skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I just used ChipIn for the first time last week. A friend was sick and a bunch of us chipped in to help cover medical bills.

It's really a great service. I'm surprised that they've been around for over two years without getting more attention.
Hopefully I have understood your request enough to give you a suggestion - How about something like Technorati? It provides a ranking system, You can look up blogs by category and maybe take the lower ranking ones to establish the "long tail"?

I hope that answers your question to some degree.
Dell D830 with the WUXGA 1920x1200 screen rez.

Very cool. Ubuntu 8.04 works like a charm.
I've been waiting for someone to link to this guy. check out the archives, lots of food for thought.
"It's like being a toddler trying to bang differently shaped block into the holes of an educational toy."

Toddler is the level 1 of any discipline... Isn't it grand that we can enjoy the experience of being a toddler multiple times in our life?
I believe he was referring to use of .append by the author. You defined it the way he recommends, which has the desired behavior.
tar, scp, ssh, (un)tar (whaddya mean it's not a process? it's got all of four steps in it! ^^)
Know Your Playing Field: The Real Top 100 Domains
one problem with this method, is that your web directory will have all of the .svn folders sprinkled throughout your subfolders. svn export avoids this issue.
Is there an RSS feed for the site?
Classic. The guy behind Omnidrive's inability to stay functional is claiming to have a clue about twitter's scaling issues without interviewing anyone on the team? Isn't that like asking George W. Bush to write the handbook on Mideast Diplomacy?
Bootcamp upgrades are not free. I have the old bootcamp, but want the new one. Why should we pay for driver upgrades? It goes against my philosophies.

Apple is the only computer maker with that wierd layout. All others are sane.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/HackerWatrCoolr
Probably because not everyone loses their mind when Twitter goes down. I mean in my respect, I've almost entirely abandoned my blog in favor of Twitter, but when it goes down I wait just like everyone else. Maybe play some Guitar Hero, maybe read a book.
Slugging to Work: Anonymous Ride-Sharing
That's a well written post IMO.
I'm sure by now the Twitter team must be very aware of what their bottlenecks are. I don't know what the typical user Twitter user does. I personally send 1-5 messages per day but refresh the web timeline all the time. If most people are like me, then I would want to keep the last 24-48 hours worth of messages in memory. This shouldn't be a problem, as we are talking about 1M messages times 200 bytes or so, uncompressed.

In order to generate a page, you'd need a "follow" matrix. Given a user, you want to know who this person is following and pick up enough recent messages to generate a page view from the memory table above. This "follow" matrix would be relatively sparse (I imagine). It must be persisted often but given that it's queried all the time it would have to be in memory as well, at least partially. Assuming that Twitter has 2M users and the average user follow 40 people (wild guess), the entire matrix would take up 80M ids (a few hundred megabytes in a hashmap or something).

Also, I'd cache personal timeline requests for a minute or so, to avoid being killed by people hitting Ctrl-F5.

Of course the devil is in the details. All that information needs to be persisted and crash-recoverable. For the numbers above everything might work on a single beefy server but probably not for long, so the system has to distributable.

It's not an easy problem, but a competent team should be able to solve it (perhaps not in the most elegant and cleanly documented way) in a matter of weeks given the right motivation. Getting the system to be stable enough for production would be a different matter.
Are you the customer?
Why, it tells us all sorts of important things, like that the author does consulting work, but doesn't like it, but apparently it pays money, so that's okay!

It also provides some handy bullet-point tips on successful consulting as copied from some other article. They include such gems as "Charge by the Hour" and "Network".

