skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Google's Android users activate one million new devices each day. This Linux based mobile OS has absolutely crushed Microsoft's mobile software, and has surpassed Apple worldwide.

I have begun to wonder that, given the evident superiority of Linux in mobile, given the lack of GNU within it, and given the central control of Linux mobile development by Google and Amazon, then to what degree has GNU and its development traditions held back Linux desktop adoption?

Thoughts?
Atari Arcade Games Reimagined With Create.js
HN Feature Idea: Add the ability to ignore particular users.
Over the last 18 months or so, I've started making liberal use of the "ignore" functionality possible in IRC software, forums, social networks, etc.

I've noticed a marked increase in my own happiness as a result.

Given the widespread belief that the quality of HN comments has gone downhill over the last year or more, perhaps adding the ability for individual users to ignore particular users who post less-than-helpful comments would be a good idea?

I'm imagining an "ignore" link accessible when you click on their username to view their profile page. This would prevent the link from being accidentally clicked.

I suppose someone could also create a Chrome extension to do it via JavaScript (hint hint).
anecdotal evidence indeed. that's precisely the point. there is no empirical evidence behind the vast majority of comments like these. conclusions without evidence or any indication of the methods used to arrive at them.

linux? are you kidding? this is exactly what i was referring to: assumptions. how did you conclude by booting an os i meant linux?

a true apple fanboy. thanks for sharing.
Job Seekers: Beware These Social Media Traps
If you don't like Apple Open WebOS and MeeGo are interesting open options, I hope these will gain traction. I have never been a fan of the whole Dalvik/JVM architecture on Android. The update mechanism has always been especially shitty as well, every single device seems to need massive amounts of driver tweaking and customisation making the whole point of Java and its high portability rather pointless.
Usain Bolt Workout Routine and Diet Plan
what about concurrency?
How are video games like a French Dip sandwich?
I'm the proud Loser of the bunch, behold my magnificent FAILS. (The ironic thing is, I do UI/UX consulting. So I make time to optimize other people's sites but not my own)

http://residentevilradio.com = -$10/month in shoutcast server hosting (will switch to HTML5/Flash jukebox soon)

http://timeforzen.com = $0 no monetization or affiliate links yet

http://tasck.com/2 (NOT finished, PRE-ALPHA) = $0 no monetization or affiliate links yet

===== Dead Links Below =====

http://moviestop.info (success, no income, now offline/sunsetted)

http://humanchan.com (failure, no income, now offline)

http://humanchannel.net (failure, no income, now offline)

http://onenotes.com (failure, never launched)

http://businessgardening.com (failure, no income, no traffic, now offline)

http://extremephotoshopping.com (failure, a little traffic, no income, now offline)

As you can see, I'm a designer (markup, some php, some javascript, some jquery), not a developer. I can hack things together, build original themes, but can't code complex things from scratch. So I have to stick with small projects that I can actually finish. It sucks but I'm working my way up. I've got some really interesting sites, products, and services I want to experiment with in the future as I learn to program as much as I can.

http://chrisnorstrom.com (the best site I ever launched, a small collection of my ideas and inventions (the non-patentable ones anyway) )

BTW, We should start a fail thread where everyone posts all the failed projects/startups they've worked on over the years.
More info please?
My opinion is that the fonts are definitely not correctly optimised. I think they require some serious hinting, the anti-aliasing on a lot of the vertical lines is really really bad. Great idea and I applaud the effort, but Typicons need some serious work before I'd consider using them.

As already pointed out, reminds me of Font Awesome: http://fortawesome.github.com/Font-Awesome/ - which did it correctly in my opinion and perhaps Typicons can learn a thing or two from that.
"With good taste" is an important part of the equation. Not trying to force a tablet interface onto dual screen workstations. No, they'll have to do a lot better. Experimentation is fine too, but do it in an unstable branch.
I'm a Reddit frequent user...I can't comment specifically on your assertions...just that it continues to amaze me how the site has remained as free from pervasive chiclets, (official) spam, and Digg-like networking...

