skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
The trouble with the AdMob-like behavior is that acquirers pretty much know founders would flip and go. No rational acquirer these days can expect founders to stick around very long. It may happen - YouTube guys stuck around - but the odds don't favor it.

Golden handcuffs and such only go so far, because if a person's mind is not fully engaged, what's the point in him or her showing up?

This has the effect of lowering the price acquirers would want to pay. I have seen this dynamic play out. When one of the companies I am involved with acquired a small company (note that most such deals are never publicly announced), they simply told the founders to stick around 3-6 months, hand over the technology and go. There was not even a plan to ask them to stick around. Of course, the price paid reflected that. This is the flip-side of the "talent acquisition" deals we read about - pure tech acquisitions, valued only for the code and the jump-start it gives someone else.
We're in agreement there -- the DOM is a nice place (technically the only place) to store state for light JS enhancement of web sites, but I think we're going to see a larger gap grow between those and web apps.
Money, not necessarily. But wealth means "stuff people want".
> don’t know what the plugin is like as i’ve not been able to use it!

Not to detract from the issue here but that quote seeed a little strange to me. Something's not right. Why would your production server need to support any features for you to try something. Even worse why you test it on your production server first.
I'm not too familiar with C, but don't compilers have to adhere to the standard? Is the issue developers who depended on GCC-specific behaviour for things the standard doesn't document?
Have any programmers in here had any experiences with nootropics (*racetams, DMAE, etc)?
Ah, great -- we agree then after all. Models contain sophisticated domain logic, but know nothing about HTML or DOM manipulation. Perhaps that point could be expanded with a bit more nuance at the end of article.
- web based admin interface
- Creating a browseable catalog
- integration with various payment options
- promotions, coupons, sales
- shipping related features
- CMS/website builder features

There are a lot of features an simple online shop might want to use. Cart is used as a general term
Review my app: MyClanPlan - A dead simple planner for friends
I'd love to get feedback on my webapp http://www.myclanplan.com

Its an attempt to make a very basic planning utility for friends that might come in handy while organising a party or a trip. 'Planning' here referring to a collection of tasks and notes(suggestions or resource links or comments for people working to complete the tasks), put up by anyone with access to the plan page.

I would like to know if you think a simple planner is even required in the first place. I found planning for my friend's birthday party, via back and forth emails, a big pain and decided to build this.

Specifically, I'd love to hear from you regarding the application's no login/register approach, design, interaction, workflow and the usefulness of the content on the help page.

Suggestions and feature requests are most welcome. Thanks.
You can call yourself anything you want, entrepreneur, CEO, etc. It may be a fallacy to measure entrepreneurship by age. But I am not sure it really matters though. The only thing that matters in this game are bottom line results. If you want great results, it's better to accept the natural tendencies of the media, investors and the public and exploit them where you can. Because for every advantage you have (being young for the media and investors for instance) you'll find equal disadvantages now or later (being young for hiring more experienced execs as you grow your company for instance). Good luck!!!
Since I never worked for FB or google I can only make a guess. People who are leaving for Facebook from Google (or any other company) are doing so not because they think facebook has something better to offer than Google in terms of working in interesting stuff and perhaps even offer better work environment or salary; but because facebook is the best place to work before IPO.

I think this is an excellent way to weed out people who are interested in working on interesting stuff and people who are just working for the money (not that there is anything wrong with that).

Not that to say that there are no interesting stuff to work in facebook, but there is no comparison to Google.
I would argue that the questions asked are largely wrong. A ceiling on rents does reduce the amount and quality of housing. The question, then, is: how much does it reduce amount and quality of housing, and how much does it lower prices? If we have minimum wages, unemployment will be higher, but how much higher? On the other hand, how much higher will average wage be?

Economics is a cost/benefit trade-off. If minimum wage doesn't reduce unemployment that much (and all evidence is that it doesn't -- the US is at about a natural level of unemployment in the long term, moving up and down with business cycles), we're better off with it in place. If it kills employment, we're better off without it.
Here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1848070
Basically, it doesn't sound like a bad idea to take a pill one weekend in the month. You'll do all the things you've been meaning to for ages, and then go back to normal.

