skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Ask HN: Rewarding employees who eat healthy through a mobile app
I currently have a mobile app called Foodsnap where users can enter a description of food, and get calorie and nutrition information back.

We are thinking of creating an enterprise version where employees of Company X can enter their employee ID into the app and start using it.

What we will do is assign positive points for good food behavior such as whole, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. No negative points will be issued.

What we will do is give the point total to Company X weekly and then Company X can reward their employees however they want for good food habits (an extra PTO day, lunch, etc).

For example, if you eat an apple, lettuce, and oatmeal today, we might give you 4 points for that. We will be following mainly the guidelines of Harvard's Nutrition Program.

Any thoughts on this?
Honestly, this is a pretty poor troll.
This would have been better as a subtle troll, instead it's just karma-whoring, so it won't do as well.

Trolling is a art
That's a quote from "a former G+ product manager". His credibility is beside the point anyway... this was a hypothetical feature mentioned in the article that conveniently illustrated a potential privacy concern.

(To your prediction of how this feature might play out in reality I would say that you are probably right, but also that I don't give two shits about what my friends buy OR about what they publicly review.)

What we know for certain is that Google is aggressively pushing its users onto G+ and that is the real heart of the problem. It's a bait-and-switch. I have no intention of using Google as a social network and I have no guarantees that I will be able to opt out of current or future features. The writing is on the wall -- Google will be social. That upsets some people.
SEEKING WORK || FREELANCE GROWTH MARKETING || SAN FRANCISCO

Focus: customer acquisition and development for eCommerce and SAAS companies

Specialties: advertising, analytics, sales optimization, user experience, email, social

I have domestic and international clients.

read me: zaru.co

email me: nathanzaru@gmail.com
Nice, I enjoyed Jim's talk where he derived the combinator using clojure[1]. In it he referenced another talk that he cites as an influence, "Programming With Nothing"[2] by Tom Stuart where he writes fizzbuzz in ruby using only lambda application.

Finding the SKI calculus was a similar revelation to me, that such simple combinators could represent any lambda term is such a huge idea!

1: http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Y-Combinator

2: http://rubymanor.org/3/videos/programming_with_nothing/
Developer Training Platform Pluralsight Raises $27.5 Million
Well, we are only 2 years out from flying hovercars, auto-sizing clothes, the abolition of lawyers, reliable weather forcasts, and hoverboards.

I'd also put my money in Universal, they have 15 Jaws movies to release in 2 years. That's gotta make some bank.
This is a comment written under the confident assumption that the Phusion article is correct. I think the article is wrong, and wrong in a way that more or less invalidates this whole comment.

You should take this bug very seriously, and also pay close attention to Rails security releases for the next couple of weeks.
This is a fantastic collection. Though it's more or less been rectified now, one of the problems I had starting with Clojure (which was also my first Lisp) was the lack of good documentation, and my inability to convert documentation that was for another flavor of Lisp into meaning Clojure code.

Kid's these days have it so good ;-)
App link for background information: http://www.foodsnap.mobi
Sadly, apparently not supported in IE yet.
I myself type much faster than I write, so it's personal I guess.

One thing that I don't understand is why people start kickstarters for pens. I'm honestly curious here because I can't understand it: The market for pens is saturated, and 3000 people apparently back a pen kickstarter (for a non-remarkable pen) for an average of $98. Why?

I understand the value of having something special, but I fail to see what makes it more special than some expensive pen that you can get in shops.
It's not an "SQL injection" vulnerability; it's a logic error that happens to impact the database rather than, say, OS command execution or file handling or the object space. If you're trying to get a handle on what the actual security issues and trends are with Rails, the "SQL" in the title of this vulnerability is very misleading.
How is this not an argument against the existence of any type of "community"?

Of course there are Ruby, C and PHP communities. They do not include every single person and they can be more or less homogeneous when compared to each other.

