skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I don't see how information from his twitter account will help prove those charges.

You don't have to. In the US's legal system, the standard for what is discoverable extremely loose. It doesn't just have to be data that you know is relevant, it is any data that might have a chance (even a small one) of containing data that might be relevant.

For example, there's some possibility that the user could have tweeted information about their actions and movements during that time period, and there's some possibility that information might help the attorneys build their theory of the case. So the prosecutors (or plaintiffs, or whoever) are allowed to ask for that information.

It's actually one of the reasons why legal costs in the US and UK are so famously high. The wide net brings in a lot more information that needs to be looked at, and paying attorneys $100s per hour to look at it gets expensive very quickly.
Looking for a Desingineer? You should Hire An Oliner.
> This sounds like libertarianism to me, not socialism (small S or not.)

Yes, but this happens a lot with you! There isn't a day that goes by without a post from you where you take some hook and use it to put up a wall of text (or even several walls) about the libertarian view ;).
I can't fully explain why it was reduced, but it's several factors:

1) Some people left, for various reasons (like being at Google for 6+ years), for example, 5 left to go to different startups.

2) Some went to work on Dart

3) Some when to work on Chrome

4) Some went to work on a secret project

5) Maturity. At Google, 20 is considered a "big" team. The Closure Compiler, on which GMail, Docs, Google +, Google Search, Google Maps, etc is based is not even staffed, it's just the result of 20% contributions. GWT was, from an organizational standpoint, even in the wrong division. It should have been in infrastructure/dev-tools/etc, but instead it was under a management chain that cared about other stuff.

GWT 2.5 will be released very soon. I am trying to collect all external contributions that have been languishing and land them first.
Your rights are worthless unless our courts help you enforce them. Why should anyone ever bother to serve on a jury in a suit you bring against someone who did something you don't like with your idea? Why should our tax dollars fund that legal framework? What's in it for the rest of us?

You aren't entitled to use the government as your personal regulatory agency - that's a privilege granted to you the artist in exchange for limitations and guarantees designed to ensure that society can also benefit from your work in ways that you may not approve of.
Can we fine the chef for not containing his smells and polluting the air? Maybe the boy doesn't want or like the smells? Similar questions can be asked of Monsanto polluting fields with "their" "intellectual property" corn DNA.

You can (ought to be able to) charge someone for ordering the service of adding smell, but if they didn't ask for the service then you can't charge them for it. "I made this chicken dinner for you. You owe me $20. I don't care if you wanted it or not."

This would be like demanding people who hear your music pay for it, even if hearing it is against their will or unintentional.

The issue/problem is with contracts, not property. The record label is licensing an individual (via contract) the right and okay to reproduce a work for personal/private use. The labels should go after those that break the contract by allowing people unauthorized access to reproduce the work, not those that obtain (download) the work. The downloader never signed a contract nor necessarily knows one exists. Upon being told they obtained "unauthorized goods" then they should immediately delete and destroy them. If the label can prove the downloader knew or ought to have known their copy was unauthorized then the downloader is guilty of knowingly harming another party and should pay a fine as well.

If you'll are mad at the labels, stop downloading or viewing works produced by the labels! It's called voting with your actions. If artists see that the people won't purchase or listen to their works with certain labels, then the artists that care will stop using those labels! No this isn't easy. Yes the artists will also feel some pain through this process too. But seriously, grow up and stand by your principles unless your only principle is "Me now for free". If you think it isn't possible then please just admit that you don't believe in democratic movements and that we require elitist intellectual overlords to govern us.
I think of things differently: regardless of the definition of property the entire issue generated between the piracy side and the content generator side is that of ownership and possession.

From the Pirate's point of view they see the situation as "You have not lost anything by me copying this software." Which is a legit mindset to subscribe to.

From the other side they see it as "You've obtained something that you did not pay for." Which is also a legit mindset.

Whatever end you subscribe to you can hopefully still understand where the divide comes in. One person is interested in obtaining something while seemingly not hurting the other. The other side is bent on maintaining and controlling their content distribution.
I have the HP TouchSmart tm2t (a touchscreen laptop) and the touchscreen controls make Windows 8 easy and actually enjoyable to use.

I don't know what Microsoft is trying to do with Windows 8. I know they intended to make touch a first class citizen but it seems like they've forgotten about the mouse and keyboard.
The Jester Posts PGP Data File from Webkit Exploit Op
To PG:

many of your essays have an air of someone who already gets it circle jerking[1] with the other people who already get it. You do it when you talk about Lisp, and when you talk about big companies, and you're now doing it by comparing copyright infringement to "stealing smells". Its unfortunate because it builds a cult or clique of people who "get it" rather than helps to spread an idea to the masses. It's also unfortunate because you outright dismisses other people's opinions, which is arrogant, and dangerous.

