skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
> "the Air Force initially blamed a contractor for defective software..."

Yes, blame it on unnamed pesky little contractors. US Air Force could not possibly make any mistakes.

> Since GPS' inception, there has never been a breach of GPS.

What about those contractors messing things up? Some could have malicious intentions. Today they make a mistake, tomorrow they make a mistake on purpose, who knows,...

But seriously what does he mean by "breach" ? Does he mean jamming? Or does he mean someone unauthorized using the higher accuracy signal? Or maybe someone uploading unauthorized software onto the satellites? I guess it doesn't mean anything, it is just PR hand waiving...
> 1. Easy to say/spell....having to explain your site is Colr.com or TheColorApp.com instead of just "Color" will impede consumers.

> 2. It makes you seem like a real company with the resource to own a short, properly spelled name...

This is not a very hard problem to solve.

kragen@inexorable:~/devel$ cat shortnames.py
#!/usr/bin/python
# Pick unused domain names. Kragen Javier Sitaker, 2011.
import socket, random, itertools

def lookup(domain):
try:
return socket.getaddrinfo('www.'+domain, 80)
except socket.gaierror:
return None

# We try an unlikely-to-exist domain in case our ISP engages in a
# man-in-the-middle attack on DNS traffic.
failing_dns_response = lookup('jaoiwgjaioawjio'+'aioj.org')

words = [line.strip() for line in file('/usr/share/dict/words')]

short_words = [word for word in words if 0 < len(word) <= 6]
print "Considering %d short words." % len(short_words)

for ii in range(20):
while True:
sld = random.choice(short_words) + random.choice(short_words)

if len(sld) <= 2:
continue

domain = sld + '.' + random.choice(['com', 'org', 'net'])
if lookup(domain) != failing_dns_response:
continue

print domain
break
kragen@inexorable:~/devel$ time ./shortnames.py
Considering 22221 short words.
LippiSeurat.org
crownseagle.net
JoleneMable.org
anorakbarf.org
baitdepend.org
opticbib.org
elopevictim.org
maniacAbner.org
glandhanker.org
nthprissy.com
dumpsSandra.org
measlyhafts.com
cassiaLaud.net
avowstarots.com
Elvianoun.org
duchyfeisty.net
dualgales.net
hikingpinup.com
dirgesBarnes.net
tillchars.net

real	0m15.749s
user	0m0.140s
sys	0m0.028s

How about dualgales.net, opticbib.org, napstiff.org, ticketgorge.org, damnharem.net, bargehutch.org, ravagepunk.net, jigglemutant.net, EliRx.org, jobunsafe.org, vendspanda.com, lathedkid.com, poppedcopula.net, triadsvia.com, civicsdiary.com, greyvalet.com, queenfigs.org, pagansultan.net, tacofoci.com, odderzoos.net, fleatablet.org, and so on? The whole blob of them all together looks like spam, because spammers register domains using a very similar approach, but any one of them is a perfectly respectable, easy-to-say and easy-to-spell, relatively short domain. This program can generate about 1.5 billion different domain names, modulo possible weaknesses in random.choice.
Stealth Payment Startup Stripe Backed By PayPal Founders
It's too bad you cant just do a complete submersion like with a foreign language.
Basically, de facto age discrimination.
I like jump desktop for my iOSneeds
If this is as good as it seems to be, why is the focus purely on the third world? Unless I'm missing something, this could bring cheap and extremely environmentally friendly energy to developed countries too.

If it's purely a case of "they need this more than we do", why not either just license out the technology to companies who can use it, or develop it themselves for developed countries. Either way, they could take the money raised through that side and use it to help bring the technology to third world countries. I can't see any downside of pushing to get this kind of technology widely used everywhere.
It might also conflict with the reality that it would be detected trivially and shut down immediately.
Sorting recycling comes to mind. The manual labor version of it involves standing over a slow moving belt of stinky trash and picking out the valuable recyclables.

