skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Self-confidence is beautiful.
Modest genius is beautiful.

why choose?
Brings to mind Paul Graham's "Why Nerds are Unpopular":

And as for the schools, they were just holding pens within this fake world. Officially the purpose of schools is to teach kids. In fact their primary purpose is to keep kids locked up in one place for a big chunk of the day so adults can get things done. And I have no problem with this: in a specialized industrial society, it would be a disaster to have kids running around loose.

Where I agree with Richard Elmore (the author of the article) and disagree with Paul Graham is that the only alternative to having kids in the school is having them "running around loose".
URL Fragments and Redirects
The Roundup - Lodsys and phonebooks
Depending on country X's relation with the US, they could actively try to prove the attack came from somewhere else.

Yes, you can live in country 'A' and route all traffic through a country you hate, 'X', making that country get all the heat.
Country 'X' would then attempt to prove that the attackers came from another country.

This is a lost battle... while a country points the blame to other country, that country would forward the blame to yet another country.

There is an insane amount of vulnerability scanning/port scanning coming from China. You can bet that one of those remote attackers is bound to hit an improperly protected box in the US.
It may not even be an attacker, it could be a home PC from a botnet, mindlessly port-scanning IP ranges.
Does that mean the US would bomb China?

I mean, an attack can come from a single source but be routed behind so many countries, even from the US itself!
It might just be me, but it seems profoundly silly to implement what basically amounts to a complete operating system in a browser. Why not use something reasonable like the Java or .Net VM to implement your cross platform applications? I think browsers should stay programs to browse webpages and therefore keep their focus on scripting that enables fancier HTML and CSS manipulation. While running Linux in a browser is an impressive feat, to me it is similar in spirit to simulating a Turing machine in the Game of Life.
I would think that this makes sense from a tax perspective. The Interest on debt, according to US tax law, is write-off-able. So when you combine a tax incentive with the fact that the rates are going to be very low, and that they already have a large warchest - this isn't just free money, the gov't is essentially paying them to take this money.

This deal is too sweet for any manager - who's fiduciary responsibility is to increase shareholder value - to take advantage of.

Reminds me of the Yuri Milner $150K convertible note to YC companies. It's almost that good.

Edit: Modigliani and Miller actually devised a 'capital structure' theory that talks about the most efficient mix of debt & equity for a company - given that there are tax incentives for one or the other. So I would imagine that theory had some impact with their decision - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_structure
Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide'
Are you willing to pay them decent rates? (ie. 30+$/hr)
Nothing against Optimizely (I'll go see what it is after I post), but man I'm getting tired of the cutsey -ly names. This is one fad I wish would fade away.
Awesome post. Working on our efforts right now. Thanks!
90 of Top 200 Sites Have No Mobile Version, Says New API
I installed Bump on my iPhone but used it just once.
Any one knows how Bump is doing in terms of traction and usage?
Exactly. I never understood why the web community decided to re-invent this wheel. We started with a model for text publishing (HTML), and are trying to evolve it to allow full blown apps. If browsers simply supported the JVM as the browser execution environment, instead of implementing their own javascript engines, we'd have:

1. More language independence

2. Great performance for games, video (think implementing codecs without the need for browser support), and for crazy things like this.

3. Most importantly, the ability to run actual desktop-like apps in the browser at near-native speeds, instead of the mess that is currently required to get web apps to behave like desktop apps. (Nowadays Rails and friends are hiding most of this mess, but it's still there.)
Do you take Bitcoin?
Fragmentation Bites Android In the Butt, Makes YOU Less Safe
Very interesting, thanks! I admit I just made up 10k as a number, I have no idea what libraries typically spend on various acquisitions. I've contacted my alma mater's library asking similar questions. Would you mind an email from me about this?
It's a valid concern, but it would be better to weight it against the current carbon costs of existing currencies.
Whats the diff? Cult, technic, methodology. Same thing, different branding.
http://www.pds.ewi.tudelft.nl/~victor/bitcoin.html

Canned response: Bitcoin is only "peer-to-peer" in the sense of the British Peerage system.

