skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Very similar story to the plentyoffish guy. One person, low overhead and massive revenue.

I wonder if this is because they've been around forever and have a brand on the web, or, if you could launch something with barebones design and replicate their success NOW.
the difference is that cloudfront is backed by Amazon. So this means 2 things: a) it won't be going out of business any time soon b) if AWS goes down, usually so will the main amazon site. So you'll have hundreds of techies working to fix your issue.

Its mostly a trust issue...everyone heard of akamai, everyone heard of limelight, everyone heard of AWS.
Maybe this will change how people code. Instead of programmers hanging out in IRC, they can hang out in the code and fix things instead of just complaining :-)
Connection: Keep-Alive
It's not Google's scaling requirements that limit their simultaneity (or, obviously, a deliberate choice). Google Docs uses a different architecture, where a master copy of the document is kept on the server and broadcast every n seconds to all the clients. This is easier to implement, but can't be made fast enough to feel realtime.

Etherpad uses a different approach: they ship all the edits to all the users as soon as they happen, and each client processes them to produce an updated document. The hard part is making sure each user is seeing the same thing. This is easy with the Google Docs model where a single master copy is regularly rebroadcast. To do it the Etherpad way, without a master copy, is extremely hard. From what I've heard about what they had to do, it sounds like one of the more impressive hacking achievements by a YC-funded co to date.
I think the biggest argument for the design of the Drudge Report is that their biggest political/media rival, the Huffington Post, has borrowed their "one giant headline and photo" format. http://www.huffingtonpost.com

I remember when the huffpo first came out, and it looked more like a traditional blog. I can't help but think they kind of gave in and started to use the ugly-but-effective-with-the-masses style that Drudge has been using for the last ten years.
Without any java applets or flash?
Try EtherPad Now With Other HN Users
Consumer Prices in U.S. Decline 1%, Most on Record
Yes, you can specify keep-alive (Although some browsers refuse to do it in an XHR - Opera for one).
However, you still send the full glut of HTTP headers every single request.
Sony Ericsson G502 Unlocked
Sony Ericsson G502 is a smart-looking phone that focuses on superior Web browsing. It offers built-in Google maps for mobile that will give you step-by-step directions to where you want to go. It comes with 2.0 megapixel
Domain Appraisal Resources: What Is Your Website or Blog Worth?
Discusses free domain appraisal and website and blog valuation tools, their use, and accuracy. Includes list of professional domain appraisal services as well
Worst name ever...

Twitt: A person who is obnoxious, a jerk and is selfcentered; doesn't care about anyone but themself.

jerk pay me!
Sorry if I am off base on this one, but not being able to cash out via PayPal would make me just want to use TipJoy instead. Even if I do ultimately donate my money to charity, I'd still like to have the option. The FAQ indicates that you can put money in via PayPal, but it appears the only cash out option is an Amazon Gift Card?

Still, good work on coming up with some sort of money maker for Twitter. They can't seem to do it :-).
that's hawt. I see this as a great way to settle spontaneous bets w/ friends.

Dude, $50 the Smails kid picks his nose.
Trek introduces chainless bicycles
We're in the same boat Tipjoy was when they started: there's a ton of legal stuff that goes with cashing out, and we've only been around a few weeks. It is absolutely on our list of priorities.
Actually, you have three options on cash out currently. Gift card, charity, or "Twitpay is brilliant, you guys can keep it!"
Could you explain the downvote? That may be helpful.
This doesn't belong on HN. I don't really care to read stories about how other people are supposedly naive or foolish. That's what Digg is for.
This was inevitable. Great idea.
>Those people are forced to use Outlook.

Or even better, Lotus Notes. Ick! What will save us from that hell?
Awesome! Good to hear :-). I figured it was probably on the TODO list; adding a "PayPal coming soon!" to the FAQ might make people happy.
This seems like SubEthaEdit but for the web. Maybe it was the barrier to entry or the technical wrangling to get it working that killed SEE; But even among Mac-heads I haven't seen it being used in years.

