skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I apologize if I misunderstand your claim (or if you are not actually supporting this claim), "that banks give out let's say ~ten times as much as they actually have". I've heard others make the claim that banks loan out more than they have in deposits, and I'm responding to that claim.

This is not true. As far as I can tell, this misconception stems from the correct notion that banking (fractional reserve banking) expands the money supply. This is sometimes extrapolated to "banks create money" and then to "banks loan out more money than they have".

Banks do not "give out" "~ten times" their deposits. They give out (for sufficiently large banks) 90% of their deposits [1] in exchange for obligations to repay. The money supply expansion that results from this (Alan deposits $100, bank loans $90 of Alan's money to Bob who gives it to Charlie who deposits it in a bank, which loans out $81 of Charlie's money to Dan, etc.) is the ten time expansion that you're probably alluding to; but the bank can't know that Charlie's money is money that it lent to Bob.

The banks are not doing anything wrong here; there's a larger argument about the societal benefits of banking, and whether banks should be restricted in how they give out their money, but starting with distorted facts makes these discussions very confusing.

[1] http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/reservereq.htm
Microsoft's SmartScreen filter hurts independent software developers
Am I the only one who gets tired of people keeping score like this? Can't we just accept that many of the large companies are seriously innovative?

(Sorry, I know I'm being cranky)
If it's a fact (that is, certainty), then it's not a risk, it's a cost. That said, having lower savings does itself carry risks.
... this is one of the main points I tried to get across when I spoke at the HN London event!

And exclusively because of your talk we changed our blog to http://www.hackerjobs.co.uk/blog

As far as I'm concerned, the jury is still out on having prominent 'Share This' features. Personally, they piss me off. I think they are ugly and I find them a bit 'needy'. If I think your content is worth sharing with my friends, I'll simply copy and paste the URL into Twitter so that I can append it with my own thoughts. I'm not interested in your company deciding what my tweet is going to say on my behalf.
I hear it all the time from friends in the valley. "Do a startup dude, its not risky at all, you'll learn a shitton of stuff, maybe become wealthy beyond your means if you get traction,...."

So I say, "Ok. But tell you what. I will join your startup f you let me code in Scala/Haskell/SML/<insert favorite immature fp here>" :)

Instantly, they'll say, "No way dude! That's too risky! Lets just do it in php/ruby/python/easy-mature-imperative-dynamic-scripting-language"

So you want me to take a risk when it comes to my career/finances/life-situation. But you won't even take a risk when it comes to a simple language choice. Despite the fact that you are a technology startup working out of cutting-edge silicon valley, you want to choose the least risky technology/language/framework.

So much for risk.
Disrupting education since 2000 BC
Maybe a more accurate term for what the blogger values--instead of "freedom of speech"--would be "artistic freedom" or "editorial independence". The blogger values the ability to write whatever he wants without bowing down to an advertiser's opinions. Every post is a "director's cut" edition (to throw in movie metaphors), rather than a bland studio-appeasing release.

At the same time, the fundamental concept in "freedom of speech", "artistic freedom", and "editorial independence" seems to be the same: the ability to express what you want to express without pressure from an external authority. Of course, coercion from a government creates much greater pressure than insistence from a boss or an advertiser.
We do have an email list, it has approx. 7,500 people on it. Every time we come out with a new product we send people an email. the open rate is about 25%
Stop fussing around with the concrete definition of "risk."

Starting a startup is an extreme financial risk. You can drain your savings and pass up hundreds of thousands in foregone wages. Given that we're not all financially secure for life, financial risk leads to personal risk. Trying to spin it any other way is disingenuous.
Widow Tamer (JS)
Pentadactyl (Firefox) has a "Pass Through" mode (ctrl-z) for this reason.
I agree. I was commenting on Facebook "the social network" and not Facebook the "technology".. :) Anything that can be made to support such large transactions (be it with duct tape and glue) has to have a core capability to support such usage.
How to freelance for tech startups
Freelancing 101 guide with details on getting business, completing it smoothly, and growing it.
Pandora, Your iPhone App Sucks in the Car, Here Is the Code to Fix It
> Why would I buy a computer that's crippled like that?

