skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I think so. At any one point in time, at the frontier of human knowledge, there are many research proposals floating around for what direction we should next expand the frontier. Some of these proposals will lead to valuable gains in knowledge, and profitable technologies. Most will amount to nothing, or at most a footnote in a more important work. It becomes clear after the fact that the funding money should have been invested elsewhere.

So if you are a funding agency, you rank the proposals from best to worst. If you continuously added money to the agencies budget, the quality of the proposals would get lower and lower. I believe that is what one means by diminishing returns.
Technical details on the privacy implications of using the Internet
Well, it looked plenty for very small values of plenty, from where I stand. There were some very well reasoned arguments against the restriction - arguments like the fact that many libraries and game engines require the flexibility that scripting allows; or like the fact that there are languages and environments that are more conducive of tackling certain types of problems. Those, however were drowned in a sea of petty complaints like "I know language XYZ and now Apple are making me learn their sucky ObjC" or "Apple just want to prevent you from porting your app to a competing platform, them Nazis", or dramatic pronouncements that Apple have turned their back on the hacker crowd and thus are stifling innovation.

And I'm not saying we shouldn't believe Apple when they say they've listened to the developer community. I am saying that such decisions usually factor in a broader spectrum of reasons. At the very least, there are may examples of Apple not budging on issues, regardless of the huge ruckus.

I'm also not saying we shouldn't complain. I am saying we should cut on the drama, try to understand Apple's rationale for their decisions, and figure out a way to meet them midway. Or as Apple say in the intro to the App Store Review Guidelines - "If it sounds like we're control freaks, well, maybe it's because we're so committed to our users and making sure they have a quality experience with our products. Just like almost all of you are too."
I'm going to predict that most of the votes will be for INTJ (including mine) or INTP. That said, how valid are the results of the MBTI? I just read the criticism section on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator#Cri...) and the bit on statistical structure was interesting - for 'types' you'd expect to see a bimodal distribution, but, in reality, you see something more like a normal distribution that the test draws a line through the middle of. Your classification (i.e. the letter things) depend on which side of the curve you fall.

*Edited for clarity.
TShirts online? Didn't take much to reinvent that. They all pretty much HAVE to end up looking the same.

A startup can have three kinds of IP: new product niche; new customer niche; new marketing niche. Innovation in all three is risky. Its safer to change just one.

If this guy out-marketed the others, that's a fair win. Like Subway beat McD's.
VLC Submits iPad App to App Store
It sounds like you think there was (is?) a time when carriers in the U.S. had no power and the customer reigned supreme, but this only applied to people on AT&T who wanted an iPhone (and didn't want tethering or Skype over 3G for the first few years etc.)

If Google have betrayed us all by destroying this tiny, short-lived, half-hearted, single-network, sub-national niche of telecoms utopia then I'm not sure I can bring myself to care, particularly if they've opened up various other niches in exchange.
I really hope this doesn't result in a flood of Flash-based apps.

And I say that as someone who's been developing Flash content for the web for quite some time.
Here they are: http://pastie.org/1148102

("Use Pastie for good, not evil." - I think this is for good)
Why Great Designs Aren’t Always Enough: The Importance of AB Testing
There’s a famous story in the design world about Google, who tested 41 different shades of blue. It’s often shown as an example of why AB split testing is bad or excessive, and why designers should just be allowed to just do their own thing (that’s what they get paid for, right?).
The fact remains that releasing an app for iOS has its risks. Sure, the chance that Apple will reject your app are slim, but that chance is still there. There are real developers out there who have found themselves quite screwed because this very slim risk happened to him them.

Releasing a Windows, OSX, Un*x or webapp does not have this risk at all. At the expense of losing out the benefits the app store gives a developer.

I'm putting the finishing touches on an iPad game right now. Do I want to make the leap from here and do this full time? Possibly. But if I do, I have to weigh the risk of Apple fully controlling the app store and what it could possibly mean to me. To not do so is simply naive.
I think the author is a little unclear of the definition of "open." Specifically, what "open source," which is the "open" in question, really means. The carriers can pull these shenanigans precisely because they have access to the source for the OS. If they didn't they'd have to go through Google or pick another option.
Those, however were drowned in a sea of petty complaints like "I know language XYZ and now Apple are making me learn their sucky ObjC" or "Apple just want to prevent you from porting your app to a competing platform, them Nazis"

Uh, what? These seem like perfectly legitimate complaints to me. Why shouldn't you be allowed to use the tools you already know how to use? Why shouldn't you be allowed to write once and run anywhere?
This happens because the rankings cited are a function of the academic output of the faculty. In contrast, this article is largely worrying about undergraduate-specific issues. In other words, I think you've identified a non sequitur committed by the author.
Why does this read like a page of fake testimonials? :-)
Spoiler: INTJ/P will be hugely represented. Previous polls:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=204240

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=943722
I would agree with you if he was talking about removing the Android Market, but that's not the argument he made in the article. He said "it would likely be more prominently displayed than Android’s own Market for apps" which would leave the Android Market intact.
ENFP checking in.

