skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
In 1985 the average age of a car on the road was about 6 years. In 2012, the average age is over 11 years. This has a number of obvious implications on new-car purchasing behavior of young people:

1. It's much easier to buy a used car now since they have more years of service in them.

2. Getting a hand-me-down from a relative is possible.

3. Culturally, getting a new car is much more rare so there is less pressure to do it.

I think 3 is a huge factor. The social status a new car provides has fallen dramatically.
...and if I'm really feeling lazy I use the two finger gesture on the touchpad to scroll.
The acquirer could have the same contract clauses and incentives when directly poaching employees. More actually, since they don't have to give any money to VCs.

But if the idea is actually to hire an entire proven team to work on an internal project they are interested in, that does make a lot more sense.
Hitler? That's where you want to go in a thread about web browsers? Maybe it's time to switch to decaff.
The incremental value is entirely dependent on the person buying the car. I've owned a mercedes for 8 years and when I drive other peoples cars I go crazy because of the little things I take for granted in my car.
I love SwiftKey but don't think anything equivalent was previously available for iPhone. My wife missed Swype terribly when she switched to iOS.
Windows phone pretty much does exactly this already. It's horrid.

I genuinely think that a better solution is to buy a phone with T9 if you have input problems or like to enter stuff when not looking at it. You simply NEED a tactile interface to do that effectively.

I carry a Nokia 3330 and Lumia 710 around. The 3330 is still a thousand times easier to enter text messages into. I can use it with my eyes shut and make absolutely no mistakes. The 710 however, is painful to enter text into.
> Bikes

Fixies aren't really popular beyond the hipster demographic; while there are a lot of bikes that cost >$500 dollars, they're generally bought by serious bikers for whom the value proposition is more than worth it.

> iPhone

The only thing exorbitant to me about the iPhone is the data plan, because of how often I'm in the range of WiFi. I'd argue having a personal GPS, email client, information lookup, etc. etc. is more than worth the monthly fee -- I've been lost in the country enough times.

> RayBans

Sunglasses, unfortunately, are in a stranglehold market. You either spend $20 and get colored glass or spend $200 and get an actual product (at a ridiculous markup.)

(That being said, I've had my same pair of RayBans for 8 years. They hold up well.
I'm fifteen and have been reading HN for more than a year now, and I would have to agree. The content on HN is interesting for those who intend to make a career out of technology, not necessarily those who program solely because it's fun.
It was an observation, not a detailed analysis. This would suggest that I quickly scanned the page, came to a similarly quick conclusion, and posted about it. We might call this 'reactionary'.

It would not suggest examining the minutiae of every picture to determine whether or not they were more concerned with the female form than the event itself.

It would then stand to reason that my observation could be inaccurate. My mini-rant is still free to stand though, since I've noticed that personally, even if it's not sexually oriented.
> Compressing an already-compressed file can make it bigger due to metainfo

That's not why, that's just a reason why doing so is silly.

> the gzip algorithm isn't optimised as well for images as say, jpeg.

gzip is used in PNG.

Read the article; the reason is because he wasn't sending gzip data, just deflate data.
Many countries do respect IP laws... they just do not have software patents. For example EU countries - huge, developed market, technologically advanced with well educated people. Their start-ups used to go to the Valley because that was the best place to be for start-ups... but now when Americans managed to create such toxic anti-innovative legal environment maybe this will change.
"The Wii is winning if the only metric is pure console sales."

You may not have bought a lot of Wii games, but they are competitive on the tie ratio metric: http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/Tie-Ratio/G... Basically, on every objective metric, they are either competitive or flat-out won this round.

It takes a lot of dancing to try to claim otherwise, but a lot of people seem ready to do that dance. I'm not sure why. I don't like Apple particularly well personally, but I don't try to run around proving they aren't an extremely successful company.

