skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I guess your definition of "interesting" shifts as you mature. I bet I had a load of interesting ideas when I was 14 that I would no longer find interesting now, 10 years later.

I think a lot of the ideas I had as a teenager were basically things I discovered independently, usually in awkward or incomplete incarnations, but would have been "obvious" to someone more educated and older. Or if not obvious, at least fairly easy to research or look up. (linear algebra particularly stands out as one of those things that, had I known it, I would have saved myself weeks of effort)

I wonder whether I'd be better at what I do now if I'd had access to the internet earlier (thus skipped a load of "unnecessary" hard work) or later. (thus developed my capacity for independent thought further) Given my acute case of "programmer's block" right now I'm leaning towards the latter. :-/
What $8-a-gallon gas would do.
I started writing ideas in blue books when I was very young (like 7 or 8). Most were stupid, but a few were good at the time, and in fact later become commercially available products. Of course, I always thought "Hey! I thought of that first, but I'm eight and can't do anything about it".

I only did this sporadically (regrettably - not only would I have a lot of ideas by now, but I'd have something humorous to look back at and/or give my kids), but I started having lots more ideas toward the end of my undergrad time and during grad school. My idea generation dipped for a while after grad school because, you know, life gets in the way. But it has picked back up again as my life has stabilized and I've started keeping a tiddlywiki of ideas. Most bad, a few good. None brilliant.

First non-trivial idea? I don't remember. I think it may have had something to do with a novel way of feeding cows or something like that (I grew up on a semi-working farm). As if cows need a new way to eat.
There is room for both of the expressions "a lot like patronage" and "not quite like patronage" to be true.

The big question about using patronage as a metaphor is whether discussing the ways in which Venture Capitalism 'is' and 'is not' like Patronage leads to greater insight.

What do you think?
You can have an interesting idea any time. Problem is you may not even realize that you just had an interesting idea when you had it.

The journal is an excellent idea. I write everything down. When I look it over later, I'm usually embarrassed that I could have thought of anything so lame. But every once in a while, there are a few gems in there.

I always have pencil and a small notebook next to the bed. The best time for me to get good ideas is as soon as I wake up. The second best time is right before I go to sleep. I carry index cards and a pen at all times during the day, just in case.

The other important ingredient in good ideas is to get out there and experience things. All the time. You never know which inputs will spawn ideas, so get lots of inputs.

My best ideas have usually come when I see how something is and think, "There must be a better way." Then I let it lie dormant inside and trust my "inner self" to come up with something when I least expect it.

(My best hacking ideas ever came from the first time I saw a code generator. Simultaneously I thought, "That is so cool!" and "It can be so much better than that.")
I've always found a lot of my ideas interesting; it's just that for most of them I eventually proved them to be bad ideas.

Also, interesting ideas are rarely individual insights but usually come from merging two or more different ideas in a new way to create something genuinely cool.
Don't worry about investors yet. Focus on product development and value (making something people want and ideally will be passionate about).

Build a prototype and go as far as you can before getting (bogged down in acquiring) investment. This will not only make it easier for you to pitch/demo something, but will clarify and refine your ideas and give others something to work with in terms of financing values etc.
This and TipJoy have inspired me. What about making a social news site, a Wikipedia-like site, or a classified ads site where you can read and search all you want for free, but you have to make a micropayment to post? Micropayments would be in "credits" that cost 4.5 cents each. $5 gets you 100 credits. (There's a 50 cent processing fee.) You could also write the Terms of Service such that spamming forfeits your $5.

You could even combine this with a TipJoy-like idea and have commenters tipped for every up-vote. (Down-votes would subtract from a comment score, but not affect the tip.)

This would kill off the spammers. Paying $5 per spam post would ruin their business model. I suspect that it would also increase the quality of the posts if posters could earn money from their efforts.
If I were interviewing someone, I would be more likely to test someone's general problem solving skills, questions that illustrate how a candidate thinks and approaches a challenge. This of course becomes more subjective, but can really help identify creative talent. Who knows, you might even learn something too.
This is probably a big part of the puzzle type questions that companies like Microsoft and Google seem to favor.
There seems to be a limited number of really good hackers in town and of the ones I associate with they all seem to be extremely busy at the moment.

The real issue is that Phoenix still isn't the tech hot bed everyone thought we might become, so attracting and keeping talent in town is extremely difficult.

