skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Send this to Private eye - they love a well-documented case of bureaucratic bumbling like yours.
I still do not completely understand it. I see the math, but I see it as symbols that I can memorize, rather than something intuitive (like when I see a moving cursor through a state tree during a binary search for instance).
> All of these decisions had the effect of reducing Apple's support and maintenance overhead while strengthening their control over the direction of their platform.

Yup, plus the effect of improving user experience.

The most developer-friendly thing a platform vendor can do is attract users. Apple's done that in spades.
While Apple hasn't announced anything yet, I have to think that a lot of iOS APIs are going to show up in Lion to make it easier…

Prepare to be disappointed. Technology stacks aside, if the interaction models between desktop apps and multi-touch interfaces were in any way relatable, UIKit wouldn't have been invented.

If you want to write a Mac app for the new store, you'll be using AppKit.
Not familiar with it, but I believe drop.io offers some form of fax ability.

EDIT: Guess that won't do much good as I just read that drop.io was acquired by Facebook and they are discontinuing the service. Oh well.
I saw that coming the very day VLC was approved on the AppStore, looks like I was right:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1709912

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1710045
Any fully-compliant R5RS really. I'm talking about the concepts of exactness and the numerical tower in particular. The notion that an integer is a subset of a real number instead of a whole separate type is conceptually very nice.

http://www.schemers.org/Documents/Standards/R5RS/HTML/r5rs-Z...
It'll be hard to top Google Wave. I wonder what he'll work on next?

Maybe he'll integrate Google Wave into Facebook? Well one can dream...
Good point. If you were serious about terrorism, and had an ounce of intelligence, why would you go after a plane at all? There are a huge number of other things you could attack, that are much easier targets. Football games have a lot of people packed in a small space, and if you set off a panic with a bomb or something, more people would be injured. If you sneak into a big party and spike the punch with poison, it would scare the crap out of people -- is nowhere safe? Or sneak a bomb into someone else's carry-on luggage, and set it off when they're waiting in the security line. What's the TSA going to do? Make a security line to get in the security line?
I'm not speaking from personal experience on this, but if you think it's far-fetched that someone couldn't fit one, if not multiple entire sticks of dynamite up their ass, you should be glad to have lived a sheltered life.
How to Build a Quality Paid Directory Easy
Because Apple has nothing better to do than to deal with developers submitting apps with all kinds of idiosyncratic hoops for Apple to jump through.

"Oh, you can distribute this, as long as you do x, y, and z to be in compliance with the GPL license." "Oh, you can distribute this, as long as you put the app icon on theh apple.com front page." "Oh, you can distribute this, as long as you send Richard Stallman a signed glossy photo of Steve Jobs." "Oh, you can distribute my app, Apple just has to distribute my source code on the Lion install disk."
This is the thing that I don't really like about PowerShell. I know I can parse clear text really easily and can do it in many different ways, but I have to rely on methods that are provided in any other type of output.
The dev who is asking to remove it is not the same as the one who submitted it to the appstore. VLC is foss and as such any contributor is a copyright holder and can ask apple to remove it from the appstore.
No one that I've suggested drop.io to has ever even heard of it. The response, on the other hand, has been "oh wow! this is cool!"

They certainly could have used more marketing as far as I've seen. I'm sad to see them go.
Given I've never heard of those, I guess I just do a better job picking technologies than you do :-)
Well now that Lars is gone, the possibility of a complete revision and UX revamp of Wave has gone up.
Does it implement a sucky Windows-style Console?
Sure. Send me an email at daniel@mindquilt.com and I'll send you my phone number.
Given the level of agreement, you will have a hard time finding much disagreement from any source.

I would even suspect that a significant number of those who "disagree" disagree more on technicalities than on the general idea that the US's agricultural subsidies are a bad idea as implemented. For instance, I could argue:

1. A free market economy tends to surprisingly precisely match production to demand; producing extra costs you more than your competition is spending and tends to drive you out of business.

2. Food is subject to unpredictable random failures on a large scale.

3. It is better to have too much food than too little.

4. The economic effect of a subsidy is to cause overproduction. (As opposed to price fixing, which is to cause shortage. Rather a lot of verbiage is expended on the internet trying to explain away these two facts, yet the facts remain.)

Therefore, it may actually be desirable strategically for a country and even for the species to subsidize food production, in the hopes that the excess will offset the unpredictable disasters that a free market would tend to produce very little slack for. This will cost the society as a whole more than a "precise match" produced by the free market, but it only takes one bad harvest for this insurance to pay off bigtime. This could lead an economist to vote "disagree" on principle, even if they probably would agree the current subsidy is not an efficient way of accomplishing this goal. As others have pointed out, slamming this to a "true/false" question does erase many of the finer distinctions.

