skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
That's an excellent point, and should sometimes be considered in our decisions.

I'm guessing if such a conversation happened at Google, the end would be something like "Can the degree of life changing importance be measured? No? Make the change."
Recruiters would not consider such an arrangement unless you're a celebrity of the industry with a stellar resume. The candidate pool is too large to spend time and effort trying to place a single candidate in a great job.
Recruiters are marketplace makers, not matchmakers.

A recruiter is completely incapable of determining who is a good fit or of asssessing talent, and traditional compensation models (x% of annual salary, paid on hire) are not aligned with succession outcomes for business.

Recruiters are superior to staff at one thing: maintaineding a Rolodex. They have no ability to choose competently from that Rolodex, though.

If you have good PR and a good jobs page, you don't need a generic recruiter.
JRuby 1.6.5 Released
From what I've gathered he's supposedly quite shy, or at least not comfortable in the spotlight that way.
Didn't Google recently patent the front page/changing doodle idea?
Yah, the (unintentional) near misses with cars don't get my blood boiling anywhere near the intentional ones -- though they can easily be just as frightening.

I'm in SF and you actually see very striking changes in behavior and attitude by both cyclists and drivers depending on your route/location. In SF itself, I find drivers to be pretty considerate with most of the hazards caused by drivers who aren't paying attention. But 10 miles in either direction will get you out and away from the city and bring you to more remote locations (i.e. winding mountain roads, or coastal highways, etc). I encounter far more aggression as soon as there aren't other cars around -- perhaps they're smart enough to minimize the risk to themselves (little as it is) by ensuring there aren't other drivers around to witness it.

Glad to hear it's not like this everywhere, though. And I suspect things will continue to improve here.
Code Golf site which is able to judge your code in 40 langs
We use Xero and love it.
At Nest Labs, Ex-Apple Leaders Remake the Thermostat
i think it says more about how simple real humans are when they interact with each other. as limited as Eliza is, it has worked many times. how many times a day have you had face-to-face interactions with people that are simply canned responses. i remember keeping a phone call going with high-school girlfriend by randomly responding with one of the following : "uh-huh", "yeah" or "really".
Are you using the same model as dibbble, or why are you not accepting signups?
I "click to select" in non-gui vim all the time. Over ssh.
LinkedIn both relies on recruiters for revenue and reduces their necessity in the market. I would like to know how they think that will play out.
I wish someone had told me this sooner, because after going through the above scenario again and hearing "we'd love to hire you if you had a bit more experience" for the umpteenth time, I realized you're right.

Thanks for the tough love--I'm going to focus on getting that experience.
I would, yes. I'm much more interested in what people can do with limited resources.
Recruiters use face to face meetings to gauge how well you would do in an interview. Your best use of that time is to ask the recruiter for valuable interview advice, what questions to expect, and how to answer those questions.
Well said.

Though, habits like these (suggested by the article) early-on could shape the startup's perception of their commitment to their customers. It could end up being a costly 'culture' thing.

It's still debatable whether dealing with customers daily, makes for productive use of an executive's precious time, even if the startup's value proposition revolves around exceptional customer service.

I've witnessed a few small companies getting infinitely better, once they started hiring the right people to fill sales and customer relations positions, that were usually handled by the founders themselves.
Funny Lifestyle Photography
Well I'm a small business owner, so my accountant does everything in her power to minimize my income taxes, and I live in San Francisco, so I will never be able afford to own property or pay property taxes, so I'm probably not paying my fair share.
Like others have mentioned, you've got to focus on the energy savings to justify the cost.

For some reason Nest has hidden this away in their whitepaper. But - if you take the time to read that - you find, nested (ha ha - get it) towards the end, the conclusions of their simulations.

As a quick aside, let me just say, that for a company essentially selling excellent product design - they did a shit job at presenting quantifiable, easy to understand energy savings data.

Anyway, they devided their simulated case studies into two main groups, people who are gone from the house 8-hours a day 5-days a week (e.g. - your average working professional), and people who aren't (e.g. people with kids at home, or who work from home).

They found that the people gone from the house 9-5 will save an average of $227/yr, and people who need to keep their homes comfortable during the day will save an average of $116/yr.

These savings of course go up if you take a long vacation (they estimate 4 weeks of vacation will add an additional $58-$68 of savings), or if you follow the suggestions of the thermostat to lower or raise your comfort-temp by 1° (an additional $54-$60).

At my work, we do quite a bit of marketing for energy-efficiency companies. The most effective thing they can do is to go into a business or home and say, "We're going to install this energy-saving equipment. We'll pay for the install, and you can pay us back out of the energy savings. After the installation is paid off (usually 1-3 years with the companies we do work for) the savings go straight into your pocket."

