skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
For big picture news I find nothing beats The Economist. No more kidnapped babies or small plane crashes! I've stopped reading (online) newspapers, and I don't miss them at all.

For subscribing to different issues - interesting! I'd like that too. In theory, you could subscribe to the RSS of the history page of wikinews/wikipedia. You'd get all the updates, but I'm not sure how useful or reader-friendly that is in practice.
They don't plan on an IPO anytime soon. I think this was just a smart move as a response to all the other VC's launching similar things.
"... tems were broken down into 'comment' and 'link' (not sure if link was the object, it might have been news) but their ID numbers didn't overlap so I assume PG combined them because their was no reason not to, except for breaking old links. ..."

Thanks for that explanation. Hadn't taken the time to work this out.
Clearly it's a smart move, but does this protect their IPO in any ways other than increasing their valuation?
Based on the post title, I was going to answer "Checks."

Since you're talking about essays...I dunno.

But, seriously, aren't you being a bit presumptuous? I mean, are you his agent or something? ;-)

Writing is a very personal thing, especially when you are really into it and not just doing it for the grades or money. I imagine that pg has more ideas than time at this point, since he obviously spends quite a bit of time crafting each essay and soliciting input from his friends. I'm not comfortable giving essay ideas for pg when it is not him soliciting the ideas...

Sorry to be a party pooper.

Maybe you should try to solicit ideas for yourself to write about, and then YOU can be a "thought leader," too.
Well, I know people are experimenting. But who will come up with the first big hit? I'd buy a compatible phone just to play.
Yeah, I'm mainly ranting at my feeds.

To some degree I'm wishing for a new style of journalism. Or at the least journalists actually learning to write headlines that make any sense and are useful.

The startup ideas there are:

- Subscribing to specific issues that you want to keep track of over time is something I want to see way more of.

- Sites that use data visualisations to increase understanding and perspective of...anything really, is something I've been thinking about. Think the world would be a better place if people had perspective and we have access to a lot of data now to play with.
A gripe... Journalists don't write headlines. Editors do.
I'm curious as to how long you'd have to answer all these. Many are pretty fun to think about, but I'd be pissed if they only gave me 60 seconds to answer some of them.
Here's another version of #9: http://www.xkcd.com/blue_eyes.html
Google is like Microsoft 20 years ago. Everybody should read "How Would You Move Mount Fuji" -- a detailed book on the topic of IQ, puzzles, and job interviews.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Would-Move-Mount-Fuji/dp/031677849...

Microsoft has, of late, moved away from these sorts of questions because they don't really translate into job performance, from what I understand. ;)
My response to a lot of these would be to ask the interviewer if he was joking.

There is absolutely no value in making wild-ass guesses about window washing costs and global piano ownership. Who cares.

The pirates would divide up the money equitably because game theory is full of shit and that's not how people think, or pirates vote.

Likewise, nothing happens in the cheating village cause who wants to be the rat? Or they conspire and pin it on an asshole.

It's very hard to find a shirt? You have too many shirts. Give some to goodwill. Only a queer would have a shirt organization system.
there are already location based hit games... just not in the US.

This will probably stay the same for at least a few more years. This is due to a dif in culture. In most places in the US (aside from NY), most people have room and time to relax at home ( = using wii, 360, or PC for games). Until iphone and treo (and even now) most people don't really use their mobile phones for much... the reasons go on and on...
NY Times To Stop Charging For Online Content
> God "has manifested neither compassion nor remorse, proclaiming that Defendant "will laugh" when calamity comes.

God sent Jesus the ultimate bearer of compassion. The items he mentions are old testament fare. So go, sin no more.
Dammit, hook that crap up to my closet, so it prepares an outfit for me to wear every morning, instead of having to fumble around for that crap when I just woke up. If I don't like it, I can say, "another suggestion!"

