skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Yes exactly. Although I think with Generics they will probably come around at some point. If you read the link I posted they do recognized there are unsolved cases without Generics and while some people DO say "just rewrite your collections over and over when you can't use maps/slices", others recognize that this will lead to redundant code which is not something you want in a language touted for its maintainability.

Other problems though such as default function parameters are less likely to be addressed (it seems to me). This is a problem because it means lots of code will be written in which there are implicit defaults (just pass 0!) that are not well-understood or guaranteed by the interface. The answer there is "just write another method with a different name and parameters". Ok so now I have to think of sensible names for the methods that are exactly the same as another method except they apply defaults...and write and maintain more code of course - especially if its in an interface you re-use.
Are you sure? Putting Maps aside, Apple is currently dragging their feet (or worse) over Google Voice Search:

http://searchengineland.com/ios-users-to-get-enhanced-google...

Note the current Google Search app on iTunes (last updated on June 21, 2012 as of this writing, despite Google's announcement):

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-search/id284815942?mt=...
This illustrates another pain point for Apple: the inability to change default applications.

Say Google releases a maps app for iPhone. Every time you get an address in a text, email, Facebook, Yelp, etc it's going to open up in Apple Maps requiring you to manually copy/paste everything in another app.
Yes, Android's intents are nice for allowing users to change that.
It seems like such an innocuous thing, but Maps can truly make or break a phone decision. There is no question that Android has a considerably better user experience when it comes to Maps given the lead that Google has. That being said, Apple certainly has the cash and time to devote to this and a better competitor (and more effort in OSM) means that we all win in a way. So it will be interesting to watch it play out.

One minor gripe with turn-by-turn. If I'm playing music/podcasts, I would have expected the volume to mute on the other media when driving directions are announced. Not so, it just turns into a garbled mess.

The compression on Siri kind of sucks too.
Probably cost.

His past 10 years were on Mac, which i'm sure worked nicely for him, but (i'll bet) was on average 1.5x to 2x more expensive. He's realizing that the old Penguin can finally give him what he needs for less.
With the cash they have at hand I'm surprised they simply didn't buy out an existing maps provider.
I expect within a short time we will see an iOS Google Maps that is on par with the Android app.

I wonder if Google will do that. Surely they want people to use Android, and "better maps on Android", would be a nice selling point.
I'm always confused about people who complain about battery life not lasting over 10 hours.
America's Problem: The World is Beating Us in a Battle We Don't Want to Win
Apple aren't completly stupid. I doubt they'd delibrately hobble the iPhone by leaving this as the best maps you can get.
>> Point is, you can download an app that works better for you if you're not happy with Maps anymore, just like you could with all of the other built in Apple software.

Unless it “duplicate features that come with the iPhone” (http://m.techcrunch.com/2009/07/27/apple-is-growing-rotten-t...) or requires its own rendering engine (http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.cfm/2008/11/02/opera_m...) or competes with a profitable arm of Apple (http://m.lifehacker.com/5614752/grooveshark-iphone-app-pulle...)
Because of FakeSteve.
I understand the experience may not be ideal (I haven't tried it out yet, either), but take a moment to reflect on what they actually did: in a little over a year Apple completely replaced one of iOS's core technologies, one that relies on a mind-bogglingly complex and astoundingly huge data set, and is now pushing this out to millions of devices.

Most of us know what it is like to have to launch something. Launching something is never easy. We frequently talk about the MVP here on HN as well. Apple has done the difficult work of launching their MVP. Now they can make it better. It may never be as good as Google Maps, but that doesn't mean it will always be terrible.
it should delete Windows first
In contrast with Android where Google can remove most of the apps and majority of users stuck with 2.x versions won't even know.

On the serious note, I guess this sucks most for US users. In other parts of the world transit data was not available anyway, so nobody cares.
I don't think it's too bad actually, has much better search query recognition than the native app did.
That's the best description I've ever seen of the two party system. People will defend their fox news or cnn to the DEATH, no matter how much it goes against their actual self interest. Politics/tribes do crazy things to people...
>The creators of the language (who are not mediocre) like simple languages.

