skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
This is getting long :) Feel free to email me by the way.

Tegarding the 'auditors', mistakes are made, it happens and not all audit rounds are equally good. Some are downright ridiculous (telling you to change stuff the previous audit told you to do).

I don't think it is appropriate to advertise any IPSPs here, the biggest things to look at are segregated merchant accounts, how long have they been in business, hold back period, fees, integration capabilities, customer service department reputation and references.

Roughly in that order.

It also helps if they process a sizable volume so that when there is a problem it is not just your problem.

Masking your own URL is the one thing that always seems to come up as a 'desirable' because nobody likes to send the customer elsewhere at the moment of making the sale.

But in practice it doesn't really matter much, as long as you get editorial control over the content of the landing page on the IPSP side and the customer is aware that a transition is going to happen and they get back to where they were on completion of the transaction. The latter is very important.

If your IPSP can not give you that sort of functionality then it might be problematic, it could cost you sales.

Using your own SSL certificate is not going to be enough to mask the IPSPs URL, after all, once the data captured gets posted you are on their domain anyway. I personally prefer to have the transition happen at the same moment you go from unencrypted to encrypted, that way you sort of guide the customer to the very last step before the payment happens. Depending on your environment that means they've filled up their cart or selected the type of subscription they wish to purchase and then the next click will take them to the 'checkout' where their payment information is captured.

I agree the repost seems wrong, but the good news here is that if you are in https anyway then caching is not your problem. No browser or proxy will cache that stuff, if it has passed there once during the post it might as well pass twice more, no harm done.

The only thing that is vulnerable to is mitm and by that time that has already happened, the only difference being that your mitm now has three copies of the data instead of just one.
Thanks! I wanted it to be super easy.
What about, instead of printing local you could have it printed and shipped to you within 24 hours? Is there an online business in there somewhere, or are the numbers just too small?
Start-Ups Weigh When to Expose Themselves
I guess i will never understand why they didn't choose twisted and finally gave it the revamped twisted.web it needs..
I have yet to see a more featurecomplete internet framework with which i can do practically everything the internet is about, with so much flexibility and yet it is suffering from the state of twisted.web.
Aynchronous database access, http, pop3,imap,smtp, amqp, irc, msn and about every protocol out there can be so easily integrated in twisted, it amazes me everytime.
Sad, that this framework isn't used more widely, it could rule the web.
Sorry--I should have been more specific. When I said "new coder," I really meant "new coder." I started programming when I was 9- or 10 years old, and thus worked without the onus of keeping my code clean for its future maintainers. As a victim of my own folly, however, I learned to avoid voodoo fixes by the time I was 14. :-)
I am anxious to see how much of the functionality remains. The business world loves Office, specifically Excel. If they can maintain some of the more intense features of Excel (Macros, Pivot Tables, etc.) then they me be on to something that high paying enterprises would want.
Awful Programming Advice
Are there any notable trends in the early stage investment behavior? The big acquisitions get a lot of press, but I've heard good news from friends at seed stage companies and wonder how wide spread it is.
an easy fix that wouldn't have damaged the visual integrity would have been to separate the years slightly with a white line, rather than have a big solid blob of color.
I remember having similar feelings when I left University. For me it some of my concerns were about the change, I'd become so used to studying that I found the idea of the working world a little daunting. There are a few things that I've found out:

- No two jobs are the same: technology, opportunities and people change.

- Many more opportunities present themselves in industry, I know many who have very different careers from their degree. The working world has far more jobs for your skills than you might think.

- So far outsourcing software seems just to have caused more software to be written and more innovation. The demand for software has increased.

- You can get into a way of thinking that whatever you do there is always something better: accept the choices you make and see where they lead. It's more rewarding to play to your skills rather than to try and develop completely new skills from scratch (I'm not saying don't try anything new, but by playing to your strengths when you do).
Reminds me of http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html about 15 mins in.

You have to show up to work everyday and if your muse doesn't then you did your part.
I've tried the http://www.sleeptracker.com/, but it was the first version having the stupid button on the face, which inevitably meant tossing and turning would disable it. Other than that, it was pretty good.

The new versions seem better, but I'm not going to sink $180 to find out.
Ask HN: How does Y Combinator deal with conflict of interests?
Suppose you submit an idea that might compete (indirectly) with an existing YCombinator venture.

What happens then?
do you care to share your tricks for doing that, when all you really want to do is read/sleep? how do you discipline yourself so that you don't constantly need inspiration?
The customer should not normally see any started but not completed transactions, but there have been cases where this data did become visible leading to lots of confusion.

Confusion = Chargebacks.

