skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
It's a good question to ask, but it ignores the benefits of electronic books. Imagine Abraham Lincoln, born in a log cabin, raised in poverty, being stymied in his early education by the lack of paper, a typewriter, or electric lights.

This ignores Project Gutenberg and many subsequent sources of free ebooks. I can load a beater laptop with years of reading material for nothing. This also sounds like it was written by someone that hasn't priced paper books - used or new - in a long time.
Isn't this a little bit like asking for the days when IE6 was the ultimate in web technology back again? Look how that turned out.
Yeah, but 10 years is still a lot longer than the 3-year upgrade cycle many people are on today.
Combined sick/holiday leave is a rather shitty practice. I shouldn't have to cancel my vacation or take unpaid leave (if that were even an option) just because I got strep throat earlier in the year. I'm not in the market but if I were I would pass.
Using the word "never" saves you from having to state when the web ceases to be the dominant platform. When do you think this will be?

Something like "the web will never be the dominant platform, except for the past 10 years and the next 10 years" does lack a certain punch, but at least it would be specific :-)

(And I appreciate your taking the time to write your blog post, and don't want to be a jerk, but the definition of never is "at no time in the past or future; on no occasion; not ever," so maybe you could rephrase to something like "the web cannot continue indefinitely being the dominant platform," which at least acknowledges its current strength.)
I can hear and see perfectly. And I love concise text data.
Long videos, audio or long documents with a lot of blabla sucks.
Thank you.
I thought I'm the only one doing this. Raymond Chen is worth subscribing to just for his knowledge alone, regardless of what platform you program for.
I'd never heard of this product. From the title, I had my hopes up that MS bought that failed desktop-based distributed storage product from the late 90s called Mango and brought it back to life. It seemed a very cool and ambitious product, perhaps too ahead of its time.

Anyone else remember that product? I can't even find mention of it on Wikipedia.
What's in a Name? The case for pseudonyms
I have very little real-world development experience so know these questions are relatively innocent: If there is one browser vendor do they not also control what is the cutting edge of technology? Wouldn't you be completely limited by them? Specifically, could you really imagine Microsoft setting the standards for the experience you have day to day on the web?
With Suburban houses easily approaching 600'000-1million each on Vancouver Island, good luck! You'll just be getting started at 300 billion to buy people's houses.
Beautiful eulogy. So sorry for your loss, Ed.
If that's the case, then you should change the tone of your post. You obviously don't realize this, but it makes you sound petty, and makes it seem as though you're blaming your failure on "those stupid teachers that didn't realize how great my software was".
While there are a couple of minor bits I agree with, overall I think Joe's off on this one.

The web has five organizations pushing really hard on it at this point (Mozilla [my employer], Google, Apple, Microsoft and Opera). The web almost had HP. We'll see what happens with WebOS.

The one part of his article that I somewhat agree with is that under the guidance of several entities (and lots and lots of people) the web may not have quite the same coherence as, say, Cocoa. I'm not sure that will be a problem.

"The Web has no one who can ensure that the platform acquires cutting edge capabilities in a timely manner (camera access, anyone?)."

Five years ago, even two years ago, would anyone even be questioning adding camera access to the web? I think there's been a huge shift in terms of how people view web technology.

gmail was the original "holy crap" app that started us building information apps with better user experiences. It proceeded from there to add things like canvas and svg and, more recently, webgl and audio, making apps well beyond "information apps" possible.

The "Boot to Gecko" (B2G) project which Mozilla kicked off a couple of months back is going to push quite firmly on adding all of the APIs needed for a modern mobile device. And, I might add, in conjunction with others in the standards bodies who are interested in such things.

And what about the Metro announcement from last week? Sure, Microsoft's ideal scenario is to build on the web and lock people into APIs that are tied to their platform... but, seriously, wouldn't people just write shims? Wouldn't Microsoft ultimately have to follow the standard because they are not quite the monopoly they were before?

