skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I'd definitely consider SICP a great classical comp sci text... not quite sure why it's not on that list.
"He says neither city saw a noticeable spike in prostitution during the conventions."

-Tom Walsh (Police Spokesman) on prostitution at both national conventions in 2004.

I don't see the evidence that shows it happened, just that a group predicted that it would happen and then the police stating that they hadn't seen any increase in activity.

I don't doubt that it could be true, but this article doesn't prove anything. In fact, it leans the other direction with the police statement regarding previous conventions.
You're missing the point, which is that GE could and should have gotten there first. It had absolute dominance in the domestic applicance industry, stemming from bringing the technology to the market in the 1950s. It should have been able to deliver domestic robots. But by treating the appliance business as a "cash cow", extracting cash without reinvesting, GE missed the opportunity and iRobot came out of nowhere to take it.
I agree. As an aside I am really beginning to question the length of copyright terms. This kind of derivative work is really interesting.
> It's highly unlikely that stock market returns over the next 50 years will match those of the previous 50 years, even with the cratering of the real-estate market.

Why? Stock market rises tend to be linked to technological advances. We are pretty close to some significant technological breakthroughs and these will only accelerate over the next 50 years.

Consider, for example, that within 15 years, it should be cheap and practical to use solar panels for almost everything. Consider robotics and the way robots will radicalize many industries as much as industrial robots have revolutionized factories, etc.
I think the design of the website is rather good, but the "be a javascript rock star" graphic is unprofessional and rather ugly.
Kiosks: Ur Doin It Rong
900 Web APIs
20 Tech Habits to Improve Your Life
How to increase website traffic -- CSS list
That seems like a fundamental property of a market leader (a reluctance to threaten the very market in which they are already dominant -- see "The Innovator's Dilemma"). It doesn't seem like it's just a short-term "crisis" that has arisen recently.
Perhaps the author thought it was subsumed by the MIT or PLT Online collections mentioned in the introduction? It's in both of those, but I'd agree that it deserves special mention.
Rumor: Mazda Preparing Volt Rival Using Rotary Engine
Because the site looks different?
I agree.. Really, what is the harm with a little light hearted marketing and branding?

I guess to appease the technical crowd, they should have the technical specs and full API docs on the front page...
You coulda fooled me -- here I was, thinking the SSD in my ThinkPad X300 was actually pretty sweet, and provided huge performance wins for my real-world workloads, but I guess I was just getting sucked into early hype.
It's a little early to say that GE missed an opportunity. The robotic vacuums market is still in its early stages. iRobot may be one of the first but they will definitely face some competition in the future. GE could easily acquire iRobot right now.

GE has thousands of products in a variety of industries. I'm sure they evaluated robotic vacuums and decided not to pursue it right away, for their own reasons. But they are still investing tons of capital in other areas. Big companies enter new markets all the time and you can't expect them to always get it right.

note I agree with the person above, read Innovators Dilemma. Big companies are not the best at building disruptive technologies and lack of innovation is only a small factor.
SMART programmers do use frameworks!
I've dated the very well off, and I know at the lower levels, they are using those services. American Express operates one, and I knew someone who made a decent living as a personal concierge in Manhattan.

It all depends on the circle, though. Doctors and lawyers seem to be more likely to use these services, while entreprenuers seem to be used to doing things themselves.
SkypeIn - Your Personal Online Number
You are a product of your environment. --Clement Stone
Not only did they completely miss the depth perception vs. wide field view crack in their theory, but they are clearly link-baiting. X-Ray vision is a common term every one knows, not just comic book collectors, and this is not it. This is just link-bait.
Yeah, if they're hitting you through the group, definitely. I suspect LinkedIn will have a whole new can of worms with them in discussion groups.

Usually those are pretty easy to spot when I look at their profile though because they're members of 40 groups. :-)
The Science of Fantasy Football
Bloomberg mistakenly publishes obit for Apple CEO Steve Jobs - Atlanta Business Chronicle:
David Anderson on Future Directions for Agile
But, as a percentage, what subset of all rich people actually earned their money through technology? Either way, if those people aren't leveraging their home equity, than they don't know much about finance, truth be told. Assume you have good credit and a steady income or assets; there is absolutely no reason to own your house outright. Bill Gates, for example, has a mortgage on his house. The easier way to think about it is that if you're paying 5% interest on your mortgage, but could get 7% return on money elsewhere, you should take all the money out of your house and earn the 2%. Either way, you also get the value increase (or decrease on the equity as whole). This is the same reason that many wealthy college students take out college loans, because with their low interest rate, there is no reason not to have the 40k sitting somewhere else making more money.

