skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Reminds me a while back I was experimenting with a UI fading trick I called "proximity". UI elements would be faded out proportional to how far away the mouse pointer is. In my own jQuery-like API it looks like this:

// Ramp up element opacity as mouse gets closer
jf('#foodiv').resizable().proximity( {
mousenear : function(el,distance){
var _opacity = distance/600;
jfutil.setElementOpacity( el, _opacity );
}
});

I'm guessing someone has already made a jQuery plugin to do something similar.
fork() in Ruby would be much better if MRI's garbage collector wasn't so awful -- because it marks every reachable object in each collection cycle, it's impossible for MRI processes to take advantage of the kernel's copy-on-write memory sharing post-fork. You can't even just let the processes gobble up space and let the kernel's VM sort it out -- anything that gets swapped out will have to be paged back in to be marked by the GC. Churn.
That was a bit easy, I think most people would figure this one out, mostly because there is no decoy, and there is little chance of your trying too long in the wrong direction.
the perl runtime is far more stable than java. I've never encountered perl to crash while it happens that java simply gives up the ghost and goes belly up from time to time (not very often though)
100mm * 50mm is what I buy. Or 10cm * 5cm. It's not that complicated.
Cnn.com1
sdfdsfsdf
Big loss for MS. They touted the London Stock Exchange as a case-study for awhile.

Now where can I find the source for the exchange?
I'm gonna go ahead and suggest the opposite: keep the news as is, but reduce the textual noise. That is, remove the tld, "upvote," submitter, etc. and only show them on mouseover. These are all distractions from the important content, the article names. That's why the NY Times skimmer works; all the metadata is absent.

Since your audience are front-end designers and developers, they like to look at pretty things. The Hacker News crowd strives for functionality.
awesome - I've registered and made a post
In the real world they charge sales tax.
Good point about the funding - but staying power doesn't necessarily imply worth. Motorola's been hobbling along on nearly no market share for years now - and always seem to find more money to keep hobbling.

Until the Pre shows some signs on life in terms of sales, I wouldn't develop for it.
How about a coin that is worth 1/3000th of a US dollar? That's what we have in Russia :) Yes, it is as useless as it sounds.

By the way, the real price distributions are far from uniform. You mostly encounter .99, .49, etc.

Also, in Russia some retail chains do not deal with pennies - the prices are mostly with pennies, but at checkout any pennies in the total sum are chopped off automatically.
Cnn.com23
sdfdsfsdf
Jeff Bezos supposedly invested $250k in Google in '98, worth $1.6 billion today
I didn't do anything specific to this story, and there is still no vote weighting yet.

I changed the frontpage ranking algorithm slightly yesterday, and I tweaked it again today. The reason it seemed to take effect suddenly is that I had pasted the new version yesterday into the server repl, and news had restarted since then. When I pasted the tweaked version into the repl 2 hours ago, it visibly changed rankings.
When creating a username I was slightly thrown off by the inconsistency of calling it a 'username' versus a 'display name'. At first (w/o reading helptext) I thought clicking 'Create display name' was going to take me to another page to create a new name. Maybe think about going with one or the other, I would prefer username.

Also, when choosing a username there is no way to cancel the action and return to the main page (ie clicking off the dialog or maybe having a cancel button.)

That said, the signup process was really smooth and painless. Congrats!
Onebox. Happy with it. Flailed for awhile with Asterix.
I'm not sure it would really succeed. For a long time after the change many people would still refuse to accept a penny as 5 cents. Vending machines, toll booths and the like would all also have to be reworked.
The use of brain-enhancing drugs in colleges continues to rise
Well its not too far off the mark since Windows is preinstalled on about 90% of pcs.
Whilst small, direct messaging will not be an issue.
But...

"250 total direct messages per day, on any and all devices"

http://help.twitter.com/forums/10711/entries/15364

Im not sure if they will make an exception for you. I too wanted to us dm as a means of communicating, but having a limit of 250 in a day would just be crippling.

Perhaps an argument in your d glu would be to allow for "trigger word or phrase" then an open message would not be as bad.

