skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
It is fascinating how much the "micro-transaction" model on the iOS platform continues to bury everything else.

Spiderweb throwing in the towel I would guess has a lot more to do with their #1 point "Competition on the App Store has risen to a frenzied level." than the others.

The top two grossing games - Clash of Clans and Game of War - receive metacritic scores of 74 and 67 respectively.

Whereas the most recent SpiderWeb release I can find - Avernum 2: Crystal Souls - sits at 81

The organic discovery issue is only a small component of the problem when you look at the sheer amount of money that the micro guys can afford to dump into the mobile-advertising economy.

And as anybody who's spent 5 mins on app-store "optimization" knows - the better your paid, the better your organic - by a right mile.

I hate ending comments like this without a solution but the best context we have is watching Zynga get eroded / replaced on FB at some point.

But their death blow was the rise of FB's platform selling ads to the mobile OS guys mentioned above who essentially just out-zynga'd Zynga.

When you create an app economy that provides outsized rewards to the vultures, of course they'll control the board, wonder where this winds up.

(1) http://www.metacritic.com/game/ios/clash-of-clans, http://www.metacritic.com/game/ios/game-of-war---fire-age, http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/avernum-2-crystal-souls
the games spiderweb makes are really great, Vogel himself is kind of an indie success story as well

honestly I don't think his games fit well with the kind of players and people who buy iPads these days
> Why do developers feel entitled to hardware devices that will always work with legacy code?

Because that's how the world outside Apple bubble works. You can still run older Windows software, you can still run older Linux software, you can still run older Android software.

Not forcing people to pay for new electronics (especially when it can represents their several months of earnings) just to keep their existing software running and services working is a GOOD thing.
I've always understood your comment, what I don't agree with is the need to state it now.

When we make statements, we do so with context, and in this context, stating "the US government could do X" is implying that, yes, in fact the US government did do X.

Furthermore, saying "we don't know they didn't" is a specious argument, at best, because it suggests they did do X, when in reality they're no more likely to have done X, than I am to have done Y, which is some arbitrary other thing which is, while in the realm of possiblity, a complete waste of time to consider.

There exists, within the set of possible things, a set of things which are not among the greater set of things one must consider. The US government secretly forcing GitHub to modify source code in one of their repositories is one of those things that we can safely not consider, even though it is, you're right, technically and politically possible.
Scaleway offering infinite storage
Your sign on her perfect titties ))
Spiderweb games are very highly regarded RPGs that came from the PC. I definitely know TouchArcade has covered their games a few times over the years.
Unfortunately the definition of a "good" game and a game that earns money on App stores is slightly disconnected at this time. Skinner boxes that rely on practically scummy ways of selling expensive IAPs for basic amount of gameplay are the ones that dominate the earnings.
If scheme isn't a lisp, then clojure almost certainly isn't.

To use more widely known languages: Is C++ a C? What about Java? Javascript? Those languages share a lot of syntax and keywords between them, but they are clearly distinct languages.

On the other hand, most people feel comfortable classifying both FORTRAN and C as "in the algol family" while nobody would call either of them an algol.

Actually, if you're at all familiar with the history of FORTRAN, you can see how much it has changed, while nobody denies that FORTRAN 2003 is still as much FORTRAN as FORTRAN IV.
I think that all peaked in the mid-to-late 90's when software and hardware was progressing so fast you had to eek as much as possible out of your older hardware. My girlfriend will say she got comfortable with computer hardware when she spilled soda on her's in college and could only afford to replace it with an older model. She opened it up to upgrade the RAM because it was so terrible. This led her to build her next few computers.

Prior to ubiquitous tablets and smartphones I had heard similar things you mention except the classifier was, "always spending time on Facebook."

