hrodriguez

Thanks for the link. I looked over the code on the main page only (did not delve deeper) and honestly... it's like night and day. The code by sukeesh is as easy to follow and modify as a simple scripting language. Truly a work of art:)

I've come across similar code that I've been able to immediately cannibalize for personal use on my system. The last time was a script that displayed colored quotes whenever I opened the terminal. Learned an awful lot about coloring text output, randomizing the text and a bit about arrays because it was easy to follow and the app was complete and useful to me. As opposed to learning by snippets.

The tutorial code at pythonspot.com... not terribly friendly I'm afraid (without a detailed tutorial):-( I can understand how an advanced programmer can see logical similarities but the actual code itself scared me away.lol Sorta' like writing the same program: one in rexx and another in bash.

This has already been flagged for some unstated reason...

Unlike come of the other comments, as a non-programmer, I really like this. The code seems so easy to follow and tweak. I'm already getting some ideas on how I can expand on this in terms of coupling the easy english syntax to the underlying linux commands in order to display both outputs (so that newbie command-line users see what's happening behind the scenes). A few other things pop to mind but need to spend some time on the code.

In fact, I think an app like this could probably be even more useful with additional comments embedded in the source - as a learning tool. It's this kind of easy to follow code that gets people excited about programming (especially when they can tweak it right away). It's a program that works very well for what it does, doesn't need documentation except for commenting the code.

The newws.py, for example, is a little difficult to follow right away (and modify for entry-level programmers, non-programmers like myself). Commenting here would have been nice:)

I personally would love to see more apps/code like this but maybe HN isn't the place for this:-( I understand why, it's not a criticism on any deficiency here - as the audience is much more advanced.

> Device and information insecurity, overzealous surveillance by governments — these are real concerns that call for real attention.

I'm looking forward to The NY Time's Zeynep Tufekci's real discussion about Operating Systems that spy on us, collect our data and share that data; tracking across the internet; lack of security updates on phones; a tie-in with PRISM (allowing the NSA unfettered access to company databases) and anything else her top-notch "security researchers" turn up.

Maybe she can add a few words about the lack of oversight, transparency and accountability our tech & phone companies enjoy for the privilege of cooperating with certain government agencies. Let's get your "sources" to add a few words about backroom deals that circumvent The Constitution and the laws of this land too. It's a big topic with many players.

Be careful though, Mrs Tufekci. This kind of real news will get you into hot water with your masters.

I'm sure she'll get to it after another hit-piece on Wikileaks for actually bringing this discussion to the table instead of trying to kill it. That is, once she gets over her political biases (which are sprinkled throughout the article) and does some real journalism.

Security and Privacy are issues that need "real attention" and not something that gets tacked on at the end of an article and forgotten.

*edit: word

Lovely machine but I personally can't stomach the 16:9 aspect ratio. This usually limits my options when it comes to hardware. Wish Dell came out with similar but sporting a 3:2 or 16:10 screen (with Linux support).

George Orwell's 1984 and Isaac Asimov (just about everything he's written, especially love his shorter stories).

I still see no reason why they couldn't reboot the project and agree with his thinking here: "Create a mid-range tablet ... Carve out a niche in developed markets first ... Firefox OS was actually five years too early!"

I always thought they were trying to put a ChromeOS competitor on a phone when it actually belonged on laptops, tablets and 2-in-1s (to start). I would have been very interested in a device running an extension-rich privacy-respecting browser, using open tech, focused on education and as a device to develop for.

It's essentially Mozilla's mission statement made into physical form. Dealing with corporate interests, as the article suggests, forced Mozilla to diverge from their base (end-users). It was a learning experience, that was all.

I don't actually expect the project to be revived and that's a real shame given the hostility of the alternatives (not including Linux, etal) available to (the rest of) us.