skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
"Somehow I don't think any harm will come if Hacker News goes down for a few hours."

What do you define as "harm"?

People are creatures of habit. If something isn't available many times they will fork and find something else to do with their time which they might find as or more enjoyable or educational and then start to gravitate toward using that website. You only have so much time. If you find an alternative site that you like that might very well end up being your "addiction" and then that site could build critical mass.

I used to start the morning with my laptop at Starbucks. I no longer do that. For the longest time I did that every morning. Then something changed and I found something else to do in the AM rather than that and achieved the same benefit. As an aside this is well known by Starbucks. I was told by one manager that at all costs they try to keep a SB being renovated open lest they loose people who have made it a habit to stop by and pickup their coffee.

Now all this may or may not be important to PG. And sure a little downtime isn't going to have a major impact on usage.

But there is no question that it is a good idea to get to the bottom of why this happened. I have found in the past it always pays to do a post-mortem on any system problem as many times there is something lurking that will cause that same problem in the future.
FF3, FF6, and FF7 are widely regarded as the strongest entries in the series.
Carmack talked about VR too, but I'm referring to the comments he made about framerate and latency in the context of Rage.

See http://www.computerandvideogames.com/videos/e3-2011-john-car... - around 16 minutes in he mentions how a few frames latency makes a big difference.

A lot of console games indeed have pretty awful latency, and don't get a smooth 60fps either. And TVs can add latency on top of that with the postprocessing they do.
Reading your post I'm lead to believe that you haven't read (or properly understood) his philosophical stance.

You say: "he's a nosy noser who can't keep his nose out of what goes on among consenting adults in situations that don't really involve him"

Yet, proprietary software development and the accompanying restrictions on related freedoms impacts us all. Any time someone creates a proprietary computer program it restricts everyone's ability to freely interact with it.

You may disagree with his conclusion; you may believe it is OK to claim property-like control over intangible, intellectual constructs. But you cannot say that this control does not affect others. You cannot say that it does not affect him.

The very nature of copyright is to limit the freedom of all other persons with respect to a particular work.
There's a certain extent to which you can be your own coach. You still need to practice, but you can monitor your own performance if you can train your eye faster than your abilities. Training your eye involves a combination of noticing and analyzing interfaces around you (good & bad), reading texts on design, watching talks, and having conversations with friends and colleagues about design. It's especially important, as a self-teacher, to accept a broad range of influences extending beyond what you might call "UX". That includes, but is not limited to, graphic design, psychology, object design, information design, information architecture, HCI, and fine art.

But, if you can find a mentor, that is always the best way.
But is also flawed, because its premise is flawed.
Actually, the problem is that the market they are disrupting... doesn't exist. There's a mistaken idea in the public right now that Ouya can (or will) replace dedicated consoles. That's not even remotely true. The system simply does not have the power to be that device in your home.

Gamers seem to have backed this based on an idea that it's a $100 full fledged console. It is not. It is, at best, a tablet that hooks up to your tv and has a controller. At least as far as the hardware is concerned.

On top of that, their release timelines aren't even remotely realistic. March? They don't even have their online store prototyped yet. They have some UI mockups and that's it. Launching in March? Yeah right.

And then there's the issue with allowing the console to be fully open, using a hardware platform that is already having so many issues with piracy that developers are slowly being forced to release their games for free and supported with ads to make any money.

I have no doubt that if this system ever materializes, it will make an impact, but it's a long stretch to think you'll be taking delivery of this system in March and playing Final Fantasy 3 on it.
Epic Trade Show Stunt: Total Cost Less Than $2k
I think what makes my experience a little bit different is that many of my real-life friends and family use twitter. And most of them use it fairly regularly, much more so than Facebook. It actually makes me feel closer to them (as close as "status updates" can make you).

Coincidentally I don't follow any mainstream celebrities. But I do follow several prominent figures in technology.
Czech start-up dominates with 19th century technology
Yes. Performance is one area digital pianos will probably never be as good as the real thing. However for practise, a high-quality digital can actually be a boon, since you can set it up to match the acoustics of the instrument you're going to be playing (my housemate, a concert pianist, does this).
The Final Fantasy III remake for DS felt lazy and suffered from lots of poor design choices. As an example, the remake changed the availability of certain classes, but did not change vendors' inventory, so you would run into situations where the equipment available from vendors didn't match what classes were available to you. Also, the class system lacked any semblance of balance with regards to level-ups; the only stat that was permanently raised when leveling up was HP, meaning that it was always best to level-up as whatever class had the best HP growths. Furthermore, HP growths at level-up were based on a percentage of your existing HP, so if a character spent the first half of the game leveling as a low-HP class, their HP penalty would haunt them for the entire game.

