skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Yeah, MS really screwed the pooch. That's why their revenues have climbed steadily year after year to over $60b. Sure hope Google doesn't make that mistake.

Only on Hacker News do people think emulating Microsoft (from a business standpoint, that is) is bad.
And there is a lot of its history on the Code Book http://www.amazon.com/Code-Book-Science-Secrecy-Cryptography...
Perhaps, but the people who created that encyclopedia did not have access to her universe-building notes. They read her novel and then put in their own work collating all the information within and compiling their encyclopedia. I don't know how extensive that encyclopedia was, but if it's at all comprehensive, probably a fair amount of work went into it. Hence, "quick buck" might be an unfair characterization of that work. And since they did not have access to Rowling's notes, why should they have to pay her anything for the work they put in? As a matter of fact, I'm sure they've already paid her some dues in the form of buying her novels.

Let's take an analogy and assume JQuery does not have documentation. I download a copy of JQuery and write an API documentation for it. Should JQuery have the right to stop me from selling that documentation?
Only 7%? Last I heard, after their endowment went down 30% they pretty much had a hire/tenure freeze on faculty/staff.
Using finite state machines to design software
I've used an Aeron for years. I have augmented the upper back support by strapping a cushion to the upper edge of the chair with a big bungie cord. It looks hilarious but it works, which is the important thing.

As I've said before and will say again: A lot of the secret to ergonomics is to experiment with very small, ad hoc changes in your environment. I cured a major chronic pain in my right arm by raising my mouse three inches. Get a selection of books for putting under your monitor for changing its height. (Or invest in those awesome Ergotron arms -- they are great.) Also: A keyboard tray with fully-adjustable articulating arms is your friend.
because we recognize important copyrights on small snippets of things all the time, such as advertising slogans

I believe that what we're recognizing in the case of advertising slogans is trademark, not copyright. If I'm writing on the topic of advertising, I can perfectly well say "I believe that the new slogan, 'Snickers really satisfies!' may well be the dumbest slogan I've ever heard." without any copyright concern.

At the same time, I couldn't sell a candybar with the slogan "Foonuts really satisfies" due to trademark law, not copyright law.
I tried it and my account became unavailable.
Gmail's product manager on Labs, beta, the future
There's a difference between upsetting a few vocal users to improve the service and making the service worse overall simply in order to model the real world more accurately.
I'd say making your creation easier for others to understand adds value. Else sparknotes wouldn't exist.
Also, we just created a code for Hackers and Founders 'startupmeetup' will give you 50% off.
I'm sure various aspects are trademarked too, but the story on the back of this cookie box about Knott's Berry Farm is definitely copyrighted. I trust they could sue me if I reprinted it.
Comparing company A to company B is not entirely useful here, because so many other things are going on. However, there are loads of examples where a company used metrics to drive design for higher profits. Best example is probably Google.
Similar numbers for Stanford: http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2009/january28/admissi...

Apparently, Stanford got 20% more applicants this year than last year. If it were an increase in grad school apps, it might have an explanation in the economy, but I'm not sure what could explain such an increase in undergrad apps.
Ask HN: What are some good "A-Z" resources for starting a company/managing a startup?
I'd like to know more about the ins and outs of running a business but where do I start? Many will be rejected from incubators and the remaining choice is learning, accumulating resources, and networking yourself. I have picked up bits and pieces of great advice here and there but I really need a comprehensive guide I can look at in my free time.
I wonder if they should be looking at the problem from the domain registrar software side - who is registering nonsensical domains (that can be conficker'd up)

Also, based on the list of 23 auto-killed processes, an easy way to see if a machine is conficker'd is to see if filemon or wireshark fail to execute.
More to the point: Technical sophistication is one way of keeping ahead of the competition, and probably the most appealing to hackers; but it's not the only one. You can be very successful selling complete garbage; just look at Microsoft.

