skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Walmart, even when it's potential for misuse of customer data is taken to it's negative extreme, is just a vendor. Not a repository of your most private data.
Walmart cannot deduce from your pictures printed at their photo kiosk if you are having an extra-marital affair. It doesn't have that kind of "putting together two and two" power.
Plus it doesn't share that with your other family members or suggest to them that they get to know your extra-marital partner better.

Where am I going with this...scratch this reply.

If you can't see the potential for abuse at FB (or any other similarly massive soc-net) and somehow are trying to draw parallels to some big box vendor with no social tentacles, my explanation will not advance your understanding of it either.

No current corporation, conglomerate or organization - Disney, Visa, Experian, Equifax, Transunion, ExxonMobil, Monsanto - has that kind of established and potential scope for intrusion into your life.

Not even Acxiom has that kind of potential.
I don't know Zuckerberg but want to play devil's advocate to give him the benefit of the doubt until he actually gets convicted of something.

> 2) It is absolutely possible to treat your fellow human beings well and find richly-deserved success - Mark Zuckerberg however does not seem capable of this.

From Aaron's account, it looks like Mark does not believe that these software ideas were original or IP. If you buy that perspective, he wasn't wrong to execute far better on the same ideas that have appeared repeatedly in the history of social networks- he was simply a sucky friend, which is unlikeable but not illegal.

He's made a bunch of people very rich with Facebook. Do you think D'Angelo, the Winklevosses, and Saverin would rather have never met Zuckerberg or would rather he never created Facebook?

>3) Even though our society might tolerate and even reward (in the short-term at least) this sort of behaviour, should we be happy that a master-exploiter of this unfairness is the guardian of social relationships on the internet?

The sin Mark's accused of is stealing people's ideas, assuming ideas are steal-able, and thereby breaching the trust of people who considered themselves his friends or coworkers. If he's guilty, I guess the question is whether someone who is immoral/amoral in one respect is able to be ethical in other areas.

Since the movie makes a good case that Zuckerberg betrayed some of his close friends, I don't trust him (or any random person) not to betray me, a random stranger / Facebook user. But I do trust Zuckerberg to want to do whatever is good for Facebook. Are people scared he's going to somehow blackmail them into staying on Facebook by threatening to release their private data to everyone? I'll be scared of that scenario if that ever seems like the best plan for Facebook.

Who else could run Facebook? Most people are less intelligent or less competent or less interested in Facebook's future. Almost anyone in Mark's situation would cash out and grow indifferent but Zuckerberg persuades me he's not doing it for the money. So I guess I'm happy he's running it because regardless of his moral judgment or human loyalty at least I feel like he cares about Facebook.

I think many problems with corporations arise from leaders' interests not being aligned with those of the company. Facebook is one of the few examples where I don't believe that's the case. It might seem psychopathic to care more about Facebook than your best friend and/or cofounder, but is that really a big problem? Maybe from the corporation's perspective (or from the user and shareholder perspective), it's actually a virtue.
I don't think this is a mere technical issue either. I believe that no guilt or stigma should attach to ventures doing [legal] things just because...

--There's a reason for ethics in law, economics and public policy.
I'm still not entirely sure where Twitter is trying to go with the 'new direction'. I trust they have a cunning and well-reasoned plan, but honestly it feels a lot like getting bored playing a game of Civilization - You kill all your citizens, destroy all your infrastructure, give your money to the Romans, then declare war on everyone.
Helium in hard drives, increased data capacity
Quick question: What do you classify as work ex? I do mostly iOS programming, but I've been playing with Hadoop + the commoncrawl.org crawl data. Basically, I guess, what level of stats do you need to be comfortable with to call yourself a data scientist?
As I argue in my other reply, legal and ethical boundaries on the internet are still poorly if at all defined.
Careful, you'll bring the HN grellas lovers down on you. While I always despair at his inability to say something succinctly, he generally always makes an excellent point.

