skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
With all due respect for your accomplishments, next time you want to generalize that people are xenophobic, please speak for yourself.

Nobody made any value judgements on either word. It's quite clear the word offshoring doesn't make sense for United States companies outsourcing to Canada or Mexico, just like the Germans can't offshore to France. However, Italy can offshore to the United States and vice versa.

Maybe I'm wrong about the semantics (people are free to vote the post up or down), but it's not fair to imply that rms, staunch, or I feel there's anything wrong with people who live in other countries.
I wonder if the image modding system, particularly with the way it is worded, will encourage people to try and shock the modders. Maybe you'll do a flickr-like transition and in a month you'll be wh0cangr0ssme0ut.com
Actually that's fairly indicative of personal letters of the well-educated of that era. People often used such terms when writing about those they had met who they were on friendly terms with or admired. The world was smaller then, and every person you met took on more significance.

It is not at all surprising that a prodigy and professor of mathematics would have a high opinion of another professor or scientist who impressed him with his intelligence or character, whether famous or not.
From Wikipedia:

"Offshoring is defined as the movement of a business process done at a company in one country to the same or another company in another, different country. Almost always work is moved due to a lower cost of operations in the new location. Offshoring is sometimes contrasted with outsourcing or offshore outsourcing. Outsourcing is the movement of internal business processes to an external company. Companies subcontracting in the same country would be outsourcing, but not offshoring. A company moving an internal business unit from one country to another would be offshoring, but not outsourcing. A company subcontracting a business unit to a different company in another country would be both outsourcing and offshoring."

So there is a small semantical difference between the two, offshoring is broader.

Edit: Offshoring is not necessarily broader than outsourcing, except offshoring applies to internal and external business processes.
Who's behind TheFunded.com? Not Jason Calacanis
No way -- plenty of flameouts were led by hackers, too. On top of that, the reason we've heard about the "most notorious" flameouts is because they actually knew something about marketing!

I'd bet that the vast majority of successful companies start with a problem, and then ask "how can technology help me solve this problem?" Sure, there are notable exceptions that worked backward, e.g. eBay, Amazon, Viaweb. They saw the inherent potential in a technology and asked "what problem can this technology help me solve?" And, no doubt, if you can pull that off, you're probably more likely to hit one out of the park rather than "merely" build a sustainable business. But most of the stuff that programmers build these days are solutions for non-existent problems.

I'd go so far as to say that, often, those who best understand the medium have the worst ideas of what to do with it. The more time they spend on the nuts and bolts of the technology, the less time they spend exploring other domains, where they might find more interesting and mainstream problems.
I feel your pain. I also have more dreams than time to carry them out.
Yeah, you're right. But I'm going to be fighting that.. It's all I can do. We're gonna implement a public ban system for griefers.
Fully agree. I'm going to make safe-for-work upvoted images appear on the front page to get some nice graphics going, and cut down the chain lists to maybe ten at a time.

I tried to make the process of creating your chains and maintaining multiple chains really easy. Chain's biggest strength is the fact that it's useful even though no one else is using it. So maybe we can figure out how to emphasize that a little more..

Also, having a full time job is incredibly frustrating.
He makes some good points, but he's calling for higher level functionality AS WELL AS less code bloat. Those two solutions can't come to java at the same time.
> On top of that, the reason we've heard about the "most notorious" flameouts is because they actually knew something about marketing!

Interesting point. I never thought of it that way. When a company is run by hackers, they usually only get publicity once they've created a product worthy of it. By that time, they're most of the way to success. Whereas when you have marketing guys at the top, the publicity comes when the company is less mature. So the perception that companies run by marketers flame out more often might be partially a result of selection bias.
If you have a Canadian make a logo for you, are you offshoring? NO--there's no shore by my definition, and there's no moving of an existing process according to Wikipedia.

I think for startups, outsourcing is the best term to use.
"Or maybe we're hairball paste you feed a cat so a hairball won't get stuck. They're cats and the hairballs are all the little problems that crop up. But you've got to lick yourself anyway, right? Just don't choke. Programmers are a lot like cats, actually. We're like magical cat-herding Unicorns."
I have an (utterly unsubstantiated) theory about this. I think that startups started by people with a business background have a BETTER chance of SOME SORT of success than startups started by hackers.

That being said, I think that businesses started by hackers have a greater chance for spectacular success (which is the empirical evidence that I think you're talking about-- and that kind of success is the only kind most VCs (or press outlets or bloggers) really care about or want to talk about.

In other words, business people are more equipped to solve the problems that assail most businesses-- and slog through to some sort of success/profit. Hackers, on the other hand, are more apt to ignore these problems or attempt do something revolutionary.

When biz people try to emulate hackers and aim for these revolutionary victories, that's where you often see the flameouts that you're talking about.
According to their book, they don't listen to feedback!

