skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
You are asking about one of my favorites topics (co-founders)...

First of all, understand that he needs to quit. When someone is concerned enough that they post online, it means the situation is bad. So ignore any advice on improving his sales skills.

It's hard to fire your friends (been there, done that). Depending on your relationship, do it nicely, with transitions. Ideally, you want to have a frank discussion where the joint conclusion is that he is not working out and should stop. That's not that hard. If he is genuinely trying to help the business, show him that by getting someone else on board, the business will be better off.

Finally, there is the issue of stocks. Hopefully you had vesting in place. So one way is to go by that agreement. He worked 1 year out of 4, and hopefully you didn't split 50/50. So if you had split originally 66/33 for instance, you'd now be at 88% for you, and less than 12% for him. Which to me is sounds about fair. He did do stuff for a year, right?
Ultimate Ears SuperFi 3 Studio Noise Isolating Earphones

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000B5XU06
Get out. Start a new idea, or get a job.

But if you insist on continuing, give him the straight facts: You are able to effectively contribute something of value (the tech), and he is not (there is the sales, but he's not able to do it). Therefore, he needs to let you bring in a real sales person (who can be paid on commission, and maybe become another owner as well since the pay will stink at first). This is to give the business a chance at success. Even in this scenario all three of you will probably need to find day jobs, especially the current co-founder since he won't be allowed to get any of the profits until he figures out how he can contribute. And any new ownership given to a new sales person (if you do give them any ownership, that is) will come out of your current partner's share. And from today forward, your current partner will not be counted as a continuing contributor - except maybe very minimally as an advisor, if that is worth anything.
To be fair he likely lost focus, checked some email, read another article and had forgotten his point and just thought "Meh, I'll go with it."
"My co-founder sux. I met a friend, with whom I founded a company. He is the tech guy, I do the sales. Now he is "finished" with the service, but it isn't the quality we need and doesn't have the features our customers want. It's very tough to sell this beast. He always argues that those are the best features and won't implement what customers want as they do not know what they need. He's always comparing his work to a competitor who gets 10x better deals, but clearly his tech stuff is not in the same league! What should I do? Should I dump him? Thanks troubled2"

Just for thoughts.
Find the Most sensitive and Interesting Argumentative Paper Topics
There is a great resource of argumentative paper topics which can be selected to write argumentative papers. These include the internet, articles etc. Through research on the selected topic and taking a stance on your position you will be able to write an excellent argumentative paper.
WRT buying out: get to a point where you both agree it's a bad fit, and that he has better prospects elsewhere, then 'buy him out' for a token - seriously, like $1.
Far and away: "Toddler Lock", keeps you productive by keeping your toddler occupied!
Hang on, if the source wasn't distributed to Apple (it generally isn't), how can Apple be expected to comply? Sounds to me like Apple need to take the app off the store. Any failure here is the fault of the submitter failing to comply with the GPL; Apple is just an innocent victim.
It's Official: Apple Is Now Worth More Than Microsoft
"As a startup we evaluated using Scala for parts of our development but found the development tooling support to be very limited."

Twitter seems to manage fine with the "limited tooling" for Scala and is the existence proof that Scala works fine in startup/production environments. I suppose they must be using ancient editors like Emacs or Vim and unix command lines? Sure, "tooling" like that existing for Java would be nice to have, but if that stops you from using Scala in a startup, you are not the target audience for it.

That said, I concede that your startup/developers may have had special needs that the folks Twitter didn't and so you shouldn't use Scala - or Clojure. Or Haskell. Or even Ruby or Python- all of these have "limited tooling" as compared to Java.
I always wondered if it would be possible to take the SSMEs out of the shuttle and mount it on top of a larger booster vehicle that could also be used to lift non-reusable craft.

