skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Under that argument shouldn't the patents apply to the capacitive touch surfaces and not the gestures?

"Method for transportation by flying vehicle" is very different from "Construction method of flux capacitor that provides enough energy to power flying vehicles". The first is obvious and there is prior art even if people could not build it. The concepts of pinch-to-zoom or slide-to-unlock are obvious to even people without Phds in touch surface technologies.

Anything intuitive by definition should not be patentable.
I can confirm that. I can find neither of the alleged violations which makes it harder for me to believe the story. I sympathise with the author, but at the moment I don't buy it in full.
Well, that is true if you are talking about higher education, but people still need to learn some basic skills (writing, reading, counting, etc.). Learning English is often useful as well (note that before replying to your comment, I expected Libya to have a low rate of alphabetization, but it turns out their alphabetization rate is rather high (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libya#Education)).

On top of that, they probably need some skills in the fields of medicine, or petrol engineering.
> Apple might be patent assholes, but they're not patent trolls.

That is very nicely put.
Pulling the code is an overreaction. Prams, toys and babies etc.
Well they will have to, because the entire system is going to colapse when the old subscribers die of.
And yet the wright brothers were not granted a patent on "things that fly". They were granted patents on some specific machines they invented that could fly. But the patents were about the mechanical machines themselves. If someone else had come along and invented a totally different means of flying (like a helicopter) they would not have been infringing on their patents. This is a patent on "things that fly".
FF's memory continually increases to the point where I have to restart the whole browser every day

That’s really not the case any more.
An Event Apart: Spirit of the Web
Agreed,

But given the population its unlikely these changes can happen in a flash.

There is a lot of resistance to automation, computers and technology in general. Because people think(especially policemen) that it will make their jobs difficult, and make a lot of them redundant. Add to this bureaucracy and corruption makes these sort of changes slow and drags them over years.
The HTML you wrote isn't part of the live code, it's part of the test. It's perfectly normal to write some sort of skeleton/dummy as part of writing your tests - it's impossible to write a test without an interface to call into, after all.
Would be great to chat over a coffee. alex@growdetroit.com Here's a nice highlight of the event (and a snapshot of Steve and I):

http://www.xconomy.com/detroit/2012/07/18/steve-blank-on-det...
> a completely silent background updater

This is not an improvement. I do not like it when my computer changes itself without asking.

- Does no one question this anymore?
- Why should we blindly accept every single update unquestioningly?
- Why should we be forced to deal with the problems they introduce after the fact?
- Why will no one contemplate that constant automatic updates are an attack vector unto themselves?

The more you force your feedlot of end-user livestock to tolerate potentially disruptive updates, the more they will grow accustomed to not being in control of their own machines, and the less likely they will be to notice a real problem as a signal amidst all the noise. Honestly, why even bother pretending to have control of our machines anymore.

When people ask me for help now, my eyes glaze over, and I am often forced to respond "I don't know what the fuck that thing is doing. It clearly has a mind of it's own."

This, my friends, is an affront to the very sensibility of the control an "open source" project, should ostensibly extend to it's community and user base. And spare me your bullshit about "Oh, hay guyz, you can just go on GIT or SVN and look at the code yourself!"

It's time-consuming, technical, and inaccessible to normal people, never mind the complications of different platforms, and the shifting sands of dependencies, commits and continuous integration.

YOU KIDS STAY OFF MY LAWN!

/rant
almost exactly... ok.
Huh? The kindle application for iOS/Android are both free, as are the PC/OSX applications and the cloud viewer.
The article says it would be better with a timed text feed. I'm pretty sure this used to exist - you can see that production of subtitles at the beeb uses timed text for the Embedded Media Player (here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/futuremedia/accessibility/su... ) - the EMP isn't iplayer, but is the thing that shows news/show clips on the rest of the bbc website.

Also, I recall downloading a feed of one show while the BBC Backstage experiment was going on (when they were pushing open APIs etc). It's possible these things are still out there. I had a dig around and couldn't see timed text attached to any EMP clips though, even on programming for the hearing impaired.
Its tactics like this that are the reason I'm cutting the cord when my DirecTV contract is up in November. HBO has great content. Some of the best available in fact. But I refuse to give them a dime while they institute policies that actively diminish my viewing experience.
You're right, the grocery store problem needs to be solved in order for it to make sense for most companies to do business there. But major software companies like Google and Facebook can bypass it by building their own amenities for employees. These companies tend to do this even if the local area has amenities.
It blew my mind when I learned about d-pad patents for video game consoles. Ever wonder why Playstation had to use that awkward combination of 4 arrow-like things pointing towards each other? Patents.
is it the weather?
Anyone know if Twitter moved into the Madison yet? and if so - how many people?? http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/04/04/twitter-opens-detroit...
Heh. Android outsold iPhone 4:1 globally last quarter. I'm not sure who thought Android was doomed, but yeah - not a chance.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/worldwide-...
This is awesome. Love Mindscape controls, so getting it at a substantial discount is nice. Definitely a good way to get attention for an upcoming product.
Tried playing but didn't load. The demo video though looks amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=m...
That’s really not the case any more.

