skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Good for Texas.

Elsewhere on HN, I've read Amazon's claim that they would be happy to pay sales taxes, but that dealing with all the local taxing authorities would be a nightmare. If this is true, it makes me quite sympathetic to their position.

But if I understood you right, it looks like Amazon outright attempted to bribe the legislature for special treatment which other retailers in the state don't get. I realize this kind of shit happens all the time, but that doesn't make it right.

And the Texas legislature refused to play ball. If I lived in Texas I would be standing in line to re-elect these people.
A developer who cares for UX is just a good developer. No need for the fancy title - it's more for showing off (and maybe trying to have some authority over designers) than anything else. "UX Designer" is already a controversial term.

If we go this route we'll have Business Programmers, Performance Designers and the like :)
Would love to try it.
filliperosini [at] gmail.com
True, but without GLUT or an equivalent utility library (hit or miss) you're writing even more scaffolding code. Much more.
why? i'd rather keep the money than give it to the state. why vote for people who want to tax you more? i realize it's nice to believe in integrity but i don't think this is an example of it
Google apps split with Google File System
I've got invites to share (see http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2712165)

Invited everyone here so far, will try to check back every now and again to get any new ones.
Regulator Closes Full Tilt Poker Website
Awesome article, if anyone knows of an equivalent article about moving to London, please provide a link
awesome in so many ways!
Thanks, Jake Voytko
nelsonkeating [at] gmail.com

Thanks tons!
Okay - Would obviously appreciate getting one and promise to pay it forward. So send me one @ <redacted> ;) TIA

Awesome, thanks Jake, that was fast!. Any one else needs it, drop your email here in reply.
Would also like an invite please. Thanks Jake
This.

I think it's much better for new users to come in slowly and find an already active service than for everyone to join at once, use it for a day and then leave.
> extending unemployment benefits to 99 weeks ... people staying on unemployment rather than finding jobs

> tax credit for low-income families who have children ... low-income birth rate increases

Citations please
I'd definitely like to check it out. ian.terrell@gmail.com
Suggestion (for the future): use the Last.fm API to, if the user is interested, link his/her profile to overlap.me. Then you can use his/her top artists, albums or tracks to provide suggestions for overlaps.

EDIT: A faster suggestion: please make the overlap "suggester" ignore common prefixes such as 'I like', 'I love', 'I am', etc.
Earbits (YC W11) Used to Live in Our Balls
Bonus points if you make one with conductive legs that you can attach clamps to and use as a 555 timer.
How is a user experience developer different from a user interface developer? I know how you develop an interface, but how do you develop an experience? (Or any other abstract noun for that matter. It's like someone saying they're working on "implementing happy".)
Thanks David for inviting me.
it is a subsidiary. Ie. Amazon pays A9 for the technology, but A9 is a separate legal entity.

I worked developing for the Kindle, which is designed/engineering in Cupertino, by a company called Lab126, which is a subsidiary of Amazon. (basically Amazon pays Lab126 for technology transfer on the books, but really, internally amazon controls everything).
The Parent company/legal entity of the CA subsidiaries is called A2Z.

We were instructed not to travel around, we couldn't attract recruits by saying we were working for Amazon, etc. etc. But internally Amazon was controlling pretty much everything.
I'm FastSpring's CEO. We should be able to handle what you need via FastSpring and SaaSy. Feel free to email me directly: dan at fastspring dot com
<redacted>@gmail.com please.

Got it! Thanks so much.
To save time, here are the main points:

Set up your pages for SEO
Have a blog
Use Adwords
Get your name on Twitter & Facebook
Submit blogposts to reddit, digg, hn, etc...
Create an email list
Use Feedburner
Monitor, Track, and Test Everything

Nothing groundbreaking.
Meh. Just evidence that they're not gaming their results. Give it a few days.
I can send invites now, and I only got my invitation a couple of hours ago
You may want to take a look at SaaSy, FastSpring's sister service for SaaS companies. You'd get all you need in a single, all-inclusive solution.
I'd love one, if you're offering; my username at gmail.com.