Now - this might not be possible with this specific device, but they could at least make the argument that the device will pay for itself in ~3 years. I may or may not want to spend $375 for a fancy thermostat, but that purchase barrier would be much easier to overcome if I could tell myself that it'd pay for itself in a few years.

I'm not sure why this isn't front and center on Nest's site. There might be some liability issues since they've only run simulations, and don't have actual user data. But it seems like a miss on their part.
I think there is a misunderstanding here. Reader is not going away and it will still be a feed reader. As for encryption, Reader currently doesn't use SSL, G+ on the other hand does so that's an improvement. The changes if I understood correctly are that Reader will get an interface overhaul and it's social capabilities will be outsources to G+.
No more small fonts & long lines: A readable Wikipedia
Large, established organizations typically use both their own HR department and external recruiters.

It's particularly useful to use recruiters to find freelancers (mileage varies a lot of course).
Ed's mugshot, for reference: http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2006/1011... (and the column with his mugshot on it: http://www.denverpost.com/quillen/ci_19159645 )
The responsibility for something rarely falls on one party's shoulders. The banks are like a contractor who was in charge of building the foundation of your house, but instead bet the bricks in a game of dice (and lost). When the foreman finds out, he reluctantly gives the contractor more bricks, because he's the only foundation contractor in town. You are the owner of the house. Now, sure, you should be mad at the foreman for letting this clown gamble the bricks away. But if you didn't also demand the contractor get fired, I'd say that's just a bit shortsighted.
You can always buy this with blank keys.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageGallery.aspx?CurImage=23-...

But I learn to touch type with a regular keyboard.
That's crazy talk. A hiring manager's job is to acquire talent. HR's job is to smooth the details of the process and keep it legal.
It seems that the author is confusing placement agencies with recruiters working directly for a company (also see pg's comment).

I've had great experiences with experienced recruiters at a startup, to help us find candidates, while at the same time getting pounded by unethical, moronic agencies.

The recruiter helped us wade through hundreds of CV's, and eventually found an awesome Stanford CS MS that we ended up hiring. And this was while the recruiter worked for us as a contractor, so no 30% salary fee.

So a great recruiter is worth their weight in gold, because they can potentially find that perfectly fitting candidate, giving a boost to a fledgling startup. Unfortunately, such recruiters a far and few between.

Opposed to that, I got daily calls from agencies, that weaseled their way past our operators to talk to me directly, being super aggressive and downright rude when I politely told them to stop calling. This all, of course, because of the 30% fee salary fee when they place someone.
It seems that the author is confusing placement agencies with recruiters working directly for a company (also see pg's comment).

I've had great experiences with experienced recruiters, to help us find candidates, while at the same time getting pounded by unethical, moronic agencies.

The recruiter helped us wade through hundreds of CV's, and eventually found an awesome Stanford CS MS that we ended up hiring. And this was while the recruiter worked for us as a contractor, so no 30% salary fee.

Opposed to that, I got daily calls from agencies, that weaseled their way past our operators to talk to me directly, being super aggressive and downright rude when I politely told them to stop calling. This all, of course, because of the 30% fee salary fee when they place someone.
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” - Gandhi
Have you ever seen a professional autocad user? How would you define that? A blurred line between the terms CLI and GUI is not a True Scottsman. It's an observable reality.
I think you underestimate the number of people that are inept at their job in every field.
If you make a mistake, repeat it and call it your own arrangement.
Did your partner and investors leaving have anything to do with your idea? Or was it the team?
As a technical recruiter I am not shocked by this post but I am a little frustrated with the large brush that is painted on the industry as a whole. I mean, I have worked with some BAD Developers, everything they write breaks the minute it is in production, you can never pry them away from the foosball table or lunch room, they smell and can’t speak in complete sentences BUT I still recruit for technical talent because not everyone is alike. Just like every industry there are rock stars and other guys just trying to put food on the table.

I have been honored to survive this tough economical climate in the confines of a corporate recruiting gig for a technically forward high frequency trading firm in my hometown of Houston. Over the last few years I know more recruiters who have lost their jobs than I can count, some have lost their homes and their families. Does this sound familiar to anyone, maybe say the days of 2001 for the tech set?

If the stories I have heard our true (I got into the biz in '04) developers making 150/hr one day are banging on recruiters doors begging for interviews the next.

So ya, I get it, some recruiters have zero technical skills, know little to nothing about the job/client but at their core they are human beings. And just maybe, the client doesn't have a lot to sell at the moment, maybe they are still working out the kinks to their "value proposition" but they know they are onto something.

