skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Rob focused on the aspect of Alex' interview about the benefits of simple models to test. This helps invalidate them quickly, enabling you to progress. The flip-side is that you keep a portfolio of business model hypotheses, which you can test sequentially.

So if you put all 5 revenue sources in a single model, and one of them fails, you can justify continuing testing that business model to yourself because there's always another revenue source to test. (This is compounded quickly by all the possible permutations of value proposition, customer segment, channel, relationship type and engines of growth.)

Whereas, if you have simple models to test, and the single revenue source fails, you can take action on this by crossing off that specific model and moving on to the next one.

Simpler models in this case help you pull out discrete and actionable learning, and to focus on one thing at a time, and move on quickly if the concept doesn't check out.
I like it. I think it works for Boing Boing. It would be problematic at a general news site. I'd assume most BB readers are regular readers. And they probably lean 'geek.' In that context, it works.
> Copyright infringement is not stealing.

No, it's more akin to various kinds of fraud. So that's OK then, I guess.

> Separately, the person who worked hard to produce whatever you're buying is reaping a fraction of a percentage point of whatever you're spending, and that's only if the distributor hasn't found a way to screw them out of that entirely (or else they've been long since dead).

That is simply nonsense. Even musicians signed to the big record labels or authors whose books are distributed by major publishers do a lot better than that if their work is a success. Artists using small-time/independent distributors can do better, and these days plenty of works are self-published and self-promoted, sending the lion's share of the profit back to the artist.
I agree with mgkimsal's comments above/below. Let's not muddy the debate with pedantic discussions over the definition of "stealing". You knew what I meant when I used the word.

With regard to your second point, I again argue that there needs to be a separation between the debate over how copyright holders operate and the legalities of piracy. Failure to do that means that the analysis breaks down when we're not talking about the big evil conglomerate music companies that screw artists over and everybody loves to hate. Do you feel comfortable with your assertions above if we're talking about an indie game developer, or TextMate author Allan Odgaard?
GraphInsight 1.0 is out! interactive exploration for graph data
Sometimes people want to be bad to other people they don't like.
Maybe it's intentional to actually serve the content but then black it out using a simple script (rather than 503'ing and serving only the blackout page). It's similar to the proposed SOPA censorship in that it only affects the most clueless of us and anyone who really wants to get there can circumvent it.
The author should have read first http://thepiratesdilemma.com/ before publishing his article.
SOPA GO AWAY
Any response to SOPA is better than none.
"might annoy politicians"

That is the whole reason of protesting. Any law would pass if they can't be bothered.
> When copying information on the other hand, nothing happens, you don't feel it when your information is copied.

But you surely felt the months of work that went into writing your book in the first place, or the months of practice that allowed you to give that one great performance in the recording studio.

> It is all about scarcity.

Some of us prefer quality to quantity. Sadly, producing good quality usually requires a significant amount of hard work, and that isn't going to change any time soon.
Maybe a more efficient way would be to register as a republican and vote for Ron Paul. That's pretty much the middle finger to the whole establishment.
That's akin to the philosophical "tree falling in a forest, without anyone hearing" it question.. Unfortunately, i haven't come across any approach to the answers i find interesting..:-(
Well, even taking into account the 1995 recentering, according to the College Board's table, a 730 Verbal / 710 Math translates to a 1500 under the new system. Which is still pretty far from a 1570, 1590, or 1600...

Personally, I'm not terribly impressed with the predictive value of standardized tests in general, and the SAT in particular.
I say either Wikipedia and Wordpress move their headquarters to some other countries, or we - europeans need to think about making alternative competing sites to Wikipedia and Wordpress,

the mere fact that such an awful legislation is going to be discussed in US shows that the future does not look very good for internet business in the States
There's an economic concept called 'club goods', which describe the way copyrighted materials are supposed to work -- you pay for access and get the same rights that everyone else who pays gets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_good -- shut down today in SOPA protest
Quick Roll Up Sign Double
Check out for the designer double sided Roll Up Sign and stands. You can have the comfort to display your service on both the side of the banner so that you can get the large area to display in this type of displays. This can be very handy in different exhibition and trade show fairs.
Yes, lots of piracy is due to a market failure. However for many countries (even highly developed, long time members of the EU, let alone the developing world), there is very few legal options.

Not to mention that Linux users still have a very poor legal selection even in big rich countries (like UK).
NOT SURE.

