skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
My soon-to-be alma mater has very small class sizes (student-teacher ratio is less than 10 to 1, most upper level classes are 4-8 people), so class here really is often a "conversation of peers". Discussions are an excellent way to learn, both because they encourage questioning and sharing and because they force you to engage the critically engage material on a regular basis rather than just memorizing it long enough to take a test.

People often seem to think of discussion-style teaching as being a social science/humanities thing, but it also works surprisingly well for math, computing, and science. I think a lot of people have the idea that in more technical courses, you have to do lectures (maybe with labs) because you're basically trying to teach a bunch of information. Most schools focus on teaching technical skills and knowledge, and expect you to just pick up on how to think as you go along.

Turning that around--teaching thinking and letting students pick up technical skills from examples--seems like a better idea because technical knowledge progresses so rapidly and because technical skills are easier to pick up. It also enables discussion-style teaching in math, computing, and science. Instead of listening to a lecturer spew material you could have found in a book, you solve problems together.

(Aside: interactive learning is really the only way to justify the high cost of college from an educational perspective. Ignoring stuff like networking and partying, it seems like going to a school where they teach by lecturing is a waste of time and money, since there are so many free lectures available online.)

The "everyone vote on answers" format is a surprisingly effective way to improve engagement in lectures. They get people to pay attention, they give you in-class feedback about what you have learned, they give the teacher more input (like you said), and they make lectures a bit more fun without being too cheesy.

Another simple technology-based way to improve engagement is to have students post their writing for class (reading responses, essays, etc.) on a forum. I took a class once where, instead of sending the professor a reading response for every class, we posted a reading response to a class Facebook group once a week. We were also required to write at least one substantial reply to others' posts once per week. The interaction was awkward, at first, and some people did the bare minimum the whole time, but after a few weeks a good chunk of the class was posting more than they were required to on a regular basis. Besides simply improving engagement, it seemed like it was making people think and write better, probably because they knew their peers were going to read what they wrote.
we struggled with the same desire to _not_ use flash, but were ultimately forced to. That said, you can still stream back the recorded video to iOS devices or other html5 clients using wowza
That's actually a good point, and I'm a big fan of Tornado and Manos (C#) myself.
How the Taliban Tweet
This is scary.

I run a popular forum on which users sometimes post links to copyrighted materials – despite the fact that it's explicitly against the rules. Because of this I occasionally receive DCMA takedown notices regarding links that were posted 3-5 months prior (even though the links are often expired by that time). The last time it happened my hosting company was involved and threatened to suspend my account in less than 48 hours if I did not comply (harsh).

How easily could this bill result in an innocent site (such as mine) being taken down? Obviously the bill describes "steps" that have to be taken up to that point, but considering I was less than 48 hours away from my site being suspended for a 3 month old expired link to a video, I don't have much faith in the people entrusted to make these decisions.

Besides, isn't the DMCA enough?
To which I say: "Don't worry dude, the market will figure it out". If indeed the hourly pay of a plumber goes up to be equal to that of a psychiatrist, additional plumbers will be show up (if not, I'll be available to do the job at the measly cost equal to that of a Wall Street banker). If there's a slight time lag between the need and the lack of plumbers, shit will just be slightly more abundant than it already is, that's not that big of a deal.
There is a place on the map called "Archland" in the top center, right below The Great Compile and next to Gentoo.

Of course, I find that odd, since you mostly don't have to compile if you're just an end user of Arch.
There is often a big difference in competency level between written and verbal communication. If most project communication happens through email, how someone communicates on video isn't a good signal for how well they will communicate.
For me, the second stage in the evolution as a C or a C++ programmer after a discovery like this was to start relying heavily on language standards. After all, it's the ultimate reference about how the language should work on all platforms and compilers.

But then I learn that not all compilers behave exactly the same way, or implement only a subset of a standard for a variety of reasons (every compiler would implement different subsets), and I return full circle back to experimentation with individual implementations.
There's nothing "frozen" about a computer that has IE6.

I would respectfully suggest that you look and see if you're upset because they've got IE6 on them or because they've got Microsoft software on them. Your phrasing and behavior suggests the latter.
PHP's growing pains are more akin to a bonsai kitten than a pre-teen.
The difference between then and now is HTML5. Particularly the parts of HTML5 that Google has been pushing. Webcam integration, video, webgl, canvas, svg, gps, etc etc etc

You can now write software on the web that can do anything non-web software can do. The only issue for Google has been that it wasn't written yet ... so they wrote it. That's what Google Apps is about.

They also pushed Angry Birds on Chrome for a reason and made it free. Games are an integral part of the experience. Ro.me is also along that vein. Hardware acceleration was the last piece of the puzzle.

