skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I have about as much desire to defend "laws should be internally consistent" as you have to defend "sex with children should be socially acceptable". I don't believe it and it isn't necessary for my argument.

I absolutely believe that sex with children should be socially unacceptable. However, I believe that fictional depictions of unacceptable acts are acceptable.

By outlawing depictions of one unacceptable act because it has crossed a threshold from "unacceptable" to "super-unacceptable" such that drawing it is illegal, you open up two slippery slopes:

1) Other crimes may be deemed "super-unacceptable", creating criminals out of otherwise law-abiding comic collectors.

2) Other mediums may be deemed off-limits. Could a written description of sex with children be illegal? Could a spoken description of sex with children be illegal?

In an extreme worst-case Orwellian scenario the law would fall down both slopes: any depiction of crime in any medium would be illegal.

Or, if I wanted to play the score-free-debater-points game the other way, I'd say "You don't get a free pass on incitations to murder or solicitations to ponzi schemes or offers to sell marijuana just because they're written. Why should 'it is just ink on a page' save child pornography when it saves none of these things?"

You don't get a free pass on a written note that says "let's go make kiddie porn" either. I'm not making the "just ink on a page" argument, which doesn't save the examples you gave or real child porn, so it shouldn't save explicit manga either. What should save manga is that it's fictional; no other crime was committed in the creation of the work.
Why will the Pre fail? Number one reason: Palm. They've messed up every product they've had. Heck, they should be iPhone. Look how much of a head start they had. "Palm" is a household name. I wish them the best of success with the Pre, but I'll be surprised if they can make it a success.
Have you heard of the formula recognized in the example above? You haven’t J, well, it’s the Schwarz formula used in complex analysis!

I wonder if the "J," in this article caption is a typo (or "handwriting-o"?) for a question mark, caused by using the handwriting recognition system to write the article?
He never makes that claim. He focuses on whether or not a tweet is copyrightable as a body of work. He never brings up or implies that a person's timeline might be something more than the sum of the individual tweets.

His answer to the question is no for various reasons. He never delves into the higher levels. He takes the question simply at face value. If asked whether words or sentences are copyrightable, his answer would be the same for all of the same reasons. However, we intuitively know that words and sentences are not the end product of writing and don't base copyrightability on the basis of words and sentences being copyrightable.
i think that the only way that it will become a seriously profitable business that will be useful to the masses, not just the rich and famous, is if someone could justify it via a cost-benefit analysis. prove that whatever you're going to do will be worth the customers' money.

otherwise, if its just frivolousness, you'll stay inside the realm of the people with the money to toss around.
Helping people share your geeky pleasure is indeed a sexy skill, especially if they're a little less geeky than you. Everybody wants to understand. Basically, if you make people feel a little smarter, they'll love you. Data visualization has that power.
Kites Movie Reviews, Wallpapers & Pictures Gallery
Why is there no 'save' for HN articles?
Maybe I don't want to up-vote or down-vote, I just want to save an article so I can find it later... just like I can on Reddit. How hard would it be to add this functionality?
I don't know if I'll want to get a Windows refund but it sure is a great guide to dealing with phone reps.
It's disappointing that they seem to be using their own build of WebKit, instead of the officially supported WebKitGtk port that exists in Apple's repository. This means that the development effort is split, and that bugs in one port won't be fixed in the other.

Google could have contributed to the entire Linux desktop ecosystem by joining forces with the WebKitGtk team, but instead they went their own way. They would have benefitted as well, having a mostly-stable and mostly-complete base to start from, instead of having all these rendering bugs and complaints about fitting GTK into WebKit.
Jonathan Haidt (quoted in the article) gave an interesting TEDTalk along similar lines:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_mor...
This reminds me of a wedding RSVP rails app I made two years ago. I did pretty much the same rsvp code generation approach but I found it helpful to store the RSVP codes to a database and use validates_uniqueness_of :rsvp_code to enforce the unlikely situation that no duplicate codes were generated.
I don't think most consumers rationally weigh all the alternatives and then pick the best, especially when what's "best" may be only be a small incremental improvement. The iPhone itself was a revolutionary improvement over what existed, but even if the Pre is a better product, it's only slightly so.

