skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
New Features in Newsconomy: Browser Buttons, Search and Sort
most of it is self funded isnt it ?
As someone who develops mobile apps for a living targeted at industrial markets, I would amend that headline to read:

"Mobile Consumer Applications, RIP". I'm sure the authors comments are spot-on in the general consumer market (which seems to be his area of expertise), but the custom, industrial mobile app market is alive and well. Admittedly, most of the companies involved are large beasts and move slowly, so I'm still developing for Embedded DOS and older Windows CE versions, but the market is quite healthy.
From the article: a set of APIs that allow third parties to modify search results on Yahoo by adding images, structured data and additional deep links.

This will require some really strong safeguards against spammers and pranksters. For example, if Yahoo only require an image reference then won't take long before users get goatse.
I completely agree with you but I would rather recommend Pyglet (http://www.pyglet.org/) than pygame.
Ask YC: Cloud-Outsourcing, Cloud-Offshoring - what do you think?
We all need help from time to time. We may not have the resources to do everything all the time and a little help goes a long way, whether it be to program something or test something - small project or large.

Not just for startups, but for small businesses or even for mid size businesses that are short on IT resources but do not want to hire full time or even hire a contractor for a month.

The problem with sites like ELance, Rentacoder and even ODesk etc. is that you have to add a bid, wait for people to respond, take a guess at which one would be able to do a good job, and hope that the work will happen. Most people that have used it will say they have had bad experiences at some time or another - quite often many times.

So here's the concept that I am hoping to implement. Let's call it "cloud-outsourcing" or "cloud-offshoring". A similar concept to cloud-computing (amazon ec2, s3 etc.), the concept is to outsource to a cloud - whether the job is small or large (2 hours, 2 days or 20 months), you can outsource/offshore the work to the cloud and only pay for the work done finally. You don't pay if nothing's used, and you only pay when it's done.

-- will you use it for that 10 hour thing you want done
-- will you use it for that 10 day thing you want done
-- cloud-computing is based on processing/bandwidth/storage etc. which are consistent parameters, how would you price this service ?

The reason I'm bringing this up is that I specialize in outsourced/offshore development, have a fully offshore team which is very reliable but I always feel people have a hard time finding other developers to go to when they need it and they may not always need a contractor for 6 months and may not need a person all day, they may need someone 2 hours a day for a month and there is no reliable and easy way of getting that kind of help.

Thoughts ? How would you want to use such a service if you had the need ? What tools would this need, what would make you comfortable trusting something like this (if it was not amazon that created ec2, i'm sure the startup would have a hard time getting adoption, hence the question)

Thank you.
When you say JavaScript for games, presumably what you have in mind is ActionScript and Flash?
Don't learn Tcl. It has Tk, Expect, Interp, Tkcon, wiki.tcl.tk that you will miss when you have to go back to programming in Arc.You'll be so frustrated with Arc that you'll have to quit your job to work full-time on Tcl -- which is coincidentally what I plan to do.

Wow, It works!
I don't know how well news.yc deflects spam, but there are admins behind the scenes who delete spam before it's widely seen.
What does that story have to do with capitalism? Some random company seems to have made some decision about some random employee. That has nothing to do with capitalism - capitalism did not tell the company to act in that way.

I can only shake my head in disbelief at so much nonsense.
Knowledge of JavaScript is transferable to ActionScript but I was quite specific about the use of JavaScript. There's a large amount of code and documentation which is ideal for the task.
Live, learn, then roll your own web application.
Threading is not what you need right where. What you need is called a "game logic loop" (for want of a better term). Keyboard events should change only the "action state" of your game objects and entities, e.g. when you press a key to move left, the player should be in the "moving left" state, but the actual movement should not be handled there.

Parallel to the input (okay you will need a separate thread of keyboard listening and for game logic) you will loop over your entities and update their state, processing things such as movement.
The importance of launching early and staying alive
Chumby’s Launched!
Have a look at this article for some useful links on VGA tricks:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mode_X

If you really want to pick up where you left off, I'd suggest downloading djgpp (gcc for dos - http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/zip-picker.html) along with the Allegro library, which wraps up a lot of the nastiness of direct hardware access.
Google is a black swan. People keep trying to explain its success in ways Google founders never thought about. I remember that Google Story cited a branding expert saying something close to "These guys don't know what their brand stands for; they are just coders".
The Misuse of RC4 in Microsoft Word and Excel[pdf]
Most people do not want to spec out every detail, so I feel there would be a market for you there.

I would call it "Low Spec Web Application Design". Customer submits the idea that is something like this "I want a web application like twitter and youtube combined." They submit $500, you create a spec and mock up. They accept and they pay you some sort of up-front fee. Then deviations from the spec are factored in at $x per hour.

