skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Five must-have security/privacy extensions for Firefox
If Your Dad is a Chemistry Professor, Asking "Why" Can Be Dangerous
Ask YC: Good Lisp Hosts?
We're in the early stages of our app and just recently decided to write it in Lisp (we started out with Ruby, but given what we're doing, Lisp began to look like a very good fit).

Anyone have experience with a host, good or bad, that they'd like to share? We've got a couple hosts in mind, but if anyone is going to have good tips on this, it's Hacker News.
My favorite hack was achieving the drop-down functionality seen in menus like those on Digg and Facebook in about 5 lines of jQuery. It was particularly satisfying because the jQuery plugin to emulate the effect is more than a couple hundred lines long. It also works in all browsers :)
Take as much time off as you need. I personally cant unwind my brain by going biking or sughtseeing. No matter what I do I'll end up thinking about work. I need to do something that keeps my mind on somethibg else. So I'll either read a lot of books, catch up on movies that I want to see or play computer games.
Why do you need to know execs from Google Adwords?
Which Lisp are you running? Xen VPS on x86-64 seems to have troubles running SBCL.
I think you're mixing up the timeline in your head a bit. When the opportunity is there to be the second employee you can't know if the company will be successful or not.
Apple IIe...more stable on this POS I'm currently typing on, running Windows Vista.
s/erotic/exotic. Hopefully.
I totally love that article. Toddlers who ask questions are awesome; I don't even know if I asked so many questions when I was that age.

That the daughter had such a dad is also really cool.

What many parents don't realize is that kids have good BS detectors and inconsistency is bad influence on their reasoning. And answers like "just because" are among the worst.
Metasploit: Cracking the iPhone (part 2.1)
what part of the country are you in?
Good host: tech.coop

Bill Clementson and Drew Crampsie are still on staff there, as far as I know.

Are you willing to share any more info on your app?
Startups Should Team Up to Grow
This is good stuff. I hope more people get to read this, and please keep sharing.
Good post. This is an interesting story by Tolstoy along the same lines:
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/t/tolstoy/leo/t65wm/chapter2.h...

A great king would make his "favorite man" the man right next to him. A worker would make his "favorite job" the one at hand. Now that is an extraordinary feat.
you bring up some good points in the psychological aspect of things. if they do incorporate now though, there may be future legal problems ahead. Someone can correct me, but I feel the main problem is that typical $135 dollar incorporation services don't include important terms like vesting, so if this other person decided to walk away after incorporation; he would still own x percentage of the company...

since I'm not a lawyer I don't know of any loopholes, but I have met people who had this happen to them (three person medical imaging startup. 3rd person quits and still owns a piece of the company no matter what happens...)

to incorporate the right way, I think it costs about 4-5k (in california and delaware that is)
Sys administration from your iPhone
Wow. This is up there with the more compelling examples of perseverance I have heard. Thanks for sharing your experience, you give everyone hope.
A tiny Win32 C program that would simply trigger print, then wait, then killed the app - used to call a "mission critical" app that always hung after print and thus couldnt be scripted, to automate the printing of hundreds of reports.

Fave b/c my manager insisted it could not be done, and it saved countless hours of babysitting. Showing up at the office next morning to see the huge pile of completed reports sitting there waiting was gratifying.
As a Web application and not native. Interesting to see after reading this post ~ http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=69384
Back in the mists of time I wrote code in BASIC and assembly for the Research Machines 380Z/480Z computers. When they came out with their Z-NET network I reverse engineered (with a friend) the packet send/receive APIs and we built on top of it a reliable transport protocol that would enable us to guarantee delivery of about 128 bytes of data to a machine on the network.

The entire code was stuffed into an unused block of data within the operating system and when a packet was received the receiving code would get an interrupt and would promptly CALL the code in the packet. We were able to reliably deliver 128 bytes of machine code and have it execute on any machine.

This turned out to be very cool because it enabled us to build a complete package for network management and monitoring (we could do stuff like mirror the screen on any machine to another one).

