skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I actually maintain all rights to the core code ... as part of the agreement I'm hosting the application for the client, so they are technically subscribing to the application (first year is, of course, paid for, next year a small amount of money will exchange hands)

I'm inspecting now for other opportunities within the industry. This was fairly customized for a very specific need, so it still remains to be seen ... I also do not want to distract myself from my current startup, but I'll take the opportunity if it arises and I can manage it!
I would love to add that to my blog post if you have a screenshot?
C'mon really? That's one of the most broken parts of Django ... a view is a controller, a template is a view?
Thanks Jared. I really appreciate the feedback.

> permalinks

Your suggestions have convinced me to make two major changes: 1) Users will be auto assigned a permalink and 2) users will be able to change their permalink at any time. I think that having the QR code immediately available will definitely have a greater impact, as you've suggested.

I had reservations about user reactions to generated permalinks (for the case when their screenname on the connected network is taken), and about having stale QR codes floating around after a user changes her permalink, but making those changes improves the user experience and mitigates the first concern. Having stale links to Twitter profiles on the web doesn't seem to have been much of a problem, either. There will just have to be very clear, very visible notices that the QR code has changed when a user change her permalink.

> FB Connect

Detailed profile data is available in mobile profiles, but relies on a separate authorization step. Rather than asking for complete profile access when the user signs up with FB, we request authorization for the individual parts of the user's profile as they choose what to make public. The actual authorization process is (in my mind) the worst part of the Quirk UX right now.

That begs the question, would it be better to just ask for full profile access directly from the start? Or will that turn users away?

> fast access to the QR code on the phone

Making the QR code easily accessible is a major component of the Quirk app. We'll need to find a temporary solution until that's released. Perhaps bookmark and save-to-dashboard buttons are a good step (possibly with HTML5 local store support).

> conference customization/branding and analytics

Branding conference profiles is definitely a goal. Alot of the focus has been on the mobile experience (which is what most users will encounter if they're scanning other people's badges) - Once the conference features are ready, the conference organizers will be able to push content to profile pages. Branded web(non-mobile) profiles aren't something that has been explored much yet.

Analytics of how users are connecting is potentially a huge part of the value offering for this use case. That's a path that I'm very eager to explore now that people can actually connect through Quirk.

> profile data

Initially, rich profiles are only presented to mobile users. It's primarily a resources issue, and a rich web profile hasn't been built yet primarily because there are other, likely better, places to consume that data from a non-mobile device - the social networks themselves. The stub that's presented now when viewing a profile on the web is mostly a stopgap, but for the moment, traffic is heavily skewed to the web experience instead of mobile, so it probably needs to be built out just to capture new visitors' attention.
Instead of writing a lengthy comment on HN, I wrote a blog post: 9 Ways SEO Can "Best" Google Instant: http://goo.gl/ez2a

It's a spicy title I'll admit, and guaranteed to raise the ire of some HN folk, but that was not my intension.
And from two interviews I read, men are treated terribly in general by women compared to how women are treated who work in those professions.
At 44, Star Trek has lived long and prospered
Django 1.2.2 Security release issued
Strangely enough, I am reminded of Jerry Seinfeld's documentary, Comedian. Throughout the movie, while not following Jerry's plight, the story is focused on Orny Adams, a struggling comedian who dreams of Seinfeld-like fame.

At one point, Seinfeld and Adams have a conversation. Adams mentions that it would be great to be able to make a lot of money for doing what he loves. That he'd like to be like Jerry one day. And Jerry is flabbergasted. Basically he says that if you're doing it for the money, you're in it for the wrong reasons. You do it because you love it. You'd be doing it if you lived on the street eating out of a garbage can because a few times a week, you get to go out and tell jokes, and people laugh at them.

The author of this article is saying the same thing. Unless you're completely dedicated to an idea, unless you can't stop thinking about it, you may fail. The closer you are to being completely encompassed by an idea, the more likely it is to succeed.

I read it as more of a caution than a guideline. If you aren't really in love with an idea, but you still want to go along with it because you think it might make money, or bring you fame, or whatever, you're in it for the wrong reasons. You will be a terrible comedian.
... so throw it into a SPY index fund and let it ride? :) Thanks for the humorous response!
Unless you're on the business end of things and most of your new customers come from search engines - in which case optimizing your site, which offers the products people are actually searching for, to the top of the list (and aren't cheating with giant link-farms....). Good SEO has a lower CPA than just about any other kind of marketing.

