skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Are you imagining people developing an open-source vehicle-motor microcontroller firmware, and then users choosing what car to buy based on whether they can use that firmware? Because that's the kind of "hardware" we're talking about here.
Personally, I am under the same impression as yours. Adding a custom order functionality should not be that difficult, even with all these types of repos (forks, private, org, etc). I would benefit from such a feature, as would my colleagues. But maybe there's a deeply nested technical debt that prevents them from doing that atm.

I was just bringing up the similarity between your apparent devaluation of the challenges a new feature brings, with my project manager's ability of adding "sure, done by tomorrow" features during demos :D
I'm getting real tired of Google's shit.
The list of artists is longer than the actually-readable part of the description. That blog post would be much less persuasive if this description had been included.
Taking that a little further,

const char *fb[][2] = {{"%d\n", "Fizz\n"}, {"Buzz\n", "FizzBuzz\n"}};
int i;
for (i = 1; i <= 100; ++i)
printf(fb[i % 5 == 0][i % 3 == 0], i);

(It's a pity we have to specify the second dimension manually . . .)
I said an undergraduate level education. By which I mean knowing the things a CS undergraduate knows, not that you go to a brick and mortar university.

They are not useless abstractions for people to write mathematical papers about. These ideas are what enable you to proceed deeper when your framework leaks and breaks.

Anyway we are probably in violent agreement.
I see his main point as being that the few closed mobile ecosystems (Apple, Google, Microsoft) do not offer the same checks and balances we have gotten used to in the public domain. You pretty much sign away your rights (or, better: expectations of rights) on first use, when you agree to them having final jurisdiction without (at least affordable) appeal.

But the thing is, I'm unsure what to do. Those massive infrastructures bring software to the masses for free or little and bring huge opportunities for developers. It's hard to imagine someone forcing Google and Apple to give developers some sort of 'due process' within their ecosystem. Who would force them and why? And 'due process' exists outside the ecosystem, but you signed the EULA, remember?

Anti-trust would say: alternatives exist. They're small, but they exist. I really don't know which approach would guarantee user rights better. But my feeling is that this trend is bad for choice in the long run.
Grellas I think your point of view is very well. I got some conclusions from your comment and are that “this is business”, “we have to be open-minded to respect others opinions/ideas/decisions” and “we have to be empathic” even if DH wants to hire Ms Rice. I agree.

However, it has to be the other way around from DH. He is going to modify the image and the charisma of his company… and it may have negative consequences in his company (as we can see in the article and in these posts) and he will have to accept them like some people will stop using his service. If you hire someone who is going to make you lose some clients and stain your image… you better hire another one… there are plenty of people able to work in that position with a record as good as Ms Rice without all that suppose cr*p beneath them.

I think big companies shouldn’t mix with politicians with controversial records… even though they do...
IMHO!
I was more sympathetic before I read the part where he had listed "1 or 2 dozen of the most popular artists available through Vibe Vault so that users searching for their music could easily find the app on the Google Play store."

If he says 1 or 2 dozen, I hear at least 13, and probably close to 24. Listing 20 popular artist names in your music app's description specifically to increase the chances of people seeing your app when doing a search for one of those artist names does sound like excessive keyword usage to me. I could see naming around three just to point out that music from well known artists is available as well as indies.

I do still sympathize somewhat because the Play Store process is horrible, and at the very least, it seems reasonable he should be informed, "Hey, you are spamming artist names, cut it down to five or less please" then get his app reinstated rather than the vague "you done bad now you shall PAY".

EDIT: I saw the cache copy of the description made by another commenter. Now I am MUCH less sympathetic. Maybe he meant 1 or 2 gross instead of dozen? There are 167 artist names crammed in at the bottom. I doubt many people would feel that is reasonable.
> "if there is a president, then we might go to war"

That's great. According to wikipedia, we've been in 117 wars in 238 years. I'd say you're pretty much right on there.
Reading that PR release and their landing page, there are so many unanswered questions.