I don't know what evidence, other than opinion, you have that rich people don't have a special guild of concierges, or rent handbags or Ferraris. I know several people of the private jet sort who do have an assistant that is not just someone who just takes down their schedule, but rather is someone who can solve problems anywhere, work the network to get a dinner reservation where ever you want, etc. Further, most fabulously wealthy people are very smart with their money, even if they do have ten houses and two yachts, and although they could buy $2000 bags and throw them away in two months, why would they? They could buy a fancy sports car, an asset that radically depreciates and that you can’t drive all the time, or they could rent one whenever they want?
I still think that the killer app. for Scribd is converting PDF and flash (and everything else) into plain old, super fast html. Then you would know that every Scribd link loads super fast and doesn't give you anything but clean pure text. Like Google's "view as html" but better.

That would make me a Scribd fanatic!

Flash - not so much.
New design is heinous
Do You Sincerely Want Guitar Lessons? | Cape Town Alive - Your Travel Community
Yes it is brand new site.
My favorite of these is "GoCart". I want an Android phone just for this:

"GoCart is your shopping cart on-the-go. Users can scan the barcode of any product using their phone’s built-in camera. Once scanned, it will search for all the best prices on the internet and through the inventories of nearby, local stores."
For those of you in the Bay Area, Stephenson is giving a reading from the book on September 7th in SF:

http://www.longnow.org/anathem/

Unfortunately, tickets are $10.
Rockstars and Ninjas need to die.
I'd hope that Google, of all companies, is better than that. "You do better work, but we're looking for someone a little more pathetic" is not going to get them anywhere.
Real experts don't use linkbait.
Print encyclopedias are as flawed as Wikipedia in lots of important ways. From an old post of mine in response to an anti-wiki article (http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=111504A)

The article by Robert McHenry misses the point in a phenominal way. In order to demonstrate the flaws of the system, one would need to show where an earlier edition said something to the effect of, "There is a lack of clarity regarding the birth date of Hamilton. While we know his birth month and day, there is some debate over the exact year. Dates vary between 1755 and 1757, but as Hamilton himself used 1757, that will be the date of reference used in this article." was deleted. Had he submitted such a change himself, the article would have been somewhat better.

As for statements of opinion, shall we reject "The New Encyclopedia Britannica" because it says, "Korean artists were generally inferior to the Chinese and Japanese in technical perfection and precision"? I won't even bother to list the host of other errors in that edition on a single topic: Korea. (http://kennedy.byu.edu/staff/peterson/Multivol/Multibooks.ht...)

Anyway, the point is that until one demonstrates that good information is regularly being destroyed by bad information, one has not built a case for the need for change.
I always like to have a peek at lists for something I may have overlooked (ooh, shiny!). This one is actually pretty good -- recommends a number of quality items. The average person here may already be familiar or have their own alternatives, but this list might make a good pass-along to less geeky friends.
Is Apple losing its touch? The numbers say no
This is an interesting problem. However self interest helps to reveal the problem. Google has successfully banned rings of cheap labour used to generate ad-sense income.

We had a conversation at work about how it would be much harder to stop people using distributed methods like this to attack people. By, for example, soaking up all your competitors' Ad Word budgets for the month with rogue clicks.
Google reverses "absurd" Mozilla code ban
Ah, another cock-stroking "Real programmer" post.

Real programmers don't write about real programmers. Real programmers write code and get on with their fucking lives.
Thanks for taking the time to get this started. Just joined. Real name: Drew Breunig.
Ask YC: Laser Eye Surgery?
I'm mildly near-sighted, and I've been considering getting laser eye surgery (entirely for cosmetic/convenience reasons). However, I'm concerned about possible long-term effects to my vision because I spend all day looking at a monitor. Obviously, developing vision problems in the future would be a significant handicap to being an effective programmer.

Have any other YCers had laser eye surgery, and perhaps have some anecdotes to share?
Ah, Rasmus. Rasmus is kind of like the last hockey player who doesn't wear a helmet and looks down on the rest of us pussies. We don't all have 500 million users, man.

He's a got a good point: PHP is a framework. It's just not a very easy one. Clue, Ras: when your users ask you constantly for certain features (say, named parameters or templating) and you don't give it to them, they will go around you. Or they'll stop using your language.
How very cool!

@bradgessler -- probably better to keep these things out and use your fav JS framework, no? If anything, this very neat "SVG/VML abstraction layer" might make it into one of the established libraries eventually.

@geuis -- true, but not a deal breaker because I think in many cases it's more sensible to build a dedicated iPhone site anyway. Nothing beats adapting your offering to the devices strengths (touch) and shortcomings (screen size).

@maximilian -- what bothers you about Flash video that wouldn't bother you in an SVG version with video support?

Actually, this is one more step toward having separate technology layer for separate concerns. Just like CSS (ideally) separates formatting and styles from HTML mark-up, vectors are great for separating certain visual effects and design artifacts, and rounded corners and stripes from the actual images your site uses to display actual pictures.
Revisiting GNU Awk YouTube Video Downloader
"After all, frameworks, as we know them now, are just a few years old and the web is about 15 years old."

