skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Ignoring the silly, uninformed arguments (i.e. newspaper readers "have never paid for the content")

I'm in agreement with you about the piece in general, but this specific point isn't silly. Newspapers readers haven't ever paid for the content: the advertising has always paid for that. If readers were footing the bill for the content generation, a copy would cost $10. It's this fact that also allows freesheets to prosper, when the reader pays for nothing at all.

I'm surprised at you rejecting that. It's usually the uninformed who think readers pay for the content.
Indeed, I thought the same thing (re: your code snippet).

Even better, assuming you _really_ need to get the value for a random key out of the hash, might be:

class Hash
def random
self[self.keys.sort{rand}.first]
end
end

...

myhash.random

This doesn't require activesupport, just for comparison.
Right you are, but you'll find that even though you've got the technical and design chops to blow the current systems out of the water, the sales cycle for these large corporations are pretty long.

Part of the problem is that when things cost beyond a certain amount they need approval. With approval comes delays and red tape. You'll have to have some sort of pricing and buy-in strategy for you to be able to get the large company to buy your stuff if that's the case.

If you can manage that, then by all means, go kick ass.
Seconded on all things real estate. This is more of a legal/social problem than a technical one at this point. Websites like zillow.com make a real estate agents role largely obsolete, yet they still try to command a huge commission on every sale. Another poster above mentioned Title Insurance as well.

I suspect over the next 5-10 years we will see major changes in this industry. Huge savings to home buyers & sellers are available if the bureaucracy and traditions can be broken and replaced with a more consumer friendly system.
Couldn't there be created a hypervisor OS that translated diverse drivers to a single, unified API, and did nothing else (basically running the VM, in kernel space, without scheduling.) I could see Linux stripped down to perform this task--having all computers appear to all operating systems as the exact same hardware might push some distinct advantages along with it. For example, a network is a network is a network; it would be the hypervisor worrying about if it was a wi-fi one or a cell modem or whatever, and then providing a clean API for any additional features one might have over the other (connecting to APs for wifi.)
Actually, picturing this further, it would be perfect if the hypervisor exported all its APIs over 9P. Any extra features would be immediately discoverable.
Stocks Slide as New Bailout Disappoints
"keeping up with relatives"

I've needed something for keeping up with friends, since I don't have many relatives. While fb news feeds tell me what's going on with my friends ON fb, the only out-of-band reminder I have is just birthdays.

I thought about this for a long time, and I need it. Problem is, I'm not sure if anyone else really does. And even if they do, people might not admit to using it, which makes for a distribution problem.

Thoughts?
I guess I'm asking, where is the evidence that the Fed was close to not being able to fulfill its duties? The story reads to me --- and what do I know? of course --- as "The Fed saw a problem, tried Plan A, and when that failed, used Plan B to solve it".
That sounds like a great idea, but again, convincing businesses to join in and participate enough to reach that critical mass needed for a service to allow the reverse-auction-from-the-6-places-closest-to-me kind of deal can be difficult.

I don't know how your experience talking to local business owners has been, but mine is that a surprisingly high number of local businesses are small shops who are not techie enough to even care to have a semi-decent brochure website.

I suppose that idea would be a lot more feasible in a place like Tokyo, though. These days, they have those 2D barcode scanners on cellphones and all.
Micropayments - It Is Time
People need to get over free.
It seems ridiculous that using two fingers on a screen can be patented. I would think that the general public would agree.

I've thought that a great strategy for Palm would be to get sued by Apple. Shouldn't that tarnish Apple's great image?
Avadhany [...] adds, "it is a completely new paradigm of damping."

The article neglected to mention the similar Bose [Amar G.; MIT 1951] system, which also generates electricity: http://www.bose.com/learning/project_sound/bose_suspension.j...
Any recommendations for a startup lawyer in Toronto?
Also, what sort of business type would you recommend in Canada?
* The other 95% is that the Silicon Valley, VC-for-everyone corporate culture has infected media,*

I think your over applying the extent of Silicon Valley's effect on the thinking of managers around the world. I don't want to go on about the underlying truth. But basically whatever newspapers were making money from, they can't make money from it an more. Not as much anyway.