So ignore the calls, politely say you aren't interested but remember, the tides can turn…quickly. The recruiter who doesn't know squat about server level architectural may be next door neighbors to someone who has enough funding to throw you a bone.
I'm willing to bet that the Android Market's percentage of paid app downloads is still negligible.
Yeah, I knew there was something wrong with my record, but was assured last year that it was corrected (for a second time). With a third instance, I just wanted to make sure that I was the only one.
I think Nike's "Just Do It" campaign was a bit more effective. There is a huge difference between being 'on fire' (does that make you the Burninator?) and 'out of touch.'

Fakegrimlock here implies that you run really hard at your ideas, and you hit the wall (fail) on the stupid ones really fast, so that you can get to the good one (win) more quickly. If you're someone whose fire is "I want to change the world" but you don't actually have a particular change in mind, this strategy will literally kill you.

Steve Bourne (yes that Steve Bourne) once advised me that I needed to have 'an agenda' which was code for that thing that one cared deeply enough about that they would be willing to commit their time/energy/soul to making it come to pass.

You can tell when a passionate person has an agenda because all of their activities are either contributing to, or attacking blockers of, that agenda. In this regard Steve was absolutely correct. Just like you can't walk a straight line for long distances without picking a point on the horizon, you can't get anything major done without having a direction picked out ahead of time.
Minibloq Beta released
Minibloq Beta (a free graphical programming environment for Arduino and robotics) has been released: http://minibloq.org
What do you do at your startup... is it similar to any open source tools, or does it rely on a lot of open source tools / libraries? Who commits to that open source project the most? Is their code written well? Send them a message on github/bitbucket/whatever. Github/Meetups/Conferences/Twitter are +1million more useful than recruiters or most job sites.
Are there intractable IP concerns as a result of the old partner and investors?

If not, your problem is "I don't have traction after a year." Without more information, it's hard to speak to that.
Routes now supports GET parameters
Yes. The one valuable ability that is exclusive to a recruiter (and any other deal broker, like real estate) is to abuse their position as a trusted mediator to slyly violate confidentiality agreements to help the deal close: tell the company what salary what employee will accept and any competing offers, tell the employee about what the interviewer wants to hear, etc.

That is a double-edged sword, though, so be careful with it.

The recruiter (or any mediator) is a valuable tool to help the weaker side of a negotiation close a deal. Know which side you are.
Here's a useful URL for procrastinators. Weirdly they've made it so long that people needing help probably won't get around to reading it.

(http://writingcenter.unc.edu/resources/handouts-demos/writin...)

One suggestion is to build in a finish condition before you start. That at least allows you to not feel guilty frustrated / angry when you reach that point. Then post-mortem the project to see what you learnt and what can be applied.

Another suggestion is to find a small easy bit of OSS to fix and brush up.
10 Facts That Prove That Your Life Is Good
No, I truly didn't have an issue with the usability of their landing page. There's a clear link to more information in the CTA area (which is a page with video and a breakdown of features). There's also a clear call to action "pre-order" button. Then 3 more links with more info above the fold.

Then if you end up with the living-with-nest page you get a slideshow, video link, clear links to more info, a step by step slick UI describing it, etc.

I'm pretty impressed with the balance of information and usability. If I had to nitpick one thing it would be that the "Meet the Nest Learning Thermostat" link could be a little more obvious (being next to a button hides the fact that it's a link).
> don't you have some iOS dev friends who are less comfortable in their current positions?

Gave this some thought for awhile.

But no. Everyone I know worth their salt in iOS has solid gigs – way better than a lot of the turds recruiters are offering, anyway.
Your point that Wikileaks is imperfect is certainly true. But do you know of any perfect institutions?

Assange was intentionally the lightning rod. Within Wikileaks his role is similar to Rumsfeld's in the Bush administration. He takes lots of criticism, personal attacks, etc.

The strategy of those wishing to shut down Wikileaks has been to attempt to vilify Assange. This is to be expected. Yes, Assange should have been more careful about who he slept with, but can you blame him at this point for trying to clear his name and stay out of prison?

The release of the password and some of the other organizational challenges that Wikileaks has faced could be the result of a sloppily run organization, or they could be due to someone on the inside being bought off, etc. To accuse Assange of having the motive of self-aggrandizement (considering that he's the only one who has put himself at risk for assassination, prison, etc.) seems a bit of a knee-jerk reaction.

One thing to consider is that Assange is a poor judge of character -- he misjudged his publishing company, the two female accusers, and probably at least one of the core Wikileaks team members. So yes, Assange has lost a few points... but are you really ready to write him off? This is a guy with exceptionally uncommon courage and will, and he's up against professional intelligence organizations.

Wikileaks has been slowly learning how to do its own proactive PR, how to resist infiltration, etc. We're talking about a very small organization (a startup of sorts) that has had a few growing pains. I think the jury is still out on whether the organization will fizzle out or will continue to gain credibility, integrity, etc.

