skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Very good point to parallel MS to Toyota. However, unlike MS, Toyota has Lexus, a brand that does very well with consumers that are willing to pay a premium for a premium experience. MS has no such offering.

(see also VW/Audi, Nissan/Infiniti, Honda/Acura, etc)
You know it's really crazy, but imagine how it will be in the future? What will it be like when we have some technology where it will be possible to get an answer from google in the space of a second no matter where you are?

We're getting close with cell phones but I'd say it might take about 20 seconds to get the answer. That's still a big enough barrier to keep you from asking it everything. But eventually we'll have some sort of device that will have us connected to information at all times. I don't know how it will manifest itself (wearable computers, maybe a wristwatch?) but it's surely coming.

I think it will be transformational.
50% 0f doctors have used wikipedia as a reference.
It should be noted that the Aquatic Ape theory is controversial at best.
Why Microsoft and Steve Ballmer just don't get it
Significant in regards to what?

At this point the recession is a fairly known quantity and should be factored in to estimates - its not a very solid excuse any more.

Google and Apple topped estimates for the quarter I believe
The article just barely touches on the main point: without general knowledge in your head, you can't put things into context.

One person cited in the article proposes that the trade-off is between learning to analyze vs. learning facts. That doesn't sound plausible, since facts are what you analyze and general background facts are the main things that enable you to analyze well.

The real trade-off is simply between which millions of facts people are learning as they grow up. The Internet, in the last 10 years or so, has pushed toward learning facts of immediate currency, like celebrity gossip and scandals and pop-culture memes. This is because the Internet continually dumps more information than anyone can take in, and the economy is based on competition for current attention.

The real shift is from contextual understanding to tactical skill, or you could say, from wisdom to immediate payoffs.
Not sure why you where getting downmodded - that's an interesting observation.
Where this gets sticky is in defining the Market your stake is in.

Microsoft obviously competes in the entire PC market but its fairly obvious that Apple is really only taking on the high end. This way both win, Apple owns the over $1000 market and Microsoft wins the overall share. Its just investor spin.
Mike Arrington's reaction to the leak: "i'm completely ripshit mad"

http://twitter.com/arrington/status/2949113649
CS professor, interested in helping students spin out companies.
The Future of Search is Not 10 Blue Links [podcast]
why? that's the right term for it.

it's not anywhere close to a major I chord without the fifth!

never underestimate what other kinds of nerds you may encounter in the wild :]
It gets the speedup by loading sets of column values into CPU cache and performing relational operators on the cache values. Main memory serves a a pipeline to the cache.
Yeah, that's true. I was giving him the benefit of the doubt in hoping that it wasn't calculated.
This. He linked directly to the "leak" in the same breath he said he was "ripshit mad" about it. Mad my ass.
I always have to look up how to link external CSS.

Your framework doesn't just do that for you?

Edit to downmodders:

I'm not being flip or sarcastic. In all seriousness, if you're writing repetitive boilerplate - and particularly if you have to look that repetitive boilerplate up - you should be using some kind of templating system that does the repetitive (and hence programmable) stuff for you.

It could be as simple as a text file web page template with the proper doctype and generic css / javascript imports already typed out. You'll save yourself time and aggravation and reduce the incidence of silly mistakes.
"...should schoolchildren be taught the capital of Colombia? "

Should bodybuilders lift weights?

Should basketball players run on off days?

OP never mentions what learning facts really is: exercise.

The purpose of education isn't to know the capital of Columbia. The purpose of education is to learn. Which requires exercise. Just like the body, the mind needs exercise, too.

There are as many ways to exercise the mind as the body, some better than others. Like taking the elevator, using a search engine may get you the answer faster, but not much mental muscle is built.
Time for economics 101? EVERYTHING is about market share.
Microsoft looks to mobile apps to revive Windows phone market
But it can't be a determining factor for those people who endorse Apple products. Otherwise, they would choose a different product from a more open or responsive company.
there's some truth to that, but if you're interviewing for a job where you'll be doing a lot of CSS and claim you've been doing a lot of CSS, its also pretty reasonable to assume you can remember the things you do every day.

I always think its really lame when an interview candidate claims they can't possible show me an example of iterating over a collection in the language they use every day because they don't have intellisense, autocomplete or google.
Boston Hang-Outs for Entrepreneurs and Techies
As a somewhat frequent job interviewer I keep seeing the opposite side.

me: "Let's write some code, what's your favorite language?"

them: "My favorite? I guess C++"

me: "So how about, write a function to find the most common string in a vector of strings."

They write something like

int MostCommonString(vector v) {
for (int s = v[0]; s < n; s++) {
int count = s
count++
}
return count
}

me: "I see. Well for one, in C++ you need to end each line with a semicolon."

them: "Jeez! Interviewers always expect you to have all this trivia memorized!!!"
I don't think you have an understanding of how much people make/stuff costs in India, if you're actually comparing prices of iPhones in US with prices of iPhones in India.

