skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
You also need to take into consideration, that a lot of users just don't have a skill to upgrade any application. For example, my parents: I installed FF3 of their computer, set Google as homepage and told them that when they want to go to the internet, they need to click the orange icon, and write to the google box where they want to go.

I wanted to go further, but then I realised that they don't even have a clear concept of what is the difference between Internet, Google and Web browser...and you want them to upgrade browser? ;) I think out of those 25% IE6 users, there is a large portion of users like this.
Ouch.

I totally agree with "If you are an entrepreneur, _never_ agree to an earnout without substantial up front compensation, there are just too many ways you can get screwed, whether by chicanery or incompetence". I have a friend who did just that, and was also shafted in the process.

Never give your business away for free, and never count on any money after the initial sale.

It does sound to me like this guy needs to get himself a lawyer rather than post stuff on the web, assuming "Paul Hammond" is also US-based. My friend couldn't do that, as his "acquirer" was based in Poland, which made litigation difficult (lesson 2: don't sell to someone you can't sue).
blue is where humans suck. if you've ever tried calibrating your monitor, you'll know. the hue is blue green so no surprises there.
The macro situation makes it harder to start a startup, for a surprising reason. Startups can get higher returns than the average company because it's cheap for them to bet the company on a new paradigm: going from a 10% chance of X to an 8% chance of 2X is a good deal for them; for a big company, the status quo is a bigger sacrifice -- even if the RIAA found some great way to make artists and users happy with free downloads and shared files, I bet this billion-dollar idea would kill their multi-billion dollar existing business, so they'd avoid it.

In a recession, the chance of a company becoming worthless goes up, so the risk involved in betting the company on a new paradigm goes down. So the problem with a recession isn't that you have fewer customers -- it's that your established competitors will act more like startups.
Chrome has been called chrome since time immemorial. I remember that's what it was called in the IE-vs-Netscape days. You know, the days that drove me to become a Flash developer.
IE8 consumes more resources than XP
Interesting possibilities for Google here to have a new type of googlebot driven by the user. All browser activities (voting, commenting, contextual browsing, content generation, etc.) can be wrapped up into a single place driven by a human being and then beamed over to Google for efficient indexing far and away more accurate than what any other bot could offer in years to come.

What we need next is a "Google Personal Gateway" so that all of our connections to the internet can be monitored. Google could offer it out as a free virus/spam protection package but then have an even greater view of how people interact with the internet thus giving the consumer an enhanced internet experience.

[please refrain from informing me about how Incognito will protect user information - so called "private browsing" is not a full/rich internet experience]
Ebay is ripe for start-up competition
Not releasing the list also allows the RIAA to take advantage of 'progressive' applications like this and pick and choose who they sue and who they don't.

They can sit back and watch as these apps helps promote their top performers, and once they've gotten their use from it, sue the pants off of them.

It's much better to keep your enemies in a space of FUD then to clearly explain the 'law' and how to abide by it.
I think this article is politically biased. It is not only about economy.
the d90 can do hd video.
Chrome: The Real GoogleOS?
Important work can be done while daydreaming
Something for the first day of school: a retort to all of my teachers who adminished me to stop daydreaming....
Anyone who thinks MS/Windows is dead is the fool here.

What is the replacement for Windows exactly that is 'killing' MS? And you fail immediately if you say 'the browser'.
I will take it!
Exactly. All I could find in the article was vague naysaying. (Which, actually, seems to be the general tone of most of his posts.) Having a new decent browser that does a few innovative things is good. It won't solve the Internet's problems overnight, but it is clearly going to be beneficial on the long term.
Re: Chrome
Macro conditions definitely matter in terms of raising capital... it's a lot easier to raise money in a boom than in a recession. However, beyond such high-level statements, I don't think these articles are actually relevant, since they are common knowledge. The result of the US presidential election is also relevant to start-ups, but please, don't report it here?