Early-comer-wins, that's the only advantage I see (for early comers). Bitcoin does not capitalize trust in people and institutions (like regular modern money system does, by the way). It is just a silly pyramid scheme reselling air, fed by hopes of those higher in the pyramid to sell Bitcoins to those lower.
Bitcoins are a great consumer currency at this point, considering that it's possible to generate them out of thin air makes it attractive to get. It's like getting an allowance as a kid-you do some(relatively) trivial work, and get some money from it. The problem is that it won't always be this way, especially when the mining stops.

Normal currencies have a cyclical economy. A consumer gets money from their job, then spends it somewhere. The money goes up the supply chain, eventually getting to a bank, which loans it out to a business, who then pays employees. Bitcoins currently are only used in the first transaction, then exchanged for USD or other currency. They are acquired by consumers in two ways: mining them, or buying them from a Bitcoin exchange. After the mining phase ends(or becomes prohibitively expensive), you won't be able to conjure up BTC from thin air. The only way for a consumer to get BTC is to buy them from an exchange, since the overwhelming majority of people aren't going to actually be paid by their job in BTC. Also, since it's doubtful that ISPs or hosting providers will accept BTC, the sellers need to exchange their BTC for USD to pay their bills. So, in the end, this means that the only ones that really win in this economy are the BTC-USD exchanges.
The US is not going to send missiles in response to some port scanning. But massive attacks, such as the large-scale attack on Google or stealing data from NASA or other government agencies, will now presumably trigger a strong response.
I've got so many friends that shoulda made this list, but fly under the radar.
Prove your program works for n=1. Induct on n.
The (S&P 500) stock market return:

1) Since 1971 (40 years) is roughly 1300%, which is 19.63% annualized (1.1963^40 = 1300).

2) Since 1950 (60 years) is roughly 7680%, which is 16.08% annualized (1.1608^60 = 7680)

http://chart.finance.yahoo.com/z?s=%5eGSPC&t=my&q=l&...
Why Startups Could Use .NET, But Don’t
PR. when Japan sends a fleet to Pearl Harbor and bombs us, we know who it was, the crowds ('people') get mad, and we bomb them back. When Chinese hackers target american corporations, there is not nearly so much transparency as to who is behind it (govt sponsored? independent parties? terrorists? businesses?), and the crowds aren't that mad. You can't go starting real-life wars, with killing people and such and the economic consequences thereof, without support of the crowds.

Of course if Chinese hackers shut down our utilities/communications, that's certainly a real-life attack, and it will be easier to convince the crowds that we know a enemy government is responsible.
Fully Autonomous DIY Surveillance Camera
I think the key is 'When did they take the money?' is it before traction or after traction.
Yes, it would be stupid to not take money when it is cheap and you have traction.

If majority got funding before traction, that would indicate that VCs/angels are really good at evaluating teams.
Come hack the auto industry at CarWoo (YC S09)
We are looking for an awesome Rails developer to help us take the online auto industry by storm. You'll join a great engineering and design team that's working hard to bring car-buying into the 21st century. The features you create will help turn the mostly terrible experience of buying a new car into a wonderful experience for our customers.

Responsibilities

Work with the other members of the development, marketing, and product teams to create a world class product. You will be responsible for all aspects of the agile software development cycle: writing stories, design, implementation, iteration, testing, and release.

One of the first things you would get to do is help define and create our mobile applications and API infrastructure. These are key projects to our success.

Qualifications

- Deep knowledge of Rails and everything that goes along with it (MVC, REST, relational database design/SQL)

- Solid grasp on modern web application design using Javascript, HTML, CSS

- Experience with version control systems (we use Git/Github)

- Solid testing methodologies and willingness to write comprehensive tests before release

You get extra bonus points for:

- Extensive Javascript experience outside of JQuery or Prototype

- Ability to write complex SQL

- Understanding of good RDBMS design. Experience optimizing queries.

