skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Sorry, that war was fought and lost won with the iPhone and iPad.

If anything, Microsoft is better in the sense that it offers more share of the app cost to the developers and also doesn't charge tithes like Apple does on content.
> It shouldn't be a PC vs Mac world today. It should be PC, Mac, BeOS, OS/2, Linux, etc.

There are a number of small, niche systems around the world that few people know about. When something gets broad popularity it is natural to see only a few systems get the cake, the cream of the cake and the cherry on it while the others get the crumbs. "He who has more, gets more" if you know the saying.

In the 80s you had a free market situation with personal computers and litterally hundred of brands to choose from. All incompatible. And only a few brands made it through the years, with the IBM PC standard getting the first place.

Fast Market growth favors big players.
Crazy iphone 4s launch in China
Build something!!! Maybe just a static site or a make your own Posterous or Tumblr theme. This will be a helpful way to apply what you have read. Reading is fine but the best way to learn is to start coding.
Now I'm curious to find the old revision of this document, but the linked article seems (to me) to imply that the new no-uefi-secure-exemptions provision was added to an existing discussion of UEFI/ARM. I could be wrong, and I'm not sure the distinction matters significantly, the discussion here on HN was pretty clearly in regard to Microsoft's intentions with UEFI and whether it was about being anti-competitive or truly for security.
I'm not even allowed to write code off hours! All my code is belong to my employer. Am I a bad hire?
Framework Developers, Application Developers
I definitely wasn't happy when I heard the news as I now have to rebuild some production code. However, I always had the feeling that relying on a smaller provider for critical data was a risk -- the SimpleGeo API was just too easy to pass up.

It appears that Factual might be picking up some of the slack. I'm also looking into Google Maps API again. Oh well -- no sense worrying about it; just need to learn and move on.
Microsoft was a monopoly in the operating system market because they had near exclusive control of that market. Likewise, Google has near exclusive control of the search market. The term "monopoly" doesn't require abuse.

I think the point of the article is to say that Google isn't abusing their monopoly power (by many people's standards), but that Google is nonetheless a monopoly and if they delist your site or otherwise abuse their power, you no longer exist as a viable business.

We even have a recent example of this in the spat between Twitter and Google over Google+ results in search. Google is hiding behind the "you put 'nofollow' on them" line, but it seems a tad dishonest. Really, "nofollow" gets used to say "don't give them SEO points for this link". Even if one considers Google's position completely legitimate, it's also quite handy for Google. Now their Google+ service gets promoted over a competitor. Google's decision here is a use of their position to hurt a competitor.

In fact, it's a lot like the Netscape situation. There's legitimacy to not indexing the Twitter content labeled with "nofollow" or integrating your own competitor right into your product. This is the same argument that Microsoft used about Internet Explorer. When a company has 10% of the market, we don't need to scrutinize so much. They don't have a lot of power. When a company controls such a high proportion of an industry, that changes.

The author rightly identifies that if Google moves against you in their search index, it basically eliminates your business. There are always reasons. I'm glad about the moves Google has made against spammers in their index recently. However, when looking at the Twitter situation, I feel less positively. I personally don't use Twitter (or Google+), but I can recognize that Google's market dominance in search is going to hurt Twitter and promote their own competitor. Google+ may be better and there may be good technological reasons for the integration and the non-indexing of Twitter links, but when you're as dominant of search as Google is, I think a bit more scrutiny is warranted. Likewise, when Microsoft was so dominant of operating systems and started integrating their own browser into the OS, it was scrutinized. That doesn't mean there wasn't good technological reasons for the integration, just that Microsoft was of a size where it eliminates the viability of competitors.

I have a lot of respect for Google and none of this is meant to sound anti-Google. At the same time, I agree with the author's premise that Google is so dominant of search that they could eliminate the viability of your business via their search index. That doesn't mean that they would do that. However, I think it means that certain moves should be viewed as being made by the only company in the industry - not one made by a single company among many competitors. And before one says "there's lots of alternatives like Bing, DDG, etc.", Microsoft had Apple, Be, Linux, and others, but they still held the power.

