skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I think it's wrong looking at this as a "disaster". There's nothing good about a natural disaster, while history has proven again and again that paradigm shifts, while also having a negative side effect in the short term, have a much larger positive effect in the long term.

Take a look in the mobile industry. Is Nokia crumbling down and laying off a lot of people? Is RIM doing the same? Both former leaders in this market. Yes they are, but wouldn't you agree that what has come out of this is much better for everyone?

People need to stop looking at "saving jobs" in a time like this. The focus should be on "creating jobs". Let the jobs that need to disappear in order to have progress, disappear. If you're arguing against that, then you're arguing against the very nature of progress and evolution, whether it's biological, economical or technological.

For example in a time of "economic crisis", which happens about every 10 years or so, you should let that crisis kill the inefficiencies in the system! And then focus on taking advantage of it to create new businesses that are much more efficient and can deal with the new conditions, and from that you'll also have more jobs.
Spot on! I was on the verge of writing almost the same reply only to find yours.

Let's crunch the numbers:

52 weeks/year - 4 weeks for vacation = 48 weeks

$500,000 / 48 weeks = $10,417 / week

$10,417 / 1 week * 1 week/ 100 hours = $104.17/hr

As a freelance developer, in the US, and particularly in this startup economy (bubble?), it is entirely possible to earn 500k/year working 100 hours/week. Most modest freelancers I know these days charge at least $100/hr -- and many of them are clearly under selling themselves.

jasonkester above asks what I consider the better question: do you want to work 100hrs/week?

As a freelancer, you'd be better off charging a higher rate than $100/hr, if you have the skills and marketing to back it up, and working fewer hours.

Me? I'm with jasonkester. I'll stick my "anemic" 25-30 billable hours/week and retain some semblance of sanity.

Oh, and not working for the fat cats on Wall St? Priceless.
So that probably means an experienced hire. What about relatively unexperienced new grads? Do they have any hope in joining a startup on a visa?
Here is a question that’s puzzling me. Since this thread has already dropped off the front page, and it probably won’t be seen by many people, I’ve also posted it at http://bosker.wordpress.com/2011/07/31/something-i-don’t-und...

The homomorphic encryption techniques seem to allow the computation of arbitrary polynomials over various finite rings, and – at least in everything I’ve read – it’s always treated as obvious that this is equivalent to allowing arbitrary computations. Is that actually true? If so, is it really obvious? I’d love some enlightenment here.

A related source of confusion is that clearly any encryption scheme that <em>actually</em> supported arbitrary computations on encrypted values would be hopelessly insecure. For example, suppose you have encrypted a ten-character ascii password. I then run the function that extracts the first character. The result I get is still encrypted, but since there are only 128 possible values for an ascii character, I can encrypt each of these values and compare the result to the result of my computation. (I can do this because I can always encrypt any data of my choice, just by running a constant-valued function inside the encryption.) Then I do the same for the second character, and so on, till I have your complete password. Encryption fail!

The only reasonable conclusion I can draw from this is that fully homomorphic encryption does not really permit arbitrary computations on the encrypted data. In that case,

1. Why do people keep saying it does?
2. What is the class of computations that are in fact permitted? Is it just the evaluation of polynomials?

Anyone?
This story comes soon after the issue with AirBnb being outted where they were emailing/spamming listers on Craigslist and posing as fake people. Not only is this illegal (CAN-SPAM act) but also unethical and dishonest.

One thing I didn't see from this was a response by PG. Only silence.

But I didn't assume his stance. After all, there's a lot that happens behind the scenes. (And I can't track all responses to stories on HN.)

But now we have this story. I'm still open to seeing how things play out and finding out what's really happened. But, so far, it's not looking good for AirBnb or PG. All the sympathy is going to EJ IMO.

And I did see a response by PG which essentially called Arrington's reporting "bullshit." His comments also seemed to directly contradict what EJ said. So someone's not being completely honest.

Given that EJ's the victim and PG's an investor, most readers are likely to be biased in favor of EJ (unless they are an HN/YC/PG fanboy).

So I wouldn't call it shadenfreude. I see it as AirBnb/PG having at track record based on other, recent, controversial events. I think to blame HN or its "collective IQ" is somewhat ignorant and self-serving.
CAM: The Beer Goggles of Medicine
> Somebody is going to have to design, manufacture, and maintain the robots.

Eventually that will be the robots: Designing, manufacturing and maintaining themselves.
I disagree. Regulation has given people a false sense of security, leading to them trusting these unknown and untested entities.

Instead of regulation what they need is more transparency. Tell your customers who you are, how you are building your service, what you will do in the case of a disaster.

In this particular case you have someone who is playing with the technology without having even a basic understanding of how to build the required infrastructure.
Use iPhone and Twitter?
I love that Marc presents using transparencies and an overhead projector.

