skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
We consulted a copyright lawyer, but I never moved forward with this, so did not really did too deep.

I've noticed there are plenty of menu services that take this same approach.. just do a google search and you will see there are many guides putting menus online without a license from the restaurant. What am I missing?
Elmers sells PEN THAT CUTS
On Startups and Law firms
There's something moderately worthwhile about being the first person to write a replica of the "Hello, World." program.

But I see nothing remotely worthwhile about being the second, using plans put together by the first.
I guess I can appreciate your comment from the perspective of a hacker, however, where do you draw the line? Theoretically, if the nicer brand was made with child-slave labor, is your decision the same?
A thing I didn't quite get, under The Advantages to Being Public:

> an ability to command a higher revenue multiple than most private companies can

Can someone explain this?
I hope by broadening the target market (to any entrepreneur), it doesn't loose focus and become unrelated to its actual target market - web entrepreneurs.
Should probably still include that no warranty clause somewhere...
I hate to disagree with you on this, in fact I agree with you on most of what you say but reality is most of today’s names must be spell to someone who never heard of it, even Fotolog.
I find that its mostly inspiration--but that inspiration itself comes from perspiration. I've come up with simple but elegant ideas that turn out to be quite effective when applied, and the adaptation of idea to practice turns out to be relatively trivial. But in reality, I came up with that idea through a great deal of conscious and subconscious thought as a result of experimenting with hundreds of other ideas that failed. The "spark of inspiration" rarely is something that happens in a second, even if it seems that way initially.
Has this happened to anyone else here on YC HN?
Doesn't this sort of remove the need for secrecy and development that you were thinking about? Did they get there ahead of you because they didn't worry about the sorts of things you did?
Biking around the city is always an adrenaline rush for me, and I ride conservatively. You almost have to ride like you are invisible. I feel bike messengers have a job that balances risk and excitement. I admire this guy for taking on a job that is as far away from the cube as you can get. If you ever get a chance to see the Cycle Messenger World Championships, go.. I like this guy's writing style.
Oh yeah, there are some doozies when it comes to this. But people bounce back. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=233166
Malcolm Gladwell: Age Before Beauty
It is most likely not legal.

The user owns copyright to the article or story that he wrote. This ownership of copyright gives the user the right to decide how it is distributed. For you to use the material legally, you must get permission of the copyright holder. The user may be the copyright holder, or the site may be if the user transfers the ownership. Either way, someone owns the copyright and it is not you. You need permission.

There are two defenses to copyright infringement: 1) fair use, and 2) parody.

Parody probably doesn't fit here. So that means you need to make a case for fair use.

Fair use has 4 elements:

1: The purpose of the use (commercial vs. non-commercial/educational) - if you are going to make money on this, fair use is out.

2. Nature of the copyrighted work - This doesn't really apply here, so I won't go into the lengthy explanation.

3. Amount of portion used in relation to the whole - Did you extract a quote? That is probably ok. Did you copy the entire article? Probably not ok.

4. Effect upon the market - if your site harms the market of the other site, no fair use.
I think you're raising a good point there. I need to think about it more but I think you're right. It's good food for thought. On one hand I feel the need to stay in stealth till I have a working prototype to give me a headstart on the other hand if I would have been open about it from the moment I had the idea it could have allowed me to gather feedback from the start.

I currently still think I was wise to stay in stealth because my idea has no barriers of entry. However I am going to change my timeline and start being more open soon. I hope to have a private alpha in a few weeks time.
One of the most dangerous things you can do is rely on non-lawyers for legal advice. Ask an attorney.
But that's how the stock market works. :) Trying to do better than that is futile.
If you work on your computer all day every day, as many HN readers do, and it lasts a couple of years, then paying a bit extra for something that makes that work more efficient or more pleasurable is well worth it. After years of PC use, I changed to a Mac a couple of years ago, and it's worth every penny.
From http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=268710
Yahoo, Google, Microsoft Draft China Code Of Conduct
Free niche search engine idea
There has been some discussions regarding how to create a niche search engine that can nibble at google's market share. Here is my (free) idea: create a search engine for connections. Instead of searching for a single thing, let the user enter several "things" and try to find the connection between them.
Congrats Luc!
Ask HN: iPhone Web App or iPhone App?
Hello all,

Sorry, this place is becoming my goto place for benign questions, being a lowly lone developer has its drawbacks!

