skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
"Almost everyone wants the most qualified employees they can get. I think this is becoming even more true as folks have seen Google's success in hiring PhDs."

One can only hope (but I doubt it). Google doesn't hire just any Ph.D. -- they hire the best people who have CS experience, and that's only a tiny sliver of the total Ph.D. pool.

That said, I've experienced the downside of the degree, particularly when interacting with tech people. Lots of geeks get their dander up when they find out you have a doctorate, and start hammering on you harder, as if to prove something to themselves. I've also had people explicitly question my interest in jobs, to my face. It's definitely a real phenomenon, and I can understand why people might want to remove it from their resume. (If only it were easy to explain that 5+ year gap in employment history....)
So I agree with the intent of the article that pushing distribution to the edge is a noble goal. But safe-harbors should be expanded -- why should a company have to police it's users. That seems ridiculous. If the country feels something is wrong it should send a letter or police officer to make sure that it is taken down, but that is all.
A Mac Pro is just an overgrown PC, much like any Intel server you can get from Dell. It's pretty and classy and, while it runs a real Unix, the whole platform was really designed to run Windows, much like every Intel box has been for a long time. It was a compromise made when Apple switched away from PowerPCs.

What made a Unix workstation something unique is that it was built not to run legacy software (I bet the latest Dell can still boot MS-DOS 3.3) but to be the fastest possible machine that given amount of money could buy. That involved, of course, custom graphics hardware, weird disk controllers and exotic buses with hardware-assisted everything. It's a shame most people never experienced this and, for the time being (can you imagine someone building a desktop computer that cannot run Windows?), won't.

As for the CX-1, it's a cluster of PCs in a deskside package. Lame. Seymour would never approve it.
Question, if I host a blog, am I responsible for all comments on the blog? Does this mean that all comments must be held for moderation before they are posted?

This would kill hacker news and a large number of other sites, and is not solved by self-hosting.
I can't wait until I get home to hug mine...
The best thing I've found is joining a gym, after lifting some weights and doing some cardio, my body is tired and my mind get's refreshed allowing me to get more focused work done... that's just me though...
Burn Rate as the Canonical Mistake for Web Startups
I'd say youtube in that case would be the landord for the page that holds the video and the creator of the video would be responsible for it. To say that a web host or postal office isn't responsible but that message board is arbitrary.

Also craigslist would obviously fall under a the youtube designtion -- and other such services that require scale.
Now we're talking! :) I think the content is preserved in this case, but you see it still requires my authentic friend to generate it. (Unless we build deeper maybe...)
I think that modern society is inherently better since no one lives the hunter gatherer one when given a chance. There are still places where one could go and hunt/gather food etc but I don't know of anyone that does that.
How Much Do You Print? The Redbox Model for Printing Services
Yeah, I got to, "Before everyone freaks out (ZOMG!! YOU EATED ALL TEH GRANTZ!!)" before I realized I was reading a cartoon strip.
All data like this is context/market/user specific.

I don't think the headline or article is wrong, though I suppose he could say, "your mileage may vary".

Regardless, I think it's compelling enough to try it out on a few forms. I'll try it on our site and crow if there's a meaningful change in either direction.
Data, data everywhere
The traffic growth is impressive. How did you first start getting traction? What methods did you use to promote the site early on?
Unix workstations were built to run Unix. A Mac pro is essentially a PC. It boots through EFI and is capable of running OSX, but all of the parts of a PC are still there. The proof is that it runs Windows.

The difference looks subtle now, when every desktop computer is essentially the same. For those who lived through this, like the writer of the original article, it was blatantly obvious.
I'm in the same boat. Could you post a link to said group, if it's not too much trouble?

EDIT: Found it. For any looking: http://groups.google.com/group/hn-chicago
I don't think that I would describe Google as a feudal lord, what with it not having the power to really do anything to me except deny me it's services. I have sworn no vows of fealty that force me to wage war on their behalf, with execution for dereliction of said vows. Even if I were an employee of theirs, I would still be allowed to quit.