Seems like a Fanuc with a suction gripper and a hires web cam is all it might take to get a little "trashville" going. Give the housewives who collect the most alu while the kids are away at school day passes to local spas as prizes and you've got a win.
Agreed. I don't want to ask you to complete my thought, but how would you define value in a way that makes sense in that context? Or is it hopeless?
The History of Rome, This Week in Tech, This Week in Venture Capital, This Week in Startups, This American Life.
Ask HN: Recommendations for New Zealand company to get U.S.-based contracts?
I'm a director at Brush Technology, a small software+hardware design company HQ'd in Christchurch, New Zealand. Recently there's been a lull in the amount of work we've been getting in (partly earthquake-related, but mostly not), so we've been putting feelers out further afield.

Any suggestions for getting software or hardware contracting work here in the U.S.? The exchange rate may make pricing slightly beneficial for U.S. clients, but basically we have very few contacts in the U.S. for this sort of thing.

Are (good) recruiters worth going to, or would one only use them for getting a full-time job rather than contracting?
To me it sounds too good to be true, but I really hope it is.
MongooseJS 1.0 Upgrade Woes
I read the title expecting to read about how their technical team modified the system to stop a bypass from working, not that they contacted someone to get him to stop offering a bypass service.
Yes, this is very effeective in the fitness arena. Instead of setting a goal to lose X amount of weight, just focus on goals over which you have more direct control (e.g. a goal to build your strength up to be able to do 20 push ups in a row, or a goal to have a jog 6 days a week for a month).

These goals aren't easy, but they are more directly under your control.
That's just as well if stops people from submitting and upvoting low signal-to-noise stories.

(edited "noise-to-signal" typo).
Who said it was a startup?
These things feel like the iPad of robots, as in basic hardware that's massively customizable via software.

Check out their YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ETHZurichIDSC
I'd agree with him, given that this statement was about programmers and Java really did open the floodgates for a diversity of programming languages to become accepted, or at least tolerated.

The Java language itself, however, is not very close to Lisp at all.
12-Year-Old Genius Expands Einstein's Theory of Relativity, Can Prove It Wrong
LOL nice try, but it looks like the domain is taken. I hope you have $350k.
What do you like about Ruby on Rails?
If you question the government's ability to decide if it should go to hard science or 20K startups, then how can you trust their ability to choose which 20K startups?

In general, if you don't trust the government's ability to make a decision, then how can you trust their ability to delegate those decisions? This is a decision in and of itself.
You might find some luck on http://codecanyon.net/
I think the parent was referring to what you might listen to on those headphones.
Geeky pet names
My main concern with AWS is still EBS and the network latency. While this would prevent others on the same box from starving you of resources, EBS could still be affected by a neighboring box hammering the network.
I don't feel like distraction was the problem really. I had to raise more money and I couldn't envision myself pitching a vision that focused on fashion (which I realized was necessary based on the market). I wanted it to succeed based on the shopping experience, and I learned that was quite naive.
The Enemy within: A New Pattern of Antibiotic Resistance
Well, I was just hoping to make people stop, think, and not contribute to this content-free crap. I used to come to HN and read pretty much everything.

You're probably being an ass-hat. And I probably like you for it. (It's one of my oldest son's finest qualities.)

This just seems to be a good day for it.

Cheerio.
Get A Clue
I agree completely. It completely underplays the value of the individual VCs and overplays the Lightspeed VC brand name.

When you get into YC, you know you are going to be working directly with people like PG, Harj, Garry, Alexis, Robert M., Paul, Jennifer, and Trevor.

With this Lightspeed VC deal, they just tell you that you get two partners advising you. You don't know which two. You don't know if they are VCs by trade. You don't know if they were former entrepreneurs. You don't know if they happen to be an Entrepreneur in Residence or Designer in Residence. These details matter and matter a lot.

I think the best incubators and angels are those that emphasize people over money. People execute. Money just keeps those people fed and housed.
Room temperature superconductors are cooler (hah!) than 20,000 social networking photo apps.
Why aren't they using these in Fukushima:

http://metamodern.com/2011/03/24/fukushima-%E2%80%94-where-a...
One of the many assertions made by SCEA is that Hotz agreed to SCEA's terms of service, and (I believe) that he did so in California.

