skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
A bigger worry is the improbability of having another ship arrive to pick you up within 30 seconds.
Yeah. Um, a beer pong company owned and operated by a man forbidden by law in 48 or so states to obtain or possess or consume beer. Ahem.
Google's issue with h.264 is that they are not part of MPEG LA. They don't have a say on licensing fees or terms and as result it becomes theoretically possible for the companies part of MPEG LA (amongst which are Apple and Microsoft, direct competitors to Google) to fuck'em over. That happening is extremely unlikely, if not outright impossible, but google could be playing it extra safe.

How will this pan out I have no idea, but the closest thing to a resolution that I see is Google will try to make MPEG adopt VP8 or the whole WebM in some way and join MPEG LA.

Of course they could be hoping to fight the patent allegations and not lose, but I doubt that Google have become so carelessly cocky.
If you work as a consultant in the US in tech, juniors tend to make 50 to 75$. If your anywhere good/experienced/wanted, 125$/150$/hour.
It has certainly done that in at least one building in Boston I worked in.
I have a small golf handicap tracker (http://www.forescoregolfstats.com) with a limited free account and then a one-time paid upgrade that lifts those limitations.

As of right now, my free signups are converting to paid at 11.65% and that's about 1% below the average over the last year or so.

Caveat: My sample size here is very small. I've don't next to zero advertising for this site. Still, with the number of free alternatives that have sprung up since I built this thing, I think that percentage is pretty good.
Columbia University's Lang Fund Selects Four Companies for Funding
Fourteen years ago, Eugene Lang '40 endowed a Fund at Columbia Business School intended to help foster student entrepreneurship at his alma mater. Today the Lang Fund is part of a robust year-long process at the business school's Lang Entrepreneurship Center that culminates in the most promising ventures receiving seed funding. Our most recent venture-backed high-flier is Recycle Bank, which is backed by RRE, Kleiner, Sigma Partners, Coca-Cola, and others:
I'm not feeling the love here, Plink.

There is a principal-agent problem that I just described with Ed. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1367176

I am sure you are a very funny person and have lots of interesting friends that send you good jokes. Hopefully I'm not on your idiot list.

There was no commentary intended towards HN'ers except we have a tendency sometimes to be overly-analytical when lightening up a bit might be better. That's not "you guys" that's "us guys" The question was a variation on "to what degree is that useful on HN?"

So apologies if I offended anybody. I interpret Spock-like as the well-meaning and useful application of the maximum amount of brainpower and logical thinking possible to solve problems. Which is the amazing part of this community. All good things, however, have not-so-good aspects about them.
Honestly, I think the vast majority of facebook's privacy guffaws have been due to incompetence and not malice. My concern, however, is that we get in the habit of excusing these failures because of this incompetence.

Software can be made (more) secure and can be tested (better). The point then is when does it make financial sense for facebook to put the money and man power into tackling these issues on the front end... If users / consumers don't take note of the problems and move to another (currently nonexistent) platform facebook will never have a motivating reason to change.

Perhaps, users have done this to themselves by demanding low cost (free) software with fast release schedules for new features.
Sadly no, because decoding is offloaded to dedicated hardware.

Heck, WD TV (v1) still does not support DTS, although hardware is able to decode it.
but at times HN feels unbearably stuffy, self-important and, well, humourless.

Thank you
So far, my impression was that the problem with building a Flash implementation isn't so much the language runtime as everything else - rendering, video, audio, input, etc. Isn't Tamarin [1] enough to run ActionScript 3?

FWIW, I realise that this has an advanced implementation of some graphical features and I'm not trying to belittle it, it seems an impressive effort. I'm just curious what's currently holding back a full implementation.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamarin_(JavaScript_engine)
Also on an iPhone 3G. Text is small, but the animation smooth and not slower than on my Macbook.
Can you elaborate? I use dropbox as a quick and instant document backup. It works great.
Another way of saying same. If employees are in your future, focus on revenue per employee (RPE).

