skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Ask HN: Patents in Startups
I am wondering if the patent process poses any potential threat to new startup companies and if so what kind. This is referring exclusively to software based startups.

It doesn't seem like patents are talked about much with software based tech startups (in comparison to other industries), especially with everything so open source... but after reading the Dropbox YC application (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=801503) I saw the question "Do you have any ideas you consider patentable," which is absent from the current application. I was wondering both why that question is no longer present (or no longer applicable) and whether it is something worth considering about your startup.

I also found the article about Microsoft patenting the process of an OS shutdown (http://www.conceivablytech.com/2530/products/microsoft-patents-operating-system-shutdown/) to be interesting and it sort of raised the question as to whether it is worth searching the USPTO when doing your market research about your web/mobile app so that you don't develop something and then realize that you have to deal with the IP factor.

So does anyone have some experience or insight into

1) The amount of concern a completely software based startup should have with patents

2) When/under what circumstances should patents be filed

3) Whether anyone has any first hand experience either with patent issuing processes or being on the other side of infringing on the patent of another company

I am not saying that anything I have is potentially patentable at all I am mostly just curious about the entire notion of patents and the role they play in startups.
No. Those companies don't have a great reputation among tech people, but have a lot of good people working for them. Therefore they don't push prices up much, and are a great source of good candidates.

Why would these companies choose to do that?
clickable [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=801503 [2] http://www.conceivablytech.com/2530/products/microsoft-paten...
Well, thanks for the examples; and interesting research as well.

I was thinking more about physics. I believe that it takes longer for a student to reach the original research stage in physics.
The beauty of javascript is that it is supported in multiple environments (various browsers, rhino, v8, etc). But with that comes VM specific implementations, and that's real life.

To truly achieve what the author said, programmer has to dumb-down their javascript to the lowest common denominator. Or have one common library to make sure all javascript features are supported, even if some have to be written in javascript.

Take array comprehension for example (https://developer.mozilla.org/en/New_in_JavaScript_1.7). Rhino, since it's a Mozilla thing, supports it. How about IE? I'm not sure if V8 even supports that.

Separation between server side and client side is bound to happen. Especially since it's a lot easier to use bleeding edge features on server side.
Since most phones are CDMA now I think the dangers of interference are much much lower. I have always suspected that carriers help promote this myth to reduce network overhead from point 2 above.
Graphics cards aside - I am not sure how many people in the market for a silent workstation require a graphics card with a fan, but I imagine there are plenty who don't need it - it's perfectly possible to get a fanless PSU[1], a SSD drive and a beefy fanless CPU cooler on a low wattage[2] CPU. Failing that, there is water cooling and huge fans at very low rotation.

[1] http://www.silentpcreview.com/Fanless_PSU_Torture_Test_Round...
[2] slightly underclocked, laptop or a lower power server version
That is too bad. I bought one of their games too, and I thought it was definitely worth the money I spent on it.
This article is especially important for places like HN where the "founders never sleep" myth runs rampant.
Well if we limit the visual input to the realms of visible light then maybe not, but what if your camera could recognize other frequencies, like infrared and the brocoli gave off a unique set of frequencies that allowed it to be identified

That could work, except it's completely and awfully wrong. Don't they teach physics anymore?
I love your app and wish I could find something similar for the Android platform.

EDIT: Or something similar on Windows/Linux/Web(not Daytum)
There are tons of probably-unsolvable problems with the idea (how can you tell if something has cream filling from a picture?), but what I'm saying is that even the vision one, which Adams explicitly seems to think is solvable, isn't.
I definitely see your point and sympathize (as a busy dad who often gets only 5 minute reading breaks), but even if you aren't gabbing away or noisily typing, most flight environments are dark, and those LCDs leave annoying visual tracers for anyone in your periphery. Can't argue that on a Kindle though :)
Logan's Run depicted as a giant LEGO diorama
It's a red flag now, but prior the vulnerability being discovered, it was just one of 46348763487653 possible red flags people could have thought of.

In C, this would be a short/long truncation error, and the compiler would catch it --- except in situations like this, where the variable in question was being used in two different functions. So the idea that it could have been easy to catch in assembly is hard to embrace.
Argue all you want about valuations, deal structures, terms, business plans, power, and money, but no one earns anything unless we hackers write something. Thanks for the show, guys. Now back to work.

[EDIT: Changed "until" to "unless" to sidestep the silly debate over the sequence that things happen. We hackers still have to make something. The process of doing that can sometimes become monotonous, so we often appreciate a good soap opera. But, sooner or later, we have to get back to work. I know I have.]
Totally. Is it ok to go in and edit my blog post? Are there any rules to follow when changing something you've released? Or can I just treat it like a bug in the software we deployed?

