skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
As someone who's been using Ubuntu full time since 9.10 (though I'm really not a Linux "power user."), I was pretty much horrified by my upgrade to 11.10.

In tweaking a few compiz settings, through their config GUI, I managed to crash compiz hard enough to need to reboot several times.

Unity itself is incompatible with Desktop Cube for some reason, and trying to force it just breaks everything. (I like Desktop because it seems to be a more reliable desktop switcher, anecdotally.) I don't mean "force it" like changing the config directly. I mean "force it" like pressing the button that asks if I really want to activate it.

So I tried out Gnome 3 for the first time. It tries so hard to LOOK like OS X, yet it winds up being way worse than either OS X or Gnome 2.

Maybe I'll try Kubuntu. Or Linux Mint. Or just keep trying to like this new crap. I don't know.
I seem to remember someone (Knuth, possibly) saying something to the effect of "Good notation is determined as much by what it leaves out as what it accentuates." I interpret this as meaning that leaving out accidental complexity is at least as important as including all the essential elements of the problem. A good example, then, would be modern notation for the integral of a function.
> I'm not sure they should be treated differently

If you're complaining about Citizens United, you're saying that they should be treated differently.

> I don't claim to have a solution, but I think it's useful to try and define the problem before you get legislation run amok.

Citizens United wasn't legislation - it was a case that overturned part of a law that said that some money is different than other money.

> the broader issue is one of money having more influence over policy than the interests of voters,

maybe, but that's not the argument that you're actually raising.

That's why I asked about the NYT and Miramax. Why should they be treated differently than me or me and a group of friends?
For mega-rounds:

- SaaS companies like box flush it all on customer acquisition. Billboards on 101, google Adwords, telesales teams. See Jive's S1: $60m rev run rate and losing $2 for every buck of revenue.

- groupon, living social: customer acquisition also: web ads. Plus salesforce to call on local businesses

- four square plus everybody above: "secondary" I.e. into the pockets of founders, early shareholders and, once in a blue moon, employees.
Ask HN: How to approach large-tier sites with feature innovations
Looking for advice from people who've had experience, or know of case-studies where hackers/developers/entrpnrs have approached established players (eg, Google, FB, Twitter) with feature innovations or even just concepts?

I'm currently am in the early stage of an interesting product, but am thinking of going this route rather than fighting the startup fight.

Any comments, suggestions, thoughts would be much appreciated.
Nike Lebron 8 V2 Low Wolf Grey Shoes New Arrival Sale
Then don't sell it.
Speaking of dependencies, CFEngine 3 is written in C and has 3 dependencies:

berkeley db,

libcrypo,

and PCRE.

It compiles into small binaries and is usable anywhere - in the cloud, on supercompute clusters, on the desktop or laptop, on a smartphone, in embedded devices.
"None of the women I know can separate these two magnetic spheres"
The future will tell, but I would bet that all those human-like interfaces are gadgets deemed to stay gadgets. Would you voice drive a car? a plane? machines interface can use metaphors, like desktop and folders, but those are just metaphors, ie a way to mentalize a tool, which is much better controlled through direct orders than "conversation".
Eventually, by making a fresh account, taking checksums of its dotfiles, adding an applet, and taking checksums again, I found out that the new panel configuration lives in a file called .config/dconf/user that is an opaque binary blob.

I think the OP is a perfect candidate for Arch Linux.
I do wonder what the future is for the Arduino with the upcoming launch of the Raspberry Pi[1]. What aspiring hardware hacker would spend $30 on an Atmel development board when there's an ARM-based board available for $25 that'll do so much more?

I think we're in for a fascinating few years, as powerful but dirt-cheap featurephone chipsets start trickling out into the hardware hacking community.