And allow it to order one new outfit every 4-6 months based on which outfits I've been wearing, so I don't have to go to the mall to buy clothes.
The one you're talking about is MogiMogi, and it's on the list.
I've always wondered though, does smart == innovative?
Powerset labs to offer natural language based search
wow. Glad to know most of the ideas suck. why is everyone working on a "social network" get some original ideas.
what are the dutch knockoffs? (so we can have a look)
I'd agree with everything here except to say pick a date for 4 weeks after you're ready. If you want a big launch, don't schedule it for the day you've just finished that last bug. Make sure you're really ready and then in those last 4 weeks you'll discover all those things you thought were finished aren't. Otherwise you're a big chance to miss the launch date and not be ready, that's bad news.
Shoutfit, based on its site being down, seems to have possibly failed to heed PG's "don't die" message." I like the name shoutfit, though... Catchy.
Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. My best guess is that the question is mistranscribed, and the orginal version was something inspired by the birthday paradox (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_paradox).
A social network is just a platform for an idea, their is still room for original social networks.
The thing that strikes me most about this letter is that the business was initially flagging. A few decades later, it is the 800 pound gorilla of the software industry.

I don't agree with everything Micro-soft has done and they have certainly had some luck. However, Bill Gates had an impressive perseverance to take the business from the days of this letter to what it is today.
I'd give you points for the way you answered the shirt question at least.
The parting line confirms my suspicion that marketing and SEO types secretly worship/unconsciously patronize Googlers and their ilk. Frankly, I don't care whether or not I have what it takes to work at Google.
How to create a hikaru dorodango
Man,

This is exactly what I am building - a website to create On-Demand Magazines from Internet content, like PG essays.

The splash page will be up in a day or 2 and I'll be collecting email addresses and feedback for the beta test.

The name of the site is ShelfMade.net. As soon as I have ANYTHING up I will get the link to YC. BTW if you can do this in a weekend, please get in touch.
"... but surely there is someone at YC that could do this ..."

the headcount is pretty low, who? My idea would be to open up the data, release it as RSS, ATOM or XML. Then you could search it yourself.
Google Launches Presentation with help from Zenter & Tonic
Google launched the newest addition to the office family tonight with Google Presentations.
Go Zenter!
but it doesn't pass the "artichoke" test ~ http://nycs.bigheadlabs.com/search1/?q=artichoke
PG:

I would also like to take this opportunity to ask if there is a point for single-person applications.. the faq's say the chances of getting funded are far lower, would this be a non-issue if the applicant is willing to partner with another person/team?
Thank you so much everybody for taking time and replying to my questions.

To make things clear, yes we are building onista as amalgam of eBay, LendingTree, Priceline and LinkedIn. We are basically trying to close the gap between social network and a marketplace. We are also not as boring as auction or reverse auction.

It is a general marketplace and not specific to any niche.

The key take away from everybody's reply is

1. Pick a date. Sure We are confident that we will launch on November 1st 2007. (139 more bugs to fix)
2. Put a day counter on front page
3. Contact Bloggers that cover social networks and marketplaces and Web 2.0 in general. (Wish I knew where to find these bloggers)
4. Post on http://www.buzzshout.com/ & http://www.launchfeed.com/
5. Post comments on TechCrunch with a link back to our site
6. Write a personalized emails
7. Though generating lot of pre-launch hype sounds very attractive idea it may not always work. as "ed" mention in the post, "I've never, ever ever ever, seen this work out in a positive way. Once the floodgates open, users are almost invariably disappointed by what's available. The result is that you lose the (critical) attention of early adopters".
8. Use SEO press release from PRWEB.COM for $200. (Any suggestions on services that can help us write a press release? I've never written one and certainly writing is not one of my great skills. Except javascript/css and html)
9. Send a link to the uncov guys. Loved this idea. Would be interesting to read how they will tear us apart.

Now I will post specific replies to each post here.
What you want is something that capitalizes on a basic human need, whether that means validation of existence or sex or facilitation of work, etc.

For me, it was dealing with frustration (http://ventations.com/), although that site's not really a startup. More of an almost-joke.
Thanks a lot chmac for all the suggestions.

Yes Onista is amalgam of eBay, LendingTree, Priceline and LinkedIn. We are basically trying to close the gap between social network and a marketplace.

