skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
From the link above:

5. Start an new instance with the AMI for Virtualmin Pro with the command..

...Surely, you meant that to be " Start a new instance etc"
I have no idea what they want to do, but I've been reading long enough to take a stab at guessing.

I didn't question the quality of the startups, nor state that there aren't good ones outside of YC, just that anything from outside their program that they present to investors is likely to be a risk for them in that they know less about the quality, and they risk taking attention away from 'their' businesses.
East Vs. West: Boston VC who passed on Facebook trashes the Valley
We modeled some of these ab initio (starting from the fundamental equations) in our solid state physics class using mathematica. Ah, the good old days :~).
Maybe I should indicate some scenarios I had in mind when I posted this:

In every YC funding cycle there will be those that will fail to get accepted. Of those, some will pursue their dream.

There is more risk in choosing potentially good founders, than a startup that you failed to recognize early that may had potential but now is in the process of proofing concept and on good track.

Thus, I am not talking about pre-launch startups.
I'm building a Bloglines clone in Drupal.
SeekSift.com (disclaimer: this is my current project) which is more than just a feed reader, since it provides filtering and (coming soon) personalized recommendations.
I use outlook against my will. You know employers often are unreasonable :(

Bad luck I'm on the other side of the world to come to SF!
Yes, and some i-banks are well-known for hiring former fighter pilots.

Still, we've drifted off topic: the original article was intended as a warning to kids who risk everything to make the NBA.

My point is that same analogy does not apply to tech startups.
Of the four obstacles addressed in the paper (Latency, Lack of privacy, Convenience, and Reliance on a 3rd party), I think Convenience is the main killer of this technology.

Chase Bank implements something similar to SAW. Whenever I log into Chase, the server checks my current IP against my previous login IP. If the IP addresses differ, they e-mail me a token which I need to enter along with my password to enter the site. I say from experience that this is annoying as hell.

While authenticating over an IM protocol still has its obstacles (Privacy and Reliance), the Latency and Convenience issues become more tolerable.

One potential problem I see with this system (which is not as applicable today as it was a few years ago) is ability to support users without an e-mail address or IM identity. Can site owners safely assume that everyone has an e-mail address in this day and age? How about IM?
Applications are every six months. If you think your progress since you were rejected may change their mind, and if you still want to get into YC, why don't you just re-apply with the updated info?
Yep, it's bad economics. NBA == tournament theory, which I think is a zero sum game, whereas startups are not. And while if you compare people on a "Nth percentile" basis, sure, there are bound to be "winners and losers", but that doesn't take into effect that everyone may be better off.
I heartily recommend showdead: no.
Radio frequencies help burn salt water
Thinking Out of the Box
7 Wonders of the IT World
Facebook Search Goes Down
One Million iPhones Sold
Since some of you are asking for the converse:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36178
I've also heard that a classic way for speed-reading is to then focus on the middle of each line of test. This minimizes eye movement and relies on your peripheral vision to read faster.
At some point, this sort of fundamental software app. (Office-related software) won't need support. How many times has a Google search helped on a task in Word than conventional Microsoft support? The next move will be to make software self-supporting in some way.
People Skills - The Character Traits of an Entrepreneur
In a previous post and many similar posts, the community has talked about the characteristics of an entrepreneur. What about people skills? Let's be honest - hackers aren't known for having great people skills either.

This also reminds me of a chapter in Founders at Work. One interview highlighted changing the culture of hackers to be more professional, but this interviewee gave up that idea.

Thoughts? Anecdotes? How do hackers and co-founders develop people skills?
Better said, I think it's for people that need to find time and resources. Temporarily, this is a great approach to get up and running. As the ideas flow and product proves itself, it should move away from this approach.
The 'open letter' whiner got more of a response than he deserved. I'm actually surprised at Guido.
I agree. CL carries a lot of weight behind it, that is all legacy that really isn't going anywhere. Scheme has always stayed deliberately less "practical" but I think that means it will last longer.
They really should have used YouTube. Clip is unavailable now...
[UPDATE 9/7/07: Welcome new readers. Before continuing, I want to point out that the "Dangerous Ideas" series on this blog aim to be purposefully over the top. The idea is to push an argument to its extreme to generate interesting discussion. So take what follows with a grain of salt]

I had a better idea: just not reading what follows. Thanks at least for being upfront about your trolling intentions.
What kind of nasty are you thinking about?
Don't quit your day job (a YC survey)
As stated most people selected to be funded by YC are in their mid 20's. so I thought I'd post a quick survey to find out a little more about who's all applying for YC funding.