So far, I think the trend has been that Wikileaks has learned from its mistakes. It has been rather astonishing to me to see the extent to which companies and governments have gone into attack mode against Wikileaks and Assange. For every attack, subterfuge, and machination that has been public there have likely been dozens of others attempted. While these may have succeeded in ways we do not yet know in dealing a death blow to Wikileaks, I think it's too soon to write the organization off. Assange has inspired a lot of people that even in today's world a small number of dedicated people can make large and corrupt organizations very uncomfortable.
The list of available problems is here: http://www.spoj.pl/SHORTEN/problems/main/
He's not ignoring it at all, he's absolutely right. It's still the fault of those who write and sign the laws.

Lobbying is legal and means others get their input to the legislators but ultimately the buck still stops with Congress and the President.

If you have a problem with lobbying, again...that is still the fault of the politicians, not those doing the lobbying. They're acting within the bounds of the law.
If you could somehow determine the benefit of a college degree and graph it against the cost over time it would be obvious that college was a no-brainer for boomers, and is becoming quite dubious these days.

50 years ago a state college degree could be paid for by a part-time job at a gas station, and once you had it you were virtually guaranteed gainful employment. These days, easy loans are turning ignorant youth into indentured servants, and it's not even a guarantee of employment, so college could actually be harmful.

Personally I got a great deal out of my college experience, and I did it without debt thanks to 2 years of community college and 2 years of staff employment at a University that paid my remaining tuition (ironically it was my self-taught web skills that landed me this job). If I had had to take on $30k or $40k of debt the equation would have been radically different.
First and foremost, I think this is a good cause,so please don't take this as a negative against the goal.

Second, I have not read the rules for donating/being on the reigstry so I may be jumping the gun and having a preconceived notion that doesn't hold true.

But there's assumption of the number of people who would help someone else if they were found a match as opposed to simply helping out Amit. If they are on the registry and do match someone else are they required to do the donation at that point? Unlike blood donation, the bone marrow is a just in time donation (if I understand it correctly). This puts it in a different category.

Again, I think this is a good idea and I hope those that are putting their names on the registry are doing so for the belief of doing good for all, not just for one.
Why Banks Have Failed America
The problem is that placement agencies also call themselves recruiters.
I have a OmniStat for my house, about $300, nice standalone thermostat with published serial protocol.

If you have an Omni security automation system to go with it you get IP access (again published protocol with a few iPhone apps) and the Thermostat can change temp based on security system state(away, night, etc.) or you can write automation code on the Omni to do whatever or use the IP protocol to do eve more from a real computer.

You don't want PC controlling the A/C directly, the OmniStat will continue to function without it's smarter controllers if need be, same with security, thats why I like my Omni system, it's a rock solid "lower brain stem" for my house while the PC is the "higher brain functions" that can go offline if need be without too much disruption.

http://homeauto.com/Products/Omnistat/Omnistat2Products.asp

Supports 2-stage cool/ 3-stage heat too, but really needs a common wire for power, no batteries.
A team up of FB with Polar Rose would have been pretty spectacular.
the success rate of the average first-time start-up is so low that it makes playing the lottery look like a good investment

People love lines like this, but a 20% chance is a million times better than any kind of lottery. Even here in Brazil, where it sucks to be a business owner, recent data shows that +50% of small business survive for over 2 years.
What happens if you find out you hate your job?
JetBrains AppCode 1.0, an IDE for Objective-C, now available
Exactly. Apparently Jobs himself gave Ive "more operation power" than anyone at Apple:

http://www.macrumors.com/2011/10/21/steve-jobs-organized-app...
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The iPad Might be A Winner
Website Design and Search Engine Promotion Consultations Just Became Free
pg, I'm curious about the advice you give to YC founders on identifying and recruiting early employees. Based on tutorspree's job posting they need roughly the same level of technical skills as a founder but they're getting a maximum of 3% equity and a below-market NYC salary. I'd guess the founders are getting 5-10x the equity and a salary that's not too far off from the one offered above.

Is this package consistent with your advice? Does it generally work out well for the companies in question?
I find this quite brilliant. I'm a fan of simplicity and minimalism, and this is a good example of implementing the bare-minimum and getting something useful out of it. I'm actually a bit jealous I didn't think of it first. Good work, and good luck to you!
For those using Chrome on a Mac to view this link, dont. The site only shows an egg and a testimonial.
I'm more impressed by the founding team (with KCB backing) than the product. Can this be the company that finally gives us the smart home we've been promised for decades? I can't imagine they intend to limit themselves to thermostats.
They flattened Newgrounds for a few hours: http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1277939
Earth Officially Home To 7 Billion Humans
Isn't this at least arguably better than broadcasting a suspect's photo over the local news outlets --which is the current way of dealing with this information deficiency?

It's not being used to convict people, it's used to identify a suspect who could end up being found guilty via normal procedure --but this does not bypass that procedure.