Oh, and if we're going to talk console dominance, one should probably not forget that Nintendo has simply owned the portable gaming world for 12 years now, since the Gameboy came out. The only thing that has ever successfully competed with the Gameboy or DS lines are the next Nintendo model.
Love is "just chemicals" in the same way that anger is "just chemicals". The chemicals are the substrate, but to say that is not very informative. Analogously you also wouldn't say computer software is "just electrons". Beware of "nothing buttery"; reduction is a great thing, but only if we truly understand the reduction (as in, heat is movement of molecules).

Re: determinism, I expect the whole process to be non-deterministic through and through, such that say what you had for breakfast might as well have some amount of influence on your social interactions.
> I can't imagine the attention to detail to what amounts to just a game.

Game, marketing exercise, recruitment tool.
This likely varies a lot based on location, but my impression is that suburbs aren't as high-status with (some) young people as they used to be: many people who in my parents' generation aspired to owning a house+garage+car now aspire to live in the city and walk/bike/transit to work. That doesn't mean no spending, though; young people are certainly shelling out to live in San Francisco or Manhattan, even if they don't buy a car.
Culturally, getting a new car is much more rare so there is less pressure to do it.

I agree, and this isn't just for Gen Y-ers, either. Most of my Gen X friends (I guess I'm a Gen X-er, too) have no interest in purchasing new vehicles. My wife and I have owned exactly one new car (which we then sold after 6 years to purchase our camper van), and our current vehicle is ten years old. Shiny cars just aren't the status symbols they used to be.
Paralympic athletes who harm themselves to perform better
I just authenticated with Github (public info, read-only).
Acquihires doesn't have necessarily the sole purpose of hiring new employees. Take a look at Facebook buying Face.com, Face did create a technology that was interesting for Facebook, it wasn't just the employees in which Facebook had an interest on. The tech now belongs to them, and they can use it to improve their own, or even replace it. Better than that, the original Face team can now work with the Facebook's team that was working on face recognition software, cooking up new and better ways of doing that. Of course there are risks here of the teams not meshing together well, but this is all analyzed and decided upon before the acquihire.

Other than that, acquihired employees aren't necessarily interested in being hired the other way. When inside a company, you have to climb the hierarchy ladder, you won't be hired after college to just be the leader of a big team, or the CEO of the company. For the people not interested in climbing the ladder, building a startup and being acquihired is a very good way of hacking the ladder and landing right on top, or close to it. I recommend pg's essay on this ( http://www.paulgraham.com/hiring.html ) This, together with the fact you have already mentioned that these acquihired employees have proven the ability to create something, reduce the employer's risk on selecting the wrong person to do the job, making acquihiring a good investment opportunity.
Mars Rover Begins Driving at Bradbury Landing
I think it's because most startup founders are not very interested in getting hired. Hard to poach people who doesn't want to let down their team, and maybe the team is what you want anyway. Also easier to have a lock-in for a couple of years if it's tied to purchase of a company rather than just hiring somebody.

In straight consultant companies this happens a lot. Only way to grow is to hire more consultants, and it's easier to get more people by aquiring whole companies and lock in the consultants for a couple of years. Good deal for everybody if you don't work yourself to death before cashing out.
First: Gzip'ing images is worse than leaving them alone. Don't do it.

Second: Chrome always handles gzip with the correct headers.
With a more expensive gate policy, it might not be a better one :)
>I’m actually being paid $40 to install a permanent billboard in my apartment whenever I’m not actively reading. Consider that. What if a cell phone provider put banner ads in every text you sent, or if your car played audio commercials from external speakers whenever it was parked.

It's nothing like either of these analogies. It shows ads on the kindle itself, which no-one else will see unless you show it to them, and you won't see when you're using it. If you don't want to then fine - pay the $40. I don't think the amazon sales page is misleading - it shows that your kindle will be displaying a full-page ad. Frankly the ones posted aren't very different from the example.
Reminds me of peercast. Which seems to be quite dead, unfortunately.

