skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I built this app after over hearing a lot of people asking others how they find new music. This app shows you all the music your Facebook friends have recently listened to, so you can spend your time enjoying music, rather than searching for it.

It only indexes songs that have been listened to in full, so that Justin Bieber song you secretly like will stay a secret, as long as you don’t let it play the whole way through.

I also incorporated some other features into the site. A big pet peeve of mine about listening to music on YouTube is not being able to search for music while listening to music. So I made that possible, as well as made the video stay in the middle of your screen, no matter where you scroll to. I also incorporated a playlist feature into the site, so you can select your songs and let them play.

Hope everyone enjoys. More features to come shortly.
I assumed the judge didn't want to set a legal precedent for accepting cell phone GPS data. He entered the verdict in such a way that it couldn't be used to influence later cases.
I used to work for a startup that rewrote its products all the time. It was a huge mess with all the consequences outlines in the article.

The problem was not the rewriting itself but the lack of understanding how things went wrong the first time. From my experience it is absolutely mandatory to have many deeply introspective and self-critical thought sessions to figure out how you got into the mess. Only if you have clearly identified what went wrong in the past, you will be able to successfully rewrite a project and avoid the mistakes.

For some of the products we did this and rewriting was a huge success. For some others we did not and the rewrite turned out to be just as terrible as the original version. Then we rewrote it again and it was still a mess.
I actually find it astonishing that they're using Apache for this. I have had a lot of problems with Apache behaving weirdly in the past, especially with mod_wsgi.
At this point I'm pretty sure I've learned my lesson about release timing (I've also signed on with a job which should give me more time to work on Fabric, since they use it daily). Definitely deserve all the flak I get for being slow, though.
There's a simple argument to be made that the events that are unfolding in the course of our lifetimes have resulted in an unprecedented degree of societal and technological progress than ever before in the history of the world.

You're offering a reasonable critique, but no alternative. I'd love to hear an argument for another period in history that might be a contender for being as or more "great".
I cant see how adding such a wast amount of features makes the API cleaner. You made the library more complex than what it already was. Fixing Fabric should in my opinion be done, not in a backwards compatible way, but by forking it and taking away all the crap you don't want, then build a cleaner API. Adding more features to something which already is bad doesn't make it better.
Great idea. I think you'll be an ideal user and contributor for my product. I appreciate your feedback.
This looks nice, but I have to be honest...I'm not going to switch from the version of fabric I use to this. Why? Even though I do have to deploy to more than 30 hosts at once, the thought of the time that would need to be spent verifying that there are no bugs in this would make it impractical to switch. I have to imagine there are others like me who feel the same way. It's a shame that the people this would most benefit are probably the least likely to switch.
Be the first to know when somebody breaks up
On Lanyrd that session is http://lanyrd.com/2011/sxsw/scpxh/
I like this startup just for the simple fact that they are constantly putting it in front of people, and they also seem to have something interesting everything they do. But can someone tell me how you pronounce the name?
Do the FBI want you to to keep your content unencrypted?
Also regarding the resume:

1) I'd separate "Languages" and "Computer skills"
2) A couple of English spelling/punctuation errors
3) Write something concrete like "started with Slackware in 200x" instead of "interested in computers for as long as I can remember" -- cliche, overused phrase.

Hope this helps.
I unboxed a Boxee Box yesterday and was quite impressed. It's a tiny powerhouse at a great price point ($199 on Amazon). The remote is quite clever and made it easy to type, something that's often annoying with these types of set top boxes. I got online and it easily found and cataloged video files on a shared USB drive plugged into the wireless router--DVD covers, episode summaries, the works. The mobile app is a slick way to control it as well and it found it automatically--zero configuration.

My only gripe so far is there is no Amazon VOD support yet, but I only have that gripe because it's now free as a Prime member.
Dummynet now supports Linux, check its homepage out.
This is definitely a problem in our culture and the 'what's next' mentality can end up adding a lot of noise to innovation. New is exciting & fun for sure, but what's better for business and progress is something novel that is then flushed out over a relatively long term to become a successful business. Then the business is in a better place to make huge impact (see Apple...)
since they are invisible you can't initiate

Yes, that's the whole point of being invisible. If your friends are misusing a technical feature in a manner you consider rude, perhaps you should try talking to them about it.

What if you discovered a technique to make a phone ring when the ringer is disabled or perhaps even when the phone is switched off? Using it outside of an emergency would obviously be quite rude.
Even the devs who get screwed by Apple's policies seem to do no more than write an angry blog post, usually ending with something like "but if apple would like to pretty, pretty please make an exception or reconsider their policy we would love to re-submit our app".

I don't see any serious pressure coming from anywhere to be honest.
Also pisses me off that it doesn't let you delete stuff you've watched from the interface.