John.
I would imagine this type of thing is going to happen more often among YC startups as the number of them grows. Both straight mergers a la Infogami/Reddit and, probably even more likely, founders from failing/faltering YC companies jumping ship to join other YC startups.
Choice words from Stewart Butterfield
Idea: you mentioned starting a city in the past. This summer when I was driving my wife and her parents around Oregon[1], we happened to drive through the ex-Rajneeshpuram[2]. If you could get a decent internet connection happening, that would be a great place to build a hackerville - it's beautiful country, has a lot of facilities already there, and hey, maybe you can start your own collection of Rolls Royces. I don't want to have to dress up in orange though.

[1] http://padovachronicles.welton.it/articles/2007/08/31/the-wi...

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashneeshpuram
Omnisio - YC applicant - looking for feedback
Since you guys are great at providing feedback for alpha stage apps I wanted to throw ours out there.

http://www.omnisio.com/communitynext/funding-panel

http://www.omnisio.com/communitynext/where-ive-been

Those are two pages of content within our site. We're still closed to the public, so you wont find them linked from the main page.

Basically we are building a platform that will change the way people learn online. The examples above are only a very tiny subset of what we will offer, but show a couple of interesting ways of presenting conference sessions. The content is courtesy of the great Community Next conference earlier this month on the Facebook Platform.

All feedback is welcome - the more brutal the better :)
The benevolent dictator shows more signs of goodwill towards his subjects.
This is pretty cool. But after going to omnisio.com and reading the description, and even reading your description here, I'm not sure what it does. Does it just show conference videos? Making a bold ambiguous comment like the site will "change the way people learn online," should have something backing that up. Will it change the way people learn online by showing informative videos?

Still, well-designed site, and useful content.
Didn't the same thing happen to YC company Auctomatic?
Awesome. Very inspiring. Thanks for sharing.

BTW, are you the talking about Bottom Feeder, the news aggregator ?
Sometimes being tenacious and shear force of will is all that is required. If you want it bad enough, you will find a way to make it work.
At least this is tech-related, and has numbers backing it up.

Plus, it's nearly impossible to get sick of Apple news, isn't it?
Thanks for the honest feedback.

Yes my claim is very bold and ambiguous :) Conference videos are just the first niche we decided to focus on, but ultimately we will provide tools for representing a wide variety of information online, and corresponding tools for people to very easily create professional looking tutorials.
Why does Software Spoil?
In the software industry, the release of newer, better versions is part of the natural order. It's a relentless march towards perfection that started with the first personal computers, and continues today. We expect software to get larger and more sophisticated over time, to track with the hardware improvements that Moore's law has provided us for so many years. Rapid evolution is a good thing, and it's one reason the computer industry is so exciting to work in. If you don't like the way things are today, just wait five years; everything will be different.
It's too bad that venture capitalists haven't really changed. This behavior of perennially asking if it's a bubble or it's a real growth, if the market is bullish or bearish, is exactly what causes these market bubbles in the first place.

If they actually concentrated on funding companies that created value, and could turn that into profit, they'd have nothing to worry about.

But alas, for them a market is a market, and since it's their job they trade often, and faster, and catch more of the upswing and less of the downswing. They're completely oblivious to how many people these shenanigans put out of work, or how many would be inventions are stalled or will never see the light of day because of their schoolyard bully-pack behavior.
> I've been accused of posting this as a shameless attempt to get attention from YC.

Weather it's to get attention or not, it's a good post and I enjoyed reading it. Plus, there is nothing wrong in marketing oneself. In fact, it's an important skill every entrepreneur needs to have. If I were evaluating I would give you an extra point for trying. It beats doing nothing at all.
It remains to be seen on exactly how "open" the iPhone will be with the official SDK, however. I will give Apple the benefit of the doubt and expect that they will be hands-off and let developers distribute and monetize their iPhone applications as they choose.