Because I want a computer. I go to the store, I see a cheap one, and I pay for it. Then I go home and use it. I'm an end user that just wants to get to email, youtube, and Google. I don't know what secure boot is, what a BIOS or an EFI is, all I care is that I don't have to spend money.

I don't know it's crippled. I have no way of noticing. Hell, I'm still using Internet Explorer.
Wolfram Typeface
Two essay with opposite views on the relationship between innovation, employment and prosperity, Race Against The Machine [1], and The Great Stagnation [2].

[1] Race Against The Machine: How the Digital Revolution is Accelerating Innovation, Driving Productivity, and Irreversibly Transforming Employment and the Economy

In "Race Against the Machine", economists Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee ask the question: Could technology be destroying jobs? They then expand on that to explore whether advancing information technology might be an important contributor to the current unemployment disaster. The authors argue very convincingly that the answer to both questions is YES.

http://www.amazon.com/Race-Against-The-Machine-ebook/dp/B005...

[2] The Great Stagnation: How America Ate All The Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History, Got Sick, and Will (Eventually) Feel Better.

Cowen's central idea is that the pace of innovation has slowed, and that we are now on a "technological plateau" that makes further growth challenging. If you consider technology in the broad sense (energy, transportation, home, etc), this makes sense as things have not changed a lot in recent decades. However, I think it is also true that progress has been highly concentrated in information technology and communications, and that things continue to advance rapidly in this area. Cowen notes this but seems to feel that the Internet is the only really major innovation.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Stagnation-Low-Hanging-ebook...
"The Information," by James Gleick, is a rich history of information theory. Densely packed with lots of novel ideas, but totally worth the time.
Is your goal to ship apps or is your goal to learn Obj-C?

If your goal is to just ship apps, pick a framework or tool that lets you get your app out there as fast as possible - PhoneGap+Sencha Touch/Kendo Mobile for informational apps or something like Corona for games.

If your goal is to learn Obj-C and build apps using it, you should just pick a basic app like a todo list, twitter client, whatever... and just solve the problems one at a time until you have a working app.

Books and tutorials are fine, but they're also a great way to procrastinate building the app that you are trying to build. If you are trying to build something, just build it.
There's risk that you're not good enough to finish your projects.

That working from home is too distracting. That you'll keep switching ideas while going into debt, then after 5 years you'll have nothing to show for it. Then you're pretty much unemployable. Maybe you could become a Junior developer if you tried re-entering the workforce... but probably not given the holes in your resume and your lack of accomplishments. Then you'll end up at a $10/hr part-time job to pay the bills while still attempting to start-up. That's basically where I'm at.

I'm still highly optimistic I can turn things around. Actually I'm much more focused with my part-time job. It's way better than doing contract work on the side.
As much as I'm not a Microsoft fan, this strikes my as conspiracy theorizing.

Firstly, nobody--not Linux or anyone else--seriously threatens Microsoft in the commodity PC space. They probably see Apple as a threat, but this move has nothing to do with Apple, since they build their own hardware and won't be affected by these signing key requirements. Linux users make up a tiny percentage of desktop and laptop users, and many of those bought OEM machines with Windows pre-installed, meaning Microsoft got paid anyway. The idea that Microsoft would undertake this kind of technical hurdle to stave off the coming hoards of Ubuntu users simply isn't realistic.