The user they identified as doing these actions was called "blickmaniac" (or maybe blickmanic according to some blogs). Hotz has denied being blickmaniac, and a number of people have come forward and claimed that he/she is blickmaniac, including, apparently, Hotz' neighbour.

Fundamentally, many of the maneuvers SCEA is going through right now are intended to demonstrate that Hotz had a contract with a California company, so that they can sue him in California.

Hotz's side is that he bought something made by Sony of Japan, and hacked at it while living in (New Jersey?), never connected to SCEA's network, never read any TOS, posted source code from New Jersey, etc.

What's at stake is partly the judge (the current judge ruled DVD copying is illegal if I recall correctly), inconvenience / expense for Hotz, and also from his perspective, hopefully showing SCEA up to be lying bastards, hurting their future case when jurisdiction is finally settled.
Why quality is the only sustainable seo strategy
One of the TCL guys is actually working on compiling a NaCl-hosted TCL build right now - so they're finally getting there ;)

(Great read, by the way!)
See also: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000007.html
Down-voting is over-rated. The only think you are missing is these little gray down arrows all over the place.

Here's a link and an up-vote in case you want to add some.

http://ycombinator.com/images/graydown.gif
I got an email at 11:34am eastern time from Apple about WWDC. Plenty of time.
What did that domain cost?
Ask HN: After almost dying couple of times I want to revolutionize healthcare
Hey HN,
First of all I wanted to thank you for inspiring a pivot based on this last post of mine that hit the FP on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2312566 and thank you for the kind words.
I was working on a social app like most of us do, and realized that social apps are a waste of time, there is nothing new or world changing about them. Facebook has kind of solved social already I think 600M friends can prove that. The world needs entrepreneurs to solve real big problems. Since I went through such extensive health issues all by the age of 25, just to name a few: 2 aneurysms, 2 brain surgeries, endocarditis, mitral valve regurgitation, coma, needed to learn how to walk again, and living in the hospital for a while, I decided there is serious change that needs to be done in the healthcare space, coming from someone who not only wants to make money but understands a lot of the problems from within (which there are a lot).

I have a clear picture of what I want to do and its super exciting, I started designing/coding it, but would like to find a co-founder to help me solve such a serious problem.

Email me at: michaelabehsera@gmail.com if you are interested.

Please be serious, I don't want to talk I want to do.
Earth receives about 1.3 to 1.4 kW per square meter from the sun (and that's before the atmosphere absorbs and reflects a huge chunk of that) - which is effectively an upper bound on the energy that can be produced by any solar power source. A playing-card sized device is going to take more than a day to produce a day's worth of electricity for a current developed-world lifestyle, even if it were 100% efficient.
Is it time for Apple to consider a format to allow more people to attend?

While undoubtedly not a perfect substitute for attending, they did take a big positive step last year by posting the session videos only a week after and eliminating additional fee for non-attendee access to them.
How long ago was this? I was there in 2008 and 2010 and both years were packed to the rafters all week long.
We (awe.sm) have been using Stripe for our payments since last November. They are great: a simple, tiny API that abstracts away huge chunks of the complications around taking credit cards -- you don't need a merchant account, they handle 99% of PCI compliance, they handle pro-rating and recurring billing natively. We got our payments system to market way faster than we could have otherwise.
Curriculum: Teaching Computer Science through WoW Scripts
I'd find it more interesting if you actually managed to get them to compete against each other. They're not playing pong, quite the opposite.

I'd like to see them paint one red and one blue and make them compete in an airborne ping-pong match.
Yes, thank you, I did notice that.

Feel free to make your original point but I think most people would agree bible passages (or those from the Qur'an, Torah, book of Dianetics, etc) don't have a place on HN.
EM interference from the radiation.
I think the point is that it can use that small amount of energy to break the hydrogen bond in the water, releasing more energy than was used.

Edit: Apparently I made a mistake. See the correction, which I was the first to upvote.
Howto: Export Geocoded coordinates from Google Fusion Tables
Google Fusion Tables can geocode large datasets, but Google only allows you to export the coordinates in KML format. This guide allows you to convert the KML to CSV format.
Solar panels are already good enough that they are used in developed countries such as USA and UK. Are they perfect? No, they cost too much, and they don't generate enough electricity, but they are used none-the-less.

