skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
That's an interesting discussion on stackexchange. Don't miss the matching question posted at the same time, "How do programmers in the east see programmers in the west?"

http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/50884/how-do-...

A lot of the remarks there by eastern programmers reflect on their own view of their fellow programmers in the east. The answers show a high level of awareness of the problems caused by the cultural expectations to follow orders and obey the structure and hierarchy.
WHOLE LOT of firmware

People have a persistent blind spot for that one. I think there is Japan-developed software in, hmm, guesstimation, 60%+ of new cars in the US bought in the last 5 years? (Even in "American" cars. Japanese engineers and managers think that America is always one news story away from leading a witchhunt against Japan products. Recent events have, ahem, not diminished this perception.)
New Biz Idea? Forget Mockingbird, Use a Napkin Instead! But seriously there's no end to this. If you have a great idea, you need to put the pieces in place to not only develop & build the product but also to ship and monetize it.

I will say it is very simple to get caught up with a business plan and spend less time on communicating what the idea is in terms of what it takes to get it built. That's the easy way out and not the solution.
Ask HN: How have people working for my start-up if I have no way to pay them?
Yes it is. Obviously, this is just my anecdotal experience, but the first time I tried to install Linux the troubleshooting documentation I was working off of only mentioned eth0. I tried to configure everything to eth0, and nothing worked. I gave up and swore off Linux for years. Eventually, I tried Ubuntu, where everything worked, and figured it was a driver issue that Ubuntu had solved.

I got around to trying out Gentoo, which has amazing documentation that really drills down into what you're doing and why. That's when I ran ifconfig and iwconfig for the first time and realized I probably would have been using Linux years earlier if I had known how to find out that my NIC was wlan0.

So I'd say referencing eth0 throughout is fine, as long as at the beginning you take the time to point out that it may not be eth0, and more importantly, how to find out what it is.
13% of physicians have iPads? And 1.5% of all iPads went to physicians?

Can you give us a citation of how you got that number?

The estimate is that there are less than 1 million doctors in the US.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230450690457518...

And before October 2010, about 8.25 million iPads were sold - that number is probably way outdated though.
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/10/07/estimates-vary-on-number-of-i...
It also cost the store money to process. If no one holds the store accountable, then there is no incentive for them to be diligent about correct pricing. Sometimes people sacrifice their own time for the greater good. If the pricing problems continue though shoppers will become annoyed and shop elsewhere. This is why for the store it is better to have a smoother process for small price adjustments, it should not be necessary to wait 15 minutes for the store manager's approval on a 37 cent refund, nor should he even have to deal with it at all, that is a waste of his time and salary to be attending to something so minor.

This topic relates to software. As soon as we receive a request for a refund on software we approve it. This means it costs the minimum amount to process and annoys the customer the least. There is no point to fighting or arguing or wasting the customer's time.

Painless refunds is in complete opposition to the policies of many large software companies who have a "no refunds once opened" policy, which doesn't even make sense since they tend to have revocable registration numbers and machine locked licensing, so the no-refunds policy is nothing more than a giant rip off for customers.
> In addition, why must every language have it's own standard library. Is it possible to have a source code format for standard libraries which can translated into other languages?

It exists. It's called C.

You wouldn't want a standard library of standard widgets because different languages have different approaches to problems. What's suitable for Lisp, isn't suitable for C++, isn't suitable for prolog, isn't suitable for awk.
It's provided by the user, when they switch their relationship status from in a relationship to 'single' it appears on everyone's feed.
Motorola Xoom Review
3: Uh, crashed or were terrible? Former, not so often. Latter...

...

DOT DOT DOT
Coupons are a very effective way to maximize revenue on a product by segmenting your market.

"Rich" people would usually never consider coupon clipping, and so will pay full price.

By putting ever more complicated ways to save money ("save 5% by clipping this", "save 50% by clipping 10 weeks of these", "save 90% by clipping 10 of these, then sending off for the rebate") a seller can make sure that even the poorest can buy their product at the cost of inconvenience.
People scale frameworks
Sometimes it's easy to forget that we (people in their most active years making 3 dollar-digits per hour) live in a bubble. We would happily trade a few dollars so we don't have to wait. We would happily trade many dollars so we don't have to talk to you. Basically, our time converts to money and back to time almost without any effort or friction.

Did you know that there are other people that are actually enjoying their life? The fact that they are standing on their feet, talking to other people, smelling the residue buffing detergent on the crummy supermarket floor. Spending 15 minutes in line chatting with other human beings and getting paid for it ($0.37) is just another beautiful morning for the people that have a life.

