skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I don't understand all this harsh judgement, especially from the HN crowd.

Who are you to say what he should or shouldn't do? He essentially died from a freak accident that couldn't be predicted ahead of time.

Telling him that he shouldn't do something because he's married with children is like someone telling you you shouldn't pursue a dream (whether that be climbing a mountain or trying an innovative startup with a high chance of failure) just because you happen to be married.

You don't know his situation. I don't know his situation.

Can't we just stop this judging and simply feel bad about an unfortunate death?
Ditching Copyleft to Compete with a Fork? (Oracle and OpenOffice)
I know restaurant names are often re-used, but I wanted point out there is already an awesome gourmet grilled cheese restaurant called "Melt".[1]

see http://www.meltbarandgrilled.com

[1] I guess he called his "The Melt"

edit: first hit in Google for "The Melt" as well.
"fast food isn't fast enough" is not a complaint I've ever made

Really? I just went down to Cheeseboard Pizza to get a slice, but the line was too long, so I went somewhere else. If I could have ordered and paid while I walked and then just picked it up when I got there, that would have been sweet.

Mind you, I'm pretty impatient.
Netflix May Pay $300 Million for Starz Rights
Counterpoint: as an airplane passenger, my experience is the same whether there's a human pilot or not; I sit in my seat until the ride is over.

But in my car, if it could drive itself, I could get in the back seat and sleep. I could have a tiny apartment back there and read or play video games.

I think that if people will text while they drive, risking their lives for a tiny message, they will gladly let their car drive for the payoff of getting to do whatever they want during the trip.

Side effect: if people can sleep comfortably in the back seat while their car drives, suddenly a 4-hour commute may sound reasonable. That's going to screw with city planning, pollution, etc.
a ridiculous and not especially awesome post....
I got an invite to purchase a Chromebook for $499 through gilt.

Personally, I find the price a bit too high for an iPad-with-a-keyboard.

Based on what I've read/seen online, the Chromebook isn't "there" enough yet to justify a $500 investment. Maybe soonish though.
Fun exercise: find a Mongolian Barbecue that isn't called "Genghis Khan".
The Crime of Lead Exposure
<quote>The best I have seen was in a python book where the author stopped and told the reader enough had been learnt to write any program.</quote>
You must be referring to Think Python: http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/thinkpython.html
Given advances in ballistics I think a grilled cheese cannon would work just as well, and be cheaper.
Assuming the alleged troll's invention is even patentable (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine-or-transformation_test), if your implementation actually conflicts with the ideas covered by said troll's application, you might be in trouble.

If not, you can always file an application covering the implementation details of your technology that distinguish it from existing prior art.
With IOS tied to Apple and Windows Phone to Nokia it might not be such a bad idea for HTC (and Samsung etc.) to make sure to have a second choice besides Android.
Phrasing it as "solving the biggest problem" is a little ... grandiose, though. How can you even quantify such a thing? Why should I swing for that fence when the problem is likely "bigger" for me because I am abnormally impaired at dealing with it?

I think there's an ad-hoc, informally specified set of standards for when a problem is "big enough" that people will pay to have it solved. What you're looking for is something within that range where you can out-executing the competition. Searching for "the biggest problem" oversatisfies the first half of that proposition at the expense of the second.

All that said, I find little inconvenience in the current fast food ordering process. Often there is a language barrier, but a combination of numbered meals and ambivalence towards picking off what I don't want solves that issue.