You are looking for some information via Google on your iPhone/iPod touch. You find a link to a website that has all you need. Two options:

1) The website is optimised for the iPhone and looks nice enough but is fairly dumb i.e. no location awareness, access to contacts etc.

2) The website says, hey we have an iPhone app, you need to install it to see this lovely information. The app is free and fairly small (< 2 MB).

Would option 2 put you off enough to go elsewhere? It's not intended as a walled garden, it's a choice between me developing an iPhone app AND an iPhone web app and have them co-exist, or go with just one option.

Obviously having just one is easier for me but I want to keep as many people happy as I can because I'm that kind of guy.

Thanks!
Sure. Too much iron is bad for your system. I learned that from Grand Theft Auto.
Attorneys are expensive, Hacker News is free.
It's more complex than just enabling font scaling. Many designs are not tested after fonts have been scaled causing breakages which render the page illegible.

Additionally, for those shooting for the greatest cross-browser accessibility, different browsers scale differently based upon whether you define things in pixels, points, percentages, or ems.
How HotOrNot Bootstrapped its Way to Profit, Sale
If the application was good enough (and the price was right), I'd certainly install it on my phone.

There seems like a dearth right now of really good iPhone applications, so the more the merrier, I say.
> The difference, though, to me, between working on OS X or Linux, though, is negligible. I suspect that most conference goers with glowing Apple laptop lids can be just as productive in Linux as they can in OS X. (I'm not a Mac developer, I imagine that crowd would disagree)

Since most of the tools are the same, the only real difference is in the GUI and underlying software toolkits. If you aren't targeting a HLL like Python or Ruby, Apple's NeXT-descendent API really shines. There is just nothing like it in the Linux world, although Qt has tried to copy it. So you can definitely start noticing that.

I used to be a Linux user too, and I still develop software for Linux. To me, I vastly prefer the OS X user environment because a lot of niggling detail work involving clipboards, image viewing, indexed-content search etc are all done, and done such that they generally work, and lots of not-necessary-but-pleasant-things like mixed-channel sound work without even considering them.

Yes, I could get most of these things working in Linux. I know the software, I know how to install it and configure it... but I just can't bring myself to do all that to get what, at best, will be an equivalent experience.
No ZFS in Leopard.
I didn't want to post so many negative comments today... but I seriously can't believe I wasted my time reading this marketing-speak ridden junk. How did a submission from an account that is 5 hours old make it to the RSS feed?
Girl Talk adopts pay-what-you-want model [link to new CD]
Here's a soundtrack to accompany the article:
http://radio3.cbc.ca/play/band/Abdominal/Pedal-Pusher/
We’re Far Removed From Proof of ‘Six Degrees’ Theory
I wonder what I am doing wrong, as my visited links don't gray out like that.

