skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I launched an online dating site FlowMingle.com in 2008 (since closed down). When we were building the site on '07 and looking for investment, over and over we heard 'Your site isn't viral/social enough. Look at WooMe, look at Zoosk, etc. They will eat your lunch!' and with regards to OKCupid "It's at best a niche site for geeks and freaks, it's growing too slowly, it's not viral enough."

Although this TC article is hardly news for anyone who has examined the WooMes of the world for even 15sec., I find the fact that WooMe is outed as a scam and that OKCupid is acquired by Match.com to be hugely vindicating.

By providing users an honest, transparent service that legitimately helps them achieve their aims, you CAN and eventually WILL profit and grow. The damage in investors betting on companies like WooMe is that 1) they scam bunches of online daters and turn them off from the whole industry, they disappoint and lie to people 2) other entrepreneurs see big investment and media coverage for a company like WooMe and think they should chase after that model and mold their businesses to what investors want rather than what users want. 3) ultimately, investing in WooMe doesn't create any long term value and is a waste of time/money and starves other legitimate businesses of opportunity.

Just because a company is getting investment $$, press, meteoric growth, etc does NOT mean it is actually delivering anything of value and/or helping its users achieve their goals. There is always opportunity to win against ANY competitor by doing those simple things.
The Origins of Addiction: Evidence from the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study
It may be a different medium, but I was impressed with the technobabble in Mass Effect. It actually made sense.

Every single detail, from astrobiology to weapon systems and shields, had a plausible explanation if you cared enough to visit the Codex. The whole game seemed like it was expanded from a giant "what-if element zero".

Maybe I'm deeply wrong about all this, but I think the game is not receiving enough praise for this side.
I wonder how well the suited to each other the founders thought they were when they started out.

I'm willing to bet they didn't talk about, or at least see eye to eye on the endgame.
Looks like it's working (kind of) now. I clicked sign-in and Chrome gave me a certificate warning because it's signed by *.google.com. I ignored the error and Chrome started churning, eventually give me an 500 error or something of the sort. Hitting refresh finally got me logged in. I was able to install an app at that point by sending it down to my Incredible.
I don't see the devices in this class of prices as a big threat for Apple. They're not in a race for market shares, what Apple looks for is revenue share.

Apple has always targeted the high-end of the smartphone market, and is using iOS to differentiate their devices from all the other (and they have a strong brand).

This kind of devices speaks trouble for two subjects:

1. Nokia. There's no future for the Symbian phones, and now that Android phones cost less that the less-capable Nokia smartphones they're in big trouble.

2. High-end Android smartphones. It's difficult to differentiate for an high-end device when the cheap ones runs the same application with little or no downgrades... this will inevitably shrink the margin of the manufacturers (Motorola has the brand, but what about the others?).
Max speed to 5GB per month after which they reserve the right to slow down your connection.
For most American women a $19/month subscription is a good investment for them to sleep around for a while with some bad boys, and when the time comes, marry a chump who will pay her to quit her job, go to coffeehouses and have nice lunches with the other married girls, or get her nails done at the cost of maybe $15k a year. Then maybe divorce him a few years later for a nice change of $100k. Not a bad return at all.
Brb... Searching for cod liver oil Syringes on Amazon.
Just alerting readers to be aware of potential bias. What you said is a fair point, but we're after the same goal.
Created: 24 minutes ago.
There are multiple ways, but some quick thoughts:

0. Buy and read books, read blogs, watch youtube videos, whatever, and gain as much knowledge as you can, on whatever field you decide to pursue (Lean, Six Sigma, Agile, CMMI, whatever.)

1. Take a class (or classes) on your new endeavour. Any kind of introduction to the topic that's something you can document and put on your resume is a start.

2. Get some sort of certification in that field, if you can afford it. Yeah, I know certifications are of dubious value, but it's better than nothing (usually) and some firms actually place a lot of stock in that sort of thing. Just don't think of certifications as a "magic bullet" but rather as just another arrow in your quiver.