I stopped reading there. I know he means mvc web frameworks but I'm not sure if he knows that their exist others. Why is this bullshit on place 2?
Microsoft breaks IE8 interoperability promise
Starting over (and over, and over)
Let's wait and see what happens when Larry Craig comes to town :)
if you have to explain why you should use a certain technology to your boss and he balks because of some lighthearted fun on a web page, either you or he should not be working there.
Thank goodness we don't have downmods on HN
From time to time I have wanted a downmod button. Today there was some linkbait on the front page--something about real programmers not using abstractions or what-not--and my first thought was that the best thing to do is to ignore these posts.

And then it hit me: downmodding is not ignoring. Neither is upmodding everything else. Sure, there's some imaginary value of pushing it off the front page quickly, but if people naturally upmod the things they like, it will drop off the front page in due time.

Trying to accelerate that process for things I don't like is getting emotionally invested in them. Why give them the time of day? The very best use of our time is working on the things that matter. Downmodding stuff is not working on things that matter.

Thinking about good posts isn't either, but it's a lot closer to things that matter.

I'll stop now. My thesis is this: not having a downmod button is a good thing if you believe that you should be channeling your time and energy into things that matter.
Mildly near-sighted? If it's not very poor vision, I wouldn't take the risk.

It's expensive and laser vision correction physically burns off a layer of your cornea to correct the refractive properties, so it isn't exactly non-intrusive.
Microsoft still values gopher protocol
Product: ScaleOut StateServer is Memcached on Steroids
I wouldn't recommend it. A former roommate had it done about a year ago and he constantly has to use eye drops. He also wasn't supposed to watch TV or use a computer for a month for any extended period of time because apparently you don't blink as often. He was also mildly near sighted and said that the improvement wasn't all that great.
"Follow" seems natural to me now, but I remember thinking it sounded a bit stalkerish when I first saw it. And I'm not sure it's any more comprehensible than "subscribe" for casual users.
i prefer ninja, but then u won't see anything
Dignity is deadly.
What, that Augmented Reality/Google Maps mashup didn't make it? That was 10x more impressive than any app there!
Just applied. Real name is Trevor Lee.
It's not edgy, it's already old and stale.
I agree, it looks more like an actual product, more polished and professional. People need to lighten up a little bit. Rock Star aside, I think the site looks pretty nice.
Gina is an awesome, thoughtful writer - no idea why she's writing for PCWorld though. This should have been on lifehacker or a publication that isn't dying.
PG has remarkably good instincts about feature choices.
Like compass needles, cows point north-south
I had lasik about 5 years ago and I've been very happy with the results. I previously had been moderately near-sighted and even after 5 years I'm still at 20/20. The cost was pretty expensive, the procedure was rather intense (remember, it is surgery), and the recovery was fairly quick but nerve-wracking due to the uncertainty of how your vision will end up leveling out.

I've had no long-term problems with dry eyes. The only side effects I really have are slight "halos" - which for me actually mean 3 prongs of light extending above bright light sources. This has changed my night-vision in a significant way but not in a disruptive one. It's simply that bright lights just look different to me at night than they used to. If that might matter to you, it would probably be a good reason to not do it at all.

I would do it again, though. To me the convenience outweighs the hassle and expense of the procedure.
And next week m4m ads in Saint Paul will go through the roof. Increases like this happen every time there is a big convention
This reminds me of what someone taught me about being the relative best. Sometimes it is good enough to be the best in your environment. For example, it is easier to be the most popular guy in a room (e.g. throw a party/be a host/invite lots of people) than the most popular guy in a club. Big fish in a small pond. Local maximums (City Council member) are more realistic and achievable than global maximums (global maximum = U.S. President).
I don't agree... I think it's better to have good content in the sites I visit, than to get less than a few seconds a day back for downmodding links. I prefer going to a good library, with many good chosen titles, than to a terrible library, where I have to do the full filtering myself, wasting more of my time by reading tons of useless book titles only to get one or two good ones.
I owe the guys behind jQuery a lot, they've saved me so much time by preventing cross browser issues (eg. they saved me a lot of debugging time in IE).

Not to mention it's actually fun to work with.
seconded. it's great. whats the matter with some tongue in cheek? it's the library, stupid.
Bill Gates has a mortgage on his house??! Is that real?
Actually, that isn't true. The Americans with Disabilities Act says that stores must provide full and equal enjoyment of their goods, services, facilities, or accommodations. The judge only ruled that Target.com falls under that provision as much as Target physical stores do. Not an unreasonable ruling at all. "The ADA doesn't exclude web-based stores therefore it applies to it" seems perfectly reasonable. In fact, the ruling is both in the word of the law and the spirit of the law (which was to allow equal access to necessary services to all people).

