skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
GuestVM: http://labs.oracle.com/projects/guestvm/

Still an active project as far as I know. Mick Jordan has as of late been hacking on Maxine and I've seen GuestVM related commmits in Maxine.
> Harvest tomatoes from your back yard on ToteDay, drop them into Amazon mini-totes, and have them delivered, at market prices, to people in your area.

Then you run the risk of people selling Tomacco[1].

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Products_produced_from_The_Simp...
The VC Shakeout
So no more iframing etc?

Genetify is open source - http://wiki.github.com/gregdingle/genetify/ - you can have your programmer go through it for the algorithm. That'd be a good starting point.

Statistically valid optimization would be a HUGE plus. Enough for me to pay for VWO instead of using genetify.
Choose History Term Paper Topics You Already Have Some
Writing a history term paper is a tough task. A good history term paper topic is one which involves events, people, dates and influence. It is always are good idea to select history term paper topics which are familiar to you. With this aspect the task of writing a history paper becomes easier.
The HotSpot style C1X optimizing compiler for Maxine is under heavy and constant development right now, I wouldn't be too surprised to see it ready for that sort of thing fairly soon as these things go.
Do you have any information about the automatic updating? I had been interested in their API that seemed to have disappeared (now I know why).

Also do you have a link to your site?

edit
I found the information, here: https://www.wesabe.com/groups/222-wesabe-accounts-shutdown/d...
Paths to Mastery
I agree completely. I think that even when the real title of an otherwise good article is linkbait, it should be changed when posted to HN. I would love to see a feature developed around this idea: perhaps allow others to suggest more accurate titles to be voted up, or to simply make it a rule to use honest titles and quote it directly under the title field on the submit page.
Since when is steganography hypothetical? Or rather, how does hypothetical mean "previously undocumented in the wild"? There have been practical tools for digital image steganography since at least the early '90s.

Heck, it was on Law and Order last year: http://allthingslawandorder.blogspot.com/2009/10/law-order-s...
I think a new potato test is called for! :)

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaT7thTxyq8)
Odd.

There's still demand for the Nokia 1100 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_1100 ) due to its almost legendary reliability and reception (anecdotal evidence says that it works better than any other brand phones in the Uruguayan countryside).

The Wikipedia article states that it is the best selling consumer device in the world (and handset of course).
Ask HN: Startup doubts: Running out of money
Hi HN,

Since half a year I'm running a startup with a friend of mine. Now six months have passed and I'm running out of money. We are thinking about doing some consultancy work to bring in some revenue, but I don't know how easy it will be to get this work. Also, I'm not a coder and I have the feeling that there's not so much freelance work for a non-coding allrounder.
I don't want a steady job because I think this will take all my time, and I would not have any time left for our startup.

What do you think about this? I would love to hear some of your experiences/advice.

Thanks a lot!
I've been waiting the iPad-compatible release since April...
I won't buy an iPhone app that's using Flash inside the phone screen to demo the app. Use of Flash suggests the author doesn't know how to do rich interfaces without Flash, so the app itself can't be that good.

Granted, if I could see the demo, I might discover I was mistaken.

http://imgur.com/VdUK2.png
Insanely great if you ignore logging in with OpenID. Apparently I was the first person to ask for this, so chances of an implementation were low. Shame.

And yes, really HN just needs a mobile stylesheet. If I had time I’d make one, but at the moment I don’t :/
Genetify doesn't have a statistically valid algorithm so no point looking at its source. Moreover, there are some basic optimization features already built into VWO: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/why-ab-...

Third party cookies (via IFRAME) is a choice, it isn't enabled by default for all tests.
Probably best not to, since people may ignore the zero click box and in general have no quick way of knowing that they are related.
Management = Leadership + Administration + Manipulation
I never had a 1100.