EDIT: Thanks, I got yours -- and someone else's too! I'll pay it forward.
I'd be very grateful for an invite. Javier (at) javierbarreto.com
The author's logic actually offers the fallacy of a false dichotomy. If you're so inclined there's no reason one couldn't eat locally, and shift food content.
Is this the one where he talks about how his experience at intel was analogous to steve wozniak's experience at hp? The idea that there were people just as smart and determined as them but weren't able to do anything interesting because of the environment really amazes me. reminds me of the talk richard feynman gave about the myth of some special talent or miracle that allows scientists to understand quantum mechanics. fuck, i need to get back to work
Would love one if somebody can

Thanks jakevoytko
The really bad news, if they decide to be evil, is that the purchase of MySpace provides a means to circumvent anti-spam and anti-telemarketing laws - if you have a MySpace account, you can be construed to have an existing business relationship, which legitimizes sending you unsolicited email or, for those unlucky folks who used the mobile features of MySpace, telemarketing to you on your cell phone.
It’s a triumph. What thoroughness! What realism! Knew when to stop, too — didn’t cut the pages.
http://www.opendedup.org/

Not a toy.
Tax money goes to good locations, and things you or people you know use every day. Roads, schools, and the local law enforcement come to mind.
I'd love to try it. Username @gmail.com

Got one, thanks Rob!
I too would like an invite! 4 minutes! Thanks j!
how much the app understands the user
Wholesale Car DVR - Car Digital Video Recorder - In Car Camera
I would be rather unhappy if they started charging sales tax for all 50 states. Where would the money they charge me go since I live in New Hampshire?
Not particularly worth reading, no. It's a pretty poor mistelling of the story, and inaccurate and foolishly partisan throughout to boot. It comes off as fanboyism and flamebait.

From reading the comments, it seems like the blog's audience is people who spell the name of that big company in Redmond as "Micro$oft". They are definitely an appreciative audience for Wolfire's silliness, but it in no way has any sort of step on the post linked at the top of this HN thread.
ah - you don't live in massachusetts then :-)
Not that I'm a fan of taxes, but if people keep avoiding sales tax how are states to maintain infrastructure and services?
I made a Google Docs spreadsheet to manage invites:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?hl=en_US&...

Play nice, and don't use this spreadsheet if you want to keep your email address private!

Edit: Lasted about an hour before griefers hit. Worth a shot!
I think the main strength is the fact that you are writing JavaScript both on the client side and the server side. You don't have to mentally switch languages or anything. Even though people don't think that it has an effect, it does. And while, even in JS, you'll write things slightly differently when doing client/server side work but it still would take less brain power than changing client/server paradigms as well as changing languages.
Voucher Google, voucher giam gia
yeah, my understanding was that his parents were pretty wealthy; beyond the minimum to give their kids an elite education. My point is just that Gates turned a small fortune in to a large fortune. And while that was certainly a feat; it is rather different from starting middle or even working class and building up even a small fortune.

They say the first million is the hardest. Considering that is my current challenge, that's how I feel. But, I bet that if I didn't already have the skills to land a $100K+/year job, maybe I'd feel that the first hundred grand was the hardest. If I lived in Africa or India, maybe just saving a few hundred bucks would be difficult. Saving even just a year's salary when you aren't making a lot more than what you need to buy minimum food and shelter is a difficult task.
I'd love one if they're still going around!
EDIT: Got one! Fantastic, thank you very much. As always, will pay it forward. :)
When I was a law student, I think as you do: the law could be better replaced with code.

Now that I am a software engineer, I don't think that any more.

Though law and code have a lot of similarities: http://skepticlawyer.com.au/2011/06/27/the-art-of-law/
Summers Joins Andreessen Horowitz as Adviser to Venture Firm
This one's just free - no contest.
If anyone has an invite left I'd love to get one. jjb127@mun.ca
got it. much appreciated.
I would love an invite if anyone's got a spare.

