skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
>Build quality of this level is inherently luxurious, IMO.

I don't know what that means. If you're saying that all smartphones at this level are luxurious then why do you care that the term 'jewelry' is being thrown around?

>Which was that I prefer objects that wear well to objects you must protect with cases that sort of defeat the purpose of having something of such high aesthetic quality.

Your point makes less sense to me. When has metal been lees durable than plastic? Metals traditionally dent and plastic cracks. I view the latter as being far worse.
Why are HNers totally incapable of evaluating high quality products? This situation is even more egregious since the high quality product costs the same as the low quality product.
Perhaps someone felt that it inappropriate to call the author out by name, and didn't feel that referring to them by a completely appropriate gender pronoun was in any way offensive... because, you know, being a woman isn't some kind of insult.

If it had read, "He's a data geek..." it would have only have been offensive because they got the gender wrong.
Frankly, I'm glad my home screen on Froyo hasn't changed in 5 years.
Cyber threats that small businesses can't ignore
Not all of them use closed-source non multi-platform libraries.

Unity a closed source game framework was recently ported to linux(just the framework, not the development tools).

There is a partial reimplementation/clone of XNA called MonoGame.

If there isn't a version of a library for linux I guess they have to re-write it. If they are re-writing for mac/linux at the same time they are more likely to use(and benefit from) cross-platform libraries for those ports.
La salud esta en tu hábitat - Stop contaminación electromagnética
I don't know what point these reviews serve now. we all know the facts, we can all draw conclusions. I don't need to read 5,000 words to tell me that the phone is pretty, feels good, has a bigger screen, but maybe it's too big, is quick, has an aging OS, etc... same old song and dance
IIRC, the neutron branching fraction for the proton-boron reaction is around 1%. So it is not clean, but the flux is low enough not to do much damage to the walls of the fusion chamber.
> First and most importantly lets highlight an exceptionally important issue that well equipped web developers _always_ seem to forget: 2.X was 84% of Android market share as recently as a month ago. ICS and Jellybean are tiny by comparison.

Fair point, but... the overwhelming majority of those users (2.2+) can use the latest Firefox, nearly all of them (1.6+) can use the latest Opera and most (2.3+) will be able to use the latest Dolphin when it comes out of beta. All of these browsers are leaps and bounds ahead the stock Android browser for 2.X and Android lets users change the default browser nearly seamlessly.

Now, granted, none of these browsers is considered important today because they have little to no mobile penetration, but then, mobile web developers could influence that, if they chose to.
"it’s pretty cool that Amazon is joining companies like Pandora, Spotify, and Zynga who give the power to choose back to their customers."

Zynga? Giving "choice" back to their customers? I'd say that's a stretch.
> And transit integration is important ONLY for those in the US but poorly implemented/not existent in the rest of the world

You are wrong. Hint: I don't live in the U.S.

> Most public transport providers I've seen have had their own dedicated apps for transit for years now.

... and most suck. Even those that don't suck explicitly, suck simply by requiring the user to switch apps for something that is very naturally integrated with mapping.

And of course in the case of cities like Tokyo, where there are dozens of different rail operators, and a single trip often involves more than one, provider-specific apps are a decidedly poor solution.
But a lot (most?) cable/satellite stations show ads. So I'm paying for the content with my wallet AND paying by sitting through ads.
The big benefit of 30x500 that I've seen is the peer-group through the very active mailinglist.

Also a lot of good marketing/copywriting advice and feedback that you'd otherwise not get.

Whether you'd like to spend the money is another question of course.
Felix Salmon is a noted writer in the financial world; it seems like the context is being missed.

A few years ago the U.S. investment universe could have been stylised as two mutually exclusive sets: regulated securities available to everyone, e.g. exchange traded stocks, and loosely regulated products for sophisticated investors, e.g. hedge funds. Common to both sets is that the agent, e.g. public company CEO or hedge fund manager, has a fiduciary obligation to act in the best interests of the principal, i.e. the investor. The JOBS Act muddied the line between sophisticated and unsophisticated investors but maintained what constitutes an investor protected by their fiduciary rights and what constitutes someone giving money away. Enter Kickstarter.

