skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Generally 7 days, though it depends on the card issuer.
This is actually a pretty good upgrade IMHO.

The backlight is a huge upgrade - I have wanted this for years. And a sharper screen is always great. I bought a $79 Kindle last year (over the Touch) because it was smaller and had physical page turn buttons. I'm probably going to upgrade as soon as this is actually available.

I'm not crazy about the lack of physical buttons, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Color e-ink would be great, but from what I hear, the performance just isn't there yet. Hopefully next year.
PREVIEW of new iPhone app
Here is a preview of an iPhone app I've been working on. I'm a USC college student in LA... feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thanks guys.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Hello/5067677
But grandma@aol is a valid email address (if aol were to become a proper TLD with an MX record).
the company is denying this - http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/09/06/fingerprint-scann... (link from late in the article) - but the vulnerability sounds like it could be relatively easy to check (for example, are the stored passwords the same length as the plaintext, or a typical AES block size?).

does anyone have this installed? if so, what do the data in the registry look like?
A lot of my friends have the opposite problem. They're in college in order to learn programming so they can make games, but they seem too content with enjoying other people's games to realize how satisfying it can be to actually create your own.
Doubtfully a popular opinion, but I'll throw it out there anyway. In finance it's common to assume the winners (aka. those that float to the top of hedge funds, investment banks, etc) are worth observing as a result of their apparent success, however it's considered prudent to ignore the winners and instead observe what the losers have done, as few intelligent people in that sector believe a consistent winner is little more than someone who has had a good run of luck.

Following from that, if pg wasn't a "winner" there is very little to differentiate him from what 1,000,000 others have tried and failed. Circumstance and context are a frighteningly arbitrary decider, and therefore I don't think this question is particularly meaningful.

[edit: this is not to suggest that dumb luck alone is enough to create a success, it's just that intelligence and tact alone are often not enough to create success either]
I'm a solopreneur, and I work on iOS apps. I've been at it for 2 years now (!). I have not outsourced to contractors, and have been doing all the coding and art myself.

Check out my apps at: http://www.squarepoet.com/

My best performing app is Tiny Piano, which recently reached 2 million downloads: http://itunes.apple.com/app/id477014214
I also recently updated my Japanese learning game: http://itunes.apple.com/app/id492005575

My company became profitable starting this June. Tiny Piano has made enough revenue over the past several months to pay all my bills, though revenue is dropping fast. :-) That's how the App Store works... you get an early bump and then your downloads begin to trail off.

I left my full-time job 2 yrs ago, and so I spend most of my waking hours hacking on apps.

I'm a pretty competitive person, so wanting to "win" or wanting to "not fail" keeps me motivated enough. I have a few concrete goals that keep me focused. 1) Get 10M+ downloads so I can say on my resume that I made a "hit" app. 2) Buy a house in the Bay Area. :-)
A nice list of tools. We tried to use Python 3.0, but had the same problems as the author...

And if you are lucky enough to have free-ish access to MATLAB, here's a free, BSD, open-source, github repo'd machine learning toolbox to help you get started:

http://www.newfolderconsulting.com/prt/

Full disclosure: I'm involved.
I would love to hear what restrictions you think you can place on a Turing complete brower extension (a model that already has tons of permissions that apparently aren't enough) would let you know that a sufficiently large subset are sufficiently safe to allow $5/app to be enough to subsidize screening the rest.

In this case, this is a browser extension, and the goal is to edit the page: there are tons of such extensions; while a couple of these had obvious "talks to the wrong server" problems, various of them were correctly only editing pages on Facebook, but were doing so maliciously.

The price point we are talking about here is simply so low: $5 is only going to purchase 40 minutes of a minimum wage employee... we aren't even talking a junior supervisor at a fast food restaurant, we are talking about the entry-level "try to get the orders in the computer right" position.

