skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I am so sick of flash haters. Flash, like anything else can be used to create a horrible site. But it can create some kick-ass sites as well.

I disagree with half of the column.

I use swfadress and index not only my pages in google but my assets. also each can have a seperate url for bookmarking.

You can copy and past any text on a flash site, if the designer wants you to. its as simple as pressing a button when designing the site.

If you want to hate flash for a few badly designed sites, answer these questions:

How many times have you had to hack css or html to work cross browser?

Bad design ---> sparkles following your mouse!!!

i can pick on anything that i disagree with, but flash is popular because it works, is eye catching and small.

Flash's main problem is being easy enough for a novice to pick up and create a garbage site.
Because of all the mentions between the (2) parties
http://www.google.com/search?q=techcrunch+site%3Anews.ycombi...

specifically this post

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=145316

and

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=146604
How are his other projects doing? If I were going to get involved, I'd want to look at his track record of commitment, or lack thereof.
Who doesn't?

Seriously, flash is only good for two things:

- Embedding movies and animations

- Delivering Internet games

Both of these things can usually be done without flash. Doing anything else with flash does positive harm to the usability of the site. If all your site does is provide information, don't use flash. I shouldn't have to have some proprietary, third-party plugin to read text or view simple images. In the long run, it will be you who loses out.
Yea... think of anybody trying to create a new web-enabled hardware. In addition of getting a browser working right, they would be at Adobe's mercy for providing a flash plug in for it. Now imagine if Silverlight becomes hot together with JavaFX. How many private corporate interests will you have to deal with to support your platform then? Because you'll need A LOT of runtime support to be a useful web surfing tool. Yet another obstacle towards truly mobile web.

Flash, Silverlight, and other proprietary "extenders" all need to be replaced with extended standard CSS/JS/XML solution, supported by all browsers out of the box.
I've complained about it before. Not only is it not on the front page, for a long time it just did not exist.
It seems like news.yc really influences the conversation on tech blogs. I see a lot of blog posts on techmeme that seem to be in response to "Ask YC" submissions. Has any one else been noticing this?
Posting Exploits before they are Fixed
Yahoo folks will love this fantasy.
I think that you are hinting at an amazingly large opportunity here.

In contrast to the B2C market for web 2.0 apps where consumers expect everything to be free, once you break into the corporate markets there are customers willing to pay big bucks for your product.

The primary problem is selling into this market. There are a lot of technicalities and the customers don't decide to buy after your first meeting. It requires a prolonged effort. If you get a programmer and a savvy salesman with experience in selling to large companies together I think there might be gold at the end of the rainbow though.
Actually, my initial reaction was that even in Canada we aren't that dumb. (About business, I mean.)
Also modified the title appropriately
"Would get TC to blog about it"

Good luck with that.
This is great. Lack of a good interface for immersive worlds is one of their biggest problems IMO.
This headline is a bit misleading. It can't execute Python code on the GPU; it's just a faster version of NumPy that uses the GPU for some tasks.
>>Flash's main problem is being easy enough for a novice to pick up and create a garbage site.

So is plain HTML, but if someone creates a crappy site in HTML, at least I don't need a proprietary codec to view it. It works in any browser, will deliver everything an informative site needs to, and won't take 5 minutes for it to load.

Flash violates the K.I.S.S. design principle by being unnecessary in 90% of use-cases.
Ask YC:  Could you provide a specific account of how you personally come up with novel ideas?
So how do you do it? How do you put your brain in a state of mind that is conducive to creative thinking?

Even if you can't say much about it in general, maybe you could say something about the specific circumstances under which you came up with novel ideas?

I am especially interested to know if you can will yourself to be creative by devoting hours/days entirely for this purpose. And if so, what sort of stimuli are helpful in this regard.

