skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Can you explain how open vs closed systems relate to user interface or experience issues? Those are orthogonal to each other, Apple made two choices here, not one.

I understand the reasons for the move towards closed systems. A combination of media provider demands, funding coming from advertising and user tracking and the standard walled garden land rush when a new market opens up.

> This argument ... is tired ... please stop whining

Oh, fuck you. Seriously. Your high school level libertarian argument about why you don't want a public discourse about the direction of technological openness and the cultural and market forces around it is remarkably silly considering you are posting this on Hacker News on the god damn World Wide Web.
So... I just read http://www.isb.vt.edu/news/2008/artspdf/feb0803.pdf ... the "meat of things", as you put it.

It describes a farmer who knowingly violated an agreement he signed with Monsanto; then Monsanto suing said farmer, and winning.

I have no idea why this would make Monsanto an "evil company". I just don't get it. The farmer was under no obligation to sign the agreement.
The point is that the "post-PC era" will make it so that being someone who thinks that you can modify or change the computing experience is relegated to "oddball hobby" status

It was like that during the pre post-PC era, anyway.
thanks everyone, i appreciate your suggestions. i think right now i don't have the option to leave my job. what's clearer to me is that i just need to carve out time for my business every day and making small strides.

so my business/plan is actually 2 part and it's got to do with the real estate and investments industry.

1. building a solution to bring and connect real estate investors together to help them achieve a common goal. i'm working on it part-time but moving very slowly because of the other part of this whole bit.

2. actively be involved with investments myself and use my product/solution when it's ready. the thing is that it does take some time to hunt and act on deals, but it can def be done part time and i'm making some progress on this. this is the meat.

i did get some funding setup aside but it's strictly for my investments pool. i can't quit my job and eat through my funding which is supposed to have it's own purpose.

family/spouse is onboard to some degree. they don't get in my way most of the time.
Seriously, this.

It sounds like glib advice, but you don't know what you don't know until faced with a real problem that has to be solved.

Good programmers aren't the ones who know everything already. Good programmers solve problems.

Trying to learn to code without a problem to solve will feel slow, painful & forced (like boring homework with no practical application). Set a goal, and suddenly there is a point to all this crazy stuff. You will research programming techniques because you need them right now to make this thing work.

As for the specifics sure work through the relevant exercises in the book. Then go online & find some tutorials & work through them.

Just remember that you don't need to master C++ (or any language, for that matter) before you can make something useful with it, so don't be intimidated if there's lots that goes over your head.

Look for what you need, note the stuff you don't understand & move on.

Best of Luck :)
Amazon’s Value Has Gone Up $4,470 Every Second Over the Past 29 Days
> could indicate a design flaw

Why the change from your earlier position of screen breakage indicating a design flaw?

> If the Nexus designers believe that a louder speaker is more important, that's valid, but it's not valid if the extra volume is muffled when placed on a surface in the natural fashion

Would you care to explain why you believe this and not the opposite? If you were hard of hearing do you think you would have written something like "If the iPhone designers believe that a side speaker is more important, that's valid, but it's not valid if the side speaker is too quiet for many users to hear"
Kobold2D, easiest way to build 2D iOS games w/ physics
My younger brother has to pay an extra $400 in order to finance his school's new football team. Why? The answer that the college would give is that eventually the football team will generate revenue, in ticket sales, increased attendane, and increased alumni giving. Yet, in 10 years I can guarantee that the $400 charge will still be appearing on students receipts (probably higher).
i heard in some talk that feature phones account for the largest segment of status updates to facebook
You probably know this already, but if you pass -std=c99 to gcc, you have to have a separate definition for your inlined functions. Here's how I do it; I welcome suggestions for improvement:

module_a.h:
#ifndef INLINE_
# define INLINE_ inline
#endif /* INLINE_ */

INLINE_ void function_a()
{
}

inline_defs.c
#define INLINE_
#include "module_a.h"
Louis CK (you might know him from the popular "Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy" video) frequently appears on Opie & Anthony. He makes a similar point regarding chains driving out local stores then closing up shop in this show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N95IMKRkcBw
Sorry, that part was hyperbolic. But it's true that what the author is describing is the end of precisely the golden age you desribe. To whatever degree consumption devices replace production devices, there will be less exposure to them.

It's not an insult. But consumption devices are lamentable as far as they replace production devices. I love books, and I don't sneer at children who read them. But I would like all children to have access and exposure to writing tools so they realize that they too make books.
That's true, I have no worry that "the future" is going to be worse.

But that's long term, it doesn't mean that we don't want to avoid repeating the eras where this kind of tinkering was repressed or legislated against. Those eras slow down innovation and take wasted effort to recover from.

