skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
This is more a case of "old is still old", I think. We've been hearing about how web apps or browser-based apps will replace desktop apps for many years now, yet it never happens.

I can still remember all of the Java applet, ActiveX control and DHTML hype of the late 1990s. It died out when it was proven to be nonsense. Desktop apps continued to thrive.

Then it built up again a few years later, during the middle of the last decade, when AJAX and jQuery became all the rage. These offerings were marginally better than what we saw in the DHTML era, but still lacking. The only traction they gained was at the very low end. Most serious users still preferred to use real desktop applications.

Now it's a few years later, and there's been a lot of HTML5 hype. Yet the browser-based apps are still no closer to replacing desktop apps. Gmail, for instance, has been around for almost a decade, but a great many people much prefer a real mail client. We also haven't seen much traction when it comes to modern online office suites, and other web-based alternatives to more traditional desktop apps.

Native desktop or mobile apps are going to be around for a long time. I question whether it is even possible for any browser-based app to compete. In order to do so effectively, it would be necessary to eliminate the browser itself, as it is the browser and its related technologies which provide the poor experience we get from many web apps. It just looks like a complete no-win situation for web apps, aside from perhaps at the very low end.
Not-for-profit companies aren't prevented from making a profit, and are in fact encouraged to (how else would they sustain!?). All the not-for-profit distinction means, business wise, is that the profits must be reinvested in the organization and not distributed to the owners.

This is a common misconception about not-for-profits. They are expected to make money, and overhead is important.
As someone who's unfamiliar with none of the original song or either of the covers, it took me until 2:25 to figure out when it alternated between the songs.
I made something similar when I first started learning ruby.

http://ideabit.herokuapp.com/

eHarmony for tax consultants is one of my favorites.
lovely tool, i was about to subscribe to some tour generating app :)
I would suggest the following:

4GB of Ram
i7 or i5
SSD

Something like this:

x220: http://outlet.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/outlet_us/...

or x230:
http://outlet.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/outlet_us/...

Might fit the bill.

The nice thing about the x220 is that it is what a lot of Linux Kernel hackers use so the hardware tends to be well supported. Get an intel wifi card and intel graphics card. I have personally avoided Optimus technology for fear of lack of support, however, others have had luck with it so it might not be too bad.

Do you have any preference for screen real estate?
If execution is all that matters, your idea isn't good enough :)

Ideas are very important.

1. Without an idea there is nothing to execute on.

2. Depending on how much you believe in the idea it is what will give you the stamina to continue no matter what obstacles you will meet. (This can some times be a problem, but often and advantage)

3. Without and idea there is nothing to validate against.

I don't know about you but in design I always found it a lot more effective to have an idea before i start designing instead of just make it up as I go.
I think Corey's only mistake is to want to 'be cool' with the other people whining about Heather's code.

Apart from that I believe he has been bullied into apologising for nothing, by people who take themselves too seriously, including Heather.

Being afraid of criticism just shows that you agree with the critics at some level. If you were sure of yourself, c.q. your code, you'd just be able to shrug it off. Instead Heather ran to mommy (HN) and told on the mean kids for not liking her drawing. Instead of seeing that Heather was overreacting mommy forced the 'mean' kids to apologise.

I believe Heather should say that SHE is sorry.
Wow. I didn't think 6 seconds would really be long enough but this is definitely forcing people to curate and be creative.

And cats.
I think the "this doesn't belong on the first page" (or such) applies to a lot more than just the "$x on my last eBook" stories.
How many hours did it take you to write the book? From an ROI perspective, if it took you 100 hours to write the book and your rate is $100/hour, you would need to make $10,000 to break even. Of course, if used as a marketing tool to increase your rate, you would get more ROI as an investment in yourself.

