skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
i think android has a much brighter future. Speaking from some inside knowledge, there are two large carriers that will introduce android devices this year.

Plus, all the Asian manufacturers (Samsung, LG, Kyocera, and some smaller Chinese ones ) don't have any good OSs in the plate. So they are already working on android devices.

Here is a rundown of the mobile world:

iPhone -- we all know it. Developing for it is not easy, and the process is not friendly at all. Good for games, but very restrictive APIs, and what you can do. There is so much more this device can do, but Steve Jobs doesn't want you to. So, some good competition is always welcome, as it will force Apple to open up.

Blackberry OS (semi-niche. Popular, but an OS with only one manufacture. Plus J2ME is going to be phased out, the BB Api is not that great (UI wise).

..

Symbian - Will be open source in a year. It is old, (based on work from Psion two decades ago), and development for it is not great (plus the UI is horrible).

..

Winmo - Has been around since 2002. Hasn't chagned much in years. Development for it is ok (not that hard), but overall it is Microsoft yucky interface. It was good for coorporates that didn't want to pay the Blackberry extra costs, but right now it is way behind.

..

Android -- The new kid on the block. Programing for it is easier, (performance is ok, not that great for games), it is open, and it runs on top of Linux, but it can run everything.

..

Palm -- Used to be hot 5 years ago. And now trying to come back. I really don't know any companies trying to work on anything on palm. They need to get a good app dev environment going, but they are not big enough to create yet another platform to develop for. Android/Dalvik, (or maybe Flash), will be great choices.

..

Linmo -- DOA. I have seen a couple of Motorola Linmo handsets, and they are crap. Just give up. The OS doesn't really matter anymore, the APP Environment is the one that matters now. Users really don't care if the underpinning of the OS is Linux, OS X/BSD, Symbian, or whatever. They just care for shiny things (flashy and animation), and running apps.
You were expecting something else on a social news site? ;0)
Thank you for the explanation. I'll look forward to the new profile support. I'm starting to need to be in more than one Google account simultaneously; the timing is fortunate, for me.
You want to make a company an attractive IPO target, make it profitable!!!
Like this?

http://wintabber.com/screenshots/

(Windows only)
But Apple did it first, that counts for a lot. Palm's UI looks awesome, but it wouldn't be as cool if Apple didn't pave the way a bit. Not taking anything away, they did a much better job at building off of Apple's innovation than RIM did with the Storm (the phone I currently have - forced to stick with BlackBerry for work).
The debate is whether or not intelligence is one-dimensional. Height is clearly one-dimensional. Intelligence may not be.
I found it fascinating. He makes a compelling argument - with evidence - that humans have a natural instinct not to kill each other. I had never thought about it in the way he presented it, and it changed how I look at wars and killing in general. His followup to that, how one of modern military training's main purposes is to overcome that natural instinct, also changed how I looked at training and practice of any kind.

His interviews with veterans who had killed was both fascinating and heartbreaking.

Regarding media, one point he makes that I agree with is the non-chalance with which people kill in movies and tv is ridiculous. Not offensive, just fantasy. It did change how I view killing in entertainment. Simply, in reality, most people won't kill.

What I didn't buy was his final argument, which tries to argue that the rise of violence in media has contributed to the rise of violence in society. I did not find his evidence convincing. He just spent an entire book arguing for the value of conditioning through actual training, then claims that viewing violence is enough to make someone do it. Unfortunately, this claim is what Robert Grossman is most famous for. I think that's sad, because the rest of the content are things I think all of society should know, in particular those who know someone who has served.

A note on the writing itself: not the greatest. In many ways it reads like someone's term paper. He also tries to make connections to the fuzzy-wuzzy side of psychology at times. But that doesn't stop the rest from being good and worth your time.