I'm willing to bet that iPhone users will generally continue to stick with the iPhone because a) they're familiar with it and generally pleased with it, b) they have certain investments in apps/iTunes that won't transfer.
Been there, done that.

The industry and market-base is still way too fractured.

One of the biggest limiting factors is that in order to be very useful and functional, there has to be a moderate degree of programmability in the device that is acting as the server/controller for the home. This limits the effective market to geeks and tinkerers, who are also the most common build-vs-buy crowd.

Homeowners, in the general sense, do not want to pay monthly fees for service and are leery of installing a system that controls their home that they feel they have little or no personal control or understanding of.

Where the HA industry has seen some decent business is in specialized lighting and HVAC control systems.
How about Sparklines?
They're perfect for some sporting data.
Because a large part of the interaction with a computer does not consist of typing, it consists of pointing and clicking and moving stuff around. A lot of these stuff being moved around can be done efficiently by hand motions - your mouse exists because you like to push things around.
Let's rephrase the question: can you copyright aphorisms? Because Tweets are no different than other bodies of written work except for their length.

The author seems to pick out a bunch of straw-men, or, ahem, straw-tweets if you like, to point out as un-copyrightable. He then moves on to say that he has yet to see a single copyrightable tweet. It would be more interesting if he picked out genuinely interesting tweets and argued why even they didn't pass muster.

Yeah, you can't copyright facts. But you can copyright certain stylized restatements of facts. You're copyrighting the specific and unique utterance, not the fact itself.

The author even concedes that you could possibly copyright a tweet if it was a haiku. I've seen plenty of tweets that embody the same kind of concise harmony as haikus.
You could jut visit the link and use delicious or read later. That way all your links would be in one place and no wheels get reinvented.
i'm working with surface mount components for a project. def. not as bad as the article makes it out to be. just takes a steady hand, a decent soldering station (i've got a weller WES51, around $80), small tips, lots of flux, and a magnifying glass. getting the first component down took a while, but improvement (fast and clean connections) came quickly. now it's kind of fun.
I agree with most of this, but one should not overestimate the impact of general hardware progress since 1997. Each extra ply takes an order of magnitude more computation, and the state of the art in endgame tablebases has "only" progressed from 5 pieces (e.g. KBB vs. KN) to six pieces.
This will be great for talented web designers who want to use non-standard fonts, but I know that it'll result in us seeing websites covered in 'grunge' fonts and other illegible crap just because the 'designer' thought it looked cool.

I'm happy and scared at the same time.
Interesting, but the actual domain name has little to do with a sites overall success or popularity.

I don't recommend names with non-obvious spellings or pronunciations (ie: twttr.com). But, "twitter.com" could have just as easily been "kickmeinthenuts.com" and had the same basic trajectory.

So, buying twitter.com in 2004 for $4,500 would have been worth nothing if you didn't have an idea for actually utilizing it. Twitter.com could have just as easily been used as "evernote.com" or "scribd.com" or hundreds or thousands of other ideas.
wire-wrapping is crochet for engineers.
Also, you have no way to check answers. MTurk workers might just pick random to increase their earnings. Random results will just create noise. It's even worse if you have just two options.
For us who don't enjoy videos longer than a minute, is there any way we can get a transcript, web page with highlights, blog post, anything?

Thanks from the busy developer world.
My friend just submitted his proposal for PhD research on a new dielectric, Hafnium-oxide.

He and I were talking yesterday about the massive knowledge-base at Intel where they have a very tight grip on semiconductor technology. He was musing that if Intel suddenly went up in flames, our culture would take a step back about 40-50 years.

His point being that these new transistors (32nm and subsequently 28nm gate width) are so incredibly complex that few people understand exactly how they work and all the issues underlying.

