skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
>Why is it that it's OK for a business to ignore Linux and Mac users ... but it's not OK for a busines to ignore the same fraction of Windows users?

I don't think it's "OK" as much as it is a business decision. Developing software for various platforms is vastly different (in terms of resources) than developing websites for cross browser compatibility. The barrier to entry in the web world is also much lower, which leads to a higher level of competition and as I mentioned if you don't support a browser, a competitor will. As you no doubt know, that same statement isn't commonly made about platform software.
What’s in a name? Naming your startup
Yes ... go google 'Nouriel Roubini' and 'Charlie Rose Show'
A First Run of Ubuntu Core
Came here to say this. PhoneGap in particular differs greatly from most of these frameworks.
This is awesome since we missed the deadline for the Berkeley career fair. I just wanted to ask how they got to the pricing model. I REALLY REALLY want to bring our startup to the Startup Fair, especially since I'm an '03 Cal alum, but the $2,000 fee is a bit steep for us. We're attending about 6-8 other career fairs around the US and we're more accustomed to paying $500 - $1,000 for a booth ($1k at the upper end @ MIT). I definitely know the demand for talent is there so don't take this as a criticism but as more of an inquiry. Thanks.
When’s the last time someone gave you too much change?
> How many browsers would you like to support?

I don't support browsers. I support standards. I stopped performing hacky compatibility gymnastics long before Google made it cool to boast how you weren't supporting IE6 anymore, and my workflow and sanity has improved due to it.
This looks like a very cool project. As long as I've had a 64-bit x64 processor you've been able to use gcc -m32, but that just uses 32-bit compatibility mode (meaning you can't use the extra r registers or any 64-bit instructions). A 32-bit ABI that runs with 64-bit registers and instructions would be great.

I just hope it's all automatic; I started programming in C just as 32-bit DOS compilers became widespread, so I never had to distinguish between near/far pointers, small/big memory models, etc. I'd like to keep it that way.
I also agree. Last i checked, their headless option was still an unofficial link in their forum, their prices have not come down, and there seem to have been several security problems. I've been a customer for over three years at this point, and while i'm not unhappy, i am open to competing value propositions.
The Archeology of GeoCities
Oh don't get me wrong I'm not saying they need to do this right this instant. But I think a bit of an expansion of the ios notifications to overlay some text over the icon would be a marked improvement over static icons.
Fuck.

This is my reaction every time I realize how underpriced I was for all my consulting career. I charged $600 top for building websites, including logo and backend most of the time. I think I was good, just very clueless.
Ganar Dinero en Internet con Palabras Clave Orientado a SEO
Defining the Berkeley antisocket
Xperia Play 4G : A treat for mobile gamers
Should dropbox worry? Sure, not worrying would simply be stupid.

Should they be mortally afraid? No, probably not. Dropbox has a lot going for them, and one of the biggest things they've got going for them is that they are not google.

They can specialize, they can do one thing and do it well and they just had a huge company validate their market for them.

Look at omniture vs analytics of how that can play out.
Pyrex is a Corning brand: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrex
why is the channels[1] page never up-to-date? the 'download beta' link still sends 7.0 - if they don't want to confuse people, they should try to be more consisten across their site (which is in general not very well thought-out in my opinion)

[1]: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/channel/
Conclusion: They all suck.

We need a mobile framework that focuses on compatibility first and features second. Not a million clones of, "We can make HTML elements look like a shitty iOS!"

Most of these aren't frameworks. They are libraries of interface widgets that barely work.
This is great, but of course they can only do it on Android, because they have to be able to troll through your list of installed apps to generate recommendations.
I used to dual-boot, it wasn't hard, but having to reboot was still inconvenient. Today the hardware is cheap enough that I just run two separate systems side-by-side; it is more convenient and the two computers and two flat-screen monitors together cost less than my first computer did without a monitor.
this was fixed but great catch! ;)
My original comment was tongue in cheek, but if you seriously believe this than you are cuckoo.

