skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I disagree. Sure price/performance ratio is only going to get better. However, there will always be high end, low end and stuff in between.

After all, the equivalent of Pentium II with 64MB of RAM and a basic video card can be had for next to nothing today, but nobody wants it, because it will not run latest Linuses or Windows XP smoothly and dealing with 8-10-12 megapixel photos from your camera will be slow as hell on such PC, I am not even talking about video or modern games.

In the end, people want software. It is always about the software. It's always about creating value - if "next Vista" delivers something that everybody wants, and it will require $1K hardware to run, it will be tough to sell $400 laptops. People have been overpaying for Apple hardware for ages, because those computers ran Apple software and they wanted it.

Haven't you heard this conversation before: "You should by X. Really? But will it run Y?"
That's terribly wrong IMHO. Very wrong.
I used to think similar thoughts until I had kids. Girls and boys are just into different things. From a very early age.
They have vastly different interests. Their brains work differently. They have different strengths. The key thing is that it's not just due to surroundings/culture. It's due to how they are wired.

The fact is, the probability that a male will 'do a startup' is going to be greater than the probability that a female will. Why try to blame that on society? Why try and change that?
Facebook Apps On Any Website
Clearly not my hack, but worth mentioning:
http://www.snopes.com/business/deals/pudding.asp
I went to Andover (a frighteningly long time ago). They've recently announced a commitment to go to a "need-blind" admissions policy this year-- meaning that every qualified student will be admitted without consideration of his or her family's financial situation.
I might be the only person here who disagrees in some way with this. I noticed that myself and other people I know only started developing RSI-type symptoms after computers got "fast enough". By that I mean that before that point there were frequent long-ish pauses when one couldn't do anything very much; at a certain point computers got so fast that such pauses became uncommon, and now it only really happens to me when I switch the machine on and wait for it boot and login.

The problem is that pauses are recovery time for your body. The good news is that once you've realised this, you can artificially introduce pauses into your routine, and give your body the chance to repair some of the damage caused by typing. I had big problems when I was a mere 21, and didn't use a computer for several months. With reading around, a bit of common sense, and a very gradual return to things, I not only got back to where I was, but now I use a computer and play guitar more than I did before. Getting better equipment is part of it (for me keyboard: http://maltron.com/ and a trackball: Logitech Trackman Wheel my preferred option), but the two most important things for me were: taking action as soon (i.e. on the day) I noticed problems; and taking breaks when doing things like typing. After a while you won't even notice the breaks are part of your routine.
I went to Exeter and Yale and found it the opposite. Yale was smarter and the students weren't quite as well off.
I'm not trying to blame anyone, but I believe the truth of the matter is that it is caused by culture. I believe the truth is that boys are girls are not wired differently, and their brains do not work differently.

One reason to question the notion of specialized hardware (brains) for boys and girls is the concept of universality. The easiest, by far, way to be able to do many computations, is to create a computer that can do all computations. Similarly, the easiest way by far to create a system capable of creating a variety of kinds of knowledge, is to create one capable of creating any knowledge.

One reason to believe culture would be behind these kinds of differences is we know that our culture transmits vast quantities of knowledge to children. Far more information than is in DNA, just in terms of bits. But also in terms of importance. We also know our culture believes boys and girls are different, and treats people different for many reasons.
The Two Most Valuable Things of the Web and Human-based Web Indexes
Helvetica (the film)
Well, I meant that it would be cool if it was integrated with your browser so all links on all web sites would display like that. I never got in to user css files, so I'm not sure if that is something possible or not.
it seems crack the drug is more popular than cracks of software ;-)
"I believe the truth is that boys are girls are not wired differently, and their brains do not work differently."

Do you have children? A girl and a boy?
I do. I can tell you categorically that they most definitely without a doubt are 'wired' differently. Regardless of what you do. Treat them absolutely identically. Even before they have outside influences. Before they start nursery/school. Before society/friends influence them. They act very differently indeed. I didn't get that before I had kids. I thought girls liked dolls because people give girls dolls. They don't. It's a reflex. It's how they're built. Just like boys love cars and doing outside stuff.

I seriously don't know what else to say here if you think men and womens brains are identical and work the same.
I love all of Microsoft's ergonomic keyboards and highly recommend one. They lead to your hands being in a more natural position than on a straight keyboard. Nowadays, I can't type for more than maybe an hour on a regular keyboard before my wrists start to hurt, but I have no problems on ergonomic ones.
The Internet is color blind. If anyone has a chance to make it it would be on the Internet.

