skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Seven years ago I had the wildest ideas of creating photo realistic QR's. Sadly, I got pulled away to other projects with higher priority. The unanimous advice given to me at that time was to hold publishing so I could exploit it financially. Until today neither of both have changed.

I'm not going to let it catch more dust and decided to open-source it under Affero license.

Creating a photo realistic QR requires two steps. The first is to create a 93x93 dithered monochrome image. The dithering is calculated to preserve the mandatory QR framework/timing bits and generating the CRC.

The second step is adding colour information as a 186x186 dithered layer. The colour palette is created using Spacial Colour Quantification which uses the 93x93 QR image as constraints on the available colour range.

SCQ also stabilises palettes used for animations (a service not made available on the site).

During the years the site has been prone to bitrot. I managed to recover most of the missing parts parts from backups. Most of the functionality has been restored and I'm still working with higher priority projects.

[0] https://www.qrpicture.com
[1] https://github.com/xyzzy/qrpicture
I think your parent was just trying to say "laws are important".

"Legacy" code that only "occasionally works" doesn't sound like something worth keeping around. It sounds like something to dump in the trash and never look back.

If you have working legacy code though, even if it occasionally fails because it's full of bugs and fundamental flaws, should be replaced very carefully, and only with in-depth understanding of what is working and what is broken about the existing system.

Based on the broken laws you list, I assume you're talking about America. American laws are indeed very broken, but dumping it in the trash and never looking back would be a one-way ticket to a bloodbath. It is both important very important to fix our very broken laws, and important to do so very carefully and only with an in-depth understanding of what is working and what is broken about the existing system.

If I were to give you as much benefit of the doubt as you give your parent, I'd say that "occasionally laws work" is the kind of thing someone says when they've never seen how much worse it can get.
Similar to the old AT&T monopoly. You were not allowed to connect any non-AT&T equipment to the network.

You could buy an answering machine, but could not (legally) hook it up as it was not invented by AT&T, and they did not have one until the patents expired.

Most people ended up renting their phones and other equipment from AT&T. In some cases, that was the only option. Being able to buy a phone was a novel experience for many people.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1983/01/31/m...

Breaking up AT&T led to a lot of innovation, and communication options that were at most science fiction at the time. The monopoly was probably necessary at one point, but lasted way too long. Let's not let these monopolies last too long.
From a little link in the right sidebar, it appears this article is part of Nautilus issue #88, titled "Love & Sex": http://nautil.us/issue/88/love--sex
I'm just glad that Microsoft couldn't use this tactic back when the web first became popular. "Want to connect to other computers and don't like how Microsoft does it? Don't buy a Windows PC then!" Imagine if they had simply banned Netscape because it violated the rules of the Microsoft App Store.
They need to make clear it’s discrimination against Asian AMERICANS.
I wonder if you are having in mind the same government that wants a hefty cut of the sale of TikTok to Microsoft.
A new free Travel platform that does everything you need at once.
I'm with Apple on this. It's their App store, if you don't like it - don't build business around the platform. There are ton of other alternatives.
"Cancel Culture" is the practice of naming and shaming PUBLIC figures and organisations and so your comment is a wee bit off the mark. You can't cancel a subscription to an individual, a high school kid who makes an off-colour remark is not a product.

By linking the public disapprobation of people who make statements (such as that scooter-driving gentleman in Florida who yelled "White Power" or the angry young schoolboy who decided to stare down a native American who would dare to try to defuse his incipient argument with some agitators) with companies who are being boycotted for actively funding anti-LGBTQ lobbying groups (for instance) is an attempt by politicians, companies and media groups to apply a chilling effect to speech. People should be able to boycott those companies who attempt to impact their lives; celebrities are not owed our respect, nor politicians the money they steal from public coffers.
Yes, I worked on a video game that was in the near future and had transparent and semi-transparent screens everywhere. I spent a lot of time adding new rendering features to the engine that did proper transparency sorting, blur/darkening passes and helping artists tweak materials to make them more readable. At multiple points in the project I wanted the art direction to switch to opaque screens. Not only because of the technical effort (in many ways that was fun) but just because how impractical they were in many scenarios.
>My personal favorite idea is improving schools. If we diverted enough money and resources to primary schools in poor areas, we could achieve similar outcomes to affirmative action without just switching the groups we discrimate against.

The problem is student outcomes aren't linked to how much money and resources the school has, they're linked to how much money and resources the parents (and the network of the parents) of the children have. Networking is the primary benefit of top tier schools, and so unfairly giving a chance to those without the network is the only way for them to move up the ladder as a group.

This will necessarily displace individually who might deserve to be there more, but the problem is an intractable one due to the outsize gains of being part of that network.