Of course, now that I think about it, my Google results don't change color after visiting them either, so maybe it's something with my browser (FF3).
I think you made a point against yourself there. If it has no barriers to entry, then what's wrong with publicizing it? Obviously, one person has already done it. Part of what entrepreneurs often do is think their ideas are unique. But someone has just proven that its not, and I think you'll see others will as well. Being open about your idea and getting feedback is not really likely to lead to a bunch of new competitors. If there are no barriers to entry, then your business is all about the long haul and other factors, not surprising the world with it. Execution is where the battle lies now. Getting all the help and feedback you can get and getting the work done is more important than keeping it all inside.
I am personally very interested in any new search engine niche, but I need your help in telling me a bit more about your Idea. Can you please describe a simple scenario and explain how can this be helpful to you?
Cool, I was worried that it may seem like asking someone to install a proprietary plug-in just to see my site but I guess it's not exactly the same.
They are not 'open in the public domain' nor can they be treated as 'public property'. Somebody wrote those menus from scratch and as such they own the copyright. If you wanted to take an excerpt from the menu and comment on it, then that is fair use. When reproducing it in full, they technically can request you remove it, or any of the other avenues for restitution copyright law affords. Most won't because it benefits them to have their menu available and widely disseminated - which is why they give them away in the first place. But don't confuse them giving the content away as it then being your property you can then do what you please with.
Online Music Retailer CD Baby Acquired by Disc Makers
I know you were kidding, but seriously thanks for saying this. We just scooped up the domain as a misspell redirect.
I discovered, to my dismay, that a company launched earlier this week doing the same thing I had intended to do. After seeing the implementation, its 80% of what I had envisioned and I probably could have done better, but, after wandering around their site and considering the idea more, I realized that it was not as promising as I had thought.

So, in actuality, the launch saved me from spending a lot of time on something that probably isn't a great idea anyway.
Oops you're right - sorry about that. We did have a Max beta tester from Copenhagen though.

I need sleep.
DMCA safe harbor applies when you are a service provider.

Examples are an ISP that merely provides access to the internet. The ISP cannot be sued for copyright infringement just because infringing bits passed through its servers.

Also, a message board that posts whatever a user writes would obtain DMCA safe harbor. They just provide a service and don't screen out for content. An example is Craigslist.

This person's site DOES NOT enjoy DMCA safe harbor. He scraped the other site and populated his own. He is not even acting as a service provider as the DMCA statute prescribes.
Yeah, I'm not sure "chicken, $10" can be copyrighted. The image of a menu might be a problem, but the text? Not to mention his lawyer may have been giving practical advice (hopefully acknowledged as such): what restaurant would really argue with their menu being available?
It always frustrates me when people equate "real" work with outdoor physical labor.

A software engineer is a life full of a surprising amount of importance. Frequently you're working on massive systems that affect the lives of hundreds, thousands, or even millions. And he trades it in for a "real" and "romantic" job of being a envelope peddler?

I mean, good for him. Do what makes you happy, but don't try to slyly say, "P.S. You have no soul and your job is meaningless."
Meh, if everyone listened to their lawyer we wouldn't have YouTube or BitTorrent :)
It doesn't matter so much which industry will be hot in the next years, it's what a specific company will do that matters (compare the fate of amazon and pets.com. for example)
I'm similarly curious about the legality of using screenshots.
US Air Force Not Beholden To Inconvenient Patent Laws
Umm I don't think Tom cares how you feel about passion. He's happy, I'm happy and our friends and family are happy for us. The rest really doesn't matter.

I'm glad you've found some unannounced projects that you have extreme passion for or whatever but you can't really apply that to other individuals' tastes, hobbies and desires. It varies.

Good luck with your projects - nothing is more fulfilling than doing something you enjoy working on all the time (as Tom and I and many of the HN crowd have done).

Cheers dude,
Dan
This is why I love this site! You're absolutely right and I want to thank you for letting me see that. It is late here and I am going to get to bed. However when I wake up I am going to start with writing out more details on where I am at and what I am doing. I hope to post them here soon.

"A single conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study." - Chinese Proverb
If you can, I'd do both:

Making an iPhone-friendly website isn't very hard, and using the iUI will allow you to easily integrate a psuedo-iPhone interface.

Then, your iPhone application would pull in your iPhone website, while also providing the other functionality you want to include (location awareness, contacts).
Find a safe place to park and sleep in your car. You can freshen up with some deodorant in the morning and stay 2 days.