Facebook provides an excellent service to most people in the world and it does so at a level that your $20,000 cannot buy. While we as a more discerning social customer may see it as extremely low value, the production values are actually extremely high. I always think of my national rag the Sun in these instances, it's utter trash, but they really worked hard on making it extremely good trash.

Alas for the article, to be honest the whole thing reads of bitterness, not unjustified if we are looking at 'justice'. But Zuck is a complete $&!t, and an extremely lucky one at that, but in business that's just the way it works. Moaning about it is futile. The only way to end up playing at that level is probably ending up being a complete $&!t as well. There are few big founders who haven't done very dodgy things in their time.
> it is no longer enough to be a subject-matter expert in order to contribute to Wikipedia

It's neither sufficient nor necessary.
> a firm stand against the Great Firewall of China

GFW could censor stuff using QoS discrimination. Un-welcome sites has really bad connection. How do you deal with that?
Which companies (ChemE, web development) are good to do an intern at?
I am a beginning web developer who wants to do an internship in the following cities:

Seattle, WA :
Portland,OR :
Bay Area :

in the following fields
chemical engineering/
web development
You seem to be arguing that id Software's games since around 2000 haven't been very good... but I'm not sure why, since nobody here is really disagreeing with you on that point.

The argument here is that lots of successful games are buggy, and id Software's games aren't buggy. Trying to run BioShock on my computer is a nightmare (you have to mess with compatibility settings, and even then you get no sound at all). When I played Fallout 3 it crashed about once every few hours of play time, and that was late 2012 with no add-ons -- 4 years after the game's release you'd expect patches to address things. Bethesda has a kind of reputation for releasing buggy games, it seems.
On Being a Data Scientist
Given the current popularity of certain cable serial dramas, your proposal has excellent mindshare.
It's jib - as in the the front sail of a sailboat ahead of the mast. The saying is 'I like the cut of your jib' in that the way the sails are set determines both direction and style of sailing.
I think the most polite way to put it, is that the article is written with a certain audience in mind. You and I are not that audience.
Could the message be any more clear? Stop putting Apple in your critical path. They hold all the cards and you hold none.
Another PMS
A friend made this, Can somebody find the flaws in this site.
https://www.facebook.com/PMS2012
I would love for you to try qamine (www.qamine.com). I'm giving a trial for people to test the tool before I launch it. Feel free to join.
Facebook is in the process of gradually rolling out sponsored search. I think businesses with big budgets get to cut to the front of the line.

What's curious to me is the difference between the Democrats and Republicans on this. The Romney campaign is clearly on the offensive as well as playing smart defense. If you search for Paul Ryan, you see Romney as the top result. If you search for Bill Clinton, either Ryan or Romney show up. The Obama campaign does not appear to be bidding on any terms.
YayQuery recording live on YouTube
encrypting your data doesn't help when it is inside memory and somebody else has root.

the attack was a hypervisor intrusion, linode's VM setup was hacked, none of these recommendations would have helped at all in this case.
Brainworth: Play games that teach you to make games in HTML5
This is awesome news (though it's been known for a while) for the top publishers who have: large download numbers, good AppStore SEO, and good screenshots.

While I think that this is bad on whole for developers/discovery as we knew it, it might just help users. Most of the time, users are either window shopping or looking for a very specific product.

Window Shoppers: "I want a photo editing app", chances are you are going to look at the first result and scroll down and see if a icon stands out. With the new model, you see the screenshots too. Could save time over, tapping into an app, tapping into reviews, and then tapping back twice. This means that the icon is downplayed in sales and the first screenshot has become extremely important.

Very Specific Product: "I'm looking for Gmail" It's quicker to just get the first result and confirm that it's actually what you are looking for. This however means that Apple has to be really confident in their search results (which aren't as great as they can be).

Net effect for developers:
1. App Store SEO is important. (It always was, but now I think developers will start to see it now in their app sales)

2. Your copy on the sales page should also grab users attention.

3. Your first screenshot is very important. Your screenshots should be good. (Link: http://mobile.tutsplus.com/tutorials/mobile-design-tutorials...)

