skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I fully agree. For instance, PHP implements it's own round function. Now there very well may be a good reason they don't just use/implement the C99 round - but one can at least expect it not to change. This isn't true, in some version (I forget which), they changed their implementation and that caused all sorts of headaches to us and our users that depend on these numbers.

Moral of the story? Don't use PHP for stats.
Reading that article was pretty frustrating for me. Sure, if somebody decides to sit down and start writing a complex WebApp or program in direct PHP it can be a hodge-podge, however, if you were to use many of the frameworks out there you can get a very positive, and consistent experience, while also enjoying all the benefits of PHP's widespread adoption and support.

For example NOLOH (http://www.noloh.com), which provides just that sort of abstraction. NOLOH devs never even need to really know that they're in PHP. You would never know it from the consistent and elegant code, or the numerous syntactic sugars that make coding in it a joy. While none of this is out of the box in PHP, once you add NOLOH, poof, wonderful, clean, and consistent language, with language features that rival many others. Furthermore, any PHP environment can benefit from this, including all shared hosting users.

Thus in my opinion it's never that clear cut to suggest, oh PHP is crap, it's terrible, I hate working with it, because the language is flexible enough that you can write a framework that makes programming in it a joy. Now, if you were to ask me if I would use PHP without NOLOH that would be difficult. I've done it before, and it isn't so bad, but I would likely only go so far to a small script, or a small WebApp.

Disclaimer: I'm a co-founder of NOLOH
txpostgres implements psycopg's async interface for Twisted, which uses a similar eventloop/callback model: http://git.wulczer.org/?p=txpostgres.git

Not that "unnecessarily complicated", but Twisted is a lot more mature with respect to coding patterns and has formalized callbacks into a Deferred object that makes it much easier to understand.
I would guess such things have been studied. It is probably very hard to change an entrenched model though, so even though people might spend more money on phones and services in model A than in model B, that result might only be valid if all players switch.
So when my iphone displays 1 bar my signal strength is really MINUS 1? Great!
Unless we find a way to make profitable fusion.
Follow HTC-Columbia racers live, via their phones, at Tour de France
Confidence does not mean thinking you're better than everyone else. It means realizing it doesn't matter.
Actually, I do think you're on to something, in part because the change itself would change the nature of law. Automatic sun-setting and expiration, for instance, would winnow down the legal code in a matter of time. As a system, it certainly has potential.

This would go well with another favorite reform of mine, which is the Delegatory Republic, described here: http://www.keithgould.com/2009/08/delegatory-representation....

Basically it's a system of representation in which it's direct democracy in the base-case, yet any individual can at any time empower another with their vote (thus making them their representative). Ultimately you get a hierarchy of delegation, with what we would currently call reps would just be those who at any moment in time currently have the top vote empowerment totals. No terms, not necessarily any districts, no need for parties or runoffs or anything of the sort. Just an online system for tracking the delegations.

However, there's a separate concern, apart from whether a system would work, which is how to bring it about. I'm a big believe in Condorcet & Approval voting, but getting them through the public process, with established players dead-set against them, is an enormous challenge.

Part of my thinking with VoteReports is that it approximates the Delegatory Republic, where the delegatees are report creators, rather than other individuals, but within the current system. That part is key: it doesn't require systemic change to implement, the change can be brought about from outside the system.

So that's another point to think on, for projects like these: what can I do now? How can it work from the outside?
Diaspora Reports Progress
gruber linked to this on what Apple currently uses as their formula (neat graphic included): http://fscked.co.uk/post/754590440/this-infographic-hopefull...

AT&T's formula must be not so heavily weighted towards 5 bars as what Apple is currently using.
s/trees/boxes/

s/boxes/sales!/
I'm getting tired of all these reddit-style "tl;dr" posts (ironically on a very short post in the first place!) where the reader interjects their own (highly biased and inaccurate) interpretation rather than a real summary.