[Skip to the 30 min mark for his portion of the video.]
I do agree that there comes a time when you have to look at current the current security environment and realize that you need to enable the private sector to do more to defend themselves than appears possible currently. Relating of course to industrial espionage and the so-called "APT", not this #antisec nonsense. I don't look forward to a world where private firms are employing offensive cyber-mercenaries, but let's be honest - that is what many chinese firms and some western firms are already doing. Something needs to change to let western businesses respond to these threats, and it's clear that the usual mantras of defense in depth and being increasingly vigilant just aren't leading us down a winning path. We may never have infosec world where it's possible to adequately rely on defense only, perhaps it is time to move past the missile defense shields and on to MAD - much like US defense has gone.
Ralph lauren brasil
Oh, like I said, I'll totally grant that if we're talking about lexical ambiguity. Words in isolating languages accumulate extra meanings, just like morphemes in inflecting languages do.

But again, that's just because of highly lexicalized grammar; it's practically no different from having an "ambiguous" system of inflection, or bizarre energy-focused polysynthesis, which a native speaker would never mistake. That's where I'm saying someone who grew up with a strongly inflected or polysynthetic language would be biased.

And I hope you don't take this as a criticism of your English— you're obviously perfectly fluent! There's simply a basic level of intuitive understanding of a language which is impossible to get without growing up with it from infancy. That's why in linguistics we don't talk about fluency as much as native vs. non-native speakers. It's where you can really separate the meat from the bone, if you will.
Ruby 1.9.3 preview1 release notes
I'm vaguely curious about this too. What a lot of people don't know is that there a special visa for Australians to work in the US, called an E3 [1] that (IIRC) came about only 5-8 years ago as part of a settlement of a trade dispute (basically the US blocks Australian wheat imports on quarantine grounds but the real issue is Australian agriculture isn't subsidized and is competitive with US agriculture, which is hugely subsidized).

Anyway, an E3 visa is actually MUCH easier to get than a H1B visa. For a H1B visa you have to "prove" that the job qualifies (Labor certification) and that you can't find anyone locally to do it. The first part is a formality (getting an LCA from the Department of Labor). The second is the hard and expensive part.

For an E3, you only need to do the first part.

So if you can't find people locally, consider employing Australians. I am curious on the cost and hassle of doing this from the employer's side too.

Anyone had any experience with this?

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-3_visa
I have 2 free add supported and 1 paid apps up:

Mustachio - http://social.zune.net/redirect?type=phoneApp&id=3adc071...
Mustachio Pro - http://social.zune.net/redirect?type=phoneApp&id=0ed1faf...
Square Attack - http://social.zune.net/redirect?type=phoneApp&id=a35d2c6...

Mustachio has been up for about 2 months, has about 4.5K downloads, and has made about $80. eCPM is about $1 with 2K impressions per day. Mustachio Pro is a paid version ( $0.99) without ads. It's sold about 70 copies so far.

Square Attack has been up for about 2 weeks, has about 2.5K downloads, and has made about $200. When first released, the eCPM climbed to $6-7 but has dropped a lot lately ($1-2). I'm guessing it has something to do with # of new users per day which has also dropped a lot. Square Attack is about 150 in the free games list so it's very hard to find even though its getting pretty good reviews. I'd love to know how the top apps got there since being the top apps list looks like the best way to advertise and the best bet at success.
I understand that, but not everyone runs around claiming they're awesome seeking validation from Zed Shaw. There are lots of great programmers in every field that involves a computer. There are bad ones too, just like in open-source. To claim that there are no good programmers in any given field is nonsense.
hackin,

I've been reading your replies and thought this summed up what you've been saying in other replies. Exactly spot on that the framework for society we have no is not capable of handling/supporting what I'll call the artistic/spiritual re-revolution that may occur after machines take over all (for the purposes of this argument) jobs.

That being said we still need to be mining and creating raw resources to make the robots for the automation and the devices, so someone at the top will be holding a giant leash around that process and they will, in reality, have the power to exert whatever reality they decide on down onto all of us if we want our robots, automation and gadgets.
Nice!

You definitely have your MVP done already. Just a suggestion, it would be nice to allow saving of the completed mockup in pdf or img.

The ability of multiple revisions of a mockup would be nice.
Money can serve as a rough indicator of social value. For example, based on pay, society does not value teachers very much.
Because you can make enough money to retire before you are 30, which means you can spend much more time with your wife and kids when that time comes. I wouldnt want to be the type of dad who has to stress out about money issues.
"The only way for an engineer to make real money is to be a quant, found a startup or join an early stage startup."

