skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
One effect some older gamers may have noticed over time – lag has gotten worse. I used to be able to ping 5ms to servers in the Bay Area on my old Pacific Bell DSL connection back around 1999/2000. Now I'm lucky to get 50 from Comcast.

It also means that most online action games have come to be built around prediction and latency compensation management. Games feel mushier, and they're easier to cheat (by intentionally lagging your client, etc.) because lots of games no longer use the centralized server model. Good prediction requires a dedicated server to run its own 'master' logic on, so that clients can't cheat. If you saw the paper from Valve recently here on HN, that's how it works.

The reason to not run dedicated servers is that it's cheaper. This is what most Xbox Live and PSN games do – just dumbly pipe data between clients. So it becomes a trust-based peer-to-peer system, except you can't actually trust the other peers. And predictably, the games end up feeling like crap.

Lots of games also have latency in their own local engine. Multiple rendering passes with buffering, physics thread synchronization, and then TVs that buffer the video, interpolate frames, and apply sharpening. The cumulative effect is like a car that's been built up with cost-cutting engineering, loaded down with driving aids, and designed to look good for 11 months. Numb, mushy, and ugly this time next year.
I didn't name it "Electric Sheep" to comment on the meaning of PKDick's book (or the movie). I use that name because screen-savers come on when your computer goes to sleep.... and dreams.
Why are the demos on these things always on another page behind another link?
I’m chinese，share one point；

why chinese mother more attention to their children?

The competision in children is not their ability or wisdom,
most of time but their parents'backdrop.

in future,80%'s children,find out the parents circumstances,you can know the guy's tomorrow
"There’s another overly-fat-pipe symptom that’s been increasingly in my face. I routinely copy big files here and there around the Internet, most commonly from my laptop to tbray.org." ...and then Tim describes a symptom of a fast initial burst followed by a much lower average transfer rate.

Note he is going external (over the internet). The problem is quite likely traffic shaping by his ISP. I would contend it isn't really a "fat pipe" issue so much as his ISP ...um... stretching the truth with respect to how much bandwidth they really can give to him. ISPs are in a "bandwidth battle" (kind of like the CPU clock rate wars) - they advertise the maximum bandwidth that they can theoretically provide, but if all subscribers tried to use that much bandwidth at once, the ISP does not have the back-end infrastructure to handle it. As a result, the ISP does traffic shaping: transfers a short burst (the initial burst in the case of a big file transfer) at maximum speed and then throttles the connection so that the average bandwidth doesn't overwhelm their back-end capabilities.
Well,
- Vim
- Google Analytics
- Dropbox
- Git
- Linux
- Google Docs
- Skype

Not a cent paid, not a single complaint.
While I didn't make the suggestion initially, I can see where it may have come from and might be able to expand on it some.

couchdb has a concept called couchapp (think rails for webapps written in javascript) which allows the entire application from data storage on the filesystem to presentation in the browser to only require the couchdb process and the web browser. The data is automatically ready for bidirectional (or multidirectional) replication anywhere from offline apps to cloud hosting providers -- all active.

It purports to do for your web application what git did for your application development -- you can clone just the app from one DB to another, or clone the entire DB for backups, offline work, or even peer-to-peer production hosting or web.

I haven't done web apps very much myself in a couple of years, but that's one area that's a bit tempting for me since the ones I have been interested in have peer-to-peer data accumulation and offline work + synchronization needs.
The problem isn't the buffer being full, it's a problem with the buffer being <em>large and full</em>. Buffering less and just dropping packets when your smaller buffer fills (or even before then) lets the congestion control stuff do its work.
Key to happiness(according to Vonnegut): Low expectations.

