Hacker News Reader

mawhidbyon Starcraft II launches July 27

I agree completely regarding LoL. Their matchmaking system is supposed to give you a 50% chance of winning any given match (according to their wiki). I usually pre-made with 2-4 friends, and we almost always lost. We were low levels (10-15) being matched up against five level 30's. Needless to say, we were getting crushed every time. I think I had a 15 game losing streak or something when I pre-made.

Their wiki says they make the matches harder when you pre-make with friends because they figure that you will be harder to beat. I got so tired of the uneven matchmaking that I can't bring myself to play it anymore.

mawhidbyon Soldier in Wikileaks video of 2007 Apache attack reveals what happened that day

For reference, the Wikileaks video can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is9sxRfU-ik

The HN thread on the original video can be found at: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1241879

mawhidbyon Why you should never pay more than $10 for an HDMI cable (Infographic)

I get all my cables from Amazon. They always have a 6-foot HDMI cable for about $3, with free shipping.

Here's a link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002L5R78/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp...

mawhidbyon An hour of exercise per day needed to avoid weight gain

I work 9-5(ish) and go to the company gym after work with a friend every day. We do weight lifting and then usually a 2 mile run. By the time we leave the gym, it's been 1.5 hours, and I get back to my place around 7-7:30pm, depending on traffic, and still have to eat and shower before I can get to other things.

I'll admit, it's been difficult and can seem like a chore, but going with someone else is a real motivator - you don't want to let the other person down. In addition to a higher level of fitness, I always leave the gym feeling energized and happy.

mawhidbyon An hour of exercise per day needed to avoid weight gain

The main thing is if calories eaten == calories burned, then you should maintain a stable weight. Exercise helps in this equation because it raises your metabolism (as well as other benefits), which in turn burns more calories.

mawhidbyon An hour of exercise per day needed to avoid weight gain

I'm not sure if this can be truly generalized to the whole population, since this study was conducted on middle-aged women.

What the article (and perhaps the study) does not mention is the dietary habits of the women over the 13 year span. Exercise alone does not define your health, diet is very important, too.

mawhidbyon How We Teach Introductory Computer Science Is Wrong

Consider yourself lucky, I graduated last December and never had the fortune to see any of my professors code on-screen during lectures. It would have been nice for a professor to code on-screen to see their thought processes, given that I started college with little programming experience. Even if I had programming experience coming in, it would have been nice to see somebody else's perspective.

Maybe this should start becoming a requirement of the instructor?

mawhidbyon Ben Folds Chatroulette Piano Ode to Merton

When I first saw the Ben Folds video, I thought it confirmed my belief that Merton is Ben Folds, but after thinking about the title "An Ode to Merton", I'm confused. Are Merton and Ben Folds different people, or the same?

mawhidbyon Is Chrome taking share from Firefox?

Agreed. With Firefox's auto-complete you still have to click on the list of links for it to navigate to that page, and if you enter a search term into the address bar it seems like it either does a regular Google (or default provider) search or a "I'm feeling lucky" search. The reduced number of clicks/keypresses in Chrome really make a difference for me.

mawhidbyon Is Chrome taking share from Firefox?

I still use Firefox for my web development because I like Firebug much better than Web Inspector, but that's about it.

I use Chrome for everything else, and love it even more now that it supports extensions. My favorite thing about Chrome is the fusion of the search/address bar - you can just fire up a new tab and enter your search, rather than open tab, tab over to search, enter search.

mawhidbyon The Toyota Witch Hunt

I've been beginning to suspect this as well, mainly because of all the media coverage this has been getting.

If this theory is true, it's saddening because Toyota's image is completely tarnished in many people's eyes, and they won't be able to recover from this for years (if ever).

mawhidbyon OK Go's new music video, featuring an insane Rube Goldberg machine

I'm pretty sure it was all one take - most of their videos are like that. It may have taken multiple tries to get everything right ('Here it goes again', their most popular video with the treadmills, took 17 attempts, but they captured it all in one take [source:Wikipedia]).

No word yet on how many attempts this took - hopefully they didn't drop too many pianos

mawhidbyon OK Go's new music video, featuring an insane Rube Goldberg machine

You may be right. I've been searching for some evidence of either case, but haven't found any yet. I had figured that the video being embeddable had meant that the label had listened to Damian's previous post.

mawhidbyon OK Go's new music video, featuring an insane Rube Goldberg machine

I agree. I believe that the people cheering at the end of the video is everyone that helped out from Mindshare/Synn Labs.

mawhidbyon OK Go's new music video, featuring an insane Rube Goldberg machine

Something else to note is that OK Go got its way with the label, and this video is embeddable.

For reference, see http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1060736

mawhidbyon Google Buzz

You make a good point. I personally don't use FB too much, and don't see myself migrating, but I can see a lot of my friends who use FB possibly making the move.