Off hand... I had 3310 (x3), 3210, 1208, 1600, N81
Does anyone have one of these already? I'm wondering how well this kindle would work for reading programming books? PDF format in particular.
I don't get why they wouldn't just use e-mail + PGP.
DIY Pixel Qi screens - available now
This is a cool integration hopefully they will add the other official sites as well. It would be nice to have mixed results like this:

http://sess.ioncannon.net/#q=nginx%20apache%20lighttpd&p...
That's awesome that they made it into orbit on the first flight! Can we buy shares in them yet?
<I>Unfortunately programming is really the first discipline where the primary determinant of the "factor's" productivity is not the manager's skill but actually the intelligence of each individual.</I>

Are you really suggesting that programming is the <b>first</b> profession to arrive on the world-scene in which productivity scales with intelligence? I think that's a bit egocentric. I can think of a few others.
A Fifth of Android Apps Nose Into Private Data, Study Says
Oh and also I remember DRM issues with these, is that still an issue with the Kindle?
Even encrypted email allows for traffic analysis.

But if you can hide communications in photos stored on, say, flickr, then nobody knows that communication between individuals is occurring. And because the images are publicly available, even when the authorities figure out what was happening and look into server logs, there's going to be a lot of noise in there, so they probably won't be able to say exactly who was receiving the messages.

(I suppose if there are many messages, they could do some cross-correlation between them, but I also suppose that savvy bad guys would expect that and take measures to make that noisy as well.)
I'm curious - if you encrypt the message before embedding it in the image, it should be impossible to prove that a message exists (unless prosecution has its hands on the original), because changing only the lowest-order bit of each byte of image data probably has less impact than the noise from the camera itself, especially if it's an old camera. Alternatively, given any image and any message small enough, you could prove the message is hidden in the image.
It seems rather obvious that for any given phone, there is a way to ruin it's reception. If nothing helps, put it in a steel box, encase it with concrete and throw it into the ocean. That should do the job.

The real question is, how is the reception in a typical phone call situation.
Nothing says "Hey I've discovered classified information" quite like an encrypted email to the KGB. A primary goal of steganography is to disguise the act of transmitting sensitive data.
My startup is semi centered around this idea: http://quippd.com/about/intro

I asked for feedback in an Ask HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1454934

I too hate misleading headlines and untrue stories, so I'm trying to make it a centerpiece of my project. Hope you check it out! :)
For example? Were they "on topic" without using that "anything that's intellectually stimulating" escape clause?
I see. So a difference in connotation.
Nooo I didn't write it! Was simply interested in (and responding to) adamc's comment @ http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1477759
Which doesn't contradict what I say at all. Indeed, it only supports my stance.
Video: Hummingbird, Node.js and Gilt Groupe
Without knowing more details, I would tend to lean towards suggesting that you raise some angel money, oir shelve it while you work a full-time and stack some cash in the bank.

What you are describing sounds like the beginnings of a death-by-a-thousand-cuts timeline.

When you say "running", are you actually running a business (ie: managing customers, cash-flow, growing the product, expanding the business) or are you still in the phase of building something and trying to attract a cashflow?
Would this work for sites (such as Facebook) that compress photos when uploaded? Wouldn't the compression affect the embedded code?
> Yes, but offering more money to someone who feels like they already make enough is amazingly ineffective.

Which is completely besides the point. Listen, I understand that point of view. I agree with it. I live it.

> My point is that, in my experience, great programmers place a much higher value on doing interesting work than they put on making more money.

Only after they have enough money to not have to worry about it.

Offering programmers minimum wage isn't going to entice them from their 6-figure job, even if the work is challenging and fun. Most likely their 6-figure job is already exciting and fun enough.
Given recent comments I've seen about the searchability of SO, I think they owe you a beer.
This is incredible. You heard it here first - this is a direct competitor to Sencha. It was even mentioned in the post that licensing is not the way to go.

Charging to develop on a platform/within a framework is something that Apple and Microsoft do. Look at the proliferation of Java and Rails and I think you'll agree free, no-friction entry is the best way to go.
Is itthat this means that the steganography tools they were using did not prove effective? Or did the FBI discover their use by other means?
> The problem isn't attracting candidates, it's getting the candidates to see your job opening, to understand that it's a great place to work, and then filtering out the clueless.

