skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I've never used SnapChat, but hypothetically if you wanted to limit data going back to facebook here's one potential approach.

For this example, let's say you have an app that you want to use facebook for account creation and friend finding, but not necessarily distribution inside of Facebook.

- force facebook login for account creation
- upon auth redirect back to your app, force signup completion with password and other credentials you might need.
- next step is invite/follow people from your facebook friends list.
- When users come back to your account from now on, only allow login via the credentials you had them create (password) and the email address you pulled from facebook. No facebook logging in after the first time.

They'd still be able to see how many people used facebook to signup. But if you don't let people continuously login with FB, or interact with their API outside of one time or explicit actions, they won't be able to get a good picture of your retention and engagement.
I think it would still qualify as a replacement, just an open one.
Ask HN: What are some great examples of well-designed startup websites
I use Haxe in a professional context and sometimes for exploratory experimental stuff. I use it in the context of a framework called Haxe NME that allows me to produce android and ios moible apps. I am also using it to transcompile to arm running arch linux machines, it has one of the fastest compilers I ever used when target compiling to neko and it can output code if needed; java, c#, c++, js, you name it they got it wired up. I am going to use it for online through the usage of externs and libs that are usually up to date and well maintained on github. Haxe is going to hit a big one when version 3 comes out next quarter, if you want to invest some time learning a language that is encompassing and very much alive you will find it to be a good tool for various applications. I have no connection to Haxe other than being a user.
Not exactly tiny imho. Looks like about 2 inches thick, not something you'd want to put into your pocket.
Why so defensive? This post was great and merely pointed out stylistic differences between "sales-y" and "tech-y" leaders. I don't think anyone suggested "corning the market" with ANY skill.

For the record, great salespeople are very often also "deeply analytical." In fact, having hired & managed lot's of salespeople, I'd suggest listening, observation & analytical skills are the differentiating factor between the good and the great.

PS - the unfair judgements regarding arrogance is a two-way street.
The solution is coming: http//beingcollective.org
The interpolation feature of modern TVs is a completely different issue, because the information for the extra frames simply is not there. I believe the video processors only look at two consecutive frames in order to generate the frame in between them. That obviously causes major motion inconsistency when the interpolation algorithm doesn't generate a frame close to what would have actually been there (which is most of the time).

Motion interpolation is worthless, but that's not an indictment of 48 FPS capture where extra information is actually captured, any more than the bad appearance of an upscale photograph is an indictment on using higher resolution sensor.
Show HN: Clay, a CSS preprocessor as a Haskell EDSL.
Sony VAIO T14 Ultrabook Review - Cheap 14 inch Ultrabook with optical drive
Lack of info from Google is a big problem for me. Who knows what the memcache quota is, for example? [1] They drastically raised prices with little warning. GAE doesn't seem professional enough to depend one's business on it, unless it's a relatively tiny app.

[1] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8276292/google-app-engine...
Let's rephrase the question a bit:

1) Should a startup bother if all they have is an idea that anyone can easily clone? I'd argue no - As many here already know having an idea is only one piece of the puzzle. You have to have initiative, good execution, perseverance, and good tactical leadership. Failing all that, you better hope your idea is patentable but even then to survive as a patent troll you have to be willing to commit the legal resources and talent to make that work.

If all you have is an idea, even if it's an original one, you probably should rethink whether you want to be a startup. Nobody said starting a company and displacing/disrupting/surviving in a highly competitive environment would be easy, nor should it be.

2) Snapchat isn't an original idea. It is one of many examples of a destructable message service. A quick Google search returns this site from 2006:

http://www.destructingmessage.com/

And this site from 2007:

https://privnote.com/

Self-destructing email services have also existing for quite a while, from retractable email (AOLs "Unsend Email" feature that worked between AOL email accounts) to full self-destructable email services. A few of the BBS' I used to visit also had "hacked in" expiry dates for message.