In you FAQ it says it is cross platform, but there is only Windows software on the download page.
This article is dumb. It seems to ignore the most obvious explanations for these trends, and lumps together young adults in all socioeconomic classes and geographic locations like they're the same (they're not).

Outside of urban areas, cars are pretty much a necessity. I highly doubt that young adults in these areas aren't using cars at all, but it makes a lot of sense that they would buy used or borrow friends or parents cars over owning a new car, because low wages and unemployment tend to result in not having wads of cash on hand to throw at owning a new vehicle.

For young adults in urban areas, cars have pretty much always been a nice-to-have, but if you don't have the money for them (especially the extra for parking in urban areas), public transportation will work, even though it might not always be sexy.

Same with home ownership. Homes are the most expensive possessions out there. If you don't have the money, credit, cushy job, you can't afford one. So living at home, or with friends, or renting are the doable options, even though home ownership is still highly desired.

The experience of middle and lower class young adults is much different than their upper class peers. I imagine buying behavior really hasn't changed much for the upper classes. But the large majority in the lower classes have the greatest sway on the trends.

I find it fascinating that anyone would be baffled why these trends exist. When youth and lack of experience mean shitty jobs and unemployment, its no wonder the younger demographic aren't big spenders. If you don't have the money, you don't have the money.
I'll followup with a post on why I used the sales letter format to sell the book, but I can tell you this: it converts 3x better than the alternatives I tried.
Am I thick, or is the real solution to use "Content-encoding: deflate" when the data you're sending is a "deflate" stream, instead of claiming "Content-encoding: gzip" and crossing your fingers?

Honestly, that's like changing the extension of a .rar to .zip and asking why Windows Explorer can't open it but gnome-open can.
I swear I read this article last night and it had a different title. Would be interesting to see what the linkbait choices were.
History of Testosterone from Discovery to Production
What's the business model on this?
I'm not so sure; when you read the description for Game B it should be clear that it's odds rely on your balance, an external factor.

As that is something that can be manipulated then it isn't a major leap, I think, to the idea that combinations of the two games would produce different outcomes - and that some outcomes would be positive.

Whilst fun; I rather preferred the latter part of the post - it reminded me of a brilliant book I had as a kid with many such puzzles in it :)
Well, where exactly are they supposed to get the money to buy these things that cost tens of thousands of dollars? There are no jobs and these kids are saddled with insane student-debt bills.

I like how this article also brings up that kids of this generation are sharing living quarters. Indeed! Noticing a pattern here?

I can't help but feel that this cartoon is apt: http://studentloancrisis.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/student... . This article reeks of people with money curiously studying the habits of those without it, as if they're another species.
Insights on Building a Software Business That Makes $40,000 Per Month
Hey! If this is your startup you should try putting "Show HN:" at the start of your title--you might get a better response.

I would put up some screenshots of what your product offers... the idea is intriguing but without an idea of what you are offering I don't feel compelled to sign up. Good luck tho!
Why do these fans need such a specialized solar panel? Can't something be redesigned to take a more standard panel? Wouldn't a more standard panel be cheaper to source, and have more suppliers?
You want some kind of enterprise messaging system or message queue, then, like Rendezvous, Spread, Talend, RabbitMQ, ActiveMQ, ZeroMQ, etc.
selling?
Reporting Software Problems, Part 1: Process
Two Great Customer Discovery Examples
Being acquired by Apple, Google or Microsoft.
Fleksy team guy here.

Thanks for the feedback guys, feel free to send anything else you might have for us at feedback@fleksy.com
We want to make Fleksy as good as it can possibly be.

@fleksy on twitter.
Me too. I only use my car when I absolutely have to. My bike, however, I use every day for commuting.
Our favorite "forgotten tech"
What does it mean to be an "active" user? If I use it once a month, or even once a week while following a search, am I "active"?

I have a twitter account. I just about never "tweet", but occasionally look for information there. Mostly I ignore it. I don't know how the churn is measured, but I know a lot of people who fit into that category -- they use it, but not heavily. If something else replaced it I would barely notice.

