skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Microsoft Surface: More profit per tablet than Apple's iPad?
We used to only have the optical scanners in Virginia. The machines are a recent addition, and a big step back. I want them gone.
Perhaps you know libertarians that I don't.

The ones I know are well armed, but about as non-violent as you can be and not be a Quaker.
iPad uses a capacitive touch screen. Older technologies are very prone to mis-calibration, even if they are not in heavy use.

I recently had to help my mother recalibrate her sewing machine's touch screen.
The way the high resolutions work is that the screen is rendered at 2x then scaled down to fit the display. This does lose a bit of that subpixel antialiasing, so you're right that it doesn't appear quite as crisp as the native retina scaling. Hopefully this is something they're working on - Quartz could theoretically be modified to detect the scaling factor for the display and render text, shapes, etc to match the native pixels.
A Beta test is usually a call for this kind of feedback. You should send it to them. Save the HN comment for after the Beta.
I use the retina MBP at "1920x1200", which wasn't available on any 15" MacBook previously. I do wish this was the "native" resolution though. "1440x900" is comically large.
The spy in your inbox
MIPS also sells instruction set licenses if you want to build your own MIPS core from scratch.
I wonder what happens if you push on the screen over a candidate's name really really really hard for a minute or so.

Not hard enough to knock the whole machine over, but way harder than "touch."

It doesn't even need to be malicious. Maybe someone really liked Obama.
Is there a performance and power consumption impact to changing to a different scaled resolution or is it negligible?
Voting isn't mandatory and the population is apathetic;

Optional voting is a feature, not a bug. It ensures that the people who care most wield the most influence. If they collectively take the rest of the (apathetic) population astray, more people will start to care and swing the country in a different direction. There's a term for this kind of self-correcting system, but it escapes me right now.

Regardless, changing to mandatory voting would do absolutely nothing to solve voter apathy. It could theoretically have the opposite effect, as now the people who care deeply have less influence because their votes are watered down by people who only vote to avoid a fine.
The catch in this is that having proof of voting a particular way makes a voter susceptible to bullying, or gives them the ability to sell their vote. The Wombat Voting system attempts to address this with a public-key approach: http://www.wombat-voting.com/
Why everyone loves the iPad mini
The extreme form would be to ensure that every person who favors your position gets a vote cast and counted, without changing the votes of others.

It's the difference between persuasion and "get out the vote". Persuading voters to your point of view is more honorable, but "get out the vote" is often more cost effective.
If only they sold retina desktop monitors. Without a big monitor, any amount of pixels on the laptop will only serve as an exceedingly high resolution twitter stream most of my day.

That said, I welcome they day when I can buy a >= 24 inch retina desktop monitor and I full well plan to spend a buckload of money on it as soon as it becomes available. (IF it is compatible with both Macs and other computers. That is a requirement)
I have been using 1440 by 900 for years on my 2007 MacBook Pro, and I have no complaints regarding it. I have seen the high res version of the 15" and it felt too small to be comfortable to read.
Search for zfec. Allows you to split a file into N chunks, only M of which are required to reconstitute the original. Protects against N-M independent errors/corruptions.
Found in 5 seconds: "Gallup Daily: Obama-McCain Race Reverts to Virtual Tie"

Found in another 5 seconds: "National Poll Shows Bush, Kerry in Virtual Tie"

I could go on.
Search Places App - Better iOS 6 Maps Using Google Places API
I just installed and ran Uplink without beta access. Ran smoothly even in a Virtualbox.

Edit: To clarify, I have lots of indie games on steam that are readily installable on Linux. TF2 doesn't seem to be available without beta access though.
Delicious Refreshed
Because everyone thinks of themselves as being above median, and a wiz at the tools. They know all the flags, workflows etc memorized and think everyone should be like them.

Whilst in the real world the other half do things like 'git commit -a' to make commits which likely picks up unwanted gunk. A gui does not require memorizing flags and makes everything plain.
This is what it looks like at the 1680x1050 scale factor:

http://cl.ly/KhRt
Delicious.com launches new redesign
But District 1's representative is chair of a committee you need to sweet talk in two months, and is maybe a tie-breaking vote for that other thing you want.
yeah, but my point wasn't how good or bad any of them were, My point was that wartime leaders seem to get "remembered" or "revered" more so than peacetime leaders. I wasn't trying to judge great/non-great leaders. Besides, the fact that you don't like Lincoln is vastly overshadowed by the fact that he has an enormous frickin marble monument made out to him, that civilizations 2000 years from now will come and stare at in awe. Just like they do today.. it's just not a ruin yet, and his history is still relatively close in time.
That would be great. I have signed up for the beta access.
I'm curious: is there any otherwise "fair" voting system that is less representative than "first past the post voting"?

