skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
The lawsuit is the reason that disclosure is in the Terms of Service now. It was not previously in there, that is why they were sued. The settlement required them to disclose this practice so that customer's could make a potentially more informed decision about what Netflix offers as a service.

You are correct that it really only affects situations where demand outstrips available supply.

While I believe internally Netflix called it smoothing or something like that, throttling isn't an inaccurate term either.

Much of the anger came from the fact that an existing customer could put something in their queue & see "Long Wait" which may mean that movie would probably be delayed weeks or even months. Meanwhile their friend might setup a new account that weekend & get that same movie immediately. This lead to people feeling as though Netflix was shafting existing customers while at the same time giving new customers an unrealistic experience.

Many sign up thinking they are going to be saving a lot of money by going with Netflix, but if their main interest is new releases then they are going to have difficulties getting every new release in a timely manner. This is something that Netflix doesn't really disclose very well & they are a little misleading with their marketing as you'll often see them promoting mainly new releases in a lot of their marketing material.

One more thing is that Netflix has gone as far as hiding certain new releases on it's New Releases section on purpose so as to prevent people from being able "hog" all the new releases. This seems rather anti-customer & goes against their original motto "Connecting People With Movies They'll Love", which really boils down to "We want you to use our recommendation engine which steers you towards movies that cost us the least...".
Let’s call rewriters “rewriters”, not “aggregators”.
But that situation is not anywhere near impossible. What's more, the patent system is there to serve a purpose, innovation, even (and especially) for the indie developers. Now, if that purpose is not served, which seems to be the case for software, it's time to lobby for governments to interfere, not to give up on independent entrepreneurship.
You guys sure are tough, but I kind of expected it by putting 'MBA' in the title of my post. I can't blame many of you for disliking MBAs. MBA graduate programs are a vestigial product of the industrial era where an aristocratic group of elite were given the reins to control (a.k.a. manage) the workers and get them to do the work. That pisses me off as much as the next guy. Nonetheless, for those of us trying to build post-industrial open enterprises (check out www.Worldblu.org for a glimpse of what I'm talking about) it's also hard to argue against the fact that good management is an important part of any successful enterprise. Just as the stereotype of engineers as nerdy, socially awkward introverts is not true neither is that of the MBA stereotype. For example, I play squash not golf, and I wear penny loafers never argyle sweaters (read: this is a tongue and cheek comment, meaning it's not true but written solely for comic effect and perhaps -- if I'm going to be completely honest-- as a slight dig back at those of you who felt entitled to stereotype me unfairly).
I read over my post and can totally understand some of your comments, particularly from readers who didn't catch the sarcasm. I don't actually think Google is evil for paying its engineer a lot. I have a ton of respect for Google: in fact I have a lot of friends working there and Eric Schmidt taught us at Stanford.) The important point in my blog was that we've done a good job to date boot-strapping rippleQ to identify a market need, to build a cool product (iterating a lot along the way) and, most recently, to sell to a number of enterprise customers. We're poised to raise a series A round now too. In other words, we're doing all the right things but struggle to find top web developers because the demand is already so high in the valley. It's obviously difficult for everybody (e.g. companies are advertising on road-side billboards now to attract engineers!). I've continued to receive great advice on how to reach out to recruit great engineers (and we're talking with a number of engineers now -- thank you to those who referred people!), but I thought I'd just rant a bit out loud, and I guess I thought (perhaps mistakenly) that out of my rants an awesome developer would fall out of the sky, contacting me interested in learning more about rippleQ. Some entrepreneurs wear monkey suits, I write disgruntled emails that poke fun at myself and MBAs!
Don't Fall for Facebook Scam Promising Google Plus Invites
I mean don't just give up. I don't know what will change, but things have a way to work themselves up if one continues to hammer at the problem. There will always be issues when trying to do something important. This is just another one.

And as I write this I realize that I sound a bit corny. The shame... (no sarcasm intended)
Can you post links to said articles that helped you?
More patents means more innovation, right? Because more innovative ideas have been protected, right?

This is not just a problem for the federal government. If I remember correctly, at a banquet hosted by my state's government in honor of local innovators, the emcee announced with pride the number of patents that had been granted to local businesses and inventors.
This is why I pay $130 a month for Speakeasy broadband. They give me 6M and I can use 6M 24/7 with no complaint.

Bandwidth costs money. So consumer "ISPs" (and I use that term in a very loose sense) tell you what the burst bandwidth is, and then hope that you don't burst very often. When you do, they drop you, because you cost them money. The solution is to just get a real Internet connection. "Business" is the magic word.