They are surely not mediocre programmers (or mediocre contributors to computing).

They are however mediocre in their modern language design skills. What are their language credentials?

Lars Bak is a compiler/language guy. Wirth was a compiler/language guy.
Hejlsberg is a compiler/language guy.

The Go guys? Not so much.

Having designed the best systems language 40 years ago is not a sure sign that you can also design a good systems (or not) language 40 years later. Compiler design has changed a lot since then, but it's not like Go has a lot to show for it (ok, they also wrote 1-2 other ho-hum languages, like the Plan9 one).

Plus, beside the language specs, there is also the compiler. Did those guys ever wrote a top-notch compiler? The original C compiler wasn't the state of the art in the language. It took lots of efforts and different companies to get to the advanced optimized C compilers we have today.

Plan 9 was far more impressive a feat than Go was, and much closer to where the team's skills are.
You don't need to include the source code to be in compliance with the GPL. You can easily have it downloadable from your website. You only need to provide it for about 3 years (IIRC). You can just have a note in your 'About' screen: "This is GPL software, go to http://www.example.com to get the source". That should suffice.
>in a little over a year

That's just a made up timeline. They may have been working on a maps replacement for years.
On the other hand, they are trying to monetize the Android Maps app by including paid local offers and the like. There's nothing stopping them from trying to make money from the iOS user base the same way.
You are right, Rob Pike said it was for "large teams". In most places (maybe not Google) "large team" will often mean an average skill level that is mediocre. I do not understand why a large team of very skilled programmers can't build large systems that are very maintainable in more powerful and expressive languages. I do not understand the argument that a language is "too complex" in this context.

edit: You are right and I added this to my top-level comment. The "mediocre programmer" comment is really out of line and a major distraction. I guess I actually think this IS a feature of Go: more maintainable code than C/C++ from mediocre developers. I'm bitter and tired ofdebugging twenty-year old C programs and I wish they were all written in Go. I shouldn't read that into Thompson's or Pike's intentions though.
The big problem I see is that Apple effectively removed street view from the iPhone as it's not even available in the mobile safari version of Google Maps.

I don't mind that they are working on their own maps, but I can't believe they couldn't have licensed Google maps for at least another year until their solution matured or offered some sort of advantage. The first iPhone brought the best mobile maps experience. The latest iPhone brings the worst.

To me, the real test is whether Apple will allow a map application from Google to coexist on the iPhone. I'm hoping they do. It's the right thing to do.
Given the supported browsers (IE9, Firefox 4, Safari 4, Safari 5, Opera, Chrome) I wouldn't think that is a major challenge. Essentially get it working in one and you have it working in all of the rest.
None of us will know the complete depth of their relationship, but TomTom shouldn't be so removed from this PR. What they should have said is "Although Apple provides additional layers of functionality on top of our map data, we've reached out to Apple to help support in fixing these issues."

That sounds a lot nicer than "it's not our problem"...
The issue isn't the Maps application, it's the dataset which in part comes from TomTom. Buying TomTom wouldn't have necessarily improved the data that TomTom would be using, they'd have just ended up with a GPS/Mapping company.

Incidentally they did buy a couple of companies related to mapping, so they've got some in-house knowledge of mapping but a poor dataset will always be poor no matter how many smart people are sat looking at it.
Does anyone know what it was sold for?
I don't know if they were predicting a HN size load in this stage of their development. When I interviewed Kaspar for this article he said that they're looking for funding this fall to help scale, which looks like a good idea. I found the service interesting though, well worth a bookmark!
Except the non-US mapping data seems to suck more than the US one, so they do care.
As for military spending, the US benefitted from that brief synapse in time in between the collapse of the Soviet Union/fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the emergence of another combatant 10 years later whose conflict with the US is almost as costly, and much more diffuse.

