skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
No, the touch screen will obviate the mouse.

Other technology, possibly improved speech or hand writing recognition will have an impact on keyboards. But then, keyboards have always sucked as non-text entry devices. They were simply (wait for it) _handy_...

Edit: Now I could easily believe that near future systems could drastically reduce our need or desire for text entry. But it's hard to skim video or audio as effectively as text. And of course, text has its own texture and voice.

Our grandchildren may feel differently...
Found it useful, thanks.
But did you try reading and browsing with it for hours a day? I never had such a great reading experience!(;

I don't think it was meant to substitue for writing long texts. However, you can buy the iPad keyboard dock to use the standard Apple keyboard layout. And honestly, after having burned through so many keyboards in my life - these Apple keyboards really get me exited every time I use them!
Its deployment will lead to an increase in the use of moderate force to control groups of people.

If the actual weapon is classed as non-intrusive, it could potentially be used in situations where Police wouldn't usually use force. Political protests, general non-cooperation, etc..

The idea worries me a lot. The people who invent this kind of thing really must be quite peculiar, to be able to function without moral objection.
I agree on the iPad, but I'm sure there will be better typing experiences coming soon. Tactile feedback and flexible touchscreens are two things that I'm sure will play a big part.
My granny learned to use the mouse, it is not that hard. Yes, her first movements with the mouse were awkward. That doesn't prove that it is impossible to master. A lot of things are awkward when you do them the first time.

Is using a browser on a normal PC that much harder than on an iPad? Or is it simply that people don't try to do many of the things on an iPad that are confuding on a PC to begin with? For example, most problems my parents used to have were related to scanning and faxing, which I tend to avoid on my own computer.

How is the browser on an iPad easier to use than a normal browser?
> for everbody

This is key. It's arguable that Facebook is successful because it was exclusive to a smaller niche (college students) when it was starting out.
I realised the web browser (from Netscape onwards) is easy to use mainly because of the mouse cursor changing to a hand when it hovers over a link. Or a text thingy hovering over an input form. Without the mouse changing cursor, you wouldn't know what was what...
We can all take simple extra steps to help *all types* of people find jobs
People can, and are doing. Much though I'm a happy perl5 programmer, I often use bleeding edge libraries in my implementations when I'm sure that's the best approach (and if it's code for a client after careful consultation with them). People I know doing rails work often use stuff they know may change under them because it lets them ship faster now and they consider it an acceptable trade-off of risks - and the gems they're using generally don't have a spec document at all.

There are risks involved in every technology choice made for every program. If I didn't actively prefer perl5's semantics and community philosophy in a number of places, I'd be seriously evaluating perl6 for use in code where I could guarantee deployment to be pinned against a particular runtime version, just like I -do- use API-unstable perl5 libraries where I can guarantee deployment against a particular library version and the benefits in terms of delivery time outweigh the risks.
One good way to learn is to watch others manage a project. I worked at GE for two years, and project management is pretty much built into the culture. I got to improve a lot in my own work by watching how more experienced people managed projects.

Here are some general PM thoughts that I picked up. Managing software has it's own issues of course, but these are a good start:

* Err on the side of over communicating. Don't assume anything.

* Get organized. It's impossible to be too organized.

* Make sure everyone is aware of the project's overall progress.

* If something can go wrong (or be delayed) it will.

* Be a friendly, flexible person to work with. It'll help you when you need favors later. One manager sent the local DHL office a bouquet of flowers at Christmas because shipping things timely was important to his projects.

* Trust the people you work with.

* If something goes wrong, it's probably your fault because you didn't communicate clearly/thoroughly enough.
Remember when a lot of people used to think that the blue "e" icon is the internet, and "Microsoft" is "Word"?

Probably now many Facebook users think Facebook is the internet. Good luck!