- Experience with memcached, sphinx, and nginx

- Node.js

- Story-driven development

- Web service/API development (REST)

- Ability to play ping-pong, soccer, or Call of Duty skillfully

- Experience with ranking/ratings algorithms

- Machine learning and predictive algorithms

Perks

- Full Benefits (medical, dental, vision, 401k)

- 17 days of PTO (vacation)

- $5,000 to buy anything you want to get your work done (must include an Apple computer of some sort)

- A substantial amount of equity in the company

If you're interested, send an email with your résume and something interesting about yourself to michael@carwoo.com.

We're based in Silicon Valley, but if you live outside the Valley, we still really want to talk to you (we'll pay for your flight, hotel, and meals when you come interview with us).
You'd also need to be pretty certain that no-one's going to come up with a faster algorithm for solving the problem. I can't think of any real-world problems to which all these criteria would apply.
OK, I'll try it out. iCal is definitely too much of a pain and riddled with numerous serious bugs.

In addition to normal language entry and bug fixes, I also need cell phone sync with phones other than iPhone.
Of course, my blog post just explains how to implement something like the bitcoin calculator.
Even assuming you're also paying for Hulu Plus, MLB.tv, and a few iTunes/Amazon rentals, you're still spending far less than the average cable subscriber.
Think of how outraged we'd be if Iran responded to Stuxnet by attacking the U.S. or Israel militarily. In general, hacking (aka "cyberwarfare") poses an intelligence challenge to determine whether an attacker is affiliated with or acting on behalf of a state. If United States infrastructure were attacked by a group of highly skilled individuals inside Iran or China, like you suggested, who had no apparent government connections, it would be very hard to determine whether they had been surreptitiously aided or manipulated by a government intelligence agency, perhaps by anonymously sharing technical information to aid their attack or by infiltrating the group with an agent who pushed them to action and steered them toward particular targets.
Bitcoin Poker Live Show
So since netflix is being the single best provider with virtually no "all you can eat" competitors and their userbase is ever growing - how long until a price increase?

At 25 million subscribers, means for every $1 increase they will get another $300 Million a year. That's too tempting to resist, no?
Android devs are keeping their financial figures close to the vest I believe, which results in a lot of people thinking there's no money to be made on Android.

It's smart. When the iPhone's App Store launched people were spilling their guts. Stories left and right of millions being made out of the gate. Land rush on!

This time around, indie devs realized that if they keep their mouths shut about their successes, the competition will take much longer to get there.

I will say that I've done very well in the Android Market. It's been an exciting year, but every week there's new competition, there's more apps to choose from, and my income is getting much harder to maintain. I'm making about 2/3 as much as I was just back in January, and 1/2 of what I was back in October.

I'm creating updates and new apps in hopes of staying the course even as I imagine the landscape is going to change drastically.
Honestly, talk to an experienced litigation lawyer, yes it might cost you some money but it can potentially save an awful lot of grief.

Trying to handle things yourself and being "reasonable" probably won't work - I know from a nasty experience when I was a start up founder and a customer who I was very friendly with turned round one day and sued us over an IP issue - probably the most stressful experience I've ever had.

NB If you are in Scotland I can probably recommend a suitable lawyer if you want.
Ask HN: How do Compete.com or Quantcast collect data?
I can't find a good explanation to how they product traffic and other data.
Will Anyone WANT An Amazon Tablet? An Argument With Myself
Wow, not one of those has any roots whatsoever in science or engineering, except maybe Meraki.

Is this just media selection bias, or is Silicon Valley really just turning into Marketing Valley?
I think you misunderstood what I said.