Possibly the restaurants could find value in making the experience "good enough" to keep me from going down the street and paying more at $fancy_restaurant where ordering is (relatively) hassle-free? I'm not convinced that can be done via phone in the lowest-common-denominator fashion of fast food.
Yes, Google can easily rank the search results based on +1's in your social network if you're logged in. The implications are really interesting. It has to succeed though first. People have to start +1'ing for it to happen.
Ask HN: Site feedback requested - OnsideKick.com
After about 9 months of development with my co-founder, we launched OnsideKick.com today. We plan to ramp up additional features and functionality over the summer and switch to a subscription service in August. Would appreciate any and all feedback from the HN audience!

http://www.onsidekick.com
As Woody Allen said, "80% of success is just showing up" but I didn't think that made a good line for a blog post ;-)
1 in 10 chance isn't a freak accident, its called being reckless and I don't see anything to feel bad about.
The problem with the news feed is it assumes I want the same level of engagement with every project I follow. On my own repos, then yes, show me every comment and commit. But usually if I'm following a framework, I just want to know when something important happens, like a new version tag. And it's these larger frameworks that are usually busy and crowd out the other stuff.
just make sure you turn off usb debugging after installing, otherwise all of this is useless.
StackSocial Blog — A web developer’s favorite tools
Thanks!

Hopefully Ghostery/Disconnect will start blocking this soon, too.
As of today, Google doesn't have a social platform to leverage +1. Without it, your upvotes are effectively going into a blackhole. Nobody will see them, so what's the point of upvoting and putting the button on your site?
What ASP.NET MVC Could Learn From Rails
Hello Sacha, I just shot you an email.

Your portfolio is amazing and I'd love to work with you. I've actually stumbled upon your blog in the wild before, and your post about designers who can't code and vice versa hit home for me. Although I'm primarily a programmer, I've made it a point to cultivate an eye for design (contrast, repetition, alignment, proximity - CRAP - as one book so humorously reinforced), striving for elegantly simple user interfaces, and working closely with graphic designers to straddle the form/function fulcrum in a balanced way.

I hope to hear back from you!

Regards,
Jonathan
I believe they only used OpenOffice.org because OpenOffice was already trademarked.
Make it seasonal.

Grilled cheese and tomato soup van in the fall/winter.

Cupcake and Icee van in the spring/summer.
we all lose with the social sharing craze that is littering the web. More clutter, slower loading pages, and gimmicks to get to you upvote a site.

Couldn't agree more. I've made a deliberate effort to not buy into the craze with swombat.com. Anything that can't be restyled as a text link which blends into the no-graphics minimalist style of the site just ain't gonna happen.

One small concession I've made is that I show the reddit upvote widget for people who have come directly via Reddit. Like that's helped me. ;-)
We need a generic fix for the patent system, not something specific to software. I think the only way to do this is to change the process of suing for patent infringement. The patent holder must determine how much investment was made to develop the specific patent [1], and this number should be the upper bound on how much the patent holder can sue for [2].

This would effectively cover the pharmaceutical case where hundreds of millions are invested, as well as the worst software case where only a few thousand are invested.

[1] - This number would need to pass simple smell tests: the sum of these investment amounts across a patent portfolio can't exceed the total expenses in the company's books for R&D, etc.
[2] - If a patent holder sues multiple companies at once, each infringing company would owe only a fraction of the total.
So when Sequoia is investing in a fast casual restaurant, can we say that the bubble is now officially in play? I understand wacky tech ideas no one understands, but a restaurant? Really?
Magazines - The Pragmatic Bookshelf
The trouble is that it's a lot easier to copy an algorithm without in any way violating copyright than it is to copy it without violating a patent on it.
I don't think anyone here is taking delight in his judgement, where did you read that? It seems like many posters here can't comprehend why a human being would play Russian roulette knowing that they have two children and one in the womb.
"matters of which we are ignorant"

Are not all the facts of this case known? Father of N, does something dangerous and unnecessary, leaves N children fatherless. Are there other relevant issues of fact that we do not know?

