skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
You're taking FDR's heroism as a matter of faith--as you've no doubt been taught. "Economic history" is a history of booms and busts. The busts normally were short, whereas the Great Depression was extremely long--not really ending until after WWII (or, if you prefer, the beginning, though I'm tempted to discount military activities as anything 'economic'). I would suggest, in a basic way, that the policies associated with circumstances should take responsibility for those circumstances.

It asserts that public spending cannot stimulate the economy because government spending will somehow crowd out private investment and push interest rates higher.

Well, it is.

Though Berkshire’s credit is pristine – we are one of only seven AAA corporations in the country – our
cost of borrowing is now far higher than competitors with shaky balance sheets but government backing. At the
moment, it is much better to be a financial cripple with a government guarantee than a Gibraltar without one.

http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2008ltr.pdf

If you think that can have a positive outcome, well...
Steal This Idea: Thoughts on DabbleDB, Filemaker and Innovation
I'm also confused about who this service appeals to. Flickr is incredibly popular across a whole age range, and was pretty much built around sharing and tagging photos. Most people who want to share photos but don't know (or care) about flickr will simply create a Facebook photo gallery, which is limited feature-wise but dirt simple to use. If this site had a facebook app it might be able to reach those users, but third-party applications seem to be loosing prominence since Facebook's UI overhaul last year.
In other words, there is an excuse for a performance regression. I wonder how many others there are.
Electronic Part Search in Tokyo - Akihabara
One of my problems with the H1B system is there is no real limitation on what companies and positions qualify. You should not have H1B's for consulting/contract programmer firms (http://www.inc.com/magazine/20070901/how-i-did-it-prathiba-r...).

I would consider the use of the H1B being limited to only students that have graduated from a U.S. university so that they can stay here. Otherwise, just use the normal immigration process. I've worked with plenty of developers that have come to the U.S. that way.
Thanks, that clearly answers my question of what the image would look like using jpeg compression when given the same size limitation.
Hungry for Tech Articles Please ...
I am hungry for more tech related articles. How about day in the life of a sysadmin / mysql dba / frontend developer. What are the routine tasks and what commands / tools used.
I was thinking "Oh, its that Amazon Honor System (allowing people to make donations to folks who put a button on their website, for example bloggers) all over again", except no. Its a "One guy writes up a money saving tip, other people vote it up".

Here's my tip: neither the technology nor the content is interesting.

Sample: Pay your bills online to save on postage or Take advantage of free entertainment in your community – parks, museums, exhibits, etc. Go to free park concerts and other community activities.
They're willing to pay more for a better experience; that's why they bought the iPhone.

Apple made their side of the buying process really wonderful, and the content providers did the same, and the buyers have had generally positive reactions so far.
When I saw the title, I was afraid that this was a tipjoy competitor from Google.
Same here. My heart skipped a beat.

Technically, Google Checkout is already a Tipjoy competitor. We worry about Amazon much more than G.Checkout & PayPal.
Great site. Clean.
Because there's money to be made, and no clear market leader, the same conditions that led to big successes with the iPod, iPhone, Google search, &c.
Fire &amp; Smoke Damage
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The other day it was released that scientists developed an HIV strain that can infect monkeys.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090302183124.ht...
Common excuses people give when they regress performance are, "But the new way is cleaner!" or "The new way is more correct." We don't care.

It's worth pointing out that increasing CPU speed will always make your software faster, but it will never make it more correct. Considering all of the WebKit browsers I've used seem to crash every half-hour, I think the WebKit team may want to rethink their software engineering strategy. Getting the wrong answer really fast is pretty much useless.
Typically that's only because someone else did the work, e.g. OpenCV makes image processing real-time in Python because it is C++ under the hood.
Elements - a Scratch-like Smalltalk
Probability Estimation: An Introduction
Breakdown of BlackBerry "App World" pricing structure
A more nuanced view of security-through-obscurity is that while it is not sufficient to constitute "security", it can be part of a balanced, competent approach to security, functioning as one of many layers.

