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This is very neat. Makes a lot of sense to me.

However, I think better commenting systems are the real problem here, instead of hacking current ones. The "threaded" conversations in this post are very cool, but disqus threaded comments are much more intuitive.

And instead of making just a blockquote, and referring back, github-type line commenting would be awesome.

The model of post then comments is kind of counter intuitive in terms of real discussion.

X Encouraged Commentary (cool use of jQuery to enhance blog commenting)
mojombo



all parents

would resubmitting the same question encourage more HN users to reply?
X Would adapting readmytweets.com to use ads encourage more web surfers to read ads?
amichail



all parents

you're welcome :)
X How to date an entrepreneur
fnazeeri



discuss
X Technology start-ups find it harder to find buyers
transburgh



all parents

Portables do almost double the amount of revenue as the whole desktop category for Apple; the Mini is accounted for alongside the Mac Pro and iMac lines --- either of which surely dwarf the Mini. However important you think it is, I don't think Apple thinks it's as important as the MBP, or the 3.3Bn iTMS, or even the 2.2Bn Apple software line.
X Did Steve Jobs just sacrifice Phil Schiller
pedalpete



all parents
by eru | link | parent

No sharing. And clever compilers can already allocate most conses on the stack nowadays.
X newLisp is a Lisp-like, general-purpose scripting language
dpapathanasiou




The most important option IMO:

    * MacBook Pro 17-inch Hi-Resolution Glossy Widescreen Display
    * MacBook Pro 17-inch Hi-Resolution Antiglare Widescreen Display [Add $50.00]

X Apple kills off DRM for whole iTunes music catalog
tptacek




I've seen a pattern: "How do they do it? Because they have to."

This seems to apply to many areas of life. Create an environment in which failure is simply not an option and no one will choose that option.

X How NASA writes 'perfect' software
nreece



all parents

Based on how FairPlay works, and how quickly the conversion happens, I think itunes probably just gets permission from Apple's servers to permanently decrypt the files: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FairPlay#How_it_works
X Apple kills off DRM for whole iTunes music catalog
tptacek



all parents

The problem is that storage costs are a step function. Once you cross a certain threshold (the threshold depends on your performance requirements a.k.a. IOPS), storage gets Really Freaking Expensive (tm). The steps start to get really, really steep as your capacity increases, and that's just for the primary copy of your data.

Once you get into truly large data amounts, other things start to break (RAID 5, RAID 6, tape backup, disk backup, synchronization, the ability to replace storage systems without massive outages). The good news is that they're almost all solved problems, but you're usually stuck with buying overpriced crap from EMC, Hitachi, NetApp, 3PAR and IBM (storage is a protection racket). All of this combines to explain why a good storage admin pulls down 6 figures a year.

I may be a bit myopic, but I see a world coming where technology startups trade capital costs for operating costs. S3 is pricey if you're dealing with small quantities of data, but once the step increase in your per-GB storage costs goes over 30%, you might want to reconsider. The steps only get bigger.

X Does Amazon S3 really save money?
psaccounts



all parents

Do none of you find it annoying that you have to pay to remove DRM from music that you already paid for? I think this is ludicrous.
X Apple kills off DRM for whole iTunes music catalog
tptacek



all parents

should have gotten a sponsorship from mediatemple
X MacRumors live feed hacked during keynote
Alex3917




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

It would be interesting to contrast the blog with wikipedia. I haven't yet gone through the explanation, but I had to check wiki first to get a grasp of the problem.

X Why the secret to speedier highways might be closing some roads: the Braess paradox
paulgb




This is clever technology and a well-known problem, but I wonder how much traction it will get since it's going to be a for-pay service.
X DebGem (beta), Ruby packages for Debian
tortilla



all parents
by kirse | link | parent

You can always claim you had brilliant performance, but failed due to the impossible odds.

Where do we draw the line between making an excuse and being optimistic? You might do the absolute best you can but the timimg just wasn't right.

I believe the difference is in effort and who you tell. If you're truly doing the best you can, then you can internally "excuse" yourself and still have genuine self-esteem while publicly admitting failure.

X Some Protect the Ego by Working on Their Excuses Early
robg




http://www.flickr.com/photos/35309500@N00/3173797487/sizes/o...

another screen shot.

X MacRumors live feed hacked during keynote
Alex3917



all parents

Agreed. They all seem like pretty logical upgrades for most of the things.

An 8 hr battery on 17" device is pretty cool

They always inflate this number and I wouldn't be surprise if it loses its charge quickly like most other macs. plus, integrated battery? no thanks.

No-DRM was more of a 'Finally!' than a 'Wow!'

Don't get me wrong, they're newsworthy, but I feel like there was no climax. nothing too surprising

X Did Steve Jobs just sacrifice Phil Schiller
pedalpete



discuss
X Messaging is not just for investment banks
sanj



all parents
by zaidf | link | parent

A ponzi scheme takes something from one person and gives it to the next.

Motivation speakers are selling their own past experience, speaking style etc.

You can question what that experience or opinion is worth same as you can question if that jacket is worth its price. But that's not a ponzi scheme.

