skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
That's pretty much complete nonsense.

First, the premise of the article is that people bring false expertise and unfounded certainty to the topic at hand. That has pretty much nothing to do with the veracity of various youtube videos, or MSNBC.

Second, the presumption that I actually hold any of the beliefs in the final paragraph is completely misfounded and can only be rightly attributed to someone who didn't really read what I was trying to say and instead decided to pigeonhole my argument. I don't know what to think. I cannot make a compelling and satisfactory argument (to my standards) for or against a gold standard and I sure as hell don't trust "dudes on the internet" to give me a reasonable argument, either. The topic is sufficiently complex that any charlatan can waive his hand, throw up some smoke and mirrors, and put on a convincing case for just about anything. That is why I don't trust so-called "expose" youtube videos, either. Or, for that matter, MSNBC, since no one who goes on "pop" news is actually interested in educated the public on the finer points of macroeconomics but instead massaging it for their own political purposes.
http://code.google.com/p/cocoahttpserver/

Is a lightweight HTTP server written in obj-c. A lot of projects are using it, in fact, most "flash drive" apps use it.
People do not read anything online. They come to school yard to say: "Hi! What#s up?" Blablub. "Cool. Upmod." Wooah. Yeah. Popular. Uh. What?
Ask HN: Is there a flat fee, web based ad serving service?
I'm looking for a flat fee (upfront or montly) ad system that doesn't try to take a percentage of transactions.

Yes, could use phpadsnew (aka openx or whatever they're calling it these days).

But I'd rather have just a simple javascript based program that gives basic 'banner ad' serving ability. (Or even text.)

Thank you!!
Why do people keep saying that? He didn't suggest any implied assumption like that at all.

And, no, if you don't understand the system, then you can have very little of value to say on it. Just precisely like if I don't understand quantum mechanics, it would be extremely stupid of me to make passionate forum posts about it.
I believe Apple did try the whole licensing thing in the mid 90's. Didn't work out too well for them so they stopped doing it. Don't forget: Apple makes a ton of money from hardware sales still.

Ironically, the early clones started out the same way these are; Firmware (EFI, in this case) being reverse engineered and sold without permission with the hopes that Apple would give in and license.
(a) It's Spolsky
(b) compete.com is low by a factor of > 6. We had 2,373,587 unique visitors in the last month.
The closing of the article says it all... shame I read it all before getting to it:

"Disclosure. I am CEO of betaworks. betaworks is a Twitter shareholder. We are also a Tweetdeck shareholder. betaworks companies are listed on our web site."
This is pretty weak, as far as "legal wins" go. They merely won the right to argue that Apple is abusing copyright (rather than arguing they are an illegal monopoly because that argument was already shot down).
my 2c: a woman YOU find attractive, who knows how to be happy on her own and its crazy about you.

Good luck
Conclusion: compete.com has absolutely no respectable data, so don't look there.
First, it doesn't mater what you call it.

Second, Its not like people buying cheap macs are spoiling the user experience of the real mac users.Thankfully most apple users are not assholes and they really don't care that there are pc's running OSX that don't deliver the mac experience. Its not like somebody is "being a pc" at them, right?

So the answer to your question "Should the market choose what they want?" is: absolutely. Is it a good thing? A pc running OSX is probably not worse than a linux box, or a winpc, so its probably not bad, unless you're apple, or you are somehow offended by cheap(in the quality sense) computers.
Apple has deliberately ignored that potential "huge market segment" for years, to great success. Their brand, at least in the eyes of regular consumers, is probably perceived as a bit overpriced, but you know you are paying for a singular solid quality experience. The opposite is true of Windows and PCs, where I think generally (at least using my parents as a barometer) the feeling is that you're taking a bit of a gamble.

Allowing 3rd parties to build licensed OS X machines would do little for Apple but destabilize their platform, which is currently built on the premise that 100% of the package from the pre-installed apps to the OS to the casing to every component inside is vetted and tested to work well together by Apple's army of genius proto-wizards "in beautiful California."