I'd try it myself if I weren't dubious of the "no side-effects" thing. I don't think it's very likely that a drug makes you supersmart without having ill effects...
My experience with Concerta (albeit a different drug), is not the same. I have seen a massive increase in my ability to concentrate and complete tasks, as well as be creative (in relation to my start up and business development). Though, creativity is relative to any one person and context.
>E.g., if we buy more transistors, then the price of each transistor has to go up. Right: Transistors used to cost several dollars each, and now, after buying many billions, maybe trillions, of transistors, we can buy a few hundred million for less than $100, retail

He's making the common ceteris paribus assumption, taking only into account supply at demand (common in elementary economics), ie. the point is to demonstrate how mainly the price elasticity of materials and capable labor force affect the price. Obviously the model will break down if you selectively add variables to it, that's like going to an elementary school physics class and complaining about how they're not taking wind resistance into account in their calculations. There are models that give you the price of transistors as a function of time, with the improving production efficiency taken into accout. You won't find any sufficiently complex one in an elementary economics textbook, though.

>Still, the econonuts want to conclude that China is more efficient at sewing buttons. No they aren't: Instead, the Chinese government understands what the econ profs don't: China takes their young women and makes each of them "an offer they can't refuse", work for pennies a hour under whatever conditions, or else, period. It's not a matter of being efficient.

You won't find a single econ prof that will say Chinese have some inherent, more efficient way of sewing. What they're saying, is that the Chinese have comparative advantage.

How much do you think people living in South Carolina would get paid for sewing buttons? People in South Caroline have better education, health care, infastructure, communications sytems etc. Would you want to have someone like that sewing buttons, when they'd be perfectly capable of doing many jobs that deliver higher added value to the economy?

I don't agree on much of the other points either, but sorry to say, I'm pretty limited on time.
Maybe it's a coping mechanism. I mean how else could you do that job? If you and 50 people you work with are assigned to pat down strangers in an airport terminal, would you say no? Or would you find a way to deal, and just do it?
Planning to look for another technical founder, if i can find an suitable replacement will continue with it. Most likely to develop and try for the next cycle.
Might want to wait a couple days to make sure your congresspeople still have their jobs...
Storing the dynamic salt in the same database together with the user's password hash still doesn't tell you HOW the salt is applied or HOW the product has been digested. This requires insight into the login procedure of the application, and this is where the strength of the salt lies. Adding on this security can be done by storing users' salts somewhere else instead of keeping them in the same table and db as the hashes.

My personal method is to work with two salts; one static half (just for the added entropy) kept with the login code, and one dynamic half (always random - not computed from user input) kept in a separate database, away from the hashes. This forces the attacker to acquire not just the database with the hashes, but also the database with the salts, AND the application's login code, in order to get anywhere.
Yup thats the festival alright.
Apple does not agree to abide by your terms. Instead, by clicking "I Agree" when you submit a new app, you (app submitter) is agreeing to abide by Apple's terms. That's an important distinction in this case. It's irrelevant if you'd like Apple to change their polices. (Though they may some day - they've changed and relaxed many things over the years.) The point is that someone told Apple they had all legal permissions required to allow Apple to distribute it the way they do, and since there was an actual legal contract involved, Apple trusted that person. That person was apparently mistaken. It is that person whom the FSF and/or the VLC dev should be angry about - not Apple. (At least in this case.)

Yes, Apple's policies are calculated. That doesn't make them evil nor does it make them necessarily wrong. It sounds to me like you want your (GPL, etc) rules to trump Apple's rules. What gives you that right? The App Store is huge, popular, and everyone wants a piece of it. Apple created that success for themselves. You (or anyone else) has no basis to rush in and claim they deserve their own little slice of it just because. You play by Apple's rules until Apple changes their rules or don't play at all. Don't like it? Go somewhere else - that's your right which is given in exchange for Apple having the right to make their own rules.
Judge my start up idea
Get your own personal assistant

Imaging waking up in the morning and having your personal assistant tell you what is your schedule for the day and other information that are useful to you. Personal assistants aren't cheap, but having such service is priceless. We are currently developing a virtual personal assistance. In the morning or on your way to work, your assistant can report you the important emails, interesting news headlines, the important tweets you follow, even weather and traffic. Through configurations, you can even set up scheduled reporting and have your virtual personal assistants call you in the morning to wake you up and remind you of your daily agenda.

I am interested in what you think about this application. What do you think about this idea? What can i improve? Who do you think will buy this application?
1 in 5 Facebook Employees Worked at Google
And? You can always trade (CPU-)time for space. Nothing new here.
Krugman-Murphy economic debate challenge via thepoint.com
Agreed. It seems extremely unlikely that a drug which alters your brain chemistry does not have any ill side effects. If it doesn't have chemically addictive properties, it most certainly has emotionally addictive qualities.
I can't speak for Provigil but I've used both Focalin (dexmethylphenidate) and Adderall (basically amphetamines) to help me study/work on tough projects and have had phenomenal results. I don't notice any "lack" in my creativity and honestly I find myself pumping out higher-quality work when I can focus in and get "in the zone". My writing improves, programming skills shoot through the fucking roof, and I find I can work from many different perspectives on any given problem.