Whether this was a deliberate plan or the byproduct of executive apathy, it's still quite amazing
In The World Of Tech, Women Can Have It All
1. Speed up Twitter reading http://nimblegecko.com

2. Automated transactions export from my bank(s)
https://github.com/ArtS/nab-export
https://github.com/ArtS/28degrees-export
(adding YNAB support at the moment)
> Imagine a decentralized app store where people can make a living without having to deal with apple's ridiculous review process or ideas of what's appropriate.

So far, "freedom of App Store speech" and money don't seem to be correlated at all. (Or all the millionaires on OpenMoko and Cydia are being quiet to prevent a gold rush on their turf.)

I think the only instance where Apple's guidelines are prohibitive to making a living is porn. I for one would be a thousand times more likely to pay for porn on the trusted platform that is Apple, rather than on some dubious website.

Is it possible to use this as an advantage against established app stores? Or is Google already established as the platform to be on for mobile porn? (I can't check first hand, thanks to Google's GeoIP madness.)
That's too bad, I had bookmarked it as a really good explanation of the difference between ko and backbone... Sorry for the bad link. I'll see if I can find the original text tomorrow.
This is a great piece.

Building and scaling a business model is just as difficult and important as building and scaling your technical platform. I think that people often talk in general terms about how they plan to monetise, but miss the details. It's one thing to have an overall plan (e.g. advertising) but as we start to get more detailed these plans tend to fall over.

Advertising --> Types of advertising (Banners? Sponsored Results/Posts? etc) --> Precise details (Where are you going to put the banner? How big is it going to be? How are you going to source your inventory?)

Bubble 2.0 was built by having big web 'properties' value themselves the same way they did 10 years ago. But as the article validly points out, the competition for attention isn't what it used to be, so the valuations don't correlate.

New hot startups are no longer 'properties' in the traditional sense and actually build businesses with technology as an enabling factor rather than an all-consuming strategy. I'm looking forward to seeing how these turn out!
Facebook Plays It Safe
I'd like to hear your thoughts about mobile. Everybody seems to be stampeding in that direction right now but you seem to have ignored it so far.

Is this a deliberate decision or just a question of sticking to tools/platforms you're more familiar with?
relax. God's just.

God says...
assaying seasons cogitation whereon purged explained encompasseth
pour remission hope unbounded salvation dragons lacketh
farness extollers view absurdity like frozen luminaries
willest Cambodia re-makest ever-present Julian contented
compassing pared repeated neglect beasts dust incense
dispense 2 dangerous forbid Whence habitation stretching
fulness redistributing hey_Mikey_he_likes_it addition
fallacies detain feigned am motion confusedness tide SUCH
recounts planets travail Wyoming Faustus fabulous praying
roarest sinned bondage were dispraised numbered degree
caught barren single-hearted Lithuania charged keeping
WooHoo grumble discuss religious pointed confidence Name
detriment Julian utterly mountains front she announcing
manufactures remedies discoverest bind bier abler not_good
apprehended spring absence wives' excelled snares digits
Right Royalties prefer an Hart correspondence how_come
editing Central hour law-skirmishes greater heresies attained
exultation companion extent fast keeping bemoaning widow
servant Bangladesh track prating respite Doth criticised
Enricher Trillion No Predicament phrases you're_no_fun
strikes unsearchable whispers toilsome holy-days living
attacked abased one-third Kentucky expect mighty cottage
Jew sensation wondrous transported state continued moist
healthy singeth Mary require Roman degraded incredibly
What makes you think that Jiro is happy? I got no such indication from watching the film.
Looks like you guys did a bit of a premature optimization there. I know how painful it can get :(
Scanning plan aims to help robots in the home
Microsoft’s unhealthy relationships
The site looks awesome and appears to have great monetization with links to amazon and ads from the BlogHer network. I recommend you experiment with "Add To Cart" links and buttons instead of "View On Amazon" because the cookie with a link to Amazon only lasts 24 hours and if they come back later and then buy the item you will not receive credit. But if you use the "Add To Cart" button, the cookie lasts 90 days!

