skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
From my vantage point, Google has been nicer. I can switch search providers with no hassle if someone offers a technologically superior product. Microsoft, through everyone developing for the Windows API, made it very difficult for people to change OS - less so now that the internet has arguably become the largest platform. Still, I can see how Google exerts a bit of a hold because of AdWords. I know at my work, we never think about non-AdWords networks. If you're going to monetize search, you need advertisers. In order to get advertisers, you need users. You can go the whole, loose money now and then make it up later technique, but that's hard unless you've got some nice VCs.

Maybe the issue is who their customers are. With Microsoft, it's definitely the people using Windows and such. With Google, one could argue that their customers aren't people using Google, but the advertisers who pay for it - and Google does have a little lock over them as they have the search traffic. Still, I think Google has been more open and tried harder to succeed on its merits than Microsoft has.
Ginx: Pierre Omidyar's Stealthy New Social Recommendation Service
How To De-Risk Your New Idea Using Google Adwords
His second reward-- more valuable, since he probably will stay at Google-- was to have this article written about him.
As a bootstrapped hacker who just let his qt license expire this is awesome news. Score on for the guy who didn't pay his bills.
IPhone X-Plane app quadrupled desktop sales
Full interview here:
http://forums.x-plane.org/

Choice quotes:
"Question: Austin, it's been about a year since the launch of version 9. What are your overall feelings about 2008? Are the sales where you expected them to be, is the product at the technical level you wanted it to be?

Austin: 2008, for me, kicked butt. Lots and lots of Butt.
Why?
Simple reason: IPHONE.

Iphone sales of X-Plane have been strong (I hit #3 in the world.. and #19 in the world with X-Plane Airliner).
As well, ever since I came out with the iphone version of X-Plane, sales at X-Plane.com of the desktop version have been up by 400%.

So, people buy X-Plane for the iphone, and then a lot of them buy the full version... enough to quadruple my sales.

Now we are really starting to get some noticeable amount of market share."

"Q: Are you going to release more iPhone apps?

Austin: Huh-Huh... if there is a huge pile of gold under your lawn, are you gonna dig for it? ;-P

I look at the cheesy games for iPhone now, and I look at the power of X-Plane on it.. the power I have to bring sophisticated Apps to millions of people is just STUNNING... Yah, I have a huge opportunity here and am grabbing it!"

"Q: Austin said you were also working on the iPhone version of X-Plane. What do you do on that project?

Ben: The iphone version of X-Plane actually runs the same scenery engine as the desktop version - with much smaller, simpler scenery files. So my main work on the iphone was to port X-plane's scenery engine from the desktop to the iphone, and build scenery files for the iphone."

"Q: What are the major differences in working for X-Plane 9 desktop and X-plane for iPhone?

Ben: Memory! :-) The iphone has a lot less of it -- it's a constant battle to put x-plane on a "memory diet".

Actually, the biggest difference is that on the iphone, we control everything that goes into it - everything is pre-packaged. Every airplane, every scenery file, it all comes from us.

By comparison, the desktop sim is very open to add-ons. People add their own planes, scenery and plugins...there's a ton of great add-ons on sites like X-Plane.org. We have to program the desktop version of X-Plane to handle a huge range of airplanes created by other people.

So the primary concerns on the phone and desktop can be different. On the iphone, we need to save memory at all costs; on the desktop, we need to handle a huge range of airplanes and scenery created by other people."

"Q: How would you describe 2008 for X-Plane?

Randy: In late 2008 we also created our first X-Plane port to the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. These are amazing devices, acting not only as the computer and monitor but also as the flight controls; all rolled into one. Even we are a bit surprised at the explosive sales these products are delivering, with Apple selling well nearly 200,000 copies in the first three months."
You mean there are people who don't like freedom and opportunity?