I know someone who has an "Indian programming team" and he has to tell them in great detail what to do. They have to have every step a-b-c they cannot make a leap from a-c figuring out b on there own. Great detail has to spent on instructions for anything no matter how small.

This makes everything like torture and in order to be able to use them he has about 10 projects going at once so even when they can't work on one project there is something else to do.

The projects also re-utilize many of the same details from the last project. Even so, all of those same details have to be given even though they have done more then 10 projects with the same instructions for example, the flash uses inputs from the query string, every time, each project uses the same inputs. They have to be told each time to not hardcode links into the flash, they have to be told again what querystring items to take and how to use them, this is one example. This programmers are dedicated, they are not supposed to be working on projects for any other company, so they should be able to figure out "hey this is just like that last one" but they can't

The point is, if you can create a service which can do the logical leaps from a-c like an in-house programmer can do then you would have a good service.

As for a market, there have been many people on news.yc (non-hackers) that ask about having an offshore development team do the work on there "amazing" idea. I believe this desire is widespread but the problem is how to get something you don't have 100 pages of nitty gritty detail documentation on developed. I would suggest specializing in "alpha" implementations of ideas for non-hackers that want to test there ideas and have some money to burn.
You could try timeslicing. A large number of accountants work part time. For example, Monday to Wednesday for one company the freelance work from Thursday to Saturday. This arrangement works well for all concerned. The company gets an expert who learns the business at a pro-rata rate. The accountant get steady work and also lucrative work or take long weekends.

For computing, a large number of organisations would benefit from having a the same DBA for one day per week or the same graphic artist for four hours per week.
Does external threats ("competition is just a click away") work as such a great motivator after the company's headcount passes 1000?
If Symbol#to_proc is so great, I'd like to see how it can elegantly express something that can't be hidden behind a simple library function. In any decent language the programmer would write "sum(1,100)". Even if the function's implementation in Python/Java/C++/Smalltalk/Lisp/etc required a few more characters, it wouldn't be a meaningful difference. Does Symbol#to_proc add any real power to Ruby or beyond enabling such linguistic brain teasers?
Open Source Flex
I tried the start of Highway To Hell - very recognisable - and it gave me some Whitney Houston options or something.

Is this thing just random?
Question of the Day: Site Membership Models
Generating DocBook output using Common Lisp and SBCL
Processing is amazing. More artists should use it.

I look forward to having many more urls in tipjoy so I can make a decent map of the noteworthy intertubes.
Best way to prevent attacks is by only allowing ssh access from certain address ranges within your private network or VPN.

sshdfilter (http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~greg/sshdfilter/) will automate iptable rules by scanning the log and looking for break-in attempts.
"If we had wheels, or moved along the ground on our bellies like snakes," Lakoff argues, "math might be very different."

What a nonsense.
Input/Output the story of a functional programmer
If you limit the ideas or energy you give to your job, I think you'd better be prepared to give those ideas & that energy to your own project quite quickly and in a concrete way.

If your "independent dream project" is too far away on the horizon, you might just get in the habit of holding yourself back from your job, and get used to the idea that you're the type of person who does mediocre work -- and the people you work with may also think of you as mediocre.

So the cost of protecting yourself from being burned can cost you in [1] change of personal habits & [2] reputation among those you work with & know your track record.

Even in times I've been burned with work/life, I've never regretted the effort I put into doing my best at whatever I set my mind to. I've wished I could have foreseen bad events, but not wished I'd tried less hard. I like trying hard... it's fun; I don't just do it for money. Other people can take away the rewards that I may have been entitled to, but they can't tell me that my efforts were mediocre.
Thanks, that made me chuckle.
Last week I was talking about the same topic with some friends, they didn´t like it very much.

My idea was to free the students from the need to go to class and the live classes. My idea was publish free all the material, like MIT´s OCW, and let the students study by themselves for free and setup a forum (in the broad sense of the word) to talk and try to resolve the problems. The students will be able to buy consult time with professors to work on the most difficult parts or when guidance is need.

Finally, the University would offer a couple of times each year the possibility to take the exam for each course.

This system is by no far new, a lot of language certificates out there (Cambridge, TOEFL...) work in a similar way.

IMO this will democratize the knowledge, but is quite difficult to build.
Yep, not the first. There's also the GIMAD dude: http://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=GIMAD
The prints are incredibly reasonable also: http://www.imagekind.com/GalleryProfile.aspx?GID=3b76f798-e4...
Thanks, Good feedback. I really like the concept of specializing in alpha implementations and personally I'd find that interesting as well.
Timeslicing, cloud-outsourcing. I really like the terms that are coming up here. Thanks. good feedback.
A-Life, Emergent AI and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:An Interview with Dmitriy Iassenev
Just signed up for Friendfeed. I'm impressed by the basic functionality and feel of the software. I wish it would import my news.yc comments though...

feel free to subscribe me: http://friendfeed.com/kfischer
Two words : google android.

