skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
> "if we once did big things but do so no longer, then what changed?"

Our definition of "big", I think. I can't be sure because the article leaves it so loosely defined that one could cherry pick data to suit their mood.

Is no space project acceptably "big" simply because it doesn't include humans or habitats? We've been to Mars a few times lately, by robot. We're going to earth orbit far more efficiently these days. We're launching satellites at a furious clip. And for this, even though poor nations languish without proper electricity, they do have cell phones. Not to downplay the problems that remain, but that one seems "big" to me; at least worth mentioning.

To say nothing of computer vision. Processing power advancements have turned this long-suffering field into something of a white-hot ball of promise lately. The applications being developed will be at least as transformative as anything the automobile delivered.

Is this not "big" because the applications will first be delivered to wealthy nations, because some of them look like "toys", or because it lacks the old-school wonder of a big-ass rocket launch? I have no idea from the article; I can only infer the author disqualifies it by its complete omission.

And the author is similarly imprecise on who "we" even are. After identifying many of the problems they consider "big" as primarily international political problems, in many cases a result of international poverty, they then point fingers at the US political situation [1] when looking for answers.

Is it reasonable to expect that the national feeling that fed support for a US-centric space program is lacking because there isn't similar contemporary support for solving problems overseas? Not that the US couldn't do more on some of those problems [2]. But aside from the military removal of despots, the US has no real history of possessing the national will -- or even the capability -- to solve political and poverty problems overseas.

Even if we had that Cold War-era national spirit today, I'm not sure it logically follows that it would unite behind e.g. a massive political/research/development effort to light Africa.

[1] A mess no doubt. And one doing grievous harm to our national R&D.

[2] We could even "do more" by doing less in some cases: stopping support for programs that aren't helping, but are instead warping markets and political structures.
there is also a _staging one - obviously it's some kind of output for an app of some sort. googuns itself seems to be owned by Google Notifications
We've come a long way from coffee pot webcams https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_Room_coffee_pot
Huge archive of info about number stations (including recordings and technical errors) can be found here:

http://www.priyom.org/number-stations.aspx

'Priyom' is Russian for copy/over.
Show HN: JackDB — Database development in your web browser
JackDB was created to solve a personal itch of mine for better, web-based database developer tools. We'd love your feedback, questions and comments here.
Clickable: http://www.jackdb.com/
Those reasons are possible, but in the companies I've worked for the resistance to open-sourcing code is mostly just fear:

• the competition might use our code to make their products better than ours

• our code is obsolete or just plain terrible, and could hurt our company image

• we might have to spend a ton of time supporting users that made changes to the code

• if the community does a better job with the code then we might get fired
a.k.a. the Deathstar Dilemma
True, or it could be geolocations that it failed to resolve.. but then again it would likely be the same geolocation for every time it fails to resolve
That's probably purely because it's a game from Notch. This doesn't seem to have the same kind of (apparently) universal appeal as Minecraft, and I predict a much smaller player base.

Not that I'm sure Notch cares, considering the money he made off Minecraft.
I personally prefer Python to R for mathematical computing as well. I find it much more comfortable.
There are few async libraries.
This is normally the typical US ATM fee which UK banks don't bother to try and return to you, AIUI. The credit card spread by itself isn't that bad; it's better than almost all alternatives except for pre-pay currency cards (not as secure or convenient as a credit card especially if you get saddled with a big pre-auth somewhere) or shopping around for the cheapest cash conversion (in which case you end up with a wad of high-value notes you can't spend if you're not careful).
"Every kid has a smart phone. I guess my son wasn't being dramatic when he said he was the only one without one."

Ha! My inner child feels somewhat vindicated.
Ah, got it. Thanks, that was a really clear explanation.
Danger Zone: MySQL and Windows/NTFS 'Volume Shadow Copy' Technology
Sure it is, but going to Mars at this point in time is not the best option. How are we going to have a self sufficient colony on Mars without having a viable energy source, for example? We aren't realistically going to set up a Mars colony without first sending lots of robots to prepare for our weak bodies. Bringing each one from Earth is not feasibly either, so you'd want to have a self sufficient (and replicating) robot colony on Mars first. Once we have these and more issues sorted out, it will be worth investing significantly in actually getting the stuff to Mars, but doing it at this point we'd be investing a of of effort in getting there without actually being able to accomplish something once we're there.

The same applies to the moon: what have we done on the moon? Not much. What have we gained out of the moon missions? Plenty of stuff like better rocket engines, heat shields, etc. Was it the technology project that would have gotten us the best return on investment? I don't think so. Was it better than spending the money on e.g fighter planes? Yes (the cost of the JSF project is $1.1 trillion [1], the cost of the Apollo program is about $0.13 trillion in today's dollars [2] [3]).