What do the words "freedom" and "opportunity" imply? The freedom to take interesting jobs for which you "get to" travel isn't much of an opportunity if your goal is to spend every night with your family.
I almost expected the conclusion that for his own good they decided to not reward him, because it would have completely destroyed his motivation ;-)
It would be pretty easy for me to get a J-1 visa, which would allow me to work for 4 months. I had one for the summer of 2007. The requirements are that you are going back into education at the end of the summer or that you are just after finishing final year.

Would there be any other problems, apart from visa's?
Reward: Noah Weiss gets to claim this on his LinkedIn profile. http://www.linkedin.com/pub/5/987/ba3
I am not certain the writer understands the concept of a hustler.
You are so slick.
I don't think you were implying anything, but for what it's worth, Fog Creek is probably right; job ad posts always annoy me on forums.
"The banks had created value, but not as much as everyone had thought and he took advantage of that."

He didn't 'take advantage' of anything. He did his homework and reached an accurate and objective conclusion about the state of the financial system. He then provided this information to the markets by betting on what his research predicted.

The real people who were taking advantage of the situation were the counterparties on his trades who were recklessly speculating on an unsustainable bubble (with other people's money).

He was so successful doing this because at that point there were so few other dissenting voices to compete against. I don't know how you can say that it provides no value to be right when everybody else is wrong.
Straightforward saving has been a loser's game for many decades now.

18% interest was a loser's game? http://www.hsh.com/indices/6mocd80s.html Even as recently as 1989, CD rates were over 10%. In 2000, they were over 7%, and in 2007, they were over 5%. http://www.hsh.com/indices/6mocd00s.html
You don't go to college to expand your mind

Speak for yourself. I went to college to expand my mind, meet interesting people, and learn things I would never have learned by myself. I am very happy that I did so, even though I barely use any of the actual Physics that I learned, in my daily job.

I will add that I learned far more than just Physics at university. I learned that there were a lot of extremely smart people out there. I learned about my limitations (cramming only gets you so far). I learned about my abilities (few things seem that incredibly hard after a physics degree). I learned how to learn new things (there are many ways to learn). I learned how to behave in a wider variety of environments than I had been exposed to previously. I learned that even amongst very smart people, there were things I could do that no one else could. I learned that if you make the right connections, you can benefit immensely. I learned many more things, far too many to list here.

What went in was a naive, uncouth, slightly ill-mannered boy, what came out was confident, friendly, approachable go-getter.

Perhaps your university didn't expand your mind. If that is so, it is deplorable, but might be the fault of either the university, or yourself. But certainly you should not generalise your unfortunate case and assume that everyone had your poor experience of university.
Why do you tip at restaurants? Because it's the socially responsible thing to do. This allows a similar social enforcement mechanism to start improving the environment. That's a good thing, and much better than the alternative of government enforcement.
You are implying that you appreciate the freedom and opportunity to succeed - of course, who wouldn't!

However, I don't know if you can separate that from the freedom and opportunity to fail (can you have good without evil?) How much are you factoring that into your calculations for your late 40's and beyond?
Why would they need to? It could work like a pass-through payment card, like the expense tracking services use.
Archaeologist uncovers evidence of ancient chemical warfare
A Personal Statement I Never Wrote
Is there a word for when you improperly generalize your personal experience to the whole human race?

My time at college was excellent for a number of reasons, and where I am today is a direct result of decisions I made while studying there.
Invite YC: Google App Engine meetup in Palo Alto
If you want to know more about Google's platform for cloud computing, come to the App Engine Developer meetup in Palo Alto next Tuesday. Google is expected to offer pay-as-you-go service early this year, and this will remove a major obstacle to using their service for your apps.

Details and RSVP: http://web.meetup.com/116/calendar/9332524/

Topic: Hacking App Engine (or how to dig into lower level APIs and customize them to your needs)

Speaker: Jens Scheffler (author of App Engine Fan blog), http://blog.appenginefan.com/

Also Pete Koomen, Product Manager of App Engine, will talk about new features and provide an update on the platform progress.

