skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
My guess is that the West is trying to copy the East(China), and by that I mean that we are gonna see the rise of extremist governments that will pass as an answer to extremist groups but whose real interest
lies in the ultra-efficient "social"-capitalism that China perfected.
The tighter your grasp over people lives, the easier is is to have them buy stupid shit all the time and keep the wheels moving.
And there we go again, till everyone is repressed enough that innovation will once again be a luxury of crazy people.
Social and economical changes are usually the work of people that fail fast, move fast and break things.
"make something people want" would work if people actually knew what they wanted, but most people have no idea about what their priorities are, so "make something people will get addicted to" works a lot better.
Mozilla owns Pocket...
Hm, those are actually pretty good points. I stand corrected.
Apparently, there wasn't even any payment involved, which is probably even worse, since it's pushback for nothing.
He had only been CEO for two weeks. Three board members quit before he started, likely due to the fact that they wanted to hire an outside person to help revamp the company. I don't think his short tenure is the real reason Mozilla has been falling from grace.
Not too well, last time I looked. And my irrational distaste for its Chromium heritage.

But probably time to take another peek.
Anil Dash thinks that "Trumpists" support terrorist violence against Muslims:

https://twitter.com/anildash/status/942040324645572609

As a Trump supporter, I feel that Anil Dash has placed my life in danger.
It's funny how everyone is deeply concerned about due process of law when it comes to celebrities, the very wealthy, and cops.

I'd like to see some of these people getting on their high horse go to down to their local criminal part and see how they justice system they are so proud of actually works for people that aren't in one of those categories.

It is better that everyone be subject to the same system, even if that system is unjust, than for there to be two justice systems. Otherwise how the worse one ever going to get better?
I think this is a poorly written rant on an albeit important issue. Content providers should also abide by some net neutrality rules, such as not censoring speech or websites, or content in general. They should also pay for the bandwidth they use. I think Google, Facebook, and Netflix do not support net neutrality out of altruism, but out of a business need. It's important we keep that in perspective.
PATCH is not idempotent.

Source: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5789#section-2
No, people are just lazy. It's not like people don't mix up the two in other regions.
Certainly more so than Pale Moon.
> Is there a superset of Common Lisp and Erlang?

http://lfe.io :)
> pretty ethical by Uber standards

Well ... guess that's why the phrase "damning with faint praise" exists ...
Vanadium electrolyte batteries are a mature technology. Vanadium is plentiful, cheap and (comparatively) non-toxic, and an accumulator can be built arbitrarily large (just add another electrolyte tank). The disadvantage is the energy density, but for grid storage other considerations, such as long-term stability) are more important.

Whoever wants to sell you lithium accumulators for grid storage probably owns a lithium battery factory.
Both userChrome and userContent work just fine on ff57(+). I'm using both right now with the nightly build. What are you having issues with?
So, you know, basically the same as every other open source project in existence, from Wikipedia to Linux, the countless distros and Linux desktops to Krita, GIMP and Blender.

Completely Impossible /s
It's the weekend. Execs don't work on weekends.
Teaching became more open to women as men were killed in war.
Also the coarseness of sandpaper.
The Pentagon’s Secret Search for UFOs
> mechanism for wealth destruction

Well, that's never going to be popular, to the extent that all lobbying is going to be diverted to making sure that it's not your wealth that gets destroyed. Have you seen how unpopular even tiny amounts of inflation are?

Getting wealth redistribution would be a start.
Only the unattractive are sex predators /s
By it not actually being a privacy-concern and the "shitstorms" frankly being tiny. These are completely isolated to HN, Reddit, Slashdot and the like. No serious journalist is going to report on it, because doing even the tiniest bit of research shows you that there's nothing to report on. As such, the shitstorm is never going to reach roundabout 99% of their users.
I have no idea why an American should care one iota about some abstruse ethnic conflict literally on the other side of the world. You are spectacularly unlikely to be able to figure out based on thirdhand reporting who is metaphysically in the right, if there is such a party, and almost anything you do is likely to make the situation worse.
Dared to be a bigot. How brave.
The problem is that this 'genocide' hasn't been verified to be true. Survivors describe atrocities, yet none are verified by any sort of observer or independent source. The Rohingya have been waging jihad on Myanmar for 60 years, having initially tried to annex Rakhine state to join then East Pakistan, and have been involved in attacking Burmese civilians as well as police recently.