So question 2 is: Why should Snapchat be given special consideration for being just the latest implementation of an idea that has existed both in popular culture (Mission Impossible) and in the real world for decades? They really shouldn't be.

Snapchat's CEOs "bring it on" message seems to be appropriate and shows he is aware of all these facts. He is up for the fight and the fight will ultimately benefit all of us through competition. If he has the right toolset to keep Snapchat in relevance, then it doesn't matter who clones him.
I'll start with my favourites:

1. http://heymosaic.com/
2. https://www.airbnb.com/
3. https://www.mint.com/
4. http://beanstalkapp.com/
5. http://www.newcompany.name/
6. https://squareup.com/
7. http://disqus.com/
The mighty downfall of Japan's tech giants
Interesting; this post has exposed a problem in the styling of HN, forcing horizontal scrolling.
I'd say yes for 3 reasons:

1) BigCo's are usually slow to recognize a good idea is a big enough idea for them to implement until the idea is a big company at which point you have already won.

2) If BigCo does somehow realize that the big idea is a big enough idea for them to implement early on, they are just as likely to acquire you rather than build it out which isn't the worst situation in the world.

3) If the remote chance that BigCo comes along and crushes you, you have a great story to tell in your next investor presentation or interview.

[ADDED] If the idea requires a lot of BigCo's resources or API you have to be more careful. For example, if you need to build a full mapping company to implement a feature google could just turn on that is probably not a good strategy. Likewise, if you need to use a google maps API (if there is one?) you run the risk of them shutting off access to it and implementing themselves.
Sir, you're mistaken. At best facebook could've seen the calls Snapchat was using for friend matching but they weren't dependent as a company on facebook's infrastructure which is what your post is implying.

Snapchat should be concerned, but not because by use of facebook's apis gave facebook the valuable insight into some interesting user behavior.

No, they saw it was a cool app that was doing well in the store. They have distribution of over 800M people.... "hey, remember poking?... yeah that old feature we used to have... yeah... lets just make a snapchat clone and call it poke." That conversation could've happened over lunch or at a hackathon and it goes straight to production.

Guy's there is very little honor in the realm of ideas rightnow. Facebook is throwing punches just like everyone else.
This "selectivity of detail" argument sounds like a meaningless talking point to me. If you just mean that filmmakers should be able to selectively lower the frame rate they capture in or increase the motion blur for certain effects (like "dazed" effects after a soldier has experienced a nearby mortar hit), then I absolutely agree, but they can do this in 48 FPS just like they already do in 24 FPS. Having a higher base FPS just allows the filmmaker an even wider range of detail, just like higher resolution digital film cameras or larger film formats. Do people complain about 70mm film because it "destroys selectivity of detail"?
There is still the underlying point of resource distribution. When you have some people buying things they do not need, while other people cannot afford things they do need, that means that resources went into producing the things that are needed less. Becuase of the decreasing value of money, it is in your best interest to convert your money into stuff, wheather or not that stuff is a good use of resources. I think this inefficiency is invevitable in an economy based around a concept of money simmilar to our own, but we should acknowledge that it is sub-optimum in terms of societal interests.
I agree, and I can't help but think that the anti-HFR crowd is almost certainly putting themselves on the wrong side of history, like a (perhaps hypothetical) critic who claims that no one ever wants to hear actors speak in a cinema.
You hit the nail on the head here: "Snapchat definitely doesn't have some kind of birthright to make heaps of money off the idea."

