skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Technical white paper on Microsoft's Windows Azure (Word doc)
The geopolitical situation of the oil producing nations has been problematic for a long time. You might be right about gas price trends, but I seem to remember gas staying below $2 until Hurricane Katrina (at least in the Southeast), and then the price undergoing a few discontinuous rapid increases. A long upward trend in prices doesn't disrupt their business plans, as long as the slope or the change in the slope remains roughly constant.

Do you really think foresight in the auto-industry is that easy? Do you really think the executives of the American companies were that stupid? Is every company failure due to the stupidity of its executives? Can every failure be avoided?

It often seems that way in hindsight. But personally I find it striking that the automakers in trouble were all catering to the American domestic market, and the ones doing well were all catering to small-car oriented foreign markets.
>>ErrantX

I am China-based. I assume I do not have a friend that can do the work, and after all it seems a friend who will do cheap is very likely a close friend, right?

That is great that your father is someone who has experience. I am walking my own path. Do you have any titles to recommend?

I do not know if I will get bored of those manager things, and I have never did it before. But then, I felt there is a need to do it sooner or later, if we are to start anything.

>>Ram1024

I am trying to storm things out with a friend of mine. We are both developers. No actual things coming out yet, but I believe if both of us are not having ideas of how these things work, there's going to be a pain afterwards. I just want to get some breadth in advance.

You are right, think it loud.

One of the questions we are troubled at is : if we failed and decided to shutdown the startup we are trying, what if an agreement of 1 year payment is signed, how can we get rid of liabilities and not be sued?

---
Please pardon my unclear questioning as I am still not familiar with the details of how things work. Thanks.
How do you handle configuration control?
I know, this is one of the unpleasant topics of software development. Probably this is also a non-topic for small startups.

But sooner or later it catches all of us: too many developers, probably external, everyone implements what he/she likes best and interfaces break far too often. A way back to a stable development is configuration control. Is this the only way?

Usually the configuration control board meetings are more or less boring. Once the project is large enough, the representatives do not know enough details to make educated decisions. Nevertheless, some people like to hear themselves talk and thus meetings become endless. If topics have to be re-discussed next time, a decision wether to change the software or not may take very long. So development slows down. Finally some developers don't care and go on with cowboy development etc.

Time to leave the company.

Or? Anyone with a great solution?
How do you handle this problem?
China Channel Firefox Add-on
Appnr - Synaptic For Your Browser (Ubuntu)
I have a Roku Netflix Player, which is a $100 device with no moving parts; plug in power, HDMI, and put it on your wifi network, and away you go. The netflix selection is rapidly growing (they just got the Starz network, which really helped their selection), and the device will hopefully support hulu.com in the next few months. Between Netflix instant play, hulu, and a great little device like that, I'm not sure what else is needed for TV over the internet.
wow. i guess i'll never be powerful because these look like rules on how to make enemies and destroy people's trust.
Open source: How e-voting should be done
"HTC had strong engineers developing notebooks, said Mr. Chen. But it was a volatile business with lots of competitors. She saw that clearly and pushed for the other instead."

I'm curious as to how she decided cell phones over notebooks. Cell phones seem to be uber-competitive, too.
The inversion you applied to the plain english makes it into a format that is, while technically english, the sort of construct that one imagines an alien or robot might produce when trying to talk to us. If you actually spoke like that people would look at you very strangely, and this is the difficulty in understanding s-expressions that I think a lot of people have.

That said, since my own programming style in C-derived languages seems over the years to slowly be attempting to imitate s-expressions, I think a lot of the mental difficulty people mention is just being overly comfortable with the familiar.
Microsoft launches cloud-based OS Windows Azure
Small venture company bucks the economic winds
i personally would not plan ahead for failure (heh) but i guess if you wanted to cover all bases, you can probably sign up for services under your company's name or dba and would not technically be liable for terminated accounts if the business failed.

definately need a lawyer type to clarify this one though, it is not my milieu
Under standard circumstances, it's always important to understand where the money is going and how it gets there :). Whether or not its your job to constantly track it at every stop and all the related tasks is a different situation. Generally, I feel its important that you know your basic accounting and bookkeeping and be able to understand it to a sense that you can do it during the early stages. Once you're founded, in the US, you do have financial and tax responsibilities that you have to be aware of and you likely don't have the money to pay an accountant to do it. Once you grow a little bit and have the money to spend on a professional accountant, if you're not really good at it (and even if you are) its generally best you get someone to do that for you, just follow along with everything that's going on.

