skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I was about to respond to his claims by pointing out that spreadsheets are a gateway drug for coding and that everyone who tries to do things without coding ends up coding.

Code is remarkably universal. The article claims spreadsheets are an example of a post-coding tool, but they, and his other examples, really aren't. Notably, "visual programming" has been a failure. I expect the end of coding to be presaged by things that break the linear symbolic language model. There are no such successful things.
Yes, I really do value and see the genius in likelihood, but Fisher is idolized in a really unhealthy way in statistics IMO. I'm a Bayesian fanboy because it works. I spent > 1 yr. trying to get Fisher's testing framework to yield business success. Positive results came, but were always a slog and more often than not it's use failed. As soon as I switched to Bayesian methods, consistent success started happening. It's exciting.
BlackBerry Crashes
> The next Constitution should be a set of mathematical proofs or computer program. At the very least, it will make sure law makers and enforcers are capable of higher order thinking.

No, it won't. It'll just make it even easier for politicians to obscure their violations, since most of the public will understand it.

Constitutions don't need to be self-executing, they need to be an effective tool for the public to hold government accountable to, and if the problem is that the public doesn't care enough to hold government accountable, no amount of reforming the Constitution is going to help -- the thing you have to do first is convince the public again that it is important to have a government accountable to limits set by the public.
> Would you print an artificial bone? Artificial body parts?

This is more an anecdote, than an answer, but when I worked at the Rapid Prototyping Center [0] we built 3D prototypes for Johnson & Johnson including a slightly bowed rod with several holes drilled at various angles. After my roommate had an unfortunate skiing accident over winter break, we learned that the production part was milled/cast from titanium and used to repair fractured bones - as visible in his x-ray. The angled holes were used for the screws to mount the rod to the bone [1].

The parts we produced weren't used directly in bodies, but to aid the design and manufacture of parts that were.

[0] - http://rpc.msoe.edu

[1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intramedullary_rod
Nokia doesn't have money any more to develop Android phones on their own. They don't even have money to continue with WP strategy on their own. Elop spent billions of Nokia's money to boot Windows Phone and restructure the operation as a Microsoft division. It was 'all in' with Nokia's money.
For the astronomical application of this problem, if the ants (photons) are reaching the earth after crossing the expanding universe, there must be a deep space observation (I don´t know if it´s technically achievable ) that will appear as if new galaxies appear where previously none existed (was visible)?

Does this make sense?

Edit: added the question sign.
It vaguely feels like he's talking about http://www.ni.com/labview/ which is just graphical programming (and is far less able to meet the level of specifications most tasks truly have than a real programming language, IMO).
Because you get all of the benefit of Sublime AND Vim. There's plenty of benefits to using Sublime over Vim, and vice-verse. This way you can have the best of both worlds. There are already Sublime plugins that do this, but they are kind of lackluster to be honest.
Duration.js
Are these really tips that are applicable to others or is blogging like this just another form of humble-bragging?
People did care. Monitors aren't everything. Printers are typically at least 300dpi, and printing that at 1:1 would result in minuscule text.
For a real laugh, check out Shabbat elevators or the eruv:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbat_elevator

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eruv
There is no GUI builder that enables building app-specific direct manipulation. GUI-builders really should not be called GUI builders unless you think a parade of dialog boxes is a GUI.
For C and C++ at least, it uses your compiler, so yes.
A list of Billion Dollar Companies
I also got an unsolicited email from them asking for feedback on the product. I didn't really mind since it is relevant to my area, but it was still a bit odd.
The harmonic series grows incredibly slowly but has no upper bound.

.00001/1 + .00001/2 + .00001/3 ... => infinity. The ant will eventually pass 100% of the band.