How is this different from PubNub or Pusher, which also provide push as a service? What is the pricing for the service? Are there first-party libraries for popular languages?
I am launching myself as a Startup
"Don't build your app on Twitter or FB's API. Any change can kill your business"

"Don't put all your eggs in 1 basket and build a SEO-based startup. 1 algorithm change can flunk your business"

"Don't build your platform on the Apple Store or Play Store. Google can decide to take away your app anytime"

"Don't base your business on Adsense. They can ban your account anytime"

..what's left?
Wikimedia’s response to the “Heartbleed” security vulnerability
Start here:
http://do.thelandingpagecourse.com/

That will make understanding this easier:
http://www.quicksprout.com/2013/10/17/the-anatomy-of-a-high-...

Then read this:
http://conversionxl.com/landing-page-optimization/

Then read:
http://blog.kissmetrics.com/c-o-n-v-e-r-t-s/ and
http://blog.kissmetrics.com/want-conversions/

Inspiration:
http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/landing-page-examples-list
and http://land-book.com/

Once you actually create the landing page:
http://unbounce.com/landing-pages/checklist/
Both Idris and Agda check whether functions provably terminate. Halting problem notwithstanding it is possible to have conservative checks that never return false positives, so that an OK from the checker implies termination, but a FAIL doesn't imply non-termination.

Idris is not total by default, so it is not required that all functions pass the termination check. However, when Idris does the type checking it has to occasionally run Idris functions (that's what makes it dependent). This is in fact the only source of potential non-termination in the checker. So, whenever Idris needs to run a function compile time, and it cannot prove termination via the checker, it just throws an error.

(Side note: it is never required to run a function in order to the typecheck the very same function. All major dependent type checkers has the property that they never have to run a function that is not already checked).
Yes, she is smart, and witty, with a self-deprecating sense of humor, and I still deleted my Dropbox account today.
For me, the only acceptable restriction of what kind of Apps people can make, sell and run on any device is the restriction set by law (ideally one that came into place through a democratic process).

App Stores with a specific profile are absolutely fine IF competing App Stores exist and operate on a level playing field on that platform.
Does anyone know if DMCA takedowns count to towards the "3 strike policy"?

I had one of my application taken down on a bogus DMCA takedown but do to having no money/time to fight it i just moved on.
"We listed 1 or 2 dozen of the most popular artists available through Vibe Vault" That seems excessive IMO.
Trying to take a different take on finding a job, since I love startups I decided to market myself as a startup.
Yes it is a bit narcissistic, but you have to try something different to get noticed.
It's pretty smooth of you to call me an idiot, double down on that, and _then_ say you don't understand my position.

This sort of intimidation (of Dr. Rice and anyone who associates with her) may not be violent, but it _is_ coercive. That sort of climate is anathema to "civil society," no matter how narrowly you attempt to define the term. (You didn't need to provide a working definition, by the way; it's obvious you don't think it has anything to do with decorum.)

And yes, there is absolutely a distinction between Congressional, journalistic, judicial or even private oversight of a sitting public official, and public hounding of that person once he or she returns to private life. There's also a difference between airing one's grievances (i.e. protest) and making threats if your demands aren't met. Maybe if you disagree with something I've said, you should try to get me fired, too.
Anyone could take a dump on the welcome mat, too. That would be "unfair" to the vast majority of people who would like to walk in the front door without stepping in crap, however. Google are trying to keep the platform usable and pleasant for its users. Sometimes they may be overzealous, but the effort is still worthwhile.
Another lesson for developers OP didn't list is: make the description of your app in the store part of the development tree, so that it can be reviewed by anybody if ever the app is removed from the store.
From the blog post: "We listed 1 or 2 dozen of the most popular artists available".

