skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
In April of 2010, 5 of the major publishers (Penguin/Putnam being one of them) instituted what is now called Agency Pricing.

Can anyone explain how this isn't considered price fixing, collusion or otherwise anti-competitive?
What you say makes sense - robotic cranes should be able to operate with heavier pieces, and will require less energy per piece placement.

However, MAVs (micro air vehicles) could reach into places where cranes wouldn't be able - i.e. inside the building.
Also you can have many more MAVs working at the same time than cranes, so MAVs might be able to considerably speed up the building process.
Key word being "ordinary".

Once you are free of that limitation, applications of this technique on varying scales opens up a new "world" of possibilities.

Pipelining/Parallelization could be achieved by throwing more bots at the problem.
Does she actually explain why in the full interview?
uh, step 6 is going to take me ages.. never been god at this kind of puzzles :(
There's no reason you can't combine these approaches. Using larger ground-based equipment to move girders and small, flying machines to do things like interior finishing makes a lot of sense.
Very nice list. I've googled a while ago for this, and it yielded awfull results. Not that search engines were ever good at specific option comparison (think wikipedia lists), but it really got worse as more nad more people create things.

HN also had a very nice list a while ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2024401
How about the combination for both. Perhaps there could be a 80/20 mix. It could very well make a lot more economic sense. It would seem like the cost vs moving weight ration would be much higher for MAVs compared to a crane.
Don't look down on the social sciences too much, there was a time when great battles were fought between the people who believed in Darwinian evolution and those who believed in Mendelian genetics.
It's probably because the project itself is not interesting (to you).

Try to do something else if you have the choice, or try to make the project interesting if you don't. The last one is harder to do.
Thanks for the correction--I last used campfire pre-erlang and missed the switch:

http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1728-nuts-bolts-campfire-love...
When I first read this article, so many thoughts crowded into my mind that it was difficult to compose a coherent response. Since I often take the train through one of the less nice areas of Chicago, from time to time I catch myself gazing out at the dilapidated structures and piles of trash and thinking really hard about how a neighborhood goes from being founded in enterprise and hope to 'ruination.' I offer the following observations:

1. Hopelessness perpetuates from generation to generation, being passed from parent to child. Children are born to young, uneducated parents whose finances are already stretched to the limit. Not having been properly habilitated themselves, it is common for these parents to take their frustrations out on their children in the same way their parents did. So you've got this cycle of despair and depression that perpetuates across generations.

2. Certain characteristics of the impoverished class have been adopted by mainstream media -- particularly advertising media -- as if they are significant of some culture. Baggy clothing is used as an example. It's a little known thing that the 'zoot suit' of the from the 1930s and 1940s was considered a display of wealth. It meant that you could afford to have a suit made with volumes of fabric at a time when cloth was more dear than it is today. This display of wealth is consistent with the other characteristics of 'African American culture': large gold chains, gold teeth, everything covered in diamonds. At the risk of making a pun, this is a gold mine for advertising media. Think about it, it's an aggrandized display of excess that garners attention.

3. These characteristics do not define any kind of real culture. Last time I looked, there are more impoverished caucasian Americans than there are of any other skin tone. Careful examination will reveal that the dynamic is more or less the same regardless of the false delineation of 'race.' How different are spinning rims from the giant knobby tires on a Ford F250, really?

4. Which leads me to my final observation, in that I have for a long time considered identification with any sort of false 'culture' to be a form of self-segregation. History will show that encouraging a fractured 'hoi polo' is a very effective and powerful means of sustaining the status quo.

</two_cents>
T-Mobile rate limits your data connection
I recently returned from a week long business trip. My hotel room's location relavent to the router produced a poor internet experience so I decided to move my connection to my tethered Samsung Vibrant connection over the Tmo network. I received great (mobile) speeds typically resulting in 200-300kb/s rates. During the trip I used around 10 gigabytes of download data while watching some netflix films.