Whereas, in my experience, many Facebook users seem much more heavily committed to Facebook, since it has updates of friends and family. (I don't use Facebook at all, so this is just an observation -- would love to see more data contrasting the two services.)
This isn't accurate. An "acquihire" is, by definition, purely about the people.

Face.com was an acquisition, not an acquihire (or talent acquisition).

As for retaining the acquired folks, you usually pay out their earning over 4 years rather than all at once. So if an acquired founder leaves after a year, the acquiring company keeps 3/4 of what they ought to have paid to that person.
The problem isn't how he raised money in the first place, it's about ongoing costs, taxes and tariffs. Kickstarter won't help with that.
You cannot poach an entire team, or even half a team, easily. The point of the acquihire for me is either to acquire specific members/leaders of a team (that wouldn't be interested by just being poached anyway) or an entire team/specific knowledge.

Sometimes a startup reach its peak and feels its the right moment to make a change. An acquihire can also lead to that.

You can search about the Sparrow acquisition (a lot has been written here about it). Another example that comes to mind for me is Google acquiring Wildfire and the team reaction when they learnt it : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ARPB7b0kIg
Haven't used SwiftKey, but from what is described in the comic, it seems that builds a Markov chain from your text.
Government of India blocks Twitter handles of journalists, right-wing groups
One word: insurance.

Rates for drivers under 25 are upwards of $200/mo in most urban areas, and that's for the utmost basic 'one-way coverage' insurance. Under one-way, if you are deemed even partially at fault in an accident, however minor, the insurance pays the other's bill only - and essentially ensures you cannot drive for the next three years as premiums quite literally skyrocket.

Anecdote from my university years: friend of mine was driving his van, had a lady sideswipe him and send him into the median, immediately crashing into a tree. She kept driving. The van incurred damage from the sideswipe. He was found 100% at fault regardless. His insurance went from an already preposterous ~$240/month to over $900. Nine hundred dollars per month - isn't that what they charge for Lamborghinis? Fully licensed, clean record for 4+ years at the time, I believe he was 21. It was over two years until the rates finally lowered to 'a more affordable' $300+/mo, which is AFAIK still what he pays.

I currently pay $250/month, one-way of course. I could drive a '95 Civic or an '08 BMW, my rate would differ ~$20/mo. The difference between dozens of insurance companies is about the same - $20 more or less. I am 24.

FWIW, bikes are not exactly feasible for over half the year in our climate (Toronto).
There is no way to turn off the voice. This app is primarily designed for visually impaired people who need that feedback.
> “In the past, housing was the main vehicle for investment, but education is also a vehicle.”

Is this why university costs more than a house now?
apr: How about simply scheduling meetings with your customers and asking them how they use your product, what they need, and how your company can help them with their goals.
>your responsibility as a person entering that building to understand the risks of being there - and refuse to enter/stay inside if you think the lack of sprinklers/fire exits is posing you a serious concern.

I'd rather read an impenetrable 10 page EULA than examine an entire building (with absolutely no expertise) for the possibility that it might kill me.

Maybe a compromise would be that the inspectors would show up, do their code inspection, then put a big sign lined in blinking red neon on every external door that says every single thing that's wrong with the building, how it doesn't care about the disabled or whether you burn to death.

Could even become trendy amongst the laissez-faire set.
The Only Kind of Product That Can Pull Off Freemium
But you still have to type! I'll take Swype every time.
I have one word for you, chromium. Feel free to build your own browser using Chromium as the base if you are worried about Google. You don't even have to market it, just use it for your own personal enjoyment!
Why so strict with the definition of the term 'aquihire'?

