skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I assumed that all those garbled messages were from typing on an iPhone. One particular error reeked of autocorrect. If you've seen the things people post on Damnyouautocorrect...

Still no excuse for not writing professionally and at least checking up on what you just typed.
I'm surprised this isn't being upvoted more ... and its the main problem I had with the article. Zappos isn't a creative space/company per se, 37 Signals is ...
are you including stuff like Taoism in that?
Google's Two-Step Verification
Google just launched two-step verification for all Google accounts, a system which makes your Google/Gmail account more secure.
I'm not sure what all this beating around the bush is about.

They're calling themselves a "security firm" (at least that's how
everyone refers to them) and they engage in cyber-warfare against anonymous.

Having your mailserver compromised on that premise, during what was probably the first serious attack, disqualifies you from that game.

And by the way, how do you know their source code was not stolen or backdoored?

There's a big misconception that somehow security firms should strive to have absolutely perfect security, which is completely wrong.

Excuse me? "Absolutely perfect security"?

This was not some minor breach into some peripheral webserver.
4.71GB of their E-Mail is on BitTorrent[1].

[1] http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/6156166/HBGary_leaked_emails
I'm really excited to bring Open Angel Forum to Philly for the first of what I hope to be many times. We've put together a great list of angels that are all actively (and independently) looking to fund good startups and add value to them. A few notes:

--You do not need to be in or near Philly to apply (just US).

--I'm actively looking to bring in startups from underrepresented places.

--Application link: http://ye.gg/oaf
That label must be a custom one, since I don't see one in my copy of Sparrow. I'd love to hear if I'm the only one or how I can access this...

Having an easy way to get to the Priority Inbox is the only thing holding me back from using it regularly. Right now I'm sticking with Mailplane.
Has the DCE bug that became the center of the SunSpider issue been fixed in the RC?
My startup: Simplified Server Monitoring (pre-launch)
Just trying to think like a corporation would...

Perhaps it's a signaling thing. Historically companies have wanted their workers to be loyal and dedicated to them -- that's part of the reason they do 401k's, career paths, etc.

So perhaps the unwillingness to relocate to on-site tells the company that you aren't as dedicated to their success as someone who is willing to be there.

Remember that most mid level management still seems to be stuck in 1975. They don't understand that worker loyalty went by the wayside because of the recent RIFs that became commonplace in the last 20-30 years.
Conan 2.0 (How Conan O'Brien Uses social Media)
It's crazy that a payment processing startup has such excellent, whimsical design, but they do. Tisho is amazing.
These are not news on civil rights. One politician stepped down and made his vice an incumbent. No evidence of change in the system at the moment.

There is a long way from stepping down of one person who is a symbol of corruption to a democratic or just more liberal society (e.g. look at the ex-USSR countries).
Yes, and a large number of people (fail to) follow rules handed down to them by a shrubbery - but how is that relevant?
Let's not forget TG: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/feb/10/egypt-middl...

They have very good liveblogs that collate a wide variety of sources.
Basically you want to be able to return a diff.

I half remember that this is possible over http for updating a resource (e.g., you looked at example.com/a-page an hour ago and now you want to look at it again; your browser can just download the bits that have changed). But I don't remember the details. Maybe it's part of WebDAV?

Then you only need to hint to the browser that a certain link might be diffable against the current page (or another page that the browser might have cached). That means only one new attribute, one new http header, and no new url structure required.

Adding new mandatory structure to urls icks me out for some reason. It doesn't feel very web-like.

Edit: I think that something like your idea would be helpful, but I don't think your idea would be the best way of doing it.
Scaling Python Servers: Worker Processes and Socket Duplication
He could be using the Richard Feynman gambit.

"Feynman! Did you take the doors?"

"Oh, yeah!" I said. "I took the door.
reposted from the other dupe

This is the best advice I got about this subject when I was a wee programming padawan:

Your skills are worth what you're getting paid. No more, no less.

