skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
A ZX-Spectrum Z80 clone. Something like 32KB of memory, and audio tapes for storage. A game would take 4-5 minutes to load, during which time the border of the screen would have funky coloured lines, and you could "hear" the program loading (similar to modem sounds). There was also a way to "compress" programs, which would make the lines thinner and the sound more high-pitched - I guess it simply recorded everything twice as fast and tried to deal with the error recovery as well as it could.

This was back in Romania almost 10 years after the original Z80 came out in the rest of the world. It was a big hit for a couple of years because it was so affordable, and many people got their computing start on one (or on a Commodore 64), before graduating to a 286 or 386. One TV station actually had a show where they broadcast games and programs - since it was just the audio signal, you could easily record them off the TV. So you basically had an entire TV show with the funky moving lines on the borders and the modem-like sounds. Looking back it seems a bit surreal. :)
This story has a bunch of comments, including one with 4 points, but only has 2 points itself. I think it's actually common to comment on a story and not upvote it. I know I do that often.

One reason is people often comments on stories they dislike, so they can call the author a tool, or whatever.
Copyfight: Did Google wimp out in its battle with Viacom?
TextDrive == Joyent. They were acquired a couple of years ago (or more). The founders of TextDrive are still involved, as far as I know (we still deal with the same folks we always have, though there's a new tech or two that we talk to).
The coming dollar collapse?
My summary/opinion: http://irei.wordpress.com/2007/10/17/will-the-dollar-collaps...

What do you think?
Most of the successful entrepreneurs I know are firmly grounded in reality. To my knowledge, none of them have suffered by avoiding crazies.
Just pointing out why the GPLv3 is nothing but a pointless complication: as long as your app doesn't come installed on the iPhone by default, it can be licensed GPLv3; Apple can sign the binary, and, as the iPhone is the only platform your app is made for, you bypass the whole 'tivoization' clause.
Web 2.0 To English: Can I make money doing online video?
"OK, you may not have the same structure, advice, networks and extra cash that Y Combinator provides, but maybe that shouldn't stop you."

Everyone always talks about the mentoring and the connections from Y Combinator, but no one ever mentions the story. I think YC itself has a compelling story, one that's authentic but also fun to talk about. If you get funded it's the kind of thing that makes for 'sparkling' conversation at cocktail parties, as a way of talking about the program but also indirectly talking about yourself. Which is probably why YC is quickly becoming a household brand. Even my mom read the article in Newsweek.
Back away, SHARK!
Apple IIe.

But programming foray was on a 386SX running MS-DOS with QBasic.
Guys. I apologize to anyone who felt this is too serious for this audience.The item wasn't focused on YC, but to whatever you are seeking. What I am saying is that in every journey they will come decisive moments, but what is more important is how we react to those moments. I wasn't suggesting that you should eat, drink, sleep and breath startup (although I do, but then again, I am no role model) as in a cult but really simply showing people what I have experienced here http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47232. In other words there is more to YC then being accepted
Looks way better to me than the average McMansion.
Study: Average Value of Business Info on Travelers' Laptops Equals $525K
Most travelers carry little or no business information on their laptops, but the ones who do store an average of $525,000 worth of sensitive data, according to a recent survey.
See? Microsoft is still capable of innovation (it's a pragmatic dialect of a 10-15 year old language, but still, it beats Java and C#).
thank you for insulting my little bitty of intelligence. touche.
Tracy Kidder's book is what got me into computers! Love the part where they can't figure out why the motherboard isn't working and the project leader, and old grizzled veteran, just grabbed the board without warning and shook the hell out of it, giving all the young whiz kids cardiac arrest. But it fixed the problem!

