skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I don't believe the UI was copied, but that is not the relevant issue.

The LOOK OF AN ICON is not worthy of a patent. This sort of UI is not worthy of a patent. So, case dismissed, imo.
"Stupid companies have titles and titles are associated with more pay and and more respect."

This is even more true in licensed fields. If you have a two year degree, your title will generally be "Engineering Technician", and not "Engineer". And you get to be on a completely different pay scale for the rest of your life as a result of the degree you obtained, even if you do the same work as an Engineer.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/engineer || http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/engineer

On what grounds were you "pretty sure"? Etymology is one of the easier things to corroborate online.
One big issue is usage records. Last I checked OpenStack didn't have good API calls for collecting usage data for users/VMs. It was one of those things that was being worked on but wasn't really fully baked yet. CloudStack has a great implementation already there and fully functional.
The unfortunate reality is that any designer will garner vastly more attention for redesigning a popular website than for creating a fictitious brand.
Building a search engine with Clojure presentation (video & code)
Why is everyone here skipping the part in the first paragraph that says the user will be provided with a dialog on first-run asking him/her whether they want to turn on, turn off, or dismiss DNT?
Also, what if there are more than a few people with that name there? John is a very common name.
Quine in multiple languages
Designing for Stack Exchange
It's not necessarily about how the software works, but how it looks. Apple's UI design is very appealing, so to appropriate that in order to sell a different product is wrong. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say Apple was "ripped off," but Samsung definitely looked a bit too hard at Apple for inspiration for some of their products.

Looking at the side by side comparisons of product packaging, power adapters, cables, etc. doesn't give me much sympathy for Samsung at this point.
I'm sure part of it deals with space as well. Their registers take up a large portion of their counters. Also with a portable register they could move down the line much faster (akin to the order-takers who walk down the line at in-n-out.)
Don't be fooled, I know quite a few people (generally older, 50+) who got their iPhones as upgrades and didn't even realize they had browsers until I showed them.
Technology + freedom. The opposite of GoogleWorld
I don't know about iPhones, but can't you just set your phone to appear as 'unknown caller' (so, no phone number is transmitted)? Or is this not really invisible?
This plugin on firefox is what is keeping me using it on a day to day basis at work. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tree-style-ta... it is IMHO the best way to manage tabs where you need to be able to stack tabs based on ideas and concepts so that you can quickly move between them when you're working on different things at the same time.
If they want to stick to their guns, aggressively block tracking pixels.

This is just messing around with marketing to 'be cool' with their new browser because Chrome is kicking their ass at the moment.
> why not change to the more recognizable (for US audience at least)

Because most internet users aren't in the US.
I don't know anyone who especially disagrees with this, but etymology is not a consistent process. The term "software engineering" evolved for various reasons; whether the discipline is actually covered under "engineering" is as relevant as whether or not you're actually killing 1/10th of a population when you "decimate".

Also, reminds me that my favorite description of my school (http://www.wpi.edu) was that it specialized in "science, engineering, and computer science", since of course CS is neither science nor engineering.
Would you trust dictionary.com? It agrees with Wikipedia.

Origin:
1350–1400; engine + -eer; replacing Middle English engin ( e ) our < Anglo-French engineor Old French engigneor < Medieval Latin ingeniātor, equivalent to ingeniā ( re ) to design, devise (verbal derivative of ingenium; see engine) + Latin -tor -tor

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/engineer
The designers took a big, unsolicited, passive-aggressive public dump on the design of Wikipedia – which is, for all its faults, undeniably a project that has attracted a million people to lavish love on it without pay – and now you profess astonishment that they got some harsh feedback?

Perhaps tomorrow you'll profess astonishment when someone walks into Yankee Stadium wearing a Red Sox shirt and uses the PA system to "objectively" redesign the Yankee pinstripes to "be more functional, more useful, more pleasing to the eye"? Oh, lordy, lordy, who could have predicted the harsh language in response? I thought New York was a civilized town!

If the designers had actually wanted to improve Wikipedia, the correct strategy is to start small and modestly, and aim the pitch at the decision makers - presumably Wikipedia has a design committee? - not the entire Internet. You suggest ideas one or two at a time and collect feedback as you go, not merely because you care what the customer thinks - you do, right? - but because you're trying to get them to feel invested in the new product instead of clinging reflexively to the old.

People don't see designs objectively; that's an artist's special power. The see designs like they see puppies. If a strange puppy walks in and starts fighting with my puppy I'll call Animal Control and have it dragged away in a cage. But if my new puppy chews the furniture, I might scold him, but I probably won't disown the little rascal. The secret is to introduce the small, cute, innocent little puppy to the customer and have it be petted for a while before you let it soil the old rug, drive the customer's other pets insane, and run up vet bills.
Can't wait till they come to Europe.
We need this so much it's unbelievable. Payment over here absolutely sucks.
No apology necessary. It's just incredibly frustrating that the label has been taken to such an extreme to the point that a whole subculture is guilty by association.