Papers get competition from blogs & Facebooks & whatever. People's taste & such is changing, but that's not the centre of gravity. Classifieds are no longer in print. Newspaper ads sell for less. That's it. it's not that complicated. Think of newspapers as grain farmers. The price of grain has dropped. We can speculate why (it's got something to do with online media). We can complain that those going out of business made the truly great grain & all our pasta will taste like crap from now on. But that's all fluff.

Papers sell ads. They are no longer as valueble.
How is this operation O(1)? In the worst case, in a table with 4096 buckets and 1 entry, and assuming you "color" the buckets or track them somewhere else, you spend 4096 lookup operations getting the key. In reality, as implemented here, the algorithm doesn't even necessarily terminate.
I am in the Django camp, but I am still interested in using ActiveMerchant. Anyone have ideas what the best way to use both would be?

Perhaps one approach would be running a Ruby instance internally, dedicated to exposing ActiveMerchant functionality.
Suzanne Dingwall Williams is highly recommended by the Waterloo community. I haven't dealt with her first-hand.

http://venturelaw.blogspot.com/
A birthday reminder? The guy who made Bebo also ran a birthday reminder service which he has since returned to. According to a TechCrunch article last year, it makes $4M/yr in fees.

Back in the dot-com boom, the startup I worked for built a similar service. It was very popular. In fact, it was so popular we... shut it down to work on a sort of web-based ERP framework. WHOOPS!

But yeah, there's probably room for another birthday reminder service.

http://www.birthdayalarm.com

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/11/whats-next-for-bebos-fo...
The fact that we never heard of ConnectU but only facebook if they didn't file a law suit made me also think they probably would have failed.
yeah i hear what you are saying.. my takeaway from a quick read was that it was a timing thing, as in if someone didn't move when they did we would have had a problem..
SitePoint : The Bushfire Relief Sale
Whee New numbers on social network usage
Actually I think the front page would be marginally more interesting at the consequence of many more stories going unnoticed. I'm also not convinced that it is possible for there to be 24 times more stories -- is there really that much relevant news out there? With 24 times more users I think we would see 5-6 times more submissions.
Kindle's New Challenger Brings E-Books to iPhones
The Obama administration has, according to Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic, already set a sort of record for number of cabinet/subcabinet appointments pushed through in ~20 days. Apparently, appointments usually pick up steam starting in March, after the budget is taken care of in Congress.

Presumably, the CTO is pretty low on the list of priorities compared to many of the other positions (like HHS) that remain unfilled.
It hasn't before so why would it tarnish them now?
Will the Downturn Reinvent Venture Capital?
Jon is one of the best VCs I have ever met - an insightful post from him on early stage investments
Whenever I see anything this over the top, I can't help but picture it being written by Alex Vayner.
Rails Deployment and Automation with ShadowPuppet and Capistrano
Don't mistake this comment as me trying to make this thread a political flamewar.

I agree with you that technologies used by government are ripe for disruption -- and in my opinion the Senate and Geithner today pretty much guaranteed that 'back on track' will be years, if not decades, away. So this really is a good, maybe vital, area to create tools that improve efficiency.
I don't understand why you think multi-touch is obvious or unpatentable. Prior to the iPhone, were multi-touch consumer touchscreen devices well-known?

To answer your second question: No, among Apple's customers and prospects, a patent lawsuit will tarnish Palm, not Apple.
You bootstrap by ripping off yelp to get users.

While you're building this traffic, you're investing in systems that let businesses advertise on your channel (handwavy here. Twitter clone? Something to hook inventory records into? I don't think the reverse auction comes until later).

Then you find locations that get a lot of search traffic, figure out the businesses at that spot that would benefit most from it, and show them the numbers. Get just one to sign up (FooCorp), and then add a demo to your roadshow that shows the competitors exactly how many folks are being told that FooCorp is selling that widget, and ask them why they think they aren't selling as many of their own as they'd like. Wash, rinse, repeat.