Now, am I happy to let Google fight legal battles that I agree with that I can't fight on my own, due to lack of resources and standing? Yes.
Back when I had my rogers account twice my email was rejected for being from that domain.

Just plain stupid.
Most modern hunter gatherers wouldn't want to live in modern society either. See the Sahlins' paper above or a recent National Geographic article on a similar group:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/12/hadza/finkel-text

Again, if modern society was inherently better, why are there modern hunter gatherers at all? Shouldn't they all have joined us by now? It is not for lack of opportunity. They like their culture and their lifestyles. They don't want to join us as much as we don't want to join them.
The common stereotype of an entrepreneur is the 20 something living on Ramen, but maybe that's because the 20 somethings are more likely to blog/tweet/otherwise publicly discuss their experience? Here's one of several articles I've seen that indicate the stereotype may be completely wrong: http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/09/21/the-average-age-of-an-en...
worth reading the last line...

anyone know which airlines do have "buss"?
A lot of that is the secret sauce. But direct e-mails to people who might be interested in your content, and a lot of them, is really the only tool that's worked.
In my browser (chrome) the image updates slowly and unevenly after each keypress, which interrupts the 3D illusion, and then I have to refocus on the new image. Otherwise, very cool.
Great work, Brad!
Carbon footprint = carbon output - offsets

Much of the charcoal used in tropical regions is made by slash-and-charring rain forests. These forests aren't replanted. So, since the carbon output is high, and there is no offset, it has a huge carbon footprint.

You don't get to count the initial carbon sequestration as the carbon offset. If you could, then coal and oil would have carbon footprints of zero.

If you develop a closed loop system, like much charcoal production in North America, then yeah, your carbon footprint is low.

So, when they say "The carbon footprint is 50% cleaner than the grid and 100% renewable" they mean it produces half the carbon output per amount of energy generated (they claim to be more efficient than many power plants), and has the possibility of using renewable energy such as biomass gas (which is not currently produced in large quantities).
> I do miss XP

Oh boy. I am an Ubuntu user and I have been using Windows for a year now (corporate policy - don't ask...) and in the first 6 months it drove me crazy. The first thing I did was to install Cygwin and Emacs in order to have a proper terminal and a text-editor, but, still, the seemingly random slowdowns, moments when even the mouse pointer wouldn't move... More memory reduced the pain, but, still, I miss select-copy and middle-click-paste.

If you can read Portuguese, I wrote about it on http://www.dieblinkenlights.com/artigos_pt/vivendo-no-window... and http://www.dieblinkenlights.com/artigos_pt/o-windows-esta-pr...
3 computers? I'm sure you have your reasons, but seems a little complicated
This is not just true of the corporate world; it's also true of relationships. People are constantly changing, trying to better themselves or their lives or their jobs.

People embrace change -- as long as it's the right type of change. It needs to be change that they own, change that they think/feel is productive, change that they view as a positive.

If you find people resistant to changes you're trying to impose, chances are, it's not "change" they're resisting, but your particular choices. Identifying a common goal and then allowing the other person to come up with a solution is often a far better approach than declaring a solution someone else must implement.
The education process is long, and it isn't very glamorous or sexy. When someone unveils an engineering marvel its likely met with "hmm...thats nice, lets see what the kids on jersey shore are doing tonight".

Also innovation is stifled by a "simpsons did it" mentality, where if any layperson can understand each component of a technology, the think that integrating it would be easy.

How many people have you met that "invented" something only to have it "stolen". Such as putting a cell phone and a camera to produce ta-da...a camera phone!!