1). Name
2). Age
3). Location
4). What's your day job

It's that simple.

William
24 (almost 25)
Kitchener/Waterloo Ontario Canada
Sr. PCB Designer
Using Vista even the mouse is dangerous (pic)
This is the same problem engineers have...lol have you ever seen the movie office space? the easy answer is to hire someone who is a people person and knows a little about programming. Let them deal with the customer/public and you can continue to do what you do best...hack.
Linus Torvalds: "Linux Is Much Bigger Than Me!"
"So, while News Corp bid 5 billion for the WSJ, you think you can get it with your 50 million dollar capitalization?"

Hmm. Pass.
I Didn't Know You Could Do That! - Worse Than Failure
Sorry for leaving my comment without any justification. I am a longtime plesk user and the interface is home for me. I had a textdrive account for a month and I did _not_ like the webmin UI. I know that sounds very cheesy and I'm sorry for that, but that's me.
oDesk's Facebook Developer Aptitude Test
Facebook raising another round of financing?
I assume by hackers here you meant software people--though I usually think of hackers as being apt at both.

What would you have at a techshop for software? A cluster? Most of the tools you can get your hands on pretty easily nowadays...so I'm wondering what you're getting at.
Please. If they knew "how to get it done" they wouldn't be here - they'd be out doing it. The reality is it's hard to figure things out like that ... a while back a VC firm called Draper Fisher even wrote a white paper on the exact mathematical formula for viral marketing. Did that help anybody? Not really. Sure - YouTube behaves according to the formula (somewhat), but that doesn't mean that they looked at the formula and said, "Aha - of course! YouTube!". Also most VCs and programmers downplay such ideas because it suggests that being a really good programmer when you make something is not as important as being able to get your thing quickly adapted, which takes skills and insights that many programmers / tech-based VCs just don't have. Heck even most business VCs don't have it - they just don't teach that at Harvard Business School ... if they did, well then they wouldn't be teaching ...

But you are correct. I doubt you'll find anybody at YC to agree with you much, because basically its an incubator by programmers for programmers. So naturally they'll downplay all the things programmers are weak at and focus on what they're already strong at (programming skills).

But you're right and that should teach you something about most VCs - after all the talk on the websites about how smart they are, market knowledge, etc., in reality 99% wouldn't know the next big thing if Next Big Thing's business plan was right in front of them.
The article doesn't really explain how reading occurs, although perhaps the original paper does. All the article says is that your eyes sometimes look at different spots.
3 Operating benchmarks founders should bear in mind now.
::starts slow movie clap::

Quality stuff.
I honestly think Carmack is now just in it for the money. It seems like his real passion is now Armadillo Aerospace.
Top 10 programming languages of the future - you voted!
Top Tech Consultancy Touts Google Office Suite
Agreed. I've known my co-founder for ten years!

In "A Student's Guide to Startups," pg writes:

Most of the questions people ask Y Combinator we have some kind of answer for, but not the co-founder question. There is no good answer. Co-founders really should be people you already know. And by far the best place to meet them is school. You have a large sample of smart people; you get to compare how they all perform on identical tasks; and everyone's life is pretty fluid. A lot of startups grow out of schools for this reason. Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft, among others, were all founded by people who met in school. (In Microsoft's case, it was high school.)
Voting is exactly not the way to figure out something like this.
If an attacker knows your email password than NOTHING can save your privacy! Even if you rely on all kinds of security techniques on your site (SSL, cookies, sessions etc), if someone has your email password, they can retrieve your website password through numerous techniques.

