skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Well I suppose I asked here because I knew that I share the same (very specific) interests as other YCers. Other people at Meetup may not necessarily even know about YC or Paul Graham or any of the other things we as a group tend to find interesting/cool.
Then again, I heard that when Yahoo! started charging to get into their online dating service, they actually saw dramatic increases in membership due to the added ensurance of reputation a fee provides.

That's an interesting angle. Nothing quite like that pay-barrier to act as a filter for quality users. Though, it's a smaller percentage of sites where this is both applicable and truly rewarding for the company.
That logo and site is some kung-fu mastery.
Burning bridges is always a bad idea unless you're certain you can get more benefit from burning that bridge than from keeping it.
If you look up the words education and training you will see that there are differences in definition but that all college programs contain aspects of both education and training. You are creating a false dichotomy. I can only speak of the effect an ABET engineering program had on me: it changed the way my mind works on a fundamental level. Good education of any variety tends to have that effect.
Yay Aaron and Ryan!
This whole post is complete nonsense.

Taking two examples of applications written in Lisp and trying to shoehorn a premise to it is ridiculous. Lisp/PHP/Perl/Ruby/Java are all tools. Anyone who tells you that one house is better than another because it was built with a different type of hammer would (and should) be laughed at.

Take this quote and substitute Ruby/Rails or Python/Django or even Java/Spring would give you the same answer and even have a larger base of developers to draw from.

"Our hypothesis was that if we wrote our software in Lisp, we'd be able to get features done faster than our competitors, and also to do things in our software that they couldn't do. And because Lisp was so high-level, we wouldn't need a big development team, so our costs would be lower. If this were so, we could offer a better product for less money, and still make a profit. We would end up getting all the users, and our competitors would get none, and eventually go out of business."
Reverse-engineering user reviews
Compete.com Announces Attention-Based Web Metrics
James Hong: The Return of FREE!
Consumating releases source code
Ten Easy Ways to Make Money This Summer
The first-impressions game for web 2.0 startups (turn web site reviews into a fun activity)
Why not build a first-impressions games for web 2.0 startups?

See for example http://listengame.org and http://espgame.org for ideas on how this could be done.
i do. i use tonik.com because it's cheap. might be worth checking out.

(only available in CA and a few other states)
Are you kidding?
Who has time to be sick?
Great question. Short answer, yes.

First, the way things are structured tax-wise, C corporations get to deduct founder health insurance 100%, so that's the most tax-advantaged scenario. If you pay for your own personal health insurance or do it as a sole proprietorship, etc. you're basically getting a raw deal from Congress.

I'm in California, where basically any 2+ person small business that's been around about like 3-6 months is guaranteed group health insurance for its employees at no more than 10% over an index that represents what bigger companies pay. It's a sweet deal. So if you're in California and are going to go this route, you may want to incorporate ahead of time to start that clock ticking.

So basically the company pays for the insurance for the founders, even though they're not drawing a salary. And you get much more flexible options than through COBRA (naturally) or personal insurance.
I think this says more about reporters than it does about Ustream. Reporters all follow the same equation: controversial title, dissenting "industry expert", competitor, and hopeful conclusion. Justin.tv is so new that ingredient three is scarce.
Month to month rent, furnished apts, utilities included, friends and help close by - founders have enough things to think about when running a company that they are willing to pay a premium for convenience. I am.
I'm under my wife's health insurance, but otherwise I would be paying out of pocket. Here are a few suggestions:

1) Individual health insurance. Try http://www.ehealthinsurance.com or http://www.integra-insurance.com

2) Group insurance via a professional association. For example, IEEE: http://www.personal-plans.com/product/ieeeinsurance/
It's quite expensive, but the coverage is excellent

3) If you're incorporated or LLC, you might be able to get a small-business plan through Costco or some other provider
Heidi Roizen on Raising Venture Capital [Podcast 20min]
Health Insurance?

