skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Without PacBell, Scott Adams would never have given proper birth the Dilbert or The PHB. He said that he kept that job long after the success of the comic book just for the source material. He was particularly amused when somebody from a comic (who was being made fun of) would ask him to autograph their particular strip.

OK, different league. But same sentiment.
And what the decoded representation is...
Note to PR dicks: never include a mission statement in an apology if that very mission statement is the reason you were hired to write an apology.

Note to app builders: never hire a PR firm to do your dirty work.
I stopped reselling my electronics and just give them away to whomever needs them - somehow, that's less depressing than knowing I bought something for $500 and now I sell it for $100 (and my stuff looks like new even after years of use).

Buying used smartphones, on the other hand, is great - you can get a G2X or a Dell Venue Pro (excellent Windows 7 phone) for under $300 easily, and it will work just as well as any other phone (especially the G2X with a custom ROM)...
I like the "sorry if" comment ...
Funny you should mention it, I actually made an Android app that does basic sentiment analysis on tweets given a search term. Not very sophisticated, but it uses large corpuses assembled by text mining researchers.

Shameless plug: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.txtmine.txtminer
But hashing doesn't add any protection in this case. There are a very limited number of phone numbers in North America and so those hashes can be pre-computed and rainbow-tabled in a short, reasonable timeframe.
Patent troll may win ultimate web killing patent
MegaUpload takedown didn't slow pirate downloads, just moved them offshore
"It is also stored securely on our servers using industry standard firewall technology."

Undoubtably in plaintext. Having "industry standard firewall technology" didn't do jack for Zappos, why would Path's data be any more secure?
First Windows 8 'Consumer Preview' preinstalled apps revealed
Awesome, working to fix that now.

Basically, for the immediate moment there's no reason to register as you can comment on updates using Livefyre (Twitter, FB, etc.) Once these first projects go into alphas and betas (and need testing/feedback), registration will come back into play and we'll also sync it with the commenting system.

Thanks so much for your feedback!
You deserve a commission, Eric. I just bought "Collective Intelligence" based on your review.
Star Trek is an interesting example of Science Fiction, as it's actually only quasi science fictional, but in a very fascinating way.

The foundation of speculative fiction is exploring the implications of certain ideas that represent deviations from the way the world works today. (Aside: also, the difference between fantasy and scifi is that the former is teleological while the latter is mechanistic, but that doesn't bear on this discussion.) However, Star Trek is rarely about exploring the implications of the setting of Star Trek. This is because that's not what Star Trek is about. Instead, Star Trek is about creating a setting with certain character archetypes that we grow to care about, a familiar setting, and a world where almost anything can happen. This allows Star Trek to dedicate each episode to vignettes where different individual premises are explored in true scifi fashion.

In short, Star Trek is not a scifi series per se it's more of a scifi anthology. The constant aspects of Star Trek (the world, the crew, the ship, and the associated technology) are just stage setting that enable and make more meaningful individual stories from the anthology.
Self-help books are like placebos, they really don't do anything for you but if you read one you'll believe that you can be successful even though most of them are full of platitudes and not much actual content.

But on the other hand I think this is the most important part about them, they give people the feeling that they can succeed which is a necessary ingredient to taking risks to making yourself successful.
thanks, B!
Page Cache, the Affair Between Memory and Files
The only problem with this is the risk that the next iPhone coming out a few months after this ships could have a different body and might not fit.
Something I've always wondered (but been too lazy to research on my own) with this sort of thing is, in the absence of any centralized point, how do new users even find the swarm? My assumption is that all of these networks have at least one (or a handful of) centralized server that acts as a stepping stone to find the swarm. Is there something obvious I'm missing?
Smugmug Stack Exchange is now open to public beta
I realize this isn't quite the point of the article, but I have a $29.99 Nokia phone I've been using for years and I'm pretty sure I can resell it for at least $20. Non-smart phones hold their value best of all.
I wish someone would build an integrated BART+MUNI+CalTrain app. When I evaluated transit apps over a year ago, I liked the UI of iBART the best but ultimately went with iCommute because it had MUNI+BART in 1. Still had to get a separate app for CalTrain and then another separate app for San Jose Transit for when I was down there.
Yes but mobile is a platform without flash, and is a large amount of youtube views. Not sure if you can opt in to flash youtube on Android.
Effective compression using frame-of-reference and delta coding
I think you are under-estimating the percentage of trolls that are grown adults.

