skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I believe it's the worlds greatest deception. At 16 I was working as a reviewer, I worked as an assistant (note: not apprentice) electrician for a couple of years doing identical work to my father who was certified (on several jobs he did solely the testing to pass the work as legal) and right now I'm working in windows and siding. I presently earn more than any of my friends, and job prospects still land me at the head of my group of friends in 10/20 years, only my wife is likely to be earning more than me. I've done virtually everything involved in building a house save for foundation work, and was taught this all by my father. Nothing I did in school prepared me for any of this. Outside of manual labour, I'm a writer, I repair and upgrade friends and acquaintances for cash on the side . . . all of which I did not learn from school.

Nothing in my life has really come from school. I'm only indebted to three teachers, my English teacher who encouraged me into writing, my science teacher who taught me to watch and question everything and my woodwork teacher who encouraged me to hit nails into things all class. For 11 years of education, little in retrospective appears to have been useful. My greatest lessons were of casual knowledge, not of information or education by any institutional standard. Persistence and intrigue.
Incredible. Their revenues were over 1.5B above analyst estimates.

And now they're within 30B of Microsoft, market cap wise. Unbelievable! Seeing the momentum their stock is on, and considering they'll have IPad revenue coming in over the next couple of quarters, it looks like sometime this year Apple will be worth more than MS...just think of how epic a comeback that is
Bartered transactions are taxable in the UK.

I'm not sure how practically they'd find you out. It would probably cost more to establish your bill than you'd end up paying, but I'm lead to believe that if you exchange a cow for goods from a VAT paying business then that business owes the country 17.5% of a cow, etc. Similarly for income tax.

I guess it works like inheritance tax really - they assign a value to the item and tax proportionate to that value.
I am weary of these alternative currency systems. You are giving away "money" to people for signing up and posting offers; you are giving new users other peoples' goods for free and creating fake money as compensation.
After studying Japanese in school, getting to a respectable communicative level and then later spending most my adult life in Taiwan, I've got to disagree about the orthography. The burden of learning a couple Japanese kana syllablaries of under 50 symbols is nothing compared to that of needing to learn literally thousands more Chinese characters.

Additionally, I find that most learners have a much harder time with Chinese phonetics. I've known many, many Taiwanese people who have studied Japanese and many Japanese who have moved here to learn Mandarin and there is no comparison between their abilities. In general, the Taiwanese learners of Japanese do pretty well albeit with a few grammar hang-ups. The vast majority of the Japanese learners of Mandarin I've known have had great difficulties communicating and had to put in much more time to reach similar levels of competence.
I wouldn't hire Bono. He wouldn't get anything done. He would just write songs about your problem, rather than actually doing something about it.
Bit of a head scratcher for content owners as you point out. It would however make a nice bullet point for considering a web site: if you're considering HeyZap, you have a problem.
I always wonder what the hidden backstory is behind these kind of things. Is it:

a) They were not aware of the downfall stuff on youtube until this point and, when they discovered it, they were horrified and promptly removed them

b) They were aware from the beginning and hated it from the beginning and it's taken them 2 or 3 years to work through the process of taking them down

c) They were aware from the beginning and they loved/tolerated it but something changed their mind recently and now they want them removed

d) It's not actually the film company filing the notices but some elaborate 4chan troll

e) something else

There are no boring hypotheses that I can think of. Every hypothesis has something weird associated with it so I'm really curious which it ends up being.
Not that much of a coincidence. It's a pretty big site, and a pretty small world.
I probably never would have given the movie a second look if I'd never seen Hitler banned from XBox Live, World of Warcraft, and so on.

In all seriousness, the actual film has become one of my favorite WWII movies. I think the Hitler meme works in part because it's recontextualizing such a magnificently, disturbingly well-executed scene, which in turn gives anyone who appreciates good film a good reason to seek out the original.
For the Good of the NYC Venture Scene I'd like to see...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Password_policy#Password_durati...