The article isn't saying that Google is abusing their monopoly, just that they do have that power.
Scully sets the record straight about Jobs
Finding this sort of thing always makes me stop short and realize, "Oh yeah, no matter how smart I think I am, there are people a million times more accomplished than me on HN." Not to make me despair so much as take care to avoid blathering the first thing on my mind before reading and considering what others have said.
I tried browsing this on my old Android phone... I couldn't get past the first page. I hope "people should be able to read your content" is one of the guidelines...
@dangrossman

you've just made exactly the point vena was making: "it only prevents the end users from doing things." Using OEM requirements for Windows-certified ARM devices is very similar to the bundling requirements Microsoft was convicted of in US v Microsoft.

Also, what you're suggesting with "The OEM can have two versions of every tablet/phone" places the costs on the OEM, where margins are razor thin. Be fair - put the burden on Microsoft to stop creating artificial barriers to entry.

In addition, Microsoft responded in US v Microsoft (1998) to the requirement to unbundle IE by offering to "offer manufacturers a choice: one version of Windows that was obsolete, or another that did not work properly." Now is it fair to offer OEMs this same choice -- ship with Windows 7 or deliberately break the device so it cannot boot properly? I don't believe that's fair.
>Why is it Microsoft's responsibility to make Linux run on the hardware that runs their software? What is your stance on Nook Tablet, Kindle Fire etc.?

I disapprove of Android vendors locking their bootloaders as well. However, this is an entirely different landscape. Microsoft's penetration on laptops and netbooks means that they have the ability to block out competing operating systems unless OEMs (that have to negotiate contracts with Microsoft) go out of their way to provide a different model with a differently implemented UEFI. Considering the number of manufacturers selling Linux computers now, that seems unlikely.

Regardless, I even granted that there isn't a business reason for them to be friendly to competing operation systems, it's just disappointing to see them resorting to this. I have to wonder if it's in part because of how far behind they are in terms of phones/tablets.

>I believe they were referring to x86 machines, not ARM.

Does it matter? The conversations that were playing out were discussing Microsoft's intentions wrt to UEFI.
>It shouldn't be a PC vs Mac world today.

I thought we were living in a post-PC world? Restricting Microsoft here would unfairly advantage Apple's continuing monopoly of tablets.
"Microsoft wasn't a monopoly because their software pervaded rampantly"

Sure it was, but it's not illegal to have a monopoly. However, using your monopoly in one market to break into another, that's frowned upon. Google might have already been doing that with the promotion of Chrome on their site.

Also, Google's integration of Google+ in their search results pages sure is giving their own social network a leg up over sites like Facebook and Twitter [1]. Whether that legally means they're abusing their monopoly, I don't know.

[1] http://searchengineland.com/examples-google-search-plus-driv...
Is there a good implementation guide for using the kml data to lookup a neighborhood given a lat,lng? I considered the Zillow files prior to using SimpleGeo, but implementing a spatial database in MySQL seemed very complex in comparison to a simple CURL request. Perhaps, this is worth another look.
I was thinking the same thing.

I feel out of place in the bay area a lot of times because I grew up in a small shitty town in New Mexico. Thinking back, I didn't know anyone with a college degree growing up besides a few of my teachers. My parents social circle was grocery store workers and oil field workers. Once I hit algebra in the 6th grade I was on my own. I probably could (should) have started college at 16 or so, but I wouldn't have really known how to manage that on my own.

This girl, if anything, confirms what Peter Thiel ignores:

College is a resource. If I had access to these resources this girl had, I could probably be in a similar position, but I didn't so that's why I went to college.

20 (who grew up with social, intellectual, economic and/or academic capital) under 20 doesn't have the same ring to it, I suppose.
Perhaps a real world example of who has done this and has actually MADE money???
> But where's the healthy competition? Where's the incentive for Google to improve?