This paper is not a joke. Far from it. It's just that it relies on a custom server.
Bloom Filters: A Powerful Tool
When you say "not hackers" does that mean you still only have an idea for a site, or that you aren't familiar with programming, but are still moving along with the site? i.e. are paying someone to do the programming for you?
A List Apart: Put Your Content in my Pocket, Part II
Why Are Venture Capitalists So Hard To Deal With?
Jason Mendelson answers the question, "Why are VCs such jerks?" Apparently he gets asked that question, or a derivative of that question, quite frequently.
The question isn't even one of personal desire. They ask which will be in demand, even if it is a bad thing that the technology is highly demanded today and in 2013.
This is odd. I thought most people did not use Outlook.

Even Paul G. says that everyone uses Macs these days?
I've pitched a few ideas/products to VC's in the past, and although you're sharing the next big thing with them if they don't invest they're not going to steal your idea.

why you ask? it's simple... no respectable VC company wants to be known as the company that stole "your name here"'s idea. imagin what would happen if word get out that they stole someones idea after hearing their pitch. nobody would ever pitch to them again.

when all else fails.. use the "poor mans patent" print off your code, idea, etc. and register mail it to yourself, but don't open it. in case you ever need proof you have it... signed, dated, and stamped.
When did Ajax become a programming language? (Or is this a different Ajax that I don't know about?)
Interesting. I didn't know that these effects were observable on the scale of electrons and protons. I thought only string theory postulated these extra dimensions. I'm also totally ignorant when it comes to Physics and I've got no opinion on "Heim Theory", except that it'd be cool if it works. :-)
1. Tirrell
2. 30
3. Orlando, FL
4. Sr. Engineer
Erm since when were 'ajax' or 'html/css' considered programming languages?
Did YC News increase the awareness of Y Combinator Funding?
I was wondering how the viral effect of YC News had on the application process? More applications? Better/Worse applications? I was not aware of Y Combinator before the news feature. It is a good marketing case study. Compliments to the the YC team on the tactic (even if it was not the original purpose).
Vator.tv, A Video Platform for "Elevator Pitches"
I think to really get any meaningful data, you'd have to do regressions to get rid of other things, like the startups becoming widely known (reddit, for instance), time passing, and so on. I don't think you can, in other words.
Netvibes
Whatever "this" is.
This is not a scientific study. Just my own curiosity.
They need to study the difference between familiar and unfamiliar words. They probably note this in the conclusion of the actual paper. I speculate that unambiguous and familiar words are recognized whole (in the same way a chess master recognizes the pattern of the whole board), and kids and adults finding a new or ambiguous word look at each letter and pause there to figure it out (like a chess novice looks at each piece and can only anticipate the next move).
I hope this work isn't used as ammunition in the whole word vs phonetics holy war.
The only caveat with Bloom Filters is that they only answer the question of set membership with high probability. That is, they can be wrong (false positives). For almost all typical cases, you'd be better off with a binary hash (or even a normal hash table) so that you always get the right answer.
Most speed reading courses are based on theories as solid as air. Peripheral vision does matter in comprehension, but that doesn't make them suited for the bulk of information processing, let alone rely on them. When you actually take in information from the periphery you usually piece it together from imperfect cues, which suffices for waffly material but won't work if you're reading a textbook. Duh, you say, but the amazing courses will tell you it works for everything, and people believe it!

The read-between-the-line thing, AFAIK, is just supposed to make your eyes backtrack less, which lessens fixations. More fixations = slower reading; it doesn't matter where you place your eyes.
As does alcohol, at certain concentrations.
Same here, with subscriptions (feeds) sorted in folders (for topics) and by Attention, a great way for feeds you end up reading/clicking a lot to bubble to the top of your reading list.
I think most hackers already knew about YC before we made the news site, so I doubt it made us better known. Our plan of using news.yc as a way to detect talent did work, though. Even as early as this spring it helped us decide who to invite for interviews.