Always in moderation of course. I couldn't imagine speeding every work day just to finish projects
Three Mobile-Software Rules
I just remember hearing about sudden deaths of people who were on a nootropic drug (not sure if it was this one). Does anyone remember the drug? I don't think the risk is worth the reward...
Depends on how much flow you have to start with I guess.

As for side effects - they are there - but they are mild. If I stop taking them then the worst that happens is that I want to spend a day napping. But then I'm back to normal. Seriously - withdrawing for caffeine is much worse.

Having said that. I don't actually advise that people take them without a prescription. Besides the obvious legal issues - there are people who genuinely need them just to have a reasonably normal life. Black market demand could make them more difficult to obtain for these people (especially me!).
People who win the lottery are generally not any happier six months later. Individuals seem to have a kind of equilibrium of happiness. I think it's reasonable that the guards would acclimate to a really crappy situation as well.
"Nope. There are many other possibilities. The law could be that bad, but enforcement could be inconsistent. The law could be that bad, but certain classes might be relatively immune. And so on."

Nope. Intervention is on national television. A cop somewhere has to be seeing it. If it was as bad as you say, those people would be arrested asap. and certain classes might be immune? Please. the people on the show are from different classes.

"it's deductively provable that prohibition acts as fuel for these things."

So you are making the argument that the prohibition of drugs causes someone to form a gang? Why do people decide to do drugs in the first place?

Pot for example gets you high. It allows you to forget, for a short time, any of the bad things happening in your life and gives you a temporary happiness. Anyone that needs to do this has problems. It's those same bad problems at home that make gangs so enticing. Gangs provide family, a support network, and power.
What about the short and long-term side effects of foods, they also alter your brain chemistry, such as chocolate which can/does increase dopamine production, and many others.
I don't know what the answer is. But whenever a topic like this comes up, I can't help but think about Prohibition and how it failed to stop people from drinking alcohol and, instead, just created powerful crime lords. Ultimately, it was repealed (but only after Capone and the whole legendary Chicago gangland era).
New Orleans Mayor Wants to Scrap Surveillance Cameras
Zombie Inglor - Play Zombie Inglor online at Y3 Games
You just have been bitten by a zombie! You have 50-days and 50-nights to find a cure! Good Luck!
"P.S. My comment about corruption was not meant to address the "corruption" of individuals who join gangs, rather it was meant to describe the corruption of the criminal justice system, society, and the political process that prohibitions causes."

Ahh, because if drugs were allowed, we would see virtually no gang activity in the US. We should check out Portugal and Amsterdam to see if all of the gangs just decided to disban because drugs are legalized.
That's the first sane official statement about patents I've heard in a long time. There must be something I'm missing in this debate, because to me the fact that naturally occurring genes are not inventions is as obvious as that mathematical theorems are. (It's actually even more obvious, the genes can be plainly seen around us, when you know they're there.) It's as if software algorithms were written on the leaves of trees around us, but we needed to dye them to see the source.

Whether a synthetic gene is an invention is a different story to me. That's much more closely related to whether software is patentable. But no one would seriously argue that they could patent RSA if they turned a rock over and found the algorithm written down, no matter how many stones they had to turn to find it.
I disagree, in a way. I used to take amphetamines when studying (adderall) and I'd find that I could completely get lost in whatever task I was pursuing. So, if I stayed focused on my study material, I'd absorb the material very thoroughly and quickly (relatively speaking). However, if I'd get distracted by something ~creative like, say, drawing a picture or composing a song (I didn't do any coding back then) I could get similarly lost in that task. That ability to "get lost" in something is, to me, very powerful creatively.

Here's an example of the sort of artwork that I would do on speed that I probably wouldn't have the patience for, otherwise:

http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/5550/penroseknotv3sm.jpg

I'm sure there are some types of creativity that are blunted, but the ability to direct extended focus and attention to any task (even creative ones) is a powerful thing that shouldn't be overlooked.
"f you're using Vicodins legal status (requires prescription) as a comparison then pot and cocaine are already legal."

Right..so why fight for other forms of it then?

