skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
> What will happen is no other country will invest in us again

Again? Over what time period?

I think an investment ban, even one widely hailed as a good thing would fall apart within 30 years of its inception.

Governments change, companies rise and fall, and people die. After a while, others would be looking at America and asking "hmmm why don't we invest in those guys, they're a whole different generation different from their parents".
German Pirate Party On Course to Election Win
In consulting projects I often have call to create little one-off internal tools in Rails, either as a prototype for a tool the client will create or to support their marketing team. These generally have development budgets measured in days, and I have the HTML/CSS skills of roadkilled turtles,

It sounds to me like substantial chunks of these projects could be automated, and that there might be a market for an internal-rails-tool-in-a-can type product.
Google moves Android from a PlaysForSure strategy to Zune strategy
OK, so it's incredibly badly written, poorly expressed, and not using the usual conventions, but it's using the "casting out nines" method of checking arithmetic.

That's equivalent to checking your sums modulo 9.

Let's work through the second example in a more conventional manner.

The sum in question is this:

12 * 13 = 156.

We want to do a quick check. We can do that by doing all the sums modulo 9. A neat trick is that a number mod 9 is unchanged by adding up the digits (and equating 0 with 9).

Therefore 12 (mod 9) is also equal to (1+2) (mod 9) and 1+2 is simply3. You can check, 12 mod 9 really is three.

Likewise 13 (mod 9) is (1+3) (mod 9) which is 4. And when you divide 13 by 9 you do indeed get a remainder of 4.

You should also check this with bigger numbers. What's 34857345 (mod 9) ?? Add up the digits. lather, rinse, repeat, see what you get. Then compute 34857345 % 9.

Back to the sum. 12 * 13 (mod 9) reduces to (3 * 4) (mod 9) which is 12 (mod 9) which is (1+2) which is 3.

That's the LHS. What about the RHS?

156 (mod 9) is 1+5+6 (mod 9) which is 12 (mod 9) which is 3, the same as the LHS. So this passes our "Modulo 9" test.

This is like a parity check, but more powerful.

Just wish the website said it better.
Actually the reason why Japan cannot re-militarize is that it already has done so decades ago. Its military may be called "self defence forces" rather than "armed forces", but it really is a well-funded army of moderate size (6th highest military expenditures in the world).
Aliens could end global warming or kill us
Right. The headline should really be "The public, playing a molecule-building game, outperforms computer algorithms made by scientists". Which is distinctly less interesting, since individual people (never mind whole populations) routinely outperform algorithms; otherwise artificial intelligence would be a solved problem.
Timeshare Backyard - Hourly Rental in Manhattan - Slip'n'Slide Extra
Any anger here is manufactured. It's just a way for social-media types to publicize their social web theories.
Well, the Calc 1 version isn't good enough because there are several variables here. You have to consider a continuous function defined on the sphere -- to capture all possible orientations of the panel. In fact, it could be a closed subset of the sphere -- to take care of all possible shadows, obstructions, etc. This is nice, you don't see a lot of direct applications of pure existence theorems...
Anti-Piracy Bill Set To Cost Taxpayers $47m To 2016
Why there aren't many innovators in China
... and magically breaking 10 years of web applications is also a big MUST NOT. Why else would the spec itself dedicate an entire paragraph and add two response codes just for legacy cases? The article, if you read it, also explains why. All old browsers map POST so they stuck to that for forms and XHR's broader capabilities map to the standard when possible. That's a pretty good argument, unless you have better ideas, again, make your suggestions heard.
No, I think it's that real names are bad for privacy, but friends can find you more easily using your real name. Google+ doesn't suffer much if you damage your career using a real name, but it does suffer if your friends don't find you and so you go back to facebook.
I'm amazed that no comment has yet mentioned my favo(u)rite take on the subject, the immortal Lingua::Romana::Perligata http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~damian/papers/HTML/Perligata.... ;)
Not overloaded, just form an orderly queue and wait please.
Supposedly, some Cyanogenmod guys are buying TouchPads to see if they can put Android on them. I'm unsure of the feasibility of this as I don't know much about the hardware and bootloader situation on the TPs.
Maybe a simple button, but where would you put a whole box?

Perhaps if there was an api to tell browsers to keep it open, it would be okay.
OK, the entitlement of people who are simultaneously claiming to be un-privileged is annoying. But Google has global influence, so for them to exclude a bunch of people seems strange. And they're really shooting themselves in the foot. Because of the network effect, they've just made their social network geometrically less valuable to the people in it, and less attractive to anyone looking to join.
The idea that automation creates unemployment is ancient, and has been debunked over and over. How is it that people don't at least wonder why cars, manufacturing robots, computers etc. etc, haven't lead to mass systemic unemployment, but future technologies will?