Key to being good at something while also being happy(who knows but you can try this):
decouple self-worth from achievement. Base self-worth on pursuit of consistent, deliberate practice.
This is probably more of a function of the way TCP operates than the potential upstream bandwidth. Basically envision TCP increasing exponentially each time a successful transaction occurs, and then cutting in half when a failure happens. After a certain amount of failures it will linearly grow, which is where you see accurate data rates. When TCP is scaling exponentially and decreasing by half, it's pretty difficult to guess the bandwidth. This probably takes under 10 seconds to stabilize. The only way to display accurate data would be to wait. So then the choice is really whether you would like to see nothing, or see the raw data of what's happening in TCP.
Why bother with the intermediation/illusion of an 4D immersive environment when you can have a richer/more nuanced experience playing a "real" flute. ;)
I google his name and there is not much about him after he left google.
He says 'I am now looking to share some of my knowledge and experience to benefit the next wave of those who aspire to do as I did'
I am just curious what has he done to benefit the next wave?
Is programming with Twisted really as awful as it sounds?
Great post. An excellent explanation of why equal income still can't lead to equal wealth.
However, while we're talking about fixing IE6, who wants to port WebKit to Javascript with me?

I think you'd have better luck porting it to Alchemy[1] and running it through Flash. Even if users don't have the plugin (many will[2]) you could take advantage of Adobe's drive-by Flash installation (something I strangely find myself wishing Microsoft would adopt for IE updates).

[1]http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/alchemy/
[2]http://www.adobe.com/products/player_census/flashplayer/vers...
So if your daughter is kidnapped by the a Colombian Drug Cartel and you decided that since you're a badass, you're going to go save her. Then you kill 20 baddies that are themselves cutthroat murderers that would have undeniably killed a greater number of people. Can you really tell me that the ends wouldn't justify the means?

If MI-5 kills 4 terrorists which where preparing to bomb a bus station with hundreds if not thousands of people, they're in the wrong for not respecting the rights of the terrorists? Or would they be in the wrong for not protecting the citizens of the country they're supposed to be protecting?

The ends will always justify the means in the mind of the person doing the act. What makes the actions of one person (or government) right is that in the minds of other people the means are also justifiable.

If someone is willing to not respect my rights and kill me to steal my wallet, I'm willing to forgo their rights because lets me honest, the ends do justify the means if it benefits not only yourself, but the rest of the population.
When the means are good, yes.
Show HN: imgip.com quick & simple image hosting
I think when seeking this advice, you need to be aware of what people think will make them happy vs. finding people that are actually happy.

It's easy to spout off things that in your head "will make you happy" -- but don't listen to those people. Since they haven't actually made it there.

It's like how winning the lottery doesn't actually make people happy. Ask those people before they win the lotto, what would make them happy, I bet a good number of them would list winning the lotto. Ultimately, the lotto doesn't actually make them happier.

(I think the key is that there is no state of absolute happiness. You have to "work" at being happy. Not necessarily through action, but perhaps by awareness.)
I guess my problem with something like that is that conceptually it doesn't make much sense. There's no obvious reason why assigning an array to a scalar variable would give its length – it doesn't really feel clear or elegant, just unexpected.
I think the zoom is deliberate. He explains in the description, but I didn't read thoroughly...
"Speed" is related to both bandwidth and latency. High bandwidth with high latency will "feel slow." Unfortunately, everybody talks about bandwidth and ignores latency.

The "fat pipe syndrome" is a latency issue, not a "speed" (aka bandwidth) issue. Most home routers (and, I suspect, many commercial routers) only advertise bandwidth and not their latency.

ISPs also advertise their best case (burst) bandwidth and are typically silent on their latency and average bandwidth.
It's a move toward totalitarian system.
But that's not the main argument against government to be involved in Internet identity business.
So then I wonder if that makes a case for Jessica Livingston writing a book called "Founders that Failed", rather than "Founders at Work 2"?
http://www.olark.com (for the link) -- appreciate the support :-)
"Almost all programmers type fast, say 400+ characters
per minute. So how long does it take to write one two
lines of simple text explaining your code? 15 seconds
maybe?"

