skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Windows 8 must be the slowest train wreck in computing history, it's been being reviewed as crap for over a year now and they keep chugging along.

It's funny to read all the comments from over a year ago and how nothing has changed since then -
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/10/18/designing-sear...
It even supports Netflix now: http://www.iheartubuntu.com/2012/11/ppa-for-netflix-desktop-...

Tested it myself.
Or perhaps it is a worst is better type of thing and the crappier designs convert better for their purposes. Hmm.
I've always been curious about that as well.

Although it doesn't entirely answer your question, you might find this paper to be interesting: "Why do Nigerian Scammers Say They are from Nigeria?" http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/167719/whyfromnigeria.pdf
Android 4.2 is Missing December in Calendar
This way it is more authentic. Users usually do this type of misspelling :).
An Open Letter to 5by5
Are We Born With Bias?
have no design credibility whatsoever

So you pay 10x more for design credibility, rather than something that actually affects the quality or utility of the item?

The idea of a professional woman bringing a Jansport bag to the office is totally unthinkable.

Again, you are comparing the items on intangible benefits which are clearly little more than an emotional feeling telling you that brand A is inherently better than brand B (regardless of the actual item in question).

Promoting an item that is 10x more expensive than another based solely on intangible properties like it has design credibility or it's from an in-fasion brand and that using anything else is simply unthinkable is no better than having me pay 10x more on a game than the average player does.

I, for one, find telling me that I have to buy a certain brand or design that's currently in fashion because not doing so would be unthinkable or I would lack some kind of credibility or the items just don't compare (even though the items actual tangible properties are not even discussed) as exploitative when these items cost so much more than the tangibly-comparable items.
BUT WHAT ABOUT HYPERCRITICAL
I assure you that it's really just not that simple.

I am adversely effected by all manor of sensory offence — including motion in my peripheral, heat, smells, unpredictable vibration.

The real problem is that it's a downward spiral: if something is bothering me and I become agitated, I am far more likely to become aware of other things which conspire to keep me from being productive. Ultimately, I fall into a state of manic anxiety and get really down on myself for feeling so ineffective.

I really wish I could just put in earplugs. They irritate my ears.
What The New Twitter Will Look Like
You should never move to Brazil, lol. It's the capital of public noise and, more so, the public kind that invades the private space. Everyone accepts it and takes part in it, meaning those who want quiet are virtually nil.
agreed, my first thought was that it was one of the best uses of animated gifs i'd ever seen.
For around $50 you can have an audiologist make earplugs that are molded specifically to your ear. These are much more comfortable and give better attenuation than standard earplugs.
I don't think Microsoft ever addressed BeOS specifically, but pretty much everything they did to ensure no PC manufacturer has any financial incentive to install anything but DOS or Windows on their PCs was as effective against BeOS as it was against OS/2, DR-DOS, DesqView etc...
If you read his comics [1], you'll see that he's quite self-aware of his own failings and realizes that he is often a jerk himself (sometimes unknowingly). I also got the sense from just this article that he was quite aware of the fact that he was being the asshole.

[1] http://www.thepaincomics.com/
Given our evolutionary history as a tribal species, perhaps the human brain and auditory system is predisposed for survival purposes to make it seem as though unfamiliar dialects/voices/sounds are louder than they actually are.

Without taking an objective measure of the decibels involved you might just be giving in to a stereotype?
So the problem is the underrepresented groups aren't sending in talk proposals unless they get personal encouragement.

That's tragic, and in that case I agree that underrepresentation is a problem, but I don't agree that organizers are discriminating if they don't make that extra personal effort to reach out to potential presenters from underrepresented groups.

I agree there should ideally be more encouragement, but I don't think it should be required for conference organizers to do that, to avoid allegations of discrimination.
I know nothing about ClojureScript except that which I know from Clojure (mostly syntax and whatever semantics carry over). I'm not that familiar with JS framworks either. Caveats out of the way...

