skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
My third iPhone project, and the first truly big whack of MVC code I'd ever written.

Everything was tested and working, but I didn't want to release yet. Had to optimize a meaty, graphical tableview that was choppy and dropping frames.

Got it glassy smooth, tested it lightly, then released.

Press was solid, sales were outstanding, everything was going well. (edit: I forgot: This was especially exciting news because I was about to leave a safe job for big adventure)

But the app was crashing and destroying any data the user had input before the crash.

I had to pull the app while I figured out what was wrong, destroying the product's amazing momentum and killing my sales rank. I didn't care. I felt terrible, taking people's money with a broken product.

Came down to one over-released button object, one line of code, along with a boneheaded assumption of when I should commit persistent data.

I donated the entirety of my early sales to charity and chalked up the experience to the importance of rigorous QA, no matter how trivial a change seems.
That shweeb thing must be one of the most stupid things I've seen. On the other hand, giving Khan Academy money alone is worth every penny given to him for the great work he has done.
Oracle, Red Hat, Novell and More Make News this Week
Argh, didn't see that. Thanks.
The current curation model is client-server. Magic Brick is taking that P2P. This wasn't mentioned in the article. Sorry about that.

One of the realizations of the brick project was that there are only 4 ways you respond to material: I like it, I don't like it, Reply, and Save-for-later. This is indicated by the buttons on the right.

As each button is pressed, the system categorizes the material and your response, sharing and aggregating those responses among thousands of users.
[DELETE: So we should close down schools that are failing, get a lot of good charter schools and figure out new contracts for teachers so that better teachers can get paid more money, that more for performance as opposed to just based on how long you've been there. Have a lot of programs that are after schools that to keep kids healthy and safe and I mean, Newark, isn't the safest city. So that's the basic thing. And I mean for...]

I wonder if that was supposed to be deleted?
I suggest trying wxwidgets or FLTK. And yes, desktop is not dead, far from it.
Patents only cover certain types of creative behavior for which patent protection makes sense as a way to encourage innovation. For example, it's never been possible to patent the plot of a novel, and up until recently it wasn't possible to patent an abstract business process or method.

The argument, then, is that patents on software are A) unnecessary to encourage innovation and B) actively discourage innovation. The argument for A) is that plenty of software development happened prior to it being patentable, few software developers or startups consider patentability when creating new products, software itself is well covered by trade secret and copyright protection, and the patents themselves contribute basically nothing to the world's store of knowledge about software. The argument for B) is that most software patent suits are complete BS and are launched either by trolls or in an anti-competitive manner rather than as a result of any sort of actual "theft," any piece of software could potentially infringe on hundreds of patents, patents themselves tend to cover "inventions" that anyone else solving a similar problem would come up with, and that patents themselves thus tend to either discourage people from even trying new ventures, out of fear of being sued, or serve to drain resources from companies that actually produce products, tying up resources that could actually be used for innovation. It's also worth noting that the 17/20 year term of a software patent is completely out of whack with the pace of innovation in software.

So you can try to split hairs around saying that some software patents (say those around non-obvious compression schemes) are legitimate, but I'd guess that something close to 99.95% of software patents are trivial/silly/should never have been granted, so in this case I'd argue that's totally worth throwing out that 0.05% of "good" patents in order to ensure that we get rid of the other 99.95% of them. I'd rather see that happen than try to defend that 0.05% and end up keeping even 5% of the current amount of BS patents.
The output of the process (a working machine) is provably equivalent. So you (and pg in one of his essays) conclude that the patent rules should be equivalent.

However, the purpose of patents is to promote progress by motivating people to invent. So what matters is the input to the process, i.e. the human activity that eventually leads to a working machine.

The patent system was designed for human activities that involve so much time and effort that people might not do them without an additional incentive, i.e. temporary monopoly. Picture 18th-century mechanical engineering. Building several different designs of a machine to see which works best would be a monumental task. It would be much easier to search the patent database and find something someone else invented, and cheaper to license it from them.

Imagine for a moment what would happen if you gave everyone a machine such that you could simply drop a diagram of a mechanical invention into it, and out the other end comes a working implementation. That would totally change the game. Invention would require much less effort. Everyone would be doing it without consulting the patent database, and the huge influx of inventors would overwhelm the patent office, making it impossible to find which inventions in the flood of incoming applications are novel and nonobvious.

This is what happened with software. Millions of people have these magic machines on their desks and in their backpacks and briefcases. No patent incentive is needed, just as none is needed for mathematics.
It's not just capitalism. The streets are community property. Starbucks can't exploit that to set up coffee trucks selling below-cost lattes to siphon customers from Intelligentsia and then call it "capitalism"; Intelligentsia paid for a very expensive retail space, and Starbucks would be free-riding off our tax dollars to punish them for it.
I think we've all had a shiny new tool that we are just dying to use, but don't really have a use for it. That's what these posts are.

