iPad GitHub-backed code editor (syntax highlighting for Python, Ruby, HTML, CSS, and JavaSript).

Has optional support (in-app purchase) for deploying to Heroku ($9/3mo).

A description of what Chrome does to update itself in an admin-only area (e.g. /Applications), even when it is only normally run by non-admin users.

HTML `<canvas>`-based graph drawing JavaScript library.

Simplenote client for OS X.

A web service that will extract a number from any webpage and record it for later graphing, etc.

The syncing backend used in Simplenote, now launching as a separate service.

* http://foundation.zurb.com/
* http://getskeleton.com/
* http://html5boilerplate.com/
* http://www.99lime.com/
* http://bedrocktheme.com/

A nice introduction to/tutorial on Haskell. Including a section on IO and some other monads.

Wow.

A huge list of weird/bad/terrible features in PHP.

[Recommended][HR-r] as containing a good introduction to Bayesian statistics.

[HN-r]: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3793948

Extended JavaScript regular expressions.

It features
* named capture: `(?<name>…)` and extended `replace` that handles `"…${name}…"`
* inline comments: Perl-like `(?#…)
* leading mode: `(?ismx)` Perl-like, but restricted to only enabling on options and only at the beginning of a regexp
* extended flags: Perl-like `s` and `x`
* cross-browser compatibility and bug fixes
* extensibility through custom tokens and plugins.

The successor to Qi.

Shen is a Lisp-y functional programming language with
* macros
* optional strict type checking
* ML-like pattern matching for function/macro definition
* builtin Prolog
* optional lazy evaluation

So far, it has been ported to Common Lisp (CLisp, SBCL), JavaScript, and Clojure.

A community-driven overview of various iOS text editor apps.

Hash resources and server identifiers into the same namespace. When looking for a resource, use the server who’s hash is the next server hash after the resource’s hash (second server hash for a secondary server, et cetera).

A port of [Context Free Art][CFA] to JavaScript and HTML’s canvas element.

[CFA}: http://www.contextfreeart.org/

Uses a small programming languages to draw images (often recursively with random variations).

Shows why scaling vector does not suffice for displaying images at small physical resolutions.

Link to a paper describing the mechanism of the MasterLock Speed Dial directional-code locks.

The locks use a hash-like mechanism to allow an “unlimited length” unlock code. But, like any other hash function, it has collisions.

The [linked article][1] suggests four design guidelines for apps targeted at (very young) children:

[1]: http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2012/03/12/dads-plea-developers-ipad-apps-children/

* active elements (stuff to touch) should indicate their presence (e.g. animated shakes/jumps/wiggles)
* pagination should be done with arrow buttons, not swipes
* children often accidentally contact the bottom of the display; do not put *any* controls there
* the ”menu button” should not be placed so that it it easy to accidentally activate; a multistep approach is helpful for avoiding accidental activations (tap twice; hold here, tap new button over there)
* do not make it easy to make additional purchases

Among other things, the HN comments discuss in-app purchases a bit more. Several comments indicate that in-app purchases are not completely unreasonable as long as they are not targeted at the children-users (e.g. tucked away in a menu only the parents would likely activate).

Links to a security review of several iOS and Blackberry “password keeper” apps and estimates on their relative security.

Count the dots to find each digit.

Replace Bootstrap’s sprite-based icon images with font-based glyphs.

Monty describes why 24-bit/192kHz music distribution is a worthless idea.

44.1/48kHz sampling rates are sufficient to cover human hearing. The ultrasonics captured by higher sampling rates often result in extra noise within the actually audible frequency range due to the way amplifiers and speakers work.

16 bits are enough to cover all of the dynamic range of human hearing. Higher depth samples are useful during production, but not for final distribution.

Testing this stuff is hard due to myriad ways biases can be introduced.

Over-the-air beta distribution, crash report collection with (basic) analysis, and device/OS/user analytics. Starting at $10/month (up to 5 apps (unlimited versions) totaling 250MB).

Compare to TestFlight.

Shows how to fold (and cut) a piece of paper to get an eight page “booklet” where each page uses the same side of the original piece of paper.

From the conclusion:

> We have demonstrated here a simple series of transformations which allow pseudoephedrine to be obtained in a more straightforward manner than is the current norm. We expect that the simultaneous trends of restricting pseudoephedrine sales while N-methylamphetamine becomes less expensive and of higher purity will make the methods presented here increasingly attractive.

Disable /Library/Applications in FastScripts.

Suggests dropping Episode I and watching them in this order: IV V II III VI.

Describes some of the benefits and drawbacks this give a first-time viewer.

A web app that extracts colors from an image (supplied by URL) and generates Twitter Bootstrap CSS and LESS that uses those colors (or any other customized values).

[A HN Comment][hnc] suggests using images from [design-seeds.com][ds] as input.