What I see in tech startups:
Little companies acting as labs for the big companies. In big companies, it's often difficult to develop something breaking new. There is so much infrastructure, culture and history around, that it gets increasingly difficult to think outside the box and to keep up with the latest trends. This were startups step in. With the startup, they often acquire a very specialized piece of technology and know-how. Then comes step two: Looking for ways to integrate the new toys into the productline.
Ha, that's awesome/awful.

mod_ruby did exist at one point, but I don't think it's been updated in years. http://modruby.net/en/
Getting Started: Using python-novaclient to manage Cloud Servers
It's so they can hand him over to the Americans so they can waterboard him. Easy.
We had a similar situation with an inhouse-ad on our site. The polished version performed ok, but just for the fun of testing, we switched to a rough screenshot image. It performed more than five times as good.

Just because one doesn't like it, doesn't mean it won't work. My learning was: Always, test everything.
RubyMotion Linting and Highlighting With Sublime Text
What about the users? Twitter's connectivity to other apps and websites is one of the things that make it useful.
Indeed, I agree. I'd be curious to know how common was the use of debt during that period. 5%-10% is a good return on an unlevered asset, debt could provide an additional turn - then, I don't know how the Kd and CPI was during that period.
Reliable transport is a hard problem, and a problem that TCP does a good job of. I have to add ACKs to my application layer if I write code atop telehash when I care about delivery of my datagrams? That gets hairy, real fast.
In order to get the actual text out of the app into an email, sms, or onto the clipboard you need to buy a $4.99 in app purchase.
How can you say you can drop support for IE8? Its still hugely popular (13+% of market). While I love opera (my daily browser but only 2% of market) I could see dropping support for Opera before IE8, until IE8 loses more market share.
A bit ironic for the car companies that their progress in reliability of a vehicle as it ages ends up biting them in new car sales.
> Wait, why the frik do they have 1k employees?

I'd bet a large number of those folks are sales folks pushing Twitter's various ad options.
Food allergies on the rise? (2006)
The closeout of the article is overly optimistic. Oh I know many Millennials who are "investing" in themselves. Trouble is it is not education but instead clothing, electronics, and expensive trips. I can understand why many do not want a new car or even a car, it is far easier to declare you don't want a thing than to admit you cannot afford what you want.

So there are two sides to this story.
Students Find E-Textbooks ‘Clumsy’ and Don’t Use Their Interactive Features
sadly raises hand
Sunglasses, unfortunately, are in a stranglehold market. You either spend $20 and get colored glass or spend $200 and get an actual product

I've found pretty much the opposite.

I've owned 3-4 pairs of expensive sunglasses in my life, and all but one of them was crap. I'm convinced that the price differential is for nothing but a designer name.

My favorite sunglasses ever I paid $25 for at Rite-Aid, and I liked it so much I bought another pair to keep in the car. They're polarized, the optics seem good, they're solid and durable, comfortable, and don't make me look like a madman. What else do I need?
I believe the next shift in the economy is towards an "Entertainment Economy" (we're currently in an Service Economy, or least the Western world is). Which means everything we do has to be part of some sort of entertainment or experience. Anything that is a commodity, such as car, train, plane, or bus, is no longer going to yield high profits. For example, it means companies like BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, will win out, because they no longer sell something that gets you from point A to point B, but rather they sell you the Ultimate Driving Machine™. Heck, even cycling is now more of an "experience" than a car. Cars are just plain boring to my generation.
I completely disagree with that. I will take a standard empty css file over a reset any day. Resets will end up adding so much more work.
I dunno man, stuff like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwwWqRV2RsI

Makes me think its just a matter of the younger generation not having the money to buy a car. They spend it all on smaller, indulgent purchases and fail at saving.
Lawyers are disbarred either for violating their professional duties or for committing felonies.

I don't see how that would work. A patent troll's actions are generally perfectly legal; they're exploiting structural weaknesses in the patent system (low cost of getting a patent) and legal system (high cost of defending against a patent lawsuit).
Any RDP-like solution for OSX?
Tried looking around, stumbled upon iRAPP and Aqua Connect. Both are closed, commercial, pricey solutions. Both are terribly slow, no comparison to Windows RDP. Anything better around? I don't even mention OSX Lion Screen Sharing - it is basically a VNC, stands no competition.