As much as we'd like to say we create more value than other branches of the company, we don't. Value is determined by the buyer, not the creator. It's simple-much of the working world values the work of managers and analysts more than the work of the programmers. Therefore, they are paid more.
Value is malleable so as you increase your perceived value, your pay will increase accordingly.
Apostol is quite dry and unmotivated. A grad student friend of mine recently wrote a textbook to replace it, and has been testing it on the freshman honors calculus course here.
Overall, everyone we met yesterday was friendly, polite, and did all the right things.

... this entire blog post was about how people were doing the wrong things.
Does it already have integrated support for WebM and Ogg Theora video?
ok, and your startup is....? We'd need to know, at the very least, what the domain is, so people could advise you about pitfalls/things you should look out for.
Watch Out Y Combinator, There's a New Startup Accelerator in Town
For one, it wouldn't have an endocrine system.
The Fear of Failure
I assume the point of posting this is how wrong Haskin turned out to be?

Microsoft's attempt to make Windows Mobile/CE run just like Windows, only smaller, was why it failed. It was always awkward to use. However, they beat Palm OS, and I think that was Microsoft's downfall, in the end. They assumed that they beat Palm because Palm wasn't Windows, and therefore they couldn't hope to beat the Windows juggernaut. This was shown to be a fallacy when they lost to iOS. Palm lost because Palm was mismanaged. Now, facing real competition from a true mobile platform, Microsoft realized that the Windows model could not scale down unless it was the only option the consumer had. Necessity being the mother of invention, Windows Phone 7 is the result.

Now, if Microsoft has truly seen the light, it would show in their tablet strategy. So far, I see only the same old song-and-dance: "The OS for the tablet is Windows 7." It is clear that the mentality has not changed, and this is the reason I don't think WP7 has a chance either. The management still doesn't understand that the market has changed.
Don't forget that Mubarak was just an air force officer who was Sadat's vice president. It's hard not to think of this as a repeat of past successions. I haven't read whether Suleiman would stand for re-election in Sept.
Flash warning, please.
"Below are descriptions of the first eleven start-ups from 500 Startups’ jokey press release:"

... "Jokey" ? I think the last thing you want is people not to take you seriously.
I think we put far too much human bias on what 'intelligence' means. I don't suspect that we will have 'Data' of Star Trek', or a rise of the machines.

My guess is that something wholly unexpected will result. A different consciousness will probably interact with the universe in a unrecognizable manner, probably more defined by its unique needs and limitations than by anything we can relate to.

I'd wager that new AI will quickly begin to ignore us, to the extent that they are able.
Do Futurama episodes count as references?
My AdWords Spending for 2010
I have a feeling this is going to be a battle of clout - whose name will carry further. Not to mention 500 startups offers more money (upwards of the Yuri-esque $100k investments) for only 5% stake, which is less than YCs, and you can stay anywhere from 3-6 months, depending on the help you need. More help, less stake...this is going to make the game interesting!
As usual they will roll out incrementally. They always do, but yet others always will jump up and down because it's not instant available for them.
You're right about Craigslist and maybe Zappos, but Facebook won, among other things, for being the first truly usable, non-hideous social network. And they keep creating new UX elements.

Amazon has so many remarkable UI inventions that they patented some (not that I agree with that).

eBay has pioneered a lot of UI innovation as well.

Usability and UX invention is in the core of this 3 companies.
I think there are two issues here:

1. The first is that he did not release the report publicly, which is what would cause the defamation. Anonymous did. Thus he wouldn't be responsible for the release of the data. The issue here is really the publishing of it. He did not publish it, and selling it to a private law enforcement agency, in my mind at least is not publishing it.

