skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I'm afraid it just confused me. I'm kinda old, so maybe I'm just too far down the Zuckerberg curve to understand.

So, I saw a "trend", I guess, called "World Politics" with a picture of Obama bein' cool (like all other pictures of Obama...that dude's definitely got cool down), clicked it, and found...nothing? I mean there was a page there, but there was just a picture of a couple of foreign dudes (World Politics...makes sense I guess) and a random video. And then I felt an overwhelming feeling of, "I want those 30 seconds back".

So, reading the comments here, I'm beginning to grasp the concept of the site, and I now realize why I was so disappointed by the content I saw: It was generated by an idiot user, the most common creature in the known universe. So, the system needs to be better at solving the hard problem of helping idiot users create something useful.

Your site design is nice, if a bit busy.

The "browse" page is a much better overview than your front page, which I found intimidating and confusing. Browse, while it could be mistaken for "just another social news site" is actually comprehensible to me, and makes your site seem more interesting...it also seems to allow the genuinely interesting stuff to rise to the top, so I don't wind up on the nonsensical "World Politics" page that has nothing interesting to look at or read.

I think maybe this is a case where simplifying your application would be a net positive. Easier said than done, I know, as I'm sure every little feature on the site had someone campaigning for it at some point in the devel/beta cycle. But new users show up and see an explosion of confusing concepts and no clear entry point to get involved.
My point wasn't that seemingly ridiculous ideas never succeed, it was that they are not a requirement for startup success.
FAROO - Could P2P Search Change the Game?
it's not that i disagree with making money it but as a long-term business it's unlikely.
I have to agree with Parker. I appreciate there may be needs for credit, so this isn't directed at DocSavage specifically, but in general if you can't find equity and need to cash advance a credit card then either your idea won't sell or you can't sell it.

Neither of those is a good omen for an ROI above the 18.99% you might be fleeced!
Actually one of the surprising things I've noticed is how many good startups decided at the last moment to apply. I believe there have been some that only decided in the last couple hours.
Unless a business model is truly (REALLY truly) innovative, there shouldn't be any reason to keep it secret--users care about the product and its cost (be it monetary or otherwise) to them, investors would be silly to invest were they not aware of the models, and even in many cases of an innovative model, the model itself may draw added attention.
There are obviously exceptions, but generally speaking I think startups have bigger things to worry about than who knows what their business model is.
He didn't say anything about US universities. Here's what he wrote:

"Our college graduates are roughly equivalent in ability to other nations’ high school graduates, and a lot of our high school graduates could not compete on the world market for any jobs other than manual labor."

You'll also note that he cites an article to support the premise. That said, having taught a few senior-level courses at a top-tier university, I think he's right. The quality of undergraduate education at most schools is abysmal, especially large public schools.

Top US universities are best known for their research programs, not their teaching. (Thanks to drastic cutbacks at the NIH and NSF, even that lead is threatened, but that's another story....)
It's unfortunate, but a polished presentation making a strong case for a large market share is more likely to get you angel funding than a working product with relatively few users. I say this after seeing a bunch of angel forums / VC workshops in the bay area. Many of the "ideal" presentations had no product, no engineers but a "strong management team," a large market, and a path to bigness. You are unlikely to get funded without a grand slam story.
Parkinson's Law: "Work expands to fill the time available for its completion"
NOTA : a free, open canvas.
Friends, colleagues, and groups can simultaneously create and collaborate on fun, interactive websites.
how did Xobni get it's timing right?
"maybe you need to give some incentives"

Am I the only one who noticed how bizarre that statement is?

If you need incentives to apply to YC, maybe you shouldn't apply. AFAIC, if you don't make it in time for this or anything else, tough.

