skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I had issues with FF2, so I went to IE7 when it launched. It wasn't so bad and I actually thought it was beneficial to be running the same platform the majority of my users were running. But eventually I couldn't take it anymore, and FF3 came out so I've switched back.
Can anyone with more iPhone dev experience comment on how realistic that one opinion is? What apps are you still missing for the iPhone? :)
Ask HN: how do you find a good salesperson?
The excellent "How to hire an idiot" post (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=263599) talks about how not to hire a salesperson. But how _do_ you find good salespeople? What do you look for? Is "salesperson" a legitimate role for a software vendor, or should software companies rely more on marketing, business development, etc.?
There are many different kinds and levels of trolling. Most trolls are reasonable people who refuse to post racism or affect others IRL, but get a kick out of stimulating controversial discussion or "pwning" others (Rickroll, etc.) in harmless ways online. One of my best trolls, in 2000, was when I hit a Magic: the Gathering forum and started the rumor that the ink on old Magic cards has a 10-year lifespan and that valuable cards would soon become illegible. It's obnoxious and hilarious, but no one is harmed or harassed by this.

The fringe, though, is clearly getting out of hand. For 95% of trolls, it's an embarrassing hobby held by a small set of neurotic, but otherwise normal and upstanding, individuals. It's like a video game, in terms of its addictive nature, and also the ease with which the practice can absorb an unreasonable proportion of one's time. Unfortunately, the truly rotten 5% is giving the rest of the trolls a terrible name by doing things that are unacceptable by any standard, internet or "IRL".
MYOBGeek Blog - Mixx
hmm. weird. works for me.
MYOBGeek Blog
FCC tells Comcast to stop blocking P2P, just as anti-P2P bill passes Congress
Hahahah. Heh. Heh.

I don't get it.
To be honest, I don't know why it's called artificial photosynthesis versus photovoltaics - perhaps it is because this research looks to the actual chemical systems involved in photosynthesis as models for man-made systems (as opposed to trying to develop light-converting systems ab initio). In any case, "artificial photosynthesis" is commonly used to refer to research both on hydrolysis via solar energy and carbon fixation into organic compounds, both of which are fundamental to photosynthesis as a whole.

I was wrong about the chlorine production, actually - it only occurs at high concentrations of salt. Otherwise (or with different solutes), you can produce oxygen. Still, I believe that this reaction is not efficient enough to be feasible as an energy source.
Overall, you do want the hydrogen, but you also need an oxidant to, for example, run a fuel cell. I think there are hydrogen-chlorine fuel cells, but I imagine it would be easier and more practical to run a hydrogen-oxygen cell instead to avoid using chlorine gas/producing HCl. In any case, it boils down to developing catalysts to improve the rate and efficiency of this electrolysis (by lowering overpotentials).

I agree with you that your paragraph makes a lot more sense than the parent article. It's annoying how these press releases make things seem much more revolutionary than they really are.
I would look for good track record, and verify their references, as with any type of position.

If I'm looking for a good developer, I want to see their past projects or companies involved, and possibly some source code. I'll probably ask them to write part of an app on the spot and see how they work. The best hires are the ones who really enjoy what they do, and those people usually have interesting side projects they can show you or talk about.

I imagine a sales person who is good at his job will be able to show you exactly how he helped out the last several companies he worked for. He should probably be able to "sell" you on why he's perfect for the job ;)

I probably wouldn't hire a sales guy until I have the product fully developed and tested, have happy customers, and know there is a strong demand. I wouldn't rely on your sales guy to push a product that isn't ready.
I'm working through the Personal MBA program that was discussed here recently.

Josh Kaufman suggested the book "45 Effective Ways For Hiring Smart", which I thought was really great.

As I read it, I took notes in our internal wiki (I do this with all business books I read).

