skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
There is no way to guarantee that something hazardous could never be hidden in, or downloaded later. There are too many ways of obfuscating your code, even when viewing the source code.

You can limit what the app has access to, and Apple and Google do this.
With respect I think you have missed the point a little. The thing this idea solves is separating data-fetching optimisation from code layout. Regardless of whether you use MVC or entirely procedural code, it gets very hard to keep data access optimal when you have very complex and highly modular pages without introducing hacky globals or coupling unrelated parts of the code together (should be obvious why that's bad).

For any one page you may be able to change the structure so that it is more efficient without compromising the code too much but some of those modules will need to be reused in a completely different context on a different page.

I'm perhaps not explaining very well but this idea isn't solving deficiencies with MVC, it is solving a problem inherent in ANY attempt to modularise/re-use code. To gain the same data-access efficiency without MVC would leave your code unreadable not to mention un-maintanable with a complex site and high frequency changes.

Many sites simply don't need this so yes it would be overkill and of little benefit for them. I don't think the article was suggesting such a scheme would work well for everyone else. If you do have pages which legitimately need to make hundreds of queries/cache gets to resolve the data requirements though, techniques like this can help a lot.
Richard Stallman: Protect Your Friends
haha my thoughts exactly
re. unions.
But that's independent of the review process. They could do the same thing without a review.

For comparison, the Mozilla Addons review process requires you to provide them a copy of the (unobfuscated) source code. You always have the option of self-hosting, of course.
I heartily recommend FastMail. I've been using them for a couple years now for all my mail, and they've been great.

They have so many features it's almost comical (it's all in the small details, e.g., you can download your list of last login times as a CSV file; they can SMS you a one-time password if you're in an Internet cafe; etc.).

Once I had a problem with incoming mail from a certain domain not reaching my inbox, and they were extremely helpful. it felt like the guy had nothing else to do but help me. (Oh, and it turned out the problem was on another network, not their end).

In two years I've never experienced any outage.

Really, overall an awesome service (they're not paying me to write this, promise!)
I'm not attempting to argue that someone might invalidate their point by making "too good" an argument, or that it wouldn't be an overreach for a board to censure someone not practising as or representing themselves as an engineer.

I'm arguing that the implicit argument that state engineering boards exist and act [primarily] to protect the jobs of engineers overlooks the benefits of ensuring that people actually representing themselves as engineers are suitably qualified and competent. I also seriously doubt it's in the financial interests of engineers to reduce the amount of paid work they need to do to to alleviate public concerns over their plans.
I have always found Dojo to be the slowest JavaScript framework, especially when coupled with Dijit. Take for example Tiny Tiny RSS, it became almost unusable after the switch to Dojo and Dijit.
Oh, come on! The whole idea of search engines is to rely on someone else's knowledge to make a product, isn't it? Isn't this how Google makes, like, all its money?

What's skeevy in the MS case is that the relied-upon-knowledge and the product are so similar...but still, Google's uber-umbrage strikes me as odd and tone-deaf, especially given its dominant position in the market.
Yes, but it is painful to set up things like check mail, send mail account, forwarding and filters. Google should add alias too, I hope that what hotmail do will force them to do the same.
Isn't Google/Android also able to do this (without any app reviews)?
That's too simplistic a view and, I believe, simply incorrect.

The very existence of Malware has shown that the software business has been broken for years. The more non-technical people bought and used computers the worse it got. The cry of most developers has been that the users are stupid and lazy - "they should simply stop clicking it!"

You could argue that developers have been proven to be untrustworthy and unhelpful and deserve what they got.

The App Store exists because it was needed. It's phenomenal success shows that Apple were right and have gone a long way towards solving the real problems of selling safe software.

We developers need to just take the medicine and stop moaning. It was a long-time coming and it isn't going away.

By bitching we are still serving an injustice to our users. We may not need an App Store - but they do.
I think it reflects well on Google and their algorithms, to have their most talked-about and well-funded competitor listed first.

And it does make Bing look a little worse in comparison; given that Google is synonymous in most people's mind with 'search', I suspect Bing had to 'manualate' their partners at Yahoo up to the top of their results.
Cemetery Monuments | Grave Monuments
Looking for a headstone memorials? Choosing a cemetery monument headstones for your loved one's grave can be rather difficult. When it comes to different headstone features you would be surprised how many choices you have.
They are free to do that on their own search results. If they can't figure out how to rank the document in the first place, they shouldn't be getting data about the association from google.
Why Plenty Of Fish Stores Passwords in Plain Text
Where to submit your tutorials?
"If Bing is using the techniques descriped in this Microsoft technical paper then they should stop. Full stop."
http://aclweb.org/anthology/P/P10/P10-1028.pdf

I didn't read the paper (just read the abstract, I know..), could anyone explain what are they doing so bad in that? Thanks.
I was actually wondering just that. Do you happen to know the answer?:)

I am sadly uninformed about Egypt's socio-political scene.
> Sorry, but Google drives traffic to their sites. That's what a search engine is supposed to do.