I know people who have started a video company, another who's started a money saving card, another who's selling phone apps, another who's started a social musician site, another who's doing a website monitoring service. All living within 1/2 hour of me.

I also know people who have started more traditional businesses, trying to disrupt mortgage brokers and the like.

No-one's ever said 'oh noes, woe is me, the government is out to get me'. They're all 'dammit find customers, find customers, find customers'. Which is normal.

And on. And on. There's even some bio startup centre near me which I only heard about last week, http://www.biocity.co.uk/.

Yesterday I was sitting round a table with 5 others for a 'launch it' club.

As another commentor has said, perhaps funding's what you're talking about, I wouldn't know as I've not tried, but for actually creating and running a business? What are you on about? In the end the new paradigm is low cost startup using incubators and surprise, they're in the UK too.

I don't even live in London/Cambridge/Bristol which are the known cities for startups in the UK.
Yes, man made change of ecosystems DO have a serious impact on nature. Check out feral cat control example in Australia http://www.convictcreations.com/animals/feralcat.htm .
A Facebook engineer has made a statement saying there was not tracking involved in the "Update" section of this article: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/facebook-fixes-cookie-beh...
Good insights here, but -

> EVERYONE was saying that the financials were screaming buys.

Investing on fundamentals means giving not a damn what everyone is saying or thinking. It's just about the numbers. Actually, if EVERYONE is really thinking something is a great buy, it's probably not.

> Look at CSCO. People bought in at 21 thinking it was a good value investment.

Nothing at 21 is ever a value investment. That's still looking for growth. Just because a whole industry is insane doesn't mean a less insane number is good. As a very rough and flexible guideline, I won't spend too much time looking at something with price/earnings above 12. There's just too many solid companies priced below that with solid businesses and assets.

> The worst case scenario, which happened in 2008 to many, many stocks and which I believe will continue happening, is that you buy a "value" stock, the we get a recession or another crash, the stock price halves, and then the dividend gets cut or eliminated altogether. Then you're left holding a crappy stock for months or years.

That's a good point, yeah. I'm comfortable holding forever with my buys, and when "forever" comes around these things correct, but you've got potential opportunity cost in there.

Good comment here, good discussion, cheers.
HN ranking algorithm used to rank wedding blog posts (view score calc in source)
http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI.html "Cool URIs don't change" and this should be applicable to del.icio.us too. The URI http://www.delicious.com/network/<username>; is now broken... not really a good start if you want to sell del.icio.us as a social platform for bookmarking.
First article as of right now:
<div class="score">2.2702851337050234 = (4 + 6.0) / (6.220370086885 + 1) ^ 0.75)</div>

4 = # of clicks, 6.0 = publisher score, 6.2203 = age in hours, 1 is to prevent divide by zero, and 0.75 = gravity
I was just informed that Stanford's online ML course is based on CS229A rather than CS 229.

From the CS229A home page

"This class' emphasis is on Applied Machine Learning. Concretely, we want to give you the practical skills needed to get learning algorithms to work. Compared to CS229 (Machine Learning), we cover fewer learning algorithms, and also spend less time on the math and theory of machine learning, but spend much more time on the pratical, hands-on skills (and "dirty tricks") for getting this stuff to work well on an application. More of the homeworks will also focus on giving you practice implementing, modifying and debugging learning algorithms, and less on the mathematical underpinnings of machine learning"

the core idea seems to be that this is a simplified and less rigorous version of CS 229. I am not sure of the tradeoffs between acquiring the "dirty tricks" vs getting a solid grasp of the underlying math (which would presumably result from taking CS229)

Can anyone at Stanford tell me about how much difference is there in the perceived relative toughness of CS229 vs CS 229A? Do CS students take 229A or is it more people from the industry and other (non CS/Math) branches?

Any opinions greatly appreciated.
TLWIR 19: Intel, Openindiana and a Message to Redmond
> If you want to ignore a % of your users, that's fine.