3. Now may have a to cheat a little bit. What I mean is... if your current job doesn't involve using, say, Six Sigma, start by learning as much as you can. See above. Then start talking about it at work, have a hallway conversation with your boss if nothing else. Try to legitimately wrangle a way to redefine your current job to include some element of that ("Boss, can we apply Six Sigma techniques to managing $SOMETHING?"). Ideally he/she says yes, and now you can legitimately list experience with that topic... but if not, just keep talking about it, write some reports on it and send them to people, and then - when talking about your old job - mention how you "spearheaded an initiative to implement Six Sigma, blah, blah, blah..."

And from here, you just working to fight your way into a new job doing your chosen $WHATEVER, by hook or by crook.

One other little note about the above... your current boss might not be to eager to let you totally redefine your current job, but - assuming your doing a good job already and aren't considered a slacker / loser - you can usually get away with asking to do something extra. Take advantage of that to squirm your way into whatever new thing it is you want to do. You may have to jump ship to a new job to complete the switcheroo, but the initial goal is just to get a beachhead.
I encourage all my friends to go to b-school but personally, I'm opting to try my own startup. Last 2 years have been a lesson on its own and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Since my friends are well connected I'm at least a few intros away if I need anything now.
The reduction ad Hitle^W Flash argument is totally flawed, yet it keeps repeating in every single article on "Google-and-WebM-vs-H.264" article.

I think there's a simple quality measurement of an article in this case. If article presents both pros and cons of Google's (Apple's, Microsoft's) decision - it's more likely the article's good. Otherwise it's probably one-sided.
No job is going to be 100% noise; and you can't really tell noise from signal or when it is too much (until you wake up 2 years later).

That's why I'm working as a semi-independent contractor and trying to launch stuff on my own. At least if a project gets too noisy, I get to say NO a lot.
I have a feeling it only works with 2.2+ (Chrome-to-phone styles), but regardless, it is badass.
well, they're presented with either 1) killing their organic search traffic by blocking Google or 2) allowing the crawlers but not being able to stop their data from being aggregated and included in local results.

Yelp's API specifically says their data cannot be aggregated with other sources. When presented with that, Google simply said they weren't using the API, they were scraping.

Apparently scraping is a free pass to do whatever the hell you want if you're Google.
Senators decry link between Egypt and U.S. 'kill switch' bill
It is lovely (though the few people not animated stand out [on purpose?]), so switched over to the front page to see what projects they do and ... basic header navigation overflow error http://imgur.com/wYtr7.
As easy as that is to say, this isn't a get-bought-and-get-paid company; it's a shake-up-the-world company. I'm sure he and his co-founders discussed that at length and understand it.

And ultimately, if you have a remarkable team with strong financial backing, isn't that the type of company you really want to work for?
I think it goes deeper than that - it deeply influences the market you choose to serve in the first place.

If you can semi-credibly promise to give people instant results in wealth, physique, sex, etc - your offer will sell.

The real question isn't whether or not you choose to market your offer aggressively. It's whether or not you choose to enter those specific (proven) markets, using that specific (proven) approach, knowing full well that you're intentionally exaggerating for the sake of attention and results.

Personally, I've intentionally made the decision not to go that route. It makes my job more difficult, but it's a tradeoff I'm willing to make.
Defend signal. If a meeting, email, or offhand discussion seems like noise, politely bow out. The biggest drain is assuming that these things all require your attention -- instead, take a break, figure out what merits your attention, and feel good about stepping back from everything that doesn't.
This is Madness! THIS IS SILICON VALLEYYY!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qR0Uke2XNI

I find it interesting that Google would be willing to pay $100M for "the team’s “design skills,” and were very enthusiastic to get a prominent ex-Facebooker, Morin, at Google. They hoped it might help Google recruit more Facebook employees over time."