I'm not sure how much this will fly.
Estonian Innovation of the Year: 50.000 People Cleaning the Country
Just like TwitPic, TwitSay, & Twitturly.
Relying on the uptime of twitter, to get paid, seems a bit of a mistake.
Microsoft Releases New Robot-Building Software
How to update Adobe AIR applications automatically with JavaScript
Interesting app; it looks like it has a lot of potential.

On an unrelated note, something about Arrigton's journalism just bothers me. It's like every title has to involve some tired old cliché or unsubstantiated, conflicting statements.
You want to sell an MP3 of a song you haven't made?

Also, maybe you could just remove the information from the file if it bothers you.
It actually makes sense to me.

I use it to pay my friends, most of whom are twits.
What a fun service. I can't remember the last time I used the word "fun" in reference to a plain text editor. :)

It's really interesting to watch the POSTs fly by and consider the implications of out-of-order updates, breaks in the open downstream "comet" channel, interleaving potentially conflicting text from different clients. A lot of difficult tradeoffs that they seem to have made good -- or at least plausible -- decisions on.
you should probably just start over then. they've been letting everybody in for the last several months.
Microsoft to offer free security
In this case I think it's a cargo cult phenomenon. Sometime soon after World War II our culture decided that wearing a long white coat, having a Ph.D., and publishing "real data" was the touchstone of truth in every field. As if demanding "real data" from an essayist wasn't like asking your fiancée to take a battery of psychological tests before you'll marry her.

Gladwell isn't a scientist, as he has said many times. He is inspired by scientists (among other people), but what he actually writes are book-length essays. You're welcome to argue against an essay -- that's what the form is designed to provoke -- and you can do so in several ways: You can write an essay of your own, or you can do a scientific study, or you can even perform a stunt:

After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley's ingenious sophistry to prove the nonexistence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it -- "I refute it thus."

But the modern fashion is to respond to an essay that you don't like by demanding that it dress itself up like a Nature manuscript and then criticizing the flaws in the costume. Which is silly. The more elegant thing to do is to argue with the essay. Write an essay refuting Gladwell. Quote some scientists of your own in the process if it helps. Obviously, debating a guy with the writing chops of Gladwell is a tricky task, but it's better to try (or to remain politely silent and wait for others to try) than to flail around ineffectually.

Or, if you prefer scientific debate to essay-writing, I'm told that Gladwell seems to be trying to provide more footnotes to the science that inspires him. Follow one of those footnotes to the scene of battle, grab a handful of related journal articles, and join the fray. Don't be surprised to find every other scientist on earth alongside you, though. Scientists have a tendency to swarm fields which have been popularized.
250K would pay half of one of my (arguably over-inflated) mortgages. I wouldn't refuse money like that, but it's far from 'striking it rich' when you factor in what people paid for homes 24 months ago.
neat but hardly killer.

Yes they have the handiness of true realtime updates (and I am not denying that isn't a huge feature) but that's hardly a unique feature (or wont be for long).

But then the rest of the UI / feature set is far too bland :( at least get some code highlighting and stuff in there.

Also in our short test earlier it didnt handle mass deletions & editing very well (if I deleted a block of text as someone was adding to it merry hell broke loose :P).

IMO a nice demo of a cool idea but badly executed enough to be no real use. Make me a real time white board and THEN I might take notice :D
Awesome !! Destined for success.
I'm guessing it's the former.
> Make me a real time white board and THEN I might take notice

You mean like http://dabbleboard.com ?
No that's based on a different acquisition, 2Web Technologies
Lack of action doesn't imply inability. That's what's different.

A parked car is not a car that's not able to drive. It's a car that's not driving.
> The AppJet team plans on releasing this new server-side software (similar to their previous release but with the addition of Comet functionality and other pieces) completely Open Source as well.

