skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
"In my opinion I'd recommend not using Facebook Connect in critical applications"

Sums it up pretty well.

Great job as always Egor :)
So after reading through the comments, a lot of devs apparently do not make the distinction between static typing and Java.
Newest Boston Techstars Class
None of the servers for Pokerstars we in the US, and none of their bank accounts were either, however the DOJ was still able to seize those accounts. The US is not trying to stop online poker worldwide, they are trying to stop online poker sites from offering their services to US customers.

The major charges against Pokerstars were bank fraud and money laundering. If those crimes occur in the US, the DOJ does not care where you are based.
Its a fallacy. There is no greater enslavement than petroleum, my friend.
You should work from paradise
FreeBSD Quarterly Status Report 2013 Q4
The difference is SilkRoad didn't have friends in high places, nor was it giving corrupt politicians/law enforcement/corp execs their cut of the spoils.
Don't be alarmed citizen. They only 'know' about your movements if they actually look at them. Until then, they don't 'know' anything as long as it sits in their archives untouched.
Given that everyone involved was an American citizen, the NSA would not have been authorized to use their database to look up this information. Based what we know of the 1,000 or so instances of illegal access by NSA employees of their database, there is no evidence that the NSA has ever been involved giving database information to an IRS Special Agent investigating American citizens. There is no evidence that the IRS or FBI has NSA style capabilities to circumvent internet encryption. So your rampant and incredulous speculation has no standing and borders on conspiratorial.

It is however likely the IRS or FBI simply used a subpoena to get their information through a court and a judge, which is entirely in accordance with the law.
Top Trends in Online Journalism
Ask HN: Would you use a video alert service?
Hi,

I'm helping a friend promote a set of Feed tools and part of the set is a Video alert system:
http://www.specificfeeds.com/youtube-feed

The user can request alerts based on keywords or specific authors/submitters.

First step: I'm trying to establish the target audience.

So, the questions are: would you be likely to use a service like this? And if yes, what would you primarily do with it? Would it be mainly for entertainment or can you see it being useful for business?

Thanks.
With all due respect Thomas, you have completely missed the point. The executive branch (Bush and Obama both) have taken unto themselves the roles of judge and jury. This doctrine says that president alone gets to decide the definition of "war", the location of the "war zone", and the guilt of the presumptive defendants. No trial needed. And the penalty is death.

That this particular case seems obvious to you, should not be reason enough for you to accept the whole doctrine.
Java deployment is one of the most fragmented and ghetto-like you will ever experience.

If you can always upgrade your platform without modifying your code, you have written a very narrow application with only basic structures and no libraries.
Bitcoin exchange CEO arrested for money laundering
Is there any reason to believe wheels will ever become polished, or might they simply be replaced with the next idea that comes along?

Apologies for acting the cynic, but this is the kind of uncertainty that comes when there is constant reinvention, instead of improvement of existing tools.
I think a browser plugin would be the best idea. Basically you highlight something a button appears. You click that button and name the type of data. It build's a script to capture that in JSON so you can do webscraping without even needing to write any code.

Then it has options to create rules for other pages similar to it as well so you can just provide a url or two and it'd update the script.
Entr(1)
Thanks! The front end uses Backbone.js so most of the content is rendered with Javascript. The backend uses Rails as an api which on page load sends along a barebones html doc for Backbone to latch on to and work its magic. You can check out the source code on GitHub - https://github.com/jendewalt/yumhacker
Taking a quick look at her JS file shows that she's using backbone.js.
Whoa, that's really impressive.
Milestone reached: We have our first copycat
To me, the real reason is that we want to get to the point where all traffic is secure, and since the cost of establishing that secure connection is high we should do more with the secure connections we've got before letting it drop!
That was in 2008. Imagine what else they've been able to jimmy in 6 years!

I'm still waiting on the reveal that they've stored geolocational data at regular timepoints of every X minutes.
I'm curious what the experience is of maintaining larger codebases in functional languages.

