skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
No, I've decreed that after a decade breaking applications professionally, there isn't an application scanner I've used (and I've used very very many) that is worth anything.

I am not as philosophically opposed to scanners as I think Thomas is, I've just found that they provide nearly no useful value. For many years, I argued that although they provided no value, "they didn't hurt", so there was no harm in also running them at the end of a test to make sure there aren't any low-hanging fruit that a tester may have missed.

What started to turn me around in that belief was that I noticed an increasing number of tests being performed by my team where the scanner wasn't just not providing value, but actually causing issues.

Under the best case scenario, you are now having to take the time to validate your scanner findings (which are all things you would/should have found anyway but are relying on the scanner to do for you).

Under the scenarios I've witnessed play out, people assume that the scanners will actually find the low-hanging fruit, and they slack off on that part of the assessment (because, hey, the scanner will cover it, and now they can spend more time looking for logic bugs). Then the scanner doesn't find something trivial (which happens about one in every...oh, I don't know...actually it happens in nearly every test).

I'm happy you've found that scanners don't make your work product worse, but that's not what I've found at all.
If you'd prefer to read something with more rigor:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=Z...
Your analogy for the current argument is weak at best. A better one would be that:

I saw the first flight and then Wilbur and Orville went to my local railroad magnate and somehow convinced him to destroy half his trains and use their primitive plane for mass transport instead when I had already paid the train magnate most of my savings for a four year contract to haul my goods to a distant city. I'm already upset but I give the two people the benefit of the doubt and send my goods on their plane anyway because there's no alternative. It promptly crashes and burns and I lose all my money.

Are you arguing that Udacity in its current state will make you a world class computer scientist? Because that's what /I/ am arguing against. It is not currently anywhere near a replacement for the current higher education at Stanford. Look at the reviews above for evidence of this.

Edit: Sarcastic response to above commenter's statement about my imagination removed. Downvotes duly noted.
Sure. On the other hand, in the long run we are all dead.
Dear God, now Stephen Wolfram is the smartest man in the world?
That's a good point. I hadn't seen things quite this way. But you're absolutely right about complexity being a potential problem. For basic CRUD apps, it seems to me like traditional MVC is absolutely the way to go, hence my bristling at the "MVC is dead" claim, which is really just overblown rhetoric. I can see where move would have its place in "thick" client-side architectures, where you have all kinds of events that are supposed to trigger all kinds of functionality in your view. But I'm not convinced that we need to call that another "framework." MOVE strikes me as little more than a potentially useful abstraction.
My favorite assertion is "Javascript has the flattest learning curve of any language." I wonder if the author can explain prototypal inheritance, or function hoisting.
Google Glass by Apple? "iGlasses"
37signals Tada-List is now closed
In one major move, 37signals shuts down:<p>1. Backpack,
2. Tada list,
3. Writeboard
(and no longer offers a free version of Basecamp).<p>The announcements can be found here:
- http://37signals.com/tadalist-retired
- http://37signals.com/writeboard-retired
- backpackit.com<p>37signals now ONLY offers products that you must buy.<p>No more freemium sales model.<p>As well as they are leaving thousands of Legacy Basecamp customers stranded who don't want to migrate to the new Basecamp product.
IT Department Tech Adoption: Ignore, Prevent, Tolerate, Allow, Integrate
You may want to check out Wordpress - WP is easy to maintain by non-technical people.

Wordpress has a list of hosting providers they prefer - like Bluehost. Bluehost lets you install WP in a few clicks - I have done it myself, and its easy.

Once you do that, you could choose from a range of free (or paid) themes to customize the look and feel of the site.

Hope this helps!
In this context, it seems kanban is being used in place of a more appropriate word, 'que'. In a physical sense, a kanban usually has the same thing going into it.. here the author was clear to say that different jobs have different scopes (time requirements) and I fail to see how this fits from a kanban.