Not sure where the industry is headed, but the limit is fast approaching.
I was convinced of this too, i.e. that Apple again is trying to control the user experience to their own detriment just as they did in the PC wars where they also had a major first-mover's advantage. I saw Android as the "IBM-compatible" OS for phones.

But then I had a very interesting conversation wherein I was reminded of one important reason that a flexible OS like Windows (i.e. an OS that was built to run on many varied hardware configurations) ended up winning. And that was the speed of hardware innovation. When hardware upgrades are popular, it pays to give people an OS that will run on almost anything. When differences in processor speed and RAM actually mattered, Windows gave people the ability to choose. Apple's Mac hardware often wasn't the fastest or newest thing, and that brought them down.

Contrast that with today, where I would argue that hardware innovation in the mobile phone market is almost irrelevant. The iPhone hardware is just as good as any other 3G phone, and in fact millions of people (apparently) prefer it. But more important is that people feel their phones are good enough, and they don't feel the need to upgrade components of their hardware.

I'm not saying I think Apple will win this time. In fact I hope they don't since they treat developers pretty poorly. I'm just saying the analogy to the PC wars breaks down in a pretty big way.
I'd agree with you that yes there isn't a great advantage of a 64 bit web browser. But 64 bit FF + the 64 bit Flash plugin seems pretty stable for me at the moment, maybe theres a slight advantage if you play HD video through the webbrowser.
We might see a little font-equivalent of the animated GIF, but for the most part, I think we'll see much better looking webpages.

At the end of the day, the web really is mostly type.
Idea: "Nerd Knitting"

Get a bunch of the crew together and sit around the table wire wrapping while exchanging stores from the cube.

Bob: "Steve, can you pass me a blue 16AWG strand..."

Steve: "Sure thing, your 4-bit CPU is turning out quite nice.."

Bob: "Thanks Steve, that's a pretty nice thing to say coming from someone who just finished a 8-bit dual core"

[Rest of the Crew]: "Ahhhh...."
Bing: Microsoft Prepares For War With A Revamped Search Engine (Screenshots)
If you have to ask, you're a meat puppet. Internal motivation exists.
Using zipcodes as networks in your location-based app.
For the specialized research in this area, http://neuropolitics.org/ is a good reference. The site took a bit of time to load for me, but they've done a lot of work in the area of behavior, preference, biology, and political beliefs.

The most relevant stuff is in the archives: circa 2006 +/- a year.
It won't fail, but it will be in a distant fourth place after iPhone, Android and Blackberry in that order.
Also, its common data types (lists, vectors, maps, sets) are immutable and use pointer sharing to make changes extremely cheap. This makes reads always safe and lock free, but performance guarantees are slightly worse- O(log32N) for vectors instead of O(1)- but still good enough that you probably won't care.

To me that's just as impressive and important as the STM, but I rarely see it mentioned.
Update HN NYC: Hackers & Founders Meetup Tonight at Stand, 6-8 PM
UPDATE: Due to the weather, we'll be moving the meetup indoors to Stand (http://www.standburger.com/) down the block from Madison Square Park - another great location for burgers, shakes and drinks.

To RSVP: http://anyvite.com/events/home/vnq9pdylxo
it sounds like you're implying their code (and brain) is full of mush

That might be how some people use it... heck that might even have been the original intention, but I'd still rather just use it to describe the extra code a language makes you write.

If you think about it, there is no name for that... you could call it "cruft", but that's usually used to describe unnecessary verbosity in a framework or library, not the language itself.
I would use LaTeX.
Thanks for posting this. Regardless of the attitude towards PHP on HN, this looks a very solid library, making my life easier. I hate having to create my own JS functions for search, replace, trim etc., let alone easy to use date functions.
In the economy of things, sharing means dividing. In the economy of ideas, ...
awesome... email me at darkxanthos at gmail dot com
She's definitely some form of demon.
I still look at good handwriting recognition much like cold fusion. I'll believe it when I'm on the intergalactic starship.
Greatest Exception Handling WTF of All Time
We will see what we can pull together, at a minimum I can point you to the slides http://www.slideshare.net/tolmasky/js-conf-2009
Desktop touch is flawed in one way only, but it's a big one: that no one wants to hold their hands up to the screen for hours on end. It works much better as a table (MS Surface), and perhaps we'll see future computers at 45-degree inclines (you'll notice that Jeff Han demoed multitouch on that kind of system).