So you have to make really sure that there is no way the fact that you did that gets back to the customer.

Are you doing your own scrubbing ? Or do you purchase a scrubbing service from the gateway provider ?

The gateway is not the one that decides if you can store CVV2, the card companies make that decision. The rules for that are available, it's a fairly strict standard though.

Encrypted harddrives, all kinds of physical security.

I'm guessing that that is the reason why you see big name merchants do this, but hardly any little ones.

I know of one company that actually set up an IPSP just for that purpose. They now make more money on that part of their business than on the original business...
I recall a study where researchers wanted to see how "natural" work was. They took a class of young children and told them they can do whatever they want. So the first day they all ran around outside and had fun. I think by the third day they were all begging to have class again and have some work to do.
I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and can't tell you how much a CPAP machine has helped me. I'd wake up feeling worse than when I slept, and it's hard to pay attention in that condition, which might be the ADHD connection.
I agree with the author completely. There is a huge fragmented education market which requires a technologically scalable innovative solution.
Office Live is actually something else; I believe it's a cloud storage/sync service for Office 2007. The first link you had was the correct one for Office 2010, which includes the Web Apps. http://office2010themovie.com is another, though I have to say I think it's a bit strange. There's some interesting stuff on there, though unfortunately the web apps video (the Terry Crowley one) doesn't have much in the way of product or technical detail.
I lived (and sorta still do live) by this advice. It's good, if you have the lifestyle and means to support it, except for the sleep advice:

But if you're tired, don't fight it. Sleep.

This worked out to be an absolute disaster for me (if you take it to its logical conclusion, if you're not tired, don't go to sleep, etc). I ended up free wheeling around the clock, sometimes getting up at 7pm, sometimes 2am, sometimes 11am.. it was nuts. And that sort of sleep pattern really messes with your head after a while.
The Best Deal in Startup Land
I think they probably consider buying a single track from an album and buying a 'digital single' (a small release with 1 or more tracks) two different things.

I doubt the former case is considered a 'single' in the traditional sense of the word in the music industry.
Stephen Hawking's Comeback
Recent article on Stephen Hawking (printable, full text)
The network effect around software support to binary architectures is irrelevant (next to, actually) when applied free and open-source software.

An ARM netbook has been proved viable regarding software availability because Linux-based netbooks have already proved themselves viable. The fact they employ x86 processors is a historical accident.
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.

- Bertrand Russell
Ask HN: (Freelance) Do you host your clients' sites?  Why, or why not?
Whether I'm volunteering some time for a friend or taking on a paying client, I always have two specific quandaries: If they have their own shared hosting at, for example, Dreamhost, or (cringe) NetSol, do I encourage them to keep it? What if they're not savvy enough to add an SSH account for me to upload things through? What if they're too nervous to hand out login credentials or create new accounts, and insist on uploading things themselves? Which of these issues are "I can work with it," and which are "This client is too stubborn to work with?" I've dealt with folk on both ends of the spectrum, and sometimes I'm really not sure if I'm "bending over backwards," or just "being flexible."

The second quandary ties into the first. If I'm working on a static site--just HTML, CSS, images, and possibly some JavaScript (no AJAX)--then it's no big deal to zip it up, send it to the client and let them upload it at their leisure.

But, dynamic sites... even if I'm just customizing a codebase I've already written for this customer, things quickly become nontrivial: If they have a shared hosting environment, what if it costs extra to use a database? What if their host supports MySQL but not Postgres, or vice-versa? What if I wrote it in PHP5 or Python 2.6, but they only have PHP4 or Python 2.3? Do you charge more? Encourage the client to switch hosts? To you? Hosting clients has its own class of distressing issues.

Even worse is explaining the difference between "dynamic" and "static" to a layperson. Sometimes they'll get it if I say, "Basically dynamic is anything that lets users login and save information on the site," but even that is a pretty shaky metric.

How do you articulate these issues to a layperson without overwhelming them?
Good find, thanks. At about 40% of that page there's a long comment from the code author. He says: "double click - instant find in file is my favorite feature"