Items going into different bins, using a signaling mechanism on when to create more of 'what goes in the bin' doesn't work for me when these 'items' in the kanban bin are 'product features'.
Mercedes Benz to Unveil M-Class SUV In U.S. - bloggerbee.in
In one major move, 37signals shuts down:

1. Backpack,

2. Tada list,

3. Writeboard

(and no longer offers a free version of Basecamp).

The announcements can be found here:

- http://37signals.com/tadalist-retired

- http://37signals.com/writeboard-retired

- backpackit.com

37signals now ONLY offers products that you must buy.

No more freemium sales model.

As well as they are leaving thousands of Legacy Basecamp customers stranded who don't want to migrate to the new Basecamp product.
Let's Make it WORK first : Client Requires, You deliver [14/Nov/2011]
The loper os guy hates all languages that aren't the Symbolics flavour of common lisp and all systems that aren't Symbolics' Genera. His criticism of clojure is based only on those two facts and not on actual real problems or gripes with the language. He doesn't back up any claims and seems to hate clojure because its not Symbolics lisp.

If I hate all food but pancakes, then my opinion on steak is hardly relevant.
Warning: Pregnant women, the elderly, and children under 10 should avoid prolonged exposure to Google Nexus Q.
Caution: Google Nexus Q may suddenly accelerate to dangerous speeds.
Google Nexus Q contains a liquid core, which, if exposed due to rupture, should not be touched, inhaled, or looked at.
Do not use Google Nexus Q on concrete.
Discontinue use of Google Nexus Q if any of the following occurs:
itching
vertigo
dizziness
tingling in extremities
loss of balance or coordination
slurred speech
temporary blindness
profuse sweating
heart palpitations
If Google Nexus Q begins to smoke, get away immediately. Seek shelter and cover head.
Google Nexus Q may stick to certain types of skin.
When not in use, Google Nexus Q should be returned to its special container and kept under refrigeration. Failure to do so relieves the makers of Google Nexus Q, Wacky Products Incorporated, and its parent company, Global Chemical Unlimited, of any and all liability.
Ingredients of Google Nexus Q include an unknown glowing substance which fell to Earth, presumably from outer space.
Google Nexus Q has been shipped to our troops in Saudi Arabia and is also being dropped by our warplanes on Iraq.
Do not taunt Google Nexus Q.
Google Nexus Q comes with a lifetime guarantee.
I think what I'm saying is that Newton is remembered for his discoveries and inventions, not for his publicity campaigns.
I don't understand why people capitalize Mac like that. What do they think it's an acronym for?
Personally (my PhD is in experimental physics) the interesting bit is all the vacuum pumps, magnet control, beam dumps, control systems as well as the detectors.

Whether some semi-imaginary particle fits the parameters of some semi-imaginary theory is pretty uninteresting ;-)
Darpa Wants More Power Efficient Robots
Thank you!

It seems a stretch to say that James Randi is lying when he doesn't include a disclaimer that the same word happened to also be used for something more scientific around 80 years ago.

Everything Randi talks about is perfectly true if you use the contemporary understanding of the word "homeopathy"
Backbone.js Patterns (& Anti-patterns)
There's a huge economic imbalance between the economic resources and motivations given to prove and market traditional medicine and alternative medicine. Sometimes this leads to a situations that non-fully proven alternative treatments can offer better results with less side effects than current medicine practice. And since risk for many alternative medicines is low it makes sense to try them.

This of course doesn't apply to homeopathy.
Yardsale - iOS Engineer Wanted, Top-5 App (YC S11)
Yardsale is a next-generation mobile marketplace. We're a top 125 app for iOS, ranked #4 in Lifestyle - https://www.getyardsale.com

We’re a small team of developers who are rethinking the way people buy and sell things locally. We're well-funded and are on track to earn revenue this year. Our users love what we're building, and we do too.

