skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
> Google and Facebook both grew headcount ahead of revenue.

Ahead of revenue, sure, but they were increasing revenue, traffic, and moving towards profitability. Spending like mad and going nowhere is a different thing entirely.
> This is a lot of work for something that doesn't affect a lot of users, as most users do not customize their panels, and of those that do probably are not changing their resolution often.

I'd say the duplicate bug count, angry comment count, subscriber count would disagree with you.
This particular writer came from an ad on www.sulit.com.ph
Methodologies: Cleaning the Mental Gutters
If it were possible to pass the cookie on an encrypted channel but the content of the web page unencrypted this would match most people's idea of how it works. Unfortunately that's not the case.

Has there even been any attempt to standardize something like this? This problem certainly isn't a new one, so I would have guessed this had been looked into before
Answer is here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1831269
Sounds interesting. I'd never heared of DNSCurve before. What's the current level of rollout? How many sites are using DNSCurve? tens, hundreds, thousands? Any major sites? Wondering if it's worth my while looking into yet...
You have to be incompatible
Why do we need to come up with metaphors? Isn't calling a programming _language_ a "language" already an ideal and evocative metaphor?
I don't have the link, but this really depends on the company and how they handle the layoffs.

Like if you have a round of layoffs, but you have employees with faith in the management and the product, you're going to have remaining employees that stick around and work hard. Generally people that don't fall in that mold are going to get laid off in a situation like this.

If you have employees that are sitting there with an expectation that the cpmpany will fail, however skilled they might be, they're going to start looking at other options.

I think what I'm saying is: the initial tipping point in a case like this isn't the layoff, it's the ensuing fallout. One strategy that I've seen fail is using fear to keep people working. A "you're lucky you're still here" attitude has had people (like myself) out the door on the first other offer they find. An attitude of "this sucks, but we have to do it to stay around, no one is to blame" (which Digg seems to be going with) prevents things from going further south. Something like that can even unite the remaining group in difficult times.
Computer Engineers love C. We build embedded systems in it, write an RTOS, optimize code for cache coherency, reverse engineer binary bombs, develop for FPGAs. More C means less assembly.

We love this stuff.
I learned C as my first language when I was young. I would never say that I was good at it. I've written a few Ruby extensions in C, but nothing I would be proud to show people. I've also hacked a few Linux drivers, but nothing to write home about. Very trivial stuff like adding vendorIds or applying patches that required some work.

I like C, but I haven't invested much time in it because it seems that the job market isn't that good for C programmers. Maybe I'm completely mistaken, but it seems like I couldn't hope to compete with a lot of the guys who have been doing it for 10+ years. I wouldn't even feel comfortable applying for a position that was primarily C.

That said, if someone offered me a job that was primarily C I wouldn't definitely consider it. And I'm sure if they have the patients, I would end up being a good team member. But web development is where my experience lies and it is where I will continue to pursue jobs. As a self taught programmer, the barrier to entry with web development seemed much lower when I was starting out. Again, that could be my own misconception.
Hmm, probably should have linked to the blog entry directly instead: http://codebutler.com/firesheep
Unity looks silly to me. This moreover confirms to me that Ubuntu is turning the distro into something that everyone's mom/dad can use. While that's fine for popularizing linux, that isn't the OS I signed up for years ago. Switching to Arch is going to be painful but I guess I'll be better off for it.
Bull crap. Hamster and Ferret was only slightly harder to use than Firesheep. You had to run it, then adjust your proxy to localhost:1234. Aside from that, it does exactly the same thing. And before it was around, we were using cookie editing plugins in FireFox to import stuff we grabbed from Wireshark. And before that, we were manually editing our browser's cookie stores to bring in cookies we caught with tcpdump. And before that...

This isn't a new threat. Just a new shiny piece of ware that lowers the bar a little further.
In addition to the mutable records mentioned in the post, arrays and references are also mutable in OCaml. Aside from objects, I consider this impurity to be the biggest difference in practice. Mutability allows simple OCaml solutions to problems that would otherwise demand monadic gymnastics in Haskell.