Next you'll be asking for a paycheck ...
Start with Nothing: Bootstrapping
What's a Y Combinator alternative to people who cannot afford to move to the YC area?
If you got accepted into the program, why would you not be able to afford it? YC pays your moving expenses up front.
I'm waxing originalistic, but I'll spare you the argument from Latin (the relevant verb is educare), and just skip to the OED. To educate is "3. To train (any person) so as to develop the intellectual and moral powers generally." The distinction I draw is between "develop[ing] the intellectual and moral powers generally" and training a particular skill, without respect to overall intellect.

(Also note, I'm not saying that there is no such thing as an engineering education, only that many engineering programs suck at developing the mind generally. I'd still maintain that there's a fundamental difference between engineering and liberal art/science education, but that is not a discussion for this thread.)
O'Reilly Web 2.0 Summit Audio and Video Podcasts
Not sure if it's a bug, but I got shown the same pair of pictures twice.
Check out the books by Nolo Press, you may find some of what you need already. :)

Not to say it can't be done better, but Nolo has a great reputation in the field, so they would be a tough competitor to beat.
"College is not so much about learning a set of data, but learning how to learn."

I've heard that a lot. My high school was basically founded around that premise, and I completely bought into it then. IMNSHO now, it's complete bullshit.

You don't learn how to learn by having someone teach you. You learn how to learn by butting your head up against a problem, reading everything you can about what other people have already done on the problem, trying different approaches until one works, and moving on to the next problem. After you've repeated this a few hundred times, you start figuring out which approaches are likely to work and which aren't.

The Ph.D is a good example. There are plenty of people that are "ABD" (All But Dissertation) - they've gone through all the coursework, been taught all that their instructors can teach them, but nobody considers them "real" Ph.Ds. Why? Because the meat of a Ph.D program is actually going out and doing original research, and someone who hasn't done the research doesn't really know how to do the research.

The point of a certification program is to decouple the act of learning from the act of judging how much has been learned. Right now, universities perform both functions, which in any other industry would be a ludicrous conflict of interest. And so we get grade inflation and colleges refusing to admit poorer students because it'll drop their U.S. News rankings.
The same vague generalizations could be made about any poorly implemented program of education.
This is another question I've been interested in, so thanks for asking.
I do. And so will all other founders who are Massachusetts residents as of July 1, 2007. (A new law requires all residents of the commonwealth to have health insurance by that date in order to avoid fines.)
Many people in business literature mocked and called "bluff" on Steve Jobs' http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughtsonmusic/.

I think a lot of people who believe in the iTunes-iPod lock-in strategy don't understand that the vast majority of music on iPods is not from iTunes. Any iTunes-iPod lock-in that Apple has is through the seamless experience of syncing one's music onto his or her iPod through iTunes.

The move towards non-DRM music will help Apple avoid anti-trust issues in Scandinavia and make buying digital music a better experience for users. User affinity is the #1 lock-in strategy and no one knows this better than Apple.
What kind of deal can be done between a start-up and a PR firm?
I agree that I'm skeptical of any significant technological advantage that Justin.tv possesses but they have a huge credibility advantage.

Compare Justin.tv to Ustream.tv. Justin immediately presents us with live video and even provides his real cell phone number. I was actually the first user to call, as far as I know :). On Ustream, I'm having trouble viewing any live video and even more trouble understanding what exactly I'm watching.
So we had a few marketing ideas for our start-up which I sent to one of my PR contacts who had given a speech at our uni ad club.

He replied stating he and his firm loved what we were doing and offered some valuable insights. Additionally, he said he'd be interested in working with us to execute our planned campaign and in general get more attention for us.

From the contents of his reply, if things work out we can get them to do PR for us for equity in our start-up...which opens a Pandora's Box of questions such as how much equity, how exactly the terms would be worded etc.

Would love to hear from folks who've been involved in similar kind of deals in past. We're scheduled for a call later today.

