wikiburner

I would get him a dog.

I would also set him up on Skype so that you and your sister can interact with him in a personable way more often.

Does anyone know of listings or a resource guide for when each TLD is going live and the registrars that are selling them?

I have a couple of domain hacks that I've been interested in that I want to use for a project.

Planet X???

:)

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

I guess you could quibble with Dropbox as an example (except when syncing with a new device, or uploading a massive file to immediately transfer to another device or share with others), but I don't think it changes my point at all.

In fact, it probably helps prove it by demonstrating the lengths U.S. startups have to go to to work around the bandwidth congestion created by the cable monopolies.

It also shows that the end of Net Neutrality will hurt innovation. Online file storage didn't really take off until Dropbox came up with a way to work around shitty bandwidth (as well as device interoperability). You claim that only a handful of video startups would be affected, but I bet the real number is probably in the hundreds or thousands, and many of those haven't yet had the opportunity to build a userbase big enough to pay a bandwidth tax. There could be countless other applications in VR, gaming, video, and who knows what other sectors, that are held back because of the bandwidth situation in the U.S, and an end to Net Neutrality would almost certainly make it worse.

As you mentioned, a lot of people already have a problem with cable companies' VOD getting preferential treatment, but I think it's an order of magnitude worse for cable companies to then lease out the VOD bandwidth they've carved out for themselves to the highest bidder.

With this precedent set, Youtube, Netflix, and Amazon Prime could all end up paying a Comcast Tax to remain competitive with Apple. If that happens, all of a sudden there will be way fewer video or other high bandwidth startups, unless they're lucky enough to get sufficient VC to pay off the cable companies. No new Dropboxes or Vimeos.

Also, I think this situation is fairly different than, say, Motorola manufacturing set-top boxes for cable companies.

The Apple boxes will be sold in retail stores directly to the consumer, and are an attempt by Apple to create a Netflix/Roku killer. Apple paying a Comcast tax to gain competitive advantage seems to be a pretty clear violation of what Net Neutrality was all about.

"Apple Inc. is in talks with Comcast Corp. about teaming up for a streaming-television service that would use an Apple set-top box and get special treatment on Comcast's cables to ensure it bypasses congestion on the Web, people familiar with the matter say."

Wow, I can't believe how quickly and with such little fuss Net Neutrality was killed. Shouldn't it be highly controversial for Apple to be exploiting this situation?

Incognito.

Does anyone know why Dileep George left Numenta? Wasn't he a co-founder there with Jeff Hawkins?

Is there much difference between the goals of Vicarious and Numenta?

Anyone know where you can still buy legit copies of Vista?

I've got several clients with various systems and software that probably won't run with 7 or 8.

I don't understand what eBay's problem is. I mean c'mon, Gordon Gekko was only partially based on Icahn.

Yep, I was just about to post this one:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/malaysia/1070...

PG needs to automatically add a little "Paywall?" tooltip to Times submissions, because this comes up every time.

Just zap your cache, use Incognito, an alternate browser, search for the article in Google News, or, Gasp!, buy a subscription, and you'll be able to view it. They limit you to 10 a month.

Damage from an electrical fire on board could possibly explain the first transponder going out, even if the crew wasn't aware of the fire yet.

This doesn't explain the zigzagging trajectory of the plane after its disappearance:

Indeed, soon after MH370 disappeared, reports emerged that recordings of Malaysian military radar returns showed an unidentified track that could correspond to the flight turning left onto a westward course and descending. At the time it was difficult to assess the validity of that claim. It’s been bolstered, however, by a Reuters report earlier Friday stating that Malaysian military radar showed the flight following a course westward over the Malay peninsula and then heading out over the Indian Ocean, passing specific navigational waypoints as it went.

According to the report, this latter portion of the flight followed an unusual zigzag trajectory as it worked its way toward the north and west. This is a very inefficient way to get from one place to another, but it had some consequences that may have been useful for whoever was in control of the airplane. For one thing, by navigating between well-traveled waypoints, the plane would have seemed to military radar operators to look just like all the other well-behaved commercial traffic traveling over that stretch of ocean. “That’s going to seem like unsuspicious traffic,” says Maarten Uijt de Haag, a professor of electrical engineering at Ohio University. Had the plane left the well-traveled routes and struck out on its own, it would have been far more conspicuous.

Another consequence of the zigzagging trajectory is that, like a fox crossing back and forth over a stream to eluding a pack of hounds, it obscured where exactly it might be heading.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/03/14/mh370_dis...

Slightly related, but does anyone know where to get the equivalent of news.google.com or news.yahoo.com, but with more than 30 days of history? Ideally several years worth.

Lexis/Nexis appears to only cover print news, and their articles aren't timestamped.

You forgot Gary Marcus. I don't know why anyone would look to the New Yorker for tech coverage.

Here's the talk referenced by WalterSear - The Surprising Decline in Violence:

http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_on_the_myth_of_violen...

Seems pretty persuasive.

This was submitted last week, but didn't get many upvotes, so I'm glad to see this submission taking off today:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7200147

The following was a really interesting discussion, that I'd love to hear more opinions on:

==================================

pedalpete 8 days ago | link

This is really interesting. I wonder if the lines have to be so solid, or if a similar effect could be accomplished without breaking the image so much.

Would a bunch of almost imperceptible lines work? What about a smallish change in colour saturation or similar? reply

gojomo 8 days ago | link

I was wondering the same thing. Might a finer mesh/grid work? Or bars with some dimensional shading themselves? Or slight transparency?