Hint: why do you think there's so much outsourcing to India?
Whatever. URL shortening in and off itself is easy. TinyURL had nothing stolen from them. The only thing that mattered about bit.lky was those extra features.
Not only that. It would also be taken less seriously.
Sure, I agree completely with your points there. I'm just pointing out that they are still servers, albeit distributed ones.
If it sounds super high pitched, you should stop hearing it pretty soon as aging takes out the top of your hearing range. Problem solved.
And on the backend?
A good article, but I think the last line is the most revealing...

"compared to C# and Scala, it (Java) is almost painful to use..."

I think most of the Java community realizes incremental improvements to Java are at the point of severely diminishing returns, and Scala seems to be the next phase (I've heard people jokingly refer to Scala as Java 1.9... of course, this really isn't accurate, but it does capture what's going on in the Java world right now).

So in the future, I'm going to be a lot more interested in hearing how Ruby and especally Scala stack up vs C#...
I think the problem comes in the categorization of useful data versus trivial factoids.

If you're going to spend time memorizing facts, they should be very useful facts.
Just thinking through this problem some, I had a quick thought that would be neat to see: "Carrier Apps". These apps would have lower level access to the iPhone and to allow true background processes (listening for calls, texts, setting a data connection). You would download a carrier app and it would "install" itself as a preference pane. Basically I would like to see carriers treated more like preferences/apps than partners. I know this couldn't happen until after AT&T exclusivity came to an end. I think it makes sense: Apple could then converge the iPod touch/iPhone into one product. Don't want a cell service? Don't install the app. Makes room for the tablet to be dropped in for use with a 3G provider or just as a wifi device too. Just a thought. I'm sure there are plenty of holes in it.
I'm curious whether this will take off (my prediction is that it will not).

People who are serious setting up an online shop, presumably are also (a) hardworking, and (b) smart. Hence I predict they will be OK with investing the time to learn to use one of the more powerful tools (e.g., something that will automatically print mailing labels and decrement quantity on hand all in one database).

I predict people will (a) want power tools for their trade and (b) spend the time to learn the tools of their trade.

This thing is easy to learn, but it does too little. IMHO and I do not have an online shop.
Microsoft: We copy-protect Windows to help our customers.
no, using a search engine saves you from having to remember things, freeing the mind to focus on the actual mental agility of processing the facts, reasoning, finding connections etc.

The mind needs exercise, but remembering facts that are trivial isn't helping much.

Think of Google as the calculator for knowledge. A calculator saves you from having to find the square root of a number, allowing you to figure out something useful and meaningful from the answer.
if the press is "bs", maybe he'll release the correct specs
C: A Technological Landmine
Probably both could do with more math.
Go to any modern technical conference (except the Microsoft specific ones of course) and you can see the truth in what he is saying.
We're worried about all of our features working on IE6 and it's just easier on us if we don't support it at all. I'll try to go ahead and make the warning dismissible though.

Also, Penn State won't let you connect to their network if you have IE6 (in their ToS) and overall our percentage of IE users is around 15%, IE6 users is exactly 0.
And who should be the judge of "useful", student or teacher?

I've never had to run from a tiger (fortunately). But I'm sure glad I put in the roadwork to be healthy enough to catch a bus or pick up my luggage. If I didn't know any better I would have thought I was wasting my time back then.
If bit.ly can make this work, I think it's an amazing idea.

I already want to see the site he's talking about.
Knowledge that can be applied to construct something supersedes general/gameshow knowledge
The ease of learning biology depends on the level of abstraction you're aiming for. I had a summer job working in a proteomics lab during my computer engineering undergrad. My basic background knowledge of the relation between genes and proteins was good enough for me to contribute to published research. Of course you also need to learn the details of whatever experiments you're studying, but that's not too hard to pick up. Basically, progammers don't need to memorize all the amino acids to effectively contribute to bio research. You learn the details of whatever bio niche you're studying, and the rest is problem solving, analyzing and programming.
You will notice that it is difficult to buy at retail a netbook/laptop with a functional and friendly linux installation. And yet many people do run functinal and friendly linux based operating systems on the same hardware that is currently only available w/ Windows XP.

Microsoft OEM contracts and market power have nothing to do with this.
Think on the margin.
"The mind needs exercise, but remembering facts that are trivial isn't helping much"

You base this fundamental conclusion upon what data? (I guess you'll google it.)
I've seen this kind of "desktop in a browser" thing before and it seems a bit daft to me (and it certainly isn't an operating system).

There's so much scope for better metaphors than the "desktop" one. Google's apps are a good example of this.

Your browser already gives you far more efficient window management - why try to replicate in an incredibly inefficient fashion with javascript?
"but guess who will win in the emerging markets like China, India and Brazil."