The end of his post is telling:

"The closest thing we have to that today is Chromium, but they have no foothold in mobile and are likely years away from having one. And so I end on a sad note"

So, the crux of it would seem to be that Joe sees the world going mobile. I certainly agree. I got my start on a TRS-80 model III, and the stuff happening in mobile is the most exciting stuff I've seen in my entire career.

I've been working with the web for 16 years. There has never been a time in the past when so much effort was being put into pushing the web-as-a-platform forward. It's huge and I, for one, think the best is yet to come.
I have to agree. iOS and others are innovating so quickly compared to the web, and the usage of native apps especially on mobile devices is just skyrocketing. The trends are pretty clear.
"Of course, he still could have succeeded, but he definitely stacked the deck against himself."
I'm not sure there will be a dominant platform again.
Chrome has an inbuilt plugin blocker, that does the same as flash blocker. You may need to activate it in about:flags to see the option in the plugin settings. An advantage is that it doesn't depend on javascript, so it is friendly with the javascript blocker in chrome, if you are feeling very paranoid.
Who needs to imagine? That's how it was a decade ago.
Because when Microsoft was the only browser vendor, the web evolved really quickly... OWAIT
How Github uses Github to build Github
My general plan is to put everything I'm not going to spend in the current month in my savings and then gradually draw my checking account down to 0. (I have ING Direct and a credit line attached to my checking account in case of overdraft, so overshooting isn't a problem.) I usually keep track of my balance less my bills for the month and divide it by the number of days left in the pay period. Once that balance goes above a certain level I save more. I've been doing this since college, where I would stash away my student loans into savings and transfer monthly installments into my checking.

The video wasn't working for me when I went to the page, but if that's how the feature works, it might be neat to have that kind of thing better automated.
I'll accept that introducing humans to any ecosystem is going to change it in one way or another. I think there's a pretty big [citation needed] over "ruin it".

If they are aiming for a similar impact level to, say, a national park then that's a lot better than it being approved for broader development.

As for the easement, in exchange for those things they "eliminate most or all development potential in order to protect some conservation value(s) of the property that provides a significant public benefit." (from that link.)

Seems like one would need to look at the specific terms of the Rabbit Island easement in order to further quantify any claims.
Tragically, gettothefuckingpoint.com is taken by a squatter. What a pity.
Is believing that the sun revolves around the earth a valid opinion?
Well, I'm only 22 and we didn't even have a computer until I was around 12, so my experience with web standards is relatively naive. I <3 the internet as it is today, and I at least, do have to imagine how atrocious it must have been with Microsoft setting the standard.
The net will be awash with G.I.R.L. 2.0 !
Isn't that BPAY?

http://www.bpay.com.au/tabid/62/Default.aspx

It doesn't have the swipe features, but I think the rest is there.
When I wrote the post, I realized there was a danger in that. I think the wording I landed on is blunt but fair.

I still really don't think it's an issue of "those stupid teachers that didn't realize how great my software was." ( However if I'm honest, I did think that on a couple of my more challenging days.)

I think teachers just don't want software for everyday tasks.
It's not legal to print ten-year-olds in 2D, much less 3D.

Joking aside, while a cool idea, I don't think it's really aimed at the right market. I wouldn't mind having a cheap 3D printer for quick prototyping, but for children, the physical experience of molding and shaping a new creation is an important part of their mental and physical development.

At ten years old, kids' brains are still locking down key motor and spatial reasoning skills.

This seems like a device more suitable for teenagers-and-up.
You're conflating hyperlinked documents and applications. The web is clearly the dominant document platform, but is the web the dominant application platform?

The answer is in market success of the emerging mobile (and possibly desktop) application platforms, and the kinds of applications being produced there.
So, Vancouver prices are bleeding over the Strait. Or rather, all the retirees have bid the prices up.

I'll settle for working there. Though it sounds like I'd be living in a hovel. Ah, well...
Show HN: messge.me - private email forwarders (Weekend project)
I've always had issues posting my email address publicly. I wanted something simpler than creating throwaway accounts I had to worry about checking or exposing my domain to spammers.