Just look at what happened on the web when all those tinkerers stopped having to break into the tools they wanted to use and could spend all their energy doing new things.
So does this mean one could earn affiliate revenue from your purchases by registering as an affiliate called monkey_poo, or do they not allow you to choose your ID?
Yes, and this practice, in addition to their further clinicals is called an apprenticeship. To pass the medical boards - just stick a pencil in their hand ;-) if they prepared adequately - they'll pass...
You know what provides that atmosphere? New York. Or SF. Or Boston, Seattle, Austin--pretty much any city.

Ignoring that many people don't live near large cities like these, how should a 17-year old support themselves? What would they do instead of going to school? Waiting tables isn't scalable--there aren't enough restaurants.
I've also tried this:

msg=$(cat message)
curl -X POST "http://sa-api.postmarkapp.com/filter" \
-H "Accept: application/json" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-v \
-d '{"email":"'"$msg"'", "options":"long"}'

But sa-api.postmarkapp.com returns "error"... :-(
How does it restrict?
That innovation has been driven by the masses being able to create things on their computers.

Has it?
Anyone know why WordPress doesn't ship with some form of caching?
20U20 doesn't have distinct time periods like YC, just progress meetings/interviews. I'm fully with you on getting rid of the single model of "mainstream" schooling - the industrial part is so true...
This was actually relatively painless! Got it installed in a matter of a few minutes, with the multi-boot option.

I downloaded a few apps and was happy to see Netflix work! Angry Birds too.

Facebook doesn't even show up from the market - not sure if other people are experiencing this or not. I assume the facebook app will not work on it, but strange that it doesn't even show up from market searches.

Would like to get swype on here somehow.

No problems with my wifi, at least not yet.

Very impressed!

EDIT: I see from a link lower down there is an update for the market apps not all showing. I'll install that later!
Your boat will sink if you use do while break. I know, I've tried. :-) One aspect I failed to highlight is the logging the macro does, which can come in handy.

I wish I could erase the MALLOC thing, it was an after-thought ... and now I feel like I'm leading people astray (oh well...). Even in the code that used it, it was for a existing calls that returned NULL instead of an rc. malloc() was rigged to blow in that code base. Sigh...
This guy is missing out on the possibilities of the Third Wave of computing and the Makers Revolution.

Here are a couple of projects making this accessible to everyone.

http://readiymate.com/

http://teagueduino.org/

Arduino Tinker.it:
http://store.arduino.cc/ww/index.php?main_page=index&cPa...
> Managing to capture or hold onto even 10% of that market will pay off handsomely.

I can't remember who said it, but it goes something like this: whenever someone tells me that all they need is 1% of some big market, I wonder if they realize that there exists a number smaller than 1%.

In other words, considering how MS (and RIM for that matter) have squandered their significant market share over the last decade or so, what evidence exists that you think they're going to turn it completely around?

Coming at this from another angle, consider that even having large market share does not equate to profits; just look at Nokia. So how will either survive with small market share? Especially if their margins aren't iPhone-esque?
What if the messenger was Anosmic, and the person verifying his identity had a very strong odor. He would never be able to identify the other person by that trait.

Basically, the second person had to have some sort of trait that was easy for other people to see, but not for the messenger. Perhaps colorblindness could have been a factor.
But they don’t. They clearly don’t. Apple has no monopoly.
ICANN to manage time zone database
What is ironic is that this post-PC era is driven largely by open source software Unix,gcc toolchain,webkit,etc.(iOS), Linux,Java,Webkit(Android), with "the cloud" built on top of Linux, Javascript, Ruby, PHP, Python, Java, Apache, Nginx, git, svn, etc....

So many devices might be "closed systems" but they are almost all built on the shoulders of open standards, open tools, and as a creator you have so many more opportunities to do interesting things in both the hardware and software space for next to no investment that it's incredible.

Post-PC might change how end-users consume our software, but it's not going to make the tools to create it less available.

Stop whining about the theoretical future and build something.
I liked how you guys present some of the stuff you create.
However, I'm not a huge fan of star rating. I know it's in use everywhere but I feel that it's such a flawed rating system that we need to think twice before using star ratings.

I think that Facebook's like is a good concept that can replace stars rating (a like is a like, no negative feedbacks, and you know that you either like something or you didn't).

Star ratings is too complex, I mean, something I rate 4 star is very different than somebody else's 4 star rating.

Maybe this isn't the place to discuss this but I wanted to let the word out ;)
Where did everything that's on the internet exist before ~1995?

How did you access it?
For anyone who hasn't seen it, the documentary he talks about is mesmerizing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS7a-OJ7IVw

Two standout scenes for me. First, gazing out from the London Eye over a skyline filled with incredible feats of engineering, the chief is bemused - because our money houses are so much bigger than our spirit houses.