The advice is correct, but could be summed up better:

Go work on something.

It doesn't matter what, just pick something. Don't ask someone else to give you work to do. That -never- works out without external pressure, like a paycheck.
I see your point, but that's what comments are for. One unobtrusive solution would be to give one karma point for every 10(?) new page stories read. Just a thought.
I agree with you 100%. Trouble brews when people are illiterate, but unless you're pursuing a literary career, there isn't too much use for reading fiction. Nonfiction has its own benefits that attract anyone who wants to learn in general, or has complex goals.

Remember the phrase 'bookworm'? It wasn't always a cute alternative to the word nerd. I know about it, because I wasted years of my life reading crap fantasy novels, hardy boys casefiles, etc.
That same level of accidental discovery was never, and perhaps is never again going to be, quite as available as it was when paging through a book meant you HAD to see things that weren't AT ALL related to what you were looking for.

I think that the internet is about a billion times better for this than anything else. With an encyclopedia you can just find information about random stuff, but I think the random button on Wikipedia is just as good, and you can dive deep through the sources and learn as much as you want. The home page itself is a great starting point.

Further, the Internet as a whole is a tremendous source for information that you wouldn't be able to easily find information about in traditional sources. I've researched everything from the history and functionality provided by different types of water towers (a clever hack), to the reasoning behind building different roads out of different kinds of materials, as it related to one particular highway near where I live. It's great to be able to take a random, obscure topic, and learn a lot about it.
Why should IT Managers fear this? From looking at their site it is very similar in concept to Citrix, which is already widely used. The browser plug-in is still needed so that provides some measure of control.

If people are able to install the browser plug-in then they could probably install the applications directly.
Vancouver has been experimenting with allowing a greater variety of food carts recently. The previous regulations allowed nothing more exotic than a hotdog cart, which led to innovations like Japadog.

In the first instance they've picked 17 sites with the explicit purpose of avoiding the kind of conflict described in the article - so they tend to be in front of office buildings etc. The process of handing out licenses for these sites by lottery initially produced some odd results but this seems to be sorting itself out in the wash - and we're starting to see some success stories.

It'll be interesting to see how the scheme can be expanded while still avoiding conflict - I think we may have a case of Portland-envy and won't stop until we can say Vancouver's scene is as vibrant as Portland's.

The whole area of BIAs and how well they represent the interests of local businesses is somewhat interesting to me right now, as it appears that BIAs are a primary force in opposing any kind of change in the city especially those that affect parking and car usage. Like, for example, better bike lanes.
yeah, and google instant is just a google search that pulls up results as you type them.
I don't know how on-topic it is over there, but you might want to try http://techstartu.ps and also perhaps http://startups.reddit.com
Faulty keyboard? ;)
I don't know if this one makes sense (in the original article). I'm all for setting limits, but accomplishments come in all sizes. Some you can fit 10 in a day. Some you can fit 1/2 in a day.
I'm not helping the community if I visit the new page and don't vote on anything.

I don't vote on anything because I don't want to 'save' all of the threads I find slightly interesting. Saving is only for things I want come back to later.
The Sports Illustrated curse and regression to the mean
Thanks for the link! I didn't know about that. I like that definition, it is really what "craftsmanship" is!
Genuine question (no disrespect intended): what do people find interesting about this game that so many are willing to spend $10 on it?

I tried the single player and don't see what the fuss is about, perhaps I'm missing something?
This sounds great. Especially for the one article every month people, the ones who can't/don't want to/won't devote the time to a real blog, but are more than willing to write every so often.

Get awesome writers. Get awesome editors. And you have wikipedia all over again, only for op-eds.

Why wouldn't it work?

1. Nobody wants to write articles to just to consume articles.
2. Finding quality editors and writers are like finding *two* needles in a haystack. (I make no pretense to be either.)
3. A dearth of (2) would make (1) even harder.

Why would it work?

1. It's a great tool to learn how to write.
2. It would bring a close-knit, smart community of people together. People love it when they can just dip into a pool of knowledge like that.

That's my 2¢. I'm really curious what other people think.
The in-ear phones have great sound, but they fall apart after about six months unless you're super OCD about wrapping them up in the case every time.
> Why?

I wrote about mmap in the context of separate write and read calls (i.e. no senddata call exists), not in the context of senddata.
Props to Google for doing this. When we look at scale, though, it's like me giving $1 to a bum in San Francisco. I don't deserve props for that.
Really? You do know what a computer is right? Go check it out: "A programming language is an artificial language designed to express computations that can be performed by a machine" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_language

Crazy isn't it?
Digg Redesign Tanks- Traffic Down 26% (Updated With New Reddit Stats).
Have you called who ever is taking your account to collections and tried to negotiate more time or a payment plan?

