skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
May be it's just me but I tend to value "authority/expert/background" less and judge the actual delivered content by itself. Trusting content by its "background" is just intellectually lazy. Question authority. That's part of critical thinking I've learned long time ago.

Lionhearted (Sebastian) has delivered outstanding insights time and time again. Many thing he said has struck a chord with me. One of his best blogs was that it takes many ordinary writings to hit a gem piece. And he certainly practices that.
What about terms of use for sites where they specifically disallow the use of ad blocking software?
Mid-2009 Core2Duo laptop (Dell Studio 15), occasionally hooked up to a 19" external monitor with an aspect ratio deliberately different to that of the laptop.

Also have Ubuntu on an ageing machine to do a bit of cross-browser testing work.
Scheme2Js
IPad Workflow Improvements
I never understood this. I always thought that you'd rather buy from someone who is likely to go out of their way to serve your needs than to buy from someone who simply doesn't care.

I think the biggest factor is trust. If the salesperson desperately needs the sale, it's hard to trust what they say. They're more motivated to make a sale that they can't deliver on because they have no choice.
I don't do conferences. But this is one conference I am seriously considering attending. I have a feeling I would regret it if I didn't go. This looks very useful and immediately applicable to me. Great idea, guys!
Ask HN: Why is UIWebView in iPhone SDK a second class citizen?
I tried my hand at development for the iPhone the year before last, but all of ideas blurred the line between native and web applications. However, this proved to be impossible on the iPhone as the UIWebView isn't even close to being Safari. Now I hear the new OS upgrade doesn't offer access to the new optimized JavaScript engine. I know Apple wants to control various aspects for overall better user experience, but it seems that the only options are to fork WebKit or otherwise be someone with the money to be able to negotiate with Apple. Does anyone know of practical, exact reasons why this may be, or is Apple really trying to weed out the lone developer with ideas that are alternatives to the Apple way?
Dustin Curtis made it!
> Nokia hasn't had a single device that rivals the iPhone's technical capabilities

Which iPhone? Version 4? Of course not. 3GS? Have a look at N900. The hardware is pretty much comparable, with N900 being slightly better in many categories. More memory, 32GB storage in every model, twice the screen size, additional flash memory, 2MP more on the camera. Actually the only place where iPhone wins completely is the multitouch screen.

So out of 4 released iPhones, only the most recent one is definitely better than N900.
Fastest selling consumer electronics device ever
The guy posted on his blog. I do not see why he needs to prove anything unless he wants to.
Yes, it's successful and I also managed to negotiate a partnership with IKEA. A unique experience! I did all that just to be able one day to return to my startup. We've been featured on ReadWriteWeb and 400+ ppl have subscribed for our beta, but this achievement was not helpful when my co-founders decided to quit...Looking back I can say that although I learned a lot running construction business, that was a mistake. And I want to fix it now. I would be happy if YC will review my application having in mind who is the person behind it.
>"And he wastes little time on obscure technical specifications, unless magical is some sort of objective industry benchmark."

IANAL, but I suspect that the constant use of "magical" in Mr. Jobs speeches is actually a legal strategy on Apple's part because it allows them to claim that "alleged deceptive statements were such that no reasonable person" could misunderstand "Apple’s statements as claims of fact." [http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/12/apple-says-cust/]

The fact that tech journalists miss this probably has something to do with their proclivity for giving Mr. Jobs standing ovations.
If I had to guess, I would say this is a compilation of horror stories from a bunch of different badly-managed companies with some juicy padding lobbed in for fun.
Laurence Kotlikoff: Study Hard to Find If Harvard Pays Off
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> I dont think that explains who you are (well, some might say braggart) or what you're about.

Yeah, this is classical "rock and a hard place" thing. Someone asks, "Who does this jerk think he is?" You can write a factual answer, and you come across either boring or as a braggart. You can write a flippant answer and you come across cheeky. You can ignore it and come across aloof. It's surprisingly hard to answer well when someone calls you out in an unfriendly way.