What was your motivation in writing the book?
OK, I'm older than you and have been going through this right now. Let me tell you what the biggest pile of absolute bullshit is in what you just wrote:

>>>Efforts taken at this point to turn things around would be futile

That is absolute bullshit. You don't know what the future looks like nor can you say any new efforts would be futile. You've just jumped the tracks, are stuck in a rut, and all you're seeing is the damned rut. I can't help you get out of that rut -- the rut is different for each of us -- but you must find your way out. Having great days isn't a matter of just waking up to great days. It's building great days one small step at a time during lousy days. Think of it like compound interest with money. Do at least one damn thing to move forward each day. You don't need a plan -- plans won't help, only create the potential for more disappointment -- you just need to move. Move, move, move I'll leave it to others here to suggest practical steps. But standing still in that rut is death and life -- even miserable life -- is better than death. Death is finality. Life is practically infinite potential, whether you can see that right now or not.
Thanks for the aeinstein.org link. One thing: "no one in Anonymous seems courageous enough to go prison" - What use is it to go to prison? Maybe you will get some article produced about you generation some attention, but it really doesn't seem helpful. Courageous, I agree, but is it rational? Recently I read about a small protest in mainland China about an instance of media censorship. A bunch of people singed there names on some document complaining about it, and Chinese man who was speaking to some journalists got thrown into a van and taken away. It would not surprise me if some of those people who signed their names will end up getting attacked, so anonymity is beneficial here.
To a lot of us, it looks like yet more pointless time- and effort-wasting squabble from the "design" crowd.
I'd love to chat with you about luma. My cofounder and I worked on something substantially similar before YC. Ping me at the email in my profile?
I'd far rather read about eBooks in a meta sense. Info on the mechanics of eBook creation; say from a LaTeX source or the like.
Activists destroy CCTV cameras in Germany
The site is Hacker News - not Programmer News. I understand that there is obviously a strong lean towards programming when thinking of hacking, but hacking can apply to broader topics than just programming. A lot of people are interested in eBooks and marketing and if the post helps you think about those things in a new manner and "hack" the methods of writing, publishing, and marketing your eBook, then I think it's a valid thing to post. If you check out the guidelines for posts on HN, you will see:

"Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity."

I think that a lot of these posts will satisfy a ton of people's intellectual curiosity. If it didn't, why would it make it to the front page in the first place?

Not to mention that if you extrapolate some of the ideas found in these sorts of posts, you could potentially apply them to things like programming and startups. Seems like a beneficial thing to me to have on the site.

I won't go into whether or not some of these posts are that well written or that incisive, but I think a lot of people would agree that they belong here.
CD47-induced apoptosis may be a way to kill tumor cells
Microsoft may be readying Outlook for ARM – or not
مشاهدة مباراة تونس وكوت ديفوار بث مباشر
If you have to ask the question, I think you already know the answer.
I respectfully disagree with your assertion for the following reasons:

1) While this may be called "hacker" news, there are a great deal of discussions that are about things that hackers are interested in that don't necessarily pertain to hacking.

2) This site is undeniably linked to technological entrepreneurship. eBooks, particularly when they cover something technical, are not only relevant, but the way in which you can make money with them are akin to being able to put together a good website and make money from it.

3) It's not at all uncommon for folks who have worked in the startup business to release or write an eBook. Many things they learn in the process can be applicable to things that are not bookseller related.

In short: this is a site for hackers, not about hacking. There are many other forums out there for such things.
Mon Dieu A 'Hashtag' Is Now A 'Mot-Dièse' In France
Completely agree. It has gotten a bit out of hand here and feels like spam. Everybody seems to want to sell their snake oil on this website.
Respectfully, no.
Wow. A direct response with just the right amount of "snark" that's backed up by generous citation.

It's slightly juvenile, but you know what? Quirky swung first; they don't get to complain when somebody swings back.

Kudos to Oxo.
Thinking Fourth Dimensionally
"Free" as in information.

Activists scratching their own itches aren't misguided. They are shipping.