If you need to take a shower at a motel, you can usually slip a 20 to the front desk person and do so.
Dark Energy's Fingerprint Found in Distant Galaxies
Search Challenges Email as the Most Popular Daily Online Activity
It is not true that commercial purpose precludes a fair use defense. From wikipedia:

"While commercial copying for profit work may make it harder to qualify as fair use, it does not make it impossible."

see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use
I do about 9 miles each way (124 blocks down, plus crosstown) in Manhattan. It takes about 30 minutes if I'm in a rush, 40-45 otherwise.

There are some hazards, however:

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vW36qt1SbE&feature=relat...
> "The worst example of not answering users' questions is to avoid listing the price of products and services. No B2C ecommerce site would make this mistake, but it's rife in B2B ... Price is the most specific piece of info customers use to understand the nature of an offering, and not providing it makes people feel lost ..."

QFT. I pretty much immediately leave a site if the price is hard to find or figure out. If your pricing model doesn't fit in a neat little table (like http://github.com/plans), then you are going to lose a lot of customers who just want something now, and are willing to pay for it.

Making the customer call to negotiate some 'custom solution' (with associated 'custom price') just makes it a hassle for them to give you money. Instead, make it easy for people to give you money.
The suspicion comes from the fact that you created a brand new account on hacker news to post a link to a brand new blog, both named after the single post on that blog. All of this just to troll a stale platform flame war (I mean, seriously: "linux won't work with my wireless card" ... that's the best you could come up with?)
Could a Little Indecency Save Network TV?
Isn't there a defense for factual information? The fact that a particular restaurant sells chicken for $10 cannot be copyrighted. The look and feel of their menu (like, the squiggly decorations, the font, the layout) can be copyrighted.
Gee, I suppose no one could learn anything by doing that.
This map has a few too many subdivisions for my liking (no North Side?) but it's all here. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Pittsburgh_Pennsylva... The Hill District is on the hill above the Bluff -- if you drive from downtown to Oakland along Centre Ave you drive through The Hill and if you drive from Oakland to downtown along 5th then you drive through The Bluff.
The New York Region Is Hot (in technology)
Mac vs PC - Mac twice as expensive
Well, I was thinking that if you wanted to find the connection between say, any connection between Ash trees and the portrayal of warfare in ancient mythology, such a search engine could be helpful.
Yeah, I agree with the other folk, doing an iPhone site shouldn't be hard. How often will people be coming back to get this information? Native apps have huge advantages in UI design and functionality that can help display information in more useful ways. But if its short, simple stuff, an iPhone friendly website might be the easy way. Then you can go with an iPhone app for power users and provide more functionality.
How magicians control your mind
Thats what I was thinking. A phone directory can't be copyrighted. Stealing the database is a crime though. I think thats what the original question was really about: How far can he go?
Plug and Fly: The Battery-Powered Plane Makes Its Debut
The reactor is the size of a bathtub. The steam generator would be outside, and likely be a whole building.

I've heard of Toshiba on and off for more then 10 years. I'd bet that if there is be someone willing to pay they already have such things ready. No idea what this Hyperion is bringing to the mix...
Exactly. If all menus were just "BLT, $5", "Hamburger with tomatoes, lettuce, and onions, $6" then you could make the analogy.

However, compare "basic facts" with an example from the menu from my favourite restaurant (www.chachachar.com.au) (and an example of fair use!):

"Eye Fillet	Age 28-36 mths old	Lean with sweet, clean, toasty flavours
Served with truffled mash potato, salad of grilled pear & pancetta with smoked tomato relish

Hereford sourced from fertile pastures of NSW raised on Cattle Care accredited properties that are managed under stringent quality & environmental systems and are finished on feedlots in Jindalee."
Touché. But they do a better job of designing their apps regardless.

