skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
"Are they also counting the extra downtime"

With Windows 7, there should be no more (or less) downtime than any other operating system.

"anti-malware packages and so on?"

Anti-virus for a large enterprise can be as cheap as $1/desktop/year.

Automated enterprise patch management is expensive, but when added to MS licensing, you still should be under $100/person/year.

Keep in mind that if you put an OS X or Linux desktop on my enterprise network, I will make you install some form of enterprise grade automated patch management on your desktop. I.E - not only do I need you to have automated patch management, I need to know that you are patched, when you last patched, what you patched, etc; which implies an enterprise class solution.

"in order to Sharepoint be as cost-effective"

I'm curious, do you have any reasonably objective data to back up that statement?

I ran enterprise class document management and collaboration with FOSS tools. At $10/person/year, SharePoint is a steal.
Thanks to whoever wrote "skillz" next to my portrait of pg :)

And nice app, it would benefit from a little chat box though.
Damn, I am really curious about the contents of these 'vintage' game books now.
Max Lin, of Google, on finishing 2nd in the R package prediction challenge
This article is nothing other than language fanboyism and I am not sure what it's doing on the front page of HN.
Meanwhile, back in Redmond, Microsoft (!) has opened the Kinect to 3rd party developers.

I doubt this was done to deliberately underscore the galactic idiocy of their chief rival. Still, the contrast between the two approaches is pretty astonishing.
pretty cool cant wait
I have FF4.0b11/MacOS ("Firefox is up to date") and it gives me the "requires... FireFox 4+ (available from the beta site)" message.
I think the comparison can go much further. If you want to bootstrap, then the high rent and other issues make the valley less attractive. If you want to make a low-budget indie flick, you are better off with no-name actors and emphasize the artistic qualities.

So essentially, this comparison is not as patronizing as the article suggests. Rather it exposes some of the flaws. Let's just hope the valley doesn't get as full of themselves as Hollywood does and misses the warning signs when things start to change.
Ironic - the cover of the book he's reviewing explicitly states "How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans."

The review then goes on to say "Perhaps most importantly, it is the members of this "dumbest generation" who have the courage to resist tyrants and dictators in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, and now Libya."

I find this highly ironic.
Haha that was me, np ;-) Shame some low-life scribbled over it.

A chat box would be nice, yeah!
This is cool! I have some equipment at work that I'd love to take kinect images of and broadcast :>
This is Apple's solution: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_Live_Streaming
I would hope that this is justified under the idea that if they can provide customers with faster lookups, results, page loads, etc, then they get more business.
That depends on your marginal cost of supporting an incremental user. For most Internet services, that marginal cost approaches zero. 30% sounds like a lot of commission versus real world purchases but when gross margin is close to 100% on an incremental subscriber, it's not nearly as egregious an ask.

To make what I'm saying more concrete:
For a physical object, it's not uncommon for the cost of the item to be 90% of its price. So the seller makes 10%, and a "reasonable" 3% commission on sales price = 30% of the profit.

Whereas for a totally virtual service there's a large fixed cost to set it up (programming, servers, etc) but relatively little "per user" cost. Cost per unit approaches zero, marginal profit approaches 100% of price, and 30% of price is approximately 30% of the marginal profit from selling an extra unit.
No, you're not alone at all. Even though there's something to be said for test machines that replicate a number of hardware configurations you expect your software to run on in the field, I don't think that outweighs the loss of productivity long compiles and other avoidable problems cause.
This is great news. I really hope he gets a very good defense.
I remember someone making a speech (borrowed from someone else) about "just words". Words matter.