Edit: Yes, I'm being facetious in poking fun at Microsoft.
37signals uses testing for copywriting (headlines, specifically), a creative process. Do you think that's a mistake?

http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1525-writing-decisions-he...
Email Marketing + Video Marketing
> The pressure put on students these days is insane.

I'd argue it's mostly self-imposed.

> It's a non stop competition since conception.

"Non-stop competition" against what? Most of the students in the harder courses care more about helping each-other understand difficult material than about competing.
I downloaded the Netshare app that was mentioned on Lifehacker several months ago before it got pulled from the store. It still works great for me. Wireless tethering is really powerful for mobile users and I really hope Apple and AT&T get it right with iPhone 3.0.
I don't see how this is intentionally deceptive. It's just typically bad UI design. (Typical among even Google software, I'm afraid)
Good news for Mercurial. It happens to be my favorite DVCS. Bruce Eckel seemed to come to the same conclusion (HG over BZR). It just seems to have the right feel after coming from Subversion. All in all, it is good competition. Git needs to get a smoother feel on Windows, BZR has a lot going for it - but needs to find that polish, hg needs to add first class SVN support, and SVN needs keep from stagnating or changing too much.
>I'd argue it's mostly self-imposed.

Could you explain why you think that? Is there evidence that shows that students who don't work as hard have an equal chance of getting into top schools?

>"Non-stop competition" against what? Most of the students in the harder courses care more about helping each-other understand difficult material than about competing.

I've had that experience at Stanford, though I've heard it's not like that at some places (e.g. Berkeley, and I was told so by someone who did his undergrad there). But he's talking about competition to get in, not competition once there.
disclosure, this is my company, but I think it's pretty cool the correlation we've found with increased response to email marketing when paired with video.
Google Geolocation API
On the flip side is Apple, which doesn't use metrics at all and relies entirely on guy design.
Good post. I think what you just explained is exactly how antidepressants should be thought of for 99% of the population. They are in almost all cases only meant for temporary use. Hell I was suicidal and basically a useless vegetable for a year and surprisingly survived before I got on three different anti-depressants (still on all three right now). But neither my psychiatrist nor I feel like I'll be taking any more than one in a year or two.

So Prozac definitely helped but yeah the creativity thing is a pain. I work like a robot now. I list out a schedule and have to follow it exactly or I get annoyed. I don't like to do anything out of the ordinary now :(
Our latest game: Stunt Pilot 2 (beta)
Yeah the guy is huge. I'm just some random nobody loner who makes his living off the net (not too much $$ though) and I know for almost a fact that this guy is rich as shit through random people talking about him. Pretty modest too.
This gets into a sticky argument of exactly how you define value. For me it's adding something that isn't already there, and so if all you're doing is summarizing without contributing anything new, then even though it holds value it's not really making an original piece of work.
Their revenues may still be climbing, but the rate of increase has dropped significantly. They are losing market share in operating systems, office suites, and browsers; they have an awful PR image and they have not had a "hit" product in more than a decade. It does not take an idiot to see that Microsoft has passed its peak and that the decline has begun.
Church vs. Taskforce
People take far too much comfort in the idea of safe harbor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_L...

It's not a blank check to create a site full of blatant infringement. You have to be very naive to think Scribd really does everything they could to prevent copyrighted content from being uploaded. The kindest assumption would be that they're incompetent, but that's probably not the case. They're just twiddling their thumbs about it because it's the main driver of traffic. Hopefully they've retained some good lawyers.
Hi Everyone,

We've just put out a beta version of our latest game, Stunt Pilot 2. We've added some community features to the game, with replays and levels that you can create and share.

