skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I agree with bmelton that one day I expect (hope?) NFC to replace QR codes.

Beyond that, in terms of current alternative to QR codes, I'd have to say a short URL. It's not an exciting answer, but here's why I think that:
1) It can be memorable. The QR code requires a user to be at the location with a data connection. We've all seen people complain about/poke fun at QR codes in subways. But consider .com/14thStStop--much better, right? (Though you have to be careful or you come off like one of those late night infomercials.)
2) It's likely just as quick as QR codes.

It's not "sexy" but I think it's more useful. And, at the very least, you can use it in conjunction with a QR code. Just throw it next to the code.
Vivienne Westwood Belts
vivienne westwood orb belt with a silver buckle. The belt features a single row of silver framed belt holes, so it can be worn at any size.
Here's a description I like: you know more about your own body than your doctor does, but your doctor knows more about bodies in general than you do, so you have to work together.
Did sendgrid redo their API or something? I developed with that about a year ago and remember thinking it was among the worst APIs (though not THE worst) I'd ever had to work with.
First, get familiar with the language solving all the Ruby Koans http://rubykoans.com

Then go through the Rails Tutorial http://railstutorial.org

Finally, read Eloquent Ruby by Russ Olsen and The Rails 3 Way by Obie Fernández
Moola: Accept credit card payments in ten lines of code.
IMO this article is spot on. I've ordered the Nexus 7 and wondered if 8 GB would be enough, but then checked how much of the 16 GB on my Nexus phone I was using, and it's only a couple of GB.

In contrast, the PCWorld review of the Nexus 7 (http://www.pcworld.com/article/258772/google_nexus_7_tablet_...) starts by harping on and on about the supposed storage constraints of the 8GB model.

Too many mainstream reviewers are still obsessed with specs. Normal people don't know or care about specs; they only care about the overall experience, which is why Apple is where it is.

IMO Android has caught up to iOS in terms of everyday usability but the hardware is generally much cheaper than Apple and improves faster. I think the Nexus 7 will mark a turning point in the Android ecosystem.
That is an issue, but there is a huge difference between having to slow the brain back down in certain situations and being unable to speed it up at all.

I don't expect to play an entire game on fast forward, after all.

Edit: new line about breakdown: I just assumed that whatever input was given would be sped up too. That part of the project seems far less complicated than the brain simulation itself.
Show HN: Markov Baby Name Generator
Hubble Finds Fifth Moon of Pluto
NASA released image of Plutoâs five moons. They have found fifth moon orbiting far away Pluto and the image captured by Hubble Space Telescope. Last year fourth moon was discovered of ice planet which is three billion miles away from us.
Correct.

I don't know much about religion in the UK; here, it revolves very much around what sort of circles you move in. Plus what region of the country, and whether you're in the suburbs, inner city, or country.

But hey, that's what you guys have pubs for, right?
You'd think someone who lectures design wouldn't have such a crappy blog.
US 'the enemy' says Dotcom judge
One downside worth mentioning is that you can't read the full description of each available updates, like you can when you click on an item in the GUI version.
Or website sorry, wasn't a blog but a website for Asthetics + Computer group at MIT.
Thats an interesting paradox. Hadn't thought of it like that.
Apple chip on your shoulder?

Keep in mind, Nokia tablets weren't advertised. In fact it was almost impossible to get one through a retailer. In my initial attempts to purchase one online I had retailers cancel the orders after 3 or 4 weeks of being unable to secure stock.

And, really, have you ever used one of those tablets? The 770 is an awkward device compared to the N8x0s, but damn they work and they work well.
DDT is still used for mosquito control.
Correct. But only for the sites that are known to have content that might be age inappropriate.
While this is a totally valid point, the article is missing a fundamental piece of the equation. There is no way to upgrade an iPad for cheaper. If I need 64GB on my iPad, it's not possible for me to circumvent Apple's fees.

The necessity of going through Apple, who is charging too much, is what makes this a valid point of complaint and Slate totally misses that, which makes them look dumb.
If SSD logic boards are any indication, devices with fewer chips frequently have lower read/write speeds, as they're not using all the lanes on the controller.

