skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I've suspected loyalty points programs are just an accounting trick. You're creating your own currency which doesn't always get used up, and you can devalue whenever you need to make your quarterly numbers.

And if your program really catches on, you can get other retailers to sign on, creating a side business, or spin it off as a separate business if someone is willing to pay you for it (it's easy to segment off from your core business).
This is cool, thanks for sharing.

I hoped when I saw the title that this would be a service to let me find out what happened in a story some time later. I often find 'developing' stories of great potential import seem to disappear from the world's media later on, and I never get to see how things actually turned out.
Stop The JerkTech
I had that as an idea for podcasts. Similar, but different I guess and now the podcasts are mostly gone.
http://blog.outerthoughts.com/2011/06/say-your-name-idea-for...

Article also links to couple of previous services doing similar things (back then). Let's hope this one is more successful.
The Unnoticed Gadgets That Power Our Economy Deserve a Real OS
Did someone say Shockwave, Flash, Java, Silverlight, etc.?

Or maybe VBScript, JScript, Dart, etc.?
Actually it was Britain's GCHQ that tapped Google's datacenter links and shared the data with the NSA. I only mention this to remind peeople that it's more than just one country and agency that's doing this.
Haha, looks cool :) ... you gonna create an Android version? I wish I could try it.
I think you are not alone.
Well, margin is a difficult concept to grep.

Vanderbilt University economist Kip Viscusi claims a net cost savings of 32 cents per pack sold [1]. It seems we're all going to die, and Alzheimer's isn't part of the quick and easy way out of healthcare cost. And at the ripe age of 125 or so, 100% suffer cancer.

1. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-04-08-fda-to...
Reminds me of classic Conan!
The funny thing is that the insurance industry is obsoleting itself.

If they perfectly assess risk, your annual premium will just be your annual cost plus all of the administrative costs of insurance, so just self-insure. We're getting closer and closer to that, further eliminating any value that anyone gets from insurance.
Yeah, I do have that installed. It's nice to know how big of a change I made, but still requires me to use more memory than I'd like when composing a commit (or go to the terminal).

Maybe SublimeGit has spoiled me, but I really feel like leaving my editor to make a one-file commit is for the birds. It doesn't break my workflow nearly as much as popping back to the terminal, doing a status to make sure I'm committing what I think I am, adding the file, then doing a commit, then (possibly) pushing. 3-4 steps compared to 1 from the editor (add and commit, or add and commit and push, this file).
Capitation of member lives is one mechanism that's been tried. That's the theory behind HMOs, though some (notably Kaiser) seem to be markedly more effective than others.

The story behind how Kaiser healthcare was founded (providing health services for workers on the Hoover Dam) is pretty interesting.
I used to believe using something like the tools you outlined would be easier until back in 2004 I spent 6 months porting my naitive windows application to apple. I scrapped the whole thing and started rebuilding on the predecessor to xulrunner, rebuilding mozilla and using XUL was great until I started to need graphing and different fluid layouts that I realized HTML is so much better for cross platform as more people are spending more hours every day making it better on more platforms and devices and it really is write once run everywhere once you move your native app to the server - at the end of the day you are going to spend countless hours tweaking for the different target OSs anyway - the web with HTML / CSS / JS are better at this than any other native solution...

[update] we ported our native c++ components to xpcom interfaces and rebuilt the frontend in 4 months allowing us to launch our product simo health - later purchased by RevolutionHealth 4 months later... I still as recently as 3 months ago receive emails from past customers asking for updates.
Javelin Hacked?
Target in all likelihood had been "trying" datamining previously, and since.

Though they might try hanging on to their customer's credit-card details a bit more successfully.
I signed up to wait for the Android version.

As for myself, I spend 90% of my time (outside of work) alone, and there are a lot of wonderful things I see and think while wandering slowly in the early morning or evenings. It's not that I want to be alone, it's just really hard to find the right people, even knowing they're out in the world.

