skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I completely agree with this. Provided you have good hygiene and don't dress like a slob, that is.
Heading skyward to beat gridlock
or move your company to a country where software patents are not legally enforceable (eg. the rest of the world)

Also you can not be sued for using someone's patents. You can be sued if they give you notice that you are using their patents, and you then continue violating their patents.
Advanced Information Visualization using JavaScript
I have lots of experience with Postgres (including scaling somewhat from a web app perspective) and have nothing really bad to say about it. It scaled well. The key (at least for me) is to make sure indexes are in memory, which I think will be the case no matter what DB you use.
As others have mentioned here, you definitely should add a visible email address in your profile.

You are understandably hesitant about starting django from scratch. There's nothing to fear and you can pick it up.

Most importantly, outsourcing it to India isn't necessary. You want good coders who can be hired on the cheap, especially during summer time? Try undergraduate and graduate students. I don't have the faintest clue as to what your idea is, but if one person working normal hours got you to this stage in 12 months, you can definitely pay two guys 15,000 for 4 months and get something great. Picking the right people might be a challenge given that you may not be able to judge their hacking skills well. That is something you can crowdsource here perhaps (or Topcoder; has/can anyone used it for that purpose)? You can email me if you'd like to pursue the idea.
Next time, use a contract?
Lol sucks to be you hahaha.
Trust yourself and your intuition.
Yet another data point that agrees with you.

I and a couple of friends of mine did the technical work for a startup on a contract basis 2-3 years ago. We were working in our spare time, and it seemed like a fun project, and a good occasion to learn Rails.

Of course, little did we realize that they were planning to pay us with money they hadn't actually raised yet.

We did end up completing the working demo for them, but basically left after that because they weren't paying us. They had the demo they needed to keep pitching it to investors, but it took a lot longer than they had expected. A year or so later, they had apparently raised more capital, because they launched a beta from a different technical team that had apparently rewritten the site from scratch in PHP. They have since unlaunched, though the site still offers to let you know when they launch.

If you can perform technical work yourself, you have the ability to keep working on delivering the product you want to deliver without draining your cash reserves. You can take a day job, live in your parents basement, or whatever works for you that allows you to keep building your company.

If you can't perform technical work yourself, then the minute you run out of money, you lose the ability to work on your product. That gives your project a much higher risk of failure.
Exception: interfacing with 3rd-party libraries.
Customers don't know what they want, much less what they need, until they see it.
I am of the opinion that anything that gets me to think is worthwhile. Different experiences make you a more rounded person as well as give you a different perspective on things so I enjoy these not-neccessarily hackerish articles.
"After you go to the bathroom, you don't just stand there and look at what you just dropped in there for all night long. At some point you gotta flush it, man." ~ Kobe Bryant

"Whether you believe you can or you believe you can't, you're right." ~ Ron Sutton

My other favorite quotes are at: http://melvinram.tadalist.com/lists/906581/public
There is also http://www.doodle.ch/.

For a weekend, it's a nice result. :)
The business cards that I ordered are all just text, black on white, in Times. On the left in bigger print is our name and slogan, on the right is my name, title, email address, phone number and our website. I'd love to have something well designed, but if you stay minimal, you can usually avoid being overtly ugly.

Clean design is important, but impressing people with our design skills is less core for us than most news.YC readers since we're providing tools to integrate to other sites (at the data-level) rather than user-accessible components. We just need to look professional, not so much exciting.

Plus I think that having a design that makes a notable impression is possible, but to get above the run-of-the-mill nice looking cards, you're going to pay. That's fine if you're Guy Kawasaki. For us, I'm just hoping that the people that would remember me anyway remember me plus have my email address.

I couldn't tell you what any of the cards that I collected at my last outing looked like. I copied them into my address book at home, synched to my phone, connected to the folks on LinkedIn / Xing, and threw them in the recycling bin. :-)
What makes programming so difficult - and can we make it easier?
Always smell the milk before you drink it.
I got the best one word advice from a guy from BVP (Bessemer) -

Focus

meaning "focus on doing just one thing and do it really well". That was in the context of me pitching him a business plan that included offering the service, licensing the technology and selling hardware appliances. So he said - focus and develop exactly one of these things, which is what I eventually did. In a retrospective that was the best advice between all I received.
The difference between a plane and a car is that when a car breaks it becomes a gradually slowing lump, and when a plane breaks it becomes a glider. So while it's possible already to build a plane that can make entire flights on autopilot, you still need to be a pilot to deal with the aviation equivalent of pulling onto the shoulder when something goes wrong.
Totally. It's a good area to tackle, but that name definitely has to go.
Am I the only one that read that as "Farmers vs. Monads"?
you handsome ruby-hacking devil you
Japan Steadily Becoming a Land Of Few Children
Even the most beautiful paintings, the best novels, and the greatest scientific discoveries were 95% drudgery to create. The reason most people never paint beautiful paintings and write world-changing novels isn't because they aren't smart enough, but because they don't find it fun.
"Invest" in people
I sold my first site on this for $2k about 1.5 years ago. It was just the kick I needed to tell me that I could actually build stuff people wanted.
I didn't follow the advice, but the best advice I received was "Don't move to Boston."
The choice not to sell may very well have not been theirs. No VC I know would want to sell a company that's doing well for a 2.5 to 5 times return.