Napkin math: sub-$100k RPE and your wee company is nominally profitable after salaries, fixed & variable costs. Greater than $100k per employee, profits scale nicely.

While nice to talk about the Goog's RPE ($1 mil '08), I prefer to "fish" for company ideas a little closer to Earth. For inspiration, Inc 5000 companies with 50 or fewer employees, sorted by revenue:

http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2009/search_results.html?showrank...
Well, that's why you should release early and pivot - to learn and explore.

I just don't want them to get frozen by the First Mover Paranoia:
http://blog.opportunitycloud.com/2009/12/21/stealth-disease-...
If you read the license for VP8, it specifies that you get a royalty-free patent license for anything Google owns or has the right to license to you free of charge for any of the technologies that VP8 uses. However, that license is instantly revoked if you take any action against a VP8 user. I'm guessing that On2 might have a patent library to potentially defend against MPEG-LA. I'm guessing that Google had highly qualified patent attorneys go over VP8 before buying On2 (and Google's Mike Jazayeri says, "We have done a pretty thorough analysis of VP8 and On2 Technologies prior to the acquisition").

VP8 is a huge threat to H.264. Microsoft, Google, Mozilla, and Opera have instantly committed to it for HTML5 video. If MPEG-LA fails against it, Apple will likely come on board as well since it's an open technology (vs. Flash which is closed) and the fact that chip makers look like they'll implement it (Broadcomm has already committed for its mobile chips). So, MPEG-LA is clearly going to fight against it. Theora was more of a curiosity (no offense intended)* - an older video codec (based on VP3, IIRC) that didn't have the support of major companies or chipset makers. VP8 is being pushed hard by heavyweights.

Google is not indemnifying users of VP8, but they're going to defend it. I'm sure Google has a decent patent library that they'd be more than happy to use to strike against not just MPEG-LA, but also its constituent members. It's important to remember that a corporation is made up of shareholders. If Google has a patent that many shareholders infringe on, they can strike at those shareholders to get them to pressure MPEG-LA not to go after VP8. Shareholders ultimately control companies including MPEG-LA. I'm sure Google could make life more difficult for those shareholders.

*The Theora developers have done an awesome job, but they're working from a base specification that's, well, old.
Foreign IT pros in USA get paid more than Americans
Neat. Anyone know if there's a good way to do elliptical orbits using CSS3?
How would HN women feel about 'nerd jokes on cute girls'?
I've been surprised just how long "amateur" server rooms survive cooling failure. Mostly becuase the densities tend to be lower, but also becuse you just get lucky with the way they're built. At our current office we had a server room total cooling failure (due to copper piping stolen off the back of the building...) and although it got very hot (and very loud) in there, we didn't get any machine failures or thermal shutdowns. But you could feel the heat radiating out of the walls the rooms around and above the server room were noticably hotter. If we'd been an older building or the server room had been built for physical security, the thicker walls would have trapped the heat and it would be a different story.
You make two very good points. I basically agree with everything you say above. I just have to point out that my comment wasn't intended to be an example of "street smarts" itself, but rather challenge that the grandparent post was so.
Great advice. This is why it's VERY IMPORTANT to actually call references if you're considering hiring someone (or co-founding with someone, I suppose.)

<sidetracking into hiring lessons-learned...>

If you're nervous about calling, just remember that IF the person is great, their references will be falling all over themselves to tell you so. They'll be happy to talk to you. (In small companies, big companies may be HR stonewalling...) You're not bothering them, you're giving them an opportunity to tell you about this GREAT person and why you'd be insane not to hire them.

The clues are often found in the pauses, and what's unsaid. People don't like saying bad things about other people, so don't listen for that so much as cautious answers...

Eg.

"Would you hire them again?"

a) pause Uh, yeah, I'm sure we would.

versus

b) In a heartbeat. We would absolutely hire them again. I'm hoping we can someday when our department gets more funding.

