skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I find it fascinating how Kickstarter is starting to adopt some of the same cautions that we see in an S1/Prospectus, "“What are the risks and challenges this project faces, and what qualifies you to overcome them?”"

As a long time burner, it was interesting to me how year after year, the playa adopted many (but not all) of the rules, regulations, restrictions of the outside world. We had a DMV (Department of Mutan Vehicles), Building Regulations (for buildings over a certain height), developed clinics, and ambulance services - etc...

It will be interesting to see, over time, how kickstarter adopts many of the SEC mandated governance over new enterprises going to the market for funding.

Reading through all the regulations though - it feels like 90% (100%?) are in response to this:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/limemouse/lifx-the-light...

I'm sure a LOT of people watched that video, and thought that the LIFX lightbulb exists (or almost exists) in it's current incarnation. Also, there are a lot of people supporting for $500 in the belief that they'll get 10 lightbulbs - I wonder how many of those backers don't realize their is a better than even chance that this project will come to nothing, and they'll get nothing but good feelings for their money?
Just right-click the password field and choose 'Inspect Element' in the menu.
Well, actually breaking a site's ToS and benefiting materially from it is now considered a Federal crime. Aaron Swartz is being charged by the Feds for just that. It didn't involve screen scraping but use of a bot to download data, even though he was entitled to download that data normally, just not using a bot.

Scary stuff.
I don't believe they've used that in a while. They let Chrome & Sparrow on without any complaints.
It isn't just revenues: having people who think they are buying things (or probably worse: think they are selling things) but aren't really (as there are risks and this is all just contributing money to possible futures) has legal and accounting (eg. sales tax) ramifications that kickstarter was not previously, not seemed to have any signs of in the future, addressing.
I'm not going to say that nobody would ever do it, but I will say that any pilot who relies on a smartphone's built-in mapping app to find airports deserves the outcome he gets.
How to understand this in 3 easy steps:

1) Build a product. Any product, doesn't matter.

2) Walk into Wal-Mart and demand that they sell it.

3) Watch them laugh you out of the store.

Stores aren't under any obligation whatsoever to sell something just because you, or I, or Google, wants to sell it in them.
I initially made a more crass comment, and then deleted to it, but what I'll say is that this got my feminist heckles up, and it seems like a pragmatic approach. However, in this case the pragmatic approach seems like building a castle on a swamp, as opposed to making any attempt to deal with said
swamp.

Give girls lego.
I think you meant to say, maybe the aviation industry shouldn't have chosen a name that matched that of a farm.
I think what he's saying is if you go outside and look at a tree, then the truth will be revealed to you. No need to do this if you've seen a tree in the last year though. But perhaps I read his comment wrong.
> With its focus on curation, Caviar limits its inventory to restaurants that have four stars or higher on Yelp.

Frankly, I believe that this is a security risk for companies that want to integrate with Caviar. Since this criteria is outside the control of Caviar, it is possible to game the system.

Here's a scenario: Alice opens a new swanky restaurant. A few hipsters come by and give Alice's restaurant a 4-star average on Yelp. Alice asks Caviar if she can integrate with them. Meanwhile, Bob has another restaurant that competes with Alice's. Realizing that his business is vulnerable, he buys a few negative reviews of Alice's restaurant on Yelp. Because she had few ratings to begin with, and because Yelp believes the reviews to be real, her rating drops to 3 stars. Now Caviar won't let Alice use their service.

How will Caviar prevent this scenario from happening? Why not act like Steve Jobs and say, "This restaurant can use our service because I said so?"
This is a kickstarter for: An awesome t-shirt with a picture of an Android-based game console we're developing on it.

Rewards: $180 A new Android-based game console.
I don't think that the typical consumer's understanding of technology industry dynamics is deep enough for this to be relevant. I think the decision is more like, "Steve's phone's maps suck, I don't want that phone."