The notes follow:

concept

1. Rethink the position (does it need to be filled?)
2. Find someone who can tell you when you're about to make a bad hire
3. Would the process allow you yourself to be hired?

pre-interview / resume screening

1. Make phone contact
2. Ask for a letter & resume
3. Give an assignment
4. Read resumes in teams
5. Cast the widest net
6. Use caution with big changes (is this a huge leap for the candidate?)

interview

1. Pre-interview interview (keep the initial interview very short)
2. Walk around the office (to help candidate relax)
3. Trust your gut
4. The passionate candidate (...is great!)
5. Ask all your questions at once
6. Have fun (ask a few offbeat questions)
7. Assign a mini project
8. Seek closure (at the end say "we have five more minutes" and then pay a LOT OF ATTENTION to what is said at the end)
9. Inappropriate Behavior (Beware it!)
10. Strengths and weaknesses (pay attention ; each is the flip side of the other: "big picture" == "bad with details", etc.)
11. Be the expert (ask questions in areas where you are an expert)
12. Take notes - left side of paper: candidates answers / facts ; right side of paper: your thoughts
13. Interview in teams
14. Ask for a legal release
15. Throw a few curveballs (walk candidate to his car ; get him/her out of interview mode)
16. Ask for a return call / email "Send me a list of competitors / ideas / whatever 'on Monday'" (looking for promptness - 8am monday!)
17. Assign a take-home project
18. Psychological tests
19. Use an Intuitive person to help you interview (in our case - Suz. Look at Strengths_Finder_for_various_folks
20. Ask candidates "what will I hear about you when I check your references?"

reference check

1. Devise a phone checklist for use with references
2. Use the Internet to research people
3. Perform due dilligence (credit checks, etc.)
4. Ask for a call back from references "if this is an excellent candidate"
5. Use your network to check on candidates (LinkedIn)

end stage negotiations

1. Put problems on the table- talk to candidates about potential problems (because there WILL be problems with every candidate)
2. Use a trial run on new candidates

not for us / duh

1. Travel with the candidate
2. Meet the spouse
3. Handwriting analysis
4. Meet references in person
5. Invest in people - (duh!)
6. Three rules
1. honest
2. no addiction / crime problems
3. good health
7. Ten questions
1. has candidate sued a lot of people?
2. does the candidate dress well?
3. is the candidate a druggie? test?
4. is the candidate responsive?
5. use a model of previous good hires to hire new candidates?
6. offer hiring awards to current employees.
7. put all job offers in writing
8. use search firms, etc. ?
9. review the hiring process ; don't let it get too idea-rich
8. Design your own system (Duh)
9. Pre-interview combinations
I don't think it's a question of which apps are still missing. The iPhone platform (to abuse a much abused word) is pretty much in the same spot as the Facebook one was last year.

This means that even though the early apps will have a definite advantage, there will always be an opportunity to make a 'better' tip calculator (contrived example) and new opportunities will open up as the platform matures.

IMHO, iPhone apps are a much bigger deal than facebook apps since all the latter seem to do these days is clutter your profile and make you waste time.

So, honestly, go out there,
1. find a problem (like mass transit directions) 2. solve it with an iPhone app. 3. PROFIT !!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazing
Bill Gates Trash Talks Bill Gates
Ask PG and HN: Print-on-demand 'On Lisp' ?
I know there's the free download:

http://www.paulgraham.com/onlisp.html .

But:

PG: would you consider making On Lisp available print-on-demand?

HN: would you buy it if it were so available? I, for one, would.
CSS: Fully Accessible Background Images
Watch what happens to the logos at Digg and Slashdot if you disable images...
I think it depends in the industry. If it is a "good ol' boy network" (ie, banking), then hire from within the industry. Your new guy will already be "inside the club," and will be able to get right down to selling.

If you are in an industry that is more open (ie, educational software), then focus on traditional sales skills (make friends easy, take rejection, try and try again, etc...)
Not when it comes to rather obscure or out-of-print math books. Abebooks is definitely a goldmine when it comes to those.
Hey mstefff, you've clearly done a good ob with the PR so far, getting yourself on Lifehacker and Webware - any tips on how you managed that? I've also always been curious as to what % increase sites see as a result of getting on Lifehacker, and how much of that traffic remains visitors a month later.

