skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
You might find it interesting that Tomboy was written in mono with the goal to force a discussion on how viable it was as a platform

I also had a political agenda. I wanted the question of Mono or Not to be brought forward and answered seriously, instead of foundering in the grey waters of FUD. I didn’t honestly care about the outcome, just that there was one. I thought a killer Mono-based app would push the issue.[1]

[1]: http://www.beatniksoftware.com/blog/?p=84
Always be looking, especially if you are good!

The best way to raise your salary is to switch jobs, if you are good, you would have high employability, and moving shouldn't be a problem.

I understand thomas' lack of confidence, his skills are in areas that may be perceived as low key CSS and Front-end HTML stuff.

How would he fare againt JEE and RoR gurus! Which is what the market is hiring, right! ...

Well not really, there is demand for all sorts of skills, you just need to be good and confident!
True but, like everything in life, nothing is written in stone. I think the general purpose of the post (and also of most things I read in the 37signals "real" book) is to serve as a guideline. And it serves it's purpose even if it just makes you take a second look at the gear (product features) you want to take with you :)
> The whole point of traveling is that you see something new.

This is an essay I read yesterday on one of my favorite travel-as-personal-experience sites. You might like it.

http://www.bravenewtraveler.com/2008/10/02/how-changing-your...

Also, before a big trip, my sister suggested that I use shampoo to wash my clothes and dry them out in the air (next time - I'll bring clothespins). Works like a charm. Why pack lots of clothes if you can wash a small set?
Designed: Senz aerodynamic umbrellas
I don't remember hearing DJB claim that his code was free of bugs, only that it was free of security holes.
i thought that this was an April fool's joke
Of note is that in Japan, houses fell by 90%, and office space fell by 99%.
BitGravity (CDN) announces new Advanced Progressive API
another version: Set timer on email, then receive a text message and you can reply (1) to send (9) to not send.
This is either very good or very bad..
Not school, just a few courses for each major to prepare the students for the work force. I mean right now you come out of school, and you really have no idea wtf you can do. At least with some vocational practice you can see if its a job you want to do for the next 50 years
LSD cured my cluster headaches
I bet the next thing we'll see is random signatures.

If you try to actually turn this on in your Gmail settings, you will scroll past their random signature option.
If you're an end-user or a vendor with .Net portability or coexistence requirements, then nothing. You simply want Mono to work, and to work right. Or you're porting code out of .Net.

If you're not using .Net, then most folks don't care about Mono.

Or you're a partisan of some flavor, and of which we seem to have a surfeit.

Nothing to see. Move along.
Douglas Crockford on Web Standards and JavaScript
Google Earth to feature undersea landscapes
i have to admit, i only found myself slightly more productive because i was distracted wondering what was wrong with HN and periodically checking to see if it was back
The maxim of packing the same amount for a 2 week trip as for a 2 month trip is certainly true.

I backpacked around the world for a year and my bag was relatively light (avg. 20 pounds) but even that was quite heavy on long hikes. I've since practiced and am now down to about 15 lbs., and I could go lighter, depending on the weather.
I would argue there will soon be an even larger proportion of users that will never, ever pay for anything, making Wesabe a bad investment.
The first thing you learn about statistics is that you can do all the analysis in the world, but if your basic data is flawed then all of your conclusions are useless.

You state this 3/4 number like it is a hard fact, however it is a very biased sampling. It involves YOU, who obviously has a problem with your laptop or wouldn't be writing this article. So, clearly the probability your laptop is damaged is 1. Then you add in 3 friends, who you probably chose because 2 of them have problems.

Let me put it this way. I have a Macbook that isn't broken, and know 3 other people who all bought Macbooks about the same time as me and none of us have had problems. Just like your scenario, there is no reasonable conclusion I can make from that.

However, if I was to ask for the first 4 people who own a mac to respond if it is currently working or not, that would be a (decently) random way of collecting data.