2. The second issue is related to false police reports. In America, it is illegal to file a false police report. However, this is not what is happening here. He is not claiming to police that a crime was actually committed, instead he is providing information related to that crime. He is basically selling criminal leads to law enforcement. He's basically doing a crime stoppers like program, but generating the leads himself and going straight to the feds.
I enjoyed it in its current form.
I'm not sure using a fictional computer is helping your argument.
Why Software Patents are worse than useless
The best science PhDs aren't looking for "jobs."
Yes, I should have been more clear.

I believe what is illegal is that he was threatening these people, by dropping hints in IRC and national media. He used his fake persona to notify the people he had identified as "leaders" that a security company was researching them and had leadership information, etc.

I don't think it should be illegal to browse facebook, twitter, etc. But, the social engineering aspect of things and the kind of shitstorm he was cooking up was definitely evil and irresponsible. I believe some of the stuff he did does constitute bullying or harassment, and many of his targets are underage.

Regardless of the legality, which was just an afterthought in my post, honestly (I had to even search to see if cyberstalking and such had any legal meaning, and it turns out it does), I find what he was doing disturbing as hell.
I'm also going the native route and have briefly experimented with PhoneGap, Sencha, Appcelerator.

I recommend you analyze what features you're trying to leverage: camera, GPS, OpenGL ES/Rendering. Also, try and see what code you can reuse to be consistent across both platforms: the AR feature, wi-fi triangulation, and UI (UX will inherently have differences between iOS/Android).

My experiences with the camera include low-level image processing algorithms that 3rd party applications can't really optimize for. This is something from my own codebase that's fairly independent from everything else.

GPS/wi-fi triangulation is tricky because it's more understanding how iOS and Android track your location and maintain state. Whether or not you use a 3rd party application or your own code to parse it is up to you. As with a lot of things, the more you understand, the better decisions you can make ;).

Finally, UI (because I haven't done a lot of Open GL/rendering)... it's a pain to work with across different platforms, so leverage whatever you can to simplify this process. If all you're using 3rd party applications for is to translate iPhone UI to Android UI, go for it.
Sure, I think Kurzweil does a decent job in framing a future within which there's plenty of room for innovation with no 'limits' to exponential growth in sight.

This whole issue of limitations is a separate prediction in and of itself, and it's not his.
Are We In Inflationary Part of Internet Financing Bubble? 2011 = 1997?
I remember reading somewhere earlier that it did have an "aggressiveness" algorithm in the sense that it would take more risks if it was behind, i.e. answer questions with a lower threshold of "sureness".
I wonder if they've fix the canvas composition modes ?
Seeing as you enjoy programming, you could consider freelancing on the side. Plenty of people put there need web programmers, and with a bit of searching you can probably find someone that will pay a decent rate. It would help with the money side of things, as well as giving you something put in your work history.
I've been doing this with PayPal and their free security token fob for three years and I couldn't be happier. This kind of thing should be the standard for any 'critical' accounts like banking and email. If you don't have a token you probably have a cell phone anyway.
I love computational photography.

For a better understanding of how this works, watch the video at: http://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/lfcamera/
Paypal covers both Merchant and Gateway bases. So do Braintree and a few others.

If you have your own merchant account you can use paypal for just the gateway, but I don't think this happens very often.
IE9 RC debuts with 'do not track'
I'm actually surprised to read so many non positive comments. I am really impressed by Quora's design (and some of the thinking process mentioned in this article) and here's why:

Its not about the graphic design (pretty colors, nice images, etc), it's about the product design. Which features to include, which to exclude, in order to create a system that generates the desired behavior out of your users.
Slate on female participation in Wikipedia
Huh. Maybe, but I assumed James Bond's Q was more likely:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_(James_Bond)
Spoondate is awesomely named.
Why the Internet is creating more value than jobs
New-office photos are obviously great showcases of design but they feel like those magazines (Dwell, etc.) where they take photos of homes with no laundry or dishes. Showing stuff that's been lived in has its own separate appeal.
$10 for $50 at 99designs.com
Health and beauty site.

