skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
"... We also just like the sound of 'Portfolio' better than 'Account' :) ..."

Point taken. Flickr has 'sets', 'groups', smugmug 'galleries'. Fuzzwich 'Portfolio'. Are your users used to the terminology?

"... comic world is one we are very much excited about trying to get into ..."

If you do go take the time to read "Scott McCleod"s "Re-inventing Comics". [0] Scott is a great writer/illustrator (read the book) and covers so much what is wrong in the comics world. There is a gaping hole at the moment being left by technology starved newspapers. [1]

Plenty of room for improvement.

[0] Scott McCloud, ISBN 978006095308 ~ http://www.scottmccloud.com/store/store.html

[1] Marvell comes to Facebook ~ http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=13246
Ask YC: Where are the hacker hangouts in your city?
Living in Atlanta, there are (presumably smart) college students just about everywhere. Not really sure where the hardcore tech / hacker crowd hangs out though, other than on campuses.
As the comment to the post says, "Open" is meaningless.

http://dev.aol.com/aim/license

Among other things, like requiring you implement certain features, it says:

"AOL will issue you one or more alphanumeric software keys that are uniquely associated with your Screen Name and your Application(s) (the "Open AIM Keys") to enable you to access the Tools you will use to build your Developer Application(s). During the registration process for access to and/or download of the Tools associated with a given Application or Applications (as set forth below), you will be prompted to identify to AOL certain information describing your development and intended use of the relevant Applications, including the URL of your Site."
If I'm insensitive enough, will you try to save the world from people like me?
So, by that logic people only have something worth saying when they can link to an article where a recognized authority said/wrote it first?
I would have upmodded you; I thought this was a poignant observation.
Not necessarily. Demand in this market is for competent programmers, not graduates of US schools' CS programs. The two may be correlated, but they're the latter certainly does not guarantee the former.

If fewer and fewer CS grads are entering the market, it may force interviewers and companies to (gasp!) evaluate candidates on the basis of traits other than the name of the university they attended. We might even see crazy suggestions like hiring based on intelligence and experience gain some traction in the IT management field.

Personally, I consider this good news for me, as a non-degree-holding IT professional. Fewer graduates in the hiring pool means more call-backs for interviews and fewer glass ceilings.
Probably not, since as far as I know silverlight has not yet been released for linux.
Supercomputing architecture for biomolecular simulation (talk)
Some cities (such as my own) have small business development centers that offer free legal advice (free as in tax payers, unfortunately). I've also talked to law professors at my school for "I can't provide legal advice, but I would recommend doing x, oh and I also can't tell you that I would change y."

So, universities (if you're a student) and local small business development centers are great resources if you're strapped for cash. The third choice would be legalzoom.com. That's a last resort area for me.
I have 337 karma but I have no idea how to create a poll. Am I missing something? Or am I barred from creating polls?
Joseph Juran, Father of 80-20 rule dies at 103
I am so glad I didn't click up. Is that site funded by Microsoft?
Ask YC: MochiAds secret revenue share?
I've gotten curious about flash games and MochiAds seems to be the standard for advertising in such games. However, in their FAQ they say "the exact MochiAds revenue share is not disclosed", what do you think about that? Maybe it is normal for advertising (how do AdWords work?), but at first sight it seems rather weird to me: "we promise we will pay you something, but we won't say how much" - what kind of contract is that? I don't think I would ever sign a contract like that under normal circumstances, but MochiAds might have a kind of monopoly?

Link: https://www.mochiads.com/faq.html#revenue_share

Oh yes, and any idea how much money can be made with flash game ads? I suspect it is just pocket money, but then again, many flash games have sequels, so perhaps they did pay out for the developers?
Software companies have been hiring based on intelligence for a long time. Why do you think this is not the case?
A more useful depiction of the error would be to somehow calculate the bias in the Alexa population (my guess, tech investors are the only segment of the population using the Alexa toolbar, which is incredibly ironic).

