skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Even if more than a thousand words are spoken in the interview? ;-)
This doesn't seem surprising in the least given that Apple spends tons of money trying to make people switch and I'm sure most Linux developers couldn't care less if windows users switch.
Okay... if Linux's percentage increases, how is Apple killing Linux again?
For example, Brody notes one study where researchers gave asthmatic patients a drug that actually makes asthma worse. When they gave the drug to the patients, they told them that it relieves asthma.

Nice, just nice. Remind me never to participate in a research study.
Parasite theory stirs a revolution
See how short the path is from politics to meta-meta discussions? A slippery slope indeed;-)

I wouldn't vote me up that much either, but there is a difference between voting up and voting someone way down.
I think Linux is now actually the OS that is the most easy to use, but it has only been a few weeks yet (release of Gutsy Gibbon) since the major issues have been resolved.
Macs are PCs.
20 useful Facebook/FBJS developer resources
Did they finally resolve the trackerd issue?
Gen Y makes a mark and their imprint is entrepreneurship
Don't know anything about it, but they probably have it's status in the bugtracker (Launchpad, I suppose)?
Interesting enough book, but I must admit, I was surprised at the low quality of most of the popular videos and YouTubers he links from the "book". Are these people making any money out of their YouTube fame? I guess with a little dedication (produce content in regular intervals), you can still get quite far on YouTube.

I feel reminded of "seeing faces on TV in the morning might help against depression": http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~cook/movabletype/archives/2007...

Basically the guy found out that seeing talking faces in the morning lifts his mood. Perhaps that is all there is to the YouTube blogging phenomenon: people have a need to see talking faces, no matter what the faces actually say.
Watching faces on TV in the morning might cure depression
I just envision selling "healthy dirt" in the drugstores ;-) Rub yourself into "safe dirt" in the morning and in the evening to avoid allergies...
Is this the biggest UK social network you've never heard of?
Although I wonder, what exactly is static content? I seem to remember the YouTubers having a problem with serving thumbnails. Finding a file on the file system and serving it is also a "dynamic action" in a way, or isn't it?
No - but the fact that it is still interesting.
A major problem with all of these personal finance startups is that I can't use their software.

I happen to live in Norway...have you thought about the problem of getting access to data from banks that aren't quite as standards-compliant as their American counterparts? We have excellent Internet banking systems over here (generally speaking better than yours, or so I hear), but there is no chance in hell that you'll have time to make a database of every single bank and its system. I tried out one of the other startups mentioned in the article, and one of them actually has _one_ Norwegian bank in its database...out of 30 or so.

I do, however, want to use your software. The systems currently in place are a _lot_ more clunky than they should be, and it is difficult to see the big picture in my personal finances without the pie charts.

Any suggestions? I have the potential to be a really devoted customer.
The same way Oracle "killed" Ingres: growing the customer base by an order of magnitude in the same time it takes your competitor to double theirs.
Shutterfly Thinks Pictures and Networks Make the World Go Round
Photo-related apps continue to do well
there is no chance in hell that you'll have time to make a database of every single bank and its system

Perhaps you need something with web-like or Wiki-like adoption characteristics.

If just a few customers from each bank could contribute the logic to access it to a larger site then soon all the banks with any customers will be accessable.
great find dood
The width of your thumb at arms length is a very natural unit of measure. As the article states, it is approximately 2 degrees of solid angle. If you ray trace your thumb at arms length back into your eyeballs, the image of your thumb will cover the fovea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fovea The fovea is the little dimple on your retina responsible for sharp vision. This happens to be the solid angle that is used to define the CIE color charts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIE_1931_color_space

If I am not misremembering, two degrees solid angle (your thumb at arms length) also covers the angular width of the sun and moon.
I study a Brazilian martial art called Capoeira that was practiced by Brazil's slave population for about 400 years [...] finally the slaves overthrew their slave masters using Capoeira to forge modern Brazil.