Yesterday I received this text message:
Free T-Mobile Message:
Due to the amount of data you have used this billing cycle, your data speed will be slowed for the remainder of the cycle.

I don't know if this is new or not, but I wanted to share so people would be aware. I'm a long time T-mobile customer that is pleased with the serviced for over 8 years, I'm not overly upset with this but just want to inform people of this policy in effect.
Ebooks aren't even competitive with actual books, second-hand books in particular. For almost any popular book published more than a few years ago, it's a lot cheaper to get it in a second-hand bookshop.
An interesting idea, the pricing (on both buy and sell side) should be much more obvious, I couldn't find anything besides the "as much as $350 for renting your car out for 15 hours". Are the prices based on the quality of car or does everyone get the same amount? (My 25 year old beater CRX vs your new Tesla?)

I also wonder how many people would really be willing to rent their own car out. I would expect the people that need the money (more then care about strangers doing lord knows what with their car) probably have the crappiest cars to begin with.
I rationally agree with the decision your team has made, but I realized I no longer have any AIR apps running on any of my systems. They've been unconsciously filtered out for native or web alternatives.

If your team does decide to build for a platform/OS I hope it's OS X first :D. Best of luck either way!
The Next Facebook Privacy Scandal: Sharing Phone Numbers, Addresses
Facebook only logins... why not OpenID?
Charles Stross, has written pretty publicly about this.

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/05/cmap-9-e...

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2007/03/why-the-...

(He's also cstross on HN, and I doubt he's going to miss commenting on this thread)
Where do libraries fit in your world?
For our startup http://skyara.com, we thought about pivoting in that direction... but we think online video lessons isn't as engaging as real life interactions even though it's easier to gain traction through virtual services.

It's definitely an interesting area though, would love to discuss more to see what went wrong with you guys. Email me if you're interested.
I'm a dad of 2 and 4 year old boys, and a technical co-founder. I gave my kids a Mac SE with MacPaint and they like opening/saving documents and making paintings. I figure I'll let them play video games after they've learned to code some simple games, because then they'll be able to change the game. I've noticed other people's kids (older 9-10yrs) are "device kids" always with their nose pointed at some mobile device (gameboy, ipod) i'm trying to avoid that.
They have paid the price already. You pay the libraries cost either directly or through your taxes.
I wish I could upvote this comment twice. There's a tremendous amount of data freely available and it doesn't take a PhD to see correlations between motivations and consequences.

To this list, I add:

http://www.amazon.com/American-Project-Rise-Modern-Ghetto/dp...

Tough read. Worth reading.
Who is pushing the idea that people want the God of War cow?

That question is almost entirely irrelevant. Here are some relevant questions:

1. Is the game entertaining? (If so, why?)

2. Do enough people buy the game to cover development costs?

3. Do the people involved in the project feel they are fairly compensated for their work?

4. Do the people involved in the project derive satisfaction from their work?

Publishers definitely like the idea of pumping up their games with unnecessarily large budgets, even though it works against them on a risk/reward basis, because, at least in theory, throwing money into a game will lead to a work of higher quality than the competition.

I don't have much game industry experience but from what I've seen of business in general there are different parties pushing in either direction and a final budget is a product of negotiation and chance. I doubt such a generalization about the game industry is actually true.

Comparing the two approaches, I take the opinion that most of the console publishers are overextending themselves with an outdated strategy.

Fortunately, there are more than two approaches to game development.
A single copy being handed out potentially infinitely! For free! THEFT!
The common goal is not just obtaining x - people buy a book to have a physical book and the sensory experience reading it. People who download (pirated versions of) books may or may not do the same with the book.

Given that people who pirate books often download more than they would ever buy (or consume, for that matter), I think the equivalent would be more people sitting in a bookshop and casually browsing the book. Saying that you can convert HALF of the people who browse through your book in a bookstore to buyers is, if anything, proof that you lost contact with reality.