What I mean is: they don't use Facebook because they think Facebook is so great, they use it because their friends use it (like email - it is just a way to send each other messages). They probably never questioned why they use it. Therefore it would likely be hard to make them switch to something else.
In the "Fundamentals" section of the website (http://www.makanipower.com/concept/fundamentals/) Makani claims that their system can operate in 85% of the areas in the US vs. traditional windmills that need class 4 wind which is only present in 15% of areas in the US. Also there is some interesting info about why their approach could be better for offshore wind generation.

I know some of the Makani guys and they are the real deal. These guys are seriously smart, and talented. I am glad everything is going so well for them.
I think the test should've been performed with more care, by using multiple GPS loggers instead of just one, to see if the result holds true. It might be an application issue at show here.
My father passed away about a year and a half ago, and one of the things I did was create a website for him where people could share their stories and memories of his life. (http://jimwhowell.com/) I made it a day or so after he died, and I had no idea what the response would be... I only knew I had to do something to try to capture my memory of him. We ended up getting well over 100 stories on the site, and having all these memories of him has meant so much to me and my family in dealing with our loss.

I think what you are doing with 1000Memories.com will have a similar effect in touching peoples lives and I hope that you have a lot of success with it. Thanks for creating this.
Yeah I waited over 30 mins yesterday and 45 today!
Saw that article, found it interesting. A hard living.
Since you apparently already modded me down for disagreeing with me, would you care to back up your nonsense?

I would love to see a link to a reputable scientific journal which demonstrated that "some nootropics that enhance utilization of acetylcholine DO enhance creativity, specifically piracetam and aniracetam".

If you can't come up with one, would you like to explain the whole 'probably effective'?
Leiningen 1.2 Released (Clojure build tool & more)
How can I get addicted to programming?
they also provided a better product than the alternatives at the time. Now that facebook is out there, you can't release a facebook clone and not get laughed at. You have to innovate.
Solvent in the sense that there's enough money to pay full benefits until the late 2030's or early 2040's without any changes. And solvent in the sense that minor adjustments to benefits or taxes will fix it beyond that.

http://www.brookings.edu/multimedia/video/2009/0514_social_s...
There are a handful of 'nostalgic' / rocky DJ mixes I really dig for coding background music. Their length and variety is definitely an advantage of a single artist or album. Some of my favourites I've found from the interwebs:

Tanquery Tom's Clean Up your Room mix - http://www.modularpeople.com/modcast/55-tanqueray-tom-clean-...

Resident Advisor set from Johnno Burgess - http://www.residentadvisor.net/podcast-episode.aspx?id=131

RA set from Greg Wilson - http://www.residentadvisor.net/podcast-episode.aspx?id=119

RA set from Discobloodbath - http://www.residentadvisor.net/podcast-episode.aspx?id=139
Gross generalisation though any such attempt at a single word summary is, I'd say that's nonetheless pretty true at least from the Perl side of things - the 21st century landscape of both the perl5 and perl6 communities is very much about people who consider themselves "Just Another Perl Hacker" - in that while we might be proud of our achievements, there's very little arrogance about our code itself. Of course the lack of "wow hey this is awesome look at me" is one of the key things leading us to need to learn more marketing as a community, but I'll take quiet pragmatism over loud arrogance any day as the primary mindset of the authors of the things I'm depending on in production.
You never know what could happen: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1483343
The anser to the FAQ "Will this harm birds or bats?" was obviously crafted with the careful help of a PR and Legal team. :-p

http://www.makanipower.com/faq/faq/#2
Funny YouTube Video
Exactly. If he had been off the drugs for, say, a year, instead of just a month, then his argument would be a lot more convincing.
Ask HN: Need more job. Front-end developer and themer.
Hello there.
Hope this is right place to ask for new job.
I am Russian freelancer and I'm searching for front-end and design work. Can do clean markup and Wordpress/Drupal/Radiant/SilverStripe/etc. themes from your design mockups.