It's definitely not the same thing as racial or gender prejudice, but it can be just as damaging to the people who live under the label and deal with its unintended consequences (like getting beaten outside a club for shaving your head and wearing doc martens). We Hackers are lucky that we live in a world where geeks are now the popular cool kids and we can take back a word that used to get us expelled.
This app gives you a new number for incoming calls and messages.
There are software engineers, and then there are software "engineers". Just because because of their jobs involve programming does not make them all the same. Just like how using CAD doesn't automatically make you an engineer.

There are definitely software endeavors and jobs that can be called works of engineering. And then there are those in the grey areas, and then there are those which are not.
I thought Yahoo took it down a while ago?
I would argue there's some work that needs to be done on the other side of the coin, too. There are too many people making money off feeling oppressed. I personally don't feel the answer is making honest people go out of their way to carefully word their sentences to avoid mentioning a characteristic of a person, I feel the answer is understanding that saying "that is a person" is nowhere near as descriptive as "a black man from Chicago".

And herein lies the difficulty with reconciling language (which is a way to communicate descriptive experiences) with political correctness. Is his race relevant? Is his gender relevant? Is his city relevant? Maybe, maybe not. But the point is to describe the scene as it exists. The mere mention of descriptive words are often taken as prejudice when that's not the intention. Let's flip that back around. When I say "that person from Chicago", who do you picture in your mind? If you picture a man/woman, black/white/latino/asian, tall/short/fat/etc, you're being "prejudiced". Because I never mentioned any description of the person. But without that information, your mental picture of the scene is incomplete and your brain is going to fill in those blanks. Language has words you can add or omit to imply discrimination. "That black man from Chicago." "Another Asian from Chicago". "Of course, he's white." In absence of these deliberate hints, it's asinine to assume anyone is taking any sort of position.

When I go camping I don't say "I stayed somewhere with plants", I say "I slept in my tent on the ground in the Yosemite forest." That's not prejudiced against trees just because I called it a forest, nor against the Earth because I mentioned the ground. The more prevalent problem is not people being prejudiced, it's people feeling prejudged just because they expect to be prejudged. Why should someone go out of their way to reword and complicate their story when you're (hypothetical "you") are going out of your way to unword and read more into their story than they actually said?

(This isn't in response to the linked story, merely to mistercow's point)
Using population dynamics to predict outbreak in violence in the US
Google Now is awesome; merge them with the iGoogle team and make it amazing.
> Ask everyone in the world if they "don't want to be tracked, understanding that is the economic foundation for almost all of the content they enjoy and thus they will either need to directly pay or go without" and somewhere approaching 0% will say yes.

No, something approaching 100% of users will still say yes, adding that robust economic foundation is the content providers' problem, not the users'.

The content providers will then close down or find alternative business models.
The problem with Karma is that too often people are voted down for simply posting views others disagree with, and I didn't think it was for that. That that leads to is people not sticking their necks out and only posting if they agree with the community vibe.

Cards on table: I have often avoided replying through fear of people not liking my opinion, regardless of how well thought out it might be. Often only replied if I already know my views are acceptable here. In fact, to get Karma up, I have merely posted agreeable posts. For example, I have noticed that having a go at the MPAA gets lots of up votes. See what happens if you dare argue for the MPAA, you enter down vote hell!!!

That has to be badly wrong, right? Surely its is the worst sort of mob rule and utterly stifles diverse opinion. Is that what HN is all about?

However, I don't know of a better way to do it, so it is better than nothing.
A lot of people won't take blocked calls -- and if you want to be reached in return, or via SMS, that wouldn't be a solution.
Does the military's use of the term to apply to anyone doing construction irk you as well?

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/enlistedjobs/a/21.-uJZ.htm
Are Berries the New Snake Oil?
GNOME Workstation OS
Here’s What Happened At Fluent
Court Prompts Twitter to Give Data to Police in Threat Case
Erm. Firefox. Ctrl-Shift-E, or go to the all-tabs arrow in the upper right corner and click on Tab Groups.

Is the implementation perfect? No.

Does it do about what he wants? Yes, I think so.
What Took So Long? The First Open Source Private Cloud Software Arrives
Based on contract costs I really think the names are reversed. I know I did not obtain a smartphone until work agreed to pick up the monthly costs.

