skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Yeah, I heard they are 400 person strong a bit later. And was thinking of updating that comment, but too late. Maybe split into two flat structures with two benevolent dictators.

I think what they should keep is their focus on making developers feel like at home, which Gabe so far did masterfully (he keeps moral high, he gives people what they want even in face of fire, etc.).
Yes, calling it "cross" galactic would certainly be stretching the definition of "cross". Though I suppose a "cross country" race is across the "countryside" though not across the country. ;)
I don't think Tesla would worry for Hyperloop in the case of SF-to-SJ type commutes -- BART and Caltrain would probably be the ones who should worry. In fact in the US, I don't think there'd be a case where Tesla would worry about Hyperloop at all, as it's pretty car-driven culturally and architecturally -- people in general are walking-averse and still need cars to get to places that are between "stations". It might be different in other places like Europe or Asia though.
If the new second is found to be longer than the old second, then for example long distance travels won't take as many seconds than before. Oh wait... sorry.
What's the point of nudging a rock uphill, I guess I would ask.

Down at the bottom or at the crest, it's still a rock.
Valve is really not a slow company. I've heard this expressed before and never really seen it. Please see this list of IP developed by valve:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valve_Corporation#Games

That's not an insubstantial amount of games for one company.

This doesn't even take into consideration that they currently run the biggest online games store in the world which is a huge undertaking, and all the moonshot developments they have running that might not even see the light of day.

Valve are not a slow company. They're a savvy company. It's hardly surprising that they don't really have a flat power-structure, but they do seem to have some kind of structure that allows them to continue to innovate in a variety of areas.
Google Maps for Android lose offline Maps - seriously?
Whilst I fully support local councils generally - I've seen how ruinous centralized decision-making can be for small/remote communities - there are indeed far too many local councils which seem overrun either by incompetents who are easily exploited, or worse: petty, corrupt, back-stabbing psychopaths who abuse process against people and small businesses with competing interests.

Even if we pretend for 10ms that surveillance is even remotely justifiable and is the only option to deal with pet ownership and littering (!), I am immediately concerned about what accountability and oversight measures are or aren't in place. Local councils are already notoriously rife with corruption, incompetence and abuse of process - that it's so easy for that sort of culture to breed indicates fundamental problems which desperately need addressing before this kind of power could possibly be entertained for such weak institutions...

Astounding.
Amber Smalltalk 0.11 Released
Does anyone know which tracks are being played in the bg http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=G5Cph...

Sorry, not exactly on topic. I couldn't find this info among comments. Recommendations appreciated too.

Edit: Just messaged the creator. Will post if I hear back.
As a blanket statement no, we should not learn to circumvent filters as a behavior. But in this case if the site creators use of the word was "growth hacking" as suggested they may have failed because of the reasons I mentioned. Profanity has it's place where it adds to the conversation, I just don't see that here. If the site creators use of the word was to be cool and accepted by a small subset of the population, then indeed they succeeded. If it was to create a useful accesible site, then they could have done a better job without the profanity.
Your condescension means you didn't read my cite or engage me honestly at all. And I even picked out the easy-to-read citation, too.
The tabloid media is rampantly out of control in the UK. Huge headlines embellishing on outliers are contributing to these vast misconceptions of reality.
Pnt is a library to format text the printf way.
I like how under the guise of protecting us from terrorism they're now protecting us from the most evil of evil crimes. There was a mild outrage about 5 years ago in the UK when a few councils were caught using RIPA laws (what GCHQ is currently claiming to be protected by) for all sorts of fun things. Like dog poop [1], ice lolly bribes [2] and so on. I feel 100% safer knowing that surveillance is used to tackle all these huge crimes.

[1]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7369543.stm
[2]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1053039/Council-use-...
Iran launches 'national email service'
In your mind, has Communism ever been responsible for bad things happening?

Could I prove to you, even in theory, that Communism has bad outcomes? What kind of evidence would I need?
I don't urinate on my hands...
Ah, but on those days all implementations were still plain old interpreters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporatism

Just to show the meaning has changed, which people are sometimes loath to admit. My point is that equating 'Fascist corporatism' to what you define 'corporatism' to be is deeply dishonest, not that I'm accusing you of doing it.
If you would not try to align record companies and the NSA in the axis of evil you would come to a less convoluted analogy: If we accept that copyright is meaningless in a world of digital copies (a.k.a. "cannot put the toothpaste back") the same holds for the river of digital traces everyone leaves behind.