Been doing this test every year or two for about 6 years now and has by far been the one I find the most accurate. I'm actually pretty interested to see how this survey turns out as well.

Anyone have any predictions on what the distribution might look like?
New iOS App Guidelines (hosted by engadget, [pdf])
Story:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/09/apples-app-store-review-guidelines-we-dont-need-any-more-far/
Python libwkhtmltox module – wrapping a C library using Cython
"We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform."
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/
Commiting the CSS and HTML for all his webapps.
And you'd have a hard time selling mammal meat as oily fish.
I just submitted this as a separate link, but engadget is hosting a copy of the new guidelines (opens a PDF):

http://stadium.weblogsinc.com/engadget/files/app-store-guide...
Air Display
Not necessarily - on windows they can install all the crapware they want without Windows being OpenSource.

Now imagine you bought your new crapware loaded PC but weren't allowed admin access. And weren't allowed on 'their' internet if you deleted anything
I didn't look at those before I made my prediction - I based it on the results I remember from similar threads on Reddit.
I was just about to write a blog post complaining about this very same problem. My 2.1 update was 6 month late and I can't root my phone, which was exactly why I wanted an Android.

I will buy an iPhone next time. If I have the choice of bending over in front of Apple or T-Mobile, I'd rather have Apple.
You mean structured procrastination?

http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/

Maybe I'm just idealistic and I'll eventually get to the point where I adopt this strategy but I'm fighting it for now :)

EDIT: Sorry, I posted this before checking your post and seeing that you linked to it.
I really wish you had instead said "Flash-flood of apps".
"The financial goal of a startup is (often) to generate a lifetime of wealth in 3-4 years of intense work"

That's just one class of startup. I'm sure the founders of Balsamiq and 37Signals which represent two of the better known "Business as a lifestyle" startups would beg to differ with you.
> "I know language XYZ and now Apple are making me learn their sucky ObjC"

That's a very valid complaint imo, except for the 'sucky', was that present in the original?

> "Apple just want to prevent you from porting your app to a competing platform, them Nazis"

Are you sure about the 'them Nazis' bit in this one ? Otherwise, again, that's a valid complaint.

> I'm also not saying we shouldn't complain. I am saying we should cut on the drama,

Indeed.
Story:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/09/apples-app-store-review-g...
I don't think it's that positive a move for Flash.

I think there will be some instances where people will port existing Flash content but it's not going to be the platform of choice for most people starting from scratch.

I suspect we'll see an increase in iPhone IDEs for different platforms and Flash will be one of many picking up a small share of the market with XCode holding onto the bulk of it.
In contrast to what this surprisingly uninformed piece claims, the top universities do compete on price. In fact, they offer incredibly good financial aid packages to people not even remotely poor (families earning over 100k still get discounts). Thus, very few end up paying the sticker price. There actually is downward pressure on price, but this is because it's coming from the top schools, not from any disruptive force. Why? Because the top schools don't make most of their income from tuition, so they can afford to lose it.
For some reason, I started reading the story with the assumption that it was a "don't do it this way" tutorial, and I got very nervous towards the end. ("But that's exactly how I use memcache!")
according to myers brigs I am INTJ
Web server backend of known online portals (Updated weekly)
If you take a look at the sad state of this countries broadband infrastructure we are a long way off. I live in a "tech" city, I have two internet connections (Time Warner and ClearWire) patched together on a high-end router and I still wait for things I shouldn't have to.
On behalf of an ex-girlfriend, I feel obliged to point out that the Big Five personality test is a lot more well grounded than Briggs Meyer, and is the one that's used in actual scientific research these days.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Five_personality_traits
Fixed; thanks.

I know what you mean, and "productivity porn" can definitely be a problem. I used to read 43 folders and other sites like that, but I mostly avoid it now. I might listen to podcasts on productivity when I have time that I can't otherwise use very well (like running, for example), but I try not to spend a couple hours a day reading how to be more productive :)
Apple relaxes restrictions on third party tools for App development
Gentlemen, I think I've solved our problem of air thinness at high altitudes. We use a RAM jet like shape for the rocket to funnel the air and compress it.

The rocket could like this:

thin air

\ /
| |
||

compressed air

laser
|
_____
I think he is arguing it's less open when he says "isn’t the point of "open" supposed to be that the consumer can choose what they want on their own devices? Instead, open is proving to mean that the carriers can choose what they want to do with Android."

It could bring down the quality of the OS, but the fact that the option exists for Verizon or anyone to make their own Market makes it more open in my book.
I wonder if this will have a psychological effect on using other dev. environments for Apps.

