skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
> I'd like to release our logic as a gem,

Good! Do it! It's really easy: http://timeless.judofyr.net/making-ruby-gems

Is your stuff built on top of braintree's gem, or did you re-implement all of the actual calls to the API? You might want to check that out, it could simplify your code...
That guy just became my hero.
Impressive. Do you feel this is worth the money and effort? How big is the company?
I would put it down to there finally being a distinction between web-sites and web-apps.

Within an app, my current context (which control has the focus etc) is important and a full page reload loses all of that.

Within a web site, as it is less interactive, this stuff doesn't matter so much.

As to whether New Twitter is a site or an app is debatable (I say site and therefore shouldn't be using #!). And as for Gawker...
Hug a developer.
Where do you think the biggest opportunities lie for passive income in Android apps? I already feel like the market is saturated and I can't come up with any ideas.

How do you come up with ideas and how long does it take for you to get them into reality? Do you outsource any of your work?
I disagree. Some information is worth paying for. If it was voted up, others agreed. You are always free to avoid it. How will we get high quality investigative content if none of us wants to pay for it?
(Disclosure: I work for Appcelerator)

I think you should take a look at Titanium from Appcelerator (http://www.appcelerator.com). For data-driven applications or native apps that don't require advanced 3D animations, it does a very good job providing a native user experience and access to device APIs. To describe how it works briefly, you write JavaScript code which maps to native APIs - that code is then included in a native app binary along with a JavaScript interpreter, and is interpreted at runtime on the device. A better/longer explanation is here:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4217551/what-happens-to-j...

Titanium has been deployed in over 12,000 apps in the Android Market/App Store, more than any other cross-platform framework (that we know of), so many developers have found success using it. That said, no technology is a silver bullet, so you'll need to take a look at your application and decide what is the right move for you.

If at some point while using Titanium, you discover you need more native functionality than we currently expose, it's easy to write a native extension (well, easy if you know Objective C and Java). Guides are located at:

http://guides.appcelerator.com/en/module_ios.html

http://guides.appcelerator.com/en/module_android.html

Despite the success we see every day by devs using the platform, Titanium can be a bit flaky at times - and I'm sorry to hear some folks have run into problems with their specific use cases. Feel free to reach out to me directly (community@appcelerator.com goes to my inbox) and I'd be happy to help out.

EDIT: We actually just demoed an AR app using the device camera, but the source isn't up yet (not sure why not, but it will be open source). If you follow our dev blog (developer.appcelerator.com) or keep up with our GitHub account (github.com/appcelerator), the source will pop up there.
Sorry - I did mean we have an example of a class of system that exhibits general intelligence, not "artificial" general intelligence.
Jekyll is a nice way to generate a static HTML blog.
A step above that is Frog CMS.
Closer to WordPress are Habari and Chyrp, which are still fairly lightweight.
The Wirth book gives a fairly quick overview that other compiler books can expand on. If you started with (say) the dragon book, you'll be wading through 200 pages about automata theory and parsing algorithms before you even get to anything else. Wirth provides a twenty-page overview, recommends starting with recursive descent parsing, and just moves on to the next issue.

I recommend starting with the Wirth book, then Andrew Appel's _Modern Compiler Implementation in ML_. And don't forget about the exercises!
Whilst your response is amusing it just strikes me as so opposite the ethos of the site as to be simultaneously depressing.

Like having a car that leaks oil all around the engine compartment and have the manufacturer explain that this is fine as most passengers don't look in there. Then finding that a gasket alteration could fix it but the manufacturer isn't bothered because, well what's a bit of oil [bandwidth] and mess [sloppy markup] when the car still runs.

I don't know the system that the site runs on but assuming that the presentation layer is abstracted from the base logic it should be easy to fix at least some basics (doctype, font tags, gzip, etags, expire headers) even if one didn't go the whole hog and rip out the tables.

I'm not at all suggesting to alter the visual appearance incidentally I like the minimalist design.
+5 AGILITY.. nice touch XD
I would guess that such groups are being manipulated by exceptionally smart people for specific ends, some significant fraction of the time.

I think that's a tempting theory to have. Explains a lot and is easy to understand, but I think it gives individuals too much credit.

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.

By "random" I actually mean the group may go along if it thinks it would be "lulz". Notice I said "may", it also may not - lots of random noise in the hive mind.

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.
Except that storing the passwords in encrypted form in a keychain is explicitly meant to shield them from prying eyes even in the event the hardware falls in the wrong hands. You may get at the file, you just can't get at the data.

