skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Well, since this is a thread about amazon clouding their prices, I'll call you out on that.

It makes little sense to compare your $8.99 package to anything, but you surely know that. What is the use-case for a box with 128MB RAM in 2012? Even the cheapest VPS providers (ThrustVPS et al) start at 512MB for $5.95...

Since your packages are sliced so small, a meaningful comparison seems to start only at your "high-end" (graviton).

For $180 USD you offer 3GB Ram, 6 cores on a shared box, 8GB SSD + 400GB S-ATA disk.

I'm sorry, but for the same amount leaseweb, hetzner, OVH will happily rent me a full, unshared E5540 (passmark 9600 instead of your ~3500), 16+ GB RAM and SSD.
Dear Googlers… | Stephen J Nims - Random Musings of an Internet Addict
Or you could get a SheevaPlug (I've got a TonidoPlug). The most economical personal home server :)
Ah yes, the eternal argument by anecdote.

So let's say you've shown that 'Honest People Might Be Dangerous'. How about a few anecdotes where a trivial lie led to a disaster? There, I've proven that 'Dishonest People Might Be Dangerous' too. What does this add up to? The ever-insightful 'People Might Be Dangerous' lemma. Now, given a choice between the 'Honest' and 'Not-entirely-honest' model of human, which one would you choose to work with?
Well, besides your data being sold to advertisers (which may give you a creepy feeling but not much more), the friend list for most (all? I'm not that familiar with Facebook) Facebook users is public, and a lot could be learned from that alone.

By canvassing you friends list, and your friends' lists and the way different lists intersect, it's often very easy to know who are your, say, school friends, and who are your work friends. It is also quite easy to find out who your close friends are, and whom you only know in passing or have fallen out of touch with.

Using that information, I could introduce myself (online or offline) as a friend of one of your not-so-close friends. Then, it would be quite easy to gain your confidence. I could use you trust to get something directly out of you, or I could gain your trust just enough to friend you on Facebook (under a false identity) and pass your information (which is no longer so private) to a third party that has hired me to follow you.
Ask HN: What are the good old ideas that still make money on the web?
HN, i'm wondering, are there still any ideas from the ages of web 1.0 that are still working? For example, software license key stores etc. I feel like there are many of ones i couldn't think of as being still profitable. HN, i want some heavy TIL experience, please help me! :)
Ads can be disabled for Google Apps accounts, but as should be obvious any provider that provides spam filtering will already be "peeking" at your email. Perhaps in part to their ad relevancy system, Google's spam detection is best of breed.

http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=6...
Because with Apple and MSFT requiring UEFI locked ARM devices, how much choice do you think will be available for people looking to buy ARM tablets they can run any OS on?
TapSense
Thank you for the kind words. It is actually very difficult to estimate if the article is well written or not if you are not using you mother tongue (at least this is how I feel about it). So I consider your comment very motivating!
Has anyone used Bonobo in production?
https://github.com/jakubgarfield/Bonobo-Git-Server

By production I mean as in a working environment rather than just playing with it or testing it.

I want to get away from TFS to Git but I want to keep the repositories in-house rather than using something like github.
Riot Entertainment startup failure - documentary on how to burn 20 million
What really is a hacker?
runbox - http://runbox.com/ - seemed best when i looked for a replacement. they're based in norway, but not free. however, i eventually decided to run my own (on linux, using mutt terminal reader and mairix search (nice and fast); mail delivery by forwarding through my isp).
http://www.yippiemove.com/ is pretty good at doing stuff like this. Costs a little bit, but if you figure the time savings into the equation it's an easy sell.
I've never smoked weed, yet I can pretty instantly identify the smell. I find it to be a very unpleasant smell at that.