My initial reaction to your site (this time around, I couldn't really make much sense of it before) is that it likely just isn't sticky enough.
Though I agree that the 'communities' are way over done, you've included a sign-up to customize option, so you are gathering user details.
Your site has the opportunity to serve users who have signed up, and those who have not. You don't have to be a social network to be a community, but I think you should be leveraging the 'community' that you have.
For instance - when I come to your site now, it offers me the opportunity to sign-up, or to click on one of the above icons.
Wouldn't your site be stickier if when I first come to the site it tells me what you suspect I am looking for? I'm not much of an investor, but your users should be, therefore I should be able to come to your site and be shown a few things that the community is currently finding interesting. Everybody benefits from that kind of stuff- new users and return visitors.

As I see it now, i can get quotes and news from a number of sites. But if you were to aggregate into a popularity list somehow (it can be done!), or recent activity, etc. that might bring people back to your site more often. Doesn't have to be a social network, but even the news sites show you stuff they think you'd be interested in right off the bat. Right now I go to your site and i have to decide what I want to look at. You're probably loosing people right there.
I found these too: http://www.physorg.com/news136738827.html http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080731140030.ht... and the paper: http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:15053943

But actually I posted this here because I wanted some expert here to comment on the article, as it worried me a lot.
The real cost of starting a startup?
This article is a couple of years old. It's an interview with AbeBooks co-founder Rick Pura. They found a need and solved it.

"We went to the booksellers conventions, and we passed out our brochures and sent them off to whatever lists of booksellers we could find. And, word of mouth spread on the Internet fairly quickly."

http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/233-AbeBooks-com-...
Ask HN: Why don't more web developers found startups?
I have a friend who is a talented web developer. His resume is filled with the latest and greatest: Django, Prototype, Rails, Ajax yada yada. He makes decent money developing websites for small businesses, but nothing spectacular. I asked him why he didn't try founding a startup, even if just in his spare time. "No ideas, I guess." "Ever heard of Paul Graham?" I asked. "Nope" ;)

As someone who is trying to learn the skills on his resume, his 'no ideas' response frustrates me. That got me thinking: What other qualities do successful startup founders have that web developers don't?

Ideas? Ambition? Family? Why don't more people make the leap?
Of all the wise ass comments, mine gets modded down...
Agreed. It's not well written either.
Any salesman, good or bad, can sell himself to an engineer. I too learned that the hard way.

Another good rule for a startup: never hire a VP from a major corporation. They are too used to a support staff that does everything for them, writing, presentations, even thinking. As others have said,they are too far removed from performing the on-the-streets job. None of us would hire a VP of Software from IBM to write code. Same applies to sales.

Big company VP's are used to intimidation and throwing their weight around, attitudesthat would probably be used against you.
I think Firefox has increased the market-share mainly because of launch of Firefox 3 before the launch of IE 8, also Firefox got very good press before the launch. I think we can come to a good conclusion only when IE 8 launches. If it is good enough, i am sure lot of people will switch to IE.
End-of-the-World Trade
Time Warner Killed Jon Miller/Yahoo Board Deal
You can always find someone who does well and make a news article out of it. I didn't do nearly as well. :) My take on it is that you can succeed in the following ways:

1. Have an already established brand in other platforms

2. Be first in some area (too late now)

3. Somehow establish critical mass of users to have a lot of reviews/downloads. Lot's of reviews - top ratings - lts of eyeballs.

4. Have an app that people show to each other and thus make it popular (like a fun game).

5. Have some really unique features (they will get duplicated though)

For example, there is about a dozen apps for managing passwords (with encryption to protect against loss of the iphone). The three that have most reviews, and thus are most popular, are the ones that have estalished brands on Palm, Windows Mobile or Desktop Mac (eWallet, SplashId and 1Password). Others are lingering around (like my Memengo Wallet) with hardly any attention at all. I expect a race to the bottom with brand-names standing on their customer loyalty and thus selling for small sum aroud $3 while no-names will go for free.

