skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Wow. Is anyone gullible enough to believe this is anything but a strike at google's ad business?

For an example of what could go wrong, look at the absolute debacle in europe when legislators tried to control cookie privacy with the EU cookie directive. On the eve of the first implementation deadline the UK pretty much told sites, "nevermind for a year", then literally 24 hours before that deadline, the ICO decided to implement implied consent. Site owners were left virtually clueless about what the actual law meant and how to comply. [1, 5]

Pubs that rely on advertising income will also be hurt. Empirically users throw virtual tantrums about paying money for content. The NYT has had an enormous fight to get people to pay.

Most people would be shocked at the amount of data that anyone who wants can purchase from Experian and a host of other companies. Where you live; how much you make; your credit rating; demographics such as age, gender, ethnicity; if you own your home, the value, and when you purchased; purchasing activity; what stores you shop at; what type of car you drive [2:4]. Mail order catalogs commonly trade your name, address, and purchase history between them (between different industries). Etc etc etc.

My politics run to the pretty far left and I think privacy is undervalued, but online behavior is a strange place to start. And to repeat it yet again: If you are not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold -- blue_beetle.

Disclaimer: I work and have worked in online advertising, including for several companies that do behavioral targeting.

[1] http://speckyboy.com/2012/05/28/the-ico-amends-the-eu-cookie...

[2] http://www.experian.com/dataselect/dataselect.html

[3] http://www.experian.com/dataselect/ds-direct-marketing-lists...

[4] http://www.experian.com/automotive/auto-data.html

[5] http://blog.silktide.com/2012/05/dear-ico-this-is-why-web-de...
It works for me, but the downforeveryoneorjustme link shows its down. I'm guessing its server specific.
Yes, they are also being blocked in North India. it includes, piratebay, torrentz.com and other ones...
Can somebody explain the 'background image' bonus comment? I'm not a mobile developer.
CompuLab to serve fanless AMD PC-3's with Linux Mint
Create something cool with Pure CSS
Does ReCaptcha make money on ocr?
Almost invariably when we see posts like these on Hacker News, the person actually had prior programming experience, but just happened to start taking it serious for the last [small number] [unit of time].

Thus is the case here. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4050952

However, it's impressive for a first project. I hope you stick with it.
As a Chinese, I think this feature is quite useful for us.Though I use VPN most of the time, I do dislike being interrupted for several minutes when I accidentally searched some censored words.
Anaphoric Macros in Emacs Lisp
Boat Timeshare with Riviera Syndication
BDD and acceptance testing are not equivalent, that is correct. Cucumber is a framework for acceptance testing that follows the philosophy of behavior driven development, a particular flavor of test driven development.
Bad idea, imo. Sometimes you can tell that you want to share because you've already watched it. But, I'm glad they are trying to reduce spam. This just isn't a good way to do it.
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So that explains why I couldn't figure out how to call a procedure...
Mike Legary is a good buddy of mine / local entrepreneur superhero. He's trying to get votes for his plan to create 22 $3500 grants for Hacker and Maker spaces, and needs to get more votes than the other contestants he's running against. If he has the most votes by the end of the competition on June 19 then this will be real.

You can vote daily to make it happen. Thanks to anyone that does vote - heck, maybe your space could receive one of the grants that gets created!
Generation Y is Changing HR Departments
A common theme here seems to be that as an engineer you are discouraged or disallowed for doing things that are too "clever". This is something I approve of. Other people need to maintain your code after all.

"Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it." – Brian W. Kernighan
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Spencer's comments are generally accurate. I might quibble with some of them or say that they vary from team to team. For instance, I have used R, Python, Java, and Sawzall in my work at Google and have had freedom to choose technologies on some of my projects with input from team members.

It is true that most of the larger production systems like the Search Engine are mainly written in C++ and Java and that functional programming isn't widespread, yet.

But you are free to take on a 20% project to show the value of other ideas.

I would also challenge technology cons #2, #10, and #11. I think a lot of Google Engineers do tackle fundamental problems.
Quantum algorithm can predict what the Large Hadron Collider will see
> foreach is insanely slow

no, in 2.9 using a 1 to 10 generator and a foreach was slower than using one using primitives due to the boxing. This is fixed in trunk.

> gets up in arms at the idea of a 'for' statement in the language

Scala's for is an expression, you can use it as a statement by not yielding anything if you want. Scala's for is extraordinarily versatile, basically allowing you to work within any monadic context (where a monadic context is some container that implements map/flatMap and some other optional methods.

