skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
There's very little connection between interface design and the technologies used to implement it.

For starters, whatever you design in Photoshop typically looks 10-30% different in the browser when converted to HTML. That is significant enough to make the concept look very different than the actual browser interface implementation.

An interface designer who only operates in Photoshop thus cannot deliver accurate-looking concepts.
Show HN: My nights/weekends project - Simple Bug Tracking
My experience with Clojure is that it forces me to think differently and I like it. I come from java /c background and Clojure drags me kicking and screaming out of my comfort zone. The purity is what I appreciate about Clojure. I am nowhere close to being productive in Clojure ( my start-up codebase is Java and javascript+node ) but one day I will get there.
An agency my partner worked for did "Jumpers for Shelter" last year: employees hand-knitted or hand-accessorized a jumper, which was then auctioned along with some bling donated by clients (kitchen knives, computer games, jewellery). All money from the eBay auction went to Shelter.

http://en-gb.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.175361102491973.4...
Shit this means that I should be asking for raise then?
AIEEE 2012
I honestly cannot tell a difference other than I prefer working in a darker environment in general. When I'm at home I have a 40watt desk lamp behind my monitor pointing at the wall full screen vim with modified IR_Black as my theme.
YouTube in 2011: Over 1 Trillion Playbacks, 140 Views for Every Person on Earth
Apple's aggressive patent strategy is really turning me off; as it should for other people as well. I hope this is understand not only by the Tech community, but also average consumers.

I don't know their claims, but given the past, this is getting out of hand. Last month, I would have said that I would consider buying an Ipod because it is a great product; but because of the past events, I would not consider buying an Apple product whatsoever.

Man up, Apple. You are going to have competitors in the mobile and tablet industry. Stop trying to cop out with all this patent crap.
WikiWikiWeb may also be an example of prior art. It went online in 1994, with CamelCase words automatically being made into hyperlinks. URLs were also automatically transformed into hyperlinks as early as 1996. Unfortunately archive.org doesn't go any farther back than that, so I don't know if the feature was there from the very beginning.
I prefer a dark background in my text editor, but I think that would look out of place when integrated with the browser chrome. Going with a light theme is probably a good default.
I sent you an email. Would love to chat.
theoretically, you could just use photoshop (or keynote, more realistically) to design interfaces. however, given that from there someone has to take over and implement it using the real technologies, it is easy to miss things and the process becomes hopelessly slow. i guess it is theoretically possible to operate like this.

contrast that to being able to rapidly iterate on the real code.

i don't mean iterate as in "code a feature, commit to the repo, send for review, do over". i mean the tweaking while coding.
What's inefficient about it? Usually this doesn't work if your process sucks. The way I've seen it work well is:

Designer starts on the project a week ahead of programmer. Gathers requirements (with the programmer tagging along). Does paper sketches which get a general a-ok from everyone.

Does html prototype, ideally already in rails.

Hands off to developer, developer wires up. Over time they iterate together on the same codebase.
Statistic is flawed. Most people who use the default white themes probably dont read HackerNews, dont care to optimize their setup or routine. Those that read hackernews with a woren out F5 key are likely to be heavily influenced by the dark theme propaganda (screencasts etc..) that swamp HN. Just saying.. I can draw any reasonable conclusions from your stats, or even my own devil's advocate view.. Does it matter?
In fact, there have been numerous studies that show we're much better at reading white-on-black text, but because of historical reasons (paper) many of us are conditioned to prefer black-on-white. That 63% would be higher with a different cultural background.
Slightly off topic but does anyone know if Java 7 would allow fork to work in JRuby?
I can't guarantee the correctness of the implementation, but a friend (burke on HN, I believe) and I wrote a version of the Miller-Rabin primality test in Ruby & C that you may want to use as reference.

IIRC numbers under 341,550,071,728,321 could be accurately tested for primality on the "instant" timescale.

