skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I'm actually not sure we should be convinced this will happen since it's just coming from a single rumor from a single news source-- but we'll see how it goes.

I'm a big fan of Valve (I integrated/wrote some popular scripting engines for their Source engine), but I'm not so certain this is a fantastic match. They probably don't need Google and Google doesn't need them-- but while it's not a great idea, it's probably not a bad one.

One thing to note is that not only does this get Google a content distribution network, but Steam also has a community, IM, etc. I don't know any real numbers for who uses those pieces, but it's likely to have grown to become one of the largest gaming social networks. Those have shown to be worth a good bit to the right company (for example, Xfire sold to Viacom for $100 million).

Top that off with the advertisement network and technology Valve integrated already into some games.

So compared to most game companies, I think Valve has some really great business decisions in their portfolio that should make them attractive to pretty much everyone. They took the money from the Half-Life series and created a great game platform, solid titles, an innovative and well-established software distribution network, some in-game advertisement technologies, along with an up-and-coming social network with no sign of slowing-down.

If you're looking to invest in an entertainment company that's built some long-term value, you can do much worse than Valve.
An inverse stereotype. Poor stereotypes then, common or inverse... always wrong. ;)
Hah. If this happened it'd be more likely that CS:S would become free, as a vehicle for google's ingame advertising.
Tesla Motors Picks San Jose for $250 Million 'Model S' Plant and HQ
Open-sourcing CS would be awesome. Bring the game full circle back to the days when it was just a fee mod made by Gooseman and Cliffe. What ever happened to those guys?
Photobucket's pulled the images. Anyone have a cache somewhere?
"Google Content Distribution (Beta) however should make just about every other competitor lose several years of sleep, most of their remaining hair, and large gobs of stock price."

That's for damn sure.
Spark Capital’s Media-Entertainment-Technology Play, The Sequel
It would appear so. The government isn't an investment fund, so I am curious as to what their exit strategy is for this "investment". I'm sure they'll come out OK. I wonder where their profit (assuming there is a profit) will actually go.
Semantics + Google = SemantiFind
who's that pretty girl? she must be the queen of silicon valley
Online Literacy Is a Lesser Kind - Slow reading counterbalances Web skimming
Last of the Neanderthals
I find this little passage (from chapter 1 of your "panda" link) is a good bit of wisdom that is just as true today as when he wrote it:

"People come to Web sites looking to get a job done or a question answered. The first thing the guys at www.fedex.com did was publish a Web interface to their package tracking database. That was back in 1994. When they decided to add corporate information they put it on an entirely separate site: www.fdxcorp.com. (Today the sites are merged.) "
looking at the stats I find more interesting the growth of MyYearbook in terms of time spent.
Tasksel, like almost everything else in Ubuntu, is from Debian. This package in particular predates Ubuntu by about 5 years...
MTV's 'multiplayer' blog says no. Sorry no link but no copy paste on iPhone.
Which really makes me want to see the video. Anyone know if it's up anywhere?
Found the official response from the company posted at O'Reilly

There are always two sides to a story. Looks like VirtualPBX offered to rescind the deal and are asking him to resolve the dispute through the dispute resolution procedures that are already outlined in the agreements he's signed

So why is this guy blogging about this - looks like its hurting him as much as anything else

This comes straight from the article ->>>>>"Virtual PBX is a small, privately held, non VC funded, 10-year old family enterprise that took a calculated business risk by acquiring the assets of Brian McConnell's business in an attempt to further the progress of its technology. Brian willingly signed a business agreement with Virtual PBX and subsequently entered into an employment contract with the company. Those facts are not in dispute.

Virtual PBX contends that Brian breached material terms of the agreement as well as the subsequent employment contract. We do not believe it appropriate to discuss the nature of the ongoing contract disagreement publicly, despite the fact that Brian has issued a stream of what we regard as misleading and even malicious statements in his blog about the relationship.

We do take exception that Brian has chosen to invoke the mantle of privacy as a means to avoid taking responsibility for his behavior. He chose to store large volumes of data on a company issued laptop, some of which was unrelated to company business. The laptop and the data stored on it were appropriately retained by the company upon his departure. The company's only interest in the data stored on the computer is that which relates to business issues. Brian's allegation the company committed cybercrime is malicious and unfounded. It is unfortunate Brian has chosen to pursue counter-productive rhetoric in lieu of reaching a mutually acceptable and business-like solution to this contract dispute."

Also says ----
They told me the company "has also requested that he resolve the dispute through the dispute resolution procedures that are already outlined in the agreements he's signed, and that Virtual PBX has even offered to rescind the deal with him and give him back everything he sold to the company including the IP."
Is it time to break up the New York Times?
They have a left-leaning woman for a president, though.
Yes.