We're a rails/iOS shop, looking for a hardcore generalist or an iOS specialist. This means you should:

- Have a strong understanding of everything from optimized PostgreSQL to performance hacking UIWebViews and everything in between

- Seek out the latest in tooling, like iOS open source or clang features

- Learn quickly, we value raw intelligence

This position is a key technical hire, with a significant equity stake and lots of room to influence the strategic direction of the company. The best fit will probably be someone hoping to be a technical founder in their next role.

Yardsale is based out of San Francisco's mission district. If you'd like to hear more please send your github handle or something you've built to jobs@getyardsale.com

--

Recent Press:

http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-yardsale-the-startup-that-wants-to-give-you-an-easy-way-to-make-money-selling-your-old-stuff-2012-8

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/07/craigslists-challenger-could-be-an-app-or-several/

http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/21/yardsale-launches-nationwide/

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/06/yardsale-app/

http://gizmodo.com/5922187/yardsale-use-your-iphone-to-sell-stuff

http://lifehacker.com/5920320/yardsale-is-the-fastest-way-to-post-an-item-for-sale-on-craigslist

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-15-startups-everyone-is-talking-about-in-silicon-valley-right-now-2012-8#yardsale-is-making-local-selling-fun-again-9

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/story/2012-06-17/truong-earn-money-with-apps/55637134/1
(note: did not read the CNN article) I think that all the complaining about the lack of difficulty is completely missing Thrun's and Norvig's objectives. The most important thing educators provide is inspiration, not information or putting students through mental push ups ad nauseam. I think Thrun's classes are extremely effective in that regard.
Are there any legal issues here? Aren't these chefs acting as a restaurant and wouldn't they need a license?
Is it possible that most closed questions are "too subjective", but that most unfairly closed questions are "off-topic"?

As someone who's had a few questions shunted from SE site to SE site, being closed at every step, I think SE would do well to emphasize migration over closure. Having a question closed is a real downer, the opposite of all the SE game mechanics. And it's one of the oldest principles of UX: Don't tell me what I should have done. Just do it for me.
Every Starbucks and McDonalds in the US that I've been to has offered completely free WiFi. No need for plans. They're both AT&T run; I believe the idea was to get people off the cell networks and onto wireless back when the iPhone came out and caught AT&T offguard.
It may well be, but there is a different view: "We do not know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not allow us to ship that." (Steve Jobs, October 2008; http://www.businessinsider.com/2008/10/apple-q4-earnings-ana...). About a year later, they did know and they shipped. I think that, for companies that have money (and, hence, time) in hand such as Apple, Google, IBM, Microsoft,..., that is the better approach.

Also, "looking unique" can mean that you are the first in a new market, or that you are the first in a non-market.
Ask HN: How can I be competitive?
I don't have any projects to show off. I haven't been programming since I was 5 years old. I don't have a college degree. How am I supposed to compete with those who went to Stanford, started programming while still in the womb, and have already started 2 or 3 companies? Obviously I am exaggerating, but there are still loads of potential developers out there whose resumes would run circles around mine. What can I do to make sure I stand a chance?
He made the Kurzweil synths and as far as I remember his OCR was for the disabled.

Sometimes it's easy to disregard someone completely just because one think they take it too far.

Imagine how a Davinci might look today.

I do not buy Rays ideas on this matter either but there sure is a discussion worth having in there. Even despite some of the claims he makes.
But psychology has only recently begun seriously investigating how having money, that major marker of status in the modern world, ­affects psychosocial behavior in the species Homo sapiens.

No. Two things. First, taking this study and applying it to "money" is very correlative, and a decent leap considering the methods for the study. The real value of this study, if there's any at all, is about someone having huge unfair advantages in a general sense; having freedom to treat someone however you want because they don't have the means to rebel.

And second, the examination of this isn't new at all. Heart of Darkness, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Apocalypse Now, King Leopold's Ghost, tons and tons of artists have examined what happens when someone has an unfair advantage without consequence; those are just some I plucked quickly, but there are so many.

I'm not saying the point is completely invalid. In a lot of cases, money gives people the exact freedom, privilege, and less-restrained power that leads to this behavior.