But as several reports have indicated, Apple may use iTunes to maintain control over app approval, distribution, and purchases. I really hope this doesn't end up being the case.
Ask Venture Hacks: Sell my company or raise capital?
Been there, done that:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Anews.ycombin...

Get a dedicated box and run whatever you want on it.
Doesn't work at all on Camino 1.5

Unusably slow on Safari 3.0.3 on my PowerBook G4.
+1
dedicated boxes are quite cheap these days!
hmmm so you're going up against 5min.com?
At worst, no.
too bad bluray makes up a huge chunk of ps3 production costs... i would imagine for most applications beyond gaming and movies, it's not that useful (if you're trying to use the ps3 for anything but entertainment that is)
Bauhaus crap? Uh, please at least recognize the influence on design.

"Severe, cold, cheap, right-angled, colorless, inhuman, inhumane, and above all efficient."

Yes, exact. Its own kind of beauty.
"... Community Next creates the premier events for entrepreneurs to socialize and educate ..."

I found what it does but maybe the message in the wrong spot or too wordy?

- sitename No

- tagline not that I could find

- about, yes but a bit vague

So refine the message, Reduce the text. Eg: http://www.omnisio.com/images/about_us_blurb.gif

"... We will help 'everyday experts' of all levels of expertise to easily collaborate and publish their content online. ..." ~ http://www.omnisio.com/about

Will it work? ... Yes because learning is open-ended. Is it focused enough and meet a need? Thats an ongoing problem. Nice work. See Greenspun for advice, hints ~ http://philip.greenspun.com/
Why Facebook will IPO in 12 months
Skype To Launch Own Mobile Phone
My business partner and I incorporated, specifically with an LLC. There was never a question about that. On the other hand, we weren't exactly a startup and we were diving into making some money. Our plan had always been from the beginning to spin off other ideas, and incorporate those as the time was right.

When putting together the articles of organization and the operating agreement, I remember a big emotional wall. It wasn't just the fees. It was as if, by signing my name and registering the paperwork, I would come out as a different person.

We got registered with the IRS, the state (all three agencies), and the city. Looking back, it seems trivially easy. However, if you are not operating and taking in customers, it is a lot of overhead in terms of ongoing paperwork.

We're currently working on a (real) startup idea right now, but we don't have plans on spinning it off into its own entity until we at least get a prototype or some revenue going.

In working with my biz partner, I have noticed something similar to the dynamic with my girlfriend. All the issues that crop up early in any relationship -- whether professional or romantic -- always repeats itself down the road. It is possible, though exceedingly difficult, to change that dynamic. They usually involve at least one person in the dynamic to become at aware of an uncomfortable truth about himself. Your misgivings about your co-founder (and friend) may point to that. It can end up as a source of a disaster, and left unexamined, you end up with a totally different set of people repeating the same dynamic. It can also be a source of strength; likely, what you find annoying (the hesitation?) may very well also be what's needed to succeed.

One last note, according to "The Google Story", the Google founders didn't incorporate until their first angel wrote them a check made out to "Google, Inc." At that point, to cash the check, they had to incorporate. And so ...
IBM ps/2 1992 .age 10 (Lots of Basic Programming)
First computer I used was a Sharp MZ-80K.
First computer I owned was a BBC Micro Model B.

John.
Carl Honore: Slowing down in a world built for speed
Because they are built by people who think houses are a sin. Compare the idea of electric "punishment cars". (http://www.teslamotors.com/about/company.php)
Interesting.