One thing that security-through-obscurity can help with is what is outlined here; moving off of the common ports and common extensions means you can't be trivially scanned and attacked. Attacks which shouldn't be successful, but can still be expensive (if nothing else, a determined web attack also functions as a DoS, after all).

For my personal host, I use ssh in certificate-only mode, because that's the most secure mode and SSH is a significant part of my attack surface. That's security. But I also moved my SSH off of port 22, which is "obscurity", just so my logs didn't get filled with pointless scanning attacks, which significantly increases the value of my logs. A determined scanner can still find my SSH port, but few people are that determined.
I think they do follow it literally. If you want to introduce a slowdown, the price is that you have to make something else faster at the same time.
Because everyone is actually willing to pay for content, if the price is right, and it is sufficiently easier than the free alternative.

Case in point: TV shows. You can either click a single button and download the TV show from really fast servers, be notified of new episodes (and even auto-download) automatically...

or you can go to a shady torrent site with porn popups all over the place, install a torrent client (and set it up, which behind a NAT is non-trivial for most laymen), find a good torrent search engine, download your torrent, and curse your machine because public trackers are full of leechers who don't upload.

Yeah, I'd pay for the former too.
It looks like they're a business consulting agency, not a direct-to-customer app shop. They'll be going to individual businesses as consultants and developing apps that work with the company's in-house systems. So you're not likely to be able to access that on the regular App Store.
Money Saving Tips Made Easy - How to Save Money Every Month of the Year
Sunlight turns carbon dioxide to methane
Yup, it's definitely not winning any awards for insight. One of the current top tips: "Bring your lunch to work once or twice a week instead of buying it."
When There's Nowhere Left to Spread the Risk
Urban legend. A lot of all restaurants go out of business in six months to a year. It's a brutal industry.
Not since I saw the 'like' option.

I think this is the point of all the reasons which Facebook can't use/copy all the twitter/friendfeed features:

The reason it won’t work for Facebook is simple. It is all part of how Facebook defines relationships. While Friendfeed works on a system where anyone can follow anyone else, aside from private subscriptions, Facebook works on a closed 2-way basis.

In facebook I only add my real friends and family, not everyone that seems interesting or post interesting things like I do on FriendFeed or Twitter without the need of that user's approval.
That's great, I didn't know Gmail had this feature. Thanks for the tip!
Why don't they just use the granny shot? The cross section of the basket is much higher from the typical granny-shot trajectory is it not?
For those interested in the back story (or interested in a great data gathering startup) go to http://datamarket.net/request_data/icelandic_economy/
Efficient Captchas
OK but then how is this "working"? I mean it is very cool and it might work if someone puts effort into it. But is there any reasonable way of using this right now?
Ask HN: How to get better at selling?
Being a techie, I would like to get better at selling enterprise software to small and medium businesses for my startup and selling in general. Do you all have any suggestions for good websites / books that outline the different approaches to sales and other things to look out for when selling?
A Different Kind of Recession - HBS Student Reflects on Visit to India
What does this have to do with Hacker News? Why are people voting this up?

Come on guys.
One of the things I found most interesting was that out of the 140 friends on Facebook that on average people have, only 7 of those friends are communicated with via wall posts and messages. There is irony in the fact that although online networks reduce friction in communication, the communication is very infrequent.
My impression of "The Game" and perusing online forums where average guys who met their goals (usually dating one or two attractive women or beyond) was that those who succeeded in becoming successful at pick-up had accumulated enough experience (approaching, being rejected, follow-up encounters, escalating, taking the lead).

Similar to the old koan about how many businesses a successful entrepreneur most fail at before they succeed, I think after hundreds of encounters - you start to gain the benefits of experience. I've met and talked to a couple of these pick up artists - and they've pretty much told me they can analyze an interaction in real-time at a meta-level and know what they can do (or more likely, what their client should be doing).