Now, Target didn't have to pay $6M. That's a voluntary settlement. The ADA only specifies that establishments can be compelled to 1) make their places accessible and 2) pay the plaintiff's legal fees. Target probably decided that rather than continuing the appellate process, this was just easier.

Plus, it's the right thing to do. Seriously, it's not as if it's that hard to make a website accessible - Target wasn't even using alt tags. WTF? You can't add alt tags?

I get as pissed of as the next person when the only parking available is handicapped, but at the same time it's not like I'd trade my able-bodied status to reap the benefits.

The ADA exists. If you disagree that the ADA should exist, you need to contact your senators and rep asking them to support its repeal. If you think it shouldn't apply to the web, you need to contact your senators and rep to lobby for amending the ADA to specifically exclude the web from its jurisdiction.
Love the design, the rockstar toon is badass. Certainly doesn't tie in with the geeky/professional stereotype designs these frameworks are subjected to, but fuck it, who says the site needs to look square.

Too bad their 'documentation page' is wrecked on IE7. They could also improve on the page load times.
Not sure if these guys read HN, but in case they do I have advice: read the tmobile playbook right now or be prepared to enter a world of hurt.
It's not obvious to me that if everyone has a downmod button the library will be better. Somebody is upmodding books you don't like. How do you know they aren't downmodding the books you like?

I suggest that if the library has a few titles you don't like, going without a downmod button is a good thing, just ignore them and move along.

But if the library is overrun with bad titles, giving everyone a downmod button won't solve the problem, because the problem is caused by the librarians.
If you need to convince your boss, just say: 'look boss, on the front page, see all those logos... Google, Dell, NBC.. recognise those brands? Well they're using it, so should we.
Also, this eliminates the gaming of downmods. A few downmods early in the life of a headline are very significant, so it's easy to game this with just a few cohorts. A few upmods are also significant, but this is often dwarfed by the deluge of upmods on a genuinely popular link. The action of the crowd doesn't have as strong a self-correcting effect on downmod conspiracy, because the crowd's exposure to the downmodded links is lessened.

There is a parallel in behavioral psychology: punishment can be a powerful tool, but can often backfire. So positive reinforcement is seen by many as the preferred tool.
Sony Moves to Augmented Reality with EyePet
That's probably the "real" reason we don't have downmods. Thanks for the insight, that hadn't occurred to me.
Funnily enough, when I wrote my own reddit clone (back when every Lisper was doing it), I also reduced the choices from two to one. But I did the opposite - I removed the up-arrow and only had the down-arrow. Maybe I have remarkably bad instincts ;-)
Now, that's a good argument for not having a downmod button. But not having a downmod button for avoiding wasting the people energy? That's what I don't agree with.
I am certain that it happened on reddit. In fact, there were occasions where the conspirators would go to the list of your past submissions and give you a little extra punishment to further discourage you from posting. I only had a few submissions at the time, and they were months old, so I am certain that this is what happened.

Apparently a lot of this has been addressed on reddit with some clever code. I think it's far cleverer to just leave the feature out!
this is great news. congrats! hopefully if this works out you expand as a service and allow organizations to acquire their own shortcodes/numbers. if you can abstract the nonsense and provide a robust api i think you have a win.
Well, the two motivations are orthogonal and neither is really right or wrong. So I can appreciate your point of view.
But who will play Mark Zuckerberg?
Ask HN: geographical coordinate data sets for mashups?
I am looking for information or links for geo location data sets for mashing up. I don't even know if that is the right term. Just looking for some jumping off points. Thanks.
My dad formally had massive eye issues and needed to have laser surgery multiple times to not go blind. He ended up having to replace his Corneas.

Anyway, he has stated many times that he would never tell anyone to go through the pain of laser eye surgery. This guy has been through a ton of painful stuff, but this was the topper for him.

On top of that I know someone who had Lasik and their vision got worse and their eyes wouldn't stop watering. I believe they went to some cheap place, but it ended up costing a ton of money to not be in pain any longer.
Not all Geeks are Wimps | TechJaws
I stopped using reddit after several such incidents with my raganwald account. After disagreeing with certain users there, suddenly all of my comments and posts would get downmodded in my history.

At first this would cause a karma hit, so I tried a workaround: after my submissions peaked, I would delete them and this would present a smaller surface area for revenge attacks.

This turned out to be a bad idea because it deprived reddit of the history. So I switched to a new tactic: I simply stopped participating in the forums and started submitting things under a nom de plume.

I think that they have changed things so that revenge downmods do not affect karma, but it doesn't matter to me. I stopped one day and asked myself why I was bothering to worry about my reddit karma?

Then I asked why I was bothering with reddit?

Then I closed up the nom de plume and HN is the only such site I visit. And let me tell you, I am a far, far happier man for it :-)