X Internet teachers - Are they a Ponzi Scheme?
Ardit20




People are not going to feel the difference between a page rendered in 50ms and one rendered in 100ms.

I don't think that every 50ms difference is unimportant, but the difference between a 50ms render time and 100ms render time may be unimportant. Anyone have a feel for what the maximum render time is for a page to feel fast?

X Making Highrise faster with memcached
bdotdub



all parents

Apple and Jobs have actually been in favor of this for a while, but were prevented from doing it by the music industry. See http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/

Quote: "The third alternative is to abolish DRMs entirely. ... This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store."

X Apple kills off DRM for whole iTunes music catalog
tptacek



all parents

Another reason NIH makes sense for Google is that since they compete in so many markets, the shifting alliances and mergers and whatnot for their vendors could mean that they could end up in a situation where a competitor buys a vendor which puts their support/upgrades/pricing at risk.
X Google is Working on its own router
VonGuard



all parents

I am getting great commentary back - I cleverly included the option to send feedback directly from the application, and then foolishly forgot to include a field for the user's email address, so I can't respond directly :)

I will try to pick up on those comments here in the thread, particularly support issues:

> When first starting up TeamPostgreSQL with the "Start TeamPostgreSQL" Windows start menu option, I am given no indication that I should connect to it with a web browser on localhost:8080. I was able to figure this out by inspecting the process, but I did not notice any information being presented to me about this previously.

Of course. We will log this in the server window when it starts up. Note that the installer should have added a desktop link which opens your browser on the right address.

> There doesn't seem to be any way to view the full text of a long column, like a varchar(255). The first bit of the text is shown, followed by an ellipsis, but I don't know how to view the rest of the data.

Right. For now you have to select the row and click the 'edit' button, that will bring up controls to view the full content of these fields. Of course this control should be available when browsing the rows - will fix that.

X Invite HN: TeamPostgreSQL beta
johnyzee



all parents

Agreed, I love RescueTime

You just have to be careful that you tag things correctly and are honest about it. The default tags and categories are pretty good, but you have to decide for yourself if hacker news is really that productive ;)

X Discovering the Link Between Effort and Reward: What I've Learned Freelancing
shimon



all parents

It makes a lot of sense. Goog has been using Juniper for a while, so goog really understand the problem domain and what % of that problem is solved by Juniper's products.

They would also know what they like & dis-like in terms of features their product should have vs. juniper which probably address a wider customer wish list; maybe & I am speculating here, Juniper takes a long time to turn around on features or some features are custom to goog and Juniper doesn't want to build them.

So goog gets to design a product that fits their needs for the next few years. If the product turns out well there might even be tremendous competitive advantage since googs competitors can't buy it.

Worst case things don't work out and they go back to buying Juniper.

X Google is Working on its own router
VonGuard



all parents
by davi | link | parent

It has nothing to do with a preference for complex vocabulary.

When I talk to someone I know has a large vocabulary, I am free to use the best word that occurs to me, and if they think I'm up to snuff, they are free to do the same thing. This makes for a more pleasurable conversation. (Assuming we're actually trying to say something to each other. But if the motivation is to show off, or engage in ego jockeying, that's boring.)

I guess it's more accurate to say that baud rate surges transiently when a rare, but exceptionally precise word enters this sort of conversation.

X GRE Scores By Discipline
Jebdm



all parents

At one time or another, we've all accidentally sent an e-mail, probably by invoking the keyboard shortcut.

I would definitely be waiting to have my emails delayed a few seconds if Gmail would momentarily display an Undo option. This would mean that the email wouldn't even be sent until after the Undo option expired, so we wouldn't need to worry about the email protocol.

X Ask HN: Should email providers add "UNSEND"?
rokhayakebe




This started off as a hobby project, but I figured that other people would probably be willing to buy it from me - so I'm making it available to 100 people exclusively.

Placing bids on the Swoopo website is tedious and expensive, and also unreliable (all those javascript timers tend to lock up the browser). Instead of biddign on impulse, I've found that leaving my robot in charge reduces the overall number of bids that I need to make in order to remain competitive - I only jump in when certain conditions are met (when other people either run out of bids or walk away).

Has anybody else successfully sold software in this way before?

X I will sell my automated Swoopo bidding software if 100 people each pledge $100.
swoopobot



all parents

I didn't renew my subscription because I found that I am wasting lot of time mostly wading through mostly junk.
X Foiled: Hacker's Audacious Plan to Rule the Stolen-Data Black Market
kwamenum86



all parents

Thanks. I just did this too - goodbye DRM! 57 songs upgraded for $15.40, not too shabby.
X Apple kills off DRM for whole iTunes music catalog
tptacek



all parents
by enra | link | parent

Actually I think it would good for everyone if there would be somekind of trial model.

I heard a speak from some Xbox manager once and he talked a lot about trial versions of games. I think(not sure) MS requires every game that is sold in Live Marketspace to have some kind of trial. He made a point that trials and especially great trials can mean a lot for game's success. Great trial isn't just a crippled version or the first level of the game but a game itself, using almost all the mechanics.

Of course the scale is different, but I think the general point is that trials actually help in the long-tail if your game is any good.

