skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Awesome, thanks for that link. Occasionally I find myself staring down the barrel of a particularly thorny problem; the initial responses and challenges to the problem listed in the diagram are spot-on. My own internal approach to such problems pretty closely mimics what's in the diagram.

It's nice to have something that describes that whole process -- faced with a toughy problem? This is what to expect, and lest you forget, here's how you can approach it.
They're at 2.8 GHz now, so I rate this rumor "duh".
news.ycombinator.com
I haven't seen Weebly mentioned so my vote goes to them!

http://www.weebly.com/

Don't know the guys (like their blog though), don't know their business model, but their app is awesome. Intuitive, looks great and anyone can use it.
Memcachedb (db) is a distributed key-value storage system designed for persistence
Really Xobni and Loopt are probably the most ballsy companies YC has ever funded. They share a lot of characteristics:

1) Seeing something powerful in contextual data surrounding phones and mail (perhaps the two most basic forms of communication ever).
2) Both are part of the Microsoft Accelerator Program- The two of them also use Microsoft technology- .NET and Outlook (C#, I think). For some this may go against them.
3) Both have founders that are very nice guys (but you definitely wouldn't want to compete against them).
4) Both are VC-backed and they never sold out earlier like other YC companies, which just shows their relative tolerance of risk.
I'll stick with cygwin, thanks.
Joomla security updates anyone?
If Xobni gets acquired by Microsoft, I think it would impact the problem of how to manage thousands of emails for potentially millions of frustrated but complacent Outlook users.
Well worth the upgrade to Office 2009
How to tell if someone is going to rip you off
ftp://ftp.research.microsoft.com/pub/tr/tr-2002-75.pdf
Why not? The text I want to publish gets pushed out to the page.

Extensibility of other platforms means little to me, as the more interesting features I'd need to implement myself.
That's us!
Ask YC: Why hasn't Microsoft acquired Xobni already?
Xobni is such a good fit for Microsoft that its puzzling that they haven't been acquired already.
Any theories why this hasn't happened yet?

p.s. please remember the intent of this thread is analysis and not gossip.
This may be off-thread to some but I believe it is very applicable - content not the platform gives the blog value to your customers and customer developers.

For a great example, read http://blogs.smugmug.com/don/ (one of my favorite blogs in terms of technical and personal communication)
Microsoft doesn't want to admit that they had the inbox backwards all along. ;-)
My guess is because Xobni doesn't have widespread adoption(1 mil + users), which I'm sure is on it's way..
I would rephrase #1 to read "Get Cash in the Door," a subtle but critical difference. Cash is like oxygen. Run out and die.
Engineering is hard. Doing difficult homework problems is not fun. I only know a few engineers who were regulars on the college party circuit. The women in my engineering school (who were the minority) were smart and liked engineering.
The other way to look at it is that Lua has a simple enough binding interface that it's like a "high-level layer on top of C." So you can write C, or write Lua, and slop things around between them as necessary, run multiple interpreters, whatever you feel like.

Python is more focused on extending the language as a singular entity, and (not having actually written extensions) it seems to have more strenuous requirements.

Right now I'm focused on haXe, though, cause with that language, you get several platform options, including a Lua-like interpreter(Neko).
Xobni is holding out for the possibility of lucrative corporate site-wide licenses (negating the need to be acquired by Microsoft).
When I read come across links I open them in another tab, by the time I come around to read them, they have loaded long ago or they will not load at all.
Most people don't care it's your first day so try not to act like you are special. Especially if they've been coming to work for years more than you have been. Lie low, listen, code. Have a small profile. I made the big mistake of kissing up to the senior developer the first day of my new job (luckily we were able to forget this transgression later on)
So I thought about this for a while and here's what I came up with:

Scenario a) Microsoft wants to acquire Xobni, but Xobni does not want to be acquired at its present valuation (whatever Microsoft was offering). However Microsoft also has strong leverage over Xobni as it controls what components work with Outlook. So this scenario of an aggressive Microsoft being rebuffed by a confident startup does not sound plausible.