I wouldn't want to spend too much time interacting with my phone, but this app could be a nice place to check in and see that others are delighting in the world just the same as me, wandering alone. Like a nod to strangers who share the same concept. Nice work.
Yeah! That's where I got the idea.
A person is not a government agency ostensibly accountable to a democratic government and, therefore, public oversight. The NSA is. To the extent a democracy keeps secrets from voters, it is not a democracy. The US government keeps a lot of secrets.
Sorry, just a side project for an iOS dev. Maybe if it got very popular.
> I've been writing CSS for years and I still feel like a newbie sometimes, and feel like I'm just tinkering with random attributes until it looks right.

This is exactly how I work with CSS too. Not surprisingly, it's my least favorite aspect of web development.
In general, store points and so forth are something that stores hope you'll perceive as being of greater value (and hence encourage loyalty) than they'll every have to actually deliver on.

The norm with grocery stores though seems to be more in the vein of giving instant savings to card holders. Some chains (Safeway out West is one of them I think) have so many and such deep special prices that I have a card even though I only shop there on vacation sometimes.

(Interestingly, Shaws--which is an Eastern US chain now owned by European company I believe--discontinued their card in this vein a few years back.)
Is my phone battery an acceptable profiler?

It doesn't warn me about performance issues, but it lasts less when I visit heavy websites.
On the other hand you could get cheaper insurance by paying in cash or being healthier. This is the point of insurance, to estimate your risk as accurately as possible and charge based on that.
Google Play Services 5.0 Is A Monolith Abomination
OS X has also really cut down on the time it takes as well. I close my Macbook Air, and the lights cut off instantly. I open it up, and in the time it takes me to type in my password, it's loaded itself to the exact state I left it in (actually did it while typing this comment). I haven't used a Windows or Linux laptop in a while, but I hope for the sake of people that have, that it's a similar experience. Having the freedom to close your laptop without a second thought is great.
Does this have anything to do with Popcorn-Time? Looks you are using also Yify API?
If you can figure out a way to use nuclear power to make ammonia instead of natural gas, I'm all for it.
That's exactly what this app is about. Thanks for signing up :)
There are too many Show HNs all of a sudden!
What I gleaned most from the article(s) is that it's becoming increasingly important for all of us in the tech community to take a stand ourselves along with TOR to promote online anonymity in our companies (& possibly even think about supporting the TOR Project itself in some way).
Show HN: Bibleqs - Dynamic shareable images with quotes
For example. I've just found out about flexbox where up until now I thought I'd finally mastered position relative/absolute and floats in order to get nearly everything that I want.
That's basically what I consider [1] famo.us to be.

Instead of using css for the layout/positioning, just use javascript directly.

and then build a [2] proper scene graph in javascript.

[1] - http://famo.us/
[2] - http://adnanwahab.com/Render-Tree-Visualization/
Show HN: PhantomJs Cloud | Browser API as a Service
How I Became the Most Hated Person in San Francisco for a Day
Show HN: Weya - Fast CoffeeScript markup
> Also, what does "Nowhere in 'docker run -i -t ubuntu /bin/bash' does it say something about LXC." even mean?

I think that the parent was trying to say that the docker interface is not specific to LXC, only the backend implementation is, so there is "nothing" preventing the backend from supporting other kernels that have the requisite features.

That said, the containers would be OS-specific by definition.
Well, for starters, ask him where his twitter background came from. Then ask him what it means.
I really like the point about designers learning to program. It got me thinking that eventually many/most professionals may need a basic grasp of programming. Then it dawned on me; why not teach EVERYONE basic programming in school?!
Playing with multi-device, full-screen images, web fonts and social-media embedding options.
Static image is generated only when shared.
New image on every refresh.

Still need to add more options, fonts, images.
Show HN: Yamldb - Yaml file based database for nodejs
Frying Egg Pan Wall Clock
Dear NSA, Privacy is a Fundamental Right, Not Reasonable Suspicion
Browsers are only struggling because of how complex the toolset is and how poorly defined the expected results are.

