skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Windows 8's UI is noticeably faster than its predecessors.

And if you have a Windows 7-based tablet like I do, you'll appreciate the new touch UI because Windows 7's was not very good while Windows 8's is more reasonable.

Also, Windows 8 doesn't seem as half-baked as previous Windows versions did at the time they were released. Then must have improved their testing process because being a Windows 8 early adopter no longer feels like being a beta tester.

I'm not a Microsoft lover, not by a long stretch, but for Windows users this is an offer too good to pass.
Very nice! I like the RNG puzzle you started off with. This reminds me of the Python Challenge, but inspired more by HAKMEM than by exercising random Python library code.

A couple of minor issues I tripped over due to experience with other text adventures:

- Consider adding the standard text adventure shortcut commands: "x" or "examine" for "look at", and "i" for "inventory".

- I found it surprising that "look at inventory_item" didn't work. "look at boat" or "look at vest", for instance.

- How about "help command" for each command listed in the "help" output?
I haven't gotten far into the game yet, but so far I really wished that you had followed the text-adventure idioms better, the interface feels really clunky for someone who is used to playing text-adventures.

Feel free to call me a youngster that is spoiled by modern games if you want.
> what do you honestly think Aaron Swartz would think about this clown using his name to score political points?

I'm not sure I understand why the "clown" scoring political points is so bad. Where in the rulebook does it state that doing the right thing must be completely devoid of agenda or beneficial byproducts?

Take, for example, volunteering. There are many who "volunteer" because they have to - whether it be for school, punishment, whatever. Do you think the volunteer organizations care why the volunteers are there as long as they work and do their jobs? No. They're just happy they've got people to help.

I think the same thing applies here. I never met Aaron nor do I know how he would react, but I know many folks who care deeply about this issue. They really only care that someone is asking the pointed questions and holding the DoJ accountable. They don't much care who it is or why he's doing it. If the end result is the same, what does it matter anyways?
I am running Windows 8 on my home desktop. I'm really surprised at how unstable it is. Sometimes after entering my password I am presented with a black screen, sometimes I am presented with the desktop but with nothing pinned to taskbar and windows key and corners do nothing. Sometimes I when I shut down it just sits at desktop.

This is a machine that had no such problems with Windows 7. I've uninstalled virtually every program that could possibly cause the problems I experience. The only thing left to uninstall is Windows 8. I will not miss it.
Oops -- Read further and it seems that that the Babylonians were base-60.

Also, make it clear, I should have said "Just use your thumb to count the 'segments' of the finger-bones on the same hand".
This is a very cool
Thomas, could you be any more hateful? The guy is doing something right. Who cares if he's a Republican?
Anyone else had problems running Windows 7 apps on Windows 8? I thought it was supposed to be almost completely backwards compatible?
Platform lock is a very efficient way of achieving a profitable business. I imagine they have some experience with this model.
DCI, or should it be RIC(Role/Interaction/Context)?
I've read a few articles about DCI and think it is a good exploration on software design. However some questions arise when I try to wrap my mind around it.

Compared to MVC which has been hugely popular and successful, I feel DCI has an inherent issue - Context and Interaction are too tightly related to each other and can not exist as standalone components like each of MVC does. From this perspective, DCI becomes D and CI(Context/Interaction). D is the data layer and contains no logic. The problem becomes how we express business logic in C and I.

I know there is Role even though it did not appear in the DCI. We pass data to context as different roles. On each role you can define some operations. Then in context, roles interact. So it is more of RIC (Roles Interact inside Context), or DRIC if you add data layer into the mix.

Is my understanding close to the real meaning of DCI? Please feel free to share your opinions or comments.
Ok. I wasn't sure if the original complaint was because they were random youtube videos or simply reviews. Several professionals have criticized Windows 8 harshly: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/windows-8-disappointing-usab...
This plus body tracking could revitalize arcade gaming.
If we're going to play that game, let's play it all the way.

Ortiz has been talked about as a candidate for senator. With Kerry moving to Sec of State, there's a senate seat in Mass. opening up. Scott Brown just lost the seat for the Republicans and will probably be running for the new opening to gain it back. By taking on Ortiz, Cornyn is removing a potentially strong competitor to Brown.

But really, who cares what games are going on in the background?

Ortiz shouldn't have a career in politics, and it's not going to be people in her own party that stop her.
Do you really need regulatory approval to change a battery design or battery type in a commercial plane?
It sounds like you're saying that the means justify the means.
The big caveat in their usage of VoltDB is that they are apparently using a synchronous client, waiting for a response each time, instead of async streaming. They mention this briefly in passing at the bottom of the paper, and say the VoltDB people were able to see performance increase by using an async client.
"Second of all, a C+ASM approach will always win eventually, given enough time invested. That is because a C+ASM programmer has at his/her disposal literally every possible optimization technique that is implementable on that CPU, with no language-imposed overhead. What this means is that a higher-level language being "faster than C" is just a local maximum; the global maximum is that C is faster."