I'm pretty sure those of us who are interested in economic conditions already follow those kinds of news elsewhere and have our own opinions about whether we are in a recession or not. Now, if you posted an article that specifically discusses the impact of the economic conditions on start-ups, that would be very relevant.

Also, disagreeing frankly with the article, yes, we are in a recession. The GDP growth numbers cited are adjusted for the "official" rate of inflation. Both the US and UK governments vastly understate the rate of inflation. I'm not familiar with the exact loopholes the US uses, but, as an example, the UK doesn't count food and energy costs (where most of the price inflation is happening) in the official inflation rate, so that it's typically several percent lower than the real rate of inflation.

This means that the Real GDP has actually decreased rather than increased. Which is the definition of a recession.

Lies, damn lies, and statistics.
And it's wrong, too.
Google Chrome looks cool. But the only thing that would prevent me from "switching" from Firefox is the exclusion of an ad-blocking feature. For me, surfing the web advertisement free is the killer app. I will put up with Firefox's inefficiencies forever provided efficient ad-blocking is available.
Ted Dziuba is why I hate the Internet. I don't just mean that as a clever reply to the title. The Internet lets everyone be heard, instead of just the "qualified" people who used to get to publish their opinions in the print era. For the most part that's good, but there's a small group of writers who specialize in mean-spirited linkbait that makes me miss the editors who filtered everything in the old days.
Easy, Automated Web Application Testing
Ask HN:  What system will you like covered by ErrorKey.com?
ErrorKey.com is a search engine for errors codes and messages.

We are seeking help in choosing system to cover, in our permanent effort to provide explanation and fix to errors hackers encounter every day.

We greatly appreciate your help. Any contribution is very welcome.
No wonder I'm so fat. I'm suing the LOLCats for mental anguish/physical distress.
Getting Closure with Objective-C
Right, and if you decide to run a marathon or become an Olympic athlete, that mental effort is going to burn even more calories. So I think it's clear that they're talking about calories burned by the mental activity, not calories burned by physical activity that was the result of mental activity.
Not Hacker News?
Look at what Apple is doing with Safari: whenever you update QuickTime or iTunes it tries to slip in an install of Safari. Google could build market share by doing the same thing with Google Earth, Google Desktop, and/or some new killer app.

Google already has deals with manufacturers like Dell and Lenovo (I think) to install its desktop search software and Google Toolbar on their computers. It won't be too hard for them to include Chrome in this bundle as well.
The "recession" has been way overblown. But the funny thing about recessions is that they don't need to be brought about by anything real - perceived weakness in the economy is enough to get people to spend less which leads to stores needing less labor and such.

Spending doesn't help the economy (in fact, most economists believe that saving helps more as long as you don't put your savings in your mattress). Consistent behavior does. For example, if people save money consistently, it means that the supply of loanable funds is plentiful and it's cheap and easy to finance business activities. Likewise, if people spend consistently, you know that you will have high sales and that makes business easy.

If people are buying like crazy and then politicians start screaming "recession! recession!" and you stop spending money, stores and manufacturers are going to have a lot of excess inventory that they can't sell.

The same is true of all parts of a modern economy. It's based on the wheels spinning smoothly. If something is a bit out of alignment (different from normal on the negative side), it causes problems. Of course, these are very small problems (as much as politicians try to make them sound like the end of the world). It's not as if you're getting terminal diseases.
Firefox will be able to share approximately 0% of the code of Google Chrome. WebKit is designed totally differently than Gecko, and the overall architecture of Google Chrome (multi-process) is totally different than that of Firefox (single process, single threaded).
So, you live in the US outside of Silicon Valley? (rim shot)
This is definitely an interesting time in the browser market. Currently, everybody is in love with Firefox. But, Firefox will quickly take a back seat to IE8 (which is "good enough" and will have huge market share) and Google Chrome (which will be technologically superior). This time next year, I wouldn't be surprised to see IE6/IE7/IE8 market share at 10/5/60%, leaving 25% of the market to be split approximately evenly between Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari.
Agreed, but I hope articles like this one work as (digg) crowd repellent.
Zebras and Aardvarks: A Spam Fable
Actually not. As far as I know you can sell e.g. burned CDs. That should be legaly ok. (As far as the Software is GPL licensed)
This is a post I made which also goes into general some of the range of tactics used by rogue 'competitors'.