Any chance you'd try this system out for a few days? I'd love your feedback.
To expand on my comments, the comm interfence could interrupt voice and data comms transmissions. Although in the latter, it's more like someone picking up the phone while you're dialed into your favorite BBS.
Only one of these startups seems to be truly innovative or trying to build something of actual value: SeqCentral.

If you're interested in bioinformatics, check them out at http://www.seqcentral.com/.

N.b. I am in no way associated with SeqCentral.
Trust me please don't. they will talk to you but you don't have a chance. girls don't want to date a weirdo. just be a normal person and talk to them like a normal human being that you aren't attracted to about normal stuff. once you have established you aren't a creep THEN try to turn the charm on.
I'm in 100% agreement with this article. My company has sold more and more Facebook app / custom tab work lately, and it amounts to nothing but headaches.

Most clients simply refuse to understand that so many of the problems encountered are Facebook's fault as a result of bugs in their system or APIs broken from upgrades.

I wouldn't wish this kind of pain on any developer.
Why wouldn't they? It's something that might make startups go with YC or someplace that is not affiliated with Angel-gate. Seems like it would indeed affect how people behave or think.
Our goal is to help teams exactly like yours participate in this technique. We'll be keeping you posted, we should stay in touch. What's your twitter?
Ah, just a name drop: I met the President of the BCS (at the time) Wendy Hall at the Hypertext 2003 conference. I told her I was working with Ted Nelson (without whom she wouldn't have got so far) and she looked confused, as if not working for grants/funding was an unusual thing.
Pirate Party of Russia seeks formal recognition
I flew for the airlines.

The problem is not your everyday takeoff and landing. The problem arises when the weather deteriorates to near zero visibility and the crew is relying on instrumentation to find that strip of pavement, at 130 knots.

Instrument approaches rely on a narrowing volume of radio signals, the closer one is to the runway. The tighter the signal, therefore, the greater the deviation should something go wrong. Think of threading a string through a funnel, if you touch the edges, you lose. Now do it on a trampoline while someone else jumps on it. I assume we can all agree that wildly porpoising a 200k lb jet, 400 from the ground, chasing a signal, is not a good idea.

Vehicles on the ground are prevented from encroaching on the approach signal area, when aircraft are shooting approaches in reduced visibility conditions, to prevent them for interrupting the signal. In the cockpit you can see your signals fluctuate if someone does cross that threshold. It happens.

When visibility is good, it is a non event but when you can't see jack, having your guidance just start dancing around, gives one moments of pause.

The phones do interfere in some manner. TO what degree, I can't say. I have forgotten to turn my phone off before takeoff and get the annoying beep in the headset when we descend into an area with coverage, so something is going on.

The reason they ask you to turn it off is because they can't tell you its okay, because they haven't tested it. They can't say, well turn it off if it's cloudy or if the bases are below 300'. Some departures and arrivals require precise navigation, even in good weather, for traffic flow reasons. Missing a fix on departure or arrival could cause traffic alerts or aircraft deviations.

All rules exist for the worst possible scenario. Not the milk run. But how do you explain that to the traveling masses? You should be more concerned with the fact those little dixie cup oxygen masks they instruct you to put on in the event of a decompression, won't actually supply you with oxygen when the shit hits the fan at altitude. It's a partial pressure thing.

That's just between you and me...

Edit: At the end of the day, it is the law. If the crew is having a bad day and has a stick up their ass, they can make your day a lot worse. You need to ask yourself, does ignoring the rule, no matter how inane you think it is, really make a body cavity search worth checking the latest XKCD update?
http://planet.clojure.in is a nice start.

I have no idea who actually maintains the list, i.e. is it 'official' or not, and it doesn't include voting, but it is a nice stream of clojure news.
I put it down to my pre-degree qualifications being poor (when the degree is a 2:2), and a lack of work experience in the field.
How do you imagine they would find that out?

Probably the problem was that during approach pilots had the usual GSM buzz in their headphones while trying to communicate with ATC.

Do you really want your pilots not to hear ATC instructions on take-off, landing or taxi? Like not hearing landing clearance, or which runway exit to use, or what other traffic to lookout for.

Do you even know what was the main cause of the deadliest air disaster (583 dead)? That's right, not hearing ATC instructions.
It's hard for me to get too wound up about DFW stuff being on the front page when it's otherwise occupied by "AngelGate" drama.
Send your email to: Bilski_Guidance@uspto.gov

The FSF's suggested text is:

Software patents hurt individuals by taking away our ability to control the devices that now exert such strong influence on our personal freedoms, including how we interact with each other. Now that computers are near-ubiquitous, it's easier than ever for an individual to create or modify software to perform the specific tasks they want done -- and more important than ever that they be able to do so. But a single software patent can put up an insurmountable, and unjustifiable, legal hurdle for many would-be developers.