The alternative to Comcast's cap strategy is that everyone would be paying $500 a month for Internet access, or you'd be limited to 768kbps with no burst.
David Pogue: Google+ One-Ups Facebook
...this kind of mindset is ridiculous, only led by stereotypes of [] and a general ignorance towards the [] community.

Fill in the blank and welcome to the mainstream US mindset, where Taco Bell resembles Mexican food, Dick van Dyke can sound like someone from England, and all folk dancers stick out their elbows and move like Popeye.
Bandwidth isn't like other resources; when you stop using it, it's (near) instantly available again for someone else to use, and doesn't cost anything to produce.

Yes, it routes via other Tier-1 ISPs, but comcast undoubtedly has route-exchange arrangements with them so that it ends up costing them a net of nothing.
That's fair enough, it definitely was a sweeping generalization. I guess what I meant is that if you've already played Ultima Online when you're 12, Everquest when you're 14, etc., do you really need to still be raiding in World of Warcraft when you're 30? I don't think so.
Here's the problem: how do you feel about essentially donating your time and creative energy to patent trolls and defense lawyers? If at least there were some kind of public good, I could almost stomach it, but to see these vultures take away the benefits of my hard work, it would be incredibly painful. What makes this worse is that it almost seems to be a kind of roulette... but then again, that is a design feature rather than a flaw from the pov of the trolls. After all, if patents were easy to understand and predictable, people could easily see what is patented legitimately and what isn't, and sidestep the minefield. The system needs to be essentially random, opaque, and unpredictable to keep the industry stocked with fresh meat.
Earlier in my career I concentrated learning how to construct software irrespective of language. I remember a good book I read probably 10 years ago, called "Code Complete". Its still on my shelf.

I also don't recommend copying other people's code until you are familiar with the language in question and can debug and enhance the code.

Choose a language - nothing wrong with Basic for learning purposes - get a book that takes you from Hello World to building a small app and read it cover to cover. And be patient. Don't copy other people's code for now. I think you'll get more reward this way and will be able to build upon your learnings instead of spending your time trying to make your current mashups work.
Your argument is exasperating, because I already addressed this notion that password complexity requirements in banking apps have anything to do with what financial security people think are best practices for SSL/TLS.
Looking at how things developed in other industries like movies and banks I'd expect laws to be changed so things will get simplified for big companies with deep pockets who can afford lawyers.
Small businesses don't have a lobby so congress won't help them.
This is only going to get worse, and claiming that internet is a "right" or a "utility" will evnetually invite government regulation, which will amplify the pervasive and inevitable problem of corporate malfeasance.

We need to build an internet without ISPs if we want to keep what we have.
Firstly, you originally posted this article so I can see that you are biased against cynical dismissal of the company. (I tend to feel that in openness you should have declared that in refuting my skeptical take on Evernote, but now I've done it for you.)

Secondly, it seems from your background that you are 18 and your self-identity is closely linked to programming 'apps' and the whole money-for-dotbubbleapp2.0 thang. I am happy for your (apparent?) success thus far, as you yourself spin it. However, I would suggest that you consider that perhaps you do not have enough perspective yet to understand that this whole thing is just a game... a very stupid game... and ultimately not necessarily producing anything at all that is meaningful or useful to humanity, the economy, the country, or your dog: despite big scary amounts of money being thrown around.

In answer to your question: I am serious. It appears to me that it is not untrue to say that nothing Evernote has done has actually been new or unique. All they've done is drawn a cloud around some stuff that existed before (I can hear the squeak of the whiteboard marker right now...), put some marketing dollars down and made some sexed-up UI's for a few device types. That's it.

Then got a bunch of money.

Of course, they probably wasted a lot more money doing it less efficiently ... and used a lot of stupid Silly-valley oldboy networks to get the cash ... and burned a lot of time. And maybe actually did produce something new along the way. But basically... nothing new. Skepticism is king.

TL;DR? That's sad because I can't them recommend that you try The Art of UNIX Programming or any tome on code generation. But I hope you do. Also, take a tip and don't aim for fame "One day I hope you won't need to look me up to find out who I am" (puh-lease!) ... we were all 18 once.
I'm happy I'm in Canada? I mean sure, I'm certainly not protected 100% - if a patent troll wants to roll across me, there's definitely cross-border agreements to allow that.

That said, it's certainly different from what they're accustomed to due to that cross-border issue, and thus a bit more difficult and there are probably much easier targets within their immediate legal jurisdiction.