But other than those directly monetarily benefiting and those who don't understand the economics well enough to understand how bad these things are, you're not going to find much thoughtful support of these subsidies as they currently exist.
I was talking about Afghanistan, opium and RPG's. I was also speaking from personal experience not from TV experience.
But it does suggest that economics is just politics by another name.

A survey of doctors would presumably agree on the function of an organ, a survey of hospital administrators might also agree on the need to cut treatment costs - this doesn't mean the opinions are equally accurate.
So, where else does the FSF suggest we get our apps if we are supposed to avoid the App Store?
I built a 3 axis milling machine in 1996. 4 Stepper motors at $30 a piece 35 oz-in torque. I used standard threaded rod -- this video has the expensive kind.

Yawn.
also Onehub Transfers! https://onehub.com/x
I'd think it'd be a little nicer to bootstrap in the data as JSON objects -- so that you don't have to scrape your own data out of the HTML...

But really, if you have to maintain JavaScript-less functionality for a web site (not a web app), that's a fine way to do it. Pull all of your data out of the data attributes once at load time, and you're off to the races.
I consider myself sharp, but not smart. So I'm often humbled when I read stuff on Hacker News, but I am always completely dumbfounded when I read any of the technical pieces by John Carmack. I read 90% of that article and I comprehended about 20% of it.

I toil with silly web development side projects for months on end that evolve into nothing and he's coding complete games, single-handedly (though admittedly using some existing codebases and content) in a couple of months.

That guy is wicked smart.
Ruined my attempt to read it in Instapaper, too. Ugh.
Interesting that most of these were fiscal and regulatory policies, but no monetary policies held a broad consensus. I would have thought there would be more consensus on interest rates and money supply.
ODBC and OLEDB are still pretty widely used if you work in the DB space. They just shipped a new version of ODBC last year. And given that ODBC has been out for nearly 20 years, I'd hardly call that something that went poof overnight. I probably see new OLEDB at least once a week.

ADO.NET is extremely popular still. I'd argue that its the most popular way to get data in the MS stack to this very day.

Hailstorm didn't go poof, it was never released. Passport actually still lives on to this day, but is called Windows Live ID. VB6 is the only one on your list that I'd legitimately say isn't really used much, but that line of VB lived for 11 years -- that's not exactly a short lifespan -- it may well out live Java :-)

And WPF doesn't appear to be on the verge of going anywhere. Visual Studio was just rewritten with it. Their designer tool, Blend, is written in it. They just built their new IDE for business apps with it. If you saw at PDC they announced support for fixing Airspace issues (a huge engineering task), SL support, improved threading, integrating new controls, among other things.

Next?
Should they have kept Wave alive to keep him?

I think that these supposedly high profile departures might not be such a bad thing for Google, they might find a new Lars in their ranks that won't cost as much to retain (until she/he hits gold).
C is a good language, but if you're just starting off with computer programming, you should try Python.

Otherwise, TAOCP is a good book. MIT also offers some free course work at: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-comput... and http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-comput...

Full list at http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/#electrical-engineering-and-compu...

Good luck! :)
Ask HN: Why isn't AppleTV more powerful?
AppleTV would have been really exciting if it was essentially an iPad/iPhone that displays on a TV in 1080 resolution and is remote controlled by anyone holding an iPhone or an Ipad. It would have been very exciting to run iOS apps on a TV, and touch makes the ultimate control interface for TV.

Why has Apple made AppleTV so underpowered and limited? Steve Jobs seems to have got just about everything else spot on - why is Apple so wide of the mark with AppleTV?
I know it's not the same individual that submitted as is making the current complaint.

Whomever agreed to Apple's terms told Apple, by way of agreeing to the contract, that they had full rights and authority to grant Apple the right to distribute the app with all the associated restrictions, etc. outlined in the contract. It would seem that when you consider the terms of the GPL, that person did not have the authority to claim such a thing. That person lied or, at best, was simply mistaken. This isn't Apple's fault. That's all I'm saying. Perhaps ultimately we agree on that point.
I'd love hearing more drop.io alternative suggestions from others. Dropbox and Tonido have been mentioned, but they really aren't the same thing.

My band lives in various areas of the country, and we share mp3 files via drop.io. We're able to comment on each riff/song, link directly to the files, get updates via RSS, and even listen to the mp3s without downloading them.

Anything else like this exist?
Another talent acquisition by Facebook and a lot more to come.
Welcome to the best lectures of your life:

http://webcast.berkeley.edu/course_details_new.php?seriesid=...

also available via iTunes U. I'm currently listening to them on my commute. Note, if you do actually go through the whole course -- you'll need to listen to a different year for lecture 24 or so -- that one is skipped. One of the highlights of my day is actually coming home and re-looking up what he's talking about.