I know I have left town twice for opportunities I just couldn't locate in town, though I always seem to come back.
When I started reading voraciously, I started having better ideas. Reading is a conversation with an author. Most business and entrepreneur-themed books don't offer new ideas, but they're new to you. When you swirl them around in your own head, you'll have better ideas. For me, I always need to visualize ideas to, so I paper prototype a lot.
Will's Ultimate Guide to writing Parsers and Scrapers
um, you're about 3 years late on this "news"
I got it. Downmodding your original post was silly.
Plans for integrated replication in PostgreSQL
Sage: porting symbolic manipulation from lisp to Cython
obv i will build my product first and then worry about investments, im just curious.
Will it be put in a newspaper?
I guess the catholic church is bigger. At least is the biggest employer in Germany according to official statistics.
Inside the Attack that Crippled Revision3
James Dyson - Against the odds (http://www.amazon.com/Against-Odds-Autobiography-James-Dyson...)

Very inspiring read, especially the parts about how he kept going for almost 10 years and persevered to truly innovate in a market that had seen no innovation for a long time.
It's run in the Stanford Daily before.
You were using GWT 3 years ago? Do you work at Google or something?

This wouldnt have been a valid claim until very recently, like GWT 1.5 so not really old news. GWT 1.5 compiled javascript is super fast relative to older versions.
I was afraid of that...

I'm trying to get into web developement; I've been deep in compilers and local apps for too long :(
I'm guessing around 10 years old (but perhaps even earlier) when I decided to design and build a briefcase containing various hidden compartments.

I also remember, before that, reading Splinter of the Mind's Eye and being impressed that Luke could recharge his lightsaber from Han's blaster and spent a long time working on designs for universal plugs and sockets that would allow arbitrary recharging between devices. I am still waiting for this to be possible.

But well before that (say around 6-7 years old) I recall drawing devices (just can't tell you what they did!)
Comparison of Rails monitoring apps: FiveRuns vs NewRelic RPM vs Scout App
The Single Most Important Key to Achieving Your Goals - From Where I Sit
Sounds like closing the barn door after the cow has left.

"Reputation management" is a meaningless expression, whether it's for an individual or an organization.

You earn your reputation in everything you say and everything you do all the time. "Managing" of "fixing" it later is just silly. Making it someone's job is even sillier. Run the other way.
So much great feedback here. Thanks all! These Qs may get drowned in the comments, but I'll try anyway:

- Do you think anything here is patentable? I hate patent trolls as much as anyone else, and I do wish legislation eventually disallows (most or all) software and UI patents. And I know patents don't make consumer websites, happy users do. And I know it's a distraction to file the paperwork. But just curious...

- For the free version (what you currently see), should the "Make Public" be default, with opt-out? Pros: users will have a great pool of drawings to copy from; could also evolve into a great community. Cons: users' privacy compromised, especially if they don't realize it's being made public. (To try to avoid the latter, I'd mention it during sign up, but that may not be enough.)
"When I started reading voraciously, I started having better ideas."

I've noticed this too.
specifically, your plan fails to account for

(*) extreme profitability of spam

Spammers would probably be willing to pay more to make each post than legitimate users would.
How to find out what tools and approaches startups are using?
Is there something like TechCrunch CrunchBase but which provides more detailed info into the toolsets various startups use and the approaches they take?

CrunchBase provides basic info on this and only by reading the blogs of various startups can I find out if they used debian/CentOS/other with mongrel/lighttp/other running RoR/Django/php/other and mysql/postgresql/other on AWS/some-host/other.

I would be interested to see what people start with and how/if the tools and approaches used change over time as the startup and tools evolve. Much can be determined just by seeing the change histories, ideally gauging it with other events such as changes in hosting or user numbers or startup state.

This would greatly aid me and others in various decisions. I have already started this process and will put my findings into a wiki shortly. I am in the middle of building a timeline tool to allow visual comparison and analysis.

Comments, feedback, insights much appreciated.
Not for scrabble disputes?
I strongly recommend "All of Statistics", by Larry Wasserman. It lives up to its title pretty well. It is very concise in its explanations of various topics. I like this, but you might want a traditional book if some topic gives you trouble.

http://www.stat.cmu.edu/~larry/all-of-statistics/index.html

Feller is a lot of fun, but a very strange suggestion for someone who apparently just wants to learn some statistics and get to work. Feller is for, like, reading by the fireplace with a glass of wine.
Neither Python nor Haskell have it - as far as I know. Perhaps you can create one out of monads though.
We use the (generalized) Euclidean Algorithm quite often in proofs. But - I study math.
Why not use Google Apps for your domain (it includes email!)? I know they don't delete email, which is bad, but I'm willing to take that risk instead of running my own mail system. It is a piece of cake to set up, and they offer mailing lists, too!
I Link, Therefore I Am: a Web Intellectual's Diary
This seems to be the first mention of Google in the NYT.
You may use the solution your last candidate came up with as an example.
Hmm, didn't know this file was still there. This was the landing page for an ad we ran on Reddit, way back. It was later than that print ad in the Stanford Daily.
Titles, Titles Everywhere But Not a Page to Turn
Round 1: FF2 vs FF3RC1
From the employees point of view: I would have no problem to do a coding test as part of an interview.
Actually, case is built into Haskell: it's the evaluation primitive in Haskell Core; see Don Stewart's blog post http://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~dons/blog/2008/05/16 .
I don't doubt they're enjoyable books, but they're more about the social implications of statistics. They aren't good books to teach you statistics, which was the topic of this thread.
Why Did Facebook Give Up on Beacon?
Student's Start-Up Draws Attention and $13 Million
Would they be willing to pay 50 cents per post? Would they be willing to pay $5 per post? You could write the TOS for such a site that spamming forfeits your $5.
This is utterly wrong. If you were trolling, good job, Graham. If not, grow up and realize that your backwater burg is not as awesome as you think.