-- from here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=369500
A New Odd Couple: Google, P&G Swap Workers to Spur Innovation
Seth Godin Tells Us To Quit
Five Guys is really blowing up right now. I'd like to see the figures on exactly how fast they're growing, but I see new Five Guys chains popping up everywhere and they seem to be extremely popular.
The subject matter of the article is sound, however the execution leaves me skeptical that this isn't just hobbled together FUD for the sake of traffic/audience. The last two paragraphs sealed the deal for me.

I just hope our geeks are working just as hard as their geeks.
researchers work in universities

Really? By definition? Was Erdos not a "researcher?"
Why get a computing degree?
>"It actually works pretty well, but I have to disguise my (North London) accent with a terrible folksy Texan tourist voice to get results. I can see this is going to be the source of much amusement and confusion."

I love it!
However, the easy access to graphics hardware is less appealing when you realize it only supports 640x480 and 16 colors. Yes, you could write directly to ports to change the screen mode, but that would break the "non-moving target" argument.
Fix links with parantheses in comments. Example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_economic_crisis_(1999%E2%80%932002)
Interesting possibilities for certain vertical markets. Makes microdonations to charities on a whim very easy.
People have asked us for a way to try it out with other people, so here's a set of pads for news.yc readers to play with:

http://etherpad.com/ep/newsyc

For the curious, I added this URL to our running web server in 5 minutes with 12 lines of JavaScript:

function render_newsyc_get() {
function countUsers(p) {
return getCollab().getDocument(p).getNumConnectedUsers();
}
var body = BODY({style: 'padding: 20px; font-family: monospace;'});
body.push(H3("Welcome news.ycombinator readers! ",
"Join us in an EtherPad of your choosing:"));
pads.forEach(function(p) {
body.push(A({href: p}, p), ' ('+countUsers(p)+' users)', BR());
});
response.write(HTML(body));
}

Just a taste of the AppJet Web Platform. (A separate 1-time script generated the array "pads").
Too inconsistent... the DC area ones are great but the burgers are always a little dried out at my local one.
I would say that if you are requiring someone to be there and they can't do their work because you made poor purchasing decisions and have no coherent technology strategy, then you're still responsible for paying them.

//someone did tell the call center owners about wake-on-lan, right?
I love it when people say things like this. Remember, Drudge really only writes headlines, and he doesn't claim to be an unbiased news source. He only occasionally writes something, and when he does it is usually an email he got from someone else.

Drudge is of the same concept of the Huffington post. It is news that is not normally highlighted on television. Both, places are successful in pushing stories they feel newsworthy into the main stream press.
Well there's Drudgeretort.com (a similar site) and it doesn't have the same reach or revenue. Matt Drudge's readership goes a long way back..
His claim to fame is breaking the Monica Lewinsky story.
What are some of these complex tasks you had in mind? I think that almost any computation-bound task, however complex, could benefit from GPU acceleration. But I would like to hear about exceptions.
Fred Wilson asks, Do You Ever Do Any Real Work?
J200i Blue Lcd, J210i Lcd Ways
blue, j200, j200 blue lcd, j200 lcd ways, j200i lcd ways, j210, j210 blue lcd, j210 lcd ways, j210i blue lcd, j210i lcd ways, lcd, sony ericsson, ways, screen
Let's say your gross margin is 9%.

You spend $100K in advertising.
You get an additional $1000K in revenue, on which you make a 9% profit. You bank $90K profit from this.

You're $10K worse off for having done that advertising.
The thing with Drudgeretort.com is that it is just a knock off trying to attack the original. How often is the knock off as successful as the original. For those that would say that Google wasn't the first search engine, miss the point. Google created something different and better, Drudereport just tried to copy and paste their way to success, I however do think that Drudgeretort likely makes a descent bit of money, just not as much.

I however, do think that it is more the name, and the fact that he has always tried to show something different to the Main stream media that have lead to his success. He also knows his audience very well. I really don't think the design is the biggest element to his success, it is just a help to his success.
Question Regarding Payment Processing
I'm looking for a payment processing solution that would allow me to take a percentage of each transaction that I facilitate between two parties Does PayPal support this? Anyone have other ideas?