This is called "competition". I think what's really telling is that it took facebook less than 2 weeks to roll out.
It would be nice if the posts on your site had links to the HN posts in question, instead of links only to the original articles.
Say I have a protocol that transitions from A -> B -> C. Since the pipes compiler creates the only constructor for type B, there's no way for you to construct a value of type B (in the safe language) without giving up your one value of type A. The uniqueness typing system prevents you from copying your single value of A, and you must surrender all your references to it at the time you transition to state B.
You need a better idea. Too many companies are starting companies that can really just be a feature of a big company.

ie. Just because Facebook hasn't implemented a feature, doesn't mean you should start a company over said feature. You may pickup a quick paycheck, but many won't survive the long run.
The name immediately made me think of German. I checked, and DatenFahrt.com is still available.
I get very uneasy reading articles that start to pitch "value of caring" and someone who "didn't doubt the value of acupuncture" against "western medicine" and "western doctors" who are portrayed as stubborn and close-minded.
Well, Open Source is often used to describe code that can be viewed but not modified or redistributed, while the OSI definition includes those as requirements for a license to be considered "Open Source".
I think this should be rephrased more accurately as "Should You Start A Business?"

Or perhaps "Should You Start A Non-monetizable, Easily-clonable Business In An Already Crowded Market?"
The Copyright Monopoly Stands In Direct Opposition To Property Rights
This is Water - David Foster Wallace
I apologise for the offensive tone, I ran afoul of some variant of Poe's law. That is not an excuse, discourse should be more civil than that.

you make the claim They are likely unsafe, and some small subset of people scanned may end up quite sick.

But there is still no evidence from what you are saying.
I felt, in another variation of Poe's law, that you were in fact making a claim re backscatter for people claiming sickness after moving through one. In the same manner that people claim that they can detect wifi signals and it makes them sick, or fluoride in the water is making them sick, or just why are there rainbows in our water these days?

Quoting figures I feel is even more relevant - if you are giving someone 1/200th of a CXR, you can't claim that the CXR is only penetrating the internal organs - some fraction, perhaps 1/200th (maybe less) is going to be absorbed by the skin too, because, as you would well know, that is how X-rays work.

The fact we have greater penetration at the higher energies used for a CXR or other diagnostic imaging does not rule out using the comparison to Backscatter X-rays. In fact, it can be used to validate it.

Please note again that I am not suggesting that these machines should be rolled out everywhere and that we should have to use them, because I think it's a stupid security measure.
Thanks for the detailed reply mchannon.
Quick Ubuntu Guide (tested with 12.10, should work with 12.04):

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:efl/trunk
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install e17 libedje-bin

Log out, select Enlightenment from menu, log in, enjoy!
How can I get out of own head as only developer on a project?
Just set up a gitlab instance at work, with a patch for creating public repos: A++
Not only that, but nobody ever addresses the perhaps-strawmanned assertion that what the GPL does should be easy. That is, why the practical difficulties of the GPL constitute a negative, i.e. the "bug vs. feature" argument.
Your Facebook Pokes Are Stored For Two Days. Encryption Keys Then Deleted
Well, then those people have no sense of humor. When people don't have any sense of humor, I'd rather not work with them.

So I'm not seeing any problem here.
We used it for a Software Engineering project in college just this last semester. We were instructed that (as a fake client) that they needed a way to do internal reviews through a separate agency (all fake). Of course, we initially only used it to solve that issue in our fake software design, but the flexibility and ease of use caused us to replace the internal Comp Sci repository system with it. We're more than pleased with it. Both the faculty and students so far seem to enjoy it a lot more than the previous (decrepit) SVN system.

The chair of the department loves Git, but couldn't find a decent (open source) web solution that could be hosted on our systems (as in not Github). Gitlab is an amazing solution.
What on earth does a "personal site" have anything to do with a design being good? It's just as broken on a personal site as it is on a business site. It breaks an established, 20 year old user interface expectation and greatly hinders the usability of the page.

It makes no sense and there is no excuse for it.
Magic submitter
DIY SEO - Magic Submitter. Are you asking yourself How do I get on the first page of Google. This amazing new Do it yourself SEO tool will get you there.
No, in Europe economic rights are not always transferable, either. The classical example is the German Urheberrechtsgesetz, which does not allow for the transfer of either moral or economic rights [1]. General practice is to grant the publisher a right to use the work (which can be exclusive or non-exclusive, perpetual or time-limited, etc.).