As an interesting aside, I've heard people assert the computer industry is male-dominated because radio shack and others marketed computers as toys for males back in the 80's-90's. This carried over to first year comp sci where males had a leg-up and discouraged otherwise just as qualified females. They had a few anecdotes where young girls were more interested in the home computer than their brothers, but the computer was kept in their brother's room because of this stigma.
My favourites are Tiger, Snow Leopard and Mavericks. And I am more pleased with Mavericks than Snow Leopard which I am more pleased with than Tiger.

I agree about the testing, but still I think they have managed to keep the technical debt somewhat in control. I really yearn for the day they license Plan9, and port OS X on top of that. Because I believe that would give bigger opportunities, both with respect to hardware, but also with respect to a better foundation for developing more sophisticated features.
The state of storytelling
Whoah hold up, barley being considered horrible seems like a cultural thing. Certainly in Scotland and Czech barley/kroupy is considered a damn tasty ingredient, I even use it in place of Risotto rice (I acknowledge that it's not the same thing as a rice bowl)
Request to the mods: please drop the "Microsoft" from the title. This is just a Microsoft Research paper. MSR is almost completely separate from the rest of the company.

(edit: whoops, looks like MS actually uses this system internally. sorry, should have read the abstract)
That's a fan-run site; not an official schedule.
What happens to Facebook and Gmail data after your death?
Would you think there is still a chance for iPad games that are well-made and well-advertised on the internet, that cost perhaps over $10, maybe even $20, to do well?

I see this as, first you have the stuff that's top ranking on the app store which is mostly f2p optimization problems. But hardcore gamers should be able to spread the word about an actual good ipad game, right? Or is the notion of an ipad game itself not hardcore enougH?
Lawmakers strike deal on fast track trade bill (TPP)
And here is a link to the image generated from the number in his book: http://i.imgur.com/qczpXxp.png :)

He confirmed it on a reddit thread yesterday http://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/32q0cx/the_everything_...
> Henry Ford introduced the 40-hour work week in 1914 because he saw — through research — that workers on five eight-hour shifts kept up the highest sustained levels of productivity.

Why does this ridiculous meme keep popping up? The 40 hour work week was a long and hard-fought battle, full of blood, tears and sweat. It was an uphill slog against the most powerful corporations in the world; lavour unions fighting tooth and nail for every minute of time away from work. It wasn't some flight of fancy by Henry Ford because it made his workers more productive, or so they had more time to buy stuff, or whatever other pieces of false history have been dreamt up.
SpaceX releases deck camera footage of Falcon 9 almost-landing
Collecting Docker 1.6 Logs with Sumo Logic
Does that suffer the same problem that iQi (from Indiegogo) does? The iQi is not Apple Certified and will occasionally pop up a message that says "This cable accessory is not supported" and will stop charging.
"But as a developer, you suck it up, modify your content, and continue."

No, you're supposed to collectively bitch, moan, and whine, and if they still don't listen, you leave, taking as many people with you as possible.

Yours is the wrong attitude. We can do so much better. Developers shouldn't gather around platforms that are constantly shifting...
all version trouble disappears with
https://github.com/yyuu/pyenv
Guy dressed in all red and black like this person? Yeah, at lots of places it would. Something mildly sexual as the person put it... can you imagine a guy turning up in a deep v shirt getting hired?
Post it on reddit.
I don't think Vogel was saying the platform was too popular for users, but rather too popular for developers, resulting in too much competition.

Besides, if you've ever read his blog, you know hes been self ridiculing his own marketing skills for over a decade, and has a charming way of not caring.
That could be one way of doing things (all salaries raise in proportion to the minimum). It would make the company highly attractive for prospective employees and raise the stakes for current staff so would be an interesting "experiment".
Is there really that much of a difference between "Click [here](link-to-app-store) to buy this game!" and "Click [here](link-to-self-hosted-page) to buy this game!"? The only real difference I can think of is when software was primarily distributed via physical media, but that hasn't been the primary distribution mechanism for a while (and I would expect that nearly all software these days doesn't even have an option for physical media).
> My brain no longer has the time and energy to deal with Apple forcing me to relearn how to program every few years.