I ask this because it seems like a lot of "big code" issues stem from poor development practices polluting the codebase over a long period of time, destroying any sort of design that once existed.

Does it help if the language takes a hardline stance against mutable state and side effects? I'm certain you can screw those up, but it's confined to a single place.
I think with JSONP you can already make a cross-site request, time the response, and determine whether it was cached or had to be fetched.
Can anyone explain, in a nutshell, what features this tool provides beyond just using Docker itself?
It's interesting watching this, because it seems inevitable that Uber will become exactly like the service it was meant to compete with: the Taxi industry.

The whole saga has good, bad, and meh elements to all of it.

It's good that the question of auto insurance is coming up. I imagine that many of these drivers are painfully unaware that they are in serious insurance limbo. If someone's a de facto Uber employee, then yeah, Uber should pay for damages that the driver causes. It's definitely an exaggeration to say that Uber will "leave a trail of bodies in the street", but it's also unfair that the victim gets screwed here (because there's no chance in hell the driver's personal insurance will cover this).

It sucks that the odds are so stacked against them for providing (what at least used to be, I rarely use them nowadays) a good service. I remember being in SF a couple years back and trying to hail a cab for 30 minutes before getting an Uber in ~5 minutes. It was really shitty, and Uber really came through in the end. I was glad to pay the price difference.

Regardless of what happens, there's a lot of interesting ideas here that hopefully get noticed. Surge pricing's an interesting idea. Whereas taxis sacrifice reliability for relatively stable pricing, I'm glad there's a competing service that sacrifices stable pricing for reliability. It lets you make the decision about which is more important, and I'm sure we've all been in situations where getting somewhere quickly was worth the extra money.
I'm not saying you shouldn't drive your car everywhere.

I am saying, you shouldn't be doing it every day. That, right there, is one of the unhealthiest lifestyles, for everyone.

The average American spends an hour a day in their car. This number changes over the years, of course, but generally Americans spend a large portion of their lives, consuming gas. Its just built into the nations life-lines at this point.

Weekend trips with the car would be great! Alas, thats not how America uses its cars ..
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Ask HN: Declining quality of Google search results
Recently, I have noticed spammy / mined content sites are appearing in search results more often on Google (for any topic). Some examples are searching for programming questions / answers - usually SO is ranked near the top, lately sites have been mirroring SO content and are getting mixed in near the top. Next time I see the URL I will write it down. This has also happened to me while searching for open source packages; I found some spammy looking sites farming Github repo metadata / npm index metadata and those were near top results.

Has anyone else had an issue with this?
Cool idea.

And if you're gonna blur an image, blur the image. :)
My understanding is that they collect scan copies of massive amounts of mail meta-data. Specifically the stuff on the envelope, but not the contents within. The contents within are highly protected and would require a warrant. The problem with e-mail is that it's really difficult to analyze the metadata without also capturing the e-mail content.
Images are Eating the Web
You're right that it has a cost (although type inference can significantly reduce that cost). But...

From TFA:

"They write test cases for every identifier ever used in the program. In a world where misspellings are silently ignored, this is necessary. This is a cost."

So in a dynamic language the cost is still there. In fact, it's probably higher than in a static language because you have to build at least some of the infrastructure yourself. Well, I imagine some people would argue that in a dynamic language the cost is optional. And again, I point to type inference where sophisticated static languages achieve the same thing.
FinCEN ruled on the legal status of BTC back in early 2013 IIRC.
> I'll go look for technology where every point release doesn't require $1500 worth of work.

This does not exist.
does ur NYC office need C++ infrastructure guys?
This is true, but the '10 wasn't released until the Mac was well into development (and the Lisa was nearing release). Motorola sort of missed the window there. And in any case no 68k Macs would ever end up making significant use of an MMU anyway. By the time that became possible the platform had moved on to 68020/30 parts.