See the repo on github: https://github.com/rkneufeld/mr_prime/blob/master/lib/mr_pri...
Do you have a corporate entity set up and the IP locked down?
I like to make multi-platform code, and I do it with CMake, Boost, and Qt. My target platforms are Linux/g++ and Visual Studio (not mingw). It usually works OK after a little tweaking, but you have to maintain discipline on whichever system you're coding on, and not use nonportable pragmas etc.
I read just about every book of his I could get my hands on when I was growing up. About the time the puns of Xanth got old I had moved on to the Incarnations of Immortality books, Bio of a Space Tyrant and my favorites the Apprentice Adept series. They don't hold up nearly as well to me as an adult but I still have a giant dusty box of his books in my attic that I can't seem to part with.
That's awesome. Of course, if we just want money, prestige, and success, then that is what we want. But if we want opportunities to grow, then the startup should be a challenge demanding our best to achieve success --- it should not be an easy ride on others' abilities. And the same goes for finding the desingineer --- if a founder wants to address a prime responsibility of running a company, and control their culture, then part of their legacy is the people that they help grow and to flourish into the desingineer.
I love a dark color scheme, but the chrome also has to be dark. For example, I can't use dark browser themes because most websites have a white background and the contrast is difficult to deal with.
RIAA "report card" gives Google low marks for anti-piracy efforts
I just saw wave accounting. Really well done! and also interesting business model. They now have a paid payroll service built on it.
I'm not sure it's true anymore. The way something looks is important, but so is how it responds to user actions. This probably started with flash around 2001 i.e. flat graphics were not acceptable anymore but now designers don't have keyframes to tween so knowing css and javascript to manipulate user interactions is essential for UI these days. Even for mobile dev, designers should have prototypes to demo to devs about how an interface responds to interactions.
Anyone on here have any insights on HOW to get there?

IME, you need certain attitudes towards life to get good at both.

You need to be a visionary AND an engineer. Usually people are one or the other and prefer it because they suck less at it. Hence, they eventually get great at it. But this means the other suffers. To be in the designer+engineer category, you first need to figure out what you are good at (essentially what you spend a large chunk of your time on - dreaming or coding) and then what you are weak at.

Then practice doing the weak thing for a couple of years.

Pretty soon, you are a designeer.

Problem is, in the startup world, I still can't figure out WHY you should be both when you can hire people to complement your weakness. Steve Jobs was obviously only a visionary and he, through practice, became great at it. Dennis Ritchie, an engineer.

Unless, of course, startup is not your endgame. Unless your goal is self-improvement powered by a zesty thirst for knowledge. In my limited knowledge, though Learnado Da Vinci fell into the designeer category, he was still very much an idea person (visionary) than an engineer - mainly because he procrastinated like crazy with his projects (for years, at times). This shows that he preferred conceptualizing the project and loved cultivating the vision rather than actually implement it.

Thoughts? Please give me some feedback, this stuff is important.
The situation in NK is continuously presented in negative terms(lots of speculative numbers and information is presented as facts). The people "die of hunger" (and the media presents images with sick kids as if this is the fault of Kim Jong Il), they are oppressed and the immediate suggestion is that US and the world somehow has this obligation to solve this problem.They forget somehow (lie by omision) to mention that a lot of the hunger and sickness is provoked by the embargo imposed on them by US.The second lie is that the leaders of north Korea are crazy, and that they have atomic bomb and want to attack others around, without rational reason.This is a lie, they only threatened to defend themselves in case they are attacked (all this while they are surrounded and provoked by US and South Korea navy). If you watch closely, it's the same recipe applied to Iran and Irak. Present rumors about victims and atrocities, weapons of mass destruction, insane leaders and intentions of war as facts and propose an invasion if some vague terms are not respected by the "rogue state" all this because we have to defend ourselves right ? Did Iran or NK ever say they want to implement preemptive strikes like US ? No, but still they are seen as the aggressors here and not US which is all over them spying and making plans and publicly announcing that "nothing is off the table". And tell me this is possible because mass media tells the truth (we know in the case of Irak that mass media lied together with the Bush administration but now you want to pretend that was an "isolated case").
Apple Deals HTC a Stinging Patent Loss - Could Help Windows - Forbes
+1
Zenburn is awesome for long sessions in fron of the editor.
China's interests (and hence, position) are "don't fuck around and create trouble for us".