Lastly, a trick when you don't reach someone on a reference call. Say who you are, and ask that they call you back if the person was incredible

That way they can send you a message without saying anything bad directly (and this happens...)

</random hiring lessons-learned>
Ask HN: The fraudulent login detection system for the SaaS providers.
Every SaaS provider has one major problem – security concerns of its userbase.

People are worried about their data, transmission and that anyone can “guess” their password and log in to their accounts.

What I’m describing here is a product idea – we will write it for our selves but I think it can be sold separately as a byproduct of our main web app.

How would it work?
1.	Simple JS insert on the login page will be tracking who is login from where, what kind of browser, operating system etc. details (JS will not send or track user password! We should have some kind of "ok" from the web app" that user login was successful)

2.	We will track patterns of app usage (is it working day? What time is it?)

3.	If our system will find potential fraud (correct login and pass but strange usage pattern) – we will send an email with the special code to the owner of the account. User will get a popup message “Please let us know it’s really you. Check your email account!” and a text input field to provide the code.

4.	System can provide badge or something so users feel safer login to web apps protected with this fraud detection system.

What do you guys think? Do I see any beta testers already?
I'm not sure I would call it smooth in Chrome on Windows 7, and this is on a gaming PC (more or less). The process was also using 25% CPU, which I believe Process Explorer would report as one full core.
Your "principal-agent problem" seems to reduce to (emphasis mine)

"But once it became a place to hang out, my goals and the site's goals diverged."

The P_A problem is a little different.

[wikipedia] "In political science and economics, the principal–agent problem or agency dilemma treats the difficulties that arise under conditions of incomplete and asymmetric information when a principal hires an agent, such as the problem that the two may not have the same interests, while the principal is, presumably, hiring the agent to pursue the interests of the former."

The key word is "hire" or "employ".

If you enjoy a site (or a book or a movie) at certain age say, and your outlook changes for whatever reason, that isn't really a "Principal Agent problem". Your tastes changed. That's all. Happens to all of us.

So anyway, after your post got deleted, you asked HN if it was ok to post "cute nerds girls with T shirts with jokes printed thereon" and you specifically asked "what do you guys think?". Now you are getting an answer from various people including me.

I (and I don't speak for anyone else) don't expect HN to change continuously to meet my changing expectations. If my tastes change so I value a life full of mystery and danger should HN follow suit and become more mysterious and dangerous? What about the other HN user whose tastes changed to valuing a life of extreme clarity and certainty?

HN has a focus which is of value to me today. If it changes to some kind of lame humour, look-at-pretty-women site I will leave (and others will no doubt continue or join). If I suffer some brain damage/undergo a radical personality change etc and decide to give up on hacking startups and focus on butterfly collecting, say, I would not spend time on HN. Sure I can ask it to change I guess.

Fwiw, I am not insulted by "Spock like". I was just amused with your interpolating it with someone setting a filter for lame jokes and calling it "irony".
The bug button pops up the usual form for the user to fill out - describe the bug, etc. It's just that more extensive state can be silently added to help recreate the bug, or at least provide the context that is often missing.
I think an extension of this is: how do we convert free to paid...?

My thoughts were for my own SaaS application was to:
- offer free account to "get a listing"
- upgrading to a paid account gives ridiculous service/benefit
- a commission is paid to the person two converts that free to paid member

I haven't launched yet, but looking at a 33% conversion ratio of free to paid.

But this seems pretty basic and lame. Anyone else have suggestions?
Serious question: If it's stagnating, what needs improving?
http://tastespotting.com/
Ask HN: product idea
Thoughts on this product idea? I got it when cleaning out my email inbox this morning (on Gmail).

10% of my emails are from friends (good), 30% from work (ok), and the rest are messages from companies (Amazon) and social networks (Facebook). Mailing lists get filtered out of my inbox into labels.