Honestly, I'd rather ask you what you thought about it. I've never been a soldier, so I'm fascinated to know what soldiers feel about it.
I think Microsoft Excel would be the most common example.
Er, I _swear_ I'm getting a converter box REAL SOON NOW. (what, get cable? -- too distracting... plus, the romance of the rabbit ears!)
I think your comment advances a common misconception, that unemployment percentage figures are derived from unemployment insurance benefit filings.

They're not. The unemployment percentage figure comes from a household survey by the federal government that simply asks people if they lack work and are looking. Whether one is eligible for, has applied for, or is receiving unemployment benefits is irrelevant.
I know who _why is. I was being facetious.
Yes and no.

Let's say I put something under the GPL and you download the source. Later, I regret that and don't allow more people to download the source. You (as someone who has downloaded it) can still forever use, transmit, etc. it under the GPL. So, people that want a copy of the source can get it from you even if they can't get it from me - and there is absolutely nothing that mandates I continue to give out the source if it's mine. I then add to it and make a cool Project 2.0 that's closed only and based off that old GPL code. That's perfectly fine.

However, let's say that I took some GPL code, modified it and distributed it. Now the codebase isn't all my code - it's also partly one or many other people's code. I can stop distributing it all together, but I can't distribute it and not the source code. BUT, what if part of my 2.0 closed source version development was eliminating all the GPL code from it! Then I can make it closed.

Basically, if the copyright is your copyright, you have free range. You can't take away the rights of someone who already has the code under the GPL, but you can stop the GPL thing from going forward (unless the community builds a better fork off your old GPL code). However, if you're using other people's code in your program, you're stuck with the GPL unless you can get the authors of the other code to exempt you.

So, he can't un-open-source the contributions of the other people, but he could replace them. One of the flaws in the GPL is that you have to wait for one of the author's whose copyright is infringed to sue. Courts have sometimes held that intended third party beneficiaries have standing, but that's a lot more murky since you're then claiming that the original author created something for your benefit that an intermediary is stopping you from using.
The Palm Pre looks great -- but has Scoble touched/used one? Until then, definitive judgments are premature.
The comparison in question has been removed and replaced with an apology.
Thanks for the insight. Perhaps I'll let you know/blog about it once I'm finished the book... I got 6 books for Christmas though, so it may be a while! :)
Pretty common but useful advice. His advocacy of text editors is different though. I'm noticing a trend of SciFi writers like Neal Stephenson and now Cory Doctorow who use programmer's text editors such as emacs and vim rather than conventional word processors or novel specific tools like CopyWrite. I don't buy that spell check is that annoying. You can turn it off, and novelist specific tools claim not to be distracting, though I haven't tried any. Is emacs really that much better for creative work or do they want to appear smart/cool by using the same tools as the "hackers" they write about?
An interesting note about the dating market is that there is almost no consistent repeat business. People don't get fed up with the site and leave - they either get a match, or they don't. If anything, people might return after a few months because they found a moderately successful relationship.
To my mind, that's precisely the reason something like this can work. If Facebook had a lousy interface, people would eventually lose interest because they wouldn't stay continually interested. But for PoF, that's just not a factor. They come for the results, and if it works, the interface is irrelevant. They'll be back regardless, and if they aren't, there's always more people looking for a date.
I know, I'm just saying, sometimes features get pulled at the last minute on behest of the carrier or because they're not "stable" enough -- or cost. Until it ships, its hard to judge.

But competition is good, tho. I'm in favor of Palm kicking ass and taking names.
You can not hide login info from the people you are logging into. All they have to do is install your plugin and start logging in. Whatever clever algorithm you put in place to expire canceled accounts works in their favor too. Less than a day's worth of scripting and I can fully automate this within Firefox.

I'll say it again: Whatever counter claim you think you have, you can not hide login info from the people you are logging into.
Someone mentioned a while back that advertising is a business model for web properties just as much as it is for tv shows/sitcoms. The shows that make money have a significant loyal audience. The few that charge money to the end users have a content their audience can't seem to live without (read porn).
My first app just got published to the app store Here's what I learned.
Thanks Matt, it is poorly phrased. I will change it.
from:

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/09/markets/thebuzz/index.htm?po...