Which brings me to the point I wanted to make here: writing software is easier than making people use it, even if Apple handles the sales transactions.
Thanks, that sounds interesting.

> like mass transit directions

The problem with that is the (potential) specificity for a town, which dilutes the user numbers. I'm not sure how many I could get here in Munich where I can test it on a daily basis. Any New Yorkers have ideas for how such a service should work for their city?
Zed Shaw has mastered link baiting.
Search quality, continued
The lore of searching: how to exploit the shallow deep_web
"Technology gives you a shot at Marketing" - Seth Godin
Time for Apple to get serious about Apple TV
The same qualities we look for in other founders: being smart and effective.

There's a paradox here though: if a single founder were as smart and effective as we'd want, he'd already have found a cofounder and convinced him to join.

So in practice the single founders we accept tend to be people who are good at hacking but not so good at sales.
I think the counter-point was that it may actually be different content. How often that is the case, I don't know, but assuming it will never happen doesn't necessarily seem like a great idea.
Indeed... but in this particular case the "/" was added in the middle where it has no effect:

http://onstartups.com/home/tabid/3339/bid/6119//6-Y-Combinat...

http://onstartups.com/home/tabid/3339/bid/6119/6-Y-Combinato...

Notice the "//" before the filename in the first version.
"His story ended in success as he quit pitching and went on to become the great hitter and position player that he is now."

Kinda like Babe Ruth (the pitcher to position player part, not the Ankiel is as good as Ruth).
Shelf Bins | Part Bins|Bin Storage
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The End of PageRank
Its very sneaky on how it works...

For example, it adds "This answer is only available to paid users" where real answers are meant to be - but if you check right at the bottom of the page, the answers are there....for search engines to see, obviously.

I am really looking forward to this site, but hopefully a little newbie questions aren't laughed at.
Comcast, slapped with wet noodle by FCC, tests new tech to mess with your cable modem
Who says you're making necessarily making oxygen gas? I don't know the details of current industrial processes, but you can easily free hydrogen by displacing it with something that binds more tightly (eg, Sodium: 2H2O + 2Na => H2 + 2NaOH) and produce free hydrogen gas with sodium hydroxide waste. I suspect that a similar sort of process is happening currently when water is hydrolyzed with a "catalyst" in current processes.

Platinum is often used in catalysts. It works by providing an alternative reaction pathway that takes less energy to fuel the reaction. An analogy is that instead of rolling a rock up a hill to get it from point A to point B, the catalyst provides access to a tunnel through the hill.
The reason I haven't made the leap is pretty simple: money and location.

I currently work for a large corporation, making money, and slowly saving, but it's not very fast. I can't support myself for more than a few months before being forced to work again.

So, if I want to do a startup, I need an angel investor to fund me. That brings me to the second problem, I'm tied down into middle america. I love the city I'm in, but it doesn't have the kind of abundance of cash that the coasts have.

So, my plan moving forward is to contribute to open source and personal projects. I'll try to make a few bucks off them, but probably nothing serious. If I hit on an idea that I am really passionate about, I'll work on it more exclusively on the side or whatever day job I have, until it is able to provide decent income by itself.

As far as your ideas question, I have no shortage of ideas, but I have a shortage of ideas that would be good businesses. They are either too small, too hard to monetize, or they are simply that I don't have the passion for them to take them far enough to make them viable.
YC sending weird traffic?
Anyone else noticing weird traffic from YC recently? A couple of my blog posts have been posted recently - none got much real traffic but i'm now getting +75 hits from expired YC URLs daily.

example:
http://news.ycombinator.com/x?fnid=bu1a8HSpa3
http://news.ycombinator.com/x?fnid=w0rxaX4D1c

am i missing something? is there some link sharing thing that could be sending these hits legitimately? otherwise i'm guessing something weird is going on. i would have searched for this to see if it had already been commented - hopefully not a rerun..
The only thing is... I thought it was funny. I wasn't offended in the slightest by the rant. I know I have a bizarre sense of humor but he's doing something right.
You probably just had a popular post on the second page of news (the page you get if you click on More at the bottom of the front page).
If you want an example of a successful mass transit direction service, I like http://hopstop.com
Best Buy Express Vending Machine Brings Tech to You
"Yes, this is an over-generalization, but it is also correct."