I was watching the "Big Idea" with Donnie Deutsch some months ago and a 10 year old had a great eBay business and relationships with wholesellers. His age was not a limiting factor because he did everything online.
Social Lending -- Just How Many Loans Can Go Late Before We Worry?
Poor web designers! They try so hard.
In fact, I just tried it and it does work with user CSS stylesheets. Just copy the CSS to a file, change the URLs for the images to an absolute URL on the web (possibly local?), and set your browser to use that CSS file.

However, it doesn't work well for every site, sometimes the icon is placed behind the link text.
Authority of experience, based on anecdotal evidence, is not a valid way to argue scientific issues.

Further, you have not addressed well known exceptions to your claims, such as tomboys and males who do not love to be outdoors.
Exeter's actually worse than the article says. Shortly after I graduated in 2002 they tore up up perfectly functional squash courts and replaced them with new ones. The old courts weren't as big as the new prep school official size, so they spent millions of dollars just to add another foot to the court. The money for the project was donated by the father of a girl on the squash team. He wanted the money to go to bigger squash courts and nothing else. It's his money, so he can do what he wants with it. But I can make a long, long list of more worthy causes, and it's a shame that bigger squash courts is the best he could do. Prep schools and colleges manage to own a portion of your identity, and they are incredibly effective at getting alums to donate money back to them.
Well I don't think myspace got to where they are today by being really great guys. And they sure as hell haven't got a great codebase and a a great product.

How do you think it happened?
If you need to hit modifier keys a lot on a normal keyboard, move your whole hand and press them with your index and middle fingers together, instead of using your pinky.
Blacks and Latinos percentage wise make up a smaller portion of the US population. What you need to find out is if blacks and latinos who each make up about 13% of the US population are starting up significantly fewer than 13% of the web startups.
It would be cool if users coming to their site could just put in some information and then you could import all their data and network. It would make facebook essentially a totally open data platform. I wouldn't have to bother trying to get an ap on facebook too.

Data exportability makes things more valuable, not less.
I get your point, but it is a huge hassle to expand. Have you ever been part of a company in the process of a move? It takes eons.

Luckily for YC, it seems all they need to do to get setup is buy a place and get their architect to make it perdy.
OK on second reading, I guess it really was just stupidity of the poker site, for allowing withdrawal of the money after having received the bonus points. Sorry I misread, I thought he just gained the points for clicking the button repeatedly after a single deposit.
CMU using robot skits to get attention for the school
Hilarious.

Here is another: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vpI7eF9iTI
http://www.ooyala.com/management
Would a group of out-of-towners be interested in going to SV? Might be easier to arrange tours and meet-ups with the locals if a bunch of us organized into a geek horde.
Five reasons no one will replace Google
I know for a fact that boys and girls are very different. If you don't believe me, just google for porn.

I am not saying that women's minds are not wired for startups/maths/whatever (I don't know), but the cultural differences are rooted in biological differences. Women have babies, which is very costly. Hence they need a different mindset (more responsibility, time to take care of kids etc.), they are also very valuable to men, so they can sell their bodies as baby-making machines rather than do startups. Different options in life create different paths... Men have to do something impressive to convince women to carry their babies, hence the startup thing (high risk, but if success, there will be babies).
I for one misread your story, should have read more carefully. I thought you got points just for repressing the button after one deposit. The other way (as you described it), yeah, I guess it was just stupidity on the part of the poker firm. Morality would still be debatable - if it had not been a poker firm, but a charity or whatever, people might feel different about it.

I also often have to sign contracts, and I am not sure if all of them are 100% waterproof - probably they are not. But even though the opposing lawyers could probably screw me over, doesn't mean it would be ethical for them to do so.
I could imagine there were others trying the same thing, but then gambling away all their deposited money within a week. So maybe it was all good for the poker firm after all.
Europe really isn't socialist, at least not the wealthy countries here. Just because there is a law for public health insurance, doesn't make a country socialist.

Also, the "socialist health care system" is currently falling apart, at least in Germany. I think the democrats have a new scheme for such a system in the US, if they win? I say good luck getting it right. I am no specialist for it, but as an amateur I keep thinking about it, and I see no way: if the state pays for health treatments, people will get as many health treatments as they can, until the system breaks up. Our system here was put in action when Germany had lots of spare money. If times get harder, suddenly it doesn't seem so viable anymore.

Actually in Germany it is not completely socialist, the system is run by insurances, but most people are legally obliged to be insured. And the insurance companies are obliged to insure those people, which causes the problems (so I have to pay for people who smoke or have accidents in high risk sports activities and so on). What can they do? Somehow try to make a catalog of useful health treatments, but that also is doomed. More and more useful treatments get excluded.

The other extreme is what I experienced in england, where it really is the state directly who pays the bills. So you might have to wait a couple of days if you break your arm before you get treatment - whatever, right? Oh, and if you need dialysis, the machines will just be switched off when you reach a certain age. Whatever, right?

