skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Free or not, technical excellence or not, Palm's market is tiny. By all accounts the Pre missed the boat on sales by miles, and Palm is in a mad scramble to get pricing down to compete with iPhone. The company is also in financially dire straits.

While it would be nice for the most free, easiest-to-develop platform to win, it would be foolish to develop on a platform nobody uses.

For the current thing I'm working on I will be stupid not to include iPhone and BlackBerry support - and given Moto, HTC, and Nokia's new push to Android, that also. The Pre though is still off the list, despite the fact that I personally like the device.
while i agree with the premise that the prices aren't uniformly distributed, i think its less of an issue than people think.

there are undoubtedly uneven humps that favor certain areas. but i think that the actual result of real life retail transactions is a more level curve than you would expect due to things like multiple, varied item purchases and the possible inclusion of various types of sales tax.
give this dude some love, I had a good laugh after figuring out what that first comment meant.
There are three types of security verifications:

What you know
What you have
What you are

Of the three, what you know is by far the most secure (in theory). What you are is the least secure.

What you know can never be stolen from you, at least not without you being aware of it. What you have is hard to steal, but not impossible. What you are is trivial to steal.

Biometrics is the least secure method of verifying someone. It is trivial to clone, and even worse you can clone it at a distance without the person even realizing it was cloned.

So no, biometric tech is not a good way to paying someone.

However, what you know is subject to people forgetting, and it's hard to have a very long pass phrase.

What you have wins easily. And the real world bears this out - every security system everywhere uses it, credit cards, keys, drivers licenses.

Computers use what you know only because it's hard to do 'what you have' remotely.
DNS lookups are not currently signed nor authenticated, neither of which go through ssh or the browser's SSL stack, which is a major attack vector for MITM.
I think there's a small amount of overlap between hacker culture and drug culture. From the Jargon File:

Limited use of non-addictive psychedelic drugs, such as cannabis, LSD, psilocybin, nitrous oxide, etc., used to be relatively common and is still regarded with more tolerance than in the mainstream culture. Use of `downers' and opiates, on the other hand, appears to be particularly rare; hackers seem in general to dislike drugs that make them stupid. On the third hand, many hackers regularly wire up on caffeine and/or sugar for all-night hacking runs.

http://plumeria.vmth.ucdavis.edu/~saintly/bio/portrait.html#...
Sorry I was referring to the people voting it up, not you specifically ;)

The fact it shot to #1 and then dropped to #28 in less than an hour though surely points to it being a niche interest within hacker news.
According to Wikipedia (I haven't bothered to check the math), a ternary currency system would maximize the likelihood that a customer would get exact change.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanced_ternary

So I think we should eliminate the penny; issue three-cent, nine-cent, and twenty-seven-cent coins; and redefine the dollar to equal eighty-one cents.
I'm getting the sense that you haven't really read krugman. For starters, if you did read him on the NYT then you couldn't have missed the giant OPINION label at the top. It's an op-ed, it isn't claiming to be anything else.

Second, if you read the article in question he specifically talks about this particular school of economists using rigorous mathematical models, and the problems he has with those models (in laymans terms). Did you miss that part or did you not read the article in question?
Why only restrict to 4 coins? Why do pennies have to be removed? Why not just add the 3 cent coin to the mix?

1,3,5,10,25.
I'm afraid we'll just have to agree to disagree.

I do want to say that I think you're really overreacting though. I was asking why this was hacker news because I was trying to give you (and by extension all of the upvoters) the benefit of the doubt. Ordinarily I'd just flag something like this and move on, but since you usually have pretty insightful things to say about a wide variety of topics, I admitted that I didn't get it and asked for clarification. I think it's unfortunate that you took it as some kind of attack on your person or on your taste, or whatever. I know what the guidelines are on this site, I spend more time here than I spend with my wife; so I don't really need them quoted back at me.

I also get that autism is a big deal, I have 2 family members who work with autistic children every day; and I can tell you that they aren't going to start telling people to get their kids high because it worked for one person who had the idea to toss a pot brownie junior's way.
Poster Printing Increases Your Business Flexibility
Nobody on this forum has argued for granting other animals moral consideration based on cuteness or anthropomorphism. I didn't see anyone elevating anything else over rats, either. Farm animals and rats intrinsically deserve not to be tortured.
Noted, thanks. I will point out, though, that quite a few comments above mention the same thing.
Interesting, considering, most people still haven't found out that you don't have to click the "Search" button for the query to execute.
Just curious: both of those channels could be streamable in that case. Why doesn't it work? Is it my software (mplayer), or is there something specific about that file? (it does work when the file is complete)
What do you do when someone starts file-sharing your program? Apply a single, simple, almost certainly ambiguously worded law about theft?

