skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
They will need to prove more than that. The people sending the mail have certain fiduciary duties to the shareholders of the corporation. It will take some doing to convince an arbiter or, God forbid, a federal judge, that giving clear text copies of internal corporate communications to a third party is consistent with those obligations. Especially since the EULAs of these services typically oblige an enterprise to use the "...It's OK...they promise not to read it" defense.

Even better, an employee of one of these services, quite innocently, sells some of a client corporation's stock. That corporation better hope to whatever they consider Holy that the stock refrains from dropping for a while. SOX makes it a good deal easier to prosecute lots of different parties to the appearance of impropriety. Guilt and innocence goes out the window. What matters is what is LEGAL, and a little something called "burden of proof". In my own opinion, it is so low now that a sick kindergarten age child could hurdle it.

Unless you are a VERY good lawyer, or you can afford one, or preferably 10, I would advise you to stay away from any SOX entanglements. Sell the enterprise some software to run on their own servers, DO NOT offer to manage it if you are a startup.

That said, if you can afford the battalion of attorneys, move forward with your plans. Keep in mind however, indemnity clauses in the new SOX era means you go to prison WITH them should anything go horribly awry.
Worm circulating through Skype
So AI researchers still haven't integrated basic concepts like physical limits on exponential growth?

Maybe that's why they haven't contributed anything useful in the past twenty years.
Fixed. Thank you, Grammar Master. ;-)
I thought parking meters were there to promote turnover and thus make parking a little more accessible. Free parking won't do that, and a no parking zone certainly won't.

In Cambridge, for the same reason, you'll be ticketed if they catch you feeding the meter instead of moving your car. It doesn't matter that you're putting up more money.
Ideas are a dime a dozen. GOOD ideas on the other hand are rare ... and much more important than "execution." DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT - THINK THIS THROUGH YOURSELF:

Assume you have an awesome ability to "exectute" and you have a well-developed rep for doing so - what kind a project would you most likely align yourself with and risk your rep for - a crappy idea, a mediocre idea, or a fantastic idea that nobody's thought of before and will change the world for the better?

See - the good idea is a prerequisite to attracting people who can execute because if you're that good, why waste time executing anything but the best ideas.

And people who have high quality ideas keep them to themselves until they can figure out a way to 1) profit from them (or at least get recognition) and 2) keep competitors from squashing them before they even take off.

I'm sorry but articles to the contrary, I've never come across a blogger who proclaims that GOOD ideas are a dime a dozen and that they give them away all the time for free .... who actually had a very good idea. Sure ... THEY thought their ideas were good, but I doubt anyone but their most loyal blog readers would agree.

In case you still disagree, try walking up to Google's headquarters and saying you'd like to drop off some flowers for your girlfriend ... I guarantee you won't get far without signing at least one NDA and having to present your ID.

But if ideas are so cheap and easy, why do companies invest so much in making sure they control them? Because they're not cheap and easy and people who never came up with any truly good ideas proclaiming, "good ideas are cheap and easy" is as insulting as saying that if you put a hundred monkeys in a room full of computers for a long enough time, eventually they'll come up with something better than Ruby on Rails to make web stuff with.

Ideas, yes. GOOD ideas that attract the best people to execute and have the ability to be transformed into $$$ ... don't kid yourself.
A couple of other services in the same vein: redirects where you get to choose the text instead of a random string at http://purl.org/ and quick posting of snippets of text or code at http://pastebin.ca/ or http://dpaste.com/
Nothing wrong with having a preference and expressing it. I just have a vested interest in figuring out what you prefer about Plesk. If it's just appearances, then we'll have that resolved this week with the new theme I'm working on. If it's functionality, then we've long ago surpassed Plesk on features and capabilities. If it's just what you're used to, then there's not much we can do about it...if we were going to model our product after an existing one, we'd have to choose cPanel, since it has about 70% market share. But we're not going that route...we'll just have to accept that some folks don't want to learn a new UI and let our competitors have those users. Luckily, the vast majority of people on the planet have never seen any control panel product. ;-)