But still, what does it do? Can you summarize in a sentence without using abstractions?
I have a feeling that it would be a very bad idea for Apple to piss off Amazon in that way.
how to breack the password?

beacause many time i forget it.
who to breack passwords ?
You should take a look at http://videolectures.net which is a website dedicated to scientific content. More specifically, they go to different conferences (mostly machine learning related), bring their own camera crew, and later synchronize videos with ppt presentations. They don't have a business model because they are funded (and "owned") by some Slovenian government/university/research institution.
Price drop haters
I'd love to see more mergers between IT and non-IT startups. Obviously most wouldn't be a good fit, but the ones that are could be very interesting.
I could flood news.yc with job boards that are made for this niche there are literally hundreds of them, why is this one special?
IIsi maybe? Its been a while :D
Interesting. But there's one thing that makes me very uneasy about these kinds of studies. To make performance comparable they have to radically reduce the complexity of the tasks on which they measure. It may well be that variance is much greater between individuals for average real world tasks that allow for reflection, communication, etc.
I was refering to mentioning Russia.
You can use the SPEs just fine under PS3 Linux - plenty of information on cellperformance.com; access to the GPU (and possibly other juicy parts, like certain IO devices) is restricted (so no hardware acceleration for graphics).
A YC countdown meter ("24")
Here's something I've been working on to get familiar with ActionScript 3 and how the OO code works with older timeline-based Flash animation:

http://static.foometer.com/countdown.html (sound is used)

It's very raw but I need to go to bed :)
(The hologram effect isn't fully there; sound controls not installed, etc.)

The countdown assumes YC notification by 7pm Eastern. I'll update the time if I hear differently from the YC folks.
Users, vendors and analysts agree that though little training is required, the problem with English language query tools is the users, not the software.

This quote in the end tells how great the current products are.
I found it hilariously creepy, couldn't stop laughing.
This device is already here. It is called the iPhone.

Personal Computing, to me, could be summed up to "uses of a computer when you are not working".

Video, Music, communication, consuming services, games. What kind of software in "Personal Computing" is lacking for any smartphone to be considered a "Personal Computer"?
Bay Area rents jump, especially in S.F. and San Jose
More desperate developers selling homes through auctions
Microsoft makes big push into business communications
They&#8217;re everywhere. They exist among us. I try to escape it, but I am also one of them.
I am not sure about the athletic ability? Of course somebody who is taller is more suited for basketball than somebody smaller, but in general? The smaller guy might be better suited for some other task.

It is just that the brain seems to be a fairly universal tool, we don't really know aspects equivalent to being tall or small that would apply to the brain yet, or do we? It rather seems that parts of the brain are exchangeable, as could be seen from the blind guy who learned to see things with his tongue (machine would translate images to impressions on the tongue). So what would be the problem of less intelligent brains? Synapses working slightly slower? Less neurons - but why can't you grow them by training (like muscles)? Or what?

On the other hand, clearly intelligence is 100% genetic: no matter how much you nurture a pig, it will never go to harvard.
Amazon 1-Click patent rejected
Tandy 1000TX. 80286 @ 8MHz, 640K "should be enough for anybody" RAM, 20MB hard drive, both 360K 5.25" and 720K 3.5" floppy drives, MS-DOS 3.2. 1987.
Will Social Features Make Email Sexy Again?
Sinclair ZX Spectrum Z80.

I just used it to play games. I couldn't wait to get a new copy of "Crash" magazine each month! Dizzy, Manic Miner, Jetpack, Dizzy and Commando were some of my favorite games.

I just noticed that the new Apple keyboard has those "spongy" buttons like the ZX Spectrum.
It is an art for itself to achieve the right balance in everything you do. Working full power 24/7 is only kids talk (well, and investors talk too). You can do that for a very short time, then you need a break - and suddenly, on average your 24/7 combined with the necessary break comes out as a normal, say, 6/10 job ;o).

We all must learn to listen to our body before it tells us to stop.
I experience that all the time in the swimming pool (I do ride my mountainbike, but I also swim since ever): the kids jump in, power themselves out in 5 minutes and have to stop then. The experienced swimmers go 10% slower and last for 2 miles.
Do the same! And now take 2 or 3 weeks off. Thats the only way to recharge.
Ask YC: What to ask to a VC when you're a bootstrapper ?
I will be introduced to a VC on monday (by my previous CEO), but I'm in a very early stage (no demo yet) and I don't want any money (well, apart from donations).