They are definitely in position for success, although that is certainly no guarantee of it.
Another factor in this is quality of work vs. how cheap it can be done. If the people they are doing the work for can't tell the difference between a well built house and a cheap one or between a well cooked meal and one thrown together, those who are skilled will be pushed out or forced to work at low quality and low pay.
Thanks for pointing this out. I agree with you that having managerial skills would be important to someone who manages people, and that many faculty in academia do need to manage people.

My point is not so much that nobody needs management skills, it's that not everybody needs management skills. Let me decide whether or not I will need those skills for myself. Perhaps I already have some management skills from an undergraduate education, or perhaps I simply have a natural talent for it. If I think that I need management skills, I will learn them - I have plenty of opportunities to take such courses or seminars, if I want. I'm an adult, you don't have to force me to do something because I might need it later, just tell me the facts and I will decide for myself.

But if I think that it would be a better use of my time to do something else, like collaborate with a researcher at another university on a new problem, let me decide that. I hope that whatever job I apply for decides whether or not to hire me based on my specific skill set.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this: a PhD is not (or should not be) a certificate declaring you qualified for a job. Not for an academic job, nor an industry job, nor any other job. It is a certificate declaring that I am very knowledgeable in a specific subject, and that people better and wiser than me believe that I can do meaningful research in the future.

If I want to show people that I have other job skills, I must show them some other way. A PhD only verifies the above, it doesn't verify that I am a good teacher, a good manager, a good communicator, a friendly guy, or that I am in any other way competent. If a job wants skills that I don't have, they shouldn't hire me.

For your other point, I totally agree that this attitude keeps the salaries low. Unfortunately I don't know what should be done about it. Either we can lie, and pretend that we only enjoy our research to the extent that it pays the bills, and otherwise do not enjoy it, or we can actually try to stop enjoying our work. Either seems silly. You can't hide what you love, and if other people try to take advantage of the fact, well, so be it. In fact, I can understand the counter-argument: just because work is important, doesn't mean we should pay people more than the bare minimum they will accept. It's not fair, and it isn't right, but it is rather true.
Yeah, I too am interested in finding out the source of the material along with the claim of it being unbiased. I'm pretty sure that reporting news without bias is impossible.
A few years from now, an hour with a good plumber - if you can find one - is going to cost more than an hour with a good psychiatrist. At which point we'll all be in need of both.

Mr Rowe: this fact, if you really believe it, will ensure the problem is fixed. No need to testify to congress about it.
If you're interested in this, Tim Wu wrote a more general book about the history of information economies from the telegraph/phone through to the internet that's a pretty engaging read:

http://www.amazon.com/Master-Switch-Information-Empires-Borz...

He does a great job explaining the interaction of technology, industry titans, markets, and government and how they've influenced media over the past century (and right through to the modern net neutrality debate.)
Big data meets big storage
The Economic Behavior of 12 Year-Olds
>> Salary of developers in India usually less than $500 per month

For $500, you won't get decent enough developers.

>> you can hire rockstart developers for $1000 to $1500.

Most of the 'rockstar' developers wouldn't want to risk it in a startup (which could fold out anyday) when they already are making > $1500 a month in that BigCo Inc. Unless equity is put on table for grabs, it's a pretty sad deal actually.

>> India does not lacks investors, it lacks an ecosystem.

Well, aren't investors a major part of the ecosystem? This would be more like the classic railroad paradox. IMHO, only after India sees good number of credible startups with popular products will VCs ever bother to look at India.
The difference between a dev and an engineer is a bit semantic. I would say an engr has the additional task of being a leader, overseeing the project, and implementing the QA.

That said, no, it's not clearly defined, and there are dozens of not hundreds of different tasks a FED could have a role in. Graphical design, UI, UX, usability, SEO, and multimedia just to name a few.

Probably most critical though, a FED has to really keep up with emerging technologies. HTML5 didn't even exist a few years ago. Ajax is only 6ish years old. Flash is a necessary skill to help with IE's failings. And Flash != Flex != AS3.

http://clubajax.org/presentation-why-you-need-a-front-end-de...
Arch is there - look for "Archland", top middle.
The NC was a thin-client, where apps would run over the network.

There have been lots of thin-clients around.
An Introduction to Lomography
You were given 48 hours notice because that is what the DMCA dictates, not because your webhost were being dicks... They legally have to give you 48 hrs.
Steve Sailer needs to do a lot more reading. His opinion:fact ratio is much too high. (I think his blog is actually a banned site here on HN.) Here are my reading suggestions for him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:WeijiBaikeBianji/Anthropol...