Also worth noting, TextDrive only recently began using the latest version of Virtualmin...until a week or two ago, they were on a heavily customized ancient--like 1.mumble--version, which worked for what they needed, but we've done a lot over the past two years between that version and the current version. Don't judge us based on a two or three year old version--Virtualmin was just a fun side project for me and Jamie back then.
The only mail clients that I can make do everything I want them to do are gnus, mutt, and sylpheed. I like having my mail client inside emacs, but I switched back from gnus to mutt. Gnus takes too long to start up and is too brittle if your IMAP connection is unreliable. Mutt does occasionally hang for the same reasons, but then it's just a matter of C-\ and rerun it, rather than taking my whole emacs session with it.

Thunderbird is missing the ability to pipe messages through an external process.
Does no one else miss the ability to easily send attachments with web-based clients?
There's snarkiness and then there's honest to goodness questions about whether one can afford to get into Y Combinator. (if you can get that far, of course)

I personally would need to save up for a while & pay down some debt before even trying to apply. But I would never knock the idea of cutting ramen-noodle checks to YC founders. It's at the very least much better (for the probably outcome of the business) than cutting filet-mignon checks.
TechCrunch40
Is anyone else going to TechCrunch40?

I can't wait. 40 demos in two days! Not to mention hundreds of hackers, investors, and press all in one place.
The solution seems pretty simple then.

Apply to YC and let's hypothetically assume you get in.

Spend 20% of your time making this ridiculous amount of money you can make doing consulting, the rest on your startup.

Problem solved. =) In all seriousness though, didn't Xobni have to do something like this for a while? (side consulting)
Black screen of darkness to haunt Vista pirates
Yes.

When I meet a developer who hasn't heard of YC or news.YC, I look at them like a Betamax.
Riding the crest: Twitter API Traffic is 10x Twitter's Site Traffic
GTD: How Do You Determine What To Do Next?
How do you cope with a very large GTD list? Following is the method I am currently using...
your food budget is 2x what I would consider normal, your housing budget is about 1/2 what I would consider normal.

However, about $2K a month is pretty close to average living expenses, no matter where you cut back.

here is my breakdown

housing: 1100

internet: 0 (upstairs neighbors let me leech, coffee shops)

electricity: 0 (covered in rent)

food: 300 (burritos, cook at home, burger/pizza on weekends)

water: 0 (included in rent)

entertainment: 100 (beer)

gym: 60

cost: 1560

if you live in the south bay, you forgot car, car insurance, parking and/or caltrain.
Programming Can Ruin Your Life
Ask Metafilter: What is the best intro book for your field for laypeople?
who do my plans have to do with my suggestion?
It's still a lot less frustrating than not having threads. Has anyone else copied that feature?
Lessons Learned From the iPhone Price Cuts
Numerous Problems Reported with First iPhoneSIMFree Unlocks
Saying things the right way in dealing with people is an art. I'm mostly around computers... kind of like a lawyer who comes home and then deals with his family by continuing the cross-examinations! Thanks for pointing it out; I was thinking about it the other day -- multiple ways to phrase the same thing -- and it took me several iterations to get from "likely offensive" to "non-offensive and helpful". I don't have enough experience with humans to say things the right way right off the bat, so I may need to essentially run unit tests on everything beforehand until I develop my intuitive sense to a much greater degree.

With computers you tell them "here's exactly what's wrong with you." With humans you can actually rely on them to fill in the gaps and just state things a lot more diplomatically (not to mention, it's not about making people "wrong" anyway!). Something phrased very gently and ambiguously can get results, and is probably the only way to deal with people effectively in most circumstances. I appreciate the reminder!
Same here. If I'm away from my computer, I use GMail, but if I'm at my computer (i.e. most of the time), it's Mac Mail. Why pass up the UI superiority and integration with the rest of the system? Using both doesn't diminish my ability to use GMail on the road, which is where it has the obvious advantage.
Apple Mail, when I'm away, either my isp webmail or Gmail. I don't like web mail - the user experience is poor and inconsistent.
For reading, maybe, but for writing emails (or anything else) nothing beats emacs.
Does the phatic nature of Web 2.0 increase group unity at the cost of personal productivity?
Hey colortone be nice I work 4 u
Thank you for the thoughtful replies. I gather I need to (1) practice the art of diplomacy; and then (2) relocate. Probably wouldn't do to meet investors and still be overly brash!
Is there a way to get REPL?
That's pretty sexy. I've been thinking about building something like this for a while now.