I visit PHP.net around 20 times a day according to my stats. It's the single most efficient website I know for getting what I need, fast. I do not need more white space on that site. It would not improve my user experience.
Here's a history of copyright law:

- Copyright Act of 1790 - established U.S. copyright
with term of 14 years with 14-year renewal
- Copyright Act of 1831 - extended the term to
28 years with 14-year renewal
- Copyright Act of 1909 - extended term to 28 years
with 28-year renewal
- Copyright Act of 1976 - extended term to either
75 years or life of author plus 50 years
- Copyright Renewal Act of 1992
removed the requirement for renewal
- Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA) of 1994
restored U.S. copyright for certain foreign works
- Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 extended terms
to 95/120 years or life plus 70 years
- Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998
criminalized some cases of copyright infringement

So let's get this straight, from 14 years the copyright period was extended to 95/120 years or life plus 70 years. And there's reason to believe that as long as Disney (and the like) exists, the concept of public domain is obsolete.

So you can talk about right versus wrong, good versus evil and so on, but clearly something stinks about this picture, which is why I don't blame "pirates" for justifying their acts, as their acts are justified.

And, how fucked up is it that restaurants are afraid of singing "Happy Birthday to You"? Are those singing it thieves?
This is an interesting project, however, as someone who administers several wikis, both public and private I honestly wouldn't give up control of the server side to the cloud ever. The simple reason is data control. I want daily backups of my wiki data. Can I do that with this?

Similarly, where's the source?

Where's the install for private wikis, such as a company's private internal wiki?

Where's the api so I can write plugins?

Where are the plugins?

What is preventing wiki spammers?

Can I theme this for groups?

I see that groups are 'private' based on my invitations to them, but how can I be sure this isn't easily compromised?

Anyway, this looks interesting, but I don't think it can be used yet for any serious wiki work.
Instead of fighting to pass laws and restrictions, find ways to offer US the CONSUMERS BETTER QUALITY that we would be willing to pay for. Let go of the obsolete, and adapt and take advantage of change. CDs are obsolete.

Radiohead is an AMAZING band that has offered their album up for free on the internet and they are still hugely successful. Take a clue from them.

CHANGE and sharing IS A GOOD THING.
The Undead “Corporations” by Patti Galle
I do not know Netflix but have you heard of Videoload? Havn't used it either but my guess is that there are no current movies out soon after their cinematic release on that platform, as well. ITunes Germany had some TV shows one day after their broadcast in the US. I don't know if that is still happening.

There are some strict rules around in Germany that defined at what time a movie may be released on DVD after it has hit cinemas. I think it is 6 months. Renting the movie might in some occasions be possible a couple of weeks earlier. Though, that has never mattered to me. Waiting on the DVD release or for it's TV premiere are pretty much the same for me. Although, I guess there is also a minimum period for DVD sales before it is shown on TV.
Of course you're right. We should always, as proud citizens of the USA strictly adhere to the ethics our founding fathers set forth: 1. A citizen may not injure a corporation, or through inaction, cause a corporation to come to harm. 2. A citizen must obey orders given to them by a Corporation except where such orders would conflict with (1.) 3. A citizen must protect his/her own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with (1.) and (2.)

So given that, you are right, he doesn't refute (1.) (2.) or (3.) at all!
No. Club goods are different.

With a club good there is a tangible thing such as a running machine. By my use of it, you are unable to use it. But we judge the tradeoff to be worth it because we don't each want to go out and buy a gym.

That is unlike copyright where the cost of making a copy is nothing, and may even increase the value of the copied data through network effects.
I would buy a separate USB "numpad" and keep it on my other desk, where I can reach it easily but it doesn't get in the way of my mouse.
See my comment above re: pedantic arguments about the definition of "stealing".

grellas made an excellent post the other day about the nature of physical property rights vs intangible property rights [1]. The general gist is that declaring one "fundamental" and the other "not-fundametal" is sophistry; both are considered important to society and both are and will continue to be protected by law.

In my opinion, the existence of both physical and IP property rights is a social good - it's defining the boundaries of those rights that becomes the tricky part. I don't think we're hitting the right balance worldwide at the moment, but I also don't think we should be swinging violently towards SOPA or conversely anarchy.

[1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3463640
The biggest thing php.net needs is moderation on the comments. There are some 10+ year old comments that are just wrong now. Cleaning that up and moderating a comment before it is posted would be great.
I do. The most frightening effect of political rhetoric is the disruption of the rhetorician's ability to think.

See Orwell, "Politics and the English Language."
He's good a point about the easiness of downloading/watching. Here's a real story: In Canada, it seems like all streaming music websites are illegal. (Spotify, pandora, <you name it>). But, I still wanted to be legal. So, at the end, I had to "hack" my way to download spotify and listen to it. Isn't that stupid? If they decide that spotify is illegal, at least give me a better solution.
If I understood correctly, the outcome is not the same. In a memory failure you get incorrect results. In a concurrent program, you get correct results but they might not be the same results every time (provided that there's more than one correct answer) or the computation that took us there might be different (in terms of timing, power consumption, etc).
OK, how would you feel if the person who owned your apartment before you came in with a key he still had while you were out and sat in your bedroom in the dark (not using power) playing with himself?