If you want to know my personal interests, my favorite thing in the world is scubadiving, I like electronic music quite a lot and was just at a bar with a great DJ here in Saigon, my favorite piece of music in the world is Dvorak's 9th Symphony, I like guns a lot (this is partially an American thing, Europeans need not be alarmed), I snowboard, I'd like to travel to every place in the world, I read a ton of books... I'm a natural introvert, but I like people. Yeah, I'm aiming to be the greatest strategist of this generation. I reckon it'll take me another 20-25 years to get there.

> I have never met you, but I know many users here have and every single one vouches for your credibility. That is something I believe in.

Thanks. I think I'm a decent guy, but I rub some people the wrong way. But I mean, I knew I'd do that when I started. I write pro-wealth, pro-ambition, pro-winning, pro-excellence, pro-individualism, etc, etc, etc. That really bothers some people. Like, a lot. But it's also why my site got relatively popular relatively quickly - there's just not many places like that.

I did a brainstorm a while back - I asked, how could I reach people that were just interested in what I have to say without rubbing people who don't want to hear it the wrong way? I don't want to antagonize who doesn't like what I have to say. Of course not... but I couldn't really find any way to write my site, share it with people who are interested, and have people who aren't interested not find it.

I guess that's the nature of things - you take strong positions, you get criticized. Bothered me a little at first honestly, but you get over it pretty fast. When someone criticizes someone they don't know except via online, they're replying to their idea of you, not you yourself... it's just the nature of things. With some acclimation, the criticism isn't so bad, and you get to do some interesting stuff and meet some interesting people. Worth doing overall, definitely.
Rather overtaken by jQueryMobile now - which incorporated some of the jQT code I think. jQM targets more mobile browsers and has a great momentum behind it - even in Alpha.
Thanks for the article - it's nice to see a counterpoint to all of the advice that focuses only on a "call to action" on the homepage and trying to get people to take it (yes, like like the rotated angled screenshot that points to the signup button :-)

Seems like the ultimate home page would provide everything a prospect needs to decide before clicking "Signup". Basically no funnel at all - Home Page ->> Signup. Nice.
Many people already know what sites they don't want, and never open these links. But to block those links, do users really have to open a link and return to Google to block it?

Also, the sites that have already been blocked with the extension, will they be auto-blocked?
I'm pretty sure it was an allusion to WePay.

Their current website doesn't say that, but it does look similar, and their past antics have certainly snubbed PayPal.
Have you never used reddit?
Pukey UI look and bad UX have killed more promising and cool technology than anything else, probably by more than an order of magnitude.

Open source needs designers, badly.
Oh, there's no secret, it was a couple of hundred thousand. I never gave the figure because it still feels like bragging. Enough to make me not worry if I lose my job, not enough to live the high life.

You're right about the ownership - and the earning of money. I made a sum total of about £25 from a single book sale this month, but it feels worth more than the money I got from my job. I'm damn well spending that money on something specific.

I could have got a decorator in to paint my spare room (turning it into an office) but I did it myself, it looks a bit crappy in places, but it feels awesome :) To me the cost of a decorator is ultimately valueless, even though he could do a much better job.

On the other hand I hate washing my car so I pay to get it done.

"Value" and "Worth" are strange concepts.
There's value to the experience of being on a team of people, working towards a goal you all believe in, all giving 100%. Agreed, you wouldn't want to do this 365 days a year, but I think it's important to understand the state of mind required to do this, so that you can call on it or recreate it for circumstances that merit it.

It's definitely easier to do this if you think your team is going to "win". In fact, if you don't think you stand a reasonable chance of winning, you may as well just go home.

But: If people thought too much about statistics, no one would ever try anything new. So I don't think that being able accurately to gauge your chances of success is actually that important (never mind the fact that it's essentially impossible).
>>This looks very useful and immediately applicable to me.