Exactly

The C program presented is very naive. getc? ungetc? malloc inside a loop?

For example, I can create a table to convert 4 characters at once instead of only one. Just as a start. Doable in haskell sure, but it would most likely not use the resources of modern processors (SSE2, AVX, etc)
... only if game developers fully embrace it.
...and the counterargument has been debunked too. A lot of complaints were just ad hominem attack alleging Tamil supremacy, Tamil ethnocentrism. The first note of dicord that strikes you as an Indian is that bar one, all authors of that paper were from North India. If any Tamil bias is expected from that rergion it would be a bias against Tamil.

I dont know why Rao's claim (well they arent quite claims either, not yet atleast, they are rather a call for further investigation) have been so spectacularly blown out of proportion and why people get so upset about it.

Sproat at least does not say that Rao in any form claimed that his work "proves" anything one way or the other, rather that it was the "discussion" around the paper that claims a proof. I would have been happier if that distinction was made clearer.

In anycase if you search HN you will find an interesting thread discussing this topic. Learned quite a bit from it.

Here is the previous discussion http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4061748 and some here as well

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4154755

EDIT: @kylebgorman I dont consider myself qualified enough to agree or disagree, but have to say that I was taken aback by the push back it received, particulay the vociferous allegation of Tamil supremacy.

EDIT @kylebgorman wait I didnt say that the paper or the criticism was ethnically biased, but that ethnic bias was a major criticism that was levied against Rao's paper. This comment on the thread will have some examples http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4062129 rebuttals, counter rebuttals, , counter-counter... you get the idea.
hah, love this! pretty clear you guys spent a ton of time on it, was loads of fun. definitely one-upping ours ;)
The article is fun, but man, you really need to change that background :p
You don't even say what OS's you support.
Huh? Ortiz isn't a contender for MA-Senate. That seat is going to Ed Markey.

I am 100% with you on the need to stay on top of Ortiz and limit her career. I have the same problem in my home state with Anita Alvarez, who is also being groomed for bigger things.

I have no problem with the questions Cornyn is asking. Let's just keep him from being adopted as an Internet Superhero. He's not one of those.
Preparing for an internship technical interview?
Anything I should do to prepare for the technical interview for an internship? I didn't prepare for the initial phone call with the recruiter, so I sort of stumbled through it -- which I don't want to do on this next one. Any random words of advice?
I'm very much hoping that people take the Oculus Rift, add webcam sensors, and have decent augmented reality.
Hah, yes, sorry. Funny typo :)
The outsourced storage model is interesting.

http://kim.com/mega/#/hosting

Does this shotgun approach to storage offer them extra protection against law enforcement? Or is it just a way to try and minimise storage costs.

My guess is both.
I'm experiencing pretty much the exact same thing, with a few minor additions to your items: I also have iTerm2 in my list, some ADC files, and strangely some RSS xml files I have downloaded ages ago.
I recommend going to another retreat and jump starting your practice. When you are there, work as hard as you possibly can, trying your best to practice continuously.
There's nothing wrong with appreciating Cornyn's questions. I just think you should appreciate them ruefully.
Are you writing that in Haskell or in C? Because in Haskell, you'd want to use the /= operator. In C, you'd want to use strcmp.
Good will of your business should be your monthly gross * 24 (two years).
I am curious to know what kind of startup you have.
And it goes on to point out how easy it is to count to twelve on one hand. That's what I get for not reading the whole thing.
How to turn $4 into a community with 2.5M active users?
More easily said than done, though.
I heard about him from his Google tech talk on learning visual models. Interesting guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3boKlkPBckA
Pivot man. Just because the validation you got at first was negative doesn't mean there couldn't be a new market or a new revision that would get you positive feedback.

On the flipside, devoting time into something that no one wants would, i imagine, feel worse.
Something this unique will be embraced by enough developers to build up some momentum. Apart from draconian restrictions that figuratively drive developers far away, there's little Oculus could do wrong besides not shipping or shipping at a ridiculous price point.

The Kickstarter response is indicative that this product has huge potential. I don't think these are still the days when a few big gaming houses controlled the fate of a locked up console.

These days there are so many developers and companies on the Internet know how to reach out to them.
I am loath to politicize this any further, but since you're highlighting the context, I feel compelled to note it is the Democratic DoJ who is staffed at the highest levels with former IP-industry trade representatives. It is the Democratic executive branch that made these appointments and has made IP enforcement a top priority for said Democratic DoJ, including the Joint DoJ Task Force[1], IPEC [2], and across the Government generally [3]

Also, worth pointing out is how SOPA didn't really "die" until Paul Ryan and congressional Republicans abandoned it en masse. (and surprisingly, neither he nor they made scant, if any use of this fact for political purposes during the election)

As a self-identified center-left progressive, you can imagine this creates some strong cognitive dissonance for me, but the pragmatist in me can accept the strange bedfellows and opportunism for what it is. Superficial or not, is Mr. Cornyn acting in your interests or against them?