You don't have to get every mom-and-pop to sign up, just target who and where you think will pay.
most likely they have a contract that lists exactly who they can sell those shares to and when, with the 'who' being facebook in a large number of cases.

Let's hope for them that blabbing about the deal isn't one of those, but since this is essentially 'damages' they may have had some leverage in the negotiations.
> Non-depository institutions (like the surviving investment banks) would be forced into bankruptcy.

Forced by whom?

Banks are required by govt law to have more assets than liabilities, but many institutions and individuals owe more than they have to no ill effect.

In the short-term, cash flow is the only thing that matters and even that is under some control. A bank can "simply" refuse to pay money that it doesn't have.

Yes, there will be consequences, but later, giving the bank time to do something useful.

However, current govt reserve requirements don't allow that.

Yes, I know the reason behind such requirements. My point is that they make certain bad situations worse and it's not clear that such amplification is required for the claimed benefits.
As a long time lurker, the reason I even fit in that category is because I don't submit stories but rather enjoy reading the conversation.
You may be referring to something different, but Facebook was exempted from the SEC rule that requires companies with more than 500 shareholders to report their financials publicly (so a public company, but not publicly traded).

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/21/sec-gives-facebook-the-...
Find startups you like and email them asking if they want an intern.
What criteria are you using to determine what can and cannot be patented?
Note to analysts: If you remove all the features from the iPhone, it can almost be free
So it's $65 million if you believe that Facebook is worth $15 billion.

I don't. Why should anyone?
Sirius XM Prepares Bankruptcy Filing
Do you think the $500 million Howard Stern contract was worth it?
The development of handwriting recognition for Windows 7
> The primary requirement is a 'smarter grid'

The grid doesn't have to be all that smart. It just needs to tell folks when the peakers are being turned on and off.

And, folks need to be compensated for reacting to said on/off.
> Prior to the iPhone, were multi-touch consumer touchscreen devices well-known?

It doesn't matter if anything was well known, multi-touch simply isn't new technology:

http://www.billbuxton.com/multitouchOverview.html
Well, you won't talk to hundreds of applicants after the initial text-only review. And to talk to rest - in my opinion - could be much more valuable in the sense of not putting people into uncomfortable position, if only its not the exact goal of that approach.

Now these rejected will start asking themselves how bad they had been presenting.
i dont know who is the best ... u may talk to all and then decide ...

http://www.cognitionllp.com/
http://www.venturelawassociates.com/
http://www.hyndmanlaw.com

also read how to select an attorney @
http://blog.blist.com/2007/09/10/startup-advice-selecting-an...

edit: u may also have a look at VENTURE LAW LINE : http://www.venturelawassociates.com/index.php?option=com_con...
Paul, this was another good essay.

However, I have to fundamentally disagree with the idea that identity makes one "stupid." When I was a teenager, I had very little in the way of identity, but I was very stupid. :-)

There are many parts of a person's identity. Some are chosen, while others are factual. I can't change who my parents are, what my race is, or where I was born. But they do make up who I am and who you are. We cannot ignore them, and trying to do so causes other problems later in life.

Chosen aspects of one's identity are neither bad nor "stupid." Rather, the reasons people incorporate and cling to certain identities may be, and are the root of the problems you describe.

Example: Atheism vs. Religion.

Electing to identifying with one's self with either of these groups does not [inherently] make one smarter, dumber, stronger, or weaker. What's important is _why_ one chooses to identify with that group.

Does one choose religion to fill a hole in their life or perhaps a fear of death?

If so, then having that identity (hopefully) adds value to, and makes them happier; that's fantastic! But that reason also means when another - opposing identity - challenges their religion, they are threatening that happiness. Defense ensues.

Does one choose atheism in order to feel smarter or to be different/non-conformist?

If so, then when someone with a religious identity tries to talk with them about it, their intellect or uniqueness is suddenly threatened. Defense ensues.