I can't directly disagree with your statement that they "actually put quite a bit of work into it," because they did produce new 3D assets, which is a non-trivial task, and the localization had to be done from scratch since it was the first time Final Fantasy III had ever been released outside Japan. However, it certainly didn't feel like a game that that got a lot of tender loving care; it felt like a cash grab predicated on the assumption that people would buy anything tied to the Final Fantasy brand.
You can write meaningful, production-ready code if you have the skills.

It seems like you have only worked at large companies, which is fine, but that is likely the core of the "self-fulfilling prophecy" you mention in point #1. If you want to write production code, don't work somewhere that puts 5 levels between you and the deploy scripts.
A piano that has not been regularly tuned will lose its ability to stay tuned, turning it into a very large and heavy place to display sheet music, just like a car that never gets an oil change will eventually become an immobile scrap metal sculpture.

Shortly after we got married, my wife and I took possession of a 1918 upright piano that had not been tuned in a long time. We didn't know enough about pianos to know better, so we spent considerable time and effort to transport it 40 miles and up a short flight of stairs into our new home... only to dismantle it by hand less than a year later and slowly throw it away. It couldn't be tuned, and it took up too much room to keep if it wasn't going to be played. I think we sold the cast iron soundboard as scrap for a few dollars, and I did save some of the larger pieces of wood, which I used to build a bed for my two-year old son a few years later.

As a side note, if you've never taken apart a piano, I highly recommend it. You get a specific understanding of its inner workings, even if you think you already know how it functions.

Pictures of the piano disassembly:

With the keyboard removed: http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2193/2299985304_d0b38313f6_b.j...

The keys that I saved for a long time but never found a use for: http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2091/2299984652_a024f4a05e_b.j... (They're like teeth that have been knocked out: much much longer than you'd expect.)

The soundboard exposed, and the huge screwdriver I had to buy (see the top of the photo) to remove the screws attaching it to the wooden back: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3105/2300002756_92e8503676_b.j...

The soundboard removed: http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2217/2300002188_68c614d900_b.j...

Just a portion of the screws and other hardware holding it together: http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2095/2299206761_ae640697d9_b.j...
LinkedIn Will Integrate With Microsoft Office
It was not just for the Twitter posts, but also his racist and homophobic YouTube videos.
There is at least one free Ph.D thesis topic in this thread. I think solving this problem and creating a darknet that most people would want to use would be at least as impactful as the development of Bitcoin. People said that was impossible too.
"I can never actually learn any language from a video tutorial."

I like video tutorials/screencasts as long as they have the following :

1. Trainer starts with a basic list of topics/table of contents. Nothing fancy but give me an overall overview of what I will learn out of this.

2. A particular topic is taught gradually i.e. by starting with a simpler or even wrong way (as in best practices) and then improving it to show the more standard way. For don't just show me the final end product.Show me how to do it in a crude/simpler way, then improve the code (may be refactor etc) or add more features. Explain each improvement while you are doing it and WHY you are doing it.This makes us learn the gotchas and pitfalls and may be even best practices.For example, I can put all the code in one file to start with but then how can/should I refactor it in some recommended way? (MVC?)

2. Show me more than 1 way of doing something if it helps me learn the concept. Again, kind of related to #1.

3. Break the code on purpose and explain what the error message means. Then fix it and re-run. For example, in learning Django/Flask, if you are missing a template, it will crash/error out. So don't create the template right away. Build the code without template and let me see how it crashes. Then add the template and re-run to show me success.

4. Unless you are teaching design specifically, save the HTML/CSS/JS tricks/enhancements for the end. Show me the core product.

I am sure there are more but these help me a lot personally. In fact, I am learning Python/Flask right now and looking to write my own tutorials on how I learnt it.
Ask HN: What are your predictions for year 2100?
Inspired by the recent French drawings from 1900 that tried to envisage what the future in year 2000 would be like, what do we think year 2100 will be like? ;)
Geographic data visualization with Symbols and Heatmaps in the Google Maps API
For all it's faults, Hulu Plus is pretty great. $8/month for around 80% of what you want. I'll buy the rest from iTunes on a seasonal basis. I hate the ads. I hate that some shows aren't all there or there at all. But it's the best way to watch current TV legally on demand at a reasonable price. Combined with Netflix, it's enough to cord-cut.

Apple TV can be awesome if they allow app developers to create apps for it. As it stands, the Netflix + Hulu Plus combo is nice but Roku has had that forever. Roku also has HBOGO, Amazon Instant Video, Dish World, a few news channels, live sports and more.