Then again, I grew up in a place where the local paper's letters to the editor read like a best-of collection of racist trolling (pre-internet, even.) Most of the letter writers were over 70 and still spouting ungrammatical poorly-articulated vitriol.
http://www.youtube.com/user/BostonDynamics
That lines up with their apparent reporting standards over the past few years, the subject matter doesn't change anything.
Screen size & resolution. Memory. Cameras.
5 to 1 margin on stocks is not hard to achieve, it's just more risky than 5 to 1 on a mortgage because your position is marked to market where as mortgages are not marked to market, but are much more illiquid.
Link to the paper:

http://www.dgp.toronto.edu/people/stam/reality/Research/pdf/...

I was surprised to see not just equations but actual C code -- a pretty readable paper.
Can't tell if you've no sense of humour or never used Movable Type.
I was very critical of Path yesterday. Their initial response didn't really address the issue and was basically an excuse. But this has restored my faith. I never believed they were doing anything malicious with the data but the fact that they bill themselves as a trusted/private social network leads me to want to hold them to a higher standard.

The big thing in this apology is that they have deleted all the data. That was a good move and shows they listened to complaints. The app update is also smart. Hopefully they will implement a better friend finding system soon (maybe using the hashing ideas put forward in yesterdays HN thread).
Greg Kumparak leaving TechCrunch
Perhaps you're not familiar with Code Academy? It's a three month intensive for learning Ruby on Rails.

I do agree that university degrees are not as important as what you can do!!
Yeah. They should just shut down completely.

/s
So you can opt out then, since they're not doing enough to address your concerns. They're being upfront about it, though, and putting that choice in your hands.
Did he start as a vice president?
They really need to update their privacy policy, which is currently mostly generic nonsense. https://path.com/privacy

Regardless of whether they throw up a confirmation prompt, their privacy policy needs to clearly describe what information is scraped from your phone, how it's used, and how long it's retained.
I can't believe all the comments on this are so mundane, each time I hear news about Lake Vostok, I waste 10-15mins daydreaming about the different, totally believable (compared to some of the stuff we're seeing, e.g. Inception) screenplays one can conjure.

1) Government conspiracy theory: There are rumors that Nazis had a secret base in the Arctic near Lake Vostok (http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/08/world-war-ii-rum...). This one cuts between today and 1945 when two German submarines were seen in Argentina. Then, US had Operation Highjump (Operation Highjump) and, later in 1958 a few nuclear tests. And now the Russians are so anxious to get to the Lake. Why the focus on this area? It is revealed that ...

2) SF Aliens: The probe sent to Vostok inadvertently triggers and alien auto-surveillance device that is protecting a ship that crashed into Antarctica millions of years ago. After considerable loss of life, the ship is reached and the aliens are rejuvenated with terrible results. Difference between this and The Thing would be the awesome underwater shots.

3) Magical Aliens: Three words: Mountains of Madness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountains_of_madness). People laughed at Lovecraft but maybe he was much more well-informed than we assumed. The mountains mentioned are, of course, real: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/01/photogalleri.... The Russian expedition is all fun and games until a weird guy (who double majored in ancient languages) points out that in the extinct Omaguaca language of Argentina the area around Vostok is called "Raulya", which is evidently where Cthulhu is sleeping. The greedy Russians wake him up (similar to what happened in Moria) and chaos ensues.