(Don't mean to sound so harsh, but welcome to the reality of the business world. Hitting tonight's deadline is probably the easiest thing you'll have to do in the next 6 months.)
Competition will either break you or make you stronger (maybe both). Welcome it.
Hear hear ;-)
That makes more sense... and apparently I am living support for that assertion. Reading comprehension FTL.
I just read this month trends at trendwatching.com, but crowdsourced trend watching is great idea. Well until new ideas stop coming. Hope you can build good user base.

One thing: Ad some kind of feeds. I just wont remember the site (despite the nice design ), I don't want yet another login to remember, but might want to fallow trends and comment on a trend I am interested in.
New trends, Popular trends, Random trends, etc.
Ask HN: Choosing a Python framework for web development?
Hi all,
I'm new to programming and started developing software using Python around 6 months back. I also know a bit of C#, C, JavaScript, HTML and CSS. Not an expert in any thing, still learning. Also, I'm not very good at Regular Expressions--this was a new-year resolution ;)
Now I've come across a dilemma and find myself completely stumped. I cannot figure what Python web-framework I should choose to start developing web-based software using Python. I've looked at the websites of Django, Pylon, CherryPy and WebPy--and I couldn't decide ;( Considering my naive skills I intend to choose a lightweight framework and a framework with which I can easily use JavaScript for client-side scripting (my biggest fear). I think I'm in a company of some very smart people here so I will really appreciate if you can help me in choosing an appropriate framework--considering my skill-set. Thanks in advance, fellas.
Do you have any feeling for why good startups are applying at the last moment? Two possibilities which immediately come to mind are (a) these startups are founded by amazing people who have lots of different options, and they only decided at the last minute that doing a startup was something they wanted to do; and (b) these startups were going to happen and be successful with or without YC, and they only realized at the last minute that YC had something useful to offer them.
YC aspirants: if you're from outside USA then you may apply for J1 visa.
There is this news in an indian news-paper that students from other countries can come to USA in summer for work on J1 visa - dont know whether this could be applicable to all countries and for YC program as well - you may find it out by contacting USA consulate.
Please visit :
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/This_summer_have_a_working_vacation_in_US/articleshow/2921315.cms
I've been so focused on the Android Developer Challenge that I didn't even think of apply until this morning, hopefully this bodes well.
In the short term, you should spend your limited willpower budget wisely
This paper is a more detailed examination of this phenomenon: http://www.sss.ias.edu/publications/papers/econpaper69.pdf
Right, it makes sense to tell investors--otherwise, they'd be crazy to just throw money at you.

So far, I find that there really isn't much to keep secret. The only things that people seem to keep secret are technological sauce, # of users, amount of income, and future plans, are what come to mind.
How about (c) the founders of these startups were already really busy with their projects when they (barely) got around to applying? I don't know how far along YC startups typically are when they apply, but it seems plausible that the ones that are already moving have an advantage in explaining their idea and situation.
Nothing a credit card company does is ever in your favor unless it's required by legislation.

While they make money on a per transaction basis, the bulk of their profits come from fees and interest. Especially fees since that's essentially "free money" for them. So they really don't like anyone who pays off bills in full each month (transactors aka "deadbeats").

Also, take a close look at your credit offers and statements. Cash advances are almost always at a higher interest rate and don't have a grace period like purchases. Odds are you still would have been accessed the finance charges even under the original lending agreement.
Start with Django unless you have a very good reason to use one of the other ones. Very good reasons include

1.) Previous skills with Mako, SQLAlchemy, Paste, or any of the other libraries that Pylons or Turbogears is based upon.

2.) Previous code in one of the above libraries

3.) Functionality needs that Django cannot satisfy in at least a couple of the following areas: authentication, user models, multiple database support, template extensibility, deployment. I say "at least a couple" because if you just need one, you can import it like you would in any other framework. The price is that many existing Django add-ons won't be aware of your choice.

Bad reasons include:

1.) "Django's only for CMSes." Not true; it works just as well for anything that involves web apps, including AJAX apps.

2.) "It's not scalable enough." The Washington Post runs on Django; I doubt you're going to get more pageviews than them.