After all, all of these companies have faced huge amounts of criticism (Apple for worker's conditions, Google for its actions in China, Facebook for privacy issues), and they don't seem to meaningfully erode consumer enthusiasm.
The simulation/rendering rule is only for "Hardware and Product Design Projects", not software.
Spanish Astronomers Could Help Solve The Mystery Of Dark Energy
Note that you don't have to give location data to all websites. You can allow maps.google.com and deny others.
The problem is there is no internal free market. So, as soon as you move sub components around it's impossible to track what the actual profits where in each company. Let's say the US Fab cost 1 billion and you sold a chip in China for 50$ and 60$ in the US. What's there share of R&D costs?
All listings are reviewed by humans before published so this kind of trickery wouldn't work.
What kind of profitable attacks could one perform with a large collection of Pandora passwords? The best I can think of is for a small band to have millions of people "like" them.
I like your comment a lot because I often feel like Silicon Valley dismisses the Midwest (sometimes even including Chicago!) as an edge case / not important and that's in the same country even.
So, basically, pay or shut up? Access to 50% of Twitter messages is gonna cost you only $360,000 per year. That will certainly foster innovation.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/twitter_to_sell_50_of_a...
I was expecting much worse. I don't think the problems with the 3D are that big of a deal. And things like the Washington Monument being off by a few dozen feet are fine.

What I will say is that Google for the longest time did not locate properly my home or my store in the middle of downtown San Francisco and Apple's maps have them correct on Day 1.
Well the way I see it, self improvement is like playing guitar - initially it's bloody hard and doesn't make sense and when you do lock down a chord it takes ages to then play the next one and is a whole mess and is super awkward and annoying, however, once you get vaguely good at it then it becomes less about the gruelling learning and more about playing around and enjoying what you're good at - it's not just a learning exercise, it's something you understand and can develop in your own sweet way.

Self improvement, learning, guitar skill - nobody, unless you're innately talented, is something anyone just "slips into" naturally because it "feels right and is easy" as this article suggests - making the most out of this pointless spec of time takes hard work, paying attention, taking risks, learning the hard way, but it's like, deferred gratification...being bored easily helps (otherwise we'd just devote our lives to the mundane shit children enjoy), it's a fantastical journey of discovery, and it's not necessarily easy to reach things that can reward us the most.
Even if they are just using saving it in session they aren't using https
Figuring out how to get everyone's number at once without looking creepy or putting anyone in particular on the spot is left as an exercise for the reader. ;)

(The first one I'd try: a friendly group contact info exchange suggestion, to be able to keep in touch, would let me then follow up one-on-one later over text/calling/facebook/your method of choice, without having to corner anyone.)
The problems is skilled designers are starting to pull off big time scams fooling people for hundreds of thousands of dollars. People see realistic renderings of a hoverboard or whatever and they immediately open their wallets without realizing that their is very little chance that they will be able to pull it off. If people see a skateboard with some glued-on fans they will be much more skeptical.
I'd assume that the device will be obvious once the wrapper is open. Such a tracker requires batteries with enough power to driver a transmitter, and a reasonably efficient antenna. That means it has to be a significant physical size.

If fact, it wouldn't surprise me if the only thing in the wrapper is a golden coloured tracker emblazoned with the word's "you won!", and the winners task is to wait for Nestle to come to him and deliver the 10000 pounds and missing chocolate bar (tough luck if you had the munchies).

If fact, it would be quite fun evading the "Nestle police" for as long as possible, leading them on a merry chase across the UK.
I've been on one in SF. It was awesome.
Those aren't even remotely analogous. Nobody required Microsoft to sell Netscape. Microsoft got slapped for using its monopoly in Operating Systems to pressure third parties into not signing agreements to ship Netscape on their products.

The fundamental thing that's lacking here is that third-party coercion. The government is never going to force any company to carry and sell products they don't want to carry and sell.
If anything, the kids may not care, but adults picking out toys for a little girl will feel more comfortable buying this. People are always happier if they feel their choices were more "customized" for the person they're buying for.

