skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I got one OLPC and while hardware is a pretty nice netbook (rotating monitor is awesome), Sugar OS is a disaster. It's really slow. 5 minutes to flip pages in 10MB PDF kind of slow. Then it lacks basic features like tabbed browsing. And it's really unintuitive, I tested it on many people and pretty much nobody could get how to use it - and there's not even a manual.

It's a small machine but not that small, it could easily host a stripped down Ubuntu with at least a real browser etc.

Sugar killed OLPC.
Aren't the first too the kind of thing you can do just as well by subscribing to an RSS feed?
While you don´t have the scrapper, which I don´t find that´ll be easy to do, you maybe can pay someone to do it using mechanical turk ( https://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome ).
Complexity Kills: SOA = CORBA 2.0 = DOA
To me, the OLPC effort is a pretty of potent demonstration of why you need more than good intentions to make a success.

My generation grew up in an age where, for better and worse, the technology leaders also turned out to be pretty savvy businessmen (say what you will about Gates, Jobs, Ellison, et al they knew how to build an empire). But no one seems to realize how extraordinary that is or how important good business management can be.

These guys have failed to meet every deadline, gone over every budget and missed every price point they've ever tried to hit. It was going to catch up to them eventually.
The Media is Dying
Make your own. Most Unix tutorials are particularly poor: as Unix attracts people who like technology (good thing), documentation is technology focused rather than task focused (bad thing).

* Logging in

* Making a test file. Making folders, copying, moving, removing files and folders.

* Show how the filesystem standard sorts files by type (binary, system binary, library, config files and service scripts) and by importance (required to recover the system in an emergency).

* Disk management - learning how volumes are attached to different folders (the filesystem table), and how volumes are named

* Installing software packages

* Starting, stopping, restarting, and checking the status of services

* Managing processes, using kill/killall and kill -KILL/killall -KILL
The comparison was vs keeping stuff in a hash table in memory, and I was saying databases are no worse.

But that's clearly not true. In the most extreme case, that hash table is referenced simply by a variable in your program - it's already in your program's address-space! There's no way a database can come close to that.
We use Pivotal Tracker at Kongregate and love it. You can do everything from one screen. It's got a great lightweight approach to iterations and velocity tracking - once you've done a few iterations you get surprisingly accurate estimates of when you'll deliver that next release. It's both more pleasant to use and more suited to our needs than a straight ticketing system.

We use Basecamp to discuss features & comps, then Tracker to get them done. Trying to use Basecamp for both doesn't really work if you care about iterations, story points, etc. Some might say you don't need those, but they've given us a lot better predictability than we did at first.
not to be rude, people should stop chasing the million dollar homepage...It won't happen again till people forget about it :)
Delicious - Just can't live without this. This is the only Yahoo property I love and use heavily.
The first few chapters of The Unix Programming Environment by Kernighan and Pike give an excellent introduction to basic Unix concepts and usage.
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '}' in /home/obamamillion/modules/obamamillion.tools.php on line 51
Not to mention that you can hash arbitrary objects in a hash table with no mapping of any kind.

hash at: key put: anObject

Databases are vastly more complicated and require me to completely disassembly the object graph anObject may contain into a set of tables and rows to store it, and then reassemble the graph from tables and rows back into their object form when fetching.

The second one commits to using a relational database, one often easily triples the size of the code base. There's nothing simple about that.
We used to use Rally at Kongregate. They're nice guys, but we really hated it - overly complicated and hard to use. Also hell of expensive once you get past the free version.
Hmm:

Dancers: (per city) They've probably seen each other at clubs. Should at least peak people's curiosity.

Geek/gaming: Gender's pretty even in online gaming these days. God knows they could use the help :-)

Specific sports: Martial arts, running, bicycling, etc. Gives people more to talk about than usual. E.g. Okinawan Karate or Trek bicycles.
I don't know. You are right, the kids do need basic stuff we take for granted. No question. So do we stop every initiative until those things are righted?