The reason technology doesn't create systemic unemployment is that people don't just shrivel up and die when they lose their job. If someone is replaced with a piece of software they don't just say "oh well, I'm just gonna sit here and starve." They either find a job in a sector that requires minimal training, or they re-train. They have no choice!

The basic premise is this: there is no limit on the amount of work that needs to be done - there is always room for more human labour (either in servicing other humans or creating goods for them, or whatever.) This is just another way of stating Say's Law (Wikipedia link: http://bit.ly/pvD9Hz) which is that goods are paid for with other goods. If $x is saved in one area, it just gets pumped into another part of the economy, creating demand/jobs there. The net effect of technological progress is: the same number of people producing more goods and services.

You don't even have to believe me - just look around! this is exactly what's been happening for thousands of years. Technology has never resulted in systemic unemployment - only temporary frictional unemployment as people re-train.
How does your theory fit with the enormous counter example you have under the eyes? i mean, China has been peaceful for centuries, underarmed, and did not collapse, or did we learn a different history?
Not exactly to answer your question, but here is a graph I came across a while ago of the mentions made of one PG essay by another:

http://www.solipsys.co.uk/new/PaulGrahamEssays.html?HN

Not sure exactly how valuable it is.
This is amazing. Currently there are 12000 people tuned to watch a man program live. Who would have thought that would ever happen... live streaming programming.
This is a appealing theory, marred only by the fact that it is appears to be gibberish.

At the very least, it's an extraordinary claim and makes no reference to the anything not more easily explained by the oft-noted equation between low GBP and high fertility - for example, seen here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TFR_vs_PPP_2009.svg

If you can furnish a concrete series of examples of countries at a similar economic stage, where the sole difference is warlike behavior, and connect this to fertility, more power to you.

But frankly, I think you're just making stuff up.
How to Try Google's Cleaner Interface
Funny, but completely ignorant of the fact that Canadian English is distinct from Amrican English. We generally spell it 'colour' here, but draw the line at 'connexion', and have two spellings for 'seriali[sz]e', depending on the audience and style guide you follow. Joe Clark has a wonderful book about this, Organizing Our Marvellous Neighbours (http://en-ca.org/).
I tried them and they produced poor quality. They couldn't even get the white background correct! I suppose their #1 ranking on Google is making them complacent.

http://www.loadinfo.net/ is much better presented and actually respects the color values you type in! (And no, I don't have any relationship with them.)
It'd be better to simply have a JIT with type inference for performance.
It's actually really interesting to see the thought process and programming technique of a respected dev from start to finish of a project. I'm sure I'll learn a lot, more people should do this.

Going to keep it on the secondary monitor.
After seeing this I installed Windows (shocking, I haven't used Windows since Windows 2000) and installed the express SDK to check it out.

I have to admit I'm actually liking what's there. While I didn't quite have my webOS apps ready to be published, so I don't really qualify for this I guess, I might have to consider the platform. The UI itself is fresh and much better than what I saw from CE on PocketPCs years ago. Of course, not having an actual phone hurts so maybe I'll wait and see how things evolve with the mango release first; I'm still feeling pretty burnt on investing in webOS hardware.
Entrepreneurs Need to Think Global From Day One
It's not just inflation, though. Compare the history of platinum prices with those of gold. There is definitely a psychological component to the run-ups in gold which has nothing to do with immediate economic pressures.
Being a (rational) software developer gives you an interesting edge un understanding this stuff. I've been involved in the automation of a number of things that have directly eliminated the need for human involvement and so it's something I think about often as kind of a modern Loom builder.

It's chilling to think that even if the state of technology would stop today that the level of automation would continue to rise rapidly. Every time I go out of the house I'm struck by the how many humans are not really needed and could be replaced with off the shelf technology that existed several years ago.

I don't think that we need to get to the point of extremely advanced AI before this starts making a dent in the economy.
Ask HN: Do you try to code "proper" even on the first pass?
Ask HN: On the first pass of coding something, do you hack it till you get something working or structure it well?
>...so unsuccessful were Windows tablets of old - that the iPad's virtues have been extolled as flaws and limitations

I don't see how that follows? If anything, it's the opposite.
How to Be a Human
Swombat on the terrible costs of patents
Thanks to whoever posted this. Greetings from the FrOSCon office!