I'm thinking this would be the case as well on a tablet, unless the flash is in a bus topology already.
It was a perfect example. His point was that it would be ridiculous to try.
It's a technically easy way to create product differentiation and start capturing consumer surplus. It's also easy for their salespeople to explain the added value to a wide audience - "you can take more pictures and video, and run more apps on this version." Easy to do and easy to sell is a product manager's dream.

Production cost is irrelevant. People don't buy things based on how much they cost to make. It's all about value, and Apple knows how to sell it. I would be interested to see a breakdown of how much of Apple's profits have come from selling Flash upgrades. I'm sure it has proven to be a brilliant pricing strategy earning them untold billions.
Ask HN: Help me pick a name. Transgender + Startups =?
On the table:
Translaunch
Transincubator
Transintegrator
Transcombinator
Transtartup
Transtarter

We are x.
We help transgender
people launch startups.
We are seeking to raise
a fund to do it as a full
fledged seed venture capital
firm.

What's the best fit for x?
It's a healthy dash of guilt by association; these iSuppli reports unfortunately lend themselves to sloppy reporting. This article is a typically wonderful specimen, which crosses lines freely with nonsense sentences like these:

"On the high-end Wi-Fi model, which offers you 64GB of space for $699, Apple’s non-manufacturing profit margin shoots up to 48 percent."

As though you get to handwave away non-manufacturing costs and then call it a "non-manufacturing profit margin."
So, just like Minecraft. :-D
$30k a month is nice, as a sole or super small startup (under 3 people) or if you are in a developing country. However these are the often derided "lifestyle businesses". i for one support these types of businesses
This reeks of principal-agent problems. HR departments at large firms are notoriously concerned with 1) folk knowledge about not getting sued (with a very tenuous relationship to reality, eg mgkimsal's comment), and 2) checking boxes. Since their actions have almost zero connection to outcomes, it's no wonder they play it safe / easy in hiring, and both firms and workers see shortages.

One way to start solving the problem is to make the department with the position responsible for filling it, either with their own man-hours, or via their own headhunting budget.
Startups and faster websites
Not impressed. This sort of technique only works if you have good fine motor control. If, like many software engineers, you have terrible drawing skills, well... good fucking luck.
Prior HN discussion on this topic: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3376620
Certainly, but that's not iSuppli's fault.
As always, DX has got your back:

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/mini-android-4-0-network-media-...
Good point. Hash2 can be a plain vanilla SHA-256 HMAC. But don't say it too loud, or risk raising the ire of the scrypt zealots.
I am founder of a startup that in discussions with a larger company buying us out. One of the advantages of acquiring a patent is that, a larger company values the patent exponentially more than the money and effort I have spent on getting it. My vague explanation of why it is so is that large corporations have an army of attorneys and can go after the offending party, or may have a track record of patent suits working in their favor.

Personally, getting a patent is also a value-add to my own skill set, for the next time, whenever that is.
United States has fifth-most unequal wealth distribution in world
Based on the lowercase "g" I assume it's the same as GitHub's, which is apparently a [modified version of Collegiate][1].

[1]: http://www.quora.com/GitHub/What-font-is-used-in-the-GitHub-...
CMU isn't that great with their funding, either.
My knowledge of brains is limited, but I'd think the issue remains the same even if you cut off all external inputs.

Basics like memory decay are also tied to the system clock. So if you run your brain at 1000x speed then it would probably simply forget everything almost immediately.

And if you make a "simple" patch that prevents it from ever forgetting anything then it would be overwhelmed because it is only wired to deal with a certain amount of memories at a time.

In terms of the DOS-Game analogy: We may be able to patch a game that originally ran in 256kb of Ram to run in 2GB and actually fill that up (because we disabled the garbage collector). But the game probably uses algorithms that break down when faced with such a large dataset.

At this point we're down to having to actually understand the game (or brain) in detail, in order to make the changes required for running at higher capacity.
Some differences between NYC and SV
I wish the author could have just contributed to hub (https://github.com/defunkt/hub)... It would be very cool if 'hub' had issues support.