[1] www.raspberrypi.org
You really should check out CFEngine 3. Very few dependencies (pcre,berkeleydb,openssl), and they also provide free packages with all the dependencies included: http://cfengine.com/download

The memory footprint is about 10 MB, install size maybe 30 MB.
Cool. Sadly, the "updated" graphics look pretty awful. I agree, "classic" mode would be much better.
On the other hand, if you don't enjoy working on your car, presumably a professional mechanic would enjoy it better. And he would certainly enjoy the money.
Please help new startup: take a survey on database technologies
I see fallentimes (now deceased, if I remember correctly) is on the list.
I think you'd be surprised. The latest PowerPoint versions are surprisingly powerful. Duarte Design did some work with it to demonstrate it's power.

However, I would acknowledge that it's painstaking to make a deck that pretty because some of the elements like fonts are not built in and PowerPoint's interface doesn't necessarily make it straightforward to change the elements that make this deck stand out to you.
Thank you, I will try to go to counselor at uni.
Dealt with in the comments on the site — they'd have had to buy more servers than Google.
That's misleading in itself. The language makes it sound like there's only a small or minor limitation. It's not that is "may not be available", it's that it "is NOT available for most features outside of the US".
I wonder what demographic they are trying to hit. The dysfunctional family, perhaps?
But keep in mind the truly important part of a patent application: the device described need not exist or even be capable of being built.
At first reading, Mathattack's response seems obviously the most appropriate (Unethical - presenting yourself under false pretenses, possibly breaking the rules of your placement office, lacking integrity, endangering your reputation, etc), but upon further reflection, Horofox's observation has currency also - in a world that now seems totally lacking in corporate responsibility to the worker (intentionally unfunding/underfunding pensions, layoffs of real people that occur strictly as a 'this quarter' response to share price, layoffs that happen as a result of offshoring every single function possible in order to maximize shareholder profit, prole/CEO pay ratios which haven't been seen since the Emancipation Proclamation, and on and on ad nauseum) why shouldn't each of us behave in a purely rational/self interested way?

Is there a reason to have regard for the corporation in today's world? Odds are the company you accepted the offer from was very likely one which has no notion of a social contract - they need you today and if they don't need you tomorrow you'll surely be gone without a second thought, and if that's the case shouldn't we behave in a similar manner? Or does personal integrity still matter?
Who said I restricted myself ? Is a python (or whatever suit your boat) developer restricting himself to python ? I said of myself that I am a php developer because I actively use it on a weekly basis and it helps me make a fair amount of money on the side while others argue about which is worse between php and the devil. I also use quite a few other languages, mainly at my job.

> Why not just be a "developer" who uses the right tool for the job?

That's exactly what I do, and there are a few cases where php is the right tool. When someone tries to use php in other situations and complains that it sucks at it, it just shows how poorly he chose his tool.

> And your feeling won't get hurt when people point out how horrible php is

Where have you read anything like that ? My feeling aren't hurt at all, I'm just saying his remark is stupid, plain and simple. File uploading in php is no more (or no less) of a threat than in other languages, you just have to know what you are doing, that's what I posted about, not some "php is horrible" that you imagined reading.

> When you learn other languages, you will find out that you have to know something well to truly hate it properly.

That is exactly my point that you missed, given his remark on file uploading (the only thing he mentioned and that I commented on), he doesn't know php well. Thus he should abstain from trying to take a shot at it in a product description page, especially since - given php popularity - a lot of his potential users are using it.
Spotify music-streaming service's honeymoon may soon be ending
Show HN: JavaScript expression evaluator and visual expression builder.
Actually, no. Graphic design/UI design is not what I was talking about.

Tufte makes a lot of noise about communicating complex information visually.

But frankly and ironically, he does an abysmal job of this himself. Have you ever looked at his books? They're a hodge podge of unrelated, poorly visually articulated thoughts that fail to create a larger narrative.

I think the biggest problem is that he's considered the go-to guy on this, when in reality his own work is substandard at best.
Augmented Reality Detects Billboards and Signs in Realtime
Open Source Exchange rates
The problem is, Unity has done nothing but alienate power users. This is a huge problem for Ubuntu. The gurus are the gateway to getting new users into the fold. Its not like Ubuntu has a big marketing budget or a Steve Jobs type evangelist.
The linked article alleges pollution not worker abuse. I'm not saying that (a) hazardous waste is ok or (b) that all of Apple's subcontractors behave perfectly, but this seems like a case of shifting ground to score points.