Just make your password very complex and the brute force is not much of an issue. Of course, not many people will go for that idea... Probably the best compromise is to review the advancement of password cracking technology over cost and compare that to the required complexity of a password to survive for at least 120 days without being cracked, and make your password complexity at least stronger than that. You can attempt relying on things like bcrypt (if your whole infrastructure happens to support such algorithms) but I think password complexity is enough to thwart most/all attacks.
The Google Lobby: More Powerful Than You Think
You are correct, however, consider that the quality of the work will probably be much higher from someone who is willing to do this kind of unorthodox pricing. One reason is because if any issues or changes come up then they'll be fine with adjusting their work without changing the price. You'll probably wind up paying less overall.

It even seems reasonable to spend 10 minutes figuring out what a fair price is, then pay them 20% less, since what you think is fair is usually too high. And if it isn't, oh well... it was their risk doing this pricing model in the first place.

This pricing model relies on high quality of the finished product. It wouldn't work otherwise. Therefore I don't understand why you'd walk away. You really would, if this were offered to you? It's likely you'd get an extremely good quality finished product along with any changes you needed afterwards.
True, but what worked for Facebook/Zynga will not necessarily work for Joe's homepage/Heyzap.

Facebook is a destination for people to socialize and sometimes play with their friends, so games there are complementary goods.

Most other sites (news, personal finance, technical documentation etc) have different objectives, and it's not clear why games will be complementary.
I was reading that column in Datamation back in the day...
When you find the existing project cumbersome or find yourself severely hampered by your exiting tools.

In other words, when it makes sound business sense, I guess.
Common Lisp has more than 30 special syntactic constructs: block, catch, eval-when, LET, ..., unwind-protect.

It has probably more than a hundred macros that implement syntax: DEFUN, LOOP, DEFMACRO, WITH-OPEN-FILE, DEFPACKAGE, PPRINT-LOGICAL-BLOCK, HANDLER-CASE, ...

It has various basic syntactic elements like function lambda lists, macro lambda lists, etc.

It has FORMAT string syntax.

I'm not trying to win a contest with PERL and its syntax, but thinking that Common Lisp has almost no syntax is misguided. As I mentioned, in Common Lisp much of the syntax is implemented on top of s-expressions.

Stuff like regexp syntax is implemented in Common Lisp libraries. Like this one: http://weitz.de/cl-ppcre/ .
You acknowledge that it's minor, then draw major conclusions from it (sloppy journalism).

It's worth keeping in mind that the hospital's record of her age may be a guess from whoever admitted her. But it doesn't change the point anyone is making, on either side.
Ask HN: When are GUIs important?
As a consumer of software, everything I use is GUI-oriented; however, as a newbie programmer, all the emphasis in my reading is on the functionality of the program. When are GUIs important?
Interview with the operator of eCache (anonymous Internet banking) (2007)
Because there is an exponential distribution of people who are competent, as in ham radio operators vrs people who watch TV.
if only dhh had access to some kind of web-based calendar where he could have made a note to renew the domain...
The commentary of this soldier, and possibly others, would have provided some context to this incident. He supports the initial engagement, but criticizes the secondary attack on the van and a later firing of a Hellfire missile into a building.

A context the Wikileaks' "Collateral Murder" campaign was sorely lacking.
Unless you're running a casual forum, in which case it could be another thing for people to discuss and compete about.
"Browser-Specific Code Is A Waste Of Time. Use Libraries!"

The author has clearly not had to use contentEditable :)
Yout
Yeah - I'm still finishing my masters while working on a normal position. But it's really tiring and at this point I feel like I'm doing it just because I started, to be honest. You really have to enjoy this environment if you want to go all the way to MSc or higher. I would not do it again. But it's hard to know what's waiting for you before you sign up... I'm not sure how to pass that knowledge to someone else - simply saying "if you don't actually enjoy spending the evening on reading those 5 papers (or can be motivated enough to do it during the best years of your life so far), it's not for you" is not going to convince anyone, even if it's true on some level. There's just much more to it than that.