Oh, and it has a pretty, if somewhat unrelated, picture in the middle, which makes it look a bit like joelonsoftware and thus totally buys it some credibility, in my book.
PersistJS: Cross Browser Client-Side Persistent Storage Without Cookies
Note the p.p.s.
Founders at Work, page 250:

In the end of '97, I was approached by some volunteers, and they said, "Hey, let's run craigslist and see if we can run a nonprofit." To make a long, painful story short, that effort failed. I kind of knew it was failing, probably midway through 1998, but I was in denial. A couple of our biggest job posters took me out for lunch and said, "Hey, this isn't working. Get real and make this more serious." It took me a couple months, but I got out of denial, made craigslist into a real company--got off to an OK start. But again, it wasn't until Jim became management that we got good.
Russell Hadley: The Route to C++ Code Optimization
Still doesn't deal well with eval'd code (though I'm not surprised).
Fair point, GavinB. If you defined "efficiency" in terms of achieving the most benefit from an eyeball using the fewest computations, then I'm not sure whether a Bayesian superintelligence could approach "efficiency". Maybe the theoretically optimal program to run on the eyeball's input, would itself require exponentially vast brainpower to calculate!

But I would concede a much higher chance that a Bayesian superintelligence could get bored at exactly the right time, than that it could simulate all possible universes.
Adam has explained to me why their approach was different from Hecl, but I won't attempt to reproduce that explanation, since I don't actually know what Hecl or Tsumobi are all about. I have vague notions, and when I'm actually talking to Adam or Josh about it it all makes beautiful sense...but then they stop talking, the fog returns, and I have no idea what it is they're building.

What I'm saying is, they're really smart guys working in a field that I know almost nothing about, and doing work that walks a razor fine line between "research" and "product". Thus, one of their biggest problems in reaching a market, reaching investors, or reaching developers, is making what they're working on into a concrete solution to a real-world problem that everyone (or at least their customers) can understand quickly. I think they'd be a bargain for anyone that hired them (either by investing in them or acquiring Tsumobi) because they are extremely smart kids with huge ideas, but I'm not sure how many people will see that based on what they're building.

And, while I'm pontificating, I don't think I'd be crazy to suggest that the best thing they could do would be to get their current code into the hands of some customers--even just a few. Because nothing guides you to providing value like having customers. And the more they pay (or the more ownership they have, if it's an Open Source project), the more value they demand...and that's a good thing when it comes to finding a need and filling it.
Canadian space agency puts out call for astronauts
Not surprising; I'm guilty of this, too. It's mostly because I can no longer figure out what the long white boxes at the top of my web browser do.

For example, with FF3b5, if I type "google" in the URL box, it shows me google.com search results for the string "google". But if I type in "amazon", it goes straight to <http://www.amazon.com>. What's the pattern? I have no idea.

(Reads the docs...) Apparently the URL bar first goes to a "keyword search service" (default, google), which will automatically redirect, or show search results. If you disable this, it does "domain guessing" (adding ".com", etc.).

Geez, I'm a web developer, and I had to read the docs to find out what the URL box does these days. I feel old.
A separate SVN checkout (with Tortoise), then WinSCP. Surprisingly, you can use WinSCP very well with scripting. Could also make a backup in the same script but didn't yet.
The same setup for getting down the database from the production to the development machines.

It's not very professional, but for our needs it's perfect.
> Assuming that Twitter has 2M users

Crazy as it sounds, Twitter is far from that popular. It has mindshare in the tech sector, but is for from widely adopted.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/summize_twitter_trends....

There are a couple hundred thousand active users per week. It's probably close to that per day, but still only a couple hundred thousand.
Comments with 1 point or fewer are rendered in progressively grayer text, presumably to make them easier to filter out visually.
What Happened to the Microformats Support in Firefox 3?
Try archlinux. It's in the middle.
When a Smalltalk image saves, it's very analogous to a Windows or Linux box hibernating. The upshot of this -- you can think of the Smalltalk image as something like an OS that has been "up" since 1980! (With periods of hibernation.) The Squeak image is directly derived from the Smalltalk-80 image. The VisualWorks image has been incrementally evolved from it as well. The thing is a program that was brought up decades ago, and has hibernated, been replicated, but has never rebooted!

