skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
> In other words, the toaster company has to -- gasp! -- engage in centralized planning of how toasters will be produced, distributed and sold. Fortunately, centralized planning and coordination is only doomed to fail when the government does it, right?

One difference is that when govt does "it", govt typically forbids or at least seriously punishes alternatives. At the very least, govt takes resources from folks who would do things differently.

If I have no interest in your toaster idea, I'm free to develop an alternative and I don't end up supporting your idea. When govt develops a toaster, I pay for it even if I think that it's dumb, and govt is likely to place restrictions on my alternative.

Govt solutions are also less diverse. This takes two forms.

Each company will take a somewhat different approach to toasters while govts pick an approach and run with it. Since each attempt has roughly the same odds of success, taking multiple shots tends to produce a better "best" result.

It's also the case that one size doesn't fit all. Different companies end up optimizing their product for different users, increasing overall satisfaction. If there's only one product in a given space, as you get with govt solutions, said product ends up not satisfying a significant fraction of people and it has "flexibility" that gets in the way.

Folks rant about monopolies, but govt is the biggest monopoly of all.
>> "As a result, we saw a 22% drop in total impressions."

So instead of providing negligible traffic compared to google, it now provides 22% less traffic - but it's better traffic than it was!

Way to spin it into a positive story. Come back when you have useful volume.
Bozeman apologizes, backs down over Facebook login request
Hi Eintnohick,

It definitely would be faster to simply replace it with the 'echo' statement, but you need to decide if you might want to offer your website in different languages in the future. If internationalization is a possibility then you should keep it the way it is so that you can use different language files.

- Bryce
This raises the question - is addiction and mental issues a cause or an effect? How many came from homes where they learned poor social/societal skills. How many were forced to self-medicate (drugs) to staunch the pain?

There is a lot of evidence that stimulant abuse is a highly-correlated indicator of ADHD/ADD.

Scary that the breadline could be a lot closer than you think and but for some better pre-natal through pre-K care millions would be more productive members of society. We share in the cause when we do nothing useful to help.
We're in the middle of the singularity, silly.
android is going to bury the iphone.

if you haven't seen the HTC hero demo, it's what android looks like with a little polish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKTDSfbcbBU

why apple won't be able to compete:

flash - apple is not going to let unchecked content onto its device

backgrounding - apple refuses to let multiple applications run at the same time

customization - you get it the way apple wants you to get it
app store - dictatorial approval process, it's the only way to get apps on your phone

one device - whatever apple gives you, you better like it. want a qwerty keyboard? tough luck.

and that's just SOME of the limitations...

[ps] the "Sense UI" running on HTC hero will be on the winmo devices as well like Touch HD and TouchPro 2. so it's not just android that is going to kick apple's ass.
A) This is a straw man argument, completely ignoring the HTML rendering problems of Outlook. Instead of addressing the issue, they're talking about how great Word is at composing email for Outlook. Peddling me another one of your products to make up for deficiencies in one of your products? GTFO.

We don't care how good Word is at creating email in Outlook.

This is like Sony a few years ago (and maybe still, I've avoided their products for some time now) telling me its proprietary memory sticks work great in their cameras. So what? It doesn't change the fact that nothing else fits.

B) They then attempt (and fail at) killing the messenger with a personal attack, still ignoring the argument: "The “Email Standards Project” does not represent a sanctioned standard or an industry consensus in this area. Should such a consensus arise, we will of course work with other e-mail vendors to provide rich support in our products. We are constantly working to improve our products and the experience that they give to our customers." WTF? This is like saying, "Yes our product sucks at the thing it's should be the most proficient at, but not officially, so we'll just carry on."

And even this logical fallacy is a joke: MSOFT has a history of thumbing its nose at standards that were not created by, for and centered it's existing products and hurting the industry in the process. [Insert venomous IE-bashing here.] It's obviously not going to change anytime soon.
Actualy, Android's interface on the recently released HTC Hero is far better than iPhone's.

Android's the future.
Monopoly allows innovation to flourish
Price is one issue, but what they really needed to reduce is the number of variations, to end the confusion.

I suppose any reduction is good, but $10 isn't much for something purchased every few years (or simply bundled on an expensive new machine), especially when it comes from a company that could easily afford to give the OS away for free.
Man you guys are awesome!! Thanks a bunch. I figured out my controller prob so yall don't need to worry about that.
Yes yes yes! I can't emphasize this enough. My biggest regret in 10 years of building cdbaby.com was that when I wanted to make it multi-lingual, 7 years into it, I was screwed! All of the language was spread around so many little print/echo statements in 10,000 different places.

With each one I had thought, "Oh it's just a little one shot deal." But after a few years, guess what you have thousands of?

Do it their way. Get used to it. It may take you a mere 2 seconds longer to type, but will save you minutes/hours/days later on.