OMG - is this true? He can't be talking about code - can he? I'm lone programmer & self taught. If it's true I must really suck because it takes me so much longer it's not funny. LoL - I have to stop and think, for minutes, almost all the time.
Here's a prediction, Intel will still be a dominant player in CPUs 10 years from now. ARM is making progress, great, good luck competing with Intel in FAB capacity and engineering capability. The world isn't going to suddenly switch to 100% mobile CPUs, desktops and severs are still not just a big business but the biggest part of the business.
Government tends to be inefficient in Internet business. The Government would screw things up in multiple ways: too slow, too expensive, too much corruption, not flexible etc.
A Defense of High-Frequency Trading
Yes, they should. All people making claims should be subject to scrutiny over vested interests, exaggerations, distortions and unwarranted attacks on other people in the same field. The same standards should be applied to all.
E-Piracy: The High Cost of Stolen Books
From wikipedia:
In computer graphics it [bubblesort] is popular for its capability to detect a very small error (like swap of just two elements) in almost sorted array and fix it in with just linear complexity (2n)
NB: This article (and several more like it) was in January's wired.

As an AI researcher, I get suspicious when I see anyone talking about Genetic Algorithms and Neural Nets. These are techniques that current researchers simply do not use (Neural Nets are used very sparingly, GAs should never be used at all). They make up for their technical failings by being approachable, particularly for journalists. In short, these methods intuitively sound like they should work much better than they actually do.
"Code consisting of ShortMethods can reveal the algorithm more directly than procedural code usually does, while hiding the implementation."

http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ReadingRavioli
What's a FAQ document doing on a tech news blog? Why is it part of a series of essays being published there? Something strange is going on at TC re: Quora. It's really turning me off from spending any time on the site.
For those (like me) who are clueless on what ZFS is, the wiki page has a good overview:

In computing, ZFS is a combined file system
and logical volume manager designed by Sun
Microsystems. The features of ZFS include
data integrity (protection against bit rot,
etc), support for high storage capacities,
integration of the concepts of filesystem
and volume management, snapshots and
copy-on-write clones, continuous integrity
checking and automatic repair, RAID-Z and
native NFSv4 ACLs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS
I understand the idea behind it, but I don't feel like it's any clearer than "foo = [1, 2, 3]; foo[0] = 1" (in Ruby, Python, or something similar). This was even changed in Perl 6 because the different sigils just increased obfuscation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perl_6#Sigil_invariance
Strange... Time Warner isn't on the list.
Android apps violate the GPL as well because they're also wrapped in DRM.
Actually if there's any one lesson to be learned from the last dozen years of the stock market's swings, it is that "buy and hold" is dead as a useful investment strategy.

I might have misused the term buy and hold. I meant to ignore the intraday swings and keep your eyes on the overlying trends. I certainly don't think you can blindly hold an index fund these days and plan on retiring on it.
What's the underlying motivation?
Actually you could ship without talking to anyone. and shipping is an economic transaction. It's not a basis for a relationship.

You need to know a lot of people who are invested in you personally. That doesn't happen if the relationship is transaction(in an economic sense) based - ie "I'm only interested in talking to you if you can help/buy my product".

You need to go out and help people yourself and ask help from others.
Ask HN: Hacker-friendly Toys/Puzzles
I am a freelancer who works from home/coffee shop/etc. Recently, it has dawned on me that my productivity receives a good boost whenever I take small breaks from the task I'm working on and play; I have heard someone recently refer to this as "cognitive snacking".

I have been playing a few video games, but I'd love suggestions for puzzles or hacker-friendly "toys" that would let me take a break from staring a screen. So far I've thought of a Rubix cube or Lego Mindstorms, but would love the community's suggestions for additional (intellectually stimulating) distractions.
Hacking Priceline: A Game-Changer For Bidding On Hotels
I strongly prefer physical, mechanical buttons; they work better with muscle memory. Some devices implement some of the buttons as on-screen soft-buttons. It's probably possible to do with all of them. At least one upcoming tablet has no off-screen buttons. Fortunately, Android is an open platform with lots of flexibility so we can each get devices we like.