Is this just kind of how developing software works on every platform?
I think I got the sentiment from 2. and 3. Both seemed like the developer was blaming Apple's changes and the forced efforts they set on the developer for stopping iOS production. In reality however, the real problems surrounding the app not being financially viable don't seem to be hinged on Apple's changes here.

Hardware was just another instance from my own experience where Apple makes it a tinge more difficult with new device sizes/specs and so-on every year or so. This wasn't the case in this article, but it's something that Apple developers face, but come to think of it I guess this doesn't really apply solely to Apple.
So I'm not sure I like Docker so much anymore. In most ways the systemd-nspawn system seems a lot easier to use practically and to move into normal host deployment. The docker model shines when it comes to image setup, but the runtime and management aspects leave a lot to be desired.
How do you define "competitive" if you're not defining it in a way that correlates with "popular"?
7 Surprising Social Media Stats in 2015
He's talking about clapping in rythm during the music, not applause afterward (fun pdf tho)
I came across this this morning: http://www.tray.io via an article on TC: http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/16/tray-io-raises-2-2m-for-an-...

I'm guessing there are some annoying problems around 3rd party quality / stability / undocumented or unofficial APIs.
Do you think there is still the chance for a well-made, expensive up front iPad game (we are talking like $10 to even $30) to make it based on word of mouth from hardcore gamers and Gamespot/IGN/etc. ? I know that the ecosystem itself optimizes f2p, but still.
This looks really great honestly. Including IO as a consumable resource is just as important as allocating CPU or memory.
Did someone invent a whole new language for their platform and solely for that platform like Swift?
Yes, python2/3 scripts are possible, and yes, Homebrew works.

However, I don't really want (if I can help it) to install homebrew on all the workstations of everyone on the team (mostly video-editing), and for personal laptops, I don't really want to add that as a requirement. I certainly don't want to turn my < 100kb of scripts into hundreds of megabytes of requirements.

I'm already having to bundle an up-to-date static compiled standard rsync rather than the apple one (to cope with extended attributes across SMB mounts...).

It would be really nice to not have to think the whole time "Is this compatible python2 and python3", but to just write pure python3.

A lot of our scripts are to do with managing and synching all the files needed for video-editing, and other media-management utilities. I already dumped BASH (my initial attempt), as it failed or became ludicrously verbose when dealing with things like folder names starting with '-' or '*', newlines, quotation marks, tabs, or other "special" characters in file names. I don't know HOW they managed to get newlines into filenames, but our editors are creative people. I wouldn't be surprised if they managed to embed fonts and colours next.

So it does involve quite a lot of string processing, our automation scripts. Our tape archival system is CentOS, our main Server is a Synology RAID, and all the main edit stations are OSX, with the possibility of adding Windows boxen in the future. And since not all our projects are in English, everything is UTF-8, and mostly 'just works'. But I don't think the transition to Python3 is going to be 100% seamless. Hopefully unittests help, but I'm sure there are cases I'll miss.
You can also fly an Aeronca Chief backwards. Ask me how I know.

Fun fact, when landing with two people you can open both doors simultaneously as air brakes. Stops real fast.
You mean it's not pixie dust? ;-P
This should be higher up. Not cluttering the code (as with six) sounds great.
Should Bitcoin Be Used for Gambling?
Only a few of the authors are MSR (our systems group in Beijing actually); it seems like Eric Boutin in Microsoft is the first author on this one (we have many smart people working for Microsoft outside of MSR).
Everybody who is interested in test-driving Docker 1.6 in a really easy and fast way and has a Raspberry Pi lying around should have a look at our prepared Docker SD card image.

Get it here:
http://blog.hypriot.com/post/docker-1-6-is-finally-released-...
Have you any of you guys every used Stir's furniture?
The problem isn't that it's popular. The problem is that it's not designed to it's current popularity.

5000apps added every day yet no way for developers to build meaningful relationships with their customers or creating trials make it a very irrational platform to be on.