Some of works was done with my design:
http://weonline.in
http://bluecollarcomp.com
http://belitsky.info/works-ru/sobranie.html
http://akcenty.ru/
http://belitsky.info

And some of markup and development works (from others designers mockups):
http://problem.la
http://trails.es
http://waynemarshall.com
http://brownsbay.school.nz
http://hungryhearts.no
http://www.forexcharts.net
http://www.forexindicators.net

Thanks for watching and don't hesitate to write me:
dmitry.belitsky@gmail.com
ISS tour [video]
Usually, the problem for freelancers isn't the actual development part of the job; it's personal/job/client management.

You need to be very disciplined:
1.) Know how to create/hit your goals & estimates
2.) Know when/how to say NO
3.) How to cover-your-ass, etc.

If you can do that, and you're half-decent at the development (and finding development talent you lack), you'll be better than the majority of people out there.
My droid is rather awsome in this regard. But haven't tried any iphone for this.

I am wondering why you say decided that the antennae was of too low quality? I am curious why you think this is an antenna issue?

Also as another poster said, it can be an application issue.
True GPS was definitely turned on. Motion X doesn't tell you how many satellites it's tracking, but handy runner was tracking 6 at the time (iPhone4 vs N1), and MotionX was showing an acquired signal so it must have been tracking at least three. I also tried to hold the phone as loosely as possible (although I doubt this made a difference).

There is a comment above on Apple choosing a lower sampling rate in exchange for better battery life. I think this is probably right on. Most users will only be using the GPS to mark driving directions or to record something like running. In these cases the GPS is definitely good enough (you're just hugging streets anyway). Unfortunately, it's not good enough for me : ).

I would definitely be more than willing to run more tests or try different programs if people throw out ideas.
Absolutely, but my point is that Facebook didn't start out to be a MySpace killer. It was started as a niche product that grew into a MySpace killer.
Iphone 4 Fun
What if without the drugs he would have produced more and/or higher quality results? His contribution to mathematics might have been greater still. We don't know that he did as well as he did because of the drugs instead of in spite of the drugs.
Further reading from press covering TEDGlobal:

Forbes:
http://blogs.forbes.com/firewall/2010/07/16/julien-assange-o...

CNN.com: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/07/16/wikileaks.disclosures

Design Mind:
http://designmind.frogdesign.com/blog/julian-assange-of-wiki...
> Second, you can't really cheat your biology in the long run, because your brain will always compensate for any psychoactive drug you consume.

I don't know, if that's true in general. I know that I can seriously harm myself using lots of stuff --- so why shouldn't the other way be possible as well? (I don't claim that anybody knows how to achieve the positive outcome.)
But there are people or enterprises profiting in piracy. Go to The Pirate Bay and type in anything and click on the search result. Heck, even go to the splash page. There are ads.

The songs and films and software on The Pirate Bay aren't funding the corporations or artists with the copyrights, but they are funding the revenue stream of TPB itself.
That position is a reasonable one and I respect it, but I disagree. Necessity is the mother of invention, and technology is usually developed in response to need. Thus, "don't expand until the technology is there" is a bit of a catch-22: Population growth will drive demand and funding for new ways to solve the challenges that come with it.

Also, population 600 billion doesn't happen overnight - we're almost certainly in good shape for the next 50-100 years, I'd argue the decline in population in some Western countries is a much greater threat to prosperity, health, and happiness than any increase in population could be.
No doubt, one doesn't get to that age feeling fine without staying quite active mentally and physically.
Have you seen Swype yet? You might like it(;

http://gizmodo.com/5411779/swype-vs-qwerty-fight
I did a follow up story ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rndTuXG51kI
Indeed, and each will be selling such technology to other governments eventually.
May be a good idea to register 100memories.com and redirect, that's an easy typo to make.

Do you have a plan to handle fraudulent submissions? I assume there's nothing to prevent me from posting any memorial I want. Could be a problem if it gets indexed quickly.
Yes. But the resources invested were enormous. Would it be cheaper today?
http://www.streamingsoundtracks.com/

Movie and Video Game OSTs radio station with a HUGE rotation. Usually get in the zone quite fast when listening to it, but I could see it being a bit distracting for other people. YMMV.
Not exactly on-topic, but can you share what you're working on that needs that kind of accuracy? I'm awfully curious. :)
I think that people blow it out of proportion, but the primary language choice (and I do mean the language they use when they can chose) of a developer does imply something, however small.