Also, can you be creative alone or do you need to brainstorm with others?
More like a bad and/or careless programmer...
I am not suggesting that they only use one line of attack. My point that even if the EULA is not valid and the right of first sale let's the company install OS X on custom systems Apple can still bring up other forms of "Harm" to stop them.

As to the ram issue they could say the type of user who would upgrade RAM would link a string of crashes to the RAM they added vs. assuming OS X is just as crappy as Vista. However, a new user given a system with bad ram is more likely to blame the OS than the hardware. So even if it's ok for them to build systems for internal use they can't sell systems to the public and say it's running OS X. (And even if it's identical HW the apple support network is better able to handle issues which would otherwise harm the OS X brand etc etc)
I agree. A few years ago our consulting group developed a web service that manages and explains all the environmental laws and regulations in canada to companies. However, it has been a pain selling it directly to companies. The sales cycle is so long that it ends up running up expenses and forcing us to price it out of the reach of Small and Medium sized businesses who need it most.

Our plan is to go web 2.0 with this product, adding comments, article rating and building a community around the job of environmental management. I would love to see examples of this in other industries.
More like platforms that pride themselves on always leaving security entirely up to the programmer...
Modular Innovation 101
That's cool . . . wasn't trying to be a jerk, just genuinely curious.
Actually, the way I found this is by typing "Aaron Staunton" into Google. I was wondering if his "idea" ever came into fruition.
37signals are in Chicago (and until around 1½ year ago one of them was in Denmark), and Skype was done in Estonia. There are many other stories of successful companies that aren't in the major hubs. So I would say that it is definitely possible. Especially now where almost all business can be taken care of over the web. A designer I know even moved to Thailand, and did his work from the beach without skipping a beat - without his customers knowing about it.
Tumblr posted a notice. 27 accounts were accessed, 1 was modified (guess who... Julia Allison)

http://blog.davidville.com/2008/04/15/security-notice/
who's to say whats unnecessary?

There are many valid reasons to use flash. Flash has proven itself the best tool in creating animation of many sorts for lightweight delivery over the web.

You dont HAVE to use flash for anything. But there are MANY cases where it is the best option.
The Handy Uses of a Home Computer (Jan, 1970 Life magazine article)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A/B_testing
The Secret Lives of Elevators
With titles so amazing!
Here's the video footage: http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/2008/04/21/080421_elev...

Pretty amazing, that this can happen.
You make a great point. I hadn't even considered B to C since that's really not where I operate.
"Tip for acquirers: when a startup turns you down, consider raising your offer, because there's a good chance the outrageous price they want will later seem a bargain."

A "good chance." You're kidding, right?
Revenue models that are dead: Advertising & Subscription
GHost: Flash-Based Operating System
I've asked this before, but it bears repeating:

Have there been many wildly successful tech startups that were based on the premise "save money", to the point that they located themselves some place incredibly cheap (but far outside of tech industry circles)?

I'm not saying it isn't a valid business plan, as I don't know, but I can point to an awful lot of Silicon Valley startups that have been wildly successful, and no wildly successful tech startups from Idaho. It's really cheap to live in Idaho, so you've got a REALLY long runway. Why aren't there success stories? (Expand it to the whole midwest, and the story isn't remarkably better.)

Then again, Kevin Hale from Wufoo told me a great story about a technique he uses in one of his presentations (which are awesome)...he passes around printouts about the top 20 or so fastest growing companies according to Inc. Magazine, and asks questions about them, asking folks to raise their hand if the answer is "yes". One of the questions is "Is the company you're looking at based in California or Boston or New York?" and only one or two hands go up (Wufoo is based in Florida, and thus they take great satisfaction in talking about successful companies outside of the tech startup hubs). But, Inc. Magazine covers stuff that isn't tech.
although i have to say, I would prefer a standardized codec similar to flash. Aside from big corporation, I think flash is an awesome product, although inappropriate in some places. I don't think its bad across the board though. I can use an swf vector image thats 350b as opposed to a png of the same size thats 15K. Even with the Flash VM loading it is quite efficient if one is a good designer.
I just loved this article. Its so rare to see such leaders in this industry. I have worked for so many startups and so far, i have rarely seen such leaders. Wish to see someone in future who can help me acheive my vision
There are some notable startups, but no real Startup Culture to speak of.