These "I can't believe its not Haskell" people tend to want to stay with the realm of FP, which is a very useful place to be. Minimising and tracking side-effects and having more expressive and useful types makes more composable software. This is not at all academic, it is an entirely practical result. It does however require you to rethink your approach to writing code, and it really helps to learn a few seemingly difficult things like the typeclassopedia (Monads, Monoids, Functors, Applicatives etc).

Personally I find that the Scala community is generally consolidating around functional approaches, and that this is a very good thing. It is a step beyond a "better Java" and is perhaps more initially intimidating, but it is definitely worth the effort.
This article is obviously written by someone (at least mentally) under the age of 35. Always try to be cooler and more accepting than others? WTF. I gave that up years ago. There too much to deal with in life without worrying about what is cool.
Udacity has specifically said they have no intention of ever becoming accredited, and I know a lot of other alternative education programs take the same stance. Which to me makes a lot of sense. Becoming accredited would basically ruin these programs, because instead of being about learning and personal growth they become about something else entirely. So you'd no longer have intelligent people hanging out there, it'd just become another Phoenix University wannabe.
With just ~17 hours to go. Nice.
Actually, I wouldn't have been surprised if IBM (if it had purchased Sun) had dumped Sun's hardware division. It was losing money hand over first, and IBM was doing a pretty good beating Sun with its hardware offerings. Between IBM's x86, Power, and Mainframe hardware product lines, it really wouldn't need sparc. So the only question is how quickly IBM would have been able to transition what was left of Sun's hardware business to IBM's x, p, or z series machines.

As a result, that's probably why Oracle was willing to pay more than IBM. Both IBM and Sun wanted to be able to make sure they could continue to use Java --- and preserving the freedom of action against lawsuits was I'm sure high on both company's minds. But Oracle could also find a good use for its hardware division, where IBM probably would have tried to sell it off.
They didn't step back that far. SAP just announced earlier this month they would help port OpenJDK to PowerPC:

http://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/discuss/2012-May/0026...
A dongle? I understand why it's necessary for the pressure sensitivity and being able to draw fine lines, but it seems like a drag. I hope they release the app with support for regular touch input, it looks good.
I see "standing out" as being nothing more than the most extreme version of yourself.

This guy brought out a nice side of his personality with that e-mail, and his personality is seemingly very great. I'm glad this worked for him, I wonder what other spaces could apply this "personal touch" trick?
From Spencer's twitter a bit ago:

"Clojure inherits many problems and flawed patterns from common lisp."

http://twitter.com/#!/spencertipping
Microsoft entered into an contract with Sun specifically agreeing that any Java implementation they shipped would be fully compatible with Sun's version.

Now it's effectively true of Android; no program written in Java not specifically for Android can possibly be expected to work.

The large majority of existing Java code and libraries will work on Android without modification.
Did solving the maze remind anyone of Karel from Stanford's CS106A? :D Ah the memories.
I realize that Derby also helps build real-time applications, but I haven't heard anything about Derby being in YC. Has there been a public announcement that they are?

If we're just listing frameworks that help build real-time systems, Pusher would be another example.
Be that as it may, what most would call a "fluent" English speaker likely only has a high level working knowledge of the actual English language
Why bother porting? Just cobble a parser onto a text editor and send the text off to a server for compilation.
Windows 8 Release Preview now available to download
It's probably related to the hosting service they will most likely monetize on.
That wasn't what you said.
Up next... Ruby!

How much I wonder? I can't decide whether it would be more complex than Python or less...
I think when he mentions conservatism, it's more in the context of reducing the presence of risk in your activities as you age.
Which linked article of the three?
Grouping application traces using ActivityId (System.Diagnostics)
You should honestly consider purchasing a fountain pen. They work via capillary action, which means that they write on contact -- no pressure needed. At all.

Some good starters are the LAMY Safari, the TWSBI 540, and the Kaweco Sport. All of these cost <$50 and can take bottled ink (with possible modifications to the Kaweco), reducing refill costs drastically.

I, too, used to think gel pens were the bomb, but writing with a fountain pen is just something else. :D
#22 B: Use skeleton (getskeleton.com). It will save you time. This will give you more time for 1-20.
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It's the culture stupid
How Facebook is Turning Your Likes Into Ads
I find this baffling. I think this is just not a very effective means to combat such a thing. I've thought a lot about such things over the years. It seems to me this is like having sex to try to preserve virginity...or something. The thing about "rape culture" is that it is fundamentally disrespectful. So is ranting and cussing at people. That isn't the means to combat this.

Something I used to say in online forums when people had a shit fit about too much "fighting" in the community: "Fighting against the fighting is still fighting." Similarly, pissing on other people to protest lack of respect in the world is just adding more disrespect to the world. You cannot get there from here. Step away from the gaming console. Plant a tree. Go be polite to a neighbor. Forgive someone. Pay off a debt. Play Good Samartan. Love the world a little bit and treat someone with respect and compassion today. High handed holier than thou behavior doesn't make the world a better place.
Title is misleading because your GF was utterly awesome before that.
a judge goes thru some very different education and indoctrinations than a politician would have.