The one thing that I do completely agree with in the article: "If you REALLY can’t afford books, ask your library to order them."
Libraries are a great way for people to share books, and usually the cost of actually running the library (i.e. staffing and room) dwarfs acquisition costs for the books. Hence, recommending a book to your library that other people could like is generally a good thing. (And you have a nice, physical book, and the authors get some money. What's not to like).
Last FB Update of a Man Who Set him Self on Fire Starting Revolution in Tunisia
Mohamed Bouazizi, an unemployed 26-year-old university graduate sold groceries illegally in the Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid to survive as he could not find a job. When police confiscated his produce because he didn’t have a permit he became so sad that he set himself on fire in protest.
The problem is you can get the book faster and easier by typing "Name of Book torrent" than "Name of Book buy".

Perhaps this is a problem that someone from this community should address. Easier Than Stealing dot com sounds nice.
Agreed. She also invokes the fact that she cannot publish everywhere. There are some self-publishing services out there that can do the trick. Seems like an awful lot of whining to me.
Wintel: Le Divorce
This is exactly why I enjoyed Crush It, by Gary Vaynerchuk. Quick and to the point.

So many business books especially read like a collection of blog posts and filler, rather than providing a real and valuable hypothesis.
I feel bad for the OP ... that was definitely a harsh review. That said, I notice that he called this a "Minimum Viable Product," which is a term of art from the Lean Startup methodology.

That very same methodology says you're not supposed to have some big TechCrunch launch with that MVP ... precisely because it is almost certainly not ready for primetime. The point of the MVP is to get it in front of real customers, learn, and iterate.

Taking concepts, decontextualizing them down to buzzwords, and then acting on them is a path to fail.
his last facebook status update: "I will be traveling my mom, forgive me, Reproach is not helpful, i am lost in my way it is not in my hand, for give me if disobeyed words of my mom, blame our times and do not blame me, i am going and not coming back, look i did not cry and tears did not fall from my eyes, Reproach is not helpful in time of Treachery in the land of people, i am sick and not in my mind all what happened, i am traveling and i am asking who leads the travel to forget"
Avoiding Disaster for Low-Income Students
Facebook Now Shares Phone Number & Address With Third-Party Apps
Freakonomics Radio: The Economics of Trash
Your comment addresses the issue better than the linked article. Thank you.
Pertinent section about BankSimple, after the bio writeups for the three principals:

"As the months go on, Reich and Karkal research and refine their idea. They discover that starting a bank, charter and all, is a cumbersome process that could take three to four years and would plunge them into a world of regulation and compliance. They decide that their main goal is to improve customer experience, because, as Reich says, "Banks in America fundamentally make money by keeping customers confused. ... A confused customer is a profitable customer. We've joked that one of the greatest innovations in banking is ever-decreasing font size." They realize the best way to improve customer experience is as a technology company, and it's what they both do best. They're now developing the technology Reich believes is so lacking in current U.S. banks. This technology will be transparent to the average customer but will make their banking easy, hassle-free. Even the product's name will be easy-BankSimple.

BankSimple will be exclusively online. Customers will have one easy-to-access account and one card. They'll have free ATM access to the nation's largest network and free online bill payment. They'll have no overdraft fees, in fact, no hidden fees at all. They'll be able to deposit checks in such innovative ways as using pictures taken with their smartphones. They'll have real-time, useful data and the tools to clearly and easily manage their money.

In the consumer's eyes, BankSimple will function as a bank, but in reality it's purely the front-end experience. Reich and Karkal will work behind the scenes with chartered banks that hold FDIC-insured deposits and make loans. Their company's system will move funds as needed between checking, savings, and credit accounts to make life easy yet yield the most for the customer. The company will make its profits not from myriad fees, but by sharing lending and credit card profits with their partner banks."
Honestly, you don't need do; everything stored on S3 (unless you're storing it on RRS) is crazy redundant. Amazon claim 99.999999999% durability in any given year: http://aws.amazon.com/s3/faqs/#How_durable_is_Amazon_S3

A bigger worry IMO would be accidentally deleting the files yourself (perhaps through a bug in client code). You can always enable versioning on your bucket to protect against that though.
On Overconfidence
College Is Still Worth It
Ask HN: What would you do with this domain?
Hey HN. We have the domain improvethings.org and we'd really like to make good use of it.

