skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Passing judgment on all unpaid internships in all situations is unreasonable. When deciding whether to accept an unpaid internship, common sense is the best guide.

I've seen both unpaid and paid interns treated poorly. I've also seen both thrive. I personally had 2 paid internships before I graduated college. One was demeaning and the other an incredible learning experience.

If an unpaid opportunity offers a lot and you can afford to take it, why not? How is this different than contributing to open source or doing pro bono for charities?

However, if a company doesn't want to pay, I'd suggest more caution. Ask lots of questions, and if you end up just getting people coffee, quit. Interns are working professionals just like anyone else and deserve equal respect.
I'm super surprised they haven't implemented it already, i mean, it's not that difficult to build a granular permission system, what they have in place right now is a disaster ...
I'd say 50/50 if the programmer works for free (and you bring something to the table), up to 90/10 if you pay them a decent salary. If you pay a full salary, you don't need to justify your involvement too much, though that can be a problem in itself - the tech guy might not really think too much of you or the project, and just wants the paycheque.

If you were pitching to a bank or VC for funding, not a tech guy for his time, what your pitch be? Domain expertise? Your existing IP? Your UX design skills? Your sales skills? Your organization and drive? Your killer business plan? I'm assuming there's a market for the product, but you need more than that.

There's not much justification for less that 50%. The only reason for you to take less than 50% is if you won't be contributing much, and if that's the case, who would want to partner with you? Or if you get a developer who is really impressive, in which case you could offer them more.
As others have pointed out, I think this claim of uptime is totally exaggerated. Manually making changes to per-application security settings often requires a reboot, while if the same application requests changes programmatically, there's no reboot. Installing or uninstalling apps (from the App World) also often requires a reboot.

Maybe for some devices deployed in a corporate IT setting (where these changes aren't allowed at all without an admin) the devices are stable, but for a regular consumer user, I don't think they would see very high uptime. (I also agree that they would largely not care about high uptime, however being constantly asked to reboot the phone is annoying, ie I think users probably start caring about uptime only when it's LOW)
Loved your post. Definitely great advice. I made the decision yesterday to start learning to code, but your post made me feel I really made the right decision. Thanks. :)
That's the exact thing I wanted to ask. 2% for 100k is a 5M valuation, that's pretty good for most early-stage startups. Why would this vest over time? It sounds like a clear-cut "quid pro quo" to me...
To create a great customer experience, throw out a customer or two
doing the same thing the other invite I received from someone else is doing. It is now going to 404. Thanks anyways.
How the sight of a loved one can ease our suffering
It could be due to Inflation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation_(cosmology)). This is where the universe expands faster than the speed of light, since it's not the matter moving, but the space between it that's expanding. Not my area though, so would welcome thoughts from someone intelligent in that area.
JB
Love the insight into BT's process.

I'd love to hear some more about pair programming, has anyone here done it extensively enough to shed some light on the pros and cons? My gut is that it would be less productive than a simple code review procedure, but does it reduce bugginess to a level that offsets that productivity loss?
Nielson's data:
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/in-us-smar...

Nielson's analysis is equally bad. FTA, "Android share of recent acquirers flattened in 2011; Apple is now driving smartphone growth." This is simply not true. Android is still grabbing the largest portion of new smartphone users.
The difference between the titles is very interesting: "Apple up, Android flat in smartphone growth" vs the original "_In US_, Smartphones Now Majority of New Cellphone Purchases". Yes, the US market is big, but not the only one.
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2011/06/andy-rubin-500000-and...
MtGox Apologizes
Google+ Developer Group Signup
well i got a (karlton) google account and the email just offers two links

View or comment on Salman Khan's post »

or

learn more about google.

when i click the first link there appears a join google+ button which links to https://plus.google.com/u/0/up/start/?sw=1&type=st

:/
Tools for developing your own mobile apps
This also seems just patently obvious: why would you bother trying to create wealth if someone is likely to come along and steal it from you?
I really love the "selectable rendering engine" in the menus. It is a bit quirky when trying to switch back and forth, but seems to switch okay from the one used to render the page into the one of your choosing.

Also, it was via this release that I learned about the .exe.local directory. There is a "iepreview.exe.local" directory which evidently supersedes the DLL search path (and that is probably how they are able to package all the render engines in a "live" copy of Windows).
Wouldn't this have a performance issue since the nested function is being redeclared every time the outer function is called?
This however is not applicable to every developing country, here in South America the majority of foreign companies are here because of the local market potential and not generally to produce here and send to another place in the globe, this happens mainly because of the existence of China and India that are more cost effective for this type of market than industries in South America.
Ask HN: How do you find the best business model using lean startup methodology?
We have completed to development of our MVP of our product and we are releasing our beta product. In searching for our most profitable business model, we are wondering how to continue using lean startup methodology if we constantly iterate the product and don't truly give each revenue-driving option time to resonate with all of our users. There are 4 revenue stream concepts that we are testing, however, we are unsure whether or not the amount of beta users are fair representations of what the true outcome would be if we went live.
Depending on your industry it could be $1mm per engineer. MBA candidates are half that.
Also the name is delightfully nerdy; I'll bet current only flows one way through that cat, at least under low loads.
What would it take for schools to enforce fair labor standards on behalf of their students?
What does that make the CEO?
-Build something that is bigger/more complex than your current skill level.