Steve is right that systems should never have to boot. You can have a whole OS that operates like that. (The Smalltalk image started out as an OS. In the original ST-80 image, there are 4 primitives for moving the drive head out, moving it in, lifting it off the platter, and putting it down!)
That sounds about right. But, from an architecture standpoint intelligent cashing is more important than keeping an entire table in memory.
great post, Basically put up or shut up! (code that is) ... I hope they get resumes from the post of people who can help.

- Re-writing their whole system incrementally will be expensive; I think they might need google money and brains to complete the whole thing... or a lot more than 15mm.
Twitter refuses to uphold Terms of Service
Can slackers go corporate?
A few weeks? Really? I don't believe that, but it's really a moot point until they hire more people.

I thought of a couple other technical points that I'd like an informed opinion on. What should their permanent data store look like? Nik, in the TC comments, says a custom built BigTable or sets of SQLite. Those things are interchangeable now?

And what are best practices for upgrading their infrastructure. I was at MasterCard when they switched data centers and the switch was seamless. Of course that required a completely new set of hardware, not rushing servers to the new building in shopping carts.

Pretty much everyone I can think of who's seen these types of problems works in the financial services industry.
Markets Make a U-turn...
Is the run towards safe-haven assets over? Major threats to financial markets certainly haven’t disappeared overnight. But it appears as though risk-appetite has returned that quickly. Of course, it can also vanish just as quickly. Either way it’s still something that needs to be monitored.

And while risky plays have drifted higher, the biggest talk has been of the U.S. dollar’s rise over the last two weeks after stabilizing above all-time lows. We have to wonder whether the buck is carving out a notable bottom. We’ve wondered that same thing many times over the last year of the dollar’s bear market. And each time the dollar’s brief rally was quickly squashed.

But there’s always something new to consider. Below are three charts that make us want say “It’s different this time.”

Read the remaining of this article right here:

http://blogs.moneyandmarkets.com/blog/currency-corner
Well, yes, they are not a non-profit but actually tried running the organization as a non-profit at one point. Craig Newmark mentioned that it was a bad idea but didn't explicitly give the reasons why. That's what I was alluding to. I should have been clearer, but thanks for your comment.
Yeah, I'm in the same (weird) boat. I've been using Linux as my primary OS for so many years (about 10, now) that a Windows or Mac machine feels hopelessly short of applications to me. I know the reality is the opposite...it's just that when I think, "I need to draw a new icon", I don't think "open Illustrator", I think "open Inkscape", and almost every "I need to..." thought involves the command line (because I work faster there, mostly), and Mac OS X and Windows are hopelessly baroque when it comes to the command line.

Then again, these days, I use so few "Linux only" applications that it would probably be easier than ever to switch. My "regular usage" list is: vim, Firefox, Thunderbird, Perl, bash (and all of the GNU tools, like sed, grep, find, locate, awk, etc.), GIMP, Inkscape, VNC, KVM. But I'd still have to have Linux boxes or virtual machines around, because I need build environments for a dozen or so Linux distributions. And bash and the GNU tools are so vital to my workflow that I'd be suffering a lot of the time.

So, I've considered getting a Mac so that I'd be surrounded by great design (I'm becoming more of a designer and usability guy within my company every day, and my design sense is still woefully inadequate for the job, and I've read on numerous occasions and from numerous sources that one great technique for improving is to surround yourself with great design), but it'd certainly be painful.

Also, middle-mouse-button paste is vital to my happiness, and neither Mac OSX nor Windows has it.
Get Ready for Phase II of the Greatest Commodities Bull Market, Ever!
Yes, that’s right. That’s what I’m forecasting. Phase II of the natural resource and commodity boom is about to begin. And it will be the most powerful surge higher yet.

How do I know? I won’t go into all the details of my trading and forecasting models, but I will support this with a fundamental argument that I think every investor should be thinking about right now. Hardly anyone is talking about it, which makes it even that much more significant.

Let me pose it in terms of two scenarios and a couple of questions.