In general, Apple gets a lot of flak from environmental groups simply because it's the target that will make news. This means that Apple has to be especially careful. Would anyone care or be surprised if Dell were polluting an estuary?
Yes, I definitely am. Teaching how to code and coding itself are two very different aspects, though they revolve around code itself. Prepping the material forced me (in a good way) to scrutinize my code to ensure 100% accuracy.
Also, amusingly, you referenced Tufte as designing an airplane cockpit -- looks pretty similar to the dashboard being lampooned in this blog post.
is your site getting scraped by other people? what about site response times?
I'd love to hear feedback from you guys!
I've found the font a bit too distracting, but the content is definitely good :)
You will be able to do so in a few days.
Not going to happen. It's a pet project and Canonical isn't as beholden to market economics as a company that sold its OS would be.

Kubuntu is great, although a lot of people who say that seem to eventually settle on XFCE anyway.
> Football intuitively seems healthy

I completely agree, which is why I included it!

My personal experience has been that Chess is treated in much the same way. Sure, they might be happier with that person having picked Football, but nobody would ever call them addicted to Chess.

I agree that Farmville is an abomination; I disagree with calling it addictive. Sure, you can demonstrate that people will abuse games (I'm unsure about Farmville, but this certainly applies to ones like WoW) to avoid real life and to make themselves feel better. Taking away their computer may result in them exhibiting withdrawal symptoms such as irritability. The same is true of movies, TV programs, books, computer programming, and almost any sort of entertainment.

People can play games for many different reasons. A few:

- casual, healthy entertainment

- competition, like regular sports sans muscles

- a way to avoid dealing with life

The 3rd is a problem, but is not exclusive to games, and is generally ignored if you use something like books. That said, many video games are perfect for being used for avoiding life; IMO due to the easy immersion, repetitive interaction, and satisfying rewards.
> If you can explain accurately how to optimally structure SQL queries, you can probably write database code yourself.

Yes, probably. That doesn't mean your role on the project, in the company, or in your job description isn't "Database Administrator." Or operations engineer or reliability engineer or whatever fancy name you want to call the fact that you are more responsible for running the system than building it.

A more realistic example, though, is that a DBA and developer collaborate; the DBA collects and analyzes data from the production system and shares this information along with recommendations to the developer, who is ultimately responsible for restructuring the query.

In a very small team there's probably no need for these roles to be divided.
Rapid Access IG PAK for iPad doubles as a work station
Microsoft's tiny hut in shadow of Apple store
Design awesome charts with javascript and highcharts
He was sounding "walk" every time. Which still proves Siri has an excellent voice recog. And as long as that's true the rest can be changed by a product manager's instruction, when necessary.
Apple generate queues by releasing compelling products, Microsoft are going for Celebs:

The goal of the hut is to build buzz for next week’s
grand opening of the Microsoft store – a huge bash
which will feature appearances by baseball legend
Edgar Martinez and Seattle Sounders FC goalkeeper
Kasey Keller on Thursday, a performances by
The Black Keys on Friday and a concert
by OneRepublic on Saturday.
I just spent the last week implementing something very similar for a client project...most of the problems in that list of yours already have solutions... Nice idea to try and productize them, though. In the case of my client your product could have saved them a weeks worth of paying me so there is considerable value if you can make it super duper easy to integrate
So what would be the alternative? If you don't use NFC what would you use? Doesn't this mean that a startup or some other organization could use the ideas here as a new and exciting business?
I am not an expert on them but it seemed like to do anything useful you would need at least 2+ timers and the msp430 that came with the starter board only had 1 and the other one had 2. do you have any links to better ways of dealing with those limitations?
The short:

You don't owe him anything, he doesn't owe anything to you. Carry on.