REAL "tl;dr" of the TFA: The algorithm used to convert signal strength into an easy-to-understand bar representation is inaccurate with invalid dynamic range. A software fix will be released soon to patch that. Call strength is OK and not affected (drastically) by this issue.

<!-- end tl;dr -->

It's not PR bullsh!t, and calls are not dropped. Go read a real (read: written by an engineer and not some blogger "rockstar") and you'll see that the iPhone 4 antenna is good, even at low db readings due to a significantly-improved SNR with the external antenna design. (Note: Never had an iPhone myself, still won't get one. It doesn't suite my needs.)

It's exactly as the anandtech review states. 5 bars corresponds to a huge range of db strength, highly out of proportion to the range of all the other bars. If you're on the very verge of 5 bars, gripping it will result in a drastic UI change of reception quality. In reality, it's just a badly-written algorithm.
The Product vs Distribution Framework
As a reminder, if you are not fully satisfied, you can return your undamaged iPhone to any Apple Retail Store or the online Apple Store within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.
I think it will be really interesting to see if they do the security correctly. If my entire network wants to remain anonymous to each other then that needs to be supported. If I want to create a separate public persona - I should be able to do that too.

All communication between nodes should be really hard to intercept/fake and should be strongly encrypted, minimal logs should be stored and all content should be strongly encrypted on disk. I'm sure there are those here that could tell us what that might look like from an implementation standpoint and I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts.

People are already comfortable with this mode of communication and we can make the world just a little better place if this new platform for communication was really secure by default and worked not only for the average internet user posting pictures of their cat but also the occasional government dissident organizing a protest.
Research-Driven Startups
UPDATE: Apple Admits To Inflating Signal Strength In IPhones
It seems like Apple solved a "perceived" problem with their phone (it is probably a problem with all phones, but never so heavily publicized like for the iPhone4) by fixing the the source of that perception. Clever.

But the solution doesn't really address the real complaint -- that holding the phone in some ways seemed to change the number of bars shown. It seems like overall the bars display will be conservative now, so people just won't perceive such a large drop in the number of bars.
iPad is built for web browsing. It will get between 1%-2% market share in the next 12 months. It's possible that in the next 2-3 years, it could get as high as 5%. Android tablets should do well too.
From Gruber's article, this sheds some light to what Apple currently uses to show 5 bars (graphic shows heavy bias towards top portion): http://fscked.co.uk/post/754590440/this-infographic-hopefull...

The fix coming must be more evenly distributed aka more accurate.
Search Engine Optimization – Improve Traffic to Your Website
Sb Global Infosoft India offers you SEO services, SEO Services India, online PPC marketing,Seo training, SEO Friendly Website Design, Social Media Optimization, Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Marketing India, SEO haryana, SEO in delhi, Learn SEO, Teach SEO, SEO Technique, SEO Delhi India ,US, UK, Australia, Canada.Visit sbglobal.info for more details of hiring seo expert for seo services.
Of course they are. "Enjoyment" is something that can objectively defined, "merit" means whatever you want it to.
It's interesting to me the language calling it a "metal rim" and "metal band", when Jonathan Ive says it's a solid slab of metal, that the groove is machined in. The iFixit teardown makes it appear that the groove is machined in as well, and the metal you see is all part of a slab.

I contrast Ive's comments and iFixit's teardown with the Keynote presentation, and think someone's simplifying something in the explanations.
Math Error: Apple 'stunned' to find iPhones show too many bars
How is it more impractical than changing the tires?
All we're missing is violet, indigo, and orange. Then we'd have a full Green Lantern Corps ;).

I can understand the philosophical underpinnings, but honestly, it smells of 7-Habits-esque management "science" , and worse, a pure sales ploy for consulting.