MIT is a sanitarium for masturbating nerds who can't get real jobs, it is not "intellectual".

SF is not about "power". It's about making cool toys that make money. HP set the tone for Silicon Valley. You should try reading the HP Way before making statements about what other people think.

LA, SF, and Seattle don't require jackets in restaurants because A) we're mostly descended from cowboys; B) the weather doesn't suck ass.
For kicks, a slightly darker orange: http://ycombinator.com/ad2.html
While I was reading this article, I thought it would be interesting to write the same article, but replace cities with companies. For example, if you work at Google, they value certain things there. If you work at Facebook, they value other certain things (with some overlap, I'm sure). Just food for thought.
GWT is a major game changer which the world has yet to discover.

I predict that soonish we'll begin seeing web applications that weren't possible before, and this will force a big shift into GWT or a GWT like web application development paradigm.
Very interesting. I just recently moved to Cambridge from Salt Lake City, and while I don't feel like I've spent enough time here yet to really get a feel for it, I think I see what you are getting at. There is definitely something different in the air here.
Pinch Media Releases Free Analytics for iPhone SDK
Trulia Brings Sweet Eyecandy to.. the Housing Market?
How Beautiful is Glam?
Google Sends Man to Jail, Metaphysically
It's funny. I never really liked games, especially computer games, playstation games, etc... however, I like to play soccer, go surfing or maybe play chess.
But most of all, I like to listen and play music. I always found that relaxing. After one hour listening to music, I can focus on whatever I have to do.
About Internet distractions, it really annoys me. Flash games, blinking banners, this kind of thing. I like websites as simple as it can be. That's why I sometimes browse the web through Lynx (a text-mode web browser).
As for TV, I don't watch it since I was 14. I didn't have to force myself not to watch it. I released that people just keep saying the same old jokes and stupid comments over and over again. It's much better to see a movie or read a book.
Marcus V. Alvares - From Brazil.
Automagically convert text to 3D graphics
Mark Zuckerberg: "A technology company is a company that creates technology"
So for me the specific example I was thinking of was this:

"it's damn hard to get into an Ivy League school. Even valedictorians and kids with perfect SATs are rejected from their top picks every year. But athletes got into the best schools even with mediocre grades...

Let's think about this logically. To get into an Ivy as just a student you basically need straight A's, 1400 SATs, and lots of extracurriculars. This meant I'd have to go to school eight hours a day, do two or three hours of extracurriculars, and then go home to six or so hours of homework. As an athlete A's and B's are fine as long as you don't have any C's, and you don't need any major extracurriculars other than your sport. That's what the coaches will tell you when you're being recruited at least, but in reality a couple C's are usually fine if you just want to go to an Ivy but you don't much care which. This would require going through the motions of being a student, and then practicing a couple hours a day year-round. Same result, less work, more fun!"

The logic behind this doesn't really make sense unless you're stuck in the mentality of a zero-sum world. That said, this thinking seems to have been a precursor of sorts to later and more interesting musings on zero-sum systems.

I can only remember a handful of specific ideas I had before that which I'm still vaguely impressed with today.
Obama Spent Most of $3.5 Million This Year on Google
I like it. Clean, focused and no-nonsense.
Wireless Broadband To Boost U.S. Economy
Infineon warning hints iPhone delay, analysts say
23andMe DNA analyzer demoed at D6
Comcast Hacked in BitTorrent Throttling Payback?
Comcast home page hacked
Comcast hack leaves users without email
D6 Highlights: Tom Rogers, President and CEO, TiVo
Does a working writer keep improving?
Google Shows Off Android
Google's Paid Clicks Spike Higher in April, Relief All Around
The Real Fight Over Fake News
YC Rejected? Don't give up.
Learning from mistake.

Our idea was to allow mobile data sync and we had prototype ready. We submitted our application during one of the YC round ( Last year ) and got rejected. We don't have other sources to get funding so, we stopped working on that idea. We stopped because our idea needed funding to go to next stage ( For testing multiple phones etc. )

Recently ZYB got sold for @49M.