Finally let's throw in user problems. Just because you have friends that have visited the Apple store does not mean that their device is a failure. Factor in user problems like disabling wireless accidentally and being unaware how to start it, and user's fault like dropping your laptop or pouring water on it. All events your friends could have a reason to lie to you about the real reason for their visit.
I actually did use Chrome's incognito mode to buy a birthday gift the other day. On the other hand, the gift was a vibrator. Not sure which side this ends up supporting.

(Regular YCer here, just don't need this linked to my actual name)
Google’s Spam Filter Blocks Anti-Obama Blogs
Just a small typo: it's Bayes Theorem, not Baye's Theorem.
That would have another use, too: hiding your sleep schedule from the recipient. You could write an email at 3:00 AM, set an 8 hour delay, and appear to have regular sleep patterns.
Wouldn't using a debit card it be a better way of not spending money you don't have?
How to Read a Stock Chart in Just Five Seconds
Basically, he has a SMALL sample, but not a RANDOM sample.
The issue isn't whether the sample is small. The issue is whether it is random.
"If I put the purchases of hundreds or thousands of them in chronological order, then found 4 in a row that had failed, it wouldn't mean much (like the Aces example)."

But this is exactly what happened to your friend. You can't ignore the thousands of other Macbooks that were sold to calculate one number, but then try to apply that rate to those thousands.

"If I have a sample of only 4, and 3 failed, that means quite a bit more."

That means quite a bit more for that specific sample of 4 Macbooks - but no one cares about the failure rate for your 4 specific Macbooks. You proved that failure rate for those 4 Macbooks was exactly 75%. Nothing more, nothing less.
The Crash Continues
Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Importance of link architecture
Bayes' Theorem.
Yes, thank you, that's the article I am talking about.

And it had the name of a mathematical theorem for investing,
I think a girl's name.
It's also important to note that once people are using your product, it's a different sort of motivation you'll see. People count on you, they'll have feedback, nitpicks, whatever. You will see what needs to be changed and what can work and what can't.

Absolutely launch. Mark it as beta/experimental if you don't think you can afford to adapt it as needed, but you have to put it out the door and see what happens.

I think the original poster is going to find that the questions he's asking will be answered once he launches. Having a product in the field is the best way to see what's viable and what's not. You'll get a "yay"/"nay" answer once that happens and the world will look different than it does today. The cofounder might also step up a bit when he sees there's something out there in people's faces and his name (eventually) is on it.
Deciding Between a Desktop and a Laptop
Today, utilizing a personal computer in your small business has become more than a necessity. Even a tiny kiosk has its billing system computerized. So we cannot run away from this reality so easily; we may have to invest in a quality computer sooner rather than later. When we decide to buy a computer the first question that pops up is the confusion about whether to purchase a laptop or a desktop PC.
Gmail Labs includes a ton of pet projects that various employees thought might be neat. Hence why they're Labs products.

I kind of like it when they implement stuff like that, just because it's fun.
Ask HN: Quantitatively describing directory/folder + file structure
I'm looking for a way to quantitatively describe hierarchical directory/folder and file structures. Parameters that could be calculated and used to give a broad idea of the depth and breadth of the contents of the top-level directory in terms of nested subdirectories and files. Something like the Flesch-Kincaid readability test score or cyclomatic complexity values.

Searching hasn't yet turned up anything relevant, but I have a feeling that I'm just not plugging in the right terminology.
"Focus on speed of iteration rather than utilization of every function. Let people go idle, if they can't help the current iteration succeed.... By letting them focus on the success of their team exclusively, you empower them to do whatever it takes to make the team successful."

This is, for me, one of the most important things we've learned in software development: self-empowered teams with a common goal can do things that compartmentalized teams cannot.
It's Money in the Mattress Time
Merb's run_later Coming to a Thread-safe Rails Near You
Developers are motivated by interesting work, and like to have chances to grow their skill set. Also, most developers I know hate rules: give them credit for knowing how to code, don't bog them down with arbitrary things like a 500 page policy manual. Finally, you hired your developers to write code, so make sure you aren't wasting their time on non-development tasks.

