skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I won't go into trying to get you to see my side, it's clear you can't see anything but the bright shiny world of Steve.

When a company demands 30% of your revenue, even for portions not related to the app, and moves on to a track where developers will be forced to have a cert embedded into their app to be on the platform or be blocked, they ARE practicing evil.

It wasn't Apple that built their customer base, it was the developers who wrote the apps that brought the customers. Without the applications on the platform, Apple would be just like Blackberry, dead.

Now that Apple starts putting all these hurdles in place, like kicking apps because they release their own app in a segment (and disallow ANY competition), despite the fact that an app in that segment has been there for years, it's clear that they are more interested in earnings than building a foundation for developers to earn real incomes.

Just back in May, Apple killed a bunch of apps that used the Dropbox API because they considered it an undocumented or third party API. WTF?? The truth is, Apple didn't want competition with their shitty iCloud service, so they limited what developers could do for their own benefit. One example of THOUSANDS out there.

That doesn't even take into consideration Apple's insistence on NOT allowing any sort of metrics on unique installs.

If you made T-Shirts and a chain said, "just give us the shirts, and we'll tell you how many we sell", YOU would probably do it, but I sure wouldn't.

Apple could be skimming revenues from developers as we speak, and there's really no way to know, since we're not allowed to use any static identifier on the phone to lock the app to a subscriber.
I would say just get the loans. Study something that makes sense and just get the loans. Also, to get a better part time job ... Well, are you applying to positions. Keep learning and actually apply to positions. If you write your resume well and are energetic, etc in the interview, you have a good chance of finding an employer if you are in a populated area. Hope this helps. :)
Old article is old. In the 4 years since this article was written, nothing much has changed.

You don't have an Ari Gold because the economics of software recruitment are different from that of the fictionalized A-list acting crowd. See other comments on the quickly apparent disparities between the two economies.

There's more than enough work available in 2012 if you know your stuff. And you can get it easily as a direct relationship with a company. Just ask. They won't want to give you a full recruiters fee but might be cool with meeting you part of the way on what they save.
I'm going to need to see some evidence before I believe societies make economic decisions sensibly.
Neil Armstrong Facebook Tribute Banner
Thank you for writing this. This is perhaps the best summary I have seen to date, and I too hope it's the start of something great.
You are the first person to notice in the many years that has been up. I am of course ashamed.
They can't be worse than in the US, right?
So apple's overly inflated prices on everything are defensible because they were copied?
Ironic?

Err No, it is in fact rather apt. As of now, there are two replies to my comment, both nitpicking on the grammar, instead of DH6.

http://www.paulgraham.com/disagree.html
Some of this reminds that small things can have large repercussions on morale. There is a passage in The Illuminatus Trilogy that describes an act of culture jamming where a sign reading "no smoking" is replaced by a sign that says "no spitting" in an upscale department store. The customers and employees begin the resent the management, after all why would the management assume they would spit on the floor of an upscale department store.
Congrats on shipping!

To make it easier for people to check out the landing pages, I've hosted them at http://bootstraplanding.site44.com.
Ok, on your next contract I will negotiate your salary and conditions and aim to get you 10% on your last contract.

Of course I will need a plausible "walk away" option - are you willing to give that?

Edit: it's a bit early in the morning so that was supposed to be an expanation why you might not choose to give ana age t the negotiation power they need.

Not a sales pitch
Army's new mobile lab 3D-prints gear as needed in Afghanistan
I'm torn by the prospect of a technological solution to aging.

On one hand, I certainly don't want to get old and die -- at least, not on nature's time table.

On the other hand, if no one else got old and dies, we'll quickly become an over populated, stagnant society. From a more "objective" perspective, there's something beautiful about life because it's so temporary.
Sex, Lies, and Wikileaks
It's just grandstanding. You can't get your favorite TV shows or apps on Linux.
You need to accept the fact that people will evaluate posts based not only on what they say, but on how they say it as well.
You know, I actually didn't miss that bit. It doesn't contradict what I've said.

If you disagree, this has already taken up enough space on HN. My email is in my profile and I'd be happy to discuss it.
Hmm, Ok. If you are not making a karmic argument then what argument are you making? Lets go back to square one, I claimed this was a blow to innovation because it would have a chilling effect on designers. And you responded with this argument:

"No, it's not a blow to innovation. The only reason Apple went after Samsung and not HTC or other Android handset manufacturers is because Samsung has gone into detail copying every small feature from Apple."

You claim that innovation is not harmed, and the basis for that claim is an assertion that Apple's motivation for pursuing a patent infringement suit against Samsung was due to poor behavior (detail copying).