To all HN readers: I hope one day we all know what this feels like :-)

Edit: What I'm trying to say here is that it is very presumptions and shallow to assume that the monetary gain was the only asset in the "worth-it?" equation.
I think that a simple prompt for user's password before doing this would be an amazingly effective solution.
Then you just make the deprecation warning go to stderr instead of stdout. '|' only redirects stdout.
Hummingbird, Real Time Web Traffic Visualization
I have found most Japanese video games to be really linear. Go from level to level following for the most part a set path. I know these things are popular but I find them pretty boring compared to western developer produced games.

There are exceptions. Pacman was great. But things like Mario and Donkey Kong are about pressing the button at the right time, timing skills, not problem solving or exploring.
To me, this seems like something most selfishly rational people will not pursue--because it's mainly an externality that you're paying for with your time. However, most people are pursuing these due to principle, and perhaps to protect their and others' interests in the future.
I'm working on a startup with a friend and past colleague and the domain we want is (not surprisingly) already registered. It is not a parked domain, but it is simply a graphic for some technology group with an "All rights reserved" from 2000 and a mailto link.

We emailed the owner of the domain and asked if the person would entertain offers to buy the domain and received the simple response:

"The domain is not for sale"

I'm curious, has anyone ever encountered a stonewall on a domain like this and was anyone successful prying it away from the squatters with a generous offer?

If you are squatting on a domain for over 10 years without putting it to use, isn't there always some amount of money you would sell it for?
I can find Genghis Khan's haplogroups, but I don't see a way to compare my DNA to his.
Whether finding a co-founder is appropriate or not is completely dependent on your goals. For a relationship to work out between two or more people -- especially one as stressful and challenging as starting a business -- everybody involved has to be equally committed to the goals set in the beginning.

OK, so let's say that the only goal you set in the beginning is, "churn out social 2.0 web app, sell to megacorp inc., make lots of money". Yeah, you can probably find one or two other people that are willing to commit to that for a year or two.

But, let's say instead that your only goal is, "build a high-quality service in some niche, fill a customer need, money and popularity be damned". Are you as likely to find someone else willing to fully commit themselves to such a project? I doubt it.

For "crusaders" -- people who are willing to sacrifice a lot in order to change some aspect of the world they're in -- you're probably never going to meet anyone that will be as committed to your goal as you are. Holding yourself hostage to a co-founder search will just kill your project.

For everyone else: spend some effort on putting together "the team" -- the smallest possible group of people that can handle all of the roles of sales, engineering, direction, management, finance, etc. etc. -- apply to YC, build your thing, get money, cash out, have a great life.

To that end, I think startup speed dating is a pretty great idea.
Bill Gross Talk at Stanford. Business at the start, then energy and MVP.
Well, "the east" is often shorthand for "low cost outsourcing countries", so in that sense Japan is a country apart from its neighbors.

These discussions also neglect the enormous selection bias present when you're talking about outsourcing. The vast majority of developers in Japan and China are not proficient enough in a foreign language to work with teams in other countries. We're gazing at these countries' developers through a very, very narrow lens.
The Top 100 Most Desirable Mentors
I listen to a lot of business and startup talks and this is probably the best I have heard. Rapid pace and inspirational.
JPMorgan social media fund raises $1.22 billion: report
Poll: Do you have a formal CS or a general computing degree?
One recurrent theme, especially when talking about interviews, is the need to display some CS skill set, such as algorithm design.

My degree focussed on programming, simple database design, simple network stuff. It was designed to produce grads for business applications.

I'm curious how many have the specialist knowledge that comes from a CS degree as opposed to some other computing degree.

For the purposes of keeping it simple, let's define CS as algorithms, designing a compiler, designing an OS, the hardcore stuff. We define general computing as designed for business use: basic programming in ,say for example, java and C++ or any other common language, some database knowledge, some networking knowledge. We define other degree as, say, engineering or physics that involves some programming knowledge. The rest are self-explanatory.
Computer Science degree
General computing degree
Other degree involving some computing knowledge
Unrelated degree
Picked it up on the job
Self-taught
This article doesn't really tell you how to build a "Watson Jr." as they call it. It just tells you to use OpenNLP and UIMA (which is unnecessary, but understandable why its advocated since IBM created it).

I was kind of hoping that there would be a deeper dive into how the data was being stored and retrieved. I'm also interested in the Machine Learning side of it. They don't really give any hints at that as well.
DVD Ripper for Mac v4.1.2 Review
Alifesoft DVD Ripper Converter can rip DVD movies and convert videos to ipod,iPhone,iPad,ps3,x360,Youtube,iRiver, Creative Zen, Archos, PMP, Smart Phone, Pocket PC, PDA, cell phone, Mp3, MP4, etc.
Speaking as a patient, I've vastly preferred my visits to doctors who had a laptop with an inverted touch screen. Fewer questions about what was already in my (occasionally quite large) medical history - they could find it. Access to the relevant info like X-rays or blood tests, with more information than printouts carry, and adjustable contrast on digital X-rays. And the full history of every similar test I've ever had. My visits have been faster and far more useful every single time.