Assembly programming is different enough to Ruby programming that it does imply something about a person that prefers working in either the former or latter environment.

However, the reason I agree with you and upvoted you is that Ruby, Python and Perl are so similar in mindset that anything you might learn from those choices is basically lost in the noise. It's like trying to figure out what a person's choice of colour of parachute means... which is silly, but the fact that he or she skydives does mean something.
Somewhat unrelated to the original article, but: I got great results with GPS on my droid in north Florida, but I recently moved to Seattle and the performance decreased. It takes me 2-3 times longer to get a GPS fix, and it's often off by as much as a block. Could it be the latitude?
Heh, I felt the same way when I woke up this morning, but it was about the movie. I always wake up in a pissy mood and this time I was lashing out on inception, which, boiled down, is an absurd story of boys playing make believe in a dream and having delusions of grandure.

However, I'm in a better mood now and the movie is still wonderfully entertaining.
Apple ranks #1 in reported vulnerabilities so far this year
Computer Virus phone scam
There! That should silence people who still think that the moon landing was a US fabrication, done in a studio. You'd be amazed at the number of such people; ask during lunch, chances are one of your colleagues will be one of them. Of course, if your mind is that warped, you can argue that these photos are also manufactured by them (the government, CIA, NSA, a conglomerate of rich companies out to dominate the world, etc. take your pick).
Go for it. Just make sure and use Facebook Connect for auth.
> the top 1% of earners were daemonized by then VP Gore

He set them to run in the background and wake up periodically?
I congratulate you to your cunning grandmother! It's good to hear that she keeps up.

Anyway, "something not impossible to master" might not be necessarily optimal. In your scenario of browser usage the mouse adds an unneeded layour of complexity in terms of usability.

Whilst human beings are normally used to interact with their hands directly, sometimes they were apt enough to design tools when their hands just weren't enough. With hands you can't make a fire. With hands you can't dig up a field.

What you can do with your hands is push a button or a link. There's no need for an abstracted tool. The mouse provides nothing a single touch wouldn't. The mouse just provides clutter.

Still, I'm glad for your grandmother to have mastered it though. Whatever works to make people happy. Personally, I also have a mouse on my workstation, but I'm an edge case^
Recruiting startup engineers
I found this interview pretty engaging. Particularly, Gates insistance on the fact that technology companies can't become complacent. Despite Charley's focus on Microsoft's successes, Gates never once gives any indication that things will always be that way, and shows that a company could easily come in and change the landscape, just as Microsoft did with IBM.

Looking back at this now, its interesting to note how he never mentioned 'search' as a type of company that could derive significant revenue from an advertising based business model on the internet. In fact, at no point during this interview did he discuss internet search. It was exactly this oversight by Microsoft and the wider technology industry that paved the way for Google.
Ask HN: My iPhone game is out.  Now what?
My first game came out yesterday. I submitted it for review at 34 different sites. I sent out an announcement email to a list of people who requested to be informed about the game. The game's artist posted an announcement on her blog. I submitted a Lite version of the app yesterday.

Is there anything else I can do? I feel like I have exhausted my free options. Advertising is a possibility but I only want to spend money earned from the game on advertising. AppCircle is probably out given my game is $.99 and they charge $.75 per install.

Any advice based on your own experience is appreciated.
Is the sRGB-to-linear transformation actually done in the GPU's texturing hardware? nVidia's PTX ISA at least doesn't expose any sRGB-specific sampling opcodes.
is that how it went, or did they build a superior product that they first launched to a niche?
How is this an unfair attack? It is not an attack at all, it is simple physics. All phones have this problem, the media are focusing on just one phone, because it is more newsworthy. Apple are saying it is a problem with most phones out there, the iPhone is no different. You really see that as an attack.
Well, this made my day way more depressing.