X A conversation with an iPhone pirate
signa11



all parents
by halo | link | parent

On the other hand, Picasa is free.
X Picasa Arrives on the Mac
rscott



all parents

Outlook has this sort of thing, but the receiver sees the notification and has to accept it. Which is always a clear sign to me that someone sent something out and then thought better of it, so I always look extra-closely at the email in question.

Anyway, if people didn't accidentally send stuff like this, cnn.com and other mainstream media couldn't write an article about it every 6 months.

X Ask HN: Should email providers add "UNSEND"?
rokhayakebe



all parents

It's a stepped rate. You pay .15 for the first 600, then .12 for all aditional data beyond that.
X Does Amazon S3 really save money?
psaccounts




I hate google. Eff em. I use http://search.isc.org/en/ and if that fails http://search.wikia.com/.
X Google is Working on its own router
VonGuard



all parents
by gaius | link | parent

Do you even know what a Ponzi scheme is?
X Internet teachers - Are they a Ponzi Scheme?
Ardit20



all parents

Ah. Then to fit in E-Prime, I believe you'd have to state what Bob was doing as a killer.

The killer Bob <verb:[lived sat stood munched ...]>.

X English-Prime - English without "is"
silentbicycle




Obviously, not everything is a Ponzi scheme but the point the article is making is totally valid. Any child can understand that you cannot grow indefinitely in a confined space, even if that space is the Earth and even if the value measured is quality. The measure of quality is appreciation and we only have a limited amount of time on our hands.

I wonder why so few people think about the following line of reasoning:

1. Our current economy is based on money as a medium of exchange to function (separation of labor -> good)

2. Therefore, money is a universal medium of exchange and acquires a value separate from the exchange value: liquidity, the possibility to exchange it for anything else (see Keynes et.al) -> unintended but ok

3. As a consequence, our current money relies on a positive rate of interest to circulate. Whenever the interest rate gets too close to zero, money holders will not give up their privilege of liquidity and not lend out their money (bad!)

4. As a result, the economy collapses - simply because the medium of exchange stops circulating. In the end, the government has to print new money to replace the money not being spent/lent, leading to inflation. Alternatively, the state has to make new debts or fund dying industries only to keep interest rates positive... (very bad!)

This reasoning does not depend on any technology or production-based argument because every human undertaking these days is based on beating the rate of interest. Even if you only invest your own money, you have to factor in the interest you might have gotten at the bank.

There's a really simple fix to it: motivate money holders to part with their money even without interest. You would get an economy that can grow when it needs to but can contract as well without collapsing.

Even though it seems god-given, money itself is actually pretty hackable. If you're interested, one interesting proposal is here: http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~roehrigw/suhr/nngengl.html

X Tim O'Reilly: The Biggest Ponzi Scheme of Them All
toffer



all parents

Obscure vocabulary could be divided into two, one containing obscure synonyms of frequent words, and another is the chunking of information, of many words, to give one label. People familiar with the topic may find it easier to anchor their thoughts with these chunked words of phrases.

A lot of philosophy seems really ridiculous to me, and yet there must be a need to chunk concepts and give them labels. When you agree on the basket of concepts tagged with "logical positivism" or "paleo-conservatism" isn't it easier to just use that phrase and not repeatedly invoke all or the topically relevant concepts of that set?

Of course, the problem is when these labels are overburdened and/or so multifaceted that you could be talking about subtly different things and not get anywhere. This is why philosophy should be based not in the fuzzy verbal, but in the concisely mathematical, but that is another topic.

I can't point to any letters to showcase the method, but I'd point to political science as it is a place where verbal philosophy and practicality do coincide.

X GRE Scores By Discipline
Jebdm



all parents

I think entire catalog DRM free + iTunes Store over 3G (instead of just WiFi) were pretty good reasons to finally allow variable pricing.
X Apple kills off DRM for whole iTunes music catalog
tptacek



all parents
by sdfx | link | parent

End of Q1
X Apple kills off DRM for whole iTunes music catalog
tptacek



discuss
X ITunes Sells 6 Billion Songs, And Other Fun Stats From The Philnote
transburgh



discuss
X Macworld : All the music in the iTunes store is DRM Free
FraaJad



all parents

Which services tried this idea?

Also, could you elaborate on (3)? I'm not sure what you mean. Of course, I would not be using ads already submitted into other ad services in this approach. But are you saying I can't even make money from adsense on the same page?

X An idea to get more web surfers -- including savvy ones -- to read ads.
amichail



discuss
X Apple keynote: Phil vs. Steve…it’s no contest
transburgh




Zed Shaw: Joe Hill of programming. Though rather than organizing workers into unions/factions of the IWW he is advocating people reserve their "real" programming/creativity for themselves unless they stand to make a profit (which they would if labor conditions were equitable). I can totally get behind that.
X Zed Shaw - The ACL is Dead - CUSEC 2008
edwardog



all parents

Or, my favorite, "there were some zeros and ones mixed up."
X Steve Jobs speaks out about his health
spif



by wizlb | link | parent

Please get well or just die soon please so we can stop reading about it. Thank you, have a nice day.
X Steve Jobs speaks out about his health
spif



all parents