--

The long:

In business, there is no loyalty, only favor which can be earned over time and courtesy, but it's definitely both ways and can be lost in an in instant anyways.

Your former employer lives, like many entrepreneurs in their own reality.

In hindsight, what would a heads up possibly help your ex-employer with? What would a blessing with your ex-employer possibly do?

Most employers hate losing good employees, especially when they have little to no systemization or documentation. They can take that (incorrectly) as a threat to their business.

Would your former employer ask you for permission to lay you off or fire you?

If your'e in the US, you probably fall under at will employment, meaning anyone can be hired, can quit, or be fired, at any time, for any reason anyways. I doubt he'd extend the courtesy to anyone.

It doesn't sound like you were actively recruiting or poaching. It doesn't sound like you're competing with your former employer, except maybe with a more enjoyable work environment. Even if you might have been there's no agreement in place.

Being a good person in business is hard, and important to keep. There is no shortage of losers who will try to break you and make you into a jerk. Being too nice and inviting people to lash out can be avoided by not feeding the monster. Live and learn, it's okay. You have nothing to feel guilty for.
I know how you feel. I got out of the content race a year ago and it seems like Panda destroyed 9 out of 10 sites out there focused in the content space.

The best thing you can continually do is push out better content, get linkbacks and decrease your bounce rate.

Have you thought about putting adsense on your site?
Bayouborne-

Relevant points, but a couple thoughts:

- For better or worse, work is like the prisoner's dilemma game. Some people assume, "Screw everyone else" because they view the game as just one play. In the reality, we have long careers. Companies that routinely take advantage of their employees don't stick around forever. In most fields being known as someone who will take the short term selfish path every time will eventually hurt you.

- The obvious second point is of course you should avoid companies that have too crazy a CEO to workerbee pay scale, and that treat their employees poorly.

- Most of the great success stories in technology are build on loyalty. Ron Conway commands great personal loyalty. (And goes the extra yard for his firms) Many of the legends of Silicon Valley are mentors to large groups of people. Not everyone acts selfishly. But if you do act unduly selfishly, you'll turn off even the most magnanimous people that can help.

Just my 2 cents, but I do see this as black and white. I've seen many people take short cuts, and seen many people become highly successful. The two groups don't overlap.
Fair enough. I was just interested because I know for a while LinkedIn didn't have profile pictures for a similar logic.
Sony Broken in Again with 93,000 Accounts Compromised
You would create a payment system over IP: a client app for consumers to pay, a client app for merchants to be paid and a server to handle the handshake. What's more disruptive that completely sidestepping the entrenched players who hold the keys to the POS kingdom? (read: banks, credit companies and enterprise CRM)
You must get annoyed a lot.
Yep.

Webkit's actual masking is considerably more flexible. For instance, you can use one image as a mask, then color it (by setting the background color) to whatever you want… then varying the opacity… and it doesn't only work on solid backgrounds. (This is PERFECT for close buttons on your notifications, if you use e.g. green for success and red for failure, and now you don’t need to fire up an image editor when you tweak the color palette or add another class of notification.)

Of course, it’s quite limited in cross-browser applicability. http://caniuse.com/#feat=css-masks
EyeHarp or making music with your eyes
To top it off the company who filed the lawsuit peddles astrology products, something that's completely worthless and contributes nothing to society, unlike the TZ DB which is a great contribution.
This looks almost as good as the Amiga version. Incredible.
Based on third party traffic measurement services, it appears that quora is roughly the same size as hacker news
I don't have links, I just sit down and think about how to best use my scarce resources. What do you need at least 2+ timers for? Maybe I can give you some tips.
I can't imagine anyone on this board taking this article seriously. The journalist positions "Work for someone else, or get your idea funded" as a serious decision. There is no decision. You'll learn 10X more doing everything on your own. You can find good mentors, and peers. You can find people to learn with. And you have funding. The companies that complain they can't find people just aren't paying enough, or sharing enough equity.

If it was positioned as, "Starve for 2 years as you build a start-up or work for a medium sized firm with a good salary" - then it's a fair comparison.