Not that it it really matters for me RIGHT NOW, since I only just launched the other day and revenue is a future dream, but it still assuages my fear a little.
Our startup (http://infostripe.com) is built on independent spirit. So far we have been doing well. It's a struggle sometimes but always worth the effort.
Mark Zuckerberg Hides Google+ account
The Problem With Silicon Valley Is Itself
Passable is for strong passwords
I have cellular Internet and while the speed is not ideal (about 2Mb/s during the day and 7Mb/s at night) I have unlimited data. I even asked their customer service "so I could run 100Tb of data a month and that would be ok?" And they told me it would be. Granted it's not ideal, but I can stream 360p video on it(my laptop resolution isn't enough for anything higher to make a difference) and since I use it at night most of the time I never have a problem with slow download rates.
Turn to google my friend..

http://liheap.ncat.org/Disconnect/disconnect.htm
It looks like you were right to be confrontational. According to Google, that was a temporary moratorium that has expired: http://www.ontariotenants.ca/electricity/articles/2004/ltw04...

It's certainly a common misconception. I certainly know that people in the "which bill do I pay this month" scenario often choose to hold off on paying Hydro during the winter. It's also quite likely that Hydro is less likely to disconnect during the Winter. Frozen water pipes can cause a lot of damage...
What makes OneNote so much better than Evernote?

EDIT: This is not an editorial comment or rhetorical. I've heard much about this, and would like to know why many consider OneNote on early 2000's pen computers so awesome and Evernote only so-so.
While I'm not in any way a lawyer, that's the advice I'd give too. There seems to be little potential for confusion between a TV platform and a social network (trademarks are within a field of business, so two different trademarks could use the same name as long as they're in distinct fields with little chance of confusion, as I understand it), so yeah.
The problem is that a lawsuit easily can take out a small developer. Even if the lawsuit is completely frivolous. I can't afford tens of thousands of dollars for a lawsuit. If I get sued my company is probably done. It doesn't matter if the suit has merit or not.
Except it doesn't take 10 seconds. The time between the Galaxy Tab's proper DHCP discover and DHCP ACK was 0.653 seconds. You might notice a difference between that and the Mac's 0.031 seconds to DHCP-free link up if you blink fast.

This conversation makes me want to block Apple devices from any and all devices I control. Because hey, such anti-social network behaviour is going to keep happening. Because it's not a big deal. Because you're worth it. Good thing the network layer doesn't support such, uh, experience-enhacing features.
Very thorough introduction that emphasizes the right points. I like the author's dislike of the canvas element - and specifically his description of why he dislikes it, and how he ultimately accepts it and encourages it's use as a way to further web standards.

I'll recommend this read to any of my technically-oriented friends who ask me about html5 in the future.
Comcast doesn't have a monopoly in Seattle. There are multiple providers from which he could procure service.

Regardless, I'm curious what models people advocate. After all, there appears to be only one electric provider in Seattle. If we were, as proposed, to follow that model, then Comcast could negotiate to be the single service provider and then charge per usage. Is that more desirable than what we have now, where there are multiple providers offering different services at different rates?

If we're to argue for something different, we should be aware of what we're arguing for.
It's really hard to want to continue reading when the third sentence says this:

Little has changed with the process of software development since the 1980’s

I understand the point: that things are the more the same than ever, that this guy is a salty old sonofabitch who's forgotten more than i've learned, but seriously. Little has changed with the process of software development since the 1980s other than the tools? The entire way we think about why we're building software and what we're trying to get out of has changed and is still changing.
If the USPTO got to keep the money it collected in patent fees that might be a problem, but if it got to keep the money it got in fees then maybe it would be able to do a better job examining patents. :|
If you are correct (not saying you are) then someone could build a wrapper around those on Android and iPhone and make a killing.
That phrasing is a bit loaded. I'm an engineer on Facebook ads (I actually work with Paul, he's sitting right behind me. hi paul) and as much as people want to demonize ads, they do create real value for the businesses that use them and the users that click on them. We never think in terms of "get users to click". If we wanted to do that, we could make the ads bigger, flashier. But we don't because a good user experience is our prime directive, even for ads. And yes, there is a lot of room for improvement. zuck reminds of this regularly.

As I see it I'm building a tool that lets people promote their cause, their business, their band. The fact that they are paying for it is only because there is contention for that space.
But keep in mind, the patent trolling industry can't take all the money, or there wouldn't be any more developers to sue. In this case, the parasite methaphor really is apt - if a parasite completely wipes out the host species, then the parasite goes extinct as well.

So yeah, the situation isn't impossible, because patent trolls need to keep the success rate high enough that new software entrepreneurs are tempted to try.
New Metasploit book released
Agreed.

A better way of putting this would be "electronic access to the world web of information and services is becoming an extension of our brains, and as such some degree of connectivity should be considered a public commons that the government is required to provide to each citizen, much the same as parkland, airspace, or waterways."