Kickstarter says its campaigns are donations and not investments. This is crucial as it keeps them from having to comply with securities regulations, which have a higher bar for fraud than consumer or donor regulation. For example, failing to deliver a promised product would be grounds for scrutiny into whether the company acted in "best interests" of its fiduciaries - presently, a Kickstarter campaign has loose to no fiduciary obligation to its donors. Felix Salmon argues that Kickstarter campaigns are closer to investments than not and so should be fiducially obligated to their donors/investors.

The greater debate is about who should be protected by fiduciary rights, who should be allowed to participate in what kind of investment, and how we trade off inclusion in capital gains against the risk of fraud and public disillusionment in the capital markets. Whether WiFi circuitry can reliably survive 85 degrees Celsius is a side, albeit still interesting, concern.
I would be very surprised if the Google (search) website could share information like location with a hypothetical Google Maps app. And even if it could, I would expect Apple to shut down that avenue eventually.
I think the new screen resolution is a terrible terrible decision, I like a phone/tablet that has about the same aspect ratio as a piece of paper. For me, 4:3 and 3:2 are ideal. I have no use for widescreen, especially when I am normally viewing the screen in portrait.

I won't be installing iOS 6, I don't think it's finished and shouldn't be released in its current state. Too much functionality is lost with new maps.

I get the feeling that it's all downhill from here...
Nearly useless except at McDonald's, 7-11, CVS, Foot Locker, American Eagle, Jamba Juice, some Starbucks......
I'm surprised you would actually take the statistics seriously. At face value, the article is pure entertainment. I would not consider an evaluation of a lawyer as a liability or an asset to be something that can be measured objectively. Every client is different and every client's situation is different. And it is the client who ultiimately decides whether the services are an asset or a liability, and no one else. My opinion is that lawyers do not add anything to the client's bottom line (but it doesn't matter what I think, only what the client thinks). In my view, lawyers function to limit the costs of the client's activities to the client (while at the same time adding to the client's costs themselves with legal fees). In other words, they operate to try to minimize the client's losses, to limit the client's liabilities. But we often have no evidence that such losses would have occurred absent the lawyers' involvement. We resort to speculation. Unfortunatley, lawyers play on fears to generate business. But there are some situations where this is not necessary, because the fears come from a real situation not a hypothetical. In these situations, there is a real, measurable risk of loss.

That's why I gave the (extreme) example of facing criminal charges. That's a situation where the losses seem quite imminent. The chance of serious losses is real and the accompanying fears are justified. I would argue society needs enough lawyers to handle those types of situations. Clients with serious problems where loss is imminent. But beyond that, it gets very subjective and very speculative. Needless to say, lawyers are very good at arguing the need for their existence and for their value to the client.

Whether it's 40% more than we needed in 1994, more than that or some lesser percentage, is anyone's guess. We all know it's too many. You don't need to conduct a study to see that.
Survival of the fittest! It's applicable for everything.

Edit: Btw, I've heard follow on venture rounds (A, B, C etc.) get harder and harder on an exponential scale. If it is then why everyone is saying Series A crunch.
Here's an image search for "Navajo eagle": http://www.google.com/search?q=navajo+eagle&hl=en&pr...
I still remember when the first iPod came out and the tech press called it boring. I was not interested at all, but when I saw one in person I was blown away. I never bought an iPod, because I didn't need one, but right there and then I understood how much the tech press didn't get it.

Same thing with the unibody MacBooks, to say nothing of the Air. Had a MacBook and a much less expensive PC laptop from the same generation in the house; I'm still loving the MacBook, while the PC is long forgotten.

Even bigger effect with the iPhone. That one looked impressive from the start, but it made a world of a difference to actually hold one in your hand.

