skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
It's an interesting feature but calling it a "reverse call blocker" is (a) confusing; (b) makes it sound antagonistic.

In essence this thing is supposed to help you avoid forgetting when the bad vs. good times are to call someone... or to remember not to normally use some number you otherwise would. In other words, this tool helps users to be considerate -- a concept which the word blocking doesn't suggest.

If you stop calling it blocking then you don't need reverse -- some other word.

The confusing terminology did "make me look" but that's probably not a strong marketing strategy. Before I looked I couldn't imagine what in the heck "reverse blocking" was supposed to mean.

I'm afraid the name "call me not" has the same problem. I'm not sure what to suggest for a better one.

Feature-wise: seems like there could be a "social" / "groupware" kind of aspect to this. E.g., I can publish my schedule that might get abstracted down to "good times to call" for various groups of people, and the app can somehow just join those against my contacts list to automate .....
Intel Labs is a part of Intel Research consisting of the three lablets. It is closing down.

Check http://www.intel-research.net/
Let me know when something has actually been created. Ideas and intentions are worthless until you actually do something with them.
It's trivial to remove someone from your update stream, but not remove them as a friend.
Sarcasm and hypocrisy are inbuilt by birth in https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Caste_system_...
Thinking back to pg's weekend post (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2403696), this seems like a good example of the kind of thing that drags down the quality of HN.

The article itself is very nearly content-free, and definitely does not gratify my intellectual curiosity. Reading it just felt like a waste of my time.

Most of the comments here are pretty mean and snarky - attacking Kevin Rose, Digg, Milk, or all three.

Hacker News used to be a lot better than this. I flagged it, fwiw.
The real problem with Facebook is the symmetric friend model. I have 70 FB friends and a couple of those would be removed if it were politically convenient.

Twitter does it so much better.

I wonder if the FB gods ever run statistics of how many people are "friends" and have mutually hidden each other.
Sshuttle - tunnel all your traffic through ssh
You find this? All I've found is it makes people all the more desperate for me to add them, as if I'm hiding some super social parties from them or something.

I don't find it awkward to tell people "Sorry but I only add people that'd let me sleep on their couch at 5am in the morning" - in fact it often makes them feel awkward usually because they don't want to admit they'd not let me in!
You're only a couple function pointers away from the syntactic sugar of the -> operator.
And as you might learn in 'The Millionaire Next Door' many doctors and lawyers have nothing but debt and the appearance of wealth. Or in Texan: "Big hat, no cattle."
They don't have to be global state - they can be updating thread local state, for example, in what is essentially dynamic scope. Depending on the OS, the efficiency of such TLS accesses can be quite good - on Linux, for example, it's just an extra pointer indirect or two with a segment selector (assuming the code is statically linked; it's very slightly more expensive in a solib).
Well, some of us (the PyPy developers) are web developers, but I'll grant you I'm the exception, not the rule :)
Well, I didn't exactly say I was waiting :)

http://nitrogen.posterous.com/home-automation-and-lighting-c...
I assume you mean #2? Because here we are in year, oh, 17 or 18 or so of web development give or take a couple of years and that's worked out so well, hasn't it?

It's a beautiful sentiment. It hasn't worked. Handing them new vectors to screw up in is not going to solve the problem.

It also doesn't matter. Hand a developer a tool that requires them to continuously pay attention to an issue and no matter how good they are, at some point they will slip, because they're human. We've tried "teach them about security" a couple hundred times, maybe it's time we try "devise a language that can't trivially express an insecure application". C will not be the language that implements that, it completely lacks any of the necessary primitives, by design.
Pretty good article!
Overly reductive. There is an actual security benefit to using environments that minimize memory corruption. Educating devs helps, but educated devs do not reliably avoid memory corruption.
s/men's/meme/g
(Damn autocorrect)
Microsoft Sets June Date for Automatic IE 9 Upgrades
I have had similar experiences with apps before where someone from the App Store review team actually called me about an app rejection. Very surprising, but that sort of feedback definitely helps a great deal.

Unforunately, I have also seen the opposite end of the spectrum where I have received extremely vague rejections, and upon talking with the App Store representative, received additional even more vague reasoning. I really just wish there was some sort of consistency.
Touche. It's still an API design that's going to prove problematic, though.
In The Pipeline[1] covers this well. http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2011/04/01/live_long_an...

Researchers were speculating that if they could just bind something to defective proteins they could get them cleaned out of cells. Noting that they could see the defective structures because they were staining them yellow, they used their yellow stain. Instant 60% lifespan increase in (yellow) nematodes. If only nematodes could award Nobel prizes.

Other non-dye chemicals were found to work similarly. If this goes anywhere in the end, I don't think we need to fear being ruled by an upper class of chartreuse immortals.