I would be leaning toward a mixture of (3) and (1).
Life at Yahoo - Keevie Silvay
If you're using Python, what are you using for your stats libraries?

R is, generally, the go to language for stats work I've found. It's certainly used a lot in the financial world for statistical modelling, and all the libraries in it are well tested which is a big plus in my book.
Thanks, it was really useful.
I feel a little sorry for other entrants in the MTA competition- it came across as being a competition for independent developers making apps in their spare time. Certainly, it seems like 90% of the entries were exactly that.

Impossible to compete with a Y-Combinator backed startup, really.
Yeah, but Facebook was a way different beast during the timeframe in which you are referring to.
Skimlinks is the real story behind Pinterest’s success
That was also what i was thinking, but i just asked if anybody have had success with it elsewhere? :)

I think I found a good guide her for myself.
http://www.windows7hacker.com/index.php/2011/09/how-to-insta...
However, phonenumber+userid creates lots of nice unique hashes.

If they are going to hash the data, they should salt it (and possibly use key strengthening a la bcrypt, etc).
Im SORRY to post this but i just couldn't resist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeP6CpUnfc0
It's not a perfect solution, but I don't understand why Path don't hash the contact details before uploading them, and check against the hashes. You can still infer all kinds of social graph information, of course, but they're at least not consuming raw contact details.
I have this year's MBA. Its pretty good, except for the 4 gigs of ram. I find the the T/X series more ergonomic for longer periods of typing though (matte screen + plastic wrist rest is more comfortable).

The T/X run well with linux, so you get all free software ;-) Also, the x220 is 3.3 lbs [1][2] vs 2.96 lb [3] for the air.

[1] http://www.lenovo.com/psref/pdf/tabook.pdf

[2] The 4-cell actually puts it at 2.97 lb, but the capacity is only 28 Wh compared to the Air at 50 Wh. The 6-cell on the other hand is 62 Wh.

[3] http://www.apple.com/macbookair/specs.html
> the absolute best defense against these sorts of situations is just not to be a douche, which isn't very hard

...unless one is already a douche, in which case it might be very hard.

The behavior of insulting people for no reason, like bullying generally, seems to transmitted via anti-rational memes.

Which means that the people who engage in it don't understand why they do so; they just know that it gives them some sort of psychological relief.
>I bet they would complain loudly. At least, they would before demanding the same from W8 manufacturers.

I totally lost you, why would MS care if Android forces locked bootloaders? How does that affect them in the least?

They aren't going to sell Win8 ARM in the stores, so again why would they complain? It makes zero difference to them.

iPads have locked bootloaders, how does that affect MS?

>Unless I misread, they allowed x86 manufacturers to have open-able bootloaders and have the W8 approval seal. IIRC, no non-UEFI boxes will receive the seal

Not just 'allowed', it's a requirement. How does non-UEFI boxes not getting the seal affect Linux? They aren't doing that because UEFI secure boot is a good defense against many common rootkits that load even before the OS or antivirus can.

>Who said ARM desktops? I asked how would you feel if your current x86 desktop had a locked bootloader.

There was an expectation about openness when I bought it. There will be no such thing with Win8 ARM. In fact, many users are replacing their laptops and desktops with iPads, so they seem to be okay with this.
Give credit where credit is due. Zynga would never in a million years do this. Facebook probably wouldn't, either.

Dave's message is straightforward and sincere.
If you accept and later decide you would like to revoke this access, please send an email to service@path.com and we will promptly see to it that your contact information is removed.

My only qualm is that you can't revoke the permission from within the app. The opt-out should be as easy as the opt-in.
Screenfull.js - Go fullscreen without any hassle
I appreciate the intent, but this micro-benchmark is entirely useless.
I was worried that would be the response. Not that I think it's a bad idea, its just such substantial shift from what I'm used to.