Now, if we're talking about SEO where people are link-farming to spam pages just to get ad-hits and get ad revenue and other spammy behavior of no real value to anyone but the person doing the SEO.....i'm all for hte new classification.
I also have this problem, but I'm too tall for that. I'd end up with 6-8 inches of ankle showing if I did that.
You are arguing as if the Greek government is entitled at peoples' money no questions asked.

What you are suggesting is to keep wasting the tax money to pay for the inflated public sector and all the money wasting state companies.

They should first fix the problem, stop the wasting, and then try to collect more taxes.

Reducing tax evasion, without solving the root cause, will help nobody, it will just get more money wasted.

As far as your last point goes, I am not totally against dept restructuring. As long as they make sure they solve the root case of the problem
So, are we talking about Tektonik?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqRR10Xy3GU#t=0m15s

Damn, I thought this was way cooler:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOzQJWPzWmE
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Yea, I was actually thinking about that. I have no idea how to pull that off, so it probably won't happen anytime soon.
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Learning. I'll probably be in the middle of learning something new and interesting the day I die. Some on here will disagree with me, but I'm a huge advocate of learning at the expense of doing. Spend time to learn how to not only do something, but do it well. After all, most programming tasks are only useful for a limited time. Knowledge is usually useful for much, much longer. Sometimes I'm surprised at how useful useless facts really are.

Plus if nothing else, you'll be able to do that task much faster the next time.
I just don't think he's such a 'big' entrepreneur relying on other peoples code/work. I have nothing against any programmers nationality. Sorry if I offended you.
This is probably plan B :P
Ask HN: what level is "traction"?
We read in a lot of places about getting "traction" before speaking with investors, but have never really understood at what level this means. Ie

- 100 or 100,000 users?
- 1,000 free users or 10 paying ones?
- high conversion rate or repeat visits?

I realize every startup is different but would love to hear what figures you were getting when you / investors considered you had "traction".
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Three things: learning one editor (Emacs) really well, learning new languages that force me to think differently, and as am6100 said, writing a lot of programs.
Please do not post links to the NYT paywall.
I don't think that the "money as debt" problem is specific to Greece. You know that your country, province/state, city/county is probably in similar circumstances. And the problem is not about local people not being able to trust their fellow people. The problem is usury: banks, and the financial systems that loan money where there is no money to pay back the compounded interest.

Here is the top comment on this
http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2010/09/08/bank-rate-decision-...
cbc story about the Bank Of Canada.

Watch the movie:
http://ohcanadamovie.com/

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered"

Thomas Jefferson 1816

Did you know that PRIVATE Banks print 85% of our money supply in Canada and 100% of the money supply in the US ( the Federal Reserve )

1 they print money out of thin air

2 lend it to our governments with interest

3 fiat currency

4 fractional reserves ( for every $ 1 printed they can loan another $ 9 out of thin air

5 they control the money supply and devalue YOUR money in order to profit

Our monetary system is the biggest SCAM going

Banks love a DEBT ECONOMY & they love Government Deficits – the more debt the dump into the system the higher the profits they make

The Bank Of Canada (Central Bank Of Canada) used to be under the authority of the Federal Finance Minister. Ostensibly, to this day, it still is. But there is a catch that most people don't know about. From 1934 until 1974 it created currency and the issuance of credit for the PEOPLE OF CANADA The interest on these loans was put back into Canada and was used to build the Trans Canada Hwy and various infrastructure

In 1974, however, when Canada joined the G7, which became the G8, which is now the G20, it gave up it's monetary control and credit issuance to private banking cartels that run most of the western industrial nations (Germany, England, France, Switzerland, Italy etc). The Canadian National Debt has since gone from 18 billion in 1974, to now 500 billion in 2009

"Once a nation parts with the control of Its currency and credit, it matters not who makes that nations laws. Usury, once in control, will wreck any nation. Until the control of the issue of currency and credit is restored to government and recognized as its most conspicuous and sacred responsibility, all talk of the sovereignty of parliament and of democracy is idle and futile."

William Lyon Mackenzie King 10th Prime Minister of Canada.

"History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance."

James Madison

"It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning".

Henry Ford
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I've seen it at about the same rate in old and young. Though older people seem less likely to recognize and correct their error.