[hnc]: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3597187
[ds]: http://design-seeds.com/

Dan Kaminsky covers the recent RSA key analyses recently publicized by two different teams.

Both teams analyzed RSA extracted keys from the Internet (e.g. X.509 certificates used for SSL, PGP public keys, and SSH host keys) and found incidents of modulus collisions and moduli that could be broken with a variation of the GCD algorithm due to some keys using a common factor in their modulus.

The weak keys seem to have mostly been generated by various embedded devices and were almost universally never signed by by certificate authority (thus none of the weak keys were being used for CA-backed HTTPS—i.e. this is not a problem for the bulk of Internet users).

Despite the claims of one of the reporting groups, this is not a really a weakness of RSA, but a problem of bad entropy management prior to key generation (other asymmetric encryption algorithms will also fail when using repeated seeds).

A web-based interactive fiction platform (editor and “player”) using Inform 7.

Links to the “app permission” pages for various services.

A nice summary of the differences among jQuery’s `bind`, `live`, `delegate`, and `on` methods.

Forecast for the Kp-index values. Useful for indicating how far from the Earth’s polar regions the aurorae could be visible.

Forecasts for the Earth’s aurorae.

“performs a deep analysis of the configuration of any SSL web server”

Four tested categories: certificate, protocol support, key exchange, cipher strength

Lists “the best” product in several categories, often with a leader per category-criterion.

Generate calendars with twilight times, moonrise/set times for locations (many predefined US, Canada and international locations, or give latitude, longitude, and GMT offset).

Digital logic implemented with Unix pipes, FIFOs (named pipes), a small C program, and some shell scripts.

Mac OS X port of the sfxr sound effect generator.

1960 film demonstrating intertial frames and the fictitious forces “induced” by non-intertial frames.

High resolution version at archive.org: http://www.archive.org/details/frames_of_reference

Instant search of documentation for CSS, HTML, JavaScript, DOM, and jQuery.

CSS/HTML/JavaScript/DOM from Mozilla Developer Network.

An algorithm that can search for entries within a given metric space distance of the search object.

Example: search for words within a given Levenshtein distance of a given word

Some advice for test to check for integer overflow for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, modulo, negation and left shift.

Explains some of the fundamentals of Bezier curves.

The HN comments are probably more interesting than the linked article.

Describes display indicators, functions, basic operations, and schedule programming.

How to set the system type, fan control, heating cycles-per-hour, compresson cycles-per-hour, Auto-mode enable/disable/force, adaptive recovery, compression protection, 5/2 or 5/1/1 schedule. Also test modes, and version information.

A silicone rubber that is hand-formable and air-cures in 24 hours. Bonds to most materials. Strong, yet flexible when cured. Water resistant, thermally stable (-60–180ºC), and removable.

Links to methods of identifying the obscured-in-bag minifig in each series of LEGO minifigures.

Battery charger recommended by Jeff Atwood (http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/03/adventures-in-rechargeable-batteries.html). Apparently no longer available.

Amazon says the [BC1000][new] is the new model.

[new]: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004J6DLD4/

Publish web pages by saving Markdown files into a Dropbox folder.

iOS secure note app.

iOS secure note app from the makers of the Strip password tool.

Hacker News–alike for library news.

iTunes 10.5 lets you hide apps from your (iTunes and on-device(?)) Purchased list so that old, useless apps do not clutter up your Purchased list.

Hide: iTunes Store, Purchased (at bottom), when hovering over a song/album, TV show/season, app, or book
Unhide: iTunes Store, account, iTunes in the Cloud: View Hidden Purchases, Unhide button for song/album, show/season, app, or book

The linked article suggests that if you are looking for flavor in maple syrup, pick a “grade B” (darker) syrup instead of a “grade A” (lighter; originally prized for its neutral sweetness as a substitute/replacement for cane sugar).

This place seems to have a fairly complete catalogue of parts (though, like most places, still no picture for most small parts).

Argues that the continuous optimization that “bandit algorithms” provide is much better than the the periodic, fixed nature of A/B testing.

The introduction and results sections of the [linked paper][1] are not terribly complicated and give a good idea of some of the mechanisms of the indicated “bandit algorithm”.

[1]: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.98.9211&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Enter the LEGO sets you have, find other sets and custom models that you can build with your existing parts.

This library provides a Hashtable type that can use any JavaScript value as a key (i.e. unlike the “plain JavaScript object as a hash” technique, its keys are not limited to just Strings).

http://us.service.lego.com/en-GB/BuildingInstructions/default.aspx (2002 and later)
http://www.brickfactory.info/
http://dndbricks.com/legobuildinginstructions.htm
http://www.worldbricks.com/
http://www.peeron.com/cgi-bin/invcgis/scans/?ct=1
http://www.cubiculus.com/building-instruction.html
http://letsbuilditagain.com/