They've taken a big gamble by not selling at $100mil, which seems very generous. It'll be interesting to see where they end up in 5 years.
That's actually calmed me down quite a bit. I'm sure the OkCupid guys are smart enough to get some autonomy.
techmeme is great about grouping the stories and solving the problem of reading the same news story multiple times.
In fairness, their announcement does say:
"We are releasing the initial version of Android Market on the Web in English and will be extending it to other languages in the weeks ahead."
Unless your provider is anything like mine, Sprint. They load your phone down after each update with apps you don't want (Nascar, Blockbuster, NFL) which cannot be uninstalled without rooting and seem to randomly just appear in running tasks.

Also I've found that a properly-configured task killer can do wonders on battery-starved android phones like the Evo 4G.
Sure, but if I write an article about how much the Church of Scientology sucks, and then start dating someone who's a member, I'm not gonna go back and erase it.
iTunes is like that charlie brown xmas tree that has so many ornaments hung on it that it's fallen over.
A take on Social Shopping
I have a feeling you don't use your N1 all that often since you think it's a "shitty phone", so why would you buy apps for it over your iOS devices. Your logic is flawed, and you clearly have a bias toward iOS devices, so your opinion is pretty moot at this point.
the guy could be in a hurry. or stoned
Think beyond the workplace. A lot of what we read during the day (Twitter, HN, etc.) is noise, even though we give it value. Ever gone on a vacation for 2 weeks and realized nothing important happened while you were gone?

It's not that we shouldn't read, but we should not deceit ourselves about the value of what we read.
Are they looking to be bought by Facebook instead?
It's not so much his books, it's him. On the surface he's the ideal HN idol; A/B tests and measures everything, scientific approach to life. But on the flipside he is wildly successful and has intimate relations with members of the opposite sex. Who wouldn't hate him? ;)
Download and Mail Service for Canadians
That's precisely why it annoys me. The power of this article was in its nuance and thoughtful breadth - we see the spectrum of human behavior ranging from authoritarian control to self-interested defense, to altruistic concern for fellow citizens. But with a simple "this" you're asking us to hyperfocus on the most Hallmark, ready-for-a-60-Minutes-segment slice of the story. Presumably we all read "this". If you don't have anything to add to elaborate on it, what does denoting its significance add?

I hate to jump on the pile, but since I value HN discussion, I'm happy to see "this" (usually) downvoted and put out of practice here.
It reminds me of the criticisms of Guy Kawasaki (of Rich Dad, Poor Dad fame). He gives mostly excellent advice, but markets it to the lowest common denominator so a lot of smart people turn away.

It actually shows something about the HN crowd. We're actually susceptible to marketing; the stuff we value is stuff that doesn't look like 4 hour workweek, even if it might work better.

EDIT: It's actually Robert Kiyosaki, how embarassing.
This is the classic case of saying 'I'm all for it as long as you can get everyone else onboard' when you believe that their chances of doing so are nil. If they managed to do it, your position would then be dictated by events anyway. Asking for 'indemnification' as an alternative demand shows just how high the bar is being set.

When you strip away fantasies like 'indemnify' and 'group-hug patent pool', the only significant line left is 'we are not willing to commit that we will never assert any patent rights on VP8', or "we just might sue".
1. Yes, I recognize that MongoDB will automatically fail over when we go from N nodes in the set to N - 1. But how do I get back to N nodes? That's completely manual.

2. What happens when I read an update that succeeded on the master but then later fails on the slaves?
I'll agree that they haven't done a lot, however $35 pays for maybe 30 mins of some devs time?

There is no way I'd complain about $35. If they wanted to charge like $300 or $3000, then sure.
I've been dreaming about finding other business owners that want to do a Do-It-Yourself MBA ( http://personalmba.com/manifesto/) -like reading program and discussion group, but have yet to make the time to organize such a thing.