This little known tip can net you a lot more money, it has worked for me... https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/help/t2/a...
How to set up a feature packed phone system with Asterisk for free.
Wow. You guys must REALLY be desperate.
What really bothers me about Unity is that I haven't seen it work. I've got a quad-core machine with a decent NVidia GPU and 4GB of ram, and I was seeing multiple seconds of UI lag, even on the 2D mode.

I switched to Xfce and haven't looked back. Everything is snappy, and everything is configurable.
Like many things, including works of art. But that doesn't mean it's worthless, and we shouldn't treat it as such.
I've registered to this site to let you know that I absolutely adore this work. I've added you as a contact on Flickr to see what else you are able to create.
This is very useful in a scenario where one wants the text to scale up and occupy space like it had been done on physical paper.

I remember attempting something like this earlier (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8421533/how-to-obtain-ctr...) but I am stoked by your approach.

Nice work. :-)
Reddit: Obama visit generates most activity ever
> I'm happy to answer any questions that don't give away what the site actually is.
I am now $120 poorer thanks to this 'free' movie.

After watching this movie you may be tempted to find your nearest high quality sushi restaurant, sit at the bar and ask the Chef to make you whatever he sees fit. This is a delicious but very expensive idea. I did get to try a number of dishes that I would never have ordered though ... all thanks to Jiro.
"But just when you think you know it all, you realize that you're just fooling yourself... and then you get depressed."

--A Fish Vendor
I believe Go is actually BSD-Licensed, not MIT. Though from what I understand these are very similar (permissive) licenses.
The Best Place to Get Fit (Hint: It's Free)
I think there is a middle ground - patents, if done "properly" is useful.

Perhaps, firstly, you have to have a more vigorous application process that is peer reviewed (where peers are basically your competitors!).

Secondly, you have to declare the valuation of the patent. This is then taxed by the government, similarly to property tax. If you decide to value your patent at $0, then you pay $0 tax.

The valuation of the patent determines the damage payment.

This combination means that you can't just keep a patent indefinitely, waiting for someone to infringe and then extract money from them. Peer review means that you can't patent something that will stop your competitors from continusing business. Real innovation will get thru because your peers will have no case of prior art, but "bad" patents won't get thru as your competitors will search hard for prior art to stop you (aka, incentives are aligned amongst the parties).
Don’t listen to the “experts”. 5 reasons why SEO is more important than ever
Weird... every sample link flashes the resume then shows 'ut oh :(' in IE9 and IE10... Odd, since I'm not seeing anything on this that would explain this technical limitation.
This is true, but also, competitors may find some of your strategies and numbers here. I know for a fact that people sign up for competitor services just to see what they are doing. I have live chat on my sales site and I have had competitors tell me they are ripping off my content, copy, etc...
Now I'll have to decide whether to replace my existing brute-force text-fitting code with your more optimal solution. Argh!
Despite new patch, Java 7 is still dangerous. Go with version 6.
Thanks, I should probably have actually mentioned what it does initially :)

Couple of minor points:

-F is actually 'quit immediately if the input is less than 1 screen-worth of text'. It means you can just pipe any old thing into it, and if it's only a couple of lines, you don't have to quit manually.

-e/-E is the 'quit when reaching input EOF', with a nice little trick that -e only quits the second time you reach EOF, so you can go right to the end of the file, and to quit just hit space or whatever to seek further.

The other thing is:

-R : Like -r, but only ANSI "color" escape sequences are
output in "raw" form. Unlike -r, the screen
appearance is maintained correctly in most cases.

whereas you're describing -r. I'd definitely recommend big-R if you don't enjoy periodic symboljunk terminal confusion.
Yeah I am sure government is the right place to fund innovation! (See how the NASA has been productive vs SpaceX for example) - and why don't you let the government run the production of cars, as well ? Oh wait, we tried that before. That gave Skoda and the Trabant in Eastern Europe. Clear examples how professional government sponsored innovation was.