It doesn't seem like frameworks necessarily solve anything that needs to be solved in ClojureScript. I mean, my impression of KO/backbone/spine/etc. ad nauseum, is that they're code organization & maintenance enablers. That doesn't fit into my mental model of a problem that needs to be solved in ClojureScript (that mental model being "ClojureScript is basically Clojure").
It can be problematic to import your package from setup.py if you want your dependency specification to be useful.
I probably should've mentioned that it's not all sunshine and rainbows for me: the biggest tradeoff was that it took getting on Adderall for me to stop failing the more mundane courses in college (the ability to totally zone in on interesting stuff was always there, though), and since not every task can be an interesting one, I still have to take it to be consistently productive. And the side effects are not pleasant.

I too would love for a few breakthroughs to make it possible to do one-time correctional procedures for stuff like this.
In some other cultures, female genital mutilation isn't prohibited.

Now, whats your point?
The major drawback of Windows 8 is not just that it lacks the start button, but that it forces you into Metro. Get rid of that and I might consider whatever is coming next after Windows 8.

And stop combining the two UI paradigms in such a messy way. The Charms UI looks very out of place in the desktop UI. It's like they worked for 2 years on the Metro desktop, and in parallel at Windows SP2, and at the end they combined the two very quickly as an afterthought (proof that nothing really integrates between desktop mode and Metro mode), and the end result was what is now Windows 8.
I've been using Windows 8 since roughly two weeks before its launch, and I agree with most of the article.

In fact, I just realized that I never use a single "Modern UI" app for the simple reason that they force my entire screen (2560x1440, 27") to be filled by one app. Such a waste of space. In desktop mode I often have four 1280x720 windows on my screen.

Windows 8 might just be the push I needed to switch to Linux.
Top 5 Mitnick Tips for John McAfee & Some One-Liners
And the driver was just pushed overboard, yikes.
Well, we don't seem to be talking about the same thing; I was talking of a diverse population in the context of a technology conference. Despite personal contact being a huge part of it, the focus for presentations is on technology, not people. Selecting for cultural diversity is not a goal - it could be, but it shouldn't be a crime if it isn't.
I usually go Boston to CT or NY where there is always a quiet car but my point about it not being made obvious enough to those that aren't aware of its existence seems like a fairly simple fix.

There will always be the people that do not feel the rules apply to them but most of the loud people I encounter in the quiet car did not realize where they were.
Correct. The Woolworths one had checks for "IN" || "AU" else it would redirect to Google. That domain was registered to an Indian address.
But most of suburbia isn't quiet. Especially the suburbia that is Silicon Valley. You have go full-on rural before you're somewhat guaranteed to not be disturbed by man-made noises.
Anyone starting a Kickstart project for a better system can have my money.

No need to reinvent the wheel: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00009LI4K
Did You Say Passwords?
Personally, I think "Metro/Modern UI" is a complete train wreck. While it initially received a great deal of praise from the tech press for being "unique" and "fresh", my suspicion is that a lot of the praise was incredibly shallow and based purely on aesthetic appearance and not usability.

This suspicion has been confirmed repeatedly from my own experience using Windows 8 and watching others use it as well.
Cool, this list showed me APIfy, which has an intriguing service I'll probably make use of. APIs out HTML sounds great.
I've found that more expensive in-ear headphones are significantly better at shutting out all external noise. But be prepared to spend some time playing with different pairs, plugs, and wear-styles (e.g. headphones dangling vs. wrapped over-ear) until you find one that you can handle for hours at a time.

The pair I have are effective enough at cutting out most noise that they're basically earplugs even with no music on and I can wear them for entire trans-atlantic/pacific flights.
Works fine. Chromium on Arch.
Eh. I've been using Win8 on my desktop for a couple weeks now; I'm pretty happy with it. As far as I'm concerned, it works out to $40 for some nice new features and continued security/feature updates.