No, if it was correct you wouldn't be over-generalizing.
I think you'll see a lot of people have success. Some of it will be because the App Store gets so many eyeballs, and some of it will be because people have established customer bases to sell to. But I think its still very possible to be very successful even if you're still building your application. You have to realize, that while some people are having a lot of success just by word of mouth and eyeballs, you can't depend on Apple to do it all. Get out there, promote your application, get word of mouth and your user base going, and make a solid app, and you can be up there with any of these applications. When two apps have comparable features and prices, it all comes down to who is doing the work outside the App Store.
Pointfree Calculator
how much marketing and work are you doing outside of the App Store?
I think I will be using this in combination with my Posterous blog.
Maybe the system should actually check what's at each page.

And you should read more carefully. I did not suggest the thing you say is a bad idea.
Chalk that up to:
1) 2004 election
2) the Pretenders' "My City Was Gone" -- which mentions someone coming back to Cuyahoga Falls and seeing her farmtown subsumed by the city. Also, it's Rush Limbaugh's theme song.
"Switzerland" ISP Protocol Meddling Detection Software
I'm still waiting to see the first iPhone mmog.
Thats funny, I have lots of ideas that would make great businesses, and the passion to work on them, but I don't know any kick-ass web developers. You just don't meet them in my line of work.
Technology aside, the core idea: writing todo items on index cards instead of lists. Focussing on discoverability and not losing things rather than checklists. This is the most f___ing brilliant gtd idea I've seen since tiddlywiki.

I've been thinking about discoverability lately, about ways to make my scrapbook/tumblelog more easy to navigate around in, having the computer find interesting connections without me having to create them all the time. It's interesting to see discoverability in action in such a different space.
We did once fund a startup that didn't even get an apartment. They lived in a hostel in SF. They said it was nice and quiet during the day because everyone else staying there was a tourist and went out to see the city. They didn't make it, though. I don't think they ever launched. So maybe they found out where the edge of cheapness is.
I like the Amazon example on page 5. Basically it's hookup w.amazon.com, ww.amazon.com, wwww.amazon.com, and wwwww.amazon.com all to redirect appropriately to the standard www.amazon.com.

I never thought about that, but it's so easy to implement, and avoid losing customers to simple typos.
Everyone has their own reasons, I'm sure. Here are some that come to mind:
- They don't have an idea for a startup
- They've never thought about entrepreneurship
- They don't know how to go about doing it
- They might be afraid to try
- They just don't feel like it; the commitment involved is not appealing to them
- They have other interests in life that are more important to them
- Their life situation prevents them from pursuing a startup idea

I don't quite agree that "web developers" don't have the qualities of "startup founders". Many probably do, but might not show them for whatever reason.

Chance plays a huge role is success, so the qualities of "successful" startup founders might not be that different from the "unsuccessful" ones.

Ambition, passion, persistence, motivation, good communication skills, a certain level of intelligence, ability to work with and motivate people are some qualities (certainly not all) that you'll probably find in founders.
I use adblock. (I do also own a TV.) It's a matter of sheer usability for me. I've never been able to develop that "ad-blindness" which others seem to have. When I don't block ads I almost literally cannot focus enough on the actual pages content to read it coherently. Flashing images and giant swaths of color are just painful. I often surf with page colors disabled and images blocked as well.

On a totally related note, I like the low-impact styling of HN.
Want to know what a real hacker profile is like?

http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/appendixb.html

I always thought that was fairly accurate.