This will not only improve your skills in general, but learning from the mistakes you make is probably the best way to grow as a programmer.
Would you believe I was a programmer if I just said so?

Only if the answer didn't matter. Which is the way it should be. And just like anything else, the only way to prove is to do. It didn't take long to see that he had a clear vision of the product and its destination.

He never identified himself as the idea guy, or anything like that. He actually self-identified as a sales guy. (And he was, too.) But if all he did was bring vision to the table, he still would have been invaluable.
As a Blackberry owner for years (on 9700) and a recent iPod Touch owner I ask you this because being a RIM user/developer is extremely frustrating to me. Why do I have to wait 5 minutes waiting for a reboot every time I install or delete or even just update an app? Why is web browsing so slow and painful? Why did my BBM contact list cut by 1/3? Why, at the end of the day, do I have to restart my phone and wait 5 minutes because it's simply out of memory? Why am I spammed with 3rd party apps like My Space that I can't delete and thus must hide? Why are developer tools so shitty that developers hate working on it and thus I am stuck with outdated and buggy 3rd party apps? I stick with Blackberry for BBM, form factor, and notification system. That's it. Everything else, I carry my iTouch and tether data to it so I can enjoy a user friendly time.
That's like telling Microsoft to bite the bullet and use Android.

These are big companies with tons at stake. They don't want to outsource their core competencies to competing companies.

One solution is to create virtualization on top of the current solution: call it Android Player or Flash Player or something. You'll get the developers and the apps for your platform and slowly guide these developers to use your native SDK and eventually kill the portability layers.

After all things said and done, there are many ways to go to Rome but one thing for sure: can't sacrifice your core competencies otherwise you'll be like any other mobile manufacturers (Samsung, HTC, etc) and compete on price for hardware because the software makes you irrelevant.

And you know US/Canada won't win when it comes to price of hardware. Broadcom is getting a lot of heat from Taiwanese/Chinese manufacturers.
You might like tastypie: https://github.com/toastdriven/django-tastypie
Not 1%-2% outright; 1%-2% extra over the equity bought.
From it's point of view, we are travelling away from it really fast.
Ask HN: What kind of computer chair do you use at home?
Oh, now it makes sense, thank you.
There's something going on here. I don't know about the US, but in the UK social mobility is actually worse than in the 1950s:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1555697/UK-one-of-wor...

So, you have a pattern where:

- More people are going into higher education

- We are in the middle of a deep recession

- As a consequence of these factors, there is less public money per student, so students have to pay more

- As another consequence, a degree is worth less than in previous decades

- Employers see a college/university degree as a requirement, even for jobs that don't really need them

- Unpaid internships are therefore seen as a differentiating factor when hiring graduates

So, in order to climb that greasy pole, you need a) the money to get a degree and b) the money to work unpaid while you gain experience. In the past, you had the option of starting work as a teenager and working your way up, or being one of the few to go to university and having your costs paid, with a good chance of a higher paid job at the end of it.

In this brave new world, these doors have been firmly closed to kids from poor families. Of course it benefits the rich kids and I wonder, half-jokingly, if this isn't an intended consequence of the richer Boomers ensuring an easier ride for their progeny without competition from the hoi polloi. In any case, I fear for the future of a country where advancement depends on connections and family money rather than ability.
If your rest interface is deeply tied to the Django DB, I'd suggest TastyPie.

Otherwise Django-Piston sadly is the way to go.
Facebook makes ~100% of its revenue from advertising-related deals too, no? Google's mission is to organize the world's information - there's a lot of money in that. So far they know that comes from advertising, but don't bet that it'll stay that way forever. Knowing about people's interactions is best done by knowing people, and so Google did indeed build + for people.

Also, if Google+ fails it won't be because of anything mentioned here. It'll be because I've been on it for 2 days unable to add more than 1 friend. I can't believe they're trying another invitation system for another social network. Guys, just let me add my friends already!
But how does one get ideas for a project? I started learning programming using C++ about 5 months ago. I've been making good progress on learning the concepts but I just can't think of anything useful to create.
Herman Miller Embody.
I am either sitting on the couch with my laptop on my knees or at a standing desk.
Yes -- things are hard, now, because we don't have the right models. Multiplication is hard when you're working with Roman numerals. Is it a problem with multiplication, or our thinking?