Conversations matter.
Hi JJM,
This is Brenna from Start-Up Chile. In the Terms and Conditions, incorporating in Chile is a desired result, not necessarily a requirement. If you begin to generate large amounts of revenue in Chile, incorporating would be required.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to write us at: info@startupchile.org.
Which is actually unnecessary since afaik you can tell what brand a card is from the first digit.
Empty suit: the chaotic way Anonymous makes decisions
Yeah, but I don't want to have to be moved to the YouTube app. I want to know if I can use the built in browser to watch HTML5 videos. I know I can do it on YouTube with my PC browser if I enable it on my YT account...
If the instances were partitioned between those three jurisdictions, then it isn't really an example of avoiding double jeopardy limitations by changing jurisdiction.
2011 Oyunları
Learn How to Visualize
Мрачное время / The Dark Hours (2005) DVDRip - Ужасы - Фильмы - Море кино
"adoption of Lisp as a universal language" what a bad idea! I am occasionally an enthusiastic Lisp programmer (and I wrote 2 Springer-Verlag Lisp books many years ago), but I would never advocate that any Lisp be a universal programming language.

For most programmers, they probably need at least either Java or C#, a scripting language (Ruby, Perl, or Python), and a Lisp language (Clojure, Common Lisp, or a Scheme implementation).
While I appreciate the advice, the point of the ask hn was to disclose numbers, so " a lot" doesn't help me much :)
There are numerous benefits to having someone with social influence work for your company. Say your developer has a large following on Twitter.

- Any problem that they don't know how to solve can be solicited to x number of people.
- If they encounter a bug in 3rd party software that your company uses and publicly bitch about it, the better chance you have to get a timely fix.
- If your company uses/creates open source software, it is more visibile, and there is a greater likelihood that more people will contribute to it.
- They market your company.
- They attract more desirable hires.
You have to be a world-eating monster to build something viable

Ok, finally parsed this. This is a statement about determination. Now who's going make the Katamari theme stop playing in my head?
Better than you think. The original XBox ran a modified Windows 2000 Kernel.
Because as smart as your two year old is, he probably didn't invent the technics.

Sometimes, the real accomplishment is in the implementation.
Where are the women in tech?  Nurture  Nature
I think I don't quite get how the mortgage system works in the USA. In Australia it is fairly easy to go to a competing bank or other financial institution if you're unhappy with you current lender, discuss the terms and maybe get a better deal, get a loan from the new lender and pay out the outstanding loan with the previous lender. You may have to pay some fee for paying out your mortgage too early, but it's usually not that huge.

Is this not possible in the USA?
> But all of those people already have that right.

Not legally. A limited amount of iPhone jailbreaking has been exempted under the DMCA, but that won't absolve you for the offense of trafficking in the tools to do so. And there are a million other EULAs and such that at least purport to take away that very right. IANAL, but I've seen people dragged into court over them. Whether or not they're legal is pretty much academic if you have to go through the expense of fighting it out in court against a giant company.

The point is that the vendors are taking away our legal right to do all these things and occasionally adding some screw-you technology to make them technically difficult as well. They're not passively thwarting your ability to do what you like, they're actively opposing it both technically and legally and that's why people worry.

My response has been not to buy devices like that and to boycott those vendors wholesale, but the way the market is going, that's not going to be possible forever. We need a good first sale type right to eliminate all this nonsense.

We would never have made it this far if those nonsense book licenses that publishers tried back in the day had actually been successful.
Actually it is different. Using your analogy the actor is the programmer. Most of the time in Hollywood the actor matters more than the product. Also as an actor you are trying to get a part in someone else's product. So you need to be where the product owner is.

As a programmer, you own the product. Noone needs to know you, and you product could be very famous without anyone knowing you.

As an example take the movie SALT. It is quite famous. I know the actors. I do not know the name of the producer or writer. That would be the programmer.

My point is, programmers do not need SV as much as actors need HW. Programmers are writers, and producers. You can produce a movie in your basement, and distribute it on Youtube for free. If enough people like it, you can get funding to do a more polished, cinematic version of it.
The Ethicist - Hollywood Property Values
Were Kiko's buyers ultimately happy with the acquisition?
I haven't seen it get used very often, but during SJ keynotes, they have been using this. When I watched, it delivered really high quality video, and managed to stay way smoother than any flash stream I've ever seen under presumably heavy load.