I don't use "Metro" mode. But I do appreciate many of the tweaks, and I'm still grinning over my cold boot times with Win8, UEFI, and SSD. I swear it boots faster than it resumes from sleep. (Resume from sleep is fast, but it seems the NIC takes a few extra seconds to re-establish a link)
I tried using Sublime Text 2 but it has no ability to toggle automatic updating of changed files, unlike Notepad++ for example.
"Windows no longer supports multiple windows on the screen."
In Metro mode.
Don't Credit iMessage for the Texting "Decline"
How fortunate in the short term, and unfortunate in the long term.

< removed long cynical rant about Cisco and handling of IronPort >

(funny story, Cisco's workplace resources group's bonuses are based on (total revenue) / headcount+workplace costs. Instead of incentives based on retention and growth, the group gets a bigger bonus every time a group is downsized, or they close an office.)
Are the random white characters at the end of the last paragraph a message about blending in?

http://a7d0f80a5fa1647cdaad-1414aef150de5db27755b8a53ed3a9c0...
AMAZON is being unfair
Just wanted any AMAZON customers to know that it is being unfair with people...I have been buying and selling for 5 yrsor so..and recently i log on to seller acount after i had purchased several items..to only find out that my account was suspended!!! and i was surprized...I tryed to call AMAZON but did not find a Phone #..after EMAILS they just told me I was suspended for a 2009 ,,but never told me WHY??? I advised AMAZON that i have been selling and puchasing since 2009?? what is going on? WELL Amazon has not told me..WHY i am supended yet as of this date, I was advised to EMAIL Seller -performance and also look at NOTIFICATION..which i did and found NOTHING..so I will await their answer to be re-instated..???!!
Silicone keyboard skins cut down on typing noise. It's a little weird at first, but I've found them to be helpful at keeping debris out as well as being the guy typing in a meeting without people looking at me. I always bring earbuds with me wherever I go as to not be distracted by other people.
The whois record:

Administrative Contact:
James Smith
Lagja e vjeter --- the name of the neighborhoo: old neighborhood
tek pallati cope cope --- name of the building
Elbasan, Albania n/a --- city
Albania
ilovefbinfo@gmail.com
+355 692207020 --- some poor guys number

Its odd to find Albanian scammers, usually they suck at programming. The number should be working.

Spamming is a problem here in Albania. By checking my submission history you will find that i currently talked to a spammer even reported him but nothing was done (not a response even from the host).

He was telling me it is effective and you should do the same if you can.
It trainwrecked the day buisinesses decided not to use it, which was the day they got rid of booting to the traditional desktop with a start button.

It isn't a compelling purchase at all, nobody will go out and actively seek a Windows 8 device, and desktop / notebook computers have had decreased sales since everyone has one now and they are "good enough" for media consumption and text / spreadsheet editing. The only reason anyone needs more horsepower now is for graphical horsepower for animation or gaming or computational horsepower for compiling or running a server.

So nobody wants Windows 8. It is a product without a target market, and the Surface has fallen flat on its face as a one trick pony to try to corner a "market" on a tablet with a desktop.

And hopefully in a year we have a mature Ubuntu running on Android tablets just fine, and that IMO will be a much nicer desktop experience on mobile than Microsoft Window and the Windows 7 desktop at 7". Except for a tiny, tiny market of businesses that will buy surfaces for their employees to use the mobile versions of word and excel I don't see this train leaving the station.
To me it was pretty clear that this article was primarily reviewing the "modern UI" part of Windows 8. I think your comment reiterates the point that the "modern UI" has no place on the traditional desktop. I too use Windows 8 everyday and have successfully avoided this new UI (except for the now, in my opinion, broken desktop search). Windows 8 is not a failure, but this new UI might be.
For what it's worth I've been using Windows 8 since the RP and have been very happy with it. The key point that a lot of reviews fail to emphasize is that evrything that worked in Windows 7 is still there and works exactly how it always has. The removal of Aero and subtle improvements to explorer are nice updates for the desktop experience.