Oh well, this is written in Python, and 'hub' is Ruby.
I think the issue is that before you know enough about the other person you have a lot more chance to ruin the friendship with the cheap meal in front of the TV than the well planned and prepared one.
what % of people visiting the site? was gonna try olark on my site...
On my mac command+space switches the input mapping. Just sayin'
Where are you getting them for $30? I've paid right around $100 each for the two that I bought.
Microsoft and NBC Complete Web Divorce
Last I looked, the vector math part of 3D wasn't handled by webGL, this uses Three.js to handle that, and looks to be the main bottleneck. Until you can do matrix/vector math using hardware, webGL is pretty much useless.
Indeed. Moreover, I only want to update my jdk when Im ready and have some free time to repair my jdk 1.5 symlinks once the update completes.
I'm going to suggest that hub adds issues support via the ghi gem: https://github.com/stephencelis/ghi/
http://www.cnx-software.com/2012/06/26/list-of-39-low-cost-l...

Here is a better post with a lot more relevant boards.
`open` is very convenient to… open things (see `man open`).

Tip: `open .` opens the current directory in the Finder.
Where Agile Methodologies will lead you?
I'm interested in accessing this programmatically, of course. I've been thinking a lot about "Memex" lately, and the Spotlight index could be a very good engine for that.
Just an FYI: if you can tell a compelling growth story, a business which presently has $30k a month of revenue could potentially be an attractive target for investment. If it is growing organically it is only a wee bit away from hitting $100k a month in revenue, at which point it could quite reasonably sustain an eight figure exit. (500 Startups, for one, would love to hear from you if you have a business on that trajectory.)

That said: there are worse fates in life than to be condemned to running a business which just can't seem to break through $30k a month in revenue.
Admittedly, this was a few years back, so I'd expect it's been replaced, improved, etc.

But it all worked out for me in the end – I had a number of years of good employment, working for an awesome boss.
Show HN: Infinite Social Wall - A pinterest-inspired social feed aggregator.
Amphibole
These fitness schedules will
rose landmark
Other aspects of armhole
Program like that reed
Building and joining to eye
New and fare oversupply
These sessions will improve cart
Resources as well prude depart
Facebook May Be Causing Upswing In Plastic Surgeries
I totally get your point – checks and balances are important. However, I don't think anyone is helped by unstated or invisible requirements. It speaks to a high level of mistrust of employees and candidates.

Now, if HR were to explicitly add those requirements and be open about it, I'd wager it'd still keep fraud down while also actually improving the hiring process for both HR and the hiring manager.
Jim Collins address to US governors
Number of pricing schemes
A while ago I read that there shouldn't be more than 3 or so options for customers. Yet, I have 5 http://peoplepointnetworks.com/web/marketing/

Is that bad? Or have I been misled?
The percentage isn't that great, but we usually aren't the ones initiating conversation. The quality is definitely what drives us to continue using it.

Olark has a free trial. When we first put it on our site we were pretty hesitant too, but after the trial we were sold.
TrannyNanny, The Startup Incubator
This is why protectionism kills markets.
Why does everything have to be a competition? Just because somebody calls out Russian journalism doesn't mean that they are implicitly praising American journalism.
Dell Inspiron N5010 Accu
Dit Dell Inspiron N5010 Accu is compatible met de Dell Inspiron N5010. De prestaties en capaciteit van dit vervangende product is vergelijkbaar met die van het origineel. Op onze producten wordt 12 maanden garantie verleend. Originele producten hebben 6 maanden garantie.
Microsoft and NBC officially call it quits
You can get the Mini X and the MK802 from Miniand, and they actively support the hacking community and release Linux images for the devices:

Ubuntu 12.04: https://www.miniand.com/forums/forums/2/topics/1

XBMC: https://www.miniand.com/forums/forums/1/topics/136

MK802: https://www.miniand.com/products/MK802%20Android%20Mini%20PC

Mini X: https://www.miniand.com/products/Mini%C2%A0X%20TV%20Box%20H2...
defunkt is prolific, almost too prolific. He abandons a lot of awesome projects.
Online tax breaks are on the way out
They're derided because they won't be billion dollar companies, but if you look at long-running "family" businesses, most of these exist because they own some particular niche.

