skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
> Many of the most popular utility apps ask for very intrusive permissions

At least that is getting rectified, little by little. Apparently 4.3 introduced a tool called "Apps Ops", which brings some of the fine-grained permission control seen in Symbian (where it was actually possible to select which permissions to grant) to Android. [1]

Once the power users learn to make most of this tool, the app developers will have no choice but to learn to cope with their apps getting too onerous permissions yanked from under their feet. Which, to me, is a very good thing indeed. It gives the developers one more avenue to compete in - make your app too nosy and you risk getting sidelined by an upstart clone that behaves better with user privacy.

[1]: http://www.phonearena.com/news/A-hidden-Android-4.3-feature-...
With the mediocrity of "next-gen" consoles from Sony & MS, I pray to the gods that Valve is successful in this endeavor.

Console stagnation harms all gaming.
You have to use something like git-annex. Possibly some other options that others might know of.
By all accounts the consolidation and Plusification of Google's services is being driven from the top, by Larry Page specifically.
>(a) applications behaved well in the absence of permissions

As an app developer, I sympathize, but if you've got a reasonably complex app that requires 8 permissions, that's 255 permutations of code paths that you need to test (that you don't need to test right now) to make sure your app performs correctly. And that's not a reasonable request to make of an app developer.

Aside from that, some apps rely on, e.g., INTERNET permission to do their monetization. Aside: It's majorly not cool to "block ads" just because you don't like ads; pay for the ad-free version if you don't want to see ads. It's cheap in almost all cases. It's HARD to make money as an app developer; it may not be technically stealing to block ads, but it's ethically indistinguishable.

That said, as an app developer I would love to have the ability to request OPTIONAL permissions, or even better, request them at runtime (basically, let the OS bring up a "Do you want to let this app have PERMISSION_A, PERMISSION_B, and PERMISSION_C, to enable the following feature: FEATURE DESCRIPTION"). Again, though, I'd want to request a SUITE of permissions at once, so I don't have to worry about testing with random user-configured permutations of permissions.

There are some features I'd love to add, but they wouldn't be needed by everyone -- and I wouldn't want to scare people away from downloading my app, so I don't add them at all.

But I absolutely would still want guaranteed permissions: If my app needs Internet to make money, then I don't want someone to be able to use it if they're blocking Internet for the app, or otherwise blocking ads on the phone. You don't want the ads? You're free to use another app, or pay to turn the ads off.
So rushing to stand on the cutting edge might result in bloody feet - whoda thunk it?
repeat offenses should be factored in to sentencing and charges just as much as intent. regardless of your particular situation, our legal system (and most) have the concept of intent built in (manslaughter vs murder, etc.)
Pair programming made easy
I, too, am deeply excited by the potential. I wish Valve and Canonical (if they are partnering) well. I certianly would purchase a SteamOS machine. I have a HTC One X w/ Android. I have a Dell XPS w/ Ubuntu preloaded.

I predict, however, that if successful Microsoft will be sure to try to monetize the new revenue stream via patent licensing agreements.

I feel what Valve is doing (if all that was discussed here is legit) is truly important because gaming has always been the next to last selling point for the Wintel ecosystem.

My conjecture: you have to decide if you want mass market (open app OS inc. no app store and no competing h/w division - i.e. pre-win8 desktop Microsoft Windows, pre-Nokia Microsoft WinMobile, pre-Moto Google Android) or niche market (vertically integrated OS, app store and h/w - i.e. Apple, PS4, Xbox)

Windows is the Mom&Pop desktop OS. There is plenty of room for an open gaming-oriented OS.

Linux has been such a net positive for the software industry it is not even funny at this stage. Viva la revolucion libre! :)
Being a beginner in NYC, Boston or DC is just as daunting. I've had had to navigate transit systems as both a tourist and as a daily commuter, and calling Bart-Caltrain particularly worse than the equivalent worse parts of other metro systems is disingenuous.

It is pretty bad and could be a lot better, but the griping from Bay area people in this thread is ridiculous.

(and I get downvoted like this was Reddit?)
To add to the market saturation, botnet operators are very interested in monetizing their network now that Bitcoin is getting harder to mine. I never followed through, but I had no problem convincing an open-minded hacker to let me use idle GPUs on infected clients for scientific computation. I didn't even offer to pay.
The people who received working PS4s are playing them.
they are just now about halfway there. When virtually everyone has a smartphone capable of that power is a different matter entirely though, for all i know many of my friends still use iphone 4/4S'
I guess I wasn't clear in my previous question. I know you can build a blocking interface our of a non-blocking one. My question was how you go the other way. How do you create a non-blocking interface of of a blocking one. The parent post seemed to imply that Erlang was able to do this. As far as I can tell this can't actually be done. If you have a blocking call you still have to block an OS thread somewhere.