With a bit of ruby on rails, a splash of twitter bootstrap and a few hours of work, http://messge.me was born. It lets you create email forwarders and contact forms which you can expire once you're done.

It's currently free to sign up and use. I should have worked out the major issues so I hope someone else finds this useful!

If you have any issues you can email me at iesw@messge.me or at http://messge.me/m/iesw

There is no retention of emails (Will be adding a privacy policy asap)!
Not unreasonable. But can "drafts" be printed from cheaper materials?

10 year olds often struggle with forethought and impulse control. They can be great visualizers, but details and abstractions are often challenges. So the ability to cheaply print a rough draft, from which they can see and fix flaws, would be nice.
Cute. But so much more could be learned from maps like this, if you could overlay a map of, well, pretty much anything else on top, and look for correlations. Population density, political boundaries, G3 support, economy, whatever.
Is there another posting for this?
DRM: Diablo 3 requires always-on Internet for single player
It's kind of amusing to read an article complaining about the walled garden of Facebook, and at the same time demanding central ownership for web technology.

It's not only a possibility that a centralized web will be bad, it's inevitable. A central owner has _no_ incentive for improvement. The only reason e.g. Cocoa keeps improving is because it needs to compete.
Skip the Gym, Sweat at Home 2 | Prairie Eco-Thrifter
Does camera flash destroy art? - Skeptics
The Case for a Larger iPhone Display
Gitolite is a better tool, with more options. It's easier to manage who gets access to what as well with gitolite.
The Web doesn't have an owner, it has several. Competing against it other. That's why it is thriving.

It had no owner and it suffered when MS had 95% of the Web's market share, cause MS's platform is Windows, not the Web. Controlling it was MS's way of keeping Windows relevant.
The one part of his article that I somewhat agree with is that under the guidance of several entities (and lots and lots of people) the web may not have quite the same coherence as, say, Cocoa. I'm not sure that will be a problem.

It's already a problem. In fact, it is the problem. The web application 'platform' is poor, incoherent, and its proponents highly resistant to the sweeping changes that would be necessary to compete with a native, proprietary platform like iOS.

The best chance the 'web' has for success is with projects like NaCL, but even that will only fix the execution environment -- we'll still need higher-level platform frameworks upon which applications can be built. Perhaps Google will supply usable application frameworks, as they've done (if poorly) with Android.

The browser makers (especially Mozilla) seem insistent on leaving us in the lurch, stuck with JavaScript, the DOM, and the painfully long lead times of standardization.
WebGL is picking up steam. Supported in Webkit and Firefox, with IE being the laggard (as usual). Once you have WebGL you have the building blocks needed for any kind of UI you want.
Perhaps you don't?
Tassel earrings|fashion earrings|tassel drop earrings
How To Provide Great Customer Service At Your Web Startup
Another michigander here, this would be the ultimate Airbnb rental.
Workin' on it.
Hm. I understand the need for a temporary email address but why would one need a temporary contact form? Genuinely curious.
dangoor is absolutely right. Microsoft probably put us behind 5-6 real years of progress on the web.
You're right, it's not the best sentence I've written in my life. Thanks for the feedback.

I was trying to convey that the web is always going to have to fight for its survival, contrary to the common assumption that the web has some magical properties that ensure its long-term prominence.
Please solve our design problems for free, and in turn we'll think about hiring you.
Is it hard to be use logic?
I prefer the combined leave, and it makes more sense from a management perspective. When you have separate pools for sick and vacation time, your employees tend to fall surprisingly ill around national holidays, planned vacations, and major social events.

With the combined pool, there's no pretense -- take time off when you want to.

Of course, we're assuming that you get a sizable pool for both... four weeks (twenty paid days) is reasonable, although were it my company, I'd offer five. The 'four week notice' policy seems a little high for taking the odd Friday off, and is totally out the window when it comes to sick days, but overall their vacation policy sounds pretty kosher.
At least he apparently landed himself a job :). Being positive.