There is one downside to all of the pickup techniques - it emphasizes that there is a method to the madness (and encourages subscription-based revenue - e.g. get the latest book/podcast etc.) - while from what I've observed, successful pick up artists could basically walk up to any woman (if they wanted) and say "I like peanut butter." and go from there.
If you want some more insight into how the team works, this is a very good post as well:
http://webkit.org/blog/174/scenes-from-an-acid-test/
I wish them luck, but I can't see the point. Blackberry is the phone for businesses, maybe I'm missing something
I won't recommend any books, but I do recommend talking to your potential clients. Ask them to buy your product, and when they say no ask them "Why not?". Then figure out what you need to do to change that no into a maybe, or a yes.

Don't change everything you are doing to accommodate one customer, but the best way to sell is to talk to your customers and to be flexible.

People frequently say that sales is a numbers game, and it is if you never change your tactics. You need to refine them as you go. Just keep talking to them, but learn from each interaction.
Test Center guide: Virtualization for the rest of us
By the same reasoning, Friendfeed copied Facebook's older UI.
Urban Camouflage (Photos)
A Timeline Of Financial & Technical Innovation
Easy access. Reasonably priced. Instant gratification.
That's not convenient for me. I'd like an option in my Tivo that lets me watch it instantly in hi-def for $2. Or for free if I already subscribe to the SciFi network.
I believe this to be part of a larger problem: many developers and organizations seem unaware of best practices (and when to disregard them) that have existed for decades.
I like DST, but not because it saves energy. It just seems silly to sleep through the best light because the rest of the world is on a late cycle.

Before DST, factories and shops had summer and winter hours. Work might start at 6:30 in the summer and 8:00 in the winter. DST is essentially a standardization of that.
Apple developers mark a year of iPhone apps
The title, though factually correct, is quite misleading. It's like saying Google launches interactive Python shell service at http://shell.appspot.com

The real service is Google Moderator: http://moderator.appspot.com/

TipJar is just a featured series on Google Moderator, just like the Shell is a featured application on the App Engine. It looks like Google 'seeded' Moderator with Tipjar, along with several other moderated discussions.
Lost in the Archives
Read "Four Steps to the Epiphany"
I agree -- and my tips are up there (iwillteachyoutoberich). It's hard to say anything useful in that small amount of space.
> One just has more practical value.
Hmm, you're probably right, but as I am not (yet) thinking of creating a startup, it is debatable which one it is...

My own philosophy is that, if the feces doth impact the rotary blades, I'd rather minimize the damage as much as possible. Most might consider it paranoia; I consider it an ingrained distrust of about 90 percent of humanity. As they say, the best defense is a good offense.
Ask HN: project suggestions for newbie python hacker
I'm new to programming and I'm learning python. Hello, what sort of projects would you recommend for a complete beginner, but really an absolute complte n00b. Ideas that are a bit more interesting than what probably has been done a thousand times before like the 'build my own blog'-type project?
Exactly. Where are my $2 episodes that I can download legally?

A decently popular cable show probably has around 2 million weekly viewers. Make it super easy to get the episodes in 720p for $2, and that is $4 million a week in revenue, or $80 million for a 20 episode season (plus merch and dvd collections afterwards). I'm not sure what a season of a given cable show costs to make, but I'd be surprised if it was $80 million.

From the consumer's perspective, we are used to paying $60-100/mo for cable. If episodes cost $2 and we watched four a month, that is $8 per show per month. Our normal $60-100 would buy us 7-12 shows, which I imagine is more than most people follow anyway.