Another option would be you send a tweet with a link. The page has a password which displays the message for the user.
USPTO reversed the position and upheld the patent 3 times. I cannot believe this. This seems to be in the same line as podcast patent, URL suggestion patent, registration key patent.

The eligibility criterion for being a patent examiner/judge needs to be revisited.
He didn't say it was true.

> with the following stipulations:
se aprende en el gerundio
Vending machine manufacturers are used to this, I suspect. They go through it every time the design of the currency changes.
Yeah, I was trying to add as many textual clues as possible to the fact that your Gmail username, etc. wouldn't ever be shown, but instead your "public" or "display" name. But, you're right, "display name" is inherently confusing.

> when choosing a username there is no way to cancel the action

That's actually intentional so that users can't post or comment without a username. But I should add helper text to explain that.
Asterisk. Most of the SMB-targeted VOIP systems are hellishly awful. Asterisk won't be any easier, or less stupid, but at least you can work around the brain damage.
It seems odd that it shows Linux users IE then. Of course, you CAN get it to run on Wine, but it's not exactly supported.
I think JSLint can be a big help, especially with semicolons so I made a quick jQuery plugin to run things through it on page load. So I know exactly when something may be wrong.

http://github.com/ejschmitt/AutoLint
I wasn't sure at first (thought Apple might be taking the heat) but this seems to confirm AT&T's claim that it's Apple that has the problem with Google Voice and not AT&T.
> ...and whether or not legislators "read" bills is irrelevant: they're voting based on political calculation and personal principles, and nothing is going to change that.

I think we should try change it. It's a horrible state of affairs.
The question is, what is the benefit of switching? "It's easier." Yes, technically metric is easier than imperial... but imperial isn't that hard.
Crowdsourcing CCTV monitoring ...
That's why you shouldn't be able to patent ideas, which is all that software patents really are. For everything else we have copyright law.
My friend said: "imagine there was a baby and, instead of growing into an adult, it grew into a giant baby: that's X"
Google targeted in e-mail scam
NeWS was technically superior to X in many ways. I'd argue with Chrome could effectively be NeWS with Javascript instead of Postscript, disguised as a browser so as not to wig everyone out...
We have been using Ringcentral with a total head count of 6 people. It was a breeze to setup (web interface) and you can route calls and extensions to different numbers, etc. I've suggested their service to my friends.

Pros: Easy setup: allocate extensions, routing, voice mail boxes, etc. Cost effective, in other words, cheap!

Cons: None that have caught my attention so far. We needed something quick that would work and give us a more professional identity when we received calls and this has worked for us.
Glad it worked ;) Welcome.
no idea. I'm not even sure that in 1996 I had heard of python. Not sure why folks on this thread want to keep bringing python into the mix, especially in a 1996 context. Others have stated that python isn't and never has been the core to Google's search engine.
I think he's talking the about linux adoption not being down to X but there being no long term vision for linux as a whole. Perhaps there are not enough designers and artists on board to make the linux desktop woo business. It's not always decent APIs that win.
I thought the only reason given for rejecting Google Voice was that it would cause confusion with Apple's dialer? If they did announce Google Voice along with VoIP, there would be some backtracking, I'd imagine.
It's super boring.

Glossaries; descriptions of different kinds of file cabinets, envelopes, and fences; a diagram of how to tape an envelope shut; forms for security guards to fill out; etc.

Plus lots of, "This page intentionally left blank."
You mean, as in more than 'has a pulse' ?

This lawsuit was one of the few times that Microsoft must have thought that maybe those software patents aren't such a good idea after all.

If there is going to be reform you can bet that they'll just try to get rid of the trolls, but they'll try to keep the practice as much as they can to benefit from it. What we really need is a total ban on software patents.

And another one on living organisms.
I didn't say it was complicated anywhere. I said it was less useful and unnecessary.
True, but is it more or less important than discovering superfluidity in a helium isotope (1996 prize)? There are plenty of candidates, and waiting lists tend to be long.
$18.2 Billion in Web, Internet and Tech Acquisitions in Q3
Defamation is a combination of fraud and violence.