Sounds like a good idea for other implementations.
First and foremost, procrastination is death. We were born to take action, even if the action we take is not in the direction of our ideal life, it still enables us to begin a journey and experience everything that the world will present on our path. I believe that life is a puzzle, made up of millions of pieces, or in other words experiences; career, school, relationship, money, vacation, camp, good times, bad times, sickness, regret, deceit, etc. This list could literally go on forever, but what is important to realize is that every single experience that takes place in your world will provide you with a piece to your puzzle of life. Each of these pieces will enable you to get closer to completing your puzzle and having your ideal life being revealed to the world. Now you might be asking yourself, how many people get to the point of actually completing their puzzle? And the answer is extremely few, if any, because human nature is most comfortable, in an uncomfortable way, to be a “fence sitter.” The definition of a “fence sitter” is someone whose complacency and over-analysis of every situation prevents personal growth, and ultimately the puzzle from being completed. So, what I ask you to keep in mind as you begin to make the first magnanimous decision in your life is to listen to what your “gut” is telling you to do. Your intuition will never lead you in a path where you will not grow and when making a decision, if you are unable to look in the mirror and feel comfortable with the person who looks back, then realize that you lying to yourself. The feeling of doubt is called “The Unknown,” because regardless of what path you take, it will be uncharted territory in your world. But like Alan Alda once said, “You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.” Trust yourself…we are all born with all of the tools that we need to live a life filled with endless opportunities, but it is your choice if you decide to use all of them! Good luck….
Good idea - this is often done in the game Puerto Rico.
Beware managers with free time
JVM Languages Summit Clojure Keynote Notes
I wish they had JavaScript support in themes.
That is what I found to be most intriguing as well...Do you think that Google is congruent with this message?
I read this in paper format, and I can say I recommend it. It is however, fairly out of date, but the text should bring you up to speed on linker+loader ideas.
Wow, this is kind of a confusing mess of branding and offers.
I had this same feeling when I finished my junior year as an Electrical Engineering major. The truth is, I chose that major when I was barely 17 years old, and it was accidental. I chose my major from a drop-down list on a web application. I was going to choose Computer Science, but then I saw "Computer Engineering" and thought it sounded more impressive, so I chose that one. Little did I know how different the coursework was at the time. But I stuck with it until I was 21. Then something hit me. I didn't really enjoy my major at all.

At UT-Austin, the "recommended" degree plan for EE only has 1 elective, no foreign language, and probably 8 classes on circuits. I couldn't help but feel like I had missed out on something, so I decided to take some extra time.

So when I reached my senior year, I decided to drop all of my EE classes the next semester and signed up for all Philosophy classes. Took out a student loan and got a couple student jobs as a web developer, and took my time taking 6 hours a semester for the next 2 years. Ended up moving into a student co-op (an awesome experience), partied, met the girl who would become my wife, got 2 years of work experience, read a lot of philosophy books and novels, took a foreign language, learned to play guitar, and did everything else I had wanted to do.

So that's how I ended up as an EE/Philosophy double major and took 6 years to graduate. Don't regret it at all.
Knowing how to tie a few useful knots is surprisingly empowering. Cinch things down, strap things to your backpack, hang a tarp, fix broken items, etc. etc.

I highly recommend learning to rock climb or sail as you will most definitely use the knots you learn on a regular basis.
IMHO, eliminating any potential source of confusion from a checkout flow is worth doing, and so masking the domain is usually worth it. And although we know it doesn't make a difference in practice, customers and clients don't like it.

Your point about SSL and mitm makes sense. I'll look into the idea of temporarily storing the data in hidden fields, and if I find anything definitive I'll be sure to update.

Thanks for the followups, I greatly appreciate your help. If I have further questions I will email you.
right. I took the time to read the full article, and just wasted 5 minutes. he doesn't even try to list some arguments. it's plain dumb.
You can't include 'illegal' downloads in there. Something that is free doesn't have the same market pressures as something that costs money.

If I download music illegally, I can download GBs upon GBs of music which would cost me thousands of dollars were I to purchase it. What if I don't have those thousands of dollars? It's not like you can say that I would have bought all of those albums if it was impossible to pirate and then add the thousands of dollars to 'lost CD/Legal Download Service sales.'
That reminds me of a portion of a letter Ben Franklin wrote to Peter Collinson:

"The proneness of human Nature to a life of ease, of freedom from care and labour appear strongly in the heretofore little success that has attended every attempt to civilize our American Indians. . . . They visit us frequently and see the advantages that Arts, Science and compact Society procure us; they are not deficient in natural understanding and yet they have never strewn any inclination to change their manner of life for ours, or to learn any of our Arts.

"When an Indian child has been brought up among us, taught our language and habituated to our customs, yet if he goes to see his relations and makes one Indian Ramble with them, there is no perswading him ever to return. And that this is not natural [only to Indians], but as men, is plain from this, that when white persons of either sex have been taken prisoners young by the Indians, and lived awhile among them, tho' ransomed by their Friends, and treated with all imaginable tenderness to prevail with them to stay among the English, yet within a Short time they become disgusted with our manner of Life, and the care and pains that are necessary to support it, and take the first good Opportunity of escaping again into the Woods, from whence there is no reclaiming them."
Let me try to phrase the argument more clearly: if you want to pass on a checked exception via redeclaration in the "throws" clause, you've broken encapsulation because a change to the lower layer implies changes all the way up the stack. If bar() was originally calling readDatabase() that threw a SQLException, and I change it to call readFile() that throws an IOException, if I'm passing that exception up the stack I have to change bar's signature purely due to an implementation change, and so on up the stack. So a change at the lower layer has now forced me to make changes all the way through my application stack. Henceforth, encapsulation is broken by what should just be an implementation change.