At least emulator looks ok, we have yet to see actual devices.
Eh. I guess I'm gonna go against the flow here and not get all gushy about the picture and what it's supposed to represent.

It's just one data point, and I think it's being drawn out way farther than it deserves. Some really inventive things have come out of the automotive industry throughout the years. The hybrids that people are getting into now? They've existed in one form or another since the 1920's (or earlier).

For a modern example of "wow-hey-neat" in automotive design, I like to use the Jeep Hurricane. I'm not wowed by its incredible suspension, the sweet, sweet blend of the new and the familiar in its overall design, or by the really cool transaxle drive train they came up with. What I like about it is that they built this thing with two frickin' engines, and then figured out how to run the engines in banks of four cylinders at a time depending on load. So, driving down the highway? You're on a four cylinder engine. Pulling a gentle hill? Have four more. Pulling a trailer up a steep mud slope? Here, have all 16.

Product design isn't all-revolution-all-the-time. Simply churning is really important; keep on improving your existing design incrementally, as often as you can. Then, when you do get that holy-wow revolutionary design in your head, you do something with it.

But you can't force that.
Ask News YC : Feedback MyKavita.com "Write your own poem" "Let's create world's largest poem collection"
That sounds exactly like my story... in 1995-1996 I started to develop a clone of Football Manager That I had on C64. I used Turbo Pascal and the game was running under DOS. Like you I had no internet connection at a time and I found only a small book about a few graphic functions. I was never able to do a fluid animation of my games. It was too laggy only to draw the ball on the screen ! Then I dropped and unfortunately continue my studies as Electronic Engineer. I wish I could turn back... Now, like you I would like to continue the work I started, but I couldnt find backups of my source code :(

I wonder if I should start a new degree in CS, but I am 30, I have a child, and I am not sure if it's better to learn by myself or if it's worth doing a degree. Can online studies be a good idea? Or do you guys think it's just a waste of time?
What are the advantages of an interpreted language for game programming? My idea is that it is probably much slower. I can't see the advantage. Is it that there are a lot of usefull libraries or else? ( I almost don't know python/pygame ).
Ask News.YC: where can I find a good Javascript/AJAX/web designer to do outsource work?
Here's my problem: I'm working in a European company that's having a hard time getting a really good Javascript/AJAX person to come in and help us design a new part of our web site. Where can I find someone (geography is irrelevant to me if they are good)? Any recommendations?
You need something with a decent sandbox.

easy access to low level stuff + convenient contact list + bad sandbox model = virus storm, if you're not careful.
The Next Disruptors (10 game-changing startups)
Learn 10 good UNIX usage habits
Not true. The idea that a startup is more financially secure than a job is not realistic for most people.

At a startup, the worst you can do is lose all your invested capital, go deeply into debt, lose the respect of your peers, burn out, and have such a large gap in your track record of gainful employment that getting a job at the level you would want is very difficult.

Further, you _can_ get fired from a startup. Your investors become your owners, and they can fire you. Your cofounders can fire you (or screw you in other ways), too.
Is a free global WiFi network possible?
Any pointers? I have considered creating games in JavaScript (OK, arguably my boobs memory is a game in JavaScript), but I still would not consider it the obvious choice for action games. For a beginner, I would rather suggest something classical, where you have a screen/bitmap/whatever that you can draw to?
If you read through to the WebSense posting it appears that the bot 'outsources' the CAPTCHA images to humans (who speak Russian).
He used a dramatic title to bring attention to an issue which he believes (1) is important and (2) can only be fixed if a lot of people become aware of it. He explains this clearly, honestly, and without apology.
The point of the article, that capitalism has a natural inclination to increase the disparity between wealthy and poor, has been long assumed as a self-evident property of capitalism. This doesn’t make it bad, but it does show how it needs to be tempered. Most countries, including America, use a combination of socialism and capitalism to find a healthy balance.
Google Announces Summer of Code 2008
Review of Windows Server 2008 shows it's faster, more secure than previous versions
See signaling theory of an education:

http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2006/02/mixed_signals.ht...
Second Brain Launches - (Yet Another) Social Aggregator
Hey Hackers,

Its simple idea, like folks have Photo Blog, Video Blog, [News Blog], Tech Blog etc,... MyKavita (Kavita = Poem) is multiuser blog for Poem. Its promoting individuals about poetric creation and relavant stuff.

It is powered by wordpress, and it is crossing 1 month till launch. (we launched at BarcampTechfest @ Asia's largest techfest @ IIT-bombay india)

Exciting feature : Transliteration-Easy typing in more than 7 indian language.
Unique 1st time feature : Creative commons lic. per post.