Huge error bars on a near zero estimate don't mean a whole lot except that the experiment producing the data is flawed.
Thing is, it sounds like the classic dictator problems: bureaucrats try to solve problems of complex systems top down (like traffic, urban development), which is just not possible. So I doubt a dictator would come up with a good solution.
Imagine a world without Karma.
I met a dramaturge at a party about ten years ago who told me that the Blue Man Group's original investors were groups of Japanese families that mortgaged their homes and life savings to get BMG bootstrapped and started, before their successful show, before the Intel commercials, before the franchise that is BMG today.
we've got a 35 hour work week that can be split 4 or 5 (or 4.5 if you'd like to come in every other Friday...)

a 4 day workweek is like crack - I've got an extra weekend day to get things done at my own pace. go shopping when no-one else is in the malls, work on side projects, spend time with family - whatever...

Retention here is waaaayyyyy higher than any other tech job I've worked. It's easier to put up with the office politics and bureaucracy when you've got an extra day off.

BTW - Mondays off is better than Fridays off. All the problems and meetings happen on Mondays while Fridays are normally more laid back and leave you with time to do work instead of slogging though status meetings and production issues that occurred over the weekend.
If Silverlight were released for Linux, that might mean MSFT has figured out how to bring DirectX 10+ APIs to Linux, which is a big deal as part of the problem with WINE is graphics performance.
I wouldn't expect Portfolio" to be the same as Account*. I'd think I'd need an account first before creating a portfolio (which would be a special-purpose collection of videos I've made).
Untrusted Java web start applications and Java applets can't do anything that could harm the real operating system. We had to buy and keep on renewing an expensive code-signing cert so our app could save a local file.
Every once in a while, a security researcher claims to have gotten untrusted bytecode to run outside the boundaries of the sandbox.
Most ad networks that I know of that use an ad bidding system do not disclose their rates. They can't tell you what you will be paid, because they don't know what they'll get for their ads. The advertisers bid for certain terms, the publisher gets a cut, and the network gets a cut.

This is how adwords/adsense operate. If they know what they will make per ad (assuming it's a static amount), they should disclose what they will pay the publisher, but if they don't know what they will get, how can they tell you what they will pay?
The code has grown and become more complex in the last versions because I optimized it until directory traversal + glob matching got sensibly faster than Git's own (git-ls-files --exclude-standard doesn't do exactly the same thing as find-git-files, but meaningful performance comparisons can be done with the -d -o and -m -o options). It's still much smaller than metastore (1/3rd or so) even though it does much more now, however.

You can take a look at the initial version of ometastore here: http://eigenclass.org/repos/gitweb?p=gibak.git;a=blob;f=omet...
The functionality from metastore takes ~270 lines vs. ~1500 lines of C, the support for .gitignore takes another 70locs.

It's got one or two bugs in the Gitignore support which I fixed later (and a silly bug in do_finally), but this code is simpler if you want to see what OCaml looks like in actual use (for a system tool, in this case). It's almost (if not actually, I don't remember) the "first version that typed", by the way.
Ask YC: To continue, or not to continue ... how do you know?
I've been trying to put together a startup for a bit more than a year now based on an idea I've juggled in my head for about 6 years or so. At about the same time as I had the idea, I was able to observe it's application in an area where most people who would be capable of developing the idea would never even think to look. For the longest time I've had the hardest time even getting people to understand the relevance of what I was talking about. Plus finding people to help develop it is challenging as programmers seem to be in short supply these days.

I was just about to shrug the whole last 6 years off as a huge waste of my life, but I just learned that IBM recently put together a research group specifically dedicated to this idea. But no matter how much money or manpower they have, I know enough about this area to know that they missed some windows of observation that will neve be repeated, and I can count on one hand the people (aside from myself) who have intelligently documented this phenomenon and have given it enough thought to gain some possibly practical insight into the topic. So in a way, I finally feel vindicated. As weird as the idea is, at least I'm not the only one who thinks it may have some profitable, practical application.

