skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
There are some excellent studies out there that suggest this to be false.

One source[1] showed that:

- For highly creative jobs, respect and autonomy to function and just enough $ to cover comfortable living expenses produced the best results.

- As you add more money, the performance for these jobs decreased.

AND

- For highly repetitive jobs, performance increased with pay almost linearly.

- Offering more autonomy for lower pay in these types of jobs lowered performance.

Programming is a highly creative job. While you are making very logical assumptions (more $ == more work) I would argue that after the first month or so, that would no longer be the case.

You would then just be equating (more $ == more HOURS working) but not necessarily producing.

The findings of the study did hinge on the person seeking autonomy to make enough to cover their living expenses such that the concern for money was off the table.

Really interesting stuff.

I think from my own experience, after the honeymoon period of the giant paycheck wears off, this tends to be absolutely true.

As for passion, it has to come from the top down.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Surprising-Truth-About-Motivates...

Thanks to yengz for the reminder where this study came from!
You could add a (small) donation link
> At the end of the day you are renting to a stranger.

No better words can express my sentiments. Airbnb customers are participating in a business experiment, they're not hoteliers.

What I do find worrisome is that Airbnb being in the customer service business, doesn't appear to be focusing on the user experience at all. What did they do with the money?
I've never bought the liquidity argument. Ordinary investors don't need to buy and sell at any time. They'd be happy buying and selling once a day (as with mutual funds).

What if the market consisted of a deep daily or hourly auction with lots of buyers and sellers matched up to discover a fair price? How is the current system better than that?
I Want To Unsubscribe, Not "Manage My Preferences"
The MS X6 lets you move the numpad to the other side of the keyboard (or possibly leave it detached, but for mouse access those are equivalent options). I don't have one, and it's reviewed less favorably than the X4 which doesn't have the removable keypad, but it's something.
Download Apple OS X Lion Wallpaper Pack Now
> eMarketer came to the $150 million figure by comparing Twitter with Facebook, which had ad sales of about $150 million in 2007, right after it got serious about selling ads.

So that number is meaningless. Twitter and Facebook advertise totally different, and everyone visits Facebook directly, whereas many get Twitter via 3rd parties.
Trackpoint is actually more accurate and efficient than mouse. So even if you shift to mouse-heavy workflow for some tasks, it's not a problem. Unless you're not really familiar with trackpoint (or you're unlucky and drifting problem is hitting you often, but that's another story).
Renting to strangers is like having sex without protection. Period.
I'm realizing I'm confused about what value airbnb is offering.

If they don't vet people on either end, are they really just a craigslist with payment processing?
Very cool. I'm jealous of you right now and I hope it sells well.
That's an impressive speed boost.

How much of the Ruby stdlib is implemented in C?
"""Airbnb, while pointing out that the incident was the first of its kind out of some 2 million stays booked since the company's founding in 2008 ..."""

source: http://travel.usatoday.com/destinations/dispatches/post/2011...

Either USAToday misinterpreted/misreported a quote, Airbnb lied to a reporter on the record, or Troy is making up his story. I can't see any other way to reconcile the evidence put forth.
Lots of low volume stocks actually do trade like that.

For NYSE stocks, a good chunk of the daily volume trades at the open and close auctions.
You should see what happens when you rent to friends, or worse: family.
The difference is that you could disable the animation in Snow Leopard,

defaults write com.apple.dock workspaces-swoosh-animation-off -bool YES && killall Dock

If anyone knows how to do the same under Mission Control please, please do tell.
1) There often isn't any sort of ideal price to discover at short timescales, just complicated interplay between HFT algorithms and the bizarre psychology of human traders (ie, "4th digit nearing zero, looks like it has momentum!"); both moving prices in ways unrelated to any fundamental value.

