skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I bet it would be closer to $1000. You take the innards of a Mac Mini, put a large touch screen on it like the iPhone and you have a tablet mac. Their costs probably wouldn't be more than $600 but Apple makes a huge profit on everything so $999 - $1199 is probably where they would sell it.
Silicon Valley Girl #1: The lonely, horny geeks have chosen
Exploring Leopard with DTrace: How to use DTrace for debugging and exploration
"As far as I know, no one thinks voting rings should be a component of "how social networks actually work." "

That's a limited view. Some people recognize that voting rings happen, and are considering a way to fix them:

http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2007/08/uberfac...
Symbian is seriously threatened by Android; even if Android isn't very good some handset makers may switch to it simply to avoid Symbian licensing costs. AFAIK Symbian has no other business to fall back on.
i get the feeling people are voting up by the title, not the actual article content.. seriously, this is entirely obvious and of digg caliber.. not what i expect from news.yc
I'm not saying simply that reddit has drifted away from the kind of stuff my friends and I talk about. In fact, that observation was the raison d'etre of the site you just used to post this strawman paraphrase. What sticks out about the Ron Paul links is the suddenness and the magnitude of the change.

I'm talking about acceleration here, not velocity.
The problem is that if a protocol allows bad implementations, then even the good implementations have to invest effort to interoperate with the losers. Bram doesn't have the patience to deal with losers.
Graceful E-Mail Obfuscation
The Story Behind ES4 (the next Javascript)
Facebook Secret Event SNEAK PREVIEW
Why are U.S. companies going public in Toronto?
With the Help of GPS, Amazonian Tribes Reclaim the Rain Forest
Suicide Bombing Makes Sick Sense in Halo 3
Study: Mobile Workforce Represents Security Threat in '08 Due to Lack of Training, Awareness
Recnet survey from CompTIA that found while IT departments are aware of the increased security threat represented by mobile workers, they're mostly not providing those workers with the security training they need.
Barbie Becomes an Authentication Device for Pre-Teen Friendship
Maybe we could convince Demetri Martin to do a Trendspotting segment on the Daily Show about programming languages.
Tour de Startup
Liveblogging Facebook Advertising Announcement
Apologies if the paraphrase came off sounding like a strawman. I was just pointing out that your statement is part of a larger category, and that the details (and verifiability) are constant. So reddit conspiracies are like religion: most people think it's just a matter of knowing which one is right; some of us realize they're all wrong.
I think the biggest thing is that cheap != easy

Sure, you can write good software with a cheap Pc and entirely free software, and there may be very little equipment costs compared to other industries. But that doesnt make it EASY.
Why Google chose the Apache Software License over GPLv2 for Android
No one's disputing that. What's broken about the naive implementation of social news is the degree to which a small group of true believers can take it over.
Pentagon: Our new robot army will be controlled by malware
he's comparing apples and oranges, though.
Rumor: @live.com Email Addresses Roll Out Tomorrow
Break.com Recruits Striking Writers
The 1-norm tends to also be less sensitive to outliers, and in machine learning, 1-norm regularization leads to sparse solutions. The real reason 2-norm is popular is that it is easy to minimize (differentiable).
Not to disagree with your main point, but Lew Rockwell stuff has been posted to reddit before: http://reddit.com/info/dmyp/comments/ made it to the top (it might have been the #1 all-time story for a while).
Facebook Event: first pictures
Building a Platform is Hard
Will Flickr and YouTube outlast MySpace and Facebook?
Very interesting points
Launched: Search engine for open-source mailing lists
Cool new search engine that makes the content of open-source mailing lists actually findable.
We're in stealth mode, so I can't tell you.

But...