One simple law about theft that can't neatly answer the question seems preferable to the current tens or hundreds of possibly applicable pedantically worded laws that can't neatly answer the question.
An older but more thorough analysis may be found here:

http://discovermagazine.com/2003/oct/featscienceof
Emails are the original "push" and it still works. The "FWD:" is like the original retweet. Emails are part of nearly every person's life in the modern world at varying degrees.

How can Email lists not be successful? It may not be sexy, but it's real.
So here's a question: why not have a background process that keeps asking Y! every 57 minutes?
I wonder how he got all those users in the first place. http://www.torn.com/ is poorly designed and doesn't elaborate on what the game is.

It is ability to gain a community rather than design that matters for this type of web-service.

It's a handful of PHP scripts with little to actually "do" - at least at the intro level - training is merely clicking on some JavaScript buttons.

What difference for the player does it make what technology was used for scripting and buttons? An average guy from these 40k users might not even know such words as JavaScript/PHP/Flash.
PhotoSketch: better than sliced bread, Photoshop
This file doesn't work in quicktime, and the audio does not work in VLC.

EDIT: on MPlayerOSXExtended, the audio does not play, and the video freezes after 10 seconds.
So why do those 100'000 other geeks make no money? And why does torn make money?
"From what I have read autism is a condition in which inputs cause the child to feel strong emotions that are not necessarily rational. I don't see that cannabis would cause the child to think in a rational manner unless it was to cause him/her to focus on things more."

I think this is probably a symptom of what I described above, rather than the root cause. Read Temple Grandin's book Animals in Translation if you want a better account.

The book is written by an autistic woman who discovered that she has a really uncanny ability to understand animals. Basically she is able to see which stimuli are causing cattle and other animals to freak out, and the way she is able to do this is because her perception of the world is altered in a way that makes these stimuli (and their effects) more salient. For example, she will realize that the reason the cow won't move is because it sees a shadow, which no one else can recognize even though it's right in front of them. Apparently both autistics and animals are set off by some of the same things, because they don't have the natural ability to generalize phenomena. (So if they see a shadow, it's like a completely new thing to them each time and it scares them.) Although it seems like this particular author has learned to intellectualize that ability, so as an adult she has learned to get around the fact that the part of her brain which is supposed to do that isn't working. Anyway I'd really recommend this book, it sounds really flaky but it's incredibly intellectually interesting, and has so many implications for so many things it's ridiculous.

(Note that there may be several types of autism, which science hasn't yet differentiated because people could be having different subjective experiences, while the behavioral outcomes are the same. I'm not saying this is the case, it's just a possibility that has to be kept in mind, because people as introspective and articulate as Grandin are rare so understanding in these areas moves slowly.)
Just one more thing to push Autodesk's twitch - http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/trials/ ... something Autodesk has been flirting with for about 10 years now. Before you could rent software from authorized dealers, not it's coming online. Nobody would be happier than Autodesk to have their lineup in SaaS.
I was also surprised, but explained it to myself like this: Autism (and Asperger's, which is something like high-functioning autism) have a certain natural affinity with hackers. If there's something that works for autism, we might collectively be curious if it translates to asperger's as well.

Here's an old wired article on the asperger's/hacker affinity: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aspergers_pr.html
Additionally, I like to pay with cash when I don't want my purchasing habits to be collected by the store or my creditor. I find it disturbing how our modern economy makes the task of collecting information on one's interests and identity so effortless. I wouldn't want it to become all the easier.
I wonder if they're trying to squeeze out some settlements before the Bilski case is decided.
Unless it's harming the child, which, apparently it's not, I see no reason to stop the treatment if it's doing the child any good whatsoever, no matter how big the good it's doing the parents.
Audio starts after a couple of seconds of silence (around the introduction slide, so nothing of value is lost hopefully ;) )
> give their kid pot to try to cure autism?

It didn't work. It drugged him to be more passive, but had no effect on the actual autism.

Seemed like a plus to the parents though, and from what they write the kid was happier. But it was not a cure at all.

Next we'll hear about ADHD being treated this way.

Drugs to cure every ill.
What I'm saying is... if all anyone cares about is primetime, then saying a show is on at primetime is as good as not saying anything at all about when it's on.
The odd one out - inspired by IQ tests
You should read "A Deepness In The Sky" and "A Fire Upon The Deep"; the topic is actually covered fairly well.
You don't have to run an email newsletter to make money in this business, either. Check out this very cool (and successful) piece of Mac software by HN user jhammer:

http://ethreesoftware.com/directmail/index.php

It does pretty much everything you'd need to run one of these newsletters.
We'd have a more interesting society if there was as much appreciation for biz mags proffering "30 over 30" gee-whiz start-up stories as there is for the more common "30 under 30".