Location: TIPS Group, 1000 Elwell Ct, Palo Alto, CA 94303

Time: 7 pm, Tuesday, Jan 20.

Schedule:
- Update on Google App Engine
- Main Talk on Hacking App Engine
- Lightning Talks (at least 3 on slate)

We'll have some time for prearranged lightning talks, so if you have a demo of something running on App Engine, drop me a line.
Interestingly enough, the founder of Intuit is actually an adviser to Mint (since before it launched). Similar to to Ellison and Salesforce.com, sans the huge ownership stake.
Another direction one could take concerning this problem is change the reward model of money-managers, similar to vesting in startups.

If fund-managers would not be paid their whole money annually, but subsequently over a longer period of time, they might be more interested in the long-term success of the assets they are managing. For example, if a fund-manager would be entitled to 10M$ for one year, he could get paid 2M$ + interests annually over five years. This way, accountability could be strengthened.
HYPick.com is now Live Start HYPing
HYPick is an easy way to share information with others about various topics. No Good vote, Bad vote system. Top stories are promoted based on participation. Real people, real interaction.
The problem is exactly as you describe.

The papers could not find a good way to monetize the valuable investigative journalism and so they've cut it, and cut it and cut it.
eh? if you find a startup that works remote ( I know PG doesn't like it, but it does save a lot of time and effort, and really opens up the number of applicants) you can avoid all the visa bullshit.
<p>
even if you want to come down here, other than visa bullshit, it should be easy for the startup company. The big problem right now is that with the economy how it is right now, I'm getting experienced and good people for intern prices, but that doesn't really have anything to do with where you are from.
Ask HN : What killed ICQ?
When I was young, I used ICQ and it was the coolest thing ever. One day, it was gone and now, it's often remembered in a sarcastic way.

I was too young to care/remember so I'm asking you : What killed ICQ?
Agreed. The Qt commercial licensing was unusual in that you had to buy it before you started coding -- any code written against the free version could never be commercially distributed, even if you later bought a commercial Qt license.

I'd been avoiding Qt precisely for this reason; I didn't want to pay for a license for experimentation, but I also didn't want to restrict my options in the unlikely case that the experimentation turned into something worthwhile.

I notice they are adding LGPL to the list of licensing options... Why would anyone continue to choose the commercial licensing option when an LGPL one is available?
"you go to college to get a good job after you graduate."

I didn't.
News startup Hubdub scores £800k investment
Slacker's iPhone music service gives Pandora a run for its money
Another thing: It's easier to get a good job/find good people at a good uni, because that's where the good people are. It's a self-perpetuating cycle.

In addition to that whole "education" thing they have going there.
Yes, and go look at annualized monthly CPI increases during those periods.
Monkey or Rooster: Annual Reviews and the Chinese Zodiac
It seems like the phrase "everyone belongs to everyone else" is about to become quite relevant.
All I remember is that one day, it was all ICQ and the next day, it was all MSN.
The commercial licensing still has value, because LGPL has the same restrictions as GPL, minus the clause that states that you can't combine GPL with licenses that have more restrictions that it.

For example, it must be possible for customers to link your application to newer versions of the LGPL licensed library. And any modifications you make to the library itself must be also licensed under LGPL or compatible.
I find that the best thing I can do in an argument like that is to shut my big mouth. I'm strongly INTJ and well, I've said some things that I regretted after the fact. Emotions are real too.
Safari RSS Reader Vulnerability
Interesting. One thing I have to disagree with is where he says philosophy isn’t logical (logic was actually invented for philosophy). Is philosophy just peoples whims and opinions then? Now a day’s everybody have big opinions about politics, sports and so on, but what’s scary is that we actually believe that after 5 seconds of thought we have found the problem or the answer (watch sports commentators for example). What’s even scarier is that sometimes we even believe that we’re the only ones who see the answer, seeing ourselves as smart ones who have everything figured out. Enough of a rant, let’s continue. Logic is the foundation philosophy. The proof is very similar to PGs proof that good art or good design isn’t subjective. A trick that most philosophers use in creating an argument is formulating it in a way that the outcome either yes or no. Like “Whether God exist”. St. Tomas Aquinas, who was probably the greatest philosopher, wrote his whole summa in this fashion. I believe the concept (and the basic logical foundation of philosophy) came from Aristotle. But anyway this shows that logic is the foundation of philosophy.