It almost paints a Flash-compiled app as being "legacy" when a company opens it up after demonstrating it's case against alternatives.
Company wanted to port an OS to 32-bit (yes I know that dates me). I spent a day, reviewed the code (500 modules), wrote a report - two manyears. Project deferred (ashcanned).

A month later my peer, a senior Engineer with the Company, thought "We should run 32-bit! How long can it take?", checked out the source and started changing files. Gradually people noticed what he was doing, resources got added under the table, finally a year later he had something working. Lots of kudos, smiles, what a hero!

I showed him the report I filed a year ago - and he said "yeah, that's about what I had to do. I'm glad I didn't see that to begin with, I would never have started".
Infinite is easier than big
ha! I would've picked that one if it was available, but no, I'm just an INTJ like pretty much everyone here. Comes with the job territory.
Yeah. The underlying problem here is not that there are a bunch of Flash apps, but that Apple forces every user to install every app every developer cranks out. If you could decide for yourself, then you could let other people use Flash apps, while you could completely ignore them.

Oh right, that's already how it is. So this will actually affect you in no way, except that you have more apps to pick from (or ignore).
Fudge and the importance of Entrepreneurship
Of course. Those of us who're closely involved in a project can see areas of wrongness very clearly. I'll happily explain to my classes what I hate about the software I'm teaching them - doesn't mean I don't think it's still less hateful than the alternatives :)
Google don't want to be in the phone market - they want to be in the selling ads on search market.

Their worry was a closed iPhone with an Apple only browser might go to an Apple/ATT only search page with Apple/ATT ads - or they might simply replace all the Google ads with their own before sending pages to the phone

And once people accepted this on iPhone they might also accept it on all the other phones then on all the home cable connections - like BT/Phorn.
I can't even begin to tell you how right you are. Habits are inevitable; everyone has them and is controlled by them to a certain degree. I see habit as a steady, silent, inexorable force that pulls you through life. Realizing this and pouring almost all my energy into shaping my habits has completely changed my life.
Deadly Education: Which Universities Are Attractive To Terrorists
Additionally, because it's a self-test, participants largely see themselves as they want to be seen. INT*s value intelligence and self-reliance—seems like the HN crowd to a T.
I applaud this. Yes, it might have been in reaction to the potential US Government anti-trust type probe. Yes, it effectively lowers the billable rate and billable hours of many iPhone developers. Yes, it makes it possible for almost anyone (using Titanium and tools-yet-to-come [wake up, Adobe!]) to make mobile apps.

However, I think its good because it allows developers to further differentiate themselves from the pack. What apps get featured? People bemoan the fact there is so many apps competing. But I believe that if you write a compelling app that stands out from the hum-drum tab-bar apps and, yes, glut of physics-based games, your reviewer at Apple will notice. They probably even get some kind of bonus for identifying the diamonds in the coal.

Thank you and muchos gracias, Apple. I believe that apps that push the limit of what an iPhone current generation can do - and do it beautifully - that is what will win in the marketplace. Uzu, that addictive slice a shape in half game, the render a photo like an oil painting. All require secret sauce - in development time, graphics, rendering.

Titanium mobile won't for a very long time be able to make a Uzu-type game. Or even a well-designed app. I hope...

Prepare to be flooded with ports of Flash games (I assume this makes Adobe's compile to Flash in CS5 feature a go, now)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative
Are you sure that's not just the Forer effect? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forer_effect) I personally call this the horoscope effect.
I like how the author keeps mentioning Flask - I've used flask and liked it a lot.
PatternCraft: Design Patterns Explained via StarCraft 2 (video)
If you're enough of a bigshot in a company large enough to pay you that kind of money, then yes, workers are expensive. Hundreds of workers are pricier than one executive.
What if the world ends tomorrow and you spent your last hours doing nothing but debating hypotheticals? That would be a shame, so you should just stop now.
Learning from Competition
What about, say, Haskell compiled to JavaScript?
Negative capability

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_capability

isn't quite the same thing, but it may be related. Flexibility with ignorance can lead to better understanding of one's ignorance and faster adaptiveness overall.

Per programming productivity, I think it about with stacks or queues. There's always something you can work on -- and variously they all eventually 'dovetail' together.
I'd say that being able to parse XHTML isn't any easier than parsing HTML in that both requires an author who writes strict code. There's HTML strict, too, ya know.
I think this is a major problem with Python (and Ruby, for that matter). Why does it have to be an all or nothing ? Why "Django-time" to detriment of all else ?

The PHP community seems to be happy with a rich ecosystem of frameworks offering different approaches to problems - from Drupal and Wordpress, through Symphony, Zend, CodeIgniter etc. Maybe it's because Python is such a smaller community, but it's a shame there has to be one-framework-to-rule-them-all (yesterday Zope, today Django).