Secondly, pre-boot security vulnerabilities are very much real, and exceptionally difficult to detect in an already-booted operating system. Here's an area where Microsoft does feel competitively threatened, since Apple has been able to win market share on the back of Microsoft's poor security record, so Microsoft has had to come up with some way to shore up this gaping hole in their anti-malware strategy. Matthew Gerring of Red Hat, who's basically been leading the Linux efforts to figure out this UEFI stuff, readily admits that there are attacks already in the wild that UEFI addresses, and that no viable solutions other than signed OSes have been proposed to deal with them (see http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/10971.html for a more thorough treatment). It's a hard problem, and while I would concede that Microsoft doesn't care how this affects the Linux world, I don't think hurting Linux was their primary motivation.
It's a kind claim, but I'm actually pretty much an outsider who dabbles. I haven't a clue what the state of the art is; Cyc is from the 1980s.
Programmatic deployment on Windows is still a massive problem (especially for extension modules-- e.g. the entire scientific Python ecosystem).
Looks like they are ceasing development because of technical limitations and user engagement problems that come with it being an HTML5 app vs native app.

http://gigaom.com/europe/facebook-should-be-worried-about-wo...
OpenCV has rewritten several of its algorithms for GPU's.
http://www.opencv.org.cn/opencvdoc/2.3.2/html/modules/gpu/do...
In general, the GPU versions are faster but you need to be cognizant of data transfer times between memory and the GPU. Relative speed also depends on which CPU and GPU's you have access to and the quality of the GPU vs CPU algorithm implementations. For example, my 2012 Macbook CPU is faster than my 2011 Macbook GPU for certain OpenCV algorithms.
"A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson is a great summer read. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Short_History_of_Nearly_Every...
I was wondering about this too. From the user's perspective, this is great, as it basically means that everything downstream from the custom UEFI bootloader can be unsigned, user-defined code.

But at the same time, it pretty clearly defeats the purpose of the UEFI signature chain. A plausible malware vector would thus be to install the ubuntu loader, which then loads your malware payload and chains to windows, compromising the "secure" boot.

Basically, it undoes secure boot entirely. Which is a good thing. I hope Microsoft is willing to look the other way on this, but I fear that they are not.
Dirt Under The Rug
Some other organization could (should) take over but we see how that works with DNS - not so well.
Working link: http://www.salon.com/2012/06/19/new_nsa_docs_reveal_911_trut...
Translates like this: if you bought a safeboot system, you're helpless

It has absolutely no security soundness. It may protect you against evil maid attack. But even so, less than decent fs encryption.

It's nothing more than a ploy to help Microsoft, and Ubuntu and RH are falling for the sole reason of having too much money.

It's like ssl certificates for bios. Burn it.
To see the text, try removing the last directory...

http://www.salon.com/2012/06/19/new_nsa_docs_reveal_911_trut...
Android App Reads data from Contactless Credit Cards
Stripe, hands down.

If you are just starting, go with Stripe because it's easy to get up and running and the documentation is great. And it's designed beautifully from the API to the dashboard. I want to work with companies that make great products and I'm happy to pay premium for that.

If you're looking to switch from an existing provider, you could make the decision based on who has the lowest rate, but unless you're doing over $1mm/yr the difference is only ~$1000. Hardly worth the time you'll spend.
IOS, Mac App Stores Expand to 32 More Countries
I'm interested in this too, I did find a blog post which does some comparisons: http://codebrief.com/2012/01/the-top-10-javascript-mvc-frame...
Learn to use the dev tools in Chrome.

Here's a great start: http://jtaby.com/2012/04/23/modern-web-development-part-1.ht...
You think Microsoft believes that a 99$ fee (as described in the article) will hinder their competitors?
Typography: What font does Zappos use?
Why alienate such a large segment of users after pouring so much money into their technology? The web is getting weirder.

If a company invests in multiple markets, they should be prepared to do well in some markets and badly in others. Bing isn't as good as Google. Android isn't as well-designed as Metro. Yes, Android stole Apple's market, and, yes, Apple stole someone else's market. The large technology companies are deadlocked on multiple fronts. That fuels fierce competition and inspires excellence and choice. However, companies should accept they just aren't the best at everything. Let us make our own choices based on what's best for us.
Article with more details here: http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2012/06/android...
In my book I shortly address the SEO issue by saying: "The subdomain blog.yourcompany.com looks arguably better and is easier to host separately; however, it’s also less effective from an SEO standpoint. [6]"

[6] http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/subdomains-and-subdirectories/
Thank you. He wrote a blog post about turning down a profitable offer in order to keep his semi-profitable current scheme as well as choices he made on how to represent himself.

