skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I thought this would be more like SABRE/Easy SABRE, which I loved.

This just isn't a useful tool for me in its present form -- I've never had any trouble typing in my search parameters on the various travel websites and this seems to be all that this does.

commandline + flights available + airfares would be super valuable to me though.
Company valuations are growth bets. Nokia is already holds a huge share of an almost-saturated industry. There isn't much room for growth in their core business area, and they don't have a history of growing into new areas of revenue like some of the other companies on the list (Google and Apple especially).

FWIW, Apple and Google are both overvalued. :)

[edit: I should say technology company valuations are growth bets. Corporations in stable industries are more often valued by earnings, unless something weird is going on (acquisition talk, etc...).]
If colleges provide a service that's worth the price they have to charge, they'll stick around. But arguing that we should avoid credentials and vocational school because they could compete with college is like wanting to ban hybrids because you look forward to driving an SUv, and figure that if hybrids become too popular, SUVs will be obsolete and you won't get one. A rational person would ask why your preference for SUVs over hybrids should force everyone else to be wasteful.
Although I did laugh, I have to ask if this was this a joke? So $1000 or $100 is what you pay (depending on if you fail or succeed)? Aside from the monetary figures you mentioned, sure it sounds like a great idea for a staffing business.
Dipity’s Archaeologist Provides Timeline of Digg Articles for any Keyword
Office OpenXML a dead end, Microsoft will back ODF
A reliable way to find startup ideas
A good way to find startup ideas might be to simply go to forums/sites for particular communities, such as the firefighting community, or cnc machine community, and simply ask what types of software they really want, which tasks could be automated by computers/robots.

A lot of startups tend to focus on creating social media/cloud computing sites because that's all they have direct experience with (web browsing and programming).

Many other industries are stuck in technological dark ages - the industrial automation community still programs in ladder logic!
Well-run dictatorships can be prosperous in the short run, but the inexorable decay into rule by a corrupt elite will bankrupt a society.

Is that, historically, true? The monarchies of Europe lasted for generations, and in many cases overthrown in bloody coups causing more destruction than the regimes they sought to replace.

It seems weird to me that government would be the only business that isn't run better through private ownership. If Bush owned the US's future tax revenues, and could pass them on to future generations of Bushes, you'd expect him to run things pretty consistently, and with an eye to maximizing property values to keep the tax-generating people happy. If you compare how well-run your government is at its best to how well-run Google or Goldman Sachs is at their worst, you can see the advantages to treating institutions as transferable and valuable private property, rather than giving managers temporary license to extract what benefit they can, after which the consequences are passed on to someone else.

Would FDR have designed Social Security the way he did if the future cash flows cut into the dividend checks of future Roosevelts? Would Reagan have allowed Congress to spend so heavily if it were his money? I seriously doubt it.
Unless it turns out that people really do want it. In which case you've just pissed off hundreds or thousands of your potential early adopters with a 404 page, and demonstrated that you can't even build and link to a simple, basic, web page. And, come on, who here does not hit F5 when they reach a 404 page? I've never heard of anything so stupid in my life - the guy who dreamed this up has just got to have an MBA.
Forsaking a Dream
What do Crumpler and Ben & Jerry’s have in common?
College degrees should be your GPA with the degree title underneath. I guess it's a hard sell for college when your degree is only worth something significant when it has a 3.5 or greater on it though...
I don't think so. People might look at that and think "Oh, this isn't ready yet." While that might be true, it also destroys your test.
I expected the post to have a list of what he did to lose his wealth.
Funny.
It's not necessarily part of the same. But it seems likely to be.

The thing that is missing is what do 'you' do. If I am thinking up, designing, promoting & running the site. The sit = the business, what's are you for?

BTW, there might be a his part. But it's not mentioned.
Okay.