There are plenty of counter-examples with simple standards and multiple implementations of a high degree of quality and interoperability.
Limelight.vim — Hyperfocus-writing in Vim.
Another good option is installing Linux side-by-side ChromeOS with chrubuntu. I have DOSbox and quite a few other games installed on my Acer chromebook and they run great. No need to worry about someone making a chrome extension or app, just install/compile and run the Linux versions of stuff natively.
You should wrap it up in a docker container. All you need to do is create a Dockerfile in your repo and wire it up to http://hub.docker.com . That way the "try it out" steps are "docker run faulancer/cockpit-demo"
Google reverses decision to delete British newspaper links
> If a learning Bayesian filter targets a certain demographic, there probably IS something to it.

I'm pretty sure both Bayes and Laplace would not agree with the categorization of Bayesian probability as some sort of panacea for determining truth in criminal matters.
Tesla Motors on a mission to hire American veterans
Hmm. Must fix that.
I did not vote for them. All politicians are picked from a curated pool of people I would never vote for. They all tend to be wealthy, connected, and/or ivy-leaguers (none of these things are inherently bad, but they also don't play well towards the interest of the "common" man - small wonder that the middle class gets screwed). There are very few "commoners" in the higher ranks. Many are picked by the real ruling class, corporations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/business/19gold.html?pagew...
http://i.imgur.com/Q3cUg29.gif
I'm surprised there has been no leak of purchases from major restaurants or retailers, just credit card datasets.

Does the California law only require disclosure of leaks of financial information, or do businesses finally start taking proper security measures (and/or airgapping) when there is business intelligence at hand?
supply a user with a random handle, "player1912381271", later allowing that user to switch to a personalized handle from within their UI.

the actual player identification for gameplay determined via a token of some sort, generated upon first interaction.
OK, I am going to play a devil's advocate.

- The job of three-letters agencies is to find out all various enemies of the state. That includes terrorists, but also various gangsters, officials of sort-of-enemy states (like Russia). That's why they exist.

- Following US nation interests has higher priority than rights of citizens, especially in other countries.

- People, that US have a reason to spy on, probably will use Tor/Tails, or at least try to find something about it. It makes sense for NSA to filter those people and focus their spying on them specially.

- Not all Tor interested folks will be evil, but the percentage there will be much higher than in just random internet. So it makes sense to focus on them. Just like it makes sense for a local police to be in a neighbourhood, that's known for a higher criminality.

So I understand why NSA does this, and why do they single out Tor-interested folks.
Opium Made Easy (1997)
I think, in this context, "beginners" refers to new Python programmers who want to use Python to build a web app.

After all, the site's intro clearly states,
"You're knee deep in learning the Python programming language...Now you want to take your initial Python knowledge and make something real. A real web application that's available on the web"
Nature’s Most Amazing Eyes Just Got A Bit Weirder
Insurance is a mode of risk management. If we all have mandated coverage, then all risk is assumed, and the term "insurance" is meaningless.
Seriously, can you get more vicious thinking inside the company, when the policy is to spend money on r&d on how to mine users data better, but at the same time not to worry enough about their cc security?

dont be evil, anyone?
Suppose you want to create the largest possible square div inside the rectangle of another div. Any layout language that can't let me satisfy such a simple and obvious layout constraint is a travesty.

CSS will not let you do this, even with flexbox.
OT: In the future, if a site is hacked and the hacked version is still up; Don't directly link to it.
Privacy Group Files FTC Complaint Over Facebook's 'Emotional Contagion' Study
the best thing to do when a website is hacked is link it to as many people as possible
No, they're just like that.
The propublica article opened my eyes to many things. It's a 134 billion dollar a year market that's highly fragmented - top 4 largest only account for 11% of the market. Sounds like a problem for software.

