skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Very true that there are so many choices now. Easy to suffer from analysis paralysis before you even get started.

I answered a questionnaire for Manning in exchange for a free book recently. I wanted to learn something new so that cut out a few topics. However, I still sat staring at their catalog for an eternity before deciding on one that was interesting/potentially useful (Lift in Action).
Electrons actually travel very slowly, and in AC current, electrons don't do anything more than vibrate in place.

Picture a straw full of BBs. Push a BB into one end, and another instantly comes out the other end. That's a loose analogy to what's happening with electricity and its perceived speed.
Now lets see if he can keep that job... likely knowing basically nothing about what he is doing.
Linux never had to overtake Windows to be relevant, I'm more concerned that it seems totally stagnant.

I disagree that the interface is years behind, but would agree that the experience is behind. I've always been impressed with GNOME and think it's a better interface than OSX or Windows 7. When I switched to Ubuntu a few years ago (I've since switched back to Windows for various reasons), I expected to have a really stable operating system that was perhaps a little harder to use than a mainstream OS. What I found was that it was actually a joy to use, but it was really unstable. Not because of the OS itself, but because of the buggy apps that ran on top of it. Linux users have some great apps, but are still stuck with subpar alternatives for a lot of stuff (particularly in multimedia).

And then there's hardware support. From what I've heard, things are pretty easy on desktops, but I had a lot of trouble using it on laptops. There are a few companies that sell laptops with Ubuntu or other distros preloaded, but other than that you can face a lot of challenges trying to wrap Windows drivers and so forth.

The hardware aspect might be easier on phones and tablets, but it's going to mean starting almost entirely over on the UI and applications (which is the direction Unity is going).
I tried GitHub for Mac, but find that a combination of command line git and Tower for line-by-line committing works best.
It's going to keep happening...
Everyone is missing the point. If Microsoft buys Yahoo they now control three very large IM networks: Windows Live (MSN), Yahoo, and Skype.
Exactly. As a 17-year-old I've been able to run my own little freelance business. The internet = opportunity if you use it right.
For one thing, Yahoo! Search makes money.
A Clojure talk written in Clojure
From my point of view, this is an explanation not a justification.

More or less deceiving visitors is not ennobled because everybody else does it.
from me to you: http://developers.whatwg.org/ is an incredible resource you might put above w3schools, despite w3schools amazing google juice.
In the past, when a market has tended toward a monopoly, the usual solution hasn't been to create new entrants so much as to split the existing monopoly.

Though both approaches have been tried, I suppose. Microsoft would be an instance in which an illegal monopoly (read the court findings, folks) was not split, as many commentators suggested, but regulated. It's arguable that this did result in a loss of standing as a monopoly, though how much of this is a matter of a shifting computer market (servers, mobile, cloud) and how much an erosion of Microsoft's still overwhelmingly dominant share of desktop OS and office suite markets is also of interest.

NB: I think Microsoft should have been partitioned, and that it still behaves as if it had and seeks an illegal monopoly, though its power has been greatly diminished.
Ask HN: How to automate?
I am a single founder and I started a start-up a few month ago and accidentally(!) I got too many costumers. I mean it was a side project just to earn some money to be able to build my main start-up. I invested 100$ dollars, 25 days of designing, coding, writing the content and marketing. In the first month I made 20.000$ and this was very motivational to advance. By the time I got much more costumers, because of uniqueness of the product spreading the word-of-mouth. Idea was simple, helping students from Azerbaijan, to apply to the internships in Germany, German universities, language courses, and so on. But because it must be a side project I must automate the process. I hired 3 guys to help me, working from their own home as the freelancers. I am the only one, who knows every bureaucratic details how to come to Germany, and at the same time speaking azerbaijani and german. I teached my freelancers how to answer to the costumers, every detail. So must freelancers automate my works, and so I can only advance the company and grow. But now I noticed, because I teached these freelancers everything about our company, they ignore the costumers contacting to us and after that they contact the costumers personally and get the work personally done. As you see, I lost half of my routine costumers. Now I can't figure out, how can I automate the process. I thought about building a platform, where costumers and freelancers can only communicate, without ability to speak with them out of this platform. But no chance, at the end of every conversations, they got the emails, and working with them personally.

Working in an office is also not a solution. Does anyone has an experience like this? I appreciate any advices.
The title of the piece is "Image Ad Blending Works Really, Really Well" not "Image Ad Blending Is Really, Really Ethical."