I am not endorsing affirmative action, or discrimination against certain "successful" minorities, simply offering a chain of reasoning for it.
I had an idea recently about creating slight-3D displays by stacking layer of LCD panels that give some impression of depth when moving your head, this might make that feasible.
Intercontinental Trading of Solar Energy
Hell, from my perspective the app store is part of the competition. I buy i-devices over Android for a few reasons but high on the list is the set of restrictions Apple places on developers, including their payment restrictions. Those aren't harming me, they're giving me one OS where ~ none of my mind ever has to be dedicated to considering a bunch of stuff that it does on other platforms. One platform safe for less-computer-savvy relatives, that also still lets them do basically anything they might want to do and operate independently. That is choice, the fact that I can choose that.
Microsoft does do it on the Xbox.
This is the problem with assigning weight to subjective, hand-wavey categories. It becomes an easy way for bias (conscious or unconscious) to creep in. The same thing happens with "culture fit" evaluations at tech companies.
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

PolitiFact tried to examine claims from the LA mayor and health director that: "it’s highly likely given the increased numbers that we’re seeing that some of this is in fact people who may have been in a crowded situation at one of the protests where there was spread."

They concluded:

> there’s not enough data to draw any definitive conclusions ...

> Medical experts say the protests likely contributed somewhat, but so did family gatherings [and] the reopening of businesses

https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/jul/21/how-much-did-...
There is a difference between a web site you visit and a general purpose computer which you purchase. I'm all for the freedom of using apps not officially distributed/approved by Apple. They can still be sandboxed and use the same APIs. But they should be allowed to use whatever payment service they want.
The problem is that a lot of people actually like how hard it is to sideload content onto an iPhone, because it effectively bricks stolen ones, which is a pretty good deterrent.
By definition elite qualifications will always be scarce. Everyone can attend college, if we include things like community college. Not everyone can attend Harvard. Some community colleges may even be better at teaching, but they'll never have the prestige.
I get hung up in the semantics of monopoly. I don't think it really applies here because Android exists. But if we frame this as an anti-competitive question I think it is very clear Apple's practices are anti-competitive.

I'm not a fan of diluting the term "monopoly", I think we need modern laws to encourage competition. Maybe I just need to get over my pedantry.
There’s a lot of things wrong with the electoral college in the US, but when I read comments like this I can’t say I’m entirely mad it still exists.

That’s not to say that externalities of consumption shouldn’t be accounted for. But if you’re going to squeeze people out of cars, you should probably have a solid plan to deal with the outcome.
Increased spending does not seem to help much; perhaps the money is not being well allocated.[1][2][3]

[1] http://www.npri.org/imgLib/20110228_Fed_ed_spending_vs_resul...

[2] https://rogerkerr.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/derugy-column-...

[3] http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/edgraph.html
Unfortunately my experience is as an outsourced employee so not too relevant for pitching as a contractor.

But product managers are usually pretty happy to hear you out and usually benefit from referring people they've talked to. And they respond on LinkedIn.

It shouldn't be too hard, contractors were common, employee turnover was significant too. Platforms like Salesforce Commerce Cloud usually have an API that supports an older version of JavaScript so employees are a bit harder to retain and a lot depends on contractors. That's why I suggested that particular platform, plus it's easy to find their customers if you browse the SFCC customer stories.

I realize it sounds like a terrible job after the above but I truly enjoyed my years there even though the quality of the websites varies a lot.
My Samsung A40 has a toggle called "OEM unlocking - Allow the bootloader to be unlocked". That's in the developer options. My previous phone from Sony had the same option. If Apple wanted they could do the same.

Security loopholes are a different thing.
The article says the bins were changed by city council for this exact reason, to be smaller and harder to fit in and take from manually.

Which clearly didn’t work so they did a sting operation. Apparently humans are harder to defeat than raccoons.
This kind of goal (N diners, N-1 plates) is so easily gamed, there's almost no point in setting it. The plates will just get a bit bigger and a bit more expensive or they'll offer combo plates with two items.

Much simpler is a scheme used by all you can eat sushi places (at least where I live). Eat up, or we'll charge you for the stuff you left uneaten (and no doggie bagging either).
This to me says that assimilation doesn't work. The article states:

"boasting higher test scores, better grades, and stronger extracurricular resumes than applicants of any other racial group, Asian American applicants consistently received lower rankings on those personality traits"

The outcome was to move the bar to soft skills:

things like “likability,” “helpfulness,” “integrity,” and “courage”

This has happened to minority groups of all backgrounds in this country since its inception.
Family income is a pretty good proxy for any adversity score.

Because of the African American income gap, it would also serve to boost AA enrollment, particularly from disadvantaged inner city kids, while still not discriminating against the white kid growing up amid grinding poverty in rural Appalachia.