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Strike_Fighter_Program

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_program#Program_cost

[3] http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=+%2425.4+%281973+US+dol...
It's said to be quite active since 2010 [1]

[1] http://priyom.org/number-stations/slavic/s28.aspx
As an amateur space historian, I view that the Apollo project is widely misunderstood by most people.

It was basically a stunt: create something as quickly as possible with money as no object. It is extremely obvious in hindsight that the capabilities and solutions it created were not directly sustainable or efficient in the long term.

We should not clamor for some similar projects or similar technical solutions, just "because Apollo did it".

Instead we should objectively strive for reliable, flexible and affordable spacefaring.

Some of the project practices and technologies that Apollo used might be good for spacefaring unchanged as they were, some might serve as basis that needs development and others are negative examples.

We just shouldn't say "look they went to the moon with solution X" as the only justification for solution X.
Solution X could be for example building a single huge rocket.
Great, thanks matey.
Radian6 Layoffs Prove Social Media is not all About Technology
That is total views on his channel. The 0x10c testing video[1] only has about 5500.

[1]: http://www.twitch.tv/notch/b/336813987
derleth just did.
Sounds like opportunity, doesn't it?
Remind me again, what percent of military spending would that be?
The concept of of a sum type is simple. It's just the type-theoretic notion of logical disjunction, how a particular language expresses that is sort of high-level implementation detail.

Java and its ilk do have sum types: they're called abstract classes; the derived types are the variants.

In C# (and probably Java) you can easily define both open and closed sum types simply by marking the base class constructor as either `public` or `protected`.
Faster cold boots, less power usage (and longer battery life if it's a laptop), some serious security improvements, new Explorer, faster file copies... It's a whole new OS, not just a new UI.
I'm still happy. It wanders a bit from topic, but I eventually gave away stacks of Broadcom based WRTSL54GS wifi routers because their closed source driver was stuck at linux 2.4 and I needed 2.6 for some attached hardware. That went on for years. Having everything that runs on the host CPU open means things like this can't happen. Much better than a plastic mule.

Even further afield… When my first daughter was 3 or 4 we got her a magic wand for her birthday. A plastic star on the end of a plastic stick. She was thrilled, pointed it at her grandmother and said "I turn you into a bug!". She was crushed when it didn't work. Rather spoiled the whole day for her. She assures us she was going to turn her back.
If the extinction event is caused by asteroids, that's not the only option. That doesn't mean that the alternatives wouldn't need spacial technology anyway.
9m/s is velocity. How does this 'add up' over a distance?
> Or you can get Windows 8 Pro shipped to you for $69.99

That's the full version as far as I can tell (and you can't get it yet via that link).

Also, the "upgrade" version only works for 64-bit versions of installed media... If you're running a 32-bit Windows version, you'll have to wait for the full version.
looks like his initial plans were too ambitious, he wasn't skilled enough to pull them off or just got bored and decided to pivot it into a more FPS style game.
The gap for https://twitter.com/googuns_staging is 5 minutes; that account was started the same date as @googuns_prod: 28 July 2009.

I would guess googuns_prod is the output from two of whatever googuns_staging is, running at a 1-minute offset, with each thing identifying itself with the last nine digits: 200000000 and 350000000 for the production thing, ba0000000 for the staging thing.
*week
Bashful LaTeX
Take a look at the contract that you've entered into with an airline when you buy a regular ticket. These guys are in the pantheon of crossing every t and dotting every i, going do far as to say if we declare something an act of god, then you get no refund, nor recourse.
Ask HN: Interested in a Boston Meetup?
Is anyone on HN interested in working with me to start a quarterly Boston meetup? I have been successful in starting an alumni association here and could lead the effort but it would be a lot better to have people to bounce ideas off of.

Let me know if you are interested.
From a novice's perspective, this book is incredible. The fact that it's on the O'Reilly network (pay once -- get it in any format, DRM-free) is icing on the cake.
It shouldn't be available for anybody yet. The Windows 8 launch event is in another 30 minutes in New York, and official sales don't start until tomorrow.
wow a pretty significant release.

for those unfamiliar with the bretton woods summit (officially the united nations monetary and financial conference), it essentially laid-out the foundation of our modern (open) global financial system. it took place just after the second world war (1944) and the monetary system it created was in-place through 1971.

the key objective was to facilitate a more open global economy and one in which the leading (read: western/industrialized/democratic) economies would cooperate in governing and maintaining the system. given the timing, it had a particular focus on (and was quite effective in) helping rebuild post-war economies (namely germany and japan), through policies which helped lower barriers to trade and capital movements during those periods of rapid redevelopment.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

some high-level details and history; adapted from wikipedia [1]:

The plan involved nations agreeing to a system of fixed but adjustable exchange rates where all currencies were pegged against the US Dollar, with the dollar itself convertible into gold (in effect a gold-dollar exchange standard).