2) Just as no one is forced to do their weekly shopping at Yankee stadium, investors can choose which exchange to submit their orders to. Exchanges with shoddy market makers would lose customers.
This is what a bad media cycle looks like. You get a nosebleed in the ocean and the sharks start circling. They'll get through it, though, I am completely confident. At the end of the day, the bad guys are the assholes that abuse the system.
The claim is they're a craigslist where you don't get to find out who the other person is until after the payment processing, which would seem to most people to be negative value.

Edit: Except for to Airbnb.
If they don't vet people on either end, are they really just a craigslist with payment processing?

That's mostly what it is, which isn't a bad idea. It also has a strong couch surfer element that CL doesn't.
A really good programmer who used to work for me swears by Dvorak layout. Which is even stranger because he's a vim user.
While I'm the first one to point out that Western medical doctors do not know everything, this is going too far in the opposite direction. Crowdsourcing your health without any credentials behind the answers? Sounds really sketchy to me...
Didn't freeze for my Opera 11.50. Great job, I like musical tools this this a lot!
Square, like all other merchant account providers has to pay interchange fees, which are ultimately sent to the banks that issue credit and debit cards, and assessments, which are how Visa and Mastercard make their money. It is possible that they have negotiated a sweetheart deal with Visa and Mastercard, for lower interchange rates, but I think it is unlikely.

With their pricing scheme Square loses money on every transaction below ~$6 in size. They will make money for transactions between $6 and $15, will lose money between $15 and $18 and will make money on transactions larger than $18.

The reason for the weird discontinuity at $15 is that Visa cards and Mastercard Debit (but not Mastercard credit) cards have a special, lower, rate for small transactions called a small ticket rate. If you are a merchant with a very small average transaction size, you absolutely should use Square - their price is so low for those transactions they are losing money and subsidizing the user.

In reality, their average transaction is not as small as you'd think. It's actually ~$83 (some simple math from the screen Jack posted on his twitter), so they are making a good deal of money, but at much smaller margins than most people realize.

More details (assumptions, charts, etc):
http://feefighters.com/blog/can-square-make-money-with-its-n...

Also relevant:
Compare prices of Square vs. a traditional merchant account
http://feefighters.com/square-calculator
very sweet, good work! Hope it does really well for you.
I don't know if my anecdotal evidence bears this out, but I admit that it is just that...anecdotal.

People are still using C and C++ to write low level code. Databases, package managers, games, etc. Then there are the 'application developers' as you named them, writing http service endpoints, web apps, and the like.

It seems java still owns the colossal corporate stacks. I hear things like "it is easier to hire" and "java is faster/better for extreme large scale". If you think about all the languages and tools available, only the first makes much sense.

* C/C++/D is faster than java.

* statically compiled code is easier to deploy.

* Erlang is arguably more scalable than java.

* Haskel/Ada is 'safer' than java.

* I think several languages are more fun to write in than java. Ruby, python, golang, coffeescript, etc, etc.

So java may not be the best language for large scale, but maybe one of the best or good enough? When combined with the first point of ease of hiring, I can certainly see why large companies are attracted to it. If your language of choice lends itself to your workers being more easily replaceable, then as a company that is probably better/safer.

Other than that, I can't see why someone would prefer to use java. I don't work in/at/for huge companies though.

I admit that my own personal 'java bias' is based on dated interactions with java. Whenever I hear 'java' I think: good performance (vm), eats memory like candy, painful ecosystem of xml files and outdated/abandoned random libraries. I have tried dabbling in scala, and while I enjoyed the language to a fair extent, I still found myself wrestling with the JVM and the ecosystem (library version incompatibilities, obscure compiler errors, namespace wrangling, etc).
Probably invested much of it in color.com. :)
I'm starting to think that much like Quora, AirBnB worked because of the nature of its early members and that the model simply doesn't scale.
When I was 9 years old I developed a low-grade fever for several (9 - 12) months. During that time I was frequently in the Dr.'s office trying to find a reason. None was found. After that year, I always called myself chronically exhausted. Nothing seems to help. I've tried blue/green algae, homeopathic stuff, essential oils, fast food diets, regular exercise, full vegan diet, and so on. Nothing has helped. I've been to several doctors since, with no apparent cause ("take a multivitamin", or "take vitamin D"). I'm heartened to see I might not be alone.
A while back I converted my big IKEA desk into a standing desk by extending the legs all the way and putting books under it. It worked out amazingly well and I got a ton of stuff done, but you definitely need a tall stool of some kind so you can sit on occasion or it's easy to get burned out.
If you are going this route why not use a switch?