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:WeijiBaikeBianji/Intellige...
aka thedailybeast without pictures.
Fix Windows Update Errors by Letting ActiveX Traffic Through
If Windows Updates fail, the error codes return are designed to make it easier to fix connectivity problems, but are a lot of times a waste of time. Here we will show how to fix connectivity problems
Google's Chromebook: Worth It?
well spoken. I'm glad he provided a balanced approach to the trades. he hit the nail on the head... and to think.. I used to kinda think we was a douche.
Samsung demos retina resolution 300dpi tablet display
Lancashire County Council turns to outsourcing after all
Wonder where android would fit in this picture ?
> If US-born carpenters are being forced to compete with under-the-table seriously-low-wages carpenters in the construction industry is there any wonder that it's an unattractive career path?

If immigrant (legal and illegal) are undercutting the industry by charging pennies for jobs that regularly cost a hundred per hour, then that is a problem with the industry, not with the unskilled immigrants.

I went to a vocational school to learn to be a wrist-watch repairman. I'm certified by both Swiss and American organizations. So why am I looking to change career paths after 8 years in the business? There's not enough people that have higher end watches that need repairing to justify doing this full time for the rest of my life. There's an Asian made movement out in the wild that I can buy 200 of at $1.50 each, which also powers 50% of all simple non-swiss watches in the world. This thing is plastic, heat pressed together, uses plastic form-injected gears, and does not have a single replaceable part on it. Got a little dirt in the gears? Replace it. Stem is broken? Replace it. In regards to high end companies, it took me 6 years to convince a Swiss company that I would be a good asset to help with their after-sales-service and obtain a spare parts account with them.

If the government is worried about Skilled Labor disappearing, then someone needs to provide incentive to companies to develop standards that allow laborers to get parts accounts with them, as well as have manufacturers of product create products that are repairable. This is obviously a multi-faceted problem.
Sounds just like offshoring your code.
And even if it weren't, Apple has the legal manpower and the money vault to lawyer them into the ground.

If Apple is going to play the role of "Lord of the Manor" and demand tithes and make arbitrary rulings on what they like and don't like, then it's also their duty to go and fight off the brigands.
What's your advice for landing a really cool job that you enjoy right out of college? Not just getting a job that you take because you need to have a job and end up despising.
If you're wondering if there's a real-world use for this:

http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/node/4191

One of the coolest papers I've seen recently.
Cameras capture what children eat at school, then send reports to parents
Hack Python at Bump (YC S09) with the creator of of the diesel async framework
There is nothing related to web development that you can do in other languages that you can't do with PHP. That should suffice for your first question: Do not rewrite any of your apps. If you want to learn another language, there are tons of stuff you can do with Python, from numerical programming to openGL.

There is a widespread opinion that PHP is not as sexy as other scripting languages, and that it is too domain specific. That may be true. There is another opinion that with PHP you can only write spaghetti code. That one is false, it's up to you to organize your code. I 've been maintaining PHP scripts for years and didn't have that problem. Plus achieving good performance is easier with PHP, and that comes handy with high traffic sites.

I like python for non-web projects. If only Android or iOS was written in python.
Suum Sums Rings: An Introduction and An Interview
I have found that hacker/programmer writing style tends to be grammatically correct and with complete sentences, as a rule of thumb.
So rephrased, unsourced content edited anonymously? No thanks.
Rails 3 - Fully Loaded
Live tweet of stolen laptop recovery: a summary
So, your day job is "reading RSS feeds"?
Is it time to build the darknet yet?
Yup. Heard they were doing the F# thing too, but can't see them getting away from unix...
Don't forget about the lack of a secondhand market for ebooks. That's a big disadvantage.
Article says people wanted native apps on top of iOS because the Javascript engine was slow.

That's not the only or the most important reason - the integration of the browser with core functionalities of the iPhone (like location awareness, taking pictures, uploading those pictures, handling keyboard input) -- absolutely sucked and still sucks. Creating a web app on the iPhone that has to behave like a regular app, with some of the core iPhone standard functionalities, goes somewhere between an exercise in frustration and impossible.

And another reason - Apple clearly provided (useful) native apps, with which you could never integrate, or if the integration is available (like dialing a phone number, or opening Google Maps), iOS doesn't return the user to the originating app.

Building something like Skype in the browser would be clearly doable, if only Apple provided the hooks. Otherwise the only web apps you're going to see on the iPhone are the traditional web apps, minus important functionality available on the desktop (like you're not able to upload freakin' images, or focus automatically on freakin' form inputs; how fucked up is that?).

I'm fairly certain that Apple's suggestion (for building web apps) was tongue-in-cheek, more as in "get off my lawn".
Holding the web in your hands
> Never use the passive voice
>
> I have never heard this from anyone except Microsoft Word Grammar Check.

"Never" is definitely over-stated, but avoiding passive voice does tend to make writing more concise, clear, and engaging. Using passive voice habitually is probably just careless.
It's not just the technical side of trade classes, it's breaking out of the abstractness of most education that's also valuable.