Same could be true for sporting events. I'd gladly pay $4-5 to watch streaming high def games. The company would make a killing off me in March, but I'd still pay it because it's worth it to me to not have to buy a whole cable package just to watch one month of basketball.
Loki C++ Library: Evolution of Modern C++ Design Book Code
The Days of Streaming are Upon Us
Nocturnal Initiative: Re-usable C++ Game Engine Components from Insomniac Games
Wolfram|Alpha Is Coming
White House picks Vivek Kundra to be the first US CIO
I don't know much about Chinese Restaurants, but I do know a good bit about nightclubs, and virtually all of them (in major cities at least) launder organized crime money as a primary business.
Man, machine and in between
On the note of Tipjoy, thanks for making it. It's allowed me to take donations on my site without which I wouldn't've been able to otherwise (Due to PayPal's onerous terms of service).

:)
I wonder what "normal immigration process" you have in mind. Marrying a US citizen?
i haven't been here long, but i'd have to agree with your sentiments.
ImageFramr - Add some spice
Obama is Wrong About Entrepreneurship
Neither Strauss nor Ferriss impress me, and though Ferriss offers some humorous ideas in his book, I would say that most of it is entertainment and self-promotion.
Internet distribution is also a good way for studios to try out riskier ideas. The problem with the broadcast TV structure right now is that nobody dares put an aggressively creative show in a prime time slot - it's money on the table basically. So great new shows that may have attracted a solid fan base get thrown into suicide time slots, and inevitably fail.

With TV-on-demand (in all of its forms, not just the pay-per-episode format) you can do two things:

- Make risky shows just as accessible as the top blockbusters, giving them a real shot at success.

- Play with your price point. People may be willing to pay $2 an episode for Lost, but maybe they'll pay less for a more obscure show? Who knows, maybe you can charge more.

Up here in Canada Apple doesn't offer most of the shows that I follow, or I would be a regular customer... Neither does Hulu or Amazon... a bit of an untapped market I think, especially given how high cable rates are around here...
ICANN Gets It Wrong:  Variable Domain Name Pricing Is A Clear And Present Danger
Where are my $2 episodes that I can download legally?

Amazon On Demand, I think they call it these days.

It has, quite literally, every American TV show I have watched in the last 2 years.

The player is terrible, and throws up 3 prompts to escalate every time I open or close it on Vista. The download speeds are slow. The quality is unexceptional. But darn it, TV for $2 an episode -- I'm there.

(I'm not the world's best spokesman because I live in Japan, all of their stuff is licensed for the US only, and I get it by using a proxy on my server in St. Louis to defeat their geocoding. If the rights holders really want my yen instead of my dollars dupe this in Japan and you've got them.)
A Giant List of iPhone Developer Related Links
Revolutions: When is a zero not a zero?
Why does your concept of hacking begin and end at writing code? This book describes a number of real-life hacks: social engineering, exploiting legal vulnerabilities, circumventing security devices, etc.
Ex-Googlers Score with Likaholix
Ask HN: Is it just me or has TC really picked-up coverage on YC startups?
I have noticed over the last month that TechCrunch has been writing much more about YC and YC related companies. Any one else notice this?
The Browser Platform Wars
Fred Wilson: The slide in south park where, apparently, twitter was concieved of
Sweetie Bracelet From Steffans
LINKS OF LONDON Sweetie bracelet available at Steffans
I don't want to watch it on some crappy player in my browser (although I love Hulu and am willing to do browser + commercials for free content), I want to download a DRM-free 720p video file. Basically I want the same quality I can find on TPB, and I'm willing to pay a couple dollars an episode for it.

Make it easy to get (rss feed of torrents so I can just set it to automatically download) and I'd gladly pay to support a show I liked.