At least - that is what I as a user would want and expect. And from a technical point of view, that situation can be achieved with modern crypto. Clearly, the way Apple implemented it is not sufficient in this regard. That is the news.
I don't think Apple will release two significantly different versions of the iPad within 6 months.
Not to detract from your point, but the nearest Apple Store to Buenaventura, Colombia is in Miami, Florida. That's only a 1,520 mile journey :)

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=distance+miami%2C+fl+to...
Interesting. Thanks. Perhaps I take it back then. Maybe we do have a algorithm capable quantum computer.
Hopefully this comment won't get lost and I can get some contrary views. Everything IMHO; I'm trying to formulate my own views on this top. Be kind. :)

Among other things, I think open source and free software has devalued software and programming in the eyes of business owners. The root cause for this is that a culture of self-employment doesn't exist in the programmer community.

All of us are looking to polish our resumes and make them look good. The easiest way to do that is to clone some existing idea and make it open source so that it can be reviewed by a prospective employer.

IMHO, no other profession gives away their crown jewels for free like we programmers do.
Edit: Ignore this entire comment. I've been reading a different "engineering a compiler" subtitled, "vax-11 code generation and optimization". Which, as I explained is very interesting, but certainly not really for a beginner. Now I just need to get a copy of the actual "Engineering a Compiler" everyone has recommended I read. :-)

I've just started reading this book, (older edition), after reading many recommendations that it would be a good place to start for beginners. I find it is an enjoyable read, but I don't really feel like I'm learning how to write a compiler. Much of the text seems devoted to the experience of wrestling with the restrictions of the technology of the day, (e.g. compile times were 12-24 hours because they had to wait for tapes generated by one half of the compiler at one location to be couriered to another location to be finished). I find this fascinating, but it's not really helping me learn to write a compiler. On top of that the solution and code is very close to the metal, which again I find to be fascinating but not incredibly educational.

I want to write a templating language in Haskell as an exercise to learn Haskell and get my feet wet with compilers. What's a good book for me?
Ask HN: Seals/certifications are a scam... but are they worth it?
We FeeFighters help SMB's save money on credit card processing. We do need some somewhat sensitive information to run our reverse auctions, like the amount of credit card receipts a company expects. We're going through the process of TRUSTe and BBB certification. It's not really much of a process, really, you pay ~$1000 they ask a few questions and you can put the seal on your site... As we know seeing what happens in the credit card processing business, there are many companies that have A+ ratings that treat their customers like crap. Until a few months ago, Ritz Carlton, Disney, and Wolfgang Puck had F ratings but Hamas had an A grade.
(see here: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/business-bureau-ritz-carlton/story?id=12151154)

We're doing the TRUSTe certification, and they only asked a few cursory questions... but they present case studies with a significant bump in conversion rate (trustguard has a somewhat hilarious link on their site that says "Trustguard increases conversion rate 60%). I personally have never given any credence to a security seal on a website.

Have you seen conversion rate increases due to the presence of a security, BBB, or Trust seal? How do people feel about the seals generally?
Voted up for Corona. For 3D Games, look to Unity. I know people are have allot of success developing cross platform using it. But for 2D on mobile, Corona wins.

If they ever decided to go the Appcelerator work and come up with a deployment that also targets OSX and Windows at the same time, they'd absolutely rule.
Pay structures are stupidly hierarchical but who enforces that? The managers enforce it by threatening to quit if they discover someone below them on the org chart is being paid more. Sure, some managers are replaceable so let them quit, but the organization has to weigh the cost of disrupting an entire branch of the org chart, and perhaps losing a talented manager, vs. just giving them the raise (plus pile more work on their plate to justify it)

Programmers can be managers too by volunteering to lead new initiatives that will require new staffing. The key to being seen as a an effective manager is to manage down (relate and motivate your direct reports) and manage up (relate your team status and exciting initiatives to your boss) To continue up the org chart you must volunteer to take on more responsibility at every opportunity until you don't go home at night at which point you have to ask is this really worth it?
I was speaking more generically about a highly dynamic vs a highly static language, using Python as an example. The same comment applies to Ruby or Javascript.
TwitterBnter: A tool to post Twitter conversations on Bnter
It would be nice if the title indicates that the article is behind a paywall.
Virgin Mobile, MetroPCS, and Cricket have some reasonably good phones and some awesome plans.
The thing is, some features in the new Readability is exactly the same as Instapaper. This already sound odd enough for me. I just wonder why don't they get themselves under the same umbrella.
If you put your money in the stock market over the past decade, for example, your return would be zero.

Not using dollar cost averaging.
"Design patterns" has become an ambiguous term.

There are a lot of design patterns for object oriented programming that were created specifically to overcome structural flaws in C++ and Java. These simply don't apply to some languages.