I am specifically looking for the smaller non-obvious details I should keep in mind as I discuss things with my PR contact later today.
'afford' is not necessarily a monetary term. Perhaps an ailing grandmother or other responsibilities in the community make it too costly to move.
The blame lies fully on banking regulations. Micropayments just don't work in the end.
Doesn't the answer to this depend on where you can afford to move?
'... if things work out we can get them to do PR for us for equity in our start-up ...'

can you tell me exactly how a pr firm is able to help you?

hint: the internet is your pr engine.

Concentrate on your product, release the product, get some audience and work from there. Read here [0] & listen here [1] to understand why. Build something big, then work out the money part. Maybe the question you should ask yourself realistically do these 'PR' guys make your product big? Do they know your audience? Can they improve your product, can they code?

If the product is any good, spreading the word is the easy part. Just start writing, blogging and passing around the url.

'... a Pandora's Box of questions such as how much equity, how exactly the terms would be worded etc ...'

The biggest hurdle is you may sell yourself way short. Sounds like your being sweet-talked into something that requires you to deliver the goods, "they" do something with minimal risk. I'd be sceptical of offers that don't contribute to the bottom line of your startup.

Reference
[0] pg, 'The Hardest Lessons for Startups to Learn'

http://www.paulgraham.com/investors.html

[1] pg, 'YCombinator talk, The Hardest Lessons for Startups to Learn, mp3 25Mb'

http://wiki.ycombinator.com/presentations/apr06/Paul_Graham.mp3
Comparing technology in Justin.tv and webcam with wireless connection is like comparing Lisp and Java..

Justin.tv created barrier by using the best mobile technology they know of. With that they can show contents that can not be achieved by users of Ustream.tv. The geeky gears give them branding, network effect and intangible assets, etc to widen the gap with other competitors
My fault, I should have provided more info about my start-up:

1. we already launched our site mid-Jan

2. we are getting good traffic and natural growth

3. we want to accelerate the speed of growth

We're close to launching a major release following which I would consider the core of our site done.

Back to PR - this is about a very specific(and fun) marketing idea we are planning.The ONLY goal of it is to get our name out and new user sign-ups - if anything money might be a side product. Also, this is a pretty reputable(albeit small) PR firm with clients including Google and BestBuy.
Comment on: Music gets an 'F' Clue Score
Why do Y-Combinator startups incorporate in Delaware rather than California?
Not sure how California is but read the Delaware wiki about why Delaware's best for incorporation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware_corporation
Thanks. Quote from the wikipedia article:
"Delaware's formation and annual fees are substantially higher than most other jurisdictions."
"Franchise taxes in Delaware are actually far higher than in most other states"

And, on top of that, these startups must pay California taxes and other fees because they're operating in CA (for the SF ones). Not to mention having to do paperwork for two states, and then lose some of the incentives CA gives to local corporations. For example, the minimum $800 franchise tax is waived for the first year for CA corporations, but not for foreign ones operating in CA, ASAIK.

So, with all that, there must be a compelling reason to incorporate in Delaware!!! Anyone knows what that might be?
besides twitter these are not good compared what will come out in the next 3 months
It is just the long history of case law make it a more "definate" legal venue. Most laws in the US are determined by actual cases, in court, and not in the actual written laws.

Nevada is also popular to incorporate in. I've always incorporated in Nevada because of lack of state income tax and it's favors to small business.
ill be there.
I think the corporation-friendly court system is one of the biggest pluses.

-Zaid
Amazon's latest patent, the Hybrid Machine/Human Computing Arrangement, reads like scary sci-fi
Techcrunch covers the "Hard Core Copyright Infringing" video sites
The Future of RSS
I read this through my RSS feed, but the site seems to be down... Interesting analysis of the limitations of RSS and how possible extensions could make it more powerful. [site back up now]
cool -- thanks for that!
Just to smooth things over for investors. They still have to register in CA and pay California taxes if they operate in the state.
'... We're close to launching a major release ...'

Are you listening to your own customers and gradually improving the site? So you want to increase the numbers of users? Ok. I'm cautious here because if this is really just an investment play, it is in their interest because they think they might miss out.

'... this is about a very specific(and fun) marketing idea we are planning. The ONLY goal of it is to get our name out and new user sign-ups ...'

