skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
There were other factors at work with Rudd's removal. The mining tax was the last act in a long play of dropping promises, reneging on commitments and policy backflips.

The mining tax was a disaster and, in it's original form, was reverse nationalism by stealth. The government was going to tax profits above 6% with a 40% 'super tax' - terminology straight from a Marxist script. They were then going to reimburse Miners for losses on projects. In reality, with the government participating in 40% of the profits and 40% of the losses, it was a part-nationalisation by stealth.

The reason the mining tax was so rejected, particularly by the mining states, was that it was to replace state-based mining royalties with a Federal mining tax. So instead of individual states receiving royalties for mineral wealth - as per the constitution, the tax money would be funnelled to the Federal government, which would then have power over where it was spent. The mineral states stood to lose power over their own revenues, and the non-mining states stood to gain income from activities that took place entirely outside their borders.

The tax was beloved by pro-government tax-raising types and lovers of economic theory and hated by pretty much everyone else.
Being able to do something and actually understanding it aren't the same thing; I'm sure there are many things which you do which don't don't very much understand.

I very much agree you don't really understand something you can't explain.
It pretty much is that simple.

The way the tax was presented it made it look like a punitive grab for mining companies profits. In the mining-rich states people started worrying about their jobs, and so the government changed Prime Minister and policy to try and head off the issue.

The fact that the Labor party screwed up pretty badly is kind of irrelevant to the idea that this is pretty straight forward international trade.

There are questions about how and how much of those profits should be spread around the country but I think that's pretty standard when there is an economic boom.
If there is a 0-day or unreleased SSH vulnerability, your login security doesn't matter. In those cases, it helps if the s'kiddies skipped your site altogether because they couldn't be bothered to wait to find where your ssh port is.
That's run-of-the-mill politics, corporatism, and special interests. It just means everyone is fighting to dip into profit from China. Prime minister Rudd was the casualty of socialism (sharing the profit wider) vs. corporatism (mining companies wanting to keep more). Replacing the profit from China with another source would have the same argument and same political fight.
I'm not sure of what the point this article is trying to raise? Is it that Australia is not in recession? Is it some sort of suggestion of xenophobia on the part of Australians?

Australians have all seen this before in the 1980's when the Japanese were buying real estate, companies and generally splashing cash around. I think this time around most people are more relaxed about it, and a feeling of 'make hay while the sun shines' is probably the most prevalent.

While the imagery of large parts of Australia being dug up forever are evocative, it's not very realistic for anyone who has visited this part of the world to think it's all going to run out soon. It's a massive, virtually uninhabited area and the ground you walk on is literally red from iron ore.
If you don't mind, I'm curious to find out why you view the private cloud as un-cloud-like. I don't think the cloud is defined by where the service is hosted or even how the service is paid for. To me, cloud computing is defined by 3 big ideas.

1. Virtualization is key. I think the cloud is marked by a construction from dynamic pools of virtualized resources.

2. Instead of focusing on individual physical components, the cloud focuses on pools of compute resources. This seems to have led to higher priority for service delivery.

3. Finally, I think the cloud is defined by being convenient for the consumer instead of being convenient for the provider.

Within those constraints, I usually call a cloud private if it is under the control of an enterprise IT organization, in a way similar to older systems. I think of the cloud as public if the provider is mostly in control instead of the tenants.

With that definition of the private cloud in mind, the model offers a lot of advantages to larger IT departments. The private cloud allows IT teams to more quickly provision resources in support of business initiatives. It's also a better way to invest in IT infrastructure. The model is inherently scalable, which means that IT funds can be used to create value instead of keeping the lights on so to speak.

Obviously, private clouds aren't for every IT organization, but I think the private cloud has merit. As organizations globalize and just generally get big, economies of scale can be leveraged internally to increase the quality of IT projects and services.
Puma Rodalban XC Low
Memory pricing for all shared/VPS hosting is simply bizarre.

Not really. DIMM modules are fairly cheap but DIMM slots are not. Your average mid-range server can, in theory, be maxed out to 192G or even 256G RAM. But only if you use 8G or even 16G DIMMs - and those are still hideously expensive.

The most cost efficient configuration usually gravitates around 64G (16x 4G) nowadays, rarely higher.

So, when you factor in the cost overhead per server (rackspace, power/cooling, network infrastructure, maintenance) then it's not hard to understand why RAM is the most expensive ressource in the cloud.
If by "anti iPhone" you mean "the zombie apocalypse phone", then yes, absolutely.

It's as well-tailored to the third would (for which is was specifically designed) as the iPhone is to the first. For instance, it doesn't use USB to charge (computers are hardly ubiquitous), and you can navigate all the commands using installed voice prompts, since basic literacy isn't a given either.