The number of people who have them sometimes boggles my mind. I have friends and relatives for whom it is a major expense. People are paying quarter to half what they would pay on a car not for these phones.
US Army's cloud-friendly iPad-ready intel kit doesn't even work
"Alpha nerd syndrome". Brilliant observation!!!
I guess the point is though that if you look at Apps sold and web traffic then you're eliminating users from both platforms that may own the phones but aren't really engaged.
There's a Chrome plugin called TabSugar that seems to do something similar.

http://tabsugar.com/
Usability is technology. In every case in the document, it's, we got it wrong, the iphone got it right, let's fix it. Not, let's copy the look and feel of the iphone, it's purely a usability comparison not a style comparison.
White hats join forces to build bot-beating weapon
Ok, I get it. You're just a dick.
Am I wrong in guessing this is a Twilio-powered service?

If so, this is a brilliant pricing model for adding value on top of someone else's API. One-time App store pricing of $1.99 gets $1.39 to use on purchasing a short-duration Twilio line and then in-app purchases can be used to refill extra numbers/minutes, all presumably with enough margin to make money on top of the basic "reserve and use a Twilio number" functionality.

Just checked and Twilio phone numbers are $1/mo. and 1-2 cents a minute for calls. There's definitely headroom to make money here.
So... Minecraft with an end destination?
http://sachagreif.com/ebook/
It's only a negative if the vehicle needs to accelerate quickly. So sufficient friction is sufficient, not a negative or a positive.

Given that the batteries store roughly 2.4 kW-h, it's probably safe to assume that the max drive power is less than 500 watts (2.4 kW-h / 10 hours -> 240 watts). Earth side electric vehicles commonly have drive power over 100 kilowatts.
Just IE s#%&ing over web standards like it always has!
I still remember when Wired was relevant. You know, back in the 90s, before they declared the web dead for the first time.
I believe most design firms offer some kind of prototype as a first step, which is what they did. They weren't commissioned to do anything, and there is no go-to person at Wikipedia for them to work with; an iterative process would have required working with a democratic committee of volunteers who individually don't have the authority to make any kind of decision.
I just picked up my first Android phone on the weekend (Galaxy S3), and some parts I really love. Widgets change the way I use my phone. But compared to the iPhone, it's far less intuitive, it's build quality is crap, and I can't make it though a day on a charge. I wish there was another phone maker that had the polish of Apple with the freedom of Android.
I think OUYA can be used by indie developers as inexpensive hardware on which to test their Android games. This is why I wish OUYA came with all the latest gaming features like OpenGL ES 3.0 and OpenCL, as well as more powerful hardware that makes sense for 2013, and to allow developers to program for the latest hardware in the market, but that's only possible with something like Tegra 4, Exynos 5250 or Qualcomm's S4 Pro chip.

Speaking of which, the Exynos 5250 whitepaper just came out today:

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisit...
This article is terrible. Not only does it fail to give any technical information about the actual innovation being claimed, but it is also factually incorrect as it lists the wrong date for the patent filing.

Here is the actual patent: http://www.google.com/patents/US20110231447

I'll write a longer reply when I have time to digest the legalese.

That said, Jim Starkley seems to be pretty patent-happy. Check out this one from 2008, "Method and apparatus for generating web pages from templates" [1].

[1] - http://www.google.com/patents/US7039658.
There's such a gulf of experience between those who have children and those who don't...I regularly volunteer with elementary-age students and am always surprised at what they know, even though I faintly remembering being "smart" back then.

I just didn't think 3-year-olds would understand or even be introduced to possessive pronouns...I can't even conceive the linguistic path it takes from saying the first word and other nouns to understanding possession and "me"...Although I guess "mine" is pretty easy for them to figure out as a way to get things :)
To me the Wired piece reads like the sort of defensive rebuttal that is usually best to put in a drawer for a day or two before sending (or in this case publishing). It's long, wandering, needlessly emotional (appeal to sexism), and in places reflects an inaccurate reading of Chris's piece.
He talked about how set theory can apply to sets of different infinities (e.g. sets of infinite whole numbers, sets of infinite rational numbers). This bumps into "There is only one infinity, and that is God".
Show HN: Automated writing analysis of Twitter and Reddit feeds
Transform Ubuntu 12.04 Into Mac OS X Lion
That kinda talk brands you a "fanboy" around these parts. But, I completely agree.
I have no idea. Wouldn't that validate it? I don't see why people are so upset over this.
NASA Tells the World About Mars with AWS
Actually, there are situations in which you get a G+ login prompt. An incognito window solves it, but it's annoying. Google Groups does the same thing.
Don't Get Screwed Over
A reasonable compromise? Advertisers know that most users won't change the default settings, which means that most users will be saying "please track me". How does that align with most user's wishes?

Defaulting tracking to off is only reasonable for advertisers.
Make a mold of someone else's and then wear those to your stamping.
That's because this whole thing is a bit of a joke. The advertisers will only respect the setting if no one actually selects it.
This might be a controversial opinion, but: in-window tabs are a broken implementation of something that's the window manager's job.
An awful design is no excuse for hostility. If it is, what is the emotional response if you are personally insulted?
Koka: function-oriented language with automatic (side) effect inference
This is a very nice first web app. Congratulations, you've done fine work.