It’s not a perfect indicator, but it’s a very good one. On average, it even picks up on adversities such as many medical/physical disabilities, since families usually take a big financial hit on account of such issues.
It would probably be more than schools. We would have to divert significant amounts of money to helping poor communities.

I think the government adopted affirmative action instead because it was a much cheaper way to placate the masses
I think this gets to the crux of the issue that's almost impossible to solve for in a "blind" way: if you don't look at race you're going to have a very wealthy, white, suburban, homogenous class of admitted students. And there is definite value in a diverse class: differences of thought, background, opinion, and lived experience make for a much more interesting discussion in the classroom.
According to the law, a monopoly is not treated like a normal company - they have much less latitude in their actions because a monopoly in one area can easily be used to acquire a monopoly in another area.
How did this drop off the front page so fast?
If you are in control of your parent's device, then you could just set an admin password and not allow other app stores to be utilized.

Or, you should tell your parents to not have a phone, then you will never be on the hook for tech support at all if that is really your concern.

And I love the implied ageism and xenophobia in your post too.
I'd also guess that the Processor/CC Companies likely charge a bit more for this specific 'industry'; Processors and CC Companies often look at the products you are selling and what the overall risk is for things like chargebacks.

This is part of why a lot of mom & pop shops still have a 5 or 10 dollar minimum for card transactions; When I worked at a computer shop in an almost-sketchy neighborhood our minimum fee was Two whole dollars.

Given the frequency of refunds and the like, I'd assume Epic is probably not making much, if anything extra on top of this.

This may actually close a ban-hopping/stalling gap. I've seen people claim that if you do a refund for an App store purchase, the publisher may not even know about the refund for 2-3 months after it was requested/granted. This likely shortens Epic's time to react and ban people for requesting fraudulent refunds.
SFFA vs Harvard isn’t over yet. Harvard won at District Court level but SFFA is appealing. It is likely to ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court, but it is probably going to take a few years for the case to get there.
I never said that scientists aren't still doing science. My post was about our society at large and its changing epistemological attitudes.
"Is it a monopoly?" is the wrong question. The right question is "Do they have market power that they abuse?"
Windows Update keeps drivers up to date except for ones installed manually.
It seems to me you can find champions of liberty whose nice-sounding ideals don't have to be rigidly compartmentalized from commission of genocide and assumption of dictatorial powers.

Conversely, you can take writings from figures like Pol Pot that sound like the epitome of high-mindedness and self-determination - as long as you choose to regard those as a different facet from the genocidal totalitarian one.

Most, perhaps all, dictators have a likeable and reasonable aspect, and exhibit humor and benign intentions toward the mass of people that they consider to embody the national spirit. Likewise, most idealists who leave a stamp on history either commit or endorse acts that are at odds with their stated principles, but we can form some idea of their overall sincerity by examining the perceptions of their contemporaries.
Beware of self-defeating prophecies. Thinking that Biden will win means you don't need to vote :-)
It's really quality vs quantity. Some really utilize whatever analytics tool they use, others just throw in more tools. It's a bit of a hit-and-miss industry in terms of code quality. Even the big ones.
The adversity score in this case wasn't directly related to race, but I think some facts about your school and neighborhood, so not illegal in the way that assigning point values to certain races would be.
That's the wrong bet to make, because those are the people that will end up using the Microsoft WSL.

From what I can tell, the problems with Canonical will sort themselves out when the market they've created for themselves is eaten by Microsoft's incorporation of Linux into Windows.

The only people left using 'pure' Linux/Unix will be those who care about quality software, FOSS, and privacy. I hope that day comes sooner than later.
I haven't seen the update, but to me that seems a bit silly. This is a pretty fundamental type manipulation, and ideally the compiler would have some understanding of it...
> Almost no one is complaining about Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo's "monopolies" on what software runs on their video game consoles.

We should! I would love to run Steam on my PS4.

But Sony already invests in some studios to develop games for their platform.
Ask HN: Online tool to idenify mobile Usability issues in Google Search Consol
Today I received the following email from Search Console regarding the https://www.bilinual.com website homepage. When I check the Search Console there is no hint (except what listed below) how this can be fixed. Is there any online tool that can point to the element (css rule, html tag) that caused these issues?

----------------

Search Console has identified that your site is affected by 3 Mobile Usability issues:

- Clickable elements too close together

- Content wider than screen

- Text too small to read

----------------
"Love & Sex" is the title of issue 88, the current issue of the print/online magazine in which this article appears.
One of the reasons Musk is a genius is he can figure out these sorts of synergies.
Why on earth is it unethical?
No, why would you think that? Just because they’re on the same processor architecture? That’s a stretch. Macs are Macs whether they have Apple Silicon, Intel, or PowerPC inside; they remain the proverbial truck to iOS’ sleek car.
There is zero evidence that a suppression strategy with lockdown will work. And as you said in your other comment the pandemic is not over yet so pulling data from other countries isn't helpful.

