skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
You could test it with Google Adwords. Put up ads for "10 minute mail", "5 minute mail", "30 minute mail", and "42 minute mail", and see which one gets the most clicks.

I heard Tim Ferriss claim that this is how he picked the title for his book, "The Four-Hour Workweek".

On the other hand, you could also just pull 10 minutes out of the air and say "that sounds about right". Which it does.
I have always heard that it depends on what type of company you are.

Service based companies will trade at less than 1x yearly revenue. An example of this is if you were to sell a consulting business.

Product based companies will trade somewhere at 2-10x annual revenue. This is like a toy company.

Product based service companies like Netflix seem to trade at 10x plus depending on the stickyness of your service and how much lock in you have. Netflix offers monthly subscriptions, where your site is based purely on advertising which may have better adoption rates, but lower buy in rates.

The lack of customer buy in is a huge problem with many web2 ad supported business models.

Salesforce.com has amazing buy in, it changes your company culture when you start using the software, plus you pay yearly for it.
Wow what a conclusion, companies cluster. It's not as if this hasn't been happening since at least the Industrial Revolution. Also, they picked some of the lamest companies to put in the map: e.g., Fujitsu data systems, National Semiconductor. I think the article was just a placement for Palo Alto Networking.

I expect better of the Times.
"Am I the only one who is not that enthusiastic?"

Yes.
The advantage they pointed out in the article was energy savings and time in the elevator. Very large buildings have express elevators that won't stop on every floor, or the poor sap on floor 52 would never get there. This is like making every elevator an express one by batching up the stops.

As for the energy savings... not really clear on that. Maybe I just misunderstood.
This was the basis for my social news site Klipboardz (http://www.klipboardz.com). I built this feature 2 years ago, unfortunately PR is what makes one startup more successful than another, it's not really about features.
Study shows stronger links between entrepreneurs and dyslexia
More about Why Symbolics Failed
I second that "cool".

Hey, nobody reads my blog: muddymo.blogspot.com (well, a few do) but I will link you on my blogroll. Send me an email when you are ready.
Here's a link you might find interesting:

http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/weblog/arch_d7_2007_12_15...
It simply does not exist yet. There were no good airplanes before Orville and Wilbur showed up on the scene. I hope there will be some breakthroughs soon, but scientific discoveries can't be planned/scheduled, so who knows how long it'll be...

SHRDLU is nothing more than a really well-done ELIZA for a really small domain.
A good UI is more than half the fight.
That's true, but look at Mixx (http://www.mixx.com). It's not actually very functional. They break up the front page into two small lists (news and videos) that all run together. There is also a lot of other things going on all over the page. You can't glance at the page and see what's going on at all.

Now look at Klipboardz (http://www.klipboardz.com). The only thing you see is large story headlines and pictures to go with the stories. There is no confusion and no way to get lost. I don't think that Mixx has a better UI, I think they have prettier graphics on their page. So maybe a graphic artist and a PR person are half the battle.
VC Fundraising Manual: Signs You Are Close To A Term Sheet
Entrepreneurs in the due diligence phase are often eager to know when they will receive a term sheet. Unfortunately, the due diligence process varies by venture firm, making the timing a bit variable. However, despite the variance in process there are some common signs that the term sheet will be coming soon.

First and foremost...
My goodness! You couldn't possibly think I was stupid enough to think this wasn't the plan!
Have a look at this solution I prototyped:

http://www.wikiosity.com
This feels like the reincarnation of newsgroups and their splintering factions and subgroups.
Here's a question: where do you stand on the San Francisco vs. Silicon Valley location?

Personally, I really don't enjoy the physical environment of silicon valley. I've never actually worked in downtown SF, because I'm not willing to pass on good opportunities just because they aren't in the city. But my (then girlfriend, now wife) worked close to the embarcadero for a magazine, so we always lived in the city, and once I had a kid and needed a house, I relocated to the southern section of SF (where at least I can hit silicon valley quickly).