(Oh, and of course you can just listen to the two Floating Point lectures. It has to do with the non-uniform -- or at least non-linearly uniform mapping of numbers, represented with a significand/mantissa and an exponent, onto the set of real numbers + the fact that the exponent used is in base 2, in the hardware, so the floating point numbers are spread about in a particular way. The difference between real numbers, as you tick up the odometer with each bit, varies depending on where you are in the number line (with big numbers, it's actually much more, with smaller numbers it's pretty minimal, but not unnoticeable as seen with this example. Does that make sense? Maybe I'm off about this... Anyway, still obviously recommend the lectures. And now, I'm going to read up more on ALUs and MUXs..)
I agree, it is a fallacy. But use it to your advantage if you can, it won't last long. I started my first real company at 20 years old, but I am now 41. I no longer get the "wow is he young to do that" response, but at least I now have 20 years experience running a company. It balances out in the end.
Opioid addicts would be pretty harmless if they didn't have trouble getting their drugs, but some drugs just make people act crazy, and they could get more they'd just act crazier.

Here are a few horrific pages from a book about meth that illustrate what I'm talking about:
http://books.google.com/books?id=qYOFM6aXSyEC&lpg=PA42&#...
The FSF would not recommend using an iPhone at all, in its present state. They have instead recommended phones such as the FreeRunner: http://www.openmoko.com/freerunner.html
Well then what would you use? HTML? That's what the guy who said to based their whole new system on Gopher said in 1992.

It's a stupid argument. I mean really a STUPID argument to say "don't use the best tools, use the tools that some random guy on HN says to use". If you can't trust your own judgment I'd quit software development right now. You really just have no business writing code. Because if you can't pick the best tools based on info, how can you pick the right architecture, or pattern, or prioritize which bugs to fix, or which scenarios to support, or which person to marry or when to have kids or when to buy a house.

I hate to be so blunt, but this reminds me of religious zealots who say, "ignore your best evidence... just trust us". Anyone who goes down that path simply has lost all of my respect.

And yes, downvote away. I just have trouble believe someone on a hacking site would say, "don't do what you think is best based on your own due diligence... follow some arbitrary crowd".
He's "taking a stand against Apple", but ISTM the real offender here is about the company that built an app with his code and submitted it to the store in breach of his license.
it's hard to come up with another example of something as ambitious, launched with such huge hype (remember the entire developers conference leaping to their feet and applauding) with such atrocious quality and usability. not at all clear what to do for an encore :-)
Most Expensive Stuffs in the world
People at my office seem to have standardized on "the naked machine," which I think sounds appropriately menacing, yet pleasantly colloquial. It's just diplomatically neutral enough that I think I may use it in line next time I opt out of one.
Yeah I am probably never have kids. Thank you :)
Economists pursue productivity single-mindedly and forget that their freedom to think about productivity and nothing else is based on the assumption that certain moral abuses are outlawed. Only the most deluded ideologue really thinks that economic efficiency just happens to coincide with human moral values. Sure, if you bring up eight-year-olds working in coal mines, a few people will say, "But that must have been caused by government interference, because eight-year-olds working in coal mines is really quite economically suboptimal! I can tell it's economically suboptimal because thinking about it makes me feel bad!" But they are in the minority. Most economists take for granted that economic productivity should be pursued only in a context in which certain moral wrongs are outlawed.

I pointed out in an earlier thread that the sales department will agree with you that systems reliability affects the bottom line, but when it comes to setting priorities, they'll fight tooth and nail to get all engineering resources dedicated to new products and features, and zero dedicated to reliability and infrastructure. It's the same with economists: they agree in principle that there should be laws enforcing basic human decency, but when push comes to shove they can't bring themselves to subordinate economic considerations. It's garden-variety déformation professionnelle. They have a hard time accepting that the value they dedicate their professional lives to is occasionally in conflict with something higher.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=918417

There's some good discussion about teenagers who call themselves CEOs of their "startups" at the link above, with a comment from PG.
I have a T7400 Dell Precision Workstation, basically the class of hardware you would find in a MacPro of the same vintage.

Should it break, I'm not responsible for packing and hauling all 25 kilos of it back and forth to a "Genius." Instead a technician will come to me because the basic warranty is next business day on site.

I didn't have to pay $300 extra to have warranty coverage which matched the machines depreciation schedule, because three year coverage is standard.