Awesome; that's the reason we decided to put it together. Hope to see you in June...
Buying Legitimacy: How a Group of Executives Built an Online College Empire
"We do not know what a body can do" - Spinoza, Ethics
I was wondering the same thing. It's not to say I'm dismissive of Sebastian's thoughts -- this particular one actually kind of resonates with me -- but I do find that his posts lack perspective. Compared to Derek Sivers' posts, for example, Derek always presents his thoughts as lessons learned wrt CD Baby and ties them to some aspect of his business.

In other words, I'm not saying Sebastian's content is necessarily bad (some of it is quite good), but I would like to see him focus on improving his writing style a bit.
LinkedIn is more important for your marketing and beyond your control
Nokia Qt QML components for the Desktop
The default was set at the inflection point.
Fake News Story Says Staring at Breasts Is Good for Men, MSNBC Covers It.
Talk to your real customers, not your imaginary ones. The SyncPad story.
Future of Gaming study: seeking gaming enthusiasts and entrepreneurs
Spotting Virtual Intruders
I've used monitis, pingdom, and webmetrics. Pingdom is my fav, but I'm not sure it does a lot of application level load tests.
patr1ck - did you see our link that says "Price isn't the only thing that matters?" That takes you lower on the page where we cover some of these things?
http://feefighters.com/square-vs-verifone#comparison_details

I'm not asking to be an ass, I'm wondering if we should make that more apparent. We cover some of what you mention, and some things you don't.
The "don't need money" attitude sends out a "social-proof" signal that the stuff being sold is in high demand, which translated into it's of high quality and worth buying.

It's similar to the pricing signal of a high-priced product. The buyer takes all these signals into consideration when buying.
Marijuana IPOs Provide Investors With Entry to Cannabis Boom
Unfamiliarity? Discomfort? The choice could be emotional as opposed to intellectual. Smart people can spend a lot of time and effort defending the status quo.
It would be interesting to see the percentage of Google users that that block even one site. Though even if it's a small percentage it could help the blockers take out their search frustrations by blocking a site, and help the non-blockers by giving Google hints as to what searchers don't like.

The magical optimization I would prefer would be a non-commercial search. If I search for a piece of gear sometimes I don't want to buy it and instead want to weigh buying it or just look up reference information. For some searches that is tough, and permanently blocking commercial sites isn't an option. (I've occassionally resorted to limiting my searches to .edu and .org domains with limited success). Even temporarily blocking commercial sites might not help, though, since sites like Amazon.com have fantastic reviews on some items.
iPhone app?!

"“This is one we’re finishing up, what we call our bloom room,” he said. Peterson, 36, sells the trailers for $30,000 to $80,000 as “plug-and-play” facilities for cultivating pot. Customers don’t need to buy hydroponic equipment or even stay on-site -- lighting, temperature, nutrients, water and humidity can be operated remotely via an iPhone app."
If I read it correctly, that was specifically in relation to the "declarative UI" approach not the whole UI.

Also, to be fair, Nokia's acquisition of QT occurred when Nokia already had a GTK UI, it's not like the GTK UI didn't exist beforehand.

(One of the interesting conspiracy theories someone shared with me was that the Symbian team orchestrated the Trolltech acquisition to give Symbian more time and slow down/make redundant the GTK-based effort. :) )
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts." -Mark Twain
Liveblogging the Startup Bus, Day 3: Descent Into Austin
I think the most you can push that rule is repair. If you were not quite satisfied with your apartment because it doesn't have in suite washer/dryer, go and pay an extra $100-$300 a month and get one that does. Get those small things that are cheap, but not really justifiable and reduce your stress level.
I met my previous cofounder for our last startup through a mutual friend long before founding the company together. We were introduced to each other base on the fact that we were both so business oriented and our friend just wanted us to meet. A few years later, an opportunity for a business idea came up and we decided to partner up. The company was later acquired and we decided to pursue different interests after but still keep in touch practically every day .