But what if everybody (or almost everybody) prefers SUVs? And I guess we need to extend the analogy a little more: what if everybody needs a car, and their parents are buying them one, and the parents choose primarily based on cost, and hybrids cost less? But everybody wants an SUV. Maybe everybody wants an SUV to the extent that they'd be willing to personally pay for the difference in price, if they had the money. Oh, and maybe the SUVs are actually better for the environment.

...This analogy is terrible.
Hi Hacker News.  What do you think of this idea?: Ning for Online Stores
My start up is FlyingCart.com and we just launched an easy way to create a social network for your products. What you guys think? Any advice would be great!
Just drop this in at the top of bookmarklet.js :)

// Flash message
var flashMsg = document.createElement("div");
flashMsg.style.position = "absolute";
flashMsg.style.right = "0px";
flashMsg.style.top = "0px";
flashMsg.style.padding = "20px 40px";
flashMsg.style.backgroundColor = "#eee";
flashMsg.style.borderBottom = "1px solid #ccc";
flashMsg.style.borderLeft = "1px solid #ccc";
flashMsg.style.fontSize = "30px";
flashMsg.innerHTML = "<em>Okay!</em> Now select your image";
document.body.appendChild(flashMsg);

window.setTimeout(function(){
flashMsg.style.display = 'none';
}, 3000);
Huge fan of jQuery. They've done a terrific job on building that library.
Michael Phelps and the Olympic mentality
True, but that might still be better than the worst surgeon in the world with the best equipment.
Science is not just about formal degrees. It's about curiosity and interest as well. I don't see myself having conversations about science at too many bbq's, at least not in a non-scientific audience. I wonder how many people here know about the Broad institute or care about the HapMap project. I just get the sense that science today is either formal or not at all and sheer intellectual curiosity is missing.
Commentary: College a waste of time. Use a Certification System Instead
I couldn't download them. Does anybody have them?
If you're working in Video - Mark Your Calender for Sept 9th 
Party at Downtown Crossing, Boston, for anyone interested...
RIM still might be a good buy. As consumers awaken to smartphones, they're probably going to be a top 3 player, possibly even #1. While Apple is clearly the hype winner, RIM is making phones that a lot more people love.
"I wouldn't want the best surgeon in the world using a clotheshanger and a steak knife, though."

I'd prefer that over being operated on by a monkey in a fully stocked OR.

The surgeon will probably know enough to correctly weigh the risk of doing surgery with poor tools against not doing surgery at all.
Microsoft's Live Maps Schools Google, Yahoo, Ask and AOL in Georgia Mapping
Next time I’m rich Now that shows some confidence.

I read somewhere a while back that those who made it once are very likely to make it again even if you took away all their belongings and privileges.
ECMAScript Harmony project announced - a unified continuation of JavaScript
The decreasing cost of manufactured goods, increase in quality of them, and the increase in GDP that has occurred over the past 30 years. (You can argue much of this can be attributed to technology, but a large share of it is due to outsourcing - most things in dollar stores and walmart are not due to technology but outsourcing).

The rustbelt is caused by their inability to compete with the better quality Japanese cars (and Japanese salaries are higher than in the rustbelt, you can't make the cheap labour for that).
I'm at the point where I am looking to move to EY for hosting an app. Spoke with a rep today, reviewing options before pulling the trigger.

Appreciate the good words I am hearing here.
It seems like you should be working autonomously. Entrepreneur was probably the wrong word, you sound more like a consultant. But let's not whittle things down too early.

People have a tendency to define themselves in the static. But people aren't static they're dynamic. The hardest part is refining who you are, so it makes sense to others.

You have to create your career.

Unfortunately, I don't think I can give anything more than general advice (in principle). But I can relate to your situation. It takes a lot of thought and experience to figure out how you're going to do anything new.

But communication is essential. Consultants seem to be hired, often because of their writing skills. If you choose to go down that route.