I'm not promoting it, but take it for what it is. Adapt it to your best judgment.

That said, the stars saying "rated by lots" is both genius and evil :).
What part of "I watched 13 lectures of MIT's OpenCourseWare on computer science" means "I learned how to program in nothing but Django"?
Agreed with this comments. but I am not sure what is that worth. is not like people spend a lot of time on any of those networks, ie not monetizable, and amount of utility they provide vs. FB is diminishing
It's like there is a Groupon deal on Groupon Shares.
I had in mind non-renewable extractive industries.

I don't see sustainable timber, agriculture, fishing, or solar/wind/geothermal/hydroelectric power as extractive.

Wikipedia appears to agree with me, likewise the World Bank: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extractive_industry http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTOGMC/0,,c...
AppleTV with XMBC, Hulu & Amazon
I don't want to ignore this because I'd truly like to help you out. The truth is, there is no surefire way to "make" Tech Crunch write about your startup. There are literally hundreds of startups that want coverage and typically it is difficult...very difficult.

Don't offer money or incentives to TC writers (or any writers). That is insulting them. Getting coverage will come from relationships. Mark Suster has an excellent article about developing relationships for getting funded, coverage, etc. It isn't going to happen in a day. Good luck, but don't waste your time trying to bribe them.
The CPM Yahoo gets are about 10x Microsoft gest on any of its MSN properties. They would be buying high CPMs and plug a HUGE hole in their online biz P&L
I don't know what the problem with that would be. I would love to at least try out a Watson search engine.
Agreed.

Learning any programming language, especially as a youth, puts you in a completely different class from someone who has no prior exposure to computer programming and its core concepts.
Remember that Microsoft has part ownership of Facebook and Skype video chat is integrated into Facebook.
Is This Groupon's Webvan Moment?
Hacking into Python objects internals
Central Imperial  Geylang
> there's never been a better time to learn to code, simply because the resources are so abundant and available.

I felt this way in 2001 when I started to teach myself HTML. There were plenty of free resources available online to learn.

The free education available now is exponentially more abundant. I would expect a similar leap during the next 10 years.
What I don't like to see around here is flagrant "fanboyism", this is in the form of making baseless assumptions that remain unchallenged because they're popular with the status quo. Often I find myself writing about apple/microsoft/google, for which I have no particular loyalty to any brand (I believe we should always choose what is best for ourselves and never buy into PR bullshit that each business is spinning to vie for our loyalty.)

My post ridicules the author for making a hopeful and completely unsourced argument, my exhaustive list (that you're implying as boiler plate, it's not) is a well thought out rationale for the many reasons why the app store is performing better.

In short: "na-ah" isn't a counterpoint.
For a defence contractor with a mad scientist at the head, they have the coolest name.
The DRM on Kindle ebooks is actually surprisingly easy to crack, and I do so as a matter of principle. I believe in supporting the author and pay for my Kindle library; I also ensure my ebooks can't be taken from me if the company folds/the publisher decides they don't want my money (ie. the 1984 Amazon debacle).
I think online chat tool can be made, where your workers and costumers could speak, without giving their contact informations. Second, you must pick-up your workers carefully, for a new start-up it's very important.
12 Classic Movies To Watch On Thanksgiving
You are right about the unconventional ideas. But investors must feel confortable with the people they invest in too, not only with their ideas. It's a relation based on trust, so they are looking for certain traits. This may explain why you perceived little diversity in personality types.
Trends for 2011 still good for 2012
This is a generalization that experience doesn't bear out. According to this, all development roadmaps are smoke and mirrors. Sometimes when you say: "That feature is currently in beta", it's because that feature really is in beta.

We promise customers new features all the time that are "just around the corner" because they are indeed "just around the corner", in the next monthly release. And we deliver on our promises, and our customers are happy. We have also purchased software from vendors based upon what is in the next version, and while we have been burned on occasion, we usually get what we are promised.
Thank you for your advice. The problem is, the costumers must send their CVs with their contact informations. After that, workers do the work personally by contacting them.
Well, according to wikipedia, simplification doesn't get full credit. Repealed laws are replaced with notes about the law so people can understand what was going on in an historic context.

Furthermore, the 1040 got shorter from 1985 (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f1040--1985.pdf) 68 steps and 1986 at 67 steps, and 1987 at 65 steps.