"That's why you start with no. Every new feature request that comes to us -- or from us -- meets a no. We listen but don't act. The initial response is "not now." If a request for a feature keeps coming back, that's when we know it's time to take a deeper look. Then, and only then, do we start considering the feature for real."
Wow, some of the (the ones with large displays) look really interesting. What a pitty there are no stores where I can go and try these out.

I wonder if you have bash and stuff, so you can simply run shellscripts and any software you like.
I'd change the title to "Adam Scott:" because the way it looks like it should be a Dilbert cartoon.
In this case the distinction between outsourcing and offshoring gets fuzzy because making the logo was not something that was previously done by Kevin Rose's company, because Kevin Rose's company didn't do any internal logo development or hire any local companies to do logo development. I don't think a correct use of the word offshoring requires crossing an ocean, it seems to be accepted that it just means a different country, even if the word itself doesn't imply this meaning.

I'll agree that outsourcing is a more appropriate term, I used the word offshoring in my initial post without thinking because I thought (incorrectly) it was less politically charged than outsourcing. I'm going to agree with SwellJoe and say that there's something inherently xenophobic about the word offshoring.
I think makers need to be proactive though. Regulators could start to treat hobby planes like 747s, as far as the difficulty of selling them and getting them off the ground.

It would be wise in the DIY community to show that trying to stop people is a waste of time. Real security solutions require innovation. An example: SAMs are by far still the easiest and cheapest way to take out a plane. But we spend many billions on stopping 7 year olds with safety scissors.

I think it's up to innovators to show how to make things really secure, or demonstrate that there is no such thing, and best to avoid the pretense and waste.
Out of curiosity, what do you consider your strengths (aside from ideas)? Design? Marketing? Accounting? Writing? All of these things have a place in a software startup. If you're good at all of them, you're golden (because most hackers decidedly aren't).

But, at the end of the day, the most expensive and time-consuming thing that software startups need from the outset is software development. Other than design, there's not a lot of need for other skills before you manage to create a product that people want to have.

But I'd echo the sentiment mentioned elsewhere. Dabble in programming and see if you're enjoy it. If you don't, focus on your strengths.
I'd really, really appreciate it if you all could list the things you hate (or like) about the site. Anything you'd like changed can be changed. We take your feedback seriously.

How can we make this thing useful for you, specifically? Whomever is reading this, right now. Post something you would find useful, no matter how outlandish it is.

We're two people with time and hacking experience and we can make anything you want work, and we'd be really indebted to you for making demands. How would you want Chain to look if it were your own project?

Is there anything you saw that made you think "Hey, that's neat"? We'll accentuate it. Something that frustrated you? Removed. Something missing? Added.

Thank you so much.
It's worth paying the extra $.89 over GoDaddy just because the checkout process isn't painful.
If this is true, then all IBM needs to do is buy more web2.0 websites.
It's just marketing by F.U.D. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear%2C_uncertainty_and_doubt).

If you ever try selling to a corporation (especially as a startup), you'll come across it all the time.
Apple and the DRM free market madness
1-Why not make it a facebook widget?
2-I take it that it has reminder emails sent at specific times?
Thank you!

1) Yes, I need to make a Facebook app. But do you think making a Facebook widget would only cover up the problem? The core functionality should be useful.. maybe the site should be accentuating different things than what it is currently. I'll see what I can whip up over the weekend though (thank god for weekends).

2) I didn't want to spam people. Good idea though, I'll make it an option.
Yeah, it just shows how far behind the US wireless industry still is compared to the rest of the world. If the US telcos would allow any device on their networks (like in other parts of the world), more cool devices like these would be available to consumers. Its a shame.
There are so many reasons to give up, and "I can't program" is one of them. "I'm too old", "I'm too inexperienced" seem to be a couple of popular ones.

There are advantages and disadvantages, and I admire every person who decides to put everything he/she has into it.

That said, we don't have to work this one out through logic - we can look out into the world and observe. Think of the top ten start-ups that IPO'd or were bought last year, and take a look at the bio's who founded them. The numbers don't look good for founders who can't program.

Thing is, hacking is something you can learn to do. You can't make yourself younger, or taller, but there's nothing stopping you from downloading ruby (or, if you have a mac, opening a console) and get to it.

It does take a while to learn to program - but if it didn't, then it wouldn't be much of an advantage.

If you really don't want to go through it, there are certainly some notable successes for non-programmers. If you can add a lot of value as a founder and help make a lot of people successful, then go for it.
Charming Python #13  Functional Programming in Python (part 1)
Charming Python #13  Functional Programming in Python (part 2)
Charming Python #13 Functional Programming in Python (part 3)
Neverending Story
This seemed fun, so here we are! Each item you see represents a story beginning (from http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:lzbH4IRHqUIJ:www.readwr...). Click on one and leave a reply to add to the story. You can branch off at any time, and others can upvote your additions.