We are reading about this here on hacker news because he's being promoted here to compensate for that lost money.

That's wonderful. Whoever posted this, thanks for wasting my time. If it was the author, you truly need to get a degree in management because you're adept at wasting technical people's time.
CodePen
I can see your point, given the audience here - but I'm in no way unbelievably rich. I'm not working poor, but I'm still freaked out at how I'm going to retire and pay for my kids education, etc.

BUT

People who live cheque to cheque, if given double the salary, would very shortly still end up living cheque to cheque. Triple it, same thing.

I'm not dismissing problems with the system - but I've seen people who make in a month what I make in a day (more because of where I live, only a little becuase I make a good wage - it's not something that would impress anyone on this forum, let me assure you) who still manage to save money slowly, raise kids, buy a house eventually, etc....).

It's about your attitude towards money, not the amount.
Google is testing a radically different search interface
Snap! Signing up...

An Error Was Encountered

The action you have requested is not allowed.

:(

Do you have a bug tracker I can report a bug about your bug tracker in? :)
Show HN: All the projects made at HackNJill
What? What do speech recognition and fingerprinting have in common? I don't see how this research applies for DRM...

Censorship, maybe. And even then, you can't filter conversations in real-time, only maybe 'flag' people with forbidden words.
I don't see the contradiction between your friends claiming a startup isn't risky, and then refusing to do something they consider risky.
Tim Bray Proposes 451 Status Code for Censored Works in Tribute to Ray Bradbury
AKA boiling frog.
The risk with having share boxes is that lots of zero's can look desperate/needy like you say. Getting them to look non-ugly is also sometimes challenging.

I agree with you that if someone it motivated to share they probably will, it's a difficult thing to test though.
Ask HN: What's your password strategy
I like to rotate my passwords, and I like to have a strategy to do so. I don't use the same password for every website but I like to use a derivation of a master password. I personally would love to be able to use randomly generated strings from 1Password, but the issue is portability. Currently, if I do that, anytime I want to log on anywhere at school or another public computer, I have to log in to dropbox(provided that I can remember that password) and use the 1Password Anywhere feature which just isnt feasable.
So here's what I do:
pick two numbers, either randomly or meaningful, or pick a longer number and split it in half.
Take two words that you'll be able to remember.
Add the first two letters of the website for that password on to the end of the two words.
Bookend this string with the two numbers and finish it all off with a special character.

Do you have any better suggestions for me?
This is a very interesting talk.

Thank you for sharing with me. :)

In return, I will offer you two interesting non-sequiturs, because I don't have anything topical and a non-sequitur seems like it's worth half what something germane would be.

.

Bret Victor, "Inventing on Principle." First 5 minutes are terribly boring. Give him a chance; it's 100% worth it.

http://vimeo.com/36579366

.

Damian Conway, "Temporally Quaquaversal Virtual Nanomachine."

It's as funny as it sounds.

http://yow.eventer.com/events/1004/talks/1028
$99 from a vendor for all of their sales is not a big financial deal.

The interesting part comes the first time Microsoft decides to revoke a competitor's key as part of a Windows update, and people who dual-boot find out about it because they no longer can dual-boot. Even if the mess gets fixed quickly, it will be a cause of FUD. How blatant will they be in taking advantage of that?
Headtracking in the browser with webRTC
So, umm, what is it?
I'm blown away that this comment is getting down voted. I don't care of you disagree with Microsoft locking down their boot loader, the above is the most accurate answer: 99% of users don't know what dual-boot means or care to find out. This secure boot only helps their experience, even if it's at our expense
How's their mobile support?
The Truth about the Twitter crash
Follow up to the China kleptocracy post
>>In my opinion the "biggest terror sponsor" has to be the US and other "leading" European countries such as my own: France. All recent large-scale wars have been perpetrated by these countries

Wars != terror. Which you know, you're just arguing dishonestly.