A couple of SSME-class engines on the bottom of that tank, with two or four SRBs around it would make for a very serious launcher. BTW, that's the idea behind the Jupiter boosters the DIRECT folks were proposing.
If Chrome users are like me, a lot of Chrome users were set up by other Chrome users who fixed their computer, deleted the IE shortcuts from Desktop and Quick Launch bars, and renamed the Chrome shortcuts to "Internet".
We have a fitness room here at work. I've tried putting a board across one of the treadmills so I can use my laptop on it.

impressions:
- my top speed I can really walk without sweating is about 1.9 miles per hour.
- 1.5 miles per hour is best for me as far as actually being able to think and walk at the same time.
- Above 2 miles per hour, all I'll really doing is exercising and watching to make sure nothing important pops up on my computer screen. I can't really concentrate on hard problems or type well at that speed.
Wikipedia and Inherent Open Source Bias
Twitter Signup Form using HTML5 & CSS3 : Form Validation in HTML5
But a third party could buy into it. If the company has real potential then I would look for a strong business/sales person who might be interested in buying your partner out. It shouldn't cost too much if you aren't making that much money, and this way you know the new partner is serious since he is putting money into it.

I would talk to your partner and say "let's come up with a timeline where you hit these goals or we look for a third-party person to buy you out". If he can hit those goals, or hit those goals with the help of a commission only salesperson then your problem is solved. If not you start looking for a third-party.
Open Letter to the Diaspora Dudes
interesting. i would like to see a comparison to yaws or mochiweb (perhaps w/nitrogen).
You have the source. You have the toolchain. If you want something different make it or pay someone to make it. Stallman made something that suited him and was nice enough to share it. Other than criticize the attitudes of others, what have you done?
Maken Movies: Pitch your movie ideas to the world
How to protect your source code, your main IT company asset
Hello, I see often people that setup new IT startup and hire a lot of people. My question is, how can you protect the main asset of the company, the source code ?
This is pretty interesting situation considering that it's as close to free market as you can get. Legalization could be good or bad but I think the more people, who currently don't use it due to legality, would consume pot and thus keep the prices stable. I have no experience with growing pot but it seems to be a pretty easy thing to do and thus supply is abundant. The market should readjust but that will be harsh
Don't underestimate the compiler optimizations. GCC 4.3.1 on i386 with -O3 generates pretty involved optimized code that actually stores whole aligned 32bit words. (and I strongly suspect that this generated code is faster than rep stosb).
True 3D Flip Book with CMS AS3 01
Question about Using a Standing Desk
After reading all the articles on here, Lifehacker and the New York Times, I got a standing desk a few weeks ago. Actually, it is just a kitchen island table I got from Ikea, but I love it and it works great for me. I feel more energetic, clear-headed and my back doesn't kill me anymore.

There is only one problem: My feet kill me. Even after a few weeks of it, my heels hurt like anything. I generally work from home, so I prefer to be barefoot if I can, but perhaps I should get a mat to stand on? or purchase some running shoes or something else super comfortable.

Any advice?
So many folks suggest "If you don't have anything you can show, start by contributing to OSS work!" that I sort of have the urge to be contrarian

Many interesting companies prefer to hire (and in some cases hire only) people who have or have contributed to opensource projects.

By all means, write OSS. Get paid to do it, though.

Is it really that bad to work on opensource software solely because you want to? Do we really need to get paid for everything we do?
Identification of the real cause of the problem is your top priority.

Rather than some of the suggestions in this thread that would most likely result in an unpleasant ending of your venture I'd suggest that both you and your co-founder seek help from a third party you both trust to give you good advice, and that has relevant experience.

Another thing you should do is talk to your customers, and figure out what it is that you can do to make the sales work more effective.

You've failed to do the 'verify' part earlier on in your relationship when you could have done it without cost, so now you're stuck with the consequences of the 'trust' bit. Don't worry too much about it, it happens to all of us.

I'm assuming your product is business-to-business because you mention direct sales to clients, selling in that world is a skill.

So, not all is hopeless here, skills can be improved and even if you're not selling nearly as good as you should be you and your partner are selling something, now you need to identify where in the sales process you drop the ball and correct that.

