skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Go-To Gadgets - Making Business Trips More Effective and More Fun
Digg - Top Weight Loss News to Help You Lose Weight by H. Duthel, M
I'm wrestling with this same problem.

Killer Disqus Features:

* Ability to reply to a comment via e-mail (awesome!)

* Automatic notification when a reply is made to your comment

* Rating comments

* Threaded

Deal Breakers:

* Done completely in Javascript. Sure this sucks for SEO, but for usability this just isn't acceptable. Users without Javascript don't see comments? I'm not OK with that.

* Comments hosted off site: I'm not hosting the comments. This may not seem like a big issue but it is.

Disqus looks great and I'll try it in the future if they ever get these problems ironed out.

In the meantime I am satisfied using WordPress plugins (or making my own) to get disqus-like comments working.
1) http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=529&...

2) Close behind: http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=561&... and http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursedesclong2.aspx?cid=562&...
I am listening to Alan Watts, Out of your Mind, thanks to the link I saw on defmacro, not sure if it's the best thing for a road trip though?
I've done a little SQL console with syntax highlighting fro my own needs.

http://github.com/slim/bazdig/tree/master

you need PHP5 and PDO_SQLITE though
Ask YC: Experiences using Software as a Service Rails Kit?
Information about the Software as a Service Rails Kit was posted here (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=171508) almost a month ago.
I'm considering purchasing it but before I do I'm curious if anyone here has used it and what they think of it.
I really enjoyed "The Goal" as an audiobook. It makes a good audiobook because it's structured as a novel. Definitely one of my favorite business books.

(it's nominally about running a manufacturing plant, but I think a lot of the takeaways apply just as well to startups)
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
http://www.amazon.com/Made-Stick-Ideas-Survive-Others/dp/073...
Google. Does. Not Market. Except When It Does.
Radiolab. It is a podcast, not an audio book, but I would recommend downloading the entire set at http://feeds.wnyc.org/radiolab and listening to all of them.

Listen to them in order, oldest to newest. I would not recommend starting with the most recent "Jad and Robert: The Early Years" which is mainly about the hosts.

And if you want to cherrypick one show to start with try: Musical Language.
Following the same argument, Clojure and Jython qualify just as well as Scala does.
(function() { : YCodaSlider 2.0 (BETA)
I like to dig up classic speeches and listen to them in such situations. It's pretty easy to dig them up from online archives, and they're more natural to listen to for me than audio books. Given the top thread at the moment, I can recommend Huxley's The Ultimate Revolution. :-)
I work in a small business, and we constantly run into problems that need a small but not trivial solution for a specific purpose that we assume should be fairly common in the market. We look for solutions, and then end up having to roll our own.

Examples:
- We hosted a conference last year. We needed a web site to manage the conference materials and match them with the sessions that were being put on, which would allow presenters to manage/update their materials, and would be protected via passcode for attendees only. Seems like a common problem for conferences, but we found no off the shelf solutions for this, and had to roll our own. We would have rather paid a few hundred dollars and been done with it.
- We need some software to handle recurring tasks, such as building/machine maintenance. It needs to easily accommodate specifying a resource and all the maintenance that goes along with it, and the intervals associated with them. The tasks should then be distributable amongst a pool of people, either through direct or automatic assignment. Pretty straightforward, but difficult to find something that isn't a big pile.

Maybe what is really needed is a web site that serves as a launching point for small business IT shops, where common problems are listed, and software is reviewed that serves to solve each problem. What happens though is that (1) it becomes ad dominated, so you can't trust the websites, and (2) it gets flooded with a million crappy solutions.

Maybe we're just especially bad at locating solutions, but I think if you really want ideas, just target small businesses that are growing, and ask their IT departments what projects they have had to develop that weren't really the company's core business. All those items would probably be target applications.

Caveats:
- Price it reasonably.
- Make purchase an option, rather than requiring month to month terms. Not all small businesses want to pay in perpetuity, nor can we afford to get stuck when a startup goes out of business and our service fails. Selling us the software lets us know it is going to keep working.