FWIW, I've also never been able to design a large project in Haskell (a la darcs), whereas I could write fairly large projects in OCaml without much awkwardness. I suspect the ability to "cheat" with mutability outweighs in practical terms the theoretical elegance and enjoyment of programming in Haskell.
When I was a CS undergrad at VT (1998-2000) all CS classes were taught in C++.
As the official video is currently down, here are some examples from AlternativaPlatform which are using these new APIs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m053MqzstVg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgwi0lWgX8w
I recall, circa 2007, people were enamored of some the visualization tools that were coming out of Digg Labs. Most of the designers that I respected also respected the work being done at Digg, and I was often asked if I thought some of their visualization tools might become interfaces for data sources other than Digg.

From this, I inferred that Digg wanted to be an idea lab, a kind of innovation factory, sort of like Google, constantly coming up with new ideas and services. So they staffed up in the hopes of becoming that kind of company. But they failed to pull it off.
Komodo Edit is pretty good.
It is only ad-based revenue at the moment and with 14MM per month it gives an ok revenue. I'm planning to add premium content in the coming months.

Would you consider paying for high quality icons?
I loved C when I was in college. Unfortunately, the university I attended had a CS department that required both a lot of time, and Java for most coursework, so I didn't get to do it enough. Hence, applying for jobs with C in mind wasn't really an option unless I could impress upon someone my desire to learn it.
Isn't that exactly why HTTPS sites are supposed to have expensive certificates issued by big companies?

There is virtually no cost associated with issuing a certificate. The fact that they are nevertheless prohibitively expensive for most private domains is partly responsible for the failure to adopt SSL on a broad scale.

Otherwise the browser will display a big red warning message.

While it is true that this warning is intended to protect users again man-in-the-middle attacks and other methods that redirect traffic away from the original source, it also prevents people with absolutely valid (but free) certificates from offering perfectly good encryption on their sites. This warning is misguided and does more to prevent the secure use of the web than anything else.

The remedies would be simple, but I guess commercial reasons prevent them from being adopted at the expense of everyday users.
SSL certs for $13.99? I don't see this anywhere on the GoDaddy page.
6 extraordinarily stubborn ‘nail houses’
Watching the film “Up”reminded me of a few very similar (but non-rendered) stubborn homeowner situations i’ve read about over the past couple of years
I was under the impression that Atom is weaker than Core-i7
My college teaches nothing but C, C++, and Assembly. (Okay, they do have an Actionscript class for designers and encourage messing with Lua...) Fortunately for me I've drunk the high-level kool-aid in web design and application dev for a long time, have read about half of SICP, and so I really prefer Python (or another high level language) over C or C++. But I don't mind C... c89 bugs me with its quirks (I really like "for(int i = 0;)", c99 is fairly enjoyable, more so than C++. C++ is psychotic; I really don't know why you would start a new project in that language...

In my side Python projects, if I need speed, I'll write that part in C and compile it to an SO and call it from Python. Nice and painless, easy to port by just compiling 32-bit, 64-bit, dlls and if I care Mac's thing, more enjoyable than pseudo-pythonic libs like pyrex.

I'd suggest looking for computer engineering students if you want people that know C. I'm in the CE program here, but it's almost as much CS as it is CE.
I couldn't agree with this rant more. I use frameworks because they streamline my code, and provide basic abstractions for simple tasks. One of my biggest issues with Rails (to be fair, it's more about people new to rails), is the way it sees abstraction as a form of magic. Simple tasks should be abstracted, but abstracting complex tasks is a recipe for disaster down the line, when you need to operate outside of the confines of the abstraction. This can be mind-numbinglyannoying for experienced programmers, and frustrating for new programmers.

I do want to address specifically the idea of abstracting out things like HTML or SQL. These are my two pet peeves. I look at something like HAML, and I can't understand why anyone would consider that to be a good idea, even putting aside the fact that your designer will have to learn a whole new syntax, but the idea that markup should look like programming language defeats the point of a markup language.