And then offering them enough money so they don't have to worry about it. Because, I'm sorry to say, minimum wage isn't going to cut it.
Thanks for your comment. We do have some paying customers, but I guess we are more in the phase of building/improving and attracting customers.
Attributes of the Social Organisation (Part 1)
Nowhere in the announcing article on pixelqi.com, or on the linked Maker Shed product page, can the resolution of the display be found. What an awkward blooper.
I think it's more about giving credit for a good piece of software proprietary or otherwise.
Ahh I see. Cool.
> Elitist, protectionist mechanisms like this

In fairness to lawyers and doctors, they serve needs that have a larger societal impact thus the need to to have more stringent process of instilling the right training and enforcing ethics.

Programmers are perceived to be be neutral in this regard.

People understand this concept as it applied to lawyers and doctors. Most folks frown on ambulance-chasers and boob-jobs plastic surgeons.
I am just not convinced. Where's the other side of the story? Are these people really spies or just scapegoats for something we do not know about yet?
This is excellent news; the Kindle and other e-paper devices are too limited, while reading on LCD screens gives me eyestrain.
Intro to NetworkX (Python lib for net analysis) by Drew Conway & Aric Hagberg
Example:

This post http://whydoeseverythingsuck.com/2010/06/law-enforcement-has... was deleted when first posted. I reposted it the next day because the opinion was well argued (agree or not).

hank Williams' subsequent post responding to the deletion on HN was not well informed and (correctly) did not show up here as far as I know.
Like the Windows copy command.

copy /b IMG_0010.JPG + SecretCodes.rar PartysAreFunLOL.jpg
I'm still not convinced. I had a bought with (suicidal) depression for several years (brain injury) and it's true that I didn't take credit for things I didn't do, but instead I blamed myself for everything, even things way beyond my control (e.g. "It happened this way because you deserve to be miserable"). Many things I evaluated to being beyond me, and sure enough they were. Because having convinced myself I couldn't do it or wasn't worthy, any effort I made was half-hearted or actually negative. Which lead to more depression.

Now maybe I'm too optimistic about what I can do sometimes, but I think you get further that way because sometimes you talk yourself into things that "on paper" should have been beyond you.

Maybe I was more accurate before. But it was because I was skewing the results. Also note that it's easier to think you can't do something and then fail when you could have succeeded than to think you can do something and succeed when you otherwise would not (i.e. it's easier for your own belief to skew results on the negative side than the positive).
They announced it at 3:30pm Central yesterday, so you weren't too far behind.

http://www.woot.com/Blog/ViewEntry.aspx?Id=13390
MenuetOS: an OS that fits on a floppy, written entirely in assembly, has GUI
I wasn't aware adults actually used twitter. I thought it was for 12 year old girls
> the current crop of bad management gets shown the door

It may take a while. It's the current crop of bad management that has to show the current crop of bad management the door. I cannot attribute any of their successes to good management practices. I am more inclined to point out to very clever products that fit niches that passed under management's radar (would it be pedantic to write "RADAR"?) and hit the market by sheer luck.

I also doubt the "start new companies" division would be completely free. They would, most probably, be forbidden to use any competing technology.
Post-it notes are more powerful tool than most people realize because they:

- Rearrange easily (no copying)

- Support text and diagrams

- Are concurrently editable (as a group)

- Convert virtually useless walls into huge work surfaces

The idea that really hit it home for me is The KJ Method (aka Affinity Diagramming aka Snow Carding). Here's one description: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_86.htm

There's a lot of way of organizing ideas and meetings using them that are really non-obvious. This (short, sweet) book covers some: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1555611427 Coders will get the ideas after the first chapter, but others should find the rest of the book educational as well (plus give some insight into basic data structures).
That's a pretty bold statement. How do you know for certain that the labor theory of value is flawed? Has it every actually been seriously tried?