If we could do something with those message type emails, wouldn't that be nice?

Then again, perhaps filters are ok for this?

Also, does it make sense (at all) to build a product on top of Gmail? Because they can build any really valuable service themselves, later, and push you out of the market. (Same with Twitter, ...)
They don't have to indemnify VP8 adopters. VP8 is only patent-free if you agree not to do what MPEG is doing. And while it may be true that MPEG holds some patents that apply to VP8, Google clearly holds some patents that apply to H.264 (because this is a huge mess.)

So they can sue, but it will be an ugly battle, and unlikely to finish before the H.264 patents expire. It's really not a good idea.
Creation of genes in lab raises hopes, concerns
I don't really understand why people consider this "nonsense"? I agree with you that suppliments don't come close to doing what a natrually balanced diet would do for me, but why do people who aren't picky eaters think this is something that can just be "snapped out of"?

Few people I know like or would willingly consume anything put in front of them. Surely there is something out there you wouldn't eat, don't like, etc. Why is it so hard to imagine that there are people out there (like me) who don't just have this adversion to eating a few things, but rather quite a few?

I'll finish by saying that in the interest of health, I most certainly should be forcing myself to eat things I don't particularly care for or even find downright disgusting. However, to assume that the reason I don't eat such things is nonsense isn't a fair assesment in my opinion.
> Imagine what you could do if you could harness the power of that narrative in the other direction.

Facebook got to where it was by riding the media narrative up (from the start Zuck pulled strings to get positive coverage in the Crimson and from then on it was off to the races). They made Facebook and now will destroy Facebook. Fun to watch from the sidelines at least.
The processor fan started up on my Macbook Pro 17" just like it does when I use Flash for more than 5 seconds. How ironical. :)
Google TV's developer page notes the importance of the user being able to navigate with only five buttons (up, down, left, right and enter) here http://www.google.com/tv/developer/#navigation-is-critical.

So this post seems a bit uninformed to me. I think google knows what they're doing.
If you are younger than 40 and in good health you should focus on a varied diet full of fresh fruits and vegetables rather than supplements. They will provide the vitamins and minerals you need while also providing lots of anti-oxidants and micro-nutrients which help fight cancer, and help to make better use of the standard vitamins. If you search around you will find numerous reports of daily use of supplements causing higher instances of cancer. It probably couldn't hurt to take a multi-vitamin sporadically just to make sure you get everything, but the focus should be on your diet and exercise. In terms of omegas, start throwing flax-see oil or ground seeds on your cereal in the morning. It's the best (and possibly only) non-animal source for the stuff, and it also provides you with a lot of fiber.
Thanks for the answer. We have no disagreement. You are not sharing me with anything that I do not already know. I do not expect HN to change to meet my expectations, I understand the value of focus, and I appreciate the feedback. It's all good.

As far as the Spock thing, happy to amuse you, if you are truly amused. For some reason, your comments sounded angry. It sounded like you were more interested in talking about what my goals or reasons were than in the question about humor, technology, and social sites in general. I don't mind explaining -- in fact I'm happy to especially if you thought I was slamming the readers here, which I most definitely wasn't doing. But I didn't get a counter-thesis, suggestions, or much of anything useful in our chat. Perhaps I missed something. I'm glad HN is topical and self-policing. I hope it stays that way. Long-term use may have unintentional side-effects. What's your opinion on that and suggestions for other readers? (repeating the topic)
This article "debunks" Google TV for no other reason that it isn't the cool way dynamic web based TV should be as the author imagines it.

Title is sensational at best.
"How many hours per week do I need to work to sustain my lifestyle?"

I was reading a biography of William Godwin who made this calculation in the 18th century:

"In 'a state of equal property,' the amount of labor required to produce necessities, being shared among the community, would be so slight that few men would shrink from it. Godwin anticipates Kropotkin and other later political thinkers in an elaborate discussion of the quantity of labor necessary each day if the production of luxuries were suspended. He estimates it at half an hour per day."

page 92. http://books.google.com/books?id=8GMqJEznW8gC&pg=PR10...
> You should try being a foreigner ... I've had my fingerprints taken 5 times now entering the US.