Would love to have your feedback on UI, tech or any other stuff relavant to MyKavita.com

-Raxit
Thanks for reminding me about that. I just paid a visit and now I have 36 books on Ajax/CSS/JS, 11 books on Photoshop, 53 books on PHP/SQL/LAMP, 50 miscellaneous O'Reilly books, and 44 books on Neuro-Linguistic Programming. I should be set til summer!
Try Elance/Rentacoder. Craigslist is also a good option. (Not as popular in Europe, but popular in some US cities.)
It's important to note that eventhough you should launch early, your product should work well and have a real benefit. too often i see startups launchs with a half-baked idea.
the bubble cycle is replacing the business cycle
Prize-winning books online
"Don't launch with a crappy product -- launch as soon as what you have is better than what is out there." If I remember correctly, that is advice given by Paul Buchheit.
Free Federal Tax Preparation
I can always go there, but I was hoping to get a personal recommendation from someone on this site.
If you're interested in simple game design, you should consider experimenting with Flash. Websites like http://www.kongregate.com/ and services like http://mochiads.com/ could help with distribution and revenue on what might otherwise be just a hobby.
"There are a number of plausible candidates for the next bubble, but only a few meet all the criteria. [...] There is one industry that fits the bill: alternative energy, the development of more energy-efficient products, along with viable alternatives to oil, including wind, solar, and geothermal power, along with the use of nuclear energy to produce sustainable oil substitutes, such as liquefied hydrogen from water. [...] The candidates for the 2008 presidential election, notably Obama, Clinton, Romney, and McCain, now invoke “energy security” in their stump speeches and on their websites. Previously, “energy independence” was more common, and perhaps this change in terminology is a hint that a portion of the Homeland Security budget will be allocated for alternative energy, a potential boon for startups."
Network Solutions Sued For Defrauding Millions
tell that to their billions
IBM brings out new a MainFrame.. Power of 1,500 servers, 80% less space, hosts rails apps.
Paid Links - The Steroids of SEO
dotfiles.org | community for sharing dotfiles like .bashrc, .vimrc, and .bash_profile
you're right that there is no specific obligation. however, if you spend $20k+ and several years of partial mindshare on a specific technology, you're much more committed and thus less flexible.

trade secret and trademarks are two different things.
Bedework: open source calendar for the enterprise
ZipCar sounds really good to me. I don't want to own a car, but family might force me to have one. Perhaps ZipCar would be a way out.
The art of Flash  (wait 4 seconds after page loads)
Try Digitalpoint forums, and choose someone who has consistently high itrader and positive ratings. I am working with a guy from there.
The distinction interpreted/compiled is largely moot these days, since most popular interpreted languages are actually compiled (or at least bytecode-compiled) before they are run.

The real question is whether you would want to use a modern, abstract, weakly typed language like Python instead of a strongly typed and machine-code compiled language like C++. The latter is, usually, considerably slower. The decision all depends on how serious you want to get. For small-scale experiments, Python is just fine because it takes half the time and half the effort to write and test a piece of code. Unless you are pushing the limits on how fast you want something to run, Moore's law works in your favor and you can very quickly create something which does what you want and is fast enough. If you need the speed, you will know, but at least then you will have a simple prototype which will keep you from falling in any stupid traps on the way.

So to answer your question, development speed is the factor that makes people want to use these languages. You don't have to jump through hoops unless you need run-time execution speed.

And yes, Python has excellent library support for doing just about anything that doesn't have to be blazingly fast. This, along with better language constructs (more dynamic classes and methods, weak typing, versatile and easy-to-use lists and mappings, list mapping functions etc), is what makes development much faster. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that you can dynamically test the things you've written, if you want to.
There are plenty of guys (and girls) over 30 in my undergraduate CS class. A few over 40, as well.
Working on a social network? Read this.
Your question takes my breath away. May I quote you?
The Paradox of Choice: The Advantages of Closing a Few Doors
Just fly Virgin America to get an idea of how convenient it is. Going from NYC to LA they had 1 beverage service for the whole cabin and the rest of the flight you ordered food and more drinks directly from the screen on your seat. Best thing ever for flying.
Building a green PC
Thoughts on Startups
Adobe AIR Vs Microsoft Silverlight: It’s All About Numbers
Does it matter what library they use? Are you guys particular to mootools or jquery or scriptaculous?
Hibernate allows you to do this when necessary. I'm not married to Hibernate, but I do appreciate the speed and flexibility with which you can get an enterprise app up and running. I also know that you MUST write optimized queries on occasion, or face critical performance problems.

The problem arises when one stubbornly adheres to a paradigm; there no silver bullets, etc.
Functional Pattern Matching in JavaScript
Old Business 2 article. RIP Business 2.0, RIP.
Thanks for your reply. One more question, I am maybe old fashionned, but weak typing kind of scared me. I am more used to strong typing and I find it weird when I look at python variable declaration. In my point of view, strong typing helps avoid bugs and write cleaner programs. What advantages do you see in weak typing?