[EDIT] Email redacted. Got it, thanks Jake!
in theory, your income taxes are supposed to funnel back down to your state (same way state taxes go back to your city). you also pay a lot of money for state income tax, property tax, tax on every gallon of gas you use, heavy taxes on booze and cigarettes, taxes on utilities, taxes on your cell phone and cable bill, excise tax if applicable, tolls, parking and speeding tickets if you get them, and fees for doing just about anything related to the government (including fighting traffic and parking tickets).

i refuse to believe taxing out of state corporations is going to make a big difference. there's already plenty there, it's just used in the least efficient way possible. this whole thing with the affiliate programs is either a really lame money grab or good lobbying by big box stores.
Tax money is taken from good locations, and goes to the prison industrial complex, failing schools, and corrupt public employee unions.
This OP is only asking for those interested in an invite to email him. Seems like a genuine offer. This, I think is more inline with your comment:

http://www.businessinsider.com/i-have-invites-to-google-want...
The UI Geniuses at Berg Rethink the Common Receipt
Bitcoin definitely has problems it needs to solve. However, one of the coolest things about Bitcoin is that there are so few hurdles in implementing technical solutions to the problems it needs to solve.

Worried about buying something and getting scammed? Develop an escrow service or a reputation system or some other interesting solution.

Worried about the security of your wallet file? Think about how distributed file systems like Wuala work. What about making a system where you work with your friends to have a distributed and encrypted backup of all of your wallets? Tack on a mobile API and you can access it from your phone without needing your own 24/7 server or a central authority.

Worried about price stability? Develop another escrow-like payment service that gives a pay date range (say a week) and offers to refund the purchase or increase the purchase amount (up to a certain point) if the value of bitcoin changes too much during that time. Or, (more likely) think of a better technical solution on top of bitcoin that allows for stable pricing even if the value of bitcoin fluctuates.

Worried about government crackdowns and exchanging for dollars? Develop a craigslist alternative where people can trade their physical goods for bitcoins with other users nearby.
Love to get started if anyone has invites... my HN user at gmail.com. Thanks!
Thanks very kindly!
Found this timely article that mentions it too: http://maplebutter.com/content-marketing-for-startups/
That's good news... it's a good group over there.
I would really like a Google+ invite: earldriscoll@gmail.com
Google's CDN is down (404)
ALK Technologies release CoPilot Live Premium for Android
ALK Technologies has announced the release of CoPilot Live Premium for Android devices, the new Android application dedicated to satellite navigation.
I would like an invite as well please! :)
[redacted] at email
Thank you so much! You guys are amazing.
OK?

No, they spends tons getting it right. Especially stores who sell food and non-food items.
Please, and thank you: earldriscoll@gmail.com
Shamelessly replying to top post, I would love an invite to redacted! I promise to give any invites I get back to the HN community/this thread!

EDIT: Thank you kind soul!
Edit: Got mine in 120 seconds! Let's keep it going.
Thanks! I'll pass the invites along as soon as I get rolling.
Please :) @gmail.com

Edit: Invited, thanks!
Why would one use Linode over the amazon cloud?

Anyway, while I'm sure Linode is very good, your response isn't helpful since I'm sure the grandparent, like me, uses HostGator because they're inexpensive and give you a decent amount of rope. Linode is just too expensive if you just need a basic shared host with ssh access and "unlimited" space.
Amazon does the web front for Target, and this is a solved problem (it is a PITA, but not intractable).
Amazon's doing the right thing here.

California has no way of charging them sales tax, nor should they, without a nexus. Imagine if you, living in CA, ordered something from a brick-and-mortar store in New York. If that store had to charge you sales tax and remit it to California, they'd simply say "no thanks" to your business. It's just not worth it for them to have to do all that work so you can get a $10 item (and so California can get their 82.5 cents).

Amazon shouldn't be treated any differently simply because they do a lot of business in the state. California knows this, so they come up with (well, Illinois came up with it) the idea that if some third party runs ads on their website for products on Amazon, that third party (an "affiliate") is actually an agent of Amazon. That's preposterous.

Amazon doesn't really have a choice, though. If they sue and lose, the entire affiliate program goes away. So they instead just drop the affiliates. They have to -- they're paying affiliates 6% of all qualified sales and paying the state 8.25%. And they are then open to audits and other nonsense from the state. It's just not worth the leads any more.
According to http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2642196, industrial design trumps longevity at Apple. Maybe they like the aesthetics of having the chips in the cable (no extra pins?).
Failing schools, in part because of their lack of funding.
Awesome, loving they added FileReader and drag-n-drop. Also definitely love that they added media queries, but I thought that was crucial for IE9 so they get no brownie points here.