Thanks!
The edifice complex
CloudFront CDN for jQuery
Microsoft to offer free Antivirus
This doesn't surprise me one bit, almost every city in the UK has a unique accents and then there's people who have a mix. My parents are from South Yorkshire, but I grew up in East Yorkshire, but then I spent a lot of time in Hull which has a long naval and fishing history. So my accent is relatively mild.

However, I'm living in Canada and everybody says I have such a strong accent. Although I've been mistaken for Australian, which I find as rather strange. I know my one worst pronunciation is of 'three' as it invariably comes out as 'free', which in context rarely causes problems. Sadly my 'two' apparently sounds similar to 'three' as I've been repeatedly given one extra of things, I'm not sure if this is a strange form of politeness like the Italian's always trying to serve more food than you can eat, or if simply I constantly have to deal with retarded people when I order food. Although I shouldn't complain, getting a free cheeseburger isn't something I've got a problem with.
Not to be a troll but the design is terrible sure it's organized (kinda) and headlines have different style, etc...

But it's barely readable... It's so busy...
how about using vnc (terminal server client) ? it's free and no cable, although a bit slow (for example, high bandwidth anime) on wireless LAN

i normally control my mac mini powerpc in living room from my room wirelessly
True, you still need the headers, what you don't need is a new connection every key stroke. Establishing a new TCP connection is a relatively high cost network item (between all the Acks and Syns you need 3 messages have to go back and forth for it to establish), keep the connection alive, the stuff will run a lot faster.
I hadn't visited the DrudgeReport in many years. The DrudgeRetort actually looks like (from what I remember) what the original used to look like. Interesting that www.drudge.com points to the retort, not to the original.
my guess would be that it was a karma troll. don't worry about it.
Obama's birth certificate, questions about its authenticity have been frequent and fierce.
Not sure why you got downvoted for that. It's true -- and we've already been approached by a charity about that possibility (that's separate from the option to donate upon cashout).

We're excited about this use case -- though like some others it's going to probably be more relevant once you can cash out with actual cash.
HP Releases a HOT Laptop? Yessir Touch screen and flip
I don't find McDonald's fries particularly smell of anything. I don't really dislike the taste, but for me the texture is poor. I was born and raised in England, so I had Fish & Chips and the invariable logic where I lived was the bigger the better so you could literally find a 'fry' that was half an inch thick and instead of being deep fried they're only fried until they're cooked and crisp on the outside.

My wife thinks McDonalds fries have the perfect texture, me personally I think they're sticks of fried vegetable fat with the potato extracted.
I guess I could start with that and switch to KVM if it turns out to be too slow.
For some reason I thought that the ereg_* functions were deprecated; that's not the case. I was wrong in saying they should never be used; however, it remains the case that preg_* is usually faster.
Would Apple acquire Sun Microsystems?
Wait, is there really sci-fi poetry? The only stuff of that sort I liked was Asimov's, and it was fun, but not particularly good.
Tell me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are...
I actually own the tx1 version of this laptop. If the battery life is anything like the first version (2 hours tops), we'll see a continuation of what's happening to the iPhone in terms of battery life. Not that that will stop anyone from buying it (which the manufacturers well know).

EDIT: Forgot to mention. If most of the hardware is shared as well, this laptop is not fun to get working with Linux. Doable, but not fun.
I was surprised to discover that who we have to blame for all pseudoscience, according to Crichton, is Frank Drake, whose office I happen to be borrowing! ;-)
Post the schematics anonymously. Host in a neutral country. It's been done.
But 37signals argues that the busy layout is what makes it thrilling. And they agree up front that it's an ugly site. But they say that that's a part of what makes it so good.
the first screen i see when i get to this page gives me no indication of its purpose.. only when i scroll down by half a page do i see any text.. dunno how that is considered good design
I forward my Lotus Notes to gmail... though that will have to stop soon, for PCI compliance reasons. For calendaring, I manually export every day to ics, munge it through some sed scripts, and then sync to gcal with gcaldaemon.