You're not using your flat, it's there anyway, you've not lost anything, nothing has been broken or damaged, he's gone before you're back so it's fine right?
Have you tried a keyboard with the MX Cherry Browns, instead of Blues? They say they have very similar tactile response, but the browns don't "click" so loudly. http://www.daskeyboard.com/model-s-professional-silent/
Laws aren't absolute; they are, when properly written, the codification of social mores. Presently, copyright law conflates copying with theft, you are correct in this. But I think the meta-debate surrounding the issue is whether this assumption is correct; it is thus circular to cite the law as one's defence.

"I think it's silly to fight a law by disobeying it"

I agree with the sentiment that this should not be a first response. But if the intent is to deprive the studios of revenue while sticking a finger to them with the intention of encouraging them to back down, then it is a valid strategy (with precedence). Given the radicalisation of the MPAA, however, I don't see that as being likely.

So I agree with you in practice, but diverge in principle.
The bottom of the tab list also lines up with the ratio point near "proportion" but I can't see what the remaining 3 ratios line up with, if anything. So that means only 2 out of 6 ratios seem to consistently have anything to do with the layout (and that's only if you're in the right resolution, otherwise it's even worse).
Isn't it you fair use right to create copies of things you already own? E.g. for backup, or for your own music compilations, ...
looks interesting, I'll give it a try.
Again, not really saying anything about the "right" or "wrong" aspects, but continually using the word "stealing" in the debate, then debunking it by comparing it to a car, is, at best, a strawman argument. Unfortunately, I'm not sure there's a better/easier one word description people can use (for soundbiteness) that adequately gets the point across that the major industries are trying to get across.
I know a medium-sized site in Hungary, Europe that is in the process of moving to an .org TLD. They said SOPA couldn't touch that extension, but I'm not sure. They host content that can be easily argued as copyrighted (by someone else, of course.)
> "taking something which isn't yours..."

It's not taking, either.
Oh, you haven't seen "big company" yet, if you think Google is a big company.... I came from IBM which has something like 350,000 people working world-wide.

I came to Google and said, "how refreshing!" VA Linux Systems was too small (and taught me an awful lot about how not to run a startup). IBM was too large (and awfully bureaucratic). Google for me is a very nice mid-sized company.
Enjoy the Beauty of Your Face with these Foods, Part 1
Two easy options for viewing all Wikipedia articles. (Blackout)
This is more a question of privacy than of "stealing"/"not paying". In a world where privacy didn't exist (i.e. there would be no "reasonable expectations of privacy", I wouldn't mind.

Let's use another example. I order food, but don't eat all I get. If you will eat it, I would be very glad, as it wouldn't go to waste.
The Wayback machine shows me that the current design is nearly 11 years old.

http://web.archive.org/web/20010401091809/http://php.net/
This comment seems to assume that evolution can only go in one direction - from simple forms of life to more complex ones. If a complex form of life evolves to become simpler and then evolves again to become more complex, then there's just as much to be learned from following a line of evolution that increases complexity.
Europe is the same, indeed.
I wish general and regional distribution issues received more attention when discussing piracy, the latter point standing despite (this) web being US-centric. Publishers deliberately introduce artificious policies, while outdated and unsynchronized legislations contribute to hinder positive efforts. The eventual result for the end-user who is not living the God-Blessed American Way is an imperscrutable buffer of tedious, incoherent obstacles – all of which are easily overcame with piracy, which plainly offers a better experience. This is particularly true for the movie and TV industry, while music and software seem to be gradually improving.
This particular issue, however, stems from deeper localist inadequacies that, I suspect, might start to influence things more significant than our entertainment, such as upcoming payment services (e.g. Stripe, which is currently locked-in the US); they are already proving troublesome for financial and fiscal activities.
Briefly said: while the Internet is a naturally global technology, middle-men are mostly attempting to costrain it to fit their previous business models. This is, I reckon, both terrible for service quality – and, more theatrically, a wasted chance for progressing part of our cultures past petty nationalisms.
I wanted to read more about the Communications Decency Act, but Wikipedia is blacked out. It's funny how they scrapped the act, yet choose to repeat history and here we are protesting SOPA and PIPA with another blackout 17 years later.

Thanks for sharing the link though.
Master controller of memory identified
Some of us prefer quality to quantity. Sadly, producing good quality usually requires a significant amount of hard work, and that isn't going to change any time soon.

You just validated my point. The people that prefer quality still pay for people to work (hard?) for them. Without needing any violent enforcement or censorship.

