skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I'm sure I'm not that rare in my dreams. They might be unusual but I'm certain others share similar hopes. I have an idea for an internet based service and a faith that in its originality and focus that it could have real value, especially within organizations, corporate or otherwise.

The plea comes from a sense of helplessness. I haven't programmed seriously in 30 years. My old skills with 360 assembler mock my ambitions. I have only a general idea of what frameworks and binding types do and couldn't tell a block or singleton method from a hole in the head. I'm not involved in the industry and am as unconnected as they come.

I follow with desperate hope TechCrunch reviews of companies offering "anyone can build" tool sets for web development only to lose hope at the limitations of rich media presentation tools and form/database creators. I need rule/logic driven input, association, display and export functionality along with the identity, security and database functionality that frameworks might provide (i.e. the equivalent complexity of a Digg 1.0).

I have a life with family, job and community responsibilities that make the learning curve of modern internet development beyond what I alone can achieve. I need a place to go with my concept that, accepting its value and in exchange for a fair part of its potential, might work with me to fulfill my vision.

I need Y Combinator Plus. Help!
I assume it's more unlimited on your phone where realistically most people wouldn't be going over that kind of limit often. Non-mobile browsing for me usually means regular sites (vs. mobile/iPhone optimized) and longer browsing, resulting in more usage. Sure, AT&T will have a hard time being able to tell what you're doing, but it's against their TOS to tether without the right plan.

(Not that I disagree with you, just pointing out why this is an issue...AT&T can and has charged people who've tethered without the right plan for the data they used..and it's not pretty.)
Sorry, I just don't see what's so complicated. This isn't about "buy vs. rent", listening to what popular media says, keeping up with the Jones's, maximizing your long term possibilities, competing with anyone else, and certainly not about "society".

It's about paying your frickin' bills.

A bill unpaid, for any reason, is a broken promise, and gets little sympathy from me. It will, however, get help from me on April 15. Something's really wrong here.
If I'm understanding your question correctly, the Matasano post outlines why/how.
That was interesting. I took a vision class a few years ago that clearly illustrates these ideas. Bringing vision theory into CS boils down to converting continuous space into discrete space. This led to a great quote from the prof "CS people are engineering who think discretely". I think this article reflects this mentality. Being "good" at CS involves making a consistent state model where events always follow other events. This is yet another reason why concurrency seems to be difficult to grasp even for good CS students. Because of possible thread interleaving the typical state space explodes and we have to think about that kind of code in a different way.
Thanks. I accidentally got on a Network Marketing emailing list a while back. I haven't unsubscribed because some of what they send out is valuable.

Another one: Don't confuse productivity with activity
MBWA, Updated and Validated
FREE Coloring Pages - SpongeBob SquarePants
Sure, the ability to form generative models is important, but it's at least as important to be able to change or adapt them when faced with contradictory evidence.

The "CS IQ" test in the article bothered me because it rewarded premature optimization (forming a generative model and sticking to it even when you have no reason to believe it's right) instead of what I would consider a more optimal strategy (recognize that you don't know how assignment works, hypothesize about the possible ways it could work, and use a different model of assignment for each question, thus hedging your bets for partial credit).
Well, it would remove a lot of the minefields which are currently worrisome to startups.

Software is rather unique in that it has been granted all of patent, copyright, and trade secret status.

I firmly believe that software patents are counterproductive to advancing the industry and should not be held as valid. The legal developments detailed in the article look like great progress in encouraging innovation in the software industry.
Vinod Khosla - Smartest VC?
From WIRED article (Jul 21 08): "...upcoming online game Love, due out later this year"
Rands In Repose: The Taste of the Day
Honda teases us with supposedly green (electric?) roadster concept
My friend insists, 'please don't bring down the internet. I need it. It can't go down. I need to write my grant proposal.'
The Dangers of Setting Yourself Goals
The (One-Sided) Anatomy Of A Startup Failure
Value of Facebook Ads Approaches Zero
Hey, Kiko was awesome!

Google Calendar still doesn't have a fully featured quick add, and you still can't preview events with mouseover.
...for those who missed it last April 1.
Not exactly. As kylec said above it's a different kind of multitasking. But, in a pretty real way there is no way around this kind of multitasking. If you need the results of some long running task you don't stop existing. As a result you are doing something while waiting for those results, even if that 'something' is just staring at the wall.

This is multitasking in the sense that over a period of time you will have worked on multiple things. But it isn't multitasking in the sense that you aren't doing two things at the same instant.
First hints of Microsoft's $300 mill “fight back” ads appear
Google Maps Walking Directions Now Live
The question is meant in a different vein. This article http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/...
suggests that people that become "great" practice deliberately over a long period of time.