In hindsight, natural settings of meeting someone who have similar interests to you either through friends, work, college, etc... is much easier to find compatibility as cofounders than actively hunting down strangers at meetups hoping to find a cofounder that will work well with you. I believe PG or someone else mentioned something about how if the only reason you guys are together is to work on this startup idea and nothing else, there's really nothing holding you together and there is a higher risk of failure (not in those exact words).

The other problem you'll be facing too is that you're trying to sell your dream to someone else which is harder than joining someone else on their dream. Most people from what I've seen wants to work on their ideas rather than the ideas of others. Of course there are those that do join on with someone else's idea but for the most part, people you run into at cofounder type events are mostly biz guys looking for a technical guy to execute on their idea. It's really hard to find a compatible "friend" you can call a cofounder outside of just your startup dreams.
You could also just go here and add manually to your heart's content:

http://www.google.com/reviews/t
Vagrant tool for building virtualized development environments
I think it's to avoid accidental blocks.
Let's Bring some Ass Kicking To Boston
A good application? Made over $1000000000, want to repeat.
It's his way of staying active in the community without having to constantly check threads for replies. A fun optimization, if you ask me :)
My cofounder and I both have mortgages and good jobs. We will be making a daring life change, but my co-founder has family commitments which prevent him from leaving town for months.

Should I apply to attend alone or really scour my list of talented acquaintances? How often do you take teams with only one member on-site?
Yeah. In particular, Joel's blog is essentially a giant ad for everything Fog Creek makes. Not that that's a bad thing -- I tried Fogbugz because I found it through Joel, was willing to give it a try because I thought highly of his writing, and I'm a happy customer. Still, Joel monetizes his blog by indirectly selling software, not by being gauche and slapping adsense all over the place.
Review my Startup There Is A Special Place In Hell
You can also often make clever use of RAII and STL container classes and do memory management that way.
Probably not, that'd involve me quitting a job that I love (that I don't need the money from) and I also wouldn't have time to work on my own projects, which are my favorite thing to do in the world. Of course I don't really need the money, so I'm sure others' mileage will vary.
I wondered about that as well, then I realized it was probably a hack so that pg could repost the same URL to HN as needed.
Blogs are one of the worst monetizing categories of sites; a blog has to have a LOT of traffic (like 100k a month) to move the meter, and if you don't get that kind of traffic you're just hurting your credibility by running ads.

Sebastian's site doesn't even show up in quantcast, so Sebastian is probably turning up $2.35 a month in ad revenues, if that.
It's been done before, e.g. http://www.okcupid.com/mybestface. Knowing the OKCupid guys, they might have some useful data on their blog...
Here's a quote from the application form:

We look at online demos only for the most promising
applications, so don't skimp on the application because
you're relying on a good demo.
using... wait for it... GTK.

The real irony here is that this GTK+-based UI modernization attempt was the only one that actually shipped. The product was called Nokia N900 (still a fairly popular device in hacker circles).

The Maemo operating system on the N900 worked well and was a good effort by 2009 standards, with a hardware-accelerated GUI and an excellent desktop-quality browser. Unfortunately Nokia's internal fumbling doomed it to premature obsolescence: as soon as the device shipped, Nokia effectively declared it dead by talking up their various internal Qt and Symbian competitors instead, and then confounding things further with the MeeGo OS merger madness.

(Their upcoming MeeGo device has already suffered the same fate thanks to the recent Microsoft deal, of course.)
Is there any sort of NDA attached to the application? How can I be sure that if I'm rejected and then one of the accepted teams tosses their idea, you won't just hand them mine to work on?

(I'm aware that there are differing theories out there on the merit of shrouding a startup idea in secrecy, and my own personal opinion on the matter is that it totally depends on the idea. But the question still holds.)
>they also say reality is stranger than fiction.