So it's not governments who try harder to maintain their secrets, it's you (or us or whoever).

Just for the fun of it: take a recent pandora related artist-bashing thread, look for the "too late, digital wants to be free" comments and apply them to a scenario where we not talking about sound waves but phone metadata.
That only works if you anticipate regular medical needs that will 'save' you money by tapping into insurance.

Otherwise if you never anticipate hitting your deductible for the year, it makes more sense to pay a discounted cash rate out of pocket, and maintain the insurance only for a catastrophe situation where you far exceed your annual deductible: preventing yourself being stuck with a $100k hospital bill.
UK Air Traffic Control issue caused by data-triggered race condition
You never know when the machinist might have some interesting insight, especially in an organization lacking a machinist.
It would be so incredibly helpful for America's democracy if it had a multi-party system, where a new party could "easily" rise up to become the major one after 2 or so elections.

Having a 2 party system (for decades or centuries at a time) only guarantees that there will be a lot of things both parties will agree on, and there's nothing the citizens can do about it (other than massive protests, which don't seem to be happening in America anymore, or if they do happen they get mocked by the media, and then by the brainwashed masses who watch said media).

I think approval voting would change things dramatically, but even using the voting systems of other countries (such as having 2 voting tours) would help a lot:

http://www.electology.org/approval-voting
I've played with the idea of doing this using shipping containers. Search out "shipping container cafes".
Blink seems to be slower at rendering stuff than the original engine for me. I see the transparency effect when scrolling very quickly.
Particularly frustrating because Musk has stated over and over and over that his hyperloop idea is not an evacuated tube system.
WebGL interactive tutorial
Ask HN: I'm an MD and a hacker. I would like to do something interesting.
I have an MD from a European university. I'm currently working as a junior physician in a university hospital.

I also enjoy hacking and have 5 fairly popular apps (in my country) in the Apple app store, one in android market. These are client server apps with the backend in python (using mostly django). I did all the coding and design alone. I've also done hardware projects using ucs (PICs and AVRs mostly, C and assembly). I have one first authorship in a peer reviewed journal.

Don't get me wrong, I find my current job very interesting. However, I can't shake the feeling that there has to be more out there...

I am looking for (worldwide, I would like to travel):
- Research groups where I can combine my skills and perhaps pursue a phd.
- Any tips&tricks on how to find these groups, and how to approach them.
- Any other ideas. Are you an MD and a hacker? Do you have suggestions on how to combine these skills?

albin.stigo@gmail.com
The new Google Maps for Android
Microsoft says hackers have exploited Windows bug revealed by Google man
Dropbox’s platform takes a swing at iCloud
The first thing that leapt to my mind: failure modes. I can imagine many, and none of them are pretty.
Sure you can. Pretty sure I could do it with most any part of my body.

Instead of being a metaphor repetition device try saying what you think straightforwardly. It goes more interesting places.
Can science explain why I'm a pessimist?
It is the same engine, just renamed. Chromium has been using a fork of WebKit for quite a while now.
That's called a "suspended coffee" (caffè sospeso) in Naples, supposedly it's fairly popular over there.
In fact, Elon Musk has said that the Hyperloop is not a vacuum tunnel[0].

[0] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/224406502188916739
Have you looked into what ARC really is and does? If not I suggest you do.

With ARC it replaces the manual retain/release management that used to be required and the compiler manages that for you. To write it most[1] of the time is just like if you were using GC[2][3]. The additional thought compared to garbage collection is pretty small and the benefits just in terms of the determinism are quite valuable while debugging not to mention the improved performance.

[1] Except when interfacing with non-ARC code.

[2] Some garbage collection algorithms can cope with reference cycles which ARC can't so you need to make sure the loop is broken by using a weak reference.

[3] As with Java you still need to consider object lifetimes to some extent particularly when requesting notfications or setting callbacks.
This happens at a highly-frequented SBux in Lisbon's Rossio train terminal. There's a code on the receipt for 45 min of usage but, the one and only time I went there, I used the net for hours and it didn't turn off. I think it's just to deter people.
I believe the term is mission creep: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_creep
One of the reasons why I never invested in an external monitor at home was that I spend most of my time working in coffee shops.