If you highlight everything between

here

010010101100101001010010010100010101001111011010101010

and here,

and read it upside down in a mirror,

you'll know everything we are prepared to divulge now.
Just Launched: OpenSocial Developer Community
Check out this community and get involved.
It was created so opensocial developers have a place to get news, reviews, promote their apps, get code snippets and get help.
<a href="http://www.opensocializr.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.opensocializr.com</a>;
that is an interesting point and the way he stated his opinion and the timing of it sounds like he is a bit threatened as well
For some less consuming occupations, of course.

Anyway, I've found it best to keep my highly stressful occupation and relationships as separated as possible.
PayScroll.com online career startup site based on Ruby on Rails and Web 2.0 technologies
Dude, you got suckered into watching that one too? Luckily the theater was almost empty so we did things other than watch...
Comcast Filtering-For-Profit: A Three-Phase Plan to 'Right-Size' Consumer Bandwidth
50 Greatest Game Design Innovations
Killer Quotes from Mark Zuckerberg: "A trusted referral is the Holy Grail of advertising"
Breaking: Facebook Ad Plans = Social Ads + Facebook Pages
Facebook Unveils Facebook Ads
YouTube Canada Now Live
Some good coverage at http://ajaxian.com/archives/markmail-search-and-analyze-emai...
I don't like Ron Paul at all, and I didn't vote pg down, but I might have. I simply disagree with the premise that it's an active conspiracy. (Instead I voted up some other posters that responded)

Social sites are tyrannies of the vocal minorities (as is democracy, for that matter, but that's a longer rant). The whole idea of voting something up or down is a flawed _concept_. "Up" and "Down" have various and sundry meanings, and people are emotional animals, not rational ones. No amount of algorithm tweaking is going to make a bad concept into a good one.

Having said all of that, I felt like the game was rigged for RP too for a while. Now I've come to understand that social voting is a mob-like affair, and does not have the best interests of the reader in mind. If there was one thing I could fix in the world, that would be it. There's simply too much time being wasted by all kinds of smart people reading stuff that has no value to them. (whatever the topic) </rant>
I wanted to also mention being a generalist helps when farming out pieces - at least you'll have a sense of the quality of work you're getting, and an idea of whats feasible
It's not obvious at all how extremely hard it can be to have a successful startup. It's "harder than hard."

It's something you can't really appreciate until you've tried. Have you?
Jan. so top secret we couldn't apply to YC
You'll have seen this before with Lisp on Reddit. Some people always upvote, some people always downvote, some people downvote because they're tired of seeing it, and the vast, vast majority simply have no opinion. To them, the words "Lisp" and "pebble" have identical emotional affect. So consequently a small core of Lispers can flood the front page, or, as the ratio of fans to bashers shifts, they can be crowded into obscurity even on the programming page. The small group leads the large group because, in regard of that topic, the large group is as happy with as without.

That "small group leading" effect is what makes any-to-many media such a ferment of ideas. Suppose you used an algorithm that refused to raise articles with less than mainstream interest. You'd end up duplicating the banality of broadcast TV, which also relies on broad and shallow appeal. There's a reason the slang calls it the "lowest common denominator"!
This article is one big troll. Virtually no technical details about Android are known, yet an antivirus company is spreading FUD about malware? I'm sure they have only the users' best interests in mind...
script.aculo.us 1.8.0 Released (Nov 6)
you all are hilarious...
Ask YC:  Looking for potential co-founders
Hi Everyone,

some quick background of my situation:
I have been running a small startup since last year and recently incorporated as a C-Corp; My company specializes in geospatial technologies utilizing API's like Google Maps/Earth, MS Live Maps, VE

Our basic concept is to incorporate any data model with mapping technologies; In addition, we can layer GIS information and other boundary data and overlays on our maps (these include things like zoning, parcel, city/county boundaries, and many many more)

My clients are in the following industries:

-Real Estate

-Oil/Energy

-Non-profits (We have a very cool project about to launch next week)

--

Anyhow, I would like to meet like minded individual(s) who are interested in growing our core concept - I have vision for taking my company to the next level and would like to find people who are as passionate about geo-data and mapping technologies as I am.