There are lots of counter intuitive results based on the fact the harmonic series has no bound. I remember an article where someone showed you could stack dominoes to produce infinite overhang, exploiting the same counter intuitive bit of math.
K-9 is awesome, but I really do hate the icon.
That a slippery slope can be drawn, doesn't mean it actually exists.
Yup, Kent Street about a block from the water. I was there 1991-1993. And I was misremembering the subway routine - it was to go up to Queens Plaza to hit the N/R back to Manhattan.
Step Away from the Keyboard
The acoustic sensors have made the Washington Post before, in the context of actual investigations.
How Many Lines of Code Does it Take? [Infographic]
I'm not sure if you're trolling or you genuinely misread my comment--I'll assume the latter.

LeadPages generates real revenue to the tune of >$3M/year and is funded by Foundry Group as well as other angels and VCs. It is a legitimate business.

My company is funded by 500 Startups, Techstars, and a group of angel investors. We have one product on the market that is generating significant revenue, and are launching MarketVibe, our latest product, this month.

I would agree with the general premise of "successful entrepreneurs who blog are outliers."
In my view, statements like this are thin air. People shouldn't even bother to comment seriously on them because they lack context.

Until I am 100% sure what Keith means by the words "successful" and "regularly", I can't comment nor I can take anyone else's comment on such a broad statement seriously.
Got a mail also related to my experience is rails, I wanted to look into it and I still do, it is a little spammy.
I've said this elsewhere in this thread, but—

With this you can use Sublime Text's UI (chrome, file browser, and smooth scrolling—all better than Vim's) with Vim's input mode. Best of both worlds.
How much of a challenge would it be to rewrite vim properly? Or is that a crazy idea..
Yeah, they can survive, but its going to take one hell of a CEO.

There is still a rather large chunk of people who buy whats "free" and they can text on. Start with the old BB form factor and get something that plays to that market and pay-as-you-go customers.
It's more like the other way around. I used to know lots of people with Nokia phones, both feature phones and smartphones. Now there are only iPhones and Androids, I don't think I've seen a phone with Windows except in a store.

Besides, Nokia had great reputation as a quality brand. Some of their phones were unbreakable. They've lost their reputation since their deal with MS.
Meet the Flexians
Interesting - the article has ~61 points and ~20 rants :-)
Clicking a link like that is essentially supporting the company. I don't think it's unreasonable to request a mirror somewhere (see pastebin below).
Out of curiosity, is the voice-over in the demo video computer-generated?
#code 2013 - A 24 hour Hackathon by college students in Bangalore, India
Ok, that's interesting. It's non-obvious that it was possible from their site. But the network is still a major problem. 10 servers @ 1gbit are not equal to 1 @ 10gbit depennding on your use case. In my case the database is network limited, and it's extremely not-nice to have to partition it horizontally.
I did something similar with a digital repository server software for a conference hackathon. PyFUSE is pretty fun to play with, despite the documentation gotchas and warts.

https://gist.github.com/BHSPitMonkey/01cef0d528f374cca8cb#fi...
"At each iteration the ant has less and less actual band to traverse since it is also expanded behind him, where he's already walked."

Awesome explanation.
Apple's Calendar and Contacts Server, which is part of the $20 OS X Server package, is open source: http://trac.calendarserver.org/
Ah, I was going to make a joke about whether these drives would sound all squeaky and weird, but I think you indirectly beat me to it :-)
Chipped! Funniest thing I've read all morning, thanks.

Edit: Incidentally, I've been thinking a lot recently about how anxious I am for a really good wearable machine for time tracking and management. I've checked out FitBit et al., but I haven't found the one yet. It's not quite a chipping, but only insofar as the device is to be on the outside of my skin.
When did the parent post claim Gate's time is more valuable than others? I only saw that the parent comment claimed that to Gates himself his time is much more valuable than his money, but even so he spends all of his time pursuing good things. He was never compared to anyone else.
Thorstein Heins Ousted As BlackBerry CEO
1. Open http://borismus.github.io/sonicnet.js/emoticons on Dell
2. Open http://borismus.github.io/sonicnet.js/emoticons on MacBook Air
3. Click on an emoticon
4. Observe the corresponding icon appear on the other system across the room

I made no changes, didn't turn off the music my phone was playing to a bluetooth speaker, etc. This is using the built-in speakers & mics at unadjusted volume levels – the only change I made was unmuting one of the two laptops.
Show HN: My first webapp - Notepad5, a simple offline notepad
The Hardest “No” in Angel Investing
I absolutely hate the idiots that praise long work. Praise hard work. Praise efficient work. If you're working 80 hours a week (and aren't a founder), then you are a chump.