It's just so much more fun to be in SF. For starters, I like having a lot of women around. They usually aren't coworkers (for whatever reason, that's just the way it goes in Software), but I like being able to walk to a bar or coffee shop. Even when you're married and truly are not in the dating market, it's nice to be able to step away from the sea of males that is the high technology field - and if you are trying to meet women, it seems like SF would be vastly preferable. I also found that the line between social life and work blurs more for SF-based companies - and in a good way. When I worked for Sun, we would occasionally all agree to get in our cars after work and drive somewhere to meet up for drinks (just one, cause you have to drive home). At my wife's company, everyone would just walk by a few local bars after work, far more often, and because everyone is taking public transportation home, they could actually stay for another round. Now this might be because journalists are a more social breed than programmers and engineers, but I think the physical environment must have something to do with it.
The only difference in being an entrepreneur is you have the privilege of sucking up to customers directly, instead of sucking up to a boss as a proxy.
That is a very big difference.
Seth Godin on Iminlikewithyou: Learning from flirting
Nice post. Talk about lighting a fire under someone's butt...
Do any of you guys use it? I do, and so far it has worked. I created a smart list that shows all the tasks I have completed so far because if you only make it show you what you have to do, it can be overwhelming, but if you use it to show also what you have already acomplished, that sort of balances out the effect.
New YC clone planned in Philadelphia
I would suggest finding and targeted underserved markets and becoming the big fish in a small pond rather then a small fish in a big pond. Of course, if you can enter into a market that already has big players and actually push those players out then that is even better. If they need money they can come and work for you.
I should imagine its something like this

porn
retail
gambling
travel
news
I could be wrong, but I think you're asking the wrong questions, if you plan on being a startup. The question you should be asking (yourself) is: "what do I have a competitive advantage in"? Call it what you want and classify it however you will -Zipfs law, paretos curve, The Long Tail, Common Sense - and you will find that competing in the "most profitable online markets" is no sure way to profitability. Its winner-take-all (almost), so don't let the dollars distract you.
Apple is looking for an Exchange QA staffer for iPhone
You're not wrong.

You could also say, "What do I HAVE to do?"

If there's something you just have to do (for whatever reason), forget about market size. Do it.

SuccessProbability = (Ability + CompetitiveAdvantage + Preserverance) * Passion

If Passion = 0, nothing else matters.

Market size doesn't affect the probability of success. Only the magnitude of it.
The Data Wars - Should Web Companies allow Mashups?
My experience in school indicates that the quality of the teacher makes quality of the lesson. Also different teachers with different styles have different effects on different students. What I would like to see is series of video lessons by various teachers on a given topic in a neatly organized environment. For example, I would love a site that had links for History, Math , Science, etc. Under Math there would be links for Algebra, Geometry, Calculus, etc. Under Calculus there would be links like
Differential Calculus in 38 lessons by Dr. Math Guy.
Calculus in 3 lessons by Dr. Talks To Fast
Calculus in 7362 lessons for slow people
etc.

Anyone know of such a place?
Aptera Electric Vehicle Test Drive  [Video]
Not so. With California getting ready to give government subsidies for solar-generated power, Nanosolar's customers are right there. They might even have gotten subsidies and tax incentives for locating their factory there. There may also be logistics issues because they are not using silicon.
That's a very interesting reaction. I find it interesting that a lot of people get suspicious over a 'good thing'. Part of the culture, I guess.

I've been hearing about Google investing into alternative energy projects, including Nanosolar and a (non-torrodial) fusion group that was formerly funded by the government. I've been hearing these rumors for the past two years or so. I heard about the Nanosolar bit right when Google was building all those datacenters, including the one in Washington (or Oregon?) near that huge power plant. I had also heard that Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Page's brother, Carl Page funded Nanosolar. You know, right after the Google IPO and Carl Page sold his company to Yahoo. (Though they supposedly invested a few years before the payday, so ... ).