A collapsed NK state creates more trouble for China in the form of refugees than a still-functioning one, so we see enough aid for them to keep functioning.

An occasional diplomatic poke in the eye to the US helps China too, but that's a want, not a need. Don't confuse the rhetoric with the reality.
Health 2.0 startup Keas gets $6.5 million in new funds
minor nit:
it will not even reach the yield expression because it
fails to resolve g:

>>> import dis
>>> f = lambda: g((yield))
>>> dis.dis(f)
1 0 LOAD_GLOBAL 0 (g)
3 LOAD_CONST 0 (None)
6 YIELD_VALUE
7 CALL_FUNCTION 1
10 RETURN_VALUE
>>>
http://www.joshuadavis.com/
Well then, the expression problem. The guys who created scala and OCaml have opinions about this, no surprise (why not OOP and typeclasses?

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2807629/handling-incremen...

(message 20)
http://groups.google.com/group/scala-debate/browse_frm/threa...

http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/node/4400

---------------

and "ADT" i think real world haskell is correct in reservign this for abstract data types

http://book.realworldhaskell.org/read/defining-types-streaml...
I'd never hire a designer that valued Photoshop skills above problem solving, design thinking and usability. Photoshop should be just a tool for a designer. I think as that is where the end product usually comes from, it's seen as the skill that you're buying as an employer. Anyone can learn Photoshop, it's extremely simple, it's design thinking that separates the men from the boys.
So... really hot.
Script to Poke a Hole in a Security Group in EC2 for Your Public IP
Meet The Genius Behind Tweetbot
I prefer light backgrounds, for one simple reason. Less eye strain.

If the majority of the screen is light, my pupils contract, which results in less eye strain to keep everything in focus. I can use smaller fonts & maintain readability. I used to love the Zenburn color scheme, but that just doesn't work as well for me anymore.

Note - I'm not talking black on white. I'm talking dark grey (ebebeb) on light grey (0f0f0f).
30 degrees off-topic, but sqlite was extended to support encryption. http://sqlcipher.net/

It has been a fascinating evolution personally to write software that creeps on the border of sqlite not being quite enough. (Which probably speaks to the design, but still, it seems like a rite of passage).
i guess it's useful to keep this data from a db admin, but whoever admins the server that encrypts the data must have access to the encryption key(s).

it does further restrict who can access data which is good and it seems to come at a serious cost in complexity. if your db admin is bleeding company data i think your problems are just beginning...
There are some out there that can do both but I find it to be very rare (and thus should be highly paid). I have worked with some very artistic people in the past who couldn't code to save their life. I always tell them "you make it look good and I will make it work."
Which one on the background?
Ooops, forgot all about this..

Will google[1] or that, see if anything good comes up

By the way, http://www.google.com/humans.txt asks to come work at google.

[1] https://www.google.com/#q=inurl:humans.txt
merchants can't state that they don't accept refunds in cases where people bought and received what they asked for but they didn't actually want the think they bought

As an aside, in some juristictions, customers are legally entitled to a full refund if they buy something online and within 7 days, decide they don't want it.
Something not mentioned, people who are desingineers often gravitate to a comfort zone with regards to money and ability. Let's face it, design is subject to the whims of opinion and can take a really, really long time, code on the other hand usually just works or doesn't.

Dealing with clients on design projects compared to code is like night and day.
Cigarro Electrónico
I assume in TO, count me in.
And be wary of people who say they are great coders and designers. In most cases, it's more half designer and half engineer; meaning you'll have an ugly design and a messy code.
This is one thing that Sublime 2 gets wrong
So in your model there is only a designer and a developer? At my work, we have someone for each specialty: 1. design 2. html 3. backend like php 4. js.