So far in my testing and browsing, it is.
It kind of freaks me out that Chuck Yeager has a a twitter account.
Mailgun is going to continue to run as Mailgun, as a startup team on the product and operations just as they did yesterday. We believe in the team and what they're doing. This is not an acquihire -- they have a great offering that they will continue to build and manage going forward.
How many releases of firefox have we had now that claim to have fixed its memory problems? I make this at least four, which is a few too many for me to believe it this time.
Yahoo pipes is great. And new automation platforms are fun and useful for non developers.
But if you want to be completely freewhen programming the web, let APIs to developers.

http://api500.tumblr.com/post/28165124923/your-mashup-is-so-...
The closest call was that story where he bailed out of the training LEM a split second before it stalled out and exploded...
Inside the original Facebook house
> Isn't this what the patent system was created to do? I see a lot of complaints about when patents are wrongfully used, but this is the first time I see someone complaining when they are correctly used.

I'm saying the system is broken - not an uncommon argument here on HN - because I don't think these are ideas worth protecting.

Did you spend $10 million dollars investigating the right kind of chemical coating to get glass to respond to finger tips? Maybe you can get a monopoly on that.

Did you have an engineer dick around in a lab for a week? Why are we protecting this? We're basically rewarding incumbents.

Being a software engineer I obviously can't comment on other fields. But it strikes me that a huge proportion of these patents were awarded on incredibly specious grounds. I know innovation is obvious in hindsight but… I think these kinds of wide-swath patents destroy competition which harms all of us.

Patents as they stand today destroy more social value than they produce.
5 ways to remove the 'service' from 'customer service'
As an aside, Calibre does a pretty good job of converting epub and the like into the kindle format. It can also create the "Collections" on your kindle, which makes finding your books much easier on the kindle.
This is one of the biggest problems to tackle when updating software: How can the user be uninterrupted? This is one of the biggest problems I have on my WP7. My apps stay out of date for a long time until I manually go update them. I don't think to manually update them very often (maybe once a month). I'd much rather the app be updated silently in the background, and when I re-open it after the updates have been downloaded/applied, I then notice that things have changed.

This is pretty much the same way websites operate and you don't have much control over it. You may be able to prolong the update while they are "beta" testing it (a la Google/Facebook), but eventually you get the update and have to deal with it.
Risky hack with too much potential for abuse.
That's true. But while Libya isn't in a great spot, it is nowhere near being one of the poorest countries, and its inflation adjusted GDP per capita in 2009 was about 50% of where Norway was when oil was discovered. That's about 4 times as high as Egypt in 2009, and higher than some European countries like Estonia.

Presumably the civil war might have set them back somewhat, but they're still in a position where it at least ought to be possible to start building a long term revenue stream from this.
TRP hunger! That is what can be said.

Times Now is so hilarious at times. Arnab Gosami almost looks like a stand up comedian in many shows.
$49 /mnth at entry level seems a bit steep. Perhaps your CMS is more robust or more user-friendly, but I think you may be pricing yourself out of the market.
What’s time-consuming, technical and inaccessible to normal people is updating their software. No-one in my family bothers apart from the people who actually work in the software industry. This isn’t necessarily a problem when it comes to features (apart from version fragmentation) but it’s a nightmare when it comes to security. The more silent and automatic security updates the better for them.
The one time I bought a TV show through iTunes, it wouldn't let me pipe it from my computer to the TV.

So I still pirate TV shows as they come out, even if I could buy them on iTunes. (I quite often buy the DVDs later.)
All companies, including Samsung, have sued others for patents, including trivial patents, including in this very issue. So it would hypocritical for Samsung to cry because it lost the trial.

Now Samsung has to either make a different enough phone, or pay Apple a cut. In any case, it's not like we're loosing much as consumers. Even if we are to absorb the extra costs of patenting some phone tech. A $20 more expensive phone? Big deal, that's less than the monthly phone bill. If anything, we might get some original UI concepts by Samsung in their effort not to fork for Apple patented concepts.

That said, there is a field, were patents are literally killing people, either by illness or by starvation, by technically inflating the cost of medicine and agriculture. Talking about Big Pharma and Monsanto patents. How about some outrage for those?
No I'm not, and I think you are. Just because it doesn't do what you want doesn't make it broken. That's like buying a car, but being upset it can't drive distances with a flat tire. It's not supposed to do that, so other than a faulty tire, the car isn't broken. And the spec isn't either - they aren't being anti-user, because they don't have to release the app at all. I can come up with a dozen business cases for audio only (the iPad/iPhone speakers being mono only for one, being a crappy speaker for two), but they are interests to protect. This app is a compromise that you don't have to use, not meant to replace the television experience, but be an additional screen for occasional viewing.
> p.s. Pooping out fat is 'calories out'. Several weight loss products even make use of this.

