awch

See the 'how it works' section for a brief description of Burstcoin's proof-of-capacity mechanism [1].

[1] https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=731923.0

I often wish there existed a 'student course materials bill of rights'. At a minimum, it would require professors to indicate which version(s) of the texts are acceptable, and would require them to provide this information ~2 weeks before the start of the term, allowing students time to order used books online.

The current-1 edition of a textbook, purchased used on Amazon, is often 25-50% of the cost of the new textbook in the college bookstore...

Of course, open-source textbooks would be even better.

Interested in the answer to this question.

Nature had a good article [0] about the use of iPython notebooks in science that was previously discussed here [1].

[0]http://www.nature.com/news/interactive-notebooks-sharing-the... [1]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8563028

Cat bonds were developed by insurance companies to offset the potentially large losses associated with natural disasters.

Investors purchase cat bonds, which pay interest as long as no predefined trigger conditions are met. If the trigger condition, such as a damaging hurricane, occurs, investors forfeit their principal, which is used to pay claims arising from the catastrophe.

Investors like them because they offer enticing, uncorrelated returns, and insurers like them as an alternative to reinsurance.

You can learn more about them here: http://www.artemis.bm/library/what-is-a-catastrophe-bond.htm...

Would it be possible for companies to eventually become accredited?

Or, alternatively, would the preponderance of nanodegree programs and "Google Schools" diminish the value of a traditional degree to the point that accreditation would be unnecessary?

Could you comment on the current state of affairs in HK?

I did.

The online application (€50) was very easy to fill out, and I received status updates via email. My e-Residency was granted 51 days after submission, and the card was ready to be picked up 8 days later.

I picked up my card at the Estonian consulate in NYC over the summer. You just have to bring ID, and they will fingerprint you while you're there.

I think it was the most pleasant interaction I've ever had with a government.

I agree. I'm curious, however, to know what the D&B replacement will be for these types of operations in the future.

I believe CoinsSource provided a trust index for altcoin developers at one point [0], and it looks like Bitrated has a web-of-trust-based system for bitcoin-denominated transactions [1].

[0] https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/cryptocurrency-trust-index-d...

[1] https://www.bitrated.com/

After reading some of the surge-related threads on UberPeople.net, it sounds like drivers say "don't chase the surge" because surge pricing immediately results in drivers saturating the surge area, causing the surge pricing to disappear.

I would be interested to learn more about the profit-maximizing strategies Uber drivers employ, such as whether or not to "chase surge." Any idea where to look?

Udacity has one: https://www.udacity.com/course/intro-to-relational-databases...

I'm a little confused about what you're trying to say.

Light googling indicates that this is an extant system that has been fitted to aircraft since 2009:

"DARPA, working in partnership with the Army Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate, Air Force, Air Force Research Laboratory and National Geospatial Agency, conducted its first test flights using the ARGUS system last year [2009]."

The DoD indicates that the system was operationally deployed to Afghanistan in Q1 2011. [0]

LLNL has an article describing the system's optics, technical specs, and their work on processing the data streams it generates. [1]

BAE released an IR upgrade in 2010:

"BAE System's first flight tests of ARGUS-IR's predecessor, ARGUS-IS, concluded last October aboard a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter." [2]

[0] http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=62138

[1] https://str.llnl.gov/AprMay11/vaidya.html

[2] http://www.baesystems.com/article/BAES_028152/bae-systems-wi...?

ARGUS-IS

"ARGUS is an advanced camera system that uses hundreds of cellphone cameras in a mosaic to video and auto-track every moving object within a 36 square mile area.

ARGUS is a form of Wide Area Persistent Surveillance that allows for one camera to provide such detailed video that users can collect 'pattern-of-life' data and track individual people inside the footage anywhere within the field of regard."

[0] https://youtu.be/QGxNyaXfJsA?t=51s

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARGUS-IS

I found the Airbnb scraping/pricing project put together by some Harvard CS109 students to be pretty interesting when they released it in December.

http://hamelsmu.github.io/AirbnbScrape/ http://nbviewer.ipython.org/github/hamelsmu/AirbnbScrape/blo...

You'll likely find this Reddit post useful.

http://www.reddit.com/r/opensource/comments/2a1a0e/why_is_th...

I'm currently trying out Laverna (https://laverna.cc/)

Agreed, but the author notes that "...after the plea-bargaining blew apart on January 11, 2013, Aaron's family was close to a million dollars in debt. He could not afford a trial."

The disparity was financial- the bottomless pockets of the federal government vs. the finite resources of an individual (and donations from supporters).

It's as if there's a need for a "CFAA legal defense" insurance policy that activists/security researchers could purchase to finance vigorous challenges to these statutes in the event of overzealous prosecution.

I had been hoping that this would eventually emerge from the nomad community - it's a great idea.

The inclusion of a moped or shared vehicle in each location would seal the deal for me.

I got the last "cheap" one, at $3.94.

Obligatory "let's enhance" video - http://youtu.be/Vxq9yj2pVWk.

OC Robotics makes one such system, although it's used primarily for observing/cleaning in tight spaces.

Pretty neat to watch: http://youtu.be/_gU6TWGynkU?t=28s