Scenario b) Microsoft is timing its acquisition. If Xobni is independent, it could possibly integrate its service with other webmail providers. These providers (like Google or AOL) would be very reluctant to let a Microsoft owned Xobni have access to their users. In this case, by delaying the acquisition Microsoft could be hoping to gain leverage over the other email companies once their users are hooked on Xobni. Something along these lines seems much more plausible to me.

A third scenario comes to mind: Microsoft realizes that its history of acquisitions has not been too great, and it thinks Xobni is too important to risk screwing up this way. This seems unlikely just based on everything I've read and heard about the company and its culture.
http://paulbuchheit.blogspot.com/
reddit, xobnia, rescuetime, kiko (when it lived)
SiteAdvisor used to do some really cool things before they were bought -- looks like google is trying to replicate that...http://www.siteadvisor.com
Ugh. Article is bunk, and I really wish nutritionists and dieticians and their ilk would stop trying to convince people that they only need to eat something else to feel 100% better.

The most important thing you can do for your health -- and I'll tie this in to entrepeneurism in a moment -- is get some regular exercise. It doesn't have to be at the gym, for 6 hours a week, either.

I used to hang with a bunch of rock climbers. Some of them prided themselves on their dirtbag scavenging habits, and they ate some pretty gnarly gruel. But, they were fit. In many cases, they could have been models for anatomy lessons. Their health had almost nothing to do with what they were eating, and much more to do with the regular exercise they got.

So, if I'm having trouble getting focused, I'll go for a walk. I walk down to the local gas station for a soda, or the store for some groceries -- both about a half mile out is all -- and it gives me plenty of time to get away from the work and the computer and refocus a little. I get back to the desk, I feel a lot better, and I'm ready to roll on the next project.

Forget this diet crap. Go find an excuse to walk somewhere regularly.
What we should aim for, in the long term, is a tough question. But fortunately we don't need to know that, now. What's much easier is determining some good short term goals, and then after completing them, determining the next set of short term goals. In that way, we can make progress indefinitely, without ever seeing especially far ahead.

But certainly seeing as much of an "ultimate purpose" to aim for, as we can, is helpful. We have ideas of parts of it. Creating knowledge is good, and destroying it is bad. Freedom is good, and controlling other people is at best a temporary stopgap measure, not an ideal. Cooperation or indifferent tolerance is good, and violent conflict is bad, both because it's destructive, and because it's not a truth seeking process. Settling for less is not ideal, and anything that puts pressure on people, or creates incentives, to not strive for all we can, is bad.

Some of these assertions have directly applicability today. For example, the common perception that striving for more is "hard" (unpleasant) indicates something or other is going wrong. Or there's the idea that life is about compromise, which is essentially settling for less. People don't just fail to find a with to proceed with no downsides, but often people don't even try, and assume such things do not exist. The ideas in our culture which cause these attitudes clearly have room for improvement.

"moral philosophy has to do with determining the end"

Yes, but that's not all. How to approach goals, how to solve problems and correct errors, what sorts of policies for how to live your life are effective, are also very important topics (and perhaps more accessible and directly useful). One of the critical ideas here, I think, is that all these things depend on knowledge. How do you approach a goal? In general, you need to create knowledge about the goal and how best to approach it (and also whether it's worth accomplishing, in case it was mistaken). To solve a problem, you have to figure out how to solve it. (And if implementing the solution is hard or unpleasant in any way, that could be avoided with still more knowledge of how to solve the problem in an easier way.) To correct errors, you have to create knowledge of what ideas are in error, and what would be better ideas. And so on. And therefore, anyone who is seriously interested in morality ought to study epistemology.
This information is too important to get second-hand on the web. Go straight to the source. Cosmopolitan magazine can be purchased at the checkout counter of your local supermarket.
Well (A) is more likely because Xobni is part of the microsoft accelerator program already which I'm sure turns off google and AOL.