The "in crowd" understands your metaphor, but to the people who matter, those who don't already understand the issue, your metaphor is worse than useless - its actually harming our credibility. Quite easy to imagine a RIAA lawyer tearing your analogy to pieces, you know, by DH6: refuting your central point. You're arguing against an opponent without demonstrating that you even understand their argument. that's, like, what, DH3? I wish you would strive to use the incredible influence you've built up more effectively, and refocus away from the startup crowd, and towards the wider audience of people who could stand to learn something from you.

[*] DH3: http://www.paulgraham.com/disagree.html
[1] "circle jerk" - i paused on this metaphor for a few moments, but i can't think of a better one!
URDU SEX STORIES: Aek Bhooki Choot Ki Kahani
WebRTC will in fact have TCP and UDP sockets with arbitrary content, so it will be great for games.
Your post is not wrong, it is correct. You're getting down votes because you mentioned Rand without condemning her. I gave you and up vote.

One of the numerous errors Rand made was condemning the libertarian movement, but this is pretty hilarious because she was good friends with Rothbard. I believe her use of the word "libertarian" predates the libertarian movement and she's referring to the socialist/communist/"anarchists" of years before.

Part of Rand's philosophy is the Non-Aggression Principle. Some "Objectivists" criticize libertarians for not adopting the whole philosophy and focusing on the NAP.

But every follower of Rand is a Libertarian-- BY DEFINTION-- since both groups subscribe to the NAP.

Your point about Rand's support of IP is correct, and you corrected an over broad statement I made. I didn't think that it needed further illumination because you were correct, but now that I see you're getting down voted, I wanted to assure you that you were right.
Story Pricing
Hacking Away: How Scala can improve your life
UX gripes: Hootsuite's Refresh Button
To me, the most important distinction here is the "smell" analogy. Whether or not we agree with content piracy, our assent or dissent is largely moot. It's happening, and it will continue to happen. In this sense, moralistic arguments are somewhat pointless. And legislative attempts -- even if successful -- will succeed only in plugging today's leaks. Innovators will figure out new ones tomorrow. Those in the content business need to make peace with this fundamental reality.

But the fact remains: people who invest a nonzero sum of money in the creation of content would probably like some way to recoup their investment. Or else they need to have deep enough pockets, or deep-pocketed patrons, to be able to abide simply giving it away outright.

I suggest that there's a middle ground between giving all content away (no IP ownership, as some advocate for) and trying to stanch the tide of digital distribution altogether. That middle ground involves differentiating content and price based on audience segments. Those willing to pay can pay for the things they want to pay for. Those unwilling to pay aren't going to pay. It's the job of the content creators to figure out three things: 1) what people are willing to pay for, 2) how to optimize that product to that willing-to-pay segment, and 3) how to convert unwilling-to-pay into willing-to-pay.

This strategy involves carrots, not sticks.

At the risk of getting all self-promotey, I wrote a piece on this topic recently, based on some case studies from the music and publishing worlds:

http://www.dvwlr.com/post/18500285071/piracy-doesnt-matter-b...
I had this idea, but even better: make the passport trades temporary, on a monthly basis, and turn it into a financial market.

US/UK switch? Probably basically free for both, if both are seen as equally desirable. But citizens from "less desirable" countries would pay ($30K/yr?) to have to the right to work in the US/UK. And, for example, US/UK doctors would receive money ($30K/yr?) to work in third-world countries. The rates would vary depending on each pair of countries and relative demand.

It seems abhorrent at first to ask already-poorer third-world citizens to pay money, but the $30K/yr would presumably come out of salaries paid from the first world -- so people from third-world countries would only be able to work in the US if they were making excellent money, and therefore contributing greatly to the economy. No money is actually being "taken" from the third-world. And the $30K/yr payment to doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. living abroad would provide a fantastic transfer of skills from the first world to the third world, helping to counteract "brain drain".

I'm not sure any governments would want to sign up for something like this, and it may feel rather questionable morally, but it could solve a lot of problems.
Go Big or Get Married: Single CEOs Take More Risk [Study]
A working paper from NBER assesses the relationship between status, marriage, and corporate risk-taking.
Hey, this looks familiar!

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3577492

This looks really executed though, best of luck to your project.
This response, and your personal attacks in general, are why Hacker News is not what it could be. You're getting up votes not on the quality of your response, but because you adhere to the same ideology as the up vote brigade. (which makes your disclaimer in your profile amusing.)

One of the reasons I generally don't respond to responses to my comments is that so often they are along these lines.

Do you want to try and make me feel ashamed for making my comment (Something that is doomed to failure) or would you rather have a productive discussion?