So there's that.
Music streaming at 320kbps through spotify iPhone App
"but then remembered that one of the interviewers told her that he'd looked her up online"

Fine line relating to privacy there.. something perhaps to look into.
I actually quite like Javascript, especially for its speed. However, the major obstacle to me is that JS is locked in web development. It even does not have a standardized module to read files line by line, let alone other system-level stuffs. One of the (small) reasons that python is not used in web browsers is the lack of speed.
Whether or not it is a good idea to do so is not the point. The point is that it is against the law for the company to prohibit those discussion (as the company in the OP did). Companies that have policies in violation of labor laws are probably not the best places to be working.
Yes, but we didn't require it.

(To be honest, I just found the system requirements by looking them up online now; I don't remember them myself, and my personal copy of the game is at work. I'll come back here and correct it if I was wrong.)
This will be the case for any mail provider. If you host yourself you still count on the fact that traffic to your server isn't being snooped on and always have the possibility of the authorities going in and snatching your box if they need to see your email (that won't happen with Google, but Google will comply with any requests and turn over your mail).

Encrypt your email if you want privacy. For even better privacy, don't use email at all (encrypted or not the headers need to be in the clear).
Petros Vrellis Makes Van Gogh's "Starry Night" Interactive
I have read about people doing such things as 'proof of concept' type attacks indeed. However it requires that you have your privacy settings to public.

No information on my profile is public. You must set your friends to public, mine are set to 'me only', so even my friends can not see them (always wondered why anyone would set it to anything else!). Were you to friend me I would not accept as I don't know you. So this attack would not work.

It highlights the point about 'public' facebook data though, which many users are very lax with, but provided you take the steps to contain your data is not a concern. This is more about social engineering than facebook doing any scary with your data on a 3rd party / government level. The same 'job interview' situation can arrise from a blog, a forum or any service with public URLs.
Mildly offtopic, but do you have a link to that mill? Or, if it is patented, can you copy the patent number off the side? I love mechanisms like that.
and Apple is not in the ads business, hence, they have no use of your personal data (as opposed to Google).

Aside from the fact that Apple is in the ad business (to limited success and motive thus far, though if the hardware sales profit train slowed down you can guarantee they would grow more interest), even if they weren't they still are incredibly interested in data about their customers. All businesses are interested in slicing and dicing and categorizing and maximizing sell through, etc.
I highly doubt any team passed over him because of his ethnicity. That's insanely counter-productive and something that doesn't happen in modern sports, especially the NBA. Yao Ming was a #1 draft pick. The NBA knows it's strong position in China.
Ask HN: Tips for reverse engineering.
I need some tips in reverse engineering. Help, anyone?
does this really need a separate thread?

anyway, as i said there, when i looked a while back, runbox seemed best - http://runbox.com (screenshots - http://www.runbox.com/features/email-services/preview/)

but if you are not concerned about privacy etc then i think gmail is the best there is.
My favorite FW exploit story: someone thought their laptop was "secure" because it didn't even have a FW port. The attacker plugged in a FW card at the login prompt, and the OS automatically installed the drivers - and the vulnerability :)
I found it interesting Appelbaum was so concerned about the government intrusion and collecting of personal data, yet spends several paragraphs about all the regulating the government should do to keep people safe.

Unfortunately, you can't have it both ways. Either government is a part of it and you take your chances with the possibly they over-regulate and use the data for harmful purposes. Or, you just let free market economics handle it and keep the government out of it entirely.
This is not legal advice or anything, but if anyone ever asks you whether you've broken the law or consumed drugs etc in the past, you say no, regardless whether you're telling the truth or not.
I've never smoked weed, yet I can identify it instantly. I've been around people who smoked it enough to know exactly what it smells like.
Yes - way too small of a sample and given that, some of the hype in this topic is completely unwarranted. Comparing his PER to Lebron? Let's see him hold a PER close to 30 for a full season, or over multiple seasons.

I hope he continues to do well, but some of the comparisons that are being made are without merit.
During last few month Google has shown its true face and it is not pretty. It is very clear now that they are under the impression that there are no viable alternatives to their services.
My main reason for moving off Gmail is a need for clear relationship with my provider. I want to pay for the services I receive in order to be able to complain when something goes wrong or when there is something I don't like. I don't want 'but it is free...' argument showed in my face when new design is forces upon me, email is down for a whole day or there are drastic changes to privacy policy.

