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The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 13,067 posts.
A newly formed patent troll is looking for big money from small business websites, just for using free, off-the-shelf login verification tools. Defenders of the American Dream, LLC (DAD ), is sending out its demand letters to websites that use Google’s reCAPTCHA system, accusing them of infringing...
The Microsoft and Stripe developer keynotes were both examples of the rise of Thin Platforms
(Here’s a version of the text of a submission I just made to BoingBong through their “Submitterator”) Harvard University has today put into the public domain (CC0) full bibliograp…
The Miyawaki method of reforestation inserts small, densely packed wild acreage into urban environs. It’s proving wildly successful.
Experience history's greatest journey along the veins of the world. Relive the interactive journey from Europe to China, explore the map of the Silk Roads, or choose an outpost to trave back in time to.
In 1962, the Simpson's department store in Toronto used an IBM computer to help customers select Christmas gifts, based on the characteris...
Serendipity without physical proximity? Maybe, maybe not.
ANDREA MITCHELL: “Why do you need every telephone number? Why is it such a broad vacuum cleaner approach?” JAMES CLAPPER: “Well, you have to start someplace.”—NBC Meet the Press, this past Sunday Concerned about the surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans, last year Senator Ron Wyden asked...
There has been a rolling scandal about the Carrier IQ software installed by cell phone companies on 150 million phones, mostly within the United States. Subjects of outright disagreement have included the nature of the program, what information it actually collects, and under what circumstances....
I’ve yet to encounter a technically clueful person who believes the Stop Online Piracy Act will actually do anything to meaningfully reduce—let alone “stop”—online piracy, and so I haven’t bothered writing much about the absurd numbers the bill’s supporters routinely bandy about in hopes of persuading lawmakers that…
Back in 2017 I was fortunate enough to travel to RAF Lossiemouth together with a bunch of Finnish media courtesy of BAE Systems to get up and close with the Eurofighter Typhoon group operating ther…
Bureaucratic and logistical roadblocks, not the science, stand in our way
An examination of Kitty Genovese and the Volunteer's Dilemma
CEO @strongholdpay. Alumni of @500GlobalVC @stellarorg @Walmartlabs. Fortune Ledger's 40 Under 40. #payments #fintech
by Benjamin Cook (into by Tom Cooper)
Pay toilets are nasty, and ought to be illegal. Those of us who are not poor can afford the price, if we accept the practice; poor people can't. To deny people access to a toilet when they need one is nasty and degrading.
Studies from two very different cities showed the same result.
This report documents the blocking of Women on Web (WoW) and Women Help Women (WHW) domains in Italy based on OONI data.
As the ongoing attempt to build a Hyperloop tube in California is crashing due to entirely foreseen technical problems, the company trying to raise capital for the project, Hyperloop One, is lookin…
William James, Aldous Huxley, and the functions of religion