Something else not reliably found everywhere: electricity. The F3 responds with an e-ink display that allows 500 hours of standby between charges. Dirt floors, on the other hand (to say nothing of paths and roads) are standard, which is why the one-piece membrane on the front is so well-placed. Unlike a many 'smartphones', it's not easily thwarted by moisture or grit.

Indeed, at $22.59, it may be the smartest phone on the planet.
Related: go to noobcomments [0] and downvote trolls and spammers, and give upvotes and thoughtful responses to those who deserve them.

[0] http://news.ycombinator.com/noobcomments
Exporting all your resources, particularly a staple like iron, seems like a bad plan for Australia in the long run. Particularly because it is a raw material.
This story makes me happy. That is all.
I would actually like to see one of them have an updated ariel view of some rural areas. Something in the last 5 years would be nice.
And for those wondering when you'd use this algorithm (as even academics don't seem to know!) - it is the go-to algorithm for implementing pathfinding in video games, and robotics.
Then it must be a trust issue; some of them don't trust you for some reason. There must be a reason, try to figure out what it is so that you can resolve it.
I'm from the UK, but I've lived and worked in France and Spain. Neither of those two countries is anything like the UK or each other in terms of working practices. So, to group Europe doesn't make a lot of sense to be honest.

I've worked in the US too, and in the UK with a direct report to the US, so always find these comparisons interesting.
I wasn't aware that gmail had an API that would allow me to parse mail like he wants. Is it supposed to be a greasmonkey script+server side stuff>?
Not quite.

Given the price rises, the shareholders would be better off if they just sat on their leases and paid a capital gain.

However, there are laws against that too.

I believe government policy needs to consider resources are finite. The tragedy of the commons that is being played out at the moment prices the resouces at $0 for the future generation. Just like the way we are pricing fisheries. It is insane.
Why would you leave your mobile phone at a recycling center for free?! Sell it on EBay!
The ad that uses YouTube brilliantly
Philips & Dyson are both well regarded for innovation/creativity. Can you elaborate on what you're looking for specifically?
some drill rigs are semiautonomous, with GPS. The control systems were priced around $120k the last time I looked about 10 years ago. Any HN'ers want to disrupt this? I know some drillers out this way.
Yes, it claims so, but so far I can't see how it does it. It is full of social feature but seems to lack the intelligent filtering thing we need.
Right now it doesn't, but first gen iphone didn't have an app store either. Maybe the apps can be streamed from the iPad or iPhone? who knows how they're planning it, but one thing for sure you'll be able to see apps on your TV. Regardless of how they do it, I just think it won't be about the bells and whistles TV manufacturers can bundle in their TV in a few years.
Most people would say that it's the social aspect of schooling that he's missing. Somehow I disagree. I get the feeling that this kid would either be bullied or teased for being a "nerd". At least in this college, he'll be able to interact with people who share similar interests as him.

My extra 2c: I didn't really make any real friends as such until I went to uni anyway.
Keep in mind, the F3 doesn't work with CDMA networks (like Verizon). There theoretically is an F3c that does work with CDMA networks, but I've been looking for it for weeks, and haven't had any luck. If you find a source for the F3c, please let me know.
Twitter has actually made 4 acquisitions. Perhaps they were talent acquisitions but the still apply. I suspect that they have a buy/build strategy of some kind - i.e. could we build this product faster than the people who built it? If not, we want them on our team.
I agree - it's great to get started and get traction with an app but can become costly after a certain point. When I got to a point of needing several dynos, I went to Engine Yard which like Heroku takes care of all of the Amazon EC2 configuration.

Also, with deploy hooks at EY, I have command line deployment similar to Heroku's "git push heroku master" by using a specific command in your commit message 'git commit -am "[deploy myapp_production]" and then 'git push'.
I didn't see that in the specs. But anyway adding a hard drive to it won't be that expensive for a later gen.
Thanks for the feedback. I'll be working on that this weekend. I'm thinking of including a short video as well.
Exceedingly well put
You all know, things like HN does not happen that often, specially in a world ruled by old professors. To build an HN for academics, first you need to be field specific (really narrowly specific!) and you need to be well known or supported in that community (this would make you an old professor!)
Ah, thanks. That's a big if, but it has happened, so it makes some sense.
Your requirements describe a web-site. Nothing more.

Also, your alternative explanations are very Microsoft/Windows focused.

I find your definition of the cloud as very confusing and very limiting.
For a simple cell phone and texting device, I miss my old Samsung T509. It had a super slim candybar form factor that slid in and out of my pocket easily and didn't create a bulge in my pants. Looks like you can get a new one for about $20.