To start a large scale conflict and intervene in Myanmar, some sort of actual proof of genocide should be necessary, no? Every news outlet just plays a merry go round of citing unverified reports and then each other, and no one questions it?

Edit - also, the Rohingya have absolutely no motive to lie, right? Not like they've been involved in a jihad and insurrection for 60 years, right? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohingya_insurgency_in_Weste...
Or go Pale Moon, as it forked off from around that point but has gotten security fixes etc.
There was the Swedish solution (pushed during the crisis as I recall by Krugman among others): nationalize the failed institutions, with an eye to spinning them back off after the crisis had passed. That would have wiped out the shareholders, including employees with stock holdings, and caused losses on bonds, but would have kept the institutions running on a go forward basis in order to continue to provide financial services to the real economy.
> I'm sure people would give something if Mozilla asked--kind of like Wikipedia do it with a message on their site.

They do ask, I have a Mozilla request for donations today on FF57's about:newtab, yes every time I open a a new tab.

There is a blue button to 'make a donation' once I have selected the appropriate amount ( 50, 25, 10 or 3 Euros ). Apparently this goes towards protecting my privacy on the Internet.

There is no button to say 'no thanks' or 'already did' or 'that's a bit hypocritical given your latest stunt'
Chrome may be what you described, but Chromium is pretty reasonable.
Well, I don't think the add-on promotion/spam was funding the expenses of the whole corporation. Perhaps they can augment their business model with donations instead of crazy initiatives that alienate their users?

I also wonder if--once they figure out what percentage of users donates--donations couldn't be predictable.

By basing their business model on donations (at least in part), their focus would shift to getting more users (or making existing users like them more), which would in turn mean creating a better product. I don't see how that would not be a huge gain for everyone.

DISCLAIMER: I have never run a corporation though, so I have no idea :-)
somehow it feels way bigger deal if my car is bricked.
> He’s specifically calling out the goal of reducing tunneling costs by accelerating the TBM.

IDK, if they can make a boring machine that is faster and more efficient than the ones used on projects that achieved the cost/km they are shooting for I really don't see the problem.

An automated (less labor), faster (less labor over the life of the project), smaller bore (less cost per mile) and more efficient (less cost per mile) machine should reasonably be able to hit the same target current technology already has, no?

I'm also thinking there's probably a lot of low-hanging fruit to be found if one starts fresh instead of having to tie into an existing system or use the 18th century train model.

It's not like shooting rockets to the moon or anything.
That's an interesting thought on home ownership being disrupted.

My vision for the future is that the combination of dropping solar costs, the ability to work remotely, and the high cost of home ownership will open up new areas of land for communities to develop where it was not feasible before.

Combined with other trends like tiny homes, 'van dwelling', etc, it seems to make sense: people want to live high quality lifestyles without the high cost.

I picked up 5 acres in the california desert for a few thousand dollars, I lived there in a trailer for a while and learned a lot - I'm convinced it will become more popular as people start to realize it's doable.
Actually, I looked into it more, in my country, the Netherlands, and over all it is split: 55% individual contributions, 45% business contributions.

Income taxes are just plain income taxes. There are also social security contributions, part of which is paid by the employer. I know it is not necessarily appropriate to say that that is a tax the employer has to pay, but I counted it as such. Transaction taxes, I counted as a "business tax". VAT, I counted as individual taxation, mostly because it is regressive and hits the poor, i.e. non business owners disproportionately.