[1] Best known around HN for the "Things I Won't Work With" series: http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/things_i_wont_work_with...
In response to all the "Don't add people you don't know" comments, I think it should be pointed out that this isn't always an option.

Drama and politics variously meant that I had to accept requests from people who posted far too many meaningless status updates. Blocking, hiding, muting etc. don't work when you need to respond to 1 out of the 100 posts they send your way.

If it was possible to filter, mute, mark-as-read on a programmatic basis as it is with email (Love gmail filters...), I might not have been forced to delete my account.

People can't take it personally when you delete your account, but not friending, unfriending, hiding, or blocking can all be considered personally offensive actions.
Reinventing the wheel for lulz...
This isn't the same thing. Annyong shows you a list of files rather than serving straight up. If there is an index.html file it's just listed like all the other files. See the readme for more info.
You're right, 95% of people won't notice this, but in any given scene there are dozens of tiny details that only 5% of the audience cares about. Over the course of a 2 hour movie, if the crew has cut corners on all of those little details, everyone notices a few things, and the suspension of disbelief is a little less suspended.
I meant that it might be a personal shortcoming that I'm not able to be that blunt with people I have to see on a regular basis. I respect your system and wish I could carry it out, but for me, it's just something I really don't want to deal with. Whatever serotonin fix I would get from Facebook isn't worth it to me.
Panic Slowly: Dealing with Downtime - The Startup Cafe
How to land a job at Facebook
How to cluster Seinfeld episodes with Mahout
I apologize for the accidental downvote.

I feel as though, like Digg, this is going to be an astonishingly effective mechanism for getting Kevin Rose attention.

I think you are taking away from Kevin. He actually changed the way we consume news online. It is arguable that he invented the very social-news-voting system we are using on HN. I can guarantee you a very small percentage of people who use sites that follow the Digg model know who KR is.

Edit: And I do not mean to be rude, but how does your contribution to the internet compare to his?
The Xenophobe's Guide
to the Americans http://www.ovalbooks.com/xeno/Americans.html
Interesting, but very minimal. It's basically a wrapper around FCGI (meaning it's doing the old-school "pull request data out of environment variables" thing) with a linked list of regexes matching handlers. That's not nothing; "registered list of regexes matching handlers" is a proven good model for web frameworks and it's handy to have.

On the other hand, if I was going to release a web framework, I might do more to abstract request variables (provide a params hash like Rails, or a Rack-style request hash). Also: I'd probably build it on libevent's evhttp instead of demanding that users plug my C code into FCGI.
Best. name. ever.
Yes, checking availablility via Google Calendar or Exchange or similar would be very cool
Creating a Site Navigation Using CSS
This tutorial describes how to use CSS to build a website's navigation.
Man shot in the head trying to rob Apple Store
Thanks for your thoughts dasht! I created this app mainly for my own uses to not call my girlfriend when she's in class, and initially when I went searching for such an app, the queries I used were similar to "reverse call blocker", and "outgoing call blocker", hence the title. That said I might change it to something else...

The "Call Me Not" app name I agree is confusing, but it sounded really catchy and a whole lot better than "Call You Not", so we stuck with it.

We did consider other groupware/google calendar approaches as well, but there was the question of implementation and the receivers' incentives to download the app and/or publish "don't call" times on their calendars. We ultimately decided on this approach for a first pass since it fit _my_ needs perfectly, at least. Completely changing the mechanics in later versions is not out of the question though, and will be based on valuable feedback we get from users like you =)

UPDATE: Title changed as per suggestion!
If this becomes a high traffic site, it could really help fight internet piracy. If I have a high demand, hard to find video, I'm far more likely to try to sell it than just give it away. And even if I can't because the site is closely watched by the actual copywriter holders, the idea that money can be made off any online property can give internet knowledge and assets the feeling of physical worth, to the degree that people may grow hesitant to just give away their video and music files. It also has potential to detract from the information free-for-all of the internet, as people may also grow hesitant to share in general, but that would only be for sellable things, so blogs and general information are basically out. If successful, this site could make major change in the attitude of the internet. In essence, conflict exists between copyright holding companies, who believe their intellectual property should be paid for, and the general population of the internet, who freely share information constantly. This conflict could seriously benefit from a general shift toward the resounding feeling that information and online assets are worth something and should be bought and sold. That could be of serious detriment to the culture of the internet, but the communities could also gradually adjust. After all, the feeling that assets have monetary value is the way we live in the real world, its only a matter of time before the internet starts to follow.
+1 for little snitch Its shocking to see how many apps make silent connections.
Ask HN: How do I market my product?
I have just launched a product that is basically a plugin for websites. I am looking for channels to market it. The obvious one is to sell it to webmasters/web design companies but the true challenge is to sell it to the website owners themselves as that is where the maximum value is.