It's actually much easier to show someone what does a normal job feel like while s/he is in high school, than explaining what happens during the undergraduate studies (which can be completely different than you've ever experienced at school).
Yes we do in various sizes:

http://www.heyzap.com/publishers/get_started

The lighbox only happens when the user is in the middle of the game, which we thought was reasonable to avoid them clicking out by mistake and ruining the game. Happy to hear other alternatives.
I was just looking at this stuff this morning. This system looks a little better to me than the one featured. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856119...
Regarding your (and my) last point, I mean confusing in the sense that if you are returning some object with (as in his example, differently named) references to internal functions, it only makes it more difficult to track down code later. Worse for the coder, worse for the maintainer, and unnecessary.
In terms of lobbying, Google's approach is more benign, since they're not really looking for tax dollars to be directed at them, but rather to be able to conduct their business without government interference.

Can anyone tell me what the point is of having anti-trust regulations in the tech world? Having the FTC be able to block the AdMob acquisition, is that really something that is going to hurt the consumer?
It seems to me, that outside of the natural resource sector, you really don't need anti-trust laws since anything that is created with human labor (ie. software) can never really be monopolized. Even if Company A were to acquire all of their competitors and then try to raise prices exorbitantly to screw over the consumers, Company B would be able to enter the scene and collect market share from them. As long as we have startups, it seems impossible for any company to truly have and sustain a monopoly (unless you're dealing with things created by nature, instead of human labor).
A lot of websites are out there for people to Socialize, interact with content and have fun on (outside Facebook.com). Those are the main target audience for embedding Games.

The user does not leave the website, can leave the games when they want and return to the site. Makes the experience similar to Youtube embed of videos.
In-Browser Peer-to-Peer File Transfer
Here is a solid collection of reactions to the video from military blogs. They were a bit after the actual WikiLeaks video hit HN so I never posted the link here, but it might be interesting to those looking for the insightful view of people with relevant knowledge and experience.

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/reaction-on-milita...
Seems half baked at the moment, but so did Atlas and nib2cib when they came out. I definitely prefer Sproutcore to Cappuccino and Objective-J. In my opinion Javascript is an excellent language for web development, where Objective-C (in Javascript form) is not. I really hope they pour a lot more work into this to make it great, as I'd really like to use it on an upcoming project!

Good work so far!
I'm still hoping for a return of the thin-client model, but with rich media. 99% of the time my desktop is running at 10% CPU load or less. When I want to do something that requires a lot of processing power, I usually log into a remote server with more than I'd like to stuff into a desktop. However, I do want enough power to watch video occasionally and manage graphical applications (such as simple photo editing) when necessary. A small system would also have the benefit of lower power usage, smaller footprint, and less noise.

The major thing that prevents me from switching to a tiny PC in the office is lack of dual-monitor support. Screen real-estate is something I just can't sacrifice.

In the long run, I look forward to a silent office instead of the constant noise of fans and hard disks.
There's no arm twisting or deception. Everyone who signs up is aware of what's going on.

Lots of the businesses on Dibspace think of it as a marketing expense that happens to provide very real and tangible side-benefits.

We've had a number of incredible customer success stories with Dibspace, like this company: http://ecomoversmoving.com/

The founder, Grant, started his business with nothing more than a borrowed moving truck and a couple thousand bucks in his pocket in Spring 2009. He learned about Dibspace through a Seattle Times article, joined up, offered his services and had more customers than he knew what to do with within a couple months. Last fall, he told us that his biggest concern with his business was how to manage the growth he was seeing.

Grant was able to offset thousands of dollars of capex/opex by trading our virtual currency for real stuff and services. Sure, if he'd been able to get US Dollars, he could've used them for the same things, but he was dealing with the same chicken and egg problem every new business wrestles with: how do you acquire new customers to pay for things like a website or a logo when you're just starting out and don't have any customers?