The iPhone 4 had the Retina display, and so that time the nerds were actually salivating over it, because the higher resolution could finally be expressed as a number and put in a chart. Nah, just kidding, the nerds were adamant that nobody needed that many pixels anyway, and preferred to argue about the "Retina" monicker. As for myself: waited until I saw it in person, was blown away again.

I'm not going to buy an iPhone 5. My iPhone 4 is still serving me fine. But from past experience, I know that the only good way to evaluate an iPhone is to actually hold it in your hand and use it. That's why I'm more interested in the impressions of a Gruber holding an iPhone 5 than in those of a bean-counter holding an iPhone 5 data sheet.

PS: just a small concession to the specs game: are you sure "the S3 beats the pants off the iPhone 5"? If you do a google search, you'll find as many people saying the 5 beats the S3 as those who say the opposite. Geekbench scores for the S3 are all over the place (check the browser). Then there's the question of whether most apps can scale to a 4-core processor as well as Geekbench does. And then there's the fact that the iPhone 4 performed much better in practice than higher-clocked Android phones of the same era. I'm sure Android has gotten "snappier" since then, but we should have learned a few lessons by now.
It's easy to dismiss Teller until you encounter Teller.
Gruber's considerable effort to rationalize about the increased size of iPhone5 is mildly humorous.

[Remember this golden scroll?](http://dcurt.is/3-point-5-inches) Yes, that article that began the mass religious revelation that revealed why iPhone 4S is 3.5 inch big, while the other Android phone, Galaxy S II is not as user-friendly it's too big.

Since Apple's bigger screen creates discrepancy between his reasoning and the reality, he is now trying to prove why he was not wrong a year ago.

>Such people surely think the iPhone 5’s display remains too small. But, trust me, there are going to be many long-time iPhone users complaining that it’s too big after they upgrade.

But what about millions of other who are happier with bigger screen? What about the possibly larger return on convenience and usability who genuinely prefer larger screen? None is spoken of.
How Apple compresses video using JPEG, JSON, and canvas
Maybe he's Penn.
If they're "naive to the challenges" (even some of them) then the chances of success are even lower than for companies who have vast expertise in this area. That they're trying to do it on a shoestring makes it even less likely to succeed - people are right to be critical.

Also, I think the major difference between funding in the usual HN startup sense and funding via Kickstarter is that startup funding is almost always classical investment whereby you get a share in the company and the rewards of their hopeful success - but Kickstart funding could well be money for nothing.
Javascript Map Code Behind today's XKCD
The Actual comic itself can be seen at http://xkcd.com/1110/
> I don't know what that means. If you're saying that all smartphones at this level are luxurious then why do you care that the term 'jewelry' is being thrown around?

Sorry, I'll try to explain more clearly. I'm saying the build quality of Apple products, especially iPhones, is far higher than that of other phones, and is in that respect inherently luxurious. So luxurious, in fact, that it's only natural to be afraid of damage.

> Your point makes less sense to me. When has metal been lees durable than plastic? Metals traditionally dent and plastic cracks. I view the latter as being far worse.

It's not about the material. It's about what the wear does to the aesthetic quality of the phone. To use a different example, compare a jeep to a BMW. I'm not afraid of aesthetic damage to the jeep, because it's built for that, and built in such a way as to wear the damage well. Not so for the BMW. (Car analogies always work, right?)
It's a joke see, I was just correcting the math.
I watched the video of his Google presentation. It seemed to be more of the "overwhelm them with slides" sort of talk. It did not instill in me a sense of that what he was talking about was practical, but rather that he was in his own world and that if he just showed how neat the physics was that he would get funding.
"I know this will be an unpopular opinion, but law is one of the few remaining ethical professions."

I might actually believe that. One of the biggest champion of free speech and human rights in general in Malaysia is the Malaysian Bar Association.
Gruber really doesn't write reviews. He writes Fifty shades of grey for Apple fanboys.