Personal anecdote: when I was a girl I wanted this $50 erector set for Christmas which my dad said was too expensive, but then he bought me a some $50 stuffed animal for Christmas anyways. I guess he felt like it was a better gift.
Are you sure? Software could conceivably fall under "Product".
There is a world of difference between a physical working prototype and product that you can deliver in commercial quantities.

I guess Kickstarter is aiming to fund physical projects that already have a working prototype and require funding to deliver in large quantities.

It seems fair to me, as the person requesting funding should be required to have put in a fair amount of effort beyond a flashy 3 minute video promising the world. A working prototype seems to be a fair bar.
When Ouya raised over a million dollars within 24 hours a few weeks ago, they specifically wrote: "In just 24 hours, 20,000 people bought an Ouya console"[0]. They should be more careful with their choice of words in the future if they really want to reflect that "Kickstarter is not a store".

[0] http://www.kickstarter.com/blog/ouyas-big-day
Jeez, I hope that server isn't using Linux, that infringes on the double linked list patent.

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7028023/fulltext.html

http://www.makelinux.net/ldd3/chp-11-sect-5
Many users reuse passwords across their web presence.

So there's the chance of gaining access to other accounts as a result of the data leak... such as their bank accounts, etc.
Aintro: an app for making meaningful introductions.
and association. PayPal just doesn't want their name associated with stuff like that.

Yeah, I suspect this is the real reason.
The problem with Renderings/simulations is that people believe that things like: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/limemouse/lifx-the-light... actually exist, when they are just concepts right now.
Seems pretty easy. Only admit restaurants with over 100 reviews to ensure quality. Once restaurants are integrated, they stay integrated. I'm sure it's not being flipped on and off by an algorithm. Curation means someone's picking out these restaurants by hand to make sure they're great :)
If you love Apple products so much that you feel personally slighted that they don't fit comfortably in your big hands, I guess that's just your cross to bear.
Strategy vs. Tactics from a VC [pdf]
I Took the Bing It On Challenge and Lived
I think that Kickstarter is happiest with the things like ElevationDock - a fully functional prototype, that they just had to figure out how to manufacture in large quantities.

They certainly had their challenges - but would have had no chance without a big group of people ordering up front.
I used this functionality to track updates on software from companies/groups that don't do RSS. They do/did Twitter. I also got downtime alerts from Pingdom via Twitter.

I'm starting to see this as less and less of a platform I can depend on.
> gotta love spelling correctors

Even one that doesn't have "desert" in its dictionary?

Why can't the GP poster make an honest mistake, without others feeling the need to make excuses for them?
Firstly there are some simple issues that most international companies are very tax "efficient" - paying their alloyed fair share would drive most of the Fortune 500 into the red this year

I am not saying that's a bad thing but it is a hard thing

Secondly allocation of resources is soluble. - one example would be an international agreement to pool all taxes and share out to countries in proportion to employees per country, but in the end companies pay how much we are willing to let them get away with.
Why I Left Microsoft
I find it funny how the Oculus Rift's front image is a rendering, and not because they can't do it. But because they want you to see the final design that they have created.
I don't really get the ban on multiple reward tiers for hardware. Anyone got an example of something that used this to abuse users in the past?
Yes, all of our restaurant partners have hundreds if not thousands of reviews on Yelp. This will be hard to game. The only exception is the Mayo & Mustard Food Truck but they are 4.5 Stars and totally awesome.
It's not a warning for developers. We know Twitter is sketchy territory.

This is a warning to users. A service that emulates programming must exclude Twitter's API is the best way to explain to an average user why Twitter's new policies suck.
Inline reply!
This is a sensible list of new rules. This is a quintessential exercise in changing user expectations and behavior. This is great UX, especially in a platform-type environment in which the platform managers aren’t always able to curate the content created by the platform users.
And their sales numbers have been abysmal.