Yet there are many people who have identified themselves as religious, and others as atheist, who are perfectly capable of having very pleasant conversations about life, the universe, and everything, together, for many hours. Why is that? Because their identity wasn't chosen to fill a void, to provide direction, or convince them of something. Instead, it was because that is what made the most sense to them. They are still excited to learn more, and are capable of stating "I don't know [everything]."

Identity is a very _good_ thing. Just be sure you choose your identity for the right reasons.

Jeff M.
Don't need to, in Smalltalk you can just say ...

hash keys atRandom
I couldn't agree with this more. I work with Blackboard's software on a daily basis and it is a aweful, unstable mess. The only problem is that Blackboard seems intent on sueing any competitors out of business using patents (see desire2learn)
No it won't. CEO salary is an expense. Dividends come after expenses.

FWIW, CEO earnings exploded because of a restriction on CEO salary. If that's a surprise....
hey,were actually working on this at Ramamia.com for keeping up with your family . The goal is to take care of that and be a simple communication utility. Some of the ideas above will be incorporated. Email me if you want to chat: j@ramamia.com
Out of the two examples he gives, you found that one to be more objectionable? How about...

According to my source, in addition to multi-touch, the other feature that Apple objected to was using a standard headphone jack. Apple apparently owns a patent on controlling software using buttons connected by a standard 3.5mm headphone jack (at least for music and video playback controls), and would not grant Google a license to the patent. Hence the G1’s use of a proprietary ExtUSB port rather than a standard 3.5mm headphone jack.

Oh, really?
This is so obvious it hurts. Another thing: why is the NYT for example unable to monetize it's huge traffic? I don't get this. There are people getting rich with a lot less traffic to their sites.
Pretty interesting stuff.. it's a pretty stunning demonstration of neural networks and related algorithms.
I find it amazing at just how broadly this kind of technology can be applied.. from speech and handwriting recognition.. to breaking captchas. Awesome stuff. :)
Someone else posted here a good reference: http://www.paulgraham.com/reesoo.html

The OO paradigm is a parcel of a lot of different things. When it was released, Java hit a nice sweet spot of these with the developer community.
Unfortunately, the panic was in large part caused by secrecy, as people realized that many "money good" assets had actually been losing value for over a year, and that the government had been colluding to try to keep anyone from ever finding out.

Look up "level 3 assets".
This is an ooold problem, and I don't mean organizational, but people confusing the download link. I think I did it first at least 5 years ago. Still, the GP should be downmodded at least to a pale gray, maybe -2, and stay there. An honest mistake is still a mistake, and it's our job to mark it clearly as such.

As far as the project being disorganized, I'd much rather think this comes from the old days when men were men, documentations came in man pages and people were ashamed of not RTFM. I know I held my head down for at least a week after that.
Agreed. Gumtree.com is much bigger in the UK than Craigslist, bizarrely due to the foreign community initially - lots of south africans, antipodeans got on gumtree when it first took off.
There was an article in 02138 magazine a few years back. It's offline now, but I got some of it here:
edit: found the mirror:
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=24402

original:
http://www.02138mag.com/magazine/article/1724.html
AFAIK, none of the add-on replication mechanisms you mentioned can guarantee total consistency across multiple database backends: OIDs are not replicated, and there are no hard guarantees against external modifications taking your databases out of sync.

As an alternative, you can use Point-In-Time-Recovery (PITR), also known as "log shipping", to transfer copies of your write-ahead log files from a master server to a warm standby. PITR allows you to have an exact replica of your master database, modulo whatever delay you incur in the log transfer itself.

For those who haven't aren't familiar with write-ahead logs, they function much like the logging in modern filesystems: changes are written there before being flushed to disk, so any incomplete transactions can be replayed from the logs if the server goes down unexpectedly.