They're well-funded, so the asking price must be high.
We do plan to try this with the applications one day. I'm not super optimistic, but it's worth trying.
Inventor wants to put pop bottle rocket into orbit
They are well-funded, but they cannot achieve much without Microsoft (because Microsoft controls access to Outlook). So Microsoft has huge leverage in this situation. This makes me believe that Microsoft is in charge of the timetable (whatever it maybe). And yes being part of the Microsoft accelerator would I guess raise suspicions in the valley.
I use reddit a lot also. But in terms of mind blowing coolness, http://likebetter.com.
That question mark next to his tip-this button is fiendishly close.
Touché, I'm sure there are many researchers who work hard and mean well.

But this isn't to say that the system of publication is perfect. Why don't we innovate more in how we organize research on a macro level?
Could not agree more. Although you will find, as you take exercise slightly more seriously, you tend to want to eat the right balance of foods (on the upside, you can also eat more of the good stuff - eg a nice big bowl of pasta after some training).

I have worked at home for quite a few years, daily exercise is now routine (I actually look forward to it). Difference to energy level, and general appearance is amazing.

The bottom line is our bodies are built for really hard physical work. They need it, at least a bit every few days.
"Their health had almost nothing to do with what they were eating" -- It's good to be young, isn't it? As you get older, the effects of what you put into your body become more immediate, even when you exercise.

Still, most diet advice is useless. Here's the only advice you need: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Quoted from a NYT article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t....
I say award him liquidated damages of $20 according to Sivers' Rule:

http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2005/08/ideas_are_just...
Top 10 Ways to Motivate Geeks
The primary reason Microsoft acquires companies is either to enter a new market, or greatly strengthen its position in a market. For instance, Microsoft acquired bungee to grow it's xbox platform, and more recently FAST, which is to enter the enterprise search space. Microsoft is already firmly embedded in the corporate e-mail business (outlook), as well as the online e-mail (live mail/hotmail), so buying xobni doesn't make sense.
God forbid they try and improve one of their products...
Will YouNoodle Predict Its Own Inevitable Failure?
Being a better feature has nothing to do with being a lucrative acquisition. If Xobni can show a clear benefit in $$'s to M$'s bottom line, then the corpdev guys might get excited. Right now there's no serious competitive threat to Outlook as installed software, so buying Xobni (or anyone else) just for additional features isn't interesting. Without a competitive threat MS could take 2 years to copy most of Xobni and roll it out in a future version.
Silicon Valley Losing Middle-Wage Jobs
They bought Lookout with the ostensible purpose of improving Outlook.

I'd guess MS is waiting to see what sort of traction Xobni gets, and if it's solid they'll consider acquiring and/or implementing some of that functionality into Outlook.
Because Microsoft prefers to copy/release a crappier version of things in house.

I'm just saying!
No, it means something may have changed in between the time the developers wrote the code and when he tried to run it. Or perhaps there's something interesting in his environment (e.g. a different file system than the installer supports). But since Greg didn't bother burdening anyone with details, we'll never know.

The link I posted is a perfect example of this - it's for the supervise utility from djb's daemontools. djb is one of sharpest programmers out there but I doubt he considered that years after he wrote daemontools someone might want to run it on a platform where poll behaves as it does.
The article was seriously editorialized. For example, while Warren Buffett tells newly minted rich people to invest in index funds, he tells aspiring investors to gamble on their brightest ideas (and not their seventh), since that's the one likely to make you rich. The article, of course, doesn't mention this.

There's a philosophy he goes by: stick within your area of expertise. It's done well for him, though it might not be quite so fun as trying your odds on the market.
He's expanded that article into a book: http://www.amazon.com/Defense-Food-Eaters-Manifesto/dp/15942...

In it, there's a great heuristic for walking out of your local supermarket carrying food (as opposed to processed "edible foodlike substances"): shop near the edges.
OK I thought of a better reason for Microsoft to keep Xobni independent. This way a business has to pay for both Outlook and Xobni!