Well! We also got rejected for other idea ( healthcare related) in last round and we are still working on it and planning to apply again for next round :).

Don't give up!. Print YC adv. and keep it near your desk to remind you your end goal.
I still don't get it. Why would I want to eschew the fairly okish and dynamic language JavaScript in favor of the big lumbering Java? The other way round I could understand.
Search 4.0: Putting Humans Back In Search
Lemme give you a little advice
Fred Wilson on Leaving The Instigator Out: Small Worlds v Big World
Pinch Media - Investing on a New Platform
I think drupal is awesome as well ... although its not a perfect fit for everything... it can be customized almost for all things!
Nice. Have infrastructure that can launch SYN floods without a human triggering it, and then don't have any data centre staff on call during the weekend. I hope they get into deep trouble for this.
Very nice. One thing that seems to have gone un-noticed till now: LaTeX support would be nice.

Secondly, the UI right now is very sparse and that is a great thing. Make sure that extra features don't clutter it up.

Other than that, great app.
Actually, if you never use switch, then that's a symptom of being good at OO.
Google revs its search engine
On Twitter and the missed opportunity to execute a social utility business model
I like to believe that I can get a pretty good understanding of someone's technical abilities by asking thorough questions about his previous experience, and maybe ask them to explain a couple of basic patterns or programming concepts to me. I remember interviewing a senior java developer who claimed 5+ years of experience and had no idea what a Singleton was. What made it worse was that even after explaining it to her, she was unable to figure out how to implement one.
Developers asked the strangest questions when interviewing other developers. I worked with a guy once who liked to ask his interviewees what the decimal value of 0xFE is. One candidate didn't know the answer so my coworker didn't think he could possibly be a good software engineer. I admit that (having done assembly coding in school) it seems odd that any software engineer wouldn't be able to figure out what FE is. But I still thought it was a bad way of testing technical skills. Would you rule out a candidate who doesn't know 0xFE ?
This is exactly how I was hired at my current employer. The VP of product dev interviewed me, and asked very general tech questions regarding work I've done. Then I was hammered by my now-direct manager. I didn't have any resources, but his questions often evaluated my thought processes as well as my coding skillz.

I should add that I thought I bombed the technical interview. So much so that I wanted to ask the VP if he had the right guy when he called with the offer.
Thanks to everyone who's made suggestions. I've ordered some books and and I'm checking out the other sources. Should give me enough to work on for a while :p
George Washington Carver
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_Carver

Edward W. Bok
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_W._Bok
I predict that those web applications that weren't possible before will all use straight JavaScript, and GWT will be relegated to the dustbin of ideas that were too early to change the game.
Why Sergey and Larry? Might as well go with Jobs.
Great insightful article. Top notch. Thanks for posting quality stuff.
I love the example given in the article of real-world hacks, especialy kiva.com Really great idea.
From TFA:

I would like to call for all comment systems to provide a mechanism to clearly indicate to users
what rights they have and what rights they are giving out when they write a comment.

Next to 'Submit' button (small print): "by pressing this you agree with TOS".

TOS: "You grant copyright on your comments to site owner" (or "you own your comments").
I also worked for a company once who had several enthousiastic , seemingly bright people with somewhat limited experience come in for interviews, but they didn't make the cut because they didn't pass some coding challenges. The guy who did get hired went to a good school and was a good coder, but was way too arrogant, difficult to work with and repeatedly refused to do what his manager asked him to work on. And how did that guy interview other candidates? He screened them by their education, and when they would come in he would give them one programming challenge without asking any other questions. Nobody seemed to realize that there were big problems with the company's hiring strategies and that developers themselves were largely to blame for that.
Good point, however we already have a karma system so we've bought into the reputation argument already.
Junior in high school as I read Aristotle's Ethics.
CUDA, Supercomputing for the Masses: Part 2
You can't; by definition, your reputation belongs to everyone but you.
I've always found that asking a reasonable numerical solving question where you can easily figure out the answer in your head is a good starting point to gauge programming/algorithm ability. If someone knows the solution they are trying to get at, they can focus on the program itself, as opposed to worrying about solving the problem and coming up with the algorithm. Ideally there are a few ways to solve the problem, brute-force methods or more efficient ways. It can be very difficult to test a programmer's ability in an interview, you need to focus more on seeing how the candidate thinks, how they approach problems, and whether they can admit when they do not know something.
From the outside, all the infighting makes the blogging scene feel like high school again.
Ditto, I've been following the media defender debacle since September of last year (when the e-mails were leaked) and it's never ceased to sicken me. Altho their business model of 'fighting fire with fire' is the only way I can think of to properly combat many of the existing issues it's still shady to profit off of blatantly illegal activities.

At least what tpb provides is legal in Sweden.
If I cared about this "news" I'd be following him on Twitter.