By putting a computer in the hands of a child, it could give him a future he might not have otherwise. At which point, he might return to his village and ensure future generations have those things.

I don't know if OLPC has played the game correctly, but in general, I feel excited when I hear computers reaching the hands of kids who would never otherwise see them in their lifetimes.

Don't forget the opportunities you've been given living simply by being born in a first-world country.
Google’s Street View Takes A Byte Out Of Crime
It's built in Rails, what do you expect?
This situation begs 2 1/2 questions:

1) Should the SEC attempt to regulate/audit/oversee companies whose ADRs trade on American stock exchanges, given that they have become so popular with investors?

1.5) If so, how?

2) What prompted Raju to offer even the limited explanation that he gave? Guilt? Corporate responsibility?
"It won't happen again till people forget about it :)"

shh:)

On a more serious note, I obviously think this idea is different enough than MDH. Of course I'll find out just how much...which is how the world of launching new stuff works.
I loved the message of the book - I only found the first half (a description of the problem) to be useful and eye-opening, however, since the second half where he tries to offer solutions to overengineering or underdesigning products seems a bit haphazard and random.

Definitely worth a read though just to open people's eyes about the problem with most software engineering. I've found this issue at 2 of the 3 startups I've worked at in the last year.
The sound samples are way more amusing than a launcher: http://www.bitboost.com/pawsense/example-of-sounds-that-anno...
For years now, I haven't traveled with a spare battery. As battery times are extended, the need for spares decrease.

Apple appears to have squeezed a ton of run-time out of this new configuration. If this gets you from New York to San Francisco while being able to watch 2 feature films, are you good?
He's pretty good at giving people the impression that he's culturally identified with them. The funny thing is, I think he manages to give it to just about everybody at once. Then something like "zomg Obama has touched a Zune" comes out and people feel a sense of personal betrayal.

(Honestly, I think if Obama ever decided for vi or emacs some people I know would suffer psychotic breaks.)
Really? They're shipping the laptops, the software does work, etc. I don't see how it's become a parody other than the smaller number of laptops shipped. The initial vision was too grand and it's humbling perhaps, but a parody? Bah.
Do you deny that being inarticulate, unkept, short, obese, or unattractive can be barriers to success in business?

If so, elaborate on that. If not, please explain why those same things should not be considered problems that ought to be addressed. Wouldn't it be advisable to treat the issue like any other and apply the full weight of your intelligence and experience to come up with a good solution?
What kids need is education so they can realize that they don't have to live in this way. OLPC is a long-term thing, and clean water, vitamins, etc. are short-term.

You can deliver both the vitamins and the laptops too. It isn't a binary choice.
4% of 0 is 0, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you don't have a no-compete, which it sounds like you don't since there isn't any company to have an agreement with at this point, I would offer him a full 40% and walk away.

There is no such thing as 'very knowledgeable in technology and the web'. Either they know how to program or they don't. If they don't, odds are they will be expecting you to put in long long hours while they surf news sites and dick around and pretend to be really busy.

And if they knew all about business they wouldn't have needed to take 50k from an angel, since they could have written a check with the proceeds of all their prior business success. 50k would pay for a single programmer to work for 4 months or so...

Oh, there is an alternative. Agree that when you get a first round of funding or make a profit that you'll be paid for all the hours you work at some reasonable rate (maybe $60 per hour). They should get paid for the hours they work also, but obviously since you are the only one actually doing anything I wouldn't let them bill more than 5 or 10 hours a week.
I'll cast my vote for Redmine as well. It is a great improvement on Trac, keeping all the nice features - code repository integration with git, svn etc.; wiki, milestones, tickets; plus multiple projects (public/private) with flexible access rights.
>it's not intended for more than one project at a time

Check http://www.redmine.org . It's the same as Trac, only with multiple projects and multiple teams/roles per project.
I've got the extended battery in my thinkpad, but it's the only one.