Your designer seems to do both (1) and (2) which is more manageable and something I've had work well. Likewise, your programmer seems to do both (3) and (4).

The problems arise when you need to tweak a small feature. You end up needing four-five people(if you count product manager) to touch it to make the change happen. It's not efficient at least for a web start-up(I can see it work for larger enterprises).
It's also worth noting that 1950 China has very little in common with 2011 China.
Jon Bon Jovi says he's not dead. The Internet says he is. Who's right?
emacs: color-theme-dark-blue2
Wait, how is there no backend on pen.io? IT's got to be hosted somewhere, and the pages have to be stored somewhere, right?

Or is it simply using something like github or dropbox, and serving it publicly from there and pen.io is just a conduit?
Healthbox Accelerator Debuts its Inaugural Batch
Translucent Databases - how to use CryptDB like techniques in normal databases
This may not be entirely true. I started on angel.co as a beginning investor with no deal flow. I have invested once via angel.co so far and have come close several times. I have also made several connections which have now allowed my deal flow to expand well beyond angel.co. A 30K deal would be ideal for a beginning angel or syndicate.
Well, there is the iPod Touch. Yeah, the screen isn't as big as the fire, but that means you can easily carry it in your pants pocket.
Peaked my curiosity!

Where in I benchmark the difference: http://www.bradlanders.com/2011/12/20/rails-rails-vs-scriptr...
Anyone that talented is probably starting their own startup.
Good news: Mozilla fixed their damn browser
This is what I do.
My terminal is green on black, best contrast evahr
Debugging a bug that has showed up 3 times ever doesn't seem exactly like it would be easy...
You can take my life, but you can never take away my Monokai.

http://www.monokai.nl/blog/2006/07/15/textmate-color-theme/
In the 90's there was an attempt to rebrand kiwifruit grown in New Zealand as "Zespri".
Flavor network and the principles of food pairing
Same here! desk bulb pointed at the wall, illuminated keyboard, and dark editor :)
The problem is that very few claims are genuinely ridiculous.

There can be differences of opinion on what's valid, and things which are untested in law, but for the most part there will be a germ of something at the heart of the claim which will make it potentially reasonable.

Judges tend to throw the genuine dross out very early on.

The one that always springs to mind is the MacDonald's too hot coffee case. On the surface it sounds like complete nonsense but when you look at the detail the claim was perfectly reasonable and deserved to win (which it did).
will give this a watch tonight.
You can only hope that Apple is being as obnoxious as possible to spark interest in patent reform.
I use the Solarized theme in Vim and find it's very nice: http://ethanschoonover.com/solarized

It has a dark version, which I use for coding, and which I think works better with syntax highlighting. It also has a light version, which I like for regular text editing.

Both have nice contrast, and you can toggle between the two with a single keypress.
They exist, but engineering pays so much more, while still filling the need to create so 'Desingineers' choose development over design.
I am proficient in: Photoshop, Illustrator, Expression Blend, Sencha, HTML/CSS/Java, WPF, ExtJS.

I possess: Taste, attention to detail and aesthetics, an understanding of human factors as they relate to computer interaction.

What does that make me? :)
This reminds me of the discussion on the where are people located survey and how self reported data like this is essentially worthless. Since the only conclusions one can draw from this sort of survey is that of those who responded 63% prefer the dark background, and that there are people who like light and those who like dark. Further generalization is meaningless.
Just being nitpicky, but I think you misread the OP. He said one person does design and HTML, which is exactly what you're saying.
The goal is to break the Internet
Six Mistakes Companies are Making today And How You Can Avoid Them
> Text gets blurrier quicker than when using a lighter background.

Perhaps you need to get glasses. I've never had text go blurry on me, regardless of the colour theme or duration.
I think the mistake is in structuring the company so that people have to be awesome on both axes. Either that, or so they're forbidden to become good at both.