The problem with your scheme is the protection of the commons.
Ok, the leaders page now shows both total karma and the average for recent comments.
Can you even get 3G data service from AT&T without first buying 'minutes' though? I can never seem to use up the minimum amount of monthly minutes so this has no bearing on my own monthly bill.
You're probably taking it too seriously then. There's a certain subtext, the catching on to of which might be part of the test, that it's a rational and discernible pattern, and that if the answer is not 36 then the question is broken.
HN Meetup in Cambridge: Oct 11th @ 8pm
To coincide with the Startup Bootcamp event, let's get together and be merry!

Sunday, October 11th, 2009 @ 8pm

Thirsty Scholar Pub: http://www.thirstyscholarpub.com/home.htm

70 Beacon Street, Somerville, MA 02143

I won't be wearing anything in particular, but I'm tall and look like this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/carolfabrizio/3751518218/

Hope to see you there!
I have to agree. The large bold type in short lines is hard to read. As with HN, you should be able to scan quickly. I like larger type than most people so that's good, but longer line lengths are essential. Another subtle thing about HN and is the color. The black (or almost black) and white is too jarring for quick scanning.
If you want to keep the box design with images check out http://www.notcot.org/. Also, this article: http://www.brandonwalkin.com/blog/2009/08/10/managing-ui-com... specifically the part where he mocks up the Aperture 2.0 filter window with iLife-style controls (in regards to your double border on the boxes).

Despite all of this, though, it is a good idea and a good start. I hope it works out.
Good for them, good decision. There are other international operators that run skype and it is really useful.
>> Also since an inch seem to be defined to be exactly 2.54 cm 1/8th of that would be exactly 0,3175cm the scenario you paint up first doesn't become impossible to do with a finite number of decimal points and your argument about splitting a cm has no bearing on that.

I have a ruler with 1/16ths of an Inch marked on it. I don't have one with every 0.3175cm marked off on it.

In several instances, fractions are far more useful than their decimal equivalent.

>> "The point of standardization is that it costs society is less when it doesn't have to convert or adapt all the time"

I agree. But the average person doesn't need to. We're not all traveling the world buying things in different measures or collaborating on space shuttles. Most of us are popping down the shop to buy a pint of milk.

And lastly, these are the things that make countries unique! Different! Interesting! Culture! Anything to keep those differences is good.
You change it by voting in better legislators.

Regardless, the idea that every voter on every piece of legislation is going to be conversant with every line in that legislation seems unrealistic.
I think the technically correct term would be "no longer actively blocks".
I'm sure they're banking on the quality of 3G VoIP calls being low enough that you'll want to place a normal call whenever possible.

People already complain endlessly about their voice service dropping. I suspect data is worse, and VoIP will make that abundantly clear.
What phones do you use with it?
The only time I go to Google's homepage is when, after arriving to search results from a query typed in my browser search field, I see a special Doodle and am interested in knowing more of what Google is celebrating today.

If I'm interested in images, I'll still type it in the browser search field and click "images" afterwards.
I've just been through this.

1) Skype for business isn't. They have less-than-zero customer service. One example: http://bit.ly/4fYnwz. They don't have any support option apart from their forums. And Google Voice is limited to windows PCs. No OS X, Linux, mobile or hardware options.

2) Expensive

3) Damned expensive

4) Hosted VOIP has won for us. We use voipfone.co.uk and I can't say enough good things about them or their services. They have every feature imaginable - including things like voice-mail-to-email and 'Press 1 for Sales'. They use SIP protocols so your hardware and software choices are hardly limited. They use astericks so you can get free trunking to other businesses/locations using astericks. Hosting your own astericks server would be very good too, but I suspect for the scale you're considering, voipfone.co.uk or something similar in your part of the world is the cost-effective way forward.

good luck!
Talkswitch.