Measuring how much better you're becoming is easier in some practices than in others. Assuming everybody wants to become great hackers, how can you practice deliberately such that you reach this "greatness?" Without some way of measuring how good you're becoming this is pretty difficult to do.
Adapting your model in the face of new evidence is part of the definition of a model-seeking approach to problem-solving. I don't think that the article is implying that sticking to a particular model when confronted with contradictions is beneficial.

I think you are also using a different definition of "optimal strategy" than the author. The test was not measuring test-taking strategy - it may not even have been scored in a student-visible way. In the absence of a score-optimizing approach the natural inclination of the student's analytic style should come to the forefront. Additionally, the test had predictive power regardless of a root cause. Students who used a consistent model in selecting answers went on to succeed in the programming course, and the others did not. The underlying cause may actually be different but the concrete result stands.
Get a part time day job doing something physical (window washing, carpet cleaning) that does not require too much thinkin'.

While doing that, start to build your programming client base while working late days and evenings. The two incomes combined will be modest (close to $1,600/mo), but you will be able to take some tax breaks for owning your own biz (write-offs include gas, computer, travel). Plus, this schedule will allow you to make mistakes while programming, dealing with clients, and more without you loosing your livelihood.

Commit to this for two years. At the end of 24 months, review your position. If your programming business and clientele are supporting your desired lifestyle, then move into full time programming. If not, then you may want to reconsider a life of 0s and 1s.
Perhaps, but the cost of serving them probably approaches zero faster.
Getting Real for universities?
...and here I'd just been wishing for Prolog on a Pogo Stick, and Malbolge on a Minefield.
Linux: the fallacy of choice
Has there ever been a successful exit (repaid the investors) by a company that was founded with the direct participation of a 'social media superstar'? I can't think of any. I can think of several 'superstars' that got their launch from successful companies, but none the other way around.

Big egos do not lead to good decisions.
This is the correct solution if "gamer videos" don't fit in with their idea of Vimeo but they want to keep those users.

But maybe they really just don't want to be associated with "gamer videos" at all.
My personal inclination is to say "cross that bridge when you come to it." Something as innocuous as StreamFile will certainly be used to unauthorizedly distribute copyrighted content, but that is the responsibility of the uploader, not the service provider.

One of the few reasonable aspects of the DMCA is the approach to "Safe Harbor" provisions. So long as the service provider makes reasonable efforts to take down content when provided a conforming takedown notice, it is in the clear. The individual uploader is held responsible for any infringing activity. The one weakness of the system is the ease with which some parties send out takedown notices for content which they do not actually have authority to take down.
This is a great post. Summary: build companies for the long haul, forget exit, build excellence.

I agree entirely. I love technology but I get turned off by the excessive short-termism that plagues the valley from time to time ...
Right after Scoble was hired, I was invited to a coming-out party organized by Podtech (in Mountain View). That was the first time that I heard Scoble speak in person and I remember telling myself that this had to be the beginning of the end for Podtech. This is not meant to be a negative on Scoble or John (who had a vision that involves Scoble). But I was thinking that if Podtech were to be a media company (which it wasn't until hiring Scoble and other "superstar") then not only does it need to be authentic (which Scoble certainly was and still is) but it had to be relevant as well (to its growing population of free subscribers and more importantly to its paid customers). I was not convinced that Scoble was "sustainably" relevant to increase listener base beyond a small niche (which is a big problem for a VC-backed startup since they expect huge payback). Soon after that I decided to unsubscribe Podtech altogether because a listener, I was confused. Podtech as a media company did not have a unique genre and the contents were all over the place (too much talents, may be, to put it mercifully).
Mike's not a Ruby fan. Short version: he once told me that "The best thing I can say about Ruby is that there's a wonderful smaller language inside it struggling to get out." Long version: http://mvanier.livejournal.com/1351.html
You're reading the commentator back into the artist. When I see the series I see it as a commentary on reductionism with an element of humor and absurdity.

A lot of times people get so caught up in the pretension associated with "serious" art that they ignore that it's often supposed to be funny. I remember getting scowled at once at the symphony for laughing at loud at a certain point that was (for the musically inclined) obviously a joke.
Here's Looking At Me, Kid
I've done this a few times (C++, PHP, HTML, CSS, etc.) and it seems to work best when you treat it as if you're teaching someone to drive a car: Both of you are sitting side by side in front of the same computer, with the trainee driving.

First, I like to show the person some feature in the program or Web site, like say a popup window. Then I show them the code for that window. Then I show them how to modify different components by adjusting variables and so on, so that they get the feel for where all the moving parts are and see how their changes directly affect the popup window.

Then, I have them write a basic function that does the same thing, but this time from scratch. Once we go over what worked and didn't and debug the code and get things working, we move on to a second function or construct.