4. Also note, categories have been removed from the app tab bar.

5. Ratings seem to matter a lot for the search algorithm but not for Featured apps

6. This is the "Chomp" update, and Chomp has been known to get content from Blogs and various sources, so you should be mentioned off the App Store too.

7. Facebook Likes also help since those are displayed.

Here's a cheat sheet that seemed useful: http://www.apptamin.com/ASO_Cheat_Sheet-v2.pdf
For better or worse apple did acquire chomp sometime back:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-27/apple-buys-chomp...

I'm not sure how much they had to do with this but they actively have people trying to solve "app store discovery". 95% of Apps I've ever purchased have been due to personal recommendation or web review. I don't think I've ever browsed the app store for purchase. (I know I'm in the minority)
CanJS - Why CanJS
Also, Obama has been the President of the US for 4 years. There are many people abroad who think Obama is a pretty cool guy, but haven't even heard of Romney.
There is some delicious irony in the embarrassment that is likely caused by Aaron posting these conversations. You know, being 'radically open'.
More here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4546039
> Walmart doesn't have access to your most intimate information like Facebook does.

Really? All Facebook knows is what I tell it; a mixture of truth and lies. Walmart knows what I buy from Walmart, which is potentially everything. They know when I'm getting fatter or when I'm losing weight; they know when I'm buying condoms and when I'm not; they know what I eat, what I read, whether I have pets, what kind of pets I have, and they can data mine me a hundred ways to figure out everything else. Facebook doesn't actually know anything I care much about keeping private. Walmart knows a lot more.
I've wondered the same thing. If you bought one - what sorts of things do you think people would be willing to pay you to print?
I am a big proponant of nationalising the services that should be - see the total farce over UK rail networks for example.

I strongly suspect most countries will put in place some forms of regulation or nationalisation over IP connectivity
to the house - but once connected the very DNA of the Internet means that such monopolies are as trivially bypassable as any service provider has ever been.

Myspace is probably the best counter example to this threat there can be. And it also cost Rupert Murdoch 1/2 billion so there was a silver lining.
I just don't understand why HN readers are so eager to paint Greenspan as a whiner and Zuckerberg as a rightful victor, as if that's the only thing worth saying about this whole commotion. It seems like a very dim view of human potential to me - winning is all that counts, if being a shit means you win, good on ya, and anyone that challenges that is just a whiner.

After all, Greenspan doesn't say that M -shouldn't- have been successful - he does not argue with moral absolutes (or maybe he does and I need to re-read the piece). He argues that eventually that sort of shitty behaviour will catch up with you, no matter what, even if you are the CEO of Facebook. Like I've said in other comments, it sounds like a warning.

Plus shouldn't HN readers be interested in more than just raw victory? If you view the modern tech world as a zero-sum arena, I feel bad for you son. Modern tech is about collaboration, synergy, and finding an approach that authentically makes sense for you in relation to what others are doing. This bloodthirsty power stuff is just a juvenile phase.

(NB: not to take away from all of that Zuck has clearly accomplished at Facebook; its had a huge and rightful impact on the world and our lives.)
"standard nine-pin serial port"

Them's fightin' words, boy.

DEC had a DE9 serial port connector whose pinout is not the same as the later IBM PC DE9 serial ports.
Every data scientist has to:

* be very good at working with large datasets with computational tools (hadoop is an example)

* be a decent programmer, scripter, and hacker

* have a decent background in statistics

A good data scientist:

* has a good intuition and business sense

* can explain insights to non-technical people (usually through visualization and plotting)