Ask the people who are trying to build healthy communities around a new language or project if they think that these don't exist or don't matter or can't be worse or better than other communities.
totally agree, this has nothing to do with the function of facebook. The designers should follow more Dieter Rams 10 principle and less Design trends :)
I wish i had the money to get a proper design for my latest little project http://Rendip.com
I wish you'd stop telling people how dangerous you're sure this vulnerability is. I think you're probably wrong, but, more importantly, I think the only reason you're saying it is that you're echoing a meme started in an article by someone who isn't really involved in the research behind the vulnerability.
>I never personally understood the fascination

'Panem et circenses'
Here's a well-written piece specifically on the physical meaning of negative temperature, using the same definitions as the parent post:

http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/ParticleAndNuclear/neg...

It provides a specific example of a scenario where a temperature below absolute zero would actually make sense: A spin-system of spin-1/2 atoms confined to a wire. The atoms aren't free to leave the wire, but they can change their spin state from spin-down (lowest energy) to spin-up (highest energy); thus, there is one lowest possible energy state (all atoms spin-down) and one highest possible energy state (all atoms spin-up).

If you start with that system in the lowest possible energy state, adding energy takes the temperature from zero to approaching positive infinity (half of the atoms are spin-up), then approaches negative infinity, and climbs back to approaching zero, but still negative.
New Mars Meteorite Contains 10 Times More Water Than Previous Finds
To me, writing has always been an exercise in utilitarianism, and is done out of necessity. I can't comprehend why having a nicer pen would cause one to write more. Writing is not some sort of art that one is meant to appreciate (not that it can't be, but most people don't consider marking a sheet of dead tree matter with ink to be some sort pleasurable experience unto itself.) Writing is something that has to be done (generally because typing is inappropriate or impractical) regardless of one's enjoyment of it. I would write just as much even if I hated my pen, just like I would travel as much even if I hated commuting or I would wear my shoes just as much even if I hated shoes. All of the aforementioned things are things that life requires you to do, regardless of how one feels about them. Certainly, one can strive to maximize their enjoyment of those things, but a lack of enjoyment doesn't compel one not to do them.

Moreover, if he continues to use the .38 inserts, (which, I might add, are great) the only added utility of this $60 pen is that it has greater mass and, because it costs more, has some sort of innate "fanciness" value. I just don't understand why one would pay $60 for a metal shaft whose utility doesn't extend beyond making the user feel important or opulent. After all, he lauded this pen not because of its objective superiority, but because it made him feel good.

I just don't get it. I think I'll stick with my Pilot G2s.
in b4 apple patent infringement suit
There's an 'Ads' list element on the left under 'Favourites'.

Which no one would ever click.
> does that mean iOS and Android both fail with their grid designs for app buttons.

Of course not. That's a highly efficient way to represent visual icons. Facebook has a much different focus: for one, it's a linear idea (in its current formulation), either by date or by how facebook decides to prioritize your stuff (grumble).

That said, I would probably much prefer to eschew all icons on android for a nice text list.
The vulnerability here was caused by deliberately introduced complexity --- features for features sake. You're tempted to blame the dynamic finders (which have fallen far out of fashion anyways) but really the issue here is Rails parameter handling, which was not designed to minimize typing for Ruby programmers.
Pinterest’s First Acquisition Is Tasty
Lobbying doesn't necessarily equate with doing evil, but it almost always equates with a person or group of people using their disproportionate power to push an agenda that individuals have little hope of pushing back on.

Obviously the nature of the agenda itself is what makes it good or evil, and there are plenty of lobbyists that do work that I personally agree with, but at the same time I can step back and say that because of the way the system is set up that lobbying disempowers individuals with whom I disagree but who do not have access to similar resources, and that makes me uneasy.
That's about someone who drives a car with a panoramic camera on top for Google.