At these prices, even just reading the description and figuring out "oh, this should only be able to edit pages on this one website" is already going to be expensive. Figuring out "should only be using DOM to remove nodes and not add script elements" is impossible.
It was James Strachan who said that. He is credited with the initial idea and set the project in motion in 2004. He stopped commiting in 2005 and Groovy 1.0 was released in 2007.

He made the scala statement in 2009. He's certainly entitled to his opinion. But I find the title "Author" or "Creator" a little harsh to people like Guillaume Laforge and others who have really brought the project from beta to 2.0 in the 7 years since he quit.
What type of consulting work did you do before Viaweb?
>In a parliamentary system, the people vote on a party, rather than a person, and the party decides the individuals who get elected

Are you sure "parliamentary system" is appropriate here?

The UK has a parliamentary system[0] - and we vote for MPs, not parties, despite some people trying to change that.

[0]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliamentary_system
I bought a Nexus 7, thinking that it would replace my Kindle (with the benefit of also being a tablet). I found that, even thought the Nexus 7 is higher resolution, it's harder on my eyes for some reason. So I sold the Nexus 7 and went back to the Kindle...
People in power should be exceptionally developed in all core fields: sciences, mathematics, technology, medicine, law, history, language, psychology and philosophy. Only then will they wield enough knowledge to be able to make decisions with good reason. I agree with the article, there needs to be a balance of knowledge among those in power which does not exist now. This will allow for better, faster progress.
I cant speak for other parts of Canada but the startup/hacker culture in Toronto is definitely getting better. I find most companies are bootstrapped small businesses compared to the typical VC backed longshots you read about here - Nobody's giving you ten million dollars to build a photo sharing app around these parts.
The open source community arose when there was no clear business incentive- not all technology is driven by money. However, it's unclear that open source would be doing as well as it is doing today without help from corporations.
That's a big overgeneralisation. Scientists can often be seeking to further their own agenda and politicians can often be trying to legitimately improve things. At the end of the day most examples of both are really driven by some form of furthering their career. Scientists usually need funding which can be difficult to come across if you're doing the "wrong" things. Politicians usually need votes and campaign contributions which can be difficult to come across if you're doing the "wrong" things.

That said, at the end of the day scientists win when they can make statistically viable predictions and politicians win when people like what they've done so it's not as if they're exactly the same. But the engineer-type tendency to reduce this to your simple one-liner hurts far more than it helps.
The higher contrast is pretty neat, but was hoping Amazon had figured out how to significantly improve on the slow response rate of E-Ink.

Slow UI or animations (ahem, looking at you iOS/OSX), are for me personally, a serious distraction to the reading experience.
what would be the reasoning for discipline? afaik this isn't doing anything wrong, besides the risk of bringing down a system when CDing into a huge dir... but then, you could do that anyway
Special pleading from vested interests who just don't understand the Internet
Exits. I need to learn now to do that.
1) All tax returns are live until the statute of limitations for assessments expires, i.e., usually 6 years. Tax software propogates changes from prior years to the current years. Prior years within the SOL are kept "live" b/c amendments need to be propogated to subsequent years. There is no distinction between historical returns and "working copies."

2) Tax returns are either filed electronically, using files with no DRM (per IRS instructions), or via printouts. Digital copies are distributed by the client themselves, so any DRM would be imposed by the client, not PwC.
Hence, it is completely unreasonable to expect that PWC would use a DRM solution like the purported software for tax returns.
awesome site.
I do believe there's a pg essay on this very topic.
Thanks, but I'd rather not root my device quite yet.

You have a Nexus S on AT&T? Not 4g or anything? I called up Samsung customer service just now and they said no AT&T phones have the update yet.

It's difficult to know who to blame.
They should do this anyways. It's well known to the technical elite that dragnet surveillance is going on— but it's not known to the general public.