I would be curious for someone to do this with other apps. Even those that aren't social networks. I have a strong inkling that most of the top free apps are doing this without any of us knowing.
I've signed up but it seems that none of the buttons are working on the site? Seems JS is throwing some errors trying to call methods on undefined objects. http://trickod.com/i/Personal-20120208-124103.jpg
For Windows Phone users in Chicago, I can't recommend CTAWatch highly enough. I haven't tried Embark yet, but CTAWatch has become my favorite public transit app across iOS, Android & WP7:

http://www.triton-tek.com/solutions/mobile/apps/cta-watch

Disclaimer: I have no ties to the developer or company selling the app - I'm just a very happy user.
Ask HN: "The Joel Test" and other gauges of quality software companies
I've seen a few discussions on "The Joel Test" [1], but most of them are dated. I wanted to see who still considers this a good gauge for quality software companies.

Assuming that I'm being interviewed for a developer position, are these good questions for me to ask? Are there any other "must ask" questions that aren't covered here?

[1] http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html
Not bad, but could have done without the "As we continue to expand and grow we will make some mistakes along the way." sentence.
The could set up a company in the European Union, and hence be subject to EU Data Protection Law, which is stronger than the USA. They would then be risking fines and court orders for things like this. It would show that they don't think it'd happen again.

It would be a bit of an beaurocratic pain in the ass though.
Someone is using my instapaper
Ask HN: Feedback on Startup Idea
I like to keep a "To Buy" list on my phone under notes of things I might need or like. Stuff like shoes, a new couch etc.

Another way I keep track of things I see in a store/magazine that I like is to take a picture of it.

My idea is essentially a "wishlist" app.

1) You see something you like in a store, take a picture of it.
2) add a title/description and save it.

You can keep track of the things you want, maybe the price/location you saw it, etc.

However, you can see what your friends want and either - add to your own wishlist, ask them question's about it or even make recommendations.

The point of it is to track your own items, not create a "idea list" for friends and family who are shopping for you.

Thoughts? Criticism?
It's crazy that they haven't added this already. Facebook needs to get my permission to find out where I am, but not to scrape a hundred names, phone numbers, and addresses out of my phone? Bizarre.
JavaScript Type Hinting and Method Overloading
The first two problems are pretty much solved by using a microphone headset to issue commands.
Presumably the new Star Trek universe introduced with the Abrams film can allow for some of this cruft to be broken off.

I still think it's kinda charming that people read the classics in the future though. I mean, I don't always read high falutin' books, but I try to read something from the English cannon every once in a while.

Also, you have to consider that since they have replicators, why not read on a real book? You can just toss it in the replicator whenever you want and get a fresh copy when you sit down to read.
And once again the take-away message from this: Sex and fuzzy animals sell (see the H&M/David Beckham in his underwear and Coca-Cola Polar Bears and the tops spots).
Changelog: added "hacker mode"
Vimeo interface redesigned (for signed in users)
No, it's not. The book is pretty basic and the author might be scam but the book is good enough for the average person who does not have a clue of finance management.
The classic reference on this topic, Aaron Schwartz's "Bake, Don't Fry", is now ten years old:
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/000404

"Now, a number of tools are challenging that assumption. Movable Type, the program that runs this weblog, has a series of Perl scripts which are used to build your webpage, but the end result is a bunch of static pages which are served to the public."

These days, you can do so much more with off-the-shelf client-side components too, e.g. comments via Disqus et al, tracking via Analytics et al. It's really the best approach for most
I always assumed the spec for dock manufacturers (and the dock connector pinout/protocol) was designed to support at least one generation of devices past and future. With some speaker docks costing hundreds of dollars, I sure hope that's the case.
I don't think that explains anything to someone not familiar with the scenario. It doesn't say how they handled transmission and storage of phone contacts, just that they did it in a bad way.

I don't think it's intentional, though. When writing this I doubt the audience in their minds were the people who don't know about the issue.
My touch typing has gone downhill steadily since I started spending hours working on a train - pretty much in any ergonomic-disaster position I fit.

