skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
No offense, but the answers here were either wrong or incomplete so I decided to look it up. For those who want the gist of the situation:

An unlocked bootloader allows for the booting of kernels that are not signed by HTC (and probably jointly the carriers).

S-OFF disables write protection on the /system and /boot partitions. It is part of the NVRAM of the radio and is patched during HBOOT, which I believe is HTC specific.

sources: http://alpharev.nl/
It's a bit dissapointing to me that they are all focusing on web technologies/development. I know, we're at HN and webapps are popular, but still... Are there any with a different focus? Drivers, firmware, OSS development? (Dislaimer: currently doing web and GIS development, perhaps I'm getting a little bored?)

I'm asking out of curiosity, being only 2.5 years out of college with a BS in CS.
With Apple, I'm the customer, not a marketer.

Are you sure about that? Apple "sells you" as a user that will buy apps on the app store, and they take 30% of the developer's profit for that privilege. Whenever Apple can, they advertise how their users buy more apps than Android users, and bill this as a reason for developing for iOS and not some other mobile platform.

You are a product.
Treadmill Desk Update
Ask HN: Stackmob/Parse/Kinvey-like FOSS project?
Hello HN,

I'm developing a mobile app, but, I really don't want to setup a whole Rails stack, just to perform logic, access a DB, and serve JSON for my mobile app's API.

That said, for better or worse, I'm one of the weird ones that like maintaining their own web stack on a VPS/self-managed server and I'm looking for a solution to help me with this.

Does anyone have any suggestions on existing libraries, frameworks, or strategies for this?

Thanks!
I dont "want to see people giving them the finger in their stream" but at the same time I want even less for Google to censor minor stuff like that. If they're going to be that restrictive I have very little reason to believe they won't also censor things I'd care a lot more about.

I already use Google+ far more than Facebook, but they keep stepping in it and making me less and less hopeful about it being long term viable as a replacement.
Taking a devil's advocate perspective: this would be perceived as corporate blackmail, an attempted takeover of the democratic process by industry.

Even though such an approach may have plenty of support, especially in our communities, I wonder if it wouldn't turn off non-technical moderates in a much bigger way.
Hey Motorola, get on board, damn it...
Never thought about Google, Twitter, Facebook, etc, going black and telling you to contact representatives. But it would be not "nuclear", it would be "6000km diameter meteorite". Think about it: almost 100% of people connected to the Internet would be concerned about SOPA. Really, really concerned. I don't think neither representatives nor Hollywood industry would support this pressure.
> The only people who really care about software updates (in the absence of show-stopping bugs) are those that are willing to install custom ROMs.

I'm pretty sure developers care about users upgrading to the latest version. No one wants to be targeting ancient APIs.
They do. Game consoles were the beginning of this slippery slope. Now we are at phones. Personal computers seem to be next. This is worrisome and it was worrisome before the iPhone was even a twinkle in anybody's eye.
I don't live in the UK, so I'm going to ask -- is this serious? I know in the US there's about 15 minutes of previews/commercials after the presentation starts, but for the 30 min prior to the screening there's the "First Look" or some other less preview/ad thing running. That would make 40 minutes but only if you came significantly before showtime.
The law doesn't say, Viacom may make a claim on your content, so make a deal with Viacom and you're golden. It says that any rights-holder can make a claim on your content.

There's a big problem with patent trolls right now making totally frivolous claims based on patents that they bought up, right? And yet many companies are paying oodles of dollars to pay them off and to try to avoid future trouble from essentially ridiculous patents. I would expect exactly the same thing to arise under SOPA, but with ridiculous copyright claims instead of ridiculous patents. Entities with no actual concern about their IP will start knocking at the door looking for shakedown money when it allegedly gets posted on Youtube.
Facebook Started Saturating The US Market In 2011
>$50,000 is barely meaningful? Any charity would be thrilled to receive such a sum.
I'd rather have an open handset that allowed me to install whatever operating system I like and use with whatever carrier I would like. I want to be able to choose.

Nobody is stopping you from porting OpenMoko. The problem is that nobody else wants to do this, and so the work hasn't been done. But it's quite possible to do, should you be interested.
I'll believe they "OPPOSE" SOPA when I see a commercial during SportsCenter with Danica Patrick talking about the evils of internet censorship and telling us to contact our Congresspeople.
Probably not a good idea when your in the antitrust firing line ask ATT and IBM how that turned out for them.
Show HN:  Audiofu - my web app for musicians
Can you suggest a news aggregator that is not frequented by the usual bullies?
I think you're looking at downvote for not adding anything to the discussion. Anyone who has actually used Namecheap knows you're off base.
"an attempted takeover of the democratic process by industry"

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but the attempt happened a long time ago, and it was completely successful.