EDIT: I'm self-taught too. I think it's a common problem for us, that adds to the complication. You can't point to a degree. And I have no special skills. But that's the trade off I wanted to make.
Would you prefer me with an scalpel?
10 Unexpected Costs of Owning Things
A 'Frankenrobot' with a biological brain
The writer is a evolutionary biologist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivia_Judson
I love YC, lots of people like me. LOL
Russians may not be responsible for cyberattacks on Georgia
That doesn't surprise me. If you could somehow take away all the contacts and experience they gained the first time round, it might get harder.
Real median wages are flat or down in the US for the last 30 years.

You can talk about the theoretical upsides to global free trade all you want. I'm a believer. But 2 billion people jumped into the labor pool and the reality in the US is that they made a wave that drowned a lot of people. Real wages are depressed. That's not to say there's any real alternative to full open participation in the global market, but your free-market cheer and pom-poms don't capture the full reality from a US worker perspective.
Density, via the Weaire-Phelan structure, the Holbæk Kasba and the Monaco House
Movable Type 4.2 Released
I think the problem is partly the 'industry's' motivation. Three main reasons for outsourcing are:
1. Do it cheaper.
2. Do it better.
3. Don't want to develop skills internally, grow horizontally, grow at all. I think all these are variations & combinations of 1 & 2.

If the motivation is 1, the effect is deep. Firms succeed by being cheapest. They hire, train & develop their employees based on this. The whole industry develops in that direction.

Like with Customer Service. Most outsource to save money. Most should outsource because they suck at it.
I think he was commenting on the software outsourcing in India industry, at its current state rather then the concept of outsourcing in general.
Wou wou!!

I too sail in the same boat and I find it tough to write down my skill sets in my profile or explaining it to others.

I can work on PHP, Python and Mysql (and would start learning ruby becoz i love to learn new stuff like you). But my way of thinking has been like a marketing guy(and love doing this kinda job too).
I'd prefer a med student with a scalpel.
The worst surgeon in the world would probably be a very skilled surgeon that is actively trying to hurt you.
I'm British so the government paid the vast majority of my University fees. The rest were paid for by government loans, which I am now paying back.

It really is possible for poorer families to have kids in University in Britain. It's a shame that isn't true everywhere.
Thanks John.

Especially liked the one about experience being better than stuff.

Took me a while to get that one, and I'm still working on it. Our society keeps reinforcing that you need more and more stuff, but in reality, it's the experiences you have that make the big difference.
Facebook faces class-action suit over Beacon
1. The particular popular, "catchy" sense that was fashionable when the parody was created. If that's a "point" then sure. To me it's like calling a stone fortress on not being a tent.

2. Anything can be called 'stylistically uniform' if you ignore enough details, and music is all about details.

3. This "point" is applied carelessly, merely pairing up random recordings with video seemingly at random and with no taste. Furthermore, attempt to dismiss something as suitable as "incidental music" for movie scenes is hilarious in itself, given the importance music currently plays in movies.
Of course personal freedoms aren't required for a successful economy.

The model for this is Singapore, where repression is highly selective. It is confined to those who take a conscious decision openly to challenge the authorities

This sounds precisely where the US is headed, with watchlists and selective enforcement of laws.

And of course those who are financially successful can spend their wealth to mitigate the lack of personal freedoms if they so desire. I'm sure Singaporeans can buy chewing gum at a premium just like Americans can buy marijuana.
They wouldn't let a monkey into a fully stocked OR unless it was the one being operated on. By the time you reach the level of competence to be allowed to operate an OR, the tools probably end up mattering more than individual variance in ability.
Ha! I wondered the same thing - because the link takes me to a 404...
About two days after I saw that article I saw that Dell had added touch to their tablets. Doesn't meet the $200 goal, but it's a start.
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/pressoff...
You can already do this with ch

http://www.softintegration.com/
Humor is the most subjective of all entertainment. I don't find that particular video funny (in the manner it was intended) because the ignorance and apparent dating is too distracting.

Have you considered that there might be 12-tone music that is funny for people who know how to listen to it?