Also, it didn't stop people from selling it on the black market (like so many proponents would like you to believe)
Ask HN: Having emotional breakdown 
I am a student in an undergraduate programme from India just turned 21. I dont have many friends and mostly a loner in college who always feel shy to talk and kind of introvert. I was a good student till first year and then things started to fall apart from second year. I always felt that I was not guided properly and even the professors themselves dont know anything in India.

My grades were horrible for two years and that was
like so demoralising that I lost my self confidence even nore. Being shy at college also did not help and even some good for nothing teachers gave me a hard time; I fell completely lonely, even the motivation which was from visiting HN and other sites is fading. Not even remember any single piece of achievement and appreciation in these two years and always feel like dropping out of college.
I now think I am going on right path but still college and the people phobia keeps haunting me.
Never have I had a clear mind; the minute I start studying I get emotionally down by remembering any fscking embarrasing situation I had. I have never consulted my problem this deeply to anyone in college. The fact that I let go couple of years that could had made me more confident in python programming is making me feel worse. Need some good advice that will not let me look back on my shitty past?
It's just a reminder to everyone of the view that guy/lady in the booth has. "This is how the security agent sees you."
More complicated than you think
They don't make you "supersmart" and they don't have side-effects that you'd be bothered by. They're like many things: if you take too much too often, you'll feel bad. If you use it moderately it can be useful.
Tell that to the gangs in Mexico and the Philippines. I have a feeling that if drugs were legalized, and these did increase, proponents would blame it on something else.
There's a ticket that proposes adding a "hashchange" router to Backbone, if you're interested in contributing your thoughts:

http://github.com/documentcloud/backbone/issues#issue/35

The big question is if it's useful enough -- Models/Collections/Views are used constantly, whereas hashchange routing is a comparatively tiny part of an app. For the record, the previous Backbone+Sammy discussion is here:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1788456

And there's another on the Sammy list:

http://groups.google.com/group/sammyjs/browse_thread/thread/...
What I find most astonishing is that people administer 'smart' drugs without having the slightest clue to their long-term side effects. You discount long-term risks in favor of short-term gains.

We humans simply don't understand much of what goes on in the brain - I wouldn't believe there is anything to be done to your brain, like enhancing cognitive abilities through drugs, without unintended consequences.
In theory, they could. I suspect that, practically, that's not going to be possible. I don't know all the details, but I imagine it'd mean going to every contributor and getting some kind of statement that they are allowing their code to be relicensed under a new license. That'd be pretty nasty. I believe Squeak Smalltalk went through something like this and it took years.
VideoLAN did not submit any application. A company named Applidium did.
"Perhaps, dear sir, you could recognize that there is an entire spectrum of possibility that falls outside of the choices "coddle them" and "stomp on their necks with boots until they stop"."

The only way people ever stop is when they hit "rock bottom" and realize the terrible choices they are making. This usually means going to jail for at least a little while.
Hm. Google maps suggests you take up kayaking.
Chatroulette Traffic Reduces by 75%. Revenue Doubles.
Have you tried meditation? I have had anxiety issues in the past and practicing meditation has worked wonders.
This article could not have been written to tempt me any more effectively.

'It doesn't cause hyperfocused procrastination, like Adderal or Dexedrine. It's 'deep concentration.' And you can go off it whenever you want! It's a temporary smart pill with no withdrawal symptoms!'

D'oh. "Get behind me, Satan!"
I bought that book on a recommendation to use as a teaching aid. It was the single worst book I have ever seen, entire sections of the book where missing. I had to scrap it as a teaching aid all together and purchase yet another book. After that purchase I have never looked at another Head First book. I don't know if it has been corrected in later version but the omissions where so obvious that it gave the impression of just wanting to shovel crap on the market to grab a buck.
Clickable: http://www.myclanplan.com

I started to evaluate MyClanPlan as I have an actual use for this, but I stopped when I had to provide an email address. I don't want to provide an email address, and I don't think I should have to. I think many other people will stop at that point too.

Here's a suggestion. Ask someone for a "password" and generate your "random" link based on that. Put it on the page, and don't email it to them. Allow them to use the system without an email, but offer some features only with an email. Offer reminders, or invitations, or something like that, but only with an email. In this way people can use and evaluate your system without exposing their email, but gain access to more features when they know it will be useful.

Limit the number of reminders, etc, on a free plan, and then offer unlimited reminders for a small fee. Then put ads on the free versions, and remove them from the paid for version.

Just thinking through the keyboard - feel free to ignore me. I like the idea, I'm just not willing to give away my email address that easily.
This is a great idea -- I'll send it to some privacy organizations and see what they think ...
Ironic isn't it? Most (if not all) of Joel's products are built on Microsoft technology.