Neither is anonymity cowardice. The DOJ won't treat those they catch as pranksters or respect their convictions of conscience. And other interests may not care how problems are solved. just that they are.

Face and big money are at stake. And all sides are serious adults
Massachusetts school's IT team fries students' computers trying to remove Tor
Yehuda, I want to say thank you for your efforts on this. I understand that the plan changed, no problem. When I look at all the volunteering you do (W3C’s TAG?) I can't believe there is only one copy of you.
Whether or not an article gets on the front page (or close) depends on whether the herd vote enough for that article, you have a method to determine that, called a vote.

After all, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.
Google Officially Responds to Safari-Tracking Lawsuit
I think it's less about selling snake oil than about exposing people to information and ebooks that are relevant to their interests. A book about using Sublime Text productively? What better place to post about it? Sure, it's good for sales, but it is also completely fitting for the readers of this site.
Amazon best product reviews ever. Funny too.
>>>I'd prefer that spot on the top list to be about programming or something closely related

Now wait a minute. It's people who are putting it up there. Do we have the right to vote or not? And there are lessons in selling eBooks that can be applied to other things too.
Show HN: tubehaiku - streamlined viewing of poetic youtube videos
pretty fun to watch. it takes a while to load the videos on my iphone even though i had wifi connection. Lightt delivers a much smoother experience and has a much more interesting interface since other videos load right away. The sound and the video recording experience really separate Vine from Lightt.

I would recommend telling the user to enable sounds their phones to use Vine. I keep my iPhone on vibration all the time, did not realize Vine videos had sound to it until I saw this link.
Somewhat off topic, but this has been bothering me for a while now:

about the role of aaron swartz in all this... initially I read he was facing "up to 35 years" in prison. After his death people started speaking of "up to 50 years". In relation to the USSC hack I have started seeing 50+ years pop up.

I feel like these exaggerations do not do anyone any good. The actual facts are horrible enough - bloating them up like that does not support his cause, rather, imo might undermine it, as it reduces the credibility of anyone arguing his case.
Top Unknowable Things
You're going to have to make your peace with it and move on.

Stay away from the psychologists; they never help, because it's not in their business model.

Consider doing something different, if only because you may be totally uninspired by the path you're forcing yourself to follow.

Remember, pounding square pegs into round holes is for Baby Boomers only.
If you're into new ways of watching the same minutia people post on facebook and twitter: people feeding their babies and making breakfast. Sorry, but that doesn't qualify as earth-shattering.
How to apply one picture to all desktops on OSX 10.8 using Automator
As someone on his 32's who deals with a mix of feelings similar to those everyday, internal and external factors apart, and still has to get up, get work done for fun an bills, that has consulted specialists because not feeling well mentally is as "normal" as getting a cold and seeing a physical doctor, what mostly works for me is the growing realization that:

* i am only being me and the combination of my weaknesses and strengths is what makes me unique.

* just because i may not ever be a top performer / achiever, does not mean that i cannot contribute in a very helpful way to many things and people around me, and i have.

Many things are built, or helped built, by people that don't "make headlines". When one accepts that, life in these circunstancies get's a little bit easier to manage.

edit: minor rewording.
Very cool! Nice use of the Twitter API for sure.

So many cats.
So what is it? I don't understand what making vines or a scene are, and don't want to download an app to find out.
J.J. Abrams Directing the New 'Star Wars': Exciting or Terrifying?
This is seriously fantastic. I saw Vine yesterday and thought it was a cool concept but didn't try it, after watching this I've downloaded the app and shared it with a bunch of friends and they're now downloading the app too! Such a simple and brilliant idea, Vine should add this to their homepage.

edit: I've now been watching this for 40 minutes... why are the banal acts of ordinary people so interesting?! Maybe it's the promise of a brand new thing in 6 seconds that keeps me watching.
This.

People who are already giving the max to GiveWell-supported charities should not divert their funds to Watsi.

People who have more to give and want maximum impact should follow GiveWell's recommendations.