If only they'd bring back trackballs and 5-row keyboards... then I'd be happy.
There's a difference between sacrificing another and sacrificing yourself.
Ask HN: What are your favorite books of 2010?
What are the best books that you've read in 2010 and why did you like them so much?

I'm asking because I've picked up many excellent books based on recommendations from HN, and I think it would be great to have a centralized thread to gather recs.
I went into Subway today just to get a drink. I asked for a medium (I admit I am in the habit of doing that everywhere, and it's usually a pretty safe option). She pointed to a giant 40oz Big Gulp-looking plastic cup. Apparently "medium" has been growing not just at coffeeshops.

The best part is that, as I slurp down my 600-calorie soda, I can read on the side of the cup about how many Subway sandwiches are so healthy and just 200-300 calories.
Can you explain the "makes perl look like java" comment? how does perl look like java?
I wonder how far away from your servers you are. Even 50ms from your computer, down the wire, through who knows how many network appliances then onto it's target is pretty damned good if you think about it, and at 5ms it's just nuts. Light will only go about 1500 KM that fast..
To follow the ongoing culture of disagreeing, I disagree with you that bad code needs to be refactored immediately.

That has a technical reason: "Don't touch a running system." You know, you can never be sure what you change there, if the code is really that bad.

And it also has a management reason: Everything these days is about efficiency. You only have a limited amount of resources. That might be coders in your company, when you are the CEO. That might be free time, when you code for yourself. But all these resources should be spent wisely. So, if refactoring the code takes a lot of resources and the functionality of the software actually stays the same, I would suggest to do that later, when it really needs to be done because you need to change the functionality. And if it is selfwritten code, it might be smart to go on with the next project and improve your coding quality through more experience over time and maybe later come back to refactor.
Ask HN: Moving to Taiwan
Hello,

I live in a large North American city and I'm in my early 30's. I manage a team of talented web developers. I've worked hard and have achieved a lot of successes. I feel I'm at the top of my game, so to speak. My focus, productivity, creativity and drive are at an all time high.

I have a great relationship with my wife. She has never been completely satisfied with the North American lifestyle - she is a traveler at heart. She wants us to travel to Taiwan for a year or two.

To be honest, I am scared. This is a major life change involving leaving my job and starting over by bootstrapping a startup in a new land. I recognize that traveling and living abroad is a tremendously rewarding experience, but I feel all the security, contacts and reputation I have worked hard over the years to build will be lost.

Has anyone made a major move like that? I'd appreciate any advise you have to offer.
Basically, the aim is to be developer-friendly and fast to throw things together in, but with the power of a functional language. It's a dynamic, weak typed functional language with readable syntax that makes certain things that are chores in other languages easier - I/O and concurrency being two examples.

Scotch is very new and if you haven't heard of it before, you can check the main wiki page on github for some more links to blog posts, etc. It started as a hobby project that, due to a lot of positive feedback, I'm trying to push a little harder.
Real Life Tron an an Apple IIgs
I don't usually have to stop and think for documentation, though. That's the idea - you're just putting down what's already in your head so that the maintainer can read it.

That said, I usually find that the documentation I write ends up becoming out-of-date about 5 minutes after I write it, because code changes in the process of writing it down. I might write down a docstring to clarify my thoughts, but then the function I actually write doesn't do exactly what I thought it would, and I have to go back and remove or cleanup the docstring later.
Ha.. I had a similar idea. Mine would also know when you were running out of item X (eg, based on weight and average delta) and order groceries for you based on this. I like your recipe idea better though. Mine involved getting planned meals for the week and using that information to also pre-order groceries.
Spot on. When I relocated to the US from Europe, it was impossible for me to open a bank account, rent an apartment or get a cell phone without an SSN.
When I explained that to people at the SS administration, they told me that an SSN can never be a requirement to obtain any kind of service. In reality, it's simply not true.
>"It is however acceptable to kill 20 enemy combatants to rescue a dignitary from a besieged embassy."