This statement should be included in every CS curriculum.
It sort of is, a little bit. No one in Europe has to die without work, they don’t even have to starve. It’s not a pleasant life, certainly, but it shows that a massive change of our social structures wouldn’t be necessary, we would just have to extend what we are currently doing.
Funny, I didn't use open source at all in that post. I said, they don't show it to anyone and I meant even other employees at the bank. Some of those dudes guarded their secret sauce like crazy, even when I was asked to help them improve it. When I finally got in to see it, it was a nasty horrible mess.

But hey, good lame-troll attempt.
Good point, I wonder if we will need to create virtual realities for ourselves just to stay "occupied"

... here is a meta though... what if that is what we live in NOW, hence all the talk about "is our reality a hologram?" recently.

Inceptioned! :)
Retire doesn't have to mean slippers, robe and couch. It could mean being free to pursue interests and goals regardless of the employment landscape.
This is not why they use mainframes instead of the cloud. This is why they employ competent sysadmins.
I would argue that this entire "Wall Street programmer" notion is a bit broad. You don't need to work in a bank or other financial institution to be a "Wall Street programmer". It is like saying that if a game company took a contract to build a first-person shooter game for the Army that now they are "Government programmers". The world revolving around finance is huge and there are lots of sub-fields and niche areas within it.
Thank you for the correction; I tried to edit the story but it looks like I'm past the time limit.
I would _never_ do something like this, but then again I'm more stubborn than most people.

So yeah if you were me, which probably isn't the best decision, I would tell her if she wants to do all this crap then that's entirely her decision, and I'm sorry I have somewhat differing opinions than her on some issues, but you know what? welcome to the real world.

It really isn't very hard to get internet access outside the house nowadays, plenty of cafes around and you can get a cheap netbook on craigslist for like $200.

Seriously if she keeps doing crap like this it's only going to ruin your relationship and then when you're old enough you'll be gone and never talk to her again. You think that's what she wants after raising you all this time? Some people are just stupid.

But yeah- even barring the issue of the blog, I would despise myself if I ever let my parents just say crap like, "ok well... if you don't do what we say we're just going to take everything away because we can." I'm my own person and I wouldn't let people just control me like that. Again I would just tell her she can do whatever she wants to make herself feel all warm and snuggly at the end of the day but I'm not just going to blindly follow crap you say because you think you own me. If _you_ want to make the choice to start going down this road and deteriorating our relationship over something ridiculous, than that's entirely your decision. There are some things that you just need to learn to accept.
Chrome is growing at the expense of IE, Android is crushing Windows Phone, Google Docs forced Windows Office to go online, Google Desktop search is better than Windows Desktop search, and Gmail has taken share from Hotmail and Outlook.

And now Chromebooks at $28/user/month are poised to take a ton of Redmond's other revenue:

http://www.betanews.com/joewilcox/article/Microsoft-could-lo...

So tell me again that the comparison makes "no sense at all"?
J.K. Rowling's 2008 Harvard Commencement address
How do you ensure transparency without regulation?
The saving part is actually quite odd :)
I get innerHTML (with inline css to position the elements correctly) of the layout where you can insert objects and save it to database.
Very cool. This could be really handy!
The Real Game Changer for eReading
The savings account that still exists after you quit.
Actual value is what people are knowingly and voluntarily paying for your work. Front-running trades that were about to happen in milliseconds only produces "value" by exploiting flaws in the way the market clears. Muggers don't get to claim their income represents a contribution to society either.
Something I don’t understand about homomorphic encryption
AOL Keywords are still used?
I have several people at work addicted to Hi-Chew, but it seems like it's harder to get Japanese candy in the US lately. The local market seems to be having issues importing things from what I hear and some of the shelves are just bare.

I haven't had Puccho grape in about a month.
YES!! I've been clamoring for client-side TTS for a while now. This particular synth isn't great. Many words don't come out sounding right. But being able to do TTS client-side in a web page has about a thousand times more usability than any built-in OS level TTS. I can have an extremely high level of control over what is being said and when, and I can feed it custom replacements ("for tea" instead of "forty") and so on.

I was a little disappointed after hacking Google's Translate API to get TTS working. Downloading an MP3 from a remote server just felt like an awful cludge solution. And there were http delays, cut off audio clips, and trying to queue up and play multiple <audio> clips never worked right because of delays between each clip.
Nah if you speak any European language you can land that kind of gig, just elsewhere in (Western)Europe.
That won't pay the bills, though. In order to do these jobs you need to be near one of the bigger cities, where the cost of life is excruciatingly high, 2.5$ for an espresso, 10$ for a pint, 1250$ for a month in a 30m2 flat. Add to that between an hour and two of commute time every day...

About the tech, for that kind of money it's mostly Java, PHP and C++, with a bit of perl, Oracle PL/SQL. We're old fashioned :) but for the past few years C#, .NET, and javascript are making a splendid coming out, and there's always demand for ObjectiveC (iOS mostly).