True, it may be tasteless to call it out . . . but the internet is tasteless. :-/
I like the idea of keeping the Palm brand. Although I doubt that will happen, I still like the idea a lot.
Or, perhaps trying to do that would put you on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties.
Write the book. Show it to HN. People will buy it!
Hey Paul,

Thank you! Still, we are a real-time platform, where you can build a real-time dashboard like Gecko or Ducks but it also adds collaboration to all this data in the system. We believe that collaboration systems shouldn't add a new data silo to the business, so you get all this data into Streamer, and can create real-time widgets to transform data into information or Vertical Streams where users can collaborate (like, comment, share). Also, we dont follow a format, any developer with knowledge about APIs, and Highcharts can build whatever they want (they dont need to follow our format). It's 100% node.js, socket.io and MongoDB and its a 100% real-time environment. We are very proud of what we have built, and although we may be on the same space, its a different target! Congrats on Geckoboard. Well done.
Startups typically don't kill you, and leave your family without a primary provider.
For Chrome, Google is basically saying "we push updates, you better take them or you can use some other browser".
Bitcoin is getting lots of traction these days. I have checked the forum and some people are looking to buy coins (small amounts $100-$150).

I wonder if this buzz is not made by someone holding a couple thousands, if not dozens of thousands of coins and looking to hyper-inflate the market and profit at selling them with these high prices.

Before I buy any bitcoin, I need some questions answered:

1. Currency Exchange: This needs to be legal and available. I don't want to look for a trader in some forum to do the exchange.

2. Stability: I probably want to have my money doubled by tomorrow, but I prefer not to lose them.

3. Popularity: If no buyer accepts bitcoins, so why are they worth it?

Unless these issues get solved, bitcoin is now just a bubble. And like always, the idiots are going to pay the consequences...
I'm not quite sure what point you're making, but I should clarify mine. I wasn't trying to say anything deep. I was just making a _very_ surface observation that, at some level, our brains consume, transform, and produce bits. It's almost tautological.

I abused "algorithmic" but not in the way you suggest: there are some well-defined transformations of bits that no algorithm [in the technical sense] can perform. I'll go a step further and suggest that our brains can't perform those transformations, either.
I'm referring to the desktop client which came a few months after the iOS version, I haven't used the iPad one myself.
I think the criticism on here is not too harsh and could have been predicted by people who knew he was doing this. Many people see the father as the protector of the household. Sure, this view plays into traditional gender roles, but to deny it would be to ignore the reality of how many people think.

By going off and risking his life on a personal accomplishment, he wasn't doing the best job to protect his family. There are an unlimited number of other ways that he could have challenged himself physically and mentally without the risk to the people close to him.

This isn't a criticism of John as a person, but a decision that he made. I don't know who he was and I'm sure that he was a great man. But he put his family at risk to pursue a challenge that is mostly a boost to his own ego.
In my opinion, the news feed should never contain more than one item for a particular project, or for a particular user (for user-centric actions).

I realize that rolling up data for this sort of display is hard, but if 4" of vertical space are used up showing commit info for one project, my feed gets pretty useless when I follow lots of projects.

I'd mostly like to see what is trending among the users and projects I follow. As it stands, 99% of the "noise" is caused by 1% of the stuff I follow.
Forget beating the iPad, let's start with the basics- does it beat the Playbook? Can it challenge the Galaxy Tab or other Android tablets?
Looks promising. Just think the site needs a UI look soon. It seems kind of cluttered, but since I'm a football fan, I don't mind for now. :)
how about remote?
It's not an iPad-with-a-keyboard. The iPad is much more powerful; it can actually run client-side apps so you can do things either offline, or without the slow, bloated feel you get from web apps. You can SSH from it with reasonable speed (unlike ajax terminals). You can take a picture and save it locally. The list goes on. It's a polished system that's been around for a while, and it's supported by a company with a history of actually supporting and caring about their products.

The chromebook is more of a cut-down web browser with a keyboard that you can't use without having a google account and forfeiting your privacy.
Hmm, the thing I'm not really clear on is how this helps performance. The database has to do the same amount of work whether you commit before or after the sync, so why not just make all the commits wait until the sync has happened?
On the vertical PIN one: Wouldn't it be better to use something similar to the default PIN input and randomize the position of the numbers?