Second, entering the main spirit house itself (St. Paul's cathedral) - after establishing that their women won't be struck dead for entering such a holy place - the tribespeople encounter, seemingly for the first time, the glories of neoclassical Western sculpture, art, architecture. They caress the faces carved from marble and stone, dance with pure delight between the soaring Corinthian columns. They explain how such impossibly beautiful things could only have been created by God, and have obviously been part of the world from the very beginning.

Ever since watching this series, I've tried to look at my city with the same combination of cynicism and amazement.

There's also a bittersweet segment where the chief of the tribe is dumbfounded that he's not allowed to drop in on the "big chief" - Queen Elizabeth II.
That doesn't follow.

Your fist statement "having a degree demonstrates to employers that you'll be a good employee" indicates that there is value in obtaining a degree. That is, you are more likely to get a well paying job if you have one. As a side note, my experience (family members who are HR directors) is that this is very likely true. However, the effect that this has on the statistics is a real effect, and must be considered when determining the value of obtaining a degree.

Your second statement could certainly be a confounding factor when it comes to the stats, but really doesn't support the claim that society would be collectively better off with less emphasis on formal education. Further, it implies, what I believe to be, an unlikely claim. That is that the majority of graduates would have been successful without the university experience.

I should note here, that I do not, necessarily, support the status quo. I'm a big fan of programs like 20 under 20, YC, and other micro-funding type programs, and would love to see these types of programs expanded. The university systems of the world are in dire need of reformation, but that doesn't mean tossing the entire thing out.

Changing the way education works has always been a long, slow process, but changes are starting to happen. Advocating for a ripe-and-replace "solution" will only cause the current apparatus to close ranks and take a defensive posture. We need to work with the education systems, break through that resistance to change, and move to a system that better suits the needs of today's students, which do differ from students of the past.
You can always ssh to a server and do development work there. That's what I do at my job anyways. It's advantageous because compiling programs on the server doesn't affect the computer you are using.
‘War of the Worlds’ Game Inspired by ‘Flashback,’ Narrated by Patrick Stewart
Yep, this is true. A friend of mine is producing one of their channels (deal has been signed). Exciting!
Exactly! And you don't even have to bother making something - there's already a couple Basic interpreters... and Scheme... and Lua.
From what I can tell the use case for .nosync there is to store a large dataset in a SQLite store in such a way that individual transactions are replicated to iCloud but the entire SQLite store itself is not transferred each time something changes.

The documentation seems to imply that .nosync will prevent the whole store from being uploaded, but (1) that does not seem consistent with what others are reporting, and (2) I cannot find any other supporting information on .nosync in either Apple documentation or dev forums - that doc and this thread are literally the only places I've seen it referenced.

The other underlying issue is whether Apple would be cool with storing persistent application data in Documents provided that it is not synced to iCloud. The use case that Marco and others have described does not really match what's described in that document.

edit: Marcos -> Marco
GCC will warn about using an assignment as a truth value in if(), while(), etc., so it's probably safe enough to stick with whatever order you're familiar with and let GCC alert you if you miss an equals sign.
Ok let's all save money and try to be entrepreneurs, is that what you are advocating? Lets see, in your economy we are going to have a lot of producers, but who is going to consume these products if people are saving. Now if you say China does it, then I would answer back that China does it because it has the US and Europe as huge consumption bases for its produced goods.

You are trying to give me an economics lesson, I actually have an advanced degree in economics, and I know every economics model there is in and out. Your talking about producing things somehow making lives better by increasing productivity, and then everyone lives happily ever after. I dont what kool aid your drinking but I can share with you a hundred papers which repudiate what you are saying.

Next time you want to argue regarding economics, please argue with actual theoretical knowledge rather than some flimsy theoretical base that you have created in your own mind.
Hey there! Here are my thoughts...

I think the site could use more breathing room. The blocks are feel like they're on top of each other. Adding some padding will make the site look less busy (or potentially less full, a negative?) and easier for reading.

Honestly, I don't have much to complain about. The next thing I'd start playing with is tracking where user engagement is low and find ways to highlight long-tail content in higher-trafficked areas. Identify metrics that are important to the site's longevity and optimize them. You're probably beyond the point of tweaking the interface at this point short of trying random A/B tests with new ideas.
Even if it wasn't -- honest question -- why would it be necessary to "license" their music?

This is a work of art. It's not for any kind of profit.
> But it seems like static site generators became a fad recently,

The year 1994 called and would like to talk to you about your backward flowing sense of time and fads. :)

In all seriousness... when the Web was born (on Tim Berner-Lee's computer) it was pretty much just static HTML reached by HTTP. Then folks added static file generation, optionally, behind the scenes. Then techniques like CGI to make it dynamic each request, typically from a C program or Perl script. Anyway... Turns out, not all old ways are bad. For certain use cases, just plain HTML-over-HTTP, totally static, works fine. And hard to beat it's performance and resource usage.
Ooh, now this looks promising.