Home-built from mail-order box w/ Intel 386SX chip, 1024K ram, 40MG hard drive, VGA video 5.25 and 3.5 inch floppy drive. I really wanted the full 386 chip, but couldn't afford that and VGA. Figured I could always add the i387 math co-processor later.
386, Windows 3.1 was my first computer. A hand-me-down from my uncle when he got a new Windows 95 machine.
Jakob Nielsen on 30 years of computing: "I wanted to ... put humans back in control ..."
The full excerpt I pasted a snippet of above is:

"For me personally, the experience of moving from a small, relatively transparent computer to an oppressively large and opaque one marked the start of my passion for usability. I knew that it could feel good to use computers, and I wanted to recapture that sense of empowerment and put humans back in control of the machines."

It's nice to see him not act like a curmudgeon once in a while.
I'm no startup founder, but I find that too much time in the technology trenches has a similar effect on me. I recommend, as do a few of the other posters, some time away, a change of scenery maybe, and good food mixed in with exercise. Then, try again, a bit slower this time. I cross-posted on your piece to http://blog.innovators-network.org The Innovators Network is a non-profit dedicated to bringing technology to startups, small businesses, non-profits, venture capitalists and intellectual property experts. Please visit us and help grown our community!

Best wishes for continued success,

Anthony Kuhn
Innovators Network
I should clarify what I meant in a larger than the title field. Ok so this house is incredibly efficient in energy and space use and I really like the design of the interior. You would think then that it would also blend well with the landscape and not stick out like a sore thumb. However all you see from the outside is is a rectangular box that you only get to pick the color of. I just think the exterior lines are a bit harsh and out of place for something that is otherwise so well designed.
My very first was a Commodore Vic-20 with tape drive, followed shortly by a Commodore 64 which, when disk drive and modem were added, opened up a whole new world of computing. (moondog bbs)
Oric 16k can't say I liked it but I learned to program in assembly on it which was fun.
so all it needs is some rounded corners?
Are you young? Are you hip? Join Barry Diller's IAC; the Facebook of the East?
I think whatever YCombinator does to help startups is covered under NDA.
First one I lusted after, ZX-81; first one I programmed, TRS-80; first one I owned, Commodore 64. Ah the nostalgia! Buying computer magazines, and each computer was a whole new thing...
At the risk of sounding like a certain Quack Dr. on TV who just uses his first name (Dr.Phil) .... Perhaps the $90 is a stop gap measure to avoid discussing some concerns he may have about the working relationship terms & conditions moving forward -- happens all the time.
those who know don't care. those who care, don't know.
Oh yeah, I forgot about Copernic. They used to be awesome.
I'm totally with sbh here. This title is ridiculous and overblown. What he was dealing with were spammers, not marketers.
I remember many nights down at Radio Shack lusting over and programming the TRS-80.

The technology was so new, they even had a deal -- if you wrote a program, they would publish it in a catalog they mailed to all of their users. There simply wasn't any software available! A guy I went to school with wrote some kind of shoot-the-cannon-at-the-target program and made over a thousand bucks with it.
Yeah, I think they're just normal guys with a hobby.
For one, Demo Day is definitely NDA-ed. Other stuff, the business and marketing help that JL provides or the technical help that PG provides, those would also be considered under NDA, unless it's generic enough that sharing such information wouldn't hurt the startups.

YCombinator's interest is in the exit of the companies it funds. It's from that money that they can continue to do this year after year. Giving away everything in the farm doesn't help them do that. As much as everyone makes sharing and collaborating such a big deal, here in Silicon Valley people are actually pretty mum about their plans. Put it another way: if someone insists on talking to you about startups and whatnots around here, it's cause you're getting pitched.
A Wang laboratories IBM-compatible clone :)
With computers also come books, languages & OS's. My journey goes like this:

First machine was a Sinclair ZX80 with 1K ram, a bubble keyboard that hooked up the television. No sound, basic for language (using peek/poke for accessing h/w) and tape deck to load programs. Very simple and fun to play with. Hooked ever since. Heres some photos of it ~ http://flickr.com/photos/bootload/tags/sinclair

- ZX-80->81 | 30 programs for the Sinclair ZX80 1K | Basic | weird Sinclair OS

- Apple][e clone | Apple II Assembly Language | Apple Basic, Basic, Assembly | AppleDos, CPM

- IBM clone 8086 | Data Structures using Pascal | Pascal | Dos

- HP11 calc.