As to evidence...

"One in four young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 say they've considered suicide in the past month because of the pandemic, according to new CDC data that paints a bleak picture of the nation's mental health during the crisis."

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/13/cdc-mental-health-p...

Perhaps it is time for parents to talk to their children about what they would like for a future? Most of the comments here are about the desires of the parents to be anxiety free.
No it isn't. The BF4 campaign takes place in China. The map for Rogue Transmission is a fictional location in Guizhou Province in southwest China.
The lawsuit literally references 1984 and Orwell, and the ad... Hilarious!
Yeah, that's what Piotr told me (I'm the author). Boats are already very much a luxury good and the first question is not of reaching a large market but proving that the product is superior. Once that's established you can differentiate up and downmarket. In the article I note a cheaper (still $175K) version is already in the works, and of course costs only go down with scale.

I'm not one to get excited about toys for millionaires either but this one is potentially the beginning of a major change to a pretty gross industry.
That's a nice thing to say, but it's utterly unrealistic when 29,000 students apply to Yale every year.

So you need a system to decide who gets in and who doesn't. Just like a job interview, you don't just hire people at random. Some kind of system is necessary.
This was when the Republicans had majorities in both chambers of Congress, Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House, and the Republican's Contract on America was passed, unfortunately. The Democrats shifted right because they thought that's what would win them elections.

Sure, Biden and Harris are terrible candidates because they're 1990s Republicans, but they're a million times better than Trump and Pence. The smear campaigns against them are an attempt to elevate Trump and Pence so he seems only as awful as Biden And Harris. Don't take the bait. Don't defend them. For a Republican to warn liberals that Biden and Harris don't deserve anyone's vote because they're those "tough on crime" types when it was Republicans who shut the government down to force through "tough on crime" legislation and codify "tough on crime" as a requisite to hold political office is some serious b.s.
A hypothesis I’ve heard is that the hot water is more likely to produce currents inside the water, as there’s more of a temperature difference between the inner water and the water right at the edge. These currents then cause the water to cool more uniformly as opposed to outside-in. I believe the person I heard this from tested this by adding baffling to the container to prevent currents, but I’m not sure what the results of that experiment were.
That would be cool for aftermarket HUDs. As far as making a useful HUD goes, some carmakers are already doing that. I have a 2019 Mazda CX-5 and it has a HUD that is projected on to the windshield. It tells me my current speed, the current speed limit of the road I am on, if there is a stop sign ahead, and if I run the GPS system it displays the next cross street, and arrow symbols for upcoming turns.

I personally find it super useful! I don't need to look down at my instrument panel as my current speed gets sort of projected on road ahead of me. It's small and a barebones design but it works.
Not to be pedantic, Sony and Nintendo can't both be monopolies here by its very definition. They vie for the very same market share.
IMO Contact being the best https://www.movie-locations.com/movies/c/Contact.php
I Was Sanctioned by China
So if you want to download precompiled static binaries and "install" them into your home directory or /usr/local/bin that's fine. You can do that, and it works, although now you're stuck in the same quagmire Windows users are stuck in.

My question though... why? Everything about that seems to me worse in every way.

Specifically regarding python, on my system right now, I have python 2.7, 3.8.5 and 3.9rc1 installed on my system and maintained by the package manager. When 3.9rc2 or 3.9.0 final is released it will update to that. It's configured to run 3.8.5 when I just run "python", although I can manually run other versions by running the command python2 or python3.9, and I could reconfigure the default to be one of the other versions if I wanted. The package manager has versions going back to 3.4. I guess I don't understand the desire to install python manually - what can you do with a manually installed python that you can't do with the one installed by the package manager?
I think the definition has always been a bit gray, even more so in recent years but I don't think it's about the hardware present in the device. For example, Sony made a push to classify the PS2 as a computer by providing a BASIC interpreter and later a distribution of Linux to evade some tax laws in Europe.

I think if I were to answer this question now it would be based on the expectation of the end consumer to be expected to, or have the ability to program the device for general purpose tasks.

Things like game consoles, phones, smart appliances, etc. all start to blur that line but I think it comes down to the consumer's expectations.
Could be aiming for a diverse mix of students?
Never underestimate the art of the bodge, it's quite literally keeping the world ticking over, perfection has a place but it is rare and fleeting.

I saw a good talk on it from Tom Scott some time ago[0] which I think is relevant.

[0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIFE7h3m40U