There are some ++s:

- Cost of living is relatively low
- Modern luxuries, infrastructure, mobility, etc. afforded by a large metropolitan area.
- Central location, with major airports (AA and Southwest are based in the DFW area)
- Strong technical economy (TI, Lockheed Martin, telecom)
- UT Dallas, UT Arlington, SMU
- Mark Cuban?

In my personal experience, I work for a startup in Dallas and we are doing quite well (profitable, growing). We're also hiring for full-time, permanent developers.
The "another tip" part where you articulate how companies should let startups be run by founders is actually where the difficult part is. I am not sure Google would be "Google" if it was absorbed into a large company - it would be a search feature.

On that, I recall VCs telling me often when I shared an idea: "This is not a company, this is a feature". I think Search is a feature. Isn't it? So is RSS, Widgets, Contact Management (LinkedIn), etc.
Simple: UX in business apps takes a back seat to the business requirements-- The dollars get spent on making sure the thing actually works the way the business wants it to.

Also, the UX folks don't really get a say in what business software does, versus a strong product manager in a startup being able to say "you don't actually need X".
How do you compete with the giant, unwieldy distributed Java application that's been in development for ten years? Though it's expensive and terrible to maintain and nonintuitive, how do you catch up to it's feature list?
Yeah. So has Michael Arrington, which is why he calls news.yc "small but influential."
awareness and skillset.

many don't have the awareness of the market nor the skillset to attack it.
From the Facebook Blog
I'm one of those guys that get a novel idea every minute of the day. I hold a few patents as well. To me ideas are cheap, but that's probably because I find it easy to come up with them. Here's how I do it:

Whenever I see something that doesn't quite work I can't help thinking about why it doesn't work better and how to resolve the problem. This includes how to shorten the lines without using extra personnel in my local supermarket, how YC news recommendation system could be made to work better, and how to do 3D displays. Anything really...

The keys to getting the good ideas are:

1) have lots of them - my ideas are no better that anyone elses, I just have a lot. Statistically a good one will pop up every now and then.

2) When you encounter a problem think through all the possible ways of resolving it. Don't mind if some of them are outrageous, just be sure to discard them when you have checked that they don't work. A friend and mine and I once actually thought that according to the laws of physics a certain combination of magnets and superconductors should make a perpetual motion machine. We set up an experiment, and of course it didn't work. We tried it and discarded it, and we weren't afraid of trying something crazy.

3) Know about different disciplines, and have broad knowledge. Innovation often comes from crossbreeding different disciplines. If you put a physicist and a web designer in a room you will get more innovation than if you put two physicists in a room.

Just my two cents, hope it's useful.
We're based in Geneva, Switzerland and Sweden. We even have our own developers (not outsourced) in Bangladesh. Its easy to be distributed, and we've had no problems being in Europe. Geneva is not huge, but I try and get out and meet local entrepreneurs, participate in Open Coffees, talk to some local VCs etc. You can be anywhere if you have a great product and people want it.
Doesn't seem that eccentric except the first bullet point:

"Spread risk through multiple projects and multiple partners".
What happens when one starts to take off? You'll either leave opportunity on the table or you'll ditch your other ones (screwing all of your other "partners").