I try not to use my laptop on the plane; - and anywhere else - I'm usually in range of a desk / powerpoint.
Any start-up with 2 business guys and change, and one hacker, isn't starting out very well.

Why don't you start a company and take 100% of the equity?
I currently have 3 batteries on my macbook pro (17 inch). It's nice to be able to go unplugged for 8 hours, but keeping them all charged and swapping them around is a pain in the ass.

I'd personally trade multiple swappable batteries for a nice integrated solution. Especially if it lasted twice as long, and had 3x the lifespan.

And if it goes bad after 3-5 years, $179 for a battery replacement doesn't seem like a huge deal to me.

So, yeah, count me in.
> This is an anonymous account.

> the first two founders, Austin and Michael...

It may be an anonymous account, but I hope you realize that you've just made an un-anonymous post...

>I originally was to receive 20%...

Lesson learned the hard way: at your next startup, don't do any work until this stuff is nailed down.

> I surely don't want to cause any conflicts at all

Wrong attitude. That's EXACTLY what someone who's trying to steal 4% of the company from you wants to hear.

> What do you think I do?

Determine your BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement). Maybe that's bending over and taking 16%. Maybe it's walking.

Figure out what you want to do, then do it.
I don't have time to type out a long answer, so forgive me if this brief version comes off too harsh.

It seems like you haven't had a success yet with another startup, and a solid track record will, over time, be far more valuable than the 4% you're squabbling over.

Concentrate on making the company work (but also make it clear you don't intend to give up any more equity). Use this as a learning experience, and go into your next company stronger and wiser.

Given the very frail odds of success most startups have, it is likely not worth your time obsessing over this.
> Any start-up with 2 business guys and change, and one hacker, isn't starting out very well.

Well said.
"... A123 expects the combined plants ... would ... create over 14,000 jobs."

.

http://www.reason.com/news/show/122019.html

Economists have been at war with the make-work bias for centuries. The 19th-century economist Frederic Bastiat ridiculed the equation of prosperity with jobs as "Sisyphism," after the mythological fully employed Greek who was eternally condemned to roll a boulder up a hill.

In the eyes of the public, he wrote, "effort itself constitutes and measures wealth. To progress is to increase the ratio of effort to result. Its ideal may be represented by the toil of Sisyphus, at once barren and eternal." For the economist, by contrast, wealth "increases proportionately to the increase in the ratio of result to effort. Absolute perfection, whose archetype is God, consists [of] a situation in which no effort at all yields infinite results."
At some point, you need to be able to stick up for yourself and rationally discuss tough issues amongst yourselves.

If you can't stand up for yourself here, you should understand that this may lead to the future concessions based on a past history of being "easily swayed".

Discuss this with your co-founders and be open about the situation. Better to get past the tough inter-personal issues early, rather than later when it will become even more complicated and difficult to turn back on sunk costs.
"Getting To Yes" by Roger Fisher
http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Yes-Negotiating-Agreement-With...
Great if you want an application to look like a web app, but it's not an ideal solution by any stretch.
> It may be an anonymous account, but I hope you realize that you've just made an un-anonymous post...

They are pseudonyms.

> Lesson learned the hard way: at your next startup, don't do any work until this stuff is nailed down.

Good advice.

> Wrong attitude. That's EXACTLY what someone who's trying to steal 4% of the company from you wants to hear.

Also a good point. I still don't feel in the right doing so.

> Determine your BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement). Maybe that's bending over and taking 16%. Maybe it's walking. Figure out what you want to do, then do it.

Thanks for your feedback!
> Why don't you start a company and take 100% of the equity?

I'd like to not be a douchebag, though. I work on other startups that I own 100% equity with (or split down 51/49)
Generating Conversations with Renewable Energy: Entrepreneurship from the Bottom
Haskell has two useful features that are missing from the languages you mentioned:

1. Strong static typing

2. Pattern matching

(1) tends to make development go faster (in my experience) by catching your mistakes early and locating them more accurately than a debugger can. It's also good for performance.

(2) is great for any program that does a lot of stuff with trees, such as a compiler.