So welcome to the socialist health system, have fun!
Did you actually treat both of your children exactly the same? Did you buy them both only either gender specific clothing, or an equal amount of girl and boy clothing, until they were old enough to prefer otherwise? Did you do the same with toys?

Did they have any contact at all with other people? Family, friends, random strangers in grocery stores who come up to coo at your baby, etc. The first question most people ask (if it is not already obvious by the clothing) is 'girl or boy?' They then treat the child accordingly.

The way people coo and talk to boys and girls is different. The toy that they are most likely to pick up and offer to the baby differs according to gender. (So, just having both boy and girl toys available isn't enough.) They hold girls more gently, and play rougher with boys.

Oh, and, fwiw, I do have children, a boy and a girl. But, I do not think this make me an authority. More likely, having children would make me biased -- I have a vested interest in believing I treated both of my children equally. An outside observer would be more likely to see my subtle biases. In the same way, parents often favour one child, without realizing they are doing it, even when it is obvious to other people around them.
For most programmers, there's the H1-B Visa. This is tied to a specific employer, they're given out on a roughly first come first serve basis and there's a quota of them: only 65,000 are given out per year at last count. Last year there were so many people applying that all the visas for FY 2008 (starting October 07) were given out on April 1st -- the next time you'd be able to apply would be April 1st 2008, for October 2008!

For Canadians and Mexicans there is a different visa, called the TN, created under NAFTA. If you read the NAFTA proceedings, you'll come to understand that the method of getting verified at the border was meant to make it easier and quicker to get a Visa, for certain classes of professional. The one professional category involving computers, 'computer systems analyst', was so vaguely defined that one could only interpret it was meant as an umbrella term.

But what's happened in reality is that small-minded border guards have been given the authority to simply reject people. They demand all sorts of things that aren't in the law, and they make no apologies.
Their reasons:

- Google knows semantics

- Google has the smartest people in the world

- Google has Marissa Mayer

- Google is filthy rich

- Google says it's working on AI

- Google is not distracted

Hmm.. that's six reasons.. perhaps they should come on in again?
Multitasking is Dumbing us Down and Driving us Crazy
Awesome. This seems work similar to how the Google Maps API works.

I assume it's safe to include your application key client side?
It seems to indicate at least that something is odd, doesn't it? You would expect statistically the same percentages in sports as in the whole of society.

I am just an outsider to this whole problem, not coming from the US. But some things I heard - like maybe for blacks the best shot at being admitted to college is the sports stipend? Just guessing... I seem to remember that there were so many black jazz and blues musicians because it was one of the few professions that was open to blacks (a bit similar to the jews all becoming money lenders, perhaps). So I don't know the actual causes, but if I was an outsider seeing this anomaly, I would at least investigate.
What angel investors aren't looking for
You've got to be kidding me.

It matters because there's more to living a life free of prejudice than just thinking you're too smart to be susceptible to it.
To prevent this kind of thing in the first place: Stop typing at regular intervals, stand up, and run your fingers and wrists through a range of flexion and extension motions while moving your arms around, especially over your head and back down again. This will get more blood flowing in the area, which helps. Strength training of your wrists, shoulders, abs and back helps. Wear wrist braces at night. People often push their wrists into strange positions while asleep - this will prevent that. But do not wear them any other time - they will cause muscle atrophy which makes things worse.

You've waited a while though, so you'll probably need to stop typing entirely for a month to let the inflammation go away first.

JWZ is worth reading on this. http://www.jwz.org/gruntle/wrists.html

My final advice: try occupational therapists and physical therapists. Physicians aren't as good about knowing specifically what to change about your behavior and how to get you to do it. The better occupational and physical therapists think about these issues constantly.
From the article: If there's a lesson to be learned from the $55mm round in Slide at $500mm pre, it's that money right now wants to be with the winners.

So "right now" judging solely by users, Slide seems to be a "winner" but time will tell if it remains one.

Very few companies can easily abandon the data they put into Salesforce, but I can easily imagine Slide's users taking down their party pictures once they start worrying about their more permanent online persona.
http://minutillo.com/steve/weblog/2007/12/27/word-count-book...

It's a bookmarklet rather than a context menu item though.

Someone should write a Firefox plugin that lets you run arbitrary JavaScript from the context menu.
It's usually a sign of lameness to have an official advisory board. If you look at the startups you admire, you'll find few have them.