To throw in the towel in this uphill battle, or not? Or pick up the phone and call IBM and see if they'll give me a consulting gig? In other words, something that 99% of people I've come across have considered a completely useless area of specialty has suddenly become interesting and I feel like I have the advantage since the insights I've gained are the result of unique events that will never be replicated.

I feel vindicated, yet the last 6 years or so have been soooo frustrating trying to convince people of something that seemed so intuitive and obvious to me, but left most people I spoke to scratching their heads. And yet, I imagine that in the next few years, even more people will be looking into this area.

Anybody have any ideas? Any perspective and experience in a similar position would be appreciated. The "I told you so" factor is good ... but I've spent soo much time and personal resources on something that has progressed at a glacial pace. I guess what I'm saying is, throw in the towel and call IBM, or keep trying the startup attempt route?
I remember working for a small company with a moderately successful web app for the real estate industry. I had to make a modification to one of the data models so I downloaded a trial of an expensive ER app to reverse engineer the SQL server DB. The tool revealed zero foreign keys - I thought it was an error until I confronted the on-his-way-out developer who had written the app. He said he got tired of having to change the data model constantly - that he decide to wipe out all the FK constraints. In his mind, the constraints were in the code.
They're not so bad and they're easy.

When working on charts for a site and you're looking for wicked ROI, why not toss in these until you have a little extra time to change them to something you prefer more?
Couldn't they state the percentage? It would still have to be based on trust, because the publisher can not know how much the advertiser has paid, but it would at least be slightly more transparent?

Maybe it is possible to make an estimate by trying to buy ads for one's own game through MochiAds, though?

I am completely new to this advertising thing, as is probably obvious...
isn't it limited to 10 000 requests a day? Assuming you build something that becomes popular, than that limit will be soon reached. What you going to do when that happens? Re-write it with something of your own?

If you are writing a small-ish webapp, then fine, but if you are building something that is going to be popular (or at least you are hoping it will), then using that API doesn't seem a good idea.

Java, Php, Python all have pretty decent chart generator apis that can do the same, or even more, so I really don't see the point of using the google api.
A One-Way, One-Person Mission to Mars
What's your idea?
Thanks for the insight, and thanks everybody else for their comments and feedback. Despite the dangers and risks, I'm actually going to try and pursue acting as a part-time hobby on the weekends and stuff (I already have an audition for an independent film next week).

Again, thanks for helping me getting my thoughts and doubts cleared up!
Thunderbird 3.0 to begin ascent next month: what to expect
How does that make a difference? Let's just say it's something that I know more about than however many PhDs they have looking into it and no matter how smart they are or what their budget is, it will be impossible to replicate the conditions that led to the insights I've gained about why things developed as they did and how to apply it to the business world.

Not saying it's because I'm smarter or anything, it's just a freak accident that resulted from my background and personal interests which came together in some unexpected ways to give me insight into what was worth paying to in this area while most people would have dismissed the whole area as not worth paying serious attention to to begin with.

So - question is:

a) Screw it, it's taking too long

or

b) It may be an uphill struggle but this is a good sign that it's at least worth continuing
Two questions. First, do you think this is a safe generalization for companies whose primary business is software? And second, what portion of the entire job market for programmers is made up of jobs working for software companies?
Interview with Vint Cerf
Six botnets churning out 85 percent of all spam
This just means that BigCo's have to worry more about how they're going to hire people to maintain their established code base and develop new code. It also means that the cost of software development is going to increase dramatically.

This is a big argument in favor of using more productive/expressive languages in creation of new software projects. More productive languages == less programmers == lower costs.

I also see this as a great thing for software startups in general. The tighter the job market becomes for people with CS backgrounds, the cost of creating a new software product is going to increase. As those costs increase, the value of startups and the products they create is going to increase.