I haven't heard how the new "Lego Friends" line has been doing, though.
You're right. I think the thought process likely to go through most consumers heads is either:

"This new maps thing sucks. Oh look, I can get Google's maps again. Thanks Google!"

or

"This new maps sucks. Oh well, the rest of the phone is great."

Google passing up the chance to keep people who already like one of their products happy on the off chance that they can pry Apple consumers away from Apple doesn't strike me as the best decision in the world.
yes, terminal.app will render emoji. A friend has a pizza slice as his prompt
Apple Issues Statement Over Day 1 'Maps' Glitches
In my experience bricking refers to the rendering of a device inoperable (and irreparable) by the means available to a savvy user. Usually by method of failed firmware flash.
Generally you're looking at soldering some wires up to whatever chip and reflashing it manually.
"Convenient proxy factory bean superclass for proxy factory beans that create only singletons."

It's concise, precise, clear functional description of the class. It's also a profound commentary on the shortcomings of the Java ecosystem.

If you enjoyed this, recommended reading:

http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/03/execution-in-kingdom...
Vile_rat: We saw one of our 'police' guards taking pictures
One possible indication of suspicious activity on the part of Libyan guards at the consulate is a cryptic message which Sean Smith, an American diplomat killed in the Benghazi attack, sent to friends in the online gaming community, in which he was a long-time participant.

A gaming website called The Mittani on September 12 posted what it said was a message Smith sent before his death. In the message, a person using the screen-name "Vile_rat", which The Mittani said was Smith's, the writer said: "assuming we don't die tonight. We saw one of our 'police' that guard the compound taking pictures."

U.S. officials familiar with investigations into the attack had no immediate comment on Smith's purported message.
You highlighted my main concern with this toy: It's not nearly as open-ended as "traditional" building toys.
I'm assuming Grouper would have some sort of way to reconnect after a meetup? Seems like you could always communicate that way afterwards.
What stops them from doing the full teardown at once? Why only the first few steps?
Hey, original author here. I had written about a few random topics before, but this post single-handedly dwarfed the rest in pageviews, time on site, and comments compared to all other posts on my site. I was talking with some friends about it and they suggested I submit it to Hacker News.

The HN community has been influential in the ~1 year I have been lurking. I hope to give back by distilling my learnings leaving a big company I enjoyed being a part of and compare/contrast my lifestyle as a founder of a new startup as we go through a lot of experimentation to find a sustainable business model.
Agreed, what annoys me more in kickstarter are projects that use it as a way to get preorders. Existing a finished product or not to me seems to go away from funding the project its just a way to buy and sell
From the comments in the linked blog, there was this comment "The new guideline prohibiting renderings applies only to projects categorized as Product Design or Hardware. Other categories, including Games, are not affected."

which came from Kickstarter's community manager.
I also think that delivered software is a product. I doubt kickstarter would allow SaaS at all (it would be interesting to see what kind of products get rejected during the submission reviews).
"ban the behavior rather than the intent"

I think this sums it up quite nicely. The intent, which is encouraged by all branches and is culturally engrained (I will retrieve citations if requested), is "reduce your taxes as low as possible".

With the right advisors, corporations can do this very effectively. This should not be a surprise to anyone. They will pay less, much less. After all, that's what you encouraged them to do.

If your aim is to collect more taxes, then why encourage those being taxed to seek to reduce their tax liability as low as possible?

Forgive me if I am missing the obvious. But this to me has never made sense.
If The X-Men Worked In IT
The Lifx lightbulb is specific in setting multiple products shipped per multiple dollar amount.
Why are people still relying on developers to implement proper password security instead of using unique passwords?
No simulations or renderings to show the vision that's being pursued? Beyond stupid. It's insane.

I'd speculate that it's probably a requirement driven by lawyers worried about failed projects conferring some kind of liability onto Kickstarter itself.
Interesting! The spools and ribbons are almost skeuomorphic in that toy's context, but still attractive under the existing girls' toy aesthetic. Smart idea.
It also seems the password is being passed in the clear...
Codeplex didn't start supporting git until March of this year. Azure has been posting on github since 2011.