That would be utterly destroyed the moment people could buy a 3rd party computer which pops up the "Mac OS X" logo on boot, and then immediately asks the user if they want to install the AOL trial, Google toolbar, Yahoo toolbar, and Dan's Discount Video Editor EX Lite Edition (Upgrade today!).
Thanks. I know the site design needs some work. The voting function needs to be explained and the preview function is on the "todo list". Thanks
We're in the process of doing some design work on the site now.

And, the header taking you back to the main page is on the docket for today.
Thanks for the examples. I must admit that the tonal difference is not so obvious to me, at least not in the example from this thread.

I am trying to think about some topics that might be less "heated"? Startups? Nutrition?
We're in the process of doing some design work on the site now.

And, the header taking you back to the main page is on the docket for today.

Thanks for the feedback.
Conclusion: the NYT is about to die. I can't read it any other way, there simply are too many competitors in the general space that a newspaper operates in that people will continue to subscribe in large enough numbers.

It's a simple problem really: In the past - before network news came along - the newspapers had a near monopoly on news coverage. With the coming of the networks that changed, the newspapers focused more on giving the background and the in depth version of the networks based 'sound bytes' and flashy presentation.

Then the web came along, a disruptive technology if there ever was one. So, now both the networks and the newspapers are manning the pumps. A nice example is the plane recently downed in the Hudson, within minutes there were photographs on Flickr and facebook, from the eye witnesses themselves.

Newspapers would be a day old at a minimum when they landed in your mailbox, but it was news to you. Now they feel like something that you might as well put under the cats litter box right away, you've already had plenty of opportunity to read everything in there except for the background & opinion pieces online 10 times over by the time you get the paper version.

And it's not like there is a shortage of background and opinion pieces on the web either. Maybe not from salaried journalists, but interesting and often informative just the same.

To quote Nicholas Negroponte: If your business is shipping atoms carrying information you have a problem.
Marijuana Usage Tied to Testicular Cancer
;) I actually can't stand the taste of Coke, but love Pepsi with a passion. Some people think I'm weird/being petty, but it's just a different taste.
How are you better than engage.com who also does the matchmaking thing?
The same way he became an expert on the level of expertise among "geeks" (whatever that means) in macroeconomics.

Maybe his analysis is right, and maybe it isn't. But we judge him by what he says, not his credentials, and he should be willing to grant the same to people writing about economics.

If you disagree with some specific argument, or even class of arguments, refute that. But blanket ad hominems lower the level of the conversation.
That's not the reason it stopped, that's how it stopped. The reason was that it was a bad deal for Apple. It still would be.
The real test is coding the solver, or, for the theorists, proving the lower bounds runtime for such a solver.
Does being a cynic make you smarter? That something is difficult to verify does not make it any less important to study, and it is wrong for us to attack the social sciences in this regard. I too do not have much patience for the "it's complicated, trust us" attitude. But the author's remarks are less a "trust us" defense of econ as they are a suggestion that we should get a balanced education into the matter before we get all strong-headed.

That aside, economics is difficult to verify, but there does exist a branch of science called experimental economics. There was one particularly interesting "study" that ought to catch your attention. http://ideas.repec.org/p/kud/kuiedp/0335.html
That one study on its own should explain the need for a Federal Reserve Bank.
"The bubble has burst. We can no longer rely on consumption by refinancing our homes or inexpensive money to fuel economic growth, and that’s certainly had a huge impact..

In 1929, for example, just before the stock market crash, the private debt-to-GDP ratio was 160 percent. Last year, private sector debt as a percentage of the GDP: 300 percent; far more leverage. And you can see it’s been a steady increase basically since almost the end of World War II.

In my view, what we now have will be a fundamental economic reset. The economy is going to have to re-establish itself at a level of spending that reflects the real value of underlying assets before we can all start growing again at a healthy rate.