The only way to avoid that break of encapsulation is to catch the exception immediately in bar(), and then do something with it: either handle it, or rethrow it as something else, either a runtime exception or as a different checked exception. But that also isn't really ideal; in my experience, about 98% of the time even checked exceptions are throw-up-your-hands sort of programmer errors that you want to bounce a fair way up the stack to some more central error-handling location, or to kill the high-level operation being attempted. In other words . . . you generally just want to treat them exactly like runtime exceptions.

So while the theory of type-safety around checked exceptions is nice and all, in practice if you actually use them as part of type signatures they massively couple all the layers of your application, and I find them much more annoying than useful.
I'm a night owl. Even if I'm underslept and am tired during the day, I have the most energy and awake feeling at night. If I went to bed when I was tired, it would be 3-5 AM almost every night. Unfortunately I'm not yet able to sleep until noon and stay employed;)

As it is, I try to go to bed ~ midnight. It typically takes me a while to fall asleep, but it's the only way I can be up by 8-9 AM without being tired during the day.
Great article. I always like Hawkings; if nothing else for his impossible mantra (a complete understanding of the universe). He's certainly smart enough to know he wont manage it but he's giving it a damn good shot (and pushing us a bit closer along the way)!
This comparison makes me wonder what the upper limit is for python-based server performance. I wonder where the main bottleneck lies.
I for one fear the repercussions of providing the terrorists latitude/longitude of all of our city's drinking fountains. If we can't trust them, we'll have to resort to drinking pre-bottled water!

All of the information being provided is available upon request anyway. I doubt there are any terrorists that are REALLY committed to causing problems, but not committed ENOUGH to go to city hall and request the information - or for that matter, use a free call-before-you-dig service.
Thanks.

What you describe sounds promising since I am mostly concerned about retaining the "click anywhere and start typing" nature of the app rather than the tight integration with the rest of Office.

There are a couple of different methods for sharing such as sharepoint and shared drives. I am giving it a shot with Dropbox at my new gig to see how it works out. I would like to be able to treat it like I do my Moleskine - always there, always up to date.
I am not sure if it is a problem because doubt and curiosity leads you to make changes, create and progress
So, umm, why isn't this a pay feature? I would have paid.

Added: In fact, I do pay monthly for squarespace which you've now got enough theme parity with (at least through the advanced editor) that a geek like me would pay happily.
Thanks for the pointer. I'll look into that.
Actually, I think their solution is pretty elegant; any task that takes that long is abstracted to its own HTTP request, which itself can be blocking without blocking the original request.
Yes and no. When I first read the article I hadn't noticed the date, and thought "finally!". But having seen the dateline, and with the onslaught of half-baked Google products continuing, it doesn't seem like the strategy has permeated.

On the other hand, they have been releasing a lot of "labs" features into existing products like Gmail and search, which previously might have become discrete products.

So I think they've got a long way to go on this strategy, but I think its a good one for them and they've made progress. I certainly don't think they should stop innovating, but I do think they need to pay more attention to their positioning.
Slapped in the Face by the Invisible Hand: Banking and the Panic of 2007
IMO, this is the best paper on the ongoing financial crisis.
The problem isn't just that the system doesn't give enough feedback. The problem is that it also gives it at the wrong time.

In the real world, if your own testing misses a bug, you don't find out until it's live and causes a problem. In most grading systems, if your own testing misses a bug, you don't find out until the grader's (hopefully more comprehensive) testing catches it and you lose points.

In this system, if your testing misses a bug, you're immediately told that a bug exists, and given no other information -- but there's no actual penalty for doing this. In the real world, you're told what the incorrect behavior is, but there's a penalty in that this incorrect behavior has at least inconvenienced someone.
It is a direct result of pushing out pop crap to sell singles. The majority of the artists the industry markets are pop artists that want a hit single. That is what they push for that is what they get. If they would get behind real artists and market them and their work album sales would increase.

Look at the top charts for singles. Pick any artist in the top 10. Go somewhere you can preview the entire album and then ask yourself if you would buy it.
Kindle trumps hardcover of Dan Brown book, a first for Amazon