Further, you're implicitly saying that the "free market" view is the correct one. How can you possibly know this? Because it manages to work? Of course it does! Any programmer should know that when you're livelihood depends on it you can make any old garbage hang together long enough to get your next meal. I'm not saying "free market" hypothesis are "any old garbage", but rather that something simply not catastrophically failing doesn't mean it's the best answer or even a good one.

You hold pretty strong beliefs for something that can't possibly be proven one way or the other.
Too many VC firms/dumb money or not enough startups? Larger VCs should limit their fund size and do more micro seed investments with a strong value added focus. Make themselves more open to the startup community while still maintaining a black swan business model.
There Ain’t No Party Like A Social Media Party
Get Thousands Of Backlinks Instantly
'Innovative' Math, but Can You Count?
Seriously. I remember we had a stenography lesson at a summer program I participated in during high school, back in 2004. The software we used was pretty old, and the class was held at TN Tech and led by a guy from the Cooke Co. Sherrif's cybercrime division. Not exactly people on the front lines of internet security research.
I'd love to see what Rossum (http://rossum.posterous.com/) could do with one of these.
As a counterpoint; I consider that an example of the sort of thing that we should be flagging into oblivion. I flagged it.

Badly argued, outright wrong in many places, an ongoing part of his anti-Apple rants (which have cluttered up HN before) - no thanks!

(I though his domain had been banned but apparently not)
10 Missing Features in WordPress
Ever heard of EB1? Any PhDs (including candidates) worth their salt (have a few journal papers and good recommendations from their professors) can do it easily with some help from decent immigration lawyers. EB1 has no quota and waiting time (for priority date to become current). It's the fast track for these people.
I found Wesabe more compelling, and it's what I've been using for the past 3(?) years.

Unfortunately, Wesabe got less functional for me over time instead of more. I liked their philosophy a lot, but they never did a very good job of overcoming their (no doubt difficult) technical issues.
Knowing Why You're Coding
We Got Acquired By Amazon
Thanks a lot for that info. It worked for me too.
Just to say; yes I had the same response.

They confirmed my address as well (which was right). Fingers crossed :)
waves. Yeah, I literally fell into the consulting business, and here I still am, 2-1/2 years later, slowly transmogrifying from a consultant into a small business. It'd not really about the money: as a family guy flexibility counts for a whole lot more.
While the price of $275 seems pretty high, it is still much lower than what you could get e-ink display as a developer.

The big question is, can this screen serve its stated dual purpose as an excellent e-reader screen and a general purpose netbook screen.

As for the resolution, my wild guess is standard 1024x600 which the Lenovo S10-2 they are marketing as a replacement screen has. Frankly $275 is a bit high for 1024x600.

Interesting though is this note:
"The e-paper mode has 3 times the resolution of the fully saturated color mode"

So this e-paper mode is something like 1536x1200 or more like 3072x1800 (unlikely as it seems)?
Impressed. I was going to make a comment about how this could break some searches outside of the development field but when I typed in just "django" it gives me all the options of what "django" COULD mean, allows me to select the one I want, and then searches on that.
Eric Wahlforss (soundcloud.com) on 'Bootstrapping'
Kitchen cabinets | Discount Kitchen Cabinets | Buy Kitchen Cabinets
Kitchen Cabinets are our business. We sell discount kitchen cabinets online. You can buy cabinetry unfinished, RTA and assembled from Mid Continent, Marsh Furniture, High Point, Norbridge.
tl;dr: Choose to start your own business.
FWIW, I didn't flag that article, but I'm really tired of Hank Williams, and probably would have flagged it if I had seen it.

His first few blog posts seemed to be mildly thought provoking on a slow day, but the last several I've seen from him have been a little too high tinfoil-hat rhetoric.