Of course, as well as it served for phone calls and texts, if you tried to do anything more with it (run java apps, add an mp3 ringtone), it disappointed.
Bing Maps does a lot of cool stuff but always feels perpetually in beta to me (and not in the way that Gmail used to always be in beta). The end-to-end UX is never quite all there.
The ad in question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ba1BqJ4S2M
The setup: Keita Takahashi
not all fields are like that and not in all areas you want to be on the bleeding edge. For many purposes keeping up to date at journal paper level is more than enough.
7 Spending Tips From Frugal Billionaires
I consider myself an Apple tech fan (have an iPod touch and iPad myself, just not the phone), but I really do think there should be more of these kinds of devices in the first world, as well as the third. Apple’s first gen iPhone was a sort of return to Apple’s roots regarding simplicity, with limited functionality and easy usability, but the uproar over the whole “web app, no native app” concept Steve tried to push initially caused Apple to change course to an App Store model.

There are a few companies trying to sell “minimum viable” cellphones in the States, but you don’t hear all that much about them…

http://www.jitterbug.com/
The Reverse Geocache Puzzle
http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Motofone-F3-Dual-Band-1900-In...
$19.99 at NewEgg. Just picked one up.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16875209...
Their OAuth for IMAP/SMTP should be all you need: http://code.google.com/apis/gmail/oauth/
Even though it's been on the market 3-4 years, this phone is still held up as the example of a cheap, no-frills phone. It was even nicknamed the "zombie phone" and received a bit of discussion on a recent Engadget Mobile podcast:

http://mobile.engadget.com/2010/08/14/engadget-mobile-podcas...
New Zealand earthquake rips a new fault line across the world
There were other factors at work with Rudd's removal. The mining tax was the last act in a long play of dropping promises, reneging on commitments and policy backflips.

I agree with this

The mining tax was a disaster and, in it's original form, was reverse nationalism by stealth. The government was going to tax profits above 6% with a 40% 'super tax' - terminology straight from a Marxist script. They were then going to reimburse Miners for losses on projects. In reality, with the government participating in 40% of the profits and 40% of the losses, it was a part-nationalisation by stealth.

I agree the mining tax was a disaster, but it wasn't as bad as you are making out. The 40% thing was always something that got the headlines, but as you point out it isn't as simple as that because it would have reduced state based royalties.

The reason the mining tax was so rejected, particularly by the mining states, was that it was to replace state-based mining royalties with a Federal mining tax.

This is true.

The mineral states stood to lose power over their own revenues, and the non-mining states stood to gain income from activities that took place entirely outside their borders.

This is also true, but not necessarily a bad thing. Australian urban centres are a long, long way from the mines and some form of distribution probably makes sense.

The tax was beloved by pro-government tax-raising types and lovers of economic theory and hated by pretty much everyone else.

I don't think the tax was loved by anyone except Rudd's kitchen cabinet (and possibly only by 3 out of them too, judging from how quickly Gillard backed off it).

But the goals of the tax are perhaps more broadly backed. The original article touched on the fact that many mining companies avoid investing in the communities (as you'd expect from a profit making entity), and this has caused some issues. From the article:

One of the local councils in the Pilbara, Shire of Ashburton, recently refused permission to Rio Tinto to expand its camp around the Tom Price mine. Instead the company has been asked to invest in facilities that will remain after the mine is closed, to spend $247 million on housing, an air strip, and other infrastructure at the town of Pannawonica. This kind of investment, and the employing of locals, is the only move that is going to convince skeptics like Tony Wiltshire.

"We were at a town meeting the other day when a representative from a mining company said, 'Come on, we're all up here to make a dollar.' The locals in the room looked at each other and thought, 'What?' We live here. We can cope with the hot summers. We're here for the long term. We are actually better for the multinationals than the contractors they fly in and fly out. We just need them to wake up to the fact that they, and we, are all in it for the long haul."

The idea of the tax was to formalize this kind of investment. The way they went about it was probably the worst planned example of domestic politics in Australia since WW2, though!
Actually most individual spammers learn fairly quickly that spamming HN doesn't work. At any given time the spammers are mostly new arrivals.
yeah the app store wasn't, and I don't know how successful the iPhone would have been if it weren't but it would have still been revolutionary though.

>>That it takes developers to build these things is obvious, >>just as obvious as it takes engineers to build cars. But >>it's not engineers engineers engineers.
Lol. Okay thats not a fair analogy. You build a parking garage, and you'll scream for "cars, cars, cars, cars". You build an airport and you'll scream for "planes, planes, planes, planes". Now when you build a platform like the app store, or the android market place, you'll scream for...

: )
It sounds like it should be handled by Gmail in their OAuth access implementation. As described in the post, it sounds kind of scary that by giving access to Gmail, you give access to all your account with no granularity whatsoever.

Gmail could do that by pairing the OAuth access with a set of permissions which would basically be the filters Matt describes. The way other services (Facebook comes to mind) are doing it basically.
When I did, it felt awkward, as if I was a salesman.

Do you find it annoying when nice, non-pushy people give you their business card?