I ended up having to write an app to tail my boxee log looking for files that have been watched and then moving them into a "watched" directory where they are purged several days later.
Netflix is in a difficult position I think. Their infrastructure is becoming commoditized, much of their content is also being licensed to their competitors and their delivery mechanism is no longer unique. What's left for them to differentiate themselves from the competition? It seems like their only choice is to pay steeper and steeper prices to get content that nobody else has in order to justify their value to subscribers.
It's planned! Definitely. You'll be able to read from the site as well as go to HN/SO if you wish (and for proper attribution, too).
That would be very interesting. Does it get updated in realtime and scale to millions of users?
This also works in Skype. They do a good job of cloaking calls, but chat sessions have the same 'leak' in that you get an error if they are actually offline but not if they are just invisible.
I assume this was submitted as a comment on Apple's recent actions with the app store. I don't think it applies.

> Rent-seeking generally implies the extraction of uncompensated value from others without making any contribution to productivity, such as by gaining control of land and other pre-existing natural resources, or by imposing burdensome regulations or other government decisions that may affect consumers or businesses.

Apple isn't trying to extract value from a pre-existing resource or through government coercion. They're trying to extract value from something they built.

I agree that they're being really pushy about it, but they are bringing something to the table.
A year ago I would have laughed at the final statement that people will dump their iPhones faster than Apple is ready for.

Today, after working with Android for a year, I could care less if I had an Android instead of my iPhone. In fact, I find myself carrying around my development device for various apps and usability reasons.

I'm over angry birds. I'm tired of seeing all the polished over-done games in the app store. I prefer the simple, indie games of Android, I like the personality of the Android Market, I like the browser on my Galaxy, etc, etc.

Side note. My kids do not. They think my Android games are stupid.
This is a smart idea. A lot of the best startups are using recruiters (who can get $30k or more per hire). The noise level will be a LOT higher than a recruiter, but it might be worth it. Hopefully Rand will write a post-mortem on this.
Ask HN: Where do you find hard data for your industry?
In order to convey the size of the market, what resources do you use? For example, if we're saying we can garner _% market share ---> Is there a definitive resource that covers the scope of all industries?

I feel like Google searches will only go so far, and it's tough to find hard data online (esp when you're a bootstrapped entrepreneur looking for what's available for free).
This was mentioned the last time a similar thread came up as well. Reputable, large corporations don't tend to work that way. A department will often end up doing their best to provide a service to a competitor of a different department.
I'd say it's an entirely human failing to eschew "old" knowledge in favor of all that is shiny and new. This is in no way limited to the programming field. For example this kind of behavior frequently leads to comical nonsense in the machine shop at the local hacker garage (we have a local TechShop).

I've lost count of the number of times I've seen folks gravitate to the shiniest, most miserably complex high tech tools in the shop simply because they're 1. shiny, 2. high tech, 3. complex. There was a guy in last week who's working on a project he plans on patenting. I watched as he spent over an hour setting up a complex system of jigs and programming one of the CNC milling machines in the shop. Seconds after he set the thing in motion the bit managed to snag his work piece (a small bolt), snatch it out of the jig which it then promptly used to murder his jigging system. I could offer a laundry list of minor mistakes this dude made, (no cutting fluid, incorrect jig material/setup, CNC programming error) but the one big mistake is the most interesting in my mind: he picked the wrong tool for the job. A dead simple drill press and a machinist's vice would have not only been entirely sufficient to the task at hand, going "low tech" would have had him productively drilling parts in less than five minutes.
Chrome To Launch Web Apps From URL Bar
Google is working on a new feature that will allow users to launch web apps similar to the way domain names are entered into the URL bar (Omnibox).
Legal loopholes.
Same story, different provider:

We have detected that you are not located within the US. Due to licensing restrictions Amazon Instant Video customers must be located in the United States when viewing videos online

If they can get this to follow me around the world, I'm there. Until then there are a lot of us still without a viable way to watch movies from the internet. (no legal way, that is.)
It's dependent on your nationality and whether your nation has a reciprocal health coverage agreement with Australia, which many EU countries do but most countries do not (including the US of course).
Tell that to Dwight Shrute.
FWIW, I don't know how to reach you! If you're interested in helping with feedback, can you either let me know how to get in touch or email me from the email address on my profile? Thanks!
It depends on what you are selling. But I have seen a response rate higher than any other form.
Anyone know of a link to the mentioned talk? The one given ( http://joind.in/talk/view/2418 ) is just the conference description.
Can't help with the rock/hip hop, but for electronica (and its ilk) I would recommend: soma.fm (or, apparently, somafm.com, now.)