They're not exciting, but they are worth pursuing if that's your passion.
That is pretty much about right. I wrote a bit about the implementation[1], and the discussion went over how to optimize this (including, but not limited to, using shaders to do the drawing and not relying on Three.js so much).

[1] http://metaphysicaldeveloper.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/implem...
This is a strong reason to pick devices that let you use a microSD (or similar, hopefully non-proprietary) card for extra storage. I will never run out of memory on my smartphone for that reason, since most "bulk data" that I encounter is music, photos, etc.
'Tranny' is generally considered offensive to transgender people.

I vote for Transformer.
Nokia Halves Price of Flagship Phone
How much storage do you really need on a mobile device these days? I had the 64GB iPad 2, but with the new iPad I didn't feel the need to go beyond 32GB. I don't even fill that up. With iTunes Match and so many other streaming services, local storage with all its syncing issues isn't as relevant anymore.
I like this part of the OP:

"If singularitarians were 19th century engineers, they’d be the ones talking about our glorious future of transportation by proposing to hack up horses and replace their muscles with hydraulics. Yes, that’s the future: steam-powered robot horses. And if we shovel more coal into their bellies, they’ll go faster!"

This is very true. Having been peripherally involved in a project to slice up and image just a cubic millimeter of ferret brain, I think I can safely say that we are not going to be able to accomplish anything remotely like reading out the state of a human brain anytime in the foreseeable future. Just reconstructing the 3D geometry of the neurons and synapses in that 1 mm cube turns out to be a gargantuan feat, much less recording all the other stuff that you would need to record.

Sure, things like this are fun to think about, and I have nothing against fun. But any thoughts of being able to actually do this, fall into the realm of Science Fiction. There's no point in putting any serious effort into figuring out how we might accomplish this goal now, as by the time we are able to actually do it, as the OP pointed out, our knowledge will be much different. And any ideas that we have now--like dated Science Fiction--are just going to be thought of as having been terribly quaint.
Essentially ...

"Nokia's Lumia phones took a hit a few weeks ago when it became apparent that current versions of the phone wouldn't be eligible for an upgrade to Microsoft Corp.'s MSFT +2.65% new Windows 8 software later this year. Nokia has said the Lumia phones will, however, get significant upgrades even if Windows 8 upgrades won't be available."

At Amazon, Lumias with a service plan have been priced a one cent for a while.
I've had firms contact me to tell me they've passed me over for consideration ... for positions I've never applied for. Apparently even rejecting various pseudonyms I've generated.

Which I suppose is the flipside of your situation.
Most of the costs you mention are amortized over the lifetime of a product. Not only that, but their true costs are nearly impossible for outsiders to discern. Manufacturing costs are a good indicator of what margin is possible in a mass-produced product and so useful to other businesses considering competing in that market.
I really find the extra space useful (for podcasts, audiobooks, music, and a movie or two for that long flight). I wish the upgrades were cheaper. I know why Apple does it, but I don’t like it; and contrary to Slate’s POV, I’m not a sucker, I am just getting a raw deal on the upgrade.
Microsoft will take on awareness issues with the release of Windows Phone 8
Introduction to Hadoop [O'Reilly Webcast]
Essentially ...

"... lack of awareness with Windows Phone out in the world include the fact that even the word “Lumia” has trended higher than “Windows Phone” on Google searches."
"There are all sorts of ways this whole thing is being ramped up and if I could use Russell [Brown's] tweet from earlier on: we have met the enemy and he is [the] U.S."

Judge Harvey's remark is a play on the line "we have met the enemy and he is us" by American cartoonist Walt Kelly.

----

Actually, Judge Harvey's remark WAS the line "we have met the enemy and he is us". The '[the]' is annotated to show it was inserted by the editor, and obviously the punctuation on 'us' was inserted as well. Very deceptive editorial spin in order to justify the entire article's existence.
I'm sure this is partially by design, but it's not apparent that this is actually the front cover of the book, and the most noticeable thing about the page, aside from the credits and such, is the "Buy It Now" button. This might spike your bounces.
According to this unscientific poll, the vast majority of HN readers that answered the poll are non-religious/atheist/agnostic: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1486594
This is why I like devices to have a micro SDXC slot. My Galaxy Note 'only' came with 16GB built it, but I bumped it up to 80GB for a total of $70.