The nice integration between OSX, iOS and Apple TV is not enough reason to jump to Apple TV just yet but I'd switch in a heart beat if/when they add App Store to it.
The hard work has already been done and it is easy to demonstrate the problem and the impossibility of telling 'good data' from 'bad data', assuming the system is cryptographically secure, as by definition a cryptographically secure system resists analysis of content.

Consider the problem of one time pads. If I have two messages the same length, one made of 'good data' and the other consisting of 'bad data' and I encode them both with different one time pads, then it is possible for the resulting ciphertext version of each message to be identical. Another way of putting this is that for any given ciphertext that has been properly encoded with a one time pad, the only information available about the plaintext is the length of the message (assuming you know already that a one time pad was used) and nothing else.
These are clearly supposed to be funny.

People in diving suits fishing for birds?

The school where books are ground up and electrified into pupils' heads?

A serious attempt to predict the future is a rare thing indeed, even on the part of science fiction writers, who are often more concerned with allegory and the exploration of ideas than with literally trying to figure out what the future will look like.

For my money one of the best "future visions" is Spielberg's Minority Report. Not for "pre-crime", but for the suburbs that still look like suburbs, the personalized advertising (perhaps a little extreme), and the general normality of the cities (aside from the silly vertical freeways). The future looks a lot like now - because buildings last a long time, and the landscape changes even less than that.
With Midgard we've been using some GNOME libraries like D-Bus and libgda on servers for years. And this will bring the whole set of GNOME libraries to Node.js: http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/node-gir/
Yes I wouldn't like it either because I don't use vim.
Also, if you're at least semi-serious about becoming good at piano, you'll want a real one because of the action (and if you're really serious about it, you'll want a grand). Digital pianos, while having improved over previous models, are still not close enough to the feel of a real piano to give you good tactile feedback and therefore good technique.
I don't know if "feature" is the right word when all this means is you can choose to install it. GNOME3 is still the default DE (http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/18/FeatureList)
For the record Netflix does not have commercials (yet).
I think kids should be required to learn X before they're allowed to do Y,

Clearly you were never a kid.
From the classifieds and Craigslist listings around here I'd say the value of upright pianos is actually negative. They are offered as free as long as you agree to move them.

We bought our kids an old used full-sized keyboard (Technics P-30). It is an older model but it sounds nice and most importantly, the kids can practice with headphones on, saving the sanity of others in the house.
رامز ثعلب الصحراء الحلقة 12
This is naive because it ignores the social dimension of technology. As I said in another reply: when most people see horrific hard-core CP or rape porn, they will close the program and delete it. End of story. They will also tell all their friends that darknets are only for pedophiles.

Then, when the government wants to ban darknets, nobody objects because everyone knows darknets are only for pedophiles because what non-pedophile would want to be immersed in kidporn?

This severely limits adoption and thus political impact. Average people are just not going to use it. Niche things do not change the world. Want to be really subversive? Build a darknet your mom would want to use.
Oracle buys Xsigo
I see these kind of services in a similar light to safe deposit boxes at banks - where you also have near-complete anonymous storage. I doubt any bank manager is losing sleep because child pornographers could be using his service.

The biggest problem with this mindset is proportionality at the moment - bank safe deposit boxes have much more public awareness than these services, and have thus gained wider use (and acceptance).
First, I am sure almost everyone here wants Ouya to succeed. I think some are very concerned with the hand waving away of real issues in all the hype surrounding this, which rings alarm bells and raises red flags reminiscent of other failed projects in the past.

For example, this particular news update about FF is misleading, as the version they're proclaiming to be exclusive is already available on iOS in the US(and can be played on a TV too), so they're adding caveats such as "on a console on the TV in the US".

A significant portion of the Kickstarter audience may not be knowing the above and might think that this is a big exclusive coming to the platform. The utter hype surrounding this is immense, and not much is ready. While this does not mean that they're going to fail, it sure is hard to execute and they need to show more before hyping the platform to raise even more money from the ordinary users.
One of the distinguishing features of Lisp is that people write love songs about it.
Ask HN: Why do spreadsheets get out of control?  What did you do about it?
Lots of businesses use spreadsheets, but there seems to be a massive amount of people that run into "spreadsheet abuse" of some sort -- where spreadsheets continue to be used despite the fact that they are less than an optimal solution for whatever reason.

Have any of you experienced such a phenomena? What was the nature of the data, and why weren't spreadsheets working out? How severe of a problem was it, and what did you end up doing about it?
Wrt the conventional wisdom that "Slums steal massive amounts of power without paying a rupee".