The whole point of work is to fund your life. People lose sight of this and started romanticizing long hours.
A Manifesto for the Truth
A little too much vitriol and angst for my taste, but it's an important subject.

My position is simple: there are lots of folks in the startup ecosystem that are trying to help me in various ways. Many of them charge money. Good for them. Folks gotta eat.

Having said that, from my side (startup founder), the situation is very precarious. As entrepreneurs we are constantly swamped with pitches for various things to make our businesses successful. I know I've spent thousands of dollars on stuff that didn't do what I thought it would do. In fact, I've become quite bitter about all of it. When I think of all the money being spent by folks who are trying to buy success through tools instead of customer interaction? Makes me sad and angry.

But I think trying to name and shame is absolutely the wrong way to go about this. Most of these startup ecosystem folks mean well, and most of them have products that are well worth the money -- for folks who need the products. I think the real problem as entrepreneurs is that we are unable to recognize for ourselves whether we need something or not; so we buy too much. If we're too ignorant to know what to spend our money on, can't well blame others for selling us stuff.

So the answer here is educating each other, not going on some witch hunt for aggressive spammers (which is a separate problem). Let's continue to meet and share information on startups (which is why I'm here) and these other problems will work themselves out.
Why Motivated Attackers Often Get What They Want
Yes, particularly given that the spec explicitly says that for "lower-resolution devices" (i.e., normal computer monitors) the px unit should "refer to the whole number of device pixels that best approximates the reference pixel." So it turns out the px unit has quite a lot to do with screen pixels.
I've been an IRC user (and a coder) since about '89.

I use IRC like this: I lurk. I observe the channel pattern. I learn from the discussions ongoing. I mostly stay in channels that stay on-topic.. and try to contribute.

Its nice to know there's a network of coders out there that you can tune into, now and then, if you need it. I've made some great friends, learned some awesome tricks, and generally had a blast with IRC.

Don't expect to get anything out of IRC without putting in some effort. There is much to learn out there. There is also a lot that you can do to help. Best thing you can do, if you want to know why we still love IRC, is this: just start answering questions. Look for #channels on #subjects that interest you, and answer a few questions.

Do it often enough, and you see why IRC is so rewarding.
Should You Have the Right Not to Know Genetic Information?
Lot's of discussion over here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6574087 as well
Show HN: Over 1,000 paying customers in the first 3 weeks of Coinkite.
It's Monday, we are sipping on our coffee bought with Bitcoins, and decided to make an update.

* We are very thankful to all of you who support an independent paid business.

* Over 1,000 paying customers in the first 3 weeks of Coinkite, and grow as we send invites!

* As you know, we reply to email, so keep the feedback coming.

* We are sending the invites slowly and growing safely to make sure your coins are safe and always available to you.

* the wallet is has been stable and secure. Working on Phones, Tablets and Desktop.

* the cards are almost ready, should be arriving in a couple weeks at our office.

* the POS is on track for the shipping period and we are almost convincing the factory to take Bitcoins!

* Interac integration via QuickBT has been a success

* Bitcoin, Testnet, Litecoin and more coming.

You can find out more about us at:

* http://coinkite.com/faq/

* http://coinkite.com/why-coinkite

* http://blog.coinkite.com

-- Thank you users.
Nokia has, at least, the resources to operate its infrastructure division. There have been sorrier messes in the mobile OEM business.

Nokia has Android ready to go on existing devices. Bringing up Android isn't rocket surgery. You would have to ask the Jolla people how much it would cost to put Sailfish on existing devices. I bet their answer would be under $10M.