By the sound of it, this new creation would be more efficient, either in price, electricity generation, or both, than traditional solar panels - if that wasn't the case, why on earth would any project use them in third world countries, when they could instead use solar panels.

So, based on those two facts, surely anyone who would be using solar panels ought to look to be using this product in the next few years? (And, depending on how much better than traditional solar panels it is, possibly more people/companies would want to use it than are willing to use solar power right now.)
How do i find a good reliable programmer?
I'm looking for some minor customization to be done on a jquery plugin but from all that ive read ill have to sift through a sea of bad programmers just to find one good one. I dont really have the resources to do that, does anyone know of a site where i can find a reputable freelance programmer to do a small job?

I suppose while im here, if anyones interested:

http://forums.devshed.com/hire-a-programmer-57/for-a-956-project-hiring-as-js-jquery-developer-to-800786.html#post2619445
Ask HN: Anybody gotten any questions on their YC application?
Any applicants gotten any questions on their yCombinator application yet?
InternMatch: Matching the Smartest Interns With the Hottest Tech Startups
I am confused about "Splinch Pro" - is there going to be a non-pro version? If not, perhaps it's worth removing that distinction.

As for your pricing, is it based on research? Corporate IT is one of those magical environments where sometimes more is more - ie, your service won't be taken seriously if it's priced too low.

I think it would be worth your time creating a second page with more details. I don't know what "collaborative maintenance" means, nor "community extendable", so having some more information would be helpful. Specifically, I would point out the advantages of your service over the existing approaches. Keep in mind this won't just be read by network admins, but by non-technical managers to whom the benefits may not be immediately obvious.
The fruits of Capitalism can only blossom where the seeds are planted and nurtured.
How are these reconciled? Optimism?:

Re: previous artificial leaf: It was also highly unstable, and had a lifespan of barely one day.

and

Nocera's leaf is stable -- operating continuously for at least 45 hours without a drop in activity in preliminary tests
That's actually depressingly boring for one of the worlds most recognizable games companies.

It makes me feel like throwing out my lucky charms and eat cheerios for breakfast. (FYI I'm in my 20's, but shitty North America doesn't have good breakfast cereals like the UK)
Wouldn't latency cancel out any advantage their faster algorithm might have?
Breaking bonds does not release energy. Bonds are the way the are because they are (locally) the lowest-energy configuration for the atoms that are taking part. You need to put energy in to get out of a low-energy configuration.

The device appears to use water->hydrogen as an energy storage mechanism, to solve (at some efficiency cost) the issue of energy demand generally being out of sync with the supply from the sun. You put energy in to convert water into hydrogen+oxygen, and then you can get that energy back out by converting it back into water.
Color App Hack Lets You Spy On Anyone’s Photos Anywhere
Minno Hopes There’s A Place In This World For A Small, Simple E-Wallet
"With a single gallon of water, Nocera says, the chip could produce enough electricity to power a house in a developing country for an entire day."

I think a house in a developing country is key. They say the chip is 10x more efficient than a natural leaf. I don't think 10 leaves produce a whole lot of power...

I'm curious how it compares to a traditional photovoltaic solar cell.
Obama is Awesome
Great experience: money for expenses, office space, and excellent mentorship. Like most incubators, a big part of the value add also comes from the other teams you'll work along side.
If you want to do front end web dev, learn these languages in this order:

HTML - http://www.w3schools.com/html/
CSS - http://www.w3schools.com/css/default.asp
Javascript - http://eloquentjavascript.net/contents.html

And then pick one of the following two:
PHP - http://www.tuxradar.com/practicalphp
or
Rails - http://ruby.railstutorial.org/ruby-on-rails-tutorial-book

There are many languages that you can learn for front end other than RoR and PHP, but they are two of the most popular right now, and will almost certainly suit your needs. Good luck, and stick with it when it gets frustrating, learning how to code is definitely worth it!
"All Questions Answered" by Donald Knuth
The boot screen of every PlayStation product says "Sony Computer Entertainment of America Presents" at some point, so if he ever played any games on it, that would hurt his argument, I would think.
If you happened to have added a ticket in your cart on store.apple.com it might very well still be there (and be able to be purchased) after the conference is sold out.