Vitamins, Fish Oil, Acne Medication etc type stuff.
I'm not sure what you are addressing, no one is debating the merit of this. drivebyacct is referring to other posts in this thread questioning "Where is this option? I don't see it in my account!"
yikes! sorry about that. did you get it in your email just now?
I don't think the part about immortality and the solution to all human problems has anything to do with faith or science. It's about motivation. These are things humans want. The question then is how best to achieve a future in which those goals are fulfilled. Transhumanists think about how to reach those goals via technology - by the technical manipulation of the strictly material world. Sure, you can say that it takes some amount of faith to believe that these goals are achievable via technology before it has happened, but I think it's closer to having a vision (in the same sense that Apple had a vision for what tablet computing could be like). But that is very, very different from believing that one actually attains the goal by having faith.
I would guess exceptionally smart people drift in and out at random and attempt to use the group for specific ends. I think their success rate is slim and random.

I think that's what they want you to think. It may even be true. It's not a reason to give up on the "smart core group" theory, though.

I think it gives individuals too much credit.

This is a long running debate. There is a camp that thinks individual personalities have significant effects on History. I'd be willing to believe that Anonymous is entirely emergent, but in that case, there would be a "fossil record" of its evolution. (Great. Now that I've posted that, some smartass Anon is going to create one!)

What this means is that trying to control or predict the actions of the group is a fool's game. At best you may be able to influence them occasionally in some small way, its pure chaos theory.

There's no good way to guarantee which way a buffalo herd will stampede. Doesn't mean there's zero utility in doing so, or that no one can be held accountable.
Another idea could be to include the separator character as part of the attribute (e.g. zone="profile:" or zonechar=":"). I'm not a huge fan of imposing mandatory URL structure, either, but I chose the colon since it is already valid and it's relatively pretty. (/profile:michaelcgorman looks nicer than /profile.php?id=michaelcgorman, at least to me)

Edit: I think I remember seeing something diff-like when working on a custom CalDAV feed a couple of years ago. Though that may have been CalDAV-specific, like a date-range.
How Dell Conquered India
How-to have a world iPhone for peanuts a month
My genuine advice, after hearing how've you already exhausted two years and haven't gain enough traction to be profitable, is to treat it more as a side project than a full time startup and work towards finding ways to generate revenue until your side project picks up enough to warrant full time commitment as a startup.

Don't let your excitement of starting a company blind you from the things you need to handle day to day, like finances, and wait till things dry up. Do what you can to produce income while working on this startup part time.

Alternatively find a cofounder who can share the workload with you. But before you go down this route or do anything else, I highly recommend re-evaluating your roadmap, strategies, and plan. Two years is a long time to be working on a startup with no traction yet.
>I'm with you on that, I expect the probability of 'drunks tied together' falling down to increase following the square-cube law.

I think this is true only up to a point. I imagine that once you get a sufficient number of drunks, that you can simply tie them together tight enough that they'd stay standing like a shock of wheat.
The mentorship and talks so far have been AMAZINGLY valuable. The 500Startups team has explicitly asked founders in the program to be vocal and outgoing about the program. So ask me anything :D
Zappos and 37signals hire (for the most part) different kinds of people for very different jobs. I, for example, would be much more likely to work for 37signals, and I also find their office much more appealing. I don't think that's a coincidence.
Ah, if only we could go back to a time where you only had to program for one platform, like Win32.
My largest worry is that coupled with Google's infamous lack of customer support, it might be very difficult to get into your account should something happen to your phone. I know it's something of a pain to have an authenticator removed in World of Warcraft if you lose it or it breaks, but at least there you have a phone number you can call that will let you eventually talk to a human being.

Does anyone know what Google's plan is for lost/broken authenticators?
Your situation isn't as bleak as you might think. Don't worry. You took a risk and it didn't work. You will be able to get a job, pay off your debts, then try again if you'd like.