The start menu was always kind off useless so I didn't take long to get used to not having it there, I launch everything via search now (hit the Windows key and start typing).
I don't get this analogy; you probably meant something different.

Prehensile tails are tails that can grasp things. In other words, prehensile tails are totally awesome.
Ask HN: What kind of ad rates can I expect on mobile game apps?
What kind of fill rates and CPM rates can I expect with mobile apps on ios? I'm particularly interested in your experience with full-screen video ads or interstitials.

thanks!
Sadly none of the linux desktop environments are particularly great either - unity, gnomeshell, and kde all have different problems and none of them are nearly as refined as the OS X UI. That being said, if you are comfortable with a minimal tiling wm like awesome or xmonad, you can have a very productive environment.
You're not going to have much free time trying to fight this fire.
Yea, the Consumer Preview was the first to remove the Start menu and button. The Developer Preview still had them.
I find it kind of funny that all of the tools live online... Not in a bad way, just a kind of "at the end of the day, this thing I'm building has to serve real people over this thing we call the internet" as opposed to doing everything with offline tools.

Puts everything into perspective I suppose :)
While I appreciate that you're looking for solutions instead of trying to amplify the finger-pointing, the approach you are imagining is not going to generate a very good speaker line-up.

There are a huge number of variables to consider when planning a speaker line-up. As I said before, the best conferences are carefully crafted around a theme or issue. Even in the case of a regional conference, it doesn't require that the speakers live nearby. Just selecting popular, smart or friendly devs is not a theme unless your theme is "Random". :)

Sometimes there's a milestone library or development approach that you want to shine a light on. Perhaps 5 of the top 10 gems are template engines or test frameworks, and in 2012 that's a dull theme. Factually, some developers are great speakers, but many are not able or willing to give a good talk. Some speakers are amazing but have nothing interesting to show off or discuss.

Some speakers live far away or have special needs. You might be able to afford and accomodate one or three, but a roster of expensive tickets would make the event lose money.

However, the biggest reason that the algorithmic curation approach is not going to work is that curation is less like selling seats on a plane and more like making a mix tape for a fickle lover. You need to delight, surprise and enrapture people. A month after the event, they remember not what was said but how they came away feeling. It's hard but worth it to find ways to inject ideas that people are not expecting.

http://www.infoq.com/presentations/glouberman-noises

http://www.infoq.com/presentations/sieger-jazzers-programmer...

http://www.infoq.com/presentations/hirsh-california-ideology
Right, what I'm saying is you should be careful and explicit about your metric and why it is your metric. Otherwise it's just the same old "lies, damned lies, and statistics".
Rails was developed when David Heinemeier Hansson was still in his home town, Copenhagen, Denmark. He was working part-time for 37signals, but it was several more years before he moved to Chicago.
I have been using Chill[1] periodically in lieu of music for a few months. It has the typical generators (airplane, beach, city, etc) but also blue, brown, pink, violet, and white noise tracks. I like brown noise; it has the low-frequency rumble of an airplane but the higher frequencies also block out ambient noise. Great for working in an office.

[1]: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chill/id421696351?mt=12
The level of polish in B2G is quite impressive, especially given the alpha label. I suppose the fact that everything is written in HTML5 makes for very quick development times.

If I was at Facebook, I would be paying -very- close attention to this project. It's in their interest to get an independent mobile platform out into consumer hands, and I'd be surprised if they aren't already devoting developer time to the project. The harder challenge will be getting handset makers and carriers to support the new environment, and that's where a backer with big pockets could come in handy.
Why cohort analysis?
Maybe they should add "recite the months of the year" to their litany of employment questions? Though that assumes the superhumans who work there actually know them as well.
One perk of living in my mothers basement right now, rural noise levels. Sleeping is so much easier than it was at college!
I think Meraki was the 4th startup that I ever invested in (first was Wufoo).

When we visited their office in Mountain View, it was full of "Meraki Minis" (their first batch of hardware). I asked how much money they had raised so far, and their response was, "none". They were so scrappy that they had managed to build the first batch (which was partially pre-sold) for practically nothing. And they somehow got the office space for free.