This may not be the thing that people really want to hear, but it’s certainly what we’re planning on, and it’s the truth on which we’re basing sort of our model, if you will, at Microsoft.

In our opinion, in order to reach the reset point, three things need to happen. First, the economy must be deleveraged. Private debt as a percentage of GDP has to be reduced. Restoring health to the nation’s financial system is a fundamental part of this."

Steve Ballmer, February 2009 Speech to Democratic Policy Confab
What he describes is not programming.

"Laziness makes you not mind if you copy and paste a function 40 times without abstracting it. Laziness lets you avoid figuring out how to do something better, because you really don’t want to think about it. Laziness lets you put off finding a solution, copy code without understanding it, hard-code values in your applications, or stuff inline css in your html tags ‘just for now’."
"Perhaps the author's and our time would have been better spent if he offered a coherent defense (maybe even using vaguely correct grammar) of these academic economic hypothesis rather than a sweeping ad hominem attack."

I disagree, because his post wasn't about macroeconomics per se, it was about a large number of otherwise rational people on geek sites espousing controversial opinions on a complicated subject without the proper education, with too much confidence. This post could have been about evolution too, and it still would have been valid. Just a lot more controversial, because NO ONE will admit that their opinion on evolution may be wrong.
I disagree. I think there is absolutely still a need for quality newspaper reporting. You may get pictures of plane crashes on Flickr, but nobody besides a professional news organization is going to uncover secret CIA prison camps. A blogger can't just figure that out surfing the web.

The problem isn't so much competition from Flick and facebook as it is Craigslist stealing all the classified ad revenue. And the fact that people don't like paying to read things on the web.
301 redirects are the suggested method for permanently redirecting pages for search engines.

This will preserve pagerank, but not immediately. This means for a while (1 week-3 months), many of your pages will be dropped from their current rankings.

They will be returned, eventually. But Google has to update their entire index before you'll start to see any improvements.
Language-oriented programming: too much, too fast
Sorry about the name typo (<pre coffee excuse>). Although the absolute numbers are always wildly inaccurate, Compete tends to be fairly good at viewing the traffic trends for a site. Or does the chart look nothing like your own internal ones?
well, they do have many years of accumulated info and branding. No matter how horrible they are, it'll take time to dislodge them. I'm an occasional SO user and I like it very much, so I say good luck to Joel and Jeff in their quest :)
Found a link that more readily explains the experiment.

http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/depressions
Next time, don't post.
I don't suppose that has anything to do with their blatant use of blackhat SEO tactics. If StackOverflow wants to be to Expert Sex Change what Facebook is to MySpace, more power to them.
I know. The point is just that I shouldn't have to convert it, it should "just work" (tm).
Ask HN: What videoconferencing / telepresence / screensharing services or apps do you use?
A couple of weeks ago I watched a talk that Cisco's CEO gave at MIT (http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/619). He was really fired up about their telepresence / videoconferencing technology. It seems that when you get beyond a certain threshold of quality, the meeting feels real enough to actually be a "good enough" substitute for a meaningful fraction of in-person meetings -- and that can be game-changing.

Having spent more than my fair share of time collaborating across oceans and now living 6 hours from my major client, I would theoretically be the ideal beneficiary of a really great real-time video collab tool -- but for some reason it's never become a regular part of my workflow, even though I do feel more connected with people I video chat with.

So the question I'm asking myself is whether this is the fault of the technology (Skype video sucks compared to a Cisco telepresence room), human interface (we don't have an app that "just feels natural" enough to make a call with), or slow adaptation (maybe if we spent 3 weeks forcing ourselves to try virtual meetings, we'd get hooked)?

If it's the tech & interface holding me back, then I'm content to wait for something better. On the other hand, if there are people out there seeing great benefits from existing apps/services, then I'd suspect that I'm missing out purely due to the rigidity of my own habits.