Or just an array.
Shipping at the Speed of Life: Shipping Culture at Github
We may when the service actually starts to cost us =) Thanks ;)
This does answer one thing that puzzled me about the EJ story. If this was meth addicts, she surely couldn't have been the first victim of this sort of thing.

If the culprits in this case aren't related to the ones in the EJ case, I'd be curious if there's an identifiable profile here. The stereotype of the meth addict I operate by is a down-market tweaker who'd have no idea Airbnb existed much less the patience or resources to take advantage of it. But I suppose there's a more upscale demographic that might make up a hellish niche market for Airbnb.
I recently quoted $100/h for a side job I am doing for somebody. Though, we decided on a second option where I'm working for less, but get to GPL the deliverable code when I'm done.
Document: FBI Surveillance Geeks Fear, Love New Gadgets
There is nothing really magic about rerere. During a merge, it records each conflict. When you commit the merge, it records your resolution of the conflict. If that _identical_ conflict occurs again, it re-applies the same resolution. You can choose whether it marks the the file as resolved or not, which allows you to easily review what was done before committing the merge.
Nice design!
The examples colorings look a bit too much like done by an illustrator though, is this targeted for kids ?
Sometimes things do go wrong however the impact of them going wrong differs between businesses. When things go wrong for a mobile phone company lots of people might have poor reception but when things go wrong for AirBNB, a person could actually get killed. This has always been my fear and I sincerely hope they shutdown or pivot before this happens.

AirBNB hasn't been upfront about the level of risk their customers undertake when they use their service. And the downside, however rare a occurrence (even if it's one in a million or one in a thousand) is just too bad to even consider consider using them.
Check out this thread; we're hardly immune.
not sure why i don't see a reply link

HN has a reply cool off period. The more nested a comment, the longer the cool off period.
Although it only works for a single person (or a very compromising SO), my solution for the space limited apartment was to buy a bar height Ikea dining table for 4 people for my 'dining space'. With some 10 foot power and monitor cables, and wireless keyboard/mouse I can use this desk for standing or sitting. When friends come over I shuffle the keyboard and monitors off the desk and it's ready for entertaining.
Looks interesting, it could be done well with existing development tools for current platforms (i.e WPF, Cocoa) to have dirt simple cross-platform UI's.

At first by "embeddable browser" I thought that it would let you embed a web browser with javascript or with the embed HTML tag, but that's just my association with the word 'embed'
Tell HN: Room open in Hacker House in San Jose
We have a room open at our awesome hacker mansion in San Jose. The house is ~4000 sqft, on an _enormous_ lot. Spend all your time coding? Do it with deer and wild turkey hanging out by your side. This is the most serene hacker house you've ever seen.

The house is 4bed, 4bath, and filled with hackers. Right now the population consists of the founders of Tinfoil Security (http://www.tinfoilsecurity.com) and Welcu (http://www.welcu.com), both companies backed by 500startups. Genders: 1 Female, 3 Male, and 1 Female part-time; we don't care about your gender. :)

The room is 14x12 (large for anywhere in this area), enormous kitchen with an island and Viking professional stove (and griddle!), restaurant-sized fridge, washer/dryer in house, and of course, 20mbit internet via Comcast. 4 decks, grill outside. And the views you have to see to believe.

It's a new house, and the culture is new too, so we're looking for anyone who is personable, clean, and can contribute to the culture and shape it into whatever it will be.