(Also, check the democratic peace theory on Wikipedia.)

Second paragraph -- "Ahmadinejad has Fuck-You-Power" is totally wrong, too. Most analysts claim he is on the wrong side with the theocracy and is more or less a figurehead for now.

I stopped reading. You're a propagandist or a troll.
The claim that the perpetrators of 9/11 were only "what the West sees as terror networks" is breathtakingly disingenuous.

I hear that Bin Laden died in Abbottabad. I'm no Pakistan expert, but on my map that is not in FATA. It is a short commute from the capital of the country. The house was right next to a top military academy.

If openly supporting the perpetrators of 9/11 is what Pakistan needs to do in order to 'ensure that these areas don't radicalise more' then I wonder for whose benefit Pakistan is doing this wonderful thing. Certainly not New York's... probably just the government of Pakistan, actually. What do I care, if that government also would like me to die, whether it considers some villagers to be radical?

Lese-majeste sucks, but seriously - buying Thai parts through Japanese companies is hardly comparable to harboring and feeding intelligence to the perpetrators of 9/11 in order to maintain the upper hand in the conflict with India.
Any and every malware will be signed with windows (version of the year) private key. They will have way less difficulty to run than oss
I like to think of test coverage as a grid.

On the horizontal layers you have unit testing, integration testing, acceptance testing - which are tests at various levels of abstraction throughout your code base.

I then like to test the vertical slices tiers of the application - usually views, controllers, models, database etc. I like to see unit tests, integration tests, and 'acceptance tests' focusing in on each of those tiers to build confidence in the coverage of your testing.

Automation is absolutely key, and getting those automated tests into your continuous build and release process is definitely worthwhile.
The same reason why browsers are now making it so tough to get to a website without a "valid" SSL certificate -- the average user will ignore the warnings and accept anything to get to their objective. This is one of the reasons why Google Chrome now prevents users from accepting invalid SSL certificates for some Google properties.
Who put this lipstick in my science?
To be honest I read Rich Dad/Poor Dad, stuck with cash because I was too lazy to manage a portfolio (which worked out well stress-wise) and didn't bow to pressure to borrow for cars and houses when my peers were because I'm stubborn and don't like debt- it's looking back that I can put it into advice.
Python culture/community is a greater thing than Python. If this culture could be cloned in other places...
How PopCap Monetizes Mobile Apps
The most common blogging mistake made by startups: wasting too much valuable time and runway worrying about blogging. For every hour spent working on your blog, you should spend about a week trying to understand your customers needs and figuring out how to better serve them.
Finally a title worth editing and the editors have decided not to touch it.

Genius.
No. You're wrong. We want open source because we want control of what run on our machines.

That standard goes against it.

Why not have a per machine signature that you sign your code against?

Centralize it and have no more control. That's no catch22 whatsoever.
Uh, how exactly? The whole point of the private key is that it's only known to MS...
With their lack of mobile flash plugin support, Apple just made flash executable wrapped apps to be profitable through the app store, I wouldn't go about categorizing Apple's calibre on profit related decisions.

"but for those devs who DO decide to go the mobile web app route they don't want to block their users from using it on iOS devices, since this would lower their satisfaction with iOS." Establishing that they did block a plugin on the browser is a first step. The rest is simply a side effect of js being supported on the browser combined with the flash cold cut, is there some extra benevolance we should thank Apple for when their Canvas implementation is afflicted by the same trouble a flash vm would run into inside a safari mobile browser ?

Also devs go the web app route way in ways apple has no voice in or control over, as much as they try. As it should be. Let us not forget such amazing experiments as the introduction of the quicktime plugin and how that opened the door for things like flash shockwave itself, and we all know how well that went.

Revisionisn and a good nanny brand delivered narrative won't make safari mobile canvas any more apt, sadly. Or a commercial brand any less profit seeking. As it should.