First, suppose, just for a moment, that the U.S. economy does not slump as badly as most expect, and instead, actually picks up some steam going ahead. Since Asian economies are still largely firing away on 12-cylinders, what to you think would happen to global growth -- and hence the natural resource markets -- if the U.S. economy springs back, even if it does so just slightly?

Demand for natural resources will go through the freaking roof, and natural resource prices along with it.

Now suppose that the U.S. economy instead of bouncing back, slumps even more. The Fed and Bernanke will print even more money, weakening the dollar even more.

What do you think would happen under that scenario? Inflation will pick up an even greater head of steam, and natural resource prices will take off yet again.

Sound like a “win-win” situation for the natural resource markets? It does to me!
Washigton Post: Prices rising so quickly that gas pumps can't keep up
The Bureau of Labor Statistics told us the other day that gas prices are down. The Fed has been blathering on for months about how inflation is "contained." Unfortunately, here in RealityLand, that doesn't fly. In fact, there's a great story in the Washington Post today about how gas prices are rising so quickly that some older gas stations with analog pricing mechanisms can't keep up anymore. The little pricing wheels stop at "$3.99." Here's an excerpt ...

"Like a lot of small-scale entrepreneurs, Cathy Osborne worries that she'll go out of business if fuel prices rise above $4 a gallon. Not because she won't be able to buy gas at that price, but because she won't be able to sell it.

"The old mechanical gas pumps with scrolling dials at her country store in Fauquier County lack the gears to go beyond $3.99 a gallon. State inspectors shut down her diesel pump several months ago when the fuel topped the $4 mark, so now all that's left are two pumps dispensing 87-octane gasoline, set at $3.75 -- and climbing.

"I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't have $30,000 to invest in new pumps, and I'm barely skipping by," said Osborne, who owns the Orlean Market and Restaurant, a store dating from 1892 with horse-country views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and miles of rolling Virginia Piedmont.

"Osborne said she doesn't make money on fuel sales, but the pumps are a big draw for the hay farmers and cattlemen who gas up their tractors and take their morning coffee in her store. The next-closest service station is a 40-minute round-trip drive to Warrenton, and in Orlean, Osborne's barbecue sandwiches and Amish-baked cherry pie face no competition."

Meanwhile, regarding my last post about inflation expectations, the Fed has said repeatedly that it closely monitors them. Official after official has come out and said that rising inflation expectations would be a real problem. One example: Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said earlier this week that "any increase in inflation expectations would pose an important risk to the achievement of price stability."

Well, 1-year forward inflation expectations are now at the highest level since February 1982. Five-year forward expectations are the worst since August 1996. The federal funds rate was 15% and 5.25%, respectively, at those times. So I'm sure any minute now, we'll hear an announcement about an emergency Fed conference call and subsequent rate hike. Yeah, right. More than likely, the Fed will continue to maintain its "all hat, no cattle" approach to fighting inflation.
Even better is a Thinkpad running some flavor of GNU/Linux. They're well supported because well, frankly, they're incredible machines and hackers everywhere love them.
Nicely written. The authors of nearly all the myriad "how to fix twitter" posts I've read have trivialized scaling a site that has different properties from most online services. Scaling anything to twitter-like traffic levels is hard, and you won't know exactly why it's hard until you do it. I'm deeply skeptical of any armchair architect who says otherwise.
Why Market Dips Don't Bother Me Much...
Look, I don't want to downplay what's happening right now. I'm as mad about the way the government is handling this credit mess as anyone. I hate the fact that savers and investors are seeing lower and lower returns on their investments while greedy real estate speculators and financial bigwigs are getting bailed out at the taxpayer's expense.

However, I also like to keep things in perspective. So depsite the stock market's crazy gyrations, I'm just not that worried. I continue to suggest buying and holding stocks, particularly those that pay dividends.

In fact, I think dividend investors, especially those of you participating in DRIPs and other dollar-cost averaging strategies, should feel just fine right now.

Consider this study that I originally did for my book, The Standard and Poor's Guide for the New Investor...