But saying "Research suggests more money makes people less human" based on a rigged monopoly game where the other person is severely relatively handicapped is...a bit of a leap, to say the least.

The other studies mentioned in the article don't sound very convincing, either.

quizzes, online games, questionnaires, in-lab manipulations, and field studies that living high on the socioeconomic ladder can, colloquially speaking, dehumanize people

Quizzes/questionnaires are notoriously prone to being bullshit, like the China Study's questionnaires including "Pizza" as meat and the book going on to draw correlations between its definitions of "meat" and diseases like cancer. I'd way rather see more info on the "in-lab manipulations and field studies", it was only touched on briefly, it seemed.
Higgs Boson Played a Crucial Role in Discovery of 'Higgs Boson'.

Scientists working at CERN, Geneva have announced the discovery of Higgs Boson which is considered to be one of the most important scientific feats in understanding the creation of Universe. It is called 'God particle' because it plays central role in discovering itself.

Scientists from CERN just posted on Reddit their thanks to Higgs Boson:

I don't see any CERN related things here, so I want to mention how Higgs Boson (specifically, lower energy one - the only one currently discoverd) had a vital role in the discovery of itself at CERN. We rely on it every day in our analyses to enable particles in atoms of our brains and computers to gather mass. Without it this discovery would truly be impossible. Thank you, Higgs Boson!
I like this idea, good pitch on the page, but it's absolutely critical that it just works. I installed it, opened it, at first it wasn't obvious if I had to make an account, use an existing service, or what, but I finally noticed the create an account and tried to make account in which it says couldn't connect with video server, I tried again and it says account already registered with no apparent change in the form.

After this I closed out, and under any other circumstances I'll never go back and try again. GChat seems to solve this problem for me already but I was tempted to try this out but it just didn't work with the flow and interaction on the first try and to me that's a deal breaker.

So tl;dr for you and anyone else, your product has to absolutely work and must initially make sense flow wise for your first time users. Especially if you're in a market that has many other solutions because getting me to go back find the application and try again sometime in the future is going to be really hard.
People don't seem to remember that the iPhone really was a pretty crappy phone on launch day, in a lot of ways. It crashed constantly, didn't do a lot of things that other phones already did, and had audio-quality problems. In the parlance of the times, it wasn't a smartphone, it was an expensive feature phone.

What turned the iPhone into a serious product, from my own point of view, was the regular stream of updates and bug fixes that Apple provided. I didn't like my iPhone very much at first, but it just kept getting better, through no effort or expense on my part. I wasn't accustomed to buying electronic devices that magically got better over time. They won at least one loyal customer with that approach, and influenced the way I do business today.
"Everything Randi talks about is perfectly true if you use the contemporary understanding of the word 'homeopathy'.

Which he wasn't. He was specifically talking about homeopathy in the period when it was invented and when it came to the US in the mid 19th century. In fact he even talks about 'the proving', which as a far as I know isn't even actively done anymore in modern homeopathy. (I'm pretty sure the modern manufacturers are just reusing old formulas and not actually doing new 'research'.)
Kanban is essentially a priority queue, and Steve Yegge wrote a great blog post about this issue some years ago. Worth reading. http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/09/good-agile-bad-agile...
I know we all have our prejudices, but come on... You completely miss the point of the article, while jiu-jitsuing some random communist strawman for good measure. Have you even read the article? Many of your objections are mentioned there. Or you could read the actual paper, if you find this newspaper article lacking in data.

BTW, please don't elevate rich people to a pedestal with the right hand, and at the same time, throw shit to politicians with the other. There might be a lot of cognitive damage with feet in Congress, but so there is in Wall Street. Personally, I prefer a democracy without Apple than Apple without democracy.
Ask HN: Anyone use Rackspace Managed Cloud Servers?
I've used Rackspace Cloud Servers for awhile, but I'm thinking about adding the "Managed" support level to my servers. Anyone have experience with the service? Is it worth it?
The title is misleading. They will no longer accept new signups, but continue to work.
same issue on Win7 / FF13

Also affects the "* a" combo if you release shift before releasing 8 then release 8 and press "a" it doesn't recognize the combination (presumably because its reading a key press of 8 in between them)
All universities should have a "defense against the dark arts" class where students learn how to weigh evidence, arguments, and logic. Outside of that, I believe class should be opinionated and biased.