Is anyone here doing work in this space?
Wait till he complains that StackOverFlow has the monopoly on question/answer sites. Based on the numbers that they are seeing, they are well on their way.
Um, I was asking which; #1 and #2 are very different. For instance: A result of the form "n^2-2 is always a Fermat pseudoprime to base SOME-FUNCTION-OF-N" would probably not be interesting. A result of the form "n^2-2 is always a prime provided it's a Fermat pseudoprime to base SOME-FUNCTION-OF-N" would be much more so.

(Where "interesting" means "interesting to me"; no one else need share my interests.)
The Kindle video on Amazon's site claims "View Word and PDF documents" ... is that somehow not true?
I think that StackOverflow.com growth now is being pushed more by the organic search results from google and the praise being sung by ordinary users in blogs and forums.

I think the site is excellent, and looking forward to more growth as more eyes provide better questions/answers!
compete is absolute junk. So is analytics but less so.
Wow this sounds very intriguing but I have no idea where to start learning about this. I tried reading some of the papers and was quickly overwhelmed. Anyone have any suggestions for how to start experimenting with this? Are there any VHDL like kits for doing probabilistic logic?

Is there any hope of there being dev kits made that would allow one to experiment cheaply? I want to try and see if this gives any advantages for monte-carlo algorithms.
I wished there was a way to tell google to never ever include another result from a certain domain.

Not just the one page, no, everything. I'd subscribe as a paying customer if they offered that feature.
The kindle is roughly the size of a paperback... I can't imagine there would be much difficulty in making a pdf display in that size (and I routinely print pdfs at 2 pages per page side).
Kaspersky breach exposes sensitive database, says hacker
There is a need for the reporting, no dispute about that. But if your newspaper dies it isn't going to be the one to employ those reporters.

First one to crack a business model where they can send out reporters a-la the NYT but without the overhead of running a full fledged newspaper is going to hit it big time.

Oh, and about that secret CIA prisons thing, that was actually leaked by someone inside to a reporter, it could have been leaked on the web just the same.
Do you expect to have the same responsibility to your employer? Namely, that you can't jump ship two weeks before a product is supposed to ship/go live?

I've experienced both sides of at-will employment (being "released to industry" because of a lack of funds and leaving a company for a clearly better job), and am happy to live with both. A savings account is protection against a company terminating my employment without notice.
How jarring is having the entire screen briefly turn black on each page turn?

E.g. See this video: http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/02/09/video-kindle-2-as-slow-...
Use a content delivery network and track the clicks yourself ?

Instant nearly unlimited capacity and no percentage taken, other than what it costs you to serve the ads.
Recruiting Drops at Business Schools
7+ could also be 1,3,3 or 3,2,2 if the box is L-shaped so that the equal numbers don't go in the same row or column.
Calendar and contact syncing for iPhone and Windows Mobile devices
Great question!

We're much more focused on leveraging the widget/facebook/myspace/iphone/social-site dynamic with Yumbunny. Engage has somewhat stagnated and we hope to leverage a few different things:

* A fresh approach to the concept

* Leverage embeds heavily

* Leverage our speed and performance as much as possible to keep people engaged when they otherwise wouldn't stay hooked.

* Aim to produce leaner and meaner software without requiring the millions in funding they needed to get where they are.

But if you have any additional ideas, don't hesitate to share them. ;)
Free Online Books Every Student of Humanity Should Read
it doesn't mater what you call it.

Yes it does. If it isn't equivalent to a Macintosh but you call it a Macintosh, you dilute the Macintosh brand equity. That's exactly why companies defend their trade marks so zealously.
Not faulty memory just accepting a common myth/advertising. It wasn't until recently that I was informed of the truth of why the pepsi/coke taste test works out the way it does.
You can't.

In this day and age people are too used to free, especially for information. "Why should I pay you $$$ if I can get more or less the same thing for free from Google search"

And RSS is just as "sensationalist" since blogs etc use that to drive traffic to their actual pages
It appears to be implemented as an Exchange server!