There is also precedent for something like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_World_Wide_Web_protest
"barely meaningful amount of money" come on

according to this https://www.eff.org/files/eff-2009-2010-annual-report.pdf 2010 annual report</a> 50k might be a (really) small percentage but it would still cover EFF's taxes, Consultants, and Court Filings and Service Fee's.
The problem with SOPA is that the vast, vast majority of non-technical moderates are completely unaware of it. Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen this large of a disconnect between the tech community and "everyone else". If you don't believe me, next time you run to the supermarket or the drug store, just politely say to your cashier, "Excuse me, I was just wondering if you knew what SOPA is?"
Might as well give a shoutout here to the Cleveland Cinematheque. It's a humble operation in some ways, but run by folks with an incredible amount of passion and devotion to film (film on film to be precise; none of this digital nonsense) and to the craft of showing and curating the art. I could probably go on and on about what they do, and how special it is, and how it changed my life. Cleveland is really one of the best cities to live in if you're a film buff.

Here's what's showing right now
http://www.cia.edu/extended_film_schedule/
Shouldn't There Be Significant Punishment For Bogus Copyright Claims?
Lexington, MA. Malicious Code Analysis Researcher Job Oppty. Full-Time.
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The pluses:
* Extremely difficult and rewarding problems.
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You do need to be a US citizen and you will have to get a security clearance. A related Master's degree is preferred, but BS and 5+ years of directly related experience with demonstrated domain expertise will be considered.

To learn more and apply, visit ll.mit.edu/employment and search for position # 1997.
I think that the general suggestion of a more tepid response (that is, blacking the background of google/facebook but leaving everything else usable), would probably be completely ineffective. Most people are incredibly unconcerned with things on the internet that they might have to read, so if an ad comes up or something that you can click through, people will click through without reading it because they've been to Forbes enough times to have that behavior trained into them. Unless they commit to a total blackout of their usual features, you can expect very little response from users.
EHarmony for moving! Hahaha a very intimate matchup for a mere 12 hours of heavy lifting...
If Google and Facebook are going to start using their websites to influence politics, maybe it's time for companies to start lobbying them instead of Washington directly.
Not sure about individual record types, but Gandi allows you to upload raw zone files.
Opposes in current form. I don't believe they've changed their stance. It's just a ploy to get people to stop transferring domains.
I find a lot of religious imagery horribly offensive.

Also a lot of right wing politicians. Republicans for example. Actually most Democrats too - I'm not American.

And political statements against meat eaters - I want my steaks, and I want them bloody.

I can go on. I'd rather not see any of the above pop up in my stream.

At the same time, if the choice is between having to see them in my stream or having censorship, I'll tolerate seeing them in my stream. Together with people giving me the finger.
Completely agree.

To add to your point, from the BizSpark FAQ: " BizSpark software is for design, development, test, and demo only." You have no licence to use the software for any internal business use. E.g. sales guy can't use Office. The licence has so many catch-alls to prevent "abuse" that what you can do is rediculously limited.

Of course, the activated software is very useful, and obviously MS isn't actually enforcing the rules... [edit] so BizSpark can be very handy during first few years, but indeed you are punting a big licencing hassle (staff times number of VMs).
The response rate could be hundredths of a percent of users and still generate a massive number of emails/calls/faxes.
NFS.N also accepts major credit cards.
I don't understand your reasonning. Why do you think it is "too extreme"? Politics is struggle. You can't win if you don't fight. First it's SOPA, and if it passes then what?

The thing here is that nuclear is actually a poor metaphor. Because it would imply that the menace of Google, Amazon etc. doing something similar to what Tumblr did would be enough. It's not. Politicians don't understand the web, that's why they want SOPA. They surely did not understand nuclear weapons before a few of them had tragically been used.

That said, I also think that it would be preferable that big internet companies do not get to do what is described in the story. But not for the same reason as you seem to think. Here is my sweet dream: What I would like is for people to go on strike and to get down in the streets until SOPA is dead. Because that way politicians and all those who/which are backing SOPA knows what the web is capable of, without the web needing big private companies to back people up. Because some companies may be on the web's side for now, but everybody should keep in mind that these are companies, which mainly want/need to make profit. For this fight and for now the interests are the same so it's okay to use them as objective allies. It's never okay to really depend on them.
thanks for posting this - it's probably the most coherent, straightforward, and relatable piece i've seen so far on SOPA.
Re-edit: I am annoyed that this device is so buggy, and am getting rid of it. Google, please provide better testing for your revolutionary devices so I don't have to suffer through endless crashing and freezing up of stock apps.