Elegance begets elegance. For me, it's a lot easier to write good code when my surroundings are to my liking. It's the same reason why I set the desktop as I like it, wear comfortable headphones, and keep my system well organized and "clean."

Given that I typically spend at least 10 hours a day on my computer and use it to make my living, I consider it worth a few extra hundred dollars amortized over the life of the machine to make my life that much more pleasant.

I've never understood why some people are so puzzled or, worse, offended by that idea.
Supernatural episode 401 lazarus rising
Was it something Sam did? Maybe, maybe not. We’ll probably find out as the Supernatural Season 4 continues, and how Sam has changed as a result. In the meantime, here are the first promo images from the first episode of Season 4, titled “Lazarus Rising”.
Thats a nice site you have built. How are u working out the RIAA issues?
The Anbu gives up narutos recollection
In order to get the information they need about Gennou, the ANBU put Naruto in a trance, hoping to prong the information they need from Naruto’s memory. However, even by doing all of this, will they get the information they need?
This news reminds me of an interesting video I happened across last year. From it, draw what conclusions you wish:

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-905047436258...
My comment was one of the first reaction to the post (16 hours ago) it was a spontaneous reaction to the somehow shocking news that the US government is taking (again) over a private company in the financial sector.
When I wrote "socialist" it was for the irony of the situation, the financial market in the past has been very hostile to any regulation and it is the most visible flagship of liberalism as we know it since Reagan.
People who read about economy (check comments bellow) know exactly what I was talking about, this is a well known topic about the contradiction between "less government, less regulations" and "the need of government help in time of troubles". Some more clever and much more articulate people wrote about it and their conclusion is the the current crisis is a direct consequence of lack of proper regulation in the first place. Go read the source it's free, it's online, it's better than expecting Techie guys to spend 30 minutes of their precious time writing a "reasoning" and "well crafted" comment a topic which is only one of their many "hobbies"
I was particularly annoyed at that point as well, especially since a lot of the problems the brain solves are not based on its "processing speed" as much as its "software" that AI attempts to emulate.
Note that id is working on doing a free version of Quake with in-game advertising called Quake Live.
Future IT impact of current legal battles -- border laptop searches, net neutrality, etc.
"Complete Fabrication."

I contacted Valve pr man Doug Lombardi who replied to my request for comment on this news with just two words: "complete fabrication."

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/09/17/valve-on-rumors-of...
Silicon Valley quaking in its boots
Bah, thought that was the poll. Wasn't there a poll?
How very post-modern of you -- there's no truth, so let's not try to enforce it. Problem is, most of the recent distortions have been blatant, and easy to verify.

Case in point -- the Obama sex-education bill that you cite. The exact wording of the bill in question was:

"Each class or course in comprehensive sex education offered IN ANY OF grades K through 12 shall include instruction on the prevention of sexually transmitted infections, including the prevention, transmission and spread of HIV." (emphasis mine)

In other words, it's not mandating sex education for kindergarteners -- it's saying that any sex education that they do receive must have a certain curriculum. It also says that:

"All course material and instruction shall be age and developmentally appropriate."

In other words: if you're trying to suggest that it's actually impossible to determine the truthfulness of a charge, this example is terrible. It's an obvious, blatant distortion of the truth by the Republican campaign, and it can't be justified. Any reasonable, intelligent person can see that fact.

If, however, you're suggesting that political parties would cry like babies if held to a higher standard of debate, I can't dispute your assertion. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't try. If we can hold drug manufacturers to objective standards for truth in advertising, there's no fundamental reason that we can't do the same thing for political advertising.
Agree, me too. It was singularly lacking in any practical advice, too.. I spent most of the book waiting for him to start explaining ways to hone one's subconscious, and was disappointed to find that he didn't bother with that part.

PI is a bit more practical and provides some actual techniques you can use to tap into that subconscious brain.
Is Sarah Palin really more popular than porn?
http://finance.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chd...

Yes, I can see how you would think that. There's even a small chance that 1999-2014 or 2000-2015 will be the first fifteen-year stretch in which stocks were not profitable to own (these data only go back to the 20's -- see Ibbotson's research for more).

From the comments:

"Today I lost the faith and ended all my investments in stocks. Maybe it comes back, but all experts seem to agree that it is extremely unsure what the future will bring. Too much uncertainty for me. Today 6% interest on a 5 year deposit seems like a very good deal."

This is not exactly rational behavior. Stocks are ownership in a business. Consider the parable of Mr. Market: you and Mr. Market have founded a startup, despite Mr. Market's diagnosed case of manic depression. Every day, Mr. Market will offer to buy your share in the business, or sell his, at a particular price. Today, Mr. Market cut his asking price by another 3% -- when he's offering his share of the business for less, why does that make you want to sell?
there was, but i couldn't find it easily. i'm too busy not upvoting things to hunt that one down ;)
More correct, your grandchildren will pay taxes for it someday. (Hey, we're being specific after all)
Is the U.S. Losing Its Edge in Tech?
You make it sound like that's a bad thing.