We got some great feedback on the original game around 1.5 years ago on HN here:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=84191

I'd love to know what everyone thinks of the game, especially the level editing + replay ability. We're going to update the website with rankings etc when we formally launch the game.
Free Iphone Spanish app on iTunes - Please review it
PeanutButter just released a new app on iTunes. It's free and seems to be the best thing in foreign language study every made.
Please download it and see what you think.
Search iTunes for peanutbutter (all one word).
I dont have any stats, but since I have been applying to grad schools this year (and accepted, woo!), I can tell you that for most schools the numbers have been way up across the board. Since most of the admissions stuff is happening at this very moment, good numbers wont actually be available for a few more months.
gzip + chunked encoding = works

http://arantius.info/gzip-chunk.php

Notice headers:
Content-Encoding	gzip
Transfer-Encoding	chunked

And also notice the 10 second delay between the two paragraphs appearing in your browser. (At least it does for me, in FF3. In IE6, it only happens on the second-and-on load (F5).) It's perfectly possible, for a compliant browser, to download, and render, the page incrementally, even with gzip compression applied.
You know, that's exactly the same argument people made to me 10 years ago when I started comp sci classes and made the mistake of asking some of the grad students why they hated Microsoft so much. Luckily for Microsoft, the other 99.99% of the population never got the memo. At the time I didn't know about Silicon Valley groupthink and I actually believed them.

Of course their growth has slowed since their startup days, but for a company of their size it's incredibly impressive. See a chart of it here, noting that the next year after this graph was published it topped $60b:

http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/05/21/will-googles-revenue-eve...

That's about 20% more than the year before it. Show me another company their size that did that last year.

They don't have an awful PR image on Main Street, just on social news sites. Despite Apple spending hundreds of millions to tell the world how much they suck, 90%+ of people still use their products and like them just fine.

And I think the Xbox 360 is a bona fide hit in anyone's book.

I would argue that it does take an idiot to look at a company that went from $51b to $60b in revenues and see decline.
Do we have any proof of that? I have to believe that if Apple released a new version of Apple.com that caused a huge overnight drop in their online sales, they'd change it back. If they released a new iTunes Store design that caused sales to dry up, they'd fix it immediately. I'm not saying that every tiny little detail should be driven by the data, just that the goal of a business (even Apple) is profit. To the extent that your design doesn't support that, it's wrong.
I am in the middle of a start up. Low on funds. I have developed a strong disdain for people who want to come in at the last hour and act like their contribution was equal to those who had bled and suffered to get things started from the dust.
I agree, this release will make mono a lot more attractive to windows developers.

Can't wait to see some mono based asp.net mvc apps built with this new version
I wish I knew more on this machine and/or how it worked... amazing.
Nested forms scratches the worst itch for me. Compared to the other changes it's nothing huge, but it sure makes day-to-day coding more developer friendly. That's what RoR is about anyway.
Should be interesting to see whether Mercurial will grow or maintain marketshare.
More like the beginning of the beginning.
Same seems true of comments. I think I see Tichy's point; if you ask question, you are often ignored, or mocked.

If, however, you make a (willfully) ignorant assertion, people jump at the chance to tell you just how wrong you are.

Not that I want to advocate this approach, but I understand why someone would use it if, in the end, it generates more useful information.

(I think this was discussed elsewhere on HN, with "troll, don't inquire" as a disappointingly effective means of getting information.)
http://www.37signals.com/svn/archives2/bezos_expeditions_inv...

My point is this: Though they may have taken Jeff Bezos on for his expertise, Bezos made his investment to earn a return. You don't invest in private or public stocks in a capitalist world to do just fine. You don't start a business for that reason either. That's not greed, that's entrepreneurship.
> Get a selection of books for putting under your monitor for changing its height.

That's where I put my old XML/XSLT books.
Anyone have any tips on the most affordable way to buy an aeron or find a used one? They're a good chunk of change.

Also, is the "posturefit" lumbar support worthwhile at 60 bucks extra?
Know Your Enemy: Containing Conficker
If the thumbs were really cut off (hard to tell from the slides), you should use the Python OpenCV hooks and center the thumbnail on the likeliest face.

http://www.google.com/search?q=opencv+haar+cascade
The fair use analysis for citing an advertising slogan is very different than it is for a tweet. You're not affecting the slogan's value the way that republishing a tweet against the author's will can, and the purpose test is more in your favor since you're probably mentioning it to be critical of it in some way.