Rinse, repeat, and it should end out ok at some point.

Attempting to remove your partner by force or to quit by walking out of it is going to destroy your company and your investment with it.

Probably your partner is just as disappointed as you are, you have a common goal here so work together to get it solved, it's far from hopeless at this stage.

0 sales or no product that would be a real problem, some sales and a product that is at least acceptable to some customers sounds like a fixable situation to me (at least, without much more knowledge).

Another alternative that I haven't seen suggested yet is find a buyer for the whole project.

edit: Maybe you should talk to flavio87, see if he's interested in taking over your project, from what I gather he's doing something comparable (but he's been at it only for about 2 months iirc).

See this posting by him:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1188524

best of luck.
The world, even excluding SV, has more good programmers, but existence isn't enough.

> but the more places you're willing to recruit from the better

You're ignoring cost.

If local matters, then moving cost and "number available" matters.

There are many places with "enough" programmers to do {reasonable size project}, but there aren't thousands, even if great programers can be found almost anywhere.

There are fairly few places where there are "enough" programmers to do almost anything. SV is one of them.
A 90% overlap in the files indexed by isoHunt and Google won't save them if 90+% of isoHunt's use is infringing.
The FSF is only in a position to "go after" Apple because it is the copyright holder of GNU Go. It does not hold copyright on Linux.
> The FSF should take a more active role in GPL violations overall.

I belive they can't really do anything unless they own the copyright, as they do with GNU Go. The Linux HFS+ code is probably owned by whoever wrote it for example.
Yes, they're called 'suicide clusters'.
I'm not sure I understand how incorrect relative placement of the keyboard and monitor is any more or less an issue with a standing vs. sitting desk. Your upper body remains in the same position either way, so wouldn't you want both keyboard and monitor to move up and down in lock-step?

That said, almost all sitting desks, IME, place the keyboard too high relative to the monitor.
Forum scraping sites taking over my search results
I do code solution searches all the time on Google and I've started hitting some really worthless sites that just scrap content from other sites and put it back up with AdSense. Is there any way I can permanently exclude sites from my searching? Are these sites breaking any actual rules I can report them for?

http://www.thedevsea.com/

http://www.bigresource.com/
Agree. If you share more about what you're trying to develop, we can give you more guidance.
Here's my recent setup. My friend sold me an industry style workbench with motor lift that he scored at an auction (for 60 bucks). I had a nice solid wood top from another desk that worked perfect.

Setup includes 30" monitor in the middle with two 20" monitors on edge.

I'm not standing all day, just a few hours a day at the moment.

http://i.imgur.com/yZYlq.jpg
Sure, the way he does it is sensationalist, but I still like his concept of infecting RFID system by just "carrying" around a malicious RFID tag.
A buy out doesn't have to be in cash. Look right now you have very little but likely some sweat equity and your product isn't really worth much.

Offer him some shares or options in the future company but tell him this isn't working out. He'll say he already owns "half" but the truth is if you walk away he likely doesn't have a damn thing.

Offer him some equity to walk away or tell him you're quitting.
The knife is out for Ruby
Dynamic languages are coming to the end of their honeymoon period. This is bad for Python and maybe PHP, but it is nothing short of a disaster for Ruby.
For some discussion of HP's research on displays and other electronics printed on plastic sheets see http://www.stanford.edu/class/ee380/Abstracts/100519.html

Video and other talks are at http://www.stanford.edu/class/ee380/spring-schedule-20092010... .

Fun fact - they're talking about production runs of 300 square meters at a time.
I guess that's what I'm getting at, yeah.
I was amused by the fact that the author drew a lot of his conclusions based on his experience with a COBOL -> JVM compiler. I wonder if -DontCompileHugeMethods is useful with other JVM-based languages?
Wireless Roaming and its Effect on Quality
For that range it's probably using active tags, which is why they cost so much. On the other hand passive readers often cost a few thousand dollars and have tiny ranges so I think that active systems end up being cheaper in many deployments.