Then why are newspapers not so happy about it?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/09/murdoch-google

And, BTW, just to be clear, Msft can't "scrape". That would violate robots.txt.
Address the argument.

The intuition is that if a method allows you to build a search engine without actually knowing anything (besides the method itself) - then that method is piggy backing off someone else's work.

Yes - google piggy backs off other people's work - i.e. linking to other sites to indicate quality. But this is not piggy backing off a search engine. It's not piggy backing off the technical work that someone else developed for a search engine product. So it's not a counter example to my argument.
Every time I see a price like $x.99, I have to wonder if the salesperson thinks I'm an idiot.
What's hot in Silicon Valley right now by Robert Scoble
I prefer http://ge.tt/. Short URL, simple layout, no sign up needed, lots of bandwidth and storage, no BS.
Are you saying that women can't appreciate elegance and brevity? Perhaps your kind of attitude is why there aren't more females in programming.
Sleep hacks: How to Become an Early Riser
Sys-con as in http://aralbalkan.com/2022 ?
"That's interesting, but damn is that some ugly code"

I would disagree. That code is beautiful. Elegance and brevity; it's as close to a pure expression of the coder's thoughts as it's reasonably possible to get.
Wouldn't be the first time ethics conflicted with making money. There's often some compromise to be made and everybody handles it differently, but that is really no excuse for storing passwords in plain text - implementing a password reset is trivial and users understand the process well.
Great summary Scott.

As you you know we are in exactly the same position as you. We have spent far more hours than should be needed to get to the place we are now.

To get our merchant account (with one of the top 3 UK banks) took about 6 weeks. About 3 weeks was wasted with 'internal paperwork' that never got actioned. Another 1 week wasted on credit reference checks for the wrong person. I had to chase them every other day.

If you are a UK startup, please do not underestimate the importance of considering VAT within your project! We made the mistake of integrating one of the leading SaaS recurring payment providers when we did not have a requirement for VAT. Our business quickly grew and we reached the threshold for having to register for VAT. That's when we realised that our chosen supplier did not support VAT, and we would have a to build a lot of custom functionality to handle VAT correctly. We are now in the process of migrating to a new recurring payment provider as this works out more cost effective based on our own circumstances.

TOP TIPS FOR UK STARTUPS:

A) Allow at least 6-8 weeks for your merchant account to be setup. Be prepared to chase the bank every other day until it's finalised. They won't chase you. They will do a credit check on you. You need to have a business bank account already setup.

B) Consider the implications of becoming VAT Registered from the get go and how this will affect collecting and recording financial data. You can't charge VAT to people who are based outside of the UK, but once you are VAT registered you MUST charge VAT to all UK customers.

C) Think about your billing requirements long and hard. Do you need to issue invoices? What information legally needs to be on them to satisfy the HMRC? Do you need to issue email invoices, PDFs? Do the invoices need to be online for the user to download?

D) Choose your SaaS recurring payment provider wisely. Have a solid set of requirements before you start integrating. Play around with their free accounts and make sure that you have all bases covered. IT's going to be very hard to migrate providers when you have a lot of customer Credit Card data already collected. Make sure they have a defined process for moving your customer data from one supplier to the next.

E) To accept payments (not using PayPal) you will need:
1) a business bank account
2) a merchant account (barclays, LTSB, RBS are a good start)
3) a payment gateway that is accepted by your merchant account provider (SagePay (UK), PaymentExpress (AU)...)
4) a UK, VAT friendly PCI compliant SaaS recurring payment provider (Recurly, Chargify...)

We learnt a lot of lessons the hard the way, hope my comments save some of you time.
Any recommendations to a programmer for a reading list?
Monitoring users clicks over the web is not the same as monitoring users clicks on a competitors web site (google search results).

The whole point of generating 100 unlikely search terms is the fact that these wouldn't be items that exist in any web page on the web. Hence if one searches for them it should not return any results!

How is monitoring people's clicks on google's search results not copying ?

On a different note, I am of the opinion that this practice is acceptable, only as long as one acknowledges it. The fact that M$ is not, to me is appalling.
Ode to the TSA Screeners

Thanks for touching my junk. I love you guys. No, not for the touching (though sometimes...). What I really love is how your pointless security theatre makes me feel safe and secure.

And your swiftly growing and unnecessary bureaucracy is only getting faster. Not like last year when you made me miss Christmas with my family, or that time a business deal fell through because you wouldn't let me on the plane or tell me why. Now your line of junk touchers is really humming and I'm barely there for an hour or so. What a smooth operation, my hat's off to you.