Flash memory of various types is not expensive these days, and it is small and low on power requirements. It's been easy to spot the price-gouging for a few years now.
so there are two bad guys now
> latest fads, the latest of them being Ruby on Rails

Really?
Absolutely unsurprising, but obviously "atheist" doesn't equate automatically to "antireligious".
5 Free Website Speed Test Tools – Test, Tweak, Optimise
Google Apps Script - Build web apps and automate tasks
I am very fond of the Mac, but the developers of Spotlight and the recent Versions feature of OS X Lion have not given proper thought to users' security and privacy.

Spotlight peeks inside files to create an index, and Version-supported apps maintain a changelog of file diffs. These OS X features save data in hidden locations, separate from the file.

This means that:

(a) it is very difficult to delete a file and be certain it's really gone,

(b) you can't have a public area, a private area, and a highly confidential area on the same system; it's all commingled to the same level of privacy,

(c) you can't make a backup of the non-confidential files without risk of getting the confidential files too,

(d) pieces of an encrypted file (if you use TrueCrypt for example) might get saved unencrypted in Spotlight's and Version's hidden locations,

I could go on, but you get the idea. It breaks down the notion of a file having a distinct level of security or privacy, and doesn't replace it with a better notion.

We already had the following problems:

(1) deleting a file doesn't really remove it on any major OS, including OS X, unless you use a special shredding program, and these days even shredding may be ineffective on solid-state drives because of wear-leveling and caching,

(2) the swap space can contain pieces of a file,

(3) temporary files created by editors, word processors, and other apps might retain parts of file.

Now Spotlight and Versions make the problem even worse for Mac users who care strongly about privacy and security.

We're getting to the point--or probably well past the point--where you have to maintain at least 2 or 3 separate systems: one for public work, another for personal or private work, and a third for highly confidential work.
Using MongoDB and Spring Data on Cloud Foundry [Webinar]
When Stormpulse first launched we only covered hurricanes in the Atlantic and didn't have radar. That focus allowed us to create a product 10x better for that "narrow" concern (still possessed by millions) but made it insanely difficult (read: neigh impossible) to have good conversations with investors.
Supercars.tv launched on Friday.  2,500+ Supercar videos.
Burning Man. Join a theme camp and work on a big project for three months with 50 people, then try to survive the dust storms together on the playa. It's a great way to make friends. I'm told that you can have a similar experience working on a Mardi Gras float in New Orleans. There must be other regional equivalents.
> I'm thinking this would be the case as well on a tablet, unless the flash is in a bus topology already.

There is no speed difference between 1 or 2 chips in this context, they are just treated as separate banks and mapped to different memory addresses controlled by the flash memory controller in the SoC.
I don't know. The original 2010 7" Galaxy Tab came in 16 GB and 32 GB models. The lowest iPhone 4S model is a 16 GB. The smallest capacity iPad has been a 16 GB since the first one in 2010.

Personally, I'm using practically all of the 8 GB SD card that's in my Nexus One at the moment. (Much of it is music - I listen to fairly obscure stuff not readily available on streaming services.) I'm about to move up to a 16 GB card. Most people probably won't have 8 GB of music but 8 GB of video is very possible. Then there's downloadable content for media apps for the tablet.

I'm not going to buy a non-upgradeable device with storage space that's limited since yesterday, and paying a premium for what should be baseline kinda stinks. More than $15 for the 8 to 16 GB upgrade is just bad, as is no 32 GB option.
The brave new world of tomorrow's tablets
"Suddenly" RMS' advice to write GNU/Linux makes sense, huh.

(At least it usefully separates your typical distro from Android, which doesn't use the GNU userland and C library.)
The aftermath of the space race will serve as a cautionary tale against the afterglow of SpaceX and other private space industry achievements.

Does anybody know if there are large demographic gaps between ex-NASA employees referenced in the article and younger (presumably) employed or graduating cohorts, or is it a largely fat inverted pyramid?