This poll is a timely reminder to start doing some typing drills on a regular basis.
Good point. Most homes around here are wired with 200A, 240V power, so a 20kW charger would eat up about half of that.

So a 7.2kW charger is about 2500 times slower than a fast gas pump.

Even slow gas pump (say 10MW), used with a conventional engine (say 20% efficient), compared with a state-of-the-art fast charger (say 200kW) would still be ten times as fast in a miles-per-hour contest.

EVs make up for this somewhat by being able to charge anywhere that has a decent supply of electricity for hours at a time, but it still shows you what they're up against.
If this story continues to get coverage revel in comments you will see such as "But when did she say No?" And "How were they supposed to know if she never told them to stop?"

When a woman has to say "No" or "Stop" you already crossed a line. Our society taints sexual interactions with the idea that a woman consents to everything by default and she must say "No" to withdraw consent. A sexual encounter is not a time where it is better to ask forgiveness than permission.
To be accepted into college at 16, you simply need to skip one grade and have your birthday be later in your school year than your acceptance to college.

I skipped a grade, then I got into Stanford "early action", which means I found out in December when I was still 16. I turned 17 fairly soon thereafter, and was 18 for roughly half of my freshman year of college.

So one doesn't have to be that far ahead of schedule to "be 16" (even if that means almost 17) when getting into college.

Being one year young doesn't really inhibit my ability to take advantage of Stanford in a serious way. The fact that there will only be one quarter when I am eligible to take the wine tasting course is about the extent of it.
Magnet-hashes for all torrents on The Pirate Bay: 164 MB
How accurate is it? (Recall, Precision etc)

I was under the impression tweets are near impossible to get right to a usable degree because of how short they are on top of the usual problems of sentiment analysis.
Hurrah! Good to see it being reused :D
She probably skipped a grade. I was 17 when I started college and this wasn't unusual; I wasn't even nearly the youngest person in my class.

I doubt that age is that big a factor. I don't think a gap of two years makes it any harder to find people with the same interests; if that was true, freshman and seniors could never be friends. Throughout my past ~5 years I've been friends with people 5 or more years younger and older than me; I never noticed any sort of dramatic issue.
In my opinion, giving out your number, along with the hash of each phone number in your address book to an authority with millions of such hashes isn't appreciably better than giving them in plaintext.

(Hi Dan?)
At least there will be > 100M iPhones with that body floating around.
"The Joel Test" clickable:
[1] http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html
I'd be really curious to see what Google makes off the advertisements served up in Gmail, compared to this price.
Agreed. That specific sentence reminded me all too much of snake-oil and charlatanry, and it coloured my reading of the rest of the apology.
More like anything related to iOS gets traction - I don't recall seeing a single Android-specific or even compatible project on Kickstarter, let alone the most successful ones. It helps if design-y people love your products/brand.
What am I seeing in the video? It's not zoomed out enough to be the whole Earth, but I see the Earth as a circle as if we can see one whole half of the planet. Am I confused about how curvature appears from space?
Online Collaborator's Toolkit: The Sharing Tools
If you put yourself in a user's shoes that doesn't know what the issue was then that is still generic. As a user who doesn't know the story I'd be wondering:

- Did they get hacked and now some unknown party may have the contents of my address book?

- Were they selling my information to others?

- Did something happen as it relates to storage that mixed up or deleted information

- Was my data being transmitted in the clear

- Was mt data being transmitted without my knowledge or approval?

Two of those things did happen but the user doesn't know for sure. To be fair though, I think their statement was enough. They really don't have to go into more details unless the situation calls for it and it doesn't right now. Those who know get the apology they deserve and those who don't continue using Path as if nothing ever happened. Win win.
I think Bing was the worst thing that happened to Google. They've even started paying users now... I wonder how easy the system would be to game.
Using a VPN (or a proxy) just moves the argument from your ISP, to the ISP where the VPN endpoint is located.
Airplanes Can Now Take Off and Land With GPS. Will Flights Be Faster?