Obviously all the Unix vendors jumped on the '10 instantly. The MK68000 itself was never dominant there.
How to share large data structures between Python processes
Observations of the Wife Project
How is what these people were arrested for different than what Coinbase does?
I have a girlfriend of eight years but no children to speak of yet. She's finishing up grad school but eventually should have a decent salary. That said, I definitely sympathize and it's a worry waiting on the horizon. We had long discussions about the future of this path and how I needed to be willing to take a step back and provide more if things weren't working out.

When I first brought up my career change, she wasn't on board because I didn't have a plan. But now that I am (more) sure of myself and know what I want to do and how, she is happy to support me and I'm exceedingly grateful for that. As long as you're communicating and your family is supporting you, I'd bet you can find a way to make it work.

I was reading about director Ang Lee a few months ago and found some inspiration in his career. After finishing grad school, he spent the next six years unemployed, writing a couple scripts at home and taking care of his two small children while his wife (a molecular biologist) worked. If he had given up then or if his family hadn't believed in him and supported him, he probably wouldn't be where he is now. Everyone's situation is different but I found hope and comfort in his backstory.
I learned Ruby coming from a similar project with ruby koans:

http://rubykoans.com/
Batteries have been improving at what, 6% per year? If that keeps up it will take 7 years to get 50% better.
The evolution of evolution (Commoditisation of IT)
# randomly placed in an initialization file

Object.class_eval do

def to_s

"a"

end

end

# in some other context perhaps a controller action...

def lookup_user

user = User.find_by_name(params[:name].to_s)

if user.blank?

flash[:error] = "No user found by that name"

redirect_to "/users"

return

end

# good stuff goes here

end

#
# try debugging it... it's tricky... use grep?
#

the thing is this is actually not too bad... in C++ try debugging a memory leak...

(formatting...)
There's never been any question about whether the government will see it as a currency for the purposes of buying drugs, or avoiding taxes, or anything else it perceives to be you using BitCoin to avoid its laws. There's oodles and oodles of precedent on that front, not least of which is the fact you still must pay taxes on barter transactions, for instance, in which there is definitely no "currency" involved on either side. The question is whether it will ever see it as something that, in addition to being bad, is also at least neutral or potentially good as well. Or, put another way, when the government finds out you used BitCoin for something, is it going to see that as as neutral as using an Amazon giftcard, or is that going to be a presumption that there's something else shady going on? Perhaps even to the point of considering that fact alone sufficient to start issuing warrants?
A thumbs-up for LampShade. It's far better than the horrible stock application for Hue lamps (and the recent update made for an even worse UX on iOS). I haven't even dug into the potential of Tasker integration and the like.

But you're right, as good as LampShade may be I still have to whip out the phone, fire up LampShade, swipe to the light or scene that I want, tap a button. Thing is, I don't know how to make it better, I don't think I'm wired to come up with the clever solution. I've considered NFC tags on the wall, but I don't think I'm getting that past the wife. (Plus she's an iOS girl, so NFC won't do her any good.)
Yea, I was thinking that one option could be to have them sign NDAs or something.
It got the right place, but it still can't find restaurants near me. I can do the restaurant search and it will find those restaurants near me.

If it helps, I am proxying through California, but I'm actually in Arizona
You think the son was also targeted?
Jsconf.uy Announcing jashkenas, substack and  ForbesLindesay as speakers?
Tobii wants you to control games with your eyes
If the speed limit is 70mph or 75mph, it is less than every three hours.
I think what he means is that even if the company is profitable now without making an extra push someone else could take a large portion of their market share by spending a lot of (VC) money.
This question is begged.
ProjectXpresso pairs students for 15 minute chats with industry professionals
Public Transit Travel Time Heatmap San Francisco, CA
NSA policy is very explicit in stating that if they come across evidence of domestic criminal activity in the pursuit of foreign intel, they are free to share that with law enforcement. Given that tracking money laundering is a key approach to attacking terrorism, it's certainly possible that information related to this arrest could arise from that activity.