This post is asking about Google's driverless cars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_driverless_car).
You can't assume that this was intentional. The author writes that when he tried to inquire about why there weren't any women asked to speak, he wasn't given a very detailed response. This can mean anything! If these guys deliberately decided to exclude anyone who wasn't a white male: that sucks. But it's extremely possible that this is a coincidence. I know a handful of super-smart female designers and hackers. I'd ask them to join my team any day of the week. I see no difference in their ability due to their gender. That being said: all of them, now that I think of it, are on the extreme end of shy. Not "nerdy basement dweller anti social shy" but the kind of shy that would prevent them from speaking at a conference, let alone volunteer to do so.

I really don't think there is enough ground to say this is one way or another. It's a toss up. Why are we jumping to such harsh conclusions? In my 5-6 year career I've yet to experience gender discrimination. I've worked in Hawaii, LA, DC and Sweden: all of which I've worked alongside respected and talented female coworkers. I really feel like this recent gender inequality stuff is an example of the 80/20 rule. A few edge cases are making us feel like everyone is out to get the girls. Relax! We aren't!
I could see people taking advantage if the stakes were high enough- buying two meals, taking pictures of the healthier one, eating the unhealthy one, and throwing the healthy one away off-camera.

It does kinda seem like a solution looking for a problem, but maybe there are problems it solves that I don't see.
San Francisco, CA (full-time)

Backend Developer @ Beyond Digital - http://bynd.com/

Beyond is an international interactive agency with offices in London, New York and in San Francisco. We conceptualize, design and develop creative online brand solutions and web applications for international and domestic customers.

Our portfolio ranges from full-blown social campaigns to corporate branding sites to custom content management systems. Our clients include Google, YouTube, Visa, Cisco and IBM.

Responsibilities will be based around creating backends using python on google appengine or php on amazon ec2 - familiarity with one of these languages is essential.

Bonus points for: experience with appengine, amazon ec2, nosql databases, django, oauth, facebook/youtube/instagram etc apis

If you’re looking to join a young and fast-growing creative digital agency, full of enthusiastic hardworking smart people, all driven to create engaging experiences using the latest technologies then Beyond is the place for you.

Beyond offers a very competitive salary and excellent benefits including opportunities to travel to our offices in San Francisco and New York!

You get 25 days holiday plus we close for Christmas and you get your birthday off! We also like to have fun at the Beyond offices and to unwind we enjoy Xbox championships, trips to festivals and great nights out!

email: george@bynd.com
Also, since it's not immediately obvious: this is Steven Sinofsky's new blog. Sinofsky was the guy in charge of Windows who just left Microsoft a few weeks ago.
AdBlocking with TomatoUSB Router – Ad free Internet for all your devices
Blogger Makes $333,000 Online in One Day - Leaving Daily Beast
Or comment out code.
Taking in more debt to pay for old debt is not sustainable. I suspect this crisis will be deflated by some measures of default (refusing to pay back debt) and inflation. In no way can western states sustain the entirety of their assumed obligations (to bond holders, social beneficiaries and special interest). People are getting stiffed on old debt, it's only a matter of who, how much and how soon.
Their neutrality lasted from 1945 until, depending on what you count, the 1970s, the 1990s, or the 2000s. Are you suggesting that they would have had a harder time holding off Hitler than holding off the US and USSR, who were the guys that beat Hitler?

(I have nothing new to say about the Holocaust.)
Thanks, didn't know about Goodreader yet!
Post-emojify.js: Windows rendering woes and more
The Pilot G2s are the best on the market, in my opinion. I use both the .38 and .7 in various situations. Both are exquisite and under $2 each.
Many of the most prominent perfumers are men. Frederic Malle comes to mind, plus a large chunk of the ones on this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfumer#List_of_notable_perfum...
Cloney Ponies - the Business of Polo
Right you are! Thanks for correcting that.
It looks like nice, but where would the "Find singles around your area" ads go :)
It sounds like you're more confused about why people back it then why the start it. They start it because 3000 people backed previous ones.
...5 minutes ago

"Paul, come look at this cool new recipe website. This is awesome. It's like a really good recipe sharing site" - Sonia (she points to Punchfork on her screen).