It has always struck me as suspicious that the first dozen "theys" I heard this from were all science fiction writers.
What is your current job and motivation for preferring it, if you don't mind sharing?
Five Silicon Prairie startups that could break out at SXSW
Giant oligopolies are unpleasant to deal with for their own reasons. You want to appear indifferent to any particular sale for the same reason that playing hard to get works in dating: It implies that you are desirable/successful enough to pick and choose your partners.

These strategies take advanage of humans' built-in decision making and survival heuristics. Women like a man who's already taken because they can assume that his current mate has already extensively vetted him for desirability. Anyone who smells desperate trips alarms and gets you wondering why they can't find a mate / job /client.

There's a fine line between putting your best foot forward and cynically manipulating everyone around you of course. Robert Cialdini's book "Influence" shows you where the line is and how to stay on the clean side.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cialdini#Six_.22Weapons_...

(P.S., thanks for prgmr. I enjoy my service.)
I don't ignore the match percentages at all. Obviously they aren't perfectly correlated, but they're pretty solid. People with very low match numbers are basically 100% duds.
one of the comments made me laugh:

I was hired for a job for which I feel vastly underqualified about 9 months ago. I think they were desperate. Having seen the calibre of the developers I've come to realise I could never be a real developer. I'm not that smart. I was shit-hot at all my previous jobs but now I feel like an idiot.

Luckily, I tell everybody that asks me to do something that I can't, I don't have a clue how to, I've no idea what my job is and I don't understand how I got through the interview. They laugh and go and ask someone else. I figure, when the shit eventually comes down and they rumble me, I can point to the fact that I've been completely honest all along.

Maybe some of these companies are like 'fronts' for illegal money laundering or fraudulent hedge funds, so the more clueless the employees are, the better. From an employment angle that's not too far fetched -

me, age 9, after typing in a ZX Spectrum animation/macro:

I know BASIC.

me, age 22, after writing a few scripts for Office software:

I'm proficient in Visual Basic.

And in neither case did I really know how wrong I was... You could definitely hire a lot of 'computer users' who have no real understanding of programming abstractions, and have never met a real developer.
RockMelt - Your Browser. Re-imagined.
Hike the 2,200-Mile Appalachian Trail in 4 Minutes (video)
what were you trying to do? I've found the UIWebView to be pretty decent and have worked on some hybrid native/web apps.

I have native code calling into JS code that runs in UIWebView, and JS code calling back into Obj-C, etc.
Quick, block expertsexchange!
Ideas and the satisfaction of completing them
My only real complaint about the nature of HN is the (as perceived by me) strong anti-C++ bent, like the ones in these comments, from what seems like people who don't have lots of experience using it in the work place. Am I imagining this anti-C++ bias? Am I wrong and all the people bashing C++ have tons of C++ experience?

I'll be the first to point out the numerous flaws C++ has but it just feels like folly to make fun of the ugly chick at the party without realizing everyone at the party is covered in warts... (The is a metaphor for all programming languages having problems)
Weatherspark: Great site for visualizing current weather, history, and forecasts
JS to lock out major labels from your content ;)
UI design & development for a small marketing software company. All my friends work here, 20' ceilings, great vibe, foosball, free reign over what I work on, huge windows, I could go on. If I quit then I wouldn't be able to hang out with my friends or geek out at lunch, I'd just be sitting at my house by myself :)
It's great -- Unfortunately I run a professional office with woman who work for me, and while they'd probably not care if I sent them an article that says "Suck Balls" at the top, I care enough not to send it.

Couldn't you be just as snarky and instead say "We do everything PayPal does except Suck?"

Just some feedback on an otherwise great post.
Based on the similar questions popping up it seems that my situation is common : plenty of talented people are ready to commit as soon as funding is certain.

Thank you for responding.
> pro-winning, pro-excellence

That's what rubs me the wrong way: that kind of phrase is a throwaway. You're pro-winning. Great. Until I read your blog, I was a firm believer in losing? Maybe it was because I was striving to be as mediocre as possible, rather than... "excellent"?

I'm not trying to be a wiseass (well, maybe a little), but do you see what I'm getting at?