Which answer do you think is better for the site?

And, for the record, I often go weeks without posting here because I have work to do.
We've put together a site to help engineers (like us) get a quick consult when we're looking for usability, design or layout advice.

We reached out to some of the best designers we know of and asked if they'd be willing to create a 15-20 minute screencast critiquing work... and they were.

We're doing the MVP thing at the moment.. is this useful?
> way to disable the Home button

A piece of cardboard and a sticky tape. Ask me how I know :)
Minefold (YC W12) Launches Affordable, On-Demand Platform For Game Hosting
I've done this before, to weight some properties higher than others. I searched for the exponent, via simulation and cross validation.

It works.
The Medium & The Message
Do you have any studies to base than on? Because I believe the opposite.

The mouse is a nightmare: First you have to find it on your desk or whereever you happen to work. Then, you have to focus on the screen and try to find that tiny little arrow. Finally, you have to coordinate movement of the mouse and arrow to click somewhere.

We are very used to it now, but it's a nightmare anyhow.

I don't even start about the trackpad!

How much easier to just stick your finger out, you don't even need to divert your eye's attention from the screen. Its natural. It fast. And your and fall instantly back onto the keyboard.
Accidentally downvoted you when I meant to upvote you. Damn touchscreens...
The history of GWT was that it was started by Joel and Bruce and acquired by Google. Internally, at the time, Google had been using Closure Compiler and millions of lines of Javascript code, so just from inertia, there would not have been much use in the beginning, because it's not like the GMail team is going to rewrite GMail in GWT over night. Really, the first high profile consumer facing project done with GWT was Wave. AdWords is also GWT, but not very sexy.

I come from a background of using Maven to build my projects, and Google's internal build system is somewhat maven like, but it doesn't let you specify versions in dependencies, so you always end up depending on HEAD. To me, this is the root problem making it hard for projects that live simultaneously in the open and closed worlds.

It would be interesting to see how the Guice team handles it, but maybe they're patch velocity is small.

As for why GWT didn't get a huge external community of committers? I do think it has something to do with the fact that it is a gated community, that people feel like they don't "own" it, Google does. Maybe re-open sourcing it and rebranding it as "Open Web Toolkit" or "Community Web Toolkit" would somewhat remove those mental blocks.

I would love for the open community to be true owners of GWT, and Google as just a contributor. I've been lobbying to make it happen, and I hope it does. Too many external people have put in a lot of work, they deserve it.
Thoughts on upcoming Programming Languages
That's a very good observation!
I would _love_ to get a beta invite for Minbox
I took the statement about re-learning the OS to imply that every Windows release has had a massive change in interaction, similar to Windows 8. Based on run4yourlives's later reply, my interpretation seems correct.

I agree that it is dangerous to overestimate the general user's ability to adapt to changes. Microsoft does a lot of focus groups for this very reason. I don't think that Microsoft can cripple itself by never changing the interface, though. Maintaining an identical interface might work for a while, but eventually competitors who weren't afraid to innovate on the UI would win.

I agree about the control panel as well. Search fixes a lot of the issues. I'm glad Windows 8 has kept search working (and arguably improved it).
So PG doesn't finish the story of Ooka Tadasuke and how he solves the case of the cook asking the student to pay for enjoying the smell of good food.

The judge asks the student to take a few coins. But instead of paying tangible coins for intangible smell, he asked for the coins to be put in a handkerchief and shook hard. And the payment to be made with the sound the coins made.

(I had heard this story as an Indian story - not a Japanese story. And Ooka Tadasuke was replaced by Birbal - the prime minister of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. "Akbar Birbal" stories are full of such awesomeness.)
Always a hard decision. Great article.
Free markets can be a loophole around civil liberties, that's why the US Presidential administrations like to go this route.
Mozilla makes more than $100 million a year: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Foundation

They can afford to pay for stuff if they want to. It seems that Mozilla is more concerned with Free as in Speech, not Free as in Beer.
Commodity News for the Week Ending March 9, 2012
Pycon 2012 : Hand Coded Applications with SQLAlchemy (slides and video)
Ever hear the "stateful UI is bad; on/off is a state" UI design principle? My Macbook-using friends tell me there's no way to close the lid without suspending it.

There was an influential blog post years ago documenting the 11 or so ways to shutdown Vista. More than likely someone is reciting the "multiple ways bad" mantra.

I'm surprised UI designers let us shut down our computers at all.
Nations and borders exist because different peoples have different values and different collective aspirations.

Even the notion of an 'internet citizen' is not an entirely universal citizenship. How much interaction do people on HN really have with the Chinese internet populace or the Russian internet populace or the Arabic-speaking internet populace? There are entire internet subcultures which do not or hardly intersect.