We picked the date: November 1st.
Will update the website with counter and the launch date

BTW, How do I find out who are the biggest bloggers in our area? I am trying to find on Google, TC, mashable as well.

Will start talking on different forums. Starting to search the forums now.

Thanks again for taking time and providing suggestions.
Thanks greendestiny. You have valid point.
I picked a date November 1st a target for us to make sure we fix all issues and also communicate to interested folks about upcoming launch.
I feel pretty confident that we can achieve November 1st (unless one of my friend convinces me to push two more features that he has been trying to push) because now we have only 139 more bugs to fix.
I am very optimistic man in general.

I know. I wish I knew the secret.
Right. Will use that going forward.

Thanks
T E E N W A G Teen Wag was formed from ideas here
We are bootstrapping this startup. Wish I had money to spend on hot items to buy and sell on Onista. It's a great idea though.
I have profile on Facebook.

Actually after initial launch, we are planning to build a Facebook application as well. I expect our Facebook app to be out by end of the year.
Google Completes Office Triple Play With Presently
Thanks lot ed.
Point very well taken. Same thing happened to me.
There was a company called www.riya.com who hyped lot before launch. They were building some image comparison and search technology. I saw there demo on demo.com and signed up for beta. I was following their blog everyday and waiting for release.
When release actually happened, the product was POS (Piece of Sh..)
I never visited riya.com again ever.
This is GREAT advice. Thank you so much.

Any idea, who can write a nice press release?
My English Writing skills are as good as MC Hammer's money management skills.
I saw what Zenter had before, and Presently incorporates little to none of Zenter's awesomeness. Next version...
Can you please explain what you meant by "Get a friend of yours to try it out and then link to it on Digg". I did not follow.
Thanks in advance,
Yeah, Zenter was much nicer. Unfortunately things move slower in big companies.
Still, for someone who knows lisp macros and would like to learn scheme macros (err...me) the side-by-side would have been helpful.
That sounds fair enough, although I was really trying to say don't pick a launch date now. Finish those 139 bugs and then plan a launch, I don't think it'll hurt to take it a bit slower but I could be wrong. A small number of weeks after you think the site is finished(ish) should be enough to drum up some hype and then launch.
Ah, good for them. They've caught up with the times (terrible pun intended).
Is there a YC-like VC in India?
I am working on a startup idea for the last few months. I have completed about 80% of the product. I have shown it a few friends and the feedback has been pretty good. I now want to approach VC's and raise some money. Not much but to cover these: 1) hosting bills, 2) get a decent visual design for the app, and 3) sustain for a few months.

The VC scene in India is a bit different compared to the US. Most of the VCs back established companies or ones with established founders. I am looking for a YC-like firm who can back people with good technical abilities and/or working demos. Any help? I can show a fully functional demo to interested parties. Thanks much.
This is great. I'll definitely be a user. I've never been a big fan of creating Documents or Spreadsheets, but Google Docs has me creating some useful stuff, now that will include Slides. A very nice addition to my Firefox OS.

I did find it incongruous to see "You can start new online documents by emailing them directly to this email address: <long string>@prod.writely.com"

Damn it. I want to email upload to The Google, not Writely.
I tend to agree. People may be underestimating the benefit that the increased awareness would give. Serendipity is powerful because "random" people often know the "right" people.
Perhaps someone is finally doing a POPFile (http://getpopfile.org/) as an Outlook plug-in.

John.
Geeks wanted (neat job application puzzle)
Yes, you're right. This is at least a step in the right direction.
A bit of advice, orthogonal to whatever PG's answer is:

I too am applying with a large hard problem, but nonetheless I'm going to have a demo. It's a throwaway prototype that, if I tried to use it as production code, would scale to about ten users before the server fell over. See if you can figure out a way to do the same. If you're doing a put-your-favorite-UNIX-command-on-the-web type startup, just make a web-based frontend that actually invokes that UNIX command to do its processing.
With so many hackers here, why doesn't someone familiar with Lisp write a simple search module and send it to PG who can just check it for sanity and plug it in? I know its not easy to do without seeing PG's source code.