The challenge I am facing is that "website owners" mean pretty much every one who has a website which means any company really. I need advice on how I can go about from this as the starting point.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/browser-serve...
Pandora gets subpoena
Be careful about generalizing too far from the MLB experience. As has been discussed over and over, the Android experience for video locked down by DRM is sorely lacking. iOS has a single unified video DRM scheme while different carriers and handset makers seem to be going different ways on Android. Hence, the MLB app's video is only available for 11 phones so far, there's no official Netflix client for any yet and so on. The fact that MLB makes 5 times more from iOS users is partially explained by the fact that all iOS users can buy the app but only a small portion of Android users.

However, not sure that should apply to the entire spectrum of apps. Rovio has said it's making the same on both platforms and the Pocket Legends folks say they make more on Android. Not to say that Android is equal to iOS in app monetization, which it's surely not, but there are signs that it's catching up in some segments. Video, however, is not one of those areas.
"iPhone customers don't get FREE iPhones. They are willing to pay $200+ for a phone and contract. Their willingness to pay for apps & content is higher than Android users."

Exactly. They have shown their willingness to spend their disposable income on their phone.

iPhone users are a marketer's dream. Hence why ads on the platform will also generate a higher ecpm than Android.

One other thing about the iPhone is that Apple has much more uniform and confident marketing as a single company than Android has being spread across the industry. That means if I buy an app now, I feel sure I'll be able to use it for years to come on whatever new iPhone I have at the time. I feel confident investing in my mobile app library. I bought a $100 GPS app on the iPhone because I believe I'll be able to to use it for the next 5 years at least. That's value. If I could only be sure I would be able to use it till I got a phone upgrade, I wouldn't have bought it. With Android, (I have an Android phone too) it's not so clear to me that when I buy an app I'll still be able to have that same app on my phone in 5-10 years with whatever phone I have at the time. Maybe other people feel differently, but I'm not sure who I'm putting my confidence in with Android. Google doesn't control what handsets are made, so I can't just put my confidence in them, and A lot of the mobile carriers have hinted at building their own OS, etc, so I could see Android growing out of favor. This may be very unlikely, but I just don't feel as confident about it, so I don't feel I can invest in my software library like I can with the iPhone.
Android dominates smartphone market AND ShopSavvy
Show HN: my weekend project - sell files for bitcoins
I have done a while ago, but in one weekend. This project's aim is to combine easy uploads and easy payments via Bitcoin.

Main features:
- just one field to upload. nothing else
- files are stored for one week by default, but if someone downloaded it, file life extends.
- payments are in Bitcoins
- to download file you have to pay nominal 2 bitcents or more
- to setup higher price - you need to "invest" into your file - deposit same amount you want to charge for the file
- site takes 10% cut from all payments.

here is example of download link - http://ubitio.us/file/download/127

It is weird in terms of requiring nominal payments (it was initial idea to avoid using CAPTCHA) and short life of the file which depends on number of downloads.

This was really a fun project and it really never took off, but any comments really appreciated =)
Annyong? Yes, annyong!
Threads have at least the following problems in high concurrency environments:

(1) context switching is expensive

(2) access to shared variables leads to race conditions, which requires careful synchronization (to be fair, this is true for any shared storage: databases, mmap()ed regions, etc.)

See also http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2006/EECS-2006-1...., which provides a thorough treatment on why multithreaded programs are inherently less reliable than single-threaded.
Yeah, sorry if that came across as hostile. It just seemed like you were saying "he's not technical because he dropped out."

I do agree with you in that his major doesn't necessarily mean he's technical, though.
Want Successful Execution?
What is the use of FB for businesses? Advertising ?
You don't care at all if anyone enters the contest, yet felt the need to write this incendiary piece that calls on all designers (which you now deride as "amateur") not to enter this contest? You then further go on to suggest that an entrant's credibility/integrity would be compromised by doing so.

So, which is it?
As an illustration of why C kind of sucks for web apps, that code is obviously insecure† (it's reflected XSS). To get around that while preserving natural syntax, you want:

char *hsafe(const char *input);

But where does hsafe get the memory for the string from? It can't use input (the filtered result is larger than the input). Does it malloc? Now you have to free the result. Does it do the inet_ntoa() thing with the static variable? Now you can't chain it (or use threads, but you wouldn't want to do that anyways).

Maybe you can do an arena for each connection, so it's:

char *hsafe(request_t *r, char *str)

But that's still sort of painful.

† In an admittedly artificial way.
That's probably a factor in some cases, to be sure. Wouldn't exposure to strong communication techniques and tools be valuable as well? I've worked with some developers who truly/honestly didn't understand basic email etiquette, let alone useful commenting techniques, version control, etc.

The skills that are defining some of the new breed of web-based companies out there - distributed workforces, able to attract the best people for the job regardless of where they're located - are sorely lacking in most dev shops I've worked in or had first-hand accounts from.