If Xobni was rolled into Outlook, then Microsoft could only charge for Outlook (possibly force an upgrade to a new version). If Xobni was an independent (though Microsoft controlled) entity, every enterprise Xobni user would willingly pay for Xobni and have to still pay for Outlook. Further depending on the utility of Xobni to users, they could charge more than Outlook itself! So maybe Microsoft sees the potential to double its enterprise email revenue and is being patient.
Only advice I have is tying to cut sugar out of your diet as much as possible. I never eat cookies, donuts, cake, sugared soda (only diet rarely), candy bars, sweet coffee, etc. I have a bit of a sweet tooth and even I can do it (it gets easy after a while). You can't get really fit without exercise, but at least without eating significant amounts of sugar you can prevent yourself from getting too chunky.
It has all the bad qualities of a powerpoint presentation - lots of chartjunk and a very low data/ink ratio. Abstract pictures like these are a kind of IQ trap because the author never explains what many of the lines actually represent. Smart readers may find some way to make sense of them but it's unlikely that any two readers will be able to come up with compatible definitions that lead to useful analysis.

I think if Marshall Clemens expressed those 5 web pages as 5 paragraphs, you would see that he's either not really saying much or is saying something that has plenty of counterexamples that aren't apparent in the pretty picture.

For example, it's kind of ironic that I find none of the diagrams live up to the claims he makes about his Visual Models™ here http://www.idiagram.com/CP/visualmodels.html
If you look at the Microsoft Open Specification Promise it says:

"Microsoft irrevocably promises not to assert any Microsoft Necessary Claims against you for making, using, selling, offering for sale, importing or distributing any implementation to the extent it conforms to a Covered Specification (“Covered Implementation”), subject to the following..."
[Doesn't cover non-MSoft patents. Not surprising.]

Office Binary formats are under Covered Specifications.

I wouldn't use the format, but not sure it's "dangerous" to write apps that read or generate the format.
Not very.
Why buy the cow when you get the milk for free?
Wikileaks to be taken offline
Mysteries of computer from 65BC are solved
Want to Get Rich? Be (Moderately) Happy
I have to agree. I don't want to delve into any wild conspiracy theories or anything like that, so suffice to say there really isn't much difference between him and Hillary. Once you get past the rhetoric it's pretty obvious, but I guess the party knew most wouldn't get past the rhetoric.
The link is down, but I gather from the comments that Weebly is a website that offers itself as a testing ground for upcoming web apps?
Phil Manchester is the same guy over at regdeveloper who wrote this badly paraphrased executive summary of blog posts: http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2008/01/24/stonebraker_dewitt_... .
Scientist postulates 4 aspects of 'humaniqueness' differentiating human and animal cognition
Prototype XUL JavaScript Framework 1.6.0.2
Arc now has a stand-alone interpreter
Bungee Launches PaaS for Building Web Apps in the Cloud
mysql in-memory table as a cache?
I'm curious if anyone has used an in-memory mysql table as a cache. I've got some ad-hoc data browsing needs that memcached is not well suited for. The data doesn't change often, so there is no real need to be making normal SQL calls. I've read that the ACID overhead on these memory tables is almost insignificant, and since the data is all in memory it sounds like a reasonable caching solution.

I'm just curious if anyone has used this approach before.
If these guys found some sort of magic formula that actually predicted the value of a startup down the road, they’d keep the information to themselves and make, well, unlimited amounts of money.

This is a bit unfair. It might be that their software isn't a perfect predictor, but just improves the prediction powers of a human VC by some amount. Their publicly available software, then, might be the company's bootstrap. Once they make enough cash to invest and ride out the swings, they can do (approximately) what Arrington is saying.
They Shoot Browsers, Don't They?
"Besides, it was posted in an internal discussion group. The ideas there already belong to Google by default."