I suspect Azure will continue to use Github; moving would disrupt a lot of developers.

https://github.com/WindowsAzure
I believe they are posting it as they are tearing it down, so there is more to come!
I asked this a while back and the answer was pretty much "no" -- but I'm curious if that's changed. Have there recently been any high profile examples of fraud through crowdfunding sites?
Quite annoying. Here are some alternatives for people (like me) living in Japan:

* Bookmark the normal maps.google.com page on the front page

* Foursquare

* Japan Map - 'Free for a limited time'
https://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/japan-map-itsumo-navi/id3066...
It's a radio station. I would never expect a web developer to do 'everything within their control' to secure it. Not even banks do that.

Honestly, what are you worried about? So they have your plaintext password. You didn't reuse it for any other service, right? So what use is it to anybody other than logging into your Pandora account and fucking with your stations? (And why the hell would anyone do that?)

People need to be more realistic about security.
> Anytime a website shows you your password or emails it to you, it's a bad sign. It means it is stored in plain text.

No it doesn't. They could be using the strongest encryption known to man and still show you your password or e-mail it to you by simply decrypting it when needed.
Ask HN: How to "properly" leak info to competitors of potential acquirer
Situation: offer to acquire is coming. We're really small company at a very early stage.
NDA is in place. We though that competitors of the potential buyer will be very interested. What's is the best way to leak information and potentially create bidding competition?
Apple's maps will never reach Google's.

There is one way Apple's maps already surpass Google's: no advertising.

For instance the iOS 5 Youtube app never showed ads, whereas the new app store one shows tons of them. Sometimes 1/4th of the screen is advertisement.

I'm sure it will be the same way for maps. Looking up a bus route, looking for used cars for cheap? Oh you are walking someplace, wouldn't you like a bicycle? There's five StarBucks® on your route!

No thanks. If I need the better features in Google Maps then I'll use it, but I'll go with the ad-free version if it works well enough.
Execution is key, ideas can be easily copied.
I don't think it says anywhere that the prototype has to work. I'm reading this in a way that says I have to show what I've already accomplished. It is ok if the prototype doesn't work yet, and I think it is ok to expect the project creators to do some of the work before they create a kickstarter project.
“Unemployee of the year” a worldwide contest for young people by Unhate
The change in terminology would seem to imply that Kickstarter is now wising up to the fact that there will inevitably be a high profile failure to deliver in the near future and is now trying to preempt criticism against Kickstarter not laying out clearly enough the risks involved in backing a project.

I welcome this change and think that it will help in the long run.
Yeah, unique as primary key in relation database :-)
The use of the word "loopholes" indicates that Microsoft is complying with the law. The word "loopholes" also implies that Microsoft's actions aren't within the intent of the law, but the article provides no explanation on the intent of the law. So this article is an unfounded and unbalanced attack on Microsoft, no more interesting than saying "Microsoft is evil!".
Your girls love Lego. So does mine, and houses, shops, cars figures, vehicles - the bulk of the Lego staple kits - are all gender neutral.
Nicely done, hope it is enough to protect them from the lawyers.
Not only is this set not as open-ended, I'm not sure buying additional sets will improve things since it sounds like every set will be rather self contained.
To Succeed, Forget Self-Esteem
Show HN: Reply to Hacker News comments inline, without leaving the page
I believe it to be a very wise tactical move. You have unhappy Apple customers looking for an immediate alternative. By the time Apple gets maps to an acceptable user state, the Apple customers will already have adapted to using Google maps on an Apple device. That's a major blow to Apple IMO.
Hiring an experienced lawyer away from a job as general counsel or from an established law firm would be incredibly expensive. Hiring a more junior one (or bringing a moderately experienced lawyer onto the board), not so much.

As for the workload, that's a bit like saying there's no point in having a CIO because all the computers work fine 95% of the time.