- IBM clone 486 | C Programming for PC, Learning Perl | C, Perl, Delphi, Fortran M77, SQL | Dos, WIn31, Win95, Linux, Internet

- Various Pentium clones | Learning Python, White book, OnLisp, | VB, Asp, Python, Php, Lisp | Linux, OpenBSD, Win2K, Web

- AMD64 | Phillip & Alexs guide to Web publishing, SEIA | Javascript | Linux, OpenBSD, Web, Internet, Symbian

- Internet | ??? | Javscript, web api's | Browsers

Couple of things to note:

- never really into cars as every $AUD2K I'd spend on new hardware (because s/w I always thought of software as free)

- always bought clones because the real one items landing in Aus where so incredibly expensive. The best clone story was getting a mate of my dads to take an entire Apple 2e clone from SE Asia in bits because he worked for Collins Radio then watch it be re-assembled.

- language choice is becoming more interpreted

- books and operating systems always followed along with hardware so I have a graveyard of both

- though you might still call it client/server I now consider writing apps for the Internet, web, browser using languages plus markup and data as opposed to just the web only.

The funny thing is I run a lot of my old systems as virtual machines on my current system.
Compaq Presario (~400MHz)
Do they get to keep all the money they collected as royalties?
Two actually, my dad had a Macintosh SE in his office and we had a Tandy 1000 at home. Man, I LOVED that game "Bugs!". Does anyone remember that one?
Apple II+. That machine ruled -- simple enough for a 11 year old kid to fully understand, programmable from the get go (it basically thrust a BASIC prompt at you after turning it on) and kick-ass games like Wizardry and Ultima to boot. Brings a tear to my eye.
I apologize if yesterday's post sparked some sort of mushy reflection on rejection. Not my intention, honestly.
We don't have any NDAs. We ask people in the audience at Demo Day not to write about the startups that haven't launched yet. I believe that is the only thing we ever ask anyone not to talk about.

Some of the startups may have their individual secrets. We try to keep them if they do. But they decide that.
IBM PC JR - it was nice that it was EGA at a time when CGA was more popular. Since it wasn't very popular, there wasn't much in terms of software for it (My mom got it when it was discontinued); so I just spent a lot of time messing with BASIC
OK, that one wins.
You need to pick a designer who believes, as you do, that Modernist buildings are sins against nature. I'm told that such designers do exist, although apparently they never get hired by MIT.
Can you email me at schen (at my company's domain) so I can send you an invite?
How does this compare to Arc?
Requires a JVM. But another Lisp with some interesting features.
A Vision of Students Today (excellent digital ethnography video)
At least no one has yet publicly threatened suicide, unlike most other web forums.
Where to buy padded envelopes and shipping supplies?
I remember someone posting here with where they bought shipping supplies but didn't save the link. Anyone have any recommendations? Thanks.
My summary/opinion: http://irei.wordpress.com/2007/10/17/will-the-dollar-collaps...
uline.com -- they're amazing. Cheap overnight delivery in CA too.
A Mac 530c that I got to use only on weeknights after 7 and weekends (when my Dad took it home from work). It was love at first sight.
Hmmm, why not just use Lisp?
New Tricks for Online Photo Editing: Seam Carving
Now that Adobe owns this I think it will more widespread technology.
Ha, sounds just like mine!

The only differences were that I upgraded mine from a 486 to a Pentium 90(!) and bolted an internal Iomega Jaz tape drive to the outside of the case for more storage. It ran Windows 3.1, which allowed me to wile away the time playing SkiFree when I was young.