This is of course naive, if not disingenuous. It's as if he doesn't recall that our primary military engagement in the last 12 years has been in a country called Iraq. And that conflict did not "emerge" by any stretch of the imagination. It was invented out of whole cloth.
U.K. residents can now buy "social media insurance"
I need a cloud content management system, STAT : The WebPal Blog
Disappointed with the iOS 6 maps ? Why don’t you give OpenStreetMap a try ? http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/IOS - it won't give you pretty satellite imagery, but maybe you'll like the maps.
The big tools like Nginx probably compile on Mac. The edge you'll get from using Linux every day is troubleshooting tiny problems and picking up details about Linux's guts.

Questions like "Is my webserver going to perform well under load?" would be answered if you knew what epoll() was and if your server had it enabled, but you wouldn't really learn that until you messed with it on Linux. Plus it's just fun to tinker with your app's performance and Linux lets you do that in spades.
Google wants people to use Google, not specifically Android even if it is a handy portal into the world of Google Apps and Services.
Get the right monitor or set the resolution down - Linux just looks too small on a large hi-res monitor of today. I went to the electronic surplus place and got a couple squarish 19" LCD monitors (2x1280 x 1024) so much easier on the eyes.
This seems a decent description:

“If Condé Nast built FriendFeed.” --Venturebeat

It lets you make a website that pulls in content from your Facebook, Twitter etc, and themes it they way you like. Then that site becomes your "digital presence" which is jargon for "the site for people find out more about you, and maybe talk to you". All this is described on the homepage http://flavors.me/
The greatest disappointment (for me) comes from the fact that free turn-by-turn navigation is not available for iPhone 4. That particular feature made me happy about Apple's switch from Google's to their own solution. I couldn't care less for Siri, flyover maps or panorama (seriously, that one is iPhone 4S+ too), but navigation? That's a deal breaker.
If Google won't provide this with their app I won't stick to iOS when my contract ends.
They've bought at least 2 map-related companies so far (Poly9 and C3) and are using existing datasets (e.g. tomtom's), but Apple doesn't actually move really fast: just look at PA Semi, we're only finally seeing their work with the A6 (allegedly, to be confirmed). Apple bought P.A. 4 years ago...
DBAs and Developers Need to Better Segment Data Access
From a couple trapped deep underground:

"Is anybody up there? If you can hear us, friend us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!"
We are suffering an overload right now. Normally a test does run in 20-30 seconds. We're doing everything we can to serve all the users that have signed up today and scale our servers.

Sincerely,

Browserbite team
But not everything can be in open view of the public; it'd be nice to mention closed source projects you've worked on as well.
> Why didn't they just buy TomTom with their war chest instead of building in-house?

They're using Tomtom's dataset, it's not like buying the company would improve the quality of the dataset.
The LWF (lightweight fighter) project was a well publicized procurement program. The YF-16 wasn't designed in secret, it was part of a three way competition between Boeing, Northrup, and General Dynamics.

The fighter mafia had tremendous influence in the development of the F-16 (and F-18), but it definitely wasn't a skunkworks program developed in secret and only unveiled at a later date like the U-2/SR-71 etc.
Google Seen Taking Facebook's Crown in U.S. Display Ads
No. Google want people using their services. They don't care if people are using Android or not - Android is simply a platform upon which they can get users to use their services. That is their only vested interest.
Yes well, I was writing a comment that was already too long. Lots of comments could be better supported. I suppose I could develop this into an original piece with lots of code examples. I guess if I don't do that, I can't write any comments?
I've been on IOS 6 since a few days after the beta came out and I can tell you that the new Maps is nearly worthless, especially if you've entered a decent amount of data into Google Maps. Yes the navigation sucks, yes there's other huge basic issues, but the killer for me is that I have over 270 starred places in Google Maps and without being able to get to that data, Apple's new option is nearly useless.