His writing serves little purpose sans as a base for analysis of how the Apple RDF affects basic reasoning.
The point the article makes, that you can't get things for free, seems more appropriate to the online website examples it uses than to the Kindle Fire about which the article is ostensibly written. Unless I'm mistaken, Amazon isn't giving away the Kindle Fire for free even in the version that includes ads.
I share that view, but I fear we are in the minority. My family, for example, wouldn't have any idea what to do with a pocket UNIX.
Thank you Sourceforge and I really mean it
I love the little snarky Android comments, really makes it obvious where you stand lol.

What's the difference between the SG3 and the SG2? Slightly bigger, slightly different shape, new OS (not that this has anything to do with Samsung), slightly worse camera, slightly bigger battery, blah blah blah...

You can pretty much say the same thing about any device, there is very little "innovation" between device versions. Mostly it's just more of some and less of some in a new case.

In which case any review would be 'a lover on his last moments of love, desperately rationalizing things'.
All kinds of online Video Players
Encode Video for Mobile websites
Your second part unfortunately doesn't work at all against trolls. A non-practicing entity - a company that does nothing except hold IP for the purpose of suit, but doesn't produce anything - can't violate your patents, and so can't be countersued using your own patent portfolio.

That's why patent trolling is particularly pernicious. Their entire purpose is simply to slow innovation and get rich doing it. Period.
Really cool!! One of the things I like most about Physics is the totally non-intuitive consequences and phenomena that arise from very simply looking physical systems. The article makes it sound like it is more that what it actually is because even though it is really cool to watch, it really isn't much of a mystery when you consider two things: first, the slinky is falling even though it might not look like it, because it's center of mass is falling and readjusting itself all the time. You can see this in the second video, it is the red dot in the computer model. And second, the top part of the slinky is holding more weight than the bottom therefore when released it will fall faster towards the bottom one. I'm pretty sure that there is a lot more to it, but this should be enough to grasp the basics of what is going on.
It depends on how many applications you use very regularly. Games pretty much get old as you complete them. When it comes to the rest of the apps, I doubt an average person buys more than a few bucks worth of non-game apps.

smartphone costs a few thousand dollars to own over a couple of years. Cost of apps is bust a small portion of that cost.
Perhaps, but if you are taken to a conversation regardless of how you launch the app (ie, the previous state, which is standard behavior), then I would say, no. Which is what is happening in the Google Voice application.

I should state that what actually happens in this scenario is this.

1. View conversation, leave Google Voice.
2. Re-enter Google Voice somehow, currently viewing conversation.
3. Hit back button, taken to wherever you came from (previous app, home screen, etc)
4. Re-launch Google Voice, now the starting screen is the inbox.
Actually it's worse than that. This is an ambitious project, to build an even more complex and cutting-edge software driven plane. Compare the inflation-adjusted cost of the B52 development cycle with that of the B2 and you will see where this is leading. Similarly between the B2 and the B52 we see a 100x increase in cost per unit, just as we see a similar increase between the F-4 Phantom and he F-22.

It doesn't take a technical person to figure it out. I have seen history professors with more sense than the generals here. In another hundred years, i suppose our entire defence budget will be enough to afford one fighter jet, which can be shared between the air force and the navy 3 days a week each, with the Marine Corps getting Sundays....
Thats fantastic.

However github would be better served if the github.com put the tab focus right inside the command bar. That way their would be no need for /launch at all...
> Comparing the troubled F-35 program to a massive aircraft carrier that two years ago "was gonna run aground," Bogdan said that F-35 program manager Vice Adm. David Venlet and his team, with Lockheed Martin and with the help of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, "has steered that ship...away from the shoals so it won't run aground."