Here is the online schedule, so you know when to watch the streams:

http://programm.froscon.de

Note that the time zone is UTC +2
The original source as far as I know is Buckminster Fuller: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephemeralization.
I really like Bootstrap as a tool to create a MVP. Will definitely be using it soon!
anyone know what music he's listening to on the live feed?
It's hugely fascinating to watch & listen to him brainstorm on the type of game he wants to build. This is awesome.
Google could easily promote and encourage real names a la Facebook and still let pseudonymous profiles slide. I think that the typical first/last name convention is good, and that it'd be fine to require pseudonyms that follow that convention.
I write code as cleanly on the first pass as I do on the last (if there ever is a last). The reason being that if I hacked it and then showed the client/my boss that it's working, it would be hard to justify the additional time to clean it up when they want it pushed to production now.
This is a terrible headline and terrible summary of an interesting paper (here: http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1104/1104.4462.pdf) linked in a YC discussion that died out with 4 points and no comment (here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2905161) yesterday.
In music its all software now, mixers, sequencers, synths are all software based. Djs use software like tracktor or serato to mix their mp3s.
Very interesting idea. However, Apple and Amazon have very distinct ways of doing business that would stop any potential purchase talks dead in their tracks.

1) Apple makes and sells everything itself at very high profit margins. They also work with some retailers to extend reach. Meanwhile, Amazon makes nothing (except the Kindle) and sells millions (billions?) of small items at a miniscule profit margin. Completely different models here.

2) Apple is notorious for not trusting other parties to do their business. Amazon depends entirely on it.

3) The parts of Amazon that overlap into Apple's interests -- digital content and AWS -- are irrelevant. Apple already has a huge content distribution channel, and does not need the help of Amazon's agreements with creators. AWS could be intriguing, but if Apple thought AWS was worth using, they'd already use it for iCloud, iTunes, etc.

While Apple and Amazon are two of my favorite companies in the world, I see very little that would give way to a potential acquisition.
I had to get this into an essay a while back to clarify my views on it: http://bitoftech.mkronline.com/2011/08/05/the-information-ag...

The short version is that once we automate away all the manual labor, our cultural, economic, and educational priorities will shift to creative work and curating civilization's creative output.
> This is a appealing theory, marred only by the fact that it is appears to be gibberish.

Man, it's very possible to be skeptical without the asshole tone. It's a common theme in your comments, but it's really unnecessary.

Anyways. It's a good point, regardless of tone. Where'd my analysis come from?

I've noted that:

-You see baby booms frequently after the conclusion of war, increasing fertility.

-As nations age and move towards pacifism, you seem to have a cycle of more luxury goods being produced and less trade/usable goods. EG, more Burberry and less fighter planes, which means more status/positional goods and less things that can be technologically built on.

This has been noted at various times in history:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Khaldun

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon

It's also something I've seen and felt in being in lots of countries. That's entirely subjective, but the urge to "live quickly" seems higher in places that where people face their mortality. Mongolia made a notable impression on me, and their fertility is very high (and they have a high general militant disposition, as well).

> If you can furnish a concrete series of examples of countries at a similar economic stage, where the sole difference is warlike behavior, and connect this to fertility, more power to you. But frankly, I think you're just making stuff up.

1. That's a PhD thesis amount of work, or at least a long many-page discussion on a history forum, not a quick comment on Hacker News. Asking the other person you're talking to provide PhD amounts of evidence is asinine. C'mon dude, seriously.

2. You can be skeptical and intelligently asking questions without the asshole tone. I don't mean just to me - go review your own comment history. You're obviously a smart guy, you can ask questions without the haughty manner and you'll probably be better off for it.
This is a great idea. Uncle bob[1] had filmed himself a few times (I've learned a few tricks this way), but making it real time is a lot more engaging.

[1] http://vimeo.com/7762511
What are "Web apps" actually? Each Web app is either a) a bunch of more or less tightly connected marked-up text documents, delivered by an up running on some server somewhere, or b) two applications, one running on a server and one delivered to be executed in the visitors' browsers (or, most often, some combination of the two). There is no single thing called "Web app", even though many vendors have been trying (and failing) to make it look so.