(I don't deny that fact that yours are good points.)
Because of the depth of its impact, the Linux kernel is also probably different from other OSS projects. As a user and developer, I am orders of magnitude more likely to submit a patch to FF than Linux. Maybe that's just because I'm more familiar with higher level coding, but I think working something as involved as a kernel necessarily requires a significant amount of technical context.
Simple Desktops for Mac
$14.95+$4.60 S&H in the US.
Desperately Seeking Help Learning Spanish
I like where this is going, ie. Hardware becomes just another software component.

The key item thats left is some sort of standard interface to port programs to a FPGA style processor, i.e. a way of interfacing between a language compiler and HDL.

I like the look of the Reduceron (http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/fp/reduceron/) which looks to be funded by Xilinx and Lava( by Satnam Singh, who works for Microsoft Research), purely because I think its easier to visualise a functional language translating into circuitry.

Although I do wonder whether it will take a start-up to be able to successfully merge both the software and the hardware components into a workable model.
I clearly stated you need more than just a single owner, you need a single owner that is competent and cares. We can't just snap our fingers and have that, but I'm hoping to at least help people to start thinking about it.
You're using logic. You have to see the world through a "Humans are evil and ruin everything they touch" lens.
In a perfect world I agree with you. Practically speaking, the more time off you take the more expensive you are to an employer. You.van take off as many days as you want as long as you are willing to live with a lower salary and the employer is still able to get the work done.
Dreamcast came with a dialup modem out of the box [...]

Yes, good point. The modem was an industry-first in a game console, and definitely forward-thinking on Sega's part.

Unfortunately, Sega was forced to cease production of the pioneering Dreamcast in 2001. At that time, the company refocused their resources on game development. This was sometime after the PS2 launched in North America, and sometime before the XBOX launched in the same territory.

On a related note, I remember playing Jet Grind Radio for the first time. The cel-shading was really cutting-edge!
That's what repairs and maintenance is about. Religiously upkeeping something you can't possibly afford to replace is how it was done for ages.
Has Linux stopped improving? Has Python stopped improving? Has jQuery stopped improving? It all depends on who the owner is.
Very nice, thank you. Mostly all of this is good advice and correlates nicely with my experience.

One thing though:

"EBS volumes and Software RAID is best but scary on AWS"

I've managed an EBS RAID10 database for a few years now. I wouldn't touch this with a 10 foot pole.

Do yourself a favor, set up an m1.xlarge (or bigger) instance, put the ephemeral drives in a RAID0 and mirror across multiple machines using hot-standby, slony, londiste, or some other tool. You'll be much happier, your system will perform much better, and you'll have a failover strategy in place.
One man's "that's neat" is apparently another man's "mind blown".
I was trying to work out possible future site updates such as embedding contact forms on your website or possible add-ons for a premium membership.

Adding the page was about 20 minutes work so I thought let's see what the usage is and remove/hide the other for A/B testing.

If it pollutes the site I'll probably remove it or offer it as a checkbox/premium add on.
Getting an individual policy in the US is almost impossible, and amazingly expensive otherwise.

I currently have a US healthcare plan that covers emergency care only (I live in Japan, so this isn't a big deal). This means it doesn't cover things like 'seeing a doctor' or 'getting antibiotics for a lung infection', which is why I need to cut a check to the urgent care center I visited a few months ago when I was in-country.

Fortunately, the total bill was only about $150.

For this amazing service, I -- pardon the pun -- cough up $120 a month to Blue Cross. For a health care plan that, by and large, does not cover health care.

This is more than the cost of full coverage through the national healthcare system in Japan.

Should I desire a comprable plan, I'm looking at somewhere between $500 and $1000 per month. I'm healthy, thirty years old, don't smoke, am not overweight, and exercise regularly. If I wasn't any of those things, the numbers would be worse.