For me, I use several of Google's products daily, and always have my Gmail open. That's why I like Buzz, because it seems like it fits me well.

What do you see happening to twitter then, if people move to FB mail, in addition to the introduction of Buzz?

mawhidbyon Google Buzz

From the looks of it, Google has integrated Buzz into their existing products (gmail, maps, places) that makes it more than just a me-too product. Specifically, a big advantage is in the way Buzz integrates with Gmail - it's brilliant.

Compare how you would reply to an email notification from Facebook or Twitter: you'd have to login to the site and post your reply (or even see the actual reply) there. With Buzz, it's inline.

mawhidbyon Google to Add Social Feature to Gmail

The additional functionality is okay with me, so long as Google keeps it in the Labs section.

Just out of curiosity, what is being added that is making gmail less stable for you? In the years I have been using gmail, I've never had any issues, and I currently have 17 labs features running (FWIW).

mawhidbyon How Colleges Can Better Nurture Startups

While I was in undergrad for my CS degree at NC State University, I took an "Innovating in Technology" course. We were split into groups and tasked with coming up with a startup idea/concept, and then spent the remainder of the course working on it. Throughout the semester, our professor provided thought experiments, examples, and principles we should keep in mind.

In the middle and near the end of the semester, an angel investor came in to hear our ideas, and provided helpful feedback for our ideas and presentations.

While this course wasn't as extensive as the programs the article discusses, I think it was a great intro to entrepreneurship, and I found it to be the most helpful and influential course I took in undergrad. Personally, I would like to see the CS degree at NCSU have some more classes on the subject.

mawhidbyon Is Adrian Peterson a Liability? A running back's fumble rate distribution

I don't think this is necessarily something to put on Peterson. Over the years, the Vikings have added more offensive weapons, notably a better receiving core and aquarterback. With Brett Favre there this year, the Vikings had a passing threat that was lacking with Tavaris Jackson, so Peterson wasn't relied on as much to run the offense (This is similar in San Diego with LT - his role is reduced now that Philip Rivers has become a better qb). I also think that defenses are more prepared for him than in previous years, when he was first breaking out on the scene.

mawhidbyon Diagrammr - create diagrams by writing sentences

Thanks for pointing that out. That was my only complaint - perhaps the author should put that on the page where you create your diagrams rather than on the "About" page.

Otherwise it's a neat little app. Love the "How I Met Your Mother" reference on the example diagram. Great show.

mawhidbyon Teux Deux: slickly designed little to-do app

Having some problems as well, only after I have signed up. In Google Chrome, the 'ellipses' feature where it shortens the longer list items does not work for me; instead, the text wraps around to the next line.

Otherwise, a very simple and pretty web app. Love the demonstration video.

mawhidbyon Why Go to Graduate School and Getting into the Program of your Dreams

Apologies, I misstated my intentions. What I meant to say is that I want to work in industry for 3-5 years, and then decide if I want to keep working, or pursue either a PhD or MBA.

mawhidbyon Why Go to Graduate School and Getting into the Program of your Dreams

Support for Master's students really depends on the school. UCSD, where the author works, provides good support for Master's students. I have a friend who is attending UCSD for a Master's (albeit in Civil Engineering) who has received a TA position that covers his in-state tuition (but has to pay out-of-state fees), and pays a stipend.

Almost all the graduate schools I have researched have explicitly stated whether or not they offer any support to Master's students.

mawhidbyon Why Go to Graduate School and Getting into the Program of your Dreams

I'm in the same boat, applying to graduate schools right now for a M.S. in Artificial Intelligence, specifically machine learning and knowledge representation. Just submitted my application for the University of Toronto today. All others in the US I will be submitting around December 15.

I appreciate the insightful and helpful comments, and I agree with m0th87's reasoning for taking the Master's route. Personally, I decided to apply to the Master's because I want to work in the industry for 3-5 years before returning to school to complete a Ph.D. For some reason I feel like applying for a Ph.D to then take the consolation Master's is (in some way) cheating the system, and I can't bring myself to do that. Any thoughts?

mawhidbyon HN: share your unneeded Google Wave invites

http://mailhide.recaptcha.net/d?k=01a4DxRC1H2ruTHbAaXkkCgw==...

Requesting an invite. Thanks for sharing!

mawhidbyon The Leading Cause of Startup Death – Part 1: The Product Development Diagram

In my recent experience with startups, or at the very least ideas for startups, I'm beginning to find that not acting upon your ideas quickly can also be detrimental to your startup. Being stuck in the "Product Development Diagram," particularly in the "Concept/Bus. Plan" phase can allow others with similar ideas to get a head start, and possibly even get to launch before you've even started.

Personally, I think that by getting into the development of your idea as soon as possible will help you. As an added bonus, there are always ideas, features, or a different method of implementation that get brought up while you are developing that you cannot anticipate during the planning/conceptualizing phase.