3.) "My data doesn't easily fit in the relational paradigm." That's what the import statement is for; you can hook any data source you want up to a Django view.

4.) "Django's templating language is too restrictive." That's what template tags are for.

5.) "I'm really doing a full-fledged AJAX app, not a website." You can output JSON or XML data from a Django view as easily as HTML, and you're not limited to any particular JavaScript library. (I actually think Django views are more convenient for this than Pylons controllers; there's less boilerplate.)
The only 4 Good Reasons to have a Business Website
This can be especially useful in a bookstore.
16 Things I Wish They Had Taught Me in School
Depends. I can think of some business models that would offend your users if they knew about them, so they should not be publicized (whether they should be pursued at all is something else):

- planned obsolescence (cars, electronics)

- vendor lock in (iPod/iTunes, MSFT Office)

- selling personal information (magazines, social networking apps)
Yes, I totally agree. All of those t-shirts are flagrant copyright violations. ;-)

But more to your point: even if the copyright problems were as widespread as you claim, it simply demonstrates a gap in the market that exists. There is obviously a demand for this copyrighted content online, and it's not because people are suddenly getting it free (since it was essentially free before). Luckily, there is a new demand for user-generated content as well. Now that there is a more equal playing field between traditional and user-generated media, it will be very interesting to see if the demand for traditional media keeps up. My guess is that it will become too expensive to compete, since people only place a certain premium on quality.

In terms of CollegeHumor, they have a lot of original content and have maintained a very good grip on what college kids like and think is funny. It is a mis-characterization to attribute all of their success to simply stealing other people's work. Nobody gets a free ride like that.
I think one of the issues with Facebook Apps, and Facebook in general, is that too many apps are there "just for fun"--sure, people use them for a little while, and heck, they might even keep them on their profile after they ever click through to an application page (I think I have 4 or 5 apps installed, but never use any of them). They're all short-term proposals. Some of that I'm sure was the rush to get to Facebook first and build a user base quickly, but so few folks have actually focused on the "killer app" that provides a great deal of utility based on what Facebook offers through their APIs (which is a LOT of valuable data). Some also, I'm sure, is the fear that once you develop a truly useful app that people find value in, there's still the risk that Facebook will create their own bigger, better version (most recent example is IM). If you want to have lasting value as a Facebook app, you have to provide something valuable enough to drive traffic TO Facebook, not just THROUGH it, because while total pageviews and users are increasing, the initial fascination is starting to wear off and Facebook itself is become more of a tool (meaning everyone uses it, sometimes) and less of a cool new traffic-driving site that people spend hours playing on.
All good points, to which I would add:

4. Projectors often have fan noise
Core War: Two Programs Enter, One Program Leaves
I'm not saying that the better a startup is, the later they apply. Just that the set of people who decide to apply at the last minute includes some who are good.

I think the reason for this is a mundane one: people in their early 20s have flexible lives.

I suspect of e.g. people who visit Finland, the ones who end up staying for a year or more include some proportion who only decided to go at the last minute.
Clearest way I see. Is to look at the equivalent form: x^k = e^x. Then aneesh's solutions seem obvious.

I don't believe there's an analytic solution either. Otherwise it'd be in my CRC as x/ln(x) crops up quite a bit.
Alright, thank you. I guess exactly what I was looking for. Couple of other questions that just popped up while reading your (thoughtful)reply
a)- How much is the learning curve--considering my skill-set? From what I can tell from their website, I guess decent amount of documentation is available so I hope I won't get stuck.
b)-My only fear is the lack of JavaScript(Ajax) skills. For that reason alone, I was interested in Pylon as I thought Pylon would make this easy for me(just by reading their website). But after searching the term 'Ajax+Django' using Google I think Django is not a bad choice. I think I will need to know JSON. Any other things you can recommend that will make my life easy while doing Ajax using Django?
Appreciate your help.
Crary, an HTTP server for the REST of us
I've used pylons and cherrypy, and did some massive rails things way back when rails was still cool (2007). I prefer the cherrypy way of doing things vs. pylons, but they are mostly aesthetic choices. Django is probably your best bet unless you want something lightweight.
I'm not saying that the better a startup is, the later they apply. Just that the set of people who decide to apply at the last minute includes some who are good.

