stdgy

All text is a description of something, but not all text is copyrightable. I would hold that an API is a textual definition of processes used to interact with a system. I don't think that kind of rote technical description is covered by copyright.

I guess I'm confused over what you refer to when you say REST protocol. I'm imagining a textual description of endpoints, arguments and expected return types. Just technical details. Maybe you're talking about the actual implementation?

Perhaps I am missing your point, but aren't all APIs simply definitions that describe how to communicate to an underlying system?

An API, by itself (By definition of being an interface), does nothing. It's just a description of how one would ask the system to perform some function. It may be written in a way such that it describes what the system will do to produce a result. But that's merely descriptive, not functional.

I had to refresh before it would allow me to scroll. Not sure what the issue is.

Technically, wouldn't home prices just fall until they were affordable enough for the community to purchase them? I suppose they could just sit in the owners hands forever, but that seems unlikely. I would think that, after some amount of time, they would prefer to have liquid capital over no capital.

Not taking any side in this debate, but that makes some economic sense to me.

The Unity-oriented stuff are good examples. The Stack Exchange sites came to my mind as well, though I was hesitant to count web apps.

Honest question, not snark:

Who are some big C# developers that create major applications consumers (Not enterprises) use everyday?

You mentioned the paucity of major OSX/iOS developers, but I'm not sure the case isn't the same for C#/.NET.

It brings the costs of on-boarding, support and sales to 0. At least, from the customer facing perspective. Presumably, they also believe this will bring them a net increase in 'paying users', with larger customer defections coming from the big players (Verizon and AT&T) rather than their own customer base.

I could see how it could be an attractive revenue stream.

Google is NOT in the business of selling information to advertisers. They're in the business of choosing who to advertise products to based on the information they collect and hold onto.

There is a significant difference between the two.

A co-worker and I were just talking about this. My take on the situation is that this could be partially alleviated if the car were to refuse to get off of the highway until after the driver manually took it out of autopilot. If the driver doesn't respond, skip the exit and stay on the highway sending out alerts until the driver responds.

Not exactly optimal, but I feel it may be the safest route. It would be interesting to see what other strategies people come up with.

In fact, kahirsch linked to it in that thread.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9203253

Wouldn't changing the price agriculturists pays for water be exactly the kind of regulation you're deriding?

Though perhaps you are referring to the price of something else?

Neat theme. I've been enjoying Space Gray for a few months now: http://kkga.github.io/spacegray/

Any other suggestions for somewhat minimal themes out there?

By that logic, shouldn't all of the workers in [manufacturing|food service|sales|etc] do the same?

Virtually all firms are going to invest in optimal production/service methodologies in order to stay competitive and capture the largest margins. In the (somewhat) near term, that means replacing a whole lot human labor with automation. But until then, there is still a job there to be done and a lot of people that would like to have the money for doing it.

With that said, I don't disagree that the long-term career prospects of taxi driving are plummeting. I think many other careers are nearing their expiration dates as well, though I may be overly pessimistic...

The CalTech and MIT pranks are legendary, and generally go well above and beyond what was demonstrated in this situation.

The prosecution of this 'offense' is simply absurd.

The issue, as I see it, is that startups account for a pitiable number of the overall H1B Visa count. For that matter, engineering powerhouses in general account for a small number of H1B Visa use.

The majority of the visas are snatched up by multinational consulting firms that are trying to import their foreign labor for domestic work. Firms like Wipro, Infosys and Tata.

Here are the numbers: http://www.myvisajobs.com/Reports/2014-H1B-Visa-Sponsor.aspx

I would propose two changes to the current regime in order to make it easier to bring top-tier talent abroad into the country.

1) Impose tougher strictures on pay requirements. This program is supposed to be used to bring in top performers. Top performers should be paid commensurately. As such, this imported labor should be paid a significant multiple of the prevailing wage, say 1.5. This has the added benefit of reducing Visa demand by firms that are simply using the program as a method to funnel their foreign workforce into the country.

2) Impose tougher checks on employee responsibilities. That is, ensure that employees aren't being taken advantage of and are in fact doing the work they were hired to do. Many people are being abused in the current H1B system by being paid below market value, as their actual responsibilities far outweigh the advertised responsibilities. Other H1B holders are promised fake jobs and essentially 'rented out' after they arrive in the country (http://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/Silicon-Valleys-Bod...).

North Korea's previous leader, Kim Jong-Il, was killed in 'Team America: World Police'. Impaled, actually.

So not only has this precedent been set, but it was done to the same country's leader by producers and directors in the United States.

Edit: This was done a decade ago.

UT Austin also has a Gates CS Building/Complex. https://www.cs.utexas.edu/about-us/new-building

And those properties that statistically discourage an entire sex from pursuing Computer Science are...