Taskrabbit is for tasks, which are great, but not in as much demand as weekly, monthly, or even daily stints. Think the local starbucks, a small business around the holiday hours, or even accounting (Robert Half is big on this).

Overall, it has the potential for a very large impact and massive business. Look at the jobs report today. If you could more efficiently help employ 1 million people the economy is improved. You're also looking at one of the largest workforces and businesses in the country.

btw, sounds like you know Andres and I. Can't tell who this is by your username. Feel free to drop me a line - j@jasonlbaptiste.com
What about accounting? Most professionals need a basic grasp of accounting.
Show HN: A web port of Colossal Cave Adventure
This is a port of the Colossal Cave adventure (550 point version) that I've been working on - on and off - over the last few years. It's a generic interpreter for the bizarre ACODE language that these cave-style games use (spoiler alert: https://github.com/mmastrac/adventure/blob/master/com.grack....) rather than a port.

Source here: https://github.com/mmastrac/adventure
An island outside Seattle. We don't have any large chain stores on the island. There are 4 grocery stores, all independent, serving a community of about 15k people. There's also only one fast food chain, a Dairy Queen.

The only loyalty card I actually use is the coop feed store, I think the hardware store might have one too, but I've never bothered with that.
This seems promising. When it comes to healthcare, prevention is nearly always more efficient than treatment, and early detection of problems is very important. If this can be turned into more accurately determining who needs to be screened for lifestyle-related problems like arteriosclerosis, blood pressure, diabetes, etc, that would be amazing.
Yikes, good question. Our main concern is that the Show HN thing should present something you've made that exists and works—that it be more than vaporware, a fundraiser or a landing page. I don't think that implies that it has to be free.

That said, users guard the Show HN "brand" pretty zealously. If I'm making the wrong call here, I expect they'll tell us by flagging posts that they think use "Show HN" incorrectly.
Great work!

mongoid support would be highly appreciated :)
Accounting is not a language, programming is. You can create anything with programming.

Thats why it should be taught.

Edit: Care to elaborate why that comment should be downvoted?
It's a fundamental paradox with insurance.

Insurance companies that can better predict customer risk outcompete those that don't. They can charge less for lower-risk customers and still make a profit, thus drawing them away from their competitors and leaving their competitors with higher risk people who pay too little.

Yet, the end game is that everyone can predict risk so thoroughly that insurance is pointless.

It's ultimately a weird, backwards Tragedy of the Commons, and various non-discrimination laws are sort of the regulatory response to it.
I still maintain that they'd see at +20% sales if they had named it almost literally anything else. Wii U is such a stupid name that it really makes me question wtf is going with the management there. Even with the Wii, that console succeeded in spite of the terrible branding, not because of it.
How Pot Has Grown (1995)
> "it doesn't seem entirely irrational." (Yes it does...)

> "It doesn't have to be perfect to be better." (Yes it does...)

The problem used to be approached by presuming innocence (demanding perfection), rather than with a willingness to accept false positives (20 years ago spam filters weren't available as an analogy...). It is always possible to wrongfully judge someone, but it was never a valid or acceptable outcome ("It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer" - Blackstone). We accept that spam filters give false positives (not to mention that one person's spam is another person's opportunity), so I think comparing the justice system to detecting spam is a mistake, and more over that a goal of "prevention" itself is a red herring.

The goal of prevention encourages us to accept lower thresholds of guilt probability, and that is wrong. In other words, if prevention is an end, then it is worth deliberately (rather than accidentally) restricting innocent people on the basis of virtually any nonzero probability of guilt. 80% "guilty" by association (for using Tor for example), 45%, etc, would all be enough to justify legal action - and the thresholds would certainly depend on whoever is in power and has access to the database that week. This is a very different model than presuming innocence, and having not only a goal of 0 false-positives, but also providing satisfaction when the justice system is in error.