The Supreme Court of the United States has never ruled in favor of the patentability of software. Their decision in Bilski v. Kappos further demonstrates that they expect the boundaries of patent eligibility to be drawn more narrowly than they commonly were at the case's outset. The primary point of the decision is that the machine-or-transformation test should not be the sole test for drawing those boundaries. The USPTO can, and should, exclude software from patent eligibility on other legal grounds: because software consists only of mathematics, which is not patentable, and the combination of such software with a general-purpose computer is obvious.
I think the entire notion of finding your way back is silly. One of the keys of survival is letting someone know where you are and when you will be back.

If you go missing, people will come looking with a general idea of where you are, and how far you could have traveled. Once you start trekking around because you saw a river and rivers always lead to civilizations, that's what Bear said, you start increasing the area you could be, while wasting calories and risking injury.

Conserve your energy, make yourself visible (fire, mirror, bright colors, signals), and try to have a decent time.
Actually, no one earns anything until the customer writes a check or pulls out their credit card.
Do you really think this drama is going to push founders into the hands of YC RATHER than Ron Conway, Chris Sacca, SV Angel, Dave McClure, Mike Maples etc? Especially when most YC companies end up raising from these guys after YC anyways? Honest Question...
Javascript is fun because it is flexible.

If you don't like the syntax, you could play around with Coffeescript. It may appeal to your Pythonic sensibilities: http://jashkenas.github.com/coffee-script/
Is that white cream topping a low-fat yogurt or some kind of delicious artery clogging velouté sauce? That distinction alone could make a world a difference if you're calorie/fat counting; different methods of cooking food that ends up appearing the same can drastically change the healthiness of a food. In general, someone's time might be better spent learning the basis of maintaining a nutritional diet and everything that goes along with it, rather than snapping pictures of everything eaten, twice.
This is really simple, and Sacca got at this in his email to Conway: if an entrepreneur feels like they're being jerked around, they're not going to let you invest in their company and your reputation will quickly go down the toilet.

It really is that simple.
Logos are names are two things that are really easy to spin your wheels on. The treacherous thing about them is that they feel like company-building work, but are in fact nothing but wanking.
"Imagine these compianies controlled who offered you cars, or siding, or which schools your kids got invited to. Its not a decision they have the right to make for their employees"

And so they don't. All these companies decided was that THEY don't aggressively try to recruit employees from certain other companies. They are not "controlling" anything. Their employees are free to apply wherever they want, including other companies that were part of the informal agreement, and those companies are free to hire them if they want.

I agree that recruiting employees from other companies isn't "stealing", and the argument that this agreement could artificially lower wages isn't unreasonable either. However, some people seem to be jumping to conclusions here. The agreement does NOT mean that someone cannot move from e.g. Google to Apple (etc), nor that Google would sue Apple if they did, nor that any of these companies "control" where their employees are going.
Seemingly harmless data on victims can be assembled into a big picture from disparate sources.

A particularly-common example are website security questions ("What high school did you graduate from?", "Who's your favorite musician?", etc). The answers to these questions can often be assembled from open sources. If I happen to have your email address and something like a bank account #. I can search a variety of sources and come up with more information (mother's maiden name, see who your fav artist is on Facebook, etc). Up until recently, it was very easy to use the security question attack on Yahoo and Gmail accounts, and as you probably know, there's often a treasure trove of info in someone's email account.
CoffeeScript (http://coffeescript.org) is my attempt to solve this exact problem. Take the parts of JavaScript that work well, fix the broken areas (statements-vs-expressions, variable scoping, difficult prototype chains), add features (like the array comprehensions mentioned in the article) ... and compile it all to lowest-common-denominator JavaScript that runs just as fast as the JS-you-would-have-written-yourself, and runs just fine from V8 to IE6.

If you want JS with nice features, and not to have to worry about JS language support, do yourself a favor and check it out.
My point was only that if you walked through the functions as they are used (as I would expect a code review to do) the eax/rax difference ought to be sufficient to investigate further. Even if you don't see the exploit, you could still fix the length mismatch.

The mechanism for calling into the kernel is not some half-arsed, barely important piece of code; it's one of the few surfaces the kernel should actually need to defend. A line-by-line walk-through is a lot of effort, but surely not too much on a small amount of extremely important and potentially exploitable code.

Am I expecting too much from Linux or from code reviews in general?
Disengaging in other ways are also very effective.

For example, if you're having trouble with a tough business/programming problem, a stroll through an art museum can be very beneficial. Personally, I like to walk along the lake (Chicago) or walk through parks and let my mind wander.
If you look at something like this: http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=nav.8710 - they're selling to IT management, they are very far from being an organization to represent the rank-and-file.