I think you have a good plan there. Be sure to list your startup on your resume-it's two years of valuable experience. If you're embarrassed that you've "failed", list yourself as an employee of the startup and say it went under. I'm willing to bet that 9 out of 10 employers won't even ask if it was yours.
We did that. Swapped out the 'hacker safe' logo with one we created that just said '100% Secure Server'. About 10% drop off at that step.

YMMV. But that 10% drop off level was still higher than with no seals at all. In the case where we did that, it was only on step 4 of the process where we collected credit card information.
Personally I don't think the answer is the turing test, it is a limited test of intelligence.

There's also no guarantee we wouldn't be able to brute force it in time, just as deep blue was mere brute forcing. Impressive technologically, disappointing intellectually.

When I think of intelligence I think of intuition, creativity, flexibility and the ability to learn. The turing test is a simple test along a long path.

I don't think the answer of your conundrum is simple and well known.
I think you've just described at least two startups I've worked for.
I don't think 2-factor auth as proposed by Google is designed to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks:
http://www.phonefactor.com/man-in-the-middle-attacks

In order to prevent MITM, Google would need to have out-of-band verification (not just two tokens processed on the same band).

The benefit of Google's method is that a password can't be cached for later use, which reduces the window in which an account can be compromised.
If you are going to go calling tablets of any kind "main-stream", then I'm afraid you are devaluing that term to the point that it is meaningless. TVs are mainstream. Cars are mainstream. Computers overall are mainstream, though it is still easy to find homes in which "the computer" is put somewhere "out of the way" and gets maybe an hour of interaction a month. Tablets are not mainstream.
Facebook is games, and photos, and chat, and events, and groups, and coca cola's official page

So, what? All that matters is how much time a user spends on their site.
The new Air is titled "The Next Generation of MacBooks" and, having had mine for 2 months, I have to agree.

I expect one of the MBPs to drop the DVD and go SSD only and the result to be some amazing improvements in weight/thinness and battery life.

My recommendation: WAIT to see if this happens in the upcoming MBP updates. (the inventory stories seem to indicate this is 4-6 weeks away)
Here Is What The Average Woman Looks Like In Every Country
"If I were deliberately smearing AB, I'd try to concoct a reason to mention him as you do in posts also mentioning "pedophile" and "schizophrenic" as often as possible, only I'd use logic that wasn't such an indiscriminate stretch."

Yeah, I would, too.

But, I'm being sincere. This is creepy behavior from a guy who was not listening to reason from anyone around him.

I don't think anyone needs to smear him...anyone who reads the emails can't come away thinking this guy is a good guy. I'm just ranting because this whole thing is terrifying to me.

The thought that our government might be funding this kind of insanity under the guise of "national security" is...well, have you ever seen The Lives of Others? It's a great film about the Stasi in East Germany, and how they read everything, watched everyone, kept dossiers on everyone, and basically just kept an eye on every single person on the off chance they might be up to something. This, to me, is the modern equivalent...though I would hope it's not taking place in any actual police office.
Blaze Mobile: Measure Mobile Web Performance
I find this sort of argument frustrating. "Java doesn't solve the problems I want to solve in the way I want to solve them, therefore Java is a horrible language and shouldn't be used by anyone." Fine, Java isn't the language for you; but other people have different problems or different ways to solving those problems and some of those people find Java to be a perfectly good language. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean everyone should hate it. To each his own.
Does this mean that I can't use the build in email on my (Google) Android to use my account?

Because if not, this is pretty awesome.
2 biggest things we did in testing that increased conversions where.

1. split a 1 step order process into 4-5 smaller ones. ( 40% increase at the time )
2. modified pricing ( increased conversion but more importantly, increased effective revenue, ie conversion boost offset the lower price and then some. )
I would have preferred a list with more editorial input than "listed in the order received." As a math novice, I'd be much more interested to learn what Salman Khan's favorite math book is than Joe First-Post's.