What is plan b, c? What is the budget? and what are the objectives? Do you have a target of sign-ups? (these are questions to ask yourself)? I've seen these kinds of deals before (in my case ~ branding for customers but not equity ... Large banking corporate branding exercise on a e-commerce to increase users via rewards points). Done to increase the visibility of a site with questionable results. You have got to ask yourself ...

"Is this a HIGH VALUE TRANSACTION?" [0] Do you waste your time with these guys? Is it a distraction? Or could you really do something off your own bat?

'... this is a pretty reputable(albeit small) PR firm with clients including ...'

So this is an angel investor or equity investor? Is this deal a sweetener for a VC intro? Are you still looking for other investors? Don't stop looking because it may prevent you getting a better deal. Don't get too excited as any deals made can play out over time.

Sorry to be cynical. Set some realistic goals, add a dollar value. If it makes sense, play hard ball. These guys will, especially if they sniff a bit of desperation. Are you short of cash or ideas?

PS: Care to add the url? maybe an announcement here will give you the acceleration you require.

Reference

[0] Joshua Schacter, 'YC 2006APR06, MP3 28Mb'

http://wiki.ycombinator.com/presentations/apr06/Joshua_Schacter.mp3
Yes, I pay for COBRA to continue insurance from my previous employer. Expensive but it's good insurance.
Google Desktop for the Mac
CRV Quickstart is great if you're a bit further along than the idea stage.

http://www.crv.com/AboutCRV/QuickStart.html
If you had to reimplement in C then it suggests that whatever non-C language the original was in, e.g. Python, you would have had to re-write it in C. Otherwise, you would have had the choice to reimplement your Lisp in a more suitable language than C that was acceptable. Lisp here seems a side issue.
lol, as someone who gets free healthcare in the UK thats really amusing. Why not just make it a tax for the minimum requirement? (you could even make it dependent on income although possibly thats too shocking)
Are you sure you need VC money?
FluidPlay (your music, everywhere) - my latest project (feedback greatly appreciated)
it just occurred to me that i should probably mention that the client is windows only for now. i have it running on my mac and linux, but haven't released it yet.
My pleasure ;) I did look around to try and find those slides. I should probably just email those guys and ask for it. Here are a couple of shots I found:
http://flickr.com/photos/bluesmoon/tags/reddit/
http://reddit.com/static/spreddit/reddit2mockup.jpg
Even without extending RSS (which I think is a good idea), there is still a lot of potential in "remixing" existing feeds to personal tastes.

Pipes is one way, SeekSift.com (my company's service) is another, but I don't think anyone's got it quite right yet.
Beyond the money, the reason to work with VCs and angels (in theory) is for their connections and deal making clout.

The last several acquisitions Google made (YouTube and JotSpot most notably) were, supposedly, driven by the VCs of those firms.

I'd be interested to hear more anecdotes from the field (or any comments debunking that), so does anyone have an experience they can share?
This is actually one of the biggest strikes against YC in my pro/con table... I will likely have to take some F/F/F money in addition to the YC seed to make sure I will stay insured...
Heh. There ARE some good ones there - but looking back at some of my very first lines of code...I can't laugh TOO hard.
New York Angels (http://newyorkangels.com/) has a similar application (unlike YC, there's no deadline, and they'll accept an applicant at any time, but they charge a fee).

I haven't gone through the process myself, but I saw their pitch at a NYC tech panel a few months ago.
According to my lawyer, the large body of prior precedent in Delaware is the reason: i.e. if you ever wind up in a legal dispute, your attorneys will have a good sense of how your case would be ruled, based on similar case precedent(s).
shhh... don't tell anyone. they don't like to hear it!

well I do, but if only more people would too. alas, norms are norms.

by the way, the "reply" link above is also italicized. the tag is closed properly, but it is visibly inconsistent. just in case pg feels like changing it.
Harj: As someone 'visiting' from the UK do you need health insurance or can you use an E111/Euro Health card/travel insurance instead?
[cynicism]
They charge you a monthly fee, and you pay it.
[/cynicism]
Next thing, it gets so long that they shorten it to MBE -- masters of business in everything.

ok, ok, joke.
hmmm....looks cool.
so will it be possible for me to
stream my itunes music with this tool?

i see your are using rails frontend.
what's the fluidplay exe written in?