I'm sure at some point in human history being a 'world citizen' will be possible, but we're not even remotely close to that at this point.
Thanks! That's the nicest thing someone has said to me in an internet forum.

I'll take a gander at your books.

I offer in return http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictably_Irrational . I haven't finished http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Better_Angels_of_Our_Nature but it's somewhat related. I'm not a huge fan of Freakonomics but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Impact_of_Legalized_Abortio... is an interesting one. Finally, the TAL episodes I've linked elsewhere in this thread:

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/143/s...
and
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/364/g...

If you look at any of the above, the TAL episodes are probably the most easy to consume.
Designer resources? 
Hi,

I need to find a for-contract designer who can help me implement a dramatically different interface for a B2B idea in clean tech. Are there any referrals members from this group can provide?

thanks!
Hello I'm Fred Brach, the maker of townportal. I know it's ugly :) but maybe is it interresting? Please note that the Example text is clickable ;)

How does Townportal.net works? What is the core idea?

Townportal use a people-curated nanopayment system per view.
Whut?
When a creation is published/uploaded, the user pays just 1 gold to see it (1 gold = $0.01). This is the idea we don't want to pay for shits.
But if people like it, the price per view growth (until it can reach the price of a cinema ticket for example).
The creator can't do anything unless stoping the growth of the price.

Of course, a creator can withdraw its gold for real money at any moment.

Simple isn't it? Please note that you get a 5 gold for sign-up - just to test more.

Also I/we want creators to get the most of their money back for encouraging quality and author thinking.
I've fixed the fees to 10% for the moment. This is a bit to high I think. Ideally, I would like it at around 5%. The thing is I don't know what could be the charge of such website. I will make my possible to push them down at maximum and why not - in fact, I hope! - reach the 5% (if townportal.net live of course).
So for the moment, you get 450 gold for $5 and, for the moment, you can play each entry for 1 gold.
> The problem with this is that the "new" desktop is fundamentally different from the old one.

If you can't figure out how to use the desktop without the start button (by going to the left-right sides with a mouse movement that is even easier to do), then you really should be using the Metro UI instead, because it was made exactly for you.

> I can pick up my iPad and instantly figure it out.

1. When I got my iPad it enraged me to learn/figure-out that I had to install iTunes and connect the two.

2. You're now comparing the touch based iPad UI with mouse/keyboard driven Windows 8 Desktop UI.
The video of that talk (relevant portion here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hCimLnIsDA) is available further down the page: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3693327
A nice yet very naive idea. The passport you hold represents a key to the walls which surrounds your country. Without these walls international trade would flow unhindered - resulting in the devastation of the western economies and our artificial upheld position as the worlds supreme beings.

If you really want this world join ATTACK or a similar organization and try to bring down WTO for starters.

Note: Not arguing one over the other - just stating the obvious
I'm surprised that no one has commented on the validity of (moonbase) air as a commodity. If you have to decide to let one of your children die because you can't pay the air bill, something is fundamentally wrong with the definition of property.

Sure you can pay for air today, but it's always for non-standard purposes. SCUBA, industrial, CO2 cartridges for flats, etc.

We've already gone down this road with respect to water. The cost of manufacturing bottled water far exceeds the cost of having clean water on tap. Corporations (Bechtel) have even tried to make rainwater collection off of roofs illegal.

My point being that if you are going to define property, you should make an effort to define between (what should be) non-divisible communal property and private property.
Yeah, I was thinking of the stuff on codeproject, dzone, stackoverflow. The places where code is dropped with the explicit purpose of sharing it.
Safari 5.1.4 with speed and stability
Just search for it.

Have you used an OS prior to Windows 7 and/or OSX?

Search on windows actually working is a huge step forward. Many users have simply not adapted to this actually being something worth trying.
Probably some kind of super DRM. Think OnLive or the new Diablo 3 where you need to be on the internet to play.

Obviously music cannot follow this model, meaning sounds themselves (in the context of the essay sounds are not so different from smells) will become un-ownable and the only thing left having any value will be live performances. Artists could still make a good living if they are any good at it. It would be the same as what we had a few hundred years ago before mass media, and the music industry would transform from a creative industry into a service industry.

Of course this is just my impression of what pg means, I don't want to put words into his mouth.
If what you mean to argue is that this data gathering needed to be done under court supervision, well, it was. A subpoena is the type of court supervision process that is applicable in this case. What the subpoena means is that an attorney got a court order compelling a party to provide evidence.

Warrants are also issued by the courts, but they do something different: They permit law enforcement officials (not attorneys) to perform acts that would normally be illegal in order to gather evidence.
Webserver Bottlenecks and Performance Tuning (Graham Dumpleton, Pycon 2012)