However, many people have not given to the max, nor do they care so much about maximum impact. For them, there is Watsi to direct their dollars to a noble cause, rather than on Minecraft-themed plush toys or something.
I came to HN because I was interested in how people were using technology to do something interesting for themselves and others. Not math puzzles, or clever programming hacks, or ruminations on various celebrities. This is "making stuff people want"

"Making stuff people want" is a broad mandate. If you can show me new and applicable information about people making money on e-books, I want to see it. If one guy is leveraging Amazon Mechanical Turk to solve CAPCHTAs for gamers, I'm interested. If Chinese firms are selling time levelling up characters for rich westerners, I'd like to know about it.

So as long as HN has articles about people making stuff other people want -- how they decided what to make, how they marketed it, how they worked closely with the target market, and so on -- count me in. I love Erlang Innards as much as the next guy, but after years of reading tons and tons of minutiae around technology, I'd like to see a bit of deeper analysis about how to do something useful with my life, not fluffy nerd candy about whether Haskell is exactly as fast as C or not.

That's my opinion. It's much different than yours, and it's much different than many others, I suspect. This is why we have a voting system, no?
You definitely have a right to vote, I just wanted to let the community open a discussion on what the focus of the site is. If a bunch of newer users were upvoting sports news I think this would be an easy conversation, this isn't sports news but it's worth talking about.
The Ultimate Showcase of Grid-Based Design
"Fail fast" is not really helpful when you have decades of experience to bring to the table. Humanity already has the knowledge we need to operate an effective popular action. No A/B testing necessary.
I guess he's arguing "good" startup ideas can sound good aswell at the beginning.
Wow, surreal. Vine = immediately broadcast 6 second .gifs?

My brain doesn't really want to accept that these snippets are live.
It looks very interesting, and it looks like they did it the right way, by porting the Dalvik VM, system server, and the suite of processes like SurfaceFlinger that make up what one could call the "Android app runtime" to Windows. That is in contrast to putting all of the Android OS into a virtualization container, which is what it appears Bluestacks does.

There are some interesting challenges to that approach, but I believe they can all be overcome. It will be interesting to see, if, for example, you can run Android JNIs or if the use of JNIs requires re-compiling to create .dll instead of .so files.

Very very interesting in any case.
I've been there. A lot of people have. These stories are a constant reminder of that:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45mMioJ5szc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDnrLv6z-mM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_too_shall_pass
Elonmusk: Desire to help Boeing is real ...
Maybe it's just me, but switches confuse the hell out of me. Am I switching to turn it off or is it already off? I like the look and feel of this but to me 2 radio buttons is a far more elegant solution...
Live as soon as people share them, though many are roughly live.
I prefer Cristopher Nolan. Lost was a lost opportunity.
I was thinking a sentencing commission website, but for hackers.

Oh wait, looks like that one just got taken...
If you have the background to use the word correctly, you know it comes from furniture manufacture. To suggest that because you don't know it in any context other than programming, and that as such everyone should be nailed down to your awareness, seems incorrect to me.
Linux? Get one with an Intel or nVidia graphics chipset (if you want graphics speed, go nVidia) avoid ati/radeon - its support on Linux has been touchy, the drivers have a long history of installation issues.

if you want speed again i5 is a good minimum, don't skimp on the processor, you can't pop in a better one if its too slow... you can always improve the drive/ram later - make those less a factor.

drive if possible SSD, but then don't make it a major priority as that can be swapped out on most wintel machines.

Just about any distro should work fine, the only main sticking point for Linux users are the graphics chipsets.
No, but you can opt-in at https://youtube.com/html5
Most people developing Java voxel games/voxel game engines/anything to do with the Minecraft community are brand new developers who don't know what they are doing.... yet (not this guy though, in general Minecraft).