At least 5-Whys ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys ) and Six Sigma ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Sigma ) have show actual quantifiable improvements in industry.
Actually they put in the reality distortion field in. Currently, ~50% of the dBm = 5 bars. Now the fix is to take the reality distortion field out.
Even if you don't use their product, the LingPipe blog is still worth reading.
Yes. I really wish companies would stop stressing me out with pointless things to interpret. What is the effective difference between three or four bars? All I really need/want to know is:

* No connection
* Slow/intermittent connection

On the other hand, all this hype is encouraging people to perform Science, with cameras, posted to YouTube, so maybe there is a purpose to all of this.
Looking at the number of bits doesn't meaningfully change the size of numbers this big ;)

You couldn't store the number explicitly in this universe, but perhaps you could find a relatively cheap formula for the n-th digit of the number.
> If they are denied you lose all.

I can vouch for this from a personal (similar) experience:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=SSS.V&t=3m

You don't even need FDA rejection to lose your shirt, in this case it was an unprecedented (compared to prior trials) improvement of patients in the placebo control group.

Sometimes in investing it seems that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
This tone is what makes it difficult to me to read lesswrong, and bayesian stuff in general. I'm sure it's unintended, but when I wanted to look into bayesianism the only thing I found was an air of superiority – and I'm supposed to be the target audience (I feel strongly about assumptions). In the end I concluded it's mostly an inner-platform effect, where you include a configuration system and then claim your software is better because it can meet the client's needs perfectly; all they have to do is tell it exactly how they want it to behave.

We don't need to hear about what everyone does wrong, unless accompanied by how to do it right. I hardly think it comes as a surprise to most people that they make unfair assumptions in order to get on with life. A method of detecting false assumptions – now that would be nice. We could call it "science".
With the proximity problem, it's very cut and dry. "Yes, we will fix it." isn't much of a press release.

And the only reason Apple made this PR release is to get ahead lf this story. I've had people ask me if I'm returning my iPhone because "I heard it can't make calls when you hold it wrong" or other crap. They're just trying to respin the story that the public has latched onto.

I think it's funny to imagine what would happen if Apple didn't tell us what's wrong and just released an update. Suddenly the voodoo bars work better and everyone says, "Oh wow Apple's firmware engineers are geniuses! I no longer lose 4 bars when holding my phone!"
People should stop recommending games to him. Any example you give can be easily shot down as "not art". You can probably do the same thing with any art that is on the fringe of whatever definition you subscribe to.

It seems to me the only difference between a movie and a game is that there is some assumption that the "gamer" controls some aspect of the movie. I would ask Ebert this:

* what would you think of a movie where the viewer could control the volume? Can it be art?
* what if the viewer could control the color tint? Can it be art?
* what if the viewer can switch between two different camera views at will? Can it be art?
* what if the viewer can control the camera completely but the action is on rails? Can it be art?

etc… you can see where this leads. He obviously has watched an artful movie and been in control of the volume so you can see that he would have to draw a line. You can then create an artful "game" that crosses his line and you're done. Of course, he will refuse to believe that it is art because it will challenge a deeply held prejudice of his.

It is at this point (or hopefully before) that you will realize it is useless to try.

Get off my lawn you damn kids!
Libet's EEG timings are only a problem for free will if you think that only the conscious mind can begin an exercise of our free will. Why think that?
It'd be pretty badass if they just got rid of this phony bars metric altogether.
Right now, iPhone 4 shows that if the signal is in the top 50% of dBm range, then it shows 5 bars. If that was implemented back in 2.1, then yes, you're right, the fix coming out would make it "even more accurate" by undoing what 2.1 OS patch did.
Bars are a very basic representation of a complex set of logarithmic measurements. I don't think it's all that simple. They're probably doing something like a 95th-percentile calculation on top of that. You don't want to change the bar signal meter for every normal fluctuation in RF. Otherwise the bar meter would constantly be moving up and down all the time. From an RF perspective it's also not as simple as just looking at the signal level. You can have great signal levels and poor SNR for example.
"Thoughts on Flash" would have gone through several lawyers, as there's a real chance of a serious lawsuit in that instance. This one would be more marketing driven and would probably only get a cursory review.
Finland makes broadband a legal right
I don't understand how this explains the people who claim the iPhone 4 has a higher drop-call rate than their 3GS.