I support organizations that give students actual project experience. FIRST is a good one: http://www.usfirst.org/
I completely agree that anyone with kids absolutely must make their kids the #1 priority in their life. Having said that however, it sounds like the OP is working on his startup in the % of his free time that many of his peers might be using for more conventional hobbies like bowling, playing WoW, watching TV, etc.
I was unaware you had a larger goal than covering costs. If you want more, then it's a different ballgame. Just don't be afraid to own up to your goal of making money. It's OK to have a hobby that makes no money, and likewise, it's OK to have a project that you want to monetize.
i always thought people hated vista because hardware vendors hadn't caught up with the device drivers--vista is v6.0, Win7 is v6.1. kind of a clever tactic for MS--using vista as a fall guy and Win7 differentiating itself in marketing when nothing really changed.
How rudely dismissive!

The minutia do not only matter to newbies; they are the elements from which the larger game is built. Knowing how to do basic things correctly is the starting point. From there, you understand what it means to stop your opponent from executing correctly, and how to preserve your own ability. In a good game, rarely is one building perfectly without interference.

The game is as complex as it needs to be in order to be the game that it is. I mean, chess might be easier to learn with half the pieces, and would likely demonstrate some of the same principles, but it would not be the same game.

Is the complexity justified? Well, I think it's a good game, and though it's taken me years to learn it, I find it rewarding to know. Your mileage may vary; I do not particularly care for chess. Ultimately, whether you find it a "good game" is the only judgement I think is really valid.
If it were much deeper, I'm not sure the animal could have sustained it's velocity. I cannot walk normally in six inches of ocean water.
Hi! As a Community Manager, I can attest to the reality of how important my job is to the infrastructure. If I don't add the human element and go the extra miles to reach people, our sites don't get traffic, our sales don't grow, and ultimately our business climate suffers.
I'm biased (currently a PhD student), but I think your employment prospects are pretty good with a CS PhD, especially if it is (a) from a good school (b) in something practical (a PhD in theory might still let you get a job at somewhere like Microsoft Research, but it depends on what kind of theory; a theory PhD would be less helpful for most startups).

With a CS PhD, you have a lot of options: academia, industrial research (Microsoft Research, IBM Research, and so on), working for or founding a startup, etc. Happily, many CS graduate schools and professors explicitly recognize that many grad students don't intend to pursue a career in academia, which I think is less the case in other academic fields.
FTA: "the thought experiment is not intended to determine the actual value of the software, but to give policymakers a greater appreciation of the potential benefits of community-based collaboration"
XING.com is hiring developers via Firebug console
I suspect this could be another service that FC offers–choose your desired route before you buy your ticket and find out who has the best on-time %

Partner with Orbitz/Expedia/Whoever so I can see it while I shop ... it would definitely influence me to use that particular travel site.
If police can walk inside your hotel and stop people from breaking laws, they should be able to do at your website.

What we should build is a universally accepted protocol for government policing. Every UGC website must implement it. The government gets some police accounts which they can use to block objected content. Every government manages their jurisdiction. There can be treaties and smart organizations like NSA who do things automatically.

May be futuristic, but it will happen.
Considering many people believe creationism is a valid scientific concept, my answer would be "not nearly enough"

And, BTW, this is not a US-only problem.
I've only experienced the upside to having a Ph.D. so far. As someone who was trying to get into the US and stay here, the doctorate made every step (and there are many) go a bit more quickly and smoothly than it did for other people I knew trying to get a Green Card at the same time as me.
Thanks, man!
The book is a nice read and pretty inspiring. I even gave it as a gift to a friend a few years ago.

Though e.g. in power plants big tends to be more efficient than small.
Check out the Taulbee survey numbers to get more meaningful information on what CS PhD employment is like.
Banking on Mobile Money
"Macs were only interesting because they were 1) not Intel and 2) not Unix. Now they're both!" - Mark V. Shaney's Dad
Joel Spolsky to stop blogging; shares insights from JoelOnSoftware success
From the March issue of Inc. Magazine's "How Hard Could It Be?" column...

Let's Take This Offline
A decade ago, I started Joel on Software, a blog
that put my company on the map. But as the
business matures, I've come to realize that
blogging is holding me back.