This has been mentioned before:
http://mattmaroon.com/?p=361
sweet post, i wanted to do that for a site i operate, who knows maybe i will put it in tonight.
I don't have great design skills, and these certainly have flaws, but I'm pleased with the way they came out:

http://rossboucher.com/downloads/cards.png

Comments welcome.
It is a great UI, but I would suggest having the site turn off my browser's autocomplete so the results are not obscured.
keep yourself physically as well as mentally active, as mental ability (as well as other things) are directly affected if you let yourself go physically.
Three.

The first is from a YC founder. I don't remember who, but he said "Always say yes." I tried that out for a while, and it has worked pretty well. A lot of where I am in my life is because I just said yes when I normally would have shrugged it off.

The second is from an essay by paul graham. "When given two choices, always choose the harder one." This one has become a mantra I say over and over again to myself. It hasn't failed me yet.

And finally, from Steve Jobs: "Listen to your intuition. It tends to know where you're going better than you do."

I think if I mix those three pieces of advice, I'll have a pretty respectable life.
Thank you for your kind words. It gives me a lot of perspective from someone who has "been there, done that";

Also, btw, it takes a lot of guts to admit that you used to too write "Catcher in the Rye" stuff that I just wrote now,
;-).
Bug report: typing a ' leads to a JS error. Yay, quotes.
When I was a wee lad, my grandmother said "Learn something new every day."
I'll respond in kind, with my favorite koan:

One day, the apprentice startup wanabe asked the master hacker, "does a dog have true hacker-nature or not?"

The master hacker replied, "woof!"
You should have added something about Rails to the subject line; would draw more attention. Nothing wrong with promoting this, and as an intermediate Rails programmer, this may be a book I can use. I'll take a look.
Yes, and I was saying that xobni should build out a platform for developers to create VALUE ADDING applications to gmail, yahoo & hotmail, like To-do lists, contact lists, crm's, etc...

Kind of like how facebook is a platform...
"Look, if you don't wanna do school... just get really good at something. If you're better than anybody else at something you will always be in demand."

- Dad
The most important thing I learned in my business classes sophomore year of college was to make the investor visualize your product no matter what you're pitching. So if you want 100k to buy a kiosk in your local mall, make a 3D rendering of what the kiosk is going to look like. And if you are pitching a new kind of bacon to a group of VCs, make damn sure your cofounder is cooking it in the back of the room and everyone there can smell it. Getting a picture into the other person's head is 90% of getting the money at the seed stage.
What does this have to do with theory?
The ‘titans’ of venture capital: Entrepreneurs, we’re here to serve you
Assuming that a twitter account is equal to a reputation seems kind of absurd to me. As stated in the subject, it is a twitter account (and not a reputation) that I am interested in finding the value of. Everything has some sort of value - even an empty can in the street. I am just curious if anyone has any idea how to value a twitter account (based on the number of followers).
I understand.

Maybe I figure we're in a slightly different forum here. I'm under the impression most folks here are the creators, not the salespeople. Some cheap business cards simply printed might be useful for the latter, and I guess in some circumstances for the former too - but what your describe seems a little like leaving a flyer under somebody's windshield wipers in the parking lot.

But if hacker or engineer or physician or writer or anyone else who actually does the hard work pulls out some fancy-dancy-designed cards and seems to be all about "mixing" rather than building, I start to wonder.
You certainly can make a lot of money by building useful non-social software. It just wont be as visible or talked about.

Precisely. The original submitter's friend is thinking one of two things, alone or in combination:

1. "If I take this useful app and add some social networking, it will help to market itself, which means it will sell more copies faster. Maybe it will even go viral and I can quit my day job!"

2. "Given the choice between building an app that is useful but obscure and being visible and talked about, I'd rather be notorious."

Point 1 is sometimes right, but often wrong. There are lots of tools that require a more traditional style of sales and marketing... and that have no use for tacked-on social networking features.