Now, how about WebGL and WebM? Eh? Eh? Eh. Oh well.
Used to live in Florida. Immaculate roads, whenever they were finished, and a school system that desperately needed more money than it was given.
Sounds good. I'm guessing once enough people get invites, some might start doubling up on handing out invitations. Oh well, probably won't hurt to get invited twice :)
That is an incredible deal! I would imagine any employee outside the legal profession would be hard pressed to win this sort of concession.
Nice example of HTML/CSS animation
Really excited for G+ - like parent, would appreciate getting one, and will pay it forward. rargulati@gmail.com

Thanks!
I invited few people from the thread. Will invite everyone who replies this comment :)
Thank you very much :) I was very impressed when I saw it - especially with how flexible dates are handled: http://blog.hipmunk.com/post/6494292972/new-flexible-date-se...
This is a great idea for students, I'm heading over there now to apply.
karl1michael(at)gmail.com
To Engineer is Human, by Henry Petroski http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gfJ0EkrXqg

And/or anything else by Petroski http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Petroski

Systemantics, by John Gall http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemantics

"27. The Fail-Safe Theorem: When a Fail-Safe system fails, it fails by failing to fail safe."

Someone will inevitably suggest Brooks' Mythical Man Month to a young technologist, so I'll leave that suggestion to that person in this young technologist's career.
It appears that the measure died. The enrolled form of SB1 (the Fiscal Matters bill) that was sent to the Governor today doesn't seem to include the sales tax provision.
How to invite people by email to Google Plus?
This is incredibly unlikely.

Bringing people to a store, virtual or otherwise, is incredibly valuable for that store. Amazon has literally 1000s of people doing that, constantly. Instead of finding a good/best price on an iPod, I send people to Amazon, etc. Don't underestimate that value.
I'd greatly appreciate one at rajseshadri@gmail.com
Wow, fast, thanks!
Today I saw poetry on HN.
my HN userid @ gmail.com, thanks!
A couple seem to be up and down. Dojo has been down pretty continuously.

edit still down
http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/dojo/1.6/dojo/dojo.xd.j...
Old, but gold
Square's implementation is so drop dead simple: page curl away a transparent view. I would've over complicated it like the author did with screen captures.
Thanks, just sent an email!
2000 Years of Sea Level
Nothing that happens after you're out of office matters.
Para enseñar se requiere de experiencia con lo que uno sabe. I assumed that the lack of experience with Node.js would at least somewhat preclude teaching its best usages.

On the other hand, what the fuck do I know. I'm a Smalltalk developer leading a .NET front-end to a Python project.

We miss you, kamens. :(
WebOS takes on tablets: Ars reviews the HP TouchPad
I saw this TED talk a while back in which the speaker argues we should lower our meat consumption by increasing our insect consumption. He says insect meat is just as nutritious as mammal meat (if not more), and it also takes a lot fewer resources to produce it commercially.

http://www.ted.com/talks/marcel_dicke_why_not_eat_insects.ht...

I believe he said it takes 10 kg of feed and other resources to produce 1 kg of cow meat, while it takes 1 kg of inputs to produce 1 kg of grasshopper meat.

I ordered some canned mealworms off of Amazon the other day just to try them, and they actually weren't that bad with some butter and spices.
Enter Justin Timberlake.
I'd like one, please. redacted
What is going on with Netflix lately?
Internet Explorer 10 Platform Preview 2 shows strong progress
Tried, failed miserably. Look up bored at butler.

The general course of events is: Person A will make a comment about person B, person B will complain (under some misguided expectation that the site should be moderated), and you will have to handle the problems. And if you are in a place with a draconian internet policy, you will be paying dearly. Then the site warps to something which loses the original idea of anonymity
I wonder if they noticed how angry people get when don't figure out that to go back to the album they have to click on the album name as it appears way in the bottom left corner in the area that looks bolted on like it doesn't belong. I wonder if they noticed how annoying it is to not be able to visit the album selection page from viewing a photograph. I wonder if they noticed how many people have to scroll down in order to see the comment thread. I wonder how many people have trouble finding or using the "like" and "comment" buttons given that the way they appear here is different from every single other instance in the entire application.