Not in the sense of what people mean when they say 'calories in equals calories out'. Usually they mean that most calories that are consumed are utilized, and hence anything not burned gets added to your weight. This is of course an incorrect assumption based on both laws of thermodynamics, and also, as you point out above, ignoring the calories that aren't absorbed during digestion.
To be fair to them, I think this is the first that claims to fix problems specifically to do with the extensions.
Japanese model enthusiast builds paper robot powered by elastic bands
> "Indian mind you, although born and raised in the US".

You are not an Indian, you are a "Person of Indian Origin". Big difference.
Yes, all 100 of you (combined) will make a very big dent in Apple sales...
Did you read the code in the linked document? It's trivial and obvious.
Actually you can meet the license by including a written offer to supply the source on demand. There's no requirement to provide the source along with the binary. You're even allowed to charge reasonable costs for sending the source. So you could in theory go and include a statement that the source is available on dvd and you charge 10 euros for shipping and handling.

Section 6 from the GPL (distribution of non source-forms)

b) Convey the object code in, or embodied in, a physical product
(including a physical distribution medium), accompanied by a
written offer, valid for at least three years and valid for as
long as you offer spare parts or customer support for that product
model, to give anyone who possesses the object code either (1) a
copy of the Corresponding Source for all the software in the
product that is covered by this License, on a durable physical
medium customarily used for software interchange, for a price no
more than your reasonable cost of physically performing this
conveying of source, or (2) access to copy the
Corresponding Source from a network server at no charge.

It makes things harder for the people that want to just contribute and is not nice in general, but it's covered by the license.
Samsung Galaxy S3 available in more interesting colors inspired by nature
Except for the first one (and even that's debatable - if memory serves me correctly, "George Washington was a traitor" is generally used by the left-wing to demonstrate why categories like "traitor" aren't useful, rather than as a serious argument against Washington) they're not actually examples of the Worst Argument in the World though.

For instance, the fact that guns kill people is still just as effective as an argument for gun control even though not all guns kill people. Or take his point about how only parts of evolution have been proved - that's actually a particularly obnoxious kind of fallacious reasoning that creationists use a lot. There's always going to be gaps in our knowlege of the exact details of evolution because not all transitional forms survive and because there aren't enough researchers out there to investigate every single gene and biological pathway. But not (yet) knowing the exact details is not evidence that evolution is impossible - indeed, pretty much all of the supposedly "irreducably complex" features that creationists claim couldn't have been created by evolution have been proved to have evolved.
Samsung has copied Apple's dock, will ship it with Windows 8
Hurricane Issac: Listening Live to 1st Responders Before, During, & After Storm
I also have worked for QL, and there are actually very few of the workers that live downtown. Most commute from the 'burbs. I considered it and did a lot of research and here were my thoughts:

-The income tax needs to go. 2.5% to live in a city with pretty bad crime and no amenities? No thanks.

-Car insurance is through the roof. If you park on the street it's assumed your car will get broken into occasionally.

-I don't feel entirely safe. If I were to walk home from a bar at 2:30am I would be concerned. 20 miles away in any direction and I wouldn't think twice about it (I'm a young guy and I will not drink and drive, so this is a legitimate issue)

-It's actually quite expensive considering the above. A "nice" apartment in a decent part of downtown will cost $1k+/mo. Go to Plymouth, Northville, Royal Oak (high demand, up-scale areas nearby), and you'll be able to get a reasonable apartment for this same price, sans all the above issues.

I really hope it turns around, but my realistic side is a little worried.
Are you asking seriously?
so the big benefit to detroit is that a company moves in, has people drive to it, then work and eat in that building, then drive home? it's not enough. when the city wants to start taxing them (after maybe a 5 year amnesty), if the company doesn't like it, they'll move across the street to another zone with no taxes (a la walmart).

There needs to be more in a city for people to do than to work and eat office lunches. Grocery stores are a visible indicator of how many people make their home (families, kids, long term commitment to the area, etc) there, and Detroit has very few serving 700,000 people. Getting commitment from larger chains, as well as tax incentives to help the smaller mom-and-pops expand to serve more areas - both of these will serve to help attract more people - and this goes for dry cleaners, accountants, and other service businesses.
Congratulations guys - great product, well deserved acquisition :)
Several of the reviews complain about the price in this case.
The problem with the Indian govt is that it is known to take the most sweeping knee-jerk but completely ineffective measures in tackling security: some examples-

- SMS used to spread inflammatory stuff? BAN SMS

- Bicycles used as bomb placement locations? - ID needed to buy bicycles

- E-mail used to claim credit for incidents? - Strong ID proof for surfing the net

- Many terrorists that the incompetent intelligence agencies cannot track? every tenant in any rental place needs to submit to "Police Verification"

- etc, etc etc

Incompetence and Dysfunction combined with corruption & fear - Result > current state of India
I'll take your advice by following up with an invoice overdue e-mail next week, then a final reminder 4 weeks later.