I occasionally get free wireless from a combination Cafe/Capoeira studio in Berkeley. I shouldn't say much having never tried it, but the people there always look like they are more in it for the fun and exercise. Somehow I suspect there has to be more to this historic rebellion than just a bunch of slaves doing cartwheels to a hip beat.
Losing an Edge, Japanese Envy India's Schools
I'm surprised... I thought this was something very low and dumb, but the text actually makes sense and can be useful for those wanting to promote their projects in video. Not the best link ever, but an interesting enough link.
He can't be much of an expert on viral spread if he puts his message in a PDF.
Led Zep, Pink Floyd, the Stones, etc, could pull off an entire album of decent, coherent music, but I doubt any bands today can. The overall degree of talent is just completely different now, and I'm frankly shocked to hear even a single decent song anymore.

.. or maybe you are just getting old.
See also: How to cure your asthma or hayfever using hookworm - a practical guide [http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2006/4/30/91945/8971]
Put Buyers First? What a Concept (Nocera on Amazon)
It's like they managed to fit everything wrong with Japan into one article.
The obvious reasoning behind this policy is to prevent spam.

But of course you only have access to your friends' email addresses.
Bookstores are filled with titles like "Extreme Indian Arithmetic Drills"

They have to be joking.
Google, Yahoo, Others Sued Over Solitaire Patent
I don't understand why this comment got down-voted as it has. Steve Jobs is a closer example of the charisma and rhetoric needed to lead, but the example linked to here is another fine data point. If you aspire to leading a company, don't you want to inspire as well as perspire?
I think there's some reflexive downvoting going on here, because people are terrified of what happened to reddit happening here. But we won't let that happen.
Mutually Asssured Destruction
This problem is true of any candidate. The closer you look the less that seems to be there. But then again, that's when you as a voter get to weight these things as you'd like when choosing a candidate you'll support. The President of the United States is such a unique job it's really hard to know what prior experiences make one truly qualified. No matter how good the opinions or plans, actual governing is a different beast.
The dos and don'ts of UI design should be their first project. :)
I agree. The UI is terrible. It was pure luck that I tried the arrow keys to navigate. And just blocking IE users like that is pure arrogance.
its getting simpler to make and listen to your music.

http://myplaylist.biz is a good example
NYT on Voting Machines; Plus can YC readers build a better one?
And there are several don'ts in the slides too. Never give variables the same name as functions or other parts of the language.

They named their variables $int, $string and $bool...
Thanks, yes that's a good answer.

So, even though India doesn't compete with China industrially, what do you think about it's intellectual competition? Some of the most innovative mathematicians have been Indian, whereas I don't know of any such Chinese innovators.

While industrialization is very important for turning good ideas into products; the good ideas, in my mind, are more important. As Al Queda is showing us, technology isn't the panacea we often think it is.
Google Patent Imagines Robots Indexing The Grocery Aisle
Wayne and Robby from Zenter announce new Google Presentations Features
"an emphasis on memorization and cramming" - this is the one last thing that is still wrong with indian education.
Slim Shady Algorithm
What the Perl 6 and Parrot Hackers Did on their Christmas Vacation
Marvin: I know that Norwegian banks don't use OFX, but maybe they use an equivalent protocol. Do you know if they use / support HBCI? Or anything else? Let us know!

Also, there _is_ a chance that we can make a system for each of the banks (since we have the infrastructure already working!) All we need are test bank accounts -- if you could provide them, you'd be set :)
"These are the politics that got us the Iraq war. These are the politics that got us illegal wiretapping. These are the politics that make it legal for the government to kidnap you in the middle of the night and torture you until you're nothing but a shell of a man."

These are things about which Obama has been pretty specific about. He was, from the start, unequivocally against the Iraq war. He has said simply that the U.S. must stop torturing people. I'm honestly not sure about the exact details of his stance towards wiretapping, however.

So my point is that Obama has been very clear and forthright about a lot of things.