I don't want to gloss over how much the basics suck on this app, they suck profoundly. The bookmarks is the worst loss though. I have an iPhone for work but I'm very glad I no longer am under a personal iPhone contract because with the lack of features in IOS 6, I don't see how I'd ever go back to using an Apple phone full time.
Mobile Safari is slow and crashy, good thing I can replace it with… waitaminute. As far as I know there's no decent replacement for Maps either; it remains to be seen if Apple will permit a direct replacement. If Google doesn't release one themselves, it could be problematic for a third party to create an app using Google's map API - that's centered around use in web apps, although their "Maps for Business" might be suited. Still, it's a hell of a risk to take. (but possibly with a handsome reward)
Formula 1's IT crowd: Software engineers power Marussia
Looks like the HN linkifier can't handle the dot dot dot in your last link. For anyone wondering why the link is broken, the third dot needs to be a part of the link.

https://github.com/ingydotnet/...
US Perspective on the European response to EA’s MoH:Warfighter
None of those things apply anymore.
Thanks for looking into this and working so hard on Vagrant. It's an awesome product.
+1 for specs, price, design, originality
-1 for closed source
I spat out my coffee at this point! Excellent :)
Experimental Clojure Support in Cloud Foundry
It doesn't work so well on the retina MBP though, and it might take months to get the drivers to work with the weird things Apple did to the Thunderbolt firmware.
I switched from linux to mac recently because my Ubuntu 12.04 laptop would randomly freeze after waking from sleep. I tried like 3 different solutions that I had googled but none of them worked.
It's about what "some people think". This is Computer Science. Things have a name and a definition.

By your logic "for some people, Earth is flat".
Several of Obama's policies (not including the health care bill) have been exceedingly pro-capatilism, and Obama is making huge huge pushes to bring manufacturing back to the states and create American jobs. Both of which you would think would cater to the Republican philosophies, but no, he's just seen as even more "socialist" with them.

And to try to lend a little credit to my statement, I'm independent, and tend to vote conservative/libertarian.
I agree. I also got a Mac back in 1998 because linux on a Notebook was a pain.

But since Apple started to take their developers as hostages (app store) and consumers too (closed systems like iPhone, iPad), I honestly think about linux on a Thinkpad again - or a Vaio. If we could only get Photoshop for linux...
The issue is we don't know why they stopped licensing, although if you follow the scuttlebutt Google hiked prices of mapping, followed by Apple announcing their intent to ship their own maps, followed by Google dropping prices of mapping. Might have been an unsuccessful negotiation, Google might have made high demands, Apple might have been cads. No one knows, what we do know is the licensing agreement expired and they couldn't arrange a new one.
> With the cash they have at hand I'm surprised they simply didn't buy out an existing maps provider.

That's more or less what they did, the maps are coming from TomTom and Waze. The main issue with the iOS 6 maps application appears not to be with the map data itself, but with the (lack of) points-of-interest and their accuracy, which cripples the search functions. A company like TomTom is mainly concerned with maps and points-of-interest for car navigation, much less with finding individual shops, landmarks or other places you find by other means than street address. Probably you won't have any problems finding gas stations, motels or roadside restaurants and such with iOS 6 maps, but good luck finding all widget shops in New York. TomTom's navigation units do have some points-of-interest outside of what you'd expect from a satnav, but it's a far, far cry from the amount of data Google has.

As it stands, I don't think there is any single party besides Google that has so much diverse geographically indexed data. There simply is no company that Apple could have bought to fill that gap. It will probably take them years to gather even half of the data Google Maps already provides.
When will Google submit it?
I suspect Google will let Apple (and us users) stew in this for a while. Just long enough so everyone feels the pain but not long enough for them to forget Google Maps

Personally, StreetView down every little single-lane road in Ireland is a big deal for me (landscape photography) whereas 3D flyovers are like the Coverflow of mapping (looks pretty but ultimately not very useful)
Enterprise Software Lessons: IT Services are Getting Sexy Again and VCs Love It
IPhone 5, the local maximum, and an important lesson for startups
Please don't take lessons from app.net. They may have some good ideas behind themselves, but quite frankly I have not figured what they are.
Actually the VCs are shitting their pants as MakerBot sheds its first and second most valuable resources - good employees and the community.