I'm interested in hearing what comes to mind! What would you do with improvethings.org?
>Who is pushing the idea that people want the God of War cow?

The people buying games? God of War 3 moved 1.1 million units in a single month[1] at ~$60 retail. Minecraft just topped 1 million units total last week, at $13-20 a piece.

This isn't taking away from Minecraft's success at all -- and what was essentially a one-man show making $15M+ off a single title is absolutely phenomenal success -- but I think it's silly trying to directly compare the two given the differences in scale. Neither is a replacement for the other.

[1] http://www.next-gen.biz/news/npd-god-of-war-iii-tops-march-s...
How Much Money Do Designers Make?
> They aren't talking about free, they're talking about theft. -yawn- Yet another content creator upset that they can't make money on piracy.

Yes, how selfish of him, the CREATOR.

> Yeah, that's a BIG hint that piracy and sales aren't linked in any useful way. Stop wishing you could turn any portion of that into real sales. Download numbers aren't related to sales numbers at all.

No, but they are related to people BREAKING THE LAW and reading YOUR WORK for free.

Even if they weren't about to buy it no matter what, they should pay for READING IT anyway.

Oh, and If you ain't gonna read it, don't download it. What are you, a hoarder?
The 10:23 Challenge 2011: Homeopathic Overdose
With S3 your data is stored in more than three places though.
How Can Web Design Affect A Website’s Bounce Rate?
The article suggests that some readers had problems obtaining a copy of the book.

If you can get a copy of the book legally, you should, but it seems like some customers weren't able to, and had to choose between obtaining it illegally, or waiting indefinitely on the whim of the publisher. I find it difficult to fault them for the former.
A couple of years ago I've watched a documentary about crane operators working in a harbors. They were payed incredible salaries and it was stated that they won't be replaced by robots because of their capabilities in decision making.
Why not use https://github.com/micahwedemeyer/automongobackup ?
Actually you can get it faster by downloading it from your kindle.
> I would seriously suggest that the author have a look at Cory Doctorow's work. Right on his home page, you can download his books in any free, non drm format you like. Yet he seems to do quite well selling his books too.

Yes, but he is also a popular figure known before the times of mass ebook piracy, and connected to one of the most popular blogs on the internet. How does this work for the average writer?

I remember Stephen King doing an experiment with free online content that ended horribly.
California Study Calculates Benefits of Clean Energy Innovation
I wonder how easy it would be for someone to sign up with fake id, pass the screening process and then steal a really nice car.

Or, worse, remove some of its engine parts and replace them with cheaper ones.

Do I need to tag each part in the car and strip it down each time it's returned to make sure no one has swapped anything out? (Some internal parts are expensive enough that it might be worth someone's time to rent my car and remove a new part for their own car rather than buy a new one themselves.) If this happens, how I prove it?

What about scratches? Does the car need to be photographed by both parties before and after each rental session. Otherwise either party could make a false claim about scratches or other cosmetic damages.

How are damage or theft claims verified and what role does getaround play in all of this?
How they used to sell computers: Oldest computer ads:
Okay...I didn't know anyone was still considering the possibility that Stuxnet was developed in a garage.
Am I the only one that enjoys using Air apps? I found the post to be a bit whiny for my tastes, and furthermore, I wonder if the OP is happy with any service at all.