One way to keep work interesting is to give every developer at least two projects. This allows a person to switch between them if one becomes boring or frustrating for a few hours. You could even encourage small pet projects that developers are very enthusiastic about, even if the projects are not completely work-related.

You should invest in a bookshelf of manuals, and make a "cheat sheet" of places to look online for help in your technologies (PHP and .NET). Make sure everyone knows a few of your in-house experts. Developers should not have to look far to improve.

Give developers a lot of leeway. Avoid large policy manuals and rulebooks, instead occasionally remind them of simple guidelines like "follow the style of the rest of the code in the file", and "create libraries to handle the really mundane stuff". Be very open to new ideas, even if this means a new language (I have seen projects spiral to their doom because the actual goal was incredibly awkward to implement in the "preferred" languages of the developers).

And finally, as I said, keep developers developing. Don't waste their time forcing them to (for instance) manually enter information into some form, such as a spreadsheet, or manually produce something like a set of progress slides for management. Focus on the information you want from them, and have your managers simply ask for that information in voice or plain text. Your managers should be producing the pretty forms.
"I've never seen that error before."

I feel like nothing better describes keeping a web app up and running than Murphy's Law. I amazed at how many little things have developed over time and temporarily brought down my sites over the years.
Last time I saw too many open files errors was because of too many open sockets (some piece of code was leaking socket handles).
Property in Morocco
Your ideal property in Morocco, search a diverse selection of properties for sale in Morocco
The majority of most processing time in the most common of web pages is consumed by issues unrelated (but not disconnected) to JavaScript performance.

This is my bête noire. The app I work on, though very js-intensive, is nevertheless performance-bound by these other constraints and has actually gotten slower under some recent browser releases (Firefox 3). Not just a little slower, either: slower enough to become borderline-unusable. That's ironic when everybody is slapping each other on the back about their enormous performance advancements. "Of course it's faster. Look at these benchmarks!" It reminds me of my old professor's anecdote. She was visiting her sister and said "Oh, I'm cold." The sister went to look at the thermostat and said, "No you're not, it's 20˚ in here!" (70˚F)

That being said, WebKit kicks Gecko's ass right now (at least for this particular app). It renders and scrolls many times faster and in fact is just shockingly good in Safari 3 (not quite as great in Chrome).

Edit: This comment sounds a bit grumpier than I intended. The main thing is that browser innovation is back with a vengeance. Competition should sort all this out in the long run.
I didn't go to MIT, I was just lucky they let me take AI in the 2nd and 3rd years. In the 1st year, I did well in a regional computer quiz that we entered, so when I needed the head of the school to shout at the people deciding I shouldn't do AI, he did, and I got to do AI one-on-one.
My problem with mono is that few apps are really compatible with it unless they were designed specifically for mono. Yet the existance of mono in any state allows microsoft to advertise .NET as cross platform. Look at what happened this some with nbcolympics.com as a warning of the danger.

Besides Sun really has a cross platform ecosystem with 1st party support of Linux and it is not that embraced, why bring another stack in that is inferior? Mono provides little that Java doesn't and there Linux support doesn't make you feel like a 2nd class citizen.
Well ATI isnt doing all that bad right now. Its AMD's microprocessor business that isnt doing all that great right now.
Yes. If 1000 people toss a coin 10 times, only the ones with exceptional results are likely to blog about it.
In that case this is even more true: the hardest part is convincing people that they don't need the ones you left out.
I'm still waiting for the downright trivial "bottom-posting" Labs application - it can't take more than a couple lines of code to have GMail set the caret below the quoted text, and have those couple of empty lines that Gmail generates appear after the text as well.
Totally agree. And I'm sure I read Paul Buchheit somewhere saying that just this feature would make a good addition to Gmail.