People here might not like this answer, but honestly, Facebook. Look at Google+. You can like it or not, but it's clear that it's the biggest change to Google's product in a while.
ICANN selling custom top-level domains for $185,000
I don't see how this helps the Bitcoin project at all, trying to shut down projects because a text file wasn't included? And with no prior contact before that? Seems like Bitcoin can't wait until SOPA is enacted to give them even more power against projects they don't like.
I think you mean John Gatto rather than John Galt, but it was a somewhat fitting mistake.
>Microsoft's penetration on laptops and netbooks means that they have the ability to block out competing operating systems

ARM laptops and netbooks and PCs won't run x86 apps, so I fail to see how MS's penetration will allow them to block out competing operating systems.

>Regardless, I even granted that there isn't a business reason for them to be friendly to competing operation systems, it's just disappointing to see them resorting to this. I have to wonder if it's in part because of how far behind they are in terms of phones/tablets.

Their strategy seems to be to subsidize the licensing cost of the OS by selling Metro apps from the Windows Marketplace. This model will get into trouble if the user loads Android on it. Anyway this is the same model that Amazon, B&N and to some extent Apple uses.
I think what people are pointing out is the lack of social learning when unschooled. In school you learn how to make friends, how to avoid enemies, how to live with other people, how to interact with different people...
That prospect doesn't bother anyone. Apple can be twice as restrictive as Microsoft, and people will still be raising a fuss over what MS does.

How do we know? Well, it's happening right now.
Does anyone have an idea for a new level for my teach-people-to-program game?
Thanks everyone for the feedback on Peanutty.

I'm trying to come up with ideas for new levels that will engage people with the site and encourage them to start playing around with the code.

If anyone has an idea for a good physics-based puzzle I'd love to hear it.

You can see the existing levels at http://peanutty.org (clickable link below - it only works in Chrome right now).

Thanks in advance for the ideas.
clickable link: http://peanutty.org (works in chrome only)
All? Kernel + userland? Great!
market with 1.3 bil people
(And I missed mention of the Gerontology Research Group, and Gregory Benford and Genescient, amongst others).

It is a balkanized community online - much the same as most. Hacker News is an unusual thing in that respect.

So you'll find some of the research community, mixed in with tech journalists, advocates, and other interested parties, posting to the Gerontology Research Group mailing list.

You'll find a mix of activists and researchers of a different type posting to the SENS Foundation forums.

There's some side-discussions at the long-running Extropy-chat list, but less so these days.

And the standard fragments of the community in LiveJournal, the other social networks, a range of Yahoo groups and Google groups like New_Cryonet. The loose network of occasional and regular bloggers. And no doubt a range of other watering holes and mailing lists I'm unaware of.

Again, Hacker News is an oddity in the general scheme of things for a community of any size.
I don't understand why people with money get this luxury over others.
Thanks for explaining! Sounds like something that could really benefit from more eyeballs.
My Wakemate refused to pair with my iPhone 4S. After weeks of troubleshooting I was sent an email that basically said they don't have the cash to fix the problem but that they'd be keeping the service running for existing customers. It's a shame because I really liked the product when it worked with my old iPhone.
wait what is this sorcery: "display: inline-block;"
It's a new feature of CSS3 right?

edit: I feel so stupid not knowing about this even after years of CSSing. Apparently it's CSS2 but doesn't work well if you don't have IE8+
>Apple produces their own hardware

Samsung and Foxconn and a lot of other suppliers make the hardware. Apple does not own the factories.
I'm not sure what to think of this.

I can appreciate why you think this is a problem that needs to be solved. But I can't help feel a bit wrong about it.

From a technical standpoint also, I feel it is heavily flawed: So I write some sentimental notes, forget to check in one day or change my email address or some other very trivial reason not to get the notifications and boom, it thinks I'm dead and sends out messages that should not yet surface.