"Oh, I just saw on HN it got acquired by Pinterest." - me

"Wait what?" (Sonia reads the announcement)
"'we will soon be retiring the Punchfork site, API and mobile apps'..." What the? I just found this site and now it's gone??"

"Yup." - me

Maybe congratz to the founders who got an early exit, but it seems like another unfortunate case of users getting the short end of the stick.

Maybe we need better business models. Maybe Sonia would have paid $10/month for Punchfork. Who knows. I paid for Sparrow, and that didn't seem to help.

Sigh.
Mm. I'm sure Greece could have theoretically cut more deeply into its government spending and improved the economy. Unfortunately, the people doing these sorts of cuts aren't a committee of neutral, emotionally detached economists, they're a bunch of politicians, and they have an electorate to answer to.

(And they say that the premise of democracy is the belief that said electorate knows what it wants, and deserves to get it good and hard. :P)
You can't directly modify your intelligence. You can only do so indirectly using tools made possible by the physics in which you are embedded. Why assume that the framework around the AI is more permissive? Forking a process, initially anyway, only means that two identical minds are working on the problem at half-speed.

And I was, in fact, considering "AI in a box"-style scenarios. My point remains: it would be a very impressive AI that could break out. Presumably it at least needs some significant basic resources, memory at least, and CPU to do it in reasonable time, to do deep human-hacking. How can it convince us to give them to it if it doesn't have them to begin with?

If we're assuming we can control its goals at all (if we can't we're already doomed by virtue of trying), will it even occur to the thing to act beyond giving direct instructions to humans? Will it have enough concept of self to conceive of escaping, to say "I think therefore I am"? Can it even realize what kinds of computational resources it needs and how to ask for them?

There may be good answers to these questions, but I don't believe they're trivial.
Shut out of international bond markets, Greece had little choice but to begin bringing its public finances into line or face a catastrophic default. Financing wasn’t available to sustain prior spending levels.

I'm confused. If Greece couldn't borrow money to sustain its prior spending levels what choice did they have? How is a Keynesian-style stimulus possible if no one will lend you the money to implement it? It also doesn't make any sense to me why a stimulus plan would have worked. Lending Greece more to perpetuate its already unsustainable expenses doesn't make much sense. It seems the Keynesian argument here is that they need to do stimulus - i.e. borrow and spend - even more then the pre-austerity level just to get the economy back to the previous (and unsustainable) debt levels. It's running to stand still.
It looks like their trying to ride on the coat-tails of the success of Windows 8.
Even regulating the filter is hard as anyone involved with DMCA complaints knows.
> what is the deal with Moleskine notebooks

For better or worse, if you write in a Moleskine with either a fountain pen or a Pilot G2 ink pen, you will probably find that it bleeds through so much that you can only really write on one side anyway. I'm not sure that addresses his concern with thread-bound notebooks and writing on the "back" page, but that's been my experience with them.
If this is hypocritical, so is paying the lower tax rate than his secretary, even thought he complains about it. Anyone thinking its hypocritical is missing the point. He does it to show it exists. Sure, you can not do it, and donate to the government on your own, but that's not fixing the problem. The small number of donators can't fix the deficit on their own. It takes a law that required everyone to play ball in order to fix the problem.
Common Tech Myths That Cost You Money
Did you even read my comment? I'm genuinely very interested in PG's take on this, and it was inspired by a protracted debate from earlier today:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5003916

Also, in my opinion "full of shit" accurately reflects the opinion of the majority of the anti-Kurzweil people on HN. It's an example of the sort of middlebrow dismissal that typifies a lot of the comments at the link above. That's what I'm trying to get at - whether HN really thinks Kurzweil deserves these sorts of knee-jerk, absolutist reactions, one way or the other.

Personally, I think the ideas are serious and deserve some thought and consideration. As I mentioned above, I'm fairly sympathetic to them long-term, but a bit skeptical short-term.