It also doesn't explain the video which features the 3GS and 4 side-by-side, where they cannot get the 3GS to drop the call at all.

Unless, of course, they are implying the software will drop the call itself if it thinks there is no signal? Is that something the software should really be doing?
In the anandtech iPhone review he has it compete with a Nexus One and can measure a significant (though smaller) signal drop with the Nexus One using the same grip. I imagine you could reproduce the problem with every phone of similar dimensions.
Dan Weinreb comments on Google's acquisition of ITA
The 4th and 5th comments so far.
One of the major selling points of a SmartPhone is browsing the web so yes -- it does seem kind of surprising.
My dad told me so, I swear!
Watch the flash video given in a previous comment (http://www.groasis.com/page/uk/principle.php). There is a lot more to this "box" than what you get with your recycling bin.
The Subtleties of Strategic Swearing
Actually Apple seemed to have biased the iPhone's display of bars to show 5 bars when the signal falls in the top 50% of the range. As Gruber noted, the exposed antenna in iPhone 4 highlighted the downside to that issue -- when you're near the floor of the 50% range, you suddenly go down in bars dramatically.

So the fix is to make what was fake before, more accurate.

Source (from Gruber): http://fscked.co.uk/post/754590440/this-infographic-hopefull...
The previous owners of the company get bought out for top dollar.

In interviews years later, the owners come to regret it. But at the time it looks like a good idea.
If your prediction is correct, then the location of these SuperFactories is even more essential then they are today.

You are also skipping over the part of Grove's thesis that the IP ("knowledge-work") jobs follow manufacturing. The vast majority of motherboard engineers today are in Asia near the Foxconn factories, not in the US. And the iPhone 5G Extremes are probably NOT going to be engineered in Silicon Valley either.
Anxiety Pills | Hi Health and Fitness
What I want to see: DRM for the people! Incorporate White Box Cryptography and the whole suite of tricks so that users can share certain info then unshare it. It wouldn't have to be perfect to be of tremendous benefit to many. (Girlfriend revenge sites won't be thrilled.)
Given that the story is a defense of people who generate wealth, I am not surprised that he did not focus on people who do not generate wealth. I am not sure it is a failing, either.
It's also interesting that the fix is a few weeks away and you only have 30 days to return your phone (early adopters are already a week in). So basically if the fix doesn't make you feel better, you can get the iPhone 6 in two years.
My thoughts exactly. I was shocked to see that video; it is completely not necessary for the context of the article and seems to be added so the whole article did not consist of a few lines of text.
Men generally are more open to casual sex than women.

When both sides are easily convinced, it happens a lot more.
R. Buckminster Fuller: THE HISTORY (and Mystery) OF THE UNIVERSE
You are correct that my post was highly biased, though I'm not certain that I can agree with your notion that it was inaccurate. My post mentions three things:

1) AT&T service sucks. This is obviously a subjective opinion; but it is one I believe I have a right to hold as an AT&T subscriber and iPhone owner.

2) Apple is patching the phone to more accurately convey #1. This is a snarky way of expressing the fact that the upcoming patch will cause the phone to express a more accurate report of your signal strength, which in all cases will cause the phone to have equal or less "bars" than you would have had in without the patch.

3) You'll still drop your calls. Fact: If you are currently dropping calls, this patch will do nothing to address that issue.

I'm sorry you don't like the TLDR meme. Similarly, I happen to dislike your use of a fake HTML commment. Perhaps we can work together to construct a list of which memes are and are not acceptable for public consumption.
Last time I used BaseCamp it couldn't help with obvious things (like moving all 3 parts of a 3 step project one day forward).
Think Different: How To Make Your Tagline Stand Out From The Crowd
I wish he had commented on the remark that Apple is going to make "bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see". Right, so they're easier to see. Not intending at all to play any Jedi mind tricks on you.

How stupid is it that Apple is going to increase the height of the first three bars? This sounds like the kind of design by committee that happens elsewhere. Not naming names, because it happens all over the place.