Another thing that impresses me is his ability to avoid pandering. There was a woman who asked him if Social Security could be expanded to cover some specific problem her brother had (sorry for not remembering more specifics) and he simply told her "No, I don't think we can afford to cover that for everyone." Sounds like a simple thing, but politicians almost never give a straight answer to that kind of question.

Furthermore, do you think more detailed policy proposals would have done anything about the current abuses of power we are seeing? Do you think torture and wiretapping would have been in a pdf somewhere if we just demanded more policy details from Bush on his website in 2000? You can give lots of specifics, and that's not bad. But it's not realistic to expect the details of a candidate's campaign proposals will be enacted intact as legislation someday. There will be negotiation and compromise along the way.
This also seems relevant:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01...
Io Has A Very Clean Mirror
Jython's Back, Baby!
Specifically:

"Barack Obama believes we need a business and regulatory landscape in which entrepreneurs and small businesses can thrive, start-ups can launch, and all enterprises can compete effectively while investors and consumers are protected against bad actors that cross the line."

See! Obama wants your start-up to launch! :)
Tech Giants Woo Developers Seeking JavaScript Turf
Hey, we are not hiring just right now, but will be doing so very soon. Send your resume our way? :)
Has Ruby on Rails become mainstream?
Android contest officially open - Individuals happy, teams worried
Is Sears Engaging in Criminal Hacking Behavior?
I think "obsession" is a bit hyperbolic.

It's the sole constant. When he was a lawyer, he was a race lawyer. When he was a writer, he was a race-writer. When he was an activist, he was a race-activist.

I think it would be fair to say that Obama's ethnic background means a lot to him -- look at his senate race against Alan Keyes. Keyes seems to define himself as a rhetorically brilliant ultra-conservative, not as a black man. Even though he's ethnically and culturally much blacker than Obama, and his political career has been with the Republican party, which is notoriously clumsy about racial issues.

Have you ever been a minority anywhere?

I lived in Bedford-Stuyvessant for a while. It wasn't exactly pleasant, but I don't plan on spending my entire professional career getting over strangers referring to me as "White boy!" or jumping me for my iPod.

Yes, it is very pro-black and pro-African, but I don't see anything that is explicitly "anti" anyone else.

Many hate groups are not explicitly 'anti' anyone. You don't have to hear much about how someone "Favors preserving the White culture, and the White people as a race..." to know that you're hearing about the Klan.

Would be interested to see the welcome for a white person walking in on Sunday, though. :) Having said that, I did go to a church once where ours was the only white family among black Haitian immigrants.

I've attended the "Rock Church" in St. Louis (http://www.stalphonsusrock.org/), which is quite an experience. But they don't have to push a black power message to follow a Christian message as blacks.
If you meet requirements, do lines of code then become a viable measure of productivity?
I'm not bashing him -- I'm just explaining that, without talking about race, Obama's history doesn't make sense. Since race is the only constant in his work as a writer, lawyer, and activist, it isn't hard to extrapolate from there to think that his career as a president will be focused on it, tii.

Those 'douchebags' have been pretty well marginalized. Nobody talks about those data when creating race-sensitive laws or corporate policies. I mean, a Nobel Prize-winning geneticist got fired over mentioning that information offhand. It's hardly mainstream if one of the preeminent scientists of the last century can't even afford to speculate about whether or not it might be true.
I wouldn't bother sending this to any Republicans, since we already have good reasons not to vote for Obama. But I do think it's interesting that I summarize his background to correct a misconception, and suddenly it's partisan.
The dangers of blogging [video]
"I don't like demonstrations because the young guys showing me are so enthusiastic they think it is the greatest thing in the world--at least in their life, and if you don't fake an orgasm, they go away very disappointed."
In-browser code editor with syntax highlighting
http://www.uncov.com/
Why Intel and OLPC Parted Ways
In PHP it hardly matters, since variables have their own namespace. PHP is a lisp2.
> Exceptions leak a little bit of memory when thrown

So their suggestion for dealing with a limitation of the language implementation, is to not use a feature? Great.