It's really wonderful knowing that every single word that appears on your site is all coming from one source file. So if you do want to have it translated to Spanish or Chinese some day, you can just hand that file to a translator and voilá!
Online product reviews may count on friends using Facebook
Test Swarm: Distributed Continuous Integration for JavaScript
The most environmentally friendly place to live in the US is New York City for that reason. But, this is far closer to an art project than an engineering problem.
Normally I'd agree with you. In Facebook's case, I'll make the argument that Facebook's only trying to do a single thing, but that single thing is so ambitious that they're justified in taking this move.

The goal of Facebook is to let people make a profile of themselves online and keep in touch with friends. That's a widespread, two-pronged goal. Way back before the last two redesigns, Facebook focused a lot on the profile part of the equation. That's when they had the two-column approach with no theming whatsoever. Then they added apps and profiles became overspammed, and they made the slow switch over to the feed system. In the last few months, they've been adding public profile features, without sacrificing their original intent whatsoever. That's impressive. It means that my family can maintain its closed Facebook connections, but my public-minded friends can go public and not have to worry about managing other web sites. Furthermore, the options are granular, meaning you can make parts of you public and keep other parts private. I refuse to friend family members, but I can give them public photo links so they can still be involved in my goings-on. It's a terrific solution.

I have to wonder if all of the "Facebook=Twitter" critics use Facebook at all, because it's the most deluded thing I've heard. People are fucking mental if they think Facebook's trying to supplant Twitter. It's taking some pages out of their book, absolutely, but if you can mimic a site without removing any functionality then you're doing something good. Now, my Facebook feed isn't a bunch of 140-character updates. People post links and photos and videos and they all show up. Any post can spark a conversation. Whereas on Twitter I post something into a void, on Facebook friends comment on my status updates. Conversations begin. Furthermore, because Facebook treats a user's wall like a continuous stream, if I post something to a friend's wall, all our friends see it. I've actually had friends meet up and become friends through talking on a post on my wall, which is one of those things where you can't help but think "Wow, this is really cool".

Facebook won't beat Twitter where Twitter reigns supreme. But they'll add Twitter-like features and make their users happier, and less likely to switch over to using other services.
If FB screws this up there will be a huge backlash for a few weeks, then FB will apologize. FB screws up with some regularity, but they check themselves quickly afterwards.
> But a cell phone? It's a closed ecosystem, by definition, running on a proprietary network.

It might be a closed system now, but give it a few years; I don't see any reasons why a cell phone (small computer, really) will remain closed for long.
Crash Could Free Up Wall Street's Grip on Bright Young Minds
Ministry of Defence blocks Wikileaks
Modern flutes are all in C. Not sure what you mean by "extended meantone." Most wind instruments can have slightly different fingerings for the same note (more prevalent in clarinet than flute, actually). These may have slightly different intonation/sound. Perhaps that's what you're seeing?
There is a large gap between learning from someone and just copying them. The problem with simply copying successful people is they would probably have acted differently in your situation because you're faced with different problems.
It seems like a lot of Steve Blank's articles don't get many comments here. I know that I usually read them and think "Wow, that's insightful" and I can't think of anything to add or refute. Maybe that's just me, but I'm glad they keep getting submitted here even if they don't generate discussion.
Still more expensive than my operating system.

Backflips on to a motorcycle, screeches tires and zooms away
Yes, exactly, what if the thing they proved is not what they coded in the end, there is a good enough probability of bugs if the code is sufficiently big !
Except that our particular problem and our solutions to it most closely resemble Japan immediately preceding the Lost Decade.

As of today, there is very little reason to hope for any sort of recovery in the short term. It's particularly frustrating, in that Obama even publicly recognized the danger of falling into this trap back in February.

But here we are, in June, continuing to prop up zombie firms; pretending that we can grow new saplings without letting the clearly-dying giants fall and the detritus be reclaimed.
I'm not so sure. If they provided the information content of the paper, including crosswords and other things they currently charge extra for, allowed me to format the daily information dump in the way I see fit, and reduced the number of pixels taken up by ad-space (specific to iPhone app here) while charging substantially less than daily home delivery for that package, I'd likely bite.

Instead, I suspect they'll simply re-wrap the current app in an ongoing subscription charge and call it a day. Then wonder why nobody bites (aforementioned Safari access will most likely still be there, after all). It's the strategy they chose with ill-conceived (and abandoned) the Op-Ed paywall, and I imagine it's more or less the same path they'll take again because it seems safer to them.
Is Apple Obliged To Say More About CEO's Health?
"Portugal has invested 400 million euros to makes sure each classroom has access to the Internet. Just about every classroom in the public system now has an interactive smart board, instead of the old fashioned blackboard.