Also, you said The mathematical approach to music has one endgame, and it isn't pretty. If that's been misunderstood somehow please feel free to clarify.
Rugby protection
Microsoft Experiments with Photo Viewing, Part 1: Deep Zoom
This seems like a prime example of the 'business metrics' startup idea from PG's 'startups we want to fund' list.
One problem of liberal democracy is that the rhetoric of liberalism and freedom it invokes legitimizes even very questionable practices.

Was slavery legitimate because it was approved by a "liberal democracy"? Or was pre-Civil War (or even pre-Civil Rights) US not a liberal democracy? If it wasn't a liberal democracy back then, were the then-government's actions still legitimate? These questions get at many thorny issues (like reparations, etc).

Also, is it legitimate for liberal democratic states to mandate the teaching of intelligent design, prohibit same-sex marriages, etc? Would a constitutional amendment (duly passing the democratic process) banning interracial marriages (or gay marriages) be legitimate?

I guess my point is: Do legitimate (i.e., democratic) means justify any ends? The rhetoric of "liberal democracy" is so powerful that it can be (and sometimes is) used to justify very questionable practices.
How to make something people want
How to Frame a Brain : Kawasaki - Lakoff
Simulating Dice throws - the correct way to do it
Related post from Jamis Buck: http://weblog.jamisbuck.org/2006/11/10/just-say-no-to-certif...
Lakoff's stuff is seriously mind-bending.

Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things by George Lakoff

http://www.amazon.com/Women-Dangerous-Things-George-Lakoff/d...
Stupid Practices That Hinder Market Adoption
Here's a piece I found googling for "meantone temperament"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2XNAJPgqhU

You might be able to pick up the difference in tuning. As for being able to hear when something is "out of tune," everyone has a different ability to pick up on subtleties like that. In some cases, I'd guess you hear a pitch when it's wrong, it just doesn't bother you enough to make a judgment on it so you don't remember hearing it.
Cool for all the "knowledge management" aficionados, there's a whole industry around that. Also potentially useful for intranets / collaboration systems -- if at some point you can offer your API offline, i.e. as a library callable from code without having to depend on your web service. If I can package up your algorithms with a product I'm deploying, I'll be happy to pay for it (provided that real customer value is being added which for now I'm assuming).
Apple Now bigger than Google (Market Cap)
Sometimes the illusion of competence is the only thing you need to succeed.
Heck, with this we can completely solve "build something people want" and fill in the ever mysterious step 2 into the bargain:

1) Create a home page peppered with links (all 404s)

2) Fill in the links, prioritising by link click count, building your company into one which solely and only does Things People Want (tm).

3) Profit
Startup Task XXX : The western 12 tone music scale is limited and out of tune. Many of the reasons for it being useful (instrument construction, notational complexity) are no longer show stoppers. Anyone who can create software that makes it practical and intuitive to create good-sounding music using natural 'just' intervals or/and alternative scales could shake up the entire world of music. 'Scala' is a nice tool but it doesn't count. Bonus points for being able to automatically convert existing 12-tone music to just intervals in a way that makes it sound better.
If you could somehow take away all the contacts and experience they gained the first time round, it might get harder.

I doubt it.

Reread his very first sentence:

"I think one of the biggest things holding people back from getting rich is the belief that it is possible."

The key word being "belief". Most of it really is in your head. This is even more important than contacts or experience.

Personally, I don't worry much about money. Not because I have so much. But because however much I need, if I don't have it, I know that I can go out and make it. I think that was the major point of his article.
Science Visuals: The Genetic Map of Europe
"Fool me once, shame on ... {404 proverb not found} shame on you. Fool me, can't get fooled again"
The article links to the ycombinator homepage, I see no legal docs there. Am I missing something?
> "You lying cunt" is an eloquent affirmation of love.

Why am I suddenly reminded of Alan Sokal?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal_affair
Is Google's Organic Growth Topping Out? Chris Sacca talks
Hogwash.

Free market regimes that happen to be authoritarian have succeeded because of extrinsic reasons (international conditions), not intrinsic ones (the authoritarian model is fundamentally a better one than the democratic model).