Anyway, more than my 2c.
Ask YC: Watch that doesn't frustrate while hacking?
I was given a watch with a metal band some time ago, but it has this tendency to constantly collide with the base of my laptop(Thinkpad T61p) while typing. As you can imagine, this is somewhat frustrating. I now find myself constantly removing the watch while working to prevent the collision.

Unfortunately, since I've now grown accustomed to having a wristwatch, I would prefer to continue wearing one, rather than getting rid it altogether. Is there any watch or band that you've come across that might solve this issue?
SearchMonkey: Yahoo Search's New Open Platform
Where is WinFS now? Quentin Clark explains.
Regular coffee/caffeine may also keep the blood-brain barrier strong as you age: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7326839.stm
The Technology Cliff: How Time Off From Programming Affects Your Chops
Search Auctions
I like Hacker News comment system (though presentation could be better). I like the fact that you see the most relevant comments first. Whereas most other comment systems (even those with points) are chronological.

ps Digg just updated their comment system.
La France - La Patrie - Les souvenirs - H. Duthel
I don't see a problem with it when it's a response to stories like "learn how to hack in nine months."
Nginx - Reading the fine print
On a side note: I find a significant reduction in verbal skills after an extended period of coding. I don't think there are long term effects but it can be disconcerting when you basically forget how to speak. (Or is this just me?)
"Likewise, if you're in a .NET shop you'd want to consider F#."

Or Scala. It also compiles to the CLR.
Wigix: A Stock Market for Your Stuff
This is an interesting follow-up to the "better Ebay" discussion (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=184988).

Not sure whether or not they'll get enough users, though.
Just to illustrate the gist of what both of us are saying, I loved "Catcher in the Rye." It was my disaffected youth, so I identified strongly with Holden Caulfield.
Doctor on call (Simple accessories could turn mobile phones into useful medical devices)
i've been using godaddy for way too long. I really dislike it though. Horrible site design, interface, etc. I always run into problems w/ them and their support is worthless. But I haven't had the gumption to switch to anyone else since i've been using them for so long.
Work indoors all Day? Try Vitamin D supplements....
I'm not a medical expert, and don't know how much this story is circulating in the US, but there has been a lot of heightened attention to it in the Canadian press recently. Since I'd imagine most of us likely work indoors and at computers, thought the article might be relevant.
Coordinating something that large is a feat. At that scale, everything is more difficult. Deploying updates to 10,000 machines, redundancy, upgrading, etc. Not to mention the avoiding bandwidth, memory, and process limitations, load balancing, and testing it, which they needed a clever solution to achieve.
If C++ had just abandoned it’s C legacy, it would have been a much nicer language.

A much nicer language no one would have used. It is Stroustrup's opinion that if C++ had not been backwards-compatiable with C, it never would have become popular. I agree.

I also have difficulty with calling C++ a "failure."
JQuery Interactive Date Range Picker with Shortcuts
If you're talking business books try The Rebel Sell "How the counter culture became the consumer culture". and I book I love for it's story telling is Boo Hoo "$135 million. 18 months... a dot.com story from concept to catastrophe".
1. "The Wisdom of Crowds" by James Surowiecki

2. "Predictably Irrational" by Dan Ariely

3. "The Search" by John Battelle

4. "Made to Stick" by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

5. "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell

That should cover your trip. I've listened to all of them and really liked all of them. "Blink" by Gladwell is also good, but not as business related.