Not to mention the fact that getting a startup to ANY traction is hard enough when you're monomaniacal about it. You think you're that much more effective than other founders that you can pull it off part-time?
Gotta love that first line: "Chances are, you use parts of the Internet that aren't Facebook"
This is the dumbest comment I've ever read on here.
all the press must be a boon for both YC and its founders/start-ups
ASK YC: Dilemma - A few VCs interested, but we dont need funding. What do we do?
We're a super early stage startup. I've been talking to a VC connection of mine for a while, exchanging ideas, helping plan next steps etc. Recently, a few notable VCs have gotten in touch wanting to meet up. How do I approach this? We don't need any funding, but don't want to lose their interest. Do I tell them flat out we don't require funding? I would love to keep in touch and get advice and work their connections though...
you ignore it. you target small and medium size companies who have no need for clunky java app. Work with them, play to your strengths (fast response time, quick customer service), and earn money to build features and kick clunky software in its ass.
"how do you catch up to it's feature list?"

You don't. You redefine the problem. It's fire and motion from the big corporations side. See Joel's classic post here: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000339.html

When you look throught the clutter it is obvious that the large companies don't really need all those shiny features - they need better software. And what they have now sucks.

Take a totally different perspective, start attacking IBM for being too expensive, attack Lotus notes for their horrible user interface that takes employees years to learn. Write about how crazy it is to have an email client that is XML compliant. Set your own agenda. People will notice.
Grooveshark Launches Awesome Streaming Music Service
As any VC will tell you, don't raise money if you don't need it.
In Canada right now I'd have to say the hottest area is Montreal, with Vancouver and Toronto on a second tier. There's more momentum and innovation going on in Montreal, and some interesting early-stage funds have opened up there.

Toronto has an internet community, but not really a startup community. And Vancouver has a bunch of highlights (Flickr comes to mind), but is really stagnating right now IMO (I live there currently). In Canada, the money and attention disproportionately follows the local tech celebrities, and it's hard to get either if you're starting out on your own. And if it's hard to get investment, it's hard to get your ideas off the ground.

The question of whether to relocate is one that I've thought about quite a bit recently. I think to get a foot in the door, you have to meet the right people first. And it's really hard to meet those people when you're not in a tech-hub. Once you're a success, you can extrapolate that success in your hometown or where-ever with more certainty.

Canadian VCs fawn over local people who have a well-known name in the Valley. I know that for a fact - more than a few startups in town are created by people who are purely riding notoriety from Web 1.0. If you don't have the notoriety, they'll always be suspicious of you.
Facebook Lexicon Launches - Google Trends for Facebook
Next Phase in High Tech Individualism
Zoho rejected Salesforce acquisition offer.

With 600 employees in India and only 8 in Silicon Valley, making $1 million profit/ month, seems reasonable to say they could be "another Google."
That reminds me of Arthur C. Clarke's 1953 science fiction short story "The Nine Billion Names of God".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nine_Billion_Names_of_God
I'd say it's very hard to make a good product if it doesn't solve a problem you are personally facing.

For example, we wanted to do a usability test, but it's quite a hassle to find enough people to do it. I thought how more and more laptops had integrated cameras. So I came up with the idea of a service that lets me pay $5 to random people on the Internet in exchange of recording their screens + their faces and voice while they use our site. It shouldn't be too hard to use the camera to do eyetracking, either.

If I wasn't building a public-facing website and had not done in-person usability tests, I wouldn't have thought of this.
Buddy Beacon available for the iPhone
Absolutely agree. Thats the dilemma - I want to be completely upfront. We dont need and dont want money. What we would love is guidance, advice, networking etc. But I imagine VCs aren't really in that game (btw, just read your essay!)
The Googlization of Everything
Connecting Ruby to Erlang (via Java)
WiPeer’s Peersonalizer Lets You Find Facebook Friends Offline
I dont' think that ideas are manufactured. They sort of "pop out" when the right kinds of pressure are applied from the right directions. You seem to be searching for some sort of methodology for generating good ideas. I personally think procedure is detrimental to creativity. Procedure begets sameness. What you need to have new ideas are novel sensations.

And stop trying so hard. Clear your head. Take a different route home. Go sit on a park bench for a couple of hours and try not to think about computers. Go out with a new circle of people and take an interest in them. Tune to a radio or TV station that you would normally skip over.