I went to a high school with a remarkably well funded theater and stagecraft department thanks to a very generous alum. We worked under professional supervision (pro sound, lights, etc.) on professional equipment (250k sound system). I was in charge of sound for most of my years there.

That class taught me all about responsibility and professionalism. You have to be on the ball and super-prepared for a live show to work. When crises happen in the middle, you have to keep calm, make other people feel secure, and handle them professionally, and quickly.

That skill's come in handy post-high school. When I was starting out in software, in charge of a website that made a bunch of cash that needed to run 24/7, the nerves I learned back in school helped me stay calm and in control.
Which language should you code in?
I'm curious how much longer it takes to attach this device to the pipe instead of simply welding it by hand.

Also, what will happen when the automated welder starts having issues because some slag got into the gas head (where the inert argon is released) and the welding quality tanks? There needs to be a skilled laborer that knows how to fix it, and it will massively suck if your entire business which revolves around metal being welded together has to stop for 2 days until some specialized worker has to fly in to repair your device, all because no one you employ knows how to weld by hand.
For $500, you won't get decent enough developers.
>> Let's say it is $1000 for decent developers, would you not agree that it's way less than the ones in NY or SV?

Most of the 'rockstar' developers wouldn't want to risk it in a startup (which could fold out anyday) when they already are making > $1500 a month in that BigCo Inc. Unless equity is put on table for grabs, it's a pretty sad deal actually.
>> Sorry to add this, but same is the situation in the valley as well. It's but natural!

Well, aren't investors a major part of the ecosystem? This would be more like the classic railroad paradox. IMHO, only after India sees good number of credible startups with popular products will VCs ever bother to look at India.
Of course VCs are a good part of the ecosystem but given that India opened a tad too late, VCs might take time to pitch in as much as their western counterparts. Should we not create an ecosystem in the meantime and make as many startups work as possible, with no, low and limited VC funding?
Google I/O 2011 Wrap-up by Ted Leung
Using the passive voice is not recommended by me. A book was read by me that contained the rule against it: The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. Also a passage in Stephen King's On Writing that makes the same point was read by me a bit later in my life.

In short, I do not recommend the passive voice. The Elements of Style has a rule against it, and I read the same point later in life in a passage from Stephen King's On Writing.

But you don't have to believe them. You can figure out why they recommend it for yourself.
Apple does not indemnify its developers against patent claims so unless a suit is brought against Apple directly it doesn't technically need to do anything.

This is a taste of Apple's own medicine from when it brought suit against weaker device manufacturers instead of Google directly for Android related patent infringement.
Cloud Computing at Yahoo (slides)
> unbiased

Ain't so such thing.
The union is worried about the flux on new plumbers but your individual plumber would be happy to be the last plumber alive in Cleveland as he could name whatever rate he wanted.

I think you are exactly right about the need for two tiers in the trades. The wiring in a house is vastly different from even the local supermarket that has three phase power to the lights controlled by contactors.

Maybe by adding a category of "professional" plumbers and electricians you could solve the prestige problem. Currently, if someone says they are a plumber you don't know if they clean out drains or maintain a hospital's systems.
"Much political fanfare was on display at a congressional Finance Committee".... That would be political bias sir, please either don't editorialize, don't publish, or don't claim unbiased.
I think that I'm one of those elitist attitude people. I apologize for this, I don't mean to sound elitist (I certainly don't think of myself as elite). I agree with you that we are just skilled laborers.

What I mean to say is that graduate students are adults. Let us decide for ourselves what is important. I agree that hyper-specialization is probably not best for humanity, and that interdisciplinary work can really crack open some unsolved problems. And there are jobs that want people to have these skills. I think that a grad student is much more hire-able (for many positions) if he/she has some broad skills. But why should getting a PhD require this? Shouldn't it be up to the person doing the work to decide whether or not the work they are doing will help themselves/the world?

I simply don't think that we should alter our degrees to match requirements for job openings. We certainly should alter our skill sets, but a PhD should be a certification that you are knowledgeable and capable of research. It's not (and I don't think that it should be) a certification that you are ready for a job (regardless of what that job is).

In my opinion, "Getting a PhD" and "Getting a Job" should be as disjoint as possible. Otherwise people who want one will do the other simply because they have to, and this is good for nobody.

I think that a Master's degree is more the type of degree that this is suited for. Most people that I know who are getting Master's degrees are getting them for the express purpose of getting a specific job. This is fine. Most people I know who are getting PhD's are getting them for the purpose of learning their subject, not to get a job. Sure, they need a job after they graduate, but this is tangential in their motivations, and should therefore be tangential in degree program as well. At least, that's my opinion.
Looks like a blogger figured out the Google news alerts "email me" feature.