Two significant international financial institutions, the International Monetary Fund and The Bank for International Settlements (precursor/current component of the World Bank) were created; a key part of their functions were to replace private finances with more reliable source of lending for investment projects in developing postwar states.

The new exchange rate system allowed countries facing economic hardship to devalue their currencies by up to 10% against the dollar (more if approved by the IMF), thus preventing them from deflating their currencies to stay on the gold standard. A system of capital controls was introduced to protect countries from the damaging effects of capital flight and to allow countries to pursue independent macroeconomic policies while still welcoming flows intended for productive investment.

The system remained in place from 1945 to 1971 when the central role of the US Dollar became a problem as the international demand for dollars eventually forced the US to run a persistent trade deficit, which undermined confidence in the dollar. This, together with the emergence of a parallel market for gold where the price soared above the official US mandated price, led to speculators running down the US gold reserves. Even when convertibility was restricted to nations only, some (notably France) continued building up hoards of gold at the expense of the US. Eventually these pressures caused President Nixon to end all convertibility into gold on 15 August 1971. This event marked the effective end of the Bretton Woods systems; attempts were made to find other mechanisms to preserve the fixed exchange rates over the next few years, but they were not successful, resulting in a system of floating exchange rates which we (generally) have today.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_monetary_systems#...
I'm a fulltime developer, and a macbook air 13" is my main machine. I love it, and wouldn't trade it for anything. The battery life is better than I've ever had before (4-5 hours in real world scenarios), and the portability can't be beat. At the same time, it's not too small to do real work on. That being said, I do hook it up to a 30" dell monitor & mouse and keyboard when I'm not out and about.
Every time I read an article like this it seems that the implied consensus is that companies with millions of dollars in yearly revenue are unable to hire good talent when it comes to hardware programming and all the "good" ones are open-source people who may or may not have worked for one of these companies in the past.

With all these "this thing is bad" articles it just seems like no hardware company has ever been able to write good drivers and are completely unable to hire the right people to do the job. This is implied in all of the history of electronics.

But they also almost always come across as more opinions than facts. Does the Pi GPU driver suck? I don't know because this article says so but doesn't explain why exactly. As someone else pointed out, this article is pointing out that the company simply did not create certain things the way the community wanted.

I'm not a hardware programmer so I don't much about such things, but what do these people actually expect out of a piece of hardware that costs around $25-50 US? What exactly are the goals these people want that require the type of access they are asking for? What goals are they failing to achieve that makes them decide the hardware and/or drivers suck? That's all I ask when one of these "this thing is bad" type of article.
You might want to take a look at this for a view on Twitter Demographics:

http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/amislove/publications/Twitter-IC...

and this for how one might be able to do "serious" predictions using Twitter as a proxy:

http://www.bgoncalves.com/component/jdownloads/finish/3/39.h...
I wouldn't agree. Obviously, there needs to be a spread, but receiving a 1.23 rate when it should be around 1.29 is getting screwed. That's higher than 5% when there is no reason for it to be.

Banks can set a fixed daily rate or a yearly one, it is their arbitrary decision. And obviously, they set it this way because it gives them a nice profit and they can get away with it.

Living abroad, I have transferred money in many occasions, and any FX broker will set their exchange rate on the spot or at most up to a minute basis. In this case, it would mean having a spread such as 1.288-1.292 (and probably tighter) instead of the one quoted by the traditional bank.

I was outraged when I discovered the FX GlobalTransfer service offered by Oanda and learnt that my bank had been overcharging hundreds of $.
What’s going to be different the next time?
Actually, on a video released on the 12th he shows the ship interface system still using the originally planned system: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYojT0Xgt9Y&feature=plcp
This is really great, and immaculately put together. Recently though I've come across people who think that you need strong types when programming, and this is really weird to me. I think it has its place for sure, and is a great way to ensure you're being correct, but I also really like not having to mess with types on hobby projects and such for sure :D

Anyway, great paper.
The Value of Ideas (is going up)
I find this very insightful so we're talking about a modern day tower of babel. But, instead of a destruction of a common language it's a destruction of a common set of values. We stopped believing in government due to a difference in values we saw. That gave rise to a change in values of individual expression over collective work. And now we can't collectively agree so the problems we can solve are smaller because we create smaller and smaller pockets that agree.
Like rings on a tree, you can judge how old you are by how many times a particular idea has resurfaced after some time in obscurity.
Thanks for the information and the link, that is a really cool site! I'll make sure to use it on future projects just to make sure I'm not completely screwing over color blind people.
I also think it's a political issue, but not specifically because of lack of trust of the government.