I'm in Scotland. If the invoice remains unpaid after that period I will take the client to the Small Claims Court. It's very typical that if a case is submitted to that court, the accused ends up paying the invoice before the hearing date.
Because the major version number is now the minor version.

In theory we should be on Firefox 9.15 or something.

Now big number changes mean small improvements.
There's been a lot of good discussion here about this topic over the years. Here's what I had to say about it last time it came through:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2132299

That thread is actually pretty good in its entirety:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2131978
UKNova made to halt television and radio torrent links
Yes, but I presume that for the reconstruction they'll have to use all the money they can get from oil and gas, for some years...
tomjen3, We are don't have any plans on closing or sucking in the future. But if you just prefer to support small ISVs, that is definitely worthwhile.
To answer "yes", I just think that one would just have to be up to date on these new browser features and best practices rather than explicitly mastering each of them.
note: I'm not refuting your central point, I agree with it, but this line made me smile...

there's only a limited amount of fun to be had in poking
holes in the small without really addressing their
motivating concern

The internet and tv news would disagree with you that the fun is limited. It appears definitely unlimited.
You could probably get a decent apartment for at least 20% less plus not as much crime, plus more amenities around town (whether walking or driving).
Yes, they did. When I was visiting the Madison last week Twitter had a mini office on the third floor with like 2 or 3 desks.
Thank you for the link. Was really interesting to read Behe's response to the critique.
Google Wallet aspires to hold all your cards and tickets
S3 Logging and Analytics
I'm starting to think this is no longer the case. I can't even count the number of blog posts, websites, and forum threads recommending it in the past few years. And with more people writing software to simplify the process it's only going to lower the barrier to entry.

I just hope the industries adapt by the time usenet starts deteriorating.
What's megahack? Is it run by Kim Dotcom?
This isn't just HBO Go, or even just third-party apps – first-party video playback on iOS will, depending on hidden flags from iTunes store purchases, arbitrarily disable video over AirPlay.

A friend and I found this out the hard way one afternoon when we decided to rent Ridley Scott's Alien, in anticipation of seeing Prometheus. He pulled up the store on his iPhone, found the movie, selected Rent: HD, and signed on to my wi-fi network, my Apple TV appearing on his iPhone without a hiccup. So far, pure Apple seamlessness – until he selected the AirPlay output. The audio played back over my speakers, but the video remained on the 3.5" screen.

Thinking resourcefully, I suggested he try AirPlay mirroring. This, at last, gave us the "fuck you, consumer" from the studio in explicit form: a message appeared on his phone saying the AirPlay display couldn't be trusted.

We both resolved never to use the iTunes store for movies again.
Wajam infiltrates Google Maps, Safari on iPhone to show friends rec's
Don't know what you wish to say here.

I am a native Bangalorean. And from what I know of history our state. Close 99.99% of IT growth work you see today was the work of Deve Gowda(JD-S) and SM Krishna(Congress). On top of that biggest projects were conceived under Congress- IT Park constructions, Bangalore Metro etc.

Not a single thing has happened under BJP. The biggest scam in Karnataka's history mining scam happened and was done by BJP MLAs.

Avoid venting your political opinions here. like 'intended' user mentioned rationally there is hardly a party in India which isn't corrupt.
Manage your websites in the cloud using Git
Learn how to deploy your websites using git hooks to restart your server or complete other tasks.
I take first! Well.. that was pointless :-) Now I just need edw519 to give it a go ;-)
Yup, this is also known as the argument from fallacy or the fallacy fallacy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_fallacy

Which is the false notion that when you refute a single false point, the opponent's whole argument is false.
Congrats! I love the service.
Perhaps the login requirement was needed to prevent, or atleast reduce, abuse.
The first time I ever saw bounce-back scrolling, I was … taken aback. It seemed ugly for an instant [at least], I think because it so often showed the non-content zone so visibly. And maybe also because it was so very odd and unintuitive in relation to how computers tended to "feel" before then. (It seems obviously a great invention now.)
Usenet has for years been the most reliable, easiest source for high-quality same-day releases that the Copyright Czars have always ignored (probably due to lack of popularity). The more popular it gets, the quicker it gets killed.

I mean, few people realize how ridiculously, amazingly simple it is to download a movie or even an entire series using Usenet and NZBs. Click a file and start downloading at full bandwidth. That's it. No torrent seeding bullshit, no download caps or mirrors to find. It's incredible. And we're scared it might become popular.