So while its most likely that this went through a subpoena, it's absolutely not conspiratorial to suggest NSA involvement.
Challenges to overcome:

1) Interns need more than problems. They occasionally need direction and tools/training. As the intern that was left to work alone, it feels being left on a desert island. It wasn't fun.

2) Mediocre ideas come from mediocre people making decisions. Fire the mediocre people and just hire good people.
Any modern type system barely require scaffolding, lowering the cost and providing a way more value (see Haskell or ML, or even compare Java with Scala)
You really have no idea what it's like in America, do you?

We don't have high-speed rail, and public transit is reserved for only the most densely-populated cities. We don't drive because we want to, or because we're stubborn, or because we don't know any better. We drive because for all intents and purposes it is the only reasonable method for getting from point A to point B.

But don't worry, I'm sure you've still got plenty of other reasons to feel smugly superior.
Pretty much. I took a few days off here and there for the holidays but other than that I've been working everyday on the project. Things were kind of slow in the beginning as I was learning a lot of new technology and adjusting to building more complex website but the pace picked up after I got a handle on things.
I can't think of many people less deserving of sympathy than the people in the linked article (even the Bitcoin money-launderer deserves more), and the world is unequivocally a better place for the FTC moving the goalposts to catch them.
Frankly, you shouldn't need to read FTC guidelines to understand that peddling lies and then not honouring promised refunds might get you into trouble, and conmen whose businesses get suspended by court 12 months after the FTC introduces explicit guidelines banning their business practices are not victims, unlike their paying customers.
Test Driven Design doesn't fundamentally solve any problems, it's a tool for master craftsmen to tease out subtle errors in their design. The problem is junior programmers can't recognize bad design so they end up writing tests for a bad design, because they don't understand how bad the design is, they don't understand how to break it.

IMHO junior programmers tend to think that over specifying a design helps them, only a master can recognize the brilliance of something like SMTP/REST/JSON over X400/SOAP/XML. TDD just helps them over specify their bad designs.

That said TDD is a wonderful tool in the hands of a master. It's like photography, a $10,000 camera won't help you solve your composition problems. Tech can help ensure Ansel Adams doesn't take a photo with the wrong focus, but a properly focused poorly composed image does not a masterpiece make.
Only traceable if you can match addresses to identities otherwise you follow coins around the blockchain in a circle
So they're spying on the children playing Angry Birds in the name of preventing terrorism. I bet the data they're gathering has saved a lot of lives.

This is just one more strike into the already well-beaten dead horse of an argument that the NSA is spying in the name of preventing terrorism.

I will spell it out: the goal of the NSA surveillance is omniscience in the name of preserving the power of the state. They have made great progress toward this ideal.
I will/might pay for an app that can hook up to my home appliances/circuits and gives me a monthly dashboard of my utility usage broken down to individual items. For example, I want to know how much electricity I used from the bulbs in my kitchen vs bedroom. Bonus if it can tell me how to improve the cost by suggesting better alternatives. So if I use kitchen lights for 5 hours in a day and they are not energy efficient, give me options to save money. Kinda like a mint.com for utilities.

I will/might pay for a smart mailbox (physical not email) that can scan my mails and tell me if I have any useful mail other than junk. Bonus point if it organizes/separates the junk mail automatically in a separate bundle than my regular/good mail.

Note: You can tell that I am a homeowner. In general, a lot of home related stuff need serious fixing. So much can be done via great technology. Example: Lockitron is cool. Need more innovative things like that for home stuff.