I've considered getting either my MBA or my CPA, but didn't find the return on investment to be worth it.
Android in-app billing docs...
What I found interesting was that he tested a ton of titles for the book and the "4-Hour" thing was the winner - it's not him that chose it, it's the market.
Yay for Selenium 2/Webdriver testing in the cloud!
have you tried http://www.hnvue.com/ ?
Posts from Best Buy's community forums - http://forums.bestbuy.com/t5/Mobile-Phones-Mobile-Broadband/... - suggest that buying phones online subject them to an "Equipment Discount Provision" - http://wireless.bestbuy.com/template/simplecontent.aspx?page... - which enables Best Buy to recover the difference between the discounted price and the full purchased price if you cancel your phone contract within 180 days. If this is the case, you would end up paying both T-Mobile's ETF and Best Buy's fee, making your contract-liberated Nexus S $200 more expensive than just buying it without a contract.
We should take a breath and mark this day as when Google fully jumped into the mobile app business. Apart from giving Android apps the visibility they deserve, this site will be a great boon for the in-market app rankings, since Google can now use their magical web ranking algorithms to rank apps using the rankings of their corresponding pages. Brilliant.
Topic: LATEST MTN CHEATZ - TWEAKS ZONE
I will. I started filling my application. I also opened my Dream Team project on https://secure.bettermeans.com/projects/1144
It's actually opened for those hanging out alone with Ideas or Skill. You can also find my profile there.
Hope to see you this summer.
> (well, usually),

Not true for OKC. Very poly friendly.
I've been evaluating using Embedly for a new project of mine and think that I've sorted out their offering.

From their FAQ: What is Embedly?

"It is a solution that automatically converts posted links into embedded media on the fly. With its set of APIs, tools and libraries you are able to create unique visual experiences by embedding videos, images, rich media, RSS entries and article previews."

They have 2 confusingly named tiers: "API" and "Pro".

API: Allows you to embed stuff from a limited (albeit widely used) set of websites, stuff like: YouTube, Twitter, Digg, etc.

PRO: Allows you to embed stuff and get metadata back about ANY url (the big selling point).

It was the launch of Pro that prompted them to create the Kalimba website which showcases their ability to create the embeds from any random website.

Pricing for Kalimba Pro is at: https://pro.embed.ly/pricing - there is no Free plan.

If you're looking for an open source / roll your own option you might consider the Ruby Readability gem - https://github.com/sspinc/readability and regex out images+videos from the pages yourself.
Although it appears to be forking season at the moment, such a bold move as a fork doesn't happen just out of thin air. Yes, there were disagreements between several Redmine contributors, but I think the time is not ripe yet to spread out every detail of the conflict.

It should be suffice to say that both projects are going to continue to co-exist and probably going to be rather similar for quite some time. We don't want any bad blood between us and we are going to try to work together towards our common goal. We on the ChiliProject side just feel that more open and engaging development process helps the product and is more fun for all participants.
it comes down to brand and articulating that brand in an unique way so that it is news.

ok here are some ideas:
1. This is an idea from a book "The Summer Kitchen". In there the lady opens a pastry shop in a rich neighborhood. The grand opening they do a mother daughter cupcake party since their brand is we are family. they do a whole lot of other things - a good read.

2. Per the book "Feeding the Media Beast", news is something that is new, not ordinary. Duh. So what can you do that would say you are not ordinary. I was reading an article about a bakery that made a doughnut cupcake and had a cupcake that was smothered with maple syrup and bacon. This was reported in last week's Boston Sunday Globe. Yes that makes definitely stand out. Plus they made sure that they ONLY sold these maple bacon cupcakes on the weekend. As the book "Influence" says use scarcity to attract.

3. First you need to identify who is your ideal customer profile. Who is coming to your shop? Why? They are not just coming because of pastries. help them maximize this experience. make it an experience. How can you help make not just a trip to the pastry but something more.

4. As in the book "The Entrepreneur's Manual", he speaks about a barber who started a barber shop that gives free drink with a haircut. Yes it became widely successful. Then he realized that the guys were stuck with the kids since the family comes together into town to shop so he provides a free baby sitter while you get the haircut and provides a barber especially for kids. then he realizes that women want to get the free baby sitter too so opens a womens shop. This book is the bomb. The Gap analysis in here is terrific. Do the gap analysis for the pastry shop - see what is missing.