And yet in every patent dispute, and there are many to choose from, Microsoft FAT file system, Intel frontside bus, Unisys GIF file compression, where the exact strategy was to assert the patent against the biggest and most difficult possible defendant, so that a win would cause everyone else to simply follow that decision rather than fight. If you do it the other way and start with the little guys, each time you sue the next bigger guy he's going to assume that because he has more resources he can win the fight and you're back in court. Doing it this way nobody thinks they are going do better than Samsung did and they will all submit to Apple's demands.

I claim it has absolutely nothing to do with Samsung's "detail copying" behavior and everything to do with the fact that Samsung is the single biggest, baddest, richest, manufacturer of smartphones after Apple.

I realize that I didn't respond directly to your claim of motivation because I did not feel it was supported by your evidence. You don't provide evidence of Apple's motivation, you don't provide a definition of 'detail copying', and you don't provide a rationale why details like 'rounded corners', which is one of the claimed infringements, should be protected.

When you re-iterated Samsung's bad behavior I guessed you were going for the karmic angle.

You've followed up your claim by trying a reductio ad absurdum [1] argument about copying. However it is trivially easy to poke holes in that argument by looking at the market we live in without the Apple lawsuit. There are no $10 Chanel bags being made by an otherwise reputable handbag maker.

So do you still think Apple was just mad at Samsung? And so you or I could make a rounded rectangle tablet device and they wouldn't sue us ?

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum
For however long I am able to move under my own power. Whether that's legs, arms->wheelchair or mind->computer->mech I'm good.
My company has been using a recruiter to try to fill two openings; one for a Rails developer, and one for embedded work. Weeks passed, and they hadn't sent us a single résumé. They claimed they were just being really thorough at screening out unqualified candidates.

A few more weeks without résumés passed, and we finally confronted them about the lack of candidates. They explained that despite their best efforts they couldn't find any embedded device developers who were also senior Rails developers.

I don't want to live on this planet anymore.
Moonwalker's (Armstrong's) 'a' got lost in transmission
You can't say they ran a bait-and-switch or anything; they laid out their plans right at the start. Viewers were confused about which character in the commercial represented Apple...
Has that happened to EQ, WoW, or other MMOs? They have same model of addition / exploitation.
I'm pretty sure that much of our improvement in life expectancy over the past century is due to the reduction in infant mortality.

http://www.livescience.com/10569-human-lifespans-constant-2-...
CodeSchool.com has a lot of great classes on a wide variety of programming topics. Also, think of a simple project you want to work on and do that.

DHH has a great post on learning how to program. http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2582-how-do-i-learn-to-progra...
I've been contracting for a couple years now and I haven't had to pay anyone commission to find me work. We're much more akin to contractor who work on people's houses than actors: referrals are everything. If you've done more than a few contract jobs of any significance and you aren't getting referrals, you might want to take a look at the work you are producing or the attitude you are presenting and figure out what is wrong.
So, as someone who's planning to implement a game using Canvas, I was annoyed to notice that there seemed to be occasional frame drops despite the extreme simplicity of this script. I went tested on Safari, Chrome, and Firefox, and although it used only a small fraction of CPU, it wasn't perfectly smooth in any of them: subjectively, Chrome was the best, Safari dropped frames a bit more often, and Firefox was quite laggy. I added a trivial FPS counter to the JavaScript and the results sort of mirrored my impression - Chrome almost always got 60 FPS but sometimes 59, Safari got 59 more often, and Firefox was sometimes lower - but I'm not sure 59 FPS adequately explains the glitchiness I experienced, especially in Firefox, which was subjectively quite awful.

Anyway, I'd like to learn where this frame dropping is coming from. I'm a real stickler about lag, and even though the effect here is pretty minor (except on Firefox), I find it unacceptable. Maybe I should try reimplementing this in WebGL or even pure HTML with image tags. Though, again, this game and mine are simple enough that all these approaches should be able to run at 60 FPS, the differences in implementation might be enough to push it over the edge and I have to make do with what exists.
You may want to look closer. Many are complete scumbags. Here are some things the unscrupulous ones do:

* Pretend to have positions they don't, so they can claim to have thousands of candidates on their rolls

* Edit resumes/CVs they submit to add fictitious information

* Scrape positions from companies and pretend they are front ending those positions, even though they have no relationship to the company, and the job spec says "no recruiters" or similar.

* Make no effort to match candidates and positions

ie they aren't offering actual work, they are lying about what they offer, and they do not have the companies or candidates best interests at heart. It is quite hard to tell the difference between a competent recruiter and a scumbag. One simple thing to do is Google parts of email they send you.
I'm able to watch shows just fine using Amazon Instant on Linux. What makes you think this isn't possible?
> A real question would be "What do you have to do against company policy in order to get your job done?"

Now that's a real good question.
I refuse to commute. It's maddening and unproductive. I much prefer a medium density mixed use walkable neighborhood. I'm actually working on a documentary about America's great towns and neighborhoods.