(And really it doesn't have to be a torrent if that word scares the networks. I was just suggesting that because it'd save the provider A LOT of bandwidth.)
I liked the video that you have after signing up. That should be easier to find for people that haven't signed up yet.
Serious business apps on the app store? I'm not sure that's going to turn out at all well until Apple takes some active steps to fix the society on the store (and please god a way to filter out all the games). Otherwise:

wat is this ap for? i thik it costs way to much because all it just does is leverage my existing technology investments when i can do this on my blackbarry without paying the MAC tax. i rate it one star but maybe three if it was free. app should be free 99¢ is to much
it's actually turned out much worse than that.
1) fractal compression never worked very well, not for lack of trying. it's just a bad idea if you actually think about it.
2) the company is now involved in penny stock scams
and is using the wikipedia to prop up their claims.
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Fractal_compression where the conclusions from the definitive research and the FAQ are being kept out of the article. i tried to keep the page sane, and in return i got a campaign of assassination run against me and my edits all over the wp.... which i won but i was unable to fight 2 editors back on this page. and then i ran out of time and gave up. anyway, if you can help, please do!
I wonder if this is actually going to work, or if it's going to be like every other failed attempt at this kind of thing - ie amusing at first but far too limited to be genuinely useful.
You could write an app that takes a keyword, looks for recent posts on twitter tagged with that keyword, and returns a list of the other tags that were used for the same posts - a sort of 'what's related' search for twitter tags.

Anyone else have any ideas? I encouraged donderwolkje to post here on HN.
Google Takes a Stand for Location Privacy, Along with Loopt
It is, but it is still an inferior technique for two reasons:

1. It is impractical as a technique at any other time because it is so easily defended. This means that it would need to be developed as an additional skill.

2. It requires the coordination of both hands. Proper shooting form requires only the use of one hand and the elbow is in line with the basket. Good shooters generally only miss on distance for this reason.

I think the takeaway from the article is that a free through is bound by players' psychology rather than athletic ability. Other accuracy based solo-efforts also haven't shown improvement:

There are measures in other sports that have shown similar consistency, like golf scores or batting averages, but none of them are as straightforward as lobbing a ball toward a basket.
Pininfarina and Bolloré Taking Orders for B0 Electric Car
Excerpt: "Like Loopt, Google’s Latitude doesn’t (currently) keep a historic log of its users’ locations; both companies overwrite the old data each time you report a new location. We think that’s the right move privacy-wise, and hope that between Loopt and Latitude, the we-don’t-keep-historic-logs policy will become the industry standard in the friend-finding space."

They also ask: "what would Google’s legal position be when a law enforcement agency tried to make it start logging a Latitude users’ location as part of an investigation?"

I found the piece interesting.
India New Zealand Live
They started with a working codebase on day one -- khtml.

It's a lot easier to hold to this rule while polishing a working product than to break fresh ground.
Sounds like a sequel to the Cyc project, but with more resources being thrown at it
Researchers find brain differences between believers and non-believers
Overspecialized Than Overdiversified
Ask HN: How would you price an iPhone app?
I have an iPhone app releasing this month. It is a utility app. Amidst all the free apps, stupid apps, etc., how would you price it?

Objectively (hard to do), I asked myself what price I would be willing to pay but that seemed too high.

I've read all the pricing discussions surrounding iPhone apps but they haven't helped.
They're trying to change that.
Deploying django-springsteen on Google App Engine
the difference in approach is outlined in the following paragraphs:

"But what about all the actual knowledge that we as humans have accumulated?
A lot of it is now on the web—in billions of pages of text. And with search engines, we can very efficiently search for specific terms and phrases in that text.
But we can’t compute from that. And in effect, we can only answer questions that have been literally asked before. We can look things up, but we can’t figure anything new out.
So how can we deal with that? Well, some people have thought the way forward must be to somehow automatically understand the natural language that exists on the web. Perhaps getting the web semantically tagged to make that easier.
But armed with Mathematica and NKS I realized there’s another way: explicitly implement methods and models, as algorithms, and explicitly curate all data so that it is immediately computable."

(eg, the crucial formula is algorithms to compute further information from curated, trusted data)
I wish he provided more technical detail as to what differentiates this from every other attempt at exposing a general learning algorithm + NLP to the web.
Beside the Wolfram brand-name, there's little reason to elevate this above 'curiosity I'll watch out of the corner of my eye' status.
Story Driven Development Recipes with Cucumber