Bring on the tech! I'm tired of having doctor visits where I have to re-state my history when they can read it in a second, and they're tired of lengthy reviewing of my data before the visit (if they do so at all). The only complaint I've heard from the doctors / nurses (and I've asked every single one I've encountered with them) is that they hate using a pen and hate the interface (missing the maximize button and closing the application, for instance).

The nurses in particular loved that the doctors typed. Universally, they've said they had fewer medication errors, fewer "what is that?" questions for the doctors, and they get a bit of history and can see abnormal changes and question them in case of a mis-type. Which happens, but usually goes unnoticed if it's not on a computer.

YMMV, of course. And theirs.

Billing and medical: why do they belong together? I doubt the doctor is also the accountant in even the smallest clinic, and they have no need to see the information. It's more noise, doesn't help them, and can influence their perception of the patient in front of them.
Amazon adds Free streaming of 5000 movies to Prime memberships
Sure, but by that time she had already committed to getting her money back. People don't constantly re-evaluate their decisions as new information comes in. They're not machines.
And we'll never know if his judgment regarding the potential benefit in that situation was right.
I view the standards process as an ending remark. Browsers should innovate in as many directions as possible, while keeping the technology patent free so others can copy them if need be.

Then a standards body can cement the innovation into a standard that everyone has to implement.

That said, I don't see how this particular innovation is any different from say a Firefox plugin. Yes, its proprietary to a single browser but can we argue then that if Firefox took the majority share on the web, we'd have to worry about people copying their plugin structure just to stay relevant?
Chirply (YC S10) Aims to “Make Paper Sexy” With Crowdsourced Designs
Kitchen Accessories in India at Lowest Price
Cooking can be quite easy and enjoyable with the right type of kitchen accessories. These Infibeam.com's kitchen accessories store add to your kitchen look, appearance and feel making it one of the most happy and comfortable space for you. This is the easiest way to select the online kitchen accessories at affordable price with free shipping in India.
George Haligua
Hermes Bancorp founded by Mr. George Haligua manages over $15 billion USD in assets and offers a comprehensive array of investment solutions.
> the letter proved that I posted myself something on a given date

This is where the notary angle kicks in. Notary records will prove the date (2nd proof of date, btw) as well as the content. (Strict legal angle apart, I think this simplistic method packs a lot of sophistication!)
There are a lot of other considerations for employees (and founders) in an M&A than just cash -- being acquired by a company which will continue to grow and evolve the product, where employees and founders can be happy, etc., seems like a much better outcome, even for a smaller total dollar value for equity, than being acquired by the company which destroys most of its acquisitions and is hell to work for.

Making $100mm vs. $50mm as a successful founder, but enduring 2-3 years of relatively higher unhappiness, might be a reasonable choice for some people. I really wouldn't want to see every late-hire engineer making $200k vs. $100k from options but needing to relocate, find a new job ASAP, etc.
HIPAA is why sign-in sheets such as these are common.

http://hipaasignin.com/info/info.html
I recommend doing this for anyone whose development platform of choice doesn't have an existing decent A/B testing option. You can do much, much better as a developer with something that has tight integration on the backend.

That said, Visual Website Optimizer / Optimizely are godsends for non-technical stakeholders like the marketing department at Random Insurance Company who want to be able to split test without getting into an argument over getting engineers assigned every single time. There's enough of a market there for both of them to do quite well indeed.
he was just trying to be funny. then because you NATURALLY assumed that you were smarter than him you decided to educate him!

finally, i think it is not possible to make a very good argument that nokia was not a direct competitor of microsoft.

peace
Google Vs Publisher
At first I interpreted this as east coast USA vs west coast USA... and in which case, that's an interesting comparison as well. It isn't nearly as interesting as the former but interesting nonetheless. And if that were the matter in question, I'm actually not sure what I'd think.
I've heard that even at top universities in China there are trends among the subjects that don't really exist at the likes of Cambridge, MIT and Stanford.

For example it might be that CS is currently more popular than maths/ physics/engineering, as a result all most top students (including high scorers in the math or physics olympiads) will apply for CS at university regardless of their interest in the subject. Those with the very best performance on the entrance exams will be accepted for CS at Peking and Tsinghau, the next tier of students would have a choice between math/physics/eng. there or CS at a 2nd tier university, and other students between math/physics/eng. at a 2nd tier university or CS at a 3rd tier university.