http://thenextweb.org/2008/05/24/david-vs-goliath-the-underh...
Interesting, so Objective-C will also have a syntax for lambdas... Since this is supposed to be a feature of C++0x, we will have two different syntactical ways to express the same concept in C++ and ObjC.
Phones work well, but only for a very small number of people. Beyond that it becomes virtually impossible to update the whole group to changes in time, location, ect.
We have lots of ideas for making money, all of which add value to the users. Currently, we're just looking to build a solid user base and confirm that we're on the right path of making something that people actually want.
Most people that we've talked to about using facebook for events say that unless they're creating a large event, it's not worth going through facebook's multiple step process with a bunch of required fields. Any opinion on that?
All this hand wringing over old browser compatibility puzzles me. Aren't marketers always trying to segment the market? Don't we go through great lengths to track and id, who's young, who's rich, who's what ever?

So isn't IE6 a dead give away with who you're dealing with? And how could advanced features and functionality also be targeted at the same demographic?

If you detect IE6 bring out the flashing "click here to win a prize" shit.

If you see Firefox 3.0 go nuts with web 2.0 "Learn Erlang now!!!!"
I see where you're coming from, but I'll play devil's advocate and say that your line of thinking is flawed.

The advantage of gifts is that they're Facebook-sponsored. Everybody has them. They get displayed in a special manner that other apps can't take, because Facebook still controls the user's Home page completely.

So while it's POSSIBLE that other apps gain SOME sales, if it's not native it'll take a hit.
What's Clickpass doing about OpenID these days? Nothing new on their blog in 2 months.
Modern computing - it's like wading in molasses
Never been up a dead end conceptually?
Bzzster Welcome: Add your photo
Hacker News | New Links
I love the way they use the comic strip format to explain software, very fresh.
Man that was a weird thing to read. I read a lot of technical documents and a lot of web comics, but please don't combine the two. The art was... words fail me.

I found the new JS vm the most interesting part, I bet Steve Y. had something to do with that. I can't wait to read what he'll write about Chrome. I bet he's very happy right now... in his pants! (Sorry couldn't resist.)
Jython uses Java's native threads, there's no GIL.

Update: Jython 2.5 Easter egg

>>> from __future__ import GIL
Traceback (most recent call last):
(no code object) at line 0
File "", line 0
SyntaxError: Never going to happen!

http://zyasoft.com/pythoneering/2008/06/realizing-jython-25....
Ads For Twits On Twitter (TwittAd Launches)
Yes, and c++ is the dumbest language in the world...as uttered by this guy in another post. Ok, back to work...
If the measurement of more resources than XP is simply more RAM then Firefox has been using more than XP for 3 versions now on my PC. Sitting idle at 310mb right now.
Sure it does, but if you're working hourly, you're still making the same total $, working the same hours, just over more projects.

For me, while I do love coding, my side projects truly are a means to an end ($$ to put in a home theater, or take a trip, or do whatever else I want to do).

Hidden in your question is the kernel of why fixed-bid is better when your skills (in terms of lower hours-expended for a finished-system) are better than your competition, and you can sell it.

Now, all that said, I'm wrapping up a fixed-bid (~$25K) side project where scope creep is killing me on my (effective) hourly rate. It's still fun; I'm learning a lot about things I don't do in my "day job" and I'm almost certainly going to get more work from this client if I want it, but I made the mistake of bidding fixed-price with some assumptions about the scope that were ludicrously off. (My fault, not the client's, and I'm eating it. If the work weren't fun, it would be an extremely bitter taste...)

I'm still in favor of the fixed-bid (as it makes the sales job much easier), but watch scope creep.