Don't fetishize information, focus on what you (and other people) can do with it. Until brain patterns can be copied (if ever), skill and experience will still be scarce.
MPAA Press Release on Blackout Day
what if you believe being a thief is a good thing?
Self-Healing iPhone Case
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tx) Vows to Keep SOPA Alive
In practice all of them should net to zero conditional upon them being perfectly beta hedged and having zero net alpha. This is very, very, very rarely the practical case.

If you had moderated your comment with "in theory" instead of "in practice", then you would be more right (since they would then converge at the risk-free rate, not zero).
I'd agree the current layout for the docs are fine. I think though the front end advertising php and providing news/ downloads could use a new look.
Act against SOPA becomes huge with Wikipedia Blackout.
Protesting SOPA: how to make your voice heard
HN: Change your profile pics (e.g., Gravatar, G+) to a black square today
I changed all of my pics to a black square today to show my support for Wikipedia, Google, and others. I also contacted my congress-creatures. Who's with me?
Has anyone else noticed all of the "I had to" or "There was no other option" for their rational? It sounds like you are addicted to drugs! Is the media you are consuming really that good? Do you have to take a hit everyday? Are you addicted to TV, movies and music? Sure sounds like it to me.
Absolutely, but the counter argument is that the conclusion of that debate is expressed by the law, which is supposed to be the will of the people.

You could of course make the case that our democracy is too imperfect to accept the letter of any particular law as a direct expression of the will of the people without applying your further judgement.

Laws can be inconsistent, unjust or inappropriately applied and that's why we have the courts to make those judgements. Unfortunately, access to the courts is very unequal, particularly in the case of civil law. It's always been like this, hence breaking the law has always been the poor man's expensive lawyer and lobbyist at the same time.

Of course this argument could be used as a blanket excuse for breaking any law. Personal judgement just can't be replaced by any system.
He acts on what he believes is right.
I recommend you think about this: where does property come from? Is something ours because the government says it's ours or does it have a deeper meaning that transcends government?

I'd argue that property exists because things (apples, cars, gym equipment) have limitations on their use. If I eat an apple, you can't. If you grow a crop on this property, you can't. While he uses this gym equipment, they can't.

Even in historical contexts where there has been no effective government (silk road, dark ages iceland), ideas of property have evolved that are strikingly consistent, because it extends from realities of the world.

As states developed, they came to give stronger definition to property law. But then people who were well-connected to government decided that it would be a good idea to extend these convenient powers to things which were not property, sometimes by falsely labeling them as property.

So it comes down to who has control over the language.

Is property a distinct idea, or is it just a bundle of whatever rights the government of the day declares it to be.

And if you choose the latter, if the government says that black is white, is it so?
PHP site blacked out
If they are not willing to pay for it, then they have no right to enjoy it. In the end, it always boils down to pirates being spoiled. People never pirate to make ends meet. There is no digital content that is essential to anyone's life. People pirate because they want to be entertained but they don't want to pay for it.
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Education is the birthright of every countrymen and every citizen of each nation. But what if a student missing interest and confidence in having good academic education even though they are given with the best facilities.
If you use noscript, you'll never see the blackout. Very few people do, but I thought I'd point that out.
+1. Show biz may be stupid, they may offer a lousy service and an irrational business model. But it's in the nature of a right that the holder has liberty to exercise it as they choose, no matter how stupid or irresponsible that exercise may seem to others. A respect for copyright revocable at the user's convenience is no respect at all.

And yes, property is a right, one of far greater importance to political liberty than is generally allowed. And intellectual property is property. The placement of economic activity _outside_ the direct control of the state prevents the state from entirely dominating the society.

Now, SOPA is a really bad bill, because DNS filtering is a free speech nightmare. If you make me choose between speech rights and property rights, I'm taking the speech right, it's the foundation of everything else. The willingness of show biz and its lackeys to mess with speech rights demonstrates a disturbing greed and / or ignorance.

But that doesn't mean they're wrong about everything. It's a complicated world, and technology is revising the everyday realization of our rights and responsibilities. We aren't going to work our way through that with a black-and-white simplification of the debates.
Heritage Foundation Opposes SOPA, PIPA; Urges Conservatives to Vote Against
Your next idea should be to get some external validation of your idea. A co-founder is a good way to do this.

You seem to think that "changing the way advertising works" is something that can be done by 3 devs is 12 months, and success (large enough to "yank this planet") will come "with some marketing."

Based on this alone, I'd suggest a serious reality-check is in order.
http://steveblank.com/2011/09/22/how-to-build-a-web-startup-...

Build something small. Learn something. Repeat.

Do this until you have enough knowledge of you market to prove your idea is viable. Once you do that, it should be cake to raise money.

No, you don't get to take VC and take a year off just for having an idea. An idea and an amazing resume will do the job, but if you don't have that, you're going to need to prove viability first to raise money.

Go get some traction, and then you can quit your day job.