Having lots of companies start, and fail, is a productive use of resources. Having very smart people choose to do this rather than go into consulting, banking, or working for large firms is also a productive use of resources. That our market is still seeding these ventures with money is also productive - and one of the great things about our economy.
Any number of reasons to choose a particular distro, but let me lump them into "system administration style" and "GUI style."

If you still like or prefer Ubuntu's system administration style (apt, packages, PPA, whatever), and you're just horrified by the desktop, then use another desktop or window manager.

- Lubuntu (LXDE on Ubuntu, similar to Xubuntu)
- LXDE and OpenBox manually installed.
- OpenBox by itself manually installed.
- Xubuntu.
- XFCE manually installed.

I went with Lubuntu, pretty happy with it. It's a little unfinished, but not terribly so. And I still have all the apty goodness that I enjoy in ubuntu.

Or go upstream to Debian, or downstream to Mint, or over a branch with Crunchbang. Or a stream over to an RPM based distro. Or over into the next valley with Arch, Slack, etc. Get some strange with FreeBSD.

If the mainstream Ubuntu desktop sucks for you (it does for me), then moving some small or large distance to fix it is going to be much easier than suffering day in and day out.
This article shows how difficult it is for many to accept the idea that an individual would choose an entrepreneurial path over a 'regular job.' Why would anyone take the risk?

We take risks, but they are hopefully calculated and well thought out, not reckless. What good is life without taking some risks, especially if you are confident in yourself and your abilities?

"Laws, everything's a chance, isn't it?" - Tom Cullen, The Stand
I do agree the binary blob is a terrible idea, but I've found the new interface to be fairly positive for new users. My brother who hasn't considered ubuntu for years, installed after seeing the new interface. It appeals to the mac crowd with the whole dock interface. The power users should know enough about ubuntu to change what they don't like. Having a simple and dumb interface can be a good thing for new users.
As an occasional semi-pro photographer and graphic designer, I agree. And this view can be extended to other things like religious and political beliefs. I know plenty of people who hold ethical views I strongly disagree with, but who act in an overall remarkably ethical way because holding their views strongly forces them to keep an eye on ethics at all times.
An Occupation
Brautkleider in Übergrößen丨brautmoden Brautkleider in Übergrößen
The code limitations on CCS aren't too bad. Though, yes, ARM chips are awesome. STMicro has some really nice ones, with beautiful documentation and libraries.
Why is there so much negativity?

They are providing a free software option for you, and they work very hard on it. If you don't like it, you don't have to use it. But why be angry at them?

As for Ubuntu 11.10, I am posting this from there. Yes, Unity has some annoyances. But overall things work quite well.
Amazon Signs Up Authors, Writing Publishers Out of Deal
Ebooks for Selling Costume Wigs
MCU's will still win on cost and power. Unfortunately for Atmel, Texas Instrument's MSP430 currently has an aggressive lead on both; if platforms like the Rasberry Pi become common, I forsee the cost of Atmel chips falling and hopefully the prices as well.
A development team had a problem. They were in need of a manageable production environment. "I know," the Chief Developer said, "We'll use Chef!". Now they had two problems.

However, I agree with the basic contention - that the role of a pure, old-school, risk-averse sysadmin is obsolete. In a world of Agile developers practising continuous delivery (or hoping to), the system engineer is now another cog in the development machine; not part of a separate machine.

The resulting closeness does wonders for understanding and quality of the result. Unfortunately, at the time of writing, system engineers who speak Developer are relatively few & far between.
Python Web Frameworks Talk
I love my full time job. Am I retired?
These are called 'tranches' and are very pro-investor. See the section 'Tranches are dumb' in this VentureHacks post:

http://venturehacks.com/articles/adam-smith
"How is being self employed retired? Is this a new meaning of the word retired that I have not heard of?"

It is the meaning that describes a person who'd saved enough so he doesn't have to work for the rest of their life. What he does for fun is irrelevant. Even if it happens to be "work".