Based on my experience, at this point I expect someone to start jumping in and trying to slice and dice their way between these standards. So let me try to preempt that a bit by reminding you that you have to be taken to court for copyright infringement before you can make a fair-use defense and that an intrinsic part of the process is the judgment of the court. The judge would laugh M&M Mars out of court if they claimed my citing "Taste the Rainbow" as a trite slogan was a copyright violation, but republishing a person's tweet is a radically different thing, and the question is not "can I weave and dance and obfuscate and blur the question on the internet?", but "can I weave and dance and obfuscate the question in front of a judge?" There is a professionally-trained human hairsplitter in the decision loop, by design.

Mind you, I might still be wrong in my analysis; I'm not saying I can't be wrong, my point is that pulling the whole dodge, weave, and obfuscate move to try to show that I'm being hypocritical or that I somehow disagree with myself is not valid.
medicine ball. it keeps me moving around, which i think helps me stay productive.
That Microsoft comment is both trite and undeserved. Microsoft doesn't particularly sell "garbage"; no, it undercuts application vendors for its platform, copies their products, delivers a freebie/cheap knockoff to the market to compete with them and drive them out, but works very hard to improve it as time goes.

Microsoft is evil but it's not incompetent. Sometimes it even puts its market dominance to good use; MS whipped hardware vendors into shape and gave us a truly uniform PC platform with Plug and Play.
I need to build a file with shit that I need to learn at some point. ctags would go in that list.

What does this have to do with this presentation? Nothing. But ctypes reminded me of ctags.
Wellbutrin helps with appetite as well as depression smoking and ad(h)d. You should also get checked -- you may be (pre)diabetic.
He's got 125 employees. http://www.diorex.com/thoughts-on-scaling-a-business/ will give you some idea about the size and scope of what he's doing.
I can't say enough about my Hawaii chair.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9_amg-Aos4
We could all try learning something simple and unambiguous like Lojban...

Yeah, like that's gonna happen.
Move around. I don't have a "desk", I have many mini work-areas; about three favorite spots at home, as I like to chase the sun and reorient myself throughout the day so the sun isn't in my eyes or against the LCD screen but still nearby. I also take my laptop to cafes, library, or I just drive to a shade in a parking lot with a giant cup of coffee and a pack of marlies to get some work done :-)
Wow,Jeff Atwood sure knows how to state a position that the vast majority will roughly agree with yet still position himself as champion of a controversial position. He's not necessarily an "Ugly American;" I think simpleton is more to the point.
I'm trying to get up to speed with mathematics. This is my study plan.
The corporate company I was working for had Wlikhahn modus chairs ( http://www.wilkhahn.com/2_produkte/2044.htm ).

I tried dozens of others. I finally bought one for me. I love it!
That's like saying, "Why would you talk to their customer service when you could just sue?" The courts are there as a last resort, not as a default place to settle things. Your statement also implies that there's not a relationship between how one treats their customers and bottom line, which is pretty far from the truth.
Congrats on getting accepted. I remember getting my first acceptance (UCSD); it was a great feeling.
Just to be contrary, I actually don't like the Aeron.

I sit in one 8+ hrs a day and I don't know if it doesn't fit me correctly (I'm 6'4") or what, but I'd prefer a different chair. Unfortunately the only other chair available to me is some terrible ikea chair that is wrong in ever possible way.

