skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I think it's a sort of "I'm happy you're happy" thing. Whenever I congratulate someone on having a child, I'm not literally congratulating them on having sex and spawning another human. That would be silly.

Although, there are many couples who can't get pregnant who would like to, so in cases like that, maybe literal congratulations would be in order?
I wasn't making a value judgment or arguing against any of the other points you mentioned.

Headlines often do this. When it's a big actual number and a small percent they post the actual number. When it's a big percent, but a small actual number, they post the percent. It's one thing if they're cutting tens of thousands of jobs and 20% of their work force. But most big corporations are so inefficient, this feels like a natural layoff/reduce the chafe move. We'll find out soon enough.
Counterexamples:

- Marriage (the existence thereof)

- Toiletries
If you're looking for OSX browser testing, you should check out www.browsrcamp.com . It supports almost all OSX browsers (although only safari is free), and there isn't a 2+ hour wait.
TicketStumbler.com. We're doing well:

http://ticketstumbler.com/new-stuff/

But if we had spawned in CA we would have required funding. So far, we've been able to get by without it.

To soon to tell if for better or worse :).
I appreciate this guy's honesty. Sometimes we need to open the kimono and be honest with ourselves and others.

But I can't wrap my head around this: "I have masters in software engineering and I couldnt solve pretty simple recursion and data structure problems in one of the interview."

As a clueless hacker that was too arrogant to attend college -- isn't theory pushed like gospel in academia?
I think I read somewhere that these days the 360 is more profitable than their OS or any of their software. I liked Live, but never really thought it was worth it since a majority of the games that included a multiplayer feature either hit or miss, while most missed. i.e. Halo (anyone of them) all hit. Star Wars BattleFront (anyone of them), all missed.
Our All New Web Based Empowerment Revolution.
This is our new addition to http://www.iyazam.com/
Not Your Normal Business
Some people are just very creative
OpenMoney and the Community Currency Game
Oy... if we're talking image... do you really want to be a "professional programmer"?

I think there is _something_ to the rockstar image... namely passion. Accept no bullshit, swear at the suits, light shit on fire to get results passion.

But I agree, "rockstar"
A) doesn't cut it as a metaphor and
B) is not a word a real developer would use to recruit a real developer

If you want to give my kind of programmer a nickname, save it for your business docs. My fathers already gave me one:

Hacker.
Also worth a look:

http://www.smallisbeautiful.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._F._Schumacher
Using HTTP Headers to Serve Styles
I submitted this free app over 5 weeks ago and still haven't heard anything. Any ideas?

http://www.blendedtechnologies.com/iphone-applications/
dup: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=445145
Thank you for your comments. My replies follow,

- The syntax we have at xsharp.org is an alternative C-like syntax (which we are still working on BTW). The full XML way of coding X# can be seen at http://wiki.codeglide.com/X_Sharp/Examples.

- Rules to convert non-XML structures to XML are defined by the connectors. We've chosen an intuitive XML structure to represent non-XML data on these connectors. Of course you can't guess what is the structure an XML that represents an e-mail has to have, but this is the same in other programming languages, you need documentation or an IDE with inline help to find out how to do stuff. The most powerful feature of X# is that you can combine data from unlimited and different sources using XPath and that instead of using multiple functions all actions are abstracted behind common operations such as append, remove, select and update.

- Yes, <?xpath ?> is used on the XML syntax to select nodes.

Originally X# was going to be a language to create applications visually and we chose an XML syntax because each tag is represented by a visual element on screen. Since we are still working on the visual X# editor, we offer an alternate C-like syntax (which is not definitive).

Although X# is Turing complete, we are not proposing it as a general purpose programming language -- we know it has limitations, having this level of abstraction has trade offs. Of course if we need to write a 3D Adventure Game or a Web Server we will use another language, but for writing the web based applications we wrote it has proven to be extremely fast and useful.