However I love game servers like this as it brings new talent into programming, and gets younger people interested. I remember a couple of years ago when private servers were more popular with games like World of Warcraft, Maplestory and a lot of other games that brought more people into programming.
Someone might wait a while before submitting I guess. These are just picked up as soon as they are shared on Twitter.
Which word are you talking about?
Ask HN: Did Twitter 'borrow' Vine from Loopcam?
A little help please! so I have a vine link, say http://vine.co/v/b53lmWrxtQr.

How do I get the .mp4 link to the vine video itself? is there a vine api or do I hard scrape?
Shingled Magnetic Recording, doubling hard disk drive capacity
There's more than one way to violate intellectual 'property' rights, and they need (or at least should) not be treated identically.

A (probably) incomplete list I just pulled out of my a^w head:

1. plagiarism
2. espionage
3. for-profit pirating
4. non-profit pirating
5. willful patent infringement
6. accidental patent infringement
Have to go to Canada for that.
> [...] a decision made by the couple.

Haha, I've never heard such a notion, that pain relief should be co-decided by the woman's partner. I certainly never presumed to have any input in that.
It's a shame that Quirky would take to the streets like that. It comes off as childish and combative rather than as scrappy and willing to go to bat for their inventors.
<meta property="twitter:player:stream" content="https://vines.s3.amazonaws.com/
videos/FED404A9-A4BE-4575-A73B-8542E146FA71-52962-0000207E5EF700D9_1.0.3.mp4?
versionId=E5rpcmqj9ySK91RTSGuF3rjYuSPBOgzG>

I think maybe the Twitter api (what vinepeek is using) may return it, because it's part of a twitter card thing?

edit: no it doesn't, you'd need to scrape.
Looks great! I'd love to see examples of your email promo, and also the time effort required to write the book. Is LeanPub really only good for technical books? Looks like the top best sellers there sell ~ 2000 books. But even books that are selling just ~ 500 copies are listed as Best Sellers... How does this compare with other platforms?

$2,000 in 7 days at a lowest price of $19 means 100 or fewer buyers. And I think you mentioned you had a pre-sell list of 154 interested parties. Sounds like most / all the sales were made to those who had already expressed interest in the first 7 days.

You did mention sales was closing in at $5k after the next 4 months, so if sales are consistent roughly month to month, sounds like you're picking up another 30-40 readers per month, which is good. Primarily word of mouth or are you doing more email list building / email marketing?

I think there was another post just like this that showed that you are best able to sell eBooks quickly if you build up an email list, promote your book BEFORE it is ready, build up some demand for it, and then sell it. You'll see a spike of sales for the first few days and then it will die off, but hopefully you'll have another eBook in the waiting if you want to repeat that cycle... if it's financially worthwhile.
Bill Gates: My Plan to Fix The World's Biggest Problems
I think the eBook marketing is right on the borderline of what makes sense to have on the site. "I made $3K in 2 weeks marketing diet shakes" would clearly be over the line because it's not a technical effort. Writing an eBook is somewhere closer to what the site seems to be about, but not that close. Clearly this isn't a site about any business, so just the fact that it's an "e"book makes it appropriate? If I wrote a successful hardcover book that wouldn't seem too appropriate for example. I agree it's a grey area, but thought it was worth the discussion to find out what everyone thought.
Judges are the ones with power over sentencing. But it should be noted that the overwhelming majority of the time the judge simply signs off on whatever sentencing recommendation is made by the prosecution.
Hyperscala : a chat example
Looks like it would be easy to scrape, grab the src attribute from the video element.
The people live in a bubble, they don't considerer that there is others kind of software that required more (so much more) business logic, that only an insane man can try to solve with js.
It will be interesting when the scene groups will adopt H.265 or at all. I have always found fascinating how piracy and porn can be trendsetters in technology standards.
Show HN: A New Basic Vim Motion
I also didn't realize that vine was making real movies with sound, thought it was just animated gifs then someone turned on a blender in a clip and I freaked out, hah.
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