However, being you're in China I'm not even going to step in advising you on how to go about your country's laws and financial regulations because I just don't know. China is its own animal and can't easily be dropped into the cookie-cutter systems of the US and UK. In my opinion and very limited experience that is, anyways.
Captain Obvious, is that you?

That entire article and its charts can be summarised in 10 words:

Hoard cash and decrease burn rate to improve survival chances.
A new AJAXian web application
Or something that saves them money.

Or saves them time.

And people will always spend on entertainment too - although, less pricey choices at times like this. And - let's face it - net-based entertainment is pretty much a bargain compared to movies, concerts, Broadway shows, etc.
Netflix is moving strongly in this segment. This November their player for the Xbox 360 is coming out, which I'm greatly looking forward to.
I used to fix my dirt bike when I was younger and know exactly the type of screw he was talking about. The way the old-man went about solving the problem made me instantly think of a phrase we tend to forget in the start-up world: "Thinking in multiple perspectives".

We need to take a moment from our 25/8 schedules and think about what we're working on/trying change from another viewpoint.
DZOIC releases the version 3.6 of their white label social networking software Handshakes
Schneier has purged all purely political comments, restricting the thread to discussion of security trade-offs only.

I wish that more people in charge of blogs and discussion sites maintained a focus like that: While Slashdot's anything-goes discussions have their place, so do focused conversations in which irrelevancies aren't allowed to intrude.
No. He's trying to say that the solution to this situation is to move back to an economy that actually grows from organic growth of businesses, and not just from the unsustainable expansion of asset bubbles - whether those assets be stocks or real estate. And it's a well-known fact that small business is responsible for the lion's share of organic business growth in the US - and always has been.
Yahoo's developer platform to launch next week
I'm running Ubuntu/Gnome right now. One killer feature for me is a particular keybinding I have set up for the 'Windows' key. If I hold it down then I can left-click and drag anywhere on a window and it will move with the mouse. If I hold it and middle-click and drag it resizes the window. And if I hold it and right-click then the title-bar context menu pops up right at the mouse pointer. It eliminates seeking or overshooting the titlebar or corners for window manipulation. I love it.
I see. If I am to start, what would be common ways for self-learners? And yes you are right, I don't think I am financed to pay an accountant at early stage yet. Well... it's all just thinking right now. =)

I understand the systems in China will be quite different, hence I am only asking for general advice.
Step 8: Get some sleep! You're much more productive as a programmer - and much more able to solve tough problems - when you're well rested.

Step 9: Get some exercise! Ditto for exercise: -you're much more clear-headed, confident, and productive when your body feels in good shape.
Well, hehehehe I know what you mean. But I am just trying to get a sense of things, it's always better to protect yourself in case. You know, these things I've heard can really cause a financial ruin to one's life.
Metrics to slice real data are the basis of informed decisions.
Thanks for elaborating. Yes, I'm Indian. I was just wondering b'cos what you said is different from what I've heard more often (which is some variation of "can't think for themselves/need lots of guidance/need to be told what to do" which I don't buy. But then, I'm biased :) )
Twitter will be mainstream when everyone's mom and dad doesn't say "huh?" when you say "I Twittered" or "tweeted" something.
I can’t tell whether they encourage drop out from MIT, Harvard, and Stanford : Graduate: +10/ dropout:+25.

If not, it will cost you to have a demo (-3)

If yes, they also encourage misspelling of company name (+2) and the less equity your willing to give the higher you will score.

Funny ...
Python Grimoire
Unexpected rise in new US home sales
Just for the argument. Here is a SEO case study and how backlink can help you.

http://blog.ask2link.com/case-study-advertisers-get-great-re...
Impressive.

Coming from the pro photography industry, I could think of a few ways to monetize this right away.
As usual, wise words. Thanks. ;)

You just reinforced what I have been saying to people about what I'm doing as a one-man startup with phreadz.com in these tough, cold times.

People are out there building, or trying to build solutions to problems I have already solved on my own. So, now I can save them a whole lot of time and money by providing a solution for them right now. Hopefully this will help get them where they want/need to be without over-spending.

Also, the fact that investors and clients will get a good deal now, if they jump on board now is a good thing, so we can all reap the benefits on the up-swing.

Thanks for yet another great article.

Kosso
Founder : Phreadz.com
I'm appalled by the lack of accessibility to good mentorship at the community college level. Is my experience peculiar or is this pervasive?