Such a coworking space with external monitors and good coffee would be heaven.
maybe doing a PhD in Bioinformatics would be interesting for you. See for example:
http://www.bu.edu/academics/grs/programs/bioinformatics/phd/
I think your definition of "genuine change" is much wider-reaching than what I thought was meant.
She said it herself:

"...There are popular kids that have acquired power in the company ... I was struggling in the company to make a difference"

There IS a always a hierarchy and she failed climbing it.
As someone who occasionally does spend a few hours in a cafe writing (I'm doing my PhD and it stops me going mad), what's the fair payoff? Sit at a small table and buy a decent coffee (i.e. a latte rather than a cheap filter coffee) every two hours?
Too bad I read it.
I wonder if it would be possible to create temporary hierarchy, like you have on video sets. You have cast/directors/animation, etc. They form only for purpose of making the film after which they are dissolved. Or is this how Valve already works?
Pretty sure they're using the McDonalds techniques of subtly edging people out. They ain't doing that by accident….
> Some shops say they've had enough. They're either laying down customer rules for Wi-Fi use or eliminating it at certain hours -- or even altogether -- while blocking their wall outlets.

Portable hotspot all-day batteries (e.g: Macbook Air's) are two examples of bypassing such restrictions. Forbidding the use of laptops sounds more convincing. But that should be enough to trigger some sort of segregation anyway. Not a slick move.
Time to fork Firefox for privacy
There are two glaring issues with common web use that could be assisted by changes to the Firefox codebase. 1. Using a privacy friendly search engine such as duckduckgo by default rather than google. 2. Supporting alternate DNS systems (such as namecoin) to prevent DHS/ICANN take downs.

This will not come from the Mozilla Foundation. Google provides them with too much to switch the default engine. Much of this cant happen with add-ons either. A fork is in order.

Much could be learned from the TorBrowser in way of providing better privacy. Instead of just normal and private browsing options a third should be added as the default that turns off cross-domain http referrers by default, tracks ssl certificate changes and spawns tor dynamically when an onion is accessed. This may break some things (especially cross-domain referrer blocking) but better the internet break so that it can fix itself. What is the normal method of browsing today would be replaced by the privacy friendly mode and become the "open" option instead.

The market wants this and in all likelihood the fork would eventually get merged back in, after google gets their own act together.
Sure, if you cut corners, place some hard buffer limits, discard the vast majority of the specification, and don't care about breaking parts for brevity, HTTP starts to become tractable.

But even a minimal HTTP server, even one that ignores things like HEAD requests, is still going to be more complex than, say, receiving the URL raw, or even a URL wrapped in a simple structure like a netstring.

Actually implementing a full, correct HTTP server would be one or two orders of magnitude more complex that implementing a more modern protocol from scratch.
> I like things that are straight forward and obvious when I program.

So do I, which is why I program in Haskell rather than the other languages which make me worry about a ton of irrelevant things like the global state of my program and don't let me enforce invariants of my code in the type system, guaranteeing I can't violate without making the type checker complain.
Snapshots from an American dystopia
Did Elon ever publish his promised paper with the details of the proposed Hyperloop idea?
Yes, that was exactly my point - solution based on secure key management doesn't work for most people, so probably something completely different should be invented. I don't have solution that would work, I was just answering the question what "cypherpunks" can work on.
What is the best term for inter-solar-system travel? (Or, is that the best term?)
a 20 seconds full stop (as mentioned on their website) combined with compartments in the tubes which automatically close if the vacuum is breached would reduce that risk.
No, but Edward Bernays wrote about how to convince others to do so on your behalf.
I don't think that it even can do anything about that. It will just go out of scope and that's that.
Or more generally, the iron law of oligarchy.
How it so significantly better than using, say, Erlang or CL with a strict self-discipline (separation of impure functions, using appropriate naming conventions, etc.?
I'm not an expert so take what I say with a grain of salt, but for example 1 meter is defined to be:

"Length of the path travelled by light in a vacuum in 1⁄299,792,458 of a second (17th CGPM)" [1]

So if you manage to measure the second with better accuracy you also manage to measure distances with less uncertainty.

For our everyday lives it will probably make no difference if the uncertainty of the meter changes from 10^-10 to 10^-11, but physicists could probably use the improvement to do something interesting.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metre
>We are building Heml.is on top of proven technologies, such as XMPP with PGP.