Here's how I did it with Appleseed, using the simple_html_dom library. Views are dumb, very dumb. You create a view which is only markup, for instance:

http://github.com/appleseedproj/appleseed/blob/master/compon...

So you properly class and id your markup, and in the controller, you populate the data, repeating elements for lists or tables, by targetting the dom.

If I want to set the title on this view, I do:

$View = $this->GetView ( 'friends');

$View->Find ( '.profile-friends-title', 0 )->innertext = "New Title";

That's it. No template pseudo-code, designers only have to care about the markup itself. On the front-end, I do the same with Javascript. Think of it as unobtrusive PHP.

I also stay away from ORM's. I understand all the arguments in favor, but in the end, I'd much prefer writing complex joins than using an ORM.

Separation of concerns is so important, and yet, sometimes I think frameworks, which are supposed to facilitate that, actually can make it worse, by trying to reinvent the wheel in abstract ways.
Hotels Seek Clearer Guidelines for Online Reviews
I'm not usually a fan of the NYT postings, but this started me thinking about the interesting problems around social media, brick-and-mortar businesses, and content-mangement.
There is a risk with free blog services like Blogger and Wordpress.com...if someone complains that you are stealing their content, your account can get shut down instantly. It is also harder to sell your site later (e.g. on Flippa) because you don't own the domain. There is also a better opportunity to pass pagerank around to your own sites using a real domain. You can get a domain for $8/year and considering the small amount of traffic from even a few hundred sites, you could host them all on a small hosting plan of $10/month. So the cost per site for domain and hosting would be pennies.
I didn't create the mockup complicated enough to use the layers but for a real pixel-perfect design they are a must, in particular the ability to show/hide them individually. However, they would probably overcomplicate this product, I'd keep it simple.

Re: shift. When I press an arrow key, the object moves a pixel or two. If I need to move it 100px to the left, I have to either wait a bit or press the button too many times. If the step was changed to 10 or 20px if shift is held down, it'd be easier to move objects.
I use Witopia from Canada.

In addition to helping secure my connection to the Internet at all times, it enables access to online services that are otherwise unavailable.

These services include BBC iPlayer out of the UK, and Hulu and other streaming services from the US, like sporting events.

I have found Witopia to be extremely reliable and fast.

I recommend their service.
It is by no means ideal. It brings up comparison to languages like English and Japanese. We should reall call them notations, just as in mathematics.
Any Facebook employee reading this? That'd be a great thing to fix, and the PR of a positive privacy story about Facebook would probably be welcome.

I'd also love if they enabled encryption for FB chat, even if you used an external client like iChat or Pidgin.
I'm a computer science student at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Our department is very focused on C, and we do a lot of embeded and Operating Systems level C. I love it as a language, and I think that is partially due to the amount we use it in our classes.
An exclusive interview with Craig Newmark
Things employment recruiters won't tell you
I don't believe in a God, but am interested in religion and how it affects the world I live in. I see a definite separation between interest and belief.
Chicago-based Sandbox Industries now hiring Jr. and Sr. Ruby on Rails Developers
Creative, flexible and versatile Rails developers wanted to join the business incubation team at Sandbox Industries in the West Loop, Chicago. You will work with our incubation team to develop prototypes for early-stage web-based products and services.

Unique job opportunities for junior and senior developers who are interested in lean startups and product development. Lots of room to learn and grow as a developer and to help build our development team from the ground up.

Please apply at Startuply if interested!