I would love to hear any other suggestions people have in this category.
javascript using rhino as well
I spose there are differences between 'pure' bootstrapping and raising 17m but saying you're still bootstrapping. Firstly,this guy has experience 'truly' bootstrapping, so I see no reason do doubt his word, but if this is your first try and you raise money promising to bootstrap, you may still end up with wildly different spending patterns to a true bootstrapper. Secondly, they will have given up a lot of equity, and perhaps board seats, for all that money, unlike a true bootstrapper; that shift in control dynamics may, again, be a significant difference. So don't assume that this article means big money'll make no negative difference to how a business is run if you 'say' you're going to stick to bootstrapping, versus the true bootstrapping route. (it may well be that the positives outweigh the negatives)
Do you need a business plan in order to pitch to VCs?
do you need business plan to get attention of vc?
I want to pitch to VC but I dont have business plan. Also if I make one, I dont have team or have knowledge to write good business plan.For example i was looking at sequoiacap.com
http://www.sequoiacap.com/ideas/
: ( Founders & Management
Board of Directors/Board of Advisors )( P&L
Balance sheet
Cash flow
Cap table
The deal
)
Do anyone have sample business plan?

Will there fund a one man team?
How did the digg or facebook guy get them to fund his
company.
What is best for me to do?
Anyone ever done this before?
that's probably true, but heck you've got to do something to quench the boredom.
I put myself through university and gained extensive skills using pirated software. At the time I decided I would do what needed to be done and because I could. I resolved however to get licensed copies once I was working.

7 years later I have an annual budget of £2.3 million and am responsible for buying decisions relating to the software we use.
Autodesk, Macromedia (until a while ago) and Adobe have all been represented largely.

All I can say is that at the time, I used software piracy to my advantage - now I am trying to repay my debt.
What a great story. Thanks for inspiring me.
Forget the business plan. Forget the VC money. Put all your energies into developing an idea which you can develop entirely on your own. I bet you $100 that you won't make a success out of it going the VC route. Design and build everything yourself. Then take it to the market.
New ant species taking over Texas
MacBook upgrade set for Q3
Personally, I recommend things I use when they are awesome and/or useful to the party I'm talking to. It's basically that simple. I tell people about Pandora because I think it's an awesome way to discover new music, not because telling them gains me anything. I told my father about Xobni because he practically lives in Outlook. Hell, I can't even think of a time I've said "you should join XYZ social network because I'm on there."
thanks for this one, have just started to download them all now.
Ugh, I know the feeling. I haven't had much chance to really code something interesting (apart from small, easy changes) in the past month and I can feel a bit of it slipping. Not as bad as a 2 year hiatus but it sucks :/
The Economist glosses over many of the details. You can find more technical information, and a link to the paper, here: http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=908
Do you have data, or are you arguing that it should scale?

An important lesson I've learned is that just because you've written a parallel program, doesn't mean you've written a good one.
An incentive may not be required, but it definitely helps.

For example: I joined PayPal 10 years ago because my friend coaxed me into it. PayPal paid me $5 for joining and paid my friend $5 for inviting me. We invited lots of people..

On the other hand, consider GMail. It was just so massively superior to anything else out there that as soon as I heard about it I was hooked. GMail was (and is) free, but back then people were actually paying for invites..
Clozure CL: an open source Common Lisp with Cocoa Bridge
This is what works for me:
1. Get up early, very few distractions and the mind is fresh, work non-stop for about 4 hours atleast.
2. Keep the browser closed and open it only if necessary. Having only the code editor and other necessary files open makes a big difference.
3. Get your life in order, there's no way you can focus for any length of time if there's drastic conflicts, stress, relationship problems, etc in your social life.
4. Exercise and keep healthy.
> Mark Cuban used options to guarantee he would be set for life no matter what happened to Yahoo's stock

Care to explain further, or point me to where I can read more?

Edit: I think the "equity collar" article linked below sorted me out.
I would get a Pimsleur CD course on a language you've always wanted to learn. The complete box set, 14 CDs or whatever, $250. You'll be conversational a few days later, and it requires you to listen actively rather than passively, so you're more likely to stay awake while you drive.
Amen do that! I would have never learned Photoshop or Dreamweaver without pirated software. This was me in college.
Doing that under your own company would be a bad thing to do. Don't risk it unless your using the software for personal education gain.
Single founder, no programming knowledge just ideas....does he have a chance?
Hi
I like to think of myself as an ideas man. I have a number of ideas for various web and mobile applications which I have ran past a few programmer friends of mine. They like the ideas. However my question is this, how far do you have to develop the application before applying to Y combinator? I was thinking of hiring a freelance programmer to get a mock up of the program as part of the application process. Furthermore as i said I am not a hacker just someone who wished they had studied computer science instead of business and languages...do I have a chance if the idea is good enough?