So my earlier claim was incorrect. It is more of a 50-50 split.

http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/taxation/data/revenue-statistic...
"Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people:

First, there will be those who are devoted to the goals of the organization. Examples are dedicated classroom teachers in an educational bureaucracy, many of the engineers and launch technicians and scientists at NASA, even some agricultural scientists and advisors in the former Soviet Union collective farming administration.

Secondly, there will be those dedicated to the organization itself. Examples are many of the administrators in the education system, many professors of education, many teachers union officials, much of the NASA headquarters staff, etc.

The Iron Law states that in every case the second group will gain and keep control of the organization. It will write the rules, and control promotions within the organization." [0]

[0] https://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/iron.html
Could you please expand those 'good reasons'? I honestly don't see them. I see a world in 2017 where my instant messenger lacks functions I had in ICQ in 2000 (p2p file sharing, for example); I see video conferencing struggle to work which I had in 2007 (p2p skype); I see my browser spying on me and coming with baked in backdoors.
So they get to break the law as much as they want, and it's not going to make a difference.
The fake review problem on Amazon is much bigger than people think. Here are my two anecdotes:

1. I got bluetooth headphones on amazon (~$65). They had great reviews, but were very disappointing. I returned them and gave 2 star review. Representative from the manufacturer contacted me and offered me a pair for free. After I got them, they asked for positive review. I refused. That manipulation technique wasn't enough for them though. They might have merged the listing with some other item. Even though the item was released this year, it has reviews from 2014.

2. When I need a cable or something similar, I go to a page like vipon.com . They offer huge discounts on some items on amazon (sometimes even -80%). They of course "suggest" leaving a review.

The more I look at reviews, the less I trust them. I see similar patterns for most products on amazon.
Urbit Update Release Notes
Most open-source software companies that are profitable rely on a consulting model. They develop and open-source the software, then work with clients to implement, customize and support it for them.

This clearly wouldn’t work for a consumer product like a web browser.
"quantify" and "karma" don't belong in the same sentence.
Does that really matter when that "value" is created by breaking the law?
I remember a video of a guy explaining that the blow that cracks a boulder relies on all the blows that didn't.

Also often the failure in your path come back later if the ideas were right but either unfinished or at the wrong time.
Glass-Steagall prohibited the combination of investment banks and commercial banks. Interestingly enough, during the financial crisis, these combined entities actually fared pretty well. It was the stand alone investment banks that had the most problems and caused the most instability.
I'm not sure depleting their budget would achieve the desired result, but in any case, I don't believe this would make for a very strong case. It doesn't compromise privacy, you're probably already accepting auto-updates, it's just not a way to go about things if you respect your users.
The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program
using Chrome means you've embraced the botnet

and with the browser phoning home constantly, they know which account to associate your browsing behavior with, no account creation required ;)
A closer  Look at  GPus (2008) [pdf]
Lisp programmer here. This seems genuinely useful, in all languages.

Can you describe how you'd do their examples (like "find the word 'remote', but only when used as an identifier") in Lisp?
Wait, just because the old guard is gone, implies that the people there no longer care at all about the original mission? I get where you're coming from, but throwing up ones hands and saying Mozilla is already fucked is not helpful—Mozilla is our best chance at maintaining an open web. If we just roll over and let Google have the web because things aren't perfect then we are well and truly fucked because there's really no question of the agenda there. No, we should be holding their feet to the fire, not giving up in impotent cynicism.
I still don't understand why this is such a big deal - here's what it reads on my `about:studies` page:

looking-glass-2
Active • MY REALITY IS JUST DIFFERENT THAN YOURS.

Looking Glass is a collaboration between Mozilla and the makers of Mr. Robot to provide a shared world experience. Are you a fan of Mr. Robot? If so, join the hunt for answers!