It's not a matter of personal ego (graying geekster though I may be) but helping more people doing more things get the attention they deserve.

It's about broadening people's scope of the world they live in.
moron4hire,

You'd be less intelligent too if you'd been selectively bred for thousands of years to promote complacence and stupidity.

Still, to call farm animals "barely more than walking vegetables" is highly uninformed. Pigs, for one, have been shown to be about as intelligent as dogs. Cows have been shown to celebrate after solving problems. Chickens and turkeys seem to be less intelligent, but they are nonetheless worthy of serious moral consideration.
Since autism is a psychological problem, the effectiveness of the medication should be judged based on how the underlying thought processes are changed. The behavioral outcomes are only a proxy for what's going on inside the child's head.
That's amazing ...

Why would AT&T do this? I no longer need 'minutes' of phone service anymore (except as a backup when I'm occasionally out of a 3G service area)
Also, most of the customers from VerticalResponse, MailChimp, and Constant-Contact all derive value from their email lists.
> If bloggers want to be treated like real, grown-up journalists then they have to start living by the same rules that these journalists live by.

And what rule would that be?

Journalists aren't required by law to disclose that they've been paid for reporting something. In fact, they seem to think that the first amendment protects their right to do so.

In other news, journalists also believe that they have a right to report falsehoods. There's a small exception if they report falsely and maliciously on a private person, but even that doesn't apply to public people and malice is almost impossible to prove.
Mine says "You are using: Google Chrome 4" without release date...

Wonder if the version discrepancy is due to OS?
It resolved a serious problem with pica, which was putting the kid in constant physical distress. It didn't just make him more passive.
I'd rather emphasize that the key factor in making money in online gaming is sustainable character development.
Does this mean Google Voice will be supported as a native iPhone app?
Wow, that is really fascinating. I'll have to keep "Animals in Translation" in mind to add to my reading list.
Perhaps they calculated that it's less risky to open VOIP apps than to possibly suffer the wrath of the FCC.
True. But what makes you think you are entitled to do what you what?

Getting a job has obviously benefits for you, otherwise you would no try to get it. But there are also always costs.

These costs include wasting time on learning how to design in the first place and quite a lot of other activities. And it may also include to get a Photoshop license.

After all, you are not required to use it for your private stuff, too!

Also, these "market forces and monopolies of various sorts" hold true for "free" software: If I'd like to get a job as a sys admin, I may have to deal with Apache and Samba althought I really, really hate it!

Where's my right of not being required to deal with Apache and Samba?
Ignoring the extreme inconvenience, this might be an interesting way to tackle our nation's (U.S.) problem of students with poor performance in mathematics.
1. Autism is more common among children of engineers.

2. If a computer receives unexpected input, it may exhibit abnormal behavior. When it is given such input intentionally, we call that either hacking or taking drugs, depending on the computer.
I use Gizmo5 on my e71 over 3g. Better and cheaper than Skype.
So what does one actually use to develop for "WebOS"?
ATT actually loses nothing from me. I'll still use my normal ATT phone service for all US calls. All this means is that I will call foreign countries from my cell phone.
Hey now. I'm a highschool dropout / game developer.
Well, I was amused, and I must acknowledge that if only my usage were considered, HN would be a top-ten site.
My employer makes most of its money on free business-to-business email newsletters. Advertisers love them because they're very targeted (only people who really care about a topic are going to want to subscribe to a daily newsletter on it). They're also much more personal than a web banner ad and, in some ways, easier to track.

And because marketers are more confident that potential customers are in your audience, they are willing to spend at CPMs that are very high compared to the web.
Um, why wouldn't they want to track traffic to their own website?

I don't think my mom will be looking at the variables in the query string. As for the actual information on the site, it's very even-handed and doesn't seem to favor one browser over another. If anything, Firefox--not Chrome--may be the center of attention more than any other.
Very true. I love mailchimp (the others are good too.) We just started playing around with them for ramamia.
Maybe this will educate them?
... when you know something keeps a good chuck of it's value, you feel more confident buying it new.

How much of that applies to computer software though? It's the whole physical versus intellectual property all over again. A physical property, like a luxury car, will wear in time, whereas the intellectual property, like software, will remain exact. The resale value in software is further diminished every time the publisher releases a newer version.

So how much thought of resale value do you keep in mind when making a software purchase really? It's more of an investment towards producing something else than reselling.
"The metric system is the tool of the devil! My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead, and thats the way I likes it!" -- Abraham Simpson
Reminds me of BARF (http://mattmahoney.net/dc/barf.html)
IPhone app lets up to 10 people play the piano
I waited 2 minutes.