The headline is also obviously a bit of an attention getter, sure, but I'm certainly not a Karma Farma'.
I think market research helps. One approach could be: investigate the competition, see how your idea differentiates, and create a simple landing page to draw traffic to.
Thoughtcrime is definitely the wrong term for this class of unjust punishment.
The Future of Google Maps: You'll Never Be Lost Again
Afraid it's been a while, and I wasn't really at the core of the project design - if you're REALLY interested look up _Anomaly Detection Using Nonnegative Matrix Factorization_ and contact Michael W Berry (whom I assume still teaches at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville).

The main idea, though, is to generate a term-by-document matrix (count words, maybe throw out stopwords, normalize counts), then do Math to factor your matrix (approximately) into two: term-by-feature and feature-by-document. When you want to classify a new document, you can use its contents (more terms) to calculate a feature vector.

(The math seems to typically involve random initialization followed by iterative improvements. Other work in the field discusses the specifics.)

The matricies are "nonnegative" because, conceptually, features are a _positive_ thing, and you can't say that a certain term makes something less a member of a feature cluster (only more).

The tricky part is figuring out how to map features to things which are semantically interesting to your application, and I don't want to comment too much on the state of that because it's been five years and I honestly forgot what exactly we did there, and it was all done in Matlab (which I'd never used before), and there's probably more recent work in the field. But if you fiddle with it manually, you can come up with your matrices and essentially have a nice little classifier.
Allow the //uri scheme. Right now you can use https://example.com and http://example.com, but //example.com is not allowed.

Edit: To clarify: I mean for the URL field at the submissions screen. It's probably not a good idea to implement this in comments because in many languages the double-slash indicates a comment.
Not a Blimp, Not a Plane: The Gigantic Aeroscraft Is Ready, and It’s Awesome
Would you rather them have less qualified speakers for the sake of equality? give it a rest.
Debt is a symptom, not the problem. The problem is a currency union with no central fiscal agent that can assume liabilities and enable transfers from wealthier to poorer states. That's how the US works. The euro crisis has been baked in from the beginning.

Which is why it's inaccurate to generalize this problem to "western states". The US is not comparable to any EZ country. We have our own currency and have been able to run large deficits to counteract the demand shortfall caused by the financial crisis and allow the prvt sector to repair balance sheets. This is why the recovery in the US has been much better than the UK or the EZ.
Is the Ruby hiding in that video? I briefly skimmed it and all I saw was JavaScript.
This conclusion was immediately obvious to anyone in 2009 who had ever picked up a basic macroeconomics textbook. The funny thing to me is not how Germany continues to lead the charge for more austerity -- it's in their banks' best interests. Rather, it's funny how this 'new' argument of austerity-driven recovery seems to be taken as somehow valid or relevant for macroeconomic analysis in other countries.

For instance, the Debt Ceiling crisis of 2011 [1] is a perfect example of how these kind of psuedoscientific ideas can cause real harm to a country. Especially given how readily certain groups (coughrepublicanscough) are willing to accept these ideas with virtually zero backing or acceptance from established economists.

See also: Everything Paul Krugman has ever written.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_debt-ceiling_cris...

[2] http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/
Ask HN: What is eBay buyer feedback for? A++ fast payment.
Does anyone have any idea why eBay lets sellers rate buyers? Other than the positive/negative count, what is the point of the 80 character rating system?

I've only ever seen "A++ fast payer." It's prisoners dilemma - a negative review probably means a negative review for you as well, so you can only really both win or lose.
Your argument applies to eating as well, yet people derive pleasure from food that goes beyond the act of nourishing their bodies.

Beauty, as they say, is in the eyes of the beholder.
How does that follow from any of this?
Yes, and the results are not encouraging. Frankly, even a 0.05% rate of box-release per incident would terrify me. Expanded over a long enough timeframe and enough attempts, 0.05% (or any easily type-able number) becomes 100% release rate.
You must have an interesting definition of "improve".
Apply to Google in a related field i.e. engineer and in the initial interview say that you are interested in the self-driving cars division.