From your link there are 150+ artists listed. Quite a difference. I think you're very right, this does look spammy.
tl;dr They're planning to replace overly-broad, vague non-compete agreements with the more focused Uniform Trade Secret Act. [1]

This should get rid of the ridiculous abuses of non-competes that we've seen here in Massachusetts. For example:

Just before July 4th [2011], Angela, a 26 year-old Boston
University alumna, was laid off from her job as a
software trainer. She had only been at the company for
two weeks... Angela had signed a non-compete contract
with an old employer — a job she'd left voluntarily [in]
October [2010] — and the employer... was now threatening
to sue over it...She'd signed the non-compete in 2007
without giving its implications much thought. But it
prevented her from working for any other company that
developed software for the staffing or recruiting
industry for a year after she left... [2]

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Trade_Secrets_Act
[2] http://www.boston.com/business/technology/innoeco/2011/09/no...
"CSS Animations: A Pocket Guide" for any price you want (including for FREE)
I'm guessing the down votes are because people think I'm being sarcastic?? I'm not.
Maybe building a business that customers actually pay for based upon web services?
In a not far off alternate universe, Clinton would have invaded Iraq in his administration. His finger was always on the trigger.
FRANCE JUST BANNED WORK EMAILS AFTER 6 P.M.
Another abrasive yet motivational post from James Altucher. Always a good quick read, especially if you need a little kick to get you moving.
Sign the petition: http://goo.gl/ixfBFl
To be fair, this is a terrible example to bring up.

This is somebody who published a whole bunch of apps named after other content creators, who subsequently ignored Google's warnings that his account would be terminated, and who seems surprised when his account was terminated.

There's a genuinely important discussion about the "walled-garden" style of software distribution and the ramifications that this can have on developer freedom, but I'm not convinced this fellow is a good example to run with.
Get a free C# shirt
Defaults are such powerful things. If Microsoft had managed to keep IE even marginally competent back in the Long Browser Winter, the window for alternative browsers on the desktop would have been much, much narrower.
I like that. I'm making note of it.
Is the timing on this announcement interesting to anyone else?
24 isn't even close. The app listed 167 artists. The list of keywords was longer than the rest of the listing.

Cached copy of the app: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:w8V67uz...
Doesn't say much for the opposition party... why were the Democrats so easily duped?
how would you entangle the photons in the first place? from what i understand they have to be in close proximity or even emitted from the same source. once entangled, they need to be maintained in this state very very carefully. i think a few hours is the record currently.

to really reap the benefits of entanglement for anything other than microsecond HFT algos, like for human telecommunication, you would need to physically separate these photons by hundreds of thousands to millions of miles. i dont think you can keep them entangled while transporting them that kind of distance.

i could be really really wrong on all of this :)
Quantum mechanics doesn't allow instantaneous communication.

QM does allow some additional forms of spontaneous coordination, like in quantum pseudo telepathy games [1], but there is no communication. There is no back-and-forth decision making, just after-the-fact correspondence.

Unfortunately, the distinction between classical communication and quantum coordination is kind of hard to explain. It has to do with the difference between stochastic and unitary matrices [2].

1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_pseudo-telepathy
2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_matrix
"They've always said they are aiming to target cheaper less powerful phones"

Android can increasingly be found on a lot of cheap, low-cost smartphones too - and there's a large established app marketplace. Firefox OS has a couple of potential advantages though. If the Firefox team can deliver on fast native performance for HTML apps, then development for the OS will be magnitudes easier (potentially) than developing for rival OSes.

User privacy is another feature where Firefox OS could easily outshine its rivals. I'd love to see a Firefox OS laptop that goes head to head with ChromeOS for example (Google's OS tracks everything you do - even printing to your desktop printer).
It is spammy. I split this string using ',', and I count 167 names. That is in no way close to "1 or 2 dozen of the most popular artists" number claimed by the author.
It's not a question of 'no outrage', it's a question of no power. In the case of Dropbox, we can actually do something they care about: stop using their service.
I note that you did not include "starting wars," and "torture" in your list of things we all disagree on.
> I'm probably not clever enough, but someone could probably prove that'd be equivalent to solving the halting problem. It seems impossible.