Different frameworks offer different approaches and suit different projects. As Python developers we should be much more open minded.
> You don't want to scale vertically once you hit millions of users

Hundreds of the top websites in the world (the majority, I would hazard, though without the data to support it) have scaled vertically to millions and tens of millions of entities just fine. Far more than have scaled horizontally. It works. It's been done. And it doesn't give up the sort of transactional niceties that make problems like this easier.

> most other web companies like Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Microsoft

You're confusing "the very biggest web companies" with "most other web companies." Most other web companies continue to use commodity products, and Google/Facebook/Yahoo!/MS certainly would (and do) insofar as it's possible at that scale. Expending resources now to be as horizontally scalable as Google is wasteful premature optimization.

Notably, Yahoo! runs the largest PostgreSQL installation in the world, and Google and Facebook both continue to use MySQL.

> horizontally scaling without big iron is the way to go.

You can get 32-core machines with 128GB of ram from Dell (a mildly tweaked R910) for $30k these days. Is that big iron? How does its price compare with the amount of developer salary and benefits you'll have to spend to grok a non-relational data store, migrate your data to it, and reimplement the ACID features of a relational store in the code for your app? How many developer-days will you spend maintaining that code and how many developer-nights will you spend triaging a crashed site because of the complexity and likely bugginess of that reimplementation? How many users' feature requests will you have to reject as "too difficult to implement" because you feel the need to scale to Google/Facebook levels despite having only a few million users now and predicted growth which shows you'll never in a million years catch up to them?

> Currently the only way to scale a relational database such as MySQL or Postgre is by sharding and partitioning

It will be years before the vast majority of startups exhaust reasonable, cost-effective options for vertical scaling. The recent fervor for non-relational, horizontally scalable data stores is simply the new way of scratching the intellectually masturbatory premature optimization itch that programmers have had since ENIAC.

For what it's worth, I'm not the only crank who thinks this; Dennis Forbes has argued it much more eloquently and compellingly on his blog, e.g. http://blog.yafla.com/Getting_Real_about_NoSQL_and_the_SQL_P... .
When you hit Turing completeness, special casing is no longer a useful exercise.
Rogers to reimburse overcharges on phone bills
I haven't seen anyone mention the cost of IO requests associated with EBS. Quoted from http://aws.amazon.com/ebs/ :

As an example, a medium sized website database might be 100 GB in size and expect to average 100 I/Os per second over the course of a month. This would translate to $10 per month in storage costs (100 GB x $0.10/month), and approximately $26 per month in request costs (~2.6 million seconds/month x 100 I/O per second $0.10 per million I/O).
Aside from Netflix and MSN/Bing HD Video, and microsoft.com, how much has actually been done with Silverlight, really? My impression of Silverlight, admittedly subjective, has been that it has largely been a failure, and has seen very little adoption in the corporate world.

If this observation is accurate, then there is no way that Silverlight can be the next IE 6, simply because the adoption rate is so very small.
I agree that there's too much "utopian" technologies out there with impractical implementations. However, Microdata is already seeing Google support. Browser support I think could come, but we have to bring fuel to the microdata conversation rather than waving it off as nonsense.
"Luckily, we're in the computer business, not the Formula One business."

Tell that to DHH: http://www.mibz.com/21876-one-and-only-pagani-zonda-hh-owner...
The FTC probe may well have been prompted by all of the complaining. They don't exist in a vacuum, even if it sometimes seems that way.
Seymour Papert's Vision for Early Childhood Education?
Run more, Code less
These are completely different markets. The majority of car consumers just want reliable transportation; the car is essentially a commodity. If Japanese cars are of higher quality, people will buy them instead of American cars.

With university degrees, quality of education is second and prestige is first in importance. These are correlated but not always the same, and this is one of the reasons why academia is not vulnerable to upstarts, unless there's a radical shift in how to evaluate prestige (and I doubt there will be).

Both are vocational necessities for most professionals in the U.S., but the "prestige" of the car one takes to work is irrelevant whereas that of the degree is essential.
Why You Shouldn't Use Sub-domain for Your Directory
DARPA-Funded Device Adjusts the Speed of Light
I expect the idea behind that is for the user experience. A non-Apple mail client, for example, won't have the level of integration into the system (send mail from apps/camera/etc., notifications, background process that never quits) that Apple's will, and they seem unwilling to expose that level of functionality to developers. There's plenty of things wrong with that kind of thinking, but it's consistent with Apple's philosophy about core functionality.

It's also beneficial for things like the browser and email client to be consistent, so that services targeting iPhone have an easy testing platform. As a web developer I like knowing that every iPhone is using Safari and renders HTML email using the mail app. I already have enough platforms (4 versions of IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, WinMo) without the mobile platforms becoming fragmented.
360|MacDev Call for papers is open
Thanks for posting these.

Still too many rules for my taste. (Google also has too many rules, FWIW.)