Any plans for a Facebook app?
I was merely providing an alternative to noodles.
For the record, Google Trends paints the very same picture: http://www.google.com/trends?q=orkut%2C+facebook&ctab=0&...
Whenever possible I use gnus, primarily for the newsgroup-thread-style UI and editing power of emacs. I also take advantage of its inherent customizability with elisp to handle my different From addresses, conditional BCC, filtering, etc.

I use gmail for low priority traffic like mailing lists, and everything else goes through
FastMail (http://fastmail.fm/) which is quite simply the best email host I've ever found. For $40/y you get hosting for 50 domains (and 30 aliases on FM's many domains); SpamAssassin; Sieve filtering; secure IMAP, POP and SMTP; 2GB storage; and a nice web UI which suffices when I'm away from gnus.
This is a good read. I personally eat well and avoid candy, but this cracked me up.
Is New York a bad place to set up shop?
Just start doing it. GTD can be counter-productive. Try the Air-Force / Special Forces model: A.C.T.E. micro-cycling. [A]ssess the situation quickly [C]reate a SIMPLE plan, emphasis on simple ... [T]ake action ... [E]valuate the results (can be seen as another "Assess" with the outcome of your first A.C.T. micro-cycle now in the picture. Just keep repeating and your brain will warm up and loosen up. GTD tends to make planning the work more work-like than doing the work, and as they say ... "Planning the work is not the same thing as actually doing th work."

IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE TO EVEN BEGIN ASSESSING, then just start doing blindly. In half an hour your brain will start spitting out requirements and plans to work more effectively and efficiently.
Social networks to merge with Bluetooth apps?
too many questions to answer with no indications of what is required, especially when all I want to do is see if anyone from Pittsburgh is around.
It depends. Most of the people are poseurs ... most of the VCs in particular are poseurs (many aren't even VCs per se) ... programmers who are slightly capable all work for investment banks and make hundreds of thousands of dollars ... AND EXPECT similar salary arrangements at a startup no matter how many times you try to explain to them that that's not how it's done at a startup.

On the other hand, if you DO manage to somehow cobble something together, I'd imagine that NY is a pretty exciting place to be and work your rear end off. Nothing like crawling out of your office late at night and walking a few blocks in Manhattan and finding more energy to keep up the pace in ... oh ... five minutes.

Are you in New York?
Open Source Patents
Obviously, Silicon Valley is the capital of the startup world. But would a startup that's successful there fail in New York?

My wariness about the Bay Area is mainly related to groupthink. Being surrounded by people who are all in the same industry, thinking about the same issues, talking about the same things, has obvious benefits. At the same time, it seems that the only companies that succeed, whether they're based in the Bay Area or not, are the ones that ignore an important piece of conventional wisdom. And that seems like it would be harder to do when you're immersed in it. If you don't want to drink the Kool-Aid, you should have some hesitation about moving to the factory.

The upside of New York specifically, and Boston too (besides the fact that they're beautiful, vibrant cities), is the cross-pollination you get by being in touch with different cultures and industries. In the right circumstances, that benefit could greatly outweigh the value of being in a place that has bigger-name VCs and contacts.

And lastly, Google's second-biggest office is in New York, so that may be the beginning of something very important there.
Fantastic jQuery Plug-In for Keyboard Shortcuts
It comes down to raising money... New York's great, but it's exponentially easier for a social networking site to raise money in the Bay Area.
They'll be announcing another stock symbol and split.
Orthographic wordplay for startup names.
The universe isn't complaining....