Could the bars/layer even be animated, along some consistent plane, so that there's no static background part of the scene that's always obscured. (That might allow even thicker bars, if that's otherwise helpful for the plane-of-reference establishing effect, but which aren't as distracting, since the mind's persistence will 'see around' them.)

Combining these, maybe there could be more than one synthetic depth plane active at once, distinguished by color, translucence, or direction-of-motion? There'd be some perceptual dimming with all that layered-in non-native 'depth chrome', a little like looking through lenses or filters... but hey, other stereo 3D tech has similar tradeoffs.

The first many years after WW2 Europe spent rebuilding itself.

The U.S chipped in quite a bit too. $15 billion, or $148 billion in today's dollars, which was almost 6% (!) of the U.S. GDP at the time. This was in addition to a previous $15 billion in aid before the Marshall Plan was enacted.

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

Somewhat unrelated, but does anyone know of a good javascript/HTML5 framework for creating multiplayer games? I posted a similar question on the Godot Engine thread the other day, but there weren't any obvious candidates.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7209149

Just curious, does anyone have any recommendations for something similar, but Javascript/HTML5 based?

What would the framework of choice be for a browser-based multiplayer game?

INTERVIEWER: What do you consider your greatest achievement ever in programming?

I thought for sure it was going to be DONKEY.BAS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kymzTlqi1SY

Text:

A broad range of jobs that once seemed beyond the reach of automation are in danger of being wiped out by technological advances, Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, warned on Thursday.

Speaking in a briefing at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he said that an acceleration in technological innovation made this one of the biggest problems the world faces in the next 20 to 30 years.

“The race is between computers and people and the people need to win,” he said. “I am clearly on that side. In this fight, it is very important that we find the things that humans are really good at.”

Mr Schmidt’s comments follow warnings from some economists that the spread of information technology is starting to have a deeper impact than previous periods of technological change and may have a permanent impact on employment levels.

Google itself, which has 46,000 employees, has placed big bets on automation over some existing forms of human labour, with a series of acquisitions of robot start-ups late last year. Its high-profile work on driverless cars has also led to a race in the automobile industry to create vehicles that can operate without humans, adding to concerns that some classes of manual labour once thought to be beyond the reach of machines might eventually be automated.

Recent advances in artificial intelligence and mobile communications have also fuelled fears that whole classes of clerical and research jobs may also be replaced by machines. While such upheaval has been made up for in the past by new types of work created by advancing technology, some economists have warned that the current pace of change is too fast for employment levels to adapt.

Mr Schmidt said governments had to encourage rapidly growing “gazelle” companies to counter such trends and create new jobs. He cited shale gas fracking in the US, a technology developed mainly by smaller companies that had created an employment boom.

“There is quite a bit of research that middle class jobs that are relatively highly skilled are being automated out,” he said. The auto industry was an example of robots being able to produce higher quality products, he added.

New technologies were creating “lots of part-time work and growth in caring and creative industries . . . [but] the problem is that the middle class jobs are being replaced by service jobs,” the Google chairman said.

He said that governments needed to invest in education systems to improve skill levels and human cognition. “It is pretty clear that work is changing and the classic nine to five job is going to have to be redefined,” he said. “Without significant encouragement, this will get worse and worse.”

Mr Schmidt expressed doubts about Microsoft’s decision to allow foreign customers to have data stored on servers outside the US to provide protection against surveillance by the National Security Agency. This would not stop the agency requesting such data under US law, he said.

“My understanding is that data in another country is still subject to [US intelligence] laws. It is not obvious to me how you get around that rule. You would have to transfer the assets to a foreign corporation,” he said.

How did Jezebel get unbanned?

Aren't they part of the Gawker/Valleywag hive of scum and villainy?

For non-commercial use, can an artist sample without legal threat?

For example, if an artist is just posting 80s style tracks with dozens of uncleared samples on their website free for their fans to download, doesn't fair use allow for it?

This (dated) Slate article makes a pretty convincing case that when a proper fair use case finally gets to court, most sampling will likely be deemed fair use:

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudenc...

Artists like Girl Talk are getting bolder and more blatant in their uncleared sampling. It might have something to do with his giving away his recent albums, though.

Edit: Here's a couple other Slate articles that go into more detail -

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/05/adam...

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/05/08/paul_boutique...

Great post, it's like you're describing my life - minus that whole "solutions" thing you've got going on :)

Regarding sounds and noises during work, have you tried ambient style music or noise machines in the background, for example:

http://musicforprogramming.net/

I've honestly gotten to the point where I can't sit down and get any work done without it, but I'm sort of paranoid that it might be a distraction and I'm not doing my highest level thinking with it on. I have no evidence to support it, just a concern. It may just be that whole "I get my best ideas while showering/jogging/driving" thing, though.

Also, if you don't mind me asking, would you say you've effectively "cured" your ADD with just the techniques you describe, or are you medicated as well?

Anyway, I'd love to read that blog post if you get the chance.

3D processors

memristors

improved parallel processing

graphene

quantum

spintronics

optical

Did I miss any?

Does anyone have any good links to information on the "BIOS" attack the NSA claims to have thwarted?

To hear the head of the NSA tell it, China was seriously getting ready to launch WWIII on the Internet, which I find pretty surprising.

Elon Musk hasn't commented publicly on ADHD specifically.

Is there speculation that he has ADHD?