To get in touch, just email me: borski@mit.edu

Photos of living space, view, room, and (your own) bathroom: http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/3010745/2/4055Soelro/Room%20Available?h=d544bc
Hopefully, AirBnB is learning what most rookie politicians already know, ie Take care of your PR problems before close of business on Friday , otherwise the entire weekend will feel like one looong horror movie.
The good news though is that by Monday morning, people are usually ready to move on to some other news item.
The important thing to remember is that we have always been afraid of jobs disappearing due to machines. Textile workers in France in the 18th century were afraid to be replaced by automated spinning machines. Switchboard operators got mad when then the automated switchboards arrived.

New jobs keep appearing as we gain more wealth, who would have predicted jobs such as web designer or WoW gold farmer 20 years ago?

Just like the western world has moved to automated production, China will be able to do the same.
I don't see this happening in southern CA. The demand for programmers is greater than the supply, age doesn't seem to hurt right now.

Maybe it's different in other parts of the country/world.
I think it depends on the type of rental. Vacation rentals or rentals where the owner is present can work, but it's extremely risky to hand a stranger the keys to your home and disappear, hoping they won't steal anything or trash the place. It's great that AirBnB's early adopters were largely trustworthy enough to let that practice persist for a while, but it won't survive mainstream popularity.
What they will never understand is how we get it so intuitively— not unless they put in the decades we did to get there.

Huh? That's pretty much like any other skilled trade. I don't understand tractors like my grandfather does and he's made a lot more money selling them than most programmers will. I'm not more valuable as a human because I know code and he knows combines.

(Now, one could argue that they were simply being on top of the technology of different eras; diesel tractors revolutionized agriculture in the last century and he apparently got into selling them at a good time, but again, there are a bajillion fields where staying on top of tech is both lucrative and non-trivial.)
As much as some people might view this as "sometimes things go wrong", which is basically true, that's not the whole story.

The story here is that people are doing things that in most jurisdictions are illegal. AirBnB is profiting off this. Do something illegal and you can't insure against any negative consequences.

The whole EJ situation is a potential inflection point. Without knowing the full facts (which no one seems to), it seems like AirBnB was trying to rectify things with EJ and I suspect they were trying to keep her quiet in the process. I have no proof of this. I also suspect that they probably misrepresented their actions to PG. Again I have no proof of this. It is merely my suspicion.

But there's something "off" about EJ's position here.

Why exactly is a vandalized apartment leaving her homeless? Is it too damaged to occupy? Does she simply not feel safe there?

If she has received offers for help, why hasn't she taken it? It's possible she's traumatized by what happens. It's possible she feels so wronged by AirBnB that she's not acting rationally. Or maybe she just wants to get her story out to warn people. I really don't know.

Yet something seems... off. The comments of EJ, PG and AirBnB just don't add up. I'd bet money on there being more to come on this story. And while some want to give EJ a free pass here, I don't want to vilify her but she has to take some responsibility for giving strangers the keys to her apartment.

I think AirBnB can count their lucky stars this was just a robbery and not a rape or murder. Or someone could have set up a drug lab, causing the Feds to confiscate the property as the proceeds of crime possibly taking months to sort out and prove the person renting out the property didn't know about the drug lab.

The hotel industry has fundamental protections for this kind of issue. Not only security but there's the fact that the hotel owner isn't storing their prized valuables where guests can steal them. Nor are hotels putting their staff in a position to be attacked or robbed by a guest sleeping under the same roof (incidents can occur in a hotel but at least there are locked doors separating you from the guests). LIkewise hotels take ID (usually).

The legal precedent they set by paying off EJ is a cause for concern though some argue it isn't. This isn't like Apple choosing to replace broken hardware they aren't responsible for (this happens). While doing something illegal (and profiting from it) that can't be insured against, liability is something that could easily destroy the company.

Ultimately, AirBnB is making a bet they can effect change on the laws relating to subletting. If the person renting out a room is leasing the property they're in, there's a good chance they can't sublet it (even though many do). This may help them on the liability front as well.