Assume for a moment that it was possible to buy an index fund of the Dow back in the 1930s. And pretend that you began investing $100 into that index fund every month, starting on October 31, 1929. You continue this strategy for the next decade.

Well, at the end of 10 years, the Dow is DOWN 46%. That's one of the worst periods for stocks you can possibly imagine. However, over the same time, your overall investment is actually UP 5%!

How can that be? Because you were buying equal dollar amounts throughout the turmoil. And that means you were getting more of the index when it was low, and less when it was high. You were making friends with the volatility!

So, sit back and relax. Keep saving and investing. Plow your dividends into more shares. And see how far ahead you are ten years from now!

Thanks,

http://blogs.moneyandmarkets.com/blog/the-dividend-superstars-blog
Very cool. It would be nice if clicking on the arc pulled up the data of both connecting cities. Getting things oriented just so is a bit tricky as it stands.
For Some Startups, Blog Coverage Really Matters
The post says little that's specific. What it does say - our problem is different, it's hard, we're making progress - might all be true, but these are also the kinds of things people say when a software project is in trouble. It's hard to tell anything at all from reading the post.
Sino-Global IPO...
A very exciting Chinese company is set to go public this week: Sino-Global, a non-state-owned shipping agency operating in China.

Sino-Global was founded in 2001 with a mission to provide high-quality shipping agent services that reduce clients’costs and simplify the shipping process. Historically, China’s shipping industry has been dominated by two large, state-owned companies.

China opened the shipping agency industry to private competition in 2003, and in 2006, these two state-owned companies controlled approximately 85% of the market share. The other 15% market share is divided among a highly fragmented group of over 1,400 agencies that operate throughout China’s 76 complicated and unique ports. Last year, Sino-Global serviced more than 185 ships from countries such as Greece, Italy, HK, Australia, Switzerland, Norway, USA, Thailand and South Korea.

Thanks,

http://blogs.moneyandmarkets.com/blog/china-and-asia-stock-alert
From the p.p.s: "Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.”"

Isn't this a recursive statement?
I'm not sure if things may have been different with PyQt3, but the current version requires you to buy a PyQt license (~$700 USD) in addition to a full Qt license from TrollTech.

http://www.riverbankcomputing.com/commercial/buy
ScribbleLive: Two Guys In Canada Launch Sweet Liveblogging Platform
Absolutely. And in this case, she was discussing an idea and people in one go. I'm of two minds about that...
The challenge becomes when the client/consulting work overtakes the time one can spend on the startups. Truly, if there is no outside investment, this is hard to do as a labor of love on the side. It's possible, but that much more likely to fail. Just my opinion.

You hear about these types of scenarios in the entertainment business as inspirational anecdotes. But, it's like winning the lottery. Less than 1% of 1% may make it. Doesn't mean you shouldn't try!
Seeing as how no one remembers domain names and just googles for it all the time, I don't see any problem with them.

I don't like fooapp.com cause non-web app people don't call it an "app".

Campfirenow.com is a really good one. backpackit.com isn't so much cause "it" doesn't relate to backpack very well, I don't think.
CampaignMonitor.com is outstanding unless you're doing high volume/spammy stuff.

I'm concerned that you say "potential customers". Where are you getting the list of people/emails?
Interview: Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu
Mozilla Firefox 3.1 Coming This Year
Fair question! I won't be mailing anyone that doesn't give me permission...my application will require people to login and give me permission to email them...after I do that, they may or may not become customers. But I won't message anyone that doesn't opt-in!
Oh, "The Economist"...how will I ever live without your sweeping and useless generalizations?
I am sure MA's account will be the first one that will be moving into the new reliable architecture :)
Blogging Horror
a couple other things: look for a full complement Control, Alt, Option keys on the right side of keyboard. Very important for a lotta editors, emacs, textmate.

off-topic, but i've never seen this discussed anywhere. TO dual head my toshiba laptop with ubuntu Gutsy, I choose gutsy in grub with external monitor disconnected, then plug it in about 4 seconds later. It works, no nasty xorg.conf to edit.