(For example, the "cliqhop/idm" shoutcast stream is what I use when I need non-distracting music in the background, for working.)
This was the link --- http://svstartup.com
If either of these options should be considered harmful, it's the magic URL. This particular one has been responsible for countless useless requests. Another consideration is whether it's a good idea to have a standard dictate (parts of) the URL layout of a website.
Four Life Lessons Learned After "You’re Fired"
Microsoft doesn't license their PlayReady DRM components unless it is hardware secured. The only Netflix platforms that Linux works on have PlayReady chips in them basically - Roku, and Boxee literally JUST got Netflix support.

Moonlight absolutely doesn't work in Ubuntu. And Silverlight runs like a dog in a VM, even with 2d/3d accel (and turned off since they're not 100% stable) and that's giving my VM 3 cores and 3 GB of my memory, AND it's on a separate hard drive than my host OS.

Netflix is completely worthless to Linux users. I welcome competition from Amazon.
The 1k cap for the 50k doc plan is old, we will be upping that significantly. What would be a number of queries per day that would make you comfortable?
I love the site and the idea behind it. Sucks that I didn't get a chance to grab an invite.

Would love to discuss with you about some of the more backend details of the site, is it alright if I reach out to you via email?
That's where they make all their money, right?

This varies year by year. In recent years, prop desks have either gained (Goldman) or lost (Lehman) huge amounts of money.

But this isn't always true. Sometimes services are the big moneymakers. Prime brokerage (allowing hedge funds to outsource their back office) was big up until the crisis nuked many hedge funds, for example. In a good year, classical IBanking (IPOs, M&A, etc) can be big. Big banks run many desks at either a small loss or small profit just for the purpose of keeping the lights on. When the market changes and that desk becomes important, they rake it in.

Is the economy, say, twice as well off from a financial allocation standpoint compared to 25 years ago? If not, how are the trading desks pulling in twice as much money without being extractors?

They could capture a larger portion of the new value being created. Suppose they created 100 units of value in the past, and captured 25% of it. Now suppose they create an extra 50 units of value, but capture 50% of it. Before this change, the banks captured 25 units of value, the world 75 units. After, the banks capture 50 units of value, the world captures 100 units.

As for payday loans, they always existed to some extent (loansharks were always present, as were pawnshops), but they only got into full swing in the 90's. The internet made tracking defaulters easier, competition in electronic banking made the transfers cheaper, and the Clinton-era wave of bank deregulation eliminated many state level interest rate caps (California's was lifted in 1996, for example).
Ask HN: How to get started with programming, web development?
I know this is a question that's been asked countless times, but I can't seem find any recent discussions on HN. I would appreciate it if anybody could point me towards a link to a discussion or something similar.

I live in the heart of Silicon Valley, and I'm fairly well versed in computer hardware. Unfortunately though, I have absolutely no programming experience whatsoever. What do you guys suggest doing if I want to get started with programming/web development?

Currently, I've decided to start with HTML4, checking out books from the library on that. Basic HTML is fairly easy, and uses pretty similar syntax to BBCode, which I've used on forums.

What methods do you guys suggest to jump from basic BBCode into actual programming and/or web development?
Apple hasn't raised their price, the problem is that they are requiring companies that sell a subscription or content outside of the app store to also sell the same thing in the app store and give apple a 30% cut. This is going to prevent a lot of good web services from having apps in the app store.

Low quality apps like $.99 games won't be effected.
There certainly are real energy savings. But without any numbers we can only speculate whether this whole setup is worth the effort.

A simpler way to save energy would have been to wrap a thick blanket around the tank to improve the insulation.

A better way would have been to replace the tank with a tankless heater.
how did you release to a small group? do you mean "friends and family"? or something more sophisticated?
Study: Experts Are More Persuasive When They’re Less Certain
OK, so I didn't remember correctly. I'm glad I put that disclaimer in my first comment! I tried to Google for it, but the late 70s is prehistory for Google.

I'm still having trouble buying the collapse of the walled garden as the reason for the video game crash of 83-84. Pac-man and ET are widely cited as two of the major causes of the crash, and those were in-house Atari productions so the walled garden wouldn't have helped there.
The Developer Landgrab – Another Way to Look at Dev/Ops
QR Genie
Email me at inlith@gmail.com

My portfolio is at madebyargon.com
I admit to substantial ignorance here, but can anyone who's using fabric, or for whom these patches to fabric are an important improvement, speak to any kind of pro/con comparison they did with func (https://fedorahosted.org/func/)?

I've been using func for parallel deployment to 15 - 20 servers for about a year now, but I have to admit I didn't really do any research into other options at the time. Its written by the guys who wrote yum and cobbler, which are already core to my setup, so it seemed natural to just stay in their ecosystem. Thing is I never hear about anyone else using it, so I'm curious if anyone did more diligence than I and had specific reasons of choosing one or the other.
Stumped on Your Next Travel Destination? Ask Wanderfly
An excellent article by a top-flight law-and-technology expert.