I fully expect this to turn into one big ragefest, but it'll be interesting to see the results anyway, and it seemed like a neat hack. Probably NSFW eventually.
This seemed fun, so here we are! Each item you see represents a story beginning (from http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:lzbH4IRHqUIJ:www.readwr...). Click on one and leave a reply to add to the story. You can branch off at any time, and others can upvote your additions. More popular ones will appear above others.

I fully expect this to turn into one big ragefest, but it'll be interesting to see the results anyway, and it seemed like a neat hack.

For some reason, I can't add initial text to submissions, so I'm posting this as a comment :)

So be silly and post whatever you'd like, and your peers will rate you. Feel free to contribute your own story beginnings, too!
The Future: The mindset of the Class of 2029
Another point of view on the real estate implosion
So male-oriend websites should be blue to help the 10% that is colorblind, and female websites should be pink to attract women. I guess mothers are fundamentally right when they dress up baby boys in blue and baby girls in pink.
You can only add initial text to submissions without links. This really threw me off for a while too.
Aha. Thank you.
I think learning code (even HTML and basic queries) is helpful. While I don't code per se, I'm familiar with what code can and can't do, and it's been invaluable in growing many companies.

Keep in mind the advice you're getting here is relatively slanted toward programmer-centric minds.

Try posting it on LinkedIN answers and see how your responses vary.
Point taken. It's actually Scott Adams, and I was in a hurry posting the while... at my job.
I can't remember very precisely. One problem was that we couldn't create a contact without a first name. Another was that it took so many keystrokes to add a new contact. I think another was that you could only see a few per page.
"Designing security in" is not enough to guarantee security. You also need to have good programmers. I wouldn't be surprised if the average web 2.0 app had better security than IBM's enterprise imitations thereof, simply because the guys writing it were so much smarter.
Poll: Are you a suit or geek? ( I am not a geek )
The latest poll http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41685 showed some interesting results regarding startup location.
Now it would be nice to know what is the difference in percentage between the numbers of suits and geeks contributing to N.YC.
Isn't AT&T the only carrier with the necessary infrastructure to support some of the cooler phone features like visual voicemail, etc.?
Startup Inspiration: The Formula, Malcolm Gladwell.
seems hindsight enables us to judge 'what a moron' --however we are all willing to take the chance of being "the one that will be the 10% IT'
I'm a geeky suit. I'd imagine pretty much everyone here is either that, or a suity geek.
What they should have done was get posters from Demotivators and see if the PHB noticed.

http://www.demotivators.com/viewall.html
I'm a t-shirt and jeans geek,but I wear suits on weddings ;)
Why Smart People Have Bad Ideas
Is the current representation of the chain just the number under the picture? I think you need something to visualize the continuation from day-to-day of the chains and any breaks. If you do break the chain it would be cool to have an update on what your previous record was for keeping the it intact: motivation to keep the current chain going and beat the record.
Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
This is most interesting to me;

"This is a controversial view. One expert on "entrepreneurship" told me that any startup had to include business people, because only they could focus on what customers wanted. I'll probably alienate this guy forever by quoting him, but I have to risk it, because his email was such a perfect example of this view:

"80% of MIT spinoffs succeed provided they have at least one management person in the team at the start. The business person represents the "voice of the customer" and that's what keeps the engineers and product development on track."

This is, in my opinion, a crock. Hackers are perfectly capable of hearing the voice of the customer without a business person to amplify the signal for them. Larry Page and Sergey Brin were grad students in computer science, which presumably makes them "engineers." Do you suppose Google is only good because they had some business guy whispering in their ears what customers wanted? It seems to me the business guys who did the most for Google were the ones who obligingly flew Altavista into a hillside just as Google was getting started."
> What's good for YC is good for the country!

It's not that unlikely. Since we had the luxury of doing whatever we wanted by the time we started YC, it stands to reason we'd do something beneficial instead of merely money-making.
Great idea! Right now it represents how many upvotes that post received from others. The idea was you'd create an interesting entry and others would read about your experience. But that probably won't be useful until there are more people using the site.

Thank you!
I'm not sure I agree with him classifying those people who take a risk, but ultimately fail, as "morons." Although he also classifies those who don't take a risk (i.e. work at corporate jobs) as morons as well. I guess smart people are the ones who somehow succeed without ever first failing?
I had the pleasure of working at a company where daily I walked by the adjacent offices of a VP and a head developer.

The VP had a real motivational poster on her wall, one about teamwork and aspirations. The developer had a de-motivational poster, one about replacing workers with robots.
http://www.demotivators.com/motivation.html

To my knowledge, the two never acknowledged the irony of the situation.
What about visual voicemail and push email? You can't legally clone those without Apple/AT&T blessing. Also, you are limited by the carrier signal since iPhone only works with the EDGE/GPRS.
With that price tag?