"Touch is the future" is a half-truth; the future of computing will probably include a blend of mouse, keyboard, touch, voice, and (hopefully) direct brain interfaces, depending on the task and the use case.
Could do it pretty easily, but how would you want to use them? For embedding in a website?
Even better, you can view the slides on 280 North's own slide creator - http://280slides.com/Viewer/?user=56&name=JSConf%202009&...
http://arclanguage.org/item?id=9219
I've been using this for a while - I'm a bit of a n00b when it comes to Javascript but have been using PHP since 2000 - it makes my life loads easier!
This is so cool to see! I'm looking forward to spending time in his blog to follow from start to finish.

I don't have the skill or knowledge to attempt a project like this, so I guess that means I have project envy at this point and will have to be voyeur. :)

This brings back lots of late 70's and early 80's memories.
They are not obscene.
print "Pretty good linkbait. Another %s post." % made_up_trend

will not compile.
A Clojure slogan could be "The Java De-Blubber!"
My current favorite political thinker, George Lakoff, has a whole body of work related to this subject. Conservations are focused on authority, while liberals are focused on empathy, and his theories conclude that the difference is based on different mental metaphors for the how families and family figures correspond to roles in government. His Wikipedia page has a decent enough introduction to his ideas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lakoff
I have been using this reliably for over a year now. They have the bulk of the functions already done that you'd want: http://phpjs.org/statistics/index . Extra nice: you can download the js one function at a time, if you so choose. Similar alternative for date(): http://www.svendtofte.com/javascript/javascript-date-string-...
I can see home automation for the masses possibly coming in on the back of smart meters.
Well, you know, starting a business is hard enough as it is - wouldn't want to do it at the wrong time. Best to find out what the "best" time is and do it then, right?
Even though I posted this link, I don't fully agree with the premise. Not only will there be an explosion of "This looks cool" font usage, I'm worried what happens when their servers or their network fails. What about when it slows down due to unforeseen spike in traffic? They haven't talked about the backup options, which scares me.

Also, someone has mentioned that this is really pandering to the type foundries who aren't willing to modify their business models and their licensing to accommodate web usage. Maybe this is a good first step or maybe it's a RIAA thing for the fonts.

I thought it was interesting, though.
[video] Intel and IBM demonstrate 128-thread Nehalem-EX server
An interesting absurd side effect of this slippery slope might be to make testimonies of child abuse illegal.

So you'd go to prison for saying that the man did bad stuff to you.
IPhone Coder Makes $10,000+ From New Yorker Cover
WSJ: Steve Ballmer D7 Interview
My Startup: Pickup Pundit
Obviously you have a different idea of what is considered mainstream.
I like the idea of giving your target audience a freebie of what they want e.g. sample code for an API or tips for gotchas in the space that your product works in. You put yourself in your customers shoes, and try to do something that will help them - that's what makes you successful anyway, so it's good practice too.
Google Wave Drips With Ambition. A New Communication Platform For A New Web.
I use Chase (Formerly WaMu) here in CA for a WY S-corp and an LLC and they've been great.
We have a 3 1/2 year-old son who was just diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. I'm angered by the caused-by-vaccines people because they're obfuscating the issue and causing funding to be mis-directed.

Interestingly, his school (he attends an early-intervention pre-school run by our public school system) used an auto-dialer to leave a message from the principal. The message: A second grader was diagnosed with whooping cough -- a real risk of vaccine avoidance!
macros can introduce new syntax, functions do not.
Thanks, but no thanks. Web pages already assume too much about the way that they'll be rendered -- I have pages looking funny when I force a minimum font size so I can actually read them. I know, it's a crazy idea wanting to read web pages. What can I say? I'm weird that way.