--mark at X#
Just like pop rewards bad music. But there is still great music and plenty of success beyond the headliners.
If a programmer codes for fun, he probably doesn't have a good idea of what real fun is.

Secondly, not all things that need programming are "fun". Some are downright tedious, but nevertheless important.
Obama wants to know the benefits of open source
Most likely. The two handsets in the article are reported to run Windows. Blackberry has their own OS.
Microsoft has one of the world's greatest health insurance packages. They also have one of the best overall benefits package (much better than Google, for example). They are saving multiple years' worth of salary per employee by letting them go. And the layoffs have allowed them to cancel/delay the purchase of several lots of real estate. I actually thought it would be more than 1.5 billion estimated.

Also, they are apparently laying off a lot of LCA (lawyers) who probably are very well-paid.
Segal argues that Microsoft should abandon marginal and unprofitable ventures (Xbox, Zune, search) and concentrate on its cash cows, Windows and Office, I presume. Segal's advice is off base. The problem with that strategy is, if someone eats your cash cows, you are left with nothing. The only viable strategy is to keep pushing the frontiers fo new revenue streams. Microsoft's real problem is that it is a follower not an innovator.
The Media Lab is totally different than the Symbolic Systems program and both are completely different than the CS programs at their respective schools (and any other school.)

The Media Lab does not require the GRE nor does it require that you even really have any formal training in computer science or engineering. It's more like an MFA program than an engineering degree. However, you do have the opportunity to take cool engineering courses if that is your bag.

The Media Lab is a joke academically but it is the easiest way to get a graduate degree from MIT. If you align yourself with the right projects and professors it can be a much better experience than a "real" master's program and you can parlay the experience into a cooler career than most. If you align yourself with the wrong projects it is a massive waste of time. It is unique in that it is a funded master's program so at least you won't waste any money.

The way to get into the Media Lab if you didn't go to MIT as an undergrad is to create a portfolio of cool projects that look like what the research groups you are interested are producing. For instance, if you want to get into the computational photography program you should start writing some photo manipulation programs and build a blog about them. It also helps to become friends with the professors there.

If you didn't get an undergraduate degree in Symbolic Systems at Stanford you are ineligible for the master's program. It is a "co-terminal" degree which means it is essentially just an extra year after undergrad.
For 3D modeling, I like Rhino (http://www.rhino3d.com) ($800). The support the company provides on their usenet group is unbelievably good and there is a huge community of extraordinarily helpful users.

Shapeways for rapid prototyping (http://www.shapeways.com). Many people who use Shapeways use Blender which is a free 3D modeler.
This can be accomplished with:

http://crossbrowsertesting.com/

The service allows you to pick your platform and installed browsers and then do whatever you wish on a virtualized instance. You can get 5 minutes free, otherwise there are paid options.
Depending on the distro, it may be as easy as "yum mono" or "apt-get mono".
You should have another option for a single brand. Currently I only want to monitor one brand, and wouldn't use the extra 2 the blogger option provides. Furthermore, this discourages me from signing up because I feel that after 30 days I would be paying for something that I'm not using.
Is Google App Engine successful?
I respectfully disagree.

Noise is in the eye of the beholder. It seems a little self-serving and belittling to humanity to care about the message more than the messenger.

If I point something out and you comment, it's simple common politeness to allow you to drift off topic for a sentence or so. To care more about noise-to-signal ratio than a simple plug is to take humans out of the mix and turn boards into simple data.

I exaggerate my point for effect, but it still doesn't sit right with me. We're more that data machines for discussion boards.
re (2) I imagine he means that your application followed through shortened-URLs to see if they point through to the client's brand and monitor that--it comes up a lot in Twitter, for example.
The Gimp (http://gimp.org/) can load _and_ save PSD-files with layers, so you could probably find most of the reverse engineering already done in the code there.