You have no reputation on Yelp.

You have no cash to get your name out there.

You don't have a network of existing customers to lean on for referrals.

Getting those seed customers can be incredibly difficult. Grant totally lucked out: turns out people are far more willing to spend 'funny money' than real money, especially during a down economy. He acquired his first batch of customers, got tons of positive reviews he could point prospective customers to (http://dibspace.com/businesses/667-Eco-Movers/reviews), and got tons of word of mouth referrals.

When Grant was ready, he just turned off his offers on Dibspace. When his business gets slow (which happens occasionally), he creates new Dibit offers and fills his schedule back up.

Whew, that was more long-winded than I intended it to be.
agree, I support their release of the video, but as the Solider discusses, exposing the average human to the terribleness of War is all you need to do, not overblow with commentary.
Upon further research, it appears that it will be unable to stream Netflix (which actually uses Silverlight) or Hulu at full 1080p. It is possible to watch some files that are encoded in the proper formats, but streaming seems to be out of the question even on Windows (and I'd much rather have Linux on this).
Yeah. http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/01/the_director_of...
James Randi's fiery takedown of psychic fraud
WiFi and 3G Models of the iPad Coming Soon
Yeah, whether they mean it to be or not, this could easily be the kiss of death for ODF.

Now, if you save in Word's native format, you have to buy a copy of Word (which is a sunk cost to most people anyway). But if you use ODF, you have to pay for Word plus $90 for a plugin.

Whatever theoretical advantages ODF might offer, it's not going to be $90/user worth to most people, or worth using OpenOffice instead of Word.

Too bad; it was a neat idea while it lasted.
I've seen that opinion here a lot, that school is a glorified babysitting service. Maybe that's true in your experience, but that is a shortcoming of those schools in particular, not of schools in general.

I loathe special cases. As a programmer I see them as a sign that program design is flawed. A good program, and a good education system, has mechanisms in place to handle extreme cases.

Opt-out is fine for students who have a specific alternative (e.g. trade apprenticeship). But it is not a "solution". It does not help the 99% of brillient students for whom there is no alternative. Simply cutting them loose is a cop out.
Yes; I lost a lot of respect for Wikileaks after that. It seemed as if they'd branched out into the propaganda business. I wonder what made them change direction after so long.
http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/04/show-customers-wh...
A list of everything we should know.
Lately i've seen several posts related to sleep issues. Is that a common problem around here or something? I've had a horrible time getting to sleep for years.
What the NYC Startup Scene Needs
IMO, two syllabry + kanji w/ multiple readings is more complex than strictly monosyllabic characters w/ the occasional secondary pronunciation.

I can guess how a character I don't know might be pronounced in Mandarin or other dialects, with fairly good accuracy. Even tone! But Japanese? Maybe an On reading or two. But kun'yomi? Forget about it.

And yes, Chinese phonology is more complex than Japanese, but the grammar is simpler. A wash, perhaps?
I always thought it would be fun to have my work picked up at hacker news; but just not quite like this...
Purchase from GoDaddy without having to use their annoying site
Apple Has Its “Best Non-Holiday Quarter Ever.” Best iPhone Sales Ever.
How To Be An Outstanding CS Grad Student
Do the apprentices work 15 hour shifts 6-7 days a week? If so, I believe that is unhealthy, both mentally and physically, for anyone but especially a person whose body is growing and needs more rest than an older person.
I am voting you back up. I believe your opinion is sound and deserves to be recognized.
I think you need a lot of context to seriously examine anything.
-The Wire
I did that once for a for a company I used to work for. Basically they called me up a couple of weeks after I quit and where in bind and needed this thing fixed right now or they'd miss an important deadline. So I basically did what this article said, got royally screwed and I learnt my lesson. Only do that if you're genuinely OK with being paid nothing.
I have friends born & raised in China who say the exact opposite of what you are are saying.
Functionality is what the program does. The GUI is what helps the user exploit that functionality in the least number of steps and with clear prompting.