"But one prominent critic, John Williams, an economist and publisher of the research site Shadowstats.com, said that when you take into account the large number of people who have been so discouraged by job market woes that they have not been actively looking for work for more than a year, the unemployment rate is actually as high as 17.5%

Williams explains that prior to 1994, all people who were "discouraged workers" were counted in the unemployment survey. But that's no longer the case. So he believes his number is more of an apples-to-apples comparison to some of the numbers cited about the peak level of unemployment during the Great Depression, which was around 25%.

What's more, Williams believes that this and other tweaks to the employment calculations over the past few decades were designed to give a more optimistic view of the economy.

"I think it's true that changes have made to make numbers look better. If you don't think the system is political, you don't know the system." "
http://www.seomoz.org/ is the best resource I know of. Lot's of good articles and discussion.
Couldn't have said it any better. Companies like Digg & Facebook, it is my belief, don't even have IPO even on their radar.

He is 100% right when he says that "building a product and building a business around a product are two very different things". This is the problem that Web 2.0 companies realize after they start and gain critical mass. Sustaining that growth rate costs significant capital regardless of what open-source technologies or inexpensive hosting platforms you build upon.

The real problem, in my eyes, is that VCs and other investors see the critical mass first and dump loads of cash into these startups without demanding a viable revenue model and I don't mean relying entirely on AdSense revenue. While Adsense can be a good starting point to generating some revenue it should not be looked upon as a means to an end.

The problem with Web 2.0 companies is that they all have one underlying theme in their business plans. Gain traction, obtain substantial outside investment, and then move on to something else by selling out to the highest bidder.

While I do believe that companies like Digg and Facebook could generate substantial revenues, what is their motivation right now to do so? Investors continue to dump money into them and investors are fighting to own a piece of their "empires" without viable revenues so why deviate from that course. Right now they are only looking to grow that critical mass further and eventually look for the highest bidder that will move the founders to the next project.

Web 1.0 companies (or pre-bubble burst companies) saw IPOs as a viable means to an end. They were focused on generating revenues as large revenues at the time equaled successful IPOs.
I'm interested in seeing how the unemployment numbers break out.

In the recent past, unemployment amongst people with a Bachelor's degree or better is about 2.2%^. So nearly zero. I'd imagine, though I'm not sure, that most people on HN have a bachelor's or better and thus most of us are at a lesser risk of unemployment than others. I think when this number changes we will know it's fundamentally different from other recessions that we've had in the last 30 years.

It's the rest of the population that takes the brunt of the economic downturn. Recently there has been reverse immigration, people leaving the US^^. And most of the people that are being hurt by unemployment don't have proper skill sets to just get another job.

I know a number of internationals working in the US and they are all still employed and in demand. Most people think that people on Visas are at risk. In fact I think there are plenty of jobs for the well qualified. Most of the professional Visa / Green card holders in the US got here because they were uniquely qualified - and that doesn't change with an economic downturn. There is, especially from my perspective, still continued demand for good IT people and good programmers^^^. Against popular belief but understood here at HN; not all programming jobs are outsourced. But many high schoolers and their parents believe this, so there are less people going into tech. This, of course, is good news for those of us who are already in tech. It also does a great job protecting us from economic downturns compared to other fields.

The WSJ, as usual, is out to sensationalize business as much as possible. I like the WSJ and read it regularly. I try to take it with a grain of salt. They'd like to have you believe the economy will never turn around. Because then when it DOES turn around it'll be great, new and unexpected news. In the end it's all about page loads or papers sold after all.

^ http://www.bls.gov/emp/emptab7.htm

^^ http://latinobusinessreview.blogspot.com/2008/12/hispanic-im...

^^^ Reported by the ACM so take it for what it is... http://www.cio.com/article/466228/IT_Careers_Expected_to_Sur... and http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/edu/2008/120108ed1.h...