Though I thought the same thing when I heard some of the most recent decisions.
Hanidalqamouni
In many places OSM is the most accurate mapping system and overall it's very good, but my problem is, has anyone yet built an app worth a crap on top of it? One with turn by turn, etc?
Ok, all this plugin does is uploads your custom description/picture & adds social buttons? Why did even CodeCanyon accepted it... and why people upvote it here on hackernews?

It takes 20 minutes to write this plugin...
can you update us in a month on your experiences selling on codecanyon/envato ?
Gonna be interesting to hear Bre talk at Open Hardware Summit about 'business and sharing'.
From an iPad: http://i.imgur.com/0wXjk.jpg
>I wonder if Google will do that. Surely they want people to use Android, and "better maps on Android", would be a nice selling point.

The more difficult problem will be getting the app past Apple when it so clearly 'duplicates functionality in iOS.' My understanding is that one of the main drivers behind the change on Apple's part is that they wanted to collect user location data (and deprive Google of it), which doesn't do the job if 95% of the user base switches to the Google app straight away.
This is a valid argument and one that I originally did not see. It very well could be the same case as the YouTube app (Core App vs Third-Party App) where Google might have wanted more flexibility in updating its apps (not tied to the OS).
congrats to a once miami-based startup for getting an exit!
Just to add another data point, Arch Linux on X220:

1. 4-6 hrs with 6 cell battery.

2. Yes, Intel everything (HD4000, wireless, etc).

3. Yes, 1 resume crash total this year.

4. Yes, attached to external monitor via DisplayPort -> DVI right now.

5. Never tested.

6. Small, crappy. I'm one of those guys who disables the touch pad in favor of TrackPoint though.

7. Much better IMO, not a fan of chiclet style and Apple's "mushy" keyboards.
Is there a colored JSON dumper in Perl?
Google Chrome Experiment - Control the environment with your webcam
Get up from hotel room and leave before 8 to make it to the conference. On the move all day till it ends around 6. Starving. Time to Yelp up a good place to eat in this town and map my way there. Oh wait.

God help you if you took pictures or used your map application much during the actual course of the day.

The day smartphones can allow a user to use every core application heavily (maps, email, voice, camera) all day from the time they leave their bed in the morning till the time they return to it will be a great day imho. It isn't every day that you're travelling for business, but it's these users and these situations that feel the pain points of battery life the most. It happens to millions of people all the time, every day.
I'm not sure that's a great comparison: four years would seem about right, given PA Semi's main expertise at the time of acquisition was Power rather than ARM. Designing a custom ARM core isn't rocket science, but it's pretty close: plus you've then got to actually get the things fabricated at sufficient yield.

I am not sure they could have done things much quicker to be honest.
>> "a plan to take key government agencies and military outfits offline and onto the new network by the end of September. "

If I'm not mistaken, the US govt has "offline" internets, as well as stripped down and monitored internets. Not for all the citizens of course, but naturally for the key govt agencies, no? Doesn't really seem like news to me.
I've noticed an increase in immature sounding posts on HN lately. Isn't school back in session yet? What (or witch?) profession finds it 10x more useful to have a laptop with a higher pixel count but still a standard, unimpressive effective resolution?
>I actually can't find a single language site that looks good

Are you a graphic designer or something? You must surely speak for some very superficial, cosmetic issues.

Those websites you mention are mighty fine, especially Go's is very well organized.
Optional Parentheses: You're Doing it Wrong
His point is still pretty valid. How long would it take you to develop and roll out the maps application at the quality it is now, for a MVP?
no demo? not many would be interested to buy without seeing a demo