One year depot service is fine for consumer electronics. But my computer is vital to my business.
Actually I am versed with computer programming , but the thing is I am not well versed with computer architecture and related stuff, so what are the best resources I should follow to get well versed with computer architecture?
How script kiddies turns Linux box into a Zombie - True Story
thanks! good to know it's not atypical... it naturally doesn't "feel right". this functionality is one of the only things that has kept my code from evolving into nearly backbone. felt like maybe I was missing a piece of the puzzle.

considering that... backbone is not exactly what I need, but it is definitely inspiring for refining my own solutions (which again, are drawn from similar conclusions).
What is the latency like for interactive phone based games on Twilio?
I'm studying to become an interdiciplinary computational biochemist, so perhaps I can lend some perspective.

Supercomputers are increasingly used in the sciences to scale down the search space of massively complicated problems such as protein folding, molecular docking, and chemical synthesis. In several instances they lead us to novel, non-intuitive results, sometimes as small as finding a functional group prefering a gauched vs anti conformation that changes a particular interaction completely. With drug design specifically, we can cut down the chemical search space necessary to find inhibitor molecules and search for potential problematic harmful interactions before ever running in vitro assays.

Science today is more serendipity and hard work than acts of sheer brilliance. Having high-throughput tools that save us from looking too hard give us more time to think and more quickly update our models.

Supercomputing will lead us to smarter medicine, cures for cancer, better materials, and a more energy-efficient planet. Computer science is a major cornerstone of today's scientific endeavors, and we increasingly need to encourage interest and investment in this field.
There is a strong dividing line between officers and crew on a ship. There is no reasonable way for the crew to recruit the officers to go along with eliminating the captain. In a mutiny, all of the officers would be killed, making any story the crew tells statistically improbable.
What does "comprehensive reform" mean in this context? I've usually seen it used as a euphemism for "amnesty".
Facebook Friendship Pages: A New Level of Stalking?
Facebook is constantly rolling out these new updates, but almost every single one has been met with outcry from the users for the privacy concerns they raise. Yet, eventually, people seem to accept and use these features -- is this simply resistance to change or is FB able to shift our social paradigm?

http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=443390892130
"That's because we went through a similar enforcement action against Apple when we learned that a port of GNU Go (which is copyrighted by the FSF) was being distributed through the App Store. Unfortunately, Apple chose to make the issue go away by simply removing the software from the App Store".

The FSF told Apple that distributing a port of GNU Go on the Apple store violated the copyright of GNU Go. Apple stopped distributing it. It is pretty ridiculous of the FSF to say it is "unfortunate" that Apple chose to stop distributing it.
Actually being that they are contractors, they supply that stuff themselves. My uncle had a few of those trucks that he owned and was paying drivers to operate for a while.
Hi,

I don't know python at all but I'm assuming you know enough to do a fetch from a URL. If that's the case, why not use YQL?

http://developer.yahoo.com/yql/guide/two-minute-tutorial.htm...
It's not a computer! It's a device by means of which to optimally stream your money straight to Apple's coffers! You can't even browse the web with it!

BTW: it comes with a remote control so you don't have to use an iPad Touch / iPhone / iPad to control it.
I would love to make an informed decision at the ballot box next Tuesday based on candidates' positions on this issue, but alas it seems they've been a bit too busy talking about each others' sex lives to get to it.
"Compassion and understanding and freedom will lead to a better world.

Prisons and prohibition perpetuate suffering."

I'm all for drug legalization as long as I, as a taxpayer don't ever have to pay (if we do ever have a public health care plan) for anyone that decides to become a drug addict. I say decides, because the consequences of doing these drugs might just mean you become an addict. This means you won't get covered if you become addicted.

Also, businesses should have the ability to fire a drug addict at any time. Even if it doesn't directly affect productivity.

You are free to make any choice you want in this world, but I shouldn't have to pay for your mistakes.

As it is, people are still suing the cigarette companies for getting cancer (even though it's been well known for 50+ years that smoking causes cancer). We also need to have tort reform.
There's a fix for that too: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=728894

(TL;DR: Use the google service instead of whatever they replaced it with. Who could have guessed..)
Throwing an exception is a misnomer. An exception doesn't necessarily mean that an error happened. It means, "please unwind the call stack". Unwinding the call stack in a game is a no-no.

Games, especially the simulation, must be deterministic. An exception would most likely destroy determinism.

The simulation/AI is a big, hairy, ugly set of if/else and switch statements anyway. Adding extra error checking is not an extra burden.

The visualization sends asynchronous commands from the CPU to the GPU. The error condition won't be known right away. Querying the GPU will cause a flush of your command stream and ruin performance.

Dynamic memory allocation is reduced to a minimum during a frame so you don't get out of memory errors. Strings are allocated in a pool. Network sockets, file handles, and other performance intensive resources are not created mid-frame.

Exceptions are not a win for games. It is usually best to run the entire frame and then check for errors all at once at the end.
A technical introduction to the Async CTP (C# 5.0 in-depth)