What's funny is that we think it stops there. "Oh, we made made multiplication easy, and negatives, and decimals, but Calculus... well that needs to remain difficult forever and ever.".
I hijacked your question a bit, so I'll reiterate adw's answer below: He means 1-2% extra for finding the investors.
Colbert Super PAC approved by FEC and now accepting donations
Same situation here. Its spreading all over my friends. I invited a ton of people once I got in and they in turn invited a ton more. I can see it won't be long till I've got all my tech friends on it.
Fortunately, it's a wonderfully quick way of weeding out the idiots.

Make it your first question, "How much equity are you planning to give this person when you find them?"

Then you can threshold your response, one way to do that might be:
< 45% hang up and walk away.
>= 50% take the second meeting.

You will pretty instantly weed out all of the "I'm going to change the world, won't tell you how unless you sign an NDA, and I'm being GENEROUS by offering you 10% if you do all the work." folks.

It may be rude to ask this first but your time is valuable and really it's like bidding in bridge, a shorthand to let you know if there is a game contract in there somewhere.
Reading and trying to work with the Linux kernel source is hardly a good way to get better programming skills. It's really large and hard to understand. Something like Minix, MenuetOS, or LoseThos is a much better alternative to hack on. LoseThos particularly reminds me of old school hackable boxes like the Commodore64.
No, NEVER apologise for something another man did. It's not your responsibility. Just ignore/mock them, help their victims if necessary and keep on being a nice guy.

Apologising even makes things a little worse (implies you have more in common with that particular man than your [female] audience).
Thanks for mentioning this. I gauge the value of an explanation by the follow-up questions... if you really understand imaginary numbers, then suddenly you start asking about other dimensions, etc. and get to awesome discussions like this one :). And even better, people are enthusiastic to explore these new avenues.
While people recommend reading code, like the Linux sources, I also find more code focused sites like Code Project (www.codeproject.com) very useful. These aren't blogs like Coding Horror, which are more "philosophy". These articles on Code Project typically are explaining code in detail.
By the way, I can't recommend going out and reading massive textbooks. That might be useful in a vacuum, but in reality you only have so much time. Programming should always be number one on this list; followed by:
-building something completely different than your used to (either in scope, by features, or by language)
-looking at code from open source projects

The main thing: always challenge yourself. When your at the inflection point of your learning curve, do something different. Expanding your boundaries will not only help you learn different technologies, but it will give you a better perspective on your actual specialties.
I'm doing my own blogging and social marketing now, but finding that I'm at the point with offline promo, working with early customers, and that sort of thing is getting to be a bit much for one person who also does the tech.

I definitely need a cofounder at this point so I can keep focusing on improving the core product and getting everything solid for launch.
4.9% of US pop. working at or below minimum wage is hardly insignificant.

http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2009.htm
I think it'd be awesome to have some sort of "decimal" notation where 2 + 3i was encapsulated as a single entity, something like 2_3. We don't write 2 + .3 when we mean 2.3, and this distinction makes it seem like a complex number is "less put together" than a real one.
I myself have definitely learned more about something from reading it's configuration files than clicking through a "Wizard".
How about the reverse?

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2714684
Why?

"You should donate all your money to praeclarum."
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
Some leather desk chair (don't even know the brand).
... They're really well positioned to strike, if they can just get the app quality problem solved.

How are they well positioned to strike if retailers are actively discouraging customers not to buy Win7 Phones?[1]

What does "app quality problem" mean? Is this the fault of developers? Or the Microsoft's fault for not providing the tools, etc? (Since I'm not a mobile developer, this is the first I've heard of app problems on Win7 Phones.)

1. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20071051-71/site-fights-re...
It seems to be an attempt to reinvent the megacorp with looser managerial boundaries. When you have the capital and the experience it's inevitable that you'll want to push ideas down from the top, but the venture game got like this in the first place because the best ideas bubble up from the bottom.
https://plus.google.com/107117483540235115863/posts/PhJFJqLy...
Once the invite button is enabled again, I'll try invite everyone to Google+ directly, everyone who emailed me.
I've heard it's bad for creative stuff, but really good if you know your requirements.

For payment processing, that's a good thing.