PG how about making news.yc open-source so we can all work on it?
I don't get either one. The announcement just seems redundant. Everybody already knows that there is at least 1 so-and-so. In fact, everybody already knows that there is more than one. I can't see how the announcement adds knowledge.
What language is that? It looks like the mutant offspring of C and Perl.
Help! What should I call myself?
I work with a number of clients developing social websites. I code with PHP and Python, Javascript and CSS. I've been known to design. I project manage from time to time. I have a computer science degree. I make $80k a year and could make more but prefer the lifestyle.

When people ask me what I do, I say, "the internet." When IT people ask me what I do, I say "web application developer." When people that work on the web ask me, I say "social media."

What should I call myself?

I hate when people ask if I'm a "web designer." Not to hate on designers, they're priceless, it's just not what I do. Technically I run my own business, but I'm more consultant than entrepreneur. I want a title that speaks to the masses, with the same clarity as "computer programmer" but reflective of my decidedly web and social media orientation.

Help?
Astronomers find stars 7 billion light years away
GrandCantral or spinvox
wow. after making a simple presentation with this thing, i don't want to stab anyone to death the way i do whenever i use PowerPoint or OpenOffice.org (i always say fuck it and use LaTeX/S5 instead). thanks, google!
subu did u go 2 school in uw madison
pls send demo to
52.3876%. Precisely.

Are you sure you aren't making excuses? Change the problem if need be, I say.
You can still apply to YC in the USA wherever you are in the world, but it might be tricky getting into the USA. I'd still apply; you can hack your way to a visa later.

There's a lot of room for YC clones in India and the rest of the world, but there is no South or East Asian YC yet.
AFAIK, there is no YC like firm in India. That said, there are plenty of angel investors, VC's, etc.

From a linkedin Q&A on Indian VC scene [http://www.linkedin.com/answers/finance-accounting/financing...]
1. US firms in India (Sequoia, Greylock, Matrix, Mayfield, Sherpalo/KP etc.)
2. Domestic funds (Helion, Nexus and a few others)
3. Angel groups / funds (Seed fund, Mentor, Band of Angels)

Good luck!
it is really difficult to hack into a US visa from India ....
Demo something. Don't make excuses about why you don't have a demo...demo something, and tell them what you'll change to make it great. The demo is just so they know you can actually build something. Recently there have been quite a few YC companies that have already built something impressive at the time of the interview, so your competition is stiff. But folks with crappy or no demos also make it in, sometimes.

I just think your odds are much better if you demo something. Realize that some of the guys you're up against can produce a working web application that does something useful in a few hours. So, mock something up.

Make a demo. How else can I say it? Demo something!
find a cofounder! yc generally funds teams and isn't in the business of matchmaking.

("find a cofounder" is what pg will probably tell you; it's what he told me repeatedly before my interview. it was a big time investment to find the right one, but completely worthwhile. couldn't imagine going through this alone, and it only gets harder to get a cofounder the longer you put it off -- it no longer feels like 'their' idea.)
Google unveils Google Presentation
Today we're unveiling the new Google Docs presentations feature and invite you to try it at documents.google.com
Or you just set the weights to one. You could even use an A*-Algorithm that uses geography as a hint.
I heard a funny one about someone who created a popular programming language and now works for a large company (not Guido/Google, sorry), from the horse's mouth:

After a few of these questions, he stops the interviewer and says - listen, you guys are interested in Flub, and use Flub a lot - do you want to hire me, or not?
social web media programmer. (i think).
In Finland, I've been using mobile internet since I got my current phone two years ago. Most of my friends don't use the feature at all although their phones have some GPRS applications too.
Yeah, I guess it's no real language. The if clause is the weirdest -- it had me stuck for a while.
Google Reader leaves the Lab
OR the flip side - a web consultancy that advises countries on how best to learn English ;)
What would be great is a way to subscribe to torrents as you do on tivo. So that my shows can be downloaded with out me having to search, Like a virtual tivo, but better. yes, that would be sweet.
"One problem with academia is the malice of the new."

Astronomy is different. The first telescope was built in 1600. Telescope technology hasn't changed much since then. The engineering has gotten better though -- we spend money to get as many photons as possible.

