skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Workstreamer Gets Seed Funding to Help You Work Better
On code quality: rewrite once
All you have to do is delete your first implementation and rewrite all the code from scratch. The main reason for this is that you can focus on code quality without being constrained by the existing implementation.
I like their error message:

"Hello, you have an old version of Adobe Flash Player. To use iPaper (and lots of other stuff on the web) you need to get the latest Flash player."

I guess they are trying to say, "It's not just us that wants to depend on a big chunk of proprietary software! It's EVERYONE!"

Incidentally, since I removed Flash, the only "problem" is that ads don't work. (YouTube videos can be played externally, and the ads inside them obviously go away when you do that.)

All in all, Scribd should really degrade to HTML for those without Flash. Either generate images with gv, or extract the text like Google does.
By no means a new problem. At my last company, one project I was tangentially involved with had a 5-node VCS cluster comprised of quad-processor machines running a wide variety of apps, one of which was Oracle. Oracle could obviously only be running on one node at a time on a maximum of 4 processors... Oracle wanted paying for 20 licenses anyway.
I thought we were doing feature detection these days...
Revolution OS and Pirates of Silicon Valley
Way to stretching your 'content' beyond three words
There are also constant give/take issues attacking it: Simplicity vs This feature,

The obvious solution is to divide the software in two parts: a "framework" that takes care of storage, authentication, etc. and modules that implement features using the other part's API.
An individual out in public doesn't necessarily have a right to privacy, however there's been many cases where an individual has a right not to be photographed - in many countries this is ignored for celebrities, however I know France doesn't tolerate it; IIRC no newspaper or magazine in France is allowed to publish unsolicited photographs (taken within France) also I believe paparazzi from other countries can be arrested on re-entry to France if they took a photo in France and left to sell it overseas.

Also, there was a recent case of a man being fined £100 back home in the UK. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_ea... He took her photo without permission, and in most circumstances it would probably have been a slap on the wrist and told to delete the photo, however she was in a compromised position at the time which is why the police pressed for a fine.

I remember reading of a similar case in Canada. A man took a photograph of a girl (IIRC I think she was like 17 and in her bikini at the time) without her permission, she called the police and he was taken in. I believe the police took his cameras memory card as evidence pending trial. I don't think anything was done except the photo was deleted, but I believe the outcome would have been a lot different if he'd known she was 17 when he took the photo.

So yes, individuals in public have a right to not be photographed.
The point being that a standard format for documents is a solved problem and has been for years.
> more people = fewer resources per person.

The US could support a far higher number of people with the resources it has. This is just more incorrect zero sum thinking. Which is why, by and large, the population of the planet now is better off or at least as well off as it was 2000 years ago, when there were vastly fewer people.
Peldi, you know your app is successful when competitors are introduced as an alternative to it.
Heh, no comment! ;)
Aeron's are my chair of choice. I started using one at my job and it's amazing how much more comfortable it is than the one I have at home. I've begun actively hunting for one to get for the house, despite the prohibitive cost they're just amazing.
I have seen a great deal of wiki-phobia, even among so called techies. No matter how many wikis I deploy, this inevitably occurs. Here's my take on the problem:

- Wikis require a heroic effort to keep organized. Most people, when faced with creating a new category, or even a new page would rather send an e-mail and forget it. The fact that you have to not only post something, but also decide where it belongs makes the job of posting feel much harder. "You mean I have to categorize my content before I post?"

- Wikis require more cognitive effort on the part of the poster. With e-mail or a message board, you can essentially dump your brain and hit send. With a wiki, you have to integrate your post, not only into the organization, as I mentioned above, but also into an existing post(s). "You mean I have to read and understand other content before I post?"

- Most wiki markup is based on the ideas behind the semantic web and should remain readable and understandable even in markup mode - unfortunately, people don't like to cede control of the way their document looks. I have seen non-techies spend hours jumping through HTML/WYSIWYG hoops simply to achieve a particular look - not realizing the nightmare of editing such a page (think word generated HTML pasted into the page). "You mean I have to sacrifice my format before I post?"

- Finally most wiki software doesn't have a easy to use e-mail notification system. Many times you have to manually "watch" a page instead of just watching the whole wiki or a whole category. When you do get an update e-mail - you have to actually go to the wiki - no hitting reply - this again interrupts cognitive flow for a lot of folks. "You mean I have to keep track of all the changes myself?"

I love wikis, and certainly think that they can increase productivity - but they require a greater cognitive effort on the part of the poster, and a lot of folks are unable to make the short term sacrifices to achieve the long term gain a wiki can offer.
I'm in a very similar situation.

We use Microsoft's Enterprise Information Management at my work. It was rolled out about a year ago and is now primarily used as a replacement for storing files. I started playing around with it and discovered, to my delight, that there's a built-in wiki feature.