We're just about to discuss this on the Twitter privacy chat -- http://cdt.org/twitterchat
What makes sense depends entirely on the context. Sometimes, it needs to be realized that it will take time for technologies/solutions to mature. Other times, it will be more clear that a new technology has high prospects. It also depends on your team, the business model, the solution, etc.

The other side of the equation is the internal mechanics of large corporations. There are many that yearn new ideas and any form of innovation, "stirring of the pot" if you will, after decades of using the same winning strategy. They realize they are making bets on some new technologies, but the alternative is to stand back and lose by default. Surely, corporations of all sizes (and their people) often make strategic mistakes and take the wrong approach. But they also make some good decisions and there are many examples of new ideas emerging so fast that they put entire industry categories out of business.

I don't think it is right to issue blanket statements such as these. They feel more like a ranting for popularity than well thought-out observation. Different approaches might have varying levels of value at varying levels in the value chain. You might have a good strategy that works for you; you don't need to assault every other approach out there in order to stand out.
Direct link: http://www.myjqueryplugins.com/QapTcha
I had not heard of func until this thread. I chose fabric because it was the only Python-based option I was aware of.
Hah! Love the idea and story behind the building of it. Thanks for all the details about how you are sending out the mail.

I'm the Product Manager of PostageApp, would you mind if I sent you an email about how Appengine's email service is working out for you?
The argument, I would assume, is something more along the lines that high-quality applications strain under the load of 30% royalties paid to Apple. This is definitely true in some cases. Ebooks spring to mind as the most obvious example as most publishers don't have 30% in their margins to give.

I'm not sure I completely agree with the premise. I do think that as Apple continues to push against the developer community you'll see a continuing downward trend in average app quality. The de-facto culture of the .99 app has already driven much of that, but at some point more sophisticated developers are going to be looking for greener pastures away from Apples control. The question is: how hard can Apple squeeze before that happens?

I'm seeing some of it now. The better developers have seemed to only make half-hearted attempts at Android ports thus far. Their attention has been so focused on the Apple cash machine that it's made it difficult to shift focus. So you see a lot of inferior ports dotting the Android market. With the uncertainty that Apple is creating in the development community, I'm betting that you'll see more and more developers hedging their bets and building out much higher quality applications on Android.

I'm sure Google is doing everything possible to court that. In the end Android benefits not because everyone wholesale leaves the iOs ecosystem, but rather because they start putting some of those iOS dollars to work making things better on Android.

That's how Apple loses in the end. Android has a huge distribution advantage. These decisions serve to erode the iOS app advantage. Once Android has achieved level pegging in apps I see nothing stopping it from taking over the world.
I play Angry Birds on Android.
Show HN: Rewind your memories from Facebook, DailyBooth, picplz, etc
It depends. For someone who has no experience with html/css layouts, and has the ability to build his own design from scratch, creating the layout in code might seem simpler. The reason: it feels similar to creating desktop app layouts (i.e. Swing). And you don't have to worry about cross-browser stuff (in theory).

Also, You can now use GWT Designer, an Eclipse plugin that lets you build UIs graphically.

On the other hand, if you are a familiar with html and css layouts, this all might seem like a big mess, and too much work to do something simple. And you will not like the generated code (many many tables, often).

That's why they created GWT's UIBinder. You can use a html-like code to design the UI. This is much easier than making all the panel.add(widget) stuff in code. And it is a nice compromise, because your front-end designers will understand it. The big downfall is that it needs to be compiled to view the results, and believe me, this can be a cumbersome task.

I have been using it in the scenario where we get all the html and css from the designer, along with the jquery to add some effects. It wasn't easy porting the whole (working!) design to something usable by GWT. But, in the end we got the GWT to generate exactly the same markup.

All in all, there's no such thing as a free lunch.
only on odd days of the week.
That's very interesting.

I just checked it out for a couple of minutes... And what's even more interesting is that when you were browsing HN my browser had obviously loaded it as if I were browsing. (We definitely saw 2 different things... My guess is that you record mouse coordinates, scroll positions, and url changes.) With that said, I could see this as a potential security risk - unless there are protocols already in place of which I am unaware. I was curious to see if you'd start typing or post a comment or something but I didn't stick around long enough. I think browsers natively have measures to prevent security breaches like this but I wouldn't be surprised if there's a way around it.
Cherokee Market: A Market for Web Applications 
Cherokee Market is a distribution channel for Web applications, where developers can distribute and sell their apps, while Web infrastructure owners can easily deploy them within seconds. More information in http://cherokee-market.com/about and http://vimeo.com/20106868
I believe that's already been done...forrst.com