Philosophy is important because what people believe has a huge influence, either good or bad on society. A philosopher is in a way a psychologist for society, but his prime goal is to discover the truth. Philosophy also doesn’t have to be complicated and obscure (this is just a stupid stereotype). Philosophy is really just the most practical use of logic and common sense, which most people don’t have and would do well to develop. You develop good logical thought by first learning the basic theory behind it, and then developing a mental habit of continuously using your logical faculties throughout your daily life. But first we have to stop thinking we now everything and admit we know nothing, because we then become students to Logic and we reap in the dividends for the rest of our lives.
Pierre Omidyar’s Next Venture?
You can find an example of success no matter the situation. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. But you need to look at the averages. Someone who graduated from an average school and not some Ivy, someone who doesn't have connections thanks to daddy...more often than not, after graduation they'll be working at the Gap.
Junk bonds are not a pyramid scheme. Junk bonds are really high yield bonds, and they were perfectly useful and successful in unwinding the strange corporate conglomerations made during the 60's and 70's.

Even if they were a pyramid scheme, the Peltzes, Icahns, etc didn't hold the bond themselves. They would want to take over a company and sell the parts. So they would front some capital, and get other people to buy the bonds which was used to fund the takeover. So they were running the pyramid, not actually in it (if you think junk bonds were in fact a ponzi scheme).
What is "right", moving online, incorporating bloggers, interactive visuals? (legitimately curious)
Not too often you see a company go out of their way to make their product suck. IMHO, the RIAA is a bunch of dumbasses. I've heard music in YouTube remixes, on TV, and in movies where I sought out the artist and bought the album.

Here's a good example. I liked the music on this video so much I bought the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3ybGOK8PtA

(Natural Blues by Moby) I'm surprised the music companies don't view this as free marketing. Very short sighted.
Expanding of the mind is extra. Would you have gone to college, if there wasn't a big bucks career at the end of the tunnel to repay you for the investment for the $80-160K and 4 years of your life?
Depending on how good the recognition algorithm is, I expect to see an increase in the popularity of cover bands, sound-alikes, and/or royalty-free producers.
It won't. Lots of people agree with you, and demand for classroom and personal education is not likely to ever go away. Some significant restructuring of the system and how the money flows may be required, though, and a lot of wealth may get lost in the shuffle. (Colleges shutting down, buildings being left to rot, etc.)
yes you need Liberal Arts classes as extra on top, to get the full package of shaping yourself as an individual. Granted, maybe not as much as they currently make people take...right now you take more B.S. classes to round yourself, than classes that actually have to do with your major.

The problem with b.s. liberal arts degrees like Communications, is that you are majoring in the Extra. You don't have that core technical/analytical shaping of the mind through the "hard" classes. You are majoring in the fluff. I mean hell, take math for example, communications majors pretty much end their math curriculum, at the same level they ended in High School.
Annualized monthly CPI increases were over 18% for 6-month stretches? How about 5 years? There are 5-year CD's. From 1980 to 1985, the CPI went up only 30.6%. http://cost.jsc.nasa.gov/inflateCPI.html From 1989 to 1994, the CPI went up only 19.5%. From 2000 to 2004 (as late as that calculator goes), the CPI went up only 9.7%.

Right now, America, and the world, are experiencing deflation. Yet, 6-month CD's are paying over 2% interest.
Freedom != travelling and having a salaried job != being able to spend more time with family. For me, I have the _freedom_ to stay at home with my wife, and I see her and spend time with her at 2pm when she gets home from her job every day. I know others who work salaried jobs who get home at 2am.
our society has completely bought into the idea that it is

What this hell is "our society"? Is it the most common occurring opinion of a set of people magnitudes larger than the set of people you will meet in your lifetime? Our society is made up of a lot of people. If some, even most, have bought into a particular idea, it still leaves many, many people who haven't.