How, can I make profit of this kind of meetings ? I understand that networking is important in my position, but I don't know what I can give to this guy nor what he can bring me.
I like the look and feel of your pages a lot. Not too "strictly nerdish simple web 2.0ish", but simple and look good.

The content you have there seems to work very nicely. Nice usable details, like when you move you mouse over the thumbnails of the slides.

Sorry about the lack of brutality. ;)
The Sorry State of Technology Education (how to get more startups)
There were lots of people with good ideas at the Symposium, and many of them have some good business background to help them get to market, but one huge problem was the lack of technical skills available to take these things to market. There literally aren't enough entrepreneurial programmers being put in contact with these young innovators!
Blatant self promotion here. I got ripped a new one when someone else posted this to reddit, so gimme what you got :)
The fear bubble
"This behavior of perennially asking if it's a bubble or it's a real growth, if the market is bullish or bearish, is exactly what causes these market bubbles in the first place."

I would have thought that this kind of questioning is exactly the type of prudence that protects us from bubbles. Surely its much worse when they assume there's real growth without questioning it?
Hard to say. The point is, way less of a dent now than if they'd started 5 years ago.
13 Reasons your Facebook account will be disabled
Pitch your idea, the more you practice pitching, the better.

My current investors get me out in front of everyone they can, I suspect it's because they think I need practice.

Get their contact, pitch to them, and see what they think. These early discussions are a good sounding board, and will also get someone else thinking about your idea, not matter how briefly.
I don't think Apple is interested in creating cheap computers.
He posted here asking about "Dispensing with a Co-Founder", not "Talking to a Co-Founder about Risk."

Different people involved in a startup have different risk tolerance. The general solution is for someone with more money and more risk tolerance to risk more money and get equity. I would advise this guy to offer to pay the whole $90 in exchange for a higher equity stake in the corporation.

Another option would be to delay incorporating until you're getting seed funding, and get some incorporation advice from your funder. YC prefers startups not to have incorporated when they apply, for example.
Yoga can help. Or Tai-Chi, since you're in China.
Athletic ability is highly genetic. It has to do with what ratio of muscle fibers you have and all of the research so far suggests that it's genetic.

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/exercisephysiology/a/aa08...
Get career security by being "bad and nationwide"
Show VCs The Pain
When pitching to a VC it's not enough to say that your future customers want or even need your service. You have to assume that the people across the table know nothing about your space and as a result, they don't have a sense for sentiments and dynamics in the industry. In order to get VCs to believe that there is a strong need for your new idea you have to make the case...
Statistical Proof that Marketing Web Stuff is Useless
The real point is that with enough smarts, you can get around the restrictions, so you might as well eliminate them altogether so that there's no false sense of security.
"Those that can, DO. Those that can't, find an investor."

..You mean those that can't such as Google and Youtube?
The easiest way I've found so far is to dynamically create a script object on the page and set its .src to some dynamic page (which can, by the nature of script src be on any server). You have to have your remote script serve back Javascript, but that's about it. Google uses something like it to do their content ad RPC's when you opt for the Javascript method rather than the IFrame.
"Those that can, DO. Those that can't, find an investor."

I don't agree with this as a general rule. Sometimes you may need investment to get to market faster, to get intros to the right people, and to otherwise do things you may not be able to bootstrap.

Certainly seems to have worked in your instance however, congratulations.
Where I've Been: Useful Facebook Travel App
Hi Ryan,

The thing that struck me as really useful was the way you could use the slides to get an overview of and jump around inside a presentation. For me, that looks like a killer feature that could make me want to watch presentation videos through your viewer.

Except that the thumbnails of the slides are just too small to actually read. To make them useful for me for scanning the presentation without watching it all, I believe they would have to be big enough that the text is legible.
edocr joins Scribd, Docstoc in document sharing
Not really a big deal. It just sounded overdramatized. PG has written things that came across the wrong way too.
That's why I will never invest my time in Facebook,