(btw, i always like to keep text boxes
that are underneath each other (username,
password, email) -- the same length.
it looks better, imho)
Be clear about this: a tax deduction is not dollar for dollar. i.e. is NOT free. You are simply getting a discount based on your tax bracket. (this is for the posters from the U.K.)
TFA says "HotFeature.com has 10 employees"

The website says "This page is parked free"

Whats wrong here?
you can stream any mp3 with this right now ... there's no support for AAC at the moment by that shouldn't be difficult. hmm i assume you mean FairPlay encoded AAC, i doubt that will be possible since it's proprietary.

it's written in Java, using Icecast as the streaming client/server for now.

about the text boxes... i think I agree with you. i designed it that way to differentiate the credentials with the email, but with three fields, it doesn't really matter. i'll make the change.
Design could definitely use some work. The header is off since the form elements don't actually fit into it. Make the header's height bigger. Your logo is likewise nonexistent. I don't like logos that take up an entire page, but I do like them to be prominent. Color scheme: gray, white, black = bad. Especially when you're dealing with music. Make it a bit more lively. And I agree with sri, it always looks better when the form elements line up.

Make the font size bigger as well. I think you're trying to minimize the screenspace you take up (?) but I'd rather scroll than squint. Hope this helps.
Massachusetts has a law that (may) be going into effect on June 1- It requires that all citizens of Ma have health insurance.

They have two programs to deal with this- The first is Commonhealth, which provides free or subsidized health care to those who, in the last year, have made less than 300% of the federal poverty line. Many people who are currently students may be able to use this, and have their coverage be at no or very low cost.

For those people who don't qualify, As on May 1st there's a new program, Common Choice, which will be a private-public partnership, to try to bring 4 or 5 low-cost health care plans to everyone. Given that everyone in the state now needs health care, essentially the state is negotiating it's own group rates.

It's not a bad system, but it's still new. The Poor are covered for free. Employers with over 12 people are required to offer Health Insurance. People who work alone, or in a small startup, can get a plan for ~ $120/month.

http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=hichomepage&L=1&L0=Home&sid=Qhic
-Colin
Deleware is great because it knows how to deal with businesses.

If I recall correctly, it's one of the only states that has a dedicates Court of Chancery [1]- Essentially special courts that are focused on business law, rather than being generalized.

This lets them build up a large body of precedent , but more, it means the judges are going to be dealing exclusively with civil cases, and can can focus on the needs of businesses.

Because of this, the court has come to be regarded as the countries experts business law. [2]

[1] http://www.delawoffice.com/chancery.html

[2] http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:l4-0NQmIQc0J:corporate-law.widener.edu/ctofchan.htm+Court+of+Chancery+delaware&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us&client=firefox-a
Steve Rubel: Become an Online Influencer by Modeling Tiger Woods
Venture capital is a "hits" business
It doesn't sound that scary to me. There are lots of systems which employ the use of work queues. For instance, a tech support employee might log into his or her system and see a list of tickets that need troubleshooting. It seems like the difference here is that smart software determines who gets the work based on capability and/or training. I don't think the intent is insidious.

Isn't that a lot like Amazon's mechanical turk, but automated?

http://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome
Is that true? I didn't pick up on that fact. I just assumed that is was 5K + 5Kn.
Check out #5 and #8 on this page: http://ycombinator.com/s2007.html

I think they will cover whatever you want initially (eg, moving expenses, renting a place), but my interpretation is that that comes out of the 5+5n.
Joost is one step away from a wide release. Anyone have thoughts on it?
There aren't many men left in the world
Right - that's what I had assumed. From what was said in the thread above, it sounded like moving costs were above and beyond, which I didn't think they were.