See this for an example of UI/UX importance:
http://ipadtest.wordpress.com/2010/04/20/when-will-lenovo-an...
Good call. I'm going to ask every potential hire whether they've read the hagakure.
I believe the press has the freedom to print whatever they want so long as they are following first amendment rights. I feel neutral to the entire situation. Of course it's crappy that the guy's identity was outed but at the same time it was completely within Gizmodo's rights to do so. For that I am voting you backup.
As a University of Texas graduate, I always smile when I see the tower when I mistype a domain.
If you have to use their mobile site to get away from their "annoying" site then why deal with them at all?
Young App-rentices: Teen iPhone Developers
I wanted to bring this to the attention of the submitter.
An alternative view (which I got from listening from watching an interview with of the founders) is that HeyZap is more akin to "what comics were for newspapers". That is, online social games could be ubiquitous with the online experience the way comics are in newspapers.

HeyZap seems to be providing additional tools and platforms for enhancing the online games experience while being increasingly less intrusive on the experience of enjoying the content (why flip between tabs and sites when you can pop up or close a bar at the bottom like GChat?)
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_0...

[...] (3) the term “trade secret” means all forms and types of financial, business, scientific, technical, economic, or engineering information, including patterns, plans, compilations, program devices, formulas, designs, prototypes, methods, techniques, processes, procedures, programs, or codes, whether tangible or intangible, and whether or how stored, compiled, or memorialized physically, electronically, graphically, photographically, or in writing if—
(A) the owner thereof has taken reasonable measures to keep such information secret;[...]

You could argue over subclause (a) but I think that the concealment inside a existing iPhone case would count. Certainly when Gizmodo obtained it they knew what they were buying.
Out of my head:

* Cowon S9 / Samsung P3 if you want a big screen

* Sandisk Sansa Clip (Plus) if you only care about music (cheap price too)

I currently own a S9 32 GB and the old Clip (8GB), and I mostly use the Clip at the moment.

Disclaimer: I used to lurk on http://www.anythingbutipod.com/ a few months ago :)

PS: ABI's Top 5 players of 2009: http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/2009/12/top-5-mp3-pl...
> People lose their kids in places like supermarkets all the time ... I haven't (yet) but it's a possibility (because kids by definition don't stay put) and I'd appreciate that if you found my child instead of stealing it from me to sell it to the highest bidder, you'd return it to me, because otherwise I might just burn down your house with you in it :)

Please, let's not compare our children with iPhones. Maybe choose a better analogy?

> Yeah, it's a bad analogy because for most people a phone is not equal to a child, but for passionate engineers the line is kind of blurry, isn't it?

Yes, it is a bad analogy, so why did you use it? If you are going to claim that passionate engineers equate products to living humans, at least qualify that by saying "a small proportion".

> No, the attitude is that it's not OK to steal property, even if that person you're stealing from is drunk ... and to make matters worse the buyer also made the story public, for no public good whatsoever.

The guy who had the phone tried to return it. He did more than most people would. On top of that, he was unable to get any contact information off the phone because they wiped it.

Yes he could have returned it to the bar but who knows how trustworthy those bar owners are?
Additionally, this seems to explain why some people are getting married and having children later. It's a combination of a lack of life experiences and financial unreadiness from school.
I always thought it would be a fun project to use an etymology database to make a Latinate-to-Germanic thesaurus, something you could use just like spell check on a document to suggest Germanic alternatives to Latinate words.

struck me funny that more than half of these words are 6+
I realize this is a site dedicated to startups, but business proposals and investors for children? As long as he likes it I suppose and doesn't rationalize happiness = money.
You made the visual counterpart of the search engine NOT operator.

Google:

"blue suit AND women -men"