Terrible. Big mistake. Low quality. Bad enough that explaining why would be traumatic enough that I won't do it. I'd still be grinding my teeth hours later.
An alternative definition of efficiency is total number of coins you need to carry in your pocket to cover a single transaction of 1..99 cents. Interestingly all the good 4-coin solutions in the article, including (1, 3, 11, 37) as well as our current (1, 5, 10, 25), require a total of 10 coins.

There are 12 other 4-coin solutions, (1, 3, 9, 25) being the most reasonable looking, that only require a total of 9 coins.
I always go to google.com and type there. I just like seeing the logo changes, checking if they've changed any UI bits/extras, and I want to be sure I'm getting results exactly as I want.
If schools start testing, we'll end up with a cat & mouse game similar to the one in professional sports. The cat's out of the bag.

A recent article serves as a good primer to the ethical issues raised by cognitive enhancers:
http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2009/09/the-age-of-enhance...
This is a good blog post. But it could be about anything, and I encourage you to treat it as such (although the idea of doing this with Math is probably something many of could more or less directly use).

Stupid example. I live in a single family house. When we moved in, the yards (front/back) were full of weeds. By weeding for 1/2 an hour a week, I cleaned the front out of weeds. What was insurmountable without chemical assistance turned into a few minutes of digging in dirt (which I enjoy). Now I have a weed free lawn, which I enjoy with my family all the time (grass stains are bad, but we get this dandelion thing that stains permanently at the slightest touch).

I became a foosball whiz (ok, I've seen real whizzes, and I'm not one, but . . . let's say a 'local whiz') by practicing 15-30 minutes a day.

The only real trick is working out a way to want to engage in that activity in a sufficiently 'serious' way on a regular basis. Which is why I have a nice lawn and am good at foosball rather than, say, being good at a musical instrument.
enlargement exercises
Mostly men are unsatisfied with their penis size and want to improve as they can. I am agreeing with that Pills are helpful regarding this issue. Any person can easily purchase male enhancement treatments from shops but try to make sure is it real pharmacy or not so before using any treatment option first consult to any physician.
I already have a Ph.D. in EE and even I don't have the time to choose the proper Arduino and read the basic docs and figure out what to do with the thing. [1]

And, though I love browsing Digikey or wandering the aisles at You-Do-It Electronics -- because I already know how -- such activity also takes a bunch of time, plus you end up either buying lots of extra stuff or risking that you will forget to buy something, or buy the wrong thing, and need to make one or more repeat trips. This risk is especially huge if you're new to electronics and don't already have several drawers full of miscellaneous capacitors and hookup wire and op amps and LEDs.

So I can definitely see the value here.

--

[1] One of these days I will just pick some arbitrary project out of Make magazine and follow the little steps. Or perhaps I will buy a NerdKit!
Following the herd can be wildly profitable, but it's also easy to get trampled. Sometimes it's better (and easier) to carve out a small but profitable niche.

Back when OS X was a fledgling platform, marketshare looked like a rounding error next to Windows. There were still a number of small third-party vendors that did pretty well for themselves by selling to a tiny market of fiercly committed early OS X adopters. The Omni Group and Panic spring immediately to mind.

Put simply, your cashflow is not a direct function of the install base that you're selling into. Other factors, like ease of development or customer demographics, may be more important.

For the current thing that I'm working on, it would be stupid not to consider the Pre. Their development model matches our current project so closely that including support should be easy. Even if it only gets us another 500 customers, that would be more than enough to make the effort worthwhile.
I am no fan of IQ tests myself, but I think in most tests they are looking for the most simple and logical answers - and they are trying to create tests that have very little ambiguity. In your sequence it's more logical and simple that the answer is 36, than it is how many bald men walked by your house today.

I don't know if IQ tests tell anything about a person's real intelligence, but I think that most intelligent people can become very good at solving these tests.
If the numbers are right in the article, 40% of his "active monthly users" are making the micro-payment. That's an unbelievable conversion rate.
Thanks for the good read, Jason. I'm looking to build a newsletter for my travel site and am always looking for examples of companies that are having success with one.

Another company that is doing really well with newsletters is Dogster. Sarah Lacy interviewed the Dogster founder for Yahoo a year or so ago and I was amazed to discover how lucrative they can be.