So, perhaps the litteral line count is constantly increasing - but simplification happens. you could, clearly, argue that 3 steps simpler is a drop in the ocean, and that's not without merit. however claiming simplification is impossible is clearly false.
What’s Wrong With TechCrunch’s Foxconn Series
I'm with Jonnie here. This whole outrage is ludicrous. This is like NAMBLA throwing a hissy fit over Google not showing suggestions for search terms like "kiddie p0rn".

Like he said, the results are still there, just not the autocomplete. And stealing content? Where? A music service isn't a radical new idea and I'm sure they could have just as easily done it whether they stole content or not.

This is a for profit company. There's money to be made and I really don't see anything unethical about their new Music service. You want to talk about stealing?! Let's talk about the sites moaning about Google not autocompleting queries that are likely looking for pirated material. Now those sites are stealing. The disgusting thing about them is that they want to hide behind "freedom" and "censorship" as a way to distract or even excuse what they do.

I'm just shocked at how many people feel theyre entitled to free music, movies, software, you name it! You're not entitled to shit. I often wonder how many of those same people are in business for themselves. I'd venture to guess not many at all.

Make no mistake here, censorship, SOPA, Protect IP are all bad things. But websites that obviously, actively, and often openly break copyright laws cannot be taken seriously when we talk about freedom and censorship. It's like the KKK hiding behind the bible to support bigotry or politicians hiding behind Patriotism to pass the Patriot Act. By using those things as shields you're essentially shitting on the very thing you say you value so much.

Copyright laws have been on the books since before the web and while there's a point to be made about some parts of those laws going too far, the simple concepts of creators being able to defend themselves against the unauthorized distribution (theft) of their creations is something we should all be able to get behind. If we can't then I had better get out of the programming business because sooner or later my own colleagues will be diving for the freedom to be able to hijack and give away what I create for any price they want without any permission from me.
Put a non-compete in your contract with your freelancers.
5 Userscripts for extra efficiency in Gmail
Agreed. this guy clearly has a passing understanding of the business.
I was going to post something similar. Glad to see I'm not the only one who felt that line stood out.
The Closed, Unfriendly World of Wikipedia
Build a good app/site that people want. You won't get coverage if it isn't good or is essentially a clone.

If your app/site is good then here is a good article for you to start with: http://jasonlbaptiste.com/featured-articles/how-i-pitched-te...

Remember TechCrunch coverage does not mean that your startup will be successful and if they don't cover you it doesn't mean you won't be successful either. What is important is building a good app/site that people want.

With regards to offering them money etc... NO. Daniel Brusilovsky was fired from TechCrunch over a bribe attempt - http://venturebeat.com/2010/02/05/techcrunch-daniel-brusilov... - and this isn't a route you should be looking to go down. Although, if you are looking for paid reviews of your website/app which does not mean they will be nice about your app and they are also disclosed that they are a paid review - there are several websites that will connect you with bloggers that will do this for you.

Remember the important thing which is building a good app/site that people want and if you do that, not only will you get coverage but you will get users.
If investors have a blind spot, there is money to be made by capitalizing on it. Eventually someone will. I'm having trouble being concerned by this.
Instagram uses a very customized Django. Ref - http://www.quora.com/Which-high-profile-web-startups-have-ch...
The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of an expanding bureaucracy. -Oscar Wilde
It's illegal to refer to yourself as an engineer in Canada unless you have an Engineering degree/are certified by the appropriate professional organization.
Closure compiler doesn't just compile vanilla JS. It supports type annotations in comments and will use those to generate code. It's type system supports classes and interfaces. The Closure library has support for class-style inheritance.

Programming in Closure-style JS feels like you're using an optionally-typed class-based language, just one with really terrible syntax.
That's omega, which is used as a symbol for ohms. It's also [and originally] the last letter in the Greek alphabet.
If we had a union for software engineers they'd be lobbying against this.
I tried to do this but they must be my full-time contract workers due the rules in Germany. Because they a freelancers, in very different cities (I have to find freelancers both speaking German and Azerbaijani and they are very few here) I couldn't hire a full-time office workers.
Off-topic but can you post your Flickr link. I'm curious to know what a "Asian ball-jointed doll" actually is.
Stunning remake of the Titanic with the CryEngine 3
I'm amazed how stupid spotify's (and all other free music services') ads are. Haven't they heard of contextual advertising? I'm listening to Kings of Leon, sell me KoL t-shirts, have them talk about their gold plated vinyl record, sell me wristbands with their lyrics on them. Nooooooooo, here's Rihanna's latest single. Enjoy!