I'm working on an active tag system for my phd actually, and our readers only cost as much as our tags and have the same range but they still cost somewhere in the $30-$50 range depending upon how many we make at a time. In a few years we'll probably have the cost down to a dollar or so in mass production but your projects will need to wait a while.
Apple facing antitrust probe over online music dealings
Is it really that bad to work on opensource software solely because you want to?

Of course not. But there's a difference between "I work on OSS because I want to" and "I work on OSS because someone said I should". I believe patio11 is speaking about the latter, mostly.
you're right. Need to Fix. Not / Hot / Nitpick :)
In a two man company there is no CEO.
+1 for the video.

My main takeaway from it was don't assume that you and your co-founder are on the same wavelength - write down explicitly what you are agreeing on, and be concrete with figures e.g. "I'm willing to work 8 hours per day, 6 days per week", or "I'm happy to consider this successful if I make $100,000/year" etc
The future is a weirder place than I anticipated.
Don't actually do the car velcro mount. There's a reason every car owner's manual says to never do this - if the airbag deploys, the passenger will have the iPad embedded in their skull.
I'd like to see the pics too, or a link to the bookcase. I've been wanting to try this out.
I saw a doctor yesterday about my back pain and he actually recommended against a standing desk. He said they are mostly recommended for people with herniated disks, which is a more serious condition than a regular back pain.
Probe: A fictional programming language
Maybe it's time to give these guys a bailout.
How can I customize VNC for my own needs?
Sales? You mean marketing/branding and users don't you? Is this an ecommerce site or a web app?

It's very hard to advise when we don't know what your revenue model is... Is it an ad rev or freemium web app or are you selling tires online for example? If you clarify just a little the advice will be orders of magnitude better..

My gut says your cofounder is not the main problem.
"Upper body" is where you went wrong. Anatomically, we don't talk about an "upper body". There is the shoulder girdle (collar bones, scapula, manubrium), thorax (chest with ribs), the abdomen (soft, supported by the lumbar spine and flank muscles (aka fajitas, or skirt steak)), and then the pelvis. Your lumbar spine is in an entirely opposite position (flexion vs extension) when sitting vs standing because it has to accommodate the connection between your torso and your pelvis. Your torso's position may be the same, but your pelvis is clearly rotated anteriorly while sitting compared to standing. This puts different loads on the lumbar disks and the strap muscles of the spine, some of the biggest muscles in your body (in pigs these giant muscles are bread-loafed to make pork chops - that bone in the pork chop is half a lumbar vertebrate)
I've always thought the flaw in Jakob Nielsen's thinking was that he was completely focused on standards and almost ignored design.

I much prefer Donald Norman's work.

As a contrast to 'design around standard so that people understand what to do', Norman says 'make things beautiful and playful so people want to use them'.
Chess players statistics
I have yet to hear a cogent argument against legalization.
Looking for Developer Co-Founder for Big Idea
I am an experienced business guy who has one failed startup under his belt but a lot of success as a finance guy.

I have a massive idea that i want to execute. My goal is to take the idea from concept to product to customers to demo at Techcrunch Disrupt in September.

I need a developer cofounder with experience building video platforms. But most importantly one who is passionate, hungry, extremely detail oriented and focused AND in NYC.

I am at TCDisrupt now and attending Hackers/Founders tomorrow. Any other good ideas about how i find a cofounder?

I hope this submission is not inappropriate for the board pls let me know and i will delete submission.

If anyone would like to contact
me feel free to email me at rockfile4@gmail

I have an office in manhattan and could help with some $ but this is really a cofounder not straight employee.

Thx

If this is inaproppriate for board someone tell me in comments and i will take down.
I feel like the $5 price tag plus advertisements might be a result of Wired passing on the cost of Adobe's misfortune to the consumer.
In a situation like this, where it's already been mandated that the job will be done goes a long way to taking away any incentive that the contractor might have to bargain. Only when there's a real possibility that the potential buyer might say "forget it, that's too rich for me" can a real negotiation occur. But as is it, the contractor has a distinct advantage.