This is a subtle, but important distinction. Because such a grant does not entail unlimited rights to relicense the work and the author retains a number of unwaivable rights associated with the work. (German law intentionally aims to protect authors against various exploitative practices by publishers, making it very difficult for authors to sign rights away.)

The Berne Convention does not make it necessary for the signatories to allow for such a transfer, either. It only says that if economic rights can be transfered, moral rights remain with the author.

Also, moral rights most definitely apply to computer programs in many jurisdictions.

[1]http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsches_Urheberrecht#.C3.9Cbe...
Thanks for the perspective pdx.
reminds me of this:

"I don't know what kind of weapons will be used in the third world war, assuming there will be a third world war. But I can tell you what the fourth world war will be fought with -- stone clubs."

-- Albert Einstein
Exactly what I wanted to say. "Should you start a business without any competitive edge?". This seems like a harsh move because we're used to calling everything that is related to mobiles 'innovation'. That makes us (working on these kind of projects) feel better.
The title of this article is clearly linkbait.

It's never been solely about "having original ideas". I would argue that if a startup fails to build up a competitive advantage or a barrier to entry, then they indeed should not bother.

I think the more interesting question is that of software patent discussions: What is sufficiently novel, non-obvious, and useful that we should protect it to promote innovation? Could Snapchat's messages that expire been protected? Should they have been?

Edit: kapnobatairza seems to have shown the answer is "no", in which case hopefully Snapchat has another plan to remain competitive in its crowded market. We shouldn't expect anything else for a business to succeed.
If the program fails, it only proves that the chosen defeatEpsilon proof does not work. In order to prove that that their is no defeatEpsilon, you would need to run you program against every function of the Real->Real.
If your delta epsilon did work, you would need to test in for every delta>0.
It's a trojan horse because something presented as a gift (or at least something good for you) is actually used to attack and conquer you when your guard is down.
Remember http://halfhalf.posterous.com/dont-work-be-hated-love-someon... ?

This.
I don't understand replicating the restrictions, challenges, and proprietary feel AppEngine makes towards normal application style (compared to something like Heroku).
Dr.Web CureIt 8.0.1.11280 Portable (2012) 22.12.2012
Will do, thanks. The cursory knowledge is mostly to be able to get a feel as to whether I'm dealing with a knowledgeable lawyer when meeting with them, rather than putting my trust in the wrong one.
So, Graham's essays are mutable. ;-)
HighCharts (http://www.highcharts.com) handles dates pretty well.
I looked at the Pottermore website, which the author seems to think is a model for disrupting Amazon. They don't seem to sell physical books, just eBooks and digital audio books. Fulfillment and distribution of physical items at a large scale is probably beyond the means of an individual author. Where they sell eBooks, Pottermore is branded with a Sony logo and it looks like Sony is running the store. So lets say that other big authors decide they want to do what JK Rowling is doing, run a store themselves and get the customer data. Couldn't Amazon say to the authors: "Okay, you run your store and get your data, but we'll handle the payments and the fulfillment for you instead of Sony. That way the customer can use their Amazon account and can take advantage of Amazon's customer service. Plus we can actually ship physical objects if they don't want ebooks." In that case it seems like Amazon could probably make just as much money as they are now. In fact, if you look at a lot of Kindle books they are actually sold by the publishers (Hatchette, Random House, etc.) rather than by Amazon, so it seems like that's what Amazon is already doing to some extent. I don't see the desire for better data as a disrupting factor for Amazon.

There are some areas where Amazon needs to get better - recommendations and reviews are one and making it easier to actually find the one product out of 30,000 available that you want is another. That's a pretty hard problem to solve.
Consumption drives growth, not startups, says Rutgers Professor
Awesome! I love how cheeky this is. The installation instructions are sweet.
Discussion.io
Creating hadoop cluster in amazon VPC
Actually the english stemmer from libstemmer/snowball is already used. Additionally there is a wordforms list, that at the moment maps only whisky to whiskey. ;) Feel free to do a pull request, if you know other words that must be normalized. I have also just added an advanced charset_table, mapping amongst others "é" to "e". So when you search now for "créme", you get the same recipes as for "creme".