It would also be interesting to me if the 'Sr dev' roles you're referring to had actual time budgeted in to their working day for actual mentoring and guidance of others, instead of just being a 'go to' person for every junior dev's problems, on top of your own workload.
I know that I totally intend on following up, but starting up new friendships often seems like a lot of work. Most of my friendships come from work, friends of friends, or other regulars at the bar my friends and I all go to. It seems like less of a risk after you randomly socialize with them a few times.
The first step to enlightenment is recognizing instances where you might be wrong ;-)

I think we are too little and insignificant to hypothesize about the effects of net-neutrality (or the lack of it), and what will happen with the Internet ecosystem going forward; but personally I think net-neutrality is bad news for consumers, which would be ironic given how it was pushed forward. If anything, I blame Google for sticking their nose into this business, but I don't blame them.

About "closing Android" -- their behavior has been consistent. The very first version of Android has been released in binary-form only. Android was never more open than it currently is, and as far as openness goes, it's not a black&white issue.

Bidding on Nortel's patents makes sense, and I'm actually glad they did it, as companies like Oracle, Microsoft and Apple have the power to kill Android by means of their fat patents portfolio. And personally I care much, much more about a healthy smartphones ecosystem that has plenty of competition, rather than about ideological issues that may or may not have value.

No, they aren't a small company anymore. Small companies in the same situation either sell-out or die.
A little snarky, no? With all the talk of "save HN", comments like this really don't seem to add anything worthwhile to the discussion.
Log2 ( (distance to moon) / (thickness of paper) )
Tungsten Wedding Bands, Tungsten Wedding Rings, Tungsten Diamond Rings
He used it in his post, you must have missed it.
Yup. The obvious subtext here is, I think the business value of the total design package is not that much better than the business value of transaction one-off design gigs.
*cancer.[1]

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudan_I
Or maybe he can do his own thing and you can focus on yours?
HBS Students Aim To Improve Startup Recruiting with UpStart
Now imagine the same kind of performance improvement, without any complicated inline C, wrapping or any of that!

I really have high hopes for PyPy :)
Does this mean the end of disqus?
> using XMPP and ejabberd as a message backplane for your website

Why not 0mq and json ? Something like Mongrel2 perhaps?
...in other words: fold a paper 42 times and you reach the moon.
If it weren't for TechCrunch's heavy focus on startups, I'd suggest they be banned from Hacker News in general. They provide information, but their tone is generally exactly what people are worried about Hacker News turning into. Annoyingly, I've seen a few cases in the past where TechCrunch's post have gotten more upvotes than the original source's blogpost (I believe it was a Google announcement).
it isn't a yield (like shock/heat wave, etc...) that is the primary purpose of neutron weapons. The neutron flux is what they are created for. Just for example - the neutron weapons deployed in Europe several decades ago were of very low yield, as low as it is possible with fissile-fusion weapon - their purpose was to stop Soviet Union tanks as intense neutron flux passes easily through the armor, yet is absorbed nicely by humans as we're 80% water.

>I have a hard time believing that a fusion power source would work at all like a fusion bomb.

No need to. The only thing what matters is the amount of neutrons generated. High intensity flux during 10-30sec. instead of super-high during 0.001ms explosion would do the same damage if the total amount of neutrons generated is the same.

I mentioned Sandia because what they do (more precisely what they did 10 years ago) was the most effective and promising way to get effective fusion - for energy generation as well as to weaponize it without fission part, and i think it is illustrative to look at them to see how progress has stalled (more precisely it was redirected from advancing of the engineering of the fusion into more plasma research) when it became that clear.
Are you collecting taxes? if it's a company registered in the US

Also how do you deal with chargebacks?
> Bitcoins [...] _could_ become as universal as PayPal is today

Putting aside numerous other issues, bitcoin.org states "The total eventual circulation will be 21 million bitcoins".

[EDIT: DanI-S pointed out that bitcoins can already be subdivided. So this was switched from "there are too few bitcoins to support even American e-commerce" to "bitcoins are not valuable enough to support even American e-commerce". The number of fractional bitcoins is still an issue, but less immediately.]

At the current ~$0.70 / bitcoin, this means that every American will be able to have ~$0.05 in his or her electronic wallet, once all bitcoins are generated. Assuming that the rest of the world does not participate at all and that bitcoins are evenly distributed.

Sure, you could imagine an instant dollar-to-bitcoin-to-dollar conversion at the point of payment. Or you could imagine a bitcoin2.org that generates more coins. Or you could hope for a massive surge in the value of the bitcoin.

I'd put my money on Paypal sticking around, though.
A little snarky, yes. Naming a development team 'Milk' is like naming an iPhone app 'Color'.
I found this pretty helpful. I especially liked this part:

> If there's one thing you should have learned by now, it's that small, unintentional visual differences are like sand in the engine of your visual brain.

Are you going to continue adding to this?