As I understand it, the productivity isn't too bad, as the programmers egg each-other on. Sort of like having an obnoxious micro-manager over your shoulder, without the obnoxious bit.
Fill it up again [First commercial flight using bio-kerosene]
Google Calendar has a new look
There are already Android handsets on AT&T, and the iPhone still sells better there (per the link you provide).
They should not allow you to use the service if it is not approved. A bank wouldn't let you spend the money before you get approved for the loan.
2011 wedding hairstyles | bridesmaid hairstyles | wedding updos
Wedding on a beach, as the cold water touches your feet and the silver sand recedes below, is a dream come true. But, let's get real, your dream can turn into a nightmare when the breeze decides to play with your hair.
great post - thanks
Brad Feld = respect
Good point. I've been called many, many nasty things myself.
Still can't seem to find an invite.
As much as I hate the idea of this model it's not too different than a Hollywood producer finding a director, cast and other creative talent to make their films. Personally I love the work of writer/directors but on the flip side there are quite a few great films that were put together by producers. Producers are interesting because they're good at fundraising and then coming up with the "bid idea" — and of course putting together a dream team. I wouldn't worry about this model if I were an entrepreneur because it might make that path more creative as VCs might be less risk adverse when pushing their own ideas.
Have Google really built Google+ out of a real human need/problem? I don't think so.

I'm not excusing Facebook and how they make money today. These aren't the same motives that influenced their reason for being, which were a lot more focused on people and universities.
Hope it doesn't have to be regularly zapped. #oldmacuserjoke
Why can't i downvote this, Google+ didn't succeed already but there is no single reasonable argument in this article.

Facebook being humble is the biggest joke ever.
As a non-technical guy with a lot of ideas, I skipped looking for a co-founder and just hired people to make stuff. Eventually I learned enough code to be dangerous, and with a bit of a design background, I've spent a lot of time building mockups and doing front end work to fill in the gaps.

I have found that developers are much more likely to engage in conversation with me because I can speak their language. This also works great at conferences, meetups, and local events.

In the end, I decided to try and build things so awesome that I'd have developers asking to join my projects, instead of the other way around. So far, it's working well.
Thanks so much for helping share this! :)

My goal is to get all these concepts out of awe (which I had too) into a real sense of "Ah, I get it!". It doesn't help anyone to memorize incantations.

Two other insights I love:

* e as continuous growth: http://betterexplained.com/articles/an-intuitive-guide-to-ex...
* radians as the perspective of the mover: http://betterexplained.com/articles/intuitive-guide-to-angle...

I realized that I didn't really get what e and radians were about -- I memorized them, but I wasn't comfortable. Once you have the right analogies, Euler's formula starts making sense (without resorting to "Oh, take the Taylor series expansion of each and see how they match up", which is essentially an incantation).
So how does Windows do this? And why can't Linux do the same?
I'm not sure I see why "I think Google has suspect motives" leads to the conclusion "Google+ Has Already Failed." The Internet has already shown that people trust those with suspect motives far too much.
If that black hole is 12.9 billion light-years away, it takes 12.9 billion years for the light to travel to us. Considering the age of the Universe 13.75 billion years, what they actually presume in the article is that we don't move at all:
12.9 (the time of the travel) + 0.77 (the age of the light) = 13.67, in the error margin of the age of the Universe (± 0.11).
I think the point of the article is that the intent and initial design of Facebook was radically different as it's original purpose was to provide something that did not exist previously that is useful. This isn't Google giving us something innovative, or useful in any new way, this is Google trying to get a slice of the social network ad market.

What reason do you have for using Google+ that is not already satisfied by FB or Twitter?

Feels kind of like Bing.
If Google+ fills a need for people, especially allowing people fine-grained, easy-to-use control of what is shared to who, then it should succeed.

Facebook is the big target that most people perceive, but surely LinkedIn is a huge target also, since Google+ circles should allow you to have work-oriented Sparks and pictures, versus personal-oriented status updates and pictures.

This shouldn't be a big deal for Twitter, since you might have many Twitter contacts where you simply don't know what their email is, but you still can read, message and retweet them, all within Twitter.
Thanks! I took several college courses using them and didn't "get" the concept until years after I graduated.
Open letter from anonymous RIM official blasting company surfaces online
It's certainly no worse than the first example with the anonymous functions inline. But yes, worse than the second example, since it's creating closures on each invocation.
Same ... not sure mine even has a brand, it's just a desk chair heh.
really, really nicely done
I'm guessing all donations will eventually go to a charity.
Colbert often promotes charities like Donors Choose or the Yellow Ribbon Fund.
> Have Google really built a product out of a real human need/problem?

Are you a troll?
It's very easy to meet technical people. Conferences, meetup groups, hackathons, etc. Just go where they go and start hanging out.
I'm late to the party, but I also dislike OnSwipe. The scrolling is terrible, I can't zoom at all and sometimes it crashes Safari. Even worse, the 'standard site' link on the WordPress theme is at the bottom of the page. It should be at the top.

Hopefully someone will create an 'unswipe' bookmarklet that we can use to disable it on sites that don't have an opt-out. Add me to the list of people that would like a global opt-out.

If your site uses OnSwipe and I can't disable it, I'll find content somewhere else.