"Although a single unit sold for $16,000, a typical office would have to purchase at least 2 or 3 machines along with a file server and a print server. Dropping $50,000 to $100,000 for a complete installation was not an easy sell."
My strengths are the ability to grasp technical problems, act as the face of the company (lead meetings with investors, presentations, hiring), and more than anything, I listen well. That being said, I'm definitely looking forward to contributing to a significant amount of the content and design.

Thank you for the great suggestions!
I think that is excellent advise, thank you! If you have come across a link that explains what each language's advantages are for web-development, please share.
Dotcom Falls Into Baby Name Domain
You Didn't Blow the Interview, Your College Facebook Profile Kept You From Getting the Job
It reads like a marketing pitch to acquirers -- "don't build, buy! Look at this one, a 2.0 webby thingamajig, ain't she a beaut? Only nine ninety nine nine nine nine ninety-nine. Hardly any miles!"

Google sure seems to have a lot of success developing apps in-house, and due to integration requirements this makes a lot more sense in many cases. An outside party would simply be unable to provide an optimal solution in those instances. E.g., Kiko.
I think you're right, except when it comes to what you say about brevity.

I don't think it's important for a program to have a small text-footprint in order for it to be easily loaded into your brain. Why? Because it's the CONCEPTS behind the application code we're loading into our heads. It's not the text itself. So... if I have a program where I've formulated a class tree, it doesn't matter to the ease with which I can grasp the program whether the classes are formulated in Python, C#, C++ or Pascal. It's the concept of the class tree which we load into our head. Not the code itself.

So, on that point you're actually wrong. Brevity isn't important.

That said, a lot of your other points actually DO make sense.
I'm pretty sure that a lot of programmers, engineers and designers of many things get the message. A lot of them will understand the issue along additional axes too.

The problem is the people who impact problems and haven't got a clue. There seem to be a lot of them and they are dragging mankind backwards, slowing and even reversing progress. These are the turkeys who blame programmers for a majority failure rate of projects.

It's important to deturkify these guys. What can you do to help that happen?
Ajax Solitaire
I don't mean to be a downer, but how many times can these principles be re-worded and written about by different people?
Reddit stored passwords in plaintext for a year... you can't make such assumptions. There are likely smart guys working for IBM, as well. I think avoiding bureacracy, not having dozens of people work on the same code, and being able to release to the public a small app with little code and little publicity and grow from there is what helps startups.
One useful technique for design/debugging is to read through the code, and explain it, to somebody else. (Whether or not they're actually there is often surprisingly immaterial)
Good god, don't bring that up again. It makes me want to kick someone.
ugh. gut-wrenchingly eurocentric.
I've read the article and I really think, that's stupid to check the candidates social network profiles.

Whats the matter if someone drinks beer with friends, or likes any kind of music?
If someone hires you or not because of your social network profile, then that person has no sense of business.

If someone think that is important to have a nice-safe profile, maybe we should all suit up, and start taking pictures of us reading some really hard books, or using the product of the hiring company.

Or even better, we can wear a t-shirt with the company logo!
Maybe the Y Combinator logo in your profile?
Here's a link to the Artix website (RTM & PG's first startup):

http://web.archive.org/web/19961226071744/http://www.artix.c...

This is apparently a year into their venture, but I think they'd already abandoned the idea at this point. Notice the ad on the top for Viaweb.
Nah, the ones who succeed without ever failing are "lucky". There are no smart people.

I think it's a nifty perspective. Everyone's an idiot. Remember that the next time you think you're smart.
AWESOME DUDE

Thank you for posting that link, that's sweet. Seriously, you've made my week. I've just signed up with Pingability.com because they offer a (basic) test for free if you post a link to them on your homepage.

This service is MUCH better, and it's free because I use Firefox. Gotta love open source! :)

Thanks again terpua.
Personally, I don't think anything will truly replace email (at least not for many many years). Twitter is a nice fringe communication tool but simply that. Hopefully what Twitter and the new communication apps will contribute to is a reduction in the number of pointless short emails I get. Perhaps the article should be titled, Twitter is the new IM.
Grrrrreat, so Google can listen to your phone calls as well as read your email, view your schedule, track your browsing, etc... :)

If the phone isn't locked to Google services and is based on an open source platform it could be nice. Personally, I'm waiting for OpenMoko to be consumer ready...
http://www.openmoko.org/
That's pretty crazy, but as one of the commenters said, he is a convicted criminal, that has repercussions. Could be a great opportunity for RedHat or Suse to sue the government on the basis of unfair competition though... :)
Well, he's certainly not having an issue getting funding. :-)