YC isn't a fund, btw.
I love it how the initial knee-jerk reaction is "BOO OUTLOOK!!1"

I see these kinds of comments and I now see the market opportunity for Xobni.
Thank you! Now I know I'm not the only person who hates RSS readers :)
I see List/Scheme as one of the options. Trocess lists by 2013.
Seems really cool. Hope you will build on it further.
I thought Burnham's post on this subject, i.e. explaining things from a VC's perspective, was better: http://billburnham.blogs.com/burnhamsbeat/2007/07/understand...
Very interesting article, thank you.

I want to know more about "probabilistic first-order logic", what is a good paper to start?
Def Con Bots: build an autonomous airsoft sentry-gun
> Trevor's note: (...) Javascript might even warrant an argument.

It's obvious that that guy only knows buzzwords and has not written a single line of code in his entire life.
Will the tools be available for Outlook/Exchange WebMail? I'm forced to use it today.
Sorry. I wrote fund to keep the title short.
Notes On The PhD Degree
1. Auston
2. 20
3. South Florida
4. Web Developer/EVERYTHING INTERNET at RushMyPassport.com
"10 Lessons of an MIT Education" by Gian-Carlo Rota
interesting. i had never thought of that, is there any downside to implementing this type of CAPTCHA?
I use Google Reader too...

But why does this Google product not feature search??! I really need it in the reader, it makes no sense with no search...
Seth Godin: Big ideas
Reshaping the Architecture of Memory
Cost of Living
My is gearing up to submit to the ycombinator winter round, and we are having a small amount of trouble to see how to fit 4 months into 5000 per person? Especially when 2 of the guys are married.

this is the budget i have for the south bay area:

housing 600
internet 50
electricity 100
food 1050	35$ per day
water 40
entertainment 100

cost 1940

how much should we budget per person?
right now we have 2 single guys on the team, and 2 newly married guys, that would either want to bring their wives with, or they would need to visit often.

any advice would be great to see how this would work, but right now it seems like we would need money just to win ycombinator, which for those of us in Milwaukee, the VCs/ Angels alone might be worth it.
This is so dumb. How can anyone with a clue believe this guy when he says these sorts of things:

>Trevor's note: Even though Ajax and CSS/HTML are markup tools, not programming languages

Huh?! AJAX is a markup tool?!?!?

Also,

"2. Javascript 7.3
3. Ajax 7.2"

Hello... aren't these two the same thing?!
Mobile search ads to grow 112% each year
Surprisingly Accurate Predictions About Future Technology
The secret to a good con is finding marks who want to believe.
The womenfolk can work too.
What, are you a Turing-complete-language chauvinist?!?!
Apple tries to buy out parking meters. Canada city says, "No!"
How To Make Your Own Multi-Touch Pad for $2
What motivates an investor to say "yes"
The food is high and the housing sounds low.

Have you checked housing advertisements?
Fun with the iPhone accelerometer
Liferea
I say worry about that if and when you get accepted.
Crowdsourcing to raise cash may not apply as well to entrepreneurs seeking venture funds
Creative Favicons: Tiny Artwork
I live in the Bay Area, and those #'s look pretty close to me for a minimum, penny-pinching baseline.
When it comes down to it, you can almost forget about the money ycomb is offering. The money is NOTHING. It is all about the contacts and guidance, which is priceless.
I use NewsFire. It's pretty good and fast. It lacks of some funtionality when creating smart feeds (yep, it's got smart feeds), anyway I luv it. :)
Taking on Goliath (nickb)
So I have nowhere near the 2300+ points nickb currently has (and probably deserves for that matter) but feel that there needs to be a few new names added to the leader's board.

so in the spirit of sportsmenship I officially challenge you.

anyone reading this please feel free to add a comment and help a starving entrepreneur reach his dream :)
i don't know if you can trust this dappelbaum character

;-)

Viva Hollyweird
the YC site uses the term funding.

Y Combinator is a new kind of venture firm specializing in funding early stage startups. We help startups through what is for many the hardest step, from idea to company.
Living expenses are the reason I'm not applying. Unless you somehow lose intelligence and execution ability when you get married and have kids, the structure doesn't make sense to me. It seems to be geared towards single, foot-loose folks. As somebody who's put long hours in on multiple technology projects, I don't feel that having a higher overhead translates to being a worse risk. After all, what are we talking about here? The difference between 5 and 10K, or something like that? Being hungry is great. Having your wife call you every day to tell you the house is getting repossessed is counter-productive.