Developer time spent supporting IE6 is developer time that could have been spent addressing feature requests or other issues impacting the rest of your user base. Or perhaps it could have been spent supporting a platform your product doesn't yet support at all, such as Android or iPhone.

Point is, there's always an opportunity cost for spending developer time supporting any feature or platform. No matter what you do, you're ignoring somebody. There is nothing special about IE6 users in this regard, particularly given that they are now a distinct minority.
Firefox auto-updates. Where does this idea that it doesn't come from?
I did some contract work for another company that did something similar for iOS. We ended up building a Java applet that would scan your iTunes folder for apps.
Facebook Forms a PAC
Oh, I wasn't aware of the free credits they give out. Is it like what Google do with AdSense?

Also, where do they give out the free credits?
You can take each web page and Print As PDF. Then use Preview to concatenate all of the PDF documents together.
That's my point. Algorithms are the domain knowledge of cs.
This is a great introduction, but to this day I find the sheer size of Cocoa the largest barrier to entry for Mac and iPhone development.

Just have to get used to it, I suppose.
I use _ for that. It's easier to type (at least in spanish keyboards).
Dropbox was not the first mover [1]. In fact, their entrance into the market for cloud storage/sync is in a way analogous to Google's entrance into search.

You're second point sounds right. But to me, Dropbox has always been about the UX and convenience rather than the cost / space.

I think it will be interesting to see what Google launches.

[1] See this slide for CEO Drew Houston's humorous take on this: http://www.slideshare.net/gueste94e4c/dropbox-startup-lesson...
The client is just trying to figure out your rate. Just like the rate of a plumber, repairmen, etc. etc.

When you call a plumber and tell him that your hot water doesn't work and how much it will cost the tipical response is "my rate is x but I will give you an estimate once I examine the problem". Why can't web designers use a similar answer. Is that so hard?
Tip: Show the last git commit in the site footer
The Web 2 Summit Data Layer Is Live
Consider the case of not having Firefox already installed.
There's some disagreement. Some date Mark to around 50 AD; others to between 65 and 72 AD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament#Dates_of_composit...
No. FB does not just log the data without using it. And they state so explicitly:

"We use the information we receive about you in connection with the services and features we provide to you and other users like your friends, the advertisers that purchase ads on the site..."

http://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/your-info#howweuse
it doesn't matter anymore, but there's a typo in the title.
Its so funny. Through all of the stuff that has happened with delicious over the past year I've stuck there and been reasonably happy. Today though none of my plugins work. When I try to go to the ff plugin download page I get a 404, and I am just not liking the new site.

It seems like to me that the best thing they could have done is show some stability to people by being reliable and fixing some of the things that were already broken on the last site before they asked their userbase to take a leap like this.
Sounds like we need an Economist in the Complex plane..

Hmm, an Imaginary Economist.. Sounds somehow apt?
Thanks for the information! I first noticed the improvement in Aurora and Nightly builds, and was wondering what they did to fix the problem.

Here is some more information I just found for anyone interested:

Main bug report:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=661471

The two new preferences:

gfx.font_rendering.cleartype_params.force_gdi_classic_for_families

gfx.font_rendering.cleartype_params.force_gdi_classic_max_size

And a post talking in detail about the issue:

http://blog.mozilla.com/nattokirai/2011/08/11/directwrite-te...
With MongoDB, 10gen works to become the Red Hat of databases
Anonymous Correctly Predict The De-listing $1B Company
Dropbox's success isn't about hardware. The interface is the product.
Thanks for your answers. Does this mean we have to maintain different versions of each app or is it reasonable to say nothing earlier than 4.3 is supported [1]?

[1] Full disclosure: I haven't released my first app yet so I'm wondering if I should only develop with the new IOS 5 tools or if I'm going to have to write my app with Xcode 4.1 anyway.
The thing geeks don't realize is that Apple doesn't sell "hardware" - they sell an appliance. This year's GE dishwasher won't get cheaper as the year goes on - it'll just get replaced by a newer model at some point. Similarly, a Toyota Prius won't get cheaper as the year wears on, it'll also just get replaced by a new model, at the same price (with the requisite temporary discount to clear old stock).

