skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Generation Y has seen its parents live comfortable lives. Those parents have had to work day in and day out to make a good living, but it's been a comfortable living overall.

But.. why are Generation Y's parents so hard-working? Probably because they saw their parents struggling. Unlike those of us under the age of 30, our parents had to experience (or were at least constantly reminded of) the problems with food rationing and scarcity in the 40s and 50s (especially in Europe).

So, I wonder.. is generation Y becoming lazy and self centered because they've seen their parents do well, and assume it'll work out that way for them too no matter what?
Happy Birthday Internet Worm | TechJaws
What's wrong with using Swing?

It's interesting that Qt places itself as "a better Java". Regarding the UI and API parts, many coders knowing both Java and Qt seem to agree.
that's becoming a reality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM41ID9jLUE
There was a limitation with Mnesia that each file could only be 2GB at the most. Recently, it was announced, that there was a replacement for the underlying engine for Mnesia called Tokyo Cabinet the removed the limitation.

CouchDb seems fairly fast for large datasets--the caveat being, once the index is built on first access.
That is one ugly car. Bad taste. I would rather build a Porsche 911.
I would like to see a list of the LOWEST funded US Startups from 2006 to 2008.
When I was at the university there I was impressed to see how many of the computers there were running linux. All the faculty run it, and many of the students I met ran it. A lot of the computers available to students were quite old and linux was the obvious choice.
Validas May Have The Perfect Recession Pitch
Could this difference between development and IT be due to a differing need for managers? It seems like modern agile development methodologies have reduced the number of managers necessary by automating things that managers used to do and by making individual contributors more self organizing. You still need some project and functional managers, but not as many as with when following a waterfall methodology under a command-and-control structure.

By contrast it seems like IT still requires a lot more active management to be done well. If you've got to install a new corporate backbone network or consolidate a bunch of servers you need top-notch managers actively driving the projects forward or else you'll end up with a huge mess.
UI on JVM suggestion? Again?

There are very good reasons why this combination hasn't been particularly popular. C++ with a few libs like MFC or WTL continues to rule on Windows being slowly replaced by .NET stack, Obj-C keeps rocking on OSX and C/C++ with Qt/GTK doing their job on Linux/BSD. Why is that? I suspect because of 3 reasons: very weak JVM penetration on the desktop, JVM is too heavy for most applications and because JDK-based UI feels foreign on every platform.

Developing a desktop application on JDK means that your users will have to deal with 100MB+ downloads followed by quirky installation process that rewards the with less then stellar UI experience at the end, especially the slow startup time.

Startup time is more important than most developers think: majority of desktop apps absolutely need it: imagine 5-second delay every time you wanted to launch Apple's "Quick View" to glance at a file, or imagine 5+ JVM-based apps load&initialize after reboot. Most desktop software I worked on was small-to-medium size and we just couldn't afford to add those 5+ seconds on JVM initialization. JVM I guess will work OK for projects like Ecilpse or a big Office suite or something like Photoshop. Microsoft understands this very well, this is why C#/.NET is so carefully optimized around loading time and comes with precompilation tools that essentially turn your C# code (including .NET itself) into native Win32 modules.

One project I want to do for myself is a usable Del.icio.us client for OSX. I can't see how I can use JVM-based tools for that... I want instant start-up by a hotkey when I need to search for links or add one. Moreover, I want users to be able to download and try it under 20 seconds.

The only JDKUI apps I'v ever used were development tools for Java itself plus numerous crap for the enterprise. And, of course, every once in a while I get "Java. Please wait..." splash screen on a new cellphone, followed by a prompt "Cancel/Go Back" keypress: that pretty much sums up my JVM-based UI experience. Which is sad: Clojure is going to be locked up on the server just like Java has been for years.
Obama unaware aunt's immigration status: campaign
Places to Visit in Italy
Almost nobody mixes lisp (or derivatives of lisp) and XML - sexpressions are the typical representation of lisp code and are isomorphic to xml.
In the spirit of the Halloween season:

I would use it to print models of the non-Euclidean geometries manifested in the sunken city of R'lyeh where dread Cthulu lies dreaming!
A 4D printer.
Good point.

I stand corrected. Lamborghini and Toyota would have valid copyrights in their design, even if the Toyota is relatively boring.

Personal use defenses still stand however...
It will extend hacker skills into meatspace. An exciting prospect!
Didn't have time to analyze his code, but from the privacy statement he does server side stuff. No-go for me. This could be done client side only.