I think it's one of these things that is a 'good idea', but should never actually be followed through.
https://addons.mozilla.org/af/firefox/addon/color-toggle/

http://www.chromeextensions.org/appearance-functioning/chang...
The argument is about how it is illegal, and the SFLC complaining to governments to fix this. If they force MS to license their software to any OEM, they should similarly force Apple to license Mac OS X to Psystar and also unlock the iPhone and iPad's bootloaders.
You can always add a POPVOX widget to the site, so people can send a message to Congress directly from HN.

http://popvoxnation.tumblr.com/post/15753030372/protesting-s...
Watch Contraband Online Free
Watch Contraband Online Free is based on Reykjavík-Rotterdam which is written by Arnaldur Indriðason and Óskar Jónasson. Camera work is by Barry Ackroyd and edited by Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir. The movie is due to be shown in cinemas on the 13th of January, 2012 under Relativity Media, Working Title Films, and Blueeyes Productions studio.
Your meant Anders Hejlsberg from Borland who created C# in Microsoft? Those ridiculous salaries Microsoft paying him are peanuts compared to the huge value he created for Microsoft.
Then the perpetrator will be the evil one.

I understand your point that only the most extreme action will raise awareness. I don't think we're at that stage yet. Anyone know if there's a vote announced or when the vote would be expected?
http://www.callmejeffrey.com/
"Ruby" -> 5 results, all paying ? You mean, there is no reliable source to learn Ruby online for free? Needless to say, this is hardly conceivable.
A quick Google search brings up Whitepages.com
http://developer.whitepages.com/docs

You should have better luck asking questions like this at StackOverflow.com
http://stackoverflow.com/search?q=%5Bapi%5D+reverse+lookup
This sounds awesome. Unfortunately I don't want to login with my Facebook account.
Honestly, I've found the best approach is to learn another art form. Lots of devs get into photography, for example. Through that I think you gain an "eye for design", so to speak.
I think what vaksel means to say is that Thiel's 20 under 20 project will prove nothing about the value of a college education because his sample consists of 20 of the most brilliant kids around. It would be like trying to demonstrate the worthlessness of a programming course by taking 20 brilliant programmers and having them skip it before starting inevitably successful careers.
First, tihs document is about HW Certification. You can ship an ARM-based system that doesn't follow these rules, just won't be certified by MS -- much like many Android devices aren't Google certified.

Furthermore, MS actually bent over backwards on x86 and required for certification that the option to disable secure boot be provided (they could have been silent on this issue):

"Enable/Disable Secure Boot. On non-ARM systems, it is required to implement the ability to disable Secure Boot via firmware setup. A physically present user must be allowed to disable Secure Boot via firmware setup without possession of PKpriv."

I'd wait for MS's response on ARM. They've taken some interesting architectural approaches with their current ARM implementation (striped and actually secure SD cards). There may be architectural reasons for this. Or it could be that there are security issues with it, given that UEFI on ARM is pretty new.

But in any case, if this is important to an OEM they can simply not get HW certification. This doesn't block anyone from actually installing Windows 8 on ARM on machines w/o this capability.
Let's revisit this in a year and see. My prediction is at that point Google will be producing the most locked down Android devices. Motorola's we-will-prevent-you-from-needing-support practices shoehorn perfectly with Google's we-don't-do-support practices. It's a marriage made in heaven.
The discussion months ago was about x86, I believe. According to the article, "For non-ARM systems, Microsoft requires that Custom Mode be enabled".

I suspect that it will turn out that Microsoft knows that Apple and Android have built a possibly insurmountable lead on ARM and so will be subsidizing the hardware that ships with Windows 8 in order to lower the price to the consumer to try to buy market share. For obvious reasons they would not want people who want an Android tablet to see an Android tablet for, say, $400, and a Windows 8 tablet from the same manufacturer with identical hardware specs for $300 (because of Microsoft's subsidy) that they could buy and then put Android on.
It is the path separator for Windows

To be precise, it is one of the path separators for Windows. The regular slash '/' also works when creating or looking up files with the low-level primitives in C programs.