Its nothing like how Google deals with popularity and quality. It's a huge problem Apple will have to solve. On the mac app store they completely given up.
I think you just reinvented assemblerprogramming.
Well, compared to Windows, which up until Windows 7 let you run a bunch of very old games (and even then you could still get some of them to work in compatibility mode), I'd say no.

And that's a software platform that has to run on a bunch of different hardware.

Also, your Xbox 360 games will all still work on your Xbox 360, as long as you have the hardware around. AFAIK all the Xbox 360 software updates never broke any Xbox 360 game.
Matthew Green: How do we build encryption backdoors?
No. Overall complexity is going through the roof across the compute markets. Microservices, game engines cryptocurrency. Better hold on to something.
I've never used or seen jinja before but it definitely has a few features that I'm thinking of adding like block so thanks for the link. Thanks for giving mine a chance too!
The logging drivers reduce a major production pain point - standardized centralized logging that doesn't require modifying the underlying image.

Docker has a bad security reputation; this is one more step in the right direction.
Track your balance Is your carrier trustful? Use PhoneBalance for Android
> Most solutions you’ve heard of probably boil down to one of two things: jobs or jail. Unfortunately, there’s not much evidence that either do much good. In fact, some of the policing and punishment could be making things worse.

What? What evidence is that? The article provides no clues.

Considering it has been well shown that crime goes up as unemployment increases[0][1][2] they need to provide some kind of counter-evidence to that. Their argument that the link has "not much evidence" is just untrue. I could source this into the tens of papers if I wished. It is very well tested, and considered a "fact" in the Economics and Sociological spheres.

[0] http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/crimwage.htm
[1] http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=10...
[2] http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X12...
I looked up the company on pocket tactics, the site I menioned after I posted this. Infact they have had numerous mentions there as well, but no real detailed coverage, no real follow up. I don't think iPad games journalists are failing to cover companies like this - I think these kinds of companies are so anti-marketing in the presentation and design of their games that they fail to stand out or get noticed even by people like me who might have been looking for this kind of experience.

A contrasting company would be someone like inkle's 80 days - that's was an odd iPad game that was hard to sell just on screenshots, but it was marketed brilliantly and had a vision throughout the product that was reflected in taht and the buzz around it was and is huge because of that
$ is used for doc.QS or doc.QSA pretty frequently these days
There was a story on here a month or two ago interviewing the founder of the company. This is basically a one-man shop, and from the few games I have played in their offerings, they look like a little more work to put together than Flappy Bird.

If it's too much of a hassle for the return he's getting on it, then it makes perfect sense to refocus efforts.
Almost like time travel: sitting down at an 1842 Pleyel piano for the first time
I used to find the Internet Archive incredibly useful, sadly the new design has completely ruined this. Before the site was nice and organized, now it's a big mess that seems to be designed for smartphones. Infinite scrolling really helps making the site completely chaotic and confusing.

However, even though the site is ruined for me now, I really want to thank Internet Archive for all the years of enjoyment it has given me.
Not at all. Most platforms are slow to add new features, and even slower to remove them. This is why we can still play videogames from 10+ years ago on modern Windows systems.

Has this held Windows back? Yes, a bit. But I for one appreciate that I don't have to buy all new software every year for it.
What subreddit would you suggest?
There are massive differences. For example, in the Windows world you are allowed to find out who likes your stuff and build relationships with them.
He's developing isometric role-playing games. Where you can probably happily get by with the same stuff you used 20 years ago (and probably older, minus most Abrashian optimization and hardware trickery).
There aren't many places near me that hold things like tech meetups unfortunately but I'm definitely going to try out your other two suggestions
Competitive is a question of demand versus supply; you can have super competitive small markets.