There's a huge place for it in our daily operations. It could save thousands of hours in the long run if we got only a few people to contribute. The problem is that second part: How do you get people to contribute?

Here's my strategy:

1. Privately create lots of stubs beforehand along with an intelligent structure for linking them together. Also add tons of how-to articles (because for non-technies, obvious isn't so obvious)

2. Add pages that show how people could actually benefit from it

3. Brief our management, stressing the benefits, and ask for them to push it within their organizations

4. If all goes well, people will slowly start adding information. If even 5% of the employees contribute, it will quickly reach a tipping point and then explode in popularity.

5. I'll continue to add and edit articles on a daily basis for the next few months regardless of the initial reaction

6. Gradually make it the go-to point for certain types of information, forcing people to use it and see how useful it can be

I'm at step #2 right now. I'll have the opportunity to brief the management in about three weeks.

Also, I'm going to call it a "collaborative notebook" as that encompasses how people can benefit from it much more than calling it a wiki or knowledge base.

The thing I've found is that even just telling people what I'm doing in basic terms is unclear. They hear "wiki" and go "wiki wiki wiki" and then nod their heads when I'm explaining things to them.

What I've realized is that its not their fault if they don't understand what you're doing. Its your fault for not explaining it to them in a way that makes it clear.

We'll see what happens... wish me luck.
My choice would be The Ninth Gate starring Johnny Depp....there is no hacking in it, but it's interesting to see him piece together the nine pictures from three books...
Doesn't Hell.com implement something like this? it seems similar in appearance, but I'm not well read on the code being used here or there. Just always liked the Hell.com FAQ, interesting format.
How would they be able to display plain text/images without flash? I'm not following. Is that even possible???
Global warming is 'irreversible'.
this looks pretty cool, might be worth giving it a try next time I build a fairly small site.
The fact that we need to ask "what" explains "why."
Mozilla to fund open-source web video tech development
I managed to see Larry David this way. He played a club (OK, the only club) in Provo, UT.
You can also try to release as much info as possible to flood patent trolls with prior art.

I know of other game developers who essentially have public domain game engines / helper libraries. Aside from sharing, the rationale is that they can re-use their code on the job, without having to re-solve problems they've already solved.
Good read. This reminds me of the "start with the end in mind" philosophy that David Allen espouses in Getting Things Done. His point is that your brain is much better at starting from the end and working your way back, though that's not the way most people are taught to tackle abstract tasks.

Most people jump in and start "planning" rather than stopping to think about what their goals are and then planning accordingly. I'm guilty of this at times too, especially when it comes to site design, so it was nice to read this article as a refresher on how to do it right.
Ask HN: Why do Amazon gift cards sell for more than face value?
ICANN ponders ways to stop scammy Web sites
Totally worth the price of admission. Every linux dev, especially c/c++ programmers, should be required to read this post. Once a year.
How to handle lots of talk, few skills in an IT boss?
I use this technique all the time, a quick throwaway prototype to get something working and the basics figured out, then sit back think about how it should be done properly and redo it bearing in mind the possible traps you missed the first time.
the fckeditor plugin handles this problem, we use it at our business and people seem to like it.
Windows 7 vs Mac OS X side-by-side comparison
Tom is awesome, GitHub is awesome, RubyFringe was awesome. Enough said.
Why open video matters, and what we are trying to do about it
To add another anecdote, one of my most productive programming periods was when I was eating a single (small) meal per day at 6pm.
Interesting. I expected Gmail to hold the majority share, rather than AOL/Hotmail/Yahoo. I guess I just spend too much time on the internet.
It's not that simple. You need a format that can represent any kind of document. Good luck trying to convert a powerpoint with complex shapes and background images into a RTF. There are only two formats that can really do that, while being viewed inside a browser - swf and images.
It's due to a Microsoft cashback programme that rewards users for locating ebay items using Live search.

https://cashbackaccount.search.live.com/cashback/welcome.asp...
They all do, even the bad ones. Next up: Innovate like Tiger Woods by practicing on a driving range.
If every sector of the economy were equally unregulated, this might work. But the problem is that as a programmer

...when I send my kid to school, I have to deal with a member of the teacher's union
...when I need a prescription, I have to deal with a member of the AMA
...when I get sued, I have to hire a member of the State Bar
...when I want a drink served to me on the plane, I have to deal with a member of a flight attendants union
...when I pay my taxes, I don't get to use the most efficient system - I am obligated to use the 50K+ page US tax code
...but when any of these people want to hire a programmer, they can bring someone in on an H1B

If you can find me a free market, let me know, because I would genuinely love to participate. But until then, if the US subjects Americans who become engineers to much more intense competition from foreign workers than they'd experience in other fields, we must not be surprised when young Americans prefer to become lawyers or mortgage brokers.