Very impressive team. Glad I invested :)
In my opinion, the biggest failure of windows 8 is that they called it windows. If metro mode was an installable add-on for windows 7 that you could jump into whenever you wanted a simplistic or touch-friendly experience, people would love it. The usability isn't terrible on its own, it's only terrible if you try to use it while expecting a windows operating system.

for example, the only being able to run one fullscreen app at a time thing. the proliferation of iPads has shown us that users love this, in the right context. The desktop PC just isn't the right context.
Better link already discussed: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4798930
cough I had a feeling... cough

I'll just leave this here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4793620
Not sure how there aren't comments on this yet -- it was a great read.
Drag down from the top of the screen to the bottom of the screen to close a Metro app
"...but it should be noted that this is also a cultural phenomenon."

After spending some time in Taiwan, I found myself slurping tea and hot pot by default. I came to realize slurping has it's advantages – in particular, you don't burn your lips and tongue on hot liquids.

Although I've re-Westernized when it comes to not slurping food, I do still slurp tea. Apparently, I'm not alone in thinking it's the best way to drink it. From the LA Times:

To taste tea, you must slurp it loudly, because tea needs oxygen to release its flavor. "Can we make some noise?" Spillane urged those who were drinking too politely. "You need to spray your entire mouth and draw air in with the tea to get a proper taste."

Slurping also makes it possible to drink very hot liquid without burning the mouth, and tea is at its best when hot. As it cools, it loses flavor.

http://articles.latimes.com/1998/aug/19/food/fo-14378
Laws against using something in a certain way does not mean that the something is "not for" illegal things. What things are for and what they can be legally used for are normally quite orthogonal.

A "no illegal uses" licensing term is by no means an unstated default; it is in fact a rather unusual concept.

As fair as I can tell your interpretation of the phrasing is that it implies and only means to imply "Illegal things are illegal", which is a senseless tautology. In reality this phrasing says more than that.
But why is there a need to poke the "bear" anyways? You obviously see that the TSA is something to be feared, why should it be feared by those who mean no harm? Food for thought.
An article titled "The Quiet Ones" was posted by user "wallflower"? That's like a pun. A quiet pun.
Ah, hyperbole. Such an elegant way to continue a conversation.
Unless I missed it, the author fails to mention the other front line in this battle: the airplane. Sure, the roar of the engines can be deafening, but the cellphone ban more than offsets that. I've found that more than anything else flying reminds me of just how productive you can be when free of distractions. Heck, the nature of productivity itself changes: instead of measuring it by how many emails you've answered, it's measured by how much progress you've made in thinking about problems or expanding your knowledge. Part of me is disappointed with the prevalence of wifi on flights now -- it was inevitable, but being put in a situation where I had no other choice but to read a book I've been meaning to read or to simply just sit and think for a few hours provided a really important ballast in maintaining sanity.
Man controls Call Me Maybe with heart beats
Speculation piled on top of more speculation, Hacker News indeed...

FTA:
"Currently Microsoft isn't commenting on the subject, but an article published by USA Today points to the possibility."

From the USA Today "article":

"The canning of Steven Sinofsky 15 days after the launch of Windows 8 could signal the start of Microsoft dealing with lukewarm reception to its latest operating system."
Note that no error detection code is able to detect all errors; it just lowers the probability of an error passing undetected even further. (CRCs are pretty robust in that they always detect sequences of errors with length <= N, with N depending on the particular algorithm.) With a large enough sample size, you will hit errors.

In this case it is probably memory corruption. The OS won't be able to detect such a thing unless the memory has ECC (relatively uncommon these days). It could theoretically detect it if the memory pages were checksummed and periodically verified against the checksum, but afaik no OS does so.
I do this too, but often I need to use my mouse to select a control panel item or file. That's very annoying. Why would they get rid of universal search from Windows 7?
Through a hack, not official means.