What they did instead is so gimmicky it makes me cringe.
Especially for you HN: Unwrapp.com, A Last.fm for Webapps.
Hi Hacker News, ok just to give you a heads up on Unwrapp.com because really it's been built for people like you.

We're launching private beta early next week and giving priority to people with certain invite codes & also app founders/developers.

The invite code is HackerNews.

Cheers, Zee.
krschultz, what kind of danger you're talking about? Just curious.
I will take this opportunity to pose a question I've been wondering for a while.

It seems that there is an increasingly ubiquitous attitude that if a product or service can be delivered free of charge, then it should be delivered free of charge.

Is this really the best road to be walking down? Why or why not?
Laminat
very intresting german flooring site
shampoo or a little packet of detergent.

this is one of the best traveling advice ever.
I tried mono myself this summer for quite a complex web front end/back end application written in .Net on Windows.
What I found was:

1) the core mono libraries are extremely good, I was able to drop the binaries on Linux and get to work immediately
2) projects on top of the core libraries and requiring integrating with other services (web servers like Apache, nginx) can turn out a nightmare. While I managed to setup everything on Cent OS and Ubuntu, nothing was really working as it should

So, personally I'm a big fan of mono and already looking for trying some winforms stuff there, but ... mono needs more resources I guess to get polished
Ok Entrepreneurs, Time to Step Up
Barack Obama Obama
With Obama`s quick assent to the national scene, some are starting to believe he may be the anti-christ.
Tech Sector Feeling the Crunch | TechJaws
Funny you mention that, I used to have a Mac mail app (forget which) that had a feature like this. It did some kind of keyword counting thing and would display one, two, or three chili peppers next to inbound and outbound emails.

There was some scripting built in, and one of the things you could do was add a one hour sending delay to anything with a certain number of chilis.

The combination of visual display and scripted "let me sleep on it" features worked really well.
Our problem was really that we were a "vitamin": something that was kinda-sorta-tangentially-useful, but didn't solve a clearly-defined, pressing pain point. Which is really my screw up and not the economy's fault, but the point is that a strong economy can mask these problems ($500M valuation for Slide?) and let entrepreneurs get away with startups that really shouldn't exist.

I suspect that there are still many entrepreneurs in a similar boat - as recently as a month ago, there were "Critique my startup" posts that presented startups that really weren't all that useful, and YC has funded a couple that in their present form are pretty weak.
Let's not argue too much. I agree that what you say is true, but I wouldn't say it's a bad thing. Think back 30 years. Product people were thinking up new main frames, researchers were thinking up the Eldorado workstation, and hackers were thinking up personal computers.

Our industry has really benefited from a "throw it against the wall and see what sticks" mentality. Is this a good feature? I don't know, but I do like the idea of Google inventing 100 or 1,000 such features and seeing if one of them is a winner.

I am not so sure that a product management team with a gating and evaluation process will do a better job of picking features than--no offense googlers--a million monkeys randomly inventing features they think are neat-o.
> Besides Sun really has a cross platform ecosystem with 1st party support of Linux

You may think so now, but for a long time, Sun didn't allow distributors to include Java in their repositories. If you wanted Java, you had to go download it yourself. And all your users did, too, whether from Sun or from the JRE you bundled with your app. In other words, if you chose Java, you also chose bloat and a tiny userbase. Not to mention, Java is a second-class citizen on the Mac. You never know what's going to happen between Apple and Sun.

Another obvious candidate, Python, was already on everyone's machines. But to be cross-platform, you have to code carefully and ask your users to find/install GTK2 and dependencies on Windows. With Python, the bloat (from a user's POV) is only confined to Windows.

Perl is widely available, but not really cross-platform. They're still struggling with Neopolitan Perl to support Windows without relying on the goodness of ActiveState.

So Java becoming useful has been about 5-8 years too late, and it's still beholden to Apple on one platform. Other alternatives also suck, so the FOSS world has continued using C/C++. Without a clear winner, what's the point of switching languages?