Considering that I will be in the Bay area next week, I would like to meet with some folks who might be interested in a co-founder or other equitable position with my startup

Drop me a message below and I will be sure to send you an email; (if you live outside of bay area/CA and are interested, please feel free drop me a message anyways)
How Do I Picture Functions
Prototype UI: javascript library based on Prototype 1.6 and script.aculo.us
I'm in Chicago. Could you email me the company name?
The article's fault is not that the message itself is overtly obvious, it's that it neglects the more important question of: Why there will always be a large number of entrepreneurs in spite of the low success rates of starting a business and the enormous amount of work, dedication, and "luck" required to be immensely successful.

But that would be opening up an economic/philosophical can of worms that is neither here nor there.
I am interested in what you are doing. I have hundreds of non-profits using officezilla.com and am looking to move into the real estate market (bad mock up on) RealtyGoLive.com gscott@officezilla.com my phone number is 619-873-5648
Very, very cool! Seb & guys did a great job!
the reason that charles shaw wins those taste testing contests is pretty simple, and shady to say the least.

the way they make their wine is by purchasing overstock of grapes from other producers. the grapes are very spotty and inconsistent in quality, which is why you can buy a case of the wine and every bottle will be completely different.

when they submit charles shaw to tastings, do you think they pick a random bottle out of inventory? of course not, they pick the best of what they have so that they can compete.
I disliked this piece for a different reason: his attitude. No successful company was ever built by someone thinking as negatively as this guy.

Sure, someone who thinks that if he creates a new facebook widget he'll retire -- that guy may need to hear this. But wait, does he? He'll figure out the problem with that soon enough.

The rest of us ... do we need some smug guy telling us that the Plenty of Fish guy was just really lucky? I've read the Plenty of Fish story, and it sounded like there was a lot more than luck involved -- and that luck was the smallest component. Oh, and I've worked at other startups and know people who are quite rich because of them. It didn't take them five years and only luck. It took the right idea at the right time, and in some cases, multiple tries.

No, successful, wealth-generating sites aren't born every day.

But it's more possible to create one than this guy seems to think.
I think socializr.com may have a trademark issue with your branding.
Fuck me! Now I know the main reason I got rejected by YC. I didn't mark "Facebook could already be into our idea" as a possible answer for "what might go wrong (This is a test of imagination, not confidence.)" in the application.

Well, the gates are open. Advertising based on information provided by users is a reality. Let's see if we can take a slice of that pie.
How Facebook employees break into your profile
So was the sudden deluge of lolcat pictures onto Reddit also a voting ring conspiracy? I somehow doubt those get brought up in many of your real-life conversations either. Ron Paul is just another internet meme -- one which happens to be infectious because hackers tend to agree with his views.
Warning: Contents of this cup are HOT!
Exclusively multi-touch interfaces have only limited applications at sizes much bigger than an iPhone. Something the size of a piece of paper doesn't seem big, but it'll certainly feel big if you've been moving your hands all over it for a couple hours.

Most people set up their mouse so that a few inches of hand movement will take the cursor from one side of the screen to the other. Having the size of a movement scale 1:1 to its on-screen representation would get tiring pretty quickly.
And symbian is terrible?
oooooh, Uo*))M I see.
Well, I am too tired to translate today, but I did write about the implications of an open platform like Android in a blog I write. (in portuguese: http://log4dev.com/2007/11/06/pc-20).