I'm probably one of the flamier liberals here on HNN, but I have to agree with this one - I landlorded for a short time before realizing it's not easy money, and one of my tenants was a nice young lady on Section 8. Before she moved on, she (or her live-in boyfriend) left holes in the walls, the garden shed literally stuffed full of trash, the carpets full of fleas and a big hole in the yard from the dog not permitted in the lease, dirt ground into the kitchen floor that took me a day and a half to scrub out (like, bus-station-level gum), and a street full of really, really pissed neighbors.

Poverty is endemic, and Section 8 doesn't help, even though I really wish it did. However, eliminating Section 8 won't help, either, I suspect.

I wish I knew an answer.
Niche social networks are dead. People are fatigued by the idea of a social network. The word itself makes me pretty much want to puke. Social is the web now; its a fluid idea. What do you want your product to do? to achieve? How is this going to make my life easier, better, more fun? Even if it is all about my profile and moments - how is it better?
BTW, for those who are curious... the game is called Just 1 Level (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/just-1-level/id356619631?mt=8) and its a puzzle/arcade game.
I recommend these videos by Dr. Robert Zubrin and Jeff Greason for some context: http://www.youtube.com/user/spacevidcast#p/search/7/d9J7Hgnx... http://www.xcor.com/video/isdc.html

Essentially, NASA has lacked any concrete direction since the 70s, and projects like Constellation are stupid because they waste a lot of NASA money on developing NASA's own launch capacity. When NASA should just buy (or pay to upgrade) existing capacity such as the Delta IV Heavy or Falcon 9 to fit its needs.

Most importantly, with development of launch capacity moved out of NASA, NASA will have to specify the ends, not the means. Being the party that sets the budget, makes the design, and implements the design is a very bad position to be in.
I've thought that about my years in parochial schools. They're like training grounds or boot camp. Kids tend to either get molded into docile worker bees, or develop a skewed sense of humor and the mental wherewithal to get over without getting kicked out.
There was some prominent economist (Greenspan? Krugman?) who agreed with you, and blamed the recent string of bubbles on a "global savings glut", caused mainly by Asian development and the high savings rates of the newly-wealthy Asian middle class.

Anyway, I think there's a lot of truth to that, but you've got to work with the zeitgeist you're given. When the financial industry is large, index funds perform well relative to actively managing your own money. They may still perform poorly on an absolute scale. When capital is abundant, rates of return for everything go down.

You could also broaden things a bit to look at the economy as a whole. One of the reasons I'm interested in entrepreneurship is that capital is abundant, labor is abundant, and so logically the scarce resource would be their complement: innovation. You'd expect rates of return for entrepreneurship to skyrocket in a low-capital-cost, low-labor-cost environment like today. Which seems to be the case. Innovation has a high barrier to entry though: you need to have the skills and foresight to make something happen that wouldn't otherwise happen. It seems, perhaps, that the best rates of return come from investing in education in a narrow field of specialty that's broadly applicable to many emerging technologies.
Cleve Baxter did a lot of research on this, and his experiments were even featured on an episode of myth busters. His research indicated that plants can sense a humans intentions. He figured this out by attaching polygraphs to plants and then directing negative thoughts towards the plant (cutting, burning etc.). The polygraph then went haywire, but when he thought nice things about the plant the polygraph stayed normal.
What apps have whitegloveapps made? Didn't see any links on the website.
yes, that is what I meant, though at the same time, the confusion in technology I think further proves the point.
Oh come on. Why are we still building technology that further isolates us from each other? You need facial recognition in a store to offer a customer rewards? Why can't you just remember your damn customers, person to person? Why must EVERYTHING be automated by computers?

Further isolating us from each other and making us all less familiar with each other is what causes us to divide, and then it leads to people not understanding each other anymore. We all know where that gets us.

From a scientific and engineering perspective, this stuff is great, but I don't think it's actually going to make our lives better.