Hope this helps.
That is an absolutely fantastic feature.
About $3.50.
They look like get-rich-quick but there are some real nuggets of truth in there; but the hard work is well disguised.

Take for example the 4-Hour body's section on ultrarunning. I'm training for a marathon so I know how hard it is, yet the way it's written about in the book is (to my recollection - don't have my copy here) "20 minutes 3 times a week and you can run 50K". Then you read closer, and closer, and there are detailed training schedules with some long runs, and it's actually sensible - but the initial wow is definitely along the lines of snake oil.

I think Tim just knows what will get people to bite, but underneath it all he also knows how to achieve (most of) the things he writes about.
How Google - and you - are losing to spam
Will Egypt's Neighboring Governments Fall Like Dominoes?
Then don't work from home when your son still is at home daytime. Not taking care of yourself and having a hard time separating work/home time goes hand in hand.

Start early, put on real clothes. Work out tasks, then get cracking.
Time for a new startup: Path-on. Social sharing of pictures of coupons. Mobile x realtime x commerce. Already valued at $2B. Who's with me?
I find Fred Wilson's series (and blog posts) really informative (http://www.dailylit.com/books/mba-mondays) and highly recommended in case you wanted to add it to your list.
>I think that humans will do slightly better looking through sunglasses, and expert users could use that in navigation

I actually do this, not the sunglasses bit (must try!), the other bit.

I'm not very good at navigating in the car. I look at a map of a city before I set out but can't remember road numbers and things. I'll see some landmarks and know from a semi-pictorial memorisation the relative location; I'll look for the sun and use that to navigate. It [mostly] works but only just - I grew up in the country where this sort of thing works better (crossing large fields, navigating woodlands, etc.).

I do estimate the location of the sun based on apparent sky brightness when it is overcast. Obviously this doesn't always work (thick cloud, heavy rain, snow on the ground). Also I've never actually done this by the stars though I reckon I could in a pinch.

DAE (does anyone else) use sun location to establish compass direction and navigate across cities by dead reckoning??
Why not let the market write the rest of the book, too? No problem with a little bit of A-Z-Testing.
The funny thing about this "strategy" is that it would be an upsell for a downgrade.
You see, the President will only switch off the internet to preserve freedom.
Microsoft Pulls a Fast One on Google
Stop the presses: First iPad newspaper debuts
Google Says Developer Tools Will Solve Fragmentation Issues
I know what you mean. Every time I hear something like this (but especially when it's within 10s of light years) I think "Time to bring back Project Orion!"
how exactly is it going to shake up the world?
I see the best case as more of a mild rattling of the world- a more human social networking, which will either softly nudge people in this direction, move other networking players closer to the real-world social model, or be a sort of nice subtle tool in the mobile social web.

In no way is it something that as currently formed has a really big dollar exit potential- i mean, ideally, the product will never become very valuable to advertisers. If they monetize some other way which can scale big, then they're way smarter than I can imagine, but i don't see the data aggregation model or traditional ad model working with this product...it's a very techie-oriented app at this point in time. The benefits are not visible at all to "normals", and there is no business use case like twitter/FB have to accelerate adoption as a platform.

The world has no idea Path exists yet, so there is a while to go before anything is going to be shaken up at least outside of the bay area.
if you install the new market widget, which came by default on my Nexus S, you'll see a new featured app every time you swipe to the homescreen with the widget on. I've bought about 5 apps from this alone.

Once I bought my first android app (a $.89 game or something) I opened the floodgates, and now buy more apps for my android than my iOS devices (kindle books notwithstanding), so each to their own.
Didn't you mean Robert Kiyosaki? I'm not sure how Kawasaki is attached to Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
Guy Kawasaki is an early Apple employee who wrote the book "The Macintosh Way" among others.

Roert Kiyosaki wrote Rich Dad, Poor Dad : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Kiyosaki
What skills specifically you value most?