On top of that the popular subjects will shift with time, so not only is it hard to judge a student's motivation but you might think that on paper someone is a good student because they were accepted for CS, but perhaps at that time CS was picking up students rejected from engineering.
All the time. I typically respond with "What's going to stop me from taking your idea, developing it on my own, and having 100% equity?"
As a developer for a US based software company, I have experienced some of the differences first hand. We recently tried to farm out a near impossible task to an Indian company. They, as most of these companies do, promised everything we asked, and built in some contractual loop holes to protect themselves. The code we received is crap. It doesnt really follow our architecture, and will probably take just as long to clean up as it would to rewrite.

That said, I think the problem is that managers think code just needs to be "typed up" to work. Developers are viewed as interchangeable cogs and not technical assets. I'm actually amazed the "port" came out as well as it did with the set of circumstances we presented the company. I work with 3 Indian expats who are all very competent developers, I would say among the best I have worked with. Its just the combination of distance, cultural difference, and lack of problem domain familiarity that causes outsourcing to fail, not bad developers.
I've used Feedback Army twice so far in the 25-50 range. I really want to love your product, and it's super well designed and easy to use, but the people on Amazon Turk just suck IMO. The feedback I got was completely generic and they seemed to be trying to answer all my questions the way I "wanted" them to - this seems to be a cultural thing in East Asia. It was very frustrating.

I understand there is some give and take with how I ask my questions and analyze the results (ie: what you put in is what you get out to a certain extent) but it would be awesome to be able to pay more and limit your users to specific countries or regions (if this means moving off Amazon Turk so be it. I would pay much more money than you are currently charging for a higher quality service).
Từ Hy Viên rời làng giải trí sau khi kết hôn - Tiếp thị quảng cáo là sáng tạo
There's a mention of a utdallas.edu page in the WMW comments, which is now dead, but the cached version is here:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?sourceid=chrome...

Just a quick glance says that is definitely not an earned page of links. I'd love to know if Overstock gave Mr. Arora just a discount, straight up cash to post, or what. And how did they reach out? Did they email every student at utdallas.edu and offer them an incentive in exchange for posting a page on their personal site?

It actually makes me feel a bit better to see this is actually pretty black hat, and not (at least in my reading) quite as debatably paid-links as the Journal's story made it sound.
It's different not just among countries, but within a country. Good developers in big cities in China can make close to 100K USD.

There aren't many, if any, good developers in rural or extremely poor areas. Most of them move to technologically advanced urban hubs. This normalizes the differences a little and still make comparisons somewhat valid. At least less different than if you were to look at country-wide demographics.
Ask HN: Have you had any experience with FundingUniverse.com? 
I've heard very mixed reviews of FundingUniverse, and personally had a negative experience with them as a tech startup, although they never provided a service to us. I'd love to know if any other startups have used FundingUniverse.

TechCrunch did an article on FundingUniverse (mostly on an acquisition) http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/11/fundinguniverse-buys-twitjump-to-help-startups-leverage-twitter/
Want a job at Wordpress? Just check their HTTP headers.
Hi Yankoff,
This discussion came up on a Google Alert for "Originate Labs" and I'm in charge of Corp Dev for both our San Mateo and Los Angeles offices.

What you are looking to do is what we do at Originate every day and we use primarily RoR in addition to mobile development. If you're interested in chatting about employment with Originate now or in the future (maybe when you get your OPT), we can certainly help you develop your entrepreneurial aspirations within the confines of a stable incubator type company.

My email is rob.mallery (at) Originatelabs (dot) com if you want to send a resume or your contact info.

Cheers!

Rob Mallery
Dir of Corp Dev
Originate Labs
Useful idea, although the implementation makes Safari stutter on a CoreDuo MacBook. I didn't check the internals, but I have a feeling that some value checks would benefit from caching.

Either way, I wouldn't deploy this just yet. But I also wouldn't deploy a PNG background that's position: fixed, because I remember it crippling old versions of Firefox on Windows..

I guess it depends, but us users with slow computers avoid websites that point out the fact that we haven't upgraded for 4 years.. I think the web is most definitely the one place where you can't presume everyone is on par with Moore's law. You just can't increase performance requirements according to your workstation (at least not on the client-side).

Remember any leet Flash websites from 2001 (besides 2advanced, err) where the stop-motion effect would reveal your CPU's inferiority to the developers machine? Exactly, me neither (there were a lot of them though).

I hope the plugin takes off, but it won't happen until it performs. Making websites slow on old computers is much like making type too small for the visually impaired.
Making Your Own Homemade Oatmeal Packets
Maybe you'd like Mirah?

http://www.mirah.org/
Ask HN: How to send back an offer letter?
I have a quick question about how to send back an offer letter and some employment forms. A company has given me the position that I applied for and says that the forms can be sent back via email or fax. If I were to choose to scan and email them, what resolution should be sufficient for the image files? I don't want them to be too big as they need to be sent through email, however I also don't know if there is a minimum resolution needed for legal documents. Anyone know what resolution I should scan them as?