And the other thing that geeks don't realize: this is also how most of the world thinks, and how they want their products to be.

Also re: "miserably outdated" - this, again, only applies to us geeks. For us it's disappointing to not get the latest, shiniest chipset, or this year's "it" mobile GPU. But here's the rub: the year-over-year performance increase for a laptop in the same model line is, what, 15%? A March 2010 MacBook Pro will surf the internet, access email, and hell, play games just as well as a May 2010 MacBook Pro. They are, for 99% of users, identical unless you put it under benchmark conditions.

We geeks place way too much importance in hardware when thinking about the market in general. We have to remember that nobody else cares.
I like this BUT addons need to catch up and for many it's impossible due to such frequent changes.
As of about a week ago, when Firefox 6 was the current release, the Firefox numbers looked like this (source is http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.planning/msg/d1d4... ):

Firefox 5 is < 10% and dropping.
Firefox 4 is < 5% and dropping.

Those are percentages of Firefox market share, not overall market share. So those correspond to somewhere around 2% and 1% of overall users respectively. Note that in November Firefox 6 will be in the position of Firefox 4 right now.

Also from the same post:

The uptake curve got steeper between 5 and 6, which means
more people are updating faster.
>But Mojang wants their own TM (to subjugate others)

I'm not sure that the parenthetical remark is really warranted, since there are many other reasons to want a trademark, nearly all of them more useful than 'subjugating others'. Such as to prevent someone making sure that someone doesn't make a game called 'Scrolls: The Elders' - Basically, to prevent someone riding on the coattails of your success by riding your product brand name or dragging your brand into the mud with an inferior but confusingly similarly named product. The name Scrolls is neither of those things, which is why Bethesda is in the wrong here - both ethically, and most likely legally. I guess we'll see.
Exactly. I think the only thing I buy from Amazon based purely on the sales tax benefit is video games, which are the same price both online and off. Everything else is because of convenience and selection.
money = free speech

lol cats = money for facebook

lol cats enable free speech.

any one who doesnt like lol cats must also dislike america.
An HTML5 driven mobile SlideShare is great news right now :)
I wonder if Steve'll be in the audience?
Stripper Clothes
Funny how we consider that using the right units is laudable even if it is showing junk data.
I'd like you to dig a ditch for me...

Oh, and you have to use this garden spade...

Oh, and the handle is made out of jelly...

Oh, and the ditch is on the beach so the tide will be coming in any time now.

Hyperbole, yes. Web development isn't exactly ditch digging, but if you really want to understand why so many web developers are openly hostile toward supporting these older browsers, it's because the exercise is tantamount to digging ditches with jelly-handled garden spades on a rigid time table. When you get in to these much, much older browsers, it's a back and forth game of break/fix whack-a-mole. It's broken in one browser, so you try to fix it by using another approach, only to find that it's now broken in the current browser. That or you end up using ugly work arounds that just cruft up the application and make maintenance a nightmare.

Ultimately this comes down to a business decision. I consider each browser version as a market to be sold in to. I may find it an unrealistic business proposition to increase my developer hours by 30%, just to support a specific browser, when there's a big fat market of current browser users ready to use my application.
I am a Canadian permanent resident. I am also an open source developer. Somewhat high in our (non)organization ladder. So I travel quite some to this and that conference, meet, code sprint, whatever. My chances of getting Canadian citizenship with a lifestyle like that? Naught :/
As someone in that demographic, I must agree. My problem isn't paying for services, it's finding services that do what I want in a way I can trust. If someone came up with a way to do many of the things I need, with a "privacy circuit breaker " that they can't revoke, I'd shovel money at them.
The "vim hero" idea you mentioned - similar to this? http://vimgolf.com/
Robert Applebaum's Proposal To Stimulate The Economy
Agreed that the market penetration is still limited for many or most of those things, but I imagine Google's offering has made a disruptive splash to more than a few companies.
It is not that easy. Ecosystem is different in areas. Who knows there is an ecosystem based around mosquitoes. For example small birds and fish are dependent on mosquitoes egg. Other big animals dependent on these birds and fish. Suddenly destroying mosquitoes without examining the ecosystem in the area may cause huge bad impact.
I've had problems with this using the X buffer copy / paste on Ubuntu. It also makes copying just parts on the URL less intuitive.