First, it's important to understand that include/require_once is useful in PHP because of a particular pattern -- include/require the files containing classes and functions I need; these statements are placed at the top of every script that needs those definitions. It's an error in PHP to declare the same function twice (to redeclare). So if you include script A and B, and both depend on C, then you have to use require_once in A and B when they call in C. This way, anyone calling in both A and B won't trigger a redeclaration error.

This use case is not relevant to people using the statements to pull in templates, because you would deliberately place the require statement where you needed it. Someone using the same partial template in the header of a page and in the footer of a page would not care if the template had been invoked before -- "place this in the footer unless you already placed it somewhere else in the document (or even if you simply included it and threw it away, or emailed it to someone, or anything else at all)" would be a very poorly written template.

So what we have is the case that a set of processing scripts all include the same file at the top and this could potentially trigger redeclaration errors. So instead of addressing the fact that the interpreter cannot distinguish a common pattern (multiple inclusion) from something that really isn't even an error (redeclaration), we have four statements that serve very minor variations of the same function.

There are two binary choices here: require or include and once or not once. The distinction between include and require is totally unnecessary -- in what case would you want to optionally include another file, but not even receive notification or change your behavior depending on whether the file was able to be included? The _once distinction is only a guard against redeclaration, and it's beyond me why it matters that something was declared multiple times -- or why the programmer needs to count the number of inclusions.

Ideally, calling in a template would be different from calling in essential definitions, and would be treated differently.

BTW in Python, the import statement is idempotent -- importing multiple times has the same effect as importing once.
Javascript PC Emulator
Love what Optimizely is doing, keep up the great works guys! I think the A/B testing market is one that'll keep growing for a long time, and tools that make it easier to do will be the catalyst.
In small areas, the local news website is much more important usually. I can't imagine much of it would apply if I lived in LA or NY,NY - that or there would just be SO MUCH to follow it wouldn't be worth the time.

In my small community, the local news website applies to things happening in my back-yard sometimes.
I love how it begins with "use strict";
Have you never used Java Applets? (i.e. JVM in the browser) the load time alone makes that a terrible idea. Not too mention the 'breaking the web/page model' and poor UX that ensued.

Strange that people actually think Java would be the saviour. Feel free to keep continue to use Java applets if you think they're superior tech, they should still be well supported.
Did www.jfdi.org ?
Thanks Ian! Are you interested in joining us? We are actively hiring: http://jobs.optimizely.com/
>> but how would this be different from Java?

It wouldn't suck.
If you read the comment again you'll notice pg doesn't claim the best companies are successful because they took funding, in fact the opposite, perhaps they took funding because they were so successful that they were offered terms they'd be crazy to turn down.

Bottom line is some companies may be well suited to take outside funding early on, some might be better off bootstrapping to profitability, but it seems most successful companies in our industry do end up taking funding at some point in their lifetime for one reason or another.

Much of the 37signals/anti-VC/whatever crowd fails to recognize that not all companies are created equal. Just because 37signals has done phenomenally well without outside funding (with the exception of Jeff Bezos' investment) doesn't mean that's the right path for all companies. Ditto for Google/Microsoft/etc which did take funding.

It's slightly ironic because I don't think the 37signals themselves believe no company should ever take funding, rather they're fighting the perception that you must take funding to start your company.
I don't think this is accurate.

The permissions listed seem to pertain to the uses-permissions in the Manifest.

If the Manifest doesn't request these permissions, and they aren't allowed, they won't work. If I don't put the Internet uses-permission in my Manifest, then any Internet calls I make won't work.
In most states (perhaps all), you must pay interns at least minimum wage unless they get college credit and you get no benefit to your business from the internship.
Seriously? the JVM? You listed the pros, but what about all the cons? Modern JVMs are fast, but highly specialized for long-running applications, which web pages are decidedly not. That's just the tip of the iceberg.
Ask HN: What are good examples of personal homepage design?
I am looking for ideas on how to design a minimalist personal homepage.