I thought the suggestion was that we hand a million dollars to the principal of each school and say "here, spend this on building and renovation". (Within certain limits, of course, and with some degree of oversight, to stop 'em from doing anything truly stupid.)

Pile on top of this the regulations dictating that it must be done with union labor at the prevailing wage; that ceilings must be of a given height and doorways recessed; etc. ad nauseam. This prevents the contractor from "thinking outside the box" to streamline the process with good ideas or better leverage their own skills.

afaik it would currently be totally illegal in Australia for the government to dictate that any labour had to be done by union members. The last government did a pretty good job of limiting union power and I don't think the new mob have managed to regress that far yet.
I totally agree. If the co-founder is putting in the hours, there is still hope. He just needs to get better at his job.

My first advice would be for both you and him to read "The Art of Profitability" by Adrian Slywotzky. It's essentially an encyclopedia of deals and a very good book. (Derek Sivers summarizes it here: http://sivers.org/book/ArtOfProfitability)
Republicans' new Web site not exactly what they hoped it would be
This is a good thing. If it becomes legalized, it becomes commoditized and pushes the small basement operations out because it is no longer profitable. In the end, prices are lower, crime is reduced, and the consumer and general public benefit from safer product and reduced crime.
Let me state once again that the Rails benchmarks are absolutely way off. Snap would still be faster - much faster - but you can expect several thousands req/s from that Rails app on that kind of hardware.
http://babel-programming.blogspot.com/2008/02/tiobe-index-is...
Agreed. I was living in California for the past 4 months and picked up these for $99 bucks on Amazon. Came the next day. My friend bought some expensive $300+ noise canceling Bose ones. I think placebo effect made them sound marginally better than my already awesome headphones. After about a month, i listened to his again and there was distortion or some lack of clarity in the sound. To this day, my Sony MDR-7506 Professionals have served me very very well. Crisp, true sound.
I have no experience with growing pot but it seems to be a pretty easy thing to do...

They don't call it "weed" for nothing ;)
Interesting link, but it seems (to me) to make a mathematical mistake in that it assumes the drop-off factor (a) to be greater than 1 (in that it assumes 2a >= 2), when at the top it asserts only that a > 0.
Mark Pilgrim's site http://diveintohtml5.org/ is the best resource I've found on the subject. Once you have an overview of all the new features, you might just want to read some examples and start playing with them, at least this is my approach (I'm not a big fan of programming books, can you tell?).
I'm literally in the exact situation currently. It's a bad thing to get caught in, because as the dev guy, at this point you've invested way more time and effort than he has. Take some time to think about ways to potentially switch up your business model so that you can start pitching your product instead of him. You know it better than anyone else anyways.

Really depends on the niche and target audience, but if you become very vocal about what you do, you might be able to snag a few initial customers to get things rolling so you can then have some breathing room to make the right decision.
Revealed: Our picks for the best password strategies
I was tempted to give one, but I don't think this is a good forum for discussing such a boring political issue. Please keep pro/anti drug legalization arguments elsewhere.
>> he admits he is not doing too well

In my opinion, this means he admits he cannot live up to his end of your verbal contract. He should step aside and relinquish at least enough of his stake to attract someone good enough to do it right and take over.
The people I've met who accuse scientists of "playing god" are usually doing so themselves. That is, passing judgment and condemnation. Of course, they think God is compelling them to do so, rather than that they are compelling their idea of God to do so.
'Thirst for knowledge' may be opium craving
So we have:

Translated from Flash to Objective-C by hand: OK

Translated from Flash to Objective-C by computer program: Not OK

The good news, I guess, is that Apple is apparently confirming that "originally written in Objective-C" doesn't mean "the first concrete representation of the program was in Objective-C", which means people are free to prototype an app in whatever language they want, as long as they totally rewrite it in Objective-C by hand.