If this can't be done, then that brings me back to my previous point. It seems like the important thing is that you have non-blocking IO and not that you have an M:N threading model in the runtime. If you have non-blocking IO then it seems like you could easily implement an M:N threading model as a library without making it awkward to interact with.

Is there some assumption I'm making that doesn't make sense?
Frustratingly low definition but that looks like a kernel panic => not enough testing on target hardware.

I've seen dead signage and kiosks from all the main OSes and OS/2. It happens, what I'm interested in is automatic reboot methods...
Wow, two years can have a huge impact: http://i.imgur.com/wbjCmbt.jpg
e12e, this is something I didn't think about, but fits perfectly into me theme of "zooming out". Thanks!
Poll version:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6745507

(With apologies, sferik, just thought it might be a better format.)
I live near quite a few of these. The way to experience this is by being there very early on a Sunday morning or a Bank Holiday. Let me tell you there are few things as eerie as riding a bicycle around Central London and not seeing a single soul. Of course it's not totally deserted, you'll see the odd vehicle especially on the main roads, but there are definitely moments where it feels like being in 28 Days Later.
Really curious what proportion of large password breaches we actually discover...
Don't they do burn-in tests on consoles so they know it works before it ships?
Couldn't help but immediately think about Star Wars' "Binary Sunset" [1]. If you discard the red star, it's strikingly similar.

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gpXMGit4P8
I did not read that attitude from terhechte at all; I did not find the points "derogatory." To me, it seemed like terhechte has a good understanding of why his customers reacted how they did, and believed those reactions were reasonable.
There are some sites that generate decent Amazon Associates revenue without millions of visitors — it's a question of whether one of the main interactions users expect to make with your site is buying something from Amazon. Considering what you're building, it's worth at least experimenting with. Other booksellers (like Powells) have their own affiliate programs too.
Exactly. I think its quite worrisome that some of the launch titles dont run 1080p natively for performance reasons. If thats the basis for game development in the next 5-7 years it will be limited right off the bat considering 4K displays might be quite wide spread amongst enthusiasts until then. I also believe the consoles wont be able to go another 7 years without someone really disrupting their market, its long overdue.
Yep, the Diskstations are super slick appliances. I'm also planning on using my Diskstation's offsite backup support, though I'm not sure if I'll be uploading to S3, Glacier, or Rsync.net. In the mean time I've plugged a Fantom external HDD[1] into my Diskstation and have set it to run backups there.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004IYJX20/ref=oh_details_o...
I find it interesting that as of now with 516 5 star reviews and 332 1 star reviews (and very few 2, 3 or 4 star reviews) the average still shows up as 3.5 stars. It's interesting since the lowest value possible is 1, so more realistically it's not 3.5/5 but 2.5/4. I'm wondering if this makes a psychological difference and if less people would buy something on amazon if they changed their rating system to go from 0 - 4 stars.
If I remember correctly, AltaVista had a pretty sophisticated advanced search mode where you could string together search terms with Boolean operators (and/or/not). And I'm sure that AltaVista had some kind of metric of "site quality" before PageRank came along. For example, you could judge how "important" a site is by how often people click on a search result to go there, or how big they are (number of URLs from that site in your search index). You can also rank the relevance of a search result by how closely the search terms match the text on the site.

Also, as the web and search evolved, people who ran web sites figured out what they'd need to do to get found more easily by search engines. It's possible that the rise of SEO was more responsible for a better search experience than improved site ranking algorithms.
A valid point longterm, but for different reasons that I have for discussing C.
Added with about seven votes on the board.

Fully intended a zero option, just must have mudged the input...
Stanford Security researchers need your help for NSA metadata study (1min)
There appears to be multiple issues going on that are probably all being filed under the console being bricked. HDMI seems to be causing problems where the console won't show a picture but everything internally is still working. There is also a safe mode you can go into that is fixing the issue for some. And finally there are some that are really just bricked which is probably accurate to the 0.4% rate that Sony claimed.

Also FWIW I received one from Amazon and everything worked fine out of the box.
Stiffer penalties before conviction? Easier convictions? How about roadside hangings? You can use the tow truck!
Cons: 0. It's non-npm package manager feels like NIH to me

I was initially put off by this as well, and it compelled me to check out Derby.js as an alternative since it looked like Derby wasn't ignoring widely adopted tools like grunt and NPM. But after using Derby for a bit, I noticed that I was back to doing more boilerplate coding than I'd like and I decided to give Meteor another chance.

Now I see the the benefits of the closed ecosystem. In Meteor you are dramatically constricted in choice, but everything that is available to you works effortlessly together. If you install a package, you pretty much know it's going to work.