Granted, Apple probably throws a lot of hardware at those events in order to make the tech. look good. So, not an objective appraisal by any means, but it's worked well for me.
Are you affiliated in any way with OCW?
Awesome. Thought about picking up a Kinect when the indie created SDK was coming out, but the official one should be awesome. Can't wait - even if my 360 is red ringed...
http://allthingsd.com/

All Things Digital is the best alternative out there along with of course Hacker News.
A few years ago, he opens his mail to find a notice that his premiums are doubling, requiring a $1,000,000 insurance policy in the event the home is destroyed and needed to be rebuilt.

This sounds like a mortgage rate increase is in turn requiring a larger insurance policy. Honestly it's hard to parse that sentence in a way that makes sense to me.
Asphalt roofing felt for waterproofing of terraces and roofs
The asphalt roofing felt is a material used in waterproofing of terraces and roofs consisting of an asphalt-saturated felt, coated with another layer of asphalt resistant mineral fiber, fiberglass, asbestos or other organic stabilizer. The weathered layer also carries a layer of mineral granules.
Ask HN: How do you search for "-42" in Google?
Prefixing keywords with a minus sign tells Google to exclude those words from the search. So how can you search for something that begins with a minus sign, like a negative number?
obviously not HN material, do not click
Zero. Sometimes its easier to build it and try to sell it than it is to research the market. Other times it's better to sell it first. Either way, tire kickers are not very reliable.
I had tall windows in the bedroom - pulled the bed up to the 2nd floor with a rope.
I've half a mind to start a wiki for programming language fanboy/troller tropes. That way, we can just link to that.
You're familiar with the idea of satire, right?
South Florida HN Meetup for Miami Tech Week (Wed, 9pm, Ft Laud)
Wanted to meet up with a bunch of people who'll be around for SuperConf in Miami this weekend. Got a really cool space in downtown Ft Lauderdale (http://thecollidefactory.com) and a little free time to share (this Wednesday, 9-10pm). Who's in? (I'll even bring some suds to share!)

EDIT:
So I'll have a projector and a Mac Mini for communal use if anyone wants to show off some big stuff for the group.
If you guys want to bring some water or some interesting beer, I'll make sure there's some ice to keep it cold.
- I feel more relaxed

- I can easily manage stress

- I've improved my posture

- I've become more self-confident

- I don't have breasts anymore (I'm male)

- etc
Man this just makes me feel old.
I like Eli too, he's pretty good at dry humor. I know him from the georgia tech days.
Nevion: Broadcasting 83rd Academy Awards Worldwide
"There is no way to do this in a non Lisp language."

Wow.

Is it any wonder that you cannot convince someone to use Lisp, when you have no idea what other languages actually have to offer?

Python 2.6 has a built-in "with" construct for this. Java, C#, earlier versions of Python and (gasp!) VB have the try, catch, finally construct. Offhand, I can't think of a language that can't do this, but I'm sure they exist.
More Companies Plan to Put R&D Overseas
anyone else planning on picking up a Kinect without owning a 360?
You are not the only one. At this point, most of the people who agree with your point of view have accepted the futility of making that point in a venue where the comment immediately preceding yours, modded 5 times higher, claims that the the guy who leaked Valve's source code is the victim and Valve the villain.
I'll just take this opportunity to add in: http://miamitechweek.com - for all other events this week.

Also, going to add this to the site!

EDIT: http://miamitechweek.com/2011/02/hacker-news-meetup-wednesda...
I love Apple - I have tons of their crap. But the genius they have historically shown at attracting developers has been lacking of late. And of all the competitors to pick up that mantle, Microsoft?

Competition is great.
>Then it has to go to court to hold someone against their will on a 10 day paper.

I don't quite follow that sentence... is that to get a 10 day period enforcement, or to go over 10 days? Or something else?

All in all, pretty clear, thanks! That sounds like a pretty rational set of rules. My main difficulties lie in that people seem to only care about things when they become imminent and obvious, while ignoring steady trends that are just as dangerous (or more). Legally, imminent is a nice, clean line to choose, because it's pretty clear most times. It's a line that can be protected, which is hugely important.