Edit: yep he does call /check/<site>/<username>.
And cache results or at least prevent you from checking the same name twice (or infinite times) in a row.
The Woman who knows how cool TV can be
Dan Wallach teaches vote hacking at Rice University
Wow! Thanks a lot. Very interesting. I'll look him up and learn more.
More information is at the course blog.
http://seclab.cs.rice.edu/comp527
Dilbert on Startups
Unambiguously boring day-to-day campaign politics. Flagged.
Eh. Why wouldn't they just make a minimal OS with all the necessary hooks and then sell some first-party software that runs in userspace like everyone else instead of bundling lots of crap in the OS ;P
LG Chocolate 3 Black Verizon
LG Chocolate 3 Black Verizon, the slimmest phone. This fabulous flip phone let you discover a luxurious memory spaces to store Data’s and songs. With high resolution camera, you don’t have to think for extra digital camera.
The argument is predicated on an assumption, namely that "modularity" in desktop OSes will mean different commercial SKUs and Microsoft will continue splintering beyond the 4-5 different Vista models. Therefore, as people pick the SKU that is right for them the platform will disintegrate into a developer nightmare. My thoughts:

1) The splintering is already a mess. I don't know anybody who could name all of the differences between the current Vista versions, even Windows sysadmins where I work. I hope that MS sees this as the disaster it is and avoids it, although I have no data that says they do or don't.

2) Modularity in Windows 2008 represents a philosophical shift. In 2003 and before, Microsoft maintained that the advantage of a monolithic design was that it was all always there for the taking. If your .asp app needed to render a 3d model of data from Active Directory, cross referenced with an Excel spreadsheet, just suck in the COM/ActiveX objects and make it happen. Unfortunately while that is neat in concept, they took immeasurable shit from the community when core DLLs that supported stuff like that caused vanilla single task (like DHCP or print spool) servers to need rebooted monthly.

3) building on #2, even desktop OSes are becoming tremendously unwieldy. There's a valid case to be made for assuming that MS wants the ability to knife older components, partition the impact of security exploits in esoteric modules, and modernize the system. This is a lot harder than it has to be if you say it all comes in a single checkbox. Consider the Windows "Server" service exploit two weeks ago: http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/alerts/SA08-297A.html . No single PC household, virtually no multi-pc household, and perhaps a majority of commercial installations do not need this service running.

4) Painting modularity lines will allow developers to write more robust code on the platform. In the Linux world you can get a feel for the complexity or quality of a project if it's small but pulls in a lot of dependencies. A lot of cut and paste Windows coders will just google a solution and pull in whatever the first workable solution depends on. This is really easy but means that simple VBScripts and other utilities end up requiring tons of subsystems that they don't really need, taking more resources and offering more failure modes.

5) building on #4, because developers won't be able to assume people have everything installed, Microsoft will be encouraged to organize functionality in more convenient/logical ways. You frequently have to invoke ADO or WMI when using a VBScript to do simple system management tasks. While duplicating everything doesn't make any sense, it is logical to provide simple interfaces to simple tasks. This, well implemented, would mean that developers wouldn't have to learn SQL (as an unusual LDAP search syntax) in order to iterate through a user directory list.

summary: I think it's a great idea and might be their way out of the current mess of platform differentiation. They could still mess it up if they did it wrong, though.
It has always annoyed me that not all versions come with hard drive encryption. A stolen/missing laptop will benefit from encryption no matter who the user is.
As far as I know it does do some caching (or at least I've heard @usernamecheck (http://www.twitter.com/usernamecheck) tweet something to do with caching).
Good example of this: http://www.addall.com/Used
Elegant Web Typography
50 Resources for Facebook Application Developers
That's an even better idea.
I model with Blender, but I am not a professional modeler.

You just missed the Blender Conference in Amsterdam, this past week, where many gather.

My email is in my web page.
I'm curious. How could this be done client side without a dedicated software client?
I think the reason for this is that it might be a little strenuous on the client's JS processor to do that (sure not for up-to-speed browsers on decent PCs - but usrers on slower systems may encounter some sluggishness). Also there's some server issues to be taken into account.

I wouldn't be surprised however if later on they decide to deploy advertisements - making the user stay on the page for longer is a good tactic to try and get them to click on an advert.
The Objective of Education Is Learning, Not Teaching
Also interesting and related :

a) Sony's "Flexible Full Color Paper Screen"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6bkmPjVF-k&feature=relat...

b) Readius's "Polymervision 3GSM e-paper"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_m36Gr4jzM&feature=relat...
As soon as I can find a well-tested, mature framework for this that has an awesome GUI designer, I'll switch! Until then Swing Designer is my friend.
As an experiment, I didn't post directly to the article.

Instead, I posted the link to my FriendFeed "blog" which includes a juicy quote from the article.
godtube is funny, its kinda like conservapedia. Its a good business decision for the guys who did it, because they cash in on rightwing ignorance, who think youtube/wiki produces all its content and spin it with liberal bias.