Participating in this shared world experience requires explicit user opt in. If you are not actively participating in the ARG no modifications will be made to firefox.

https://support.mozilla.org/kb/lookingglass

---

Here's more about shield studies: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/shield

It also lists some previous studies that ran on my browser. I have never noticed any of these.
> Their creation had absolutely nothing to do with US military abuses of that sort (which is not the same thing as denying any such abuses took place), that's not even a very good attempt at scapegoating its creation.

Actually, almost all of the ISIS higher-ups were radicalised within a US-run prisoner camp[0][1][2][3][4]. Many of the ISIS milita are US-trained soldiers whose funding got pulled, so of course, they went to the nearest employer.

So yes, it absolutely is because of US abuses. If the US had run the camp correctly, there would have been no opportunity for the prisoners to radicalise one another. If the US had handled withdrawing properly, the militia wouldn't have gone to ISIS. Sure, it's not 100% the fault of the US, but to say that it has nothing to do with the US is just plain ignorant.

[0]: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/11/-sp-isis-the-i...

[1]: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/camp-buc...

[2]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/11/0...

[3]: https://nypost.com/2015/05/30/how-the-us-created-the-camp-wh...

[4]: https://www.unilad.co.uk/news/how-a-u-s-prison-camp-in-iraq-...
I think what these eastern European countries want is precisely for Germany to stay out of their business. Ex, on immigration policy is just one example.

What is the solution that has germany completely leaving these countries alone, whether it is directly, or indirectly via the EU?
Ah. Never seen that.

So, I assume the donation strategy is not working.
I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, and every day for 6 months had to tell myself "Just one more peak" or "Just make it to the next shelter", and once I made it to that peak or shelter, would stop for water and a snack and then keep hiking, again telling myself "Just one more". Do that about a thousand times and before you know it, you're in Maine!
Did anyone actually see this extension run rather than just be downloaded?

When the article says “it was sideloaded without consent [...] this is what it looks like” etc - does that mean that’s what it looks like to users that did not opt in?

I get that just having it listed is creepy and wrong, but I fail to see why we’d scream about forking Firefox unless anyone actually had an extension do anything without their consent.

I don’t want unwanted extensions downloaded either but as long as they aren’t being run
I’m not switching back to Chrome over it.
There is a guy from Stanford, BJ Fogg is the name IIRC, who does a course "Simple Habits". It's like, commit to doing 1 pushup for 5 days first thing in the morning. It is supposed to lead to forming long-term bigger habits, but I'm personally not convinced. Anyways, check him out.
Waaaay too much false information (or lack of) by the author and respondents here.If people would read before installing things they would be aware of this. It is right out in the open in plain comprehendbale wording (not bunched together like a legal doc). So anyone that took the time to read the small paragraph would be fully aware of what's going on, or at least know they will be guinnea pigs for testing out the new tech...

#1 If you download the Developers Edition, Beta or Nightly edition, you agree to share crash data, new feature rollouts and participate in sheild test (which you can still opt out of). They tell you flat out these things will happen by participating in these previews (Which what this addon was part of and was tested by a measy 1% of the user base)

#2 By the screenshot provided, this user has "Legacy Extentions" enabled, which means they have to be using a Nightly build, as that is the only way you can still enable this feature. Hence they did not read the details on the possible trials they might be joined in. If they were part of say the Electrolysis trial I doubt there would be concern like this.

#2 In a full public release you are opted out of these by default, but can opt in if you wish.

#3 If you download the official release you are not subjected to any of this unless you decide to manually opt-in. It's not hidden, it's on the privacy page in the main preferences. For the pioneer experiments you have to go manually download a full extention to opt-in.

#4 If you downloaded the beta to check things out, then when 57 rolled out and you decided to stay on the release channel, you would have to manually go and switch the experimental pioneer off manually or refresh your profile as it keeps all your custom profile data. Same if you shared a single profile between all your installs instead on creating multipile profile.