Ethically, I don't know, and any actions would be at odds with their free will... unless you view addictions as violations of their free will to begin with. A loss of free will that they chose, but that decision doesn't hold up against extremes like suicide. Is suicide somehow worse when it's immediate rather than over the course of, say, a year? What if they planned it for a year, and you only interrupted it at the crucial moment?
> I was not influenced by code so much as clearly written, well-reasoned documents that boil a problem's solution down to a very clean abstraction.

Hear hear. Even back in the days when the availability of coding talent was not so plentiful nor coding tools so powerful, I used to tell people that thorough system analysis is a lot more important than just code.
Our obsession with Facebook in an infographic.
No, we just want to make online education better, and part of that is better support for OCW than Youtube comments.
Microsoft also deserve credit for landing PrimeSense's technology in the first place (the tech that powers the Kinect.) Apple were so awkward with legal wrangling and NDAs that they missed out, even though PrimeSense approached them first.

... he’d [PrimeSense's CEO] already had several meetings at Apple. It was the first place he and his engineers thought of. “It was the most natural place for the technology,” he said.

Apple has a history of interface innovation, of course, and had recently introduced the iPhone with its paradigm-shifting multitouch UI. PrimeSense’s system went one step further: It was multitouch that you didn’t even have to touch. Apple seemed like a natural fit.

Yet the initial meetings hadn’t gone so well. Obsessed with secrecy, Apple had already asked Beracha to sign a stack of crippling legal agreements and NDAs.

He shook his head. Why didn’t he want to do a deal with Apple? No need. The technology was hot. He could sell it to anyone.

“Apple is a pain in the ass,” he said, smiling.

http://www.cultofmac.com/how-apple-almost-got-microsofts-kin...

EDIT: link
Sure, but if someone said, "I'm going to use PHP, Python, or Ruby", I'd say, "Use whichever one you feel most comfortable with. You can be competent or incompetent in any of them."

Done deal, we can stop fighting about it now.
When is the new one coming out if any?
That they couldn't explain it did not mean they thought or claimed it was irreducible. The reason for claiming the exact numeric value of the speed of light is irreducible is not because we can't currently explain it: it is because it is part of the definition of the universe. The universe consists of space and time components and they are related by a ratio of c. Would the ratio have been 1, then nobody would have posed the question in the first place. You don't go around asking why pi has the value it has either. It may turn out it is possible to relate these values to other properties and values, but they can never be reduced to them. That would just be choosing a different basis for your description, while that basis is arbitrary.
I'm surprised it took that long. Sony seem to have a magical Streisand effect button somewhere that gets triggered for insane reasons. Remember the BMI rootkit scandal, and the subsequent reaction? The AIBO case referenced is another example of Sony's auto-Streisand function in the legal team.

The best part of all of this is that Sony's legal team have very clearly not properly considered the implications of him winning the case. They thought they could just bully him out of it by making it cost too much to defend. If the case is settled in his favour then there are massive ramifications for jailbreaks across the board.
Microsoft releasing development kit for Kinect motion controller
You can use that time to work on your resume.
Similar question for command line options in unix. :)
This is great news! Would there be interest from hackers to participate in a competition to spur open-sourced innovation for the Kinect when the SDK comes out?
Started with making text adventure games on my TI-83 calc back in freshman year of HS. I was curious as to how games worked and wanted to make my own.

After that, I took a programming class (the first one my HS offered) in Java. It was fun. By the end, I had made a tic tac toe game, a game of hangman, and a couple other smaller projects (was only a semester).

Then, since my school didn't offer any other programming classes, I took an independent study so I could work on learning C++. I didn't get too far with it because there was no structure to it (I used the book and tried to make cool games that often didn't go very far) and I didn't have anyone supervising me that knew C++ or OOP (the guy who sat in the room with me during the study only knew Visual Basic and wasn't a great programmer at all). I did end up making a program to solve limits and basic derivatives of functions for my Calculus II class, though. That was helpful.