Whether or not it is a "lot of money" is irrelevant. The relevant question is "Is it enough to meet YC's goals?" Maybe Markham's non-participation gnaws at PG, but I'm guessing that it doesn't.

BTW - The vast majority of YC particpants are foregoing significant income and the lifestyle that goes with it, a lifestyle not unlike Markham's. Why is only the latter worthy of consideration?

However, we have established that Markham can easily self-fund at the level that he requested from YC. I look forward to seeing the result.
LOL ;-D
I agree with you on most things but differ with one point - for some reason, it's very hard to find people to take plunges, even part time, in New York.

New York is very image concerned and can be vicious, professionaly and socially, if you misstep.

Failure in Silicon Valley is seen as part of learning. In most other parts of the word it's seen as ... just failure. In New York it seems to be evidence that all your ancestors suck and you'll go on to become re-incarnated as a worm for all eternity.

Ironically, though - I think that if you could transplant the "let's do it" mentality of SV to NY, then NY would be just as and possibly more successful.

I can't for the like of me figure out why more people in NY can't find the spine to try more things.

On the other hand, the life can be a bit too "vibrant" ... I know some good techie folks but they're more likely trying to go to some wine tasting at a posh lounge than coding until 1 a.m.

So it definately has potential, IMO, but for some reason the fuse is wet and can't seem to spark.
American Broadband: Pathetic and Disgraceful
Ruby hacker needed for 1-2 week gig a short bike ride from Cambridge
We're a small, friendly startup ( http://SmartFlix.com ) and we need 1 week (plus or minus) of work by a good Ruby / Rails hacker to develop a feature for our new site ( http://HeavyInk.com).

If you want to get a toe wet in startup culture, this would be a good way!

All code can be released as open source, if that's a consideration for the right hacker.
It depends ... NY is generally harder to raise money professionaly, but quite often easier socially and especially after-the-fact.

If by exponentially faster you mean more VC firms and what not, sure. Most NY VCs are poseurs.

But on the other hand, I doubt you're going to be in some SV night club or bar and start a conversation with someone your age whose father happens to have a shipping line in Greece or a construction company in Saudi Arabia or an oil company in Russia or what have you.

Last time I checked nobody was flocking to SV for the party scene -- and people with money like to party.
True - at least professionally. Plust it's hard to find people with the startup mentality in NY, which is ironic because people with the startup mentality I think would actually do well in NY, just hard to find them.
Gmail is my choice only because it is relatively ad-free. Lack of folders, down-my-throat "conversations" instead of individual messages and pathetic editor are a pain in the back. Gmail sucks when you're managing 4-5 simultaneous email threads daily with various random incoming messages.

I use 3 different computers running two OS'es - that is the only reason I use web-based mail. Back in the day when everything was on my laptop, I liked "TheBat!" and ThunderBird.
I use Mail.app for mac. I have an IMAP account that has squirrel mail access and essentially infinite storage. The squirrel mail was a pain and I went to gmail while I was in the corporate world. Now that I have a startup I am mostly on my machine and the webmail is just a backup that I seldom use if I'm on another machine.

-I like drag and drop attachments.
-I like the OS integration. Click on an email link from the browser, send something from iPhoto etc...
-I hate that when I hit tab on gmail it focuses on the send button.
-I like having email offline.
-I like to be able to fast-seach AND THEN sort.
-I like realtime spellcheck.

Gmail is the best web interface by far but in my opinion it is inferior to mail.app. I think the tipping point comes when you're spending more time on a machine w/o your client, gmail is the way to go.
mail.app for mac copied the thread feature. Not as well, but well enough.
> One: You can and will work at a desk for seven hours straight, routinely

Sign me up. Nothing I like better than being routinely forced to work for 7 hours straight so I can make the grade.

Maybe this is why the smartest people I know drop of out school to learn and work on their own terms.
You may be confusing email with instant messaging. As a channel for exchanging documents (as opposed to messages) email (and desktop email especially) is still indispensable.