Link to the interview here: http://blog.dogster.com/2008/12/01/sarah-lacy-interviews-ted...
Poll: Is use of AmazonAWS worth hiding?
I am struggling with whether to hide my use of Amazon's fine S3 service by use of a CNAME, on a widget I am designing.

My dilemma is that some of my users might choose to incorporate my widget on secure sites, which means widgetbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/widget.html will be the URL that I tell my users to use.

The other 99% of my users will not be using secure sites, and I imagine some loss of credibility by using the amazonaws.com in my url. Am I crazy?

EDIT: Also, some users (or actually, my users, users) will be able to maximize the widget to the full screen, and have the URL staring them in the face in their browsers address bar. For this reason, I really think I'm losing too much by giving up on using my domain name.
Don't sacrifice functionality trying to make yourself seem more professional. Use the amazonaws.com URL. Nobody will decide not to use you because they see amazonaws.com instead of cooldomain.com in the URL.
Don't confuse your users with a URL that doesn't belong to you. The small percentage of folks that need to use your content on a secure site are not worth it.
Find a way to do both. Add a menu option to ask if they intend to use use https, and if so, host their content in a bucket that you don't CNAME. Host everybody else in a CNAME'd bucket. Don't worry about the extra complexity of the user interface, it's worth it.
If we're going to get more than ~10 people, I can go over there and try to negotiate some sort of food/drink special. If you're planning on attending, could you say so in this thread so I can get an approximate head count.
Since the acquisition price of YouTube has been used as some kind of reference since it happened, I'd be curious to know the impact it could have on other companies' valuation.

Obviously, it's impossible to tell, but if you think of YouTube as worth $600M then, instead of $1.6B, I'm sure it'd change the perception of other companies like Facebook, Twitter and the rest.
The significance of a hamburger being comprised of many different pieces of multiple cows is that it's hard to track and there are higher-risk meats than others. For example, meat that resided near the intestines/colon has a much a higher risk of e. coli contamination.

Honestly, I'm with you in my lack of concern, but probably for a different reason. It is a very small justice that meat-eaters should get e. coli from time to time.
<em>It is ability to gain a community rather than design that matters for this type of web-service.</em>

Yeah, I get that, but the front page is just a signup form. If I set up a page like that, it wouldn't magically get signups. There must be some marketing involved someplace.
The reason so many patents are issued isn't, for the most part, due to dumb examiners and judges. Its part of a political/economic agenda to enrich U.S. interests in global free market warfare. As other markets grow and adopt technology, they are beholden to IP owners, which are lead by the U.S. Or so the thinking goes. It turns out, there are lots of problems with this strategy. But there it is, the U.S. wants to rubber stamp as many patents are they can before China, India, Japan can.
Initially I wasn't concerned about this because it was only me and I thought about not opening it up because of this limit, but I also thought that it'd be solvable, somehow.
We could make a case for an exception, but that doesn't guarantee one. Your idea of a tweet with a link is a great one and would go a long way towards solving this. Thanks.
I'm sorry, it's unreadable. It was in fact the first thing that struck me as I entered the site.

Anyways, I highly recommend some books on cognitive ergonomics - it's a bit odd that we have a bunch of UX guys running around who don't even know what the term means.

It's generally understood that, for western countries anyways, people read content from top to bottom, left to right. When trying to present something in a skimmable, easily parsable way, you must stick with this format.

The somewhat flaky nature of your thumbnailing is also distracting. When presenting a list, the list must be consistent - and right now it is anything but. Behaviour and location of information radically differs between thumbnailed vs. non-thumbnailed entries.

No offense, but the move away from the top-down list seems driven more by an attempt to be different rather than any perceived gain in usability.
R.I.P. Good Times: One Year Later
> The black (or almost black) and white is too jarring for quick scanning

Agreed, I was going back and forth between making sure the article text didn't get overwhelmed by the screenshots and vice versa.
You don't; it's a hosted PBX with a web interface. We just use POTS phones on standard AT&T circuits, plus our cell phones.