It's arguably immoral that the site doesn't switch to https by default and give the public the privacy they think they already have.
Is PagerDuty worth it for $18 per month? For a 5 person team its $1080 for an entire year to do something that a small script + Google Calendar could take care of. Maybe I'm missing something? I'd love to hear a story about how a feature of PagerDuty saved somebody's butt.
The dk zone still has an A record (as one of the few?), so http://dk./ is a working web site name (though it redirects the the longer official Danish NIC).
Hahah yes you're correct. We do client-side auto-suggest on email validation, so we can ask "Did you mean to type grandma@aol.com"?

We have seen a real email address without any dot, and it routes successfully to a TLD MX exactly like you describe so yes, it does happen. :)
It's not just the Amazon App-store apps, it's Amazon services/features like Silk, Whispersync, and X-Ray.

That said, I'm seriously curious if Amazon is still using a highly modified, improved, Android 2.x fork for their release version.
Your eyes can tell the difference if the backlight is a completely different color/intensity from the surroundings, though. In candlelight, kindle vs monitor/phone is an easy win for the kindle. (Yes, maybe I'm old-fashioned for using candles, but they have a pleasant light which helps me actually get tired enough to sleep). f.lux or redshift helps a bit with monitors, but it's still no competition.
Is it just me, or is Microsoft getting cool again ?
Giant step forward.

Requires an $89 proctored exam, which is in line with the cost of other exam-based credit (dantes, clep, etc).

Very interested to see where this goes from here.
What makes you say that. Just make sure your server are on the same network.
Assuming the market hadn't changed, and you still had a big market for something like Viaweb, would you still use the same technology stack? Would you still use CLisp, or Clozure/SBCL/ABCL?
The simple reality is scientists don't say things people like.

If you ask a scientist what you should do about your medical condition, they say unhappy, unreasoning things like "the best data we have at the moment says you should do X and it has a 63% chance of showing some improvement but you need to watch for side effects A, B, C, and D"

If you ask a homeopath or other snake oil salesman what you should do about your medical condition, they say happy, reassuring things like "You should do Y. I'm sure it will help and it has no side effects".

Scientists suck at selling things including themselves, and politics is all about selling yourself.
I used to consult for a company called Interleaf, which was one of the few places that used Lisp at the time.
> questioning pre-conceived notions in the face of findings that conflict them

In science, extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. The bigger the claims a hypothesis makes, the more skepticism you should have about that hypothesis.

In political terms, the bigger the policy you're talking about, the more skepticism you should have about that policy.

This mindset leads toward literal conservatism -- always make small steps away from the status quo -- or libertarianism -- we need to be skeptical of government, so let's make it as weak as possible, and move powers as close to the bottom of the pyramid as possible (i.e. get the federal government's fingers out of housing, education and healthcare, and leave them up to state or local governments.)

Why so many scientists are pro-big-government lefties has always completely baffled me.
Hipmob gets its first iPad app (and more)
Hmm, in the interest of full disclosure here I was working at Google when the Ground Truth project went from a 20% project to a more serious effort. My impressions of its impressiveness may be clouded :-).

Yes, NASA, Digital Globe, Et Alia, have built geographic information services (GIS), there are constraints, both on the data and on what you can do with the data. Google bought Keyhole [1] (the satellite imaging company) discovered that even if you had a satellite image you don't necessarily get to do what ever you want with it, and went out and funded their own satellite [2]. And of course you drive around cars and take pictures of everything, that seemed a little bit crazy at the time but folks like Trimble wouldn't let you use data about streets for doing directions, and then of course different data sets were all slightly 'off' from one another which is really illustrated in the article.

So various folks have invested in one part of the problem, but few have invested in solving the bigger problem, and assembling that solution for disjoint offerings is problematic and expensive at best, and impossible at worst.

That is what I considered the mind boggling investment. And of course the recent tit for tat maps announcements by Apple and Google just reminded me that both companies are pouring in a lot of resources. And yes, Microsoft is right up there as well.

Its quite the barrier to entry if you want to a map based startup. (or at least a huge dependency on an external parties continued pricing model)

[1] http://googlepress.blogspot.com/2004/10/google-acquires-keyh...