And as far as cross-platform goes, even if something was perfectly cross-platform, I wonder if FOSS developers would support it. Projects like Inkscape are torn between the increased userbase from Windows, and the increased tech support for windows that those users would require, when the developers often don't have Windows machines to develop and test on.
Statistics take into account any valid ways of getting more information. And they also take into account what we know about how to avoid making crap up. You need to either claim to have a statistically relevant amount of information, or to know nothing about overall failure rates of apple laptops.
Not to mention the 1kt energy is not too shabby, even if it's far up.
Kork Parkett
very intresting german flooring site
I want this so bad. I've looked before, but I can't find this feature anywhere.

But rather than setting delays I'd like to just define a range (say 8am–6pm) during which mail is sent. Anything outside that range would be queued until the next period.
Anyone know what the respective graphs look like for IE7 and the IE8 betas?

The sad thing is that no matter how fast Gecko, Webkit and Chrome's JS engines are, you're probably going to have to design applications to cater for the lowest common denominator, which will probably be IE (atleast from the IE7 benchmarks I can see).
Is it me or is Matt typically the least interesting 37signals writer?
Linus is exactly the type of person I'd expect to never Tweet.
You do realize that we're talking nuclear bomb type levels of energy here... even if Sudan is an African Canada, random nukes do have consequences. :-)
As always, the same two questions.

1) How to build it? (server-based or client-based) and
2) Who's going to pay for it?

It sounds like one of those things that a small number of people talk passionately about but there's not actually any money in making their pain go away. Or maybe -- beats the heck out of me where the payback is.

Client-side this is less than a week on the Microsoft platform -- a month if you want to handle all email clients. Server-side? I think you'd have to pick just one mail host and stick to customizing it.

One of the issues would be turning it off -- you'd have to have some kind of neato keypad test thingy to prevent drunken farts from just clicking the button and sending anyway. That leads me to believe a better design might be client-side.
Cool things about Clojure which haven't gotten much play
The path of increasing fidelity
Make an Extraordinary Effort
BTW, very interesting
In the short term, sure. But if there are web apps people really like, and they discover how much faster they run in a different browser, things will change.
If you don't, one of your competitors will.
Understanding Progressive Enhancement
It's all based on advertising. Advertising will tank. So the "can" will go away.
Old topic, but:

"Apple says that words you’ve added to the dictionary actually age. If you stop using some custom term, the iPhone gradually learns to forget it. That’s handy behavior if you never intended for that word to become part of the dictionary to begin with (that is, it was a mistake)."

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/iphone-keyboard-se...
April Fools Check: Did Google Really Release Mail Goggles?
JellyCloud goes R.I.P, one ad network less (other 399 ad networks still standing)
This is true.

But you don't always want bottom-fishers as customers.

It all comes down to a trade: your app's perceived value versus the user's time/money. You can try to fake-out the trade by making it a free app, but then a) you're just competing for eyeballs, which makes you a media company, and b) any incremental improvement will also be seen as free by the end-user.

It's a lot harder to price up from free to one dollar than to price up from one dollar to ten dollars. And maybe you're the coolest media content provider out there, but I'd rather compete on value rather than on attention span. It's more comfortable for this nerd :)
There is a large segment of the young people who grow up with access to video, games and music for free and who don't really have a lot of money so they feel that it is wrong if these things aren't available to them.

Second the price for a given item (when traded freely in a free market) is generally declining over time and since the marginal price of all most all web offerings are zero (for all practical purposes) it is possible to underbid the competition all the way down to zero, landing it in the same category as the aforementioned music.

And I don't know if that is a good thing or not (though I suspect it isn't, at least for most start ups) but if that doesn't matter if that is the direction we are heading.
Photoree, relax and please your eyes
The Procrastinator's Clock
21Ventures seeds Israeli anti-cheating software for online games maker Cognisafe
It's a depression now?
The Internet is Falling Apart