One last important point: if you are bidding fixed because you are a great coder and a poor salesman, your lack of sales/negotiation skills may be an issue when the client thinks something was in scope and you think it's out of scope. If this is a possibility, figure out your strategy ahead of time, or you'll end up doing the feature "for free".
The economy is cyclical. We've been in an extended boom for some time.

As there is no such thing as "The New Economy" a recession will come next.
Email queue/customer service tools?
My startup, Kongregate, is currently just using gmail to handle customer service requests. We've automated things a bit with various filters plus structured pages for our top requests. We still get several hundred emails per day, and I'm looking around for tools to help manage it. Any recommendations? Obviously we need to keep improving our self-help system, so a tool that integrates the two usefully would be nice.
The idea isn't pure market share -- it's the spur on a floundering browser market. Enough feature-twiddling, more innovation.
Protip: if you choose to criticize something, don't say it's devoid of content then write up a long ad hom.
New Study Shows Solar System is Unique
Hacker appeals to home secretary
The submitter said "I didn't submit this as a political piece, although at the end of the article the author makes a political argument (and it's from a political rag)"

So I guess that's been established. And one would expect a Republican talking about the positive results of Republican policies to be biased, wouldn't you?
I don't think that's what he meant. There is some evidence that with training some people can raise their heart rate or body temperature purely by thinking about it.

http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2002/04.18/09-tummo.html
http://idcorner.org/2007/08/22/the-problems-with-openid/
This is not a great headline. At first glance I read this as "Ads for Tweets on Twitter".

"If you like this Tweet, tune in at 8pm Eastern for the next exciting episode!"

And then we're only one tiny step away from the diabolical Recursive Tweet -- the one that threatens to consume all Twitter resources in a massive self-referential singularity.
Am I the only person who exposes themselves to things they don't like (be it Fox News, conservative blogs, or even sites on car repair and marxism), just so they can avoid this trap? So you can know that whilst, yes, most of the time you're 'reading your own mind', as it were, you're also making sure to give yourself a taste of the other side.
Seriously, stop writing. If you are aggrieved, take the guy to court. That is what the legal system is there for. Blogging will inevitably only prejudice a case. If the money does not matter to you, then at least do it to set precedent and discourage such behaviour.

I don’t know if there is Legal Aid in the U.S. (like in the U.K.) but at least use the Small Claims Court system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_claims_court) or contact Judge Judy (or whoever is in vogue at the moment) to shame him more publically (as it seems like you are following a name-and-shame strategy).
I know the portion of IE6 on the web is still around 25%.. but do you know what portion of your customers is actually using IE6 still?

I wonder at what point it is justified to return a 'please update your browser, preferrably to one of these: [list of reasonable browsers]', just because of the effort it takes you to keep IE6 compatibility.
I had one girlfriend who became like a furnace when she slept. She slept with no covers with the window open in January in Ohio. I had to strip down to just one sheet. Literally, it was like sleeping next to a space heater. So it is possible for the body to increase its metabolic rate.
Yes they do. I've seen a dog pine for its mother.

There are also eccentric gay dogs who pine for their (also male) wiener-dog objects of affection, but who freeze up when a foxy female starts sniffing their bum.
All I am seeing is a lot of material about Chrome, but has anyone here actually tried it out? It is supposed to be available today (September 2); has anyone been able to download it?

*edit: fixed grammar error
I agree, there just isn't a need for a reverse friendfeed. I think, on average, people have 2-3 services listed on FF, and they usually don't overlap. It sometimes makes sense (post a tweet after a blog post), but do we need a whole service for that?
You're all missing the point. IE6 only has 25% left. Yes, it's horrid and we waste a massive amount of time supporting it, but the market share is dropping. It was 90% of the market 2 years ago. Once it drops below 15% we can stop supporting it and move into .. 2006 (which is when IE7 was released)!
I didn't realize that, and while it's informative and interesting, that doesn't change the issue: the article was talking about the extra calorie consumption from the mental process, not the extra calorie consumption caused by a mental process that leads to raising one's pulse, flexing one's abs, moving one's eyes, typing a comment, or swimming a lap.
Price War Erupts For High-Speed Internet Service
Web Application on Erlang: So Far, So Good,
Revamped Google Picasa site identifies photo faces
Monetize Your Blog With Google Adwords | SlashBe
How do you know this is too confusing? Did you ask anyone? Did you do any research?

