News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

RuadhanMc

Re:U.S. Set to Sue a Dozen Big Banks Over Mortgages on Friday September 02, 2011 @02:01AM (#2953093)
I think people tend to forget that the banks were bailed out because if they weren't then the world's financial system would have shriveled up and died -- remember the credit markets had actually ceased to function and as a result no one could borrow money.

Credit markets and the shadow banking system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late-2000s_financial_crisis#Cre...

I haven't seen any credible arguments against bailing out the bank which would have ensured that the financial system didn't completely collapse. Some argue that we should have let the crisis take its own course, let the banks fail and deal with the consequences. But this would have guaranteed a second great depression and the vast majority of the world would have been negatively affected in a very bad way.

Now without congress actually doing anything against the banks there aren't too many options left, but hopefully the banks being sued can keep this issue in the spotlight longer to encourage public rage, so that Congress is actually forced to do something of significance.

Re:Confirmed: All Wikileaks Cables to be Released in next 24 hours on Thursday September 01, 2011 @11:57AM (#2950528)
Well in the 80's and 90's when Assange did the illegal hacking, that we're aware of, hackers weren't what we call hackers today.

So a reformed hacker in my books is someone who no longer illegally hacks into property that is not theirs.

In "Hacker News" existed a decade+ ago then it would have been filled with black-hats.

Re:Confirmed: All Wikileaks Cables to be Released in next 24 hours on Thursday September 01, 2011 @07:32AM (#2949539)
The boring, mundane stuff should absolutely be released... invaluable stuff for the historical record.
Re:Confirmed: All Wikileaks Cables to be Released in next 24 hours on Thursday September 01, 2011 @06:29AM (#2949392)
They have to check the leaks to make sure that they aren't putting any ones life in danger (when they haven't done this in the past their enemies have used it against them in the ongoing PR battle). That takes time.

It also means that they do cherry pick because they have to prioritize what leaks they will check and release first.

They've got 250,000 cables. A small team is going to take a long time to check 250,000 cables.

No doubt they do keyword searches of the cables to find the juicy ones and release those first, but, what you gonna do... release the boring, mundane stuff first? No one would pay attention to you.

Re:Confirmed: All Wikileaks Cables to be Released in next 24 hours on Thursday September 01, 2011 @06:25AM (#2949380)
Someone, somewhere, screwed up.

It's quite odd. Certainly Assange is quite technically savvy -- he's a reformed (genuine) hacker -- after all. So I just can't imagine him re-using passwords. Similarly, I would have thought that he'd be enough of a control freak to, you know, check this stuff out himself.

I haven't had a landline since 2007. Mobile phone, Internet and Skype more than meets all of my requirements.
$500m would be more than sufficient to do all of those things you've outlined. If you can put up 25% (random percent) of the money then you'd be able to get investors to put in the rest. Only a nut would invest the entire amount themselves.

But that aside, we're talking here about quality of life which does not equal being able to pay for the craziest most expensive ideas that you can come up with.

Yes, but you see, in order for him to actually get the gig as an Apple intern he'll have to sign his soul away and the consequences of leaking any information after he's signed those papers will be draconian.
Re:Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO of Apple on Thursday August 25, 2011 @01:03AM (#2923827)
It's vague cause that's the way he wants it.
Re:Download.com wrapping downloads on Monday August 22, 2011 @02:58AM (#2911635)
For once I'd like to see a little more honesty... you know: "we did it for the money" rather than "we did it for the users". Liars.

--------------------

2. Why is CNET Download.com making this change?

The same reason you have your applications on Download.com – for the users. The CNET Download.com Installer ensures a safe and improved download experience by making it easier for Download.com users to complete downloads and launch the software’s installer.

--------------------

Re:Concurrency in Ruby almost as good as Node.js on Thursday August 18, 2011 @05:34AM (#2898593)
There is too much negativity on the Internet, but there's also too much of just about everything else. The ease of publishing on the Internet means that people don't think too critically about their work prior to publishing it.

For example, if these guys were publishing this benchmark as part of a study or argument in a quarterly magazine -- and this was there only opportunity to publish it for the next year or so -- then they would have been far more critical of their own work prior to publishing it. Instead they've quickly thrown together something and pushed it onto the Internet without too much further thought.

So long as it is civil, criticism is fine.

Re:Concurrency in Ruby almost as good as Node.js on Thursday August 18, 2011 @02:37AM (#2898247)
Why should they?

Just because someone posts a benchmark that is obviously flawed, doesn't mean that someone else should be obligated to do their own benchmark as a counter.

These guys didn't ask for node.js to be used in any benchmark.

The onus is on the person who chooses to do a benchmark, and publish the results, to get it right. If they don't get it right, then they are in the wrong and deserve the criticism that they get as a result.

Overall value of one person to a company is hard to measure. Yes, they might write great code, but if their abrasive and asshole personality bring down the productivity of the other five developers on the team, is it worth it?
Re:Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion on Monday August 15, 2011 @09:00AM (#2886647)
Perhaps, but Apple make a ton more money per handset than Google does, so in my mind they are ahead. They also continue to lead design-wise. Manufacturers are still copying Apple products in this space.
Re:Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion on Monday August 15, 2011 @08:21AM (#2886516)
It is a vicious circle, I agree with you.

But it's not clear how Google can break the cycle by themselves. If Google were to say no to patents, without there first being major reforms to the patent system, then they would be slowly squeezed by their competitors patents until they ran out of juice.