From there, I went off to college and started a software engineering degree.
Most of LinkedIn users don't use the site
This looks quite interesting, but it seems a little strange that it uses a HTTP server to effectively provide little more than a textbox editor. Has anyone tried it? If so, is the HTTP server accessible from the local network?
Microsoft's new 'hacker-friendly' approach is refreshing, but I'll be interested to see how long it lasts or how deep it goes. It's a great way to curry favor with developers, which is critically important if WP7 is to be a success, but when push comes to shove I have a sneaking suspicion we'll see the old Microsoft take over.
I'm thinking about doing a second post with some actual code (some parts may be specific to Python, Django, and Celery) if anyone is interested.
The fact that something is a joke doesn't automatically exempt it from criticism. If a joke is making a point, it still needs to make the point well. Even if a joke is just meant to be funny, it still needs to, you know, be funny.

This "satire" is merely stating his point backwards, not cleverly exposing hidden flaws in an idea. Nobody touts the inconsistency of PHP's standard library as a strength of the language. Not many people even claim that PHP is better than Ruby. The positions he purports to make fun of aren't real. He's beating a dead unicorn.
TheBell - 4-hour startup that really took 10 hours
Apple rumored to be moving on laptop launch and new connection technology
I don't think jail terms are based mainly on financial damage caused. Mugging someone for $50 is punished relatively severely because people are afraid of violence, not really because of the $50 loss. Shoplifting $50, which scares people less, will rarely get you any jail time at all (unless it's a repeat offense).
Show HN: what I coded during the Foursquare Hackathon
Connect with people using Foursquare and Twitter
We use your Foursquare checkins to introduce you in real-time with people you have common interests using your Twitter graph.
PlayStation Move, turntable used to track the Earth's rotation
You're correct, but the limitations you are referring to are specific to software.
> Oh come on, they are quite rare in the US as well, and the US is a LOT larger than Germany.

Yes, if "a LOT larger" means 3.5x larger. Germany has 82 million inhabitants and is the most populous country in Europe.
Every now and again an obviously disruptive startup comes along. Twilio is one of those. This just made managing your PBX a job for an iPhone. You don't even need Asterisk any more. Great stuff.
> It's really hard to come up with an actual macro use case that is not covered by modern Python and is still actually a good idea.

sqlalchemy (and now mongoalchemy) is begging for macros. See CLSQL for an answer.

Regular expressions are infinitely more readable as expressions in a dynamic syntax. See the rx package in Emacs for starters.

What if you want shell/Ruby style back quotes, which in essence create a closure that runs a batch job? See my SHELLSHOCK library (jfm3.org) for the Common Lisp extension. It's not much code at all.

What if you want large literal strings which respect the indentation of their surrounding code, without uglying things up with <<<EOF ? See my BOXEN library (also jfm3.org) for that Common Lisp extension.

What if you want something like Python's r"string", but you want more control over which things are escaped and which are not? See CL-INTERPOL for that.

What if you want anaphora in your control structures?

What if you want Lex/Yacc style parser generator specifications where the type of productions is extensible, and the productions themselves can be generated dynamically at compile time? (This will make no sense to you unless you've ever had no choice but to run m4 on your .l and .y files.)

I could go on. It's not hard for me.
Music mixes by designers
Useful little thing: Object#tap. But Mostly, no mention of Fibers? :)
Granted, it might be a good idea for some people, especially if serial relationships are their way of distracting themselves from their real problems. I guess I have just heard that advice being handed out too often and too lightheartedly.
Usually possible, but fairly expensive. Mortgages, at least here, are generally not terribly simple... Loan origination fees, inspections, in addition to possible early payment fees... usually several thousand dollars, depending on the size of the loan. Also, many homeowners over here (probably including the guy in this article) are underwater; that is, they owe more on their home than it's worth, making it pretty much impossible to refinance.