Its the same people who think blogspot needs to be sued because someone made an offensive post on one of their accounts
I'd do what that countach guy did and build myself a car. The shell part is the hardest part, and with the 3d printer you'd get perfect sized body parts.
It's a conversation starter though surely...
OANDA is American? I could have sworn my office is downtown Toronto ;)
Does anyone know if Porsche are well connected politically? I'm starting to suspect that the markets are being manipulated (well, opportunities are being taken at the very least) and given that governments are moving against private business (nationalising banks etc), this is a worry. Are Porsche privy to insider information they have used to their benefit? Before you scoff, consider that all European countries intercept communications within their borders. It's generally accepted that they do this for financial leverage, not to fight terrorism.
It seems as though this list is more accurately a list of web and energy startups, as there are companies that have raised money between 2006 and 2008 that is greater than 25 Million. Pacific Biosciences for example has raised ~$100 Million

(http://venturebeat.com/2008/07/14/fast-gene-sequencing-in-tw...)

It seems to me as though the list is not of the companies that raised the most money in the past two years, but rather the a list of companies that raised the most money that TC follows.
Social networking is underhyped.
Ask YC: Does anyone have a map of the cat?
Surely You're Joking?
There's this idea I've had for a while, but never got around to implementing: every namespace is a market. So there should be a place where you can trade ownership of tokens in different namespaces. There already exists a healthy market for domain names, although it is heavily fragmented, but usernames on websites are becoming valuable enough that it makes sense to trade usernames as well. Once such an infrastructure exists, you can imagine auctioning a variety of things this way -- phone numbers, license plates..

I've fleshed out the idea in my head in some detail, but that's the gist of it.
On reading your comment, I'm sure the VCs of the none-32 are kicking themselves at making such bad investments.
It isn't 1999 anymore! Open source isn't the hot new thing. Nor is this slashdot. There are millions of open source desktops around the world (especially outside the U.S.). A few thousand more isn't news, not nearly. Besides, this is just an annouced migration by a government ministry. These things take ages to actually happen.
A bunch of other Obama items make it in here so why not something where it shows his lack of spreading the wealth in his own life. His half brother lives in a tiny shack, his aunt lives in government housing and he has cared not to even attempt to locate her much less determine her legal status. I am not sure how much he can do for the American people when he has failed to reach out a hand to his own family except for his Grandmother who raised him.
If you ever want a laugh, read conservapedia's terms of use.
Have you tried living with a co-founder before? It doesn't seem like a good idea at all to me. You A friend of a friend tried it and reportedly they all got sick of each other six months in and quit.
Insane- Jet powered Daihatsu delivery truck
he surprising thing is that, this vehicle(whataver it is called) is ‘Street legal’, with the Jet engine turned off that is. Who said that Japanese Mini Trucks ought to be faster?!
If you're going to have a humorous, content-free post, at least try harder. Even on a rainy Saturday!
It’s No Time to Forget About Innovation
SQL 2008 Full-Text Search Problems
If you didn't do anything, you would have felt far worse. You did the right thing.
It seems to me that the big disconnect here is this:

When you're the game developer you know exactly what the user wants to do. They want to advance through the game and have fun. You can make early levels where the player learns one new skill at a time, so as not to overload them. And then when they're ready you can hit them with more complex challenges.

When you're developing some kind of productivity app, a word processor for example, you don't know specifically what your user wants to do. Maybe I want to write a novel? Maybe I want to create a brochure? Maybe I want to insert tables and graphs into a business document? How do you guide me through when you don't know where I'm coming from or where I'm going?
Yeah,

concatMap f = concat . map f
yup.. can get nasty. its all those perks at end of the tunnel which keep us at it.
A qualified actuary can really go places..
Every application that is bundled with Windows runs in user space; they are not actually part of the operating system.

The reason Microsoft bundles that stuff with Windows is because they are trying to undercut their competitors. Why should Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Sony pay the PowerDVD guys for DVD playback software when they could just pay Microsoft for it instead? By bundling it with the operating system, Microsoft can compete on convenience instead of soley on price/features.
This suggests social networking is a new thing... It's not IMHO, it's been around forever. The current crop of "social network sites" have just pulled a few things together, done some things better than what went before (Finding people), and some things worse (Email/IM).

The real question is how do you make money out of it.
Shooting the Salesman
I'm really tempted to take that bet...

The virtue of web startups is that marginal costs are effectively zero. So once you've paid off your fixed costs (i.e. have basically any revenue model that actually works), you're profitable. If something like FaceBook, with $150M in revenues, is not profitable, it's usually because they're empire builders and hire many more people than they actually need to keep the site going. That's easily fixed by laying off people.

Solar companies, in addition to having large R&D costs, also have large variable costs. And they're competing against fairly low-cost alternatives, like oil and natural gas. To be profitable, their variable costs need to undercut oil prices, and they need to have enough left over to pay for R&D, overhead, and cost of capital.