Even if the dignitary was Von Ribbentrop?

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

Semi-deontological ethical rules suffer the same problems as deontological ethical rules.
I'm in the Bay Area. The servers are in the Bay Area. I don't see why that's unreasonable. People don't know what they're missing now.
An automatic inventory of everything in your fridge and apps that could build on that inventory (Grocery List or Recipes) - genius!
A collection of small, but strong, magnets is an endless source of fun. Just keep them away from your electronics.
Programmers who type that fast might not have enough time to think. Typing speed is never the bottleneck.
Beef Bowl Capitalism (how deflation leads to social problems in Japan)
Thank you!

As soon as those wealth inequality posts started popping up I've been waiting for someone to point out the idiocy of lamenting the wealth inequality between 22 yearolds just entering the workforce and 65 yearolds about to retire.
I've been doing this in my home networks for years, and this is exactly what egress shaping does for me. The local router drops packets, the internal clients back off.
I saw this a couple days ago and was turned off of her opinion just by the arrogance of her tone.

She is very extreme. It's a case where something "works" for her kids though I'm not sure the end goal, so she jumps to all kinds of conclusions. Besides the obvious questions of whether her kids are actually going to be happier or more successful in the longrun, she thinks that every part of what she's doing is what makes it work. I think not owning a TV is good for kids, but I can't see where most of this other stuff would help the child.

From my experiences watching high schoolers in China I am very happy I had lax western parents. Many will study 14 hours a day and are not allowed to date or hang out with friends.
The weird thing is that they still add some people, but they claim it isn't adding anyone new.
I've tried to use this in the not-so-distant past, but unfortunately it introduced all kinds of weird rendering bugs to the site. I hope others have better luck.
Interesting deductions! I just wanted to pipe in here to confirm that your math and your stated assumptions are correct. My take is the standard 10%. My "top tier" status, as you flatteringly put it, bought me the freedom to simultaneously publish the book online under a Creative Commons Attribution license. I negotiated for licensing, not money. I have no regrets.
The only real advantages ARM has over x86 currently is:

a: licensing cost / production cost

b: Power consumption

If you think that intel wont have both of those factors down to ARM levels shortly, you dont know intel very well. They are very competitive and dont like to get beat.
This looks like it could be promising: "Intended to provide a fast, developer-friendly functional scripting language with increased productivity similar to object-oriented languages Python and Ruby."
Unfortunately not, it doesn't store anything for now, it's an API that just gives you a 0/1 for stupid/clever. That's a good suggestion, though. I'll add a feature to save the results and give you a link in exchange for manually marking your text as stupid/clever, so the filter gets trained. Thanks
<a href=http://used.gov-auctions.org>used cars</a>
because "innovative" = "we are copying something that's been around for decades on desktops, but now we're doing it ON THE WEB!!!/ON MOBILE PHONE!!!" ;P

(this is of course a great advance from the previous generation of thrilling innovation which was all about copying something that's been around for decades on mainframes/minicomputers, but ON A MICRO!!!) ;P ;P
How does the national government issuing identification cards lead to totalitarianism?
The browser signature presented on panopticlick is really not akin to a physical finger print at all.

Most of the features that are called out as making up your browser's 'finger print' actually change fairly regularly on most users machines. Using these features, your finger print would change anytime you update your browser, add a new plugin, or disalbe an old font.
Even if it is optional to start with, it's like every other government "security theater" nonsense and there will be mission-creep to make it mandatory sooner or later.

Absolutely no way this should be allowed to be enacted, in any form.

Government should simply enforce the existing spammer laws and ensure net neutrality.