Ultimately, the goal is to start small and continue expanding from there, kind of like having the trainee drive around a parking lot, then city streets, then the freeway.

Most importantly, I find that the key is to keep building on the same code, and helping the trainee see their program grow into something useful -- as opposed to simply showing them one construct in the abstract and then another and then another, without tying them together in any way.
"Profitable Web Startup" is not an Oxymoron
Can you come up with a a one page description of the service/software that you want to build; describing in detail what it does so that someone else can implement it?

Can you afford to pay someone skilled to develop it for you?

If you are going to play the role of the idea guy, you had better be able to bring more resources than the idea itself if you want to be successful.
I'd been steering clear of Robert for a while. However I think he is bang on the money here.

When Tech blogs think that an audience makes them business pundits it's a sad state of affairs. I'd much rather that we all remained wide eyed children, amazed at all the new and wondrous things happening around us.

Being aware of business is one thing, being focused on it to the exclusion of everything is something else. PG's post on Cities stuck with me, I'd like to think the Valley and tech entrepreneurs in general are all about changing the world for the better. Business is just a small part of that.
Agreed! Here's hoping for more conversation-inspiring posts like this in the future.
Ask YC: New Branding For MIT EF. Thoughts?
I learned about them somewhere else, not in the DB, but that doesn't matter. They are published because they should, no matter where and how.

PKZip was closed all those years when their patent was in the pending state. And no, I can't postulate that, because publishing vs. keeping secret would be left on companies' good will.
I agree with edw in this. That's a great quote, I don't think it's too romantic. I think it's one of those things entrepreneurs should live by and have tucked away in their Rolodex of ethos and life values.
The ironic part of that ad is that Microsoft needs to correct their own "facts"

Essentially no one during the the time of Columbus (and even centuries before) believed the world was flat. That's just a myth that people like to believe.
"God, I loved getting attention for meeting famous techies."
hey guys,

im pretty involved with mit enterprise forum. (cto in florida + member in silicon valley). New branding was launched a couple of months ago. Really great job by designers in Toronto. What are your thoughts? Any good suggestions for design integration?
The point here is the process of reduction. To compare this sequence with any single (however pretty) finished picture is missing the point.

He is not "playing a joke on you", he is having fun with exploring the process of perception and the steps from illustration to symbol.
Can Past Banking Crises Tell Us Anything About What's Next?
It looks like the left hand doesn't know what the right is doing: the site has a conflicting message. One part they have their hat in their hands and they're all humble about the fact that Vista's launch was lousy. Browse around a little bit and you get to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/discover/100-..., which says:

"Seeing Windows Vista for the first time may leave you searching for words. Many people just say "Wow." Here are 100 reasons why. 1. Windows Vista makes using your PC a breeze..."

Am I supposed to actually read through that bullshit?
"In sum, an innovative process is not patentable when operating on a single computer processor but is when operating on two processors, even though the Board recognizes that the process in the unpatentable claim 'is essentially the method' set forth in the patentable claim."

So you just move your data repository to one machine and your data processing to the other, and you have your patents back.

I really just don't understand how something like this happens. I guess "The Law" is a massively backwards-compatible system that makes computer architecture anachronisms look mild.
Japanese browser taking on IE, Firefox
According to wikipedia, since 1993 pkzip has used an algorithm thought to be free of patents.
MySpace embraces OpenID, eases data portability restrictions
I think you are being a bit pedantic. First, the statement is true. At one time people did believe the Earth was flat. And it could be argued that the roundness of the earth wasn't conclusively proven until Magellan circumnavigated it.
Firefox: Globe & Mail - Removing Clutter & Improving Typography
Most linux distros just require setting the ssid some something unique and then changing the connection type to Ad-Hoc. For example, in gentoo (my distro.) all I need to do is add two lines to /etc/conf.d/net and I am done. Ubuntu probably has a graphical app to do the same thing with otehr distros filling in somewhere...
A more general pattern recognition ability seems to fit the description of "seeking a generative model" here, and given such, I fail to see how this should be a CS IQ, rather than general... IQ.
I wonder if Vimeo was losing money hosting these videos. Losing money + legal liability = "we want to encourage creative expression (by deleting your videos)"?
If you can tether your phone then the browser on the device can be of much lower quality before you care.

Any time I'm somewhere for more than 5 minutes (coffee shop, train, meeting ) I tether my Eee 901 to my phone (a 6120c, which comes with 3gb of data for ~$20/mo). That gets me a _good_ keyboard, a large screen, and full blown Firefox + addons. Way, way more usable than an iPhone and cheaper over it's lifetime.