While you are at it, why not just save the file in Gimp format and be done with it? :-)
I think the zune is a truly innovative product. It seems that everyone always immediately writes it off as an iPod ripoff, but the zune experience is actually really unique.
Is there anyway to make HN more readable? I seriously find the contrast between the Headline and points/submitter line to be very difficult, especially once the page has been visited.

Am I the only one who finds the readability to be poor?
Ask HN: When do you code?
I can't seem to get any code written during the day, just too hectic.

My favorite time to code is between about 10pm and 3am when the world is asleep and there are few interuptions.

So, question: When do you code?
Extra Credit: What do you do to give yourself more time to code during other parts of the day?
2. I buy those twitter clients. I now control maybe 80% of the twitter client world.

Give me an example of one person or several people who came together and bought 80% of clients built around a successful API and then controlled that market?
Do research. Read the journals where the professors you'd like to work with publish, and work on research in that area. If the program you're applying to is primarily focused on research, this is the most important thing they're looking for-- your ability to publish and do research.
Innovid Launches New Form Of Video Advertising: The Clickable Canvas (Augmented Reality)
Concentrate on what you love. Honestly, there is too much focus on getting into "great" or elite programs. Every school has advantages and disadvantages, and graduate programs function VERY differently than undergraduate programs.

The best thing you could possibly do for the next two years is hone in on a specific area of interest. Try to be as introspective as possible. Are you fascinated by the physics of gaming? Do you want to improve human-computer interaction? Are you an expert code-monkey who just wants to create a useful and intelligent program with new tools?

If you can establish yourself as an expert, more or less, graduate schools will take you on without question. They will evaluate you on your ability to be successful. Everyone knows that the GRE (and sometimes a GPA) are horrible metrics for success in graduate school, but sometimes they are the only pieces of information a school has to evaluate you. The worst thing that can happen is that they hire you (for a PhD program) or offer you a scholarship, and you end up flunking out, quitting, or never finish.

However, if you follow your heart and show your competency in one or two specific areas, you will be a gem. Then you will also get the most out of graduate school. You will have access to so many excellent resources like free journals, experts in the field, and open up doors for future careers.

Graduate school can be an incredible opportunity or somewhat depressing. What I've found is that those who are most ready, emotionally and academically, do amazing things, but those who are not tend to flounder.

You want to be ready, so do yourself that favor.

Please feel free to contact me if you want to chat a little bit more about the experience.
Indeed - I'm just saying that people generally aren't using LISP to write DSLs in. If I needed one now I'd probably either use Tcl as a base or write it in OCaml. LISP isn't really even on the radar for this.
If your using Excel for simple data entry that's one thing, but like most advanced forms of this idea it's got a Turing complete scripting language. Access works the same way. If you know nothing about programming you can quickly create a huge mess that almost works.

"Any sufficiently complicated C or Fortran program contains an ad hoc, informally-specified, bug-ridden, slow implementation of half of Common Lisp.[2]" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenspun%27s_Tenth_Rule)

I think you get the same then for any significantly advanced Form generating software. At some point you need to link 2 elements and do some math and you end up starting the whole ball rolling again. How would you build the "perfect" form generating software for a Pizza Topping Selector so the client can change any part of the interface in any way they want at any time and have any discount they want for any list of toppings? ... Great now is your form generator simpler than just writing the code?

PS: You can talk about just the GUI but tools like visual studio are already have GUI tools for building GUI's.
I'm somewhat doubtful about the original claim of making $200 per hour exactly because of the math that you present. Or rather, $200/hour for how long?

Even if all 20mio(?) iphone owners downloaded and used the app once that only amounts to $10000 bucks. If we assume they show it to all their buddies in school, say 20 times, then we arrive it $200k bucks.
Heck, add a ton of clickthroughs and real hardcore fans and make that $400k.

One hell of a deal for a 20 minute app, no question. But all under imho very optimistic assumptions. I'd go as far as to smell a little PR stunt maybe?