The problem is that I have seen no significant evidence to support such a claim. And on the flip side, it seems rather straightforward to argue for culturally guided decision making. Marketing, toys(Barbie vs Tools), socially approved courses(home economics vs woodshop), socially approved professions, 'traditional' family roles, historical religious convictions... These make for a convincing argument. And they're especially so when you begin to dissect the progress women have made in other professions, and the changes in cultural attitudes over time that have helped them make and hold on to such gains.

What does 'not interested' connote? And how do you frame it?

Consider these two statements: 1) The female sex is intrinsically(biologically) uninterested in Computer Science. 2) Girl's are raised in an environment that pushes their interest away from Computer Science.

In each statement, girls are not interested in Computer Science. But the first statement carries a tremendous amount of baggage with it, and comments on significantly more than cultural interest. It is, to put it lightly, a fantastic claim. And fantastic claims require fantastic evidence.

I don't think anyone is afraid of admitting that girls have been less interested in pursuing Computer Science than men. That's not really at issue. What's at issue is the cause and context guiding the group's interest.

Can their current Thunderbolt connections drive a display of this resolution?

Interesting, thanks. I'll have to check this out.

Has any team ever tried to put together a system equivalent to Steam for Desktop application distribution?

I'm imagining a cross-platform(Well, for desktops) store that would make it easy for developers to release applications, distribute updates, distribute trials and manage payments using a number of different models(single purchase, upgrade discounts, weekly/monthly/yearly subscriptions, all kinds of things).

It's upsetting that good software doesn't have a good way to be distributed and searched for in 2014. I feel like we, as developers, should be taking the initiative here, not sitting on our haunches hoping Apple and Microsoft give us something that works.

I don't think what you provided are counterpoints, they're facts in support of the point.

Censorship in the name of preventing "foreign interference" is no less censorship.

Ah, interesting. I believe it's Javascript based as well, which might have some effect. Doesn't seem to appear until the page has fully loaded.

Does your home screen look different?

http://i.imgur.com/FBBIYLR.png

I think you're being a bit overly defensive here. (S)he was just pointing out some facts about the system that I didn't grasp in my initial post. It's important that we remain critical of any system. And it's equally important that we remain conscious of their potential flaws and design trade-offs.

Hmm, yes. That makes sense. Being able to retrieve from a different device would blow the 'by device' idea apart. And you're also able to reset your password and have access to all of your stored information, which I think just further enforces the concept that nothing you're storing is unreadable by Apple(Or any requesting agency...).

I'm not sure how anything could be safely stored on their cloud(or any cloud), given these features.

I thought that the data would be encrypted with your device's key, not Apple's key.

Here's a quote of his from the Charlie Rose interview: We’re not reading your email, we’re not reading your iMessages. If the government laid a subpoena on us to get your iMessages, we can’t provide it. It’s encrypted and we don’t have the key.

Perhaps that's not the case? Or rather, perhaps that's literally only the case with iMessage? I don't think iMessages are ever stored on iCloud, and instead only ever propagate from device to device...

All your iCloud content is encrypted in transit and, in most cases, when stored (see below). If we use third-party vendors to store your data, we encrypt it and never give them the keys. Apple retains the encryption keys in our own data centers, so you can back up, sync, and share your iCloud data.

If I'm reading this correctly, it looks like most things are encrypted while on iCloud. Namely:

  - Photost
  - Documents
  - Calendars
  - Contacts
  - iCloud Keychain
  - Backup
  - Bookmarks
  - Reminders
  - Find My iPhone
  - Find My Friends

But these aren't encrypted on iCloud:

  - Mail and Notes (Though they are encrypted in transit)

I would think this means that Apple is able to hand over Mail and Notes data sans encryption?

On another page it reads: On devices running iOS 8, your personal data such as photos, messages (including attachments), email, contacts, call history, iTunes content, notes, and reminders is placed under the protection of your passcode. Unlike our competitors, Apple cannot bypass your passcode and therefore cannot access this data.

I read this to apply only to items stored on the device itself. Not on iCloud.

But I hope I'm reading this wrong, and Mail storage is indeed encrypted on iCloud.

You're performing some monumental gymnastics if your take away from his post is that he intends to intentionally go waste his time creating bad things.

He clearly states that he isn't comfortable with the responsibilities that come bundled with being part of the operations of a marvelously popular product. His love lies with creating, tinkering and exploring. And with the sale, he has finally extricated himself from the part of his life he disliked so that he can spend his time doing things he enjoys. If any of his side creations wind up blowing up again, he now knows to just leave them behind instead of going through the process of hurting himself, doing things he doesn't like to do.

I don't think it's exactly great that he feels the need to abandon his creations, but I'm happy that his experiences with Minecraft may lead him to make some different decisions in the future to keep himself sane, and enjoy life a bit more.