Why is this confusing but e-mail isn't? If I want to send and receive e-mail, I have to find my own provider. I also have to remember this weird string, "me@example.com". THAT'S TOO HARD FOR THE AVERAGE USER!!11!
Interesting blend of marketing and informational material.

I had to laugh when I read the contrived comment of one character asking "why is this application downloading the entire Internet?" when looking at the Chrome task manager.
Biotech is bouncing back
You can usually use code from a multi-threaded code base in a single threaded program. I'm sure that all of Chrome won't be reusable. But to say that it will be 0% is a bit of a stretch.

Are you implying that none of the code in Firefox or Chrome is going to be orthogonal to rendering web pages? Is this how you architect your programs?
If you are starting Computer Science then you want to download the SICP lectures from MIT and work through the examples in Scheme before even thinking about making websites.
A summary of all YouTube comments: "that was gay"
Kids with older dads at higher bipolar risk
Perhaps my phrasing was somewhat unclear. What I meant is "when a network is something we're taking for granted and which is as uninteresting as the water supply" - and that's just in developed countries. As long as networks are even vaguely interesting to everyday people, there will always be a lot of reluctance in using them.
You might also want to check out http://www.contextfreeart.org/
I liked that the actual developers were giving the presentation in comic book form, instead of showing anonymous people. Or worse: imagine it Google had hired Marvel or DC to do the comic. We would be seeing Batman or Reed Richards trying to explain how multiple processes are more efficient.

The term "rock star" is way overused in the software field. It's nice to see some developers actually being treated as stars.
Quitting the Paint Factory - In Praise of Idleness
Tip: the more personally you are involved in some dispute, the more careful you have to be to be crisp and understated when describing it. This would be much more convincing if it weren't so rambling. As it is, I read it and think "I don't know the rights and wrongs of this particular situation, but I could easily imagine that this guy would be a huge pain in the ass to deal with."
Chrome has all the potential to be huge. Google is a brand — everyone knows Google, even all those people still using IE6. They may not have heard of Firefox or Safari, but they sure will hear about Chrome (I hope Google really pushes it out there).
The Ontological Argument applied to programming
I would guess significantly more that 25%. I used to work at a huge consulting company that still ran IE6 and was only recently looking to upgrade. I consulted for a government agency which was using IE6 and had no intention of upgrading soon. In fact, IE7 is banned by some government agencies.
Amen. I'm in a shockingly similar situation to the one the author describes, and I can agree, it's not fun. There are folks who really are out to get you, and will take advantage of any opening. Bottom line: find a lawyer you can trust, and rely on them heavily.
So we should stop developing browsers because

"Stop using IE6! Use this browser, which is marginally better."

is more convincing.
1) Building electronic components that can survive 10,000 G is routine.

2) You could send up bulk materials, like thin film collectors, sheet metal, rolls of wire.

3) Getting the power back down is a solved problem. Microwaves do it with 50% efficiency. This cost is already factored into various economic analysis of SPS.
So you just decide to use the same?
yeah when Verizon came out with FIOS, their rates were cheaper than 1.5MB DSL I had before
...and find out how much you can sue for. I happen to live in a country where you can't sue for punitive damages, so the worst case for the offender in a scenario like this is that they would have to eventually cough up the money they agreed to pay in the first place. In other words, for these people, breaking the contract is essentially a low-risk maneuver. Nasty.
Google launches Video for Business
Burnout - Where Work Is a Religion, Work Burnout Is Its Crisis of Faith