[EDIT: Formatting, and some additions ;-)]
At 15 US$ * 50h/week * 48weeks/year = 36,000 U.S. dollars living at 515 West 52nd St., New York, NY 10019 a 2bed 2 bath is 5,265 / month, but it's a block from central park. Split that 4 ways and your rent is 1,316 but utility costs are low. (There are cheaper places to live around there, but these are fairly nice apartments.)

15 US$ * 50h/week * 48weeks/year = 36,000 U.S. dollars, I had a single apartment at 1050$ per month and a car while making 38k so I know it's reasonable to make it like that. Now having a wife and kids on that is not going to happen in that area but NY is more a place for the young or the rich.

Edit: 36k = 28k take home so about a grand a month after rent.

PS: Trying to make it on 15$ an hour in NY, NY might seem stupid, but a good internship can be worth it.
Google Search finds missing girl
Britain's first cancer-free designer baby born after being screened for deadly gene
You mention ENVY, but HATE is also present....
May be theres some love story gone bad that we dont know about :D
"The whole purpose of this article is to refute the thinking that you obviously subscribe to (given your comment)."

What type of thinking is that? That VC companies are required to shoot for the home run exit? That's not a mode of thinking, it's the reality of the VC industry. Lean, efficient, profitable companies are great, but unless they aim to become big businesses they are not VC worthy.

As for the other side of the argument, I must be too stupid to see it. All I could glean from that convoluted mess was that Digg and Facebook should be more like Google and eBay.
In addition to Jerf's comment, I will also point out that you can't hide the login info from the content providers. All they have to do is steganographically encode the user name into the web page content. Then they can use your bugmenot-like service to retrieve the page, extract the user name, and cancel the account.

I still see no benefit to the users changing the account info. This is to access sites with free accounts, yes? In that case, isn't it actually just as much work to assert control over multiple bugmenot accounts as it is to sign up for the free accounts in the first place?
I'm glad to see the micro USB connector. I know it is a minor complaint but I hate traveling with two charging/Docking connectors Ipod for the phone and USB for everything else.
The idea that vim and emacs are not distracting because they don't have features was a little odd. I think he means that they don't make you feel like you have to style the content, maybe.

In a period of quiet desperation, I was using the Dark Room text editor in full screen, but I get by on Notepad++ and gedit these days. The main advantage I find is that they launch quickly and they rarely go slower than you can.
DreamHost offers free hosting (select apps, needs invite)
I use vim personally, but I do pretty much all my writing in there. It's very, very good at shuffling text around. And there are very few visual distractions.
+1

Vicarious parenthood is cheaper, cleaner, and you can take a break from it whenever you want.

But nieces and nephews have a higher payoff than Facebook.
> but who would voluntarily install that

Deaf people of course ! :-)
Google Gets A New Favicon, Again. It’s Uh.. Colorful
Bdb: Improved Ruby Bindings for Berkeley DB
Developer who has used the Palm pré Mojo SDK speaks out on Ars Technica
AboutUs Secures $5 Million in Funding
When I first made my account I was getting interviewed by FreshBooks; I have since been hired and it is great here. While looking through some data today I found "news.ycombinator.com" as the answer to "how did you hear about FreshBooks?" on the sign up. Very cool.
Current U-6 is 13.5% http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2009/01/and-u-6-at-135.html
That's my point -- the attacks have nothing to do with the content of the post, and everything to do with judgments that people here are making about her personality and habits.
Doesn't go by MAC address, but similar idea: http://www.orbicule.com/undercover/

Orbicule's Undercover coordinates with police, built-in phone-home software, a Mac's built-in camera, etc. Nifty stuff.
Google cache still has the original.

http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:fKXjv1Lul1gJ:schacon.gi...
I still don't know what web 2.0 means. As far as I can tell it was coined by a publisher to sell more books.