This seems to be the choice we've made as a nation. However, I see this as an (unintended?) consequence of government policy, rather than a natural occurrence in free labor markets.
Dividends are taxed at 15% through 2010 which is usually lower than your tax rate, though not always. This, of course, assumes that the dividen tax rate isn't isn't raised by the new administration. And yes, the dividends that you are receiving have already been recognized by the corporation as profit and taxed at its tax rate. Your dividends are taxed twice.
is there a second page or am I missing something?
Unigo Launches with the help of 300 Interns
Pattern Languages for Interaction Design
Err... services are localized, other professions aren't, at least to the same degree. That's part and parcel of the job one chooses to do. If people aim to become lawyers because they don't think they can compete, that's their business. Maybe some bright American engineer will find a way to outsource lawyering to India:-)
Do you download it every time you post Youtube links on your blog?
They should get WebKit running in that Flash widget. Now that would be seriously redundant.
Because editing wikis is an excruciating experience. Just look at the edit page... it's a textarea with strange icons above it, and the most fucked up formatting you've ever seen.

I'm technically inclined but I shutter at the idea of having to write anything in a Wiki, because the syntax is so unintuitive and annoying. I seem to recall adding line breaks, and it NOT showing line breaks on the preview. It was one of the use user experiences I've ever had: some fucktard decided that hitting "enter" wasn't enough to add a "<br>" to the content, so I have to go and dig through documentation to find out how to do it. Pisses me off thinking about it.
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Agreed. Wiki syntax is a turn off.
Here's the original:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=451733
The weird thing is that they only did a web version considering the fact that your income distribution is so heavily desktop biased.
Branding problems: the app's name is spelled two different ways (iPlotz / Iplotz) on its own homepage.

Also, 'plotz' is Yiddish for 'vomit'.
There are some benefits to digital content that might help work against the "black hole" effect:

1. It's much easier to create copies of digital documents. Looking at my own data that I consider important, many photos I've taken of my family exist on probably dozens of machines around the world belonging to relatives and friends. Of course this also happened in the pre-digital age, but I don't think to the same extent.

2. It's easier to create digital content in the first place, so there will be more of it. How many photos were snapped during the construction of, say, Taipei 101 as compared to the construction of the Empire State building? I don't know, but I'd guess orders of magnitude more. So, even if many are lost and many are of low quality, there is still likely to be some preserved historic record.
I find it hard to take design advice from a blog post that is barely readable.

edit: I'm using FF2... site looks great in IE, though.
I don't want to program in English...

When you tell someone to do something, do you lament the fact that you can't tell them in a programming language, detailing every single step precisely? When I talk about programming in English, it is not the kind of "programming" that you're used to. It's obviously subject to all the ambiguities and interpretation problems that humans have, yet somehow we manage to get by pretty well with it.

I didn't think I would have to actually explain that. Do you want me to put it to you in a programming language?
We should protect people, not jobs. Basic health care for everyone, retraining opportunities, improve education, stuff like that, rather than trying to keep hard working people out.
Isn't this what refactoring is ? As you mature as a coder, you will be able to write good code for certain standards which need not be thrown away. So having a look at the code and fixing the crappy portion will be more productive than throwing away the whole implementation. I think whole rewrite rule is useful when you start working on a new technology... but if you are using a stack for considerable amount of time, then refactoring is the way to improve the code quality.
Female Producers in Saudi Arabia: "Did you have to wear the black thing?"
That explains why they are selling; Why would anyone buy them at more than face value?
Sounds like it's an OLAP tool built on Excel/SQLServer
Ten sci-fi devices that could soon be in your hands
>The problem isn't the idea of the wiki. It's the implementation.

We use Atlassian's Confluence. Confluence is a nice collaboration tool built on wiki concepts. Us techies used a wiki prior but Atlassian's almost-a-wiki-but-not-as-scary-as-one is now so popular that it is a major issue when Confluence is down. It is pretty much company-wide now and updated almost every minute.
If the server is ever exploited then they have all your revision history (including anything accidentally checked in that you didn't rebase(?) out) but you do have the added advantage of being able to quickly check for any modifications to any of your code. My repo's follow a /public /logs/ /app so with git (over svn) none of the repo is exposed.
"[T]urn out to have"? Hasn't Mark Pilgrim always been this way?
It might be too late to stop the pervert from taking the picture, but it is not too late to summon the authorities and prevent him from fleeing. (This is the Japanese use case for this law. I have to assume the American one is similar, right?)
According to the comments on that article, the people still don't understand the basics of virtual memory.

"Great article! / Quite shocked to know that windows takes double the kernel memory compared to Linux."

"I’m wondering, though, why does the kernel space consume 1gb? That seems like a lot.."
There's a lot more detailed information at http://www.scribd.com/jobs .