I will offer one UI design tip. The radio button for All and check boxes for yes/no, etc under the filters tab is not how these ui elements are typically used. Checking Yes and No is all, so there is no need for the All option, just have all the check boxes checked by default and allow the user to uncheck the ones they don't want to see.
Great idea: I assume app + backend + twillio API?

The only think that might confuse people is if you start to recycle numbers (because you don't want to keep paying for them), and the call gets connected somewhere totally unrelated.
> You wouldn't call a software architect simply 'an architect' (would you?).

Yes, yes I would.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architect_(disambiguation)

- third bullet down

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_(disambiguation)

- look under 'Process Architecture'
might be plivo or tropo, but probably twilio.
Even linear pseudo-movies aren't necessarily damaged by Let's Play videos.

I watched an entire walkthrough of Batman Arkham City, but the combat system was so awesome/fun-looking that I'll eventually buy the game myself and play it (probably even go back and buy Arkham Asylum too, as it has the same combat system -- though an earlier version).

That said, I also watched through the entirety of Max Payne 3, and it didn't make me all that excited to run out and buy it. It mostly made me remember how the bullet time became less fun after hours of using it in actual game play (in the first 2 Max Payne games). In reality, it was just the story that would have driven that game for me (and in the end, I didn't really like the story that much anyways).
What great technology or... thing, isn't there to do the wiki-redesign?
Seeing grouped tabs in IE confused me for a while - why are these 2 tabs randomly both green?

I agree, we're iterating this concept too far for my UI tastes.
Brilliant and very much needed.
No, I'm arguing that Amazon is at fault for handing out card details willy nilly, Apple is at fault for not training their CS staff to, in the word's of House, assume everybody lies.
No it's not. If you're silent only the praise is represented in the discussion. If five people like it and a hundred more hate it, I'd like to hear from the latter crowd as much as or more than the former.
You have a 'lot' of people getting fired?

It's good that you're thinking about how announcing team departures might affect morale, but I'd say it's a bit more important to get to the root of the issue - why are so many people getting fired?

Either you're hiring the wrong people and/or treating your staff so poorly that they simply don't care about getting fired (usually people will quit before they get fired so they don't have to explain it to future employers). Or perhaps this is some dodgy sales business where you hire a ton of people and then fire most of them that don't make impossible sales targets. I hope to god it's not the latter!
Let's play videos encourage people to play the game, unless it's a bad game. Games aren't movies
The largest retailers can negotiate the processing (merchant acquiring fees), but not the interchange. Components of CC fees are interchange (which goes to card issuing banks), processing (which goes to the merchant's bank), and association fees (which is how visa/mc/etc make their money). Interchange & association fees are fixed, processing is the most negotiable. That said, any >$1B retailer is paying too much if they pay more than a penny/transaction in processing, so there's not much room for improvement because there are real costs in that activity.

I think there are two big reasons why they would do this:
1. Investment
They will likely make a multiple of the $25M when Square IPO's. The best possible evidence of Square's traction is what Starbucks just provided. Smart investment
2. Focus on core competency
World class payment processing is not a significant source of competitive advantage for Starbucks, but it is for Square. This deal allows Square to worry about payment acceptance & processing efficiency, and Starbucks to focus on product/service. Michael Porter would be proud of this deal.
That's a mighty suspicious amendment to the spec. Its almost as if they want to make sure you're tracked. Will they require certified mail and a witness to verify you really really mean DNT next?

Can the W3C justify this amendment at all being for the good of the user?
I wonder if we can expect Hacker News posts in the next few months pointing out big name advertisers who ignore DNT as bad guys.
Raspberry Pi book by The Pragmatic Programmers
You make assumptions (that the user is not choosing this option) which are not true.

http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-sticks-to-default-do-not-trac...
>Customers will receive prominent notice that their selection of Express Settings turns DNT “on.”

The amendment does not appear to restrict the selection of this option to those who go into settings, click on a privacy tab, and then choose an Advanced settings button, only to have to go through what choosing this means.
Check out tap2print.com, try and make a cool app that works with their api and you can earn some money.
If the user is informed that the button they are about to click will mean that DNT is enabled and that they have to manually turn it off if they don't want it should be good enough.

Although I assumed what all this meant is when you got to that part of the setup the box will be already checked and you had to click on it to turn it off.

Either way, if an attempt to inform the user of the option has been made before they click an "I Agree" button, then that should be good enough.

But honestly, I don't expect many people to honor the DNT header anyway. What's going to happen if they don't, get a strongly worded letter from somebody?
What Could Possibly Be Worse Than Failure?
the assumption is made that 99% of customers would have a cell phone and thus invested engineering resources into it