This implies that some parts of infrastructure are private (personal access devices), some parts are public (perhaps a limited amount of bandwidth donated to the public in return for use of the airwaves), and some are commercial (the infrastructure from the ISP to the rest of the net).

Each segment in this scheme has special needs, responsibilities, and privileges. Using the word "right" as a blanket statement doesn't cut it -- it begins to substitute ranting for reasoning. I sympathize with the author, but their problem is lack of competition, not abuse of their rights.
Dude, have you ever talked to a comcast rep? One dude told me that I needed to get access to my apartment telco room because it was MY fault that the apartments were mislabelled (presumably done by one of THEIR techs). The problem was that they unplugged my internet when my neghibor didn't pay. No credit given to me for the time I was down or anything either, and dood wouldn't let me talk to a supervisor. Supervisor called back 5 hours later in the middle of the night (~3AM) and I was sleeping. WTF.
Hopefully you are never involved in any legal dispute, because the discovery process is going to be hilarious when this comment turns up.
In the days where software was distributed on magnetic media, such as reels of tape, cassettes, or floppy disks, it cost a lot of money to get the product to a customer.

One of us is misremembering. I seem to recall an interview with Gates and/or Ballmer where they talked about the realization that the cost of 5 or 6 floppies at wholesale was insignificant compared to the revenue from the software, that it was a no-brainer cost-wise. CDs were the first time when cost became an issue, iirc (again) because you had to pay for one or more masters to print the production copies. I'd feel better if his history was right.

This time the retail channel itself is very cheap, but the ancillary costs, both financially and emotionally, are very high.

And, of course, only large companies and publishers can bear these costs. My fear is that It’s only a matter of time before developers find the risks and expenses prohibitive and retreat to the safety of a larger organization. We’ll be going back to square one.

I can't even address the "emotional costs" he talks about, but there is a precedent for dealing with risks of this kind. For consulting engineers, it's called "errors and omissions insurance." It strikes me that if there isn't something like that for developers, one plausible reason is that this kind of liability hasn't actually been a problem. Is there errors and omissions insurance for developers?

From our experience, it’s entirely possible that all the revenue for a product can be eaten up by legal fees.

The author uses the phrase "from our experience," but I wonder what that experience actually is. At this point, it's not even anecdotal, because he doesn't supply the anecdote! We can't even begin to ask if his experience generalizes. For example, did he get good counsel? Was he actually infringing? Should he have settled? Did he avail himself of the FSF or ESF if applicable? Should his product have been more profitable?

I think I'm either blessed or cursed with too much curiosity to take this guy at his word.
Rails migrations with no downtime
Environmentalists buy woodchip mill for $10M
This is useless flamebait.
TwitchTV/Justin.tv looking for programmers to build the future of pro gaming
> what about more laws directed against Regulatory Capture?

Umm, regulatory capture applies to legislatures as well, not just regulatory agencies.

Consider GE. Its $0 tax bill is not due to regulations, but to laws.
Find it here: http://nostarch.com/metasploit.htm

Use coupon code REDTEAM for 40% off.
Show HN: fmeme.com
Watch'Captain America'online"free
watch'Captain America'online"free
How Korvac pulled out of jail Cap ruminates about his past and if he belongs at this time
Typing words into the "sloggle" challenge, oftimes the textbox won't clear after hitting enter (but are accepted after a short delay), so the first few letters of the next word are removed along with the previous word.
What do Data Miners Need to Learn?
I posted 1.2TB of usage last month. I love the little graph on their comcast.com homepage. Nice big and red bar way way over the 250GB limit. No one contacted me about it.

But I'm paying for the super extreme 50mb/sec burst plan for 120/mo so I'm guessing that's the reason they leave me alone

"what are you downloading" -> starcraft replays, also downloading video backups to S3
Microsoft Plans 75 More Retail Stores
This is absurd. Another reason not to trust police to have your interest as their primary concern...

If you were presently witnessing the car being broken into, then that would be 911 level.

EDIT: There is a correlation between my use of the word "absurd" and downvotes.
Crashes for me on start
Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE at 0x00000000bf7fffec
He's got his history completely wrong. From the first days that home computers were affordable at all, there were tons of very small software shops. I recall purchasing programs from computer stores that came in poly bags containing a photocopied manual on card stock and a cassette tape with a photocopied label that had been glued on by hand. If you called the company for support, sometimes you woke the guy up.
Except for your name. And their private whois is only available to individuals, not company accounts.
until then dont bash older gamers
Yeah. I was concerned with even making my initial comment because I didn't want to sound like an ass. But I have a lot of experience with derivatives, so hoped I'd be looked at as a benevolent expert rather than a blowhard windbag. :-)