In a nutshell, I think what is going to happen, is that large companies are going to increasingly rely on innovation by merger and acquisition.
I'm uber proud to be a YC alum when I see this kind of talent in the portfolio companies. You guys are fantastic artists. I'm excited to see the animator take off.

After you IPO Fuzzwich, you guys should be making film.
Basically, there is no 10,000 request limit. but, even if there was one, it would still be very easy to cache 10,000 unique graphs on the server, and then serve them up without making new requests to the chart API. Here's an excerpt from its Terms of use:

4.5 You acknowledge and agree that while Google may not currently have set a fixed upper limit on the number of transmissions you may send or receive through the Services or on the amount of storage space used for the provision of any Services, such fixed upper limits may be set by Google at any time, at Google's discretion.
What computer viruses look like (sort of)
No weed. No move.
Location Aware: Smart Rollout for Yahoo! Fire Eagle
Ask YC:  Would it make sense to have an "ad captcha" to force people to look at ads carefully? 
For example, you can have a video ad that contains the captcha elements throughout. You would need to watch the entire ad carefully to pick up the captcha elements.
Perhaps the best logo for lambda...
Blog is equally amusing...
Thanks, but I was going for subtle sarcasm...
3. 2. 1. Contact. The Google Contacts API has landed
YC Help: I need Acquisition Advice
The company I am a part of is in talks with another company and I am wondering if a 3-4 times earnings buyout would be fair?

Some background: the Start-up is 8 months old, and is primarily e-commerce based with plans to move into corporate and retail avenues. The growth has been exponential, and we have been profitable since 2 months after launch, with profits growing at least 110% each month (ie, we were profitable 16k one month, then the next we were 35k profitable, last month we hit 160k in Net Profit).

P.S. - Market Size: Every Internationally Traveling U.S. Citizen.

P.P.S. - I would not stay after the technology integration and neither would half of the employees.
If your objective is to set a world record in pissing off your users, then yes -- this makes perfect sense. Otherwise, not so much.
Yahoo has probably learned from the privacy issues that Facebook's Beacon has gone through.

Plus, in the context of the probable Microsoft takeover, it reminds us how different the cultures between Microsoft and Yahoo are: Yahoo being naturally more committed to open standards.
That sounds like a very low offer. A 4:1 P/E ratio is what you expect from a steel company, not a tech startup showing exponential growth.
Like most everything else, "it depends".

Do you have revenue? What the COA vs. TLV for each customer? What's the market? What's the growth potential? Do you have a better than average chance of success if you make a go of it on your own? Do you potentially have blocking patents that this other company might need? Could you get funding on your own?

(Yes, I know you answered some of these questions above)

3-4 times is nothing spectacular, really. 10x is usually getting in the range of very good, but there is no static multiple that applies universally.
Depends on many factors, but here's simplifying greatly: 3-4x is pretty low. A good deal might be 10x, and if you're facebook, you get 100x.
Ask YC: The business process sweet spot
In the last 6 years I've worked for two different companies, Company A with 40,000 employees, Company B with 150.

At company A, we had a process for everything. The joke was that to have the trash taken out you had to fill out a support ticket, wait a week, contact an escalation manager, negotiate a new priority and then if it was determined to be mission critical, you'd get your bin emptied in two weeks. Processes often got in the way of just getting stuff done. Often by the time you'd gotten an ok for a new project (even if you only needed two weeks to do it), it was 9 months later and you'd forgotten why you wanted to do it in the first place.

At company B, processes have evolved organically, and usually poorly. Time tracking is based around emailing around Excel spreadsheets and having an intern copy and paste them all into a bigger Excel spreadsheet so that an accountant can crunch the numbers. Projects and budgets are planned the same way. There are at least three different ticket systems, none of which are connected back to planning unless someone extracts the stuff ... and you guessed it, pastes it into a spreadsheet. Document management is just dropping stuff one of the dozens of SMB shares on the filer. We use AIM for communicating internally.