[1] http://www.justice.gov/dag/iptaskforce/
[2] http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/intellectualproperty
[3] http://www.iprcenter.gov/
> They fail to reach consensus on what it means to `pwd` a pig, then as one, they fall silent.

Clearly this version doesn't have pig paths.
Yep. It sure seems like no one in Washington plays the game fairly, so you might as well score what points you can in any way that you can.

I know there are many who disagree with that.
How Steve Jobs Buys a Company and Why Apple Bought Lala
There is a really sort of chilling feeling when you get really good head tracking and high DPI visual input, it fools your brain enough to move your sense of place.

The absolute creepiest thing I've experienced with this was put the goggles on and have the screens showing the view of a pair of cameras mounted on a telepresence robot in the same room. Then slowly pull the telepresence robot back so that I could see myself sitting there with the goggles on looking around in real time. It literally gave me the shivers.

But creepy out of body experience aside, the challenge then was control. Moving through space with a game controller with full view control can make you feel like you're a quadraplegic in the virtual world. Something that will really be awesome will be these goggles and a Leap Motion controller, so that you gesture around your world. You still don't get to walk (were are those 2D treadmills when you need them? [1]) but its more flexible than a thumbstick and a d-pad.

[1] http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-softwar...
This is about more than who has better engineers or a publicity stunt. This is damage control.

Right now lithium is under heavy fire (no pun intended) both because its expensive and explosive (besides this, many Fisker Karma cars burned).

Since Tesla is still losing money and has to raise money by selling stock, Musk has to keep up appearances by showing Tesla has the know-how to make lithium safe.

Or else, Tesla will run out of money soon, and game over.
I don't know amount most places, but Archstone (http://www.archstoneapartments.com/) was willing to rent me a 3k apartment while I was making 70k. I had a roommate that was going to move in in a month, but they did not care when I was signing the lease. They also have apartments in NYC so the option is open.
... makes it impossible for me to do that.

Nobody cares about your love and admiration unless you're somebody whose interest they think they should seek. That's why you're complaining about not having proper, willing targets for your affection -- desirable people have the problem of having their attention excessively demanded. The way you signal that you have something interesting is by displaying evidence of demand, not by standing up and reciting principles.
> I just think you should appreciate them ruefully.

This is a perfect description. I agree completely with the "ruefully" portion. I will still support his quest to raise trouble at the DoJ, but I do not support many of the other things for which he stands.
"Not the best illustration" isn't equivalent to "poor choice." Caesar isn't a bad example, per se, just not the best one. I'm simply saying (re: "A large part of rhetoric, for example, is breaking grammar for effect") that an example from a language where no grammatical rule has been broken isn't the most apropos. You may have given the sentence in English, but everyone knows its provenance.

Here's one from English, in honor of the upcoming holiday:

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

As far as your claims, (2) is contentious. Some grammars rail against the evils of the comma splice, others acknowledge its place and provide more nuanced guidelines for proper use. It's never been a cut-and-dried issue. I personally disagree with (1) for English while agreeing with it for Latin, but that is neither here nor there.
I admit to some naivety on the issue, but it seems like these retirement plans have a some exposure when it comes to inflation. Looking at the world economy and the unprecedented measures that were/are being taken to avoid inflation (fed. resv lending, IMF / Eurobank bailouts for Spain/Greece, etc.) it seems like I would be worried about the future value of my money.

I want to retire. I would worry that if I lived very frugally and planned to retire at 35-40, I could get depressed if outside of my control my future expenses doubled because of inflation while others who are focused on maximizing their earnings would be able to benefit from (possible) inflation through higher wages.

I guess thats the same sort of snow globing that gets people in trouble when they make investments. Who knows what inflation will do.
> How much shovelware do I have to take before I am allowed to skip one?

Before you skip one? As much as suits your preference, of course!

But in this case, you took pride in offending other people, some of them with more information than you (e.g. they watched the movie). And you appear to be engaged in a protracted (3-comment) campaign to defend your analysis of the movie. It should be obvious that this campaign is doomed to failure, given that you explicitly admit ignorance of the actual subject matter. How much shovelware do you have to take before you successfully persuade other HN commenters of your analysis of the shovelware? Probably all of it.

I only mention all this as a suggestion on how to better enjoy your time commenting on fora, and how to help others to better enjoy their time. Just a suggestion, YMMV.