So even if 99% of our society has bought into the idea that education must be vocational doesn't mean that one can't go through life spending most of her time with people in the other 1%.

As I advanced through my schooling, I had more and more Renaissance-personalties as teachers. At Rutgers University, I had enough choice that I was able to pick classes almost exclusively taught by people who didn't think of my education as vocational. Sure, it took a bit of work at the beginning of each semester - adding and dropping classes based on the first couple of lectures and conversations with the professors, but it certainly wasn't some insurmountable feat. Independent studies helped a lot, also.

IMO, there's a greater pattern here - a large part of life is about avoiding the vast majority of people who focus their lives around petty nonsense.

PS - Unless you're talking about maximizing social productivity of some kind, in which case, yes, it is a shame that most people see themselves as slaves being trained to do a job. The average person would be a lot happier and productive if we were to pursue our interests for their own sake, but that's their mistake to make.
Interview with Elements: A New Kind of Twitter?
When you make 15 Billion, you probably don't care too much about the price of the house you bought last year was. Especially since you most likely don't have a mortgage.
but how do you learn. there is little meta-discussion of the voting rules.

The one or two comments of mine that have been downvoted gave me a lot of clues.
It may not be a technically impressive feature for an e-reader, but if public shaming like this causes authors to adjust their writing style, that's pretty interesting. I'm not really sure if it will (do the kind of people who read these books really care about stuff like this?) but who knows?
In that case, they really need to change their commercial licensing model. It may be hard for a hobbyist to tell if they'll need a commercial license ahead of time, but it will be even harder for a commercial company to tell if they'll eventually need an LGPL exception.
Is that why I see admin assistant jobs requiring a bachelor's degree?
You have a point, but don't forget that there are technical, analytical, and even quantitative aspects to the most fluffy-sounding fields.

It really depends on the program that you're attending. A well rounded Philosophy department will produce better hackers than a poorly-focused Computer Science department.
Optimism is the Cure for the Economic Downturn
The one concept I had while reading this was to give a bonus to everyone in the company. This would reward Noah, and avoid the morale-destroying hazard of elevating one person's contributions. If the team has "jelled" properly, benefiting your teammates should mean almost as much to you as benefiting yourself, and the example set would potentially lead others to be more forthcoming with their ideas.
PowerShell ABC's - Q is for Queues
What people forget is that capitalism is based on fear and greed. If you look at a particular way, everything is a "pyramid scheme". For example: "Why didn't people see that a company based on selling copies of music is not sustainable?" -- this may be the excuse used by everyone when most music music recording companies fail.

Any capitalist activity can be seen as a suckers game, because price is subjective. Financial markets are just a faster, larger scale version of other markets.
I've noticed I visit a certain youtube clone in my country more often lately.
good find. thanks!
How many investigative journalists do you think the NY Times employs? IIRC they have about 800 employees, so maybe 100 tops. Let's say the cost of employing them is 20M per year. Last year the NYT made 6 million on revenue of 748 million, which means their costs must be 742 million. This makes Seth's numbers roughly correct.
I'm not sure what you think the "liberal arts" are, but mathematics is definitely one of them.
Yes, Dell phone coming. But Android or WinMo?
Ask HN: Would you fund this show?
ActiveRecord.js Released: ORM for Multiple JavaScript Environments
You have numbers to back this up?
A few quarters here and there with decent real CD rates is not reflective of how people actually go about saving. You have consistently lost purchasing power if you plowed cash into savings accounts, CDs, and money markets funds.

When all factors are considered, including understated CPI figures, I believe real returns to cash in the period in the 80s you point to were not even very good. Especially when you consider the opportunity cost of your five year CD and what played out in other asset classes during that five years.