If you are looking for Gmail replacement definitely try out fastmail.fm
Well, that's not what he's saying, did you read the article? His point is that these employment questionnaires are designed to filter out people who tell the truth about fairly common drug activities, which creates a bias towards hiring liars.

The title "Honest People Might Be Dangerous" is sarcastic and tongue in cheek. He did not argue that they are actually dangerous.
That's just it. In many people's minds, if the bank or manufacturer-affiliated financing arm will loan them the money, then that fact tells them that they CAN afford it, and they get an ego stroke for having been such a wise consumer, manager of credit, and provider for their family.

Same exact facts, opposite conclusion to your line of thinking. (I agree with you, in case it wasn't obvious.)
Perf stats for doing nothing
Music fans not welcome in RIAA-backed .music
The last article I read before going to sleep was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_deficit_hyperactivity... - feeling disgusted that surely I'm that unfortunate guy, who was not diagnosed early and carried this into my adulthood.
But that this article sits on top of HN, makes me feel better - I'm not alone with (speed_of_inspirational_input > speed_of_implemented_idea).

My question is be it pomodoro or this bigger focused chunk - I've always struggled at the boundaries. Say you are not done at the end of the stipulated time for focused work - there's this one liner fix that'll only take a second - and that blows it. Ever fell into that trap?
How to run a program for a specified amount of time?
Handling subsections of data in C++ AMP
Four Mistakes Publishers Make When Bringing Content to Tablets
Thanks for these articles. That will be me in like 4 months, so I'm really trying to understand how things gonna be when my baby arrive.
Is Facebook Finally Going To Do Something Interesting?
This isn't necessarily true (most state championship winning starting point guards getting scholarships). How big was his high school? Upper division programs (large schools) get significantly more attention than smaller schools.
That is interesting. According to the computer language benchmark games, Python programs always have fewer LOCs:

http://shootout.alioth.debian.org/u64/benchmark.php?test=all...

I know most programs there are written in an unusual way, but that at least means something.
Pyramid FAQ: from the beginning to production | David Euler on coding and design
I'm not sure which feed you're looking at.
http://invisible99.podbean.com/feed/ does have mp3 enclosures.
Advanced task managers on iOS
Making your Keyboard and Mouse Sing with Sounding Keyboard and Mouse
Cmd-F "fastmail"

I've been using them for a few months now, definitely worth the price. Really quick and easy to add new virtual domains, and the spam filter is decent enough for my inbox. Highly recommended.
I hope magic did not depend on people actually believing the performance is magic? Even with youtube you can not become an instant magician, you still have to practice.

As for the shops, they just have the same problem all other shops have, online shopping is much more convenient.
A programming language being similar to spoken english isn't necessarily a good thing. SQL being a prime example of this.
Great quote by an Australian immigration officer:

“You give us the papers we want. We give you the papers you want.”

Meaning:

“Just make the form look the way you know we want it to look, and we'll give you the resulting documents you want.”
> When is the last time you wrote a Python program that
> didn't interact over TCP or equivalent with some other
> process?

My last python program was a set of scripts to help me analyze music harmony. Entirely CLI based.

Before that? objcfix - a refactoring tool. Again, CLI based.

That's not counting the multitude of small scripts I write on a day to day basis. I've written a large amount of Python code, and very little of it interacts with a network.

Put it this way: Python was invented in 1991, the same time as the web. It didn't become a good tool for making websites until after 2005 when Django arrived. So, what did people do with it before then, if not make websites?

> but pretty much everything that isn't some deep driver-
> level boot code or embedded firmware is already almost
> always part of some sort of web app, and the stuff that
> isn't is pretty much all written in C/C++.