Anyone know some real world figures about iphone app sales?
http://userscripts.org/scripts/search?q=reddit&sort=inst...
I see it as noise because it's redundant. All posts have a name and a profile associated with them.

Personally, I think you have to earn a reference to your personal or business site. And you can do that by saying interesting things, which makes me curious to find out who you are by clicking your name. Which, again, I often do here.
I have seen a successful small rocket launched from a 100 ft high ballon platform

That was a sounding rocket. As Stcredzero wrote in the message you responded to, "Balloons -- only sounding rockets use those." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sounding_rocket

http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/rockoon.htm
PG on nonprofits/Darfur
It's quite impressive, check also their demo ads gallery:

http://www.innovid.com/gallery.php
That assumes Microsoft knows how to identify the chaff. Given their baroque and top-heavy management, I'd say it isn't their strong point.
and this: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.44.5...
Skoobit Opportunity to Win a Full Semester of Free Textbook Rentals
Electric rates are highly regulated. Also, note that electricity is split up exactly the way I described - transmission (local delivery) and generation (internet transit) are billed separately, with competition happening at the generation level.

Storage and bandwidth are related in that they show the tradeoff between local storage and streaming. 3x the price of storage doesn't feel right to me. If that's the actual cost, I certainly can't disagree. But with the price of bandwidth continually dropping, I don't think regulation or other arbitrary pricing will reflect anything like the true cost, and will be more akin to mobile text messaging prices.

I recall seeing usage metering based on something like $40/mo for 200GB, and then $0.50/GB thereafter. With an apparent fixed cost of -$60, it seems their goal is to punish heavy users, rather than selling them what they want for a fair price.
He'd have to start with himself, after all.
Terminal.app is better than the terminal in 10.4 but it still feels slow. Booting X11.app and using xterm or rxvt is so much faster, in every little command there's a slight wait in Terminal.app, while it's instant in rxvt or mrxvt. Here's my .Xdefaults file for getting good colors in xterm and rxvt

http://pastie.org/368122
Pretty nice App, I've use it before. I just dont want to stay there wait for my turn in queue. You may want to improve that.
In the field I trained for, a PhD's median salary is only about 6% higher than someone with a master's. On the other hand, the spread of salaries for PhD's is much larger, mostly due to the amazingly unfounded assumption that a PhD somehow qualifies people for management positions.
What's even better about this site... if you've registered with them previously for other things, you're username is already in there. I just tried to register to fool around with it and they had me in the database already.
like you, i tend to get distracted, so i try and make it easy for myself to sit and go when the mood strikes.

i tend to be most focused around 10-noon and 7-midnight.

but then again, i have a circadian rhythm disorder.
Why feel anything? Test both approaches and see which converts better.

Let the data determine the best course of action.
You are right if all care about is money.

I am going back to school to get a PhD because 2 years on the job has taught me that there is more to life than just money.
I've done this a few times. Mostly for industrial design projects like product bezels and cases and such.

I usually "carve" something out of wood and paint to get an idea of physical appearances, fit, etc. From that I'll usually make a fiberglass model (so that I can test fit something that is close to the actual dimensions/thickness of the actual item). Then I Google for a local freelance CNC shop in my area and commission a formal CAD drawing and prototype milled out of a plastic.

From there you can generally figure if your design is right for injection molding, vacuum forming, etc. Find the right CAD guy and they can often help guide you somewhat with the design as well.

Happy to help if you need more info.
OK, but on the other hand, when has their tech ever been the best in some category? I can think of some interesting things they've done in MSR and even a couple of decent products they've made, but on the whole Microsoft's success in business does not seem to have been related to their technical achievements.
It doesn't make sense to bother with jobbing out initial fabrication of a prototype unless you've got VERY deep pockets and absolutely plan on going into production. Unless both of these are true I suggest modeling the part from balsa or foam and then cast your prototype in resin or low temperature metal.
Dr. Egon Spengler: I collect spores, molds, and fungus.