I'm curious if anyone's released a similar app with a better UI. I'm almost tempted..I could see how there can be some improvements. I can't imagine being able to use the current triplog UI without some trouble and a good reading of the manual.
A Better Way to Send Business Plans
What do you mean? Just that it cites older references, and not newer ones? Or is it something about the style?
It's a sticky area. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_v._Rural
Google does it, as do vertical search companies like Indeed and SimplyHired, so it's certainly legal under some conditions. Taking only a snippet and linking back to the source is generally okay (as the original publisher benefits from traffic and SEO juice).
A thousand? Why think small? Take a septic tank and dive in a lake that's used as a watersource.

Sorry for the metaphor, but nuclear _is_ much cleaner then most things we use. and even if it spills, yes, there will be more cancers in the area but it's on the order of magnitude of any other industrial installations. You can't make anything without polluting some. Nuclear does it less then most.
Ask YC: Where have all the good hackers gone?
My company has been trying to locate a really solid developer for a few weeks now, but the quality of developer that we've been seeing has been terribly disheartening.

Being in Phoenix, I know that there is some very good talent here. The tough part is that the market here is very, very heavily tilted towards Microsoft development. While there is nothing wrong with that (as it stands today, we're a Microsoft shop, but we're evaluating other options right now), we'd really like to find a developer who is interested in using the best tool for the job more than a developer who just wants to use the hammer they have.

So far, we've got postings up on all the major boards, and have been able to search resumes on all the sites that provide it. We're just not seeing the caliber of people that we used to be find on say, a Dice.com.

So, do you guys have any suggestions of a place that has worked well for you guys - either when you were looking for a job or looking for employees?
I'm sorry to say I can't help but think of Blaintology.
I actually think it may be more of a gray area than you think, read the description of Public domain here: http://www.publicdomainsherpa.com/ - then think about how restaurants use their content when distributing to-go menus, advertising, etc, etc.

So, I called my friend who does have a menu service. His lawyer told him that case law may support the content of menus being public domain, but NOT the trademarks (like logos).

More important, he says, is the business issue. That is, the restaurant (or as it applies to this thread, the content owner) must PROVE that damages were caused by you, in order to take legal action.
Obviously you were never hip. :-)

(Just being silly.)
Seems like both is the best option, thanks everyone!
New Facebook Metrics Show What Users Really Like – And It’s Not Scrabble
Well I hear it can read/write ZFS & I'm getting solaris too.
In this case it does.

The use in the case you are referring to had several extra elements which prompted the court to not find copyright infringement.

2 Live Crew was fair use because their work was transformative. They took a beat and changed words to a Roy Orbison song. They did not blindy copy, as the question asker will be doing. They took the score, not the words.

The poster is taking the story, not quotes. His site is not transformative, and therefore his commercial use is not fair
Derek silvers probably realized his current business will be obsolete soon, and sold. Congrats to him though for his role in shaping the music industry.
Congrats.

I really like this company, one of the early pioneers for distributing indie music online.

A good interview with the founder on Venture Voice: http://www.venturevoice.com/2005/11/vv_show_19_derek_sivers_...
The real question is usually not "Is this legal" but rather "Will this get us sued". We do many "illegal" things like jaywalking all the time, but everyone with sense knows which things are truly illegal.
If you have both, maybe you can justify charging for the app (assuming that it has some advantages over the site, such as location awareness). Use the Web version for free, and pay for the app if you want more.
No, that's simply not correct. Reactor innards aren't just fuel: it's the fission products that are dangerous. These things are incredibly toxic. It's true that "nuclear is clean" when you view the picture from outside the reactor. But that all assumes no idiot is going to dig one up and open it. That's easy enough to ensure when the reactor is a giant guarded facility or a military vessel. The suggestion here is to bury it under urban areas.
That's a good idea. We might apply some of our interface and geotracking features to a yet to be determined part of our site featuring ebay auctions.

Still don't know how I feel - ebay is crappy even with buy it now.
jobs.joelonsoftware.com
insert JP Morgan quote