EDIT: I edited the mailbox to physical mailbox to clarify that i m not talking about email.
What's missing in #6? Could you clarify on "half-there"?
Related: static typing is itself documentation (low-cost, machine-checked documentation).
>in which I make the rather obvious point that all the scaffolding you have to erect in statically typed languages

You mean "in which I pose the rather obvious strawman". What scaffolding? What is this mysterious "extra stuff" people give vague names like "scaffolding" to that I've never encountered despite programming in a statically typed language all the time?
The conversation in this comments has become a lightning rod for Rails hate, and the "impossibility" of upgrading! (Somewhat to be expected on HN.)

However, for almost all Rails developers, upgrading is usually not a huge issue, at least since Rails 3 came around. I've been doing Rails development for 3 years, and I've yet to spend more than a couple hours on an upgrade. All in all, you have to realize this -- Rails upgrading troubles are something that happen once a year, maybe twice a year at best. In the worst case it'll take about half a day of work. Is it really worth tossing the whole framework out just because of that?

Here's my take on the 4 possible issues the author mentioned:

1) If you're >= Rails 3, almost all upgrades are painless. Even Rails 3 -> Rails 4 wasn't that bad, as the only sort of breaking change was strong parameters. The difficulty of changing that varies greatly on the size of your application, but it's more likely just a tedious couple hours of work and you're done.

2) Application size - see above.

3) Use of external libraries - eh, what I usually do is just wait a few weeks when the next edge Rails comes out, and by that point, the open source community has fixed its stuff. Or, even better, contribute!

4) Test coverage - I've never been at a legitimate Rails shop that doesn't do test coverage. Testing is brought to the extreme with all Rails apps -- and if you aren't writing tests, you probably aren't a Rails dev.
That just doesn't happen. People don't check pre-conditions and, frankly, they're right not too: checking all the ways your input might be wrong is often very wordy (much more so than static types), and usually slow. Not to mention that it's not at all trivial to check preconditions; if your program has any kind of duck-typing or dynamic dispatch it's often very hard to check more than the immediately obvious (can it quack?), and that check is often furthermore redundant because you'll use the function. Worst of all, this is extra code that itself can have bugs (and it's code that's likely to see almost no usage in production since you don't make a habit of passing invalid input). Of course, you could check that extra code with extra unit tests...

If you want to check preconditions rigorously and pervasively, use a statically typed language (and be a little realistic in what you can check). If you want short code without ceremony, use a dynamic language and don't uglify it with more boilerplate than the worst statically typed language. I've seen that kind of code in ruby, and it's really not a joy.

Real life in a dynamic language: people introduce some checks in some high-risk functions, and call it a day. And that's... Just Fine.
Well, keep in mind that GPS satellites are about 50 times further from the surface of the Earth than the ISS.
Haskell is inspiring, I did the interactive "Try Haskell" tutorial and though "Oh, it's dynamically typed." Later I found it it's just really good and inferring types. From what I've read, it sounds like good Haskell practice is explicitly declare types on functions, but otherwise never declare types. The compiler can then use the few explicit declarations you have made to infer all the other types.
"Google Docs for code" is something that most people would understand.
Hard to find on the site, but looks to be run by the folks at TradeUp: http://www.tradeup.io/

Interesting model, if the industry professionals end up referring students they chat with to their organization it seems like a very worthwhile 15 minutes from their perspective.
Mobile A/B testing at LinkedIn: how members shape our apps
A rails app composer for starting a rails app like icalialabs
Thanks Jennifer. Btw, how did you manage to build 180 websites in 180 days. I mean what was your inspiration to conquer the streak?
Times and dates are such a minefield for developers. I really came to appreciate this about 10 years ago when I dove into the Python datetime module documentation to fix a 'simple' problem and saw how much work went into getting things right. Combine that with how much of it comes up on RISKS (comp.risks) and I try not to ever take dates and times for granted.
tldr: use SPDY, but until more universal support a similar custom hack is proposed

Neat hack though.. frustrating how much perf is lost due to HTTP sometimes
Yes, they do. Both are operating illegally and they know it. Neither has money transmission licenses nationwide (BitPay only has one in one state to the best of my knowledge).