If you wanted to tackle this deficit with an online matching service, the domain onlinecoursementors.com is available!

(Actually, I'd recommend a more figurative domain name, but you get the idea.)
Ask YC/Startups: How has fundraising been going for you?
We've all ready the gazillion posts spelling out the doom and gloom for startups (and a few optimistic ones). Just wondering how other entrepreneurs on HN have found the fundraising environment in practice.

We're just about done with our seed round and its been really great. We started about a month ago, and have 75% of our round completed (still a couple slots open!). This includes both institutional and friends/family investors. If anything, I've found investors more willing to give a startup investment a try than risk losing more in the financial markets.

I've also found the deck works wonders. Not a single investor asked for an old-school biz plan, and only one asked for actual cash-flow projections. Most investors seem to have a team-focused thesis, even in these times. Finally, all of them said they wouldn't touch an investment that's solely ad-driven, even if they would have 1-2 years ago. So diversified biz model with good team still seems to be OK when fundraising.

How about others?
I'm less interested in MS press fluff than in what exactly Azure is. Is it just modified Windows Server (and if so, what version)? Does it entail using space on MS servers? Is it closer to hosting, or .NET, or Google Apps?
SEO in its most puerile form of purely gaming the system is indeed BS.

But SEO is also about making your website as friendly as possible for search engines and improving your linking for users while also helping with the search engines. It's about developing your links from other sites and helping get your site placed in front of as many eyes as possible.

Sure a great product or service will rise to the top. But for those who aren't the best, SEO is a tool that they can utilize.
Was slashdotted by reddit. Working again now.
Ah. I wasn't aware of Photoshop.com.
Nuclear-powered passenger aircraft 'to transport millions'
For me, I learned by obsvering my mother who owns a small retail shop and how she did accounting. I also took a course at my high school.

I've not really done much of online accounting research so I don't know where would be the best place to point you. However, some of the major accounting programs are rather simplistic to use and can, usually, step you through it.

The most important thing early on is to just keep a good record of who you owe, how much, and why. If you don't have any employees that are paid yet you really don't have much to worry about. Simple budgeting should get you through.

When you start selling things and start having employees is when it starts to get complicated. Other than that just keep a record of what you bought from who and how much it cost.

I AM NOT A CERTIFIED ACCOUNTANT AND MY ADVICE SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN AS THAT OF A PROFESSIONAL. I AM RELAYING INFORMATION BASED ON MY OWN EXPERIENCES.
Obama-budwieser ad - brilliant
Most of these services create a permalink, but they should offer a choice. Sometimes I create a temp link, which I don't need afterwards. Why can't they let me reuse the same URL and or just let me delete it? I don't want something of no use to any living being in the world occupying some space in a database, and in turn making the URL fetch somewhat slower.
Yet another anti-SEO post from someone with a notion that SEO is a band-aid for poorly structured pages and that all SEO professionals are charlatans.

Yes, valid/well structured sites give you an SEO head-start, but there's more to it:
- Properly structured browser titles matter
- The way you write matters
- Sitemaps matter
- Optimizing Flash-based sites/pages is important because there are a lot of them
- Links matter ... A LOT

There is a valid need for honest, skilled SEO professionals. The fact that there are so many bogus ones simply underscores this. Businesses on the web simply need to be educated on when and how to find a good one, when not to use one, and what they can DIY.

I'm sorry, but this post doesn't show much "intellectual honesty".
OK, I'll be the jerk with the extreme example here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_James_Bulger

Happy to hire those guys?
SEO isn't bullshit. however, it is only a tool in a toolbox.

too many SEO firms are selling turd polish.
Whitepaper on it:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/4/3/e43bb484-3b52-4...
This misses one of the core appeals of TV viewing - it's a lean back experience.

On demand is lean forward with the viewer having to think and decide explicitly what they wish to watch.

With TV you can lean back, not think too much and watch whatever the channel has chosen for you tonight.
Yes. Thanks a lot. I will think about it.

And don't worry, I will digest the information and decide myself, and not just directly dupe it into my brain. Thanks a lot. =)
Boilerplate Legal
Like many here, I sell a web based subscription service and hoped that someone could point me in the right direction.

