bigwill

“There is still something in Japanese culture that demands the warm, personal feelings that you get with a handwritten fax,” said Mr. Sugahara, 43. A quote from the article. Never in my life have I imagined nostalgia power of the fax machine.

"Save as PDF..." + Dropbox + Dropbox for iPhone/iPad and you're done :)

This "hidden tax" applies to the government as well. Inflation expectations are baked into the valuation of financial instruments. For example, if investors think inflation is going to be high they'll demand a higher interest rate on their bonds. Inflation is part of the interest rate. This includes the interest rates at which the government borrows, so they're not particularly jazzed about a high inflation "tax" either. So if you're sitting on dollars and paying this tax, you can rather easily be compensated for it by lending that money.

The relevant changeset in Three20 where Joe resolves this should answer your questions:

http://github.com/facebook/three20/commit/8183ae25528bbc575a...

Best single sentence in the article (referring to management gurus rules/habits): "But most of these rules are nothing more than wet fingers in the wind."

One-off: FMDB, Three20, MPOAuth

Finally, my baby is born!

We'd love it if you could Digg this article too!!

he's making a case for the product with this statement.

McMafia by Misha Glenny. Interesting read on globalization and organized crime as circumstances have materialized since the end of the Cold War.

Very Nassim Taleb. These are great books NT's written that discuss our susceptibility to survivorship bias and other rational failings we have: Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan.

Though less well known than Les Paul, Tom Dowd (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Dowd) was another amazing recording industry hacker. If you're interested in the Les Paul story, you might also like the documentary about Tom Dowd: Tom Dowd and the Language of Music.

Great start. You could definitely get a more musical sound out of it by mapping it onto a scale rather than just the full range of MIDI notes. Also, this approach operates on fixed note lengths--another interesting idea might be to use one of the compared numbers to determine note length rather than a second pitch.

I hear what you're both saying. But I wouldn't call beating roulette in the short term a legitimate strategy exactly because it only works in the short run--strategies are supposed to work for longer than that! The only legitimate value I can see is that if you actually enjoy the experience of playing roulette that it's worth paying for it. Anyone who's willing to buy volatility can win in the short term. Otherwise, stick to a game of skill and get some money on the table while you do it. If you're good you can get some vol. and some positive EV.

Yeah, I like the comments in this sub-thread. These protocols can suffer from Maginot Line type of security. Also, they can provide an illusion of propriety that cheaters can point to when accused and use that to distract, say, a jury from however it is they really cheated. It's important to understand these protocols' failings.

Definitely agree. Generally, I think good hacking music is unobtrusive (doesn't become a distraction), and somewhat repetitive (causes me to maintain focus). I hate a lot of electronic music because it's often too formulaic, but when it's right for hacking it's oh so right.

Some of my hacking favorites: Aphex Twin--Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (the one essential for hacking IMO), Sigur Ros--Takk..., The Field--From Here We Go Sublime, Linstrom--Where You Go I Go Too

Those Tapbots apps are snazzy looking, but a bit overkill for unit conversion :) I think the workflow is less intuitive than maybe a table/nav-based design would be w/ picker wheels or some such. Anyway, the eye candy is getting in the way of an easy-to-use app.

Agree on the uninspired point.

Yeah, Shimomura's role may well have been embellished, but as described in Takedown (there's some controversy around the veracity of the story), he was supposed involved in some fairly sophisticated stuff to help the FBI track Mitnick down.

The list of the most famous hackers has been made over and over again and hasn't changed a whole lot (RTM, Mitnick v. Shimomura, ...), but it seems like the list of famous hacks continues to grow. Are these old school famous hackers really so famous they're that can't be unseated, or are the new jacks just getting the short end of the stick?

Wow this is right on (PG and this author both). I particularly like this line (insert "product" or "release" in place of "book" and he's nailed my experience, particularly the gnawing part):

"A book is like a child who never naps, never goes to camp, always needs care and feeding, and whose presence gnaws on you if you dare neglect it."

I think it also hints at something else I'm grappling with. I work a lot and worry about what I'm working on even when I'm not working. I think this really impedes my ability to do creative things outside of work--I'm so gnawed upon by what I left at work that I have trouble pushing myself into working on other projects.

As an iPhone developer, Apple vs. developers reminds me a hell of a lot of the MPAA vs. filmmakers as documented in "This Film is Not Yet Rated". The more I've experienced, the more it amazes me how true this analogy is.

I think this characterization of HFT is a bit overblown. The activity he's calling unethical--offering a security at price, getting hit at that price and continuing to raise your price until you stop getting hit--is exactly what market makers have always done. This is basic free market dynamics. You offer at $100, you get hit, you raise your price a little bit, say $100.05, and see if you get hit again. Don't get hit? Ok, drop your price back down a little. The same thing happens in open pit trading, it's just a lot slower.