Seems more like an issue of a problem customer than a problem service.
Unilever chief warns over global crisis in food output
Microsoft's Ambivalence Towards Kinect Hackers
If it is so easy, and you are unhappy with every available solution, then why not make one of your own?
Which iPhone service would you pay for? (results in few days)
Because that’s what it boils down to is convenience. People who illegally download books are more interested in their convenience than in supporting the authors they want to read. It’s not hard to go to the library, it just takes time..

Since you're treating your writing as a business (which is fine) why not actually give your customers what they want? If your customers want to be able to buy your e-book in their location, why can't they? Blame your publisher (I do, but I'm also OK with people pirating that book).

J A Konrath is an author who's highly realistic about this. His post about piracy nails it: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2010/05/piracy-again.html - He's selling his books for merely a few dollars each and on a DRM-ed platform (the Kindle) and is still making more.

One of the comments on the post struck me, too:

I have a professional musician on my friends list and he makes posts like this all the time. He said the amount of time he spends cracking down on his albums being distributed illegally (he's a fairly popular, but completely independent artist) is ridiculous. And that he'll be at a show and someone will come up and just cheerily tell him that, "Hey, I illegally downloaded your songs, man. LOVE THEM!" It's insane how entitled people are.

Someone AT his show? You mean, someone pirated his almost zero marginal cost material and then paid up good money to attend his show and that's a bad thing? Thankfully, many sane independent musicians have realized this is a great way to go and are profiting from it.
The Most Influential CEOs Under 30
I don't think its just about soccer... Kids can play with this ball during the day, and use it to charge a phone at night. If its incredibly cheap then they can sell to third world countries or perhaps just teach people to make it.
Roundabout (erfurter/germany) - a usability fail
While I agree bandwidth is important. The cost without it included is still significant to do it right.

Take the RackSpace Cloud:

1. Firewall - Linux, 1gb RAM - $43.60/mo
2. Web-Server - Linux, 8gb RAM, 320gb HD - $350/mo (and this is not even enough drive space)

Already $400/mo + bandwidth and I don't have enough HD nor redundancy of the data.

To do it right I should be adding in here a MySQL Server, another web-server at the least.
> These graphs tell me

It must be the spectacles you're looking through.

These graphs tell me that

- about the same number of Perl programs are faster than the Ruby 1.9 programs by about the same amount, as there are Ruby programs faster than Perl programs

- some of the Perl programs use half the memory of the corresponding Ruby 1.9 programs

- the Perl programs and Ruby 1.9 programs use about the same amount of code.
Some countries actually pay a fee per time leant out:

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

And a single copy can only service a small number too, not an infinite number, as only one person can be in possession of it at one time and usually borrow it for weeks at a time.
it is wrong to estimate that all those who downloaded the book illegally would go and buy paperback if there was no way to download it for free. i bet a good share of those who downloaded free copy downloaded it to maybe read sometime in the future but never read it. only 20%-30% of those who downloaded a free copy are potential buyers of paperback book. the author should take a look at freemium models and come up with a creative way of making money from the books while adapting world WILD web
The stock photography on your FAQ has to go. Asap. In fact, the picture of the lady in the call center was recently used on a blog that makes fun of bad stock photography.

I think call center stock photography is probably one of the worst things you can put on a site.
For my money, here's what needs to happen (from a Ruby perspective; salt to taste):

1. Debian and Ubuntu stop packaging any Ruby libraries which aren't dependencies of an actual end-user application. If rubygems itself is a library dependency, package it but take away the gem command.

2. Make a public policy saying "If you want to do development, use RVM," and have metapackages with the dependencies for building each RVM ruby (so ruby-dev-mri, ruby-dev-jruby, and so on). Make sure that users know that if they think they need to run "gem install foo", then they need RVM.

It'd be nice for RVM to be able to build system packages, but I don't think it's necessary: there are already systems (nascent, but improving) for converting gems to system packages which handle dependencies nicely.

Is there anything wrong with this picture?
The first Apple computer was shipped as a barebones circuit board...even Apple had to work their way to excellent UX.