After all, I make money from flying and it's all down to you guys. Not the pilot, or the air-traffic controller, or the baggage handlers or engineers or stewardesses. No, it's all down to you guys and I salute you. And if my taxes are paying for this meaningless charade, all the better.

It's not like there is any alternative. I've read about other countries where they don't touch your junk and let you bring your own peanuts without a surcharge on the official news sources and it seems like planes are just falling out of the sky left, right and centre because someone didn't get their junk touched or peanuts confiscated. I'm so glad I don't have to put up with that.

God bless Apple, sorry..., America!
Just to explain: "DOWN WITH THIS SORT OF THING": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT9xuXQjxMM
The "You haven't been on our site for a week and we're already pretending to miss you personally" mail could even contain a password reset link.
Re: using someone elses's knowledge - Google honors robots.txt, so, if you don't want them to use your link knowledge, you can tell them not to.

I'm not sure there is any way for Google to Tell MSFT to not use their search results in the Bing search engine.

If Microsoft had just been a bit more upfront with the fact that they were using IE user's google clicking behavior to improve their search engine, I suspect there would have been much less furor.
Could someone explain to me what this is all about? Do the Canadian government want to prevent its citizens from using the Internet, and why?
What about the licensed to kill? Pirates and Emperors?
You could assume that the time allocations could be broken down as follows (billable by the hour), which makes it more believable that the total cost could be approx £585.

* 1 hour - Account handler discusses with request with client, adds to studio traffic scheduler

* 2 hours - Icon development by designer

* 3 hours - Developer wrestles with old website platform to try and add relevant <link> to every template

* 1 hour - Project Manager reviews and discusses with client

* 1 hour - Developer deploys to production environment

Making 8 hours at approx £75/h (£600) which all sounds perfectly believable for a London digital studio.

One of the issues with the low barrier to entry to web development is that a class of people exist who believe that the job is entirely a process of making a website (or a favicon) and uploading it via FTP, maybe even installing Wordpress. Complex client relationships, business/deployment processes and old web systems do not factor into their equation for cost. It is important that these people exist, otherwise the cost of being involved with the web would be astronomical for businesses at the lower end, but there _are_ good industry practices for quality work and jobs required at the higher end which they are putting in jeopardy with sensationalist headlines such as this one. Some clients have more available money, but require much more effort than throwing up a few plugins and shooting them an email once it is done. Nor is favicon design a case of taking one of my Silk icons are throwing it through a dynamicdrive favicon maker.

That said, there are still a few examples of UK website procurement which goes beyond what you might call value for money, such as Birmingham Council's website which cost £3m (http://www.birminghampost.net/news/politics-news/2009/08/04/...), although my concern with that website was not so much the cost but the quality of the work (from a quick scan I don't have the same concerns about the ICO website).
There was a post on HN about this problem recently. I can't find it, but it linked to this blog post: http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2011/02/01/google-apps-domain...

Aside from allowing accounts to be created before domain ownership is verified, I believe it is possible to maintain an account after registration expires. Hopefully Google plugs these holes soon. In the meantime, for your case, I suppose you are at the mercy of Google Customer Support. Good luck!
You can use audio sprites to work around the "Every clip needs to be prepared" issue. It's pretty ugly:

http://remysharp.com/2010/12/23/audio-sprites/

The state of audio on iOS and Android is really sad. HTML5 games would benefit so much from working audio but for now, it's completely disabled in Impact (my game engine) on those devices.
Or, you could do the sensible thing that other sites do - and provide them an auto-login url in the email rather than the plaintext password.
I cannot feel benevolent towards a system that wants to ignore the reality of the world surrounding it. Apple has rejected an Android magazine from being sold (as if it's not possible that someone would own an iPad and an Android phone -- and as if it's possible such a magazine would sway people away from iOS!) and the latest idiocy is requesting the removal of "Available in Kindle edition" from an eBook. There is just no excuse for this.
I can’t really blame them, no, but HN has a penchant for turning hyperbole and sensationalism into good discussions. From time to time.
It doesn't even need to be a reset link, it could be a link with a unique ID which logs you into the site directly.

I'd have thought that would be even more convenient than telling the user their password, as all they have to do is click a link and they're good to go.
Could you imagine the fuss they'd be if Apple started to demand our source code too!
I think that understanding of that this link is isn't as easy as recognizing a password. Everyone on the internet is used to passwords, but not to strange big links in email messages
The seemingly apparent advantage of storing passwords in plain text is that it can be emailed to the user, as the article points out (helps with user retention). This is a bad decision and similar goals can be achieved with better means; the reason it is bad is that the password is then reversible, and hence hackable; and also the password could be sent in plain text across unencrypted protocols.

A much better way to get users back to your site who may have forgotten their password is to have links back to your site that contain special purpose unique tokens that authenticate the user into a minimal state of 'logged in' - a state that allows the user to feel logged in, eg. have visible their username, profile pic and (possibly) unread message count etc. all fields that are not overly sensitive. As soon as the user tries to make a user action such as post a message or view their own private data only then require them to enter their password.