In other words, claims that Nokia had to "focus" on one OS due to costs were bunk then and they are bunk now. Lots of newcomer OS are hitting the market and the costs to try them are low enough that many OEMs will sell Tizen and Firefox OS devices just to test market acceptance. Nobody will spend so much they bet the farm.
Interesting - A tiny framework for Java
Do you like it? very simple, very easy to use.
With this phrase: is infinitely more valuable to him than even others I believe. The tone of the post must be taken into account.
I don't believe private browsing masks your IP, and I'm not sure it changes your user agent either. It's very likely LinkedIn can still track your activity if you're browsing in a Private tab.
Switching to Android is just a death wish. They need to control the whole stack and cannot be beholden to someone who competes with them in messaging.
It's really clean. The LeapJS/AngularJS touchpoints look like they just make sense.
A patch series implementing asynchronous timers has in fact recently been posted to the Vim development list [^1]. Its status is uncertain, and is still being actively discussed, but to state that such a thing "will never be possible" is just blatantly false.

[^1]: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/vim_dev/-4pqDJfHCsM%...
You are right, I will improve the contrast. Thanks for the feedback!
Also, at least with Virtualbox, file change detection doesn't work. So if you depend of that to recompile your SASS or something, bad luck.
Quite a good "rant" if you like that sort of thing (I do).

I have a Windows 8 box for testing and I tested the upgrade to 8.1. First I had to get it bang up to date before I could "see" the upgrade in the Windows store to replace the OS (sigh...) Total update time excluding downloads was 4 hours. Admittedly the box is not exactly high end.

And the result is just as crappy as Windows 8 as far as I can see with just a tad more confusion (if possible) about how to find programs you want to run to get things done.

I think that my next personal laptop will run Chrome.
It's not illegal in the US unless they don't provide opt-out and the various other things CAN-SPAM demands. That said, starring a repo could potentially be considered forming a relationship and relationship messages are exempt from those rules.
Great response mercer.

I have to clarify one thing for you though. Having a family IS extremely gratifying but it doesn't come at the expense of freedom. Simply put, your priorities change. What may seem like a loss of freedom to you now, will probably become less and less important to you as you take on a family.

There is something immensely gratifying in doing work that you're also passionate about..don't get me wrong. I'm just saying that for a lot of people I know, a job is simply a means to an end. That end being, putting food on the table to feed your family and if you're lucky, your SO can stay home with the kids for a while (which I was fortunate to be able to provide for). I wouldn't say that I'm passionate about my work. I enjoy it but it's not who I am. I don't identify with it anymore. I identify with how my children are as people and I identify with my relationships with others. The old adage is true, I will never say to myself (on my deathbed) that I'd wish I'd spent more time in the office...
IBM Claims Twitter Infringes On At Least 3 Of Its Patents
JointJS diagramming lib 0.7.0 released: animations and NodeJS support
I read (I can't remember where) that Fairfax was $250 million of that $1bn new convertible debt
Top lists of common java mistakes lists (that makes top 100)
Sadly, people don't change their mind until they see it in action.

It turns out "Military Integration" => "Less racist military", for instance, rather than the other way around.

So yeah, "Force Businesses to Do it by Law" is unfortunately the necessary step
Contactless Visa Debit Card Makes Payment For Your Everyday Essentials
Oh BlackBerry. What are we going to do with you?

FWIW, developing on their BlackBerry 10 series phones was an absolute joy. Great hardware and lots of options for realizing apps.
I'm pretty sure it's not. I'm interested in TTS and have never heard anything that good yet.
It's the ones that are listed specifically as just "PDF" or "EPUB" not the ones labeled "Mobi, EPUB, PDF."

I picked up Low Tech Hacking too. :)
Seems ideological rather than factual. It's well known that the level of employment at the IRS prevents the government from collecting billions of dollars of revenue they are legally owed. In other words, the government is understaffed relative to what is necessary to enforce the law. The way you put makes government growth seem like some nebulous cancer. Make tax law simple enough to be enforced by the current staff, or properly staff this branch of the government. This is categorically different than Google needing to invent new tasks to hire people for. Your ideological position, that the government is not understaffed because the government does too much, is by definition unrelated to objective statements of fact, such as the government is understaffed relative to their task of enforcing law.
Whats missing from this conversation: An ELance Human Being.