When looking at founding a company, it seems important to find the middle ground.

I'd like to provide some infrastructure -- we've already got a Jabber server, version control, and a wiki for basic document / idea organization. These, plus some simple groupware seem to be a given. I've debated playing around with open source CRM (SugarCRM) and ERP (Compiere or OpenBravo maybe). On one hand, I'm worried about going overboard, and slowing us down with overly rigid tools that don't really get all two of us anywhere. On the other hand, we're not planning on going full on until this summer and it seems like this is a good time to knock out mundane details. If things really heat up, it seems like it'd be really easy to drift into Company B-like patterns, because there wasn't the infrastructure or impetus to do things better, what with distractions like the company surviving and all.

What have been your experiences with seeing processes grow up from two man shops? Does it even make sense to be worrying about this stuff right now? If you don't mind, I'd be interested in your company size and age in responses.
The problem is that many people have learned to tune out advertisement.

Also, you might want to build an ad exchange site where if you look at k ads carefully, then your ad will be looked at by k people carefully. So how would you enforce this?
checked out the API, seemed pretty solid. Not that I know much about APIs, but in that I could get a hello world (aka, find my location) within 20 minutes.
The ad at the end was a little off.

<quote>It has spectacular beaches, but is not Australia. It is one of the world’s most secure destinations, but is not Singapore. It has opulent city hotels and superb beachside resorts but it is not Bali. It has world class shopping, but is not Hong Kong.This is the Insiders Guide to Dubai, city of merchants, cultural crossroads, and surprises. A Scientific Approach - Your goal is to move to Dubai, to find a excellent employment there, to purchase real estate and take advantage of the booming market. How do you accomplish your dream? As in any pursuit, determination helps, but it takes more than determination to relocate to Dubai. It takes facts. Anyone can thrive in Dubai, the now and future playground of the rich and famous, after getting The Insiders Guide to Living in Dubai, UAE.</quote>
I once spent 2 years on an idea that never got off the ground. I wouldn't do that again. At 6 years you should either do it right now and stop screwing around (what was that post? Do it fucking now?) or put it to bed forever. The try and fail route is more rewarding imho.
The problem is that many people have learned to tune out advertisement.

I'd take that as a pretty strong hint that it was unwelcome to begin with.

Also, you might want to build an ad exchange site where if you look at k ads carefully, then your ad will be looked at by k people carefully.

That's a reasonable arrangement if people viewing your ad are your peers, e.g., if you're blogging about your cat and you want other people who blog about their cat to find your blog. But if you're a startup trying to drive people to your site, it's a terrible investment. It means you're not being any more productive than people sitting at their home computers watching your ads.
Holy crap is it easy to sink time with those animations/videos. I want to use it!
Think about your life now, and your life at 75. What decision do you think your 75 year old self would wish you had made? Do what the old man tells you to do.
No. It would not. In a quarter of the time it would take to watch an entire advertisement, the user could simply have typed out the appropriate letters, and moved on to the next stage of the application process if you want to consider the fact that users have to load the video, wait for it to continually stop and buffer (for those on slower connections) and then fill out the information.

Entirely pointless. Sorry.
The deal sucks. You're getting screwed. Net present value is a lot more than 3-4x profits. You could get a much better deal almost anywhere.

BTW, I haven't heard of anyone doing this, but you could look into NASDAQ portal. It's about 8 grand to register and is pretty similar to an IPO, but without Sarbanes-Oxley requirements. But, again, I know very little about this process.
It doesn't have to be an exchange. You could pay people to look at your ads -- but only if they so carefully.
Actually, I'm doing that right now. All of my points this far have been from comments.
There's weed everywhere. Here, too.
The idea is not to build a better captcha, but rather, to find a way to force users to look at ads carefully.