Lest we forget that easy credit and living above our means is what got us into this mess in the first place.
The BBC isn't a media "control[ed] by an elite"?
Politicians need people to be sick, uneducated, and poor. This way they can promise to fix those three things forever, never really intending to actually deliver, but always having a "platform".

Politicians simply have nothing to offer people who are wealthy, educated, and in good health.
Meet My Little Friend: Living Bacteria Biosensors to Detect Pollution
Any of the Scandinavian countries, especially Denmark. They seem to know what they are doing in more ways than one.
Exactly, these are hooked users. Casual users might not even noticed the change, or if they did, think nothing of it. Then there is a large category of people (myself included) who think the changes are a huge improvement. It's amazing how much resistance even the smallest change faces.
http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin_Yahoo_inbox_2008
The transformations performed by some regions of the brain have been modeled.

The estimates of the brains equivalent computational capacity I have read use functional models of regions of the brain, (i.e. audio, visual, ...) to obtain an estimate per neuron and extrapolate that to the entire brain. Estimates are 10e14 to 10e15 operations per second.

See http://books.google.com/books?id=88U6hdUi6D0C&pg=PA122&#...
I'm curious...why should it be bigger news?
Fixing the market: Resurrect the Resolution Trust Corp
Are you suggesting the sentence for tax-evasion should be death + a waiver of constitutional rights to a fair trial?

If not, then the answer to your question is "yes".
For anyone who doesn't: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal

Had to read this in high school, I liked it
With a big enough user-base, they'll find a way. Occasional contextual adverts added to your timeline seems the obvious start.
Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams
Why IE will continue to win the enterprise browser wars
Because it's alleged that she funneled government email through private email accounts deliberately to avoid transparency laws --- in other words, to prevent citizens from learning about her on-the-job correspondance --- only to have the raw contents of those mail spools dumped to the entire Internet.

It touches on a political controversy (running the State of Alaska through Yahoo may be illegal) and involves a seperate crime commited for publicity and political purposes. It implicates the security of hosted email providers in general, and begs the question of how confidential government emails could have been so insecure in the first place.

I'm betraying opinions that I'd like to keep close, because this hasn't been authenticated. If it is, I'd say it's huge news. What a fuckup.
Im interested, losdosplebitos -at- gmail , thanks.
Tech "Guru" Riles the Industry   By Seeking Huge Patent Fees
IBM launches social software think tank
Tianwei Commits to Additional $227 Million of Polysilicon From Hoku Scientific
I'm pretty sure the networks are actually required to run a certain amount of political ads. I believe the justifying rhetoric goes something like "if you're using public airwaves, then you have to do public service".

While I like your idea, the law supports the exact opposite.
Of course. Sooner or later you bump up against the fact that real machines are finite. That's not the issue. The issue is this: you ask two compilers to add 1 and 2.3. Compiler A says the answer is 3.3. Compiler B says it's an error. Which compiler would you rather use?

It's ultimately a matter of taste. You can push compiler cleverness too far. For example, 1+"2.3" probably should be an error (and if you don't think so, what should 1+"two point three" return?) But the rules for mixing integers, floats, rationals and complex numbers are pretty well worked out, and IMHO any language that forces the programmer to reinvent them is b0rken.
Not necessarily - pissed-off yet addicted users are often the driving force behind adoption of competitors, should one arise. For example, Y!Mail adopted its redesign about a year after GMail came out, and a lot of my friends that had been loyal Y!Mail users (and GMail holdouts) switched because Yahoo was taking away their UI anyway. Most of the modern Harry Potter fandom sites (FictionAlley, SugarQuill, GryffindorTower) were created because Fanfiction.net abolished their forums. The final nail in classic Netscape's coffin may've been that they changed their UI for Netscape 6, so that IE5.5 was more like classic Netscape than the new Netscape was.
Go look on their sites. The X301 starts out slightly above where the Air tops out.
Nathan Myhrvold’s Patent Extortion Fund Is Reaping Hundreds Of Millions of Dollars
First go to http://www.designmeltdown.com and get the best of the best.

Then copy, change, polish and release.

Presto.

Profit!
They've started to allow users to place ads as their background...they could be the first service that figured out how to allow their users to make money before the actual company can!
they'll find a way

That wouldn't exactly be comforting if it was my money on the table.
Millionaire Nathan Myhrvold, renowned in the computer industry as a Renaissance man, has a less lofty message for tech companies these days: Pay up.

Over the past few years, the former Microsoft Corp. executive has quietly amassed a trove of 20,000-plus patents and patent applications related to everything from lasers to computer chips. He now ranks among the world's largest patent-holders -- and is using that clout to press tech giants to sign some of the costliest patent-licensing deals ever negotiated.