It's obvious it was chose for the US because they had ZERO knowledge of game theory and it was the best they could come up with at the time.

But given that we now know how to do representative democracy that's actually, you know, representative, it does make me wonder if the US is actually provably using the worst "fair" voting system we actually know how to build.

And if it is, you'd think it'd be possible to get the states to pass a constitutional amendment changing it (which would then go to congress – yes, it's in reverse, but the two-party system will NEVER vote themselves out without an overwhelming public display of opinion on the matter, IMO).
It's the same as almost anything, learning to walk, learning to talk, learning to drive a car. Eventually, information gets pushed into your subconscious, and instead of fighting with every new piece, you take some of the pieces of information as real and don't question them any more. This reduces creativity, but makes you more 'productive' (you essentially become better at pushing symbols, rather than thinking of what symbols could be). When it's in your subconscious, that's one less thing you have to juggle to get further. When you're stuck on syntax, you can't really make full sentences. When you're able to complete full sentences, you're able to write novels, or this comment.
Why is this article so full of errors?

However, I've tested the RT and I woudn't buy it. But the RT is just a reduced version of what the pro version will be: Something that aims to be a laptop that you can work on.

After testing it I am definetly going to give the pro a shot. Not as an iPad replacement as the iPad was never something to work with. But as a laptop replacement. Because...

- it gets rid of the dead weight of a keyboard (but keeping its functionality)

- it adds the interface of a touch screen

This doesn't replace so much an iPad as it replaces the macbook air.

The author's main claim is that we need different gadgets for different tasks. After deciding each trip wether I'll take my smartphone/kindle/iPad/NetBook/Laptop with me I can assure him: I'd be more than happy to reduce that list.
I'm surprised you think it is hyper-sensitivity.

The joke is at least sophomoric, if not crass as others have pointed out.
> The last time I went to vote I walked to a local school, waited politely in a queue, went and filled in my paper ballot and went home.

Exactly my experience as well. It was excruciatingly well behaved.
I agree that simple coding exercises can be boring, which is why I'm making http://codehs.com

I've been teaching at Stanford for the last 3 years for the intro classes, which are the most popular, most well liked classes at the school, so I've learned how to make coding really interesting for beginners.

We start off by teaching Karel the Dog, which lets you focus on problem solving by teaching a dog some tricks using code. Then, we quickly get to graphics, animation, and games... all in the browser.

We know learning to code can be hard, so we focus on providing help from real people along the way, so you know that while you're learning online, you're not alone.
As a professional poker player, analyst and journalist, and being fairly well-read on classifications of gambling vs skill game in different jurisdictions, I have not before come across a definition of gambling that was rooted in the idea that "no good or service is being produced."
Yes, though arguments weren't too convincing.

Here is another answer from CDPR/GOG about Linux:

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/10/24/cd-projekt-red-interview-c...
>Computer touch-screen voting systems, like all other voting, have flaws, but one thing they don't have is any ambiguity how you count each ballot.

As someone who has designed questionnaires and computer interfaces, I think you miss a huge point here – electronic systems make vote counting easy because they constrain choice... but there's a lot less ability to verify that an electronic system actually captured the intention of the voter – just as this story shows.

So, how do you do that? 3 parts:

1) Use paper ballots, as I've argued for, above.

2) Count/scan each ballot immediately, before the voter leaves. Reject ones that do not process properly (i.e. the one you described above would be rejected if there were conflicting indicators). I thought I remembered MN doing that (I lived/voted there ~a decade ago), for example, and I'm pretty sure my poling place here in Illinois did that last time as well (haven't been there yet today). It's not an impossible task to enforce the same constraints on a paper ballot, doing so with the voter present and able to clarify/fix their ballot.

3)You try really, really hard to design easy to understand and use paper ballots (for all the reasons I said above, you need paper for an audit trail). Good communication design (i.e.: how you design/layout the ballot forms) matters a lot and most of them are terrible.