Also, teaching people to do ridiculous sub-optimisations, like using ++$i instead of $i++ isn't really what I think of as best practice. Or telling people to avoid OO because it's slow. Now I know, where those poor newbies get this stuff from ...
The Most Hated Company In the PC Industry
Pandaplomacy
This is pure speculation. Moreover, business isn't war and companies don't "hate" each other; they just happen to be in competition on some markets.
The third example on the type safety slides bugs me (using the type safe comparison operator to prevent both a boolean true and non-zero int evaluating the same.) I would prefer use of a consistent return type from the function to begin with. I guess since some built in php functions behave this way, it's important to know/use...but I don't think I would recommend writing a function such that the type safe equal check is necessary.
Is it Time to Declare Music Downloads a Loss Leader?
For me, it is the tone of the comment (warning me about this information) that makes it partisan.
the tax implications are a bit scary. I guess it would be best to register an LLC and enter that way.
The article written like link-bait. In fact, the only news-worthy item in there was that ASUS had released a flash-based laptop with a fairly cheap price.

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=24&l2=0&l3=0...

Even the short engadget review on it was better than the link provided above.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/01/eee-pc-review-roundup/
A pretty comprehensive list of business books. What books do you think should be added to the list?

It would be great to see reading lists like this for other subjects. What books would a "Personal Computer Science Degree" contain?
The great thing about computer stuff is that it's so easy to try it. Reading isn't enough, you need to do, but with many fields, doing isn't so easy. Talking about what you've read also helps some, which was one of the ideas behind Squeezed Books, which, unfortunately is not getting much traction.
Talk on Unobtrusive Javascript
I was pretty interested in the contest until I read the T&C and learned that all submissions had to be written in Java. I think that shows a lack of imagination on Google's part. A lot of cool applications could have been made by people using other JVM-targeting languages (JRuby, Jython, Scala, Cal, Javascript, etc.). I was thinking of using it as a Scala-learning exercise myself. Ah, well...
Very useful. Will rework my perpetual motion machine patent to comply. :P
Inverse symbolic calculator
Robert Morris wrote one of these in college in the mid 80s to help him do his math homework.
Human vs. Machine: The Great Challenge of Our Time
This is a really tough problem. I worked on something like this extensively in 2005. Ultimately, the hardest part was syntax highlighting on the current line, because you had to monitor input to figure out when a "token" had been completed, and then do the corresponding magic. Dealing with the idiosyncrasies of changing colors and maintaining cursor position makes this a real bitch.

Turning off syntax coloring on the active line definitely makes the problem easier. Wish I would have thought of that. Strange how you can spend days on a problem but never think of the "easy" solution.
yeah that is just mean.
Top 7 thing to know before going for startup venture capital funding
I think it's good speculation.

Besides - if someone eats into your livelyhood I can't imagine you liking them very much.
which got as low as 3 percent -- were more akin to Wal-Mart's than that of a big-time tech company

Yeah, and they'd hate to suffer WalMart's fate in the marketplace.
The _really_ cool stuff we saw in YC is still not there! :( One hopes it will be there soon enough...
And (at least in San Diego), all the crazy Indian parents force their kids to go to "Kumon", which is a Japanese after-school program for memorizing and doing math drills...
I get a login box in an iframe. Google's SSO is badly broken these days. I have to login to view "public" albums on picasa, even though they are public and I'm already logged into Gmail.
That's because Android doesn't use the JVM, only the Java language.
When Blub becomes functional: towards the Y Combinator in Visual Basic
I &hearts; ASUS and thought back in 2004 they were on a hot streak of promising products:

http://gojomo.blogspot.com/2004/12/i-asus.html

At the time, it seemed they only needed more native-english-marketing-savvy to achieve mass appeal in North America. I hope the Eee PC will be their brand breakthrough.
Not really. Android's VM has Java semantics and should be able to run any Java bytecode, including JRuby, Jython, Rhino, etc.