To sum up: I believe that Android, today, reminds of the idea of the IBM PC standard in the early '80s. Real innovation will only happen in mobile devices when developers have a more consistent platform and know that no one major player (say, Apple) controls everything.
Agree. We all know it's hard. But not until we actually try it that we get a real sense of "how hard".
If you are giving low level employees too much access then that is a problem. But there will always be people who manage the database and those who create the base code who have access to everything.
> Why there will always be a large number of entrepreneurs in spite of the low success rates

Visit Las Vegas or lotto ticket booth and chat to people... it will clear up a lot of things.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ross_Ashby
Facebook Ads makes a flashy debut in New York
Startups outside of the US only. Please name your startup and your product
Facebook to Turn Users Into Endorsers
Very insightful. In my long corporate experience, corporate management refuses to acknowledge that writing software is a creative act of a creative brain. In fact, before my early retirement, they came in with something called methodology, which treated programming as something that you could script so that programmers could be interchangeable. The result, which I predicted, was that both morale and productivity sank to new lows. Just another sign that the beancounters just do not trust creative thinkers. When I programmed, my best work was done at night when there were no interruptions.
Mr. Aron keeps saying "so get out of IT and do something else".

That's the problem - the H1B visa is constructed to create a class of people who can't get out of IT and do something else. The terms of the visa even make it challenging to stay in IT and merely start working for a different large corporation.

I want to make it very clear that I am 100% behind the notion of silicon valley as a desination for entrepreneurs from all over the world. That said, I'm pretty disgusted with a visa that allows Oracle to control an employee's right to reside in the US, or the employee's application for a green card.

I think the H1B visa is the visa that says "we'll let you into the US to work for Oracle, but we won't let you into the US to compete with Oracle.

Paul G wrote about this in an essay about "how to be silicon valley". If another country created a better worker visa - one that respected the need for personal and economic freedom, it could gain a real competitive advantage over silicon valley. America's idiotic skilled worker program is probably SV's achilles heel.

I read an article about how some H1B holders are getting so frustrated with the green card wait that they have started looking to other countries to start businesses - I think it was in businessweek (sorry I can't give a link). I don't think this is enough to knock SV out of the top spot, but it is a place where a competing city in another country could score some points.
I'm sure I'm going to get downvoted for this but...

I hope you realize that your idea of hacker opinion is likely slanted. It seems like you spend your time in either San Fransisco or Cambridge, two incredibly democratic locations. Of course you're going to hear people bash Bush incredibly passionately. Nobody likes Bush, not even in red states, so I can only imagine that's amplified where you are.

I can tell you that I sling code for a living and I'm very interested in the whole Ron Paul thing; I didn't hear about him from Digg or Reddit, I heard about him from the signs I see people holding every day on my way home from work so I looked him up on Google.

I think a lot more hackers lean libertarian than you give credit for.
A press conference... For this?
Kickass article, Peter!
Quick question for you guys: what's are the legal rules regarding paying to enter a game and winning money from it? Did you have to jump through any hoops to make that work?
Ask YC: Is $100M too small a market?
I'm talking about market sizes here. Most of the ideas I've had solve problems in $100M to $500M markets.

Should we be going after $1B+?

Obviously it depends how much market share you can capture and at what cost, but is there are rule of thumb that if you want to achieve any kind of success (i.e. fuck-you money) you have to have the potential to bring in $XM+ in revenues? What's X?

On a similar note, is anyone here building or thinking about building a "lifestyle" business?
They all look like iTunes now.
In the business of being sued?
Well, the highest profit in the beverage industry has traditionally come from the low end. See the Gallos, or Anheuser Busch. That doesn't make the good beverages or the people who enjoy them pretentious.
>> I know 8 out of the top 10 languages. Not bad.

dude, come on. I think most people here could say that.
I am going to be a complete fool and say the opposite.
Starting up is easier than everyone says.

Reasons?
The cost is really low. You don't have to quit your job. You don't have to invest a lot into your company. If things start to do well, you can afford to do both.
What really is the cost? The cost is your time, and if it is something you enjoy, its a win-win situation.
Am I defining a hobby? Sure, but starting up can be exactly that. There are advantages to quitting your job and investing every penny you can, but that isn't for everyone.

So starting up is really easy. Write some code, release a project. If it doesn't do well, it was fun. If it does do well, keep the ball rolling.