[2] http://www.googletutor.com/geoeye-1/
Nobody is complaining that they fake the screen of the device in a commercial. Yes, it's hard to film that. But when you are showing off imagery that is supposed to be coming from the device it had better be accurate.
You're supposed to authorize at time of purchase and capture only when you actually ship the goods.

I also believed this to be true, but wouldn't that mean Kickstarter (and therefore Amazon) are flagrantly violating T&Cs? I wonder if Amazon has a special arrangement with the main card issuers in this regard.
Thanks for your response. Some people have tried to tackle this problem but, I feel it can be done much better and as you said, incorporate some kind of social elements.
It helps to look at it this way: is the actual business activity of getting goods from point A to point B related to the state for any economic or business purpose other than incidentally transiting through the state? (For example, are goods being delivered to customers in that state?) If so, you may but probably do not have a business activity in the state.

With a travel company, the distinction is that the journey is as much a part of the business activity as reaching the destination.
By my reading of RFC 822, commas are technically valid, as long as they are properly quoted, as in: "Doe, John"@example.com

Of course, whether any email server actually accepts that is a different story.
Yes exactly. We validate client side using typical JavaScript, and we also validate server side.

In our case, accounts may be created by third-party apps using REST JSON APIs, so we want to let the third-party app know that the email address isn't RFC-valid.
The ENCODE Project (Encyclopedia of DNA Elements): 5 years and 400+ scientists
Don't you need a relevant degree to call yourself an 'engineer'?
Apes Love iPads
"9.1mm thin"

It's kinda like "40 years young", I guess. 5'9" short.
Are you asking what I'd use if I were building Viaweb today? The answer to that is probably Arc, though that says more about me than about currently available technologies.
Thanks for your response
At least now it can hit a worm hole and the Veloxi will know Earth's inhabitable. Thanks NASA.
Apart from the obvious problem of letting third party software have full access to your bank account.

It's a breach of my bank's terms of service, so I would be responsible for fraud if I used it. No thanks.
> An exclusive look inside Ground Truth, the secretive program to build the world's best accurate maps.

Meanwhile, there is another program to build the world's best maps, which is quite the opposite of secretive, involves hundreds of thousands of volunteers around the world, offers public dumps under a free license, and has already outperformed Google for some areas and use cases: http://www.openstreetmap.org/
Yes, that is a fair point.

Nevertheless, I can't think of a way to get internet access where you don't have to trust someone at some point (except perhaps for Tor).
Kindred Spirits
It's explained under the section "Why You Need a VPN, or How You Can Benefit from Using One", which has dot points for different types of users.
With the release coming up, if they don't have the software running on a dev kit by now they have far bigger things to worry about.
That's a very good point. The majority of people have no idea that many Governments are already monitoring and data mining everything they say or do online. Websites should already start switching to HTTPS (or SPDY) to protect their users against this stealth monitoring, of which they know nothing about.

But if they don't and if this law passes (I hope it doesn't) maybe some good will come out of it, and it will jumpstart a trend for switching to encrypted connections.
This means they lost all the credit card numbers.

I am a customer and would LOVE to cancel but they have us by the shorts.

Switching billing systems is a nightmare and they know it.

I wish recurly would go under because of this (only after I switch).
Are you suggesting that the success of Viaweb was inevitable?

There are a million possible failure cases for any startup, including a large number that are for all practical purposes out of your control - a car accident could disable a key participant, a better competitor could suddenly pounce on the scene, fraudsters could decide to make you a target, etc. With all due respect to PG, you don't have to change the world much to see Viaweb fail. Even with hindsight.
What are good job boards for Bay Area startups?
I really want to find a job with a San Francisco start up. (Remote ideally, but hey beggars can't be choosers.)

I've tried the HN Who's Hiring threads, and the SF Bay craigslist resumes section, and gotten some responses.