Thanks, love hacker news and think what Y combinator are doing for start ups is fantastic.

D
Love. Read "Pirate's Dilemma." Pirates are good for capitalism, good for society, good for the world. Anyone who stands in their way must die.
Ask YC: Which is better, Pepsi or Coke?
to put it simply Vitamins do not work. Why not have a walk into town at lunch time?
Same here. It's causing us massive problems and it's not only the money we're not receiving, it's angry customers who are unable to cancel or view their subscriptions.
I'm tired of looking, and haven't found, but, is there any good alternative to Paypal for merchants outside the US/UK?
er.. I am 47 with three little ones and started a new business last year. It has started fantastically, and there is no way it will fall over, recession or no recession, with all the general business experience I have picked up over the years. Not to mention confidence. Have some of mine.
"(BTW - I have been astounded at the similarities I, as an aspiring hacker, have with my painter customers, and just within the past few months I've learned of PG's book "Hackers and Painters.")"

And the fact that the original idea that pg and Robert Morris had for an online business was an online art gallery.
Humor: Addressing the Growing Epidemic of Elephant Abuse in Software Teams
Depends how much coffee you drink a day. In my experience, one or two cups isn't enough to cause noticeable withdrawal.
Feynman: "Los Alamos from Bellow" speech, "You Must Be Joking Mr Feynman".

The Teaching Company has "The Great Ideas of Philosophy/Psychology" series and courses in economics I'd recommend.
It may just be an effect of your coding techniques using the language centers of your brain. I have the same experience when playing a musical instrument or rhythm game, or when reading a book for an extended period of time. It's as if the language centers can focus on one sort of activity at a time. I find that after a few minutes I can switch back to verbal mode. Additionally, when I am focusing on a rhythm I am completely unable to speak. I can internally hear what I want to say, but I can't actually form the words. Friends of mine have great fun asking me questions while I'm playing rhythm-based video games. Usually the most I can respond with is a labored "yes!" or "no!", to humorous effect. Fortunately the behavior dissipates when I'm done playing :)

Interestingly, different people can use different portions of the brain for the same activity. A study was performed which measured the performance of participants as they spoke while marking time (holding a steady rhythmic beat). Some of the subjects had irregular beats while speaking, but others kept steady time. When asked how they were performing both activities at once, the unsteady ones said that they were marking time by internally verbally counting. The steady ones were internally visually watching numbers roll by. Both groups had the same performance when marking time while not required to speak.

The brain is a funny thing. They can vary greatly in the mechanics of how they accomplish a given task.
Oh, it is most certainly cool. It's one of the reasons I love the comic so much.
Facebook And The Future Of Competition
I've seen a similar argument when used with music: people download music, share it, and the pirated band sells more CDs as they gain fans (questionable) and draw bigger crowds (much more likely and doesn't help the record company in anyway).

However, unlike that, I think Side-1 has pretty strong merit - especially with the widespread availability of pirated software and the amount of people in college who want to use the software but can't afford it. If the software companies REALLY wanted to buck the trend, they'd license education software A LOT cheaper than it is right now. When I was in undergrad, I could buy Windows XP, Office, and Visual Studio anywhere from $10-20. I bought all three and never had to pirate a single piece of MS software.
A few Java hacks/funny snippets.
thanks for the help, rms. I will check out the forum (your first link) this weekend. Regarding the second link: they sell Modalert, which is made by an Indian company that claims this is a Provigil generic. I have read some worrying things about Modalert, here is an example:

I'm going to restore the statement regarding
the effectiveness of generics. Yes, in theory,
the basic ingredient is the same. However, (1) no
one really knows if Modalert is pure modafinil,
(2) according to Cephalon's research, modafinil
loses efficiency if it's in the form of particles
larger than 40 microns (see US patent 5618845).
It's not known if particles in Modalert are
small enough. --Itinerant1 22:47, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