The most important thing is being good at your specialty - either rails or flash (or for whatever position you interview), and being knowledgeable in CS algorithms. Having cool side projects that you can demo is a huge plus.

There's a lot of startup-minded people inside the company, so any prior startups is a bonus.

Also, pillow dodge ball and razor scooter racing skill always helps :)
Oh and BTW, I am actively working on a hosted version of Mockups...give me a couple of months. Email me at peldi@balsamiq.com if you'd like to be invited to the alpha/beta (I can't accept everyone, so make your email convincing!) :)
I don't understand where you are coming from.

TANSTAAFL!

We bought a licence and use it to write our product. It works great!

And "community"? There's a huge, active and enthusiastic community!
Software patents often leave zero room for innovation. Let's say you patent pushing email to a hand held device AND pulling email from a hand held device what are the options? Showing a screen shot of another device that's not hand held? It's still either push or pull. etc.
You are right. Refactoring can be "the way" to improve existing code. This technique is meant to improve the quality of the first implementation. Think about the first source control submit.
Or more importantly, what's your plan for profit? Do you make any? Do you ever plan on making any? Will I be boxing up my stuff in 6 months? Why take founder risks with drone pay?
Not all wikis are that way. I regularly share stuff with non-techies via Jottit. e.g. http://jottit.com/n3yhk
Might as well ask why Microsoft Hotmail seems like it will never support IMAP (it supports SSL Pop3 but if you read a message in another mail client, it's a nice modern convenience to have that message not show up as unread in another client).
Email newsletter advertising app Hey Amigo for sale on eBay
Using PageRank to assess scientific importance
My first thought was money laundering, but maybe that's just crazy :-p. If you were to launder money through gift cards though, Amazon would be the right choice.
I've done both: distributions/dividends and payroll. For years I calculated payroll on my own. I highly recommend spending the $60/month to use ADP's payroll service. It pays for itself -- even with a tiny company -- in saved time and automatic form W-2, form 941, form 940, and state unemployment reporting. Unlike other services I've looked into, ADP also indemnifies you against any mistakes made with the IRS, which is a HUGE selling point. If you've ever received an IRS penalty notice for a late report, you know what I mean!

As a side note: It is disappointing that our government's laws are so burdensome that private companies exist just to help citizens comply with the laws.
My guess would be scammers trying to get a free gift card. Who wouldn't enthusiastically send a $75 gift card to someone willing to pay $80 for it?
0. You clearly already have a gmail account.

1. Search your mail using a query of: "pdf has:attachment".

2. Select a thread, and click the "View" link for the PDF attachment.

3. Bask in its glorious presentation, with selectable text, using naught but javascript and images.
I don't think "Eat not to satiety" became a cultural tradition in Benjamin Franklin's homeland.
MIT’s Introduction to Algorithms, Lectures 17, 18 and 19: Shortest Path Algorithms
Yes, I entirely agree with doing this, especially if you get requirements while you're working. In college, I was working on a site that I received piecewise requirements, and one requirement would cause me to rewrite one module that would cause conflicts with others. Once I was satisfied that I had all of the requirements, I simply rewrote everything almost entirely from scratch.

So yes, its best to try to write it correctly the first time, but its ok to rewrite it a second. After that, you should probably look as to what you're doing wrong.
I can add yet another approach to your list, the one that we've developed for trustedones.com (a trust-based social networking app).

Basically, we mimic the word-of-mouth recommendation model. The people you trust the most, are those you know well - yourself, friends, their friends, and then all trusted ones (the wisdom of the crowds).
You build your own network of people you trust, and quickly slice and visualize information.

Here are a few links that you may find interesting. We're still tweaking stuff, so let me know if you have any thoughts on what we can do better.
http://arnox.trustedones.com (my page)

http://maps.google.com/?q=http://www.trustedones.com/feeds/g... (all of my local recommendations on a map)

http://www.trustedones.com/topic/restaurant-local/listing/bo... (sample recommendation)
They needed the change so that they could kill the insufferable profile-widget apps.
Amazon press conference next Monday: I can haz kindle too?
It's funny you mention that. In flash, text can be formatted with simple HTML markups for styling (tags like <bold>, etc..). It also uses CSS styling for components, although it's a fairly limited form of CSS.

The AIR runtime already has an HTML component*. All Adobe would need to do is stick it into the flash runtime and you could make it work with Flex :)

http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/langref/mx/controls/HTML.ht... )
Maybe it's also the psychological thrill of winning an auction? Less-likely so, but possible.
In what sense are academic publications more a crapshoot than patents? I hope you don't mean that because they might be rejected! That would completely convince me of Carmack's correctness.
The 5 Steps to a Great Startup Idea
Silicon Valley Wants to Stay On the Road to Prosperity
That graph is broken:

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/us_20th_century_chart.ht...

If government is spending 40% of the GDP then taxes are around 40% of the GDP.