This is not the reality we live in. There's:

* Games (either written in C++, Objective-C or Java nowadays, plus a bit of Lua)

* Big Software: MS Office, Photoshop, Avid, Logic, InDesign, etc. Written in C++

* Scientific Computing: Written in C++, Matlab, Mathematica, Python

* Financial Computing: C, C++, Java, and a tiny spot of OCaml.

* iPhone/Android Apps: again, Objective-C or Java.

* "Enterprise Software", whatever that is. Java.

And as you point out, embedded software. Everything around us runs Embedded C.

The future is the same as the present: full of a rich and diverse selection of languages.
The Novelty vs Familiarity Paradox
7 Dumb Leadership Mistakes Smart Managers Avoid
Buy new Apple iPhone4S iOS5 64GB Unlocked phone for only $77.69
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Compiling's not the totality of the problem.

I switch between the two modes this article describes quite regularly.

Reflecting on it other things cause me to go into distraction mode are:

- Not sufficiently planning out boring changes (That's easy! Get stuck as I realise I've done it wrong. 1 hour later, oh, I'm reading HN, how did that happen?)

- Having to write large, but simple objects or CRUD code

- A change or bug that requires picking apart poorly written code. Refactoring helps me stay focused but that often feels like procrastination.

- Using a library I don't know well but is documented poorly

- Trying to get OAuth authentication working (every single bloody time, I hate it)

- Having to modify any existing javascript even if I wrote it, I find js so hard to re-parse. function, function, function, function, function, function. I can't pick out the flow of the code. One of the reasons I've never got on with Lisp either I think.
Good old Hypocrisy, the Human Race's favourite past-time.

I'm not saying the article is hypocritical, I'm observing the greater issue here. Sad, but true.
Yup. The ability to deceive and manipulate is the most marketable skill on the planet. Security forces don't want folks with principles beyond doing what they're ordered to do. A cop that isn't willing to lie in court is going to win a lot fewer convictions.
There are ways to prevent DMA over firewire, and also Apple has been aware of and provided prevention methods (such as disabling firewire DMA when a firmware password is enabled) over the years.

A good account of the current state of affairs is here:

http://derflounder.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/protecting-yours...

And a diagram of protection methods that do work:

http://www.frameloss.org/2011/09/18/firewire-attacks-against...
You cant expect a concrete hypothetical example from the future of what could happen.

What has happened? Look at the way hundreds of kids were scooped up after the London riots, merely for exercising freedom of speech and protest.
Team Audio Wants To Buy You Nice Things
why did you not call the cops when you where being restrained?
Unfortunately the only real competitors are MS Exchange and Kerio, both require your own hardware and are expensive to licence
Threat matrix for firewire DMA attacks on OS X
Sluggish computer needs a dose of RAM
I think immutable strings are in general a good thing, but for some applications, having mutable strings will make my life much easier.
No, you can, and often do have it both ways. I know Americans often treat their government as some kind of foreign entity, but in Europe and other places as well, people see the government as truly representing them. What you said sounds to me like, you can give parents control over their children and hope they don't abuse them, or you can let children retain control, but you can't have it both ways. Well, no. You can trust and demand the government to have the best interest of its citizens in mind, just like you can demand and trust that of parents. I realize that in some parts of the American political spectrum this sort of thing is hard to grasp, and I don't want to get into what is a peculiarly American political argument, but you should know that in most democratic countries people often view their own government very differently from Americans. They demand certain things of their government and can trust it to behave a certain way, and if it doesn't - they punish it.

In short: there is such a thing as good government (which, sadly, the American democratic party doesn't stress enough).
There is actually research showing that police officers are vastly more likely to lie about their past drug use than the general public. In fact, this is one of the reasons we know that surveys of drug usage are generally accurate.