In recent months Mr. Myhrvold's firm, Intellectual Ventures, has secured payments in the range of $200 million to $400 ...
Its not doing very well this year. Is that just because of the market downturn?
It didn't seem to be obvious to DHH.
each one would yield $800/year, true, however you put one in a month such that they come up at the end of the year. 12 CDs, one for each month, each yielding $800/year.

sorry if that was unclear.
I own both a MacBook and a Thinkpad, and use them pretty much interchangably. I think that they're both perfectly decent machines, and I like the aesthetics of both (albeit for different reasons).

I'm starting to feel like the only person who hasn't taken sides in this...
from what I understand this is her private email account, not the un-"official" yahoo account
smart person, considering Palin is known for being very vindictive.

"Hello anonymous? Good news! The IRS is going to audit you for the past 20 years"
It's more a "I can see why someone would prefer the design of something else over a Mac" argument. I guess the difference is too subtle.
You know what else could work? Having to enlist in the military to earn your full citizenship and voting rights. If you had to go through a year or two of intense physical and mental pressure, you would value your vote a hell of a lot more.

(Starship Troopers ftw)
I agree that it makes mixing floats and doubles a little more work, but I'll trade that for the ability to have it automatically infer and verify whether what I'm doing makes sense when I have e.g. multiple layers of higher-order functions operating on a cyclical directed graph containing vertices indexed by a polymorphic type, and the edges are ...

Interactive testing via bottom-up design helps, but getting automatic feedback from the type system whether the code works as a whole, and which parts (if any) have been broken as I design and change it is tremendously useful. Having to write the code in a way that is decidable for the type system is a tradeoff (and the type system itself could be improved), but it's a tradeoff I'm willing to make on some projects.

> The issue is this: you ask two compilers to add 1 and 2.3. Compiler A says the answer is 3.3. Compiler B says it's an error.

In this case, Compiler B is fine with (float 1) +. 2.3 or 1 + (truncate 2.3), it just won't implicitly convert there because it goes against the core design of the language. This sort of thing is annoying at the very small level, but its utility with complicated data structures more than makes up for it.

> For example, 1+"2.3" probably should be an error (and if you don't think so, what should 1+"two point three" return?) [...]

Good example, by the way. Also, I think we're in agreement most of the way - I find Haskell's typeclasses a better solution to this specific problem (the operations +, -, etc. operate on any type with Number-like properties, and if it's not a combination that makes sense within the type system, ..., it's a compile-time error), though I prefer OCaml to Haskell overall.
You buy OXO brand kitchen supplies (as do I) because they're good and they don't cost $2,500.

When you make something that costs $6, you don't have to focus as much. Also, regardless of how they started out, their products no longer seem aimed at arthritic people.

Btw, get one of their liquiseal mugs. Amazing.
Samsung i900 Omnia White 16GB Unlocked
Samsung i900 Omnia has everything that the very popular iPhone includes feature-wise. Inbuilt 5 Megapixel camera with autofocus, image stabilizer, video recording, and a flash features make it more powerful than some digital cameras.
Perhaps the aesthetics of the OS do.
If you don't have WSJ subscription, click through this link:
http://digg.com/tech_news/Tech_Guru_Riles_the_Industry_By_Se...

BTW, Myhrvold's the ex-CTO of Microsoft who, as incredible as it sounds, missed the whole Internet thing. Were it not for Bill Gates, Microsoft would have been screwed. Imagine that... you're the CTO of the biggest software company in the World and you miss the rise of Internet. Needless to say, his tenure was over after that.

Edit: And if you're a fan of Gladwell, you will cringe as you read this: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/12/080512fa_fact_...
No, that would be AllAdvantage.com. ;-)
Ah, damnit. Thanks. It wasn't the theme, it was that damn WP-Super Cache. Doesn't seem to play nice with my site no matter how hard I try.
you're quite correct -- there is no mention of inflation. this is mainly because i don't know how to not work. i've tried it. i fail pretty hard at not working. but at the point where you have this steady income, any job you take contributes strongly to your personal wealth -- much more so than if you didn't have the debts settled and the regular income.

any extra income from work (that i didn't blow on hats, mind you) would go into a managed fund, most likely an index fund. days like today though happen periodically, and individual stocks require the kind of detail work that isn't cost effective at those amounts. i make more money working than the growth i would see in the stocks having spent the same time on it.

all that said, if the current project gets picked up ...
Then there's this:

Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or egregiously offtopic, you can flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.)

http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Not that good money, but a few drinks for sure.
They have lots of options. Check this list for some ideas:

http://calacanis.com/2008/01/02/the-three-business-models-th...
Congrats Jessica!
What comes after the Chevy Volt? What other models will use electric drivetrain?