Explain that sending it to collections is bad for you and them. If you don't have the money, then you don't have the money. But if also have to deal with a collection agency then you'll have more stress to deal with. Also the collection agency gets a cut of your (current non-existent) money owed.

If you can explain that is in both parties interest to keep it out of collections and extend the deadline or work out a payment plan, you may be more likely to get out of this situation without damaging effects on your credit.
I find Ron Conway's follow up courageous (given the fact that he knew it would come out). I think it is very good in its content. It shows that business ethics is about much more than following the law of the land or of your selfish interests. It also shows that there are still some great investors on the block. Thanks Ron!
I must say I wonder what favors Arrington exchanges with the very participants of this sad angel bunch to get them to forward all these confidential emails though...
Sorry, I was mostly referring to the parent comment and not the article. Inreference, to the article though... The bit about the study doesn't really have much meat.

"Boys with video games at home, he found, spend more time playing them than reading, and their academic performance suffers substantially. Hard to believe, isn't it, but Science has spoken."

There is a lot left unexplored here. Was the problem the video games or the fact that they didn't read? Reading vs playing video games is a false dichotomy. They aren't mutually exclusive and the problem probably just indicates parents aren't taking an active roll and doing the sorts of things other commenters are suggesting.
Note, this was IBM's lawyer talking, not your own. IBM's interests were represented there, not yours.

Lawyers are in the business of convincing people that the law says what they want it to say. However in the case of a dispute it doesn't matter what IBM's lawyer says, it matters what a judge thinks. So of course if you ask IBM's lawyers, they'll represent IBM's interests by making the broadest possible claims for what is IBM's. That doesn't make them right, nor does it mean that they would actually pursue it. But as long as they leave you convinced, they've accomplished their goal.

That said, they are correct that the statute gives them that way to claim your work. And the larger the company you're in, the broader that claim can become. And when you listen to their lawyers, the claim will become broader still. Putting that all together, I wouldn't take their word for anything without consulting your own lawyer who represents your interests.

Alternately, if it is important to you, you always have the option of telling your manager that this issue is important to you, and you're willing to leave your job if that is what is needed so you can work on your own project. In that situation it is amazing what miracles can happen once it is made clear to the lawyers that giving you the freedom you want is actually in IBM's interest. (Advice from lawyers is very frequently penny wise and pound foolish. The smarter the business, the more strongly they realize that.)

Depending on the current job market at the time, it may be advisable to line up another job option before attempting such drastic action.
Facebook & Twitter Counters/Buttons Anywhere – No Plugins
Cheap Stocks in David Tepper’s
You can post at Startup Digest
http://thestartupdigest.com/classifieds/

Edit: I haven't tried this, just gotten to know from the emails they have sent me.
Is this a limited company? Seems pretty fucked.

I don't know what the usual legal proceedings are to declare bankruptcy, but this is why they have bankruptcy laws and limited company.

Speak to a bankruptcy lawyer. Presumably all of this is your company's debt, not your own personally, and you have not committed fraud or done anything illegal, so hopefully you're in the clear personally. It may even work out that your cofounder is the one who ends up with a black eye on his credit record if he's the majority shareholder and ends up being the person named in the bankruptcy.

You haven't specified what country you're in. I'm guessing US. From the little I know, bankruptcy protections are pretty great over there. In the UK, if you take a company that you're a director of bankrupt, you aren't allowed to be director of another company for 5 years.
I agree that VoIP does not currently work great over satellite. I also agree that satellite internet has a lot of room for improvement. However, I have to say it is a life saver if your only other option is dial up. I also know that the satellite internet companies are upgrading their network next year to increase bandwidth speed. So, there is definitely hope. There is more information on this topic on my blog at mybluedish.com/blog.
I can confirm this worked for me, although the outskirts of Indonesia were not that remote in my case.
This actual could lead to some interesting technical solutions.

There are Twitter feeds that help customers find the food trucks, but there's still room for improvement in getting that information to the right people at the right time, easily.

As long as people know where they are, the food trucks can park out of the way and still get a lot of customers.

If anybody writes an android/iphone app that helps me find trucks with quality food, that are sitting on a side road, I'll use it ;)
I don't know why the original comment was without reason. Real estate has long term predictable cycle was the main statement, which was specifically tailored for OP since he's 25 and has plenty of time to catch those cycles.

Your long ramblings are just justifying your fear of real estate market in the SHORT TERM.