Doubtless - that old British classism rearing its head - they would say that the managers are the "professionals" and the actual practitioners are mere labourers, like miners.
Ask HN: have family issues ever derailed your career?
My dad has developed a neurological issue which means he can't drive for 6 months. He's a physician himself, so he's being intentionally vague about the problem. I'm not sure how serious it actually is, and knowing him, I will never know.

Thus, I feel sort of obliged to live nearer to him and my mom, to help out if necessary, and just spend more time with them. The problem is that he lives in North Dakota.

I looked around and the only job I am qualified for within 2 hours of their house pays literally $100,000 less than what I make now.

I don't really know what I'm asking here. I guess I'm just wondering if this has ever happened to others, what you did, and did anything positive come out of it?
Nick Denton Profiled: The Demon Blogger of Fleet Street
I would personally like the see the end of software patents, as I feel they are bad for the country, but I don't see that happening. Perhaps we should consider something else, like allowing software patents to continue, but limiting them to a far shorter duration (in recognition to the speed of software development)? Say four or five years?
It is all offline, I only read in airplane mode on the phone, I use high contrast mode with medium brightness on the Instapaper app so don't think I really annoy everyone else, but you do get told to turn the phone off even if it is in airplane mode (thus no signal in our out) for takeoff and landing.

I just need to go to super offline mode and print stuff out!
Structure of Excuses - Unemployment
There are two schools of thought on session. On is that it should be avoided at all cost and believe that it is an ant-pattern The web was designed to be a stateless medium and session introduces state. Which causes all kinds of problems on a platform that was designed to be stateless.

While I agree with the line of reasoning, I consider myself pragmatic and therefore subscribe to the second school of though which is session should be guarded. Our system throws warning flags whenever someone checks in new code that uses session, it is then flagged for review.

We tend to try to build our services stateless by passing the relevant information needed to complete a transaction. You could think of the communication like this: one could be represented as a telephone call, where you have to have the context of previous messages to understand the communication (stateful), while the other could be though of like voice mails where the entire context of the communication is transmitted as a complete package.

We tend to try to design our services like the latter but some times it is not practical due to sensitive information or other concerns. This is where session comes into play.

So for us, how we build out services is that we generate an identity token (based on SAML), that token represents the users (authentication and authorization). Further we store any global information that is not sensitive in a cookie that way they can be passes with the context of the communication to make a full stateless call to a service.

Finally, if there is a special case, that requires performance we will place that information in session for a user, we find that these cases are rarer than one would expect.

I am working on a blog: http://www.httparchitect.com it is by no means ready for prime time, but if you want to check it out it does have links to reference material. My next article was actually going to be on session management and statelessness.
What actions can you do in twitter?
1. Post a tweet
That's everything.
Yeah, this is the first submission on the subject that I've voted up, although I've read most of them with a passing interest.

It's been pretty clear to me from the beginning that there's a lot of misunderstanding going around, so the whole flap is funny at best. Some influential people got together for drinks and to talk about the industry they all work in, and decided to meet again; some of their conversation, naturally, turned to focus on some of the threats and challenges in their industry, of which YC might be one of; some of the conversation might have made a few attendees feel "uncomfortable"; Arrington got wind of it, showed up uninvited (and, really, I can't blame anyone there for not inviting him in the first place), and smelled a rat; Arrington likely also interpreted confidential statements from anonymous sources in as sensationalistic way as possible, because that's what happens when people talk about something without really talking about it; words like "collusion" were probably the children of phrases like "how can we handle these problems in our industry" and "what can we do to better develop our business"; and in the meantime, Ron Conway overreacted (but with his heart in the right place) and someone else wrote a long piece about how the overreaction made their heart sad.

I hoped I wasn't the only one that thought it was all pretty ridiculous. Thank you, Rich, for writing the first piece on it that hasn't been a waste of time to read.
That was my reaction to Node.js. "So...I can use...Javascript?"

I have been sad for a long time that there is a language, just one, that you use for web browsers. And one that has an ad-hoc design like this. I've never really been a fan, and have been waiting for someone to expose a properly jailed VM to the web developer.

The JVM, incidentally, has Javascript support (Rhino), the choice of plenty of languages, and is relatively easy to restrict. Imagine a Webkit-based browser that handles Javascript and JVM bytecode. It would take some hacking, but you could have a safe, language-independent environment for client-side web scripting. Your One Application Language could be Javascript, Scheme, Python, Ruby, Scala, Clojure. I think devs would flock to this; I certainly would.
Very good idea, I support this and will use it from now on (even though I don't like the (thing,) Python syntax very much), as it's the only way to say that the iterable should only have one element.