Dependency Injection is not one of these and actually has widespread applicability. Although the name always sounds wrong to me since it makes me think of dependency creep, one of the problems that it is intended to alleviate.

Design patterns have gained an "enterprisey" reputation because much of the time they are represented as if each one is a universal, language agnostic solution. They reek of cargo cult management.

Every language and/or ecosystem will have its own set of effective design patterns that will partially overlap with those of other ecosystems. Some communities care more about making names for the patterns, which could in itself be considered enterprisey.

Interestingly enough, the person that first told me about design patterns was a Python hacker.
Twitter Valued at $10 Billion
This makes me think that one day the social graph will be built implicitly through Bayesian classification/machine learning based on such conversations.
Yea, I believe the MS uses these sensors: Manifold Pressure, RPM, Intake Air Temp, Coolant Temp., and throttle position - to determine everything. It's very straight forward and pretty hackable - but I never actually did anything other than hook it to the "Stimulator" which was a board that acts as an engine to test the MS unit.

I also used the HPTuners software to tweak my fuel / spark maps on my stock ECU, and it worked very well actually. Good luck with your project!
Can virtual trade shows break the ice?
Ive been going through the same issue and unfortunately there isnt a clear cut answer. Initially i was looking at phonegap, titanium and rhomobile. The problem with them is each has pros and cons and its very confusing to really understand what they are. Theres also fanboys of each which makes it even more difficult to understand what separates each.

You can also go the jquery mobile/sencha touch/mobile rails route which is the direction i am going somewhat myself. These are actually pretty nice and fairly powerful for a basic application. Although jqeury mobile is newly developed as is mobile rails whereas sencha touch is pretty mature. Theres also jquery touch but i dont really know that much about it.

The question really comes down to what is the application doing. If you are doing a game you have to go native unless you can do something with html5 canvas. Also if you need to use something like gps or the camera or the accelarator you have to go either native or use phonegap, appcelarator or rhomobile as html5 through just a mobile browser cant give you access to the hardware.

What ive been ending up doing is just using straight jquery because im familiar with it and then seeing where my apps need to go.
We are trying to go through NAB now for a US billing merchant account and honestly they are the Antichrist. It's been three and a half months and we are still not there yet. Painful is an understatement.
HTML5, pubsub and browser push
If you had to have the same code base for both, I would say use Sencha Touch and make native apps with just a web view in it for each.

Sencha touch: http://www.sencha.com/products/touch/

In my experience, I've found Sencha touch to be an incredible framework for developing native looking apps.
I use chargify but I don't want to vote them up
I've yet to see anyone address the behavior of anonymous, and it appears as though it's been justified by most because this dude was an asshole - but why not point a finger at them both?
Lisp-oriented Course on Programming Language Engineering
I need to warn the HN crowd. KreCi previously wrote an eBook on improving PageRank. There were a few good reviews and everything sounded great. He sold the site and the eBook on Flippa and make a few hundred bucks.

Link to his blog post: http://www.kreci.net/blogging/pagerank-4-in-two-weeks/

Link to the ebook site (now owned by a Flippa purchaser):
http://improve-pagerank.com/

I ended up purchasing his book a week or so ago. It was quite terrible. The "secret" was e-mailing bloggers for back links. The book was probably about 10 pages, 9 pages were about how to set up a blog, buying a domain (with affiliate links), and then there was one page about e-mailing bloggers for backlinks, and a few example e-mails he sent.

I can't say I expected much, but I'm afraid someone else might waste their money on this sort of thing.

All this being said, I think KreCi's site is pretty interesting and there was some valuable/useful information there. I just feel a bit ripped off from the book purchase. I take it as a lesson learned, but hopefully no one else needs to learn the lesson here too.
Awesome! Alas the doc I've been reading all points to the normal /usr/local method (eg, https://github.com/isaacs/npm/blob/master/doc/faq.md doesn't mention the new stuff). How can I make it use ~/.node_modules?
And his short story "Learning to be me" (I think that's the one) present a slightly more horrifying take on it.
Yes you are right. So in general we should read this book.
you literally just changed my world view, thank for showing me this.
We did some testing on this a couple years ago... trust-e showed no statistically significant boost with where we placed it.

We had tested the 'hacker safe' logo ( that mcaffee since bought and renamed ). Depending on where it was placed in the order process ( it was a multiple step process ), it either had no noticeable effect to a 15% conversion boost.

For customers outside the US, neither had any impact at all, where we tested them. For the hacker safe logo, it had the biggest effect when placed near product selection and when the user was entering credit card information.