If that were the case, then quacks would find themselves without an audience.

I do worry that by casting quacks out of polite society, we will also cast out iconoclasts and free thinkers.
What's Wrong With Apple & How They Can Fix It
I agree, with time the amount of content could drastically increase and Udacity could become a more interactive, education oriented version of Wikipedia. Which would be amazing. Imagine tutorials for everything you could ever dream of!

But I also think it lacks mechanisms comparable to those found in higher education when it comes to fostering students problem solving and critical thinking skills.

One of the biggest challenges when it comes to teaching is figuring out how to help a student solve a problem without giving them the answer outright. Having been a TA at Stanford for two years now, I can say that I have never helped two students work through the same problem in the exact same way.

I fear that with Udacity, users will often reach points where they are stuck, even after hours of trying, and instead of being taught, they will receive the answer.

I can see it already happening in the forums and wikis there. Students can't solve a problem, and they get a solution posted for them. The value of in person education comes from having someone poke you and prod you just enough so that you figure out the problem, but not so much that you can't honestly say the answer wasn't given to you.

If Udacity can figure out how to do that, then I believe that it would rival any higher education system.
Do you know what they call 'alternative medicine' that's been proved to be useless? "Alternative Medicine"
The Pauls' New Crusade: “Internet Freedom”
He certainly knows how to market himself.
Newton's dablings in the occult SHOULD be considered and count against him. The thing is, we've confirmed calculus and universal gravitation through centuries of experimentation. Whadwha's situation is different. He is alive, a PROFESSOR AT STANFORD, and the VP of academics at SU. His contributions of the past should not be muddied by his current stances, especially if others have corroborated his work (although I don't know if Whadwha does real research). However, if he chooses to believe in homeopathy, something which has been shown time and time again to be as effective as a placebo, it shows a certain lack of intellectual integrity that is not acceptable of a practitioner of higher education.

Some of the greatest scientists in the world have been corrupted by their personal biases and if people like Einstein can waste decades in a hunt for something that doesn't exist (i.e., his denial of Bell's theorem and search for a deterministic hidden variable) then surely Whadwha too can fall prey to his biases (which he seems to have shown today). The difference is that Einstein did research that could be corroborated, while Whadwha teaches, which can impact the intellectual integrity of his students.
Android ICS has an option to encrypt the entire device.
Wolfram's ego really is a parody of itself at this point. Here we can read a grand tour of particle physics over 35 years and the only specific figure Wolfram manages to mention and give accolades to is Stephen Wolfram. His links to his own publications, his book, his his his, me me me, I I I. Unbelievable.

Edit: Higgs gets a mention, but just to highlight Wolfram's complaints to him about his theory, which turned out to be correct!
There are free ones too?

Windows and Unix have the same issues with little pieces of apps being everywhere.
I wonder if this is related to https://github.com/ccampbell/mousetrap/issues/6

In which case it should be a pretty painless fix.
Paulo, I'm very sorry if my question looks a bit rude. The only goal I had is to understand if your opinion is theoretical or based on the real experience.

I don't share your opinion on Go syntax, although, I like Pascal family much more than C and had been using Pascal/Delphi almost exclusively for all my projects until 2003. After that, Delphi became too outdated and I had to switch to other languages.

Also, as I have said before, my knowledge about Oberon and Component Pascal is theoretical, so it might be that you're actually right. Given that these languages are effectively dead (by github criteria: it does not recognize Oberon or Component Pascal, but supports DCPU16 assembly), I don't have a chance to improve this situation (any program written on dead language is theoretical, because it would not be used in prod)