That's how I got in last year after slow management approval nearly ruined it for me.

I lobbied extra hard for quick management approval (new company) this year. I'll see some of you there :)
It's funny that you say that, because you can buy an iPad-controlled quadrotor on Apple's store right here:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/H1991ZM/A?fnode=MTY1NDA3NA...
Outsourcing is slower than in-house development, but it scales a bit more. It's a lot faster to outsource the development of multiple iOS apps than to develop them yourself.
Uh... that's your first thought, really? You honestly think, out of the combined force of Japan, the US, the US military, and plenty of brilliant engineers across the globe, that that HASN'T crossed their mind?

Try radiation hardening electronics + battery life + hardening optics/sensors + control range + reliability/safety + size of areas involved = a 1,200lb flying robot that probably won't work, or only work for a few minutes, nevermind will probably crash and break open the pressure casing.

...

Godamnit...
The previous artificial leaf and the current one are different things.
I'm guessing the substance he is using is Melanin.
I've already heard of something like this. Mexican scientist, Dr. Arturo Solis Herrera, when studying the properties of melanin, discovered that this substance is to the human body, what chlorophyll is to plants. He achieved alternative energy generation using self-renewing photoelectrochemical cells which separate water into hydrogen and oxygen and then bring the atoms together again. Check it out!!! http://www.energiaadebate.com/Articulos/noviembre2007/imagen...
heres my weekend project http://whoshouldbethenextpresident.com
You could try starting with "How to Design Programs" at http://htdp.org (or buy the dead tree version). That book has been very helpful for some people. The programming language environment used in HTDP can be downloaded from http://racket-lang.org.

If you'd prefer Python, a real gem of a book is Core Python Programming by Westley Chun. Python btw, is an excellent choice for a first programming language.
So, given the number of times a post from Quora has made the front page now--have any doubters changed their mind about Quora's value?
"indeed."

Fantastic work.
The New Delhi "bug." Kind of funny because my girlfriend and I both got sick in Mumbai. I told her we got the Mumbai virus. Two months later and we still have a cough, even after antibiotics.

The real problem is anyone can buy antibiotics in India. Just go to a pharmacy and tell them what you want.

Don't want to discourage anyone from going to India. It was a great trip. See the Taj, stay at the Lake Palace,... Stay at all the palaces, if you can afford it.
I came in here to post something akin to "InfinityXO" above, but I have to admit this comment just made something click in my head. I'm extremely driven to achieve, but I've been wondering about how to make life more about the "journey" and not the destination and this is a great suggestion.

Now that I reflect, I know I intuitively do this about things I already enjoy, like running/working out, coding, etc... but when it comes to ticking things off the to-do list (or trying new things I'm not "good" at) it's easy to be outcome-focused, which often leads to unnecessary frustration - a choice in itself of course.

Thanks for a great idea!
Cardcaptor cosplay
Cardcaptor Sakura begins when ten-year-old fourth grader Sakura Kinomoto accidentally releases a set of magical cards called Clow Cards from the Clow Book, created and named after half-English, half-Chinese sorcerer Clow Reed. Each card has its own personality and characteristics and can assume alternate forms when activated.
2. Is it time for Apple to consider a format to allow more people to attend? Their platform has grown 10x in 5 years, but the conference is still in the same facility.

I hope not. Currently, the presentations are done by Apple engineers -- who then typically go and spend the rest of the week in lab sessions to have one on one's with people.

If more presentations are needed, either the lab quality will go down (which is very bad as labs are the best part of WWDC) or the presentation quality will go down because they will no longer be given by the engineers that created the tech behind the presentations.

There's also the immense amount of time that is spent by presenters beforehand in preparing for a session. If you think that Steve Jobs is the only one at Apple who spend hours and hours perfecting his WWDC presentation, you'd be very wrong.