That, however, is no excuse for accepting an electronic system which gives up any ability to audit the count in a reliable way (and, unless the voter verifies a physical printout, no electronic system can be reliable, as discussed above).
In Chicago? I doubt it for anyone else, but someone might do it for this opportunity. I'd hope that this is just in line with what 37 signals pays -- they have other benefits.
perhaps the best thing to do is to flip a coin

Or have a runoff election, or have instant-runoff voting. Having elections determined by real or statistical coin-flips undermines the (important) story of self-rule.
Looks promising, but will have to wait for the beta invite to know for sure.
Developers developers developers developers developers developers developers developers
This isn't true, speaking as a happy retina MBP (15") owner. It's almost remarkable just how perfect everything, including fonts, look at the scaled resolutions. It certainly surprised me; the sheer tininess of the pixels really messes with your intuition with this. When you can no longer distinguish between pixels, things like scaling work far better than you have any right to expect.

The only time I have ever seen any issue with scaling was whilst moving a 1 pixel horizontal line across the screen on the "highest resolution" setting, and that's only because I was looking for it.
I'm a bit of a "fussy arse" and I have the 15" Retina and have no such problems. Indeed, I'm surprised just how often I change resolution. High for media work, low for browsing the web.. it's a breath of fresh air.

There are some very minor aberrations (banding on certain hues, mostly) at 1920x1080 but you have to really be looking for them. And the text still looks razor sharp. So it's even better than I was expecting before I bought it.
“Six-Strikes” BitTorrent Crackdown May Target Private Trackers
To then install TF2:

steam steam://install/440
>My advice? Given bad choices, which seem to abound, vote against the incumbent.

The duopoly is the true incumbent so, in this case, vote for a third party.
The population density of Sweden is lower than the US and it has excellent roads.
Then we are all minors because I don't see how we are allowed of full responsibility. For example, we don't seem to be allowed to own and use drugs.

And how does having sex with a person under the legal age of full responsibility (which may not come until like 35 when you're allowed to apply for certain political positions in some jurisdictions) allows a third party to tweet away the details of your sex life?
I'm all for the freedom of speech, but anyone who does that is a very very bad person. You might have a right to tweet about other peopes' sex life without their consent (if we aim for absolutely free speech), but using that right marks you a very bad person indeed.
I just made the same upgrade from a 2011 i7 MacBook Air to the 13" Retina MacBook Pro and I disagree with nearly every part of this review. Battery life seems on par with my Air. Performance is improved on the MacBook Pro. A good example is something like installing imagemagick from Homebrew. On the Air that resulted in max-fans, the MBP handled it without breaking a sweat. I haven't noticed any UI sluggishness. I loved my Air (like many have said, it's my favorite computer I've ever owned) but this machine is every bit as nice, feels more capable (CPU-wise) and has a gorgeous display. The only drawback is the extra weight and thickness.
Chrome 23 also implements the "Do Not Track" header, though the setting is buried in "Advanced Settings".
The hidden truth of enigmatic experimental game Curiousity
Bank fee's on loans
When I got rejected at my bank for a loan I went to http://libertyunsecured.com/ and they got me a loan at an other bank that wasnt mine. Is that bad for me to go to an other bank? Will my bank close my account for this?
You're right. But for 3,000,000 votes cast, the margin of error is about 6 hundredths of one percent. At the 99% confidence level, it's .074% variance.
I dropped off my wife's ballot. It is totally normal for one person to drop off multiple ballots at the box.

I did the same thing with my wife's ballot this morning, and I saw multiple other people dropping more than one ballot as well.
Amazon unveils a “Send to Kindle” button for Firefox
And.... I recognize 2 titles :P
I can install plenty of games without being in the beta. A lot of indie titles from Humble Bundles are available, and Uplink for one ran perfectly.
Note that screenshots are not going to be representative of what you'd see in reality if you're viewing these screenshots on a "non-retina" display. So whilst technically interesting, in that these screenshots can show us how font rendering works when scaled, it's not representative of what you'd actually see if you had a retina display.
30 seconds with google found:

http://fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com/2012/11/02/malfunctio... """touched the screen to vote for Mitt Romney but the machine lit up the name of Barack Obama. Stevens tried a second time and again the machine lit up Obama when she selected Romney. She tried a third time and finally Romney’s name lit up. Stevens reported the malfunction to board of elections personnel and was told the voting machine had been “acting up all day.”
"""

http://selwynduke.typepad.com/selwyndukecom/2012/10/obama-ge...

"""
Sher Coromalis ... says she cast her ballot for Governor Mitt Romney, but every time she entered her vote the machine defaulted to President Obama....

Marie Haydock, who also voted at the Bur-Mil Park polling location, had the same problem.
...
Is it just me, or is this problem that “arises every election” one where malfunctioning machines always seem to err in favor of Democrats?
"""
> The "statistics" are based on nothing but polls, all with margins of errors and varied methodology.