It shouldn't be too hard to catch someone PIN when they enter it on a static vertical list. Then again, neither is it on the default static PIN grid.
It's definitely astounding and deserves congratulations. But to be clear, valuation and return should not be equated in this way...
SEEKING WORK
Remote only - I live in Dallas

Languages/Frameworks I love: Ruby on Rails, PHP/CodeIgniter, Python/Django, CSS3, Prototype, Scriptaculous

Languages I get along with: C#, JavaScript, jQuery

Languages I won't touch with a ten foot pole: C/C++, Perl

What I'm into lately: iPhone/Android mobile development, Readability/Instapaper APIs, RSS

What motivates me: Freedom. Being professional, but working the way that's best for me. Hard problems that can be solved with finesse.

Github Link: http://github.com/jwwest
My 'lil LLC: http://www.treehousemobile.net/
My blargh: http://www.thefuturewithjetpacks.com/

References available upon request, natch.
Our plans to support modern browsers across Google Apps
SEEKING FREELANCER - Remote Preferred

Throwaway account here, I haven't posted for freelancers before and don't know what the spam level will be.

Our startup is looking for a remote freelancer(s) to help with various Javascript development tasks. Ideally you'll have experience with raw JS or a cross-framework JS experience as well as high comfort level with HTML, CSS and the DOM.

We have a large volume of small discrete projects and could use some help in working through them.

You can contact me at: nycengineerjobs@gmail.com

Please feel free to pass along a resume, portfolio site, github link, etc along with your current rate.

Thanks!
I used to use a Firefox add-in for it, myself. Worked flawlessly in my usage
Flip Camera Creator Gets Idea From Vanity Fair
Have you thought about the phrase "... they can reverse it"? How is that implemented?
Yes, but still deciding.
Someone doesn't have to be a complete narcissist to occasionally behave in a narcissistic manner. Hell, we all act narcissistically from time to time (some would even say all the time).
Huh... why is that comment dead?
Given what my friends "Like" on FB (I'm friends with them for other reasons), a similar signal (aka "noise") in Google search results seems almost or actually to be a disincentive, for me personally, to forming "connections".

I think this may be an attempt to conflate two things that for some (many?) remain separate domains.

EDIT: OTOH, general initiatives to improve search results (i.e. Panda) have been quite useful, for me.

Now I'm sitting here, wondering why/how I end up repeatedly sounding negative about various Google "social" initiatives -- as actually incorporated. It's not that I'm against their trying. But... they do seem to keep missing the mark.
I disagree in this particular set of circumstances. Seeing a patent attorney is expensive and in this case unnecessary for the reasons argued above. This is nothing to worry about.
Here's the print/1-page view http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/11_20/b42...

“The most advanced operational thinking in the world is going on in the back of a QSR,” Well when you're talking about a fast food restaurant (which is what they mean by QSR)... No offence. Good article, I really like seeing the business side of something I generally ignore. The article says Mcdonalds abandoned multiple lanes, which have just been added at my local (which has a currently unused third window - used to be separate order/pay/collect I think).

Taco Bell doesn't exist in Europe (to the best of my knowledge), when I passed the local McDonalds half an hour ago someone left the car park the way you drive in a game - full throttle and noise, not braking fully even for a busy roundabout.
I'm a little confused (got one too). Did Google sell my contact info to Gilt?
The other side of Apple
Nothing? Is the Question too long?
Here's the problem though: if you're interested in meritocracy, it has to be a true meritocracy all the way through. You can't ignore other parts of the process and then, only at the very end, say that the quality of work is the only thing that matters. Sure, if boys and girls at home and in our education system were treated equally, encouraged to pursue the same things, given the same opportunities...then yes, you could make this argument.

The problem, though, is that this isn't the case. Women in the United States aren't shying away from STEM disciplines because they're generally intellectually incapable of it; it's because they encounter strong societal pressures against doing so. Other countries--I'm thinking of Romania in particular, which sent a large number of IMO medalists to my university during my years there--have many more women in math and science. (And no, they're not bad at what they do.) Unless you're going to try to claim that Romanian women are somehow different or more talented than American women, it seems clear that the ways that our society and educators are affecting them are responsible for this disparity.