Are there any other good jobs boards out there that startups keep an eye on? Thanks!
Your fee structure is pretty expensive as well.

Yes, but just for my part I'd certainly let them take another couple of percent (on top of the 3.9% I'm already paying with Pro) for better service :-)
If they built the same kind of tools as what GT uses, maybe they could make better use of the thousand of volunteers?
The US is supposed to be a representative republic. I suppose this is mostly theoretical, but we shouldn't be voting for Pepsi vs Coke, we should be voting for an individual to serve in our region as representative.

In direct response to the original post, Congress was not designed to invent a nation over and over again, it was designed to be a representation of regions. So scientists should represent regions where science is a major industry.
Anybody have a guess of what it would cost for Wikipedia to do 100% SSL for a country like Great Britain?
I tracked down this snippet which says who built it:

"A feature it shares with the BBC is that it is an all-British product; designed by Acorn, it is being built by ICL and Cleartone with custom-built chips by Ferranti."

From this article: http://www.stairwaytohell.com/articles/cr-BBCMicro-CToday.ht...

This from The Reg has detail on production and the race to win the place as BBC computer partner - http://www.reghardware.com/2011/11/30/bbc_micro_model_b_30th....

This guy, who appears to be an authority, mentions the above and AB Electronics, see http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/Computers/BBCMicros.html. He details info on the companies in the Acorn ecosystem, http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/Companies.html, but appears to miss out the suppliers ...

http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/docs/Mags/AU/AU_Nov84_IndiaTakes... gives detail of the Indian manufacture by Semiconductor Complex Ltd [under license from the American Rockwell Corp] and Mexican production by Harry Mazal (a company). It notes that the ULA will continue to be made by Acorn themselves (presumably in the UK).

>In both China and India, the consumer markets are comparatively small, but, as the
Indian deal shows, the educational and industrial sectors are massive. And both countries are crying out for western technology //

Talk about turn-around.

--

Edit:

http://yourcomputeronline.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/bbcs-prot... mentions:

>Acorn will probably subcontract assembly to Cleartone in Abercarn; the Department of Industry’s £60,000 contribution meant that assembly would have to be in Britain. It will be marketed under licence from a box number, by mail-order. //

Looking back http://acorn.chriswhy.co.uk/Computers/BBCAI2.html shows an Abercarn manufactured issue 2.
This is great! Back when I used the keychain exclusively, I looked at getting all this data out in an automated fashion in order to sync all my passwords to my iPhone. It definitely wasn't an easy thing to do (without lots of modal pop-ups, anyway.)

I wound up deciding it was a lot easier and cheaper to just switch to 1Password, and havn't looked back, but remember the frustration I felt due to the fact that this data was so hard to get at.
Musicrage - Pay as much as you like for your music
I must be missing something because I don't see what's unhealthy about those waffles. They're primarily made of flour, not issue there, and they're not particularly high in fat. It's not like they're sugar-glazed cereal.
Do the math.

What's your downtime cost?

What's your implementation (and testing) cost of your home-brew alternative?

How are you going to document your homebrew alternative?

Odds are good that your DevOps hire will be familiar with Pagerduty (or something like it, though probably worse).

PD works, is straightforward, has plugins to other alerting tools (Nagios and New Relic off the top of my head), has multiple contact methods (SMS, MMS, eMail, phone).

Pagerduty is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead. Or your site comes back up.

Just a happy customer (despite their core competency being waking me up at 4am -- but given that that of itself is a momentous task, that they're good at it says something).
That's a strange kind of argument for favoring something "as a techie". Wouldn't you be more excited by the two extra cores (not to mention the additional "phantom" core) that tegra 3 provides.
I thought OSM was copyleft similar to the GPL. Can you combine OSM with proprietary data and without the licence forcing you to open up everything?
I think this looks interesting and I will order one. The only thing that annoys me about the Kindle is that you can't set you own lockscreen image, even if you buy the non-ad supported version.