Erowid explains it here, I think in part 2 of the article:

http://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/statistics/statistics_ar...
Haberman's post mentioned he was unaware of a poll of all web developers on Dart. I mentioned a recent example of such a thing with a large sample size. That's all.
Overall gist: http://i.eho.st/pp22pqgf.png

When you view an email, only text is shown. You can "View as HTML", but images are blocked. http://i.eho.st/pp2fukzy.png

Personally, this renders the web interface useless to me, so I view my email through Outlook.
NaN as commonly used already has a meaning: it's the result of a calculation whose inputs were known, and the calculation is known to be undefined for those specific inputs. "Unknown" means something entirely different: that we don't know what the inputs were, but if we did they are unlikely to have been NaN.

Conflating the two concepts means you can't tell the difference given the result set. It's just a happy accident that "unknown" and NaN have identical propagation rules, but that doesn't mean that it's safe to use one in place of the other. Reading up on it, it looks like Octave and Matlab can treat NaN as "missing data", though, so I guess there's a certain "industry standard behaviour" to follow so as not to surprise users, but it's still less than ideal.

In an ideal world, we could define an explicit "missing data" quiet NaN which would have a distinct visual representation - I suspect this is doable with access to the float exponent bits, but I don't know how Python could take advantage of it.
The point of these questions is often to get you to lie. Oftentimes this is a felony in and of itself (for instance, in federal background investigations), which gives the organization requesting the information leverage over you (and also over any references that have falsely attested to your sobriety).
An Excerpt from Social Game Design: Monetization Methods and Mechanics
The difference between Democrats and Republicans
The fear of hallucinogens is widespread in the blue universe. I've been told that former LSD users aren't allowed to be pilots in the U.S. because of the fear of "flasbacks"

You know there's some psychiatrist in Isreal who has diagnosed thousands of cases of "post hallucinogen perceptual disorder", probably because PHPD disqualifies a person from service in the Isreal armed forces.
The idea that psychedelics can cause flashbacks is a myth in the first place. It's completely impossible.
It does matter. The OS has to set up the device for DMA in the first place. If the device is never enumerated it just doesn't get access.
Understanding Kickstarter
A few podcasts I like which focus more on broad technology trends, tech in society, and the future:

* Seminars About Long Term Thinking:
http://longnow.org/seminars/
A little like TED, but longer talks and more focused on tech and long-term thinking. Don't miss Brewster Kahle's recent talk about the Internet Archive (http://longnow.org/seminars/02011/nov/30/universal-access-al...).

* Triangulation:
http://twit.tv/tri1
Interviews with tech luminaries on the TWIT network

* Technometria: http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/series/technometria.html
Interview/conversations led by Phil Windley, creator of IT Conversations, which is also worth checking out (http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/ ; the original home of the StackOverflow/StackExchange podcast).
Tecmo 'Dirty Tricks' Nearly Drove Itagaki from Development
Astonishing Excursion of Rajasthan And Golden Triangle
managed generally means that the datacenter/provider also takes care of OS upgrades, installing patches, installing software as required. unmanaged generally means hands off except for hardware related tasks, and generally if it is the fault of the sys-admin then they might charge and hourly fee for it.
Put your programming skills to the test
An officially sanctioned "controlled burn" of marijuana is generally a part of any officer's training, for exactly that reason. (Not kidding.)

They need to be able to explain how they can identify the smell if asked in court, even if they've smoked it before.
Hehe, wish I read your comment before posting mine. But I tried this path (after seeing Randy Pausch's talk on time management) and soon discovered it was hurting my brain to decide how should I assign the correct priority value to a task. How do I decide if this homework should be assigned 4 or 5 and the other 6 - Should I try to just make it a function of time due and difficulty(?) or Should I write a naive bayes classifier that'll look into the words and assign the for me (obviously based on some training from my daily input). Then I got started hacking scripts to manage it, realized I wanted to access them through my phone so that I can update it from anywhere.. ok since this is just text based, I'll keep ssh open in my router (umm, yeah its a security issues) ... but I also need to integrate it up with google calendar and task list ...

EPIC fail.
This year only laundry lists in phone.