I ran an experiment with one of my friends who lived in swamp sprawl built over the everglades where I used to fish as a kid. When I was traveling he'd stay at my house in a walkable neighborhood. It ruined him. He was more productive, had more fun, went out more often, and was much more relaxed than when he was back at the swamp. Living it versus talking about it is a real convincer.

Richard Florida talks about the Creative Class and the Great Reset (both excellent books, though I don't agree 100% with his prescriptions) which dovetails with PG's essay Cities and Ambition.

One area where I disagree is the choice of vehicle. A ten year old hatchback is less than ideal. I twenty year old Porsche, on the other hand, is perfect.
I recently a got from a recruiter asking me if I had 8 years of Android development experience. I laughed so hard on the phone, she got offended
The largest Hollywood mega-agencies have their fingers in just about every pie that has money in it. Tech has recently joined that collection.

What agencies really do these days is "packaging". They put the actors together with a director and with money and producers. They're starting to package software development in related cases as well.

They aren't representing developers yet, but it's not a stretch to believe it may eventually occur to them.
Fine so Tapbots made a bunch of money on a Twitter client. So people get mad because they can't "me too"? Make something else. Maybe it'll tank. Maybe it'll go nuts and make you a millionaire. Probably it'll be somewhere in between. But at least you're being creative and trying to move forward instead of lamenting change
I have zero patience, want complete tasks with the minimum of fuss, but if found if stopped trying. To wrk things out with W8 and instead just tried to do them how thy should work then I was able to complete tasks so damn quickly.

It was quiet a shock because I am used to investing time in learning tools ( openindiana and VIM I am looking at you) and totally expected to go into the experience expecting the same, but I found myself just thinking about the task at hand and not so much interacting with a computer.
I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. I don't want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen; I want to live on in my apartment.

- Woody Allen
Well, the people were asked how long they wanted to live, not what they believe is medically achievable within their livetime. Only one percent wanted to live forever. That sounds like acceptance of death for me.
I agree with the gist of your comment (that we're VERY far away from anything like conquering mortality) but I am a biologist and I would describe myself as a transhumanist — not the Ray Kurzweil, this-is-happening-in-the-next-50-years sense, just in the sense that I think the transhumanist vision is something we should strive for (however far away it may be) and use an inspiration.
>> Yet we are composed of trillions of cells, all 'programmed' to deteriorate over time.

> That is incorrect. The diseases of aging are the result of evolutionary neglect, they aren't 'programmed in' as if there was a timer running.

No, the earlier poster is exactly right -- all living cells are programmed to deteriorate over time. There are no examples of immortal cells, with one exception -- cancer cells, like those that were harvested from Henrietta Lacks in 1951 and live on today in Petri dishes all over the world (so-called HeLa cells).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_Lacks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apoptosis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmed_cell_death

A quote from the second article: "Programmed cell-death (or PCD) is death of a cell in any form, mediated by an intracellular program.[1][2] PCD is carried out in a regulated process, which usually confers advantage during an organism's life-cycle. PCD serves fundamental functions during both plant and metazoa (multicellular animals) tissue development."

There is a reason we die -- it makes evolutionary sense. If there was an advantage to living longer, we would live longer. If there was an advantage to living a shorter time, we would live a shorter time. Our present lifetimes result from natural selection and evolution.
No one needs to accept anything, I'd much rather listen to a badly worded, foul mouthed tirade that rang true, than eloquent diction, suffering from serious flaws in logic.

And yes you can have both, but that is not relevant to the argument. The interesting part is that x, (being well spoken), is not a necessary and sufficient condition for y(having a solid argument), yet many behave as if that is the case.
Recent Hacks and Two-Factor Authentication
My mind is a function of my body. Living healthily for centuries to me implies that my mind stays normal too.
Aren't companies the "agents" of programmers?

If you're a talented developer, but with no marketing or other such skills, you join a company. For the sake of argument, let's call it a Software Consultancy. Then the consultancy finds you Gigs (i.e. takes on projects and puts you on them), and you get money.

Companies, in fact, solve another problem that acting doesn't have - namely, actors are hired alone. Software, on the other hand, is much, much more likely to be built by a team. And having a team brings you all sorts of other difficulties that customers can't deal with:

* You need a team that works well together

* You need proper management of the team

* You need proper processes in place for building the software

* In some cases, even access to equipment is an issue

In short, an agent that can represent a single developer is not the right "level of abstraction" for most clients.
The 'jail' is beneficial in that it allows high-quality apps to be made. If iOS users could just install apps from anywhere, piracy would mean a reduction in the quality and quantity of apps that developers are willing to make for it.