Should't they use OTR over XMPP since it is better suited for chat anyway.
I agree with pretty much all of that. Nice wide-angle on what I said, thanks!
This is great news! Been waiting for this. Now if only I don't need to use javascript for this. :)
Depends if they can handle the infrastructure though. Auckland Central Library in NZ was right next to two universities which meant that during the day all seats were taken up by students and the internet slowed to barely able to connect. Newcastle Library here in the UK has such iffy internet that you can barely connect.
Are you arguing that we should have embraced Java Applets and ActiveX controls, because they are binary formats, hence more efficient?
HTTP is NOT a communication protocol, it is an APPLICATION protocol.
HTTP is an application on top of a transport layer, HTTP, just like SMTP, IRC, FTP, IMAP etc etc is just a protocol that describes applications.
It is not TCP or UDP and SHOULD NOT BE!
"Having a 2 party system (for decades or centuries at a time) only guarantees that there will be a lot of things both parties will agree on"

Charlie Stross recently wrote about this in the content of UK politics:

http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/07/a-bad-dr...
Hate Game of Thrones? So, What’s Your Reward System?
I played EVE intensely for a few months, fairly soon after the game came out. I stopped because it is not a game you can succeed at without being part of a corp. Effectively you have a "boss" in game that tells you what you need to do.

If you have plenty of free time and don't mind taking orders as to what you should do in the game and with your free time - then this is the game for you. Seriously, it is a great game but not for solo players.

You better be a "company man" if you want to get ahead in EVE.
"Interstellar" probably. Between the stars.
Dudes, the word for "non hierarchical" or "structureless" is "anarchist". Either a social organization is a hierarchy or it's an anarchy (or a mix of both).

A corporate culture is certainly defined by its political structure: some companies are monarchies if not tyrannies, some are democracies and some like Valve are closer to anarchies. This is decided by the founder's preferences.
I wonder if this is an American issue. I'd like to think that in the UK we're taught to be polite and that sitting at a table for hours on a single coffee would be rude.
Yeah, I suspect that's going to be the problem.
binary formats sucked so much, that they had to invent XML and it was a much better way to start the interaction era, were services talk to each other without having to read a 30 page spec just to understand how to write the right payload for the interchange format used.
Let alone the byte order...
Now glibc is more open to changes it would be cool if they could add some more interesting features.
I am just happy Starbucks banned smoking around their stores. The side effect is that I have seen some laptop users actually outside!

Locally in Atlanta I only see the problem get bad when school is in, then some of the various coffee shops become Apple show rooms. Its like a clique that has last longer than I expected, but I am a generation or two removed.
Haskell gives you referential transparency and immutability guarantees, something you'll never get in Kotlin.

That said, I agree that Haskell code is typically dense, and suffers from readability problems.
Yes, I wasn't criticizing just thinking out loud!
Meh. The only useful thing (for me) in there is the navigation; for everything else (offline maps, route recording, geocaching, tens of map providers), there's Locus ;)
Judging from the article, languages like C# or F# won't fit his bill. Why would a language which is so far behind C#/F# be a solution?
>Who's we? You and author/OP?

Most people quoting Moore's law.

That the misconception is more popular than his original statement, speaks for that.
Err, I'm not saying understanding the problem is irrelevant. What I'm saying is that it's not an issue that you need to be overly conscious of in testing since it's not something you can test for and properly loosely-coupled code will not exhibit dependencies on architectural assumption.
Dissecting the New Zealand GCSB spy bill
Apogee Releases Blake Stone Source Code (1993 Wolf3D-like FPS)
Very self absorbed perspective. The whole world isn't as informed as you. For most people reading the article, this is probably the first they've heard of the Hyperloop. And it's really fucking exciting for them.
The main "thing" that changed in 30 years is computational power, which is now several orders of magnitude greater. If 30 years ago computers sporting the power of timex watches spared the cycles for text protocol overhead, I fail to see the need to squeeze, in today's hardware, that last drop of performance.

The advantages of text based protocol remain the same. The disadvantage is lessened by faster CPUs.
That's not all that surprising. IPhone 3GS and Samsung Galasy X had launch prices four to five times higher than the phones you are talking about. Of course they are faster, the same way that old BMW M5 is faster than new Ford Fiesta.

But that's not the point. FFOS can't really offer that much to rich people in US or Western Europe where iPhones grow on trees and streets are paved with high-end Android phones. It is not supposed to compete with the next iPhone or Nexus, but with the next Nokia Asha, cheap Bada phone or the next cheap ZTE, Alcatel or Huawei Android phone that is still sold with Android 2.3.
Why not just send a message to the video creator through Youtube?
Nobody was willing to give $9000 for it. That number is the value of the in-game price in ISK, then converted to $. It's not even a good ship, only a rare and thus expensive one in game's terms.