This is a little interesting for me: I worked for Admiral David Venlet's brother, Rear Admiral Doug Venlet, back when he was the skipper of the USS Wadsworth. He was a very cool cat. Went on to carry "the football" for GW. Politics aside, that is a very unique job in the world. Two admirals out of one family. What was dinner like at that table?
Xkcd: Click and Drag
Bharat Mail or similar service exists for years in India.
It's like doing VoIP call to landline.
If you think lawyers don't add to the client's bottom line, why are the Chinese rushing to develop their legal systems along western models? Why is the maturity of the legal system included in every international ranking of nations' desirability as a location to do business? Is it all just fear?

Lawyers are the dispute resolution mechanism that allows an economy full of people trying to screw each other (and trust me, as long as economies are full of people, they will be trying to screw each other) to work. The article is based on the reasonable premise that a bigger dispute resolution system contributes to GDP to a point, then starts hurting the economy beyond a certain point.

Note bene: you say "in 1994" as if we should assume the problem has been getting worse over time, but in reality the size of the legal sector as a %-age of real GDP has been decreasing since it peaked in the late 1980's: http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/.a/6a00e55044cbaf883401543574d...
So this is the level of discourse the community has decided that best engages with Gruber's review? Just seven lines of banal vitriol and claims--without justification--that the review "reads more like a lover on his last moments of love" and "making a thinner, taller phone is not innovation."

The miniaturization of electronics is arguably one of the most significant trends of our technological era. Many of the great science fiction writers of the 50s and 60s, despite getting so much right, in large part missed miniaturization. What once filled rooms was reduced in the 80s to what could sit on a desk, and now to what can fit in our pockets. So making a thinner, taller phone is not innovation? Why?

I know that Apple isn't popular around these parts, but let's at least have an intelligent conversation about specifically what we find fault with instead of ranting and rage-upvoting incoherent rants.
All it means is that I won't buy a version of the kindle that comes with ads. If I pay for something, I won't accept ads. I no longer watch broadcast or cable tv for exactly this reason.

I am fine with ads for free services but death to you if want to be paid twice.
You want difference how about Nokia 920 and Nokia 900 Lumias. That is a huge leap
Why the iPhone 5 lacks NFC
I liked how easy Torchlight was to install, had a nice Linux-native installer with xdg-open links and everything.

It ran, but I couldn't play it for more than 10 minutes before it crashed :(
I think it is a fair summation of the article.

I mean really. What is actually new? Very little is the answer.

Apple have bumped up the specs... everyone does after a year or two. That is really about it. Its a hardware upgrade. Well. A hardware upgrade with a new adapter... because that is exactly what the world needed. Fuck standardization. Realistically Apple wanted to milk more money from people. You have no choice but to get an adapter, otherwise all your docks and peripherals will no longer connect to your iPhone. YES! GET THE IPHONE5!

> The question everyone who hasn’t yet pre-ordered wants answered: Should you upgrade? My answer is simple. If you can afford it, yes.

Your answer is wrong. If your phone function's fine, you have no complaints with its responsiveness etc. No you do not need to upgrade. The iPhone5 brings nothing which is compellingly new to the table. It is a minor update. A bit like a new XBOX. Does exactly the same stuff as your current xbox, looks slightly better, loads games slightly faster.

If your iPhone breaks, hell, check out the iPhone5. If you don't have an iPhone and can justify the cost look into it. Otherwise buy a cheap android handset which - while rougher around the edges - has all the same phone functionality (You are buying a phone) for a fraction of the cost.
there is already built in speech to text. any keyboard that opens has a button for it. there is a to do app. and there is iCloud for data.
Wake up. Quantum entanglement is at least 10000 x c, and somehow it doesn't brake causality. And information first leaves the origin and gets to you before you know that it left its origin. But no causality is broken. Everything is still happening in proper order.
Internal Server Errors tend to be big money losers.
iOS 6 has the back button on the bottom.
You probably want to get your hands on a Lumia 920 then. Much better keyboard (I compared it to SG III) Does not run hot and looks much much cooler than moto
Also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4542347
Data Scientist: The Sexiest Job of the 21st Century
It's not being marketed as a luxury status symbol. It's the same price as competing products but much, much better.