But that's from personal observation, and I haven't made a point of recording my findings for analysis. I suspect you haven't either.
Fried Eggs, Soy Sauce / Sambal, Spring Onions... Ketosis ftw.
Yeah, but for some reason keeping track of flow is much harder. I've tried to use Factor a couple times, but I eventually just get lost in trying to make the logic work.

Slava Pestov and his crew have done a really tremendous job at the language and environment, though. Everyone should play around with it once or twice :)
Why Apple's greatest rival is now Google & why Apple should be worried
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to add to that.. reading. I spend a lot of time reading, books, documentation, forums, and blogs
As far as I can tell, "traction" is a synonym for "the VCs I play golf with have heard of you" -- social proof and all that. But I'd also love to hear opinions from people with direct experience here.

In addition to the already stated metrics of #users, #payingusers, #visitors, and %conversionrate, I'd hope VCs would look at $revenue, $profit, and %monthlygrowth.
I would discuss not the action of starting, but the motivations and preferences that inform your strategy. Things like the kinds of problems you can engage with and the solutions for them, the ways in which you connect with people, etc.

Since business works over periods of months and years, it's important for me to engage in projects that play to as many of those preferences as possible. Starting at anything new is its own skill; you have to accept an early period of flailing around and making wrong turns, before you can reach the comfortable, confident stages. But it's not really the make-or-break thing here. Common wisdom says that it's the last 1-10% of the project that is the hardest part; you need to line things up so that even those stages are tolerable, or else you'll burn out somewhere in the middle once you see how far you still have to go. If your preferences are misaligned against the project goals, you're also likely to drift off target(e.g. I get caught in building technology quite often) and it helps to have people with other preferences involved so that they can bring you back in line.
"Programmer" and "entrepreneur" aren't remotely coextensive. And hiring someone to code something for you is a very particular, entrepreneurial species of "relying" on someone.
I really feel what they said about the community and core developers:

Reading the correspondence on the following bug really turned me off to the project. http://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/5172.

Specifically: "Please do not reopen a ticket that's been marked "wontfix" by a core developer;"

I'm not sure how the issue jives with the whole Django philosophy, but with that much interest in changing the templating language, I found that a bit harsh...
The author seems to point out that the main problem with the just get started mantra is that there is a good chance that you will fail. My understanding was that people knew this, but although your idea/app/business might not get going, the experience on how to do things that you can learn from this is invaluable and you can leverage that in your next venture.

You will get none of this experience sitting on the sidelines trying to figure out how not to fail, you might .. but you will learn a ton along the way.
It would be helpful to elaborate on:

* what document.domain is
* what hijacking user's session actually implies
i find i can spend a whole day reading stuff and feel like i am much better off. if i spend half the time reading and half the time trying to apply what i've learned, then i will retain it soooooo much better.
Treat these ideas like medicine: before you take a dose of it, take a minute to see if you've the right symptoms.

ie. If you've no problem getting started but have issues finishing, that idea won't help much. You need a different pill.

I do agree that so much is focused on newbies who have a tough time getting started. There is now a significant number of folks who have no problem getting started. They do have a problem finishing. Hopefully we'll see more stuff focused on the later stage.
Yeah I'd go the ssh route myself. Nothing against OpenVPN, but the (or maybe another) big problem in this scenario is that people are using passwords to log into servers in the first place.
On that graph:
"NOTE: The calculations of hours worked are based on data collected about how survey
respondents spent “yesterday.” Thus, average weekly work hours are an extrapolation
based on the activity for 1 day."

I mean how much confidence do you have in this thing? And you're repeating it like it's the bible?

Let me ask you a question, do you consider all hours of work equal? What if you compared office work to, say, mining, if they worked an hour fewer, would you say you work harder?
That's a pretty absolute statement based upon, it seems, absolutely nothing.
Why Y Combinator Has No Class
Well, I lost some TV channels (basic cable TV + Internet costs the same as standalone Internet, so I have basic cable TV -- a separate gripe re such "bundling") while my bill went up 14% . Oh, and my service has gone from being solid to flaking out every week or two.

Same cr*p, new name. (My location doesn't provide for any better alternatives at consumer prices.)

EDIT: I see, now that I've read (quickly -- sorry) through your article, that you have U-Verse. Care to reciprocate with a comparison from the perspective of your personal experience? I had Ameritech-->SBC (now AT&T) DSL back around the beginning of the decade, and it was a horrible experience. Even were it available to me at this location, I'd have strong hesitation about giving AT&T my business.
And you are arguing as if the Greek government is entitled to no taxes.