And once you take that into consideration, the argument for improving this problem starts to become a lot more reasonable. It bears a lot of similarity to that line from Lyndon Johnson: " You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, 'you are free to compete with all the others,' and still justly believe that you have been completely fair."
It's pretty similar here. Jean (and others dedicated to this cause) aren't interested in "skewing" the game unfairly. Instead, they contend that because of issues earlier in the process, whatever they may be, the gender gap isn't and shouldn't be the natural order of things.
I don't think anyone has pointed this out in a comment yet...

What is better with very expensive but obsolete machinery than to people use their machinery to duke it out. Will things explode and sink "at great cost" ? Well yes, that's sort of the point. It is even more costly to keep them afloat and maintained.

To those who think this is cruel, European powers periodically fought wars with each other for thousands of years before 1914, they just never were quite as catastrophic (enter chemical weapons and, later, nukes). Hell, the Catholic church tried to ban jousting many times since... you guessed it, people frequently died trying to poke each other with sticks for the sake of scarves from pretty ladies.

Hooah!
i think they're both on iOS...
NodeBalancers - Managed Load Balancers
I think google won't let you bind an email to an ip
I think you're right in a traditional fast food sense (McDs, Wendy's, etc...), but there are a lot of sorta fast food restaurants around now. I'm thinking a Chipotle, Noodles, Panera type of business their customers could make use of ordering from a phone.
Is the "draw a shape" screen unlocking optional and do people find it preferable to a number pad?? It seems kind of like a silly gimmick to me.
We considered this, but decided that people want to use muscle memory in order to quickly unlock their screens, rather than hunting for the correct digits in a randomized layout. This allows you to quickly go through the motions, and only adds one extra gesture.
How Advancements in Neuroscience Will Influence the Law
I would be blowing $$$/week ordering grilled cheeses for unsuspecting friends.
I had ranted about Chromebooks not being a good deal pricewise (which I still claim). But a friend of mine, who heads IT for a large enterprise, noted the issue wasn't up-front acquisition cost. But that Google seems to want to run IT in the cloud and locally. He wasn't willing to take updates to browsers on Google's schedule unless Google was willing to own making all of their LoB apps work too.
Hacker culture is alive and well at Facebook
Also, they're harder to fit on the streets.
Get it Now - Chromebooks Magically on Sale Today Through Gilt
I'm curious what the top 5 or 10 YC companies by valuation are, and what their valuations are. AirBnB? Heroku? Dropbox? What else is in the $1B range?

Most of this seems like it should be public information, since fundings that large are usually announced by press release. Has anyone compiled a list?
I use the default GMail filters - perhaps I'm just lucky and receive easily filtered spam. I get hundreds of spam messages per day, and none break through on the average day.
a couple of questions:
- what is the essential feature of this site? how can you emphasize it more?
- could you describe your site in one-liner? "football news curator"
- have you tested to football fans? would they urgently need it compared to other football news sites?
The String That the Fed Is Pushing On
This excellent article comes to mind: http://swombat.com/2010/12/15/how-to-handle-lawyers-threaten...
I don't think it's even an empty threat. He's worried that you'll mess with him.

He's filed for a patent application on something similar to what you do, but which does not in his opinion cover what you do (because he couldn't patent it if you did). He's sent you an email to specifically clarify that his patent application doesn't overlap with what you do, just to make sure you won't cause trouble for his application.

Now, if he knew what he was doing he probably wouldn't have sent this email at all, because if you know what you're doing then you'll let your patent attorney handle all communication to do with your patent application.

Anyway, I wouldn't worry about this guy. Unless you really want to go and look at the patent application, decide whether it does in fact clash with your prior art, and object to it on those grounds. But unless you're dying of free time or swimming in cash it's not worth the effort and/or expense.
Why would Google want to close down the Internet?
Show HN: share your June side project