If you can't get anything started while you are working full time, I would suggest you will be unsuccessful if you quit your job too.
Saying something requires luck is not the same as saying it is hard. Few people seem to understand that.
tarsnap (www.tarsnap.com). Online backups for the truly paranoid.
Microsoft Exec Fired for Company Violations
Windows XP: Still the One
There's nothing inherently wrong with a small market size, especially if you can target a product really well to a niche. But, with my startup, we're hoping for broad mainstream success as we ride the cusp of the exponential that decreases the cost of genetic sequencing by tenfold every year.

On the side, I have a lifestyle business with no intention of scaling, but it's mostly just for fun, I don't make enough money to actually support any kind kind of lifestyle.
You stole mi idea!
I think this is a valid and interesting question, and I hope we get some useful answers here.. but I personally think the market structure is also important, i.e how saturated it is and what not...

also if you know how big your market is I believe to some extend you can think of how much of a market share you can get, and with those two you can obviously estimate how much your company would be worth (on a good day).
If your question is to know how much money you can raise, the estimated value of the company will obviously help you a lot. If the market is worth $100M and you will only have a percentage of that market, I doubt you would be able to raise millions of dollars from the VC's, and if you do, you are probably looking to give up a lot of shares.

But if there is a "rule of thumb" I would like to hear it too
We all aspire to be Ninjas. However, i prefer the name "jedi".
Of course!!! I believe many people have been waiting for this news for quite some time now? this means a huge deal to Facebook's future and also all the other exsisting networks and bigger companies such as Google and Microsoft... this is the kind of reason why Microsoft would value the company at 15b$ and why Google would feel threaten and come up with OpenSocial and be able to convince everyone to join
By lifestyle I guess I meant a business that brings in pretty good money (more than you'd earn at a cushy job), but won't make you filthy rich.
After reading what facebook doing I am a bit disappointed at this point...I was hoping they will announce something a lot more revolutionary... the pages idea is kind of implemented already by other networks such as the Sugar network (they might not be using it for advertising purpose as much, and at this point, but the idea was there) ...

It also feels like not only Facebook does not want the rest of the web to reach its users, but it is also not interested to reach the rest of the web itself, and is happy with its own internal network! is this really the best strategy though?
The big question is does Nokia have a patent on this. Apple's products could really benefit from tactile feedback in my opinion.
but isn't apple coming up with their iPhone SDK in the next coming months?
If you go to the store without much prior knowledge and grab an expensive bottle of the shelf your chances of getting something great aren't that high. Some things to consider: wines sell for the same price whether or not it was a good or a bad year. A premium wine in a bad year is likely to be less enjoyable than a cheap wine in good year. Premium wines are generally made to be aged, so if you don't cellar your wines you are wasting your money buying an expensive wine. Even the snobbiest wine collector doesn't suggest there is a linear relationship between price and enjoyment, but premium wines generally take more effort to make.

A lot of the quality of a wine comes down to the fruit. Do you doubt your ability to identify a beautiful strawberry?
Can't it be both? A grassroots conspiracy? Just because a smallish-yet-largish (hundreds? thousands?) community of people has got together and decided to show their support for a particular candidate by overparticipating in online polls and social news sites doesn't mean that there's anybody organizing these people.

Of course they must be exchanging information somehow, but it doesn't look to me like anybody in particular is in charge.
Beta in December, stealth mode. Fun fun fun.
Yeah that sounded bad. Sorry about that. I'm just happy I've got that many nailed. I don't think I'm going to do the other two. Instead, I'm moving down to some of the more interesting ones.

Do you really think most readers have 8 languages under their belt, with real, live, production systems written in them? It would be interesting to put on an AskYC question. I don't know the answer one way or another. For some reason I kind of thought most of the readers, while super hot on the technology, were newer to the party than that.
A good starting point for tracing back the Mouse+WASD input scheme for 3D navigation is probably Doom. Another game worth mentioning in the list is Descent, which allowed for even more degrees freedom of input.