I would agree with the whole "This is the new S60" idea, except I don't remember S60 ever being as fragmented and broken as Android is. Also S60 always had priority on the phone and lock functions so even if an app was having problems I could still receive a phone call - please implement this, Android team.
(1) It was a different time, when almost everyone online was technical; (2) it didn't work then like protesting SOPA today would be intended to, since the act passed back then; and (3) that act was ruled unconstitutional by the courts, rather than by democratic action motivated by protest.

So I think that example is irrelevant in almost every way.

(As to whether congress was taken over by industry; of course I agree with you. I'm not in favour of SOPA, after all. I'm just wargaming the potential scenario of a protest like this today.)
No idea what you're talking about. I've used namecheap for years - cheap, minimal interface, just works. No nonsense.
Using Hadoop to Create SOLR Indexes
true but <b>not</b>for a start up or a proper RAD/DSDM project - co located teams in the same building /room is the way to go
Generally acceptable where?

Do you believe women posting profile pics on Google+ should be required to cover everything but their eyes?

There are millions of people for whom a profile pic of a woman showing her hair and rest of her face is indeed highly offensive.

What about someone holding their thumb up? That is grossly offensive in a number of countries.
It could also be viewed as basic freedom of speech and information. The majority of people have no idea that SOPA/ProtectIP exist or what kind of effect it would have on their lives. I'm pretty sure it's all in the wording.
Combinatorics and intuitionism
just link to the images...

http://grapher.compete.com/site_media/snapshot/ycombinator.c...
what would happen if Google, Bing (and by association Yahoo), made all SOPA-supporting properties disappear from organic and ad-sponsored searches.

my bet - the bill would be be dead within days, they have no obligation to service SOPA supporters.
More and more companies seem to be forced/coerced into implementing backdoors into their chips, components, software.

While the government will obviously claim it is for the good of its citizens, it would be nice if companies would be transparent about the matter. Maybe not shown to the average consumer, but one should be able to get a report detailing the hidden functionality that something has.

By using the device/whatever I would know that I could be monitored, but at least it would be a conscious decision on my behalf. I wouldn't be at all surprised if in 5 years everything I owned was reporting my actions back to some government center.
> Not for a pre-seed startup. In that common situation, software licensing costs can be by far the biggest cost you have.

In that situation, it's almost free-of-charge from Microsoft with their BizSpark (and similar) programs.
I recently hacked around a bug in a Python / API interaction by sending the request with Python system call to curl. I'm sure this was Not Right, but it did get'er done and on deadline. I suspect the API was somehow out of standard.

I figured out the problem 1) reading the Python code and 2) with what I'd learned about HTTP requests fooling around with curl scripts on the commandline.

No doubt a similar hack is available somehow in .NET / Windows. But I'm not sure that, outside a *nix environment, I'd have known about curl, or played with it enough to learn enough HTTP basics to figure out the problem in the first place.
I like the reference to government. Govts b.s., startups b.s. , what next?
You don't have to wish. You literally have that ability.
If it takes a developer so much time to understand the licensing terms, or to activate a Microsoft product, ... that it cuts into their production time, they don't need to be messing with anything other than PHP.
http://www.hawking.org.uk/index.php/component/content/articl...
I think concern for us(the bottom line) isn't indeed the real drive. Roughly speaking the business of Google is the Internet. If the internet thrives, they thrive. That's one of the reasons why they don't need to treat Mozilla as a competitor.
So, this bill could hurt their business model, at least here in the US.
GoDaddy does not get that this isn't like the elephant thing or using moderately attractive B-listers to sell stuff.

Those things, while some find them objectionable, don't really reflect much about how they view their customers in relationship to their core business offerings, domain registration and hosting.

I've seen a few questions to the effect of, "Why do tech savvy people use GoDaddy."

I can't speak for everyone else, but I used them because the customer service people spoke good English, they were always helpful and polite, the services were cheap, and the DNS control panel was constantly improving (we only use them for domains, their hosting has always been crap).

But their support of SOPA made it now clear that not only will they happily toss me and my clients right under the bus, but they'll put their name on something that makes it easier for someone else to be the one doing the tossing.
Why do you want to maintain your own web stack?

I ask this, because my start-up is building a BaaS and we are testing our idea, where our main hypothesis is that developers don't want to host/maintain these services, they just want to be able to create them and use them.

If you really aren't interested in setting up the environment to perform logic, access a DB and serve JSON, then why look for something that isn't hosted?

Whatever framework and/tools you find, you still need to maintain right?
Amazon May Miss Q4 Estimates, Despite Selling Millions of Kindles
Both of those, and also: the amount of effort it takes, for no benefit whatsoever. They're doing it because they don't know what they're doing yet. It's not a moral outrage. It's a "tell".
When do you people have time to listen to podcasts? Reading blogs/RSS is much less time-intensive.