But they are almost always displayed as backslashes, so the major point the article is making is correct.
It's a fair argument that overall percentage is low, but if you are catering towards a more technical audience (submitting to HN would count as that in my books) then I imagine the % of those using some form of Javascript blocking software is much higher.

Plus as mentioned, it isn't like it takes much effort, a noscript tag and a paragraph saying that it is a pure JS web app/what it does is enough.
I agree. I'm a huge proponent on giving it a try and seeing where you are from just doing it.
Do you not think pure JS web apps should have HTML fallback pages or do you disagree with the way I said it?

I don't think non-JS/HTML fallback pages are worth it for a minimal viable product.
That's irrelevant. Apple sells you the hardware; when you buy an iPad, you are buying an iPad, not a tablet computer that happens to be bundled with iOS. There is no expectation that you can use it as a general purpose computer.

When I buy laptop, I am buying a computer. Full stop. If the vendor wants to bundle an OS, great, but I expect to be able to change it. It's far more offensive not to be able to run Linux on a mainstream laptop than not to be able to run Windows on an iPad.
Samsung is the factory contractor for the A5, Apple designed it and Apple owns it outright. Foxconn assembles Apple products and provides some off-the-shelf parts. Apple does not levy such licensing restrictions against another company's own product to run only Apple software.
Impressive, sir. Too bad no IE support. Basically useless in application without an IE-specific sheet. In which case, why do it in pure CSS at all?
"They don't expect manufacturers to lock down the devices."

He's not saying they do. No one is saying they do. That is the very definition of a straw man argument.

Dan Grossman is saying Google has a host of other compliance requirements. Why does Microsoft compliance requirement X cross some terrible line that Google and Apple requirements W, Y and Z don't?
It's possible if you have a PS3 with the old firmware.
Duplicate of http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3458679.
Ask HN: Website suggestions for seo, performance, and monetization
I created a tool that instead of providing raw data on a website, it provides suggestions in lamens terms for search engine optimization, website performance, monetization, and a few other things.

I would love to get any feedback on things to include for such a tool.

http://joshuaodmark.com/suggest/

Thanks in advance.
The app pairs you up with random people. AFAIK you're not able to choose with whom you play.
From my reading of the restrictions it appears that the restriction is only on adding new keys to the boot ROM. So makers could ship arm computers with appropriate linux keys in the ROM already, and still be compatible with the WIndows 8 requirements.
Agreed on rest of the points, but Windows 8 on ARM is more like Windows Phone in the sense that you can't ship an ARM based system like you can with x86. You need a special license, there will be no OEM or user installable versions of Windows 8 ARM.
I wished that Reg FD allow public social media posts to be considered "fair disclosure".
Interesting, thanks. I'm actually surprised that Baidu ranks as low as it does, given its overwhelming market share in China and the fact that most code out there is in English. I just did a quick experiment and googled some common errors, then compared the SERPs to those of Baidu. SO was ranked similarly in both. Do Chinese programmers not goog...er, baidu errors?

Actually, that leads me to a more relevant question: looking through the queries that landed visitors at SO, have you done some scraping to determine what proportion were people googling errors verbatim, and what percentage were people asking questions or googling a particular topic, eg "scaling rails"?
I wonder why I don't get any ads above the "Related searches..." at all when I use the same query. I do use https://encrypted.google.com/ instead of plain google.com, maybe that affects the ads?

In fact, I've just searched for a bunch of queries that I assume would have plenty of bidders (NFL, football, harry potter, ipad) and none of them had any ads box.
Actually there is, sort of. The new Asus Transformer Prime comes with an encrypted signed boot loader. They will give you a tool to allow it to boot unsigned code, but according to Asus, this will cause you to lose the ability to view Google Videos (as per Google requirements).