During the Cold War, democratic regimes that were not free market (or did not sufficiently recognize private property, specifically private property owned by former colonial powers (i.e., US and Europe)) were consistently harassed or even toppled by the dominant superpower (see Allende's Chile, Mossadegh's Iran). For the most part, those regimes that were toppled were replaced by authoritarian (but free market) regimes.

In the last half of the 21st century, being a free market regime was both a necessary and a sufficient condition for survival, whereas being a democratic regime was neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for survival. These two facts strongly encourage the success of authoritarian free market regimes.

Why weren't there more democratic free market regimes during the Cold War? Well, they certainly existed in Western Europe, but the development story there is complicated by Europe's historically high levels of development (and the Marshall Plan).

Why weren't there more democratic free market regimes in developing countries? Democracy is susceptible to populist acts. Much of the private property in developing countries was owned by former colonial powers. A democratic government would be very tempted to dabble in nationalism (and nationalization), risking external regime overthrow.

If the West is puzzled by the success of Singapore and China, they should examine the history of their own foreign relations. The West gradually opened up to China as China gradually became more free market, despite the fact that China didn't (at all) open up politically. Had the conditions for Western engagement been political rather than economic, we might have seen a democratic (but perhaps not free market) China.
What makes you think the author was talking strictly in terms of psychometrics?

I assumed he was using common vernacular. Wouldn't it be odd for him to use such a technical term in the middle of an opinion piece in the WSJ?
>What doesn't have an exam?

Entry level office job. B.A. or B.S. required. It would be nice to have a GEBA, just like we have a GED.

Additionally, you can't take many of the exams you just mentioned without a degree. I.e. the degree and the exams are still married, the exam is just standardized.
Great suggestion, thanks. I'll be sure every startup represented provides this to start off the panel.

I'll also be sure to bring a big pitcher of orange Kool-Aid. I'm not joking.
Hey man, where'd they go? Anyone got a copy they want to share?
Not a joke. Do you think the amounts are too high? This thing doesn't even have to be a certification. It could be a contest.
Good: social order and a virtually non-existent crime rate

Bad: virtually non-existent creativity / independent thought

from the South China Morning Post:
"married couples [in Singapore] turn up each year at a clinic for sexual problems with an unusual dilemma - they don't know how to have sex.

'There are probably many more who are keeping quiet because they are too embarrassed to come forward,' V. Atputharajah, the doctor who runs the centre, told the Straits Times...

While there are no official figures on unconsummated marriages in the city-state, Dr Atputharajah estimated that one couple in 200 had the problem. Chong Yap Sent, an associate consultant at the National University Hospital, said the figure was probably twice to four times as high as that."
"reluctantly compromising perfectionism" -- an interesting notion, from last paragraph on last page.
Now that many people have clicked on it, he wrote the story?
For real! Imagine being able to pipe to grep etc. Actually if they have any sort of api that takes the command string and returns json surely that wouldn't be that hard to hack together.

[after using the site for a bit]
Nevermind I guess it just primes your search for you (still cool) and then sends you to the site itself. I was thinking it would actually return a data set of prices per carrier.
The rust belt was not sustainable. From about 1945 until the 70's, the US had an unfair competitive advantage over the rest of the world: our industrial capacity wasn't blown up. This led to an artificially large manufacturing sector in the US (we were exporting goods to the rest of the world). Once they fully recovered (roughly the 70's), there was no need for this.

If you want to bring back the rust belt, you'll probably need to start a large war in Europe and Asia...
"The documents were created with their law firm, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and are available ->HERE<-."

Is it just me or does the link on 'here' not actually work?

Actually I found a link somewhere else to one of the actual pages - http://www.ycombinator.com/seriesaa.html

And the page now has a message saying

'Sorry, there's a glitch with the documents and we had to take them down. We hope to have something back soon.'

I wonder if the glitch is technical or legal? My guess would be it's an IP issue with one of the legal documents. I can't imagine why lawyers wouldn't want this to go ahead.