Greece provides its citizens with loads of social services. Someone/something has to pay for that. In the other EU countries, you know - the ones without sovereign debt crises (Germany for example), the taxes paid by citizens help pay for some of those services.

In Greece that doesn't happen because of the rampant tax evasion. So instead the government lies about its budget deficit, borrows tons of debt, and is now hoping for a bailout from some of the more fiscally responsible EU nations. German tax paying citizens are likely going to have to help subsidize Greek citizens who are unwilling to pay taxes.
One of the aspects not mentioned is that Digg was a tech website at the beginning. The quality of the audience, and subsequently, the quality of the content, decreased as they opened the flood gates to other categories.

It seems like their only option was to either stagnate with an increasingly unappealing demographic, or reinvent themselves.
The article dismisses XHTML with little explanation: "all the ideology surrounding XML that never came to fruition".

AFAIK the goal of XHTML was extensibility and interoperability with other data formats, by allowing arbitrary XML elements from other XML namespaces to be embedded. It seems to me that this solves exactly the same problem (as microdata) and more in a much cleaner way. Why invent yet another format?
Ask HN: Where do I find metrics about the social gaming industry?
I've been doing some research into the business of social gaming and have collected some "data" from Google but since the industry is both relatively new and mostly private, it's hard to find actual, believable numbers. Are there any numbers you guys believe when it comes to ARPUs, CTRs, market sizes, etc? Are the numbers on the Inside Network blogs to be believed[1]? If you've got first-hand experience and think they're bull, by what delta?

More than that, in the last few days of research in the industry, it seems that the industry is heavily slanted towards games about resource optimization, since that tends to yield more money in the form of virtual loot than offer walls, etc. Do any of you think virtual loot will work in other forms of gameplay? It seems that more and more of the loot being sold has a primary purpose (to speed up/change gameplay) rather than something to display for vanity purposes.

Thanks; can't wait to hear what you all think.

[1] http://www.insidenetwork.com
I don't particularly like mosquitoes either. But I wonder, despite the claim of no downside, if there isn't some co-evolutionary relationship between mosquitoes and those that they draw blood from.

Just wondering.
Google Instant. How should SEO react?
Would adaptive optics help? and/or Could the rocket carry its own propellant but get power from the beam? E.g., carry its own air.
The daily scrum is supposed to be about coordination, not reporting status to management or evaluating progress of individuals. It's just an opportunity to say "I'm working on XYZ" so someone else can say "Oh, I need to touch that area later today. We should chat offline."

That doesn't mean every team handles the daily scrum well or that the purpose is never hijacked. But it does mean that if the scrum starts to feel like a tribunal, it's probably a process smell that should be raised in the sprint retrospective.
Why the qualifier for the Atlantic? I find it tends to have more journalism than VF and New Yorker, which have more cultural content. In particular, the New Yorker will typically have one good piece of journalism per issue, where the Atlantic will have multiple.
Tackling smaller chunks of work at a time, conceptually.

That might mean committing my changes more frequently, refactoring smaller blocks of code, or avoiding the temptation to fit a lot of functionality in one class/function/file.
Color me skeptical. The article is correct; other species would rise to fill the niche emptied by mosquitoes, and the world would achieve a stable equilibrium, but the same could be said for eliminating eagles or horseshoe crabs or wheat. Just because we'd be less itchy and never catch malaria doesn't mean our lives wouldn't be negatively impacted in unforeseen ways.
One can also cause damage from being selfish. I'm not sure what your point is, no one's claiming that just wanting to help people is good enough. You have to actually help people.

> I also believed that humans are intrinsically self-interested even if human beings couldn't exist without other human beings. No man is an island but every man is an individual worthy of respect and dignity.

Agreed to an extent, and your last point is why a lot of altruists want to help the poor and downtrodden instead of just the individuals they happen to like. It's a straw-man form of "altruism" that treats individuals as scum.
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I'm a big fan of technologies that have steeper learning curves, but pay dividends over time. Examples are: Emacs, Lisp, XMonad, git, my Kinesis Advantage keyboard, swype, etc. It's nice when technologies are user friendly or obvious to use immediately (like Quicksilver), but If it's something I'll be using all the time I go for long-term efficiently over early user-friendliness.
> Imagine CL full of ads for hard drugs being condoned.

You've never read an ad looking for a "generous" friend to "hit the slopes" with?
Persistence and time. A good part of programming can be self-taught, so you just have to give yourself the time and be patient with yourself.