A judge is more difficult to corrupt, and/or bribe with circumstances, because there is no incentive for the judge to favour one or the other. Thus, this is fair.

A politician has plenty of incentive to favour one party over another when creating legislation - after all, who pays for their campaign contributions? He/she/it who pays controls.
How I became a pitchman for personal lube on Facebook
I'm not a fan of speed reading.

In my experience, "gulping down" a book instead of "savouring" it leads to a rough comprehension of what the book is trying to tell you, so if someone asks you'll be able to give a brief summary.

But if you take your time (with a pencil) you'll be able to actually follow the person's trail of thought that went into writing what you're reading, ultimately helping you in making similar conclusions in differing areas, which is at least why I read: To broaden my own horizon, not to parrot-like mimic what other people think.

Also:
>Don’t try to “fix” anyone. Instead, look for someone who isn’t broken.

Not sure about this one either - having had a few relationships from that department I know that I learned a lot about people in general and had amazing experiences, something which I couldn't have learned from a relationship with a person who's "normal". Of course ultimately, it's not worth it in the long run.
I have read both the GPL and LGPL extensively. Since you apparently have not, please see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html before continuing your windmill-tilting.

The LGPL permits static linking of an LGPL'd work into a proprietary binary, as long as there is some way for the user to modify the LGPL'd portion and re-link. As I said, that is why the LGPL exists. The objective of the LGPL is to simplify the process of distributing proprietary applications, as a statically-linked binary is much easier to distribute than a binary which dynamically links against system libraries.

Both the GPL and LGPL permit proprietary applications to dynamically link against system libraries. The GPL takes great pains to state this, to try to reduce misunderstandings propagated by people like you.

Neither the GPL nor LGPL are viral.
Wow, guys don't be so harsh. Remember what Y Combinator is about. Sharing great ideas, being ambitious and chasing that dream of becoming a valuable asset.

First, how many even looked passed the title and downloaded this and tried it out? Sure, we can say it's a completely erroneous ambitious title, but c'mon look at the idea behind it, and the possibility before you go retorting and slamming down someone's dream.

I tried out this app, and I know this person behind the app, and I have to say honestly minus the years of experience that the developer obviously lacks he could potentially become an extremely valuable asset in the valley.

Why? Because not only is he ambitious, and has a vision for what he wants, but he continuous to work at it, continuous to learn despite the nay Sayers and is constantly asking for the advice on how to make his app better. Sure, it's obvious he's no Jobs, Zuck, or Gates but you don't need to be a genius with years of experience and the terminology of an Oxford English Professor, and the calculations of an MIT Professor. You need a dream and the willing to not give up no matter what people say or throw at you, and more importantly be able to quickly adapt to change.

Let's be frank, this is not even beta ready and is probably released way too early, but for what it could potentially become.

It'll eventually be a top extension many people would download if the developer put in the right time, resources and people behind it.
Another language that creates javascript?
Both? What's the difference? Your data is gone with no recourse to get it back and who knows where it ends up.
No mention of the fact that to obtain the 'Ready for Windows' certification (or whatever they'll call it) for x86 platforms, OEMs must offer the option to disable secure boot.

ARM doesn't have the same requirements, but phone manufactures have been doing this for years anyway so it's not an MS issue.
That would only work if patent holders were required to post a bond or something at time of filing for the costs of invalidating their own patents. Otherwise, costs will be incurred by the victim in the process of invalidating the bogus patent that will not be recovered until the invalidation is finished. If they run out of money in the mean time, they die, and the patent stands.

It would be very bad to require such a bond to be placed for new patents, as that would be the final blow that kills the idea that patents protect the "little guy."
Google search for "randomized consensus" turns up a paper comparing several such algorithms. Which one did you have in mind?
You'd be surprised how alike people's life can be...
You're projecting pretty badly here, and are flaming where I really don't think it's appropriate ("People like you", indeed).

For clarity, though, when you say "the open source process", you mean the process where Google gets assigned ownership. An employee who wants to release something under an OSD compatible license without assigning copyright (for whatever reason, say because they want to use the GPLv3 and you don't, or because they simply don't trust a public company) does not simply fill out a 4-line form and get an answer in a day, as I understand it.

(edit: And you continue to euphemize this. It's not "special treatment", it's a flat out copyright assignment. Ownership isn't completely clear, so one of the parties needs to give up stake. And the process is clearly asymmetric in Google's favor. That's not surprising, really, but what is surprising is that you won't come straight out and say this.)