Board members and (good) investors are always de facto advisors. And if you seem promising, people in the startup world will help you out for free. But it is not a good idea to have formal advisors who are neither board members nor investors.
I actually think the article did a great job of accurately showing the two sides of exeter. Dwelling on how much money they spend on squash courts or football stadiums gives the wrong impression and just perpetuates the common criticism that exeter is elitist. The reality is far from the truth and the article was pretty accurate in demonstrating that.
So, your theory is that selection pressure for [various things] resulted in adapted genes.

One of the major questions this position has to answer is: why did that selection pressure result in adapted genes instead of adapted memes?

Prima facie, it would result in adapted memes, because memes evolve faster -- they have much shorter generations.
There seems to be a good tradition of "gambler hackers", e.g.

- Edward O. Thorp ("Beat the Dealer" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_O._Thorp )

- Keith Taft (http://www.blackjackforumonline.com/content/taftint.html)

- the MIT Blackjack Team ( "Bringing down the house" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bringing_Down_the_House_(book) )
There must be one somewhere, there would be no zero or negative scores. Maybe you only get it once you level up.
> The most important thing for your wrists is to keep the bones in your palm relatively straight with respect to your forearm. If you bend your wrists up, bad things can happen.

Indeed: if you have to reach up to type, you are destroying your wrists.

With a laptop, you are stuck in the unenviable position of having to choose between wrist pains and neck cramps, since the keyboard and monitor are separate.

For a laptop:

Get a wireless keyboard (a wired one will get annoying if you have spinny chairs or accidentally yank on the cord), with a built-in trackpad, and keep it in your lap to type.

Then get either an external display, or raise your laptop's existing display (a stack of phone books should do it), so that your eye level is about 1/3 down the screen.
About a year ago, I loaned $1000 worth of money to the highest risk people on prosper.com, at an average interest rate of 24%. I reinvested returns for about 6 months until I started getting defaults.

So far I've made $186.91 in interest and lost $344 in defaults. If I have no more defaults I'll have broken even after three years.
What is "it"? What is "it" the opposite of? You're getting a lot of upmods for a very badly constructed sentence.

(EDIT: I guess I sound like a jerk. I'm just wondering actually...)
Seconded DevHouse. Really, even if there were no other reason to be in SV, DevHouse would still beckon...
> And in particular, it is more repressive of females, and cripples their ability to think more, especially in business and technical areas.

Why business and technical areas in particular?

Historically, I'd agree with you. But that effect has completely vanished in many fields: law and medicine are two prominent examples. It also partially vanished in technical fields; physics went from 0% to 20% women in the same way that medicine went from 0% to 50%.

Why do you think that physics and computer science are more anti-woman than medicine? And for that matter, why is experimental physics less anti-woman than theoretical physics? And similarly, why does environmental engineering have more women than electrical?
I don't think cperciva's sense of morals is conditioned on wanting to be the next Myspace.

If it's a success, the way you run your startup and the lessons you learn will have a tremendous effect on the rest of your life. It takes a huge amount of effort to get something going. You don't have time to make dozens of businesses, and if you're not clear about your values early on, you can find yourself a success, but without a strong internal sense of accomplishment.
Ranks well at what? Standardized test scores?

Asian countries in general, and I know about Japan in particular, are very very harsh to students. Test scores up, freedom down. If our children don't put up with that kind of thing, maybe that speaks well of us.
> Slide raising $55m

Popularity and number of users are great certainly money can be made from ads.

Not sure if they can make $55 million worth of dollars from ads, probably not though. Those investors will be looking for there money (x10) and when they don't get it will force the company to close.
What happens if physicists gain control of computer languages
Well, I would recommend the book "Why is sex fun" by Jared Diamond. I don't know all the theories anymore, but the gist is that there is/was a biological arms race between men and women. For example, the reason that women have to be inseminated inside their bodies is so that men can not be sure who is the father of the women's babies. Because otherwise, men are prone to killing offspring of other men (at least in the animal kingdom). Now, if a woman sleeps with another man, we still can not be sure that she is not carrying our baby. At least that is one theory, as far as I remember. There are several more aspects that come into play.

There actually was one chapter with the theory that men go hunting to impress women (and I would be ready to make the leap and equate hunting with startupping). Gathering would be more energy efficient than hunting, but hunting allows men to come home as bigshots, make a big party, and impress lots of women. That theory was only based on one study of a primitive society, though, so I guess the evidence is not yet very strong. Just a theory... Anyway, a good book to read in my opinion.

Other than that, I am not sure I agree to your question. Men and women certainly have different genes, have they not? I think the asymmetry is inherent in the problem of growing a baby inside of your body. Perhaps it would have been possible to allow both men and women to get pregnant, but it might have been too much overhead (although there are animals that can switch gender, and come to think about it, there are human hermaphrodites).

Most animals seem to have a difference between men and women - for example the spiders that eat their mates...