You are 100% right about lack of security though.
I want to add this, I was in a situation where I had a co-founder who didn't program much except doing some html and I had to do all of the code. He was also supposed to sell the accounts and we would split the money coming in 50/50.

That system was www.profolios.com which I am very proud of, I made it in about 2003 and it works pretty good (although the html design is dated the backend code is excellent).

We parted ways, I left him with the code and I have the code too. I have not decided to do anything with it yet but one day I might.

This was the most equitable solution because I didn't want to leave him hanging. He did try on his part to contribute but things just didn't work out. Life is like that but now he is happy and I am perfectly happy too. I eventually found a domain modelcoach.com on tdnam.com and picked it up. One day I might revamp the model system code and put it back out there as a service. I just have been focusing in on other things.
Dumbest thing I've seen in a while... I just glanced at "Ruby or Ajax?" subtitle and already felt the smell. Over half of things presented are not even languages with ajax being just a method invoke...

Well... the profile of the submitter explains this nonsense perfectly:
"Head of Marketing at the Go BIG Network. The World's Largest Community of Startup Companies."
Clear tower favorite: Jury gives nod to one Transbay terminal plan
I'd just go with a pormanteau.
With this coming largest tower in the Western US, San Francisco is definitely changing. After earlier decades of no-growth politics, San Francisco is having multiple towers, both residential and office, built now. Its exciting to see, and it may be one of the keys making SF extremely attractive for up and coming technology companies in the future. Why be in the burbs when you can work and live in a world class city?
Mind-altering substances and programming
Wired's article "LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug?" got me thinking that drugs and programmers may be more common than I had previously thought.

Has anyone ever used any sort of drug while programming? What were the results?
Ask The VC - Why Are Venture Capitalists So Hard To Deal With?
I've found that smoking marijuana has a positive effect on my programming sessions. I feel as though I can see every single line of code at once. It makes for a nice coding experience.
Don't think so. Desktop mail is not much different from web mail when it comes to exchanging documents. Heck, these days with all these web apps around, you don't even need to use a desktop app.
My vote is for San Francisco to become the new startup capital. Why not? :)
Interesting, I use the same setup: gnus + fastmail.fm IMAP. IMAP of course lets me use a number of MUAs (such as Mail.app or fastmail's web access) but I primarily use gnus.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=53288
Apple: "We don't hate iPhone coders"
gnus has been ok for me for two reasons:

1) fastmail.fm (the IMAP service I use has been very reliable for years now)

2) I don't actually start gnus, or emacs, or a linux terminal session on a daily basis; I just keep them running and use ssh and screen to get to them. It's only text mode of course, but for the last 5 years or so I rarely had a real need for anything more than text (and if such need arises, I just use the web access to the IMAP server or another MUA).
I've considered switching to gmail several times, but still prefer gnus, the main reason being full control.
Alex, a Parrot Who Had a Way With Words, Dies
If you'd think of the work you need to do to get an MIT degree as "forced work" that you need to put in just to "make the grade", then yes, I'd agree you'd be better off dropping out, or going to somewhere where the standards are more lax.
If they go after individual users, this might be much more effective than when RIAA did it. Most people would much rather settle than get that kind of publicity, especially if their tastes are less than mainstream.
What if you ssh to a server and use a text-based MUA? That does not exactly qualify as desktop, does it. It's a third category, which I personally prefer most of the time.

For the record, I'm using gnus with IMAP and emacs within screen on linux.
bzzt You fail the reading comprehension portion of the exam. I thought having "all other fields are optional" in bold would get the point across.

Browsing by location should be showing up in a few days.
Empirically the advantages of concentration are bigger than the disadvantages, and this applies as much when comparing NYC and the Bay Area as Detroit and NYC.

Google's NY office doesn't signify anything in particular. They knew a lot of smart people were trapped on the east coast, e.g. by family stuff, so they established an office here. They put it in NYC because they already had an ad sales office there. I think that was a mistake, actually; Boston is a much more Googly place than NYC.
I can give you access to hook into startupmatcher for automated profile creation if you want to write the facebook part. :)