And my advice to you is that you consider the costs of this sort of thing to the employees and the engineering work when making your conservative legal pronouncements. As we've seen in the news today, even Google's rigorous IP process isn't enough to keep you from getting sued. The world is indeed not a happy pretty place; cavalier avoidance of process may not help things, but neither does paranoia.
Solar Designer on Password Hash Storage
It's great that you took the opportunity to reflect on your life. I would have enjoyed seeing more context to some of the points though. Given the HN community, "Learn to program" might be a consensus, but I would love to get more of your thoughts on it. Why? Any stories? I pick this point as just an example, but I felt there were more than a few places where some anecdotes would have worked very well.
Correct, you should see the looks on non-programmers' faces when you tell them that the first element in a Java list is #0, the second is #1, etc. It's approximately the same look as you see on programmers' faces when you tell them that the first element in a Blockly list is #1, the second is #2, etc.
That apparent contradiction is really what makes cool so hard. It's not just about being amped up at 10 or being a bump on the log at 0. It's about being a 10 at where you're going while you make it look like you're at 0. You kick ass, but you make it look like it's easy and you're not trying.

One of the best entrepreneurs I've ever worked with had that quality. The guy was focused like a laser on where he was going, but I never saw him get upset or look like he wasn't in control of himself and the given situation. He exuded "cool" and he attracted people like a magnet.
Agreed.

Too many people who are new to programming assume they need to learn all the languages. What you really need to learn is the theory behind each lesson. When learning loops don't think "so this is how you do a loop", rather think about why you are looping, when, and what types of loops there are.

All the languages (listed above) have looping mechanisms, and you will use them for the same reasons you did in python. You will know when to use loops, and then you can just look up the syntax for the language you are currently in.
Ineffective at preventing bots and also ineffective at letting humans through reliably:

Good luck to those with accessibility needs (elderly, blind, etc) in catching those moving glyphs...
No more vegetarians visiting your site (after all if they don't put pepperoni on their pizzas they must be robots...)

The bot-writers meanwhile can write code for each puzzle (the puzzles, requiring art assets, are expensive enough to generate that the many spammers can out-muscle the few areyouhuman puzzle-setters)
> GWT UIs don't "crash the browser". Google derives the majority of its revenue from AdWords and AdSense, which are GWT, and if they were crashing customer's browsers like you say, I'm pretty sure Google would be in trouble.

I use Adwords quite a bit, and it is buggy. I probably have to refresh every 10 minutes or so to get the buttons to work again. It is an absolutely massive application with more features than all of Google Docs combined, so I am not surprised. The bugs can be frustrating, but it is not like there is an alternative place to buy ads on Google's search pages. Google will be fine no matter how many bugs are in Adwords.

Adsense is quite simple, and works well.

That being said, Adwords has been getting much better.
http://www.google.com/tv/get.html

The LG TV with Google TV (Android) has been available for ~5 months at least. Amazon started selling it in February.
That's an excerpt from Derek's (great) book, Anything You Want. http://sivers.org/ayw .
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On "fixing": ultimately, people don't get fixed. My experience is that they tend to become more of who they are with age. Looking back over people I've known for three and going on four decades, it's amazing how early the fundamentals of personality are laid down, though there can be substantial changes especially during adolescence and early adulthood. Past that, traumatic experiences (war, violence, drugs, abuse) can literally leave brain (and emotional) scars.

There's a huge difference between enjoying the eccentricities of someone, and trying to change/fix them. There's a large class of eccentrics who are very interesting/entertaining if you keep them at a modest distance, though they can be explosive or toxic/harmful if you get them too close.

The corollary is, of course, you're broken too to many people. The key is finding someone who's no more or less broken than you.
I read a little about the language to get a feel for what its mainstream use. Objective-C is for iOS programming, Ruby is for Rails and the web, etc. then I think of a little project to write in that language.

I then run through a couple of tutorials, bending them to the project that I had in mind. By the time I make good headway on my project, I've got a basic level of familiarity with the language.
It's not a lack of courage that keeps small companies from defending themselves, it's a lack of money.
I really don't get the name at all. You wouldn't call your product "Insider Trading" or "Price Fixing" – why is "Collusion" any better?
I really think Valve knows how to do this right. If you get people hooked on the gameplay they'll pay for silly extravagances. See: Basketball and LA Lights.
Doesn't that apply to all projects on Kickstarter? Or Diaspora's call for cash when it was mostly just an idea?

I think many of these projects aren't selling the product as much as the magic of being part of something and helping it come to fruition. Putting a bit of money down is so much easier than e.g. donating two hours a week to coding on the project. Donate money, drink beer, feel good.