Apparently the 8.5 client sucks slightly less, but I can't get that til I upgrade to Leopard.
YouTube, TroopTube Go To War
Hopefully the mechanism they chose is amenable to cross-user undo. (Though it's currently missing, I'm assuming single-user undo can be added easily enough.)
Why Microsoft Should Bid Again — and Yahoo Should Accept
I'm going to take a stab in the dark (I've never used Xobni) and say:

1. Search your Yahoo! Mail without leaving Outlook

2. Instant Facebook Status and Photos

3. Smart Skype Integration

4. Hoover’s arms you with instant research on your contacts’ employers
Metasploit Framework 3.2 Released
Sony Ericsson J110a Black USA version
There is a very nice 2 Megapixel camera with a resolution of 1600x1200. This enables you to take pictures in high quality. Finally the 3 hours of talk-time is more than sufficient for even the longest conversations.
I'd never heard of Hertzberg before! Thanks for the name tip-off.
It reminds me of Feynman's talk titled "Value of Science":
Another value of science is the fun called intellectual enjoyment
.........
Is this mere personal enjoyment of value to society as a whole? No! But it is also a responsibility to consider the value of society itself. Is it to arrange matters so that people can enjoy things? If so, the enjoyment of science is as important as anything else.

I'm not trying to compare fun from science and fun from iPhone apps;

As a species, we probably haven't figured out the purpose of our existence yet (is there one?).
We managed to reach the current state of progress because different people did different things, and in the process figured out stuff that we now consider important.
Few thousand years ago, someone who spent time trying to understand nature instead of hunting, might have looked like wasting time to his contemporaries.

That said, I do agree that solving the class of problems that you were talking about is in general more valuable than writing a game. But people have their own skill levels and personal choices, and we should respect their choices.

Also, from my little understanding of economics, in an advanced economy services sector is supposed to account for >>50% of GDP, with entertainment contributing to a significant chunk of those services revenues.
So, we should probably get accustomed to more of these iPhone games and 'sheep throwing'.

I also agree with you that mainstream media can do much better than glorifying these kind of things.
Say things like what?

No one was arguing against the points you made. When I said "he" I was referring to the 37$ignals Dude - not Drudge.
Microsoft played Yahoo, and they're totally playing you too
The interface looks pretty kickass. I figured their media player would be slow/jerky because they include a visual of the entire sound wave of the song but I was wrong. It was fast and effective, as it intuitively starts playing the next song in queue. Also really like that you can add notations at certain points of the song, very cool.
Tables: The Next Evolution in CSS Layout
Hey, where have I seen this before?

Oh yeah, here: http://gobby.0x539.de/trac/
create a mashup with this and github to pull in code from a github url and edit it
Pray tell...

Of course, it's personal opinion, but I'm interested...
Don't knock Seth ;)
There's a simple solution to things like this. If you have data you'd consider top-secret, why the fuck is it on an internet-available PC. I mean if I need it stored on a PC, I'd store it on a non-networked PC and it's safe from all virus, Trojans and whatever else.
Which is a desktop app...

;)
Stepford: A vision of IT utopia
I do this too, but for different reasons. It just seems like interesting personal data I could analyze some day. Does anyone know a practical way to grab this data electronically for analysis? I have shoeboxes full of receipts... I could tell where, when, and what I bought for the past 10 years. Merge that with photographs and emails and I've got a heck of a personal journal... problem is, i can't figure out how to enter the data short of hiring someone.
I am from Northern Ireland and everytime I phone a call centre/hotel/whatever that is answered by someone doesn't live in the UK, I find it almost impossible to get them to hear 'two' - they always think I am saying three. In my mind I am not even saying anything like three and other 'locals' have no problem understanding me. Many others I have spoken to have the same problem here too!
Tons of students pay $100 for books. Tons of students pay $10,000-$30,000 for tuition.
That's one of my ideas for future startups. In fact Balsamiq is very close to it: the output is xml.
The end user only cares whether its driving. If it's not moving, the user doesn't really care why.