Maybe off-topic: I wasn't very impressed with the LOTR movie adaptation either, and I'm not bothering to see The Hobbit. But, you know, whatever. The books are available any time I want to re-read them. No big need to attempt to offend passers-by with my disdain.
> There have been significant products shipped using Lisp. For instance, the original Reddit, ITA, Viaweb (the startup Paul Graham sold to Yahoo), Hacker News itself.

The aspect I was really thinking about was developer mindshare: there are a few sites which did use Lisp but it never seemed to develop an foundation which many other people would consider building a project on top of. From the mid-90s onward I don't recall anyone talking about learning Lisp so they could build a website; it was always a case of not wanting to learn something new or some sort of CS machismo ranking languages without concern for mere engineering tradeoffs.
I built a terminal shell like this a while back. Nice to see you have a history for the input box. Have you seen terminal.js?
Head tracking is already available with commercial products like the TrackIR or open source projects like FreeTrack.

It does make a huge difference in immersion, especially for things like flight or driving sims.

My big concern with the Occulus is that the screens are relatively low resolution; I'm sure that will change over time, but the first generation hardware's screens are a bit lower resolution than I'd like, personally.
"novelty accounts" like his should be downvoted on Hacker News, upvoted on Reddit.
"This is the same hyperpartisan Senator who was at the forefront of the effort to deny habeas rights to Guantanamo inmates; he was also involved in the Bush wiretapping scandal."

So what? Does it mean that he is "wrong" about everything else?
Whether or not there is a claim that Rao et al. were driven by "ethnocentrism" (I do not think this is the word you are looking for), do you dispute the facts I linked to?
I think a more compelling idea for having a camera on the outside is to allow for hand tracking within the game. Imaging if Leap-like functionality were added to the Rift. Flying through space in your star ship, you could reach out and actually interact with the controls in your cockpit. I think that could be a lot more compelling than what we are seeing with games on Kinect today.
You might want to try reinstalling. There's an option to expedite the process in the Metro menus, same place as where you set the timezone. I was having strange crashes, and a reset seems to have fixed the problem. I suspect it was an issue with the drivers I chose to install; this time I let it use all the default drivers provided through Windows Update, plus the driver package for my video card, and the crashing seems to have vanished.
Market share and mind share don't keep a company alive; profits do.

Xbox is not profitable over its lifetime (http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/07/15/how-one-of-microsofts...). Windows PC sales are down 20% from last year (http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33642_7-57556199-292/windows-8-...).

Microsoft has negligible presence in the high-margin mobile and tablet space. By contrast, Apple makes hundreds of dollars from each phone/tablet sale. Phones are repurchased every 2 years, and Apple originally got $18 per user per month for each iPhone subscriber (http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-9803657-37.html). Microsoft makes ~$50 from one-time PC purchases, which are replaced every 4-5 years.
Generally no, but Elon Musk does not fall into the category "random people".
At $40, I'd almost suggest buying a license even if you haven't yet decided for sure if you will use it.
I could be a lot more hateful about John Cornyn, who is repugnant to me and an all-around force for evil. For now, I'll just stick to the bare facts.

If Dick Cheney wrote this letter, a big chunk of HN would have no trouble identifying the problem. But very few HN'ers pay enough attention to national politics to understand that John Cornyn is one of the Senate's answers to Dick Cheney.
If Haskell is easier to optimize than C, then it could easily be that there's some amount of programmer effort, for which expending that much effort in Haskell yields a faster program than expending that much effort in C. If that amount of effort is in the range of effort most people are able to expend on a class of projects, then Haskell is faster than C for those projects. It may even be that those are most projects.

It is, of course, not the case that Haskell is faster than C with arbitrary effort expended tuning to the specific hardware - no one is claiming that.
Serious question: are people really still using Cassandra?

I've only ever heard horror stories about big deployments, and the only posts about it come from DataStax.
Sounds like a driver issue. I upgraded in October and haven't had a single crash, freeze or stutter.
That TSA Out of our Pants guy seems pretty smart!
Thanks for the feedback. Naming policies are a very difficult issue that I know have been debated at the company. I'm just an engineer, but I will forward on your comments.
What's perhaps more concerning is that Safari enters URLs in this database, even when Private Browsing is enabled. When you enable private browsing, Safari states:

"Safari can keep your browsing history private. When you turn on private browsing, Safari doesn’t remember the pages you visit, your search history, or your AutoFill information."

Well it does remember files you downloaded, even if you subsequently delete them.
Oh sure, people like the DOJ conceptually. But nobody ever likes the actual DOJ that exists at any given time.

To a liberal, the DOJ is in the abstract the agency that enforces anti-trust laws or the like against big companies. But the actual DOJ is the one going after people growing weed. To a conservative, the DOJ in the abstract is the agency that goes after drug traffickers. But the actual DOJ is the one meddling in mergers.