For extra security it could also be a requirement that a cookie identifies the user's browser as being once logged in some time in the past.

This is what ebay does, and probably other sites too. You have to be very careful to make sure it's not going to comprimise any serious security, and is not suitable for all sites (eg. a bad idea for any banking site).
I understand where they're coming from - browsers shouldn't let websites just play sound automatically because it is annoying as hell. I hate Flash sites that do that. So drawing the line somehow is tough, I guess.
Sensationalism and hyperbole are probably the right words.
Yes. It's simply not mathematical.

Suppose, x^(x^(x...) = y

At first the author says --> y = 2
and when he says "now consider the equation..." he equivalently says --> 4 = y.

Then obviously we can say 4 = 2.
Means, you are assuming 4=2 and then concluding 4=2.
Please point out if I am wrong. :)
On My Desk: Starduck Studios
It was definitely used in the BBS scene in the 80s/90s, but perhaps you're meaning mainstream usage by companies? I seem to recall it originating in the warez scene, where games v. utils v. apps was a common way of sorting software, but it was used more widely than that as well.

Here are some Usenet examples of "DOS app" being used in the 80s: http://groups.google.com/groups/search?as_q=&as_epq=DOS+...
The list is quite revealing - it gives away some of the "command and control" tendencies in some (US?) businesses.

Some of the suggestions are astonishing (I work in Europe and can't conceive of a non-customer facing/low security role where personal phones are, or even should, be banned).

Others are appallingly cheesy, friending your employees on Facebook, really?

What about the ones that I personally really appreciate:

1. Personal recognition from management for work well done

And I don't mean "employee of the month" plaques - more a senior stakeholder that pops by with the mission to shake my hand and mention why the work was important for our shared business goals.

2. Acknowledgement of serious commitment to shared goals

Even better is the PA to the CEO who wanders through the building after the early shutdown time on Christmas Eve or other local equivalent to find out who's still working, and comes back with a small gift hamper full of little items like gourmet jam, already wrapped with easy-remove numbered stickers and a master list of the contents, to take the stress out of last-minute shopping. Honestly, I would have taken a 20% paycut from them after that with a smile.

3. Flexibility flexibility flexibility

Most of my work experience has been in organisations that ask for flexibility from staff - illegal (only in parts of the EU!) numbers of hours to be worked during crunches, "temporary" incomplete or unfit-for-purpose work process changes, spontaneous and badly thought through changes of focus and priority to keep the financial markets happy etc.

I really appreciate the flexibility right back: a parent suffering terminal illness on the other side of the world demands significant blocks of time away from project activities. I was extremely gratified that my direct HR line manager and program leads let me know that they'd move heaven and earth to make it possible. I worked while I was away to keep things on track and committed to stay on board for significantly longer than I'd planned.

4. Fair pay for hard work

Enough said.

5. A little thought about impacts of business decisions

Sometimes there are problems. You need to fly out at short notice and it may be that you'll be on the road for a month or two. This isn't part of your job description.

What really worked for me was when my boss asked about the impact on my home life. And when HR asked me whether to send flowers every Friday on my behalf to my spouse. And our local logistics people offered their help if we needed someone to be at home for things like visits from the gas company.

These things cost very little, are genuine and not cheesy and are not sensible removals of dumb authoritarianism.

This is how you show your employees that you value them and their commitment to your shared goals.
Do You Prefer To Be On Facebook Or Twitter?
Good to know.

Again, well done on your recent success. Now the real work (and fun) begins :-)
Looking For A Technical Cofounder
I'm hiring a second co-founder who is knowledgeable in PHP/MYSQL and is an ex Google,YouTube,or Facebook employee. This is the 8th time I've posted this request on Hacker News just going to keep posting it until someone listens. I'm building a website and I have 104 lines of code I was thinking we could trade off the work until it is finished. Meaning that since I just wrote 104 lines of code you would go write 104 lines and pass it back to me and we would do that back and forth until the website is finished. I'm working to have the Beta out by August. If your interested email me @ klownkeeper@gmail.com or tweet me @KeithClark_ thanks!
They are more than likely to be clicking a link in the email anyway, so why not remove the barrier to entry (password). OKCupid emails have a big "call to action" button that says "Login instantly" (or something similar), you click it, you log in. Simples :)
I provide a link that will allow a password reset in mailouts.
Meta search depending entirely on other search engines' output has been around in the form of Dogpile since the days Google was a student project.

During that time Google has managed to innovate fast enough and implement well enough to grow into a multi-billion dollar corporation.
"We miss you. <link>Click here</link> to visit us again." - or some other sensible wording. Most pages already send you html emails, so no big change needed here.
Do you need ideal conditions to do great work?