Later in the article:

So having become an Internet celebrity in the
narrow, niche world of programming, I've decided
that it's time to retire from blogging. March
17, the 10th anniversary of Joel on Software,
will mark my last major post. This also will be
my last column for Inc. For the most part, I
will also quit podcasting and public speaking.

The article also has some good insights into why most startup blogs are awful and boring. JoelOnSoftware, on the other hand, was by accident an effective blog for the niche of readers who might use Fog Creek products. Short answer: blog about topics interesting to people who haven't yet heard of your startup, but who might be customers one day.

I haven't been able to find the text online, possibly because Inc wants the print edition to circulate first?
it may look like shit but the direct marketing peoplr really know and use every dirty trick in the book. when it comes to conversion rates they are the best. dealing with a different target group than the average consumer might require different visual style and somewhat ligter touch though
I read the following and my jaw dropped:

"While it's possible these adjustments also contributed to the increase, it's unlikely they were solely responsible for it"

What was he smoking when he wrote that? There's absolutely no justification for that statement that I can see.
Missing NeWS... That one is a really bad sign ;-)

On the other hand, it would be a beautiful idea were it not built upon PostScript.
Kayak has this today, though I'm not sure where the data is sourced from. Flights get a little '%' icon if they have less than 75% on-time.
But good luck if that's not the case.
From the wikipedia page: "It is often used to champion small, appropriate technologies"

I personally * LOATHE * the phrase "appropriate technology".

In practice, this term is usually used by elitist first worlders condescending to second and third worlders. I scoff at the idea that some sociology grad student in the US knows more about how "the street" should use technology than actual people, living their real lives in Laos, or Kenya, or somewhere.

Further, the "appropriate" technology is usually "really clever" crap. "Oh, wow, we can dig a 10 foot deep well using nothing more than a piece of PVC pipe and five hours of labor!". ...and yet, you'd never catch these first world people getting their water supply from a 10' deep hole in their backyard - they're totally in favor of chlorine, municipal water, and more.

"Appropriate" is a word that parents use to correct five year old children.

First world adults using it to correct others, when they won't put any skin in the game themselves, rubs me the wrong way.
Launch Pad at Web 2.0
Great app - I think unfollowing people is the secret to improving Twitter!
> ManageTwitter requires Google Chrome Frame to run in Internet Explorer! Please install it from the box below.

Wow, are we really going to live through another round of "Best Viewed in Netscape Navigator" wars?
So hosting services deserve safe harbor protections, but hosting services that provide a nice front-end to your data (e.g. YouTube, Facebook, etc.) don't.

This is wrong. I think the internet would be a better place if it were easier for people to run their own servers, but that doesn't mean we should make it more difficult for hosted services to operate.
RIAA CEO: China Google Hack With Google's Attitude Towards Copyright
Had a great time last night at the meetup. Didn't get a chance to meet you though! FYI, I'm in the latter group above.
You can still buy their outstanding keyboard and quite average mice: http://www.sun.com/desktop/peripherals.jsp

Unfortunately I can't. They won't ship them to Brazil and the local retailer wants US$ 200 for both.
Everyone could host their own comments, and blogs would only accept links as comments on their posts.

</sarcasm>
Help me understand here,

These kinds of form improvements should be done for trying out services that the user already is familiar with, like buying a car, getting a insurance quote, and where there are multiple choices of service providers, right?

Because, on a sign up form for a new web service, I really don't want users to be tricked into signing up. I only want those users who understand what my service offers (through the intro blurb, videos etc) to sign up and if you have decided to try based on the merit, why would a form design matter? If I lost a sign up due to a form design, my service is probably weak, no?
But he also advocated that the one that you own (the appliance) use hosting services (aka 'the cloud') for backup and distribution purposes. Though he does advocate that such cloud services do deserve safe-harbor protection.