"Make something people want" is only a golden rule of startup success in software. For everything else, it's "Make something people want, cheaply".
The Autumn of the I-Banker
Switching to gmail:
1. set autoforward on yahoo
2. import yahoo mail from gmail
3. set reply-to header on yahoo
The more people there are in the world, the larger the supply of labour. The more technology, (usually) the more productive people can be. This means that people from developing (i.e. poorer) countries are able to do more at lower prices, forcing everybody else to work harder overall to keep up.

It's initially counter-intuitive, but ultimately this is supply and demand. You can coast, but while you do, other people with higher incentives (e.g. more desperation to get out of their poorer living conditions) are working harder.
This presentation encourages a relatively large line-height and the presentation claims (without citation) that it makes paragraphs easier to read. Intuitively, this does not make any sense to me - the larger the leading then logically the more difficult it is for the eye to find the start of the next line. I personally find sites with a large amount of leading between them difficult to read, and think many design sites overdo it - including Jeff Croft's own site and the cited A List Apart where the lines are so far apart I seriously struggle to read it.

Edit: Another criticism of this presentation is that it implies Internet Explorer doesn't support @font-face, which is does - in fact, it invented the property which was later standardised in CSS2. The difference is that while other browsers generally support TTF, OpenType or both, Internet Explorer 5-7 only accepts the proprietary Embedded OpenType but a free converter from TTF is available. It also misses one big negative of using sIFR - Flash renders fonts differently from the rest of the page (possibly due to Flash using odd aliasing) making it look weird and 'stand out' compared to the rest of the site - I have no idea why he author is so quick to embrace something that looks so distinctively out of place when trying to encourage coherent design.
For a great novella about the economic/political/social implications of distributed fabbing, check out Bruce Sterling's 'Kiosk' from earlier this year:

http://web.archive.org/web/20080115084153/http://www.sfsite....
What Caused the Loan Crisis
That was very useful, especially for non-designers like me who do design because we have to. Thanks! Almost everything made sense, except the sIFR thing at the very end (slide 133 or so), where you pipe text through javascript and then flash just so you can force the viewer to look at it in your fancy-ass font. That sounds like a terrible idea from designers who have no understanding of the web, data, standards, navigation or accessibility and believe the point of web design is to make things look exactly like print.
Ask HN: Email handler
I am currently building a Django web application which involves listening for email. I looked high and low, but couldn't find an existing solution for implementing automated email handlers in Python. So I decided to build one. I'm still hoping there is a great library out there that I missed. Does anyone know of one?

Getting a simple handler up and running was easy, but I have run into some trouble with graceful handling of error conditions. For example, I don't always get SMTP error codes when sending mail to bad addresses or full mailboxes. Instead, I often get non-delivery receipts as emails a while later. Unfortunately, these NDRs appear to differ wildly by server and do not include structured or standardized meta-data such as the message ID that was not delivered.

I noticed some striking similarities in requirements between the system we are building and Anyvite. Anyvite automatically expanded a gmail address to a full name and parsed a non-delivery receipt (try sending an invite to a known bad email address). I am curious how they accomplished those two tasks. Since Anyvite was a Y Combinator company, I was hoping one of those guys could comment too :-)

Thanks!
If you believe that viewing certain things is wrong, then pre-filtered content is of value to you. Does Godtube particularly cater to "ignorance"?

Now, Conservapedia is ridiculous, but the only people I've seen take it seriously are liberals in search of a caricature to attack.
"Whence" means "from where," and thus "from whence is redundant.
Strange. That has not been my experience at all. Text with small leading is very hard for me to read, whereas A List Apart is very, very pleasant. The first thing I do with my stylesheets is to increase the line height to 1.4 or 1.5 for all text.

Your claim that it is logically harder for the eye to find the start of the next line is easily refuted. Think of the extreme case: each line is half a page apart. Clearly, the eye has no problem finding the next line.

I'd like to hear other people's opinions too.
Eliezer Yudkowsky on BloggingHeads TV
Why are we quoting Feynman?
To extend your argument, you make money on it the same way as you do for those things that have been around forever. For jobs and dating, listing fees. For search, search marketing. And using the social graph to better target ads should increase CPMs by much more than content-based targeting.
Plenty of tech companies do this, I think: offering both an engineering and a management path. Yahoo (where I worked) was one (offering a "management" and "architect" path), several places I've interviewed and the place where I accepted are the same way. I heard Google and Microsoft are similar as well.

In addition there are tracks/careers for managing technologies as opposed to managing people (project/program/product management).

It's would be a waste to put a talented hacker into a management position - and likewise there are people who are excellent managers despite not being the world's strongest hackers.
What do you mean by branching?

If it's all plain text, tags and annotations are just conventions. I use tag: and [].
Designing & Optimizing the DNA of a Killer App (Dan Olsen, Startonomics SF 2008)