Every developer is a designer. (You can't make something without thinking about it at least a little.) Every designer can be a developer if they want. Both skills take plenty of practice.

Nobody is likely to be 100% amazing at both, but that doesn't matter: a lot of day-to-day work is pretty mundane, so nobody has to be amazing all the time. As long as you have somebody great that you collaborate with frequently, you can still get a great product, and everybody gets to up their game over time.

Skill-based division of labor is fine for assembly-line products, but for iterative, creative work (which is what all startups are), I think you need intense collaboration, which requires broad skills. That's why IDEO, a design powerhouse, looks for what they call t-shaped people: http://chiefexecutive.net/ideo-ceo-tim-brown-t-shaped-stars-...

It's a cheesy name, but I think the idea's spot on.
I recently applied at a YC funded startup. Their job description had the most random combination of front-end/back-end technologies that exactly matched my recent focuses, and said absolutely nothing about design. I considered myself extremely qualified.

I received a call the following day and was told I was a top candidate. As the interviews progressed with each founder (3 of them), I started to get the impression that they also wanted a designer. I was super careful about managing their expectations and let them know I wouldn't count on my design skills for anything more than "not ugly".

I didn't get an offer.

This is the second time in my very remote, limited experience I've speculated a startup hiring stereotype that has later been echoed in the community. I've convinced myself that both indicate the lack of experience that startup founders have in hiring. Yet another reason I suspect founders can't find talent. After all, what kind of established, motivated and passionate, developer/designer would want to bet their livelihood on a startup that doesn't pay well, isn't clear about its expectations, and shows signs of inexperience?
5 months of blog traffic in 4 days
please do not blow the vuvu... err scratch that. do not link to downloads ;)
The RIAA Pirated $9 Million Worth of TV Shows
bottom up:

1. reguluslabs.com was not designed by a "designer" ratehr, by me. Hence, this is irrelevant, as those are the cases you realized yourself which designer for hire is irrelevant.

2. I am willing to pay whatever it takes for the good job I expect, as I am expecting to be paid for mine, not sure why you assume I did not take that into account.

3. I suspect that twitter founders (simple.com and squareup.com are sites I loved) will bother answer my email.

4. apparently, there is a thing called humans.txt which I forgot about, yet it is the answer for this issue.

have a nice day, and I wish you a happy new year.
Don't take Paypal, or credit cards. The fact that you'd even consider doing this indicates that you're probably charging way too little. Either way, don't take payments via any medium where your client can make one phone call and claw back your payment no-questions-asked.

Do invoices + checks, 20-30% in advance. Structure your work in milestones, with each milestone delivering something of value to the customer (this takes thought and effort), and bill on each milestone.

Just fax contracts.

As a contractor, you will rarely get to work on your own paper. Your clients will tend to have standard contractor agreements. If you want to live dangerously, eyeball them for noncompetes, nonsolicits, and bizarro acceptance clauses (ie, things that state client can withhold payment for N months while they do QA) and just sign the things. Else, get a lawyer and have them do contract review. If you're serious about contracting, you'll get the lawyer.

During contract negotiation, the thing you tend to have control over is the "statement of work", which is usually an exhibit at the end of the contract. Word this carefully, precisely, and in the light most favorable to your own work. The SOW is what's going to determine whether you've fulfilled your obligations under the contract. Don't use promotional language in your SOW, don't talk yourself up, pare back descriptions of functionality as far as you can reasonably pare them, write sterile and boring copy. Put yourself in the position of having to argue about the contract 6 months from now, and that argument centering around whether you've delivered every line item in the SOW.
This sort of behaviour isn't visible to consumers, so it doesn't hurt them in the short term.

But it does piss off developers. If they keep up pissing off developers with patent & app store shenanigans they'll lose their most passionate developers and end up with just those who are in it for the money.

And we know how that ends up. ~10 years ago passionate developers jumped from Windows to OS X, even though at the time there was virtually no money in OS X application development. And the availability of some very nice applications was a large driver of the OS X market share increase from 2% to 15%.