However, neither of these features is unique to Haskell. They're also present in OCaml, SML, F#, and Scala, all of which should be easier to learn and start using than Haskell.

The main qualities that distinguish Haskell from other languages are purity and laziness. These may be worth learning about since they're theoretically interesting, but their practical value is pretty dubious.
World of Warcraft would probably be a good one, even if the ratio of males to females is higher than 1 to 1.
Thank you. I haven't had enormous success with another startup, no. Definitely will take this into consideration. Thanks again.
I've used laptops as my primary machine for about 17 years now (since whenever the FIRST Thinkpad 700's were introduced). I can only think of 1 or 2 laptops that I've had spare batteries for, and those were usually the ones with horrible runtimes (like an hour). 1 other (a Thinkpad X20 maybe) I bought a replacement battery for when the original died.

I've had 3 Intel-Mac laptops now. The only time I ever swapped a battery was on my first 17" MBP when the battery started physically expanding (there was a warranty replacement for it).

The internal battery thing is really no issue for me personally.
You can download the Alpha 1.4 version of Firebug for Firefox 3.1 support.
This island?:
http://images.google.com/images?q=papua+new+guinea+australia
I highly recommend StreamFocus.com for work management, but as a founder I'm definitely biased :) We will be launching a free version shortly in addition to more powerful features at lower monthly fees, but you can use it free of charge in the beta program now. I have doubled my profit margin in my Architecture firm using StreamFocus over the last year, so the value it provides is very good.
http://titaniumapp.com/ if you want an open source AIR equivalent. It's a work in progress but seems promising.
The issue isn't about math. The opinion of anyone who's maintaining a profitable business should be given extra attention.
We use DevGuard for SVN/Trac hosting. They start at $6.95/month. I'm surprised Trac is the YC top-rated tool for project management tho; they don't have anything I would call a "project management". It's a basic bug tracking system.

FYI, Trac floated to the top when i asked this same question a few months ago:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=124253
Get a copy of http://www.amazon.com/Power-Tools-Third-Shelley-Powers/dp/05... and experiment with interesting topics in it.
You can do a lot of stuff without ever touching the shell, and there's a good chance he's even used the shell before, just not in a Unix environment (probably Windows, which is significantly different, though the transition isn't too hard). Besides, nobody said he was "experienced", just that he wasn't a novice.
are you getting a salary on top of equity?
Most people who use webmail won't be able to use mailto: links. (Yes, I have set up my Firefox install to use Gmail for mailto: urls, but I'd been using Firefox a while before I discovered this was possible.)

Also, people using it from work might not want it using their work e-mail address and going through their work's mail server.
This article makes me think of Twitter, which didn't come up with a highly-scalable architecture initially (or even now really). The Fail Whales, though, were a sign that they were on to something big.
Thank you so much for the startup edition. It's indispensable at our startup.
Ditto here. 17" MBP (the immediate predecessor of this new one), and the battery's essentially permanent in there for me. 8 hours of text editing, iTunes, and compiling sounds fantastic.

Only thing I picked up was a second power adapter. Now one's at my desk, and another's in my bag.

Note that batteries for these things usually cost $129ish, so $179 for the swap isn't out of line.
Some other tools I use day to day when working on websites:

Measure it - adds a ruler to FF for pixel pushing:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/539

Web Developer Toolbar - adds a whole bunch of inspector type stuff
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60

Color Picker - Lets you get the color of a pixel by clicking on it
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/271

IE also has similar tools:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Script_Debugger
http://www.microsoft.com/downloadS/details.aspx?familyid=E59...
"...yet warming anyway"

Where is the warming right now? Any recent evidence?
The argument wasn't that SAS software is used to run systems on the plane, it is that SAS was used to design the airplane.

However, the argument is still obviously laughable.
Will stupid people & their pseudoscience cost more lives this year?
Yeah, just don't go the cuil route and advertise heavily for a sudden spike-induced system failure.