Point 2, while not exactly wrong, is a different objective than simply making money or improving people's lives.
got a pretty neat product out (which btw. included FPGA programming, hardware, mobile technology, and web technology

What was it? Sounds fun.
That I need to suffer stupid people elegantly and silently, instead of going "That's the dumbest thing I have heard"
Beautiful design is inspiring to developers as well. I've worked on stuff on my own, but working with an artist makes me work many times harder.
Programming will always be hard, but only because we're moving faster and faster. Your powerful, time-saving layer of abstraction becomes a library, tool, or platform, and you feel good for a while, but eventually productivity is measured against the new, higher baseline.
In the words of Frank from Everyone Loves Raymond, HOLY CRAP!!

Advice 1) Read Getting Real by 37 Signals at http://gettingreal.37signals.com/toc.php

Advice 2) Hire a decent lawyer, and attempt to recover the money you have paid to this "developer". There is a saying in hindi called "Lato keh bhoot bato sah nahi manti" meaning... Ghosts who need a kick in the ass don't agree with words. I think you owe your investors to pursue every route to get the money back. Talk to your investors. They might be able to help on the legal front. Yes, it will take swallowing your pride and admitting you f*ed up by bring this person into the deal but honesty will take you a long way with good people.

Advice 3) Decide on the right development plan from here to launch. I'm assuming you've got a business model that focuses on generating revenue not eye-balls. If not, quit now!

Your primary options seem to be a) develop yourself b) outsource to offshore c) outsource to students at nearby university.

From what you've mentioned so far, I wouldn't recommend developing it yourself. Learning the language is a good idea to know what a good job looks like.

Outsourcing to offshore is fine if you find a good team. A client of mine has had some serious problems with his India team. Proceed with caution. You need to be clear on deliverables and get constant "back-ups" of the code. This way you can tell if real work is being done... and have an early detection system of getting screwed.

There are university juniors who may be knowledgable enough to take your code and run with it. You may pay them or offer a equity share. Students usually have expenses even if they are low. So expect to cover them. Also, use all your resources in rewarding them. It's obvious that you are personable and have interesting friends. Help your developers get connected. So regardless of whether your startup succeeds or not, your people will have a strong future.

The fourth unlisted option is to find a quality company who has a reputation for getting shit done and paying them a fair amount to get your product live. This will take money. And this could come from money recovered from your ex-partner.

Advice 4) Start selling. Yes, start selling before you have your product. If you have a purchase order for $10k, your investors will probably match it. You'll need to get creative.

Most of us, both developers and entrepreneurs, have been screwed at one point... or will be at some point in the future so I feel your pain.

Just remember: "A diamond is just a hunk of coal made good under pressure." ~ Rod Weckworth

I wish you the best.
In the best of all worlds, this is the best of all possible comments.
More constructive criticism: write longer articles. Like Steve Yegge and PG, your writing is very engaging. I was left with a feeling of "oh, that's it? I wanted more". Intentional or not, it was a good way to sell the book.
Limited life experiences + Over-generalization = Advice

-Paul Buchheit
Wash Your Clothes: Elephants Can Smell You a Mile Away
Always say yes.

Ironically, another useful rule is "say no more often". It can help protect your sanity and your focus.

There are times when it's hard to know which of these excellent rules to apply. Perhaps the secret is to listen to your intuition. :)
One more thing, SHAME CAN BE A HUGE MOTIVATOR.

Find everyone she knows and be so loud that she cannot afford to ignore you. I don't know the exact legality involved so become friends with a good lawyer.

You have to treat this start up like your baby... and you are mama bear. If someone tries to kill your baby, you need to rise to the occasion. I almost never give this type of advice but it's appropriate and needed in your case.
Yeah, they've been acquiring things like crazy lately.
This Washington Post article is pretty thin, looks like the editors cut it down a ton before it was published ... the Wikipedia article on Japan's demographic changes is far more informative, IMHO:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Japan
I have a vivid memory of being six years old and seeing my dad come in the door of the apartment we lived in at the time.

My father came from a working class family. On that day, he had already been going to night school for three years, and would continue for another four years before getting a degree in computer science (this was before the days of easy, short degree programs for adults with jobs). He wore a shirt and tie every day to his job but still looked like the kind of guy who wore coveralls to work.

He slumped. His hair, thick glasses, and briefcase were dotted with rain. He closed the apartment door, looked at me, and said, "Never become an expert in something you don't like -- because then people will want you to do it ALL THE TIME."