I would suggest doing some serious a/b testing to figure out where the logos should go if you get them as from my experience, placement is everything.
Oracle's lawsuit on Android apparently tries to claim that API design can be copyrighted: http://people.gnome.org/~michael/blog/2010-10-29-api-copyrig...
Walmart is the canonical example of a low-margin / high-volume business. Especially during their growth phase, every time they would find a way to reduce costs, they would funnel that savings into lower prices, rather than taking the savings in the form of a higher profit margin.
Live chat/video with Alexis of Reddit
Just to add that you cant write write native ui code in android with c++. The NDK is used for games and 3d applications or to access libraries that are coded in c++ already.

Another question is will you also have to make your app availalable to blackberry or other devices such as an ipad. If so then phonegap rhomobile appcelarator and sencha touch, jqeury mobile yada yada yada might work best because theyre focus really is one having one codebase be able to be used on multiple platforms.

If you only have to target the iphone and android and you have a mac and want to learn how to code each then just go native. Ive played around with android myself so i understand why that would be needed as opposed to using html5. But if you havent done that then it wont make sense.

Oh good luck to you in your endeavor. Building mobile apps are fun but a pain in the ass right now because of all the fragmentation.
This is a beautiful answer, which thoughtfully explains what makes the difference between "big entreprise java coding monkeys" and "startup rockstars". I love it.

The difference between "widget factory" and "film crew" explains also most of the differences between Java (archetypal "widget factory" tool) and dynamic ( or lesser known) languages, too.
Lloyds Banking Group shares have dropped like a rock recently, but over the longer term they'll do well as the economy strengthens. The LTSB/HBOS merger has left them in a pretty dominant position for retail banking/financial services.

If you're only holding onto the shares for a short time and selling them when they fall, then you're not really doing it right.
DARPA's Mind-Controlled Prosthetic Arm Could Be on the Market in Four Years
The design of your chat stream looks like an almost direct rip off of Campfire. If you want people to believe you're doing something different, you have to make it so your product isn't confused with the competition with a glance.
Vanessa Hudgens: Súper sensual en revista Details
I <3 anon
How Egyptians Organized: Clever Web and Traditional Communcations
Hi, HTML/HTTP are the second worse application delivery platform available. Try not to be shocked.

Sorry, your other choice was #1.
Building a Medical Device? NTEC Incubator/Accelerator May Be For You
The same rules of probability apply, so it depends on the number of villages making predictions divided by the improbability of successfully matching that village's predictions. If there were only 10 or 20 people buying lottery tickets, and one of them actually won, I'd pay very close attention to that one person's methods.
I'm going to ignore all the "social" aspects of the supposed pay difference in my analysis. I think they are valid and accurate, but don't paint the full picture. This is coming from the perspective of a programmer turned PM. Note, however, that I haven't actually observed any pay difference - in the current startup/tech climate, good engineers are in high demand and are commanding super-high salaries. The best engineers are often the highest paid (cash-wise) in the company.

The reason good PMs are paid highly is because they use leverage to create more value across the organization than they can provide as a single contributor. A great BA or PM guides the whole project and the whole team, making a group of people more efficient by properly prioritizing their work and getting more value for each hour worked. A great PM measures these results, and shows the difference they make. A great PM tunes the product to the customer.

Great PMs are held accountable for the product and its success in the marketplace. Great PMs can't do their jobs without great engineers and respect that fact.

You only need one great PM for every 5 great engineers, so you can be more discerning about who you hire and how much you pay them. Since great PMs are accountable, they command high equity value, and should accept that instead of higher salaries (like salesmen take commission).

If this isn't true where you work, you should work somewhere else where it is.
"I'm saying may be wrong about the short term and he certainly can't be right indefinitely."

Sure he can, since you're the one who added the claim that it will continue indefinitely. What he says instead is that progress will continue until well beyond our point to predict what the resulting society will look like, due to the claimed fact that it will for instance include things like true AIs and brain uploading. I do not recall him talking about where the progress will stop; probably because it would be meaningless to us anyhow. If an AI from 2200 came to us now and tried to explain the latest cutting edge trends in the research into the ultimate limits of cognition we wouldn't get past the first paragraph.

Don't worry, you're hardly the only one to dismiss his claims without actually stopping for a moment and figuring out what he's actually claiming. I'm not exactly a strong Singulatarian myself but a lot of people really need to stop reading other people summaries of what he says (very very few are accurate enough to come to evaluate what he is saying) and read past his first couple of paragraphs before flipping the bozo bit. He may not be right, he's definitely not an idiot.
19 Photo Manipulation Tutorials for Photoshop #2
These tutorials will give you the ideas of how to create a photo manipulation in Photoshop. There are a couple of techniques, both new and old. Enjoy!
This seems neat, but would there be any reason for using this over something like jquery.hotkeys?

https://github.com/jeresig/jquery.hotkeys