They also fingerprint green card holders, i.e. legal residents.

Nothing makes you feel welcome back home like having to justify your reasons for daring have gone outside the U.S. to an asshole with the power to refuse your entry at whim.
checkout zimride.com for the carpooling idea
I think it's even simpler than that. MPEG-LA is basically a cartel. Google has consistently demonstrated that it considers monopolies and cartels that slow down the technological development of the web or create technological bottlenecks for web developers to be its 'problem'.
I agree with the post in that in the long history of the "TV-Internet convergence" starting with MS's WebTV in the 80s most people viewed the TV as a tool to browse the web. That's why they failed because, as most people know, the TV watching and Web browsing experiences are quite different.

Then, there's the problem of the input device. Ever enter a movie name for search using the TiVo remote, AFAIK the best currently available? It's a pain. Now, one thing Google TV gets absolutely right is that your phone will be your secondary interaction device for your TV.

The real interesting question here is: will applications on the Google TV set-top-box be able to access the tuner and EPG functions. TiVo has a nice SDK for their boxes for years now, the reason you never heard of it because they don't allow apps to access these features out of fear from content providers. If you can write Android apps running on the STB that can access the video stream, now that would be super, but I don't expect to see this anytime soon.
The Dilbert submissions that make it to the front page are not the comic strip. They are posts from the author's blog.
Fifobooks, Smashwords & Lulu Authors Publish eBooks On Kindle & iPads In Minutes
i think you can change the border radius to get different shape out of your element box(top-left, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-right corners).

http://www.css3.info/preview/rounded-border/
The hit and miss analysis seems a bit off. Gates talks quite a bit about what people will be _able_ to do rather what they _will_ do. Most of the things he said are possible and highly available now.
Really there's no way around this without a fight and without spending some serious money.

Google (in particular YouTube) has 2 options.

1. Pay to license h.264 (or some other proprietary codec)
2. Release alternative and competing codec and do battle in the court room.

Both options were going to require spending money so they're going with route 2 which is likely the better long term option. There's also a good chance they can get some other heavyweights to back them in support.
Entrepreneurship may be in the genes
I don't see any links to the original publication, but this commentary from the article is interesting:

Frankly, he's describing it in a way that's drumming up controversy more than characterising it accurately. His claim that we've got the first self-replicating life form whose parent is a computer, that's just silly.

It misuses the word "parent". The advance here needs to be described in sane and accurate ways. What he's managed to do is synthesise a genome much larger than any genome that's been synthesised from scratch before.
Notice the "discussion" devolved into nonsense almost immediately. Reddit....
As a rule of thumb, by just repeatedly eating the food you don't like, you will get used to it and learn to like it. This is all it takes - just eat spinach 10 times, and you'll learn to like spinach. It's likely you'll prefer it prepared this way rather than that way, but your tastes will change.

I like to make it easier on myself by putting lots of pepper or chilli sauce on the food, until I am used to the taste.

By the way, this is how culinary schools work (at least here in Belgium). The kids arrive when they're 14 and need to learn to appreciate all kinds of food, so the rule is that they need to finish their plate, no exceptions.
"will applications on the Google TV set-top-box be able to access the tuner and EPG function"

Only of the TV and this would only work with "Over the air" tv. In the US most of us receive our TV and guide via our cable or satellite box and tune via that mechanism.
Google TV and competing products have no easy way of accessing that data (the guide data and tuning).

There's some hacky ways of doing it but nothing really integrated.
90-95% profit margin isn't exactly realistic. Not that people and some companies don't hit that mark but it is rare. A much more realistic range is probably 30-35% if you are in the tech world and much lower if you are in the world of physical products.