When you get the seed of a new idea, it will usually be something nebulous. Don't write down. Hold it in your head and let it churn around for a while until you have something more concrete. Then talk to other people about it.
Thanks.

While I've been monitoring hackernews since it was profiled on TC, I still haven't quite figured out all the rules of how it works.

Am I breaking protocol by alerting of the occasional blog post at MyStealthStartup.com? I've done that once before, over a week ago, thinking some of the audience here would find it useful. Thanks.
I think it's all about understanding a) what creates human pain, b) how much pain it creates, and c) how difficult it is to ease that pain.

A lot of people have problems understanding what humans would actually find useful. If they've identified the pain-point, they don't spend enough time investigating how deep the pain goes. The last point is a reflection of either being a hacker or being comfortable with understanding how technology gets built -- if you don't know how to solve the pain or how difficult solving the pain is, you're in big trouble.

I think very few people have the ability to do all three consistently.

Generally, I don't think it's something you're born with, but if you are an 'ideas' person, you can refine your personal heuristics to identify good ideas better over time.
Does this guy still cook in SF? Would love to eat his food with an HN group
I do not see anything particularly cheap in what they are selling. I have three PCs assembled from "cheap" components that run fine for over 8 years.

I haven't seen recent Apple products, but the original iMac
was a piece of overpriced cheap junk. In addition to the bad hardware it had a horrible OS (8.5) that constantly froze (even Win 98 was far more stable).

Why am I telling this? Because also in those days there were legions of Mac users who would tell you about the mythical superiority of Apple products.

I do not know about US law, but I'm pretty sure that in Europe Apple would not have a chance in court with this.
Interesting, this went from 3 points to -1 points. Why do you think this is a bad idea?
As we know, hackers regularly turn random door knobs to see which doors open. Logs i can see show more black hat attempts than white hat, so either OldGregg's friend got lucky or a few exploits might have already been made.
The MIT computer lab used to forgo passwords. If you wanted to dick with the system you could, so it removed the thrill of "breaking in". You could mess with other people's accounts but they could mess with yours, too. Kind of like how everyone in Texas carries guns starting in kindergarten and so everyone is really polite.

I think it's a great lesson so I think I'll make my startup's vital information globally accessible (admin functions, source code, even my billing info for the ISP) and trust to my fellow human beings' goodwill.

I love you guys!!
No kidding. You should see what i went through trying to get flash on ppc & amd64 linux
For me ideas come through conversations, reading tech news and working on one idea that turns into another. Also, as a songwriter where songs just pop into my head, ideas do to.
Odd as that may sound.
Just because it's been done doesn't mean it can't be done again, better. And as long as relevant data is pulled for all candidates irrespective of affiliation, his political leaning should not matter.
I shouldn't have to have some proprietary, third-party plugin to read text or view simple images.

Would that make http://www.scribd.com the antithesis to your statement? It solves the problem of viewing documents that would otherwise require a special plugin or application.
Isn't web2 software social software (and ajax :P)? Reddit, twitter, facebook, flickr, justin.tv, youtube, etc,etc,etc are all socially based with social networks and whatnot. Each one focuses on a certain competency, flickr for photos, facebook for your private social network, reddit on geek news, and so on.
I've not got data, but I'd imagine that reporting bias causes a tendency to conflate the cool web 2.0 and 90's dot-com startups with the tech sector as a whole. There are plenty of less sexy tech companies that are thriving outside of hubs. The technology sector is not a unique snowflake -- microeconomics still applies. Lowering your costs is a good thing.

The world is flat. If you've founded, say, an enterprise software firm with no interest in outside funding and you have all the employees you need, there's no reason to be in a "startup hub" unless you want to be.
You are definitely allowed and encouraged to submit your own work, as long as it is relevant and you aren't coming close to submitting too much.
Facebook's Lifestream: Nothing to See Here