Audio starts at 4 min 33 seconds.
Or you could effectively take the penny out of circulation by announcing a 6-cent rebasing plan but continually postponing its effective date.
I have serious doubt about "killing a lot of low end business". I'd imagine that we'd start seeing lots of alternate, local currencies. Card games and bets would probably have other medium of exchange (poker chips) or in-kind value (a 12-pack of beer).
Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling joins Twitter
No, please read my comment again. The point is that your explanation is not complete or correct.
Indeed, these offers are so similar as to make no difference.

In other words, even if the entrepreneur would have thought a little longer it would have still been a toss up.

VC sour grapes.

If you really wanted that deal you should have made an offer that was transparent and that was better by a significant margin than the competitors, and you should have been willing to spend time explaining the bits and pieces of the deal in such a way that the entrepreneur could make a good comparison.

Essentially he lost the deal because of playing percentage games, the other VC played them a little bit better.

I have no idea about the company we're looking at here, but I'm somewhat surprised to see the details of a deal posted by a competing VC, that's not very classy.
Yamaha uses cloth to make ultrathin, flexible speaker
Body-tagging as a means of identification for payment is an old idea, almost 2000 years old at least, perhaps longer ...

From the New Testament, Revelations, chapter 13: "Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth ... He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf ... He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name."

Equipment and I.T. systems to enforce biometric/body-tagging systems are costly, but then coins are costly too, and are subject to counterfeiting.

The ultimate rationale for a plasticless, cashless system though will be less in transaction costs than in control and elimination of counterfeit currency, money-laundering, payment in currency for corporate and political corruption. In such a system all money flows are visible to someone at some level, and corrupt transactions will become for-barter only. Of course, the central overseeing authority will become corrupt, which the Revelations passage hints at.
And this one's in the Washington Times -- the shittiest partisan rag in the country, run at a massive loss by the Moonies.

Whoever's funding this set of talking points clearly wants to push deregulation of some sort using it as pretext.
"Do any Biohackers on here know of any sex based differences in the effects of THC?"

Marijuana itself is described by many enthusiasts (including Terence McKenna) as 'feminizing'. In other words, the way a man will perceive the world when high is somewhat similar to the way women perceive the world normally. If you want a more scientific look at this, this book is a presentation of a pretty good large scale study done on the effects of the drug.

http://www.druglibrary.org/special/tart/tartcont.htm
if/when Apple pulls its' head out of its' a*, maybe.

or maybe Google will punish Apple and not release native app again.
I love this idea. Not so much because of its efficiency, but because it'll make so many people say "Wait, you can do that?". Too many people haven't internalized what having a fiat currency really means. Having the government flex its muscle in this manner would be a fantastic civics lesson.
So, what exactly is outdated about the ideas of X? For example, I noticed that my old law firm paid lots and lots of money for a software solution that does on windows what X does natively.

I think now that we are starting to run software from remote computers again, the ideas of X are becoming more and more relevant and are being essentially repeated at higher levels for higher cost.
I think the most conspicuous spin on the site is repeatedly calling the browser "the most important piece of software on your computer." Google has made it very clear that they intend to move computer use off of the desktop and into the cloud.

Personally, though, I don't see a problem with it. They're right--the world is moving that direction. They're just smart enough to see it.
It isn't clear yet. Google Voice isn't VoIP (at least, not in the same way that Skype is) because you use your carrier's minutes whenever you place a call. That said, AT&T may choose to bundle the two announcements together because they're both examples of them being "open".

Of course, Apple is the one supposedly behind the Google Voice ban, so don't be surprised if Google Voice isn't mentioned at all during tomorrow's event.
The plastic equivalent of cash would not necessarily have your personal information attached to it. Think of it like a prepaid phone. You could go to a Post Office and buy (using your credit card or check) a card with a predetermined value.
maybe the kid has somehow hit on the right level of random feedback - just enough to make the game addictive?

and then the leaderboard as you point out would be a strong motivator as well.
It points to a moderator specifically changing how the sorting algorithm is applied to this story. Vote weighting. Or maybe it's a new change to automatically vote weight stories where there are more comments than points.
hah, how about a service that would sell all your licenses when you are switching a computer off and buying all of them again when turning it on again. companies that work in different timezones could save fortunes.
Yes, but the replacement market in software consists of upgrades, not of selling the old and buying something new.

Totally different than in the world of tangible goods.

The only time you'd sell a software license is if you stopped using the package completely. And that does cut in to the manufacturers margins. Hence the suit. Glad they lost.
I agree, after rejecting google voice they didn't dare to reject this.