All of this is hearsay, of course. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/06/google_founders.php

Here's the bottom line. Nanosolar has hungry customers beating down their door. Like the NYTimes article says, why should they be making a big media fuss right now? Why do they need to prove to the world about those figures? It actually reminds me pre-IPO Google.com. "Come see for yourself."
"a. there's a generation that has absolutely no patience for the interfaces you and I love."

It's been over half a year since I last visited IILWY... this time it almost gave me a seizure. I'm amazed that at age 23 I have already hit a complete generation gap.
RM-Manage: Rails Performance Monitoring Service
Saving Your Company From The Deadpool
Your Laptop Could Soon Get 10 Times Its Current Battery Life
Stanford researchers have come up with a way to pack 10 times the electricity into laptop batteries using silicon nanowires.
"Market size doesn't affect the probability of success. Only the magnitude of it."

Best thing I've read all day.
Oh, the glory days when people still did the R in R&D.
Exposing a language-agnostic API?
Which is the best way to quickly enable an API in multiple languages?

I want to refactor my messy db-backed php web application, into distinct model and UI layers. I want the API to be as painless as possible to call from, and implement in, languages including at least PHP, REST, Python, Ruby, and Java.

I could use SOAP or REST for the model interface, but it seems like a lot of overhead for local calls. I would like to avoid hand-writing bindings for all the languages.
The scrolling the picture while reading my mouse movement crap makes me want to stab someone.
Market size presumably decreases the probability of success, since rich markets have fiercer competition.
Why do you say it is just an Eliza?
Question: Quality Books/Tutorials for PHP
Hello everyone;

I just got a job. Actually, I just got my first job, that I'm actually interested in, (I'm 19 years old) assisting in the development of a [deep breath] massively-multiplayer browser-based textual game created in PHP. Fortunately my employer does not mind that I'm just learning such things as programming and is willing to fund my endeavors. Let's face it -- I'm taking university-level courses through Athabasca University -- leading to a Bachelor of Science in Computing and Information Systems-- and I have a lot of extra time on my hands (first project is a [shivers] an Access database utilizing four relational tables for a imaginary, and simplified, video rental store). So I have the time to learn and procrastinate.

Now I have dabbled in PHP before as well as things like: LISP (Scheme), C (++), FreePascal, and Python; However, dabbling as fun as it is, does not provide me with the full skill-set that I likely require. What I need is a list of "must read" PHP and web site design tutorials (and books if possible). I have read quite a bit on the PHP home page as well as some stuff taken off of search engine results but I may have (and likely) missed something important.

So, any suggestions?
I recall (from my overpriced and underutilized psychology degree) that there is some pretty good tests to determnine how people learn... Some people absorb better when listening, some by reading, some people are haptic (hands-on), etc. I think that the challenge is understanding each user enough to be able to personalize the presentation/learning style.

Telling me I need to take 10 minutes of tests for a site to be able to provide value isn't going to be an easy sell.
Yeah, that seemed like a totally unsupported assertion.

The fact that a seizure-inducing website exists is not evidence that people want seizure-inducing websites.
The people on the other side of that gap aren't legal anyway.
I've been wondering lately what is a good way of setting up infrastructure to measure these kinds of engagement and retention metrics?

Google Analytics doesn't cut it for this kind of analysis.
"The library did have Founders at Work--because it wasn't checked out. :-)"

Oh, burn. Jessica, are you just going to take that?
Edgeio Assets Acquired By LookSmart
I am an entrepreneur and I am dyslexic and I have ADHD. It's way worse with numbers than words though. Basically I just have to be really careful copying numbers by hand. It made proofs in E school a nightmare. For a few days I even had numbers reversed on my own phone number for my answering machine message!

I agree with this article completely. As a matter of fact I have never read an article from new.yc that hits home more than this one.

"If you have a healthy dose of rejection in your life, you are going to have to figure out how to do it your way."

I like this a lot. Living in the bowels of the the academic system taught me to think fast. I was constantly one step away from total academic destruction and I had to think on my feet to beat the system. Often that meant talking parents out of punishments and teachers out of giving me bad grades. Great training for startups. Everything is always on fire and your company depends on convincing clients, investors, employees and customers to keep cool in the midst of a blaze. Only now we get to do what we're good at and hire people to do what we're bad at.