The one with the best mobile OS?

Unless Microsoft buys Palm, it's not Microsoft.

Sure iPhones are expensive now - but older ones will start reducing in price for markets like India/China - and the iPhone has very good internationalization support, along with a virtual keyboard that is far better at adapting to languages like Chinese for input.

You speak of long term but you are only looking at iPhone prices today instead of the fundametals.
Ask HN: review my startup Wiki-OS, the first webOS developed the wiki way
http://www.wiki-os.org

This is the first web OS that is developed the wiki way.

Every window and every major component has an "Edit" button that allows end-users to instantly access the corresponding source code. A built-in IDE allows making changes to the applications. The changes are instantly propagated to the other users, and they are displayed by order of popularity.

This "wiki-like" system makes it very easy to reuse code from other applications, to share common components, and to build upon others' work instead of often reinventing the wheel. Furthermore, initial developers of an application can easily hand over development to the community, as integration is based on popularity mechanisms instead of manual work.

The current "Developer Preview" version is based on the .NET Framework, but we are working to support other platforms as well, including Mac OS X.

A 40-second video overview is available at:
http://www.wiki-os.org/what_is_wiki_os.htm

Thank you in advance for your feedback and advice.
Yelp is a great example of how to reward users.

They have multiple metrics for most prolific, from complements , to reviews, to friends to followers. There is yelp elite status which allows users to filter for just elite reviews and elites get invited to special elite events.

Related are what I call achievement systems or interesting thing is ways to keep your most prolific users entertained. Usually cosmetic rewards (a different symbol, a larger number) for jumping through hoops.

Some examples:

-World of Warcraft (larger number for doing random tasks like killing 10 bunnies within 1 second)

-Call of Duty (you level up from 1-55 in the game, but at 55 you can choose to reset your level to 1 for a different symbol that allows other users to know you are hardcore and have reset your level up to x times)

-FullTilt Poker (rewards for completing a number of random tasks like folding two pair on the flop)

-Kongregate.com is a great example (you earn achievements for playing games)

Creating ways for your most prolific users to show to others that this is "their house" is a great way to keep them coming back.
Could you explain what this does to those of us who're C/C++ challenged ? :)
I've always wondered why Nokia doesn't do more marketing in the US. I've never had a bad experience with a Nokia phone, and I definitely plan to keep buying phones from them for the foreseeable future. Their development process looks pretty nice too, though they could use a few pointers on making a professional website: http://developer.symbian.org/

The biggest problem, as I see it, is that certain apps only work with certain phones, forcing wonderful things like OggPlay to make extensive lists of which phones they support, and you could conceivably end up having to do research before buying a phone to see if it supports what you need, which is too much effort for most people. I think that Dalvik provides a great way to address this for Android, but we won't see a whole lot of Android phones for some time now, probably not until Q1 2010.
Seems to me, whatever problems Microsoft has, they'd do a lot better to not give Apple an attention or comment. They should stick to the ignoring Apple. Answer questions about "We do not comment on competitors or their products".

It certainly won't fix their products, but it would reduce the chances of them putting their foot in their mouth, and that might be a starting point for turning their image, then, their products around.
No. I personally don't think he will beat the "Apple tablet." (If such a thing will ever come into existence). Because I think he has very little style.
If I ever buy a tablet it will be an Apple iPad, no matter how expensive it is.
I love that it provides a systematic way of thinking about structures and proving properties of said structures that I am working with in code. It's amazingly powerful to say "type t defines a monoid with operation k: t -> t and identity Nil" because it comes with a whole slew of properties and theorems. It meshes very well with strongly typed functional languages that support algebraic data types (e.g. Haskell and OCaml).

I don't much care for theoretical abstract algebra (e.g. non-abelian groups of order 18) and I am by no means a master (or even an amateur!) but I find abstract algebra's concepts useful and I hope to learn more!
Clickable link: http://www.wiki-os.org/what_is_wiki_os.htm
I apologize for sidetracking, but I am curious what did u guys use to create your video presentation? And of course, of course best of luck with BitsyBox !
Symbian and Android are far more open, though, which I think is what has some people irked.
Why do students find Mathematics difficult?
The author of that article is well known in the Esperanto world for being the author of that article... and nothing more ;)

A true expert in Esperanto, the linguist and psychologist Claude Piron, debunked that article years ago:

http://claudepiron.free.fr/articlesenanglais/why.htm
Technically it can be a major I chord even without the tonic (listen to some schoenberg, he likes to do this), it is just difficult to get right.
Code Rush, documentary on open-sourcing of Netscape, now in Creative Commons
"We are currently working to support your operating system (please check back in a few weeks).

In the meantime, to enter Wiki-OS, please navigate to this website using Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7."