Personally I don't see the benefit of removing the "http://. If this trend continues we may end up with something similar to AOL Keywords.
I've yet to see where a design that's shiny and pretty is more important than a site that is plain yet fast and functional. I'll add an addendum that usability is more important than pretty. The combination of both is, unfortunately, rare.
>>"How much is a website?" is not a serious question

I think is a very valid question. And a valid response is "my rate is X and will give you an estimate once I understand better what you want to build".
I thought this was interesting.

http://caniuse.com/#search=flexbox

IE isn't going to have advanced CSS3 support until version 10! However, Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Mobile Safari, and Android browser all support it already. It just seems that Microsoft is incapable of staying on the edge.
No real change except the "http:// for a beta user?
The way he's throwing the numbers around, he almost seems to be implying that Apple would have to pay the 6% sales tax out of pocket, thus reducing their 3% profit to a -3% loss.

Even if Amazon collected sales tax, their base prices are often cheaper than the local prices here, so I'd still order from them.
Steve Jobs and Thomas Edison
99% of the add-ons that are hosted on http://addons.mozilla.org are compatible and had been automatically updated to be compatible. Can you list which ones you use that are not?
Work That Needs Doing
On the one hand, this is a nice problem to have.

On the other hand, I see your dilemma.

On the other hand, I think you're over thinking this.

On the other hand, it's just so crazy it might work!

Alright, enough of that. IMHO, I would NOT call the first start-up and ask them to be your reference for the second start-up. First, what would they say? They don't really know you yet, beyond what you've listed on your CV...and the second company already has that.

Reference are suppose to tell people what a CV can't. Are you a team player. Are you punctual. Are you an all around nice guy, or girl.

Also, if I worked at the first company and took your call, I GUARANTEE that by the end of the day, the details of YOUR phone call will have circulated around the entire office...and not in a "wow this guy rocks" kind of way, but more like "who does this guy think he is" kind of way.

But hey, like I said....it's just so crazy it might work!
Sodium Saccharin Factory
> DDT looked pretty good once upon a time.

It looks fantastic today if you have ever had malaria. What is the problem with DDT? It is completely non-toxic to humans and dirt cheap to make. It depresses birds of prey populations during the malaria eradication process, but that is a pretty small price to pay compared to getting malaria. Sure, it is inappropriate as an agricultural insecticide, but it is perfectly fine as a compound to wage war against malaria.

If you could go back to the 1940's, and stop the DDT spraying to save the birds it killed, would you? I am glad our grandparents generation poured oil on wetlands, and gassed DDT all over human populated areas. I'd tell them to do it again.
Cory Doctorow, "Designing for Human Sensors, Not Human Barcodes"
Email overkill kicking your ass? Don’t be a wimp.
Yea, I still sleep next to an old 113mHz PC that is lying around on which i run Linux. it is funny my Android phone runs much faster
The problem in Beijing is painfully obvious if you've ever experienced the traffic jams there. The main cause of the jams other than cars is badly designed on-ramps and off-ramps onto the ring roads.

Beijing has a very unique on-ramp/off-ramp solution that I have yet to encounter in any other city. When they were first designed and put into use they made a lot of sense. A friend of mine who has lived in the city since 1999, said that back in the day there were almost no cars on the road and huge avenues. The on-ramps and off-ramps were designed and put into place at around this time.

The problem with the ramps is the the on-ramp leads onto the ring road and about 100m later there is an off-ramp. Once the traffic gets really bad the exiting traffic blocks the flow of the entering traffic. Once that happens the entire city comes to a stop because this on-ramp/off-ramp problem cascades throughout the city and everywhere becomes blocked.