(found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Modafinil#Generics_.26_eff...
)

and

Modalert claims to be a generic Modafinil but almost
all accounts describe it as inferior and its effect
sounds like it could have something like caffiene
and/or ingredients used in over-the-counter diet
medicines to simulate an energizing effect.

and

I recently reacquired my interest in Modafinil
because I'm a first year graduate student and I
need to concentrate for long periods of time.
But, I chose to be a retard and got sucked into
buying the cheap Sun Pharma internet crap from
India that is UTTERLY WORTHLESS!!! I received my
package today with glee anticipating all those great
mental and emotional stimulating effects I received
from Provigil 5 years ago - but listen people, the
stuff is ENTIRELY INEFFECTIVE, [...] All I've
experienced today is an unpleasant and extremely
jittery ephedra like feeling - no fun at all, and it's
NOTHING like the true effects of REAL Modafinil. [...]

(found here:
http://brainmeta.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=18411
)

Here is a thread where someone thinks that the different effectiveness of Modalert is the result of a different formulation:
http://www.drugbuyers.com/freeboard/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showt...
Reminds me of this: http://www.learnitfirst.com/AboutUs/CorporatePhilosophy.aspx

"...many of us thirty-somethings wouldn't be where we are today if we hadn't coughfoundcough a copy of Windows NT4 somewhere. Don't steal our stuff, please. We try to make it inexpensive enough so that anyone can afford it."

disclaimer: I founded LearnItFirst.com :)
This brings up a good point. What would it take to put "Hackers and Painters" and "Founders at Work" onto CD? I can't imagine anything I'd rather listen to. And both are perfect for short trips because each chapter is stand-alone.
Erlang can integrate with anything out there, because it deliberately discourages binary inclusion. Instead you make remote "ports" that act like servers or vendors of results.

It's a very weird approach, but it's surprisingly effective.
I would strongly recommend the "Behind the Wheel" series of foreign language courses. There were specifically designed for use while driving. Perfect. N'est pas?

http://www.amazon.com/Behind-French-Revised-Complete-Illustr...
Best Practices of Touch Screen Interface Design
A collection of lessons learned (and a few ignored for the sake of aesthetics) while designing and research the design of a Mobile Safari (iPhone/iPod Touch) web app.
i think almost every s/w professional from BRIC have used pirated s/w - in fact i read this somewhere that we would have huge skills shortage if there were no pirated s/w available to these smart people of 3rd world countries ... and if the s/w professional were in shortage then prices of tons of products (from air line tickets to chocolate bars) would be much higher than what it is right now ... so in a sense pirated product did created jobs and revenue and economy .... it gave an opportunity to smart people to learn new skills and get employment.
Hi,
I am working with two other people in creating a web application and we were in the same position a year ago. We steadily picked up programming over the months and of course, there were many stumbles along the way. We still have a lot to learn but we are proficient enough to create somethng.

My advice is take the time to learn programming. It is deeply satisfying to be able to create something yourself instead of relying on others to do it for you. Plus, it makes you more aware of how your product is actually getting built, and gives you a good understanding of the strength and weaknesses of your idea.

It is frustrating, espacially in the beginning because it feels like there is so much to know. There is. But you'll get into the groove of things once you start immersing yourself in it.
agreed I've pirated s/w which would have been to expensive to buy purely to learn new skills, however I suppose, I was lucky when I was taking my first steps with Photoshop my uncle bought me a copy.
Once the shareholders have sold the company off to Microsoft, if Yahoo falls apart, that's Microsoft's problem. It wouldn't hurt the people who had already sold Yahoo, so it's not a scenario that Yahoo's board should be considering.

(One caveat: the Microsoft offer is part cash, part stock. Since part of what Yahoo shareholders will receive is stock in the combined entity, I suppose that predicting a meltdown a year down the road means you're saying the offer is worth less than the current calculated value)