Having done Cocos2d development for a while now I like the sound of this and will definitely give it a try.

I'd be super impressed if there was built in support for shaders too (there is support in Cocos2d 2.0 but it's still in Alpha & not quite ready for prime-time). Oh and I really like the idea of a Project Upgrade Tool, it can be messy updating cocos2d projects.

Sounds good, well done!
China vs. the U.S.: The Case for Second Place
oh no. I'm sorry! that's the previous url which we moved last minute.

I'm going to go through the doc again to make sure there's nothing else out of place :/
Would your opinions on checking malloc still hold if the system in question were an embedded system that should continue operating with partial functionality even when out of memory? Also, when you say "makes their code worse," are you saying harder to read, harder to debug, less secure, slower, buggier, or all of the above?

My habit of checking malloc() also comes from my distaste for audio software that randomly displays erratic behavior when memory starts getting tight, rather than displaying an alert that an allocation failed.
Easier than ever, when you stand on the shoulders of giants:

http://m.techcrunch.com/2011/02/28/creator-of-angry-birds-ph...
Then you have to calculate the amortization costs for the next RV (when this one dies), RV insurance, gas (which RVs needs a lot of), maintenance, sewage pumping costs, water costs.

I wouldn't call living in an RV a retirement most people envision.
"fewer second chances"

I have to vigorously disagree with the assertion that the real world offers fewer second chances. In fact, it's the other way around, the real world (i.e. marketplace) offers as many chances as you can create.

It's the rigidity of academia that closes off chances for a lot of people who don't fit the predefined molds (categorization by major, standardized pedagogical technique (the lecture), and on and on). Additionally, academia is often a zero sum game (because of grading on a curve).
Steve Ballmer geeking out with young devs in Chicago
Tagstand (YC S11) Raises $1.1 Million To Help Take NFC Mainstream
especially when your lifestyle was enabled (albeit, in this specific instance), apparently, by public spending (grad school, postdoc, and subsidized higher education in his country of origin)

you're effectively a net neutral on the system, however, when you factor in all that society has invested in you, you're very much a net negative.
This is just horrible, we're living in a world of humongous wealth and this is the solution? Really? That's the best we can do?
Keep the following text:

This calendar features creative photographs uploaded by the community at BoardGameGeek.com.

54 pages. One for each week.

Remove everything else. People understand calendars. They know how they work. Instead, put a BIG INTERACTIVE demo letting users flip through the calendar to look at pictures. Under the text, place a large PURCHASE button. Add the newsletter signup underneath if you must. But it really should offered after they make their purchase. Make it exclusive! ;)

Bonus points: Insert easter egg appointments in the calendar for ridiculous things like "Catanadians Anonymous @ 8pm (BRING BEER)".

Just an idea.

UPDATE: So it looks like this is a test and the product has not been produced yet. And from the looks of your blog, you've spent a decent amount of time to get to this point. So I didn't mean to cut what you created to shreds. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this page, especially if it's generating cash. However, something needs to be said for conveying a simple message. "I have a calendar. The pictures might be of interest to you. Come and buy it from me." Adding all of the additional text is a distraction from what you want your visitors to do. If they want to buy it, they will. Additional pictures may entice them to dwell on the thought a bit longer. Additional text might do the same thing. But I believe that people prefer visual candy to reading more often than not. That's the main reason behind my suggestion. Hope the explanation helps.
skip ahead to 10:00 for the cameo. Also see http://www.youtube.com/user/ChiTechAcademy#p/a/u/0/EMZ9eVKsF...
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I've done something similar to your vsnprintf()-based code by using snprintf() into an undersized buffer, realloc()ing the buffer to the returned value, then calling snprintf() again. This works well for reused buffers that have a length associated with them and may need to grow over time, but clearly vsnprintf() could do the same thing.
Wolfram Alpha doesn't actually answer the question that was asked. Instead it answers two questions (1) what countries share borders with Iraq; (2) what countries share borders with Afghanistan. The final step (find the intersection of those sets) is a task that I would expect a computer to be better at than a human, but that is the step that Wolfram Alpha misses out.
We are thinking very hard, right now, about how to open up Khan Academy content to other contributors without losing quality and consistency.

If you look at some of the latest videos, you'll see Sal recording videos side-by-side with Vi Hart and professors from Stanford (focused on medicine in this latter case) This is just the beginning.

I've heard Sal say many times, "In no way do I want to be the only person making videos. I just want to make videos until I die."
This is true but there is a qualifier here:

If a type name is used, it always needs to be enclosed in parentheses, whereas variable names and expressions can be specified with or without parentheses.

So

long_struct_name *foo = malloc(sizeof long_struct_name)

won't compile.
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It seems like the argument boils down to "someone who can obsess over and get really good at one thing can also do the same with another thing." Note that I don't mean "obsess" to be pejorative.