Fortunately there's no foundation for that claim for many reasons, the simplest of which is that ideas belong to no one.
Weekend Apps: Building Web Apps Isn't Just About Coding
I thought this was the new Reddit. I have come from there.
For those who just skim /newcomments, the four components from the article are:

- the ability to combine and recombine different types of information and knowledge in order to gain new understanding

- to apply the same “rule” or solution to one problem to a different and new situation

- to create and easily understand symbolic representations of computation and sensory input

- to detach modes of thought from raw sensory and perceptual input
Another oldie but goodie:

The Hacker's Diet - How to lose weight and hair through stress and poor nutrition - by John Walker.

http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet
I don't know where this "Ideas belong to no one" concept comes from, but I don't quite understand the logic behind it. Please explain. (This is confusing to me because by this logic the person can't sue Google because Google didn't take "his" ideas, since the idea doesn't belong to anyone.)

If it is an internal company blog, it is assumed to be used exclusively by Google insiders to collaborate and share ideas. If this person posted his ideas there, either as part of his contract work or not, it is assumed that Google has the authority to act on information presented there, unless poster didn't have the authority to post the information there.
Top papers reference Wikipedia and raise question of its credibility as source
Oh awesome. Hey, why report news when you can just invent it, right? It's easier that way.

And on re-reading it, you're totally right. They're saying "Dell MIGHT make a phone. And Dell owns Alienware. So here's the phone that Alienware's going to make."
I guess there are 2 sides to it.

From Xobni's perspective:
1. What is the long term roadmap for Xobni?
2. Will merging with MSFT slow down innovation?

and the most important question

3. What is the right acquisition price for Xobni?

Xobni roughly raised 4.25 million Series A. At that time they probably had a decent prototype to demo at Khosla ventures -- which means that (pure speculation) 20-35% of the company is owned by the VC's. Ideally the VC's would like to make roughly 3-10X of their investment, which means 15 to 45 million.

From Adam and Matt's perspective, they have a winner on their hands, and they would want to maximize their ROI on selling Xobni and make sure they never have to work again:-). The longer they wait, the more users they get. And, clearly their pace of innovation is going to be faster than msft.

From MSFT's perspective:
1. Does Xobni have enough users?
2. How frequently do people use Xobni?
3. Can Xobni scale with large mailboxes?
4. Should MSFT buy it or build something similar?

[From using Xobni for a few months, I can say that it's a kick ass product]

my 2 cents.
If they really wanted to create value through AI prediction of success based on social connections, they should have leveraged LinkedIn Accounts instead of trying to create a new social network.

A lot of people already have their network in there so the barrier to entry would be a lot lower.
Why even bother using a database then? Why not simply build a convenient data structure in memory? Or do you need something global that is shared by multiple servers?
The newsroom of the future: physical or virtual?
I agree. The only practical reasons I can think of using a DB would be if sharing between machines, you needed rigid data synchronization at all times, or you wanted to utilize some existing DBMS backup routine. Otherwise why deal with the headache and overhead?
DVD Jon’s Startup Launches with Index Funding
What you suggest is pretty much what everyone did before memcached: load your database server with ram and use various tricks to pin the important stuff in memory.

However the memcached code path is pretty lean and will give you better performance than in-memory mysql for single key/value lookups.
Consistency and Homogeneity of the Blog Layout
This is silly. There are hundreds of third-party add-ins for Microsoft Office. There are 677 listed in the Office Marketplace [1], including 20 "inbox management" applications.

Microsoft encourages third-party developers to write add-ins for Office. That doesn't mean they have any interest in acquiring (or copying) all of those add-ins.

[1] http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/FX100621221033...
Probability paradox
Amen. A great book that's been good motivation for me, if nothing else.

Someone's also helpfully put the tools that the book describes online at http://infohost.nmt.edu/~carmiac/whdt/whdt.cgi
Are you sure about that? reddit hit 50k uniques about 6 months after it launched. I'd say the discourse was very similar to what it is here at that point in the game.
Microsoft doesn't want to acquire Xobni because Xobni already works for Microsoft. If Xobni is independent, microsoft benefits, and Xobni takes all the risk and deals with all the cost. Besides, Xobni is developing in an area (desktop office applications) that microsoft has tidily wrapped up.

Microsoft is interested in acquiring companies in markets they don't have wrapped up-- like the internet. Xobni makes outlook better? Great. Except that it's not about Outlook. It's about Gmail.