Re:Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion on Monday August 15, 2011 @08:18AM (#2886511)
It's fascinating to see the behemoths (Apple, Microsoft, Google) positioning themselves for the fight ahead. The importance of this fight cannot be understated.

Microsoft won the last fight like this and they have dominated our desktops for 15 years (OK, maybe not all HN devotees) and pocketed gazillions.

Apple are ahead right now (manufacturing handsets, selling software, etc), Google are second and Microsoft are lagging behind in third, but this Motorola deal means that Google might be able to pull ahead of Apple for a period and alienated phone manufacturers who are using Android might flock to Microsoft, inflating their sails a little.

Re:Google Buys Motorola For $12.5 Billion on Monday August 15, 2011 @08:02AM (#2886453)
Google has got to play the game until the rules of the game change. They need patents for protection. Yes, the patents are overpriced, but does Google have a choice?
Re:Dear procrastinator on Monday August 15, 2011 @07:37AM (#2886344)
A citation is not needed.

It's obvious that he is expressing an opinion. Those who disagree with him can express an opposing opinion. Just because someone says something, doesn't mean that they need to back it up in any scientific way, especially in a community based around discussing ideas and sharing opinions.

Re:Mark Zuckerberg plays Angry Birds on Google+ on Sunday August 14, 2011 @09:19AM (#2883566)
The only thing this indicates is that Mark is keeping tabs on the latest hot news. It means that when a reporter asks him the question "Do you think G+ is a competitor to Facebook?" then he can give answer. The answer could be a simple no, but unless he's actually used G+ how could he honestly answer that question?
Re:Bill Gross: America’s debt is not its biggest problem on Thursday August 11, 2011 @09:46AM (#2872772)
It was a poor choice of words on my end.

I take your point that America will always be technically able to print money in order to pay back the debt.

But wouldn't printing that amount of money destroy the value of the US dollar? Causing all sorts of other issues?

Re:Bill Gross: America’s debt is not its biggest problem on Thursday August 11, 2011 @08:29AM (#2872501)
It's a fascinating situation. I don't claim to know the answer or how much debt is viable. I do agree that the US isn't in the same basket as other debt-laden countries. They are an exception -- but for how long... I don't know.

I think there is a ceiling -- and I'm not talking about the official debt ceiling -- of debt. Is it 100% debt to GDP? 200%? 300%? It's somewhere. There's a point at which it just isn't possible to repay the money.

Re:Bill Gross: America’s debt is not its biggest problem on Thursday August 11, 2011 @02:55AM (#2871786)
To a certain extent debt is the problem. If the US and other Governments didn't have so much debt when the shit hit the fan in 2008 then they would have had more means to deal with the growth issues. US public debt is 100% debt to GDP, so there isn't a whole lot of room to move.
Re:Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy (2008) on Wednesday August 10, 2011 @02:00PM (#2869391)
Why?

In the current context talk about a recession isn't due to any sort of tech bubble. Talk about a recession is due to issues with the financial system and debt.

A small recession caused by a tech bubble would honestly be more desirable (in my mind anyway) than what issues with the financial system and debt could produce.

Also, a downturn in the tech industry now wouldn't necessarily be because of a tech bubble, but rather due to lack of confidence in the financial system as a whole.

Re:Minecraft surpasses 3 million sales on Friday August 05, 2011 @01:32PM (#2850883)
Does it matter that it is still in beta? Gmail was in beta for a long time?

It's obviously not a "beta" version of the product in historical terms. It's a product that's being publicly used, with all of its imperfections on show, which is continuously being developed.

These are paying customers.

There will be years for them to find a way to recover, or, in the absolute worst case, years for you to reinvest.

No, there wouldn't be years for him to reinvest. If it was revealed that Google's best days where behind them -- i.e. revenue was shrinking and they were dipping into their cash reserves to keep things rosy -- then investors would sell, sell, sell and drive down the stock price in a relatively short period of time.

Re:Default More Than 400 Years Ago Leaves Scars on Monday August 01, 2011 @03:53AM (#2831199)
Yes, it leaves scars only in the sense that the event has been recorded by historians. Interesting story, but bad title.
Doesn't exist yet -- but I'd love to start a HN meetup in Umea, Sweden. I've added details to the spreadsheet. Ping me if you're interested.
These strike me as no-brainers. There's nothing really philosophical or controversial about them. I wouldn't even classify them as "teamwork", just basic communication.

If I hire someone to do a job then I absolutely expect them to a) ask for clarification if required, b) confirm with me once the job is done or c) warn me if the job will not be done on time.

I think most of the comments on here have read way too much into these 3 rules.

Tip: he's talking about how individual members of a team communicate with him: the boss. Nothing more, nothing less.

Re:Judge criticizes Google and Oracle at hearing on Friday July 22, 2011 @08:58AM (#2793299)
Well my guess is that Groupon is appealing because it is purely an advertising platform, while Sun was a big company with lots of different products. Java was one of them, and while it would have been great in hindsight for Google to take control of the Java related patents, they would have also had to deal with all of Sun's other products (including hardware) which would not have been so appealing.

What would Google have done with Sun's hardware business? Shut it down? Gone into the hardware business themselves?

Groupon is pie in the sky sort of stuff and thus easier to acquire logistically speaking.

Re:Novell and Xamarin Partnership around Mono on Monday July 18, 2011 @12:40PM (#2776963)
Many conspiracies don't make a lot of sense. :-)

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