I agree that the knowledge and contacts are what you guys should be going for. Running on savings and forgetting about the money is the only strategy I can figure that works for us "high maintenance" entrepreneurs. If I apply, I'll just make sure I have money in savings to run for six months or so first.
"I'll keep it short and sweet -- Family. Religion. Friendship. These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business." - Mr. Burns
Eh? The leader board has nothing to do with "success", and everything to do with who wastes the most time on this site;-)
So how do you click cancel if you don't trust the mouse? That's why I always carry two mice around in my laptop bag, so each one can vouch for the other.
HTML and CSS are still programming languages in the formal sense of the term even though they aren't Turing complete. But including AJAX makes no sense whatsoever: that's more like a design pattern.
"We're In Another VC Bubble"
What bothers me the most is when any organization makes the claim that they won't change something specifically for the reason that they have never done it that way before.
Since Epigram is? ;-)
Yeah all you New.YC's that send spam! Stop it! You're hurting the internets!
I like that they separate "recognizing good design" from "creating good design". I'm good at the former but mediocre at the latter -- it's like an NP-complete problem to me.
QinetiQ's Zephyr UAV exceeds official world record for longest duration unmanned flight
I agree with that sentiment. I am married, and I have a child. My wife and child will not be coming with me to the Bay area if I am accepted. I will be living in a cardboard box and eating ramen in the Valley, but the necessary financial arrangements have been made to ensure that my son will continue his current (private) school, the bills will be paid at home, and life will continue more or less as normal for the 3+ months I am away.

It comes down to how badly you want the experience. Look at it this way: Grad school at Stanford is ~40k/year, not including living expenses. Making whatever sacrifices necessary to experience ycombinator should be significantly less, but the experience and contacts most likely will dwarf what you are most likely to gain from a top tier graduate program in Engineering. Is it worth the investment? I can't speak for anyone but myself when I say "Absolutely."
The title of the link you're seeing is different from what it was. Originally it described YC as a fund, which it isn't.
Undoubtedly one of the greatest blog posts of all time:

http://www.blogmaverick.com/2005/09/13/because-thats-the-way...
Please don't turn this into a Karma competition.

I stopped reading the main reddit page (and I suspect others do too) after a while - I feel that too many people post articles just to boost their karma. So you'd end up with lots of articles that:

* Cause outrage in the reader (e.g. the current wave of police abuse stories on reddit)
* Flattering to the audience yet non productive (LOL BUSH DUMB! LIBERALS HAVE BIGGER BRAINS! RELIGION DUMB!)
* Not bad but posted with a title taken from the article taken out of context.
* Reposts from other sites. e.g. digg.

I like news.yc as it is right now, thanks.
Firefox Hits 400M Downloads...But I'm Still Forced to Use IE at Work
On Friday, Mozilla's open-source Firefox browser hit the 400M download mark. And though Firefox may be gaining ground on Microsoft and its Internet Explorer browser, corporate Web surfers are often being forced to use IE because many corporate Web-based systems are designed to function best with--or only with--IE.
I wondered the same thing, but now I see a search bar. Was I blind all along or did this just get put there recently?
> Reposts from other sites. e.g. digg.

If it's a good article, there's nothing wrong with that.
> He wanted to make the investment and we started working together to make it happen X convincing his colleagues and other investors.

So convincing their friends first is the less obvious secret. I've used this method with great success in everyday life. Or, well mostly to win girls.
First of all, this picture is doctored; there should be a company name under "Mouse", or else it would show an "Unidentified Publisher" warning instead. Also notice how 'Mouse' text isn't rendered with cleartype, while all other text is. Plus, it's from 'Uncyclopedia'.

Secondly, is Windows bashing what "Hacker News" is going to become? Might as well rename this site "Digg" and start upvoting "Top ten tips for using Ubuntu"-type stories.
wives...(!)
I guess I was only blind for a week:
http://googlereader.blogspot.com/2007/09/we-found-it.html