It's like no one told them you don't have to exactly copy the old school radio advertising model.
"learned" was DEFINITELY an overstatement. I knew they existed is more accurate.
I agree with you. That's what I think about when I think about simplicity. It's really about having a deep enough understanding of what you are doing so that you can eliminate all the unnecessary bits. Sometimes the initial version of code can be like a Rube Goldberg machine, and it gets this way because we don't fully understand the problem or solution yet. The code works, but it's complicated. You can make it simpler only by coming to a better understanding.
Does it use any algorithms to figure out what I might like most given my voting history, or is it just random?
If you want to build a search engine, there's no need to crawl the web. Just crawl Google. That's what Microsoft did.

The inequities of crawling are in my opinion a huge issue with the web that receives relatively little discussion.

If a majority of websites were to ban Googlebot, Google would be brought to its knees. Slowly.

Their index would go stale.

I like Google. But I do think crawling, who gets to do it and who does not is an underappreciated issue. Google is very lucky.
I agree.

To keep the discussion going, how would you feel if in the future, Google removed the "offending" sites from it's index entirely?
As a Computer Engineering student in the SLC area (Provo), I'm surprised that SLC is characterized by "hardware hackers". Maybe he means embedded systems guys, because digital and analog design jobs are much less common than software positions around here.
Is Hulu a good company to work for for software engineers?
There are very few reviews about Hulu on glassdoor(http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Hulu-Reviews-E43242.htm). And the reviews do not look good: poor compensation, crammed office, severe bureaucratic...

Anyone worked(working) at Hulu can provide some insights? What's the turnover rate at the company?
Oh! Wow! I just tried on some of my notes, it's definitely pretty. I didn't know there was a good companion math font, thanks for enlightening me.
Version 1.1 is crashing like a pig on Snow Leopard for me. This instability looks chronic; Ground Control to Major Tom.

My mistake appears to be adding a repo that lives in a Windows 7 Parallels VM, something that Git Tower handles reliably with ease.

EDIT: two application force-quits and restarts later, it's working better. My crime may have been dragging a bunch of repos into the application window. There's no progress indication, buy Github Mac 1.1 may have been background processing and therefore seeming hung? Who knows. It's better now.
As far as I'm concerned, you can become a programmer in 12 hours. That's easily enough time to learn enough Python so you could start writing programs that satisfy your own needs, if they were simple enough.

Of course, there is no upper limit to how good a programmer you can become. We can only (maybe) set lower limits.
Parent doesn't deserve to be downvoted. Multi-billion dollar businesses (revenue that is, not "valuation") have been built on targeted advertising. Isn't not a fad. Jeez.
>I would say there were more people blindly championing Groupon in the lead-up to the IPO than contrarians.

Seriously? Everything I heard was unremittingly negative.
> But you will need to carefully educate coders about that, since relying on overflow is common in popular languages like C and C++.

This is something we're aware of and we know we need to be extra clear and loud about it.

> Also, integer overflow is not the only case where this problem arises.

As far as I know, bigints are the only place where the VM and the generated JS intentionally differ in behavior. We are trying very hard to keep the two in sync.

> It also happens with say division of an integer. Will Dart compiled code in JS add proper rounding correction to all divisions of integers?

Dart has two division operators (~/ and /) to handle this. The former rounds (truncates? I'm not sure) and the latter does floating point division. So it's always the operation that determines the type of the result, and not the type of the operands.

> Overall, it seems much simpler and safer to just correct overflows in the compiled code.

Simpler: yes. Safer: yes. Unfortunately, it's also much slower.

Rolling your own numeric type in JS means slower behavior when you have overflowed and slow behavior even when you haven't. If you're generating code for "a + b", you can't compile that to "a + b" in JS because you need to check for overflow and handle the fact that a or b could be bignums.

We really want the compiled JS to behave the same as native code, but if it's significantly slower, people just won't use it at all. It's an unfortunate trade-off.
Sorry the stupid question, but: does this work with any git repo or this app is exclusively for github?
Have you made money as a result of code you've written? If so, you're a professional programmer. I wouldn't worry about whether you conform to a checklist an arrogant troll (I don't use these words lightly, but check his comment history) wrote on an internet forum. Hats off to you for doing it, especially under so much pressure.
I'd argue that it still predisposes you very strongly. If nothing else, just in the abstract sense that you are familiar with the computer and don't see it as some scary or magical thing.