Of course, the log-shipping method doesn't allow your secondary server to serve as a read-only replica as MySQL's built-in replication does. Largely for that reason, (depending on your workload and requirements, of course) MySQL may be a better choice. However, I've found Postgres PITR to be an excellent option for low to medium-traffic databases in those cases where I'm willing to trade the possibility of the loss of a few seconds' updates for guarantees that my DDL, object identities, and constraints will be maintained consistently between my replicas.

For those who are curious, the PostgreSQL docs online have a decent introduction into the use of write-ahead logs for replication and backups:

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.2/static/wal.html
Besides shouldn't the idea by itself of taking a single touch input device and making a multiple touch input device be the very definition of obvious. How they actually built the multi touch input device is a different matter.
Of course it does: this is Industry 2.0!
Apple apparently owns a patent controlling software using buttons connected by a standard 3.5mm headphone jack.

Really, now? Really?
> A Tribe Called Quest ("People's Instinctive Travels & The Paths Of Rhythm", "The Low-End Theory")

Classic. High quality.

> De La Soul ("Three Feet High & Rising", "De La Soul Is Dead")

Fantastic.

> Jurassic 5 ("Jurassic 5", "Power In Numbers")

Great quality and an interesting style.

> Public Enemy (eg "Shut Em' Down", "Can't Truss It", "Give It Up"). Chuck D has attitude. The real kind.

Public Enemy is really the precursor to a change in rap. Their style, attitude, branding just seems so much stronger than anyone before them.

>Somewhat rap-ish: Spearhead & Michael Franti's solo work too... and some old-school classics like:
Funky Four + 1 - That's The Joint (rap music's pure essence right there)
Spoonie G - The Monster Jam
Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message.
And maybe just for the heck of it, The Fatback Band's "King Tim III, Personality Jock", where it all started.

Oh man you are dating yourself with some of these classics. I would say they were great for their time and really established the genre. However, because of this I don't know if you can tell someone today just getting interested in rap to listen to them and understand how different and new and unique they were. You almost have to listen to a ton of rap and then go back to the roots.
But if that minority is big enough to sustain a business that delivers journalism of a certain quality? Oh, they had to move offices to another building, where the rent is less expensive...
Poking Facebook (Facebook v. ConnectU background info - mirror of 02138 article)
Grant Application Form Information
Federal grants are funding for business, education and even living expenses from the US government. Each year, the government gives out billions of dollars in grants to individuals and businesses.
FAAG!
You mean like in the original Asymetrix Toolbook, the earlier versions of Macromedia Director or Future Splash? I would say: yes.
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Just wanted to throw something out there as food for thought/discussion starter.

In my opinion, the current argument that people demand free content and will not pay seems to me to be a lot like early Internet (even pre-internet BBS) users who said the Internet wasn't the place for business. That obviously has proven wrong. I think the "people will not pay when they can find it free" theory will prove to be wrong too.
>> handwavy here

hehehe, I wish start-ups worked like that :)

I did have a client in the past with a similar business model (much more low tech though), but when I really think about it, it basically boiled down to how good the sales reps were.

While that model may work if you are an extrovert who loves chasing people around town all day, it doesn't quite fit with my particular resource allocation roadmap :/
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Wokay, that's a pretty credible response. =)
Would you say Objective-C has it "right"? In other words, should a beginner to OOP (me) learn Smalltalk or Objective-C (first)?
The finite nature of our existence
Interesting Point, I will be funding this myself, the 2 weeks I would use is time to get a alpha product ready! So when I am setting up rest of the business I have something to show for!

Thanks for your comment
China Needs U.S. Guarantees for Treasury Bond Holdings, Yu Says
Thanks for your comment, I agree the Just do it mentality is going to be my driver... not to mention energy drinks and high focus by Kelly Howell - great brain sync I use to wake myself up, and keep focussed on the tasks at hand
Huckleberry Finn and Zombies
I'm thinking this will become a trend...
The best summary I've heard is:

Rails -> If you know Ruby

Django -> If you know Python

I've been using Django for a while now, but the more we evolve our site, the less of Django we are using. Luckily, the separation of concerns thing really does work and we are able to replace components as we need to.