Jr. Ruby on Rails Developer: http://startuply.com/Jobs/Jr_Developer_Ruby_on_Rails_2477_2.aspx

Sr. Ruby on Rails Developer: http://startuply.com/Jobs/Sr_Developer_Ruby_on_Rails_2477_3.aspx
That only works in hindsight.
You were able to install Intellij on top of OSX. What's stopping you from installing Java too?
for the 36 that are inactive, put up a quickie site like I did and in theory you could be making $360 a month (assuming $10/month per site). Even at $1/month per site you would make $432, or enough to pay for all of your domains.
I think he has a point insofar as Ubuntu's user interface has thousands of small usability issues like the one he mentioned; each of them a corner case that impacts a tiny subset of end users, and so each tends to get individually brushed aside because the fix would require a lot of hard work (polishing is, after all, about doing a lot of hard work), and wouldn't benefit that many people vs rewriting-the-audio-layer-yet-again or how-about-a-new-HAL-this-one-is-almost-mature or some other big/sexy project with mindshare.

The problem with that thinking is that all of those little corner cases, in aggregate, create a situation in which you are constantly encountering little unpolished, sharp edged bits of ungainly behavior, and it's never going to go away until people reject CADT-type behavior and realize that polishing enough corner-cases for small subsets benefits large majorities in aggregate.

Shuttleworth seems cognizant of this with his support for the paper-cuts project, but there's too little of this polishing going on upstream for a 100-odd little fixes per-release effort to really tip the balance too far towards improvement.
Whats the point? Sensitive Information like the login page is secured by https (which is a great thing) but why encript the data you don't need to have encripted?

It's (for me) pretty simple. they force the users to use http because the amount of cpu time which is spent for http user is lower than the time for https...

just my two cents
Ask HN: How do you handle frontend/backend of your webapp?
How are you able to focus both on frontend and backends of your webapp ? How many of you are good at both jobs ? I can finish the backend stuff pretty fast, but the UI/javscript takes a lot of time. Any suggestions to improve this ?
For every three domains I buy, I probably keep one longer htan a year. And only half of those stay longer than two years (1/6). But those that last longer than two years are generally gonna stay around for a while--I bought them because I like the name, not because of a project sitting in my mind. Eg, AffinityScore.com just has a nice ring to it and would make a nice social ranking product or services business. (If you google "Affinity score" it's most often used by people describing EdgeRank...)
It's been a long debate, and yes, it's almost like sequel. Actually, ARel positions itself into the same niche as sequel, i.e. low-level toolkit to build frameworks on.

In my opinion, sequel is an absolute kick-ass sort of thing, it's just that ultra-cool if you have time and will to hack.

Further reading:

http://sequel.heroku.com/2010/02/06/arel-sequel-differences-...

http://sequel.heroku.com/2010/02/10/arel-sequel-differences-...

http://sequel.heroku.com/2010/02/23/the-benefits-without-the...

http://magicscalingsprinkles.wordpress.com/2010/01/28/why-i-... -- note comments bout sequel
everybody is going go close out the site ASAP after the phone rings, so any ads you post will be very ineffective.

Since you know they'll be calling their cell phone, consider sending them a text message after they make the call: "Now that you have found your phone, consider ABC company in your city for xyz."

Add this to terms of use.
Tablets, education, and unions
Reading about Firesheep you'd find out that the session cookie is passed in the clear and acquiring that allows you to steal someone's session. This is easy on WiFi. That's why it matters.
Some numbers to back this up. We run http://www.domestika.org - the largest spanish-speaking community for designers with some.

There we have around 19% using IE and the rest on Firefox, Safari and Chrome.

If you assume that at least some of the IE users would be happy to download Firefox, Chrome or Safari when using a specific tool and you can get at least some more to install chrome frame, the percentage of IE users left means that for this kind of audience it really doesn't make sense trying to work around the limitations of that browser...
Anyone ekes surprised WPA PSK didn't bother salting the hash with at least, the network name or device serial? We had rainbow tables a decade ago for Windows when Windows had this same issue.
The flip side of chunking is the equally-bad UI known as "wading through menu trees". I personally prefer not having to deal with finding my way through half a dozen menu levels trying to remember where I found that admin tool that I don't use often enough to build muscle memory. If you want a friendlier UI, install the Control Panel app or whatever it's called that replaces those menus with a categorized list of big, pretty icons.
And without raising awareness of the issue, everybody might always be somewhat vulnerable forever, whereas now that "we know", after being highly vulnerable for a short time everybody's vulnerability to this should drop to zero very quickly.