* knows machine learning and predictive analytics

It's a vague term, but purposefully so. There's tons of stuff you can do with data, a data scientist knows what to do and how to do it.
Too bad the remote desktop tool that comes with office is still pixel doubled, the win8 engine looks great in hidpi under fusion.
There's no telling whether it's the campaigns themselves actually spending that money, is there?
Hes referring to the opportunity cost. If our society is focused on rewarding those that make little trinkets to distract everyone, I guess so be it but I think the argument is that we'd rather invest those people in solving the things we are trying to distract ourselves from. To people that have been unfortunate enough to experience real poverty, medical problems, and other struggles, the equivalency of a company who makes people have some fun and distraction versus a company who contributes to the elimination of very distressing human conditions is nowhere close - although I will admit they do both produce value.
Equity vs. Debt and the Sharks on Shark Tank
I saw the new style search directly after I upgraded to iOS 6. I just opened the app store again after reading this post and now I am getting search results in the old list style. I wonder if Apple decided to switch back? Screenshot: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wl7w37pwuti87en/2012-09-19%2021.08...
> No current corporation, conglomerate or organization - Disney, Visa, Experian, Equifax, Transunion, ExxonMobil, Monsanto - has that kind of established and potential scope for intrusion into your life.

I think that is a preposterous claim. Airlines know every vacation and business trip you've ever taken. Credit reporting agencies probably know more about your financial well-being than even you do. Heck, credit card companies know every financial transaction you perform.

I don't really buy the argument you started to form about how other companies can't "put two and two together." What makes you think that? Amazon certainly uses their data to make recommendations to me. Walmart can't personally target you in the store, but I'm sure they do with online purchases. There is nothing stopping Walmart from looking at your photos and deducing things, other than company policy and laws (so, the exact situation Facebook is in).
That article doesn't seem to say that. It's suspected but the US has denied it.

Who the heck lives at 900 Gage Road, though?
I'm not taking sides here, but is there something about defending a billionaire that magically makes a person write in a Victorian voice?
I've been reading Robert Greene's 48 Laws of Power recently, and throughout this essay, I can't help but think just how all the "moves" Zuckerburg were accused (and infamous) of were exemplary of a number of these laws. Not trying to pass judgement on Zuckerburg's virtues or lack thereof (it's best to accept the inherent unfairness in life on the road to power), but he is a master of power plays:

Law 3: Never put too much trust in friends, learn how to use enemies.
If only Zuck's "friends" knew about the first part of the law. Zuck was, however, a master in exploiting and gaining information from his "enemies". Further, he used what his competitions to frame what his product should be.

Law 4: Conceal your intentions.
"Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions" -- apparent in both the Winklevoss and Greenspan's stories. Zuck misled and deceived until the right time.

Law 5: Always say less than necessary...classic Zuck, "There was a need for facebook, so I made it"

Law 6: Court attention at all cost.
His fight to receive coverage in the Crimson ensuring the early dominance of thefacebook.

Law 7: Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit.
If any of the stories about facebook is true, then Zuck's a textbook example of observing this law. According to Greene: using other people's work "not only will [...] save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed". Clearly it has worked to achieve his "genius" aura.

Law 9: Win through your actions, never through argument.
He never let the lawsuits detract him away from the work too much. Now that facebook is too big, what actually happened really doesn't matter anymore.

Law 11: Learn to keep people dependent on you.
Facebook is too big now...G_G

Law 12: Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim.
The part about facebook's frequent change and backtracks of privacy must has something to do with this.

Law 13: When asking for help, appeal to people's self-interest, never to their mercy or gratitude.
Zuckerburg appealed to Greenspan's desire to help entrepreneurs when asking for advice. Also, his claim that Greenspan was one of those on his level can be seen more of a classic ego-stroking rather than admission of admiration.

Law 14: Pose as a friend, work as a spy.
"Knowing about your rival is critical. Play the spy yourself to gather valuable information that will keep you a step ahead. [...] There is no occasion that is not an opportunity for artful spying".
Yeah, Zuck's a master at this.

Law 15: Crush your enemey totally.
Check.