This means that nearly nine out of 10 students in Grades 1 to 4 have a laptop on their desk. "

Maybe too early to see the results, but would you advocate that having 9 out of 10 students in grades 1 to 4 with a laptop on their desk is not a model for other countries to follow?
TypePublish makes publishing content easy
I'm sick of people repudiating Apple customers' rationale as falling under Apple's "marketing spell." Perhaps people buy the iPhone because it is a fantastic product, not because of the marketing job Apple did on it.

Jeff specifically pointed out that the iPhone wasn't ready until the 3G so your latter point is moot.
I guess I just don't get it. I was recently in the market for a cellphone and with a $200-300 budget I was choosing between the new iPhone and an A1600 Motorola Ming. I ended up shelling out about $250 for the Ming for several reasons:

1) The iPhone feels bulky - I don't like such a massive phone.

2) The Ming has a clamshell model - this ties in with the iPhone's size problem, but it also deals with protecting the screen... I've seen people using skins just to protect their phone.

3) The Ming's battery is trivially replaceable (~$10 for a battery).

4) The Ming runs Linux.

I've used both and find the software interfaces comparably pleasant, although different. And contracts were a non-issue because where I'm located (China) the carriers don't lock the handset down.

The only downside I've found - and this comes with the size reduction - is that some of my activity is stylus-based. For some things (like calling contacts) fingers work fine though. Overall, I'm quite happy and I wonder if the iPhone is overhyped.
They put an OK phone into the markets ahead of it's time (with V1) and whipped up a demand.

Just for fun, last week I had some friends over and we streamed that iPhone keynote where Steve Jobs first announces what the iPhone is capable of. The iPod controls, the iTunes syncing with Address Book support, the full web browsing of Safari, the multitouch, the photo support, the visual voicemail. Merging calls with a touch. It was pretty engrossing, even for friends who weren't huge techies, to see that keynote and remember that back then the Razr was considered a cutting-edge phone.

The original iPhone wasn't perfect, but it was leagues beyond anything else both in design concept and in actual performance. There are still no phones that come close to the iPod part of the software, and perhaps one or two phones can match any other part of the iPhone's functionality. It evolved, and it had to evolve because it was flawed, but that original design was mindblowing when I was a kid (a lot of people cut class to go to the library and look at the initial reports) and it still has that effect if you look at the original unveiling. The new stuff makes the original attempt look amateur, but the original attempt was pretty bitching as well.
Right. After I read them, I think, "Sure, that's just common sense."

Except that we all know that common sense isn't all that common. This guy's domain (sales & marketing) isn't the same domain as most readers here. After years of experience and a few times around the block, he seems to have a pretty good hack of his process.

Any shortcuts to sales & marketing expertise always appreciated here. Keep 'em coming.
There May Be 50,000 Apps For The iPhone, But Only A Select Few Become Popular
Is this unsurprising to anyone else? Social media is popular because it is empowering. This particular subset of society are already empowered.
Death in the middle of a lecture is hardly "alone."
I don't like it either. If you want to be notified about version releases go to Freshmeat. This isn't even a proper release. It's the first release candidate. Are we going to see a post like this for subsequent release candidates? Ah well, at least it's not a major problem (yet). I'll continue to flag these as I see them though.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=636543

That was pg's reply to your earlier meta-comment. You don't seem to have given up.
They could, but in cases like this ease of access is everything.
Jake: file synchronisation for groups, without central server and using XMPP
I'm pretty sure he's talking about hardware, you're talking about a software issue.
Mint.com says it's hired hackers to test its private data protections
I actually think most of these CEOs are right. I see the benefits of Social Media I just think it's better to let the people in the trenchs interface with the public. The position of CEO should have a certain mystique to it. Think Steve Jobs who you rarely see when he's not on stage and hence his stage appearances make more of an impact.

If a CEO makes sure to surround themself with quality people and lets those people interface with the public they'll still get all the advantages of social media AND get to keep that mystique about them.
I love your friends. I'm going to have to steal that idea. Popcorn + Jobs keynote.

> There are still no phones that come close to the iPod part of the software

I hate to reuse this comment yet again but:

Before the iPhone, some smartphone manufacturers (Microsoft) thought it was normal to wipe out the user's data with a mobile operating system upgrade.

The vintage iPhone (1.0) was a 3rd generation product.

Founder/principal of User Interface Engineering Jared Spool's definitions

1st generation - All about the technology. The 1 pound Motorola brick phones.