Build up your traffic slowly, and ramp up your scalability with it. Bumps nobody minds (or really notices, really), it's the giant crashes that get noticed.
SAP and SAS are completely different. SAS is for science (well, for statistical programming in general); SAS has nothing to do with SAP, which is for back-office stuff. The article and the quote are about statistics packages like SAS.
Sony to launch world's lightest 8-inch notebook PC
Thanks for the feedback. WIP.
Abandoned Russian Polar Nuclear Lighthouses
I received a small stipend in the low thousands area to start working on it.

Otherwise, no.
ilanos: Are you Ilan Abehassera, Founder and CEO of Producteev Inc.? I see that your HN account is brand new and your post sounds a little too perfect...
The news isn't massively interesting but Gary is excellent as ever. I'd recommend watching the video response because this is the reason Gary has such a crazy following.

His personal hands on style has really helped Winelibrary.tv upscale their business. In terms of tips for promoting your business Gary is definitely someone to keep an eye on.
Sorry, the only one i can think of is Oz.
For normal people, diagrams help.

A tree diagram of the file system, labeled with what goes where and why, seems to fix about 99.99% of problems new users have getting to grips with Linux.

/bin/what ???
I agree, it's another form of throwing sheep.
He's definitely not an experienced user, at least not with Linux or the command-line. He just has a lot of experience with computers. My point was that this isn't a grandma situation: 'Ok, so this is called a FILE. Your website is made up of lots of different files. Files are kept in directories, which are like folders, and end with /…'

PS: This actually makes me think interesting thoughts about the meaning of the word 'user', the many different senses in which we use it, and the many overlapping ways one could be said to be an experienced user, such that many experienced users all have entirely distinct skill sets with no overlap.
From where? By setting up a blog? You lose.
$21k in bingo? kudos.
the site now reads a message that they’ll be back shortly, so it was definitely a malicious act.

How does this make sense?

There didn't seem to be any hard damage done to any part of the site, as the comments said it looked more like an injection attack, so what's malicious? Looks to be more of a prank than anything.
Nobody likes writing Java, but enough people respect the JVM that we have Groovy, Scala, and Clojure. Why couldn't the same thing be true of Swing-the-API vs. Swing-the-underlying-UI-toolkit?
ZEVS, The Russian 82 Hz ELF Transmitter
Negroponte has a history of not listening to feedback, resulting in a very poor fit for the intended target markets. Based on blog posts and defections, I think the project is run poorly. Abandoning Sugar for Windows makes this look less like a desire to help third-world countries and more like an outreach program for microsoft. And so on.
Two New Free SEO Tools Released by Bruce Clay
And the Winner of the Google Docs Easter Egg Hunt Is ...
Angelsoft: Startup valuations declined 25 percent in Q4
Why isn't Corkd more successful. In the comments, Gary said he's been putting on the back burner. If it was more successful he'd give it more of his time, no? Why would you do to make Corkd more successful? It's a great concept.
I'm pretty amazed that after an apparent agreement someone would decide that you and him both getting 20% wasn't enough and he needed 24% at your expense.

That's a pretty ridiculous move for someone to make, in my view. It goes well beyond dollars and cents, I'd think. It's obviously not about the percentage points. Losing 4% isn't that big of a deal, and yet neither is gaining 4%. But asking someone who is roughly equal to you to accept this type of agreement isn't trivial. You should probably ask yourself why this person was willing to go through all this potential heartache including the personal issues such a move would cause for a measly 4%.
Cuil's problem wasn't even that their site crashed (that was just a minor blip). Their main problem was that their search results weren't very relevant.
Price as Signal: The recording industry is lying about why they want different prices (2005)
Actually, passive radar's getting popular for those who don't want their radar systems bombed out in the first attack run. Specifically, if you don't want stealths coming in & bombing out your radar installations, hide sensitive receivers throughout your city and let the cell towers, tv stations, etc. do the transmission for you.

Donno anything about the signal analysis part of this, but that's the gist of what I heard.