I think it's lack of competition for the US as a whole. For the first time in the history of the US, the primary international problems for the US aren't developed nations that are as technologically advanced(or even more advanced). Even the biggest current competitor(China) is so beholden to US interests that they can't afford to do anything to destabilize the US economy, and they're still behind on innovation by a tremendous amount.

Also, the current military challenges that the US faces aren't things that can be solved strictly through technological innovation. It's asymmetric warfare, so there's very little incentive for the US to invest heavily into new tech.

Compare to the international problems the US faced in the 20th century. The first half was dominated by competition and warfare with the developed nations in Europe. WWI and WWII forced the US to invest heavily into new tech. The second half was dominated by the cold war, which, again, forced the US to invest resources to keep up with the USSR.
The mashable post is light on details; here's the phys.org article they're referencing:

http://phys.org/news/2012-10-physics-duo-tractor-dual-bessel...
Might be a good article, but that font hurts my eyes.
Why Polygon takes video-games journalism seriously
I am sure it uses a standard dictionary such as SOWPODS, which excludes proper nouns among other things.
Now it typically connotes a post-event review using the metaphor of the autopsy.
I think the government needs to start creating fiefdoms that implement redundant services, a la Amazon. I think that is an amazing policy for large organizations when predicting future technological improvements is out of consideration. Use whatever technology you want and any architecture as long as you follow blah basic tenets.

No bureaucracy, a simple API to be responsible for, and the ability to subsume any patented/copyrighted material ;)

http://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/sovimm.htm
I see, I was under the impression that had died down since feb 2011 though? That was the impression the Wikipedia article gave anyway.
Big problems - sometimes before even to be formulated and asked - require big fundamental and applicative science research programmes and the respective advancement.

These are not something to be expected from venture capital. They are something resulting from deliberate state scientific and industrial policy, longterm goals, and adequate funding.

Examples from 1950s-1970s: DARPA/USA, and the resp. space and rocketry programmes in the former USSR.

Private capital - be it venture or not - comes later (and this is not a bad thing) when the new technologies are relatively well understood , "tameable", and can be applied to mass human consumers' or corporate needs (perceived or not, new or old) yet to be satisfied.

Private capital doesn't like fundamental scientific research risks - even in the pharmacy industry. It tries to bear mostly the market-related and implementational risks.

A thought experiment: Think on what funds and in what conditions happened the development of packet switching, TCP/IP protocols suite, HTTP, (examples of fundamental breakthrough). Then think the same about Facebook, for example.

My point summarized => States/Governments shouldn't worry about entrepreneurship programmes, clusters, tech-business climat, etc.

If adequate funding is provided for breakthrough scientific research and to the universities in general (so there are also the high-quality scientists to do it), breakthrough technology business solving big problems will happen inevitably.
> Not to make this comment all whiny, do you guys think Eran stands a chance in making Oz become as popular as OAuth?

Do I think anybody else stands a chance of making something as popular as OAuth? No - as jklio pointed out, there are already alternatives that are likelier to catch on, not to mention OAuth 2.0 itself.

However, if anybody has a chance at adding a new contender to the mix, it's Eran.

Whether or not he will is another question - it'd be hard to judge either way until the project is further along.
What Makes an Effective Executive (Peter F.Drucker)
It's not a new framework, but you could achieve similar results using Twitter Bootstrap and the Microsoft Modern Buttons Project - http://ace-subido.github.com/css3-microsoft-metro-buttons/in...
Show HN: Drib, a nicer way to browse Dribbble's popular shots
The second definition given does not refer to "death" at all and is commonly used in science and business contexts. It usually refers to the project (or the "event") being over at the point of discussion.

The term is overloaded nowadays, as can be seen on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-mortem_%28disambiguation%2...
Blogspam, copied (without author's permission?) from http://www.johndcook.com/blog/2012/10/24/python-for-data-ana... . [EDITED to add: actually, it looks like it was with the author's position. Still blogspam. Incidentally, John Cook's blog is frequently updated and frequently interesting, at least for anyone with an interest in mathematics and software.]
Anyone could spoof geolocation, plus why would spies use twitter of all things. this sounds more like a prank
Nope. We have a lot of applications where we need UARTs to hook together various serial devices which are all assuming they're running high speed TTL serial (or in some cases RS232). This is pretty common, for example, in robotics. We could always hang something off the board -- an FTDI USB chip say -- but it'd have been far nicer to have three more UARTs on the board itself.
Thanks scotty, it looks like macbook Air is the way to go, nobody seems to suggest the macbook pro option. This leaves me with the macbook Air 13" or Ultrabook+macmini option.
New windows malware can target smart cards for full remote access
Scaling a business by maximizing gigabytes under management
Looks very cool, thanks for sharing.