From the classic Ghost Busters.
Google Takes $1 Billion Charge To Write Down AOL And ClearWire Investments
I disagree with parts of it, but not entirely. For example some exceptions I can think of:

Hosting: I'm happy with MediaTemple and Slicehost owning the servers and bandwith and renting me access. Managing them is too time consuming and their value diminishes too quickly.

Boats, Planes: Again, owning them is a pain. Moving, maintaining and repairing them is expensive and time consuming. They lose value quickly. Renting time using them seems much better.

Houses: This one's a little more complex since the value often appreciates, but I think at times it's better to rent. For me, it means freedom to move, keeps more of my capital liquid etc.

The blanket statement "access trumps ownership" is too general, but I think his essay does bring up a valid point--in some cases, and perhaps more now than ever, access does trump ownership.
No, a judge ordered records preserved before the administration left office. But many emails were apparently not recovered.
Duke, BSE (ECE & CS) '07
I think rate limiting is precisely where Twitter can monetize. They can sell API keys that allow for higher usage.
You've also missed the point of the airplane: 600MPH is frankyl nothing (4% of the speed required for LEO).

Small increases in speed would indeed be relatively unimportant in regard to only a final stage. When, instead, an increase in speed affects an entire rocket stack, it becomes important, since lower stages are exponentially more massive than upper stages. For the same reason, it can be important to launch from the equator, since equatorial launch provides 465 m/s of speed, not only for the final payload, but for the entire rocket stack.
I use XBox Live, but I don't find it innovative at all. I pay Microsoft to play on the internet, which I can do free on other systems. I'm not a pro gamer, I don't care about achievements or rankings. Downloading demos is nice, but not innovative.
Google Apps has Groups Functionality
It's really the social aspect of Live that is the most innovative. While most people were still playing with server lists and friends lists, MS had a way for you to log in and instantly jump into a game that your friend is playing. You could even tell what they were doing inside each game (e.g. "Tom is on rescuing the princess in Some Game.")

And the fact that they completely overhauled their interface, added new features (like Netflix streaming), all while being still ahead of the pack, is extremely un-Microsoft-like. Usually I expect to see MS innovate only when they've been soundly beaten by the competition. It's a breath of fresh air.
Kind of like spam? I doubt anyone would send 411 scam emails or sketchy pharmacy ads if no one ever fell for them or bought pills.
OSS UI God Raph Levine has an Open Source Consolas called Inconsolata you might want to try on Linux.
I think the investors are failing to understand that none of Sun's customers want to use anything without a support agreement.
Sure, and maybe right now is not the time to find a new job, but being treated like a construction worker should not be acceptable to any competent programmer. I'm not arguing that it doesn't happen, just that it doesn't have to be that way. Anyone stuck in those kind of conditions should know that there are better jobs out there where they can be treated like smart, competent adults instead of code monkeys.
I play catan regularly, and just got puerto rico for my birthday. We should host a night at Tipjoy HQ
I can't tell if the source is credible. It doesn't help that the article fails to spell "BlackBerry" correctly even once.
Quarterly profit at Google fell for the first time
Google Dethroned?
Worldwide Race to Make Better Batteries
Asian or European looking for genuine work at home sites?
Very well done. Is this a business model that reddit tried (custom branded sites ala http://lipstick.com) before it got bought by Conde Nast?
If I can isolate myself from distractions, I can code anytime.
"I was becoming more reluctant to open notepad and try one programming problem." - something is amiss here.
Digg not digging the economy, cuts 10 percent
Office of E-Government and Information Technology Coming Soon
Announcing Google's Employee Option Exchange Program
I present to you Cambridge University no less...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CU_Spaceflight

And NASA are at work on a system to launch pico and micro satelites in near earth orbits.
> The main Free Electron at Netscape was the most decent human being I’ve met in recent memory. He also rode a unicycle.

Does anyone know who he is referring to here?
Nice job landing the contract with Virgin. Did they contact you guys, or did you contact them?