It's almost like if you imagined Meteor as a Ruby framework (god forbid), and we ignored all of the client-side magic, this philosophy alone would provide value. Because this framework might include pared down versions of capistrano, Mongoid, Devise, Unicorn, Heroku and others and integrates these tools together into one well-thought-out holistic whole. And all of the pieces of this project moved forward in unison, instead of forcing developers to play whack-a-mole with all of the moving parts.

So beyond the beauty of no-fuss reactivity, the benefits of tight front/backend coupling, being able to code in Coffeescript from top to bottom (which is a big selling point to me), I really think that what is currently seen as a negative regarding the ecosystem is going to develop into one of its over-riding strengths.

Suffice it to say, I'm sold on Meteor. :) Both in its current state given its youth, and in the direction it is moving.
From an Amazon review:

You can return it to Amazon or Call Sony @ 1(800)345-7669 to schedule a replacement. Mine is broken like everyone elses.

If your console light turns white (and doesn't get stuck at pulsating blue), it could be the HDMI cable or connection issue. Fix with a pin (see Kotaku's article).

If it stays blue and pulsates, try safe mode (turn off system completely, then hold down power for 10 sec and wait till you hear beeps). From here Sony can help you troubleshoot if you wanted to call in. If it wont even boot to safe mode, it's bricked. You can try to troubleshoot on your own if you're adventurous:
1. Hold down power button until the unit powers off and the light goes out. This took about 10 seconds.
2. From power off, enter Safe Mode by holding down the power button until you hear beeps. Release power button after the second beep. The Safe Mode menu will appear with a list of options.
3. Select Option 4 to restore PS4 to factory defaults. Once it's done, the system will restart.
4. In our case, after the reboot, the PS4 automatically entered Safe Mode. This time, they had us select Option 6 to Initialize the PS4. Note that by doing this, you will lose profiles and settings so just be aware that you are basically starting over. Once it's done, the system will restart.
5. When the PS4 comes back up, it will take you through the initial setup again as if it's being booted for the first time.

If you can't get the PS4 to boot into safe mode, it's not your HDMI port. it's an internal issue and you'll have to send it to Sony to be fixed.
The Shuttleworth/Canonical bashing is beyond tiresome at this stage.

Given like Canonical have actual experience getting their OS onto h/w vendors machines Gabe et. al. would be stupid not to at least contemplate partnering.

Also, Ubuntu is Debian. You've no problem with Debian succeeding, right?

Canonical can do what they like within the boundary of the GPL and other licences. Free software guarantees this freedom. I figure it's his money, he gets to decide. People hate on Canonical for not contributing to the Linux kernel. Then when they innovate build their own identity (you may gather I like Unity btw) they get criticized. For what?

Give it a rest already. the article was mainly about Valve and their Linux play anyway.

edit: without -> within >.<
...but their higher quality standards are also what has allowed them to carve out a niche which youtube can never replace.
When I got the email from Eventbrite, my first thought was "oh cool, nice to know they're taking these things seriously", closely followed by "wait, this is really creepy". Still not sure if this is a good thing or not.
My point is that you are overly quick to criticize, but very slow to present alternatives. Let's hear it. What do you suggest?
It looks like the facebook external hit bot isn't picking up any images or description. You can add some meta tags to facilitate sharing:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11616697/how-to-use-og-me...
I try to minimize how much I hold my phone in my hands in public for this reason sure (It also makes you a more viable target for muggers if you look distracted by your phone). You can also set TextSecure to automatically wipe your passphrase from memory when you're done reading/writing texts. I should probably also be using APG ( https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=APG&fdid=org... ) to encrypt other stuff for the same reason.

I don't doubt that this is a real threat for sure, but there are measures you can take to prevent it from happening.
> 28 Days set up a few shots like this in downtown London [..] which appeared to be taken very early in the morning.

That's some of my favourite "London" film footage. Most of the time London is shown horribly in films, just hamfistedly moving from one obviously recognisable location to another. Even the BBC do this - Spooks and Luther seem to need every outdoor scene to be set in some well-known location, which is not only distracting but a little insulting.

Saying that, because it was obviously so early in the morning for logistical reason it pulled me out of the film, even though I guess in the film's narrative of "we must travel during the day" might neccessitate a "it's morning, thus we are now travelling again" establishing shot.
If that's the case, why not be up front about it?
I would work through a short Meteor tutorial before buying the book. The following is an excellent working intro: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2013/06/13/build-app-45-minu...
Real-Time Game Design
That a bad plan comes from a famous person doesn't make it any less of a bad plan.

In the spirit of Google: +1 for people and +2 for companies now actively moving away from almost all Google properties because they're becoming so unpleasant and/or unproductive to use. I know they're all about being data driven and running empirical tests: that's why the {expletive deleted} page moves around every time I come back and visit something, which is probably the single most annoying thing they've been lately. The very fact that they're running so many tests is materially reducing the value of their services to us.