---

In regards to the "X beats HST" stories that seem to constantly populate the news: there's no optical telescope/instrument out there that can image as faint as HST, over such a wide field of view, with such high resolution. There won't be for at least another decade.
They're doing a bunch of bit voodoo. The ^ operator is XOR, '<<' shifts bits left and '&' is a bitwise AND. That's what they are in C++ at least.

x = a&x ? a&b : c+x
is a lot like the C++ shorthand if-then-else thingamabob:
x = ( 1 < 0 ) ? 10 : -10;
which translates to:
x = 10 if 1 < 0 else x = -10.

Not sure what they mean with their thingamabob though.
AdSense for Mobile - Here comes mobile advertising
I always liked the name "Jake"...?

If you can also smooth talk people out of their passwords, you could call yourself a "Social Engineer."
I did a quick direct translation into Perl and got 'b', 'e', 'o', 'k', 'j', undef, 'b'.

But neither of these exist:

http://www.telogis.co.nz/beokjb.html

http://www.telogis.co.nz/beokjob.html

And I give up really fast on these, so ...
Adding a sitemap might help Google index the old pages better. Adding date-based archive links (like many blogs do) would probably help as well (making the site structure more like a tree and less like a list).

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/docs/en/protocol.htm...
SPOILER

It took me a long time to articulate what new information was being given; much longer than answering the question itself. The trick is to imagine a smaller scale. Lets say there were three each of brown- and blue-eyed people. And let's call the blue-eyed people 1, 2, and 3. Everyone knows that everyone sees at least one blue-eyed person, so no new information, right?

Look at this fact: before the announcement, 1 doesn't know if 2 knows if 3 sees a blue-eyed person. (2 knows if 3 sees a blue-eyed person, because 2 knows that 1 has blue eyes, but 1 doesn't know any of that.)

Then, after the announcement, the first night passes and 3 doesn't go home -- so now 1 knows that 2 knows that 3 sees a blue-eyed person. That's the new knowledge.

To finish the riddle, now 1 can reason like this: if my eyes are brown, then 2 knows her eyes are blue, because 2 knows 3 sees a blue-eyed person. (That's the new knowledge.) So if 2 goes home, my eyes are brown. And if my eyes are blue, then 2 will know that 3 sees a blue-eyed person that isn't me, and 2 won't go home. Either way, 1 goes home the 3rd night. And 2 and 3 are actually in the same position, and they go home too.

(It seems like the brown-eyed people go home the next night, but I forget and am too lazy to think about it rigorously again.)

If you want to analyze this for n=4, start with this fact: 1 doesn't know if 2 knows if 3 knows if 4 sees a blue-eyed person. Don't try this if you're sleepy.
Their ternary operator is a ternary operator.
That's hard to do. What you ask for is just good journalism. I can only second mdemare's recommendation for The Economist.

Usually the trouble with big picture stories is that they are almost pure ideology without any data to back them up.
Amazon: www.bol.com

EBay: www.marktplaats.nl

Facebook: www.hyves.nl
You're really close. Trying to figure out exactly how you managed to get three letters wrong is probably a more interesting problem than the original.
web programmer?

I don't think there is a title out there that will be widely understood and descriptive. Good luck, though.
i know. its meant to be a joke.
We don't have a craigslist competitor, and craigslist covers Amsterdam, but only in English.
But do buy the shoutfit domain and use it instead!
oh, man. i HATE questions like this. i know they're checking to see if you're game and up for a hard challenge, but personally i'm just thinking that they want to make me dance, and my brain rebels at such shenanigans. most of the smart people i know love to dig into challenges like this, and i'm sad that i don't. as much as i'd like to work at google, i think questions like this would cause me to get up and walk out of the interview.
Well the problem with the good behaviour idea is that governments are not waiting for volunteers to start lifecasting. They simply put their surveillance cameras everywhere. This is already happening in Europe, don't know about the US. Big Brother is growing...

Another interesting question is what kind of good behavior would social pressure evoke? Would people use the same yardsticks for themselves as for other people? Or would they just try to hold society in check, so that they themselves could roam free?