I know that legal documents are no place to skimp, but where should a bootstrapper with a tight budget go to find a good boilerplate contract for a web based service?
Yawn. Haven't we had this conversation before?
You will never be ready for it. Yes your chances of success might be less than someone with ten years experience, but failing will teach you more about startups than 10 years of work will.
i'm rather disturbed with the comment about "not touching an investment that's solely ad-driven"

do they not understand that the internet has the eyeballs of more people in the world than any other medium ever?

you might as well swear off advertising completely if you don't believe in the power of advertising on the internet. sure "Banner ads" don't give us much to be confident about, but that doesn't mean that we're not going to innovate our way out of this slump and do it right soon.

who are these people? i need to give them a stern talking to...
SEO is mostly cleaning up after lazy developers or WYSWIG site builders who didn't write standards compliant, accessible, lean code and didn't know anything about information architecture. I know because I do it every day.

Search is how most people find most things online, period. Designing a website with such a contempt for SEO is a recipe for disaster. Yes, some websites don't need SEO or SEM, because they're naturally viral or sticky. Some products also don't need any marketing to catch on. In both cases, this is the exception and not the rule.

(SEO is also spending a large amount of your time defending your reputation against something that was left behind for you by snake-oil salesmen.)
What an utter waste of space (other than, perhaps, as a conversation starter?).

SEO means lots of things to lots of people, and certainly big slices of it are crap.

Here are a few bits of SEO that I'd defy anyone to call bullshit:

1) Unique and descriptive title tags, so that results in Google are findable and make sense when they are found (title tags are used for the "blue link" part of the SERP).

2) Meta descriptions in the event that Google doesn't use bits of the content (not uncommon) to describe to the searcher what's on the other side of your link (this is the 155 or so characters of black text under the link)

3) Keyword research to understand how your customers look for you-- so you can use words that they search for when you have that choice to make. Is your ecommerce site selling "shoes" or "footwear"? "Steaks" or "meat"?

4) Backlinks. Sorry, but this is the currency of the web. If you aren't in the business of trying to be link-worthy and encouraging folks to link to you, you'll fall behind those who are.

5) Eschewing ajaxy guitar solos so that your content is consumable by search spiders.
I suspect people are (edit: were) downvoting you because of backlash to TDD (and other testing ideology) zealots.

Knowing how to test software, how to write software that can be easily tested, how to systematically reproduce bugs to can find their underlying cause, etc. is excellent advice. Just don't focus on specific tools for testing so much that you miss cultivating good analytical skills (or forgive sloppiness).
This is a flash app, not javascript, fyi.
Anything that 'matters' you should be doing anyways for a good user experience. So explain what this 'optimization' for search engines exactly is?

Titles? That is for the user. Sitemaps? Actually they don't matter as long as your content is linked to internally. They can be produced trivially anyways if you really feel the need, but Google finds all my pages. Optimizing flash pages? That sounds like frowned upon injection. You should not change the way you write for a search engine. Have anchor text that represents what you are linking to? Come on, thats how it should be regardless. The best thing you can have is backlinks - which good content/interesting sites should naturally develop.

I don't know of a single thing you should do to optimize your site for a search engine. edit: If you are downmodding me be because this is incorrect, speak up.

This article is clearly garbage though.
Which is a big shame IMHO...
Advertising is the first expense most companies cut during a downturn, so it may be more of a "this point in time" stance than anything else.
Don't waste your time. This isn't going to work - it's far too heavy to fly. And how would you power a jet from nuclear? It makes heat, that's it. No reaction mass. Maybe steam to power a prop? Sounds unlikely.

Much better to use nuclear power for homes and electric cars, and save the liquid fuels for airplanes.
What 'cache' is he talking about there? The hardware based memory cache or he implemented some type of local cache? And if he is talking about the hardware caches, is there really enough memory there to cache the information needed for face comparisons?
I don't think they are swearing off advertising completely - as the commenter above says, its more a result of the economic environment. Of course, innovation in the ad space, especially to replace old-school banner ads would be a huge opportunity.
The success of products like Tivo suggest that dictated scheduling is something a lot of TV viewers are happy to loose.
Try this: https://www.legaldocs.com/index.htm

But you're correct, you should really fork out for a lawyer.
Absolutely fantastic class. Challenging, but, you're right, applicable to so many areas, disciplines, and industries.
Summary: Cache miss problems. His approach to solve it is first to move decision data up in the tree to prevent walking into every child node, and second reorganizing nested loops to improve locality.

His loops probably can be improved further unless the missing bits (he only gives pseudo-code) are a limit.

There's mention of Oprofile, something I didn't knew existed. It looks like a very nice complement for Valgrind (Cachegrind in this scenario.) Yay!
A Marketing Guy Nails the Problem with Software Companies