If you assume a limited number of evildoers and a limited ability to exploit this at will (e.g. you have to catch your victim in close proximity on public wi-fi that you're sharing with him), releasing a tool like Firesheep may produce significantly less total damage.
Apple Enlists Unisys to Help With Corporate, Government Deals
Don't know where GoDaddy's cheap ones went, but NameCheap has them for $10. http://www.namecheap.com/learn/other-services/ssl-certificat...
The main problem I see with this [1] is mostly exactly what they, Canonical, try to want to reach desperately: To differ even at substantial costs.

See, I'm not one of these "Linux on the desktop" guys, but I do use it on a daily basis and have a rich social network that slipped into Linux-Land by various means. Be it talking about it, seeing cool things on my desktop or just being annoyed by the big players. Some of them, a majority even, runs Ubuntu now. It's just really easy to work with, the guys do (did?) quite an amazing job.

What I fear is that someone with that large of a market penetration wanders off and creates "yet another desktop". We're used to KDE and Gnome, I know lots of people that use fluxbox/openbox, there's the tiling wm niche, you can run Moblin/MeeGo and I'm sure I forget the best wm anyway and the comments are going to try to enlighten me.

Moving into a new direction is painful. It breaks with everything and everyone else. You should have a good reason and a compelling argument. Forking OpenOffice.org is a good example in my book. Unity is the fork that no one on the forking side wants to acknowledge. And for what? To "diversify the platform" (i.e. marketing crap)? Ubuntu UI patches (think notifications/libindicator for example) are already debated today and even create problems with upstream packages _now_. Going for a completely new shell/ui is just going to increase the burden here and will end up with this: "Please create a package for Gnome (on linux or bsd, for whatever distribution) and a special one for Ubuntu."

1: Disclaimer is the same for me as for the guy in the link: Gnome member and (occasional) contributor.
What's with the downvotes? That's the purpose, it's to provide an abstraction layer, not obfuscate.
I wouldn't go so far as to say grim - but it definitely shows that even with the best of efforts, Swing is never going to cut it for non-developer applications. IntelliJ is about as good as Swing apps get on OSX.

Gotta feel for the JetBrains guys, I have a feeling that a good chunk of their users are on Macs and it's not clear that they'll have a way forward. It does look to me like Eclipse will be a viable option in future. Which, as an IntelliJ fan using a Mac, doesn't make me super happy.

That said, I think the original article was spot-on.
Upon the user entering his number immediately redirect him to a sponsor's webpage. You don't care if the user stays on your site, and if you deliver him to an advertiser instantly everyone wins.

Combined with the area code you can localize the redirection.
I'm a CS student. Do I enjoy C? Yes, I enjoy C much more than C++ or x86. But why would I use C when Python or Java will suffice for most things? Of course, I pulled out C for OS and C++ for graphics and robotics, but most of what I do does not require being this close to the hardware.

I find C to be an elegant language. But we have so many other things to worry about, like the algorithms, data structures, security, concurrency, etc. If a language can help me with things like memory leaking and segfaults, then of course I'll go with that language over C. I have so many other things to focus on.
Eew... i'm sorry. i didn't realized this point... you're right sir! this behaviour isn't good...
Do you say that in a capacity as a desktop power user or as a server admin?
That doesn't have to be a conflict. Just as you can easily use KDE or XFCE with Ubuntu through the Kubuntu and Xubuntu distributions, I'm sure you can easily choose "classic" GNOME.
Ask HN:Hiring crisis for new companies why aren't they outsourcing?
I've seen a number of comments around newly funded companies in the valley and how they are not able to find skilled labor etc. I've been outsourcing parts of projects offshore for about 10 years and I've had some good results when it’s been managed correctly. Some things I have found to be a non-issue is that the intellectual property being generated will end up in the hands of your competitors or that you want to build up your talent pool. Why isn't everyone doing this? If you’re considering outsourcing and you have questions let me know.