IIRC dependently-typed languages dodge this bullet by not being completely Turing-complete (as 'twere).
Rather than all the engineers and tech-minded people here naysay the idea into oblivion, I think it's worthwhile that we encourage designers to take an earnest stab at this problem.

The complaints here are basically "w.o.t. is not usable", but that's basically what the author said. He therefore also indicated this is as much a design problem as anything else. That's a useful insight we shouldn't dismiss, at least not until some thoughtful, imaginative designers have actually taken a crack at it.
This article has almost nothing to do with its process on how it grew from 40 to 40,000 employees, I wonder if it was an editorial error. Instead, it is focused on Google processes of goal setting/measuring and improving:

OKR is an acronym for Objective – Key Result. Don Dodge, a developer advocate at Google, described the OKR process this way. “Every quarter every group at Google sets goals, called OKRs, for the next 90 days. Most big companies set annual goals like improving or growing something by x%, and then measure performance once a year. At Google a year is like a decade. Annual goals aren’t good enough. Set quarterly goals, set them at impossible levels, and then figure out how to achieve them. Measure progress every quarter and reward outstanding achievement.”

Interesting stuff, but its not related to that incredible scaling of employees.
Everyone is guilty of having opinions and actions that others do not like so let's just boycott everything and everybody and be done with it.
It is. They don't care.
Because this article contains very little information, the Rice/Dropbox story was posted to HN yesterday, and the current thread has gone both far off topic (relitigating the Bush years) and uncivil, we're going to demote this post.

I'm going to lighten the penalty on the other major Rice/Dropbox post, though, because although political causes are usually off-topic for HN, that story is at least new and the thread hasn't degenerated as badly.

Please note that when we say something is off topic for Hacker News, we do not mean that the topic is unimportant.
Donovan's update at the end of the post...

January 20th 2014 the Good Day was celebrated at Goodyear
with Ice Cube in a big way and I got to be there to
witness history, read the story here:

http://murkavenue.tumblr.com/post/74217853222/the-return-to-....
Which war-crimes did he commit?
Why is this at the top of HN? This app clearly has a spammy description.

http://www.androidpit.com/en/android/market/apps/app/com.cod...
"I don't mean to imply Unity is 1:1 API replacement for XNA" - this is what I meant. You cannot build your own engine on top of Unity, but some people don't need to.
This episode of Frontline[0] from January aired for the first time (I think, DVR marked it as new) on KQED in the Bay Area this week. It profiles several defectors, as well as the editor of Asia Press[1] and is certainly worth an hour of your time.

[0] http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/secret-state-of-nort...

[1] http://www.asiapress.org/rimjingang/english/
> Dropbox doesn't matter. Your money does. It speaks volumes about you that you are outspoken on ethical issues except where your wallet is.

No, you distorted parent's statement by slightly reframing the perspective when it should be read like this:

It speaks volumes about you that you are outspoken on ethical issues except when it comes to putting food on your kid's plates.
Do you want to make a wild guess as to who supplied and supported the use of "bio" weapons?
ADDITION:

I didn't include this info above, because what happened and what I did may not both be agreed with by all.

I think the big difference between how this situation was handled and how I handled it is that in this situation the author seemed to argue that what he did was acceptable. They already said they don't think it was.

I wouldn't assume that they would come back with more info about the violation, and I doubt they would change their interpretation of the violation.

I believe that when I wrote in, I explained what I thought the problem might be related to (and a few other possibilities) and agreed to change it to be compliant. It may not be what's best for my app, but it's kind-of a David and Goliath situation, so I decided to do what they wanted so my game could stay in the store.

I pretty much agree with the approach. I don't want to think other developers are getting special treatment, so I shouldn't either, so they are going to to be strict with, and stick by their rules.
I would argue that it is preferred.
Part of the reason it's so hard to get code into NSS is because no one really knows who owns those bits, and so they linger in obscurity. I think my TLS Channel Bindings patch is lingering on 3 or 4 years now.