Any well implemented, clean and pretty (which is obviously quite subjective) examples you want to share?
I don't know a lot about NaCl but my gut reaction is that it will be insecure and allow my computer to be remotely exploited. Why am I wrong?
Yes, I don't dispute that we can not build a brain today. But I'd say this is not very different to our inability of building a plane (or understanding how it could possibly work) back in the 1900s.

I just checked wikipedia and about 100 years ago (February 1911):

The first official air mail flight takes place from Allahabad, India to Naini,
India, when Henri Pequet carries 6,500 letters a distance of 13 km.

Today, 100 years later, I tell you about this event by typing my "letter" into a portable device that will soon transmit my message over the shy distance of ~8000 miles, in under 100 milliseconds.

So, looking back at what we've achieved in the past 100 years, and unless someone discovers some inherent property of the human brain that prevents it from being replicated (did God add DRM?), I remain pretty optimistic that we will be able to build one soon.
Social influences kill the wisdom of the crowd
The fiat offers, at minimum, a requirement to do transactions in that currency to some minimal degree, as you are required by law to pay taxes (notice that taxes are applied to all exchanges, in theory at least, not just those conducted in the fiat currency) in that currency or go to jail.

That is the minimum it offers. It also offers the ability to transact with the government, who is the largest sole consumer in our economy, and a whole host of other things.
Unveiled: Audience powers iPhone 4′s impressive noise cancellation « iFixit Blog
Do the jobs pay enough to buy two new cars and a nice house and pay for food, clothing, furnishing and running the house (insurance, utilities, maintenance), running the cars (insurance, maintenance, fuel), medical care, recreation, more insurance against risks, children and their education, and saving for retirement?

Typically a career will need to last over 40 years. How long with those jobs last?

When such a job ends, then what?

What these students will likely find is that the day they buy a house, assuming they can, a guy still in high school, with no college debt, started in plumbing or grass mowing, got his own business, hired a few workers, got customers in the neighborhood of the house, and 10 years later the computer guy got fired and was unemployable and the high school guy was able to buy the house.

In the US, being an employee sucks. Even being a computer science employee sucks. Instead, it is necessary to start, own, and run a successful business. The business might be just grass mowing or might be a hot information technology startup that gets a really good 'exit', but, whatever, it is necessary to start, own, and run a successful business.

As far as the "hot" job market, that's nonsense: The US is just awash in very well qualified people in software who are absolutely, positively, totally unemployable. The reason: They are over 35 years old.

Big secret: US hiring is still back in the days 80 years ago of a Ford factory where the supervisor was to know more and the subordinate was to know much less than the supervisor and there just to add muscle to the work of the supervisor. These college guys are 'desired' not because of what they do know but because of what they do not: The hiring managers assume that the college guys are naive, not very well qualified, not competition within the organization, and easily manipulated.

Here is a fundamental reason why: For a 'job', there needs to be someone else who creates it, that is, has the product or service, customers, revenue, building, office, desk and other equipment, other overhead, work to be done, and money to pay. It is rare for such a person to create a job good enough for the employee to have a good career for 40+ years and do well supporting a family and saving for retirement. Instead, the person with the chance of a good job is the one who created the job for the college guy. The guy with the best chance of a 'good job' is the guy who started, owns, and runs that business. For the college guy, that's the job he wants; that's the career direction he needs to keep in mind.

The real opportunity remains the one close to reality: Start, own, and run a successful business. For that opportunity, computing can help, but the field is not 'hot'. E.g., can also do well in plumbing, running several pizza shops, etc.
Feeling Blue? Why The Most Popular Websites Are Blue
But Angry Birds is making $1M/month on Android with ads. That's not a bad revenue stream. And you can do an ad-free version for $1.
Ask HN:  Why not provide recommendations for content in any site and any page?
For example, if I go to CNN, then the service would recommend CNN content that is likely to interest me on the current page I am visiting and also elsewhere in the site.

Does such a service exist?