The contest requirement to use Java may just be an oversight on Google's part. JVM-based dynamic languages may not execute very fast on a phone, though.
This list has changed significantly over the last couple years. I'd be wary of entrusting your education to someone who is optimizing his reading list based on what's generating the most Amazon referral fees. At the very least go and find the original version.
It might matter to the human reading the code.
Mixed Feelings
Full Chess Game with AI in 5k of Javascript
Scala would most likely be the leading contender.
What This Gadget Can Do Is Up to You
The interview paints the ideal starting entrepreneur as someone aged 25, not 18. And the implication is that this is being generous...

The message is that anyone over 30, not to mention 40, need not apply. Of course this does not really bother me, but it makes the whole high tech start up thing sound like "Americas next top model." LOL!

"We want 'em young and fresh!" And yes 25 is young. Very young.

That said, I think PG comes off as a thoughtful and honorable person - which I already knew. I noticed some quibbling with the interviewer about if "creating wealth" was the right phrase. It's not important, but it is interesting to see that quibbling never ends no matter how successful one is.
AKA exhaustive search...
Git Tutorial for Subversion "morons"
This study is obviously flawed and the conclusions utterly unfounded, but it would take me far too long to list all the objections that half of you wouldn't understand anyway.

Take my word for it.
If you were doing Agile (and therefore had a reasonable metric of the relative size of each requirement), then a better metric might be your personal "velocity" of completed user stories, divided by the estimate amount.

I think a really cool metric would be who has the fewest lines of code per completed user story.
95% of martial arts studios in America are purely commercial: basically a Bally's with sparring gloves and gi's. Hardcore traditional schools are very selective in who they allow to train there or will often utilize a "weed out" strategy on newcomers (I've heard that Gracie BJJ schools are notorious for this). A Wing Chun school I was interested in made me go through two interviews before they decided that I would be allowed to train there if I chose to.

Because of its dance-like movements, Capoeira is often marketed as "yoga meets breakdancing meets pilates meets tae-bo" in order to attract women, which is probably what your local studio is doing.
Mini-PC or not, normal PCs are also getting so cheap that it might become difficult to charge much money for Operating Systems.

Also, I wonder if Bill Gates timed it deliberately so that his followers will fail, to cement the myth of his leadership? I guess not, but in general, it might be a consideration of CEOs when stepping down. Or maybe in general they tend to step down when prospects are poor.

As for the mini-PC, it might be cute, but so far I don't see why I would need one.
I looked at EditArea before building the AppJet Code Editor (ACE). (See our in-browser code editor with syntax highlighting at appjet.com).

The problem with EditArea is that the overlay method causes visible ghosting when you insert newlines, even on a fast computer. Also not being able to see highlighting on the current line bothered me.

I based the ACE implementation on http://marijn.haverbeke.nl/codemirror/story.html only simplified the parser and added some features like paren/bracket/brace flashing. The basic idea is to use design mode but keep careful track of the DOM of the design body and cursor. The big challenges then become things like undo support (which we still haven't implemented yet), but the major advantage is that you get a fast and native feel, which is important. We plan to open-source ACE pretty soon.
Dave Thomas *and* Zed Shaw comment on some dude's take on Zed's rant
Somehow that story seems to fall short of it's possibilities. What programming languages have been used, for example - maybe the 20000 lines people where Java developers and the 4000 lines people where lisp programmers (or whatever)? And the argument for measuring the productivity by lines of code wasn't really made in the article, it just says it is a bad measure and then goes on to judge everything by that measure.

How long is the summer anyway, three months? So 20000 lines could be about 200 lines per day?
I don't think that experiment makes sense: if there is a low quality copy for free and a higher quality copy for 5$ I take the lower quality copy to be for evaluation. So only 18% of the people who evaluated it decided to buy it. In fact even without the low/high quality thing, perhaps in a "pay what you want setting" people download first and evaluate. Perhaps those people who didn't pay simply didn't like the music.

Also, even in that experiment they seemed to have made almost 1$ per download - isn't that more than artists typically get per CD sale?
There are pictures of it here:

http://feelspace.cogsci.uos.de/en/technology_01.html