Sounds like what consultants/talking heads do to move those awful self-help, get rich quick, business books.
Awesome idea. Even more awesome that it already exists. Ordering some right now...
Microsoft's Servers Already Can't Handle Demand
Delicious Library does it with the camera in the mac, you just hold up the book.
I've developed with Oracle before and it's a good database. It has its gotchas like anything, but I respect it.

However, this presentation is all PR blather. For example, in the MySQL Replication Limitations section, they don't even mention how Oracle does it differently. For example, if not async replication, do you do synchronous replication? So, when one change needs to be made, you hold everything up until it can be replicated? You're claiming "zero-data loss capability". That isn't possible. Let's say I insert something and before the server can even log that it happened (yeah, logs need to be written to disk and that takes time even if it's soooo minuscule) the server dies. Well, that's data loss.

Online updates are awesome! MySQL can be a pain sometimes. Oracle is not some sort of magic.
Palm may actually pull this off.
The Elements of Spam.
Shows up on mine (Linux):

-q [seconds] after EOF on stdin, wait the specified number of seconds and then quit.
I follow a few people from the security industry (ahem tptacek), a few people from #hn and some cocoa devs out of interest (gemmell and others)

I really should follow more, but don't have much time to seek out yet.
I'll take a quick stab at it:
1) hopefully that's landing pages. You don't have to worry about SEO on the internal pages that google can't see.
2) no, since I assume they just all redirect to the login page, and you want people to be able to find that i guess
3) pick one and 301 redirect to the other
4) Not if the pages can be found via links. Probably not that useful unless you have frequently updated content like a blog might.
I hate to sound like an Apple fanboy, but you need more than a pretty phone to dethrone the iPhone. The App store is the best thing since sliced bread. The ever-growing developer enthusiasm for the iPhone is a huge factor too.

And if webOS is basically web-based, that means that all of Palm's apps will be available on the iPhone, but none of the iPhone's apps will be available on the Palm Pre. Not exactly a winning proposition.

Well done for getting the design close to Apple's standards (though they had to poach a team of Apple people to do that, all the way down to the packaging that looks just like Apple's), but being a second fiddle won't win this war...

This is not to say that it won't be successful. This Pre is clearly a slick piece of kit. But it won't be anywhere as successful as the iPhone, and certainly won't do "better" than the iPhone.
Environmental angst
I agree. I'm extremely happy that Palm is back in the game. However you can't count apple out, the current iPhone is still 2 year old technology, and I expect the new incarnation to blow everything out of the water.

I still want a pre, since its a gorgeous UI.
Anyone further interested would be well advised to check out the book Compassion Fatigue by Susan Moeller

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=tGmwvJ6STHkC&...
Notable events in Django history (goes back to 2003)
My sister and brothers would disagree, since I pester them to babysit.
Considering how oversold their servers are, and how draconian their copyright policies are, and abysmal service, you wouldn't want to host your app there.

At least, no sensible person hosting an app with five or more users would.
Good perspective from a developer doing the entire process. Learning experience side, he'll probably have quite a challenge seeing significant success in the long run (IMO). He might not care about that though, it's very exciting to both make and publish iPhone apps. I'm over web apps, lol.

I just gave a brief presentation last night a CocoaCoder's group in Austin discussing my company, and our first go at the AppStore. I also outlined our strategy for 2009. Here's a PDF. It's not very long, mostly focuses on the business side of things, non-technical.

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/184250/CocoaCoders%20%2801-08-09%...
For the VCs to have a big exit the company eventually most be profitable, very profitable. That has to be the ultimate goal. But to get there you can't just keep giving things away for free and hope that one day you'll magically figure out how to make money.

Even if you'd rather shoot for being acquired, it still makes sense to try and reach profitability as soon as possible. If you keep living on VC money forever sooner or later you run 2 risks: 1) the VC money will dry up, like in a bad economy 2) the valuation of the company gets so high it doesn't make sense for anyone to acquire you.