It's as if someone in engineering stood up and said:

"Hey, we knew our 'bar' algorithm was shit when we implemented it, and we in engineering said something about it, but no one listened. So fuck those guys in marketing, we need to implement a realistic algorithm, pronto."

Then the marketing team responds:

"Well, it might be good engineering, but users certainly aren't going to get the warm and fuzzies. Isn't there something else we can do?"

UX reluctantly speaks up:

"Well, we could make bars 1-3 taller, so they appear more like the old 4-5 bars."

Marketing and UX: <HIGH FIVE>

Engineering: <cries in a corner>
Yes. I buy your argument, if you say "small-scale good-enough solution".
AnandTech looked into how the iPhone maps signal strength to bars: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review/2 (scroll down to the bar chart)

A 30 dB drop can both not change how many bars are displayed at all or get you down to no bars at all. If you have a signal strength between -51 dB and -61 dB and the signal drops 30 dB five bars will still be displayed. If you have a signal strength between -83 dB and -91 dB and the signal drops 30 dB you go all the way from five bars to zero bars.

What AnandTech found seems consistent with what Apple writes. More or less, at least. The drop in signal strength when holding the phone is a bit larger than with other phones (and previous iPhones), but not dramatically so. That’s the only thing Apple is still quiet about.
Sound quality is great, found some interesting music. Recommendations are a bit of a crapshoot, but I don't necessarily mind that.

Why no thumbs down option? Might also be cool to see popular tracks or searches.

edit - An indication of how many tracks are in your playlist in the top nav would be nice, and would also let people know that clicking "Like" adds a song to the playlist. Multiple playlists would also be useful.
My thoughts as well. The Apple article seems to be saying exactly what the AnandTech article said:

However, in locales that have less signal, but where iOS
still displays 5 bars, the drop of 24 dB is visualized
much differently. For example, at another test location,
signal without holding the phone is -89 dBm, which is
still displayed as 5 bars. Cup the phone, and you'll fall
all the way to -113 dBm. All the bars dramatically
disappear one after the other, people think they've
dramatically lost all the signal, and you know the rest...

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3794/the-iphone-4-review/2
That is not really how I experience adventure games, but given the context of comparing a discussion with finding buttons to push, I thought it was apt :)

As for merit vs. enjoyment, I believe that the best merit of discussions is the enjoyment one can derive from it.
This is going to make AT&T look even worse. Maybe apple knew this algorithm was in place all along and now they are telling AT&T that they can't play games anymore.

Apple is now placing the blame on AT&T by saying that the problem is actually low bars (i.e. the network).

Brilliant way to shift the blame.
What does the Nexus One have to do with the iPhone's antenna issue? There is no oversite body that is 'requiring' anyone to do anything. It's not Nexus One owners that are complaining about the antenna issue, it's iPhone users.
Closure Compiler at O'Reilly Velocity Conference 2010
I associate "localvore" with "farmer's market," not with "vegetable garden." Vegetable gardens sound unambiguously good to me, whereas 50 pickup trucks making 50mi trips to a farmer's market might be worse than 1 semi truck making a 500mi trip to the grocery store.
I agree. You may also like this screencast:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=977358
USB plugs/sockets are awful. Sure, you can't insert them the wrong way round, but visually it's hard to see which way round is the right way without trial and error. The position of the USB symbol is supposed to help, and does to some extent.

USB plugs should either work successfully inserted both ways round (like this battery system), or be asymmetrical (and even with asymmetrical plugs, things can get annoying when you cant get a clear look at a socket - eg SCART + the backs of AV equipment)
I read the article and found it interesting (even tweeted it).

I think it sits happily here: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity

Was a very interesting story, looking at a very modern phenomenon, that impacts all our lives.
To your excellent point, I will also add that a) the IP jobs follow manufacturing, which is bad for Silicon Valley design work in the long run and b) why not crank them out in Flint or Youngstown?