What we need is a better way to use Internet as a platform on a large scale; sadly, none has been widely accepted so far.
Win 7 is now one of the most secure OS's on the marketWin 7 is now one of the most secure OS's on the market

Yep, that's why it took two weeks for my wife's machine to be compromised with malware, and it was back to Ubuntu for her. Windows 7 is definitely an improvement, but for the two years she's run Ubuntu, there have been absolutely no malware issues. Now, if all the damned video codecs worked appropriately...
Yeah, the opening paragraph to this one lost me. I have a Canadian passport and I was living in Canada at the time and we spell it "colour" there. But yes, I chose to go with American English over Canadian/Danish/Inuktituk simply because I was already used to that from other languages. Like others have mentioned, non-American programmers don't tend to think of the terms in programming languages as an extension of the language, but simply as tokens that do things. Having those tokens consistent across languages makes sense.
IMO It's a chicken and egg situation, developers will go where the users are. I think Nokias brand name will generate a decent bump in sales, enough to get apps flowing through. As long as the major apps are in the store, the average user who might otherwise buy an Android device won't know the difference (at least not at the time of purchasing).

I hear it's different in the USA, but here in Australia many people would LOVE to buy a Nokia, their brand name is associated with 'quality'. If Nokia can hit the right price points, I can see users who have been disappointed with their budget Android devices heading to the 'safe haven' of a Nokia device.

It will take a while to gain momentum, but I'm optimistic on the outcome. I hope they go well because I'd love to develop for WP7.
I agree with everything you say. And yet, Apple is not run by MBAs or MBA culture - it is being run by a person whose roots are in technology, liberal arts, LSD and hare krishna, and is a college dropout. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs#Early_years is illuminating about who this person is.
You need a decent relationship with Google to maintain access to the Marketplace, however.
China fought a war with Japan from 1930-1944, concurrent with and followed by its own civil war. Not to mention its involvement in Korea and Vietnam. Not exactly centuries.
Your argument is the common objection to this idea and it's all well and good up to the part where you say that technology only creates frictional unemployment "as people re-train". Here's the problem as I see it. Technology is advancing, rapidly, to the point that humans are not able to compete in a general sense and in a number of fields.

If you're edged out of a job as a human it's getting more and more difficult to re-train. If it were easy to re-train in a lot of cases it would be automated already.
I don't think I'd let Britain duck the charge of being an "appeasement nation".
all ?

speak for yourself
I disagree, but I really believe he didn't do it intentionally. He was ridiculing the MSM and the people who jumped on the bandwagon without doing any analysis.

Unfortunately, nobody will see it that way. People will see it as him/her attacking Aidan Dwyer (the boy who did the experiment). He doesn't help his case by never referring to Aidan by name, instead using a fairly pejorative sounding "the kid.

If Aiden was my kid, I would try not to let him read the article, though I would explain the article and what went wrong within a teaching framework that included pointing out when other scientists did similar thing (don't know any off the top of my head, but I've no doubt the stories are out there).

It is sad, too, because this article needed to be written, but instead of writing it to help Aiden succeed in spite of the fanfare, the author has likely hurt Aiden. There is every reason to tell kids they are wrong when they are wrong, but there are appropriate ways and inappropriate ways to do it. This was inappropriate.

Finally, I've flagged this submission. Since the author took down the original, it is obvious he is rethinking whether the article was a good idea. Yes, the internet is forever, but people's wishes should count for something.
The title is misleading. Mass payments still worked for me as of this morning. From the article, it sounds like maybe it no longer works when using the API to send mass payments on behalf of another account.
Maybe. What I think is more likely is that someone clones the most impressive parts of Enyo (the WebOS 3 JavaScript framework) into a new web/mobile development framework that isn't tied to WebOS at all.

I'm not sure what developers would do with just the open source WebOS application code if there's no hardware - the existing WebKit doesn't seem to be optimized that well (see Enyo perf in iPad 2/Mobile Safari vs Enyo Perf on the Touchpad).
Title and project name are misleading. This identifier is not unique per device, but unique per device+bundle identifier. This means different applications on the same device will generate different identifiers. Please, stop upvoting without reading (it's mentioned in the project README).
As I look around, I see mass, systemic unemployment taking hold.

This ever increasing march of technology may result in more goods being created, but due to the nature of our capitalist society, it tends to pool the capital in those who have capital to begin with.

The huge disparity between the rich and the poor in the US is not due to "technology" but it is not being helped by it either.

Technology creates efficiencies, but there is no natural way for those efficiencies to benefit those whom it puts out of work.
Automation is already cannibalizing the manufacturing sector. Productivity is up yet employment is down dramatically. The assembly line worker is being phased out forever.

Will new jobs in robotics/automation account for the old ones? Not nearly enough. Aside from a few technicians on the shop floor, I think we'll increasingly see robots building and designing other robots. Any humans that will be involved in the process will be highly skilled and able to do so by remote location.

Bottom line: if you're in the manufacturing industry, you're now in the robotics industry.
He was listening to Cliqhop on SOMA.fm a while ago. Now it's some other online radio (I could only make "miss * kiss dot com").