2nd generation - Features - camera/games/ringtones/contacts/SMS/mms/mp3/games/voice dial/speakerphone/etc

3rd generation - The experience (iPhone, arguably Facebook too)
The Anti-If Campaign
When you email me I don't need your entire fucking website. I don't need your navigation bar and I don't need your multipaneled displays. If you have something that complex, either you're too lazy to edit your copy or you have something big enough that you should make it its own separate web site.
The CEO of Zappos begs to differ: http://twitter.com/Zappos .
Windows 7 Pricing: Good News, Mostly
The title ^^ refers to about one line in the article:

> the company hires white knight hackers to try to penetrate the system (Patzer says they have been unsuccessful)

Which, honestly is something any big company (or really ANY company handling financial data) should be doing anyway.

Im not sure where the news is..
this.

another common usage is to standardize error/success/etc messages. you always want one type of error to say the same thing, and a language file is a better place to put things than using a define.

having said that, its all about maximizing efficiency. if you don't think you'll actually save that much time in the future by putting things in the language file, maybe because you'll "never" internationalize, then its probably a process worth skipping for you. you can always just go back and make the changes later. it'll just be harder and take longer to do it later, as opposed to doing it now.
No doubt regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Reg-FD make CEOs cautious about communicating freely

That really hits the nail on the head. Heads of companies are assumed to be speaking with the utmost authority and their blog entries could have deep financial ramifications as people buy and sell stock.

But also, what would they write? If they aren't going to give away more information than press releases, there's nothing of value there. If they were to give away more than their press releases, then why aren't they putting that info in their press releases?

There's the issue. Nothing says that companies can't communicate in a folksy manner - Berkshire Hathaway does it every year in their annual report. However, every number must be vetted, the language must be scrutinized to make sure it isn't misleading about the company's situation, and you can't talk about things that aren't public. Blogging seems like it's about giving you a more inside picture, but what the head of the company is doing is by nature somewhat secret. Once it isn't so secret, there's no reason for a communications person who should be a better writer (it is their job after all) to do the writing - by blog, press release, twitter, etc.
Inflation adjusted this a ~15% price drop from the initial cost of Vista. But, the real shocker is the preorder price of Windows 7 Home Premium ($49.99) and Windows 7 Professional ($99.99).
So instead of providing negligible traffic compared to google, it now provides 22% less traffic

The 22% drop is not for traffic but for impressions.

Cost per Acquisition (CPA) down 3%

It seems however that it is positive for publishers since CPA is going down.

I don't know much about SEM but to me it seems that their advertising network is qualitatively better than before. At least on this matter and if figures are correct.
Finite Domain Constraint Programming in Oz
I agree with you that social media is popular because it is empowering. However, just because you are already empowered does not lead to a disinterest in social media. Empowerment has not stopped high profile celebs, traditional media outlets, or public figures from turning to social media.
From the article:

We have identified this bug and closed the loophole. We don’t have any evidence to suggest that it was ever exploited for malicious purposes.

Yeah, it's not like Facebook already solved the problem. It's fun thinking of them as utter incompetents who don't spend years executing very subtle redesigns without alienating their hundred million users, because they haven't been radically changing the site since it first launched.
I was thinking about how much I used my iPod touch on my last vacation: to check e-mail, browse the web, as an alarm clock, for games and, occasionally, to play music.
Howto: Install Wamp Server to have a local webserver
People should realize that it doesn't matter how much you love your own product - if your customer's hate it, it's broken.
I like toaster ovens, personally.

It's really got nothing to do with the versatility and more to do with the size of the heating elements and the space required.
I think that kind of makes my point. Don't get me wrong, it humanizes him and that's nice. But larger than life figures are larger than life because they seem like something more than human.

I can't imagine Jobs getting the same response at an Apple Conference if he'd been tweeting about how many pillows he had on his hotel bed that morning
One Lesson From the Crisis: It's Time to Create Your Own Economy
Huh. I've had pretty good luck with Gmail and background colors. Maybe because I use tables.
Uhhggg... who said anything about getting rid of ACID transactions? Seriously, what kind of FUD have you been reading. Transactions have absolutely nothing to do with the format a database uses to store it's data. Most object databases have ACID transactions AND can store your data-structures in their native format.

Some of these new fangled distributed databases forgo transactions because transactions and distribution don't really go well together, they are opposing forces. Don't confuse issues that have nothing to do with each other, and don't assume that only relational databases support ACID compliant transactions.

Look at a real object database like Gemstone that is directly comparable to your big iron Sql database. These new distributed key/value pair database are little more than distributed persistent hash tables, they're different beasts entirely and aren't directly comparable in features because they're meant to solve different problems.
The article didn't saw how traffic was affected, but if impressions are down, it follows traffic would be.

My point is that a lower CPA is largely useless if the volume is also lower.

If you have the volume, you can tweak ad copy, keywords, etc to bring the CPA down to what you're willing to pay. If you don't have the volume to start with, there's nothing you can do.
New Duke Nukem game revealed, possibly cancelled
How is the Android interface on the Hero different from the baseline Android interface everywhere else?
Building Small Sites with Webby