I also like the parts about verbal communication, delegation and trust. All apply to me in spades. My co-founder is hyper-organized and hyper-systematic. He's the tortoise and I'm the hare. He is very good at keeping us on track and not forgetting details and I'm really good at game time decisions during sales and VC meetings.

I also think hacking is great for the dyslexic. You can write code that masks your weaknesses. Also ADHD people fear repetition above all else. Some say we descend from hunters who thrive in dynamic environments, while most "normal people" descend from farmers and thrive in more predictable environments. It means that hacking is our natural ally in the fight against repetition.

Whatever the case, I don't think kids should be put on drugs to solve these so called problems. They need HEAVY exercise and an some recognition that they have something offer even if it doesn't happen in school. Though perhaps with that recognition they might no longer be outside the system and they may not develop the strengths that this article suggest. That is something I've thought about a lot...

Sorry for the ramble, like I said, that hit home.
Why check it out if you already own it?
Wantrepreneurs: God is on your side, little startup dude
site breaks the back button and doesn't seem to really present any way of fighting the overwhelming network power of facebook/myspace.

in southern california, myspace is for the unwashed masses (who would have been using aol in 1998), facebook is for college kids, and everything else can go fly a kite.

flash interface makes me want to die. then again myspace makes me want to die, so what do I know?
Free Python magazine - one issue anyway
Just stumbled upon this. Not affiliated with them at all, but I know there are a few Python people on here, so thought I'd share it
iRobot occasionally posts jobs for Lisp hackers. I believe they use their own DSL built off Common Lisp for their consumer stuff (Roomba, etc.). However, I don't work there, so any iRobot employees out there are welcome to tell me I'm full of it...
3Guppies is sleeping with the fishes tonight
VC backed company swirls the drain.
or it might have been the reference copy that couldn't be checked out :)
> site breaks the back button

The Web equivalent of, "Get off my lawn!" ;-)
Traffic jam mystery solved by mathematicians
API in C, wrappers by SWIG

Edit: Also, if you're going to scale, don't expect any two components to stay local (on the same box).
IILWY is an interesting site but I almost never go to it because all that Flash means that my CPU is running at 100% at all time and fans get really loud (and I'm on a MBP which means my computer is silent almost all the time).
Dating sites have at least a 2:1 ratio males:females, while the advertising has a 1:10 ratio. Any innovation in that sector will have to do something about that problem, rather than the problem of images not weirdly flying around enough.
This sounds very methodical: They have "innovators", "strategists" and "gurus".

What they'll be lacking, though, is access to the entire nation's talent pool. They have no desire to attract people from all over. Unlike Boston or Silicon Valley, PHL is not a desirable place to move to.

Also, they lack the pull of having a PG who is known to a hacker community. This is the main reason why you and I can't clone YC (and yes, I've thought about it: http://www.gaborcselle.com/blog/2006/04/on-cloning-ycombinat...)
Andrew, what's a good way to contact you? Would you shoot me an email plz (email in profile)?
... and places like GaiaOnline seem to exist primarily as an international meat market for the underaged. There seems to be just as many females as there are males. (I made the mistake of going into the Towns once). It was not like this online back when I was a teenager.

The point being that social networking sites and MMOs seem to work better as mating grounds than supposed dating sites.
flash is great. they've built a great flex application and that is no small feat without hard work and talent, but it's the minor UI details that they chose that's irking me.
My first impression is that it is more like a virtual online space than a 'site'. A nightclub, instead of a Wally World. It doesn't feel as dirty as Myspace.
I think it is your computer. My Linux box doesn't even hit above 10% CPU on that site, and it isn't as powerful as an MBP.
I am not sure, but I think this site lets me play Pong with people's faces?
Our startup is a dating site. We have 60% male and 40% female. We've focused on women, thinking that if there are women, men will come.
It's the Flash. It's horrible on a Mac.
You need to loosen up considering the majority of people using it are older than you and the people that created it have almost 10 years on you.
The back button works on iilwy.

