in the comments. It isn't a study of how much is actually consumed by Americans, it's a study of how much food is produced in America, factoring in imports/exports, and then assuming that the leftovers all get eaten which just isn't true at all.

The US certainly has an obesity problem, but there's no way the average American consumes almost 3800 calories a day.
Organ printer: A solution for the donor organ shortage?
Meh. Interesting juxtapositions but it doesn't really do it for me.

There is a fine line between barking at the moon and a 5% chance of success? Really? I think a more apt comparison would be barking at the moon and selling all your possessions to buy as many lottery tickets as you can.

OCD is compared to disciplined exercise?

If Warren Buffet were born in medieval times, I doubt he would be considered crazy. He'd probably end up being seen and resourceful (having read his biography).

Lastly, I resent the comparison of religion to insanity.

Where I do agree is the notion that entrepreneurship requires some leap of faith that tends to go against the typical career route most professionals are ingrained with. However, I think most sane entrepreneurs (heh) usually have some background and expertise that will increase their chances of success in their venture.

Taking measured risk is not that close to crazy. People do it when they switch jobs or careers.
I think this is with you, not with the books. Maybe you're talking about when you were a teenager or before -- I did a poor job of reading many books when I was younger, too.

But most adults don't read good novels or tracts on philosophy or sociology and then come out learning "nothing." I promise that there is much more than "nothing" inside. I think it's awfully pessimistic to say that you can't learn anything from books after your experience; books are more or less the only window into almost the entire history of human thought and storytelling, and not being able to incorporate that history into yourself is a problem.
Reddit interviews Peter Norvig
I'd really like to build one of these that plays music by itself (the sound of the machine operating plays a recognizable tune). similar to this (self playing super mario world):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXmNjB4-JdE

this would be an order of magnitude more difficult than a regular RG machine in meatspace as the timing has to be precise.
I've been the same way. I switched to using Firefox first because it was way faster than IE. Since then, it sped up a bit, and has since been bogged down by the same things that bogged down the Mozilla browser to begin with... which is why Firefox was made...

Full circle, anyone? And people are surprised they're having trouble compared to their booming, speed-oriented days? For me, Firefox is around for compatibility tests and the Web Developer toolbar (Web Inspector in Safari works better for a number of things, though, so it rarely gets used).
The screenshot also links to the demo; I fixed the text link, but heroku won't accept my commit. I'll try later.

If you test on chrome, you'll see I'm using the html5 placeholder attribute on the new list form, which provides instructions.

A planned feature is to have a secret edit link. For the mean time, you could create a new list, though I know it could be bothersome.

Those links save a cookie that remembers the items you already checked off. Save makes the cookie, restore restores it, and clear deletes the cookie.

I'll definitely do the bookmarking thing.

Thanks a lot!
Probably. I was trying to emphasize how the app could be used in a fun way.
There wasn't any need, but they did it anyway. I'm subscribed to the Ebay feed for the Free 3.0 in the hope that more of the old style will turn up, but the supply's been running low lately. Hopefully they'll see the error of their ways and start making the older style again.
I'm not suggesting that intellectual property protection is a public good. I'm disputing that companies like Apple will thrive by innovating in an environment where adopting innovation is unfettered.

It may be that if we remove all barriers to adoption that companies like Apple will die and innovation will come from artists who invent new things out of passion. I don't know, and I am not suggesting that the existence of Apple is a public good either.

I'm just skeptical that there is any incentive for Apple to do any innovation in such an environment.
With M-x swank-clojure-project, you don't have to slime-connect, just provide a project path.

http://github.com/technomancy/swank-clojure
>>>Software pros and cons aside, in 10-20 years devices with UIs almost exclusively controlled through touch on their primary display are going to appear quite comical.

Like all these touchscreen cash registers that have been out there for 10-20 years already? Sure, many of them still have bubble/chiclet overlays, but they're still touch. And all of the input machines for the NY State Lottery have dropped the keyboard and gone with touchscreen.

For touch to be effective and limit the possibility of RSI, the screen should be on a gentle slope, not vertical as our current monitors.
I don't get how a lower powered chip is an upgrade. When you say autonomy do you mean side loading software?

I respectfully disagree re: Archos. Do you know many kids who asked for an "Archos Clipper" for Christmas? Does Archos do any consumer advertsing? Is there a cottage industry of bloggers who make livings reporting on the happenings at Archos. You are technically correct, it is a brand, but not a very popular one.

I think this is something many people ignore. For people who don't hang out here, the iPod goodwill goes a long way.