Ironically, our exodus started with abandoning our business G+ pages, because they have generated so little interest that they aren't even worth a few minutes now and then to update them any more. It appears that literally no-one we care about is actually using Google+.
Honeywell Sensor Simplifies Brushless Motor Design
> "All/most of that gets extinguished immediately, or, eventually after, an acquisition by Facebook."

We think that because we follow the tech news and are savvy about the consequences of an acquisition. However, I'm not sure (anymore) that it necessarily plays out that way for the general public.

For example, I'm not an Instagram user but I do wonder how many of them are aware that it's now a Facebook property. If I look over their website I don't see anything obviously linking it to Facebook so maybe there's a chance that a proportion of their user-base is still treating it as independent (of course, I'm not aware of the in-app experience).

It reminds me of one of those stories I read about an online game (EVE-Online?) where one guy had cornered the entire market for selling a particular power-up/drug but had a number of completely different avatars 'on the ground' so his customers had no-idea they were buying from the same person.
Just needs a quick regex! (now you have two problems: ) http://regex.info/blog/2006-09-15/247
Where America Lives [Spike Visualization]
I don't know much about manufacturing either. But, wouldn't Sony also make sure their units "more or less work" before they leave the factory?

I mean, the thing could be working on departure and dead on arrival.
It is unfortunate that this did not get the attention it deserves: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6420546

Original link: http://www.slate.com/blogs/business_insider/2013/09/20/sex_a...
FYI: "Left 4 dead 2" running on Linux has 315 fps vs 270 fps on a windows PC. Other bloggers have put the game on max settings and tested on the same hardware and gotten almost double the frames per second out of Ubuntu linux vs Windows 8.

It's obvious Valve is in this for the long run. They've talked about it for years: "Big things have small beginnings", "We hate windows", "Windows 8 sucks". And they're right. Windows is holding gamers hostage. And the gaming community's backwards compatibility is unstable because of it. (some titles made just a few years ago don't work on Windows 7 and can't run under compatability mode) The PC gaming community has had no choice but to stick with Windows.

This move is Valve's way of detaching the gaming community from the endlessly, re-re-redesigned, bloated, sluggish, "that'll be $200 for the new version" operating system and onto one that's free, specifically designed to cater to gamers, and maintained by a company that isn't so hostile towards it's users.

I can't wait. It'll take a good 10 years but a Windows free gaming future is on it's way.
I vaguely recall something like a Boolean search functionality on AV, yeah. I think HotBot had one too, though they were using some other sucky algorithmic innovation that didn't actually crack the search problem.

I don't think SEO really started happening until Google outlined the basic idea of PageRank - until there was something to plausibly target. At which point 1999-2000 were the years of hideous link farms. I sure remember those.
No idea, but Yahoo has tried about 3 times to create a social network but it always dies in its infancy.

Likely they'll try again for #4.
And how many years did it take for Microsoft to come to that decision? Exactly.
I'm surprised the uploaded video services haven't fragmented as much as news aggregation.

There are a dozen news + comments that all have a slightly different threshold for what stays on the site, determined by the tastes of the community.

Why haven't more video sites emerged with a similar ethos?
Timelapse Map of Every Nuke
My office is off of Carnaby Street and I've seen looked down the length of it and not seen a soul. Quite common after midnight, although it gets a lot harder as soon as you step out to Regent Street or the Palladium.
At my company we use both SVN and Git (via GitHub) at the same time. SVN is for the serious dev while Git is for toy project we post online from time to time.

Some of you may say that we may not be doing things right but the only reason SVN is preferred over Git is because of externals. It is just easier to reference an external project and keep it updated all the time. This is important for consistency point of view and we want to spend more time developing features verses merging and resolving merge conflicts, etc. When we tag things we simply svn copy and then flatten the externals making it all the same. It works great for us and we cannot see any reason why we should move away from this.

Git is interesting and definitely very powerful. We love the idea of working on a feature and then commit push and merge it when it is ready. It does make a lot of sense to do this over and over again but there is sooooooo much to type all the timeeeeee. It makes it so inconvenient.

Maybe it is just our model of work. Maybe we are weird and old school.
Leonid Meteor Shower - How To Watch This Weekend
I'd be more hopeful if it was open sourced, and not built by a company that has pioneered DRM...
It's an interesting idea. The comment at the bottom "This site uses Cookies. Get over it or get out" I'd be more formal with this, it's a shame to spoil what is otherwise nice presentation.

"This site uses Cookies" and link to the how and why instead.
We would be the customer, if they hadn't messed up their advertising management systems so much that we've given up trying to make them work. I don't do our on-line marketing, but I think we're up to something like 4x actual spend that they're offering in credit as they beg us to start advertising with them now.

Even Facebook's ad buy system is better than Google's current one, and being worse than Facebook's ad buy system is an achievement that I always assumed would require years of practice and a lot of natural talent.
What is the big difference between Meteor and Express?