Even tech-savvy people buy iOS devices knowing that they are restricted in this way, and reap the benefits.
> How I went from concept to a billion dollar company, in 5 days

Easily answered -- he didn't. There's no "billion-dollar company" in the author's reality, or in his article. It's a scam headline. Not only is there no "billion-dollar company", the author is flat broke:

"I don’t want to waste anyones time here, if you want to fund me, please tell me how you could help me."

He could have saved several thousand words by saying, "I have a billion-dollar idea -- you give me a billion dollars. How about it?"
@cletus - Couldn't agree more with what you said

The in-app purchase is one of the worst elements of mobile gaming of all-time. The social games are complete shit and why Zynga is about to be de-listed from the market.

It's a shame there's so much emphasis on QUANTITY over QUALITY these days with both consumers and developers.
> Of course there some exceptions – programmers who are known mostly for their work. These are almost exclusively in the free software field though, like Linux Torvalds or RMS.

Linus really is known for his work, huh?
One word: Cellphones
Site's overloaded at the moment, here's the text:

I am deeply saddened by the passing of my good friend, and space exploration companion, Neil Armstrong today. As Neil, Mike Collins and I trained together for our historic Apollo 11 Mission, we understood the many technical challenges we faced, as well as the importance and profound implications of this historic journey. We will now always be connected as the crew of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, yet for the many millions who witnessed that remarkable achievement for humankind, we were not alone.

Whenever I look at the moon I am reminded of that precious moment, over four decades ago, when Neil and I stood on the desolate, barren, yet beautiful, Sea of Tranquility, looking back at our brilliant blue planet Earth suspended in the darkness of space, I realized that even though we were farther away from earth than two humans had ever been, we were not alone. Virtually the entire world took that memorable journey with us. I know I am joined by many millions of others from around the world in mourning the passing of a true American hero and the best pilot I ever knew. My friend Neil took the small step but giant leap that changed the world and will forever be remembered as a historic moment in human history.

I had truly hoped that on July 20th, 2019, Neil, Mike and I would be standing together to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of our moon landing, as we also anticipated the continued expansion of humanity into space, that our small mission helped make possible. Regrettably, this is not to be. Neil will most certainly be there with us in spirit.

On behalf of the Aldrin family, we extend our deepest condolences to Carol and the entire Armstrong family. I will miss my friend Neil as I know our fellow citizens and people around world will miss this foremost aviation and space pioneer.

May he Rest in Peace, and may his vision for our human destiny in space be his legacy.

BUZZ ALDRIN
And, not to put too fine a point on it, would you pay them their weight in gold? Let's say five times what you currently pay your devs?
Moreover, can you imagine America being so good at science without people the will to fail and fail again and again in order to pursue their passion?
"This surge comes mostly from improved hygiene and nutrition, but also from new discoveries and interventions: everything from antibiotics and heart bypass surgery to cancer drugs that target and neutralize the impact of specific genetic mutations."

No. This is a common misperception that's easily debunked with two minutes of Googling and I'm shocked to see this in an NYT article. The change is almost entirely due to reduction in infant mortality.

http://www.livescience.com/10569-human-lifespans-constant-2-...
Tesco Launch First Interactive Virtual Grocery Store At Gatwick Airport
> Are you saying you don't ever want to die at all?

Emphatically yes.

> That's interesting because there are some people who feel very strongly that they should die

People often accept what they feel they can't change, more because they don't see any obvious way to change it rather than actually liking the situation they find themselves in. That can lead to rather impressive rationalizations of why we "need" to die, but that seems like sour grapes to me. I think a majority of that set of people would choose to live forever if they actually had the option. If the option actually existed in practice, rather than in philosophical conversations, intentionally choosing not to use it would amount to suicide. I'm not suicidal, so I want to live forever; I really don't see a middle ground there, other than indecision and procrastination.

Frame the question inductively instead, to help people think about it less abstractly; I bet you'd get an almost universally positive response to "do you want to live at least one more day?". Or phrase it negatively and count the "no"s: I doubt you'll get many positive responses to "do you want to die tomorrow?", and the ones you do get probably indicate a need for immediate psychological help.

> Some people faced with certain death will go to very extreme lengths to prolong their lives by the tiniest amount. Others will accept it.

Depends on whether you think of "dead" as the absolute zero point on your value scale or not. If you don't, you can imagine scenarios in which you'd prefer death. Personally, I do see that as the zero point, so no scenario exists for which I'd consider death a preferable alternative.

> There's a sort of "natural way of things" mentality that is very pervasive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalistic_fallacy
Also called the "is-ought" fallacy, or biasing towards the current state as somehow more optimal than a different state.

I think almost all instances of this argument would very quickly dissolve in the face of an actual option to live forever, leaving only a few random fanatics who really believe that they "should" die.
Did Samsung get a chance to reject jurors in a voir dire process, as one does for a criminal trial? If so, it's hard to complain about the jurors after the fact.