There are so much about the topic that it's difficult to fit in these comments. That's why I said I wanted to pique people's interest and they can do their own research.
I tried to run it in WINE, but it did not work. It would be great if somebody implemented the required features for it to run.
The difference between crap and art.

A crap finish product runs like crap because it IS crap. A good finish product fools the user into thinking that the finish product is simple but on examination reveals the purposeful intent of the builder.
We often hear too much about the successes of startups that we get caught up on the glamor of it all. It's stories like these that bring us back to reality. I'm truly sorry for your loss.

I'm sure that you've thought of this, but is there any by-product that you can sell out of the company? Any IP liquidation?

Take care.
I wish this obsession carried over to the UX of some of the more recent software, most notably the new itunes. I'm floored with how many clicks it takes to purchase something in the itunes store these days :(
Ok, if you formed an LLC and didn't sign personal guarantees with rackspace or your lawyer then I don't see how you are personally on the hook for this.
I'm guilty of this. Reason behind is that I click on links and discussion threads via newsyc20 on twitter whenever something of interest pops up.
Nice write up! It's always fun to hear about companies growing from the original vision. Random... Didn't Nolan Bushnell try something like this back in the day? But instead of for business purposes it was to allow people to vacation with a robot?
The article railed against exactly this problem: you can't reply to a machine. So customer feedback is lost, as well as goodwill.
"What’s interesting is that most of these apps and services are only one or two iterations removed from really horrible products like Windows Mobile 6.5, Internet Explorer 7, Live Search."

Microsoft uses a 3-year release cycle for most of its products. Only 2 years ago did they switch to a 1 year release cycle for the internet services division.

One or two iterations is actually 4 to 6 years. That is a long time to make Messenger not slow. And they are still not there.

But I agree it's not a sinking ship. WM7 is pretty good interface and sdk wise. The licensing terms will have to convince device makers to adopt it instead of free android. That's where it gets interesting.
Thank you for your suggestion. The only reason I wouldn't do that is because Rackspace was very adamant about even the extension of the deadline (they would only agree to a 5-day extension). But it doesn't hurt to ask, though it may create a strained relationship between us.
Does the startup have any assets/IP that are saleable? I agree with SHOwnsYou.. I'd try to buy some time.
all you'd need to add was a one-way valve type thing on the end of that tube inside the safe... not exactly rocket science. 4 years is a long time to leave something like that unaddressed...
No, Chrome Frame for IE is a way to swap out the rendering engine used by IE. It replaces the IE layout engine with Chrome's WebKit-based layout engine.
Tried the newest versions of chrome and firefox. Both failed. I left the site. I assume this only works on IE (which I dont have on my mac).
Ah jezzz, next is a movie deal!
It is a limited company, and it's registered under a Delaware C-Corp.

I'm not familiar with the details of bankruptcy either. Will this damage my name and the name of the company?

Well, I'll probably be the guy named in bankruptcy, since my cofounder is in the UK.

Yes, I am in the US. Ouch, that sucks, see directly above.
I guess I object on principle: how do I know this email was authentic? Tho I can't think of a reason anybody wants me to miss my flight enough to mislead me about it.

Anyway, now I have that email, and I need to change my flight. Would it kill them to have a reply address I could actually use to accomplish that?
Dropbox is a great service… first heard about it half a year ago. Use it almost daily to move files to and from my Moto Milestone.

Totally self serving link:
If you want to try Dropbox, but don’t already have an account try signing up using my referal link. You’ll get an additional 250 MB (in addition to the 2 GB standard amount)

http://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTkzNTAwMDk5

Full disclosure: I’ll get 250 MB too. So everyone wins :-)
I'll add another - try getting a book on a subject that holds their interest. My 5 year old recently spent every evening of a 2 week trip getting his grand-father to read him his cherished "Big Book Of Bugs".
Google's net income in 2009 was 6,500M 10M/6500M = 0.15%
So if you make $100K a year, this is more like giving $150.00

If you gave $150.00 to a homeless person, you deserve props. If you gave $150.00 to Khan Academy, you also deserve props.
ok - sorry if this is a stupid newbie question and an RTFM issue in a FAQ somewhere, but what is the proper procedure for posting something to HN to get feedback on a new app from HN readers? This is probably not even the right thread to post this, so feel free to flame...but seemed relevant.
Superficially, it seems a lot like an implementation of Hoare's CSP, but without the fine grained control of processes that allow a bunch of them to be executed only in sequence.

Message passing seems to be becoming popular now.
I code for me, later, when I'm trying to figure out what the heck I did.

I hate it when that happens. I'll read some code and think, "What idiot wrote this?" Then I svn/git blame and find out I wrote it 6 months ago.