My QBasic game was a word guessing game. It was fun to write, and not fun at all to play.
Apple II. I had no disks, so the computer had to stay on if my BASIC programs were to be retained. I remember thinking how exotic and exciting the 5 1/4 disk was when I finally got one. Yes, I still remember the brand:

http://images.google.com/images?q=Elephant+Memory+Systems
TRS-80 Color Computer 2
Mobile TV Watermarks: Enabling interactive TV content
The fact that it's built on top of Java makes it hard to believe it's designed to be a 100 year language.

http://www.paulgraham.com/hundred.html
NMU students present paper on artificial evolution
Using realtime CAPTCHAs to help the blind
Computer Security Video on Internet Privacy Wins Award
I didn't want to link to the video so I linked to the article but you can watch the video at http://www.whoswatchingcharlottesville.com/videos/TheJobInte...
The first real computer I owned was a Powerbook 140 (16 MHz 68030, 4M memory, 40M disk), but my parents had an Apple II and a Mac LCII before that.
Commodore 64 (circa 1984)
an assembled i386 circa 1994
$2.2 Million Grant Calls for Designing Computer Software to Predict the Unpredictable
Unsung flow-builders
Web 2.0 Summit Mark Zuckerberg
something to let it interact with the lot its placed on...
Startups at Berkeley - ST@B
Another human predicting future. When all of these "fantasy" ends?

You dream/vision about something and you do it. That's when dream/fantasy becomes reality. Not when some hi-tech blogger wrote an article how to use your MacBook with your Google account.
Apple II, lets hear it for hypercard programming!!
Apple //c, my first love.
I really like these new captchas that are attempting to solve problems, like reCAPTCHA.
"HotOrNot was James' third startup before he finally succeeded."

Thats good to know that James didn't give up after first two failures. It must be hard to keep that temperament.
Don't forget to check with your standard shipper (if you're using one). You can get a lot of the supplies for free of UPS, Fedex, etc.
Facebook financing "almost wrapped up"
Has Microsoft snagged a Facebook stake?
How developers - and Apple - will make money on iPhone software
Unless the contract says otherwise, yep. But I doubt they'll be able to keep on charging current licensees (like Apple for example)...
Mike Shedlock has some interesting background data:

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2007/10/what-fact...
First to program were TRS-80s at school (actually, first was a programmable calculator at school), then my parents bought an Apple //e. Great computer.
"... why are efficient houses ugly as sin? ..."

I can think of a number of reasons

- kit form means (some) pre-construction

- simpler shapes and consistency means easier and faster construction

- form follows function

Would I buy one?

If I did the building has no verandas so I'd cook in summer. No sloped roof (increasing surface area slightly) for water collection, solar heating & power. High roof means lots of heating in winter but great in summer. Not much on the materials (insulation, windows) are listed so I can't tell how thermally efficient the building or what footprint it leaves. One thing I notice is the building does not integrate well into the surroundings. Geography does play a part as well and coming from 34 degree southern latitude with mild winters and hot summers.

I ascribe my architectural appreciation to watching Kevin McClouds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_McCloud ) UK, Ch4 show, Grand Design ( http://www.channel4.com/4homes/ontv/grand-designs/houses/ind... ) every Thursday night on the tube. If you ever get the chance to watch the Grand Design series, do so.

In each episode, McCloud dissects the process of people constructing/re-constructing buildings into their own houses. Asking questions on how to improve construction. Critiquing the building process such as construction, financing, management and execution. The analogy to constructing software applications is obvious.
Building the Right Connections
Reflecting on our YC application, we are coming the realization that we actually might not get into this cycle.

Where does everyone here plan to start?

Without being in SF is it impossible to build connections?

Examples of connections that we would need in order to meet that lovely lady named Success would include:

-Executives from Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing and Microsoft AdCenter.

-Tech writers, Media personnel, etc.

Being based out of Florida isn't much help. Anyone have any pointers besides "Move to SF" or "Move to Boston"?
Little (useless) trivia: if we assume that a startup has 10% chance of succeeding (regardless of one's experience/whatever), then there is a 52% chance that your 7th (or maybe earlier) startup will succeed.
Did the web fail the iPhone?
He doesn't have much perspective yet, but that's not too important. He isn't as completely bought into the plan as you are, but you have a head start so that's expected. If you can work well together, that's what counts.
I was on a similar position some time ago.