In short, I don't think Hank has much of value to add that doesn't already exist 100 times over on other C-string blogs on the internet, so I'm not terribly surprised any links to his site get killed here.
From Wikipedia: "Darmok" is an episode of the television science fiction series Star Trek: The Next Generation, first broadcast in the United States on September 30, 1991; it was written by Joe Menosky. The episode contains a brief, but notable recounting of the Gilgamesh epic, which is communicated by Picard to the Tamarian captain. The episode has an average rating of 4.5/5 on the official Star Trek website (as of 18 August 2009 (2009 -08-18)
Heavens no, a federal law enforcement agency at risk of perjury!
I notice it that some Apple fanboys seem to be the most sensitive and maybe suffer from some persecution complex... no wonder they take any measure necessary to bury content.

Anyway, I didn't think article posts could be flagged and deleted here. I thought voting would take care of that. If this happens on a regular basis I might consider stopping visiting this site.

Edit: Inspite of people trying to teach me a lesson by downvoting me, let me point out the guideline from HN:

>If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link.

Some people using it as a 'downvote' link to bury content that they don't like (digg style) are just plain abusing the system just because they cannot take criticism against their favorite company.
Twitter Updates with geolocation
Update you twitter with your current geolocation, from terminal
I was playing with a python wrapper around the Twitter API and made a simple class that would update twitter status with the geolocation derived from your IP address. The limitation begin proxies and a limited 70 chars status, yes there are few command like whereami but this is for the fun of it. When we travel here and there we can update our location with latitude and longitude, yes indeed even that can be made via a web browser, this for people who love there terminal more than anything.

The code is self explanatory with sensible comments where ever necessary, it uses urllib2 and python-twitter, which you must down from get python-twitter and install.

The below is the code that need to be edited, to indeed add the username and password of your twitter account.
>You also don't get sick days.

That's one of the hardest parts of running your own business IMO. I had to have an op, recommended recuperation was 2weeks of bed rest, I was back working the next day; yes there were deleterious effects on my health.
Flagging is a means of voting. Once you've reached a specific karma threshold, a 'flag' link appears next to articles and posts. Too many flags and something gets removed.
The (small) kindle reads PDF files, but usually the font is too small to read comfortably. With the new firmware upgrade one can resize pdfs, but I'm not sure if I want to read a programming book this way.

I think the best way is to convert the PDF to the Mobi format with the free mobipocket creator:

http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdetailscrea...

The conversion works pretty well and if you have patience you can even generate things like table of contents and proper metadata.

Edit: you may also know that oreilly sells an ebook "package" with books in the following formats: Android, Mobi, PDF, ePub. For example:

http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596158071/

(I'm not affiliated with oreilly in any way)
I agree. Particularly the timelines of news makes a system where older stories slowly fade away useful. I guess it depends on whether useTheSource is supposed to be a "coding news" where you find great stuff accidentally (like hacker news), or whether it's a place to search for an elegant solution to a problem that bugs you (i.e. StackOverflow for pros).

Either one would be great.
A pure capitalist country was tried in Chile though. They had to back out the "purity" pretty quickly.
Dead for doing one thing well
Ask HN: Programming basecamp and yammer
How long would it take a decent programmer to whip up a project management/task tracking program like basecamp from scratch? Any open source variations available?

What about an internal communication system that's a combo of yammer and campfire?
> Give me challenging projects in my preferred problem domain

The projects were challenging, that's why I stayed for so long. When you have tons of student loans, mortgage, and hospital bills, you can't forgo the perks and bonuses. I have a family to take care of so what I really want is everything. I want a good work environment, I want good money, and I want fun projects. Why? Because I give them back what they need: stable/reliable, problem-solver, productive etc.
I would absolutely flag that if I came across it (which I didn't.) I think it was poorly argued, disingenuous flamebait. (It never mentions the obvious retort, which is that the high profile of the cases in question, not a Batphone at Apple or AT&T, led to the criminal investigations.) If it was posted with the original headline, that would be even worse.

In addition, not a single thing in the post was interesting or original; it was just agitating about old news with the same anti-authoritarian slant present on every website ever.