No, thanks.
Non profits are businesses, they just don't generate profit as an organization.

For example, Many human services non-profits are structured like fast food joints -- the Executive Director makes $150k, and the people delivering services make $35k or volunteer.
Hynix (2nd largest memory chip maker after Samsung) and friends were fined just a couple years ago for price fixing memory, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10126755. If competition isn't a problem, why waste money on costly innovation?

Reminds me of Eastman Kodak circa 1975 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastman_Kodak#Shift_to_digital.

That said, this is pretty weak evidence of collusion.
Oracle CIO: Linux is Fundamental
“Me-too” products are fine
Saving the Earth by tackling a local issue like shutting down a coal plant.
Learning from Legends
I paid $.99 for the pack when I was prompted for it today after finishing the regular 25 levels but I'm always happy to support games I enjoy so it's all good. These levels are hard though! I got 3 starts on all the original levels and could only get 2 stars on the Spears and now I'm stuck on the boulder! I'll figure it out eventually... Keep up the good work. It's fun exercise for the brain. Oh, how about adding some sound effects or music. Thanks!
So that essentially gives you credit on their next purchase assuming they don't remove it from their cart immediately?
São Paulo, Brazil. I'm a full stack dev(ruby/node.js).

1. $30k/y
2. $20k/y
3. $50k/y

Salary rates here sucks balls, my dream is to get clients and then freelance(I'm awesome technically, but got no contacts or whatsoever) and make what an US developer would(60-70k).
It's a pity that we are still talking about things like syntax in the context of a next big language. Programs are still full of bugs, especially concurrent programs, lots of time and effort is still spent on testing. At this day and age, the NBL should be a language that helps or guides a programmer write correct concurrent programs with good performance. It should prevent programmers from making mistakes as much as possible. I think the NBL will be in the same school as Erlang and Scala.
Agreed, a landing page with 2 images isn't exactly a "show HN" worthy news item.
Thank you for linking those articles, that was very helpful.

That said, Google was lucky that there was a loophole in the patent definition. Imagine a world where Apple had actually obtained an airtight patent on a system that listens for single- or multi-touch gestures and switches between scrolling and pinch-to-zoom appropriately (which is essentially what the patent in question does). So, you'd be free to implement pinch-to-zoom as long as it doesn't infringe on that. Good luck.

(the point here being that, de facto, Apple would essentially have a patent on pinch-to-scroll. In real life [not in the proposed alternate universe] this is almost true -- there are loopholes, but you have to hire a patent lawyer to find and/or confirm them).
America always measures the wrong penis. It might travel a great distance, but the pipe is still tiny.
I recommend putting some sort of security seal or emblem instead of just "Protected." on the pricing page or and some other places... http://www.panic-press.com/pricing
Facebook Vows To Crack Down On Fake ‘Likes’
Can someone explain to me how PG funded Reddit when it was more like a HN clone?
The idea that memristers will bring forth true AI is just silly. It's all just turing complete computation, and the blocker on true AI right now isn't about speed. Otherwise we could still run it, just slower. And not actually that much slower, for that matter.

And that new architectures would be required is only interesting if you're a breathless industry press reporter. New architectures are required all the damn time for all sorts of things. Intel, AMD, and nVidia all pump them out on a yearly frequency, give or take a bit depending. Flash drives, even without memristors, are going to rearchitect "the cloud" in the next couple of years. Architectures flow like water in this industry.
Why wouldn't other ad networks be as effective as Google Adsense?

What makes Adsense unique?
Go's panic/recover pattern lets you handle exceptions in the place you feel is best, much like exceptions. Though it is true that you would still need to check the error returned, and panic if not nil.

However, there are a few libraries that offer 2 versions of the same functions, one that returns the value and error combo, and one that panics in case of error and returns only the value (regexp' Compile and MustCompile for example). When it makes sense, it's nice to have this option.