I do think your co-founder isn't ready for the startup ride. You can talk all you want with him, but at the end it will come back and bite you. If he isn't passionated about it now, he probably won't be in some months.

If you really need to start rolling, go ahead, talk with him and tell him (gently) you're going on your own.

As many others have said, trust your gut feeling! Generally, the first reaction is the most visceral and truthful one. So if he is reacting like this to the incorporating issue, don't fool yourself, he's not the right partner for this venture.

Good luck
I wouldn't recommend incorporating until you need to. Unless you have money or legal documents that require a separate legal entity there is no reason to incorporate while you just have an idea. Incorporating is a bit more time consuming than filling in the check and mailing. Depending on the type of incorporation and the state you might find incorporating to be a serious distraction you can do without for now.

On the other hand if the reason your co-founder doesn't want to incorporate is because it would be a waste of $135 dollars than you seriously need to talk to him about his commitment to this.
I have to agree - this hardly makes any sense. I can't figure out if there's a REPL window, and "howdy ho" sounds ludicrously informal.
Why on earth would a part-owner of the company be stupid enough to use his access to help a friend cheat? Absolute power corrupts absolutely?
IBM 1401. 12K of characters (BCD-coded), card I/O, fast printer (600 LPM!) and a 1311 disk (2e6 characters, random access, with removable disk packs. About the same capacity as a floppy). Fortran IV, COBOL, RPG, Autocoder (assembly) and more. And the Computer History Museum has one that is operational! See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_1401 and http://1401.org
Ditto, I found Google in about 1998, from a multi-engine search site and noticed it was coming up with all the good stuff. I must have been one of the first people to use it (at the time).

Additional note that most other search engines were a test of pain before Google came along.
You might have to work much harder being outside of a tech center, but if you build something great, people will initiate contact with you regardless of where you are. If your idea depends on having connections before it can work then you might want to try something else.

There are exciting and successful startups all over the world. There might be more concentration in SV, but I believe you can succeed anywhere with the right product.
Well, Y Combinator is lead by a guru who possesses arcane powers and who recruits young boys over the internet to travel far away from their homes to live in the YScraper (aka The Compound) and work for below minimum wages with the promise of epic wealth and enlightenment.
this scares me. but it's needed.
This is cool timing. I go to NCSU, and just last night we had a paneled discussion with Charlie Rose about sustainability in the future; one of the men on the board was Thom Mayne, a noted architect who's doing work on sustainable buildings (though mostly office buildings).

One of his key themes from the talk was about how it used to be that design (making buildings artsy) and efficiency (in an energy sense) used to be kind of divided in the architecture world, particularly when he was a student. He said that there has been a major paradigm shift and a merge in the two philosophies.

For examples, check out the Phare Tower that he's working on. The entire tower is optimized for using natural light and airflow, rather than artificial light and air conditioning.

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

He had some other awesome examples, but I don't know where to find them.
Now now, no need for a slur like "built on top of Java" just because it compiles for the JVM rather than its own VM.
Questions from the floor: We have lobbied Facebook to let us export data from your system. That really gets to the essence of a closed platform. Who owns the data? "It's the user's data. We want to get there, that's the goal. If you look at where we've gone in four years, from just one college letting people share a very limited amount of information... we want to get there. It's a flaw in the system now and we want to get it out as soon as we can. I don't know how long it's going to take."
1. Take time away, find what relaxes you and do it
2. Get your sleep back in order
3. Make sure you're truly eating healthy
4. Workout to relieve the stress
5. Optional - Spiritual needs in order?

The best thing I can say is now that you've had it happen, you'll be much more sensitive to it and can recognize the warnings signs.

Also consider building in regular self-evaluation and relax time, it helps keep everything in balance.
How does this pass the non-obvious test? I'm not that smart (or even a true expert in the field) and even I can immediately tell how to implement the system.
Lessons from Several Startups: Why not to Sweat YC