I feel there is a disconnect with the 'landlord' analogy here. The author feels that the 'landlord' is the hardware/internet connection provider/host, while the grandparent poster feels that the YouTube also qualifies as a 'landlord' that is renting out space for people to display their videos (where the 'rent' is the ability to display adverts).
We need to shift away from our dependency on the grant system, and the only way to do that is to make basic research profitable for private industry. I just don't see any other way to do it.

What America really needs isn't more scientists, although that would be nice. What's required is more scientific training for entrepreneurs and business people, so that they can help shepherd projects out of the lab and into products. If having a research lab becomes viewed as a competitive advantage by investors, then getting funding becomes simple.

There are a few major success stories, where companies consistently use advanced research to churn out profitable products - Google and 3M spring immediately to mind. We should be trying to replicate those models.
Google vs. Italy Huge Misinformation
I have been meaning to read this for a long time...

Doesn't it say that there is something wrong with the scale of things in the first world (and point that out using energy consumption stats?)
No, that goes back to a). It's a moot point to say that you'd be a good venture capitalist, if only you had money, but that the characteristics that get someone VC-level money also make them bad VCs.

The MBA who can raise a $100 million fund is clearly a better VC than you, even if you're more talented, because he's actually a VC.
That's quite an overkill ;-)

But cool, nevertheless.

I am a bit ashamed the coolest operating systems on the market today are either Unix-derived/inspired or a lame rehash of VMS.

There is something wrong with this.
A lot of folks commenting sound pretty skeptical - with good reason, of course - but I can't help look at that form and catch myself thinking 'gee, that looks fun to fill out'. I think its really clever.

I'd also suspect seeing your full name in the paragraph would be more reason to use accurate information. Not to mention maybe there could be spam and security benefits in there too

Really like to hear if anyone does some tests against this
The difference is that YouTube profits from the videos, EC2 rents generic capacity to someone who could choose to profit from them.
That's what I was gonna say. Where's the data? The article is just an opinion. It seems the author thinks the 'mad-lib' style is cool and wants to believe everyone else does too.
Did you make this all by yourself? I like the design. It definitely seems like the best tool for this kind of thing.
How Amazon Innovates: Lessons for Microsoft and Others
I saw this a few days ago, tried it out, and found it pretty useless. (I follow ~100 people).

Unfollowing someone because they don't follow you is stupid. In fact, many of the most insightful tweets I see come from accounts that don't follow me, mostly people who are to some degree high profile (@wycats (Merb/now Rails guy), @defunkt (GitHub founder), etc.)

If someone's talkative, it's pretty obvious, and I'll either get annoyed by their tweet volume and unfollow them after a time of dense tweets, or they're not bothering me so it's fine.

Quiet and inactive are a horrible reasons to unfollow someone, since if they're quiet the cost of following them is basically 0.
Augmented Reality Demo On The Nokia N900
Is Mobile Enterprise Meant For the App Store?
Banshee 1.5.4 is Released
I don't think that I advocated what the author is necessarily. I feel that people should be working towards a more decentralized web, but removing safe-harbor protections from large sites just because they provide an obstacle to a more decentralized web is not really the correct stance to take.

Take Facebook for example, why couldn't we just have a number of providers of social networking services with an agreed-upon protocol to communication/authentication between them? Then I could run my own server for my profile/albums/etc while someone less tech-savvy could sign up with a ready-to-go service that pays for itself with ads.
Ah, but people really hate filling in forms. So much so that if you stick a complicated form in front of something they want to do, many of them will decide they don't want to do that thing so much anymore.

Even something as simple as asking for an email address in addition to username/password will lose you a percentage of signups. (As a real-world example, we tried removing all the fields from the signup page on Twiddla and saw a 1000% increase in users trying us out).

This form design seems to be a way of convincing people that they're not looking at a form, and therefore tricking them into filling it in to go do the thing they wanted to do in the first place.
The Rule of No (Jetblue Flight Cancellation)