Because of that I only use the browser on the device for flash movies, real player streaming radio (from the BBC), and mobile-friendly data like movie listings or rss news. Two of those the iPhone can't even do, and the other one it offers no real advantage for.
I don't think so. You have to go back a really long time to find when people thought the earth was flat. In the time of the ancient greeks they estimated the circumference of the earth. And even in the heliocentric theory of astronomy they at least assumed the earth was a sphere.
FTA:

“Vista is now actually better than its reputation. That’s a marketing issue.”

Hilarious, sad, and true, all at the same time. Classic.
Scaling is not about the number of records or queries, it's about the growth rate of data and queries.

Google App Engine is the obvious competition to SimpleDB.

Here are some case studies: http://highscalability.com/links/weblink/24
You're right, I'm not arguing against the article so much as trying to continue its thought. I agree that generative models are useful. Among people who use them, I suspect that the next major predictor of success would be adaptability. Confirmation bias is the opposing force: once we form a model, we are biased towards it, and tend to overlook contradictory evidence.

One tactic that increases adaptability is not forming a model until you actually have to; this avoids confirmation bias.

You're also right about the nature of the test: as an experiment, it does show that presence of generative models predicts success. I'm interested in education, so I'm voicing the reason why this wouldn't be a practical test of qualification.
The Coffee Junkie's Guide to Caffeine Addiction
Hmm, why is the iPod/iPhone counted as only one idea? There's a lot of strong arguments for counting them as two. Especially interesting since the number comparison is made to Miles Davis who is said to have 5 ideas.
I bet Apple would also make quite a bit of cash from support. The Genius Bar would probably have to be renamed though....
This is a major pet peeve of me.

People: Hey, we're going to a bar. Want to come along?

Me: Sure.

Bar: REALLY LOUD MUSIC

Me: [tries to shout some conversation, gives up]

People: [make half-hearted dance moves, stand around, drink]

Me: [stand around]

Me: Okay, ehh, nice seeing you all, I guess I'll be off then.

People: WHAT?

Me: NEVER MIND. BYE!

I do not get that kind of bars. People don't even really dance.
Wikipedia says nothing about Katz's patents, but I well remember PKZip displaying a message "patent(s) pending".
Big LED Breakthrough at Purdue University Could Change the World
This is the first time that I've had a sinking feeling inside when somebody announces the end of their blog.

Reg, you said things that resonated with me in ways that I couldn't say them. Your blog had top priority in my reading list. I almost feel like a kid learning how to ride a bike and suddenly realizing that my dad has let go of me. There will be a hole in my information stream that can't be replaced.

Thank you for the insights, humor, and powerful reasoning.
I thought everyone here at HN was ....well, to put it simply, less negative. I mean, YC is all about doing new things, revolutionary or even just evolutionary changes to existing products or markets. Thinking outside the box. Changing! (etc etc ad nauseum).

Why did this thread devolve into "it can't be done" or "it can't be done that cheaply" or "it's just product x" or, finally, "its just revision n+y of product x"

I mean, ok, you think it's a crap idea: fine. You don't like it: fine. You have another product that fits this niche for you: fine. But I don't get why everyone is dumping on this.

Let's keep the conversation constructive at least. Saying "it can't be done for x$" and laying out the prices of the components you assume is furthering the conversation. Saying "it can't be done"- and leaving it at that- is useless.
Very well said.

Plus, I don't know what Scoble thinks he's been doing if not "Tech Business" blogging. Looking back at his archives: not much has changed.
"Monetizing Bumper Sticker" would be an interesting article too :).
"Nik Cubrilovic (koo-bree-low-vick) is an Australian-born entrepreneur, technologist, software developer and blogger. Nik is the founder and CEO of Omnidrive, a web content and storage platform. Nik was also the founder of Solutionstap, a technology solutions and software development company. Prior to Solutionstap, Nik was a freelance developer, project manager and security specialist in Australia, the UK, South Africa and throughout Europe. Nik has contributed to a large number of open source projects and published a number of security vulnerabilities for various platforms and applications since 1996. In 2007, Nik was named in The Bulletin magazine as one of Australia’s “Smart 100.”

Nik has been a contributor and advisor to Techcrunch since 2005. In 1998 Nik was a founding member of the 2600 chapter in Australia, and in 2005 was a founding member of 2web, a loose-knit group of Australian technology entrepreneurs. Nik has advised, or is a current advisor to a range of companies and startups based in both Australia and the USA."

-As per his bio
I could provide a one page combination business objectives statement and high level requirement specification, but a detailed spec would necessarily be longer and more complex in format.

No, I can't fund the development effort. If I could I wouldn't need a Y Combinator Plus.

I appreciate your observation about the seemingly limited value of just "the idea itself", but that's just the issue I was raising. The clear vision of why, what and how is indeed all I have to bring to the table.