Part of the problem here is anonymity on the Internet. This I believe is changing and it will help (IMHO). But it only takes keylogger malware or someone sniffing packets at the Internet cafe to steal someone's online identity and then do what they want.

EDIT: clarifications.
Google+ Hangout Cooking Class Tonight With Studiofeast's Mike Lee
Just in case anyone's curious, CouchSurfing has been around a bit longer than AirBnb and they have their own safety tips and tools: http://www.couchsurfing.org/safety.html

Here's the AirBnb page about safety: http://www.airbnb.com/home/safety

CouchSurfing is similar in that it's about strangers staying at people's places. The biggest difference is that people let others stay at their houses for free. Usually both parties do it for the experience. Many people think it's fun to meet travelers. I knew someone who traveled to Asia and couch-surfed.
If I were Arrington, I would have posted this story first thing Monday morning.
What's going to be a game changer is when stories start breaking about owners who rent out their space as a way to lure in people for killing or torturing them.

Right now it's about "you were stupid, why did you rent your space out to strangers?". Later on it'll be "why did you try to save $20 and go sleep some place where you're 110% vulnerable?". You don't control the locks, you don't know the neighborhood or even the layout of the house all that well (are there cameras in the room spying on you?).

If Holiday Inn or Marriott had tried to go 'downmarket' by trying to get in the "rent out your space with us - we'll handle the booking logistics", they'd have been eaten alive by the insurance costs of dealing with QA on thousands of rooms/spaces they don't control. They'd have too much name brand recognition and goodwill in their names to lose by leaving customer safety and security to chance. ABNB seems to be coming at this from the other way. What do they have to lose? Investor money? It's a big experiment for them, which they're hoping will pay off, but I think there's a reasons beyond "laziness" or "not getting it" to explain why larger companies well-versed in hospitality/property management have not gone down this road.

Will things still work out for ABNB? They might, but they're taking such a hit on this by not just making some of these situations right, then changing their procedures and policies. Apparently these incidents - as infrequent as they may be - have been occurring for a while. There's probably quite a few more that haven't come forward because they've felt it was their own fault, much like domestic abuse spouses blame themselves. Not really wanting to see ABNB fail, but can't help watching this play out, and I somewhat suspect it'll get worse before it gets better.
Might have even been the same meth c[r]ooks.

Kudos to Dayton for keeping a balanced perspective on the situation, and not equating customer service clumsiness with indifference.

I like AirBnb. I will continue to use AirBnb as a guest. (Hypothetically if I were to be a host, I would only rent a hardened/rental-only property with careful assessment of the potential guests.) I am also still bullish on the general theme that the transparency and efficiency of the net makes peer-to-peer transactions between strangers more safe and easy than ever before.

But they're going to have to innovate on 'trust and safety' to avoid any impression they're AirBnBnMethDen.
The actual quote from AirBnB:

With a single booking, one person’s malicious actions victimized our host and undermined what had been – for 2 million nights – a case study demonstrating that people are fundamentally good.

Note it implies this is the only incident that has occurred, but they could have had three million incidents and this statement would still technically be true as long as they had two million nights without incidents.

Somehow, I doubt USA Today will be thrilled about being manipulated that way...
Right. I was actually interested in seeing how the probabilities were calculated which doesn't seem as easy.
That business already exists: it's called the insurance industry.

I'm shocked that AirBnb apparently hasn't availed themselves of it.
Here is another amusing alternative made using youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oD-sSolVDiY
Price is $1100, utilities split amongst the rooms in the house. :)
Habits of Highly Connective People
Theoretically you can sell them, but what if nobody's buying?
> Why is a vandalized apartment leaving her homeless?

I would guess the vandalization of her flat leads her to not feeling "safe" there anymore, and thus not being able to live there.
Dan Pink's RSA talk came to mind for me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

He mentions a couple of studies.