He was a lot happier after he got his degree, in part because I think there were more and better choices of things to become good at. (The money was better, too).
Make sure to delay data flow by a few milliseconds to save the environment
The title sounds like a metaphor.
right. they prefer pokemon or football or something that doesn't require much thought or learning. since they are smart enough to do better, they are guilty of having immoral values. they ought to find better things fun, but instead are wasting their lives.

edit: looks like 8 people so far noticed that they are guilty and don't intend to change anything.
FBI Targets Internet Archive With Secret 'National Security Letter', Loses
Actually I've never spent a summer in Boston although I've spent 4 dreadful winters here. You could drop in on summer classes in MIT. You could go to the beach - Crane Beach is pretty good, Revere Beach can be a little white trash. Unfortunately there aren't many good places to work out in the open

Also, YC is obviously in town, so find somebody who'll get you in on a few of the dinners and you get the speeches for free. :)
Yes, they have but there are some conditions that have to be met before tehe 2.5 years apply.
How do I find startups ? Most job search engines don't classify companies as such.
Seems OK to me: as productivity rises, you don't need as many workers as you used to. Back in the day we used to rely on our kids to survive, this is why 5-7 children used to be the norm, but now it looks disgusting: we're humans, not rats.
When I was hesitant about starting a business:
"The world belongs to God, but he allows the brave to borrow it"
what can I say -- old habits die hard :)
Gerry Sussman: Robust Design through Diversity
Hm, because they don't find it fun... interesting way of putting it.
Any advice for how to learn about these markets, for the 20 somethings out there that can't immediately relate to this stuff?
Write about what you know.
I am on my fourth start up and have completed the entire collection of Murphy's Law.

As much as I hate to say it, you need to find a decent attorney to discuss the entire situation. He will file a suit against her and you will most likly get part of your $$$ back. The cost to meet and file will be probably 2K.

She must be held accountable for her actions.

PMCM
how complete is this dataset? i count 7,164 users. is that all there is?
This is more depressing than it looks like at first. His refusal to continue was foremost due to a badly designed experiment. I have a feeling if the Milgram experiment were done in a military or corporate setting in which subjects weren't aware of participating in an experiment, the results would be very different. Hell, even if you took undergraduates and "hired" them to man the shock experiments for a professor who was grading them, you'd get different results.

Too bad experimenting on people without telling them is illegal. Unless you do it on a TV show... hm...
Don't pick at it.

and

Never trust a naked bus driver.

Make of them what you will :)
I got two gems from my Grandfather. I think of both nearly every day.
1. It's a poor workman who blames his tools.
2. Hard work is never easy.
Eat a hearty meal, get a good night's sleep, and think about it in the morning.

There's a Russian saying "the morning is wiser than the time between late afternoon and night". It sounds better in Russian (3 words).
I guess instant isn't fast enough now? Wow, tough crowd of users! =)
ha... I actually am visiting Boston right now, and lived here for about three years before moving to SF.
Boston/Cambridge area is great if you are going to school, as they are tons of students around, but after school is done, it becomes boring really fast, and winters are miserable.

There are lots of smart people around in here, but you are more likeley to meet the guy with the businness idea that just needs a developer, or the guy that worked for years, and has enough capital and connections to hire a bunch of code monkeys to implement stuff, than smart hackers getting together to do something. A lot of tech jobs around here are boring, (financial companies, enterprise stuff), and if you are young, it will be a great handicap on how VCs will treat you.

Boston is just too conservative to be fun.
Marketing: So Easy A Monkey Could Do It
I like this card. It works. It just works.
http://www.ericjohnolson.com/blog/2008/05/01/iventures10-sta...

you should give it a shot, you have till the 15th of may to apply.
a perfect example of a nearly french movie, where existential feelings get worse is CQ by roman coppola
Ask YC: How should outsourcing be structured?
Some comments from drinko's dilemma got me thinking... is there any way that outsourcing can be made to work, consistently?

What about a competent lead developer who designs the application and writes the unit tests, but outsources the small implementation details and bug scourging/research to outside developers?

For those of you who have had good experiences outsourcing, was there any such pattern?
This is good news. The twitterstream is so noisy without the spam that having spam could just kill the whole thing off.
this above all: to thine own self be true...

- polonius, hamlet

edit: maybe this is what underlies the xobni phenomenon that we are watching unfold ?
TinEye goes into limited Beta.  These guys are good.
I saw a demo of the product at a U of T job fair and these guys were good.
Why Ocaml sucks
always tell the truth
Quality of developers varies a lot when you outsource. Hire many for small tasks, and keep the best ones.

The lead developer needs to be on the founding team, needs to vet all the outsourced developers, and needs to design the app at a big picture level.
In my experience, this is more of a social issue not tied to economics. Consider certain subcultures (religious Jews in the US, for example), where having lots of kids the social norm, without any obvious economic reason.

Personally, most of my childhood I was a single child (and not too social), and I think having a big family would have been a lot more fun.
I wonder if it's because our generation rarely pays for software (since we've grown up in a culture with Napster, Gnutella, and BitTorrent). We expect to get every type of software for free. So the thought of developing software you charge for is foreign to us, even though that's where the majority of revenue in the industry comes from.
Steve Jobs gave a great commencement speech at Stanford a few years ago. The best bits were:

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it."
this article sure spends a lot of words discussing physical appearance, clothing, food, and weather. i wish i lived in a world where people focussed on more interesting things.