Push Gmail can't be far behind.

http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=13...
Thanks for the input. I have some Python skills, so I just bought a Django book, I think that will be the fastest way for me to get something going.

I haven't been this excited in a while. Not only do I need to learn a lot of new tech, I need to figure out a lot of the business/marketing side too. When to start trying to attract users, how to drive traffic to the site, how/if/when to bring in other developers.

Any thoughts on how to determine if the idea has traction? Like number of users after a certain time or reviews/bloggers comments, or even gasp revenue?
Uh, oh, no. Look, this is my number out of my adress book: +49 (2141) 567 07 68
>solving the last-mile problem.

I think the only way you can hope to achieve this is through zoning and long-term alteration of how cities are built. Sprawly cities like Houston et al. can't possibly hope to build out any right-of-way based system such that everyone is within a mile of a station...thus you build the center and let density rise. Combine this with a suitable number of edge-sitting mega stations that outlying folks drive (or, even better: ride a bus) a shorter distance to (relative to a full commute) and you've solved a large portion of the problem, anyway.
Yes, i appreciate your advice, but i think that next time i have the need to express an emotion, i will at least try to make it non offensive, instead of not expressing it. My post was a response for the fact that some perfectly valid comments were downvoted. It was not a good response, for which i apologize.
I think you are overlooking the main purpose. It's not meant to eliminate cars. Its meant to be a faster, more accurate means of public transportation. For example I live in Manhattan; walking, subways, taxis and buses are the main means of transportation. Having a car is not affordable and ends up being an inconvenience.

Walking obviously isnt practical all the time. Cabs are expensive. So for people who need to get around are left with buses and the subway. Both run on specific schedules (which arent always great) and often times you need to take multiple variations to get to the final destination (or remotely close).

If a pod system existed here it would allow me to travel faster and more accurately. I can run on my own schedule and go direct. Lets also not forget the green factors from eliminating hundreds of buses and subways.
Ok, that sounds reasonable. I just wanted to get that "name" thing out of the way, so i can express my other point.
Agree with you on the name -- "yum" conjures up something delectable while "bunny" makes me think "Playboy Bunny." It connotes a sort of superficiality that would lead me to choose a different dating site.
Right. People, and their careers, change.
Or perhaps they won't hire you at all if you start sending signals that you're worried about getting fired from the outset.
A small percentage of Wall Street workers who have jumped ship from a 'marquee' firm to a smaller firm have gotten 'guaranteed employment contracts' in which the company guarantees to pay them X amount a month for 1-2 years. Basically, they don't get laid off because the company has to pay them anyway.
Poor Jeff. Did most of the work, and his name still comes second. I feel for you, man.
If a dating site wants to succeed, it probably doesn't want to aim its message squarely at us...
Gradual Typing in Python
Of course, if you are losing a book, then with a Kindle you'd be losing your device, which is considerably more expensive.
A critique of The Black Swan
Google Sync Keeps Contacts and Calendars in Sync on Your Mobile Phone
It depends. I think at least one parent should stay home to raise the kids (or at least take a half-day job).

I doubt that the current setup is a recipe for happiness:

- people putting of (or not getting) children because of careers

- people basically paying other people to raise their children.

- people working overtime to buy a more expensive car
Thank you so much for that, most impressive.
The CDN latency test may be flawed. They accessed an 8K file once every 5 minutes, but CDNs are designed for large files that are frequently accessed. Amazon's high latency may be due to cache misses that would not occur if the traffic was heavier.
This is a very good response to Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

In fact, it may have already been on HN, that's probably where I first read it and have been trying to find it again, ever since.

Taleb is now turning up almost everywhere, so I thought people might find this interesting.
I would gladly pay $55/year for access to the NYT online. I read at least 15 NYT articles per day on my iPhone ad-free every day. The quality of the articles is top-notch. The UI (of the iPhone version) is perfect and intuitive, and I'm surprised it's been free for so long. I'm guessing they make almost zero from online advertising in relation to print, so they don't have much to lose by going pay-only.