Anyway, error handling is hard, I'm not a fan of exceptions, though alternatives such as Node's error as first argument of a callback and Go's second return value require polluting the normal code path. I like go's "defer" idea as a "finally", though.
Ask HN: What are your failed projects / ideas?
Most people here seem to argue whether or not Apple have the rights to hold patents on what they did (and whether that should grand them protection). But where this argument is flawed, is that protection from being copied is not only centered around the patent system. There are multiple ways you can protect your inventions, through trade secrets, supply chain efficiency that nobody else can reproduce, through a software environment which is worth more in its whole than the sum of its parts.

We know Apple is already using all the above techniques to protect their business. They have an excellent supply chain, they obviously have preferential trade partners which enable them access the new technologies first before anyone else, and they have a iOS system which is well rounded for its purpose.

Net, they really do not need to leverage their patents protection. That could be an indication that they do not think they are going to be very innovative down the road, and therefore they just want to keep competitors as far as possible until they pull their act together again... or that they have too many lawyers with too much time on their hands to investigate how much harm they could do with claims based on air and smoke.

When a company resorts to such practices, it is usually not a good sign.
Yes, the calculation of a p-value is always done by assuming a specific model, though usually a less controversial one than what is proposed. But I wouldn't go so far as to demand smaller values.
I would prefer we stop thresholding so much altogether, and instead operate with the understanding that what has or has not been found is a suggestion with evidence for it, rather than fact, for all but the best-understood processes.

It is a difficult task for many people, who have been taught facts for decades, to accept that objective knowledge is hard to come by. But everyone understands the value and properties of a crude model.
The article's statement in the second sentence that al-Khwarizmi was an Arab is an error. The person you're responding to was almost certainly not being bigoted, he was reacting to a factual error in the introductory paragraph of the article.
Here is the fail thread:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4469081
The huge, HUGE advantage that the App Store brings to the average consumer is a feeling of safety. An app installed from the App store:

- Can be uninstalled easily, and leave no trace behind (remember "Register cleaners"?)

- Cannot interfere with other apps

- Cannot run in the background and spy on your surfing habits

- Cannot steal your credit card information and upload it to Russian mafia servers

For a long time, the standard geek response to these problems is "that's the user's problem -- they should be more careful about what they install". The response appears to be "fuck you, I don't want to waste my time worrying about whether this purple monkey screen saver will secretly empty my retirement account."

If you can find a way to make this "free and open" system also safe, then I think you'll have a winner.
I don't love the kingmaking economics of App Store distribution and don't know how to work them to my advantage. Price points for mobile apps are two to three orders of magnitude lower than software I routinely sell. The stores seem to be dominated by design, something that I am not good at. I prefer writing Rails to Java or Objective C. My consulting clients largely sell B2B software, and fairly little of that is currently mobile.

That said, there is literally infinite software that I personally will never write. That doesn't necessarily mean I would recommend against HNers looking at those projects either.
Thank you for the example, it's interesting to see k/v storage used for caching. I'll keep it in mind!
For the moment, I can say that MySQL has a nicely defined storage engine API which is why we release that, and that if you need something lower-level, please come talk to us because that's not the only thing we develop.

However, part of the point of storing things in a write-optimized data structure is that you can afford to store "the heap" directly in the index, and get good performance on range queries. Anyway, if you're interested, email us and we can talk about how we might be able to help.
I thought it was the other way around.
Note: Steve was exaggerating a bit, or this post misrepresents what he said. I can think of 12 just off the top of my head.

That said, many of them fit the same pattern:

reddit_thing_link
reddit_thing_comment
reddit_thing_user

...and each had a complement with "data" in place of "thing".

Though there were also ones like:

reddit_xref_subscription_user_subreddit
reddit_xref_vote_user_link
reddit_xref_vote_user_comment

...for the many-to-many relations.

That accounts for most of the big ones (though there are also a handful of smaller specialty tables, too.)

Also, the above is as of March 2011 -- a lot has moved to Cassandra since then.
One thing I dislike about less is that the compiler completely destroys whitespace. I think it should only do that if minify is checked, not by default. I don't want my project to be bound to less forever.