Seriously? Like, really seriously? You guys like irony, yes?
Java certainly evolved the OO parts of C++.

C++ being a multi-paradigm language it does however have more than the OO stuff, and that “more” wasn’t inherited by Java.

This “more” is things like operator overloading, templates, compile-time types (allowing implicit type construction and user type conversion operators), well-defined rules for automatic storage, etc.

I rely heavily on these things and so does the IMHO elegant standard template library. I rarely use the OO features of C++ (if we define OO as inheritance and polymorphism, I do of course use data abstraction).

I assume the parent is doing something similar, which is what makes him say that Java/C# has nothing to do with C++, as there was a crossroad a decade ago where a lot of C++ users moved away from object oriented programming and instead embraced generic programming.
There were phones before the iPhone that had better feature lists and superior technical specs. They weren't better phones -- they were utter crap, in fact -- so don't expect that kind of comparison to be persuasive. Listing every technical spec and looking in every nook and cranny is just a distraction that shows that the reviewer doesn't understand what makes a phone good or bad. For instance, to expand on my example of the web browser, consider the amount of space he gives to the calculator and alarm clock (combined 9 lines of text and 5 screenshots) vs. the web browser (15 lines of text and 6 screenshots.) That's just poor allocation of time and attention.
Business Lessons Learned At The Poker Table
Wow thanks for the feedback. We do have a little content bloat right now due to some over-eager Liberal Arts majors writing for us. We'll see what pages can be eliminated over time. The original idea for the page when you click on a section heading was to have a list of pages underneath but somehow that changed during the course of development.

The reason for the drop-downs isn't quite obvious right now but we run some big games through the site and we want to make all the functions available with minimal clicking from every page.

The reason the image cycle and welcome text on the front page is so big is because we really want to emphasize "This is what we do" and "This is where to join" on the front page. The news and upcoming events and everything is below the fold because it's not as important for prospective members.

Support section is kind of redundant, I agree.

We'll keep working and refining though, thanks!
It probably comes down to time spent trying to track whether or not he did something malicious and other investigative processes necessary. Put a few security experts or a consulting firm on the case for a year and it gets quite expensive. Also if they found out he compromised sensitive information and had to change plans or reschedule something then expenses start racking up.
"If he had he probably would have noticed that over 90% of the desktops running Windows. Many of them with ie locked down."

But think about how astounding that figure is. 10% of systems in a company being something else in an environment utterly hostile to non-Windows systems. That would have been 99% just five years ago...

Looking at Snow Leopard features, it's finally a desktop that I would prefer to use over Windows in a corporate environment just because of better exchange integration alone. Apple is doing things that enable that percentage to grow significantly, and that is aided by a push from within by many people that have started to use macs at home and now would rather they use them at work as well.

And that's where the metric of "people that love computers" comes to be of such importance, because those are the people that make macs work at work, then the casual users can and will follow.

Frankly I think the healthiest situation would be a good mix of a variety of desktops in the enterprise, the Windows monoculture is a dangerous thing and lets internal apps really get mired in overly targeted technologies that don't allow use from other platforms - which eventually leads to issues in upgrading the platform you do have down the road.
I opted to take 2 intro to bioengineering courses during my computer engineering degree. We basically covered "Molecular Cell Biology" by Lodish. I really liked the courses. It was a bit hard getting used to reading the published papers, but I learned a lot.
Two dinosaurs stepping on each others' eggs.
Why does nobody see past the Wave UI? Is nobody else excited by a paradigm of world-synced objects that respond to changes? Wasn't this the smalltalk dream?
Didnt this get submitted a few months back - and I do recall seeing the same red message then...

EDIT: sorry wasn't trolling - I meant this identical message :) I had deja-vu. I only ask because I cant see a difference?
The problem with that is that most kids do not understand the gravity of most situations. If the kids are motivated by accolades or treats then they might throw in a few false positives for selfish reasons.
Second that. Platform independence should be #1 on your list of priorities.

It's a dupe as well by the way:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=712242
MS had to substantially cut their licensing per unit in order to get onto netbooks, which is one reason they are now suffering despite this "success".
Indeed I think we are in agreement.

Definitely in the need for enough cs to understand your own limitations. That's actually quite a bit of cs, but then again obtaining a Ph.D. can take a while, so I'm sure a little more time for extra study can be found :)

And taking a look at your work... Are you really trying to create a high throughput electron microscopy workflow? Whoa! If you make electron microscopy even close to high throughput that would be awesome!

But how much of the brain structure are you able to preserve during sample prep? For that matter, how quickly does brain structure degrade after death? Minutes, hours, days, weeks, months? Are you imaging the sections in a light microscope first? Correlating the light and electron results of the same slice in software? Freezing the sample in liquid nitrogen so as to freeze it faster then ice crystal can form? Man science is fun, too bad it's not a good way to make a living.