You have 1 yellow marble, 5 blue marbles, and 10 people. 5 people want a yellow marble, and five want a blue marble. Blue and yellow marbles are just as popular, but the competition for yellow marbles is much more intense.
> The only real difference I can think of is when software was primarily distributed via physical media, but that hasn't been the primary distribution mechanism for a while

It was a major distribution medium until fairly recently, even if not primary. Heck, you can still go into lots of retailers and buy physical media for PC games.
I want to run the following, using either of Anaconda or python.org python 2, on the same machine depending on the whim of the day:

C:> python -c "print 'hello'"
hello
I'm going to play devil's advocate and say that perhaps it's not a GOOD thing necessarily.

Maybe keeping existing software/services running on legacy mode isn't really GOOD... perhaps Apple indirectly forcing developers to keep their apps updated is an even better situation for the end user?

That's not to say we should drop backwards-support with every revision. But I think that there's plenty of occasions where it's acceptable to expect up-to-date software running on up-to-date devices being a norm.
Bulge bracket investment banks recommend you sell stock to them and their clients at a reduced price for N reasons. Not terribly surprising.
Amazon also has a cloud deployment tool called Apollo (internally only I believe - the public version is called "CodeDeploy"): http://www.allthingsdistributed.com/2014/11/apollo-amazon-de...
I didn't say "popular for users", I just said "popular". And I strongly expect that "popular for users" and "popular for developers" are extremely closely correlated anyway, at least when it comes to consumer-targeted platforms (i.e. not Linux, where every user is also a developer).

> hes been self ridiculing his own marketing skills for over a decade

There's a difference between "haha I'm not good at marketing, I'm glad people are still buying my stuff" and "haha I'm not good at marketing, therefore I'll stop developing for probably the fastest-growing gaming platform ever and say it's due to competition".
That will orphan apps who just want to deliver updates (e.g. app security, unrelated to OS) for older versions of iOS. Orphan apps will need a distribution channel that can reach older and still-useful devices.
Is there a written description of the protocol used between the client and server anywhere?
> And as anybody who's spent 5 mins on app-store "optimization" knows - the better your paid, the better your organic - by a right mile.

Sorry, I guess my English is bad. I do not understand this sentence. Could you explain?
I'd like to discuss this more with you. May I contact you directly? I work at GiantSwarm, but in the Bay. No relation to the swarm command in docker! ;)
Company says governments are deploying weaponized drones for crowd control
I would also argue that the 500 wasn't game machine enough. It should have been sold with controllers, and a cartridge slot. A home computer addition that added a keyboard and disk drive, could have been bought as a bundle or add-on. If they had done that I think they could have hung in to be a player in the Nintendo age.

On the high-end the 2000 was also not enough, again they were hedging too much trying to keep costs down. They should have pumped up the specs and doubled the price. Instead of Sun Workstations in their offices they should have been using Amiga workstations.
Naah, pixie dust is what the rocket is covered with before launch; you can see it falling off during lift-off. Check out the launch videos. ;).
Check out the Milky Mist
http://m-labs.hk/m1.html
You are saying "anti-marketing" but what this really means is that they are putting less investment into production values than you prefer.

The whole point is that it is doubtful that they will stay solvent if they put more money into production values on that platform.

Nice graphics are very expensive. (They are more expensive than any other aspect of game development, in fact). If it seems unlikely that enough people will buy their game given that type of investment, then it may be a good choice to stay away from that.

On top of which, maybe they just don't want to spend all their time doing graphics. Maybe they want to work on the story / world / etc.
Brotherku
find more rewards from app android here
What's so wrong with the "best practices" phrase? It's simply a general phrase to describe the way that most of the community is doing things in a way that fully realizes the potential of a given product.
Schedule commands on servers via a centralized web-interface
Pretty amazing that it's 2015 and we're still building custom code to make links go both ways.

EDIT: Just realized that HN is going to be sensitive to this comment due to the "middlebrow criticism" issue. I have absolutely no problem with Twilio's blog post or this project. Hacky fixes have their place -- just know what you're doing and don't abandon hope of getting good infrastructure some day.