I appreciate that things like this can feel awkward internally (it still does to me), but I realized that if I don't mind other people doing certain things, maybe they don't mind me doing it too. Just another way of looking at the situation ;-) (Yeah, I picked this up in a CBT session for social anxiety..)
No I don't!

As a user I need an intelligent filter with some sort of machine learning that can learn my interests by observing my ratings of some articles and rank the new articles automatically so that I won't need to scan hundreds of titles and tens of abstracts to find one important one.
this would actually boost education and research performance and I am sure with the correct product and correct marketing could make good (!?) money.
Do you realistically expect the US, Japan, or Korea to somehow fill the gap if China suddenly drops its demand for Australian commodities? India might pick up some of the slack, but I would bet against it.

Household debt / disposable income in Australia is 157% versus 133% for the US shortly before the financial crisis. That level of debt combined with ever increasing home prices should create a pretty volatile situation.
I agree I am surprised why Google scholar has not made such thing (maybe as a Google Reader feature).
Design is communication, and "selling" design, internally and externally, is the difference between executing great work that users connect with, and just being a good pixel-pusher. I think jacquesm has the right idea but muddles it a bit: all great design is sold, not delivered like a pizza. And great design is very much worth selling, for the effect it can have on the world. While selling can seem distasteful (it certainly doesn't come naturally to me), it's a critical skill for designers, entrepreneurs, and founders. Selling is design.

"But is this really MY problem?" In presenting design ie. communicating its value, the roles/responsibilities are not unlike that of a teacher and students: successful delivery of information is the responsibility of the sender. To say eg. "I taught it to them but they didn't learn it" is a contradiction in terms tantamount to "i sold it to him but he didn't buy it." You as the designer are responsible for 1. understanding the problem landscape well enough to deliver a working solution 2. building a decent relationship with the client (internal or external) that you have a good communication channel.

What are the best ways to sell design to non-designers? Clear objectives you've agreed upon and stuck to. Compelling storytelling. Competitive benchmarks. Pure visual WOW factor. $10 usability tests. Man-on-the-street impressions. Rote logic. Brute force. These are the techniques that I've used successfully. They can of course be combined, and there must be many others. ymmv

If "selling" design is problematic and you're not able to push work through to some kind of test environment where real customers can connect with it to PROVE the design works (via sales / leads / engagement, whatever the objective may be), then you might consider joining forces with a fellow writer or designer, or agency, to watch how designers and creative directors successfully bring clients on-board to sell innovative designs.

CAVEAT: There are always critics and naysayers of any sufficiently innovative solution or design. To those people, I say http://purplejesus.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/haters.gif Let them do better, and prove it.
I wish I could own this phone, but I do text a lot (and, in fact, only "phone" people by swapping voicemail messages.) If it had a QWERTY keyboard (and a screen that could manage text, though hopefully still e-ink) I'd be in love. I can imagine such a thing as the ultimate low-end product from RIM.
A lot of what's mentioned is already brought to the Mac with Automator and QuickSilver. Voice controlled QuickSilver would completely blow my mind.

Direct manipulation however, will remain deeply rooted in the way we interact with computers, because we often deal with a single object. Is a greater problem in the lack of flow between applications, which is IMO the most evident distinction between web and desktop apps.

Standard input/output piping worked great, and we're seeing a lot of it resurface in the way we're able to mine and mash data on the web these days, but concepts that would mimic REST on the desktop just don't seem to have taken off in time.

Interesting article in many other respects too.
Once you get big enough you might be able to negotiate with Heroku for a better deal. They might not be willing to give you au better deal, but if you're already there you might as well try before going through the expense of moving somewhere else.
They have similar technology for farming, too.

If you wanted to disrupt this, I suspect you don't want to make it cheaper (the mining companies have plenty of money), but to do a better job somehow.

(Where are you?)
I actually use Pubmed to get notifications on people or keywords that I am interested in. And I should confess that it is not that bad (but it could be much much better)
Nope, not at all. Probably because they are usually business type people and it being the common thing to do in their circles, so they are good at it.
Firefox Sync encrypts the data locally, and you can run your own server. There's actually a simplified one for running on your own home server (as opposed to the large Mozilla infrastructure).
The demo doesn't work in Opera 10.61 on Linux. I can see and interact with the interface, but nothing is drawn on the canvas when using any of the tools.
In this film, Richard Stallman presents his ideas very directly in interviews, so any left-wing bias is not really "hidden." This is a good way to learn about his views.
http://journalfire.com/
Thanks for the suggestion, didn't think of them. James Dyson's autobiography looks quite interesting.

Not looking for anything too specific, just companies/individuals that display innovation and creativity. Can be anyone from the past or present. No other requirements, otherwise.

I've also thought of Zappos and Netflix as well.
Sometimes, price is an attitude