For as much as they cost, I thought they'd be way more comfortable.
Also, many Microsoft products are actually quality products. The few bad apples give the rest a bad name (also, some of the 3rd party apps give Windows in general a bad name).
whattheclock.com

What the clock!?
Do sun salutations each morning and night (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surya_Namaskara), this relieved all my back pain and other aches. Aeron is the best way to go as far as chairs go, plus they have a killer warranty.
Good points. I've "expressed interest" in a bazillion things, but I'm loath to part with money. I sign up for information announcements and beta sites because I'm simply curious about stuff, but I may not be a good customer when you get to the bottom line.
It is interesting from what you said. I know most friends from East Asia with the same habit. It takes a lot of training to perform small tasks in English. And my German friends count their money in German event they speak fluent American English.

I stayed in Taiwan for education until I got my Bachelor degree and served military service. I forced myself to read textbooks in original version and I read a lot outside textbooks when I was in high school. I spent first 3 months in U.S. to count number in English reflexively. And so far my problem is that if I remember anything in English, it takes me time to translate them back in Chinese. Like every time I told my mom and sister about my phone number, I need to think how to say them in Chinese by going through all numbers that in my mind are pronounced in English. But I can type in exactly the digit as someone else said. Another thing is I have problem to perform physics calculation in Imperial system because all physics constants that I remember are in Metric system.

Another problem is to explain knowledge in Chinese that I learn first in English. Especially terms in computer science are not unified in Taiwan and China.

At the other hand, I read both Chinese and English media. But it seems there are two brains in my head that are complete separated. I am also ambidextrous to the degree that I can write in both hands and using chop sticks in both hands. So maybe my brain did not develop specialization well as others.
Android for Newbies
Using the term "Beta" to describe a 5-year-old product more or less deprecates the meaning of the word, doesn't it?
Tim Ferris has a pretty good post on it: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/01/27/office-chair...
eBay maybe. But whether you can get it cheaper or not - if you have serious back pain then it could be the best investment in a long time. Remember that chair will last many years. Just make sure it's really right for you - ideally with a try & buy, if possible.
No need to develop them, they already exist. See Freenet, for example.

The problem with them is that they work a little too well. I'm probably in the 99th percentile (globally) in what I will defend as "free speech" and even I can't stomach the idea of running a Freenet node, between the content I'm not willing to defend as free speech, and the content that I may be willing to defend as free speech but have no desire to subsidize monetarily. It's going to be challenging getting much critical mass out of a system that can carry wikileaks-type info.
Everything about ASP.NET MVC and related technology
Agile, Architecture and the 5am Production Problem
Integrity is best declared, not guarded by your program.

How do programs that don't use a database stay internally consistent?
Buy "Four Steps to the Epiphany" by Steve Blank and "A Good Hard Kick in the Ass" by Rob Adams. Before you do anything else, read them both cover to cover.
That's hilarious man.
I did work on ABAP for a few dreaded years of my professional life. And now I am coding in Ruby and Rails.
I feel like I am the oldest man on earth, who has touched a dynosaur and who is on his way to moon for a joyride!
This isn't really the impressive machine. Colossus was the first computer this is realy just an electronic flick book - it was to try out a large number of possibe enigma settings looking for a match.
>"Non-stop competition" against what? Most of the students in the harder courses care more about helping each-other understand difficult material than about competing.

I was referring to the competition to get into the coveted few spots available at the top schools in the country. Granted, it's always been competitive, but it only gets more competitive with larger and larger class sizes
Yes, it's perfectly ethical. To take an extreme example, some people find murder to be rewarding, but that doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with encouraging people to not murder. Most people would find that the cons of starting a company vastly outway the pros.
Ask HN: What do you look for in a co-founder?
What traits and skills do you look for in a co-founder when building that initial team?
its back up now
This can all be better explained by interactions between culture and genes, than by just genes. But the studies tend to ignore those, because they're too hard to deal with.

(If anyone knows a twin study which does adequately deal with gene/culture interactions, please post it.)
Shrink a Market 2.0
I meant overall class size (for the entire country). As far as I am aware, the class of 2012 is the largest in history thus far.
Semantics. At his point its a term of endearment more then anything. Google has more important things to worry about it seems.