I can't imagine allowing custom fonts making this situation any better. I don't want the web to be pixel perfect, I want the end-user to have control over what they see, without sites breaking.
Share the Web with the tarpipe bookmarklet
Today we’re announcing a new and easy way to share what you’re reading or watching on the Web to your favorite destinations: the tarpipe bookmarklet.
he says it didnt really add to the development time though.. which suggests soldering would have made little difference for him :)
AOL to be Spun Off, Gets Second Lease on Life
TurboGears 2.0 is out
World of Goo Releases Rapid Prototyping Framework
Custom Home Builder in the DFW Area
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And now that php is going to have cleaner anonymous functions we'll end up with some sort of pquery. but with more -> and Array( all over the place.

P("db_table.name")->filter(function($x, $y){return $x > $y;});
I always see that as the main argument for companies that sell home automation: you will save X in energy, save Y in time...

What if people WANT frivolity? Look at the web: the most popular websites are all basically focused on chatting with people and watching silly videos. Maybe something like Boxee (who takes the usual appletv thingie and turns it into a 'social' stuff) would tickle?

(can't think of anything interesting enough though - comparing your fridge with your neighbors is booooring at best!)
Microsoft Bing: A Visual Tour of What’s New
with the current tendency of cheaper and cheaper netbooks (and small cpus in general), I guess programmability is quite attainable, no?

BTW, what do you think of the microsoft home initiative?
I'm glad this subject came up here on hacker news. I have a 4 month old daughter and am thinking through this vaccination thing. I went to a homeopathy "information" session the other night...lets just say their argument wasn't entirely convincing.

However, I do think there is something to this issue.

Two things that make me cautious are:
1) There is no doubt that pharmaceutical companies have a vested interest in getting new vaccines approved / recommended for widespread default usage (whether or not there is an actual need for it).
2) Most importantly, it seems to me....it would be quite simple for an individual country to record stats on a per person basis on exactly what vaccinations they have received, and cross reference this with a) incidences of disease, and b) incidences of negative (potential) side effects.

As for #2, to me, the idea that this isn't done makes me extremely suspicious. It is by no means proof of anything, but I can't imagine how a medical system that truly cares about the health of its customers wouldn't be extremely interested in tracking this at a very detailed level.
"Boilerplate" has that meaning, but without the connotation that the person using it is automatically a moron.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boilerplate_%28text%29

See also: Simon Peyton-Jones's "Scrap Your Boilerplate" papers (http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/simonpj/papers...)
Right, it's not a matter of "intrinsic value" - the value of a thing is determined by supply and demand. However, it's a hell of a lot easier to increase the supply of dollars than the supply of gold.
What will happen is that the keyboard will be replaced with a tactile feedback multitouch surface. It's like your second screen, but a bit more task specific.
I thought this article was worth reading for this tidbit: "If you’re not sure if you’re a candidate to buy a Mac, here’s a simple test: If the notion of a really well-designed AC adapter excites you, you’ll probably be very happy with a Mac. And if it doesn’t, you won’t."
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

- Benjamin Disraeli
To Bing or not to Bing? Hands on with Microsoft's new search
I used to install automation and A/V equipment in boardrooms.

I'm curious, do home users go for automated blinds, room lighting, or TV controls?
I think his spectrum is basically right, for most businesses in those industries, at the present time. But it may differ over time, as the maturity of the industry changes. Biotech might eventually become routine; and, in the enterprise, there was invention risk when the concept of the relational databases was first developed (or perhaps its inventors were quite sure they could make it work). In the future, there might be similarly seminal inventions, that transform the enterprise. It's so inefficient you'd think there'd be a better way.
Google Wave Preview
I'm sure there's just as many reasons to take VC money. It totally depends on your business plan.
Does Facebook lead to adultery?
I wouldn't say it's politically-charged as much as it's linkbait and a bit of an overgeneralization.
Given the market share, I'd say Linux is as much as a competitor as OS/2, right now...