#5 Firefox keeps a list of which experiements are on the way, details about it and you can see which ones you are taking part in in your about:support and also in about:studies

Info about this study taken from their study page:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vu2n2llbfyyyv1x/Screen%20Shot%2020...

Info detailing how to opt-in:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/sk48o3fgookin4i/Screen%20Shot%2020...

Proof of my default settings on Nightly which opts me in my default:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/blar0u0jdrzw37b/Screen%20Shot%2020...

An finally proof you are opted out by default on the public release of 57:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3zpwunknngy71pw/Screen%20Shot%2020...
Auto-update doesn't carry the implicit moral right to install anything company behind it wants.

Auto-update is a consensual agreement with the user. If you use auto-update to deploy something that a vast majority of your users do not want and did not expect, and intentionally so (refusing to roll back a 'mistake'), then you have broken that agreement or moral code.

You cannot use the excuse of "oh well if they don't like it they can uninstall it and use another product" to condone this bait-and-switch behavior. Just because the behavior is legal does not make it moral.

This behavior is absolutely immoral and must be condemned.
> Mozilla and Fox Entertainment did a “collaboration” (read: promotion) for the TV show Mr. Robot

This is just a side issue (I agree with the OP's main point) but Jesus, how do you make an error like this in the beginning of the post? Mr. Robot is from USA Network, which is owned by NBC Universal. Fox has nothing to do with it. The technical problem here is clear to me as a techie. I was going to post this to r/mrrobot but realized it'd have no credibility among show's fans -- would you read past such a major error on a topic you cared about even if it eventually got to a correct core point? e.g. a rant about YouTube censoring videos of a certain political bent that began with "YouTube, a subsidiary of Baidu..."
yeah, might be. don't know exactly how they block it in those cases.
I did not really know much of him, but enough, that this sentence

"A Jewish refugee, Wolff moved to the UK from Berlin at the age of 11 on the day World War Two broke out in September 1939"

annoyed me very much. F____ stupid Nazis. By wanting to make Germany great again, they destroyed so much of it ...
A Whale of a Tale (16000$ in debt over final fantasy)
They haven't started cracking down until recently because they figured there was a good chance cryptocurrrencies (bitcoin in particular) would collapse on their own or remain an insignificant niche. I think this year for the first time you have large governments which see bitcoin as a bona fide threat.

I'm kind of curious to see how this plays out - how far they're willing to go and whether or not, as you say, they're ultimately successful.
> There are lots of cases where people steal things on the order of a $1000 going to jail for lengthy periods of time … The anger about the lack of prosecutions for bankers, at least in part, is the frustration that comes from realizing things aren’t right in the U.S.

The thing is, it's very much not clear that they did anything actually illegal. In that sense, not throwing them in gaol for not violating the law is exactly how the justice system is supposed to work, for the rich and the poor alike.
If you care about that you just turn them off though.

https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/privacy/whitepaper.htm...
Evidence? How about the article link we're all commenting on? How is that not enough for you?
Is there anything wrong with pocket itself? Or is it just that it was forced into the browser?
And you don't see a problem with having no money for actually developing the browser?
So is the google sync. Especially if you set an extra passphrase to decode.
Auto-updates can not do data collection without new consent, under the new regulation. Consent must be given for each collection and purpose individually. Service cannot be denied for refusing to give consent.

I'm not saying sueing Mozilla is what should be done. But I'm very much interested if it will be possible.
Good advice, but keep in mind that willpower might be a limited resource (it is[1], it isn't[2]). You do not want to spend it all while training for grit.

In my personal experience, willpower is indeed limited. But that's n=1. As with everything in life, moderation is key.

[1] https://www.wired.com/2012/10/mf-willpower/

[2] https://digest.bps.org.uk/2015/06/24/new-research-challenges...
Yes, the EU has healthy competition and is doing fine. But it does not have real net neutrality! See the posts/links above particularly with regard to "zero rating".
How I travelled 4 nanoseconds into the future