Oh, I must have misunderstood what you meant. I interpreted "one of the surprising things I've noticed is how many good startups decided at the last moment to apply" to mean that there was a positive correlation between "good startups" and "decided at the last moment to apply".
Wait, I don't think I want that first one..
I found <a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/04/waiting-unti...">this</a> incredibly relevant as well. Enjoy.
Your Printer's Secret Yellow Dots
(I also found that hacker news does not appear to allow markup in comments, heh)
Get Your Pizza Order Status From Dominos From The Terminal
Computer Waste Heat to Warm Swimming Pool
From the article: Can P2P search scale?

P2P search request bandwidth can be huge and this creates an emergent property in many P2P protocols that clients split into highly connected shards during periods of high load. This can happen dynamically on a daily basis.

Additionally, searching shared caches could cause some interesting groupthink, as has previously occurred with AOLSearch.

From the article: I thought their best shot was to build on top of existing P2P services such as LimeWire or Gnutella. I now see that they have a fundamentally different strategy. They are building on top of .Net.

Gnutella shards very gracefully but you'd probably want to avoid that if you want results to be consistent throughout the day. However, rolling your own P2P in .Net is a deal breaker for many early adoptors.

From the comments: We don't need search engines on our computers to get results at lightning speed.

If you're concerned by "last mile" latency then searching a local cache is ideal. It could also allow you to search previously accessed webpages with complete privacy. However, it would be very hard to solve privacy or trust with P2P search. See http://www.bash.org/?572066 for abuse of the latter.
Wow, I can't believe Core Wars is making a rejuvenation...! My dad told me about this game a couple months ago (saying it's the only game he's ever played! -- old fart!)
I agree. For a simple web app, Django might be an overkill, that you might not need. Cherry.py, is simple. Web.py is very simple also(not quite a framework), but it also has poor documentation.

It is up to you, on what you want to do. If you are comfortable with writing your own SQL, then Django is not going to be as useful as something more light weight like cherry.py
9 Common Idioms That Come from Technology
That's like saying Stevie Wonder's claim to fame is "I Just Called To Say I Love You".

Forgot to mention yesterday -- this is an awesome analogy -- I hope you don't mind that I will be beating it to death in presentations from now on ;-)
Hmm. I like twitter and martinis. Do I really need to decide what century I belong to?
I agree its important to separate out the concerns of office productivity with these individual world viewpoints that people possess (either more aspergers-like, or more towards a social bent). Even if kept bundled I credit those with aspergers for refusing to conduct business as usual, but rather having higher expectations for themselves and others. However using terms like neurotypical are vital to push back on the onslaught of views represented in for example this computer world article; note that they are using a questioanable tool, "psychology", to analyze the "problem". See pg's article for reasons the science has yet to be grounded. I believe this is it http://paulgraham.com/valueofphilosophy.html
a.) You do need a solid block of time to devote to it, but if you have that, it's not bad. Start with the tutorial and work your way through it, and be sure to follow along. I had a decent grasp after about 2 days, and in 3 weeks I'd rewritten my whole project in Django, getting back to the functionality level I'd previously written in Pylons. This included delving into some of the more esoteric corners like template tags, custom management commands, and the authentication & user system.