I think today we are mostly talking around the fact that a crime has to have been committed in order for it to deserve to be punished, and that, for that reason, prevention cannot be a valid goal in itself (but it's nice when it happens).

Rationalizing surveillance as a tool to "prevent" rather than to justly punish wrongdoers (which centralized surveillance does not do because it is centrally operated, due to the conflict of interest; everyone owning a camcorder on the other hand...) implies that the central database needs to go IMHO (and that individuals need to be empowered instead).
While this kind of thing will undoubtedly bring out hailcorporate naysayers, I have to applaud the company for introducing a mutually beneficial arrangement for a group of people that yes, do have a tough job background that comes with it a sentimental level of loyalty and PR goodness. But in the end, if both sides benefit from the deal, it's tough to find a negative here. Props to the vets for all they do and to the company for smarts
Nintendo needs to hop into the sack with Valve.
It seems so.here is the page source

http://pastebin.com/5hsFJLJZ

Edit: Maybe it's not.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7986872
I dig it!
Perhaps update this by adding a shortcut for the new "Show HN" nav link?
Here's a screenshot in case they fix it http://i.imgur.com/RC0lkqO.png
I started with Flask because I knew some Python. I just moved to node.js / Meteor. I wish I had started with the latter. I wish someone had told me "Python is nice, I understand that you're enjoying it right now, but learn these JS web frameworks." Anything else is a real disservice to beginners.
> So, my hypothesis is that the amount of money and effort that is extracted from and goes into fighting music torrenting eclipses any supposed money that was lost in the crime.

I think that part if it is to create a legal environment that is hostile to making torrenting more mainstream than it currently is.
Real full-stack wouldn't need JS but merely treat it as a compilation/runtime target.
Smoking could save money for society but it probably doesn't save money for individual insurers, who are much more worried about the shorter term. The private insurance you have when you're 30 isn't going to be paying for your nursing-home care when you're 90, but they are likely to end up paying for various smoking-related illnesses that kill you sooner.
First meme I've ever seen on hacker news. Please stop.
Is that even minimum wage in SF? My neighbor is a toll booth colector and makes double that amount
There's some documents released under Freedom of Information about this place.

https://www.righttoknow.org.au/request/principality_of_hutt_...

It's mostly diplomatic cables
I wonder if this is conceptually similar to "Tragedy of The Commons." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons)

I can't really see how these services are not just the exploitation of services for the public good. Pretty disgusting behaviour.
It depends on the merchant and the processor. Some, like PayPal Pro [1], support sending a list of items; Stripe and Braintree appear not to. It is always optional.

[1]: https://developer.paypal.com/webapps/developer/docs/api/#ite...
Video Offers Glimpse of Biosafety Level 4 Lab
What I suspect nawitus is referring to involves the read noise of a CCD. There is always some low level noise involved in reading out a CCD. If this noise dominates, which may be the case for amateur astrophotography, it can explain the noise difference between a single exposure and stacking an equivalent number of shorter exposures.

If for the sake of illustration, the read noise is 10 counts and the signal for a 1 second observation is 10 counts, you will have a signal to noise of 1. Stacking 10 of these will give you a signal to noise of ~3 (square root of 10). Conversely, for the 10 second observation, you will have 100 counts for a signal to noise of 10.

However, there are other sources of noise, and instruments at major observatories are generally designed such that the read noise is not the dominant source of error either through more sensitive detectors or gathering more light (a bigger telescope or larger pixels) or some other means. If even a short exposure constitutes 1000000 counts, the difference between one 10s exposure and ten 1s exposures will be negligible.
Not a hack, just some dev humor.

From 2011:
http://web.archive.org/web/20110808141434/http://www.javelin...?

Issue Tracker, date in 2011:
https://github.com/phacility/javelin/issues/10
Great concept. Experience still needs some work...

How does the verification work? Do I have to register to verify that I've paid?
fair point, will SS next time.
Show HN: HTML5 MMORPG – Node.js