Now don't take my words for truth about the tech on the market, I'm super biased by the company I've worked in and their customers. But in any case it's nothing compared to what you earn if you're good enough with Excel, Powerpoint and absolutely nothing else. The more tech you know, the less you bill is the rule of thumb at least in the French consulting business.
quit quit quit

like alain mentioned -- get 1 consulting gig first but it will do wonders for your self-esteem once you do

you'll also find that being a contractor is actually MORE safe than working for some random BigCo that can fire you at will

to anyone else reading -- note that he has 6 months of savings -- I'd say depending on your age and responsibilities you want at a bare minimum of 3 months -- I def. don't like having anything less than one year but each to his own
Flippancy aside I'd say if good coders aren't reviewing your code you have a good chance of being a shitty programmer. Open source is a great way to achieve that but certainly code review is prevalent in other places.
WordPress Check for post type within loop using get_post_type
I'm worried that this decision is coming too soon. Of the people I know, it has been the ones who strongly dislike aspects of facebook like these money hungry games that have switched to G+ so far. The other users might follow them but it is a delicate transition and probably has more to do with community than features. Introducing games now might turn off a lot of the early adopters at a time when their continued presence is crucial.
I don't understand the point you are trying to make.

Incompetent exchange goes out of business. Said exchange try to compensate their customers. Customers learn better to scrutinize other exchanges for their backup policies and how they run their business.

Of course, this is the free market. Failure to be competent, either as an investor, user, or exchange, result in monetary loss.

To others, this is horrible. To me, this is the way I like it.

I wish for the accurate consequence of my decisions, not a jacked up distorted picture of reality. This prevent crisis from becoming a minor blip in the bitcoin economy into something that fundamental destroy the bitcoin economy.

Adding regulators who have a hold on the whole Bitcoin economy with no alternative for said regulators, with no incentives to for regulators to regulate the market right is a recipe for disaster. You want regulation and regulators? Show me the incentives for them to make things right. Show me why they will not fall prey to regulatory capture. Give me precise details of how this is all suppose to work and what the rules are.
I agree with everything you said with one important exception: The finance industry is not corrupt because of a lack of regulations. It is corrupt because of the regulations. The fact that Federal Reserve has been regulated into existence is a very deep problem, as is the fact that fractional reserve banks are always protected from failing by regulations. Regulations are the problem, not the answer.
>Spread trading (or "market making") is also misunderstood. People see market makers as scalpers when in fact they're providing a valuable service: they're creating liquidity. The reason you can buy or sell shares at any time (rather than waiting for a seller or buyer to show up) is because of market makers.

Except market makers generally target markets which are already highly liquid, so I would guess most of them aren't providing a tangible service to anyone working at human timescales. I remember reading that Chi-X had only 1 (!) high frequency market maker for the first 1.5 years they were open and liquidity there was just fine.

(link to the Chi-X paper: http://www.tinbergen.nl/discussionpapers/11076.pdf)
Or not. "Results: MAC address not found in the Live database"
Powerpoint Presentations
TIL slashdot commenters are fairly mean and biter. Good post, and thanks for the intelligent and well reasoned comments HN.
A comment turns grey when its points value goes to 0, and goes more grey as it goes more negative.

"no comment receives downvotes for more than 24 hours."

This means that the downvote arrow is only visible/enables on a comment for 24 hours. Once a comment is more than 24 hours old you can no longer downvote it.
> Another HFT programmer here. I once had to make a run-time modification to an algorithm to keep about $100 million from going at a lower price than what the traders wanted. Sometimes market conditions change so fast that the traders demand the ability to make rapid adjustments to the algorithm. They're willing to take the risk. They can't wait for the safe development cycle.

Someone should post this next time the issue of "TDD and sudoku-solvers" comes up on HN.
Even normal developer salaries amount to a lot of money compared to median household incomes. I'm known as the "rich one" in my family, and I haven't taken any risks at all. It's all relative, I guess.
Some of my often-used apps:

-Rowi (for Twitter)

-Wooter (woot.com app)

-YouTube

-Yelp

-TransitFinder and StopGoStopGo for Boston MBTA service alerts/schedules

-Skyview is a sorta-decent celestial constellation app

Games:
-Shuriken Ninja, Angry Birds, geoDefense, Beards and Beaks, Plants vs. Zombies, Krashlander, Pandas vs. Ninjas (free Angry Birds clone)
Please note that I submitted this, I am not the author. Please address comment to the author, not me. I get disturbed when people think that items I submit were written by me, and address their comments to me.

I just think this is an interesting question, and I thought the HN audience/community would also find it - and any ensuing discussion - interesting.
I'm confused. In most cases, the libraries will arrive faster from the CDN than each user's web server. CDNjs' reason for existence is specifically that these libraries are not available in other CDNs. HTTPS must be supported on HTTPS pages to avoid security warnings. Why would you use this to pass around how-to HTML files?