b.) Don't worry about that - doing AJAX well depends a lot more on your JavaScript skills than on the server-side technology used, and for anything serious, you'll need to know real JavaScript. Pylons does have a nice shortcut in that they ported over all the Rails JavaScript helpers, so you can get simple things like pagination, reloading divs, and JavaScript buttons without actually using any JavaScript. But they implement this using Prototype, which is a library that I personally refuse to touch for the reasons in b.3)

b.2) There're actually like 5 different JSON libraries for Python, and you can mix & match them with web frameworks (they just output a string, and any decent web framework will let you send a string to the browser). I use simplejson (which comes in the standard library of Python 2.5 - no installation necessary) for flexibility and cjson for speed.

b.3) Stay away from any JavaScript library that messes with the prototypes of built-in object types or adds lots of functions to the global namespace. The bad list includes Prototype, Mootools, and 99% of random JavaScript snippets you'll find on the web. The good list includes JQuery, YUI, and any libraries built on them. The reason for this is compatibility: JavaScript has no native namespacing support, and so if you get 3rd-party libraries from two sources that don't pay attention to namespacing, they invariably end up stomping on each other's functions.

b.4) If you're serious about doing an AJAX app, take the time to really learn JavaScript well. My last employer thought they could paper over all the dark corners and browser incompatibilities with AJAX JSF components; they always ended up coming back to bite us in the end. Know what you're doing. The Rhino Book and John Resig's "Professional JavaScript" are good sources, as are the websites of Doug Crockford, John Resig, and Dean Edwards.

b.5) Start by doing non-AJAX apps with Django and only add AJAX when you absolutely need it to improve the user experience. Aside from flattening the learning curve, this also disciplines you into treating AJAX as an additional tool for the toolbox, not a buzzword. A lot of companies have gone AJAX-crazy (like my last employer) and are treating everything like a desktop app when they should start as a plain webapp and only add additional interactivity when necessary. The web succeeded for a reason; trying to recreate the desktop in a browser is a step backwards.
I think they meant "incentive to not apply late" rather than "incentive to apply at all".
now, i might be wrong, but i managed to simplify it down to:

x= exp(k/(k-1))

my math is definitely rusty. be kind. (and i don't have my calculator)

edit: as pointed out by the comments, i'm wrong.
"When you or I sign up for a credit card, we freely enter into a contract with the issuer that has certain terms, which may include the lender's right to increase the rate of interest at any time. If that term isn't acceptable to us, then there is nothing that forces us to accept the agreement."

People have to rely on reputation more than the actual terms, because the terms are nearly meaningless. If the card company chooses to violate the terms, it's not going to be worth your while to fight, as you note several posts above. In practice, this means they can get away with such things until it becomes common knowledge and people stop using them. Advertising duplicity is the only real check on such practices we have.
Cool. I'd still recommend running the nightly builds.
I love this type of code on code violence. Our machine learning professor had us do several of these in college. Another cool one is Robocode, from IBM alphaworks: http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/robocode
Don't fund with credit cards unless you absolutely have to. The interest rates on those are often too high for any legitimate business to make enough to sustain payments once the "teaser" rate is gone.
I've used Pylons, but not Django. Why is Django a better choice?
I prefer Pylons for many reasons. One of them is that SQLAlchemy is the single most powerful SQL library I've ever used, and Pylons makes it easy to use SQLAlchemy, while Django doesn't. This is just one example of Django's reluctance to use superior outside solutions.
Profit maximization.
Every Major Web Company Started Locally
Ask YC: Your YC App - 10pm EST just passed, how do you feel?
Nothing gives focus like a deadline. I didn't manage to accommodate pg's request to submit early. Somehow, there was always "one more thing" to correct or add. I'd love to make a few more edits, but having it out of my hands is also a relief.

So, how does everyone feel about their submission? Did you say what you wanted? Do you wish you had more time?

Edit: Almost forgot: Good Luck!!!
Biggest annoyance for me so far with Django is it not following the MVC model I would have expected from it going in. We'll see how it works out for one of our newer/silly sites, though.

I forgot to check out Pylons for the project one of our contractors is working on. Thanks for mentioning it, we might consider it if Django continues to be cumbersome.
Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human