Also, for those occasions when people insist on delivering information via embedded video only, why don't contemporary embedded players have a "replay at 2x speed" button? I can listen faster than you can talk (and if you actually say something that makes me think, I can find the pause button just fine).
Yes, in downstate New York, you might not find people with modified cars. You might find people with no cars. Upstate NY is a much different environment though. Outside of the largest city in the nation, you'll find modified cars everywhere, from new rims on a city-cruiser to jacked up mud bogging trucks.

Or lets put it this way: you buy a car that can only be worked on by the dealer and only runs on their proprietary fuel, even though your local mechanic/Speedway could do it much cheaper and much faster if it weren't for the locked hood. Brand new cars are getting notoriously harder and more expensive to maintain because of proprietary electronics which require dealer intervention when they break.

Your "note" is like saying "Yeah but I got around it by using a crowbar. Now I have to buy gas from some guy in his basement because Toyota would sue me if went to the dealership."
All these devices should boot to a simple, standard, (extendable) FORTH bootloader.

By all means, bundle some pre-packaged code to do all manner of silly things, but also allow users to run whatever code they want on the devices. Why is this such a difficult concept to accept?

Nothing has changed since the 1980's in this regard. Consumers still are paying for the hardware, in this case the mobile device. They cannot manufacture the cheap electronics and encasings themselves.

However they can replace bootloaders and firmware with free alternatives. Some can can write this code themselves. And sometimes they want to share their efforts with other enthusiasts in the public domain. Nothing has changed since the 1980's - it's still their right to do so.
There have been numerous solo founder startups funded by YC. Some of them were successful.

I've been making a living doing what you describe (idea -> design&code -> customer support&marketing) on my own for most of my life... I was 14 when I launched my first profitable website, I'm 27 now and support some 100k users myself.

If you're aiming to be a world-changing business, you'll eventually be hiring other people. I'm satisfied dealing with my couple hundred new customers a month, which I can support on my own, and who support my lifestyle.
Me too. It happens only after scrolling though. Seems really odd that Google doesnt QA it's products on the iPad.
But in the context of what the OP is saying, what does that matter? The point is that an open source Android will be available to many, many more people worldwide than the iPhone ever will. Where their UI inspiration came from isn't really all that relevant.
We saw "Ratatouille" there, at around 5 in the afternoon. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. Maybe it's 18+ after 7:00PM? Maybe it used to be? I don't know.

But at any rate, you're making my point for me. :)
I don't think that's a devil's advocate viewpoint. I'm pretty sure that's the common wisdom. It's obviously something that everybody is considering very carefully, because it's an irrevocable act.

But the timeline won't be "1. Internet blackout 2. SOPA defeated 3. Congress wipes out the entire computer industry next year". What this does is put them on the board, with all that implies, it's not a suicide move.

But then, the whole point of SOPA is that they are on the board whether they want to be or not, and while they are flattering themselves with their moral purity and pretending they aren't players, all the other players are checkmating them. What this move would change is not the nature of the game, merely the other player's perceptions of the power of the computer industry players.

I suspect that it is effectively inevitable this blackout will occur. It will work. And then we'll have a couple of years of breathing room to work with before the computer industry is coopted and they become part of the machine.

(Sidenote: Note barrkel said would be perceived as, not is. Not the same thing.)
You're right that it can be spun in a dangerous way. However, we're talking about sites where 95%+ of people go everyday they connect to Internet: they have a first shot at presenting their case to users, they can do it in a simple and convincing way: "Some lobbyists are pushing the Congress to pass a law called SOPA; this law is so bad that it threatens the survival of Internet as we know it, and many companies dependent on it including ourselves. We're so scared that we're willing to give up one day of business, to let everyone realize what a world without us would be like".

(disclaimer, I'm neither a communicant nor a native speaker; but you get the idea, there's a way to spin the black screen explanation in such a way that it's hard to counter-spin).
Good point doing the fancy stuff is easy making it work 24/7 and do all the nasty fiddly little bits you gloss over is the hard stuff.

You want to be sure the figures add up when you do your first million pound month when the CTO (i think that Vint was his boss at the time) nudges you and says "this had better be right or we are both out of a job"

of course this was back 1983 so that is say $4,250,000 in today's money.
That's pretty awesome. I'm all for treadmill desk. I converted my desk at home to a standing desk. I would do a treadmill, but don't have the room. If only I could stand while at work though... I hate sitting all day.
In Houston there's Studio Movie Grill in City Center which offers a similar concept but more targeted to families/a bit more "corporate".

I haven't been myself (since I like Alamo just fine and only go with friends) but you might want to check it out.
"Bullshit" is a lack of concern over whether what you've said was true or not.

"We’re not tracking you when you’re logged out" was a straight up lie.
Seems more like a problem with the maps application and not android in general dont you think? In any case this comment isn't at all relevant to the content of the post.