At the moment I only crawl Wikipedia, liquor.com and seriouseats.com for cocktail recipes. But thanks for mentioning Esquire. I didn't knew that website yet. Maybe I will crawl them as well in the future.

One direction mapping of words is unfortunately not possible with sphinx. However I could expand "brandy" to "brandy OR cognac OR calvados", just before I run the query. I will consider that approach.
Why You Should Want to Pay for Software
FXT: a library of algorithms
There are certainly startups which have, as a strategy, a "clonable" idea, bring it to market and then sell themselves to BigCorp.

The reason this works is because BigCorp has lots of things it is trying to get done but isn't working on your idea because they aren't sure its a winner and they have things they are more sure of all ready in the plan. Thus StartCo shows up, does this thing, and shows it to be valuable, it gets on to BigCorp's planning horizon and the question will always come up, ok if we want to compete here can we build that capability? (yes/no) What is it worth to us? How long will it take? Will the market wait that long for us to catch up?

Now the "buy" price of StartCo is going to be something like 2x - 5x the amount of money raised at a minimum. So StartCo can't have raised too much money or this fails. And then there is the retention cost of the team which is going to come out of BigCo's operating plan.

Those three things get thrown up on the board, market opportunity, cost to acquire, cost to build. And then they make a decision. The difficulty is predicting how "big" the impact of this change is, because it needs to return 10x its cost over its lifetime to be 'obviously' a good deal. Further those benefits have to align with what BigCorp is looking for (more users, more traffic, more revenue, wider reach, Etc.)

FWIW, the most common ways these things fall down is that BigCorp thinks what ever StartCo is doing is easier than it really is, so they under-estimate the value of StartCo, pass on it, and then pour way more money than they intended into a 'homegrown' version. In those scenarios everyone loses, StartCo misses out and BigCorp misses out. The flip side is that BigCorp over values the work StartCo does, then they look silly to the market. Not as bad an outcome but harder on the ego.
Many seemingly easy to clone businesses get dominated by startups. Facebook copied SnapChat, but had to buy Instagram. Why?

The Innovator's Dilemma[1] explores this question in detail. The gist is that the processes at big companies are very well suited to certain kinds of innovations, while they preclude other kinds (known as "disruptive innovations"). One example (not the only one) has to do with margins. Big companies tend to assume that their cost structures are more or less fixed, and will tend to pass over products that seem to be lower margin than their current business. For example, home computers seemed to be much less profitable than mainframes, so a lot of manufacturers missed the boat on the personal computer revolution.

It's worth reading the book and learning which ideas are likely to be copied by big companies, vs. which ideas big companies will fail at executing.

[1]: http://www.amazon.com/The-Innovators-Dilemma-Revolutionary-B...
I can confirm that it's a Contributor License Agreement: http://www.apache.org/licenses/#clas

> Except
for the license granted herein to the Foundation and recipients of
software distributed by the Foundation, You reserve all right, title,
and interest in and to Your Contributions.
I'm downloading and will buy it if it is good enough (does not need to be great, just showing that the guys producing it does a good job). I really hope it is good enough :-)
NME(The premier Haxe cross-platform gaming/media library) also just updated, adding some support for native OpenGL calls: http://www.haxenme.org/blog/2012/12/22/merry-christmas-nme-3...

2013 is shaping up to be a strong year for Haxe's gaming abilities.
Thank you so much for the link, hope they get some more stock soon!
4 Reasons Why Your Facebook Page Sucks
Which programming language wins the award for "Most Strongly (Statically) Typed"? How much of Ada's advantages for safety-critical systems is from language or runtime features not related to type safety?
Haxe/NME 3.5.0 released