There is no need for a site like this to be done in anything other than flash. It's meant to be a place to go to waste some time, nothing more, nothing less.
Fascinating reading the entire discussion thread. Andressen proposes a simple tag for embedding images and right away everyone else makes more complicated proposals. Tim Bernes-Lee himself suggests only embedding icons in links. Soon the thread devolves into a discussion on embedding all kinds of media. Think of how boring the web would be if some of the more complicated schemes in that discussion had prevailed over IMG SRC.
One scenario for the great Hollywood strike(s) of 2007-2008
We've been fighting this for ages in Webmin/Virtualmin.

We've done the following:

XML-RPC for the core libraries in an almost unwrapped variant (you have to have knowledge of the underlying system to make use of it). Almost no one uses this.

Simple command line utilities that can be called from shell scripts easily, using standard GNU argument conventions ( create-domain.pl --domain virtualmin.com --pass fooby --desc "Cool hosting management software" ). Virtualmin is a system administration tool, so this is our most popular variant...all of our customers know basic shell scripting, so this is a natural fit for them. I suspect we'll eventually make these into commands in the path to make calling them easier (right now they're in our application directory in /usr/libexec or /usr/share).

Remote variant of the above that can be called via simple POST or GET requests: https://domain.tld:10000/virtual-server/remote.cgi?program=l...

This remote one will become RESTful at some point in the near future--I just need to add some rewriting functionality to our webserver to handle mapping /virtual-server/list-domains into the above full path. This one is also very popular, particularly for folks who like to work in PHP. Most of the billing apps that work with Virtualmin use this API.

And, we've just built a Webmin::API Perl module that finds a local Webmin installation and makes the existing API available to Perl programmers.

All but the last one are language agnostic, though not necessarily as tightly coupled as one might like. I've been working on JSON providers for a lot of the menus and such in our product...and the more time I spend with it, the more it seems like an ideal mechanism for building language agnostic tools (every popular language has a JSON parser/deparser and a web client library). Since you can ship out raw data structures in JSON, it's really quite neat. You could build the same data structures in a wrapper for any language pretty trivially. Though the labor involved would be sizable for a large application with a lot of data structures, it's no more intensive than any other method I can think of. I'm working on a blog post about this as we speak, actually.

We've considered using Thrift, as it would also provide a language agnostic data-structure passing system. But I think JSON is easier to deploy, easier for folks to understand and use, and a lot more popular. The only benefit I can think of for using Thrift over JSON would be performance (maybe), so it's no longer on our radar.
Ask 37signals: Numbers?
When the comment above this is what I thought of, but didn't post it, I thought it didn't 'add' to the conversation, but whatever, I don't know the source of this saying is but it reminds me of the hitchhiker in Something about Mary.

Hitchhiker: Step into my office.
Ted: Why?
Hitchhiker: 'Cause you're f*in' fired!
Web application that lets you brainstorm online
Don't complain about the game. Change the game you're playing.
101 ways to monetize your blog (or website)
No PG is a big drawback, but you're wrong about Philly.

Philly's got lots of great restaurants most of which are BYOB, plenty of cool live music spots, great bars, cheap taxis, way more affordable downtown housing, etc. A friend of mine pays what I'm paying in rent: he lives in a spacious apartment overlooking the waterfront in Philly; I live in a tiny third-floor walk-up a mile away from the closest T stop outside Davis Square. Crime is starting to become a problem there again, but other than that it's a great place to live.
The Thug Life: On the Job at Wikimedia Foundation (COO of Wikimedia is a felon)
Winner of Edgeio auction another Web loser
Why talking to reporters is good for you.
Lex-dysics untie!
Terraminds twitter search (http://terraminds.com/twitter/) uses Common Lisp for everything but the (external) indexing engine.

Btw, did you use a search of hacker news to find our usernames?
Last.fm turn meeting room into ballpit