So out of the first 18 laws, the rise of facebook and Zuckerburg have observed 11, textbook style. His amoral approach to power and life is definitely key to his success.
About f'ing time... it's 2012. This year is also the first year you could file online CA tax returns without a middleman (or at least the first I noticed). When is the IRS gonna get off its butt?
> The solution is to invoke the copy on the access of `t[1]`, which is what libstdc++ does.

No, libstdc++ specifically DOES NOT unshare the string buffer when calling the CONST version of operator[] (really, go look it up). That's the whole point of CoW: to only copy when the string is written (or at least, when you have to pessimistically assume it will be, because somebody has gotten a non-const reference to its contents).

You could "fix" the issue by unsharing the buffer whenever a const iterator/reference to the string is returned, but then you lose most of the performance benefit of sharing the buffer in the first place, because most strings that are constructed are read at some point.

Because of these difficulties we'll see standard library implementations move away from copy-on-write implementations and then the whole issues doesn't exist. That is to say: the performance of the test case the blog author describes will be consistently “bad” because std::string will behave pretty much like a std::deque/std::vector.
You haven't read many JavaScript books then, have you?
I'm looking at it on an iPad that I just upgraded, and it doesn't look like that. I can see 4 full products, and the top of two more in 2 vertical columns.
Hey, there's nothing wrong with having rules to moderate (or enable) impulse buying.

True story: I had been looking at Mazda's twin-turbocharged RX-7. I already had a fire-breathing sports-car. I didn't really need this thing. But I really liked it.

I've been into R/C model airplanes my entire life and have always had a particular attraction to high-end, high-performance gliders.

One fine Sunday afternoon I was coming back from a flying session and decided to stop by the dealership to check out the RX-7 one more time. The sales guy pressured as they usually do. For some reason I put a stupid challenge on the table. I said: "I have a 2.5 meter glider wing in my car right now. If it fits into the twin-turbo RX-7, I'll buy it."

I drove the RX-7 home that day.
> Walmart cannot deduce ... if you are having an extra-marital affair.

Sure they can. Let's suppose my purchasing history fits the profile of a married couple, maybe even with telltale signs like feminine hygiene products. The purchases are made on weekends, at whatever time married couples go shopping for groceries and other household essentials.

But suddenly there's a new pattern--at previously unexpected times, I buy incriminating products like condoms, cologne, unusual jewelry, stuff that doesn't fit the profile. I'm pretty sure Walmart can get a pretty decent probability that I'm having an extramarital affair. Why not? Target can already tell when you're pregnant, for instance.
Additionally, how do you convey to an employer without sounding like an asshole "Please, I need to be hired AND get paid at least 700$ before the end of this month"

You don't. Borrow the money from a friend or family, sell your TV (or other things you don't necessarily need right now). Talk to your land-lord about it, and try to get an extension temporarily. There are lots of things you can do.
Beyond II (intermediate dev, not a college hire, the majority of working engineers) there is no meaning beyond "suitably impressive resume or reputation at the employer".
Walmart probably has more actionable data - from those purchases of condoms by a married man who did not last year, to the purchases of pregnancy tests of the woman who curiously appears just after him at the till register on lunchtimes.

Add in the bottles of wine and the alka seltzer the day after, the purchase of womans underwear in sizes too big for his wife but the same size as his boxers, and the bra that won't fit his girlfriend but will fit has 42" shirt size

there is a lot out there that is not parseable from photos even with gis data embedded

why do you think fb wants us to "share" our shopping data
Maybe they were both right. Orwell about communist-like nations, and Huxley about the "democratic/capitalist" nations.
Actually, I beg to differ :) Talking to customers isn't nearly as effective as watching what they do, not what they say. Customers will tell you one thing all day long, then do another. Or they will have serious pains they suffer with every day, and if you ask "What hurts?" they won't think of it.

Research has backed this up over & over -- that story about Sony's focus groups about the yellow vs black Discmans is just one example -- not to mention anecdata from, well, everyone.

That's why I teach my students to observe customers and deduce, rather than ask them.