Yes, the advantage you point out is valid. It just comes with a whole pile of downsides and I can't believe they would do that for that one minor use case. I was with a friend the other day who was getting so irritated that when I said "just hit f5" to restore the old interface she was so happy she made me dinner in gratitude.

The only other advantage I can think of is that the previous-photo button is more mobile-friendly.
Having seen several folks here mention Austin specifically, why isn't the Austin startup scene as hot as the NYC one - particularly given the cheaper costs in general? I have family so I would have issues with trading hours for equity (though I hope someday to down scope my budget enough to do so), but it seems that with SXSW and other things going on that Austin ought to be a possibly YC SouthWest sort of place. Is it perhaps TOO laid back?
Think of errors I had probably missed before I started compilation. Just about any long process I think of the stuff I forgot to check before I initiated it. :-D

Other than that I get up, take a break, I deserve it.
I can send invites now. Floods of people joining. I think 6 hours counts as imminent.
To quote Carnivale, "I've never heard an honest man use the word 'legit'."
Good thinking, and thank you for the invite..

I personally hope that the privacy behaviors of google work out better than what you get with Facebook (fingers crossed, expecting about the same, but hoping for the best)
Do you drive on a road? Does the USDA inspect your meat? Did you or any of your kids attend a public school?

This demagoguing of taxes is getting a bit old. Reagan, Ike, and Nixon would all be chased out of the party at this point. Taxes are the price we pay for living in a society.

Edit for clarification: Obviously not all taxes are good, similarly not all taxes are bad. That is my point. Life is rarely black and white. I also think tax laws should apply equally and Amazon shouldn't be given any breaks that others aren't.
PostgreSQL VACUUM Locks
Watch,bridesmaids,megavideo,online
Watch,bridesmaids,megavideo,online
Although Annie's life is messed up, he decided to take the last day of Lillian a perfect girl, so the audience will follow him when he tries to bluff his way through the bizarre and expensive weddings, bachelorette and bridal ritual.
So Amazon has physical buildings in Texas, and Amazon disagrees with that state's position that they have a physical presence in Texas. Only a lawyer could argue for such a twisted interpretation of reality with a straight face.
Women Red + Black Sexy Lingerie Gauze Lace Panties Underwear
These fabulous knickers are made from cotton and elastic fabric, which is soft, smooth and deliciously sensual, making you alluring and attractive.
Concept to make Home screens with Widgets
Put an IC socket on top so you can use any DIP8 IC to build GODZILLA CIRCUITS. Though you might have to add active amps in the legs at higher signal frequencies.
I don't think that's really a fair treatment of the issue.

It probably doesn't make sense, from a business standpoint, for Amazon to maintain their facilities there if Texas can make them collect sales tax. So Amazon would probably save money by moving the facility. But it still costs money for them to move, which they'd rather not do.

So consider these two options:

A) Amazon is forced to collect sales tax. Amazon moves the facilities to a different state. Texas still doesn't collect sales tax, and also loses 5,000 jobs! Amazon has to pay for new facilities/relocation.

B) Amazon isn't forced to collect sales tax. Amazon stays. Texas retains the 5,000 jobs, but also gains 5,000 new jobs. Amazon doesn't have to pay to relocate.

Either way, the state isn't going to collect sales tax. So why bother enacting the law? It's really a choice between keeping or losing the jobs, not between collecting or not collecting sales tax.

Amazon recognizes this. So rather than both lose money, Amazon proposes to Texas that they invest more in their infrastructure their, create new jobs, and indirectly fund the Texas government through income and property taxes.

(It may also make sense for Texas to pursue enforcement as a way to blackmail Amazon into investing more into their state.)

Politicians would do well to recognize that their actions don't exist in a vacuum. Businesses will react to maximize profits. So even though something might on paper bring in money, it's possible that in reality it will only cost money.