Sure, but if the methodology is standard and the poll shows 60%/40% with a 3% margin of error, you can safely bet money on the outcome. Statistics works just as well for casinos; they may lose in the long run, but they almost certainly won't.

> "Likely voters" is a very subjective term and thus a difficult thing to quantify.

Stats can be used to determine the likelihood that those being polled will actually vote.
I get these notifications from TWISST and they're very useful, giving information about location, path, and brightness: http://twisst.nl/
It's mostly indie stuff that already has linux clients. Neat that they're included though.
Yes, I can see it from San Francisco with no problem!
I didn't see it in the article and I'm sorry if I missed it... but did you mention what the initial bankroll was?
Open Source for Profit
Thanks for clarifying - the alternative is real democratic representation. That is the selected few would be representative in a more statistically significant way. It seems strange to choose a few privileged people as "representatives". I'm getting quite drawn by the idea of a lottery instead of an election; like being called up to jury duty.
There's no ambiguity about a spoiled ballot. It's a legitimate protest with a clear outcome - the vote is not counted. A simple system of slips of paper marked by hand and counted by hand works better than anything involving chads, touch screens or electronic counting.

Paper ballots are really the best solution we have at present and I'd argue the involvement of as many people as possible in counting and supervision is a good thing. With clear evidence like this video of probable fraud and at the very least incompetetence the current touch screen voting machines should be removed at least until they are properly vetted and verified.
Wow! I can't believe they threw that ballot out! There was only one clearly marked choice!
Exactly. Why would they risk losing immense profit from the Windows-using crowd (read: most gamers)? This is BS.
I don't know the exact definition of HFT but I did run my algorithm from a server collocated with my broker close to the exchange. I modelled lag time in simulation and not having it collocated certainly would have hurt.
what's wrong with selling your vote, surely that's still democratic

Besides just being distasteful, just handing over powerful positions in our society to the highest bidder seems like a formula for brazen abuse.
I'm excited about the new feature, but don't like having to pay $15 for it :/ It's a small price in the long run but I feel a bit cheated.
Posted above what I found w/ 30 seconds of googling: Same touch one candidate, other candidate gets the vote defect, same dismissive attitude from poll workers, only difference is it favored the opposite party.
You can center fixed positioned elements in CSS already like so:

#mydiv {
position: fixed;
left: 50%;
margin-left: (pixel offset relative from center of page)
}
I haven't printed those yet but how do you compare several objects at once?
That percentage is probably going to fall in the next few days.
I'm a pretty risk averse guy and my typical reaction is to figure out why something won't work. One of my pet excuses is that assuming markets are efficient, someone must have already figured this out/ come up with a better exploit, etc. Most of the time I'm right. What troubles me is encapsulated in the following parable:

A UChicago economist and graduate student are walking across campus. The student says ... hey ... there is a hundred dollar bill on the ground! The economist scoffs and says no there isn't ... if there was one, someone must have picked it up already.

Sometimes I catch myself thinking this way. I have to remind myself that (a) markets aren't perfect, and (b) the real world has huge asymmetries in information, ideas, and perhaps willpower (by this, I mean while 100 people might think of a great idea, not all will attempt to implement it; even then, people will differ in execution).

That said, you're likely right. This trading strategy will likely lose money today :-p
to be a round peg in a square hole
It's a feature whose sole purpose is to save you meaningful amounts of money. Multiples of the upgrade cost. You feel cheated? Don't upgrade :)
The science behind why we share stuff online
Yup. I'm totally, utterly against electronic voting of any form.

I'll weakly support ballot optical devices at poll sites in many USA jurisdictions, because our ballots can be quite complicated, until someone shows me that hand counting is generally feasible. With 30 issues on a ballot, sort / stack / count can get ugly.

Aside: Thank you for your work on elections. I wish more geeks would actually work an election, or at least observe, before spewing about how to fix voting systems.
Total nonsense.

What happens when I stuff the ballot box with a million non-existent votes?

Oh, so you voted correctly and you can prove it. Whoopy do!

> Let us go and check our votes are in the list. We could then have informal verification and audits of the counts.

You have the square root of bugger all - the integrity of the total count is what counts - not the individual votes.

Vote stealing and ballot rigging is a well understood human phenomenon - it is a solved problem.

Sprinkling some poorly thought out computer pixie dust on it is not even the beginning of an answer.
Skype Illegally handed over data of alleged Paypal & Mastercard Anonymous Hacker
That Gallup poll is from June. The race was a virtual tie then. November reporting is a different story.

And Bush/Kerry was also pretty damned close. Not one of the races I was referring to.