However, I think you're doing a disservice if you only look at how easy it is to add code. As important is how easy it is to remove code. With NSS, it's far, far harder to remove code - and that makes it far, far harder to reason about any new code you might want to add, for who knows what grues are lurking in those shadowy depths.
Ask HN: More Censoring Please?
I applaud your removal of all controversial Dropbox threads. It’s great to know I have a big brother looking out for me. By the way, could you also please remove any other content that I wish not to see, including YC startup scandals (airbnb, rapgenius, and now dropbox), racism, sexism, income inequality, NSA exploits, and depressed programmers in the top 10% income bracket.

Please just give me the standard topics of YC rhetoric, including “crappy YC startup looking to hire young, exploitable programmer”, “why you should quit school to join an accelerator”, and “why SV is clearly a meritocracy”.

This includes killing, reviving, and then pushing down the rankings of these specific threads which were on the front page, and now not even in the first 3 pages:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7568302

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7568330
Darknet/Meshnets running blockchain* software
Heartbleed note
>Yes, it's clear that it hasn't been the case in the past. That's why it's news that it's starting to happen now.

It would only be news if was consistent and applied to everyone. Microsoft, Apple, Google, Yahoo, etc all supported Obama, and the things he's done with the NSA are at least as bad as what Rice did. Dropbox and Rice are getting fallout because of some bizarre hatred for the Bush administration and not some newfound resolve to be ethical at all times. Yes Google would have fallout for appointing Clapper. They wouldn't have any from Hilary Clinton or Joe Biden or Obama himself, which would be the real equivalents to Dropbox appointing Rice. FWIW, Google also can't appoint Keith Alexander.
Yeah, not saying this was possible now. But in 10, 20 years?

Perhaps they can be entangled at the factory in the "special room" then kept stable over the next 10 years. That would be enough, no?
If I wasn't selective in what, when and how I choose to protest my only options would be a) not give a shit, ever, or b) not leave my house and possibly kill myself.

Some of us live in the real world where we have to pick our battles.
The Web.

Build something good, rely on solid marketing (if you must), handle the business yourself.
It's funny, a few years ago they received credit for not operating a walled garden. I guess that wasn't true.
Can you elaborate on this statement, "This means that every world view you possess will be as important as the skills you offer" Is this a trend you are citing from anecdotal information? Or is there data to show this as a trend in the macro-economy?
If you don't mind, when did this happen? Almost the exact same thing happened to me around the beginning of this year.
"What matters is upholding the abiding principle (precious in a free society) that people can hold divergent views on such topics as politics, religion, and society without being punished for their views in a business context."

Board Member 1: Do we really want to business with Bob? Isn't he pro-slavery?
Board Member 2: Of course we do! His cotton production is the cheapest in the country!
It's my hunch that a lot of Mac owners never give Safari a fair chance because their time in Windows land drummed in to them the notion that only dummies use the default browser.
Oh man, that would hit right the spot!
s/Google/app stores
People upvoting before coming to the comments.
It's not different. The audience in this case is people who are fluent in Python. Saying that code sample is bad is like saying Baudelaire is bad because only people fluent in French can read it.
I feel like I wasted my time reading that. It amounts to a big "Boo hoo!", makes tons of unsubstantiated and emotional assertions ("I can guarantee you that no one ever really gave any consideration to our arguments", the "the process is bullshit"), and the real solution is to just resubmit the app with a non-spammy description. How hard is that?

The appeal says "We don't profit from it, and thus have no incentive to spam." So change the description!
Show HN: 10% off at Starbucks when you buy with Bitcoin
Shouldn't you pay back the debt AFTER you released?
You are currently grouping low daily maximums and low daily minimums together, and the same for high. I would be interested in being able to compare those separately, to test and quantify urban-heat-related theories that daily minimums have increased much more daily maximums have increased