Frontline magazine did a study which showed that a huge amount of power theft was occuring at industrial consumers. http://www.flonnet.com/fl1906/19060950.htm (it's a little dry in the typical Frontline style. I hope you will read it).

Also, you didn't mention businesses in places in Chandni Chowk, Lajpat Nagar etc? Given the other "cost-cutting"^Wtax-evading measures they take, I would feel very confident in assuming that they don't pay for most of their energy use.
I will repeat something I said below in my comments because I'm not sure you will see it:

"But there is no question that it is a good idea to get to the bottom of why this happened. I have found in the past it always pays to do a post-mortem on any system problem as many times there is something lurking that will cause that same problem in the future." [1]

I can't tell you how many times over the years some little thing has been an indicator of something else going on or caused a big problem later. It's normally better to diagnose this while you are not under duress, have room to breath, and aren't under any pressure.

[1] Non system related last week my wife couldn't get into the garage because the GFI on the same circuit as the garage door opener had tripped. The same GFI is in the upstairs bathroom and had blown previously many times but it didn't seem to be a problem. We didn't realize it also controlled the garage door. So she couldn't get into the house (she didn't have her key). So by ignoring the problem (just keep resetting the GFI and hey - figure it out later) we had a larger impact and issue than it seemed on the surface.
Nothing is the same, it's true, but for serious practise a digital can be better. The key response and weighting will be consistent (good luck getting that with an old instrument) and the tuning spot on.

I used to be a sceptic, but playing the latest digitals which acoustically model the soundboard, strings and action of a piano, the experience is very impressive. It genuinely does feel like playing the real thing, even if the sound comes through speakers. If I come to buy my own piano, I'd go digital.
Summary: everything flies.
I think that all you can do is to have some system of classification and rating validated by a web of trust reputation system.

As I evaluate content on the network, I classify it and rate it. My identity associated with those things is established though (possibly) anonymous. Over time, islands of trusts within the web will form that can be used to help filter large amounts of content.

If I start a node, I can link to islands of trust to only allow verified content acceptable to my filters to pass through my resources.

It's not perfect. Some will attempt to game the system by building up trust and then attempting to sneak content through. Some will attempt to hide illicit content in innocuous content.
Blinds
Why Hackers are Fascinating Us
Many people here don't get the ironic nature of these drawings.

So, sorry to unveil this fact to you: It was just for the fun. Teacher pushing books in the crusher to feed student earphones? Underwater flying? Flying cops? All this is funny speculation that has a single purpose: entertainment. It is just like drawings of Dubout, with a scifi theme instead of cats (and a lower artistic value).

So, in makes it even more surprising that it has some relevance to today's achievement. I would like to compare with serious "scientific" forecasts of the future at the same time. I would bet they weren't as accurate as these drawings.
Mars rover "Curiosity" set for touchdown next week
I couldn't find a feature page, but here's the packaging review request for Cinnamon: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=771252

P.S. Comment 146 mentions it as a possible feature.
That's not at all the same case. Yes, it's Twitter and the Olympics, but this article is about a journalist who criticized NBC's coverage of the Olympics, named the executive responsible and cited his email address, and had his account yanked. Turns out Twitter notified NBC, too, and encouraged them to file a complaint for "disclosing personal information" even though this email address is publicly disclosed on NBC's own site. Very questionable stuff there.
on the rare occasion that I do see an ad that I find interesting I won't click it

With Google, they at least give you a URL below the ad. Sadly, about half the time it goes to a non-existing page so you have to search around anyway.

I refuse to intentionally* click on ads because I ran some adwords campaigns years ago. Seeing Google charge you multiple whole dollars for a "click" feels like one of the largest scams in the world. You have to trust that: they are never lying to you, they aren't running a shadow click-happy network, and they monitor and refund bot clicks. Each click gives google money essentially for free. I'm not fond of working for Google for free.

* Google keeps decreasing the contrast difference between the top row text ads and actual search results. If my laptop screen is tilted the wrong way, I can't see the shaded "THIS IS ADVERTISING" box. Each mistaken click there gives Google $3 to $25+. Just for one click of the mouse. The mind boggles.
Apple May Launch Google Glass Rival reveals Patent
1) Which market are you in?

2) What is the platform you were learning?

3) Have you looked into the differential between what youre making and what sites like glassdoor suggest is the going rate?

4) Are you established enough in the new platform to land a job elsewhere?
And now replace the "Freenet" in your sentence with "Internet". The sentence is still valid. But would this be a reason to shutdown the Internet or to not run any Internet backbone routers?
Quick Video Chat online with Meetings.io
Isn't there a way to get guaranteed bandwidth / throughput / speed from both parties in this? Not that compression isn't great but this seems to upper-bound pretty much anything.