So, no, healthcare is mandatory for any company I work for in the US.
A Collection of Marshall McLuhan Interviews
Et tu, envelopes?
I like where this is going, ie. Hardware becomes just another software component.

Unlikely. You can't run software without hardware. Even if the computers of tomorrow are a mess of FPGA's that can be reconfigured on the fly, somebody's got to make the FPGA's.
Wait, what?

* It's really a 'jack of all trades job'

* combined sick & vacation time is a crappy practice.

* No benefits

* Must supply own equipment

I'm sorry, but that's either a consulting gig (with the rates that come with that), or it's a co-founders gig. Or a very young developers game, looking to cut their teeth.
My iBook (purchased shortly before 9/11/2001) is still going strong.
This book is so over the top, I almost can't imagine it's real, but...

> I can't resist linking to this classic article about how even the conventional descriptions of electricity "moves from the negative to the positive" are basically wrong

Or how Ohm's Law or Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation are wrong, for that matter.

But there are varying degrees of wrong, and neither the true direction of charged particles nor superconductors nor relativity can make our sample infractions remotely competitive with those in this book.

And even if they were of the same caliber of wrong, it would not make any of it more right. Kids would be better off simply reading the Bible passages, and not being exposed to the rest of it.
Is it really easier to develop in HTML5?? I haven't looked into it lately, but it was a nightmare last time I checked. Compatibility problems, massively different performance across browsers (so you have to go lowest common denominator), every guy and his dog coming with his own layer of abstraction and libraries to make for deficiencies that simply don't exist in AS3...

I'd be interested in looking into it again if you can truly achieve the level of compatibility, penetration and dependability (performance-wise) that you can achieve with flash. Any pointers will be appreciated.
Finding a Weight Loss Program That Works For You
From the article:

> 5 nm is about the space between 100 silicon atoms, so even if this
> guess is wrong, it can be wrong by no more than a few technology
> generations.
This is an awesome talk.
Here's my dream island: Niue https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Niue (pronounced "new way"). Beautiful, warm, covered in free wifi, self-governing but technically part of the UK. Economically they're in rough shape, but since the government is serious about improving their self-sufficiency, there are opportunities everywhere. They are specifically focusing on "private sector growth, social development and skills training." http://www.aid.govt.nz/programmes/c-niue.html Seriously, it sounds like tech entrepreneurs' paradise.

And it's technically part of New Zealand!
Peugeot SBox
Where this would be most excellent would be for photo or video editing - particularly once they quad cores come out.
http://www.businessinsider.com/soon-to-be-canned-hp-ceo-apot...
I am somewhat annoyed by the author's portrayal of individuals or small companies as the innovators, and large companies as the converse. Who do you think drives Moore's Law? It's not some force of nature. The material properties of silicon are not changing every 18 months. Do you think it will not take innovation to produce a viable 14nm production line?

Additionally, even if we hit hard limits in transistor gate size, do not expect progress to stop. There are alternative technologies aplenty that put silicon to shame, that are only avoided because of how cheap manufacturing is with silicon.
> No PC OEM has a rational fear of MS doing bad by them, regardless of lock-in. Firstly, MS has no good reason to do that since it would just put the retail price of the PCs too high to sell well, and MS is a volume business and knows it.

Microsoft already prices it differently for different OEMs. They are already in mortal fear than Microsoft will change it, even without the technology to enforce it.

Can't find a link now, but in one of the big computer trade shows, in the morning Asus said they'll be promoting linux on the recent 9" eee. Afternoon, they apologized and said they will only promote Windows, and will in fact redesign it to better fit windows. The difference was apparently made by a call from Microsoft that threatened their volume licensing deal.

> MS would find itself in a fecal-tornado of bad press and government action that it would surely not enjoy.

The government works for Microsoft. MS had some fear of antitrust back in the late 90s, but they've since become one of the largest lobbyists, buying politicians on both sides. They are not touchable by antitrust or any other government action in the foreseeable future.
Best Flight Simulator for PC - What Others Are Saying