The third party would have made all the difference in the world, moderating this conversation. The two parties were clearly working against each other - either wanting too much for so little, or wanting too much for more work, either way: capitalistic exploitation is relatively easy to detect, and offends the newbies.

I tend to think the developer was kind of a punk, though I compel with all the reasons given for wanting more $cash.
LensKit: http://lenskit.grouplens.org which also prominently features in the currently running 'Intro to Recommender Systems' MOOC on Coursera.
It's Tim Ferriss, man. (In my RSS feed this post is just above 'Startup snake oil').
tuProlog does not offer an interface directly to C code. It's implemented in Java and does provide a decent interface to Java code. I suppose you could develop a JNI interface to your C library code, and then interface tuProlog with that, but that's admittedly a complicated approach.
> They can tell you that the most efficient algorithm for ordering (randomised) data is Quicksort, which has a Big-O notation of O(nlogn)

I know this is nitpicky, but quicksort is, worst-case, O(n^2), meaning a large number of comparison based sorting algorithms are faster than it. Its in the average case that Quicksort wins.
This article is approximately complete nonsense.
Making Real-Time Real Tame
Using a password manager? You're doing it wrong.

Manage your passwords like this: change them frequently. Remember them. Never write them anywhere you don't intend to use them.
Coding's demise is both inevitable (for certain types of coding) and improbable (for other types). The debate hinges on how you define coding.

I wrote about this when Visual Studio LightSwitch promised "CODING OPTIONAL" (verbatim, from the installation splash screen):

http://cvmountain.com/2011/10/programming-without-coding/

An excerpt from my 2011 post -

The dream endures, but why?

One reason could be a lack of trust.

Successful software needs constant maintenance. As a software product becomes harder and more costly to maintain (as most do) the boss who doesn't quite trust his team will be tempted to look for alternatives that appear more trustworthy.

This basic lack of trust becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as communication breaks down and the team and the boss begin to work in opposition. The boss is now a prime target for being sold the idea that software development can be very nearly automated. It’s not a logical process, it’s an emotional one.

In other cases the boss simply lacks the necessary understanding. They might think that programming is actually an unskilled or semi-skilled profession, where the programmer simply memorises a quirky list of words and symbols and then types them in according to a specification written by someone in marketing.

All this raises the question of what it means to program a computer.
There are already tools like you describe and many people use them. The issue is that these tools create vanilla, cookie cutter solutions that rarely fit the situation precisely. If you want a truly original or custom work flow that will fit the situation precisely, then your going to have to code to some extent. Here is an example: artiste er is a program that bypasses the need for handwriting markup. Sure you made a template but it looks like every other shitty Aristeer site. Coding will always be an advantage for those that are willing. The rest can be ok mediocrity.
This is great, and in the same ballpark as a project friend is doing: he had a disabled son who needed prosthetics to help maintain his posture, but the things were expensive and took months to get sorted out. Enter 3D scanning and printing to accelerate that. (Full background: http://projectandiamo.com/background/)

Naveed's only just getting started out right now, but I bet he won't mind me saying that if you like what he's trying to do, and want to help, please do drop him a line.
Rep. Mike Michaud: "Yes I'm Gay. But why should it matter?"
I feel like this is definitely endemic to the software industry. It moves so quickly that the only ones who survive are the ones who care enough (passionate enough) to keep up.

While I don't think I should have a say on how everyone should live their life, I do agree with you that we need to remind ourselves to take care of our body as well as our mind - whether that means working less, exercising more, or maybe even taking a prolonged break to relax.

Staring at a screen for 14 hours a day is just not healthy. On that note, I'm going to get up and stretch :)
How has that strategy worked out for others in the same space?
Sneak Peek openSUSE 13.1: What we have for KDE Plasma Desktop Users